From cae79701f7bd181f70fa13e9d0237678921c05ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ana mertens <an@constantvzw.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 11:31:55 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] English literary texts

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+The sun had set. After the brief interval of twilight the night fell
+calm and dark, and in its gloomy bosom the last sounds of a sleepy
+world died gently away. The traveller went forward on his way,
+hastening his step as night came on; the path he followed was narrow
+and worn by the constant tread of men and beasts, and led gently up a
+hill on whose verdant slopes grew picturesque clumps of wild cherry
+trees, beeches and oaks.--The reader perceives that we are in the north
+of Spain.
+
+Our traveller was a man of middle age, strongly built, tall and
+broad-shouldered; his movements were brisk and resolute, his step
+firm, his manner somewhat rugged, his eye bold and bright; his pace
+was nimble, considering that he was decidedly stout, and he was--the
+reader may at once be told, though somewhat prematurely--as good a
+soul as you may meet with anywhere. He was dressed, as a man in easy
+circumstances should be dressed for a journey in spring weather, with
+one of those round shady hats, which, from their ugly shape, have been
+nicknamed mushrooms (_hongo_), a pair of field-glasses hanging to a
+strap, and a knotted stick which, when he did not use it to support his
+steps, served to push aside the brambles when they flung their thorny
+branches across so as to catch his dress.
+
+He presently stopped, and gazing round the dim horizon, he seemed vexed
+and puzzled. He evidently was not sure of his way and was looking
+round for some passing native of the district who might give him such
+topographical information as might enable him to reach his destination.
+
+"I cannot be mistaken," he said to himself. "They told me to cross the
+river by the stepping-stones--and I did so--then to walk on, straight
+on. And there, to my right, I do in fact, see that detestable town
+which I should call _Villafangosa_ by reason of the enormous amount of
+mud that chokes the streets.--Well then, I can but go 'on, straight
+on'--I rather like the phrase, and if I bore arms, I would adopt it
+for my motto--in order to find myself at last at the famous mines of
+Socartes."
+
+But before he had gone much farther, he added: "I have lost my way,
+beyond a doubt I have lost my way.--This, Teodoro Golfin, is the
+result of your 'on, straight on.' Bah! these blockheads do not know
+the meaning of words; either they meant to laugh at you or else
+they did not know the way to the mines of Socartes. A huge mining
+establishment must be evident to the senses, with its buildings and
+chimneys, its noise of hammers and snorting of furnaces, neighing of
+horses and clattering of machinery--and I neither see, nor hear, nor
+smell anything. I might be in a desert! How absolutely solitary! If I
+believed in witches, I could fancy that Fate intended me this night to
+have the honor of making acquaintance with some. Deuce take it! why is
+there no one to be seen in these parts? And it will be half an hour
+yet before the moon rises. Ah! treacherous Luna, it is you who are to
+blame for my misadventure.--If only I could see what sort of place I
+am in.--However, what could I expect?" and he shrugged his shoulders
+with the air of a vigorous man who scorns danger. "What, Golfin, after
+having wandered all round the world are you going to give in now? The
+peasants were right after all: 'on, straight on.' The universal law of
+locomotion cannot fail me here."
+
+And he bravely set out to test the law, and went on about a kilometre
+farther, following the paths which seemed to start from under his feet,
+crossing each other and breaking off at a short distance, in a thousand
+angles which puzzled and tired him. Stout as his resolution was, at
+last he grew weary of his vain efforts. The paths, which had at first
+all led upwards, began to slope downwards as they crossed each other,
+and at last he came to so steep a slope that he could only hope to get
+to the bottom by rolling down it.
+
+"A pretty state of things!" he exclaimed, trying to console himself for
+this provoking situation by his sense of the ridiculous. "Where have
+you got to now my friend? This is a perfect abyss. Is anything to be
+seen at the bottom. No, nothing, absolutely nothing--the hill-side has
+disappeared, the earth has been dug away. There is nothing to be seen
+but stones and barren soil tinged red with iron. I have reached the
+mines, no doubt of that--and yet there is not a living soul to be seen,
+no smoky chimneys; no noise, not a train in the distance, not even a
+dog barking. What am I to do? Out there the path seems to slope up
+again.--Shall I follow that? Shall I leave the beaten track? Shall I go
+back again? Oh! this is absurd! Either I am not myself or I will reach
+Socartes to-night, and be welcomed by my worthy brother! 'On, straight
+on.'"
+
+He took a step, and his foot sank in the soft and crumbling soil.
+"What next, ye ruling stars? Am I to be swallowed up alive? If only
+that lazy moon would favor us with a little light we might see each
+other's faces--and, upon my soul, I can hardly expect to find Paradise
+at the bottom of this hole. It seems to be the crater of some extinct
+volcano.... Nothing could be easier than a slide down this beautiful
+precipice. What have we here?... A stone; capital--a good seat while I
+smoke a cigar and wait for the moon to rise."
+
+The philosophical Golfin seated himself as calmly as if it were a
+bench by a promenade, and was preparing for his smoke, when he heard a
+voice--yes, beyond a doubt, a human voice, at some little distance--a
+plaintive air, or to speak more accurately, a melancholy chant of a
+single phrase, of which the last cadence was prolonged into a "dying
+fall," and which at last sank into the silence of the night, so softly
+that the ear could not detect when it ceased.
+
+"Come," said the listener, well pleased, "there are some human beings
+about. That was a girl's voice; yes, certainly a girl's, and a lovely
+voice too. I like the popular airs of this country-side. Now it has
+stopped.... Hark! it will soon begin again.... Yes, I hear it once
+more. What a beautiful voice, and what a pathetic air! You might
+believe that it rose from the bowels of the earth, and that Señor
+Golfin, the most matter-of-fact and least superstitious man in this
+world, was going to make acquaintance with sylphs, nymphs, gnomes,
+dryads, and all the rabble rout that obey the mysterious spirit of the
+place.--But, if I am not mistaken, the voice is going farther away--the
+fair singer is departing.... Hi, girl, child, stop--wait a minute!..."
+
+The voice which had for a few minutes so charmed the lost wanderer with
+its enchanting strains was dying away in the dark void, and at the
+shouts of Golfin it was suddenly silent. Beyond a doubt the mysterious
+gnome, who was solacing its underground loneliness by singing its
+plaintive loves, had taken fright at this rough interruption by a human
+being, and fled to the deepest caverns of the earth, where precious
+gems lay hidden, jealous of their own splendor.
+
+"This is a pleasant state of things--" muttered Golfin, thinking that
+after all he could do no better than light his cigar.--"There seems no
+reason why it should not go on for a hundred years. I can smoke and
+wait. It was a clever idea of mine that I could walk up alone to the
+mines of Socartes. My luggage will have got there before me--a signal
+proof of the advantages of 'on, straight on.'"
+
+A light breeze at this instant sprang up, and Golfin fancied he
+heard the sound of footsteps at the bottom of the unknown--or
+imaginary--abyss before him; he listened sharply, and in a minute felt
+quite certain that some one was walking below. He stood up and shouted:
+
+"Girl, man, or whoever you are, can I get to the mines of Socartes by
+this road?"
+
+He had not done speaking when he heard a dog barking wildly, and then a
+manly voice saying: "Choto, Choto! come here!"
+
+"Hi there!" cried the traveller. "My good friend--man, boy, demon, or
+whatever you are, call back your dog, for I am a man of peace."
+
+"Choto, Choto!..."
+
+Golfin could make out the form of a large, black dog coming towards
+him, but after sniffing round him it retired at its master's call;
+and at that moment the traveller could distinguish a figure, a man,
+standing as immovable as a stone image, at about ten paces below him,
+on a slanting pathway which seemed to cut across the steep incline.
+This path, and the human form standing there, became quite clear now to
+Golfin, who, looking up to the sky, exclaimed:
+
+"Thank God! here is the mad moon at last; now we can see where we are.
+I had not the faintest notion that a path existed so close to me, why,
+it is quite a road. Tell me, my friend, do you know whether the mines
+of Socartes are hereabout?"
+
+"Yes, Señor, these are the mines of Socartes; but we are at some
+distance from the works."
+
+The voice which spoke thus was youthful and pleasant, with the
+attractive inflection that indicates a polite readiness to be of
+service. The doctor was well pleased at detecting this, and still
+better pleased at observing the soft light, which was spreading through
+the darkness and bringing resurrection to earth and sky, as though
+calling them forth from nothingness.
+
+"_Fiat lux!_" he said, going forward down the slope. "I feel as if I
+had just emerged into existence from primeval chaos.... Indeed, my good
+friend, I am truly grateful to you for the information you have given
+me, and for the farther information you no doubt will give me. I left
+Villamojada as the sun was setting.--They told me to go on, straight
+on...."
+
+"Are you going to the works?" asked the strange youth, without stirring
+from the spot or looking up towards the doctor, who was now quite near
+him.
+
+"Yes, Señor; but I have certainly lost my way."
+
+"Well, this is not the entrance to the mines. The entrance is by the
+steps at Rabagones, from which the road runs and the tram-way that
+they are making. If you had gone that way you would have reached the
+works in ten minutes. From here it is a long way, and a very bad road.
+We are at the outer circle of the mining galleries, and shall have to
+go through passages and tunnels, down ladders, through cuttings, up
+slopes, and then down the inclined plane; in short, cross the mines
+from this side to the other, where the workshops are and the furnaces,
+the machines and the smelting-house."
+
+"Well, I seem to have been uncommonly stupid," said Golfin, laughing.
+
+"I will guide you with much pleasure, for I know every inch of the
+place."
+
+Golfin, whose feet sank in the loose earth, slipping here and tottering
+there, had at last reached the solid ground of the path, and his first
+idea was to look closely at the good-natured lad who addressed him.
+For a minute or two he was speechless with surprise.
+
+"You!" he said, in a low voice.
+
+"I am blind, it is true, Señor," said the boy. "But I can run without
+seeing from one end to the other of the mines of Socartes. This stick I
+carry prevents my stumbling, and Choto is always with me, when I have
+not got Nela with me, who is my guide. So, follow me, Señor, and allow
+me to guide you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GUIDED RIGHT.
+
+
+"And were you born blind?" asked Golfin, with eager interest, arising
+not only from compassion.
+
+"Yes, Señor, born blind," replied the lad, with perfect simplicity.
+"I only know the world by fancy, feeling and hearing. I have learned
+to understand that the most wonderful portion of the universe is that
+which is unknown to me. I know that the eyes of other people are not
+like mine, since they are able to distinguish things by them--but the
+power seems to me so extraordinary, that I cannot even imagine the
+possibility of its existence."
+
+"Who knows ..." Golfin began. "But what strange scene is this, my
+friend? What a wonderful place we are in!"
+
+The traveller, who had been walking by the side of his companion,
+stood still in astonishment at the weird view which lay before him.
+They were in a deep basin resembling the crater of a volcano; the
+ground at the bottom was broken and rough, and the sloping sides still
+more so. Round the margin and in the middle of the vast caldron,
+which looked even larger than it was in the deceptive chiaroscuro of
+the moonlit night, stood colossal figures, deformed caricatures of
+humanity, monsters lying prone with their feet in the air, with arms
+spread in despair, stunted growths, distorted faces such as we see in
+the whimsical wreathing of floating clouds--but all still, silent, and
+turned to stone. In color they were mummy-like, a reddish bistre; their
+action suggested the delirium of fever arrested by sudden death. It was
+as though giant forms had petrified in the midst of some demoniacal
+orgy, and their gestures and the burlesque grimaces of the monstrous
+heads had been stricken into fixity, like the motionless attitudes of
+sculpture. The silence which prevailed in this volcanic-looking hollow
+was itself terrifying. One might fancy that the cries and shrieks of a
+thousand voices had been petrified too, and had been held there locked
+in stone for ages.
+
+"Where are we, my young friend?" asked Golfin. "This place is like a
+nightmare."
+
+"This part of the mine is called La Terrible," replied the blind boy,
+not appreciating his companion's frame of mind. "It was worked till
+about two years ago when the ore was exhausted, and now the mining
+is carried on in other parts which are more profitable. The strange
+objects that surprise you so much are the blocks of stone which we call
+_cretácea_, and which consist of hardened ferruginous clay, after the
+ore has been extracted. I have been told that the effect is sublime,
+particularly in the moonlight; but I do not understand such things."
+
+"A wonderful effect,--yes--" said the stranger, who still stood gazing
+at the scene, "but which to me is more terrible than pleasing, for it
+reminds me of the horrors of neuralgia.--Shall I tell you what it is
+like? It is as if I were standing inside a monstrous brain suffering
+from a fearful headache. Those figures are like the images which
+present themselves to the tortured brain, and become confounded with
+the hideous fancies and visions created by a fevered mind."
+
+"Choto, Choto, here!" called the blind lad. "Take care now, Señor, how
+you walk; we are going into a gallery." And, in fact, Golfin saw that
+his guide, feeling with his stick, was making his way towards a narrow
+entrance distinguished by three stout posts.
+
+The dog went in first, snuffing at the black cavern; the blind boy
+followed him with the calm indifference of a man who dwells in
+perpetual darkness. Golfin followed, not without some instinctive
+trepidation and repugnance at an underground expedition.
+
+"It is really wonderful," he said, "that you should go in and out of
+such a place without stumbling."
+
+"I have lived all my life in these places, and know them as well as my
+own home. Here it is very cold; wrap yourself up if have you a cloak
+with you. We shall soon be out at the other end." He walked on, feeling
+his way with his hand along the wall, which was formed of upright
+beams, and saying:
+
+"Mind you do not stumble over the ruts in the path; they bring the
+mineral along here from the diggings above. Are you cold?"
+
+"Tell me," said the doctor, gaily. "Are you quite certain that the
+earth has not swallowed us up? This passage is the gullet of some
+monstrous insectivorous brute into whose stomach we miserable worms
+have inadvertently crept.--Do you often take a walk in this delectable
+spot?"
+
+"Yes, often, and at all hours, and I think the place delightful. Now we
+are in the most arid part--the ground here is pure sand--now we are on
+the stones again. Here there is a constant drip of sulphurous water,
+and down there we have a block of rock in which there are petrified
+shells. There are layers of slate over there. Do you hear that toad
+croaking? we are near the opening now; the rascal sits there every
+night; I know him quite well. He has a hoarse, slow voice."
+
+"Who--the toad?"
+
+"Yes, Señor; we are near the end now."
+
+"So I see; it looks like an eye staring at us--that is the mouth of the
+corridor."
+
+No sooner were they out in the air again, than the first thing that
+struck the doctor's ear was the same melancholy song as he had heard
+before. The blind boy heard it too; he turned round to his companion
+and said, smiling with pride and pleasure:
+
+"Do you hear her?"
+
+"I heard that voice before and it charmed me wonderfully. Who is the
+singer?"
+
+Instead of answering, the blind boy stopped and shouted with all
+the force of his lungs: "Nela! Nela!" and the name was repeated by
+a hundred echoes, some quite close, others faint and distant. Then,
+putting his hands to his mouth for a speaking-trumpet, he called out:
+
+"Do not come to me, I am going that way. Wait for me at the forge--at
+the forge!"
+
+He turned to the doctor again and explained:
+
+"Nela is a girl who goes about with me; she is my guide--my
+_Lazarillo_. When it was dusk we were coming home together from the
+great meadow--it was rather cool, so, as my father forbids my walking
+out at night without a cloak, I waited in Romolinos' cabin, and Nela
+ran home to fetch it for me. After staying some little time in the hut,
+I remembered that I had a friend coming to see me at home and I had not
+patience to wait for Nela, so I set out with Choto. I was just going
+down La Terrible when I met you. We shall soon be at the forge now and
+there we must part, for my father is not pleased when I go home late,
+and Nela will show you the way to the works."
+
+"Many thanks, my little friend."
+
+The tunnel had brought them out at a spot even more wonderful than that
+they had left. It was an enormous gulf or chasm in the earth, looking
+like the result of an earthquake; but it had not been rent by the
+fierce throbs of planetary fires, but slowly wrought by the laborious
+pick of the miner. It looked like the interior of a huge shipwrecked
+vessel, stranded on the shore, and broken across the waist by the
+breakers, so as to bend it at an obtuse angle. You could fancy you saw
+its ribs laid bare, and their ends standing up in an irregular file on
+one side. Within the hollow hull lay huge stones, like the relics of a
+cargo tossed about by the waves, and the deceptive light of the moon
+lent so much aid to the fancy that Golfin could have believed that he
+saw among the relics of a ship's fittings, corpses half devoured by
+fishes, mummies, skeletons--all dead, silent, half-destroyed and still,
+as if they had long been lying in the infinite sepulchre of the ocean.
+And the illusion was perfect when he presently heard a sound of waters,
+and a regular splash like the dash of ripples in the hollow of a rock,
+or through the skeleton timbers of a wrecked vessel.
+
+"There is water hereabouts," he said to his guide.
+
+"The noise you hear,"--replied the other, stopping,--"and which sounds
+like--what shall I say--like the gurgle you make when you gargle your
+throat?..."
+
+"Exactly--and where is that gurgle? Is it some rivulet that runs near
+here?"
+
+"No, Señor; over there to the left there is a slope, and beyond it a
+wide mouth opens in the ground, a cavern, an abyss without any known
+bottom. La Trascava they call it. Some say that it runs down to the sea
+at Ficóbriga, and others think that a river flows at the bottom of it
+which goes round and round, like a wheel, and never comes out anywhere.
+I fancy it must be like a whirlpool. Some again say that down there is
+a constant gust of air coming out of the interior of the earth--as we
+blow when we whistle--and that this blast meets a current of water;
+then they quarrel, and struggle, and fight, and produce that noise that
+we hear up here."
+
+"And has no one ever been down into this cavern?"
+
+"It can only be got into in one way."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By jumping into it. Those who have gone in have never come out again;
+and it is a great pity, for they might have told us what goes on in
+there. The other end of the cavern is a long way off from this, for
+two years ago, when some miners were working they came upon a rift in
+the rock where they heard the very same sound of water as you hear now.
+This rift must, no doubt, communicate with the inside galleries, out
+of which the blast blows and into which the water rushes. By daylight
+you can see it plainly, for you need only go a few steps to the left
+to reach the spot and there is a comfortable seat there. Some people
+are frightened to go there, but Nela and I sit there to listen to
+the voice down inside the cavern--for really, Señor, we can fancy we
+hear it talking. Nela declares and swears that she hears words, and
+can distinguish them quite plainly. I must confess I never heard any
+words; but it goes on murmuring like a soliloquy or a meditation, and
+sometimes it is sad and sometimes gay--sometimes angry, and sometimes
+good-humored and jolly."
+
+"And yet I can make nothing of it but a gurgle," said the doctor
+laughing.
+
+"It sounds so from this spot.--But we must not stop now, it is getting
+late. You must be prepared to go through another gallery."
+
+"Another?"
+
+"Yes--and this one branches off into two in the middle. Beyond that
+there is a labyrinth of turns and zigzags, because the miners have to
+make galleries which, when they are worked out, are deserted and left
+to their fate. Go on Choto."
+
+Choto slipped into a little opening that looked scarcely bigger than
+a rabbit-hole, followed by the doctor and his guide, who felt his way
+along the dark, narrow, crooked passage with his stick. There could be
+no better evidence of the delicacy and subtlety of the sense of touch,
+extending beyond the skin of a human hand through a piece of senseless
+wood. They went forwards, at first in a curve, and then round corner
+after corner, and all the way between walls of damp, and half-rotten
+planking.
+
+"Do you know what this reminds me of?" said the doctor, perceiving that
+his guide took pleasure in similes and comparisons. "Of nothing so
+much as the thoughts of perverse man. We represent the consciousness
+of evil, when he looks into his conscience and sees himself in all his
+vileness."
+
+Golfin fancied that he had used a metaphor rather above his companion's
+comprehension; but the blind boy proved that he was mistaken, for he
+said at once:
+
+"For those to whom that inner world looks dark and gloomy, these
+galleries must be dismal indeed; but I, who live in perpetual darkness,
+find here something which has an affinity with my own nature. I can
+walk here as you would in the broadest road. If it were not for the
+want of air in some parts and the excessive damp in others, I should
+prefer these subterranean passages to any place I know."
+
+"That is an idea of brooding fancy."
+
+"I feel as if there were in my brain a narrow passage--a
+rabbit-hole--like this that we are walking in, and there my ideas run
+riot grandly."
+
+"Ah! what a pity that you should never have seen the azure vault of
+the sky at mid-day!" the doctor exclaimed involuntarily. "Tell me,
+does this dark hole--in which your ideas run riot so grandly--lead out
+anywhere?"
+
+"Oh yes! we shall be outside quite soon now. The vault of the sky you
+said--I fancy it must be a perfect, equal curve, which looks as if we
+could touch it with our hands, but we cannot really."
+
+As he spoke they got out of the tunnel; Golfin drawing a deep breath of
+relief, like a man who has cast off a burthen, exclaimed as he looked
+up at the heavens:
+
+"Thank God that I see you once more stars of the firmament. Never have
+you seemed to me more beautiful than at this moment."
+
+"As I was going along," said the blind boy, holding out his hand
+which held a stone, "I picked up this piece of crystal--now do you
+mean to say that these crystals, which to my touch are so sharply cut,
+so smooth and so neatly packed side by side, are not a very beautiful
+thing? They seem so to me at any rate." And as he spoke he broke off
+some of the crystals.
+
+"My dear fellow," said the doctor with great feeling and compassion,
+"it is sad indeed that you should not be able to know that this stone
+is hardly worth looking at, while over our heads there hang the myriads
+of marvellous lamps that sparkle in the heavens." The boy threw back
+his head and said in a voice of deep regret:
+
+"Is it true that you are there, you little stars?"
+
+"God is infinitely great and merciful," said Golfin, laying his hand on
+his young companion's shoulder. "Who knows--who can say--much stranger
+things have happened--are happening every day." As he spoke, he looked
+close into his face, trying to see the lad's eyes by the dim light;
+fixed and sightless, he turned them in the direction in which he heard
+the speaker's voice.
+
+"There is no hope," Golfin muttered.
+
+They had come out on an open space. The moon, rising higher and
+higher, illuminated undulating meadows and high slopes, which looked
+like the ramparts of some immense fortification.--To the left, on a
+level plateau, the doctor saw a group of white houses crowning the
+slope.
+
+"There, to the left," said the boy, "is my home--up at the top. Do
+you know that those three houses are what remain of the village of
+Aldeacorba de Suso. All the rest has been pulled down at different
+times in order to dig mines; all the soil underneath is iron ore, and
+our fore-fathers lived over millions of wealth without knowing it."
+
+He was still speaking when a girl came running to meet them, a tiny
+scrap of a child, swift of foot and slightly built.
+
+"Nela, Nela!" cried the blind boy. "Have you brought me a cloak?"
+
+"Here it is," said the girl, putting it over his shoulders.
+
+"Is this the songstress? Do you know you have a lovely voice?"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the boy, in a tone of innocent admiration, "she sings
+beautifully! Now, Mariquilla, you must show this gentleman the way to
+the works, and I must go home. I can hear my father's voice already;
+he is coming to look for me, and he will be sure to scold me.... I am
+here, I am coming!"
+
+"Make haste in, my boy!" said Golfin, shaking hands with him. "The air
+is fresh, and you might take cold. Many thanks for your company. I hope
+we may be good friends, for I shall be here some little time. I am the
+brother of Cárlos Golfin, the engineer of the mines."
+
+"Oh! indeed.... Don Cárlos is a great friend of my father's. He has
+been expecting you these two days."
+
+"I arrived this evening at the station at Villamojada, and they told
+me that Socartes was not far, and that I could come up on foot. So, as
+I like to see the country and get exercise, and as they told me it was
+'on, straight on,' I set out, and sent my luggage in a cart. You saw
+how I had lost my way--but there is no evil out of which good does not
+come.... I have made your acquaintance, and we shall be friends, very
+good friends perhaps. Go in, good-bye; get home quickly, for the autumn
+evenings are not good for you. The little Señora here will be so good
+as to guide me."
+
+"It is not more than a quarter of an hour's walk to the works, quite a
+short way. But take care not to stumble over the rails, and look out
+as you cross the inclined plane. There often are trucks on the road,
+and in this damp weather the ground is like soap.--Good-bye, Caballero,
+and my very good friend.--Good-night." He went up the slope by a
+narrow flight of steps cut in the soil and squared by beams of wood;
+Golfin went straight on, guided by Nela. Does what they said deserve a
+separate chapter? In case it should, I will give it one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A DIALOGUE WHICH EXPLAINS MUCH.
+
+
+"Wait a moment my child, do not go so fast," said Golfin, himself
+standing still. "I want to light a cigar."
+
+The night was so still, that no precautions were needed in striking the
+light to guard it from the wind, and when the doctor had lighted his
+cigar he held the wax match in front of Nela, saying kindly:
+
+"Show me your face, little one."
+
+He looked in the child's face with astonishment; her black eyes
+shone with a red spot, like a spark, for the instant while the
+match lasted. She looked a child, for she was but a tiny creature,
+extremely thin and undeveloped; but she seemed like a little woman,
+for her eyes had not a childlike expression, and her face had the
+mature look of a nature which has gone through experience and acquired
+judgment--or will have acquired it soon. In spite of this anomaly,
+she was well-proportioned and her small head sat gracefully on her
+lean little body. You might have said she was a woman seen through a
+diminishing-glass; or, again, that she was a child with the eyes and
+expression of a grown-up person. In your uncertainty, it was hard to
+say whether she was astonishingly forward or lamentably backward.
+
+"How old are you?" asked Golfin, shaking his fingers free of the match
+which was beginning to burn them.
+
+"They say I am sixteen," said Nela, gazing in her turn at the doctor.
+
+"Sixteen!" exclaimed Golfin. "Much less than that, child! You are
+twelve at most to judge by appearances."
+
+"Holy Virgin! They say I am quite a phenomenon," said the girl in a
+tone of weariness of the subject.
+
+"A phenomenon!" repeated Golfin laying his hand on her hair. "Well,
+perhaps so. Now, come along--show me the way."
+
+Nela set out resolutely, keeping but a little way in front of the
+traveller but rather on one side of him, to show her just appreciation
+of such illustrious company. Her nimble little feet, which were bare,
+were evidently familiar with the ground they trod, with the stones, the
+puddles and the thistles. She wore a plain frock of scanty breadth,
+and the rudimentary simplicity of her garb, as well as the loose flow
+of her thick, short hair, which fell in natural waves, had a stamp of
+savage independence rather than of abject poverty. Her speech, on the
+other hand, struck Golfin by its modest propriety, indicating a formed
+and thoughtful mind. Her voice had a gentle inflection of kindliness,
+which could not be the result of education, and her glance was restless
+and shy, whenever she was not looking at the sky or the earth.
+
+"Tell me," said Golfin. "Do you live in the mines? Are you the child of
+any of the workmen employed here?"
+
+"They say I have neither father nor mother."
+
+"Poor little girl! and you work in the mines?"
+
+"No, Señor. I am of no use at all," she replied without raising her
+eyes.
+
+"Well, you are modest, at any rate."
+
+The doctor bent down to look closely at her face; it was small
+and freckled all over with little mole-like spots. Her forehead
+was narrow, her nose sharp but not ill-shaped, her eyes black and
+brilliant, but their light shone but sadly. Her hair, naturally of
+a golden brown, was dull for want of care, and from exposure to the
+sun, wind and dust. Her lips were so thin as to be hardly visible, and
+always wore a smile, but it was like the faint smile of the dead who
+have died dreaming of Heaven. Nela's mouth was, strictly speaking,
+ugly, still it deserved a word of praise from the point of view
+expressed in the line from Polo de Medina: "A mouth is sweet that asks
+for nothing."[1] In fact, neither in word, look, or smile, did the poor
+child betray any of the degrading habits of the beggar. Golfin stroked
+the sad little face, holding it under the chin and almost encircling it
+with his big fingers.
+
+"Poor little body!" he said. "Providence has not been over-generous to
+you. Who do you live with?"
+
+"With Señor Centeno, the overseer of the beasts belonging to the mines?"
+
+"You do not seem to have been born in luxury.--Who were your parents?"
+
+"They say my mother sold peppers in the market at Villamojada. She was
+not married. She had me one All-Saints' day, and then she went to be
+wet-nurse at Madrid."
+
+"A highly estimable woman!" muttered Golfin ironically.
+
+"And no one knows who your father was?"
+
+"Yes, Señor," said Nela with some pride. "My father was the first who
+ever lighted the lamps of Villamojada."
+
+"Wonderful!"
+
+"I ought to tell you," said the little girl with the gravity
+befitting the dignity of history, "that when the town council first
+had lamps hung up in the streets, my father was entrusted with the
+care of lighting and cleaning them. I was nursed by a sister of my
+mother's--not that she was married either, as they tell me. My father
+had quarrelled with her--they all lived together as I have heard--and
+when he went out to light the lamps he used to put me in his basket,
+with his lamp-chimneys and cottons and oil. One day when he went up to
+light the lamp on the bridge, he put the basket on the parapet, and I
+rolled out and fell into the river."
+
+"And you were not drowned!"
+
+"No, Señor; for I fell on the stones. Holy Mother of God! I was a dear
+little thing before that, they tell me."
+
+"Yes, I am sure you were," said the stranger with an impulse of
+loving-kindness. "And so you are still.--But tell me what next. Have
+you lived long in the mines?"
+
+"Thirteen years, they say. My mother took me back after my tumble.
+My father fell ill, and as my mother would not do anything for him,
+because he was wicked to her, he was taken to the hospital where they
+say he died. Meanwhile my mother came to work in the mines. They say
+the overseer discharged her one day because she drank so much."
+
+"And your mother went.... Go on, I take a real interest in the good
+woman; she went...."
+
+"She went to a very big hole over there," said the child, standing
+still and speaking with intense pathos, "and she threw herself in."
+
+"The devil she did! That was coming to a bad end. I suppose she did not
+come out again?"
+
+"No, Señor," said Nela with perfect simplicity. "She is there still."
+
+"And since that catastrophe, poor child," said Golfin kindly, "you
+have stayed at work here. Mining work is very hard labor and you have
+taken the hue of the soil; you are thin and ill-nourished. This life is
+enough to ruin the strongest constitution."
+
+"No, Señor; I do not labor. They say I am not good for anything and
+never shall be."
+
+"God forbid, silly child! why you are a treasure."
+
+"No indeed," insisted the girl, "I cannot work at all. If I take up
+ever so small a load, I fall down, and if I am set to any hard work I
+faint away before long."
+
+"You are as God made you--and if you fell into the hands of any one who
+knew how to treat you, you would work very well."
+
+"No, Señor, no indeed," she repeated as energetically as though it were
+in her own praise that she spoke, "I am no good to any one--only in the
+way."
+
+"Then you are a mere vagabond?"
+
+"No, Señor, for I attend on Pablo."
+
+"And who is Pablo?"
+
+"That young blind gentleman, whom you met in La Terrible. I have been
+his guide for the last year and a half. I take him everywhere; we go
+for long walks in the fields."
+
+"He seems a good fellow, this Pablo."
+
+Nela again stood still and looked up at the doctor, and her face glowed
+with enthusiasm as she exclaimed:
+
+"Holy Virgin! He is the best and dearest creature in the whole world!
+Poor fellow!--and he is cleverer without eyes than all those who can
+see."
+
+"Yes, I liked your master. Does he belong to the place?"
+
+"Yes, Señor; he is the only son of Don Francisco Penáguilas, a very
+kind and very rich gentleman who lives in the houses at Aldeacorba."
+
+"Tell me, why are you called Nela? What does it mean?"
+
+The child shrugged her shoulders, and after a pause, she said:
+
+"My mother's name was María Canela, and so she was called Nela; they
+say it is a dog's name. My name is María."
+
+"Mariquita."
+
+"María Nela they call me, or sometimes Canela's girl, and some say
+Marianela, and some merely Nela."
+
+"And your master, is he fond of you?"
+
+"Yes, Señor; he is very good to me. He says he sees with my eyes, for I
+take him everywhere, and tell him what everything is like."
+
+"Everything that he cannot see?" The stranger seemed much interested in
+this conversation.
+
+"Yes--I tell him everything. He asks me what a star is like, and I
+tell him all about it in such a way that it is the same to him as
+if he could see it. I explain it all--what the planets are like,
+and the clouds, and the sky, and the water, and the lightning, the
+weather-cocks, the butterflies, the mists, the snails, and the shapes
+and faces of men and animals. I tell him what is ugly and what is
+pretty, and so he gets to understand everything."
+
+"I see; your work is no trifle. What is ugly and what is pretty! There
+is nothing.... You decide upon that question? Tell me, can you read?"
+
+"No, Señor.--I tell you I am good for nothing."
+
+She said this in a tone of perfect conviction, and the gesture that
+emphasized her protestation seemed to add: "You must be a great
+blockhead to fancy that I am good for anything."
+
+"Would you not be glad if your friend, by the grace of God, should
+recover his sight?"
+
+The girl did not answer at once, but after a pause she said:
+
+"It is impossible."
+
+"No, not impossible, only difficult and doubtful."
+
+"The engineer who manages the mines did give my master's father some
+hope of it."
+
+"Don Cárlos Golfin?"
+
+"Yes, Señor. Don Cárlos has a brother who is an eye-doctor, and they
+say he gives sight to the blind, and makes those who squint look
+straight."
+
+"What a clever man!"
+
+"Yes; and when the eye-doctor wrote to Don Cárlos that he was coming to
+see him, his brother wrote to him to bring his instruments with him to
+try if he could make Pablo see."
+
+"And has this good man been here yet?"
+
+"No, sir; for he is always travelling about in England and America, and
+it seems it will be some time yet before he comes. Pablo laughs at it
+all, and says no man can give him what the Holy Virgin has denied him
+from his birth."
+
+"Well--perhaps he is right. But are we not nearly there? For I see some
+chimneys which pour forth smoke darker than the bottomless pit, and a
+light too, which looks like a forge."
+
+"Yes--here we are. Those are the roasting furnaces, which burn day and
+night. There, in front, are the machines for washing the ore; they only
+work by day. To the right-hand is the chemical workshop, and down
+there, last of all, the counting-house and offices."
+
+The place seemed to lie in fact as Marianela indicated. In the absence
+of any wind a mist hung over the spot, shrouding the buildings in
+heavy, gaseous fog, and giving them a confused and fantastic outline
+against the moonlit sky.
+
+"This is a pleasanter place to see for once than to live in," said
+Golfin, hastening onwards. "The cloud of vapor wraps round everything,
+and the lights have dim circles round them, like the moon on a sultry
+night. Which is the office?"
+
+"Here, we are almost there."
+
+After passing in front of the furnaces, where the heat made them hurry
+on, the doctor perceived a house which was no less dingy and smoky than
+the others, and at the same instant he heard a piano being played with
+a vigor bordering on frenzy.
+
+"We have music here. I recognize my sister-in-law's touch and
+execution."
+
+"It is Señorita Sofía who is playing," said María.
+
+The lights of a busy household shone in the windows, and the balcony on
+the ground-floor was wide open. A small spark was visible, the spark of
+a cigar. Before the doctor could reach the spot, the spark flew off,
+describing a parabola of fire, and breaking into a thousand twinkling
+specks--the smoker had shaken the end off.
+
+"There is that everlasting smoker!" cried the doctor, in a tone of
+affectionate delight. "Cárlos, Cárlos!"
+
+"Teodoro!" exclaimed a voice from the balcony. The piano ceased like a
+singing-bird scared by a noise. Steps sounded through the house. The
+doctor gave his guide a silver coin, and ran up to the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+STONY HEARTS.
+
+
+Retracing her steps and jumping over the obstacles in her path, Nela
+made her way to a house on the left of the machine-sheds, and close to
+the stables where the sixty mules belonging to the establishment stood
+in grave meditation. The residence of the overseer, though of modern
+construction, was neither elegant nor even commodious. The roof was
+low, and it was too small by far to give adequate shelter to the parent
+couple of the Centenos--to their four children--to their cat--and to
+Nela into the bargain; but it figured, nevertheless, on the parchment
+plans of the settlement under the ostentatious name of "overseer's
+residence."
+
+Inside, the house seemed to afford a practical illustration of the
+saying which we have already heard so emphatically stated by Marianela;
+namely, that she, Marianela, was of no good to anyone, only in the way.
+Somehow, in there, room was found for everything--for the father and
+mother, for their sons and their sons' tools, for a heap of rubbish,
+of the use of which no irrefragable proof has been found, for the cat,
+for the dish off which the cat was fed, for Tanasio's guitar, for the
+materials of which Tanasio made his _garrotes_--a kind of lidless
+hamper--for half a dozen old mule-halters, for the blackbird's cage,
+for two useless old boilers, for an altar--at which Dame Centeno
+worshipped the Divinity with offerings of artificial flowers and some
+patriarchal tapers, a perennial settlement for flies--in short, for
+everything and everybody excepting little María Canela. Constantly some
+one was heard to say: "You cannot take a step without falling over that
+confounded child, Nela!" or else:
+
+"Get into your corner, do.--What a plague the creature is; she does
+nothing, and lets no one else do anything."
+
+The house consisted of three rooms and a loft. The first of these
+served not only as dining-room and drawing-room, but also as the
+bedroom of the two elders; in the second slept the two young ladies,
+already grown-up women, and named _La Mariuca_ and _La Pepina_.
+Tanasio, the eldest of all, stored himself in the garret, and Celipin,
+the youngest of the family and nearly twelve years old, had a bed
+in the kitchen--the innermost room, the dingiest, dampest and least
+habitable of the three rooms which composed the mansion of the Centenos.
+
+Nela, during the many years of her residence there, had inhabited
+various nooks and corners, going from one to another, according to
+the exigencies of the moment, to make way for the thousand objects
+which served only to curtail the last scanty accommodation left for
+human beings. On some occasion--the precise facts are unknown to
+history--Tanasio, whose feet were as crippled as his brain, and who
+devoted himself to the manufacture of large hampers made of hazel
+rods, had placed in the kitchen a pile of at least half a dozen of
+these bulky trophies of his art. Marianela looked on, casting her eyes
+sadly around, and finding no corner left into which to creep; but the
+predicament itself inspired her with a happy idea, which she at once
+acted upon. She simply got into one of the baskets, and there passed
+the night in sound and blissful sleep. In fact, it was comfortable
+enough, and when it was cold she pulled another basket on the top. From
+that time, so long as there were _garrotes_ (a local name for these
+coarse, open baskets) to be found, she never was at a loss for a crib,
+and the others would say of the child: "She sleeps like a jewel."
+
+During meals, in the midst of a noisy discussion on the morning's work,
+a voice would suddenly say in rough tones: "Here!" and Nela would have
+a plate given her by one of the family, big or small, and would seat
+herself against the big chest to eat what she had got, in silence.
+But towards the end of the meal sometimes the master's harsh bleating
+voice would be lifted up saying, with a perfunctory air of benevolence:
+"Mother, you have given poor Nela nothing." And then _Señana_, a
+compound name abbreviated from Señora Ana, would move her head about as
+if trying to see some minute and remote object between the bodies of
+her own children, saying as she did so: "What, are you there? I thought
+you had stayed at Aldeacorba."
+
+At night, after supper, the family repeated the Paternoster over
+their beads and then, staggering like bacchantes, and rubbing their
+eyes with their fists, Mariuca and Pepina went to their beds, which
+were snug and comfortable and covered with patchwork quilts. In a few
+minutes a duet of contralto snoring was heard which lasted without
+intermission till morning dawned. Tanasio went up to the higher regions
+and Celipin curled himself round on a heap of rags, not far from the
+basket into which Nela disappeared from sight.
+
+The family thus being disposed of, the parents sat up for a while in
+the living-room, and while Centeno, seating himself with a stretch
+close to the little table and taking up a newspaper, made a series of
+grimaces to convey his bold intention of reading it, his wife took a
+stocking full of money out of the family chest, and after counting it
+and adding or taking out a few pieces, carefully restored it to its
+place. Then she took out sundry paper packets containing gold pieces
+and transferred some from one parcel to another. Meanwhile such remarks
+as these were made. "Mariuca's petticoat cost thirty-two _reales_.
+I gave Tanasio the six _reales_ he had to pay. We only want eleven
+_duros_[2] to make up the five hundred."
+
+Or, on the other hand:
+
+"The deputies agreed."--"Yesterday a conference was held, etc...."
+
+Señana's fingers did her sums, while her husband's forefinger passed
+doubtfully and waveringly along the lines, to guide his eye and mind
+through the labyrinth of letters. And these sentences gradually died
+away into monosyllables; one yawned, then the other, and at last all
+sunk into silence, after extinguishing the lamp by which the overseer
+of the mules had been cultivating his mind.
+
+One night, when all was quiet, a creaking of baskets became audible
+in the kitchen. It was not perfectly dark there, for the shutters of
+the little window were never shut, and Celipin Centeno, who was not
+yet asleep, saw the topmost baskets, which were packed one inside the
+other, rising slowly like a gaping oyster-shell, and out of the opening
+peeped the nose and black eyes of Nela.
+
+"Celipin," she said, "Celipinillo, are you asleep?" and she put a hand
+out.
+
+"No, I am awake; Nela, you look like a mussel in its shell. What do you
+want?"
+
+"Here, take this, it is a _peseta_[3] that a gentleman gave me this
+evening--the brother of Don Cárlos. How much have you got now? This is
+something like a present; now I have given you something better than
+coppers!"
+
+"Give it here and thank you very much, Nela," said the boy, sitting up
+to reach the money. "You have given me nearly thirty-two _reales_ now,
+a copper at a time.[4] I have it all safe here, inside my shirt, in the
+little bag you gave me. You are a real good girl."
+
+"I do not want money for anything; but take good care of it, for
+if Señana were to find it, she would think you would get into some
+mischief with it and thrash you with the big stick."
+
+"No, no, it is not to get into mischief," said the boy vehemently, and
+clenching the money to his breast with one hand, while he supported
+himself on the other. "It is to make myself a rich man, Nela, a clever
+man like some I know. On Sunday, if they will let me go to Villamojada,
+I must buy a spelling-book to learn to read, although they will not
+teach me here. Who cares! I will learn by myself. Do you know, Nela,
+they say that Don Cárlos is the son of a man who swept the streets in
+Madrid, and he, all by himself, learnt everything he knows."
+
+"And so you think you can do the same, noodle."
+
+"I believe you! If father will not take me away from these confounded
+mines, I will find some other way; ah! you shall see what sort of a
+man I am. I was never meant for that Nela. You just wait till I have
+collected a good sum, and then you will see--you will see how I will
+find a place in the town there, or take the train to Madrid, or a
+steamboat to carry me over to the islands out there, or get a place as
+a servant to some one who will let me study."
+
+"Dear Mother of Heaven!" exclaimed Nela, opening her oyster-shell still
+wider and putting out her whole head. "How quiet you have kept all
+these sly plans."
+
+"Do you take me for a fool? I tell you what Nela, I am in a mad rage.
+I cannot live like this; I shall die in the mines. Drat it all! Why,
+I spend my nights in crying, and my hands are all knocked to pieces
+and--but do not be frightened, Nela, at what I am going to say, and do
+not think me wicked--I would not say it to any other living soul...."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I do not love father and mother--not as I ought."
+
+"Oh! if you say such things I will never give you another _real_.
+Celipin, for God's sake, think of what you are saying."
+
+"I cannot help it. Why, just look how we go on here. We are not
+human beings, we are brutes. Sometimes I almost think we are less
+than the mules, and I ask myself if I am in any way better than a
+donkey--fetching a basket of the ore and pitching it into a truck;
+shoving the truck up to the furnaces; stirring the mineral with a stick
+to wash it!--Oh dear, oh dear!" ... and the hapless boy began to sob
+bitterly. "Drat--drat it all! but if you spend years upon years in work
+like this, you are bound to go to the bad at last, your very brains
+turn to iron-stone.--No, I was never meant for this. I tell my father
+to let me go away and learn something, and he answers that we are poor,
+and that I am too full of fancies.--We are nothing, nothing but brutes
+grinding out a living day by day.--Why do you say nothing?"
+
+But Nela did not answer--perhaps she was comparing the boy's hard lot
+with her own, and finding her own much the worse of the two.
+
+"What do you want me to say?" she replied at last. "I can never be any
+good to any one--I am nobody. I can say nothing to you.... But do not
+think such wicked things--about your father I mean."
+
+"You only say so to comfort me; but you know quite well it is true, and
+I do believe you are crying."
+
+"I ... no."
+
+"Yes, you are, I am sure."
+
+"Every one has something to cry for," said María in a broken voice.
+"But it is very late, Celipin; we must go to sleep."
+
+"No indeed, not if I know it!"
+
+"Yes, child; go to sleep and do not think of such miserable things.
+Good-night."
+
+The shell closed and all was silent.
+
+We hear a great deal said about the hard and narrow materialism of
+cities, a dry rot which, amid all the splendor and pleasures of
+civilization, eats into the moral cohesion of society; but there is
+a worse and deeper disease; the parochial materialism of country
+villages--which ossifies millions of living beings, crushes every
+noble ambition in their souls and shuts them into the petty round of a
+mechanical existence, reducing them to the meanest animal instincts.
+There are many more blatant evils in the social order as, for instance,
+speculation, usury, the worship of mammon among men of high culture;
+but above all these, broods a monster which secretly and silently
+ruins more than all else, and that is the greed of the peasant. The
+covetous peasant acknowledges no moral law, has no religion, no clear
+notions of right and wrong; they are all inextricably mixed up in his
+mind with a strange compound of superstition and calculating avarice.
+Behind an air of hypocritical simplicity, there lies a sinister
+arithmetic which, for keenness and intelligibility, far transcends the
+methods of the best mathematicians. A peasant who has taken a fancy to
+hoard copper coin, and dreams of changing it presently into silver and
+then the silver into gold, is the most ignoble creature in creation; he
+is capable of every form and device of malice known to man, combined
+with an absence of feeling that is appalling. His soul shrinks and
+shrivels till it is nothing more than a minim measure. Ignorance,
+coarseness, and squalor complete the abominable compound and deprive it
+of all the means of veiling the desolation within. He can only count on
+his fingers, but he is capable of reducing to figures all moral sense,
+conscience and the soul itself.
+
+Señana and Centeno, who, after many struggles, had contrived to earn
+their "morsel of bread" in the mines of Socartes, were able to make,
+with the added toil of their four children, a daily wage which they
+would have regarded as a princely fortune in the days when they
+wandered from fair to fair selling pots and pipkins. It should be
+mentioned with regard to the intellectual powers of Centeno, that
+his head, in the opinion of many persons, rivalled the steam-hammer
+in the workshops for sheer hardness; with no disparagement to that
+of dame Ana, his wife, who seemed to be a woman of much prudence and
+discrimination, and who governed her household as carefully as the
+wisest prince could govern his dominions. She bagged the wages, earned
+by her husband and children, with the best grace in the world, and they
+amounted to a neat little sum; and each time the money was brought
+home, she felt as if the very sacrament itself were being carried in,
+so intense was her delight at the mere sight of coin.
+
+Señana afforded her children very little comfort in return for the
+fortune she was accumulating by the labor of their hands; however, as
+they never complained of the utter and debasing misery in which they
+lived, as they betrayed no wish for emancipation, nor for a breath of
+any nobler life worthier of intelligent beings, Señana let the days
+slip on. Many indeed had slipped away before her children slept in
+beds, and many, many more before their brawny limbs were covered with
+decent garments. She gave them regular and wholesome meals, following
+in this respect the rules most in vogue; but eating in her house was a
+melancholy ceremony nevertheless, a mere doling out of fodder, as it
+were, to human animals.
+
+So far as mental nourishment was concerned, Señana firmly believed
+that her husband's erudition, acquired by much miscellaneous reading,
+was amply sufficient to credit the whole family with learning, and for
+that reason she forbore to cram the minds of her progeny even with the
+amount of instruction which is given in schools. The elder ones helped
+her, and the youngest lived free of pedagogues, buried alive for twelve
+hours out of every twenty-four in brutalizing toil in the mines, so
+that the whole family swam at large and at leisure in the vast and
+stagnant ocean of dulness.
+
+The two girls, Mariuca and Pepina, were not destitute of charms, though
+youth and robust growth were the chief. One of them read fluently, but
+not the other, and, so far as knowledge of the world was concerned, it
+is easy to suppose that some rudimentary information, at least, was
+not lacking to girls who lived with a perfect chorus of nymphs of all
+ages and every grade of respectability--or the contrary--perpetually
+employed in mechanical work which left their tongues free to wag.
+Mariuca and Pepina were buxom and well grown, and as erect and strong
+as Amazons. They wore short petticoats, displaying half the calf of the
+leg which, as well as their broad feet, was bare, and their rough heads
+might have supported an architrave as stoutly as those of Caryatides.
+The russet dust of the iron ore which colored them from head to foot,
+like all in the mines, gave them the appearance of massive figures in
+terra-cotta.
+
+Tanasio was a lethargic being; his want of character and ambition
+verged on idiocy. Confined to the house from his earliest years,
+incapable of taking any exercise, of feeling either annoyance or
+pleasure, or of fulfilling any task, the boy, who was born to be a
+machine, had sunk into something not superior to the roughest tool.
+The day which found such a creature able to originate an idea, would
+infallibly see the total subversion of the order of nature; for,
+hitherto, no stone has been known to think.
+
+The relation of this family to their mother was that of abject
+submission on their part, and unlimited despotism on hers. The only
+child who ever dared to show symptoms of rebellion was the little
+one. Señana, with her narrow capacities, could not at all understand
+this diabolical ambition to be something better than a stone. Was
+there--did he suppose--any happier or more exemplary life than that of
+a stone? She would not admit that it might be changed, even for that
+of a rolling stone. Señana loved her children--but there are so many
+ways of loving. She placed them above every other consideration--so
+long as they submitted to work perpetually in the mines, to pour all
+their earnings into one bowl, to obey her blindly, to cherish no wild
+aspirations nor wish to appear in fine clothes, not to marry too
+young, nor to learn any mischievous trash and cram their heads with
+school-work, since "poor folks"--she would say--"must always remain
+poor and behave as such, and not be wanting to jabber in the style of
+the rich city folks, who were eaten up with vices and rotten with sin."
+
+I have described the manners and customs which prevailed in the
+Centeno's house in order that the reader may understand the life to
+which Nela was doomed, a helpless, forsaken creature, alone, useless,
+incapable of earning a day's wages; alike without a past and without a
+future, with no right to anything on earth beyond a bare subsistence.
+Señana gave her this, and firmly believed that her generosity was
+nothing short of heroic. Many a time would she say, as she filled
+Nela's little platter: "What a reward I am laying up for myself
+hereafter in Heaven!" And she believed it as if it were Gospel. No true
+light could penetrate her thick skull as to the saintly exercise of
+charity; she could never have understood that a kind word, a caress, a
+loving and gentle action, which may make a wretch forget his misery,
+are infinitely more precious--aye, and more heroic--than the broken
+meat left from a bad meal. It was but a chance that she did not give
+them to the cat, who, at least, was far more kindly spoken to. Nela
+never heard herself addressed as _michita_, little pet, precious
+darling--nor by any other of the sweet and endearing names that were
+lavished on the cat.
+
+Nothing ever suggested to Nela that she was born of human beings,
+like the other inhabitants of the house. She was never punished; but
+she felt that this immunity arose from their contemptuous pity for
+her feeble frame, and certainly not from any special esteem or care
+for her person. No one had ever taught her that she had a soul ready
+to bring forth good fruit if she cultivated it with care, nor that
+she bore within herself, like other mortals, that spark of the divine
+fire which is called human intelligence, and that this spark might be
+fanned to beneficent light and flame. No one had ever told her that
+her grotesque smallness included in itself the germ of every noble and
+delicate sentiment, and that those tiny buds might open out to lovely
+flowers, with no more cultivation than a herb that we glance at now and
+again. No one had told her that she had a right, by the very sternness
+of Nature in creating her, to certain tender cares which the strong can
+dispense with--the healthy and those who have parents and a home; since
+under the laws of Christian jurisprudence the helpless, the poor, the
+orphan, and the destitute, are all alike worthy of protection.
+
+On the other hand, everything combined to impress upon her, her
+absolute resemblance to a rolling stone, which has not even a shape of
+its own, but takes that which the waters give it or the kick of the man
+that spurns it. Everything told her that her place in the house was
+something below the cat, whose sleek back received the only caresses
+ever bestowed on anyone, and the blackbird that hopped about its cage.
+And of them, at any rate, no one said in heartless compassion: "Poor
+creature! it is a pity she did not die!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LABOR AND A LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES.
+
+
+The smoke of the furnaces, which all night through were wide awake and
+panting out their hot, hoarse breath, caught a silvery gleam as its
+wreaths rolled into the distance; the faint smile of dawn fell upon the
+remotest peaks of the mountains, and, by degrees, the hills that guard
+Socartes came out of the darkness, the huge slopes of rust-colored
+earth and the blackened buildings. The bell of the works rang out
+shrilly its call "to work, to work," and hundreds of sleepy souls came
+out of the houses, huts, hovels, holes even. Doors creaked on their
+hinges; the mules came reluctantly out of the stables, making their way
+to their watering-place, and the whole establishment, which had just
+now looked like a city of the dead lighted up by the infernal glare of
+the furnaces, came to life and began to stir its thousand arms.
+
+The steam soon was seething in the boilers of the great steam-engine,
+which supplied the motive power both for the workshops and the
+washing-mills. The water, which performed the principal part in the
+operations, began to flow through the raised conduits from which it
+fell on the cylinders. Files of men and women just risen from their
+beds, made their way down to the scene of labor, and at length the
+cylindrical sieves began to revolve with hideous groaning; the water
+rushed from one to the other, pulverizing the dark earth which tumbled
+on in muddy eddies and cataracts, from trough to trough, till it
+settled at last in a fine chocolate-brown powder. The sound was as of
+a thousand hungry jaws chewing grit and sand; the play of light on
+water and soil made it as dazzling as a kaleidoscope, and the clatter
+was like some enormous hollow drum, filled with pebbles and potsherds.
+It was impossible to look on without turning giddy at the incessant
+whirl of a vast skein, as it were, of threads of water, some clear and
+transparent, others stained red by the ferruginous clay; nor could any
+human brain that was not accustomed to the spectacle, picture to itself
+this mad struggle of toothed wheels which never ceased biting at each
+other, of cogs, that met, and caught, and rolled away again, of screws
+which, as they turned, shrieked in pitiless clamor for oil.
+
+The washing was all done in the open air. The connecting belts came
+humming down from the machinery sheds; other belts began to revolve,
+and at the same time a rhythmical stamping was heard, a slow and awful
+tramp like a giant's step, or a fearful throbbing inside mother earth.
+This was the great hammer which had begun to beat; its stupendous blows
+moulded the iron like a paste, and those huge wheels, and beams, which
+look as if made to last forever, began to twist and writhe like the
+limbs of men in torment, while the hammer, with its monotonous impact,
+created new forms as strong as the rocks which are the work of ages.
+For the results of labor have a strange resemblance to the results of
+patience.
+
+Men so black, that they look like hewn and animated coal, gathered
+round the fiery objects that were taken from the forges, and seizing
+them with those prolonged hands known as tongs, set to work to hammer
+them. It is a strange kind of sculpture, this, which has fire for
+its inspiring genius and a steam-hammer for its chisel. Wheels and
+axle-trees for thousands of trucks, and the damaged portions of the
+washing-machinery, were repaired here, and picks, spades and barrows
+were made. At the back of the workshops saws hissed through blocks of
+timber, and the iron, which had been formed for labor by fire of wood,
+now cut through the sturdy fibre of trees hewn by the axe from their
+native spot.
+
+Meanwhile, the mules had been harnessed to long trains of trucks which
+carried off the waste earth to add it to the slopes already made, or
+fetched the mineral to be washed. They looked like immense reptiles,
+crawling up and down to meet each other, and always passing close
+but without any jar or collision. They crept into the mouths of the
+tunnels, and their resemblance was really perfect to the wriggling
+creatures that shelter in such damp clefts and caves; and when the
+recalcitrant mules kicked and shied in the bowels of the earth, it was
+easy to fancy the Saurians were fighting and screaming at each other.
+In the deepest recesses of all, hundreds of men were tearing up the
+earth with picks, inch by inch, to win the hidden treasure; these were
+the sculptors of the strange and enormous figures which stood in awful
+gravity and silence to confront the man who should venture to invade
+their mysterious domain. The miners hewed down here, bored holes there,
+dug farther on in one place, scraped down the wall in another, broke
+up the limestone, chipped out the pretty flakes of mica and shale,
+pounded down the calcareous clay, picked out the hematite and pyrites,
+crushed the fine, white marble--rolling and stirring it incessantly
+till it should yield zinc silicate--for zinc may be called the silver
+of Europe, which, being a metal of which you cannot make saucepans,
+is destined to become the fount of wealth and civilization. Is it not
+on zinc that Belgium has hoisted her standard of moral and political
+greatness? Aye, tin even has its epic!
+
+The sky was clear and bright; the sun rose unclouded on the scene,
+and the wide settlement of Socartes flashed from dark neutrality into
+redness. The sculptured rocks, the heaps of ore, the hillocks of waste
+soil that rose on every side like Babylonian mounds, were red; the
+ground, the trucks and carts, the machinery, the water and the laborers
+that gave life to Socartes. The brick-colored tone was universal, with
+faint shades of difference in the earth and the houses, the metal and
+the people's garments. The women at work at the washing looked like a
+crowd of nymphs, come down in the world, and cast in red ironstone.
+A rivulet of crimson fluid ran through the bottom conduit to join a
+crimson river--you might fancy it the sweat of these toiling men and
+machines, of muscles and of iron.
+
+Nela stepped out of the house. Even she, though she did not work in
+the mines, was faintly tinged with the universal ruddle, for the
+finely-powdered metal spared no one. In her hand she held a hunch of
+bread which Señana had given her for breakfast, and as she ate it she
+walked on quickly, lost in thought and not lingering to amuse herself.
+She had soon passed the workshops and, going up the inclined plane and
+the steps before mentioned, she reached the houses of Aldeacorba. The
+first of these was a handsome and stately mansion, large, well-built,
+and cheerful looking, but lately restored and painted; with stone
+boundary walls, decorated eaves and a broad escutcheon surrounded
+by granite foliage. And the escutcheon itself would be less missed
+than the climbing vine, whose long and leafy branches looked like
+whiskers--growing, as whiskers do, on each side of a face, of which
+the two windows served as eyes, while the escutcheon was the nose and
+the long balcony the mouth, always widely grinning. And to complete
+this whimsical air of personality, a beam stuck out from the balcony
+intended to attach a rope to support an awning, and with this addition
+the face was seen as smoking a cigar. The roof was in the shape of a
+cap and in it there was a window that might represent the tassel. The
+chimneys could only be the ears. It was one of those faces in which a
+physiognomist reads plainly, peace of mind, ease of circumstance and a
+quiet conscience.
+
+In front of it was a little court-yard enclosed by a wall of adobe,
+and on one side was a pretty orchard. As Nela went in she met the cows
+coming out to pasture, and after exchanging a few words with their
+driver--a formidable youth, about four feet high and ten years old--she
+went straight up to a stout gentleman, whiskered, grey-haired and
+florid, with a kind face and pleasant smile, and a half-military and
+half-rustic air; he was in his shirt sleeves and braces, and his hairy
+arms were bared to the elbow. Before the little girl addressed him, he
+looked up at the house and called out: "Here is Nela, my boy!"
+
+A lad at once made his appearance, remarkably tall, grave and erect,
+his head held somewhat stiffly and his eyes fixed and vacant like
+lenses. His face was like marble, carved with exquisite sharpness, and
+his skin was as fine and soft as a girl's; there was not a feature or a
+line which was not of that supremely beautiful type of manliness which
+was the outcome of a thousand years of Hellenic thought. Those eyes
+even, so purely sculpturesque in their lack of sight, were large, grand
+and brilliant. Their fixity lost its strangeness when you remembered
+that behind them all was night. In the absence of the faculty which is
+the cause and origin of facial expression, this blind Antinous had the
+cold serenity of marble, endowed with form by the genius of sculpture
+and with life by a vital spark. A breath, a ray of warmth, a mere
+sensation would suffice to animate the beautiful stone which, while it
+possessed every charm of form, was devoid of that consciousness of its
+own beauty, which is born of the faculty of seeing it.
+
+He looked about twenty, and his strong and graceful frame was in
+every respect worthy of the incomparable head that crowned it. Never
+was a more lamentable injustice done by Nature, than to this perfect
+example of humanity as to beauty, blest, on one hand, with every
+gift, and bereft, on the other, of the sense by which man has most in
+common with his fellow-man and gains familiarity with all the marvels
+of creation at large. The injustice was such, that these splendid
+gifts were useless--it was as though after creating all things the
+Creator had left them in darkness, so that he could not himself take
+pleasure in his works. And to make the privation more conspicuous, the
+young man had mental lights of the highest order and a very superior
+intelligence. To have this and to lack the faculty of conceiving the
+idea of visibility, of form as distinct from mere matter, and at the
+same time to be as beautiful as an angel; to have all the faculties of
+a man and be as blind as a vegetable! It was strange and hard. We,
+alas! know not the secret of these terrible injustices; if we did,
+then indeed the gates would be open to us which hide the primordial
+secrets of moral and physical duty; we should understand the fathomless
+mysteries of inherited woe, of evil and of death, and might take
+measure of the dark shadow which always haunts life and all that is
+good in it.
+
+Don Francisco Penáguilas, the young man's father, was more than good,
+he was admirable; judicious, kind, genial, honorable and magnanimous,
+and well educated too. No one disliked him; he was the most respected
+of all the rich land-owners in the country side, and more than one
+delicate question had been settled by the mediation--always equitable
+and intelligent--of the _Señor de Aldeacorba de Suso_. The house in
+which we now find him had been the home of his infancy. In his youth
+he had been to America, and on returning to Spain without having made
+his fortune, he had joined the National Guard. He then returned to his
+native town where, having inherited a good fortune, he devoted himself
+to husbandry and to breeding cattle, and at the period of our story he
+had just come into another and even larger sum.
+
+His wife, who was an Andalusian, had died very young, leaving him
+the one son who, from his birth, was found to be deprived of the most
+precious of the five senses. This was the one drop which embittered
+the tender father's cup. What was the use of reminding him that he
+was wealthy, that fortune favored all his undertakings and smiled on
+his house? For whose sake did he care about it all? For one who could
+see neither the thriving beasts, the flowery meadows, the overflowing
+granaries, nor the orchard with its abundant crop. Don Francisco would
+gladly have given his own eyes to his son, and have remained blind for
+the rest of his days, if such an act of generosity were possible in
+this work-a-day world; but, as it was not, Don Francisco could only
+carry his devotion into practice by giving the hapless youth every
+pleasure which could alleviate the gloom of the darkness in which
+he lived. For him he was indefatigable in the cares and the endless
+trifling details of forethought and affection of which mothers have the
+secret--and fathers sometimes, when the mother is no more. He never
+contradicted his son in anything which might console or entertain
+him within the limits of propriety and morality. He amused him with
+narratives and reading, watched him with studious anxiety, considering
+his health, his legitimate amusements, his instruction and his
+Christian education; for, said Señor de Penáguilas, whose principles
+were strictly orthodox: "I would not have my son doubly blind."
+
+Now, as he came out of the house, he said affectionately:
+
+"Do not go too far to-day, and do not run--good-bye."
+
+He watched them from the gate till they had turned the corner of the
+garden wall, and then he went indoors, for he had many things to do; to
+write to his brother Manuel, to buy a cow, to prune a tree, and to see
+whether the guinea-hen had laid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ABSURDITIES.
+
+
+Pablo and Marianela went out into the country, preceded by Choto, who
+ran on and danced round them, leaping with delight, and sharing his
+caresses with great impartiality between his master and his master's
+guide.
+
+"Nela," said Pablo,--"it is a lovely day; the air is soft and fresh,
+and the sun warm without being scorching. Where shall we go?"
+
+"Let us go straight on through the meadows," replied Nela, poking her
+hand into one of the pockets of the lad's coat. "What have you brought
+me to-day?"
+
+"Search and you will find," said Pablo laughing.
+
+"Ah! Holy Virgin! chocolate! how I love chocolate!--nuts--and something
+done up in paper. What is it? Oh, Blessed Virgin! a sweetie! Do not I
+like sweeties! How rich I am! We do not have such good things to eat at
+home, Pablo. There is no luxury in our food; there is no luxury in our
+clothes either, to be sure. In fact, no luxury of any sort."
+
+"Where shall we go to-day?" repeated the blind lad.
+
+"Wherever you like, child of my heart," replied Nela, eating the
+sugar-plum and tearing up the paper it had been wrapped in. "I hear and
+obey, king of the world."
+
+The child's black eyes sparkled with happiness; her sprightly little
+birdlike face smiled and wrinkled with satisfaction, and was not still
+for an instant, as though fitful flashes came and went there like
+dimpling light on wavelets in a pool. This helpless little creature,
+whose spirit seemed imprisoned and confined in the feeble body,
+expanded and rose elastic when she was alone with her master and
+friend. With him she at once became original, bright and intelligent;
+she had feeling, grace, refinement and fancy. When she left him, the
+dark doors of a prison seemed to close on her once more.
+
+"But I tell you we will go wherever you like," remarked the blind
+youth. "I like to do what you like. If you wish we will go to the clump
+of trees beyond Saldeoro--but just as you like."
+
+"Yes, yes, delightful!" exclaimed Nela, clapping her hands. "And as
+there is no hurry, we can sit down whenever we are tired."
+
+"There is a nice place near the spring--do you remember, Nela? And
+there are some large tree-trunks, which seem to have been left there on
+purpose for us to sit upon, and we hear so many, many birds singing,
+that it is quite glorious."
+
+"And we can go past the mill-stream that, you say, talks and mumbles
+the words out like a tipsy man. Oh! what a lovely day and how happy I
+am!"
+
+"Is the sun very bright, Nela? Though if you say 'yes,' I shall be none
+the wiser, since _bright_ has no meaning for me."
+
+"It is very bright indeed, _Señorito mio_. But what does it matter
+that you cannot see it? The sun is not at all pretty; you cannot look
+in its face."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because it hurts."
+
+"Hurts what?"
+
+"Hurts the eyes. How do you feel when you are happy?"
+
+"When I am out with you, just we two together in the fields?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh! I feel inside me a sort of freshness, a springing up of something
+sweet and soothing...."
+
+"That is just it; now you know how the sun shines bright."
+
+"What with freshness?"
+
+"No, no--silly boy."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Oh, like that."
+
+"Like that? But what is that?"
+
+"Like that," Nela insisted again.
+
+"I see, it is a thing that cannot be explained in words. Do you know I
+used to have a notion of day and of night. It was daytime when people
+talked, it was night when people were silent and the cocks crowed. Now
+I estimate it differently; it is day when you and I are together, and
+it is night when we are apart."
+
+"Ah, Holy Mother!" exclaimed the girl, shaking back the elf-locks that
+hung over her forehead.--"To me, who can see, it is exactly the same."
+
+"I mean to ask my father to let you come and live in our house, so that
+I may always have you with me."
+
+"Good, good!" cried Marianela clapping her hands once more. And as she
+spoke, she skipped on a little way in front and picking up her skirts
+with a great deal of grace began to dance.
+
+"What are you about?" asked the blind boy.
+
+"Child of my heart, I am dancing, I felt so happy that I thought I must
+dance."
+
+However, they now had to get over a little fence, and she slipped her
+hand into his. After surmounting this obstacle, they went along a lane
+hedged in on each side by luxuriant ivy and brambles. Nela held the
+branches back that they might not scratch her companion's face, and at
+last, after going down-hill for a considerable time, they went up a
+slope shaded by chestnut and walnut trees. When they had reached the
+top Pablo said:
+
+"If you do not mind we will sit down here. I hear some people going
+past."
+
+"They are the people returning from the market at Homedes. To-day is
+Wednesday. The high-road runs just below and we can rest here before
+going on."
+
+"It is the best thing we can do. Choto, come here."
+
+The trio seated themselves.
+
+"The place is full of flowers," said Nela. "What beauties!"
+
+"Pick me some. Though I cannot see them, I like to hold them in my
+hand. I fancy I can hear them."
+
+"Here are some lovely ones."
+
+"As I hold them in my hand I fancy that they make me feel and
+understand--I cannot tell you how--that they are pretty and gay. There
+is something inside me, that they seem to belong to, and that answers
+to them. Do you know, Nela, I fancy that I can really see, inside, as
+it were."
+
+"Oh! yes, I quite understand--we have everything inside us there. The
+sun, the flowers, the moon and wide blue sky, with all the stars--we
+have them all there; I mean that besides all the beautiful things
+outside us, and around us, we carry others with us in our minds. Here
+you have a flower--and another, and another--six, all quite different.
+Now, what do you think flowers are?"
+
+"Flowers," said the blind youth, puzzled and lifting them to his face.
+"Flowers are I fancy as if the earth smiled; but, in truth, I know very
+little about plants and flowers."
+
+"Merciful Mother! what terrible ignorance!" cried Nela, stroking her
+friend's hands. "Flowers are the stars of the earth."
+
+"What an extravagant fancy! And what are the stars then?"
+
+"The stars are the eyes of those who have gone to Heaven and look down
+on us."
+
+"Well, but then the flowers...."
+
+"Are the eyes of those who are dead and have not gone straight to
+Heaven," said the girl, with all the decision and conviction of a
+Doctor of Theology. "The dead are buried in the ground; but as they
+cannot lie still there without just peeping out at the world, they put
+forth something which takes the form of a flower. When, in a field
+there are many, many flowers, it is because--once upon a time, long
+ago, a great many people were buried there."
+
+"No, no," said Pablo very seriously. "Do not believe such nonsense. Our
+holy religion teaches us that the spirit quits the flesh and that our
+mortal life comes to an end. What is buried, Nela, is a mere shell of
+useless clay which can neither think, nor feel, nor even see."
+
+"The books say so--but Señana says that books are full of lies."
+
+"But faith and reason say so too, dear Nela. Your imagination makes you
+believe a number of foolish things, but by degrees I will show you your
+errors, and you will have true and right ideas about everything in this
+world and the other."
+
+"Aye, aye! I know, lessons at three for a penny!--And you wanted to
+make me believe that the sun stands still and the earth spins round and
+round it! How can you know, you who cannot see. Merciful Heaven! May I
+die on the spot, if the earth is not as steady as a rock and the sun
+running on. _Señorito mio_, I do not set up for learning, but I have
+spent many hours of the day and night in looking at the sky, and I know
+how the machine works.--The earth is below and full of islands, some
+large and some small. The sun comes up on this side and goes down out
+there. It is God Almighty's palace."
+
+"Foolish child!"
+
+"But why not? Ah! you have never seen a fine day and clear sky; why,
+child, you could fancy blessing was dropping down from it. I do not
+think there could be wicked people--nobody could be wicked--if they
+would only turn up their faces and see the great eye that looks down
+upon us."
+
+"Your religion is full of superstition, my little Nela. I will teach
+you something better."
+
+"Nobody has taught me anything," said María very simply. "But I myself,
+whoever may object, have found out in my own head a great many ideas
+that comfort me, and so when a good idea occurs to me, I say: 'Of
+course, it must be so; it cannot be otherwise.' At night, when I am
+alone at home, I wonder what will become of us when we die, and I think
+how much the Holy Virgin loves us."
+
+"Yes, she is our loving Mother."
+
+"And I look up at the sky and I feel her close over my head, just as
+when you go up to any one, you feel the warmth of their breath. She
+looks at us night and day through all the lovely things there are in
+the world--do not laugh at me."
+
+"Those lovely things...?"
+
+"Are her eyes, of course. Oh! you would understand it if you had eyes
+yourself. You have not seen a white cloud, a tree, a flower, running
+water, a little child, a little lamb, the sparkling dew, the moon
+sailing across the sky, and the stars, which are the eyes of the good
+men who are dead...."
+
+"They would not want to go up there if they lie under the ground
+throwing out flowers."
+
+"Only hear this all-knowing fellow! Why they stay down there only till
+they are purified of sin, and then they mount and fly up there. Yes,
+I believe it, simpleton. Why, what can the stars be if they are not
+the souls of those who are saved? Do not you know that stars sometimes
+come down? I, I myself, have seen them fall; down, down, leaving a ray
+of light behind them. Yes, Señor, the stars come down when they have
+something to tell us here below."
+
+"Oh, Nela!" Pablo exclaimed eagerly. "Your wild imaginings, absurd as
+they are, charm and captivate me, for they betray the innocence of your
+soul and the strength of your fancy. All your errors even are part of
+an earnest disposition to know the truth, and of great gifts, which
+would be very superior talents if they were cultivated by reason and
+education. You must acquire one precious accomplishment of which I am
+deprived--you must positively learn to read."
+
+"To read!--And who is to teach me?"
+
+"My father will; I will ask him to teach you. You know he never refuses
+me anything. What a pity it is you should live in such a wretched way;
+your mind is a mine of treasures. You are goodness and sweetness
+itself and have a lovely imagination. God has given you a large share
+of all the gifts that are in his store and part of himself; I know
+it well--I cannot see what is outside, but I can see within, and I
+know all the wonders of your spirit that you have shown me since you
+have been my guide.--It is a year and a half now, and it seems like
+yesterday, that we first began our walks together--and yet, no; I
+have known you a thousand years. How is it that there is such a close
+relationship between your feelings and mine? Just now, for instance,
+you have talked all sorts of extravagant nonsense, and I, who know the
+truth about the world and religion, I was stirred to enthusiasm as I
+listened to you. I feel as if it were a voice speaking in my own heart."
+
+"Holy Mother!" exclaimed the girl, folding her hands. "And can he see
+something else that I feel?"
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That I was put into the world expressly to be your _lazarillo_, and
+that my eyes would be of no use at all, if it were not to guide you and
+to tell you how beautiful the world is."
+
+The blind boy turned his head suddenly and eagerly, and putting out his
+hands to touch the child by his side, he said anxiously:
+
+"Tell me, Nela--what are you like?"
+
+But Nela did not answer; the question was a stab to her heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MORE ABSURDITIES.
+
+
+By this time they were rested, and they went on till they reached the
+beginning of the grove beyond Saldeoro. Here they turned off into a
+clump of ancient walnut trees, of which the trunks and roots made
+a sort of step-ladder in the soil, with mossy hollows and backs so
+perfect for seats, that the hand of man could have made no better. From
+the top of the slope trickled a thread of water, tumbling from stone
+to stone, till it fell exhausted into a little basin constructed to be
+a reservoir to feed the conduit by which the neighboring houses were
+supplied. Before them the land sloped gently away, affording a lovely
+panorama of green hills with scattered groves and villas, and meadow
+plains where hundreds of cattle grazed and wandered peacefully. Quite
+in the background, between two lofty heights which were the farthest
+limit of the land, lay a wide segment of purely blue sea. It was such a
+landscape as makes a man feel to the utmost his relations to infinity
+and eternity.
+
+Pablo had seated himself on the trunk of a tree, resting his left arm
+on the edge of the basin; with his right hand he pulled at the boughs
+which hung low enough to touch his forehead, on which now and again the
+sunbeams played, as the boughs stirred.
+
+"What are you doing, Nela?" asked he, after a pause, not hearing the
+steps, the voice, nor even the breathing of his companion. "What are
+you about, and where are you?"
+
+"Here I am," said Nela, laying her hand on his shoulder. "I was looking
+at the sea."
+
+"Ah! it must be a long way off."
+
+"It is visible between the hills of Ficóbriga."
+
+"Very large--immensely large--so wide that you might look all day, and
+not have done looking--is it not?"
+
+"There is only a piece to be seen from here--like the bit you cut off
+with your teeth when you put a slice of bread in your mouth."
+
+"Yes, yes--I understand. Every one says there is nothing in the world
+so beautiful as the sea, because it is so grandly simple.--Listen,
+Nela, to what I am going to say--but what are you doing?" Nela had
+grasped a bough of the tree with both hands, and was swinging by it
+lightly and gracefully.
+
+"Here I am, _Señorito mio_. I was wondering why God should not give us
+human creatures wings to fly like birds. How delightful it would be
+just to give a flap and a whisk, and up we should go, and in one flight
+we should be at the top of that peak between Ficóbriga and the sea."
+
+"But though God has not given us wings he has given us thought
+instead, which flies faster than any bird, since it can fly up to God
+himself.--Tell me, child, of what good would wings be to me, if God had
+denied me the gift of thought?"
+
+"But I should like to have both. And if I had wings I would pick you
+up in my little beak to take you out of this world, and carry you up
+ever so much higher than the clouds." The blind lad put out his hand to
+stroke Nela's hair.
+
+"Sit down by me; are you not tired?"
+
+"Just a little," she said, sitting down and laying her head with
+childlike confidence on her master's shoulder.
+
+"You are breathing fast, Nelilla, you are very tired; it is with trying
+to fly.--Well, what I want to say to you is this: Talking of the sea
+put me in mind of a thing my father read to me last night. You know
+that ever since I was old enough, my father has been in the habit of
+reading to me every evening different books of science, or history,
+or art, or mere amusement. I might say that these readings make up
+all I know of life. The Lord, to compensate me for being blind, has
+given me a very good memory, and it has turned these readings to good
+account; for though there has been no regular method in them, I have
+contrived to put some order into the ideas that have penetrated to my
+understanding. How I have enjoyed listening and learning about the
+admirable laws and order of the universe, the harmonious circling of
+the stars, the motion of atoms, and above all, those grand principles
+which govern our souls and minds. I have enjoyed history too, which is
+a true account of all the things men have done in former times; for
+though, my child, they have always done the same wicked and foolish
+things, they have nevertheless gone on improving, some of them doing
+their utmost--but without ever succeeding--to attain that perfection
+which belongs to God alone. And finally, my father has read me some
+deeper and more mysterious things that cannot be understood at once,
+but when they are thought over and considered they occupy and charm
+the mind. He does not enjoy that sort of reading very much, as he does
+not altogether follow it, and it has tired me sometimes, while at
+other times it has delighted me. And there is no doubt that when you
+have an author who explains himself clearly, such subjects are very
+interesting. They deal with cause and effect, the rationale of all we
+think, and how we think, and teach us about the essential nature of
+things."
+
+Nela did not seem to understand a single word of what her friend was
+saying, but she listened attentively with her mouth wide open; to
+inhale, if possible, the essences and causes of which her master was
+discoursing, opening her beak like a bird watching the movements of a
+fly he wants to catch.
+
+"Well, then," he went on, "last night he was reading me some pages
+about Beauty. The author, in discussing Beauty, said that it was the
+outcome and radiance of goodness and truth, with many other ingenious
+comparisons so well thought out and expressed, that it was a pleasure
+to listen."
+
+"And was that book," said Nela, anxious to prove herself equal to the
+occasion, "like one father Centeno has.... _The thousand and I don't
+know how many nights_?"
+
+"No, no, goose-cap; it is a book on Beauty in the abstract, you will
+not understand--on ideal Beauty--and yet you must understand that
+there is a sort of Beauty which cannot be seen, nor touched, nor
+perceived by any of our senses."
+
+"For example, like the Virgin Mary," interrupted Nela, "whom we cannot
+see nor touch, because her pictures are not herself, but only her
+likeness."
+
+"You are quite right; it is just like that. Thinking over this, my
+father shut the book, and talked of one thing and another. We spoke
+then of beauty of form, and my father said: 'This unfortunately you can
+never understand.' But I said I could. I said that there could only be
+one type, and that would apply to all."
+
+Nela, caring little enough for such subtleties, had taken the flowers
+out of her companion's hands, and was arranging their colors to her
+taste.
+
+"I have a clear idea about this," the blind lad went on, vehemently,
+"an idea that I have been quite in love with for some months. Yes, I
+am sure, quite sure of it; I want no eyes to see that, and I said to
+my father, I have an ideal of enchanting beauty, a type which includes
+every possible perfection, and that type is Nela. My father began to
+laugh, and said 'yes.'"
+
+Nela turned as scarlet as a poppy, and could not answer a word. During
+a short spasm of terror and pain, she felt as if the blind boy were
+looking at her.
+
+"Yes, you are the most perfect beauty imaginable," Pablo went on,
+eagerly. "How could it be possible that your goodness, and innocence,
+and freshness and grace--your imagination, your sweet and lovely soul,
+which have all combined to enliven and comfort my dark and melancholy
+life--how, I say, could it be possible that they should not be embodied
+in a person as lovely? Nela, Nela," and his voice trembled with
+anxiety.--"Tell me--are you not beautiful--very pretty?"
+
+Nela was silent; she instinctively put her hands up, and stuck into her
+hair some of the half-faded flowers she had gathered in the meadows.
+
+"You will not say? You are modest. Indeed, if you were not, you would
+not be the sweet little soul that you are; the logic of Beauty would be
+at fault, and that cannot be. You do not answer?"
+
+"I ..." murmured Nela timidly, not ceasing her occupation, "I do not
+know--they say that I was very pretty as a baby--but now...."
+
+"You are still?"
+
+María, in her utter confusion, could only say:
+
+"Now--well, you know that people talk nonsense--and make stupid
+mistakes--sometimes those who have eyes see least."
+
+"Yes indeed, well said! Come here and kiss me."
+
+Nela did not instantly obey, for having succeeded in fixing a sort of
+garland of flowers in her hair, she now felt an eager wish to see the
+effect of the adornment in the clear mirror of the reservoir. For the
+first time in her life she felt an impulse of vanity, and leaning on
+her hands, she bent over the basin.
+
+"What are you doing?" asked the blind lad.
+
+"I am looking at myself in the water, which is just like a
+looking-glass," she replied, confessing her vanity with perfect
+simplicity.
+
+"You need not do that. You are as lovely as the angels round the throne
+of God." He had fired himself with enthusiastic imaginings.
+
+"The water is ruffled now," said the girl, "and I cannot see myself
+plainly. It is trembling as much as I am. There, now it is quieter, now
+it is still again.--I can see myself now, very well."
+
+"And see how pretty you are! Come here, my child?" added the blind
+youth, holding out his arms.
+
+"I ... pretty!" she said, in anxious confusion. "Well, what I see in
+the pool is not so ugly as they say. The fact is, there are a great
+many people who do not know how to see."
+
+"Aye, a great many."
+
+"If only I were dressed as other girls are!" exclaimed Nela, with a
+touch of pride.
+
+"You shall be."
+
+"And the book said I was beautiful?" asked Nela, appealing to every
+source of conviction.
+
+"I say so, and I always speak the truth!" cried the boy, carried away
+by his eager imagination.
+
+"Maybe it is so," said Nela, moving away from her not too flattering
+contemplation. "Maybe that men are very stupid, and do not see things
+as they really are."
+
+"Human nature is liable to a thousand errors."
+
+"I do believe it," said Mariquilla, greatly comforted by her friend's
+words. "What can they see to laugh at in me?"
+
+"Oh! how miserable is the lot of man!" cried the blind boy, driven to
+wild absurdity by his raving fancy. "The gift of sight may lead him
+into many errors--may betray him into a misapprehension of abstract
+truth--and abstract truth proves that you are beautiful, without any
+stain or blemish of ugliness. If any one tells me the contrary, I will
+give him the lie. Away with their theories of form. Oh, fool! into
+what sins your eyes may mislead you! Nela, come here, I want to have
+you by my side and kiss your beloved head."
+
+She threw herself into his arms.
+
+"Sweet, lovely darling!" he exclaimed, clasping her passionately to his
+breast. "With all my soul I love you!"
+
+Nela did not speak. Her heart was full of innocent and tender devotion,
+overflowing with pure delight. The youth, trembling and throbbing, held
+her more closely than ever, saying:
+
+"I love you more than my life. Angel of God, love me too or I shall
+die!"
+
+María freed herself from his embrace, and he remained lost in
+bewilderment. She, the tiny woman, felt an overwhelming and
+irresistible impulse to look at her face once more in the water. She
+gently stole up to the edge, and there against the green background
+she saw the insignificant little face, with its black eyes, its dull
+coloring, its sharp nose--not altogether ugly that nose--the short,
+unkempt hair, and the birdlike, eager expression. She leaned farther
+over the stone brim to see her body; it was pitiably made and mean. The
+flowers in her hair fell into the water, making circles in it, and the
+image wavered. She, poor child, felt as if her heart were being torn
+up by the roots, and she staggered backwards, murmuring:
+
+"Mother of God! how hideous I am!"
+
+"What are you saying, Nela? I thought you spoke."
+
+"I did not say anything--son of my soul.--I was only thinking.--Yes, it
+is high time we should turn homewards. It will soon be dinner-time."
+
+"Well, come along, you shall dine with me, and bye-and-by we will go
+out again. Give me your hand; I will not have you leave me."
+
+When they reached home, Don Francisco was in the forecourt with two
+other gentlemen; Marianela recognized the engineer of the mines and the
+stranger who had lost his way in La Terrible the night before.
+
+"Here are the _Señor ingeniero_," said she, "and his brother--the
+gentleman of last evening."
+
+All three men gazed with evident interest at the blind youth as he
+approached.
+
+"We have been expecting you some time, my son," said the father, taking
+his hand and introducing him to the doctor.
+
+"Let us go indoors," said the engineer.
+
+"Blessings on all men of science with good hearts!" exclaimed Don
+Francisco, turning to the doctor. "Walk in, gentlemen; happy is the
+hour when you enter my house."
+
+"Now, let us study the case," murmured Golfin.
+
+When Pablo and the two visitors had gone in, Don Francisco turned to
+Mariquilla, who was standing transfixed and doubtful in the middle of
+the court-yard, and said kindly:
+
+"You see, Nela, you may as well go home. My son will not be able to go
+out this afternoon." And then, seeing that still she did not move, he
+added:
+
+"You may run round to the kitchen. Dorotea will give you something
+nice."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+AND YET MORE.
+
+
+The following day Pablo and his guide set out at the same hour; but,
+as the sky was overcast and a disagreeable breeze was blowing which
+threatened to become a south-westerly gale, they decided on making
+their walk a short one. Crossing the village green of Aldeacorba, they
+went along the great slope above the mines to the west, intending to
+go down into the excavations.
+
+"Nela, I must tell you something that will make you leap with joy,"
+said the blind lad when they were at some distance from the house. "My
+heart is bursting with happiness.--I feel as if the whole Universe, all
+the sciences, history, philosophy, natural history--all that I have
+ever learnt had got inside me, and was dancing in procession. You saw
+those two gentlemen who were waiting for me yesterday...."
+
+"Don Cárlos and his brother...."
+
+"He is a famous doctor who has been all over America, making wonderful
+cures.--He is come to see his brother, and as Don Cárlos is a great
+friend of my father's, he asked his brother to examine me. How kind
+and gentle he is! First he sat talking to me; he asked me a number
+of questions, and told me all sorts of pleasant and amusing stories.
+Then he told me to sit quite still; I felt his fingers on my eyelids,
+and after a long time he said something I did not understand--medical
+terms, and my father never read me anything about medicine. Then he
+led me close to the window, and while he examined my eyes with some
+instrument the room was as quiet.--Then he said to my father: "It is
+worth trying." They said more, but in a low voice that I might not
+hear, and I think they talked partly by signs. When the visitors were
+gone, my father said to me: 'Son of my soul, I cannot conceal from you
+the joy that is in me. This man, this angel from Heaven, has given
+me a hope--a very faint hope--but we cling most to a hope when it is
+smallest. I try to give it up by telling myself it is impossible--no,
+almost impossible--but it sticks to me like a burr.'--This was what my
+father said, and I could hear in his voice that he was crying. What are
+you doing, Nela? Are you dancing?"
+
+"No.--Here I am, close to you!"
+
+"But you used to dance when I told you anything that made me happy.
+Where shall we go to-day?"
+
+"It is a dull day--we will go as far as Trascava, that is a sheltered
+spot, and then go down into La Terrible."
+
+"Very well, just as you like.--Oh, Nela! If only it could be true; if
+God would have pity on me, and grant me the joy of seeing you. Even
+if I could only see for one day, and were blind again the next, how I
+would thank Him."
+
+Nela said nothing. After feeling at first intensely happy, she now
+walked on thoughtfully, with her eyes fixed on the ground.
+
+"Many wonderful things happen in the world," Pablo went on. "And God's
+mercy works in strange ways--strikes as suddenly as his wrath. It comes
+upon us unexpectedly, after long punishment and torment, just as his
+anger falls on us in the midst of happiness which has seemed secure and
+eternal--do you not think so?"
+
+"Yes--what you hope will be accomplished."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"My heart tells me so."
+
+"Your heart tells you! And why should not such warnings come true?"
+cried Pablo, fervently. "Yes--such chosen souls as yours can, in some
+cases, foresee the issue. I have noticed it in myself, for, as I am
+not diverted from self-inspection by seeing things outside me, I have
+perceived sometimes that I had a whispered presentiment that was quite
+inexplicable. Then when some event or other has come to pass, I have
+said to myself with astonishment: 'I knew all this beforehand.'"
+
+"The same thing happens to me," replied Nela. "Yesterday you told me
+you loved me dearly, and when I got home I said to myself: 'It is very
+strange, but I knew something of this.'"
+
+"It is wonderful, dear little one, how perfectly our souls are one.
+United by our own wish and will, nothing is wanting but a bond of
+union. That bond shall be tied if I really gain the precious sense
+that I have never enjoyed. The idea of seeing would never have taken
+possession of my mind if I did not cherish above all things the idea
+that through it I should love you better. The acquisition of that power
+can be nothing to me but the faculty of admiring in a new kind of way
+what I already admire so truly by the way of love.--But I fancy you are
+sad to-day."
+
+"Yes, I am; and to tell you the truth, I do not know why. I am very
+happy and very sad, both at once. The day is so gloomy--it would be
+better if it never were day at all, always night."
+
+"Nay, nay, things are good as they are. Day and night! If God ever
+grant me to know the difference, how happy I shall be! Why are you
+stopping?"
+
+"We have come to a dangerous bit. We must turn aside a little way to
+get to the path."
+
+"Ah! La Trascava! This slippery grass slopes down till it is lost in
+the chasm. Whatever falls down there does not come up again. Let us go
+away, Nela; I do not like this place."
+
+"Silly boy, it is a long way from this to the mouth of the chasm. And
+it is very pretty here to-day."
+
+Nela stood still and detained her companion by the arm, looking down
+at the mouth of the gulf which opened in the earth, in shape like a
+funnel. The sloping sides of this narrow, deep basin were covered by
+extremely fine turf; at the very bottom a large oblong rock lay on the
+grass among brambles, fennel shrubs and rushes, and an immense variety
+of gay-colored flowers. The stone looked like a large tongue. You felt,
+rather than saw, that by the side of it there was an opening, an abyss,
+hidden by plants, such as Don Quixote had to cut away when he slid into
+the cavern of Montesinos.
+
+Nela seemed never tired of looking.
+
+"Why do you say that the horrible Trascava looks pretty?" asked Pablo.
+
+"Because it is so full of flowers. Last week they were all dead and
+over, but now they have bloomed afresh, and it really is lovely to
+look at. And there are such numbers of birds there, and of butterflies
+too, sucking honey from the flowers. Choto, Choto, come here--do not
+frighten the poor little birds."
+
+The dog, who had run down the slope, came galloping back at Nela's
+call, and the fluttering republic of birds returned to take possession
+of their common property.
+
+"I have a perfect horror of the place," said Pablo, pulling the girl's
+arm. "Now, shall we go as far as the mines? I know the way there, and
+feel on my own ground; we will go round behind el Barco.--Choto, go on
+in front, do not get under my feet."
+
+They went down a path cut into steps and soon reached the basin formed
+by digging out the earth and ore. Leaving the zone of vegetation,
+they suddenly crossed the boundary line of a geological zone, so to
+speak, an enormous trench, whose sides, wrought by the pick and shovel,
+displayed an interesting section of stratification, where the different
+layers showed the greatest variety of colors and earths. This was the
+place where Teodoro Golfin had fancied himself in the hull of a wrecked
+vessel, worn away by the waves--and its popular name _el Barco_ (the
+ship), had been suggested by that very resemblance. By day, however,
+the spectator was chiefly struck by the sections of the strata with
+their sulphurous and carboniferous veins, black sedimentary deposits,
+lignites, in which jet frequently occurred, streaks of ferruginous
+earth that looked as if they had been mixed with blood, and large,
+even layers of slate, split in a thousand places by human devices,
+bristling with splinters and riven into fissures and clefts, looking
+like wounds seen through a strong magnifier; while a thread of water,
+stained with oxide of iron, that flowed down the middle, might be taken
+for blood.
+
+"Where is our seat?" asked the young man. "Let us go there; we shall be
+sheltered from the wind."
+
+Out of the bottom of the great cutting they went up by a rough
+foot-path, that had been made between broken stones and earth overgrown
+with rank fennel, and at the top they sat down under the shelter of
+an enormous crag, rent across the middle. The two halves of the rock,
+standing opposite each other, with their jagged faces, looked for all
+the world like two yawning jaws trying to meet and close.
+
+"How pleasant it is here!" Pablo said. "Sometimes there is a
+disagreeable draught through this chasm, but I do not feel it to-day.
+What we hear is the trickling water down inside the bowels of La
+Trascava."
+
+"It is very quiet to-day," observed Nela. "Would you like to lie down?"
+
+"That is a good idea! Last night I could not sleep, for thinking of
+all my father had said to me, of the doctor, of my eyes.--All night I
+felt as if a hand went into my eyes and opened a closed and moss-grown
+door." As he spoke he stretched himself at full length and laid his
+head on Nela's knees.
+
+"A door," he went on, "which was quite in my inmost feeling, opened,
+as I tell you, showing a way into a room where the idea that haunts me
+was shut up. Oh! Nela of my heart, best beloved, idolized darling, if
+only God would grant me the sense I lack. Then I should think myself
+the happiest of men--for I am almost that already, merely from having
+you to be the friend and companion of my life. Very little is needed
+to make us two one--nothing but to see you and rejoice in your beauty,
+with that joy in seeing which I cannot even comprehend, since I have
+only a vague conception of it. I have a questioning spirit only because
+I have no power to see for myself. I fancy it will be like a new way
+of loving you. I think of nothing but your beauty, still, there is
+something in it which I cannot realize as my own."
+
+"Hark!" said Nela suddenly, with evident interest in something quite
+distinct from what her friend was saying. "Do not you hear?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Down in there--La Trascava--it is talking."
+
+"Superstitious child! water cannot talk, my Nela. What language could a
+driblet of water speak? There are but two things which speak, my sweet:
+the tongue and the conscience."
+
+"And La Trascava," said Nela, turning paler. "It is a whisper only:
+'Yes, yes, yes,' it says. And sometimes I can hear my mother's voice,
+saying quite plainly. 'My little girl, it is very pleasant down here.'"
+
+"It is all your fancy. Well, fancy talks too; I forgot that. My
+imagination sometimes chatters so fast, that I have to tell it to be
+silent. Its voice is loud, persistent, intolerable; that of conscience
+is deep, calm, convincing; there is no answering or refuting it."
+
+"Now it sounds as if it were crying," said Nela, still listening to the
+bubbling water. "It is dying away little by little."
+
+Suddenly a light gust came up from the chasm.
+
+"There, it sighed deeply--did not you hear? Now I hear the voice again;
+it is speaking low, and it says to me in a whisper, a tiny whisper in
+my ear...."
+
+"Well, what does it say?"
+
+"Nothing," said María shortly, after a pause. "You say it is all
+nonsense--you may be right."
+
+"I will get all these absurd ideas out of your head," said the blind
+youth taking her hand. "We are going to live together all our lives.
+Oh! Heavenly Father! If I am never to enjoy the blessing of which
+Thou didst deprive me at my birth, why hast Thou allowed me to hope?
+Hapless wretch that I am, if I am not born anew under the hands of
+Doctor Golfin. A new birth indeed--a new life! Oh! my darling, I swear
+to you by the image of God that exists in my soul, glorious, real and
+immutable, that you and I will never part by my will. I shall have
+eyes, Nela, eyes to delight in your presence, and then I will marry
+you. You will be my beloved wife--life of my life, and the joy and
+pride of my soul.--And do you say nothing to this even?"
+
+Nela bent her head down over the lad's handsome face; she wished to
+speak, but could not for emotion.
+
+"And if God will not after all vouchsafe me this mercy," added Pablo,
+"still you will not leave me, still you will be my wife--unless it
+horrifies you to think of marrying a blind man. Indeed, my dearest, I
+ought not to inflict such a burden on you. You will meet some good
+man who will love you, and who will make you happy. Your wonderful
+kindness, your noble feelings, your sweet face, must win many hearts
+and inspire the purest love in all who have to do with you--your future
+cannot fail to be bright and happy. I swear to you that I shall love
+you as long as I live; seeing or blind, I devote myself to you before
+God in the fullest, most perfect, and most unbounded love.--Will you
+not speak to me, Nela?"
+
+"Yes--I love you dearly--very, very dearly ..." said Nela, putting her
+face close to his. "But do not be anxious to see me. Perhaps I am not
+so nice as you fancy."
+
+As she spoke, Nela felt in her pocket and brought out a piece of
+silvered glass, a dull and useless fragment of a cheap mirror, which
+had been broken a week since in the Centeno household. In this she
+looked at herself. The image was all awry, and in consequence of the
+small size of the looking-glass she was obliged to study it a bit at
+a time, first one eye and then her forehead, till, holding it farther
+off, she could command a view of half her face at once. But alas! the
+result of her investigations was sad enough--as she looked in the
+glass, the tears started from her eyes.
+
+"Nela, I felt a drop on my forehead--it is raining."
+
+"Yes, my child, it seems to be raining," said Nela with a gulping sob.
+
+"No--you are crying.--Something in my heart tells me so. You are
+goodness itself; your soul and mine are united by some divine and
+mysterious bond; they can never be parted--is it not true? they are two
+halves of one whole.--Are they not?"
+
+"Quite true."
+
+"Your tears give me a plainer answer than words could. You love me do
+you not, and will always love me, just the same whether I recover my
+sight or remain blind?"
+
+"The same, just the same!" cried Nela vehemently.
+
+"And will always stay with me?"
+
+"Always."
+
+"Then listen," cried the blind lad in passionate rapture. "If I had to
+choose between remaining blind and losing you, I would choose...."
+
+"You would choose to remain blind! Oh! merciful Mother of Heaven! how
+happy--how happy I am!"
+
+"I would choose not to see your sweet face with these eyes, for I can
+see it in my soul as clearly as truth. You live here, in my heart, and
+to me you are more lovely and enchanting than anything on earth."
+
+"Oh! yes, yes," cried Nela half-crazed. "I must be beautiful--I must be
+lovely!"
+
+"Listen," said Pablo, "I have a presentiment, a sure anticipation. It
+is as though the voice of God within me promised me that I should have
+my sight, that I shall see you, that we shall be happy. Do you not feel
+it yourself?"
+
+"I--yes, I feel sure you will see...."
+
+"I shall see your face--what happiness!" cried the blind boy in the
+high-pitched ecstatic tone, which was peculiar to him in moments of
+excitement.--"But I see it already, I see it now in my heart as plainly
+as the truth in my soul."
+
+"Yes, yes, oh! yes," Nela repeated wildly, with wide-open eyes and
+quivering lips. "It is true, I am, I must be, beautiful!"
+
+"Bless you, sweet one!"
+
+"And you," she said gravely, kissing his forehead. "Now, are you not
+sleepy?"
+
+"Yes, I am beginning to be sleepy. I did not sleep all night. And I am
+so comfortable here."
+
+"Then sleep, my child...."
+
+And she began to sing a lullaby. In a few minutes he was asleep; but
+Nela sat listening to the voice of La Trascava, which said: "Daughter
+come ... daughter come."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BROTHERS GOLFIN.
+
+
+Teodoro Golfin did not waste his time at Socartes. The first day
+after his arrival he spent several hours in his brother's laboratory,
+and during the following days he went from one part of the mines to
+another, examining and admiring all he saw--here the awful might of
+natural forces, and there the power and enterprise of human skill. At
+night, when all was still in the busy village, and nothing was awake
+but the snorting furnaces, the worthy doctor, who was an enthusiastic
+musician, listened with delight to his sister-in-law's piano; Señora
+Sofía, was Don Cárlos' wife, but their children were all dead.
+
+The two brothers were devotedly attached to each other. Born in the
+humblest rank of life, they had struggled hard in early youth to rise
+above ignorance and poverty, often on the point of giving way to the
+difficulties that beset them; but the impetus of manly determination
+was so strong in them, that at length, gasping for breath, they
+reached the longed-for land, rising superior to the beating waves
+in which vulgar souls splash and struggle in a perpetual state of
+shipwreck.
+
+Teodoro, who was the eldest, was a medical man before Cárlos was
+qualified as an engineer, and he helped him to the utmost so long as
+the younger brother needed it, and when he saw him fairly started, he
+took the step to which his enterprising spirit had long aspired, and
+set out for South America. There he practised with other celebrated
+physicians, gaining fame and wealth. After a short visit at home, in
+Spain, he returned to the New World, and even after a second voyage
+home he went back again; but during each of these expeditions he
+made a short tour in Europe to avail himself of the advances made in
+ophthalmic science which he particularly cultivated.
+
+He was a man of unpolished manners, dark and with an expression at
+once intelligent and sensual; his lips were thick, his skin opaque
+and hairy, his eyes bright and keen; his frame was robust and his
+constitution sound, though somewhat injured by the South American
+climate. His large, round face, his prominent brow, his short,
+rebellious hair, the flash of his eyes and his thick, square hands, had
+led to his being spoken of as "the black lion." In truth, he was like
+a lion, and like the king of beasts, he never lost an opportunity of
+asserting the estimation in which he held himself. However, this vanity
+of a really distinguished man was the most pardonable of vanities,
+for it consisted chiefly in his persistently displaying his two great
+titles of fame and honor, namely: his devotion to surgery and the
+lowness of his origin. He spoke incorrectly, from his utter inability
+to elaborate phrases with ease and elegance. His rapid and broken
+sentences followed the course of his ideas, which were as swift as the
+electric spark.
+
+"We," Teodoro would say, "although we have sprung from the grass by
+the way-side, which is the lowest origin conceivable, have grown into
+stalwart trees. Long live labor and human enterprise! I cannot but
+think that we Golfins, though Heaven knows where we came from, must
+have some English blood in our veins. Even our name seems to me to be
+of purely Saxon origin. I give it this etymology, _Gold-find_, or, as
+you may say, Gold-finders. Well, and my brother finds it in the bowels
+of the earth, while I find it in that marvellous miniature universe:
+the human eye."
+
+At the period of our story he had just arrived via New York and
+Liverpool, and, as he declared, he now meant to remain at home; but no
+one believed it, for he had said so many times before and had not kept
+his word.
+
+His brother Cárlos was a gentler being, placid, studious, a slave to
+his duties, and devoted to mineralogy and metallurgy to the point of
+caring far more for these two branches of learning than for his wife's
+society. But the couple lived, nevertheless, in perfect harmony; or,
+as Teodoro said, in an isomorphous state, crystallizing on the same
+system. As for himself, when matrimony was spoken of, he would say:
+
+"To me, marriage would be an epigenesis, a pseudo-morphous
+crystallization, that is to say, a mode of crystallization which would
+not harmonize with my nature."
+
+Sofía was a very good woman, who had been very handsome, but whose
+beauty was daily losing character and expression from her unfortunate
+tendency to stoutness. She had been told that an atmosphere charged
+with coal smoke had a tendency to reduce fat, and for this reason she
+had come to live at the mines, without ever leaving them the whole
+year through. The horrible air, charged with dust, calamine and smoke,
+annoyed her much however. She had no child alive, and her principal
+occupation consisted in playing the piano and in organizing societies
+of benevolent ladies for giving the poor help in their homes, and for
+maintaining hospitals and schools.
+
+At Madrid, for many years her energy had been prodigious, a real model
+for all who feel prompted to acts of charity. With the help of two or
+three ladies of rank, equally devoted to their humble and suffering
+neighbors, she had organized more than twenty dramatic performances,
+and as many fancy balls, six bull-fights and two cock-fights, all for
+the benefit of the poor.
+
+Among her other manias, which were apt to be but transient, however,
+was one which perhaps is less commendable than that for helping the
+needy, and which consisted in surrounding herself with dogs and cats,
+devoting herself to these animals with an affection really worthy to be
+called love. Lately, since she had lived at Socartes, she had kept a
+toy-terrier which had been brought to her as a commission from England
+by Ulises Buli, the head of the machinery department. This was a
+delicate and slender creature, as tricky and amusing as a child. It was
+called Líli, and had cost a small fortune in London--as dogs go.
+
+On fine days the trio walked out together; when it was wet they played
+and sang, for Sofía had a modest pipe which, at Socartes, passed
+for singing. The deputy engineer had a deep bass voice, and Teodoro
+likewise was _basso profondo_. Cárlos could sing but a little higher,
+so that the whole effect was somewhat like a priestly choir, in which
+Sofía's treble came out as if she were a priestess being carried off
+to be immolated. All the pieces they sang were--or at any rate sounded
+like--priests offering a sacrifice, and a priestess being sacrificed.
+
+On the days when they walked far they took with them a sort of picnic
+afternoon meal. One evening--it was at the end of September, and six
+days after the doctor's arrival at the mines--the party were returning
+homewards in the following order: Líli, Sofía, Teodoro, Cárlos. The
+path was too narrow to allow of their walking two and two. Líli wore a
+little sky-blue coat or gaberdine with his mistress's initials worked
+upon it; Sofía carried her parasol like a gun over her shoulder, and
+Teodoro had his stick in precisely the same position with his hat
+hanging on the end of it; it was one of his favorite whims to walk out
+bare-headed. They were passing above La Trascava when Líli, leaving the
+path, with his elastic little legs like springs, began to run on the
+turf that covered the slope to the chasm. First he ran, but then he
+slipped on the grass. Sofía gave a cry of terror. Her first impulse,
+prompted by an almost maternal feeling, was to run after the little
+beast that was in no real danger; but her husband stopped her, saying:
+"The devil may have Líli if he wants him--but he will come back. It is
+impossible to go down, the turf here is so slippery."
+
+"Líli, Líli," cried Sofía, hoping that her touching appeal would arrest
+the creature on the road to perdition, and bring him back to the path
+of virtue and duty. But the tenderest adjurations had no effect on the
+rebellious soul of Líli, who went lower and lower. From time to time he
+looked up at his mistress with his bright, black eyes, which seemed to
+say: "For mercy's sake do not be so foolish."
+
+At the large, moss-grown, white rock, which lay like a lid at the
+very mouth of the chasm, Líli stopped. All stood with their eyes
+fixed on the spot, and they at once perceived something moving there.
+They supposed it to be some beast of prey hiding behind the rock; but
+Sofía gave another shriek of astonishment rather than of terror, and
+exclaimed:
+
+"It is Nela.--Nela what are you doing there?"
+
+On hearing her name called, the girl appeared greatly disturbed, and
+colored deeply.
+
+"What are you doing there, mad child?" repeated the lady. "Take up Líli
+and bring him back to me. Heaven have mercy on us! but what next will
+that creature be doing? Just look at the place she has put herself in!
+It is all your fault that Líli went down there--what an example to set
+the poor little animal. It is all your fault that he behaved in this
+naughty, wilful way."
+
+"That child is a perfect limb of mischief," said Don Cárlos to his
+brother. "Only look at the place she has got to."
+
+While, on the top of the slope, they were thus discussing her, Nela,
+down at the bottom, was trying to catch Líli, who, more wilful and
+daring than he had ever been before in the whole course of his
+monotonous existence, constantly eluded her grasp. His mistress shouted
+to him in vain to "be good and behave himself," while he, ignoring
+the most elementary principles of duty, went on leaping and frisking,
+looking up at her, from time to time, with consummate impudence, as
+though to say: "My good lady, just go on with your walk and leave me in
+peace."
+
+At last, however, the sportive little beast got entangled among the
+briars which grew in the hollow, and there his little great-coat got
+him into dire trouble; the poor dog, finding it impossible to escape
+from the brushwood, began to bark lamentably for help.
+
+"He will be lost, he will be killed!" wailed the Señora. "Nela, Nela,
+if you will only save him, I will give you a fine, big dog. Save
+him--go carefully--hold fast."
+
+Nela went boldly to the rescue; setting her foot on the brambles and
+stout-stemmed creepers that grew over the rift, and holding on by one
+hand to the rock, she put out the other to take hold of Líli's tail,
+by which she pulled him out of the tangle in which he had been caught.
+Then, patting and coaxing him, she mounted in triumph to the top of the
+slope.
+
+"It is your fault, all your fault," said Sofía crossly, and boxing
+the dog's ears very gently. "What on earth made you go down into that
+hole--you know he goes after you wherever he finds you--hussy that you
+are!"
+
+And then she kissed her recovered treasure and gave him one or two mild
+slaps, and after having assured herself that his precious skin was
+whole, she pulled his little coat straight, which had got dragged over
+his head, and gave him to Nela, saying:
+
+"Take him, and carry him in your arms, for he must be tired, and
+such a long scamper may do him harm. But take care of him--go on in
+front.--Take great care of him--you see I am close behind to keep an
+eye on you."
+
+The family party set out again, with Nela leading the way. Líli looked
+at his mistress over Nela's shoulder, and seemed to say: "My good
+mistress, what a simpleton you are!"
+
+Teodoro Golfin had said not a word during the whole of Líli's agitating
+escapade, but when they had started on their way once more and were
+crossing the fields, where the three could walk abreast without
+inconvenience, the doctor said to his brother's wife:
+
+"I cannot but think, dear Sofía, that you are unreasonably devoted to
+the little dog. To be sure a dog that cost two hundred _duros_, is
+indeed a dog among dogs. Still, I cannot but ask myself how it is that
+you have spent time and money in making a great-coat for his highness
+the terrier, while it has never occurred to you to buy a pair of shoes
+for Nela."
+
+"Shoes for Nela!" exclaimed Sofía laughing. "What for, I should like
+to know. She would have worn them through in two days. You may laugh
+at me as much as you please--well, I admit that my affection for Líli
+amounts to an extravagance; still, you cannot accuse me of want of
+charity.--Nor indeed, I must say, should I ever allow you to take
+such a liberty," and as she spoke she drew herself up with a solemn
+look of offended dignity. "As to knowing how to exercise charity
+with due prudence and judgment, I believe I may hold my own with
+any one, be it whom it may--for charity does not consist merely in
+giving without rhyme or reason, not knowing whether your alms are well
+or ill-bestowed. Do you suppose you can teach me anything? My dear
+Teodoro, I am quite as experienced in such matters as you are in the
+treatment of eyes."
+
+"I know, I know, my dear.--You have done wonders. You need not tell me
+for the fiftieth time of all the dramatic entertainments, balls and
+bull-fights, you have got up for the benefit of the poor, nor of the
+lotteries, which have brought in large sums; though, after providing
+food for any number of idle vagabonds, there has been but a small
+fraction left for the sick and suffering! All these facts only go to
+prove to my mind the singular state of a society, which cannot be
+charitable without dancing, bull-fights or lottery tickets.--No, we
+need not discuss all that; I know and admire those heroic achievements;
+they have their good side, and that not a small one. But you and your
+gay friends very rarely put yourself in connection with any poor soul,
+to learn from his own lips the cause and history of his misery, or to
+discern what kind of wretchedness it is that oppresses him--for there
+are, actually, some troubles so extraordinary that the gift of a few
+coppers can do nothing to alleviate them, no, nor even a morsel of
+bread."
+
+"Here we have our philosopher well astride on his hobby," said Sofía
+spitefully. "Pray how do you know what I have ever done, or what I
+ought to do?"
+
+"Nay, do not be vexed," said Golfin; "for all my discourse tends to a
+single point, and that is that Nela should have shoes."
+
+"Very well, then to-morrow morning I will buy her a pair."
+
+"No--for I will buy them myself this evening. Do not poach on my
+preserves, Señora."
+
+"Here--Nela," cried the lady, seeing that she had gone some distance
+ahead. "Do not go so fast; keep in sight that I may see what you are
+about."
+
+"Poor little creature!" said her husband. "Who could guess she was
+sixteen years old!"
+
+"She is dreadfully stunted, miserable little thing!" exclaimed
+Sofía. "I cannot help asking, why God should permit such creatures to
+live? And again I ask myself, what in the world can be done for her?
+Nothing--nothing, but to feed and clothe her after a fashion--but you
+see, she tears everything she puts on. She cannot labor because she
+faints away--she has not strength enough to do any kind of work. She
+skips from stone to stone, or climbs the trees, playing and chattering
+the whole day long and singing like the birds; what clothes she has are
+soon reduced to rags...."
+
+"And yet," said Cárlos, "I have noticed that she is very intelligent.
+There is a great deal of acuteness and cleverness under that simple
+exterior and wild rusticity. No, no, Nela is no fool by a long way.
+If any one had taken the trouble to teach her anything, she would
+have learnt it better, perhaps, than most children. Would you believe
+it? Nela has a great imagination; but lacking, as she does, the most
+rudimentary knowledge, it has of course, made her sentimental and
+superstitious."
+
+"In point of fact she is in the condition of all primitive races," said
+Teodoro. "She is at the pastoral stage of civilization."
+
+"Only yesterday," Cárlos went on, "I was passing by La Trascava and I
+saw her sitting exactly where we found her again just now. I called her
+and made her come to me, and I asked her what she was doing there; and
+with the most perfect simplicity she told me she was talking with her
+mother.--You know, perhaps, that Nela's mother threw herself into that
+chasm."
+
+"That is to say that she killed herself," said Sofía. "She was a
+woman of bad character and worse feeling, from all I have heard of
+her. Cárlos was not living here then, but they say she drank like a
+stoker. And I ask you: Do these vile creatures, who end a life of sin
+by committing the greatest crime of all--Suicide--deserve any pity from
+the human race? There are things too horrible to contemplate--wretches
+that ought never to have been born. Teodoro may argue as much as he
+likes, but I cannot help asking you...."
+
+"Ask nothing, my dear sister," said Teodoro warmly. "For I could only
+reply that the suicide deserves our deepest and fullest pity. So far as
+abuse goes, heap it on her by all means, and as much as you please; but
+at the same time it might be as well to enquire what were the causes
+that brought her to such a fearful extremity of desperation--and I may
+add that if society had not wholly abandoned her and left her no way
+out but the yawning door of that hideous abyss which seemed to invite
+her...."
+
+"Abandoned by society! Well, some must be ..." said Sofía flippantly.
+"Society cannot take care of every one. Look at the statistics of
+population--only look, and you will see how many poor there are to
+provide for. Besides, supposing society does overlook some--what is
+religion for?"
+
+"I am speaking of those poor wretches who add to all their other
+miseries, ignorance, which is the greatest of all. An ignorant soul,
+debased and superstitious, has none but the vaguest and absurdest
+ideas of God. The sense of something Great and Unknown, instead of
+withholding him, impels him to crime. It is rarely indeed that the
+thought of religion is of any good to those who vegetate in stolid
+ignorance. No intelligent friend ever goes near them, neither master
+nor priest; the only superior they ever come into contact with, is the
+judge who tries them.
+
+"It is strange to see how inexorably you condemn what, after all, is
+your own work!" he went on, twisting the stick on which his hat was
+still mounted. "You stand looking straight before you, seeing at the
+very threshold of your own comfortable homes a crowd of neglected
+creatures, deprived of everything that childhood needs, from parents
+to playthings--you see them, I say, without its ever occurring to you
+to raise them an inch in the world, by telling them that they too are
+human beings, and giving them some of the ideas they so deplorably
+lack, without ever dreaming of ennobling them by lifting them out of
+their brutalizing, mechanical toil, to some intelligent work; you see
+them dwelling in filthy hovels, ill-fed, sinking lower day by day in
+their savage squalor, and it never occurs to you to spare for them a
+little of the comfort and luxury that surround you! You save all your
+energies to declaim against murder, robbery and suicide, without ever
+reflecting that you are, in fact, keeping open school for these three
+crimes."
+
+"You seem to forget that there are houses of refuge, hospitals,
+asylums ..." said Sofía tartly. "Read statistics, Teodoro, and you will
+see the number of miserable creatures.... Read statistics."
+
+"I do not read statistics, my dear sister, and your statistics count
+for nothing with me. Asylums are good--not that they can ever solve the
+great problem of orphanage. A hapless orphan, dropped in the streets
+or in the fields, bereft of all personal affection, and cared for only
+by a town council--rarely, indeed, is the vacuum filled which yawns
+in his soul for the love of a parent--not to speak of the vacuum where
+self-respect, honor, and responsibility ought to be, and so rarely are
+found. And on that point I have an idea of my own--but, perhaps, it
+will appear to you absurd...."
+
+"Tell us, at any rate."
+
+"The problem of orphanhood, and the miseries of infancy, will never
+be completely and finally solved, any more than the rest of our great
+social problems; still, it will be lightened when custom, supported by
+law--yes, by law, you see I am in earnest--when custom and law insist
+that every orphan, whatever its birth--do not laugh--has a right to
+claim adoption by some married couple in easy circumstances, and who
+have no children. By this plan, there will be no childless parents, and
+no fatherless children."
+
+"Yes, by this plan," retorted Sofía, "we should be parents to Nela!"
+
+"And why not?" said Teodoro. "At the same time you would not waste
+two hundred _duros_ in buying a dog, nor the livelong blessed day in
+talking nonsense to his highness, Master Líli."
+
+"And why are rich bachelors to be exempt under this delightful law? Why
+should not they also be burthened, each with his orphan?"
+
+"I have no objection ..." said the doctor; he was looking at the
+ground. "But what is this? Blood?"
+
+They all looked down, and at regular intervals they saw small spots of
+blood.
+
+"Mercy!" cried Sofía, covering her eyes. "It is Nela--see, it is where
+she has trodden; these are her footmarks."
+
+"Oh yes! I see. It was when she went into the brambles to fetch your
+precious dog. Nela, come here."
+
+Nela, whose right foot was bleeding a good deal, came hobbling back
+again.
+
+"Give me my poor Líli," said the lady, taking the dog out of the ragged
+child's arms. "Do not hurt him; does it hurt you much? Poor little
+thing.--Oh! how it is bleeding.--I cannot bear to look at it." And
+Sofía turned her back to spare her sensitive nerves, hugging Líli more
+closely.
+
+"Let us see what has happened," said Teodoro, lifting Nela up and
+seating her on a high stone that was at hand. Then, putting on his
+spectacles, he said: "It is quite a trifle, only a few scratches; there
+is a thorn in here I rather think.--That hurts you? Yes, just so, here
+is the villain.--Wait a minute. Now, Sofía if you cannot look on at a
+surgical operation, you had better walk on."
+
+While his sister went slowly forward to save her nervous system this
+terrible shock, Golfin took a small case out of his pocket and a pair
+of tweezers out of the case, and in less than a winking the thorn was
+extracted.
+
+"That is a brave little woman," he said to Nela, who had not even
+winced. "Now we will tie this foot up." And he bound it round with his
+handkerchief. Marianela jumped down to walk and Cárlos offered her his
+hand.
+
+"No, no--come here," said Teodoro. He took the little girl under the
+arms, and with a rapid and dexterous twist perched her on his right
+shoulder.
+
+"If you do not feel safe hold on to my hair," he said. "It will not
+come off. Now, you must carry the stick with the hat."
+
+"What a ridiculous sight!" said Sofía, in fits of laughter as they came
+up with her. "Teodoro, with Nela on his shoulder, and then the stick
+and Gessler's hat on the top...."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+NOBODY'S CHILDREN.
+
+
+"There you see a man ready for anything and everything, my dear Sofía,"
+said Teodoro. "It is the result of our education, is it not, Cárlos?
+of having had no coddling in our childhood, and having been accustomed
+from our tenderest infancy to the idea that no one could be our
+inferior? Men who have made themselves, as we have done, who, without
+any mortal help nor any safeguard but strong will and high ambition,
+have been able to triumph in the struggle for existence--the devil's
+in it, but they are the only people who really know how to help the
+helpless! I will not tell you half the things I have been able to do
+in my life--treating my neighbor as myself--for fear of falling into
+an ugly trick of singing my own praises; for fear too of making you
+envious, in spite of your raffles and benevolent lotteries--enough of
+that."
+
+"Nay, tell us, or tell us some other time."
+
+"No, no, such things should be kept secret for modesty's sake. I am
+bound to confess that I cannot boast of any considerable store of that
+lovely grace; I am not lacking in vanity, and one of the things I am
+vainest of, is of having been a beggar, of having asked charity from
+door to door, of having walked barefoot with my brother Cárlos, and
+slept in corners under door-ways, without a roof, without shelter,
+without a home of any kind. Some wonderful spirit of energy and
+determination burned within me--whence it came I know not; but I felt
+that before us lay two paths, one to prison and one to glory. I took my
+poor little brother on my shoulders--just as I am carrying Nela--and
+I said: 'Our Father which art in Heaven--save us!' And he saved us. I
+learnt to read, and then I taught my brother; I served many masters,
+who gave me food and let me go to school. I saved my pittance. I bought
+a money-box, and scraped enough together to buy some books. How I
+began medicine, I do not know; but somehow I did, while my brother was
+earning a living as an errand boy in a shop."
+
+"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Sofía much annoyed, for this
+was a theme she particularly disliked. "I cannot help asking; what
+is the use of recalling all these childish details? Besides, you
+exaggerate them greatly."
+
+"I exaggerate nothing," said Teodoro with triumphant jollity. "Just
+listen, Señora, and say nothing. I speak of what I know with the
+authority of experience. Hear me all ye poor, all ye helpless ones,
+and ye forsaken little ones! I took to medicine, God knows how; I
+learnt, God knows how. A worthy man--blessings on his memory! gave
+me good counsel and helped me with money; I loved the science, but
+how could I study without ceasing to work for my living? This was
+a terrible dilemma. Do you remember, Cárlos, when we both went
+to ask for employment in the barber's shop, in the old _calle de
+Cofreros_?[5] Never in our lives had either of us had a razor in
+his hand, but we had to earn our bread by shaving. At first we only
+looked on--do you remember Cárlos--and then we wielded the noble
+instruments ourselves.--Bleeding was the making of us. Then I began
+to study anatomy; a noble, a glorious science! but my school-work
+became a serious matter, and I had to give up working for the worthy
+barber.--He cried, positively cried, the day I left him; he gave me
+two _duros_, and his wife made me a present of a pair of her husband's
+old trousers.--Then I went as a valet. God was always merciful in
+giving me good masters. My love of study interested these dear, kind
+people, and they allowed me as much spare time as possible. I sat up
+to study; nay, I studied in my sleep. I was like a monomaniac, for
+while I did the washing, I repeated the names of the different parts of
+the human frame. I remember, that as I brushed my master's clothes, I
+studied muscular anatomy--as I folded a sleeve I would say to myself:
+'_deltoid_, _biceps_, _supinator_, _flexor_, _cubitalis_;' and over his
+trousers I would repeat, '_glutaeus_, _psoas_, _gemellus_, _tibialis_.'
+In that house they used to give me broken food, which I carried to
+my brother, who was living with a worthy man who bought and sold old
+clothes. Do you remember, Cárlos?"
+
+"I remember well," said Cárlos with feeling. "And I am grateful to the
+good soul who gave me a roof over my head in return for some trifling
+service in keeping his accounts. And it was there that I was so lucky
+as to come across the retired Colonel, who taught me the elements of
+mathematics."
+
+"Well! you have not a rag that you blush to display to all the world!"
+snorted Sofía.
+
+"My brother asked me for bread," Teodoro went coolly on, "and my answer
+was: 'Bread? work at mathematics.' One day my master gave me tickets of
+admission to the Theatre de la Cruz; I took my brother, and we enjoyed
+it enormously, but Cárlos caught a cold and inflammation of the lungs.
+That was a dreadful, a terrible business; it was a blow at the very
+root of our existence, a shot in our backbone. But who is cast down?
+On we had to go.--He must be cured. A physician who had taken a great
+fancy to me, undertook to doctor him."
+
+"It was nothing less than a miracle that he saved my life in that
+squalid hole--a perfect museum of old clothes, old iron, and old
+leather."
+
+"God was on our side--I see it plainly. Oh! I knew very well in whom
+I trusted," Teodoro went on, with the fervid rapid eloquence, which
+was as characteristic of the man, as his black elf-locks and leonine
+countenance. "But, for my brother to have medicine, I had to do without
+clothes. The Pharmacopeia did not admit of tailors' bills--nay,
+prescription after prescription--first my cloak went, then my overcoat,
+then my shoes were turned into pills. However, my master stood by me.
+I got some clothes once more, and my brother was outside the house
+again. The doctor said: 'He will get quite well in the country.'--'The
+country,' said I, and I thought it over; then he may go to the School
+of Mines. My brother was a good mathematician, I taught him some
+chemistry, he soon took a fancy to rocks and stones, and before he
+went into the school he had begun going out into the fields to pick
+up pebbles. Well, I meanwhile went on my way, beaten by winds and
+waves; every day I knew something more of medicine. A famous operator
+took me as his assistant; then I was no longer a mere menial--I was a
+servant to science. My master fell ill, I nursed him like a Brother of
+Charity--but he died, leaving me a legacy. God bless me! but it was a
+fortune! It consisted of a walking-stick, a machine for making cigars,
+a hunting-horn, and four thousand _reales_ in money. My brother bought
+books and I bought some clothes, and as soon as I was decently dressed,
+I began to get patients. It really seemed as if folks fell ill on
+purpose to give me employment. On--straight on! Years and years went
+by; at last, after many miseries I saw, far off, the way to a refuge.
+Still, my brother and I sailed on without any too severe toil, and we
+were never melancholy; God smiled upon our souls. Well, indeed, for us!
+God held out his hand to us, as it were. I began to study the eye and
+soon could operate for cataract, but I wanted something more than this.
+I was earning money, no doubt, but my brother cost me all I earned. At
+last, however, Cárlos passed out of the schools. Three cheers for the
+brave--none but the brave win the day. I saw him settled at Riotinto
+with a good salary, and then off I went to America. I was a sort of
+Columbus, the Columbus of labor; a sort of Cortés; I discovered a New
+World for myself, and having discovered it, I conquered it."
+
+"You are your own trumpeter," said Sofía laughing.
+
+"If there are still heroes to be found you are one of them," said
+Cárlos with eager admiration for his brother.
+
+"Well, set to work now, noble Demi-god," said Sofía, "crown your
+achievement by working a miracle, and restore to sight a man blind from
+his birth.--Look, there is Don Francisco coming out to meet us."
+
+And, in fact, mounting the ridge which shuts in the mines to the west,
+they had come to Aldeacorba, and past the house of Penáguilas, who,
+pulling on his coat in the utmost haste now came hurrying towards them.
+Darkness was falling fast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE PATRIARCH OF ALDEACORBA.
+
+
+"The cows are just being milked," he began, without wishing them
+good-evening. "I thought you would all like some milk. I hope to see
+you well, Señora Sofía--and you Don Teodoro. The sight of you is good
+for sore eyes. But what is the matter with María Canela--a little lame
+paw? How long have you been so spoiled, little one?"
+
+The whole party turned into the court-yard. They could hear the deep
+lowing of the cows, which had just been driven to their stables, and
+the homely sound, with the fresh country smell of the hay, which the
+laborers were carrying from the lofts, soothed the senses and the mind.
+The doctor seated Nela on a stone bench, while she, speechless with
+surprise and respect, dared not budge an inch, but could only wonder at
+this delightful state of things.
+
+"And where is Pablo?" the engineer enquired.
+
+"He is just gone down into the garden," said Señor de Penáguilas, as he
+offered Sofía a rustic seat. "You might run off and join him Nela."
+
+"No, no, I do not wish her to go yet," said Teodoro detaining her.
+"Besides, she is going to have some milk with us."
+
+"Do you wish to see my son this evening?" asked Penáguilas.
+
+"No, yesterday's examination was quite satisfactory," replied Golfin.
+"The operation can be performed."
+
+"And successfully?"
+
+"Ah!--as to that I cannot say. How great a pleasure it would be to give
+sight to a young fellow who so richly deserves it, I need not tell you!
+Your son has a most superior intelligence, a brilliant imagination, and
+a most delightful nature. His total ignorance of the outer, visible
+world, only throws his beautiful qualities into relief; they stand out
+in conspicuous simplicity, with the naked charm and dignity of a work
+of Nature, untouched and unspoiled by the hand of man. He is full of
+idealism, it affects all his thoughts--a grand and beautiful idealism.
+It reminds me of a colossal mass of unwrought marble--a block as it
+lies in the quarry. He knows nothing of reality, he lives a charmed
+life, a life of pure illusion. If we could but give him sight! Still,
+I say to myself--supposing that by giving him sight we should make him
+a man instead of an angel.--It is a question that raises doubts in my
+mind. However, we are bound to try to make a man of him; it is the
+duty of science; we will drag him out of the world of fancy into that
+of reality, and then, with his powerful mind, he would rapidly gain
+accurate information and sound judgment. He would soon acquire the
+invaluable power of estimating the true relative value of things."
+
+Three cups of milk were now brought in, white, warm, fragrant, and
+frothy to the very rim. Penáguilas handed a cup first to Sofía, and the
+two gentlemen took the others; but Teodoro Golfin offered his to Nela,
+who was overwhelmed with bashfulness and refused to touch it.
+
+"Come, little woman," said Sofía, "do not be so rude; take what is
+given you."
+
+"Another cup of milk for Don Teodoro," said Don Francisco to the
+servant. And then they heard the milk as it flowed into the pails from
+the full udders of the cows.
+
+"He will appreciate the true relative value of things," said Don
+Francisco, repeating the doctor's last words, which had made a deep
+impression on his mind. "That is an admirable observation, Don Teodoro.
+And with regard to the subject under discussion, I must explain to you
+the doubts I have felt for some days past. But I may as well sit down."
+And Don Francisco seated himself on a stool he had in his hand. The
+others had already been accommodated with chairs brought out of the
+house, and Nela was still perched on the stone bench. The milk she had
+drunk as she was bidden had left a thin white moustache on her upper
+lip.
+
+"I must tell you Don Teodoro that for some days I have been very uneasy
+at the excited state in which my son has been; I attribute it to the
+hope that has been held out to him--but still, there is something
+else--something more than that. You know that I am in the habit of
+reading to him out of various books. I believe that this reading has
+done much to fire his imagination and instruct his mind, and that many
+ideas have been developed in his brain, which are, as it were, above
+the comprehension of a blind man. I do not know whether I am making
+myself clear."
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"There is no end to his discussions and arguments; I am astounded
+by the depth and acuteness of his remarks, though I feel that his
+knowledge is mixed up with a thousand misconceptions, from want of
+method and from his ignorance of the visible world."
+
+"It could not be otherwise."
+
+"But the strangest thing is that, carried away by his
+imagination--which is like a young Hercules fettered with chains within
+a dungeon, and struggling to burst its bonds and break down walls...."
+
+"Good, very good, well said."
+
+"His imagination, I was saying, cannot rest in the darkness of his
+sense, and strives to reach our world of daylight, making up for his
+want of sight by the boldness of its assumptions. Pablo has a wonderful
+spirit of enquiry, but it is like a noble bird whose wings are clipped.
+For some few days he has been almost delirious; he does not sleep and
+his passion for information has been almost madness. At all hours of
+the day he asks for some new book, and at every pause he makes the
+keenest observations, but with such a mixture of simple innocence,
+that he makes me laugh. He asserts and maintains the absurdest things,
+and if I contradict him--I am really afraid of his going out of his
+mind--of his brain softening. If you could only see how melancholy and
+how disputatious he sometimes is. He takes up an idea and, come what
+may, it is impossible to get it out of his head. Now, for some days, he
+has had a fixed idea, which is as touching as it is preposterous. He
+will have it that Nela is pretty."
+
+They all laughed, and Nela turned scarlet.
+
+"That Nela is pretty!" exclaimed Teodoro kindly. "Well, and so she is."
+
+"Oh! sweetly pretty, particularly with that moustache!" said Sofía.
+
+"She has a dear little face of her own," repeated Teodoro, putting his
+hand under her chin; "Sofía, lend me your handkerchief. Come, we will
+get rid of the moustache."
+
+Teodoro returned the handkerchief to Sofía after wiping Nela's face.
+Don Francisco told the girl to go and join the blind boy, and she
+hobbled away.
+
+"And if I contradict him," he then went on, "my son tells me that,
+perhaps the gift of sight has weakened my perception of the true aspect
+of things--a quaint paradox!"
+
+"Do not contradict him at all, and for the present discontinue
+your readings. For a few days we must adopt a regimen of absolute
+tranquillity. The brain must be treated with the utmost consideration
+before attempting any operation of this kind."
+
+"If it is indeed God's will that my son should receive his sight,"
+said Penáguilas devoutly, "I shall regard you as the greatest and most
+beneficent of men. The darkness of his eyes is the darkness of my life;
+that black shadow has saddened all my days, and clouds all the wealth
+and ease of which I am master. For I am rich--but of what use are
+riches? How can I care for the things he cannot see. Only a month ago I
+fell heir to a fine fortune--you know, Don Cárlos, my cousin Faustino
+died at Matamoros. He had no children, so my brother Manuel and I
+are his heirs. It is throwing pearls before swine--not as regards my
+brother, who has a daughter, a sweet girl, old enough to marry--but so
+far as I am concerned, a wretched man who can never see his son enjoy
+the best pleasures of a respectable and easy position."
+
+A long silence followed, interrupted only by the gentle lowing of the
+cows in the adjoining stable.
+
+"And then," added the worthy father in melancholy tones, "he knows
+nothing of the pleasures of work, the greatest pleasure of all.
+Ignorant, as he is, of the beauties of Nature, what can he know of
+the delights of the country or the charms of agriculture? I cannot
+imagine how God can bear to deprive a human creature of the pleasure
+of admiring a fat beast, a tree loaded with pears, or a green pasture;
+of seeing the fruits of the earth in their abundance; of sending out
+the laborers to their day's toil, and reading the signs of the weather
+in the sky. For him life is simply a fevered dream--it is lonely too;
+solitary, for he can never have the comfort of a family round him. When
+I die what family will the poor blind boy have? He will not want to
+marry, nor will he find a woman of good family who would engage herself
+to him, in spite of his wealth; nor, indeed, could I advise him to
+marry. So that when Don Teodoro gave me a hope, I felt as if heaven was
+opened to me; I had visions of a young and happy and sensible marriage;
+cherubs--my grandchildren--fluttered round me; I saw my tombstone
+graced and fragrant with the blossoms of a future generation, and the
+loving care which even after death should follow me to the grave.--You
+cannot enter into all this; you cannot know how my brother, who is as
+good as gold, God bless him!--as soon as he heard of my hopes, began
+to plot and plan and dream.--Here, this is what he says"--and he took
+out a parcel of letters which he turned over for a few minutes without
+finding the one he wanted.--"Well, to make a long story short, he
+was beside himself with delight and he said to me: 'I will marry my
+Florentina to your Pablo, and so we shall get compound interest on
+the half million of _pesos_ left by cousin Faustino.'--I can see him,
+poor old Manuel, rubbing his hands and strutting about as his way is
+when he has hit on a good idea. I am expecting him and his daughter
+to arrive at any hour; they are coming to stay with me for the 4th of
+October, and to see what comes of this attempt to bless my son with the
+light of day."
+
+By this time it was growing dark and the party of four became aware of
+a most appetizing vapor issuing from the house, and announcing a savory
+farm-supper. The village patriarch, who seemed the very incarnation of
+the spirit of the place--a tranquil melancholy--spoke again presently:
+"My brother's happiness and my own depends on my having a son, whom I
+may propose as a husband for his daughter, who is as sweet and fair as
+the Holy Virgin, as we see her represented when the angel of the Lord
+comes to say: 'The Lord is with thee.' My blind boy is not the man--but
+my Pablo, with his eyesight, would realize my fondest dreams and bring
+the blessing of God into my house."
+
+They were all silent, deeply impressed by the worthy father's simple
+and pathetic utterances, and he himself raised his rough, brown hand,
+hardened by labor, to wipe away a tear.
+
+"What have you to say to all this?" Cárlos asked his brother.
+
+"I can say no more than that I have conscientiously examined the
+case, and can find no sufficient reason for saying it is hopeless,
+as the other distinguished operators have said whom our good friend
+has consulted. I cannot pledge myself to succeed, nor can I think it
+impossible. The examination I made yesterday revealed no defect or
+injury in the retina, and no disease in the optic nerve. If the retina
+is perfect, all that is needed is the removal of some impediment in
+front of it. The crystalline lens often becomes opaque--sometimes hard
+and stony--and this is what does the mischief. If all the other parts
+of the organ are healthy and work--but, in the commonwealth of the eye,
+many individual portions are only too ready to become atrophied by
+idleness."
+
+"So that, in short, it amounts simply to congenital cataract," said
+Penáguilas eagerly.
+
+"Oh no, Señor; if it were no more than that, it would be a happy thing
+for us! All that would be needed would be to get rid of the part that
+does its duty so badly. It ought to let the light in and instead of
+that, it is congested, degenerate, stony, and as opaque as a wall.
+No--there is something more than that, Don Francisco. The iris is
+defective, the pupil must be taken in hand.--Still, I can laugh all
+these details to scorn if, when I enter into possession, as it were, of
+this dormant organ, I only find the choroid and the retina uninjured.
+If, on the other hand, when I have removed the opaque lens and let the
+light in, I find complete amaurosis--if it were only partial, that
+would be something--but if it is total.... When the nerve of sight is
+dead we can do nothing. The deep mysteries of life are closed against
+us. There is nothing for it but patience. This case is to me a most
+interesting one; there are symptoms which lead me to believe that the
+internal function is unimpaired. The retina, as Sovereign lord, seems
+quite disposed to receive the light I shall introduce to it, and that
+high functionary, the vitreous humor, will probably find it no novelty.
+If from long want of exercise it has sunk into a state of incipient
+glaucoma--a kind of melancholy--we will treat it for that. All will
+then be well in that darkened chamber. But there is another thing to
+be considered. A fissured iris, and an ordinary cataract usually admit
+some gleam of light, and our patient sees not a glimmer. This made
+me hesitate. In fact, the sclerotic too is very much thickened; the
+impediments to the admission of light are many and serious.... However,
+we shall see, Don Francisco. Have you courage for anything?"
+
+"Courage! What should I have courage for?" asked Don Francisco.
+
+"Sir, you will want all your courage if...."
+
+"Well, if...?"
+
+"If, after undergoing a painful operation, your son is still as blind
+as before. I said to you, plainly: The case is not desperate; shall I
+operate?"
+
+"And I answered, and I answer once more; Yes--operate; and God's will
+be done. Onwards!"
+
+"Aye, onwards! You have taken my motto."
+
+Don Francisco rose and wrung the surgeon's hands, that were so like a
+lion's paws.
+
+"In this climate the operation may be favorably performed early in
+October," Golfin went on. "To-morrow we will decide on the regimen to
+which we must subject our patient. Meanwhile we will be going, for it
+is fresh up on this hill."
+
+Penáguilas pressed shelter and supper on his friends, but they would
+not accept. They set out homewards with Nela, whom Teodoro insisted
+on taking with him, and Don Francisco kept them company as far as the
+works.
+
+Soothed by the silence and beauty of the night, they fell into
+conversation on lighter themes--on the yield and profits of the
+mines, and other local matters. The Golfins having reached home, Don
+Francisco turned back alone and heavy-hearted, walking slowly, with
+his eyes fixed on the ground. He was thinking of the terrible days of
+doubt and hope, of expectation and anxiety which were coming on him.
+Presently he was met by Choto, and the pair lazily climbed the wooden
+stair. The moon gave them light, and the old man's shadow went up in
+front of him, broken by the steps into a zigzag monster that leaped
+from plank to plank. The dog trotted by its side and Don Francisco, in
+the absence of any other mortal to whom he could confide the thoughts
+that wearied his brain, presently said:
+
+"Oh Choto! will it succeed?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DOCTOR CELIPIN.
+
+
+That worthy, Señor Centeno, having refreshed his mind with the dull
+columns of his newspaper, and 'Señana,' his wife, after enjoying the
+more intoxicating delights of counting and feeling the coin in the
+stocking, had taken themselves to bed. Children first and parents
+after, they had all marched off to their respective couches. First
+there was the mumbled Litany, sounding like some muttered gibberish;
+then yawns, while the sluggard fingers made the sign of the cross--and
+then the stony-hearted family slept.
+
+When the house was as still as the grave itself, a soft rustling began
+to be audible in the kitchen, like the stirring of bats coming out of
+their hiding nooks to see life. The hampers opened and Celipin heard
+these words:
+
+"Celipin--look here; I have got something nice for you to-night."
+
+Celipin could see nothing, but he put out his hand and took from
+Nela's two _duros_. Having assured himself of their genuineness by
+touch--since he could hardly have done so by sight--he remained
+speechless with astonishment.
+
+"Don Teodoro gave them to me," added the girl, "to buy myself a pair of
+shoes. But I do not want shoes; so I give them to you, and so you will
+get on faster."
+
+"Hurrah! You are as good as the Holy Virgin, Nela--I want very little
+more now, and when I have got another half-dozen or so of _reales_--you
+shall see what Celipin is made of."
+
+"Aye, and listen to me, child; the man who gave me that money ran about
+the streets barefoot begging when he was a boy, and now...."
+
+"You do not mean it! Don Teodoro? And now he has such lots of money.
+They say six mules could not carry it all."
+
+"Yes, and he slept in the streets, and was an errand boy, and had no
+breeches--in short, was poorer than a rat. And his brother, Don Cárlos,
+lived in an old-clothes shop."
+
+"Lord save us! What wonderful things we live to hear of! Well, I will
+go and find an old-clothes shop where I can live."
+
+"Well, and after that he became a barber to earn a living and be able
+to study."
+
+"Ah...! Look here then; I have a great mind to go straight into a
+barber's shop; I shall soon have to shave myself, and I am brisk and
+quick enough, thank God!--Only wait till I get to Madrid--shaving on
+one hand and studying on the other, at the end of two months I will
+know everything. Look here, it has just struck me that I am made to
+be a doctor.--Yes, a doctor, what with feeling pulses and looking at
+tongues, that is the way to fill your pockets."
+
+"Don Teodoro," Nela went on, "had much less than you, for you will
+soon have five _duros_, and with five _duros_, you can get almost
+everything. Don Teodoro and Don Cárlos were like the birds that fly
+about without house or home, all alone in the world. Well, by managing
+well, they got learned. Don Teodoro studied dead bodies, and Don
+Cárlos studied stones, and so they learnt to be gentlemen, and men of
+importance. And that is why Don Teodoro is such a friend to the poor.
+Celipin, you should have seen him this evening when he jumped me upon
+his shoulder--and then he gave me his cup of milk and looked at me as
+if I were a lady."
+
+"All strong, active men, are the same," said Celipin sharply. "You will
+see how brave and fine I shall look when I wear a long cloak and a high
+hat; and I will wear those stockings on my hands--gloves they call
+them, and never take them off excepting to feel a pulse--I will have a
+stick with a gilt knob and will wear such clothes! nothing shall ever
+touch my skin but fine linen. Lord love you child! but you will laugh
+to see me!"
+
+"Do not be fancying that you can rise to such things at once--you who
+are as bare as an egg," said the girl. "You must go step by step,
+learning one thing to-day and another to-morrow. I advise you, before
+you learn to cure sick folks, to learn to write; and so you ought, if
+it is only to leave a letter for your mother, asking her to forgive
+you, and telling her that you are gone away from home to improve
+yourself, to make your way like Don Teodoro, and become a clever
+doctor."
+
+"Do not talk nonsense child. Who does not know that writing comes
+first? Only let me get a pen in my hand, and you will see me flourish
+away at the letters, and what beautiful fine strokes I will make
+up and down, like Don Francisco Penáguilas' name at the end of a
+letter.--Write? do not talk to me--in four days you will see what
+letters I will write.--Aye, you shall hear them read and see what
+grand ideas I can hatch out, and set them down too, in such fine words
+as will make you all look foolish. Bless you child! but you have no
+notion how clever I can be. I feel it inside my head here, buzzing
+and humming, _burumbum, burumbum,_ like the water in the boiler of
+a steam-engine. It will not let me sleep, and I feel as if all the
+sciences in the world came rushing in and flapped blindly about like
+bats, wanting me to study them.--All the sciences--I must learn them
+all; I must not leave out one.--Well, you will see."
+
+"But there must be a great many. Pablo Penáguilas knows them all, and
+he told me that there are a great, great many, and that a man's whole
+lifetime is not enough to learn even one."
+
+"Never do you believe him.--Well, you will see what I can do."
+
+"And the best of all is what Don Cárlos learns; why, only think, he
+picks up a stone and makes brass of it; indeed, they do say he makes
+silver, and even gold. Learn that science, Celipillo."
+
+"Do not you be mistaken, Nela; there is nothing like knowing how to
+take a wrist and look at a tongue, and tell in a minute in what corner
+of a body the mischief lies. They say that Don Teodoro can take a man's
+eye out and put him in a new one, that he can see with as well as if he
+had been born with it. Just think what it is to see a man dying, and to
+make him hale and sound again only by making him swallow half-a-dozen
+flies, let us say, stewed down on a Monday with hazel twigs gathered
+by a maid named Juana--I say that is something worth doing.--Yes, you
+shall see, you shall see what I will do. Doctor Celipin de Socartes. I
+tell you my fame will reach as far as Havana."
+
+"Good, good!" cried Nela, delighted. "But remember, you must be a good
+boy, because the reason your parents have taught you nothing, is only
+because they were not clever enough, and so, as you are clever, you
+must pray for them to the Holy Virgin, and not forget to send them
+some of all the money you are going to get."
+
+"I will be sure to send them some. You see, it is not because I owe
+them any grudge that I am going to run away; and before long, very
+soon, you will see a porter come up from the station so loaded with
+big parcels that he can hardly stand, and what will they be? Why,
+petticoats for mother and the girls, and a tall hat for father--and
+you--I will send you a pair of ear-rings."
+
+"You are in a hurry with your presents," said Nela, smothering a laugh.
+"Ear-rings for me!"
+
+"Stop; I have just got another idea. Shall I tell you? It is that you
+should come with me; two of us together we should help each other to
+earn money and to learn. For you are clever too, I am too sharp not to
+see that; and you can learn to be a lady as I can to be a gentleman. Oh
+Lord! how I should laugh to see you playing the piano like Doña Sofía."
+
+"What a simpleton you are! Why I am no good for anything. If I went
+with you, I should only be a clog and burden to you."
+
+"But they say now that Don Pablo is going to be made to see, and when
+he can see, you will have nothing to do in Socartes. What do you think
+of my plan? Why do not you answer?"
+
+There was a long pause, during which Nela made no answer. Celipin asked
+her again but got no answer.
+
+"Go to sleep, Celipin," she said from the bottom of the baskets. "I am
+dreadfully sleepy."
+
+"If my brain will let me sleep, God save us!"
+
+And a minute later he was dreaming of himself in the semblance of
+Don Teodoro Golfin, fixing new eyes in old sockets, splitting open
+fragments of rock, and snatching sick men from the jaws of death by
+means of doses of flies, stewed on a Monday, with hazel twigs picked
+by a maiden. He saw himself dressed with gorgeous garments, his hands
+encased in perfumed gloves, and riding in a coach drawn by swans
+instead of horses, invited by Kings and courted by Queens, attending
+ladies of distinction, lauded by nobles, and carried in triumph by all
+the peoples of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+BETWEEN TWO BASKETS.
+
+
+Nela had shut herself into her baskets to be alone; we will follow her,
+however, and look in upon her thoughts. But first we must give a little
+more of her history.
+
+Having entirely lacked all instruction in her infancy, having equally
+lacked all those soft endearments, which unfailingly open the mind
+to recognize certain truths, Marianela's powerful imagination had
+conceived a strange set of ideas, a wild and fanciful theogony, and
+a highly whimsical scheme of cause and effect. Teodoro Golfin's
+comparison of Nela's mind with the early stage of a primitive race was
+a particularly happy one. In her, as in them, the fascination of the
+marvellous was the predominant sense; she believed in supernatural
+agencies, apart from the one and supreme God, and saw in all natural
+objects an abstract personality, by no means cut off from all
+communication with men. In spite of all this, however, Nela had some
+knowledge of the Gospel. It had never been taught her, to be sure, but
+she had heard such things talked of. She saw that people went to a
+function they called the Mass, and she understood the idea of a sublime
+sacrifice; but beyond this her notions could not go. The contagion of
+a common feeling had accustomed her mind to reverence the image of
+the Crucified God; she knew it should be kissed, and she even could
+repeat some prayers that she had learnt mechanically; she knew whatever
+she wanted she could ask of God--but this was all. The absolute
+neglect in which her whole nature had been left until the time of her
+acquaintance with Pablo Penáguilas was the cause of this confusion,
+and her friendship with this strange being, who, shut up in darkness,
+nevertheless with his mind's eye boldly investigated all the problems
+of life, had come to her too late. Nela's system of philosophy, of her
+own fabrication, had already petrified--a strange compound of paganism
+and sentimentality. At the same time it must be said that Marianela,
+though her spirit ranged so far outside the common atmosphere, was well
+endowed with good sense, and could form a sound judgment on the things
+of daily life, as has been seen in the advice she gave to Celipin.
+This, no doubt, was due to the native soundness of her mind.
+
+The strongest instinct of her nature was her love, nay her secret
+passion, for physical beauty wherever she saw it. Nothing could be
+more natural than this impulse in a human soul growing up in total
+solitude, so far as society and teaching were concerned, and in
+constant intercourse, in close intimacy we may say, with Nature and all
+its sublime or gracious beauty--light, color, eloquent inarticulate
+voices, and infinite variety of form. And Marianela's admiration had
+assumed the guise of worship; in obedience to a law, which also governs
+the primitive race, she had personified all the beauty she saw around
+her and worshipped it in a single incarnation, ideal but human. This
+divinity of her imagination she called the Virgin Mary, a conception
+she had derived from the domain of religious thought, of which she knew
+so little. And the Virgin Mary would not have become her cherished
+ideal, if she had not joined to her moral perfections all the physical
+gifts of beauty and grace; if her aspect had not been noble and
+attractive, at once human and divine; if it had not seemed to Nela the
+epitome in which were concentrated all the glory of light, the sober
+peace of darkness, the music of running waters, the grace and sweetness
+of flowers, the freshness of the dew, the low complaining of the wind,
+the spotless purity of the mountain snow, the loving glances of the
+stars, and the solemn majesty of the clouds, as they ride across the
+vault of heaven.
+
+The person of God himself she conceived of as terrible and austere,
+inspiring respect rather than love. All that was gracious was bestowed
+by the Virgin, and she was the giver of all that human creatures could
+ask for. God frowned, while She smiled; God chastised, but She forgave;
+this last notion was by no means a strange one. It is accepted with
+almost absolute faith among the laboring classes of the rural parts of
+Spain. Nor is it at all uncommon, when we find a strong imagination
+joined to extreme ignorance, to meet with the fusion which existed
+in Nela's mind of all the beauties of Nature with the beautiful
+personification which combines all the æsthetic charms of the Christian
+ideal. If the darkness in which Nela dwelt had only been more complete,
+if she had but been rather more destitute of religious notions, she
+would have been an utter pagan and have worshipped the moon, the woods,
+the rivers, fire and the sun. This was Nela as her life in Socartes
+had made her, and such she remained till she was fifteen. After that,
+her comradeship with Pablo and her frequent talk with the lad, whose
+ideas were so broad and so sound, had somewhat modified her tone of
+thought. But she still allowed supreme sovereignty to physical beauty;
+she still superstitiously adored the Virgin as the embodiment of all
+the loveliness of Nature, and, in a way, of all moral law; crowning her
+system with the most extraordinary ideas as to death and the life to
+come.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Curling herself up in her basket, Marianela's reflections took this
+form:
+
+"Holy Mother of God! Why--why did you not make me beautiful? Why did
+you not look down on me as soon as I was born? For the more I look
+at myself, the uglier I seem to grow. Oh! why am I in this world at
+all? Of what good can I be? Who can care for me? One single soul, Lady
+Mother, only one, and he only because he cannot see me. What is to
+become of me when he sees me and casts me off? for it is impossible
+that he should ever love me when he sees my miserable little body, my
+freckled face, my ugly mouth, my sharp nose, my dirty brown skin--all
+my hideous little self--of no good to any one but to kick perhaps. What
+is that? Only Nela--nothing at all. She is of no use to any one but the
+blind boy. If his eyes are opened, if he turns and looks at me, I shall
+drop down dead.
+
+"He is the only being to whom 'Nela' is anything more important than
+the cats and the birds. He loves me. Loves me as lovers love their
+sweet-hearts, as God intends human beings to love each other.--Oh Lady
+Mother! now that you are going to work a miracle and let him see, make
+me beautiful or strike me dead, for I shall not be wanted any more in
+this world. I am good for nothing and ever shall be, excepting to one
+person. Am I sorry then that he should be able to see?--No, no, not
+that, no. I want him to see; I would give my own eyes for him to see
+with his; I would give my life. I hope Don Teodoro can work the miracle
+as they say. Blessings on all wise men! What I do not want is that my
+master should ever see me. Before I will let him see me, oh Mother! I
+will bury myself alive, I will throw myself into the river.--Yes, the
+earth shall cover my ugliness. I ought never to have been born."
+
+She writhed in her narrow basket, and then she went on:
+
+"All my heart and thought are for him. That poor, blind man, who has
+taken it into his head to be fond of me--he is the first being in
+the world to me next to the Virgin Mary. Oh! If only I were tall and
+handsome; if I had the figure, and the face, and the color--above
+all, the color--of other girls! If I could only make a lady of myself
+and dress myself up.--And then my greatest joy would be to think that
+his eyes liked to look at me. If I were like other girls, even like
+Mariuca--how soon I would find a way of getting taught and being made
+a lady of. Oh Mother Mary, Queen of the world! The only creature that
+loves me, I am going to lose: he will leave me. Why did you ever let
+him love me, and let me love him? It ought not--never--to have been."
+
+The tears poured down her cheeks; she folded her arms and turned over,
+and even when half asleep she still was speaking to herself:
+
+"Oh, how much I love you, child of my soul! Love me too, love me very
+much. It is Nela who is no good to any one.--Love me very much. Let me
+give you a kiss--here on your head.--But do not open your eyes, do not
+look at me. Shut them--so."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HOW THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED TO NELA.
+
+
+The thoughts which fade and fly as sleep overcomes us, very commonly
+lurk in some hole or corner ready to take us by storm again as soon
+as we wake. Thus it was that Mariquilla, who, having fallen asleep
+with her head full of strange fancies of the Virgin, of the blind lad,
+and of her own ugliness which, she longed so wildly to see changed
+into wonderful loveliness, woke with the same ideas in her brain when
+Señana's call roused her in her basket. As soon as her eyes were open,
+Nela put up her usual prayer to the Virgin Mother--a sort of Litany,
+compounded of the ordinary Litany to the Virgin and of certain clauses
+of her own devising, and forming altogether an address which would look
+strange enough if it were written down. Among other things, Nela's
+prayer said:
+
+"Thou didst appear to me in my dreams last night, oh Lady! and promise
+to comfort me to-day. Now I am awake, and still I feel as if I saw thy
+face just before me, and far lovelier than all the grand and lovely
+things in the world." And as she spoke she turned and gazed round her.
+Noticing in herself the utter vagueness with which she did so, she
+thought to herself: "Something has come over me."
+
+"What is the matter, Nela?" asked Señana, seeing the girl stand with
+her eyes wide open and fixed on a spot in space. "Do you see a vision,
+simpleton?"
+
+But Nela did not answer, her mind was absorbed in self contemplation.
+
+"What ails me?" she asked herself. "It cannot be anything evil, or
+wicked, for I do not feel the black ugly figure of a devil inside me,
+but something heavenly: a beautiful face, a smile and a look which--if
+I am in my right mind--are those of the Virgin Mary herself. Oh Lady
+Mother! Can it be true that thou wilt give me comfort to-day? And
+how?--By giving me what I prayed for last night?"
+
+"Now then, brat!" screamed Señana in her harsh tones, like a cracked
+bell. "Go and wash your ugly little snout."
+
+Nela went at once. Her spirit had felt a shock as of a sudden gleam
+of great hope. She looked at herself in the quivering surface of the
+water, and her heart shrank within her.
+
+"No difference," she muttered. "As ugly as ever; the same child's face
+with a woman's years and a woman's heart!"
+
+But after washing herself she went through the same experience as
+before--a sort of agony of anticipation, and, in spite of her narrow
+vocabulary, Nela could classify these feelings as presentiments.
+
+"Pablo and I," said she to herself, "have often talked of how we feel
+when something sad or something pleasant is going to happen. Pablo told
+me that just before an earthquake people have strange sensations; there
+is something in the air, and the beasts feel it too. Is there going to
+be an earthquake, I wonder?" And she knelt down and felt the ground
+with her hand.
+
+"I cannot tell. But something is going to happen, and I cannot doubt
+that it will be something good.--The Virgin told me last night that
+to-day she would comfort me. What has come over me? The Heavenly Queen
+seems to be close to me. I cannot see her, but I feel her--before
+me--behind me...."
+
+She went close by the machines for washing the ore towards the inclined
+plane, looking about her with eager eyes. There was nothing to be seen
+but the arms and wheels of iron, toiling with fiendish shrieks amid the
+hideous confusion of whirling cylinders, lashing the water to powder,
+as it seemed, and breathing out dust and smoke. Presently, when she
+had gone some little distance, she stopped; putting her hand to her
+forehead, and fixing her eyes on the ground in all the bewilderment of
+doubt: "The question is," said she to herself, "am I happy or am I sad?"
+
+She looked up at the sky, half wondering to see it appear the same as
+on other days--and it was a lovely day--and then she walked on faster,
+to reach Aldeacorba as soon as possible. Instead of going through
+the gallery in the mines and up the wooden steps, she kept above the
+hollow way, along by the gutter that bordered the inclined tram-way,
+intending to get out into the fields, and walk straight on by the level
+road to the village. This way was much the prettiest, and she almost
+always chose it, for that reason. It went by lanes full of sweet and
+gay flowers, where crowds of bees and butterflies fluttered and sipped;
+there were thickets of bramble loaded with the black fruit beloved
+of children; clumps of cherry-trees overgrown with honeysuckles, and
+enormous ilex, tall, spreading, densely shady, and proud, it would
+seem, of their wide, black shadows.
+
+Here Nela went more slowly, uneasy in herself, puzzled at her own
+sensations, and at the anxious excitement that stirred in her. Her
+rapid fancy presently hit upon a formula to express the state of her
+feelings, and remembering having heard it said of such and such a one,
+"the devil is in him," she said to herself: "The angels are in me,
+the Virgin Mary is with me this day. What I feel are the wings of her
+angels fluttering inside me. Thou art near me, Lady Mother, I see you
+and yet I do not see you--as we see with our eyes shut."
+
+She shut her eyes, and then she opened them again. She had just passed
+a grove of trees and turned an angle of the road to go to a place where
+she knew of a bramble copse, the greenest, prettiest, and most fruitful
+in all the neighborhood. There were luxuriant ferns too, honeysuckle,
+wild vine, and other climbing plants, all clinging and tangled together
+in mutual dependence.
+
+Nela heard a rustle in the brushwood close to her, and turning round
+she saw--Merciful Heaven! There, in a frame of greenery, stood the
+Immaculate Virgin herself--the face, the eyes, which in their gaze
+seemed to have all the calm beauty of the sky. Nela stood silent,
+petrified; with a feeling at once of devotion and terror. She could
+not stir, nor cry out, nor hardly breathe, nor take her eyes off this
+beatific vision.
+
+It stood among the verdure, the face and figure to the waist perfectly
+displayed. This was--yes, certainly--the very presence of the Maiden
+of Nazareth, whose moral loveliness every painter has endeavored to
+express by means of physical beauty, from St. Luke downwards through
+eighteen centuries. Have not men indeed seen that sacred form with
+the eyes of sense--with the eyes of Albert Dürer--of Rafael--of Van
+Eyck--of Bartolomé Murillo? It was under the Rafaelesque aspect that
+she now appeared to Nela, the most realistic of all, if realism can
+mean the nearest approach of perfect human beauty to an artistic
+representation of divine goodness. The oval of her face was less
+narrow than the Seville painter's type, and had more of the tender
+roundness of the Italian form. Her eyes, which were finely shaped, were
+gentleness itself, with a softness and sweetness as far removed from
+indifference, as from the lightning glow of the eyes of Andalucia; the
+brows that overarched them were delicately curved, and as fine as if
+they had been traced with a paint-brush. Her forehead was unshadowed
+by any cloud of weariness or sadness, and her lips, which were rather
+full, parted in a smile that revealed the pearliest teeth that ever bit
+into the apples of Paradise. And so, without in the least intending
+it, I have compared her to our Mother Eve--wide as the distance is
+between her who yielded to the Serpent and her who set her heel on
+his head; but the beauty of a lovely girl is enough to betray us into
+such unlucky blunders. To put a finishing touch to this imperfect
+description of the divine vision which had so utterly dismayed poor
+Marianela, it must be said that her complexion was of that faded rose
+color, or warm clear brown which gives an enchanting glow to the faces
+of those glorious pictures which successive generations, of believers
+and heretics alike, have worshipped in ecstasy.
+
+After the first shock of surprise was over, the first thing that Nela
+observed, and which confused her judgment greatly, was that the fair
+Virgin wore a blue ribbon round her throat, a detail she had never
+before seen in any picture or dream of the Virgin Mary; then she
+perceived that her shoulders and bosom were covered by a dress in every
+respect similar to that worn by other ladies; but the thing which
+puzzled and disturbed her most was that the fair creature was picking
+blackberries--and eating them.
+
+She was beginning to draw accurate inferences from this remarkable
+behavior, when she heard a loud man's voice calling:
+
+"Florentina, Florentina!"
+
+"I am here, Papa--here, eating blackberries."
+
+"Naughty child--how can you like to eat blackberries? What next whim
+will you take? Have I not told you that they are only fit for the poor
+children that run about the country, and not for a young lady who has
+been properly brought up.--Do you hear? And lived in good society."
+
+Nela saw the speaker come towards them. He was a man of advanced middle
+age and medium height, rotund, and with a ruddy countenance that seemed
+to radiate satisfaction as the sun radiates light. His legs were thin,
+his nose was large, and his person decorated with a variety of splendid
+objects, among which a thick watch-chain was conspicuous, while he wore
+a broad-brimmed hat of fine black felt.
+
+"Come, come, child," said Don Manuel Penáguilas, for he it was,
+"respectable people do not eat blackberries nor skip and jump about
+like that. There, you have torn your dress--I do not care about the
+dress, for I can buy you another as I bought you that--I only speak
+because the people here who see you might think you had no dress but
+the one you have on."
+
+Nela, who by this time understood the case, looked at the young lady's
+dress. It was good and handsome, but her face betrayed unmistakably
+the transition--and a rapid one--from the position of a rich peasant's
+daughter to that of a fine lady. Every detail of her attire, from her
+shoes to her comb, stamped her as the daughter of the people in holiday
+clothes. But the girl's natural grace and beauty were so transcendent,
+that no deficiency, as measured by any conventional standard of
+elegance, could dim them. It was not to be denied, however, that her
+whole individuality cried out for a short peasant's skirt, hair dressed
+in plaits with a bunch of poppies to adorn it with affected simplicity,
+a sleeveless bodice, a coral necklace--in short, the costume which
+good taste and the nature of things would have suggested, without any
+admixture of the devices of the fine lady.
+
+As the young girl came out from among the brambles, Don Manuel
+perceived Nela, at the moment when she had just recovered from her
+delusion, and he called out as he turned to her:
+
+"Hallo! and who are you? Why, look Florentina, it is Nela, the little
+body that waits upon your cousin. You remember--I spoke of her to you?
+And how are you now-a-days?"
+
+"Very well, Señor Don Manuel. And you.--How are you, Señor?" asked
+Mariquilla without taking her eyes off Florentina.
+
+"Perfectly well--as you see. This is my daughter.--Well, what do you
+think of her?"
+
+Florentina had just set out on a butterfly chase.
+
+"My dear child, where are you going? What do you want now?" said the
+father, visibly annoyed. "Now do you think it looks well that you
+should be running after an insect like some poor child? You must not be
+so wild, my child. Young ladies brought up in good society do not do
+such things--never do such things...."
+
+It was a trick with Don Manuel to repeat the last clause of his
+sentences to give them emphasis.
+
+"Ah! do not be cross, Papa," said the girl, returning from her
+fruitless chase to shelter herself under the protecting brim of the
+paternal hat. "You know how much I love the country and that I am half
+crazy when I see trees and flowers and meadows. And in that dismal town
+of Campó I never see anything of the kind...."
+
+"Oh! but you must not say anything against Santa Irene de Campó; it is
+a famous town where you find every comfort and convenience, and a great
+deal of very distinguished society. It stands in the foremost ranks
+of civilization--yes, of civilization. You can admire the beauties
+of Nature while you walk properly by my side. I admire them too, but
+without cutting capers or turning somersaults. You can tell when a
+young person has moved in good society only by her way of walking and
+looking at the scene around her. This way of calling out at every
+minute: Ah! Oh! Look there, Papa!--How pretty!--and pointing to a fern,
+perhaps, or an oak-tree, or a rock--a thorn-bush even, a brook--is not
+at all in good taste--people will think you have lived in a desert. So
+come and walk by me.--Nela will show us the way home, for, to tell you
+the truth, I do not know where we are."
+
+"If we turn to the left, past that old house," said Nela readily, "we
+shall be there directly.--But here comes Don Francisco."
+
+And, in fact, Don Francisco came on towards them, calling out: "The
+chocolate is getting cold."
+
+"What would you have my good fellow.--This child was so anxious
+to scamper across the country that she would not wait, so we went
+springing from bush to bush like goats--just like goats from bush to
+bush."
+
+"Well come in now, come home. Nela do you come too, and have some
+chocolate," said Penáguilas, laying a hand on the child's head. "Well,
+and what do you think of my niece? Is not she pretty?--Florentina, when
+you have had your chocolate, Nela will take you and Pablo for a walk,
+and you will see all the beauties of the neighborhood--the mines, the
+wood, the river...."
+
+Florentina sent a kind glance to the hapless little creature who, as
+she ran by her side, seemed to have been formed by Nature expressly as
+a foil and contrast to one of the loveliest and most perfect of her
+creations.
+
+When they reached the house the table was ready laid with the chocolate
+pots full of the thick and nutritious beverage, and a small hillock of
+slices of bread. There too were the _mantequilla_ (a sort of cake),
+duly decked with fern leaves, and no lack of other household dainties.
+The bright glasses of crystal water reflected and magnified all these
+gastronomical objects.
+
+"Here we have something to support life," said Don Francisco, seating
+himself.
+
+"And you will have some chocolate too, Nela," said Pablo. He had
+hardly spoken when Florentina had offered her the chocolate pot, and
+everything that was on the table was pressed on her acceptance. She
+refused at first, but the Señorita insisted with so much kindness
+and gentle grace, that she had at last no choice. Don Manuel cast
+side glances at his daughter, not feeling perfectly satisfied with
+her advance in the arts and manners of the best society, since one of
+the most important points, in his estimation, consisted in a delicate
+appreciation of the shades of civility due to different people
+according to their rank and position, "showing to each neither more nor
+less than was appropriate by the rules of social distinction; since, by
+this means, each would keep his place, while true dignity would hold
+its own and observe that happy medium of courtesy, which was not too
+haughty or reserved to the rich, nor too humble and condescending to
+the poor--not too humble to the poor."
+
+When they had done breakfast, Don Francisco said:
+
+"Now, you children, go out for a walk. Pablo, this is the last day that
+Don Teodoro will allow you to walk out. You three go and have a run,
+while my brother and I go over the farm.--Fly away birds!"
+
+There was no need to speak twice; the beauty of the day was invitation
+enough, and the three young people set out for the fields.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE THREE CHILDREN.
+
+
+The town-bred damsel thoroughly enjoyed the open and smiling meadows
+without the trammels of her father's social dogmas, and as soon as they
+were at some little distance from the house she took to running and
+leaping, swinging now and then from the branches of the trees as she
+passed them. She pinched the blackberries with the tips of her fingers,
+and when she thought them ripe she would pick three, one for each mouth.
+
+"This is for you, cousin," she said, putting it to his lips, "and this
+is for you, Nela, and this little one is for me."
+
+Then as the birds flew across she could not resist the temptation to
+wave her arms as if she too could fly. "Where are the little rascals
+off to I wonder?" she said. She must need gather a branch from every
+oak-tree and split open the acorns to see what was in them, then she
+bit into one, and finding it bitter, tossed it away. No botanist, mad
+on Latin names and classification, could have been so eager to collect
+all the flowers that grew under her feet, as if to bid her welcome to
+their native soil, and she gathered enough in half an hour to adorn
+every button-hole in her cousin's cloak, to make a garland for Nela's
+hair, and then one for her own.
+
+"My cousin would like to see the mines," said Pablo. "Do not you think
+we might go down?"
+
+"Yes, let us go down--this way, Señorita."
+
+"Oh! but I do not like to go through tunnels, they frighten me
+dreadfully. I really cannot go through a tunnel ..." said Florentina,
+following them. "Cousin, do you and Nela walk about here often? Oh! but
+this is beautiful--I could live here all my life. Blessings on the man
+who is going to give you the power of enjoying this lovely world!"
+
+"God grant it! And it will all look much more lovely to me who have
+never seen it, than to you who are tired of it all. But do not suppose,
+Florentina, that I do not understand what beauty is; I can feel it in
+my own fashion, and my fancy almost, almost makes up for my want of
+sight."
+
+"That is strange.--But say what you will," replied Florentina, "we will
+have some good fun when you can see."
+
+"Maybe," said the blind boy, "that I may not find much to say that day."
+
+Nela meanwhile was absolutely speechless.
+
+When they had reached the crater of La Terrible, Florentina was greatly
+struck by the grand spectacle of the limestone rocks, left on the
+ground after the ore had been extracted. She compared them to huge
+masses of sugar loaves piled one on another; then, after looking a
+second time, she said they were like gigantic dogs and cats turned to
+stone at the critical moment of a furious fight.
+
+"Let us sit down on this slope," she said, "and we shall see the trains
+go by with the mineral, and besides we can see these stones which are
+very curious. That large rock in the middle has a wide mouth--do you
+see, Nela?--and out of the mouth sticks a toothpick; it is a tree
+that has grown all alone there. It looks as if it were laughing at
+us, for it has eyes too; and there, farther on, is one with a hump,
+another smoking a pipe, and two pulling each other's hair; there is
+one yawning, another asleep and drunk, and another head downwards
+supporting a cathedral on his feet; then there is one playing the
+guitar, with a dog's head and coffee-pot on it like a cap."
+
+"What you are saying," observed the blind man, "proves to me how
+differently things are seen by different eyes, and that the precious
+gift of sight sometimes travesties them strangely, changing their
+natural form into something whimsical and unreal; for, after all, what
+you see before you are neither cats nor men, toothpicks, cathedrals,
+nor coffee-pots, but merely limestone rocks and masses of calcareous
+stone stained with oxide of iron. And it is your eye that burlesques so
+simple a fact."
+
+"You are right, cousin; and for that very reason I say it is our
+imagination that sees, and not our eyes. Nevertheless our sight is
+useful--to inform us, for instance, of certain things which poor people
+have not got and which we who are rich can give them." And as she spoke
+she touched Nela's dress.
+
+"Why does not this dear little Nela wear better clothes?" she went on.
+"I have a number of frocks and I will give her one--and a new one too,
+into the bargain." Marianela, covered with blushes and confusion, did
+not raise her eyes.
+
+"That is a thing I can never understand: why some have so much and
+others so little. I get quite angry with Papa when I hear him abusing
+those who wish that everything should be divided so that all should
+have an equal share. What do they call those people, Pablo?"
+
+"Socialists--communists ..." said the lad smiling.
+
+"Well, those are the people for me. I vote for a redistribution, so
+that the rich should give the poor all they have too much of. Why
+should this orphan go barefoot when I wear shoes? Even wicked people
+ought not to be destitute, much less good ones. Now, I know that Nela
+is very good, you told me so last evening, and your father said so too.
+And she has no parents, no one to care for her. How is it that there
+are so many, many, miserable creatures in the world? My bread burns my
+mouth when I remember how many there are who have none at all. Poor
+little Nela! such a good child, and so forlorn! It seems impossible
+that to this day you should have lived without being loved, without
+any one to give you a kiss nor to cuddle and pet you as we pet little
+children--my heart aches to think of it."
+
+Marianela was as completely petrified with astonishment as at the first
+sight of the apparition. Then she had seen the Virgin Mary, now she
+heard her very words.
+
+"Listen, little one," the Holy Maiden went on, "and you, Pablo, listen
+too. I must help and comfort Nela--not as we help the beggars by the
+road, but as we try to help a brother whom we find unexpectedly. Did
+you not tell me that she has been your companion, your _lazarillo_,
+your guide through the darkness? That you saw with her eyes and trod
+in her steps? Nela is mine as much as yours then, and I shall take
+charge of her. I will dress her and give her everything she can want
+to live decently, and teach her a hundred things to make her useful in
+the house. Papa told me that perhaps I might always have to live here;
+and, if so, Nela will live with me; with me she will learn to read,
+to say her prayers, to sew and to cook; she will learn so many things
+that she will know as much as I do. What do you think of my plan? She
+will soon be nothing short of a young lady. My father will not prevent
+me I know. Indeed, last evening he said to me: 'Florentinilla perhaps,
+perhaps, before long I shall not rule you any longer; you may have to
+obey another master....' Well, be that as it may, Nela shall be my
+friend. Will you love me? dearly? You have lived so neglected--as the
+wild flowers grow in the fields--that you do not even know how to say
+thank you--but never mind I will teach you; oh! I have to teach you so
+many things."
+
+Marianela, who had been making stupendous efforts not to cry as she
+listened to these splendid promises, could at last hold in no longer
+and, after screwing up her face for a minute, burst into tears. The
+blind boy sat silent, lost in thought.
+
+"Florentina," he said presently, "you speak and think differently from
+most other people. Your goodness is as infinite and as enthusiastic as
+that which has filled the world with martyrs and peopled heaven with
+saints."
+
+"What an extravagant way of putting it!" said the girl laughing, and
+she rose to gather a flower that had attracted her attention at some
+little distance.
+
+"Is she gone?" asked Pablo.
+
+"Yes," said Nela, gulping down her tears.
+
+"Do you know?" said Pablo, "I fancy my cousin must be rather pretty.
+When she arrived last evening I felt the greatest antipathy towards
+her; I cannot tell you what a dislike I took to her. But to-day I fancy
+I can see her, and that she must be rather pretty."
+
+Nela began to cry again.
+
+"She is like an angel!" she said with a flood of tears. "She looks as
+if she had just come straight from Heaven. Body and soul she is exactly
+like the Holy Virgin Mary."
+
+"Oh! do not exaggerate," said Pablo uneasily. "She cannot be so lovely
+as you say. Do not imagine that because I have no eyes I cannot feel
+who is beautiful and who is not."
+
+"No, no, you cannot feel it, you do not understand.--Oh! you are
+mistaken, quite mistaken."
+
+"No, no. She cannot be so beautiful," the blind lad insisted, turning
+very pale as he spoke. "Nela, darling of my heart, do you know what my
+father told me? That if I recover my sight I am to marry Florentina."
+
+Nela could not answer; her tears continued to flow in silence, pouring
+down her burning cheeks and dropping on her hands. But not even the
+bitterest tears could give expression or relief to her intense grief.
+It was immeasurable, infinite, that was all she knew.
+
+"I know why you are crying so much," the blind youth said holding
+her hands very tightly in his own. "But my father will not insist on
+making me marry against my will. For me there is no wife in the world
+but you. When my eyes can see, they will care for no beauty but your
+heavenly face; all others will be but shades, too remote and dim to
+attract my gaze. Oh God! what is a human face like? How does the soul
+stand revealed in flesh? If light cannot avail to give another aspect
+to thought and fancy, of what use is it at all? That which we conceive
+of and that which is--are they not one and the same thing? Are not the
+idea and the form the same to each other as fire and heat? Can they be
+separated? And can you cease to be the fairest in the world to me, the
+sweetest and best beloved, when I am lord of the vast domain of the
+visible?"
+
+Florentina now rejoined them, and they talked as they went home; but
+nothing more was said of sufficient interest to be set down here.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE VOW.
+
+
+Nothing of importance occurred on the two following days, but then
+there came one on which the deed was done, the wonderful, crowning,
+fateful deed. Teodoro Golfin, in whose hands the surgeon's knife was
+as the chisel of a Genius, had attempted to amend one of Nature's most
+delicate works. Unflinching and calm he took possession, as it were, in
+virtue of his science and experience, of the marvellous speck in which
+the glorious scheme of the Universe is epitomized and concentrated. The
+task before him was nothing less than to stand face to face with the
+mystery of Life; to investigate and discover the causes which hindered
+a living eye from taking cognizance of things visible. For this a firm
+soul was needed and a tender hand. The delicate tissue of the cornea
+must be divided, the crystalline lens removed, carefully avoiding the
+hyaloid membrane and the vitreous humor; the dimensions of the pupil
+must be increased by an incision, and the condition of the inner
+chamber of the eye ascertained by induction or by examination.
+
+Few words were spoken after this daring expedition into a microcosm--an
+enterprise not less bold than the attempt to measure the distance
+between the stars, or to gauge the infinite realms of space. Those
+who were present sat in silent suspense, as they might await the
+resurrection of a dead man or the creation of a new world. Golfin said
+nothing definite either:
+
+"Iris contractile," he muttered. "Retina sensitive.... Nerves living
+and sound...." And yet the function, the fact, the act of seeing--where
+was that?
+
+"Time will show," said Don Teodoro, as he carefully adjusted the
+bandages. "Patience."
+
+And his leonine face expressed neither disappointment nor triumph,
+neither hope nor doubt. Science had done all she could; it was almost
+like an act of creation, like many others she has enabled us to
+perform in this nineteenth century. Nature, thus boldly defied and
+resenting such an intrusion on her secrets, held her peace.
+
+The patient was strictly forbidden to see any one but his father,
+who waited on him; no one else was admitted. Nela went several times
+to enquire for the invalid; but she never crossed the threshold, she
+waited outside till Don Manuel should come out, or his daughter, or
+some member of the household. The young lady, after giving her the
+fullest information and painting in lively colors the anxiety they all
+felt, would go out to walk with her. One day Florentina insisted that
+Nela should show her where she lived, and they went down to Centeno's
+hovel; the squalid interior horrified and disgusted Florentina; above
+all, the baskets which served as the orphan's bed.
+
+"Well, Nela will very soon come to live with me," said Florentina,
+getting out of the stuffy hole as fast as she could, "and then she will
+have a bedroom just like mine, and will dress and feed as I do."
+
+Dame Centeno and her two girls stood open-mouthed with astonishment at
+this speech. They began to think that the hapless and neglected orphan
+must have found her father in some Prince or King, as the orphans do in
+the tales.
+
+When they had left the house behind them Florentina said to her
+companion: "Pray to God day and night that He may grant my dear cousin
+the blessing which we all enjoy and which He has denied to him. What an
+anxious state we live in! If he gains his sight a thousand delightful
+things will follow and many difficulties will be removed. I have made a
+solemn vow to the Virgin; I have promised that if she grants my cousin
+his sight I will take under my care the very poorest creature I can
+find, and give her all that can make her entirely forget her poverty,
+making her my own equal in every respect, as happy and as comfortable
+as I am. And it is not enough merely to give her clothes, or set her
+down to a table with plenty of soup and meat. No, there is another
+charity which is worth more than all the broken food and frippery in
+the world--kindness, respect, consideration, and a name. I will give
+her these too, and teach her to respect herself. I have found the
+person I want, María--it is you. I have promised the Holy Virgin from
+the bottom of my soul that if she will bestow the gift of sight on my
+cousin, you shall be my sister. You shall be the same as myself, in my
+house, exactly like my sister." As she spoke Nela's Virgin clasped the
+girl in her arms and kissed her on the forehead.
+
+It is impossible to give any idea of the poor little vagabond's
+feelings in this crowning hour of her life. An instinctive dread kept
+her away from the house at Aldeacorba, a dread that was dimly mixed up
+with the personality of her young benefactress, like the figures we see
+in a nightmare; while, at the same time, she felt tender admiration and
+reverence for her. Now and again, in her innocent bewilderment, she
+fancied it must be the Virgin Mary in her actual presence; in no other
+way could she conceive of the kind-heartedness which smiled upon her,
+like the realms of Paradise, from the open soul of Florentina, with
+its purity, tenderness, gentleness, and gracious consolations. Nela's
+honest instinct made her feel and understand at once that she could not
+hate her self-constituted sister. Hate her! How could she? She felt
+she must love her with all the strength of her soul. Her aversion and
+repulsion sank to the bottom like a sediment after fermentation, and
+there decomposed and vanished, their elements recombining to intensify
+the admiration and respect she felt for her benefactress. Still, though
+the feeling had disappeared, the cause remained--the sentiment which,
+as it could no longer flourish singly in her soul, with that masterful
+exclusiveness which is characteristic of such passions, revenged
+itself by producing that utter dejection which is the very demon of
+melancholy.
+
+At Centeno's they remarked that Nela did not eat, that she seemed
+wearier than usual, that for long intervals she sat as silent and
+motionless as a statue, and that she sang no longer, day or night. Her
+incapacity for exertion had become absolute helplessness, and Tanasio,
+having sent her to buy him some tobacco, she sat down in the road and
+remained there for the rest of the day.
+
+One morning, just a week after the operation had been performed, she
+went up to the engineer's house, and Sofía said to her: "A gift for
+good news Nela! Have you heard? They have taken off the bandages
+to-day, and they say he can see, that he will see quite well. Ulysses,
+the foreman of the works, has just been to tell us. Teodoro has not
+been here, but my husband has gone to Aldeacorba--we shall know the
+truth very soon."
+
+Nela, as she heard it, felt more dead than alive, and crossing her
+hands she exclaimed: "Blessed be the Holy Virgin who has worked this
+wonder!--She, she alone has done it."
+
+"You are glad little one?--No wonder, for now Señorita Florentina
+will keep her promise," said Sofía in a bantering tone. "Allow me to
+congratulate you, Señorita Doña Nela.--Why it is like a lottery! What
+a big prize, Nelilla! And yet you may not be grateful--no, you will
+not. I never yet knew any poor who were grateful. They are all proud,
+and the more you give them the more they ask.--Well, it is a settled
+thing that Pablo is to marry his cousin, and it is a very good match;
+they are a handsome pair and she seems no fool--and she has a sweet
+pretty face; what a pity to spoil such a face and figure by dressing so
+villanously! No, no, if I want to dress well I will not apply to the
+dressmaker at Santa Irene de Campó."
+
+As she spoke Don Cárlos came in; he was radiant with satisfaction and
+delight.
+
+"A complete success!" he shouted as he reached the door. "Next to God
+stands my brother Teodoro!"
+
+"It is quite certain?"
+
+"As sure as daylight--I never believed it could be.--And what a
+triumph, Sofía! What a triumph! It is my greatest pride and happiness
+to be my brother's brother. He is the king of men.--Yes, as I say:
+First God, and then Teodoro!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A FUGITIVE.
+
+
+The wonderful good news flew through Socartes. Nothing else was talked
+of in the smelting-houses, in the workshops, in the washing-mills, on
+the tram-way, in the deepest diggings, and on the top of the hill,
+in the bowels of the earth or the open light of heaven. Various
+interesting commentaries were added: that in Aldeacorba it was thought
+for a moment that Don Francisco was out of his wits with joy; that Don
+Manuel meant to celebrate the happy event by giving a grand banquet to
+all the hands employed in the mines; and, finally, that Don Teodoro
+was a great man, whom all blind men, present or to come, might indeed
+esteem, "as the apple of their eye."
+
+Nela could not venture to go to the house at Aldeacorba. A mysterious
+force seemed to hold her back. She wandered all day round and about the
+mines, gazing from afar at the Penáguilas' house, which in her eyes,
+looked transformed. Her spirit was full of a strange compound of the
+sincerest joy and an overwhelming shamefacedness, of noble devotion and
+with it the unendurable aching, so to speak, of an intensely sensitive
+self-consciousness.
+
+She found some surcease from the turmoil of her brain in that motherly
+solitude which had contributed so largely to the formation of her
+character, and in dreaming over the beauty of Nature, which always
+lifted her soul to closer communion with the Divinity. The clouds in
+the sky and the flowers of the field affected her mind as others are
+affected by the pomp of altars, the eloquence of preachers and the
+study of the meditations of the mystics. In the solitude of the open
+country she thought and said a thousand things that she never dreamed
+were aspirations and prayers. She looked towards Aldeacorba, and said
+to herself:
+
+"I will never go there again.--All is over and done.--Of what use can I
+be now?"
+
+With all her ignorance she understood that the struggle in her soul
+arose from her incapacity to hate any one; on the contrary, she
+was constrained to love her friend and her enemy alike, and just
+as thistles turned into flowers under the miraculous touch of some
+Christian martyr, Nela perceived that her jealousy and aversion were
+graciously blossoming into admiration and gratitude. That which could
+undergo no change was the feeling we have described as self-conscious
+shame, and which urged her to keep herself quite apart from any events
+which might henceforth occur in Aldeacorba. It was a special aspect of
+the sentiment which in civilized and educated persons is called _amour
+propre_, which includes in itself the capacity for self-depreciation.
+The connection, however, between her feeling and that which has so
+large a share in the actions of cultivated persons, consisted in the
+fact that both were founded on a punctilious sense of dignity. If
+Marianela could have expressed herself in their language she would have
+said:
+
+"My dignity will not allow me to submit to the horrible degradation
+you would put upon me. It is God's will that I should endure this
+humiliation--so be it; but I cannot stand by and see myself deposed and
+discrowned. May his blessings fall on the head of her who, by a law of
+nature, must fill the place I once occupied--but I have not the courage
+to put her there with my own hands."
+
+But not being able to utter her pain in these words, she could only
+say: "I will never go to Aldeacorba again--I will never let him see me.
+I will run away with Celipin, or I will go to my mother. I am of no use
+now to any one."
+
+Still, even while she said this, it struck her as very sad that she
+should have to give up the divine protection of that Heavenly Maiden
+who had appeared to her in the darkest hour of her life, and cast her
+sheltering mantle over her! To think that after seeing the vision
+realized which had so often appeared to her in dreams of thrilling
+beatitude, she must renounce it--to have heard herself called by a
+gentle voice, that offered her a sister's love, a happy home, position,
+a name, and a luxurious existence--and then be unable to obey the
+invitation with joy, alacrity and thankfulness--to reject the hand
+which would snatch her from a life of degradation and misery, and
+make a lady of the wretched vagabond, raising her from the rank of a
+domestic animal to that of a loved and respected woman!...
+
+"Woe, woe!" she cried, clutching her bosom as if her fingers were
+talons: "I cannot, never, never.... Nothing in the world shall ever
+take me to Aldeacorba! Virgin, mother of my soul, take me, take me....
+Mother, will you not come and fetch me!"
+
+As night came on, she went home; on her way she met Celipin with a
+stick in his hand and his cap hung on the end of it.
+
+"Look here, Nelilla," said the boy: "Is not this how Don Teodoro
+carries his hat? Just now I was passing the pool at Hinojales and
+I looked at my reflection in the water. My! was not I surprised--I
+thought I looked just like Don Teodoro Golfin. Some day this week we
+will set out to become learned and useful persons. I have got as much
+money now as I want, and you will see, no one will dare to laugh at
+Señor de Celipin."
+
+For three days Nela kept out of the way, wandering about the
+neighborhood of the mines, following the course of the river along its
+rugged banks, or hiding herself in the quiet recesses of the wood of
+Saldeoro. The nights she spent in her basket, but she could not sleep.
+One night she timidly called her companion:
+
+"Celipin--when?" and Celipin replied with all the solemnity befitting a
+regular expedition:
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+The two adventurers rose at day-break, and both went their way; Celipin
+to his work, and Nela to carry a message from Señana to the engineer's
+housekeeper. On her return she found Señorita Florentina, who was
+waiting for her at Centeno's house. María was surprised and alarmed at
+seeing her, though her instinct told her of the end and object of this
+visit.
+
+"Nela, my little sister," said the girl with engaging gentleness: "Why
+are you behaving so strangely? Why have you not been near us all these
+days? Come, Pablo wishes to see you. Do you not know that now he can
+say: 'I want to see this thing or the other?' Do you not know that my
+cousin is no longer blind?"
+
+"Yes--I know it," said Nela, taking the hand Florentina held out to her
+and covering it with kisses.
+
+"Come along then; come at once. He is always asking for 'Señora Nela.'
+And to-day you must be there when Don Teodoro takes the bandage off--it
+is the fourth time. Oh! the first day--when he first tried it! What a
+day that was! When we knew for certain that my cousin was born again,
+as I may say, to the light of day--we almost died of joy.--And the
+first face he saw was mine.--Come along, quickly." But María drew her
+hand out of her Virgin's clasp.
+
+"Have you forgotten my promise, my vow?" Florentina went on, "or did
+you think I was talking at random? But indeed, nothing I can do seems
+enough to show our Mother of Mercies my gratitude for the grace she
+has shown us. I should like that, on this day, not a creature that
+the whole world contains should be sad. I should like to divide my
+happiness, and fling it abroad on all sides, as the sower casts the
+seed; I should like to go into every wretched dwelling and say: 'All
+your troubles are ended. I have a remedy for them all.'--But it is
+impossible; no one can do that but God. Still, as my powers are not
+equal to my will, let me at any rate do what I can--and these are not
+mere words, Nela. Come with me, away from this hovel; bid farewell to
+everything that has made part of your misery and your loneliness. For
+you may have an affection, even for your wretchedness, my child."
+
+Marianela did not, however, say good-bye to anything; and as none
+of the family were indoors at that hour, she did not wait for them.
+Florentina went out, leading by the hand the poor little girl whom her
+noble impulses and christian feeling had adopted to be her equal; and
+Nela allowed herself to be led, from sheer incapacity to offer any
+resistance. She felt as though some superhuman power had taken her in
+hand and was carrying her along, fatally and inevitably, as the angels
+bear a soul away to Heaven.
+
+They took the path by Hinojales, where the vagabond child had seen
+Florentina for the first time. As they turned into the lane the young
+lady said to her companion.
+
+"Why have you not been to the house? My uncle says that you have so
+much natural modesty and delicacy that it is a pity you should not have
+been educated. Was it delicacy that kept you from coming to ask for
+what, by God's mercy, you had so happily gained? Without doubt my uncle
+is right.... You should have seen the poor dear man that day--he said
+he should not be sorry to die!--Do you see? My eyes are still red with
+crying so much. And last night my uncle and my father and I never went
+to sleep; we were making plans for all the family and building castles
+in the air all night--Why do you say nothing? Why are you so silent?
+Are you not as glad as I am?"
+
+Nela looked up in the girl's bright face and made a faint effort to
+resist the gentle hand that held hers.
+
+"Come along--what is the matter? You look at me so strangely Nela."
+
+She did indeed; the hapless child's eyes wandering vaguely from one
+object to another, ended by fixing themselves on the Virgin of her
+fancy, with a strange glitter of apprehension.
+
+"Why does your hand tremble so?" Florentina went on. "Are you ill?
+You are as pale as death and your teeth are chattering. If you are
+ill I will cure you, I myself can cure you. From this day you will
+have some one to care for you, and pet you, and make much of you.
+And I shall not be alone you know, for Pablo is very fond of you--he
+told me so. We both love you dearly and he and I shall be like one
+person.--He wants to see you. Just fancy how full of curiosity a man
+must be who has never seen anything at all; but you cannot think
+how--from being so clever as he is, and having an imagination which
+seems to have given him a number of ideas which blind people scarcely
+ever have--from the first moment he knew what was pretty and what was
+ugly. A bit of scarlet sealing-wax pleased him at once and a piece
+of coal he thought hideous. He admired the beauty of the sky and was
+disgusted at the sight of a frog. Everything that is beautiful excites
+him to an enthusiasm that is almost delirium; everything ugly fills him
+with horror, and makes him tremble as we do when we are frightened.
+My appearance must have pleased him, for he exclaimed as soon as he
+saw me: "Oh! cousin, how pretty you are! Thank God for having bestowed
+sight on me so that I can see you!"
+
+Nela had gently withdrawn her hand from Florentina's grasp and fell on
+the ground as if suddenly stricken to death. The young girl bent over
+her, saying in coaxing tones: "Oh! what is it ails you? Why do you
+look at me so?" Marianela fixed her eyes on the Holy Virgin's face with
+a miserable stare; still their expression was not one of aversion, but
+rather a gaze of agonized entreaty, like the last look of a dying man
+imploring mercy from the image of the Saviour, and believing it to be
+God himself.
+
+"Señora," murmured the child, "I do not hate you--no indeed I do not
+hate you. On the contrary, I love you dearly--I adore you." And taking
+up the hem of Florentina's dress she pressed it to her dry lips and
+kissed it fervently.
+
+"But whoever supposed you would hate me?" said the young girl greatly
+bewildered. "I know that you love me. But you frighten me--get up."
+
+"I do love you, dearly, dearly; I adore you," repeated Nela, kissing
+the feet of her benefactress. "And yet I cannot--I cannot...."
+
+"What cannot you do--for God's sake! get up." Florentina put out
+her arms to help her up; but Nela rose without any assistance, and
+springing away to a safe distance, she repeated, bursting into a flood
+of tears:
+
+"I cannot Señorita, I cannot."
+
+"What?--in Heaven's name! what has come over you?"
+
+"I cannot go there." And she pointed to Aldeacorba, where the roof of
+Don Francisco's house was visible among the trees.
+
+"And why?"
+
+"The Blessed Virgin knows," replied the child with prompt decision.
+"May the Holy Virgin bless you!" She made a cross with her fingers and
+kissed it; she was registering a vow.
+
+Florentina took a step towards her and María, understanding the loving
+impulse, flew to meet her; she laid her head against her friend's
+bosom, and murmured as she sobbed: "Kiss me--for God's sake! give me
+one kiss!"
+
+Florentina kissed her tenderly, and then freeing herself with a start,
+or rather a wild and sudden leap, the child--or woman--fled to a brake
+close at hand; the brushwood seemed to open and swallow her up.
+
+"Nela, Nela--little sister!" cried Florentina in much distress.
+
+"Farewell, child of my eyes!" said Nela, turning round to look at her
+once more; and she vanished in the copse.
+
+Florentina listened to the rustle of the branches, as the hunter
+listens to the rush of the prey that has escaped him. Then all was
+silent; not a sound was to be heard but the vague monotone that fills
+the atmosphere at noon in the open country--a sound which seems to
+be the whisper of our own thoughts as they go forth towards all that
+surrounds us. Florentina stood amazed, powerless, speechless, deeply
+distressed--as if she had just seen some fond illusion snatched from
+her gaze. She did not know what to think of it all, and even her
+unbounded kind-heartedness, which often crippled her judgment, could
+supply no explanation.
+
+She had been standing in the same spot for some little time, her head
+drooping, her cheeks tingling, and her blue eyes full of tears, when
+Teodoro Golfin happened to come upon her, making his way at an easy
+pace from Aldeacorba homewards. The doctor was greatly astonished to
+find the young lady alone and with an expression of vexation and regret
+which, far from diminishing her beauty, added to it and made it more
+interesting.
+
+"What ails the girl?" he exclaimed with some anxiety. "Why, Florentina,
+what is the matter?"
+
+"A dreadful thing, Señor Golfin," said Florentina, wiping her eyes. "I
+was thinking--considering how many terrible things there are in the
+world."
+
+"And what are these terrible things, Señorita? Where have you been?
+Can anything have happened to you?"
+
+"Provoking things--and of all things there is one which is more
+provoking than all the rest."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Ingratitude, Señor." And pointing to the copse of bramble and fern,
+she added: "It was in that direction."
+
+She went up to the highest spot at hand to see farther into the
+distance. "Quite out of sight!" she said with a sigh.
+
+"Quite," said the surgeon laughing. "Don Manuel told me that you were
+devoting yourself to collecting butterflies. They are ungrateful
+creatures indeed not to wish to be caught by you."
+
+"It is not that--I will tell you all about it if you are going to
+Aldeacorba."
+
+"I was not going, as I have just come away, fair damsel; but if you
+will tell me all about it--be it what it may--I will go back again. I
+am all ears for your story."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+NELA DECIDES THAT SHE MUST GO.
+
+
+Nela wandered about alone all day, and at night she prowled round
+the house at Aldeacorba, creeping as near to it as she dared without
+running the risk of being discovered; whenever she heard footsteps
+she stole away like a thief. Then she went down into the crater of La
+Terrible, whose grewsome aspect somehow suited her gloomy mood; she
+lingered there some time looking up at the stone giants that stood
+round it, and then she climbed up one of them to see the lights of
+Aldeacorba. There they were, sparkling above the slopes of the mine
+against the dark background of earth and sky. After gazing at them for
+a while as if her hungry eyes had never seen lights before, she quitted
+La Terrible and went towards La Trascava. But before she reached it she
+heard footsteps, and turning round, she saw Master Celipin coming along
+the path at a brisk determined pace. He had a small bundle hanging
+from a stick over his shoulder, and his step, as well as his air and
+attitude, announced a full determination never to stop till he should
+have paced the whole circumference of the globe.
+
+"Celipe!--Where are you going?" cried Nela, detaining him.
+
+"Nela ... you out here! We thought you were with Señorita Florentina,
+eating ham, and turkey, and partridges all day long, and drinking
+lemonade and syrups. What are you doing here?"
+
+"And you--where are you off to?"
+
+"You ask me that, now? Why do you ask me since you know quite well,"
+answered the boy, jerking the stick and bundle. "You know very well
+that I am going to learn all I can and make money. Did I not tell you
+it would be to-night?--And here I am, as glad as can be--a little
+sorry, too, when I think that father and mother will cry. You see,
+Nela, the Blessed Virgin favored us to-night, for father and mother
+began to snore sooner than usual; and I had my bundle ready, and I
+climbed up to the window and got out of it.--Now are you coming or not?"
+
+"Yes, I am coming," said Nela with sudden decision, taking the arm of
+the adventurous Celipin.
+
+"We will take the train, and we will go in the train as far as we can,"
+said Celipin with liberal enthusiasm. "And then we must beg till we get
+to Madrid, where the King of Spain lives; and when once we have got
+there, you can go as a servant in the house of some Marquis or Count,
+and I will go into another, and at the same time I can study, and you
+can have a heap of fine things. And I can teach you a little of all I
+learn--only a little, not too much; for you women have no need to be as
+learned as we doctors must be."
+
+Before Celipin had ended his speech, they had set out on their road,
+trotting on as fast as though they already saw in the distance the
+turrets of the city "where the King of Spain lives."
+
+"Let us get out of the regular path," said Celipin, his practical
+talents rising to the occasion: "If they see us they will lay hands
+upon us and give us a good thrashing."
+
+But Nela drew her hand away from her fellow-adventurer's, and sitting
+down on a stone, she said: "I am not going."
+
+"Nela! what a little fool you are! You have not a brave heart like
+mine; a heart as big as the rocks in La Terrible!" said Celipin, with a
+braggart air. "What the devil are you afraid of? Why will you not come?"
+
+"I--oh!--why should I?"
+
+"Do not you know that Don Golfin said that the work here is turning us
+all to stones? I do not want to be a stone--not I."
+
+"I--why should I go?" repeated Nela with disconsolate bitterness. "You
+have time enough--for me, it is too late."
+
+And Nela's head sunk on her breast and she sat for some time insensible
+to the persuasive eloquence of the Hippocrates of the future. The idea
+that she was about to cross the boundary of the spot of earth where
+she had lived so long, and where her mother slept the sleep of the
+dead, made her feel as if she were being torn up by the roots. The
+beauty of the place in all its variety seemed to claim her by a sort
+of relationship; the rare and fleeting joys, nay, the very misery she
+had known there; the memory of her friend and of the happy hours when
+they had walked in the woods or sat by the spring at Saldeoro; all
+the feelings of admiration or of sympathy, of love or of gratitude,
+which had grown and blossomed in her soul among these scenes--these
+flowers--these clouds--these rustling trees--these frowning
+rocks--inseparable as it were from the loveliness or the grandeur,
+the progress and the immutability of all these works of nature, were
+so many roots from her heart, and dragging them up from the soil was
+bitter anguish.
+
+"No--I am not going," she repeated.
+
+And Celipin argued and talked as if, having by some miracle reached the
+goal of his career, he belonged to all the academies present and to
+come.
+
+"You are going home then?" he asked, seeing that his oratory was as
+unavailing as that of the academies themselves commonly is.
+
+"No."
+
+"You are going to Aldeacorba?"
+
+"No; not there either."
+
+"Then you will go to where Señora Florentina lives."
+
+"No, no--not there."
+
+"The devil's in it--but where are you going then?"
+
+Nela did not answer; she sat looking at the ground with an expression
+of dismay, as if she saw there the fragments of the most beautiful and
+precious thing on earth--fallen and lying broken at her feet.
+
+"Well then, Nela," said Celipin, exhausted with his long harangue, "I
+must leave you and be off, for they might follow me, and find me. Would
+you like me to give you a _peseta_ as a parting gift to-night?"
+
+"No, Celipin, I want nothing.--Go, you will be a rich man yet. Take
+care of yourself and do not forget Socartes and your father and mother."
+
+The traveller had a sensation highly improper in a man of so much
+importance and dignity--a strong disposition to cry; but swallowing
+down this inopportune emotion, he said:
+
+"How should I ever forget Socartes? You need not have said that--I
+shall never forget my father and mother, nor you, for you helped me to
+do this.--Good-bye, Nelilla--hark! I hear footsteps!"
+
+Celipin shouldered his staff with a resolution that symbolized his
+courage to defy all the dangers of the wide world; but his valorous
+display was wasted, for a dog only came running up to them.
+
+"It is Choto," said Nela, trembling all over.
+
+"A bad sign!" muttered Celipin, setting forward; and he disappeared in
+the darkness.
+
+A stone was lost to geology, and the world would be the richer by a
+great man!
+
+Nela shivered as the dog leaped upon her and caressed her. The
+affectionate creature, after jumping round and round her, whining and
+barking with so much expression that it was almost like speaking,
+set off running as fast as he could towards Aldeacorba. You might
+have thought he was in chase of some wild game. Choto--unlike some
+orators--seemed to speak when he barked.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Just at this time Teodoro Golfin was coming away from the Penáguilas'.
+He was met by Choto, who, with voluble haste, told him--I know not
+what. It was a fervent, fitful address, delivered between his gasps
+for breath and gushes of eager anxiety. Golfin, though he understood
+several languages, was not strong in the canine tongue, and paid no
+particular heed. Choto leaped up and round him, jerking out barks
+from his moist jaws, some short and sharp as insults, others soft and
+coaxing, and then again threats. Teodoro meanwhile stood still, his
+attention was struck by the dog's manner; and Choto, seeing that he had
+made himself understood to a certain extent, began to run in a contrary
+direction to Golfin's homeward road. The doctor followed him. "Very
+well," he muttered, "that way then."
+
+Choto retraced his steps, as if to make sure that Golfin was following
+him, and then he trotted on again. At some little distance from the
+house Golfin heard a voice saying:
+
+"Well, Choto, what is it you want?"
+
+He suspected at once that it was Nela. He paused and listened, hidden
+in the shadow of a beech-tree, and soon perceived a little figure
+standing out from the stone wall and walking very slowly. The shadows
+of the brambles prevented his seeing her very distinctly. He set out
+to follow her at some little distance, quitting the path and walking
+on the turf, so as to make no noise. Beyond a doubt it was Nela. He
+recognized her perfectly when they got upon open ground, where there
+were no dark shadows cast by trees or shrubs.
+
+The girl now went faster and faster; at last she began to run, and
+Golfin ran too. After this unequal race had gone on for some distance,
+Nela sat down on a stone. At her feet was the sloping basin of La
+Trascava, black and hideous in the gloom. Golfin waited a moment; then
+he very softly went nearer to the girl. Choto was seated in front of
+her, squatted on his hind quarters, with his fore paw stretched out,
+and gazing at her with the gravity of a sphinx. Nela stared into the
+depths below, and suddenly starting to her feet she began to go quickly
+down the slope--slipping rather than running. With one bound Teodoro
+stood by the abyss, roaring in stentorian tones: "Nela! Nela!"
+
+He looked down, but could see nothing in the dark chasm; he could hear
+Choto whining as he ran round and round the ridge, lower and lower in
+spirals, as if he were being sucked in by some eddy in the dreadful
+gulf. Teodoro thought of going down himself and cautiously took a step
+or two; then he called again, and a voice from below answered: "Señor."
+
+"Come up this minute."
+
+No answer.
+
+"Come up, I say."
+
+Presently he could just see the child's face in the lowest visible
+depths of the horrible chasm. Choto, after snuffing at the opening,
+came up again, round and round the basin as before; Nela too was
+climbing up, but very slowly. Indeed, she stopped, and repeated feebly:
+"Señor?..."
+
+"I tell you come up. What are you doing here?"
+
+Nela came a little further.
+
+"Come--quickly. I have something to tell you."
+
+"To tell me?"
+
+"Yes--something I must tell you at once."
+
+Nela crawled up; but Teodoro did not feel sure that he had triumphed
+till he had seized her hand and held it tightly to lead her away with
+him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NELA IS TAMED.
+
+
+They walked on a short distance without speaking. Teodoro Golfin,
+for all his learning, wisdom, and eloquence, felt as ignorant and
+as helpless as Nela, and less disposed for speech than usual. She
+followed him unresistingly, and he accommodated his steps to those of
+the child-woman, like a man taking a boy to school. At a turn in the
+road where three enormous white stones stood up, weather-worn till
+they looked like bleached skeletons, the doctor sat down, and placing
+Nela in front of him, as if she were on her trial for some grave
+delinquency, he held her by both hands and said solemnly:
+
+"What were you going to do there?"
+
+"I--where?"
+
+"Down there. You know very well what I mean. Answer me plainly, as you
+would answer your confessor or your father."
+
+"I have no father," replied Nela with a faintly mutinous accent.
+
+"That is true--but suppose me to be your father, and answer me. What
+were you going to do?"
+
+"My mother is down there," she answered dully.
+
+"Your mother is dead. Do you not know that dead people are gone to
+another world, or altogether away?"
+
+"She is there," said Nela positively, and looking back towards the spot
+she had left.
+
+"And you thought you would go to her. Is that it? That is to say, you
+meant to kill yourself."
+
+"Yes, Señor, that is it."
+
+"And do you not know that your mother committed a great sin in killing
+herself, and you would do the same if you followed her example? Were
+you never taught that?"
+
+"I do not think anyone ever told me anything of the kind. And if I want
+to kill myself, who is to prevent me?"
+
+"But you yourself--without being told--cannot you feel that God cannot
+be pleased with us for getting rid of our lives? Poor child--left to
+your own instincts without any teaching, or religion, or loving and
+disinterested guidance!--What ideas can you have of God, of a future
+life, of death? What makes you fancy your mother is there? Do you call
+a few lifeless bones your mother! Can you believe that she is still
+alive, thinking of you and loving you down in that pit? Did no one
+ever tell you that when once our souls have left our bodies they never
+return to them again? Do you not know that a tomb, a grave, whatever it
+may be, never contains anything but dust and foul corruption? What do
+you think God is like? Like some grand and solemn man who sits above
+us with his arms folded, and who allows us to play with our lives,
+while, in His place, we see some sprite, hobgoblin or fetich of our
+fancy?--Your master, Nela, who is so wise and good, did he never talk
+to you about such things?"
+
+"Oh! yes he did.--But it is of no use to tell me them now...."
+
+"Of no use now--when you want to kill yourself? Tell me, silly child,
+did you think that by throwing yourself into that hole you would be any
+better off?"
+
+"Yes, Señor."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"I should feel none of the things I feel now, but something else, much
+better--and I should be with my mother."
+
+"I see you are more silly than wicked," said Golfin laughing. "Now, be
+quite honest with me. Do you owe me any grudge?"
+
+"No indeed. I owe no one any grudge--least of all you, Señor, who have
+been so kind to me, and have made my master see."
+
+"Very good--but that is not all; I not only want you to like me, but
+you must trust me and tell me all your little secrets. Strange little
+secrets are hidden in your mind, little woman, and you must tell them
+all to me--every one. You will see, I shall not be hard upon you; I
+shall make a very kind father confessor."
+
+Nela smiled a forlorn smile; then bending her head, she fell on her
+knees.
+
+"No, silly child, that is not the way; sit down by me--come here," said
+Golfin, gently drawing her to a seat by his side. "I fancy you were
+going crazy for want of some one to whom you could tell everything;
+is it not so? And you are to conceal nothing. You are indeed alone in
+the world, poor child.--Come, Nela, let us see; tell me first of all
+why--now be very attentive--why you took it into your head that you
+wanted to kill yourself?"
+
+Nela did not answer.
+
+"I saw you happy enough, and content with life to all appearance, only
+a few days since. Why have you suddenly gone mad in a single night?"
+
+"I want to go to my mother--" replied Nela, after hesitating a moment.
+"I do not want to live any longer. Of what good am I in the world? Is
+it not much better that I should die? And if God will not make me die,
+I will kill myself, my own way."
+
+"This notion that you are of no use is at the bottom of all your
+miseries, poor little creature! Curses on him--or on them, for they are
+many--who ever put it into your head. They are all equally responsible
+for the neglect, the isolation, and the ignorance in which you lived.
+You are of no use! God knows what you might have been if you had fallen
+into other hands! A refined nature is yours, perhaps an exquisitely
+superior one.--But good Heavens! If you put a harp into clumsy hands
+what can they do with it but break it.--Because your fragile frame is
+not strong enough to break stones and carry earth like those brutes in
+human form Mariuca and Pepina, who shall say that you are of no use?
+Were we all born to toil like mere animals? Are you to be forbidden to
+have any intelligence, any feeling, any of the gifts of nature which
+no one has ever cultivated in you? Nonsense! You are of some use; you
+might be of great good if you only fell into hands that could mould you
+and train you."
+
+Nela, whose intuition gathered the purport of this speech, though the
+words were beyond her, was deeply impressed. She kept her eyes fixed on
+Teodoro Golfin's rugged, shrewd, and expressive countenance. Her heart
+was full of astonishment and gratitude.
+
+"Still there is a mystery about you," the dusky, leonine doctor went
+on: "The most perfect opportunity was offered you to escape from your
+miserable lot, and you refused it. Florentina, who is an angel if ever
+there was one, was ready to adopt you as a friend and a sister; I never
+knew an instance of greater kindness and generosity.--And what have you
+done? Fled from her like a wild thing.--This is sheer ingratitude--or
+some other feeling which I cannot at all comprehend."
+
+"No, no, no," cried Nela, much distressed, "I am not ungrateful. I
+adore Señorita Florentina; she seems to me not to be made of flesh and
+blood like the rest of us; I do not deserve even to look upon her...."
+
+"Well, my child, you may mean what you say; but from your behavior we
+can only conclude that you are ungrateful--most ungrateful...."
+
+"No, no," sobbed Nela. "I am not, indeed I am not ungrateful. I was
+afraid--I knew--that you would all think me ungrateful, and that was
+the only thing that troubled me when I was going to kill myself.--But I
+am so stupid; I did not know how to ask pardon of the Señorita before I
+ran away, nor how to explain it all."
+
+"I will make your peace with Florentina; and even if you wish never to
+see her again, I will undertake to tell her and convince her that you
+were not ungrateful. Now, open your heart to me and tell me everything;
+what makes you so miserable and desperate? However wretched a human
+being may be--however great his misery and loneliness, he does not take
+his own life unless he has some overpowering reason for hating it."
+
+"No, Señor--so it seems to me."
+
+"Then you hate your life?"
+
+Nela was silent for a minute. Then, crossing her arms, she exclaimed
+vehemently.
+
+"No--no. I do not hate it; on the contrary, I want to find it!"
+
+"A pretty way you were going to work to look for it!"
+
+"I thought that when you were dead you would have everything you could
+not get here. If not, why is death always, always calling us to come?
+I have dreams, and when I dream I see all who are dead happy and at
+peace."
+
+"You believe in dreams?"
+
+"Yes, Señor.--I look at the trees and the rocks that I have seen here
+ever since I was born, and in their face...."
+
+"Come, come--the trees and rocks have faces?"
+
+"Yes--everything that is lovely can see and speak.--And they say to me:
+'Come to us--die, and you will live quite happy.'"
+
+"What a lamentable fancy!" Golfin muttered to himself. "A perfectly
+pagan spirit!"
+
+And he added aloud:
+
+"But if you want to live, why did you not accept Florentina's offer? I
+come back to the same question."
+
+"Because--because--what the Señorita offered me was worse than death!"
+cried Nela vehemently.
+
+"How unjustly you think of her kind charity. There are, of course,
+beings so wretched that they prefer a low and vagabond existence to
+the dignity of a superior position. You are accustomed to a free life
+in direct contact with nature, and you prefer this debased freedom to
+the sweet affections of home life. Have you been so happy then in this
+mode of life?"
+
+"I was beginning to be happy...."
+
+"And when did you cease to be happy?" After a long pause, Nela replied:
+
+"When you came here."
+
+"I--what harm have I done you?"
+
+"None, none--nothing but the greatest good."
+
+"I have given your master his sight," said Golfin, looking at Nela's
+face with the narrow attention of a physiologist. "Do you not thank me
+for that?"
+
+"Much, Señor, very much," and she gazed up at him with eyes full of
+tears.
+
+Golfin watched her closely, so as not to miss the slightest change
+of expression which might guide him to a comprehension of the girl's
+feelings, as he went on:
+
+"Your master told me that he loved you dearly, when he was blind; and
+now that he can see, he constantly asks for Nela. He knows very well
+that for him the whole outer world was filled by one person--Nela; and
+the sight which has been mercifully bestowed on him is of no value to
+him, unless he can use it to see Nela."
+
+"To see Nela--but he never shall see Nela--Nela will never let him see
+her!" she exclaimed excitedly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because she is so ugly.--He may have cared for María Canela when his
+eyes were shut; but now that they are open and he can see the Señorita,
+he can never, never care for a poor little dwarf."
+
+"Who knows but...."
+
+"It is impossible," she said positively.
+
+"It is your fancy--you cannot tell whether your master will be pleased
+with you or not till you try. I will take you to the house."
+
+"I will not go--I cannot go!" she cried, starting to her feet and
+standing in front of Teodoro, who was utterly astounded at the
+determination of her gesture and the flash of her black eyes, which
+both revealed her resolute nature.
+
+"Be calm, be easy--come here," he said persuasively. "It is true that
+you are not very pretty--but a sensible man does not think so much as
+you fancy of mere outside beauty. You are too self-conscious, little
+woman."
+
+But Nela, paying no sort of heed to the doctor's moralities, and as
+resolute in her attitude as she was in her opinion, gravely went on as
+if pronouncing sentence:
+
+"There ought to be nothing ugly in the world.--Nothing that is ugly
+ought to be allowed to live."
+
+"But, my child, if all we ugly people were to be obliged to take
+ourselves out of the world, it would be left almost depopulated.
+Poor, unhappy, little simpleton! But this notion of yours is not a
+new one. Other persons had it before you, centuries ago; persons with
+an imagination like yours--living, as you have lived, in the midst of
+Nature, and lacking the light which your ignorance and loneliness have
+deprived you of, and which they had not, because it had not then dawned
+on the world.--But you must be cured of this delusion; you must reflect
+that you have your portion of gifts more precious than beauty--gifts of
+the mind, which neither fade with time, nor change with the caprices of
+taste. Seek for them in your soul and you will find them. They will not
+perish as beauty would which, seek it as you may in your looking-glass,
+you will never find. But seek out these really good and precious
+gifts; cultivate them, and when you see them thriving and blooming,
+all this misery you are suffering will vanish--take my word for it.
+And meanwhile you will soon rise superior to the wretched situation in
+which you now are, and acquire a beauty which may not perhaps charm
+the eye, but which will be a source of pride and happiness to yourself."
+
+This wise advice was either not heard or not heeded by Nela; she sat
+down again by Golfin and gazed fixedly in his face. Her small eyes,
+more eloquent just then than the finest could have been, seemed to say:
+
+"And what is the upshot of all these fine speeches, learned Sir?"
+
+"Now you see," Golfin went on, warming to his subject, and giving it,
+in spite of himself, the character of a psychological lecture--"there
+is one important question, and that is...."
+
+But Nela had guessed it, and covered her face with her hands.
+
+"There is nothing strange in it--on the contrary, it is the most
+natural thing that could happen to you. You have a sensitive
+temperament and an excitable imagination. You and your master had led
+a life together of free and poetic communion with nature, and of most
+perfect and innocent intimacy. He is as wise and clever as a man can
+be, and as handsome as a statue. His beauty, when blind even, seemed
+formed to delight the eyes of those who could see. His kindness of
+heart too, and generous spirit are enough to charm and win the love of
+any woman. It is not strange that they should have captivated you--a
+child so womanly--or a woman looking so like a child.--Do you love him
+so much? More than anything else in the world?"
+
+"Yes, yes--Señor," the girl sobbed out.
+
+"And you cannot bear the idea of his ceasing to love you?"
+
+"No--Señor."
+
+"And he used to say loving words to you and make you promises?..."
+
+"Yes, oh yes, Señor. He told me I should be his companion as long as he
+lived--and--and I believed him."
+
+"And why should you not?"
+
+"He said he could not live without me, and that even if he ever could
+see he would still love me. I was quite happy; I was ugly, and little,
+and ill-made, but I did not care, for he could not see me; and in his
+darkness he thought I was pretty.--And then...."
+
+"Then," said Golfin gently, for he was filled with pity. "I see the
+fault is all mine."
+
+"Fault, no; for you did a good deed. You are very, very good. It
+is good to have given him his sight. I know, I tell myself, that
+it is good; but after that I must go away, quite away--for he will
+see Señorita Florentina and will compare me with her--and Señorita
+Florentina is as pretty as the angels, and I--it is like comparing a
+piece of broken glass with the sun! Of what good can I be? I dreamed
+that I ought never to have been born! Oh why was I ever born? God made
+a mistake; he gave me an ugly face, and a miserable little body, and
+such a large heart! But of what use to me is a large heart?--It is a
+torment and nothing else. Woe is me! If I did not keep it under, it
+would hate and detest a great many people. And yet I do not want to
+hate people--I do not know how to hate them, and I would rather bury my
+miserable heart than live to learn to hate; bury it, so that it should
+not torment me any more."
+
+"You are tormented by jealousy, and by your sense of humiliation. Poor
+little one, you are indeed alone! Neither the knowledge you lack, nor
+the home you have never had, nor the work you cannot do would avail to
+save you from this. But tell me, what do you feel about the protection
+and kindness that Florentina offers you?"
+
+"Terror! Shame!" exclaimed Nela, opening her eyes wide in horror. "To
+live with them--to see them constantly! For they will marry--my heart
+tells me they will marry; I dreamed it, I know it."
+
+"But Florentina is very kind; she will love you dearly."
+
+"Yes, and I love her--but not at Aldeacorba!" cried the girl in wild
+accents. "She came to rob me of what was mine--for he was mine--yes,
+Señor, he was indeed. Florentina is like the Blessed Virgin--I will
+pray to her, yes, Señor, and worship her; but I do not want her to take
+away what is my own--and she will take it away--she has taken it away
+already! And where am I to go to; what am I, what good am I in the
+world at all? I have lost everything and I want to go to my mother."
+
+She walked away; but Golfin seized her as a wild beast clutches its
+prey, and held her tightly by the wrist. As he did so he felt her quick
+and fluttering pulse.
+
+"Come here," he said. "From this moment, whether you like it or no,
+you are my slave. You are mine, and you are to do nothing but what I
+tell you. Poor little soul, full of eager feeling, of fervent fancy,
+frankness and superstition--you have a nature framed for all that is
+good; but it has been ruined by the wild life you have led, by neglect
+and want of training, and even the most elementary teaching! What
+a hideous state of society we live in, which forgets its duties so
+utterly, and leaves a precious creature like this perish!--Come here;
+I am not going to let you quit my side. I have hunted you down and
+caught you--caught you in a trap in the midst of the woods, in some
+sylvan wilderness, and now I shall try to teach you and train you. We
+will see if this rough diamond cannot be cut and polished. Ah! you do
+not even know how ignorant you are; and I shall open a new world to
+your mind, show you a thousand wonderful things that you have never
+understood, though you have a vague and dim idea of some of them. Tell
+me, cannot you feel in your soul a germ--how shall I explain myself?
+a bud, of that rarest and most beautiful grace: Humility? The mother
+of all the virtues; which, strange to say, makes us actually happy
+when we see ourselves subordinate to others? Have you never felt the
+impulse of self-denial, which makes us rejoice in sacrificing ourselves
+for others, in making ourselves small that some one else may become
+great?--But you will learn this, child; you will learn to lay your
+ugliness at the feet of beauty, to look on with calm satisfaction and
+joy at the triumphs of others, to fetter that great wild heart of yours
+and bring it into subjection, so that you shall never feel envy nor
+rage, but will love your neighbor as yourself, and rise superior to all
+who may have injured or hurt you. You shall be made all that Nature
+meant you to be when she endowed you at your birth. Hapless child! Born
+in a Christian country, and not even a Christian! Your soul dwells in
+a sort of poetic worship of nature.--You cannot understand me, little
+one, but so it is. You are in the state of those primitive peoples
+of whom the memory even hardly survives--governed by your instincts
+and passions, while beauty is your dearest idol. Eighteen centuries
+have been devoted in vain to spiritualizing humanity, so far as you
+are concerned. And as to the selfish world which has left you to such
+a fate!--What name does it deserve? You have lived in these mines, a
+solitary soul, not taught a single letter, not even sent to an infant
+school, though you would have learnt little enough there; not even
+given the most imperfect teaching in that religion of which your nation
+boasts. Why, you have never been inside a church except to stare at
+some ceremony which to you had no meaning; you cannot even mutter a
+prayer that you understand; you know nothing of the world, or of God,
+or your own soul....
+
+"But you shall know all this; you shall be a different creature. You
+shall no longer be hapless little Nela, but a good, and honest, and
+useful woman."
+
+It would be rash to assert that Nela had understood all this speech,
+which Golfin declaimed with such vehemence and fervor that he entirely
+forgot the person to whom he was speaking. But the little outcast
+felt a curious fascination, and the spirit of her friend's utterances
+sank gently into her soul, and soothed it, and compelled her to
+blind assent. His power over the untaught girl was that fateful and
+irresistible control which a superior mind exercises over an inferior
+one. Sad but unresisting, her head drooped against the surgeon's
+shoulder.
+
+"Come along," Golfin said resolutely.
+
+Nela trembled from head to foot; a cold sweat stood on her face, and
+Golfin felt that her hands were icy-cold, and her pulses beating
+violently; but he failed to attribute this physical condition to her
+mental anguish; he held her hand more firmly and repeated: "Come--it is
+cold here."
+
+His power over her was so great that she rose as he did, and they went
+a little way together. But then Nela stopped, and fell on her knees.
+
+"Oh, Señor!" she cried in an agony: "Do not take me away with you."
+
+She was very pale, and looked wrecked by physical and mental misery.
+Golfin tried to pull her up; but her helpless frame did not stir by
+any strength of her own. It was clear she must be carried like a
+senseless corpse.
+
+"One day," said Golfin, "not very long since, almost in this very
+place, I took you on my shoulders to carry you. Now I must do the same
+it seems."
+
+He lifted her in his arms; her hot breath seemed to burn his face. She
+was drooping, fading, dying like a plant torn up from the soil, and
+with its roots laid bare.
+
+As they got nearer to Aldeacorba, Golfin felt some life returning to
+the dead weight in his arms. Nela raised her head, and threw up her
+hands in despair, but she said nothing.
+
+They went in; all was silent. A maid servant came to meet them, and by
+Teodoro's desire she conducted him noiselessly to Florentina's room.
+
+Florentina was alone. By the light of a fast-dying lamp she was
+kneeling on the floor, her elbows resting on the seat of a chair, and
+praying with absorbed devotion. She was startled at seeing a man at her
+door at so late an hour, but her alarm at once gave way to surprise,
+when she saw the burden Golfin bore in his strong arms.
+
+Her astonishment was too great for speech when the doctor, carefully
+depositing his load on a sofa, said:
+
+"I have caught her you see.--What do you say to that? Am I a good
+butterfly hunter?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A NEW WORLD.
+
+
+We must now go back a few days.
+
+When Teodoro Golfin first removed the bandage for a few moments from
+Pablo Penáguilas' eyes, the boy uttered a cry of terror. Every impulse
+made him shrink from all he saw; he put out his hands as though by
+pushing away one object he could get away farther from the rest.
+Luminous space was to him like a vast void into which he felt as if he
+must fall; and the instinct of self-preservation made him close his
+eyes to feel himself safe. However, his father, the surgeon, and the
+rest of them, persuaded him to try once more, for all were equally
+anxious; he looked again, but his terror was no less. The images
+of all he saw, rushed into his brain with such sudden violence and
+confusion--with a sort of storm and assault, as it were--that he felt
+as if they were falling upon him bodily. The distant mountains seemed
+to lie within reach, and the persons and objects that were near him
+seemed, literally, to strike his eyes.
+
+Golfin noted these phenomena with the most eager interest; this was
+the second case of cure of congenital blindness which he had had the
+opportunity of studying. The others hardly dared to be glad; they
+were so bewildered and alarmed by the agitating effects produced on
+the patient by the first exercise of the function of sight. To Pablo
+himself it was a series of delightful experiments. His nerves and his
+imagination were so seriously excited the surgeon thought it prudent to
+compel him to rest.
+
+"Now," he said, smiling, "you have seen enough for to-day. You cannot
+step out of darkness into light, into the wide domain of the sun, as
+you would walk into a theatre. This is a new birth, with pain as well
+as joy in it."
+
+Presently the young fellow was so eager to try his newly-found power
+once more, that Golfin consented to open a crack, as it were, upon the
+outer world.
+
+"My whole mind," said Pablo, trying to explain his first impressions,
+"seems bathed in beauty--a beauty I had never dreamed of before. What
+were the things which rushed in upon me and filled me with terror? It
+was the sense of size, of space, which I had never before conceived
+of but in a very imperfect manner, and which dawned upon me clear and
+terrible; as if I were being dragged up to the highest mountains and
+down to the deepest abyss. It is all grand and beautiful, but it makes
+me tremble. But I want to feel it all once more. All the glory and
+loveliness that I gazed at has made me feel bewildered and humbled; it
+was like some serene and majestic presence bending down to meet me.
+The whole universe seemed to be rushing towards me and I was startled
+and terror stricken--the sky looked like a vast space, watching,
+listening--I cannot put it into words.--It was vacancy, but strangely
+full of expression. All that landscape of sky and mountains looked at
+me, came down upon me--but it was all so cold, and grand, and stern.
+Let me see something delicate, something gentle and lovable--Nela!
+Where is Nela?"
+
+Golfin once more relieved him of the bandage, and giving him a pair of
+suitable spectacles, he left him free to look about him.
+
+"Oh! is that Nela! Merciful Heaven!" exclaimed Pablo enchanted.
+
+"This is your cousin Florentina."
+
+"Ah!" said the lad, coloring with confusion.
+
+"That is my cousin. I had no idea any person could be so
+beautiful.--Oh! thank God for giving me the faculty which enables me to
+see anything so lovely. Cousin Florentina, you are like the most lovely
+music--like the most perfect embodiment of some delicious harmony.--And
+Nela, where is she?"
+
+"You will have time enough to see her," said Don Francisco delighted.
+"Try now to be calm."
+
+"Florentina, Florentina!" repeated Pablo excitedly. "What is it in your
+face that makes me feel as if the spirit of God himself was shining
+through it? You stand in the midst of a glory which must, to be sure,
+be the sun. Beams, rays seem to shine from your face.--Ah! at last I
+know what the angels are like--and your dress, your hands, your hair,
+seem to fill me with some new and strange sensation. What is it?"
+
+"He is beginning to see color," muttered Golfin to himself. "He perhaps
+perceives every object surrounded by the colors of the spectrum. But he
+cannot estimate degrees of distance."
+
+"I seem to have you inside my eyes," Pablo went on. "You seem to have
+become part of my thoughts, and the sight of you comes upon me like a
+memory; but a memory of what? I never saw any thing or any body before.
+Can I have lived before I came into this world? I know not--but I knew
+your eyes. And you, father--where are you? I have seen you--yes I have
+pictured you too--you are just what I have loved. And now my uncle? You
+are very much alike.--And where, where is that dear good Golfin?--bless
+him!"
+
+"Here, minding my patient," said the surgeon coming forward. "Here I am
+as ugly as sin.--As you have never seen a lion or a Newfoundland dog,
+you can have no idea of my style of beauty. They say I am exactly like
+those two noble beasts."
+
+"All good kind souls!..." said Pablo.
+
+"But my cousin is the prettiest--oh! infinitely the prettiest. But
+Nela, for pity's sake, where is Nela?"
+
+They told him that his _lazarillo_ never came to the house, and that
+they had been too busy to go to look for her, and he was extremely
+distressed at this intelligence. They succeeded in soothing him, and as
+they feared he might become feverish, they persuaded him to go to bed
+and try to sleep.
+
+The next day he was in a state of great prostration, but his vigorous
+nature triumphed over everything. He begged to have a glass of water
+and when he saw it, he exclaimed: "I feel as I were drinking at the
+mere sight of water."
+
+His expressions were equally vivid and picturesque about everything he
+saw which struck his fancy strongly. After correcting the defective
+sphericity of the eye by means of glasses, which he tried one after
+another, Golfin began to direct his attention to the differences and
+combinations of colors, and the young man's sound mind and taste never
+failed in distinguishing the ugly from the beautiful. Indeed, he felt
+these two attributes as two absolute and distinct ideas, without
+connecting them in any way with any notion of utility or, on the other
+hand, of goodness. A butterfly which flew by accident into his room
+enchanted him, but an ink-bottle he thought simply horrible, though
+his father explained to him that it could not be otherwise, since its
+use was to hold ink to write with. When he was shown two prints, one
+of the Crucifixion, and one of Galatea riding in a shell and escorted
+by Tritons and Nymphs, he preferred the second--which was a great
+scandal to Florentina, who promised herself that she would teach him
+to hold sacred things far above everything profane. He watched their
+faces with the keenest attention, and the wonderful coincidence of
+facial expression with language astonished him excessively. When he
+saw the maids and other women about the place, he was greatly annoyed
+if they were ugly or commonplace; indeed, his cousin's beauty made
+him indifferent to any other woman. In spite of this he wanted to see
+them all; his curiosity was like a raging thirst which nothing could
+satisfy. Every day he was disappointed at never seeing Nela; but he was
+so fond of Florentina that he could not bear her to leave him for a
+moment.
+
+On the third day Golfin said to him: "You have now made acquaintance
+with a great many things--the marvels of this visible world. Now--you
+must see yourself."
+
+He brought a mirror, and Pablo looked in it.
+
+"That is I!" he exclaimed with simple admiration. "It is difficult to
+believe it. How have I come inside that hard still sheet of water?
+What a wonderful thing glass is! It seems as if it could not be true
+that men made that stony atmosphere.--My word! but I am not an ugly
+fellow!--What do you say cousin? And you, when you look in this, do you
+see yourself as pretty as you are? No, impossible. Look up into the sky
+and you will find your image there. You may believe you see an angel
+when you only look at yourself!"
+
+That evening, when he was alone with her and she was giving him some
+little help he needed as an invalid, Pablo said to her:
+
+"Cousin, my father read me, I remember, a passage in history about
+Christopher Columbus who discovered a New World, which no European had
+ever seen before. That navigator opened the eyes of the Old World, so
+that they saw another and more beautiful one. I cannot help thinking
+of him as a man like Teodoro Golfin, and of Europe as a blind man to
+whom America and its wonders were like a revelation of light. Well,
+and I have seen a New World.--You are my America, you are that first
+and lovely island where Columbus set foot on land. He never saw the
+continent, with its vast forests and immense rivers, and I too perhaps
+have not yet seen what is loveliest of all...." He broke off and sat
+sunk in thought; then presently he asked:
+
+"Where is Nela?"
+
+"I cannot think what has come over the poor child," said Florentina. "I
+suppose she does not wish to see you."
+
+"She is bashful and very shy," replied Pablo: "She is afraid of
+troubling us in the house. Florentina, I must tell you--in confidence,
+that I love her dearly; you will love her too. I have a most eager
+wish to see my good little comrade and friend."
+
+"I will go and look for her to-morrow morning myself."
+
+"Yes, do--but do not be gone long. When I do not see you I feel very
+lonely; I have become accustomed to see you, and these three days have
+been centuries of happiness.--Do not rob me of a minute. Last night my
+father told me that after having seen you I ought never to want to see
+another woman."
+
+"What nonsense!" exclaimed the girl blushing. "There are plenty much
+prettier than I am...."
+
+"No, no; they all say no." Pablo vehemently declared, turning his
+blindfold eyes towards his cousin, as if he could see her even through
+his bandages. "They used to tell me so before, and I could not believe
+it; but now that I have seen the world and know what beauty is, I
+believe it--yes indeed I do. You are perfectly lovely; there is no
+one--there can be no one more lovely.--Give me your hand." And he
+grasped it eagerly in both of his.
+
+"I laugh now," he went on, "to think of my absurd blind man's vanity,
+of my foolish attempts to realize the true aspect of things without
+seeing them. I believe that as long as I live I shall never forget the
+surprise that the reality was to me. Reality! Oh, the man who knows it
+not is blind indeed, a perfect idiot!--Florentina I was an idiot."
+
+"No, cousin, you were always very clever and so you are still. But do
+not let your fancy work too vividly now. It will soon be time to go to
+bed. Don Teodoro particularly said that I was not to let you talk so
+late, because it keeps you from sleeping; if you do not keep quiet I
+shall go away."
+
+"Is it night already?"
+
+"Yes, quite night."
+
+"But day or night I love to talk to you," Pablo persisted, tossing over
+on his bed, on which he was lying dressed and very restless. "I will be
+silent on one condition, and that is that you do not go away from my
+side, and that, from time to time, you pat the bed with your hand that
+I may know that you are there."
+
+"Very well, so I will, and this is the first sign of life," said
+Florentina, laughing and patting the mattress.
+
+"When I hear you laugh, I feel as if a breath of sweet fresh air blew
+round me, and all my senses help in some way to remind me of you. Your
+image lives in my memory so vividly, that even with my eyes bandaged I
+can see you still the same."
+
+"Will you have done chattering or must I fetch Don Teodoro?" said the
+girl gaily.
+
+"No, no--stay quiet. I cannot be silent--if I were to be silent all my
+thoughts--all I can see in my brain--would only torment me twice as
+much. And you want me to go to sleep! Sleep! But I have you in here,
+Florentina, making a turmoil in my brain, and driving me crazy. I am so
+full of joy and rapture that I have no words to express them. All last
+night I fancied I was talking to you and to Nela.--Poor little Nela! I
+am most curious to see her.--Desperately curious."
+
+"Well, I will find her to-morrow. Now, have done with your talking; if
+you do not cease I shall go."
+
+"No, stop. I will only talk to myself. I will say all the things I say
+to you at night when I fancy we are alone together--I will remember
+what you say to me."
+
+"I?"
+
+"Well, the things I can fancy I hear said in your voice--Now, do you be
+silent, Señorita. I am alone now with my own imaginings."
+
+The next day when Florentina came up to her cousin's room, she said:
+
+"I brought Maraquilla up here and she ran away. Ungrateful little
+thing!"
+
+"And you did not look for her?"
+
+"Where was I to look? She ran away from me. This evening I will go out
+again and hunt her till I find her."
+
+"No, no; do not go out," said Pablo eagerly. "She will come back, she
+will come of her own accord."
+
+"She seems out of her mind."
+
+"Does she know that I can see now?"
+
+"I myself told her. But really I am sure she has lost her wits. She
+says that I am the Holy Virgin and kisses my dress."
+
+"That shows that you have produced the same impression on her as on
+every one else. Nela is so sweet. Poor little girl! We must take care
+of her, Florentina, and be kind to her--do not you think so?"
+
+"She is ungrateful I am afraid," said Florentina sadly.
+
+"No, never think so. Nela could not be ungrateful. She is a good
+child--I am very fond of her. She must be found and brought here to
+me."
+
+"I will go."
+
+"No--not you," said Pablo positively, taking his cousin's hand. "Your
+duty, most undutiful cousin, is to take care of me. If Golfin does not
+come soon to take off my bandage and put on my glasses, I shall do it
+myself. I have not seen you since yesterday, and I cannot bear it--I
+cannot bear it. Is Don Teodoro come?"
+
+"He is down stairs with your father and mine. He will come up quite
+soon. Have patience; you are as bad as a school-boy."
+
+Pablo writhed with irritation.
+
+"Light, light!" he cried. "It is a crime to keep me in the dark so
+long. I cannot live like this--I shall die. I want what is the bread
+of life to me; I want the use of my eyes. I have not seen you to-day,
+cousin, and I am wild to see you. I am hungry, thirsty to see you.
+Oh! thank God for real knowledge! Thank God for having created you,
+sweetest of women, a combination of every beauty.--And yet, if after
+having created beauty, God had not given us hearts to feel it, how
+imperfect his work would have been! Light! light!..."
+
+Teodoro came up and opened the gates of the outer world to him, filling
+his soul with joy, and he passed a quiet day talking of a variety of
+subjects. Not till the evening did his thoughts revert to that point
+in his past life, which seemed to be diminishing and fading in the
+distance, like vessels which on a clear day are lost on the horizon. It
+was in the tone of a man who recalls some long past circumstance, that
+Pablo asked: "Has not Nela made her appearance?"
+
+Florentina replied that she had not, and they talked of other things.
+
+In the course of the night, at a very late hour, Pablo heard the noise
+of voices in the house. He fancied he heard those of Teodoro Golfin, of
+Florentina, and of his father. But after that he slept quietly, though
+haunted in his dreams by the images of all he had seen and the phantoms
+of all he imagined. His dreams, which began tranquilly and smilingly,
+afterwards became agitated and painful, for in some deep recess of
+his soul, as though it were a vast cavern suddenly lighted up, rose
+a medley array of the beautiful and the hideous forms of the outside
+world--of passions awakened and memories buried--convulsing his whole
+soul. The following day, as Golfin had promised, he left his room to
+move about the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+EYES THAT KILL.
+
+
+The room which had been assigned to Florentina at Aldeacorba was the
+pleasantest in the house. No one had used it since the death of Pablo's
+mother; but Don Francisco, deeming his niece worthy to be lodged
+there, had the room neatly arranged and added some little elegancies
+which had been quite unknown to it in his wife's lifetime. The balcony
+looked southwards and over the garden, so that the room was always
+flooded with light and perfume, and cheered by the happy song of birds.
+Florentina herself, during her few days' stay, had given it the stamp,
+so to speak, of her own individuality; all sorts of small properties
+and trifles betrayed the nature of the woman who lived in it, as you
+may know a bird by its nest. If there are some persons who would make a
+hell of a palace, so there are others who have only to enter a hovel to
+make it a Paradise.
+
+It was that very stormy day--I say that day, for I cannot name the
+date; I only know that it was a day. It had rained all the morning;
+then the sky had cleared, and at last, high above the misty whiteness
+of the lower atmosphere, a rainbow threw its glorious arch. One end
+rested on the oaks of Ficóbriga, close to the sea, and the other on
+the woods of Saldeoro. Supreme in its simplicity the rainbow can be
+compared to nothing else, any more than an absolutely ideal and typical
+form can be. A rainbow is the epitome, the alpha and omega, of visible
+color.
+
+Florentina was in her room, not threading beads, nor embroidering
+satin with gold thread, but cutting out garments from patterns made
+of newspaper. She was squatting on the floor, in the attitudes of a
+fidgetty child at play; now sitting on her heels, now on all fours, and
+plying the scissors without a moment's respite. By her side was a heap
+of pieces of woollen stuff, calico, cotton print, and other materials
+that she had been, that very morning, to buy at Villamojada, in spite
+of wind and weather; and snipping here, and cutting there, she was fast
+evolving sleeves, skirts, and bodies. They were not perhaps models of
+dressmaking, nor was the exactitude of the patterns to be entirely
+relied on, for they also were of her own devising; however, she would
+have been the first to acknowledge their shortcomings, and she hoped
+that good-will might conduce to a happy result. Her worthy father had
+said to her, as he saw her sitting to work:
+
+"Bless me, child! one would think there were no dressmakers in the
+world. You cannot imagine how it annoys me to see a young lady of good
+position crawling about on the floor with shears in her hands.--It
+is not at all the right thing. I cannot bear that you should work to
+clothe yourself even, and am I to submit to see you working for others?
+What are dressmakers for--heh? What are dressmakers for?"
+
+"A dressmaker would do it much better than I shall," replied Florentina
+laughing. "But then you see it would not be my doing, Papa; and to do
+it myself is the very thing I most want."
+
+He left her to her own devices; but not alone, for in the middle of the
+alcove, between the bed and the wardrobe, stood an old-fashioned sofa
+and on the sofa lay two blankets, and at one end, on a pile of pillows,
+lay a weary little head. The face was haggard and colorless--asleep.
+Sunk rather, in an uneasy lethargy, broken now and again by violent
+starting and terrors. However, a calmer state had supervened by
+mid-day, when Florentina's father came into the room again, followed by
+Golfin. The surgeon went up to the sofa and leaned over Nela, watching
+her face.
+
+"She seems to be sleeping more quietly now," he said: "We must have no
+noise."
+
+"What do you think of my daughter?" said Don Manuel, laughing. "Do you
+see all the trouble she is taking. Now be quite impartial, Don Teodoro:
+Is there any reason why she should vex me? Honestly, when there is
+no necessity for taking so much trouble, why should she do so? What
+pleasure can it be to me to see my daughter wasting all I give her
+for pin-money; wasting it on others; and besides this mania for low
+occupations--for low occupations...."
+
+"Let her please herself," replied Golfin, looking down admiringly at
+the girl. "Every young lady has her own way of wasting her pin-money."
+
+"And I am not to object if her charity brings her to destitution, to
+bankruptcy!" exclaimed Don Manuel, marching up and down the room in
+pompous indignation, with his hands in his pockets. "Besides, is there
+no better method of charity than this? She wished to show her gratitude
+to God for my nephew's recovery--well and good--very proper, a very
+Christian feeling. But we shall see, we shall see."
+
+He stopped in front of Nela and looked at her kindly.
+
+"Now, would it not have been better," he said, "if, instead of
+bringing this poor girl into the house, my daughter had organized
+one of those grand charitable affairs, which are the fashion even at
+court, and which give all the best people in society an opportunity
+of displaying their good feeling? Why did you not think of holding a
+lottery? We could easily have sold any number of tickets among our
+friends, and have collected a handsome sum of money to give away to
+charitable asylums. Why, you might have got up an association among
+the gentry of Villamojada and the neighborhood, or have invited all
+our acquaintance at Santa Irene de Campó to join you, and have held
+meetings and collected a great deal of money.--Nay, why not have got
+up a bull-fight? I would have undertaken to provide the beasts and the
+men.--Or amateur theatricals?--Last night Doña Sofía and I were talking
+of that very thing. Learn from her, my dear, learn from her. The poor
+owe more to her than I can tell you. There are all the families who
+live by the employment they get in working the lotteries--there are all
+the professionals and subordinates who make money by the theatrical
+performances! Oh! my dear, the paupers in the workhouse are not the
+only poor! Sofía told me that they made a little fortune out of the
+masked balls they gave this winter. A good deal of it was spent, of
+course, in gas, in renting the theatre, in service, and so forth--still
+there was a morsel of bread left for the poor after all.--But, if you
+do not believe me, read the statistics, child--read the statistics."
+
+Florentina laughed, and found no better answer than to repeat the
+surgeon's apology for her:
+
+"Every young lady has her own way of wasting her pin-money."
+
+"But Don Teodoro," remonstrated Don Manuel, in great disgust: "You must
+admit that no one else does it as my daughter does."
+
+"I quite admit it," said Golfin with meaning, and looking at the girl:
+"No one is like Florentina."
+
+"And yet--with all her faults," said the father, drawing her to him:
+"With all her faults, I love her better than my life. This little hussy
+is worth her weight in gold.--Come, tell me, which do you like best,
+Aldeacorba de Suso, or Santa Irene de Campó?"
+
+"I do not dislike Aldeacorba."
+
+"Ah! little puss. I see which way the wind blows. Do you know that at
+this very moment my brother is talking seriously to his son? Family
+affairs! Well, and something very good is to come of it all--look, Don
+Teodoro, at my daughter's face; it is as red as roses in May. Now, I
+am off to hear what my brother has to say--what my brother has to say."
+And the worthy man departed.
+
+Golfin went back to Nela.
+
+"Did she sleep last night?" he asked.
+
+"Very little. I heard her sobbing and crying all night. But to-night
+she shall have a good bed, for which I have sent to Villamojada, and I
+will put her in the little room next to mine."
+
+"Poor little Nela!" said the doctor. "You cannot imagine what an
+interest I feel in this hapless creature. Some people would laugh at
+it, but we, at any rate, are not made of stone. What little we have
+done to improve the condition of this poor child, ought to be done
+for a large proportion of the human race. There are many thousands of
+beings in the world in the same plight as Nela. Who knows them? where
+are they? They are lost in the desert of society--for society has its
+deserts--in the dark places of life, in the solitudes of field labor,
+in mines, in factories. We pass them without even seeing them--we
+give them alms, perhaps, but without knowing them.--How are we to be
+cognizant of so base a class of humanity! At first Nela attracted
+me because I thought that hers was an exceptional nature; but, as
+I have thought more, I have felt that hers is after all only one of
+the commonest cases. It is an instance of the condition to which a
+highly-organized moral nature must be reduced, a nature apt for good,
+apt for learning, apt for virtue, but which can never develop its
+powers in the neglect and isolation to which it is condemned. They live
+blind in spirit, just as Pablo Penáguilas lived blind in body, though
+he possessed the latent faculty of sight."
+
+Florentina was listening with eager sympathy and intelligence to the
+surgeon's speech.
+
+"Look at her," he went on: "There she lies; she has a beautiful fancy,
+acute feelings, and can love with devotion and tenderness. She is
+gifted with a remarkable aptitude for every grace of mind, while, at
+the same time, she is full of the grossest superstitions; her religious
+ideas are vague, monstrous, and heterodox, and her moral sense needs
+guidance as much as her natural intelligence. She has had no education
+but what she has been able to give herself; like a tree that gets no
+nourishment but that of its own withered and fallen leaves, she owes
+absolutely nothing to any one else. In all her life she has never been
+taught a single lesson, never heard a word of loving counsel, nor a
+precept of pious dogma; she is guided entirely by ill-understood
+examples which she adapts to her own instincts and desires. Her
+criticisms are all her own, and as she is full of imagination and
+feeling, and the strongest native impulse of her soul is to worship
+something, she has worshipped Nature, after the fashion of primitive
+races. All her ideals are naturalistic--and if you do not quite
+understand what I mean, dear Florentina, I must explain myself more
+exactly another time.
+
+"She has a really artistic passion for form and beauty. Her whole
+nature and her affections all centre round this idea. The gifts
+and graces of the mind are to her an unknown realm of beauty, a
+hardly-discovered land, of which she knows only so much as some
+traveller might of a new country on whose shores he had been
+shipwrecked. The great news of the gospel--the greatest achievement
+of the spirit of humanity--has hardly even sounded in her ears; she
+has the same faint suspicion of it that Asiatic nations may have
+of European culture--and if you do not quite understand me, dear
+Florentina, I must explain myself more exactly another time.
+
+"But she is very capable of making rapid progress in a short time, and
+of rising to a higher level, nay to our own. Show her a little light
+and she will fly across the centuries--she has wandered from the
+track, and cannot see far, but give her light and she will find her
+way again. No one yet has ever put the torch in her hand, for Pablo
+Penáguilas, in his own ignorance of all external truth, contributed
+largely but unconsciously to increase her errors. Such a fantastic
+and extravagant idealist was not the best master for a nature like
+hers. We must set truth before the poor child, who is like a being
+raised from the dead of a remote past; we will teach her to know the
+graces of the mind; we will bring her down to our own century; we will
+give her soul a strength which as yet it has not, and put a noble
+Christian conscience in the place of her savage naturalism and wild
+superstitions. We have an admirable field to work in, a virgin soil
+on which to sow the seed of centuries of growth. We may make time fly
+fast over her head, showing her the truth it has revealed, and so
+create a new being--for indeed, dear Florentina, it is the same thing
+as creating a new being--and if you do not quite understand me, I must
+explain myself more exactly another time."
+
+Florentina, though she made no pretensions to learning, thought that
+she did understand what Golfin had meant by his quaint and original
+harangue. She herself was about to add some remarks on the subject; but
+at that moment Nela woke. Her eyes timidly wandered round the room, and
+then rested alternately on the two faces that looked down at her.
+
+"You are not frightened?" said Florentina gently.
+
+"Frightened--no Señora; you are very kind--and the Señor too."
+
+"Are you not glad to be here? what are you afraid of?"
+
+Golfin took her hand. "Speak frankly and truly," he said: "Which of us
+do you like best--Florentina or me?"
+
+Nela made no reply, and the others smiled; but the child remained
+moodily grave.
+
+"Now, listen to me, you silly little thing," the surgeon went on: "You
+have to make up your mind to live with one of us. Florentina will stay
+here; I shall go away. Decide for one or the other--which do you like
+best."
+
+Marianela looked from one to the other without finding any definite
+answer; finally her eyes rested on those of Golfin.
+
+"I believe I am the man of her choice.--But that is not fair to
+Florentina, Nela; she will be vexed."
+
+The poor child smiled and, putting out a feeble hand to Florentina, she
+murmured:
+
+"I do not want to vex her."
+
+But even while she spoke she turned ashy pale; she strained her neck,
+her eyes seemed starting out of her head--she was listening to a sound
+that was full of terrors to her. She had heard footsteps.
+
+"He is coming!" exclaimed Golfin, sympathizing in his patient's alarm.
+
+"Yes, here he comes!" cried Florentina, and she flew to the door.
+
+It was he. Pablo had opened the door and walked softly into the
+room--straight in, from the habit he had acquired during years of
+blindness. He came in smiling, and his eyes, freed from the bandage,
+which he had himself removed, looked straight before him. They were as
+yet unaccustomed to the muscular action which makes them turn, and were
+hardly aware of objects lying out of the direct line of vision. It was
+literally true of him--as it is of many who never were blind in their
+lives--that he only saw what was directly under his eyes.
+
+"Cousin!" said he going towards her: "Why have you not been to see me
+to-day? I have had to come to look for you. Your father told me you
+were doing some work for the poor--so I suppose I must forgive you."
+
+Florentina did not know what to say; she was annoyed. Pablo had not
+observed either Golfin or Nela, and Florentina, intending to keep him
+from approaching the sofa, went towards the window; then, picking up
+some pieces of stuff, she sat down as if she were going to sew. The
+full light of the sun fell upon her, shedding a vivid glow on all
+her left side and giving the most charming relief to her pretty head
+with its russet brown hair. Her beauty seemed radiant; like the very
+personification and incarnation of light. Her hair was somewhat in
+disorder, and her thin morning dress followed the graceful lines of her
+slender figure, while her simple and dignified pose was worthy of the
+noblest ideals of art.
+
+"Cousin," she said with a slight frown on her pretty brow, "Don Teodoro
+has not yet given you leave to-day to take your bandage off. That is
+not right."
+
+"He will give me leave presently," said the young man laughing. "And
+it cannot hurt me; I am really quite well. And if it did do me harm, I
+should not care.--No, I should not care if I became blind again, after
+having seen you."
+
+"And what good would that be to you?" said Florentina reprovingly.
+
+"I was alone in my room, my father is gone out--after speaking to me
+about you. You know what he said."
+
+"No, I know nothing about it," said the girl, with her eyes fixed on
+her work.
+
+"But I know.--My father is very kind and reasonable, and we are very
+fond of each other.... Well, when my father had left me, I took off
+the bandage and looked out at the fields; I saw the rainbow and I
+felt quite overcome with admiration, and with religious feeling too,
+Florentina--I do not know why that grand spectacle, which I had never
+seen before, should have given me so intense a feeling of the harmony
+of creation. I do not know why, looking at the perfect blending of
+its colors, I could not help thinking of you. I do not know why, as
+I saw the rainbow, I said to myself: 'I have felt this all before.'
+I felt again exactly as I felt when I first saw you, Florentina, my
+darling. My heart seemed ready to burst my bosom, and I could not help
+crying. I cried a great deal and my tears blinded me again for a few
+minutes--I called you and you did not answer--when I could see again,
+the rainbow had vanished. I went to look for you, I thought you were
+in the garden--I went down stairs, up stairs, and here I am. And now,
+here, I find you so lovely that I feel as if I had never seen you
+rightly till to-day--never till to-day, because now I have had time
+to learn to compare you with others. I have seen several women, and
+they are all horrible by your side. I find it hard to believe that
+you have lived through the years of my blindness.--Nay, nay. What I
+believe is that you came into being at the moment when light dawned
+upon my comprehension; that my own mind created you at the moment when
+I first was lord of the visible world. They had often told me that
+there was not a living creature to compare with you, and I would not
+believe it--but I believe it now, as surely as I believe in the light
+of heaven!"
+
+And as he spoke he fell on one knee.
+
+Florentina, startled and abashed, looked up from her sewing.
+
+"Cousin--for pity's sake!" she murmured.
+
+"Cousin for pity's sake!" exclaimed Pablo, with frank enthusiasm.
+"Why, why, are you so lovely? My father is most reasonable; I can say
+nothing against his arguments or his kindness.--Florentina, do you
+know I thought I could never love you; I thought I could love some
+one--not you. But what can I do? Thank God my love and my reason are
+one! My father, to whom I confessed my mistake; told me that I had
+loved a hideous monster. But now I can say that I worship an angel. The
+ignorant blind man can see, and at last pay due homage to real beauty.
+And yet I cannot help trembling--do you not see me tremble?--Seeing you
+I have but one desire, and that is, to take you in my arms and clasp
+you to my heart, enfolding you, holding you tightly--very tightly."
+
+And Pablo, who was now kneeling on both knees, clasped his arms across
+his breast.
+
+"Oh! I do not know what I feel!" he went on, stammering, and turning
+pale with agitation. "Every day I discover some new world, Florentina.
+First I discovered the world of light, to-day I have discovered
+another. Is it possible that you, so lovely--so divine--are to be mine,
+the wife of my heart?"
+
+He seemed about to fall to the ground in a fainting-fit, and Florentina
+leaned forward to support him. Pablo took her hand, then lifting her
+wide loose sleeve, he kissed her wrist and arm with eager passion,
+counting the kisses.
+
+"One--two--three--four--ah! I am dying!"
+
+"Be quiet, stop," cried Florentina, standing up, and making her cousin
+rise too. "Doctor Golfin will you scold him."
+
+"Your bandage on, at once!" cried Teodoro: "Go to your room and keep
+quiet."
+
+The young man, in the utmost confusion turned to that side of the room
+and brought his eyes to bear on the surgeon, standing by the sofa that
+was covered with blankets.
+
+"Are you here, Don Teodoro?" he said going up to him.
+
+"Yes, I am here," said Golfin very gravely. "You ought to go back to
+your room and put the bandage on again. I will go with you."
+
+"I am perfectly well--but, of course, I will obey--only, first let me
+see what is here."
+
+He was looking at the blankets and, between them, at a ghastly head,
+anything but fair to look upon. In fact Nela's nose seemed to have
+become sharper, her eyes smaller, her mouth less well-formed, her face
+more freckled, her hair thinner, and her forehead lower. Her eyes were
+closed, she breathed with difficulty, her livid lips were parted, and
+the hapless child seemed to be at her last gasp, with the look of death
+on her face already.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Pablo: "My father told me that Florentina had given
+shelter to some poor creature. How good of her! You--poor child, you
+may be thankful, for you have fallen into the hands of an angel!--Are
+you ill? In my house you shall want for nothing; my cousin is the very
+image of God on earth.--This poor child is very ill; is she not doctor?"
+
+"Yes ..." said Golfin, "she must be left alone and hear no more
+talking."
+
+"Then I am gone."
+
+Pablo put out his hand and laid it on the head which seemed to his
+unaccustomed eyes the most terrible symbol of all human misery and
+wretchedness. Nela raised her eyes and fixed them on her master. Pablo
+felt as if they gazed at him from the depths of a tomb, so profound was
+their expression of sorrow and despair; then Nela freed one hand from
+beneath the coverings--a feeble, burning, rough little hand--and took
+that of the young man. At her touch Pablo shuddered from head to foot,
+and uttered a cry that came from his very soul.
+
+There was a terrible pause--one of those lulls which precede the
+catastrophes of life as they do the convulsions of nature, as though to
+add to their solemnity.
+
+Then, in a quavering voice that thrilled the by-standers with its
+tragical sadness, Nela spoke:
+
+"Yes, _Señorito mio_," she said, "I am Nela."
+
+Slowly, and as if she were lifting some too heavy weight, she raised
+her master's hand to her dry lips and kissed it--kissed it again--and
+then, with a third attempt, her lips remained motionless on the lad's
+hand.
+
+They were all silent--looking at her. The first to break the silence
+was Pablo.
+
+"Is this you ..." he said, "you...." And the thoughts that crowded on
+his mind checked his utterance of any. He would have liked to discover
+some new language in which to utter them, just as he had already
+discovered the two new worlds--of light, and of the love of external
+beauty. He could do nothing but look at her--look at Nela and remember
+that darkened world in which he had lived, his passions and the dreams
+and errors of his blindness all wandering and lost in its obscurity.
+Florentina, wiping away her tears, leaned over Nela to look into her
+face, and Golfin, watching her and knowing too well what he saw,
+exclaimed in a voice like a knell:
+
+"It has killed her. The sight of you has killed her!"--then turning to
+Pablo he said sternly: "Go, at once, to your room."
+
+"Dying! dying so, without any cause!" cried Florentina in despair, and
+laying her hand lightly on Nela's brow.
+
+"María!" she said, "Marianela!"
+
+She called her by her name again and again, leaning over her and
+looking at her, as we might look over the margin of a well at some one
+who has fallen into it and who is drowning in the depth and blackness
+of its waters.
+
+"She does not answer!" said Pablo, horror-stricken.
+
+Golfin, watching her ebbing vitality, perceived that her pulse still
+throbbed under his touch. Pablo bent over her, and putting his lips
+close to her ear, he called her once more:
+
+"Nela, Nela my friend--my dear!"
+
+She turned a little, opened her eyes, and moved her hands. She looked
+as if her spirit had returned from some far away flight. Seeing Pablo's
+gaze fixed upon her with anxious curiosity, she turned aside abashed
+and alarmed, and tried to hide her face as if she were a guilty thing.
+
+"What is the matter with her?" asked Florentina vehemently. "Don
+Teodoro, save her if you are a man.--If you do not save her you are a
+charlatan!..."
+
+The young girl's charitable instincts were spurring her to positive
+rage.
+
+"Nela!" repeated the lad in the deepest distress, and not yet recovered
+from the shock which the sight of his little comrade had given him:
+"You seem to be afraid of me--what have I done to you?"
+
+The dying girl put out her hand to clasp Florentina's, and pressed it
+to her breast, and then she did the same with Pablo's; afterwards she
+once more pressed them both with all the strength she could command.
+Her sunken eyes looked from one to the other, but her gaze was vague
+and remote; it seemed to come from some inner depth of darkness and
+despair, as though she were indeed the drowning wretch in the well,
+sinking lower every instant. Suddenly her breathing became difficult;
+she sighed, and clutched the two hands she held with convulsive energy.
+
+Teodoro had turned the house upside down; had sent for medicines and
+powerful stimulants, and was doing all in his power to arrest the swift
+extinction of this young life.
+
+"It is hard," he said, "to stop a drop of water that is trickling,
+falling away--down, down, and within an inch or two of the great
+Sea.--But I will try."
+
+He sent away every one but Florentina, whom he kept in the room. But
+the stimulants and irritants with which he endeavored to bring back
+ebbing life to the frail body, only served to restore some little
+muscular action, and in spite of this she was sinking every minute.
+
+"It is cruelty!" cried Golfin desperately, as he snatched away the
+mustard and the irritants. "We are tormentors and torturers. It is like
+setting dogs on a dying man that the pain may keep him alive to suffer.
+Away with it all!"
+
+"And is there nothing to be done?"
+
+"Nothing--but what God will do."
+
+"But what is the matter with her?"
+
+"Death!" he shouted with a delirious rage of grief, ill-befitting a
+medical man.
+
+"But what illness is it that has brought her to death?"
+
+"Death!" he repeated.
+
+"You do not understand me; I want to know of what...?"
+
+"Of death.--How can I tell you whether it is shame, or jealousy, or
+wounded pride, or grief, or disappointed love, that has killed her? A
+strange catalogue of symptoms! No, no--we know nothing--nothing but
+useless details."
+
+"What! Doctors!"
+
+"I tell you we know nothing--a little on the surface that is all."
+
+"And this, what is this?"
+
+"A sudden attack of inflammation--meningitis perhaps."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"A name.... Death!"
+
+"But is it possible that any one should die--like this--without any
+known cause, without any sort of disease? Oh! Don Teodoro, what is the
+matter with her?"
+
+"How should I know?"
+
+"But you are a doctor?"
+
+"Of eyes--not of passions."
+
+"Passions!" exclaimed Florentina, looking down at the senseless girl.
+"You--poor child--what passions are you dying of?"
+
+"Ask your future husband."
+
+Florentina stood lost in utter amazement.
+
+"Poor thing!" she cried with a choked sob. "Can mere grief kill in this
+way?"
+
+"When I picked her up at _la Trascava_ she was in a high fever."
+
+"But that is not enough; no, not enough to kill her!"
+
+"You say it is not enough. God and Nature say that it is."
+
+"It is as if she had been stabbed."
+
+"Remember what those eyes--now closing forever--saw a short while
+since. Remember that a blind man loved her and that he is blind no
+longer; that he has seen her--seen her! The shock was a death-blow...."
+
+"Oh what a terrible mysterious...."
+
+"No, it is no mystery," cried the surgeon, almost wildly. "It is the
+awful collapse of an illusion; the rude blow of reality; the miserable
+destroyer which has come between two noble souls. And I--I brought that
+reality home to them!"
+
+"Oh it is a wretched mystery!" repeated Florentina, not understanding
+the current of his thoughts.
+
+"A mystery? No," repeated Teodoro with increasing agitation: "It is
+bare reality; the sudden swallowing up of a whole world of illusions.
+Reality to him meant a new life--to her, anguish, suffocation,
+humiliation, sorrow, contempt, an empty life, jealousy,--Death!"
+
+"And all for...."
+
+"And all for one pair of eyes opened to see light--and reality.
+Reality! I cannot get the word out of my brain. It seems to be written
+there in letters of fire."
+
+"All for one pair of eyes.--And grief can kill so quickly--without
+giving us time to try a remedy?"
+
+"I do not know," said Golfin, bewildered, confounded, helpless, in view
+of the mystic characters of the Book of Life and Death, which science
+may pore over but may not decipher its dark riddle.
+
+"You do not know!" cried Florentina desperately. "Then why are you a
+doctor?"
+
+"I do not know, I do not know!" he reiterated, striking his dishevelled
+head with his heavy hands.--"Yes, one thing I know, and that is that we
+know nothing but the skin-deep phenomena of life. I--I am a mender of
+eyes and nothing more."
+
+He fixed his gaze with absorbed attention on the little figure which
+was hovering on the border-land between a living woman and a corpse.
+"Soul!" he exclaimed in a tone of bitter questioning: "What is passing
+in you now?"
+
+Florentina burst into tears.
+
+"The soul!" she murmured, and her head drooped on her breast: "It is
+fled!"
+
+"No ..." said Teodoro, taking Nela's hand. "There is still some life
+left--but so little, that it would seem as if the soul were indeed far
+away and had left only the breath behind."
+
+"Lord have mercy!" exclaimed the young girl and began to pray.
+
+"Alas! hapless spirit!" murmured the surgeon. "You were but ill-lodged
+indeed...."
+
+They both bent over her, watching her closely.
+
+"Her lips are moving," cried Florentina. "She is speaking."
+
+Yes, her lips parted; she said something--a word, two, three.
+
+"What is she saying?" each asked the other; but neither of them could
+understand her.
+
+She spoke perhaps in the tongue that is known to those who live the
+life eternal.
+
+This was the end; her lips moved no more; they remained half-open
+showing a row of little white teeth. Teodoro bent over her and, kissing
+Nela's forehead, he said in a steady voice:
+
+"Woman, you did well to quit this world." But Florentina's voice was
+choked with tears and sobs as she said: "I wanted to make her happy,
+and she would not be."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+FAREWELL.
+
+
+Strange and wonderful to tell! Nela, who had never in her life had a
+room, nor clothes, nor shoes, nor food, nor sympathy, nor relations,
+nor any earthly thing of her own, not even a name--was buried in
+a style which caused no small amount of envy among the living in
+Socartes. This posthumous splendor was the bitterest irony ever known
+in these metalliferous regions. Señorita Florentina, acting on her
+generous impulses, consoled herself for the disappointment of not
+having been able to help Nela alive, by the satisfaction of doing honor
+to her hapless remains after death. Some hard-hearted materialists
+criticised her severely; but, for our part, we regarded it as an
+additional proof of her refined kind-heartedness.
+
+When Nela was carried to the grave, the curious who came to gaze at
+her, thought her almost pretty--wonderful to say! At least so they
+said. It was the first time a compliment had ever been paid her. The
+funeral was magnificent, and the priests of Villamojada opened their
+mouths wide in astonishment when they found themselves receiving money
+to pray for the soul of La Canela's daughter. It was bewildering,
+amazing, to think that a being whose social importance had been about
+equal to that of a worm or a fly, should prove the occasion of so much
+burning of tapers, of so much hanging of drapery, and of making so many
+choristers and sacristans hoarse. Nay, it was so astounding as to be
+positively amusing; nothing else was talked of for at least six weeks.
+
+The surprise, and indeed--to be frank--the indignation of this worthy
+little world, culminated one day when two waggons, loaded with enormous
+blocks of fine white stone, were descried approaching by the high-road.
+In Señana's mind, particularly, a hideous subversion of ideas took
+place, a cataclysm resulting in mental chaos, when she brought herself
+to believe that those fine white stones were to build Nela's tomb. If
+an ox had taken to flying or her husband to making speeches, it could
+not have roused her from her stupefaction.
+
+The parish registers of Villamojada were searched, for of course it
+was indispensable that she should have a name now she was dead, though
+she had done without one during her life; as is proved by this very
+history, where she has borne various names. And this indispensable
+requisite having been found, and duly placed on the records of the
+dead, the magnificent tomb, which stood up proudly among the rustic
+crosses of the graveyard at Aldeacorba, had this epitaph engraved on it:
+
+         R. I. P.
+
+  MARÍA MANUELA TELLEZ.
+
+   RECALLED TO HEAVEN
+
+  October the 12th, 186 ...
+
+And a wreath of flowers prettily carved in the marble, crowned the
+inscription. Many months later, when Florentina and Pablo Penáguilas
+had been some time married and no one--to tell the truth, for truth is
+the first consideration--no one in Aldeacorba de Suso remembered Nela
+any longer, some travellers of the tourist genus, in crossing that part
+of the country, happened to observe the grand marble sepulchre erected
+in the cemetery by the piety and affection of an exemplary friend,
+and were struck with admiration. Without more ado they proceeded to
+write down in their note-book these remarks, which were subsequently
+published under the title of "Sketches from Cantábria," in an English
+newspaper.
+
+"The most remarkable object to be seen at Aldeacorba is a magnificent
+monument, erected in the cemetery over the grave of a young lady of
+rank, famous in that part of the country for her beauty. Doña Mariquita
+Manuela Tellez belonged to one of the noblest and wealthiest families
+in Cantábria, that of Tellez Giron y de Trastamara. Witty, romantic,
+and capricious, she took a fancy to wander about the roads, playing
+the guitar and singing Calderon's odes, and she would dress herself up
+in rags to enable her to mix with the herd of beggars, pick-pockets,
+troubadours, bull-fighters, friars, _hidalgos_, gypsies, and muleteers,
+which at the great _kermesas_, constitute that motley scene of Spanish
+low life which still exists and always must exist, independent and
+picturesque, in spite of the railways and newspapers which have begun
+to force their way into the Spanish Peninsula.
+
+"The _abad_[6] of Villamojada wept as he told us of the whims, the
+virtues, and the beauty of this wealthy gentlewoman, who, whenever
+she appeared at the balls, banquets, or _cañas_ of Madrid, was
+distinguished for her aristocratic deportment. The number of
+_romanceros_, sonnets and madrigals composed in honor of this noble
+damsel by all the Spanish poets, is beyond all calculation."[7]
+
+On reading this I saw at once that the worthy reporters had dreamed
+dreams. I determined to tell the truth, and the truth, as I have told
+it, has resulted in this book.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We must now bid farewell forever to this tomb. We will fix our eyes on
+another object, seek out another figure--searching diligently, for he
+whom we want is but a small personage, a minute insect, as it were, no
+larger on the face of the earth than the Phylloxera on the vine. But we
+have found him--there he is, tiny, squalid, a mere atomy. But he lives
+and breathes, and will grow great in time. Listen to his story, for it
+is an interesting one I promise you.
+
+Well, Sir....
+
+But no; it does not belong to this book. If you like the history of
+Marianela, in good time you shall hear that of Celipin.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+
+[1] "Es tan linda su boca que no pide."
+
+[2] A Spanish silver coin, equal in value to the U. S. dollar.
+
+[3] A silver coin containing two reales.
+
+[4] The copper piece is a _cuarto_. A _real_ contains 34 _maravedis_
+and is worth about the same as the U. S. dime. The smallest Spanish
+coin is the _maravedi_. Four _maravedis_ make a _cuarto_.
+
+[5] Trunkmaker's street.
+
+[6] In some provinces the rector of a parish.
+
+[7] The point of this passage in the original is the misuse of Spanish
+words and the introduction of others which are not Spanish. Thus
+_Hidalgo_ means a nobleman; and _Kermesas_, Fr., _Kermesse_, Dutch,
+_Kermis_, is a name for a fair peculiar to Holland and Belgium.
diff --git a/data/emilia_english.txt b/data/emilia_english.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52466c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/emilia_english.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6585 @@
+Behind the pine grove the setting sun had left a zone of fire
+against which the trunks of the pine trees stood out like bronze
+columns. The path was rugged and uneven, giving evidence of the
+ravages wrought by the winter rains; at intervals loose stones,
+looking like teeth detached from the gum, rendered it still more
+impracticable. The melancholy shades of twilight were beginning to
+envelop the landscape; little by little the sunset glow faded away
+and the moon, round and silvery, mounted in the heavens, where the
+evening star was already shining. The dismal croaking of the frogs
+fell sharply on the ear; a fresh breeze stirred the dry plants and
+the dusty brambles that grew by the roadside; and the trunks of the
+pine trees grew momentarily blacker, standing out like inky bars
+against the pale green of the horizon.
+
+A man was descending the path slowly, bent, apparently, on
+enjoying the poetry and the peace of the scene and the hour. He
+carried a stout walking-stick, and as far as one could judge in the
+fading light, he was young and not ill-looking.
+
+He paused frequently, casting glances to the right and to the
+left as if in search of some familiar landmark. Finally he stood
+still and looked around him. At his back was a hill crowned with
+chestnut trees; on his left was the pine grove; on his right a small
+church with a mean belfry; before him the outlying houses of the
+town. He turned, walked back some ten steps, stopped, fronting the
+portico of the church, examined its walls, and, satisfied at last
+that he had found the right place, raised his hands to his mouth and
+forming with them a sort of speaking trumpet, cried, in a clear
+youthful voice:
+
+"Echo, let us talk together!"
+
+From the angle formed by the walls, there came back instantly
+another voice, deeper and less distinct, strangely grave and
+sonorous, which repeated with emphasis, linking the answer to the
+question and dwelling upon the final syllable:
+
+"Let us talk togethe-e-e-e-r!"
+
+"Are you happy?"
+
+"Happy-y-y-y!" responded the echo.
+
+"Who am I?"
+
+"I-I-I-I!"
+
+To these interrogations, framed so that the answer should make
+sense with them, succeeded phrases uttered without any other object
+than that of hearing them reverberated with strange intensity by the
+wall. "It is a lovely night."--"The moon is shining."--"The sun has
+set."--"Do you hear me, echo?"--"Have you dreams, echo, of glory,
+ambition, love?" The traveler, enchanted with his occupation,
+continued the conversation, varying the words, combining them into
+sentences, and, in the short intervals of silence, he listened to the
+faint murmur of the pines stirred by the evening breeze, and to the
+melancholy concert of the frogs. The crimson and rose-colored clouds
+had become ashen and had begun to invade the broad region of the
+firmament over which the unclouded moon shed her silvery light. The
+honeysuckles and elder-flowers on the outskirts of the pine grove
+embalmed the air with subtle and intoxicating fragrance. And the
+interlocutor of the echo, yielding to the poetic influences of the
+scene, ceased his questions and exclamations and began to recite, in
+a slow, chanting voice, verses of Becquer, paying no heed now to the
+voice from the wall, which, in its haste to repeat his words,
+returned them to him broken and confused.
+
+Absorbed in his occupation, pleased with the harmonious sounds of
+the verse, he did not notice the approach of three men of odd and
+grotesque appearance, wearing enormous broad-brimmed felt hats. One
+of the men was leading a mule laden with a leathern sack filled,
+doubtless, with the juice of the grape; and as they walked slowly,
+and the soft clayey soil deadened the noise of their footsteps, they
+passed close by the young man, unperceived by him. They exchanged
+some whispered words with one another. "Who is he,
+man?"--"Segundo."--"The lawyer's son?"--"The same."--"What is he
+doing? Is he talking to himself?"--"No, he is talking to the wall of
+Santa Margarita."--"Well, we have as good a right to do that as he
+has."--"Begin you ----"--"One--two--here goes----"
+
+And from those profane lips fell a shower of vile words and
+coarse and vulgar phrases, interrupting the _Oscuras Golondrinas_
+which the young man was reciting with a great deal of expression, and
+producing, in the peaceful and harmonious nocturnal silence, the
+effect of the clatter of brass pans and kettles in a piece of German
+music. The most refined expressions were in the following style:
+"D---- (here an oath). Hurrah for the wine of the Border! Hurrah for
+the red wine that gives courage to man! D----" (the reader's
+imagination may supply what followed, it being premised that the
+disturbers of the Becquerian dreamer were three lawless muleteers who
+were carrying with them an abundant provision of the blood of the
+grape).
+
+The nymph who dwelt in the wall opposed no resistance to the
+profanation and repeated the round oaths as faithfully as she had
+repeated the poet's verses. Hearing the vociferations and bursts of
+laughter which the wall sent back to him mockingly, Segundo, the
+lawyer's son, aware that the barbarians were turning his sentimental
+amusement into ridicule, became enraged. Mortified and ashamed, he
+tightened his grasp on his stick, strongly tempted to break it on the
+ribs of some one of them; and, muttering between his teeth, "Kaffirs!
+brutes! beasts!" and other offensive epithets, he turned to the left,
+plunged into the pine grove and walked toward the town, avoiding the
+path in order to escape meeting the profane trio.
+
+The town was but a step away. The walls of its nearest houses
+shone white in the moonlight, and the stones of some buildings in
+course of erection, garden walls, orchards, and vegetable beds,
+filled up the space between the town and the pine grove. The path
+grew gradually broader, until it reached the highroad, on either side
+of which leafy chestnut trees cast broad patches of shade. The town
+was already asleep, seemingly, for not a light was to be seen, nor
+were any of those noises to be heard which reveal the proximity of
+those human beehives called cities. Vilamorta is in reality a very
+small beehive, a modest town, the capital of a district. Bathed in
+the splendor of the romantic satellite, however, it was not without a
+certain air of importance imparted to it by the new buildings, of a
+style of architecture peculiar to prison cells, which an
+_Americanized_ Galician, recently returned to his native land with a
+plentiful supply of cash, was erecting with all possible expedition.
+
+Segundo turned into an out-of-the-way street--if there be any
+such in towns like Vilamorta. Only the sidewalks were paved; the
+gutter was a gutter in reality; it was full of muddy pools and heaps
+of kitchen garbage, thrown there without scruple by the inhabitants.
+Segundo avoided two things--stepping into the gutter and walking in
+the moonlight. A man passed so close by him as almost to touch him,
+enveloped, notwithstanding the heat, in an ample cloak, and holding
+open above his head an enormous umbrella, although there was no sign
+of rain; doubtless he was some convalescent, some visitor to the
+springs, who was breathing the pleasant night air with hygienic
+precautions. Segundo, when he saw him, walked closer to the houses,
+turning his face aside as if afraid of being recognized. With no less
+caution he crossed the Plaza del Consistorio, the pride of Vilamorta,
+and then, instead of joining one of the groups who were enjoying the
+fresh air, seated on the stone benches round the public fountain, he
+slipped into a narrow side street, and crossing a retired little
+square shaded by a gigantic poplar turned his steps in the direction
+of a small house half hidden in the shadow of the tree. Between the
+house and Segundo there stood a lumbering bulk--the body of a
+stage-coach, a large box on wheels, its shafts raised in air,
+waiting, lance in rest, as it were, to renew the attack. Segundo
+skirted the obstacle, and as he turned the corner of the square,
+absorbed in his meditations, two immense hogs, monstrously fat,
+rushed out of the half-open gate of a neighboring yard, and at a
+short trot that made their enormous sides shake like jelly, made
+straight for the admirer of Becquer, entangling themselves stupidly
+and blindly between his legs. By a special interposition of
+Providence the young man did not measure his length upon the ground,
+but, his patience now exhausted, he gave each of the swine a couple
+of angry kicks, which drew from them sharp and ferocious grunts, as
+he ejaculated almost audibly: "What a town is this, good Heavens!
+Even the hogs must run against one in the streets. Ah, what a
+miserable place! Hell itself could not be worse!"
+
+By the time he had reached the door of the house, he had, to some
+extent, regained his composure. The house was small and pretty and
+had a cheerful air. There was no railing outside the windows, only
+the stone ledges, which were covered with plants in pots and boxes;
+through the windows shaded by muslin curtains a light could be seen
+burning, and in the silent façade there was something peaceful and
+attractive that invited one to enter. Segundo pushed open the door
+and almost at the same instant there was heard in the dark hall the
+rustling of skirts, a woman's arms were opened and the admirer of
+Becquer, throwing himself into them, allowed himself to be led,
+dragged, carried bodily, almost, up the stairs, and into the little
+parlor where, on a table covered with a white crochet cover, burned a
+carefully trimmed lamp. There, on the sofa, the lover and the lady
+seated themselves.
+
+Truth before all things. The lady was not far from thirty-six or
+thirty-seven, and what is worse, could never have been pretty, or
+even passably good-looking. The smallpox had pitted and hardened her
+coarse skin, giving it the appearance of the leather bottom of a
+sieve. Her small black eyes, hard and bright like two fleas, matched
+well her nose, which was thick and ill-shaped, like the noses of the
+figures of lay monks stamped on chocolate. True, the mouth was
+fresh-colored, the teeth white and sound like those of a dog; but
+everything else pertaining to her--dress, manner, accent, the want of
+grace of the whole--was calculated rather to put tender thoughts to
+flight than to awaken them. With the lamp shining as brightly as it
+does, it is preferable to contemplate the lover. The latter is of
+medium height, has a graceful, well-proportioned figure, and in the
+turn of his head and in his youthful features there is something that
+irresistibly attracts and holds the gaze. His forehead, which is high
+and straight, is shaded and set off by luxuriant hair, worn somewhat
+longer than is allowed by our present severe fashion. His face, thin
+and delicately outlined, casts a shadow on the walls which is made up
+of acute angles. A mustache, curling with the grace which is peculiar
+to a first mustache, and to the wavy locks of a young girl, shades
+but does not cover his upper lip. The beard has not yet attained its
+full growth; the muscles of the throat have not yet become prominent;
+the Adam's apple does not yet force itself on the attention. The
+complexion is dark, pale, and of a slightly bilious hue.
+
+Seeing this handsome youth leaning his head on the shoulder of
+this woman of mature age and undisguised ugliness, it would have been
+natural to take them for mother and son, but anyone coming to this
+conclusion, after a single moment's observation, would have shown
+scant penetration, for in the manifestations of maternal affection,
+however passionate and tender they may be, there is always a
+something of dignity and repose which is wanting in those of every
+other affection.
+
+Doubtless Segundo felt a longing to see the moon again, for he
+rose almost immediately from his seat on the sofa and crossed over to
+the window, his companion following him. He threw open the sash, and
+they sat down side by side in two low chairs whose seats were on a
+level with the flower-pots. A fine carnation regaled the sense with
+its intoxicating perfume; the moon lighted up with her silvery rays
+the foliage of the poplar that cast broad shadow over the little
+square. Segundo opened the conversation this wise:
+
+"Have you made any cigars for me?"
+
+"Here are some," she answered, putting her hand into her pocket
+and drawing from it a bundle of cigars. "I was able to make only a
+dozen and a half for you. I will complete the two dozen to-night
+before I go to bed."
+
+There was a moment's silence, broken by the sharp sound made by
+the striking of the match and then, in a voice muffled by the first
+puff of smoke, Segundo went on:
+
+"Why, has anything new happened?"
+
+"New? No. The children--putting the house in order--and
+then--Minguitos. He made my head ache with his complaining--he
+complained the whole blessed evening. He said his bones ached. And
+you? Very busy, killing yourself reading, studying, writing, eh? Of
+course!"
+
+"No, I have been taking a delightful walk. I went to Peñas-albas
+and returned by way of Santa Margarita. I have seldom spent a
+pleasanter evening."
+
+"I warrant you were making verses."
+
+"No, my dear. The verses I made I made last night after leaving
+you."
+
+"Ah! And you weren't going to repeat them to me. Come, for the
+love of the saints, come, recite them for me, you must know them by
+heart. Come, darling."
+
+To this vehement entreaty succeeded a passionate kiss, pressed on
+the hair and forehead of the poet. The latter raised his eyes, drew
+back a little and, holding his cigar between his fingers after
+knocking off the ashes with his nail, proceeded to recite.
+
+The offspring of his muse was a poem in imitation of Becquer. His
+auditor, who listened to it with religious attention, thought it
+superior to anything inspired by the muse of the great Gustave. And
+she asked for another and then another, and then a bit of Espronceda
+and then a fragment or two of Zorrilla. By this time the cigar had
+gone out; the poet threw away the stump and lighted a fresh one. Then
+they resumed their conversation.
+
+"Shall we have supper soon?"
+
+"Directly. What do you think I have for you?"
+
+"I haven't the least idea."
+
+"Think of what you like best. What you like best, better than
+anything else."
+
+"Bah! You know that so far as I am concerned, provided you don't
+give me anything smoked or greasy----"
+
+"A French omelet! You couldn't guess, eh? Let me tell you--I
+found the receipt in a book. As I had heard that it was something
+good I wanted to try it. I had always made omelets as they make them
+here, so stiff, that you might throw one against the wall without
+breaking it. But this--I think it will be to your taste. As for me, I
+don't like it much, I prefer the old style. I showed Flores how to
+make it. What was in the one you ate at the inn at Orense? Chopped
+parsley, eh?"
+
+"No, ham. But what difference does it make what was in it?"
+
+"I'll run and take it out of the pantry! I thought--the book says
+parsley! Wait, wait."
+
+She overturned her chair in her haste. An instant later the
+jingling of her keys and the opening and closing of a couple of doors
+were heard in the distance. A husky voice muttered some
+unintelligible words in the kitchen. In two minutes she was back
+again.
+
+"Tell me, and those verses, are you not going to publish them? Am
+I not going to see them in print?"
+
+"Yes," responded the poet, slowly turning his head to one side
+and sending a puff of smoke through his lips. "I am going to send
+them to Vigo, to Roberto Blanquez, to insert them in the _Amanecer_."
+
+"I am delighted! You will become famous, sweetheart! How many
+periodicals have spoken of you?"
+
+Segundo laughed ironically and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Not many." And with a somewhat preoccupied air he let his gaze
+wander over the plants and far away over the top of the poplar whose
+leaves rustled gently in the breeze. The poet pressed his companion's
+hand mechanically, and the latter returned the pressure with
+passionate ardor.
+
+"Of course. How do you expect them to speak of you when you don't
+put your name to your verses?" she said. "They don't know whose they
+are. They are wondering, likely----"
+
+"What difference does the name make? They could say the same
+things of the pseudonym I have adopted as of Segundo García. The few
+people who will trouble themselves to read my verses will call me the
+Swan of Vilamorta."
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+
+
+Segundo García, the lawyer's son, and Leocadia Otero, the
+schoolmistress of Vilamorta, had met each other for the first time in
+the spring at a pilgrimage. Leocadia had gone with some girls to whom
+she had taught their letters and plain sewing. Before the chorus of
+nymphs Segundo had recited verses for more than two hours in an oak
+grove far from the noise of the drum and the bagpipes, where the
+strains of the music and the voices of the crowd came softened by
+distance. The audience was as silent as if they were hearing mass,
+although certain passages of a tender or passionate nature were the
+occasion, among the children, of nudges, pinches, laughter
+instantaneously suppressed; but from the black eyes of the
+schoolmistress, down her cheeks, pitted by the smallpox and pale with
+emotion, flowed two large, warm tears, followed so quickly and in
+such abundance by others that she was obliged to take out her
+handkerchief to wipe them away. And returning by starlight,
+descending the mountain on whose summit stood the sanctuary, by
+sylvan footpaths carpeted with grass and bordered with heather and
+briars, the order of march was as follows: first the children,
+running, jumping, pushing one another among the heather and greeting
+every fall with shouts of laughter; Leocadia and Segundo behind,
+arm-in-arm, pausing from time to time to talk in subdued tones,
+almost in whispers.
+
+A sad and ugly story was told about Leocadia Otero. Although,
+without actually saying so, she had given it to be understood that
+she was a widow, it was whispered that she had never been married;
+that the puny Dominguito, the little cripple who was always sick, was
+born while she lived in the house of her uncle and guardian at
+Orense, after the death of her parents. What was certain was that her
+uncle had died shortly after the birth of the child, bequeathing to
+his niece a couple of fields and a house in Vilamorta, and Leocadia,
+after passing the necessary examinations, had obtained the village
+school and gone to settle in that town. She had lived in it now for
+more than thirteen years, observing the most exemplary conduct,
+watching day and night over Minguitos, and living with the utmost
+frugality in order to rebuild the dilapidated house, which she had
+finally succeeded in doing shortly before her meeting with Segundo.
+Leocadia was a woman of notably industrious habits; in her wardrobe
+she had always a good supply of linen, in her parlor bamboo furniture
+with a rug before the sofa, grapes, rice, and ham in her pantry, and
+carnations and sweet basil in her windows. Minguitos was always as
+neat as a new pin; she herself, when she raised the skirt of her
+habit of Dolores, of good merino, displayed underneath voluminous
+embroidered petticoats, stiff with starch. For all which reasons,
+notwithstanding her ugliness and her former history, the
+schoolmistress was not without suitors--a wealthy retired muleteer,
+and Cansin, the clothier. She rejected the suitors and continued
+living alone with Minguitos and Flores, her old servant, who now
+enjoyed in the house all the privileges of a grandmother.
+
+The iniquitous wrong suffered by her in early youth had produced
+in Leocadia, absorbed as she was in her bitter recollections, a
+profound horror of marriage and an insatiable thirst for the
+romantic, the ideal, which is as a refreshing dew to the imagination
+and which satisfies the emotions. She had the superficial knowledge
+of a village schoolmistress--rudimentary, but sufficient to introduce
+exotic tastes into Vilamorta; that is to say, a taste for literature
+in its most accessible forms--novels and poetry. She devoted to
+reading the leisure hours of her monotonous and upright life. She
+read with faith, with enthusiasm, uncritically; she read believing
+and accepting everything, identifying herself with each one of the
+heroines, in turn, her heart echoing back the poet's sighs, the
+troubadour's songs, and the laments of the bard. Reading was her one
+vice, her secret happiness. When she requested her friends at Orense
+to renew her subscription to the library for her they laughed at her
+and nicknamed her the "Authoress." She an authoress! She only wished
+she were. If she could only give form to what she felt, to the world
+of fancy she carried in her mind! But this was impossible. Never
+would her brain succeed in producing, however hard she might squeeze
+it, even so much as a poor _seguidilla_. Poetry and sensibility were
+stored up in the folds and convolutions of her brain, as solar heat
+is stored up in the coal. What came to the surface was pure
+prose--housekeeping, economy, stews.
+
+When she met Segundo, chance applied the lighted torch to the
+formidable train of feelings and dreams shut up in the soul of the
+schoolmistress. She had at last found a worthy employment for her
+amorous faculties, an outlet for her affections. Segundo was poetry
+incarnate. He represented for her all the graces, all the divine
+attributes of poetry--the flowers, the breeze, the nightingale, the
+dying light of day, the moon, the dark wood.
+
+The fire burned with astounding rapidity. In its flames were
+consumed, first her honorable resolution to efface by the
+blamelessness of her conduct the stigma of the past, then her strong
+and deep maternal affection. Not for an instant did the thought
+present itself to Leocadia's mind that Segundo could ever be her
+husband; although both were free the difference in their ages and the
+intellectual superiority of the young poet placed an insurmountable
+barrier in the way of the aspirations of the schoolmistress. She fell
+in love as into an abyss, and looked neither before nor behind.
+
+Segundo had had in Santiago, during his college days, youthful
+intrigues, adventures of a not very serious nature, such as few men
+escape between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, occasionally
+taking part, also, in what in that romantic epoch were called
+_orgies_. Notwithstanding all this, however, he was not vicious. The
+son of a hysterical mother, whose strength was exhausted by repeated
+lactations, and who at last succumbed to the debility induced by
+them, Segundo's spirit was much more exacting and insatiable than his
+body. He had inherited from his mother a melancholy temperament and
+innumerable prejudices, innumerable instinctive antipathies,
+innumerable superstitious practices. He had loved her, and he
+cherished her memory with veneration. And more tenacious even than
+his loving remembrance of his mother was the invincible antipathy he
+cherished for his father. It would not be true to say that the lawyer
+had been the murderer of his wife, and yet Segundo clearly divined
+the slow martyrdom endured by that fine nervous organization, and had
+always before his eyes, in his hours of gloom, the mean coffin in
+which the dead woman was interred, shrouded in the oldest sheet that
+was to be found.
+
+Segundo's family consisted of his father, an aunt, advanced in
+years, two brothers, and three sisters. The lawyer García enjoyed the
+reputation of being wealthy--in reality this fortune was
+insignificant--a village fortune accumulated penny by penny, by
+usurious loans and innumerable sordid privations. His practice
+brought him in something, but ten mouths to feed and the professional
+education of three sons swallowed up not a little. The eldest of the
+boys, an officer in an infantry regiment, was stationed in the
+Philippine Islands, and, far from expecting any money from him, they
+were thankful if he did not ask for any. Segundo, the second in age
+as well as in name, had just been graduated--one lawyer more in
+Spain, where this fruit grows so abundantly. The youngest was
+studying at the Institute at Orense, with the intention of becoming
+an apothecary. The girls spent the days running about in the gardens
+and cornfields, half the time barefooted, not even attending
+Leocadia's school to save the slight expense that would be incurred
+in procuring the decent clothing which this would necessitate. As for
+the aunt--Misía Gáspara--she was the soul of the house, a narrow and
+sapless soul, a withered old woman, silent and ghost-like in
+appearance, still active, in spite of her sixty years, who, without
+ceasing to knit her stockings with fingers as yellow as the keys of
+an old harpsichord, sold barley in the granary, wine in the cellar,
+lent a dollar at fifty per cent. interest to the fruit-women and
+hucksters of the market, receiving their wares in payment, measured
+out the food, the light, and their clothing to her nieces, fattened a
+pig with affectionate solicitude, and was respected in Vilamorta for
+her ant-like abilities.
+
+It was the lawyer's aspiration to transmit his practice and his
+office to Segundo. Only the boy gave no indication of an aptitude for
+stirring up law-suits and prosecutions. How had he achieved the
+miracle of passing with honor in the examinations without ever having
+opened a law-book during the whole term, and failing in attendance at
+the college whenever it rained or whenever the sun shone? Well, by
+means of an excellent memory and a good natural intelligence;
+learning by heart, when it was necessary, whole pages from the
+text-books, and remembering and reciting them with the same ease, if
+not with as much taste, as he recited the "Doloras" of Campoamor.
+
+On Segundo's table lay, side by side, the works of Zorrilla and
+Espronceda, bad translations of Heine, books of verse of local poets,
+the "Lamas-Varela," or, _Antidote to Idleness_, and other volumes of
+a no less heterogeneous kind. Segundo was not an insatiable reader;
+he chose his reading according to the whim of the moment, and he read
+only what was in conformity with his tastes, thus acquiring a
+superficial culture of an imperfect and varied nature. Quick of
+apprehension, rather than thoughtful or studious, he had learned
+French without a teacher and almost by intuition, in order to read in
+the original the works of Musset, Lamartine, Proudhon, and Victor
+Hugo. His mind was like an uncultivated field in which grew here and
+there some rare and beautiful flower, some exotic plant; of the
+abstruse and positive sciences, of solid and serious learning, which
+is the nurse of mental vigor--the classics, the best literature, the
+severe teachings of history--he knew nothing; and in exchange, by a
+singular phenomenon of intellectual relationship, he identified
+himself with the romantic movement of the second third of the
+century, and in a remote corner of Galicia lived again the
+psychological life of dead and gone generations. So does some
+venerable academician, over-leaping the nineteen centuries of our
+era, delight himself now with what delighted Horace and live
+platonically enamored of Lydia.
+
+Segundo composed his first verses, cynical and pessimistic in
+intention, ingenuous in reality, before he had reached the age of
+seventeen. His classmates applauded him to the echo. He acquired in
+their eyes a certain prestige, and when the first fruits of his muse
+appeared in a periodical he had, without going beyond the narrow
+circle of the college, admirers and detractors. Thenceforth he
+acquired the right to indulge in solitary walks, to laugh rarely, to
+surround his adventures with mystery, and not to play or take a drink
+for good-fellowship's sake except when he felt in the humor.
+
+And he seldom felt in the humor. Excitation of the senses, of a
+purely physical nature, possessed no attraction for him; if he drank
+at times through bravado, the spectacle of drunkenness, the
+winding-up of student orgies--the soiled tablecloth, the maudlin
+disputes, his companions lying under the table or stretched on the
+sofa, the shamelessness and heartlessness of venal women--repelled
+him and he came away from such scenes filled with disgust and
+contempt, and at times a reaction proper to his complex character
+sent him, a sincere admirer of Proudhon, Quinet, and Renan, to the
+precincts of some solitary church, where he drew in with delight long
+breaths of the incense-laden air.
+
+The lawyer García made no protest against his son's literary
+inclinations because he regarded them as a passing amusement proper
+to his age, a youthful folly, like dancing at a village feast. He
+began to grow uneasy when he saw that Segundo, after graduation,
+showed no inclination to help him in the conduct of his tortuous
+law-suits. Was the boy, then, going to turn out good for nothing but
+to string rhymes together? It was no crime to do this, but--when
+there was not a pile of law-papers to go through and stratagems to
+think of to circumvent the opposing party. Since the lawyer had
+observed this inclination of his son he had treated him with more
+persistent harshness and coldness than before. Every day at table or
+whenever the occasion offered, he made cutting speeches to him about
+the necessity of earning one's own bread by assiduous labor, instead
+of depending upon others for it. These continual sermons, in which he
+displayed the same captious and harassing obstinacy as in the conduct
+of his law-suits, frightened Segundo from the house. In Leocadia's
+house he found a place of refuge, and he submitted passively to be
+adored; flattered in the first place by the triumph his verses had
+obtained, awakening admiration so evidently sincere and ardent, and
+in the second place attracted by the moral well-being engendered by
+unquestioning approval and unmeasured complacency. His idle, dreamy
+brain reposed on the soft cushions which affection smoothes for the
+beloved head; Leocadia sympathized with all his plans for the future,
+developing and enlarging them; she encouraged him to write and to
+publish his verses; she praised him without reserve and without
+hypocrisy, for, for her, whose critical faculty was situated in her
+cardiac cavities, Segundo was the most melodious singer in the
+universe.
+
+Gradually the loving prevision of the schoolmistress extended to
+other departments of Segundo's existence. Neither the lawyer García
+nor Aunt Gáspara supposed that a young man, once his education was
+finished, needed a penny for any extraordinary expense. Aunt Gáspara,
+in particular, protested loudly at every fresh outlay--after filling
+her nephew's trunk one year she thought he was provided with shirts
+for at least ten years to come: clothes had no right to tear or to
+wear out, without any consideration, in that way. Leocadia took note
+of the wants of her idol; one day she observed that he was not well
+supplied with handkerchiefs and she hemmed and marked a dozen for
+him; the next day she noticed that he was expected to keep himself in
+cigars for a year on half a dollar, and she took upon herself the
+task of making them for him, furnishing the material herself gratis.
+She heard the fruit-women criticising Aunt Gáspara's stinginess; she
+inferred from this that Segundo had a poor table, and she set herself
+to the task of devising appetizing and nutritious dishes for him; in
+addition to all which she ordered books from Orense, mended his
+clothes, and sewed on his buttons.
+
+All this she did with inexpressible delight, going about the
+house with a light, almost youthful step, rejuvenated by the sweet
+maternity of love, and so happy that she forgot to scold the
+school-children, thinking only of shortening their tasks that she
+might be all the sooner with Segundo. There was in her affection much
+that was generous and spiritual, and her happiest moments were those
+in which, as they sat side by side at the window, his head resting on
+her shoulder, she listened, while her imagination transformed the
+pots of carnations and sweet basil into a virgin forest, to the
+verses which he recited in a well-modulated voice, verses that seemed
+to Leocadia celestial music.
+
+The medal had its obverse side, however. The mornings were full
+of bitterness when Flores would come with an angry and frowning face,
+her woolen shawl twisted and wrinkled and falling over her eyes, to
+say in short, abrupt phrases:
+
+"The eggs are all used; shall I get more? There is no sugar;
+which kind shall I buy--that dear loaf sugar that we bought last
+week? To-day I got coffee, two pounds of coffee, as if we had a gold
+mine. I won't buy any more cordial--you can go for it yourself--I
+won't."
+
+"What are you talking about, Flores? What is the matter with
+you?"
+
+"I say that if you like to give Ramon, the confectioner,
+twenty-four reals a bottle for _anisette_, when it is to be had for
+eight at the apothecary's, you can do so, but that I am not going to
+put the money in that thief's hand; he will be asking you five
+dollars a bottle for it next."
+
+Leocadia would come out of her reverie with a sigh, and go to the
+bureau drawer for the money, not without thinking that Flores was
+only too right; her savings, her couple of thousand reals laid by for
+an emergency, must be almost gone; it was better not to examine into
+the condition of the purse; better put off annoyances as long as
+possible. God would provide. And she would scold the old woman with
+feigned anger.
+
+"Go for the bottle; go--and don't make me angry. At eight the
+children will be here and I have my petticoat to iron yet. Make
+Minguitos his chocolate; you would be better employed in seeing that
+he has something to eat. And give him some cake."
+
+"Yes. I'll give him some, I'll give him some. If I didn't give
+the poor child something----" grumbled the servant, who at Minguitos'
+name felt her anger increase. In the kitchen could be heard the
+furious knock given to the chocolate-pot to settle it on the fire and
+the angry sound of the mill, afterward, beating the chocolate into
+froth. Flores would enter the room of the deformed boy, who had not
+yet left his bed, and taking his hand in hers, say:
+
+"Are you warm, child? I have brought you your chocolate; do you
+hear?"
+
+"Will mamma give it to me?"
+
+"I will give it to you."
+
+"And mamma--what is she doing?"
+
+"Ironing some petticoats."
+
+The little humpback would fix his eyes on Flores, raising his
+head with difficulty from between the double arch of the breast and
+back. His eyes were deep set, with large pupils; on his mouth, with
+its prominent jaws, rested a melancholy and distorted smile. Throwing
+his arms around the neck of Flores, and putting his lips close to her
+ear:
+
+"Did the _other one_ come yesterday?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, child, yes."
+
+"Will he come again to-day?"
+
+"He'll come. Of course he'll come! Stop talking, _fillino_, stop
+talking and take your chocolate. It's as you like it--thin and with
+froth."
+
+"I don't think I have any appetite for it. Put it there beside
+me."
+
+
+
+
+                                  III.
+
+
+In Vilamorta there was a Casino, a real Casino, small indeed, and
+shabby, besides, but with its billiard-table, bought at second-hand,
+and its _boy_, an old man of seventy, who once a year dusted and
+brushed the green cover. For the only reunions in the Casino of
+Vilamorta were those of the rats and the moths who assembled daily,
+to amuse themselves by eating away the woodwork. The chief centers of
+reunion were the two apothecaries' shops, that of Doña Eufrasia,
+fronting the Plaza and that of Agonde in the high street. Doña
+Eufrasia's shop, nestling in the shadowy corner of an archway, was
+dark; in the hours of meeting it was lighted by a smoky kerosene
+lamp; its furniture consisted of four grimy chairs and a bench.
+
+From the street all that was to be seen were dark mass-cloaks,
+overcoats, broad-brimmed hats, two or three clerical tonsures that
+shone at a distance like metal clasps against the dark background of
+the shop. Agonde's shop, on the contrary, was brightly illuminated
+and gloried in the possession of six glass globes of brilliant
+coloring and fantastic effect, three rows of shelves laden with
+imposing and scientific-looking white porcelain jars bearing Latin
+inscriptions in black letters, a divan, and two leather-covered
+armchairs. The two contrasting shops were also antagonistic; they had
+declared war to the knife against each other.
+
+Agonde's shop, liberal and enlightened in its opinions, said of
+the reactionary shop that it was a center of unending conspiracies,
+where _El Cuartel Real_ and all the rebel proclamations had been read
+during the civil war, and where for the past five years
+ammunition-belts were being diligently prepared for a Carlist party
+that never took the field; and according to the reactionary shop,
+that of Agonde was the headquarters of the Freemasons; where lampoons
+were printed on a little handpress and where gambling was shamelessly
+carried on. The meetings in the reactionary shop broke up with
+religious punctuality at ten, in winter, and eleven in summer, while
+the liberal shop continued to cast on the sidewalk until midnight the
+light of its two bright lamps and the blue, red, and emerald-green
+reflections of its glass globes; for which reasons the members of the
+liberal reunion called those of the other party _owls_, while those
+of the reactionary clique gave their opponents the name of _members
+of the Casino of the Gaming Table_.
+
+Segundo never put his foot over the threshold of the reactionary
+shop and, since the beginning of his acquaintance with Leocadia
+Otero, he had shunned that of Agonde also, for his vanity was wounded
+by the jests and gibes of the apothecary, who was noted for his
+waggish humor. One evening as Saturnino Agonde was crossing the Plaza
+of the Alamo at an unusually late hour--on his way the devil only
+knew whither--he had caught sight of Leocadia and Segundo seated at
+the window, and had heard the psalmody of the verses which the poet
+was declaiming. From that time Segundo had seen depicted on the
+countenance of Agonde, a practical man of a sanguine temperament,
+such contempt for sentimental trifling and for poetry that he
+instinctively avoided him as far as it was possible to do so.
+Occasionally, however, whenever he desired to read _El Imparcial_, to
+know what was going on, he would stop in at the shop for a few
+moments. He did so on the day after his conversation with the echo.
+
+The meeting was very animated. Segundo's father was leaning back
+on the sofa with a newspaper resting on his knees; his
+brother-in-law, the notary Genday, Ramon, the confectioner, and
+Agonde were hotly disputing with him. At the further end of the shop
+Carmelo, the tobacconist, Don Fermin, alias _Tropiezo_,[1] the
+physician, the secretary of the Municipality and the Alcalde sat
+playing _tresillo_ at a small table. When Segundo entered, he
+remarked something unusual in the air of his father and of the group
+that surrounded him, but certain that he would presently be told the
+cause, he silently dropped into an armchair, lighted a cigar, and
+took up the copy of _El Imparcial_ that was lying on the counter.
+
+    [1] Trip.
+
+"Well, the papers here say nothing, absolutely nothing, about
+it," exclaimed the confectioner.
+
+From the tresillo table came the voice of the doctor confirming
+Ramon's doubts; the doctor, too, was of the opinion that the event in
+question could not happen without due notice of it being given in the
+papers.
+
+"You would die rather than believe anything," replied Agonde. "I
+am certain of it, I tell you, and it seems to me that when I am
+certain of it----"
+
+"And I too," affirmed Genday. "If it is necessary to call
+witnesses to prove it, they are there. I know it from my own brother,
+who heard it from Mendez de las Vides; you can judge whether I have
+the news on good authority or not. Do you want further proof? Well,
+two armchairs, a handsome gilt bedstead, a great deal of china and a
+piano have been ordered from Orense for Las Vides. Are you
+convinced?"
+
+"In any case they will not come as soon as you say," objected
+Tropiezo.
+
+"They will come at the time I have said. Don Victoriano wants to
+spend the holidays and the vintage season here; they say he longs to
+see his native place again, and that he has spoken of nothing all the
+winter but the journey."
+
+"He is coming to die here," said Tropiezo; "I heard that he was
+in a very bad state of health. You are going to be left without a
+leader."
+
+"Go to----What a devil of a man, what an owl, always predicting
+misfortunes! Either hold your tongue, or talk sense. Attend to the
+game, as you ought to."
+
+Segundo was gazing abstractedly at the glass globes of the shop,
+his attention seemingly occupied with the blue, green, and red points
+of light that sparkled in their center. He understood now the subject
+of their conversation--the expected arrival of Don Victoriano Andres
+de la Comba, the minister, the great political leader of the country,
+the radical representative of the district. What mattered to Segundo
+the arrival of this pretentious coxcomb! And giving himself up to the
+enjoyment of his cigar, he allowed the noisy dispute to go on
+unheeded. Afterward he became absorbed in the reading of an article
+in _El Imparcial_, in which a new poet was warmly eulogized.
+
+Meanwhile at the tresillo table matters were becoming
+complicated. The apothecary, who sat behind the Alcalde, was giving
+him advice--a delicate and difficult task.
+
+The tobacconist and Don Fermin held all the good cards; they had
+the man between them--a ticklish position. The Alcalde was a thin
+shriveled-up old man, of a very timid disposition, who, before he
+ventured to play a card, would think a hundred years about it,
+calculating all the contingencies and all the possible combinations
+of which cards are capable. He did not want now to play that _solo_.
+It would be a great mistake! But the impetuous Agonde encouraged him,
+saying: "Come! I buy it." Thus urged, the Alcalde came to a decision,
+but not without having first entered a protest:
+
+"Very well, I'll play it, but it is a piece of folly,
+gentlemen--so that you may not say I am afraid."
+
+And all that he had foreseen happened; he found himself between
+two fires: on the one side his king of hearts is trumped, on the
+other his opponent takes his knave of trumps with his queen. Don
+Fermin wins the trick without knowing how, while the tobacconist, who
+is smiling maliciously, keeps all his good cards. The Alcalde lifts
+his eyes appealingly to Agonde.
+
+"Didn't I tell you so? A nice fix we have got ourselves into! We
+shall lose the hand; it is lost already."
+
+"No, man, no. What a coward you are--always afraid of everything.
+There you are hesitating as long about throwing a card as if your
+life depended on it. Play a trump! play a trump! That is the way
+cowards always lose--they are afraid to play their trumps."
+
+The opponents winked at each other maliciously.
+
+"_De posita non tibi_," exclaimed the tobacconist.
+
+"_Si codillum non resultabit_," assented Don Fermin.
+
+The Alcalde, quaking with fear, proceeded, by Agonde's advice, to
+look through the tricks his partners had taken, in order to see how
+many trumps had been already played. Tropiezo and the tobacconist
+protested:
+
+What a mania he had for examining the cards!
+
+The Alcalde, somewhat tranquillized, resolved at last to put an
+end to his uncertainty, and with a few bold and decisive plays the
+hand ended, each player winning three tricks.
+
+"A tie!" exclaimed the tobacconist and the apothecary almost
+simultaneously.
+
+"You see! Playing as badly as you could you haven't lost the
+hand," said Agonde. "They needed all their cards to win what they
+did."
+
+They were all absorbed in the game--whose interest was now at its
+height--with the exception of Segundo, who had abandoned himself to
+one of those idle reveries in which the activity of the imagination
+is stimulated by bodily ease. The voices of the players reached his
+ears like a distant murmur; he was a hundred leagues away; he was
+thinking of the article he had just been reading, of which certain
+expressions particularly encomiastic--mellifluous phrases in which
+the critic artfully glossed over the faults of the poet--had remained
+stamped on his memory. When would his turn come to be judged by the
+Madrid press? God alone knew. He lent his attention once more to the
+conversation.
+
+"We must at least give him a serenade," declared Genday.
+
+"A serenade, indeed!" responded Agonde. "A great thing that!
+Something more than a serenade--we must have some sort of a
+procession--a demonstration which will show that the people here are
+with him. We must appoint a committee to receive him with rockets and
+bands of music. Let those plotters at Doña Eufrasia's have something
+to rage about."
+
+The name of the other shop produced a storm of exclamations,
+jests, and stamping of feet.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" asked the waggish Tropiezo. "It seems
+that Nocedal has written a very flattering letter to Doña Eufrasia,
+saying that as he represents Don Carlos in Madrid so she, by reason
+of her merits, ought to represent him in Vilamorta."
+
+Homeric bursts of laughter and a general huzza greeted this
+remark.
+
+"Well, that may be an invention; but it is true, true as gospel,
+that Doña Eufrasia sent Don Carlos her likeness with a complimentary
+inscription."
+
+"And the regiment? Have they fixed on the day on which it is to
+take the field?"
+
+"Of course. They say that the Abbot of Lubrego is to command it."
+
+The hilarity of the assembly was redoubled, for the Abbot of
+Lubrego was nearing his seventieth year, and was so feeble that he
+could scarcely hold himself on his mule. A boy at this moment entered
+the shop, swinging in his hand a glass bottle.
+
+"Don Saturnino!" he cried, in a shrill voice.
+
+"What is it you want?" answered the druggist, mimicking his
+tones.
+
+"Give me some of what this smells like."
+
+"All right," said Agonde, putting the bottle to his nose. "What
+does this smell like, Don Fermin?"
+
+"Let me see--it smells something like--laudanum, eh?--or arnica?"
+
+"Arnica let it be, it is less dangerous. I hope it will have a
+good effect."
+
+"It is time to retire, gentlemen," said the Lawyer García,
+consulting his silver timepiece.
+
+Genday stood up and Segundo followed his example.
+
+The tresillo party proceeded to settle accounts; calculating
+winnings and losses, centavo by centavo, by means of white counters
+and yellow counters. After the close atmosphere of the shop the cool
+air of the street was grateful; the night was mild and clear; the
+stars shone with a friendly light and Segundo, who was quick to
+perceive the poetic aspect of things, felt tempted to leave his
+father and his uncle without ceremony and walk along the road, alone,
+according to his custom, to enjoy the beauty of the night. But his
+Uncle Genday linked his arm through his, saying:
+
+"You are to be congratulated, my boy."
+
+"Congratulated, uncle?"
+
+"Weren't you crazy to get away from here? Didn't you want to take
+your flight to some other place? Haven't you a hatred for office
+work?"
+
+"Good man," interposed the lawyer; "he is crazy enough as it is,
+and you want to unsettle his mind still more----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, you fool! Don Victoriano is coming here, we
+will present the boy to him and ask him to give him a place. And he
+will give him one, and a good one too; for whether he thinks so or
+not, if he does not do what we ask him, the pancake will cost him a
+loaf. The district is not what he imagines it to be, and if his
+adherents do not keep their eyes open the clergy will play a trick
+upon them."
+
+"And Primo? And Mendez de las Vides?"
+
+"They are no match for the priest. The day least expected they
+will be made a show of; they will hang their heads for shame. But
+you, my boy--think well about it. You are not in love with the law?"
+
+Segundo shrugged his shoulders with a smile.
+
+"Well, turn the matter over in your mind; think what would suit
+you best. For you must be something; you must stick your head in
+somewhere. Would you like a justiceship? a place in the post-office?
+in one of the departments?"
+
+They had turned the corner of the Plaza on their way to García's
+house and were passing under Leocadia's window when the fragrance of
+the carnations penetrated to Segundo's brain. He felt a poetic
+revulsion of feeling and, dilating his nostrils to inhale the
+perfume, he exclaimed:
+
+"Neither justice nor post-office employee. Say no more on that
+point, uncle."
+
+"Don't insist, Clodio," said the lawyer bitterly. "He wants to be
+nothing, nothing but a downright idler, to spend his life scribbling
+rhymes. Neither more nor less. The money must be handed out for the
+Institute, the University, the shirt-front, the frock coat, the
+polished boots, and then, when one thinks they are ready to do for
+themselves, back they come, to be a burden to one, to smoke and to
+eat at one's expense. I have three sons to spend my money, to squeeze
+me dry, and not one to give me any help. That is all these young
+gentlemen are good for."
+
+Segundo stopped, twisting the end of his mustache, with a frown
+on his face. They all stood still at the corner of the little plaza,
+as people are wont to do when a conversation changes to a dispute.
+
+"I don't know what puts that into your head, father," declared
+the poet. "Do you suppose that I propose to myself never to be
+anything more than Segundo García, the lawyer's son? If you do, you
+are greatly mistaken. You may be very anxious to be rid of the burden
+of supporting me, but you are not half as anxious as I am to relieve
+you of it."
+
+"Well, then, what are you waiting for? Your uncle is proposing a
+variety of things to you and none of them suits you. Do you want to
+begin by being Minister?"
+
+The poet began to twist his mustache anew.
+
+"There is no use in being impatient, father. I would make a very
+bad post-office clerk and a still worse justice. I don't want to tie
+myself down to any fixed career, in which everything is arranged
+beforehand and moves by routine. In that case I should be a lawyer
+like you or a notary like Uncle Genday. If we really find Don
+Victoriano disposed to do anything for me, ask some position--no
+matter what--without fixed duties, that will enable me to reside in
+Madrid. I will take care of the rest."
+
+"You will take care of the rest. Yes, yes, you say well. You will
+draw upon me for little sums, eh? like your brother in the Philippine
+Islands. Let me tell you for your guidance, then, that you needn't do
+so. I didn't steal what I have, and I don't coin money."
+
+"I am not asking anything from you!" cried Segundo, in a burst of
+savage anger. "Am I in your way? I will get out of it, then; I will
+go to America. That ends it."
+
+"No," said the lawyer, calming down. "Provided you exact no more
+sacrifices from me."
+
+"Not one! not if I were starving!"
+
+The lawyer's door opened; old Aunt Gáspara in her petticoat,
+looking like a fright, had come to let them in. Tied around her head
+was a cotton handkerchief which came so far over her face as almost
+to conceal her sour features. Segundo drew back at this picture of
+domestic life.
+
+"Aren't you coming in?" asked his father.
+
+"I am going with Uncle Genday."
+
+"Are you coming back soon?"
+
+"Directly."
+
+Walking down the square he communicated his plans to Genday. The
+latter, a short man, with a fiery temper, signified his approbation
+by movements quick and restless as those of a lizard. His nephew's
+ideas were not displeasing to him. His active, scheming mind, the
+mind of an electoral agent and a clever notary, accepted vast
+projects more readily than the methodical mind of the lawyer García.
+Uncle and nephew were much of the same way of thinking as to the best
+manner of profiting by Don Victoriano's influence; conversing in this
+way they reached Genday's house, and the servant of the latter--a
+fresh-looking girl--opened the door for her master with all the
+flattering obsequiousness of a confirmed old bachelor's maid-servant.
+Instead of returning home Segundo, preoccupied and excited, walked
+down the plaza to the highroad, stopped at the first clump of
+chestnut trees he came to, and seating himself on the step of a
+wooden cross which the Jesuits had erected there during the last
+mission, gave himself up to the harmless diversion of contemplating
+the evening star, the constellations, and all the splendors of the
+heavenly bodies.
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+
+
+During the tiresome _siestas_ of Vilamorta, while the visitors to
+the springs digested their glasses of mineral water and compensated
+themselves for the loss of their morning sleep by a restorative nap,
+the amateur musicians of the popular band practiced by themselves the
+pieces they were shortly to execute together. From the shoemaker's
+shop came the melancholy notes of a flute; in the baker's resounded
+the lively and martial strains of the horn; in the tobacconist's
+moaned a clarionet; in the cloth-shop, the suppressed sighs of an
+ophicleide filled the air. Those who thus devoted themselves to the
+worship of Euterpe were clerks in shops, younger sons, the youthful
+element of Vilamorta. These snatches of melody rose with piercing
+sonorousness on the drowsy warm atmosphere. When the news spread that
+Don Victoriano Andres de la Comba and his family were expected to
+arrive within twenty-four hours in the town, to leave it again
+immediately for Las Vides, the brass band was tuned to the highest
+pitch and ready to deafen, with any number of waltzes, dances, and
+quicksteps, the ears of the illustrious statesman.
+
+In the town an unusual animation was noticeable. Agonde's house
+was opened, ventilated, and swept, clouds of dust issuing through the
+windows, at one of which, later on, appeared Agonde's sister, with a
+fringe of hair over her forehead and wearing a pearl-shell necklace.
+The housekeeper of the parish priest of Cebre, a famous cook, went
+busily about the kitchen, and the pounding of the mortar and the
+sizzling of oil could be heard. Two hours before the time of the
+arrival of the stage-coach from Orense, that is to say at three
+o'clock in the afternoon, the committee of the notabilities of the
+Combista-radical party were already crossing the plaza, and Agonde
+stood waiting on the threshold of his shop, having sacrificed to the
+solemnity of the occasion his classic cap and velvet slippers, and
+wearing patent-leather boots and a frock coat which made him look
+more bull-necked and pot-bellied than ever. The coach from Orense was
+entering the town from the side next the wood, and, at the tinkling
+of the bells, the clatter of the hoofs of its eight mules and ponies,
+the creaking of its unwieldy bulk, the inhabitants of Vilamorta
+looked out of their windows and came to their doors; the reactionary
+shop only remained closed and hostile. When the cumbrous vehicle
+turned into the square the excitement increased; barefooted children
+climbed on the coach steps, begging an _ochavo_ in whining accents;
+the fruit-women sitting in the arches straightened themselves up to
+obtain a better view, and only Cansin, the clothier, his hands in his
+trousers' pockets, his feet thrust into slippers, continued walking
+up and down his shop with an Olympic air of indifference. The
+overseer reined in the team, saying in soothing accents to a
+rebellious mule:
+
+"E-e-e-e-e-e-h! There, there, Canóniga."
+
+The brass band, drawn up before the town-hall, burst into a
+deafening prelude, and the first rocket whizzed into the air sending
+forth a shower of sparks. The crowd rushed _en masse_ toward the door
+of the coach, to offer their hands, their arms, anything, and a stout
+lady and a priest, with a cotton checked handkerchief tied around his
+temples, alighted from it. Agonde, more amused than angry, made signs
+to the musicians and the rocket-throwers to desist from their task.
+
+"He is not coming yet! he is not coming yet!" he shouted. In
+effect, there were no other passengers in the omnibus. The overseer
+hastened to explain:
+
+"They are just behind, not two steps off, as one might say. In
+Count de Vilar's carriage, in the barouche. On the Señora's account.
+The luggage is here. And they paid for the seats as if they had
+occupied them."
+
+It was not long before the measured trot of Count de Vilar's pair
+of horses was heard and the open carriage, of an old-fashioned style,
+rolled majestically into the plaza. Reclining on the back seat was a
+man enveloped, notwithstanding the heat, in a cloth cloak; at his
+side sat a lady in a gray linen duster, the fanciful brim of her
+traveling-hat standing out sharply against the pure blue of the sky.
+In the front seat sat a little girl of some ten years and a
+_mademoiselle_, a sort of transpyrenean nursery governess. Segundo,
+who had kept in the background at the arrival of the diligence, this
+time was less stubborn and the hand which, covered with a long Suède
+glove, was stretched out in quest of a support, met with the
+energetic and nervous pressure of another hand. The Minister's lady
+looked with surprise at the gallant, gave him a reserved salutation
+and, taking the arm Agonde offered her, walked quickly into the
+apothecary's.
+
+The statesman was slower in alighting. His adherents looked at
+him with surprise. He had changed greatly since his last visit to
+Vilamorta--then in the midst of the revolution--some eight or ten
+years before. His iron-gray hair, whiter on the temples, heightened
+the yellow hue of his complexion; the whites of his eyes, too, were
+yellow and streaked with little red veins; and his furrowed and
+withered countenance bore unmistakable traces of the anxieties of the
+struggle for social position, the vicissitudes of the political
+bench, and the sedentary labors of the forum. His frame hung loosely
+together, being wanting in the erectness which is the sign of
+physical vigor. When the handshakings began, however, and the
+"Delighted to see you----" "At last----" "After an age----" resounded
+around him, the dying gladiator revived, straightened himself up, and
+an amiable smile parted his thin lips, lending a pleasing expression
+to the now stern mouth. He even opened his arms to Genday, who
+squirmed in them like an eel, and he clapped the Alcalde on the back.
+García, the lawyer, tried to attract attention to himself, to
+distinguish himself among the others, saying in the serious tone of
+one who expresses an opinion in a very delicate matter:
+
+"There, upstairs, upstairs now, to rest and to take some
+refreshment."
+
+At last the commotion calmed down, the great man entering the
+apothecary's, followed by García, Genday, the Alcalde, and Segundo.
+
+They seated themselves in Agonde's little parlor, respectfully
+leaving to Don Victoriano the red rep sofa, around which they drew
+their chairs in a semi-circle. Shortly afterward the ladies made
+their appearance, and, now without her hat, it could be seen that
+Señora de Comba was young and beautiful, seeming rather the elder
+sister than the mother of the little girl. The latter, with her
+luxuriant hair falling down her back and her precocious womanly
+seriousness, had the aspect of a sickly plant, while her mother, a
+smiling blonde, seemed overflowing with health. They spoke of the
+journey, of the fertile borders of the Avieiro, of the weather, of
+the road; the conversation was beginning to languish, when Agonde's
+sister entered opportunely, preceded by the housekeeper of the
+priest, carrying two enormous trays filled with smoking cups of
+chocolate, for supper was a meal unknown to the hosts. When the trays
+were set on the table and the chocolate handed around, the company
+grew more animated. The Vilamortans, finding a congenial subject on
+which to exercise their oratorical powers, began to press the
+strangers, to eulogize the excellence of the viands, and calling
+Señora de la Comba by her baptismal name, and adding an affectionate
+diminutive to that of the little girl, they launched forth into
+exclamations and questions.
+
+"Is the chocolate to your taste, Nieves?"
+
+"Do you like it thin or thick?"
+
+"Nieves, take that morsel of cake for my sake; you will find it
+excellent; only we have the secret of making it."
+
+"Come, Victoriniña, don't be bashful; that fresh butter goes very
+well with the hot bread."
+
+"A morsel of toasted sponge-cake. Ah-ha! You don't have cake like
+that in Madrid, eh?"
+
+"No," answered the girl, in a clear and affected voice. "In
+Madrid we eat crullers and doughnuts with our chocolate."
+
+"It is the fashion here to take sponge-cake with it, not
+crullers. Take that one on the top, that brown one. That's nothing, a
+bird could eat it."
+
+Don Victoriano joined in the conversation, praising the bread,
+saying he could not eat it, as it had been absolutely prohibited to
+him, for his malady required that he should abstain from starch and
+gluten in every form--indeed, he had bread sent him from France,
+bread prepared _ad hoc_ without those elements--and as he spoke, he
+turned toward Agonde, who nodded with an air of intelligence, showing
+that he understood the Latin phrase. And Don Victoriano regretted
+doubly the prohibition now, for there was no bread to be compared to
+the Vilamorta bread--which was better of its kind than cake, yes
+indeed. The Vilamortans smiled, highly flattered, but García, with an
+eloquent shake of the head, said that the bread was deteriorating,
+that it was not now what it had formerly been, and that only Pellejo,
+the baker of the plaza, made it conscientiously, having the patience
+to select the wheat, grain by grain, not letting a single wormeaten
+one pass. It was for this reason that his loaves turned out so sweet
+and substantial. Then a discussion arose as to whether bread should
+be porous or the contrary, and as to whether hot bread was wholesome.
+
+Don Victoriano, reanimated by these homely details, talked of his
+childhood, of the slices of bread spread with butter or molasses
+which he used to eat between meals, and when he added that his uncle,
+the priest, occasionally administered a sound drubbing to him, a
+smile once more softened the deep lines of his face. This expansion
+of feeling gave a sweeter expression to his countenance, effacing
+from it the traces left by years of strife, the scars of the wounds
+received in the battle of life, illuminating it with a reflection
+from his vanished youth. How he longed to see again a grapevine in
+Las Vides from which he had robbed grapes a hundred times when he was
+a child.
+
+"And you will rob them again now," exclaimed Clodio Genday gayly.
+"We must tell the master of Las Vides to put a guard over the vine of
+Jaen."
+
+The jest was received with demonstrations of hilarity, and the
+girl laughed with her shrill laugh at the idea of her papa robbing a
+grapevine. Segundo only smiled. His eyes were fixed on Don
+Victoriano, and he was thinking of what his life had been. He went
+over in his mind the history of the great man: At Segundo's age Don
+Victoriano, too, was an obscure lawyer, buried in Vilamorta, eager to
+break from the shell. He had gone to Madrid, where a celebrated
+jurisconsult had taken him as his assistant. The jurisconsult was a
+politician, and Victoriano followed in his footsteps. How did he
+begin to prosper? This period was shrouded in obscurity. Some said
+one thing, some another. Vilamorta found him, when it least expected,
+its candidate and representative. Once in Congress Don Victoriano's
+importance grew steadily, and when the Revolution of September came
+it found him in a sufficiently exalted position to be improvised a
+minister. The brief ministry gave him neither time to wear out his
+popularity nor to give proof of special gifts, and, with his prestige
+almost intact, the Restoration admitted him as a member of a
+fusionist cabinet. He had just laid down the portfolio and come to
+re-establish his shattered health in his native place, where his
+influence was strong and incontestible, thanks to his alliance with
+the illustrious house of Mendez de las Vides. Segundo asked himself
+if a lot like Don Victoriano's would satisfy his aspirations. Don
+Victoriano had wealth--stocks in banks and shares in railways among
+whose directors the name of the able jurisconsult figured. Our
+versifier raised his eyebrows disdainfully and glanced at the
+Minister's wife; that graceful beauty certainly did not love her
+lord. She was the daughter of a younger son of the house of Las
+Vides--a magistrate; she had probably married her husband, allured by
+his position. No; most assuredly the poet did not envy the
+politician. Why had this man risen to the eminent position he
+occupied? What extraordinary gifts did he possess? A diffuse
+parliamentary orator, a passive minister, with some forensic
+ability--sum total, a mediocrity.
+
+While these reflections were passing through Segundo's mind,
+Señora de Comba amused herself by examining minutely the dress and
+the appearance of everyone present. She took in every detail, under
+her half-closed lids, of the toilet of Carmen Agonde, who was arrayed
+in a tight-fitting deep blue bodice that sent the blood to her
+plethoric cheeks. She next lowered her mocking glance to the
+patent-leather boots of the pharmacist, and then raised them again to
+Clodio Genday's fingers, stained by the cigar, and the purple and
+white checked velvet waistcoat of the lawyer García. Finally, her
+glance fell on Segundo, in critical examination of his attire. But
+another glance, steady and ardent, cast it back like a shield.
+
+
+
+
+                                   V.
+
+
+Agonde rose early on the following morning, and descended shortly
+afterward to his shop, leaving his guests wrapped in their slumbers,
+and Carmen charged, the moment they should stir, to pour the
+chocolate into their mouths. The apothecary desired to enjoy the
+effect produced in the town by Don Victoriano's sojourn in his house.
+He was reclining in his leather-covered easy-chair when he saw
+Tropiezo riding past on his gray mule, and called out to him:
+
+"Hello! Hello! Where are you bound for so early?"
+
+"For Doas, man. I have not a minute to spare." And saying this
+the doctor alighted from his mule, which he tied to an iron ring
+fastened in the wall.
+
+"Is the case so urgent?"
+
+"Urgent? That it is. The old woman, the grandmother of Ramon, the
+confectioner. It appears she has already received the last
+sacrament."
+
+"And it is only now they have sent for you?"
+
+"No; I went to see her yesterday, and I applied two dozen
+leeches, that drew their fill of blood from her. She looked like a
+dying kid; she was very weak, and as thin as a wafer. Perhaps if I
+had given her something that I thought of, instead of applying
+leeches----"
+
+"Ah! a trip," interrupted Agonde maliciously.
+
+"Life is a series of trips," responded the doctor, shrugging his
+shoulders. "And upstairs?" he added, raising his eyes interrogatively
+to the ceiling.
+
+"Snoring like princes."
+
+"And he--how does he look?" asked Don Fermin, lowering his voice
+and dwelling on every word.
+
+"He?" repeated Agonde, following his example. "So-so. Oldish. And
+very gray."
+
+"But what is the matter with him? Let us hear. For as to being
+sick, he is that."
+
+"He has--a new disease--a very strange one, one of the latest
+fashion." And Agonde smiled maliciously.
+
+"New?"
+
+Agonde half-closed his eyes, bent toward Tropiezo, and whispered
+something in his ear.
+
+Tropiezo burst into a laugh; suddenly he looked very serious, and
+tapping his nose repeatedly with his forefinger:
+
+"I know, I know," he said emphatically. "And the waters here, and
+some others in France, are the only cure for that disease. If he
+drinks a few glasses from the spring, he will be himself again."
+
+Tropiezo emitted his dictamen leaning on the counter, forgetful
+of the mule that was stamping impatiently at the door.
+
+"And the Señora--what does she say of her husband's state of
+health?" he suddenly asked, with a wink.
+
+"What should she say of it, man? Probably she does not know that
+it is serious."
+
+A look of derision lighted up the inexpressive features of the
+physician; he glanced at Agonde and smothering another burst of
+laughter, began:
+
+"The Señora--"
+
+"Chut!" interrupted the apothecary furiously. The whole Comba
+family were making an irruption into the shop through the small door
+of the porch. Mother and daughter formed a charming group, both
+wearing wide-brimmed hats of coarse straw adorned with enormous bows
+of flame-colored bunting. Their écru cotton gowns embroidered with
+red braid completed the rustic character of their costumes, reminding
+one of a bunch of poppies and straw. The girl's luxuriant dark hair
+hung loose over her shoulders, and the fair locks of the mother
+curled in a tangled mass under the shade of her broad-brimmed hat.
+Nieves did not wear gloves nor was there visible on her face a trace
+of powder, or of any other of the cosmetics whose use is imputed
+unjustly by the women of the provinces to the Madridlenians; on the
+contrary, her rosy ears and neck showed signs of energetic friction
+with the towel and cold water. As for Don Victoriano, the ravages
+made in his countenance by care and sickness were still more apparent
+in the morning light; it was not, as Agonde had said, age that was
+visible there; it was virility, but tortured, exhausted, wounded to
+death.
+
+"Why! Have you had chocolate already?" asked Agonde, in
+confusion.
+
+"No, friend Saturnino, nor shall we take it, with your
+permission, until we return. Don't trouble yourself on our account.
+Victoriniña has ransacked your pantry--your closets----"
+
+The child half opened a handkerchief which she held by the four
+corners, disclosing a provision of bread, cake, and the cheese of the
+country.
+
+"At least let me bring you a whole cheese. I will go see if there
+is not some fresh bread, just out of the oven----"
+
+Don Victoriano objected--let him not be deprived of the pleasure
+of going to breakfast in the poplar-grove near the spring, just as he
+had done when a boy. Agonde remarked that those articles of food were
+not wholesome for him, to which Tropiezo, scratching the tip of his
+ear, responded sceptically:
+
+"Bah! bah! bah! Those are new-fangled notions. What is wholesome
+for the body--can't they understand that--is what the body craves. If
+the gentleman likes bread--and for your malady, Señor Don Victoriano,
+there is nothing like the waters here. I don't know why people go to
+give their money to those French when we have better things at home
+than any they can give us."
+
+The Minister looked at Tropiezo with keen interest depicted on
+his countenance. He called to mind his last visit to Sanchez del
+Abrojo and the contraction of the lips with which the learned
+practitioner had said to him:
+
+"I would send you to Carlsbad or to Vichy, but those waters are
+not always beneficial. At times they hasten the natural course of a
+disease. Rest for a time, and diet yourself--we will see how you are
+when you return in the autumn." And what a look Sanchez del Abrojo
+put on when he said this! An impenetrable, sphinx-like expression.
+The positive assertion of Tropiezo awoke tumultuous hopes in Don
+Victoriano's breast. This village practitioner must know a great deal
+from experience, more perhaps than the pompous doctors of the
+capital.
+
+"Come, papa," said the child impatiently, pulling him by the
+sleeve.
+
+They took the path toward the grove. Vilamorta, naturally given
+to early rising, was more full of activity at this hour than in the
+afternoon. The shops were open, the baskets of the fruit-venders were
+already filled with fruit. Cansin walked up and down his
+establishment with his hands in his pockets, affecting to have
+noticed nothing, so as not to be obliged to bid good-morning to
+Agonde and acknowledge his triumph. Pellejo, covered with flour, was
+haggling with three shopkeepers from Cebre, who wanted to buy some of
+his best wheat. Ramon, the confectioner, was dividing chocolate into
+squares on a large board placed on the counter and rapidly stamping
+them with a hot iron before they should have time to cool.
+
+The morning was cloudless and the sun was already unusually hot.
+The party, augmented by García and Genday, walked through orchards
+and cornfields until they reached the entrance to the walk. Don
+Victoriano uttered an exclamation of joy. It was the same double row
+of elms bordering the river, the foaming and joyous Avieiro, that ran
+on sparkling in gentle cascades, washing with a pleasant murmur the
+rocks, worn smooth by the action of the current. He recognized the
+thick osier plantations; he remembered all his longings of the day
+before and leaned, full of emotion, on the parapet of the walk. The
+scene was almost deserted; half a dozen melancholy and
+bilious-looking individuals, visitors to the springs, were walking
+slowly up and down, discussing their ailments in low tones, and
+eructating the bicarbonate of the waters. Nieves, leaning back on a
+stone bench, gazed at the river. The child touched her on the
+shoulder, saying:
+
+"Mamma, the young man we saw yesterday."
+
+On the opposite bank Segundo García was standing on a rock,
+absorbed in meditation, his straw hat pushed far back on his head,
+his hand resting on his hip, doubtless with the purpose of preserving
+his equilibrium in so dangerous a position. Nieves reproved the
+little girl, saying:
+
+"Don't be silly, child. You startled me. Salute the gentleman."
+
+"He is not looking this way. Ah! now he is looking. Salute him,
+you, mamma. He is taking off his hat, he is going to fall! There! now
+he is safe."
+
+Don Victoriano descended the stone steps leading to the spring.
+The abode of the naiad was a humble grotto--a shed supported on rough
+posts, a small basin overflowing with the water from the spring, some
+wretched hovels for the bathers, and a strong and sickening odor of
+rotten eggs, caused by the stagnation of the sulphur water, were all
+that the fastidious tourist found there. Notwithstanding this, Don
+Victoriano's soul was filled with the purest joy. In this naiad he
+beheld his youth, his lost youth--the age of illusions, of hopes
+blooming as the banks of the Avieiro. How many mornings had he come
+to drink from the fountain, for a jest, to wash his face with the
+water, which enjoyed throughout the country the reputation of
+possessing extraordinary curative virtue for the eyes. Don Victoriano
+stretched out his hands, plunged them into the warm current, feeling
+it slip through his fingers with delight, and playing with it and
+caressing it as one caresses a loved being. But the undulating form
+of the naiad escaped from him as youth escapes from us--without the
+possibility of detaining it. Then the ex-Minister felt a thirst
+awaken in him to drink the waters. Beside him on the edge of the
+basin was a glass; and the keeper, a poor old man in his dotage,
+presented it to him with an idiotic smile. Don Victoriano drank,
+closing his eyes, with indescribable pleasure, enjoying the
+mysterious water, charmed by the magic arts of memory. When he had
+drained the glass he drew himself up and ascended the stairs with a
+firm and elastic step. Victoriniña, who was breakfasting on bread and
+cheese in the avenue, was astonished when her father took a piece of
+bread from her lap, saying gayly:
+
+"We are all God's creatures."
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+
+
+Almost as much as by Don Victoriano's arrival was Vilamorta
+excited by the arrival of Señor de las Vides, accompanied by his
+steward, Primo Genday. This event happened on the afternoon of the
+memorable day on which Don Victoriano had infringed the commands of
+science by eating half a pound of fresh bread. At three o'clock,
+under a blazing sun, Genday the elder and Mendez entered the plaza,
+the latter mounted on a powerful mule, the former on an ordinary nag.
+
+Señor de las Vides was a little old man as dry as a vine branch.
+His carefully shaven cheeks, his thin lips and aristocratically
+pointed nose and chin, his shrewd, kind eyes, surrounded by
+innumerable crows' feet, his intellectual profile, his beardless
+face, called loudly for the curled wig, the embroidered coat and the
+gold snuff-box of the Campomanes and Arandas. With his delicate and
+expressive countenance the countenance of Primo Genday contrasted
+strongly. The steward's complexion was white and red, he had the fine
+and transparent skin, showing the full veins underneath, of those who
+are predisposed to hemiplegy. His eyes were of a greenish color, one
+of them being attached, as it were, to the lax and drooping lid,
+while the other rolled around with mischievous vivacity. His silvery
+curls gave him a distant resemblance to Louis Philippe, as he is
+represented on the coins which bear his effigy.
+
+By a combination not unusual in small towns Primo Genday and his
+brother Clodio served under opposite political banners, both being in
+reality of one mind and both pursuing the same end; Clodio ranged
+himself on the side of the radicals, Primo was the support of the
+Carlist party, and in cases of emergency, in the electoral contests,
+they clasped hands over the fence. When the hoofs of Primo Genday's
+nag resounded on the paving-stones, the windows of the reactionary
+shop were opened and two or three hands were waved in friendly
+welcome. Primo paused, and Mendez continued on his way to Agonde's
+door, where he dismounted.
+
+He was received in Don Victoriano's arms, and then disappeared
+among the shadows of the staircase. The mule remained fastened to the
+ring, stamping impatiently, while the onlookers on the plaza
+contemplated with respect the nobleman's old-fashioned harness of
+embossed leather, ornamented with silver, bright with use. One after
+another other mules and horses were brought to join the first comer.
+And the crowd assigned them their riders with considerable judgment.
+The chestnut nag of the alguazil, a fine animal, with a saddle and a
+silk headstall, was no doubt for the Minister. The black donkey with
+the side-saddle--who could doubt that it was for the Señora? The
+other gentle white donkey they would give to the little girl. The
+Alcalde's ass was for the maid. Agonde would ride the mare he always
+rode, the Morena, that had more malanders on her head than hairs in
+her tail. During this time the radicals, García, Clodio, Genday, and
+Ramon, were discussing the respective merits of the animals and the
+condition of their trappings and calculating the probabilities of
+their being able to reach Las Vides before nightfall. The lawyer
+shook his head, saying emphatically and sententiously:
+
+"They are taking their time about it if they expect to do that."
+
+"And they are bringing the alguazil's horse for Don Victoriano!"
+exclaimed the tobacconist. "Tricky as the very devil! There will be a
+scene. When you rode him, Segundo, did he play you no trick?"
+
+"Me, no. But he is lively."
+
+"You shall see, you shall see."
+
+The travelers were now coming out of the house, and the cavalcade
+began to form. The ladies seated themselves in their side-saddles and
+the men settled their feet in their stirrups. Then the scene
+predicted by the tobacconist took place, to the great scandal and the
+further delay of the party. As soon as the alguazil's nag became
+aware of the presence of a female of his race he began to snuff the
+air excitedly, neighing fiercely. Don Victoriano gathered up the
+reins, but, before the animal had felt the iron in his mouth, he
+became so unmanageable, first rearing, then kicking violently, and
+finally turning his head around to try to bite his rider's legs, that
+Don Victoriano, somewhat pale, thought it prudent to dismount.
+Agonde, furious, dismounted also.
+
+"What an infernal animal!" he cried. "Here, brutes--who told you
+to bring the alguazil's horse? One would suppose you didn't know it
+was a wild beast. You--Alcalde, or you, García--quick, go for
+Requinto's mule; it is only two steps from here. Señor Don
+Victoriano, take my mule. And that tiger, to the stable with him!"
+
+"No," interrupted Segundo, "I will ride him as he is already
+saddled. I will go with you as far as the cross."
+
+And Segundo, providing himself with a strong switch, caught the
+nag by the mane and at a bound was in the saddle. Instead of leaning
+his weight on the stirrup he pressed the animal's sides between his
+legs, raining a shower of blows at the same time on his head. The
+animal, which was already beginning to curvet and prance again, gave
+a snort of pain, and now, quivering and subdued, obeyed his rider's
+touch. The cavalcade put itself in motion as soon as Requinto's mule
+was brought, after handshakings, waving of hats, and even a timid
+_viva_, from what quarter no one knew. The cortége proceeded along
+the highway, the mare and the mules heading the procession, the
+donkeys following behind, and at their side the nag, kept in order by
+dint of switching. The sun was sinking in the west, turning the dust
+of the road into gold; the chestnut trees cast lengthened shadows on
+the ground, and from the osier-brake came a pleasant breeze laden
+with moisture from the river.
+
+Segundo rode along in silence; Victoriniña, delighted to be
+riding on a donkey, smiled, making fruitless efforts to hide with her
+frock her sharp knee-bones, which the shape of the saddle compelled
+her to raise and uncover. Nieves, leaning back in her saddle, opened
+her rose-lined écru lace parasol, and, as they started, drew from her
+bosom a diminutive watch, which she consulted for the hour. A few
+moments of embarrassed silence followed. At last Segundo felt that it
+was necessary to say something:
+
+"How are you doing, Victoriniña?" he said to the child. "Are you
+comfortable?"
+
+"Yes, quite comfortable."
+
+"I warrant you would rather ride on my horse. If you are not
+afraid I will take you before me."
+
+The girl, whose embarrassment had now reached its height, lowered
+her eyes without answering; her mother, smiling graciously, however,
+now joined in the conversation.
+
+"And tell me, García, why don't you address the child as _thou_?
+You treat her with so much ceremony! You will make her fancy she is a
+young lady already."
+
+"I should not dare to do so without her permission."
+
+"Come, Victoriniña, tell this gentleman he has your permission."
+
+The child took refuge in that invincible muteness of growing
+girls whom an exquisite and precocious sensibility renders painfully
+shy. A smile parted her lips, and at the same time her eyes filled
+with tears. Mademoiselle said something gently to her in French;
+meanwhile Nieves and Segundo, laughing confidentially at the
+incident, found the way smoothed for them to begin a conversation.
+
+"When do you think we shall arrive at Las Vides? Is it a pretty
+place? Shall we be comfortable there? How will it agree with
+Victoriano? What sort of a life shall we lead? Shall we have many
+visitors? Is there a garden?"
+
+"Las Vides is a beautiful place," said Segundo. "It has an air of
+antiquity--a lordly air, as it were. I like the escutcheon, and a
+magnificent grapevine that covers the courtyard, and the camellias
+and lemon trees in the orchards, that look like good-sized chestnut
+trees, and the view of the river, and, above all, a pine grove that
+talks and even sings--don't laugh--that sings; yes, Señora, and
+better than most professional singers. Don't you believe it? Well,
+you shall see for yourself presently."
+
+Nieves looked with lively curiosity at the young man and then
+hastily turned her glance aside, remembering the quick and nervous
+hand-pressure of the day before, when she was alighting from the
+carriage. For the second time in the space of a few hours this young
+man had surprised her. Nieves led an extremely regular life in
+Madrid--the life of the middle classes, in which all the incidents
+are commonplace. She went to mass and shopped in the morning; in the
+afternoon she went to the Retiro, or made visits; in the evening she
+went to her parents' house or to the theater with her husband; on
+rare occasions to some ball or banquet at the house of the Duke of
+Puenteanchas, a client of Don Victoriano's. When the latter received
+the portfolio it made little change in Nieves' way of life. She
+received a few more salutations than before in the Retiro; the clerks
+in the shops were more attentive to her; the Duchess of Puenteanchas
+said some flattering things to her, calling her "pet," and here ended
+for Nieves the pleasure of the ministry. The trip to Vilamorta, the
+picturesque country of which she had so often heard her father speak,
+was a novel incident in her monotonous life. Segundo seemed to her a
+curious detail of the journey. He looked at her and spoke to her in
+so odd a way. Bah, fancies! Between this young man and herself there
+was nothing in common. A passing acquaintance, like so many others to
+be met here at every step. So the pines sang, did they? A misfortune
+for Gayarre! And Nieves smiled graciously, dissembling her strange
+thoughts and went on asking questions, to which Segundo responded in
+expressive phrases. Night was beginning to fall. Suddenly, the
+cavalcade, leaving the highroad, turned into a path that led among
+pine groves and woods. At a turn of the path could be seen the
+picturesque dark stone cross, whose steps invited to prayer or to
+sentimental reverie. Agonde stopped here and took his leave of the
+party, and Segundo followed his example.
+
+As the tinkling of the donkeys' bells grew fainter in the
+distance Segundo felt an inexplicable sensation of loneliness and
+abandonment steal over him, as if he had just parted forever from
+persons who were dear to him or who played an important part in his
+life. "A pretty fool I am!" said the poet to himself. "What have I to
+do with these people or they with me? Nieves has invited me to spend
+a few days at Las Vides, _en famille_. When Nieves returns to Madrid
+this winter she will speak of me as 'That lawyer's son, that we met
+at Vilamorta.' Who am I? What position should I occupy in her house?
+An altogether secondary one. That of a boy who is treated with
+consideration because his father disposes of votes."
+
+While Segundo was thus caviling, the apothecary overtook him, and
+horse and mule pursued their way side by side. In the twilight the
+poet could distinguish the placid smile of Agonde, his red cheeks,
+looking redder in contrast to the lustrous black mustache, his
+expression of sensual amiability and epicurean beatitude. An enviable
+lot was the apothecary's. This man was happy in his comfortable and
+well-ordered shop, with his circle of friends, his cap and his
+embroidered slippers, taking life as one takes a glass of cordial,
+sipping it with enjoyment, in peace and harmony, along with the other
+guests at the banquet of life. Why should not Segundo be satisfied
+with what satisfied Agonde perfectly? Whence came this longing for
+something that was not precisely money, nor pleasure, nor fame, nor
+love--which partook of all these, which embraced them all and which
+perhaps nothing would satisfy?
+
+"Segundo."
+
+"Eh?" he answered, turning his head toward Agonde.
+
+"How silent you are, my boy! What do you think of the Minister?"
+
+"What would you have me think of him?"
+
+"And the Señora? Come, you have noticed her, I warrant. She wears
+black silk stockings, like the priests. When she was mounting the
+donkey----"
+
+"I am going to take a gallop as far as Vilamorta. Do you care to
+join me, Saturnino?"
+
+"Gallop with this mule? I should arrive there with my stomach in
+my mouth. Gallop you, if you have a fancy for doing so."
+
+The nag galloped for half a league or so, urged by his rider's
+whip. As they drew near the canebrake by the river, Segundo slackened
+his horse's gallop to a very slow walk. It was now almost dark and
+the cool mists rose, moist and clinging, from the bosom of the
+Avieiro. Segundo remembered that it was two or three days since he
+had put his foot in Leocadia's house. No doubt the schoolmistress was
+now fretting herself to death, weeping and watching for him. This
+thought brought sudden balm to Segundo's wounded spirit. How tenderly
+Leocadia loved him! With what joy did she welcome him! How deeply his
+poetry, his words, moved her! And he--why was it that he did not
+share her ardor? Of this exclusive, this absolute, boundless love,
+Segundo had never deigned to accept even the half; and of all the
+tender terms of endearment invented by the muse he chose for Leocadia
+the least poetical, the least romantic; as we separate the gold and
+silver in our purse from the baser coin, setting aside for the beggar
+the meanest copper, so did Segundo dispense with niggard hand the
+treasures of his love. A hundred times had it happened to him, in his
+walks through the country, to fill his hat with violets, with
+hyacinths and branches of blackberry blossoms, only to throw them all
+into the river on reaching the village, in order not to carry them to
+Leocadia.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VII.
+
+
+While she distributed their tasks among the children, saying to
+one, "Take care to make this hem straight," to another, "Make this
+seam even, the stitch smaller," to a third, "Use your handkerchief
+instead of your dress," and to still another, "Sit still, child,
+don't move your feet," Leocadia cast a glance from time to time
+toward the plaza in the hope of seeing Segundo pass by. But no
+Segundo was to be seen. The flies settled themselves to sleep,
+buzzing, on the ceiling; the heat abated; the afternoon came, and the
+children went away. Leocadia felt a profound sadness take possession
+of her and, without waiting to put the house in order, she went to
+her room and threw herself on the bed.
+
+The glass door was pushed gently open, and some one entered
+softly.
+
+"Mamma," said the intruder, in a low voice.
+
+The schoolmistress did not answer.
+
+"Mamma, mamma," repeated the hunchback, in a louder voice.
+"Mamma!" he shouted at last.
+
+"Is that you? What do you want?"
+
+"Are you ill?"
+
+"No, child."
+
+"As you went to bed----'
+
+"I have a slight headache. There, leave me in peace."
+
+Minguitos turned round and walked in silence toward the door. As
+her eyes fell on the protuberance of his back, a sharp pang pierced
+the heart of the schoolmistress. How many tears that hump had cost
+her in other days. She raised herself on her elbow.
+
+"Minguitos!" she called.
+
+"What is it, mamma?"
+
+"Don't go away. How do you feel to-day? Have you any pain?"
+
+"I feel pretty well, mamma. Only my chest hurts me."
+
+"Let me see; come here."
+
+Leocadia sat up in the bed and, taking the child's head between
+her hands, looked at him with a mother's hungry look. Minguitos' face
+was long and of a melancholy cast; the prominent lower jaw was in
+keeping with the twisted and misshapen body that reminded one of a
+building shaken out of shape by an earthquake or a tree twisted by a
+hurricane. Minguitos' deformity was not congenital. He had always
+been sickly, indeed, and it had always been remarked that his head
+seemed too heavy for his body, and that his legs seemed too frail to
+support him. Leocadia recalled one by one the incidents of his
+childhood. At five years old the boy had met with an accident--a fall
+down the stairs; from that day he lost all his liveliness; he walked
+little and never ran. He contracted a habit of sitting Turkish
+fashion, playing marbles for hours at a time. If he rose his legs
+soon warned him to sit down again. When he stood, his movements were
+vacillating and awkward. When he was quiet he felt no pain, but when
+he turned any part of his body, he experienced slight pains in the
+spinal column. The trouble increased with time; the boy complained of
+a feeling as if an iron band were compressing his chest. Then his
+mother, now thoroughly alarmed, consulted a famous physician, the
+best in Orense. He prescribed frictions with iodine, large doses of
+phosphates of lime, and sea-bathing. Leocadia hastened with the boy
+to a little sea-port. After taking two or three baths, the trouble
+increased; he could not bend his body; his spinal column was rigid
+and it was only when he was in a horizontal position that he felt any
+relief from his now severe pains. Sores appeared on his skin, and one
+morning when Leocadia begged him with tears to straighten himself,
+and tried to lift him up by the arms, he uttered a horrible cry.
+
+"I am broken in two, mamma--I am broken in two," he repeated with
+anguish, while his mother, with trembling fingers sought to find what
+had caused his cry.
+
+It was true! The backbone had bent outward, forming an angle on a
+level with his shoulderblades, the softened vertebræ had sunk and
+_cifosis_, the hump, the indelible mark of irremediable calamity, was
+to deform henceforth this child who was dearer to her than her life.
+The schoolmistress had had a moment of animal and sublime anguish,
+the anguish of the wild beast that sees its young mutilated. She had
+uttered shriek after shriek, cursing the doctor, cursing herself,
+tearing her hair and digging her nails into her flesh. Afterward
+tears had come and she had showered kisses, delirious, but soothing
+and sweet, on the boy, and her grief took a resigned form. During
+nine years Leocadia had had no other thought than to watch over her
+little cripple by night and by day, sheltering him in her love,
+amusing with ingenious inventions the idle hours of his sedentary
+childhood. A thousand incidents of this time recurred to Leocadia's
+memory. The boy suffered from obstinate dyspnoea, due to the pressure
+of the sunken vertebræ on the respiratory organs, and his mother
+would get up in the middle of the night and go in her bare feet to
+listen to his breathing and to raise his pillows. As these
+recollections came to her mind Leocadia felt her heart melt and
+something stir within her like the remains of a great love, the warm
+ashes of an immense fire, and she experienced the unconscious
+reaction of maternity, the irresistible impulse which makes a mother
+see in her grown-up son only the infant she has nursed and protected,
+to whom she would have given her blood, if it had been necessary,
+instead of milk. And uttering a cry of love, pressing her feverish
+lips passionately to the pallid temples of the hunchback, she said,
+falling back naturally into the caressing expressions of the dialect:
+
+"_Malpocadiño._ Who loves you? say, who loves you dearly? Who?"
+
+"You don't love me, mamma. You don't love me," the boy returned,
+half-smiling, leaning his head with delight on the bosom that had
+sheltered his sad childhood. The mother, meantime, wildly kissed his
+hair, his neck, his eyes--as if to make up for lost time--lavishing
+upon him the honeyed words with which infants are beguiled, words
+profaned in hours of passion, which overflowed in the pure channel of
+maternal love.
+
+"My treasure--my king--my glory."
+
+At last the hunchback felt a tear fall on his cheek. Delicious
+assuagement! At first, the tears were large and round, scorching
+almost, but soon they came in a gentle shower and then ceased
+altogether, and there remained where they had fallen only a grateful
+sense of coolness. Passionate phrases rushed simultaneously from the
+lips of mother and son.
+
+"Do you love me dearly, dearly, dearly? As much as your whole
+life?"
+
+"As much, my life, my treasure."
+
+"Will you always love me?"
+
+"Always, always, my joy."
+
+"Will you do something to please me, mamma? I want to ask
+you----"
+
+"What?"
+
+"A favor. Don't turn your face away!"
+
+The hunchback observed that his mother's form suddenly grew stiff
+and rigid as a bar of iron. He no longer felt the sweet warmth of her
+moist eyelids, and the gentle contact of her wet lashes on his cheek.
+In a voice that had a metallic sound Leocadia asked her son:
+
+"And what is the favor you want? Let me hear it."
+
+Minguitos murmured without bitterness, with resignation:
+
+"Nothing, mamma, nothing. I was only in jest."
+
+"But what was the favor you were going to ask me?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing, indeed."
+
+"No, you wanted to ask something," persisted the schoolmistress,
+seizing the pretext to give vent to her anger. "Otherwise you are
+very deceitful and very sly. You keep everything hidden in your
+breast. Those are the lessons Flores teaches you; do you think I
+don't notice it?"
+
+Saying this, she pushed the boy away from her, and sprang from
+the bed. In the hall outside almost at the same moment was heard a
+firm and youthful step. Leocadia trembled, and turning to Minguitos,
+stammered:
+
+"Go, go to Flores. Leave me alone. I do not feel well, and you
+make me worse,"
+
+Segundo's brow was clouded, and as soon as the joy of seeing him
+had subsided Leocadia was seized with the desire to restore him to
+good humor. She waited patiently for a fitting opportunity, however,
+and when this came, throwing her arms around his neck, she began with
+the complaint: Where had he kept himself? Why had he stayed away so
+long? The poet unburdened himself of his grievances. It was
+intolerable to follow in the train of a great man. And allowing
+himself to be carried away by the pleasure of speaking of what
+occupied his mind he described Don Victoriano and the radicals, he
+satirized Agonde's reception of his guests, his manner of
+entertaining them, spoke of the hopes he founded in the protection of
+the ex-Minister, giving them as a reason for the necessity of paying
+court to Don Victoriano. Leocadia fixed her dog-like look on
+Segundo's countenance.
+
+"And the Señora and the girl--what are they like?"
+
+Segundo half-closed his eyes the better to contemplate an
+attractive and charming image that presented itself to his mental
+vision, and to reflect that in the existence of Nieves he played no
+part whatsoever, it being manifest folly for him to think of Señora
+de Comba, who did not think of him. This reflection, natural and
+simple enough, aroused his anger. There was awakened within him a
+keen longing for the unattainable, that insensate and unbridled
+desire with which the likeness of a beautiful woman dead for
+centuries may inspire some dreamer in a museum.
+
+"But answer me--are those ladies handsome?" the schoolmistress
+asked again.
+
+"The mother, yes"--answered Segundo, speaking with the careless
+frankness of one who is secure of his auditor. "Her hair is fair, and
+her eyes are blue--a light blue that makes one think of the verses of
+Becquer." And he began to recite:
+
+    "'Tu pupila es azul, y cuando ries
+    Su claridad suave me recuerda----'"
+
+Leocadia listened to him at first with eyes cast down; afterward
+with her face turned away from him. When he had finished the poem she
+said in an altered voice, with feigned calmness.
+
+"They will invite you to go there."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To Las Vides, of course. I hear they intend to have a great deal
+of company."
+
+"Yes; they have given me a pressing invitation, but I shall not
+go. Uncle Clodio insists upon it that I ought to cultivate the
+friendship of Don Victoriano so that he may be of use to me in Madrid
+and help me to get a position there. But, child, to go and play a
+sorry part is not to my liking. This suit is the best I have, and it
+is in last year's fashion. If they play tresillo or give tips to the
+servants--and it is impossible to make my father understand this--and
+I shall not try to do so: God forbid. So that they shall not catch a
+sight of me in Las Vides."
+
+When she heard what his intentions were, Leocadia's countenance
+cleared up, and rising, radiant with happiness, she ran to the
+kitchen. Flores was washing plates and cups and saucers by the light
+of a lamp, knocking them angrily together and rubbing savagely.
+
+"The coffee-pot--did you clean it?"
+
+"Presently, presently," responded the old woman. "Anyone would
+think that one was made of wood, that one is never to get tired--that
+one can do things flying."
+
+"Give it to me, I will clean it. Put more wood on the fire; it is
+going out and the beefsteak will be spoiled." And so saying Leocadia
+washed the coffee-pot, cleaning the filter with a knitting-needle,
+and put some fresh water down to boil in a new saucepan, throwing
+more wood on the fire.
+
+"Yes, heap on wood," growled Flores, "as we get it for nothing!"
+
+Leocadia, who was slicing some potatoes for the beefsteak, paid
+no attention to her. When she had cut up as many as she judged
+necessary, she washed her hands hastily in the jar of the drain, full
+of dirty water, on whose surface floated large patches of grease. She
+then hurried to the parlor where Segundo was waiting for her, and
+soon afterward Flores brought in the supper, which they ate, seated
+at a small side-table. By the time they had got to the coffee Segundo
+began to be more communicative. This coffee was what Leocadia most
+prided herself on. She had bought a set of English china, an
+imitation lacquer-box, a _vermeil_ sugar-tongs and two small silver
+spoons, and she always placed on the table with the coffee a
+liquor-stand, supplied with cumin, rum, and anisette. At the third
+glass, of cumin, seeing the poet amiable and propitious, Leocadia put
+her arm around his neck. He drew back brusquely, noticing with strong
+repulsion the odor of cooking and of parsley with which the garments
+of the schoolmistress were impregnated.
+
+At this moment precisely Minguitos, after letting his shoes drop
+on the floor, was drawing the coverlet around him with a sigh.
+Flores, seated on a low chair, began to recite the rosary. The sick
+child required, to put him to sleep, the monotonous murmur of the
+husky voice which had lulled him to rest, ever since his mother had
+ceased to keep him company at bedtime. The Ave Marias and Gloria
+Patris, mumbled rather than pronounced, little by little dulled
+thought and, by the time the litany was reached, sleep had stolen
+over him, and, half-unconscious, it was with difficulty he made the
+responses to the barbarous phrases of the old woman: "Juana celi--Ora
+pro nobis--Sal-es-enfermorun--nobis--Refajos
+pecadorum--bis--Consolate flitorum--sss----"
+
+The only response was the labored, restless, uneven breathing
+that came through the sleeping boy's half-closed lips. Flores softly
+put out the tallow candle, took off her shoes, in order to make no
+noise, and stole out gently, feeling her way along the dining-room
+wall. From the moment in which Minguitos fell asleep there was no
+more rattling of dishes in the kitchen.
+
+
+
+
+                                 VIII.
+
+
+It was late before the Swan blew out the tallow candle which Aunt
+Gáspara placed every day, always with much grumbling, in his brass
+candlestick. Seated at the little table littered with books, he had
+before him a sheet of paper half covered with lines of unequal
+length, variegated with blots and corrections, little heaps of sand,
+and here and there a flourish. Segundo would not have slept all night
+if he had not first written down the poem which, from the moment he
+had left the cross, had been running through his brain. Only that,
+before taking up the pen, he seemed to have the poem already composed
+in his head, so that all he had to do was to turn the spigot and it
+would flow out in a stream, and when he took the pen in his hand the
+verses, instead of rushing forth, hid themselves or vanished. A few
+strophes fell on the paper, rounded, fluent, finished, with
+harmonious and opportune rhymes, with a certain sweetness and
+sonorousness extremely delightful to the author himself, who
+scribbled them down hastily before they should take flight. Of
+others, however, only the first two lines occurred to him, and,
+perhaps, the fourth--this last rounded, effective; but the third line
+was wanting and he must hunt for it, fill up the space, graft on the
+syllables to eke out the meter. The poet paused and looked up at the
+ceiling, biting the ends of his mustache, and then the idle pen
+traced, obeying the mechanical impulse of the hand, a cocked hat, a
+comet, or some other equally irrelevant design. Sometimes after
+rejecting seven or eight rhymes he would content himself with the
+ninth, which was neither better nor worse than the others. When a
+superfluous syllable would cause a line to halt, he must look for
+another adverb, another adjective. And the accents! If the poet could
+only enjoy the privilege, of saying, eternél, for instance, instead
+of etérnel, it would be so easy to write verses!
+
+Confounded technical difficulties! The divine fire of inspiration
+glowed and burned in Segundo's mind, but as soon as he tried to
+transfer it to the paper, to give expression to what he felt--to
+condense, in words, a world of dreams, a psychic nebula--his mind
+became a blank. To unite the form with the idea, to imprison feeling
+in the golden links of rhyme! Ah, what a light and flowery chain in
+appearance, and how hard to weave in reality! How deceptive the
+natural grace, the facile harmony of the master! How easy it seems to
+express simple, familiar images, to utter the chimeras of the
+imagination and the heart in easy and flowing meter, and yet how
+impossible it is, for him who is not called Becquer, to give his
+verse those palpitating, diaphanous, azure wings on which the
+Becquerian butterfly soars!
+
+While the Swan continues his task of effacing and correcting,
+Leocadia is in her bedroom, preparing to retire. On other nights she
+went to her room with a smile on her lips, her face glowing, her eyes
+humid and half-closed, with deep circles under them, her hair in
+disorder. And on those nights she was in no hurry to retire; she
+would busy herself arranging the articles on her bureau, she would
+even look at herself in the glass of her cheap toilet table. To-night
+her lips were dry, her cheeks pale, she went at once to bed, loosened
+her clothing, and let it fall on the floor, put out the light and
+buried her face in the cool, thick cotton sheets. She did not wish to
+think, all she wished was to forget and to sleep. She tried to lie
+still. A thousand needles seemed to pierce her flesh; she turned
+around, in search of a cool spot, then turned again in search of
+another, and presently she threw off the sheets. She felt a horrible
+restlessness, a savor of bitterness in her mouth. In the silence of
+the night she could hear the tumultuous beating of her heart; if she
+lay on her left side its noise almost deafened her. She tried to fix
+her thoughts on indifferent subjects, and repeated to herself with
+monotonous and persistent regularity--"To-morrow is Sunday, the
+children will not come." In vain; her brain boiled, her blood burned
+as before. Leocadia was jealous.
+
+Measureless, nameless torture! Hitherto the poor schoolmistress
+had not known the accompaniment of love, jealousy, whose barbed sting
+pierces the soul, whose consuming fire dries up the blood, whose
+chill freezes the heart, whose restless anguish makes the nerves
+quiver. Segundo scarcely noticed the young girls of Vilamorta; as for
+the peasant girls, they did not exist for him, he did not even regard
+them as women; so that Leocadia had attributed the poet's hours of
+coldness to the bad offices of the muses. But now! She recalled the
+poem, "A los ojos azules," and his manner of reciting it. Those
+honeyed verses were to her gall and wormwood. Tears sprang to her
+eyes, and she broke into convulsive sobs which shook her frame and
+made the bedstead creak and the cornhusks of the mattress rustle.
+Still her overwrought brain did not suspend its activity. There was
+not a doubt but that Segundo was in love with Señora de Comba; but
+she was a married woman. Bah! in Madrid and in novels all the married
+women have lovers. And then, who could resist Segundo, a poet who was
+the rival of Becquer, who was young, handsome, ardent, when he wished
+to be so?
+
+What could Leocadia do to avert this great calamity? Was it not
+better to resign herself to it? Ah, resignation, that is easily said!
+Why had God denied her the power to express her feelings? Why had she
+not knelt before Segundo, begging him for a little love, describing
+to him and communicating to him the flame that consumed the marrow of
+her bones? Why had she remained mute when she had so many things to
+say? Segundo would not go to Las Vides; so much the better. He had no
+money; better still. He would accept no position, he would not leave
+Vilamorta, better and better. But what did it matter if after all
+Segundo did not love her; if he had turned away from her with a
+gesture which she could still see in the darkness, or rather in the
+lurid light of jealousy.
+
+How warm the night was! How restless she felt! She got out of bed
+and threw herself on the floor, thinking to find some relief in the
+coolness of the boards. Instead of feeling any alleviation she was
+seized with a fit of trembling. A lump seemed to rise in her throat
+that prevented her from breathing. She made an effort to stand up but
+found that she was not able; she felt a hysterical attack coming on,
+but she tried to restrain her cries, her sobs, her contortions, in
+order not to awaken Flores. For a time she succeeded; but at last the
+nervous crisis conquered; her rigid limbs writhed, she dug her nails
+into her throat, she rolled about and beat her temples against the
+floor. Then a cold perspiration broke out over her body, and for a
+moment she lost consciousness. When she returned to herself she was
+calm but exhausted. She rose to her feet, went back to bed, drew the
+clothing over her and sank into a sort of stupor, in which there was
+neither thought nor feeling. The beneficent sleep of early morning
+had wrapped her senses in oblivion.
+
+She woke late, unrested, exhausted, and, as it were, stupefied.
+She could scarcely manage to dress herself; it seemed to her as if a
+year had passed since the night before, and as for her jealous rage,
+her projects of resistance--how could she have thought of such
+things? All that mattered to her, all she desired, was that Segundo
+should be happy, that he should achieve his high destiny, that he
+should be famous. The rest was madness, a convulsion, an attack of
+the nerves to which she had given way, overcome by the sense of her
+loneliness.
+
+The schoolmistress opened the bureau-drawer in which she kept her
+savings and the money for the household expenses. Beside a pile of
+stockings was a slim and flabby purse. A short time ago it had
+contained a few thousand reals, all she possessed in money. Scarcely
+thirty dollars remained, and out of these she must pay Cansin for a
+black merino dress, the confectioner for liqueurs, and some friends
+at Orense for purchases made on her account. And she would not
+receive her little income until November. A brilliant prospect truly!
+
+After a moment of anguish caused by the struggle between her
+economical principles and her resolution, Leocadia washed her face,
+smoothed her hair, put on her dress and her silk manto and left the
+house. Being Sunday, the streets were full of people, and the cracked
+bell of the chapel kept up an incessant ringing. The plaza was full
+of bustle and animation. Before Doña Eufrasia's door, three or four
+mules, whose clerical riders were in the shop, were impatiently
+trying to protect themselves from the persistent attacks of the flies
+and hornets, shaking their heads, stamping their hoofs, and switching
+their flanks with their rough tails. And the fruit-venders, too, in
+the intervals between selling their wares and chatting and laughing
+with one another, were watchful to chase away the troublesome insects
+that settled on the cherries and tomatoes wherever the skin was
+broken, leaving uncovered the sweet pulp or the red flesh. But the
+grand conclave of the flies was held in the confectionery of Ramon.
+It was nauseating to see the insects buzzing blindly in the hot
+atmosphere, entangling their legs in the caramels, and then making
+desperate efforts to free themselves from their sweet captivity. A
+swarm of flies were buzzing around a méringue pie which adorned the
+center of the shelf, and Ramon having grown tired of defending it
+against their attacks, the invading army rifled it at their pleasure;
+around the plate lay the bodies of the flies which had perished in
+the attack; some dry and shriveled, others swollen and with white and
+livid abdomens.
+
+Leocadia entered the back shop. Ramon was there, with his
+shirt-sleeves rolled up, exposing his brawny arms, shaking a saucepan
+gently to cool the egg-paste which it contained; then he proceeded to
+cut the paste with a hot knife, the sugar fizzing and sending forth a
+pleasant odor as it came in contact with the hot metal. The
+confectioner passed the back of his hand across his perspiring brow.
+
+What did Leocadia want? Brizar anisette, eh? Well, it was all
+sold. "You, Rosa, isn't it true that the anisette is all sold?"
+
+The confectioner's wife was seated in a corner of the kitchen,
+feeding a sickly-looking infant. She fixed her gloomy, morbidly
+jealous gaze on the schoolmistress and cried in a harsh voice:
+
+"If you come for more anisette, remember the three bottles that
+are still unpaid for."
+
+"I will pay them now," answered the schoolmistress, taking a
+handful of dollars from her pocket.
+
+"Never mind that now, there is no hurry," stammered the
+confectioner, ashamed of his wife's rudeness.
+
+"Take it, Ramon. Why, it was to give it to you that I came."
+
+"If you insist; but the deuce a hurry I was in."
+
+Leocadia hastened away. Not to have remembered the confectioner's
+wife! Who would ask anything from Ramon before that jealous tigress,
+who, small as she was, and sickly as she looked, ruled her burly
+husband with a rod of iron. Perhaps Cansin----
+
+The clothier was displaying his goods to a group of countrywomen,
+one of whom persisted in declaring the bunting she was looking at to
+be cotton, rubbing it between her fingers to prove herself in the
+right. Cansin, on his side, was rubbing the cloth with exactly
+opposite views.
+
+"How should it be cotton, woman, how should it be cotton?" he
+cried in his shrill voice, putting the cloth close to the buyer's
+face. Cansin appeared so angry that Leocadia did not venture to
+address him; she passed on, quickening her steps. She thought of her
+other suitor, the tavern-keeper. But she suddenly remembered, with a
+feeling of repulsion, his thick lips, his cheeks that seemed to drip
+blood. Turning over in her mind every possible means by which she
+might obtain the money she needed, a thought occurred to her. She
+rejected it, she weighed it, she accepted it. Quickening her pace,
+she walked toward the abode of the lawyer García.
+
+At her first knock Aunt Gáspara opened the door. What a meaning
+contraction of the brow and lips, what a sour face greeted her!
+Leocadia, abashed and covered with confusion, stood still on the
+threshold. The old woman, like a vigilant watch-dog, barred the
+entrance, ready to bark or bite at the first sign of danger.
+
+"What did you want?" she growled.
+
+"To speak to Don Justo. May I?" said the schoolmistress humbly.
+
+"I don't know. I'll see."
+
+And the dragon without further ceremony shut the door in
+Leocadia's face. Leocadia waited. At the end of ten minutes a harsh
+voice called to her:
+
+"Come on!"
+
+The heart of the schoolmistress bounded within her. To go through
+the house in which Segundo was born! It was dark and shabby, cold and
+bare, like the abode of a miser, in which the furniture is made to do
+service until it falls to pieces with old age. Crossing a hall,
+Leocadia saw through a half-open door some garments belonging to
+Segundo hanging on a peg, and recognized them with a secret thrill.
+At the end of the hall was the lawyer's office, an ill-kept, untidy
+room, full of papers and dusty and uninteresting-looking books. Aunt
+Gáspara withdrew, and Leocadia remained standing before the lawyer,
+who, without inviting her to be seated, said to her with a suspicious
+and hostile air, and in the severe tones of a judge:
+
+"And what can I do for you, Señora Doña Leocadia?"
+
+A formula accompanied inwardly by the observation:
+
+"I wager that the scheming schoolmistress has come to tell me
+that she is going to marry that crazy boy and that I shall have to
+support them both."
+
+Leocadia fixed her dejected gaze on García's face, trying to
+discover in his dry and withered features some resemblance to the
+features of a beloved countenance. His face, indeed, resembled
+Segundo's in all but the expression, which was very different; that
+of the father's being as cautious and suspicious as the son's was
+dreamy and abstracted.
+
+"Señor Don Justo----" stammered the schoolmistress. "I am sorry
+to trouble you. I hope you will not take this visit amiss--they told
+me that you----Señor--I need a loan----"
+
+"Money!" roared the lawyer, clenching his fists. "You ask me for
+money!"
+
+"Yes, Señor, on some property----"
+
+"Ah!" (sudden transition in the lawyer, who became all softness
+and amiability). "But how stupid I am! Come in, come in and sit down,
+Doña Leocadia. I hope you are quite well. Why, anyone might find
+himself in a difficulty. And what property is it? Talking together
+people come to an understanding, Señora. Perhaps the vineyard of La
+Junqueira, or the other little one, El Adro? Of late years they have
+yielded little----"
+
+The business was discussed and the promissory note was signed.
+Aunt Gáspara meanwhile walked uneasily and with ghost-like tread, up
+and down the hall outside. When her brother issued from the room and
+gave her some orders she crossed herself hastily several times on the
+forehead and the breast. She then descended stealthily to the cellar,
+and, after some little delay, returned and emptied on the lawyer's
+table the contents of her apron, whence rolled four objects covered
+with dust and cobwebs, from which proceeded, as they struck the
+table, the peculiar sound produced by coin. These objects were an
+earthern savings-bank, a stocking, a leathern sack, and a little
+muslin bag.
+
+That afternoon Leocadia said to Segundo:
+
+"Do you know what, sweetheart? It is a pity that for the sake of
+a new suit or some such trifle you should lose the chance of
+establishing yourself and obtaining what you wish. See, I have a
+little money here that I have no particular use for. Do you want it,
+eh? I will give it to you now and you can return it to me by and by."
+
+Segundo drew himself up and, with a genuine outburst of offended
+dignity, exclaimed:
+
+"Never propose anything like that to me again. I accept your
+attentions at times so as not to see you breaking your heart at my
+refusal, but that you should clothe me and support me--no, that is
+too much."
+
+Half an hour later the schoolmistress renewed her entreaties
+affectionately, availing herself of the opportunity, seeing the Swan
+somewhat pensive. Between him and her there ought to be no _mine_ or
+_thine_. Why should he hesitate to accept what it afforded her so
+great a pleasure to give? Did her future by chance depend upon those
+few paltry dollars? With them he could present himself decently at
+Las Vides, publish his verses, go to Madrid. It would make her so
+happy to see him triumph, eclipse Campoamor, Nuñez de Arce, and all
+the rest! And what was there to prevent Segundo from returning her
+the money, and with interest, too? Talking thus, Leocadia filled a
+handkerchief tied at the four corners with ounces and _doblillos_ and
+_centenes_ and handed it to the poet, saying in a voice rendered
+husky by her emotion:
+
+"Will you slight me?"
+
+Segundiño took the unbeautiful, ungraceful head of the
+schoolmistress between his hands, and looking fixedly in the eyes
+that looked at him humid with happiness he said:
+
+"Leocadia, I know that you are the one human being in this world
+who loves me truly."
+
+"Segundiño, my life," she stammered, beside herself with
+happiness, "it isn't worth mentioning. Just as I give you that--as I
+hope for salvation--I would give you the blood from my veins!"
+
+And what would Aunt Gáspara have said had she known that several
+of the ounces from the stocking, the savings-bank, the sack, and the
+bag would return immediately, loyal and well-trained, to sleep, if
+not under the rafters of the cellar, at least under the roof of Don
+Justo?
+
+
+
+
+                                  IX.
+
+
+The grapevine of Las Vides which has such pleasant recollections
+for Don Victoriano Andres de la Comba, bears those large, substantial
+grapes of the light red and pale green hues which predominate in
+Flemish vineyards, which are known in the neighborhood by the name of
+_náparo_ or _Jaen_ grapes. Its clusters hang in long corymbs of a
+gracefully irregular shape, half hiding themselves among the thick
+foliage. The vine casts a cool shade, and the murmur of a slender
+stream of water that falls into a rough stone basin in which
+vegetables lie soaking, adds to the air of peacefulness of the scene.
+
+The massive building looks almost like a fortress; the main
+building is flanked by two square towers, low-roofed and pierced by
+deep-set windows; in the middle of the central building, above a long
+iron balcony, stands out the large escutcheon with the armorial
+bearings of the Mendez--five vine-leaves and a wolf's head dripping
+blood. This balcony commands a view of the mountain slope and of the
+river that winds below; at the side of one of the towers is a wooden
+gallery, open to the sun, which projects over the garden, and where,
+thanks to the southern exposure, fine carnations grow luxuriantly in
+old pots filled with mold, and wooden boxes overflow with sweet
+basil, Santa Teresa's feathers, cactus, asclepias, and mallows--a
+sun-loving, rich, Arabian flora of intoxicating sweetness. The
+interior of the house is merely a series of whitewashed rooms with
+the rafters exposed and almost without furniture, excepting the
+central room, called the balcony-room, which is furnished with chairs
+with straw seats and wooden, lyre-shaped backs, of the style of the
+Empire. A mirror from which the quicksilver has almost disappeared,
+with a broad ebony frame ornamented with allegorical figures of
+gilded brass representing Phoebus driving his chariot, hangs above
+the sofa. The pride of Las Vides is not the rooms, but the cellar,
+the immense wine-vault, dark, and echoing, and cool as the aisle of a
+cathedral, with its large vats ranged in a line on either side. This
+apartment, unrivaled in the Border, is the one which Señor de las
+Vides shows with most pride--this and his bedroom, which has the
+peculiarity of being impregnable, as it is built in the body of the
+wall and can be entered only through a narrow passage which scarcely
+affords room for a man to turn around.
+
+Mendez de las Vides resembled in no way the traditional type of
+the ignorant lord of the manor who makes a cross for his signature, a
+type very common in that inland country. On the contrary, Mendez
+prided himself on being learned and cultured. He wrote a good
+hand--the small, close handwriting characteristic of obstinate old
+age; he read well, settling his spectacles on his nose, holding the
+newspaper or the book at a distance, emphasizing the words in a
+measured voice. Only his culture was confined to a single epoch--that
+of the Encyclopedists, with whom his father became acquainted late in
+life, and he himself a century after their time. He read Holbach,
+Rousseau, Voltaire, and the fourteen volumes of Feijóo. He bore the
+stamp and seal of this epoch even in his person. In religion he was a
+deist, never neglecting, however, to go to mass and to eat fish in
+Holy Week; in politics he was inclined to uphold the prerogatives of
+the crown against the church. Since the arrival of Don Victoriano,
+however, some movement had taken place in the stratified ideas of the
+hidalgo of Las Vides. He admired English independence, the regard
+paid to the right of the individual combined with a respect for
+tradition and the civilizing influence of the aristocratic classes--a
+series of Saxon importations more or less felicitous but to which Don
+Victoriano owed his political success. Uncle and nephew spent hour
+after hour discussing these abstruse problems of social science,
+while Nieves worked, listening with the hope of hearing the trot of
+some horse sound on the stones of the path announcing some visitor,
+some distraction in her idle existence.
+
+To make the journey to Las Vides, Segundo borrowed the vicious
+nag of the alguazil. From the cross onward the road grew precipitous
+and difficult. Smooth, slippery rocks obstructed the way at times, so
+that the rider was obliged to hold a tight rein to keep the animal,
+whose hoofs slipped continually, drawing sparks from the stone, from
+falling headlong down the descent. The ground, parched by the heat,
+was rugged and uneven. The houses seemed to cling to the
+mountain-side, threatening to lose their hold at every moment and
+topple over into the river, and the indispensable pot of carnations,
+whose flowers peeped through the rails of the wooden balconies,
+reminded one of the flower with which a gypsy carelessly adorns her
+hair. Sometimes Segundo's way led through a pine grove, and he
+inhaled the balsamic odor of the resin and rode over a carpet of dry
+leaves which deadened the sound of his horse's hoofs; suddenly,
+between two fences, a narrow path, bordered by blackberry bushes,
+foxglove and honeysuckle would open before him, and not unfrequently
+he experienced the delightful sense of well-being produced by the
+coolness cast by umbrageous foliage during the heat of the day, as he
+rode through some verdant tunnel--under some lofty grape arbor
+supported on wooden posts, beholding above his head the bunches
+already ripening, and listening to the noisy twittering of the
+sparrows and the shrill whistle of the blackbird. Lizards ran along
+the moss-covered walls. When two or more paths met Segundo would rein
+in his horse, to inquire the way to Las Vides of the women who toiled
+wearily up the steep path, bending under their load of pine wood, or
+the children playing at the doors of the houses.
+
+Far below ran the Avieiro, that, from the height at which Segundo
+regarded it, looked like a steel blade flashing and quivering in the
+sunshine. Before him was the mountain where, like the steps of a
+colossal amphitheater, rose one above another massive walls of
+whitish stone, erected for the support of the grapevines, the white
+stripes showing against the green background, forming an odd
+combination in which stood out here and there the red roof of some
+dovecote or some old homestead, the whole surmounted by the darker
+green of the pine woods. Segundo at last saw below him the tiles of
+Las Vides. He descended a steep slope and found himself before the
+portico.
+
+Under the grapevine were Victorina and Nieves. The child was
+amusing herself jumping the rope, which she did with extraordinary
+agility, the feet close together, without moving from one spot, the
+rope turning so rapidly that the graceful form of the jumper seemed
+to be enveloped in a sort of mist. Through the interstices in the
+foliage of the grapevine came large splashes of sunshine suddenly
+flooding the girl's form with light, in which her hair, her arms and
+her bare legs gleamed, for she wore only a loose navy blue blouse
+without sleeves. When she caught sight of Segundo she gave a little
+cry, dropped the rope and disappeared. Nieves, to make amends, rose
+from the bench where she had been working, with a smile on her lips
+and a slight flush of surprise on her cheeks, and extended her hand
+to the newcomer, who made haste to dismount from his horse.
+
+"And Señor Don Victoriano, how is he?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, he is somewhere in the neighborhood; he is very well, and
+very much interested in the labors of the country--very contented."
+Nieves said these words with the abstracted air with which we speak
+of things that possess only a slight interest for us. Segundo
+observed that the glance of the Minister's wife rested on his fine
+suit, which he had just received from Orense; and the idea that she
+might think it pretentious or ridiculous disturbed him so greatly for
+a time that he regretted not having worn his ordinary clothes.
+
+"You frightened away Victorina," continued Nieves, smiling.
+"Where can the silly child have disappeared to? No doubt she ran away
+because she had on only a blouse. You treat her like a woman, and she
+is growing unbearable. Come."
+
+Nieves gathered up the skirt of her morning gown of white
+cretonne spotted with rosebuds, and made her way intrepidly into the
+kitchen, which was on a level with the yard. Following the little
+Louis XV. heels covered by the Breton lace of her petticoat, Segundo
+passed through several rooms--the kitchen, the dining-room, the
+Rosary room, so called because in it Primo Genday said prayers with
+the servants, and finally the balcony room. Here Nieves stopped,
+saying:
+
+"I will call to them if they chance to be in the vineyard."
+
+And leaning out of the window, she cried:
+
+"Uncle! Victoriano! Uncle!"
+
+Two voices responded.
+
+"What is it? We are coming."
+
+Finding nothing opportune to say, Segundo was silent. Her
+conscience at rest, now that she had called the elders, Nieves turned
+toward him and said, with the graciousness of a hostess who knows
+what are the duties of her position:
+
+"How good this is of you! We had not thought you would care to
+come before the vintage. And now that the holidays are
+approaching--indeed I supposed we should see you in Vilamorta before
+seeing you here, as Victoriano has determined to take a fortnight's
+course of the waters."
+
+She leaned against the wall as she spoke, and Segundo tapped the
+toe of his boot with his whip. From the garden came the voice of
+Mendez:
+
+"Nieves! Nieves! Come down, if it is all the same to you."
+
+"Excuse me, I am going for a parasol."
+
+She soon returned, and Segundo offered her his arm. They
+descended into the garden through the gallery, and after the
+customary greetings were over Mendez protested against Segundo's
+returning that afternoon to Vilamorta.
+
+"The idea! A pretty thing that would be! To expose yourself to
+the heat twice in the same day!"
+
+And Señor de las Vides, availing himself of an opportunity which
+no rural proprietor ever lets slip, took possession of the poet and
+gave himself up to the task of showing him over the estate. He
+explained to him at the same time his viticultural enterprises. He
+had been among the first to employ sulphur fumigation with success,
+and he was now using new manures which would perhaps solve the
+problem of grape cultivation. He was making experiments with the
+common wine of the Border, trying to make with it an imitation of the
+rich Bordeaux; to impart to it, with powdered lily-root, the bouquet,
+the fragrance, of the French wines. But he had to contend against the
+spirit of routine, fanaticism, as he said, confidentially lowering
+his voice and laying his hand on Segundo's shoulder. The other
+vine-growers accused him of disregarding the wholesome traditions of
+the country, of adulterating and making up wine. As if they
+themselves did not make it up. Only that they did so, using common
+drugs for the purpose--logwood and nightshade. He contented himself
+with employing rational methods, scientific discoveries, the
+improvements of modern chemistry, condemning the absurd custom of
+using pitch in the skins, for although the people of the Border
+approved of the taste of pitch in the wine, saying that the pitch
+excited thirst, the exporters disliked, and with reason, the
+stickiness imparted by it. In short, if Segundo would like to see the
+wine vaults and the presses----
+
+There was no help for it. Nieves remained at the door, fearing to
+soil her dress. When they came out they proceeded to inspect the
+garden in detail. The garden, too, was a series of walls built one
+above another, like the steps of a stairs, sustaining narrow belts of
+earth, and this arrangement of the ground gave the vegetation an
+exuberance that was almost tropical. Camellias, peach trees, and
+lemon trees grew in wild luxuriance, laden at once with leaves,
+fruits, and blossoms. Bees and butterflies circled and hummed around
+them, sipping their sweets, wild with the joy of mere existence and
+drunken with the sunshine. They ascended by steep steps from wall to
+wall. Segundo gave his arm to Nieves and at the last step they paused
+to look at the river flowing below.
+
+"Look there," said Segundo, pointing to a distant hill on his
+left. "There is the pine grove. I wager you have forgotten."
+
+"I have not forgotten," responded Nieves, winking her blue eyes
+dazzled by the sun; "the pine grove that sings. You see that I have
+not forgotten. And tell me, do you know if it will sing to-day? For I
+should greatly like to hear it sing this afternoon."
+
+"If a breeze rises. With the air as still as it is now, the pines
+will be almost motionless and almost silent. And I say _almost_, for
+they are never quite silent. The friction of their tops is sufficient
+to cause a peculiar vibration, to produce a murmur----"
+
+"And does that happen," asked Nieves jestingly, "only with the
+pines here or is it the same with all pines?"
+
+"I cannot say," answered Segundo, looking at her fixedly.
+"Perhaps the only pine grove that will ever sing for me will be that
+of Las Vides."
+
+Nieves lowered her eyes, and then glanced round, as if in search
+of Don Victoriano and Mendez, who were on one of the steps above
+them. Segundo observed the movement and with rude imperiousness said
+to Nieves:
+
+"Let us join them."
+
+They rejoined their companions and did not again separate from
+them until they entered the dining-room, where Genday and Tropiezo
+were awaiting them. The last to arrive was the child, now modestly
+attired in a piqué frock and long stockings.
+
+The table at which they dined was placed, not in the center, but
+at one side of the dining-room; it was square and at the sides,
+instead of chairs, stood two oaken benches, dark with age, as seats
+for the guests. The head and foot of the table were left free for the
+service. Sober by nature, Segundo noticed with surprise the
+extraordinary quantity of food consumed by Don Victoriano, observing
+at the same time that his face was thinner than before. Now and then
+the statesman paused remorsefully, saying:
+
+"I am eating ravenously."
+
+The Amphitryon protested, and Tropiezo and Genday expounded in
+turn liberal and consoling doctrines. "Nature is very wise," said
+Señor de las Vides, who had not forgotten Rousseau, "and he who obeys
+her cannot go astray." Primo Genday, fond of eating, like all
+plethoric people, added with a certain theological unction: "In order
+that the soul may be disposed to serve God the reasonable
+requirements of the body must first be attended to." Tropiezo, on his
+side, pushed out his lower lip, denying the existence of certain
+new-fangled diseases. Since the world began there had been people who
+suffered as Don Victoriano was suffering and no one had ever thought
+of depriving them of eating and drinking, quite the contrary. For the
+very reason that the disease was a wasting one it was necessary to
+eat well. Don Victoriano allowed himself to be easily persuaded.
+Those dishes of former times, those antiquated, miraculous
+cruet-stands in which the oil and the vinegar came from the same tube
+without ever mingling, that immense loaf placed on the table as a
+center-piece, were for him so many delightful relics of the past,
+which reminded him of happy hours, the irresponsible years of
+existence. At the dessert, when Primo Genday, still heated with a
+political discussion in which he had characterized the liberals as
+uncircumcised, suddenly grew very serious and proceeded to recite the
+Lord's Prayer, the Minister, a confirmed rationalist, was surprised
+at the devoutness with which he murmured--"Our daily bread."
+_Caramba_, those memories of the days when one was young! Don
+Victoriano grew young again in going over those recollections of his
+boyish days. He even called to mind ephemeral engagements,
+flirtations of a fortnight with young ladies of the Border who, at
+the present time, must be withered old maids or respectable mothers
+of families. A pretty fool he was! The ex-Minister laid down his
+napkin and rose to his feet.
+
+"Do you sleep the siesta?" he asked Segundo.
+
+"No, Señor."
+
+"Nor I either; let us go and smoke a cigar together."
+
+
+
+
+                                   X.
+
+
+They seated themselves near the window in the pa rlor in a couple
+of rocking-chairs brought from Orense. The garden and the vineyard
+breathed a lazy tranquillity, a silence so profound that the dull
+sound of the ripe peaches breaking from the branch and falling on the
+dry ground could be plainly heard. Through the open window came odors
+of fruit and honey. In the house unbroken silence reigned.
+
+"Will you have a cigar?"
+
+"Thanks."
+
+The cigars were lighted and Segundo, following Don Victoriano's
+example, began to rock himself. The rhythmical movement of the
+rocking-chairs, the drowsy quiet of the place, invited to a serious
+and confidential conversation.
+
+"And you, what do you do in Vilamorta? You are a lawyer, are you
+not. I think I have heard that it is your intention to succeed your
+father in his practice--a very intelligent man."
+
+Segundo felt that the occasion was propitious. The smoke of the
+cigars, diffusing itself through the atmosphere, softened the light,
+disposing him to confidence and dispelling his habitual reserve.
+
+"The thought of beginning now the career my father is just ending
+horrifies me," he said, in answer to the ex-Minister's question.
+"That sordid struggle to gain a little money, more or less, those
+village intrigues, that miserable plotting and planning, that
+drawing-up of documents--I was made for none of those things, Señor
+Don Victoriano. It is not that I could not practice. I have been a
+fair student and my good memory always brought me safely through in
+the examinations. But for what does the profession of law serve? For
+a foundation, nothing more. It is a passport, a card of admission to
+some office."
+
+"Well----" said Don Victoriano, shaking the ashes from his cigar,
+"what you say is true, very true. What is learned at the University
+is of scarcely any use afterward. As for me, if it had not been for
+my apprenticeship with Don Juan Antonio Prado, who taught me to make
+a practical use of my legal knowledge and to know how many teeth
+there are in a comb, I should not have distinguished myself greatly
+by my Compostelan learning. My friend, what makes a man of one, what
+really profits one is this terrible apprenticeship, the position in
+which a boy finds himself when a pile of papers is set before him,
+and a pompous gentleman says to him, 'Study this question to-day and
+have ready for me by to-morrow a formulated opinion on it.' There is
+the rub! That is what makes you sweat and bite your nails! There
+neither laziness nor ignorance will avail you. The thing must be
+done, and as it cannot be done by magic----"
+
+"Even in Madrid and on a large scale the practice of the law has
+no attractions for me. I have other aspirations."
+
+"Let us hear what they are."
+
+Segundo hesitated, restrained by a feeling of shyness, as if he
+had been going to narrate a dream or to descant on the delights of
+love. He followed with his eyes for a few moments the blue smoke
+curling upward and finally, the semi-obscurity of the room, secluded
+as a confessional, dissipated his reserve.
+
+"I wish to follow the profession of literature," he returned.
+
+The statesman stopped rocking himself and took his cigar from his
+mouth.
+
+"But my boy, literature is not a profession!" he said. "There is
+no such thing as the profession of literature! Let us understand each
+other--have you ever been out of Vilamorta? I mean beyond Santiago
+and the neighboring towns?"
+
+"No, Señor."
+
+"Then I can understand those illusions and those childish
+notions. They still believe here that a writer or a poet, from the
+mere fact of his being such, may aspire to--and what do you write?"
+
+"Poetry."
+
+"You don't write prose at all?"
+
+"An occasional essay or newspaper article. Very little."
+
+"Bravo! Well, if you trust to poetry to make your way in the
+world--I have remarked something curious in this place and I am going
+to tell you what it is. Verses are still read here with interest, and
+it seems the girls learn them by heart. But in the capital I assure
+you there is scarcely anyone who cares for poetry. You are twenty or
+thirty years behind the age here--at the height of the romantic
+period."
+
+Segundo, annoyed, said with some vehemence:
+
+"And Campoamor? And Nuñez de Arce? And Grilo? Are they not famous
+poets? Are they not popular?"
+
+"Campoamor? They read him because he is very witty, and he sets
+the girls thinking and he makes the men laugh. He has his merit, and
+he amuses while he philosophizes. But remember that neither he nor
+Nuñez de Arce lives by writing verses. Much prosperity that would
+bring them! As to Grilo--well, he has his admirers among ladies of
+rank, and the Queen Mother publishes his poems, and as far as we can
+judge he has plenty of money. But convince yourself that no one will
+ever grow rich by following the road that leads to Parnassus. And
+this is when masters are in question, for of poets of a secondary
+rank, young men who string rhymes together with more or less
+facility, there are probably now in Madrid some two or three hundred.
+Have you ever heard of any of them? No; nor I either. A few friends
+praise them when they publish anything in some insignificant review.
+But there is no need to go on. In plain words, it is time lost."
+
+Segundo silently vented his anger on his cigar.
+
+"Don't take what I say as an offense," continued Don Victoriano.
+"I know little about literature, although in my youthful days I wrote
+_quintillas_, like everybody else. Besides, I have seen nothing of
+what you have written, so that my opinion is impartial and my advice
+sincere."
+
+"My ambition," began Segundo at last, "is not confined
+exclusively to lyric poetry. Perhaps later I might prefer the
+drama--or prose. Who knows? I only want to try my fortune."
+
+Don Victoriano rose and stepped out into the balcony. Suddenly he
+returned, placed both hands on Segundo's shoulders, and putting his
+clean-shaven face close to the face of the poet, said with a pity
+which was not feigned:
+
+"Poor boy! How many, many disappointments are in store for you!"
+
+And as Segundo, astonished at this sudden effusion, remained
+silent, he continued:
+
+"Novice as you are, you have no means of knowing what you are
+doing. I am sorry for you. You are deluding yourself. In the present
+state of society, in order to attain eminence in anything, you must
+sweat blood like Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. If it is lyric
+poetry that is in question, God help you! If you write comedies or
+farces, you have an enviable fate before you--to flatter the actors,
+to have your manuscript lie neglected in the corner of a drawer, to
+have half an act cut out at a stroke; and then the dread of the first
+night, and of what comes after it--which may be the worst of all. If
+you become a journalist, you will not have ten minutes in the day to
+yourself, you will make the reputation of others, and you will never
+see even so much as the shadow of your own. If you write books--but
+who reads in Spain? And if you throw yourself into politics--ah, then
+indeed!"
+
+Segundo, his eyes cast down, his gaze wandering over the pine
+knots in the boarded floor, listened without opening his lips to
+those convincing accents that seemed to tear away one by one the
+rose-leaves of his illusions, with the same strident sound with which
+the nail of the speaker flicked away the ash of his cigar. At last he
+raised his contracted face and looking at the statesman said, not
+without a touch of sarcasm in his voice:
+
+"As for politics, Señor Don Victoriano, it seems to me that you
+ought not to speak ill of that. It has treated you well; you have no
+cause of complaint against it. For you politics has not been a
+stepmother."
+
+Don Victoriano's countenance changed, showing plainly the ravages
+disease had made in his organism; and rising to his feet a second
+time, he threw away his cigar and, walking up and down the room with
+hasty steps, he burst forth passionately, in words that rushed from
+his lips in a sudden flood, in an impetuous and unequal stream, like
+the stream of blood gushing from a severed artery:
+
+"Don't touch that point. Be silent about that, boy. How do you,
+how does anybody know what those things are until he has thrown
+himself headlong into them and is caught fast and cannot escape! If I
+were to tell you--but it is impossible to tell one's whole life, day
+by day, to describe a battle which has lasted for years, without rest
+or respite. To struggle in order to make one's self known, to go on
+struggling to keep one's self from being forgotten, to pass from law
+to politics, from a wheel set with knives to a bed of live coals, to
+fight in Congress without faith, without conviction, because one must
+fight to keep the place one has won; and with all this not to have a
+free hour, not a tranquil moment, not have time for anything. One
+achieves fortune when one no longer has the inclination to enjoy it;
+one marries and has a family and--one has hardly liberty to accompany
+one's wife to the theater. Don't talk to me. A hell, a hell upon
+earth is what politics is. Would you believe" (and here he uttered a
+round oath) "that when my little girl was beginning to walk, I
+proposed to myself one day to have the pleasure of taking her out
+walking--a caprice, a whim. Well, I was going downstairs with the
+child in my arms, very contented, when lo, I found myself face to
+face with the Marquis of Cameros, a candidate for representative from
+Galicia, who had come to ask me for fifteen or twenty
+letters--written in my own hand so that they might prove more
+efficacious. And I was such a fool, man, I was such a fool, that
+instead of throwing the Marquis down the stairs, as I ought to have
+done, I walked back my two flights, gave the child to her nurse, and
+shut myself up in my office to prepare the election. And it was the
+same thing always; tell me, then, have I reason or not to abominate
+such folly, such humbug? Ah, what pains we are at to make ourselves
+miserable!"
+
+There could be no doubt of it; in the voice of the statesman
+there was the sound of repressed tears; in his throat smothered
+curses and blasphemies struggled for utterance. Segundo, to do
+something, threw open the window leading to the balcony. The sun was
+low in the heavens; the heat had grown less intense.
+
+"And worst of all--the consequences!" continued Don Victoriano,
+pausing in his walk. "You strive and struggle without pausing to
+reflect what will be the effect upon your health. You fight, like the
+knights of old, with visor down. But as you are not made of iron, but
+only of flesh and blood, when you least expect it, you find yourself
+sick, sick, wounded, without knowing where. You do not lose blood,
+but you lose the sap of life, like a lemon that is squeezed." And the
+ex-Minister laughed bitterly. "And you want to stop, to rest, to get
+back health at any cost, and you find that it is too late; you have
+not a drop of moisture left in your body. Well, keep on until there
+is an end to you. Much your labors and your triumphs have profited
+you! You have drawn down on yourself a doom from which there is no
+escape!"
+
+He spoke with gesticulations, thrusting his hands into his
+trousers pockets in an outburst of confidence, expressing himself
+with as little reserve as if he had been alone. And in reality he was
+talking to himself. His words were a monologue, the spoken utterance
+of the gloomy thoughts which Don Victoriano, thanks to heroic
+efforts, had hitherto been able to conceal in his own breast. The
+strange malady from which he suffered gave rise to horrible
+nightmares; he dreamed that he was turning into a loaf of sugar and
+that his intellect, his blood, his life, were flowing away from him,
+through a deep, deep channel, converted into syrup. In his waking
+moments his mind refused to accept, as one refused to accept a
+humiliation, so strange a malady. Sanchez del Abrojo must be
+mistaken; his was some functional, transitory disorder, an ordinary
+ailment, the result of his sedentary life, and Tropiezo's
+old-fashioned remedies would perhaps after all prove more efficacious
+than those of science. And if they did not? The statesman felt a cold
+chill run through him that made his hair stand on end and constricted
+his heart. To die when he was scarcely past forty, with his mental
+powers unimpaired, with so many things begun, so many accomplished!
+And no doubt this consuming thirst, this insatiable voracity, this
+debilitating sensation of melting away, of fusion, of dissolving,
+were all fatal symptoms.
+
+Suddenly Don Victoriano remembered the presence of Segundo, which
+he had almost forgotten. And laying both hands on his shoulders a
+second time, and fixing on the poet's eyes, his dry eyes, scorched by
+repressed tears, he cried:
+
+"Do you wish to hear the truth, and to receive good advice? Have
+you ambitions, aspirations, hopes? Well, I have had disappointments,
+and I desire to do you a service by recounting them to you now. Don't
+be a fool; stay here all your life; help your father, take up his
+practice when he lays it down, and marry that blooming daughter of
+Agonde. Never leave this land of fruits, of vines, whose climate is
+so delightful. What would I not give now never to have left it! No,
+my boy, remain quietly here; end a long life here surrounded by a
+numerous progeny. Have you observed how healthy your father is? It is
+a pleasure to see him, with his teeth so sound and perfect. I have
+not a single tooth that is not decayed; they say that it is one of
+the symptoms of my malady. Why, if your mother were living now you
+would be having little brothers and sisters."
+
+Segundo smiled.
+
+"But, Señor Don Victoriano," he said, "to act out your ideas
+would be to vegetate, not to live."
+
+"And what greater happiness than to vegetate," responded the
+statesman, looking out of the window. "Do you think those trees there
+are not to be envied?"
+
+The garden, indeed, seen in the light of the setting sun, had a
+certain air of voluptuous bliss, as if it were enjoying a happy
+dream.
+
+The lustrous leaves of the lemon trees and the camellias, the
+gummy trunks of the fruit trees, seemed to drink in with delight the
+fresh evening breeze, precursor of the vivifying dews of night. The
+golden atmosphere took on in the distance faint lilac tints.
+Innumerable noises began to make themselves heard, preludes to songs
+of insects, to the concerts of the frogs and toads.
+
+The pensive tranquillity of the scene was broken in upon by the
+quick trot of a mule, and Clodio Genday, out of breath, flung himself
+out of his saddle, and reeled into the garden. Gesticulating with his
+hands, with his head, with his whole body, he called, screamed,
+vociferated:
+
+"Oh, I have a nice piece of news for you, a nice piece of news! I
+will be there directly, I will be there directly!"
+
+They went to the head of the stairs leading to the garden, to
+meet him, and when he rushed upon them, like an arrow shot from a
+bow, they saw that he wore neither collar nor cravat, and that his
+dress was in the utmost disorder.
+
+"A mere bagatelle, Señor Don Victoriano--that they are playing a
+trick upon us; that they have played it already, that unless we take
+prompt measures we shall lose the district. You would not believe it,
+if I were to tell you of all the plans they have been laying, for a
+long time past, at Doña Eufrasia's shop. And we simpletons suspecting
+nothing. And all the priests are in the plot; the parish priests of
+Lubrego, of Boan, of Naya, and of Cebre. They have set up as a
+candidate Señorito de Romero of Orense, who is willing to loosen his
+purse-strings. But where is Primo, that good-for-nothing, that
+scarecrow, who never found out a word of all this?"
+
+"We will look for him, man. What do you tell me, what do you tell
+me? I never thought they would have dared----"
+
+And Don Victoriano, animated and excited, followed Clodio, who
+went shouting through the parlor:
+
+"Primo! Primo!"
+
+A little later Segundo saw the two brothers and the ex-Minister
+going through the garden disputing and gesticulating violently.
+Clodio was making charges against Primo, who tried to defend himself,
+while Don Victoriano acted as peacemaker. In his fury Clodio shook
+his clenched fist in Primo's face, almost laying violent hands upon
+him, while the culprit stammered, crossing himself hastily:
+
+"Mercy, mercy, mercy! Ave Maria!"
+
+The poet watched them as they passed by, remarking the
+transformation that had taken place in Don Victoriano. As he turned
+away from the window he saw Nieves standing before him.
+
+"And those gentlemen," she said to him graciously, "have they
+left you all alone? The pines must at this time be singing. There is
+a breeze stirring."
+
+"Undoubtedly they will be singing now," returned the poet. "I
+shall hear them as I ride back to Vilamorta."
+
+Nieves' movement of surprise did not pass unnoticed by Segundo,
+who, looking her steadily in the face, added coldly and proudly:
+"Unless you should command me to remain."
+
+Nieves was silent. She felt that courtesy required that she
+should make some effort to detain her guest, while at the same time
+to ask him to remain, they two being alone, seemed to her inexpedient
+and liable to misconstruction. At last she took a middle course,
+saying with a forced smile:
+
+"But why are you in such a hurry? And will you make us another
+visit?"
+
+"We shall see each other later in Vilamorta. Good-by, Nieves, I
+will not disturb Don Victoriano. Say good-by to him for me and tell
+him he may count upon my father's services and upon mine."
+
+Without taking Nieves' outstretched hand or looking at her he
+descended into the courtyard. He was settling his feet in the
+stirrups when he saw a little figure appear close beside him. It was
+Victorina, with her hands full of lumps of sugar, which she offered
+the nag. The animal eagerly pushed out its under lip, which moved
+with the intelligent undulations of an elephant's trunk.
+
+Segundo interposed:
+
+"Child, he will bite you; he bites."
+
+Then he added gayly:
+
+"Do you want me to lift you up here? You don't? I wager I can
+lift you!"
+
+He lifted her up and seated her on the saddle-cloth, before him.
+She struggled to free herself and in her struggles her beautiful hair
+fell over the face and shoulders of Segundo, who was holding her
+tightly around the waist. He observed with some surprise that the
+girl's heart was beating tumultuously. Turning very pale Victorina
+cried:
+
+"Mamma, mamma!"
+
+At last she succeeded in releasing herself and ran toward Nieves,
+who was laughing merrily at the incident. Half-way she stopped,
+retraced her steps, threw her arms around the horse's neck and
+pressed on his nose a warm kiss.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XI.
+
+
+Eight or ten days intervened between Segundo's visit to Las Vides
+and the return of Don Victoriano and his family to Vilamorta. Don
+Victoriano desired to drink the waters and at the same time to take
+measures to frustrate the dark machinations of Romero's partisans.
+His plan was a simple one--to offer Romero some other district, where
+he would not have to spend a penny, and thus removing the only rival
+who had any prestige in the country he would avoid the mortification
+of a defeat through Vilamorta. It was important to do this before
+October, the period at which the electoral contest was to take place.
+And while Genday, García, the Alcalde and the other Combistas managed
+the negotiation, Don Victoriano, installed in Agonde's house, drank
+two or three glasses of the salubrious waters every morning, after
+which he read his correspondence, and in the afternoon, when the
+sultry heat invited to a siesta, he read or wrote in the cool parlor
+of the apothecary.
+
+Segundo frequently accompanied him in these hours of retirement.
+They talked together like two friends, and the statesman, far from
+insisting on the ideas he had expressed in Las Vides, encouraged the
+poet, offering him to endeavor to obtain a position for him in Madrid
+which should enable him to carry out his plans.
+
+"A position that will not take up much of your time, nor require
+much mental labor--I will see, I will see. I will be on the lookout
+for something."
+
+Segundo observed unmistakable signs of improved health in the
+wrinkled face of the Minister. Don Victoriano was experiencing the
+transitory benefit which mineral waters produce at first, stimulating
+the organism only to waste it all the more rapidly, perhaps,
+afterward. Both digestion and circulation had become more active, and
+perspiration, even, entirely suppressed by the disease, had become
+re-established, dilating the pores with grateful warmth and
+communicating to the dry fibers the elasticity of healthy flesh. As a
+candle flares up brightly before going out, so Don Victoriano seemed
+to be recovering strength when in reality he was wasting away.
+Fancying health was returning to him, he breathed with delight the
+narrow atmosphere of party intrigues, taking pleasure in disputing
+his district inch by inch, in winning over adherents and receiving
+demonstrations of sympathy, and secretly flattered by the absurd
+proposal made by his parishioners to the parish priest of Vilamorta,
+that incense should be burned before him. In the evening he amused
+himself patriarchally among Agonde's visitors, listening to the
+comical stories told of the clique at Doña Eufrasia's shop and
+enjoying the ripple of excitement occasioned by the proximity of the
+feasts. Little by little the innocent tresillo table of Agonde had
+become transformed into something much more wicked. Now, instead of
+four persons being seated at it, there was only one, around whom,
+their eyes fixed on his hands, the others stood grouped. The banker's
+left hand grasped the cards tightly while with the ball of his thumb
+he pushed up the last card until first the spot could be descried,
+then the number, then the knob of a club, the point of a diamond, the
+blue tail of a horse, the turreted crown of a king, and other hands
+took up stakes or took money from the pocket and laid it down on the
+fateful pieces of cardboard with the words:
+
+"On the seven! On the four! The ace is in sight!"
+
+Through respect for Don Victoriano, Agonde refrained from dealing
+the cards when the latter was present, bridling with difficulty the
+only passion that could warm his blood and excite his placid nature,
+giving up his place to Jacinto Ruedas, a famous strolling gambler,
+known everywhere, who followed the scent of the gaming-table as
+others follow the scent of a banquet, a rare type, something between
+a swindler and a spy, who made low jests in a hoarse voice. The
+chroniclers do not state whether the civil authorities, that is to
+say, the judge of Vilamorta, made any attempt to interfere with the
+unlawful diversion in which the visitors to the pharmacy indulged,
+but it is an ascertained fact that, the judge having one leg shorter
+than the other, the pounding of his crutch on the sidewalk gave
+timely warning of his approach to the players. And as for the
+municipal authority, it is known to a certainty that one day, or to
+speak with more exactness, one night, he entered the apothecary's
+back shop like a bomb, holding in his hand money which he threw on a
+card, crying:
+
+"Gentlemen, I am queen!"
+
+"Be an ass, if you like!" responded Agonde, pushing him away with
+marked disrespect.
+
+This year Don Victoriano's presence and the open hostilities
+waged between his partisans and those of Romero gave a martial
+character to the feasts. The Combists desired to render them more
+splendid and brilliant than ever before and the Romerists to render
+them a failure, as far as it was possible. In the main room of the
+townhall the monster balloon, which occupied the whole length of the
+apartment, was being repaired; its white sides were being covered
+with inscriptions, figures, emblems, and symbols, and around the
+floor were scattered tin kettles filled with paste, pots of
+vermilion, Sienna, and ochre, balls of packthread and cut paper
+figures. From the giant balloon sprung daily broods of smaller
+balloons, miniature balloons, made with remnants and fancifully
+decorated in pink and blue. At the meetings at Doña Eufrasia's they
+spoke contemptuously of these preparations and commented on the
+audacity of the inn-keeper's son, a mere dauber, who undertook to
+paint Don Victoriano's likeness on one of the divisions of the large
+balloon. The Romerist young ladies, compressing their lips and
+shrugging their shoulders, declared that they would attend neither
+the fire-works nor the ball, not if their adversaries were to offer
+novenas with that purpose to every saint in heaven.
+
+On the other hand, the young ladies of the Combist party formed a
+sort of court around Nieves. Every afternoon they called for her to
+take her out walking; chief among these were Carmen Agonde,
+Florentina, the daughter of the Alcalde, Rosa, a niece of Tropiezo,
+and Clara, the eldest of García's daughters. This latter was running
+about barefooted, spending her time gathering blackberries in her
+apron, when she received the astounding news that her father had
+ordered a gown for her from Orense, that she might visit the
+Minister's lady. And the gown came with its fresh bows and its stiff
+linings and the girl, her face and hands washed, her hair combed, her
+feet covered with new kid boots, her eyes cast down and her hands
+crossed stiffly before her, went to swell Nieves' train. Victorina
+took Clara García under her especial protection, arranged her dress
+and hair and made her a present of a bracelet, and they became
+inseparable companions.
+
+They generally walked on the highroad, but as soon as Clara grew
+more intimate with Victorina she protested against this, declaring
+that the paths and the by-ways were much more amusing and that much
+prettier things were to be met with in them. And she pressed
+Victorina's arm saying:
+
+"Segundo knows lovely walks!"
+
+As chance would have it, that same afternoon, returning to the
+town, they caught sight of a man stealing along in the shadow of the
+houses, and Clara, who was on the other side of the way, ran over to
+him, and threw her arm around his waist, crying:
+
+"Hey, Segundo; you can't escape from us now, we have caught you."
+
+The poet gave a brotherly push to Clara, and ceremoniously
+saluting Nieves, who returned his salutation with extreme cordiality,
+he said to her:
+
+"The idea of this girl--I am sure she has been making herself
+troublesome to you. You must excuse her."
+
+They sat down on one of the benches of the Plaza, to enjoy the
+fresh air, and when, on the following day the party walked out after
+the siesta, Segundo joined them, studiously avoiding Nieves as if
+some secret understanding, some mysterious complicity existed between
+them. He mingled among the girls and, laying aside his habitual
+reserve, he laughed and jested with Victorina, for whom he gathered,
+as they walked along the hedges, ripe blackberries, acorns, early
+chestnut burrs, and innumerable wild flowers, which the girl put into
+a little Russian leather satchel.
+
+Sometimes Segundo led them along precipitous paths cut in the
+living rock, bordered by walls, supporting grapevines through which
+the expiring rays of the sun could scarcely penetrate. Again he would
+take them through bare and arid woods until they reached some old oak
+grove, some chestnut tree, inside whose trunk, decayed and split with
+age, Segundo would hide himself while the girls hand in hand danced
+around it.
+
+One day he took them to the stone bridge that crossed the
+Avieiro, under whose arches the black water, cold and motionless,
+seems to be dreaming a sinister dream. And he told them how in this
+spot, where, owing to the water being deeper there and less exposed
+to the sun's rays, the largest trout gathered, a corpse had been
+found floating last month near the arch. He took them to hear the
+echo also, and all the girls were wild with delight, talking all
+together, without waiting for the wall to repeat their cries and
+shouts of laughter. On another afternoon he showed them a curious
+lake regarding which innumerable fables were told in the
+country--that it had no bottom, that it reached to the center of the
+earth, that submerged cities could be seen under its surface, that
+strange woods floated and unknown flowers grew in its waters. The
+so-called lake was in reality a large excavation, probably a Roman
+mine that had been flooded with water, which, imprisoned within the
+chain of hillocks of argillaceous tophus heaped up around it by the
+miners' shovels, presented a sepulchral and fantastic aspect, the
+weird effect of the scene being heightened by the somber character of
+the marsh vegetation which covered the surface of the immense pool.
+When it began to grow dark the children declared that this lugubrious
+scene made them horribly afraid; the girls confessed to the same
+feeling, and started for the highroad running at the top of their
+speed, leaving Segundo and Nieves behind. This was the first time
+they had found themselves alone together, for the poet avoided such
+occasions. Nieves looked around uneasily and then, meeting Segundo's
+eyes fixed, ardent and questioning upon hers, lowered her gaze. Then
+the gloom of the landscape and the solemnity of the hour gave her a
+contraction of the heart, and without knowing what she was doing she
+began to run as the girls had done. She heard Segundo's footsteps
+behind her, and when she at last stopped, at a little distance from
+the highroad, she saw him smile and could not help smiling herself at
+her own folly.
+
+"Heavens! What a silly fright!" she cried, "I have made myself
+ridiculous. I am as bad as the children! But that blessed pool is
+enough to make one afraid. Tell me, how is it that they have not
+taken views of it? It is very curious and picturesque."
+
+They returned by the highroad; it was now quite dark and Nieves,
+as if wishing to efface the impression made by her childish terror,
+showed herself gay and friendly with Segundo; two or three times her
+eyes encountered his and, doubtless through absent-mindedness, she
+did not turn them aside. They spoke of the walk of the following day;
+it must be along the banks of the river, which was more cheerful than
+the pond; the scenery there was beautiful, not gloomy like that of
+the pool.
+
+In effect the road they followed on the next day was beautiful,
+although it was obstructed by the osier plantations and canebrakes
+and the intricate growth of the birches and the young poplars, which
+at times impeded their progress. Every now and then Segundo had to
+give his hand to Nieves and put aside the flexible young branches
+that struck against her face. Notwithstanding all his care, he was
+unable to save her from wetting her feet and leaving some fragments
+of the lace of her hat among the branches of a poplar. They stopped
+at a spot where the river, dividing, formed a sort of islet covered
+with cats-tails and gladioli. A rivulet running down the
+mountain-side mingled its waters silently and meekly with the waters
+of Avieiro. At the river's edge grew plants with dentated leaves and
+a variety of ferns and graceful aquatic plants. Segundo knelt down on
+the wet ground and began to gather some flowers.
+
+"Take them, Nieves," he said.
+
+She approached and, kneeling on one knee, he handed her a bunch
+of flowers of a pale turquoise blue, with slender stems, flowers of
+which she had hitherto seen only imitations, as adornments for hats,
+and that she had fancied had only a mythical existence; flowers of
+romance, that she had thought grew only on the banks of the Rhine,
+which is the home of everything romantic; flowers that have so
+beautiful a name--_Forget-me-not_.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII.
+
+
+Nieves was what is called an exemplary wife, without a dark page
+in her history, without a thought of disloyalty to her husband, a
+coquette only in her dress and in the adornment of her person, and
+even in these practicing no alluring arts, content to obey slavishly
+the dictates of fashion.
+
+Her ideal, if she had any, was to lead a comfortable, elegant
+existence, enjoying the consideration of the world. She had married
+when she was very young, Don Victoriano settling on her some
+thousands of dollars, and on the wedding-day her father had called
+her into his magisterial office and, keeping her standing before him
+as if she were a criminal, had charged her to respect and obey the
+husband she had chosen. She obeyed and respected him.
+
+And her obedience and respect were a torture to Don Victoriano,
+who sought in marriage a compensation for the long years he had spent
+in his law office; years of loneliness during which his arduous
+labors and confinement to business had prevented him from forming any
+tender tie or cultivating gentle affections, permitting him at the
+most some hasty pleasure, some reckless and exciting adventure, which
+did not satisfy his heart. He fancied that the beautiful daughter of
+the President of the Court would requite him for all the tender joys
+he had missed and he found with vain and bitter disappointment that
+Nieves saw in him only the grave husband who is accepted with
+docility, without repugnance, nothing more. Respecting against his
+will the peace of this superficial being, he neither could nor dared
+disturb it, and he fretted his soul with unavailing longings,
+hastening to the crisis of maturity and multiplying the white patches
+that streaked his black hair.
+
+When the child was born Don Victoriano hoped to repay himself
+with interest in new and holy caresses, to take solace in a pure
+oasis of affection. But the requirements of his position, the hurry
+of business, the complex obligations and the implacable cares of his
+existence, interposed themselves between him and a father's joys. He
+saw his daughter only from a distance, barely succeeding, when the
+coffee was brought in, in having her for awhile on his knee. And then
+came the first warnings of his disease.
+
+From the time in which his malady declared itself with all its
+afflicting symptoms, Nieves had still less of her husband's society
+than before; it seemed to her as if she had returned to the rosy days
+of her girlhood, when she flitted about like a butterfly and played
+at lovers with her companions, who wrote her fictitious love-letters
+of an innocent nature, which they put under her pillow.
+
+She never had had much amusement since that time. A great deal of
+amusement was to be found in the routine of a methodical Madrid life!
+Yes, there was a period during which the Marquis de Cameros, a rich
+young client of Don Victoriano's, had come to the house with some
+frequency, and he had even been asked to dine with them three or four
+times, without ceremony. Nieves remembered that the Marquis had cast
+many furtive glances at her, and that they had always met him, by
+chance, at whatever theater they went to. It did not go beyond this.
+
+Nieves was now in the bloom of her second youth--between
+twenty-nine and thirty--terrible epoch in a woman's life; and if it
+brought her no red passion flowers, at least she wished to adorn
+herself with the romantic forget-me-nots of the poet. It seemed to
+Nieves that in the porcelain vase of her existence a flower had been
+wanting, and the fragile blue spray came to complete the beauty of
+the drawing-room toy. Bah! What harm was there in all this? It was a
+childish adventure. Those flowers, preserved between the leaves of a
+costly prayer-book, inspired her only with thoughts as pallid and
+sapless as the poor petals now pressed and dry.
+
+She had fastened the blue spray in her bosom. How well it looked
+among the folds of the écru lace!
+
+"Tell me, mamma," Victorina had said to her that night before
+going to bed, "did Segundo give you those pretty flowers?"
+
+"Oh, I don't remember--yes, I think that García picked them for
+me."
+
+"Will you give them to me to keep in my little satchel?"
+
+"Go, child, go to bed quickly. Mademoiselle, see that she says
+her prayers!"
+
+
+
+
+                                 XIII.
+
+
+The proximity of the feasts put an end to long walks. The
+promenaders confined themselves to walks on the highroad, returning
+soon to the town, where the plaza was crowded with busy people. The
+promenaders included the young ladies of the Combist party, gayly
+attired, parish priests, ill-shaven, of sickly aspect and dejected
+looking, gamblers of doubtful appearance and strangers from the
+Border--all types which Agonde criticised with mordacity, to Nieves'
+great amusement.
+
+"Do you see those women there? They are the Señoritas de Gondas,
+three old maids and a young lady, whom they call their niece, but as
+they have no brother----Those other two are the Molendes, from Cebre,
+very aristocratic people, God save the mark! The fat one thinks
+herself superior to Lucifer, and the other writes poetry, and what
+poetry! I tell Segundo García that he ought to propose to her; they
+would make an excellent pair. They are staying at Lamajosa's; there
+they are in their element, for Doña Mercedes Lamajosa, when any
+visitor comes, in order that it may be known that they are noble,
+says to her daughters: 'Girls, let one of you bring me my knitting;
+it must be in the press, where the letters-patent of nobility are.'
+Those two handsome, well-dressed girls are the Caminos, daughters of
+the judge."
+
+On the eve of the fair the musicians paraded the streets morning
+and afternoon, deafening everybody with the noise of their triumphal
+strains. The plaza in front of the townhall was dotted with booths,
+which made a gay confusion of brilliant and discordant colors. Before
+the townhall were erected some odd-looking objects which with equal
+probability might be taken for instruments of torture, children's
+toys, or scarecrows, but which were in reality fireworks--trees and
+wheels which were to burn that night, with magnificent pomp, favored
+by the stillness of the atmosphere. From the window of the building
+issued, like a Titanic arm, the pole on which was to be hoisted the
+gigantic balloon, and along the balustrade ran a series of colored
+glasses, forming the letters V. A. D. L. C.--a delicate compliment to
+the representative of the district.
+
+It was already dark when Don Victoriano, accompanied by his wife
+and daughter, set out for the townhall to see the fireworks. It was
+with difficulty they made their way through the crowd which filled
+the plaza, where a thousand discordant noises filled the air--now the
+timbrel and castanets in some dance, now the buzz of the _zanfona_,
+now some slow and melancholy popular _copla_, now the shout of some
+aggressive and quarrelsome drunkard. Agonde gave his arm to Nieves,
+made way for her among the crowd, and explained to her the programme
+of the night's entertainment.
+
+"Never was there seen a balloon like this year's," he said; "it
+is the largest we have ever had here. The Romerists are furious."
+
+"And how has my likeness turned out?" asked Don Victoriano with
+interest.
+
+"Oh! It is superb. Better than the likeness in _La
+Illustracion_."
+
+At the door of the townhall the difficulties increased, and it
+was necessary to trample down without mercy the country-people--who
+had installed themselves there, determined not to budge an inch lest
+they should lose their places--before they were able to pass in.
+
+"See what asses they are," said Agonde. "It makes no difference
+whether you step over them or not, they won't rise. They have no
+place to sleep and they intend to pass the night here; to-morrow they
+will waken up and return to their villages."
+
+They made their way as best they could over this motley heap in
+which men and women were crowded together, intertwined, entangled in
+repulsive promiscuity. Even on the steps of the stairs
+suspicious-looking groups were lying, or some drunken peasant snored,
+surfeited with _pulpo_, or some old woman sat counting her coppers in
+her lap. They entered the hall, which was illuminated only by the dim
+light shed by the colored glasses. Some young ladies already occupied
+the space in front of the windows, but the Alcalde, hat in hand, with
+innumerable apologies, made them draw their chairs closer together to
+make room for Nieves, Victorina, and Carmen Agonde, around whom an
+obsequious circle gathered; chairs were brought for the ladies, and
+the Alcalde took Don Victoriano to the Secretary's office, where a
+tray, with some bottles of Tostado and some atrocious cigars, awaited
+him. The young ladies and the children placed themselves in front,
+leaning on the railing of the balcony, running the risk of having
+some rocket fall upon them. Nieves remained a little behind, and drew
+her silver-woven Algerian shawl closer around her, for in this empty,
+gloomy hall the air was chill. At her side was an empty chair, which
+was suddenly occupied by a figure whose outlines were dimly
+distinguishable in the darkness.
+
+"Why, García," she cried, "it is a cure for sore eyes. We haven't
+seen you for two days."
+
+"You don't see me now, either, Nieves," said the poet, leaning
+toward her and speaking in a low voice. "It would be rather difficult
+to see one here."
+
+"That is true," answered Nieves, confused by this simple remark.
+"Why have they not brought lights?"
+
+"Because it would spoil the effect of the fireworks. Don't you
+prefer this species of semi-obscurity?" he added, smiling, before he
+uttered it, at the choice phrase.
+
+Nieves was silent. Unconsciously she was fascinated by the
+situation, in which there was a delicate blending of danger and
+security which was not without a tinge of romance; she felt a sense
+of security in the proximity of the open window, the young girls
+crowded around it, the plaza, where the multitude swarmed like ants,
+and whence came noises like the roaring of the sea, and songs and
+confused cries full of tender melancholy; but at the same time the
+solitude and the darkness of the hall and the species of isolation in
+which she found herself with the Swan afforded one of those chance
+occasions which tempt women of weak principles, who are neither so
+imprudent as to throw themselves headlong into danger, nor so
+cautious as to fly from its shadow.
+
+Nieves remained silent, feeling Segundo's breath fanning her
+cheek. Suddenly both started. The first rocket was streaking the sky
+with a long trail of light, and the noise of the explosion, deadened
+though it was by distance, drew a cheer from the crowd in the plaza.
+After this advanced guard came, one after another, at regular
+intervals, with measured, hollow, deafening sound, eight bombs, the
+signal announced in the programme of the feasts for the beginning of
+the display. The window shook with the report and Nieves did not
+venture to raise her eyes to the sky, fearing, doubtless, to see it
+coming down with the reverberation of the bombs. After this the noise
+of the flying fireworks, chasing one another through the solitudes of
+space, seemed to her soft and pleasant.
+
+The first of these were ordinary rockets, without any novelty
+whatever--a trail of light, a dull report, and a shower of sparks.
+But soon came the surprises, novelties, and marvels of art. There
+were fireworks that exploded, separating into three or four cascades
+of light that vanished with fantastic swiftness in the depths of
+space; from others fell with mysterious slowness and noiselessness
+violet, green, and red lights, as if the angels had overturned in the
+skies a casket of amethysts, emeralds, and rubies. The lights
+descended slowly, like tears, and before they reached the ground
+suddenly went out. The prettiest were the rockets which sent down a
+rain of gold, a fantastic shower of sparks, a stream of drops of
+light as quickly lighted as extinguished. The delight of the crowd in
+the plaza, however, was greatest at the fireworks of three explosions
+and a snake. These were not without beauty; they exploded like simple
+rockets, sending forth a fiery lizard, a reptile which ran through
+the sky in serpentine curves, and then plunged suddenly into
+darkness.
+
+The scene was now wrapped in darkness, now flooded with light,
+when the plaza would seem to rise to a level with the window, with
+its swarm of people, the patches of color of the booths and the
+hundreds of human faces turned upward, beaming with delight at this
+favorite spectacle of the Galicians, a race which has preserved the
+Celtic love and admiration for pyrotechnic displays, for brilliantly
+illuminated nights in which they find a compensation for the cloudy
+horizon of the day.
+
+Nieves, too, was pleased by the sudden alternations of light and
+darkness, a faithful image of the ambiguous condition of her soul.
+When the firmament was lighted up she watched with admiration the
+bright luminaries that gave a Venetian coloring to these pleasant
+moments. When everything was again enveloped in darkness she ventured
+to look at the poet, without seeing him, however, for her eyes,
+dazzled by the fireworks, were unable to distinguish the outlines of
+his face. The poet, on his side, kept his eyes fixed persistently on
+Nieves, and he saw her flooded with light, with that rare and
+beautiful moonlight glow produced by fireworks, and which adds a
+hundredfold to the softness and freshness of the features. He felt a
+keen impulse to condense in one ardent phrase all that the time had
+now come for saying, and he bent toward her--and at last he
+pronounced her name!
+
+"Nieves!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Had you ever seen fireworks like these before?"
+
+"No; it is a specialty of this province. I like them greatly. If
+I were a poet like you I would say pretty things about them. Come,
+invent something, you."
+
+"Like them happiness brightens our existence, for a few brief
+moments, Nieves--but while it brightens, while we feel it----"
+
+Segundo inwardly cursed the high-sounding phrase that he found
+himself unable to finish. What nonsense he was talking! Would it not
+be better to bend down a little lower and touch with his lips----But
+what if she should scream? She would not scream, he would venture to
+swear. Courage!
+
+In the balcony a great commotion was heard. Carmen Agonde called
+to Nieves:
+
+"Nieves, come, come! The first tree--a wheel of fire----"
+
+Nieves rose hastily and went and leaned over the balustrade,
+thinking that it would not do to attract attention sitting all the
+evening chatting with Segundo. The tree began to burn at one end, not
+without difficulty, apparently, spitting forth an occasional red
+spark; but suddenly the whole piece took fire--a flaming wheel, an
+enormous wafer of red and green light, which turned round and round,
+expanding and shaking out its fiery locks and making the air resound
+with a noise like the report of fire-arms. It was silent for a few
+brief instants and seemed on the point of going out, a cloud of rosy
+smoke enveloped it, through which shone a point of light, a golden
+sun, which soon began to turn with dizzying rapidity, opening and
+spreading out into an aureole of rays. These went out one by one, and
+the sun, diminishing in size until it was no larger than a coal,
+lazily gave a few languid turns, and, sighing, expired.
+
+As Nieves was returning to her seat she felt a pair of arms
+thrown around her neck. They were those of Victorina who, intoxicated
+with delight at the spectacle of the fireworks, cried in her thin
+voice:
+
+"Mamma, mamma! How lovely! How beautiful! And Carmen says they
+are going to set off more trees and a wheel----"
+
+She stopped, seeing Segundo standing beside Nieves' chair. She
+hung her head, ashamed of her childish enthusiasm, and, instead of
+returning to the window, she remained beside her mother, lavishing
+caresses upon her to disguise the shyness and timidity which always
+took possession of her when Segundo looked at her. Two other pieces
+were burning at two of the corners of the plaza, a pin-wheel and a
+vase, that sent forth showers of light, first golden, then blue. The
+child, notwithstanding her admiration for the fireworks, did not
+appear to have any intention of going to the window to see them,
+leaving Nieves and Segundo alone. The latter remained seated for some
+ten minutes longer, but seeing that the child did not leave her
+mother's side, he rose quickly, seized by a sudden frenzy, and walked
+up and down the dimly-lighted hall with hasty steps, conscious that
+for the moment he was not sufficiently master of himself to maintain
+outward calmness.
+
+By Heaven, he was well employed! Why had he been fool enough to
+let slip so favorable an opportunity! Nieves had encouraged him; he
+had not dreamed it; no; glances, smiles, slight but significant
+indications of liking and good-will; all these there had been, and
+they all counseled him to end so ambiguous and doubtful a situation.
+Ah! If this woman only loved him! And she should love him, and not in
+jest and as a pastime, but madly! Segundo would not be satisfied with
+less. His ambitious soul scorned easy and ephemeral triumphs--all or
+nothing. If the Madridlenian thought of flirting with him she would
+find herself mistaken; he would seize her by her butterfly wings and,
+even at the cost of breaking them, he would hold her fast; if one
+wished to retain a butterfly in his possession he must pierce it
+through the heart or press it to death. Segundo had done this a
+thousand times when he was a boy; he would do it now again; he was
+resolved upon it; whenever a light or mocking laugh, a reserved
+attitude or a tranquil look, showed Segundo that Señora de Comba
+maintained her self-possession, his heart swelled with rage that
+threatened to suffocate him; and when he saw the child beside her
+mother, who was keeping up an animated conversation with the little
+girl, as if she were keeping her there as a protection, he determined
+that he would not let the night pass without knowing what were her
+feelings toward him.
+
+He returned to Nieves, but she had now risen and the child was
+drawing her by the hands to the window; this was the solemn and
+critical moment; the monster balloon had just been attached to the
+pole for the purpose of inflating it; and from the plaza came a loud
+buzz, a buzz of eager expectation. A phalanx of Combist artisans,
+among whom figured Ramon, the confectioner, were clearing a space
+around it sufficiently large to allow of the fuse burning freely, so
+that the difficult operation might be accomplished. The silhouettes
+of the workmen, illuminated by the light of the fuse, could be seen
+moving about, bending down, rising up, dancing a sort of mad dance.
+The darkness was no longer illuminated by the glare of the rockets,
+and the human sea looked black as a lake of pitch.
+
+Still folded in innumerable folds, its sides clinging together,
+the balloon swayed feebly, kissing the ground with its lips of wire,
+between which the ill-smelling fuse was beginning to burn brightly.
+The manufacturers of the colossal balloon proceeded to unfold it
+gently and affectionately, lighting below it other fuses to aid the
+principal one and hasten the rarification of air in its paper body.
+This began to distend itself, the folds opening out with a gentle,
+rustling sound, and the balloon, losing its former limp and lank
+appearance, began to be inflated in places. As yet the figures on its
+sides appeared of unnatural length, like figures reflected from the
+polished, convex surface of a coffee urn; but already several borders
+and mottoes began to make their appearance here and there, acquiring
+their natural proportions and positions and showing clearly the
+coarse red and blue daubs.
+
+The difficulty was that the mouth of the balloon was too large,
+allowing the rarefied air to escape through it; and if the fuses were
+made to burn with greater force there was danger of setting the paper
+on fire and instantly reducing the superb machine to ashes--a
+terrible calamity which must be prevented at all costs. Therefore
+many arms were eagerly stretched out to support it, and when the
+balloon leaned to one side many hands made haste to sustain it--all
+this to the accompaniment of cries, oaths, and maledictions.
+
+In the plaza the surging crowd continued to increase, and the
+eager expectancy became momentarily greater. Carmen Agonde, with her
+mellow laugh, recounted to Nieves the plots that went on behind the
+scenes. Those who were trying to push their way to the front in order
+to overturn the fuses and prevent the ascent of the balloon belonged
+to the Romerist party; a good watch the maker of the fireworks had
+been obliged to keep to prevent them from wetting his powder trees;
+but the greatest hatred was to the balloon, on account of its bearing
+Don Victoriano's likeness; they had vowed and determined that so
+ridiculous and grotesque an object should not ascend into the air
+while they had life to prevent it; and that they themselves would
+construct another balloon, better than that of the townhall, and that
+this should be the only one to ascend. For this reason they applauded
+and uttered shouts of derision every time the gigantic balloon,
+unable to rise from the earth, fell down feebly to the right or to
+the left, while Don Victoriano's partisans directed their efforts on
+the one hand to protect from all injury the enormous bulk of the
+balloon, on the other to inflate it with warm air to make it rise.
+
+Nieves' eyes were fixed attentively on the monster, but her
+thoughts were far away. Segundo had succeeded in pushing his way
+through the crowd in front of the window and was now sitting beside
+her, on her right. No one was observing them now, and the poet,
+without preface, passed his arm around Nieves' waist, placing his
+hand boldly on the spot where, anatomically speaking, the heart is
+situated. Instead of the elastic and yielding curve of the form and
+the quickened pulsation of the organ, Segundo felt under his hand the
+hard surface of one of those long corset-breastplates full of
+whalebones, and furnished with steel springs, which fashion
+prescribes at the present day--an apparatus to which Nieves' form
+owed much of its slender grace. Infernal corset! Segundo could have
+wished that his fingers were pincers to pierce through the fabric of
+her gown, through the steel whalebones, through her inner garments,
+through the flesh and through the very ribs and fasten themselves in
+her heart, and seize it red-hot and bleeding and crush, tear,
+annihilate it! Why could he not feel the throbbings of that heart?
+Leocadia's heart, or even Victorina's, bounded like a bird's when he
+touched it. And Segundo, enraged, pressed his hand with greater
+force, undeterred by the fear of hurting Nieves, desiring, on the
+contrary, to strangle her.
+
+Surprised at Segundo's audacity, Nieves remained silent, not
+daring to make the slightest movement, lest by doing so she should
+attract attention, and protesting only by straightening her form and
+raising her eyes to his with a look of anguish, soon lowering them,
+however, unable to resist the expression in the eyes of the poet. The
+latter continued to search for the absent heart without succeeding in
+feeling anything more than the throbbing of his own arteries, of his
+pulse compressed against the unyielding surface of the corset. But
+fatigue finally conquered, his fingers relaxed their pressure, his
+arm fell down powerless, and rested without strength or illusion on
+the form, at once flexible and unyielding, the form of whalebone and
+steel.
+
+Meanwhile the balloon, in defiance of the Romerist intriguers,
+continued to expand, as its enormous body was filled with gas and
+light, illuminating the plaza like a gigantic lantern. It swayed from
+side to side majestically, and on its immense surface could be read
+plainly all the inscriptions and laudatory phrases invented by the
+enthusiastic Combists. The effigy, or rather the colossal figure of
+Don Victoriano, which filled one of its sides completely, followed
+the curve of the balloon and stood out, so ugly and disproportioned
+that it was a pleasure to see it; it had two frying-pans for eyes,
+the pupils being two eggs fried in them, no doubt; for mouth a
+species of fish or lizard and for beard a tangled forest or map of
+blots of sienna and lampblack. Giant branches of green laurel crossed
+each other above the head of the colossus, matching the golden palms
+of his court dress, represented by daubs of ocher. And the balloon
+swelled and swelled, its distended sides grew ever tenser and tenser,
+and it pulled impatiently at the cord that held it, eager to break
+away and soar among the clouds. The Combists yelled with delight.
+Suddenly a murmur was heard, a low murmur of expectation.
+
+The cord had been dexterously cut and the balloon, majestic,
+magnificent, rose a few yards above the ground, bearing with it the
+apotheosis of Don Victoriano, the glory of his laurels, mottoes and
+emblems. In the balcony and in the plaza below resounded a salvo of
+applause and triumphal acclamations. Oh, vanity of human joys! It was
+not one Romerist stone only but three at least that at this instant,
+directed with unerring aim, pierced the sides of the paper monster,
+allowing the hot air, the vital current, to escape through the
+wounds. The balloon contracted, shriveled up like a worm when it is
+trodden upon, and finally, doubling over in the middle, gave itself
+up a prey to the devouring flames lighted by the fuse which in a
+second's space enveloped it in a fiery mantle.
+
+At the same moment that the balloon of the official candidate
+expired thus miserably, the little Romerist balloon, its swelling
+sides daubed with coarse designs, rose promptly and swiftly from a
+corner of the plaza, resolved not to pause in its ascent until it had
+reached the clouds.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV.
+
+
+Nieves spent a restless night and when she awoke in the morning
+the incidents of the preceding evening presented themselves to her
+mind vaguely and confusedly as if she had dreamed them; she could not
+believe in the reality of Segundo's singular hardihood, that taking
+possession of her, that audacious outrage, that she had not known how
+to resent. How compromising the position in which the daring of the
+poet had placed her! And what if anyone had noticed it? When she bade
+good-night to the girls who had been sitting with her at the window,
+they had smiled in a way that was--well, odd; Carmen Agonde, the fat
+girl with the sleepy eyes and placid temper, gave evidence at times
+of a strain of malice. But, no; how could they have observed
+anything? The shawl she had worn was large and had covered her whole
+figure. And Nieves took the shawl, put it on and looked at herself in
+the mirror, using a handglass to obtain a complete view of her
+person, in order to assure herself that, enveloped in this garment,
+it was impossible for an arm passed around her waist to be seen. She
+was engaged in this occupation when the door opened and someone
+entered. She started and dropped the glass.
+
+It was her husband, looking more sallow than ever, and bearing
+the traces of suffering stamped on his countenance. Nieves' heart
+seemed to turn within her. Could it be possible that Don Victoriano
+suspected anything? Her apprehensions were soon relieved, however,
+when she heard him speak, with ill-disguised pique, of the insulting
+behavior of the Romerists and the destruction of the balloon. The
+Minister sought an outlet for his mortification by complaining of the
+pain of the pin-prick.
+
+"But did you ever see the like, child? What do you think of it?"
+he said.
+
+He then went on to complain of the noise of the fair, which had
+lasted all night and had not allowed him to close his eyes. Nieves
+agreed that it was extremely annoying; she, too, had been unable to
+sleep. The Minister opened the window and the noise reached them
+louder and more distinct. It resembled a grand chorale, or symphony,
+composed of human voices, the neighing of horses and mules, the
+grunting of pigs, the lowing of cows, calves, and oxen, hucksters'
+criers, noises of quarreling, songs, blasphemies, and sounds of
+musical instruments. The flood-tide of the fair had submerged
+Vilamorta.
+
+From the window could be seen its waves, a surging sea of men and
+animals crowded together in inextricable confusion. Suddenly among
+the throng of peasants a drove of six or eight calves would rush with
+helpless terror; a led mule had cleared a space around him, dealing
+kicks to right and left, screams and groans of pain were heard on all
+sides, but those behind continued pushing those in front and the
+space was filled up again. The venders of felt hats were a curious
+sight as they walked about with their merchandise on their heads,
+towers of twenty or thirty hats piled one above another, like Chinese
+pagodas. Other venders carried for sale, on a portable counter slung
+from their necks by ribbons, balls of thread, tape, thimbles, and
+scissors; the venders of distaffs and spindles carried their wares
+suspended around their waists, from their breast, everywhere, as
+unskillful swimmers carry bladders, and the venders of frying-pans
+glittered in the sun like feudal warriors.
+
+The confused din, the ceaseless movement of the multitude, and
+the mingling together of human beings and animals, made the brain
+dizzy, and the ear was wearied by the plaintive lowing of the cows
+under the drivers' lash, the terrified cries of women, the brutal
+hilarity of drunken men who issued from the taverns with hats pushed
+far back on their heads, seeking an outlet for their superabundant
+energy by assaulting the men or pinching the girls. The latter,
+screaming with terror, escaped from the drunkards to fall, perhaps,
+on the horns of some ox or to receive a blow from the snout of some
+mule that bathed their foreheads and temples in its frothy saliva.
+But most terrifying of all was it to see infants carried high above
+their mothers' heads, braving, like frail skiffs, the dangers of this
+stormy sea.
+
+Nieves remained for half an hour or so looking out of the window,
+and then, sight and hearing both weary, she withdrew. In the
+afternoon she watched the scene again for a while. The buying and
+selling was less brisk, and the better classes of the Border began to
+make their appearance at the fair. Agonde, who, absorbed in the
+desperate gambling that went on in the back shop, had kept himself
+invisible during the day, now went upstairs and, while he wiped the
+perspiration from his brow, pointed out to Nieves the notabilities of
+the place, as they passed by, naming to her in turn the archpriests,
+the parish priests, the physicians, and the gentry.
+
+"That very thin man, riding that horse that looks as if it had
+been strained through a colander, with silver trimmings in his saddle
+and silver spurs, is Señorito de Limioso, a scion of the house of the
+Cid--God save the mark! The Pazo of Limioso is situated in the
+neighborhood of Cebre. As for money, they have not an _ochavo_; they
+own a few barley-fields, and a couple of grapevines past yielding,
+that bring them in a trifle. But do you suppose that Señorito de
+Limioso would go into an inn to dine? No, Señora; he carries his
+bread and cheese in his pocket, and he will sleep--Heaven knows
+where. As he is a Carlist they may let him stretch himself on the
+floor of Doña Eufrasia's back shop, with the saddle of his nag for a
+pillow, for on a day like this there are no mattresses to spare. And
+you may be sure that his servant's belt bulges out in the way it
+does, because he carries the nag's feed in it."
+
+"You exaggerate, Agonde."
+
+"Exaggerate? No, indeed. You have no idea what those gentlemen
+are. Here they are called _Seven on a horse_, because they have one
+horse for all seven which they ride in pairs, in turn, and when they
+are near the town they stop to ride in, one by one, armed with whip
+and spur, and the nag comes in seven different times, each time with
+a different rider. Why, see those ladies coming there, the one on a
+donkey, the other on a mule--the Señoritas de Loiro. They are friends
+of the Molendes. Look at the bundles they carry before them; they are
+the dresses for to-night's ball."
+
+"But are you really in earnest?"
+
+"In earnest? Yes, indeed, Señora. They have them all here, every
+article--the bustle, or whatever it may be called, that sticks out
+behind, the shoes, the petticoats, and even the rouge. And those are
+very refined, they come to the town to dress themselves; most of the
+young ladies, a few years ago, used to dress themselves in the pine
+wood near the echo of Santa Margarita. As they had no house in the
+town to stay at, and they were not going to lose the ball, at
+half-past ten or eleven they were among the pines, hooking their
+low-necked dresses, fastening on their bows and their gewgaws, and as
+fine as you please. All the gentry together, Nieves, if you will
+believe me, could not make up a dollar among them. They are people
+that, to avoid buying lard, or making broth, breakfast on wine and
+water. They hang up the loaf of wheaten bread among the rafters so
+that it may be out of reach and may last forever. I know them
+well--vanity, and nothing more."
+
+The apothecary spoke angrily, multiplying instances, and
+exaggerating them in the telling, with the rage of the plebeian who
+eagerly seizes an opportunity to ridicule the poor aristocracy,
+relating anecdotes of everyone of the ladies and gentlemen--stories
+of poverty more or less skillfully disguised. Don Victoriano laughed,
+remembering some of the stories, now become proverbial in the
+country, while Nieves, her anxiety set at rest by her husband's
+laughter, began to think without terror, with a certain secret
+complacency, rather, of the episodes of the fireworks. She had feared
+to see Segundo among the crowd, but, as the night advanced and the
+brilliant colors of the booths faded into the surrounding darkness,
+and lights began to appear, and the singing of the drunkards grew
+hoarser, her mind became tranquil, and the danger seemed very remote,
+almost to have disappeared. In her inexperience she had fancied at
+first that the poet's arm would leave its trace, as it were, on her
+waist, and that the poet would seize the first opportunity to present
+himself before her, exacting and impassioned, betraying himself and
+compromising her. But the day passed by, serene and without incident,
+and Nieves experienced the inevitable impatience of the woman who
+waits in vain for the appearance of the man who occupies her
+thoughts. At last she remembered the ball. Segundo would certainly be
+there.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XV.
+
+
+And she adorned herself for the town ball with a certain
+illusion, with the same care as if she were dressing for a soirée at
+the palace of Puenteancha.
+
+Naturally the gown and the ornaments were very different from
+what they would have been in the latter case, but they were selected
+with no less care and consideration--a gown of white China crêpe,
+high-necked, and without a train, trimmed with Valenciennes lace,
+that fell in clinging folds, whose simplicity was completed by long
+dark Suède gloves wrinkled at the wrist, reaching to the elbow. A
+black velvet ribbon, fastened by a diamond and sapphire horseshoe,
+encircled her neck. Her beautiful fair hair, arranged in the English
+fashion, curled slightly over the forehead.
+
+She was almost ashamed of having selected this toilette when she
+crossed the muddy plaza, leaning on Agonde's arm, and heard the poor
+music, and found the entrance of the townhall crowded with
+country-people sitting on the floor, whom it was necessary to step
+over to reach the staircase. On the landings ran the lees of the
+fair--a dark wine-colored rivulet. Agonde drew her aside.
+
+"Don't step there, Nieves; take care," he said.
+
+She felt repelled by this unsightly entrance, calling to mind the
+marble vestibule and staircase of the palace of Puenteancha, carpeted
+down the center, with plants arranged on either side. At the door of
+the apartment which she was now entering was a counter laden with
+cakes and confectionery, at which the wife of Ramon, the
+confectioner, holding in her arms the inevitable baby, presided,
+casting angry glances at the young ladies who had come to amuse
+themselves.
+
+Nieves was given a seat in the most conspicuous part of the room,
+in front of the door. The whitewashed walls were not very clean, nor
+was the red cloth which covered the benches very fresh, nor did the
+badly snuffed candles in the tin chandelier produce a brilliant
+illumination. Owing to the large number of people present the heat
+was almost insupportable. In the center of the apartment the men
+stood grouped together--the youth of Vilamorta, visitors to the
+springs, strangers, gamblers, and the gentry from the neighboring
+country, mingling in one black mass. Every time the band struck up
+anew, deafening the ear with its sonorous strains, the indefatigable
+dancers would leave the group and hurry off in search of their
+partners.
+
+Nieves watched the scene with amazement. The young ladies, with
+their large chignons and their clusters of curls, their faces daubed
+with coarse rice-powder, their bodices cut low around the throat,
+their long trains of cheap materials, continually trodden upon and
+torn by the heavy boots of the gallants, their clumsy, tastelessly
+arranged flowers, and their short-wristed gloves of thick kid, too
+small for their hands, all seemed to her strange and laughable. She
+remembered Agonde's descriptions, the toilet made in the pine grove,
+and fanned herself with her large black fan as if to drive off the
+pestilent air in which the whirl of the dance enveloped her. The
+dancers pursued their task earnestly, diligently, as if they were
+contending for a prize to be awarded to the one who should first get
+out of breath, moving, not with their own motion only, but impelled
+by the jostling, pushing, and crowding of those around them. And
+Nieves, accustomed to the elegant and measured dancing of the
+soirées, wondered at the courage and resolution displayed by the
+dancers of Vilamorta. Some of the girls, whose flounces had been torn
+by some gallant's boot-heel, turned up their skirts, quickly tore off
+the whole trimming, rolled it into a ball, which they threw into a
+corner, and then returned, smiling and contented, to the arms of
+their partners. In vain the men wiped the perspiration from their
+faces; their collars and shirt-fronts grew limp, their hair clung to
+their foreheads; the silk bodices of the ladies began to show stains
+of perspiration, and the marks of their partners' hands. And the
+gymnastics continued, and the dust and the particles of perspiration
+vitiated the atmosphere, and the floor of the room trembled. There
+were handsome couples, blooming girls and gallant young men, who
+danced with the healthy gayety of youth, with sparkling eyes,
+overflowing with animation; and there were ridiculous couples, short
+men and tall women, stout women and beardless boys, a baldheaded old
+man and a stout, middle-aged woman. There were brothers who danced
+with their sisters through shyness, because they had not the courage
+to invite other young ladies to dance, and the secretary of the town
+council, married for many years to a rich Orensen who was old and
+very jealous, danced all the evening with his wife, dancing polkas
+and waltzes in the time of a _habanera_ to keep from dying by
+asphyxiation.
+
+When Nieves entered the ballroom, the other women looked at her,
+first with curiosity, then with surprise. How strange to come so
+simply dressed! Not to wear a train a yard and a half long, nor a
+flower in her hair, nor bracelets nor satin shoes. Two or three
+ladies from Orense, who had cherished the expectation of making a
+sensation in the ball of Vilamorta, began to whisper among
+themselves, criticising the artistic negligence of her attire, the
+modesty of the white, high-necked bodice, and the grace of the small
+head, with its elegantly arranged hair, vaporous as the engravings in
+_La Illustracion_. The Orensens determined to copy the fashion-plate,
+the Vilamortans and the women of the Border, on the contrary,
+criticised the Minister's lady bitterly.
+
+"She is dressed almost as if she would dress at home."
+
+"She does it because she doesn't want to wear her good clothes
+here. Of course for a ball here----She thinks probably that we know
+nothing. But she might at least have dressed her hair a little
+better. And how easy it is to see that she is bored; look, why, she
+seems to be asleep."
+
+"And a little while ago she seemed as if she couldn't sit still a
+moment--she kept tapping the floor with her foot as if she were
+impatient to be gone."
+
+And it was true; Nieves was bored. And if the young ladies who
+censured her could only have known the cause!
+
+She could see Segundo nowhere, anxiously as she looked for him,
+at first with furtive glances, then openly and without disguise. At
+last García came to salute her, and then she could restrain herself
+no longer, and making an effort to speak in a natural and easy tone,
+she asked:
+
+"And the boy? It is a wonder he is not here."
+
+"Who? Segundo? Segundo is--so eccentric. If you could only guess
+what he is doing now. Reading verses or composing them. We must leave
+him to his whims."
+
+And the lawyer waved his hands with a gesture that seemed to say
+that the eccentricities of genius must be respected, while in his own
+mind he said:
+
+"He is most likely with that damned old woman."
+
+The truth is that nothing in the world would have induced the
+poet, under the circumstances, to come to a ball like the present
+one, to be obliged to dance with the young country girls of his
+acquaintance, to perspire and to be pulled about like the other young
+men. And his absence, the result of his æsthetic feeling, produced a
+marvelous effect on Nieves, effacing the last remnant of fear,
+stimulating her coquettish instincts, and piquing her curiosity.
+
+At the same time, in the radical circle that surrounded Don
+Victoriano and his wife, the approaching departure of the Minister
+and Nieves for Las Vides to be present at the vintage was
+discussed--a project that delighted the Minister as an unexpected
+holiday delights a schoolboy. The persons whom the hidalgo had
+invited or intended to invite for the festive occasion were named,
+and when Agonde uttered Segundo's name Nieves raised her eyes, and a
+look of animation lighted up her face, while she said to herself:
+
+"He is fully capable of not going."
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVI.
+
+
+A great day for Las Vides is the day appointed by the town
+council for the inauguration of the vintage. The whole year is passed
+in looking forward to and preparing for the beautiful harvest time.
+The vine is still clothed in purple and gold, but it has already
+begun to drop a part of its rich garniture as a bride drops her veil,
+the wasps settle in clusters on the grapes, announcing to man that
+they are now ripe. The last days of September, serene and peaceful,
+are at hand. To the vintage without delay!
+
+Neither Primo Genday nor Mendez takes a moment's rest. The bands
+of vintagers who come from distant parishes to hire themselves out
+must be attended to, must have their tasks assigned them; the work of
+gathering in the grapes must be organized so that it may be
+advantageously and harmoniously conducted. For the labors of the
+vintage resemble, somewhat, a great battle in which an extraordinary
+expenditure of energy is required from the soldier, a waste of muscle
+and of blood, but in which he must be supplied, in return, with
+everything necessary to recruit his strength during his moments of
+repose. In order that the vintagers might engage in their arduous
+labors with cheerfulness and alacrity, it was necessary to have at
+hand in the cellar the cask of must from which the carters might
+drink at discretion when they returned exhausted from the task of
+carrying the heavy _coleiro_, or basket, filled with grapes up the
+steep ascents; it was necessary that they should have an abundant
+supply of the thick wine flavored with mutton suet, the sardines and
+the barley-bread, when the voracious appetite of the bands demanded
+them; to which end the fire was always kept burning on the hearth at
+Las Vides and the enormous kettles in which the mess was cooked were
+always kept filled.
+
+When in addition to this the presence of numerous and
+distinguished guests be considered, some idea may be formed of the
+bustle of the manor-house during these incomparable days. Its walls
+sheltered, besides the Comba family, Saturnino and Carmen Agonde, the
+young and amiable curate of Naya, the portly arch-priest of Loiro,
+Tropiezo, Clodio Genday, Señorita de Limioso and the two Señoritas de
+Molende. Every class was here represented, so that Las Vides was a
+sort of microcosm or brief compendium of the world of the
+province--the priests attracted by Primo Genday, the radicals by the
+head of the house of Mendez. And all these people of conditions so
+diverse, finding themselves associated together, gave themselves up
+to the enjoyment of the occasion in the greatest possible harmony and
+concord.
+
+To the merriment of the vintagers the merriment of the guests
+responded like an echo. It was impossible to resist the influence of
+the Bacchic joyousness, the delirious gayety which seemed to float in
+the atmosphere. Among all the delightful spectacles which Nature has
+to offer, there is none more delightful than that of her fruitfulness
+in the vintage time, the baskets heaped full of clusters of ruddy or
+dark red grapes, which robust men, almost naked, like fauns, carry
+and empty into the vat or wine-press; the laughter of the vintagers
+hidden among the foliage, disputing, challenging each other from vine
+to vine to sing, a gayety which is followed by a reaction at
+nightfall--as is usually the case with all violent expressions of
+feeling in which there is a great expenditure of muscular strength;
+the merry challenges ending in some prolonged Celtic wail, some
+plaintive _a-laá-laá_. The pagan sensation of well-being, the
+exhilaration produced by the pure air of the country, the mere joy of
+existence, communicated themselves to the spectators of these
+delightful scenes, and at night, while the chorus of fauns and
+Bacchantes danced to the sound of the flute and the timbrel, the
+gentry diverted themselves with childish frolics in the great house.
+
+The young ladies slept all together in a large, bare apartment,
+the Rosary-room, the male guests being lodged by Mendez in another
+spacious room called the screen-room, because in it was a screen, as
+ugly as it was antique; the arch-priest only being excluded from this
+community of lodging, his obesity and his habit of snoring making it
+impossible for any person of even average sensibility to tolerate him
+as a roommate; and the gay and mischievous party being thus divided
+into two sections, there came to be established between them a sort
+of merry warfare, so that the occupants of the Rosary-room thought of
+nothing but playing tricks on the occupants of the screen-room, from
+which resulted innumerable witty inventions and amusing skirmishes.
+Between the two camps there was a neutral one--that of the Comba
+family, whose slumbers were respected and who were exempt in the
+matter of practical jokes, although the feminine band often took
+Nieves as their confidante and counselor.
+
+"Nieves, come here, Nieves; see, how foolish Carmen Agonde is;
+she says she likes the arch-priest, that barrel, better than Don
+Eugeniño, the parish priest of Naya, because it makes her laugh, she
+says, to see him perspiring and to look at the rolls of fat in the
+back of his neck. And say, Nieves, what trick shall we play to-night
+on Don Eugeniño? And on Ramon Limioso, who has been daring us all
+day?"
+
+It was Teresa Molende, a masculine-looking black-eyed brunette, a
+good specimen of the mountaineer, who spoke thus.
+
+"They must pay for the trick they played on us yesterday," added
+her sister Elvira, the sentimental poetess.
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"You must know that they locked Carmen up. They are the very
+mischief! They shut her up in Mendez's room. What is there that they
+won't think of! They tied her hands behind her back with a silk
+handkerchief, tied another handkerchief over her mouth, so that she
+couldn't scream, and left her there like a mouse in a mouse-trap. And
+we, hunting and hunting for Carmen, and no Carmen to be seen. And
+there we were thinking all sorts of things until Mendez went up to
+his room to go to bed and found her there. Of course they had that
+silly creature to deal with, for if it had been I----"
+
+"They would shut you up too," declared Carmen.
+
+"Me!" exclaimed the Amazon, drawing up her portly figure. "They
+would be the ones to get shut up!"
+
+"But they entrapped me into it," affirmed Carmen, looking as if
+she were just ready to cry. "See, Nieves, they said to me: 'Put your
+hands behind you, Carmiña, and we'll put a five-dollar piece in
+them,' and I put them behind me, and they were so treacherous as to
+tie them together."
+
+Nieves joined in the laughter of the two sisters. It could not be
+denied that this simplicity was very amusing. Nieves seemed to be in
+a new world in which routine, the worn-out conventionalities of
+Madrid society, did not exist. True, such noisy and ingenuous
+diversions might at times verge on impropriety or coarseness, but
+sometimes they were really entertaining. From the moment the guests
+rose from table in the afternoon nothing was thought of but frolic
+and fun. Teresa had proposed to herself not to allow Tropiezo to eat
+a meal in peace, and with the utmost dexterity she would catch flies
+on the wing, which she would throw slyly into his soup, or she would
+pour vinegar into his glass instead of wine, or rub pitch on his
+napkin so that it might stick to his mouth. For the arch-priest they
+had another trick--they would draw him on to talk of ceremonies, a
+subject on which he loved to expatiate, and when his attention was
+engaged, take away his plate slyly, which was like tearing a piece of
+his heart out of his breast.
+
+At night, in the parlor of the turbid mirrors, in which were the
+piano and the rocking-chairs, a gay company assembled; they sang
+fragments of _El Juramento_, and _El Grumete_; they played at
+hide-and-seek, and, without hiding, played _brisea_ with _malilla_
+counters; when they grew tired of cards, they had recourse to
+forfeits, to mind-reading, and other amusements. And the frolicsome
+rustic nature once aroused, they passed on to romping games--fool in
+the middle, hoodman-blind, and others which have the zest imparted by
+physical exercise--shouts, pushes and slaps.
+
+Then they would retire to their rooms, still excited by their
+sports, and this was the hour when their merriment was at its height,
+when they played the wildest pranks; when they fastened lighted
+tapers to the bodies of crickets and sent them under the bedroom
+doors; when they took the slats out of Tropiezo's bedstead so that
+when he lay down he might fall to the ground and bruise his ribs. In
+the halls could be heard smothered bursts of laughter and stealthy
+footsteps, white forms would be seen scurrying away, and doors would
+be hastily locked and barricaded with articles of furniture, while
+from behind them a mellow voice could be heard crying:
+
+"They are coming!"
+
+"Fasten the door well, girls! Don't open, not if the king himself
+were to knock!"
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVII.
+
+
+Segundo was the last of the guests to arrive at Las Vides. As he
+cared but little for games and as Nieves did not take any very active
+part in them either, they would often have found themselves thrown
+for society upon each other had it not been for Victorina, who, from
+the moment Segundo appeared, never left her mother's side, and Elvira
+Molende who, from the very instant of his arrival, clung to the poet
+like the ivy to the wall, directing on him a battery of sighs and
+glances, and treating him to sentimental confidences and rhapsodies
+sweet enough to surfeit a confectioner's boy. From the moment in
+which Segundo set foot in Las Vides, Elvira lost all her animation,
+and assumed a languishing and romantic air, which made her cheeks
+appear hollower and the circles under her eyes deeper than ever. Her
+form acquired the melancholy droop of the willow and, giving up
+sports and pranks, she devoted herself exclusively to the Swan.
+
+As it was moonlight, and the evenings were enjoyable out of
+doors, as soon as the sun had set, and the labors of the day were
+ended, and the vintagers assembled for a dance, some of the guests
+would assemble together also in the garden, generally at the foot of
+a high wall bordered with leafy camellias, or they would stop and sit
+down for a chat at some inviting spot on their way home from a walk.
+Elvira knew by heart a great many verses, both good and bad,
+generally of a melancholy kind--sentimental and elegiac; she was
+familiar with all the flowers of poetry, all the tender verses which
+constituted the poetic wealth of the locality, and uttered by her
+thin lips, in the silvery tones of her gentle voice, with the soft
+accents of her native land, the Galician verses, like an Andalusian
+moral maxim in the sensual mouth of a gypsy, had a peculiar and
+impressive beauty--the sensibility of a race crystallized in a poetic
+gem, in a tear of love. These plaintive verses were interrupted at
+times by mocking bursts of laughter, as the gay sounds of the
+castanets strike in on the melancholy notes of the bagpipes. The
+poems in dialect acquired a new beauty, their freshness and sylvan
+aroma seemed to augment by being recited by the soft tones of a
+woman's voice, on the edge of a pine wood and under the shadow of a
+grapevine, on a serene moonlight night; and the rhyme became a vague
+and dreamy melopoeia, like that of certain German ballads; a labial
+music interspersed with soft diphthongs, tender _ñ_'s, _x_'s of a
+more melodious sound than the hissing Castilian _ch_. Generally,
+after the recitations came singing. Don Eugenio, who was a Borderer,
+knew some Portuguese _fados_, and Elvira was unrivaled in her
+rendering of the popular and melancholy song of Curros, which seems
+made for Druidical nights, for nights illuminated by the solemn light
+of the moon.
+
+Segundo's heart thrilled with gratified vanity when Elvira
+recited shyly, in alternation with the verses of the popular and
+admired poets of the country, songs of the Swan, which had appeared
+in periodicals of Vigo or Orense. Segundo had never written in
+dialect, and yet Elvira had a book in which she pasted all the
+productions of the unknown Swan; Teresa, joining in the animated
+conversation with the best intentions in the word, betrayed her
+sister:
+
+"She writes verses too. Come, child, recite something of your
+own. She has a copy-book full of things invented, composed by
+herself."
+
+The poetess, after the indispensable excuses and denials, recited
+two or three little things, almost without poetic form, weak, sincere
+in the midst of their sentimental falseness--verses of the kind which
+reveal no artistic faculty, but which are the sure indication that
+the author or authoress feels an unsatisfied desire, longs for fame
+or for love, as the inarticulate cry of the infant expresses its
+hunger. Segundo twisted his mustache, Nieves lowered her eyes and
+played with the tassels of her fan, impatient and somewhat bored and
+nervous. This occurred two or three days after the arrival of Segundo
+who, in spite of all his attempts, had not yet been able to succeed
+in saying a word in private to Nieves.
+
+"How uncultured these young ladies are!" said Señora de Comba to
+herself, while aloud she said, "How lovely, how tender! It sounds
+like some of Grilo's verses."
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVIII.
+
+
+It was something different from poetry that formed the theme of
+conversation of the head of the house of Las Vides, the Gendays, and
+the arch-priest, installed on the balcony under the pretext of
+enjoying the moonlight, but in reality to discuss the important
+question of the vintage.
+
+A fine crop! Yes, indeed, a fine crop! The grape had not a trace
+of oïdium; it was clean, full, and so ripe that it was as sticky to
+the touch as if it had been dipped in honey. There was not a doubt
+but that the new wine of this year was better than the old wine of
+last year. Last year's vintage was an absolute failure! Hail to-day,
+rain to-morrow! The grape with so much rain had burst before it was
+time to gather it, and had not an atom of pulp; the result was a wine
+that scarcely left a stain on the shirt-sleeves of the muleteers.
+
+At the recollection of so great a calamity, Mendez pressed his
+thin lips together, and the arch-priest breathed hard. And the
+conversation continued, sustained by Primo Genday, who, with much
+verbosity, spitting and laughter, recounted details of harvests of
+twenty years before, declaring:
+
+"This year's crop is exactly like the crop of '61."
+
+"Exactly," assented Mendez. "As for the Rebeco, it will not give
+a load less this year, and the Grilloa--I don't know but that it will
+give us six or seven more. It is a great vine, the Grilloa!"
+
+After these cheerful prognostications of a rich harvest, Mendez
+described with satisfaction to his attentive audience some
+improvements which he had introduced into the cultivation of the
+vine. He had most of his casks secured with iron hoops; they were
+more expensive than wooden ones, but they lasted longer and they
+saved the troublesome labor of making new hoops for each harvest; he
+was thinking too, by way of experiment, of setting up a wine-press,
+doing away with the repulsive spectacle of the trampling of the
+grapes by human feet, and in order that the pressed skins and the
+pulp of the grapes might not go to waste, he would distill from them
+a refined alcohol which Agonde would buy from him at its weight in
+gold.
+
+Lulled by the grave voices discussing important agricultural
+questions on the balcony, Don Victoriano, somewhat fatigued by his
+expedition to the vineyards, sat smoking in the rocking-chair, buried
+in painful meditations. Since his return from the springs he had been
+growing weaker day by day; the temporary improvement had vanished;
+the debility, the unnatural appetite, the thirst, and the desiccation
+of the body had increased. He remembered that Sanchez del Abrojo had
+told him that a slight perspiration would be of the greatest benefit
+to him, and when he observed, after he had been drinking the waters
+for a few days, the re-establishment of this function, his joy knew
+no bounds. But what was his terror when he found that his shirt,
+stiff and hard, adhered to his skin as if it had been soaked in
+syrup. He touched a fold of the sleeve with his lips and perceived a
+sweetish taste. It was plain! He perspired sugar! The glucose
+secretion was, then, uncontrollable, and by a tremendous irony of
+fate all the bitterness of his existence had come to end in this
+strange elaboration of sweet substances.
+
+For some days past he had noticed another alarming symptom. His
+sight was becoming affected. As the aqueous humor of the eye dried up
+the crystalline lens became clouded, producing the cataract of
+diabetes. Don Victoriano had chills. He regretted now having put
+himself into the homicidal hands of Tropiezo and drunk the waters.
+There was not a doubt but that he was being wrongly treated. From
+this day forth a strict regimen, a diet of fruits, fecula, and milk.
+To live, to live, but for a year, and to be able to hide his malady!
+If the electors saw their candidate blind and dying, they would
+desert to Romero. The humiliation of losing the coming election
+seemed to him intolerable.
+
+Bursts of silvery laughter, and youthful exclamations proceeding
+from the garden, changed the current of his thoughts. Why was it that
+Nieves did not perceive the serious condition of her husband's
+health? He wished to dissemble before the whole world, but before his
+wife----Ah, if his wife belonged to him she ought to be beside him
+now, consoling and soothing him by her caresses instead of diverting
+herself and frolicking among the camellias, like a child. If she was
+beautiful and fresh and her husband sickly, so much the worse for
+her. Let her put up with it, as was her duty. Bah! What nonsense!
+Nieves did not love him, had never loved him!
+
+The noise and laughter below increased. Victorina and Teresa, the
+verses being exhausted, had proposed a game of hide-and-seek.
+Victorina was crying at every moment, "Teresa's it!" "Segundo's it!"
+
+The garden was very well adapted for this exercise because of its
+almost labyrinthine intricacy, owing to the fact of its being laid
+out in sloping terraces supported on walls and separated by rows of
+umbrageous trees, communicating with each other by uneven steps, as
+is the case with all the estates in this hilly country. Thus it was
+that the play was very noisy, as the seeker had great difficulty in
+finding those who were hiding.
+
+Nieves endeavored to hide herself securely, through laziness so
+as not to have to run after the others. Chance provided her with a
+superb hiding-place, a large lemon tree situated at one end of a
+terrace, near some steps which afforded an easy means of escape. She
+hid herself here in the densest part of the foliage, drawing her
+light gown closely around her so that it might not betray her. She
+had been only a few moments in her hiding-place when a shadow passed
+before her and a voice murmured softly:
+
+"Nieves!"
+
+"Oh!" she cried, startled. "Who has found me out here?"
+
+"No one has found you; there is no one looking for you but me,"
+cried Segundo vehemently, penetrating into Nieves' hiding-place with
+such impetuosity that the late blossoms which whitened the branches
+of the giant tree showered their petals over their heads, and the
+branches swayed rhythmically.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, García!" she cried, "for Heaven's sake, don't
+be imprudent--go away, or let me go. If the others should come and
+find us here what would they say? For Heaven's sake, go!"
+
+"You wish me to go?" said the poet. "But, Señora, even if they
+should find me here, there would be nothing strange in that; a little
+while ago I was with Teresa Molende behind the camellias there;
+either we are playing or we are not playing. But if you desire it--to
+please you----But before I go I wish to ask you a question----"
+
+"Somewhere else--in the parlor," stammered Nieves, lending an
+anxious ear to the distant noises and cries of the game.
+
+"In the parlor! Surrounded by everybody! No, that cannot be. No,
+now, do you hear me?"
+
+"Yes, I hear you," she returned in a voice rendered almost
+inaudible by terror.
+
+"Well, then, I adore you, Nieves; I adore you, and you love me."
+
+"Hist! Silence, silence! They are coming. I think I hear steps."
+
+"No, it is the leaves. Tell me that you love me and I will go."
+
+"They are coming! For Heaven's sake! I shall die of terror!
+Enough of jesting, García, I entreat you----"
+
+"You know perfectly well that I am not jesting. Have you
+forgotten the night of the fireworks? If you did not love me you
+would have released yourself from my arm on that night, or you would
+have cried out. You look at me sometimes--you return my glances. You
+cannot deny it!"
+
+Segundo was close to Nieves, speaking with fiery impetuosity, but
+without touching her, although the fragrant, rustling branches of
+their shelter closed around them, inviting them to closer proximity.
+But Segundo remembered the cold hard whalebones, and Nieves drew
+back, trembling. Yes, trembling with fear. She might cry out, indeed,
+but if Segundo persisted in remaining how annoying it would be! What
+a mortification! What gossip it would give rise to! After all the
+poet was right--the night of the fireworks she had been culpably weak
+and she was paying for it now. And what would Segundo do if she gave
+him the _yes_ he asked for? He repeated his proud and vehement
+assertion:
+
+"You love me, Nieves. You love me. Tell me that you love me, only
+once, and I will go."
+
+Not far off could be heard the contralto voice of Teresa Molende
+calling to her companions:
+
+"Nieves--where is she? Victorina, Carmen, come in, the dew is
+falling!"
+
+And another shrill voice, that of Elvira, woke the echoes:
+
+"Segundo! Segundo! We are going in!"
+
+In fact that almost imperceptible mizzle, which refreshes the
+sultry nights of Galicia, was falling; the lustrous leaves of the
+lemon tree in which Nieves sat, shrinking back from Segundo, were wet
+with the night dew. The poet leaned toward her and his hands touched
+her hands chilled with cold and terror. He crushed them between both
+his own.
+
+"Tell me that you love me, or----"
+
+"But, good Heavens, they are calling me! They are noticing my
+absence. I am cold!"
+
+"Tell me the truth then. Otherwise there is no human power that
+can tear me from here--come what will. Is it so hard to say a single
+word?"
+
+"And what do you want me to say, tell me?"
+
+"Do you love me, yes or no?"
+
+"And you will let me go--go to the house?"
+
+"Anything you wish--but first tell me, do you love me?"
+
+The _yes_ was almost inaudible. It was an aspiration, a prolonged
+_s_. Segundo crushed her wrists in his grasp.
+
+"Do you love me as I love you? Answer plainly."
+
+This time Nieves, making an effort, pronounced an unequivocal
+_yes_. Segundo released her hands, raised his own to his lips with a
+passionate gesture of gratitude, and springing down the stairs,
+disappeared among the trees.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIX.
+
+
+Nieves drew a long breath. She felt dazed. She shook her wrists,
+hurt by the pressure of Segundo's fingers, and arranged her hair, wet
+with the night dew, and disordered by the contact of the branches.
+What had she said after all? Anything, no matter what, to escape from
+so compromising a situation. She was to blame for having withdrawn
+from the others and hidden herself in so retired a spot. And with
+that desire to give publicity to unimportant actions which seizes
+people when they have something to conceal she called out:
+
+"Teresa! Elvira! Carmen! Carmen!"
+
+"Nieves! where are you, Nieves?" came in answer from various
+quarters.
+
+"Here, beside the big lemon tree. Wait for me, I am coming!"
+
+When they entered the house, Nieves, who had to some extent
+recovered her composure, began to reflect on what had passed and
+could not but wonder at herself. To say _yes_ to Segundo. She had
+uttered the word partly under compulsion, but she had uttered it. How
+daring the poet had been. It seemed impossible that the son of the
+lawyer of Vilamorta should be so determined. She was a lady of
+distinction, highly respected, her husband had just been Minister.
+And García's family, what were they--nobodies; the father wore
+collars frayed at the edges that were a sight to see; they kept no
+servant; the sisters ran about barefooted half the time. Even Segundo
+himself--he had an unmistakable provincial air and a strong Galician
+accent. He could not indeed be called ugly; there was something
+remarkable in his face and in his manner. He spoke with so much
+passion! As if he commanded instead of entreating! What a masterful
+air he had! And there was something flattering to one's vanity in
+having a suitor of this kind, so ardent and so daring. Who had ever
+fallen in love with Nieves before? There were three or four who had
+made gallant speeches to her--one who had watched her through his
+opera-glass. Everyone in Madrid treated her with that indifference
+and consideration which respectable ladies inspire.
+
+For the rest, this persistency of Segundo's was to a certain
+extent compromising. Would people notice it? Would her husband notice
+it? Bah! Her husband thought only of his ailments, of the elections.
+He scarcely ever spoke to her of anything else. But what if he
+should notice it? How horrible, good Heavens! And the girls who had
+been playing hide and seek, might they not suspect something? Elvira
+seemed more languishing and sighed more frequently than usual. Elvira
+admired Segundo. He--no, he did not pay the slightest attention to
+her. And Segundo's verses sounded well, they were beautiful; they
+were worthy of a place in _La Ilustracion_. In short, as they would
+be obliged to return to Madrid before the elections, there was hardly
+any real danger. She would always preserve a pleasant recollection of
+the summer. The thing was to avoid--to avoid----
+
+Nieves did not venture to tell herself what it was necessary to
+avoid, nor had she settled this point when she entered the parlor,
+where the game of tresillo was already going on. Señora de Comba
+seated herself at the piano and played several quick airs--polkas and
+rigadoons, for the girls to dance. When she stopped they cried out
+for another air.
+
+"Nieves, the _muñeira_!"
+
+"The _riveirana_, please!"
+
+"Do you know the whole of it, Nieves?"
+
+"The whole of it--why, did I not hear it in the feasts?"
+
+"Let us have it then, come."
+
+"Who will dance it?"
+
+"Who knows how to dance it?"
+
+Several voices answered immediately:
+
+"Teresa Molende; ah! it is a pleasure to see her dance it."
+
+"And who will be her partner?"
+
+"Ramonciñe Limioso here, he dances it to perfection."
+
+Teresa laughed in the deep, sonorous tones of a man, declaring
+solemnly that she had forgotten the muñeira--that she never knew it
+well. From the tresillo table came a protest--from the master of the
+house, Mendez: Teresina danced it to perfection. Let her not try to
+excuse herself; no excuse would avail her; there was not in all the
+Border a girl who danced the riveirana with more grace; it was true
+indeed that the taste and the skill for these old customs of the
+country were fast disappearing.
+
+Teresa yielded, not without once more affirming her incompetence.
+And after fastening up her skirt with pins, so that it might not
+impede her movements she stopped laughing and assumed a modest and
+ingenuous air, veiling her large lustrous eyes under her thick
+lashes, dropping her head on her breast, letting her arms fall by her
+sides, swaying them slightly, rubbing the balls of the thumbs and the
+forefingers together, and thus, moving with very short steps, her
+feet close together, keeping time to the music, she made the tour of
+the room, with perfect decorum, her eyes fixed on the floor, stopping
+finally at the head of the room. While this was taking place,
+Señorito de Limioso took off his short jacket, remaining in his
+shirt-sleeves, put on his hat, and asked for an indispensable
+article.
+
+"Victorina, the castanets."
+
+The child ran and brought two pairs of castanets. The Señorito
+secured the cord between his fingers and after a haughty flourish,
+began his rôle. Teresita's partner was as lean and shriveled as Don
+Quixote himself, and, like the Manchego hidalgo, it was undeniable
+that he had a distinguished and stately air, scrupulously as he
+imitated the awkward movements of a rustic. He took his place before
+Teresa and danced a quick measure, courteously but urgently wooing
+her to listen to his suit. At times he touched the floor with the
+sole of his foot, at others with his heel or toe only, almost
+twisting his ankles out of joint with the rapidity of his movements,
+while he played the castanets energetically, the castanets in
+Teresa's hands responding with a faint and timid tinkle. Pushing his
+hat back on his head the gallant looked boldly at his partner,
+approached his face to hers; pursued her, urged his suit in a
+thousand different ways, Teresa never altering her humble and
+submissive attitude nor he his conquering air, his gymnastics, and
+his resolute movements of attack.
+
+It was primitive love, the wooing of the heroic ages, represented
+in this expressive Cantabrian dance, warlike and rude; the woman
+dominated by the strength of the man and, better than enamored,
+afraid; all which was more piquant in view of the Amazon-like type of
+Teresa and the habitual shyness and circumspection of the Señorito.
+There was an instant, however, in which the gallant peeped through
+the barbarous conqueror, and in the midst of a most complicated and
+rapid measure he bent his knee before the beauty, describing the
+figure known as _punto del sacramento_. It was only for a moment
+however; springing to his feet he gave his partner a tender push and
+they stood back to back, touching each other, caressing each other,
+and amorously rubbing shoulder against shoulder and spine against
+spine. In two minutes they suddenly drew apart and with a few
+complicated movements of the ankles and a few rapid turns, during
+which Teresa's skirts whirled around her, the riveirana came to an
+end and a storm of applause burst from the spectators.
+
+While the Señorito wiped the perspiration from his brow and
+Teresa unpinned her skirt, Nieves, who had risen from the piano,
+looked around and noticed Segundo's absence. Elvira made the same
+observation but aloud. Agonde gave them the clew to the mystery.
+
+"No doubt he is at this moment in the pine grove or on the
+river-bank. There is scarcely a night in which he does not make
+eccentric expeditions of the kind; in Vilamorta he does the same
+thing."
+
+"And how is the door to be closed if he does not come? That boy
+is crazy," declared Primo Genday. "We are not all going to do without
+our sleep, we who have to get up early to our work, for that
+featherhead. Hey, do you understand me? I will shut up the house and
+let him manage in the best way he can. Ave Maria!"
+
+Mendez and Don Victoriano protested in the name of courtesy and
+hospitality, and until midnight the door of Las Vides remained open,
+awaiting Segundo's return. As he had not come by that time, however,
+Genday went himself to bar the door muttering between his teeth:
+
+"Ave Mar-- Let him sleep out of doors if he has a fancy for doing
+so."
+
+Segundo, in fact, was at this time on his way to the pine grove.
+He was in a state of intense excitement, and he felt that it would be
+impossible for him in his present mood to meet anyone or to take part
+in any conversation. Nieves, so reserved, so beautiful, had said yes
+to him. The dreams of an ideal love which had tormented his spirit
+were not, then, destined never to be realized, nor would fame be
+unattainable when love was already within his ardent and eager grasp.
+With these thoughts passing through his mind he ascended the steep
+path and walked enraptured through the pine grove. At times he would
+lean against the dark trunk of some pine, his brow bared to the
+breeze, drinking in the cool night air, and listening, as in a dream,
+to the mysterious voices of the trees and the murmur of the river
+that ran below. Ah, what moments of happiness, what supreme joys,
+were promised him by this love, which flattered his pride, excited
+his imagination and satisfied his egotism, the delicate egotism of a
+poet, avid of love, of enjoyments which the imagination idealizes and
+the muse may sing without degradation! All that he had pictured in
+his verses was to be realized in his life; and his song would ring
+forth more clearly and inspiration would flow more freely, and he
+would write, in blood, verses that would cause his readers' hearts to
+thrill with emotion.
+
+In defiance of duty and reason Nieves loved him--she had told him
+so. The poet smiled scornfully when he thought of Don Victoriano,
+with the profound contempt of the idealist for the practical man
+inept in spiritual things. Then he looked around him. The pine grove
+had a gloomy air at this hour. And it was cold. Besides it must be
+late. They would be wondering at his absence in Las Vides. Had Nieves
+retired? With these thoughts passing through his mind he descended
+the rugged path and reached the door ten minutes after the careful
+hand of Genday had secured the bolt. The _contretemps_ did not alarm
+Segundo; he would have to scale some wall; and the romance of the
+incident almost pleased him. How should he effect an entrance?
+
+Undoubtedly the easiest way would be by the garden, into which he
+could lower himself from the brow of the hill--a question of a few
+scratches, but he would be in his own room in ten minutes' time,
+without encountering the dogs that were keeping watch in the yard, or
+any member of the household, as that side of the house, the side
+where the dining-room was situated, was uninhabited. And upon this
+course he decided. He turned back and ascended the top of the hill,
+not without some difficulty. From thence he could command a view of
+the gallery and a good part of the garden. He studied the nature of
+the declivity, so as to avoid falling on the wall and perhaps
+breaking his leg. The hill was bare and without vegetation and the
+figure of the Swan stood out boldly against the background of the
+sky.
+
+When Segundo fixed his eyes on the gallery for the purpose of
+deciding on the safest place for a descent, he saw something that
+troubled his senses with a sweet intoxication, something that gave
+him one of those delightful surprises which make the blood rush to
+the heart to send it coursing back joyful and ardent through the
+veins. In the semi-obscurity of the gallery, standing among the
+flower-pots, his keen gaze descried, without the possibility of a
+doubt as to the reality of the vision, a white figure, the silhouette
+of a woman, whose attitude seemed to indicate that she too had seen
+him, had observed him, that she was waiting for him.
+
+Fancy swiftly sketched out and filled in the details of the
+scene--a colloquy, a divine colloquy of love with Nieves, among the
+carnations and the vines, alone, without any other witnesses than the
+moon, already setting, and the flowers, envious of so much happiness.
+And with a swift movement he rolled down the steep declivity, landing
+on the hard wall. The fruit trees hid the path from him, and two or
+three times he lost his way; at last he found himself at the foot of
+the staircase leading to the gallery, and he raised his eyes to
+satisfy himself as to the reality of the lovely apparition. A woman
+dressed in white was indeed waiting there, leaning over the wooden
+balustrade of the balcony; but the distance did not now admit of any
+optical illusion; it was Elvira Molende, in a percale wrapper, her
+hair hanging loose about her shoulders, as if she were an actress
+rehearsing the rôle of _Sonnambula_. How eagerly the poor girl was
+leaning over the balustrade! The poet would swear that she even
+called his name softly, with a tender lisp.
+
+And he passed on. He made the tour of the garden, entered the
+courtyard by the inner door, which was not closed at night, and
+knocked loudly at the door of the kitchen. The servant opened it for
+him, cursing to himself the young gentlemen who stayed up late at
+night because they were not obliged to rise early in the morning to
+open the cellar for the grape-tramplers.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XX.
+
+
+As the time occupied in the gathering of the grapes and the
+elaboration of the wine in the spacious cellar of Mendez was so
+prolonged, and as in that part of the country everyone has his own
+crop, however small, to gather in, part of the guests went away,
+desirous of attending to their own vineyards. Señorito de Limioso
+needed to see for himself how, between oïdium, the blackbirds, the
+neighbors, and the wasps, not a single bunch of grapes had been left
+him; the Señoritas de Molende had to hang up with their own hands the
+grapes of their famous Tostado, renowned throughout the country; and
+for similar reasons Saturnino Agonde, the arch-priest, and the curate
+of Naya took their leave one by one, the court of Las Vides being
+reduced to Carmen Agonde, maid of honor, Clodio Genday, Aulic
+councilor, Tropiezo, court physician, and Segundo, who might well be
+the page or the troubadour charged to divert the châtelaine with his
+ditties.
+
+Segundo was consumed with a feverish impatience hitherto unknown
+to him. Since the day of the interview in the lemon tree Nieves had
+shunned every occasion of being alone with him; and the feverish
+dream that haunted his sleep, the intolerable anguish which consumed
+him, was that he had advanced no further than the fugitive _yes_,
+which he sometimes even doubted he had heard. He could not endure
+this slow torture, this ceaseless martyrdom; he would have been less
+unhappy if instead of encouraging him Nieves had requited his love
+with open scorn. It was not the brutal desire for positive victories
+which thus tormented him; all he wished was to convince himself that
+he was really loved, and that under that steely corset a tender heart
+throbbed. And so mad was his passion that when he found it impossible
+to approach Nieves, he was seized by an almost irresistible impulse
+to cry out, "Nieves, tell me again that you love me!" Always, always
+obstacles between the two; the child was always at her mother's side.
+Of what avail was it to be rid of Elvira Molende who, since the
+memorable night on which she had kept guard in the gallery, had
+looked at the poet with an expression that was half satirical, half
+mournful? The departure of the poetess removed an obstacle, indeed,
+but it did not put an end to his difficulties.
+
+Segundo suffered in his vanity, wounded by the systematic reserve
+of Nieves, as well as in his love, his ardent longing for the
+impossible. It was already October; the ex-Minister spoke of taking
+his departure immediately, and although Segundo counted on
+establishing himself in Madrid later on through his influence, and
+meeting Nieves again, an infallible instinct told him that between
+Nieves and himself there existed no other bond of union than their
+temporary sojourn in Las Vides, the poetic influences of the season,
+the accident of living under the same roof, and that if this dream
+did not take shape before their separation it would be as ephemeral
+as the vine leaves that were now falling around them, withered and
+sapless.
+
+Autumn was parting with its glories; the wrinkled and knotted
+vine stalks, the dry and shrunken vine branches, lay bare to view,
+and the wind moaned sadly, stripping their leaves from the boughs of
+the fruit trees. One day Victorina asked Segundo:
+
+"When are we going to the pine grove to hear it sing?"
+
+"Whenever you like, child. This afternoon if your mother wishes
+it."
+
+The child conveyed the proposition to Nieves. For some time past
+Victorina had been more than usually demonstrative toward her mother,
+leaning her head upon Nieves' breast, hiding her cheek in her neck,
+passing her hands over her hair and her shoulders while she would
+repeat softly, in a voice that seemed to ask for a caress:
+
+"Mamma! mamma!"
+
+But the eyes of the miniature woman, half-veiled by their long
+lashes, were fixed with loving, longing glance, not on her mother,
+but on the poet, whose words the child drank in eagerly, turning very
+red if he chanced to make some jesting remark to her or gave any
+other indication of being aware of her presence.
+
+Nieves objected a little at first, not wishing to appear
+credulous or superstitious.
+
+"But what has put such an idea into your head?"
+
+"Mamma, when Segundo says that the pines sing, they sing, mamma,
+there is not a doubt of it."
+
+"But you don't know," said Nieves, bestowing on the poet a smile
+in which there was more sugar than salt--"that Segundo writes poetry,
+and that people who write poetry are permitted to--to invent--a
+little?"
+
+"No, Señora," cried Segundo. "Do not teach your child what is not
+true. Do not deceive her. In society it often happens that we utter
+with the lips sentiments that are far from the heart, but in poetry
+we lay bare the feelings of the inmost soul, feelings which in the
+world we are obliged to hide in our own breasts, through respect--or
+through prudence. Believe me."
+
+"Say, mamma, are we going there to-day?"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"To the pine grove."
+
+"If you are very anxious to go. What an obstinate child! But
+indeed I too am curious to hear this orchestra."
+
+Only Nieves, Victorina, Carmen, Segundo, and Tropiezo took part
+in the expedition. The elders remained behind smoking and looking on
+at the important operation of covering and closing some of the vats
+which contained the must, now fermented. As Mendez saw the party
+about to start, he called out in a tone of paternal warning:
+
+"Take care with the descent. The pine needles in this hot weather
+are as slippery as if they had been rubbed with soap. The ladies must
+be helped down. You, Victorina, don't be crazy; don't go rushing
+about there."
+
+The famous pine grove was distant some quarter of a league, but
+they spent fully three-quarters of an hour in making the ascent,
+along a path as steep, narrow, and rugged as the ascent to heaven is
+said to be, and which long before reaching the wood was carpeted with
+the polished, smooth, dry pine needles, which, if they rendered the
+descent more easy than was agreeable, compensated for it by making
+the ascent extremely difficult, causing the foot to slip, and
+fatiguing the ankles and the knees. Nieves stopped from time to time
+to take breath, and was at last fain to avail herself of the support
+of the plump arm of Carmen Agonde.
+
+"_Caramba_, this is like practicing gymnastics! Whoever escapes
+being killed when we are going back will be very lucky."
+
+"Lean well on me, lean well on me," said the sturdy country girl.
+"Many a limb has been broken here already, no doubt. This ascent is
+terrible!"
+
+They reached the summit at last. The prospect was beautiful, with
+that species of beauty that borders on sublimity. The pine wood
+seemed to hang over an abyss. Between the trunks of the trees could
+be caught glimpses of the mountains, of an ashen blue blending into
+violet in the distance; on the other side of the pine wood, that
+which overlooked the river, the ground fell abruptly in a steep,
+almost perpendicular descent, while far below flowed the Avieiro, not
+winding peacefully along, but noisy and foaming, roused into rage by
+the barrier opposed to its progress by some sharp black rocks and
+separating into numerous currents that curled around the bowlders
+like angry green snakes covered with silver scales. To the roaring
+and sobbing of the river the pine wood kept accompaniment with its
+perpetual plaint intoned by the summits of the trees, which swayed
+and vibrated to the kisses of the breeze, dolorous kisses that drew
+from them an incessant moan.
+
+The excursionists, impressed by the tragic aspect of the scene,
+remained mute. Only the child broke the silence, speaking in tones as
+hushed as if she were in a church.
+
+"Well, it is true, mamma! The pines sing. Do you hear them? It
+sounds like the chorus of bishops in 'L'Africaine.' They even seem to
+speak--listen--in bass voices--like that passage in the
+'Huguenots----'"
+
+Nieves agreed that the murmur of the pines was in truth musical
+and solemn. Segundo, leaning against a tree, looked down at the river
+foaming below; Victorina approached him, but he stopped her and made
+her go back.
+
+"No, my child," he said; "don't come near; it is a little
+dangerous; if you should lose your footing and roll down that
+declivity----Go back, go back."
+
+As nothing further occurred to them to say about the pines, the
+excursionists began to think of returning home; Nieves was a little
+uneasy about the descent, and she wished to undertake it before the
+sun should set.
+
+"Now, indeed, we shall break some of our bones, Don Fermin," she
+said to the doctor. "Now, indeed, you may begin to get your bandages
+and splints ready."
+
+"There is another road," said Segundo, emerging from his
+abstraction. "And one which is much less toilsome and much more level
+than this."
+
+"Yes, talk to us now about the other road," cried Tropiezo, true
+to his habit of voting with the opposition. "It is even worse than
+the one by which we came."
+
+"How should it be worse, man? It is a little longer, but as it is
+not so steep it is the best in the end. It skirts the pine wood."
+
+"Do you want to tell me which is the best road--me who know the
+whole country as well as I know my own house? You cannot go by that
+road; I know what I am saying."
+
+"And I say that you can, and I will prove it to you. For once in
+your life don't be stubborn. I came by it not many days ago. Do you
+remember, Nieves, the night we played hide-and-seek in the garden,
+the night they barred me out and I got over the wall?"
+
+Had it not been for the thick shade cast by the pine trees and
+the fading daylight, it would have been seen that Nieves blushed.
+
+"Let us take whichever road is easiest and most level," she said,
+evading an answer. "I am very awkward about walking over rough
+roads."
+
+Segundo offered his arm, saying jestingly:
+
+"That blessed Tropiezo knows as much about roads as he does about
+the art of healing. Come, and you shall see that we will be the
+gainers by it."
+
+Tropiezo, on his side, was saying to Carmen Agonde, shaking his
+head obstinately:
+
+"Well, we will please ourselves and go by the cut, and arrive
+before they do, safe and sound, with the help of God."
+
+Victorina, according to her custom, was going to her mother's
+side, when the doctor called out to her:
+
+"Here, take hold of the end of my stick or you will slip. Your
+mamma will have enough to do to keep herself from falling. And God
+save us from a _trip_," he added, laughing loudly at his jest.
+
+The voices and footsteps receded in the distance, and Segundo and
+Nieves continued on their way in silence. The precipitous character
+of the path along which they walked inspired Nieves with something
+like fear. It was a little path cut on the slope of the pine wood, on
+the very edge of the precipice, almost overhanging the river.
+Although Segundo gave Nieves the least dangerous side, that next the
+wood, leaving himself scarcely a foothold, so that he was obliged to
+place one foot horizontally before the other, in walking, this did
+not set her fears at rest or make the adventure seem any the less
+dangerous to her. Her terror was increased a hundredfold when she saw
+that they were alone.
+
+"Are they not coming?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"We will overtake them in less than ten minutes. They are going
+by the other road," answered Segundo, without adding a single word of
+endearment, or even pressing the arm which trembled with terror
+within his.
+
+"Let us go on, then," said Nieves, in tones of urgent entreaty.
+"I am anxious to be home."
+
+"Why?" asked the poet, suddenly standing still.
+
+"I am tired--out of breath----"
+
+"Well, you shall rest and take a drink of water if you desire
+it."
+
+And with rash hardihood Segundo, without waiting for an answer,
+drew Nieves down the slope and, skirting the rock, stopped on a
+narrow ledge which projected over the river. By the fading sunset
+light they discried a crystal thread of water trickling down the
+black front of the rock.
+
+"Drink, if you wish--in the palm of your hand, for we have no
+glass," said Segundo.
+
+Nieves mechanically released Segundo's arm, scarcely conscious of
+what she was doing, and took a step toward the stream; but the ground
+at the base of the rock, kept moist by the dripping of the water, was
+overgrown with humid vegetation as slippery as sea-weed, and as she
+set her foot upon it she slipped and lost her balance. In her
+vertigo, she saw the river roaring menacingly below, the sharp rocks
+waiting to receive her and mangle her flesh, and she already felt the
+chill air of the abyss. A hand clutched her by her gown, by her
+flesh, perhaps; held her up and drew her back to safety. She dropped
+her head on Segundo's shoulder and the latter, for the first time,
+felt Nieves' heart beat under his hand. And how quickly it beat! It
+beat with fear. The poet bent over her, and on her very lips breathed
+this question:
+
+"Do you love me? tell me, do you love me?"
+
+The answer was inaudible, for even if the words had been formed
+in her throat her sealed lips were unable to articulate them. During
+this short space of time, which was for them an eternity, there
+flashed across Segundo's brain a thought potent and destructive as
+the electric spark. The poet stood fronting the precipice, Nieves
+with her back toward it, kept from falling over its edge only by the
+arm of her savior. A movement forward, a stronger pressure of his
+lips to hers, would be sufficient to make them both lose their
+balance and precipitate them into the abyss. It would be a beautiful
+ending--worthy of the ambitious soul of a poet. Thinking of it
+Segundo found it alluring and desirable, and yet the instinct of
+self-preservation, an animal impulse, but one more powerful than the
+romantic idea, placed between the thought and the action an
+insuperable barrier. He pleased himself, in imagination, with the
+picture of the two bodies clasped in each other's arms, borne along
+by the current of the river. He even saw in fancy the scene of the
+discovery of the corpses, the exclamations; the profound impression
+that such an event would cause in the district; and _something_, some
+poetic feeling that stirred and thrilled in his youthful soul, urged
+him to take the leap; but at the same time a cold fear congealed his
+blood, obliging him to proceed slowly, not toward the abyss, but in
+an opposite direction, toward the path.
+
+All this, short enough in the telling, was instantaneous in the
+thinking. Segundo felt a cold chill strike through him, putting to
+flight thoughts of love as well as of death. It was the chill
+communicated to him by the lips of Nieves, who had fainted in his
+arms.
+
+He dipped his handkerchief in the spring and applied it to her
+temples and wrists. She half opened her eyes. They could hear
+Tropiezo talking, Carmen laughing; they were coming doubtless in
+search of them, to triumph over them. Nieves, when she came back to
+consciousness and found herself still alone, did not make the
+slightest effort to free herself from the poet's embrace.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXI.
+
+
+As if by tacit agreement the hero and heroine of the adventure
+made light of the danger they had run, to their companions in the
+excursion in the first place, and afterward to the elders at Las
+Vides. Segundo observed a certain reticence regarding the particulars
+of the occurrence. Nieves, on the contrary, was more talkative than
+usual, speaking with nervous loquacity, going over the most
+insignificant details a hundred times. She had slipped; García had
+reached out his hand to her; she had caught it, and as she
+was--well--timid, she had been a little frightened, although there
+was not the slightest occasion for being so. But the obstinate
+Tropiezo, with mild scorn, contradicted her. Good Heavens, how
+mistaken she was! No danger? Why, it was only by a miracle that
+Nieves was not now floating in the Avieiro. The ground there was as
+slippery as soap, and the stones below were as sharp as razors, and
+the current was so strong that----Nieves denied the danger, making an
+effort to laugh; but the terror of the accident had left unmistakable
+traces upon her countenance, changing its warm healthy pallor to a
+sickly hue, producing dark circles under her eyes, and making her
+features twitch convulsively.
+
+Segundo longed to say a few words to her, to ask her to grant him
+an interview; he comprehended that he must avail himself of these
+first moments, while her soul was still under the softening influence
+of gratitude and fright which made her cold heart palpitate beneath
+the whalebone of her stays. In the brief scene of the precipice the
+arrival of Tropiezo had allowed Nieves no time to respond explicitly
+to the poet's ardor, and Segundo wished to come to some agreement
+with her, to devise some means of seeing each other and talking to
+each other alone, to establish the fact at once that all these
+anxieties, these vigils, these intrigues, were love and requited
+love--a mutual passion, in short. When and how should he find the
+desired opportunity of establishing an understanding with Nieves?
+
+It may be said that in the history of every love affair there
+exists a first period in which obstacles accumulate and difficulties,
+seemingly insurmountable, arise, driving to despair the lover who has
+made up his mind to conquer them, and that there comes, too, a second
+period in which the mysterious force of desire and the power of the
+will sweep away these obstacles, and circumstances, for the moment
+favorable, aid the lovers. So it happened on the night of this
+memorable day. As Victorina had been somewhat frightened, hearing of
+the danger her mother had been in, she had been sent to bed early,
+and Carmen Agonde had remained with her to put her asleep by telling
+her stories. The principal witnesses being thus removed and the
+elders plunged in one of their interminable viticultural,
+agricultural, and sociological discussions, Nieves, who had gone out
+on the balcony for air--for she felt as if she had a lump in her
+throat which prevented her from breathing--had an opportunity to chat
+for ten minutes with Segundo, who was standing near the window, not
+far from the rocking-chairs.
+
+Occasionally they would raise their voices and speak on
+indifferent subjects--the afternoon's accident, the strange singing
+of the pines. And low, very low, the diplomatic negotiation of the
+poet followed its course. An interview, a conversation with some
+degree of freedom. Why, of course it could be! Why could it not take
+place in the gallery that very night? No one was going to think of
+going there to spy out what was passing. He could let himself down
+easily into the garden----He could not? She was very timid----It
+would be wrong? Why?--She was tired and not very well----Yes, he
+understood. She would prefer the daytime, perhaps. Well, the other
+would be better, but----Without fail? At the hour of the siesta? In
+the parlor? No; nobody ever went there; everyone was asleep. On her
+word of honor?--Thanks. Yes, it was necessary to dissemble so as not
+to attract attention.
+
+Meantime the gentlemen at the tresillo table talked of the
+vintage and its consequences. The poor country girls earned a good
+deal of money at the work. Apropos of which Don Victoriano gave
+expression to some of his favorite ideas, referring to English
+legislature, and eulogizing the wisdom of that great nation whose
+laws regulating labor give evidence of a careful study of the
+problems it involves, and of some regard for the welfare of women and
+children. With these serious disquisitions the evening ended, every
+owl retiring to his olive tree.
+
+Nieves, seated at her toilet table, her open dressing-case and a
+small silver-framed mirror before her, was taking out, one by one,
+the tortoise-shell hair-pins which fastened her hair. Mademoiselle
+gathered them together and arranged them neatly in a box and braided
+Nieves' hair, after which the latter threw herself back in her seat
+and drew a deep breath; suddenly she looked up.
+
+"If you could make me a cup of lime tea," she said, "in your own
+room, without troubling anybody?"
+
+The Frenchwoman left the room and Nieves leaned her elbow
+thoughtfully on the table, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand,
+without moving her eyes from the mirror. Her face was deathly pale.
+No, this life could not continue; if it did it would carry her to her
+grave. She was very nervous--what terrors! What anxiety, what moments
+of anguish she had suffered! She had seen death face to face, and had
+had more frights, more fears, more misery in a single day than in all
+the previous years of her existence put together. If this were love
+in truth there was little that was pleasing in it; such agitations
+were not suited to her. It was one thing to like to be pretty, and to
+be told so, and even to have a passionate adorer, and another to
+suffer these incessant anxieties, these surprises that bring one's
+heart to one's mouth and expose one to the risk of disgrace and
+destroy one's health. And the poets say that this is happiness. It
+may be so for them--as for the poor women----And why had she not the
+courage to tell Segundo that there must be an end to this, to say to
+him: "I can endure these alarms no longer. I am afraid. I am
+miserable!" Ah, she was afraid of him, too. He was capable of killing
+her; his handsome black eyes sent forth at times electric sparks and
+phosphoric gleams. And then he always took the lead, he dominated
+her, he mastered her. Through him she had been on the point of
+falling into the river, of being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Holy
+Virgin! Why, only half an hour ago did he not almost force her to
+agree to a meeting in the gallery? Which would be a great piece of
+madness, since it would be impossible for her to go to that part of
+the house without her absence being noticed by Mademoiselle, or
+someone else, and its cause being discovered. Good Heavens! All this
+was terrible, terrible! And to-morrow she must go to the parlor at
+the hour of the siesta. Well, then, she would take a bold resolution.
+She would go, yes, but she would go to clear up this
+misunderstanding, to give Segundo some plain talk that would make him
+place some restraint upon himself; that he should love her, very
+good; she had no objection to that, that was well enough; but to
+compromise her in this way, that was a thing unheard of; she would
+entreat him to return to Vilamorta; they would soon go to Madrid. Ah,
+how long that blessed Mademoiselle delayed with the lime tea.
+
+The door opened to admit, not Mademoiselle, but Don Victoriano.
+There was nothing to surprise her in his appearance; he slept in a
+sort of cabinet near his wife's room and separated from it by a
+passageway, and every night before retiring he gave a kiss to the
+child, whose bed was beside her mother's; nevertheless Nieves felt a
+chill creep over her, and she instinctively turned her back to the
+light, coughing to hide her agitation.
+
+The truth was that Don Victoriano looked very serious, even
+stern. He had not indeed been very cheerful or communicative ever
+since his illness had assumed a serious character; but in addition to
+his air of dejection there was an indefinable something, a darker
+gloom on his face than usual, a cloud pregnant with storm. Nieves,
+observing that he did not approach the child's bed, cast down her
+eyes and affected to be occupied in smoothing her hair with the ivory
+comb.
+
+"How do you feel, child? Have you recovered from your fright?"
+asked her husband.
+
+"No; I am still a little----I have asked for some lime tea."
+
+"You did well. See, Nieves----"
+
+"Well--well?"
+
+"See, Nieves, we must go to Madrid at once."
+
+"Whenever you wish. You know that I----"
+
+"No, the thing is that it is necessary, indispensable. I must put
+myself seriously under treatment, child; for if things continue as
+they are now it will soon be all over with me. I had the weakness to
+put myself in the hands of that ass, Don Fermin. God forgive me for
+it! and I fear," he added, smiling bitterly, "that I have made a
+fatal mistake. Let us see if Sanchez del Abrojo will get me out of
+the scrape--I doubt it greatly."
+
+"Heavens, how apprehensive you are!" exclaimed Nieves, breathing
+freely once more and availing herself of the resource offered to her
+by Don Victoriano's illness. "Anyone would think you had an incurable
+disease. When you are once in Madrid and Sanchez has you under his
+care--in a couple of months you will not even remember this trifling
+indisposition."
+
+"Bravo! child, bravo! I don't wish to hurt your feelings or to
+seem unkind, but what you say proves that you neither look at me, nor
+care a straw about my health, nor pay any attention to me whatever,
+which--forgive me--is not creditable to you. My disease is a serious,
+a very serious one--it is a disease that carries people off in fine
+style. I am being converted into sugar, my sight is failing, my head
+aches, I have no blood left, and you, serene and gay, sporting about
+like a child. A wife who loved her husband would not act in this way.
+You have troubled yourself neither about the state of my body nor the
+state of my mind. You are enjoying yourself, having a fine time, and
+as for the rest--a great deal it matters to you!"
+
+Nieves rose to her feet, tremulous, almost weeping.
+
+"What are you saying? I--I----"
+
+"Don't distress yourself, child; don't cry. You are young and
+well; I am wasted and sickly. So much the worse for me. But listen to
+me. Although I seem to you dry and serious, I loved you tenderly,
+Nieves, I love you still, as much as I love that child who is
+sleeping there, I swear it to you before God! And you might--you
+might love me a little--like a daughter--and take some interest in
+me. The trouble would not be for long now--I feel so sick."
+
+Nieves drew near him with an affectionate movement and he touched
+her forehead with his parched lips, pressing her to him at the same
+time. Then he added:
+
+"I have still another observation to make, another sermon to
+preach to you, child."
+
+"What is it?" murmured his wife smiling, but terrified.
+
+"That boy García--don't be alarmed, child, there is no need for
+that--that boy looks at you sometimes in a very curious way, as if he
+were making love to you. No, I am not doubting you. You are and you
+have always been an irreproachable wife--I am not accusing you, nor
+do I attach any importance to such folly. But, although you may not
+believe it, the young men here are very daring; they are shyer in
+appearance than those of the capital, but they are bolder in reality.
+I spent my youthful years here, and I know them. I am only putting
+you on your guard so that you may keep that jackanapes within bounds.
+For the rest of the time we are to remain in this place, avoid those
+long walks and all those other rusticities which they indulge in
+here. A lady like you among these people is a sort of queen, and it
+is not proper that they should take the same liberties with you as
+with the Señoritas de Molende or others like them--but I have already
+told you that such a thought has not even crossed my mind. It is one
+thing that this village Swan should have fallen in love with you, and
+have given you his hand to help you over the rocks, and another that
+I should insult you, child!"
+
+Shortly afterward Mademoiselle entered with the steaming cup of
+tea. And greatly Nieves needed it. Her nerves were in a state of the
+utmost tension. She was on the verge of a hysterical attack. She even
+felt nausea when she took the first few spoonfuls. Mademoiselle
+offered her some anti-hysterical drops. Nieves drank the remedy, and
+with a few yawns and two or three tears the attack passed off. She
+thought she would go to bed, and went into her bedroom. There she saw
+something which renewed her uneasiness--Victorina, instead of being
+asleep, lay with eyes wide open. She had probably heard every word of
+the conversation.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXII.
+
+
+She had in fact heard it all, from beginning to end. And the
+words of the conjugal dialogue were whirling around in her brain,
+mingling confusedly together, stamping themselves in characters of
+fire on her virgin memory. She repeated them to herself, she tried to
+understand their meaning, she weighed them, she drew conclusions from
+them.
+
+No one can tell which is the precise moment that divides day from
+night, sleeping from waking, youth from maturity, and innocence from
+knowledge. Who can fix the moment in which the child, passing into
+adolescence, observes in herself that undefinable something which may
+perhaps be called consciousness of sex, in which vague presentiment
+is changed into swift intuition, in which, without an exact notion of
+the realities of life, she divines all that experience will
+corroborate and accentuate later on, in which she understands the
+importance of a sign, the significance of an act, the character of a
+relationship, the value of a glance, and the meaning of a reticence.
+The moment in which her eyes, hitherto open only to external life,
+acquire power to scrutinize the inner life also, and losing their
+superficial brilliancy, the clear reflection of her ingenuous purity,
+acquire the concentrated and undefinable expression which constitutes
+the _glance of a grown person_.
+
+This moment arrived for Victorina at the age of eleven, on the
+night we have mentioned, overhearing a dialogue between her father
+and mother. Motionless, with bated breath, her feet cold, her head
+burning, the child heard everything, and afterward, in the dim light
+of the bedroom, united broken links, remembering certain incidents,
+and at last understood without attaching much importance to what she
+understood, reasoning, however, with singular precocity, owing,
+perhaps, to the painful activity with which imagination works in the
+silence of night and the repose of the bed.
+
+It is certain that the child slept badly, tossing about
+restlessly in her monastic little bed. Two ideas, especially, seemed
+to pierce her brain like nails. Her father was ill, very ill, and he
+was annoyed and displeased, besides, because Segundo had fallen in
+love with her mamma. With her mamma. Not with her! With her who
+preserved all the flowers he had given her like relics.
+
+The sorrows of childhood know neither limit nor consolation. When
+we are older and more storms have passed over us, and we have seen
+with astonishment that man can survive griefs which we had thought
+unsurvivable, and that the heavens do not fall because we have lost
+what we love, it may almost be said that absolute despair, which is
+the heritage of childhood, does not exist. It was evident to
+Victorina that her father was dying and that her mother was wicked,
+and Segundo a villain, and that the world had come to an end--and
+that she too, she too, desired to die. If it were possible for the
+hair to turn white at eleven, Victorina would have become white on
+the night in which suffering changed her from a bashful, timid,
+blushing child to a moral being, capable of the greatest heroism.
+
+Nor did Nieves enjoy the balmy sweets of slumber. Her husband's
+words had made her thoughtful. Was Don Victoriano's illness a fatal
+one? It might be so! He looked greatly altered, poor fellow. And
+Nieves felt a touch of grief and apprehension. Why, who could doubt
+that she loved her husband, or that she should regret his death? She
+did not feel for him any passionate love, such as is described in
+novels--but affection--yes. Heaven grant the malady might be a
+trifling one. And if it were not? And if she were to be left a wi----
+She did not dare to complete the word even in her thoughts. To think
+of such a thing seemed like indulging in wicked desires. No, but the
+fact was that women, when their husbands die, were--Holy Virgin! It
+must be a terrible grief. Well, but _if it happened_?
+Segundo--Heavens, what folly! Most assuredly such an absurdity had
+never entered his head. The Garcías--nobodies. And here a vivid
+picture of all Segundo's relations and their manner of living
+presented itself to her mind.
+
+She would willingly have absented herself from the rendezvous on
+the following day, because her husband had begun to suspect something
+and the situation was a compromising one, although in the place
+designated for the interview the meeting between them might always be
+attributed to chance. On the other hand if she failed to meet him,
+Segundo, who was so enamored, was fully capable of creating a
+scandal, of going to look for her in her room, of forcing an entrance
+into it through the window.
+
+After all, thinking well over the matter, she judged it most
+prudent to comply with her promise and to entreat Segundo to--forget
+her--or at least not to compromise her. That was the best course to
+pursue.
+
+Nieves passed the morning in a state of complete prostration; she
+scarcely tasted a morsel at breakfast and during the meal she kept
+her eyes turned away from Segundo, fearing lest her husband should
+surprise some furtive glance of intelligence between them. To make
+matters worse, Segundo, desirous of reminding her with his eyes of
+her promise, looked at her on this day oftener than usual.
+Fortunately Don Victoriano's attention seemed to be all given to
+satisfying his voracious appetite for eating and drinking. The meal
+being finished everyone retired as usual to take the siesta. Nieves
+went to her room. She found Victorina there, lying on the bed. For
+greater precaution she asked her:
+
+"Are you going to sleep the siesta, my pet?"
+
+"To sleep, no. But I am comfortable here."
+
+Nieves looked at herself in the glass and saw that she was pale.
+She washed her teeth, and after satisfying herself by a rapid glance
+that her husband was resting in the other room, she stole softly into
+the parlor. She was trembling. This atmosphere of storm and danger,
+grateful to the sea-fowl, was fatal to the domestic bird. It was no
+life to be always shuddering with fear, her blood curdled by fright.
+It was not to live. It was not to breathe. She would end by becoming
+crazy. Had she not fancied just now that she heard steps behind her,
+as if someone were following her? Two or three times she had stopped
+and leaned, fainting, against the wall of the corridor, vowing in her
+own mind that she would never put herself in such a dilemma again.
+
+When she reached the parlor she stopped, half startled. It was so
+silent and drowsy in the semi-obscurity, with the half-closed
+shutters through which entered a single sunbeam full of dancing
+golden motes, with its sleepy mirrors that were too lazy to reflect
+anything from their turbid surfaces, its drowsy asthmatic clock,
+whose face looked like a human countenance watching her and coughing
+disapprovingly. Suddenly she heard quick, youthful foot-steps and
+Segundo, audacious, impassioned, threw himself at her feet and
+clasped his arms around her. She tried to restrain him, to advise
+him, to explain to him. The poet refused to heed her, he continued
+pouring forth exclamations of gratitude and love and then, rising to
+his feet, he drew her toward him with the irresistible force of a
+passion which does not stop to consider consequences.
+
+When Don Victoriano saw the child enter his room, white as wax,
+livid, almost, darting fire from her eyes, in one of those
+horror-inspired attitudes which can neither be feigned nor imitated,
+he sprang from the bed where he had been lying awake smoking a cigar.
+The child said to him, in a choking voice:
+
+"Come, papa! come, papa!"
+
+What were the thoughts that passed through her father's mind? It
+was never known why he followed his daughter without putting to her a
+single question. On the threshold of the parlor father and child
+paused. Nieves uttered a shrill scream and Segundo, with an
+impassioned and manly gesture, placed himself before her to shield
+her with his body. An unnecessary defense. In the figure of the man
+standing on the threshold there was nothing of menace; what there was
+in it to inspire terror was precisely its air of stupor and
+helplessness; it seemed a corpse, a specter overwhelmed with impotent
+despair--the face, green rather than sallow, the eyes opened, dull
+and fixed, the hands and feet trembling. The man was making fruitless
+efforts to speak; paralysis had begun with the tongue; he tried in
+vain to move it in his mouth, to form sounds. Horrible conflict! The
+words struggled for utterance but remained unuttered; his face
+changed from livid to red, the blood becoming congested in it, and
+the child, clasping her father around the waist, seeing this combat
+between the spirit and the body, cried:
+
+"Help! help! Papa is dying!"
+
+Nieves, not daring to approach her husband, but comprehending
+that something very serious was the matter, screamed too for help.
+And at the various doors appeared one after another Primo Genday and
+Tropiezo in their shirt-sleeves, and Mendez with a cotton
+handkerchief tied over his ears.
+
+Segundo stood silent in the middle of the room, uncertain what
+course to pursue. To leave the room would be cowardly, to
+remain----Tropiezo shook him.
+
+"Go, flying, to Vilamorta, boy!" he said. "Tell Doroteo, the
+cabman, to go to Orense and bring back a doctor with him--the best he
+can find. I don't want to make a trip this time," he added with a
+wink. "Run, hurry off!"
+
+The Swan approached Nieves, who had thrown herself on the sofa
+and was weeping, her face covered with her dainty handkerchief.
+
+"They want me to go for a doctor, Nieves. What shall I do?"
+
+"Go!"
+
+"Shall I return?"
+
+"No--for God's sake leave me. Go bring the doctor! go bring the
+doctor!" And she sobbed more violently than before.
+
+                             * * * * *
+
+In spite of all Segundo's haste, the physician did not arrive in
+Las Vides until early on the morning of the following day. He did not
+think the case an unusual one. This disease often terminated in this
+way, in paralysis; it was one of the most frequent complications of
+the terrible malady. He added that it would be well to remove the
+patient to Orense, taking suitable precautions. The removal was
+effected without much difficulty, and Don Victoriano lived for a few
+days longer. Twenty-four hours after the interment Nieves and
+Victorina, attired in the deepest mourning, departed for the capital.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIII.
+
+
+The black pall of winter has fallen over Vilamorta. It is
+raining, and in the wet and muddy main street and plaza no one is to
+be seen but occasionally some countryman, riding enveloped in his
+grass cloth cloak, his horse's hoofs clattering on the stone
+pavement, raising showers of mud. There are now no fruit-venders for
+the simple reason that there is no fruit; all is deserted, damp,
+muddy, and gloomy; Cansin, in listing slippers, a comforter around
+his neck, walks up and down unceasingly before his door, to prevent
+chilblains; the Alcalde avails himself of a very narrow arch in front
+of his house to pass away the afternoon, walking ten steps up and ten
+steps down, stamping energetically to keep his feet warm--an exercise
+which he affirms to be indispensable to his digestion.
+
+Now indeed the little town seems lifeless! There are neither
+visitors to the springs nor strangers from the surrounding country,
+neither fairs nor vintages. Everywhere reigns the stillness and
+solitude of the tomb, and a moisture so persistent that it covers
+with a minute green vegetation the stones of the houses in course of
+construction. These little towns in winter are enough to make the
+most cheerful person low-spirited; they are the very acme of tedium,
+the quintessence of dullness--the disinclination to arrange one's
+hair, to change one's dress, the interminable evenings, the
+persistent rain, the gloomy cold, the ashen atmosphere, the leaden
+sky!
+
+In the midst of this species of lethargy in which Vilamorta is
+plunged there are, however, some happy beings, beings who are now at
+the summit of felicity, although soon destined to end their existence
+in the most tragic manner; beings who, by their natural instinct
+alone, have divined the philosophy of Epicurus and practice it, and
+eat, drink, and make merry, and neither fear death nor think of the
+unexplored region which opens its gates to the dying, beings who
+receive the rain on their smooth skins with rejoicing, beings for
+whom the mud is a luxurious bath in which they roll and wallow with
+delight, abandoning the discomfort and narrowness of their lairs and
+sties. They are the indisputable lords and masters of Vilamorta at
+this season of the year; they who with their pomps and exploits
+supply the reunions at the apothecary's with food for conversation,
+and entertainment for familiar gatherings in which their respective
+sizes are discussed and they are studied from the point of view of
+their personal qualities, heated discussions taking place as to
+whether the short or the long ear, the curly tail, the hoof more or
+less curved upward, and the snout more or less pointed, augur the
+more succulent flesh and the more abundant fat. Comparisons are made.
+Pellejo's hog is superb as far as size is concerned, but its flesh,
+of an erysipelatous rosy hue, and its immense flabby belly, betray
+the hog of relaxed muscle, nourished on bakehouse refuse; a
+magnificent swine, that of the Alcalde, which has been fed on
+chestnuts, not so large as the other, but what hams it will make!
+What hams! And what bacon! And what a back, broad enough to ride
+upon! This will be the swine of the season. There are not wanting
+those who affirm, however, that the queen of the swine of Vilamorta
+is the pig of Aunt Gáspara, García's pig. The haunches of this
+magnificent animal look like a highroad; it once came near being
+suffocated by its own fat; its teats touch its hoofs and kiss the mud
+of the road. Who can calculate how many pounds of lard it will yield,
+and the black puddings it will fill with its blood, and the sausages
+that its intestines will make?
+
+It stops raining for a week; the cold grows more intense, frost
+falls, whitening the grass of the paths and hardening the ground.
+This is the signal for the hecatomb, for which the auspices are now
+favorable, for, in addition to the cold, the moon is in her last
+quarter; if she were on the wane the flesh would spoil. The hour has
+come for wielding the knife. And through the long nights of Vilamorta
+resound at the most unexpected moments desperate grunts--first grunts
+of fury, that express the impotent rage of the victim at finding
+himself bound to the bench, and reveal in the degenerate domestic pig
+the descendant of the wild mountain boar; then of pain, when the
+knife penetrates the flesh, an almost human cry when its blade
+pierces the heart, and at last a series of despairing groans which
+grow fainter and fainter as life and strength escape with the warm
+stream of blood.
+
+This bloodcurdling drama was being enacted in the house of the
+lawyer García at eleven o'clock on a clear frosty December night. The
+girls, wild with delight, and dying with curiosity, crowded around
+the expiring pig, in whose heart and throat the butcher, with rolled
+up sleeves and bare arms, was about to plunge the knife. Segundo,
+shut up in his bedroom, had before him some sheets of paper, more or
+less covered with scrawls. He was writing verses. But as the sounds
+of the tragedy reached him, he dropped his pen with dismay. He had
+inherited from his mother a profound horror of the spectacle of the
+killing; it usually cost his mother ten or twelve days of suffering,
+during which she was unable to eat food, sickened by the sight of the
+blood, the intestines and the viscera, so like human intestines and
+human viscera, the greasy flitches of bacon hanging from the roof,
+and the strong and stimulating odor of the black pudding and spices.
+Segundo abhorred even the name of pig, and in the morbid condition of
+his mind, in the nervous excitement which consumed him, it was an
+indescribable martyrdom to be unable to set his foot outside the door
+without stumbling against and entangling himself among the accursed
+and repulsive animals, or seeing, through the half-open doors,
+portions of their bodies hanging on hooks. All Vilamorta smelled of
+pig-killing, of warm entrails; Segundo did not know at last where to
+hide himself, and intrenched himself in his own room, closing the
+doors and windows tightly, secluding himself from the external world
+in order to live with his dreams and fancies in a realm where there
+were no hogs, and where only pine groves, blue flowers and precipices
+existed. Insufficient precaution to free himself from the torture of
+that brutal epoch of the year, since here in his own house he was
+besieged by the drama of gluttony and realism. The poet seized his
+hat and hurried out of the room. He must flee where these grunts
+could not penetrate, where those smells should not surround him. He
+walked along the hall, closing his eyes in order not to see, by the
+light of the candle which one of the children was holding, Aunt
+Gáspara with her skeleton-like arm, bare to the elbow, stirring a red
+and frothing liquid in a large earthern pan. When they saw Segundo
+leaving the house the sisters burst into shouts of laughter, and
+called to him, offering him grotesque delicacies, ignoble spoils of
+the dying.
+
+Leocadia had not retired; she felt ill and she was dozing in a
+chair, wrapped in a shawl and shivering with cold; she opened the
+door quickly to Segundo, asking him in alarm if anything had
+happened. Nothing, indeed. They were killing the pig at home--a
+Toledan night; they would not let him sleep. Besides, the night was
+so cold--he felt somewhat indisposed--as if he had a chill. Would she
+make him a cup of coffee, or better still, a rum punch?
+
+"Both, my heart, this very instant!"
+
+Leocadia recovered her spirits and her energy as if by
+enchantment. Soon there rose from the punch-bowl the sapphire flame
+of the punch. In its glare the schoolmistress's face seemed very
+thin. It had lost its former healthy color, a warm brown like that of
+the crust of a well-baked loaf. The pangs of disappointed love were
+revealed in the pallor of her cheeks, in the feverish brightness of
+her eyes, the purplish hue of her lips. Grief had given her prosaic
+features an almost poetic stamp; as she had grown thinner her eyes
+looked larger; she was not now the robust woman, with firm flesh and
+fresh-colored lips, who, pitted though she was by the smallpox, could
+still draw a coarse compliment from the tavern-keeper; the fire of an
+imperious, uncontrollable, and exacting passion was consuming her
+inwardly--the love which comes late in life, that devouring love
+which reason cannot conquer, nor time uproot, nor circumstances
+change, which fixes its talons in the vitals and releases its prey
+only when it has destroyed it.
+
+And this love was of so singular a nature that,--insatiable,
+volcanic, desperate, as it was,--far from dictating acts of violence
+to Leocadia and drawing from her furious reproaches, it inspired her
+with a self-abnegation and a generosity without limits, banishing
+from her mind every thought of self.
+
+The summer, the vintage season, the whole period during which she
+had scarcely seen Segundo, when she knew he had not given her a
+passing thought, that he was devoting himself to another woman, had
+been horrible for her; and yet not a jealous word, not a complaint
+had crossed her lips, nor did she once regret having given Segundo
+the money; and when she saw the poet, her joy was so genuine, so
+profound, that it effaced, as if by magic, the remembrance of her
+sufferings and repaid her for them a hundredfold.
+
+Now there was an additional reason why she should lavish her
+affection upon the poet. He too was suffering, he was ill. What was
+the matter with him? He himself did not know: hypochondria, the grief
+of separation, spleen, the impatient disgust produced by the contrast
+of his mean surroundings with the dreams that filled his imagination.
+A constant inappetency, depression of spirits, an uneasy sensation in
+the stomach, nerves on the stretch, like the strings of a guitar. And
+his love for Nieves was not like Leocadia's love, one of those
+passions that absorb the whole being, affect the heart, attenuate the
+flesh, and subjugate the soul. Nieves lived only in his imagination,
+in his vanity, in his lyrics, in his romantic reveries, those eternal
+inspirers of love. Nieves was the visible incarnation, in beautiful
+and alluring form, of his longings for fame, his literary ambition.
+
+Leocadia had served the punch and was pouring out the coffee
+when, her hand trembling with pleasure and emotion, she spilled some
+of the hot liquid, scalding herself slightly; she took no notice of
+the burn, however, but went on, with the same solicitude as always,
+to minister to Segundo's comfort. Thinking to please and interest the
+poet she asked him for news of the volume of poems which he had in
+hand, and which was to spread his fame far beyond Vilamorta, so soon
+as it should be published in Orense. Segundo did not show much
+enthusiasm at this prospect.
+
+"In Orense," he said, "in Orense----Do you know that I have
+changed my mind? Either I shall publish it in Madrid or I shall not
+publish it at all. The loss to Spanish literature would not be so
+very great."
+
+"And why don't you want to publish it now in Orense?"
+
+"I will tell you. Roberto Blanquez is right in the advice he
+gives me in a letter he has just written me from Madrid. You know
+that Roberto is in a situation there. He says that no one reads books
+published in the provinces; that he has noticed the contempt with
+which books that do not bear the imprint of some publishing house of
+the capital are looked upon there. And besides, that they delay a
+century here in printing a volume, and when it is printed it is full
+of errors, and unattractive in appearance--in short, that they do not
+take. And therefore----"
+
+"Well, then, let the book be published in Madrid. How much would
+it cost?"
+
+"Child, the prices Roberto tells me are enough to frighten one.
+It seems that the affair would cost a fortune. No publisher will buy
+verses or even share with the author the expense of publishing them."
+
+Leocadia answered only by a smile. The little parlor had a look
+of homelike comfort. Although winter had despoiled the balcony of its
+charms, turning the sweet basil yellow and withering the carnations,
+within, the hissing of the coffee-pot, the alcoholic vapor of the
+punch, the quietude, the solicitous affection of the schoolmistress,
+all seemed to temper and soften the atmosphere. Segundo felt a
+pleasant drowsiness stealing over him.
+
+"Will you give me a blanket from your bed?" he said to the
+schoolmistress. "There is not a spot at home where I could rest
+to-night. I might sleep a little on the sofa here."
+
+"You will be cold."
+
+"I shall be in heaven. Go."
+
+Leocadia left the room, and returned dragging in with her an
+unwieldy bulk--a mattress; then she brought a blanket; then, pillows.
+Total, a complete bed. For all that was wanting--only the sheets--she
+brought them also.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIV.
+
+
+Leocadia did not vacillate on the following day. She knew the way
+and she went straight to the lawyer's house. The latter received her
+with a frowning brow. Did people think he was coining money? Leocadia
+had now no land to sell; what she brought was of trifling value. If
+she made up her mind to mortgage the house he would speak to his
+brother-in-law Clodio, who had some money saved, and who would like
+to have some such piece of property. Leocadia breathed a sigh of
+regret, it was not with her as with the peasantry--she had no
+attachment to land, but the house! So neat, so pretty, so
+comfortable, arranged according to her own taste!
+
+"Pshaw, by paying the amount of the mortgage you can have it back
+the moment you wish."
+
+So it was settled. Clodio handed out the money, tempted by the
+hope of obtaining, at half its value, so cozy a nest in which to end
+his bachelor existence. In the evening Leocadia asked Segundo to show
+her the manuscript of his poems and to read some of them to her.
+Frequent mention was made in them, with reticences and transparent
+allusions, of certain blue flowers, of the murmur of a pine wood, of
+a precipice, and of various other things which Leocadia knew well
+were not inventions, but had their explanation in past, and to her
+unknown, events. The schoolmistress divined a love story whose
+heroine could be no one but Nieves Mendez. But what she could not
+understand, what she could not explain, was how Señora de Comba, now
+a widow, and free to reward Segundo's love, did not do so
+immediately. The verses breathed profound despondency, ardent
+passion, and intense bitterness. Now Leocadia understood Segundo's
+sadness, his dejection, his mental anguish. How much he must suffer
+in secret! Poets, by their nature, must suffer more and crueler
+tortures than the rest of humanity. There was not a doubt of it--this
+separation, these memories were killing Segundo slowly. Leocadia
+hesitated how to begin the conversation.
+
+"See, listen. Those verses are beautiful and deserve to be
+printed in letters of gold. It just happens, child, that I received
+some money a few days ago from Orense. Do you know what I was
+thinking of the other night while you were asleep in the little bed I
+arranged for you? That it would be better for you to go yourself to
+publish them--yonder--to Madrid."
+
+To her great surprise she saw that Segundo's face clouded. To go
+to Madrid now! Impossible; he must first learn something of Nieves.
+The last tragic scene of his love affair, the dénouement of her
+sudden widowhood, raised between them a barrier difficult to pass.
+Nieves was rich, and if Segundo should go to her now and throw
+himself at her feet, he would not be the lover asking her to requite
+his love, but the suitor to her hand, alleging anterior rights and
+basing on them his aspirations to replace her defunct husband. And
+Segundo, who had accepted money from Leocadia, felt his pride rebel
+at the thought that Nieves might take him for a fortune-hunter, or
+might scorn him for his obscurity and his poverty. But did not Nieves
+love him? Had she not told him so? Why, then, did she not send him
+some message. True, he had made no attempt to communicate with the
+beautiful widow, or to refresh her memory. He feared to do it
+awkwardly, inopportunely, and so reopen the wound caused by the death
+of her husband.
+
+The volume of verses--an excellent idea! The volume of verses was
+the one means of recovering his place in Nieves' recollection
+worthily, borne on the wings of popular applause. If this volume were
+read, admired, praised, it would win fame for its author; the
+difference between his own and Nieves' social position, which might
+now make his pretensions appear ridiculous, would disappear. "To
+marry!" said Segundo to himself. Marriage seemed to him a secondary
+matter. Let Nieves only love him. It was love he asked, not marriage.
+Sitting at Leocadia's very table he wrote to Blanquez, giving him
+instructions, and prepared the manuscript to post it, and made out
+the index and the title-page with the impatient joy of one who,
+expecting to win a fortune, buys a ticket in the lottery. When he was
+gone Leocadia remained sunk in thought. Segundo had no desire to go
+to Madrid. Then the gleam of happiness that flashed across her mind
+at the thought that Segundo should establish himself in Vilamorta was
+quenched by two considerations--one was that Segundo would die of
+tedium here; the other that she could not long continue to supply his
+wants. In mortgaging the house she had burned her last cartridge.
+What should she mortgage now--herself? And she smiled sadly. In the
+hall resounded the steps of the neglected little cripple, on his way
+to bed, where Flores would soon lull him to sleep with her solecisms
+and barbarous litanies. The mother sighed. And this being, this being
+who had no support but her--what should he live on? When ruin had
+overtaken her, and she could no longer give him food or shelter, what
+a mute and continual reproach would the presence of the unhappy child
+be to her! And how could she set him to work?
+
+To work! This word brought to her mind the plans she had matured
+in those hours of sleeplessness and despair in which all the past is
+retraced in thought and new plans are formed for the future and every
+possible course of action is deliberated upon. It was plain that
+Minguitos was unfitted for the material labor of cultivating the
+ground, or for making shoes, or grinding chocolate, like that
+good-looking Ramon; but he knew how to read and write and in
+arithmetic, with a little help from Leocadia, he would be a prodigy.
+To sit behind a counter kills nobody; to attend to a customer, to
+answer his questions, take the money, enter down what is sold, are
+rather entertaining occupations that cheer the mind than fatiguing
+labors. In this way the little hunchback would be amused and would
+lose a little of his terror of strangers, his morbid fear of being
+laughed at.
+
+A few years before if anyone had proposed to Leocadia to separate
+her from her child, to deprive him of the shelter of her loving arms,
+she would have insulted him. Now it seemed to her so easy and natural
+a solution of the question to make him a clerk in a shop. Something,
+nevertheless, still thrilled in the depths of her mother's heart,
+some fibers still closely attached to the soul, that bled, that hurt.
+She must tear them away quickly. It was all for the good of the
+child, to make a man of him, so that to-day or to-morrow----
+
+Leocadia held two or three consultations with Cansin, who had a
+cousin in Orense, the proprietor of a cloth shop; and Cansin,
+dilating upon his influence with him, and the importance of the
+favor, gave the schoolmistress a warm letter of recommendation to
+him. Leocadia went to the city, saw the shopkeeper, and the
+conditions on which he agreed to receive Minguitos were agreed upon.
+The boy would be fed and lodged, his clothes washed, and he would
+receive an occasional suit, made from the remnants of cloth left over
+in the shop. As to pay, he would be paid nothing until he should have
+acquired a thorough knowledge of the business--for a couple of years
+or so. And was he very much deformed? Because that would not be very
+pleasant for the customers. And was he honest? He had never taken any
+money out of his mother's drawer, had he?
+
+Leocadia returned home with her soul steeped in gall. How should
+she tell Minguitos and Flores? Especially Flores! Impossible,
+impossible--she would create a scandal that would alarm the
+neighborhood. And she had promised to take Minguitos without fail on
+the following Monday! A stratagem occurred to her. She said that a
+relative of hers lived in Orense and that she wished to take the
+child there to make his acquaintance. She depicted the journey in
+glowing colors, so that Minguitos might think he was going on a
+pleasure trip. Did he not want to see Orense again? It was a
+magnificent town. She would show him the hot springs, the Cathedral.
+The child, with an instinctive horror of public places, of coming in
+contact with strangers, sorrowfully shook his head; and as for the
+old servant, as if she divined what was going on, she raged and
+stormed all the week. When Sunday came and mother and son were about
+to take their departure in the stage-coach Flores threw her arms
+around the neck of the boy as he was mounting the step, and embraced
+him with the tremulous and doting fondness of a grandmother, covering
+his face with kisses, and moistening it with the saliva on her
+withered lips. She spent the rest of the day sitting in the doorway,
+muttering words of rage, or of tender pity, her forehead pressed
+between her hands in an attitude of despair.
+
+Leocadia, once they were in the diligence, tried to convince the
+boy that the change was for his good; describing to him the pleasant
+life that awaited him in that fine shop situated in the most central
+part of Orense, which was so lively, where he would have very little
+to do, and where he had the hope of earning, if not to-day,
+to-morrow, a little money for himself. At her first words the boy
+fixed on his mother his astonished eyes, in which a look of
+intelligence gradually began to dawn. Minguitos was quick of
+comprehension. He drew up close to his mother, and laid his head down
+on her lap without speaking.
+
+As he continued silent, Leocadia said to him:
+
+"What is the matter with you? Does your head ache?"
+
+"No; let me sleep so--for a little--until we reach Orense."
+
+And thus he remained, quiet and silent, lulled to sleep,
+apparently, by the creaking of the diligence and the deafening noise
+of the windows rattling in their sashes. When they reached the city
+Leocadia touched him on the shoulder, saying:
+
+"We have arrived."
+
+They alighted from the stagecoach and then only did Leocadia
+observe that her lap was moist and that, on the spot where the boy
+had rested his forehead, sparkled two or three crystal drops. But on
+finding himself among strangers, in the gloomy shop crowded with
+rolls of dark cloth, the hunchback's attitude ceased to be resigned;
+he caught hold of his mother's skirt with a despairing impulse,
+uttering a single cry in which were concentrated all his reproaches,
+all his affection:
+
+"M-a-a-a-m-m-a--m-a-a-a-m-m-a!"
+
+This cry still resounded through Leocadia's heart when, on her
+arrival at Vilamorta, she saw Flores lying in wait for her in the
+doorway. Lying in wait is the exact expression, for Flores threw
+herself upon her, the moment she appeared, like a bulldog, like a
+wild animal asking for and demanding her young. And as a man in a fit
+of rage throws at his adversary whatever he finds nearest his hand so
+Flores heaped on Leocadia every species of insult, all sorts of
+injurious and opprobrious epithets, crying, in a voice that trembled
+with rage and hatred:
+
+"Thief, thief, wretch! What have you done with your child, thief?
+Go, drunkard, vagabond, go drink your liqueurs--and your child,
+perhaps, dying of hunger! Reprobate, wolf, traitress, where is the
+child? Where is the little angel? Where have you hidden him, schemer?
+In such a hurry you were to get rid of him so as to be left alone
+with your trumpery young gentleman! Wolf, wolf--if I had a gun, as
+sure as I am standing here, I would send a charge of shot into you!"
+
+Leocadia, her face pale, her eyes red with weeping, put out her
+hand to stop the mouth of the frenzied old woman; but the latter
+caught her fingers between her toothless gums, biting them and
+slavering them with the foam of her fury, and when the schoolmistress
+went upstairs, the old woman followed her, crying after her in hoarse
+and sinister accents:
+
+"You will never have the grace of God, wolf--God and the Holy
+Virgin will punish you! Go, go, rejoice now because you have carried
+out your evil designs! May you be forever accursed, accursed,
+accursed!"
+
+The malediction made Leocadia shudder. The house, with Minguitos
+away, seemed like a tomb. Flores had neither made the dinner nor
+lighted the lamp. Leocadia, too sick at heart to do either, threw
+herself on the bed, dressed as she was, and, later on, undressed
+herself and went to bed without tasting a morsel of food.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXV.
+
+
+With what interest did Segundo read the letters of Roberto
+Blanquez giving him news of his book. Roberto was a few years older
+than the Swan; the difference in their ages was not so great as to
+prevent their having been very good friends when they were at college
+together, though it was great enough to have given Blanquez so much
+more experience than the poet as to enable him to serve as his guide
+and mentor. Blanquez, too, had had his poetic epoch, when he had
+written Galician verses; he now devoted himself to the prose of a
+modest clerkship, and wrote official articles. Madrid was
+enlightening him, and, with the natural penetration of one in whose
+veins flowed Galician blood, he was gradually acquiring a knowledge
+of practical life. He entertained for Segundo a fanatic admiration
+and a sincere attachment, one of those college attachments which last
+a lifetime. Segundo wrote to him with entire confidence--some cousins
+of Blanquez were acquainted with the mother of Nieves Mendez, and
+through this channel Segundo occasionally received tidings of his
+lady-love. Blanquez was not ignorant of the episodes of the summer.
+And in the beginning his news was very satisfactory: "Nieves lives in
+the greatest retirement--my cousins have given me news of her. She
+scarcely ever leaves the house except to go to mass. The child is not
+well. The physicians say it is the age. They are going to send her to
+a convent of the Sacred Heart to be educated. They say the mother
+looks superb, my boy. It seems they have been left very well off. The
+book will soon appear now. Yesterday I chose the paper for the
+edition and the linen paper for the hundred copies _de luxe_. The
+type will be Elzevir, which is at present the most fashionable. The
+title-page--they make them beautiful now, in six colors--would you
+like it to represent something fanciful, something allegorical?" In
+this style were Roberto's letters, source of illusions for Segundo,
+sole food for his imagination through all that long and gloomy
+winter, in that out-of-the-way corner of the world, in the midst of
+his prosaic domestic surroundings, his mind filled with the
+recollections of his unhappy passion.
+
+March had arrived, that uncertain month of sunshine and showers
+which heralds in the spring with affluence of violets and primroses,
+when the cold begins to lessen, and in the pale blue sky white clouds
+float like streamers, when Segundo received that most precious of all
+objects, that object the sight of which makes the heart palpitate
+with joy and longing, mingled with an undefinable fear resembling,
+somewhat, the feeling with which the new-made father regards his
+first-born--his first printed book. It seemed to him a dream that the
+book should be there, before his eyes, in his hands, with the
+satin-smooth white cover on which the artist had gracefully twined
+around a group of pine trees a few sprays of forget-me-nots; with its
+pea-green paper, that gave it an antique air, the compositions headed
+by three mysterious asterisks. Looking at his verses thus, free from
+blots, finished and correct, the thought standing out clearly in
+distinct black characters on the delicately tinted page, he almost
+felt as if they had issued from his brain just as they were, smoothly
+flowing and with perfect rhymes, without corrections or unmeaning
+syllables put in to fill out the meter.
+
+Leocadia was even more moved by the sight of the book than its
+author had been. She shed tears of joy. The fame of the poet was, in
+a sense, her work! For two or three days she was happy, forgetting
+the bad news which Flores brought her every Sunday from Orense; from
+Orense, where Leocadia did not dare to go herself, fearing to yield
+to the entreaties and melt before the prayers of the child, but where
+palpitated those fibers of her heart which still bled, and which
+Flores wrung with torture by her account of the sufferings of
+Minguitos, who declined visibly in health, and who always complained
+that they made sport of him in the shop and cast up his deformity to
+him.
+
+Unsolvable mysteries of the human heart! Segundo, who despised
+his native place, who believed--nor was he mistaken--that there was
+not in Vilamorta a single person capable of judging of the merits of
+a poem, could not refrain from going one evening to Saturnino
+Agonde's and drawing carelessly the volume from his pocket, throwing
+it on the counter and saying with affected indifference:
+
+"What do you think of that book, my boy?"
+
+On the instant he repented of his weakness, so many were the
+nonsensical remarks and absurd jokes with which the beautiful volume
+inspired the irreverent assemblage. He wished he had never shown it.
+He had drawn all this upon himself. If the public did not treat him
+better than his fellow-townsmen! Man can never isolate himself
+completely from his surroundings--the circle in which he moves must
+always have an interest for him. However little importance Segundo
+might attach to the opinions of the Vilamortans, and although their
+approbation would assuredly not have raised him in his own
+estimation, their stupid mockery wounded and embittered his soul. He
+went home hurt and pained. He spent a feverish night--one of those
+nights in which great projects are conceived and decisive resolutions
+adopted.
+
+His resolutions and his plans he summed up in the letter he wrote
+to Blanquez. The latter did not answer by return of mail; days
+passed, and Segundo went every morning to the post-office, always
+meeting with the same laconic answer. At last one day he received a
+voluminous registered letter.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXVI.
+
+
+As he opened it, several newspapers fell out, containing notices
+marked by a cross of the volume of poems just published, entitled
+"Songs of Absence," this being the name chosen by Segundo for his
+volume of rhymes.
+
+These were accompanied by a letter of four pages from Roberto.
+What it might contain was of such vital importance to Segundo, so
+great the influence it might exercise over his future, that he laid
+it aside fearing, he knew not why, to read it, wishing to defer what
+he so eagerly desired. The letter lay open before him and certain
+names, certain words frequently repeated, caught his eye. The name of
+the widowed Señora de Comba was often mentioned in it. To calm his
+agitation, which was purely nervous, he took up the newspapers,
+resolving to read first the marked paragraphs. He traversed the _via
+crucis_, in the fullest signification of the words.
+
+_El Imperial_ gave a noisy boom to Galicia and, as a proof that
+the country produced poets in the same abundance as it produced
+exquisite peaches and beautiful flowers mentioned, without naming
+him, the author of "Songs of Absence," a beautiful volume just
+published. And not a line more, not a word of criticism, nothing to
+indicate that anybody in the office of the popular daily had taken
+the trouble even to cut the leaves of the book. _El Liberal_, better
+informed, declared, in three lines, that "Songs of Absence" gave
+evidence of the author's great facility in versification. _La Epoca_,
+in the most obscure corner of its department, "New Books," eulogized
+the typographical elegance of the book; disapproved of the romantic
+savor of the title and of the title-page, and deplored in trenchant
+phrases that the poet should have sought inspiration in the barren
+theme of absence when there were so many wholesome, cheerful and
+fruitful subjects on which to write. _El Dia_----
+
+Ah, as for _El Dia_, it gave Segundo a castigation in style: not
+one of those angry, predetermined, energetic castigations, in which
+the lash is taken up with both hands to crush a powerful and
+dangerous adversary, but a contemptuous cut of the whip, a flick with
+the nail, as it were, as one might brush away a troublesome insect;
+one of those summary criticisms in which the critic does not take the
+trouble to adduce proof or argument in support of his criticisms,
+whose justice he deems so evident as not to require demonstration; an
+execution by a few jests, but jests of a kind that extinguish a new
+author, crush him, relegate him forever to the limbo of obscurity.
+The critic said that now when verses of supreme merit lacked readers
+it was greatly to be deplored that the press should be made to groan
+with rhymes of an inferior quality; that now when Becquer had been
+placed in the pantheon of the immortals it was a crime to treat him
+with the disrespect of stupidly imitating him, mutilating and
+counterfeiting his best thoughts; and finally, that it was to be
+regretted that estimable young men, endowed, perhaps, with admirable
+capabilities for trade, or for the career of an apothecary or a
+notary, should spend their parents' money in costly editions of
+verses which no one would either buy or read.
+
+Underneath this philippic Roberto Blanquez had written: "Pay no
+attention to this ass. Read my article."
+
+And indeed in an obscure, insignificant sheet, one of those
+innumerable periodicals that see the light in Madrid without Madrid
+ever seeing them, Blanquez poured forth the gall of his wounded
+friendship and patriotism--taking the critic to task, eulogizing
+Segundo's book and declaring him the worthy compeer of Becquer, with
+the difference that the former was a little sweeter, a little more
+dreamy, a little more melancholy, as being the son of a land as
+beautiful as it was unfortunate, and which was fairer than Andalusia,
+than Switzerland, or than any other country on the face of the globe;
+ending by saying that if Becquer had been born in Galicia he would
+feel, think, and write like _The Swan of Vilamorta_.
+
+Segundo seized the bundle of newspapers and, after looking at
+them for a moment fixedly and with a gloomy brow, tore them into
+pieces, large at first, then small, then smaller still, which he
+threw out of the window to hover for a moment in the air like
+butterflies or like the silvery petals of the flower of illusion, and
+then fall into the nearest pool. Segundo smiled bitterly. "There goes
+fame," he said to himself. "Now I think I am calmer. Let us see what
+the letter says."
+
+Of this letter we need cite here only certain passages,
+supplementing them with the comments made on them in his mind by the
+reader.
+
+"According to your request I went to the house of Señora de Comba
+to deliver to her the copy, so carefully wrapped up and sealed, which
+you sent me for that purpose."--Of course. It contained an
+inscription which I did not want her to think that you might have
+read.--"She has a beautiful house, hangings and natural flowers
+everywhere."--Everything pertaining to her is like that, beautiful
+and refined.--"But I was obliged to return several times before she
+would receive me, the moment was always inopportune."--She does not
+receive indiscriminately all who may chance to present
+themselves.--"At last she received me, after innumerable ceremonies
+and formalities. She is very beautiful close by, more beautiful,
+even, than at a distance, and it seems impossible that she should
+have a daughter twelve years old; she looks at most twenty-four or
+twenty-five."--What news Roberto has to tell me.--"The moment I told
+her I had come on your part"--Let us hear--"she became--what shall I
+say?"--red--"displeased and annoyed, my boy, and in addition so
+serious, that I was quite taken aback, and did not know what to
+do."--Infamous! Infamous!--"She was afraid that I"--Let us hear; let
+us finish, let us finish.--"She refused to receive the book, in spite
+of my urgent entreaties"--but this is inconceivable. Ah, what a
+woman!--"because she says it would remind her too forcibly of that
+place and of the death of her husband, whom God keep in his glory;
+and consequently she begs you to excuse her"--wretch!--"from opening
+the package and reading your verse, for which she thanks you."--Ha!
+ha! ha!--Bravo! What an actress!
+
+"Notwithstanding all this, as you had charged me explicitly to
+deliver it to her, I determined not to take the book back with me
+and, taking up my hat and saluting her, I laid your package on a
+table. On the following morning, however, it came back to me
+unopened, with all its seals intact."--And I did not throw her into
+the Avieiro that day when our lips--the more fool I! Well, let us
+finish.
+
+"In view of the little widow's conduct I imagine that you must
+have invented all that about the window and the precipice; you must
+have told it to me to fool me or, as you are so imaginative, you
+dreamed that it happened and you took the dream for reality."--He
+does well to mock me.--"At all events, my boy, if you were interested
+in the widow, think no more about her. I know to a certainty, through
+my cousins, who have it for a fact from their father, that at the
+expiration of the period of her mourning she is to marry a certain
+Marquis de Cameros who represented at one time a district in
+Lugo."--Yes, yes, I understand.--"The thing is serious, for,
+according to what my cousins say, the house linen is being
+embroidered already with the coronet of a marchioness."
+
+The letter was torn still more slowly and into still smaller
+pieces than the newspapers. With the fragments Segundo made a ball
+which he threw far into the middle of the pool. "Such is love," he
+said to himself, laughing bitterly.
+
+He began to walk up and down the room, at first with a certain
+monotonous regularity, then restlessly and with fury. Clara, the
+eldest of his sisters, half opened the door of the room, saying:
+
+"Aunt Gáspara says you are to come."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Dinner is ready."
+
+Segundo took his hat and rushing into the street walked toward
+the river, filled with that species of fury which one who has just
+received some mental shock, some bitter disappointment, is apt to
+feel at being called on to take part in any of the ordinary concerns
+of life.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXVII.
+
+
+What a walk was his along the marshy borders of the Avieiro! At
+times he hurried on without any motive for accelerating his steps,
+and again, equally without motive, stood still, his gaze riveted on
+some object but in reality seeing nothing. One regret, a gnawing
+grief, pierced his soul when he recalled the past. As in a shipwreck
+there is for each of the passengers some one particular object whose
+loss he deplores more bitterly than that of all his other
+possessions, so Segundo, of all his past life, regretted one instant
+above every other, an instant which he would have given all he
+possessed to live over again--that during which he had stood with
+Nieves on the edge of the precipice, when he might have obtained a
+worthy and glorious death, carrying with him into the abyss the
+precious treasure of his illusions, and the form of the woman who for
+that one unforgettable instant only, had truly loved him.
+
+"A coward then, and a coward now!" thought the poet, calling all
+his resolution to his aid but finding himself unable to summon the
+necessary courage to throw himself at once into the cold and muddy
+waters of the river. What moments of anguish! Giddy with suffering he
+seated himself on a stone on the river bank and watched with idiotic
+vacancy of expression the circles formed on the bosom of the river by
+the drops of rain that fell slantingly from the gray sky, as they
+expanded and were lost in other circles that pressed upon them on all
+sides, while new circles took their place, to be lost in their turn
+in yet other circles, covering the surface of the water with a wavy
+design resembling the silver work called _guilloché_. The poet did
+not even notice that these same rain-drops that fell thick and fast
+on the surface of the Avieiro fell also on his hat and shoulders, ran
+down his forehead and, making their way between his collar and his
+skin, trickled down his neck. He noticed it only when the chill they
+produced made him shiver and he rose and walked slowly home, where
+dinner was already over and no one thought of offering him even so
+much as a cup of broth.
+
+Two or three days later a fever declared itself, which was at
+first slight, but soon grew serious. Tropiezo called it a gastric and
+catarrhal fever, and truth compels us to say that he administered
+remedies not altogether inappropriate; gastric and catarrhal fevers
+are, for physicians whose knowledge is derived chiefly from
+experience, a perfect boon from Heaven, a glorious field in which
+they may count every battle a victory; a beaten path in which they
+run no risk of going astray. It will not lead them to the unknown
+pole of science, but at least it will betray them into no abyss.
+
+As Tropiezo was leaving García's house one evening, after his
+customary visit to Segundo, muffled up to the ears in his comforter,
+he saw, standing beside the lawyer's door in the shadow cast by the
+contiguous wall, a woman clad in an old morning gown and with her
+head bare. The night was bright and Don Fermin was able to
+distinguish her features, but it was not without some difficulty that
+he recognized her to be Leocadia, so altered and aged did the poor
+schoolmistress look. Her countenance betrayed the keenest anxiety as
+she asked the doctor:
+
+"And what news, Don Fermin? How is Segundo getting on?"
+
+"Ah, good evening, Leocadia. Do you know that at first I did not
+recognize you?--Well, very well; there is no cause for uneasiness.
+To-day I ordered him some of the _puchero_ and some soup. It was
+nothing--a cold caught by getting a wetting. But the boy seems a
+little preoccupied, and he was for a time so sad and dejected that I
+thought he was never going to get back his appetite. At this season
+it is necessary to go warmly clad; we have a fine day, and then, when
+you least expect it, back come the rain and the cold again. And
+you--how are you getting on? They tell me that you have not been
+well, either. You must take care of yourself."
+
+"There is nothing the matter with me, Don Fermin."
+
+"So much the better. Any news of the boy?"
+
+"He is in Orense, poor child. He can't get used to it."
+
+"He will get used to it by and by. Of course--accustomed to be
+petted. Well, Leocadia, good-night. Go home, my dear woman, go home."
+
+Don Fermin proceeded on his way, drawing his comforter up closer
+around his ears. That woman was mad; she had not taken the disease
+lightly, it seemed. And how altered she was! How old she had grown in
+these last few months! Old women were worse than young girls when
+they fell in love. He had done wisely, very wisely in telling her
+nothing about Segundo's new plans. She was capable of tearing down
+the house if he had told her. No, silence, silence. A shut mouth
+catches no flies. Let her find it out through someone else besides
+him. And with these sensible ideas and worthy intentions Tropiezo
+reached Agonde's, and before a quarter of an hour had elapsed
+unbosomed himself of his news: Segundo García was going to America to
+seek his fortune--as soon as he should be entirely well, of course.
+He would take the steamer at Corunna.
+
+The occasion was a favorable one for the company to lament once
+more in concert the death of Don Victoriano Andres de la Comba,
+protector and father of all the Vilamortans in want of situations, a
+useful representative and an untiring worker for the district. If he
+were alive now most assuredly a young man of so much ability--a
+poet--that night the party all agreed that Segundo had ability and
+was a poet--would not be obliged to go across the raging seas in
+quest of a decent situation. But since they had lost Don Victoriano,
+Vilamorta was without a voice in the regions of influence and favor,
+for Señorito de Romero, the present representative of the district,
+belonged to the class of docile representatives who give no trouble
+to the Government, who vote when their votes are wanted, and who hold
+themselves cheap, valuing themselves at no more than a few tobacco
+shops, and half a dozen or so of official appointments. Agonde took
+his revenge that night, expatiating on his favorite theme, and
+abusing the pernicious Eufrasian influence which was responsible for
+the decadence of Vilamorta, on account of which its youth were
+obliged to emigrate to the New World. The apothecary expounded his
+theories--he liked the representative of a district to show himself
+in it occasionally. Otherwise of what use was he? In his eyes the
+ideal representative was that famous politician from whom the barber
+of the town he represented had asked a place, basing his request on
+the fact that, owing to the distribution of appointments among the
+persons of his station in the town, there were no customers left for
+him to shave and he was starving. The Alcalde here interposed, saying
+that he had it on very good authority that Señorito de Romero
+intended to interest himself in earnest for Vilamorta; the
+confectioner and some others of those present confirmed this
+statement, and then arose a discussion in which it was proved beyond
+a doubt that a dead representative has no friends and that the new
+representative of the district had already, in the very stronghold of
+the former Combista radicals, friends and adherents.
+
+
+
+
+                                XXVIII.
+
+
+The Swan has left his native lake, or rather, his pool; he has
+crossed the Atlantic on the wings of steam. Will he ever return? Will
+he come back with a sallow countenance, a disordered liver, and some
+thousands of dollars, in bills of exchange, in his pocketbook, to end
+his life where it began, as the ship disabled by storms receives its
+last repairs in the dockyard in which it was built? Will the black
+vomit, that terrible malady of the Antilles, the scourge of the
+Iberians who seek to emulate Columbus conquering a new world, attack
+him on his arrival on the young continent? Will he remain in the
+tropics, riding in his carriage, united in the bonds of matrimony to
+some Creole? Will he preside one day over one of those diminutive
+republics, in which the doctors are generals and the generals
+doctors? Will his melancholy be cured by the salty kiss of the ocean
+breeze, by the contact of virgin soil, the sharp spur of necessity,
+that, pushing him into the conflict, will say to him, "Work"?
+
+History may perhaps at some future day relate the story of the
+metamorphosis of the Swan, of his wanderings and his vicissitudes;
+but years must first elapse, for it was only yesterday, as one might
+say, that Segundo García quitted Vilamorta, leaving the
+schoolmistress behind him dissolved in tears. And the story of the
+schoolmistress is the only episode in the chronicle of the Swan which
+we can at present bring to an end.
+
+Leocadia was the theme of much gossip in Vilamorta. She was
+seriously ill, according to some, according to others, ruined, and
+according to many, touched in her mind. She had been seen haunting
+the neighborhood of Segundo's house on various nights during the
+poet's illness; it was affirmed that she had sold her land and that
+her house was mortgaged to Clodio Genday; but the strangest thing of
+all, that which was most bitterly censured, was her neglect of her
+son after having cared for him and watched over him from his infancy,
+never going to Orense to see him, while old Flores went there
+constantly, bringing back worse and worse news of the child every
+time she went--that he was wasting away, that he spit blood, that he
+was dying of grief, that he would not last a month. Leocadia, as she
+listened, would let her chin fall upon her breast, and at times her
+shoulders would move convulsively, as if she were weeping. Otherwise
+she appeared calm, although she was very silent and had lost her
+former activity. She helped Flores in the kitchen, attended to the
+children of the school, swept and dusted--all like an automaton,
+while Flores, who pitilessly spied out every occasion to find fault
+with her, took pleasure in crying:
+
+"Woman, you have left this side of the pan dirty--woman, you
+haven't mended your skirt--woman, what are you thinking about? I am
+going to Orense to-day and you will have to take care of the
+_puchero_."
+
+At the end of the summer Clodio demanded the interest on his loan
+and Leocadia was unable to pay it; she was notified accordingly that,
+after the necessary legal proceedings, the creditor would avail
+himself of his legal right to take possession of the house. This was
+a terrible blow for Leocadia.
+
+It will sometimes happen that a prisoner, a distinguished
+personage, a king, it may be, shut up through an adverse fate within
+the walls of a dungeon, stripped of his grandeur, deprived of all
+that once constituted his happiness, will bear his ills for years
+with resignation, calm in appearance although dejected, but if some
+day, by the cruel tyranny of his jailors, this prisoner is deprived
+of some bauble, some trifling object for which he had conceived an
+affection, the grief pent up within his bosom will burst its bounds,
+and the wildest manifestations of grief will follow. Something like
+this happened to Leocadia when she learned that she must abandon
+forever the beloved little house where she had spent in Segundo's
+company hours unique in her existence; the little house in which she
+was mistress, which had been rebuilt with her savings, the little
+house lately so neat and so attractive, of which she was so proud.
+
+Flores heard her on several nights sobbing loudly, but when on
+one or two occasions, moved by an involuntary feeling of pity, the
+old woman went into her room to ask her what ailed her, if she could
+do anything for her, Leocadia, covering her face with the bedclothes,
+had answered in a dull voice: "There is nothing the matter with me,
+woman; let me sleep. You will not even let me sleep!"
+
+During those days her moods varied constantly and she formed a
+thousand different plans. She talked of going to live in Orense, of
+giving up the school and taking sewing to do in the house; she
+talked, too, of accepting the proposal of Clodio Genday, who, having
+dismissed his young servant, for what reason no one knew, offered to
+take Leocadia as his housekeeper, by which arrangement she would
+remain in her house, Flores, of course, being dismissed. None of
+these plans lasted for more than a very short time, but were all in
+turn rejected to give place to others no less ephemeral; and while
+the schoolmistress was thus engaged in forming and rejecting plans
+the time was fast approaching when she should find herself without a
+shelter.
+
+One market day Leocadia went to purchase various articles
+urgently needed by Flores, among others a sieve and a new
+chocolate-pot, the old one being no longer fit for use. The movement
+of the crowd, the jostling of the hucksters, and the glare of the
+autumnal sun made her head, weak from want of sleep, from fasting,
+and from suffering--slightly dizzy. She stopped before a stall where
+sieves were sold, a sort of variety booth, where innumerable
+indispensable trifles were for sale--chocolate-beaters, frying-pans,
+saucepans, kerosene lamps. In a corner were two articles of
+merchandise in great request in the place--consisting of pink paper,
+soft, like brown paper, and some whitish powder, resembling spoiled
+flour. Leocadia's glance fell on these, and the vender, thinking she
+wished to buy some, began to extol their properties, explaining that
+the pink sheets moistened and placed on a plate, would not leave a
+fly alive in the neighborhood, and that the white powder was
+_seneca_, for killing mice, the manner of using it being to mix it
+well with cheese and place the mixture, made into little balls, in
+their haunts. Leocadia asked the price and told the vender to give
+her a small quantity, and the woman, to appear generous, took up a
+good portion on the spatula, wrapped it up in paper, and gave it to
+her for a trifling sum. The drug indeed was of little value, being
+very common in that part of the country, where native arsenic abounds
+in the calcareous spar forming one of the banks of the Avieiro, and
+arsenic, acid--rat-poison--is sold openly in the fairs, rather than
+in drug shops. The schoolmistress put away the powder, bought,
+through complaisance, half a dozen of the pink slips of paper, and on
+her return home punctually delivered to Flores the articles she had
+been commissioned to purchase.
+
+Flores noticed that after dinner Leocadia shut herself up in her
+bedroom, where the old woman could hear her talking aloud as if she
+were praying. Accustomed to her eccentricities the servant thought
+nothing about the matter. When she had ended her prayer, the
+schoolmistress stepped out on the balcony, where she stood gazing for
+a long time at the flower-pots; she then went into the parlor and
+looked for a good while also at the sofa, the chairs, the little
+table, the spots which reminded her of the past. Then she went into
+the kitchen. Flores declared afterward--but in such cases who is
+there that does not lay claim to a prophetic instinct--that
+Leocadia's manner on entering had attracted her attention.
+
+"Have you any fresh water?" she asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Give me a glass of it."
+
+Flores affirmed that, as she took the glass, the hand of the
+schoolmistress trembled, as if she had a chill, and the strangest
+part of the matter was that, although there was no sugar in the
+water, Leocadia asked for a spoon, which she put into the glass. An
+hour, or perhaps an hour and a half passed, when Flores heard
+Leocadia groan. She hurried to her room and saw her lying on the bed,
+her face frightfully pale, making desperate and fruitless efforts to
+vomit. Then a cold perspiration broke out on the forehead of the sick
+woman, and she remained motionless and speechless. Flores, terrified,
+ran for Don Fermin, urging him to hurry, saying this was no jesting
+matter. When Don Fermin arrived out of breath, he asked:
+
+"What is this, Leocadia? What is the matter with you; my dear
+woman, what is the matter with you?"
+
+Opening her dilated eyes, she murmured:
+
+"Nothing, Don Fermin, nothing."
+
+Standing on the table at the head of the bed was the glass; it
+contained no water, but the bottom and the sides of the vessel were
+coated with a white powder which had remained undissolved and which
+the schoolmistress, not wishing to leave it there, had scraped off in
+places with the spoon. It is proper to say, on this occasion also,
+that the illustrious Tropiezo made no mistake in the treatment of so
+simple a case. Tropiezo had already fought some battles with this
+common toxic substance and knew its tricks; he had recourse, without
+a moment's delay, to the use of powerful emetics and of oil. Only the
+poison, having gained the start of him, had already entered into the
+circulation and ran through the veins of the schoolmistress, chilling
+her blood. When the nausea and the vomiting ceased several little red
+spots--an eruption similar to that of scarlet-fever--made their
+appearance on Leocadia's pallid face. This symptom lasted until death
+came to set her sad spirit free and release it from its sufferings,
+which was toward daybreak. Shortly before her death, during an
+interval of freedom from pain, Leocadia, making a sign to Flores to
+come nearer, whispered in her ear: "Promise me--that the child shall
+not know it--by the soul of your mother--don't tell him--don't tell
+him the manner of my death."
+
+A few days later Tropiezo was defending himself to the party at
+Agonde's who, for the pleasure of making him angry, were accusing him
+of being responsible for the death of the schoolmistress.
+
+"For one thing, they called me too late, much too late," he said;
+"when the woman was almost in her death agony. For another, she had
+taken a quantity of arsenic which was not large enough to produce
+vomiting, but which was too small to cause merely a colic and be done
+with it. Where I made the mistake was in waiting so long before
+sending for the priest. I did it with the best intentions, so as not
+to frighten her and hoping we might yet pull her through. When
+extreme unction was administered she had no senses left to know what
+was going on."
+
+"So that," said Agonde maliciously, "where you are called in,
+either the soul or the body is sure to meet with a trip."
+
+The company applauded the joke, and there followed funereal jests
+mingled with expressions of pity. Clodio Genday, the creditor of the
+deceased, moved about uneasily in his chair. What stupid
+conversation, _canario_! Let them talk of more cheerful subjects!
+
+And they talked of very cheerful and satisfactory subjects
+indeed. Señorito de Romero had promised to put a telegraph-office in
+Vilamorta; and the newspapers were saying that, owing to the
+increasing importance of the viticultural interests of the Border, a
+branch railroad was needed for which the engineers were soon coming
+to survey the ground.