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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9987.txt b/9987.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97a6af8 --- /dev/null +++ b/9987.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5282 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish + +Author: Various + +Posting Date: November 5, 2011 [EBook #9987] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES--FOREIGN AUTHORS:SPANISH *** + + + + +Produced by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks, Charles M. +Bidwell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + + +STORIES BY FOREIGN AUTHORS + +SPANISH + + + +THE TALL WOMAN .. .. .. .. .. .. by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +THE WHITE BUTTERFLY. .. .. .. .. by Jose Selgas +THE ORGANIST.. .. .. .. .. .. .. by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer +MOORS AND CHRISTIANS .. .. .. .. by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS .. .. by Fernan Caballero + + + +1898 + + + +THE TALL WOMAN +by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +From "Modern Ghosts" translated by Rollo Ogden. + + + + THE TALL WOMAN + + +I. + +"How little we really know, my friends; how little we really know." + +The speaker was Gabriel, a distinguished civil engineer of the mountain +corps. He was seated under a pine tree, near a spring, on the crest of the +Guadarrama. It was only about a league and a half distant from the palace +of the Escurial, on the boundary line of the provinces of Madrid and +Segovia. I know the place, spring, pine tree and all, but I have forgotten +its name. + +"Let us sit down," went on Gabriel, "as that is the correct thing to do, +and as our programme calls for a rest here--here in this pleasant and +classic spot, famous for the digestive properties of that spring, and for +the many lambs here devoured by our noted teachers, Don Miguel Bosch, Don +Maximo Laguna, Don Augustin Pascual, and other illustrious naturalists. +Sit down, and I will tell you a strange and wonderful story in proof of my +thesis, which is, though you call me an obscurantist for it, that +supernatural events still occur on this terraqueous globe. I mean events +which you cannot get into terms of reason, or science, or philosophy--as +those 'words, words, words,' in Hamlet's phrase, are understood (or are +not understood) to-day." + +Gabriel was addressing his animated remarks to five persons of different +ages. None of them was young, though only one was well along in years. +Three of them were, like Gabriel, engineers, the fourth was a painter, and +the fifth was a litterateur in a small way. In company with the speaker, +who was the youngest, we had all ridden up on hired mules from the Real +Sitio de San Lorenzo to spend the day botanizing among the beautiful pine +groves of Pequerinos, chasing butterflies with gauze nets, catching rare +beetles under the bark of the decayed pines, and eating a cold lunch out +of a hamper which we had paid for on shares. + +This took place in 1875. It was the height of the summer. I do not +remember whether it was Saint James's day or Saint Louis's; I am inclined +to think it was Saint Louis's. Whichever it was, we enjoyed a delicious +coolness at that height, and the heart and brain, as well as the stomach, +were there in much better working order than usual. + +When the six friends were seated, Gabriel continued as follows: + +"I do not think you will accuse me of being a visionary. Luckily or +unluckily, I am, if you will allow me to say so, a man of the modern +world. I have no superstition about me, and am as much of a Positivist as +the best of them, although I include among the positive data of nature all +the mysterious faculties and feelings of the soul. Well, then, apropos of +supernatural, or extra-natural, phenomena, listen to what I have seen and +heard, although I was not the real hero of the very strange story I am +going to relate, and then tell me what explanation of an earthly, +physical, or natural sort, however you may name it, can be given of so +wonderful an occurrence. + +"The case was as follows. But wait! Pour me out a drop, for the +skin-bottle must have got cooled off by this time in that bubbling, +crystalline spring, located by Providence on this piny crest for the +express purpose of cooling a botanist's wine." + + +II. + +Well, gentlemen, I do not know whether you ever heard of an engineer of +the roads corps named Telesforo X---; he died in 1860." + +"No; I haven't." + +"But I have." + +"So have I. He was a young fellow from Andalusia, with a black moustache; +he was to have married the Marquis of Moreda's daughter, but he died of +jaundice." + +"The very one," said Gabriel. "Well, then, my friend Telesforo, six months +before his death, was still a most promising young man, as they say +nowadays. He was good-looking, well-built, energetic, and had the glory of +being the first one in his class to be promoted. He had already gained +distinction in the practice of his profession through some fine pieces of +work. Several different companies were competing for his services, and +many marriageable women were also competing for him. But Telesforo, as you +said, was faithful to poor Joaquina Moreda. + +"As you know, it turned out that she died suddenly at the baths of Santa +Agueda, at the end of the summer of 1859. I was in Pau when I received the +sad news of her death, which affected me very much on account of my close +friendship with Telesforo. With her I had spoken only once, in the house +of her aunt, the wife of General Lopez, and I certainly thought her bluish +pallor a symptom of bad health. But, however that may be, she had a +distinguished manner and a great deal of grace, and was, besides, the only +daughter of a title, and a title that carried some comfortable thousands +with it; so I felt sure my good mathematician would be inconsolable. +Consequently, as soon as I was back in Madrid, fifteen or twenty days +after his loss, I went to see them very early one morning. He lived in +elegant batchelor quarters in Lobo Street--I do not remember the number, +but it was near the Carrera de San Jeronimo. + +"The young engineer was very melancholy, although calm and apparently +master of his grief. He was already at work, even at that hour, laboring +with his assistants over some railroad plans or other. He was dressed in +deep mourning. + +"He greeted me with a long and close embrace, without so much as sighing. +Then he gave some directions to his assistants about the work in hand, and +afterwards led me to his private office at the farther end of the house. +As we were on our way there he said, in a sorrowful tone and without +glancing at me: + +"'I am very glad you have come. Several times I have found myself wishing +you were here. A very strange thing has happened to me. Only a friend such +as you are can hear of it without thinking me either a fool or crazy. I +want to get an opinion about it as calm and cool as science itself. + +"'Sit down,' he went on when we had reached his office, 'and do not +imagine that I am going to afflict you with a description of the sorrow I +am suffering--a sorrow which will last as long as I live. Why should I? +You can easily picture it to yourself, little as you know of trouble. And +as for being comforted, I do not wish to be, either now, or later, or +ever! What I am going to speak to you about, with the requisite +deliberation, going back to the very beginning of the thing, is a horrible +and mysterious occurrence, which was an infernal omen of my calamity, and +which has distressed me in a frightful manner.' + +"'Go on,' I replied, sitting down. The fact was, I almost repented having +entered the house as I saw the expression of abject fear on my friend's +face. + +"'Listen, then,' said he, wiping the perspiration from his forehead." + + +III. + +"'I DO not know whether it is due to some inborn fatality of imagination, +or to having heard some story or other of the kind with which children are +so rashly allowed to be frightened, but the fact is, that since my +earliest years nothing has caused me so much horror and alarm as a woman +alone, in the street, at a late hour of the night. The effect is the same +whether I actually encounter her, or simply have an image of her in my +mind. + +"'You can testify that I was never a coward. I fought a duel once, when I +had to, like any other man. Just after I had left the School of Engineers, +my workmen in Despenaperros revolted, and I fought them with stick and +pistol until I made them submit. All my life long, in Jaen, in Madrid, and +elsewhere, I have walked the streets at all hours, alone and unarmed, and +if I have chanced to run upon suspicious-looking persons, thieves, or mere +sneaking beggars, they have had to get out of my way or take to their +heels. But if the person turned out to be a solitary woman, standing +still or walking, and I was also alone, with no one in sight in any +direction--then (laugh if you want to, but believe me) I would be all +covered over with goose-flesh; vague fears would assail me; I would think +about beings of the other world, about imaginary existences, and about all +the superstitious stories which would make me laugh under other +circumstances. I would quicken my pace, or else turn back, and would not +get over my fright in the least until safe in my own house. + +"'Once there I would fall a-laughing, and would be ashamed of my crazy +fears. The only comfort I had was that nobody knew anything about it. Then +I would dispassionately remind myself that I did not believe in goblins, +witches, or ghosts, and that I had no reason whatever to be afraid of that +wretched woman driven from her home at such an hour by poverty, or some +crime, or accident, to whom I might better have offered help, if she +needed it, or given alms. Nevertheless, the pitiable scene would be gone +over again as often as a similar thing occurred--and remember that I was +twenty-four years old, that I had experienced a great many adventures by +night, and yet that I had never had the slightest difficulty of any sort +with such solitary women in the streets after midnight! But nothing of +what I have so far told you ever came to have any importance, since that +irrational fear always left me as soon as I reached home, or saw any one +else in the street, and I would scarcely recall it a few minutes +afterwards, any more than one would recall a stupid mistake which had no +result of any consequence. + +"'Things were going on so, when, nearly three years ago (unhappily, I have +good reason for knowing the date, it was the night of November 15-16, +1857), I was coming home at three in the morning. As you remember, I was +living then in that little house in Jardines Street, near Montera Street. +I had just come, at that late hour, a bitter, cold wind blowing at the +time, out of a sort of a gambling-house--I tell you this, although I know +it will surprise you. You know that I am not a gambler. I went into the +place, deceived by an alleged friend. But the fact was, that as people +began to drop in about midnight, coming from receptions or the theatre, +the play began to be very heavy, and one saw the gleam of gold in plenty. +Then came bank-bills and notes of hand. Little by little I was carried +away by the feverish and seductive passion, and lost all the money I had. +I even went away missing a second sum, for which I had left my note behind +me. In short, I ruined myself completely; and but for the legacy that came +to me afterwards, together with the good jobs I have had, my situation +would have been extremely critical and painful. + +"So I was going home, I say, at so late an hour that night, numb with the +cold, hungry, ashamed, and disgusted as you can imagine, thinking about my +sick old father more than about myself. I should have to write to him +for money, and this would astonish as much as it would grieve him, since +he thought me in very easy circumstances. Just before reaching my street, +where it crosses Peligros Street, as I was walking in front of a +newly-built house, I perceived something in its doorway. It was a tall, +large woman, standing stiff and motionless, as if made of wood. She seemed +to be about sixty years old. Her wild and malignant eyes, unshaded by +eyelashes, were fixed on mine like two daggers. Her toothless mouth made a +horrible grimace at me, meant to be a smile. + +"The very terror or delirium of fear which instantly overcame me gave me +somehow a most acute perception, so that I could distinguish at a glance, +in the two seconds it took me to pass by that repugnant vision, the +slightest details of her face and dress. Let me see if I can put together +my impressions in the way and form in which I received them, as they were +engraved ineffaceably on my brain in the light of the street-lamp which +shone luridly over that ghastly scene. But I am exciting myself too much, +though there is reason enough for it, as you will see further on. Don't be +concerned, however, for the state of my mind. I am not yet crazy! + +"'The first thing which struck me in that WOMAN, as I will call her, was +her extreme height and the breadth of her bony shoulders. Then, the +roundness and fixity of her dry, owl-eyes, the enormous size of her +protruding nose, and the great dark cavern of her mouth. Finally, her +dress, like that of a young woman of Avapies--the new little cotton +handkerchief which she wore on her head, tied under her chin, and a +diminutive fan which she carried open in her hand, and with which, in +affected modesty, she was covering the middle of her waist. + +"'Nothing could be at the same time more ridiculous and more awful, more +laughable and more taunting, than that little fan in those huge hands. It +seemed like a make-believe sceptre in the hands of such an old, hideous, +and bony giantess! A like effect was produced by the showy percale +handkerchief adorning her face by the side of that cut-water nose, hooked +and masculine; for a moment I was led to believe (or I was very glad to) +that it was a man in disguise. + +"'But her cynical glance and harsh smile were of a hag, of a witch, an +enchantress, a Fate, a--I know not what! There was something about her to +justify fully the aversion and fright which I had been caused all my life +long by women walking alone in the streets at night. One would have said +that I had had a presentiment of that encounter from my cradle. One would +have said that I was frightened by it instinctively, as every living being +fears and divines, and scents and recognizes, its natural enemy before +ever being injured by it, before ever having seen it, and solely on +hearing its tread. + +"'I did not dash away in a run when I saw my life's sphinx. I restrained +my impulse to do so, less out of shame and manly pride than out of fear +lest my very fright should reveal to her who I was, or should give her +wings to follow me, to overtake me--I do not know what. Panic like that +dreams of dangers which have neither form nor name. + +"'My house was at the opposite end of the long and narrow street, in which +I was alone, entirely alone with that mysterious phantom whom I thought +able to annihilate me with a word. How should I ever get home? Oh, how +anxiously I looked towards that distant Montera street, broad and well +lighted, where there are policemen to be found at all hours! I decided, +finally, to get the better of my weakness; to dissemble and hide that +wretched fear; not to hasten my pace, but to keep on advancing slowly, +even at the cost of years of health or life, and in this way, little by +little, to go on getting nearer to my house, exerting myself to the utmost +not to fall fainting on the ground before I reached it. + +"'I was walking along in this way--I must have taken about twenty steps +after leaving behind me the doorway where the woman with the fan was +hidden, when suddenly a horrible idea came to me--horrible, yet very +natural nevertheless--the idea that I would look back to see if my enemy +was following me. One thing or the other I thought, with the rapidity of a +flash of lightning: either my alarm has some foundation or it is madness; +if it has any foundation, this woman will have started after me, will be +overtaking me, and there is no hope for me on earth. But if it is madness, +a mere supposition, a panic fright like any other, I will convince myself +of it in the present instance, and for every case that may occur +hereafter, by seeing that that poor old woman has stayed in that doorway +to protect herself from the cold, or to wait till the door is opened; and +thereupon I can go on to my house in perfect tranquillity, and I shall +have cured myself of a fancy that causes me great mortification. + +"'This reasoning gone through with, I made an extraordinary effort and +turned my head. Ah, Gabriel!--Gabriel! how fearful it was! The tall woman +had followed me with silent tread, was right over me, almost touching me +with her fan, almost leaning her head on my shoulder. + +"'Why was she doing it?--why, my Gabriel? Was she a thief? Was she really +a man in disguise? Was she some malicious old hag who had seen that I was +afraid of her? Was she a spectre conjured up by my very cowardice? Was she +a mocking phantasm of human self-deception? + +"'I could never tell you all I thought in a single moment. If the truth +must be told, I gave a scream and flew away like a child of four years who +thinks he sees the Black Man. I did not stop running until I got out into +Montera Street. Once there, my fear left me like magic. This in spite of +the fact that that street also was deserted. Then I turned my head to look +back to Jardines Street. I could see down its whole length. It was lighted +well enough for me to see the tall woman, if she had drawn back in any +direction, and, by Heaven! I could not see her, standing still, walking, +or in any way! However, I was very careful not to go back into that street +again. The wretch, I said to myself, has slunk into some other doorway. +But she can't move without my seeing her. + +"'Just then I saw a policeman coming up Caballero de Gracia Street, and I +shouted to him without stirring from my place. I told him that there was a +man dressed as a woman in Jardines Street. I directed him to go round by +the way of Peligros and Aduana Streets, while I would remain where I was, +and in that way the fellow, who was probably a thief or murderer, could +not escape us. The policeman did as I said. He went through Aduana Street, +and as soon as I saw his lantern coming along Jardines Street I also went +up it resolutely. + +"'We soon met at about the middle of the block, without either of us +having encountered a soul, although we had examined door after door. + +"'"He has got into some house," said the policeman. + +"'"That must be so," I replied, opening my door with the fixed purpose of +moving to some other street the next day. + +"'A few moments later I was in my room; I always carried my latchkey, so +as not to have to disturb my good Jose. Nevertheless, he was waiting for +me that night. My misfortunes of the 15th and 16th of November were not +yet ended. + +"'"What has happened?" I asked him, in surprise. + +"'"Major Falcon was here," he replied, with evident agitation, "waiting +for you from eleven till half-past two, and he told me that, if you came +home to sleep, you had better not undress, as he would be back at +daybreak." + +"'Those words left me trembling with grief and alarm, as if they had +predicted my own death to me. I knew that my beloved father, at his home +in Jean, had been suffering frequent and dangerous attacks of his chronic +disease. I had written to my brothers that, if there should be a sudden +and fatal termination of the sickness, they were to telegraph Major +Falcon, who would inform me in some suitable way. I had not the slightest +doubt, therefore, that my father had died. + +"'I sat down in an arm-chair to wait for the morning and my friend, and, +with them, the news of my great misfortune. God only knows what I suffered +in those two cruel hours of waiting. All the while, three distinct ideas +were inseparably joined in my mind; though they seemed unlike, they took +pains, as it were, to keep in a dreadful group. They were: my losses at +play, my meeting with the tall woman, and the death of my revered father. + +"'Precisely at six Major Falcon came into my room, and looked at me in +silence. I threw myself into his arms, weeping bitterly, and he exclaimed, +caressing me: + +"'"Yes, my dear fellow, weep, weep."'" + +IV. + +"My friend Telesforo," Gabriel went on, after having drained another glass +of wine, "also rested a moment when he reached this point, and then he +proceeded as follows: + +"'If my story ended here, perhaps you would not find anything +extraordinary or supernatural in it. You would say to me the same thing +that men of good judgment said to me at that time: that every one who has +a lively imagination is subject to some impulse of fear or other; that +mine came from belated, solitary women, and that the old creature of +Jardines Street was only some homeless waif who was going to beg of me +when I screamed and ran. + +"'For my part, I tried to believe that it was so. I even came to believe +it at the end of several months. Still, I would have given years of my +life to be sure that I was not again to encounter the tall woman. But, +to-day, I would give every drop of my blood to be able to meet her again.' + +"'What for?' + +"'To kill her on the spot.' + +"'I do not understand you.' + +"'You will understand me when I tell you that I did meet her again, three +weeks ago, a few hours before I had the fatal news of my poor Joaquina's +death.' + +"'Tell me about it, tell me about it!' + +"'There is little more to tell. It was five o'clock in the morning. It was +not yet fully light, though the dawn was visible from the streets looking +towards the east. The street-lamps had just been put out, and the +policemen had withdrawn. As I was going through Prado Street, so as to get +to the other end of Lobo Street, the dreadful woman crossed in front of +me. She did not look at me, and I thought she had not seen me. + +"'She wore the same dress and carried the same fan as three years before. +My trepidation and alarm were greater than ever. I ran rapidly across +Prado Street as soon as she had passed, although I did not take my eyes +off her, so as to make sure that she did not look back, and, when I had +reached the other end of Lobo Street, I panted as if I had just swum an +impetuous stream. Then I pressed on with fresh speed towards home, filled +now with gladness rather than fear, for I thought that the hateful witch +had been conquered and shorn of her power, from the very fact that I had +been so near her and yet that she had not seen me. + +"'But soon, and when I had almost reached this house, a rush of fear swept +over me, in the thought that the crafty old hag had seen and recognized +me, that she had made a pretence of not knowing me so as to let me get +into Lobo Street, where it was still rather dark, and where she might set +upon me in safety, that she would follow me, that she was already over me. + +"'Upon this, I looked around--and there she was! There at my shoulder, +almost touching me with her clothes, gazing at me with her horrible little +eyes, displaying the gloomy cavern of her mouth, fanning herself in a +mocking manner, as if to make fun of my childish alarm. + +"'I passed from dread to the most furious anger, to savage and desperate +rage. I dashed at the heavy old creature. I flung her against the wall. I +put my hand to her throat. I felt of her face, her breast, the straggling +locks of her gray hair until I was thoroughly convinced that she was a +human being--a woman. + +"'Meanwhile she had uttered a howl which was hoarse and piercing at the +same time. It seemed false and feigned to me, like the hypocritical +expression of a fear which she did not really feel. Immediately afterwards +she exclaimed, making believe cry, though she was not crying, but looking +at me with her hyena eyes: + +"'"Why have you picked a quarrel with me?" + +"'This remark increased my fright and weakened my wrath. + +"'"Then you remember," I cried, "that you have seen me somewhere else." + +"'"I should say so, my dear," she replied, mockingly. "Saint Eugene's +night, in Jardines Street, three years ago." + +"'My very marrow was chilled. + +"'"But who are you?" I asked, without letting go of her. "Why do you +follow me? What business have you with me?" + +"'"I am a poor weak woman," she answered, with a devilish leer. "You hate +me, and you are afraid of me without any reason. If not, tell me, good +sir, why you were so frightened the first time you saw me." + +"'"Because I have loathed you ever since I was born. Because you are the +evil spirit of my life." + +"'"It seems, then, that you have known me for a long time. Well, look, my +son, so have I known you." + +"'"You have known me? How long?" + +"'"Since before you were born! And when I saw you pass by me, three years +ago, I said to myself, THAT'S THE ONE." + +"'"But what am I to you? What are you to me?" + +"'"The devil!" replied the hag, spitting full in my face, freeing herself +from my grasp, and running away with amazing swiftness. She held her +skirts higher than her knees, and her feet did not make the slightest +noise as they touched the ground. + +"'It was madness to try to catch her. Besides, people were already passing +through the Carrera de San Jeronimo, and in Prado Street, too. It was +broad daylight. The tall woman kept on running, or flying, as far as +Huertas Street, which was now lighted up by the sun. There she stopped to +look back at me. She waved her closed fan at me once or twice, +threateningly, and then disappeared around a corner. + +"'Wait a little longer, Gabriel. Do not yet pronounce judgment in this +case, where my life and soul are concerned. Listen to me two minutes +longer. + +"'When I entered my house I met Colonel Falcon, who had just come to tell +me that my Joaquina, my betrothed, all my hope and happiness and joy on +earth, had died the day before in Santa Agueda. The unfortunate father had +telegraphed Falcon to tell me--me, who should have divined it an hour +before, when I met the evil spirit of my life! Don't you understand, now, +that I must kill that born enemy of my happiness, that vile old hag, who +is the living mockery of my destiny? + +"'But why do I say kill? Is she a woman? Is she a human being? Why have I +had a presentiment of her ever since I was born? Why did she recognize me +when she first saw me? Why do I never see her except when some great +calamity has befallen me? Is she Satan? Is she Death? Is she Life? Is she +Antichrist? Who is she? What is she?'" + + +V. + +"I will spare you, my dear friends," continued Gabriel, "the arguments and +remarks which I used to see if I could not calm Telesforo, for they are +the same, precisely the same, which you are preparing now to advance to +prove that there is nothing supernatural or superhuman in my story. You +will even go further; you will say that my friend was half crazy; that he +always was so; that, at least, he suffered from that moral disease which +some call 'panic terror,' and others 'emotional insanity'; that, even +granting the truth of what I have related about the tall woman, it must +all be referred to chance coincidences of dates and events; and, finally, +that the poor old creature could also have been crazy, or a thief, or a +beggar, or a procuress--as the hero of my story said to himself in a lucid +interval." + +"A very proper supposition," exclaimed Gabriel's comrades; "that is just +what we were going to say." + +"Well, listen a few minutes longer, and you will see that I was mistaken +at the time, as you are mistaken now. The one who unfortunately made no +mistake was Telesforo. It is much easier to speak the word 'insanity' than +to find an explanation for some things that happen on the earth." + +"Speak, speak!" + +"I am going to; and this time, as it is the last, I will pick up the +thread of my story without first drinking a glass of wine." + + +VI. + +"A few days after that conversation with Telesforo I was sent to the +province of Albacete in my capacity as engineer of the mountain corps. +Not many weeks had passed before I learned, from a contractor for public +works, that my unhappy friend had been attacked by a dreadful form of +jaundice; it had turned him entirely green, and he reclined in an +arm-chair without working or wishing to see anybody, weeping night and day +in the most inconsolable and bitter grief. The doctors had given up hope +of his getting well. + +"This made me understand why he had not answered my letters. I had to +resort to Colonel Falcon as a source of news of him, and all the while +the reports kept getting more unfavorable and gloomy. + +"After an absence of five months I returned to Madrid the same day +that the telegraph brought the news of the battle of Tetuan. I remember +it as if it were yesterday. That night I bought the indispensable +Correspondencia de Espana, and the first thing I read in it was the notice +of Telesforo's death. His friends were invited to the funeral the +following morning. + +"You will be sure that I was present. As we arrived at the San Luis +cemetery, whither I rode in one of the carriages nearest the hearse, my +attention was called to a peasant woman. She was old and very tall. She +was laughing sacrilegiously as she saw them taking out the coffin. Then +she placed herself in front of the pall-bearers in a triumphant attitude +and pointed out to them with a very small fan the passage-way they were to +take to reach the open and waiting grave. + +"At the first glance I perceived, with amazement and alarm, that she +was Telesforo's implacable enemy. She was just as he had described her to +me--with her enormous nose, her devilish eyes, her awful mouth, her +percale handkerchief, and that diminutive fan which seemed in her hands +the sceptre of indecency and mockery. + +"She immediately observed that I was looking at her, and fixed her gaze +upon me in a peculiar manner, as if recognizing me, as if letting me know +that she recognized me, as if acquainted with the fact that the dead man +had told me about the scenes in Jardines Street and Lobo Street, as if +defying me, as if declaring me the inheritor of the hate which she had +cherished for my unfortunate friend. + +"I confess that at the time my fright was greater than my wonder at those +new COINCIDENCES and ACCIDENTS. It seemed evident to me that some +supernatural relation, antecedent to earthly life, had existed between the +mysterious old woman and Telesforo. But for the time being my sole concern +was about my own life, my own soul, my own happiness--all of which would +be exposed to the greatest peril if I should really inherit such a curse. + +"The tall woman began to laugh. She pointed at me contemptuously with the +fan, as if she had read my thoughts and were publicly exposing my +cowardice. I had to lean on a friend's arm to keep myself from falling. +Then she made a pitying or disdainful gesture, turned on her heels, and +went into the cemetery. Her head was turned towards me. She fanned herself +and nodded to me at the same time. She sidled along among the graves with +an indescribable, infernal coquetry, until at last she disappeared for +ever in that labyrinth of tombs. + +"I say for ever, since fifteen years have passed and I have never seen her +again. If she was a human being she must have died before this; if she was +not, I rest in the conviction that she despised me too much to meddle with +me. + +"Now, then, bring on your theories! Give me your opinion about these +strange events. Do you still regard them as entirely natural?" + + + + + +THE WHITE BUTTERFLY +By Jose Selgas +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + THE WHITE BUTTERFLY + +Berta has just completed her seventeenth year. Blissful age in which Love +first whispers his tender secrets to a maiden's heart! But cruel Love, who +for every secret he reveals draws forth a sigh! But here is Berta, and +beside her is a mirror, toward which she turns her eyes; she looks at +herself in it for a moment and sighs, and then she smiles. And good reason +she has to smile, for the mirror reveals to her the loveliest face +imaginable; whatever disquiet Love may have awakened in her heart, the +image which she sees in the mirror is enchanting enough to dispel it. + +And why should it not? Let us see. "What has her heart told her?" "It has +told her that it is sad." "Sad! and why?" "Oh, for a very simple reason! +Because it thrills in response to a new, strange feeling, never known +before. It fancies--curious caprice!--that it has changed owners." "And +why is that?" "The fact is, that it has learned, it knows not where, that +men are ungrateful and inconstant, and this is the reason why Berta +sighs." "Ah! And what does the mirror tell her to console her?" "Why, the +mirror tells her that she is beautiful." "Yes?" "Yes; that her eyes are +dark and lustrous, her eyebrows magnificent, her cheeks fresh and rosy." +"And what then?" "It is plain; her heart is filled with hope, and +therefore it is that Berta smiles." + +This is the condition of mind in which we find her. Up to the present she +has passed her life without thinking of anything more serious than the +innocent pranks of childhood; she was a child up to the age of seventeen, +but a boisterous, gay, restless, daring, mischievous child; she turned the +house upside down, and in the same way she would have been capable of +turning the world upside down; she had neither fears nor duties; she +played like a crazy thing and slept like a fool. For her mother had died +before Berta was old enough to know her; and although her mother's +portrait hung at the head of her bed, this image, at once sweet and +serious, was not sufficient to restrain the thoughtless impetuosity of the +girl. She was, besides, an only daughter, and her father, of whom we shall +give some account later, adored her. In addition to all this, her nurse, +who acted as housekeeper in the house, was at the same time the accomplice +and the apologist of her pranks, for the truth is she loved her like the +apple of her eye. + +Less than this might have sufficed to turn an angel into an imp, and +indeed much less would have sufficed in Berta's case, for the natural +vivacity of her disposition inclined her to all kinds of pranks. +Opposition irritated her to such a degree as to set her crying. But what +tears! Suddenly, in the midst of her sobs, she would burst out laughing, +for her soul was all gayety, spontaneous, contagious gayety, the gayety of +the birds when day is breaking. + +But this gayety could not last for ever; and, willing or unwilling, the +moment had to come some time when Berta would quiet down; for it was not +natural that she should remain all her life a madcap; and this moment at +last arrived; and all at once the girl's boisterous gayety began to calm +down, to cloud over, like a storm that is gathering, like a sky that is +darkening. + +The nurse is the first to observe this change in Berta, and although the +girl's pranks had driven her to her wits' end, seeing her silent, +thoughtful, pensive, that is to say, quiet, she is overjoyed. The girl is +now a woman. Profound mystery! She has left off the giddiness of childhood +to take on the sedateness of youth. Poor woman! she does not know that a +young girl is a thousand times more crazy than a child. But the fact is +that Berta does not seem the same girl. And the change has taken place of +a sudden, from one day to another, in the twinkling of an eye, so to say. + +And sedateness becomes her well, very well. She seems taller, more--more +everything; nothing better could be asked of her; but since she has +become sensible the house is silent. The songs, the tumult, all the +boisterousness of the past have disappeared. The good nurse, who is +enchanted to see her so quiet, so silent, so sedate, yet misses the noisy +gayety that formerly filled the house; and if the choice had been given +to her, she would hardly have known which to prefer. + +In this way the days pass calm and tranquil. Berta, who had always been +so early a riser, does not now rise very early. Does she sleep more? +That is what no one knows, but if she sleeps more she certainly eats less; +and not only this, but from time to time, and without any apparent cause, +heart-breaking sighs escape her. + +The nurse, who idolizes her, and who would do anything in the world to +please or to serve her, observes it all but says nothing. She says +nothing, but she thinks the more. That is to say, that at every sigh she +hears she draws down her mouth, screws up her eye, and says to herself: +"Hm! there it is again." + +Of course she would not remain silent for long; for she was not a woman to +hold her tongue easily. Besides, Berta's sedateness was now getting to be +a fixed fact, and the nurse was at the end of her patience; for as she was +accustomed to say, "A loaf that is put into the oven twisted will not come +out of it straight." + +And if she succeeded in keeping silence for a few days, it was only +because she was waiting for Berta herself to speak and tell her what was +on her mind; but Berta gave no sign that she understood her; her heart +remained closed to the nurse, notwithstanding all her efforts to open it. +The key had been lost, and none of those that hung at the housekeeper's +girdle fitted it. It would be necessary to force the lock. + +One day the nurse left off temporizing and took the bull by the horns. She +entered Berta's room, where she found her engaged in fastening a flaming +red carnation in her dark hair. + +"There! that's what I like to see," she said. "That's right, now. What a +beautiful pink! It is as red as fire. And pinks of that color don't grow +in your flower-beds!" + +Berta cast down her eyes. + +"You think I can't see what is going on before my eyes," she continued, +"when you know that nothing can escape me. Yes, yes. I should like to see +the girl that could hoodwink me! But why don't you say something? Have you +lost your tongue?" + +Berta turned as red as a poppy. + +"Bah!" cried the nurse. "That pink must have flown over from the terrace +in front of your windows. I can see the plant from here; there were four +pinks on it yesterday, and to-day there are only three. The neighbor, eh? +What folly! There is neither sense nor reason in that." + +This time Berta turned pale, and looked fixedly at her nurse, as if she +had not taken in the sense of her words. + +"I don't mean," resumed the nurse, "that you ought to take the veil, or +that the neighbor is a man to be looked down upon either; but you are +worthy of a king, and there is no sort of sense in this. A few signals +from window to window; a few sidelong glances, and then--what? Nothing. +You will forget each other. It will be out of sight out of mind with both +of you." + +Berta shook her head. + +"You say it will not be so?" asked the nurse. + +"I say it will not," answered Berta. + +"And why not? Let us hear why not? What security have you--" + +Berta did not allow her to finish. + +"Our vows," she said. + +"Vows!" cried the nurse, crossing herself. "Is that where we are!--Vows!" +she repeated, scornfully; "pretty things they are--words that the wind +carries away." + +Some memory of her own youth must have come to her mind at this moment, +for she sighed and then went on: + +"And would they by chance be the first vows in the world to be broken? +To-day it is all very well; there is no one else for you to see but the +neighbor; but to-morrow?" + +"Never," replied Berta. + +"Worse and worse," returned the nurse; "for in that case he will be the +first to tire of you, and then hold him if you can. To-day he may be as +sweet as honey to you, but to-morrow it will be another story. What are +you going to say? That he is young, and handsome? Silly, silly girl. Is he +any the less a man for that? Do you want to know what men are?" + +Berta, going up to her nurse, put her hand over her mouth and answered +quickly: + +"No, I don't want to know." + +The nurse left Berta's room, holding her hands to her head and saying to +herself: + +"Mad, stark, staring mad!" + +We know already that Berta has a father, and now we are going to learn +that this father, without being in any way an extraordinary being, is yet +no common man. To look at him, one would take him to be over sixty; but +appearances are in this case deceitful, for he is not yet forty-nine. +In the same city in which he dwells live some who were companions of his +childhood, and they are still young; but Berta's father became a widower +shortly after his marriage, and the loss of his wife put an end to his +youth. He settled his affairs, gave up his business, realized a part of +his property and retired from the world. That is to say, that he devoted +himself to the care of his daughter, in whom he beheld the living image of +the wife he had lost. Why should he wish to be young any longer? He grew +aged then long before he had grown old. + +Berta--Berta. In this name all his thoughts were centred, and in his +thoughts there was much of sweetness and much of bitterness, for there is +not in the circle of human happiness a cup of honey that has not its drop +of gall. + +To see him now walking up and down his room, looking now at the ceiling, +now at the floor, biting his nails and striking his forehead, one would +think the heavens were about to fall down and crush him or the earth to +open up under his feet. + +Suddenly he struck his forehead with his open palm, and crossing over to +the door of the room, he raised the curtain, put out his head, and opened +his lips to say something; but the words remained unuttered, and he stood +with his mouth wide open, gazing with amazement at the nurse who, without +observing the movement of the curtain, was approaching the door, +gesticulating violently; it was evident that she had something +extraordinary on her mind. + +Berta's father drew aside; the nurse entered the room, and the two +remained face to face, looking at each other as if they had never seen +each other before." + +"What is the matter, Nurse Juana?" asked Berta's father. "I never saw you +look like that before." + +"Well, you look no better youself. Any one would say, to see you, that you +had just risen from the grave." + +Berta's father slowly arched his eyebrows, heaved a profound sigh, and +sinking into a chair, as if weighed down by the burden of existence, he +asked again: + +"What is the matter?" + +"The matter is," answered the nurse, "that the devil has got into this +house." + +"It is possible," he answered; "and if you add that it is not an hour +since he left this room, you will not be far wrong." + +"The Lord have mercy on us!" exclaimed the nurse: "the devil here!" + +"Yes, Nurse Juana, the devil in person." + +"And you saw him?" + +"I saw him." + +"What a horrible visitor!" exclaimed Juana, crossing herself. + +"No," said Berta's father, "he is not horrible; he took the appearance of +a handsome young man who has all the air of a terrible rake." + +"And how did this demon come in?" + +"By the door, Juana, by the door." + +"What a man!" cried the nurse in dismay. + +Berta's father was very kind-hearted, and he had a very good opinion of +mankind; thus it was that he shook his head despondently as he replied: + +"A man!--A man would not be so cruel to me. To take Berta from me is to +take my life. It is to assassinate me without allowing me a chance to +defend myself; and that is the most horrible part of it--they will be +married, and Berta will be united for life to the murderer of her father." + +The nurse folded her arms and there was a moment of sorrowful silence. + +Suddenly she said: + +"Ah!--Berta will refuse." + +A bitter smile crossed the lips of the unhappy father. + +"You think she will not?" said the nurse. "Now, we shall see." + +And she turned to go for Berta, but at the same moment the curtain was +raised and Berta entered the room. + +The red carnation glowed in her black hair like fire in the darkness; her +eyes shone with a strange light, and in the fearless expression of her +countenance was to be divined the strength of an unalterable resolution. + +She looked alternately at her father and at her nurse, and then in a +trembling voice she said: + +"I know all. It may be to my life-long happiness; it may be to my eternal +misery; but that man is the master of my heart." + +She smiled first at her father and then at her nurse; and left the room +with the same tranquillity with which she had entered it. + +The nurse and the father remained standing where she left them, +motionless, dumb, astounded. + +The devil then had succeeded in gaining an entrance into Berta's house in +the manner in which we have seen; and not only had he gained an entrance +into it, but he had taken possession of it as if it had always been his +own. He was hardly out of it before he was back again. He spent in it +several of his mornings, many of his afternoons, and all his evenings; and +there was no way of escaping his assiduous visits, for Berta was always +there to receive him. And it was not easy to be angry with him, either; +for he possessed the charm of an irresistible gayety, and one had not only +to be resigned but to show pleasure at his constant presence. Besides, +neither Berta's father nor the housekeeper dared to treat him coldly; they +felt compelled, by what irresistible spell they knew not, to receive him +with all honor and with a smiling countenance. + +This is the case when they are under the influence of his presence: but +when he is absent, the father and the nurse treat him without any ceremony +whatever. The two get together in secret and in whispers revenge +themselves upon him by picking him to pieces. In these secret backbitings +they give vent to the aversion with which he inspires them; and the father +and the nurse between them leave him without a single good quality. + +And it is not without reason that they berate him, for since he took the +house by storm nothing is done in it but what pleases him; he it is who +rules it, he it is who orders everything. For Berta thinks that all he +does is right, and there is no help for it but to bow in silence to her +will. + +But they are not satisfied with berating him; they also conspire against +him. What means shall they take to overthrow the power of this unlawful +ruler?--for in the eyes of the housekeeper he is a usurper, and in those +of Berta's father, a tyrant;--turn him out of the house? This is the one +thought of the conspirators. But how? This is the difficulty which +confronts them. + +Two means entirely opposed to each other occur to them--to fly from him or +to make a stand against him. To fly is the plan of Berta's father; it is +the resource which is most consistent with his pacific character. To fly +far from him, far away, to the ends of the earth. + +But to this the housekeeper answers: + +"Fly from him! What nonsense! Where could we go, that he would not follow +us? No; such folly is not to be thought of. What we ought to do is to take +a firm stand and defend ourselves against him." + +"Defend ourselves against him!" exclaimed Berta's father. "With what +weapons? With what strength?" + +"Neither strength nor weapons are required," replied the nurse. "Some day +you bar the door against him, and then he may knock in vain. Satan turns +away from closed doors." + +"Nurse Juana, that is folly," replied Berta's father; "if he does not come +in by the door he will come in by the window, or down the chimney." + +Juana bit her lips reflectively, for what she had never been able to +explain satisfactorily to herself was how he had succeeded in entering the +house for the first time, for the door was always kept closed; it was +necessary to knock to have it opened; and it was never opened unless under +the inspection of the housekeeper; she always wanted to know who came in +and who went out, and in this she was very particular. How then had he +been able to come in without being seen or heard? + +Her first inquiries on this mysterious point were addressed to Berta--and +Berta answered simply that he had entered without knocking because the +door was open. This the nurse found impossible to believe. + +She remained thoughtful, then, for this demon of a man, it seemed, could +in truth enter the house even if the door were barred. + +The conspirators did not get beyond these two courses of action: to fly or +to defend themselves. To fly was impossible, and to defend themselves was +impracticable. Berta's father and the housekeeper discussed these two +points daily without seeing light on any side. And must they resign +themselves to living under the diabolical yoke of that man? Both found +themselves in a situation that would be difficult to describe. They lived +in constant trepidation, fearing they knew not what. + +And who, then, is this man who rules them with his presence and who has +made himself master of Berta's heart? His name is Adrian Baker, he lives +alone, and he possesses a large fortune. This is all that is known about +him. + +For the rest, he is young, tall, graceful in figure, with hair like gold +and a complexion as fair as snow; ardent and impassioned in speech, and +with steadfast, searching, and melancholy eyes, blue as the blue of deep +waters. + +His manners could not be more natural, affectionate, and simple than they +are. He enters the house and runs up the stairs, two steps at a time. +Nothing stops him. If he meets Berta's father, he rushes to him and +embraces him, and the good man trembles from head to foot in the pressure +of those affectionate embraces. If it is the housekeeper who comes to meet +him, he lays his hand affectionately on her shoulder, and he always has +some pleasant remark to make, some cunning flattery which awakens in the +nurse a strange emotion. She feels as if the sap of youth were, of a +sudden, flowing through her veins. + +There is no way of escaping the magic of his words, the spell of his +voice, the charm of his presence. Juana has observed that when he looks at +Berta his eyes shine with a light like that which the eyes of cats emit in +the dark; she has observed also that Berta turns pale under the power of +his glance, and that she bows her head under it as if yielding to the +influence of an irresistible will. + +She has observed still more: she has observed that this mysterious man at +times sits lost in thought, his chin resting on his hand and a frown on +his brows, as if he saw some dreadful vision before him, and that +presently, as if awakening from a dream, he talks and smiles and laughs as +before. Berta's father has observed, on his side, that he knows something +about everything, understands something of everything, has an explanation +for everything, comprehends and divines everything, as if he possessed the +secret of all things. And these observations they communicate to each +other, filled with wonder and amazement. + +Sometimes, sitting beside Berta, he amuses himself winding the linen floss +or the silks with which she is embroidering, or in cutting fantastic +figures out of any scrap of paper that may be at hand. Then he is like a +child. At other times he speaks of the world and of men, of foreign +countries and of remote ages, with so much gravity and judgment that he +seems like an old man who has retired from the world laden with wisdom and +experience. + +But when he seats himself at the piano, then one can only yield one's self +unresistingly to the caprices of his will. The keys, touched by his +fingers, produce melodies so sparkling, so joyous, that the soul is filled +with gayety; but suddenly he changes to another key and the piano moans +and sighs like a human voice, and the heart is moved and the eyes fill +with tears. But this is not all; for, when one least expects it, thunder +low and deep seems to roll through the instrument; and strains are heard, +now near, now distant, that thrill the heart, and tones that fill the soul +with terror; through the vibrating chords all the spirits of the other +world seem to be speaking in an unknown tongue. + +It is all very well for the housekeeper to regard Adrian Baker as the +devil in person, or as a man possessed by the devil, or at least as an +extraordinary being, who possesses the diabolical secret of some +wonder-working philtre. It is all very well for Berta's father to see in +him a masterful mind and an eccentric nature. And who knows--he has +sometimes heard of mysterious fluids, of subtle forces which attract arid +repel, of dominating influences, of marvels of magnetism; and although he +has never given a great deal of thought to any of those matters, he thinks +about them since he has felt himself dominated by this singular personage, +and Adrian Baker has become, in fact, his fixed idea, his absorbing +thought, his unceasing preoccupation, his constant monomania. Berta's +father and the housekeeper may very well attribute to him marvellous +powers, suggested by their own excited imaginations; but we must not share +in those hallucinations, nor are we to conclude from them that Adrian +Baker is outside the common law to which ordinary mortals are subject. + +This is evident; but, still, who is Adrian Baker? + +We shall present here all the information that we have been able to gather +about him, and let each one draw from it the conclusion he pleases. + +It is not yet quite two years since one of the carriages which transport +passengers from the railway station to the city which is the scene of our +story, drove rapidly from the station; the energy with which the coachman +whipped up his horses showed the haste or the importance of the travellers +it carried. + +This carriage entered the city and stopped before the door of the best +hotel of the place; there the solitary traveller it carried alighted from +it, and this traveller was Adrian Baker. He was enveloped in a travelling +great-coat lined with costly fur. The eagerness with which the waiters of +the hotel hastened to meet him showed that they had discovered in the new +guest a mine of tips. The coachman took his leave of him, hat in hand, and +as he turned away looked around at the bystanders, displaying to them a +gold coin in his left eye. + +Nothing more was needed to cause the luggage of the guest to be whisked +off to the most sumptuous room in the hotel. Seven cities of Greece +disputed with one another the honor of having been the birthplace of +Homer; more than seven waiters disputed with one another the honor of +carrying Adrian Baker's valise. He was like a king entering his palace. + +For several days he was to be seen alone and on foot, traversing the +streets and visiting the most noteworthy buildings; then, alone also, but +in a carriage, he was to be seen viewing the wildest and most picturesque +spots in the neighborhood, with the attention of an artist, a philosopher, +or a poet. + +He was affable and easy in his manners; and he soon had many friends who +talked admiringly of his eccentricities, of his riches, and of his +learning; so that he was for some time the lion of the day, and therefore +the favorite subject of every conversation. To win his friendship would +have been for the men a triumph; and to win his heart would have been for +the haughtiest woman more than a triumph; but Adrian Baker kept his inmost +heart closed alike to friendship and to love; so that only three things +were known about him--that he was young, that he was rich, and that he had +travelled over half the world. + +He was supposed to be an Englishman, a German, or an American; in the +first place, because he was fair, and in the second place, because, +although he spoke Spanish as if it were his native tongue, a certain +foreign flavor was to be noticed in his accent, which each one interpreted +according to his fancy. + +For the rest, he seemed pleased with the beauty of the sky and the gayety +of the landscape, and although he had told no one whether he intended to +remain there long or not, the fact was that he did not go away. Doubtless +he grew tired of the life at the hotel, for one day he suddenly bought a +fine house and established himself in it like a prince. This edifice, +venerable from its antiquity, had the grandiose aspect of a palace, and +one of its angles fronted Berta's house. + +This is all that was known about Adrian Baker. We now know, therefore, +that the mysterious Adrian Baker was neither more nor less than Berta's +neighbor himself. + +One night, returning from his daily visit to Berta, he entered the house, +crossed the hall, and shut himself up in his own apartments. Shortly +afterwards the great door of the palace, creaking harshly on its hinges, +was closed; the lights were extinguished one by one, and everything +remained in profound silence. Adrian Baker, however, was not asleep. + +At the further end of the room, which was lighted by the soft light of a +lamp, he sat with his elbows resting on a mahogany table and his face +buried in his hands, seemingly lost in thought. And his thoughts could not +be of a pleasant nature, for the stern frown upon his brow showed that +some storm was raging behind that forehead smooth as a child's and pale as +death. The light of the lamp, reflected from his golden hair, seemed to +envelop his head in fantastic lights and shadows. + +After many moments of immobility and silence, he struck the table +violently with the palm of his hand, exclaiming: + +"Accursed riches! Odious learning! Cruel experience!" + +Then he rose to his feet, and striding up and down the room like a madman, +he cried in smothered accents: + +"Faith! Faith! Doubt is killing me!" + +A moment later he shook his beautiful head and burst into a terrible +laugh. + +"Very well," he said. "The proof is a terrible one, but I require this +proof. I must descend into the tomb to obtain it: well, then, I will +descend into the tomb. I must consult the sombre oracle of death +concerning the mysteries of life: well, then, I will consult it." + +At this moment the glass chimney of the lamp burst, falling to the floor +in a thousand fragments; the lurid flame sent forth a black smoke that +filled the room with shadows which crept along the walls, mingled together +on the ceiling, and crossed one another on the floor; the furniture seemed +to be moving, the ceiling sinking down, and the walls receding. + +In the midst of this demon dance of lights and shadows, the flame of the +lamp went out, as if in obedience to an invisible breath, and in the +darkness that followed all was silence. + +Something extraordinary must have occurred in Berta's house, for the nurse +seemed to have been seized by a sudden fit of restlessness that would not +let her sit still for a moment. She went to and fro, upstairs and down, +out and in, with the mechanical movement of an automaton. It was a sort of +nervous attack that had in a moment increased twofold the housekeeper's +domestic activity. Suddenly she would stand still, and placing her +forefinger on her upper lip she would remain motionless, as if she were +seeking in her mind the explanation of some mystery or the key to some +riddle, gesticulating with expressive eloquence, and, so to say, thinking +in gestures. + +But the cause of the agitation which we observe in her could not be a very +alarming one, for in the midst of it all there was apparent something like +joy, a secret joy which in spite of herself was perceptible through her +restlessness and her gesticulations. In our poor human nature, joy and +sorrow often manifest themselves by the same symptoms; and a piece of good +news will agitate us in the same way as a piece of bad news. + +Be this as it may, what is certain is that the housekeeper seemed to be +excited by some secret thought which she turned over and over in her mind, +and that she was waiting for something with impatience, for from time to +time she stood still, stretched out her neck, and listened. + +Suddenly the door-bell rang twice; slowly, deliberately, producing on the +nurse the effect of an electric shock. She threw down some house-linen +which she had in her hands, overturned a chair or two that stood in her +way, and tore a curtain that opposed her progress, leaving devastation and +destruction in her wake, like a storm. + +She pulled the cord which opened the door, and she pulled it so violently +that the door sprang wide open, giving admittance to Berta's father, who +entered slowly, leaning on his cane like a man whose vitality is beginning +to fail. As he entered, he raised his eyes with a look of melancholy +discouragement, and at the head of the stairs he saw the housekeeper, who +seemed to be trying to tell him something, gesticulating violently and +waving her arms like the apparatus of a semaphore. The good man did not +understand a word of this telegraphic language, and he stopped at the foot +of the stairs, endeavoring to comprehend the meaning of the signs which +the housekeeper was excitedly making above his head. But, naturally, he +was not very skilful in this kind of investigation, and his not very vivid +imagination was at this moment paralyzed. Finally, he shrugged his +shoulders with a sort of resigned and patient desperation, as if to say, +"What are you trying to tell me?" The housekeeper folded her arms and +shook her head three times; this meant: "Stupid! stupid! stupid!" The good +man bent his head under the triple accusation, and proceeded to ascend the +stairs. At the head Nurse Juana was waiting for him, and without further +ceremony she took him by the hand and drew him into his room; and there, +after assuring herself that no one was within hearing, she put her mouth +close to the ear of Berta's father, and in a mysterious voice, and with an +air of profound mystery, she said to him: + +"He is going away!" + +"He is going away!" repeated Berta's father, exhaling a profound sigh. + +"Yes," she added; "we are going to be free." + +"Free!" repeated the good man, shaking his head with an air of +incredulity. Then he asked: + +"And where is he going?" + +"He is going very far away," answered the nurse. "That is certain. He is +going very far away, to some place, I don't know where, at the other end +of the earth. It is a sudden journey." + +The good man sighed again despondently; Nurse Juana looked at him with +amazement, saying: + +"Any one would suppose that I had just given you a piece of bad news. Can +that man have bewitched you to the extent--" + +"Yes," he interrupted, "for if he goes he will not go alone; he will take +Berta with him, and then what is to become of us?" + +"Nothing of the kind," replied Juana. "He will go alone--entirely alone." + +"Worse and worse," said the father, "for then, what is to become of +Berta?" + +"Nothing," said the nurse. "Out of sight, out of mind. The absent are +forgotten; the dead are buried. That is the way of the world. Berta knows +all about it; she told me herself, and she is as calm and as cool as +possible. Bah, she won't need any cordial to keep her up when she is +bidding him good-bye." + +As she uttered the last word she turned her head and she could not +restrain the cry that rose to her lips as she saw Adrian Baker, who had +just entered--Adrian Baker, in person, paler than ever, dressed in a +handsome travelling suit. His eyes shone with a strange lustre, and a +smile, half sad, half mocking, curved his lips. + +He begged a thousand pardons for the surprise which he had caused them, +and said that unforeseen circumstances obliged him to undertake a sudden +journey to New York, where he was urgently called by affairs of the +greatest importance, but that he would return soon. + +"I am going away," he ended, "but I leave my heart here and I will come +back for it." + +Saying this, he embraced Berta's father so affectionately that the worthy +man was deeply moved, and Nurse Juana, dominated by the voice and the +presence of this singular man, felt a tear or two spring to her eyes, +which she hastened to wipe away with the corner of her apron. + +Adrian Baker laid his hand on her shoulder, a hand which the nurse felt +tremble, and she trembled herself as she heard him say: + +"That is the way of the world, eh? Well, we shall see." + +Then he left the room, and the father and the nurse followed him +mechanically. + +Berta came out to meet them, and her hand sought Adrian Baker's, and both +hands remained clasped for a long time. + +"You will come back soon?" asked Berta, in soft and trembling accents. + +"Soon," he answered. + +"When?" she asked. + +"Soon," repeated Baker. "If you wait for me your heart will announce my +return to you." + +"I will wait for ever for you," said Berta, in a choking voice, but +without a tear in her eyes. + +Their hands unclasped, Adrian Baker hurried to the stairs, ran down +precipitately, and shortly afterward they heard the rolling of the +carriage which bore him away. + +Bertha gave her father a gentle smile and then ran to shut herself up in +her room. + +As the noise of the carriage wheels died away in the distance, like a +dying peal of thunder, the housekeeper crossed herself, and said: + +"He is gone; now we can breathe freely." + +Apparently Nurse Juana knew the human heart well, or at least Berta's +heart, for three months had passed since Adrian Baker had sailed for New +York, and not once had she been able to surprise a tear in the eyes of the +girl to whom she had taken the place of a mother. Berta apparently felt no +grief at his absence. + +It is true that during these three months of absence a letter had been +received from New York, in which Adrian Baker said to Berta all that is +said in such cases; it was a simple, tender and earnest letter, that did +not seem to have been written three thousand miles away; on the other side +of the great ocean in which the most ardent and the most profound passions +are wrecked. It is true that this letter was answered by return of mail, +and that it traversed the stormy solitudes of the sea full of promises and +hopes. + +It is also true that Berta put away Adrian Baker's letter carefully, +treasuring it as one treasures a relic. It is true that she passed whole +hours seated at her piano running her fingers up and down the keys, +playing Adrian Baker's favorite airs, which he himself had taught her. But +except this, Berta lived like other girls; she had an excellent appetite +and she slept the tranquil sleep of a happy heart. She spent the usual +time at her toilet table and she took pleasure in making herself +beautiful. Some of the asperities of her character had become softened; +she spoke with all her natural vivacity, and, finally, she never mentioned +Adrian Baker's name. + +Her father and her nurse observed all this and deduced as a consequence +that the traveller had left no trace in Berta's heart. Only one fear +troubled them,--the fear that he would return. + +In this way another month passed, and the memory of Adrian Baker began to +wear away; if his name was sometimes mentioned, it was as one evokes the +memory of a dream. + +The dream, however, at times assumed the aspect of an impending reality. +He might return, and beyond a doubt he had not intended to remain away for +ever; his last farewell had not been an eternal one. If he himself was on +the other side of the ocean, three thousand miles away, that is, in New +York, at the other end of the earth, more, in the other world, his house +was there, opposite them, open, kept by his servants with the same luxury +and the same pomp as before he had gone away; his house that seemed like +an enchanted palace waiting for its owner; and the order and care with +which everything was conducted in it indicated that the servants did not +wish to be surprised by the sudden appearance of their master; that is to +say, that Adrian Baker might return at any moment. The plants on the +terrace spread their branches as full of life as if they were tended by +the hands of Adrian Baker himself. + +Berta's father and the housekeeper saw in this house a constant menace; it +came to be for them the shadow, so to say, of Adrian Baker; but for all +that, time passed and the traveller did not return. + +Spring came, and nature bloomed again with all the richness of vegetation +which she displays in southern climes; and it is in the heart of the South +that the scene of our story is laid. Everything put on its fairest and +most smiling aspect, and the soul felt the vague happiness of a hope that +is about to be realized. + +Berta shared in this beautiful awakening of nature, and it might be said +that her every beauty had acquired a new charm; her eyes seemed larger, +her glance gentler, calmer, more profound; her cheeks fresher, softer, and +rosier; and her smile more tender, innocent, and enchanting. Her figure +had acquired a majestic ease, which gave to her movements voluptuousness +and firmness. It seemed as if youth had made a supreme effort, and in +giving the last touch to her beauty had obtained a masterpiece. She was in +the full splendor of her loveliness. + +In exchange, Adrian Baker's palace one morning appeared as gloomy as a +sepulchre; the drawn blinds and the closed hall-door gave it the aspect of +a deserted house; profound silence reigned within it, and yet the palace +of Adrian Baker was still inhabited. + +In the hall the figure of the porter appeared like a shade; he was dressed +entirely in black, and all the other servants of the house were also clad +in mourning, and in their faces were to be observed signs of sadness. + +What had happened? + +What had happened was simply that Adrian Baker had died in New York of +an acute attack of pneumonia. The news had spread through the city with +the rapidity with which bad news spreads, and it had also penetrated +into Berta's house. At first it seemed incredible that Adrian Baker should +have died, as if the life of this man were not subject to the +contingencies to which the lives of other mortals are subject. But the +tidings had been confirmed and they must be believed. Besides, the aspect +of the palace bore testimony to the authenticity of the news. In that +house hung with black the very stones seemed to mourn. The news had come +in a black-bordered letter dated in New York and signed by the head +of the house of Wilson and Company, with which Adrian Baker had large sums +deposited. + +Berta's father and the housekeeper looked at each other with amazement, +and repeated, one after the other: + +"He is dead!" + +"He is dead!" + +Berta, pale as death itself, surprised them as they uttered these words, +and in a sepulchral voice she said: + +"Yes, he has died in New York, but he lives in my heart." + +And turning from them she fled to her room and seated herself at the +window from which she could see the terrace of the palace. The flowers, +agitated gently by the breezes of spring, leaned toward Berta as if +sending her a melancholy greeting. She gazed at them without a tear in her +eyes. The extreme pallor of her face and the slight trembling of her lips +alone revealed the grief that afflicted her soul. + +Suddenly the flight of a white butterfly circling in the air attracted her +gaze. She followed it absently with her eyes, and the butterfly, as if +drawn by Berta's gaze, tracing capricious circles, left the terrace, flew +swiftly to Berta's window and entered the room. + +With an involuntary movement Berta extended her hands to catch it, but the +butterfly darted between them, and circled swiftly and silently about her +head, forming around her brow a sort of aureole, which appeared and +disappeared like a succession of lightning flashes. The wings of the +butterfly glowed above Bertha's head with a light like the first splendors +of the dawn. Then it passed before her eyes, she saw it hovering over the +flowers on the terrace, and then it disappeared from her gaze as if it had +vanished into air. Her eyes sought it with indescribable eagerness, but in +vain; she saw it no more. + +She clasped her hands and two large tears rose to her eyes and rolled down +her cheeks. + +On the following day the housekeeper, entering Berta's room, saw a shadow +outlined against the wall above the head of her bed. This shadow, as the +nurse looked, took the form of a human head. + +It was the head of Adrian Baker, the same head, with its pale forehead, +its compelling glance, and its smile, at once sweet, sad, and mocking. + +The housekeeper, out of her wits with terror, crossed herself as if she +had seen a diabolical vision and hurried out of the room. + +Adrian Baker's death has wrought terrible ravages in Berta. She does not +distress those around her by ceaseless sighs and tears; she does not +continually proclaim in words the depth of her sorrow; on the contrary, +she hides her grief in her own breast, devours her tears in secret, chokes +back her sighs and utters no unavailing complaints; Adrian Baker's name is +never heard from her lips. + +It might be thought that she had consoled herself easily, if in her eyes +there did not lie the shadow of a deep grief, if the pallor of her cheeks +did not cover her youthful beauty like a funeral pall, if her hollow voice +did not reveal the profound loneliness of her heart. At times she smiles +at her father, but in her smiles there is an inexpressible bitterness. She +can be seen fading away, like the flame of an expiring lamp. Like a miser +she hides her grief in the bottom of her heart, as if she feared that it +might be taken from her. + +Her father and her nurse see her growing thin, they see her fading away, +they see her dying, without being able to stop the ravages of the +persistent, voiceless, inconsolable grief that is slowly sapping her youth +and her life, and they curse the name of Adrian Baker, and they would at +the same time give their lives to bring him back to life; but death does +not give up its prey, and only one hope remains to them, the last hope-- +time. + +But time passes, and the memory of Adrian Baker, like a slow poison, is +gradually consuming Berta's life. + +Everything has been done: she has been surrounded with all the delights of +the world; the most eligible suitors have sued for her favor; youth, +beauty, and wealth have disputed her affection with one another, but her +grief has remained inaccessible; she has been subjected to every proof, +but it has not been possible to tear from her soul the demon image of +Adrian Baker. Medical skill has been appealed to, and science has +exhausted its resources in vain, for Berta's malady is incurable. + +The nurse firmly believes that Adrian Baker has bewitched her; he has +diffused through her blood a diabolical philtre. Strong love will survive +absence, but no love will survive death. Berta, consequently, was +bewitched. + +Her father has only one thought, expressed in these words: "He has gone +away and he is taking her with him; after all, he is taking her with +him." + +But there is still one other resource to be appealed to--solitude, the +fields, nature. Who can tell! the sky, the sun, the air of the country, +may revive her; the poetry of nature may awaken in her heart new feelings +and new hopes; the murmur of the waters, the song of the birds, the shade +of the trees--why not? There is no human sorrow, however great it may be, +that does not sink into insignificance before the grandeur of the heavens. + +At a little distance from the city Berta's father has a small villa, whose +white walls and red roof can be seen through the trees which surround it. +There could not be a more picturesque situation. To the right, the +mountain; to the left, the plain; in front, the sea, stretching far in the +distance, until it blends with the horizon; and that nothing may be +wanting to complete the picture, the ruins of an ancient monastery, seated +on the slope of the mountain, can be seen from the villa. + +Berta offered no resistance, for it was a matter of indifference to her +whether she lived in the city or in the country; the only thing she showed +any desire about was that the piano should be taken with them, as if she +regarded it as a dear friend and her only confidant; and the family +removed to the villa and established themselves in it. + +Berta herself arranged the room which she was to occupy in the villa. This +opened on the garden and served her both as bedroom and dressing-room. +Above her bed she hung a beautiful life-size photograph of a head. It was +that of Adrian Baker, with his pale, smooth brow, his large blue eyes and +his beautiful golden curls--the head of Adrian Baker admirably +photographed, and which she herself had shaded. + +For the piano no place could be found to please Berta. There was only one +common room in the villa, the parlor, which at times also served as a +dining-room. She was hesitating between the parlor and her bedroom, when +the idea occurred to her to put it in a small pavilion covered with vines +and honeysuckles, which stood in a corner of the garden and which was used +as a hot-house. The idea seemed to be a happy one, and she smiled as it +occurred to her, and the piano was placed in the pavilion, like a bird in +its cage. + +The journey must have fatigued Berta, for she retired early to her room, +where the nurse left her in bed. Did she sleep? We cannot say; but at dawn +the songs of the birds that made their nests in the garden caused her to +rise. She opened the window-shutters and a flock of birds flew away +frightened, to hide themselves in the tops of the trees, gilded by the +first rays of the sun. Before long, however, the boldest of them returned +to hop before her window, looking at Berta with a certain audacious +familiarity as if they recognized in her an old friend. A few grains of +wheat and a few crumbs of bread scattered on the window-sill gradually +attracted the more timid, who grew at last to be familiar. The slightest +movement, indeed, caused them to take flight precipitately; but they soon +recovered their lost confidence and they returned again to hop gayly on +the iron railing of the window. + +Berta watched them, and as she watched them she smiled; and at the end of +a few days she had induced them to come in and out with perfect +confidence. In her solitary walks through the garden and through the +avenue of lime trees which led to the villa, they followed her, flying +from tree to tree. She spent a few hours of the morning, every day, in the +pavilion, and there the birds came also, mingling their joyous carols +with the melancholy strains of the piano; but the mad gayety of the birds +was powerless to mitigate the profound sadness of Berta; her one thought +was still Adrian--Adrian Baker. + +This name, which never escaped her lips, was to be seen written everywhere +by Berta's hand, on the garden walls, on the trunks of the trees; and even +the vines that covered the pavilion had interlaced their branches in such +a manner that "Adrian Baker" could be deciphered in them. This name was to +be met everywhere, like the mute echo of an undying memory. + +During the morning hours Berta's countenance seemed to be more animated, +and her cheeks had even at times a rosy hue; but as the day declined her +transient animation faded away, as if the sun of her life too approached +its setting. + +Seated at her window she contemplated in silence the clouds illumined by +the last rays of the setting sun. Juana, who had exhausted in vain all her +subjects of conversation, was with her. A sudden brightness hovered over +Berta's head for an instant, circled swiftly around it, and then vanished +from sight. + +"Did you see it?" cried Berta. + +"Yes," answered the nurse, "it was a white butterfly that wanted to settle +on your head." + +"Well?" asked Berta. + +"White butterflies," said the nurse, "are a sign of good luck; they always +bring good news." + +"Yes," answered Berta, pressing her nurse's hand convulsively. "That is my +white butterfly, and this time it will not deceive me. Adrian is coming-- +yes, he is coming for me; that is what it has come to tell me--I was +waiting for it." + +The nurse gazed at her for a moment with dilated eyes; the setting sun +illumined Berta's countenance with a strange light, and the poor woman, +unable to support the look which burned in the eyes of the sick girl, bent +her head and clasped her hands, saying to herself: + +"My God! She has lost her mind!" + +The idea that Berta had lost her reason threw the housekeeper into a state +of distraction. She would hide herself in the remotest corners of the +house to cry by herself. She could not bear alone the burden of so +terrible a secret, but to whom could she confide it? How stab the father's +heart so cruelly! To tell him that Berta had lost her reason would be to +kill him. The good man watched over his daughter with the eyes of love, +but love itself made him blind and he did not perceive her madness. + +And the housekeeper became every day more and more convinced of the +reality of this dreadful misfortune. During the night she stole many times +to the sleeping girl's bedside and listened to her calm breathing. No +extraordinary change, either in her habits, or her acts, or her words, +gave evidence of the wandering of her mind. True; but she was waiting for +Adrian Baker and she declared that he would come. It was in vain she tried +to persuade her that this was folly, for Berta either grew angry and +commanded her to be silent, or smiled with scornful pity at her arguments. +Was not this madness? + +The housekeeper suddenly lost her appetite and her sleep; and she shunned +Berta's father, for she was not sure of being able to keep the secret +which she carried in her bosom. The same thought kept revolving in her +mind like a mill. It seemed as if Berta's madness was going to cost the +nurse also her reason. + +One night she lay tossing about, unable to sleep, her imagination filled +with dreadful spectres. In the midst of the darkness she saw faces +approaching and receding from her, that laughed and wept, that vanished to +appear again, and all these faces that danced before her eyes had, +notwithstanding their grotesque features, a diabolical likeness to the +head of Adrian Baker. The nurse, terrified, shut her eyes, that she might +not see them, but notwithstanding she still continued seeing them. + +She thought that she was under the influence of a nightmare, and making an +effort she sat up in the bed. Suddenly she heard a distant sound of sweet +music, a mysterious melody whose notes died away on the breeze. + +She listened attentively, and she soon comprehended that the music she +heard came from the piano; and she sprang out of bed, crying: + +"Berta! Berta!" + +She began to dress herself quickly, groping for her things in the +darkness, saying as she did so, in a voice full of anguish: + +"Alone, in the pavilion, and at this hour! Child of my heart, you are +mad!" + +All the visions she had seen disappeared; she saw nothing, she only heard +the distant notes of the piano breaking the silence of the night. + +Going into the hall she groped her way to Berta's room. She gently pushed +in the door, which opened noiselessly, and an indistinct glimmer, like the +last gleam of twilight, met her eyes. It was the light of the night-lamp +burning softly in its porcelain vase. + +Her first glance was at the bed, which, in the indistinct light, presented +to her eyes only a shapeless object; but in a moment more she saw that the +bed was empty. + +She thought of taking the lamp that burned in the corner of the room to +light her way and going to the pavilion, but at this moment she felt a +breath of cold damp air blowing softly on her face. + +She turned her eyes in the direction from which the breeze had come, and +observed that the window was wide open and that outside all was profound +darkness. + +And filled with indescribable amazement, unwilling to believe the evidence +of her eyes, she saw what appeared to be a human figure standing +motionless in front of the window, its hands clasped and its forehead +resting against the window-frame. + +A cold perspiration, like that of death, broke out over her; she would +have shuddered, but she could not; she attempted to cry out, but her voice +died away in her throat; she attempted to fly, but her feet, fastened to +the ground, refused to carry her. + +With her eyes starting from their sockets, her mouth wide open, and terror +depicted on her countenance, she stood as if petrified, without the +strength to keep erect or the will to fall. + +And in truth she had some reason to be terrified. + +Before her stood Berta, leaning motionless against the window, drinking in +with rapt attention the notes which at that moment came in a torrent from +the piano. + +It was not Berta, then, who was breaking the silence of the night with +that mysterious music. + +What unknown hand, what invisible hand was it that drew those sounds from +the chords of the piano in the midst of the silence and the solitude of +the night! Was what her eyes saw real! Was what her ears were listening to +real! Or was it all the dreadful hallucination of a terrible dream! + +And this was not all; for the memory of the terrified nurse recalls with a +secret shudder those mysterious melodies which now enchain her ear. Yes; +through the piano roll sounds like the rumbling of thunder, and strains +are heard, now near, now far, that thrill the heart, and tones that fill +the soul with terror; through the vibrating chords all the spirits of the +other world seem to be speaking in an unknown tongue. + +I do not know how long the housekeeper might have stood silent and +motionless, under the influence of the terror which mastered her, if Berta +had not observed her. + +It caused her neither surprise nor alarm to see her nurse there. +Approaching her she took her by the hand, and, shaking her gently, said: + +"Do you see?--Do you hear?--It is Adrian--Adrian who has come for me; the +white butterfly did not deceive me." + +The housekeeper had by this time recovered herself sufficiently to pass +her hand over her forehead and to rub her eyes. + +"I knew that he would come," continued Berta; "I have been waiting for him +every day." + +The nurse, as if by a supreme effort, drew a deep breath. + +"Do you hear those sighs that come from the piano?" said Berta. "It is he; +he is calling me; and since you are here, let us go to meet him." + +And taking the lamp in her hand as she spoke, she added: + +"Follow me." + +Nurse Juana followed her like a ghost. + +They entered the garden and walked toward the pavilion. The pale light of +the lamp illumined Berta's countenance, shedding around it a fantastic +light that made the surrounding darkness seem more intense. + +The nurse felt herself drawn along by Berta; she walked mechanically; a +power stronger than her terror impelled her. + +In this way they crossed the garden and reached the door of the pavilion. +There Berta stopped, and called softly: + +"Adrian!" + +But there was no response to her call. + +Then they entered the pavilion. + +Juana caught hold of Berta to keep from falling, and closed her eyes. + +The light of the lamp illumined the pavilion, whose solitude seemed +startled by this unexpected visit; the piano was open and mute. + +"No one!" exclaimed Berta, sighing. + +"No one," repeated Juana, opening her eyes. + +And so it was; the pavilion was empty. + +It is beyond a doubt that Berta's piano has the marvellous quality of +making its strings sound without the intervention of the human hand. And +this being the case, it must be admitted that this marvellous instrument +is, in addition, a consummate musician, for it plays with the skill +attained only by great artists. + +But since Nurse Juana cannot conceive how a piano can play of itself, +without a hand moving the keys, she has decided that in this diabolical +affair an invisible hand, the ghostly hand of some spirit from the other +world, has intervened. + +This supposition is not altogether admissible, for it seems to have been +sufficiently proved that spirits do not possess hands. But the nurse does +not stop for such fine distinctions, and she firmly believes that the +spirit of Adrian Baker is wandering about the villa. Condemned perhaps to +eternal torment, he takes pleasure in torturing the living even after his +death. + +And it is indeed a diabolical amusement, for the serenade is repeated +nightly; the family are aroused from sleep; they hasten to the pavilion +and the piano becomes silent; they enter it and they find no one. They +have observed that the airs played by Berta in the morning are repeated by +the piano at night. + +Juana is assailed by continual terrors; there is no peace in the house. +Berta's father is unable to explain the mystery, and his mind is filled +with confusion and his heart is a prey to sudden alarms. The light of day +dissipates the agitation of their minds, they fancy themselves the victims +of vain hallucinations, and, arming themselves with heroic valor, they +make plans for unravelling the awesome mystery. + +The most courageous among them would hide in the pavilion, and there await +in concealment the hour of the strange occurrence; in this way they would +discover what fingers drew those sounds from the piano. + +Strong in this purpose they awaited the first shades of night; but then +the courage of the strongest failed. The air became filled with fearful +shadows, the silence with mysterious noises, and no one ventured to leave +the house. They spent the nights in vigil and the terror by which all were +possessed made them seem interminable. + +And for Berta, on the other hand, the days were interminable, and she +awaited the nights with eager impatience. + +One afternoon she expressed a desire to visit the ruins of the monastery, +and she showed so much eagerness in the matter that there was no resource +but to accede to her wish. Her father and her nurse resolved to accompany +her, and the three set out. + +The distance between the villa and the monastery was not great, but the +party walked slowly. In the winding path the ruins disappeared suddenly +behind a hill, as if the earth had swallowed them; a few steps further on +they suddenly reappeared; and the travellers stood before the ruined +portico. + +From this point the eye could contemplate the ruined walls, the broken +partitions, the ceilings fallen in, and between the loose stones the +solitary flowers of the ruin. Only the arches which supported the vaulted +roof of the chapel had resisted the corroding influence of time. + +The nurse would have now willingly returned to the villa, and Berta's +father had no desire to go any further, but Berta passed through the +ruined portico, and they were obliged to follow her. + +She made her way into the chapel, passing under the crumbling arches which +threatened at every moment to fall down and crush her, and she emerged at +what must have been the centre of the monastery, for the remains of the +wall and some broken and unsteady pilasters showed four paths which, +uniting at their extremities, formed a square. This must have been the +cloister, in the middle were vestiges of a choked-up cistern. + +Here Berta sat down on a piece of cornice which was imbedded in the +rubbish. She seemed pleased in the midst of this desolation. Her father +and the nurse joined her with terror depicted on their countenances; they +had heard the noise of footsteps in the chapel; more, Juana had seen a +shadow glide away; how or where she did not know, but she was sure that +she had seen it. + +Berta smiled and said: + +"The noise of footsteps and a shadow? Very well; what harm can those +footsteps or that shadow do us? They are perhaps the footsteps of Adrian +Baker following us; it is his shade that accompanies us. What is there +strange in that? Do you not know that I carry him in my heart? Do you not +know that I am waiting for him, that I am always waiting for him?" + +At the name of Adrian Baker, Berta's father and the nurse shuddered. + +"Yes, my child," said the former, "but we are far from the villa, the sun +is setting--it is growing late." + +"Yes, yes," said Juana, "let us go back." + +Berta drew her father affectionately toward her and said: + +"Dear father, I am not mad. Juana, I am not mad. Adrian promised me that +he would return, and he will return. I am waiting for him. Why should that +be madness? I know that I grieve you, and I do not wish to grieve you. I +have begged God a thousand times on my knees to tear his image from my +heart and his memory from my mind; but God, who sees all things, from whom +nothing is hidden, to whom all things are possible, has not wished to do +it. Why? He alone knows." + +The father's eyes filled with tears, and the nurse hid her face in her +hands to keep back the sobs that rose in her throat. + +Berta continued: + +"Yes, it is growing late. But I am very tired. Let us wait a moment." + +They had nothing to say in answer to her words, nor could they have said +anything, for their voices failed them. + +All three remained silent. + +Suddenly they looked at one another with indescribable anxiety, for all +three had heard a sigh, a human sigh that seemed exhaled by the ruins +around them. + +Could it have been the wind, moaning as it swept through the sharp points +of the broken walls? + +Berta rose to her feet, and cried twice in a loud voice: + +"Adrian! Adrian!" + +Her voice was borne away on the breeze, losing itself in the distance. But +before the last notes died away, another voice resounded among the ruins, +saying: + +"Berta! Berta!" + +The sun had just set, and the twilight shadows gathered swiftly, as if +they had sprung up from among the ruins, hiding the broken pillars and the +crumbling walls. + +In one of the angles of the cloister appeared a moving shadow. This shadow +advanced slowly until it reached the middle of the court where the remains +of the disused cistern were seen. There it stopped, and in a soft clear +voice uttered the words: + +"It is I, Berta; it is I." + +"He!" she cried, extending her arms in the air. + +Juana uttered a cry of terror and caught hold of Berta with all the +strength left her; the father tried to rise, but, unable to sustain +himself, fell on his knees beside his daughter. + +It was not possible to reject the evidence of their senses. Whatever might +be the hidden cause of the marvel, the dark key of the mystery, the shadow +which had just appeared in the angle of the cloister was clearly the +authentic image, the _vera effigies_, the very person of Adrian Baker. The +astonished eyes of Berta, of her father, and of the nurse could not refuse +to believe it. + +His fair curls, his pale brow, the outlines of his figure, his air, his +glance, his voice--all were there before the amazed eyes of Berta, her +father, and the nurse. + +Now, was this a fantastic creation of their troubled senses? Was it a +phantom of the brain, or a reality? Did all three suffer at the same time +the same hallucination? The fixed thought of all three was Adrian Baker-- +and the senses often counterfeit the reality of our vain imaginings. The +state of their minds, the place, the hour--and then, the air produces +sounds that deceive; the light and the darkness mingling together in the +mysterious hour of twilight people the solitude with strange visions. And +in the midst of those ruins, which began to assume fantastic forms, and +which seemed to move, in the gathering shades of twilight, Berta, her +father, and the nurse might well believe themselves in the presence of a +spectre evoked there by their presence. + +But the fact was, that the shadow, instead of vanishing, instead of +changing its shape, as happens with chimeras of the brain, assumed before +their eyes a more distinct form, more definite outlines, according as he +approached the group. + +Reaching them, he took gently in his the hands Berta held out to him. His +eyes shone with the light of a supreme triumph. + +"It is I," he said, in a moved voice. "I, Adrian Baker. I am not a spectre +risen from the tomb." + +Berta felt herself growing faint and was obliged to sit down; and Adrian +Baker continued thus: + +"Forgive me. I have put your heart to a terrible proof, but the doubts of +my soul were still more terrible. The world had filled my spirit with +horrible distrust and I desired to sound the uttermost depths of your +love. It has resisted absence, and it has resisted death. Your love for me +was not a passing fancy; you did not deceive yourself when you vowed me an +eternal love. I left you in order to watch you and I died to comprehend +you. I have followed you everywhere; I have not separated from you a +single moment. My sweet Berta! You waited for me living, and you have +waited for me dead. 'If you wait for me,' I said, 'your own heart will +announce my return to you,' and you see I have returned. I felt for you an +immense tenderness, but a terrible doubt consumed my heart. Had my riches +dazzled you? Forgive me, Berta. A fatal learning had frozen faith in my +soul; I doubted everything, and I doubted your heart also--I doubted you." + +Berta clasped her hands, and raising her eyes to heaven, exclaimed +mournfully: + +"My God! what cruel injustice!" + +"Yes!" burst out Adrian Baker; "cruel injustice! but you have resuscitated +my heart; you have brought my soul back to life." + +"Ah," said Berta, laying her hands on his breast, "what if it were too +late!" + +Then, turning to her father and the nurse, she said: + +"I feel very cold; let us return to the villa;" and leaning on Adrian +Baker's arm, she led the way. + +Her father and the nurse followed her in silence. The good man had +comprehended everything, but the poor woman comprehended nothing. + +What passed that night in the villa it is not necessary to relate; it was +a night of pain, of agitation, and of anguish. It was necessary to go to +the city for a physician; why? Because Berta was dying. Adrian Baker was +the image of despair; the unhappy father wept as if his heart would break, +and the nurse stole away from time to time to cry, unable to restrain her +tears. + +At dawn it was necessary to go again to the city, for the physician of the +body had exhausted the resources of science, and they were obliged to have +recourse to the physician of the soul. + +Dawn was just breaking when a priest alighted at the door of the villa. +The sick girl received him, if we may be allowed the expression, with +melancholy gladness, and a little later all was over. + +In the middle of the room, on a funeral bier, lighted by six large wax +tapers, which cast a melancholy light around, lay the body of the dead +girl. The window admitted the morning light; and the autumn wind, tearing +the dead leaves from the trees in the garden, scattered them over the +inanimate form of Berta, as if death thus rendered homage to death. + +Attracted by the light of the torches, a white butterfly flew silently in +and circled around and around the head of the dead girl. + +Watching the body were the father, leaning over the bier, bowed down under +the weight of an immeasurable grief; the nurse dissolved in tears; Adrian, +with dry and glittering eyes, pale, motionless, mute, terrible in his +anguish; and the priest with folded arms and head bent over his breast, +murmuring pious prayers. + +Such was the scene which the morning sun lighted in Berta's room. The +birds of the garden alighted on the rail of the window, but did not +venture to enter; they looked in apprehensively and flew away terrified; +they twittered on the branches of the trees, and their melancholy +chirpings seemed like sighs. + +Breathing a sigh torn from the inmost depths of his soul, Adrian Baker +exclaimed in a hollow voice: + +"Miserable man that I am! I have killed her!" + +"Ah, yes," said the priest, slowly shaking his head. "Divine Justice-- +Doubt kills." + + + + + +MAESE PEREZ, THE ORGANIST +By Gustavo Adolfo Becquer +From "Modern Ghosts." Translated by Rollo Ogden. + + + MAESE PEREZ, THE ORGANIST + +I. + +"Do you see that man with the scarlet cloak, and the white plume in his +hat, and the gold-embroidered vest? I mean the one just getting out of his +litter and going to greet that lady--the one coming along after those four +pages who are carrying torches? Well, that is the Marquis of Mascoso, +lover of the widow, the Countess of Villapineda. They say that before he +began paying court to her he had sought the hand of a very wealthy man's +daughter, but the girl's father, who they say is a trifle close-fisted-- +but hush! Speaking of the devil--do you see that man closely wrapped in +his cloak coming on foot under the arch of San Felipe? Well, he is the +father in question. Everybody in Seville knows him on account of his +immense fortune. + +"Look--look at that group of stately men! They are the twenty-four +knights. Aha! there's that Heming, too. They say that the gentlemen of the +green cross have not challenged him yet, thanks to his influence with the +great ones at Madrid. All he comes to church for is to hear the music. + +"Alas! neighbor, that looks bad. I fear there's going to be a scuffle. +I shall take refuge in the church, for, according to my guess, there will +be more blows than Paternosters. Look, look! the Duke of Alcala's people +are coming round the corner of Saint Peter's Square, and I think I see +the Duke of Medinasidonia's men in Duenas Alley. Didn't I tell you? +There--there! The blows are beginning. Neighbor, neighbor, this way before +they close the doors! + +"But what's that? They've left off. What's that light? Torches! a litter! +It's the bishop himself! God preserve him in his office as many centuries +as I desire to live myself! If it were not for him, half Seville would +have been burned up by this time with these quarrels of the dukes. Look at +them, look at them, the hypocrites, how they both press forward to kiss +the bishop's ring! + +"But come, neighbor--come into the church before it is packed full. Some +nights like this it is so crowded that you could not get in if you were no +larger than a grain of wheat. The nuns have a prize in their organist. +Other sisterhoods have made Maese Perez magnificent offers; nothing +strange about that, though, for the very archbishop has offered him +mountains of gold if he would go to the cathedral. But he would not listen +to them. He would sooner die than give up his beloved organ. You don't +know Maese Perez? Oh, I forgot you had just come to the neighborhood. +Well, he is a holy man; poor, to be sure, but as charitable as any man +that ever lived. With no relative but a daughter, and no friend but his +organ, he spends all his time in caring for the one and repairing the +other. The organ is an old affair, you must know; but that makes no +difference to him. He handles it so that its tone is a wonder. How he does +know it! and all by touch, too, for did I tell you that the poor man was +born blind? + +"Humble, too, as the very stones. He always says that he is only a poor +convent organist, when the fact is he could give lessons in sol fa to the +very chapel master of the primate. You see, he began before he had teeth. +His father had the same position before him, and as the boy showed such +talent, it was very natural that he should succeed his father when the +latter died. And what a touch he has, God bless him! He always plays well, +always; but on a night like this he is wonderful. He has the greatest +devotion to this Christmas Eve mass, and when the host is elevated, +precisely at twelve o'clock, which is the time that Our Lord came into the +world, his organ sounds like the voices of angels. + +"But why need I try to tell you about what you are going to hear to-night? +It is enough for you to see that all the elegance of Seville, the very +archbishop included, comes to a humble convent to listen to him. And it is +not only the learned people who can understand his skill that come; the +common people, too, swarm to the church, and are still as the dead when +Maese Perez puts his hand to the organ. And when the host is elevated-- +when the host is elevated, then you can't hear a fly. Great tears fall +from every eye, and when the music is over a long-drawn sigh is heard, +showing how the people have been holding their breath all through. + +"But come, come, the bells have stopped ringing, and the mass is going to +begin. Hurry in. This is Christmas Eve for everybody, but for no one is it +a greater occasion than for us." + +So saying, the good woman who had been acting as cicerone for her neighbor +pressed through the portico of the Convent of Santa Ines, and elbowing +this one and pushing the other, succeeded in getting inside the church, +forcing her way through the multitude that was crowding about the door. + + +II. + +The church was profusely lighted. The flood of light which fell from +the altars glanced from the rich jewels of the great ladies, who, +kneeling upon velvet cushions placed before them by pages, and taking +their prayer-books from the hands of female attendants, formed a brilliant +circle around the chancel lattice. Standing next that lattice, wrapped +in their richly colored and embroidered cloaks, letting their green and +red orders be seen with studied carelessness, holding in one hand their +hats, the plumes sweeping the floor, and letting the other rest upon +the polished hilts of rapiers or the jewelled handles of daggers, the +twenty-four knights, and a large part of the highest nobility of Seville, +seemed to be forming a wall for the purpose of keeping their wives and +daughters from contact with the populace. The latter, swaying back and +forth at the rear of the nave, with a noise like that of a rising surf, +broke out into joyous acclamations as the archbishop was seen to come in. +That dignitary seated himself near the high altar under a scarlet canopy, +surrounded by his attendants, and three times blessed the people. + +It was time for the mass to begin. + +Nevertheless, several minutes passed before the celebrant appeared. The +multitude commenced to murmur impatiently; the knights exchanged words +with each other in a low tone; and the archbishop sent one of his +attendants to the sacristan to inquire why the ceremony did not begin. + +"Maese Perez has fallen sick, very sick, and it will be impossible for him +to come to the midnight mass." + +This was the word brought back by the attendant. + +The news ran instantly through the crowd. The disturbance caused by it was +so great that the chief judge rose to his feet, and the officers came into +the church, to enforce silence. + +Just then a man of unpleasant face, thin, bony, and cross-eyed too, pushed +up to the place where the archbishop was sitting. + +"Maese Perez is sick," he said; "the ceremony cannot begin. If you see +fit, I will play the organ in his absence. Maese Perez is not the best +organist in the world, nor need this instrument be left unused after his +death for lack of any one able to play it." + +The archbishop nodded his head in assent, although some of the faithful, +who had already recognized in that strange person an envious rival of the +organist of Santa Ines, were breaking out in cries of displeasure. +Suddenly a surprising noise was heard in the portico. + +"Maese Perez is here! Maese Perez is here!" + +At this shout, coming from those jammed in by the door, every one looked +around. + +Maese Perez, pale and feeble, was in fact entering the church, brought in +a chair which all were quarrelling for the honor of carrying upon their +shoulders. + +The commands of the physicians, the tears of his daughter--nothing had +been able to keep him in bed. + +"No," he had said; "this is the last one, I know it. I know it, and I do +not want to die without visiting my organ again, this night above all, +this Christmas Eve. Come, I desire it, I order it; come, to the church!" + +His desire had been gratified. The people carried him in their arms to the +organ-loft. The mass began. + +Twelve struck on the cathedral clock. + +The introit came, then the Gospel, then the offertory, and the moment +arrived when the priest, after consecrating the sacred wafer, took it in +his hands and began to elevate it. A cloud of incense filled the church in +bluish undulations. The little bells rang out in vibrating peals, and +Maese Perez placed his aged fingers upon the organ keys. + +The multitudinous voices of the metal tubes gave forth a prolonged and +majestic chord, which died away little by little, as if a gentle breeze +had borne away its last echoes. + +To this opening burst, which seemed like a voice lifted up to heaven from +earth, responded a sweet and distant note, which went on swelling and +swelling in volume until it became a torrent of overpowering harmony. It +was the voice of the angels, traversing space, and reaching the world. + +Then distant hymns began to be heard, intoned by the hierarchies of +seraphim; a thousand hymns at once, mingling to form a single one, though +this one was only an accompaniment to a strange melody which seemed to +float above that ocean of mysterious echoes, as a strip of fog above the +waves of the sea. + +One song after another died away. The movement grew simpler. Now only two +voices were heard, whose echoes blended. Then but one remained, and alone +sustained a note as brilliant as a thread of light. The priest bowed his +face, and above his gray head appeared the host. At that moment the note +which Maese Perez was holding began to swell and swell, and an explosion +of unspeakable joy filled the church. + +From each of the notes forming that magnificent chord a theme was +developed; and some near, others far away, these brilliant, those muffled, +one would have said that the waters and the birds, the breezes and the +forests, men and angels, earth and heaven, were singing, each in its own +language, a hymn in praise of the Saviour's birth. + +The people listened, amazed and breathless. The officiating priest felt +his hands trembling; for it seemed as if he had seen the heavens opened +and the host transfigured. + +The organ kept on, but its voice sank away gradually, like a tone going +from echo to echo, and dying as it goes. Suddenly a cry was heard in the +organ-loft--a piercing, shrill cry, the cry of a woman. + +The organ gave a strange, discordant sound, like a sob, and then was +silent. + +The multitude flocked to the stairs leading up to the organ-loft, towards +which the anxious gaze of the faithful was turned. + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" one asked the other, and no one +knew what to reply. The confusion increased. The excitement threatened to +disturb the good order and decorum fitting within a church. + +"What was that?" asked the great ladies of the chief judge. He had been +one of the first to ascend to the organ-loft. Now, pale and displaying +signs of deep grief, he was going to the archbishop, who was anxious, like +everybody else, to know the cause of the disturbance. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Maese Perez has just expired." + +In fact, when the first of the faithful rushed up the stairway, and +reached the organ-loft, they saw the poor organist fallen face down upon +the keys of his old instrument, which was still vibrating, while his +daughter, kneeling at his feet, was vainly calling to him with tears and +sobs. + + +III. + +"Good-evening, my dear Dona Baltasara. Are you also going to-night to the +Christmas Eve mass? For my part, I was intending to go to the parish +church to hear it, but what has happened--where is Vicente going, do you +ask? Why, where the crowd goes. And I must say, to tell the truth, that +ever since Maese Perez died, it seems as if a marble slab was on my heart +whenever I go to Santa Ines. Poor dear man! He was a saint! I know one +thing--I keep a piece of his cloak as a relic, and he deserves it. +I solemnly believe that if the archbishop would stir in the matter, our +grandchildren would see his image among the saints on the altars. But, +of course, he won't do that. The dead and absent have no friends, as they +say. It's all the latest thing, nowadays; you understand me. What? You do +not know what has happened? Well, it's true you are not exactly in our +situation. From our house to the church, and from the church to our +house--a word here and another one there--on the wing--without any +curiosity whatever--I easily find out all the news. + +"Well, then, it's a settled thing that the organist of San Roman--that +squint-eye, who is always slandering other organists--that great +blunderer, who seems more like a butcher than a master of sol fa--is going +to play this Christmas Eve in Maese Perez's old place. Of course, you +know, for everybody knows it, and it is a public matter in all Seville, +that no one dared to try it. His daughter would not, though she is a +professor of music herself. After her father's death she went into the +convent as a novice. Her unwillingness to play was the most natural thing +in the world; accustomed as she was to those marvellous performances, any +other playing must have appeared bad to her, not to speak of her desire to +avoid comparisons. But when the sisterhood had already decided that in +honor of the dead organist, and as a token of respect to his memory, the +organ should not be played to-night, here comes this fellow along, and +says that he is ready to play it. + +"Ignorance is the boldest of all things. It is true, the fault is not his, +so much as theirs who have consented to this profanation, but that is the +way of the world. But, I say, there's no small bit of people coming. Any +one would say that nothing had changed since last year. The same +distinguished persons, the same elegant costumes, the crowding at the +door, the same excitement in the portico, the same throng in the church. +Alas! if the dead man were to rise, he would feel like dying again to hear +his organ played by inferior hands. The fact is, if what the people of the +neighborhood tell me is true, they are getting a fine reception ready for +the intruder. When the time comes for him to touch the keys, there is +going to break out a racket made by timbrels, drums, and horse-fiddles, so +that you can't hear anything else. But hush! there's the hero of the +occasion going into the church. Goodness! what gaudy clothes, what a +neckcloth, what a high and mighty air! Come, hurry up, the archbishop came +only a moment ago, and the mass is going to begin. Come on; I guess this +night will give us something to talk about for many a day!" + +Saying this, the worthy woman, whom the reader recognizes by her abrupt +talkativeness, went into the Church of Santa Ines, opening for herself a +path, in her usual way, by shoving and elbowing through the crowd. + +The ceremony had already begun. The church was as brilliant as the year +before. + +The new organist, after passing between the rows of the faithful in the +nave, and going to kiss the archbishop's ring, had gone up to the +organ-loft, where he was trying one stop of the organ after another, with +an affected and ridiculous gravity. + +A low, confused noise was heard coming from the common people clustered at +the rear of the church, a sure augury of the coming storm, which would not +be long in breaking. + +"He is a mere clown," said some, "who does not know how to do anything, +not even look straight." + +"He is an ignoramus," said others, "who, after having made a perfect +rattle out of the organ in his own church, comes here to profane Maese +Perez's." + +And while one was taking off his cloak so as to be ready to beat his drum +to good advantage, and another was testing his timbrel, and all were more +and more buzzing out in talk, only here and there could one be found to +defend even that curious person, whose proud and pedantic bearing so +strongly contrasted with the modest appearance and kind affability of +Maese Perez. + +At last the looked-for moment arrived, when the priest, after bowing low +and murmuring the sacred words, took the host in his hands. The bells gave +forth a peal, like a rain of crystal notes; the transparent waves of +incense rose, and the organ sounded. + +But its first chord was drowned by a horrible clamor which filled the +whole church. Bagpipes, horns, timbrels, drums, every instrument known to +the populace, lifted up their discordant voices all at once. + +The confusion and clangor lasted but a few seconds. As the noises began, +so they ended, all together. + +The second chord, full, bold, magnificent, sustained itself, pouring from +the organ's metal tubes like a cascade of inexhaustible and sonorous +harmony. + +Celestial songs like those that caress the ear in moments of ecstasy; +songs which the soul perceives, but which the lip cannot repeat; single +notes of a distant melody, which sound at intervals, borne on the breeze; +the rustle of leaves kissing each other on the trees with a murmur like +rain; trills of larks which rise with quivering songs from among the +flowers like a flight of arrows to the sky; nameless sounds, overwhelming +as the roar of a tempest; fluttering hymns, which seemed to be mounting to +the throne of the Lord like a mixture of light and sound--all were +expressed by the organ's hundred voices, with more vigor, more subtle +poetry, more weird coloring, than had ever been known before. + +When the organist came down from the loft the crowd which pressed up to +the stairway was so great, and their eagerness to see and greet him so +intense, that the chief judge, fearing, and not without reason, that he +would be suffocated among them all, ordered some of the officers to open a +path for the organist, with their staves of office, so that he could reach +the high altar, where the prelate was waiting for him. + +"You perceive," said the archbishop, "that I have come all the way from my +palace to hear you. Now, are you going to be as cruel as Maese Perez? He +would never save me the journey, by going to play the Christmas Eve mass +in the cathedral." + +"Next year," replied the organist, "I promise to give you the pleasure; +since, for all the gold in the world, I would never play this organ +again." + +"But why not?" interrupted the prelate. + +"Because," returned the organist, endeavoring to repress the agitation +which revealed itself in the pallor of his face--"because it is so old and +poor; one cannot express one's self on it satisfactorily." + +The archbishop withdrew, followed by his attendants. One after another the +litters of the great folk disappeared in the windings of the neighboring +streets. The group in the portico scattered. The sexton was locking up the +doors, when two women were perceived, who had stopped to cross themselves +and mutter a prayer, and who were now going on their way into Duenas +Alley. + +"What would you have, my dear Dona Baltasara?" one was saying. "That's the +way I am. Every crazy person with his whim. The barefooted Capuchins might +assure me that it was so, and I would not believe it. That man never +played what we have heard. Why, I have heard him a thousand times in San +Bartolome, his parish church; the priest had to send him away he was so +poor a player. You felt like plugging your ears with cotton. Why, all you +need is to look at his face, and that is the mirror of the soul, they say. +I remember, as if I was seeing him now, poor man--I remember Maese Perez's +face, nights like this, when he came down from the organ-loft, after +having entranced the audience with his splendors. What a gracious smile! +What a happy glow on his face! Old as he was, he seemed like an angel. But +this creature came plunging down as if a dog were barking at him on the +landing, and all the color of a dead man, while his--come, dear Dona +Baltasara, believe me, and believe what I say: there is some great mystery +about this." + +Thus conversing, the two women turned the corner of the alley, and +disappeared. There is no need of saying who one of them was. + +IV. + +Another year had gone by. The abbess of the Convent of Santa Ines and +Maese Perez's daughter were talking in a low voice, half hidden in the +shadows of the church choir. The penetrating voice of the bell was +summoning the faithful. A very few people were passing through the +portico, silent and deserted, this year, and after taking holy water at +the door, were choosing seats in a corner of the nave, where a handful of +residents of the neighborhood were quietly waiting for the Christmas Eve +mass to begin. + +"There, you see," the mother superior was saying, "your fear is entirely +childish; there is no one in the church. All Seville is trooping to the +cathedral to-night. Play the organ, and do it without any distrust +whatever. We are only a sisterhood here. But why don't you speak? What has +happened? What is the matter with you?" + +"I am afraid," replied the girl, in a tone of the deepest agitation. + +"Afraid! Of what?" + +"I do not know--something supernatural. Listen to what happened last +night. I had heard you say that you were anxious for me to play the organ +for the mass. I was proud of the honor, and I thought I would arrange the +stops and get the organ in good tune so as to give you a surprise to-day. +Alone I went into the choir and opened the door leading to the organ-loft. +The cathedral clock was striking just then, I do not know what hour; but +the strokes of the bell were very mournful, and they were very numerous-- +going on sounding for a century, as it seemed to me, while I stood as if +nailed to the threshold. + +"The church was empty and dark. Far away there gleamed a feeble light, +like a faint star in the sky; it was the lamp burning on the high altar. +By its flickering light, which only helped to make the deep horror of the +shadows the more intense, I saw--I saw--mother, do not disbelieve it--a +man. In perfect silence, and with his back turned towards me, he was +running over the organ-keys with one hand while managing the stops with +the other. And the organ sounded, but in an indescribable manner. It +seemed as if each note were a sob smothered in the metal tube, which +vibrated under the pressure of the air compressed within it, and gave +forth a low, almost imperceptible tone, yet exact and true. + +"The cathedral clock kept on striking, and that man kept on running over +the keys. I could hear his very breathing. + +"Fright had frozen the blood in my veins. My body was as cold as ice, +except my head, and that was burning. I tried to cry out, but I could not. +That man turned his face and looked at me--no, he did not look at me, for +he was blind. It was my father!" + +"Nonsense, sister! Banish these fancies with which the adversary endeavors +to overturn weak imaginations. Address a Paternoster and an Ave Maria to +the archangel, Saint Michael, the captain of the celestial hosts, that he +may aid you in opposing evil spirits. Wear on your neck a scapulary which +has been pressed to the relics of Saint Pacomio, the counsellor against +temptations, and go, go quickly, and sit at the organ. The mass is going +to begin, and the faithful are growing impatient. Your father is in +heaven, and thence, instead of giving you a fright, will descend to +inspire his daughter in the solemn service." + +The prioress went to occupy her seat in the choir in the midst of the +sisterhood. Maese Perez's daughter opened the door of the organ-loft with +trembling hand, sat down at the organ, and the mass began. + +The mass began, and went on without anything unusual happening until the +time of consecration came. Then the organ sounded. At the same time came a +scream from Maese Perez's daughter. + +The mother superior, the nuns, and some of the faithful rushed up to the +organ-loft. + +"Look at him!--look at him!" cried the girl, fixing her eyes, starting +from their sockets, upon the seat, from which she had risen in terror. She +was clinging with convulsed hands to the railing of the organ-loft. + +Everybody looked intently at the spot to which she directed her gaze. No +one was at the organ, yet it went on sounding--sounding like the songs of +the archangels in their bursts of mystic ecstasy. + +"Didn't I tell you a thousand times, if I did once, dear Dona Baltasara-- +didn't I tell you? There is some great mystery about this. What! didn't +you go last night to the Christmas Eve mass? Well, you must know, anyhow, +what happened. Nothing else is talked about in the whole city. The +archbishop is furious, and no wonder. Not to have gone to Santa Ines, not +to have been present at the miracle--and all to hear a wretched clatter! +That's all the inspired organist of San Bartolome made in the cathedral, +so persons who heard him tell me. Yes, I said so all the time. The +squint-eye never could have played that. It was all a lie. There is some +great mystery here. What do I think it was? Why, it was the soul of Maese +Perez." + + + + + +MOORS AND CHRISTIANS +By Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +From "Moors and Christians,", by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon. +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + MOORS AND CHRISTIANS + +I. + +The once famous but now little known town of Aldeire is situated in the +Marquisate of El Cenet, or, let us say, on the eastern slope of the +Alpujarra, and partly hangs over a ledge, partly hides itself in a ravine +of the giant central ridge of Sierra Nevada, five or six thousand feet +above the level of the sea, and seven or eight thousand below the eternal +snows of the Mulhacem. + +Aldeire, be it said with all respect to its reverend pastor, is a Moorish +town. That it was formerly Moorish is clearly proved by its name, its +situation, and its architecture, and that it is not yet completely +Christianized, although it figures among the towns of reconquered Spain, +and has its little Catholic church and its confraternities of the Virgin, +of Jesus, and of several of the saints, is proved by the character and the +customs of its inhabitants; by the perpetual feuds, as terrible as they +are causeless, which unite or separate them; and by the gloomy black eyes, +pale complexions, laconic speech, and infrequent laughter of men, women, +and children. + +But it may be well to remind our readers, in order that neither the +aforesaid pastor nor any one else may question the justice of this +reasoning, that the Moors of the Marquisate of El Cenet were not expelled +in a body, like those of the Alpujarra, but that many of them succeeded in +remaining in the country, living in concealment, thanks to the prudence-- +or the cowardice--which made them turn a deaf ear to the rash and the +heroic appeal of their unfortunate Prince, Aben Humcya; whence I infer +that Uncle Juan Gomez, nicknamed Hormiga [The Ant], in the year of grace +1821 Constitutional Alcalde of Aldeire, might very well be the descendant +of some Mustapha, Mohammed, or the like. + +It is related, then, that the aforesaid Juan Gomez--a man at the time of +our story about fifty years of age, very shrewd, although he knew neither +how to read nor write, and grasping and industrious to some purpose, as +might be inferred not only from his sobriquet, but also from his wealth, +acquired honestly or otherwise, and invested in the most fertile lands of +the district--leased, at a nominal rent, by means of a present to the +secretary of the corporation of some hens which had left off laying, a +piece of arid town land, on which stood an old ruin, formerly a Moorish +watch-tower or hermitage, and still called the Moor's Tower. + +Needless to say that Uncle Hormiga did not stop to consider for an instant +who this Moor might be, nor what might have been the original purpose of +the ruined building; the one thing which he saw at once, clear as water, +was, that with the stones which had already fallen from the ruin and those +which he should remove from it, he might make a secure and commodious yard +for his cattle; consequently, on the very day after it came into his +possession, and as a suitable pastime for a man of his thrifty habits, he +began to devote his leisure hours to the task of pulling down what still +remained standing of the ruin. + +"You will kill yourself," said his wife, seeing him come home in the +evening, covered with dust and sweat and carrying his crowbar hidden under +his cloak. + +"On the contrary," he answered, "this exercise is good for me; it will put +my blood in motion and keep me from being like our sons, the students who, +according to what the storekeeper tells me, were at the theatre in Granada +the other night looking so yellow that it was enough to make one sick to +see them." + +"Poor boys! From studying so much! But you ought to be ashamed to work +like a laborer, when you are the richest man in the town, and Alcalde into +the bargain." + +"That is why I take no one with me. Here, hand me that salad!" + +"It would be well to have some one to help you, however. You will spend an +age in pulling down the tower by yourself, and besides, you may not be +able to manage it." + +"Don't talk nonsense, Torcuata. When I begin to build the wall of the +cattle yard, I shall hire workmen, and even employ a master-builder. But +any one can pull down. And it is such fun to destroy! Come, clear away the +table and let us go to bed." + +"You speak that way because you are a man. As for me, it disturbs and +saddens me to see things destroyed." + +"Old women's notions. If you only knew how many things there are in the +world that ought to be destroyed!" + +"Hold your tongue, you free-mason! It was a misfortune they ever elected +you Alcalde. You will see when the Royalists come into power again that +the king will have you hanged!" + +"Yes, we shall see! Bigot! Hypocrite! Owl! Come, I am sleepy; stop +blessing yourself and put out that light." + +And thus they would argue until one or the other of the consorts fell +asleep. + + +II. + +One evening Uncle Hormiga returned from his work every thoughtful and +preoccupied, and earlier than usual. + +His wife waited until after he had dismissed the laborers to ask him what +was the matter, when he responded by showing her a leaden tube with a +cover, somewhat like the tube in which a soldier on furlough keeps his +leave, from which he drew a yellow parchment covered with crabbed +handwriting, and carefully unrolling it said, with imposing gravity: + +"I don't know how to read, even in Spanish, which is the easiest language +in the world, but the devil take me if this was not written by a Moor." + +"That is to say that you found it in the tower?" + +"I don't say it on that account alone, but because these spider's legs +don't look like anything I ever saw written by a Christian." + +The wife of Juan Gomez looked at the parchment, smelled it, and exclaimed, +with a confidence as amusing as it was ill-founded: + +"By a Moor it was written!" + +After a while she added, with a melancholy air: + +"Although I am but a poor hand myself at reading writing, I would swear +that we hold in our hands the discharge of some soldier of Mohammed who is +now in the bottomless pit." + +"You say that on account of the tube." + +"On account of the tube I say it." + +"Well, then, you are altogether wrong, my dear Torcuata, for such a thing +as conscription was not known among the Moors, nor is this a discharge. +This is a--a--" + +Uncle Hormiga glanced around him cautiously, lowered his voice, and said +with air of absolute certainty: + +"This paper contains directions where to find a treasure!" + +"You are right!" cried his wife, suddenly inspired with the same belief; +"and have you already found it? Is it very big? Did you cover it up +carefully again? Are the coins gold or silver? Do you think they will pass +current now? What a happiness for our boys! How they will spend money and +enjoy themselves in Granada and Madrid! I want to have a look at it. Let +us go there. There is a moon to-night!" + +"Silly woman! Be quiet! How do you suppose that I could find the treasure +by these directions, when I don't know how to read, either in Moorish or +in Christian?" + +"That's true! Well, then, I'll tell you what to do. As soon as it is +daylight, saddle a good mule, cross the Sierra through the Puerto de la +Laguna, which they say is safe now, and go to Ugijar, to the house of our +gossip, Don Matias Quesada. who knows something of everything. He will +explain what is in the paper and give you good advice, as he always does." + +"And money enough his advice has cost me, notwithstanding our gossipred! +But I was thinking of doing that myself. In the morning I will start for +Ugijar and be back by nightfall; I can do that easily by putting the mule +to his speed." + +"But be sure and explain everything to him clearly." + +"I have very little to explain. The tube was hidden in a hollow, or niche, +in the wall, and covered with tiles, like those at Valencia. I tore down +the whole of the wall, but I found nothing else. At the surface of the +ground begin the foundation walls, built of immense stones, more than a +yard square, any one of which it would take two or three men as strong as +I am to move. Consequently, it is necessary to know exactly where the +treasure is hidden, unless we want to tear up all the foundation walls of +the tower, which could not be done without outside help." + +"No no; set out for Ugijar as soon as it is daybreak. Offer our gossip a +part--not a large one--of what we may find, and as soon as we know where +we must dig, I will help you myself to tear up the foundation stones. My +darling boys! It is all for them! For my part, the only thing that +troubles me is lest there be some sin in this business that we are +whispering about." + +"What sin can there be in it, you great fool?" + +"I can't explain what I mean, but treasures have always seemed to me to +have something to do with the devil, or the fairies. And then, you got +that ground for so low a rent! The whole town says there was some trickery +in the business!" + +"That concerns the secretary and councillors. They drew up the documents." + +"Besides, as I understand, when a treasure is discovered, a part of it +must be given to the king." + +"That is when it is found on ground that is not one's own, like mine!" + +"One's own! One's own! Who knows to whom that tower the Council sold you +belonged!" + +"Why, to the Moor, of course!" + +"And who knows who that Moor may have been? It seems to me, Juan, whatever +money the Moor may have hidden in his house should belong to him, or to +his heirs, not to you or to me." + +"You are talking nonsense. According to that, it is not I who ought to be +the Alcalde of Aldeire, but the man who was Alcalde a year ago, at the +time of the proclamation of Riego. According to that, we should have to +send the rents of the lands of Granada and Guadix, and hundreds of other +towns, every year to the descendants of the Moors in Africa." + +"It may be that you are right. At any rate, go to Ugijar, and our gossip +will tell you what is best to be done in the matter." + + +III. + +Ugijar is distant from Aldeire some four leagues, and the road between the +two towns is a very bad one. Before nine o'clock on the following morning, +however, Uncle Juan Gomez, wearing his blue stockinet knee-breeches and +his embroidered white Sunday boots, was in the office of Don Matias de +Quesada, a vigorous old man, a doctor in civil and criminal jurisprudence, +the most noted criminal lawyer in that part of the country. He had always +been a promoter of lawsuits, and was very wealthy, and had a large circle +of influential acquaintances in Granada and Madrid. + +When he had heard his worthy gossip's story and had carefully examined the +paper, he gave it as his opinion that the document had nothing whatever to +do with the treasure; that the hole in which the tube had been found was a +sort of closet, and the writing one of the prayers which the Moors read +every Friday morning. But notwithstanding this, as he was not thoroughly +versed in the Arabic language, he added that he would send the document to +a college companion of his who was employed in the Commission of the Holy +Places, in Madrid, in order that he might send it to Jerusalem, where it +could be translated into Spanish, for which purpose it would be well to +inclose to his friend in Madrid a draft for a couple of ounces in gold, +for a cup of chocolate. + +Uncle Juan Gomez considered seriously before he made up his mind to pay so +high a price for a cup of chocolate (which would be paying for the article +at the rate of 10,240 reals a pound), but he was so certain in regard to +the treasure (and in truth he was not mistaken, as we shall see later on), +that he took from his belt eight gold pieces of four dollars each and +delivered them to Don Matias, who weighed them one by one before putting +them into his purse, after which Hormiga took the road back to Aldeire, +resolving in his own mind to continue his excavations under the Moor's +tower while the document went to the Holy Land and came back translated; +proceedings which, according to the lawyer, would occupy something like a +year and a half. + + +IV. + +Uncle Juan had no sooner turned his back upon his gossip and counsellor +than the latter took his pen and wrote the following letter: + +"Don Bonifacio Tudela y Gonzalez, Chapel-master of the Cathedral of Ceuta. + +"MY DEAR NEPHEW-IN-LAW,--To no one but a man of your piety would I confide +the important secret contained in the accompanying document. I say +important, because without a doubt in it are directions for finding the +hiding-place of a TREASURE, of which I will give you a part if I should +succeed in discovering it with your help. To this end you must get a Moor +to translate the document for you and send me the translation in a +certified letter, mentioning the matter to no one, unless it be your wife, +whom I know to be a person of discretion. + +"Forgive my not having written to you in all these years, but you know how +busy a life I lead. Your aunt continues to remember you in her prayers +every night. I hope you are better of the affection of the stomach from +which you were suffering in 1806, and remain your affectionate +uncle-in-law, + +"MATIAS DE QUESADA. + +"UGIJAR, January 15, 1821. + +"P.S.--Regards to Pepa, and tell me when you write if you have any +children." + +Having written this letter, the distinguished jurisconsult bent his steps +toward the kitchen, where his wife was engaged in knitting and minding +the olla, and throwing into her lap the four golden coins he had received +from Juan Gomez, he said to her, in a harsh, cross voice: + +"There, Encarnacion, buy more wheat; it is going to rise in price during +the dear months; and see to it that you get good measure. Get my breakfast +ready while I go post this letter for Seville, inquiring the price of +barley. Let the egg be well done and don't let the chocolate be muddy, as +it usually is." + +The lawyer's wife answered not a word, but went on with her knitting, like +an automaton. + + +V. + +Two weeks later, on a beautiful day in January, a day such as is to be +seen only in the north of Africa and the south of Europe, the +Chapel-master of the cathedral of Ceuta was enjoying the sunshine on the +roof of his two-story house, with the tranquillity of mind proper to one +who had played the organ at high mass and had afterward eaten a pound of +anchovies, another of meat, and another of bread, and drank the +corresponding quantity of Tarifa wine. + +The worthy musician, who was as fat as a hog and as red as a beet, was +slowly digesting his breakfast, while his lethargic gaze slowly wandered +over the magnificent panorama of the Mediterranean,--the Straits of +Gibraltar, the accursed rock from which they take their name, the +neighboring peaks of Anghera and Benzu, and the distant snows of the +Lesser Atlas--when he heard hasty steps on the stairs and his wife's +silvery voice crying joyfully: + +"Bonifacio! Bonifacio! A letter from your uncle! And a heavy letter, too!" + +"Well," answered the Chapel-master, turning around like a geographical +sphere or globe on the point on which his rotund personality rested on the +seat, "what saint can have put it into my uncle's head to remember me? I +have been living for fifteen years in this country usurped from Mohammed, +and this is the first time that Abencerrage has written to me, although I +have written to him a hundred times. Doubtless he wants me to render him +some service." + +So saying, he opened the epistle, contriving so that the Pepa of the +postscript should not be able to read its contents, and the yellow +parchment, noisily unfolding itself, greeted their eyes. + +"What has he sent us?" asked his wife, a native of Cadiz, and a blonde, +attractive and fresh-looking, notwithstanding her forty summers. + +"Don't be inquisitive, Pepita. I will tell you what is in the letter, if I +think you ought to know, as soon as I have read it. I have warned you a +thousand times to respect my letters." + +"A proper precaution for a libertine like you! At any rate be quick, and +let us see if I may know what that large paper is that your uncle has sent +you. It looks like a bank-note from the other world." + +While his wife was making these and other observations, the musician +finished reading the letter, whose contents surprised him so greatly that +he rose to his feet without the slightest effort. + +Dissimulation was so habitual with him, however, that he was able to say, +in a natural tone of voice: + +"What nonsense! The wretched man is no doubt already in his dotage! Would +you believe that he sends me this leaf from a Hebrew Bible, in order that +I may look for some Jew who will buy it, the foolish creature supposing +that he will get a fortune for it. At the same time," he added, to change +the conversation, putting the letter and the parchment into his pocket,-- +"at the same time, he asks me with much interest if we have any children." + +"He has none himself," cried Pepita quickly. "No doubt he intends to leave +us something." + +"It is more likely the miserly fellow thinks of our leaving him something. +But hark, it is striking eleven. It is time for me to go tune the organ +for vespers. I must go now. Listen, my treasure; let dinner be ready by +one, and don't forget to put a couple of good potatoes into the pot. Have +we any children! I am ashamed to tell him we have none. See, Pepa," said +the musician, after a moment, having in mind, no doubt, the Arabic +document, "if my uncle should make me his heir, or if I should ever grow +rich by any other means, I swear that I will take you to the Plaza of San +Antonio in Cadiz to live, and I will buy you more jewels than Our Lady of +Sorrows of Granada has. So good-bye for a while, my pigeon." + +And, pinching his wife's dimpled chin, he took his hat and turned his +steps--not in the direction of the cathedral, but in that of the poor +quarter of the town in which the Moorish citizens of Ceuta for the most +part live. + + +VI. + +In one of the narrowest streets of this quarter, seated on the floor or +rather on his heels, at the door of a very modest but very neat +whitewashed house, smoking a clay pipe, was a Moor of some thirty-five or +forty years of age, a dealer in eggs and chickens, which the free peasants +of Sierra Bullones and Sierra Bermeja brought to him to the gates of +Ceuta, and which he sold either in his own house or at the market, with a +profit of a hundred per cent. He wore a white woollen chivala and a black +woollen, hooded Arab cloak, and was called by the Spaniards, Manos-gordas, +and by the Moors, Admet-Ben-Carime-el-Abdoun. + +When the Moor saw the Chapel-master approaching, he rose and advanced to +meet him, making deep salaams at every step, and when they were close +together, he said cautiously: + +"You want a little Moorish girl? I bring to-morrow little dark girl of +twelve--" + +"My wife wants no more Moorish servants," answered the musician stiffly. + +Manos-gordas began to laugh. + +"Besides," continued Don Bonifacio, "your infernal little Moorish girls +are very dirty." + +"Wash!" responded the Moor, extending his arms crosswise and inclining his +head to one side. + +"I tell you I want no Moorish girls," said Don Bonifacio. "What I want +to-day is that you, who know so much that you are Interpreter of the +Fortress, should translate this document into Spanish for me." + +Manos-gordas took the document, and at the first glance murmured: + +"It is Moor--" + +"Of course, it is in Arabic. But I want to know what it says, and if you +do not deceive me I will give you a handsome present--when the business +which I am about to entrust you with is concluded." + +Meantime Admet-Ben-Carime glanced his eye over the document, turning very +pale as he did so. + +"You see that it concerns a great treasure?" the Chapel-master +half-affirmed, half-asked. + +"Me think so," stammered the Mohammedan. + +"What do you mean by saying you think so? Your very confusion tells +plainly that it is so." + +"Pardon," replied Manos-gordas, a cold sweat breaking out over his body. +"Here words modern Arabic--I understand. Here words ancient, or classic +Arabic--I no understand." + +"What do the words that you understand signify?" + +"They signify GOLD, they signify PEARLS, they signify CURSE OF ALA. But I +no understand meaning, explanations, or signs. Must see the Dervish of +Anghera--wise man and translate all. I take parchment to day and bring +parchment to-morrow, and deceive not nor rob Senor Tudela. Moor swear." + +Saying which he clasped his hands together, and, raising them to his lips, +kissed them fervently. + +Don Bonifacio reflected; he knew that in order to decipher the meaning of +this document he should be obliged to take some Moor into his confidence, +and there was none with whom he was so well acquainted and who was so well +disposed to him as Manos-gordas; he consented, therefore, to confide the +manuscript to him, making him swear repeatedly that he would return on the +following day from Anghera with the translation, and swearing to the Moor +on his side that he would give him at least a hundred dollars when the +treasure should be discovered. + +The Mussulman and the Christian then separated, and the latter directed +his steps, not to his own house, nor to the cathedral, but to the office +of a friend of his, where he wrote the following letter: + +"Senor Don Matias de Quesada y Sanchez, Alpujarra, Ugijar. + +"MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Thanks be to God that we have at last received news +of you and of Aunt Encarnacion, and as good news as Josefa and I could +desire. We, my dear uncle, although younger than you and my aunt, are full +of ailments and burdened with children, who will soon be left orphans and +compelled to beg for their bread. + +"Whoever told you that the document you sent me bore any reference to a +treasure deceived you. I have had it translated by a competent person, and +it turns out to be a string of blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ, +the Holy Virgin, and the Saints, written in Arabic verses, by a Moorish +dog of the Marquisate of El Cenet, during the rebellion of Aben-Humeya. +In view of its sacrilegious nature, and by the advice of the Senor +Penitentiary, I have just burned this impious testimony to Mohammedan +perversity. + +"Remembrances to my aunt; Josefa desires to be remembered to you both; she +is now for the tenth time in an interesting condition, and your nephew, +who is reduced to skin and bone by the wretched affection of the stomach, +which you will remember, begs that you will send him some assistance. + +"BONIFACIO. + +"CEUTA, January 29, 1821." + + +VII. + +While the Chapel-master was writing and posting this letter, +Admet-el-Abdoun was gathering together in a bundle all his wearing apparel +and household belongings, consisting of three old hooded mantles, two +cloaks of goat's wool, a mortar for grinding alcazuz, an iron lamp, and a +copper skillet full of pesetas, which he dug up from a corner of the +little yard of his house. He loaded with all this his one wife, slave, +odalisque, or whatever she might be, a woman uglier than an unexpected +piece of bad news, and filthier than her husband's conscience, and issued +forth from Ceuta, telling the soldier on guard at the gate opening on the +Moorish country that they were going to Fez for change of air, by the +advice of a veterinary; and as from that day--now more than sixty years +ago--to this no one in Ceuta or its neighborhood has ever again seen +Manos-gordas, it is obvious that Don Bonifacio Tudela y Gonzalez had not +the satisfaction of receiving from his hands the translation of the +document, either on the following, or on any other day during the +remainder of his existence; which, indeed, cannot have been very long, +since, according to reliable information, it appears that his adored +Pepita took to herself, after his death, another husband, an Asturian +drum-major residing in Marbella, whom she presented with four children, +beautiful as the sun, and that she was again a widow at the time of the +death of the king, at which epoch she gained, by competition in Malaga, +the title of gossip and the position of matron in the custom-house. + +And now let us follow Manos-gordas and learn what became of him and of the +mysterious document. + + +VIII. + +Admet-ben-Carime-el-Abdoun breathed freely, and even danced a few steps +for joy, without dancing off his ill-fastened slippers, however, as soon +as he found himself outside the massive walls of the Spanish fortress and +with all Africa before him. + +For Africa, for a true African like Manos-gordas, is the land of absolute +liberty; of a liberty anterior and superior to all human constitutions and +institutions; of a liberty resembling that enjoyed by the wild rabbits and +other wild animals of the mountain, the valley, or the desert. + +By this I mean to say that Africa is the paradise of evil-doers, the safe +asylum, the neutral ground of both men and beasts, protected here by the +intense heat and the vast extent of the deserts. As for the sultans, +kings, and beys who fancy they rule here, and the authorities and soldiers +who represent them, it may be said that they are for such subjects what +the hunter is for the hare or for the stag--a misadventure which one in a +hundred may chance to meet with, and which may or may not result fatally; +if he who meets it dies, he is remembered on the anniversary of his death; +and if he does not die, he takes himself off to a sufficient distance from +the scene of his mishap--and no more is thought about the matter. With +this digression we will now resume the thread of our story. + +"This way, Zama!" cried the Moor to his weary consort, as if he were +calling to a beast of burden. + +And instead of turning eastward, that is to say toward the gap of Anghera, +in quest of the holy sage, in accordance with his promise to Don +Bonifacio, he proceeded southward along a ravine overgrown with wild +brambles and forest trees which soon brought him to the Tetuan road; that +is to say, to the indistinct footpath which, following the indentations of +the coast, leads to Cape Negro by the valley of the Tarajar, the valley of +the Castillejos, Mount Negro, and the lakes of Azmir River, names which +are now heard by every true Spaniard with love and veneration, but which +at the time of our story had not yet been pronounced either in Spain or in +any other part of the civilized world. + +When Ben-Carime and Zama had reached the little valley of the Tarajar, +they sat down to rest for a while at the edge of the rivulet which, rising +in the heights of Sierra Bullones, runs through it, and in this wild and +secluded spot, that seemed as if it had come fresh from the Creator's hand +and had never yet been trod by the foot of man, looking out on the +solitary ocean, whose waters were untracked save, on an occasional +moonlight night, by some pirate caravel or government vessel sent from +Europe in pursuit of it, the Moorish woman proceeded to make her toilet, +performing her ablutions in the stream, and the Moor unfolded the +manuscript and read it again, manifesting no less emotion than he had +shown on the previous occasion. + +The contents of the Arabian manuscript were as follows: + +"May the benediction of Allah rest on all good men who read these lines! + +"There is no glory but the glory of Allah, whose prophet and messenger +Mohammed was and is, in the hearts of the faithful. + +"May those who rob the house of him who is at the wars, or in exile, be +accursed of Allah and of Mohammed, and die eaten up by beetles and +cockroaches! + +"Blessed be Allah, who created these and other vermin to devour the +wicked! + +"I am the _caid_ Hassan-ben-Jussef, the servant of Allah, although I am +miscalled Don Rodrigo de Acuna by the successors of the Christian dogs +who, by force and in violation of solemn compact, baptized, with a broom +of hyssop, my ill-fated ancestors, together with many other Islamites of +these kingdoms. + +"I am a captain, serving under the banner of him whose lawful title, +since the death of Aben-Humaya, is King of Andalusia, +Muley-Abdallah-Mahamud-Aben-Aboo, who does not now sit on the throne of +Granada because of the treachery and cowardice with which the Moors of +Valencia broke their oaths and compacts, failing to rise with the Moors of +Granada against the common enemy: but they will receive their reward from +Allah, and if we are conquered, they, too, will be conquered and in the +end expelled from Spain, without the merit of having fought to the last on +the field of honor in defence of their rights; and if we are the +conquerors we will cut off their heads and throw them to the swine. + +"I am, in conclusion, the lord of this tower and of all the land +surrounding it, westward to the ravine of the Fox and eastward to the +ravine of the Asparagus, so called from the luxuriant growth and +exquisite flavor of the asparagus cultivated there by my grandfather, +Sidi-Jussef-ben-Jussuf. + +"Things are going badly with us. Since the coming of the base-born Don +Juan of Austria (whom may Allah confound!) to fight against the faithful, +we have foreseen that, for the present, we shall be defeated, although in +the course of years or of centuries another Prince of the blood of the +Prophet may recover the throne of Granada which for seven hundred years +was in the possession of the Moors, and which will be theirs again when +Allah wills it, by the same right by which it was formerly possessed by +the Goths and Vandals, and before that by the Romans, and before that by +those other Africans, the Carthaginians--by the right of conquest. But +I know, as I have said, that, for the present, things are going badly with +us, and that I must very soon depart for Morocco, taking with me my +forty-three sons; that is to say, unless the Austrians capture me in the +coming battle and hang me on a tree, as I would hang all of them, if it +were in my power to do so. + +"Well, then, when I depart from this tower to engage in the last and the +decisive campaign, I leave hidden here, in a place which no one can +discover without coming across this manuscript, all my gold, all my +silver, all my pearls, my family treasures, the possessions of my fathers, +of myself, and of my heirs; the fortune of which I am lord and master by +human and divine right, as the bird is of its feathers, or the child of +the teeth he cuts with suffering, or as every mortal is of the bad humors, +cancerous or leprous, which he may inherit from his ancestors. + +"Stay thy hand, then, oh thou, Moor, Christian, or Jew, who, in tearing +down this, my dwelling, mayest discover and read these lines which I +am now writing! Stay thy hand and respect the treasure-house of thy +fellow-mortal! Touch not his estate! Take not possession of that which +belongs to another! Here there is none of the public wealth, nothing +belonging to the exchequer, nothing belonging to the state. The gold in +the mine may belong of right to him who discovers it, and a part of it to +the king of the country; but gold melted down and stamped--money, coin-- +belongs to its owner and to no one but its owner. Rob me not, therefore, +evil man! Rob not my descendants who will come, on the day appointed, to +take possession of their inheritance. And if thou shouldst, without evil +intent, and by chance discover my treasure, I counsel thee to make public +proclamation, calling on and notifying the circumstance to the heirs of +Hassan-ben-Jussef; for it is not just to keep that which has been found +when it has a lawful owner. + +"If thou doest not this, be accursed, with the curse of Allah, and with my +curse! And mayest thou be struck dead by lightning! And may each coin of +my money and each pearl of my treasure become a scorpion in thy hands! And +may thy children die of leprosy, may their fingers rot and drop off, so +that they may not have even the pleasure of scratching themselves! And may +the woman thou lovest love thy slave and betray thee for him. And may thy +eldest daughter leave thy house secretly with a Jew! And mayest thou be +impaled upon a stake, and suspended on high, exposed to the public gaze, +until by the weight of thy body the stake pierce thy crown and thou fall +parted asunder on the ground like a loathsome toad cut in twain by the +hoe! + +"Now thou knowest what I would have thee know, and let all men know it, +and blessed be Allah who is Allah! + +"Tower of Zoraya, in Aldeire, in El Cenet, On the fifteenth day of the +month of Saphar, Of the year of the Hegira 968. + +"HASSEN-BEN-JUSSEF." + + +IX. + +Manos-gordas was profoundly impressed by a second reading of this +document; not because of the moral maxims or the terrible curses it +contained, for the rascal had lost his faith both in Allah and in +Mohammed, through his frequent intercourse with the Christians and the +Jews of Tetuan and Ceuta, who naturally scoffed at the Koran, but because +he believed that his face, his accent, and some other personal +peculiarities of his forbade his going to Spain, where he would find +himself exposed to certain death should any Christian man or woman +discover him to be an enemy to the Virgin Mary. + +"Besides, what aid" (in the opinion of Manos-gordas) "could a foreigner, a +Mohammedan, a semi-barbarian, expect from the laws or the authorities of +Spain, in acquiring possession of the Tower of Zoraya for the purpose of +making excavations there, or what protection in retaining possession of +the treasure when he should have discovered it, or even of his life? There +is no help for it," was the conclusion to which he came, after much +reflection. "I must trust the secret to the renegade Ben-Munuza. He is a +Spaniard, and his companionship will protect me from danger in that +country. But as there does not exist under the canopy of heaven a wickeder +man than this same renegade, it will not be amiss to take some +precautions." + +And, as a result of his reflections, he took from his pocket writing +materials, wrote a letter, and inclosed it in an envelope, which he sealed +with a bit of moistened bread, and this done, he burst into a sardonic +laugh. + +He then looked at his wife, who was still engaged in removing the filth of +an entire year from her person, at the expense of the material and moral +cleanliness of the poor rivulet, and having attracted her attention by a +whistle, he deigned to address her in these terms: + +"Sit down here beside me, fig-face, and listen to what I am going to say. +You can afterward finish washing yourself--and well you need it--and +perhaps I may then think you worthy of something better than the daily +drubbing by which I show my affection for you. But for the present, +brazenface, leave off your grimaces, and listen well to what I am going to +tell you." + +The Moorish woman, who after her toilet looked younger and more artistic, +though no less ugly than before, licked her lips like a cat, fixed the two +carbuncles that served her for eyes on Manos-gordas, and said, showing her +broad white teeth, that bore no resemblance to those of a human being: + +"Speak, my lord, your slave desires only to serve you." + +Manos-gordas continued: + +"If, in the future, any misfortune should happen to me, or if I should +suddenly disappear without taking leave of you, or if, after taking leave +of you, you should hear nothing from me within six weeks' time, make your +way back to Ceuta and put this letter in the post. Do you understand fully +what I have said, monkey-face?" + +Zama burst into tears and exclaimed: + +"Admet, do you intend to abandon me?" + +"Don't be an ass, woman!" answered the Moor. "Who is talking of such a +thing now? You know very well that you please me and that you are useful +to me. The question now is whether you have understood my charge +perfectly." + +"Give it here!" said the Moorish woman, taking the letter and placing it +in her dark-skinned bosom, next her heart. "If any evil should happen to +you, this letter shall be placed in the post at Ceuta, though I should +drop dead the moment after." + +Aben-Carime smiled with a human smile when he heard these words, and +deigned to let his eyes rest upon his wife as if she were a human being. + + +X. + +The Moorish couple must have slept soundly and sweetly among the thickets +on the roadside that night, for it was fully nine o'clock on the following +morning when they reached the foot of Cape Negro. + +At that place there is a village of Arab shepherds and husbandmen, called +Medick, consisting of a few huts, a morabito or Mohammedan hermitage, and +a well of fresh water, with its curb-stone and its copper bucket, like the +wells we see represented in certain biblical scenes. + +At this hour the village was completely deserted, its inhabitants having +betaken themselves, with their cattle and their implements of labor, to +the neighboring hills and glens. + +"Wait for me here," said Manos-gordas to his wife. "I am going in quest of +Ben-Munuza, who at this hour is probably ploughing his fields on the other +side of yonder hill." + +"Ben-Munuza!" exclaimed Zama, with a look of terror; "the renegade of whom +you spoke to me?" + +"Make your mind easy," returned Manos-gordas. "I have the upper hand now. +In a few hours I shall be back and you will see him following me like a +dog. This is his cabin. Wait for us inside, and make us a good mess of +alcazus, with the maize and the butter you will find at hand. You know I +like it well cooked. Ah, I forgot. If I should not be back before +nightfall, ascend the hill, crossover to the other side, and if you do not +find me there, or if you should find my dead body, return to Ceuta and +post this letter.--Another thing: if you should find me dead, search my +clothing for this parchment; if you do not find it upon me, you will know +that Ben-Munuza has robbed me of it; in which case proceed from Ceuta to +Tetuan and denounce him as a thief and an assassin to the authorities. +That is all I have to tell you. Farewell!" + +The Moorish woman wept bitterly as Manos-gordas took the path that led to +the summit of the neighboring hill. + + +XI. + +On reaching the other side of the hill Manos-gordas descried in a glen, a +short distance off, a corpulent Moor dressed in white, ploughing the black +earth with the help of a fine yoke of oxen, in patriarchal fashion. This +man, who seemed a statue of Peace carved in marble, was the morose and +dreaded renegade, Ben-Munuza, the details of whose story would make the +reader shudder with horror, if he were to hear them. + +Suffice it for the present to say that he was some forty years old, that +he was active, vigorous, and robust, and that he was of a gloomy cast of +countenance, although his eyes were blue as the sky, and his beard yellow +as the African sunlight, which had bronzed his originally fair complexion. + +"Good-morning, Manos-gordas!" cried the renegade, as soon as he perceived +the Moor. + +And his voice expressed the melancholy pleasure the exile feels in a +foreign land when he meets some one with whom he can converse in his +native tongue. + +"Good-morning, Juan Falgueira!" responded Ben-Carime, in ironical accents. + +As he heard this name the renegade trembled from head to foot, and seizing +the iron bar of the plough prepared to defend himself. + +"What name is that you have just pronounced?" he said, advancing +threateningly toward Manos-gordas. + +The latter awaited his approach, laughing, and answered in Arabic, with a +courage which no one would have supposed him to possess: + +"I have pronounced your real name; the name you bore in Spain when you +were a Christian, and which I learned when I was in Oran three years ago." + +"In Oran?" + +"Yes, in Oran. What is there extraordinary in that? You had come from Oran +to Morocco; I went to Oran to buy hens. I inquired there concerning your +history, describing your appearance, and some Spaniards living there +related it to me. I learned that you were a Galician, that your name was +Juan Falgueira, and that you had escaped from the prison of Granada, on +the eve of the day appointed for your execution, for having robbed and +murdered, fifteen years ago, a party of gentlemen, whom you were serving +in the capacity of muleteer. Do you still doubt that I know who you are?" + +"Tell me, my soul," responded the renegade, in a hollow voice, looking +cautiously around, "have you related this story to any of the Moors? Does +any one but yourself in this accursed land know it? Because the fact is, I +want to live in peace, without having any one or anything to remind me of +that fatal deed which I have well expiated. I am a poor man. I have +neither family, nor country, nor language, nor even the God who made me +left to me. I live among enemies, with no other wealth than these oxen and +these fields, bought by the fruit of ten years' sweat and toil. +Consequently, you do very wrong to come and tell me--" + +"Hold!" cried Manos-gordas, greatly alarmed. "Don't cast those wolfish +glances at me, for I come to do you a great service, and not to vex you +needlessly. I have told your unfortunate story to no one. What for? Any +secret may be a treasure, which he who tells gives away. There are, +however, occasions in which an EXCHANGE OF SECRETS may be made with +profit. For instance, I am going to tell you an important secret of mine, +which will serve as security for yours, and which will oblige us to be +friends for the rest of our lives." + +"I am listening; go on," responded the renegade quietly. + +Aben-Carime then read aloud the Arabic document, which Juan Falgueira +listened to without moving a muscle of his still angry countenance. +The Moor seeing this, in order to dispel his distrust, disclosed to him +the fact that he had stolen the paper he had just read from a Christian in +Ceuta. + +The Spaniard smiled slightly to think how great must be the huckster's +fear of him to cause him voluntarily to reveal to him his theft, and poor +Manos-gordas, encouraged by Ben-Munuza's smile, proceeded to disclose his +plans, in the following terms: + +"I take it for granted that you understand perfectly well the importance +of this document and the reason of my reading it to you. I know not where +the Tower of Zoraya, nor Aldeire, nor El Cenet is, nor do I know how to go +to Spain, nor should I be able to find my way through that country if I +were there; besides which, the people would kill me for not being a +Christian, or at least they would despoil me of the treasure after I had +found it, if not before. For all these reasons, I require that a trusty +and loyal Spaniard should accompany me, a man whose life shall be in my +power, and whom I can send to the gallows with half a word; a man, in +short like you, Juan Falgueira, who, after all, have gained nothing by +robbing and murdering, since you are now toiling here like a donkey, when +with the millions I am going to procure you, you can go to America, to +France, or to India, and enjoy yourself, and live in luxury, and rise in +time perhaps to be king. What do you think of my plan?" + +"That it is well put together, like the work of a Moor," responded +Ben-Munuza, in whose nervous hands, clasped behind his back, the iron bar +swung back and forth like a tiger's tail. + +Manos-gordas smiled with satisfaction, thinking that his proposition was +already accepted. + +"But," added the sombre Galician, "there is one thing you have not +considered." + +"And what is that?" asked Ben-Carime, throwing back his head with a +comical expression, and fixing his eyes on vacancy, like one who is +prepared to hear some trivial and easily answered objection. + +"You have not considered that I should be an unmitigated fool if I were to +accompany you to Spain to put you in possession of half a treasure, +relying upon your putting me in possession of the other half. I say this +because you would only have to say half a word the day we arrived at +Aldeire, and you thought yourself free from danger, to rid yourself of my +company and avoid giving me my half of the treasure, after it was found. +In truth, you are not the clever man you imagine yourself to be, but only +a simpleton deserving of pity, who have deliberately walked into a trap +from which there is no escape, in telling me where this great treasure is +to be found, and telling me at the same time that you know my history, and +that if I were to accompany you to Spain you would there be absolute +master of my life. And what need, then, have I of you? What need have I of +your help to go and take possession of the entire treasure myself? What +need have I of you in the world at all? Who are you, now that you have +read me that document, now that I can take it from you?" + +"What are you saying?" cried Manos-gordas, who all at once felt a chill, +like that of death, strike to the marrow of his bones. + +"I am saying--nothing. Take that!" replied Juan Falgueira, dealing +Ben-Carime a tremendous blow on the head with the iron bar. The Moor +rolled over on the ground, the blood gushing from his eyes, nose, and +mouth, without uttering a single sound. + +The unfortunate man was dead. + + +XII. + +Three or four weeks after the death of Manos-gordas, somewhere about the +20th of February, 1821, it was snowing, if it ever were to snow, in the +town of Aldeire, and throughout the beautiful Andalusian sierra to which +the snow gives existence, as it were, and a name. + +It was Carnival Sunday, and the church bell was for the fourth time +summoning to mass with its thin, clear tones, like those of a child, the +shivering Christians of this parish (too near to heaven for their +comfort), who found it difficult, on so raw and inclement a day, to bring +themselves to leave their beds or to move away from the fire, saying, +perhaps, in excuse for their not doing so, that on the three days before +Ash-Wednesday worship should be rendered not to God, but to the devil. + +Some such excuse as this, at least, was given by Uncle Juan Gomez in +answer to the arguments with which his pious wife, our friend, Dame +Torcuata, tried to persuade him to give up drinking brandy and eating +biscuits, and accompany her, instead, to mass, like a good Christian, +regardless of the criticisms of the schoolmaster or the other electors of +the liberal party. And the dispute was beginning to grow warm, when +suddenly Genaro, his honor's head shepherd, entered the kitchen, and +taking off his hat, and scratching his head with the same movement, said: + +"God give us good-day, Senor Juan and Senora Torcuata! You must have +guessed already that something has happened up above to bring me down here +on a day like this, it not being my Sunday for going to hear mass. I hope +you are both well!" + +"There! there! I'll wait no longer!" cried the Alcalde's wife, +impatiently, folding her mantilla over her breast. "It was decreed that +you were not to hear mass to-day. You have drink enough there, and +conversation enough for the whole day, discussing the question as to +whether the goats are with kid or whether the young rams are beginning to +get their horns. You will go to perdition, Juan, you will go to perdition, +if you don't soon make your peace with the church and give up the accursed +alcaldeship!" + +When Dame Torcuata had departed, the Alcalde handed a biscuit and a glass +of brandy to the head shepherd, saying: + +"Women's nonsense, Uncle Genaro! Draw your chair up to the fire and tell +me what you have to say. What is going on up above there?" + +"Oh, a mere nothing! Yesterday, Francisco, the goat-keeper, saw a man +dressed like a native of Malaga, with long trousers and a linen jacket, +and wrapped in a blanket, go into the cattle-yard you are making, from the +open side, and walk around the Moor's Tower, examining it and measuring +it, as if he were a master-builder. Francisco asked him what he was doing, +to which the stranger answered by asking in his turn who was the owner of +the tower, and Francisco saying that he was no less a person than the +Alcalde of the town, the stranger replied that he would speak with his +honor and explain his plans to him. Night soon fell, and as the man +pretended to be going away, the goat-herd went to his hut, which, as you +know, is but a short distance from the tower. Some two hours later the +same Francisco noticed that strange noises proceeded from the tower, in +which he also observed a light burning, all which terrified him so +greatly, that he did not even venture to go to my hut to tell me of what +he had seen and heard. This he did as soon as it was daylight, saying in +addition that the noises he had heard in the tower were kept up all night. +As I am an old man and have served my king and am not easily frightened, I +went at once to the Moor's Tower, accompanied by Francisco, who trembled +at every step he took, and we discovered the stranger, wrapped up in his +blanket, asleep in a little room on the ground floor where the plaster +still remains on the ceiling. I wakened the mysterious stranger and +reproved him for spending the night in a strange house without its owner's +permission, to which he answered that the building was not a house, but a +heap of ruins, where a poor wayfarer might very well take shelter on a +snowy night, and that he was ready to present himself before you and tell +you who he was and what his business and his plans were. I have brought +him with me, therefore, and he is now out in the yard with the goatherd, +waiting for your permission to enter." + +"Let him come in," answered Uncle Hormiga, rising to his feet, greatly +disturbed, for the thought had presented itself to his mind at the head +shepherd's first words, that all this was closely connected with the +celebrated treasure, the hope of discovering which, by his own unaided +exertions, he had abandoned, a week before, after he had removed, without +result, several of the heaviest of the foundation stones. + + +XIII. + +Here, then, we have, face to face and alone, Uncle Juan Gomez and the +stranger. + +"What is your name?" the former asked the latter, with all the +imperiousness warranted by his exalted office, and without inviting him to +be seated. + +"My name is Jaime Olot," responded the mysterious stranger. + +"You do not speak like a native of this country. Are you English?" + +"I am a Catalan." + +"Ah, a Catalan! That may be. And what brings you to these parts? And, +above all, what the devil were you doing yesterday measuring my tower?" + +"I will tell you. I am a miner by profession, and I have come to this +country, which is famous for its copper and silver mines, in search of +work. Yesterday afternoon, passing by the Moor's Tower, I saw that a wall +was being built with the stones that had been taken from it, and that it +would be necessary to tear down a great deal more of the building in order +to finish the wall. There is no one who can equal me in pulling down +buildings, whether by the use of tools or with hands only, for I have the +strength of an ox, and the idea occurred to me that I might be able to +make a contract with the owner of the tower to pull it down and dig up the +foundation stones." + +Uncle Hormiga, with a wink of his little gray eyes, responded, dwelling +upon every word: + +"Well, that arrangement does not suit me." + +"I would do the work for very little--almost nothing." + +"Now it would suit me less than before." + +The so-called Jaime Olot was puzzled not a little by the mysterious +answers of Uncle Juan Gomez, and he tried to get some clue to their +meaning from the expression of his face; but as he was unsuccessful in his +efforts to read the fox-like countenance of his honor, he added, with +feigned naturalness: + +"It would not displease me, either, to repair a part of the old building +and to live there, cultivating the ground that you had intended for a +cattle-yard. I will buy from you, then, the Moor's Tower with the ground +around it." + +"I do not wish to sell it," responded Uncle Hormiga. + +"But I will pay you double what it is worth!" said the self-styled Catalan +emphatically. + +"It would suit me now less than ever to sell it," replied the Andalusian, +with so crafty and insulting a look that his interlocutor took a step +backward, suddenly becoming conscious that he was treading on false +ground. + +He reflected for a moment, therefore, and then raising his head with a +determined air, and clasping his hands behind his back, he said, with a +cynical laugh: + +"So, then, you know that there is a TREASURE on that ground!" + +Uncle Juan Gomez leaned over in his seat, and scanning the Catalan from +head to foot, exclaimed with a comical air: + +"What vexes me is that you, too, should know it!" + +"And it would vex you much more if I should tell you that I am the only +person who knows it with certainty." + +"That is to say, that you know the precise spot in which the treasure is +buried?" + +"I know the precise spot, and it would not take me twenty-four hours to +disinter all the wealth that lies hidden there." + +"According to that you have in your possession a certain document--" + +"Yes; I have a document of the time of the Moors, half a yard square, in +which all the necessary directions to find the treasure are given." + +"And tell me--this document--" + +"I do not carry it about with me, nor is there any reason why I should do +so, since I know it word for word by heart, both in Spanish and in Arabic. +Oh, I am not such a fool as ever to deliver myself up, bag and baggage, +to the enemy! So that before coming to this country I concealed the +document--where no one but myself will ever be able to find it." + +"In that case there is no more to be said. Senor Jaime Olot, let us come +to an understanding, like two good friends," exclaimed the Alcalde, at the +same time pouring out a glass of brandy for the stranger. + +"Let us come to an understanding!" repeated the stranger, taking a seat +without waiting for further permission, and drinking his brandy with +gusto. + +"Tell me," continued Uncle Hormiga, "and tell me without lying, so that I +may learn to put faith in you--" + +"Ask what you wish; when it does not suit me to speak I shall be silent." + +"Do you come from Madrid?" + +"No. It is twenty-five years since I was in the capital, for the first and +last time." + +"Do you come from the Holy Land?" + +"No; that is not in my line." + +"Are you acquainted with a lawyer of Ugijar, called Don Matias de +Quesada?" + +"No; I hate lawyers and all people who live by the pen." + +"Well, then, how did this document fall into your possession?" + +Jaime Olcot was silent. + +"I like that! I see you don't want to lie!" exclaimed the Alcalde. "But +there cannot be a doubt that Don Matias de Quesada cheated me as if I were +a Chinese, stealing from me two ounces in gold, and then selling that +document to some one in Melilla or Ceuta. And the fact is, although you +are not a Moor, you look as if you had lived in those countries." + +"Don't fatigue yourself, or lose your time guessing further. I will set +your doubts at rest. This lawyer you speak of must have sent the +manuscript to a Spaniard in Ceuta, from whom it was stolen three weeks ago +by the Moor from whose possession it passed into mine." + +"Ah! now I see. He must have sent it to a nephew of his who is a musician +in the cathedral of that city--one Bonafacio de Tudela." + +"It is very likely." + +"What a wretch that Don Matias is! To cheat his gossip in this way! But +see how chance has brought the document back to my hands again!" + +"To mine, you would say," observed the stranger. + +"To ours!" returned the Alcalde, again filling the glasses. "Why, then, we +are millionaires. We will divide the treasure equally between us, since +you cannot dig in that ground without my permission, nor can I find the +treasure without the help of the document which has fallen into your +possession. That is to say, that chance has made us brothers. From this +day forth you shall live in my house--another glass--and the instant we +have finished breakfast, we will begin to dig." + +The conference had reached this point when Dame Torcuata returned from +mass. Her husband told her all that had passed, and presented to her Don +Jaime Olot. The good woman heard with as much fear as joy the news that +the treasure was on the eve of discovery, crossing herself repeatedly on +learning of the treachery and baseness of her gossip, Don Matias de +Quesada, and she looked with terror at the stranger, whose countenance +filled her with a presentiment of coming misfortune. + +Knowing, however, that she must give this man his breakfast, she went into +the pantry to take from it the choicest articles it contained--that is to +say, a tenderloin with pickle sauce, and a sausage of the last killing, +saying to herself, however, as she uncovered the jars: + +"Time it is that the treasure should be discovered, for whether it is to +be found or not, it has already cost us the thirty-two dollars for the +famous cup of chocolate, the long-standing friendship of our gossip, Don +Matias, these fine slices of meat, that would have made so rich a dish, +dressed with peppers and tomatoes, in the month of August, and the having +so forbidding-looking a stranger as a guest. Accursed be treasures, and +mines, and the devils, and everything that is underground, excepting only +water and the faithful departed!" + + +XIV. + +While Dame Torcuata was making these reflections to herself, as she went, +with a pan in either hand, toward the fire, cries and hisses of women and +children resounded in the street, mingled with other voices in a lower +key, saying: + +"Senor Alcalde! Open the door! The city authorities are entering the town +with a troop of soldiers!" + +Jaime Olot became yellower than wax when he heard these words, and +clasping his hands together, he said: + +"Hide me, Senor Alcalde! Otherwise we shall not find the treasure! The +authorities have come in search of me!" + +"In search of you? And why so? Are you a criminal?" + +"I knew it!" cried Aunt Torcuata. "From that gloomy face no good could +come. All this is the doing of Lucifer!" + +"Quick! quick!" resumed the stranger. Take me out by the back door!" + +"Very good, but first give me directions where to find the treasure," said +Uncle Hormiga. + +"Senor Alcalde!" the cry was repeated outside the door, "open! The town is +surrounded! It seems it is that man who has been shut up with you for the +last hour they are in search of!" + +"Open to the authorities!" an imperious voice now cried, accompanied by a +loud knocking at the door. + +"There is no help for it!" said the Alcalde, going to open the door, while +the stranger tried to escape into the yard by the other door. + +But the head shepherd and the goat-herd, who were on the alert, cut off +his egress, and they and the soldiers, who had now also entered the room, +seized and bound him securely, although the renegade displayed in the +struggle the strength and agility of a tiger. + +The constable of the court, who had under his command a clerk and twenty +foot-soldiers, meantime told the Alcalde the causes of and reasons for +this noisy arrest. + +"This man," he said, "with whom you have been shut up I don't know why-- +talking of I don't know what--is the famous Galician, Juan Falgueira, who, +fifteen years ago, robbed and murdered a party of gentlemen, whose +muleteer he was, in a certain hamlet of Granada, and who escaped from the +chapel on the eve of the day appointed for his execution, dressed in the +habit of the friar who was administering to him the consolations of +religion, and whom he left there half-strangled. The king himself--whom +Heaven preserve--received, a fortnight ago, a letter from Ceuta, signed by +a Moor named Manos-gordas, saying that Juan Falgueira, after long +residence in Oran and other points in Africa, was about to embark for +Spain, and that it would be an easy matter to seize him in Aldeire in El +Cenet, where it was his intention to purchase a Moorish tower and to +devote himself to mining. At the same time a communication was received by +the government from the Spanish Consul in Tetuan, stating that a Moorish +woman called Zama had presented herself before him to make complaint +against the Spanish renegade, Ben-Manuza, formerly called Juan Falgueira, +who had just sailed for Spain, after having assassinated the Moor, +Manos-gordas, the complainant's husband, and robbed him of a certain +precious document. For all which reasons, and chiefly on account of the +attempt against the life of the friar in the chapel, His Majesty the King +strongly urged upon the authorities of Granada the arrest of the criminal +and his immediate execution in that city." + +Let the reader picture to himself the terror and astonishment with which +this narration was listened to by all present, as well as the despair of +Uncle Hormiga, who could not now doubt that the document was in the +possession of this man condemned to death. + +The avaricious Alcalde, then, at the risk of compromising himself still +further, called aside Juan Falgueira and held a whispered conversation +with him, having previously informed the assemblage that he was going to +try to prevail upon the renegade to confess his crime before God and men. +What passed between the two PARTNERS, however, was really what follows: + +"Gossip!" said Uncle Hormiga, "not Heaven itself could now save you! But +you must feel that it would be a pity that that document should be lost. +Tell me where you have hidden it." + +"Gossip!" responded the Galician, "with that document, or, in other words, +with the treasure it represents, I intend to purchase my pardon. Procure +for me the royal favor, and I will deliver the document to you; but for +the present I shall offer it to the judges to bribe them to declare my +sentence null and void by prescription." + +"Gossip!" replied Uncle Hormiga, "you are a wise man, and I shall be glad +if you succeed in your purpose. But if you fail, for God's sake do not +carry to the tomb a secret which will profit no one!" + +"Be certain, I shall take it with me!" answered Juan Falgueira. "I must +have my revenge upon the world in some way." + +"Let us proceed!" here cried the constable, putting an end to this strange +conference. + +And the condemned man, being chained and handcuffed, the officers of +justice and the soldiers proceeded with him in the direction of the city +of Guadix, whence they were to conduct him to Granada. + +"The devil! the devil!" the wife of Uncle Hormiga Juan Gomez kept +repeating to herself for an hour afterward, as she returned the +tenderloin and the sausage to their respective jars. "My curse upon +all treasures--past, present, and to come!" + + +XV. + +Needless to say that Uncle Hormiga found no means of procuring Juan +Falgueira's pardon, nor did the judges condescend to listen seriously to +the offers which the latter made them of delivering to them a treasure on +condition that they should relinquish the prosecution against him; nor did +the terrible Galician consent to disclose the hiding-place of the document +nor the whereabouts of the treasure to the bold Alcalde of Aldeire--who, +with this hope, had the face to visit him in the chapel in the prison of +Granada. + +Juan Falgueira, then, was hanged on the Friday preceding Good Friday, in +the Paseo del Triumfo, and Uncle Hormiga, on his return to Aldeire, on +Palm Sunday, fell ill with typhoid fever, the disease running its course +so quickly that on Wednesday of Holy Week he confessed himself and made +his will and expired on the morning of Easter Saturday. + +But before his death he wrote a letter to Don Matias de Quesada, +reproaching him with his treachery and dishonesty (which had caused the +deaths of three persons), and forgiving him like a Christian, on condition +that he should return to Dame Torcuata the thirty-two dollars for the cup +of chocolate. + +This dreadful letter reached Ugijar simultaneously with the news of the +death of Uncle Juan Gomez, both which events, coming together, affected +the old lawyer to such a degree that he never recovered his spirits again, +and he died shortly afterward, having written in his last hour a terrible +letter, full of reproaches and maledictions, to his nephew, the +Chapel-master of Ceuta, accusing him of having deceived and robbed him, +and of being the cause of his death. + +To the reading of this just and tremendous accusation was due, it is said, +the stroke of apoplexy that sent Don Bonifacio to the tomb. + +So that the suspicion, merely, of the existence of a hidden treasure was +the cause of five deaths, and of many other misfortunes, matters remaining +in the end as hidden and mysterious as they were in the beginning, since +Dame Torcuata, who was the only person in the world who knew the history +of the fatal document, took good care never to mention it thereafter in +the whole course of her life, thinking, as she did, that it had all been +the work of the devil, and the necessary consequence of her husband's +dealings with the enemies of the Church and the Throne. + + + + + +BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS +By Fernan Caballero +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS + + +CHAPTER I. + +Although the villages of the sierras of Andalusia, owing to their +elevation, enjoy in summer a milder temperature than those of the plains, +during the middle hours of the day the sun reflected from the rocks that +abound in this mountainous region, produces a dry and ardent heat, which +is more transitory, indeed, but also more irritating than that of the +plains. The chief sufferers from its ardors are the wandering reapers, +who, after finishing the labors of the harvest in their own province, go +in search of work to the provinces where the harvest has not yet been +gathered in. The greater number of the reapers of the province of Granada +go to the sierra of Ronda, where they are welcomed, and where their +toilsome labors are well rewarded, so that they are able to lay by some +money, unless indeed sickness, that scourge of the poor, prostrates them +and consumes their earnings or terminates their existence. + +In a more pious age a small hospital for poor strangers was established in +Bornos, which is one of the villages that, like a fringe, border the slope +of the sierra; an hospital which remained closed in winter, but which in +summer received many of the poor reapers who were prostrated by the +intense heat, and who had no home or family in the village. + +On a hot summer day, early in the thirties, a woman with a kind and gentle +countenance was seated at the door of her cottage, in the village above +mentioned, engaged in chopping the tomatoes and peppers and crumbling the +bread for the wholesome, nutritious, and savory gazpacho which was to +serve for the family supper; her two children, a boy of seven and a girl +of five, were playing not far from her in the street. + +As Bornos is almost entirely surrounded by orchards and orange groves, +planted on the slopes of the tableland on which the village is seated, and +which at this hour are irrigated by the clear and abundant waters of its +springs, every breeze brought with it the perfume of the leaves and the +melodious strains of the birds singing their evening hymn to the sun, +filling the air with coolness, as if kind Mother Nature made of her trees +a fan to cool the brow of her favorite child, man. The front of the house +was already steeped in shadow, while the sun still gilded the irregular +crests of the mountains on the opposite side of the valley that, like +patient camels, supported the load of vines, olive groves, and cornfields +confided to them by man. + +The mother, occupied with her task, had not observed that a poorly clad +little boy had joined her children and that they were talking together. + +"Who are you?" said the Bornos boy to the stranger; "I have never seen you +before. What is your name?" + +"Michael; and yours?" + +"Gaspar." + +"And my name is Catherine," said the little girl, who desired also to make +the strange boy's acquaintance. + +"I know the story of St. Catherine," said the latter. + +"Oh, do you? Tell it to us." + +The boy recited the following verses: + + "To-morrow will be St. Catherine's day, + When to heaven she will ascend and St. Peter will say, + 'What woman is that who asks to be let in?' + 'I am Catherine,' she will answer, 'and I want to come in.' + 'Enter, little dove, in your dove-cote, then.'" + +"What a lovely story!" exclaimed the girl. "Don't you know another?" + +"Look, Catherine," cried her brother, who was eating roasted beans; "there +is a little dead snail in this bean, a roasted snail." + +"Will you give me some beans?" begged the strange child. + +"Yes, here are some. Are you very, very fond of roasted beans?" + +"Yes, very; but I asked you for them because I am very hungry." + +"Why, have you had no dinner?" + +"No." + +"Nor any breakfast, either?" + +"No." + +"Mother, mother," cried both the children together, running to their +mother; "this poor little boy hasn't had any dinner or any breakfast, and +he is very hungry; give us some bread for him." + +"He has had no dinner, you say?" said the good woman, giving the child a +piece of bread with that compassionate tenderness which seems innate in +women toward children; "have you no parents, then, my child?" + +"Yes, but they have no bread to give me." + +"Poor little boy! And where are your parents?" + +"Over there," answered the boy, pointing in the direction of a lane that +ran between garden walls, at right angles with the street. + +The good woman, followed by the children, went to the lane. + +On the dry grass, with his face turned to the wall, lay a man, miserably +clad and apparently lifeless; a handkerchief was tied round his head; near +him lay a sickle that had fallen from his nerveless grasp; seated on the +ground beside him was a woman, who, with her thin cheek resting on her +emaciated hand, was gazing fixedly at him through the tears that rolled +down her sad face, as on a rainy day the water trickles down the walls of +a deserted ruin. The last rays of the setting sun, lingering in the lane, +illumined the melancholy group with a light tender and sorrowful as a +farewell glance. + +Approaching the stranger, the good woman, whose name was Maria, said to +her: + +"Senora, what is the matter with your husband?" + +"He has a fever that is killing him," answered the stranger, bursting into +sobs. + +"Holy Mary!" cried the mother of the children compassionately. "And why +don't you let people know about it and ask them to help you? Are we living +in a heathen land, then?" + +"I don't know any one in the place." + +"No matter; for a neighborly act, acquaintance isn't necessary. What! Is +this poor man to be left alone to die, as if he were among the Moors? Not +if I can prevent it." + +At this moment a man with a strong, calm, and kind face approached the +group. + +"Father, father," cried the children, "this man is dying, and this little +boy, who is his son, says he has no bread to give him." + +"John Joseph," added the mother of the children, "this poor man is lying +shelterless here; this is pitiful. If you are willing, let us carry him +into the house and send for the doctor." + +"Willing? Of course I am willing," answered her husband. "I have never yet +refused my help to any one in need of it, God be praised! There has always +been a corner in my kitchen for the poor, and especially for those who are +looking for a shelter for the night, who are on a journey, or who are +sick; and such food as I had, I have always shared with them! Don't you +know that, wife?" + +"Come, then," said the latter; "let us lift him up, John Joseph; I 'll +take hold of him by one arm and his wife can take him by the other." + +They did as she said. One of the children took the sickle, another the +hat, the third a small shabby bundle of clothes, and all went toward the +house. + +A sheepskin and a pair of sheets were spread over one of the thick reed +mattings which serve the laborers in the farms and vineyards as beds, and +the sick man, who remained sunk in a profound stupor, was placed on it, +while Gasparito, who was told to fly, ran for the doctor. When the latter +came, he pronounced the patient to be dangerously ill, and prescribed +various medicines, which were administered to him with that zeal and +intelligence in caring for the sick that is one of the many prerogatives +of the sex called the fair, but which might with much more propriety be +called the pious sex. + +After the medicines had been administered and he had been bled freely, the +patient seemed somewhat better, and sank into what seemed a natural and +beneficent sleep; and then, and not until then, did the family think of +their supper, the refreshing and nutritious gaspacho, and the fruits, so +abundant in the country, and of which the people, frugal, refined, and +elegant, even in their material appetites, are so fond. + + +CHAPTER II. + +It is needless to say that those first called to partake of the mess, as +the master of the house, who had been a soldier, called it, were the +strange woman and her son. + +"And what part of the country are you from?" said John Joseph to his +guest, as he offered her a slice of a magnificent watermelon, which +sparkled like a garnet in the light. + +"From Treveles, in the Alpujarras," she answered. + +"I was there when I served the king," responded John Joseph. "Those are +poor villages. Treveles is a village overhanging the ravine of Poqueira." + +"That is true," replied the poor woman, whose sorrowful face brightened a +little at the recollection, so dear to the heart, of the place where she +was born and where her home was. + +"And by the same token," continued John Joseph, "you can see from there +the peaks of Mulha Hasem and Veleta, that don't reach the sky because the +Almighty wouldn't let them, and not because they didn't try." + +"And why do they call that peak the Veleta, [a weather-vane.] John Joseph? +Is it because it has one on it?" + +"If it has, I never saw it." + +"It has none now," said the stranger, "but it had one in former times, +when Moors and Christians went fighting one another through the mountains. +It was guarded by an angel who kept it pointed toward Spain, and then the +Christians conquered; but if he neglected his task, the devil came and +made it point toward Barbary, and then the Moors conquered." + +"But, in spite of all the devil could do, we drove them out; yes, and we +would have done it if there had been ten times as many of them!" said the +ex-soldier. + +"And were you ever on those peaks?" said the mistress of the house to her +guest. + +"I was never there myself," answered the latter; "but my Manuel has been +there a hundred times. Once he went there with an Englishman who wanted to +see them. Between the two peaks there is a ravine that is full of water; +and that is a cauldron that the demons made. From the middle of it come +strange sounds that are caused by the hammering of the demons mending the +cauldron. The whole place is a desert, full of naked rocks, and so awesome +and solitary that the Englishman said it was like the Dead Sea--a sea that +it seems there is in some of those far-off countries." + +"Oh, mother! and why did it die?" asked the girl. + +"How should I know?" answered the mother. + +"Father," said the girl, repeating her question: "why did that sea die? +Did the Moors kill it?" + +"What a question!" returned the father, who did not wish to confess his +ignorance of the matter, as his wife had done: "it died because everything +in the world dies, even the seas." + +"And is the whole mountain like that?" asked Maria. + +"No, for lower down there are trees,--chestnuts, oaks and shrubs, and some +fine apple trees planted by the Moors, whose fruit is sent to Granada to +be sold." + +"And I was told," continued John Joseph, "that there are wild goats there +that run faster than water down a hill, that leap like grasshoppers, and +that are so sagacious that they always station one of their number on a +height to keep watch, and when danger is approaching he strikes the rock +with his foot, and then the others scamper off and disappear like a flight +of partridges." + +"That is all true," responded the guest; "and there are owls there, too, a +kind of birds with wings and a human face." + +"What is that you are saying, Senora?" cried John Joseph, "who ever saw +such birds as those?" + +"My Manuel has seen them, and every one who has ever climbed up those +heights; and you must know that the owls and the mountain-goats have been +there ever since the time when Jesus was in the world. He came to those +solitudes, that were then shady meadows in which tame and handsome goats +browsed, watched by their shepherds. The Lord, who was tired, entered a +goat-herd's hut, and asked the goat-herds to prepare a kid for supper for +Himself and St. John and St. Peter, who were with Him. The goat-herds, who +were wicked Moors, said that they had none; but the Lord insisted, and +then what did those heartless wretches do? They killed a cat, cooked it, +and set it on the table. But the Lord, as you may suppose, who sees into +all hearts and knows everything that is going on, however secret it may be +thought, knew perfectly well what the goat-herds had done, and sitting +down at the table He said: + + 'If you are a kid, + Remain fried. + But if you are a cat, + Jump from the plate.' + +"Instantly the animal straightened itself up and ran off. The Lord, to +punish the goat-herds, turned them into owls and their flocks into wild +goats." + +At this moment a moan was heard; they all hurried to the sick man's +bedside. His improvement had been only momentary; the fever, caused by a +cerebral attack, had reached its height, and in a few hours terminated his +life, without his having returned to consciousness for a single instant. + +It is an easy matter to describe a violent and noisy grief which rebels +against misfortune; but it is not easy to describe a profound, silent, +humble, and resigned grief. The poor widow who had lost everything, even +the strength to work, raised her eyes to heaven, clasped her hands and +bowed her head, while her life, which her chilled heart was unable to +maintain, slowly ebbed away. + +She was not sent away by the kind and charitable people who had sheltered +her; but she knew that she would be a heavy burden upon them; and although +she was submissive to the will of the Lord, she prayed to Him to grant her +a speedy and contrite end, as a release from all her sufferings; and the +Lord granted her prayer. + +One night she saw with ineffable joy the bed on which she lay surrounded +by kind, devout, and compassionate souls; the house was lighted up; an +altar stood in front of her humble cot, on which she saw the image of our +Lord, to whom she had prayed, with arms opened to those who call upon Him. +Every one brought flowers, those universal interpreters of human feeling, +which enhance the splendor of the most august solemnities and lend poetry +and beauty to the gayest festival; and which, as if they were angels' +gifts, are found, like these, in the hut and in the palace, in royal +gardens and in the fields. + +A bell sounded in the distance that with its silvery voice seemed to say: +"Here cometh the Lord, who giveth a peaceful death." + +And thus it was; for when the solemn act of receiving the Last Sacrament +was ended, the sick woman raised her eyes, in which a gleam of her lost +happiness shone. + +"I am leaving this valley of tears," she said, in a faint voice, "and +through the mercy of God I am going to His presence to ask Him to watch +over this poor boy, this poor orphan--" + +"Orphan, did you say?" cried John Joseph. "Don't you know, then, that he +is our son?" + +The dying woman leaned her pale face against her son's forehead, on which +a tear fell, and said to him, "Child of my heart, pay to our benefactors +your own debt and that of your parents; as for me, I can only pray to God +that He will bless them as I bless them." + +"John Joseph," said the priest, "the blessing of the dying is the most +precious legacy they can leave to those who survive them." + + +CHAPTER III. + +In 1853, Gaspar and Michael, who had grown up together like two brothers, +had arrived at the age of manhood; and they were as honest and industrious +as the father who had guided them. Catherine was a beautiful girl, as +modest and as diligent as the mother at whose side she had grown up. +Michael, who had a noble and affectionate, and consequently a grateful +heart, loved the family who had adopted him with ardent affection; but +especially did he love Catherine, for whom he felt all the affection of a +brother, joined to all the tenderness of a lover toward her whom he +desired to make the companion of his life. + +Many days of tranquil happiness were enjoyed by these united and worthy +people; but as happiness, like the blue of the sky, cannot be lasting, for +the earth, to yield its fruits, requires the rain, and man, to estimate at +their true value this life and the next, has need of tears, a time came in +which many were shed in this house, to prove to its inmates that God +bestows this blessing, almost preferably, on the poor and the righteous. + +The draft was proclaimed and both sons were enrolled for the drawing. + +Those who know how passionate is the affection which the mothers of the +people have for their children can understand Maria's inconsolable grief. +She believed that she loved both sons equally; she feared for both with +the same anguish; with the same fervor she prayed to God and to the Virgin +that both might escape the draft; but when they returned from the drawing +and she learned that the soldier's lot had fallen on her own son, the cry +which this intelligence drew from her mother's heart--"Child of my soul, I +knew that it must fall upon you!"--showed that a mother's love can be +equalled by no other. + +Michael saw Maria's grief with a breaking heart, a grief which not all his +own efforts nor those of her husband could diminish or soothe. + +On the following day John Joseph took his son to the barrack, but what was +the astonishment of both when the commandant told Gaspar that he was free +and that he might return home. + +"Free!" cried Gaspar in amazement. "And why?" + +"Because you have a substitute," answered the officer. + +"'I!" said Gaspar, with ever-increasing astonishment; "why, that can't be +so!" + +"Why do you say it can't be so? If the substitute is already accepted and +enrolled it is so." + +"But who is he?" asked Gaspar, amazed. + +"That young man, there," answered the officer, pointing to the man whom +his parents, in their beneficence, had brought up as a son. + +"Michael, what have you done?" exclaimed Gaspar, strongly moved. + +"What my mother charged me on her death-bed to do," answered Michael; "I +have paid a debt.' + +"You owed me nothing," answered Gaspar; "but I now owe you a debt; and God +grant me the opportunity to pay it, brother; if the occasion presents +itself, you may be sure I will not let it pass; that I will not." + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Two years after the events just recorded, a still greater sorrow befell +this worthy family, so united and so affectionate, as the families of the +peasantry usually are. Michael drew the lot in a second conscription, as +Gaspar had done before; and as he was thus obliged to serve on his own +account, the son of his adopted parents, whom he could not now serve as a +substitute, was once more called to the ranks. Four years more passed; and +just when they were expecting Michael home, his time of service having +expired, and while Catherine was preparing her wedding garments, a cry, +uttered by the Queen of Spain, resounded through the country, electrifying +the people and producing a universal outburst of patriotic enthusiasm-- +Long live Spain! Death to the Moor who has insulted her! This cry was +re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of he Peninsula, accompanied +by the clash of the warrior's sword and the chink of the rich man's gold, +offered on the altar of the country's honor; it was repeated by the +people, who gave their blood; by the sacred episcopate, who blessed the +cause of the country and of Christianity, and whose words powerfully +influenced not only timid and pious consciences, but all by their wisdom, +prudence, and judgment. The Sisters of Charity offered their devoted +services; the nuns made lint and sacred scapulars of the Virgin; the +ladies also made lint and bandages which they moistened with their tears; +and even schoolboys, fired with enthusiasm, asked to be allowed to go to +the popular war against the Moors. +[Note: This assertion might be proved by many examples; but it will +suffice to transcribe here a letter written by a nephew of mine, the son +of Marquis C----. +"SENOR GOVERNOR: Although I am only a boy of eight I am moved to say to +you that I would like to die for the country, and that, being fond of +military things, I wish you would permit me to go fight the Moors.-- +Written by P---- P----." +It is to be observed that this boy is docile, and gentle and modest in +disposition, rather than daring or arrogant.--Note of the Author] + +Michael, who shared in the general enthusiasm for the war, on receiving +his discharge, enlisted again, refusing to accept the premium for +re-enlisting, for such time as the war in Africa should last. + +John Joseph, who in winter followed the occupation of a muleteer, brought +home this news on his return from one of his trips, in which he had seen +his sons, who were both serving in the King's regiment, in Africa. Maria, +on hearing it, burst into tears. + +"They were right in saying last year, when the saddle-shaped comet +appeared, that it came to foretell a war with the Moors!" she exclaimed +disconsolately. + +"The comet had no resemblance to a saddle," answered her husband, with +martial ardor; "you know very well that what they said was that it was the +same star that had guided the kings who went to Bethlehem to declare that +Christ was the true Messiah; very well, our people will go to the Moorish +country now to tell them that Spanish Christians are tired of putting up +with the atrocities and the insults of the accursed Moors." + +"But a great many people will be killed in this war, John Joseph, and that +is heartbreaking to think of; yes heartbreaking, although you with your +warlike notions say it is not." + +"Oh, yes, you would like this war to be like a war between women; a war to +the knife, but without any one killed; well, war with those who use a +beard, and especially if they wear the King's uniform and have the flag of +Spain, under which they are fighting, to defend, is another matter; with +them, the question is to conquer or die." + +"For that very reason," replied Maria disconsolately, "couldn't he have +come back and stayed quietly at home, after he had fulfilled his duty?" + +"Yes, like you, at the spinning-wheel; but you must know that no new +sailing vessel ever yet wanted to be a pontoon. Don't you know that?" + +Maria and Catherine kept on crying. + +"If you had even told me that you were going to see them," said the +former, "I would have given you some scapulars to take them." + +"They have them already, they have them already, and blessed by the bishop +of Malaga. I told you before, wife, that this war is a holy war, which +will rejoice St. Ferdinand in heaven. But you are in a crying humor, it +seems," he added impatiently, seeing that his wife and daughter were still +shedding tears. "Why, what would you have? That they should remain here +like women, instead of going to throttle those accursed Moors who don't +believe in Christ, who deny His Holy Mother, and who call the Spaniards +'hens' and 'Christian dogs'? But let them wait a bit, and I'll warrant +they won't want a second taste of the broth those hens will make them! +They never catch a Spaniard, even in time of peace, that they don't +quarter or impale him; you see that makes every Spaniard's blood boil! I +don't know how I can contain myself that I don't go too, for I tell you +that the soles of my feet are itching to go, and the day you least expect +it, I'll take my gun and my blanket and join the camp." + +"John Joseph! In the Virgin's name! Isn't it enough to have your sons +there? Would you leave us entirely alone?" + +"It wouldn't be for long." + +"Hush, hush! God only knows how long it might be, for those people are in +their own country, defending their homes, and you know that they are +ferocious, savage, fearless, and valiant." + +"That they are, but as far as being fearless and valiant is concerned, we +Spaniards are more so." + +"And God knows what hunger and privation they are going to suffer!" + +"Don't imagine it, but even if it should be so, give the Spanish soldier +plenty of water to drink and he has all he needs. Why, the joy of that +regiment as they went on board was plain to be seen! And to think that I +couldn't have gone with them!" + +"John Joseph, in the Virgin's name, don't indulge in those boyish +explosions; remember, you are sixty-five years old." + +"To-day I am twenty, wife, I am twenty; do you hear?" + +"Your fiery spirit deceives you; and I won't hear you talk about going to +the war, when you have two sons in it already." + +"And if I had more sons they should be in it, too. Do you think that I +should be behind the father of the first soldier killed at the taking of +the Serrallo, who when he heard of his son's death called another son, +took him to the alcalde of his village, and said: 'My son has been killed +in the war in Africa; here is another to take his place'?" + +"From what you say, I shouldn't wonder if you had urged Michael to go to +the war?" + +"Michael didn't need any urging, Michael has done well, and so I told him. +'Go without fear,' I cried to him, as I came away, 'the weather-vane in +your village points for Spain; and don't lose heart, if there should be +some reverse, for reverses there must be in war, unless it be by a miracle +of God; but many there won't be; and the devil will have little chance to +get at the weather-vane of the peak of the Alpujarras, for the one who has +charge of it now is an archangel, your patron saint, Michael, and the +patron saint of Spain, and he won't neglect his business, and he knows how +to keep the devil at a respectful distance!" + + +CHAPTER V. + +Not long afterward, John Joseph went with his mule for a load of pears to +Ronda. He found that from there he could go without much difficulty to the +Christian camp in Africa. "Why, then," he said to himself, "I can sell my +pears there as well as in Jerez or Malaga; there I will go, then; in that +way I shall see my boys and the fighting that is going on, which will be +something worth seeing." And so he went. + +Catherine and Maria were far from suspecting anything of this when, six or +eight days later, John Joseph returned home. After he had taken the mule +to the stable and put away his things with much deliberation, he sat down +and said to his wife and daughter: + +"The boys send many remembrances, and hope that when you receive them you +will be enjoying as good health as they are enjoying at present." + +"Why, what are you saying, John Joseph?" + +"I am saying that the boys have sent you many remembrances." + +"Have you had a letter from them?" + +"No, I am the letter myself." + +"You! Why, what do you mean by that?" + +"That I went to Morocco and have come back again without losing my way, +with my mule Orejero, who showed little surprise when, on arriving in that +strange country, we found ourselves in the midst of noise and confusion-- +Moors everywhere, bands playing, guns firing." + +"Holy Mary! And what did you go there for, rash man?" + +"To sell some pears that I got an excellent price for; to see the boys, +whom I found in good health and as gay as larks; and to kill three Moors +who will never again call any Spaniard 'Christian dog.' So you see, wife, +that I have not lost my journey." + +"And you did that? God help us! God help us!" cried the good woman, +crossing herself. "You killed three Moors, did you say? You would not have +been able to do that unless they had been unarmed, or had been taken +prisoners, or had surrendered; and you did that?" + +"Maria, what are you saying?" responded her husband. "Don't you know that +to kill an unarmed man would be contrary to the laws of honor and the work +of an executioner? Don't you know that to kill a man who had surrendered +would be a vile deed and would be to make one's self a butcher of men? +Don't you know that to kill a man who asks quarter would be the deed of a +miscreant and a coward, and would disgrace the name of Christian and +dishonor the name of Spaniard? In honorable combat I killed them, Maria, +when with arms in their hands they tried to kill me and my companions. I +know well that the glory is not in killing but in conquering the enemy, +and I wouldn't want at the hour of my death to have to remember killing +any man by treachery. I tell you, so help me God, that I killed them +honorably, like a brave man, and may they all die thus, for they won't +surrender, not even with the bayonet at their breasts." + +"Mercy!" cried Maria, "and why not?" + +"Because their holy men have made them believe that the Spaniards are as +ferocious as themselves, and that we burn alive the wounded and the +prisoners we take. You thought that only young chaps were good for the +war, and that I, with my sixty-five years, would be of no use in it; well, +you were mistaken, you see, you were mistaken, for I am of good quality, +and although the steel is worn off, the non remains. Do you understand? +And I am a brave soldier, but not an assassin, do you understand?" + +"Forgive me, John Joseph, I didn't stop to think--" + +"It is plain you didn't stop to think; and you didn't remember, either, +that your husband is a Christian of the old stock, and a well-born +Spaniard, and that he knows how to fight the enemies of his faith, of his +country, and of his queen; but that he will never dishonor himself by +killing a defenceless man, nor debase himself by putting to death a man +who has surrendered, nor make a tiger of himself by refusing his life to a +man who asks it, not even if he were Barabbas himself." + +"Were ours winning, John Joseph?" + +"To be sure they were. Winning all the time, past, present, and future." + +"But I have heard them say that a great many more Moors are coming, with a +brother of their king, whom they call Muley Abbas." + +"Let them come! That is just what we want; but don't imagine that those +Moors that are with the king are like the Riff Moors, who are the most +savage and the fiercest of all the Moors. But all of them together could +do nothing against the division of Echague, which has covered itself with +glory in the war. Queen Isabel may well be proud of her soldiers. But as I +was telling you, when I arrived at Algeciras I embarked with my mule and +my pears; and you know that I have no fancy for travelling by sea; for the +mule that falls on that road doesn't get up again. I landed at Ceuta and +from there I went with my mule and my pears to the camp; and when I saw +the flag of Spain floating over the Serrallo, my heart swelled so that my +breast could hardly contain it. I reached the camp and sold my pears like +lightning, for there is no want of money there, nor of the will to spend +it. What a hubbub, Maria! It seemed like the gayest kind of a fair; +nothing was to be heard but the twang of guitars, singing, and hurrahs for +the queen. I need only tell you that the commander-in-chief has had to +forbid so much singing and guitar playing at night, because it served as a +guide to the accursed Moors. I was just inquiring for the King's regiment, +when the bugle sounded, our soldiers seized their guns, crying, 'Long live +Spain!' and advanced to the attack. I left my mule there and followed +them; and you may believe me that the sight was worth seeing, and one that +would have set the blood coursing in a dead man's veins. Each of our +soldiers was a Bernardo, every officer a Pizarro, every general a Cid. One +might have thought that Santiago himself, on his white horse, was at the +head of the army, so completely did they rout the Moors, who are all +warriors, and who were three times as many as we. I could not tell you all +I saw, not if I had a hundred tongues. I saw General Quesada seize a gun +and lead the bayonet charge himself. 'Ah, brave son of a brave father!' I +said to myself; for I had served under his father, and he was another of +the right kind. But why do I say another, when they are all of the right +kind! I saw the bullets flying over the head of the commander-in-chief, as +thick as comfits in Carnival. I saw the regiment of Granada, with its +valiant commander, Colonel Trillo, at its head, make a bayonet charge +crying, 'Long live the Queen!' that made the Moors fly in terror from the +field; and I heard the commander-in-chief say to the colonel, that that +exploit deserved a decoration; to which the generous colonel replied: +'Nothing for me, General, the credit belongs to my battalion.' I heard the +commander-in-chief say to a group of soldiers of the Granada regiment, +'How goes it, boys? Have you received your baptism yet?' 'Yes, General,' +answered the soldiers, 'and the Moors have paid dear for the christening.' +In short, Maria, if I was to tell you of all I saw there, I should keep on +talking till the Day of Judgment. But the ones I never lost sight of, +Maria, were our two boys; and you may imagine how well they must have +fought when the commander-in-chief, who was nearby, observed them, and +going up to Michael, he said, 'You have fought well. Now tell me, what do +you wish?' 'To keep on fighting, General,' answered Michael; and on the +instant the general gave him the cross of St. Ferdinand. I cannot tell you +how I felt; but I thought I should go out of my wits with joy; I could not +contain myself, and I was running to embrace him, when I saw one of those +crazy howlers stab one of our soldiers, who fell down beside me. 'So?' I +said, seizing the wounded man's gun; 'you won't have a chance to kill +another brave Christian;' and with that I despatched him; and as I had +joined the dance, I despatched two others, and I made a bayonet charge +with the boys that put wings to the feet of the Moors, for if they have a +heavy hand for the fight they have a light foot for flight. Then, night +coming on, I gave up the gun and went to look for my mule, who evidently +had not found that dance of Moors and Christians to his liking, and who, I +learned on inquiry, had gone, like a mule of peace, to the shelter of the +walls of Ceuta. + +"That night a storm arose that I don't believe had its equal since the +world began. I thought the sea, the wind, and the rain together would +bring the world to an end. But the next morning we were all as if nothing +had happened, and if the devil had sent that, and others like it, at the +instance of his friend, Mahoma, to terrify his enemies, they might both +have been convinced that Spaniards are not to be terrified either by the +roaring of the elements or the howling of their ferocious Moors. + +"Well, as I was saying, next morning I got up and walked to the camp to +have a chat with the boys; for, as I have told you, the Moors had +prevented me from doing so the day before. When I arrived I found the +King's regiment drawn up in line, with its band and all! 'What may this be +for?' I said to myself. The sentry on guard was as mute and as motionless +as a statue, so that it isn't because there are Moors in sight. And why is +this regiment drawn up and not the others? This was beginning to excite my +curiosity. I drew near. The band was playing away when the colonel, taking +his place in front of the regiment, commanded silence, and said in a loud +voice, so that all might hear him: + +"'The commander-in-chief has learned with great satisfaction that on the +afternoon of the 24th of November, a soldier of the King's regiment, which +I have the honor to command, seeing his companion and friend wounded and +in the hands of the Moors, and animated by the noblest sentiments, fixed +his bayonet, and throwing himself heroically upon the Moors, and striking +down those who attempted to stop him, seized his wounded friend, threw him +over his shoulder, more regardful of his friend's life than of his own, +and, snatching him from certain death, carried him back to the ranks; and +desiring to recompense, in view of the whole regiment, the soldier who, in +so admirable a manner, unites in himself the gallantry of the soldier and +the piety of the Christian, transmits to him this gold medal, which the +Cadiz Athenaeum has provided and caused to be engraved, with the object of +making it an honorable reward for an act of surpassing merit, to be given +to him before his regiment drawn up in line, so that it may serve as a +stimulus to the brave and generous soldier referred to--'" + +The old man's voice, up to this time so animated, here failed him, and he +was unable to proceed. + +"Well," said his wife, deeply moved by the story she had been listening +to, "why do you stop, John Joseph? Go on." + +"I can't get the words out, there's a lump in my throat; for the soldier +whose name was called and who stepped from the ranks to receive the gold +medal was--" + +"Was who? Why do you stop?" + +"He was--my son. He was Gaspar!" + +"Child of my heart! And the Virgin has kept him safe for me!" cried Maria. + +"My darling brother! And he saved Michael's life!" murmured Catherine. + +"And he killed three Moors! Ah, good son, honor of my gray hairs!" added +John Joseph, with enthusiastic tenderness. + +There was a moment's silence during which tears choked the utterance of +these simple people, and they could only clasp their hands and raise their +eyes to heaven. + +When he had somewhat recovered from his emotion, John Joseph continued his +recital in these words: + +"When the ceremony was over I went in search of my boys. I cannot +describe, Maria, what I felt when I saw them, the one with his gold medal +and the other with his cross of St. Ferdinand. But what I can say is that +the queen herself can't feel prouder, with her crown and sceptre, than I +felt with my Gaspar and my Michael! If Gaspar was happy, Michael was +happier still; his eyes danced with joy; the other seemed dazed. 'Good, my +son, good,' I said to him, 'that's the way Spaniards behave when they are +fighting for their country, their queen, and their faith, remembering that +the soldier who is brave and not humane is brave only as the brutes are. +You have deserved the medal, son, and your father's blessing with it.'" + +"'Why, what did I do?' said Gaspar, who like all really brave men is +neither proud nor boastful, and holds himself for less, not more than he +is really worth. + +"'You saved your brother's life,' I replied. + +"'And by so heroic an act that it will be written in letters of gold,' +added Michael. + +"'Why, nonsense," answered Gaspar, putting his arm around his brother's +neck; 'I have done nothing but pay a debt I owed.' + +"'And Spain has paid the debt she owed to the Moors, and with interest,' I +said; and I fancy they won't be likely to try their tricks again. So you +see, wife, all the advantages the war has brought us. Hurrah for the war!" + +"John Joseph," returned his wife, "we mustn't forget, because it has been +favorable to us--and that, perhaps, owing to that poor mother's dying +blessing--the many evils to which war gives rise: the unhappy people who +suffer, those who are left disabled, those who die, and all the families +who are at this moment weeping and in mourning; for war is a calamity, and +therefore we ought to pray to God with all our hearts and souls for peace, +for the song of the angels is: 'Glory to God in the highest; and peace on +earth, to men of goodwill!'" + + +CHAPTER VI + +Two months later, that is to say, toward the middle of January, John +Joseph, his wife, and his daughter were seated one evening around the +brazier. The sky had been covered for several days with heavy clouds that +sent down their rain with a steadiness not usual in storms. The wind that +came from the Levant roared as if it brought with it, to terrify Spain, +the menacing howls of the savage children of Africa and the growling of +its lions. + +"Who knows what they may be going through now!" said Catherine, in a voice +choked with emotion. + +"Ah, merciful God," answered her mother, "with swamps for a floor, tents +that let the water through for shelter, and the cholera killing them by +hundreds, and the Moors lying in ambush for them or treacherously +following them, and those eternal nights that swallow up the days! There +is no strength nor courage that could bear up against so many ills." + +"And that is not the worst," said John Joseph, with the thoughtless +frankness of the peasant, bringing his foot heavily down on the floor and +raising his eyes to heaven. + +"What! There are worse things yet?" said Maria, anxious and surprised. +"Why, what else is there, John Joseph? What else? Speak out." + +"Hunger!" answered her husband in a funereal voice. + +"Holy Mary!" cried the poor mother in terror. "What is that you say, man? +And the provisions, then?" + +"Provisions they cannot get there; they must be sent by sea from Spain; +and although they took plenty with them, when they get used up more must +be sent, and with these storms, to which there is neither stop nor stay, +not even the birds could cross the Strait. Those are the chances of war, +Maria; and if it has pleased God to send His storms precisely in these +days it must be to put our courage and our constancy to the proof, Maria, +so that we may go to Him and ask His help, and so that the victory, being +more dearly bought, may be the more brilliant and the more prized." + +"Or the sufferings and the death of our soldiers the more deeply felt and +bitterly lamented," returned his wife. "Merciful God! Tempestuous weather, +an epidemic, fierce and treacherous enemies around them, and hunger! Who +would not lose heart with all this?" + +"The Spanish soldier, Maria." + +"And will the generals and the great people come back?" + +"Neither the one nor the other, Maria. And if any of them should be +obliged to come back because they are sick or wounded, it will be in grief +and rage, and only because they can't help themselves; I know them, Maria, +I know them." + +"What, are they all going to perish, then?" + +"Don't imagine it, for God and the Holy Virgin will bring them safely +through; hold that for an article of faith." + +"Let us ask them to do it, then," groaned the unhappy mother. "Mother of +the forsaken! where are my sons? What has become of them? Are they alive? +If they are, what will they not be suffering, and what will they not +suffer in the future, if thou dost not protect them? How their hearts will +be filled with anguish and their minds with despair! Holy Mother! if I +only had news of them, even. Let us pray to the Virgin to intercede for +them." + +The family began to recite the rosary with that fervor which changes +anguish to hope, and sorrow to resignation; and scarcely had they ended +when a little boy called out from the door: + +"Uncle John Joseph, my father says there is a letter in the post-office +for you, and that it is from the Christian's camp over yonder." + +John Joseph, with the activity of twenty years, hurried out of the house, +while Maria and her daughter, falling on their knees before an image of +the Virgin, raised their clasped hands in prayer. + +John Joseph soon returned, bringing with him one of his cronies who knew +how to read and who proceeded to read aloud the letter which the former +had carried in his trembling hand. + +"MY DEAR PARENTS: I hope that when you receive this you will be enjoying +as good health as I desire for myself. Michael and I are well, and at your +service. The cholera is raging again, but we laugh at it. Every day of +action is a day of pleasure and enjoyment for us; for it is happiness +enough for us to win glory for our country and to see the enthusiasm of +everybody; for this increases every day, as well among us of the ranks as +among the officers and generals, and which shows most it would be hard to +say. The mess has been a little scanty in these last days, because the sea +was fiercer than the Moors themselves, and the boats were unable to reach +us with the supplies; but what matter? The worst of it was that we had no +tobacco. And so it happened that the commander-in-chief, who came among us +encouraging us, like a greatly respected but very careful father, came up +to me and said: 'Well, my boy, are you very hungry?' And I answered him: +'The hunger is nothing, General; if I only had--if I only had a +cigarette.'--And what do you think he did? He went to his tent and brought +from it an enormous box of cigars that the Queen had presented to him for +the campaign; and saying that Her Majesty would be glad that they should +serve to lighten the labors of her faithful soldiers, he distributed them +among us. We have received provisions, thanks to the navy, that on this +occasion did not seem the sister but the mother of the army; and as for +that brave General Bustillo, a hundred lives, if we had them, wouldn't be +enough to pay him for all he has done for us. Hurrah for the navy, father, +notwithstanding that your worship doesn't like the sea. + +"You must know, father, that a prince of the royal house of France has +arrived here. Although tall and of handsome presence, he is but a boy-- +only seventeen. If your worship had seen him, you would have said that he +was only a stripling, and not fit for such hard service, but you would +have changed your mind if you had seen how he attacked the Moors. On my +faith I had always believed that, from Santiago down, only the Spaniards +attacked the Moors in that way. We believe here that what he wanted to do +was to perform another exploit like the one related by Michael's mother of +Hernando del Pulgar in her native Granada, and to fasten the Ave-Maria on +the tent of Don Manuel Habas, and that he would have done it, too, if he +hadn't been held back. And mind you, father, it is a very noble thing, and +one worthy of admiration, to come, without anything obliging him to it, to +this war, which is no child's play, just for the sake of proving himself +brave. True it is that to have that name is worth more than all the gold +in the world, and lifts one a foot above the ground. + +"We have made more than half a dozen charges with the bayonet, father, +like the one in which your worship took part. These charges are not, as +one might say, greatly to the taste of the Moors, who, when they hear the +call to the charge, to which we have given the name of General Prim's +Polka, tremble and turn pale and fall back. [Note: It may properly be +related here that this same division, with its leader, General Prim, +reconnoitring at a few leagues distance from Tetuan, came upon a poor old +Moorish woman, sick and abandoned by her people; and that putting her on a +stretcher, they carried her on their shoulders to Tetuan with all the +gentleness of sisters of charity. (Note of the Author.)] + +"Michael gives me many remembrances for you, and bids me tell Catherine +that he does not forget her, and he bids me tell you, father, that you +were right when you said that his saint would not neglect the weather-vane +that has always pointed for Spain, for we have never once been defeated, +and mind you that the Moors are valiant men, and that they fight with +desperate courage. With this I say good-bye, asking your blessing for your +son, GASPAR. + +"Mother: I never enter action without commending myself to the Virgin, as +you told me to do." + +It will be easy to understand the delight of the parents on reading this +cheering and animated letter, which was read many times over, for as soon +as it was known in the village that a letter had arrived from Africa, the +house was besieged with people eager to hear the news of the most national +and popular war which Spain has had since the Independence. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Several days passed, and the loving mother's heart was once more a prey to +anxiety. + +"John Joseph," she said to her husband, "we have heard nothing, and that +means that they can't take Tetuan." + +"Hold your tongue, you foolish woman," answered her husband; "wherever the +sun enters the Spaniards can enter. And don't you know that Zamora wasn't +taken in an hour, and that the artillery can't cross over swamps, and that +a causeway has to be built? Women, who know nothing about war, think that +to take a fortress in an enemy's country is as easy as to toss a +pan-cake." + +But on the 5th of February a muleteer, who came from Xerez, brought the +news to Bornos, which had been transmitted to Xerez by telegraph, that a +hard-fought battle had taken place the preceding day before Tetuan, in +which, as in all the previous ones, the Spaniards had come off victorious, +having made themselves masters of five encampments of the enemy, although +at the cost of many lives. + +His patriotic ardor, added to a feeling of deep anxiety, made it +impossible for John Joseph to remain in the village, and he set out for +Xerez. There he learned that the wounded of that memorable day were to be +taken to Seville, and as a train of materials for the railroad was just +leaving for that city, he begged to be taken on board. + +The 7th of February dawned--a day memorable for ever in the annals of +Spain. Day had scarcely broken when the sonorous and soul-stirring bells +of the Cathedral of Seville, diffusing, authorizing, and solemnizing joy, +announced to the sleeping people the great and auspicious event of the +taking of Tetuan. It would be impossible to give an idea of the impression +caused by those sounds, for who can describe the apogee of the most +unanimous, ardent, and national enthusiasm? But let a few facts speak for +themselves. + +The priests who repaired to the churches to say mass recited it solemnly +in chorus, and afterward chanted the Te Deum, that august hymn of thanks +to the Lord. + +The venerable Generals Guajardo and Hernandez, military authorities of the +district, and both veterans, in whose laurels there is not a leaf that +time can wither, when they met fell into each other's arms, unable to +utter a word; the sight of this noble spectacle drawing tears from the +eyes of the officers who were present. When the alcalde presented himself +before the archbishop to ask his consent to take in procession the image +of the Immaculate Virgin, the patroness of Spain, and the standard and +sword of St. Ferdinand, the venerable Prince of the Church burst into +tears, causing the alcalde to shed tears also; seeing which, a man of the +people rushed to the latter, saying: "Senor Alcalde, let me embrace your +worship!" The people called for their venerable pastor, and the latter, +showing himself on the balcony, blessed his flock, who cheered him +enthusiastically. The various sodalities of women entered their +magnificent chapel in procession, giving thanks aloud to the Virgin. +Musicians paraded the streets, followed by a multitude intoxicated with +joy, who cheered the Queen, Spain, the army, and the generals who had led +it to victory, and who stopped before the houses where the commanders and +officers wounded in this glorious war were lodged, to cheer them also. + +In the public square, a vender of oranges abandoned his stall and his +merchandise, leaving behind him a notice which said: "The owner of this +stall has turned crazy with joy, and here he leaves this trash." Others +broke the jars of a water-seller (the value of which they gave him +promptly), saying, "What is this? Water? Today nothing but wine is to be +drunk in Seville." Further on, another group shouted, "No one sleeps +to-night; whoever sleeps to-night is an Englishman!" Flags on the towers, +hangings on the houses, the pleasing noise of joy everywhere. + +"A telegraphic despatch," shouted the blind men, beside themselves with +joy, "announcing the entrance of our valiant troops into the great city of +Tetuan, and the utter annihilation of the Moors. Long live Spain! Long +live the Queen! Long live the army! Long live the Moors!" "What is that +you are saying, man? Long live the Moors?" "Yes, so that we may kill them +again!" + +Such is the enthusiasm of the Spanish people when it is unanimous, +legitimate, and genuine; they go to their churches, take out in procession +the Immaculate Virgin, cheer their queen, their prelates, their +authorities, their country, applaud their army, which gives them power and +greatness, its commander and the generals who lead it, and those who bring +back from the war glorious wounds; and not even for its most ferocious +enemies does it find the odious "Death!" + +And that you, brave soldiers who remain in Africa, who have bestowed so +great a joy upon your country, should be unable to witness the gratitude +with which it repays you! + +Perhaps the universal and frantic enthusiasm inspired by the taking of a +Moorish city, however heroic the exploit which had put it in the power of +the Spaniards, may seem disproportioned to the occasion; but this is not +the case, for in the first place, the people, with their admirable +instinct, know that the result is, in everything, what gives it its value; +they feel, besides, that it is not only a Moorish city and the advantages +its capture may bring, which its army has gained for Spain, but also that +from the Moorish fire the Spanish phoenix has arisen, directing its flight +to a glorious future; and in the second place, because in these public +demonstrations, in this ardent expansion, the country gives expression to +three months of admiration, of interest, and of sympathy. This was owed to +the army for its constancy, for its unequalled valor, for its boundless +humanity. This debt the country owed, and it paid it in love, in +admiration, and enthusiasm. + +On the 8th, the same rejoicings were continued; processions, salvos, and +so much firing of guns everywhere, that it was said as much powder was +expended in it as in the taking of Tetuan. On the 9th, one of the +principal streets of the city was named the street of Tetuan; the ceremony +taking place at eight o'clock in the evening, when the municipal council +went in procession to the street, carrying the Queen's likeness. + +But meantime Maria had had no news of John Joseph. Exaggerated reports of +the losses by which the victory had been gained were spread. Maria was +unable to control her anxiety, and she set out, as many other mothers of +the peasantry did, for the capital, where the wounded, who might perhaps +be able to give her some news of her sons, were to be brought. + +Mother and daughter reached Seville on the evening of the 9th, and after +resting for a few moments at an inn, went out to inquire where the +wounded, who had been recently brought to the city, had been taken. + +A vast crowd of people and enthusiastic cheering announced to them the +approach of the procession. They stood on a bench in a porch to watch it +as it passed. Five mounted pioneers and a numerous band headed the +procession; the municipal guard followed on foot; then came four men +carrying flags, followed by a number of men bearing torches; and then the +soldiers who had been wounded in Africa, wearing laurel wreaths and +carrying ensigns with the names, in silver letters, of the principal +victories gained by the army. After these came the municipal council +headed by the civil governor and two councillors carrying the likeness of +the Queen, and the procession was closed by a detachment of infantry with +another band of music at its head. + +"Here come the wounded soldiers!" cried the crowd, and the cheering became +more enthusiastic, and tears ran down the cheeks of the women as they +stopped to look admiringly at the wounded heroes, and then joined the +procession. "Look at that one! Look at that poor fellow; he isn't able to +walk alone; they are supporting him," some one said close beside Maria, +pointing to a young man, who with his arm in a sling, his pale forehead +crowned with laurel, and carrying in his hand an ensign bearing on it the +word "Tetuan," walked with a modest expression on his thin but pleasing +face, leaning on the arm of a robust old man whose proud and enraptured +expression seemed to say to every one, "This brave man is my son!" Maria, +whose heart had for many days past been agitated alternately by fear, +hope, enthusiasm, and anguish, uttered a cry drawn from her by all these +mingled feelings, as she recognized in the emaciated and glory-covered +wounded soldier her son, and fell into Catherine's arms. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A few months later a happy wedding, the wedding of Catherine and +Michael, was celebrated in Bornos. Gaspar, whose health was entirely +re-established, but who had lost his right arm, was present. But if he had +lost an arm he had in return received a gold medal, a cross with a pension +attached to it, and an annuity; the last, as having been disabled in the +war in Africa; the cross for bravery; and the medal for humane and gallant +conduct. + +"Every day is a day of thanksgiving! There is not a happier father in the +world than I!" exclaimed John Joseph gayly. "My only grief is to see you +crippled, my boy. But that can't be helped. You have paid your debt to the +country like an honest man, Gaspar." + +"And the country, father," answered Gaspar, pointing proudly to his cross +and medal, "has acquitted herself fully of hers to me." + +"You are right, my son: and so, sirs, a toast. Long live the Queen, and +long live all the generous and patriotic Spaniards who, like Her Majesty +and the Royal Family, have aided in taking care of the wounded and +disabled soldiers of the African war!" + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES--FOREIGN AUTHORS:SPANISH *** + +***** This file should be named 9987.txt or 9987.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/9/8/9987/ + +Produced by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks, Charles M. +Bidwell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Bidwell +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +STORIES BY FOREIGN AUTHORS + +SPANISH + + + +THE TALL WOMAN .. .. .. .. .. .. by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +THE WHITE BUTTERFLY. .. .. .. .. by Jose Selgas +THE ORGANIST.. .. .. .. .. .. .. by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer +MOORS AND CHRISTIANS .. .. .. .. by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS .. .. by Fernan Caballero + + + +1898 + + + +THE TALL WOMAN +by Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +From "Modern Ghosts" translated by Rollo Ogden. + + + + THE TALL WOMAN + + +I. + +"How little we really know, my friends; how little we really know." + +The speaker was Gabriel, a distinguished civil engineer of the mountain +corps. He was seated under a pine tree, near a spring, on the crest of the +Guadarrama. It was only about a league and a half distant from the palace +of the Escurial, on the boundary line of the provinces of Madrid and +Segovia. I know the place, spring, pine tree and all, but I have forgotten +its name. + +"Let us sit down," went on Gabriel, "as that is the correct thing to do, +and as our programme calls for a rest here--here in this pleasant and +classic spot, famous for the digestive properties of that spring, and for +the many lambs here devoured by our noted teachers, Don Miguel Bosch, Don +Maximo Laguna, Don Augustin Pascual, and other illustrious naturalists. +Sit down, and I will tell you a strange and wonderful story in proof of my +thesis, which is, though you call me an obscurantist for it, that +supernatural events still occur on this terraqueous globe. I mean events +which you cannot get into terms of reason, or science, or philosophy--as +those 'words, words, words,' in Hamlet's phrase, are understood (or are +not understood) to-day." + +Gabriel was addressing his animated remarks to five persons of different +ages. None of them was young, though only one was well along in years. +Three of them were, like Gabriel, engineers, the fourth was a painter, and +the fifth was a litterateur in a small way. In company with the speaker, +who was the youngest, we had all ridden up on hired mules from the Real +Sitio de San Lorenzo to spend the day botanizing among the beautiful pine +groves of Pequerinos, chasing butterflies with gauze nets, catching rare +beetles under the bark of the decayed pines, and eating a cold lunch out +of a hamper which we had paid for on shares. + +This took place in 1875. It was the height of the summer. I do not +remember whether it was Saint James's day or Saint Louis's; I am inclined +to think it was Saint Louis's. Whichever it was, we enjoyed a delicious +coolness at that height, and the heart and brain, as well as the stomach, +were there in much better working order than usual. + +When the six friends were seated, Gabriel continued as follows: + +"I do not think you will accuse me of being a visionary. Luckily or +unluckily, I am, if you will allow me to say so, a man of the modern +world. I have no superstition about me, and am as much of a Positivist as +the best of them, although I include among the positive data of nature all +the mysterious faculties and feelings of the soul. Well, then, apropos of +supernatural, or extra-natural, phenomena, listen to what I have seen and +heard, although I was not the real hero of the very strange story I am +going to relate, and then tell me what explanation of an earthly, +physical, or natural sort, however you may name it, can be given of so +wonderful an occurrence. + +"The case was as follows. But wait! Pour me out a drop, for the +skin-bottle must have got cooled off by this time in that bubbling, +crystalline spring, located by Providence on this piny crest for the +express purpose of cooling a botanist's wine." + + +II. + +Well, gentlemen, I do not know whether you ever heard of an engineer of +the roads corps named Telesforo X---; he died in 1860." + +"No; I haven't." + +"But I have." + +"So have I. He was a young fellow from Andalusia, with a black moustache; +he was to have married the Marquis of Moreda's daughter, but he died of +jaundice." + +"The very one," said Gabriel. "Well, then, my friend Telesforo, six months +before his death, was still a most promising young man, as they say +nowadays. He was good-looking, well-built, energetic, and had the glory of +being the first one in his class to be promoted. He had already gained +distinction in the practice of his profession through some fine pieces of +work. Several different companies were competing for his services, and +many marriageable women were also competing for him. But Telesforo, as you +said, was faithful to poor Joaquina Moreda. + +"As you know, it turned out that she died suddenly at the baths of Santa +Agueda, at the end of the summer of 1859. I was in Pau when I received the +sad news of her death, which affected me very much on account of my close +friendship with Telesforo. With her I had spoken only once, in the house +of her aunt, the wife of General Lopez, and I certainly thought her bluish +pallor a symptom of bad health. But, however that may be, she had a +distinguished manner and a great deal of grace, and was, besides, the only +daughter of a title, and a title that carried some comfortable thousands +with it; so I felt sure my good mathematician would be inconsolable. +Consequently, as soon as I was back in Madrid, fifteen or twenty days +after his loss, I went to see them very early one morning. He lived in +elegant batchelor quarters in Lobo Street--I do not remember the number, +but it was near the Carrera de San Jeronimo. + +"The young engineer was very melancholy, although calm and apparently +master of his grief. He was already at work, even at that hour, laboring +with his assistants over some railroad plans or other. He was dressed in +deep mourning. + +"He greeted me with a long and close embrace, without so much as sighing. +Then he gave some directions to his assistants about the work in hand, and +afterwards led me to his private office at the farther end of the house. +As we were on our way there he said, in a sorrowful tone and without +glancing at me: + +"'I am very glad you have come. Several times I have found myself wishing +you were here. A very strange thing has happened to me. Only a friend such +as you are can hear of it without thinking me either a fool or crazy. I +want to get an opinion about it as calm and cool as science itself. + +"'Sit down,' he went on when we had reached his office, 'and do not +imagine that I am going to afflict you with a description of the sorrow I +am suffering--a sorrow which will last as long as I live. Why should I? +You can easily picture it to yourself, little as you know of trouble. And +as for being comforted, I do not wish to be, either now, or later, or +ever! What I am going to speak to you about, with the requisite +deliberation, going back to the very beginning of the thing, is a horrible +and mysterious occurrence, which was an infernal omen of my calamity, and +which has distressed me in a frightful manner.' + +"'Go on,' I replied, sitting down. The fact was, I almost repented having +entered the house as I saw the expression of abject fear on my friend's +face. + +"'Listen, then,' said he, wiping the perspiration from his forehead." + + +III. + +"'I DO not know whether it is due to some inborn fatality of imagination, +or to having heard some story or other of the kind with which children are +so rashly allowed to be frightened, but the fact is, that since my +earliest years nothing has caused me so much horror and alarm as a woman +alone, in the street, at a late hour of the night. The effect is the same +whether I actually encounter her, or simply have an image of her in my +mind. + +"'You can testify that I was never a coward. I fought a duel once, when I +had to, like any other man. Just after I had left the School of Engineers, +my workmen in Despenaperros revolted, and I fought them with stick and +pistol until I made them submit. All my life long, in Jaen, in Madrid, and +elsewhere, I have walked the streets at all hours, alone and unarmed, and +if I have chanced to run upon suspicious-looking persons, thieves, or mere +sneaking beggars, they have had to get out of my way or take to their +heels. But if the person turned out to be a solitary woman, standing +still or walking, and I was also alone, with no one in sight in any +direction--then (laugh if you want to, but believe me) I would be all +covered over with goose-flesh; vague fears would assail me; I would think +about beings of the other world, about imaginary existences, and about all +the superstitious stories which would make me laugh under other +circumstances. I would quicken my pace, or else turn back, and would not +get over my fright in the least until safe in my own house. + +"'Once there I would fall a-laughing, and would be ashamed of my crazy +fears. The only comfort I had was that nobody knew anything about it. Then +I would dispassionately remind myself that I did not believe in goblins, +witches, or ghosts, and that I had no reason whatever to be afraid of that +wretched woman driven from her home at such an hour by poverty, or some +crime, or accident, to whom I might better have offered help, if she +needed it, or given alms. Nevertheless, the pitiable scene would be gone +over again as often as a similar thing occurred--and remember that I was +twenty-four years old, that I had experienced a great many adventures by +night, and yet that I had never had the slightest difficulty of any sort +with such solitary women in the streets after midnight! But nothing of +what I have so far told you ever came to have any importance, since that +irrational fear always left me as soon as I reached home, or saw any one +else in the street, and I would scarcely recall it a few minutes +afterwards, any more than one would recall a stupid mistake which had no +result of any consequence. + +"'Things were going on so, when, nearly three years ago (unhappily, I have +good reason for knowing the date, it was the night of November 15-16, +1857), I was coming home at three in the morning. As you remember, I was +living then in that little house in Jardines Street, near Montera Street. +I had just come, at that late hour, a bitter, cold wind blowing at the +time, out of a sort of a gambling-house--I tell you this, although I know +it will surprise you. You know that I am not a gambler. I went into the +place, deceived by an alleged friend. But the fact was, that as people +began to drop in about midnight, coming from receptions or the theatre, +the play began to be very heavy, and one saw the gleam of gold in plenty. +Then came bank-bills and notes of hand. Little by little I was carried +away by the feverish and seductive passion, and lost all the money I had. +I even went away missing a second sum, for which I had left my note behind +me. In short, I ruined myself completely; and but for the legacy that came +to me afterwards, together with the good jobs I have had, my situation +would have been extremely critical and painful. + +"So I was going home, I say, at so late an hour that night, numb with the +cold, hungry, ashamed, and disgusted as you can imagine, thinking about my +sick old father more than about myself. I should have to write to him +for money, and this would astonish as much as it would grieve him, since +he thought me in very easy circumstances. Just before reaching my street, +where it crosses Peligros Street, as I was walking in front of a +newly-built house, I perceived something in its doorway. It was a tall, +large woman, standing stiff and motionless, as if made of wood. She seemed +to be about sixty years old. Her wild and malignant eyes, unshaded by +eyelashes, were fixed on mine like two daggers. Her toothless mouth made a +horrible grimace at me, meant to be a smile. + +"The very terror or delirium of fear which instantly overcame me gave me +somehow a most acute perception, so that I could distinguish at a glance, +in the two seconds it took me to pass by that repugnant vision, the +slightest details of her face and dress. Let me see if I can put together +my impressions in the way and form in which I received them, as they were +engraved ineffaceably on my brain in the light of the street-lamp which +shone luridly over that ghastly scene. But I am exciting myself too much, +though there is reason enough for it, as you will see further on. Don't be +concerned, however, for the state of my mind. I am not yet crazy! + +"'The first thing which struck me in that WOMAN, as I will call her, was +her extreme height and the breadth of her bony shoulders. Then, the +roundness and fixity of her dry, owl-eyes, the enormous size of her +protruding nose, and the great dark cavern of her mouth. Finally, her +dress, like that of a young woman of Avapies--the new little cotton +handkerchief which she wore on her head, tied under her chin, and a +diminutive fan which she carried open in her hand, and with which, in +affected modesty, she was covering the middle of her waist. + +"'Nothing could be at the same time more ridiculous and more awful, more +laughable and more taunting, than that little fan in those huge hands. It +seemed like a make-believe sceptre in the hands of such an old, hideous, +and bony giantess! A like effect was produced by the showy percale +handkerchief adorning her face by the side of that cut-water nose, hooked +and masculine; for a moment I was led to believe (or I was very glad to) +that it was a man in disguise. + +"'But her cynical glance and harsh smile were of a hag, of a witch, an +enchantress, a Fate, a--I know not what! There was something about her to +justify fully the aversion and fright which I had been caused all my life +long by women walking alone in the streets at night. One would have said +that I had had a presentiment of that encounter from my cradle. One would +have said that I was frightened by it instinctively, as every living being +fears and divines, and scents and recognizes, its natural enemy before +ever being injured by it, before ever having seen it, and solely on +hearing its tread. + +"'I did not dash away in a run when I saw my life's sphinx. I restrained +my impulse to do so, less out of shame and manly pride than out of fear +lest my very fright should reveal to her who I was, or should give her +wings to follow me, to overtake me--I do not know what. Panic like that +dreams of dangers which have neither form nor name. + +"'My house was at the opposite end of the long and narrow street, in which +I was alone, entirely alone with that mysterious phantom whom I thought +able to annihilate me with a word. How should I ever get home? Oh, how +anxiously I looked towards that distant Montera street, broad and well +lighted, where there are policemen to be found at all hours! I decided, +finally, to get the better of my weakness; to dissemble and hide that +wretched fear; not to hasten my pace, but to keep on advancing slowly, +even at the cost of years of health or life, and in this way, little by +little, to go on getting nearer to my house, exerting myself to the utmost +not to fall fainting on the ground before I reached it. + +"'I was walking along in this way--I must have taken about twenty steps +after leaving behind me the doorway where the woman with the fan was +hidden, when suddenly a horrible idea came to me--horrible, yet very +natural nevertheless--the idea that I would look back to see if my enemy +was following me. One thing or the other I thought, with the rapidity of a +flash of lightning: either my alarm has some foundation or it is madness; +if it has any foundation, this woman will have started after me, will be +overtaking me, and there is no hope for me on earth. But if it is madness, +a mere supposition, a panic fright like any other, I will convince myself +of it in the present instance, and for every case that may occur +hereafter, by seeing that that poor old woman has stayed in that doorway +to protect herself from the cold, or to wait till the door is opened; and +thereupon I can go on to my house in perfect tranquillity, and I shall +have cured myself of a fancy that causes me great mortification. + +"'This reasoning gone through with, I made an extraordinary effort and +turned my head. Ah, Gabriel!--Gabriel! how fearful it was! The tall woman +had followed me with silent tread, was right over me, almost touching me +with her fan, almost leaning her head on my shoulder. + +"'Why was she doing it?--why, my Gabriel? Was she a thief? Was she really +a man in disguise? Was she some malicious old hag who had seen that I was +afraid of her? Was she a spectre conjured up by my very cowardice? Was she +a mocking phantasm of human self-deception? + +"'I could never tell you all I thought in a single moment. If the truth +must be told, I gave a scream and flew away like a child of four years who +thinks he sees the Black Man. I did not stop running until I got out into +Montera Street. Once there, my fear left me like magic. This in spite of +the fact that that street also was deserted. Then I turned my head to look +back to Jardines Street. I could see down its whole length. It was lighted +well enough for me to see the tall woman, if she had drawn back in any +direction, and, by Heaven! I could not see her, standing still, walking, +or in any way! However, I was very careful not to go back into that street +again. The wretch, I said to myself, has slunk into some other doorway. +But she can't move without my seeing her. + +"'Just then I saw a policeman coming up Caballero de Gracia Street, and I +shouted to him without stirring from my place. I told him that there was a +man dressed as a woman in Jardines Street. I directed him to go round by +the way of Peligros and Aduana Streets, while I would remain where I was, +and in that way the fellow, who was probably a thief or murderer, could +not escape us. The policeman did as I said. He went through Aduana Street, +and as soon as I saw his lantern coming along Jardines Street I also went +up it resolutely. + +"'We soon met at about the middle of the block, without either of us +having encountered a soul, although we had examined door after door. + +"'"He has got into some house," said the policeman. + +"'"That must be so," I replied, opening my door with the fixed purpose of +moving to some other street the next day. + +"'A few moments later I was in my room; I always carried my latchkey, so +as not to have to disturb my good Jose. Nevertheless, he was waiting for +me that night. My misfortunes of the 15th and 16th of November were not +yet ended. + +"'"What has happened?" I asked him, in surprise. + +"'"Major Falcon was here," he replied, with evident agitation, "waiting +for you from eleven till half-past two, and he told me that, if you came +home to sleep, you had better not undress, as he would be back at +daybreak." + +"'Those words left me trembling with grief and alarm, as if they had +predicted my own death to me. I knew that my beloved father, at his home +in Jean, had been suffering frequent and dangerous attacks of his chronic +disease. I had written to my brothers that, if there should be a sudden +and fatal termination of the sickness, they were to telegraph Major +Falcon, who would inform me in some suitable way. I had not the slightest +doubt, therefore, that my father had died. + +"'I sat down in an arm-chair to wait for the morning and my friend, and, +with them, the news of my great misfortune. God only knows what I suffered +in those two cruel hours of waiting. All the while, three distinct ideas +were inseparably joined in my mind; though they seemed unlike, they took +pains, as it were, to keep in a dreadful group. They were: my losses at +play, my meeting with the tall woman, and the death of my revered father. + +"'Precisely at six Major Falcon came into my room, and looked at me in +silence. I threw myself into his arms, weeping bitterly, and he exclaimed, +caressing me: + +"'"Yes, my dear fellow, weep, weep."'" + +IV. + +"My friend Telesforo," Gabriel went on, after having drained another glass +of wine, "also rested a moment when he reached this point, and then he +proceeded as follows: + +"'If my story ended here, perhaps you would not find anything +extraordinary or supernatural in it. You would say to me the same thing +that men of good judgment said to me at that time: that every one who has +a lively imagination is subject to some impulse of fear or other; that +mine came from belated, solitary women, and that the old creature of +Jardines Street was only some homeless waif who was going to beg of me +when I screamed and ran. + +"'For my part, I tried to believe that it was so. I even came to believe +it at the end of several months. Still, I would have given years of my +life to be sure that I was not again to encounter the tall woman. But, +to-day, I would give every drop of my blood to be able to meet her again.' + +"'What for?' + +"'To kill her on the spot.' + +"'I do not understand you.' + +"'You will understand me when I tell you that I did meet her again, three +weeks ago, a few hours before I had the fatal news of my poor Joaquina's +death.' + +"'Tell me about it, tell me about it!' + +"'There is little more to tell. It was five o'clock in the morning. It was +not yet fully light, though the dawn was visible from the streets looking +towards the east. The street-lamps had just been put out, and the +policemen had withdrawn. As I was going through Prado Street, so as to get +to the other end of Lobo Street, the dreadful woman crossed in front of +me. She did not look at me, and I thought she had not seen me. + +"'She wore the same dress and carried the same fan as three years before. +My trepidation and alarm were greater than ever. I ran rapidly across +Prado Street as soon as she had passed, although I did not take my eyes +off her, so as to make sure that she did not look back, and, when I had +reached the other end of Lobo Street, I panted as if I had just swum an +impetuous stream. Then I pressed on with fresh speed towards home, filled +now with gladness rather than fear, for I thought that the hateful witch +had been conquered and shorn of her power, from the very fact that I had +been so near her and yet that she had not seen me. + +"'But soon, and when I had almost reached this house, a rush of fear swept +over me, in the thought that the crafty old hag had seen and recognized +me, that she had made a pretence of not knowing me so as to let me get +into Lobo Street, where it was still rather dark, and where she might set +upon me in safety, that she would follow me, that she was already over me. + +"'Upon this, I looked around--and there she was! There at my shoulder, +almost touching me with her clothes, gazing at me with her horrible little +eyes, displaying the gloomy cavern of her mouth, fanning herself in a +mocking manner, as if to make fun of my childish alarm. + +"'I passed from dread to the most furious anger, to savage and desperate +rage. I dashed at the heavy old creature. I flung her against the wall. I +put my hand to her throat. I felt of her face, her breast, the straggling +locks of her gray hair until I was thoroughly convinced that she was a +human being--a woman. + +"'Meanwhile she had uttered a howl which was hoarse and piercing at the +same time. It seemed false and feigned to me, like the hypocritical +expression of a fear which she did not really feel. Immediately afterwards +she exclaimed, making believe cry, though she was not crying, but looking +at me with her hyena eyes: + +"'"Why have you picked a quarrel with me?" + +"'This remark increased my fright and weakened my wrath. + +"'"Then you remember," I cried, "that you have seen me somewhere else." + +"'"I should say so, my dear," she replied, mockingly. "Saint Eugene's +night, in Jardines Street, three years ago." + +"'My very marrow was chilled. + +"'"But who are you?" I asked, without letting go of her. "Why do you +follow me? What business have you with me?" + +"'"I am a poor weak woman," she answered, with a devilish leer. "You hate +me, and you are afraid of me without any reason. If not, tell me, good +sir, why you were so frightened the first time you saw me." + +"'"Because I have loathed you ever since I was born. Because you are the +evil spirit of my life." + +"'"It seems, then, that you have known me for a long time. Well, look, my +son, so have I known you." + +"'"You have known me? How long?" + +"'"Since before you were born! And when I saw you pass by me, three years +ago, I said to myself, THAT'S THE ONE." + +"'"But what am I to you? What are you to me?" + +"'"The devil!" replied the hag, spitting full in my face, freeing herself +from my grasp, and running away with amazing swiftness. She held her +skirts higher than her knees, and her feet did not make the slightest +noise as they touched the ground. + +"'It was madness to try to catch her. Besides, people were already passing +through the Carrera de San Jeronimo, and in Prado Street, too. It was +broad daylight. The tall woman kept on running, or flying, as far as +Huertas Street, which was now lighted up by the sun. There she stopped to +look back at me. She waved her closed fan at me once or twice, +threateningly, and then disappeared around a corner. + +"'Wait a little longer, Gabriel. Do not yet pronounce judgment in this +case, where my life and soul are concerned. Listen to me two minutes +longer. + +"'When I entered my house I met Colonel Falcon, who had just come to tell +me that my Joaquina, my betrothed, all my hope and happiness and joy on +earth, had died the day before in Santa Agueda. The unfortunate father had +telegraphed Falcon to tell me--me, who should have divined it an hour +before, when I met the evil spirit of my life! Don't you understand, now, +that I must kill that born enemy of my happiness, that vile old hag, who +is the living mockery of my destiny? + +"'But why do I say kill? Is she a woman? Is she a human being? Why have I +had a presentiment of her ever since I was born? Why did she recognize me +when she first saw me? Why do I never see her except when some great +calamity has befallen me? Is she Satan? Is she Death? Is she Life? Is she +Antichrist? Who is she? What is she?'" + + +V. + +"I will spare you, my dear friends," continued Gabriel, "the arguments and +remarks which I used to see if I could not calm Telesforo, for they are +the same, precisely the same, which you are preparing now to advance to +prove that there is nothing supernatural or superhuman in my story. You +will even go further; you will say that my friend was half crazy; that he +always was so; that, at least, he suffered from that moral disease which +some call 'panic terror,' and others 'emotional insanity'; that, even +granting the truth of what I have related about the tall woman, it must +all be referred to chance coincidences of dates and events; and, finally, +that the poor old creature could also have been crazy, or a thief, or a +beggar, or a procuress--as the hero of my story said to himself in a lucid +interval." + +"A very proper supposition," exclaimed Gabriel's comrades; "that is just +what we were going to say." + +"Well, listen a few minutes longer, and you will see that I was mistaken +at the time, as you are mistaken now. The one who unfortunately made no +mistake was Telesforo. It is much easier to speak the word 'insanity' than +to find an explanation for some things that happen on the earth." + +"Speak, speak!" + +"I am going to; and this time, as it is the last, I will pick up the +thread of my story without first drinking a glass of wine." + + +VI. + +"A few days after that conversation with Telesforo I was sent to the +province of Albacete in my capacity as engineer of the mountain corps. +Not many weeks had passed before I learned, from a contractor for public +works, that my unhappy friend had been attacked by a dreadful form of +jaundice; it had turned him entirely green, and he reclined in an +arm-chair without working or wishing to see anybody, weeping night and day +in the most inconsolable and bitter grief. The doctors had given up hope +of his getting well. + +"This made me understand why he had not answered my letters. I had to +resort to Colonel Falcon as a source of news of him, and all the while +the reports kept getting more unfavorable and gloomy. + +"After an absence of five months I returned to Madrid the same day +that the telegraph brought the news of the battle of Tetuan. I remember +it as if it were yesterday. That night I bought the indispensable +Correspondencia de Espana, and the first thing I read in it was the notice +of Telesforo's death. His friends were invited to the funeral the +following morning. + +"You will be sure that I was present. As we arrived at the San Luis +cemetery, whither I rode in one of the carriages nearest the hearse, my +attention was called to a peasant woman. She was old and very tall. She +was laughing sacrilegiously as she saw them taking out the coffin. Then +she placed herself in front of the pall-bearers in a triumphant attitude +and pointed out to them with a very small fan the passage-way they were to +take to reach the open and waiting grave. + +"At the first glance I perceived, with amazement and alarm, that she +was Telesforo's implacable enemy. She was just as he had described her to +me--with her enormous nose, her devilish eyes, her awful mouth, her +percale handkerchief, and that diminutive fan which seemed in her hands +the sceptre of indecency and mockery. + +"She immediately observed that I was looking at her, and fixed her gaze +upon me in a peculiar manner, as if recognizing me, as if letting me know +that she recognized me, as if acquainted with the fact that the dead man +had told me about the scenes in Jardines Street and Lobo Street, as if +defying me, as if declaring me the inheritor of the hate which she had +cherished for my unfortunate friend. + +"I confess that at the time my fright was greater than my wonder at those +new COINCIDENCES and ACCIDENTS. It seemed evident to me that some +supernatural relation, antecedent to earthly life, had existed between the +mysterious old woman and Telesforo. But for the time being my sole concern +was about my own life, my own soul, my own happiness--all of which would +be exposed to the greatest peril if I should really inherit such a curse. + +"The tall woman began to laugh. She pointed at me contemptuously with the +fan, as if she had read my thoughts and were publicly exposing my +cowardice. I had to lean on a friend's arm to keep myself from falling. +Then she made a pitying or disdainful gesture, turned on her heels, and +went into the cemetery. Her head was turned towards me. She fanned herself +and nodded to me at the same time. She sidled along among the graves with +an indescribable, infernal coquetry, until at last she disappeared for +ever in that labyrinth of tombs. + +"I say for ever, since fifteen years have passed and I have never seen her +again. If she was a human being she must have died before this; if she was +not, I rest in the conviction that she despised me too much to meddle with +me. + +"Now, then, bring on your theories! Give me your opinion about these +strange events. Do you still regard them as entirely natural?" + + + + + +THE WHITE BUTTERFLY +By Jose Selgas +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + THE WHITE BUTTERFLY + +Berta has just completed her seventeenth year. Blissful age in which Love +first whispers his tender secrets to a maiden's heart! But cruel Love, who +for every secret he reveals draws forth a sigh! But here is Berta, and +beside her is a mirror, toward which she turns her eyes; she looks at +herself in it for a moment and sighs, and then she smiles. And good reason +she has to smile, for the mirror reveals to her the loveliest face +imaginable; whatever disquiet Love may have awakened in her heart, the +image which she sees in the mirror is enchanting enough to dispel it. + +And why should it not? Let us see. "What has her heart told her?" "It has +told her that it is sad." "Sad! and why?" "Oh, for a very simple reason! +Because it thrills in response to a new, strange feeling, never known +before. It fancies--curious caprice!--that it has changed owners." "And +why is that?" "The fact is, that it has learned, it knows not where, that +men are ungrateful and inconstant, and this is the reason why Berta +sighs." "Ah! And what does the mirror tell her to console her?" "Why, the +mirror tells her that she is beautiful." "Yes?" "Yes; that her eyes are +dark and lustrous, her eyebrows magnificent, her cheeks fresh and rosy." +"And what then?" "It is plain; her heart is filled with hope, and +therefore it is that Berta smiles." + +This is the condition of mind in which we find her. Up to the present she +has passed her life without thinking of anything more serious than the +innocent pranks of childhood; she was a child up to the age of seventeen, +but a boisterous, gay, restless, daring, mischievous child; she turned the +house upside down, and in the same way she would have been capable of +turning the world upside down; she had neither fears nor duties; she +played like a crazy thing and slept like a fool. For her mother had died +before Berta was old enough to know her; and although her mother's +portrait hung at the head of her bed, this image, at once sweet and +serious, was not sufficient to restrain the thoughtless impetuosity of the +girl. She was, besides, an only daughter, and her father, of whom we shall +give some account later, adored her. In addition to all this, her nurse, +who acted as housekeeper in the house, was at the same time the accomplice +and the apologist of her pranks, for the truth is she loved her like the +apple of her eye. + +Less than this might have sufficed to turn an angel into an imp, and +indeed much less would have sufficed in Berta's case, for the natural +vivacity of her disposition inclined her to all kinds of pranks. +Opposition irritated her to such a degree as to set her crying. But what +tears! Suddenly, in the midst of her sobs, she would burst out laughing, +for her soul was all gayety, spontaneous, contagious gayety, the gayety of +the birds when day is breaking. + +But this gayety could not last for ever; and, willing or unwilling, the +moment had to come some time when Berta would quiet down; for it was not +natural that she should remain all her life a madcap; and this moment at +last arrived; and all at once the girl's boisterous gayety began to calm +down, to cloud over, like a storm that is gathering, like a sky that is +darkening. + +The nurse is the first to observe this change in Berta, and although the +girl's pranks had driven her to her wits' end, seeing her silent, +thoughtful, pensive, that is to say, quiet, she is overjoyed. The girl is +now a woman. Profound mystery! She has left off the giddiness of childhood +to take on the sedateness of youth. Poor woman! she does not know that a +young girl is a thousand times more crazy than a child. But the fact is +that Berta does not seem the same girl. And the change has taken place of +a sudden, from one day to another, in the twinkling of an eye, so to say. + +And sedateness becomes her well, very well. She seems taller, more--more +everything; nothing better could be asked of her; but since she has +become sensible the house is silent. The songs, the tumult, all the +boisterousness of the past have disappeared. The good nurse, who is +enchanted to see her so quiet, so silent, so sedate, yet misses the noisy +gayety that formerly filled the house; and if the choice had been given +to her, she would hardly have known which to prefer. + +In this way the days pass calm and tranquil. Berta, who had always been +so early a riser, does not now rise very early. Does she sleep more? +That is what no one knows, but if she sleeps more she certainly eats less; +and not only this, but from time to time, and without any apparent cause, +heart-breaking sighs escape her. + +The nurse, who idolizes her, and who would do anything in the world to +please or to serve her, observes it all but says nothing. She says +nothing, but she thinks the more. That is to say, that at every sigh she +hears she draws down her mouth, screws up her eye, and says to herself: +"Hm! there it is again." + +Of course she would not remain silent for long; for she was not a woman to +hold her tongue easily. Besides, Berta's sedateness was now getting to be +a fixed fact, and the nurse was at the end of her patience; for as she was +accustomed to say, "A loaf that is put into the oven twisted will not come +out of it straight." + +And if she succeeded in keeping silence for a few days, it was only +because she was waiting for Berta herself to speak and tell her what was +on her mind; but Berta gave no sign that she understood her; her heart +remained closed to the nurse, notwithstanding all her efforts to open it. +The key had been lost, and none of those that hung at the housekeeper's +girdle fitted it. It would be necessary to force the lock. + +One day the nurse left off temporizing and took the bull by the horns. She +entered Berta's room, where she found her engaged in fastening a flaming +red carnation in her dark hair. + +"There! that's what I like to see," she said. "That's right, now. What a +beautiful pink! It is as red as fire. And pinks of that color don't grow +in your flower-beds!" + +Berta cast down her eyes. + +"You think I can't see what is going on before my eyes," she continued, +"when you know that nothing can escape me. Yes, yes. I should like to see +the girl that could hoodwink me! But why don't you say something? Have you +lost your tongue?" + +Berta turned as red as a poppy. + +"Bah!" cried the nurse. "That pink must have flown over from the terrace +in front of your windows. I can see the plant from here; there were four +pinks on it yesterday, and to-day there are only three. The neighbor, eh? +What folly! There is neither sense nor reason in that." + +This time Berta turned pale, and looked fixedly at her nurse, as if she +had not taken in the sense of her words. + +"I don't mean," resumed the nurse, "that you ought to take the veil, or +that the neighbor is a man to be looked down upon either; but you are +worthy of a king, and there is no sort of sense in this. A few signals +from window to window; a few sidelong glances, and then--what? Nothing. +You will forget each other. It will be out of sight out of mind with both +of you." + +Berta shook her head. + +"You say it will not be so?" asked the nurse. + +"I say it will not," answered Berta. + +"And why not? Let us hear why not? What security have you--" + +Berta did not allow her to finish. + +"Our vows," she said. + +"Vows!" cried the nurse, crossing herself. "Is that where we are!--Vows!" +she repeated, scornfully; "pretty things they are--words that the wind +carries away." + +Some memory of her own youth must have come to her mind at this moment, +for she sighed and then went on: + +"And would they by chance be the first vows in the world to be broken? +To-day it is all very well; there is no one else for you to see but the +neighbor; but to-morrow?" + +"Never," replied Berta. + +"Worse and worse," returned the nurse; "for in that case he will be the +first to tire of you, and then hold him if you can. To-day he may be as +sweet as honey to you, but to-morrow it will be another story. What are +you going to say? That he is young, and handsome? Silly, silly girl. Is he +any the less a man for that? Do you want to know what men are?" + +Berta, going up to her nurse, put her hand over her mouth and answered +quickly: + +"No, I don't want to know." + +The nurse left Berta's room, holding her hands to her head and saying to +herself: + +"Mad, stark, staring mad!" + +We know already that Berta has a father, and now we are going to learn +that this father, without being in any way an extraordinary being, is yet +no common man. To look at him, one would take him to be over sixty; but +appearances are in this case deceitful, for he is not yet forty-nine. +In the same city in which he dwells live some who were companions of his +childhood, and they are still young; but Berta's father became a widower +shortly after his marriage, and the loss of his wife put an end to his +youth. He settled his affairs, gave up his business, realized a part of +his property and retired from the world. That is to say, that he devoted +himself to the care of his daughter, in whom he beheld the living image of +the wife he had lost. Why should he wish to be young any longer? He grew +aged then long before he had grown old. + +Berta--Berta. In this name all his thoughts were centred, and in his +thoughts there was much of sweetness and much of bitterness, for there is +not in the circle of human happiness a cup of honey that has not its drop +of gall. + +To see him now walking up and down his room, looking now at the ceiling, +now at the floor, biting his nails and striking his forehead, one would +think the heavens were about to fall down and crush him or the earth to +open up under his feet. + +Suddenly he struck his forehead with his open palm, and crossing over to +the door of the room, he raised the curtain, put out his head, and opened +his lips to say something; but the words remained unuttered, and he stood +with his mouth wide open, gazing with amazement at the nurse who, without +observing the movement of the curtain, was approaching the door, +gesticulating violently; it was evident that she had something +extraordinary on her mind. + +Berta's father drew aside; the nurse entered the room, and the two +remained face to face, looking at each other as if they had never seen +each other before." + +"What is the matter, Nurse Juana?" asked Berta's father. "I never saw you +look like that before." + +"Well, you look no better youself. Any one would say, to see you, that you +had just risen from the grave." + +Berta's father slowly arched his eyebrows, heaved a profound sigh, and +sinking into a chair, as if weighed down by the burden of existence, he +asked again: + +"What is the matter?" + +"The matter is," answered the nurse, "that the devil has got into this +house." + +"It is possible," he answered; "and if you add that it is not an hour +since he left this room, you will not be far wrong." + +"The Lord have mercy on us!" exclaimed the nurse: "the devil here!" + +"Yes, Nurse Juana, the devil in person." + +"And you saw him?" + +"I saw him." + +"What a horrible visitor!" exclaimed Juana, crossing herself. + +"No," said Berta's father, "he is not horrible; he took the appearance of +a handsome young man who has all the air of a terrible rake." + +"And how did this demon come in?" + +"By the door, Juana, by the door." + +"What a man!" cried the nurse in dismay. + +Berta's father was very kind-hearted, and he had a very good opinion of +mankind; thus it was that he shook his head despondently as he replied: + +"A man!--A man would not be so cruel to me. To take Berta from me is to +take my life. It is to assassinate me without allowing me a chance to +defend myself; and that is the most horrible part of it--they will be +married, and Berta will be united for life to the murderer of her father." + +The nurse folded her arms and there was a moment of sorrowful silence. + +Suddenly she said: + +"Ah!--Berta will refuse." + +A bitter smile crossed the lips of the unhappy father. + +"You think she will not?" said the nurse. "Now, we shall see." + +And she turned to go for Berta, but at the same moment the curtain was +raised and Berta entered the room. + +The red carnation glowed in her black hair like fire in the darkness; her +eyes shone with a strange light, and in the fearless expression of her +countenance was to be divined the strength of an unalterable resolution. + +She looked alternately at her father and at her nurse, and then in a +trembling voice she said: + +"I know all. It may be to my life-long happiness; it may be to my eternal +misery; but that man is the master of my heart." + +She smiled first at her father and then at her nurse; and left the room +with the same tranquillity with which she had entered it. + +The nurse and the father remained standing where she left them, +motionless, dumb, astounded. + +The devil then had succeeded in gaining an entrance into Berta's house in +the manner in which we have seen; and not only had he gained an entrance +into it, but he had taken possession of it as if it had always been his +own. He was hardly out of it before he was back again. He spent in it +several of his mornings, many of his afternoons, and all his evenings; and +there was no way of escaping his assiduous visits, for Berta was always +there to receive him. And it was not easy to be angry with him, either; +for he possessed the charm of an irresistible gayety, and one had not only +to be resigned but to show pleasure at his constant presence. Besides, +neither Berta's father nor the housekeeper dared to treat him coldly; they +felt compelled, by what irresistible spell they knew not, to receive him +with all honor and with a smiling countenance. + +This is the case when they are under the influence of his presence: but +when he is absent, the father and the nurse treat him without any ceremony +whatever. The two get together in secret and in whispers revenge +themselves upon him by picking him to pieces. In these secret backbitings +they give vent to the aversion with which he inspires them; and the father +and the nurse between them leave him without a single good quality. + +And it is not without reason that they berate him, for since he took the +house by storm nothing is done in it but what pleases him; he it is who +rules it, he it is who orders everything. For Berta thinks that all he +does is right, and there is no help for it but to bow in silence to her +will. + +But they are not satisfied with berating him; they also conspire against +him. What means shall they take to overthrow the power of this unlawful +ruler?--for in the eyes of the housekeeper he is a usurper, and in those +of Berta's father, a tyrant;--turn him out of the house? This is the one +thought of the conspirators. But how? This is the difficulty which +confronts them. + +Two means entirely opposed to each other occur to them--to fly from him or +to make a stand against him. To fly is the plan of Berta's father; it is +the resource which is most consistent with his pacific character. To fly +far from him, far away, to the ends of the earth. + +But to this the housekeeper answers: + +"Fly from him! What nonsense! Where could we go, that he would not follow +us? No; such folly is not to be thought of. What we ought to do is to take +a firm stand and defend ourselves against him." + +"Defend ourselves against him!" exclaimed Berta's father. "With what +weapons? With what strength?" + +"Neither strength nor weapons are required," replied the nurse. "Some day +you bar the door against him, and then he may knock in vain. Satan turns +away from closed doors." + +"Nurse Juana, that is folly," replied Berta's father; "if he does not come +in by the door he will come in by the window, or down the chimney." + +Juana bit her lips reflectively, for what she had never been able to +explain satisfactorily to herself was how he had succeeded in entering the +house for the first time, for the door was always kept closed; it was +necessary to knock to have it opened; and it was never opened unless under +the inspection of the housekeeper; she always wanted to know who came in +and who went out, and in this she was very particular. How then had he +been able to come in without being seen or heard? + +Her first inquiries on this mysterious point were addressed to Berta--and +Berta answered simply that he had entered without knocking because the +door was open. This the nurse found impossible to believe. + +She remained thoughtful, then, for this demon of a man, it seemed, could +in truth enter the house even if the door were barred. + +The conspirators did not get beyond these two courses of action: to fly or +to defend themselves. To fly was impossible, and to defend themselves was +impracticable. Berta's father and the housekeeper discussed these two +points daily without seeing light on any side. And must they resign +themselves to living under the diabolical yoke of that man? Both found +themselves in a situation that would be difficult to describe. They lived +in constant trepidation, fearing they knew not what. + +And who, then, is this man who rules them with his presence and who has +made himself master of Berta's heart? His name is Adrian Baker, he lives +alone, and he possesses a large fortune. This is all that is known about +him. + +For the rest, he is young, tall, graceful in figure, with hair like gold +and a complexion as fair as snow; ardent and impassioned in speech, and +with steadfast, searching, and melancholy eyes, blue as the blue of deep +waters. + +His manners could not be more natural, affectionate, and simple than they +are. He enters the house and runs up the stairs, two steps at a time. +Nothing stops him. If he meets Berta's father, he rushes to him and +embraces him, and the good man trembles from head to foot in the pressure +of those affectionate embraces. If it is the housekeeper who comes to meet +him, he lays his hand affectionately on her shoulder, and he always has +some pleasant remark to make, some cunning flattery which awakens in the +nurse a strange emotion. She feels as if the sap of youth were, of a +sudden, flowing through her veins. + +There is no way of escaping the magic of his words, the spell of his +voice, the charm of his presence. Juana has observed that when he looks at +Berta his eyes shine with a light like that which the eyes of cats emit in +the dark; she has observed also that Berta turns pale under the power of +his glance, and that she bows her head under it as if yielding to the +influence of an irresistible will. + +She has observed still more: she has observed that this mysterious man at +times sits lost in thought, his chin resting on his hand and a frown on +his brows, as if he saw some dreadful vision before him, and that +presently, as if awakening from a dream, he talks and smiles and laughs as +before. Berta's father has observed, on his side, that he knows something +about everything, understands something of everything, has an explanation +for everything, comprehends and divines everything, as if he possessed the +secret of all things. And these observations they communicate to each +other, filled with wonder and amazement. + +Sometimes, sitting beside Berta, he amuses himself winding the linen floss +or the silks with which she is embroidering, or in cutting fantastic +figures out of any scrap of paper that may be at hand. Then he is like a +child. At other times he speaks of the world and of men, of foreign +countries and of remote ages, with so much gravity and judgment that he +seems like an old man who has retired from the world laden with wisdom and +experience. + +But when he seats himself at the piano, then one can only yield one's self +unresistingly to the caprices of his will. The keys, touched by his +fingers, produce melodies so sparkling, so joyous, that the soul is filled +with gayety; but suddenly he changes to another key and the piano moans +and sighs like a human voice, and the heart is moved and the eyes fill +with tears. But this is not all; for, when one least expects it, thunder +low and deep seems to roll through the instrument; and strains are heard, +now near, now distant, that thrill the heart, and tones that fill the soul +with terror; through the vibrating chords all the spirits of the other +world seem to be speaking in an unknown tongue. + +It is all very well for the housekeeper to regard Adrian Baker as the +devil in person, or as a man possessed by the devil, or at least as an +extraordinary being, who possesses the diabolical secret of some +wonder-working philtre. It is all very well for Berta's father to see in +him a masterful mind and an eccentric nature. And who knows--he has +sometimes heard of mysterious fluids, of subtle forces which attract arid +repel, of dominating influences, of marvels of magnetism; and although he +has never given a great deal of thought to any of those matters, he thinks +about them since he has felt himself dominated by this singular personage, +and Adrian Baker has become, in fact, his fixed idea, his absorbing +thought, his unceasing preoccupation, his constant monomania. Berta's +father and the housekeeper may very well attribute to him marvellous +powers, suggested by their own excited imaginations; but we must not share +in those hallucinations, nor are we to conclude from them that Adrian +Baker is outside the common law to which ordinary mortals are subject. + +This is evident; but, still, who is Adrian Baker? + +We shall present here all the information that we have been able to gather +about him, and let each one draw from it the conclusion he pleases. + +It is not yet quite two years since one of the carriages which transport +passengers from the railway station to the city which is the scene of our +story, drove rapidly from the station; the energy with which the coachman +whipped up his horses showed the haste or the importance of the travellers +it carried. + +This carriage entered the city and stopped before the door of the best +hotel of the place; there the solitary traveller it carried alighted from +it, and this traveller was Adrian Baker. He was enveloped in a travelling +great-coat lined with costly fur. The eagerness with which the waiters of +the hotel hastened to meet him showed that they had discovered in the new +guest a mine of tips. The coachman took his leave of him, hat in hand, and +as he turned away looked around at the bystanders, displaying to them a +gold coin in his left eye. + +Nothing more was needed to cause the luggage of the guest to be whisked +off to the most sumptuous room in the hotel. Seven cities of Greece +disputed with one another the honor of having been the birthplace of +Homer; more than seven waiters disputed with one another the honor of +carrying Adrian Baker's valise. He was like a king entering his palace. + +For several days he was to be seen alone and on foot, traversing the +streets and visiting the most noteworthy buildings; then, alone also, but +in a carriage, he was to be seen viewing the wildest and most picturesque +spots in the neighborhood, with the attention of an artist, a philosopher, +or a poet. + +He was affable and easy in his manners; and he soon had many friends who +talked admiringly of his eccentricities, of his riches, and of his +learning; so that he was for some time the lion of the day, and therefore +the favorite subject of every conversation. To win his friendship would +have been for the men a triumph; and to win his heart would have been for +the haughtiest woman more than a triumph; but Adrian Baker kept his inmost +heart closed alike to friendship and to love; so that only three things +were known about him--that he was young, that he was rich, and that he had +travelled over half the world. + +He was supposed to be an Englishman, a German, or an American; in the +first place, because he was fair, and in the second place, because, +although he spoke Spanish as if it were his native tongue, a certain +foreign flavor was to be noticed in his accent, which each one interpreted +according to his fancy. + +For the rest, he seemed pleased with the beauty of the sky and the gayety +of the landscape, and although he had told no one whether he intended to +remain there long or not, the fact was that he did not go away. Doubtless +he grew tired of the life at the hotel, for one day he suddenly bought a +fine house and established himself in it like a prince. This edifice, +venerable from its antiquity, had the grandiose aspect of a palace, and +one of its angles fronted Berta's house. + +This is all that was known about Adrian Baker. We now know, therefore, +that the mysterious Adrian Baker was neither more nor less than Berta's +neighbor himself. + +One night, returning from his daily visit to Berta, he entered the house, +crossed the hall, and shut himself up in his own apartments. Shortly +afterwards the great door of the palace, creaking harshly on its hinges, +was closed; the lights were extinguished one by one, and everything +remained in profound silence. Adrian Baker, however, was not asleep. + +At the further end of the room, which was lighted by the soft light of a +lamp, he sat with his elbows resting on a mahogany table and his face +buried in his hands, seemingly lost in thought. And his thoughts could not +be of a pleasant nature, for the stern frown upon his brow showed that +some storm was raging behind that forehead smooth as a child's and pale as +death. The light of the lamp, reflected from his golden hair, seemed to +envelop his head in fantastic lights and shadows. + +After many moments of immobility and silence, he struck the table +violently with the palm of his hand, exclaiming: + +"Accursed riches! Odious learning! Cruel experience!" + +Then he rose to his feet, and striding up and down the room like a madman, +he cried in smothered accents: + +"Faith! Faith! Doubt is killing me!" + +A moment later he shook his beautiful head and burst into a terrible +laugh. + +"Very well," he said. "The proof is a terrible one, but I require this +proof. I must descend into the tomb to obtain it: well, then, I will +descend into the tomb. I must consult the sombre oracle of death +concerning the mysteries of life: well, then, I will consult it." + +At this moment the glass chimney of the lamp burst, falling to the floor +in a thousand fragments; the lurid flame sent forth a black smoke that +filled the room with shadows which crept along the walls, mingled together +on the ceiling, and crossed one another on the floor; the furniture seemed +to be moving, the ceiling sinking down, and the walls receding. + +In the midst of this demon dance of lights and shadows, the flame of the +lamp went out, as if in obedience to an invisible breath, and in the +darkness that followed all was silence. + +Something extraordinary must have occurred in Berta's house, for the nurse +seemed to have been seized by a sudden fit of restlessness that would not +let her sit still for a moment. She went to and fro, upstairs and down, +out and in, with the mechanical movement of an automaton. It was a sort of +nervous attack that had in a moment increased twofold the housekeeper's +domestic activity. Suddenly she would stand still, and placing her +forefinger on her upper lip she would remain motionless, as if she were +seeking in her mind the explanation of some mystery or the key to some +riddle, gesticulating with expressive eloquence, and, so to say, thinking +in gestures. + +But the cause of the agitation which we observe in her could not be a very +alarming one, for in the midst of it all there was apparent something like +joy, a secret joy which in spite of herself was perceptible through her +restlessness and her gesticulations. In our poor human nature, joy and +sorrow often manifest themselves by the same symptoms; and a piece of good +news will agitate us in the same way as a piece of bad news. + +Be this as it may, what is certain is that the housekeeper seemed to be +excited by some secret thought which she turned over and over in her mind, +and that she was waiting for something with impatience, for from time to +time she stood still, stretched out her neck, and listened. + +Suddenly the door-bell rang twice; slowly, deliberately, producing on the +nurse the effect of an electric shock. She threw down some house-linen +which she had in her hands, overturned a chair or two that stood in her +way, and tore a curtain that opposed her progress, leaving devastation and +destruction in her wake, like a storm. + +She pulled the cord which opened the door, and she pulled it so violently +that the door sprang wide open, giving admittance to Berta's father, who +entered slowly, leaning on his cane like a man whose vitality is beginning +to fail. As he entered, he raised his eyes with a look of melancholy +discouragement, and at the head of the stairs he saw the housekeeper, who +seemed to be trying to tell him something, gesticulating violently and +waving her arms like the apparatus of a semaphore. The good man did not +understand a word of this telegraphic language, and he stopped at the foot +of the stairs, endeavoring to comprehend the meaning of the signs which +the housekeeper was excitedly making above his head. But, naturally, he +was not very skilful in this kind of investigation, and his not very vivid +imagination was at this moment paralyzed. Finally, he shrugged his +shoulders with a sort of resigned and patient desperation, as if to say, +"What are you trying to tell me?" The housekeeper folded her arms and +shook her head three times; this meant: "Stupid! stupid! stupid!" The good +man bent his head under the triple accusation, and proceeded to ascend the +stairs. At the head Nurse Juana was waiting for him, and without further +ceremony she took him by the hand and drew him into his room; and there, +after assuring herself that no one was within hearing, she put her mouth +close to the ear of Berta's father, and in a mysterious voice, and with an +air of profound mystery, she said to him: + +"He is going away!" + +"He is going away!" repeated Berta's father, exhaling a profound sigh. + +"Yes," she added; "we are going to be free." + +"Free!" repeated the good man, shaking his head with an air of +incredulity. Then he asked: + +"And where is he going?" + +"He is going very far away," answered the nurse. "That is certain. He is +going very far away, to some place, I don't know where, at the other end +of the earth. It is a sudden journey." + +The good man sighed again despondently; Nurse Juana looked at him with +amazement, saying: + +"Any one would suppose that I had just given you a piece of bad news. Can +that man have bewitched you to the extent--" + +"Yes," he interrupted, "for if he goes he will not go alone; he will take +Berta with him, and then what is to become of us?" + +"Nothing of the kind," replied Juana. "He will go alone--entirely alone." + +"Worse and worse," said the father, "for then, what is to become of +Berta?" + +"Nothing," said the nurse. "Out of sight, out of mind. The absent are +forgotten; the dead are buried. That is the way of the world. Berta knows +all about it; she told me herself, and she is as calm and as cool as +possible. Bah, she won't need any cordial to keep her up when she is +bidding him good-bye." + +As she uttered the last word she turned her head and she could not +restrain the cry that rose to her lips as she saw Adrian Baker, who had +just entered--Adrian Baker, in person, paler than ever, dressed in a +handsome travelling suit. His eyes shone with a strange lustre, and a +smile, half sad, half mocking, curved his lips. + +He begged a thousand pardons for the surprise which he had caused them, +and said that unforeseen circumstances obliged him to undertake a sudden +journey to New York, where he was urgently called by affairs of the +greatest importance, but that he would return soon. + +"I am going away," he ended, "but I leave my heart here and I will come +back for it." + +Saying this, he embraced Berta's father so affectionately that the worthy +man was deeply moved, and Nurse Juana, dominated by the voice and the +presence of this singular man, felt a tear or two spring to her eyes, +which she hastened to wipe away with the corner of her apron. + +Adrian Baker laid his hand on her shoulder, a hand which the nurse felt +tremble, and she trembled herself as she heard him say: + +"That is the way of the world, eh? Well, we shall see." + +Then he left the room, and the father and the nurse followed him +mechanically. + +Berta came out to meet them, and her hand sought Adrian Baker's, and both +hands remained clasped for a long time. + +"You will come back soon?" asked Berta, in soft and trembling accents. + +"Soon," he answered. + +"When?" she asked. + +"Soon," repeated Baker. "If you wait for me your heart will announce my +return to you." + +"I will wait for ever for you," said Berta, in a choking voice, but +without a tear in her eyes. + +Their hands unclasped, Adrian Baker hurried to the stairs, ran down +precipitately, and shortly afterward they heard the rolling of the +carriage which bore him away. + +Bertha gave her father a gentle smile and then ran to shut herself up in +her room. + +As the noise of the carriage wheels died away in the distance, like a +dying peal of thunder, the housekeeper crossed herself, and said: + +"He is gone; now we can breathe freely." + +Apparently Nurse Juana knew the human heart well, or at least Berta's +heart, for three months had passed since Adrian Baker had sailed for New +York, and not once had she been able to surprise a tear in the eyes of the +girl to whom she had taken the place of a mother. Berta apparently felt no +grief at his absence. + +It is true that during these three months of absence a letter had been +received from New York, in which Adrian Baker said to Berta all that is +said in such cases; it was a simple, tender and earnest letter, that did +not seem to have been written three thousand miles away; on the other side +of the great ocean in which the most ardent and the most profound passions +are wrecked. It is true that this letter was answered by return of mail, +and that it traversed the stormy solitudes of the sea full of promises and +hopes. + +It is also true that Berta put away Adrian Baker's letter carefully, +treasuring it as one treasures a relic. It is true that she passed whole +hours seated at her piano running her fingers up and down the keys, +playing Adrian Baker's favorite airs, which he himself had taught her. But +except this, Berta lived like other girls; she had an excellent appetite +and she slept the tranquil sleep of a happy heart. She spent the usual +time at her toilet table and she took pleasure in making herself +beautiful. Some of the asperities of her character had become softened; +she spoke with all her natural vivacity, and, finally, she never mentioned +Adrian Baker's name. + +Her father and her nurse observed all this and deduced as a consequence +that the traveller had left no trace in Berta's heart. Only one fear +troubled them,--the fear that he would return. + +In this way another month passed, and the memory of Adrian Baker began to +wear away; if his name was sometimes mentioned, it was as one evokes the +memory of a dream. + +The dream, however, at times assumed the aspect of an impending reality. +He might return, and beyond a doubt he had not intended to remain away for +ever; his last farewell had not been an eternal one. If he himself was on +the other side of the ocean, three thousand miles away, that is, in New +York, at the other end of the earth, more, in the other world, his house +was there, opposite them, open, kept by his servants with the same luxury +and the same pomp as before he had gone away; his house that seemed like +an enchanted palace waiting for its owner; and the order and care with +which everything was conducted in it indicated that the servants did not +wish to be surprised by the sudden appearance of their master; that is to +say, that Adrian Baker might return at any moment. The plants on the +terrace spread their branches as full of life as if they were tended by +the hands of Adrian Baker himself. + +Berta's father and the housekeeper saw in this house a constant menace; it +came to be for them the shadow, so to say, of Adrian Baker; but for all +that, time passed and the traveller did not return. + +Spring came, and nature bloomed again with all the richness of vegetation +which she displays in southern climes; and it is in the heart of the South +that the scene of our story is laid. Everything put on its fairest and +most smiling aspect, and the soul felt the vague happiness of a hope that +is about to be realized. + +Berta shared in this beautiful awakening of nature, and it might be said +that her every beauty had acquired a new charm; her eyes seemed larger, +her glance gentler, calmer, more profound; her cheeks fresher, softer, and +rosier; and her smile more tender, innocent, and enchanting. Her figure +had acquired a majestic ease, which gave to her movements voluptuousness +and firmness. It seemed as if youth had made a supreme effort, and in +giving the last touch to her beauty had obtained a masterpiece. She was in +the full splendor of her loveliness. + +In exchange, Adrian Baker's palace one morning appeared as gloomy as a +sepulchre; the drawn blinds and the closed hall-door gave it the aspect of +a deserted house; profound silence reigned within it, and yet the palace +of Adrian Baker was still inhabited. + +In the hall the figure of the porter appeared like a shade; he was dressed +entirely in black, and all the other servants of the house were also clad +in mourning, and in their faces were to be observed signs of sadness. + +What had happened? + +What had happened was simply that Adrian Baker had died in New York of +an acute attack of pneumonia. The news had spread through the city with +the rapidity with which bad news spreads, and it had also penetrated +into Berta's house. At first it seemed incredible that Adrian Baker should +have died, as if the life of this man were not subject to the +contingencies to which the lives of other mortals are subject. But the +tidings had been confirmed and they must be believed. Besides, the aspect +of the palace bore testimony to the authenticity of the news. In that +house hung with black the very stones seemed to mourn. The news had come +in a black-bordered letter dated in New York and signed by the head +of the house of Wilson and Company, with which Adrian Baker had large sums +deposited. + +Berta's father and the housekeeper looked at each other with amazement, +and repeated, one after the other: + +"He is dead!" + +"He is dead!" + +Berta, pale as death itself, surprised them as they uttered these words, +and in a sepulchral voice she said: + +"Yes, he has died in New York, but he lives in my heart." + +And turning from them she fled to her room and seated herself at the +window from which she could see the terrace of the palace. The flowers, +agitated gently by the breezes of spring, leaned toward Berta as if +sending her a melancholy greeting. She gazed at them without a tear in her +eyes. The extreme pallor of her face and the slight trembling of her lips +alone revealed the grief that afflicted her soul. + +Suddenly the flight of a white butterfly circling in the air attracted her +gaze. She followed it absently with her eyes, and the butterfly, as if +drawn by Berta's gaze, tracing capricious circles, left the terrace, flew +swiftly to Berta's window and entered the room. + +With an involuntary movement Berta extended her hands to catch it, but the +butterfly darted between them, and circled swiftly and silently about her +head, forming around her brow a sort of aureole, which appeared and +disappeared like a succession of lightning flashes. The wings of the +butterfly glowed above Bertha's head with a light like the first splendors +of the dawn. Then it passed before her eyes, she saw it hovering over the +flowers on the terrace, and then it disappeared from her gaze as if it had +vanished into air. Her eyes sought it with indescribable eagerness, but in +vain; she saw it no more. + +She clasped her hands and two large tears rose to her eyes and rolled down +her cheeks. + +On the following day the housekeeper, entering Berta's room, saw a shadow +outlined against the wall above the head of her bed. This shadow, as the +nurse looked, took the form of a human head. + +It was the head of Adrian Baker, the same head, with its pale forehead, +its compelling glance, and its smile, at once sweet, sad, and mocking. + +The housekeeper, out of her wits with terror, crossed herself as if she +had seen a diabolical vision and hurried out of the room. + +Adrian Baker's death has wrought terrible ravages in Berta. She does not +distress those around her by ceaseless sighs and tears; she does not +continually proclaim in words the depth of her sorrow; on the contrary, +she hides her grief in her own breast, devours her tears in secret, chokes +back her sighs and utters no unavailing complaints; Adrian Baker's name is +never heard from her lips. + +It might be thought that she had consoled herself easily, if in her eyes +there did not lie the shadow of a deep grief, if the pallor of her cheeks +did not cover her youthful beauty like a funeral pall, if her hollow voice +did not reveal the profound loneliness of her heart. At times she smiles +at her father, but in her smiles there is an inexpressible bitterness. She +can be seen fading away, like the flame of an expiring lamp. Like a miser +she hides her grief in the bottom of her heart, as if she feared that it +might be taken from her. + +Her father and her nurse see her growing thin, they see her fading away, +they see her dying, without being able to stop the ravages of the +persistent, voiceless, inconsolable grief that is slowly sapping her youth +and her life, and they curse the name of Adrian Baker, and they would at +the same time give their lives to bring him back to life; but death does +not give up its prey, and only one hope remains to them, the last hope-- +time. + +But time passes, and the memory of Adrian Baker, like a slow poison, is +gradually consuming Berta's life. + +Everything has been done: she has been surrounded with all the delights of +the world; the most eligible suitors have sued for her favor; youth, +beauty, and wealth have disputed her affection with one another, but her +grief has remained inaccessible; she has been subjected to every proof, +but it has not been possible to tear from her soul the demon image of +Adrian Baker. Medical skill has been appealed to, and science has +exhausted its resources in vain, for Berta's malady is incurable. + +The nurse firmly believes that Adrian Baker has bewitched her; he has +diffused through her blood a diabolical philtre. Strong love will survive +absence, but no love will survive death. Berta, consequently, was +bewitched. + +Her father has only one thought, expressed in these words: "He has gone +away and he is taking her with him; after all, he is taking her with +him." + +But there is still one other resource to be appealed to--solitude, the +fields, nature. Who can tell! the sky, the sun, the air of the country, +may revive her; the poetry of nature may awaken in her heart new feelings +and new hopes; the murmur of the waters, the song of the birds, the shade +of the trees--why not? There is no human sorrow, however great it may be, +that does not sink into insignificance before the grandeur of the heavens. + +At a little distance from the city Berta's father has a small villa, whose +white walls and red roof can be seen through the trees which surround it. +There could not be a more picturesque situation. To the right, the +mountain; to the left, the plain; in front, the sea, stretching far in the +distance, until it blends with the horizon; and that nothing may be +wanting to complete the picture, the ruins of an ancient monastery, seated +on the slope of the mountain, can be seen from the villa. + +Berta offered no resistance, for it was a matter of indifference to her +whether she lived in the city or in the country; the only thing she showed +any desire about was that the piano should be taken with them, as if she +regarded it as a dear friend and her only confidant; and the family +removed to the villa and established themselves in it. + +Berta herself arranged the room which she was to occupy in the villa. This +opened on the garden and served her both as bedroom and dressing-room. +Above her bed she hung a beautiful life-size photograph of a head. It was +that of Adrian Baker, with his pale, smooth brow, his large blue eyes and +his beautiful golden curls--the head of Adrian Baker admirably +photographed, and which she herself had shaded. + +For the piano no place could be found to please Berta. There was only one +common room in the villa, the parlor, which at times also served as a +dining-room. She was hesitating between the parlor and her bedroom, when +the idea occurred to her to put it in a small pavilion covered with vines +and honeysuckles, which stood in a corner of the garden and which was used +as a hot-house. The idea seemed to be a happy one, and she smiled as it +occurred to her, and the piano was placed in the pavilion, like a bird in +its cage. + +The journey must have fatigued Berta, for she retired early to her room, +where the nurse left her in bed. Did she sleep? We cannot say; but at dawn +the songs of the birds that made their nests in the garden caused her to +rise. She opened the window-shutters and a flock of birds flew away +frightened, to hide themselves in the tops of the trees, gilded by the +first rays of the sun. Before long, however, the boldest of them returned +to hop before her window, looking at Berta with a certain audacious +familiarity as if they recognized in her an old friend. A few grains of +wheat and a few crumbs of bread scattered on the window-sill gradually +attracted the more timid, who grew at last to be familiar. The slightest +movement, indeed, caused them to take flight precipitately; but they soon +recovered their lost confidence and they returned again to hop gayly on +the iron railing of the window. + +Berta watched them, and as she watched them she smiled; and at the end of +a few days she had induced them to come in and out with perfect +confidence. In her solitary walks through the garden and through the +avenue of lime trees which led to the villa, they followed her, flying +from tree to tree. She spent a few hours of the morning, every day, in the +pavilion, and there the birds came also, mingling their joyous carols +with the melancholy strains of the piano; but the mad gayety of the birds +was powerless to mitigate the profound sadness of Berta; her one thought +was still Adrian--Adrian Baker. + +This name, which never escaped her lips, was to be seen written everywhere +by Berta's hand, on the garden walls, on the trunks of the trees; and even +the vines that covered the pavilion had interlaced their branches in such +a manner that "Adrian Baker" could be deciphered in them. This name was to +be met everywhere, like the mute echo of an undying memory. + +During the morning hours Berta's countenance seemed to be more animated, +and her cheeks had even at times a rosy hue; but as the day declined her +transient animation faded away, as if the sun of her life too approached +its setting. + +Seated at her window she contemplated in silence the clouds illumined by +the last rays of the setting sun. Juana, who had exhausted in vain all her +subjects of conversation, was with her. A sudden brightness hovered over +Berta's head for an instant, circled swiftly around it, and then vanished +from sight. + +"Did you see it?" cried Berta. + +"Yes," answered the nurse, "it was a white butterfly that wanted to settle +on your head." + +"Well?" asked Berta. + +"White butterflies," said the nurse, "are a sign of good luck; they always +bring good news." + +"Yes," answered Berta, pressing her nurse's hand convulsively. "That is my +white butterfly, and this time it will not deceive me. Adrian is coming-- +yes, he is coming for me; that is what it has come to tell me--I was +waiting for it." + +The nurse gazed at her for a moment with dilated eyes; the setting sun +illumined Berta's countenance with a strange light, and the poor woman, +unable to support the look which burned in the eyes of the sick girl, bent +her head and clasped her hands, saying to herself: + +"My God! She has lost her mind!" + +The idea that Berta had lost her reason threw the housekeeper into a state +of distraction. She would hide herself in the remotest corners of the +house to cry by herself. She could not bear alone the burden of so +terrible a secret, but to whom could she confide it? How stab the father's +heart so cruelly! To tell him that Berta had lost her reason would be to +kill him. The good man watched over his daughter with the eyes of love, +but love itself made him blind and he did not perceive her madness. + +And the housekeeper became every day more and more convinced of the +reality of this dreadful misfortune. During the night she stole many times +to the sleeping girl's bedside and listened to her calm breathing. No +extraordinary change, either in her habits, or her acts, or her words, +gave evidence of the wandering of her mind. True; but she was waiting for +Adrian Baker and she declared that he would come. It was in vain she tried +to persuade her that this was folly, for Berta either grew angry and +commanded her to be silent, or smiled with scornful pity at her arguments. +Was not this madness? + +The housekeeper suddenly lost her appetite and her sleep; and she shunned +Berta's father, for she was not sure of being able to keep the secret +which she carried in her bosom. The same thought kept revolving in her +mind like a mill. It seemed as if Berta's madness was going to cost the +nurse also her reason. + +One night she lay tossing about, unable to sleep, her imagination filled +with dreadful spectres. In the midst of the darkness she saw faces +approaching and receding from her, that laughed and wept, that vanished to +appear again, and all these faces that danced before her eyes had, +notwithstanding their grotesque features, a diabolical likeness to the +head of Adrian Baker. The nurse, terrified, shut her eyes, that she might +not see them, but notwithstanding she still continued seeing them. + +She thought that she was under the influence of a nightmare, and making an +effort she sat up in the bed. Suddenly she heard a distant sound of sweet +music, a mysterious melody whose notes died away on the breeze. + +She listened attentively, and she soon comprehended that the music she +heard came from the piano; and she sprang out of bed, crying: + +"Berta! Berta!" + +She began to dress herself quickly, groping for her things in the +darkness, saying as she did so, in a voice full of anguish: + +"Alone, in the pavilion, and at this hour! Child of my heart, you are +mad!" + +All the visions she had seen disappeared; she saw nothing, she only heard +the distant notes of the piano breaking the silence of the night. + +Going into the hall she groped her way to Berta's room. She gently pushed +in the door, which opened noiselessly, and an indistinct glimmer, like the +last gleam of twilight, met her eyes. It was the light of the night-lamp +burning softly in its porcelain vase. + +Her first glance was at the bed, which, in the indistinct light, presented +to her eyes only a shapeless object; but in a moment more she saw that the +bed was empty. + +She thought of taking the lamp that burned in the corner of the room to +light her way and going to the pavilion, but at this moment she felt a +breath of cold damp air blowing softly on her face. + +She turned her eyes in the direction from which the breeze had come, and +observed that the window was wide open and that outside all was profound +darkness. + +And filled with indescribable amazement, unwilling to believe the evidence +of her eyes, she saw what appeared to be a human figure standing +motionless in front of the window, its hands clasped and its forehead +resting against the window-frame. + +A cold perspiration, like that of death, broke out over her; she would +have shuddered, but she could not; she attempted to cry out, but her voice +died away in her throat; she attempted to fly, but her feet, fastened to +the ground, refused to carry her. + +With her eyes starting from their sockets, her mouth wide open, and terror +depicted on her countenance, she stood as if petrified, without the +strength to keep erect or the will to fall. + +And in truth she had some reason to be terrified. + +Before her stood Berta, leaning motionless against the window, drinking in +with rapt attention the notes which at that moment came in a torrent from +the piano. + +It was not Berta, then, who was breaking the silence of the night with +that mysterious music. + +What unknown hand, what invisible hand was it that drew those sounds from +the chords of the piano in the midst of the silence and the solitude of +the night! Was what her eyes saw real! Was what her ears were listening to +real! Or was it all the dreadful hallucination of a terrible dream! + +And this was not all; for the memory of the terrified nurse recalls with a +secret shudder those mysterious melodies which now enchain her ear. Yes; +through the piano roll sounds like the rumbling of thunder, and strains +are heard, now near, now far, that thrill the heart, and tones that fill +the soul with terror; through the vibrating chords all the spirits of the +other world seem to be speaking in an unknown tongue. + +I do not know how long the housekeeper might have stood silent and +motionless, under the influence of the terror which mastered her, if Berta +had not observed her. + +It caused her neither surprise nor alarm to see her nurse there. +Approaching her she took her by the hand, and, shaking her gently, said: + +"Do you see?--Do you hear?--It is Adrian--Adrian who has come for me; the +white butterfly did not deceive me." + +The housekeeper had by this time recovered herself sufficiently to pass +her hand over her forehead and to rub her eyes. + +"I knew that he would come," continued Berta; "I have been waiting for him +every day." + +The nurse, as if by a supreme effort, drew a deep breath. + +"Do you hear those sighs that come from the piano?" said Berta. "It is he; +he is calling me; and since you are here, let us go to meet him." + +And taking the lamp in her hand as she spoke, she added: + +"Follow me." + +Nurse Juana followed her like a ghost. + +They entered the garden and walked toward the pavilion. The pale light of +the lamp illumined Berta's countenance, shedding around it a fantastic +light that made the surrounding darkness seem more intense. + +The nurse felt herself drawn along by Berta; she walked mechanically; a +power stronger than her terror impelled her. + +In this way they crossed the garden and reached the door of the pavilion. +There Berta stopped, and called softly: + +"Adrian!" + +But there was no response to her call. + +Then they entered the pavilion. + +Juana caught hold of Berta to keep from falling, and closed her eyes. + +The light of the lamp illumined the pavilion, whose solitude seemed +startled by this unexpected visit; the piano was open and mute. + +"No one!" exclaimed Berta, sighing. + +"No one," repeated Juana, opening her eyes. + +And so it was; the pavilion was empty. + +It is beyond a doubt that Berta's piano has the marvellous quality of +making its strings sound without the intervention of the human hand. And +this being the case, it must be admitted that this marvellous instrument +is, in addition, a consummate musician, for it plays with the skill +attained only by great artists. + +But since Nurse Juana cannot conceive how a piano can play of itself, +without a hand moving the keys, she has decided that in this diabolical +affair an invisible hand, the ghostly hand of some spirit from the other +world, has intervened. + +This supposition is not altogether admissible, for it seems to have been +sufficiently proved that spirits do not possess hands. But the nurse does +not stop for such fine distinctions, and she firmly believes that the +spirit of Adrian Baker is wandering about the villa. Condemned perhaps to +eternal torment, he takes pleasure in torturing the living even after his +death. + +And it is indeed a diabolical amusement, for the serenade is repeated +nightly; the family are aroused from sleep; they hasten to the pavilion +and the piano becomes silent; they enter it and they find no one. They +have observed that the airs played by Berta in the morning are repeated by +the piano at night. + +Juana is assailed by continual terrors; there is no peace in the house. +Berta's father is unable to explain the mystery, and his mind is filled +with confusion and his heart is a prey to sudden alarms. The light of day +dissipates the agitation of their minds, they fancy themselves the victims +of vain hallucinations, and, arming themselves with heroic valor, they +make plans for unravelling the awesome mystery. + +The most courageous among them would hide in the pavilion, and there await +in concealment the hour of the strange occurrence; in this way they would +discover what fingers drew those sounds from the piano. + +Strong in this purpose they awaited the first shades of night; but then +the courage of the strongest failed. The air became filled with fearful +shadows, the silence with mysterious noises, and no one ventured to leave +the house. They spent the nights in vigil and the terror by which all were +possessed made them seem interminable. + +And for Berta, on the other hand, the days were interminable, and she +awaited the nights with eager impatience. + +One afternoon she expressed a desire to visit the ruins of the monastery, +and she showed so much eagerness in the matter that there was no resource +but to accede to her wish. Her father and her nurse resolved to accompany +her, and the three set out. + +The distance between the villa and the monastery was not great, but the +party walked slowly. In the winding path the ruins disappeared suddenly +behind a hill, as if the earth had swallowed them; a few steps further on +they suddenly reappeared; and the travellers stood before the ruined +portico. + +From this point the eye could contemplate the ruined walls, the broken +partitions, the ceilings fallen in, and between the loose stones the +solitary flowers of the ruin. Only the arches which supported the vaulted +roof of the chapel had resisted the corroding influence of time. + +The nurse would have now willingly returned to the villa, and Berta's +father had no desire to go any further, but Berta passed through the +ruined portico, and they were obliged to follow her. + +She made her way into the chapel, passing under the crumbling arches which +threatened at every moment to fall down and crush her, and she emerged at +what must have been the centre of the monastery, for the remains of the +wall and some broken and unsteady pilasters showed four paths which, +uniting at their extremities, formed a square. This must have been the +cloister, in the middle were vestiges of a choked-up cistern. + +Here Berta sat down on a piece of cornice which was imbedded in the +rubbish. She seemed pleased in the midst of this desolation. Her father +and the nurse joined her with terror depicted on their countenances; they +had heard the noise of footsteps in the chapel; more, Juana had seen a +shadow glide away; how or where she did not know, but she was sure that +she had seen it. + +Berta smiled and said: + +"The noise of footsteps and a shadow? Very well; what harm can those +footsteps or that shadow do us? They are perhaps the footsteps of Adrian +Baker following us; it is his shade that accompanies us. What is there +strange in that? Do you not know that I carry him in my heart? Do you not +know that I am waiting for him, that I am always waiting for him?" + +At the name of Adrian Baker, Berta's father and the nurse shuddered. + +"Yes, my child," said the former, "but we are far from the villa, the sun +is setting--it is growing late." + +"Yes, yes," said Juana, "let us go back." + +Berta drew her father affectionately toward her and said: + +"Dear father, I am not mad. Juana, I am not mad. Adrian promised me that +he would return, and he will return. I am waiting for him. Why should that +be madness? I know that I grieve you, and I do not wish to grieve you. I +have begged God a thousand times on my knees to tear his image from my +heart and his memory from my mind; but God, who sees all things, from whom +nothing is hidden, to whom all things are possible, has not wished to do +it. Why? He alone knows." + +The father's eyes filled with tears, and the nurse hid her face in her +hands to keep back the sobs that rose in her throat. + +Berta continued: + +"Yes, it is growing late. But I am very tired. Let us wait a moment." + +They had nothing to say in answer to her words, nor could they have said +anything, for their voices failed them. + +All three remained silent. + +Suddenly they looked at one another with indescribable anxiety, for all +three had heard a sigh, a human sigh that seemed exhaled by the ruins +around them. + +Could it have been the wind, moaning as it swept through the sharp points +of the broken walls? + +Berta rose to her feet, and cried twice in a loud voice: + +"Adrian! Adrian!" + +Her voice was borne away on the breeze, losing itself in the distance. But +before the last notes died away, another voice resounded among the ruins, +saying: + +"Berta! Berta!" + +The sun had just set, and the twilight shadows gathered swiftly, as if +they had sprung up from among the ruins, hiding the broken pillars and the +crumbling walls. + +In one of the angles of the cloister appeared a moving shadow. This shadow +advanced slowly until it reached the middle of the court where the remains +of the disused cistern were seen. There it stopped, and in a soft clear +voice uttered the words: + +"It is I, Berta; it is I." + +"He!" she cried, extending her arms in the air. + +Juana uttered a cry of terror and caught hold of Berta with all the +strength left her; the father tried to rise, but, unable to sustain +himself, fell on his knees beside his daughter. + +It was not possible to reject the evidence of their senses. Whatever might +be the hidden cause of the marvel, the dark key of the mystery, the shadow +which had just appeared in the angle of the cloister was clearly the +authentic image, the _vera effigies_, the very person of Adrian Baker. The +astonished eyes of Berta, of her father, and of the nurse could not refuse +to believe it. + +His fair curls, his pale brow, the outlines of his figure, his air, his +glance, his voice--all were there before the amazed eyes of Berta, her +father, and the nurse. + +Now, was this a fantastic creation of their troubled senses? Was it a +phantom of the brain, or a reality? Did all three suffer at the same time +the same hallucination? The fixed thought of all three was Adrian Baker-- +and the senses often counterfeit the reality of our vain imaginings. The +state of their minds, the place, the hour--and then, the air produces +sounds that deceive; the light and the darkness mingling together in the +mysterious hour of twilight people the solitude with strange visions. And +in the midst of those ruins, which began to assume fantastic forms, and +which seemed to move, in the gathering shades of twilight, Berta, her +father, and the nurse might well believe themselves in the presence of a +spectre evoked there by their presence. + +But the fact was, that the shadow, instead of vanishing, instead of +changing its shape, as happens with chimeras of the brain, assumed before +their eyes a more distinct form, more definite outlines, according as he +approached the group. + +Reaching them, he took gently in his the hands Berta held out to him. His +eyes shone with the light of a supreme triumph. + +"It is I," he said, in a moved voice. "I, Adrian Baker. I am not a spectre +risen from the tomb." + +Berta felt herself growing faint and was obliged to sit down; and Adrian +Baker continued thus: + +"Forgive me. I have put your heart to a terrible proof, but the doubts of +my soul were still more terrible. The world had filled my spirit with +horrible distrust and I desired to sound the uttermost depths of your +love. It has resisted absence, and it has resisted death. Your love for me +was not a passing fancy; you did not deceive yourself when you vowed me an +eternal love. I left you in order to watch you and I died to comprehend +you. I have followed you everywhere; I have not separated from you a +single moment. My sweet Berta! You waited for me living, and you have +waited for me dead. 'If you wait for me,' I said, 'your own heart will +announce my return to you,' and you see I have returned. I felt for you an +immense tenderness, but a terrible doubt consumed my heart. Had my riches +dazzled you? Forgive me, Berta. A fatal learning had frozen faith in my +soul; I doubted everything, and I doubted your heart also--I doubted you." + +Berta clasped her hands, and raising her eyes to heaven, exclaimed +mournfully: + +"My God! what cruel injustice!" + +"Yes!" burst out Adrian Baker; "cruel injustice! but you have resuscitated +my heart; you have brought my soul back to life." + +"Ah," said Berta, laying her hands on his breast, "what if it were too +late!" + +Then, turning to her father and the nurse, she said: + +"I feel very cold; let us return to the villa;" and leaning on Adrian +Baker's arm, she led the way. + +Her father and the nurse followed her in silence. The good man had +comprehended everything, but the poor woman comprehended nothing. + +What passed that night in the villa it is not necessary to relate; it was +a night of pain, of agitation, and of anguish. It was necessary to go to +the city for a physician; why? Because Berta was dying. Adrian Baker was +the image of despair; the unhappy father wept as if his heart would break, +and the nurse stole away from time to time to cry, unable to restrain her +tears. + +At dawn it was necessary to go again to the city, for the physician of the +body had exhausted the resources of science, and they were obliged to have +recourse to the physician of the soul. + +Dawn was just breaking when a priest alighted at the door of the villa. +The sick girl received him, if we may be allowed the expression, with +melancholy gladness, and a little later all was over. + +In the middle of the room, on a funeral bier, lighted by six large wax +tapers, which cast a melancholy light around, lay the body of the dead +girl. The window admitted the morning light; and the autumn wind, tearing +the dead leaves from the trees in the garden, scattered them over the +inanimate form of Berta, as if death thus rendered homage to death. + +Attracted by the light of the torches, a white butterfly flew silently in +and circled around and around the head of the dead girl. + +Watching the body were the father, leaning over the bier, bowed down under +the weight of an immeasurable grief; the nurse dissolved in tears; Adrian, +with dry and glittering eyes, pale, motionless, mute, terrible in his +anguish; and the priest with folded arms and head bent over his breast, +murmuring pious prayers. + +Such was the scene which the morning sun lighted in Berta's room. The +birds of the garden alighted on the rail of the window, but did not +venture to enter; they looked in apprehensively and flew away terrified; +they twittered on the branches of the trees, and their melancholy +chirpings seemed like sighs. + +Breathing a sigh torn from the inmost depths of his soul, Adrian Baker +exclaimed in a hollow voice: + +"Miserable man that I am! I have killed her!" + +"Ah, yes," said the priest, slowly shaking his head. "Divine Justice-- +Doubt kills." + + + + + +MAESE PEREZ, THE ORGANIST +By Gustavo Adolfo Becquer +From "Modern Ghosts." Translated by Rollo Ogden. + + + MAESE PEREZ, THE ORGANIST + +I. + +"Do you see that man with the scarlet cloak, and the white plume in his +hat, and the gold-embroidered vest? I mean the one just getting out of his +litter and going to greet that lady--the one coming along after those four +pages who are carrying torches? Well, that is the Marquis of Mascoso, +lover of the widow, the Countess of Villapineda. They say that before he +began paying court to her he had sought the hand of a very wealthy man's +daughter, but the girl's father, who they say is a trifle close-fisted-- +but hush! Speaking of the devil--do you see that man closely wrapped in +his cloak coming on foot under the arch of San Felipe? Well, he is the +father in question. Everybody in Seville knows him on account of his +immense fortune. + +"Look--look at that group of stately men! They are the twenty-four +knights. Aha! there's that Heming, too. They say that the gentlemen of the +green cross have not challenged him yet, thanks to his influence with the +great ones at Madrid. All he comes to church for is to hear the music. + +"Alas! neighbor, that looks bad. I fear there's going to be a scuffle. +I shall take refuge in the church, for, according to my guess, there will +be more blows than Paternosters. Look, look! the Duke of Alcala's people +are coming round the corner of Saint Peter's Square, and I think I see +the Duke of Medinasidonia's men in Duenas Alley. Didn't I tell you? +There--there! The blows are beginning. Neighbor, neighbor, this way before +they close the doors! + +"But what's that? They've left off. What's that light? Torches! a litter! +It's the bishop himself! God preserve him in his office as many centuries +as I desire to live myself! If it were not for him, half Seville would +have been burned up by this time with these quarrels of the dukes. Look at +them, look at them, the hypocrites, how they both press forward to kiss +the bishop's ring! + +"But come, neighbor--come into the church before it is packed full. Some +nights like this it is so crowded that you could not get in if you were no +larger than a grain of wheat. The nuns have a prize in their organist. +Other sisterhoods have made Maese Perez magnificent offers; nothing +strange about that, though, for the very archbishop has offered him +mountains of gold if he would go to the cathedral. But he would not listen +to them. He would sooner die than give up his beloved organ. You don't +know Maese Perez? Oh, I forgot you had just come to the neighborhood. +Well, he is a holy man; poor, to be sure, but as charitable as any man +that ever lived. With no relative but a daughter, and no friend but his +organ, he spends all his time in caring for the one and repairing the +other. The organ is an old affair, you must know; but that makes no +difference to him. He handles it so that its tone is a wonder. How he does +know it! and all by touch, too, for did I tell you that the poor man was +born blind? + +"Humble, too, as the very stones. He always says that he is only a poor +convent organist, when the fact is he could give lessons in sol fa to the +very chapel master of the primate. You see, he began before he had teeth. +His father had the same position before him, and as the boy showed such +talent, it was very natural that he should succeed his father when the +latter died. And what a touch he has, God bless him! He always plays well, +always; but on a night like this he is wonderful. He has the greatest +devotion to this Christmas Eve mass, and when the host is elevated, +precisely at twelve o'clock, which is the time that Our Lord came into the +world, his organ sounds like the voices of angels. + +"But why need I try to tell you about what you are going to hear to-night? +It is enough for you to see that all the elegance of Seville, the very +archbishop included, comes to a humble convent to listen to him. And it is +not only the learned people who can understand his skill that come; the +common people, too, swarm to the church, and are still as the dead when +Maese Perez puts his hand to the organ. And when the host is elevated-- +when the host is elevated, then you can't hear a fly. Great tears fall +from every eye, and when the music is over a long-drawn sigh is heard, +showing how the people have been holding their breath all through. + +"But come, come, the bells have stopped ringing, and the mass is going to +begin. Hurry in. This is Christmas Eve for everybody, but for no one is it +a greater occasion than for us." + +So saying, the good woman who had been acting as cicerone for her neighbor +pressed through the portico of the Convent of Santa Ines, and elbowing +this one and pushing the other, succeeded in getting inside the church, +forcing her way through the multitude that was crowding about the door. + + +II. + +The church was profusely lighted. The flood of light which fell from +the altars glanced from the rich jewels of the great ladies, who, +kneeling upon velvet cushions placed before them by pages, and taking +their prayer-books from the hands of female attendants, formed a brilliant +circle around the chancel lattice. Standing next that lattice, wrapped +in their richly colored and embroidered cloaks, letting their green and +red orders be seen with studied carelessness, holding in one hand their +hats, the plumes sweeping the floor, and letting the other rest upon +the polished hilts of rapiers or the jewelled handles of daggers, the +twenty-four knights, and a large part of the highest nobility of Seville, +seemed to be forming a wall for the purpose of keeping their wives and +daughters from contact with the populace. The latter, swaying back and +forth at the rear of the nave, with a noise like that of a rising surf, +broke out into joyous acclamations as the archbishop was seen to come in. +That dignitary seated himself near the high altar under a scarlet canopy, +surrounded by his attendants, and three times blessed the people. + +It was time for the mass to begin. + +Nevertheless, several minutes passed before the celebrant appeared. The +multitude commenced to murmur impatiently; the knights exchanged words +with each other in a low tone; and the archbishop sent one of his +attendants to the sacristan to inquire why the ceremony did not begin. + +"Maese Perez has fallen sick, very sick, and it will be impossible for him +to come to the midnight mass." + +This was the word brought back by the attendant. + +The news ran instantly through the crowd. The disturbance caused by it was +so great that the chief judge rose to his feet, and the officers came into +the church, to enforce silence. + +Just then a man of unpleasant face, thin, bony, and cross-eyed too, pushed +up to the place where the archbishop was sitting. + +"Maese Perez is sick," he said; "the ceremony cannot begin. If you see +fit, I will play the organ in his absence. Maese Perez is not the best +organist in the world, nor need this instrument be left unused after his +death for lack of any one able to play it." + +The archbishop nodded his head in assent, although some of the faithful, +who had already recognized in that strange person an envious rival of the +organist of Santa Ines, were breaking out in cries of displeasure. +Suddenly a surprising noise was heard in the portico. + +"Maese Perez is here! Maese Perez is here!" + +At this shout, coming from those jammed in by the door, every one looked +around. + +Maese Perez, pale and feeble, was in fact entering the church, brought in +a chair which all were quarrelling for the honor of carrying upon their +shoulders. + +The commands of the physicians, the tears of his daughter--nothing had +been able to keep him in bed. + +"No," he had said; "this is the last one, I know it. I know it, and I do +not want to die without visiting my organ again, this night above all, +this Christmas Eve. Come, I desire it, I order it; come, to the church!" + +His desire had been gratified. The people carried him in their arms to the +organ-loft. The mass began. + +Twelve struck on the cathedral clock. + +The introit came, then the Gospel, then the offertory, and the moment +arrived when the priest, after consecrating the sacred wafer, took it in +his hands and began to elevate it. A cloud of incense filled the church in +bluish undulations. The little bells rang out in vibrating peals, and +Maese Perez placed his aged fingers upon the organ keys. + +The multitudinous voices of the metal tubes gave forth a prolonged and +majestic chord, which died away little by little, as if a gentle breeze +had borne away its last echoes. + +To this opening burst, which seemed like a voice lifted up to heaven from +earth, responded a sweet and distant note, which went on swelling and +swelling in volume until it became a torrent of overpowering harmony. It +was the voice of the angels, traversing space, and reaching the world. + +Then distant hymns began to be heard, intoned by the hierarchies of +seraphim; a thousand hymns at once, mingling to form a single one, though +this one was only an accompaniment to a strange melody which seemed to +float above that ocean of mysterious echoes, as a strip of fog above the +waves of the sea. + +One song after another died away. The movement grew simpler. Now only two +voices were heard, whose echoes blended. Then but one remained, and alone +sustained a note as brilliant as a thread of light. The priest bowed his +face, and above his gray head appeared the host. At that moment the note +which Maese Perez was holding began to swell and swell, and an explosion +of unspeakable joy filled the church. + +From each of the notes forming that magnificent chord a theme was +developed; and some near, others far away, these brilliant, those muffled, +one would have said that the waters and the birds, the breezes and the +forests, men and angels, earth and heaven, were singing, each in its own +language, a hymn in praise of the Saviour's birth. + +The people listened, amazed and breathless. The officiating priest felt +his hands trembling; for it seemed as if he had seen the heavens opened +and the host transfigured. + +The organ kept on, but its voice sank away gradually, like a tone going +from echo to echo, and dying as it goes. Suddenly a cry was heard in the +organ-loft--a piercing, shrill cry, the cry of a woman. + +The organ gave a strange, discordant sound, like a sob, and then was +silent. + +The multitude flocked to the stairs leading up to the organ-loft, towards +which the anxious gaze of the faithful was turned. + +"What has happened? What is the matter?" one asked the other, and no one +knew what to reply. The confusion increased. The excitement threatened to +disturb the good order and decorum fitting within a church. + +"What was that?" asked the great ladies of the chief judge. He had been +one of the first to ascend to the organ-loft. Now, pale and displaying +signs of deep grief, he was going to the archbishop, who was anxious, like +everybody else, to know the cause of the disturbance. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Maese Perez has just expired." + +In fact, when the first of the faithful rushed up the stairway, and +reached the organ-loft, they saw the poor organist fallen face down upon +the keys of his old instrument, which was still vibrating, while his +daughter, kneeling at his feet, was vainly calling to him with tears and +sobs. + + +III. + +"Good-evening, my dear Dona Baltasara. Are you also going to-night to the +Christmas Eve mass? For my part, I was intending to go to the parish +church to hear it, but what has happened--where is Vicente going, do you +ask? Why, where the crowd goes. And I must say, to tell the truth, that +ever since Maese Perez died, it seems as if a marble slab was on my heart +whenever I go to Santa Ines. Poor dear man! He was a saint! I know one +thing--I keep a piece of his cloak as a relic, and he deserves it. +I solemnly believe that if the archbishop would stir in the matter, our +grandchildren would see his image among the saints on the altars. But, +of course, he won't do that. The dead and absent have no friends, as they +say. It's all the latest thing, nowadays; you understand me. What? You do +not know what has happened? Well, it's true you are not exactly in our +situation. From our house to the church, and from the church to our +house--a word here and another one there--on the wing--without any +curiosity whatever--I easily find out all the news. + +"Well, then, it's a settled thing that the organist of San Roman--that +squint-eye, who is always slandering other organists--that great +blunderer, who seems more like a butcher than a master of sol fa--is going +to play this Christmas Eve in Maese Perez's old place. Of course, you +know, for everybody knows it, and it is a public matter in all Seville, +that no one dared to try it. His daughter would not, though she is a +professor of music herself. After her father's death she went into the +convent as a novice. Her unwillingness to play was the most natural thing +in the world; accustomed as she was to those marvellous performances, any +other playing must have appeared bad to her, not to speak of her desire to +avoid comparisons. But when the sisterhood had already decided that in +honor of the dead organist, and as a token of respect to his memory, the +organ should not be played to-night, here comes this fellow along, and +says that he is ready to play it. + +"Ignorance is the boldest of all things. It is true, the fault is not his, +so much as theirs who have consented to this profanation, but that is the +way of the world. But, I say, there's no small bit of people coming. Any +one would say that nothing had changed since last year. The same +distinguished persons, the same elegant costumes, the crowding at the +door, the same excitement in the portico, the same throng in the church. +Alas! if the dead man were to rise, he would feel like dying again to hear +his organ played by inferior hands. The fact is, if what the people of the +neighborhood tell me is true, they are getting a fine reception ready for +the intruder. When the time comes for him to touch the keys, there is +going to break out a racket made by timbrels, drums, and horse-fiddles, so +that you can't hear anything else. But hush! there's the hero of the +occasion going into the church. Goodness! what gaudy clothes, what a +neckcloth, what a high and mighty air! Come, hurry up, the archbishop came +only a moment ago, and the mass is going to begin. Come on; I guess this +night will give us something to talk about for many a day!" + +Saying this, the worthy woman, whom the reader recognizes by her abrupt +talkativeness, went into the Church of Santa Ines, opening for herself a +path, in her usual way, by shoving and elbowing through the crowd. + +The ceremony had already begun. The church was as brilliant as the year +before. + +The new organist, after passing between the rows of the faithful in the +nave, and going to kiss the archbishop's ring, had gone up to the +organ-loft, where he was trying one stop of the organ after another, with +an affected and ridiculous gravity. + +A low, confused noise was heard coming from the common people clustered at +the rear of the church, a sure augury of the coming storm, which would not +be long in breaking. + +"He is a mere clown," said some, "who does not know how to do anything, +not even look straight." + +"He is an ignoramus," said others, "who, after having made a perfect +rattle out of the organ in his own church, comes here to profane Maese +Perez's." + +And while one was taking off his cloak so as to be ready to beat his drum +to good advantage, and another was testing his timbrel, and all were more +and more buzzing out in talk, only here and there could one be found to +defend even that curious person, whose proud and pedantic bearing so +strongly contrasted with the modest appearance and kind affability of +Maese Perez. + +At last the looked-for moment arrived, when the priest, after bowing low +and murmuring the sacred words, took the host in his hands. The bells gave +forth a peal, like a rain of crystal notes; the transparent waves of +incense rose, and the organ sounded. + +But its first chord was drowned by a horrible clamor which filled the +whole church. Bagpipes, horns, timbrels, drums, every instrument known to +the populace, lifted up their discordant voices all at once. + +The confusion and clangor lasted but a few seconds. As the noises began, +so they ended, all together. + +The second chord, full, bold, magnificent, sustained itself, pouring from +the organ's metal tubes like a cascade of inexhaustible and sonorous +harmony. + +Celestial songs like those that caress the ear in moments of ecstasy; +songs which the soul perceives, but which the lip cannot repeat; single +notes of a distant melody, which sound at intervals, borne on the breeze; +the rustle of leaves kissing each other on the trees with a murmur like +rain; trills of larks which rise with quivering songs from among the +flowers like a flight of arrows to the sky; nameless sounds, overwhelming +as the roar of a tempest; fluttering hymns, which seemed to be mounting to +the throne of the Lord like a mixture of light and sound--all were +expressed by the organ's hundred voices, with more vigor, more subtle +poetry, more weird coloring, than had ever been known before. + +When the organist came down from the loft the crowd which pressed up to +the stairway was so great, and their eagerness to see and greet him so +intense, that the chief judge, fearing, and not without reason, that he +would be suffocated among them all, ordered some of the officers to open a +path for the organist, with their staves of office, so that he could reach +the high altar, where the prelate was waiting for him. + +"You perceive," said the archbishop, "that I have come all the way from my +palace to hear you. Now, are you going to be as cruel as Maese Perez? He +would never save me the journey, by going to play the Christmas Eve mass +in the cathedral." + +"Next year," replied the organist, "I promise to give you the pleasure; +since, for all the gold in the world, I would never play this organ +again." + +"But why not?" interrupted the prelate. + +"Because," returned the organist, endeavoring to repress the agitation +which revealed itself in the pallor of his face--"because it is so old and +poor; one cannot express one's self on it satisfactorily." + +The archbishop withdrew, followed by his attendants. One after another the +litters of the great folk disappeared in the windings of the neighboring +streets. The group in the portico scattered. The sexton was locking up the +doors, when two women were perceived, who had stopped to cross themselves +and mutter a prayer, and who were now going on their way into Duenas +Alley. + +"What would you have, my dear Dona Baltasara?" one was saying. "That's the +way I am. Every crazy person with his whim. The barefooted Capuchins might +assure me that it was so, and I would not believe it. That man never +played what we have heard. Why, I have heard him a thousand times in San +Bartolome, his parish church; the priest had to send him away he was so +poor a player. You felt like plugging your ears with cotton. Why, all you +need is to look at his face, and that is the mirror of the soul, they say. +I remember, as if I was seeing him now, poor man--I remember Maese Perez's +face, nights like this, when he came down from the organ-loft, after +having entranced the audience with his splendors. What a gracious smile! +What a happy glow on his face! Old as he was, he seemed like an angel. But +this creature came plunging down as if a dog were barking at him on the +landing, and all the color of a dead man, while his--come, dear Dona +Baltasara, believe me, and believe what I say: there is some great mystery +about this." + +Thus conversing, the two women turned the corner of the alley, and +disappeared. There is no need of saying who one of them was. + +IV. + +Another year had gone by. The abbess of the Convent of Santa Ines and +Maese Perez's daughter were talking in a low voice, half hidden in the +shadows of the church choir. The penetrating voice of the bell was +summoning the faithful. A very few people were passing through the +portico, silent and deserted, this year, and after taking holy water at +the door, were choosing seats in a corner of the nave, where a handful of +residents of the neighborhood were quietly waiting for the Christmas Eve +mass to begin. + +"There, you see," the mother superior was saying, "your fear is entirely +childish; there is no one in the church. All Seville is trooping to the +cathedral to-night. Play the organ, and do it without any distrust +whatever. We are only a sisterhood here. But why don't you speak? What has +happened? What is the matter with you?" + +"I am afraid," replied the girl, in a tone of the deepest agitation. + +"Afraid! Of what?" + +"I do not know--something supernatural. Listen to what happened last +night. I had heard you say that you were anxious for me to play the organ +for the mass. I was proud of the honor, and I thought I would arrange the +stops and get the organ in good tune so as to give you a surprise to-day. +Alone I went into the choir and opened the door leading to the organ-loft. +The cathedral clock was striking just then, I do not know what hour; but +the strokes of the bell were very mournful, and they were very numerous-- +going on sounding for a century, as it seemed to me, while I stood as if +nailed to the threshold. + +"The church was empty and dark. Far away there gleamed a feeble light, +like a faint star in the sky; it was the lamp burning on the high altar. +By its flickering light, which only helped to make the deep horror of the +shadows the more intense, I saw--I saw--mother, do not disbelieve it--a +man. In perfect silence, and with his back turned towards me, he was +running over the organ-keys with one hand while managing the stops with +the other. And the organ sounded, but in an indescribable manner. It +seemed as if each note were a sob smothered in the metal tube, which +vibrated under the pressure of the air compressed within it, and gave +forth a low, almost imperceptible tone, yet exact and true. + +"The cathedral clock kept on striking, and that man kept on running over +the keys. I could hear his very breathing. + +"Fright had frozen the blood in my veins. My body was as cold as ice, +except my head, and that was burning. I tried to cry out, but I could not. +That man turned his face and looked at me--no, he did not look at me, for +he was blind. It was my father!" + +"Nonsense, sister! Banish these fancies with which the adversary endeavors +to overturn weak imaginations. Address a Paternoster and an Ave Maria to +the archangel, Saint Michael, the captain of the celestial hosts, that he +may aid you in opposing evil spirits. Wear on your neck a scapulary which +has been pressed to the relics of Saint Pacomio, the counsellor against +temptations, and go, go quickly, and sit at the organ. The mass is going +to begin, and the faithful are growing impatient. Your father is in +heaven, and thence, instead of giving you a fright, will descend to +inspire his daughter in the solemn service." + +The prioress went to occupy her seat in the choir in the midst of the +sisterhood. Maese Perez's daughter opened the door of the organ-loft with +trembling hand, sat down at the organ, and the mass began. + +The mass began, and went on without anything unusual happening until the +time of consecration came. Then the organ sounded. At the same time came a +scream from Maese Perez's daughter. + +The mother superior, the nuns, and some of the faithful rushed up to the +organ-loft. + +"Look at him!--look at him!" cried the girl, fixing her eyes, starting +from their sockets, upon the seat, from which she had risen in terror. She +was clinging with convulsed hands to the railing of the organ-loft. + +Everybody looked intently at the spot to which she directed her gaze. No +one was at the organ, yet it went on sounding--sounding like the songs of +the archangels in their bursts of mystic ecstasy. + +"Didn't I tell you a thousand times, if I did once, dear Dona Baltasara-- +didn't I tell you? There is some great mystery about this. What! didn't +you go last night to the Christmas Eve mass? Well, you must know, anyhow, +what happened. Nothing else is talked about in the whole city. The +archbishop is furious, and no wonder. Not to have gone to Santa Ines, not +to have been present at the miracle--and all to hear a wretched clatter! +That's all the inspired organist of San Bartolome made in the cathedral, +so persons who heard him tell me. Yes, I said so all the time. The +squint-eye never could have played that. It was all a lie. There is some +great mystery here. What do I think it was? Why, it was the soul of Maese +Perez." + + + + + +MOORS AND CHRISTIANS +By Pedro Antonio De Alarcon +From "Moors and Christians,", by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon. +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + MOORS AND CHRISTIANS + +I. + +The once famous but now little known town of Aldeire is situated in the +Marquisate of El Cenet, or, let us say, on the eastern slope of the +Alpujarra, and partly hangs over a ledge, partly hides itself in a ravine +of the giant central ridge of Sierra Nevada, five or six thousand feet +above the level of the sea, and seven or eight thousand below the eternal +snows of the Mulhacem. + +Aldeire, be it said with all respect to its reverend pastor, is a Moorish +town. That it was formerly Moorish is clearly proved by its name, its +situation, and its architecture, and that it is not yet completely +Christianized, although it figures among the towns of reconquered Spain, +and has its little Catholic church and its confraternities of the Virgin, +of Jesus, and of several of the saints, is proved by the character and the +customs of its inhabitants; by the perpetual feuds, as terrible as they +are causeless, which unite or separate them; and by the gloomy black eyes, +pale complexions, laconic speech, and infrequent laughter of men, women, +and children. + +But it may be well to remind our readers, in order that neither the +aforesaid pastor nor any one else may question the justice of this +reasoning, that the Moors of the Marquisate of El Cenet were not expelled +in a body, like those of the Alpujarra, but that many of them succeeded in +remaining in the country, living in concealment, thanks to the prudence-- +or the cowardice--which made them turn a deaf ear to the rash and the +heroic appeal of their unfortunate Prince, Aben Humcya; whence I infer +that Uncle Juan Gomez, nicknamed Hormiga [The Ant], in the year of grace +1821 Constitutional Alcalde of Aldeire, might very well be the descendant +of some Mustapha, Mohammed, or the like. + +It is related, then, that the aforesaid Juan Gomez--a man at the time of +our story about fifty years of age, very shrewd, although he knew neither +how to read nor write, and grasping and industrious to some purpose, as +might be inferred not only from his sobriquet, but also from his wealth, +acquired honestly or otherwise, and invested in the most fertile lands of +the district--leased, at a nominal rent, by means of a present to the +secretary of the corporation of some hens which had left off laying, a +piece of arid town land, on which stood an old ruin, formerly a Moorish +watch-tower or hermitage, and still called the Moor's Tower. + +Needless to say that Uncle Hormiga did not stop to consider for an instant +who this Moor might be, nor what might have been the original purpose of +the ruined building; the one thing which he saw at once, clear as water, +was, that with the stones which had already fallen from the ruin and those +which he should remove from it, he might make a secure and commodious yard +for his cattle; consequently, on the very day after it came into his +possession, and as a suitable pastime for a man of his thrifty habits, he +began to devote his leisure hours to the task of pulling down what still +remained standing of the ruin. + +"You will kill yourself," said his wife, seeing him come home in the +evening, covered with dust and sweat and carrying his crowbar hidden under +his cloak. + +"On the contrary," he answered, "this exercise is good for me; it will put +my blood in motion and keep me from being like our sons, the students who, +according to what the storekeeper tells me, were at the theatre in Granada +the other night looking so yellow that it was enough to make one sick to +see them." + +"Poor boys! From studying so much! But you ought to be ashamed to work +like a laborer, when you are the richest man in the town, and Alcalde into +the bargain." + +"That is why I take no one with me. Here, hand me that salad!" + +"It would be well to have some one to help you, however. You will spend an +age in pulling down the tower by yourself, and besides, you may not be +able to manage it." + +"Don't talk nonsense, Torcuata. When I begin to build the wall of the +cattle yard, I shall hire workmen, and even employ a master-builder. But +any one can pull down. And it is such fun to destroy! Come, clear away the +table and let us go to bed." + +"You speak that way because you are a man. As for me, it disturbs and +saddens me to see things destroyed." + +"Old women's notions. If you only knew how many things there are in the +world that ought to be destroyed!" + +"Hold your tongue, you free-mason! It was a misfortune they ever elected +you Alcalde. You will see when the Royalists come into power again that +the king will have you hanged!" + +"Yes, we shall see! Bigot! Hypocrite! Owl! Come, I am sleepy; stop +blessing yourself and put out that light." + +And thus they would argue until one or the other of the consorts fell +asleep. + + +II. + +One evening Uncle Hormiga returned from his work every thoughtful and +preoccupied, and earlier than usual. + +His wife waited until after he had dismissed the laborers to ask him what +was the matter, when he responded by showing her a leaden tube with a +cover, somewhat like the tube in which a soldier on furlough keeps his +leave, from which he drew a yellow parchment covered with crabbed +handwriting, and carefully unrolling it said, with imposing gravity: + +"I don't know how to read, even in Spanish, which is the easiest language +in the world, but the devil take me if this was not written by a Moor." + +"That is to say that you found it in the tower?" + +"I don't say it on that account alone, but because these spider's legs +don't look like anything I ever saw written by a Christian." + +The wife of Juan Gomez looked at the parchment, smelled it, and exclaimed, +with a confidence as amusing as it was ill-founded: + +"By a Moor it was written!" + +After a while she added, with a melancholy air: + +"Although I am but a poor hand myself at reading writing, I would swear +that we hold in our hands the discharge of some soldier of Mohammed who is +now in the bottomless pit." + +"You say that on account of the tube." + +"On account of the tube I say it." + +"Well, then, you are altogether wrong, my dear Torcuata, for such a thing +as conscription was not known among the Moors, nor is this a discharge. +This is a--a--" + +Uncle Hormiga glanced around him cautiously, lowered his voice, and said +with air of absolute certainty: + +"This paper contains directions where to find a treasure!" + +"You are right!" cried his wife, suddenly inspired with the same belief; +"and have you already found it? Is it very big? Did you cover it up +carefully again? Are the coins gold or silver? Do you think they will pass +current now? What a happiness for our boys! How they will spend money and +enjoy themselves in Granada and Madrid! I want to have a look at it. Let +us go there. There is a moon to-night!" + +"Silly woman! Be quiet! How do you suppose that I could find the treasure +by these directions, when I don't know how to read, either in Moorish or +in Christian?" + +"That's true! Well, then, I'll tell you what to do. As soon as it is +daylight, saddle a good mule, cross the Sierra through the Puerto de la +Laguna, which they say is safe now, and go to Ugijar, to the house of our +gossip, Don Matias Quesada. who knows something of everything. He will +explain what is in the paper and give you good advice, as he always does." + +"And money enough his advice has cost me, notwithstanding our gossipred! +But I was thinking of doing that myself. In the morning I will start for +Ugijar and be back by nightfall; I can do that easily by putting the mule +to his speed." + +"But be sure and explain everything to him clearly." + +"I have very little to explain. The tube was hidden in a hollow, or niche, +in the wall, and covered with tiles, like those at Valencia. I tore down +the whole of the wall, but I found nothing else. At the surface of the +ground begin the foundation walls, built of immense stones, more than a +yard square, any one of which it would take two or three men as strong as +I am to move. Consequently, it is necessary to know exactly where the +treasure is hidden, unless we want to tear up all the foundation walls of +the tower, which could not be done without outside help." + +"No no; set out for Ugijar as soon as it is daybreak. Offer our gossip a +part--not a large one--of what we may find, and as soon as we know where +we must dig, I will help you myself to tear up the foundation stones. My +darling boys! It is all for them! For my part, the only thing that +troubles me is lest there be some sin in this business that we are +whispering about." + +"What sin can there be in it, you great fool?" + +"I can't explain what I mean, but treasures have always seemed to me to +have something to do with the devil, or the fairies. And then, you got +that ground for so low a rent! The whole town says there was some trickery +in the business!" + +"That concerns the secretary and councillors. They drew up the documents." + +"Besides, as I understand, when a treasure is discovered, a part of it +must be given to the king." + +"That is when it is found on ground that is not one's own, like mine!" + +"One's own! One's own! Who knows to whom that tower the Council sold you +belonged!" + +"Why, to the Moor, of course!" + +"And who knows who that Moor may have been? It seems to me, Juan, whatever +money the Moor may have hidden in his house should belong to him, or to +his heirs, not to you or to me." + +"You are talking nonsense. According to that, it is not I who ought to be +the Alcalde of Aldeire, but the man who was Alcalde a year ago, at the +time of the proclamation of Riego. According to that, we should have to +send the rents of the lands of Granada and Guadix, and hundreds of other +towns, every year to the descendants of the Moors in Africa." + +"It may be that you are right. At any rate, go to Ugijar, and our gossip +will tell you what is best to be done in the matter." + + +III. + +Ugijar is distant from Aldeire some four leagues, and the road between the +two towns is a very bad one. Before nine o'clock on the following morning, +however, Uncle Juan Gomez, wearing his blue stockinet knee-breeches and +his embroidered white Sunday boots, was in the office of Don Matias de +Quesada, a vigorous old man, a doctor in civil and criminal jurisprudence, +the most noted criminal lawyer in that part of the country. He had always +been a promoter of lawsuits, and was very wealthy, and had a large circle +of influential acquaintances in Granada and Madrid. + +When he had heard his worthy gossip's story and had carefully examined the +paper, he gave it as his opinion that the document had nothing whatever to +do with the treasure; that the hole in which the tube had been found was a +sort of closet, and the writing one of the prayers which the Moors read +every Friday morning. But notwithstanding this, as he was not thoroughly +versed in the Arabic language, he added that he would send the document to +a college companion of his who was employed in the Commission of the Holy +Places, in Madrid, in order that he might send it to Jerusalem, where it +could be translated into Spanish, for which purpose it would be well to +inclose to his friend in Madrid a draft for a couple of ounces in gold, +for a cup of chocolate. + +Uncle Juan Gomez considered seriously before he made up his mind to pay so +high a price for a cup of chocolate (which would be paying for the article +at the rate of 10,240 reals a pound), but he was so certain in regard to +the treasure (and in truth he was not mistaken, as we shall see later on), +that he took from his belt eight gold pieces of four dollars each and +delivered them to Don Matias, who weighed them one by one before putting +them into his purse, after which Hormiga took the road back to Aldeire, +resolving in his own mind to continue his excavations under the Moor's +tower while the document went to the Holy Land and came back translated; +proceedings which, according to the lawyer, would occupy something like a +year and a half. + + +IV. + +Uncle Juan had no sooner turned his back upon his gossip and counsellor +than the latter took his pen and wrote the following letter: + +"Don Bonifacio Tudela y Gonzalez, Chapel-master of the Cathedral of Ceuta. + +"MY DEAR NEPHEW-IN-LAW,--To no one but a man of your piety would I confide +the important secret contained in the accompanying document. I say +important, because without a doubt in it are directions for finding the +hiding-place of a TREASURE, of which I will give you a part if I should +succeed in discovering it with your help. To this end you must get a Moor +to translate the document for you and send me the translation in a +certified letter, mentioning the matter to no one, unless it be your wife, +whom I know to be a person of discretion. + +"Forgive my not having written to you in all these years, but you know how +busy a life I lead. Your aunt continues to remember you in her prayers +every night. I hope you are better of the affection of the stomach from +which you were suffering in 1806, and remain your affectionate +uncle-in-law, + +"MATIAS DE QUESADA. + +"UGIJAR, January 15, 1821. + +"P.S.--Regards to Pepa, and tell me when you write if you have any +children." + +Having written this letter, the distinguished jurisconsult bent his steps +toward the kitchen, where his wife was engaged in knitting and minding +the olla, and throwing into her lap the four golden coins he had received +from Juan Gomez, he said to her, in a harsh, cross voice: + +"There, Encarnacion, buy more wheat; it is going to rise in price during +the dear months; and see to it that you get good measure. Get my breakfast +ready while I go post this letter for Seville, inquiring the price of +barley. Let the egg be well done and don't let the chocolate be muddy, as +it usually is." + +The lawyer's wife answered not a word, but went on with her knitting, like +an automaton. + + +V. + +Two weeks later, on a beautiful day in January, a day such as is to be +seen only in the north of Africa and the south of Europe, the +Chapel-master of the cathedral of Ceuta was enjoying the sunshine on the +roof of his two-story house, with the tranquillity of mind proper to one +who had played the organ at high mass and had afterward eaten a pound of +anchovies, another of meat, and another of bread, and drank the +corresponding quantity of Tarifa wine. + +The worthy musician, who was as fat as a hog and as red as a beet, was +slowly digesting his breakfast, while his lethargic gaze slowly wandered +over the magnificent panorama of the Mediterranean,--the Straits of +Gibraltar, the accursed rock from which they take their name, the +neighboring peaks of Anghera and Benzu, and the distant snows of the +Lesser Atlas--when he heard hasty steps on the stairs and his wife's +silvery voice crying joyfully: + +"Bonifacio! Bonifacio! A letter from your uncle! And a heavy letter, too!" + +"Well," answered the Chapel-master, turning around like a geographical +sphere or globe on the point on which his rotund personality rested on the +seat, "what saint can have put it into my uncle's head to remember me? I +have been living for fifteen years in this country usurped from Mohammed, +and this is the first time that Abencerrage has written to me, although I +have written to him a hundred times. Doubtless he wants me to render him +some service." + +So saying, he opened the epistle, contriving so that the Pepa of the +postscript should not be able to read its contents, and the yellow +parchment, noisily unfolding itself, greeted their eyes. + +"What has he sent us?" asked his wife, a native of Cadiz, and a blonde, +attractive and fresh-looking, notwithstanding her forty summers. + +"Don't be inquisitive, Pepita. I will tell you what is in the letter, if I +think you ought to know, as soon as I have read it. I have warned you a +thousand times to respect my letters." + +"A proper precaution for a libertine like you! At any rate be quick, and +let us see if I may know what that large paper is that your uncle has sent +you. It looks like a bank-note from the other world." + +While his wife was making these and other observations, the musician +finished reading the letter, whose contents surprised him so greatly that +he rose to his feet without the slightest effort. + +Dissimulation was so habitual with him, however, that he was able to say, +in a natural tone of voice: + +"What nonsense! The wretched man is no doubt already in his dotage! Would +you believe that he sends me this leaf from a Hebrew Bible, in order that +I may look for some Jew who will buy it, the foolish creature supposing +that he will get a fortune for it. At the same time," he added, to change +the conversation, putting the letter and the parchment into his pocket,-- +"at the same time, he asks me with much interest if we have any children." + +"He has none himself," cried Pepita quickly. "No doubt he intends to leave +us something." + +"It is more likely the miserly fellow thinks of our leaving him something. +But hark, it is striking eleven. It is time for me to go tune the organ +for vespers. I must go now. Listen, my treasure; let dinner be ready by +one, and don't forget to put a couple of good potatoes into the pot. Have +we any children! I am ashamed to tell him we have none. See, Pepa," said +the musician, after a moment, having in mind, no doubt, the Arabic +document, "if my uncle should make me his heir, or if I should ever grow +rich by any other means, I swear that I will take you to the Plaza of San +Antonio in Cadiz to live, and I will buy you more jewels than Our Lady of +Sorrows of Granada has. So good-bye for a while, my pigeon." + +And, pinching his wife's dimpled chin, he took his hat and turned his +steps--not in the direction of the cathedral, but in that of the poor +quarter of the town in which the Moorish citizens of Ceuta for the most +part live. + + +VI. + +In one of the narrowest streets of this quarter, seated on the floor or +rather on his heels, at the door of a very modest but very neat +whitewashed house, smoking a clay pipe, was a Moor of some thirty-five or +forty years of age, a dealer in eggs and chickens, which the free peasants +of Sierra Bullones and Sierra Bermeja brought to him to the gates of +Ceuta, and which he sold either in his own house or at the market, with a +profit of a hundred per cent. He wore a white woollen chivala and a black +woollen, hooded Arab cloak, and was called by the Spaniards, Manos-gordas, +and by the Moors, Admet-Ben-Carime-el-Abdoun. + +When the Moor saw the Chapel-master approaching, he rose and advanced to +meet him, making deep salaams at every step, and when they were close +together, he said cautiously: + +"You want a little Moorish girl? I bring to-morrow little dark girl of +twelve--" + +"My wife wants no more Moorish servants," answered the musician stiffly. + +Manos-gordas began to laugh. + +"Besides," continued Don Bonifacio, "your infernal little Moorish girls +are very dirty." + +"Wash!" responded the Moor, extending his arms crosswise and inclining his +head to one side. + +"I tell you I want no Moorish girls," said Don Bonifacio. "What I want +to-day is that you, who know so much that you are Interpreter of the +Fortress, should translate this document into Spanish for me." + +Manos-gordas took the document, and at the first glance murmured: + +"It is Moor--" + +"Of course, it is in Arabic. But I want to know what it says, and if you +do not deceive me I will give you a handsome present--when the business +which I am about to entrust you with is concluded." + +Meantime Admet-Ben-Carime glanced his eye over the document, turning very +pale as he did so. + +"You see that it concerns a great treasure?" the Chapel-master +half-affirmed, half-asked. + +"Me think so," stammered the Mohammedan. + +"What do you mean by saying you think so? Your very confusion tells +plainly that it is so." + +"Pardon," replied Manos-gordas, a cold sweat breaking out over his body. +"Here words modern Arabic--I understand. Here words ancient, or classic +Arabic--I no understand." + +"What do the words that you understand signify?" + +"They signify GOLD, they signify PEARLS, they signify CURSE OF ALA. But I +no understand meaning, explanations, or signs. Must see the Dervish of +Anghera--wise man and translate all. I take parchment to day and bring +parchment to-morrow, and deceive not nor rob Senor Tudela. Moor swear." + +Saying which he clasped his hands together, and, raising them to his lips, +kissed them fervently. + +Don Bonifacio reflected; he knew that in order to decipher the meaning of +this document he should be obliged to take some Moor into his confidence, +and there was none with whom he was so well acquainted and who was so well +disposed to him as Manos-gordas; he consented, therefore, to confide the +manuscript to him, making him swear repeatedly that he would return on the +following day from Anghera with the translation, and swearing to the Moor +on his side that he would give him at least a hundred dollars when the +treasure should be discovered. + +The Mussulman and the Christian then separated, and the latter directed +his steps, not to his own house, nor to the cathedral, but to the office +of a friend of his, where he wrote the following letter: + +"Senor Don Matias de Quesada y Sanchez, Alpujarra, Ugijar. + +"MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Thanks be to God that we have at last received news +of you and of Aunt Encarnacion, and as good news as Josefa and I could +desire. We, my dear uncle, although younger than you and my aunt, are full +of ailments and burdened with children, who will soon be left orphans and +compelled to beg for their bread. + +"Whoever told you that the document you sent me bore any reference to a +treasure deceived you. I have had it translated by a competent person, and +it turns out to be a string of blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ, +the Holy Virgin, and the Saints, written in Arabic verses, by a Moorish +dog of the Marquisate of El Cenet, during the rebellion of Aben-Humeya. +In view of its sacrilegious nature, and by the advice of the Senor +Penitentiary, I have just burned this impious testimony to Mohammedan +perversity. + +"Remembrances to my aunt; Josefa desires to be remembered to you both; she +is now for the tenth time in an interesting condition, and your nephew, +who is reduced to skin and bone by the wretched affection of the stomach, +which you will remember, begs that you will send him some assistance. + +"BONIFACIO. + +"CEUTA, January 29, 1821." + + +VII. + +While the Chapel-master was writing and posting this letter, +Admet-el-Abdoun was gathering together in a bundle all his wearing apparel +and household belongings, consisting of three old hooded mantles, two +cloaks of goat's wool, a mortar for grinding alcazuz, an iron lamp, and a +copper skillet full of pesetas, which he dug up from a corner of the +little yard of his house. He loaded with all this his one wife, slave, +odalisque, or whatever she might be, a woman uglier than an unexpected +piece of bad news, and filthier than her husband's conscience, and issued +forth from Ceuta, telling the soldier on guard at the gate opening on the +Moorish country that they were going to Fez for change of air, by the +advice of a veterinary; and as from that day--now more than sixty years +ago--to this no one in Ceuta or its neighborhood has ever again seen +Manos-gordas, it is obvious that Don Bonifacio Tudela y Gonzalez had not +the satisfaction of receiving from his hands the translation of the +document, either on the following, or on any other day during the +remainder of his existence; which, indeed, cannot have been very long, +since, according to reliable information, it appears that his adored +Pepita took to herself, after his death, another husband, an Asturian +drum-major residing in Marbella, whom she presented with four children, +beautiful as the sun, and that she was again a widow at the time of the +death of the king, at which epoch she gained, by competition in Malaga, +the title of gossip and the position of matron in the custom-house. + +And now let us follow Manos-gordas and learn what became of him and of the +mysterious document. + + +VIII. + +Admet-ben-Carime-el-Abdoun breathed freely, and even danced a few steps +for joy, without dancing off his ill-fastened slippers, however, as soon +as he found himself outside the massive walls of the Spanish fortress and +with all Africa before him. + +For Africa, for a true African like Manos-gordas, is the land of absolute +liberty; of a liberty anterior and superior to all human constitutions and +institutions; of a liberty resembling that enjoyed by the wild rabbits and +other wild animals of the mountain, the valley, or the desert. + +By this I mean to say that Africa is the paradise of evil-doers, the safe +asylum, the neutral ground of both men and beasts, protected here by the +intense heat and the vast extent of the deserts. As for the sultans, +kings, and beys who fancy they rule here, and the authorities and soldiers +who represent them, it may be said that they are for such subjects what +the hunter is for the hare or for the stag--a misadventure which one in a +hundred may chance to meet with, and which may or may not result fatally; +if he who meets it dies, he is remembered on the anniversary of his death; +and if he does not die, he takes himself off to a sufficient distance from +the scene of his mishap--and no more is thought about the matter. With +this digression we will now resume the thread of our story. + +"This way, Zama!" cried the Moor to his weary consort, as if he were +calling to a beast of burden. + +And instead of turning eastward, that is to say toward the gap of Anghera, +in quest of the holy sage, in accordance with his promise to Don +Bonifacio, he proceeded southward along a ravine overgrown with wild +brambles and forest trees which soon brought him to the Tetuan road; that +is to say, to the indistinct footpath which, following the indentations of +the coast, leads to Cape Negro by the valley of the Tarajar, the valley of +the Castillejos, Mount Negro, and the lakes of Azmir River, names which +are now heard by every true Spaniard with love and veneration, but which +at the time of our story had not yet been pronounced either in Spain or in +any other part of the civilized world. + +When Ben-Carime and Zama had reached the little valley of the Tarajar, +they sat down to rest for a while at the edge of the rivulet which, rising +in the heights of Sierra Bullones, runs through it, and in this wild and +secluded spot, that seemed as if it had come fresh from the Creator's hand +and had never yet been trod by the foot of man, looking out on the +solitary ocean, whose waters were untracked save, on an occasional +moonlight night, by some pirate caravel or government vessel sent from +Europe in pursuit of it, the Moorish woman proceeded to make her toilet, +performing her ablutions in the stream, and the Moor unfolded the +manuscript and read it again, manifesting no less emotion than he had +shown on the previous occasion. + +The contents of the Arabian manuscript were as follows: + +"May the benediction of Allah rest on all good men who read these lines! + +"There is no glory but the glory of Allah, whose prophet and messenger +Mohammed was and is, in the hearts of the faithful. + +"May those who rob the house of him who is at the wars, or in exile, be +accursed of Allah and of Mohammed, and die eaten up by beetles and +cockroaches! + +"Blessed be Allah, who created these and other vermin to devour the +wicked! + +"I am the _caid_ Hassan-ben-Jussef, the servant of Allah, although I am +miscalled Don Rodrigo de Acuna by the successors of the Christian dogs +who, by force and in violation of solemn compact, baptized, with a broom +of hyssop, my ill-fated ancestors, together with many other Islamites of +these kingdoms. + +"I am a captain, serving under the banner of him whose lawful title, +since the death of Aben-Humaya, is King of Andalusia, +Muley-Abdallah-Mahamud-Aben-Aboo, who does not now sit on the throne of +Granada because of the treachery and cowardice with which the Moors of +Valencia broke their oaths and compacts, failing to rise with the Moors of +Granada against the common enemy: but they will receive their reward from +Allah, and if we are conquered, they, too, will be conquered and in the +end expelled from Spain, without the merit of having fought to the last on +the field of honor in defence of their rights; and if we are the +conquerors we will cut off their heads and throw them to the swine. + +"I am, in conclusion, the lord of this tower and of all the land +surrounding it, westward to the ravine of the Fox and eastward to the +ravine of the Asparagus, so called from the luxuriant growth and +exquisite flavor of the asparagus cultivated there by my grandfather, +Sidi-Jussef-ben-Jussuf. + +"Things are going badly with us. Since the coming of the base-born Don +Juan of Austria (whom may Allah confound!) to fight against the faithful, +we have foreseen that, for the present, we shall be defeated, although in +the course of years or of centuries another Prince of the blood of the +Prophet may recover the throne of Granada which for seven hundred years +was in the possession of the Moors, and which will be theirs again when +Allah wills it, by the same right by which it was formerly possessed by +the Goths and Vandals, and before that by the Romans, and before that by +those other Africans, the Carthaginians--by the right of conquest. But +I know, as I have said, that, for the present, things are going badly with +us, and that I must very soon depart for Morocco, taking with me my +forty-three sons; that is to say, unless the Austrians capture me in the +coming battle and hang me on a tree, as I would hang all of them, if it +were in my power to do so. + +"Well, then, when I depart from this tower to engage in the last and the +decisive campaign, I leave hidden here, in a place which no one can +discover without coming across this manuscript, all my gold, all my +silver, all my pearls, my family treasures, the possessions of my fathers, +of myself, and of my heirs; the fortune of which I am lord and master by +human and divine right, as the bird is of its feathers, or the child of +the teeth he cuts with suffering, or as every mortal is of the bad humors, +cancerous or leprous, which he may inherit from his ancestors. + +"Stay thy hand, then, oh thou, Moor, Christian, or Jew, who, in tearing +down this, my dwelling, mayest discover and read these lines which I +am now writing! Stay thy hand and respect the treasure-house of thy +fellow-mortal! Touch not his estate! Take not possession of that which +belongs to another! Here there is none of the public wealth, nothing +belonging to the exchequer, nothing belonging to the state. The gold in +the mine may belong of right to him who discovers it, and a part of it to +the king of the country; but gold melted down and stamped--money, coin-- +belongs to its owner and to no one but its owner. Rob me not, therefore, +evil man! Rob not my descendants who will come, on the day appointed, to +take possession of their inheritance. And if thou shouldst, without evil +intent, and by chance discover my treasure, I counsel thee to make public +proclamation, calling on and notifying the circumstance to the heirs of +Hassan-ben-Jussef; for it is not just to keep that which has been found +when it has a lawful owner. + +"If thou doest not this, be accursed, with the curse of Allah, and with my +curse! And mayest thou be struck dead by lightning! And may each coin of +my money and each pearl of my treasure become a scorpion in thy hands! And +may thy children die of leprosy, may their fingers rot and drop off, so +that they may not have even the pleasure of scratching themselves! And may +the woman thou lovest love thy slave and betray thee for him. And may thy +eldest daughter leave thy house secretly with a Jew! And mayest thou be +impaled upon a stake, and suspended on high, exposed to the public gaze, +until by the weight of thy body the stake pierce thy crown and thou fall +parted asunder on the ground like a loathsome toad cut in twain by the +hoe! + +"Now thou knowest what I would have thee know, and let all men know it, +and blessed be Allah who is Allah! + +"Tower of Zoraya, in Aldeire, in El Cenet, On the fifteenth day of the +month of Saphar, Of the year of the Hegira 968. + +"HASSEN-BEN-JUSSEF." + + +IX. + +Manos-gordas was profoundly impressed by a second reading of this +document; not because of the moral maxims or the terrible curses it +contained, for the rascal had lost his faith both in Allah and in +Mohammed, through his frequent intercourse with the Christians and the +Jews of Tetuan and Ceuta, who naturally scoffed at the Koran, but because +he believed that his face, his accent, and some other personal +peculiarities of his forbade his going to Spain, where he would find +himself exposed to certain death should any Christian man or woman +discover him to be an enemy to the Virgin Mary. + +"Besides, what aid" (in the opinion of Manos-gordas) "could a foreigner, a +Mohammedan, a semi-barbarian, expect from the laws or the authorities of +Spain, in acquiring possession of the Tower of Zoraya for the purpose of +making excavations there, or what protection in retaining possession of +the treasure when he should have discovered it, or even of his life? There +is no help for it," was the conclusion to which he came, after much +reflection. "I must trust the secret to the renegade Ben-Munuza. He is a +Spaniard, and his companionship will protect me from danger in that +country. But as there does not exist under the canopy of heaven a wickeder +man than this same renegade, it will not be amiss to take some +precautions." + +And, as a result of his reflections, he took from his pocket writing +materials, wrote a letter, and inclosed it in an envelope, which he sealed +with a bit of moistened bread, and this done, he burst into a sardonic +laugh. + +He then looked at his wife, who was still engaged in removing the filth of +an entire year from her person, at the expense of the material and moral +cleanliness of the poor rivulet, and having attracted her attention by a +whistle, he deigned to address her in these terms: + +"Sit down here beside me, fig-face, and listen to what I am going to say. +You can afterward finish washing yourself--and well you need it--and +perhaps I may then think you worthy of something better than the daily +drubbing by which I show my affection for you. But for the present, +brazenface, leave off your grimaces, and listen well to what I am going to +tell you." + +The Moorish woman, who after her toilet looked younger and more artistic, +though no less ugly than before, licked her lips like a cat, fixed the two +carbuncles that served her for eyes on Manos-gordas, and said, showing her +broad white teeth, that bore no resemblance to those of a human being: + +"Speak, my lord, your slave desires only to serve you." + +Manos-gordas continued: + +"If, in the future, any misfortune should happen to me, or if I should +suddenly disappear without taking leave of you, or if, after taking leave +of you, you should hear nothing from me within six weeks' time, make your +way back to Ceuta and put this letter in the post. Do you understand fully +what I have said, monkey-face?" + +Zama burst into tears and exclaimed: + +"Admet, do you intend to abandon me?" + +"Don't be an ass, woman!" answered the Moor. "Who is talking of such a +thing now? You know very well that you please me and that you are useful +to me. The question now is whether you have understood my charge +perfectly." + +"Give it here!" said the Moorish woman, taking the letter and placing it +in her dark-skinned bosom, next her heart. "If any evil should happen to +you, this letter shall be placed in the post at Ceuta, though I should +drop dead the moment after." + +Aben-Carime smiled with a human smile when he heard these words, and +deigned to let his eyes rest upon his wife as if she were a human being. + + +X. + +The Moorish couple must have slept soundly and sweetly among the thickets +on the roadside that night, for it was fully nine o'clock on the following +morning when they reached the foot of Cape Negro. + +At that place there is a village of Arab shepherds and husbandmen, called +Medick, consisting of a few huts, a morabito or Mohammedan hermitage, and +a well of fresh water, with its curb-stone and its copper bucket, like the +wells we see represented in certain biblical scenes. + +At this hour the village was completely deserted, its inhabitants having +betaken themselves, with their cattle and their implements of labor, to +the neighboring hills and glens. + +"Wait for me here," said Manos-gordas to his wife. "I am going in quest of +Ben-Munuza, who at this hour is probably ploughing his fields on the other +side of yonder hill." + +"Ben-Munuza!" exclaimed Zama, with a look of terror; "the renegade of whom +you spoke to me?" + +"Make your mind easy," returned Manos-gordas. "I have the upper hand now. +In a few hours I shall be back and you will see him following me like a +dog. This is his cabin. Wait for us inside, and make us a good mess of +alcazus, with the maize and the butter you will find at hand. You know I +like it well cooked. Ah, I forgot. If I should not be back before +nightfall, ascend the hill, crossover to the other side, and if you do not +find me there, or if you should find my dead body, return to Ceuta and +post this letter.--Another thing: if you should find me dead, search my +clothing for this parchment; if you do not find it upon me, you will know +that Ben-Munuza has robbed me of it; in which case proceed from Ceuta to +Tetuan and denounce him as a thief and an assassin to the authorities. +That is all I have to tell you. Farewell!" + +The Moorish woman wept bitterly as Manos-gordas took the path that led to +the summit of the neighboring hill. + + +XI. + +On reaching the other side of the hill Manos-gordas descried in a glen, a +short distance off, a corpulent Moor dressed in white, ploughing the black +earth with the help of a fine yoke of oxen, in patriarchal fashion. This +man, who seemed a statue of Peace carved in marble, was the morose and +dreaded renegade, Ben-Munuza, the details of whose story would make the +reader shudder with horror, if he were to hear them. + +Suffice it for the present to say that he was some forty years old, that +he was active, vigorous, and robust, and that he was of a gloomy cast of +countenance, although his eyes were blue as the sky, and his beard yellow +as the African sunlight, which had bronzed his originally fair complexion. + +"Good-morning, Manos-gordas!" cried the renegade, as soon as he perceived +the Moor. + +And his voice expressed the melancholy pleasure the exile feels in a +foreign land when he meets some one with whom he can converse in his +native tongue. + +"Good-morning, Juan Falgueira!" responded Ben-Carime, in ironical accents. + +As he heard this name the renegade trembled from head to foot, and seizing +the iron bar of the plough prepared to defend himself. + +"What name is that you have just pronounced?" he said, advancing +threateningly toward Manos-gordas. + +The latter awaited his approach, laughing, and answered in Arabic, with a +courage which no one would have supposed him to possess: + +"I have pronounced your real name; the name you bore in Spain when you +were a Christian, and which I learned when I was in Oran three years ago." + +"In Oran?" + +"Yes, in Oran. What is there extraordinary in that? You had come from Oran +to Morocco; I went to Oran to buy hens. I inquired there concerning your +history, describing your appearance, and some Spaniards living there +related it to me. I learned that you were a Galician, that your name was +Juan Falgueira, and that you had escaped from the prison of Granada, on +the eve of the day appointed for your execution, for having robbed and +murdered, fifteen years ago, a party of gentlemen, whom you were serving +in the capacity of muleteer. Do you still doubt that I know who you are?" + +"Tell me, my soul," responded the renegade, in a hollow voice, looking +cautiously around, "have you related this story to any of the Moors? Does +any one but yourself in this accursed land know it? Because the fact is, I +want to live in peace, without having any one or anything to remind me of +that fatal deed which I have well expiated. I am a poor man. I have +neither family, nor country, nor language, nor even the God who made me +left to me. I live among enemies, with no other wealth than these oxen and +these fields, bought by the fruit of ten years' sweat and toil. +Consequently, you do very wrong to come and tell me--" + +"Hold!" cried Manos-gordas, greatly alarmed. "Don't cast those wolfish +glances at me, for I come to do you a great service, and not to vex you +needlessly. I have told your unfortunate story to no one. What for? Any +secret may be a treasure, which he who tells gives away. There are, +however, occasions in which an EXCHANGE OF SECRETS may be made with +profit. For instance, I am going to tell you an important secret of mine, +which will serve as security for yours, and which will oblige us to be +friends for the rest of our lives." + +"I am listening; go on," responded the renegade quietly. + +Aben-Carime then read aloud the Arabic document, which Juan Falgueira +listened to without moving a muscle of his still angry countenance. +The Moor seeing this, in order to dispel his distrust, disclosed to him +the fact that he had stolen the paper he had just read from a Christian in +Ceuta. + +The Spaniard smiled slightly to think how great must be the huckster's +fear of him to cause him voluntarily to reveal to him his theft, and poor +Manos-gordas, encouraged by Ben-Munuza's smile, proceeded to disclose his +plans, in the following terms: + +"I take it for granted that you understand perfectly well the importance +of this document and the reason of my reading it to you. I know not where +the Tower of Zoraya, nor Aldeire, nor El Cenet is, nor do I know how to go +to Spain, nor should I be able to find my way through that country if I +were there; besides which, the people would kill me for not being a +Christian, or at least they would despoil me of the treasure after I had +found it, if not before. For all these reasons, I require that a trusty +and loyal Spaniard should accompany me, a man whose life shall be in my +power, and whom I can send to the gallows with half a word; a man, in +short like you, Juan Falgueira, who, after all, have gained nothing by +robbing and murdering, since you are now toiling here like a donkey, when +with the millions I am going to procure you, you can go to America, to +France, or to India, and enjoy yourself, and live in luxury, and rise in +time perhaps to be king. What do you think of my plan?" + +"That it is well put together, like the work of a Moor," responded +Ben-Munuza, in whose nervous hands, clasped behind his back, the iron bar +swung back and forth like a tiger's tail. + +Manos-gordas smiled with satisfaction, thinking that his proposition was +already accepted. + +"But," added the sombre Galician, "there is one thing you have not +considered." + +"And what is that?" asked Ben-Carime, throwing back his head with a +comical expression, and fixing his eyes on vacancy, like one who is +prepared to hear some trivial and easily answered objection. + +"You have not considered that I should be an unmitigated fool if I were to +accompany you to Spain to put you in possession of half a treasure, +relying upon your putting me in possession of the other half. I say this +because you would only have to say half a word the day we arrived at +Aldeire, and you thought yourself free from danger, to rid yourself of my +company and avoid giving me my half of the treasure, after it was found. +In truth, you are not the clever man you imagine yourself to be, but only +a simpleton deserving of pity, who have deliberately walked into a trap +from which there is no escape, in telling me where this great treasure is +to be found, and telling me at the same time that you know my history, and +that if I were to accompany you to Spain you would there be absolute +master of my life. And what need, then, have I of you? What need have I of +your help to go and take possession of the entire treasure myself? What +need have I of you in the world at all? Who are you, now that you have +read me that document, now that I can take it from you?" + +"What are you saying?" cried Manos-gordas, who all at once felt a chill, +like that of death, strike to the marrow of his bones. + +"I am saying--nothing. Take that!" replied Juan Falgueira, dealing +Ben-Carime a tremendous blow on the head with the iron bar. The Moor +rolled over on the ground, the blood gushing from his eyes, nose, and +mouth, without uttering a single sound. + +The unfortunate man was dead. + + +XII. + +Three or four weeks after the death of Manos-gordas, somewhere about the +20th of February, 1821, it was snowing, if it ever were to snow, in the +town of Aldeire, and throughout the beautiful Andalusian sierra to which +the snow gives existence, as it were, and a name. + +It was Carnival Sunday, and the church bell was for the fourth time +summoning to mass with its thin, clear tones, like those of a child, the +shivering Christians of this parish (too near to heaven for their +comfort), who found it difficult, on so raw and inclement a day, to bring +themselves to leave their beds or to move away from the fire, saying, +perhaps, in excuse for their not doing so, that on the three days before +Ash-Wednesday worship should be rendered not to God, but to the devil. + +Some such excuse as this, at least, was given by Uncle Juan Gomez in +answer to the arguments with which his pious wife, our friend, Dame +Torcuata, tried to persuade him to give up drinking brandy and eating +biscuits, and accompany her, instead, to mass, like a good Christian, +regardless of the criticisms of the schoolmaster or the other electors of +the liberal party. And the dispute was beginning to grow warm, when +suddenly Genaro, his honor's head shepherd, entered the kitchen, and +taking off his hat, and scratching his head with the same movement, said: + +"God give us good-day, Senor Juan and Senora Torcuata! You must have +guessed already that something has happened up above to bring me down here +on a day like this, it not being my Sunday for going to hear mass. I hope +you are both well!" + +"There! there! I'll wait no longer!" cried the Alcalde's wife, +impatiently, folding her mantilla over her breast. "It was decreed that +you were not to hear mass to-day. You have drink enough there, and +conversation enough for the whole day, discussing the question as to +whether the goats are with kid or whether the young rams are beginning to +get their horns. You will go to perdition, Juan, you will go to perdition, +if you don't soon make your peace with the church and give up the accursed +alcaldeship!" + +When Dame Torcuata had departed, the Alcalde handed a biscuit and a glass +of brandy to the head shepherd, saying: + +"Women's nonsense, Uncle Genaro! Draw your chair up to the fire and tell +me what you have to say. What is going on up above there?" + +"Oh, a mere nothing! Yesterday, Francisco, the goat-keeper, saw a man +dressed like a native of Malaga, with long trousers and a linen jacket, +and wrapped in a blanket, go into the cattle-yard you are making, from the +open side, and walk around the Moor's Tower, examining it and measuring +it, as if he were a master-builder. Francisco asked him what he was doing, +to which the stranger answered by asking in his turn who was the owner of +the tower, and Francisco saying that he was no less a person than the +Alcalde of the town, the stranger replied that he would speak with his +honor and explain his plans to him. Night soon fell, and as the man +pretended to be going away, the goat-herd went to his hut, which, as you +know, is but a short distance from the tower. Some two hours later the +same Francisco noticed that strange noises proceeded from the tower, in +which he also observed a light burning, all which terrified him so +greatly, that he did not even venture to go to my hut to tell me of what +he had seen and heard. This he did as soon as it was daylight, saying in +addition that the noises he had heard in the tower were kept up all night. +As I am an old man and have served my king and am not easily frightened, I +went at once to the Moor's Tower, accompanied by Francisco, who trembled +at every step he took, and we discovered the stranger, wrapped up in his +blanket, asleep in a little room on the ground floor where the plaster +still remains on the ceiling. I wakened the mysterious stranger and +reproved him for spending the night in a strange house without its owner's +permission, to which he answered that the building was not a house, but a +heap of ruins, where a poor wayfarer might very well take shelter on a +snowy night, and that he was ready to present himself before you and tell +you who he was and what his business and his plans were. I have brought +him with me, therefore, and he is now out in the yard with the goatherd, +waiting for your permission to enter." + +"Let him come in," answered Uncle Hormiga, rising to his feet, greatly +disturbed, for the thought had presented itself to his mind at the head +shepherd's first words, that all this was closely connected with the +celebrated treasure, the hope of discovering which, by his own unaided +exertions, he had abandoned, a week before, after he had removed, without +result, several of the heaviest of the foundation stones. + + +XIII. + +Here, then, we have, face to face and alone, Uncle Juan Gomez and the +stranger. + +"What is your name?" the former asked the latter, with all the +imperiousness warranted by his exalted office, and without inviting him to +be seated. + +"My name is Jaime Olot," responded the mysterious stranger. + +"You do not speak like a native of this country. Are you English?" + +"I am a Catalan." + +"Ah, a Catalan! That may be. And what brings you to these parts? And, +above all, what the devil were you doing yesterday measuring my tower?" + +"I will tell you. I am a miner by profession, and I have come to this +country, which is famous for its copper and silver mines, in search of +work. Yesterday afternoon, passing by the Moor's Tower, I saw that a wall +was being built with the stones that had been taken from it, and that it +would be necessary to tear down a great deal more of the building in order +to finish the wall. There is no one who can equal me in pulling down +buildings, whether by the use of tools or with hands only, for I have the +strength of an ox, and the idea occurred to me that I might be able to +make a contract with the owner of the tower to pull it down and dig up the +foundation stones." + +Uncle Hormiga, with a wink of his little gray eyes, responded, dwelling +upon every word: + +"Well, that arrangement does not suit me." + +"I would do the work for very little--almost nothing." + +"Now it would suit me less than before." + +The so-called Jaime Olot was puzzled not a little by the mysterious +answers of Uncle Juan Gomez, and he tried to get some clue to their +meaning from the expression of his face; but as he was unsuccessful in his +efforts to read the fox-like countenance of his honor, he added, with +feigned naturalness: + +"It would not displease me, either, to repair a part of the old building +and to live there, cultivating the ground that you had intended for a +cattle-yard. I will buy from you, then, the Moor's Tower with the ground +around it." + +"I do not wish to sell it," responded Uncle Hormiga. + +"But I will pay you double what it is worth!" said the self-styled Catalan +emphatically. + +"It would suit me now less than ever to sell it," replied the Andalusian, +with so crafty and insulting a look that his interlocutor took a step +backward, suddenly becoming conscious that he was treading on false +ground. + +He reflected for a moment, therefore, and then raising his head with a +determined air, and clasping his hands behind his back, he said, with a +cynical laugh: + +"So, then, you know that there is a TREASURE on that ground!" + +Uncle Juan Gomez leaned over in his seat, and scanning the Catalan from +head to foot, exclaimed with a comical air: + +"What vexes me is that you, too, should know it!" + +"And it would vex you much more if I should tell you that I am the only +person who knows it with certainty." + +"That is to say, that you know the precise spot in which the treasure is +buried?" + +"I know the precise spot, and it would not take me twenty-four hours to +disinter all the wealth that lies hidden there." + +"According to that you have in your possession a certain document--" + +"Yes; I have a document of the time of the Moors, half a yard square, in +which all the necessary directions to find the treasure are given." + +"And tell me--this document--" + +"I do not carry it about with me, nor is there any reason why I should do +so, since I know it word for word by heart, both in Spanish and in Arabic. +Oh, I am not such a fool as ever to deliver myself up, bag and baggage, +to the enemy! So that before coming to this country I concealed the +document--where no one but myself will ever be able to find it." + +"In that case there is no more to be said. Senor Jaime Olot, let us come +to an understanding, like two good friends," exclaimed the Alcalde, at the +same time pouring out a glass of brandy for the stranger. + +"Let us come to an understanding!" repeated the stranger, taking a seat +without waiting for further permission, and drinking his brandy with +gusto. + +"Tell me," continued Uncle Hormiga, "and tell me without lying, so that I +may learn to put faith in you--" + +"Ask what you wish; when it does not suit me to speak I shall be silent." + +"Do you come from Madrid?" + +"No. It is twenty-five years since I was in the capital, for the first and +last time." + +"Do you come from the Holy Land?" + +"No; that is not in my line." + +"Are you acquainted with a lawyer of Ugijar, called Don Matias de +Quesada?" + +"No; I hate lawyers and all people who live by the pen." + +"Well, then, how did this document fall into your possession?" + +Jaime Olcot was silent. + +"I like that! I see you don't want to lie!" exclaimed the Alcalde. "But +there cannot be a doubt that Don Matias de Quesada cheated me as if I were +a Chinese, stealing from me two ounces in gold, and then selling that +document to some one in Melilla or Ceuta. And the fact is, although you +are not a Moor, you look as if you had lived in those countries." + +"Don't fatigue yourself, or lose your time guessing further. I will set +your doubts at rest. This lawyer you speak of must have sent the +manuscript to a Spaniard in Ceuta, from whom it was stolen three weeks ago +by the Moor from whose possession it passed into mine." + +"Ah! now I see. He must have sent it to a nephew of his who is a musician +in the cathedral of that city--one Bonafacio de Tudela." + +"It is very likely." + +"What a wretch that Don Matias is! To cheat his gossip in this way! But +see how chance has brought the document back to my hands again!" + +"To mine, you would say," observed the stranger. + +"To ours!" returned the Alcalde, again filling the glasses. "Why, then, we +are millionaires. We will divide the treasure equally between us, since +you cannot dig in that ground without my permission, nor can I find the +treasure without the help of the document which has fallen into your +possession. That is to say, that chance has made us brothers. From this +day forth you shall live in my house--another glass--and the instant we +have finished breakfast, we will begin to dig." + +The conference had reached this point when Dame Torcuata returned from +mass. Her husband told her all that had passed, and presented to her Don +Jaime Olot. The good woman heard with as much fear as joy the news that +the treasure was on the eve of discovery, crossing herself repeatedly on +learning of the treachery and baseness of her gossip, Don Matias de +Quesada, and she looked with terror at the stranger, whose countenance +filled her with a presentiment of coming misfortune. + +Knowing, however, that she must give this man his breakfast, she went into +the pantry to take from it the choicest articles it contained--that is to +say, a tenderloin with pickle sauce, and a sausage of the last killing, +saying to herself, however, as she uncovered the jars: + +"Time it is that the treasure should be discovered, for whether it is to +be found or not, it has already cost us the thirty-two dollars for the +famous cup of chocolate, the long-standing friendship of our gossip, Don +Matias, these fine slices of meat, that would have made so rich a dish, +dressed with peppers and tomatoes, in the month of August, and the having +so forbidding-looking a stranger as a guest. Accursed be treasures, and +mines, and the devils, and everything that is underground, excepting only +water and the faithful departed!" + + +XIV. + +While Dame Torcuata was making these reflections to herself, as she went, +with a pan in either hand, toward the fire, cries and hisses of women and +children resounded in the street, mingled with other voices in a lower +key, saying: + +"Senor Alcalde! Open the door! The city authorities are entering the town +with a troop of soldiers!" + +Jaime Olot became yellower than wax when he heard these words, and +clasping his hands together, he said: + +"Hide me, Senor Alcalde! Otherwise we shall not find the treasure! The +authorities have come in search of me!" + +"In search of you? And why so? Are you a criminal?" + +"I knew it!" cried Aunt Torcuata. "From that gloomy face no good could +come. All this is the doing of Lucifer!" + +"Quick! quick!" resumed the stranger. Take me out by the back door!" + +"Very good, but first give me directions where to find the treasure," said +Uncle Hormiga. + +"Senor Alcalde!" the cry was repeated outside the door, "open! The town is +surrounded! It seems it is that man who has been shut up with you for the +last hour they are in search of!" + +"Open to the authorities!" an imperious voice now cried, accompanied by a +loud knocking at the door. + +"There is no help for it!" said the Alcalde, going to open the door, while +the stranger tried to escape into the yard by the other door. + +But the head shepherd and the goat-herd, who were on the alert, cut off +his egress, and they and the soldiers, who had now also entered the room, +seized and bound him securely, although the renegade displayed in the +struggle the strength and agility of a tiger. + +The constable of the court, who had under his command a clerk and twenty +foot-soldiers, meantime told the Alcalde the causes of and reasons for +this noisy arrest. + +"This man," he said, "with whom you have been shut up I don't know why-- +talking of I don't know what--is the famous Galician, Juan Falgueira, who, +fifteen years ago, robbed and murdered a party of gentlemen, whose +muleteer he was, in a certain hamlet of Granada, and who escaped from the +chapel on the eve of the day appointed for his execution, dressed in the +habit of the friar who was administering to him the consolations of +religion, and whom he left there half-strangled. The king himself--whom +Heaven preserve--received, a fortnight ago, a letter from Ceuta, signed by +a Moor named Manos-gordas, saying that Juan Falgueira, after long +residence in Oran and other points in Africa, was about to embark for +Spain, and that it would be an easy matter to seize him in Aldeire in El +Cenet, where it was his intention to purchase a Moorish tower and to +devote himself to mining. At the same time a communication was received by +the government from the Spanish Consul in Tetuan, stating that a Moorish +woman called Zama had presented herself before him to make complaint +against the Spanish renegade, Ben-Manuza, formerly called Juan Falgueira, +who had just sailed for Spain, after having assassinated the Moor, +Manos-gordas, the complainant's husband, and robbed him of a certain +precious document. For all which reasons, and chiefly on account of the +attempt against the life of the friar in the chapel, His Majesty the King +strongly urged upon the authorities of Granada the arrest of the criminal +and his immediate execution in that city." + +Let the reader picture to himself the terror and astonishment with which +this narration was listened to by all present, as well as the despair of +Uncle Hormiga, who could not now doubt that the document was in the +possession of this man condemned to death. + +The avaricious Alcalde, then, at the risk of compromising himself still +further, called aside Juan Falgueira and held a whispered conversation +with him, having previously informed the assemblage that he was going to +try to prevail upon the renegade to confess his crime before God and men. +What passed between the two PARTNERS, however, was really what follows: + +"Gossip!" said Uncle Hormiga, "not Heaven itself could now save you! But +you must feel that it would be a pity that that document should be lost. +Tell me where you have hidden it." + +"Gossip!" responded the Galician, "with that document, or, in other words, +with the treasure it represents, I intend to purchase my pardon. Procure +for me the royal favor, and I will deliver the document to you; but for +the present I shall offer it to the judges to bribe them to declare my +sentence null and void by prescription." + +"Gossip!" replied Uncle Hormiga, "you are a wise man, and I shall be glad +if you succeed in your purpose. But if you fail, for God's sake do not +carry to the tomb a secret which will profit no one!" + +"Be certain, I shall take it with me!" answered Juan Falgueira. "I must +have my revenge upon the world in some way." + +"Let us proceed!" here cried the constable, putting an end to this strange +conference. + +And the condemned man, being chained and handcuffed, the officers of +justice and the soldiers proceeded with him in the direction of the city +of Guadix, whence they were to conduct him to Granada. + +"The devil! the devil!" the wife of Uncle Hormiga Juan Gomez kept +repeating to herself for an hour afterward, as she returned the +tenderloin and the sausage to their respective jars. "My curse upon +all treasures--past, present, and to come!" + + +XV. + +Needless to say that Uncle Hormiga found no means of procuring Juan +Falgueira's pardon, nor did the judges condescend to listen seriously to +the offers which the latter made them of delivering to them a treasure on +condition that they should relinquish the prosecution against him; nor did +the terrible Galician consent to disclose the hiding-place of the document +nor the whereabouts of the treasure to the bold Alcalde of Aldeire--who, +with this hope, had the face to visit him in the chapel in the prison of +Granada. + +Juan Falgueira, then, was hanged on the Friday preceding Good Friday, in +the Paseo del Triumfo, and Uncle Hormiga, on his return to Aldeire, on +Palm Sunday, fell ill with typhoid fever, the disease running its course +so quickly that on Wednesday of Holy Week he confessed himself and made +his will and expired on the morning of Easter Saturday. + +But before his death he wrote a letter to Don Matias de Quesada, +reproaching him with his treachery and dishonesty (which had caused the +deaths of three persons), and forgiving him like a Christian, on condition +that he should return to Dame Torcuata the thirty-two dollars for the cup +of chocolate. + +This dreadful letter reached Ugijar simultaneously with the news of the +death of Uncle Juan Gomez, both which events, coming together, affected +the old lawyer to such a degree that he never recovered his spirits again, +and he died shortly afterward, having written in his last hour a terrible +letter, full of reproaches and maledictions, to his nephew, the +Chapel-master of Ceuta, accusing him of having deceived and robbed him, +and of being the cause of his death. + +To the reading of this just and tremendous accusation was due, it is said, +the stroke of apoplexy that sent Don Bonifacio to the tomb. + +So that the suspicion, merely, of the existence of a hidden treasure was +the cause of five deaths, and of many other misfortunes, matters remaining +in the end as hidden and mysterious as they were in the beginning, since +Dame Torcuata, who was the only person in the world who knew the history +of the fatal document, took good care never to mention it thereafter in +the whole course of her life, thinking, as she did, that it had all been +the work of the devil, and the necessary consequence of her husband's +dealings with the enemies of the Church and the Throne. + + + + + +BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS +By Fernan Caballero +Translated by Mary J. Serrano. + + + BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS + + +CHAPTER I. + +Although the villages of the sierras of Andalusia, owing to their +elevation, enjoy in summer a milder temperature than those of the plains, +during the middle hours of the day the sun reflected from the rocks that +abound in this mountainous region, produces a dry and ardent heat, which +is more transitory, indeed, but also more irritating than that of the +plains. The chief sufferers from its ardors are the wandering reapers, +who, after finishing the labors of the harvest in their own province, go +in search of work to the provinces where the harvest has not yet been +gathered in. The greater number of the reapers of the province of Granada +go to the sierra of Ronda, where they are welcomed, and where their +toilsome labors are well rewarded, so that they are able to lay by some +money, unless indeed sickness, that scourge of the poor, prostrates them +and consumes their earnings or terminates their existence. + +In a more pious age a small hospital for poor strangers was established in +Bornos, which is one of the villages that, like a fringe, border the slope +of the sierra; an hospital which remained closed in winter, but which in +summer received many of the poor reapers who were prostrated by the +intense heat, and who had no home or family in the village. + +On a hot summer day, early in the thirties, a woman with a kind and gentle +countenance was seated at the door of her cottage, in the village above +mentioned, engaged in chopping the tomatoes and peppers and crumbling the +bread for the wholesome, nutritious, and savory gazpacho which was to +serve for the family supper; her two children, a boy of seven and a girl +of five, were playing not far from her in the street. + +As Bornos is almost entirely surrounded by orchards and orange groves, +planted on the slopes of the tableland on which the village is seated, and +which at this hour are irrigated by the clear and abundant waters of its +springs, every breeze brought with it the perfume of the leaves and the +melodious strains of the birds singing their evening hymn to the sun, +filling the air with coolness, as if kind Mother Nature made of her trees +a fan to cool the brow of her favorite child, man. The front of the house +was already steeped in shadow, while the sun still gilded the irregular +crests of the mountains on the opposite side of the valley that, like +patient camels, supported the load of vines, olive groves, and cornfields +confided to them by man. + +The mother, occupied with her task, had not observed that a poorly clad +little boy had joined her children and that they were talking together. + +"Who are you?" said the Bornos boy to the stranger; "I have never seen you +before. What is your name?" + +"Michael; and yours?" + +"Gaspar." + +"And my name is Catherine," said the little girl, who desired also to make +the strange boy's acquaintance. + +"I know the story of St. Catherine," said the latter. + +"Oh, do you? Tell it to us." + +The boy recited the following verses: + + "To-morrow will be St. Catherine's day, + When to heaven she will ascend and St. Peter will say, + 'What woman is that who asks to be let in?' + 'I am Catherine,' she will answer, 'and I want to come in.' + 'Enter, little dove, in your dove-cote, then.'" + +"What a lovely story!" exclaimed the girl. "Don't you know another?" + +"Look, Catherine," cried her brother, who was eating roasted beans; "there +is a little dead snail in this bean, a roasted snail." + +"Will you give me some beans?" begged the strange child. + +"Yes, here are some. Are you very, very fond of roasted beans?" + +"Yes, very; but I asked you for them because I am very hungry." + +"Why, have you had no dinner?" + +"No." + +"Nor any breakfast, either?" + +"No." + +"Mother, mother," cried both the children together, running to their +mother; "this poor little boy hasn't had any dinner or any breakfast, and +he is very hungry; give us some bread for him." + +"He has had no dinner, you say?" said the good woman, giving the child a +piece of bread with that compassionate tenderness which seems innate in +women toward children; "have you no parents, then, my child?" + +"Yes, but they have no bread to give me." + +"Poor little boy! And where are your parents?" + +"Over there," answered the boy, pointing in the direction of a lane that +ran between garden walls, at right angles with the street. + +The good woman, followed by the children, went to the lane. + +On the dry grass, with his face turned to the wall, lay a man, miserably +clad and apparently lifeless; a handkerchief was tied round his head; near +him lay a sickle that had fallen from his nerveless grasp; seated on the +ground beside him was a woman, who, with her thin cheek resting on her +emaciated hand, was gazing fixedly at him through the tears that rolled +down her sad face, as on a rainy day the water trickles down the walls of +a deserted ruin. The last rays of the setting sun, lingering in the lane, +illumined the melancholy group with a light tender and sorrowful as a +farewell glance. + +Approaching the stranger, the good woman, whose name was Maria, said to +her: + +"Senora, what is the matter with your husband?" + +"He has a fever that is killing him," answered the stranger, bursting into +sobs. + +"Holy Mary!" cried the mother of the children compassionately. "And why +don't you let people know about it and ask them to help you? Are we living +in a heathen land, then?" + +"I don't know any one in the place." + +"No matter; for a neighborly act, acquaintance isn't necessary. What! Is +this poor man to be left alone to die, as if he were among the Moors? Not +if I can prevent it." + +At this moment a man with a strong, calm, and kind face approached the +group. + +"Father, father," cried the children, "this man is dying, and this little +boy, who is his son, says he has no bread to give him." + +"John Joseph," added the mother of the children, "this poor man is lying +shelterless here; this is pitiful. If you are willing, let us carry him +into the house and send for the doctor." + +"Willing? Of course I am willing," answered her husband. "I have never yet +refused my help to any one in need of it, God be praised! There has always +been a corner in my kitchen for the poor, and especially for those who are +looking for a shelter for the night, who are on a journey, or who are +sick; and such food as I had, I have always shared with them! Don't you +know that, wife?" + +"Come, then," said the latter; "let us lift him up, John Joseph; I 'll +take hold of him by one arm and his wife can take him by the other." + +They did as she said. One of the children took the sickle, another the +hat, the third a small shabby bundle of clothes, and all went toward the +house. + +A sheepskin and a pair of sheets were spread over one of the thick reed +mattings which serve the laborers in the farms and vineyards as beds, and +the sick man, who remained sunk in a profound stupor, was placed on it, +while Gasparito, who was told to fly, ran for the doctor. When the latter +came, he pronounced the patient to be dangerously ill, and prescribed +various medicines, which were administered to him with that zeal and +intelligence in caring for the sick that is one of the many prerogatives +of the sex called the fair, but which might with much more propriety be +called the pious sex. + +After the medicines had been administered and he had been bled freely, the +patient seemed somewhat better, and sank into what seemed a natural and +beneficent sleep; and then, and not until then, did the family think of +their supper, the refreshing and nutritious gaspacho, and the fruits, so +abundant in the country, and of which the people, frugal, refined, and +elegant, even in their material appetites, are so fond. + + +CHAPTER II. + +It is needless to say that those first called to partake of the mess, as +the master of the house, who had been a soldier, called it, were the +strange woman and her son. + +"And what part of the country are you from?" said John Joseph to his +guest, as he offered her a slice of a magnificent watermelon, which +sparkled like a garnet in the light. + +"From Treveles, in the Alpujarras," she answered. + +"I was there when I served the king," responded John Joseph. "Those are +poor villages. Treveles is a village overhanging the ravine of Poqueira." + +"That is true," replied the poor woman, whose sorrowful face brightened a +little at the recollection, so dear to the heart, of the place where she +was born and where her home was. + +"And by the same token," continued John Joseph, "you can see from there +the peaks of Mulha Hasem and Veleta, that don't reach the sky because the +Almighty wouldn't let them, and not because they didn't try." + +"And why do they call that peak the Veleta, [a weather-vane.] John Joseph? +Is it because it has one on it?" + +"If it has, I never saw it." + +"It has none now," said the stranger, "but it had one in former times, +when Moors and Christians went fighting one another through the mountains. +It was guarded by an angel who kept it pointed toward Spain, and then the +Christians conquered; but if he neglected his task, the devil came and +made it point toward Barbary, and then the Moors conquered." + +"But, in spite of all the devil could do, we drove them out; yes, and we +would have done it if there had been ten times as many of them!" said the +ex-soldier. + +"And were you ever on those peaks?" said the mistress of the house to her +guest. + +"I was never there myself," answered the latter; "but my Manuel has been +there a hundred times. Once he went there with an Englishman who wanted to +see them. Between the two peaks there is a ravine that is full of water; +and that is a cauldron that the demons made. From the middle of it come +strange sounds that are caused by the hammering of the demons mending the +cauldron. The whole place is a desert, full of naked rocks, and so awesome +and solitary that the Englishman said it was like the Dead Sea--a sea that +it seems there is in some of those far-off countries." + +"Oh, mother! and why did it die?" asked the girl. + +"How should I know?" answered the mother. + +"Father," said the girl, repeating her question: "why did that sea die? +Did the Moors kill it?" + +"What a question!" returned the father, who did not wish to confess his +ignorance of the matter, as his wife had done: "it died because everything +in the world dies, even the seas." + +"And is the whole mountain like that?" asked Maria. + +"No, for lower down there are trees,--chestnuts, oaks and shrubs, and some +fine apple trees planted by the Moors, whose fruit is sent to Granada to +be sold." + +"And I was told," continued John Joseph, "that there are wild goats there +that run faster than water down a hill, that leap like grasshoppers, and +that are so sagacious that they always station one of their number on a +height to keep watch, and when danger is approaching he strikes the rock +with his foot, and then the others scamper off and disappear like a flight +of partridges." + +"That is all true," responded the guest; "and there are owls there, too, a +kind of birds with wings and a human face." + +"What is that you are saying, Senora?" cried John Joseph, "who ever saw +such birds as those?" + +"My Manuel has seen them, and every one who has ever climbed up those +heights; and you must know that the owls and the mountain-goats have been +there ever since the time when Jesus was in the world. He came to those +solitudes, that were then shady meadows in which tame and handsome goats +browsed, watched by their shepherds. The Lord, who was tired, entered a +goat-herd's hut, and asked the goat-herds to prepare a kid for supper for +Himself and St. John and St. Peter, who were with Him. The goat-herds, who +were wicked Moors, said that they had none; but the Lord insisted, and +then what did those heartless wretches do? They killed a cat, cooked it, +and set it on the table. But the Lord, as you may suppose, who sees into +all hearts and knows everything that is going on, however secret it may be +thought, knew perfectly well what the goat-herds had done, and sitting +down at the table He said: + + 'If you are a kid, + Remain fried. + But if you are a cat, + Jump from the plate.' + +"Instantly the animal straightened itself up and ran off. The Lord, to +punish the goat-herds, turned them into owls and their flocks into wild +goats." + +At this moment a moan was heard; they all hurried to the sick man's +bedside. His improvement had been only momentary; the fever, caused by a +cerebral attack, had reached its height, and in a few hours terminated his +life, without his having returned to consciousness for a single instant. + +It is an easy matter to describe a violent and noisy grief which rebels +against misfortune; but it is not easy to describe a profound, silent, +humble, and resigned grief. The poor widow who had lost everything, even +the strength to work, raised her eyes to heaven, clasped her hands and +bowed her head, while her life, which her chilled heart was unable to +maintain, slowly ebbed away. + +She was not sent away by the kind and charitable people who had sheltered +her; but she knew that she would be a heavy burden upon them; and although +she was submissive to the will of the Lord, she prayed to Him to grant her +a speedy and contrite end, as a release from all her sufferings; and the +Lord granted her prayer. + +One night she saw with ineffable joy the bed on which she lay surrounded +by kind, devout, and compassionate souls; the house was lighted up; an +altar stood in front of her humble cot, on which she saw the image of our +Lord, to whom she had prayed, with arms opened to those who call upon Him. +Every one brought flowers, those universal interpreters of human feeling, +which enhance the splendor of the most august solemnities and lend poetry +and beauty to the gayest festival; and which, as if they were angels' +gifts, are found, like these, in the hut and in the palace, in royal +gardens and in the fields. + +A bell sounded in the distance that with its silvery voice seemed to say: +"Here cometh the Lord, who giveth a peaceful death." + +And thus it was; for when the solemn act of receiving the Last Sacrament +was ended, the sick woman raised her eyes, in which a gleam of her lost +happiness shone. + +"I am leaving this valley of tears," she said, in a faint voice, "and +through the mercy of God I am going to His presence to ask Him to watch +over this poor boy, this poor orphan--" + +"Orphan, did you say?" cried John Joseph. "Don't you know, then, that he +is our son?" + +The dying woman leaned her pale face against her son's forehead, on which +a tear fell, and said to him, "Child of my heart, pay to our benefactors +your own debt and that of your parents; as for me, I can only pray to God +that He will bless them as I bless them." + +"John Joseph," said the priest, "the blessing of the dying is the most +precious legacy they can leave to those who survive them." + + +CHAPTER III. + +In 1853, Gaspar and Michael, who had grown up together like two brothers, +had arrived at the age of manhood; and they were as honest and industrious +as the father who had guided them. Catherine was a beautiful girl, as +modest and as diligent as the mother at whose side she had grown up. +Michael, who had a noble and affectionate, and consequently a grateful +heart, loved the family who had adopted him with ardent affection; but +especially did he love Catherine, for whom he felt all the affection of a +brother, joined to all the tenderness of a lover toward her whom he +desired to make the companion of his life. + +Many days of tranquil happiness were enjoyed by these united and worthy +people; but as happiness, like the blue of the sky, cannot be lasting, for +the earth, to yield its fruits, requires the rain, and man, to estimate at +their true value this life and the next, has need of tears, a time came in +which many were shed in this house, to prove to its inmates that God +bestows this blessing, almost preferably, on the poor and the righteous. + +The draft was proclaimed and both sons were enrolled for the drawing. + +Those who know how passionate is the affection which the mothers of the +people have for their children can understand Maria's inconsolable grief. +She believed that she loved both sons equally; she feared for both with +the same anguish; with the same fervor she prayed to God and to the Virgin +that both might escape the draft; but when they returned from the drawing +and she learned that the soldier's lot had fallen on her own son, the cry +which this intelligence drew from her mother's heart--"Child of my soul, I +knew that it must fall upon you!"--showed that a mother's love can be +equalled by no other. + +Michael saw Maria's grief with a breaking heart, a grief which not all his +own efforts nor those of her husband could diminish or soothe. + +On the following day John Joseph took his son to the barrack, but what was +the astonishment of both when the commandant told Gaspar that he was free +and that he might return home. + +"Free!" cried Gaspar in amazement. "And why?" + +"Because you have a substitute," answered the officer. + +"'I!" said Gaspar, with ever-increasing astonishment; "why, that can't be +so!" + +"Why do you say it can't be so? If the substitute is already accepted and +enrolled it is so." + +"But who is he?" asked Gaspar, amazed. + +"That young man, there," answered the officer, pointing to the man whom +his parents, in their beneficence, had brought up as a son. + +"Michael, what have you done?" exclaimed Gaspar, strongly moved. + +"What my mother charged me on her death-bed to do," answered Michael; "I +have paid a debt.' + +"You owed me nothing," answered Gaspar; "but I now owe you a debt; and God +grant me the opportunity to pay it, brother; if the occasion presents +itself, you may be sure I will not let it pass; that I will not." + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Two years after the events just recorded, a still greater sorrow befell +this worthy family, so united and so affectionate, as the families of the +peasantry usually are. Michael drew the lot in a second conscription, as +Gaspar had done before; and as he was thus obliged to serve on his own +account, the son of his adopted parents, whom he could not now serve as a +substitute, was once more called to the ranks. Four years more passed; and +just when they were expecting Michael home, his time of service having +expired, and while Catherine was preparing her wedding garments, a cry, +uttered by the Queen of Spain, resounded through the country, electrifying +the people and producing a universal outburst of patriotic enthusiasm-- +Long live Spain! Death to the Moor who has insulted her! This cry was +re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of he Peninsula, accompanied +by the clash of the warrior's sword and the chink of the rich man's gold, +offered on the altar of the country's honor; it was repeated by the +people, who gave their blood; by the sacred episcopate, who blessed the +cause of the country and of Christianity, and whose words powerfully +influenced not only timid and pious consciences, but all by their wisdom, +prudence, and judgment. The Sisters of Charity offered their devoted +services; the nuns made lint and sacred scapulars of the Virgin; the +ladies also made lint and bandages which they moistened with their tears; +and even schoolboys, fired with enthusiasm, asked to be allowed to go to +the popular war against the Moors. +[Note: This assertion might be proved by many examples; but it will +suffice to transcribe here a letter written by a nephew of mine, the son +of Marquis C----. +"SENOR GOVERNOR: Although I am only a boy of eight I am moved to say to +you that I would like to die for the country, and that, being fond of +military things, I wish you would permit me to go fight the Moors.-- +Written by P---- P----." +It is to be observed that this boy is docile, and gentle and modest in +disposition, rather than daring or arrogant.--Note of the Author] + +Michael, who shared in the general enthusiasm for the war, on receiving +his discharge, enlisted again, refusing to accept the premium for +re-enlisting, for such time as the war in Africa should last. + +John Joseph, who in winter followed the occupation of a muleteer, brought +home this news on his return from one of his trips, in which he had seen +his sons, who were both serving in the King's regiment, in Africa. Maria, +on hearing it, burst into tears. + +"They were right in saying last year, when the saddle-shaped comet +appeared, that it came to foretell a war with the Moors!" she exclaimed +disconsolately. + +"The comet had no resemblance to a saddle," answered her husband, with +martial ardor; "you know very well that what they said was that it was the +same star that had guided the kings who went to Bethlehem to declare that +Christ was the true Messiah; very well, our people will go to the Moorish +country now to tell them that Spanish Christians are tired of putting up +with the atrocities and the insults of the accursed Moors." + +"But a great many people will be killed in this war, John Joseph, and that +is heartbreaking to think of; yes heartbreaking, although you with your +warlike notions say it is not." + +"Oh, yes, you would like this war to be like a war between women; a war to +the knife, but without any one killed; well, war with those who use a +beard, and especially if they wear the King's uniform and have the flag of +Spain, under which they are fighting, to defend, is another matter; with +them, the question is to conquer or die." + +"For that very reason," replied Maria disconsolately, "couldn't he have +come back and stayed quietly at home, after he had fulfilled his duty?" + +"Yes, like you, at the spinning-wheel; but you must know that no new +sailing vessel ever yet wanted to be a pontoon. Don't you know that?" + +Maria and Catherine kept on crying. + +"If you had even told me that you were going to see them," said the +former, "I would have given you some scapulars to take them." + +"They have them already, they have them already, and blessed by the bishop +of Malaga. I told you before, wife, that this war is a holy war, which +will rejoice St. Ferdinand in heaven. But you are in a crying humor, it +seems," he added impatiently, seeing that his wife and daughter were still +shedding tears. "Why, what would you have? That they should remain here +like women, instead of going to throttle those accursed Moors who don't +believe in Christ, who deny His Holy Mother, and who call the Spaniards +'hens' and 'Christian dogs'? But let them wait a bit, and I'll warrant +they won't want a second taste of the broth those hens will make them! +They never catch a Spaniard, even in time of peace, that they don't +quarter or impale him; you see that makes every Spaniard's blood boil! I +don't know how I can contain myself that I don't go too, for I tell you +that the soles of my feet are itching to go, and the day you least expect +it, I'll take my gun and my blanket and join the camp." + +"John Joseph! In the Virgin's name! Isn't it enough to have your sons +there? Would you leave us entirely alone?" + +"It wouldn't be for long." + +"Hush, hush! God only knows how long it might be, for those people are in +their own country, defending their homes, and you know that they are +ferocious, savage, fearless, and valiant." + +"That they are, but as far as being fearless and valiant is concerned, we +Spaniards are more so." + +"And God knows what hunger and privation they are going to suffer!" + +"Don't imagine it, but even if it should be so, give the Spanish soldier +plenty of water to drink and he has all he needs. Why, the joy of that +regiment as they went on board was plain to be seen! And to think that I +couldn't have gone with them!" + +"John Joseph, in the Virgin's name, don't indulge in those boyish +explosions; remember, you are sixty-five years old." + +"To-day I am twenty, wife, I am twenty; do you hear?" + +"Your fiery spirit deceives you; and I won't hear you talk about going to +the war, when you have two sons in it already." + +"And if I had more sons they should be in it, too. Do you think that I +should be behind the father of the first soldier killed at the taking of +the Serrallo, who when he heard of his son's death called another son, +took him to the alcalde of his village, and said: 'My son has been killed +in the war in Africa; here is another to take his place'?" + +"From what you say, I shouldn't wonder if you had urged Michael to go to +the war?" + +"Michael didn't need any urging, Michael has done well, and so I told him. +'Go without fear,' I cried to him, as I came away, 'the weather-vane in +your village points for Spain; and don't lose heart, if there should be +some reverse, for reverses there must be in war, unless it be by a miracle +of God; but many there won't be; and the devil will have little chance to +get at the weather-vane of the peak of the Alpujarras, for the one who has +charge of it now is an archangel, your patron saint, Michael, and the +patron saint of Spain, and he won't neglect his business, and he knows how +to keep the devil at a respectful distance!" + + +CHAPTER V. + +Not long afterward, John Joseph went with his mule for a load of pears to +Ronda. He found that from there he could go without much difficulty to the +Christian camp in Africa. "Why, then," he said to himself, "I can sell my +pears there as well as in Jerez or Malaga; there I will go, then; in that +way I shall see my boys and the fighting that is going on, which will be +something worth seeing." And so he went. + +Catherine and Maria were far from suspecting anything of this when, six or +eight days later, John Joseph returned home. After he had taken the mule +to the stable and put away his things with much deliberation, he sat down +and said to his wife and daughter: + +"The boys send many remembrances, and hope that when you receive them you +will be enjoying as good health as they are enjoying at present." + +"Why, what are you saying, John Joseph?" + +"I am saying that the boys have sent you many remembrances." + +"Have you had a letter from them?" + +"No, I am the letter myself." + +"You! Why, what do you mean by that?" + +"That I went to Morocco and have come back again without losing my way, +with my mule Orejero, who showed little surprise when, on arriving in that +strange country, we found ourselves in the midst of noise and confusion-- +Moors everywhere, bands playing, guns firing." + +"Holy Mary! And what did you go there for, rash man?" + +"To sell some pears that I got an excellent price for; to see the boys, +whom I found in good health and as gay as larks; and to kill three Moors +who will never again call any Spaniard 'Christian dog.' So you see, wife, +that I have not lost my journey." + +"And you did that? God help us! God help us!" cried the good woman, +crossing herself. "You killed three Moors, did you say? You would not have +been able to do that unless they had been unarmed, or had been taken +prisoners, or had surrendered; and you did that?" + +"Maria, what are you saying?" responded her husband. "Don't you know that +to kill an unarmed man would be contrary to the laws of honor and the work +of an executioner? Don't you know that to kill a man who had surrendered +would be a vile deed and would be to make one's self a butcher of men? +Don't you know that to kill a man who asks quarter would be the deed of a +miscreant and a coward, and would disgrace the name of Christian and +dishonor the name of Spaniard? In honorable combat I killed them, Maria, +when with arms in their hands they tried to kill me and my companions. I +know well that the glory is not in killing but in conquering the enemy, +and I wouldn't want at the hour of my death to have to remember killing +any man by treachery. I tell you, so help me God, that I killed them +honorably, like a brave man, and may they all die thus, for they won't +surrender, not even with the bayonet at their breasts." + +"Mercy!" cried Maria, "and why not?" + +"Because their holy men have made them believe that the Spaniards are as +ferocious as themselves, and that we burn alive the wounded and the +prisoners we take. You thought that only young chaps were good for the +war, and that I, with my sixty-five years, would be of no use in it; well, +you were mistaken, you see, you were mistaken, for I am of good quality, +and although the steel is worn off, the non remains. Do you understand? +And I am a brave soldier, but not an assassin, do you understand?" + +"Forgive me, John Joseph, I didn't stop to think--" + +"It is plain you didn't stop to think; and you didn't remember, either, +that your husband is a Christian of the old stock, and a well-born +Spaniard, and that he knows how to fight the enemies of his faith, of his +country, and of his queen; but that he will never dishonor himself by +killing a defenceless man, nor debase himself by putting to death a man +who has surrendered, nor make a tiger of himself by refusing his life to a +man who asks it, not even if he were Barabbas himself." + +"Were ours winning, John Joseph?" + +"To be sure they were. Winning all the time, past, present, and future." + +"But I have heard them say that a great many more Moors are coming, with a +brother of their king, whom they call Muley Abbas." + +"Let them come! That is just what we want; but don't imagine that those +Moors that are with the king are like the Riff Moors, who are the most +savage and the fiercest of all the Moors. But all of them together could +do nothing against the division of Echague, which has covered itself with +glory in the war. Queen Isabel may well be proud of her soldiers. But as I +was telling you, when I arrived at Algeciras I embarked with my mule and +my pears; and you know that I have no fancy for travelling by sea; for the +mule that falls on that road doesn't get up again. I landed at Ceuta and +from there I went with my mule and my pears to the camp; and when I saw +the flag of Spain floating over the Serrallo, my heart swelled so that my +breast could hardly contain it. I reached the camp and sold my pears like +lightning, for there is no want of money there, nor of the will to spend +it. What a hubbub, Maria! It seemed like the gayest kind of a fair; +nothing was to be heard but the twang of guitars, singing, and hurrahs for +the queen. I need only tell you that the commander-in-chief has had to +forbid so much singing and guitar playing at night, because it served as a +guide to the accursed Moors. I was just inquiring for the King's regiment, +when the bugle sounded, our soldiers seized their guns, crying, 'Long live +Spain!' and advanced to the attack. I left my mule there and followed +them; and you may believe me that the sight was worth seeing, and one that +would have set the blood coursing in a dead man's veins. Each of our +soldiers was a Bernardo, every officer a Pizarro, every general a Cid. One +might have thought that Santiago himself, on his white horse, was at the +head of the army, so completely did they rout the Moors, who are all +warriors, and who were three times as many as we. I could not tell you all +I saw, not if I had a hundred tongues. I saw General Quesada seize a gun +and lead the bayonet charge himself. 'Ah, brave son of a brave father!' I +said to myself; for I had served under his father, and he was another of +the right kind. But why do I say another, when they are all of the right +kind! I saw the bullets flying over the head of the commander-in-chief, as +thick as comfits in Carnival. I saw the regiment of Granada, with its +valiant commander, Colonel Trillo, at its head, make a bayonet charge +crying, 'Long live the Queen!' that made the Moors fly in terror from the +field; and I heard the commander-in-chief say to the colonel, that that +exploit deserved a decoration; to which the generous colonel replied: +'Nothing for me, General, the credit belongs to my battalion.' I heard the +commander-in-chief say to a group of soldiers of the Granada regiment, +'How goes it, boys? Have you received your baptism yet?' 'Yes, General,' +answered the soldiers, 'and the Moors have paid dear for the christening.' +In short, Maria, if I was to tell you of all I saw there, I should keep on +talking till the Day of Judgment. But the ones I never lost sight of, +Maria, were our two boys; and you may imagine how well they must have +fought when the commander-in-chief, who was nearby, observed them, and +going up to Michael, he said, 'You have fought well. Now tell me, what do +you wish?' 'To keep on fighting, General,' answered Michael; and on the +instant the general gave him the cross of St. Ferdinand. I cannot tell you +how I felt; but I thought I should go out of my wits with joy; I could not +contain myself, and I was running to embrace him, when I saw one of those +crazy howlers stab one of our soldiers, who fell down beside me. 'So?' I +said, seizing the wounded man's gun; 'you won't have a chance to kill +another brave Christian;' and with that I despatched him; and as I had +joined the dance, I despatched two others, and I made a bayonet charge +with the boys that put wings to the feet of the Moors, for if they have a +heavy hand for the fight they have a light foot for flight. Then, night +coming on, I gave up the gun and went to look for my mule, who evidently +had not found that dance of Moors and Christians to his liking, and who, I +learned on inquiry, had gone, like a mule of peace, to the shelter of the +walls of Ceuta. + +"That night a storm arose that I don't believe had its equal since the +world began. I thought the sea, the wind, and the rain together would +bring the world to an end. But the next morning we were all as if nothing +had happened, and if the devil had sent that, and others like it, at the +instance of his friend, Mahoma, to terrify his enemies, they might both +have been convinced that Spaniards are not to be terrified either by the +roaring of the elements or the howling of their ferocious Moors. + +"Well, as I was saying, next morning I got up and walked to the camp to +have a chat with the boys; for, as I have told you, the Moors had +prevented me from doing so the day before. When I arrived I found the +King's regiment drawn up in line, with its band and all! 'What may this be +for?' I said to myself. The sentry on guard was as mute and as motionless +as a statue, so that it isn't because there are Moors in sight. And why is +this regiment drawn up and not the others? This was beginning to excite my +curiosity. I drew near. The band was playing away when the colonel, taking +his place in front of the regiment, commanded silence, and said in a loud +voice, so that all might hear him: + +"'The commander-in-chief has learned with great satisfaction that on the +afternoon of the 24th of November, a soldier of the King's regiment, which +I have the honor to command, seeing his companion and friend wounded and +in the hands of the Moors, and animated by the noblest sentiments, fixed +his bayonet, and throwing himself heroically upon the Moors, and striking +down those who attempted to stop him, seized his wounded friend, threw him +over his shoulder, more regardful of his friend's life than of his own, +and, snatching him from certain death, carried him back to the ranks; and +desiring to recompense, in view of the whole regiment, the soldier who, in +so admirable a manner, unites in himself the gallantry of the soldier and +the piety of the Christian, transmits to him this gold medal, which the +Cadiz Athenaeum has provided and caused to be engraved, with the object of +making it an honorable reward for an act of surpassing merit, to be given +to him before his regiment drawn up in line, so that it may serve as a +stimulus to the brave and generous soldier referred to--'" + +The old man's voice, up to this time so animated, here failed him, and he +was unable to proceed. + +"Well," said his wife, deeply moved by the story she had been listening +to, "why do you stop, John Joseph? Go on." + +"I can't get the words out, there's a lump in my throat; for the soldier +whose name was called and who stepped from the ranks to receive the gold +medal was--" + +"Was who? Why do you stop?" + +"He was--my son. He was Gaspar!" + +"Child of my heart! And the Virgin has kept him safe for me!" cried Maria. + +"My darling brother! And he saved Michael's life!" murmured Catherine. + +"And he killed three Moors! Ah, good son, honor of my gray hairs!" added +John Joseph, with enthusiastic tenderness. + +There was a moment's silence during which tears choked the utterance of +these simple people, and they could only clasp their hands and raise their +eyes to heaven. + +When he had somewhat recovered from his emotion, John Joseph continued his +recital in these words: + +"When the ceremony was over I went in search of my boys. I cannot +describe, Maria, what I felt when I saw them, the one with his gold medal +and the other with his cross of St. Ferdinand. But what I can say is that +the queen herself can't feel prouder, with her crown and sceptre, than I +felt with my Gaspar and my Michael! If Gaspar was happy, Michael was +happier still; his eyes danced with joy; the other seemed dazed. 'Good, my +son, good,' I said to him, 'that's the way Spaniards behave when they are +fighting for their country, their queen, and their faith, remembering that +the soldier who is brave and not humane is brave only as the brutes are. +You have deserved the medal, son, and your father's blessing with it.'" + +"'Why, what did I do?' said Gaspar, who like all really brave men is +neither proud nor boastful, and holds himself for less, not more than he +is really worth. + +"'You saved your brother's life,' I replied. + +"'And by so heroic an act that it will be written in letters of gold,' +added Michael. + +"'Why, nonsense," answered Gaspar, putting his arm around his brother's +neck; 'I have done nothing but pay a debt I owed.' + +"'And Spain has paid the debt she owed to the Moors, and with interest,' I +said; and I fancy they won't be likely to try their tricks again. So you +see, wife, all the advantages the war has brought us. Hurrah for the war!" + +"John Joseph," returned his wife, "we mustn't forget, because it has been +favorable to us--and that, perhaps, owing to that poor mother's dying +blessing--the many evils to which war gives rise: the unhappy people who +suffer, those who are left disabled, those who die, and all the families +who are at this moment weeping and in mourning; for war is a calamity, and +therefore we ought to pray to God with all our hearts and souls for peace, +for the song of the angels is: 'Glory to God in the highest; and peace on +earth, to men of goodwill!'" + + +CHAPTER VI + +Two months later, that is to say, toward the middle of January, John +Joseph, his wife, and his daughter were seated one evening around the +brazier. The sky had been covered for several days with heavy clouds that +sent down their rain with a steadiness not usual in storms. The wind that +came from the Levant roared as if it brought with it, to terrify Spain, +the menacing howls of the savage children of Africa and the growling of +its lions. + +"Who knows what they may be going through now!" said Catherine, in a voice +choked with emotion. + +"Ah, merciful God," answered her mother, "with swamps for a floor, tents +that let the water through for shelter, and the cholera killing them by +hundreds, and the Moors lying in ambush for them or treacherously +following them, and those eternal nights that swallow up the days! There +is no strength nor courage that could bear up against so many ills." + +"And that is not the worst," said John Joseph, with the thoughtless +frankness of the peasant, bringing his foot heavily down on the floor and +raising his eyes to heaven. + +"What! There are worse things yet?" said Maria, anxious and surprised. +"Why, what else is there, John Joseph? What else? Speak out." + +"Hunger!" answered her husband in a funereal voice. + +"Holy Mary!" cried the poor mother in terror. "What is that you say, man? +And the provisions, then?" + +"Provisions they cannot get there; they must be sent by sea from Spain; +and although they took plenty with them, when they get used up more must +be sent, and with these storms, to which there is neither stop nor stay, +not even the birds could cross the Strait. Those are the chances of war, +Maria; and if it has pleased God to send His storms precisely in these +days it must be to put our courage and our constancy to the proof, Maria, +so that we may go to Him and ask His help, and so that the victory, being +more dearly bought, may be the more brilliant and the more prized." + +"Or the sufferings and the death of our soldiers the more deeply felt and +bitterly lamented," returned his wife. "Merciful God! Tempestuous weather, +an epidemic, fierce and treacherous enemies around them, and hunger! Who +would not lose heart with all this?" + +"The Spanish soldier, Maria." + +"And will the generals and the great people come back?" + +"Neither the one nor the other, Maria. And if any of them should be +obliged to come back because they are sick or wounded, it will be in grief +and rage, and only because they can't help themselves; I know them, Maria, +I know them." + +"What, are they all going to perish, then?" + +"Don't imagine it, for God and the Holy Virgin will bring them safely +through; hold that for an article of faith." + +"Let us ask them to do it, then," groaned the unhappy mother. "Mother of +the forsaken! where are my sons? What has become of them? Are they alive? +If they are, what will they not be suffering, and what will they not +suffer in the future, if thou dost not protect them? How their hearts will +be filled with anguish and their minds with despair! Holy Mother! if I +only had news of them, even. Let us pray to the Virgin to intercede for +them." + +The family began to recite the rosary with that fervor which changes +anguish to hope, and sorrow to resignation; and scarcely had they ended +when a little boy called out from the door: + +"Uncle John Joseph, my father says there is a letter in the post-office +for you, and that it is from the Christian's camp over yonder." + +John Joseph, with the activity of twenty years, hurried out of the house, +while Maria and her daughter, falling on their knees before an image of +the Virgin, raised their clasped hands in prayer. + +John Joseph soon returned, bringing with him one of his cronies who knew +how to read and who proceeded to read aloud the letter which the former +had carried in his trembling hand. + +"MY DEAR PARENTS: I hope that when you receive this you will be enjoying +as good health as I desire for myself. Michael and I are well, and at your +service. The cholera is raging again, but we laugh at it. Every day of +action is a day of pleasure and enjoyment for us; for it is happiness +enough for us to win glory for our country and to see the enthusiasm of +everybody; for this increases every day, as well among us of the ranks as +among the officers and generals, and which shows most it would be hard to +say. The mess has been a little scanty in these last days, because the sea +was fiercer than the Moors themselves, and the boats were unable to reach +us with the supplies; but what matter? The worst of it was that we had no +tobacco. And so it happened that the commander-in-chief, who came among us +encouraging us, like a greatly respected but very careful father, came up +to me and said: 'Well, my boy, are you very hungry?' And I answered him: +'The hunger is nothing, General; if I only had--if I only had a +cigarette.'--And what do you think he did? He went to his tent and brought +from it an enormous box of cigars that the Queen had presented to him for +the campaign; and saying that Her Majesty would be glad that they should +serve to lighten the labors of her faithful soldiers, he distributed them +among us. We have received provisions, thanks to the navy, that on this +occasion did not seem the sister but the mother of the army; and as for +that brave General Bustillo, a hundred lives, if we had them, wouldn't be +enough to pay him for all he has done for us. Hurrah for the navy, father, +notwithstanding that your worship doesn't like the sea. + +"You must know, father, that a prince of the royal house of France has +arrived here. Although tall and of handsome presence, he is but a boy-- +only seventeen. If your worship had seen him, you would have said that he +was only a stripling, and not fit for such hard service, but you would +have changed your mind if you had seen how he attacked the Moors. On my +faith I had always believed that, from Santiago down, only the Spaniards +attacked the Moors in that way. We believe here that what he wanted to do +was to perform another exploit like the one related by Michael's mother of +Hernando del Pulgar in her native Granada, and to fasten the Ave-Maria on +the tent of Don Manuel Habas, and that he would have done it, too, if he +hadn't been held back. And mind you, father, it is a very noble thing, and +one worthy of admiration, to come, without anything obliging him to it, to +this war, which is no child's play, just for the sake of proving himself +brave. True it is that to have that name is worth more than all the gold +in the world, and lifts one a foot above the ground. + +"We have made more than half a dozen charges with the bayonet, father, +like the one in which your worship took part. These charges are not, as +one might say, greatly to the taste of the Moors, who, when they hear the +call to the charge, to which we have given the name of General Prim's +Polka, tremble and turn pale and fall back. [Note: It may properly be +related here that this same division, with its leader, General Prim, +reconnoitring at a few leagues distance from Tetuan, came upon a poor old +Moorish woman, sick and abandoned by her people; and that putting her on a +stretcher, they carried her on their shoulders to Tetuan with all the +gentleness of sisters of charity. (Note of the Author.)] + +"Michael gives me many remembrances for you, and bids me tell Catherine +that he does not forget her, and he bids me tell you, father, that you +were right when you said that his saint would not neglect the weather-vane +that has always pointed for Spain, for we have never once been defeated, +and mind you that the Moors are valiant men, and that they fight with +desperate courage. With this I say good-bye, asking your blessing for your +son, GASPAR. + +"Mother: I never enter action without commending myself to the Virgin, as +you told me to do." + +It will be easy to understand the delight of the parents on reading this +cheering and animated letter, which was read many times over, for as soon +as it was known in the village that a letter had arrived from Africa, the +house was besieged with people eager to hear the news of the most national +and popular war which Spain has had since the Independence. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Several days passed, and the loving mother's heart was once more a prey to +anxiety. + +"John Joseph," she said to her husband, "we have heard nothing, and that +means that they can't take Tetuan." + +"Hold your tongue, you foolish woman," answered her husband; "wherever the +sun enters the Spaniards can enter. And don't you know that Zamora wasn't +taken in an hour, and that the artillery can't cross over swamps, and that +a causeway has to be built? Women, who know nothing about war, think that +to take a fortress in an enemy's country is as easy as to toss a +pan-cake." + +But on the 5th of February a muleteer, who came from Xerez, brought the +news to Bornos, which had been transmitted to Xerez by telegraph, that a +hard-fought battle had taken place the preceding day before Tetuan, in +which, as in all the previous ones, the Spaniards had come off victorious, +having made themselves masters of five encampments of the enemy, although +at the cost of many lives. + +His patriotic ardor, added to a feeling of deep anxiety, made it +impossible for John Joseph to remain in the village, and he set out for +Xerez. There he learned that the wounded of that memorable day were to be +taken to Seville, and as a train of materials for the railroad was just +leaving for that city, he begged to be taken on board. + +The 7th of February dawned--a day memorable for ever in the annals of +Spain. Day had scarcely broken when the sonorous and soul-stirring bells +of the Cathedral of Seville, diffusing, authorizing, and solemnizing joy, +announced to the sleeping people the great and auspicious event of the +taking of Tetuan. It would be impossible to give an idea of the impression +caused by those sounds, for who can describe the apogee of the most +unanimous, ardent, and national enthusiasm? But let a few facts speak for +themselves. + +The priests who repaired to the churches to say mass recited it solemnly +in chorus, and afterward chanted the Te Deum, that august hymn of thanks +to the Lord. + +The venerable Generals Guajardo and Hernandez, military authorities of the +district, and both veterans, in whose laurels there is not a leaf that +time can wither, when they met fell into each other's arms, unable to +utter a word; the sight of this noble spectacle drawing tears from the +eyes of the officers who were present. When the alcalde presented himself +before the archbishop to ask his consent to take in procession the image +of the Immaculate Virgin, the patroness of Spain, and the standard and +sword of St. Ferdinand, the venerable Prince of the Church burst into +tears, causing the alcalde to shed tears also; seeing which, a man of the +people rushed to the latter, saying: "Senor Alcalde, let me embrace your +worship!" The people called for their venerable pastor, and the latter, +showing himself on the balcony, blessed his flock, who cheered him +enthusiastically. The various sodalities of women entered their +magnificent chapel in procession, giving thanks aloud to the Virgin. +Musicians paraded the streets, followed by a multitude intoxicated with +joy, who cheered the Queen, Spain, the army, and the generals who had led +it to victory, and who stopped before the houses where the commanders and +officers wounded in this glorious war were lodged, to cheer them also. + +In the public square, a vender of oranges abandoned his stall and his +merchandise, leaving behind him a notice which said: "The owner of this +stall has turned crazy with joy, and here he leaves this trash." Others +broke the jars of a water-seller (the value of which they gave him +promptly), saying, "What is this? Water? Today nothing but wine is to be +drunk in Seville." Further on, another group shouted, "No one sleeps +to-night; whoever sleeps to-night is an Englishman!" Flags on the towers, +hangings on the houses, the pleasing noise of joy everywhere. + +"A telegraphic despatch," shouted the blind men, beside themselves with +joy, "announcing the entrance of our valiant troops into the great city of +Tetuan, and the utter annihilation of the Moors. Long live Spain! Long +live the Queen! Long live the army! Long live the Moors!" "What is that +you are saying, man? Long live the Moors?" "Yes, so that we may kill them +again!" + +Such is the enthusiasm of the Spanish people when it is unanimous, +legitimate, and genuine; they go to their churches, take out in procession +the Immaculate Virgin, cheer their queen, their prelates, their +authorities, their country, applaud their army, which gives them power and +greatness, its commander and the generals who lead it, and those who bring +back from the war glorious wounds; and not even for its most ferocious +enemies does it find the odious "Death!" + +And that you, brave soldiers who remain in Africa, who have bestowed so +great a joy upon your country, should be unable to witness the gratitude +with which it repays you! + +Perhaps the universal and frantic enthusiasm inspired by the taking of a +Moorish city, however heroic the exploit which had put it in the power of +the Spaniards, may seem disproportioned to the occasion; but this is not +the case, for in the first place, the people, with their admirable +instinct, know that the result is, in everything, what gives it its value; +they feel, besides, that it is not only a Moorish city and the advantages +its capture may bring, which its army has gained for Spain, but also that +from the Moorish fire the Spanish phoenix has arisen, directing its flight +to a glorious future; and in the second place, because in these public +demonstrations, in this ardent expansion, the country gives expression to +three months of admiration, of interest, and of sympathy. This was owed to +the army for its constancy, for its unequalled valor, for its boundless +humanity. This debt the country owed, and it paid it in love, in +admiration, and enthusiasm. + +On the 8th, the same rejoicings were continued; processions, salvos, and +so much firing of guns everywhere, that it was said as much powder was +expended in it as in the taking of Tetuan. On the 9th, one of the +principal streets of the city was named the street of Tetuan; the ceremony +taking place at eight o'clock in the evening, when the municipal council +went in procession to the street, carrying the Queen's likeness. + +But meantime Maria had had no news of John Joseph. Exaggerated reports of +the losses by which the victory had been gained were spread. Maria was +unable to control her anxiety, and she set out, as many other mothers of +the peasantry did, for the capital, where the wounded, who might perhaps +be able to give her some news of her sons, were to be brought. + +Mother and daughter reached Seville on the evening of the 9th, and after +resting for a few moments at an inn, went out to inquire where the +wounded, who had been recently brought to the city, had been taken. + +A vast crowd of people and enthusiastic cheering announced to them the +approach of the procession. They stood on a bench in a porch to watch it +as it passed. Five mounted pioneers and a numerous band headed the +procession; the municipal guard followed on foot; then came four men +carrying flags, followed by a number of men bearing torches; and then the +soldiers who had been wounded in Africa, wearing laurel wreaths and +carrying ensigns with the names, in silver letters, of the principal +victories gained by the army. After these came the municipal council +headed by the civil governor and two councillors carrying the likeness of +the Queen, and the procession was closed by a detachment of infantry with +another band of music at its head. + +"Here come the wounded soldiers!" cried the crowd, and the cheering became +more enthusiastic, and tears ran down the cheeks of the women as they +stopped to look admiringly at the wounded heroes, and then joined the +procession. "Look at that one! Look at that poor fellow; he isn't able to +walk alone; they are supporting him," some one said close beside Maria, +pointing to a young man, who with his arm in a sling, his pale forehead +crowned with laurel, and carrying in his hand an ensign bearing on it the +word "Tetuan," walked with a modest expression on his thin but pleasing +face, leaning on the arm of a robust old man whose proud and enraptured +expression seemed to say to every one, "This brave man is my son!" Maria, +whose heart had for many days past been agitated alternately by fear, +hope, enthusiasm, and anguish, uttered a cry drawn from her by all these +mingled feelings, as she recognized in the emaciated and glory-covered +wounded soldier her son, and fell into Catherine's arms. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A few months later a happy wedding, the wedding of Catherine and +Michael, was celebrated in Bornos. Gaspar, whose health was entirely +re-established, but who had lost his right arm, was present. But if he had +lost an arm he had in return received a gold medal, a cross with a pension +attached to it, and an annuity; the last, as having been disabled in the +war in Africa; the cross for bravery; and the medal for humane and gallant +conduct. + +"Every day is a day of thanksgiving! There is not a happier father in the +world than I!" exclaimed John Joseph gayly. "My only grief is to see you +crippled, my boy. But that can't be helped. You have paid your debt to the +country like an honest man, Gaspar." + +"And the country, father," answered Gaspar, pointing proudly to his cross +and medal, "has acquitted herself fully of hers to me." + +"You are right, my son: and so, sirs, a toast. Long live the Queen, and +long live all the generous and patriotic Spaniards who, like Her Majesty +and the Royal Family, have aided in taking care of the wounded and +disabled soldiers of the African war!" + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stories by Foreign Authors: Spanish, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPANISH STORIES *** + +This file should be named sfasp10.txt or sfasp10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, sfasp11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, sfasp10a.txt + +Produced by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks, Charles M. 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