THE BETROTHAL
The family of Las Cuevas, to which Gonzalo belonged, had from time
immemorial been huge in stature, and seafaring by profession. His father
had been a sailor, his grandfather a sailor, his uncles sailors, and the
sons of these uncles also sailors. Gonzalo when not eight years of age
was left orphaned of both father and mother, and possessed of a
considerable fortune, managed by his uncle and guardian, Don Melchor, in
whose care he had been left by his father at his death. The old sailor
greatly wished his ward to continue the uninterrupted course of the
Cuevas with regard to a profession. To awaken in him a love of the sea,
or to make him take a fancy to it, he bought him a beautiful sailing
boat, in which they both took trips, or went on fishing expeditions. But
the good man's plans could not prevail against his nephew's
predisposition for the land. He cared for nothing to do with the sea,
but the fish out of it, and that only when dressed and steaming on the
table. However, he managed sometimes to enjoy himself with a kettle,
cooking an impromptu meal in some out-of-the-way spot on the coast,
seated on a rock whence bubbled beautiful fresh drinking water. At
fourteen Gonzalo had grown into a fine young fellow in the second class
of the private college of Sarrio, which sent him up to the Capital every
year for the examination, where he generally won the qualification
"good," and once and again, but very rarely, that of "highly commended."
He was much liked by his schoolfellows for his open, frank disposition,
while he was respected for his ability to deal powerful blows. The
gentlefolk of the town made much of him on account of his position and
the family to which he belonged, and the sailors and other people of the
place loved him for his frank, equable nature.
After graduating as bachelor of arts, he remained three years in Sarrio
without doing anything. He got up late, and spent the greater part of
the day at the casino playing billiards, in which game he became an
expert. In spite of being the spoiled child of the place, he visited at
few houses, preferring the stupid, demoralizing life of the cafe, to
which he had become accustomed. Nevertheless, as he was not wanting in
intelligence, and being of a naturally active turn of mind, he sometimes
turned his attention to the study of some branch of science. He liked
mineralogy, and many afternoons he left the casino and the billiards to
repair to the suburbs of the town, in search of minerals and fossils,
until he had quite a valuable collection. Then he took up the microscope
for a time, and after sending for a costly one from Germany he devoted
himself to the examination of diatomaceae, and he arranged them admirably
well upon the little crystals, which he cut himself. Finally, a book
upon brewing having fallen into his hands, he devoted himself
enthusiastically to its study. He ordered several works on the subject
from England, and began to think that this unpractised industry might be
started with advantage in Sarrio. He seriously thought of opening a
brewery, but, confiding the project to his uncle, the old man was
furious, and gave vent to a series of inarticulate grunts, all beyond
the normal diapason, which ended with the exclamation:
"What! a Cuevas start a brewery! The son of a captain, the nephew of a
rear-admiral! Impossible! You are off your head, Gonzalo. It is well
said that idleness is the mother of every vice. If you had passed
through the naval college, as I advised you, you would have been first
lieutenant by now, and would not be running about with such mad ideas."
Gonzalo was silent, but he did not cease reading his treatises on the
industry. He soon saw that, without visiting the chief breweries, and
without studying the subject seriously, he could never attain any real
knowledge of it, and so he determined to go to England and learn the
business of a civil engineer. When he ventured to broach the subject to
his uncle, the sailor did not object to the word engineer, but the
attributive adjunct of civil aroused the same storm of invectives as the
brewery had called forth.
"Civil, civil! nowadays everything shady is called civil. Be a
straightforward engineer of roads, and bridges or mines."
At this time he knew, or, to speak more correctly, for everybody knows
each other in Sarrio, he became acquainted with, the Senorita de
Belinchon. One day his uncle sent him to the rich merchant's house to
ask him if he could give him a bill of exchange on Manila. Don Rosendo
was not in his office, which was on the ground floor of the house, but
as the business was urgent, Gonzalo decided to go upstairs. The maid who
opened the door was very alert.
"Come this way, Don Gonzalo; the Senorita Cecilia will tell you where
the master is."
He was taken into an untidy room, with heaps of clothes upon the floor
and on the table, at which the eldest daughter of the Belinchons was
ironing a shirt, in a costume not befitting her station, for it was a
scanty, narrow skirt, an apron tied round her waist like a workwoman,
and her feet in shabby slippers. She did not blush at the young man
finding her in such an attire and engaged in such a menial occupation,
nor did she exclaim, as many girls would have done in her place:
"Goodness, what a state you find me in!" putting her hands to her hair
and her throat.
Nothing of the sort; she suspended her task for a minute, smiled
sweetly, and waited to hear what the youth had to say.
"Good-evening," he said with a blush.
"Good-evening, Gonzalo," she returned.
"Can I see your father?"
"I do not know if he is at home; I will go and see," replied the girl,
leaving the ironing upon the table, and passing in front of him.
When she had proceeded a few steps she turned back and said:
"Is your uncle well?"
"Yes, senora, yes--I mean no; for some days he has not left his bed--he
has a dreadful cold."
"It is nothing serious?"
"I think not, senora."
The girl went on her way smiling; she was pleased at Gonzalo calling her
senora, for she was not sixteen, and he spoke as if she were over
twenty. They knew each other like brother and sister, but they had never
hitherto behaved like grown-up people. They met every day in the street,
at the promenade, at the theatre, or at church. When they were quite
little, Cecilia recollected that one afternoon at the Elorrio Fair,
when dancing the giraldilla with some other little girls of her own age,
some rough boys began teasing them, pulling their hair, pushing them
about, and running in the way so as to spoil their dance, and upset
them. Gonzalo, then a boy of thirteen, seeing this rude conduct, ran to
the little girls' assistance; and with a kick here, a push there, and a
few blows all round, he soon dispersed the rude boys. The eyes of the
little dancers gazed at him in admiration, and an undying feeling of
gratitude toward the heroic lad filled those tender hearts of five to
ten years.
Another time, years afterward, on St. John's Day, Gonzalo lent his boat
to her and her family, for a little sea trip, as all the boats and
launches were full on that occasion.
But neither of these circumstances had constituted much intercourse
between the young people. If they met face to face, Gonzalo would raise
his hand to his hat; if not, they would pass as if they did not see each
other, in spite of the acquaintance, if not intimate friendship,
existing between his uncle and Senor Belinchon. For the Bohemian life of
the cafe, his rare association with girls, had made Gonzalo a shy,
retiring youth.
"Come this way, Gonzalo; papa is waiting for you in the dining-room,"
said the girl, when she reappeared. "I hope your uncle will get
better."
"Many thanks," he returned abruptly, and being so tall, he knocked
against the lamp hanging in the hall so that it nearly fell to the
ground.
He cast an agonized look at it, and quickly steadied it, while his face
grew red with confusion.
"Has it hurt you?" asked Cecilia, anxiously.
"No, indeed, senora--on the contrary, dear me! I nearly broke it."
And he became more and more confused.
Our young friend was at that time of life when he would fall in love
with a broom. He was rather late in reaching this susceptible stage, as
is often the case when the physical organism overbalances the nervous.
Therefore, Senorita de Belinchon, with no claim to prettiness, suddenly
aroused a sort of feeling in him easily mistaken for love, and the
result of that short interview was that Gonzalo henceforth went out of
his way to pass the house of the De Belinchons, with his longing eyes
fixed on the windows for a chance glimpse of the young lady; he went on
Sunday to eight o'clock mass at St. Andrew's Church, because Dona Paula
and her family went there; at the theatre he ventured to cast many a
glance in her direction, and he occasionally dared to raise his hat to
her, but when he did so, he blushed violently and cast furtive looks
around, trembling lest he should have betrayed the nascent feeling of
his heart.
Innocent Gonzalo! Long before he was aware himself of his state of mind
the whole town knew of it. Nothing could be hidden, especially anything
to do with a young man and woman, from the sharp eyes of the gossips of
a place so small as Sarrio. And not only did they know what was going
on, but they made up their minds that the marriage was certain to come
off sooner or later.
Nevertheless, months went by and the matter did not advance one step.
However, Gonzalo continued to give the same signs of his fancy for the
girl, and he spent a long time every day after dinner in walking up and
down in front of the rich merchant's house on his way to the casino.
Cecilia would be at the window sewing; he would raise his hat and then
go to the billiard table, and so it was the next day. Don Melchor sent
him twice on messages to Don Rosendo, but he always had the good luck to
find him in his office. We say good luck because Gonzalo trembled at the
idea of going upstairs and meeting Cecilia.
He was now twenty years of age. The idea of qualifying himself as a
civil engineer and taking up some occupation occasionally crossed his
mind in this idle life. A friend at this time returning from a military
academy, a conversation with an English engineer, the tone of contempt
in which those who have no occupation were spoken of in the casino,
suddenly awoke in him a desire for work. At last he told his uncle
that, with his permission, he would go to England to study something and
see the world.
As Don Melchor could make no objection to this just and laudable
suggestion, Gonzalo a few days later appeared at several houses of
relations and friends, where he had not set foot for years, to take his
leave of them, and on a beautiful, balmy spring afternoon he embarked
with great pomp on the big "Vigia" for England.
Did he recollect Cecilia? We do not know. Temperaments like those of our
friend are a long time falling a prey to passion--great havoc as it may
make in the end.
Three years went by. He finished his course as an engineer, which is
brief and practical in England, and then made up his mind to visit the
factories of England, Spain, and Germany. During the time of his studies
the recollection of Cecilia occasionally occurred to him without
arousing any very deep feeling. But in the spring, when the blood
circulates more freely in the veins, and Mother Nature gives her lesson
in the verdure of the fields, the vivid colors of the flowers, the
effects of sunshine, the soft, balmy air, and above all in her more
faithful interpreters, the birds, Gonzalo's thoughts turned to
matrimony. And whenever the idea crossed his mind, it was accompanied by
the image of the eldest daughter of the De Belinchons.
"This way, Gonzalo; papa is waiting for you. Have you hurt yourself?"
The words still rang in his ears, and the recollection of the kind tone
in which they were said filled his young heart with a feeling of love.
The girl was not beautiful, but her eyes were, and her modest, pleasant
manner and the tone of her voice were all full of the charm so
attractive in her sex.
"I should not mind marrying her," he said with a sigh to himself, as he
thought how impossible it would be for him to breathe a word of love in
her ears, or in those of any girl.
One day, when writing to a great friend in Sarrio, he suddenly thought
of asking if Cecilia Belinchon were married. In reply, he learned that
she was still single, and that, although young men frequented the house,
probably more attracted by De Belinchon's money than his daughter's
charms, it was not known that she had so far listened to any one of
them.
On reading this letter the blood mounted to the cheek of the civil
engineer, and he was foolish enough to think (will the reader think him
very conceited?) that if Cecilia turned the cold shoulder on her
admirers it was, perhaps, because she was prepossessed in his favor.
Then he formed the plan of declaring his feelings in a letter, for he
thought it would be less awkward to do it thus while far away.
Nevertheless, he hesitated, and when he took the pen in his hand to
write the first line he dropped it at the thought of the surprise of the
girl on the receipt of the letter. Some days elapsed. He could not get
rid of the idea. At last, by dint of much subtle reasoning, he
determined to write the letter. If she laughed at him, what of it? He
would not be there to see, for in that case he would stay away from
Sarrio; and if perchance he ever returned, he would manage to keep clear
of her.
So at last the letter was written, but terrified at the idea of posting
it, he kept it in his writing-case for some days. A few glasses of
spirits were required to give him courage to post it, and when slightly
elevated by the potation he took the letter from his writing-case,
rushed into the street and dropped it into the first letter-box he came
across.
"My God! What have I done?"
The effects of the libation had suddenly vanished, and he colored up to
the roots of his hair, as if the mocking eyes of all the people of
Sarrio were gazing at him through the gaping mouth of the letter-box.
He put his fingers into the aperture, in the vain attempt to withdraw
the ill-fated epistle, but a shark could not hive swallowed it more
effectually, and the mouth of the box looked gaping and ready for more.
For one moment he thought of going to the post-office to reclaim it, but
the thought of the particulars which would have to be given so alarmed
him that he preferred leaving the matter to fate rather than undergo
such an ordeal.
Eight days of trembling suspense went by. By the time he could expect an
answer his anxiety was overwhelming, and he even began to think he might
see his own bold, ugly handwriting returned to him in an envelope.
A week, and then a fortnight, elapsed, but still no answer came.
He calmed himself with the vague hope of the non-arrival of his letter
at its destination; then he fancied that Cecilia might have torn it up,
without mentioning it to anybody. But, lo and behold, when he had given
up all hope, he found on his plate, at breakfast-time, a letter from
Spain, in an unknown lady's writing. His excitement at the sight was
indescribable. He turned as white as the mantelpiece--his heart seemed
to jump into his mouth. He opened the envelope with a trembling hand.
"Ah-a-a!" he sighed, with relief, after devouring the contents in two
seconds. He then put his hand to his side, wiped the sweat from his brow
with his pocket-handkerchief, took up the letter again, and reread it
quietly.
It was really from Cecilia; it was slightly ironical in tone--however,
it was not a rebuff.
What fancy could have seized him for her after four years' absence? Her
parents--who had opened the letter before she did--were equally
surprised, and thought it was a rash act, peculiar to youth--a passing
idea, of which he had probably already repented. She quite coincided
with their opinion, although she had consented to follow their advice of
writing to him, as they had always maintained friendly relations with
his family. This letter filled him with delight; it was not the scornful
refusal he had expected. Then he grew sad, and then cheerful, as he read
and reread the letter in search of a clear meaning. Was it kind--or was
it unkind? He hastened to reply, imploring forgiveness for his boldness,
and confirming his previous declaration with renewed and more vehement
protestations.
The girl wrote again in a few days, in a kinder and more affectionate
manner, and then Gonzalo sent another letter. An interchange of
photographs followed, and sometimes Dona Paula enclosed a few lines in
the letters sent by her daughter.
In time the young people were formally engaged, and the marriage was
arranged.
Don Melchor corresponded with his nephew on the subject, and he called
upon Don Rosendo. It was at last settled that Gonzalo should return in
the spring, when the wedding was to take place.