The grapevine of Las Vides which has such pleasant recollections
for Don Victoriano Andres de la Comba, bears those large, substantial
grapes of the light red and pale green hues which predominate in
Flemish vineyards, which are known in the neighborhood by the name of
_náparo_ or _Jaen_ grapes. Its clusters hang in long corymbs of a
gracefully irregular shape, half hiding themselves among the thick
foliage. The vine casts a cool shade, and the murmur of a slender
stream of water that falls into a rough stone basin in which
vegetables lie soaking, adds to the air of peacefulness of the scene.
The massive building looks almost like a fortress; the main
building is flanked by two square towers, low-roofed and pierced by
deep-set windows; in the middle of the central building, above a long
iron balcony, stands out the large escutcheon with the armorial
bearings of the Mendez--five vine-leaves and a wolf's head dripping
blood. This balcony commands a view of the mountain slope and of the
river that winds below; at the side of one of the towers is a wooden
gallery, open to the sun, which projects over the garden, and where,
thanks to the southern exposure, fine carnations grow luxuriantly in
old pots filled with mold, and wooden boxes overflow with sweet
basil, Santa Teresa's feathers, cactus, asclepias, and mallows--a
sun-loving, rich, Arabian flora of intoxicating sweetness. The
interior of the house is merely a series of whitewashed rooms with
the rafters exposed and almost without furniture, excepting the
central room, called the balcony-room, which is furnished with chairs
with straw seats and wooden, lyre-shaped backs, of the style of the
Empire. A mirror from which the quicksilver has almost disappeared,
with a broad ebony frame ornamented with allegorical figures of
gilded brass representing Phoebus driving his chariot, hangs above
the sofa. The pride of Las Vides is not the rooms, but the cellar,
the immense wine-vault, dark, and echoing, and cool as the aisle of a
cathedral, with its large vats ranged in a line on either side. This
apartment, unrivaled in the Border, is the one which Señor de las
Vides shows with most pride--this and his bedroom, which has the
peculiarity of being impregnable, as it is built in the body of the
wall and can be entered only through a narrow passage which scarcely
affords room for a man to turn around.
Mendez de las Vides resembled in no way the traditional type of
the ignorant lord of the manor who makes a cross for his signature, a
type very common in that inland country. On the contrary, Mendez
prided himself on being learned and cultured. He wrote a good
hand--the small, close handwriting characteristic of obstinate old
age; he read well, settling his spectacles on his nose, holding the
newspaper or the book at a distance, emphasizing the words in a
measured voice. Only his culture was confined to a single epoch--that
of the Encyclopedists, with whom his father became acquainted late in
life, and he himself a century after their time. He read Holbach,
Rousseau, Voltaire, and the fourteen volumes of Feijóo. He bore the
stamp and seal of this epoch even in his person. In religion he was a
deist, never neglecting, however, to go to mass and to eat fish in
Holy Week; in politics he was inclined to uphold the prerogatives of
the crown against the church. Since the arrival of Don Victoriano,
however, some movement had taken place in the stratified ideas of the
hidalgo of Las Vides. He admired English independence, the regard
paid to the right of the individual combined with a respect for
tradition and the civilizing influence of the aristocratic classes--a
series of Saxon importations more or less felicitous but to which Don
Victoriano owed his political success. Uncle and nephew spent hour
after hour discussing these abstruse problems of social science,
while Nieves worked, listening with the hope of hearing the trot of
some horse sound on the stones of the path announcing some visitor,
some distraction in her idle existence.
To make the journey to Las Vides, Segundo borrowed the vicious
nag of the alguazil. From the cross onward the road grew precipitous
and difficult. Smooth, slippery rocks obstructed the way at times, so
that the rider was obliged to hold a tight rein to keep the animal,
whose hoofs slipped continually, drawing sparks from the stone, from
falling headlong down the descent. The ground, parched by the heat,
was rugged and uneven. The houses seemed to cling to the
mountain-side, threatening to lose their hold at every moment and
topple over into the river, and the indispensable pot of carnations,
whose flowers peeped through the rails of the wooden balconies,
reminded one of the flower with which a gypsy carelessly adorns her
hair. Sometimes Segundo's way led through a pine grove, and he
inhaled the balsamic odor of the resin and rode over a carpet of dry
leaves which deadened the sound of his horse's hoofs; suddenly,
between two fences, a narrow path, bordered by blackberry bushes,
foxglove and honeysuckle would open before him, and not unfrequently
he experienced the delightful sense of well-being produced by the
coolness cast by umbrageous foliage during the heat of the day, as he
rode through some verdant tunnel--under some lofty grape arbor
supported on wooden posts, beholding above his head the bunches
already ripening, and listening to the noisy twittering of the
sparrows and the shrill whistle of the blackbird. Lizards ran along
the moss-covered walls. When two or more paths met Segundo would rein
in his horse, to inquire the way to Las Vides of the women who toiled
wearily up the steep path, bending under their load of pine wood, or
the children playing at the doors of the houses.
Far below ran the Avieiro, that, from the height at which Segundo
regarded it, looked like a steel blade flashing and quivering in the
sunshine. Before him was the mountain where, like the steps of a
colossal amphitheater, rose one above another massive walls of
whitish stone, erected for the support of the grapevines, the white
stripes showing against the green background, forming an odd
combination in which stood out here and there the red roof of some
dovecote or some old homestead, the whole surmounted by the darker
green of the pine woods. Segundo at last saw below him the tiles of
Las Vides. He descended a steep slope and found himself before the
portico.
Under the grapevine were Victorina and Nieves. The child was
amusing herself jumping the rope, which she did with extraordinary
agility, the feet close together, without moving from one spot, the
rope turning so rapidly that the graceful form of the jumper seemed
to be enveloped in a sort of mist. Through the interstices in the
foliage of the grapevine came large splashes of sunshine suddenly
flooding the girl's form with light, in which her hair, her arms and
her bare legs gleamed, for she wore only a loose navy blue blouse
without sleeves. When she caught sight of Segundo she gave a little
cry, dropped the rope and disappeared. Nieves, to make amends, rose
from the bench where she had been working, with a smile on her lips
and a slight flush of surprise on her cheeks, and extended her hand
to the newcomer, who made haste to dismount from his horse.
"And Señor Don Victoriano, how is he?" he asked.
"Oh, he is somewhere in the neighborhood; he is very well, and
very much interested in the labors of the country--very contented."
Nieves said these words with the abstracted air with which we speak
of things that possess only a slight interest for us. Segundo
observed that the glance of the Minister's wife rested on his fine
suit, which he had just received from Orense; and the idea that she
might think it pretentious or ridiculous disturbed him so greatly for
a time that he regretted not having worn his ordinary clothes.
"You frightened away Victorina," continued Nieves, smiling.
"Where can the silly child have disappeared to? No doubt she ran away
because she had on only a blouse. You treat her like a woman, and she
is growing unbearable. Come."
Nieves gathered up the skirt of her morning gown of white
cretonne spotted with rosebuds, and made her way intrepidly into the
kitchen, which was on a level with the yard. Following the little
Louis XV. heels covered by the Breton lace of her petticoat, Segundo
passed through several rooms--the kitchen, the dining-room, the
Rosary room, so called because in it Primo Genday said prayers with
the servants, and finally the balcony room. Here Nieves stopped,
saying:
"I will call to them if they chance to be in the vineyard."
And leaning out of the window, she cried:
"Uncle! Victoriano! Uncle!"
Two voices responded.
"What is it? We are coming."
Finding nothing opportune to say, Segundo was silent. Her
conscience at rest, now that she had called the elders, Nieves turned
toward him and said, with the graciousness of a hostess who knows
what are the duties of her position:
"How good this is of you! We had not thought you would care to
come before the vintage. And now that the holidays are
approaching--indeed I supposed we should see you in Vilamorta before
seeing you here, as Victoriano has determined to take a fortnight's
course of the waters."
She leaned against the wall as she spoke, and Segundo tapped the
toe of his boot with his whip. From the garden came the voice of
Mendez:
"Nieves! Nieves! Come down, if it is all the same to you."
"Excuse me, I am going for a parasol."
She soon returned, and Segundo offered her his arm. They
descended into the garden through the gallery, and after the
customary greetings were over Mendez protested against Segundo's
returning that afternoon to Vilamorta.
"The idea! A pretty thing that would be! To expose yourself to
the heat twice in the same day!"
And Señor de las Vides, availing himself of an opportunity which
no rural proprietor ever lets slip, took possession of the poet and
gave himself up to the task of showing him over the estate. He
explained to him at the same time his viticultural enterprises. He
had been among the first to employ sulphur fumigation with success,
and he was now using new manures which would perhaps solve the
problem of grape cultivation. He was making experiments with the
common wine of the Border, trying to make with it an imitation of the
rich Bordeaux; to impart to it, with powdered lily-root, the bouquet,
the fragrance, of the French wines. But he had to contend against the
spirit of routine, fanaticism, as he said, confidentially lowering
his voice and laying his hand on Segundo's shoulder. The other
vine-growers accused him of disregarding the wholesome traditions of
the country, of adulterating and making up wine. As if they
themselves did not make it up. Only that they did so, using common
drugs for the purpose--logwood and nightshade. He contented himself
with employing rational methods, scientific discoveries, the
improvements of modern chemistry, condemning the absurd custom of
using pitch in the skins, for although the people of the Border
approved of the taste of pitch in the wine, saying that the pitch
excited thirst, the exporters disliked, and with reason, the
stickiness imparted by it. In short, if Segundo would like to see the
wine vaults and the presses----
There was no help for it. Nieves remained at the door, fearing to
soil her dress. When they came out they proceeded to inspect the
garden in detail. The garden, too, was a series of walls built one
above another, like the steps of a stairs, sustaining narrow belts of
earth, and this arrangement of the ground gave the vegetation an
exuberance that was almost tropical. Camellias, peach trees, and
lemon trees grew in wild luxuriance, laden at once with leaves,
fruits, and blossoms. Bees and butterflies circled and hummed around
them, sipping their sweets, wild with the joy of mere existence and
drunken with the sunshine. They ascended by steep steps from wall to
wall. Segundo gave his arm to Nieves and at the last step they paused
to look at the river flowing below.
"Look there," said Segundo, pointing to a distant hill on his
left. "There is the pine grove. I wager you have forgotten."
"I have not forgotten," responded Nieves, winking her blue eyes
dazzled by the sun; "the pine grove that sings. You see that I have
not forgotten. And tell me, do you know if it will sing to-day? For I
should greatly like to hear it sing this afternoon."
"If a breeze rises. With the air as still as it is now, the pines
will be almost motionless and almost silent. And I say _almost_, for
they are never quite silent. The friction of their tops is sufficient
to cause a peculiar vibration, to produce a murmur----"
"And does that happen," asked Nieves jestingly, "only with the
pines here or is it the same with all pines?"
"I cannot say," answered Segundo, looking at her fixedly.
"Perhaps the only pine grove that will ever sing for me will be that
of Las Vides."
Nieves lowered her eyes, and then glanced round, as if in search
of Don Victoriano and Mendez, who were on one of the steps above
them. Segundo observed the movement and with rude imperiousness said
to Nieves:
"Let us join them."
They rejoined their companions and did not again separate from
them until they entered the dining-room, where Genday and Tropiezo
were awaiting them. The last to arrive was the child, now modestly
attired in a piqué frock and long stockings.
The table at which they dined was placed, not in the center, but
at one side of the dining-room; it was square and at the sides,
instead of chairs, stood two oaken benches, dark with age, as seats
for the guests. The head and foot of the table were left free for the
service. Sober by nature, Segundo noticed with surprise the
extraordinary quantity of food consumed by Don Victoriano, observing
at the same time that his face was thinner than before. Now and then
the statesman paused remorsefully, saying:
"I am eating ravenously."
The Amphitryon protested, and Tropiezo and Genday expounded in
turn liberal and consoling doctrines. "Nature is very wise," said
Señor de las Vides, who had not forgotten Rousseau, "and he who obeys
her cannot go astray." Primo Genday, fond of eating, like all
plethoric people, added with a certain theological unction: "In order
that the soul may be disposed to serve God the reasonable
requirements of the body must first be attended to." Tropiezo, on his
side, pushed out his lower lip, denying the existence of certain
new-fangled diseases. Since the world began there had been people who
suffered as Don Victoriano was suffering and no one had ever thought
of depriving them of eating and drinking, quite the contrary. For the
very reason that the disease was a wasting one it was necessary to
eat well. Don Victoriano allowed himself to be easily persuaded.
Those dishes of former times, those antiquated, miraculous
cruet-stands in which the oil and the vinegar came from the same tube
without ever mingling, that immense loaf placed on the table as a
center-piece, were for him so many delightful relics of the past,
which reminded him of happy hours, the irresponsible years of
existence. At the dessert, when Primo Genday, still heated with a
political discussion in which he had characterized the liberals as
uncircumcised, suddenly grew very serious and proceeded to recite the
Lord's Prayer, the Minister, a confirmed rationalist, was surprised
at the devoutness with which he murmured--"Our daily bread."
_Caramba_, those memories of the days when one was young! Don
Victoriano grew young again in going over those recollections of his
boyish days. He even called to mind ephemeral engagements,
flirtations of a fortnight with young ladies of the Border who, at
the present time, must be withered old maids or respectable mothers
of families. A pretty fool he was! The ex-Minister laid down his
napkin and rose to his feet.
"Do you sleep the siesta?" he asked Segundo.
"No, Señor."
"Nor I either; let us go and smoke a cigar together."