IN WHICH LOPEZ MAKES A FRESH ASSAULT, AND KATIE BREAKS DOWN UTTERLY.
Once more Lopez called upon Katie: it was about two hours after his last
call. This was his third call in one day. She looked surprised and also
vexed.
"A little matter has occurred to me," said he, "which I thought I would
mention to you, as it ought to be of some concern to you."
"Ah!" said Katie, languidly, as Lopez paused. She seemed to be more
indifferent, if possible, than ever; more self-absorbed, and more bored
with his society.
"It's about a certain Mr. Rivers," continued Lopez.
It was not without very careful premeditation that Lopez had entered upon
this interview, and the result of his thoughts was that he had decided
upon introducing this matter in the most abrupt manner possible. But in
all his speculations as to the possible effect of this new scheme, he had
never imagined anything like the reality as he now witnessed it.
At the mention of that name Katie's manner changed instantly and utterly.
From languor, from indifference, and from boredom, she started up erect
with wild excitement and terrified interest. In her face there was a
perfect anguish of fear and apprehension. Her eyes stared upon him in
utter horror; she gasped for breath, and it was not until some time that
she could articulate a few words.
"Mr.--Mr.--Rivers!" she gasped. "Did you say--Mr. Rivers?"
However amazed Lopez was at Katie's intensity of excitement, he made no
reference to it, and answered in a quiet and matter-of-fact tone.
"He said he was acquainted with you, and wanted to see you."
"To see me? Mr. Rivers?" said Katie, still agitated. "And can--can
he--will he--will you let him? Did you consent?"
"Well," said Lopez, "you see, there were reasons--"
"Reasons!" repeated Katie, all tremulously, and in dire
suspense--"reasons!" she waited his reply breathlessly. The thought of
Harry being in the power of Lopez, of the hate and malignant vengeance
which Lopez might pour forth upon his devoted head, had all occurred to
her at once at the mention of his name, and still overwhelmed her.
"In Spain, you know," said Lopez, "there is not such freedom of social
intercourse between young unmarried ladies and gentlemen as in England,
and I did not think that you would feel like violating our Spanish
etiquette."
"Spanish etiquette!" cried Katie, with nervous eagerness; "oh, that is
nothing--Tell him he may come--he may come; tell him he may come--I shall
be most happy to see him--I shall be so glad to see him! I shall--oh, I
shall--be--I shall be--oh yes, glad to see him!"
Katie was struggling with intense feeling. Her feelings carried her away
completely. Lopez saw this plainly, and felt, as he had felt in Ashby's
case, partly triumphant exultation, partly the bitterest jealousy. But he
had a careful guard over every exhibition of his own feelings. And yet,
in the midst of his exultation, his jealousy, and his efforts at
self-control, he marvelled greatly at the intensity of feeling displayed
by this girl whom he had believed to be so immovable. And for whom?--for
an acquaintance of three days' standing.
"Oh, but you see," said he, "there is something else to prevent,
unfortunately."
"Something else!" repeated Katie, in a low, trembling voice: "and
_unfortunately_! did you say _unfortunately_?"
"I said _unfortunately_," said Lopez. "You see--I forgot to mention it
before, as I did not know that you were acquainted with him--but this
Rivers has been arrested as a spy."
This was, of course, untrue; but Lopez was merely trying an experiment on
Katie.
The experiment was fearfully successful.
In an instant all that Lopez had said at their last interview about the
fate of spies rushed to her mind. Ashby's fate she had regarded with mild
pity, but the fate of Rivers seemed to crush her down into the dust.
She clutched the arm of Lopez convulsively with both her hands; she
raised up her face--white with horror; she gasped for breath.
"Oh, senor! oh, senor!" she cried, "what is it that you mean? A spy!
Harry a spy, and arrested! Oh, you cannot mean it! Say that you do not
mean it! Oh, say it--say it!"
She could say no more. Her grasp loosened. She fell back, and, burying
her face in her hands, burst into a passion of tears. Sobs convulsed that
slender frame. Lopez sat with a bitter smile regarding her.
"You seem to value the life of this Rivers," said he at length, after a
long silence.
Katie lifted her face, and regarded him with eyes all red and swollen.
"His life!" she exclaimed, with a shudder--"his life! Ah, that is it! And
I see in your face that there is--no--hope. Oh, Harry! oh, Harry, Harry!"
Her voice died away in a low shudder. Lopez himself was moved. He had not
been in the least prepared for such an utter break-down as this. Ah! now
he saw that Katie could love, and how she could love! At the force of
that love all else passed away--pride, shame, hate, all; everything was
forgotten except that name, upon which her voice dwelt with such longing.
"Yes," he said, "he is a spy. He is now being tried, or rather, he has
been tried--for I may as well tell it--and has been condemned. I need say
no more about it; I have already said enough. You know the fate of a
condemned spy. Before another hour all will be over."
At first Katie seemed about to faint, but the last sentence roused her.
She started up, and again seized his arm with her convulsive grasp. With
white, tremulous lips she said, in a low voice which had sunk to a
whisper,
"An hour! an hour! Did you say--another hour?"
Lopez bowed his head in silence.
"But _you_--_you_--_you_," said Katie, fiercely--"_you_ do not believe
him guilty?"
"I have nothing to do with it," said Lopez, coldly.
"Nothing to do? Are you not commander here?"
"Yes."
"Can you do nothing?" she asked again.
"No. The trial is over. His fate has already been decided; in another
hour all will be over."
The repetition of these words roused Katie to a fresh outburst of
despairing grief.
"Oh!" said she; "in so short a time! so short!"
"It was because he was so near his doom," continued Lopez, "that the
condemned prisoner requested to see you, and I thought I would mention
it. Had it not been for this request he would have been shot without your
knowing it."
Katie wrung her hands, in a blind passion of despair.
"Oh!" she burst forth, "something must be done! He shall not die! He must
not! Oh, heavens! how can I live, and think of it? Harry! Harry! was
there no one to speak for you? A _spy_! It's false! He was a simple
traveller. Oh, Captain Lopez, there must be some way of saving him, or at
least of deferring his doom. Can it not be put off--for one day?"
"That would be of no avail," said Lopez.
"One day!" pleaded Katie, in eager tones.
"It's useless," said Lopez; "it's impossible. The sentence of the court
cannot be revoked."
"But time flies! Oh, Captain Lopez, can you not let him go?"
"Oh yes," said Lopez, "I can do that easily enough. I could let him out,
so that he could escape."
At this Katie fell on her knees, and clasped the hands of Lopez.
"Oh, Captain Lopez, I kneel to you! I pray to you! On my knees I pray for
his life! Let him fly! Oh, let him fly! Oh, I pray--I pray on my knees!"
Lopez drew a long breath. This scene was terrible to him in many ways;
but, above all, it was terrible to see what love was thus lavished on
this comparative stranger, when he would risk his life, and had risked
his life, for a single smile.
"Think," said he, "what it is that you ask. The moment I let him go, that
moment I myself am a criminal, I myself am condemned. I must fly--I must
become a ruined man! Ruined? Worse: dishonored, disgraced in my native
land; I who have had high ambitions, and have won no mean distinctions.
And yet do you ask this of me?"
Katie bowed her head down; she kissed his hands, and in tremulous tones
said,
"Oh, I must--I must! I do!"
Lopez was trembling from head to foot. He himself could now scarcely
speak from agitation.
"And may I," he said, in a low voice--"may I--ask--nothing from you--when
I give up--honor, life, hope, all--for your sake?"
There was a suggestiveness in this question which flashed at once in all
its fullest meaning into Katie's mind. She dropped his hands; she sank
upon the floor; she bowed her head tremblingly and despairingly. Lopez
looked at her with an agitation equal to her own, and a despair only
less. She loved another--she could never love him; she loved another--oh,
how vehemently, how dearly she loved him! Yet she _must_ be his!
"One hour was allowed him," murmured Lopez--"one hour to prepare. Much of
that hour has already passed. Say, will you save his life? and shall I
set him free? Say, shall I go to ruin? Say, will you give up as much for
me as I am ready to give up for you? Quick--another minute, and it may be
too late!"
Katie started up wildly.
"Go! go!" she said, in a hot, feverish whisper. "Haste--fly--save him!"
"You promise?" said Lopez.
"Oh, my God! yes!" cried Katie, and fell senseless to the floor.
"See to your mistress," said Lopez, in a faltering voice, as he went
outside and met the attendant there.
Then Lopez went away, not to free Harry, for he was already free, but to
a lonely room, where he flung himself on his face on the stony floor, and
lay there long, weeping like a child.
For the agony of this man at winning Katie thus was equal to that of
Katie over her act of self-sacrifice.