RETRIBUTION
After seeing her husband disappear through the window, Ventura dressed
herself quickly and left the room to find a servant. Just at this moment
Pachin arrived with a disconcerted face, carrying a light.
"The senorito is rushing after the duke across the garden," he said in a
hardly audible voice.
"Will he catch him?" asked the unfaithful wife, very pale, although
somewhat recovered from her fright.
"I don't think so; the duke has his horse tied to the Antony vine. He
had the start, and, once mounted, it will be impossible to overtake
him."
"Where shall I hide myself? If he comes back he will kill me."
"It will be best to leave the house. Come with me."
The girl then followed the servant along the passages, down the back
staircase and out by the kitchen door. Pachin wished to take her to the
parish priest's house, which was near to the estate. When they were
entering the garden they saw Gonzalo running toward the house, and they
only just had time to hide behind the Washingtonia close to the
dining-room. From there they saw him go into the stable, bring out a
horse and go off full gallop, and Ventura thought she would die of
fright.
"No, no; I don't want to go to the priest's house. He will return soon,
and the priest could not defend me from him--he is a poor old man--I
want to go to Sarrio."
"But, senorita, to Sarrio at this hour, and raining?"
"Is there no carriage?"
"There is the landau, but there are no horses. Wait a bit. I will alter
the shafts, and we will harness Senorita, Pablo's mare--I don't answer
for her going in it."
"Capital! capital!"
Pachin carried out his idea as quickly as possible. Ventura got into the
carriage, and off they went.
Although at first the mare rebelled a little, once on the highroad the
thought of the stable at Sarrio, her usual abode, made her go very well.
The girl told the servant to drive her to Don Rudesindo's house, as she
was on rather intimate terms with his wife. There she remained until two
or three days after the event, when her father took her to Madrid, and
from thence to Ocana, where she was shut up in a convent by the joint
arrangement of Gonzalo and Rosendo. The great patrician, as we know, was
not much in favor of positive religions, but "as long as society
provided no other coercive measures for certain moral transgressions, he
was perforce led to look for them from old social institutions,
deficient and vitiated as they might be."
We must now return to Gonzalo. He passed the whole day locked in his
room in a state of agitation approaching madness. The only person who
ventured to enter his room was Don Rosendo, who talked to him in a kind
and dignified style, adorned with periphrases and florid periods
befitting his character as a writer. He took a seat by his side and
cursed his daughter, "whose inexpressible conduct, defying [Don Rosendo
had lately taken a great fancy to this verb] at once morality, law, and
social practise, had placed her beyond the pale of all legal and family
protection."
It was he who suggested shutting her up for a time in a convent. Poor
Gonzalo, overwhelmed and distraught, never answered a word, but listened
to him while walking backward and forward across the room with his hands
in his pockets and his eyes wet and gloomy. Once only he raised his head
to say with firmness:
"Take her where you like--but don't let her see my children. I do not
want her lips to touch them."
At dusk a servant came to tell Gonzalo that two gentlemen had arrived in
a trap, who wished to see him on urgent business. Guessing immediately
the import of the matter he said at once: "Show them in."
Two gentlemen from Nieva then entered. One was the Marquis of
Soldevilla, a middle-aged man, quite bald, with a complexion marked with
erysipelas, and black teeth. He talked in a loud tone to seem at his
ease. The other, named Golarzo, was old, gray, and a man of few words or
friends. They came on behalf of the duke to arrange a serious matter
that had happened the previous night--about an affair of honor. The duke
did not wish to rob the Senor de las Cuevas of the reparation due to
him. To run away on such an occasion was not according to his habits nor
his character, neither was it befitting his social status. But at the
same time, in the interest of Gonzalo and himself, he expected that all
would be executed with as much privacy as possible.
Without wincing, and affecting a calmness he was far from feeling,
Gonzalo put no check to the loquacity of the marquis, which bordered on
impertinence.
"All right," he said, when he had finished. "I accept the challenge, and
I am ready to fulfil it when it suits you. But it is rather odd," he
added with a nervous laugh, which badly cloaked the anger which
consumed him. "It is rather odd for the senor duke to send the
challenge, seeing that I am the injured party. This course seems to me
more prompted by fear than by gentlemanliness."
"Senor de las Cuevas," broke in the ex-colonel with acerbity, "we can
not permit these derogatory remarks to be made in our presence."
Gonzalo looked at him in an absent way as if he had not heard him, and
then continued:
"In fact I could, and even I ought to reject his challenge, because it
is not customary for decent men to fight scoundrels, even if they bear
the title of king."
"Senor de las Cuevas," exclaimed Golarza, rising in anger from his seat,
"this is insufferable, and I will not permit you to speak like this."
"The Duke of Tornos is a scoundrel, and you know he is," he returned,
looking him straight in the eyes in a provocative way.
The fact was, it would have required some courage to withstand Gonzalo
at that moment. Golarza turned white and, rising, said:
"This is your house, therefore I retire."
"Do you want me to say it to you outside?" he exclaimed impetuously as
he also rose from his seat.
"Senores," cried the marquis in his cracked voice, "calm yourselves.
Golarza, you have no right to get angry. The sort of injury that our
patron has done the gentleman (and I am sorry to have to refer to it)
excuses his want of appreciation of his character. I think from the
moment he accepts the duel he has sufficiently atoned for the tone of
his remarks, the outcome of the natural anger to which he is a prey."
Gonzalo felt inclined to hurl the table beside him at the fulsome
peacemaker; but he stood motionless and silent because of his ardent
desire to come face to face with the duke.
The ex-colonel resumed his seat at the entreaty of his companion, and
either from spite, or from fear of the young man's irascible state, he
did not utter another word. Gonzalo said that he would depute two
friends, who would arrange with them the details for their meeting at
Nieva in the morning. In the meanwhile they would be returning to the
town, unless they would do him the honor of being his guests that night.
The friends of the duke thanked him and proceeded to withdraw. When they
were standing ready to go, Gonzalo, addressing himself to the marquis,
said:
"I request that your conferences with regard to this duel, and the duel
itself, may take place in Nieva--because--" he added in a tone half
sarcastic, half tremulous, "strange as it may appear to you, in this
house there are people who love me."
The seconds promised to concede to this wish and they then returned to
Nieva.
After Cecilia saw them depart she haunted her brother-in-law's door
without daring to go in. But coming out in search of Pablito the young
man met her in the half-dark passage; when the girl, seizing him by the
hand, fixed an imploring look upon his face. She said:
"Do not fight, Gonzalo."
Mustering up the strength to dissimulate, he exclaimed, scornfully:
"I fight with this scoundrel! Never! I will kill him when I meet him."
She believed his words, but she turned to say in a broken voice:
"Don't do it, for the sake of your innocent children."
"For my children and for you," he returned, caressing her cheek
affectionately with his hand.
And overcome by emotion he hastily withdrew.
On meeting Pablo he said in a low tone:
"I can speak openly with you; you are a man, and you know that there are
things in life that are inevitable. The seconds of the duke have just
gone, and I have just deceived Cecilia by promising not to fight. But,
as you understand, that is impossible."
"Why?--No, you ought not to fight--I am the one--I ought to kill this
wretched fellow," impetuously exclaimed the handsome youth.
"Thanks, Pablo, thanks," returned Gonzalo gravely, in an unsteady
voice, and clasping his hand effusively, "but that can't be. Think a
little over the affair, and you will see that your affection and kind
wishes lead you astray."
It cost Gonzalo some trouble to convince Pablo that he was the one who
should fight the duke first, and his not very fertile brain was much
exercised in his search for reasonable and logical arguments in support
of this decision.
Pablo only gave in after a long discussion and with the understanding
that if Gonzalo were wounded in the duel he should challenge the duke.
There was something in the loyalty and affection shown him by all the
family, and in the open and decided way in which they ranked themselves
on his side and repudiated the erring daughter and sister, which touched
while it overwhelmed him.
This magnanimous conduct obliged him to be generous and not mention the
name of the faithless girl in conversation, as he could not do so in
measured language.
Pablito was not so reticent, but he saw that it was better not to
continue the subject.
"Look here, go early to-morrow to Sarrio and take the letters I will
give you to Alvaro Pena and Don Rudesindo. Let them proceed at once to
Nieva, trying to keep out of sight as they pass by here. Let them
arrange the matter as quickly as possible, and send word to Sarrio about
the day and time. You will get it there, and bring it straight to me.
Then I will manage to leave here without letting your father and Cecilia
know about it."
Having received his directions Pablo went off on horseback to Sarrio at
daybreak to execute them, and Pena and Don Rudesindo at once proceeded
to Nieva.
Gonzalo from his bedroom window saw the carriage, in which they were, go
by.
As may be supposed, the gossip in Sarrio was terrible. Nothing else was
spoken about. The friends of Belinchon looked glum, and there were
several who blamed Don Rosendo for having so spoiled his youngest
daughter and having put up with her airs and graces of a princess.
The enemies of the patrician were in a state of pure delight and added a
thousand particulars to the scandal.
The few impartial people in the place contented themselves with pitying
Gonzalo, and censuring the repugnant proceeding of Morin's malicious
spouse; for every one knew it was she who had put the match to the
train. Many inquisitive people passed in front of Don Rudesindo's house,
and gazed eagerly at the windows, and tried to glean from the servants,
as they came out, what was going on within. It was said that Ventura was
very quiet, and showed little sorrow for her conduct, for she had dined
and joked and laughed with the wife of the cider manufacturer. It was
thought that the eager curiosity shown in this quarter would have
distracted attention from Don Rudesindo's expedition to Nieva with Pena.
But the object of the journey was suspected, and the news ran through
the town like wildfire, that Gonzalo was to have a duel with the duke,
no one knew where.
Don Melchor de las Cuevas lived alone with a man and a woman-servant.
The night of the ball he went home and, calling at the Belinchons, they
told him that Gonzalo had gone to Tejada; so, not feeling well, the old
man retired to bed without any suspicions.
The following day he still felt indisposed, not being accustomed to late
hours, so he remained at home. However, he sent his man to Belinchon's
to ask after his nephew, and there the servant heard all that had
happened. But not daring to tell his master the news, the servant
brought back the message that Gonzalo was all right at Tejada.
That day went by, and on the following, which was Tuesday, the servant
heard that the young man was to have a duel with the duke. Then, either
fearing to incur responsibility, or because he thought his master could
prevent the trouble, he told him the whole story, albeit with some
reservation.
Don Melchor, wounded in his tenderest affections, jumped up from his
armchair and ordered a carriage to be fetched at once to take him to
Tejada, and when it came to the door he got in, telling the driver to go
with all speed to Belinchon's country place. Don Rosendo was the first
person he saw, and he received him with some confusion and shame, as if
he shared in the disgrace weighing upon Gonzalo. Don Melchor was rather
cold to him, not intentionally, but from his desire to see his nephew.
Don Rosendo took him to his room door, and there left him. Then the
Senor de las Cuevas rapped with his knuckles.
"Who's there?" was sharply asked from within.
Whereupon the old man turned the handle, and went in without answering.
Gonzalo, who was standing in the middle of the room, turned as red as
fire on seeing his uncle, who clasped him affectionately to his breast.
Copious tears then flowed down the young man's face. Nobody had seen him
weep during that trying time, but the old man had been a father to him
from his infancy, and he had no shame in revealing to him the most
hidden wounds of his heart.
They remained for some time in each other's arms; and Don Melchor at
last released his nephew and, pushing him toward an armchair, he said:
"Sit down."
So Gonzalo dropped into the seat and hid his eyes with his hand.
"It is a heavy blow," said the sailor in a hoarse voice, after a long
silence--"a treacherous squall has put your bark under water. But you
are a ship of much strength," he added, placing his hands on the young
man's herculean shoulders. "You have solid bulwarks--we will weather the
storm yet."
Gonzalo made no answer.
"Why did you not come home at once?"
"Because it would have been a cruel slight on this poor family in its
deep affliction. They have been so kind to me."
"If that is so, you did well--but you ought to have told me--I don't
forgive you for that."
"But why? The later you heard the bad news the better."
"That's not so! I am like your father, Gonzalo, and I can sympathize
with you--They tell me you are going to have a duel with him--with that
pirate. Is it so?"
"No--no such thing now--" returned the young man with some hesitation.
"Don't deceive me, Gonzalo! This duel can not take place. I have come
determined to prevent it."
"There is nothing going on, uncle. Make yourself easy."
"It is useless for you to deceive me. I won't leave you for a moment.
Here I will remain, I will sleep by your side so that you don't escape
me, and I will keep guard over you from dawn to midday and till eve."
Gonzalo stood aghast, seeing that it was necessary to confess all, and
to face the matter.
"And if it were true, what of it, uncle? Would you dare to prevent your
nephew doing what is exacted by honor?"
"Yes, sir--And don't speak to me of daring!--Yes, sir, I dare," returned
the old man in a rage. "Do you want me to give my consent to your losing
your life through a villain, a rogue, who crept into your house to
villainously betray your honor? Rogues like that are strung up, or shot,
one does not fight them. You are blind, Gonzalo. Stop a moment, man, get
to the bottom of the scandal and you will see that it does not hold
water."
"What would you have me do then? Do you want me to let him go off
quietly to Madrid? Do you want me to see him off and wish him a pleasant
journey, and thank him for the kindness he has done me?"
"No, he has been curse enough; kill him if you like, but don't lose your
own life."
"That is very easy to say, uncle," replied Gonzalo caustically. "Imagine
that I go to Nieva, I seek him out, I shoot him, or I kill him with a
blow--then I am taken off to prison, and however righteous my cause was,
I have to undergo some years' incarceration--Allowing that the majority
of men exonerate the deed, they would not think it a very brave one."
Don Melchor stood some moments confounded, not knowing what to reply,
but he did not give in. Finally he raised his head quickly, his eyes
shining with delight.
"I have found a solution!"
"What?"
"You remain quietly at home. I will go myself to Nieva, meet the duke,
and kill him."
"Oh! uncle, many thanks! But it can not be," returned Gonzalo, unable to
repress a smile.
"What are you laughing at, silly?" exclaimed the good old man, with his
eyes blazing. "You think perhaps your uncle is a useless old hulk, who
can not handle a sword or a pistol? The devil take it! the devil!" he
added, each time with more anger, and gesticulating about the room like
a madman--"I am the same as I was at twenty years of age--I run upstairs
four steps at a time without any fatigue--I drink five bottles of pale
ale without it getting into my head--I can knock a bull down with a
blow, and I can launch a heavy boat. And is all this anything to laugh
at, and snap your fingers at in such a brutal fashion?"
"I am not laughing at that, uncle--I know, I know."
"Let's see, then; give me your hand and feel if I can squeeze it or
not."
Gonzalo gave him his hand, and the old sailor squeezed it with all his
strength, his face red and contorted. Although not much hurt, the young
man feigned most dreadful pain.
"My! my!"
"Eh, well?" exclaimed the uncle with an air of triumph. "Can I or can I
not free the world of a villain?"
"I know you can; you are stronger than I. But that is not the question.
The thing is to see what is to be done; if it would be right for you or
for me. Don't you see, uncle, that the disgrace of being a deceived
husband rests solely upon me, and it would be made much, inconceivably,
worse, if you fought the duel and not I? I know that this disgrace must
be wiped out with blood, but it must be blood shed by my hand."
Don Melchor did not wish to concur in this opinion; he argued, he
scolded, and he grew angry. Nevertheless, it was evident that this
density was assumed. Gonzalo's arguments began to take effect upon his
mind, and filled his soul with bitterness. At last he beat a retreat,
only asking for the duel to be postponed, for him to travel for a time,
and if on his return he still wished to fight he should do so.
The discussion was still going on when Don Rosendo called outside the
door to ask them if they would have luncheon there or come down to the
dining-room.
Gonzalo chose the latter course, as he was anxious to show no coldness
toward his father-in-law and sister-in-law.
The luncheon was melancholy.
In spite of the efforts made by all, Gonzalo included, to seem
unconcerned, a black cloud hung over the party and overshadowed their
faces. After taking coffee, and sitting quiet a little while, Gonzalo
said:
"Uncle, you left your bed to come here. You can not feel well. Shall a
room be got ready for you? I believe you ought to go to bed." Then Don
Melchor, seeing that his nephew wanted to be alone, said:
"No; I am going back to Sarrio. Let them put to."
He then took leave of Belinchon and Cecilia, and Gonzalo walked with him
as far as the park gate. They were both silent and gloomy; and the old
man was extremely pale. Before getting into the carriage, he gave his
nephew a long and affectionate embrace, and in a broken voice he said in
his ear:
"Strike him between air and water, my boy."
When they parted, his face was bathed in tears, and, getting into the
carriage, he hid himself in a corner unable to say good-by.
Gonzalo looked after the vehicle and stood for some time motionless,
holding by an iron bar of the gate.
Pablito returned from the town early in the evening. After dinner, he
found an opportunity to say quickly to his brother-in-law:
"To-morrow at eight at Soldevilla's place. Pistols. Pena and Don
Rudesindo will go by here at six. Be ready."
Gonzalo slept that night better than the previous one. The fierce
satisfaction of the certainty of meeting the duke the following morning
calmed his nerves.
At five in the morning he awoke active and fresh with no recollection of
dreams. He dressed himself and sallied forth, with as little noise as
possible, on tiptoe as dawn was breaking.
"Are you going shooting, sir?" asked a servant whom he met.
"No, I am going to see the miller, to have the canal kept low, as I want
to fish this evening."
He passed on to the road, and went in the direction of Nieva, waiting
for the carriage with his seconds to catch him up, which it did in about
half an hour. Pena and Don Rudesindo were much excited. When the young
man entered the carriage they shook hands with great warmth and
acquainted him with the conditions of the duel--they were to have twenty
paces between them, and to advance and retreat as they pleased. This
affair was by far the most serious one they had taken part in.
Gonzalo listened quietly; and he merely mentioned that he would have
preferred swords, as he would have liked to have been nearer to his
enemy. He did not seem upset, for the fact was, the excitement of
meeting his foe face to face was an agreeable change from the torment of
the preceding days, when the picture of his wife, in her night-dress,
cowering in a corner, never left his mind's eye.
Besides, Gonzalo, like all those of an excessively vigorous temperament,
was born for dangers; he reveled in them as if he were certain that the
life coursing through his veins was inexhaustible. They did not reach
the Soldevilla estate before half-past eight. The duke and his seconds
had been waiting for some time. The former was not visible, being within
the house. The marquis and Golarza escorted Pena and Don Rudesindo
indoors, while Gonzalo took a turn in the garden. The Soldevilla place
consisted of an old house half in ruins, with scanty, very old
furniture, covered with dust; a rather large garden, more cared for than
the house, and behind the garden an old orchard. The place was
surrounded by meadows and lands, also belonging to the marquis.
The seconds discussed in the house whether the pistols brought by Pena,
or those of the duke, should be used, and they decided upon those of the
latter. Then the conditions of the duel were written out with a very
bad pen of the majordomo's, for the marquis only wrote about one letter
a year there. The pistols were loaded, and they sallied forth to seek a
convenient spot for the combat.
"Manuel," said the marquis, seeing a man busy planting onions in one of
the garden beds, "go away."
The servant looked at him in surprise.
"Be off, man," he reiterated with increased severity. "Go somewhere
else."
The servant then left the garden, casting looks of astonishment and
curiosity behind him.
A place was chosen in one of the narrowest paths in the centre of the
garden, and Soldevilla went to fetch the duke.
Dawn broke that day in a clear sky; but very early after sunrise heavy,
dark clouds gathered over that part of the coast, threatening an early
discharge of heavy rain.
The light grew dimmer and dimmer to an extraordinary degree until it
waned to a misty gray.
The duke appeared in a black frock coat and broad-brimmed hat, rather
paler than usual, but affecting a calm disdain, coupled with his usual
courtesy. He had a fragrant cigar in his mouth with which he enveloped
himself in light clouds of smoke as he walked by the side of Soldevilla.
Arriving at the appointed spot he gave a cold ceremonious greeting to
the group of Gonzalo and his seconds, and vouchsafed them no further
glance. After a few minutes' conference Pena put Gonzalo in position and
handed him a loaded pistol. Soldevilla did the same with the duke. They
had both removed their hats. The grandee retained his cigar in his left
hand, and, with an impassibility which savored of the theatrical, he
gave long puffs at it. Great drops of rain, heralding a sharp shower,
began to fall; and Pena finally called out:
"Gentlemen, are you ready? One, two, three!--fire!"
The duke inclined his pistol and aimed. Gonzalo, also aiming, came
forward with a pale face and with his eyes starting with fury.
His opponent waited until he arrived within fifteen paces with calmness,
and moreover with the certainty of victory, for he was a consummate
shot, and then fired.
The ball grazed the young man's cheek, piercing his skin and making it
bleed; he stopped an instant, and then continued advancing. The seconds
turned terribly pale. The duke dropped his pistol and stood awaiting his
death with a bravery tinged with affectation and pride.
Gonzalo came forward precipitately until within two steps from his
adversary. At that moment a rush of blood blinded him; his athletic
temperament overcame his reason, his eyes shone with the glaring look
of a wild beast, his lips trembled, his face contracted in a fearful
manner, and, casting the pistol far from him, he leaped upon the traitor
like a tiger. The duke, unable to resist the shock of the Colossus, was
leveled to the ground. Then, roaring with rage, Gonzalo proceeded to
kick him in the ribs. The seconds rushed to stop him, and the choleric
Golarza caught him a blow on the head, to which Gonzalo seemed quite
oblivious. Pena, indignant, raised his stick and directed a blow at
Golarza. The Marquis of Soldevilla then gave another to Pena; and the
whole party, mad with fury, began a hand-to-hand fight, while Gonzalo,
satiating his pent-up thirst for vengeance, reveled in pummeling the
well-nigh inert form of the duke.
At that moment the clouds burst in a downpour of rain, which became so
heavy that the Marquis of Soldevilla quitted the field and repaired to
the house for shelter.
The circle broke up as if by magic, for Don Rudesindo and Pena and
Golarza followed his example.
However, before going off, it occurred to them to look and see how their
chiefs were getting on.
And by a unanimous movement of compassion, they seized hold of Gonzalo,
whose mad rage was not yet exhausted.
The grip of the gentlemen brought him back to reason. He gave one long,
sinister, astonished look, and then, without saying a word, he seized
his hat and turned to the gate of the estate, while the duke was carried
to the house in a dying condition.
The doctor summoned by Soldevilla (he had been shut up in a room during
the duel, so as to avoid being present) now made a careful examination
of the wounds and contusions of the injured man, and then declared his
condition very serious.
Pena and Don Rudesindo found Gonzalo in the carriage weeping in despair.
"I am a brute!" he said--"a brute! What will you think of me? I have
committed a shameful deed. Forgive me."
The friends did their best to calm him. In truth neither of them was so
shocked; for, after all, the conduct of the duke had been so villainous
that it deserved a villainous chastisement.
Pena during the drive even cut jokes on the splendid trouncing
administered to the grandee.
"There is no doubt, my boy, that grandees of strength can do more than
grandees of rank," he said in his bell-like voice, enunciating every
letter.
Gonzalo, like a great child that he was, passed from crying to laughing,
and after the first smile he gave long and loud guffaws at his friends'
jokes.
But the sight of his father-in-law's house plunged him again into
depression. He had satisfied his righteous anger, but there remained a
deep wound, of the anguish of which he had not yet been conscious, as
long as it had been stifled by the excitement of the rage which had
consumed him during those two days. Oh! those grotesque little towers
and minarets, witnesses of his honeymoon; they made him so melancholy
that it seemed as if some cruel hand were clutching at his heart within
his breast. His friends, divining his wish to be alone, went on to
Sarrio. Pablito was waiting for him at the house gate, and embraced him
effusively and enthusiastically.
"Have you killed him?" he asked in a low voice.
"I don't know--I think so," returned the young man in a still lower
tone. "And your father?"
"My father--he was here an instant ago--as soon as he saw you get out of
the carriage safe and sound he got into the landau, which was waiting,
ready, and went off to Sarrio."
Gonzalo guessed the purport of Don Rosendo's journey, and his gloominess
increased.
The two brothers-in-law then proceeded in silence to the house, and
straight up to Gonzalo's room.
At the end of some moments, after throwing himself on the sofa and
remaining motionless with his head sunk on his chest, he said to
Pablito:
"Forgive me, Pablo--but I want to be left alone, I am not equal to
talking now."
So the brother-in-law withdrew.
At the end of some time, the door was reopened without the young man
noticing it, and a shadow slipped toward him and placed upon the nearest
chair a tray with a cup and some plates.
"Oh, is that you, Cecilia?"
"Whether you like it or not, you must take something, for I am certain
you have not broken your fast," said the girl, dragging a little table
forward and placing the steaming soup upon it.
"How good you are, Cecilia!" he exclaimed, seizing one of her hands.
That exclamation was a cry of affection and enthusiasm, mingled with
remorse that he had ever been able to doubt her.
"How good you are! How good you are!" he repeated with tears in his
eyes. "What you did that night! Oh! Nobody else would have done it,
nobody else! A saint descended from heaven would not have done it--none
of those living about you are worthy to kiss the dust from your feet."
And the young man, moved by his own words, sobbed bitterly while
covering the hand he held with tears and kisses.
Cecilia, after turning first deep scarlet and then pale, said in a
somewhat cold and distant tone:
"Let go, let go," and at the same time quickly withdrew her hand.
Seeing that her brother-in-law was somewhat hurt, she hastened to add:
"Look here, the less we talk of these things, and, if possible, the less
we think of them, the better. The thing is now for you to take the soup.
Then I will bring you some biscuits and a sandwich--you will like that?"
"I have no appetite, Cecilia," he replied, making an effort to control
his emotion.
"You must try--"
"No, no; really I can not swallow anything just now."
"But if I ask you?" said the girl, and as she spoke a flush suffused her
face.
"Then, well then, I'll take it--nobody can refuse you anything," he
replied, taking the cup.
That gallant reply had a painful effect on Cecilia, and to avoid it
being noticed she quickly left the room.
The Duke of Tornos lay for two or three days between life and death. But
finally the fever left him, and the danger was over, although the
recovery was very long, because he had two ribs and a jawbone fractured,
besides terrible contusions in various parts of his body.
At the end of a month he was able to be moved to Madrid.