"When sinking low the sufferer wan
Beholds no arm outstretch'd to save,
Fair, as the bosom of the swan
That rises graceful o'er the wave,
I've seen your breast with pity heave,
And _therefore_ love you, sweet Genevieve!"
Coleridge.
When Isabella found herself alone with Ozema and Mercedes (for she chose
that the last should be present), she entered on the subject of the
marriage with the tenderness of a sensitive and delicate mind, but with
a sincerity that rendered further error impossible. The result showed
how naturally and cruelly the young Indian beauty had deceived herself.
Ardent, confiding, and accustomed to be considered the object of general
admiration among her own people, Ozema had fancied that her own
inclinations had been fully answered by the young man. From the first
moment they met, with the instinctive quickness of a woman, she
perceived that she was admired, and, as she gave way to the excess of
her own feelings, it was almost a necessary consequence of the
communications she held with Luis, that she should think they were
reciprocated. The very want of language in words, by compelling a
substitution of one in looks and acts, contributed to the mistake; and
it will be remembered that, if Luis' constancy did not actually waver,
it had been sorely tried. The false signification she attached to the
word "Mercedes," largely aided in the delusion, and it was completed by
the manly tenderness and care with which our hero treated her on all
occasions. Even the rigid decorum that Luis invariably observed, and the
severe personal respect which he maintained toward his charge, had their
effect on her feelings; for, wild and unsophisticated as had been her
training, the deep and unerring instinct of the feeble, told her the
nature of the power she was wielding over the strong.
Then came the efforts to give her some ideas of religion, and the deep
and lamentable mistakes which imperfectly explained, and worse
understood subtleties, left on her plastic mind. Ozema believed that the
Spaniards worshipped the cross. She saw it put foremost in all public
ceremonies, knelt to, and apparently appealed to, on every occasion that
called for an engagement more solemn than usual. Whenever a knight made
a vow, he kissed the cross of his sword-hilt. The mariners regarded it
with reverence, and even the admiral had caused one to be erected as a
sign of his right to the territory that had been ceded to him by
Guacanagari. In a word, to her uninstructed imagination, it seemed as if
the cross were used as a pledge for the fidelity of all engagements.
Often had she beheld and admired the beautiful emblem worn by our hero;
and, as the habits of her own people required the exchange of pledges of
value as a proof of wedlock, she fancied, when she received this
much-valued jewel, that she received the sign that our hero took her for
a wife, at a moment when death was about to part them forever. Further
than this, her simplicity and affections did not induce her to reason or
to believe.
It was an hour before Isabella elicited all these facts and feelings
from Ozema, though the latter clearly wished to conceal nothing; in
truth, had nothing to conceal. The painful part of the duty remained to
be discharged. It was to undeceive the confiding girl, and to teach her
the hard lesson of bitterness that followed. This was done, however, and
the queen, believing it best to remove all delusion on the subject,
finally succeeded in causing her to understand that, before the count
had ever seen herself, his affections were given to Mercedes, who was,
in truth, his betrothed wife. Nothing could have been gentler, or more
femininely tender, than the manner in which the queen made her
communication; but the blow struck home, and Isabella, herself, trembled
at the consequences of her own act. Never before had she witnessed the
outbreaking of feeling in a mind so entirely unsophisticated, and the
images of what she then saw, haunted her troubled slumbers for many
succeeding nights.
As for Columbus and our hero, they were left mainly in the dark, as to
what had occurred, for the following week. It is true, Luis received a
kind and encouraging note from his aunt, the succeeding day, and a page
of Mercedes' silently placed in his hand the cross that he had so long
worn; but, beyond this, he was left to his own conjectures. The moment
for explanation, however, arrived, and the young man received a summons
to the apartment of the marchioness.
Luis did not, as he expected, meet his aunt on reaching the saloon,
which he found empty. Questioning the page who had been his usher, he
was desired to wait for the appearance of some one to receive him.
Patience was not a conspicuous virtue in our hero's character, and he
excited himself by pacing the room, for near half an hour, ere he
discovered a single sign that his visit was remembered. Just as he was
about to summon an attendant, however, again to announce his presence, a
door was slowly opened, and Mercedes stood before him.
The first glance that the young man cast upon his betrothed, told him
that she was suffering under deep mental anxiety. The hand which he
eagerly raised to his lips trembled, and the color came and went on her
cheeks, in a way to show that she was nearly overcome. Still she
rejected the glass of water that he offered, putting it aside with a
faint smile, and motioning her lover to take a chair, while she calmly
placed herself on a _tabouret_--one of the humble seats she was
accustomed to occupy in the presence of the queen.
"I have asked for this interview, Don Luis," Mercedes commenced, as soon
as she had given herself time to command her feelings, "in order that
there may no longer be any reasons for mistaking our feelings and
wishes. You have been suspected of having married the Lady Ozema; and
there was a moment when you stood on the verge of destruction, through
the displeasure of Dona Isabella."
"But, blessed Mercedes, _you_ never imputed to me this act of deception
and unfaithfulness?"
"I told you truth, Senor--for that I knew you too well. I felt certain
that, whenever Luis de Bobadilla had made up his mind to the commission
of such a step, he would also have the manliness and courage to avow it.
_I_ never, for an instant, believed that you had wedded the princess."
"Why, then, those cold and averted looks?--eyes that sought the floor,
rather than the meeting of glances that love delights in; and a manner
which, if it hath not absolutely displayed aversion, hath at least
manifested a reserve and distance that I had never expected to witness
from thee to me?"
Mercedes' color changed, and she made no answer for a minute, during
which little interval she had doubts of her ability to carry out her own
purpose. Rallying her courage, however, the discourse was continued in
the same manner as before.
"Hear me, Don Luis," she resumed, "for my history will not be long. When
you left Spain, at my suggestion, to enter on this great voyage, you
loved _me_--of that grateful recollection no earthly power can deprive
me! Yes, you then loved _me_, and me _only_. We parted, with our troth
plighted to each other; and not a day went by, during your absence, that
I did not pass hours on my knees, beseeching heaven in behalf of the
admiral and his followers."
"Beloved Mercedes! It is not surprising that success crowned our
efforts; such an intercessor could not fail to be heard!"
"I entreat you, sir, to hear me. Until the eventful day which brought
the tidings of your return, no Spanish wife could have felt more concern
for him on whom she had placed all her hopes, than I felt for you. To
me, the future was bright and filled with hope, if the present was
loaded with fear and doubt. The messenger who reached the court, first
opened my eyes to the sad realities of the world, and taught me the hard
lesson the young are ever slow to learn--that of disappointment. It was
then I first heard of Ozema--of your admiration of her beauty--your
readiness to sacrifice your life in her behalf!"
"Holy Luke! Did that vagabond, Sancho, dare to wound thy ear, Mercedes,
with an insinuation that touched the strength or the constancy of my
love for thee?"
"He related naught but the truth, Luis, and blame him not. I was
prepared for some calamity by his report, and I bless God that it came
on me by such slow degrees, and with the means of preparation to bear
it. When I beheld Ozema, I no longer wondered at thy change of
feeling--scarce blamed it. Her beauty, I do think, thou might'st have
withstood; but her unfeigned devotion to thyself, her innocence, her
winning simplicity, and her modest joyousness and nature, are sufficient
to win a lover from any Spanish maiden"--
"Mercedes!"
"Nay, Luis, I have told thee that I blame thee not. It is better that
the blow come now, than later, when I should not be able to bear it.
There is something which tells me that, as a wife, I should sink beneath
the weight of blighted affections; but, now, there are open to me the
convent and the espousals of the Son of God. Do not interrupt me, Luis,"
she added, smiling sweetly, but with an effort that denoted how
difficult it was to seem easy. "I have to struggle severely to speak at
all, and to an argument I am altogether unequal. Thou hast not been able
to control thy affections; and to the strange novelties that have
surrounded Ozema, as well as to her winning ingenuousness, I owe my
loss, and she oweth her gain. It is the will of Heaven, and I strive to
think it is to my everlasting advantage. Had I really wedded thee, the
tenderness that is even now swelling in my heart--I wish not to conceal
it--might have grown to such a strength as to supplant the love I owe to
God; it is, therefore, doubtless, better as it is. If happiness on earth
is not to be my lot, I shall secure happiness hereafter. Nay, all
happiness here will not be lost; I can still pray for thee, as well as
for myself--and thou and Ozema, of all earthly beings, will ever be
uppermost in my thoughts."
"This is so wonderful, Mercedes--so cruel--so unreasonable--and so
unjust, that I cannot credit my ears!"
"I have said that I blame thee not. The beauty and frankness of Ozema
are more than sufficient to justify thee, for men yield to the senses,
rather than to the heart, in bestowing their love. Then"--Mercedes
blushed crimson as she continued--"a Haytian maid may innocently use a
power, that it would ill become a Christian damsel to employ. And, now,
we will come to facts that press for a decision. Ozema hath been ill--is
still ill--dangerously so, as her Highness and my guardian believe--even
as the physicians say--but it is in thy power, Luis, to raise her, as it
might be, from the grave. See her--say but the word that will confer
happiness--tell her, if thou hast not yet wedded her after the manner of
Spain, that thou wilt--nay, let one of the holy priests, who are in
constant attendance on her, to prepare the way for baptism, perform the
ceremony this very morning, and we shall presently see the princess,
again, the smiling, radiant, joyous creature she was, when thou first
placed her in our care."
"And this thou say'st to me, Mercedes, calmly and deliberately, as if
thy words express thy very wishes and feelings!"
"Calmly I may _seem_ to say it, Luis," answered our heroine, in a
smothered tone, "and deliberately I _do_ say it. Marry me, loving
another better, thou canst not; and why not, then, follow whither thy
heart leadeth. The dowry of the princess shall not be small, for the
convent recluse hath little need of gold, and none of lands."
Luis gazed earnestly at the enthusiastic girl, who in his eyes never
appeared more lovely; then, rising, he paced the room for three or four
minutes, like one who wished to keep down mental agony by physical
action. When he had obtained a proper command of himself, he returned to
his seat, and taking the unresisting hand of Mercedes, he replied to her
extraordinary proposal.
"Watching over the sick couch of thy friend, and too much brooding on
this subject, love, hath impaired thy judgment. Ozema hath no hold on my
heart, in the way thou fanciest--never had, beyond a passing and truant
inclination"--
"Ah! Luis, those 'passing and truant inclinations.' None such"--pressing
both her hands on her own heart--"have ever found a place here!"
"Thy education and mine, Mercedes--thy habits and mine--nay, thy nature
and the ruder elements of mine, are not, _cannot_ be the same. Were they
so, I should not worship thee as I now do. But didst thou not exist, the
certainty that I should wed Ozema would not give me happiness--but thou
existing, and beloved as thou art, it would entail on me a misery that
even my buoyant nature could not endure. In no case can I ever be the
husband of the Indian."
Although a gleam of happiness illumined the face of Mercedes for a
moment, her high principles and pure intentions soon suppressed the
momentary and unbidden triumph, and, even with a reproving manner, she
made her answer.
"Is this just to Ozema? Hath not her simplicity been deluded by those
'passing and truant inclinations,' and doth not honor require that thy
acts now redeem the pledges that have been given by, at least, thy
manner?"
"Mercedes--beloved girl, hearken to me. Thou must know that, with all my
levities and backslidings, I am no coxcomb. Never hath my manner said
aught that the heart did not confirm, and never hath the heart been
drawn toward any but thee. In this, is the great distinction that I make
between thee and all others of thy sex. Ozema's is not the only form,
her's are not the only charms that may have caught a truant glance from
my eyes, or extorted some unmeaning and bootless admiration, but thou,
love, art enshrined here, and seemest already a part of myself. Didst
thou know how often thy image hath proved a monitor stronger than
conscience; on how many occasions the remembrance of thy virtues and thy
affections hath prevailed, when even duty, and religion, and early
lessons would have been forgotten, thou wouldst understand the
difference between the love I bear _thee_, and what thou hast so
tauntingly repeated as truant and passing inclinations."
"Luis, I ought not to listen to these alluring words, which come from a
goodness of heart that would spare me present pain, only to make my
misery in the end the deeper. If thou hast never felt otherwise, why was
the cross that I gave thee at parting, bestowed on another?"
"Mercedes, thou know'st not the fearful circumstances under which I
parted with that cross. Death was staring us in the face, and I gave it
as a symbol that might aid a heathen soul in its extremity. That the
gift, or rather that the thing I lent, was mistaken for a pledge of
matrimony, is an unhappy misconception, that your own knowledge of
Christian usages will tell you I could not foresee; otherwise I might
now claim thee for my wife, in consequence of having first bestowed it
on me."
"Ah! Luis; when I gave thee that cross, I did wish to be understood as
plighting my faith to thee forever!"
"And when thou didst send it back to me, now within the week, how was it
thy wish to be understood?"
"I sent it to thee, Luis, in a moment of reviving hope, and by the order
of the queen. Her Highness is now firmly thy friend, and would fain see
us united, but for the melancholy condition of Ozema, to whom all has
been explained--all, as I fear, except the real state of thy feelings
toward us both."
"Cruel girl! Am I, then, never to be believed--never again to be happy?
I swear to thee, dearest Mercedes, that thou alone hast my whole
heart--that with thee, I could be contented in a hovel, and that without
thee I should be miserable on a throne. Thou wilt believe this, when
thou see'st me a wretch, wandering the earth, reckless alike of hopes
and objects, perhaps of character, because thou alone canst make me, and
keep me the man I ought to be. Bethink thee, Mercedes, of the influence
thou canst have--must have--_wilt_ have on one of my temperament and
passions. I have long looked upon thee as my guardian angel, one that
can mould me to thy will, and rule me when all others fail. With
thee--the impatience produced by thy doubts excepted--am I not ever
tractable and gentle? Hath Dona Beatriz ever exercised a tithe of thy
power over me, and hast thou ever failed to tame even my wildest and
rashest humors?"
"Luis--Luis--no one that knew it, ever doubted of thy heart!" Mercedes
paused, and the working of her countenance proved that the earnest
sincerity of her lover had already shaken her doubts of his constancy.
Still, her mind reverted to the scenes of the voyage, and her
imagination portrayed the couch of the stricken Ozema. After a minute's
delay, she proceeded, in a low, humbled tone--"I will not deny that it
is soothing to my heart to hear this language, to which, I fear, I
listen too readily," she said. "Still, I find it difficult to believe
that thou canst ever forget one who hath even braved the chances of
death, in order to shelter thy body from the arrows of thy foes."
"Believe not this, beloved girl; thou wouldst have done that thyself, in
Ozema's place, and so I shall ever consider it."
"I should have the wish, Luis," Mercedes continued, her eyes suffused
with tears, "but I might not have the power!"
"Thou wouldst--thou wouldst--I know thee too well to doubt it."
"I could envy Ozema the occasion, were it not sinful! I fear thou wilt
think of this, when thy mind shall have tired with attractions that have
lost their novelty."
"Thou wouldst not only have done it, but thou wouldst have done it far
better. Ozema, moreover, was exposed in her own quarrel, whilst thou
wouldst have exposed thyself in mine."
Mercedes again paused, and appeared to muse deeply. Her eyes had
brightened under the soothing asseverations of her lover, and, spite of
the generous self-devotion with which she had determined to sacrifice
all her own hopes to what she had imagined would make her lover happy,
the seductive influence of requited affection was fast resuming its
power.
"Come with me, then, Luis, and behold Ozema," she at length continued.
"When thou see'st her, in her present state, thou wilt better understand
thine own intentions. I ought not to have suffered thee thus to revive
thy ancient feelings in a private interview, Ozema not being present; it
is like forming a judgment on the hearing of only one side. And,
Luis"--her heightened color, the effect of feeling, not of shame,
rendered the girl surpassingly beautiful--"and, Luis, if thou shouldst
find reason to change thy language after visiting the princess, however
hard I may find it to be borne, thou wilt be certain of my forgiveness
for all that hath passed, and of my prayers"--
Sobs interrupted Mercedes, and she stopped an instant to wipe away her
tears, rejecting Luis' attempt to fold her in his arms, in order to
console her, with a sensitive jealousy of the result; a feeling,
however, in which delicacy had more weight than resentment. When she had
dried her eyes, and otherwise removed the traces of her agitation, she
led the way to the apartment of Ozema, where the presence of the young
man was expected.
Luis started on entering the room; a little on perceiving that the queen
and the admiral were present, and more at observing the inroads that
disappointment had made on the appearance of Ozema. The color of the
latter was gone, leaving a deadly paleness in its place; her eyes
possessed a brightness that seemed supernatural, and yet her weakness
was so evident as to render it necessary to support her, in a
half-recumbent posture, on pillows. An exclamation of unfeigned delight
escaped her when she beheld our hero, and then she covered her face with
both her hands, in childish confusion, as if ashamed at betraying the
pleasure she felt. Luis behaved with manly propriety, for, though his
conscience did not altogether escape a few twinges, at the recollection
of the hours he had wasted in Ozema's society, and at the manner in
which he had momentarily submitted to the influence of her beauty and
seductive simplicity, on the whole he stood self-acquitted of any thing
that might fairly be urged as a fault, and most of all, of any thought
of being unfaithful to his first love, or of any design to deceive. He
took the hand of the young Indian respectfully, and he kissed it with an
openness and warmth that denoted brotherly tenderness and regard, rather
than passion, or the emotion of a lover. Mercedes did not dare to watch
his movements, but she observed the approving glance that the queen
threw at her guardian, when he had approached the couch on which Ozema
lay. This glance she interpreted into a sign that the count had
acquitted himself in a manner favorable to her own interests.
"Thou findest the Lady Ozema weak and changed," observed the queen, who
alone would presume to break a silence that was already awkward. "We
have been endeavoring to enlighten her simple mind on the subject of
religion, and she hath, at length, consented to receive the holy
sacrament of baptism. The lord archbishop is even now preparing for the
ceremony in my oratory, and we have the blessed prospect of rescuing
this one precious soul from perdition."
"Your Highness hath ever the good of all your people at heart," said
Luis, bowing low to conceal the tears that the condition of Ozema had
drawn from his eyes. "I fear this climate of ours ill agrees with the
poor Haytians, generally, for I hear that the sick among them, at
Seville and Palos, offer but little hope of recovery."
"Is this so, Don Christopher?"
"Senora, I believe it is only too true. Care hath been had, however, to
their souls, as well as to their bodies, and Ozema is the last of her
people, now in Spain, to receive the holy rite of Christian baptism."
"Senora," said the marchioness, coming from the couch, with surprise and
concern in her countenance, "I fear our hopes are to be defeated after
all! The Lady Ozema hath just whispered me, that Luis and Mercedes must
first be married in her presence, ere she will consent to be admitted
within the pale of the church herself."
"This doth not denote the right spirit, Beatriz--and, yet, what can be
done with a mind so little illuminated with the light from above. 'Tis
merely a passing caprice, and will be forgotten when the archbishop
shall be ready."
"I think not, Senora. Never have I seen her so decided and clear. In
common, we find her gentle and tractable, but this hath she thrice said,
in a way to cause the belief of her perfect seriousness."
Isabella now advanced to the couch, and spoke long and soothingly to the
invalid. In the meantime, the admiral conversed with the marchioness,
and Luis again approached our heroine. The evidences of emotion were
plain in both, and Mercedes scarce breathed, not knowing what to expect.
But a few low words soon brought an assurance that could not fail to
bring happiness, spite of her generous efforts to feel for Ozema--that
the heart of our hero was all her own. From this moment Mercedes
dismissed every doubt, and she regarded Luis as had so long been her
wont.
As is usual in the presence of royalty, the conversation was carried on
in a low tone; and a quarter of an hour elapsed before a page announced
that the oratory, or little chapel, was ready, opening a door that
communicated directly with it, as he entered.
"This wilful girl persisteth, Daughter-Marchioness," said the queen,
advancing from the side of the couch, "and I know not what to answer. It
is cruel to deny her the offered means of grace, and yet it is a sudden
and unseemly request to make of thy nephew and thy ward!"
"As for the first, dearest Senora, never distrust his forgiveness;
though I much doubt the possibility of prevailing on Mercedes. Her very
nature is made up of religion and female decorum."
"It is, indeed, scarce right to think of it. A Christian maiden should
have time to prepare her spirit for the holy sacrament of marriage, by
prayer."
"And yet, Senora, many wed without it! The time hath been when Don
Ferdinand of Aragon and Dona Isabella might not have hesitated for such
a purpose."
"That time never was, Beatriz. Thou hast a habit of making me look back
to our days of trial and youth, whenever thou wouldst urge on me some
favorite but ill-considered wish of thine own. Dost really think thy
ward would overlook the want of preparation and time?"
"I know not what she might feel disposed to overlook, Senora; but I do
know that if there be one woman in Spain who is at all times ready in
_spirit_, for the most sacred rites of the church, it is your Highness;
and, if there be another, it is my ward."
"Go to--go to--good Beatriz; flattery sitteth ill on thee. None are
always ready, and all have an unceasing need for watchfulness. Bid Dona
Mercedes follow to my closet; I will converse with her on this subject.
At least, there shall be no unfeminine and unseemly surprise."
So saying, the queen withdrew. She had hardly reached her closet, before
our heroine entered, with a doubtful and timid step. As soon as her eyes
met those of her sovereign, Mercedes burst into tears, and falling on
her knees, she again buried her face in the robe of Dona Isabella. This
outbreak of feeling was soon subdued, however, and then the girl stood
erect, waiting her sovereign's pleasure.
"Daughter," commenced the queen, "I trust there is no longer any
misapprehension between thee and the Conde de Llera. Thou know'st the
views of thy guardian and myself, and may'st, in a matter like this,
with safety defer to our cooler heads and greater experience. Don Luis
loveth thee, and hath never loved the princess, though it would not be
out of character did an impetuous young man, who hath been much exposed
to temptation, betray some transient and passing feeling toward one of
so much nature and beauty."
"Luis hath admitted all, Senora; inconstant he hath never been, though
he may have had his weaknesses."
"'Tis a hard lesson to learn, child, even in this stage of thy life,"
said the queen, gravely; "but it would have been harder were it deferred
until the nearer tenderness of a wife had superseded the impulses of the
girl. Thou hast heard the opinions of the learned; there is little hope
that the Princess Ozema can long survive."
"Ah! Senora, 'tis a cruel fate! To die among strangers, in the flower of
her beauty, and with a heart crushed by the weight of unrequited love!"
"And yet, Mercedes, if heaven open on her awaking eyes, when the last
earthly scene is over, the transition will be most blessed; and they who
mourn her loss, would do wiser to rejoice. One so youthful and so
innocent; whose pure mind hath been laid bare to us, as it might be, and
which we have found wanting in nothing beside the fruits of a pious
instruction, can have little to apprehend on the score of personal
errors. All that is required for such a being, is to place her within
the covenant of God's grace, by obtaining the rite of baptism, and there
is not a bishop of the church that could depart with brighter hopes for
the future."
"That holy office is my lord archbishop about to administer, as I hear,
Senora."
"_That_ somewhat dependeth on thee, daughter. Listen, and be not hasty
in thy decision, which may touch on the security of a human soul."
The queen now related to Mercedes the romantic request of Ozema, placing
it before her listener in terms so winning and gentle, that it produced
less surprise and alarm than she herself had anticipated.
"Dona Beatriz hath a proposal that may, at first, appear plausible, but
which reflection will not sanction. Her design was to cause the count
actually to wed Ozema"--Mercedes started, and turned pale--"in order
that the last hours of the young stranger might be soothed by the
consciousness of being the wife of the man she idolized; but I have
found serious objections to the scheme. What is thy opinion, daughter?"
"Senora, could I believe--as lately I did, but now do not--that Luis had
such a preference for the princess as might lead him, in the end, to the
happiness of that mutual affection without which wedlock must be a curse
instead of a blessing, I would be the last to object; nay, I think I
could even beg the boon of your Highness on my knees, for she who so
truly loveth can only seek the felicity of its object. But I am assured
the count hath not the affection for the Lady Ozema that is necessary to
this end; and would it not be profane, Senora, to receive the church's
sacraments under vows that the heart not only does not answer to, but
against which it is actually struggling?"
"Excellent girl! These are precisely my own views, and in this manner
have I answered the marchioness. The rites of the church may not be
trifled with, and we are bound to submit to sorrows that may be
inflicted, after all, for our eternal good; though it be harder to bear
those of others than to bear our own. It remaineth only to decide on
this whim of Ozema's, and to say if thou wilt now be married, in order
that she may be baptized."
Notwithstanding the devotedness of feeling with which our heroine loved
Luis, it required a strong struggle with her habits and her sense of
propriety to take this great step so suddenly, and with so little
preparation. The wishes of the queen, however, prevailed; for Isabella
felt a deep responsibility on her own soul, in letting the stranger
depart without being brought within the pale of the church. When
Mercedes consented, she despatched a messenger to the marchioness, and
then she and her companion both knelt, and passed near an hour together,
in the spiritual exercises that were usual to the occasion. In this
mood, did these pure-minded females, without a thought to the vanities
of the toilet, but with every attention to the mental preparations of
which the case admitted, present themselves at the door of the royal
chapel, through which Ozema had just been carried, still stretched on
her couch. The marchioness had caused a white veil to be thrown over the
head of Mercedes, and a few proper but slight alterations had been made
in her attire, out of habitual deference to the altar and its ministers.
About a dozen persons, deemed worthy of confidence, were present,
already; and just as the bride and bridegroom were about to take their
places, Don Ferdinand hastily entered, carrying in his hand some papers
which he had been obliged to cease examining, in order to comply with
the wishes of his royal consort. The king was a dignified prince; and
when it suited him, no sovereign enacted his part more gracefully or in
better taste. Motioning the archbishop to pause, he directed Luis to
kneel. Throwing over the shoulder of the young man the collar of one of
his own orders, he said--
"Now, arise, noble sir, and ever do thy duty to thy Heavenly Master, as
thou hast of late discharged it toward us."
Isabella rewarded her husband for this act of grace by an approving
smile, and the ceremony immediately proceeded. In the usual time, our
hero and heroine were pronounced man and wife, and the solemn rites were
ended. Mercedes felt, in the warm pressure with which Luis held her to
his heart, that she now understood him; and, for a blissful instant,
Ozema was forgotten, in the fulness of her own happiness. Columbus had
given away the bride--an office that the king had assigned to him,
though he stood at the bridegroom's side himself, with a view to do him
honor, and even so far condescended as to touch the canopy that was held
above the heads of the new-married couple. But Isabella kept aloof,
placing herself near the couch of Ozema, whose features she watched
throughout the ceremony. She had felt no occasion for public
manifestations of interest in the bride, their feelings having so lately
been poured out together in dear and private communion. The
congratulations were soon over, and then Don Ferdinand, and all but
those who were in the secret of Ozema's history, withdrew.
The queen had not desired her husband, and the other attendants, to
remain and witness the baptism of Ozema, out of a delicate feeling for
the condition of a female stranger, whom her habits and opinions had
invested with a portion of the sacred rights of royalty. She had noted
the intensity of feeling with which the half-enlightened girl watched
the movements of the archbishop and the parties, and the tears had
forced themselves from her own eyes, at witnessing the struggle between
love and friendship, that was portrayed in every lineament of her pale,
but still lovely countenance.
"Where cross?" Ozema eagerly demanded, as Mercedes stooped to fold the
wasted form of the young Indian in her arms, and to kiss her cheek.
"Give cross--Luis no marry with cross--give Ozema cross."
Mercedes, herself, took the cross from the bosom of her husband, where
it had lain near his heart, since it had been returned to him, and put
it in the hands of the princess.
"No marry with cross, then," murmured the girl, the tears suffusing her
eyes, so as nearly to prevent her gazing at the much-prized bauble.
"Now, quick, Senora, and make Ozema Christian."
The scene was getting to be too solemn and touching for many words, and
the archbishop, at a sign from the queen, commenced the ceremony. It was
of short duration; and Isabella's kind nature was soon quieted with the
assurance that the stranger, whom she deemed the subject of her especial
care, was put within the covenant for salvation that had been made with
the visible church.
"Is Ozema Christian now?" demanded the girl, with a suddenness and
simplicity, that caused all present to look at each other with pain and
surprise.
"Thou hast, now, the assurance that God's grace will be offered to thy
prayers, daughter," answered the prelate. "Seek it with thy heart, and
thy end, which is at hand, will be more blessed."
"Christian no marry heathen?--Christian marry Christian?"
"This hast thou been often told, my poor Ozema," returned the queen;
"the rite could not be duly solemnized between Christian and heathen."
"Christian marry first lady he love best?"
"Certainly. To do otherwise would be a violation of his vow, and a
mockery of God."
"So Ozema think--but he can marry second wife--inferior wife--lady he
love next. Luis marry Mercedes, first wife, because he love best--then
he marry Ozema, second wife--lower wife--because he love next
best--Ozema Christian, now, and no harm. Come, archbishop; make Ozema
Luis' second wife."
Isabella groaned aloud, and walked to a distant part of the chapel,
while Mercedes burst into tears, and sinking on her knees, she buried
her face in the cloth of the couch, and prayed fervently for the
enlightening of the soul of the princess. The churchman did not receive
this proof of ignorance in his penitent, and of her unfitness for the
rite he had just administered, with the same pity and indulgence.
"The holy baptism thou hast just received, benighted woman," he said,
sternly, "is healthful, or not, as it is improved. Thou hast just made
such a demand, as already loadeth thy soul with a fresh load of sin, and
the time for repentance is short. No Christian can have two wives at the
same time, and God knoweth no higher or lower, no first or last, between
those whom his church hath united. Thou canst not be a second wife, the
first still living."
"No would be to Caonabo--to Luis, yes. Fifty, hundred wife to dear Luis!
No possible?"
"Self-deluded and miserable girl, I tell thee no.
No--no--no--never--never--never. There is such a taint of sin in the
very question, as profaneth this holy chapel, and the symbols of
religion by which it is filled. Ay, kiss and embrace thy cross, and bow
down thy very soul in despair, for"--
"Lord Archbishop," interrupted the Marchioness of Moya, with a sharpness
of manner that denoted how much her ancient spirit was aroused, "there
is enough of this. The ear thou wouldst wound, at such a moment, is
already deaf, and the pure spirit hath gone to the tribunal of another,
and, as I trust, a milder judge. Ozema is dead!"
It was, indeed, true. Startled by the manner of the prelate--bewildered
with the confusion of ideas that had grown up between the dogmas that
had been crowded on her mind, of late, and those in which she had been
early taught; and physically paralyzed by the certainty that her last
hope of a union with Luis was gone, the spirit of the Indian girl had
deserted its beautiful tenement, leaving on the countenance of the
corpse a lovely impression of the emotions that had prevailed during the
last moments of its earthly residence.
Thus fled the first of those souls that the great discovery was to
rescue from the perdition of the heathen. Casuists may refine, the
learned dilate, and the pious ponder, on its probable fate in the
unknown existence that awaited it: but the meek and submissive will hope
all from the beneficence of a merciful God. As for Isabella, she
received a shock from the blow that temporarily checked her triumph at
the success of her zeal and efforts. Little, however, did she foresee,
that the event was but a type of the manner in which the religion of the
cross was to be abused and misunderstood; a sort of practical prognostic
of the defeat of most of her own pious and gentle hopes and wishes.
[Illustration]