A TERTULIA
SEPTEMBER found the children at home again, and Fernando back at
school, while Juanita had a governess for a part of each day, though
she was not expected to learn a great deal; for the Spaniards think if
their girls are sweet and gentle they need not be very learned. If a
Spanish girl of sixteen knows how to read and write, simple arithmetic,
a little history, and can dance and embroider well, she is quite
accomplished enough to marry, which is what most of them intend to do.
Things were going very quietly, when there came an excitement so great
for the children that they were almost wild. This was the home-coming,
in the latter part of September, of Pablo, just in from his long
summer cruise, with a fortnight's leave of absence. He came home to
celebrate his coming of age, and there was to be a _tertulia_ in his
honour. The children were to stay up to the party, and as it was
the first time that they had been permitted to stay up after eight
o'clock, they were delighted. To them it was the greatest event in
their lives, and they were almost afraid to breathe all day, for fear
the treat would be cut off. Juanita even stood quite still to have her
curls made, which was generally a performance attended with agony, and
before the end of which her _aya_ was sure to say, "Hush, Mambru will
certainly get you!" Mambru is to a little Spanish girl what a bogey is
to an American child, and she will be very good for fear of Mambru. But
the day passed off pleasantly, and the children were dressed and sent
down to the _patio_ to await the arrival of the guests.
The pleasant thing about a Spanish party is that there is no fuss made,
and therefore everybody enjoys themselves. The hostess never tires
herself out preparing for her guests so that she cannot be cheerful
and agreeable when they arrive. The hospitality of Spain is perfect. A
Spaniard gives his friends just what is good enough for himself, and
never thinks of doing more. So there was not a great brewing and baking
on the day of the party, and flushed, heated faces; but there were a
few simple refreshments, much pleasant talk and hearty laughter among
old and young. There were about thirty friends of the family who came
in to talk and chat. The parents came with their daughters, for girls
never go to parties alone in Spain, and old and young spent the evening
together. Some one played on the piano and the young people danced,
lovely Trinidad del Aguistanado dancing with Pablo. This Juanita
watched with delight. Trinidad was the loveliest of all the girls, and
she thought, of course, Pablo should have the prettiest maiden in all
the world. She was as sweet as she was pretty, and said to the little
girl:
"What is thy name, _niña_?" and when Juanita answered, sweetly:
"Juanita, to serve God and you," as all Spanish children are taught
to answer, Trinidad kissed her on both cheeks, and gave her a rose
from her girdle. At this Juanita was delighted, and Pablo sighed
prodigiously. The older people, too, seemed well pleased with Pablo's
choice, for the girl's family was as good as theirs, and the two had
been friends for many years.
"Juanita," said Fernando in a whisper, "I believe that Pablo will bite
the iron[16] of the Señorita Trinidad. Will it not be strange to think
of him beneath her window, singing of love to his guitar?"
"It will be beautiful," sighed the little girl, for Spanish children
are always interested in the love affairs of their older brothers and
sisters, and even little girls talk about them. "How handsome Pablo
looks as he talks with her."
"They are as fair as the lovers of Teruel," said old Dolores, who was
at the party to take care of her little charges.
"Tell us about them," said Juanita, eagerly, for she dearly loved
Dolores's quaint stories; and the _aya_ began:
"In the town of Teruel there lived, many years ago, a Spanish knight,
Don Juan Diego Martinez de Marcilla, and he loved with all his heart
Doña Isabel de Segura. Alas, unhappily! for the fathers of the two
lovers were enemies, and would not listen to love between them.
"'Thou art but a second son,' said Don Pedro de Segura, the father of
Doña Isabel. 'Moreover, thou hast not a fortune equal to that of my
daughter, who possesses thirty thousand _sueldos_ in good gold, and is
my sole heiress.'
"'Full well I know that I am in no wise worthy of thy fair daughter,'
said Don Juan, 'and upon her grace have I no claim save that she loves
my unworthy self. But since this is God's truth, I pray you give me
the chance to prove my devotion, and I will furnish sufficient fortune
to equal hers. I go to the wars with my lord, King Sancho of Navarre.
Grant me five years in which to gain this fortune, and give me your
promise that for that length of time you will not force Doña Isabel to
marry another.'
"Doña Isabel was very young, and her father very fond, and by this he
could keep her with him five long years, and, moreover, marry her to
whom he pleased, for he said to himself, 'In that time both of them
will forget,' and so he smilingly said:
"'Your words have some reason. Go with God, and if you return, well and
good. My daughter shall not marry against her will for five years to
this day, but mark me, rash youth, not one day more shall she wait.'
"Then the lovers bade each other farewell, and Don Juan rode to the
wars. These were waged against the wicked Moors, and with knights and
squires, the armies of Don Alphonso of Castile, Don Pedro of Aragon,
and Don Sancho of Navarre fought long and fiercely until, at the great
battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the Moor was crushed. Many a valiant
deed was done, and Don Juan was bravest of them all. He broke through
the chain which guarded the tent of the Moorish king, and thereby
gained great glory and won for himself the right to wear a chain
around the margin of his shield in honour of the day. He gained great
renown and fortune, but, alas, he was sorely wounded, and it was more
than five years before he could return to his beloved. He arrived in
Teruel but one short day after the time was up, and found Doña Isabel
married to another, Don Pedro Fernandez de Azagra. Despairing, he
desired to see his beloved once more, and climbed to her window on her
wedding-night. Finding her alone and her husband sleeping, he implored
her to give him one last kiss. She refused, and said, weeping, 'Alas!
you came not and I thought myself forgotten. I am wedded to this good
man, and to him alone belong my caresses.'
"At this his heart broke, and crying, 'Farewell, beloved!' he dropped
dead at her feet.
"At that moment her husband awoke, and she told him straightway the
truth, at which he said, 'Thou hast been cruel and unkind to this good
man, but to me faithful and true, and I shall but love thee the more!'
and he took the body of the poor Don Juan and bore it secretly to his
father's step and laid it down and fled away.
"When the body of the knight was found, there was great mourning, and
he was given a grand funeral at the cathedral, to which all Teruel came
to do him honour. There also came the unhappy Doña Isabel, disguised so
that none might know her, and, determined to give her lover in death
the kiss which she had denied him in life, she stooped to kiss his
lips. Lo! the eyes unclosed, he smiled at her, and they closed again,
and she fell beside him dead! All were struck dumb with horror, but
Don Azagra came forward and told the mournful story, whereupon the two
bodies were buried in the same grave.
"'Separated in life, in death they shall be together,' said the
generous knight who had been her husband but not her beloved; and this
is the sad, sad story of the lovers of Teruel."
"Oh, thank you, Dolores, it is a beautiful story," cried Juanita, and
the young people who had gathered around to hear clapped their hands,
and thanked her, too.
"What think you, Señorita Trinidad, would you have kissed your lover
had you been Doña Isabel?" asked Pablo of the young girl.
"I should not have married the other man, señor," she said, flushing
prettily.
"Come, Trinidad, you must sing for us," cried one of her friends. "Sing
the song of Santa Rita," and Trinidad, with a merry little glance at
Pablo, sang the gay little song which Spanish girls sing in jest,
asking Santa Rita to procure them a good husband.
"Santa Rita, Santa Rita,
Cada una de nosotros necesita,
Para uso de diario
Un marido milionario,
Anunque sea un animal
Si tal, si tal, si tal, si tal,
Un marido milionario,
Anunque sea un animal."[17]
Everybody applauded loudly, and Trinidad, laughing and blushing, sang
again. The older people sat about serenely, some talking, others
playing cards or dominoes. The younger ones played sprightly games and
talked like magpies, and the children listened spellbound.
"Who art thou, Pablo?" laughed one, and Pablo answered, merrily:
"Ole Saltero, sin vanidad,
Soy muy bonito, soy muy sala!"[18]
And every one laughed, and Trinidad gave him a charming glance from
under her black lashes.
Refreshments were passed around, very simple ones. There were trays of
water, and by each glass round lumps of sugar, which the guests dipped
in the water and ate, hard little cakes, cups of thick chocolate into
which finger cakes were dipped and eaten, and some charming little
bonbons. There was no wine, for although the finest wine in the world
is made in Spain, the Spaniards are great water drinkers, and seldom
have wine except at dinners. The men all smoked, but not the ladies,
for while the Mexican women sometimes smoke a dainty _cigarrillo_,
Spanish women do not.
Later on, Pablo's health was drunk in tiny glasses of sherry, as this
was a special occasion, and pleasant speeches were made to him, wishing
him all success in his career.
"Thou art now a man, my son," said his father, proudly and
affectionately. "Remember that since the time of the Emperor Charles
V., thy fathers have had the right to wear the Golden Key[19] upon
their hip, and do nothing to disgrace thy name. On the sword of my
grandfather was engraved the motto, 'Do not draw me without reason nor
sheathe me without honour!' Let his motto be thine own, and remember
that to a Spaniard honour comes first."
Then the party broke up, and Fernando and Juanita were trotted off to
bed, and sleepily murmured their evening prayer:
"Jesus, Joseph, Mary,
Your little servant keep,
And with your kind permission,
I'll lay me down to sleep!"
and they heard through the soft moonlight the tinkle of Pablo's guitar,
as he strolled along to bite the iron beneath the grating of the dainty
Señorita Trinidad.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Spanish lovers stand beneath the windows of their sweethearts, to
serenade them every night, and, as the windows are grated with iron,
this is called "biting the iron."
[17]
"Santa Rita, Santa Rita, send us now,
We pray thee fervently,
A millionaire for a husband,
E'en a blockhead though he be,
E'en so, e'en so, e'en so,
A millionaire for a husband,
A blockhead though he be."
[18]
"Sister Saltero, without vanity,
I am lovely, I am salada,"
salada meaning charming, witty, gracious.
[19] The noblest of the Spanish grandees wear a golden key upon the hip
to indicate that they have the right to enter the king's doors at any
time.