THAT SPANISH NOBLEMAN.
"Miss Eaton was enthusiastic about the scenery of the river, as the boat
swept over its amber-hued waves, and the scenery became more and more
Arcadian. She was a little romantic too, and fell into some childish
affectations, that gave me a fair excuse for not thinking her perfect.
Upon the boat was a tall, powerful looking man, with bold black eyes,
and the carriage of a person used to power of some kind. His dress was
remarkable,--the short jacket of the country, buttoned and ornamented
with quantities of round golden buttons, that rattled and tinkled as he
walked up and down, was ornamented with a very rich embroidery, in which
gleams of crimson and brown were enwrought on the blue ground with
delicate effect; a traveling cap, also richly embroidered, sat
jauntingly on the side of his head. Everything about him was apparently
new, and if too gorgeous, effective.
"Miss Eaton watched this man with her furtive blue eyes, as he passed us
ever and again, each time fastening his gaze on her face with a look of
audacious admiration that made the blood come hotly into my cheek.
"'What is he, have you any idea?' she whispered, as he passed us for the
fifth time, 'some nobleman I am sure. Don't you think so, Miss
Crawford?'
"I answered pleasantly, that as this was the first country of Europe
that I had seen, it was impossible for me to judge what particular trait
distinguished its nobility. While I was saying this, a little fussy
woman, wearing a showy dress and lace mantilla, came up to us and called
Miss Eaton by name.
"'My dear,' she said, giving Lucy's bonnet a jerk forward. 'Have you
seen him?'
"'Who, mamma?'
"'Why that duke, he passed here just now, and I saw him looking at
you--with that bonnet stuck on end, dear me!'
"Lucy began to re-arrange her bonnet, entering into her mother's
anxiety. 'Was it--was it the gentleman with the buttons, mamma. How is
it now? too far forward I think,--with the buttons?'
"'Such buttons!' interrupted the mother, 'solid gold every one of 'em,
blue blood, every drop in his veins--any one could swear to that without
telling. Did you see him, Miss?'
"'Miss Crawford, mamma,' said Lucy, 'General Harrington's ward, whom we
have heard so much about.'
"The woman looked at me keenly through an enamelled eye glass, which she
carried fastened to a chain of gold, twisted around her wrist.
"'Glad to make your acquaintance, Miss Crawford,' she said, dropping the
glass after a full survey of my person. 'James has told us so much about
you. Indeed, we were getting almost jealous, weren't we, Lucy? There,
there he comes again. Drop your parasol, Lucy, carelessly, you know.
Hush, hush!'
"The Spanish traveller came by us again, with his long sweeping walk and
bold eyes, which he kept on the blushing face of Miss
Eaton--impertinently, I thought.
"Mrs. Eaton gave me a little punch with the point of her parasol, after
he had passed.
"'Struck! undoubtedly struck. Don't you think so?'
"'Oh, mamma, how can you! I'm sure it was Miss Crawford his Highness was
admiring.'
"'But how do you know it is his Highness,' I inquired.
"'How? Why, look at him. His very tread has nobility in it. You have not
been travelling abroad long enough to distinguish at a glance. In order
to know the aristocracy of a nation one must have mingled with it on
equal terms. Now that gentleman is a royal duke, I take it. Lucy, dear,
if you could manage to be speaking French when he comes this way again.
Perhaps Miss Crawford knows enough to give you countenance. I am a
little--just a little--out of practice since my passion for the Spanish.
Noble language, isn't it, Miss? Something so dignified--so rolling--so
rich in sound. Here comes Mr. James Harrington, handsome as ever, but
wanting, as I may suggest, in the grand air. See with what modest
appreciation he passes the duke.'
"The vulgarity of this woman did more to lift the cloud from my heart
than a hundred arguments could have done. I knew young Harrington well
enough to feel that he was safe with a woman like this, though the
mother of an angel. A sense of amusement stole over me, and I awaited
his approach, cured of the anxiety that had, for a time, made me so
wretched.
"If I had calculated on a second exhibition of snobbery after Harrington
joined us, Mrs. Eaton disappointed me. I think she held the young
gentleman in too much awe for a free exercise of the vanity that was in
her. She did not even mention 'the duke,' and I remarked that this
personage kept on another portion of the deck while James was with us.
"How beautiful are the banks of this river, as we go nearer and nearer
its source! It is strange that I, an American, born in a land which
spreads the broadest prairies on earth to the breeze and the sunshine,
should have caught my first glimpse of one in the heart of Spain. Here
mile after mile, the Guadalquiver, spread through vast plains of tall
grass and wild flowers, which sweeps away from you on either hand in a
sea of billowy green touched with purple and crimson, gleams now and
then where the tall flowers grow thickest, and swayed by the wind till
the waving grass seems to heave and roll like the ocean itself.
"I had left my companions, and stood by the bulwarks admiring the beauty
of this scene with a sense of keen pleasure. Its vastness, its soft
wave-like undulations charmed me into forgetfulness of all that has made
the trip unpleasant. There was no habitation in sight, yet those
prairies gave one an idea of infinite life.
"'It is here,' said a voice at my elbow, 'where the people of Seville
come for the wild bulls that form the great feature in their bull
fights. Wandering about in that long grass are thousands of splendid
animals that probably never saw the face of man.'
"It was James Harrington. I felt that he was there before he spoke. A
quick throbbing of my heart had warned me of his presence.
"'I see nothing of them,' was my answer. 'It seems one broad sea of wavy
grass, more still and lonely than the ocean itself, because no ships are
to be seen.'
"'Look,' he said, pointing to a long, undulating ripple in the grass,
which seemed like the flow of some brook, 'a drove is coming toward the
shore.'
"As he spoke, the thick wall of grass that hedged in the river was
parted, and the fiery head and broad chest of a wild bull, black as jet,
came into full view, while the rest of his body was still concealed.
"Rosa Bonheur would have gloried in a study like that. The great wild
eyes, burning with angry fire--the long, slender horns, black as ebony,
and sharp as steel, which curved out from the proud symmetry of that
head, would have inspired lower genius than hers. The furious toss of
those horns, the swelling nostrils, blood red with angry heat, the
vehement pawing of his hoof upon the bank, were enough to terrify a
bolder person than I am. But the river was deep, and our boat far enough
from the shore to silence any fear of danger. Besides, the creature was
so magnificent in his wild rage, that admiration overwhelmed all other
feelings.
"As the boat came opposite this bull, there was commotion in the tall
grass all around him, and out from the dense covert broke half a dozen
kindred beasts, all drawn to the shore by the rush and sound of the
steamboat. Superb animals they were, one and all; perfect creatures,
fresh from the hand of Nature, untouched by fetter or lasso, untamable
as the lion in his jungle. Some were ready for fight with the monster
beast that had seemed to challenge combat, with its rushing wheels and
the defiant snort of its engine. Others looked gravely at the passing
phenomenon, and stood motionless, with the long grass closing over
their backs, evidently wondering what terrible thing had come among them
to torment the waters so. While we were looking, these grave old
animals, who had doubtless been within sight of human beings before,
wheeled slowly and were lost in the long grass which closed over their
backs, as sea waves cover a victim. But the black bull came farther out
from his covert, tearing the bank with his hoofs, erecting his tail like
a banner, ripping up the earth with his sharp horns, and bellowing a
defiance after us, that made me tremble where I stood. Heaven help the
matador, whom fate should throw into the path of that terrible creature.
"The banks of the Guadalquiver are Arcadian, after the prairies are
passed. As we approached the beautiful basin in which the old city of
Seville is built, villas and country houses were seen here and there
along the shores; clumps of gnarled old olive trees wound down to the
water; orange and citron trees in full blossom, and fruit, perfumed the
air; sometimes a single tree stood out alone large and symmetrical as a
New England pear tree; then whole orchards sloped down to the river,
with great golden piles of fruit heaped on the grass underneath, and the
blossoms showering down so thickly, that it seemed as if a squall of
snow must have swept by only an hour before. I think in the whole world,
there cannot be found trees so large, so perfect, and so vivid in their
greenness, as those we saw in the orange orchards, just before we came
in sight of Seville. How I longed to go ashore and bathe myself in their
perfume, and taste their delicious fruit!
"James Harrington was standing near, and he too must have felt the
influence of all that subdued me; for the scent of the orange blossoms
swept over us both, the rich amber-hued waves of the river whispered the
same music to him that I had listened to. We had conversed but
little,--a climate like this induces reverie, rather than speech; all
the sensibilities of one's nature exert themselves unconsciously, a
harsh word or bitter thought would melt into forgiveness, before either
could be spoken. Was he affected in this way? I cannot tell; my heart
deceives me if there was not unusual tenderness in his voice, a tremor
as if he feared to say what my heart paused to gather in. I dared not
look at him. In my soul there lay thoughts he might shrink from reading,
and I should perish with shame if he but guessed that they existed."