HUSBAND AND WIFE.
Doña Maria, notwithstanding the fresh and bitter insult she had just
received from Don Tadeo, did not yet renounce the hope of softening
him. When she recalled to her mind the early years, already so distant,
of her love for Don Tadeo, his devotion to her smallest caprices, when
she could bring him trembling and prostrate to her feet by a glance or
a smile, and the entire abnegation he had made of his will, in order
to live for her and by her; notwithstanding all that had since taken
place between them, she could not persuade herself that the violent
and deeply-seated passion he had entertained for her, the species of
worship he had vowed to her, could have entirely disappeared without
leaving some slight traces behind. Her pride revolted at the idea of
having lost all her empire over the lofty nature which she so long had
moulded at her pleasure like soft wax, under the burning impression of
wild caprices. She fancied that, like most other men, Don Tadeo, deeply
wounded in his pride, loved her still without being willing to admit it,
and that the virulent reproaches he had addressed to her, were flashes
of that ill-extinguished fire which still smouldered in his heart, and
whose flame she should succeed in reviving.
Unfortunately Doña Maria had never given herself the trouble to study
the man she had married, and whom her beauty had so long held in
subjection. Don Tadeo had been nothing in her eyes but an attentive,
submissive slave, and, under the apparent weakness of the loving man,
she had not discovered the powerful energy which formed the foundation
of his character. And yet the history itself of their love had been a
proof of that energy, and of a will which nothing could control. Doña
Maria, then fifteen years of age, dwelt with her father in a _hacienda_,
in the neighbourhood of Santiago. Deprived of her mother, who had died
in giving her birth, she was brought up under the care of an old aunt,
an incorruptible Argus, who allowed no lover to come near her niece.
The young girl, ignorant as all girls brought up in the country are,
but whose warm aspirations led her to desire to know the world, and to
launch into that whirlwind of pleasures the sound of which died without
an echo in her ears, waited impatiently the arrival of the man who
should introduce her to these delights, of which, although unknown, she
had formed seducing ideas. Don Tadeo had only been the guide charged
with initiating her into the pleasures for which she thirsted. She
had never loved him; she had only said to herself, on seeing him and
learning he was of a noble family, "That is the man I have been looking
for."
This hideous and selfish calculation is made by more girls than
we may fancy. Don Tadeo was handsome. Doña Maria's self-love was
flattered by the conquest; but if he had been ugly and disagreeable,
it would not have altered her course. In her extraordinary character,
a strange conjunction of the most abject passions, among which shone
here and there, like diamonds gleaming in the mire, a few feelings
which attached her to humanity, there was the spirit of two women
of ancient Rome; Locusta and Messalina were united in her: ardent,
passionate and ambitious, covetous and prodigal, this demon, concealed
under the outward form of an angel, acknowledged no other laws but her
own caprices; and all means, by which she could satisfy them, to her
appeared good.
For a long time, Don Tadeo, blinded by passion, had submitted without
complaining to the iron yoke of this infernal genius; but when the day
arrived that the scales fell from his eyes, he measured with terror the
depth of the abyss into which this woman had cast him. The frightful
disorders to which, under the sanction of his name, she had abandoned
herself, imprinted on his blushing brow a stigma of infamy: the world
believed him to be her accomplice.
Don Tadeo had by Maria an only daughter, a fair girl of angelic beauty,
at the period of our history fifteen years of age, whom he loved in
proportion to the sufferings her mother had inflicted upon him. He
trembled to think of the frightful future which lay before this innocent
creature. For four years he had been separated from his wife; and
during that time she had set no bounds on her irregularities. One day,
Don Tadeo presented himself unexpectedly at the house of his wife, and
without saying a word as to his ulterior intentions, took away his
daughter. From that time--nearly ten years--Doña Maria had never seen
her child.
A strange revolution was effected by this step in the mother's feelings;
a new sentiment, so to say, germinated in her soul. A thing, till that
time unknown to her, happened; she felt the pulses of her heart beat
for another--she grieved at the remembrance of the little angel who had
been ravished from her. What was the sentiment? She, herself, knew not;
she only ardently wished to see her child again. During six years she
contended, publicly and privately, with Don Tadeo, to have her daughter
restored to her. The father was deaf and dumb; she could never learn
what had become of her. Don Tadeo, who, since he ceased to love her, had
studied the character of the woman of whom he had made an implacable
enemy, had taken his precautions so prudently that all Doña Maria's
researches proved fruitless, and all her attempts to obtain an interview
remained without a result. She imagined that he was afraid of yielding,
if face to face with her; and she resolved, cost what it might, to force
him to grant her the interview to which nothing had been able to make
him consent.
Such was, at the moment we bring them on the scene, the position of
the two personages who now doubtless met for the last time. It was an
extraordinary position for both; an unequal contest between a wounded
and proscribed man, and an ardent, insulted woman, who, like a lioness
deprived of her whelps, was resolved to succeed, whatever might happen,
and compel the man whom she had forced to hear her, to restore her
daughter to her.
Don Tadeo turned towards her.
"I am waiting," he said.
"You are waiting?" she replied, with a friendly smile. "What do you
expect, then?"
"The assassins whom you doubtless have at hand, in case I should be
unwilling to reply to your questions concerning your daughter."
"Oh!" she said, with an air of repulsion, "how can you, Don Tadeo, have
so bad an opinion of me? How can you pretend to believe that, after
having saved you, I should deliver you up to those who have proscribed
you?"
"Who knows?" he replied, in a strongly ironical tone. "The heart of
women of your class, Linda, is an abyss which no man can pretend to
sound. You, who are incessantly seeking eccentric pleasures, perhaps
would find an unknown enjoyment and a charm in this second execution,
which, besides, would not at all compromise you, as I am already legally
dead to the world."
"Don Tadeo, I know how unworthy my conduct towards you has been, and
how little I deserve your pity; but you are a gentleman, and, as such,
do you think it does you honour to load with insults, however merited,
a woman who is your wife, and who, after saving your life, with no
intention of reinstating herself in your favour, merely makes a claim,
at least upon your pity, if not on your esteem?"
"Very well, madam; nothing can be more just than your observations, and
I subscribe to them with all my heart. I beg you to pardon me for having
allowed myself to utter certain words; but, at the first movement, I
was not master of myself, and I could not keep down in the depths of my
heart the feelings which were stifling me. Now, accept my sincere thanks
for the immense service you have rendered me, and permit me to retire.
A longer sojourn, on my part, in this house, is a robbery of which I
render myself guilty towards your numerous adorers."
And, bowing with ironical courtesy to his infuriated wife, he made a
movement towards one of the doors of the room.
"One word more," she said.
"Speak, madam."
"Are you resolved to leave me ignorant of the fate of my daughter?"
"She is dead."
"Dead!" she cried, in a voice of terror.
"For you--yes," he replied, with a cold smile.
"Oh, you are implacable!" she shrieked, stamping her foot with rage.
He bowed, without making any reply.
"Well, then," she resumed, "it is now no longer a favour I implore--it
is a bargain I propose to you."
"A bargain?"
"Yes, a bargain."
"The idea strikes me as original."
"Perhaps it is; you shall judge for yourself."
"I listen, but time presses, and I--"
"Oh, I will be brief," she interrupted.
"I am at your service," and he reseated himself, smiling, exactly like a
friend on a visit. The Linda followed his motions with her eye, without
appearing to attach any importance to them.
"Don Tadeo," she said, "during the many years we have been separated a
great number of events has taken place."
"Quite correct," said he, with a gesture of polite assent.
"I will say nothing to you of myself--my life is known to you."
"Very little of it, madam."
She cast a savage look at him.
"Let that pass," she said, "it is of you I would speak."
"Of me?"
"Yes, of you, whose moments are not so completely absorbed by patriotism
and the effervescence of political ideas as not to leave you a few for
more intimate joys and emotions."
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you feign ignorance?" she said, with a perfidious smile; "I am
sure you understand me."
"Madam!"
"Do not deny it, Tadeo! Tired of the ephemeral love of women of my
class, as you have just now so well said, you seek in the pure heart of
a young girl emotions more in accordance with your tastes; in a word,
I know you are in love with a charming young creature, worthy in all
respects of being the wife of your choice, if I, unfortunately, did not
exist."
Don Tadeo fixed upon his wife a scrutinizing look while she was
pronouncing these words. As she finished, a sigh escaped him.
"What, are you aware?" he exclaimed, with well-feigned surprise. "You
know--"
"I know that her name is Doña Rosario del Valle," she replied, satisfied
of the effect she thought she had produced upon her husband; "why, it is
the freshest news in Santiago! all the world is talking of it. How was
it likely it should escape me, when I take such an interest in you?"
The Linda interrupted herself, and laid her hand on his arm.
"It is of very little consequence," she added; "restore me my daughter,
Don Tadeo, and this new love of yours shall be sacred to me--if not--"
"You are mistaken, madam, I tell you."
"Beware, Don Tadeo!" she remarked, with a glance at the clock; "by this
time the woman we were speaking of is in the hands of my agents."
"What do you mean?" he cried, in great agitation.
"Yes," she replied, in a husky tone, "I have had her carried off. In a
few minutes she will be here. Beware! I repeat, Don Tadeo! if you do not
tell me where my daughter is, and if you continue to refuse to restore
her to me--"
"Well," he said, haughtily, looking her full in the face, and crossing
his arms, "what then will you do?"
"I will kill this woman!" she replied, in a gloomy but firm tone.
Don Tadeo looked at her for a moment with an undefinable expression, and
then burst into a dry, nervous laugh, which chilled the woman with fear.
"You will kill her!" he cried, "unhappy woman! Well!--kill that innocent
creature!--Call in your executioners--I will be mute."
The Linda sprang up like a lioness, and rushed towards the door, which
she opened violently.
"This is too much!--Come in!" she called out, loudly.
The two men who had brought in Don Tadeo appeared, poniard in hand.
"Ah!" the gentleman said, with a contemptuous smile, "I know you again
at last."
At a motion from the Linda the assassins advanced towards him.