EXPLANATIONS.
We will now return to the chacra of Don Gregorio Peralta, to which
Doña Rosario had been conducted after her miraculous deliverance.
The first days that followed the departure of the two Frenchmen were
sufficiently devoid of incident: Doña Rosario, shut up in her bedroom,
remained almost continually alone. The poor girl, like all wounded
spirits, sought to forget reality, by taking refuge in dreams, in order
to collect and preserve piously in the depths of her heart the few
happy remembrances which had so rarely gilded with a ray of sunshine
the sadness of her existence. Don Tadeo, completely absorbed in his
imperative political combinations, could only see her now and then, and
but for a few minutes at a time. Before him, she endeavoured to appear
cheerful, but she suffered the more from being obliged to conceal in her
own bosom the sorrow which consumed her. She occasionally crept down
into the garden; she stopped under the arbour in which her meeting with
Louis had taken place, and remained hours together thinking of him she
loved, and whom she had driven from her for ever.
This poor child, so beautiful, so mild, so pure, so worthy of being
loved, was condemned by an implacable destiny continually to lead a
life of suffering and isolation; without a relation, without a friend
to whom she might impart the secret of her grief. She was little more
than sixteen, and already her bruised heart shrank back upon itself; her
colour faded, her step became languid, her large blue eyes, swimming in
tears, were incessantly raised towards heaven, as the only refuge that
remained for her; she appeared to hold to the earth only by a slight
thread, which the least fresh shock of adversity would snap.
The maiden's story was a strange one. She had never known her parents;
she had no remembrance of the kisses of her mother--those warm caresses
of childhood, which make even mature age tremble with joy. From her
earliest days, she could only remember being alone, always alone, in the
hands of the mercenary and indifferent. The innocent joys of childhood
remained unknown to her; she had known nothing of them but their
weariness and sadness, and had ever been deprived of those friendships
of early youth which, by insensibly preparing the mind for affectionate
expansion, give birth to smiles in the midst of tears, and console with
a kiss.
Don Tadeo was the only person who was attached to her; he had never
abandoned her, but watched with the greatest care over her material
well-being, smiled upon her, and ever gave her good and pleasant
counsels: but Don Tadeo was much too serious a man to comprehend the
thousand little cares which the education of a young girl requires. She
could only entertain for him that profound, yet respectful friendship
which forbids those ingenuous confidences which can only be made to a
mother, or to a companion of the same age. The visits of Don Tadeo were
surrounded by an incomprehensible mystery; sometimes, without apparent
cause, he made her suddenly quit people to whom he had confided her,
and took her away with him, after ordering her to change her name,
upon long tours. It was thus she had been to France: then, he quite as
unexpectedly brought her back to Chili, sometimes to one city, sometimes
to another, without ever condescending to explain to her the reasons for
her leading such a wandering life.
Constrained by her isolation to depend only upon herself, forced to
reflect as soon as the first rays of reason enlightened her brain, the
maiden, though so delicate and fragile in appearance, was endowed with
an energy and firmness of character of which she was ignorant, but
which supported her unconsciously; and if the hour of danger arrived,
would be of infinite use to her. She had often, urged by the instinct
of curiosity so natural to her age in the exceptional position in which
she was placed, sought by adroit questions to seize the thread that
might guide her in this labyrinth; but all had proved useless--Don Tadeo
remained mute. One day only, after having for a long time contemplated
her with an expression of sadness, he had pressed her to his heart, and
said in a trembling voice,--
"Poor child! I will protect you against your enemies!"
Who could those formidable enemies be? Why were they so inveterate
against a girl of sixteen, who knew nothing of the world, and had
never injured a human being? These questions, which Doña Rosario was
continually asking herself, always remained unanswered. She only caught
a glimpse in her life, of one of those terrible mysteries which bring
death to the imprudent who persist in endeavouring to discover them;
her days, therefore, were passed in continual fears, engendered by her
imagination.
One evening, when, sad and thoughtful as usual, and buried in the depths
of an easy chair, in her bedchamber, she was turning over the leaves of
a book which she was not reading, Don Tadeo entered the room. He saluted
her, as he always did, by a kiss on her brow, took a seat, placed
himself in front of her, and after looking at her for a moment with a
melancholy smile, said quietly,--
"I wish to speak with you, Rosario."
"I am all attention, dear friend," she replied, endeavouring to smile.
But before we report this conversation, we must present our readers
with a few necessary explanations. Like all the other countries of
South America, Chili, for a long time depressed beneath the Spanish
yoke, had conquered its independence, more through the weakness of its
ancient master than by its own proper strength. The system followed by
the Spanish authorities from the beginning had checked in the people
of these countries the development of the philosophical ideas which
give man a consciousness of his own value, render him one day apt to
achieve liberty, and ripe to enjoy it within just limits. We have said,
in a preceding work, that the Americans of the South have none of the
virtues of their ancestors, but, to make up for it, they possess all
their vices. Destitute of that early education without which it is
impossible to do or even to conceive great things, the Chilian nation,
free by an unexpected chance, found itself immediately the sport of
a few intriguing men, who concealed beneath high-sounding words of
patriotism a boundless ambition. The newly-freed country struggled in
vain; the innate carelessness of its inhabitants, and the levity of
their character, formed an invincible object to any amelioration.
At the epoch at which we have arrived, Chili was labouring under the
oppression of General Bustamente. This man, not contented with being
minister of a republic, dreamt of nothing less than causing himself
to be proclaimed the chief of it, under the title of protector. The
realization of this idea was not impossible. From its geographical
position, Chili is almost independent of those troublesome neighbours
who, in the states of the old world, keep watch over all the acts of
a nation, and are, ready to put in their _veto_ as soon as their own
interest appears to be threatened. On one side separated from Upper
Peru by the vast and almost impassable desert of Atacama, Bolivia alone
might hazard some timid observations; but the General cherished secret
hopes of including that republic itself in the new confederation; on
the other side, immense solitudes and the Cordilleras separated it from
Buenos Aires, which had neither the will nor the power to oppose his
projects. One people alone could make a war with him, which he should
dread, and they were the Araucanos; that little nation, driven like
an iron wedge into Chili, disturbed the General's plans seriously. He
resolved to treat with the Araucano Toqui, while determined, at the same
time, when his projects should have succeeded, to unite all his forces
to conquer that country which had so long resisted the Spanish power. In
a word, General Bustamente dreamt of creating at the southern extremity
of America, with Chili, Araucania, and Bolivia confederated, a rival
nationality to the United States. Unfortunately for the General, there
was not in him the stuff to make a great man; he was simply a _parvenu_,
an ignorant and cruel soldier.
When America raised the standard of revolt against the mother country,
numerous secret societies were formed at all points of the territory,
the most redoubtable, beyond contradiction, being that of the
Dark-Hearts. The men who placed themselves at the head of this society
were all intelligent and well informed, mostly educated in Europe, who,
having seen in the field of action the great principles of the French
revolution, wished, by applying them in their own country, to regenerate
the nation. After the proclamation of Chilian independence, the secret
societies, having no longer an object, disappeared. One alone persisted
in remaining permanent--that of the Dark-Hearts. This society was not
willing that license should assume the mantle of liberty: it felt that
it had a great and holy mission to fulfil, and that its task, so far
from being terminated, was scarcely commenced. It was necessary to
instruct the people, to render them worthy of taking their place among
nations, and, above all, to deliver them from the tyrants who wished
to enslave them. This mission the society of the Dark-Hearts laboured
incessantly to carry out, struggling constantly against oppressive
powers, which succeeded each other, and destroying them without mercy.
Proteus-like and intangible, the members of this society escaped the
most active researches: if by chance some few of them fell in the arena,
they died with head erect, confident in the future, and leaving to their
brethren the care of continuing their task.
The recovery of General Bustamente caused the Dark-Hearts a momentary
stupor; but Don Tadeo, who had caused the news of the miraculous manner
in which he had survived his execution to be spread universally,
revived their spirits by placing himself again at their head. Not that
either courage or hope had failed them. However great the skill of the
machinations employed by the General to insure the success of his plans,
the Loyal-Hearts, who had confederates everywhere, foresaw and defeated
them. They watched all his movements with the greatest care, for they
were quite aware that the moment was drawing near when their enemy would
throw off the mask. They had heard of the departure of the convalescent
General for Valdivia. For what reason, as his health was still so
uncertain, and repose so necessary, had he gone to that remote province?
That must be learnt at any price, and they must prepare against any
eventuality.
In a meeting of the society, future measures were agreed upon; it was
moreover resolved that the King of Darkness should at the same time
repair to Valdivia, in order, if advisable, to take the initiative in
resistance. But Don Tadeo could not think of leaving Doña Rosario behind
him, exposed to the unprincipled attacks of the Linda. He alone could
defend the young girl; was he not her only support? As soon, then, as
the Dark-Hearts had dispersed, Don Tadeo returned to the chacra, and
went straight to Doña Rosario's chamber.
"My dear child," he said, "I have sad news to inform you of."
"Speak, my kind friend," she replied.
"Urgent affairs require my presence as soon as possible in Valdivia."
"Oh!" she cried, with an expression of terror, "you will not leave me
here, will you?"
"At first I intended to do so, this retreat appearing to me to unite all
the guarantees for security; but cheer up, my child! I have changed my
mind; I have fancied you would prefer accompanying me?"
"Oh, yes," she said, eagerly; "you are always kind. When do we set out?"
"Tomorrow, dear child, at sunrise."
"I shall be ready," she replied, holding up her pretty face towards him,
that he might impress his customary kiss upon her brow.
Don Tadeo retired, and Rosario immediately set about the preparations
for her journey. Of what consequence was it to her whether she were in
one place or another, since she was doomed to suffer everywhere? And who
can say whether the poor girl, without daring to avow it to herself, did
not entertain the hope of again seeing him she loved? Love is a divine
sunbeam that illumines the darkest nights.