"Thank you much. Please not lock up until I come; I shall not be long."
"Don't trouble yourself, senorito; we will wait for you."
As soon as he was in the street, he knew not whither to direct his
steps; his heart beat violently; he was so anxious that his clearness of
mind entirely deserted him.
After hesitating a few moments, he started to go along the Plaza del
Angel without any reason for it; but there was just as little for
choosing any other direction.
He quickened his steps as soon as he could, without seeing any one
beside the watchman on the corner.
He entered the Calle de Carretas, and saw only a group of young men
going along discussing literature.
When he reached the Puerta del Sol,[37] he made out in the distance,
near San Jeronimo Avenue, a woman's form; he felt a strong emotion, and
without thinking that he might be taken for an evil-doer, he started to
run after her. She was a _desgraciada_, who, as she turned around to see
who was following her in that way, met the young man's astonished and
startled eyes.
"See here, senorito!" she cried in a coarse voice.
But Miguel had already dashed by her down the Calle del Principe. And
suddenly he found himself again in the Plaza de Santa Ana. Then he stood
still, and clutching his temples with his hands, exclaimed aloud, in a
voice of anguish:--
"My God, what has happened to me!"
He looked in every direction, in discouragement, and seeing no one, he
made his way into the gardens in the centre, so as to reach his house
as soon as possible, and ask the janitor's assistance. But just as he
was near home, he saw a woman's dress gleaming on one of the benches
there. It did not take him many steps to make certain that it was his
wife.
"Maximina! Maximina!"
The child, who was sobbing with her head leaning on the back of the
seat, instantly lifted it. Miguel took her by the hand, gently lifted
her to her feet, with the same gentleness made her lean upon his arm,
and silently crossed the distance that separated them from his dwelling.
As they entered the doorway, he said, naturally, so as to be heard by
all: "Why didn't you tell me, wife? You gave me a great fright."
The janitor and his wife bowed.
"Can we shut up now, senorito?"
"Whenever you please."
They mounted the stairs in the same silence as before. They entered
their apartment, and after giving suitable orders for all the lights to
be put out, Miguel took his wife to her room; he locked the door, and
going to the little wife, who was looking at him full of fear and even
anguish, he made her sit down in a chair; then kneeling at her feet, and
kissing her hands tenderly, he said:--
"Forgive me!"
"Oh, no, Miguel!" she cried, in the height of confusion and
mortification, and making desperate efforts to kneel down, and make her
husband rise. "Don't put me to shame, for Heaven's sake! I am the one,
indeed I am, who ought to ask your forgiveness for the atrocity which I
have just committed, for the pain I have given you.... Let go of me! Let
go of me!... Do you forgive me?... I was mad, perfectly mad.... I
thought that you did not love me, and my better judgment deserted me. I
wanted to die, and nothing else."
"Hush, hush!" he replied, by main force keeping her in her seat.
"To-morrow do whatever you please; to-night it is my right to ask your
forgiveness, and to swear before God that I will never again as long as
I live give you cause for jealousy, either with the girl up stairs or
any other."
And the report goes that he fulfilled his vow.