"The first part of my plan has 'gang agley'; now let us see if I shall
be luckier in the second," said Don Alfonso, on leaving Miguel's house.
That afternoon, while his eyes were wandering at haphazard over the
throng of carriages flying up and down the Castellana, he was deeply
engaged in concocting the most odious and villanous plans, which we
shall shortly find him carrying into execution.
During the days that followed, he began to show more attention and love
to his cousin than ever, spending long hours in her company. This sudden
ardor on her lover's part was sufficient to turn Julita's head
completely. The asperity of her restless and ardent temperament had
already for some time been changing into mildness. Don Alfonso, owing to
_la brigadiera's_ blameworthy carelessness, had got into the habit of
taking certain liberties with her, innocent enough in themselves, but
extremely dangerous. When he had made her his slave, he asked her one
day:--
"Julita, do you want to marry me?"
"What a question!" exclaimed the girl, growing crimson as a poppy.
"Well, then, let us have it understood that you accept me as your
husband."
"Who told you so, jackanapes."[58]
"You have told me with those sharp eyes of yours ever since I knew you!
You can't deny it, Julia!"
"_Tonto! tonto!_ you insufferable fellow!" exclaimed the girl, trying to
be angry.
"Let us not speak any more of that. That matter is settled. In the first
place, we have both agreed, La Senorita Dona Julia Rivera on the one
hand, and Don Alfonso Saavedra on the other, that we wish to enter into
wedlock. Now then, how to carry our project into effect? I have already
reached the twenty-fifth year of my age--if you did not know it before,
you know it now." (Julia laughed.) "Consequently the law authorizes me
to marry whenever I wish, without my mother's consent. Still this
permission is indispensable for me, in the first place, on account of
the frantic affection which she professes for me; on account of the duty
that I owe her of not going against her wishes or causing her a grief
which the poor woman does not deserve; and in the second place, through
a selfish consideration, which is likewise of much weight. I have been a
wretch, Julita; a prodigal who has in a few years run through the
fortune that I inherited from my father. The result of that is that I
now find myself at my mother's mercy, and she, be it said in the
interest of truth, has not hitherto been niggardly toward me. But as you
can easily imagine, I don't know what might happen if I married against
her wishes. Now then, I confess with shame, I am not used to working,
nor even if I wanted to work should I know what to set my hand to. So
then, we must tell my mamma, if we are to get married. To-morrow I will
write her, and if, as I have no reason to doubt, she has no objection to
our marriage, we can immediately set the time for it."
What a sleepless night Julita spent! and yet how happy a night it was!
Don Alfonso took it for granted that their marriage was settled, and
even spoke of it as though it had already taken place. The talks which
they had during the four days which elapsed between the letter and its
answer were almost all concerned with the preparations to be made for
the wedding,--what they would do after they were joined, etc. Julia
waited impatiently for the mamma's answer from Seville. As for _la
brigadiera_, as Don Alfonso was her right eye, she had never taken her
into consideration at all. By his advice she had not said a word to her
about it as yet.
At last the letter came.
Would that it had never come! Saavedra entered his aunt's house with his
face pale and dark lines under his eyes, and with a mortal sadness
depicted on it. In order to accomplish this theatrical effect he had
spent the previous night in a drunken spree. Julia's face changed when
she saw him; then instantly she knew by intuition what news he had
brought. When they had taken their seat together by the piano, the place
where they had carried on almost all their secret conversations, the
_caballero_ exclaimed in a tone full of sorrow, and hiding his face in
his hands:--
"How unhappy I am, Julita!"