"I am going to the study to write a letter."
"Aren't you going to drink your _tila_?"
"Certainly I will take it; I will finish it afterward."
She went to her brother's writing-room, and began in all haste to pen
the following note:--
"My dearest Maximina, my soul's sister: When you receive this, poor
Julia will already have committed a great sin. I am going to Seville
with Alfonso to beg his mother's permission for us to marry. Try to
pacify ..."
"Julia, your _tila_ is getting cold," said Maximina, laying her hand on
the girl's shoulder.
Julia uttered a cry, and covered the paper with her hands.
Maximina stepped back in consternation.
"Excuse me; dear, you took me so by surprise," said Julia, smiling and
very rosy.
"I am the one to ask pardon for having come in without knocking.... I
did not think.... Go on, go on...." she added, with a mischievous smile
that signified: "I know whom the letter is for!"
How far the innocent young woman was from suspecting the truth!
After she left the room, Julia finished her letter: ...
"Try to pacify mamma, and Miguel when he comes back. I think that in the
end all will be satisfactorily arranged. Alfonso, though he is a little
cold, is a perfect gentleman. Pardon and love your sister who takes her
farewell of you alone.--_Julia._"
Don Alfonso had charged her again and again, and with great forethought,
not for anything in the world to leave a written letter giving an
intimation of where she was going. But by an impulse of her heart,--one
of the many that are inexplicable,--it occurred to her to write to her
sister-in-law, in whom she had perfect confidence.
"I am going now," she said, putting on a hat which had a thick veil to
let down over her eyes. "It is dinner time already, and mamma will be
expecting me. Just think! I have not seen her since last evening. I
shall be back here again at ten o'clock."
They said good by at the door. Maximina gave her a kiss on her cheek as
usual; she repaid it with a dozen so eager and affectionate that the
young wife could not help exclaiming with a laugh:--
"How crazy you are!"
"Crazy? yes! and very crazy," she replied, as she went down the stairs,
not turning her head.
Her kisses and the accent of those last words somewhat surprised
Maximina, but she did not give much thought to them, and shut the door.
Juana was to accompany the young girl to her mother's. When they reached
the street, it was almost night. On coming to the Calle de Carretas, the
senorita said:--
"Juana, do me the favor to go into that tobacconist's and get a stamp
and drop this letter into the box.... Can you read?" she added, fearing
that she might notice to whom it was directed.
"No, senorita," replied the maid,[59] abashed. She went into the
tobacconist's, and Julia made her believe that she would wait for her at
the door; but as soon as she saw her approach the counter, she ran down
the street, and on reaching the carriage, the horses of which she knew,
she opened the door and slipped in. Immediately a man's voice was heard
to say:--
"Drive hard, Julian, drive hard!"
The horses, lashed by the coachman, dashed along the avenue; they soon
left behind them the centre of population, and galloped half frantically
down Andalucia Avenue.
When they reached Jetafe, the train was already whistling in the
distance. Don Alfonso bought tickets, and calling Julian aside, said:--
"To-morrow, if you should be asked, say that you drove me to Pozuelo for
the train on the Northern Line; do you understand?"
"Depend upon me, senorito."
"Here," said he, giving him some bank-notes. "Take good care of the
horses. I will shortly write you what you are to do."
The train rapidly carried the fugitives away, not toward Seville, but to
Lisbon. At midnight, the _caballero_ having stepped out a moment, came
back with a look of annoyance, saying that he had made a mistake, that
they ought to have changed cars farther back. The girl was stupefied and
dismayed.
"Don't be so much alarmed, dear. Now instead of staying in some large
town on this side where they might get knowledge of us by telegraph, it
would be better for us to go into Portugal, and from there go directly
to Seville."
Although the girl protested violently, she had no other remedy than to
consent.
When they reached Lisbon, they took rooms at one of the best hotels. Don
Alfonso promised his cousin to take her the next day to Seville. But a
day passed, and then a second and third, and they did not depart. The
_caballero_ found one special pretext for postponing the journey. And
this was that he had lost his luggage. He was waiting for the arrival of
the telegram that he sent about it.
Julita during these days found herself in a state of great excitement,
so that she passed instantly and alternately from noisy and unreasonable
gayety to deep and extravagant melancholy. Sometimes she grew angry with
her cousin and overwhelmed him with taunts and threatened to escape
alone or to inform the police; then she would throw herself into his
arms and ask his pardon. In the midst of the deepest sadness her lover
would begin to mimic in grotesque fashion the accent of the maid who
served them, and the girl would laugh like a lunatic. At other times she
grew enthusiastic at the view of the bay and the royal palace of Cintra.
The wily _caballero_ humored her with the most delicate and affectionate
attentions. When she lost her temper, he would allow her to recover from
it without saying a word; when she was sad, he would do everything to
enliven her; when finally he saw that she looked contented, he would
take advantage of such moments to go out to walk with her, giving her
his arm as though they were husband and wife. They were regarded as a
newly married couple by the people at the hotel.
Nevertheless, on the fourth day of their visit, as they were in their
sitting-room after breakfast, Don Alfonso leaning back in an easy-chair,
smoking his cigar, she standing in front of the mirror getting ready to
go out, the _caballero_ said, accompanying his words with an ambiguous
smile:--
"Do you know what I am thinking, Julita?"
"No; what?"
"That I am greatly delighted with this way of living with you!"
"But I am not," replied the young girl, dryly.
"Why, what objection do you have to it?"
"I object to living in a state of mortal sin; I wish to ask mamma's
pardon and to be married to you."
"Now the very thing that I enjoy most is living in this extra-legal way.
We are two birds flown from the nest and winging our flight through the
air. How jolly it is to be so alone and so free! Could we possibly be
happier because a dirty and ignorant priest had jabbered a few Latin
words before us?"
Julita, on hearing this and noticing the somewhat mocking tone in which
Don Alfonso spoke, felt a cold chill run down her back, and she dropped
her arms which she had raised to arrange her hair. She stood a moment or
two in suspense, and then turning her pale face toward him, she said
deliberately, in an unnatural voice:--
"It seems to me that I could not have heard such coarse and vile words
come from your mouth."
"Why do you call them vile, child? All that I did was to give you my
opinion without taking the trouble to consider whether it was good or
bad," replied the _caballero_ laughing.
"Hush! hush! Alfonso.... There are moments when my imagination is filled
with ideas so horrible that if they stayed long I am certain that I
should go mad and throw myself out of the window."
As she said this, she flung her hat on the toilet table and came and sat
down on the sofa, remaining with her head sunk low and her hands
crossed in meditative attitude. Great tears began to roll down her
cheeks.
"Crying?" asked the _caballero_, approaching her.
The girl raised her eyes gleaming with fury and looked at him.
"Crying! yes!" she said in an exasperated tone. "And why not? What do
you care for my tears? I wish to go home immediately! do you hear? I
wish to go now ... this very instant."
"Calm yourself, Julia."
"I do not wish to calm myself. Why am I here with you, I should like to
know? Do me the favor to take me home again. Though my mother should
kill me, I wish to go to her instantly, do you hear?"
Don Alfonso made no answer; he wisely allowed a few minutes to pass so
that she might recover a little. Then he said in a muffled and
melancholy voice:--
"Well then, if you are already tired of me I will take you back to
Madrid again.... I supposed that your love was a little more
substantial.... I made a mistake. Patience.... My conscience does not
reproach me in the least. Since we left Madrid I have done all that I
could to treat you in a straightforward manner. Circumstances brought us
here and have retained us against my will.... However, we will start as
soon as you like. The truth is, we have waited long enough for that
miserable luggage.... Now I am going to tell you something," he added in
a broken voice. "If in any respect during these last days I have done
anything to hurt your feelings, forgive me. I love you and regard you as
my lawful wife, because you are in the sight of God and you will be very
soon before men ... that is, if you accept me as a husband and do not
return."
Julia, likewise moved, gave him her hand which he hastened to kiss.
They became reconciled.
"Is it your wish that we go to-day?" asked Saavedra, after a moment, in
an indifferent tone.
"We will wait till to-morrow.... Perhaps the luggage will come to-day,"
replied the young woman, anxious to make him forget her severe words.
"Come on, then, let us have a walk along the bay. It is a lovely
afternoon. We will engage a felucca."[60]
"Oh yes, yes, Alfonso! I am dying for a sail!" cried Julia, clapping her
hands.
"On the way you can buy the clothing that you need."
Julia, now gay as a lark, once more went to the mirror to arrange her
hair.
"You can't imagine, Alfonso, how I enjoy sailing in a boat. And if there
is a little swell, all the better. I am never seasick. Three years ago,
mamma and I went from Santander to Bilbao...."
Just as she said those words she uttered a terrible cry, one of those
that make the hair stand on end and freeze the blood of those who hear
it; her comb fell from her hands; her eyes, fastened on the mirror,
expressed terror and dismay.
She had seen in the mirror the door of the room open, and her brother
Miguel come in.