Before we continue our recital, it is well, we believe, to make the
acquaintance of this new personage. Don Modesto Guerrero was the son of
an honorable farmer, who, like many others, was possessed of excellent
parchments of nobility. During the war of independence, the French
burned these parchments in burning his house, under the pretext that the
children of a laborer are brigands,--that is to say, that they have
committed the unpardonable crime of defending their country. The brave
man could reconstruct his house; but as to the parchments, they were not
of the class of phœnix. Modesto was called to the military service,
and, in default of a substitute, he entered a regiment of infantry as a
cadet. Sufficiently good-natured, he was not long in becoming a butt,
the object of coarse jokes from his companions. These, encouraged by his
forbearance, pushed their mockeries so far that Don Modesto put an end
to them, as we will directly see. On a grand parade day he took his
station at the end of a file. Near by was a cart. His comrades, with as
much address as promptitude, passed a noose round his leg, and attached
it to the wheels of the cart. The colonel gave the orders to “March!”
The trumpets sounded, and all the men were in motion, with the exception
of Modesto, who was brought up with his feet in the air, in the position
which the sculptors give to the Zephyrs ready to fly.
The review ended. Modesto returned to quarters calm and tranquil as he
had set out, and, without changing his step, he demanded satisfaction
of his companions. Neither of them would assume the responsibility of
the trick played. He then declared he would fight with them all, one
after the other. Then he who had planned and executed the trick came
forward, and they went out to fight. In the combat, Modesto’s adversary
lost an eye. “If you desire to lose the other,” the vanquisher said to
him, with his habitual phlegm, “I am at your service when you please.”
Without relations or patrons at court, without ambitious views, and no
fondness for intrigue, Modesto continued his career at a tortoise pace,
until the siege of Gaëte, in 1805, a period at which his regiment
received an order to join the troops of Napoleon. Modesto distinguished
himself so well by his bravery and coolness, that he merited a cross,
and the praises of his chiefs. His name was blazoned at Gaëte like a
meteor, to disappear immediately in eternal obscurity.
These laurels were the first and the last which he had an opportunity of
gathering during his military career: severely wounded in the arm, he
was obliged to quit active service, and received as compensation the
post of commandant of the ruined fort of San Cristobal. It was then
forty years that he had under his orders the skeleton of a fort, and a
garrison of lizards of all varieties. In the commencement, our Guerrero
could not content himself with this abandonment. No one year passed
without his pressing a request to the government to obtain the necessary
repairs; also the guns and troops which this point of defence demanded.
All these requests remained unnoticed, although, according to
circumstances, he did not fail to represent the possibility of an
invasion, whether by the English or the American insurgents, whether by
the French, or the revolutionists, or the Carlists. A similar reception
was accorded to his continual solicitations to obtain part: the
government took no account whatever of these two ruins--the fort, and
its commander. Don Modesto was patient; he finished by submitting to his
destiny. When he arrived at Villamar, he lodged with the widow of the
sacristan, who, in company with her then young daughter, lived a life of
devotion. It was the abode of excellent women, a little meagre, and
tainted with excessive intolerance, and scolds; but good, charitable,
and of exquisite neatness.
The inhabitants of the village, who had great affection for the
commandant, and who, at the same time, knew how irksome his position
was, did all they possibly could to render his situation less irksome.
They never killed a pig without sending him a supply of lard and
pudding. At harvest-times they brought him some wheat, pease, oil, and
honey. The women made him presents of the fruits of their orchards; and
his happy hostess had always an abundance of provisions, thanks to the
generous kindness which inspired the good Modesto, who, of a nature
corresponding with his name, far from feeling pride from so many favors,
was accustomed to say that Providence was everywhere, but that his
headquarters were at Villamar. He knew, in truth, how to show his
gratitude for all these bounties by being serviceable to every one, and
complaisant in the extreme. He arose with the sun, and his first duty
was to assist the cura in the services of the mass. One villager charged
him with a commission; another besought him to write to his son, who was
a soldier; a mother confided to his care her little children, while she
attended out doors to some little household affairs: he watched at the
bedsides of the sick, and mingled his prayers with those of his
hostesses; indeed, he sought to be useful to everybody in all that was
in his power, consistent with decorum or honor. The widow of the
sacristan died, leaving her daughter Rosa, now full forty-five years of
age, and of an ugliness which you would travel far to see the like of.
The mournful consequences of the varioloid did not contribute a little
to augment this last misfortune. The evil was concentrated on one of her
eyes, and chiefly on the pupil, which she could but half open; and it
resulted that the pupil half effaced gave to all her physiognomy an
aspect devoid of intelligence and mind, forming a singular contrast with
the other eye, from which shot out flames like the fire of a brier-bush
at the slightest cause of scandal; and certainly the occasions which
presented themselves were frequent enough.
After the funeral, the nine days of mourning passed, the Señorita Rosita
said one morning to Don Modesto: “I regret much, señor, the duty of
announcing to you that we must separate.”
“We part!” cried the brave man, opening his large eyes, and placing his
cup of chocolate on the table-cloth, instead of placing it on the tray.
“And why, Rosita?”
Don Modesto was accustomed, during thirty years, to employ this pet name
when he spoke to the daughter of his old hostess.
“It seems to me,” she replied, elevating her eyelids, “it seems to me
you need not ask me why. You know it is not proper that two honest
persons live together under the same roof. It gives rise to scandal.”
“And who could bring scandal against you?” replied Don Modesto; “you,
the village model!”
“Are you sure there will not be something? What will you say when you
learn that you yourself, despite your great age, your uniform, and your
cross, and I, a poor girl who thinks only of serving God, that we
afford amusement to these scandal-mongers?”
“What say you?” demanded Don Modesto, saddened.
“What you have just heard. And no one knows us but under nicknames which
they apply to us, these cursed!”
“I am stunned, Rosita. I cannot believe--”
“So much the better for you if you do not believe it,” said the devout
girl; “but I avow to you that these impious ones,--God pardon
them!--when they see us arrive together at the church, at the early
morning mass, they say, one to the other: ‘Sound the mass, here come the
_Mystic Rose_ and the _Tower of David_, in armor and in company, as in
the litanies.’ They have thus dubbed you, because your figure is so
erect, so tall, and so solid.”
Don Modesto remained, his mouth open, and his eyes fixed on the ground.
“Yes, señor,” continued the Mystic Rose; “the neighbor who told me this
was scandalized, and advised me to go and complain to the cura. I
replied to her it were better that I restrained myself, and suffered.
Our Lord suffered more than I, without complaining.”
“Well!” said Modesto; “I will not permit that they mock me, and still
less you.”
“The best will be,” continued Rosa, “to prove by our patience that we
are good Christians, and by our indifference that we care little for the
world’s opinion. Beyond this, if these wicked persons are punished, they
will be worse, believe me, Don Modesto.”
“You are, as always, right, Rosita. I know these babblers; if you cut
out their tongue, they will speak with their nose. But if, in by-gone
days, any of my comrades had dared to call me _Tower of David_, he
would have had to add, ‘Pray for us!’ How is it that you, a saint, have
any fear of these slanders?”
“You know, Don Modesto, what say the vulgar, who think evil of all the
world: ‘Between saint and saint there should be a strong wall.’”
“But between you and I there is no need of a wall. I am old, and never
in all my life was I ever, except once, in love; and then it was with a
very pretty young girl, whom I would have married, if I had not
surprised her in a counter-flirtation with the drum-major, who--”
“Don Modesto!” cried Rosita, choked with this discourse. “Honor your
name and your position, and abandon your souvenirs of love.”
“My intention was not to offend you,” replied Don Modesto, in a contrite
tone. “Know that well; and I swear to you that I never had, and never
will have, an evil thought.”
“Don Modesto,” replied Rosa, with impatience (she looked on him with her
eye of fire, while the other eye made vain efforts in the hope of being
inflamed in unison), “do you judge me so simple as to think that two
persons, like you and I, having both the fear of God, could conduct
ourselves like those hair-brained people who have neither shame nor
horror of sin? But in the world it is not sufficient to do well. We must
even not give cause for scandal, and guard on all sides even against
appearances.”
“That is another thing,” replied the commandant. “What appearances can
there be between us? Do you not know that they who excuse, accuse
themselves?”
“I tell you,” replied the devotee, “there will not be wanting persons to
blame us.”
“And what can I do without you?” demanded Don Modesto, afflicted.
“Alone in the world, what can you do without me?”
“He who gives food to the little birds,” said Rosita, in a solemn tone,
“will take care of those who trust in Him.”
Don Modesto, disconcerted, and knowing not what further to say, went to
consult with the cura, who was at the same time his friend and Rosita’s.
The cura persuaded the good girl that her scruples were exaggerated, and
her fears without reason; that the projected separation would much more
give rise to ridiculous comments.
They continued then to live together, as formerly, in peace, and in the
fear of God;--the commandant always good and useful; Rosa always
careful, attentive, and disinterested: because, on the one hand, Don
Modesto was not the man to take any recompense for his services; and, on
the other, if the handle of his gala-sword had not been silver, she
could well have forgotten the color of that metal.