_LAURA AT CASTRO_
A time for new elections arrived, and Cæsar stood for Castro Duro. Don
Calixto, who had married his two daughters and was bored at not being
allowed to pull the strings in the town, decided to move to Madrid.
First he had thought of spending only some time at the capital, but
later he decided to stay there and he had his furniture sent down.
People said that Don Calixto had no great affection for the old palace
of the Dukes of Castro, and Cæsar proposed that he should rent the
house to him.
Don Calixto hesitated; in Castro he would certainly have refused, but
being in Madrid he accepted. His wife advised him that if he had any
scruples, he should ask more rent. They came to the agreement that
Cæsar should pay three thousand pesetas a year for the part Don Calixto
had formerly inhabited.
This time Cæsar had the election won, and there was not the slightest
fight. He was the boss of Castro, a good boss, accepted by everybody,
save the Clericals.
Cæsar had money, and he wrote to his sister to come and see him at
Castro in his seigniorial mansion. Laura arrived at Madrid in the
autumn, and the two went to Castro together.
Laura’s appearance in the town created a great sensation. At first
people said she was Cæsar’s wife. Others said she was an actress; until
finally everybody understood that she was his sister.
Laura really took undue advantage of her superiority. She was
irresistibly amiable and bewitching with everybody. The majority of the
men in Castro Duro talked of nothing but her, and the women hated her to
the death.
Being a marchioness, a Cardinal’s niece, and a Deputy’s sister, gave
her, besides, a terrible social prestige.
One person who clung to her, enchanted to have such a friend, was
Amparito. She went to the palace in her motor at all hours, to see Laura
and chat with her. In the afternoon the two of them used to walk in
Amparito’s father’s property, where the labourers, who were threshing,
received them like queens.
What enchanted Laura was the wild garden at Don Calixto’s house, with
its pomegranates and laurels, its tower above the river, full of
climbing plants and oleanders.
“You ought to buy this house,” she used to tell Cæsar.
“It would cost a good deal.”
“Pshaw! You could arrange that wonderfully. You would get married and
live here like a prince.”
“Get married?”
“Yes. To Amparito. That young thing is enchanting.
“She will make a splendid little wife. Even for your respectability as a
Deputy, it would be fitting to marry. A bachelor politician has a poor
look.”
Cæsar paid no attention to these suggestions and continued to lead
an unsocial life. He covered the environs on horseback, found out
everything that was going on and settled it. In this he set himself
an enormous task, which was not notable for results; but he hoped to
succeed in conquering the district completely, and then to extend his
sphere of action to others and yet others.
After being a fortnight in Castro Duro, Laura went to Biarritz, as was
her custom every year.