DON SYLVA DE TORRÉS.
Guaymas is quite a new town, built somewhat from day to day according to
the fancy of the emigrants, and hence no regular lines of streets have
been maintained. However, we had better mention here that, with the
exception of a few houses to which that name may be fairly given, all
the rest are frightful dens, built of mud, and deplorably dirty.
In the Calle de la Merced, the principal, or to speak more truthfully,
the only street in the town (for the others are only alleys), stood a
one-storied house, ornamented with a balcony, and a peristyle supported
by four pillars. The front was covered by a coating of lime of dazzling
whiteness, and the roof was flat.
The proprietor of this house was one of the richest _mineros_ in Sonora,
and possessor of a dozen mines, all in work; he also devoted himself to
cattle breeding, and owned several haciendas scattered over the
province, the smallest of which was equal in size to an English county.
I am certain that, if Don Sylva de Torrés had wished to liquidate his
fortune, and discover what he was really worth, it would have realised
several millions.
Don Sylva had come to live in Guaymas some months back, where he
ordinarily only paid flying visits, and those at lengthened intervals.
This time, contrary to his usual custom, he had brought his daughter
Anita with him. Hence the entire population of Guaymas was a prey to the
greatest curiosity, and all eyes were fixed on Don Sylva's house, so
extraordinary did the conduct of the _hacendero_ appear.
Shut up in his house, the doors of which only opened to a few privileged
persons, Don Sylva did not seem to trouble himself the least in the
world about the gossips; for he was engaged in realising certain
projects, whose importance prevented him noticing what was said or
thought of him.
Though the Mexicans are excessively rich, and like to do honour to their
wealth, they have no idea of comfort. The utmost carelessness prevails
among them. Their luxury, if I may be allowed to employ the term, is
brutal, without any discernment or real value.
These men, principally accustomed to the rude life of the American
deserts, to struggle continually against the changes of a climate which
is frequently deadly, and the unceasing aggressions of the Indians, who
surround them on all sides, camp rather than live in the towns, fancying
they have done everything when they have squandered gold and diamonds.
The Mexican houses are in evidence to prove the correctness of our
opinion. With the exception of the inevitable European piano, which
swaggers in the corner of every drawing room, you only see a few clumsy
_butacas,_ rickety tables, bad engravings hanging on the whitewashed
walls, and that is all.
Don Sylva's house differed in no respect from the others; and the
master's horses on returning to the stable from the watering place, had
to cross the _salón_, all dripping as they were, and leaving manifest
traces of their passage.
At the moment when we introduce the reader into Don Sylva's house, two
persons, male and female, were sitting in the saloon talking, or at
least exchanging a few words at long intervals.
They were Don Sylva and his daughter Anita. The crossing of the Spanish
and Indian races has produced the most perfect plastic type to be found
anywhere. Don Sylva, although nearly fifty years of age, did not appear
to be forty. He was tall, upright, and his face, though stern, had great
gentleness imprinted upon it. He wore the Mexican dress in its most
rigorous exactness; but his clothes were so rich, that few of his
countrymen could have equalled it, much less surpassed it.
Anita who reclined on a sofa, half buried in masses of silk and gauze,
like a hummingbird concealed in the moss, was a charming girl of
eighteen at the most, whose black eyes, modestly shaded by long velvety
lashes, were full of voluptuous promise, which was not gainsaid by the
undulating and serpentine outlines of her exquisitely modelled body. Her
slightest gestures had grace and majesty completed by the ravishing
smile of her coral lips. Her complexion, slightly gilded by the American
sun, imparted to her face an expression impossible to render; and lastly
her whole person exhaled a delicious perfume of innocence and candour
which attracted sympathy and inspired love.
Like all Mexican women when at home, she merely wore a light robe of
embroidered muslin; her _rebozo_ was thrown negligently over her shoulders,
and a profusion of jasmine flowers was intertwined in her bluish-black
tresses. Anita seemed in deep thought. At one moment the arch of her
eyebrows was contracted by some thought that annoyed her, her bosom
heaved and her dainty foot, cased in a slipper lined with swan's down,
impatiently tapped on the ground.
Don Sylva also appeared to be dissatisfied. After directing a severe
glance at his daughter, he rose, and drawing near her, said,--
"You are mad, Anita: your behaviour is extravagant. A young, well-born
girl ought not, in any case to act as you have just done."
The young Mexican girl only answered by a significant pout, and an
almost imperceptible shrug of the shoulders.
Her father continued,--
"Especially," he said, laying a stress on each word, "in your position
as regards the Count de Lhorailles."
The girl started as if a serpent had stung her, and fixing an
interrogatory glance on the hacendero's immovable face, she replied,--
"I do not understand you, my father."
"You do not understand me, Anita? I cannot believe it. Have I not
formally promised your hand to the count?"
"What matter, if I do not love him? Do you wish to condemn me to
lifelong misery?"
"On the contrary, I regarded your happiness in this union. I have only
you, Anita, to console me for the mournful loss of your beloved mother.
Poor child! You are still, thank Heaven, at that happy age when the
heart does not know itself, and when the words 'happiness, unhappiness,'
have no meaning. You do not love the count, you say. All the better--
your heart is free. When, at a later date, you have had occasion to
appreciate the noble qualities of the man I give you as husband, you
will then thank me for having insisted on a marriage, which today causes
you so much vexation."
"Stay, father," the girl said with an air of vexation. "My heart is not
free, and you are well aware of the fact."
"I know, Doña Anita de Torrés," the hacendero answered severely, "that a
love unworthy yourself and me cannot enter your heart. Through my
ancestors I am a Christiano Viejo; and if a few drops of Indian blood be
mingled in my veins, what I owe to the memory of my ancestors is only
the more deeply engraved on my mind. The first of our family, Antonia de
Sylva, lieutenant to Hernando Cortez, married, it is true, a Mexican
princess of the family of Moctecuhzoma, but all the other branches are
Spanish."
"Are we not Mexicans then, my father?"
"Alas! My poor child, who can say who we are and what are we? Our
unhappy country, since it shook off the Spanish yoke, has been
struggling convulsively, and is exhausted by the incessant efforts of
those ambitious men, who in a few years will have robbed it even of that
nationality which we had so much difficulty in achieving. These
disgraceful contests render us the laughing stocks of other people, and
above all, cause the joy of our greedy neighbours, who with their eyes
invariably fixed upon us, are preparing to enrich themselves with our
spoils, of which they have pilfered some fragments already by robbing us
of several of our rich provinces."
"But, father, I am a woman, and therefore unaffected by politics. I have
nothing to do with the _gringos_."
"More than you can imagine, my child. I do not wish that at a given day
the immense property my ancestors and myself have acquired by our toil
should become the prey of these accursed heretics. In order to save it,
I have resolved on marrying you to the Count de Lhorailles. He is a
Frenchman, and belongs to one of the noblest families of that country.
Besides he is a handsome and brave gentleman, scarcely thirty years of
age, who combines the most precious moral qualifications with the
physical qualities. He is a member of a powerful and respected nation
which knows how to protect its subjects, in whatever corner of the world
they may be. By marrying him your fortune is sheltered from every
political reverse."
"But I do not love him, father."
"Nonsense, my dear babe. Do not talk longer of that. I am willing to
forget the folly of which you were guilty a few moments back, but on
condition that you forget that man, Martial."
"Never!" she exclaimed resolutely.
"Never! That is a long time, daughter. You will reflect, I am convinced.
Besides, who is this man? What is his family? Do you know? He is called
Martial el Tigrero. Voto a Dios, that is not a name! That man saved your
life by stopping your horse when it ran away. Well, is that a reason for
him to fall in love with you, and you with him? I offered him a
magnificent reward, which he refused with the most supreme disdain.
There is an end of it, then; let him leave me at peace. I have, and wish
for, nothing more to do with him."
"I love him, father," the young girl repeated.
"Listen, Anita. You would make me angry, if I did not put a restraint on
myself. Enough on that head. Prepare to receive the Count de Lhorailles
in a proper manner. I have sworn that you shall be his wife, and,
Cristo! It shall be so, if I have to drag you by force to the altar!"
The hacendero pronounced these words with such resolution in his voice,
and with such a fierce accent, that the girl saw it would be better for
her to appear to yield, and put a stop to a discussion which would only
grow more embittered, and perhaps have grave consequences. She let her
head fall, and was silent, while her father walked up and down the room
with a very dissatisfied air.
The door was partly opened, and a peon thrust his head discreetly
through the crevice.
"What do you want?" Don Sylva asked as he stopped.
"Excellency," the man replied, "a caballero, followed by four others
bearing a table covered with pieces of gold, requests an audience of the
señorita."
The hacendero shot a glance at his daughter full of expressiveness. Doña
Anita let her head sink in confusion. Don Sylva reflected for a moment,
and then his countenance cleared.
"Let him come in," he said.
The peon withdrew; but he returned in a few seconds, preceding an old
acquaintance, Cucharés, still enwrapped in his ragged zarapé, and
directing the four leperos who carried the table. On entering the
saloon, Cucharés uncovered respectfully, courteously saluted the
hacendero and his daughter, and with a sign ordered the porters to
deposit the table in the centre of the apartment.
"Señorita," he said in a honied voice, "the Señor Don Martial, faithful
to the pledge he had made you, humbly supplicates you to accept his
gains at monte, as a feeble testimony of his devotion and admiration."
"You rascal!" Don Sylva angrily exclaimed as he took a step toward him
"Do you know in whose presence you are?"
"In that of Doña Anita and her highly-respected parent," the scamp
replied imperturbably, as he wrapped himself majestically in his
tatters. "I have not, to my knowledge, failed in the respect I owe to
both."
"Withdraw at once, and take with you this gold, which does not concern
my daughter."
"Excuse me, excellency, I received orders to bring the gold here, and
with your permission I will leave it. Don Martial would not forgive me
if I acted otherwise."
"I do not know Don Martial, as it pleases you to style the man who sent
you. I wish to have nothing in common with him."
"That is possible, excellency; but it is no affair of mine. You can have
an explanation with him if you think proper. For my part, as my mission
is accomplished, I kiss your hands."
And, after bowing once more to the two, the lepero went off
majestically, followed by his four acolytes, with measured steps.
"See there," exclaimed Don Sylva violently, "see there, my daughter, to
what insults your folly exposes me!"
"An insult, father?" she replied timidly. "On the contrary, I think that
Don Martial has acted like a true caballero, and that he gives me a
great proof of his love. That sum is enormous."
"Ah!" Don Sylva said wrathfully, "that is the way you take it. Well, I
will act as a caballero also, _voto a brios_! As you shall see. Come
here, someone!"
Several peons came in.
"Open the windows!"
The servants obeyed. The crowd was not yet dispersed, and a large number
of persons was still collected round the house. The hacendero leant out
and by a wave of his hand requested silence. The crowd was instinctively
silent, and drew nearer, guessing that something in which it was
interested was about to happen.
"Señores caballeros y amigos," the hacendero said in a powerful voice,
"a man whom I do not know has dared to offer to my daughter the money he
has won at monte. Doña Anita spurns such presents, especially when they
come from a person with whom she does not wish to have any connection,
friendly or otherwise. She begs me to distribute this gold among you, as
she will not touch it in any way: she desires thus to prove, in the
presence of you all, the contempt she feels for a man who has dared to
offer her such an insult."
The speech improvised by the hacendero was drowned by the frenzied
applause of the leperos and other assembled beggars, whose eyes sparkled
with greed. Anita felt the burning tears swelling her eyelids. In spite
of all her efforts to remain undisturbed, her heart was almost broken.
Troubling himself not at all about his daughter, Don Sylva ordered his
servants to cast the ounces into the street. A shower of gold then
literally began falling on the wretches, who rushed with incredible
ardour on this new species of manna. The Calle de la Merced offered, at
that moment, the most singular sight imaginable. The gold poured and
poured on; it seemed to be inexhaustible. The beggars leaped like
coyotes on the precious metal, overthrowing and trampling underfoot the
weaker.
At the height of the shower a horseman came galloping up. Astonished,
confounded by what he saw, he stopped for a moment to look around him;
then he drove his spurs into his horse, and by dealing blows of his
chicote liberally all around, he succeeded in clearing the dense crowd,
and reached the hacendero's house, which he entered.
"Here is the count," Don Sylva said laconically to his daughter.
In fact, within a minute that gentleman entered the saloon.
"Halloh!" he said, stopping at the doorway, "What strange notion is this
of yours, Don Sylva? On my soul, you are amusing yourself by throwing
millions out of the window, to the still greater amusement of the
leperos and other rogues of the same genus!"
"Ah, 'tis you, señor Conde," the hacendero replied calmly; "you are
welcome. I shall be with you in an instant. Only these few handfuls, and
it will be finished."
"Don't hurry yourself," the count said with a laugh. "I confess that the
fancy is original;" and drawing near the young lady, whom he saluted
with exquisite politeness, he continued,--
"Would you deign, Señorita, to give me the word of this enigma, which, I
confess, interests me in the highest degree?"
"Ask my father, Señor," she answered with a certain dryness, which
rendered conversation impossible.
The count feigned not to notice this rebuff; he bowed with a smile, and
falling into a _butaca,_ said coolly,--
"I will wait; I am in no hurry."
The hacendero, in telling his daughter that the gentleman he intended
for her husband was a handsome man, had in no respect flattered him.
Count Maxime Gaëtan de Lhorailles was a man of thirty at the most, well
built and active, and slightly above the middle height. His light hair
allowed him to be recognised as a son of the north; his features were
fine, his glance expressive, and his hands and feet denoted race.
Everything about him indicated the gentleman of an old stock; and if Don
Sylva was not more deceived about the moral qualities than he had been
about the physical, Count de Lhorailles was really a perfect gentleman.
At length the hacendero exhausted all the gold Cucharés had brought: he
then hurled the table into the street, ordered the windows to be closed,
and came back to take a seat by the side of the count, rubbing his
hands.
"There," he said with a joyous air, "that's finished. Now I am quite at
your service."
"First one word."
"Say it."
"Excuse me. You are aware that I am a stranger, and such as thirsting
for instruction."
"I am listening to you."
"Since I have lived in Mexico I have seen many extraordinary customs. I
ought to be _blasé_ about novelties; still, I must confess that what I
have just seen surpasses anything I have hitherto witnessed. I should
like to be certain whether this is a custom of which I was hitherto
ignorant."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why, what you were doing when I arrived--that gold you were dropping
like a beneficent dew on the bandits of every description collected
before your house; ill weeds, between ourselves, to be thus bedewed."
Don Sylva burst into a laugh.
"No, that is not a custom of ours," he replied.
"Very good. Then, you were indulging in the regal pastime of throwing a
million to the scum. Plague! Don Sylva, a man must be as rich as
yourself to allow such a gratification."
"Things are not as you fancy."
"Still I saw it raining ounces."
"True, but they did not belong to me."
"Better and better still. That renders the affair more complicated; you
heighten my curiosity immensely."
"I will satisfy it."
"I am all attention, for the affair is growing as interesting to me as a
story in the 'Arabian Nights.'"
"H'm!" the hacendero said, tossing his head, "It interests you more than
you perhaps suspect."
"How so?"
"You shall judge."
Doña Anita was in torture; she knew not what to do. Seeing that her
father was about to divulge all to the count, she did not feel in
herself the courage to be present at such a revelation, and rose
tottering.
"Gentlemen," she said in a feeble voice, "I feel indisposed; be kind
enough to allow me to retire."
"Really," the count said, as he hurried towards her, and offered her his
arm to support her, "you are pale, Doña Anita. Allow me to accompany you
to your apartment."
"I thank you, caballero, but I am strong enough to proceed there alone,
and, while duly grateful for your offer, pray permit me to decline it."
"As you please, señorita," the count replied, inwardly piqued by this
refusal.
Don Sylva entertained for a moment the idea of ordering his daughter to
remain; but the poor girl turned towards him so despairing a glance that
he did not feel the courage to impose on her a longer torture.
"Go my child," he said to her.
Anita hastened to take advantage of the permission; she left the
_salón,_ and sought refuge in her bedroom, where she sank into a chair,
and burst into tears.
"What is the matter with Doña Anita?" the count asked with sympathy, so
soon as she had gone.
"Vapours--headache--what do I know?" the hacendero replied, shrugging
his shoulders. "All young girls are like that. In a few minutes she will
have forgotten it."
"All the better. I confess to you that I was alarmed."
"But now that we are alone, would you not like me to give you the
explanation of the enigma which appeared to interest you so much?"
"On the contrary, speak without further delay: for, on my part, I have
several important matters to impart to you."