"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the _comisario_ of the young woman.

"Yes, senor," was her firm reply.

"Then come along."

"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of agony,--

"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?"

"Nothing that dishonors me or dishonors you," replied the girl proudly, lifting her lovely face and hastening from the room. Don Mariano was held back by all his friends who cl.u.s.tered around him, but quickly finding himself alone, as all, warned by a cry from Marta, hastened to the a.s.sistance of Dona Gertrudis who had fainted, he darted like a flash from the room.

CHAPTER XII.

GATHERED THREADS.

Some time before the events which we have just related, the loves of Ricardo and Maria, which had been going on in a gradual diminuendo like the notes of a beautiful melody, until Ricardo himself knew not whether they really existed or had completely died away; whether he was the lover of the first-born daughter of the Elorzas, or whether he had other rights over her heart than those granted to an old valued friend--these loves, I say, had suddenly and unexpectedly gained, without any one knowing a reason for it, a new lease of life, just as a light about to die from lack of oil is renewed by being given a good quant.i.ty of this combustible. Every one was surprised to see them together, talking as before in one corner of the parlor, during long interviews, oblivious of everything around them, dwelling in that nook of heaven which lovers find as easily in crowds as in solitude. Satisfaction followed surprise in their friends, and this in turn was followed by hypotheses as to the approach of the wedding-day, and conjectures about the motives serving to make such a change in the conduct of the lovers. The mischievous ones, winking as they said it, declared that of the three enemies of the soul, the flesh was the most to be feared, and that G.o.d had said, _Crescite et multiplicamini_, and that it was folly to fight against the laws of nature. The ladies, casting down their eyes, declared that in all states one could well serve G.o.d, and that not the easiest of penances were imposed by the care and education of children and the rule of the house. But at all events, the fact was that things had changed without any one knowing why, and that ladies and gentlemen were delighted, hoping that the ill.u.s.trious partners would soon vouchsafe them a happy day. Don Mariano's delight was so great that it shone through his eyes every time that he turned them toward the handsome couple, and a thousand lovely dreams in which figured a swarm of rosy, frolicsome grandchildren, just as his daughter had been, came at night to caress him in the solitudes of his feudal couch. Dona Gertrudis, as usual, thoroughly approved of Maria's conduct. Learn now how this state of things came about.

One morning when the young Marques de Penalta awoke earlier than usual, noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but before he left the inner town, as he was pa.s.sing the Elorza mansion, he accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to overcome by any force.

"You have got up early--to hear ma.s.s, I suppose?"

"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in the country, as it must be very lovely now."

"Very well; but to-day you must not go to walk: I claim you, and am going to take you to ma.s.s," said the girl in a tone of resolution, and with a decidedly adorable inflection of voice; and suiting the action to the word, she took him by the hand and led him captive this way for a number of feet.

Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down his honest, manly face.

"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of my dignity," he added in a low tone.

The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,--

"At present you can please me by going to ma.s.s with me; will you?"

"Yes, dear."

"Will you come to-morrow also, and every other day?"

"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better."

"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!"

"Truly?"

"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and make it our richest possession in this world."

The young man at that moment felt his heart melt within him, as he drank in the drops of affection which his sweetheart let fall upon his lips.

There is nothing that can so quickly change our most deeply rooted ideas and our firmest judgments as the voice of the woman whom we love.

Ricardo was a lukewarm believer, like most men of our day, and he detested exaggerations, and looked with decided repugnance upon religious practices. Accordingly then, by the work of enchantment, that is, by the work of that sweet voice and those still sweeter eyes, which gazed upon him with eloquent expression, he was stripped of his anti-clerical opinions, and was transformed into a decided champion of the altar and a fervid devotee of the saints, male and female, of the celestial court. He took delight in thinking that what his betrothed was doing was, after all, not blameworthy; that her piety and mysticism were the reflection of a n.o.ble and lofty spirit; that this same piety was the sweet pledge of her conjugal happiness, since it would cause her to refrain from the vanities to which other women after marriage devote themselves; that there was nothing strange in the poor girl desiring her betrothed to be a believer and devout, when her ideas about eternal salvation were taken into consideration, and that in this regard he had done very wrong to oppose her so obstinately, striking her in the very heart of her sensitive and admirable faith; finally he came to the conclusion that he was a barbarian, incapable of enjoying the sacraments or of understanding the adorable mysteries which a heart consecrated to G.o.d might take in, and that Maria was a saint who had borne with him with too much patience. Moved, partly by this thought, and infinitely more by the emotion caused by his sweetheart's unexpected favor, he replied with accents of tenderness:--

"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood....

Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without mistake, the mult.i.tude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think them!... I am all yours, body and soul...."

"Thus, thus I love you.... But you must not be religious for the sake of my love, for then it has no merit in it, but for the sake of G.o.d. The ties which are made in this world,--what are they worth in comparison with that existing eternally between the Creator and his creatures? If you love me much, love me in G.o.d and for G.o.d, as I love you. In any other way it is a sin to fix our attention and our love on any creature."

Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him with the tips of her fingers, said:--

"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the ma.s.s; I am going up to the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a case it would be better for you not to come in."

"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work."

"Give me your word that you won't."

"I give it."

"Well, then, adios, ... it won't be long[55] ... wait for me at the entrance...."

After she had gone several steps away, she turned around to say in a very subdued tone,--

"Be sure to do as I said, ... and be reverent, will you?"

Ricardo gave a sign of a.s.sent, while a happy smile brightened his face.

From that time forth the Marques de Penalta every morning escorted the eldest daughter of the Elorzas to ma.s.s, leaving her at the church door and joining her again when service was over. Maria evidently felt great pleasure in having his company, and as for Ricardo, it is not easy to exaggerate the joy which suddenly fell upon him through the change brought about in the behavior of his betrothed. Gradually her influence began to have such weight upon his spirit, that before long, as he himself had already suspected would be the case, his ideas began notably to modify, and not only his ideas but likewise his habits and manner of life, causing him to be more circ.u.mspect in nature, more careful in his speech, more gentle and more religious ... Anxious to please his betrothed, who did not cease to urge him with entreaties and advice, he began to give up the noisy amus.e.m.e.nts and even the company of the other officers of the gun factory, going home early, frequenting churches, and spending many afternoons with some of the clergymen; he became a member of several pious confraternities, among them that of Saint Vincent de Paul, visiting the poor in company with the _beatos_ of the town, and spending no little money in contributions for worship; finally, after many heartfelt prayers he made general confession to Fray Ignacio, Maria's confessor.

However strange it may seem, we must declare that Ricardo, far from feeling repugnance or discomfort in this new life, found deep, mysterious pleasures, which till then he had never enjoyed. The pomp and circ.u.mstance of the Catholic religion, to which he had hitherto paid little attention, began to fascinate him; the sweet seclusion of the church at eventide, when it is peopled with shadows and murmurs, filled him with a gentle perturbation, with a certain peculiar longing for a lofty secret something; the odors of the incense and wax were for him like a pleasant poison, which put him to sleep, carrying him away to glorious regions of immortal bliss; his frequent deeds of charity produced in him an agreeable aftertaste and a great sense of comfort, increasing his faith; the humiliation of the sacrament of penance, which at first had been so distasteful to him, came to be a fountain of delights; he himself did not know whence they proceeded or how they took possession of his soul. Perhaps some of the psychological novelists who know so much and take such delight in investigating the deepest recesses of the consciousness of other people might discover the origin of those joys in the close union which our young friend created in the depths of his soul between religion and his love for Maria, and might see in the pleasure which Ricardo felt in running counter to his ideas, and mortifying his self-love, a certain a.n.a.logy to what mystics and ascetics feel in the midst of their cruel torments,--the pleasure of sacrificing self for the beloved object. Perhaps they would set themselves minutely to investigate what part of that pleasure corresponded to pure devotion, and what part to the development of amorous sentiments and the movement of the feelings. Possibly, carried away by their love of a.n.a.lysis, and dragged from their moorings by the hurricane of impiety, which is nowadays apt to carry away with it this cla.s.s of novelists, they might go so far as to declare that there exists at the bottom of religious practices and the ceremonial of the Church something which instead of calming the voice of the feelings adds to it, and that the inclination of the s.e.xes, in the very heart of the religious life, within the temple itself, enjoying the soporific light reflected gently from the gilding of the altars, breathing the keen odors of the dust and the wax, and the narcotic perfume of the incense, listening to the moaning of the organ, and the vague murmur of the prayers of the faithful, acquires the flattering savor of forbidden fruit, and is more delicious and voluptuous than amid the splendor and elegance of the ball-room.

Possibly they would say this and add many other considerations to prove it, but I will not follow them on this path, which, without good reason, leads to the offending of timid consciences and the grievous confusing of the novelist with the philosopher. I limit myself gladly to setting forth facts without launching out into the philosophy of them, and I faithfully describe what I have seen and experienced, or have been told by trustworthy people.

One genuine fact, therefore, was that Ricardo enjoyed in his own way yielding to the counsels of his betrothed in reference to the practice of Christian virtue and pious deeds. The afternoon when he made general confession, he felt more deeply than ever the singular consolation and the lively delights to be enjoyed in the depths of humility. It was a clear, beautiful spring afternoon. Fray Ignacio, forewarned by Maria, was waiting for him in the sacristy of San Felipe, and received him with a certain familiar solemnity not free from condescension. He confessed in the sacristy itself, Fray Ignacio being seated in a wooden chair blackened and polished by use, while he knelt at his feet with the diffidence and emotion such as he used to feel as a boy when his mother led him by the hand to the same confessional. The shame of announcing his sins soon pa.s.sed away, giving place to a gentle tenderness full of unspeakable sweetness, which was so overpowering that he was constrained to tears. The s.p.a.cious room in which he found himself, its lofty ceiling, its dusty walls set with black shelves and gloomy paintings, gave a melancholy echo to the murmured words of his confession; the sunlight made its way in through the leaded panes of the two windows, making in the wide s.p.a.ces lines of floating, luminous dust. The priest threw one arm around his neck and brought his ear close to his lips, gradually probing with many leading questions the inmost nooks and corners of his conscience and the deepest secrets of his soul, sometimes severely chiding him, sometimes giving him sweet counsels, sometimes entertaining him with exemplary anecdotes which agreeably occupied for a few moments the intervals of the pious proceeding. He stopped to speak long of Ricardo's love and its advantages and of Maria's splendid character. Ricardo felt a lively pleasure in these words: he looked with admiration and reverence on that man who was the absolute master of his loved one's secrets, and he determined to put his soul into his hands, that he might guide it just as she had done. The priest continued with a final exhortation full of fire, wherein he eloquently united Maria's name with all the acts of virtue which he expected from him henceforth, so as to stir him to the highest pitch and kindle in his spirit sincere repentance and an irresistible desire to live piously and rejoice his betrothed. When they were done, and Fray Ignacio, a.s.suming a certain solemnity, drew back a little and let fall upon him a full and generous absolution, the lines of the floating luminous dust had vanished and the sacristy was half enveloped in shadows. On the following day, when he went to ma.s.s with Maria, instead of waiting under the choir, he went with her to the great altar and received in her presence and to her great joy the holy wafer.

"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said as they went out of the church.

The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,--

"Do you love me more now?"

"I don't care to answer you," replied the girl with a sweet expression of face. "After communion one ought not to speak of such things.... Let us wait till to-morrow."

They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved.

Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don Mariano's, or at church.

"You have converted me into a _beato!_" he said sometimes to Maria, as a sort of affectionate reproach.

"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?"