CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
RUDE GUESTS.
Let us now recount the events which took place at the hacienda LasPalmas from the day on which Captain Tres-Villas was compelled to leaveDon Mariano and his two daughters at the mercy of the ferocious robbersArroyo and Bocardo.
The two guerilleros had sought refuge there, with the remnant of theirband--most of which had been already destroyed by Tres-Villas andCaldelas. From the moment of first entering his house, they hadinsisted upon a footing of perfect equality between themselves and theirold master. Even Gertrudis and Marianita were not exempted from thiscompulsory social levelling. The brigands ate at the same table withDon Mariano and his daughters--were waited upon by the servants of thehacienda--and slept in the very best beds the house afforded.
All the while Bocardo was observed to cast covetous glances on thesilver plate--which, as is customary in the houses of Mexican _ricos_,was massive and abundant.
In Don Mariano's presence he was in the habit of frequently makingallusion to the richness of the Royalists; and behind his back he hadseveral times endeavoured to persuade Arroyo that one who was theproprietor of such wealth, as was enjoyed by the haciendado, could notbe otherwise than an enemy to the insurgent cause, and, at the bottom ofhis heart, a friend to the oppressors of the country.
"Look at us, poor insurgents!" he would say, "often reduced--especiallywhen absent from this hospitable mansion--to use our fingers for forks,and our _tortillas_ for spoons!"
And the wind-up of his argument always was, that they "ought to treat asa Royalist a master who dined every day upon silver plates--that DonMariano should be reduced to the same condition as other patrioticinsurgents, and use his fingers for forks, while his plates should beconverted into piastres."
Up to a certain period Arroyo rejected these proposals of his comrade.Not that he had any more respect for the property of Don Mariano thanhis associate had; but rather that he was not yet sufficiently hardenedto reckless outrage, as to perpetrate such an audacious robbery on onewho was publicly known to be a friend to the insurgent cause. We say,up to a certain time Arroyo preserved these egotistical scruples; butthat time terminated on the day and hour when, in the presence of hisold master, and the whole household of Las Palmas, he was forced toendure the terrible insults inflicted upon him by the dragoon captain.From that moment he transferred a portion of his vengeful hatred for DonRafael to the haciendado and his daughters; and it is possible that onhis leaving Las Palmas the night after--which the dangerous proximity ofDel Valle influenced him to do--he would have left bloody traces behindhim, but for the interference of his associate Bocardo.
The latter, in his turn, had counselled moderation. More covetous ofgold, and less thirsty of blood than Arroyo, the astute brigand hadrepresented, that "there could be no great blame attached to them forusing the silver of Don Mariano to serve the good cause of theinsurrection; that the more needy of the insurgents might justly demandaid from their richer brethren, but not their lives or their blood."
Arroyo no longer combated the proposals of his _confrere_. To him theynow appeared moderate; and the result was, that the two _forbans_collected all of Don Mariano's silver they could lay their hands upon,with such other valuables as were portable--and, having made adistribution among their followers, decamped that night from Las Palmas,taking good care in their _Haegira_ to give the hacienda of Del Valle awide berth.
With regard to Don Mariano and his daughters, they were only too happythat nothing worse than robbery had been attempted by the brigands.They had dreaded outrage as well as spoliation; and they were rejoicedat being left with their lives and honour uninjured.
Made aware, by this episode, of the danger of living any longer in ahouse isolated as Las Palmas--which might be at the mercy any moment ofeither royalists or insurgents--Don Mariano bethought him of retiring toOajaca. He would be safer there--even though the town was thoroughlydevoted to the cause of the king; for, as yet, his political opinionshad not been declared sufficiently to compromise him. For some days,however, circumstances of one kind or another arose to hinder him fromputting this project into execution.
The hacienda of San Carlos, inhabited by the man who was about to becomehis son-in-law--Don Fernando de Lacarra--was only a few leagues distantfrom that of Las Palmas; and Marianita did not like the idea of leavingthe neighbourhood. Without stating the true one, she urged a thousandobjections to this departure. Gertrudis was also against it. Thesouvenirs which Las Palmas called up were at once sweet and sad; and theinfluence which sorrow has over love is well-known--especially withinthe heart of woman.
In the hacienda Las Palmas sad memories were not wanting to Gertrudis.How often, at sunset, did she sit in the window of her chamber, with hereyes bent in dreamy melancholy over the distant plain--deserted as onthat evening when Don Rafael hastened to arrive, risking life that hemight see her but an hour sooner!
When Don Rafael, in the first burst of his grief and vengeance, indulgedin that wild pleasure which is often felt in breaking the heart ofanother, while one's own is equally crushed--when he galloped off alongthe road to Oajaca, after burying the _gage d'amour_ in the tomb of hisfather--thus renouncing his love without telling of it--then, and forsome time after, the young girl waited only with vivid impatience. Thepique she had at first felt was soon effaced by anxiety for his safety;but this at length gave place to agony more painful than that ofsuspense--the agony of suspicion.
We have already related, by what insensible and gradual transitions thefamily of Don Mariano de Silva had become confirmed in the belief, thatDon Rafael had proved traitor to his mistress as to his country.
Nevertheless, at that moment when he presented himself, to demand thesurrendering of the brigands, the sound of his voice falling upon theears of Gertrudis had come very near vanquishing her wounded pride.That manly voice--whether when exchanging a few words with her father,or hurling defiance at the ferocious Arroyo--had caused her heart totremble in every fibre. She required at that moment to summon up allthe resentment of love disdained, as well as all the natural modesty ofwoman, to hinder her from showing herself to Don Rafael, and cryingout--
"Oh, Rafael! I can more easily bear the dagger of Arroyo, than yourdesertion of me!"
"Alas! what have you done, _mio padre_?" cried she, addressing herselfto her father, as soon as Don Rafael had gone; "you have wounded hispride by your irritating words, at the very moment when, out of regardfor us, he has renounced the vengeance which he had sworn on the graveof his father! It may be that the words of oblivion and reconciliationwere upon his lips; and you have hindered him from speaking them now andfor ever. Ah! _mio padre_! you have ruined the last hope of your poorchild!"
The haciendado could make no reply to speeches that caused his own heartto bleed. He deeply regretted the allusions he had made, towards anenemy to whose generosity he was now indebted for the lives both ofhimself and children.