My Friend Prospero

  IV

  Annunziata's delirium had passed, but in spite of all their efforts topersuade her not to talk, talk she would.

  "This is the month of May, isn't it?" she asked, next morning.

  "Yes, dear one," said Maria Dolores, whose watch it was.

  "And that is the month of Mary. San Luca ought to hurry up and make mewell, so that I can keep flowers on the Lady Altar."

  "Then if you wish to get well quickly," said Maria Dolores, "you musttry not to talk,--nor even to think, if you can help it. You know thedoctor does not want you to talk."

  "All right. I won't talk. A going clock may be always wrong, but astopped clock is right twice a day. So stop your tongue, and avoidfolly. My uncle told me that. He never talks."

  "And now shall you and I imitate his example?" proposed Maria Dolores.Her lips, compressed, were plainly the gaolers of a laugh.

  "Yes," said Annunziata. "But I can't help thinking of those poorflowers. All May flowers are born to be put on the Lady Altar. Thosepoor flowers are missing what they were born for. They must be verysad."

  "This afternoon, every afternoon," Maria Dolores promised, "I will putflowers on the Lady Altar. Now see if you can't shut your eyes, and restfor a little while."

  "I once found a toad on the Lady Altar. What do you think he was therefor?" asked Annunziata.

  "I can't think, I'm sure," said Maria Dolores.

  "Well, when I first saw him I was angry, and I was going to get a broomand sweep him away. But then I thought it must be very hard to be atoad, and that you can't help being a toad if you are born one, and Ithought that perhaps that toad was there praying that he might bechanged from a toad to something else. So I didn't sweep him away. Haveyou ever heard of the little Mass of Corruption that lay in a garden?"

  "No," said Maria Dolores.

  "Well," said Annunziata, "once upon a time a little Mass of Corruptionlay in a garden. But it did not know it was a Mass of Corruption, and itdid not wish to be a Mass of Corruption, and it never did any harm orwished any harm to any one, but just lay there all day long, and thoughthow beautiful the sky was, and how good and warm the sun, and how sweetthe flowers were and the bird-songs, and thanked God with all its heartfor having given it such a lovely place to lie in. Yet all the while,you know, it couldn't help being what it was, a little Mass ofCorruption. And at the close of the day some people who were walking inthe garden saw it, and cried out, 'Oh, what a horrible little Mass ofCorruption!' and they called the gardener, and had it buried in theearth. But the little Mass of Corruption, when it heard that it _was_ alittle Mass of Corruption, felt very, very sad, and it made asupplication to Our Lady. 'I do not wish to be a Mass of Corruption,' itsaid. 'Queen of Heaven, pray for me, that I may be purified, and madeclean, and not be a Mass of Corruption any longer, and that I may thengo back to the garden, out of this dark earth.' So Our Lady prayed forit, and it was cleansed with water and purified, and--what do you thinkthe Little Mass of Corruption became? It became a rose--a red rose inthat very garden, just where they had buried it. From which we see--ButI don't quite remember what we see from it," she broke off the pain ofbaffled effort on her brow. "My uncle could tell you that."

  Afterwards, for a few minutes, she was silent, lying quite still, withher eyes on the ceiling.

  "Why do sunny lands produce dark people, and dark lands light people?"she asked all at once.

  "Ah, don't begin to talk again, dear," Maria Dolores pleaded. "Thedoctor will he coming soon now, and he will be angry if he finds that Ihave let you talk."

  "Oh, I will tell him that it isn't your fault," said Annunziata. "I willtell him that you didn't let me, but that I talked because it is so hardto lie here and think, think, think, and not be allowed to say what youare thinking. Prospero asked me that question about sunny lands a longtime ago. I've been thinking and thinking, but I can't think it out.Have you a great deal of money? Are you very rich?"

  "Darling, won't you please not talk any more?" Maria Dolores imploredher.

  "I'll stop pretty soon," said Annunziata. "I think you are very rich. Ithink, in spite of his saying her name is not Maria Dolores, that youare the dark woman whom Prospero is to marry. He is to marry a darkwoman who will be very rich. But then he will also he very rich himself.Is Austria a sunny land? England must be a dark land, for Prospero islight. Let me see your left hand, please, and I will tell you whetheryou are to marry a light man.

  "Hush!" said Maria Dolores, trying not to laugh. "That shall be someother time."

  "Wouldn't you like to marry Prospero? I would," said Annunziata.

  "I think I hear the wheels of the doctor's gig," said Maria Dolores."Now we shall both be scolded."

  "But of course, if you do marry him, I can't," Annunziata pursued,undaunted by this menace. "A man isn't allowed to have twowives,--unless he is a king. He may have two sisters or two daughters,but not two wives or two mothers. There was once a king named Salomonewho had a thousand wives, but even he had only one mother, I think. Ihope you will live at Sant' Alessina after your marriage. Will you?"

  Maria Dolores bit her lip and vouchsafed no answer; and again for aminute or two Annunziata lay silent. But presently, "Have you ever wakedup in the middle of the night, and felt terribly frightened?" she asked.

  "Yes, dear, sometimes. I suppose every one has," said Maria Dolores.

  "Well, do you know why people feel so frightened when they wake likethat?" pursued the child.

  "No," said Maria Dolores.

  "I do," said Annunziata. "The middle of the night is the Devil's Noon.Nobody is awake in the middle of the night except wicked people, likethieves or roysterers, or people who are suffering. All people who aregood, and who are well and happy, are sound asleep. So it is the timethe Devil likes best, and he and all his evil spirits come to the earthto enjoy the great pleasure of seeing people wicked or suffering. Andthat is why we feel so frightened when we wake. The air all round us isfull of evil spirits, though we can't see them, and they are watchingus, to run and tell the Devil if we do anything wicked or suffer anypain. But it is foolish of us to feel frightened, because our GuardianAngels are always there too, and they are a hundred times stronger thanthe evil spirits. Angels, you know, are very big, very much bigger thanmen. Some of them are as tall as mountains, but even the quite smallones are as tall as trees."

  "This time I really do hear wheels," said Maria Dolores, with an accentof thanksgiving.

  And she rose to meet the doctor.