CHAPTER XVI.
It was now midnight. Audience after audience, and council after council,in the great hall of the palace, had shown how rapidly were approachingto a climax the involved events and schemes, which had for their objectthe overthrow of the Indian empire, as well as some that looked to anend equally dark, though of less public import. The Captain-General haddespatched several audiences entirely of a private nature, and hoped tobe relieved of his toil, while discharging from his presence anindividual already known to the reader as Gaspar of the Red Beard.Whatever might have been the subject of the conference, its conclusionwas unsatisfactory to both parties; for Olea departed with a visage bothsullen and vindictive, while Cortes strode to and fro, evidentlyaffected by vexation and anger.
As Olea, who had long since got rid of the 'infidel gait,' which haddrawn a remark from Cortes, and which, doubtless assumed to assist hisdisguise, only adhered to him through habit,--as he vanished through thegreat door, another character made his appearance, entering by one ofthose doors which opened from the garden. It was the senor Camarga; who,from the friar's habit, again flung over his armour, seemed to have beenengaged, a second time, in his maskings.
"What news, senor? what news hast thou?" demanded Cortes, in a lowvoice, making a sign to the visitor to imitate his cautiousness. "Hastthou gathered aught of my dog Villafana? By my conscience, we are at afault; the fox is scared into virtue: Najara hath seen no ill in him,Guzman avers he hath detected no sign of guilt, and not a spy is thereof all, who does not swear that his fright in the matter of Olin, (thatknave, too, cajoled me!) has reduced him into submission and honesty.Hast thou found nothing?"
"Nothing to be thought of, perhaps," replied Camarga. "Villafana iseither returned to his allegiance, as your excellency hints, or he istoo deep in distrust, to confer with me any further. He swears, if onecould believe him, that he has thought better of his schemes, and is nowresolved that they were foolish and unjust,--and therefore that he hasended them."
"He lies, the rogue!" said Cortes; "you have pursued him tooclosely.--It was an ill thought to league Najara with him.--These thingshave made him suspicious, not penitent. I have taken the hunchback away,restored Villafana to his prisonward, and, in short, taken all means toseduce him into security. You will see the cloven foot again, and thatright shortly."
"Perhaps what I have to say will make your excellency believe it isdisplayed already. He has admitted one to speak with the prisoner--"
"Hah!" cried Cortes,--"a file of spearsmen!--But no; it matters not.There is no fear of escape; and this were too aimless an explosion. Knowyou the person he has admitted?"
"I do not," said Camarga; "but from the glance of the garment, methought'twas some such godly brother as myself. And yet 'twas a taller man thanOlmedo."
"By my conscience," said Cortes, quickly, "methinks I can divine themystery: but of that anon. Hark thee, friend Camarga, dost thou stillburn for this wretched man's life? I tell thee, there is muchintercession made for him. It was but a moment since that theBarba-Roxa,--a good soldier, i'faith,--made certain fierce moans forhim, mingled with divers mutinous reproaches. I vow to heaven, I couldhave struck the knave dead, but that he saved my life at Xochimilco."
"I have heard that Juan Lerma did the same thing, on the plains ofTlascala," replied Camarga, dryly.
"Thou art deceived!" exclaimed Don Hernan, with a sudden shudder. "Theattempt, I grant you, the attempt be made; but I needed no help. Yet doI remember the act; and, by heaven, I would I might forgive him,--Iwould I might! I would I might! for the thought of judging him to death,is like a wolf in my bosom. Once I loved him as my son,--yes, as my veryson," he repeated, with extraordinary agitation; "and when he playedwith my little children, I swear, I looked upon him but as their elderbrother. What will men say of the act, since they cannot know thecause?"
Apparently Camarga looked upon this burst of relenting feeling, (forsuch it really was,) with too much dissatisfaction and alarm, to noticethe allusion to a cause differing from any with which he was acquainted.He exclaimed, hastily, and with a darkening visage,
"If open mutiny and resistance be not excuse enough, have I not spokenan argument that should steel thy heart for ever? Shall I utter itagain? I swear to thee then, that this miserable creature,Magdalena,--this wretch that even thou wouldst have made the slave ofthy pleasures, and thereby added upon thy soul a sin never to beforgiven,--no, never!--is a true NUN,--forsworn, lost, condemned! Wiltthou refuse to punish the author of a horrible impiety? Would that I hadstrangled her, when an infant, though with mine own hand!--Thou talkestof a wolf in thy bosom; couldst thou feel one fang of the agony, thatthis act of horror has planted in mine, thou wouldst deem thyself happy.Let the wretch die: ask not for further cause; think not of any."
"The cause is, indeed, enough," said Cortes, crossing himself withdread, "to ensure not death only, but a death at the stake of fire; andI am not one to think the punishment should be made easy. I could tellthee a story of the end of broken vows, and the vengeance of God uponthe robber of convents; but it needs not.--Sleep in thy grave, poorwretch! and be forgotten." He muttered a few words to himself, and thenbanishing, with an effort, what seemed a mournful recollection, heresumed,--"Tell me but one thing, Camarga, and I am satisfied. The causeis enough, (though this is a crime to be judged by ecclesiastics,) toensure the young man's fate; but it is _not_ enough to explain therancour of thy hatred. Speak me the truth--Is this unhappy creaturechild of thine?"
"Think so, if thou wilt," said Camarga, with a lip ashy and quivering,"but ask not, ask not now. Give the young man to the block, and committhe girl into my hands, with the means of leaving this land; then, ifthou hast the courage to listen, thou shalt hear a story that willfreeze thy blood.--Is he not guilty of this thing?"
"Is he not guilty of more?" muttered the Captain-General. "It is enough;thou hast steeled my heart. I leave him in the hands of the Alcaldes andDe Olid, who have no such faintness of heart as confounds mine. Farethee well, senor: I know thee better, and I like thee well. Turn notthine eye from Villafana."
Thus, mingling the suggestions of a native policy with passions not theless constitutional, Cortes dismissed his disguised visitant. Thecurtain of the great door had scarce concealed the retreating Camarga,before he heard a footstep behind; and looking round, he beheld thefigure of La Monjonaza steal in from the garden, and cross theapartment.
"What sayst thou _now_, Magdalena?" he cried, striding up to her, andviewing with interest a countenance sternly composed, yet bearing thetraces of recent and deep passions. "Thou shouldst have told me ofthis.--Yet what sayst thou now?"
"Nothing," replied the maiden, calmly, but with tones deeper thanusual,--"Nothing.--Do thy work."
With these brief and mystic expressions, she passed among the secretchambers; and the Captain-General, stalking into the garden, until thechill breezes from the lake had cooled his feverish temples, betookhimself, at last, to his couch, to subdue, in slumber, imaginaryempires, and contend with visionary foes.