Part 3 (2/2)

Indeed, she would probably have been consigned to a convent, had not her portion been too small to furnish the donative usually bestowed by the friends of a novice upon any really aristocratic establishment. ”And pity would it have been,” thought Carlos, ”that so fair a flower should wither in a convent garden.”

He made the most of the limited opportunities of intercourse which the ceremonious manners of the time and country afforded, even to inmates of the same house. He would stand beside her chair, and watch the quick flush mount to her olive, delicately-rounded cheek, as he talked eloquently of the absent Juan. He was never tired of relating stories of Juan's prowess, Juan's generosity. In the last duel he fought, for instance, the ball had pa.s.sed through his cap and grazed his head. But he only smiled, and re-arranged his locks, remarking, while he did so, that with the addition of a gold chain and medal, the spoiled cap would be as good, or better than ever. Then he would dilate on his kindness to the vanquished; rejoicing in the effect produced, as a tribute as well to his own eloquence as to his brother's merit. The occupation was too fascinating not to be resorted to once and again, even had he not persuaded himself that he was fulfilling a sacred duty.

Moreover, he soon discovered that the bright dark eyes which were beginning to visit him nightly in his dreams, were pining all day for a sight of that gay world from which their owner was jealously and selfishly excluded. So he managed to procure for Dona Beatriz many a pleasure of the kind she most valued. He prevailed upon his aunt and cousins to bring her with them to places of public resort; and then he was always at hand, with the reverence of a loyal cavalier, and the freedom of a destined priest, to render her every quiet un.o.btrusive service in his power. At the theatre, at the dance, at the numerous Church ceremonies, on the promenade, Dona Beatriz was his especial charge.

Amidst such occupations, pleasant weeks and months glided by almost unnoticed by him. Never before had he been so happy. ”Alcala was well enough,” he thought; ”but Seville is a thousand times better. All my life heretofore seems to me only like a dream, now I am awake.”

Alas! he was not awake, but wrapped in a deep sleep, and cradling a bright delusive vision. As yet he was not even ”as those that dream, and know the while they dream.” His slumber was too profound even for this dim half-consciousness.

No one suspected, any more than he suspected himself, the enchantment that was stealing over him. But every one remarked his frank, genial manners, his cheerfulness, his good looks. Naturally, the name of Juan dropped gradually more and more out of his conversation; as at the same time the thought of Juan faded from his mind. His studies, too, were neglected; his attendance upon the lectures of Fray Constantino became little more than a formality; while ”receiving Orders” seemed a remote if not an uncertain contingency. In fact, he lived in the present, not caring to look either at the past or the future.

In the very midst of his intoxication, a slight incident affected him for a moment with such a chill as we feel when, on a warm spring day, the sun pa.s.ses suddenly behind a cloud.

His cousin, Dona Inez, had been married more than a year to a wealthy gentleman of Seville, Don Garcia Ramirez. Carlos, calling one morning at the lady's house with some unimportant message from Dona Beatriz, found her in great trouble on account of the sudden illness of her babe.

”Shall I go and fetch a physician?” he asked, knowing well that Spanish servants can never be depended upon to make haste, however great the emergency may be.

”You will do a great kindness, amigo mio,” said the anxious young mother.

”But which shall I summon?” asked Carlos. ”Our family physician, or Don Garcia's?”

”Don Garcia's, by all means,--Dr. Cristobal Losada. I would not give a green fig for any other in Seville. Do you know his dwelling?”

”Yes. But should he be absent or engaged?”

”I must have him. Him, and no other. Once before he saved my darling's life. And if my poor brother would but consult him, it might fare better with him. Go quickly, cousin, and fetch him, in Heaven's name.”

Carlos lost no time in complying; but on reaching the dwelling of the physician, found that though the hour was early he had already gone forth. After leaving a message, he went to visit a friend in the Triana suburb. He pa.s.sed close by the Cathedral, with its hundred pinnacles, and that wonder of beauty, the old Moorish Giralda, soaring far up above it into the clear southern sky. It occurred to him that a few Aves said within for the infant's recovery would be both a benefit to the child and a comfort to the mother. So he entered, and was making his way to a gaudy tinselled Virgin and Babe, when, happening to glance towards a different part of the building, his eyes rested on the physician, with whose person he was well acquainted, as he had often noticed him amongst Fray Constantino's hearers. Losada was now pacing up and down one of the side aisles, in company with a gentleman of very distinguished appearance.

As Carlos drew nearer, it occurred to him that he had never seen this personage in any place of public resort, and for this reason, as well as from certain slight indications in his dress of fas.h.i.+ons current in the north of Spain, he gathered that he was a stranger in Seville, who might be visiting the Cathedral from motives of curiosity. Before he came up the two men paused in their walk, and turning their backs to him, stood gazing thoughtfully at the hideous row of red and yellow Sanbenitos, or penitential garments, that hung above them.

”Surely,” thought Carlos, ”they might find better objects of attention than these ugly memorials of sin and shame, which bear witness that their late miserable wearers--Jews, Moors, blasphemers, or sorcerers,--have ended their dreary lives of penance, if not of penitence.”

The attention of the stranger seemed to be particularly attracted by one of them, the largest of all. Indeed, Carlos himself had been struck by its unusual size; and upon one occasion he had even had the curiosity to read the inscription, which he remembered because it contained Juan's favourite name. Rodrigo. It was this: ”Rodrigo Valer, a citizen of Lebrixa and Seville; an apostate and false apostle, who pretended to be sent from G.o.d.” And now, as he approached with light though hasty footsteps, he distinctly heard Dr. Cristobal Losada, still looking at the Sanbenito, say to his companion, ”Yes, senor; and also the Conde de Nuera, Don Juan Alvarez.”

Don Juan Alvarez! What possible tie could link his father's name with the hideous thing they were gazing at? And what could the physician know about him of whom his own children knew so little? Carlos stood amazed, and pale with sudden emotion.

And thus the physician saw him, happening to turn at that moment. Had he not exerted all his presence of mind (and he possessed a great deal), he would himself have started visibly. The unexpected appearance of the person of whom we speak is in itself disconcerting; but it deserves another name when we are saying that of him or his which, if overheard, might endanger life, or what is more precious still than life. Losada was equal to the occasion, however. The usual greetings having been exchanged, he asked quietly whether Senor Don Carlos had come in search of him, and hoped that he did not owe the honour to any indisposition in his wors.h.i.+p's n.o.ble family.

Carlos felt it rather a relief, under the circ.u.mstances, to have to say that his cousin's babe was alarmingly ill. ”You will do us a great favour,” he added, ”by coming immediately. Dona Inez is very anxious.”

The physician promised compliance; and turning to his companion, respectfully apologized for leaving him abruptly.

”A sick child's claim must not be postponed,” said the stranger in reply. ”Go, senor doctor, and G.o.d's blessing rest on your skill.”

Carlos was struck by the n.o.ble bearing and courteous manner of the stranger, who, in his turn, was interested by the young man's anxiety about a sick babe. But with only a pa.s.sing glance at the other, each went his different way, not dreaming that once again at least their paths were destined to cross.

The strange mention of his father's name that he had overheard filled the heart of Carlos with undefined uneasiness. He knew enough by that time to feel his childish belief in his father's stainless virtue a little shaken. What if a dreadful unexplained something, linking his fate with that of a convicted heretic, were yet to be learned? After all, the accursed arts of magic and sorcery were not so far removed from the alchemist's more legitimate labours, that a rash or presumptuous student might not very easily slide from one into the other. He had reason to believe that his father had played with alchemy, if he had not seriously devoted himself to its study. Nay, the thought had sometimes flashed unbidden across his mind that the ”El Dorado” found might after all have been no other than the philosopher's stone. For he who has attained the power of producing gold at will may surely be said, without any stretch of metaphor, to have discovered a golden country. But at this period of his life the personal feelings of Carlos were so keen and absorbing that almost everything, consciously or unconsciously, was referred to them. And thus it was that an intense wish sprang up in his heart, that his father's secret might have descended to _him_.

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