Part 21 (1/2)
”Of him, and also of another very dear to both of us, of whom I have for some time been purposing to speak to thee. What if thou and I have been, like children, seeking for a star on earth while all the time it was s.h.i.+ning above us in G.o.d's glorious heaven?”
”Knowest thou not of old, little brother, that when thy parables begin I am left behind at once? I pray thee, let the stars alone, and speak the language of earth.”
”What was the task to which thou and I vowed ourselves in childhood, brother?”
Juan looked at him keenly through the dim light. ”I sometimes feared thou hadst forgotten,” he said.
”No danger of that. But I had a reason--I think a good and sufficient one--for not speaking to thee until well and fully a.s.sured of thy sympathy.”
”My sympathy? In aught that concerned the dream, the pa.s.sion of my life!--of both our young lives! Carlos, how couldst thou even doubt of this?”
”I had reason to doubt at first whether a gleam of light which has been shed upon our father's fate would be regarded by his son as a blessing or a curse.”
”Do not keep a man in suspense, brother. Speak at once, in Heaven's name.”
”I doubt no longer now. It will be to thee, Juan, as to me, a joy exceeding great to think that our venerated father read G.o.d's Word for himself, and knew his truth and honoured it, as we have learned to do.”
”Now, G.o.d be thanked!” cried Juan, pausing in his walk and clasping his hands together. ”This indeed is joyful news. But speak, brother; how do you know it? Are you certain, or is it only dream, hope, conjecture?”
Carlos told him in detail, first the hint dropped by Losada to De Seso; then the story of Dolores; lastly, what he had heard at San Isodro about Don Rodrigo de Valer. And as he proceeded with his narrative, he welded the scattered links into a connected chain of evidence.
Juan, all eagerness, could hardly wait till he came to the end. ”Why did you not speak to Losada?” he interrupted at last.
”Stay, brother, and hear me out; the best is to come. I have done so lately. But until a.s.sured how thou wouldst regard the matter, I cared not to ask questions, the answers to which might wound thy heart.”
”You are in no doubt now. What heard you from Senor Cristobal?”
”I heard that Dr. Egidius named the Conde de Nuera as one of those who befriended Don Rodrigo. And that he had been present when that brave and faithful teacher privately expounded the Epistle to the Romans.”
”There!” Juan exclaimed with a start. ”There is the origin of my second and favourite name, Rodrigo. Brother, brother, these are the best tidings I have heard for years.” And uncovering his head, he uttered fervent and solemn words of thanksgiving.
To which Carlos added a heartfelt ”Amen,” and resumed,--
”Then, brother, you think we are justified in taking this joy to our hearts?”
”Without doubt,” cried the sanguine Don Juan.
”And it follows that his crime--”
”Was what in our eyes const.i.tutes the truest glory, the profession of a pure faith,” said Juan with decision, leaping at once to the conclusion Carlos had reached by a far slower path.
”And those mystic words inscribed upon the window, the delight and wonder of our childhood--”
”Ah!” repeated Juan--
”El Dorado Yo he trovado.”
But what they have to do with the matter I see not yet.”