Part 31 (1/2)

She gasped again. Her hand went to the door.

”But I am innocent.”

”No lepero is innocent.”

”True, senorita, I am guilty of many thefts-food and blankets-and my begging techniques may be questionable, but I've never killed anyone.”

”Then why do they say you killed someone?”

”It is a Spaniard who killed them both, and it is his word against my own.”

”You can tell the authorities-”

”Can I?”

Even at her innocent age she knew the answer to that one.

”They say I killed Fray Antonio-”

”Holy Maria! A priest!” She crossed herself.

”But he's the only father I've ever known. He raised me when I was abandoned and taught me to read, write, and think. I wouldn't hurt him; I loved him.”

Voices and footsteps silenced my words.

”My life is in your hands.”

I slipped my head back behind the curtain.

Trunks thumped on top of the coach, and it rocked as pa.s.sengers climbed aboard. From the shoes and voices I was able to identify two women and a boy. From the boy's shoes, pants legs, and the sound of his voice I took him to be about twelve or thirteen and realized he was the boy who tried to hit me. Of the two women, one was quite a bit older.

The girl I had spoken to was addressed as Elena. The voice of the older woman was commanding, an old matron.

The boy started to stow a bundle under the seat where I was hiding, and I heard the girl stop him. ”No, Luis, I filled the s.p.a.ce already. Put it under the other one.”

Thank G.o.d the boy obeyed.

Luis sat next to Elena and the two older women took the seat I was hidden under. Once the travelers were settled in, the coach started up the cobblestone streets. As the coach rumbled along, the older woman began questioning Elena about remarks the girl had made earlier. The comments had angered the old woman.

I soon realized that Elena was unrelated to the other pa.s.sengers. The women were Luis's mother and his grandmother. I could not pick up the older woman's name.

As was the custom among genteel Spanish families, despite their age, a marriage between Elena and Luis was already arranged. The union was deemed propitious, but it didn't seem that way to me. Among other things everything Elena said irritated the old woman.

”You made a statement at dinner last night that disturbed Dona Juanita and me,” the old matron said. ”You actually said that when you were old enough, you would disguise yourself as a man, enter the university, and get a degree.”

Cho! What a statement for a young girl to make-for any woman to make. Women were not allowed at universities. Even women of good families were frequently illiterate.

”Men are not the only ones with minds,” Elena said. ”Women should also study the world around them.”

”A woman's sole vocation is her husband, her children, and the management of her household,” the old matron said sternly. ”An education would put false ideas in her head and teach her nothing she can use. I, for one, am proud that we have never had our minds weakened and polluted with book learning.”