Part 41 (2/2)
I drew aside until he had bowed my friends down the stairway and out of sight. He then turned to me, with a grave smile, and, taking my arm, led me away from the _sala_ to his private cabinet, a small but elegantly furnished room in the far corner of the mansion. But I was not interested in the paintings by t.i.tian, Velasquez, and Murillo which decorated the rough-plastered walls, and to which he called my attention with excusable pride.
”Senor,” I said, ”these pictures are beautiful,--they show the skill of master artists. But my whole being thrills with the matchless beauty and grace of a living work of art,--the masterpiece of the Master of masters, of G.o.d Himself!”
”Juan!” he cried, ”forgive me! I know now how you love her. Yet it is impossible. If I dared give way to my personal regard for you, you should have her. Believe me, I speak only the truth. But my country--for the sake of its freedom, its welfare, I am resolved to give all--even her!”
”Even her!” I answered. ”Then give her to me! I will fight for your country,--I will pledge my life in the cause of freedom! What more can you ask? Your country shall be my country; your cause my cause!”
”No, Juan, it cannot be!” he replied, and his sigh proved that his regret was real. ”You would add strength to our cause, but not what may be gained elsewhere. There are men in New Spain who, if they joined the revolution, could singly bring over whole provinces.”
”You would give her to another!--as a bribe to win the support of another!--when you know she loves me?”
”G.o.d bear me witness, it is not for myself but for my country. What a small price to pay--the disappointment of two lovers--in turn for the freedom and happiness of millions!”
”It is not your heart you would break,” I retorted.
”Do you then believe I can look upon her grief and yours without sorrow?”
”Let another pay the price!”
”There is none other as precious--none other that can win him over. All turns upon her beauty and charm. He whose aid I am resolved to gain by the bestowal of her hand can be won only by the most lovely woman in New Spain. And he is one whose leaders.h.i.+p would at once bring us the support of all the land, from across the borders of the Viceroyalty to Santa Fe.”
I stood dumb, staring at him in deepening despair.
”Juan, can you not look at the matter through my eyes?” he urged. ”The time is ripe. There are rumors that the Corsican is preparing to clutch Old Spain out of the feeble grasp of King Ferdinand. It is well known that the revenues from our mines have already for a long time been flowing through the Spanish treasury into the coffers of France. Our people are fast losing faith in Old World rulers.h.i.+p. They hate and fear the French.”
”Then let them rebel and win freedom with their blood, as did my people.
A people who would buy liberty by the sale of a helpless girl are worthy only of utter slavery.”
He flushed a dull red beneath his swarthy skin, yet kept his temper well in hand.
”You do not understand, Juan. Listen. It is now only ten years since the people of the Viceroyalty rose and proclaimed the Viceroy, Barnardo Count of Galvez, King of Mexico. In his misguided loyalty, Barnardo crushed the insurrection with merciless vigor,--for which he was duly honored and then duly poisoned by his royal master. Had he been wise, he would to-day be ruling over a freed country of devoted subjects. But that revolution came to naught; the vast projects of your discredited statesman Aaron Burr have failed most miserably; and now we lovers of liberty here are left to do the best we can with our unaided strength.”
”And the purchasing power of divine and innocent beauty!” I cried.
”So be it!” he replied, with a hardness of determination which I realized all my anger and despair could not move a hair's-breadth. Yet as he went on, his voice quivered with unfeigned commiseration for my suffering. ”Juan!--Juan! If I could sell my soul instead, and thereby save her for you, I would do it. The thought of her anguish rends my very heart cords! Yet it cannot be. She alone can win over the second Galvez who shall free my country.”
There was nothing more to be said. Death alone can bend the course of a good and strong man turned fanatic. Without a word I left the room, half crazed with rage and black despair. He followed, murmuring words of sorrowful regret; but to me his heart-felt condolences seemed only the bitterest of mockeries.
As I descended the stairway, I looked back, not to return his grave bows, but in search of my lady. It was in vain. Dona Marguerite had taken care to spirit her away. Heavy-footed, I dragged myself out into the street and away from that hateful gateway.
Before I could reach the plaza, I heard a sudden rumble of wheels and thud of hoofs, and there swirled into the street a grand coach and six that all but ran me down. I flung myself clear of the trampling hoofs, but the forewheel of the huge gilded carriage grazed my leg as I pressed back against the nearest wall.
A few strides of the splendid horses whirled the coach upstreet to the gateway I had just left. There the driver pulled up with a flourish, and the footmen sprang down to stand at the heads of the horses and to open the coach door, from which stepped--Medina!
It flashed upon me that this was the man to whom my lady was to be bartered. I turned on my heel to rush back and challenge him. But from the manner in which he stood to one side, I perceived he had not come alone. A moment later Don Pedro appeared in the gateway and stepped to the side of the coach, bowing profoundly. A hand was reached out to him, and from the coach descended, not the young gallant whom I looked to see, but stern-faced, gray-haired Nimesio Salcedo.
Greatly puzzled, I turned again and walked slowly to our quarters, striving to discern an opening through the meshes of intrigue in which Alisanda and I had become entangled. What could be the meaning of this visit of the Governor-General to one who I knew had reason to detest and fear him? And if, as it seemed to me Don Pedro had intimated, he intended to win over the Viceroy Iturrigaray by the offer of Alisanda's hand, why had he not already taken her to the City of Mexico, or stopped there on his way from Vera Cruz?
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