Volume Ii Part 27 (2/2)
”My! my!”
”Eh, well?” exclaimed the uncle with an air of triumph. ”Can I or can I not free the world of a villain?”
”I know you can; you are stronger than I. But that is not the question.
The thing is to see what is to be done; if it would be right for you or for me. Don't you see, uncle, that the disgrace of being a deceived husband rests solely upon me, and it would be made much, inconceivably, worse, if you fought the duel and not I? I know that this disgrace must be wiped out with blood, but it must be blood shed by my hand.”
Don Melchor did not wish to concur in this opinion; he argued, he scolded, and he grew angry. Nevertheless, it was evident that this density was a.s.sumed. Gonzalo's arguments began to take effect upon his mind, and filled his soul with bitterness. At last he beat a retreat, only asking for the duel to be postponed, for him to travel for a time, and if on his return he still wished to fight he should do so.
The discussion was still going on when Don Rosendo called outside the door to ask them if they would have luncheon there or come down to the dining-room.
Gonzalo chose the latter course, as he was anxious to show no coldness toward his father-in-law and sister-in-law.
The luncheon was melancholy.
In spite of the efforts made by all, Gonzalo included, to seem unconcerned, a black cloud hung over the party and overshadowed their faces. After taking coffee, and sitting quiet a little while, Gonzalo said:
”Uncle, you left your bed to come here. You can not feel well. Shall a room be got ready for you? I believe you ought to go to bed.” Then Don Melchor, seeing that his nephew wanted to be alone, said:
”No; I am going back to Sarrio. Let them put to.”
He then took leave of Belinchon and Cecilia, and Gonzalo walked with him as far as the park gate. They were both silent and gloomy; and the old man was extremely pale. Before getting into the carriage, he gave his nephew a long and affectionate embrace, and in a broken voice he said in his ear:
”Strike him between air and water, my boy.”
When they parted, his face was bathed in tears, and, getting into the carriage, he hid himself in a corner unable to say good-by.
Gonzalo looked after the vehicle and stood for some time motionless, holding by an iron bar of the gate.
Pablito returned from the town early in the evening. After dinner, he found an opportunity to say quickly to his brother-in-law:
”To-morrow at eight at Soldevilla's place. Pistols. Pena and Don Rudesindo will go by here at six. Be ready.”
Gonzalo slept that night better than the previous one. The fierce satisfaction of the certainty of meeting the duke the following morning calmed his nerves.
At five in the morning he awoke active and fresh with no recollection of dreams. He dressed himself and sallied forth, with as little noise as possible, on tiptoe as dawn was breaking.
”Are you going shooting, sir?” asked a servant whom he met.
”No, I am going to see the miller, to have the ca.n.a.l kept low, as I want to fish this evening.”
He pa.s.sed on to the road, and went in the direction of Nieva, waiting for the carriage with his seconds to catch him up, which it did in about half an hour. Pena and Don Rudesindo were much excited. When the young man entered the carriage they shook hands with great warmth and acquainted him with the conditions of the duel--they were to have twenty paces between them, and to advance and retreat as they pleased. This affair was by far the most serious one they had taken part in.
Gonzalo listened quietly; and he merely mentioned that he would have preferred swords, as he would have liked to have been nearer to his enemy. He did not seem upset, for the fact was, the excitement of meeting his foe face to face was an agreeable change from the torment of the preceding days, when the picture of his wife, in her night-dress, cowering in a corner, never left his mind's eye.
Besides, Gonzalo, like all those of an excessively vigorous temperament, was born for dangers; he reveled in them as if he were certain that the life coursing through his veins was inexhaustible. They did not reach the Soldevilla estate before half-past eight. The duke and his seconds had been waiting for some time. The former was not visible, being within the house. The marquis and Golarza escorted Pena and Don Rudesindo indoors, while Gonzalo took a turn in the garden. The Soldevilla place consisted of an old house half in ruins, with scanty, very old furniture, covered with dust; a rather large garden, more cared for than the house, and behind the garden an old orchard. The place was surrounded by meadows and lands, also belonging to the marquis.
The seconds discussed in the house whether the pistols brought by Pena, or those of the duke, should be used, and they decided upon those of the latter. Then the conditions of the duel were written out with a very bad pen of the majordomo's, for the marquis only wrote about one letter a year there. The pistols were loaded, and they sallied forth to seek a convenient spot for the combat.
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