CHAPTER VIII
IN ALL HASTE
A little later the scene had changed. Don Cayetano, finding rest fromhis sublime labors in a gentle slumber that had overcome him afterdinner, reclined comfortably in an arm-chair in the dining-room.Rosarito, seated at one of the windows that opened into the garden,glanced at her cousin, saying to him with the mute eloquence of hereyes:
"Cousin, sit down here beside me and tell me every thing you have to sayto me."
Her cousin, mathematician though he was, understood.
"My dear cousin," said Pepe, "how you must have been bored thisafternoon by our disputes! Heaven knows that for my own pleasure I wouldnot have played the pedant as I did; the canon was to blame for it. Doyou know that that priest appears to me to be a singular character?"
"He is an excellent person!" responded Rosarito, showing the delight shefelt at being able to give her cousin all the data and the informationthat he might require.
"Oh, yes! An excellent person. That is very evident!"
"When you know him a little better, you will see that."
"That he is beyond all price! But it is enough for him to be your friendand your mamma's to be my friend also," declared the young man. "Anddoes he come here often?"
"Every day. He spends a great deal of his time with us," respondedRosarito ingenuously. "How good and kind he is! And how fond he is ofme!"
"Come! I begin to like this gentleman."
"He comes in the evening, besides, to play tresillo," continued theyoung girl; "for every night some friends meet here--the judge of thelower court, the attorney-general, the dean, the bishop's secretary, thealcalde, the collector of taxes, Don Inocencio's nephew----"
"Ah! Jacintito, the lawyer."
"Yes; he is a simple-hearted boy, as good as gold. His uncle adores him.Since he returned from the university with his doctor's tassel--for heis a doctor in two sciences, and he took honors besides--what do youthink of that?--well, as I was saying, since his return, he has comehere very often with his uncle. Mamma too is very fond of him. He is avery sensible boy. He goes home early with his uncle; he never goes atnight to the Casino, nor plays nor squanders money, and he is employedin the office of Don Lorenzo Ruiz, who is the best lawyer in Orbajosa.They say Jacinto will be a great lawyer, too."
"His uncle did not exaggerate when he praised him, then," said Pepe. "Iam very sorry that I talked all that nonsense I did about lawyers. I wasvery perverse, was I not, my dear cousin?"
"Not at all; for my part, I think you were quite right."
"But, really, was I not a little--"
"Not in the least, not in the least!"
"What a weight you have taken off my mind! The truth is that I foundmyself constantly, and without knowing why, in distressing opposition tothat venerable priest. I am very sorry for it."
"What I think," said Rosarito, looking at him with eyes full ofaffection, "is that you will not find yourself at home among us."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't know whether I can make myself quite clear, cousin. I mean thatit will not be easy for you to accustom yourself to the society and theideas of the people of Orbajosa. I imagine so--it is a supposition."
"Oh, no! I think you are mistaken."
"You come from a different place, from another world, where the peopleare very clever, and very learned, and have refined manners, and a wittyway of talking, and an air--perhaps I am not making myself clear. I meanthat you are accustomed to live among people of refinement; you knowa great deal. Here there is not what you need; here the people are notlearned or very polished. Every thing is plain, Pepe. I imagine you willbe bored, terribly bored, and that in the end you will have to go away."
The expression of sadness which was natural in Rosarito's countenancehere became so profound that Pepe Rey was deeply moved.
"You are mistaken, my dear cousin. I did not come here with the ideasyou fancy, nor is there between my character and my opinions and thecharacter and opinions of the people here the want of harmony youimagine. But let us suppose for a moment that there were."
"Let us suppose it."
"In that case I have the firm conviction that between you and me,between us two, dear Rosarito, perfect harmony would still exist.On this point I cannot be mistaken. My heart tells me that I am notmistaken."
Rosarito blushed deeply, but making an effort to conceal herembarrassment under smiles and fugitive glances, she said:
"Come, now, no pretences. But if you mean that I shall always approve ofwhat you say, you are right."
"Rosario," exclaimed the young man, "the moment I saw you my soul wasfilled with gladness; I felt at the same time a regret that I had notcome before to Orbajosa."
"Now, that I am not going to believe," she said, affecting gayetyto conceal her emotion. "So soon? Don't begin to make protestationsalready. See, Pepe, I am only a country girl, I can talk only aboutcommon things; I don't know French; I don't dress with elegance; all Iknow is how to play the piano; I----"
"Oh, Rosario!" cried the young man, with ardor; "I believed you to beperfect before; now I am sure you are so."
Her mother at this moment entered the room. Rosarito, who did notknow what to say in answer to her cousin's last words, was conscious,however, of the necessity of saying something, and, looking at hermother, she cried:
"Ah! I forgot to give the parrot his dinner."
"Don't mind that now. But why do you stay in here? Take your cousin fora walk in the garden."
Dona Perfecta smiled with maternal kindness at her nephew, as shepointed toward the leafy avenue which was visible through the glassdoor.
"Let us go there," said Pepe, rising.
Rosarito darted, like a bird released from its cage, toward the glassdoor.
"Pepe, who knows so much and who must understand all about trees," saidDona Perfecta, "will teach you how to graft. Let us see what he thinksof those young pear-trees that they are going to transplant."
"Come, come!" called Rosarito to her cousin impatiently from the garden.
Both disappeared among the foliage. Dona Perfecta watched them untilthey were out of sight and then busied herself with the parrot. As shechanged its food she said to herself with a contemplative air:
"How different he is! He has not even given a caress to the poor bird."
Then, thinking it possible that she had been overheard by herbrother-in-law, she said aloud:
"Cayetano, what do you think of my nephew? Cayetano!"
A low grunt gave evidence that the antiquary was returning to theconsciousness of this miserable world.
"Cayetano!"
"Just so, just so!" murmured the scientist in a sleepy voice. "Thatyoung gentleman will maintain, as every one does, that the statuesof Mundogrande belong to the first Phoenician immigration. But I willconvince him--"
"But, Cayetano!"
"But, Perfecta! There! Now you will insist upon it again that I havebeen asleep."
"No, indeed; how could I insist upon any thing so absurd! But youhaven't told me what you think about that young man."
Don Cayetano placed the palm of his hand before his mouth to conceal ayawn; then he and Dona Perfecta entered upon a long conversation. Thosewho have transmitted to us the necessary data for a compilation ofthis history omit this dialogue, no doubt because it was entirelyconfidential. As for what the engineer and Rosarito said in the gardenthat afternoon, it is evident that it was not worthy of mention.
On the afternoon of the following day, however, events took place which,being of the gravest importance, ought not to be passed over in silence.Late in the afternoon the two cousins found themselves alone, afterrambling through different parts of the garden in friendly companionshipand having eyes and ears only for each other.
"Pepe," Rosario was saying, "all that you have been telling me is purefancy, one of those stories that you clever men know so well how to puttogether. You think that because I am a country girl I believe everything I am told."
"If you understood me as well as I think I understand you, you wouldknow that I never say any thing I do not mean. But let us have donewith foolish subtleties and lovers' sophistries, that lead only tomisunderstandings. I will speak to you only in the language of truth.Are you by chance a young lady whose acquaintance I have made on thepromenade or at a party, and with whom I propose to spend a pleasanthour or two? No, you are my cousin. You are something more. Rosario,let us at once put things on their proper footing. Let us dropcircumlocutions. I have come here to marry you."
Rosario felt her face burning, and her heart was beating violently.
"See, my dear cousin," continued the young man. "I swear to you thatif you had not pleased me I should be already far away from this place.Although politeness and delicacy would have obliged me to make an effortto conceal my disappointment, I should have found it hard to do so. Thatis my character."
"Cousin, you have only just arrived," said Rosarito laconically, tryingto laugh.
"I have only just arrived, and I already know all that I wanted to know;I know that I love you; that you are the woman whom my heart has longbeen announcing to me, saying to me night and day, 'Now she is coming,now she is near; now you are burning.'"
These words served Rosario as an excuse for breaking into the laughthat had been dimpling her lips. Her soul swelled with happiness; shebreathed an atmosphere of joy.
"You persist in depreciating yourself," continued Pepe, "but for me youpossess every perfection. You have the admirable quality of radiatingon all around you the divine light of your soul. The moment one sees youone feels instinctively the nobility of your mind and the purity ofyour heart. To see you is to see a celestial being who, through theforgetfulness of Heaven, remains upon the earth; you are an angel, and Iadore you."
When he had said this it seemed as if he had fulfilled an importantmission. Rosarito, overcome by the violence of her emotion, felt herscant strength suddenly fail her; and, half-fainting, she sank on astone that in those pleasant solitudes served as a seat. Pepe bent overher. Her eyes were closed, her forehead rested on the palm of her hand.A few moments later the daughter of Dona Perfecta Polentinos gave hercousin, amid happy tears, a tender glance followed by these words:
"I loved you before I had ever seen you."
Placing her hands in those of the young man she rose to her feet, andtheir forms disappeared among the leafy branches of an oleander walk.Night was falling and soft shadows enveloped the lower end of thegarden, while the last rays of the setting sun crowned the tree-topswith fleeting splendors. The noisy republic of the birds kept up adeafening clamor in the upper branches. It was the hour in which, afterflitting about in the joyous regions of the sky, they were all goingto rest, and they were disputing with one another the branches theyhad selected for sleeping-places. Their chatter at times had a soundof recrimination and controversy, at times of mockery and merriment. Intheir voluble twitter the little rascals said the most insulting thingsto each other, pecking at each other and flapping their wings, asorators wave their arms when they want to make their hearers believethe lies they are telling them. But words of love were to be heard theretoo, for the peace of the hour and the beauty of the spot invited to it.A sharp ear might have distinguished the following:
"I loved you before I had even seen you, and if you had not come Ishould have died of grief. Mamma used to give me your father's lettersto read, and he praised you so much in them that I used to say, 'Thatis the man who ought to be my husband.' For a long time your father saidnothing about our marrying, which seemed to me great negligence. UncleCayetano, whenever he spoke of you, would say, 'There are not many menlike him in the world. The woman who gets him for a husband may thinkherself fortunate.' At last your father said what he could not avoidsaying. Yes, he could not avoid saying it--I was expecting it everyday."
Shortly after these words the same voice added uneasily: "Some one isfollowing us."
Emerging from among the oleanders, Pepe, turning round, saw two menapproaching them, and touching the leaves of a young tree near by, hesaid aloud to his companion:
"It is not proper to prune young trees like this for the first timeuntil they have taken firm root. Trees recently planted have notsufficient strength to bear the operation. You know that the roots cangrow only by means of the leaves, so that if you take the leaves from atree--"
"Ah, Senor Don Jose," cried the Penitentiary, with a frank laugh,approaching the two young people and bowing to them, "are you givinglessons in horticulture? _Insere nunc Meliboee piros; pone ordinevites_, as the great singer of the labors of the field said. 'Graft thepear-tree, dear Meliboeus, trim the vines.' And how are we now, SenorDon Jose?"
The engineer and the canon shook hands. Then the latter turned round,and indicating by a gesture a young man who was behind him, said,smiling:
"I have the pleasure of presenting to you my dear Jacintillo--a greatrogue, a feather-head, Senor Don Jose."
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