'I suppose there are certain matters in which the Church should adopt a more progressive attitude,' de Vendome agreed reluctantly, 'but if one once opened the gates to doubt it might result in a landslide towards free-thinking. The Church is the great bulwark protecting family life and the discipline which it inculcates ensures millions of people maintaining a high standard of conduct. In Spain, too, the Church has played a greater part than in any other country.'
4Ah, now you are talking of the distant past, Prince,' Denc&s replied. Tt is true that in the days of Ferdinand and Isabella our great Cardinal Cisneros emancipated the Church of Spain from the domination of Rome, and purged it of all the abuses which were rife among the priesthood all over Europe during the Middle Ages. That is why there was no Reformation here. By the time Cisneros had done his great work there was no more need for reform; so he saved the Spanish people from becoming infected both by the Protestant heresies and the religious civil wars that caused so much misery in other countries. But the state of the Church today is very different from that in which he left it. Under his rule even the highest prelates led the lives of the greatest simplicity and self-denial. They were a strength and example to the nation, and Spain's greatness in the sixteenth century was largely due to them. Now the State subsidizes the Church to the tune of 300,000,000 pesetas per annum and in return for it has been so shackled as to become one of the most backward countries in Europe.'
De Vendome flushed and was obviously about to make an indignant protest in defence of his friends the Fathers, but de Tarancon, who had played the part of a listener during the conversation, prevented a possible quarrel by saying that it was quite time for them to go in for another swim.
A few days later the storm broke. A General Strike was declared throughout Catalonia and in Barcelona the workers threw up barricades in the streets. There were anti-Government demonstrations in many other cities but San Sebastian, being so largely a holiday resort, remained free from any serious trouble. Life there went on much as usual, except for the rush to secure a paper every time a new edition was put on sale.
After the first beach party to which de Richleau had gone, on the 21st, he became swiftly absorbed into the de Cordoba circle. The Denc&s and two other couples at it had asked him to lunch or dine, and Gulia had said pleasantly, if without enthusiasm, that she hoped he would use the beach regularly for his morning bathe.
On the 24th, Conde Ruiz left in haste for Madrid to take charge at this time of crisis of the bank's affairs, from its headquarters; but the Infanta, her lady-in-waiting, the de Tarancons and de Vendome all remained at the Villa, and several other friends, like de Richleau, had been made free of the private beach, so most mornings there was a party of from eight to a dozen people swimming and paddling there.
For three days there was desperate fighting in Barcelona, buildings were fired, convents sacked, priests and nuns maltreated; but the discipline and superior weapons of the troops gave them the upper hand. Several hundred rioters were killed and several score of soldiers; the organized resistance to authority collapsed.
At the end of the week the King returned to San Sebastian and next day he sent for de Richleau. The Duke found him working in a small, open-fronted marquee in the garden of the Palace. Don Alfonso sent away the secretary who was with him and, having waved de Richleau to a chair, said:
'When last you were here I had this Barcelona business on my mind, but the situation there is now in hand, so I would like to hear what it is that you wanted to say to me.'
De Richleau gave an account of Benigno's attack on him in Yalta, then went on to say, 'I squared accounts with the younger Ferrer brother in Cadiz before I was shipped off to South America. The other is, by this time, in Siberia and it is most unlikely that he will ever return to plague us further. But I was amazed to hear from him that he and his father were never brought to trial, and that after a year's imprisonment they were allowed to go free. Would Your Majesty care to enlighten me about this extraordinary failure on the part of the authorities to administer justice?'
Don Alfonso made a wry face. 'Yes; to you, Duke, whom these people did their best to murder, it must seem extraordinary. But remember, their friends had succeeded in getting you out of the way, so that you could not have appeared had they been brought to trial; and you were the key witness.'
'But you, Sir, assured me that even if I was prevented from giving evidence against them they would still be awarded the death penalty, or at least a life sentence.'
'I know it! I know it!' the King shrugged impatiently. 'But despite all their efforts the police failed to secure really damning evidence against these people. At least, that is what they said.
And at that time I had a Liberal Cabinet. You should have heard the fuss they kicked up in defence of this man Ferrer and his associates. They actually argued that with his Escuela Moderna he had been doing a service to the country, because he provided an opportunity for a part of the youth of Barcelona to acquire a much broader education than it could have received in any of our national Church-sponsored establishments.'
They may have been right about that,' de Richleau replied, 'but they seem to have left out of account that these people also corrupted youth. Advanced teaching may be desirable in many ways, but not if it is of the kind that would do away with law and order. The freedom to express an opinion is all very well, but not when it is an older person telling admiring youngsters that if they do not approve of your Government it is an heroic thing to murder the officials appointed by it, and that it is nothing to worry about if they kill a score of bystanders into the bargain.'
'I entirely agree with you, and I was most loath to consent to the release of the prisoners. Before doing so I had de Cordoba write to you asking if there was any prospect of you returning to Europe in the fairly near future. Had there been I would have insisted on their being held until you were here and could give evidence at their trial. But de Cordoba received no reply to his letter. After waiting a final month I had no alternative, short of quarrelling with my Ministers, but to allow Ferrer and his friends to be set at liberty.'
The Duke shook his head. Tf de Cordoba's letter was written ten or eleven months after I left Spain, by the time it should have reached me I was probably many miles from civilization, buried deep in one of the Central American jungles. No doubt the bag of mail in which it was fell off a mule into some swamp or river. Anyhow, it never reached me. Had it done so, Sir, I can assure you I would have returned to see to it that Ferrer and Co. got their deserts. It is for that purpose that I have now come back to Spain.'
Tf only you had returned a month or so ago,' Don Alfonso murmured.
'What difference would that have made, Sir?'
Tt would have made a world of difference. Ferrer and his friends were then living openly just outside Barcelona, once more spreading their pernicious doctrines. The police could easily have picked them up and we could have had them brought to trial. That might well have proved the stitch in time that would have prevented the recent outbreak of armed revolt in the city. There can be no question about it, the anarchists were behind that, and if only we could have roped in their leaders a few weeks ago it would have saved many lives, much bloodshed and a great deal of bitterness.'
'There is, then, more reason than ever to arrest them and bring them to trial.'
True; but that is easier said than done. Warrants are out for them on a charge of having incited the workers to rebellion; but yesterday I had a report that they have already gone to earth, and it may now prove extremely difficult to trace them.'
De Richleau leaned forward and said earnestly, 'Your Majesty. As you are aware, after accepting the mission with which you charged me, I spent the best part of two months in Barcelona posing as a Russian refugee. During that time I got to know a considerable number of people with whom the Ferrers had dealings. Not all of them were anarchists. Many of them must still be living normal lives and it is most unlikely that your police would know that they
have ever been acquainted with Ferrer. Through one or more of them I feel confident that I could get on his track. I request Your Majesty's permission to proceed to Barcelona and collaborate with your police in hunting Ferrer down.'
'No.' The young King's voice was firm. 'You served me well, Duke, three years ago in enabling me to break up the original Escuela Moderna; but you very nearly lost your life in the process and have since been a marked man. Barcelona is now a veritable hornet's nest, and I'll not allow you to stick your head into it. I refuse to have the blood of so good a friend on my head.'
The Duke sighed. 'I appreciate Your Majesty's consideration for me. But I am a soldier and used to taking my life in my hands, I am determined to get the man Ferrer sooner or later; so I beg you to reconsider your decision.'
'Sooner or later,' repeated the King. 'That is another matter. And nothing would please me better. For the year that Ferrer was in prison anarchist activities in Barcelona practically ceased. Soon after he was released they recommenced and for the past year they have steadily mounted in numbers and violence. There was only one lull. Last November a squadron of the Fleet of Austria-Hungary paid a courtesy visit to Barcelona. My Ministers did their utmost to persuade me not to go there to receive it; but I insisted. The celebrations lasted for three days and during them not one bomb was thrown. Three days without a bomb! It was a record against the sort of thing that had been going on for months, and considered quite remarkable. That gives you the picture.'
'It also gives me a picture of Your Majesty's popularity,' de Richleau smiled.
True. The reason given for the lull was that anyone who had thrown a bomb at me would have been torn to pieces by the crowd; and that the great majority of my subjects should feel that way about me is most gratifying. But it does not console me for the loss of the hundreds of my loyal officials and soldiers who have been murdered by these evil men. And no sooner had I left Barcelona than their outrages recommenced.'
'May I ask, Sir, what the situation is there now?'
'The back of the revolt has been broken, but mopping up operations are not yet completed. My new Home Secretary, Juan de La Cierva, is a good man. He feels that this may be a chance to clear things up in Barcelona once and for all, and he is taking strong measures. Among others, a house-to-house search is being conducted for arms. But hundreds of the malcontents must still have them and that is why I don't wish you to go there yet. There is too great a risk of your being shot in the back or from a window.'
'Things will never be cleared up in Barcelona until Ferrer is brought to book.'
'No; I fear you are right there.'
'Then when does Your Majesty feel that you might be disposed to let me off my chain, so that I can attend to him?'
'Not until the arrests have ceased and the excitement has died down. Even then it would be better to wait for a little because when the city has been back to normal for a while the ringleaders who have escaped the net will begin to take risks by coming out of hiding now and then. That should make it easier for you to catch your man. May I take it that you are enjoying yourself in San Sebastian?'
'Yes; all my friends are being most kind, Sir.'
'Then you had better remain here, and when the time is ripe I will send for you again.'
Seeing that the interview was over, de Richleau stood up, bowed, and said with a smile, 'I only hope, Sir, that you will refrain from putting too great a strain on my impatience to see this matter through.'
Much disappointed by the restraint Don Alfonso had put upon him the Duke lunched at a restaurant in the town with some friends then, after the siesta, as the visit to the Palace had deprived him of his morning bathe, he drove out to the de Cordoba's beach for an early evening swim.
For the past eight days he had seen Gulia every morning and, on most days, also later at a luncheon or dinner party; so they had again dropped quite naturally into the friendly relationship that had existed between them when he had first become convalescent. There was only one subtle difference. Then he had been tied to his bed or a chair so he had been unable to fetch and carry for her. Now, having after a few days come to the conclusion that she had no lover - or, at least, not in her social circle then in San Sebastian - her first coldness towards him had so titillated his vanity that, almost insensibly, he had asserted himself by assuming the role of her cav&lier. She had accepted his attentions gracefully and watched with amusement the skilful way in which he jockeyed other men who were always eager to serve her in small matters out of the chance to do so; but he and she had never been alone together for more than a few minutes and no word of their past feelings for one another had passed between them.
On this evening he had only just changed in one of the beach huts and walked out on to the sand when he saw Gulia and Dona Eulalia coming down from the house towards him. As they approached Gulia waved to him and cried:
T wondered what had happened to you this morning, until Frangois told me at lunch that you had been sent for to the Palace. But it's a lovely evening for a bathe and when I saw you from the house just now I felt I too must come in for a swim.'
Dona Eulalia settled herself with her embroidery in her usual chair and de Richleau made casual conversation with her while Gulia was changing. The bathing dress she wore this summer differed considerably from the one in which she had swum with him three years ago. The fashion had become both more elegant and practical. Skirts were now only knee-length, there was no heavy ruching about the shoulders, no sleeves and the material was much thinner; so the female form was more obviously discernible and women were not so heavily handicapped when swimming by the weight of water-soaked serge.
That, perhaps, partly accounted for the fact that Gulia had become a much stronger swimmer; and when, having joined him on the foreshore, she suggested that they should swim out to the point he had no doubts about her ability to cover the distance.
After wading out they swam side by side for ten minutes, then he shot ahead so as to reach the rocks first and help her up on to them. Near the point there protruded a flattish slab. It had been warmed by a long day of sunshine and there was no wind. Sitting on it they could wriggle their toes in the pools below them as the gentle swell rose and fell. They were still within sight of
Dona Eulalia, sitting something over a quarter of a mile away in front of the row of beach huts, but apart from that they were as much alone between sea and sky as if they had been on a desert island.
For a few minutes they sat in silence, getting back their breath, then Gulia pulled off her swimming cap, shook out her hair so that it fell over her shoulders, and said, 'Now, Armand, I want to hear what really happened to you in Cadiz. All you've told us is that you killed Sanchez in a fight, but his friends caught you and shipped you off to South America. I want to hear every detail from the moment you left me.'
She alone knew that it was not so much Sanchez that he had gone after as the photograph with which he feared Sanchez meant to blackmail them, and he now gave her the full story of his doings in Granada with La Torcera, in Cadiz with red-headed Inez, and the final scene in the Silver Galleon.
When he had done she sighed. 'And to think that negative had already been ruined before Sanchez made his escape from you in the garden. If only we had known. You would never have been shanghaied, and I would have been spared the worst month of my life. I nearly died from an agony of uncertainty about what had happened to you.'
'My dear,' he murmured gently. 'It distresses me greatly that you should have suffered so much on my account.'
She turned and looked at him, her eyes shining. 'How could it have been otherwise? I loved you desperately. I feared that those devils must have killed you and that I would never see you again.'
'The moment I reached Rio I sent a cable to Frangois and wrote fully to Jos6. It was impossible to let you know what had become of me any sooner.'
'I know; but you might also have written a personal letter to me; if only a line to say that you still loved me and that
I need not fear that photograph being produced.'
'I did consider doing that,' he replied after a moment, 'but I felt there was too great a risk of such a letter falling into wrong hands. Had Jos6 chanced to open it by mistake, or should you have had an accident or been taken ill, or had he recognized my writing and asked you what was in it, the fat would have been in the fire. He could only have assumed from it that you had become my mistress; and as things never reached that point such a denouement would have been doubly unfortunate.'
Her full lips twitched in a little smile as she asked, 'Have you ever regretted that they didn't reach that point?'
'Often,' he admitted frankly. The man isn't born who, having had the chance to make love to you and did not take it, would not afterwards ask himself if he had not been stricken with madness.'
Thank you for the compliment.' Her smile broadened. 'But I don't doubt you found plenty of lovely young women to console you while you were in the Americas!'
He gave a little laugh. 'Plenty implies a lot; and I have always been a gourmet rather than a^gourmand in such matters. But I'd be a poor fish if for three years I had lived the life of a monk; and the gods were kind enough to send me a few very delightful companions to solace me in my widowerhood. Now tell me about your charming self?'
'I was not made to be a saint, either.' She shrugged her fine shoulders. 'Since we parted I have taken four lovers. Mostly out of boredom, it is true; but at least they have saved me from shrivelling up into a mummy physically, and I have had quite a lot of fun pulling the wool over old Dona Eulalia's eyes in order to give my lovers rendezvous without her suspecting anything.'
'Has Jos6 any idea of this?'
'Perhaps; but I rather doubt it. Anyhow, as I told you long ago, I don't think he would have any serious objection provided I managed my affaires discreetly.'
For a moment she was silent, then she turned her head again, looked full at him and asked, 'Tell me, Armand; do you still feel any love for me?'
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