looking, we cannot help acknowledging, as if she wasdeeply engaged in her devotions all the time--
"Oh, Senhor Don Luis, I am so glad to see you! for I have been tryingeverywhere to meet you, without success; for that horrid Padre Alfonzokept so strict a watch on me, that I could not venture to your house.Oh, senhor! they have stolen away my dear child, and they have carriedher to a convent, where they have shut her up, and will never let herout again; the cruel, wicked wretches! All the world has conspiredagainst us; and even my old master, whom, till now, I always looked uponas an angel, has grown as bad as the rest, and now I have only got youto depend on. There is my young lady breaking her heart about you, andno one whom she cares about to comfort her."
This news electrified Don Luis. "To what convent has Donna Clara beenconveyed?" he exclaimed, eagerly. "'Twill be a consolation to knowwhere she is."
"To that of Santa Clara, senhor," answered Senhora Gertrudes; "and ifyou will write a short little note to her, I know it will be aconsolation to her. There can be no harm in a little note, I'm sure;and I will take care that she receives it."
Luis agreed with her that there could be no possible impropriety in hiswriting, and promised to do so.
"There is to be mass again here to-morrow, when I will meet you, senhor,and I will carry your note, for I shall be able to gain permission, Ihope, to visit my dear young mistress. She will not be obliged to takeher first vows for some time to come, and after that there will be awhole year before she can profess; so that, in the mean time, somethingmay happen to release her; so do not be cast down, senhor, as I toldher, sweet child, to comfort her, though Heaven alone knows what chanceshe has of happiness."
The service being concluded, Luis and the old nurse parted, he hasteninghome to employ himself in composing an epistle to Clara, which, insteadof being the very little note the good Gertrudes recommended, swelled bydegrees into several sheets, as the thoughts crowded on his mind,though, after all, they resolved themselves into two or three points,--his devotion, his wretchedness, and his hopes; for it was not his natureto despair; besides, he felt assured that his love was returned, and,with that proud consciousness, how could he cease to cherish hope?
We deem that man unworthy of a woman's affection whom the consciousnessof possessing it does not raise above all fears, and give hopes ofultimately conquering all difficulties in his path. Such was the effecton the mind of Luis, and he determined that nothing should dispirit himtill the fatal veil had, like the dark tomb, separated her from him forever; then he felt that to him death would indeed be welcome.
He had just concluded his letter, forgetful of how the hours had flownby; his dinner had remained almost untasted; the grateful siesta was notthought of, and the shades of evening had already closed in the day,when Captain Pinto entered his room to remind him that they had on thatnight agreed to visit Senhor Mendez.
It must be recollected that those were not the days (at all events, inPortugal) of double hot-pressed glossy Bath paper, over which the penglides with the rapidity of the skate on the virgin ice, which willaccount for the time he occupied in the employment; besides, he felt apleasure in prolonging it to the utmost; yet, he was as delighted oncompleting it as we shall be when we write finis to this compilation,though he was not perfectly satisfied with it, and thought he could havewritten a better, as will probably be our feeling also.
As before, they were accompanied by Pedro with a torch, and were happyat finding their friend slightly recovered, though still unable to quithis couch. Senhor Mendez turned the conversation on points in which heconsidered that he could offer advice to Luis. He warned himparticularly to beware of the Jesuits, whom he designated as crafty anddeceitful men, ambitious alone of increasing the power of their order atthe expense of their fellow-creatures, whom, in furtherance of this aim,they kept bound in the chains of ignorance and superstition; and thatthey were, so far, more dangerous than the other monastic orders, fromtheir very superiority of education and intellect, and from theirfreedom from those gross vices which stained the character of the rest.
The advice, perhaps, might have been of service to Luis, for he hadpurposed, on the following day, to pay a visit to his cousin FatherJacinto, whom he had not seen since his return to Lisbon. Senhor Mendezthen drew him to speak of himself, and of his love for Donna Clara, hiseye flashing with indignation, when he heard of the chief reasons herfather had deigned to advance for rejecting his offer.
"O pride and ambition!" he cried, "what banes are they to socialintercourse! So this haughty patrician would rather consign his childto splendid misery in the arms of a man she abhors, leading her tooprobably to vice and disgrace, or would immure her within the profanewalls of a convent, than see her wedded to one she loves, because hisfortune does not equal what he, in his vanity, considers necessary tosupport her in grandeur equal to her rank. Mark me," he continued, "donot for a moment suppose that I would advocate unequal alliances, wherethe family on one side would despise the other, such can seldom fail ofbringing misery to both; but I do say, where Heaven has joined twohearts in one, parents draw an awful responsibility on their own headsin venturing to separate them."
We must not longer delay, by giving the further observations SenhorMendez made, as we have subjects to relate which will afford far moreinterest to our readers; and we might also run the risk of having ourbook banished from the library as a work full of pestiferous anddangerous tenets, which would cause us infinite pain, conscious, as wefeel ourselves, of the rectitude of our intentions in transcribing whatwe find before us.
The course Luis and his friend took homeward led them near the residenceof the Conde San Vincente, in which neighbourhood they were, Pedro beingin advance with the torch, when they encountered a party who woke thenight air with their bacchanalian songs, and seemed little inclinedeither to move out of their way, or to allow them to pass. The torchwas immediately knocked out of the grasp of Pedro, who forthwith dealtthe perpetrator of the act a severe blow with a cudgel he carried.
"Wretched villain!" exclaimed a young man, by the tone of his voiceevidently suffering from the effects of wine, "how dare you to lift yourhand against a fidalgo? you shall die the death for your audacity," and,drawing his sword, he was about to run Pedro through the body, had notthe captain and Luis, unsheathing their weapons, also sprung forward torescue him.
"A skirmish, a skirmish!" cried several voices, and the whole of theopposite party rushed forward to attack them.
"Nought but the blood of my foe can wash out the insult I havereceived," exclaimed the young man, who had been the cause of the fray,setting furiously on Luis, in the blindness of intoxication, notobserving to whom he was opposed.
"Ah, you have a sword, too, as well as a stick; then, I conclude you area gentleman, and fit to engage with--no matter--here's at you!" He,however, was a good swordsman, nor could Luis disarm him, as he wishedto do, seeing his state, pressed closely, as he was also by hiscompanions, the Captain and Pedro being abundantly occupied in keepingthe rest at bay.
The young man, as we have said, rushed upon Luis, utterly regardless ofhis own person, becoming, every pass in which he was foiled, more andmore daring; and still firmly retaining his sword. At length, Luis grewweary of his attacks, and, perhaps, less cautious not to injure him,when the young man, endeavouring to rush in on him, the former could notdraw back in time, his sword passing through his side, and, with a sharpcry, he fell to the ground. The rage of his companions seemed increasedby the accident, when Captain Pinto, seeing what had occurred, shoutedout--"Beware, cavaliers, this may afford amusement to you, but I am apeaceable man, and do not like fighting, so take warning from the fateof your companion, and draw off, or by heavens, I will run two or threeof you through the body, to heighten your pleasure."
This warning, uttered in a determined voice, seemed to have some effecton the obfuscated intellects of the party of debauchees, particularly asthe speaker had disarmed two of them, who fell back for support amongtheir companions, by whom,
in mistake, they were very nearly run throughthe body. A few slight scratches had been received by the assailants,which appeared to satisfy them with fighting, and they were retreating,forgetful of their wounded friend, when Luis sprung forward to aid him.What was his horror, when, on Pedro recovering his torch, which hadremained burning on the ground, and bringing it to the spot, he beheldin the features of his fallen antagonist those of the young Goncalo, thebrother of Clara.
He was senseless, Luis trusted, more from the fall, or fromintoxication, than from the effects of his wound; for he still breathedheavily, although blood flowed freely from his side. As he was about toraise him, some of his companions appeared to have recollected hisdisaster; and returning, without apparently noticing Luis and hisfriends, they lifted him amongst them from the ground, and, withstaggering steps, bore him along, not uttering a word
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