delighted as i should have been, and was, to receive such a missive from my lady, its effect was to rouse in me all the greater longing to see her and win from her dear lips the admission that she loved me. in this thought i now forgot all else. even the demand of patriotism that i should exert every effort on behalf of my country found me deaf.
i stilled my conscience with the argument that if i, the accredited spy, should devote my whole effort to a personal affair, it would tend to divert attention from the splendid work of pike. every day saw important additions to his notes and memoranda, and he had already hit upon the ingenious plan of securing the notes in tight rolls inside waxed wrappings and packing them down into the barrel of one of the muskets of the men, who were quartered in the same building as ourselves. as the gun's muzzle was of course kept plugged with its tampion, there was no danger of discovery, and with five more barrels to fill, we felt that whenever the governor-general chose to release the lieutenant and his men, they would be able to march out of the territories of his most catholic majesty fairly loaded with information against the tyrant.
so, casting aside every thought of duty, i allowed my mind to dwell constantly upon my wooing, and, frivolous as it may appear, was more concerned over our visit to the tailor than to the magnificent hospital in the old jesuit edifices on the west side of chihuahua. that institution of healing was finely situated and furnished. but when i ventured to suggest an improvement upon some of the antiquated and barbarous methods of treatment, i met with such a heat of jealous prejudice from the clerical physicians that i was forced to silence.
returning to the plaza, we were agreeably surprised to find our little french tailor most modern not only in his knowledge of the modes but also in the quickness of his work. he and his assistants had already completed our suits. as the following day was a sunday, it was particularly gratifying to find ourselves becomingly costumed for genteel society.
pike and our host slept late in the morning, but i had given old cæsar orders to rouse me early. donning my new garments, i slipped out and hastened across the plaza toward the parroquia. the bell was already intoning for mass, and i passed numbers of rebozo-shrouded women streaming churchward. with my anglo-american eyes and complexion i suppose i presented rather a striking figure among these people, who are so very rarely other than brunette,—though it may be i attracted more attention because of the fact that few other men had sallied out so early to attend mass.
whatever the cause, i received enough smiles and alluring glances from pretty señoritas and, i fear, señoras, to have quite turned my head, had i not been far too intent upon the hope of seeing my lady to heed these charming coquettes. what i did heed, however, was the fact that the prettier the girl, the more jealously guarded was she by a keen-eyed duenna. what hope had i of a word apart with alisanda if she came in company with doña marguerite?
between the thought of this and the need to scan the scores of approaching ladies, i was not in a favorable frame of mind to appreciate the grandeur and beauty of the parroquia. yet so splendid were the two pillared towers, which reared against the sapphire sky a full hundred feet above the front corners of the high edifice, and so ornate was the white stone façade with its carvings and numerous statues of saints, that even my brief and preoccupied glances brought me a strong consciousness of the church's magnificence. i even looked twice at the carvings of the great round-arched entrance, so different in design from the pointed style of our gothic ecclesiastical architecture.
that was as far as my observations went at the time, for as i again glanced out, i saw approaching among the throng of moorishly draped figures one so tall and graceful that i knew her on the instant. i sprang from the entrance to meet her, but checked myself at the thought that it would be as well first to see who it was that accompanied her.
alisanda wore her black lace mantilla, her companion a rebozo of finest silk, and both walked with heads reverently bowed. yet i needed no second glance to feel assured that the duenna had not so portly a figure as that of señora vallois. if not doña marguerite, who then?
i was not long kept waiting for my answer. standing with my stiff hat in hand, i looked eagerly for a sign of recognition from my lady. she did not so much as raise her head. but her companion straightened a little and parted a fold of her rebozo to bestow on me the mischievous flash of a sparkling eye. it was hardly the glance of an instant, yet it left me pleased and wondering why i had not at once recognized that plump, petite figure. the duenna i had so feared was none other than the wife of my friend malgares, doña dolores. what was more, her look gave me the impression that she knew all, and, with the national love of intrigue, if not because of friendship for alisanda, would aid us in our plans.
vastly relieved at this discovery, i followed them at a respectful distance into the lofty domed interior of the parroquia. as my eyes were fixed upon my lady, that i might not lose her in the throng which moved up the centre of the stone-flagged nave, i gathered at first only the vaguest of impressions with regard to the church's interior. but when she and doña dolores piously knelt upon the hard flagstones, in the midst of the peon women and the filthy beggars, i could not resist the impulse to look up and around.
at once, in place of the vague impression of magnificence, there burst upon my vision a glory of ornamentation almost dazzling. in all the republic we have no church or other edifice to approach the parroquia of chihuahua in richness and splendor of ornamentation. the windows were filled with pictures of saints and angels wrought in stained glass, which cast over all a rich coloring well in keeping with the gold-and-silver-bedecked altar, the brass screens and railings, the silver candelabra, and the brightly colored and gilded images and pictures and crucifixes on the walls.
add to this splendor of decoration the rich vestments of the officiating priests, the incense and wax tapers, and the solemn service of music and prayer,—and the effect was one to impress the most frivolous of believers in the romish faith.
yet as i stood beside one of the carved pillars and watched the devout bendings and prayers of alisanda, i could not but compare her real worship with the formal movements and parrot-like invocations of those about her. her religion was of the heart; theirs mere outward display. so at least i surmised from the manner in which, between times, they whispered and nibbled at dulces, and stared about at one another. of course alisanda and her friend were not alone in their real devotion, but i speak of the crowd.
i followed the service as closely as the different accenting and pronunciation of the latin by spanish tongues permitted. in justice to alisanda, it was my duty to learn all i could with regard to her religion. i felt an added interest from the fact that the foremost of the priests was none other than father rocus.
yet the closing of the ceremonies came as a vast relief to me. when for the last time the congregation crossed themselves and rose to leave, i leaned against my pillar and watched them pass out with as idle and careless a gaze as i could assume. all the time i kept the mantilla upon alisanda's gracefully bowed head within the rim of my circle of vision. but i was certain she never once cast a glance in my direction, nor did doña dolores.
untrained as i was in the intricacies of spanish courtship, i might have been discouraged had i not observed that in their advance toward the exit the two were drifting, so to speak, sideways. this brought them angling through the crowd toward my pillar. señora malgares was on the nearer side, and i fancied it was her purpose to speak to me. instead, they both swept by without so much as a glance.
only, as she passed, the señora raised an arm beneath her rebozo as though to adjust its folds, and the fringed edge swept over my hat, which i was holding at my hip. a slight tug at its brim induced me to look down, after a moment's prudent wait. within the hat's crown lay a scrap of paper upon which was written, in french, the single word, "follow."
my height and dress, and the fact that i was one of the americanos about whom the city was so curious, made me a marked man in the crowd. but if any among the hundreds of interested eyes that followed my movements had for owners some who suspected the purpose of my visit to the church, i flatter myself the sharpest were unable to distinguish which one of the ladies it was i followed into the open. to divert attention i glanced about at the peeping señoritas with feigned interest, until one angel-faced little coquette who could not yet have seen her sixteenth springtime fairly stared me out of countenance.
once in the plaza, i had more room to man[oe]uvre, and started off at an angle to the course taken by alisanda and her friend. to my chagrin i was at once surrounded by a tattered crowd of filthy leprosos, who exposed their sores and whined dolefully for alms. i flung them the few coppers i chanced to have with me, but that served only to whet the edge of their persistent begging. suddenly i remembered that don pedro had given me the spanish method for relieving oneself from these caballeros de dios.
"gentlemen," i addressed them in my best spanish, "for god's sake, excuse me this time."
even a few drops of spanish blood carries with it appreciation of ceremonious courtesy. my words and the bow with which i accompanied them acted like magic upon the clamoring rabble. all alike bowed in response, with a great flourishing of greasy, tattered sombreros, and all alike stepped politely aside for me to pass.
the delay had given alisanda and doña dolores several yards' start of me, but they were now sauntering so slowly that nearly all the members of the congregation who had turned in the same direction had gone by them. i followed several paces behind the last chattering, giggling group. as they passed doña dolores she dropped her rosary. this i judged was intended as a signal for me to join them. i picked up the string of polished beads, and hastened forward beside their owner.
"pardon me, madame," i said in french, holding out the rosary, "you dropped your necklace."
"santisima virgen!" she exclaimed in mock surprise. "they are indeed my beads. maria purisima! it is señor robinson! how fortunate that you should have chanced to find them for me, señor!"
i gave no heed to this mischievous raillery, for i was gazing across into the tender eyes of alisanda. i started to go around beside her.
"nada!" forbade doña dolores. "not so fast, señor. i am the duenna, and i have very sharp eyes. so also have others who are walking in the plaza. you have chanced to find my beads, and are escorting me to the house of señor vallois, where your friend, my husband, is to join me at breakfast. please do not forget that you are escorting me. if you choose to pay compliments to my companion, and i am too deaf to hear anything that is said, who can blame me? besides, you know i do not understand english."
"señora, you are an angel!" i exclaimed.
"santa maria! but that is the truth," she mocked. "yet do not tell it to me when she is in hearing."
"dolores! is this a time for jests?" murmured alisanda. the señora fell to counting her beads, with the most pious of expressions. my lady addressed me in english: "dolores knows all, juan. but it will be easier for you to talk in english, and she will not have to strain her conscience when she next goes to confession. juan, it was rash to force this meeting."
"forgive me, dearest one! but i could wait no longer. the interruption of our last meeting—"
"santa virgen! that terrible aide! i was stricken dumb with terror when he lunged at you—from the rear! the coward!"
"you saw it?"
"all! all! juan, dear friend, you must guard yourself—you must be careful! that savage andalusian! i heard all you said—how you spared him, that i might escape the scandal of a duel beneath my window. has he challenged you?"
"not yet."
"not yet! but he will—he will! do not fight him with swords, juan. you told me once that you were not a swordsman. he is the most expert fencer in all these provinces."
"if he is a master, i have a better chance against him as it is than if i were an average swordsman. he will at least not know what i am going to do, as he would know with one who fenced according to rules."
"but he will kill you! no, do not fight him with swords, juan. let him challenge you, and be sure you name pistols."
"would you have me murder the man?" i protested.
"you need not shoot to kill."
"that is true. but, dearest, let us speak of more important matters. you have not yet told me—"
"i wrote of your danger from his excellency, juan. be prudent. make as few enemies as you can. you have many friends."
"walker has intimated that i shall gain more friends if i tame this andalusian bull."
"nada! if the swashbuckler challenges, you must fight, juan. i know that. but do not force the matter yourself. he stands high in the favor of his excellency."
"alisanda," i replied, "you, like all others here, are far too much in fear of this tyrant governor-general. but rest assured lieutenant pike and i comprehend the man and the situation. should we show the slightest sign of weakness, i at least will at once be flung into prison, if not garrotted. the only course which will avert the blow is for us to show a bold front."
"yet a little diplomacy—"
"trust lieutenant pike to attend to the diplomacy. in his direct communications with salcedo, he will flourish the steel blade in a velvet sheath. aside from that, we have decided that the bolder our talk and bearing the better."
"yet consider his absolute power—i fear for you, juan!"
"what odds of the danger, if i have your love—alisanda?"
a quick blush leaped into her pale cheeks, and she looked down, in sweet confusion.
"no, no, dear friend," she murmured. "do not speak of that now. it would be too cruel, if later—juan, you must see father rocus!"
"at once!" i assented.
"go, then, now! you will find him at the parroquia."
"but first, dearest one—"
"no, no! go at once. we approach my uncle's house, and it is as well he should not see you."
"then, if you bid me go, au revoir!" i said, stopping short.
she gave me a lingering glance which told all that her lips refused to speak. doña dolores dropped her beads and looked up at me with one of her bright, mischievous glances.
"santa maria! but you do not leave us, señor? you have been so entertaining!"
"and you, señora,—i could not have asked for a kinder duenna."
she muffled a peal of girlish laughter beneath the folds of her rebozo, and hurried alisanda away, fearful, i suppose, that we had attracted too much attention. i wheeled in the opposite direction, and returned to the parroquia. aside from a few women kneeling here and there before the wall shrines, the great church was now empty. but a young acolyte who came in to arrange the altar very courteously directed me to the parsonage, where, he said, i should find father rocus.
when i announced my name at the entrance, the gate porter at once admitted me, and rang a little bell. in a moment who should appear but chita, my lady's spanish maid. she courtesied and motioned me to follow her, without betraying the slightest sign of recognition. but the moment we were out of sight of the porter, she paused to whisper:
"tsst! say nothing. they have sent me here that i might not aid her to see you or write to you. they do not know that the padre is a friend. it is as well that he even does not know how greatly i wish to aid you. señor, you are a caballero and a man, and she loves you. it is right that you should have her, though you be twice over a heretico. but she will not wed unless the padre gives his blessing. it is true love between you. if you cannot be a christian, make pretence. for her sake, bow to the holy images and cross yourself. deceive the padre—for her sake!"
"no, chita," i replied. "a caballero may lie to save a lady's good name, but not to win her."
"peste! then you will lose her!"
"we shall see. lead me in."
she took me into a cosey library, where i found father rocus seated in a huge easy-chair, one foot cushioned upon a stool, a glass and decanter at his elbow, and a book of philosophy in his jewelled, white hand.
"hola, don juan!" he called at sight of me. "you come in good season. be seated on the saddle-chair it will save your new coat-tails a creasing. i will not rise. a touch of the gout, as you see,—the first in months."
"too much port," i suggested, swinging astride the narrow chair of carved mahogany. "better take to sour claret for a while."
"nada! not while i can bear the pain. i might pass for an english squire—i cannot forego the port."
"i will write you a prescription that will ease the pain. nothing will cure you but abstinence."
he drew a wry face between his smiles. "then i fear my case is hopeless. i am far from being a true spaniard.—chita, a glass for señor robinson."
the woman fetched and filled a glass while i drew my chair up to the marble-topped table-desk and scribbled a prescription. father rocus signed her to go out, and turned to me, still smiling, but with a sharpened glance.
"so you have already followed my advice and come to mass," he said.
"your reverence has a keen eye," i replied. "it seemed to me i kept close behind my pillar."
"men are not numerous at early mass. brawny, six-foot caballeros in european dress are not seen every week. lastly, this one has blonde hair. a glimpse was enough and to spare. you talked with her?"
"she has sent me to you."
"hum," he considered. "first of all, this medina affair. let him do the challenging. she says you do not fence. 'twould be butchery for you to meet him with swords."
"that is a small matter, padre. what i wish to know—"
"is whether you can conscientiously become a christian," he put in.
"no, padre. that is not the question. it is of no use for me to hedge. i know i cannot become what you call a christian. my religious principles are too near those of our famous president, thomas jefferson."
"jefferson—that atheist!" he exclaimed, frowning.
"not so, padre," i insisted with much earnestness. "it is an injustice to term mr. jefferson an atheist."
"and you?" he demanded.
"your reverence, i differ from most men of the age in this: i am content to leave creeds and ceremonies to the theologians; to walk as upright a life as lies within my power; and to trust in the great author of all to judge my deeds with the clemency of a father for his child."
"you do not acknowledge god's vicar?"
"i have not the faith which enables me to believe your dogmas. it is no use to argue, padre. i am already sufficiently informed to know that a man of my refractory mentality cannot accept many of the fundamentals of your faith,—and i will not make false pretence by complying with the outward form."
instead of flushing with anger, as i had expected, he looked grieved. it was apparent that my position was a bitter disappointment to him. for several minutes he sat gazing at the crucifix on the wall across, in sorrowful meditation, forgetful even of his wine.
"padre," i at last said. "i love her with a love that dwells much upon my own happiness, but more upon hers. i now know she loves me. do you not think such love god's will?"
he crossed himself. "god give me light! i am not among those who believe that the love of man and woman is of necessity an impure desire. god, not satan, made eve to be a companion unto adam. therefore true love is sacred in the eyes of god, and marriage a sacrament."
"in effect, if not in form, your reverence, that is the belief and practice of my people. with us a wife is the dear life companion who shares our triumphs and our defeats, our joys and sorrows, who brightens our pleasures, purifies and ennobles our impulses, and inspires us with the highest aspirations."
"such, alas! is not the attitude of my people toward women," he sighed. "yet to give a daughter of the church to a heretic! santisima virgen! it is a knotty problem."
"to me, or to such a man as medina," i argued—"which would be the greater sin?"
"her uncle is set upon giving her, not to medina, but to one as bad—one as bad!" he repeated. "my son—my son! if you could but become a christian!"
"god gave me my reason, padre. if it is wrong to use my reason as i use it, i trust that he will forgive the error."
"you are a true, clean man, and you love her as no man in new spain can love her."
"i do, padre."
"yet it is against the canons of holy church—to give a true believer to an outright heretic!"
"she should be free to believe and practise her religion without change," i argued.
"true, but the children?" he demanded. "how as to the children?"
the wine spilled from my upraised glass, and i bent my head quickly aside to hide the strange emotion which overcame me. children! never had my thoughts dared roam so far into the future. children—my children and hers! from the depths of my heart there gushed up such a flood of tenderness and adoration that i could not speak.
despite his gouty toe, he came around before me, and with a finger beneath my chin, raised my head until he could look down into my eyes. whether or not he read my thoughts i do not know. but i do know that he raised his hands above me and gave me his benediction.
"padre," i murmured as he drew back a little way, "believe me, if i could do what you wish—"
"swear that your children shall be raised in the church," he demanded.
"i cannot swear that, padre. it would be against my conscience."
"your word is enough."
"nor that. but if this will satisfy you, i give you my word that she shall decide upon the rearing of—of our children throughout childhood."
"good!" he exclaimed, again all smiles. "you have won me over, my son. let us hope i may aid you to overcome your graver difficulties."
"her uncle—don pedro?" i asked.
"beyond hope, i fear, juan. yet i will try. for the present we must avoid that problem, and bend every effort to mollify one who sits in a high place."
"outface, not mollify," i returned. "lieutenant pike and myself are resolved to show him how fully we rely upon our country to defend, and, if need be, to revenge us. we have already pointed out to those who will bear our words to his excellency the fact that the floridas are within easy striking distance of our turbulent frontiersmen."
"por dios! you dared send such a message to salcedo?"
"you may call it a message. we spoke in the presence of lieutenant walker. nor is it the only one. since the first, we have been loading him with similar information."
"yet salcedo has not incarcerated you? poder de dios! it is a miracle!"
"rather, it is merely that we have outfaced him."
"god gave you the wisdom to be bold! yet the danger is by no means past. he may free your companions, but detain you for years, as he has detained the men of captain nolan."
"i could fancy a harsher fate, padre. to remain a prisoner, yet have alisanda to comfort my captivity—"
he raised his hand warningly at the sound of sandalled feet scraping along the brick pavement of the corridor.
"let us hope for the best, my son. go now, and god be with you!"
i thanked him with a glance, and hastened out past the withered old priest who was shuffling across the threshold.
