Gonzalo made no answer.
"Why did you not come home at once?"
"Because it would have been a cruel slight on this poor family in its deep affliction. They have been so kind to me."
"If that is so, you did well--but you ought to have told me--I don"t forgive you for that."
"But why? The later you heard the bad news the better."
"That"s not so! I am like your father, Gonzalo, and I can sympathize with you--They tell me you are going to have a duel with him--with that pirate. Is it so?"
"No--no such thing now--" returned the young man with some hesitation.
"Don"t deceive me, Gonzalo! This duel can not take place. I have come determined to prevent it."
"There is nothing going on, uncle. Make yourself easy."
"It is useless for you to deceive me. I won"t leave you for a moment.
Here I will remain, I will sleep by your side so that you don"t escape me, and I will keep guard over you from dawn to midday and till eve."
Gonzalo stood aghast, seeing that it was necessary to confess all, and to face the matter.
"And if it were true, what of it, uncle? Would you dare to prevent your nephew doing what is exacted by honor?"
"Yes, sir--And don"t speak to me of daring!--Yes, sir, I dare," returned the old man in a rage. "Do you want me to give my consent to your losing your life through a villain, a rogue, who crept into your house to villainously betray your honor? Rogues like that are strung up, or shot, one does not fight them. You are blind, Gonzalo. Stop a moment, man, get to the bottom of the scandal and you will see that it does not hold water."
"What would you have me do then? Do you want me to let him go off quietly to Madrid? Do you want me to see him off and wish him a pleasant journey, and thank him for the kindness he has done me?"
"No, he has been curse enough; kill him if you like, but don"t lose your own life."
"That is very easy to say, uncle," replied Gonzalo caustically. "Imagine that I go to Nieva, I seek him out, I shoot him, or I kill him with a blow--then I am taken off to prison, and however righteous my cause was, I have to undergo some years" incarceration--Allowing that the majority of men exonerate the deed, they would not think it a very brave one."
Don Melchor stood some moments confounded, not knowing what to reply, but he did not give in. Finally he raised his head quickly, his eyes shining with delight.
"I have found a solution!"
"What?"
"You remain quietly at home. I will go myself to Nieva, meet the duke, and kill him."
"Oh! uncle, many thanks! But it can not be," returned Gonzalo, unable to repress a smile.
"What are you laughing at, silly?" exclaimed the good old man, with his eyes blazing. "You think perhaps your uncle is a useless old hulk, who can not handle a sword or a pistol? The devil take it! the devil!" he added, each time with more anger, and gesticulating about the room like a madman--"I am the same as I was at twenty years of age--I run upstairs four steps at a time without any fatigue--I drink five bottles of pale ale without it getting into my head--I can knock a bull down with a blow, and I can launch a heavy boat. And is all this anything to laugh at, and snap your fingers at in such a brutal fashion?"
"I am not laughing at that, uncle--I know, I know."
"Let"s see, then; give me your hand and feel if I can squeeze it or not."
Gonzalo gave him his hand, and the old sailor squeezed it with all his strength, his face red and contorted. Although not much hurt, the young man feigned most dreadful pain.
"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.