The Grandee Part 39

And so saying he gave her a tremendous blow that felled her to the ground, whilst blood flowed from her mouth and nostrils.

Luis seemed to feel the blow in his own cheeks. All the blood left them and he turned deadly pale; then his will being overpowered by a blind impulse, he cried out:

"It is a vile shame! It is a cowardly act!"

He then tried to throw himself on Quinones, but the others held him back, whilst Don Pedro called out in a loud voice, mad with anger, "At last! At last, dog!"

He made a supreme effort to rise from his chair and attack the destroyer of his honour. He half managed it, but finally fell back senseless with his mouth distorted. The guests had all risen and rushed to the library.

The ladies shrieked in terror. The men behind asked what had happened.

The Conde de Onis cast a frenzied look at them, stepped to the spot where Josefina was lying, lifted her from the ground, and with her in his arms, he tried to pa.s.s out, but Amalia stood in the way.

"Where are you going?"

Then she tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the child from him. But Luis stretched out his hand, caught the Valencian by the hair, and after shaking her roughly three or four times, he cast her away from him, and made for the drawing-room door. He flew down the staircase and out into the street, where his carriage was waiting for him, and jumping into it with his precious burthen, he said to the coachman:

"Quick, to the Grange!"

The heavy vehicle jolted along the badly paved streets, and he was not long in reaching the high road. The moon shone high in the firmament.

Great thick clouds floated across its disc, but it reappeared directly.

A stormy wind soughed in the upper atmospheric regions. Silence and peace reigned below.

Josefina still remained unconscious. The count wiped the blood away with his handkerchief. Then he tried to revive her by imprinting long, pa.s.sionate kisses upon her alabaster cheek.

At last her eyes opened, she looked at the count with a strange intensity and then they lighted up with a sweet smile:

"Is that you, Luis?"

"Yes, my life, it is I."

"Where are you taking me to?"

"Where you like."

"Take me far away, very far away! Take me to your house. Take me, even if you can't feed me. Being with you I shan't mind dying."

The count pressed her to his heart and covered her with kisses.

"Yes, yes, you are going to my house," he exclaimed, whilst tears bathed his cheeks. "You shall never leave it, because they would have to take my life before they should take you. Listen, Josefina, I am going to tell you something. Try and understand. Make an effort and you will do so. I am your father. The Senores de Quinones took you into their house; but I am your father. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Luis, I understand you."

"They took you in because I was wrong enough to give you up to them instead of keeping you with me."

"Now I understand you, Luis. You were not wrong. You were good, and I love you."

"Yes, child of my soul, I love you more than my life. Forgive me."

"I love you too--but not them. I loved G.o.dmother once, but not now. She has beaten me so much. If you could but know! She bit me, she scratched me, she dragged me on the ground, she told Concha to beat me with a broom, she tied me with a string like a dog."

"Don't, don't, you kill me!" said Luis, sobbing.

"Don't cry, Luis, don't cry! See how kind you are; you are crying for me."

"Should I not cry for you as you are my daughter? I am your father!

Don't you know it, don't you know it?"

"Yes, I know it. You are my father, and I am your daughter. I am sleepy--let me sleep upon your breast."

And her little fair head sank in sleep. The count bent his own to imprint a kiss upon her brow, and his lips encountered the fire of fever.

The little creature enjoyed a few minutes lethargic sleep. Occasional cold shivers ran through her delicate little body. At last she awoke with a cry.

"Luis, they are taking me away! Look at them, look at them! There they are!" Her eyes were full of wild terror.

"No, daughter, no, they are trees on the road waving their branches towards us."

"Don't you see Don Pedro threatening me? Don't you hear what he is saying?"

"Calm yourself, my soul, it is the roaring of the wind."

"You are right. They are gone now. Look how the moon is shining! Look at the beautiful fields and the quant.i.ties of flowers! A palace of crystal!

There is a child playing with a white cat. How lovely! It is prettier than Rose. Let me play with her, Luis."

"You shall play as much as you like, and I will buy you a white cat and a white dove that will eat out of your hand."

"No, I don't want you to spend money; I am contented if you don't leave me."

"Never, you shall live with me always, because you are my daughter. Go to sleep, my heart."

"Darkness again! It has come back. Take them away, Luis, take them! for G.o.d's sake! How they are pulling at me!"

"Don't be afraid, you are with me. Look, there is the moon again. Do you see how it shines? Sleep, my heart."

"It is true--Yes I see the fields full of flowers--I see the white cat--The child is not there--Where is it, Luis?"

"It is in my house waiting to play with you. We are very near now. Go to sleep."

"Yes, Luis, I am going to sleep. You tell me to, don't you? I ought to obey you because I am your daughter. I am cold. Hold me tighter."

He pressed her closer and closer to his breast. Josefina slept at last.

The carriage rolled along the deserted road, past the fields lighted by the light of the moon. The wind moaned in the distance. The trees began to wave their branches.

The drive to the Grange was reached.

Luis bent his head to wake the child, but on giving her a kiss, he felt the coldness of death. He raised her quickly, he shook her violently several times as he called her loudly:

"Josefina! Daughter! daughter! daughter! Wake up!"