XLI. FATHER DAMASO EXPLAINS.

153 0 0
                                    


CHAPTER XLI

FATHER DÁMASO EXPLAINS.

In vain the costly wedding gifts were heaped upon the table. Neither

the diamonds in their blue velvet caskets, nor the embroidered piña,

nor the pieces of silk had any attractions for Maria Clara. The

maiden looked at the paper which gave the account of Ibarra's death,

drowned in the lake, but she neither saw nor read it.

Of a sudden, she felt two hands over her eyes. They held her fast

while a joyous voice, Father Dámaso's, said to her:

"Who am I? Who am I?"

Maria Clara jumped from her seat and looked at him with terror in

her eyes.

"You little goose, were you frightened, eh? You were not expecting

me? Well, I have come from the provinces to attend your wedding."

And coming up to her again with a smile of satisfaction, he stretched

out his hand to her. Maria Clara approached timidly and, raising it

to her lips, kissed it.

"What is the matter with you, Maria?" asked the Franciscan, losing

his gay smile, and becoming very uneasy. "Your hand is cold, you are

pale.... Are you ill, my little girl?"

And Father Dámaso drew her up to him with a fondness of which no one

would have thought him capable. He grasped both the maiden's hands

and gave her a questioning look.

"Haven't you any confidence in your godfather?" he asked in a

reproachful tone. "Come, sit down here and tell me your little

troubles, just as you used to do when you were a child, when you

wanted wax-candles to make wax figures. You surely know that I have

always loved you.... I have never scolded you...."

Father Dámaso's voice ceased to be brusque; its modulations were even

caressing. Maria Clara began to weep.

"Are you weeping, my child? Why are you weeping? Have you quarrelled

with Linares?"

Maria Clara covered her eyes with her hands.

"No! It is not he now!" cried the maiden.

Father Dámaso looked at her full of surprise.

"Do you not want to entrust your secrets to me? Have I not always

managed to satisfy your smallest caprices?"

The young woman raised her eyes full of tears toward him. She looked

at him for some time, and then began to weep bitterly.

"Do not cry so, my child, for your tears pain me! Tell me your

troubles. You will see how your godfather loves you."

Maria Clara approached him slowly and fell on her knees at his

NOLI MI TANGEREWhere stories live. Discover now