Part 27

Attending to these and a thousand other considerations of Geraldo, Alvaro sought to steady his spirit and his will in the purpose of renouncing his love, and all his philanthropic pretensions regarding Isaura. It was in vain. After a month of struggle with himself, of always frustrated impulses of revolt against the promptings of his heart, Alvaro felt himself weak, and understood that such an attempt was an senseless struggle against the omnipotent force of destiny. In vain he sought, now in the grave occupations of the mind, now in the frivolous distractions of society, a means of erasing from his memory the image of the gentle captive. She was always present to him in all the dreams of his soul, now resplendent with beauty and grace, charming and seductive as on the night of the ball, now pale and downcast, bowed under the weight of her misfortune, with her wrists in chains, fixing on him her supplicating eyes as if to say to him:

--Come, do not abandon me; only you can break these irons that oppress me.

Alvaro's spirit finally settled into the intimate and unshakable conviction that Heaven, in bringing his destiny into contact with that of that enchanting and unhappy slave, had had a providential design, and had chosen him as the instrument of the noble and generous mission of snatching her from slavery, and giving her in society the elevated place that by her beauty, virtues and talents was her due.

He resolved therefore, whatever the result might be, to continue in that generous attempt, with the blindness of fanaticism, if not with the compulsion of a providential inspiration.

Alvaro departed for Rio de Janeiro. Already at random, without any plan formed, without well knowing what he ought to do to reach his ends; but he had as it were a vague intuition that Heaven would provide him occasion and means to carry out his enterprise. What he wanted in the first place was to place himself in the vicinity of Leoncio, in order to be able to gather information and investigate whether perchance some recourse might exist to oblige Isaura's master to manumit her.

He disembarked at the court with the aim of proceeding shortly to Campos. Before departing for his destination, however, he sought to gather among the people of commerce some information regarding Leoncio.

--Oh! I know that fellow very well,--said at once the first merchant to whom Alvaro addressed himself.--That young man is bankrupt, and in complete ruin. If Your Lordship is also a creditor of his, you may put your beard to soak, because the neighbors' are already burning. That house, once liquidated, will hardly yield a rateio in which fifty percent falls to each creditor.

This revelation was for Alvaro like a lightning flash that opens before the eyes of a traveler lost on a stormy night, suddenly showing him, quite near, the hospitable lodging he seeks.

--And is Your Lordship perchance also a creditor of that planter?--asked Alvaro.

--Unfortunately, and one of the principal ones...

--And to how much will the fortune of this Leoncio amount?

--To less than nothing at present, for as I have already told you, his liabilities perhaps exceed more than double all his assets.

--But those liabilities themselves, to what sum are they calculated, more or less?

--They are calculated at approximately four hundred and some odd to five hundred contos, while the estate at Campos, with slaves and all the other accessories, will perhaps not exceed two hundred. We have already had with that planter all possible forbearances, and we have given him more moratoriums than the law grants; we are not obliged to more, and now we are resolved to fall upon him with the execution.

--And who are the other creditors? Would Your Lordship be willing to indicate them to me?

--And why not?--replied the merchant, and he went on to indicate to Alvaro the names and addresses of the other creditors.

In fact the house of Leoncio, already from the last years of his father's life, was in continuous decline and dilapidation. The old commander, giving himself in the last quarter of his life to excesses and debaucheries that are not even excusable in youth, living almost always at the court, and leaving almost completely abandoned the administration of the estate, had already squandered no small portion of his fortune. As a result of bad administration not only did the harvests begin to dwindle considerably, but also the number of slaves was reduced, by death and by frequent flights, without either the commander or his son failing to replace them with new ones, which they kept buying on credit, making ever heavier the burden of debts.

After the commander's death, things went from bad to worse. Leoncio, with the education and the character that we know, was the man least suited possible to direct and exploit a great agricultural establishment.

His debaucheries and extravagances, and lastly his nefarious and senseless passion for Isaura, made him lose his head entirely, hurling him down a slippery slope of ruinous expenses, without any calculation or foresight. With the enormous expenditures he had to make as a consequence of Isaura's flight, sending to seek her in every corner of the empire, he finished digging the abyss of his ruin. In a short time the young planter was completely insolvent, without a single real in his cash box, and with a multitude of protested bills in his creditors' portfolios. When these awoke, and remembered to declare him bankrupt and execute his assets, they understood that they could hardly pocket half of what was owed them, and therefore they hastened eagerly to promote the means of execution, before the evil went further.

After conferring with Leoncio's creditors, he proposed to them the purchase of all their credits for half their value. To avoid any odium that such a proceeding might bring upon his person, he declared to them that he had no intention of vexing or oppressing the unhappy planter, that on the contrary it was his aim to protect him and free him from the vexation of a rigorous judicial execution, and to leave him sheltered from misery. And really, despite the aversion and contempt that Leoncio merited from him, Alvaro did not intend to carry to the utmost extreme the means of vengeance that by chance circumstances had placed in his hands. He was ten times richer than his adversary, and very willingly, if there were no other recourse, by an amicable contract he would give a sum equal to all the latter's fortune, for Isaura's liberty.

Now, that destiny came to place in his hands all the fortune of that capricious, arrogant and heartless adversary, Alvaro, always generous, did not for that reason wish to see him reduced to misery.

The creditors did not hesitate a moment to accept the proposal. With reason they preferred to settle their accounts in an easy and expeditious manner, in cash money, receiving half, rather than subjecting themselves to the expenses, delays and difficulties of an execution in slaves and real estate, when there was no probability that in the rateio they could obtain more than half.

Master of all the titles of debt of Leoncio, that is, of all his fortune, Alvaro departed for Campos in order to promote on his own account the execution of the latter's assets, and furnished with all the papers and documents, accompanied by a clerk and two officers of justice, he presented himself in person at Leoncio's house to intimate to him in person the sentence of his perdition.

--Oh! curse!--Leoncio had exclaimed, tearing his hair in despair, after he had heard from Alvaro's lips that crushing decision. Stunned and almost mad with the violence of the blow, he was about to go running out the door.

--Wait still, sir,--said Alvaro detaining him by the arm.--Now as for the slave of whom we spoke a short while ago, what did you intend to do with her?

--Free her, I already told you,--replied Leoncio rudely.

--And something more; I believe you also told me you were going to marry her: and, excuse me the question, would there be for that consent on her part?

--Oh! no! no!... I was dragged, sir!--exclaimed Isaura resolutely.

--It is true, sir Alvaro, interposed Miguel, she was going to be married, so to speak, forced. Sir Leoncio, as a condition of her liberty, obliged her to marry that poor man whom Your Lordship sees there.

--With that man?!--exclaimed Alvaro full of amazement and indignation, looking at the homunculus whom Miguel indicated with his finger.

--Yes, sir,--continued Miguel,--and if she did not submit to that marriage, she would have to spend the rest of her life locked in a dark room, incommunicado, with her foot in a thick chain, as she has lived from the time she came from Recife until this day...

--Executioner!--shouted Alvaro, no longer able to contain his indignation.--The hand of divine justice weighs at last upon you to punish your monstrous atrocities!

--Oh what shame!... what opprobrium, my God!--exclaimed Malvina, leaning over a table, and hiding her face in her hands.

--Poor Isaura!--said Leoncio with a moved voice, extending his arms to the captive.--Come to me... I protested in the depths of my soul and by my honor to vindicate you from the oppressive and debasing yoke that crushed you, because I saw in you the purity of an angel, and the noble and proud resignation of the martyr. It was a holy mission, which I believe I received from Heaven, and which today I see crowned with the happiest and most complete result. God at last, by my hands, avenges innocence and oppressed virtue, and crushes the executioner.

--Stop your boasting, sir!--shouted Leoncio, agitating himself in gestures of fury;--this is nothing but an infamy, a treason, and thievery....

--Isaura!--continued Alvaro with a voice always firm and grave;--if that executioner a short while ago had in his hands your liberty and your life, and did not yield them to you except on the condition that you wed a deformed and despicable being, now you have in yours his property; yes, for I have it in mine, and I pass it to yours. Isaura, you are today the mistress, and he the slave; if he does not wish to beg for bread, he will have to resort to our generosity.

--Sir!--exclaimed Isaura running to throw herself at Alvaro's feet;--oh! how good and generous you are toward this unhappy slave!... but in the name of that very generosity, on my knees I beg you, forgiveness! forgiveness for them...

--Rise, generous and sublime woman!--said Alvaro, extending his hands to help her up.--Rise, Isaura; it is not at my feet, but rather in my arms, here close to my heart, that you must throw yourself, for in spite of all the prejudices of the world, I consider myself the happiest of mortals in being able to offer you the hand of a husband!...

--Sir,--shouted Leoncio with foaming lips and wild eyes,--there you have all that I possess; you may sate your vengeance, but I swear to you, you shall never have the pleasure of seeing me beg for your generosity.

And saying this he rushed into an alcove adjoining the room.

--Leoncio! Leoncio!... where are you going! exclaimed Malvina, rushing toward him; but scarcely had she reached the door when the thunderous explosion of a shot was heard.

--Ai!...--cried Malvina, and she fell flat on the ground.

Leoncio had blown out his brains with a pistol shot.

END

=TRANSCRIPTION NOTES=

Problems with punctuation and spelling have been corrected. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

In the absence of consistency in the spelling and accentuation of certain words, the form that appeared most frequently in the text was adopted.

In this version, the "caret" character (circumflex accent) was used with braces to represent superscript letters.

The "=" symbol does not represent bold text and, therefore, has been kept as in the original version.