Isaura, the SlavePart 10
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Part 10
Part 1 of 2 Chapter: Part 10
Text: Still, while Malvina remained at home, she was always a safeguard, a protective shadow, who shielded Isaura against the importunities and brutal attempts of Leoncio. However small the respect her husband had for her, she was still a powerful obstacle, at least against the acts of violence he might wish to put into practice to achieve his execrable ends. Isaura pondered all this, and it is hard to form an idea of the state of terror and faintness in which that poor soul was left when she saw her mistress depart, leaving her entirely helpless, delivered defenseless to the insane and barbarous whims of that man, who was her master, lover and executioner at the same time.
In fact, Leoncio had scarcely seen his wife vanish behind the last hill, and no longer able to contain the outpouring of his satanic jubilation, he at once set about making use of the time, and began to go through the whole house in search of Isaura. He finally came upon her in the dark corner of an alcove, stretched on the ground almost lifeless, bathed in tears, and drawing convulsive sobs from her breast.
Let us spare the reader the narration of the shameful scene that took place there. Let us content ourselves with saying that Leoncio exhausted all the gentle and persuasive means at his disposal to convince the girl that it was in her interest and her duty to yield to his desires. He made the most splendid promises and the most solemn protestations; he stooped to the most humble supplications, and vilely dragged himself at the feet of the slave, from whose mouth he heard only bitter words and terrible reproaches; and seeing at last that all these means were fruitless, he withdrew full of wrath, vomiting the most tremendous threats.
To give these threats a beginning of execution, that very day he ordered her put to work among the spinners, where we left her in the preceding chapter. From there she would have to be taken to the plantation, from the plantation to the stocks, from the stocks to the pillory, and from the pillory certainly to the tomb, if she persisted in her resistance to her master's orders.
Chapter IX.
Leoncio, impatient and with his heart burning in the flames of a feverish and delirious passion, could not resign himself to postponing any longer the satisfaction of his libidinous desires. Wandering here and there through the whole house, as one who gave orders to reform the domestic service, which from then on was to run entirely under his charge, he did no more than spy on Isaura's every movement, seeking an occasion to find her alone in order to insist anew and with more force on his abominable pretensions. From a window he saw the slave spinners cross the courtyard to go to dinner, and he noticed Isaura's absence.
--Good!... everything is going wonderfully! murmured Leoncio with satisfaction; at that moment there passed through his mind the happy thought of sending an overseer to take the other slaves to the coffee grove, leaving him almost alone with Isaura in the midst of those vast and deserted buildings.
They will tell me that, Isaura being a slave, Leoncio, in order to find himself alone with her, did not need such subterfuges, and had nothing more to do than have her brought into his presence by fair means or foul. Certainly he could proceed thus, but I do not know what prestige beauty united with nobility of soul and superiority of intelligence has, even in a slave, that it imposes respect on even the most perverse and corrupt beings. Therefore Leoncio, despite all his cynicism and obsession, could not exempt himself from rendering in the depths of his soul a certain homage to the beauty and virtues of that exceptional slave, and from treating her with somewhat more delicacy than the others.
--Isaura,--said Leoncio, continuing the dialogue that we had only just begun,--know now that your fate is entirely in my hands.
--It always has been, sir,--answered Isaura humbly.
--Now more than ever. My father has died, and you are not unaware that I am his only heir. Malvina, for reasons that you have doubtless guessed, has just abandoned me, and has withdrawn to her father's house. It is I, then, who today alone govern in this house, and dispose of destiny. But also, Isaura, on your will alone depends your happiness or your perdition.
--On my will!... oh! no, sir; my fate depends solely on the will of my master.
--And I greatly desire--replied Leoncio with the tenderest inflection of voice,--with all the strength of my soul, to make you the happiest of creatures; but how, if you obstinately refuse me the happiness that you, only you, could give me?...
--I, sir?! oh! for pity's sake, leave the humble slave in her place; remember lady Malvina, who is so beautiful, so good, and who loves you so much. It is in her name that I beg you, my master; cease to lower your eyes to a poor captive, who in everything is ready to obey you, except in this, which you demand...
--Listen, Isaura; you are very young, and you do not know how to give things their due weight. One day, and perhaps too late, you will repent having rejected my love.
--Never!--exclaimed Isaura.--I would commit an infamous treason against my mistress if I gave ear to my master's amorous words.
--Childish scruples!... listen still, Isaura. My mother, seeing your lovely figure and the liveliness of your spirit,--perhaps because she had no daughter of her own,--took pains to give you an education, as she would have given to a beloved daughter. She loved you exceedingly, and if she did not give you freedom it was for fear of losing you; it was to keep you always beside her. If she acted thus out of love, how can I let go of your hand, I who love you with another sort of love far more ardent and exalted, a love without limits, a love that will drive me to madness or to suicide, if not ... but what am I saying!... My father,--God forgive him,--led by a sordid avarice, wanted to sell your freedom for a handful of gold, as if there were gold in the world worth the inestimable charms with which heaven endowed you. Profanation!... I would repel as one repels an insult anyone who dared come offer me money for your freedom. Free you are, for God could not form a being so perfect to devote it to slavery.
Free you are, for thus my mother wished it, and thus I wish it. But, Isaura, my love for you is immense; I cannot, I must not abandon you to the world. I would die of grief if I saw myself forced to let go of the inestimable jewel that heaven seems to have destined for me, and which I have so long surrounded with the most ardent yearnings of my soul...
--Forgive me, sir; I cannot comprehend it; you tell me I am free, and you do not permit me to go where I wish, nor even to dispose freely of my heart?!
--Isaura, if you wish it, you will not only be free; you will be the lady, the goddess of this house. Your orders, whatever they may be, your slightest whims will be punctually carried out; and I, better than the tenderest and most loyal of lovers would do, will surround you with all the cares and caresses, with all the adorations that the most ardent and inextinguishable love can inspire. Malvina abandons me!... so much the better! what do I depend on her and her love for, if I possess you! Let these bonds woven by interest be broken once and for all forever! Let her forget me forever, for I in the arms of my Isaura will find more than enough joy to be able to remember her.
--What you have just said horrifies me. How can one forget and abandon to contempt a woman so loving and affectionate, so full of charms and virtues, as mistress Malvina? My master, forgive me if I speak to you frankly; to abandon a beautiful, faithful and virtuous woman for love of a poor slave would be the ugliest of ingratitudes...
At such a severe and crushing reproach, Leoncio felt his pride revolt.
--Be silent, insolent slave!--he shouted full of wrath.--That I should bear your disdain and repulses without becoming irritated, very well; but reprimands!... whom do you think you are speaking to?...
--Forgive me! sir!... exclaimed Isaura, terrified and repentant of the words that had escaped her.
--And yet, if you showed yourself gentler with me ... but no, it is too much to debase myself before a slave; what need have I to beg for that which by right belongs to me? Remember, ungrateful and rebellious slave, that in body and soul you belong to me, to me alone and to no one else. You are my property; a vessel that I hold in my hands, and that I can use or shatter as I please.
--You can shatter it, my master; well I know it; but for pity's sake do not wish to use it for impure and shameful ends. The slave also has a heart, and it is not given to the master to wish to govern its affections.
--Affections!... who speaks here of affections?! Can you by chance dispose of them?...
--Not certainly, my master; the heart is free; no one can enslave it, not even its own owner.
--Your whole being is a slave; your heart will obey, and if you do not yield willingly, I have on my side the right and the force ... but why? to possess you it is not worth employing these extreme means. The instincts of your heart are low and abject like your condition; to satisfy you I will make you the woman of the vilest, the most hideous of my negroes.
--Ah! sir! well I know of what you are capable. It was thus that your father caused my poor mother to die of grief and ill treatment; I already see that the same fate is destined for me. But be certain that I will lack neither the means nor the courage to be forever free of my master and of the world.
--Oh!--exclaimed Leoncio with a satanic smile,--you have already reached such a high degree of exaltation and romanticism!... this in a slave is not a little curious. Such is the profit one draws from giving education to such creatures! you show well that you are a slave, who lives by playing the piano and reading novels. It is just as well that you warned me; I will know how to freeze the ebullition of that overheated brain. Rebellious and senseless slave, you will have neither hands nor feet to put your sinister intentions into practice. Hey there, André,--he shouted and whistled loudly on the handle of his whip.
--Sir!--shouted the page from afar, and a moment later he was in the presence of Leoncio.
--André,--he said to him in a dry, curt voice--bring me at once a foot-block and shackles with a padlock.
--Holy Virgin!--André murmured to himself in amazement.--What is all this for?... ah! poor Isaura!...
--Ah! my lord, for pity's sake!--exclaimed Isaura, falling to her knees at Leoncio's feet, and raising her hands to heaven in contortions of anguish; by the still-warm ashes of her father, who had died only a few days before, by the soul of her mother, who loved her so much, do not martyr your unhappy slave. Overwhelm me with labors, condemn me to the coarsest and heaviest service, and I will submit to anything without murmuring; but what you demand of me, I cannot, I must not do, even though I must die.
--It pains me to treat you this way, but you yourself force me to this extreme. You well see that it does not suit me in any way to lose a slave such as you are.
Perhaps one day you will still be grateful to me for having prevented you from killing yourself.
--It will be the same!--shouted Isaura, rising haughtily, and with the hoarse and trembling accent of despair,--I will not kill myself by my own hands, but I will die at the hands of an executioner.
At that moment André arrives bringing the foot-block and the shackles, which he deposits on a bench, and withdraws immediately.
Upon seeing those barbarous and degrading instruments of torture, Isaura's eyes clouded over, her heart froze with dread, her legs failed her, she fell to her knees and, leaning over the footstool on which she was resting, burst into a torrent of tears.
--Soul of my old mistress!--she exclaimed in a voice broken by sobs,--help me in these troubles; help me there from heaven, where you are, as you helped me here on earth.
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