Isaura, the SlavePart 13
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Part 13
With such ideas Alvaro could not fail to be an exalted abolitionist, and he was not one only in words. Since slaves made up no small portion of the inheritance from his parents, he immediately set about emancipating them all. However, as Alvaro had an excessively philanthropic spirit, knowing how dangerous it is to pass abruptly from a state of absolute submission to the enjoyment of full freedom, he organized for his freedmen on one of his farms a kind of colony, whose direction he entrusted to an honest and zealous administrator. From this measure great advantages could result for the freedmen, for society, and for Alvaro himself. The farm was given to them to cultivate, on a leasehold basis, and they, subjecting themselves to a kind of common discipline, not only preserved themselves from giving in to idleness, vice and crime, they had secure subsistence and could acquire some savings, as well as being able to compensate Alvaro for the sacrifice he had made with their emancipation. Original and eccentric like a rich English lord, he professed in his habits the purity and severity of a Quaker. However, as a man of vivid imagination and impressionable heart, he did not fail to love pleasures, luxury, elegance, and above all women, but with a certain delicate Platonism, a certain ideal purity, proper to elevated souls and well-formed hearts. Meanwhile Alvaro had still not found up to then the woman who was to touch his heart, the incarnation of the ideal type that smiled upon him in the vague dreams of his poetic imagination. With such excellent and brilliant qualities, Alvaro certainly must have been an object of great preoccupation in elegant society, and perhaps the secret longing that made the heart of more than one illustrious and beautiful maiden palpitate. He, however, equally courteous and amiable toward all, had not yet given the slightest sign of predilection for any of them.
One can imagine the disenchantment, the astonishment, the terrible disappointment that reigned in the circles of the beautiful women of Pernambuco upon seeing the lively interest and solicitude with which Alvaro surrounded an obscure and poor young woman; the deference with which he treated her, and the enthusiastic praises that without reserve he lavished upon her. Juno and Pallas were not so spiteful when the handsome Paris awarded Venus the prize for beauty. Even before that soiree, Alvaro in some circles of ladies had spoken of Elvira in terms so flattering and even with a certain passionate eloquence, that he surprised and unsettled them all. The young women burned to see that prototype of beauty, and beforehand rained upon the unknown woman and her champion a thousand mockeries and malicious nicknames. When however they saw her, despite the forced and disdainful smiles that barely brushed the flower of their lips, they felt an unpleasant impression stinging them in the depths of their hearts. I beg the beauties' pardon for my rude frankness; vanity is, with very rare exceptions, the inseparable companion of beauty; and where vanity is found, envy, which always accompanies it more or less closely, does not take long to appear. The unknown woman's beauty was incontestable; her modesty and timidity in no way harmed the simple and native elegance with which she was endowed; her dress, simple and even poor in relation to the sumptuous luxury that surrounded her, suited her marvelously, and heightened even more her natural charms. The dazzling effect that Elvira produced at first sight, and the eagerness with which Alvaro sought to make the seductive attractions of Elvira stand out, as if on purpose to eclipse the other beauties of the salon, were more than enough to irritate their vanity and self-love. One and the other were to be on that night the target of a thousand disdainful looks, a thousand mocking smiles, and sharpened epigrams.
Alvaro did not even notice the poorly disguised hostility with which he and his protegee--we can give her that name--were received in that gathering; but the timid and modest Elvira, who found frankness and cordiality nowhere, felt ill at ease in that atmosphere of feigned amiability and courtesy, and in every look she saw a disdainful mockery, in every smile a sarcasm.
We already know who Alvaro was; now let us become acquainted with his friend, Dr. Geraldo.
He was a man of thirty years, a bachelor of law, and a lawyer highly esteemed in the courts of Recife. Among Alvaro's relations, he was the one he cultivated with the most affection and intimacy; an intelligence of good caliber, firm and enlightened, a sincere, frank character full of nobility, gave him the right to that predilection on Alvaro's part. His practical and positive spirit, as must be that of a consummate jurist, paying the greatest respect to institutions and even to all the prejudices and caprices of society, was in complete antagonism with the eccentric and reformist ideas of his friend; but that antagonism, far from disturbing or cooling the mutual esteem and affection that reigned between them, served rather to feed and strengthen them, breaking the monotony that must reign in the relations of two souls always in accord and unison in everything. These such friendships, in the end, seeing that what one thinks, the other also thinks, what one wants, the other equally wants, and that they have nothing to communicate to each other, weary of so much saying--amen,--will find themselves forced to retreat into silence and doze off one facing the other; placid, comfortable and somnolent friendship!... Moreover, the contrariety of tendencies and opinions is always of great utility among friends, modifying and tempering one another. It is thus that often the positivism and practical sense of Dr. Geraldo served as a corrective to the utopias and exaltations of Alvaro, and vice versa.
From Alvaro's own mouth we have already heard by what chance he came to know D. Elvira, and how he managed to bring her to the soiree, which we are still attending.
--My father,--a young lady was saying to a respectable man, on whose arm she leaned, entering the antechamber, where we still remain observing.--My father, let us stay here a little in this room, while it is deserted. Ah! my God!--she continued in a muffled voice, after they had sat down next to each other;--what did I come here to do, I poor slave, in the midst of the soirees of the rich and the noble!... this luxury, these lights, these homages that surround me, disturb my senses and cause me vertigo. It is a crime that I commit, involving myself in the midst of such brilliant society; it is a betrayal, my father; I know it, and I feel remorse... If these noble ladies guessed that beside them a miserable slave who fled from her masters amuses herself and dances!... Slave!--she exclaimed, rising--slave!... it seems to me that everyone is reading, engraved in black letters on my forehead, this sinister word!... let us flee from here, my father, let us flee! this society seems to be mocking me; this air suffocates me... let us flee.
Speaking thus, the pale and breathless young woman cast at each phrase uneasy looks around her, and pulled her father's arm, always repeating with anxious eagerness:--Let us go, my father; let us flee from here.
--Calm your heart, my daughter, replied the old man, trying to soothe her.--Here no one at all can suspect who you are.
How could they suspect that you are a slave, if of all these beautiful and noble ladies, neither for beauty, nor for grace and accomplishments of spirit, can any carry off the palm from you?
--So much the worse, my father; I am the target of all attentions, and those curious looks that from all corners are directed at me make me tremble at every moment; I would even wish that the earth would open beneath my feet and swallow me into its bosom.
--Leave those ideas; that fear and shyness of yours are what could ruin us, if perchance there were the slightest reason for fear. Display with ease all your charms and abilities, dance, sing, converse, show yourself happy and satisfied, and far from supposing you a slave, they are capable of thinking you are a princess. Take courage, my daughter, at least for today; this too, just as it is the first, will be the last time we go through this constraint; we cannot stay any longer in this land, where we are beginning to arouse suspicions.
--It is true, my father!... what a fatality!...--replied the young woman with a sad shake of her head.--So then we are condemned to wander from country to country, sequestered from society, living in mystery, and trembling at every moment, as if heaven had marked us with a branding iron of malediction!... ah! this departure will hurt me deeply in my heart!... I do not know what enchantment binds me to this place. Meanwhile I will have to say an eternal farewell to ... this land, where I enjoyed some days of pleasure and tranquility! Ah! my God!... who knows if it would not have been better to die among the torments of slavery!...
At that moment Alvaro entered the antechamber, scanning it with his eyes, like someone looking for someone.
--Where could they have vanished?--he came murmuring;--would they have had the sad thought of leaving?... oh! no; fortunately there they are!--he exclaimed joyfully, catching sight of the two persons we have just heard conversing.--D. Elvira, Your Excellency is too modest; you come to hide in this corner, when you should be shining in the salon, where everyone sighs for your presence. Leave that for the timid and faded violets; to the rose belongs the right to flaunt all its charms in full light.
--Forgive me,--murmured Isaura--a poor young woman raised like me in the solitude of the countryside, and who is not accustomed to such splendid gatherings, feels suffocated and constrained...
--Oh! no;... she will get used to it, I hope. The lights, the splendor, the harmonies, the perfumes, constitute the atmosphere in which beauty must shine, which God created to be seen and admired. I came to fetch her at the request of some gentlemen, who are already admirers of Your Excellency. To interrupt the monotony of the waltzes and quadrilles, the ladies here are accustomed to enchant our ears with some song, aria, modinha, or whatever it may be. Some persons, to whom I said,--forgive me the indiscretion, daughter of enthusiasm,--that Your Excellency possesses the loveliest voice, and sings with mastery, show the most vivid desire to hear her.
--I, Senhor Alvaro!... I sing before such a brilliant gathering!... please be so kind as to excuse me from this new trial. It is in your own interest that I tell you; I sing badly, I am very shy, and I am certain that I will solemnly give you the lie. Spare us both that shame.
--Those are excuses that I cannot accept, for I have already heard you sing, and believe me, D. Elvira, if I did not have the certainty that you sing admirably, I would not be capable of exposing you to a fiasco. Whoever sings as Your Excellency does must not be shy, and I for my part earnestly beg you to sing nothing other than that mellifluous song of the slave, which the other day I surprised you singing, and I assure Your Excellency that you will enrapture the listeners.
--For what reason can it not be another? that one awakens such sad memories in me...
--And it is perhaps for that very reason that it is so lovely on Your Excellency's lips.
--Ah! woe is me!--sighed D. Elvira within her soul:--those very ones who love me most become, without knowing it, my executioners!...
Elvira would gladly have excused herself at any cost; to sing on that occasion was for her the most painful of sacrifices. But it was no longer possible for her to resist, and remembering the judicious advice of her father, she no longer wished to see herself entreated, and accepting the arm that Alvaro offered her, she was conducted by him to the piano, where she sat down with the grace and elegance of one who finds herself completely familiarized with the instrument.
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