Isaura, the SlavePart 26
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Part 26
In the solitude in which Leoncio found himself after his break with Malvina, Jorge was an excellent resource for him when he was at the estate. He served as a companion not only at the table, but also at games and hunting; he entertained him by telling him amusing and scandalous anecdotes, applauded his follies and extravagances, and flattered his base passions, while Leoncio, who truly believed him a friend, made him his confidant, and communicated to him his most intimate thoughts, his plans of wickedness, and the most secret family affairs.
To better enter into the mystery of the atrocious and ignoble plans, of the satanic machinations of Leoncio, let us listen to the intimate conversation that these two beings, worthy of each other, are about to hold.
"--At last, Jorge, I have found an ingenious and safe means of smoothing over all the difficulties. In this way I hope that everything will work out wonderfully.
"--Certainly, and in advance I give you my congratulations for your triumphs, and I applaud you for the happy combination of your plans.
"--But listen further so that you may better understand them. With this marriage my wife's desires are satisfied, without Isaura escaping entirely from my power. Since her father is under my strict dependence, I will know how to keep near me that stupid gardener whom I am marrying her to, and later ... you know well, time and perseverance tame the wildest beasts. Meanwhile the insolent slave will receive the punishment that her unqualifiable rebelliousness deserves. It was absolutely necessary for me to take this step, because my wife obstinately refuses to reconcile with me as long as I keep Isaura captive in my power, a woman's whim, which would matter very little to me, if it were not...--this here between us, my friend; I trust in your discretion.
"--You may speak without fear, for my heart is like a tomb for the secrets of friendship.
"--Well; I was saying to you that I would care very little about my wife's sulks and whims, if it were not for the complete disorder into which my affairs have unfortunately fallen. As a consequence of an infinity of circumstances, which it is unnecessary to explain to you now, my fortune is threatened with suffering a horrendous crash, from which I do not know if it will be possible for me to raise it without outside help. Now my father-in-law is the only one who, with the help of his money or his credit, can still shore up the edifice of my fortune about to collapse.
"--In truth you proceed with consummate tact and prudence. Oh! your father-in-law!... I know him well; it is a solid fortune, and one of the strongest houses in Rio de Janeiro; your father-in-law will not leave you in the lurch. He loves his daughter extremely, and will not want to see her husband ruined.
"--Of that I am certain. But this is not all yet; listen further, Jorge. My rival, that certain Senhor Alvaro, who so coveted my Isaura for his mistress, who had no shame in seducing her, sheltering her and protecting her publicly and scandalously in Recife, that grotesque champion of the freedom of other people's slaves, who protested that he would dispute Isaura with me at every risk, will be once and for all undeceived in his stupid pretension. See then, Jorge, how many interests and advantages are reconciled in the simple fact of this marriage.
"--An admirable plan in truth, Leoncio!" exclaimed Jorge emphatically. "--You have a superior tact, and a subtle intelligence fertile in resources!... if you devoted yourself to politics, I assure you that you would play an eminent role; you would be a consummate statesman. That Don Quixote of a new species, protector of the freedom of other people's slaves, when they are pretty, will find nothing but windmills to combat. We shall laugh a great deal at his disappointment, if it enters his head to continue his burlesque adventure.
"--I believe he will not fall into that; but if he should appear here, we would have much to mock him for.
"--Sir," said André entering the room, "there are some gentlemen at the door who ask permission to dismount and enter.
"--Ah! I know," said Leoncio, "it is them, it is the persons I sent for; the vicar, the notary and others ... good! now we lack nothing. They came more quickly than I expected. Have them dismount and enter, André.
André leaves, Leoncio rings a bell, and Rosa appears.
"--Rosa," he says to her, "go now and call mistress Malvina, and Isaura, and Senhor Miguel and Belchior. They must already be ready; their presence is needed here now.
"--I am anxious to see the end of this farce," said Leoncio to his friend, "but I want it to be performed with a certain pomp and solemnity, to impress that I take great pleasure in satisfying Malvina's whim and better deceive her credulity; but,--let this stay here between us,--this marriage is nothing but a hoax. I am entirely certain that Isaura despises from the bottom of her soul that miserable idiot, who will be her husband in name only. Meanwhile I will remain waiting for better times, and I hope that my plan will produce the desired effect.
"--As for me, I have not the least doubt regarding the result of a plan so wonderfully combined.
Hardly had Jorge finished pronouncing these words, when there appeared at the door of the hall a handsome young gentleman, in elegant traveling clothes, accompanied by three or four more persons. Leoncio, who was already hastening to receive them and greet them, stopped short.
"--Oh!... they are not whom I expected!..." he murmured to himself. "--If I am not mistaken... it is Alvaro!...
"--Senhor Leoncio!" said the gentleman greeting him.
"--Senhor Alvaro," replied Leoncio, "for I believe it is that gentleman whom I have the honor to receive in my house.
"--It is he himself, sir; your servant.
"--Ah! I am very glad ... I did not expect you ... please sit down ... so you wished to come for a stroll here in our southern provinces?...
These and other banal phrases Leoncio said, trying to recover from the perturbation into which the sudden and unexpected appearance of Alvaro at that critical and solemn moment had thrown him.
At the same moment there entered the hall through an inner door Malvina, Isaura, Miguel and Belchior. They came already prepared with the appropriate attire for the marriage ceremony.
"--My God!... what am I seeing!..." murmured Isaura, shaking Miguel's arm vigorously; "--am I mistaken?... no;... it is he.
"--It is he himself. God!... how is it possible.
"--Oh!" exclaimed Isaura; and in this simple interjection, which she exhaled like a sigh, was expressed the relief of an abyss of anguish that weighed upon her heart. Anyone who looked at her closely with attention would see a light blush on that face, which pain and suffering seemed to have condemned to an eternal and marble paleness; it was the dawn of hope, whose first and timid glow appeared on the cheeks of her whose existence at that moment was about to bury itself in the shadows of a lugubrious sunset.
"--I did not expect the honor of receiving you today in this your house," continued Leoncio gradually recovering his cool blood and his arrogant air. "--Nevertheless you must permit me to congratulate myself and you for so opportune a visit. Your arrival today in this house seems an auspicious event, and even providential.
"--Yes!?... I am very glad of that ... but will you not have the kindness to say why?...
"--With great pleasure. Know that that protégée of yours, that slave, for whom you made so many extremes in Pernambuco, is to be freed today and married to a man of worth. You have arrived just in time to witness with your own eyes the realization of the philanthropic desires that you had regarding the said slave, and I for my part will be very glad if you wish to attend this act, which will become even more solemn with your presence.
"--And who frees her?" asked Alvaro smiling sardonically.
"--Who else but I, who am her legitimate master," replied Leoncio with haughty assurance.
"--Then I declare to you that you cannot do it, sir;" said Alvaro with firmness. "--That slave no longer belongs to you.
"--She does not belong to me!..." shouted Leoncio rising with a leap, "--are you delirious or are you mocking?...
"--Neither one nor the other," replied Alvaro with all calmness; "--I repeat to you; that slave no longer belongs to you.
"--And who dares to dispossess me of the right that I have over her?
"--Your creditors, sir," replied Alvaro, always with the same firmness and cool blood. "--This estate with all the slaves; this house with its rich furniture, and your silverware, none of this belongs to you anymore; from today onward you cannot dispose here of even the most insignificant object. See," he continued showing him a bundle of papers, "--here I have in my hands your entire fortune. Your liabilities extraordinarily exceed all your assets; your ruin is complete and irremediable, and the execution of all your goods is about to be immediately intimated to you.
At a sign from Alvaro, the clerk who accompanied him presented to Leoncio the order of sequestration and execution of his goods. Leoncio snatching the paper with trembling hand, ran his eyes, flashing with anger, rapidly over it.
"--What then!" he exclaimed, "--is it thus violently and hastily that these things are done! by chance can I not obtain some moratorium, and save my honor and my goods by any other means?...
"--Your creditors have already used toward you all possible condescensions and temporizations. Know further, moreover, that today I am the principal, if not the only creditor of yours; almost all your debt titles belong to me, and are in my hands, and I am not in the mood to admit transactions nor postponements of any nature. Giving your goods to inventory is what you must do; any and every evasion that you attempt will be useless.
"--Curse!" shouted Leoncio, stamping his foot on the ground and tearing his hair.
"--My God!... my God!... what a misfortune!... and what ... shame!..." exclaimed Malvina sobbing.
Chapter XXII.
Let us for a moment leave suspended the scene of the preceding chapter, and the dialogue between the two young men interrupted. They remain there facing each other, like the proud and magnanimous lion having subdued the noxious and treacherous tiger, which snarls in vain beneath the powerful claws of its antagonist. We must explain by what series of circumstances Alvaro came to appear at the house of Isaura's master, to the point of thwarting his atrocious plans, even at the moment when they were about to reach their final execution.
After Isaura had been snatched from him, Alvaro fell into the most bitter prostration of spirit.
Wounded in his pride, stripped of the object of his love, mocked and vilified by the arrogance of an insolent slaveholder, he gave himself over to the darkest despair. Barely had he learned of his setback when Dr. Geraldo rushed to the aid of that noble soul so cruelly struck by destiny. Thanks to the care and counsel of that friend, as solicitous as he was intelligent, Alvaro's grief gradually became calmer and more resigned. Through his exhortations Alvaro even came to convince himself that the best course left for him to take in the difficult circumstances in which he found himself was to try to forget Isaura.
"Every effort you make," his friend told him, "on behalf of Isaura's freedom will be utter madness, which will have no other result than to involve you in new difficulties, covering you with ridicule and humiliation. You have already been through two very cruel disappointments, the one at the ball, and this last one even sadder and more humiliating. You nearly made yourself a police case, wanting to dispute a slave from her legitimate master. Well then; the following ones will be even worse, I assure you, and will make you go rolling from abyss to abyss to your complete ruin."
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