Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Monks -- Fiction; Portugal -- History -- 1826-1853 -- Fiction; Wine and wine making -- Fiction
Luis and Theophilo stared at the Englishman with open mouths. They
could not understand a word he said, but this made him the more
marvelous. From Crowberry they shifted their wonder to Antonio. He
seemed to have called down from the skies a familiar sprite who
handed out millions as coolly as one boy giving another a few screws
of newspaper for the tail of his kite.
"Put back your money, all of you," commanded Antonio. "Theophilo,
give me your father's conto and we are square. And have I your leave
to present my friend to Donna Margarida?"
The whole party made haste to the tiled house, where Jorge and his
sisters hailed Antonio with shouts of joy. They were shy of young
Crowberry at first; but, having asked ten minutes' leave of absence,
the Englishman slipped out to a confeitaria and returned laden with
so exciting a load of candied oranges, Elvas plums, Coimbra marzipan,
and Spanish chocolate that Antonio's star was eclipsed for half an
hour. The guitars and the sweet wine came out once more. Later on
young Crowberry began to tease poor Margarida with such exaggerated
compliments, in bad Portuguese, that Antonio was forced to kick his
heel and to explain in hurried English that Navares was neither
London nor Paris. But Theophilo did not take offense, and the visit
was entirely a success.
On the way home Antonio asked:
"Do you hear anything of Miss Kaye-Templeman and Mrs. Baxter?"
"The widow Baxter is now the widow Lamb," answered Crowberry. "Lamb
was a master-tanner. He survived the wedding six months. That's all
I know. As for Isabel, I've heard nothing for years and years and
years. After her father died she went to live with Lady Julia
Blighe. By the way, you never told me what you really and truly
thought of her."
Antonio turned the subject.
"When you say," he demanded, "that you are planning to live and die
with me, what do you mean? If you are looking for a rural life, with
the sports of a country gentleman, England is the only place to find
it. If it's wine that interests you, I'm sorry; because you drink
too much already. What do you mean?"
"I am not looking for the sports of a country gentleman," said
Crowberry. "As for wine, you are mistaken. I drink a glass or two a
day of the lightest at meals, and I never touch port or spirits. Da
Rocha, I will tell you what I mean. Perhaps you were pained in my
bedroom when I did not show great astonishment at hearing that you
are Father Antonio, a monk of Saint Benedict."
"I was not pained. But I wondered."
"Father Antonio, I guessed your secret years ago. I guessed it on
the voyage home from Lisbon. I guessed that you were working to
regain the abbey. From what Sir Percy told my father, I believed you
secured it after we went away. I imagined that you had resumed the
cloistered life and that this was why you didn't write to your old
friends in the world."
"But you came out, this time, to become my partner as a wine-grower,"
objected Antonio.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account