"Senor, it is the daughter of the Jew whom I love."
"A Jewess!" exclaimed Don Vegal, with disgust.
But seeing the sadness of the Indian, he added:
"Let us go, _amigo_, we will talk of these things afterward!"
An hour later, Martin Paz, clad in Spanish costume, left the city,
accompanied by Don Vegal, who took none of his people with him.
The Baths of Chorillos are situated at two leagues from Lima. This
Indian parish possesses a pretty church; during the hot season it is the
rendezvous of the fashionable Limanian society. Public games,
interdicted at Lima, are permitted at Chorillos during the whole summer.
The senoras there display unwonted ardor, and, in decorating himself for
these pretty partners, more than one rich cavalier has seen his fortune
dissipated in a few nights.
Chorillos was still little frequented; so Don Vegal and Martin Paz
retired to a pretty cottage, built on the sea-shore, could live in quiet
contemplation of the vast plains of the Pacific Ocean.
The Marquis Don Vegal, belonging to one of the most ancient families of
Peru, saw about to terminate in himself the noble line of which he was
justly proud; so his countenance bore the impress of profound sadness.
After having mingled for some time in political affairs, he had felt an
inexpressible disgust for the incessant revolutions brought about to
gratify personal ambition; he had withdrawn into a sort of solitude,
interrupted only at rare intervals by the duties of strict politeness.
His immense fortune was daily diminishing. The neglect into which his
vast domains had fallen for want of laborers, had compelled him to
borrow at a disadvantage; but the prospect of approaching mediocrity did
not alarm him; that carelessness natural to the Spanish race, joined to
the ennui of a useless existence, had rendered him insensible to the
menaces of the future. Formerly the husband of an adored wife, the
father of a charming little girl, he had seen himself deprived, by a
horrible event, of both these objects of his love. Since then, no bond
of affection had attached him to earth, and he suffered his life to
float at the will of events.
Don Vegal had thought his heart to be indeed dead, when he felt it
palpitate at contact with that of Martin Paz. This ardent nature awoke
fire beneath the ashes; the proud bearing of the Indian suited the
chivalric hidalgo; and then, weary of the Spanish nobles, in whom he no
longer had confidence, disgusted with the selfish mestizoes, who wished
to aggrandize themselves at his expense, he took a pleasure in turning
to that primitive race, who have disputed so valiantly the American soil
with the soldiers of Pizarro.
According to the intelligence received by the marquis, the Indian passed
for dead at Lima; but, looking on his attachment for the Jewess as worse
than death itself, the Spaniard resolved doubly to save his guest, by
leaving the daughter of Samuel to marry Andre Certa.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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