"She has a dear little face of her own," repeated Teodoro, putting his hand under her chin; "Sofía, lend me your handkerchief. Come, we will get rid of the moustache."
Teodoro returned the handkerchief to Sofía after wiping Nela's face. Don Francisco told the girl to go and join the blind boy, and she hobbled away.
"And if I contradict him," he then went on, "my son tells me that, perhaps the gift of sight has weakened my perception of the true aspect of things—a quaint paradox!"
"Do not contradict him at all, and for the present discontinue your readings. For a few days we must adopt a regimen of absolute tranquillity. The brain must be treated with the utmost consideration before attempting any operation of this kind."
"If it is indeed God's will that my son should receive his sight," said Penáguilas devoutly, "I shall regard you as the greatest and most beneficent of men. The darkness of his eyes is the darkness of my life; that black shadow has saddened all my days, and clouds all the wealth and ease of which I am master. For I am rich—but of what use are riches? How can I care for the things he cannot see. Only a month ago I fell heir to a fine fortune—you know, Don Cárlos, my cousin Faustino died at Matamoros. He had no children, so my brother Manuel and I are his heirs. It is throwing pearls before swine—not as regards my brother, who has a daughter, a sweet girl, old enough to marry—but so far as I am concerned, a wretched man who can never see his son enjoy the best pleasures of a respectable and easy position."
A long silence followed, interrupted only by the gentle lowing of the cows in the adjoining stable.
"And then," added the worthy father in melancholy tones, "he knows nothing of the pleasures of work, the greatest pleasure of all. Ignorant, as he is, of the beauties of Nature, what can he know of the delights of the country or the charms of agriculture? I cannot imagine how God can bear to deprive a human creature of the pleasure of admiring a fat beast, a tree loaded with pears, or a green pasture; of seeing the fruits of the earth in their abundance; of sending out the laborers to their day's toil, and reading the signs of the weather in the sky. For him life is simply a fevered dream—it is lonely too; solitary, for he can never have the comfort of a family round him. When I die what family will the poor blind boy have? He will not want to marry, nor will he find a woman of good family who would engage herself to him, in spite of his wealth; nor, indeed, could I advise him to marry. So that when Don Teodoro gave me a hope, I felt as if heaven was opened to me; I had visions of a young and happy and sensible marriage; cherubs—my grandchildren—fluttered round me; I saw my tombstone graced and fragrant with the blossoms of a future generation, and the loving care which even after death should follow me to the grave.—You cannot enter into all this; you cannot know how my brother, who is as good as gold, God bless him!—as soon as he heard of my hopes, began to plot and plan and dream.—Here, this is what he says"—and he took out a parcel of letters which he turned over for a few minutes without finding the one he wanted.—"Well, to make a long story short, he was beside himself with delight and he said to me: 'I will marry my Florentina to your Pablo, and so we shall get compound interest on the half million of pesos left by cousin Faustino.'—I can see him, poor old Manuel, rubbing his hands and strutting about as his way is when he has hit on a good idea. I am expecting him and his daughter to arrive at any hour; they are coming to stay with me for the 4th of October, and to see what comes of this attempt to bless my son with the light of day."
By this time it was growing dark and the party of four became aware of a most appetizing vapor issuing from the house, and announcing a savory farm-supper. The village patriarch, who seemed the very incarnation of the spirit of the place—a tranquil melancholy—spoke again presently: "My brother's happiness and my own depends on my having a son, whom I may propose as a husband for his daughter, who is as sweet and fair as the Holy Virgin, as we see her represented when the angel of the Lord comes to say: 'The Lord is with thee.' My blind boy is not the man—but my Pablo, with his eyesight, would realize my fondest dreams and bring the blessing of God into my house."
They were all silent, deeply impressed by the worthy father's simple and pathetic utterances, and he himself raised his rough, brown hand, hardened by labor, to wipe away a tear.
"What have you to say to all this?" Cárlos asked his brother.