“Was she so high in power?”
“Yes:––and––no, Excellency. She was, with all her estates, so close under the guard of the Viceroy that she could win all favors but––freedom!”
“How?” queried Don Ruy with wrinkled brow––his thoughts travelling fast to the converse of the gentle maniac as told him by the padre. “Has the Viceroy then a collection of pretty birds in cages––and must they sing only for the viceregal ear?”
“I cannot tell as to other cages, Señor, but this one was meant to sing only for a viceregal relative:––if she proved heretic, then the convent waited and her lands were otherwise disposed of.”
“Hum! Then even in the provinces such rulings work as swiftly as at court! Well, what outer charge was there?”
“The strongest possible charge, Excellency. The mother of the girl had Indian blood, and, despite the wealth and Christian teaching of her husband––returned to Indian worship at his death. For that she was called mad, and ended her days in a Convent. The daughter of course will also be mad if she refuses to be guided by the good friends who select her husband––that husband was her only gate to freedom, knowing which the maid did certainly do some mad things:––to strangers she tried to speak––from her duenna she slipped out in the night time––oh 197 there is no doubt that all the evidence will show plainly in court that she is more mad than her mother––”
“Chico!”––The hand of Don Ruy rested on the shoulder of the lad––“You are telling me the hidden part of a story to which I have listened from other lips––and your eyes have tears in them!––Tush!––be not ashamed lad. You yourself have heart for the lady?”
“Not in a way unseemly,” retorted the lad, dashing the water from his eyes,––“to think of the mother dead like that behind the bars is not a cheery thing! As for the daughter––I dare call myself her foster brother, and I dare pray for her that she finds the chance to die in the open!”
“What a little world it is!” said the adventurer. “Do you mean that you did come with a message––and that your heart failed you as to consequences? You failed the lady––my unknown lady of the tryst?”
“Excellency:––the maid thought you a person of adventure, and she dared hope to buy your services––then––you two know best what you whispered in the dark!––but she no longer thought of purchase money in exchange for helping her escape to a ship;––God knows what she thought of, for you must not forget that she is called mad, Señor! But with all her madness she would not have approached your highness with the same freedom had she dreamed that your rank was high as the camp whispered to me the day I came for speech with you! That rank told me a story I could not go back and tell her, Señor––so––I used my forged letter written on viceregal paper, and secured service with a man instead of a maid.”