Her husband’s puzzled expression declared the nature of the communication, aside from his voiced expression as if in repetition, “Annette, harp, violin, dulcetina!” Correliana added to the sum of his perplexity by asking if the young woman having Don Pedro’s children in charge was the sole survivor of the unfortunates who received his assisting sympathy while in the extremity of their distress in Rio? Startled by a question that implied her knowledge of a secret which he supposed was only known to Annette and himself, he answered, inquiringly, “Yes?” Receiving from his wife a fond kiss of benediction, she asked: “Do you wonder that I discovered the source that gained you Manatitlan approval, with an affection so fearless in its sympathy while imparting its succoring rays of goodness? You wonder at my ready acquisition of your language and the source of my information? Do you suppose, with an innate perception of the unselfish sympathy which prompted you to solace the sufferings of those forlorn beings, who had afforded me protection at the cost of their kinsfolk’s lives, that I could remain content without perfecting myself for the full enjoyment of a languaged communion with your thoughts? The voice that startled your memory, was the prompting familiar’s, who attended you in Rio through the sad scenes, that in termination bequeathed the harp, violin, and dulcetina, as mementos to stimulate your unselfish affection for the devisement of means for the future relief of your race from the cause of such calamitous hereditaments.”
Tears glistened in the eyes of her husband as her loving sympathy brought back with graphic effect the scenes indelibly impressed upon his memory. Recovering from his emotions, he beckoned to Annette, who, attended by Mr. Welson, had held herself aloof from the newly wedded; quickly answering to his signal, she was introduced to his wife, who bestowed upon her a warm embrace as a prelude to more affectionate communion. Then in answer to his desire to listen in judgment of her proficiency, Cleorita and Oviata volunteered their service with Kyronese aids to bring the dulcetina, harp, and violin from the hospidoræ. When the harp was attuned to the dulcetina, Annette, with ready ear and touch improvised an accompaniment to the simple air of an anthem of Correliana’s composition, at the same time watching her supposed self-taught success in the management of her father’s instrumental conception. From the first Annette’s pleasure became manifest, for Correliana retained the tenor of her composition independent of the harp. At the close of the instrumental duo, Annette highly commended her proficiency, giving her the desired assurance of capability for the attainment of unusual skill, both in vocal and instrumental music. Annette’s skillful instrumentation and melodious vocalization caused Dr. Baāhar to observe, naturalistically, that there was a sensible diminution in the length of the buzz and genealogical curators of sound’s musical horns. The prætor Manito was in ecstasies with the successful rendition of his pupil, and declared to his wife his intention of extending to Annette a kiss of welcome, out of his abounding love for her musical talent. Disappearing from our Giga eyes on the instant, but not from those of his wife, whose face mantled with a blush when she saw him in the very act of imprinting a kiss upon her lips, the recipient, with a vague impression, raised her hand and brushed it away. The Dosch remarking the effect produced upon Manito’s wife, said, that it was an apt illustration of jealousy, for it never considered the relative disproportion of the exciting objects. Manito’s next appearance upon the stage was under the lead of his wife’s thumb and forefinger, attached to his ear, while with assumed tartness, in strong Giga accent, she upbraided him for the impudent infidelity of the act. But her curiosity getting the better of her assumed indifference, she tauntingly exclaimed, “I suppose you found the unreciprocated stolen kiss from a single Giga lip more than equal in sweetness to two of ours prompted by conscious affection?” Slipping from her finger’s hold, he gave the flying answer: “Yes, truly, I found her lip as full in volume as the tones of her voice!”
Lovieta and Lavoca, who had witnessed this playful episode, whisperingly asked Mr. Welson: “Are these large ones related to the ear Manatitlans, and will they grow larger when they grow older?” But as his answer failed to satisfy their comprehension, they asked him, if they looked as pretty as the Manatitlans now that they were dressed like them? A caressing hand upon their heads proving a satisfactory reply, they declared it a moda linda, facil, y agradable a la vista, and in the Heraclean school, so nicely clothed, they felt sure that they should become good, graciosa, and would try to be as affectionate as the brides! In benediction, for the success of their good intentions, Mr. Welson bestowed commendatory kisses, and again placed them in charge of Cleorita and Oviata.
Anxious to read his letters, he, with the Dosch, retired to the quarters of the corps. After glancing at his formulistic letters of “friendship” and business,—which were closely interwoven,—under the supervision of the Dosch, who kept up a running commentary, in which he pointed out the prospective selfishness of each correspondent, in a manner so legible, their insincerity became so disgusting to the receiver that he laid them aside, wondering how he had allowed himself to be beguiled for a lifetime with such shadowy pretexts. The letter of Don Pedro Garcia, which he had reserved for the last, revived his hopeful trust in the latent goodness of humanity. We offer its chapter transcript for the benefit of the reader.
CHAPTER XXX.
Buenos Ayres, November 5th, 187-.
Dear Don Guillermo: You will be very much surprised, notwithstanding the forewarning of intention, to find yourself unexpectedly greeted in Heraclea by your little favorites Lovieta and Lavoca. It has cost us a painful struggle to part with them; but we should have been unmindful of our privilege and duty as conservators for their future welfare, in joyous transmission, if we had consulted the disposition of our selfish feelings. Even if our household was of the most suitable description known to civilization for rearing children, I should not have hesitated a moment in imploring your influence for their admission into the Heraclean school. Consolata, with unprejudiced consideration, fully appreciates the advantages of the protective course, for conferring present and future happiness.
Realmente, the evidence appeals so directly to the affectionate understanding, the niñas fully comprehend the advantages that it will afford, which in thoughtful mood they expressed, by asking us if we did not think the Manatitlans and Heracleans from having such nice parents for so long a time were better than good? I am free to confess that I felt a wince at the touch palpable the question conveyed; tears glistened in the eyes of Consolata, as she enfolded the unconscious challengers in her arms, with a languaged embrace that impressed them with affirmative conviction, while it imparted a desire for their forgiveness, which trebly admonished me of my own unworthiness. It is strange how little use we now have for voiced words to give expression to our thoughts. This silent source of happy intercourse bespeaks with increasing flow our current perception of a joyous unity in affection, including in its circle of communion M. Baudois and our neighborly confluents. In our morning and evening walks for the exampled demonstration of happy regeneration, that in practice its source may be made known to others, reflections from objects are so similar in impression that a glance is sufficient for the conveyance of coincident thought comparisons. Last evening, while on our way to visit the “industrial” establishments of our foreign “citizens” (by invitation), who are constantly begging for governmental concessions for the encouragement of their enterprising “undertakings,” we passed many of our black priestly scentipedes, and it was with conscious emotions of joy that I felt the confiding pressure of Consolata’s arm, as she averted her face to avoid the necessity of hypocritical salutation. As my governmental position had evoked from Mr. Hogg an invitation to visit his distillery, I proposed to M. Baudois the advisability of taking the family, that we might observe the effect produced by the improvements, upon my wife and children. With his approval they were taken; and while we were cautiously picking our path along the causeway crossing of the slough that separates the brewery premises of Von Guzzledorf from those of the distillery, Mr. Hogg, in his obsequious desire to honor our visit with propitious attention, hastened to meet us with his ponderous body and jowled cheeks and neck in jellied tremor from the emotions of a waddling gait, in gloat of the expectant relish of selfish gratification. After a wheezing prelude, with a cough that in fitful gusts conveyed the foul odors of gamey engorgement, he lamented his asthmatic affliction, that refused to yield to remedies, although he had spared no expense to avail himself of the best talent that could be secured for “love” or money. But recently, he said, he had obtained great relief from the prescriptions of Dr. Bull, a member of the royal college of surgeons, who had recently come out from London, at his instigation; a man of eminent ability who had gained a great reputation for his prophylactic pills, a box of which every family should keep in their house, to be taken regular every morning. While engaged in this preliminary detail of health and its providential means of preservation, Lovieta and Lavoca with ill suppressed disdainful sniffs of comparison, allowed their eyes to alternate between his person and a family of his namesake’s, who, with a strong personal resemblance and odor, were indulging in the luxurious contributions from the neighboring brewery and kindred establishments bordering upon the slough.
Our visits to the distillery and brewery were certainly not propitious for securing the desired grant of land, for the enlargement of their industrial facilities, notwithstanding the sacrificial offering of a box of Wolf’s Scheidam Schnapps and a dozen of old London Dock Sherry, of 1824. When leaving, Mr. Hogg begged me for the welfare of myself and family, not to forget that Dr. Bull was for the present stopping at the Hotel del Mundo. On our return home, a bath was held in requisition for purification from the attaint of the visit. Under these contrasted impressions, our thoughts have withheld us from instinctive gratification by the force of repulsive comparison. Of course, our singularity has evoked the despiteful recognition of the evil disposed, but we feel an enduring recompense in the loving reciprocations of our household; for we no longer suffer from those transitions which of old subjected us in a day to mutations, that realized within the zones of affection, tropical heats, with terror motor accompaniments of tornado, thunder gusts, and intermediate alternations to the frosty stillness of the frigid.
With realized happiness, we are encouraged with the approving commendations of our Manatitlan sojourners to believe that a perfect eradication of the parental past will be accomplished in the memories of our children, under Heraclean tuition, for in the change they already recognize the happy cause. When a sufficient time has elapsed for the fulfillment of an end so desirable, we shall, with the prætor’s permission, make Heraclea our permanent home. Then, with the privilege of monthly visits to our daughters, we shall enter upon an era of happiness that we feel assured will outlast the records of time; for we have already tested the efficacy of purity and goodness, in sufficient degree for an initial impression of immortality. In companionship with you and the members of the corps, under the direction of the Dosch, and the example of the Heracleans, I shall endeavor to amend my own crotchety humors, which, if we except the superstitious devotion of instinct to rites and ceremonies, and herding predilections, are in no great degree above those I affect to despise, in the matter of stability. But I am fully impressed with the belief, that Creative wisdom devised purity and goodness, as the simple creed of self legislation and approving test of immortality.