he unlocked an iron-bound box which he had placed | which we see is cut zigzag (indented the lawyers call it) upon the table. "But, first, have you witten to Father Ortiz-the bishop, that is to say?" "Yes, and I have his letter in reply with me. He perfectly remembers the death of the Lady Constancia, and witnessing the document you speak of, although he can remember only its general tenor." "Is this like the signature in the letter?" said Alvarez, placing his finger upon a name at the bottom of a parchment he had unrolled. "My eyes are not as good as they were. Have the goodness to compare the two signatures," said Señor Manuel, placing the letter in my hands. "The signatures," I said, "which are very peculiar, are identical. There can, I think, be no doubt of that." "And there are no erasures, no blots, no alterations, señor ?" "None whatever." across the top-fits that in his lordship's possession, as well as matches it in grain, there cannot be the shadow of the shade of a doubt that we are in possession of the original bona fide document. Eh, friend Juan, is not that so?" 66 The man was breathing freely again, and the natural color had returned to his cheeks. Certainly, certainly," he said: "the device was excellent, admirable. The test can be applied as soon as you please." "Bravo, my friend! I knew you would say so. Thus, then, let it be the bishop happens to be at Sevilla just now. Let the document be sent there, officially, for registration at the Chancellaria, which, I am advised, is in all cases the proper course: his lordship will then have an opportunity of verifying it. In the meantime, for I now throw all doubt and hesitation to the winds, let us have the marriage-contract drawn up, and signed "Then have the goodness, my dear sir, to read the and sealed without delay, according to the terms you document aloud." proposed, and I cheerfully agree to." I did so. The first part related to some testamentary dispositions regarding the child; then came a list of some family ornaments. "Here they are," said Alvarez, taking them out of the box and placing them on the table. "They precisely corresponded with the inventory. The next and important lines, in my view of the matter, described the child's person minutely: "Brunette complexion, black eyes and hair, and long eyelashes; small feet, one pockmark over the right eyebrow, and two moles about an inch apart at the back of the neck." Katerina, unquestionably! There could be no question upon the matter. She was a Goth, then, by descent! So much for my conceit in ethnological science. 66 Capital!" exclaimed the merchant; "Katerina's exact portrait. The moles I saw half an hour since. Still, friend Juan, your document might be a forgery; nay, don't look so fierce, man: it might, I say, be a clever imitation of the original instrument, altered only in a material part-the description of the child, for instance." "Señor Manuel," said Alvarez, faintly, "what, what can you mean?" The man's countenance was as white as a tombstone, either with consternation or anger, I could not for the moment decide which. Presently, I felt assured that it could have been from anger only. "I say," resumed Manuel, "that such a charge, but for the forethought of the excellent bishop, might have been insinuated, especially by that scamp of a nephew, Antonio de Gonsalvo. But that will be hereafter impossible if you agree-and I am sure you will readily -to submit the parchment to another test." Juan Alvarez joyfully assented; and now all obstacles smoothed away, all doubts removed, Señor Manuel's self and cigar kindled into unwonted irradiation, as emitting an extraordinary cloud of smoke, while I slipped out, just to take a turn or two, and ask myself a few questions. What could be the true meaning of that which I had just seen and heard? That both Alvarez and Manuel were playing a part more or less deceitful, I had not the slightest doubt; and as to the latter, I guessed pretty well where his secret lay El Crónica de Cadiz had informed him of the death of Don Lopez de Gonsalvo; and, having thoroughly satisfied himself that Katerina was the true Constancia, he was desirous of hurrying on the match before the news reached Alvarez, and induced him either to insist upon more onerous conditions, or possibly to break off the negotiation altogether. This I mentally booked as certain, with regard to Señor Manuel. But Alvarez puzzled me. My first vague impression had been, that he was endeavoring to palm off his own daughter upon the wealthy merchant as the Lady Constancia de Gonsalvo, under which hypothesis his conduct was intelligible, and might arise from a natural anxiety to provide handsomely for Katerina, in case the Gonsalvo house of cards fell to pieces. Yet the document I had seenif verified by the attesting bishop, and, from the confidence exhibited by Alvarez, I had no doubt that it could be-seemed to establish beyond question that she was the true heiress; but, if so, why was Alvarez so eager for the conclusion of the match? so desirous of uniting the representative of an illustrious house with a "Test! what test?" murmured Juan Alvarez, still merchant's son? he, one of a nation, too, who for the white, trembling, nerveless as it seemed. most part are so absurdly prejudiced in favor of birth "The bishop says in his letter," replied Señor Manuel, and rank? It was altogether too profound a puzzle for "that being strongly impressed with the importance of me; so I gave it up, comforting myself with the pleathe document he was witnessing, and having no time to sant reflection, that Katerina, in whose favor I felt copy it, he took a penknife and cut off in a zigzag direc- extremely prepossessed, would, however matters turned, tion a strip of blank parchment about two inches wide, | have an amiable and attached husband, and a wealthy right across the top of the instrument, and just above home. As to Alvarez and Señor Manuel, I cared but where the writing commenced. He has preserved that little how prosperously or otherwise their selfish venstrip. Now, if this your sheet or skin of parchment-tures reached port or suffered wreck. We-that is, Señor Manuel, his son, and myself slept at San Lucar that night, and the next day the marriage-contract was drawn up and executed. Señor Manuel, Alvarez, and the lover, of course, were extremely anxious that the wedding should take place immediately after the messenger, who had been dispatched to Sevilla with the precious document, upon which so much depended. But Katerina-I beg pardon, Constancia de Gonsalvo-was inexorably determined on procrastination, and was warmly supported in her resolve by her friend and confidante Luïsa, upon the ground of some Spanish etiquette, decorum, or punctilio, which, they made clearly out to their own satisfaction, necessitated the delay of a month at the very least. We were obliged to yield the point, or nearly so; and it was finally settled that the 18th of October next ensuing should be the happy day. Alas for the folly of human hopes and aspirations! The world had lived only to the morning of the 3rd of that month, when a panting messenger informed me that my presence was requested at Señor Manuel's without a moment's delay. It occurred to me that possibly the gout, which I knew had attacked his pedal extremities, might have assailed the more delicate and sensitive machinery of his stomach; but the first glimpse of the merchant and his son dispelled this fear. Señor Manuel was stamping up and down the counting-house, upon his flannelled legs, in a towering passion, cursing, lamenting, and screaming with pain, all in a breath; and poor Alfonso, utterly aghast and woebegone, sat, statue-like, beside his desk. Señor Manuel had an open letter in his hand. "Read that, sir," he exclaimed, checking the ebullition of his wrath sufficiently to be intelligible; "read that, my good friend, and give your advice. By San Jago! my head turns round like a top; The ha! ho!-and Alfonso there never had one. infamous carojo! the rascal! ho! ha! read, my friendread !" 19 the maladie de mer, to excessively weak and sensitive I found Alvarez alone, and in very disconsolate, or, more properly speaking, oppressed mood. I don't know any other word that better expresses the sullen angry dejection he appeared to labor under; whilst the quickglancing flurried expression I had at first remarked, shot more frequently than ever from out the depths of his dark, deep-set, cunningly-intelligent eyes. He appeared glad to see me; but so hesitating, disjointed, and often contradictory was his talk, that I had great difficulty in arriving at the following facts and semi-conclusions :The nephew of Don Lopez was gone to Sevilla, to examine the document registered there, the authenticity of which he had the audacity, according to Alvarez, to dispute, notwithstanding the bishop's voucher, which, I If Katerina, however, was the have omitted to mention, had reached Señor Manuel in due course of post. daughter of Enrique and Constancia de Gonsalvo, then he, the nephew, assumed to be her legal guardian; and as to her marriage with a vulgar trader's son, however rich, that he would not hear of; and till the young lady came of age-and it wanted nearly four years of thathis, Antonio de Gonsalvo's word, would be law in the matter. He had also, I partly gathered by dint of a searching cross-examination, made other overtures and conditions, though of what precise nature Alvarez would not divulge; except that, for the present, the existence of the said heiress should be kept, as far as possible, after what had passed, a close secret from the world. "You had better, therefore," Alvarez was saying, at the close of a long, unsatisfactory interview, "not attempt to see Katerina-Doña Constancia, I mean-as there is a servant left here who would no 66 or all will I did as well as I could, but so ill spelt a scrawl took doubt inform his master. Ah! here he is! Prudence This sudden break in our colloquy was some time to decipher. It was, I found, from Juan-silence !" he added in a hurried whisper, Alvarez; and the confused and confusing purport seemed go wrong." to be, that the writer had heard of the death of occasioned by the entrance, by a gate opening from the It was Antonio de Gonsalvo, just Don Lopez de Gonsalvo; that the deceased's nephew, Sevilla high-road, of a gentleman handsomely habited Antonio de Gonsalvo, had arrived at San Lucar de in deep mourning. Barrameda, and claimed the guardianship of Doña Con- returned from that city, and not looking, as it struck stancia, notwithstanding the clause in the testamentary me from the slight glance I obtained of his jaundiced act of her mother which, by implication at least, con- and bloated countenance, particularly well pleased with ferred that right on Alvarez. He-the nephew-more- the result of his journey. He beckoned to Alvarez over, insisted that not only should the proposed mar- with the air of a master, and I heard the latter say, riage be deferred, but all intercourse between the par- deprecatingly: "An Englishman in the wine and olive ties be peremptorily forbidden. The note concluded trade, on business." In another minute they disapwith the expression of a wish, that some one in whom peared within the house; and I turned away for a stroll Señor Manuel could confide, should come over and con- through the grounds, but had not taken a dozen steps when Pedro, a sharp lad whom I had seen about upon business. fer with him, Juan Alvarez, as if "Well, what do you say, my friend?" said Senor the place, and who, I believe, was gardener, groom, Manuel. "I know that till your next letters arrive, you waiter, errand-man, and housemaid to the establishwill have plenty of leisure; and as to expenses, I shall ment, smilingly confronted me. He had a remarkably speaking countenance, had Pedro-so much so that of course be liberal-ha, ho!" I instantly, in reply to his mute but quite intelligible query, said: "To be sure I have a letter-here it is; and mind you tell the señoretta, to whom it is address Alfonso's miserable phiz influenced me more than the merchant's proffered liberality. The disappointment he was suffering under is, I quite well know, fatal only, like ed, that I must have an answer within an hour from this, as I do not intend remaining later than that." He nodded with quick intelligence, and disappeared, but returned again very shortly with a flask of wine, a bundle of cigars, and some choice fruit, which he arrayed upon a rustic table, near which I stood. This done, he merely said: "You will have the answer, señor, in good time," and once more disappeared. I do not know when I have passed a much pleasanter hour than the immediately succeeding one. The weather was delightful; and I had fallen into a drowsy mood, when my ear became slowly conscious of the tones of Luïsa's rich voice, somewhat angrily sharpened, exclaiming: "Hist! hist! señor! Madre de Dios! he must be asleep. And at such a time, too! Señor, hist! hist!" They, it was plain, had not observed her when conversing with me. "I will see you presently, and endeavor to conclude our bargain," said Alvarez, as he passed me with his sinister-looking companion. I bowed, and they went away by the outer gate. Alvarez returned alone. He looked, as it seemed to me, still more perplexed and cowed, and was certainly quite as unintelligible as at our previous interview; and all I could make out with tolerable distinctness was, that he, Alvarez, should be rather pleased than otherwise, if the young people could manage to make a stolen match of it in such a way that he could not be suspected of complicity in the proceeding; but else, not for the world. Antonio de Gonsalvo had, he said, suddenly determined upon going to Madrid, and would not return before a fortnight had passed at "I beg a thousand pardons, señoretta; but really this the earliest. charming weather, and " The few scraps of information and conjecture with "Hush! Step this way, if you please. They can see which I returned to Cadiz, greatly annoyed, as I anticiyou from the house." I obeyed, and Luïsa, placing a letter in my hand, said softly: "From Doña Constancia-Isabella de Gonsalvo, for you know whom." "It shall be delivered safely, be assured; but you have some more important communication to make than any contained in the letter, or I misread the meaning of two of the brightest eyes in Spain." "No silly compliments, señor, if you please," retorted the offended maiden. "That which I have further to say," she continued, "concerns, though as yet I have not spoken to her of it, the Lady Constancia-Isabella de Gonsalvo intimately, deeply." "Bless your pretty, affectionate punctilio!" thought I, as she ceased speaking. "You would not, I think, abate a syllable of one of Katerina's new names and titles if they reached the length of a racer's pedigree." | "I would say," resumed Luïsa Alvarez in a quick beating voice," that a dark cloud menaces not only her so lately brilliant prospects, but "-the voice sank so low that I could hardly hear the words "but her very life!" "Merciful heaven!" "Listen to me. This Antonio de Gonsalvo is a bad, reckless man. I have overheard words that I have overheard him, I say," faintly continued the terrified girl, who was momently becoming paler and paler, "make half suggestions to my father, which induce me to believe that the least evil she may have to dread will be confinement, perhaps for ever, in a convent; and even if that were all, she has, I assure you, señor, not the slightest vocation for such a life." "That, I will be sworn, she has not." pated, my expectant friends there. But as neither the angry irritation of Señor Manuel, nor the fretful despondency of his son, appeared likely to avail anything in the way of remedy to the actual state of things, I withdrew as speedily as I could from the bootless conference. A few days after my return, we heard through Pedro, that Antonio de Gonsalvo had returned from Madrid before he was expected, and that a furious quarrel had immediately ensued between him and Juan Alvarez, which was, however, made up a few hours afterwards, and the two worthies had become more closely intimate than ever. Three days subsequent to this news, a hurried note reached Señor Manuel in Luïsa's handwriting, but not subscribed by her, stating, in general terms, that a great peril was suspended over the head of Constancia, and that no time ought to be lost in extricating her from the custody of her unscrupulous guardian. It was immediately resolved, in compliance with Alfonso's passionate entreaties, that an eminent lawyer of Cadiz should be consulted as to the steps it would be advisable to take. Alfonso and I-the gout still held the señor in durance-proceeded forthwith to the legal gentleman's office, and laid the entire matter before him as clearly as possible. The man of pleas and precedents listened to all we had to say; remarking, when finished, that it seemed a hard case for the young couple; but such wrinkles in one's lot always smooth out with time and patience; that Antonio de Gonsalvo bore, he knew, a very indifferent reputation, and might certainly, under the influence of so strong a temptation, exceed even our worst anticipations: never "I might say more; but this is enough to put you-theless, he was undoubtedly the young lady's natural her friends, I mean-upon their guard. Nothing must guardian; and he, Martino Gomez, did not at all see be done, however, rashly, as he is her legal guardian. how she could be got out of his hands. "Even this Should there be necessity, I will send Pedro for you- note which has so frightened you," he added, “is not for you, who would not perhaps, be suspected; and if you perceive, signed; and if it were, it could not avail, you were, you would not, I think, be afraid of this bad confined as it is to mere vague, indefinite assertion." Sancta Maria ora pro me !" she added, cross- This was cold comfort; but as nothing better seemed ing herself, suddenly breaking off, and hurrying away; to be forthcoming, we were taking, quite chop-fallen, for Antonio, with her father, came that minute in view. | leave, when Martino Gomez, relaxing his wrinkles, said: man Stay a moment. Why do you not apply to the young | story. Constancia had reason, whilst her uncle lived, lady's maternal aunt, the Lady Inez de Calderon? She for not confiding in me, but that so many years should is, all Spain knows, very powerful at court--the queen-have been permitted to pass is I cannot," she conregent's favorite lady, in fact. She could interfere with | tinued, with quite audible abruptness, "I cannot recogeffect; and it strikes me, from what I have heard of the character of Doña Inez, that she would do so." This was quite a new as well as luminous idea. Alfonso caught at it eagerly, and so did his father, the moment we reported it, not a little thereby surprising me; for should the great court-lady interpose in behalf of her youthful niece, it would not be, I guessed, in order to marry her to Alfonso Manuel. This view of the subject, I, however, kept to myself; and it was at length arranged that I should at once proceed to Madrid -obtain, if possible, an interview with this Lady Inez de Calderon, and endeavor to interest her in favor of the distressed lovers. I had fallen in with this proposal the more easily, that I had a great desire to see the Spanish capital; and I did so for the first time on the 21st of November, 1833. nise any resemblance to the families on either side in the description you give of the supposed niece of mine. Have the goodness to follow me, and I will show you an admirable likeness of my sister, taken previous to her marriage." Her companion hastened to open a door at the further end of the apartment, through which the great lady sailed with stately grace, the attendant and myself following. The Lady Inez de Calderon led the way to a picture-gallery, and pausing before a full-length figure, said, in a slightly agitated voice: "That is Doña Constancia de Gonsalvo's likeness, taken when she was, I think, not more than nineteen." I started with uncontrollable surprise, and blurted out: "Good Heaven! why, that is Luïsa Alvarez !" "Luisa Alvarez !" echoed the lady. "The daughter of the man you spoke of?" "Yes, lady, so it is said; but this portrait-for the likeness is too complete, too tinmistakable, to admit of a doubt on the matter-revives a suspicion I had before entertained, that Katerina is the true daughter of Juan Alvarez-Luïsa the true Constancia de Gonsalvo." "Yours is not a nation of plotters," said the lady, after fixedly, almost sternly, regarding me for one or two embarrassing minutes; "nor have yon the air of either a dupe or a tool, or I should imagine― But follow me: we will talk further on this matter, which shall, at all events, be thoroughly sifted." "I remember," said the lady-attendant, as soon as we had regained the apartment into which I was first shown, and Doña Inez was seated-"I remember that, about ten days, or, it may be, a fortnight ago, a gentleman calling himself Antonio de Gonsalvo, called at the palace, and obtained permission to see the Lady Constancia's portrait." "Who gave permission in my absence, and without my leave?" The day after my arrival in Madrid, I dispatched a carefully and elaborately worded missive to the palace, addressed to Her Excellency, the Lady Inez de Calderon. Three days passed without an answer-a fourth, up till a late hour in the afternoon, when I was met, on returning from a walk, with the intelligence that a court-messenger had been waiting upwards of an hour for me, and was stamping the floor with impatience. This was, I found, quite true; and the irate and hasty gentleman would not even allow me five minutes to change my dress—a short, rough, winter's coat, cloth knees, and continuations ditto-the Lady Inez de Calderon, who had just returned with the court from La Granja, would, he said, excuse my strange attire. I was preciously flurried, I know; and this feeling increased to an intensely uncomfortable pitch, as I hastily traversed the spacious quadrangle, ascended one of the magnificent staircases, and shuffled along the stately corridors of the gorgeously solemn palace. At length, my conductor stopped at the door of an anteroom, and rang a small silver bell lying on a marble table just on "The Camerera Mayor," replied the lady. the outside. A page admitted us, and in another "This is a significant circumstance, coupled withminute I was in the presence of Doña Inez de Calderon But your letter, sir, states and you confirmed the and another lady, whose name I did not hear. The statement just now-that the paper or parchment, the novel and imposing aspect of the magnificent apart-authenticity of which the bishop, whose testimony ment, with its pillars, statues, and massively gorgeous furniture, brilliantly lit up from innumerable antique candelabra, so dazzled and confounded me, that it was some minutes before I was fully conscious that the Lady Inez, painfully agitated, and holding my letter in her hand, was assailing me with an avalanche of questions, which, spoken as they were with intense volubility, and in a tongue which, though I knew very well, was not my own vernacular, I should have had considerable difficulty in following at any time. Presently, the speaker, perceiving my embarrassment, gave herself breath, and me a few moments to rally my bewildered faculties. I succeeded in doing so more quickly than I expected, and replied to the lady's renewed and still impetuous interrogatory pretty well. "A strange cannot be for an instant questioned, vouches for, describes the person of Katerina with the nicest accuracy, even to a slight scar on the forehead, and moles in the neck." "That is strictly true; and, since I have seen the Lady Constancia's portrait, utterly confounds me." There are no erasures in the document, you say? Clever tricks of that sort are sometimes played.” "I examined it with scrupulous, I may say, suspicious care, and I am positive there are no erasures or alterations-n -no A bustle at the entrance from the grand corridor, and the exclamation of the attendant, "El Reyna Christina," interrupted me. (Continued on page 24.). ILLUSTRATED On Comet! on Cupid! on Donder and Blixen! |