Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1904)
r Romance: A Kemp in England and Jamaica By Joseph Conrad (Copyright, 1!VH, by McClure, Phillips A Co.) PART TIIHB E CI I A I T K K I-Contlnued. TffiM tho nhmliiw of the end gallery Fl there cutno the Bound of a nob. I Wo turned buck and the undula tion of her walk seemed to throw mo Into a state of exultation. the word of un Englishman" 1 began. Tho fun touched my arm. The eyes of the duenna (littered over the cards. "This woman belongs to that mnn, too," muttered Scraphlna. "And yet she used to be faithful almost a mother. Mlserl cordlal Honor, there is no one in this un happy place Hint he has not bought, cor rupted, frightened or bent to his will to Ills madin'KS of hate against England. Of our poor he has mudo a rubble. Tlio bishop himself Ih afraid. "Senor, my cousin," she said pic turesquely, "ho would, if he could, drop poison into every spring of clear water in your country. Smile, lxn Juan." Her repressed vehemence had held me Spellbound, and the silvery little burst of laughter ending her tiereo tirade hud the bewildering effect oT a erut:h on my mind. The other two looked up from their cards. "I pretend to laugh to deceive that woman," she explained, quickly. "I uaed to love her." "It seems as if nothing could restrain the man," Soraphlna's voice went on by my side, "neither fear nor gratitude. Benor, my English cousin, he even dares aspire to my person." The gamo' of cards was over. 'Death rather," she let fall in a whisper of calm resolution. Bho dropied mo a deep courtesy. Servant were ranging themselves in a row, hold ing upright before their black faces wax lights in tall silver candlesticks Inherited from the second viceroy of Mexico. I bowed profoundly, with indignation on nor behalf nnd horror on my breast; and, turn ing away from me, she sank low, bending her head to receive her father's blessing. The major donio preceded the cortege. The two women moved away with an ample rustling of silk, and with lights carried on each side of their black, stiff figures. He fore they had disappeared up the wide staircase, Hon Bultliasar, who had stood perfectly motionless with his old faee over bis iinulT box, seemed to wake up, and made In the air a busty sign of the cross after his daughter. chapter it. Don Bolthusur accepted my presence without tt question. l'erhapa lie fancied he had Invited me; of my manner of com ing he was ignorant, of course. O'Brien, Who had gone on to Havana In the ship Which had landed the Rlegos In Klo Medio, gave no sign of life. And yet, on the ar rival of the Breeze, he must have found out I was no longer on board. I forgot the danger suspended over my head. For a fortnight I lived as if In a dream. "What Is the action you want roe to take, Carlos?" I asked one day. Propped up with pillows, he looked at tne with the big eyes of his emaciation. "I would like best to see you marry my eousln. Once before a woman of our race had married an Englishman. She bad been happy. English things last forever Kngllah em-o, English power, English fidelity. It la a country of much serenity. Of order, of stable affection." His voice was very weak and full of faith. X remained silent, overwhelmed at this aeeret of my Innermost heart, voiced by his bloodies lips as If a dream had come to pass, as if a mlrarle had taken place, lie added, with an Indefinable smile of an almost unrarthly wilfulness: "I would have married your sister, my Juan." He had on him the glamor of things Eng lishof English power emerging from the dust of wars and revolution; of England stable and undismayed, like a strong man who had kept his feet In the tottering of secular edifices shaken to their founda tions by an earthquake. It was as If for him thnt were something fine, something romantic. Just ns for me romance had always seemed to be embodied In his fea tures, in his gl-inee, and to live In the air ha breathed. We were constantly talking of O'nrlen. lie was the only subject of nil our con versations; and when Carlos Invrlghod against the Intendente, the old don nodded sndly In his chair. He was dishonoring Chronicle of the Adventures of John the name of the Rlegos, Carlos would ex claim foebly, turning Ids head toward his uncle. Ills uncle's own province, the name of his own town, stood for a refuge of the wum of the Antilles. It was a shameful sanctunry. Every rufllan, rascal, murderer and thief of the West Indies had come to think of this ancient and honorable town an a safe haven. It was my extraordinary fate to penetrate Into this holy city of the last organized piracy the world would ever know. I be held It wllh my eyes; I had stood on the point behind the very battery of guns which had swept Rowley's boats out of ex istence. The narrow entrance faced, across the water, the great portal of the cathedral. Rio Medio had been a place of some splen- "I HAD BEEN THINKING." PAID 1 IN TWO, MAN TO MAN, REBEL, AND dor In Its time. The ruinous heavy build ings clung to the hillsides, and my eyes plunged Into a boad vista of an empty and mugnillcciit street. Behind many of the Imposing and eseutcheoued frontages there was nothing but heaps of rubble; the foot steps of rare pagsersby woke lonely echoes, and strips of grass outlined In parallelo grams tho flagstones of tho roadway. The Casa Rlego raised Its buttressed and loop holed bulk near the shore, resembling a defensive outwork; on my other band, the shallow bay, vast, placid and shining, ex tended Itself behind the strip of coast like an enormous lagoon. The fronds of palm clusters dotted the beach over the glassy shimmer of the far distance. The dark and wooded slopes of the hills closed the view inland on every side. I'nder tho palms the green masses of vegetation concealed the hovels of the t:mi4t5 ftp ?4M rabble. There were three so-called villages at the bottom of the bay; and that terrible man, Senor Jues O'Brien, could with a simple nod send every man in them to the gallows. The respectable population of Rio Medio, leading a cloistered existence In the ruins of old splendor, used to call the thievish rabble Lugarenos villagers. They were sea-thieves, but they were dangerous. Carlos thotight that while Don Balthasar lived, O'Brien would do nothing to com promise his influence over him. Neither could I take any action; I must wait nnd watch. O'Hrien would, no doubt, try to remove me; but as long as I kept within the Casa, he thought I should be safe. He recommended me to try to pleuse his ORRAT HEAT. "TO PROPOSE THAT WE TRAITOR AS TOU HAVE BEEN." cousin, and even found strength to smile at my transports. Don Balthasar liked me for the sake of his sister, who had been so happy in England. I was his kinsman nnd his guest. From first to last, England, the idea of my country, of my home, played a grout part In my life then; it seemed to rest upon all our thoughts. For Carlos it was the concrete image of stability, with the romantic feeling of its peace and of Veronica's beauty; the unchangeable land where he hud loved. With Seraphlna I talked of it and its denizens as of a fabu lous country. I wonder what idea she had formed of my father, of my mother, my sister "Sonera Dona Veronica Rooksby," be called her of the landscape, of the life, of the sky. Her eyes turned to mo riously. Once, stooping, she plucked an (range marigold for her hair; and at last we came to talk of our farm as of the only perfect refuge for her. CHAPTER IIL One evening Carlos, after a eljene of distress, had said: "There's nothing els for it. When the crisis comes you must carry her off from this unhapplnoss and misery that hangs over her head. Ton must take her out of Cuba; there Is no safety for her here." This took my breath away. "But where are we to go, Carlos?" I asked, bending over him. "To to England," he whispered. He was uttetly worn out that evening by all the perplexities of his deathbed. He made a great effort, and murmured ft FIGHT IT OUT BETWEEN US few words more about the Spanish bassador In London being a near relation of the Rlegos; then he gave It up and lay still under my amased eyes. Father Antonio, sadly, signed me to withdraw. Castro had not gone away yet; ha greeted mo in low tones outside the big door. "Senor," he went on, "I rnrke my report usually to his Senorla Don Carlos; only I have not been admited today into his rooms at all. But what I have to say is for your ear, also. There has arrived a filar from a Havana convent amongst tho Lugarenos of the bay. I have known him come like this before." Castro shook bis head. "Malediction on his green eyes! I wanted to tell yoo. senor, that this evening there is much talk 1n the villages of an evil intcntloned heretic that has Introduced himself Into i V