Zaragoza. English

by Benito Pérez Galdós

  CHAPTER XXVII

  That afternoon almost all the efforts of the French were directedagainst the suburb from the left of the Ebro. They assaulted theMonastery of Jesus, and bombarded the Church of the Virgin del Pilar,where the greater number of sick and infirm had found refuge, believingthat the sanctity of the place offered them greater security than anyother spot.

  In the centre of the city, we did not work much that day. All ourattention was concentrated upon the mines, and our efforts directedto giving the enemy evidence that, before consenting to be blown upourselves, we would discuss blowing them up, or at least flying upwardstogether.

  At night both armies seemed given over to peaceful repose. The roughblows of the pick were no longer heard in the subterranean galleries. Isallied forth; and near San Diego I found Augustine and Mariquilla, whowere talking quietly together, seated sedately upon the doorstep of thehouse los Duendes. They were very glad to see me; and I joined them,sharing the scraps of bread of which they were making their supper.

  "We have nowhere to stay," said Mariquilla. "We were in a portico inthe Organo alley; but we were driven out. Why is it that so many peopledetest my poor father? What harm has he done them? We took refugeafterwards in a corner of the Calle de las Urreas, and were driven outof there too. We sat down afterwards under an arch in the Coso, and allthose who were there fled away from us. My father was furious."

  "Mariquilla of my heart," said Augustine, "let us hope that the siegewill soon be finished by some means or other. I hope that God will letus both die, if living we may not be happy. I do not know why, among somany misfortunes, my heart is full of hope; I do not know why I havesuch happy thoughts, and think constantly of a cheerful future. Whynot? Must everything be dreadful and unfortunate? The troubles of myfamily have been very great. My mother neither receives nor desires toreceive any consolation. Nobody is able to get her away from the placewhere the bodies of my brother and my nephew are; and when by force wetake her to ever so great a distance, she immediately begins to dragherself along over the stones of the street to try and return. She andmy sister and my sister-in-law are pitiable to see, refusing to takefood, and in their prayers deliriously confusing the names of all thesaints. This afternoon we have at last contrived to carry them to asheltered spot where we obliged them to get a little repose, and totake a little food. Mariquilla, how sadly God has dealt with my people!Have I not reason to hope that at last He will pity us?"

  "Yes," said Mariquilla; "my heart tells me that we have passed the hardpart of our life, and that now we shall have peaceful days. The siegewill soon be finished; because, according to what my father says, thisholding out can be only a matter of days. This morning I went to thePilar; when I knelt before the Virgin, it seemed to me that our holyLady looked at me and smiled. Then I came out of the church, my heartwas beating with a keen delight. I looked at the sky, and the bombsseemed to me like toys; I looked at the wounded, and it seemed to methat they were all healed; I looked at the people, and could almostbelieve that they all felt the same happiness which was overflowing mybosom. I do not know how it is with me to-day, I am so happy. God andthe Virgin have surely taken pity on us; and this beating of my heart,this joyous restlessness, without care for what may happen, must meangood fortune after so many tears!"

  "All that you say is true," said Augustine, holding Mariquilla lovinglyto him. "Your presentiments are laws; your heart, one with the divine,cannot be deceived. Listening to you, it seems to me as if the troublesthat crush us melt away in the air, and I breathe with delight thebreath of happiness. I hope that your father will not oppose yourmarrying me."

  "My father is good," said Mariquilla. "I believe that if his neighborsin the city had not worried him so much that he would have been kinder.But they cannot bear the sight of him. This afternoon he was badlymaltreated again in the cloister of San Francisco, and when he joinedme in the Coso he was furious, and swore that he would be revenged.I tried to quiet him, but all in vain. They drive us away fromeverywhere. He doubled up his fists, and angrily threatened those whowere there near us. Afterwards, he ran away and came here. I thoughthe was coming to see if they had destroyed this house, which is ours.I followed him. He turned towards me as if frightened at hearing myfootsteps, and said to me, 'Stupid meddler, who told you to follow me?'I answered nothing; but seeing that he advanced to the French lines,as if he meant to cross over, I tried to detain him, and said to him,'Father, where are you going?' Then he answered, 'Do you know that myfriend who served last year in Saragossa, the Swiss Captain Don CarlosLindener, is in the French army? I am going to see him. I remember thathe owes me a certain amount.' He made me stay here, and went on. I amafraid that if his enemies know that he crossed over into the Frenchlines, they will call him a traitor. I do not know whether it is thegreat affection that I have for him, but he seems to me incapable ofsuch action. I am afraid though that there is something wrong, and forthis reason I long for the end of the siege. Is it not true that itwill soon be finished, Augustine?"

  "Yes, Mariquilla, it will soon be finished, and we will be married. Myfather wishes me to marry."

  "Who is your father? What is his name? Is it not time yet to tell methat?"

  "You shall know it another time. My father is one of the principalpersonages in Saragossa, and much beloved. Why wish to know more?"

  "Yesterday I tried to inquire. I was curious. I asked several people Iknow that I met in the Coso, 'Do you know what gentleman it is who haslost his eldest son?' But so many are like that, that they only laughedat me."

  "I will reveal it to you in good time, and when in telling it to you Ican give you good news with it."

  "Augustine, if I marry you, I wish that you would take me away fromSaragossa for several days. I want for a little time to see otherhouses, other trees, other scenes. I wish to live for some days inplaces where these things are not, among which I have suffered so much."

  "Yes, Mariquilla, my soul," exclaimed Montoria, quite carried away; "wewill go wherever we please, far away from here, to-morrow even; no, notto-morrow, for the siege will not be raised. Day after to-morrow, inshort, sometime, when--God wills it."

  "Augustine," added Mariquilla, in a sleepy voice, "I wish that, afterwe return from our journey, that we might rebuild the house where Iwas born. The cypress-tree is still standing."

  Mariquilla's head drooped forward, showing that she was half overcomewith sleep.

  "Do you want to go to sleep, you poor little thing?" my friend said toher, taking her in his arms.

  "I have not slept at all for several nights," replied the girl, closingher eyes. "Anxiety, sorrow, and fear have kept me awake. To-nightweariness overcomes me, and I am so peaceful now that it makes me wishto go to sleep."

  "Sleep in my arms, Mariquilla," said Augustine; "and may the peace thatnow fills thy soul not leave thee when thou wakest."

  After a little while, when we thought her sleeping, Mariquilla, halfasleep and half awake, said,--

  "Augustine, I do not wish my good Do?a Guedita to leave me; she tooksuch good care of us when we were first engaged. You see now I wasright in telling you that my father was in the French camp to collecthis bill--"

  Then she spoke no more, and slept profoundly. Augustine sat upon theground, holding her on his knees and in his arms. I covered her feetwith my cloak.

  Augustine and I were silent, so that our voices might not disturb thesleep of the young girl. The place was deserted enough. Just back of uswas the Casa los Duendes, close by the Convent of San Francisco, andopposite the college of San Diego, with its orchard surrounded by highmud walls which opened upon irregular and narrow alleys. Through thesemarched the sentinels who had been relieved, and the platoons goingto the picket lines or coming from there. The truce was complete, andthis repose signified a great battle on the following day. Suddenly thesilence permitted me to hear muffled blows under us, in the depths ofthe earth. I understood that the French miners had reached this pointwith their picks, and told Augustine what I imagine
d it must be. Helistened attentively; then he said to me,--

  "That seems indeed like mining. But how did they come here? Thegalleries that they made from the Jerusalem were all cut off byourselves. How would they be able to take a step without meeting ourmen?"

  "This noise indicates that they are mining from San Diego. They havea part of that building. Until now they have not been able to reachthe wine-cellars of the Convent of San Francisco. If, by bad luck,they have discovered that the passage from San Diego to San Franciscois easy by the way under this house, it is probable that this is thepassage that is being opened now."

  "Run this instant to the convent," he said to me. "Go down into thecellar, and if you hear the noise, tell Renovales what is going on. Ifanything happens, call me, and I will follow."

  Augustine remained alone with Mariquilla. I went to the San Francisco,and going down into the cellar met, together with other patriots, anofficial of the engineers, who, when I had expressed my fears, said tome,--

  "They would not be able to get here by the galleries under the Calle deSanta Engracia from the Jerusalem and the hospital, because our minehas made theirs useless, and a few of our men will be able to keepthem back. Under this edifice we control the underground chambers ofthe church, the wine-cellars, and the other cellars which lead towardsthe cloister at the east. There is a part of the convent which has notbeen mined, at the west and south; but, there are no cellars there, andwe did not believe it worth while to open galleries, because it isnot probable that they would approach us from the two sides. We holdthe next house; and I have examined it underground, and found thatthe cellar was almost joined to those of the chapter house. If theycontrolled the house los Duendes, it would be easy to carry explosivesand blow up all the southern and western part; but that house is ours,and from it to the French positions opposite San Diego and Santa Rosais a long distance. It is not probable that they will attack us inthat place, and I do not know that there is any existing communicationbetween the house and San Diego or Santa Rosa which would permit themto advance without making it known."

  We remained talking over this matter until morning. At break of dayAugustine came, very happy, and saying that he had found a lodging forMariquilla in the same place where his family was established. Then weprepared for a strong effort that day, because the French, who alreadyheld the hospital, or rather its ruins, threatened to attack the SanFrancisco, not by the underground way, but in the open, and by thelight of the sun.