CHAPTER XXIX
A LITTLE QUEEN AT HOME
Meanwhile, leaving the grave in the shaded corner of the farm garden, LaGiralda went out with many strange things moving in her heart. More thanonce she had seen her own children laid in the dust, with far less ofemotion than this nameless little girl clutching her wooden puppet andsmiling, well-pleased, in the face of the Last Terror.
She found the donkey standing still and patient between his fagotbundles. The she-goats, on the other hand, had scattered a little thisway or that as this blade of grass or that spray of _encina_ had alluredthem. But a sharp cry or two called them together. For it was many hourssince any of them had been milked, and the full teats standing out everyway ached for the pressing fingers.
The Sergeant had, of course, long since completely disappeared up thehillside, so La Giralda, with one comprehensive look back at thedesolate farmhouse, drove her little flock before her towards the towngates of San Ildefonso. Like a picture, the dustily red roofs laybeneath in the sunshine, spire and roof-garden, pigeon-house and terracewalk. Parts of the white palace of La Granja also were to be seen, butindistinctly, since it lay amid a pleasant distraction of greenery, andthe woods waved and the falling waters glimmered about it like thelandscape of a dream.
From the _Colegiata_ came the tolling of a bell, slow and irregular. Allelse was silent. Presently, with her little flock before her, La Giraldafound herself skirting the high-paled ironwork which confines thepalace. She pursued her way towards the town, taking care, however, tolook sharply about her so that she might miss nothing.
The palace grounds seemed utterly deserted. The fountains slept; "Fame"drove no longer her waters fifty yards into the air; the Frogs restedfrom their ungrateful labours open-mouthed and gasping for breath. Noteven a gardener was to be seen scratching weeds on a path, or in thedimmest distance passing at random across one of the deep-shadedavenues. An unholy quiet seemed to have settled upon the place, themarvel of Castile, the most elevated of earthly palaces, broken only bythe sombre tolling of the chapel bell, which would cease for fiveminutes without apparent reason, and then, equally without cause, beginall over again its lugubrious chime.
Down the zigzags towards the town went La Giralda, the goats takingadvantage of the wider paths to stray further afield, and needing morefrequently the touch of the wand, which the old woman had taken from thedonkey's load in order to induce them to proceed.
As the gipsy passed along, a small shrill voice called upon her to stop,and from a side walk, concealed by roses and oleander bushes, lateflowering because of the great elevation, a richly-dressed little girlcame running. She ran at the top of her speed towards the gilt railingswhich towered high above her head. Her age appeared to be about that ofthe little girl whom La Giralda had buried among the pottery shards inthat other meaner garden up on the mountain side.
"Stop," she cried imperiously, "I bid you stop! I am the Queen, and youmust obey me. I have not seen any one for five days except stupid oldSusana, who will be after me in a moment. Stop, I tell you! I want tosee your goats milked. I love milk, and they will not give me enough,pretending that there is none within the palace. As if a Queen of Spaincould not have all the milk she wanted! Ridiculous!"
By this time the little girl had mounted the parapet and was clingingwith all her might to the iron railings, while a fat motherly person hadwaddled out of the underbrush in search of her, and with manyexclamations of pretended anger and indignation was endeavouring toentice her away.
But the more the nurse scolded and pulled, the more firmly did thelittle maid cling to the golden bars. At last the elderly woman, quiteout of breath, sat down on the stone ledge and addressed to her chargethe argument which in such cases betokens unconditional surrender.
"My lady Isabel, what would your noble and royal mother say," shegasped, "thus to forget all the counsels and commands of those put inauthority over you and run to the railings to chatter with a gipsy wife?Go away, goatherdess, or I will call the attendants and have you put inprison!"
La Giralda had stopped her flock, obedient to the wishes of the littlemaid, but now, with a low curtsey to both, she gathered them togetherwith her peculiar whistling cry, and prepared to continue her way downinto the village.
But this the little girl would in nowise permit. She let go the ironrail, and with both hands clenched fell upon her attendant withconcentrated fury.
"Bad, wicked Susana," she cried, "I will have you whipped and sent aboutyour business. Nay, I myself will beat you. I will kill you, do youhear? I have had nothing to eat and no one to play with for a week--nota gardener, not a dog, not even a soldier on guard to salute me or letme examine his sword-bayonet. And now when this dear, this sweet oldSenora comes by with her lovely, lovely goats, you must perforce try topull me off as if I were a village child that had played truant from themonks' school and must be birched for its fault!"
All the while she was speaking, the young Princess directed a shower ofharmless blows at the skirts of her attendant, which Dona Susanalaughingly warded off, begging all the while for pity, and instancingthe direct commands of the little girl's mother, apparently a veryexalted personage indeed, as a reason for her interference.
But Isabel of Spain was not to be appeased, and presently she hadrecourse to tears in the midst of her fury.
"You hate me--I know you do--that is what it means," she cried, "youwould not have me happy even for a moment. But one day I shall be Queen,and do as I like! Yes, and drink as much warm goat's milk as I want, inspite of all the stupid, wicked, cruel Susanas in the world. And I shallthrow you into a dungeon with nothing but mice and rats and serpents andcentipedes--yes, and snails that leave a white slimy trail over youwhen they crawl! Ugh! And I will have your hands tied, so that you shallnot be able to brush them off when they tickle your neck. Yes, I will,Susana! I swear it, and I am growing big--so big! And soon I shall beold enough to have you put in prison with the mice and snails, badSusana! Oh, wicked Susana!"
Now, whether these childish threats actually had some effect, or whetherthe old lady was so soft-hearted as her comfortable appearance denoted,certain it is that she took a key from her pocket and passed it throughthe tall gilt railings to La Giralda.
"Go down a hundred yards or so," she said, "and there you will find agate. Open it with that key and bring over your animals to the littlepavilion among the trees by the fountain."
Upon hearing this the Princess instantly changed her tune. She had gother own way, and now it was "Beautiful Dona Susana! Precious andloveliest companion, when I am Queen you shall have the greatest andhandsomest grandee in the kingdom to be your husband, and walk indiamonds and rubies at our court balls! Yes, you shall. I promise it bymy royal oath. And now I will run to the house kitchen for basins tocatch the goats' milk in, and my little churn to churn the butterin--and--and----"
But before she had catalogued half the things that she meant to find andbring she departed at the top of her speed, making the air ring with hershouts of delight.
Slowly, and with the meekest dignity, La Giralda did as she was bidden.She found the little gate, which, indeed, proved so narrow that shecould not get her donkey to pass through with his great side-burdens offagots. But as these were not at all heavy, La Giralda herself detachedthem, and, laying them carefully within the railings, she unhaltered thepatient beast and, tying him only with a cord about his neck, left him agenerous freedom of browsing upon the royal grass-plots and undergrowth.
The goats, however, perhaps alarmed by the trim daintiness of the placeand the unwonted spectacle of unlimited leaves and forage, kept closetogether. One or two of them, indeed, smelt doubtfully at luxurianttufts, but as they had only previously seen grass in single blades, andamid Saharas of gravel and sand, the experiment of eating an entiremouthful at a time appeared too hazardous and desperate. They were of acautious turn of mind, in addition to which their udders had become sodistended that little white beads were forcing themselves from theteats, and th
ey expressed their desire for relief by plaintivewhimperings and by laying their rough heads caressingly against LaGiralda's short and primitive skirt and leather-cased legs.
In a few moments after they had reached the pavilion the Princess cameshouting back. She was certainly a most jovial little person, Spanish atall points, with great dark eyes and cheeks apple-red with good healthand the sharp airs of the Guadarrama. Dona Susana had walked a little infront of La Giralda and her flock, to show the superiority of herposition, and also, it may be, to display the amplitude of her severalchins, by holding them in the air in a manner as becoming as it wasdignified.
"Milk them! Milk them quickly! Let me see!" the Princess shouted,clanging the pails joyously together. The walls of the pavilion in whichLa Giralda found herself were decorated with every kind of householdutensil, but not such as had ever been used practically. Everything wasof silver or silver-gilt. There was indeed a complete _batterie decuisine_--saucepans, patty-pans, graters, a mincing machine with theproper screws and handles, shining rows of lids, and a completegraduated series of cooking spoons stuck in a bandolier. Salad dishes ofsparkling crystal bound with silver ornamented the sideboard, whilevarious earthen pots and pans of humbler make stood on a curiouslydesigned stove under whose polished top no fire had ever burned. Atleast so it appeared to La Giralda, who, much impressed by themagnificence of the installation, would promptly have driven her goatsout again.
But this the little Isabel would by no means permit.
"Here--here!" she commanded, "this is mine--my very own. My mother has adairy--I have a kitchen. Milk the goats here, I command you, nowhere buthere!"
And thrusting the bucket into the old woman's hand, she watchedcarefully and eagerly as La Giralda pressed the milk downwards inhissing streams. The she-goat operated upon expressed her gratitude byturning to lick the hand which relieved her.
At this the little girl danced with delight.
"It looks so easy--I could do it myself! I am sure of it. I tell you,Susana, I will do it. Stand still, _cabra_! Do you not know that I amIsabel the Second, Queen of all the Spains!"
But the she-goat, having no very strong monarchial sentiments, orperhaps being inclined to Carlist opinions, as soon as she felt the gripof unaccustomed fingers promptly kicked over in the dust the Queen ofall the Spains.
The little girl had not time to gather herself up or even to emit thehowl of disappointment and anger which hovered upon her lips, before herattendant rushed at her with pitiful cries:
"Oh, the wicked goat! The devil-possessed emblem of Satan! Let it beslain! Did not your poor Susana warn you to have nothing to do with suchevil things--thus to overturn in the dust the best, the sweetest, thenoblest of Princesses!"
But the best and sweetest of Princesses, having violent objections tobeing gathered up into the capacious embrace of her nurse, especiallybefore company, vigorously objected in much the same manner as the goathad done, and at last compelled Dona Susana to deposit her once more onthe paved floor of the miniature kitchen. Having arrived in which place,her anger completely vanished, for a tankardful of rich warm goat's milkwas handed to her by La Giralda, and in this flowing bowl she soonforgot her woes.
"You must come down to the palace and be paid," said the little girl;"we are most of us very hungry there, and those who are not hungry arethirsty. The waggons from Madrid have been stopped on the way, and allthe guards have gone to bring them back!"
At this Dona Susana looked quickly across to the old goatherdess andsignalled that the little Princess was not to be informed of anythingshe might happen to know.
"You have not been in the town, I trust!" said Dona Susana.
Now La Giralda could conscientiously have declared that she had neverbeen within the gates of San Ildefonso in her life, but thinking that inthe circumstances the statement might appear a suspicious one, shemodified it to a solemn declaration that she had come directly down fromher farm on the mountain-side, as, indeed, they themselves had seen.
Satisfied of her veracity, Dona Susana took her very independent anddifficult charge by the hand and led the way towards the palace of LaGranja, glimpses of which could be obtained through the foliage whichwas still everywhere verdant and abundant with the first freshness ofspring--so high did the castle lie on the hill-slopes, and so enliveningwere the waste waters downthrown from the rocky crests of Penalara,whose snows glimmered through the trees, as it seemed, but a bowshotabove their heads.
The goats, each expecting their turn of milking, followed at her heelsas obediently as well-trained dogs. Most of them were of the usualdark-red colour, a trifle soiled with the grey dust on which they hadbeen lying. A few were white, and these were the favourites of thelittle Queen, who, though compelled to go on ahead, looked constantlyback over her shoulder and endeavoured to imitate the shrill whistlingcall by which La Giralda kept her flock in place.
When they arrived at the palace front the doors stood wide open. At DonaSusana's call an ancient major-domo appeared, his well-developedwaistcoat mating ill with the pair of shrunk and spindle shanks whichappeared beneath. The sentry boxes, striped red and gold with thecolours of Spain, were empty. At the guard-houses there were no loungingsergeants or smart privates eager to rise and salute as the little Queenpassed by.
There was already indeed about the palace an air of desolation. Thegreat gates in front towards the town had been closed, as if to shut offinfection, and the Court itself, dwindled to a few faithful oldretainers of Fernando VII., surrounded his widow and her new husbandwith a devotion which was yet far more than their due.
It was not long before La Giralda had milked the remainder of the flockand sent the creaming white pitchers into the palace. Little Isabeldanced with delight as one she-goat after another escaped with infinitetail-waggling and bleatings of pleasure. And in the dearth of otheramusement she desired and even commanded the old woman to remain andpasture her herd within the precincts of the palace. But La Giralda hadmuch yet to do. She must find out the state and dispositions of the townof San Ildefonso, and then rejoin her companions in the little corrie orcauldron-like _cirque_ in which she and the sergeant had left Rollo andthe other members of the expedition.
So after the small and imperious royal maid had been carried screamingand battling upstairs by Dona Susana and the globular major-domo, LaGiralda, richly rewarded in golden coin of the realm, and with all therequisite information as to the palace, betook herself back to the gateby which she had left the ass. This she loaded again, and driving itbefore her she retraced her steps past the corner of the palace, and soto the porter's lodge by the great gate.
Here she was presently ushered out by a mumbling old woman who informedher that her husband and son had both gone to Madrid with the troops,but would undoubtedly return in an hour or two, a statement which withher superior information the old gipsy took leave to doubt.
The town of San Ildefonso lay beneath the chateau, and to her right asLa Giralda issued from the gates. The houses were of an aspect at oncegrave and cheerful. They had been built mostly, not for permanentresidence, but in order to accommodate the hordes of courtiers and theirsuites who, in the summer months, followed the royal personages over themountains from Madrid.
As most of these had fled at the first invasion of the cholera, thewindows, at this period of the year generally bright with flowers andshaded with emerald barred _jalousies_, were closely shut up, and uponseveral of the closed doors appeared the fatal black and white noticesof the municipality, which indicated that there either was or had been acase of the plague within the infected walls.
La Giralda went down the streets uttering the long wailing cry whichindicated that she had firewood to sell. But though she could havedisposed of the milk from the goats over and over again, there appearedbut little demand for her other commodity, even though she called,"_Lena-a-a-a! Ah, lena-a-a-a!_" from one end of San Ildefonso to theother.
A city watchman, with a pipe in his mouth, looked drowsily and frowsilyout of the t
own-hall or _ayuntamiento_. He was retreating again to hissettle when it suddenly struck him that this intruder had paid no dutyupon her milk and firewood. True, he was not the functionary appointedby law to receive the tax; but since he was on the spot, and for lack ofother constituted the representative of civic state, he felt he mustundertake the duty.
So, laying aside his pipe and seizing his halberd and cocked hat, hesallied grumblingly forth to intercept the bold contravener of municipallaws. But the active limbs of the old gipsy, the lightened udders of theshe-goats, and the ass with his meek nose pointed homeward, took theparty out of the village gate before the man in authority couldover-take La Giralda.
Soon, therefore, the roofs of San Ildefonso and the white palace againlay beneath her as the gipsy reascended by her track of the morning. Solong had she occupied in her various adventures that the evening shadowswere already lengthening when she returned to the corrie where the partyhad spent in restful indolence the burden and heat of the day. TheSergeant had not yet arrived, and La Giralda delayed her story till heshould give her leave to speak. For not even to the gipsies of theGuadarrama was Jose Maria a greater personage than Sergeant Cardono toLa Giralda of Sevilla.
In the mean time she busied herself, with Concha's help, in preparingthe evening meal, as quick upon her legs as if she had done nothing butlounge in the shade all day. It was almost sundown when the Sergeantcame in, dropping unannounced over the precipice as if from the clouds.
"We must be in La Granja in two hours if we are to save a soul withinits walls," he said, "but--we have an hour for dinner first! Thereforelet us dine. God knows when we shall taste food again!"
And with this dictum John Mortimer heartily agreed.
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