The Prime Minister
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receivedfrom his instructors, and he called on God to curse those who hadblasted his heart with scorching words. The Father Jacinto, too, camebefore him, with a calm and benignant countenance, and voice ofmellifluous softness. Suddenly he changed, and, in his stead, arose avast serpent of glittering scaly sides, moist with slime, which coiledand twisted its enormous folds around him, hissing as it breathed fortha fiery breath upon his face. It seemed to bear him down, when theearth beneath him opened. "Oh, Heaven!" he cried, "I sink, I sink, Isink!"
The next morning the gaoler entered the cell. The prisoner stirred not,nor answered to his call. He took his hand,--it struck a chill to hisheart,--he held the lamp over him,--he was dead!
One person only ever knew the cause of his death, and that very day heheard of it. "It were better so, as he had failed in his purpose," hemuttered. "He knew too many secrets of our order to be trusted. Had hebeen tortured, as he most assuredly would have been, he might havebetrayed them. Requiescat in pace!"
The master never again thought of the pupil till he lay on his owndeath-bed, with his flesh lacerated and his limbs broken by the wheel;but he felt not those pains; there was another far more acute within;conscience had re-asserted its sway, he remembered him he had betrayed,and _how_ he had died. [Note].
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Note. The Father Jacinto was soon afterwards imprisoned and tortured.He died in confinement from the effects of his treatment, say theJesuits.
Volume 3, Chapter XII.
It was the middle of winter, but, notwithstanding the season of theyear, the sun shone brightly forth, shedding a genial warmth upon thebeggars and dogs who were basking beneath it in the streets of Lisbon.The former were stationed at the posts they had each appropriated,exhibiting every species of loathsome deformity, and imploring thecharity of the passers-by in the name of Heaven, warning them of theopportunity afforded of bestowing alms for the benefit of their souls.The dogs were enjoying their time of rest, every now and then uttering agrowl of defiance if any stranger encroached on their districts. TheGalician water-carriers were filling their barrels at the fountains,laughing and joking among themselves, strangers as they were in theland, happy by nature, and independent of all the plots and conspiracieswhich agitated the natives. Some women were washing at the tanks, andstriking the linen to rags against the stones, while they gaily sang inchorus; while others, sitting at the corners of the streets, wereemployed in roasting chestnuts in little earthen stoves, and calling onthe passers to buy. Fishermen were selling the produce of their nets,or wild-fowl; country-women their poultry. Now a citizen might be seenclosely muffled up in his large cloak, more to hide the dress beneaththan to keep out the cold; then a gentleman would hasten along in hisbag-wig, and sword by his side, long flowered waistcoat, and deepwaisted coat, politely returning the salutations of all who bowed;indeed, all the world was abroad, a few in carriages or on horseback,but mostly on foot: it was not yet dinner time.
Among the pedestrians was our old friend Antonio, the cobbler, who hadlong since given up his former occupation, and by many was supposed tolive completely on his wits--not a bad compliment to them, however. Hiskeen eye, as he walked along, observed all that was taking place aroundhim. He saw a beggar walk merrily to his post, kicking a dog out of hisway, and then ask alms in the character of a confirmed cripple. Helaughed--he was fond of laughing, somewhat bitterly oftentimes.
"There are a good many knaves in the world," he muttered, "of allclasses, from the lordly traitor, who would barter his country's honourand safety for gold to supply his extravagance, to this loathsome wretchin rags and tatters."
He next observed a boy stealing a coin from a blind man's hat placedbefore him, when the seeming blind man, dealing a heavy blow, struck theyouthful vagabond to the ground.
"Ay, we can see sharply enough when our own interests are attacked, andfight hard to defend them," said the Cobbler, as he walked on. "Thatyoung rogue has learned a useful lesson, he will make sure that a man isblind before he tries to pilfer his property."
Antonio passed through several streets, till he came to an open place.There a crowd was collected round a man perched on a high stool, who wasselling nostrums, and making the people laugh by his wit and jokes: areal object of pity lay at a doorway, half dead with starvation anddisease. A rich man passed by, looking coldly on the wretched beggar,turning aside, and refused his earnest appeal for a copper to relievehis hunger; but when he came within hearing of the quack, he stopped tolisten; when the latter, uttering one of his best jokes, and paying hima well-timed compliment, he threw the knave a crown, and, laughing,passed on.
"Such is the way of the world," thought the Cobbler. "The impudentcharlatan succeeds and grows rich, while the honest and humble poor manis left to starve. The foolish rogues are soon hung; 'tis the cunningones who live and thrive. Bah! it makes me sick to think of it. Whatfools men are! they will often confide in a plausible knave, when blunthonesty is kicked out of doors."
The Cobbler saw much more in his walk, on which he made hisobservations. He did not seem to have a very good opinion of the worldhe lived in. Whether he thought worse of people than they deserved wecannot pretend to say.
He now left the city behind, and, passing through the suburbs of Belem,directed his course to the Quinta of the Marquis of Tavora. He cameunder a garden-wall, in which was a window, and out of the window a pairof sparkling black eyes were gazing. He kissed his own hand, for hecould not reach that of the lady, and she kissed hers in return; so hewent and stood as near her as he could get.
"Oh! my pretty Margarida, how I love you!" he began. At which words,the eyes sparkled even more brightly than before. "I have many wishes,and the first is, that I was on the other side of the wall."
"Hush! senhor, you must not say that; at least, not so loudly," softlymurmured Margarida; "some one will hear you, for people are passingconstantly this way; but the window is not so very high from theground."
"Ah, dear one! I could leap up in a moment, if you do not run away,"said the gallant Cobbler.
"Oh! no, no, senhor! some one would see you to a certainty, while it islight," answered the coy Senhora Margarida.
"I have many things to say to you, pretty one. When will you like tohear them?" asked Antonio.
"Cannot you say them now, senhor?"
"Some one will hear me, you know. Wait till the evening, and thennobody will see me jump in at the window. Remember to leave it open."
"I will forget to shut it," innocently answered Margarida. "But tellme, senhor, are you really a fidalgo?"
"I will tell you all about it, with my other secrets, when I come atnight. Remember to forget to shut the window; and do not forget to comeyourself, Adeos for the present, my pretty charmer! I see some onecoming." And Antonio walked away, humming a tune, while the pair ofblack eyes disappeared from the garden window.
If the Portuguese are fonder of one employment than of another, it islooking out of window; they all do it, from the highest to the lowest.There is so little mental or bodily exertion required for it; and thereis always something moving in the streets, either men, dogs, or rats.Even watching a pig will afford amusement; and anything is preferable toreading, working, or thinking; therefore they always have looked out ofwindows, and always will, till their taste improves. Antonio proceededon till he came to the side of the river, where he sat himself down onthe bank, to wait till the evening, and to meditate. He thought a greatdeal, light-hearted and merry as he seemed, often very gravely,sometimes fiercely, as he remembered the foul wrongs and insults therace to which he belonged had for centuries endured, and for whichtreatment their cruel tyrants had sought every excuse which cunninghypocrisy, or the fiercest bigotry, could invent, claiming ever theauthority of God for their cursed deeds. "Miscreants!" he muttered,"where in the Christian's gospel can they find permission for therapine, murders, and cruelties, with which their souls have been stainedsince the
triumph of their faith? Fools! who practise not what theypreach, and yet expect to be believed." He would then think on for sometime, and, giving a deep-drawn sigh, would conclude with theoft-repeated apophthegm, "What cannot be cured must be endured;" hethen, growing calmer, would turn to other subjects. "Yet," hecontinued, soliloquising, "it is a hard office to bide this life ofconcealment, of deceit, and treachery; but it must be endured till myobject is accomplished. The time draws near, happily, when my toils maybe at an end; and then, if faith can be placed in the word of man, Ishall reap the rich reward of all. Can I confide in him? Yes, 'tis hisinterest to fulfil his promise. There is one thing troubles me morethan all the rest; how some men would laugh to hear me, if I confessedit! My pretty Margarida! Now that girl is fully