Rezanov

by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

  II

  As Rezanov, heading the procession with young Arguello, entered thewide gates of the Presidio, he received an impression memorablydifferent from that which led earlier travelers to describe itinclemently as a large square surrounded by mud houses, thatched withreeds. It is true that the walls were of adobe and the roofs of tule,nor was there a tree on the sand hills encircling the stronghold. Butin this early springtime--the summer of the peninsula--the hills showedpatches of verdure, and all the low white buildings were covered by anetwork of soft dull green and archaic pink. The Castilian rose, fulland fluted, and of a chaste and penetrating fragrance, hung singly andin clusters on the pillars of the dwellings, on the barracks andchapel, from the very roofs; bloomed upon bushes as high as youngtrees. The Presidio was as delicately perfumed as a lady's bower, andits cannon faced the ever-changing hues of water and island and hill.

  As the party approached, heads of all ages appeared between the vines,and there was a low murmur of irrepressible curiosity and delight.

  "We do not see many strangers in this lonely land," said Arguelloapologetically. "And never before have we had so distinguished a guestas your excellency. It was always a gala day when ever a Bostonskipper came in with a few bales of goods and a complexion like thehides we sold him. Now, alas! they are no longer permitted to enterour ports. Governor Arrillaga will have none of contraband trade andslaying of our otter. And as for Europeans other than Spaniards, savefor an English sea captain now and then, they know naught of ourexistence."

  But Rezanov had not come to California on the impulse of a moment. Hereplied suavely: "There you are mistaken. Your illustrious father, DonJose Mario de Arguello, is well known to us as the most respected,eminent and influential character in the Californias. It was myintention, after paying a visit of ceremony to his excellency, GovernorArrillaga, to come to San Francisco for the sole purpose of meeting aman whose record has inspired me with the deepest interest. And wehave all heard such wonderful tales of your California, of its beauty,its fertility, of the beneficent lives of your missionaries--sodifferent from ours--and of the hospitality and elegance of theSpaniards, that it has been the objective point of my travels, and Ihave found it difficult to curb my impatience while attending toimperative duties elsewhere."

  "Ay! senor!" exclaimed the young Californian. "What you say fills mewith a pride I cannot express, and I can only regret that the reportsof our poor habitations should be so sadly exaggerated. Such as ourpossessions are, however, they are yours while you deign to remain inour midst. This is my father's house. I beg that you will regard itas your own. Burn it if you will!" he cried with more enthusiasm thancommonly enlivened the phrases of hospitality. "He will be proud toknow that a lifetime of severe attention to duty and of devotion to hisKing have won him fame abroad as well as at home. He has risen to hispresent position from the ranks, but he is of pure Spanish blood, not adrop of Indian; and my mother was a Moraga, of the best blood ofSpain," he added artlessly. "As to the beauty and variety of ourcountry, senor, of course you will visit our opulent south; but--"They had dismounted at the Commandante's house in the southeast cornerof the square. Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates andpointed to the east. "I have crossed those mountains and the mountainsbeyond, Excellency, and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vastextent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away by mountainscovered with snow and gigantic trees. The valley beyond the southernedge of the bay, where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose are, isalso rich, but those between the ranges is an empire; and one day whenthe King sends us more colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all shehas lost."

  "I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his host's ancestraltree, had lifted an alert ear. His quick incisive brain was at work."I should like to stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time,and even to climb your highest mountains. You may imagine how muchexercise a man may get on a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and itis thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a vast expanse ofgreen--to say nothing of possible sport--after a winter of incessantrain and impenetrable forests--what a prospect! I beg you will take meoff into the wilderness as soon as possible."

  "I promise you the Governor shall not withhold his consent--and thereare bear and deer--quail, wild duck--your excellency will enjoy thatbeautiful wild country as I have done." Arguello was enchanted at theprospect of fresh adventure in the company of this fascinatingstranger. "But we are once more at our poor abode, senor. I beg youto remember that it is your own."

  They ascended the steps of the piazza, suddenly deserted, and it seemedto Rezanov that every sense in his being quivered responsively to thepoignant sweetness of the Castilian roses. He throbbed with a suddenexultant premonition that he stood on the threshold of an historicfuture, with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden rush of desire forthe keen wild happiness of youth. Such is the elixir of California inthe north and the spring.

  They entered a long sala typical of its day and of many to come;whitewashed walls hung with colored prints of the Virgin and saints;horsehair furniture, matting, deep window seats; and a perennialcoolness. The Chamberlain (his court title and the one commonlyattached to his name) made himself as comfortable as the slippery chairwould permit, and Arguello went for his mother.

  Langsdorff, who had lingered on the piazza with the priest, entered ina moment.

  "The good padre tells me that this rose of Castile is the only importedflower in California," he cried, with enthusiasm, for although not abotanist, there was a bump between his eyes as big as a child's fistand he had a nose like the prow of a toy ship. "Many cuttings werebrought from Spain--"

  "What difference does it make where it came from?" interrupted Rezanovtestily. "Is it not enough that it is beautiful, but it must have apin stuck through it like some poor devil of a butterfly?"

  "Your excellency has also the habit to probe into things he deemsworthy of his attention," retorted the offended scientist; but he wasobliged to closet his wrath. An inner door opened and the hostreappeared with his mother and a fair demonstration of her virtues.She was a very large woman dressed loosely in black, but she carriedherself with an air of complete, if somewhat sleepy, dignity, and itwas evident that her beauty had been great. Her full face had lost itscontours, but time had spared the fine Roman nose and the white skin,that birthright of the high-bred Castilian. Arguello presented hisfamily ceremoniously as the guest of honor rose and bowed with formaldeference.

  "My mother, Dona Ignacia Arguello, your excellency, who unites with mein praying that you will regard our home as yours during your sojournin the north. My sister, Maria de la Concepcion Marcella Arguello, andmy little sisters, Ana Paula and Gertrudis Rudisinda. My brothers:Gervasio--soldado distinguido of the San Francisco Company; Santiago, acadet in the same company; Francesco and Toribio, whose presence at thetable I beg you will overlook, for when we are so fortunate as to beall together, senor, we cannot bear to be separated. My oldestbrother, alas--Ignacio--is studying for holy orders in Mexico, and mysister Isabel visits at the Presidio of Santa Barbara. I beg that youwill be seated, Excellency." And he continued the introduction to thelesser luminaries, with equal courtesy but fewer periods.

  Rezanov exchanged a few pleasant words with his smiling hostess beforeshe returned to her distracted maids preparing the dinner; but his eyesduring Arguello's declamation had wandered with a singular fidelity tothe beautiful face of the eldest daughter of the house. She hadresponded with a humorous twinkle in her magnificent black eyes and nota hint of diffidence. As she entered the room his brain had flashedout the thought: "Thank heaven for a pretty girl after these threeabominable years!" Possibly his pleasure would have been salted withpique had he guessed that her thought was the twin of his own. He wasthe first man of any world more considerable than the petty court ofthe viceroy of Mexico that had visited California in her time, andexcellent as she found his tall military figure and pale cold face, thenovelty
of the circumstance fluttered her more.

  Dona "Concha" Arguello was the beauty of California, and although heryears were but sixteen her blood was Spanish, and she carried her talldeep figure and fine head with the grace and dignity of an accomplishedwoman. She had inherited the white skin and delicate Roman-Spanishprofile of the Moragas, but there was an intelligent fire in her eyes,a sharp accentuation of nostril, and a full mobility of mouth,childish, half-developed as that feature still was, that betrayed astrong cross-current forcing the placid maternal flow into rugged andunexplored channels, while assimilating its fine qualities of pride andhigh breeding. Gervasio and Santiago resembled their sister incoloring and profile, but lacked her subtle quality of personality anddivine innocence. Luis was more the mother's son than thefather's--saving his olive skin; a grandee, modified by thesimplicities of a soldier's life, amiable and upright. Dona Ignaciarecognized in Concha the quintessence of the two opposing streams, andhad long since ceased to impose upon a girl who had little else but herliberties, the conventional restrictions of the Spanish maiden. Conchahad already received many offers of marriage and regarded men as mereswingers of incense. Moreover, her cultivated mind was filled withideals and ideas far beyond anything California would yield in her day.

  As Rezanov, upon Dona Ignacia's retreat, walked directly over to her,she smilingly seated herself on a sofa and swept aside her voluminouswhite skirts. She was not sure that she liked him, but in no doubtwhatever of her delight at his advent.

  Her manners were very simple and artless, as are the manners of mostwomen whom Nature has gifted with complexity and depth.

  "It is now two years and more that we have been excited over theprospect of this visit," she said. "But if you will tell me what youhave been doing all this time, I, at least, will forgive you; for youwill never be able to imagine, senor, how I long to hear of the greatworld. I stare at the map, then at the few pictures we have. I knowmany books of travel by heart; but I am afraid my imagination is a poorone, for I cannot conjure up great cities filled with people--thousandsof people! DIOS DE MI ALMA! A world where there is something besidesmountains and water, grain fields, orchards, forests, earthquakes, andclimate? Will you, senor?"

  "For quite as many hours as you will listen to me. I propose acompact. You shall improve my Spanish. I will impart all I know ofEurope--and of Asia--if your curiosity reaches that far."

  "Even of Japan?" There was a wicked spark in her eye.

  "I see you already have some knowledge of the cause of my delay." Hisvoice was even, but a wound smarted. "It is quite true, senorita, thatthe first embassy to Japan, from which we hoped so much, was ahumiliating failure, and that I was played with for six months by apeople whom we had regarded as a nation of monkeys. When my healthbegan to suffer from the long confinement on shipboard--we hadpreviously been fourteen months at sea--and I asked to be permitted tolive on shore while my claims to an audience were under consideration,I was removed with my suite to a cage on a strip of land nearlysurrounded with water, where I had less liberty and exercise than onshipboard. Finally, I had a ridiculous interview with a 'great man,'in which I accomplished nothing but the preservation of what personaldignity a man may while sitting on his heels; the superb presents ofthe Tsar were returned to me, and I was politely told to leave. Japanwanted neither the friendship of Russia nor her gimcracks. That,senorita, is the history of the first Russian Embassy--for thetentative visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before, can be dignifiedby no such title--to Oriental waters. It is to be hoped that CountGolofkin, who was to undertake a similar mission to China, has met witha better fate."

  Underneath the polished armour of a man who was a courtier when hechose and the dominating spirit always, he was hot and quick of temper.His light cold eyes glowed with resentment at the dancing lights inhers, as he cynically gave her a bald abstract of the unfortunatemission. He reflected that commonly he would have fitted a differentmask to the ugly skull of fact, but this young barbarian, as he choseto regard her, excited the elemental truth in him, defying him toappear at his worst. He was astonished to see her eyes suddenly softenand her mouth tremble.

  "It must have been a hateful experience--hateful!" Her voice,beginning on its usual low soft note, rose to a hoarse pitch ofindignation. "I should have killed somebody! To be a man, and strong,and caressed all one's life by fortune--and to be as helpless as anIndian! Madre de dios!"

  "I shall take my revenge," said Rezanov shortly; but the wound closed,and once more he became aware of the poignant sweetness of Castilianroses. Concha wore one in her soft dusky hair, and another where thelittle round jacket of white linen, gaily embroidered with pink, met onher bosom. But if sentiment tempted him he was quickly poised by hernext remarks. She uttered them in a low tone, although the animatedconversation of the rest of the party would have permitted the two onthe sofa to exchange the vows of love unheard.

  "But what a practice for your diplomatic talents, Excellency! PoorCalifornia! At least let me be the first to hear what you have comefor?" Her voice dropped to a soft cooing note, although her eyestwinkled. "For the love of God, senor! I am so bored in this life onthe edge of the world! To see the seams and ravelings of a diplomaticintrigue! I have read and heard of many, but never had I hoped to linkmy finger in anything subtler than a quarrel between priest andGovernor, or the jealousy of Los Angeles for Monterey. I even willhelp you--if you mean no harm to my father or my country. And I am nota friend to scorn, senor, for my blessed father is as wax in my hands,the dear old Governor adores me, and even Padre Abella, who thinkshimself a great diplomat, and is watching us out of the corner of hiseye, while I make him believe you pay me so many compliments my poorlittle head turns round--Bueno senor!" As she raised her voice sheplucked the rose from her dress and tossed it to Rezanov. Then shelifted her chin and pouted her childish lips at the ironical smile ofthe priest.

  Rezanov was close to betraying his surprise; but as he cherished abelief that the souls of all pretty women went to school to the devilbefore entering upon earthly enterprise, he wondered that he had beenopen to the illusion of complete ingenuousness in a descendant of oneof the oldest and subtlest civilizations of earth. Within thatluminous shell of youth there were, no doubt, whispering memories ofmen and women steeped in court intrigue from birth, of triumphantbeauties that had lived for love and their power over the passions ofmen as ardent as himself. It was quite possible that she might be asuseful as she desired. But his impulses were in leash. He merelylooked and murmured his admiration.

  "Better ask, what chance have I, a defenceless man, who has not seen acharming woman for three years, against such practised art? If you canhoodwink a Spanish priest, and manipulate a Governor who has won theconfidence of the most suspicious court in Europe, what fortune for abarbarian of the north? Less than with Japan, I should think."

  He divested the rose of its thorns and many tight little buds, andthrust the stem underneath the star of St. Ann. She lifted her chinagain and tossed her head.

  "You do not trust me, but you will. I fancy it will be beforelong--for it is quite true that the Californians are not so easilyoutwitted. And--even did I not help you, I would not--I vow,senor!--betray you. Is it true that Russia is at war with Spain?"

  "What?"

  "Have you not heard? It was for that we were all so excited thismorning. We thought your ship might be the first of a fleet."

  "I have heard no such rumor, and you may dismiss it. Russia is toomuch occupied with Napoleon Bonaparte, who has had himself crownedEmperor, and by this time is probably at war with half Europe--"

  She interrupted him with flashing eye. The pink in her cheeks hadturned red. The thin nostrils of her pretty Roman nose fluttered likepaper. "Ah!" she exclaimed, again with that note of hoarseness in hervoice. "There is a great man, not a mere king on a throne hisancestors made for him. Papa hates him because he has seized a throne.AY YI! DIOS, but you should hear the words fly when we go to w
artogether. But I do not care that"--she snapped her firm whitefingers--"for all the Bourbons that are in Europe. Bonaparte! Do youknow him? Have you seen him?"

  "I have seen him insult poor Markov, our ambassador to France, when Ican assure you that he looked like neither a demi-god nor a gentleman.When you have improved my Spanish I will tell you many anecdotes ofhim. Meanwhile, am I to assume that you reserve your admiration forthe man that carves his career in defiance of the rusty old machinery?"

  "I do! I do! My father was of the people, a poor boy. He has risento be the most powerful of all Californians, although the King headores never makes him Gobernador Proprietario. I tell him he shouldbe the first to recognize the genius and the ambitions of a Bonaparte.The mere thought horrifies him. But in me that same strong plebeianblood makes another cry, and if my father had but enough men at hisback, and the will to make himself King of the Californias--Madre deDios! how I should help him!"

  "At least I know her better than she knows me," thought Rezanov, as theinner door was thrown open and another bare room with a long tableladen with savory food on a superb silver service was revealed. "Andif I know anything of women, I can trust her--for as long as she may benecessary, at all events."