Don Felipe

“ I felt impelled to keep you in ignorance of the facts, for I knew that Don Felipe would stop at nothing. What would your life have been to him, had you come between him and his position? His wealth is too vast. I knew that, as surely as you raised your voice against him, as you would have been obliged to in the interests of the Church, you one day would have been found dead in some lonely pass in the mountains while engaged in your Mission work."
Padre Antonio was too astute an observer of men not to perceive the force of her words. ”

“ Felipe's happiness consists in feeling himself mine; the aloofness of his love, his strict obedience, irritate me, just as his attitude of profound respect provoked me when he was only my Spanish master. I am tempted to cry out to him as he passes, "Fool, if you love me so much as a picture, what will it be when you know the real me?"
Oh! Renee, you burn my letters, don't you? I will burn yours. If other eyes than ours were to read these thoughts which pass from heart to heart, I should send Felipe to put them out, and perhaps to kill the owners, by way of additional security. ”

“ What would Don Juan, your father, peace be to his soul, say if he were alive? Love her!" she cried in a frenzy of hatred and jealousy. "How can you possibly love her, Don Felipe Ramirez?"
"How can I love her?" retorted Felipe fiercely. "Why does the grass grow? Why do the birds sing? Why do the streams run to the ocean? Why do the flowers turn to the sun? Tell me that, Doña Fernandez," he cried in agony and bitterness, "and I will tell you why I love her in spite of myself, in spite of what she did, in spite of every effort I have made to resist her fascination! ”

“ Dios! you should have witnessed the scene they created the day they arrived. And yet," she continued, "I like them and am glad they are here. They have brought new life into the place. God knows it is no longer what it used to be in the old days when Don Carlos, my husband, was alive," she added with a sigh.
Don Felipe smiled at the Señora's provincialism. What a great world lay outside that of her own, of which she was entirely ignorant.
A trip to the City of Mexico during her honeymoon was the only journey she had ever taken beyond the confines of Chihuahua. ”

“ There is always a vast difference, in Mexico, between the time you should leave, and the time when you do leave, always. Don Felipe insisted on accompanying me to the rancho, leaving his lucrative practice—doctors always have "lucrative practices "—to the care of his daughters, who were left alone. He was a sad-faced, quiet man, with thoughtful eyes and grizzled beard,—a grave and courtly Mexican, whose sense of duty to a chance guest impelled him to climb the mountain with him. ”

“ What a good woman your mother must be, Don Felipe!”
“The best on earth,” answered Don Felipe. “As good as Queen Isabella.”
Diego then unbuckled his sword and laid it on the table, and Don Felipe did the same. Then came a long pause before Diego spoke.
“This is the first day,” he said, “that we have worn swords as men. Ought we not to consecrate them with prayer as knights do?”
“Yes,” answered Don Felipe. “My mother has told me that my father, when first he was girt with a sword, spent the night in prayer on his knees before the altar of the Cathedral of Seville.” ”

“ As regards his grace's coming by authority of his royal majesty, the king Don Felipe, in order to discover lands, the islands of the West lying within his demarcation, and to propagate Christianity therein, as should be the principal purpose of so Christian a prince ”

“ The people of Palos, used to the distinction of rank, were impressed by Don Felipe’s words, and gazed curiously but silently at the two youths.
When they reached the waterside Diego said, with a strange look in his eyes, to Don Felipe:
“I have often thought as I lay in my bed at night, or as I attended the Prince in the [Pg 201] palace, or sat at meat with other pages, or worked at my books, ‘At this moment my father is watching for sight of land. If it be daylight his eyes are fixed upon the horizon, watching for the dark line of the land to appear. ”

“ It was the way I had been taught and I thought all men were like us.
“The man whom I called father—your uncle, Luisa, who went by the name of Don Serapio Barana—was the chief or leader of the band, and he taught me this, and gave me the education I have; him and padre Gayferos. He would often be gone for weeks and months at a time, and then the lieutenant, Lopez Romulo, would be left in command. He was a wicked, cruel man, and I hated him!” Felipe added, while his eyes flashed and a hand crept to the jeweled hilt of the poniard that peeped from his bosom. ”

“ One who measured his lands not by acres, but by hundreds of square miles, over which roamed vast herds of horses, cattle and sheep, and of which Chiquita might have been mistress had she so chosen. Within this vast domain were situated numerous villages of Mexican and Indian populations, subject in a measure to his command. His word, where it did not conflict with the central Government, was law; but Don Felipe, selfish and unprincipled though he was by nature, was too easy [Pg 113] going ever to think of making unscrupulous use of such power. ”

“ Don Felipe was talking of the prospect of once more seeing his mother, Doña Christina, and his sister, Doña Luisita.
“How glad Luisita will be to see me again!” he cried, a dozen times. “You see, Luisita leads a very retired life; she has not so many things to interest her as I have, and, although I love her just as much as she loves me, I think she is lonelier without me than I am without her.”
“I wonder,” said Diego, “if we will find at the castle your cousin, Don Tomaso de Gama, the daredevil knight of whom you have so often told me? ”

“ That she should object to the engagement, or refuse to carry out her father's plan never crossed the Viceroy's imagination. That she might love another, was an idea to which he never gave a thought. It was the business of a well-brought-up Spanish maiden to be a passive instrument in the carrying out of her father's views, especially in things matrimonial, in which, indeed, love found little room for entrance. But Donna Mercedes loved Captain Alvarado and she cared nothing for Don Felipe. ”

“ I will be faithful to you. 'Twill be death, but I hope it may come quickly. Misjudge me not, sweet lady. Happiness smiles not upon my passion, sadness marks me for her own. I pray God 'twill be but for a little space. Give me some work to do that I may kill sorrow by losing my life, my lord. And thou, Donna Mercedes, forget me and be happy with Don Felipe."
"Never, never!" cried the girl.
She rose to her feet and came nearer to him. Her father stood by as if stunned. She laid her arms around Alvarado's neck. She looked into her lover's eyes. ”

“ At least I will try. But Don Felipe? Sangre de Christo! it must be so; else they would not have been so cautious. Poor Senora Canelo!” he muttered, 57 as he strode rapidly toward the hacienda, taking a roundabout course, so as to enter it upon the opposite side from that whence Felipe had ridden.
It was at an early hour of the night of the succeeding day to that on which Felipe had met his strange visitor, that this same man, or Lopez Romulo as the spy had termed him, entered a low, fifth-rate cabaret near the suburbs of Guanajuato. ”

“ Dear, I will tell you.
My fascinating father, who treats me with the devotion of an Italian cavaliere servente for his lady, had my portrait painted, as I told you, by Mme. de Mirbel. I contrived to get a copy made, good enough to do for the Duke, and sent the original to Felipe. I despatched it yesterday, and these lines with it:
"Don Felipe, your single-hearted devotion is met by a blind confidence. Time will show whether this is not to treat a man as more than human." ”

“ Diego and Don Felipe, standing side by side, their right hands upon their sword-hilts, their left hands raised at the salute, could yet talk without being heard by the Queen and her train at the end of the long corridor.
“I told you,” said Don Felipe, in a whisper, without turning his head, “that you would [Pg 162] find the master of the pages a much more difficult person than Fray Piña. Suppose you had been caught asleep while waiting for the Queen?” ”

“ And if they do not consent thereto, and he, Miguel Lopez de Leguaspi—and his captains and officers, and all the persons above-named—shall not, in every respect, assent to that which I request and demand as above, I declare that he—together with all his above-mentioned captains and persons aforesaid, of whatsoever rank, nation, condition, or country they may be—will be held and considered and judged as disobedient by his royal majesty, King Don Felipe, their sovereign, and by the King of Portugal, our lord, and by their officers of justice. ”

“ Don Felipe fixed on him a look of terror, and mechanically made the sign of the cross.
"This man is the fiend," he muttered with horror.
"No; re-assure yourself I am not the fiend, but I know a good many things about you more especially, and the numerous businesses you carry on. I know the bargain you made with a certain don Diego: moreover, if you desire it, I will repeat to you word for word the conversation which you held scarce an hour ago in this very room with the señores don Melchior de la Cruz and Don Antonio de Cacerbar. ”

“ I, Miguel Lopez de Leguaspi, governor and captain-general for his majesty King Don Felipe, our lord, of his people and royal fleet for the discovery of the islands of the West: in response to the summons of the very illustrious Gonzalo Pereira, captain-in-chief of the Portuguese fleet, served on me the twenty-seventh day of this present month of October I declare that it is true, as contained in his summons, that "actions speak louder than words," as also do offers without actions—which in his case we have seen to be very different. ”

“ You don't know the Indian as I do, Miss Van Ashton. The high-caste Indian women are quite as incapable of such things as you are. It was a devilishly clever stroke on Don Felipe's part, I'll admit, but he has deceived himself as thoroughly as the rest of the world. ”

“ Don Felipe made no reply, but devoured by a dull rage, with pale brow and frowning gesture, he resolutely went to place himself twenty paces from his adversary.
El Rayo dismounted and placed himself facing the officer, with his head thrown back, his right leg advanced, and his arms folded on his back.
"Now," he said, "pay great attention to aiming true; revolvers, good though they are, generally have the fault of carrying a little too high; do not hurry yourself. Are you ready? Well, then, fire."
Don Felipe did not let the invitation be repeated, but rapidly fired three shots. ”

“ Father Alonso Sánchez of the Society of Jesus, ambassador of this community at the two courts [i.e., Spain and Rome] , presented to his Majesty Don Felipe II a standard or description of the qualities which should adorn the person who should be appointed governor of Filipinas. That most judicious monarch thought it so difficult to find a man of so many and such gifts, that he bargained with the father, and arranged that the latter himself should seek and select the man. ”

“ Why, the Señorita herself taught this child to call her mother. But there are still other things which you shall learn in due time."
"Chiquita," said the Captain without heeding Don Felipe's words, "speak! I know you can explain." [Pg 295] She glanced up at him for a moment and then cast her eyes down at the child.
"I must first send to La Jara for Joaquin and Manuelita Flores," she answered. "When they come, I shall be able to tell something definite concerning this child."
"You can spare yourself the trouble," broke in Don Felipe. "They are both dead."
"Dead?" she cried, starting violently. ”

“ He's the devil, I say! Captain Forest and his man, José, are the only ones that dare go near him." Don Felipe drew a gold cigarette-case thickly studded with diamonds and rubies from the inner pocket of his jacket, and lighted a cigarette. ”

“ Then Don Hypolito will be irrevocably cut off from Acauhtzin."
"That does not matter to him," interposed Philip, overhearing this remark; "he has most of his troops at Janjalla, and will simply hold the south instead of the north."
"At all events, Señor Felipe, we have crushed him by sea."
"It will be a more difficult task to crush him by land, especially as Don Francisco is so dilatory."
"Don Francisco! Don Francisco!" cried Rafael, stamping his foot with rage. "He is not fit to be President. Through him have we lost Janjalla. ”

“ Nor can the Moors make any sortie beyond the Vega, because the armies of Castile and Arragon are encamped about them, and the town of Santa Fé stands guard over the main gate of Granada, called the Gate of Justice. The Moors cannot hold out longer than the first of the year, and I think it well to be upon the spot to remind the King and the Queen of their promise. I have seen and talked with Doña Christina de Langara y Gama, the mother of Don Felipe. She is a woman of wisdom and good heart, and she thinks it will be well to have Don Felipe and you go to Santa Fé. ”

“ He’ll not be able to make porridge with linseed flour, nor to put wooden chickens, just for show, in the stews made for the poor sick people. Uncle Felipe is a good one! He’ll do. He has no delicacy, not a bit! Although he is going to get married, he still runs after Candidiña out in the garden. Don’t you believe it? She is no fool, either! She already knows more than many old women. ”