Osorio

“ A mighty man, and gentle as he is mighty.
He'll wind into her confidence, and rout
A host of scruples—come, confess, Osorio!
Osorio. You pierce through mysteries with a lynx's eye, 170
In this, your merry mood! you see it all!
Velez. Why, no!—not all. I have not yet discover'd,
At least, not wholly, what his speeches meant.
Pride and hypocrisy, and guilt and cunning—
Then when he fix'd his obstinate eye on you, 175
And you pretended to look strange and tremble.
Why—why—what ails you now?
Osorio (with a stupid stare) . Me? why? what ails me? ”

“ To wander on disquietly thro' the earth,
Cursing all lovely things? to let him live—
It were a deep revenge!
All the band cry out—No mercy! no mercy! 300
[Naomi advances with the sword towards Osorio.
Alhadra. Nay, bear him forth! Why should this innocent maid
Behold the ugliness of death?
Osorio (with great majesty) . O woman!
I have stood silent like a slave [596:1] before thee,
That I might taste the wormwood and the gall,
And satiate this self-accusing spirit 305
With bitterer agonies than death can give. ”

“ OSORIO, JERONYMO (1506–1580) , Portuguese historian, was a native of Lisbon and son of the Ouvidor Geral of India. In 1519 his mother sent him to Salamanca to study civil law, and in 1525 he went on to Paris to study philosophy, and there became intimate with Peter Fabre, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. Returning to Portugal, Osorio next proceeded for theology to Bologna, where he made such a name that King John III. invited him in 1536–1537 to lecture on scripture in the reorganized university of Coimbra. ”

“ Osorio (drawing back and gazing at Albert with a countenance expressive at once of awe and terror) . Touch me not!
Touch not pollution, Albert!—I will die!
[He attempts to fall on his sword. Albert and Maria struggle with him.
Albert. We will invent some tale to save your honour.
Live, live, Osorio!
Maria. You may yet be happy. 245
Osorio (looking at Maria) . O horror! Not a thousand years in heaven
Could recompose this miserable heart,
Or make it capable of one brief joy.
Live! live!—why yes! 'Twere well to live with you—
[594] For is it fit a villain should be proud? ”

“ You sport with me, my lord?
Osorio. Come, come, this foolery
Lives only in thy looks—thy heart disowns it.
Ferdinand. I can bear this, and anything more grievous
From you, my lord!—but how can I serve you here?
Osorio. Why, you can mouth set speeches solemnly, 25
Wear a quaint garment, make mysterious antics.
[Ferdinand. I am dull, my lord! I do not comprehend you.
Osorio. In blunt terms] you can play the sorcerer.
She has no faith in Holy Church, 'tis true. ”

“ Osorio. There's some sense in that scruple; but we'll mask you. 125
Ferdinand. They'll know my gait. But stay! of late I have watch'd
A stranger that lives nigh, still picking weeds,
Now in the swamp, now on the walls of the ruin,
Now clamb'ring, like a runaway lunatic,
Up to the summit of our highest mount. 130
I have watch'd him at it morning-tide and noon,
Once in the moonlight. Then I stood so near,
I heard him mutt'ring o'er the plant. A wizard!
Some gaunt slave, prowling out for dark employments.
Osorio. What may his name be?
Ferdinand. That I cannot tell you. ”

“ Drove you to this, your not ungentle wildness,
You have my sympathy, and so farewell!
But if some undiscover'd wrongs oppress you,
And you need strength to drag them into light,
The generous Velez, and my Lord Osorio 345
Have arm and will to aid a noble sufferer,
Nor shall you want my favourable pleading. [Exeunt Maria and Alhadra.
Albert (alone) . 'Tis strange! it cannot be! my Lord Osorio!
Her Lord Osorio! Nay, I will not do it.
I curs'd him once, and one curse is enough. 350
[534] How sad she look'd and pale! but not like guilt,
And her calm tones—sweet as a song of mercy! ”

“ You have a few hundred dollars in Osorio's hands, and are afraid of losing them," said Clementina with a satirical smile, and with difficulty swallowing down her wrath.
Pepa turned pale. A surge of rage rose from her heart to her lips, and she was on the point of casting her fortune over-board and simply railing like a market woman—a style for which she was especially gifted—but an instinct of self-interest, of self-preservation, checked the outburst. If she were to quarrel with her friend, or even to offend her, all hope of saving her capital would be lost. ”

“ Arbos did his best to tranquillise her; perhaps it was not true: sudden losses, like sudden fortunes, are always greatly exaggerated. Besides, if any deposit were sacred to Osorio, it would surely be that of a lady who had entrusted her money to him out of pure friendship.
Though they were talking almost in a whisper, their grave looks and earnest manner attracted the notice of General Patiño, who, turning to the Marquesa de Ujo, said with singular perspicacity:
"Just look at Pepa and Arbos, a summer cloud has fallen on them. Love is a beautiful thing even in its transient torments!" ”

“ Osorio. Where lies your scruple?
Ferdinand. That shark Francesco.
Osorio. O! an o'ersiz'd gudgeon!
I baited, sir, my hook with a painted mitre, 45
And now I play with him at the end of the line.
Well—and what next?
Ferdinand (stammering) . Next, next—my lord!
You know you told me that the lady loved you,
Had loved you with incautious tenderness.
That if the young man, her betrothéd husband, 50
Return'd, yourself, and she, and an unborn babe,
Must perish. Now, my lord! to be a man!
Osorio (aloud, though to express his contempt he speaks in the third person) . This fellow is a man! ”

“ The darkness
(When ten yards off, we know, 'tis chearful moonlight)
Collects the guilt and crowds it round the heart.
It must be innocent.
Osorio. Thyself be judge. [Osorio walks round the cavern—then looking round it.
One of our family knew this place well. 80
Ferdinand. Who? when? my lord.
Osorio. What boots it who or when?
Hang up the torch. I'll tell his tale to thee.
[They hang [up] their torches in some shelf of [on some ridge in Remorse] the cavern.
Osorio. He was a man different from other men,
And he despised them, yet revered himself. [567:1]
Ferdinand. ”

“ The torments, the tempers, the wretched state of things in the Osorio household may be easily imagined.
This discomfort, and it might be called misery, extended to the hapless Raimundo. Clementina, torn soul and body by a tumult of other passions, found no leisure for the blandishments of love. The minutes she could spare for them were every day briefer and less calm. The gay tête-à-têtes and merry devices of a former time were over for ever. The lady no longer found any amusement in laughing at her boyish lover. ”

“ Doña Carmen knew that Osorio's affairs were not prospering, and that he had lately lost heavily on the Bourse; but she dared not tell his wife so.
"Poor, dear child! To have to think of such things when you were born to shine as a star in society."
"This alone was wanting to make him absolutely detestable. If one could but live one's life over again!"
The tender look had gone out of her eyes, they were gloomy and fierce; a deep frown puckered her statuesque brow, and in a husky tone she poured out all her grievances and related the daily vexations which her husband heaped upon her. ”

“ To escape the discomfort of a tête-à-tête at table, they always had some guest. In public they made a show of the most natural and friendly relations; Osorio would sometimes go late to fetch his wife from the theatre or party to which she had been. But every one understood the facts of the case. Clementina, as a rule, would go out on her lover's arm; they would stand talking in the lobby in the sight of all the world, while waiting for the carriage; she stepped in; before it drove off they would yet exchange a few confidential and incoherent remarks interrupted by gay laughter. ”

“ The conclusion arrived at was that it was the gentleman who had taken the first steps towards the rupture, and this report, whether true or false, reached Clementina's ears, and was such a stab to her pride that she was almost ill with rage.
Another year went by. She had other suitors, off and on, and Osorio, on his part, courted other damsels. But in both, notwithstanding, the memory of the past survived. She was burning for revenge. So long as that man was going about the world, so perfectly content as he seemed, she felt herself humiliated. ”

“ In one corner sat Pascuala, a widow with no perceptible income, whom Clementina regarded partly as a friend, and partly as a companion to be made use of, and with her, Pepa Frias, who had just arrived. As Clementina passed the two men to shake hands with Pepa, her eyes met her husband's in a flash like gloomy and ominous lightning. Osorio's face, always dark and bilious, was really impressive by its ferocity. It was only for an instant. The ladies exchanged a few words, and the men joined them, the banker beginning to jest with his wife about her dress in a tone of affectionate banter. ”

“ Time went on and Señora de Osorio, tired of her fashionable existence, and having tasted every emotion which comes in the way of a beautiful and wealthy woman, began to find a quite peculiar pleasure in the innocent greetings she exchanged almost every day with the youth at the corner window. One afternoon, having dismissed her carriage to take a turn in the Retiro Gardens, she met Alcázar and his sister in one of the avenues.
She bowed expressively; Raimundo saluted her with his usual respectful eagerness; but Clementina observed that the girl bowed with marked coolness. ”

“ Die thou first.
[They fight. Osorio disarms Ferdinand, and in disarming him, throws his sword up that recess, opposite to which they were standing.
Ferdinand (springing wildly towards Osorio) . Still I can strangle thee!
Osorio. Nay, fool! stand off.
I'll kill thee—but not so! Go fetch thy sword.
[Ferdinand hurries into the recess with his torch. Osorio follows him, and in a moment returns alone.
Osorio. Now—this was luck! No bloodstains, no dead body! 150
His dream, too, is made out. Now for his friend. [570:1] [Exit.
[571] Scene changes to the court before the Castle of Velez. ”

“ At last Doña Carmen took to her bed, never again to rise. Clementina spent the whole day by her side. The terrible end was near. One morning, between two and three, two of the Duke's servants gave the alarm to the Osorios. The Duchess was dying, and asked repeatedly for her daughter. Clementina hastily dressed and flew to the Requena Palace as fast as her horses could carry her. Osorio went with her. As they alighted they met the Duke, with an expression of scornful gloom. ”

“ Osorio destroyed the letter, and sent assassins to meet Albert. . . Worse than all, the growth of Osorio's character is nowhere explained—and yet I had most clear and psychologically accurate ideas of the whole of it. . . A man, who from constitutional calmness of appetites, is seduced into pride and the love of power, by these into misanthropism, or rather a contempt of mankind, and from thence, by the co-operation of envy, and a curiously modified love for a beautiful female (which is nowhere developed in the play) , into a most atrocious guilt. ”

“ The enemy was known to be approaching, and the army was moved to a point about nine miles from the capital, occupying a location known as the farm of Espejo, where the coming enemy was awaited. On the afternoon of April 3, Osorio crossed the Maypo, the patriot cavalry harassing his flank and rear as he advanced. On the 5th his army took up a position on the brow of a hill opposite that occupied by the patriot forces. ”

“ Osorio. Well?
Ferdinand. I was in the act
Of falling down that chasm, when Alhadra
Waked me. She heard my heart beat!
Osorio. Strange enough! 60
Had you been here before?
Ferdinand. Never, my lord!
But my eyes do not see it now more clearly
Than in my dream I saw that very chasm.
[Osorio stands in a deep study—then, after a pause.
Osorio. There is no reason why it should be so.
And yet it is.
Ferdinand. What is, my lord?
Osorio. Unpleasant 65
To kill a man!
Ferdinand. Except in self-defence.
[567]
Osorio. ”

“ He is the only general uni- versally loved and respected by the Argentines as well as the Brazilians, and this popularity has, it is said, excited the jealousy of his chief — certainly General Osorio^s name does not appear in orders as it deserves to appear. He is brave to temerity ; horse after horse has been shot under him, and the soldiers declare that he bears a charmed life, and shakes after battle the bullets out of his poncho. The Brazil need never despair of success when she can show such a noble example of gallantry and spirit as General Osorio. ”

“ He came to the country of the Yalcones, which is where I have said Osorio had arrived. The natives of that region are numerous and determined. They fight with lances 30 palmos long, and have other formidable weapons. They resolved to rebel against the Spaniards, and not merely to refuse obedience, but to kill the captain and the others who had come from Popayán, As they had notice of the numerous horses, mares, and other things the Spaniards brought, they desired to put their thought into execution to satiate their cursed bellies with human flesh, and to rob what we have said. ”

“ Clementina thought that Osorio should speak to her father. He considered it her part to apply to him in dutiful terms for an explanation, before formulating a complaint. After some days of hesitation the wife finally made up her mind to say a few words to her father, though not without some embarrassment, since she knew his temper and her own too.
"Well, papa," said she, with affected lightness, finding him alone in his room, "when are you going to talk over money matters with me?"
"Money matters? Why should I?" ”