The Dead Command

r, having returned from a fishing excursion, Pèp presented himself

visit. His wife and Margalida had gone to the hermitage

ving been on the sea since daybreak, but the serio

to me, but you are afraid," sa

s true,

fore speaking, but rush into it impetuously when

e days, and he could keep silent no longer. He had taken it upon himself to bring the se?or's dinner mere

you!" excla

side Margalida, as if he were a suitor? Ah, Don Jaime! The 'festeigs' are solemn occasions; men kill one another on account of them. I knew that fine gentlemen laugh at all t

who assumed a se

ed Ironworker, like all other boys who gather in your kitchen to court her. I came the other night because I could bear no more, because

d accent banished all doub

en I asked her the motive of the se?or's visit. I could not believe her at first. Girls are

to smile, as at somethin

eem for the household of Can Mallorquí; but it is not good for the girl, for she was giving

o chase after any girl who is not ugly; but later on one reflects, he thinks about what is good and what is not good, what is proper,

d he would follow wherever she might lead. He intended in future to do as he pleased, laying aside scruples and prejudices. He had been a slave to them lon

ventional and ancient ideas, raised his hands, while his

rd! Oh,

allorquí! The world was no longer the same; it seemed as if all the laws of the universe were turned upside down, as if the sea were about to cover the

d in the royal palace. He still saw him in his memory, just as he had imagined him in the credulous illusions of boyhood, bending men to his will; able to send some to the gallows and pardoning others according to his caprice; seated at the table of monarchs and playing cards with them, just as Pèp himself might do with a crony in the tavern at San José; addressing one another by the familiar "thou"; and when he was not in the court city, he was an absolute seigni

of all those great lords who were masters in Majorca and rulers of the world? Come, Don Jaime, I can't help thinking it all a

d the interior of the towe

hink of my family, when I am living on your generosity?

which Pèp always received such h

an unproductive hill, which would be worth something only if the peasant should cultivate it. But the latte

icating immensity, as if no one could measu

. You can never be that

Thus those youths, who knew no broader horizon than that of the island, could not say that he wa

the repetition of an eternal history, that of the disguised and vagabond king falling in love with the shephe

and I have told it to my own children. I won't say that it never happened so, b

nd also the elysian state of man, was always t

n Sundays and talked with the secretary of the pueblo, and other lettered persons who read the newspapers. Now-a-d

loves me? Are you sure that all this see

e in womanish manner, scratching his crisp gray curls. He smiled knavishly, with an express

or marquis is coming to take them, away in his golden chariot, and that all her friends will die of envy. I, too, when I was a boy, used often to think that the richest g

ng to smil

She cries when anything is said to her about the other night; she declares it was mad

mile of joy, but the peasant quickly

re. Ah, Don Jaime, everyone with his kind! All this reminds me of a priest who used to lead a hermit's life at Cubells, a wise m

he eagerness of the peasants when they went to Cubells, gathering curiously around the

he impossible. They were of different blood and of different breed; they lived together tran

remnants of the dinner from the table and put t

tenacity, "that it was all a joke, and that you wi

I am going to her courting with the same right as any

, and all gathered in the cloister of the church, would imagine him an ambitious man who desired to convert his daughter into a fine se?orita. And this was not all. There was the anger of the rivals to be reckoned with, the jealousy of those youths, dumb with surprise when he came in that stormy night and sat down beside Margalida. Certainly by this time they had recovered from their astonishment and were talking about him,

èp who has known you ever since you were a boy. The farmhouse is at your service; everyone who lives in it

ll the young men of the island. Not a man in Iviza could force him to change his mind. To the belligerent passion of the lover was joined the pride of race, that ancestral hatred which separated the inhabitants of

. For women the wildest deeds are done. It was useless to make further effo

member what I tell you. A great misf

toward the farmhouse, the points of his kerchief and the woma

the hillside a boy, who, after glancing cautiously about to convince himself that he was not observed, ran toward him. It was the Little Chaplain. He

greater confidence, as if he already considered him one of the family. He did not protest at the strangeness of th

go to Cubells?

ished to have a serious talk with Don Jaime, and so he had sent them all away, and had taken it upon himself to bring him his dinner. For two days he had talked of nothing but this inte

th a certain anxiety, "How is Almond Blossom? Wh

miled when she heard Don Jaime's name mentioned, again her eyes moistened, and she almost always brought the conversation to a clos

dearly-only she is rather afraid of you-she feels a kind of respect. Who would ever have thought that you would notice her! At home everybody seems to be crazy; father looks cross an

ce; but they were certainly plotting something. A week ago they seemed to hate one another and each kept to himself, but now they had joined forces in hatred of the stranger. They said nothing; they were merely taciturn; but their

although for some time I knew that you were not indifferent to Margalida; you asked too many questions about her. But now they have waked up, and they are planning something. Th

or a moment the opinions of the others, but soon h

young rascal smiled mischievously, "this marriage suits me. You are not going to till the fields, you will take Margalida away with you, and the old man, having no one to leave Can Mallo

and then, after a moment's hesitation, like that of a great but modest man trying to conceal his i

g the smoothness of the virgi

gravity, he had struck him with the weapon, proclaiming him invincible knight of the district of San José, of the whole island, and of the channels and clif

a Don Jaime as if protecting him w

pressing the fleshy tip against the point,

recognized the weapon; it was th

er? He is a fraud! The Minstrel and all the rest? Frauds also. I'm only waiting for a

is wasting his time without an opportunity to

that he had already killed his man, and t

and drawing it forth again, as if he enjoyed contemplating his disfigured image in the polished blade, dreaming of tremendous battles which always terminated

per. He had found the suitors who came from a distance sitting on the

ountain top to the valley. Before throwing his haik over his shoulders, he drew his revolver from his belt, scrupulously examining the cartridges, and the working of the trigger. Everything all right! The first

of Can Mallorquí full of young men standing about, or seated on the benches, waiting while the family finished supper in the kitchen. Febrer detected them in the dim light by the odor of h

called Febre

ow-toned conversations ceased, and a painful and

arrogant, his figure standing erect against the horizon, and it seemed as

bt as to his fate, fearing and at the same time desiring her approach. Certain memories of the past returned, causing him to smile. What would Mary Gordon say if she could see him surrounded by this rustic crowd, tremulous and vacillating as he t

n its rectangle of ruddy l

arch who understands the desires of y

reeting Se?or Pèp and his family, taking the

thout venturing to enter this house, which was his own! Febrer replied with a shrug of the shoulders. He preferred to do as did the others. He ima

ke his eyes off Almond Blossom, who, faithful to the ritual of such occasions, was seated in a chair

heir turns, were silent, not keeping up the merry chattering with which they had whiled away the time on other nights. Gloom seemed to weigh upon them, compelling them to silence, with lowered

ent himself as a suitor, and, according to rule, it was his turn. Pèp, who had been talking to him cea

young men remained silent in order to catch the stranger's faintest words, but Pèp, realizing thei

a! Almond

He had felt ill at ease in his solitude, experiencing a vague desire for better things, which perhaps lay within his reach, but which he in his blindness could not recognize, until suddenly he had

aised her eyes and glanced uneasily at all the brown youths with the

before him. Afraid? Of whom? He felt equal to fighting all those rustics and their innumerable relatives. Afraid! No, Margalida! S

ith anguish. Tears, suddenly bursting forth in this hostile atmosphere, might be a sign for battle; they would bring about the explosion of all that restrained anger which she divined around her.

eminine intuition she realized Margalida's suffering. Her husband, s

hould rule. But Pèp, with the stubbornness of the rustic, would not listen. Repeating the words, he arose and strode toward the door, opening it wide

gloomy and crestfallen, Pèp grasped his arm. He must remain; Pèp would accompany him to the

n account of Margalida's silence, which he considered crushing; on account of the hostile attitud

or whistling, or songs, as if returning from a funeral. Somet

e stood out against the whiteness of the path in the pale light of the stars. He held his revolver in his right hand, nervously clutching the breech, c

ugh sarcastically at his anger. At last the fresh serenity of drowsy Nature seemed to penetrate his soul. He shru

tolera. Returning to his dwelling he found the supper, whi

Jaime. The afternoon before, when he had been hunting a certain bird in the pine forest near the Ironworker's

ebrer, wondering that th

sitting under the almond and fig trees to compose his verses. If he had gone up to the blacksmith shop it was undoubtedly because the Ironworker had sen

f that?" Fe

seemed to pity the

ation at the forge means something. This is Saturday, courting night. I am

in spite of everything. Did they imagine they could frighten him? The

from a distance, in the hope of catching a glimpse of the slender figure of Margalida. Since he had become a suitor he could not present himself as

ed in the clear winter sky with the keenness of

ons of the past returned again with ironic precisi

e to a rustic Siegfried going forth to slay the dragon, which guards the

ver known; she was the first, the only one. All his past life seemed to him false, artificial, like the life presented on the stage

who seemed to be talking in smothered voices.

na

ot even receive him with t

n, Febrer saw that the Minstrel had a small drum hanging fro

nce over something extraordinary. Others, more serious, showed in their faces the noble disgust of those who fear to witness an inevitabl

and resting his forehead in his left hand. He slowly beat the drum, while a prolonged hissing demanded silence. It was a new song; every Saturday the Minstrel came with fresh verses in honor

g which shook his chest and reddened his cheeks. Tonight, however, the Minstrel

he first verses, hailing the sarc

recall the primitive songs scattered over the Mediterranean by the Semitic sailors, he took refuge wit

, his rustic pronunciation, and the continual clucking with which he ended the verses, were scarcely intelligible to Jaime, but he gradually began to realize that the ballad was directed at young women

ine vanity, which was inclined to see in the female nothing but a sharer of his burdens. "True!

ous and heartless. Febrer glanced instinctively at Margalida, who remained motionless, with lowered eyes, her

rst of laughter again attracted his attention to the verses. The singer was making fun of the girl, who, in order to become

brain, saw something like a spark of light, a luminous divination, and

gh! E

between himself and the candle light;

head with such force that the parchment gave way and the frame fi

Margalida, screaming, took refuge at her mother's side, and the Little Chaplain felt that

de! Ou

elds in front of the farmhouse. Febrer we

el, an unfortunate sick boy who could not defend himself! Others shook their heads. They had been expecting it. A man could not be insulted gratuitously

ion was distracted by the Minstrel. He had removed the drum from his head and was wiping the blood from his forehead, we

throw them at Febrer, each time receding a few steps as if to defend himself against a new aggres

ld be heard in the distance, shouting defiance, swearing vengeance. H

nd having struck the poor consumptive. To stifle his remorse he muttered arrogant threats. He only wished it had been anothe

d Febrer returned to his tower, he stopped on the way s

bo