San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-05-28


cause have found you valiant when it
was necessary to prove your affection
for me-"
well" said she, discouraged. why
do YOU talk to me like that? If you wish
to make me understand something ex-
plain it tenderly. | have told you, hus-
band of mine, that / cannot know every
thing, you know. | have had no oppor-
tunity to learn anything except what you
have taught me. had never been away
from my family"
He was disturbed, disarmed, on the
point of staying at home without word.
But, in spite of everything. he remained
under the impression of distrust created
by the past.
MOnteforte reflected; she awaited anx-
iously. He thought that it was better to
go to the end. Could he not unite ten
derness with frmness?
First he pressed her against his chest.
Yes" said she, that's the way. Here,
you see, near your heart, | shall under
stand without bitterness; | shall accept
gayly whatever you wish"
Then, in an affectionate and moderate
tone, beneath which could be felt an i'm
placable firmness, he said:
know first that | love you, and that
other women, however beautiful or de-
srable they may be, leave me Indifferent.
You must have blind confidence In
your husbands; desire no more suspi-
cions or scenes. Do not believe me capa-
bic even Of thought that could cause
you to grieve. Jealousy, you see, is dis
agreeable and stupid. Live in security;
in the first place, calmnesS beauties.
Then learn to understand the needs of
artists. Other men spend the day out
side in their business. We work at home
in the daytime; we must talk of the
ideas that are dear to us, and for that
we have only the evening. Work, read,
sing; but do not trouble me and do not
trouble yourself with puerile magma
tons. From the child that you area
devoted sincere and good child-grow
into a woman without losing the grace
of your simplicity. If you do not, | shall
love you just the same, because of your
good little heart; but l shall suffer, and
shall esteem you less. Now, believe me,
a woman is always the gamer Ly her
husbands esteem. Now, as each of us
should do something for the other, this
evening shall not go out"
Teresa listened with serious attention,
COMPRISING her thin pale lips, and look
ing at him steadily.
On hearing her husbands last words,
the young woman kissed him, rose, took
MOntefOrte's hat, aud said resolutely:
Go, husband of mine; begin this even
ing. 1t was only necessary to explain"
Then lovingly, but none the less seri-
Ously, she continued:
My Orlando, you shall see of what
am capable
He looked at her in surprise at the
mature, pensive something with which
he was struck. As she insisted, he went
out; but with regret at leaving her,
feeling unknown to him before.
When he was in the street, Teresa,
resting on the balcony, followed him
with her eyes as long as she could see
him, and with her hand upon her heart
she said:
He will have to love me as l love
him.
Meantime, in the midst Of her happi-
ness, Teresa often thought of her father.
And the image of the old man rose w
and filled her with rcmorse; this remorse
was less bitter, however, than it should
have been, less than the old man deserved.
She would have made more serious
efforts to win his consent, had not her
mother impressed her fears upon every
body, for which reason the young woman
dared do nothing, for they did not know
how to breathe in presence of Don Agos-
tino's GOODNESS and silence.
From day to day the icy attitude OF
the old man grew more severe, that OF
the two women more anxious. The
meals were eaten in sadness; they
served him with sort of careful atten.
tive tmdity, silent both as long as he
was silent.
Sometimes he surprised a fGrtive
glance then he knit his brow and the
women lowered their heads.
After meals he shut himself up in his
private Office. He smoked, went out, re-
turned, always in the same moral soil.
tude, aggravated by his clear vision OF
the understanding between the others.
He never talked of the young couple; and
the poor mother and plaintive aunt felt
the burden upon them of this discomfort,
full of reproaches much harder to bear
than clearly formulated griefs.
Did he vanish round the corner of the
Salita? Like mice on he watch, one OF