“Bring them down, Isabella,” said Pilar.
Isabella pouted.
“Oh, yes, that is best,” said Pilar. “Come, we will go and get them.”
She took Isabella by the hand and I was left alone in the room. I looked about me at the rich draperies and the elegant Spanish furniture. This was his house, I thought, and she is his wife for all that she has the mind of a child.
It was a strange situation into which I had been thrust. I kept thinking of the passion in his eyes when he had said he would marry me. How could he while this childlike creature stood in his way?
The door opened suddenly and a young girl came in. She had dark hair and big dark eyes in an olive-colored heart-shaped face.
She said: “Señorita, forgive me.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am Manuela and I work here. I wish to speak to you if I may, Señorita.”
“What is it you wish to say?”
“It is the boy … the little fellow.” Her face was illuminated by a pleasant smile. “Carlos.”
“Oh, yes.”
“I wanted to know. He is happy now?”
“He is happier than he has ever been.”
She smiled. “He is good boy,” she said. “What a boy. Maria was so cruel to him.”
“Maria? Is that the woman who lives here?” I waved my hand in the direction of the courtyard where I had first seen Carlos playing.
She nodded. “She was the boy’s foster mother. It was wrong. She is a stupid woman… She has no love for children though she has five of her own. The boy should not have been put with her. I used to speak to him.”
I warmed to her. She had been kind to Carlos; I could see by her face.
“You need no longer worry,” I told her. “I shall see that Carlos is well looked after.”
“I used to take him sweetmeats. Poor child, he had no love, and children need love as they need sweetmeats. Thank you for taking him away, Señorita.”
“You must come and see Carlos for yourself.”
“May I? You are good.”
I said: “What work do you do here?”
A faint frown appeared between her eyes. “I help in the boudoir. I am Doña Isabella’s maid.”
“You are not happy?”
“I love children, Señorita. Doña Isabella is a child in so many ways.”
“I see,” I said. She curtsied suddenly and hurried out. I wondered whether she had heard footsteps, for very shortly afterward the woman Pilar came in. Isabella was not with her.
“She is sleeping,” said Pilar. “You understand. When she reached her room she had forgotten you. It is thus sometimes.”
“Poor soul,” I said.
“Poor soul indeed.”
“Did I do wrong to speak to her?”
“She was happy to speak with you and you found the doll’s shoe, which pleased her. But she forgets from time to time.”
I said: “This did not happen overnight.”
She was silent for a while. Then she said: “She was always a little simple. She could not learn her lessons; it was not important with a lady of such high degree. She was destined to make a good marriage; her dowry was great; her family had connections with the royal house.”
“So her simplicity did not matter.”
“It was thought she would be a good wife … she would produce children and she was betrothed to Don Felipe. He is a nobleman of some wealth and he was high in favor at Court. It was a good match.”
“Even though she still played with her dolls.”
“She was a child. Fifteen. We used to say: Wait until she has a child of her own; then she will grow up.” Pilar’s eyes narrowed. “If I could lay my hands on her ravisher I would inflict on him such tortures that the world has never known. He has ruined this young life.”
“Was it not ruined before he came? From birth she was not as other children are.”
“She would have grown out of it; she would have had children.”
I was not convinced. I did not wish to defend Jake Pennlyon; he had wantonly satisfied his lust and this girl was the victim. But the blame for her plight did not lie solely with him, yet he had shocked her into some sort of awakening which was like a nightmare; he had crudely broken into her half-formed mind.
I said: “Would you prefer me not to come here?”
“No,” she said. “Come when you wish. You understand her. You do her good. You have taken the child. That is good. He is no longer a burden to us. I cannot understand how you persuaded Don Felipe to keep him at the Hacienda.”
She looked at me searchingly and I wondered how much she knew. Would she be aware that I had been brought here to satisfy Don Felipe’s lust for revenge?
As I went out I saw a man working in the gardens. He was very tall and broad for a Spaniard. He stood up and touched his cap when he saw me. Pilar led me to the gate.
“That was Edmundo,” she said. “He is strong and can help me if need be. He knows what to do if Isabella is ill. He can pick her up and carry her with the greatest ease.”
I said good-bye and told her I would come and see Isabella very soon.
I told Honey what had happened, but she did not yet know, of course, that Don Felipe had talked to me of marriage.
We thought it sad that Isabella had been simpleminded and that it was incongruous that she should have been given in marriage to such a fastidious and intellectual man as Don Felipe.
I told her about the girl Manuela who had asked after Carlos.
“She was rather wistful,” I said. “She must have been fond of him.”
“We could do with help in the nursery. Do you think she could come here?”
“I’m sure of it,” I said, certain that Don Felipe would not refuse me such a request.
We discussed Isabella’s preoccupation with her dolls and Honey suggested we make doll’s clothes and take them to her. We did this—making a gown from some pieces of velvet and a lovely ruff in stiff lace.
Isabella was delighted when we took them to the Casa Azul. That was a peaceful afternoon. We sat in the patio and she had two dolls which she proudly showed us. She cried out with delight when she tried on the velvet gown which fitted the doll perfectly.
Pilar brought out a mint drink and with it some little spiced cakes. Isabella laughed gaily and prattled as a child will about the doings of her dolls.
The fact that Isabella was made happy by our coming meant that Pilar welcomed us.
After that afternoon we frequently called. Isabella would be waiting for us in the patio. Now and then we saw the big Edmundo at work in the gardens keeping his eyes on Isabella. Manuela was there sometimes, which gave Honey an opportunity to assess her. She thought she would make an excellent addition to our nursery.
And so the days passed until Don Felipe came back to the Hacienda.
The day he returned he asked me to come to the escritorio. Our meetings always took place there. Other rooms would not have afforded us the secrecy we needed; and the apartment which had become mine held too many memories of our first encounters which I knew would have been distasteful to him.
As soon as I entered he came to me and took my hands in his and kissed them with fervor.
“There is much I have to say to you,” he said. “I have been turning over these things in my mind while I have been away. I must find some way of bringing about our union. If I do not my life is as wasteful as the desert. I know that you do not hate me, Catalina.” He said my name lingeringly, giving it a quality it had not had before. “You could bring yourself to marry me.”
“But there is no question of marriage. How could there be?”
He sighed. “I have debated the matter with myself. A dispensation from the Pope would be impossible, I fear. Yet I have no hope of legitimate sons if I do not remarry; I could give sons to the church, to my country. Isabella’s family is influential, more so than my own. A dispensation would never be granted.”