Chapter XLI. Father Dámaso Explains.

 In vain the costly¹ wedding gifts were heaped upon the table. Neither the diamonds in their blue velvet² caskets, nor the embroidered³ pi?a, nor the pieces of silk had any attractions for Maria Clara. The maiden⁴ looked at the paper which gave the account of Ibarra’s death, drowned in the lake, but she neither saw nor read it.

 

Of a sudden, she felt two hands over her eyes. They held her fast while a joyous⁵ voice, Father Dámaso’s, said to her:

 

“Who am I? Who am I?”

 

Maria Clara jumped from her seat and looked at him with terror in her eyes.

 

“You little goose, were you frightened, eh? You were not expecting me? Well, I have come from the provinces to attend your wedding.”

 

And coming up to her again with a smile of satisfaction, he stretched out his hand to her. Maria Clara approached timidly and, raising it to her lips, kissed it.

 

“What is the matter with you, Maria?” asked the Franciscan, losing his gay smile, and becoming very uneasy. “Your hand is cold, you are pale.... Are you ill, my little girl?”

 

And Father Dámaso drew her up to him with a fondness of which no one would have thought him capable. He grasped both the maiden’s hands and gave her a questioning look.

 

“Haven’t you any confidence in your godfather?” he asked in a reproachful tone. “Come, sit down here and tell me your little troubles, just as you used to do when you were a child, when you wanted wax-candles to make wax figures. You surely know that I have always loved you.... I have never scolded you....”

 

Father Dámaso’s voice ceased to be brusque; its modulations [268]were even caressing⁶. Maria Clara began to weep.

 

“Are you weeping, my child? Why are you weeping? Have you quarrelled with Linares?”

 

Maria Clara covered her eyes with her hands.

 

“No! It is not he now!” cried the maiden.

 

Father Dámaso looked at her full of surprise.

 

“Do you not want to entrust⁷ your secrets to me? Have I not always managed to satisfy your smallest caprices?”

 

The young woman raised her eyes full of tears toward him. She looked at him for some time, and then began to weep bitterly.

 

“Do not cry so, my child, for your tears pain me! Tell me your troubles. You will see how your godfather loves you.”

 

Maria Clara approached him slowly and fell on her knees at his feet. Then raising her face, bathed in tears, she said to him in a low voice, scarcely audible:

 

“Do you still love me?”

 

“Child!”

 

“Then ... protect my father, and break off the marriage!”

 

Then she related her last interview with Ibarra, omitting the reference to her birth.

 

Father Dámaso could scarcely believe what he heard.

 

“While he lived,” continued the maiden, “I intended to fight, to wait, to trust. I wanted to live to hear him spoken of ... but now that they have killed him, now there is no reason for my living and suffering.”

 

She said this slowly, in a low voice, calmly and without a tear.

 

“But, you goose; isn’t Linares a thousand times better than....?”

 

“When he was living, I could have married ... I was thinking of fleeing afterward⁸ ... my father wanted nothing more than the relative. Now that he is dead, no other man will call me his wife.... While he lived, I could have debased myself and still had the consolation⁹ of knowing that he existed and perhaps was thinking of me. Now that he is dead ... the convent or the tomb.”

 

Her voice had a firmness in its accent which took away Father Dámaso’s joy and set him to thinking. [269]

 

“Did you love him so much as that?” he asked, stammering¹⁰.

 

Maria Clara did not reply. Father Dámaso bowed his head upon his breast and remained silent.

 

“My child!” he exclaimed, his voice breaking. “Forgive me for making you unhappy without knowing it. I was thinking of your future; I wanted you to be happy. How could I permit you to marry a native; how could I see you an unhappy wife and a miserable¹¹ mother? I could not get your love out of your head, and I opposed it with all my strength. All that I have done has been for you, for you alone. If you had become his wife, you would have wept afterward on account of the condition of your husband, exposed to all kinds of vengeance¹², without any means of defense¹³. As a mother, you would have wept over the fortune of your sons; if you educated them, you would prepare a sad future for them, you would have made them enemies of the Church and would have seen them hanged or exiled; if you left them ignorant, you would have seen them oppressed and degraded. I could not consent to it! This is why I sought as a husband for you one who might make you the happy mother of sons born not to obey but to command, not to suffer but to punish. I knew that your friend was good from infancy¹⁴. I liked him as I had liked his father, but I hated them both when I saw that they were going to make you unhappy, because I love you, I idolize you, I love you as my daughter. I have nothing dearer than you. I have seen you grow. No hour passes but I think of you; I dream of you; you are my only joy.”

 

And Father Dámaso began to weep like a child.

 

“Well, then, if you love me do not make me eternally unhappy. He no longer lives; I want to be a nun¹⁵.”

 

The old man rested his head on his hand.

 

“To be a nun, to be a nun!” he repeated. “You do not know, my child, the life, the misery¹⁶, which is hidden behind the walls of the convent. You do not know it! I prefer a thousand times to see you unhappy in the world than to see you unhappy in the cloister¹⁷. Here your complaints can be heard, there you will have only the walls. You are beautiful, very beautiful, and you were not born [270]for it, you were not born to be the bride of Christ! Believe me, my child, time will blot¹⁸ it all out. Later you will forget, you will love your husband ... Linares.”

 

“Either the convent or ... death!” repeated Maria Clara.

 

“The convent, the convent or death!” exclaimed Father Dámaso. “Maria, I am already old, I will not be able to watch you or your happiness much longer.... Choose another course, seek another love, another young man, whoever he may be, but not the convent.”

 

“The convent or death!”

 

“My God, my God!” cried the priest, covering his head with his hands. “Thou punisheth me. So be it! But watch over my child.”

 

And turning to the young woman: “You want to be a nun? You shall be one. I do not want you to die.”

 

Maria Clara took his two hands, clasped them in her own and kissed them as she knelt.

 

“Godfather, my godfather!” she repeated.

 

Immediately, Father Dámaso went out, sad, with drooping¹⁹ head and sighing.

 

“God, O God! Thou existeth, for Thou punisheth. But avenge²⁰ Thyself on me and do not harm the innocent. Save my child!”

The End

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

3 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

4 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

5 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

6 caressing   

爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的

参考例句：

• The spring wind is gentle and caressing. 春风和畅。
• He sat silent still caressing Tartar, who slobbered with exceeding affection. 他不声不响地坐在那里，不断抚摸着鞑靼，它由于获得超常的爱抚而不淌口水。

7 entrust   

v.信赖，信托，交托

参考例句：

• I couldn't entrust my children to strangers.我不能把孩子交给陌生人照看。
• They can be entrusted to solve major national problems.可以委托他们解决重大国家问题。

8 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

9 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

10 stammering   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He betrayed nervousness by stammering. 他说话结结巴巴说明他胆子小。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Why,\" he said, actually stammering, \"how do you do?\" “哎呀，\"他说，真的有些结结巴巴，\"你好啊？” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

12 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

15 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

16 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

17 cloister   

n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝

参考例句：

• They went out into the stil,shadowy cloister garden.他们出了房间，走到那个寂静阴沉的修道院的园子里去。
• The ancient cloister was a structure of red brick picked out with white stone.古老的修道院是一座白石衬托着的红砖建筑物。

18 blot   

vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍

参考例句：

• That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
• The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。

19 drooping   

adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词

参考例句：

• The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
• The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。

20 avenge   

v.为...复仇，为...报仇

参考例句：

• He swore to avenge himself on the mafia.他发誓说要向黑手党报仇。
• He will avenge the people on their oppressor.他将为人民向压迫者报仇。