Remember the Alamo [66]
of the sky the Christmas
bells were ringing, and the serenaders were musically telling
each other,
"At twelve will the Child be born!"
CHAPTER XII.
DANGER AND HELP.
"A curious creed they weave,
And, for the Church commands it,
All men must needs believe,
Though no man understands it.
God loves his few pet lambs,
And saves his one pet nation;
The rest he largely damns,
With swinging reprobation."
"The Church may loose and bind;
But Mind, immortal Mind,
As free as wave or wind,
Came forth, O God, from Thee."
--BLACKIE.
Dr. Worth had set his daughter a task of no light magnitude.
It was true, that Rachela and Fray Ignatius could no longer
disturb the household by their actual presence, but their
power to cause unhappiness was not destroyed. Among the
Mexican families loyal to Santa Anna the dismission of the
priest and the duenna had been a source of much indignant
gossip; for Rachela was one of those women who cry
out when they are hurt, and compel others to share their
trouble. The priest had not therefore found it necessary to
explain WHY the Senora had called upon a new confessor. He
could be silent, and possess his dignity in uncomplaining
patience, for Rachela paraded his wrongs as a kind of set-off
to her own.
Such piety! Such virtues! And the outrageous conduct of
the Senor Doctor! To be sure there was cause for anger at the
Senorita Antonia. Oh, yes! She could crow her mind abroad!
There were books--Oh, infamous books! Books not proper to be
read, and the Senorita had them! Well then, if the father
burned them, that was a good deed done. And he had almost
been reviled for it--sent out of the house--yes, it was quite
possible that he had been struck! Anything was possible from
those American heretics. As for her own treatment, after
twenty years service, it had been cruel, abominable, more than
that--iniquitous; but about these things she had spoken, and
the day of atonement would come. Justice was informing itself
on the whole matter.
Such conversations continually diversified, extended, repeated
on all hands, quickly aroused a prejudice against the doctor's
family. Besides which, the Senora Alveda resented bitterly
the visits of her son Luis to Isabel. None of the customs of
a Mexican betrothal had taken place, and Rachela did not spare
her imagination in describing the scandalous American
familiarity that had been permitted. That, this familiarity
had taken place under the eyes of the doctor and the Senora
only intensified the insult. She might have forgiven
clandestine meetings; but that the formalities due to the
Church and herself should have been neglected was indeed
unpardonable.
It soon became evident to the Senora that she had lost the
good-will of her old friends, and the respect that had always
been given to her social position. It was difficult for her
to believe this, and she only accepted the humiliating fact
after a variety of those small insults which women reserve for
their own sex.
She was fond of visiting; she valued the good opinion of her
caste, and in the very chill of the gravest calamities she
worried her strength away over little grievances lying
outside the walls of her home and the real affections of her
life. And perhaps with perfect truth she asserted that SHE
had done nothing to deserve this social ostracism. Others had
made her miserable, but she could thank the saints none could
make her guilty.
The defeat of Cos had been taken by the loyal inhabitants as
a mere preliminary to the real fight. They were very little
disturbed by it. It was the overt act which was necessary to
convince Mexico that her clemency to Americans was a mistake,
and that the ungrateful and impious race must be wiped out of
existence. The newspapers not only reiterated this necessity,
but proclaimed its certainty. They heralded the
bells were ringing, and the serenaders were musically telling
each other,
"At twelve will the Child be born!"
CHAPTER XII.
DANGER AND HELP.
"A curious creed they weave,
And, for the Church commands it,
All men must needs believe,
Though no man understands it.
God loves his few pet lambs,
And saves his one pet nation;
The rest he largely damns,
With swinging reprobation."
"The Church may loose and bind;
But Mind, immortal Mind,
As free as wave or wind,
Came forth, O God, from Thee."
--BLACKIE.
Dr. Worth had set his daughter a task of no light magnitude.
It was true, that Rachela and Fray Ignatius could no longer
disturb the household by their actual presence, but their
power to cause unhappiness was not destroyed. Among the
Mexican families loyal to Santa Anna the dismission of the
priest and the duenna had been a source of much indignant
gossip; for Rachela was one of those women who cry
out when they are hurt, and compel others to share their
trouble. The priest had not therefore found it necessary to
explain WHY the Senora had called upon a new confessor. He
could be silent, and possess his dignity in uncomplaining
patience, for Rachela paraded his wrongs as a kind of set-off
to her own.
Such piety! Such virtues! And the outrageous conduct of
the Senor Doctor! To be sure there was cause for anger at the
Senorita Antonia. Oh, yes! She could crow her mind abroad!
There were books--Oh, infamous books! Books not proper to be
read, and the Senorita had them! Well then, if the father
burned them, that was a good deed done. And he had almost
been reviled for it--sent out of the house--yes, it was quite
possible that he had been struck! Anything was possible from
those American heretics. As for her own treatment, after
twenty years service, it had been cruel, abominable, more than
that--iniquitous; but about these things she had spoken, and
the day of atonement would come. Justice was informing itself
on the whole matter.
Such conversations continually diversified, extended, repeated
on all hands, quickly aroused a prejudice against the doctor's
family. Besides which, the Senora Alveda resented bitterly
the visits of her son Luis to Isabel. None of the customs of
a Mexican betrothal had taken place, and Rachela did not spare
her imagination in describing the scandalous American
familiarity that had been permitted. That, this familiarity
had taken place under the eyes of the doctor and the Senora
only intensified the insult. She might have forgiven
clandestine meetings; but that the formalities due to the
Church and herself should have been neglected was indeed
unpardonable.
It soon became evident to the Senora that she had lost the
good-will of her old friends, and the respect that had always
been given to her social position. It was difficult for her
to believe this, and she only accepted the humiliating fact
after a variety of those small insults which women reserve for
their own sex.
She was fond of visiting; she valued the good opinion of her
caste, and in the very chill of the gravest calamities she
worried her strength away over little grievances lying
outside the walls of her home and the real affections of her
life. And perhaps with perfect truth she asserted that SHE
had done nothing to deserve this social ostracism. Others had
made her miserable, but she could thank the saints none could
make her guilty.
The defeat of Cos had been taken by the loyal inhabitants as
a mere preliminary to the real fight. They were very little
disturbed by it. It was the overt act which was necessary to
convince Mexico that her clemency to Americans was a mistake,
and that the ungrateful and impious race must be wiped out of
existence. The newspapers not only reiterated this necessity,
but proclaimed its certainty. They heralded the