The Flesh and the Devil (51 page)

         
Inexplicably the woman's smile broadened a little and she
made a little movement with her head that looked like appreciation. 'That, too,
I can understand,‘ she agreed blandly. 'Well, keep your counsel! But, remember,
if you should change your mind I shall be here each day at the same hour. Or
you can enquire me out in the Plaza Mayor. The Casa de Herreros.‘ She turned
and was gone in the jostling crowd.

         
Juana hesitated briefly, staring after her, and then made
her own way to the door. She saw Tristan before he saw her, because he towered
head and shoulders above the crowd. They must seem like so many children to
him, she realized; it explained a little of that infuriating arrogance. Now,
leaning against the archway with his arms lazily folded, he looked like a giant
unconcernedly observing the antics of pygmies.
The Kingkeeps a dwarf, but I
keep a giant
— the words stabbed her, memory, and she felt slightly sick as
she went towards him with an urgency that she found hard to hide.

         
Don Bautista Zorilla, the mayor of Villenos, was not a
little surprised to receive an invitation to take chocolate with Dona Jerónima
de Herreros. He was one of the few people alive who had a moderately accurate
idea of
la viuda's
 
real wealth,
and if he expected an invitation at all it was to one of those intimate little
suppers at whose conclusion he found he had promised to lend her more money. So
innocuous an occasion was something new — perhaps, he thought, Jerónima had
taken counsel from his sharper-than-usual last refusal. He had never known what
arts she used to persuade, but last time he had planned his strategy to
withstand her, had drunk no wine, kept a clear head, and managed to withstand
her cajolings. This alteration could be an admission of defeat or a change of
tactics, he was not sure which. There could be no harm in finding out, he
reasoned; and it would be easier to invent a tale to satisfy his wife for an
absence in the afternoon. This fact, once demonstrated, improved his temper so
far that he arrived at the Casa de Herreros in a dangerously mellow mood.

         
Jerónima did not seem surprised to see him, though, and
that piqued him. She greeted himcalmly from her couch, extended her hand for
him to kiss, and lay back to regard him with the air of inward amusement that
always made him

         
uneasy.

         
'Bautista, how kind of you to visit a poor widow.' Her
voice lingered teasingly on the adjective, and Don Bautista, who had been about
to lower his bulky frame on to the indicated chair, froze and looked
reproachful.

         
'Now listen, Jerónima, if you have asked me here in order
to borrow money—'

         
‗Oh, sit down, sit down! I wish you would learn a
little subtlety, Bautista.'

         
Dona Jerónima looked impatient. 'No, I did
not
 
ask you here to borrow money. I asked you here
co drink chocolate, and so that we might have a friendly little talk.'

         
Don Bautisia blenched. ‗I cannot stay above half an
hour. My wife—‗

         
‗Your wife is probably taking advantage of your absence
io entertain that pop-eyed cavalry captain with the moustachios. What, did you
not know about him? Never mind, let it pass. We have more important things to
discuss. Take your chocolate and stop goggling.‘

         
He obeyed the first command alone. Dona Jerónima lifted her
own cup between delicately splayed fingertips, sipped, and said, 'Too thick; I
shall speak to that wretched woman. Now, Bautista, attend. I need your help.'

         
Don Bautista scowled. 'I have told you before that I cannot
afford -'

         
'Oh, do be quiet and let me speak! Anyone would think I was
begging you for charity. I have no intention of borrowing another sou from you.
You have turned into one of those boring creditors who asks after every escudo
by name. What I had in mind -' she timed the words so that he was lifting his
cup to his lips as she spoke-'was in the nature of an investment.'

         
As she intended, he choked. 'Investment? What the dev-what
on earth are you talking about?'

         
Allowing her eyes to travel over the spreading stains in
his lap, she retorted mockingly, 'Oh, come, Bautista, how do you suppose I get
the money to live as I do?'

        
'Borrow it,' he responded sourly, 'from any man fool enough
to lend it, and win it at gambling. Yes?'

         
'Say rather I lose it at gambling. But the thing that gets
me my revenue!'

         
‗Your husband's estate?' Don Bautista was losing
interest. He had no skill at guessing games.

         
'Gone long ago. No, think of those pretty young girls I
have had to stay with me every now and again - the ones who have done so well
in the choice of wealthy lovers. I was distressed, of course, that none of the
gentlemen offered marriage, but at least none of the girls was matched poorly
and the men were married already.‘ She waited significantly for his reaction,
and he looked shocked.

         
‗Do you mean to say they paid you for their keep?‘
She laughed at him. 'What could they afford! No, Bautista, their lovers each
paid me for the privilege of keeping them after me! A handsome sum to show
their gratitude for the trouble I took to see that each of them prospered in
his suit. Some of those girls were a little squeamish at first,‘ she added
reflectively.

         
Don Bautista found that he was wiping his beard, staring at
his hostess with fascinated eyes. ‗You mean that little Catalina, and the
Suarez girl, and that little fair one— what was her name?-Ana—'

         
'All of them. I took them out of the stews, groomed them,
dressed them and then sold them. Why do you look so shocked? You men do the
same with horses. And that is where you come in. Always before I have kept
enough to begin with a girl, pay enough cash to re-establish my credit for her
sake, but this time I have overreached myself a little. And, as is always the
way with such things, this time I have found a nonpareil who could make me a
fortune'-and I have no money to set her up.'

         
The pause was just long enough before Dona Jerónima
continued. 'I am confident that this time there would be enough to be gained to
admit a partnership. Not only in the last reckoning - do listen,' she
admonished as Don Bautista would have interrupted - 'but by the way: in
presents and bribes, while the girl is supposed to be making up her mind which
man to choose. You have no idea what an infatuated fool will give if he thinks
- but no matter for that. Advance me, say, five thousand reales -' the
amusement had faded from her face - 'and I shall pay you half of what the new
girl brings in. I can guarantee you at least five times the sum to divide
between us when all is over.' Don Bautista was sweating profusely by now. 'Five
thousand'
 
he exclaimed. 'You must
be lunatic! If you failed, I should be ruined!'

         
‗I do not fail.‘ Dona Jerónima's voice was bored. ‗Very
well, then, three thousand - but only a third of the profit.‘

         
‗You talk as if there were no hazards in such a
scheme. It is all very fine to talk of investments and profit, but what
security would I have?' He brightened slightly. ‗If I could see the girl
you speak of. . . ."

         
'I wondered when you would ask, and the short answer is
that as yet you cannot. I said that I have found her, but I have not yet put my
hand upon her .‘

         
‗You are too confident, Jerónima. Suppose she will
not come to you?‘

         
She smiled meditatively an almost indistinguishable curve
of the lips that did not disturb the careful composure of her bony face, before
she answered briskly, ‗Oh she will do as she is told once I have her, and
there are few who would not escape a life of drudgery in the stews. Besides, I
am good at persuading people to my will, have you never I noticed that?‘

         
Don Bautista's small brown eyes widened in astonishment.
'Yes, but I did not think you-you mean it-‗

         
'Hush, Bautista, I am not about to tell you all my secrets.
But you may take my word that the girl will be happy to agree to whatever I
propose once I have done with her. If you wish to see her –‗ her thin
shoulders shrugged deprecatingly

         
- 'you must become devout, as I have been these last three
days. She goes daily to San Pedro's Church and prays there for half-an-hour. I
saw her there by chance, but they tell me that she goes there every day, and so
I have not bothered to have her followed. She must come from the stews, but her
accent is far too fine for that. I wonder…‘

         
'What does she look like? What is her name?' Don Bautista
broke in eagerly.

         
'She has not told, me her name yet - she will not speak to
a stranger, which shows some intelligence; she is reserved, not stupidly coy
like some of the others when I spoke to them. This one told me roundly that she
did not choose to talk to me.' Dona Jerónima smiled appreciatively. 'For her
looks, she is a goddess-what else? She is dressed like a pauper now, of
course,' she added distastefully, 'in a peasant's smock and skirt six times too
big for her, but even so I could see all the unwashed oafs nudging each other
and gaping as she went by. Black hair — blueblack — and brown eyes, and what I
know you would describe as a skin like honey,' she added with a tinge of
malice.