who kept shaking her head with the shake of one who is sorry... one who knows...
The companions came... and astonishment overcame them at the splendor in which I lived... They roamed and frolicked like a herd of gazelles... then they departed, after each one had invited me to spend a week with her.
I waited a little, then went to visit the first companion... and I saw her brother... a handsome, charming young man... and all the incidents of the great notebook were erased from my imagination... and I pictured my aunt as unjust and harsh... mistaken in her judgment of men.
Yes... this young man of innocent features could not be of the breed my aunt had known... He loves me... and for myself.
It was the fourth night of my happiness when, unable to sleep, I went out of my room into the garden... and heard whispering... She was saying to her brother... Be more attentive to her... And he was answering... Are you certain that she is the sole heiress... or will she turn out a losing bargain...? In the morning I was bidding the family farewell.
At my second schoolmate's I alighted... Oh, what happened there will not happen here... for the family is abundantly wealthy... and rich... That face so full of charm... radiant with wit...
Five days went by... Yes, my aunt's judgment on men is not universal... nor should it be... Here is distinction... here is nobility... Then suddenly a friend of my young man appeared and, half in jest and half in earnest, went on inviting him to a red night of revelry... My young man extricated himself and changed the subject... And when his companion went out and walked beside him, I heard — with my ear that can hear the creeping of ants — the friend
reproaching him... then reassuring him that the guest was leaving the day after tomorrow... and that patience was the wiser course.
The guest departed the very next day... not to her third schoolmate, but to her Silent Mansion... Is it not, in its silence and its loneliness, purer than all she had seen... And was not Aunt Myra, with her sixty years, an expert in the affairs of men?
I climbed the green hill, and to my astonishment part of the mansion lay in ruin... I hurried on, and there was Mother Duncan telling me that a fire had broken out and had all but devoured the mansion whole, had not a noble officer been passing by; he rushed up, summoned the farmers, and risked his life until he had saved the mansion... He had suffered severe burns, and the doctor had ordered that he stay here so that he might attend him until he recovered.
I was vexed... I could no longer bear the sight of a man... those treacherous wolves... But thanks was a duty... And so I went in to thank him. His head and arms were bandaged, and scarcely anything of his face showed but two black eyes in which nobility shone beside intense pain.
A whole month passed... He rarely speaks... and yet how different he is from the others... a ripe culture... abundant courtesy... modesty and dignity... everything that could be loved... He is waiting for the doctor to permit his departure... or until he himself is able to go... But is it true that I am going to lose him... How swiftly the hours pass at his side... and how delightful they are, our two spirits soaring and leaving the bodies behind, having nothing to do with them.
At last... I will not let him go... and to the devil with the whole fortune... I went to the lawyer and told him so... I shall live with my young man on the bread of bare
subsistence if need be... and we shall be happy together.
The lawyer heard my story and smiled... then he took from his safe an envelope, broke its seal, and read what was inside.
To the lawyer Sam:
When my beloved Gloria comes to you to tell you that she has chosen marriage, sacrificing the whole fortune for the sake of the one she loves — then no doubt she has acted on my advice and chosen the man worthy of her... Tell her then that all I own is hers... and that I intended by my will nothing but to warn her, lest her foot should slip.
I flew with joy and went climbing the green hill on wings... Mother Duncan met me with her gloating face and cried... He is gone... He will not accept so dear a price for his good deed... I told him of Aunt Myra's will and of the misery awaiting you if you married him and lost everything.
I nearly slapped her... I rushed to his room... and collapsed onto the bed... and caught sight of a paper, which I hastened to read...
I do not wish to yoke your fortune to mine and blot out your happiness. I owe you the most blissful hours I have tasted in my life; so remember always that you have a devoted servant, who is
Rudolph
And I fell to sobbing, my heart shattered into pieces... Nothing brought me back to my senses but a knocking on the mansion's outer door... It was the villagers who had helped him put out the fire, carrying him... They had found him unconscious from the pain of his wounds while he was trying to flee from my path.
An hour, and the doctor came out of his room; I went in, and there he was, smiling at me... for the first time!
(From the English, freely adapted)