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41 - Montezuma's Daughter by H Rider Haggard · Montezumas Daughter

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty. Amen. And now there is little left for
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Speaker 1: me to tell, and my tale draws to its end,
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Speaker 1: for which I am thankful. For I am very old,
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Speaker 1: and writing is a weariness to me, so great a weariness, indeed,
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Speaker 1: that many a time during the past winter I have
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Speaker 1: been near to abandoning in the task. For a while,
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Speaker 1: Lily and I sat almost silent in this same room
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Speaker 1: where I write to day, for our great joy, and
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Speaker 1: many another emotion that was mixed with it clogged our tongues. Then,
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Speaker 1: as though moved by one impulse, we knelt down and
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Speaker 1: offered our humble thanks to Heaven that had preserved us
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Speaker 1: both to this strange meeting. Scarcely had we risen from
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Speaker 1: our knees. When there was a stir without the house,
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Speaker 1: and presently a buxom dame entered, followed by a gallant gentleman,
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Speaker 1: a lad and a maiden. These were my sister Mary,
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Speaker 1: her husband Wilfrid Bozard, Lily's brother, and their two surviving children,
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Speaker 1: Roger and Joan. When she guessed that it was I
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Speaker 1: come home again and no other, Lily had sent them
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Speaker 1: tidings by the servant man John, that one was with
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Speaker 1: her whom she believed they would be glad to see.
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Speaker 1: And they had hurried hither, not knowing whom they should find,
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Speaker 1: Nor were they much wiser at first, for I was
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Speaker 1: much changed, and the light in the room shone dim,
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Speaker 1: but stood perplexed, wondering who this stranger might be. Mary,
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Speaker 1: I said at length, Mary, do you not remember me?
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Speaker 1: My sister? They she cried aloud, and throwing herself into
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Speaker 1: my arms, she wept there awhile, as would any of us,
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Speaker 1: were our beloved dead suddenly to appear before our eyes,
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Speaker 1: alive and well. And her husband clasped me by the
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Speaker 1: hand and swore heartily in his amazement, as is the
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Speaker 1: fashion of some men when they are moved. But the
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Speaker 1: children stood staring blankly, till I called the girl to me,
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Speaker 1: who now was much what her mother had been when
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Speaker 1: we parted, and kissing her, told her that I that
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Speaker 1: uncle of whom perhaps she had heard as dead many
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Speaker 1: years ago. Then my horse, that all this while had
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Speaker 1: been forgotten, having been caught and stabled. We went to supper,
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Speaker 1: and it was a strange meal to me, And after meat,
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Speaker 1: I asked for tidings. Now I learned that the fortune
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Speaker 1: which my old master Vroonseca had left to me came
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Speaker 1: home in safety, and that it had prospered exceedingly under
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Speaker 1: Lily's care, for she had spent but very little of
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Speaker 1: it for her maintenance, looking on it always as a
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Speaker 1: trust rather than her own. When my death seemed certain,
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Speaker 1: my sister Mary had entered on her share of possessions, however,
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Speaker 1: and with it had purchased some outlying lands in Ersham
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Speaker 1: and Heddenum, and the wood and the manor of Tyndale
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Speaker 1: Hall in Ditchingham and Broome. These lands I made haste
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Speaker 1: to say she might keep as a gift from me,
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Speaker 1: since it seemed that I had greater riches than I
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Speaker 1: could need without them. And this saying of mine pleased
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Speaker 1: her husband, Wilfrid Bozard, not a little, seeing that it
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Speaker 1: is hard for a man to give up what he
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Speaker 1: has held for many years. Then I heard the rest
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Speaker 1: of the story of my father's sudden death, of how
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Speaker 1: the coming of the gold had saved Lily from being
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Speaker 1: forced into marriage with my brother Geoffrey, who afterwards had
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Speaker 1: taken to evil courses which ended in his decease at
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Speaker 1: the age of thirty one. Of the end of Squire Bozard,
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Speaker 1: Lily's father and my old enemy, from an apoplexy which
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Speaker 1: took him in a sudden fit of anger. After this,
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Speaker 1: it seemed her brother, being married to my sister Mary, Lily,
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Speaker 1: had moved down to the lodge, having paid off the
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Speaker 1: charges that my brother Geoffrey had heaped upon his heritage
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Speaker 1: and brought out my sister's rights to it. And here
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Speaker 1: at the lodge she had lived ever since, a sad
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Speaker 1: and lonely woman, and yet not altogether an unhappy one,
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Speaker 1: for she gave much of her time to good works. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: she told me that had it not been for the
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Speaker 1: wide lands and moneys which she must manage as my heiress,
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Speaker 1: she would have betaken herself to her sisterhood there to
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Speaker 1: wear her life away in peace. Since I being lost
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Speaker 1: to her, and indeed dead, as she was assured for
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Speaker 1: the news of the wreck of the Cariac found its
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Speaker 1: way to Ditchingham, she no longer thought of marriage, though
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Speaker 1: more than one gentleman of condition had sought her hand.
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Speaker 1: This with some minor matters such as the birth and
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Speaker 1: death of children, and the story of the great storm
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Speaker 1: and flood that smote Bungay, and indeed the length of
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Speaker 1: the veil of the Waveny. In those days was all
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Speaker 1: the tale that they had to tell, who had grown
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Speaker 1: from youth to middle age in quiet for the crowning
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Speaker 1: and the end of kings, and of matters politic, such
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Speaker 1: as the downfall of the power of the Pope of
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Speaker 1: Rome and the sacking of the religious houses, which was
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Speaker 1: still in progress. I make no mention here, But now
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Speaker 1: they called for mine, and I began it at the beginning,
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Speaker 1: and it was strange to see their faces as they
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Speaker 1: listened all night long, till the thrushes sang down, the nightingales,
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Speaker 1: and the dawns shone in the east. I sat at
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Speaker 1: Lily's side, telling them my story, and then it was
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Speaker 1: not finished. So we slept in the chambers that had
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Speaker 1: been made ready for us, and on the morrow I
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Speaker 1: took it up again, showing them the sword that had
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Speaker 1: belonged to Bernal Diaz, the great necklace of emeralds which
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Speaker 1: Guatemaca given to me, and certain scars and wounds in
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Speaker 1: witness of its truth. Never did I see folks so
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Speaker 1: much amazed. And when I came to speak of the
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Speaker 1: last sacrifice of the woman of Ottomi, and of the
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Speaker 1: horrid end of the Garcia, who died fighting with his
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Speaker 1: own shadow, or rather with the shadows of his own wickedness.
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Speaker 1: They cried aloud with fear as they wept when I
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Speaker 1: told of the deaths of Isabella de Sir Gwene and
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Speaker 1: of Guatemalac, and of the loss of my sons. But
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Speaker 1: I did not tell all the story to this company,
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Speaker 1: for some of it was for Lily's ear alone, And
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Speaker 1: to her I spoke of my dealings with Otomy as
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Speaker 1: a man might speak to a man. For I felt
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Speaker 1: that if I kept anything back now, there would never
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Speaker 1: be complete faith between us. Therefore I set out all
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Speaker 1: my doubts and troublings. Nor did I hide that I
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Speaker 1: had learned to love Ottemi, and that her beauty and
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Speaker 1: sweetness had drawn me from the first moment when I
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Speaker 1: saw her in the court of Montezumer, or that which
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Speaker 1: had passed between us on the stone of sacrifice. When
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Speaker 1: I had done, Lily thanked me for my honesty, and
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Speaker 1: said it seemed that in such matters may different from women,
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Speaker 1: seeing that she had never felt the need to be
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Speaker 1: delivered from the temptation of strange loves. Still we were
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Speaker 1: as God and nature had made us, and therefore had
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Speaker 1: little right to reproach each other, or even to set
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Speaker 1: that down as virtue, which was but lack of leaning. Moreover,
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Speaker 1: this otomy her sin of heathenism, notwithstanding, had been a
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Speaker 1: great hearted woman, and one who might well dazzle the
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Speaker 1: wandering eyes of man, daring more for her love's sake
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Speaker 1: than ever she Lily could have dared. And to end
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Speaker 1: with it was clear that at last I must choose
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Speaker 1: between wedding her and a speedy death, And having sworn
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Speaker 1: so great an oath to her, I should have been purged. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: if I had left her when dangers were gone by. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: she Lily was minded to let all this matter rest,
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Speaker 1: nor should she be jealous if I still thought of
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Speaker 1: this dead wife of mine with tenderness. Then she spoke
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Speaker 1: most sweetly, looking at me the while with her clear
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Speaker 1: and earnest eyes that I ever fancied must be such
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Speaker 1: as adorned the shining faces of angels. Aye, And those
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Speaker 1: same eyes of hers were filled with tears when I
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Speaker 1: told her my bitter grief over the death of my
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Speaker 1: first born and of my other bereavements. For it was
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Speaker 1: not till some years afterwards when she had abandoned further
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Speaker 1: hope of children, that lily grew jealous of those dead
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Speaker 1: sons of mine and of my ever present love for them.
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Speaker 1: Now the tidings of my return and of my strange
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Speaker 1: adventures among the nations of the Indies were noised abroad
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Speaker 1: far and wide, and people came from miles around Aye,
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Speaker 1: even from Norwich and Yarmouth to see me, and I
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Speaker 1: was pressed to tell my tale till I grew weary
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Speaker 1: of it. Also, a service of thanksgivings for my safe
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Speaker 1: deliverance from my many dangers by land and sea was
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Speaker 1: held in the Church of Saint Mary's here in Ditchingham,
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Speaker 1: which service was no longer celebrated after the rites of
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Speaker 1: the Romish faith, For while I had sojourned afar, the
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Speaker 1: saints were fallen like the Aztec's gods. The yoke of
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Speaker 1: Rome had been broken from off the neck of England.
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Speaker 1: And though all do not think with me, I for
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Speaker 1: one rejoiced at his heartily, who had seen enough of
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Speaker 1: priestcraft and its cruelties. When that ceremony was over and
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Speaker 1: all the people had gone to their homes, I came
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Speaker 1: back again to the empty church from the hall where
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Speaker 1: I abode awhile as the guests of my sister and
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Speaker 1: her husband, till Lily and I were wed. And there
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Speaker 1: in the quiet light of the June evening, I knelt
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Speaker 1: in the chancell upon the rushes that strewed the gray
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Speaker 1: from my father and my mother, and sent my spirit
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Speaker 1: up towards them in the place of their eternal rest,
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Speaker 1: and to the God who guards them. A great calm
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Speaker 1: came upon me as I knelt us, and I felt
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Speaker 1: how mad had been that oath of mine, that, as
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Speaker 1: a lad I had sworn to be avenged upon de Gacire.
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Speaker 1: And I saw how as a tree from a seed,
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Speaker 1: all my sorrows had grown from it. But even then
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Speaker 1: I could not do other than hate the Gacier. No
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Speaker 1: nor can I to this hour, And after all it
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Speaker 1: was natural that I should desire vengeance on the murder
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Speaker 1: of my mother, though the reeking of it had been
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Speaker 1: left in another hand. Without the little chancel door, I
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Speaker 1: met Lily, who was lingering there, knowing me to be within,
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Speaker 1: and we spoke together. Lily, I said, I would ask
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Speaker 1: you something, after all that has been, will you still
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Speaker 1: take me for your husband? Unworthy as I am, I
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Speaker 1: promised to do so many years ago, Thomas, she answered,
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Speaker 1: speaking very low and blushing like the wild rose that
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Speaker 1: bloomed upon the grave beside her. And I never changed
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Speaker 1: my mind. Indeed, for many years I have looked upon
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Speaker 1: you as my husband, though I thought you were dead.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps it is more than I deserve, I said, But
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Speaker 1: if it is to be, say when it shall be.
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Speaker 1: For youth has left us and we have little time
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Speaker 1: to lose. When you will, Thomas, she answered, placing her
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Speaker 1: hand on mine. Within a week from that evening we
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Speaker 1: were wed. And now my tale is done. God, who
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Speaker 1: gave me so sad and troublous a youth and early manhood,
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Speaker 1: as blessed me beyond measure in my middle age, and
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Speaker 1: held all these events of which I have written at
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Speaker 1: such length, were done with many a day ago. The
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Speaker 1: horn been sapling that I set beneath these windows in
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Speaker 1: the year when we were married, is now a goodly
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Speaker 1: tree of shade, and still I live to look on
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Speaker 1: it here in this happy valley of the Waveny. Save
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Speaker 1: for my bitter memories and that longing for the dead,
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Speaker 1: which no time can so much as dull. Year after
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Speaker 1: year has rolled over my silvering hairs, in perfect health
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Speaker 1: and peace and rest. And year by year have I
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Speaker 1: rejoiced more deeply in the true love of a wife,
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Speaker 1: such as few men have known. For it would seem
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Speaker 1: as though the heartache and despair of youth had but
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Speaker 1: sweetened that most noble nature till it grew well nigh divine.
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Speaker 1: But one sorrow came to us, the death of our
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Speaker 1: infant child. For it was fated that I should die childless.
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Speaker 1: And in that sorrow, as I have told, Lily showed
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Speaker 1: that she was still a woman. For the rest, no
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Speaker 1: shadow lay between us. Hand in hand, we passed down
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Speaker 1: the hill of life, till at length, in the fullness
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Speaker 1: of her days, my wife was taken from me. One
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Speaker 1: Christmas night. She lay down to sleep at my side,
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Speaker 1: and in the morning she was dead. Oh I grieved,
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Speaker 1: indeed and bitterly. But the sorrow was not as the
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Speaker 1: sorrows of my youth had been since age and use
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Speaker 1: dull the edge of mortal griefs. And I knew and
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Speaker 1: know that we are no long space apart. Very soon
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Speaker 1: I shall join Lily where she is. And I do
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Speaker 1: not fear that journey, for the dread of death has
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Speaker 1: left me at length, as it departs from all who
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Speaker 1: live long enough and strive to repent them of their sins.
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Speaker 1: And I am well content to leave my safety at
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Speaker 1: the gates and my heavenly comfort in the almighty hand
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Speaker 1: that saved me from the stone of sacrifice and has
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Speaker 1: guided me through so many perils upon this troubled earth.
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Speaker 1: And now to God, my Father, who holds me, Thomas
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Speaker 1: Wingfield and all I have loved and love in his
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Speaker 1: holy keeping, be thanks and glory and praise Amen. End
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Speaker 1: of Chapter four recording by Patrick seventy nine. End of
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Speaker 1: Montezuma's Daughter by h Ryder Haggard