Chapter 12
About to go downstairs to reopen her tavern now that potential customers were roused from siesta, Victoria Escalante threw a glance out through the window to see whether activity resumed in Los Angeles.
Huh? What on earth was Don Diego doing, rummaging through this woman's belongings?
She had recognised her horse by the description Corporal Sepulveda had made of it, and anyway, there were not so many lame nags in the cuartel!
Whatever, Don Diego seemed to take a very close interest in that woman, Victoria reflected. Bah, after all, what concern was it of hers? At least now he was the one keeping watch over her!
Still, a man, a bachelor, spending so much time alone at a lady's bedside, in her bedroom! Granted, she was not a woman but a patient here, and he was acting as sick-nurse, but still! She wasn't fully sure it was very seemly. Especially as he was going to spent the night by her side! The night! The whole night, with her!
Victoria was nearly coming to regret that the stranger wasn't coming from the kind of social backgrounds where a lady never went anywhere without a duenna. And she wondered: who could play chaperone to Diego and that woman? Surely she wasn't going to do it herself, or the whole point of having saddled him with the nursing duty so that she could peacefully sleep in her own bed all night long would thereby be lost!
But still... Diego and a woman, alone a whole night in the same bedroom... it didn't seem very proper.
Not that she did not trust Diego or thought he wouldn't be a gentleman: she knew he was. She had herself experienced quite similar circumstances a few years ago, when she and Diego had been forced to take shelter in an old isolated mill and spent the night there. He hadn't tried anything whatsoever, not the slightest attempt or gesture, not even a sidelong glance, nothing! Nothing untoward. The perfect gentleman. It had even been almost a little slighting, unflattering, in a twisted way...
She did not have time to reflect further on the matter as Diego came in, carrying a large saddle bag. When he saw her he paused almost imperceptibly and Victoria, as for her, froze for a split second before turning to another direction, feeling the sudden and pressing urge to check the bottles lined up on the shelf behind her counter.
Diego and Victoria hadn't crossed path again since their earlier quarrel, and the former still felt disappointed, annoyed and saddened, when the latter was now rather sheepish and not very happy with herself.
In short, neither felt too comfortable in the presence of the other. And unfortunately, no one else was present in the tavern at this moment. They could not therefore pretend to ignore each other and immerse oneself in a conversation with some other client; they had to face up to the awkward situation.
Rather embarrassed, Diego cleared his throat and, his voice a bit forced and not very natural, asked in a tone that he tried to make trivial:
"I hope the heat did not inconvenience you... Were you able to get some rest?"
Pathetic, he berated himself. Why on earth couldn't I find anything else to tell her?
Still very tense, hardly daring to look him in the eyes, Victoria was however relieved that he seemed to want to act as if nothing happened, and she tried to play along. She answered in a somewhat forced voice:
"Yes, thank you Don Diego... You are right," she added after a short pause, "it's rather hot today."
Oh, honestly! she then told herself. I don't even have the guts to tell him that I finally read Felipe's version of the facts nor to apologize for nearly calling him lazy. I chickened out, there's no other word! From now on, are we condemned to talk only about the weather?
"I, uh..." Diego began, vaguely pointing upstairs. "I'll go back there and check that everything is alright with our... uh... our guest."
"Yes," Victoria replied rather abruptly. "Yes, you do that."
He remained there for one more second, looking at her, as if waiting for... well, for a sign from her, a word, something, she didn't know what – really? didn't she know? – then he suddenly turned and briskly climbed the stairs without looking back.
Involuntarily, Victoria felt a bit relieved not to be facing him anymore, but she let out a long sigh of frustration at herself. "I've read Felipe's testimony, now I believe him", honestly what would it have cost her to tell him so, other than swallowing her pride a little bit, for once?
That, and also: "What are you doing with this woman's personal effects? You certainly don't mean to get her changed yourself?"
Hmm… no, she thought, not this. Not that she was not curious to know, but given the very recently… fissured… state of their friendship, it didn't seem judicious. Not right now, anyway.
Sighing, she returned to her counter.
z~z~z~z~z~z~z
One change of clothes, a purse, a long white shirt for the night – pretty refined embroidery, a slightly blushing Diego noted against his better judgment – a flowery shawl, some... uh... some very personal small garments – that Diego hastily put aside without taking too close a look – a hairbrush, some crushed biscuits, a rosary, a book... and that was it.
This woman certainly knew about travelling light. And useful. The hallmark of a practical mind, he reflected.
Except for the fact that there was no trace of a weapon of any sort, not even a knife. Practical, but hardly cautious, was this solitary traveler...
Diego took a closer look at the rosary: green and blue, the Paters and Glorias made of lapis lazuli, the Aves of malachite, it was by far the most valuable item of all what she was travelling with. Family heirloom? On the reverse of the small central medallion where hung the last beads and the crucifix was engraved a dedication to Santa Maria de la Luz.
Some of the clothes were not marked at all, and the others were just marked with the same initials, L and A, as the handkerchief was. Ah! The nightshirt was embroidered at the back of its collar with a longer series of initials: M.L.S.I.A.V.S.G.P.
Long, but not very telling.
The biscuits were wrapped in a handkerchief. M.L.A.P. Her initials, somewhat more detailed than on the other one? Anyhow, this told him nothing more useful about her.
Diego gave a look at the book, and was a bit surprised when he recognizing the title: Cartas eruditas y curiosas, by Benito Jerónimo Feijóo; the fifth volume.
He was about to lay it back on the bedside table when he noticed some piece of paper stick out of it. Curious, and although it wasn't any of his business, he grabbed the corner of the sheet and pulled it out of the pages that held it.
The sheet of paper was folded in four, and was covered with a rounded handwriting. Diego unfolded it and clearly saw that it was a letter. Immediately he looked at the bottom for the signature: it was from Padre Benitez!
More and more curious, and appeasing his guilty conscience by telling himself he was doing this only in order to identify the stranger, he began to read it.
Dear daughter,
It is with great pleasure that I received your reply, showing the interest that awakened in you the request I had passed on in the various Californian missions and parishes in which I happen to have some contact.
As you shall see, our pueblo is quite modest in size, much smaller than the cities and towns you've lived in up to now, if I go by what you wrote in your letter. People here are mainly peónes, sometimes illiterate, but there are also some families of merchants, shopkeepers, rancheros and landowners.
And to answer the question you raised in your letter, the size of our pueblo and the small number of children attending the mission school make so that they are all together and we don't plan to separate the instruction dispensed to girls from that given to boys.
Admittedly, the arrival of an extra teacher in the mission will allow us to separate the pupils, but I was thinking more along the lines of doing so with regard to their age or level, so that the teaching could better fit each the pupil's needs, according to what he already knows and what he still has to learn.
I would gladly see you and show you our mission and our pueblo if despite the distance you'd like to get an idea for yourself and to discuss in person all of this or even more. All you will have to do is to show up at the mission or the church, and ask for me.
If you are still interested, let me wish you a pleasant and peaceful journey from Monterey.
Dominus tecum, mea filia, et i in pace.
Yours faithfully,
Padre Benitez, humilis peccator