Chapter 36

Victoria couldn't believe it: it looked as though Diego de la Vega, one of the most honourable men of the pueblo, whose behaviour was a most irreproachable one, was trying to get a woman drunk!

Well I never! To think that a quarter of an hour earlier, she had made herself the promise to protect him from women... and now it seemed that she had to protect a woman against him! She would have never expected that from him!

And that girl... seeing nothing of it, not suspecting anything! Anyway, one thing was for sure: considering the currently rather... overexcited state the señorita was in, it was absolutely out of the question that this time Victoria let him take her upstairs to one of the inn's bedrooms, and even less that she left him alone with her in there!

She was outraged at her friend. How on earth was it that Don Diego suddenly behaved like a real cad, like a man capable of taking advantage of a weakened woman? Since, why else than for the reason that came naturally to mind would a man make a young woman drink?

But, what little logic remained in Victoria's mind, suddenly objected, why then do it publicly, in the pueblo, rather than quietly and inconspicuously at the hacienda?

But the answer to that question was quite easy to guess: here, at the tavern, he was out of his father's sight, who would undoubtedly stop him from doing so, and of Felipe's, to whom he certainly didn't want to give this example!

Yes... but no! For if he got the señorita drunk and then took her to one of the tavern's bedrooms, it wouldn't fail to spread around the pueblo and come to the two men's ears... well, to Don Alejandro's ears and to Felipe's knowledge. Diego couldn't fail to be aware of that. So what?

"Did you see Felipe on the road before you fell," Don Diego was currently asking señorita Alacen, "or did you see him only after, once you were on the ground and as he had stopped to give you assistance?"

What a strange question, Victoria thought. And what's more, what was the point? Luz, meanwhile, was looking at him out of the corner of her eye, seemingly also noting the incongruity of the question. Then almost immediately she replied:

"Oh, I admit I'm a little short-sighted, especially for objects that are situated very far away, yet not to the point of failing to notice a rider on a deserted road a hundred feet in front of me!"

Definitely good at taking roundabout ways in talking, Diego repeated inwardly.

"So," he insisted as he poured her another glassful, "you two had time to exchange a few words before your fall?"

"Exchanging a few words?!" Luz exclaimed a little too loud. "But... but at the time I didn't even know he was deaf and mute, so how could we have 'exchanged a few words?'"

Silly me! Diego thought inwardly. Of course! But he and Felipe communicated so easily that sometimes, for a split second and when his mind was focused on something else, he just happened to forget that Felipe didn't speak. To think that she was the one who was drinking, but he was the one who was talking nonsense!

"Of course," he finally let out, "how stupid of me..."

He noted that Luz didn't contradict him on that particular point but kept a polite silence on the matter, refraining however to agree with his statement, which would have been rather insulting to him.

"So your horse reared when Felipe was only a hundred feet from you... You really got lucky that someone happened to pass by right then. Thus, he was able to help you."

"Lucky..." she let out sceptically, snorting in a slightly disdainful and very unladylike manner. "Question of perspective..."

"Yes, of course," Diego corrected, "it's a manner of speaking. And then? What happened once you were on the ground?"

"But... exactly what I told you and repeated to the alcalde," she retorted with a hint of annoyance. "Nothing more, nothing less. Until I lost consciousness. Just ask your son, I'm sure he'll confirm."

And to punctuate her last sentence, she downed the rest of her glass in one draught before putting it back on the table a bit too loudly.

Diego was about to carry on questioning her when Victoria came to their table and addressed him:

"Don Diego, can I ask you to lend me a helping hand just for a minute, in the scullery?"

He looked up at her questioningly.

"Something heavy..." Victoria added before she turned to Luz. "Please allow me to borrow him for one minute or two, señorita..."

With a slightly shaky hand gesture, the latter indicated that she didn't mind. 'Please do', it seemed to mean.

Diego thus followed Victoria into the scullery where he asked her:

"So, where is–"

But he was interrupted by Victoria who swiftly turned to him and asked him accusingly:

"What do you think you're playing at, Don Diego?"

Taken aback, Diego didn't answer, didn't even have the presence of mind to ask her to repeat. He simply gawked at her, surprised and wide-eyed.

"Oh, don't play dumb, don't act all innocent, Diego de la Vega! I've seen through your little game. So, taking advantage of a lonely woman's blind trust, aren't we Diego? Of the confidence she placed in you, of the fact she has already let you in her bedroom, of my tavern being the most convenient place for you? Moreover, by coming here you almost make me your accomplice! That is low, Diego, that's very low. I would have never thought... You? You really are the last man on earth who I would have suspected to... to be... that he could be... that he was..."

She looked beside herself. Diego suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his back: did... was it possible that... that she knew...? Had she unmasked him?

This would explain her wrath: in addition to discovering that her dashing hero and devoted knight in shining black armour was in the end only the very disappointing Diego de la Vega, she felt he had made a fool of her, had played her, had manipulated her. That all those years spent pining for a shadow, not looking at any other man, ended up on a huge waste, an enormous nothing, a boundless disappointment.

And all of a sudden, to Diego, the Earth stopped turning. Despite the large empty hole just where his heart had still been beating only a few seconds earlier, Diego nevertheless tried in desperation to save the last thing that could possibly be saved: their friendship.

Then he plucked up his courage to try to look her in the eyes. With his face uncovered. He owed her that much.

"Look, Victoria," he began, "I can explain... I... I..."

"Explain? Oh, but I have no desire whatsoever to know all the sordid details, Diego! And besides, there's nothing to explain, it's unfortunately crystal clear, oh you... you..."

"Victoria, please!"

But she wasn't listening anymore. She was red with anger and indignation, and had almost tears in her eyes, out of rage or disappointment, or perhaps of both.

"I trusted you, I would have entrusted you with my little sister with complete confidence if I'd had one! And you... you... all you think of is to get a woman weakened by disease to drink in order to indulge on her in your baser instincts! That's despicable, Diego de la Vega! That's–"

"WHAT?!" Diego yelled.

This had at least the effect of silencing her. Then he stammered:

"You... I don't... What's got–"

He paused, then turned his head toward the main room and the porch as if he could see Luz through the combined layers of walls of the scullery, the kitchen and the facade itself.

Victoria's reasoning made its way through his mind, and although he was a little bit relieved at the idea that Victoria hadn't discovered his most terrible secret, he felt absolutely outraged at the suspicions – no, worse, the certainties – she had just expressed toward him.

So it was his turn to get into a fury:

"HOW CAN YOU... Victoria! How dare you believe... Accusing me of... YOU! Victoria!"

"Oh, don't act all indignant, it doesn't suit you! You just try and tell me that you were not making señorita Alacen drink, uh?"

With her hands on her hips and her hair wild, she stepped closer to him, almost stepping on his feet. He didn't back away and kept his ground, just as furious as she was.

"I'M NOT the kind of man who'd abuse a weakened woman, who'd abuse a woman, full stop! Victoria, I thought you knew me at least a little bit, but obviously I was wrong, even more so than I thought!"

"Don't change the subject, Diego," Victoria retorted. "Just wait till Don Alejandro hears about your behaviour! I know exactly what I just saw! And this is despicable! You are getting the poor señorita drunk, under my roof, with the wine I served you! Just imagine how I'm feeling right now about that!"

"And you, just imagine what it's like to hear such accusations!" Diego retorted.

"And why, pray tell, would you make her drink," Victoria asked scathingly, "if not to take advantage of her?"

"To get her to talk, if you must know!" he replied straight back.

"And talk about what, exactly?" Victoria asked him rather aggressively.

"If only I knew it!" Diego exclaimed.

"Oh, really? Let me sum it up," Victoria told him. "You make a young woman drink to get her to talk, but you don't know exactly about what, as if you'd go fishing at random, anywhere, without knowing if there's any fish or not in that spot, and to top it all off you take great care to do this away from your father's and Felipe's eyes... And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"Victoria, I assure you–"

"Save your breath, Don Diego. And no, I won't rent you a room. Your doings highly disappoint me, Diego, on top of deeply disgusting me."

"But I swear, Victoria, I was only trying to get her to talk, nothing more. Besides, I don't even find her attractive," Diego added rather stupidly.

"A cad to the end, eh? And I don't believe a single word of your tale. I know what I've seen, I've seen it here dozens of times. Remember, I run a tavern, I didn't come down in the last shower. I thought you were different, but I was wrong about you. Now I would like you to leave my establishment. OUT!"

This time, angry tears were blurring her vision. She added:

"And remember, I don't like men who allow themselves to abuse a woman's weakness!"

She then muttered something that sounded a lot like 'never thought that of you', and Diego realised that she was in no condition to have a sensible discussion and that himself was so angry that he was likely to tell her things he didn't mean to say and would regret later. So he deemed it more prudent to comply for the time being.

However, he was hurt deep down inside, and he too would have 'never thought that of her' either.

So he beat a temporary retreat, but not without casting one last barb at Victoria:

"And you, remember that only forty-eight hours ago you suspected Felipe of exactly the same thing..."