Chapter 19
inocencia a story of the prairie regions of brazil by the viscount of taunai translated by james william wells hopes and fears during the days of his stay on the lands of perriera lands which except at leagues distant had neither limits nor neighbors meyer increased his interesting collection with an extraordinary variety of bichos especially of butterflies the pleasure which he experienced in obtaining such a satisfactory result of his labours was so great that on every occasion he expressed it most heartily a fact that should have been of itself alone sufficient to convince the most incredulous of men as to the question of his sincerity senor perriera said the naturalist i assure you that in no part of brasil have i yet done so well as on your fazenda i understand you you rascal growled the minero to himself really it is so the only thing that i regret is that your daughter is no longer visible i regret it much i do indeed
periere forced a sickly smile and although clenching his fists and becoming jaundiced with an access of rage he nevertheless calmly replied much who knows this is the custom of my country women are not made for-for what inquired meyer noticing the pause to proserum with anybody what is proserum oh to converse to let their tongues rattle hastily explained cyrano ah thank you doctor returned meyer gratefully acknowledging that philological indication which was immediately entered in his note-book as proserum is to converse very good but truly it is a pity senor periera because your daughter is such a pretty girl that bait won't take murmured the miniero i see i must never take my eyes off this it is a pity maya repeated two or three times a fer great pity indeed certainly this language was not likely to vanquish the suspicions of periera in fact his vigilance hourly became if possible more keen but being concentrated entirely on one person it afforded all the more liberty to the actual culprit to return and visit the ill-guarded treasure
yet even so the desired interview was compassed with difficulty for the girl had been so impressed with the termination of the last interview that for some days she had scarcely left her room to write to her was above all useless for the simple reason that she had never learnt to read and besides what means existed to send her a note or even a sign reasons therefore were there in abundance to make sirino weary with impatience and nearly desperate with anxiety meanwhile in the open air and amidst the shadowed seclusion of the orangery he passed his nights thinking of how to solve his difficulties and searching for an acceptable explanation of those two mysterious whistles and above all of that vigorously thrown stone one so well directed that but for a little deviation of aim it might have stretched him upon the ground
on one of these watchful nights of anxiety he had the satisfaction to see at last innocentia's window reopen the poor girl consumed with the tumult of her love had sought relief in an endeavour to inhale with the fresh dew-laden gentle breeze of the sirtou night somewhat of its tranquillity so that its peaceful influence might serve to calm the violence of the sensations that so strongly agitated her and who knows possibly to see if by chance he might be there the one who had created so much disturbance in her breast rapid as the flight of an arrow rapid as that savagely thrown stone cyrano flew towards the opening window and covered with ardent kisses the hands of his beloved the cry she at once anxiously inquired the two cries and the stone what of them oh it was nothing cyrano hastily replied it was only a
a species of hawk and what you thought was a stone was but a noitibo a night-bird that flew by me and struck against the moonlit wall really she incredulously inquired really i also at first was very much alarmed afterwards i verified that it was nothing but a delusion at night one sees marvels in everything but to me the only one i see is yourself my life my angel of heaven with this madrigal cyrino opened a conversation similar to that of the first night one such as two ardent lovers lisp and coo in the eternal yet ever new declaration of love such as has been repeated over and over again since the days when adam and eve first practised it under the shade of the divine trees of eden the young man expressed some fears that the presence of meyer might produce a possible rival she laughed merrily at the suggestion and jested with spirit yet kindly at the queer figure of the foreigner
presently they began to discuss their prospects and lay out the plans of a happy future life now that i know what love is i will plainly tell my father that i cannot marry manikau said but suppose he objects then will i cry cry bitterly tears will serve no end but i have yet another resource what is it inquired cyrano to die no oh say not that there are yet other means i will tell you inocencia with a grave air interrupted him listen cyrano she said during these days i have learnt many things before this i went through the world as though i were blind and knew nothing wrong in it but the passion that i have for mess is as a sudden flash of light within me for now i begin to see better no one has said anything to me but it seems as if my soul has awakened to counsel me as to what is good and what is evil i know that i ought to fear you as one who can destroy me i know not how it is yet i feel that my honour and that of my family are all in your hands innocentsia cyrinoe interrupted
let me speak let me explain to you what fills my breast and then i shall feel at peace i am a child of the surdau i have never read books neither have i had any one to teach me anything if i vex you pardon me for i do it unwittingly i remember a long time ago when some men and women stopped here i asked my father why he did not invite them inside the house as you know is customary with families my father answered no nocentia these are abandoned women of gay lives i was very much astonished all the better then said i if they are gay and merry they ought to divert me they are abandoned people and have no shame continued my father i felt so sorry for them you cannot imagine afterwards i went to take a peep at them ah what bad ugly words they used how they scolded and quarrelled and smoked and sang aloud and drank aguadente until they reeled and fell to the ground and it was men who made the poor things like that ah better to die it seems to me that nossa senora ought to take pity on those who love but certainly to forsake those who go wrong
if there is no other remedy let us at least remember that our souls when they have finished with this world will fly to the starry heavens to their wonder as in a garden were i to die and messe also my soul would fly through the air searching for messe searching ever searching until found and then together we could fly to here to there sometimes by the road of santo footnote the milky way so designated in portuguese sometimes descending to this sartal to see where they have laid our two bodies ah that would be delightful innocentia thus showed that she possessed an exalted imagination and a pure and elevated mind enveloped in her purity as in a mantle of bronze she freely and naturally expressed her new feelings and sentiments without reserve yet this modest and delicate nature in a way so impressed sidinell that an invincible diffidence held him a captive before the weak young girl who of the mysteries of existence only knew that she loved
thus it was therefore that he no longer allowed the thought to pass through his mind of leaping through the window nor of dwelling upon thoughts even less decorous he consumed the time in bathing with kisses the hands of his inamorata in the endless chatter of lovers in protests in vows and in forming sweet dreams of the future to-morrow said cyrino i will cautiously approach your father get him to talk about your marriage and then lead the conversation round to myself my father observed the girl is very good but i am in such fear of him ah mu deus he has such a temper i have great hopes nevertheless replied cyrano i shall be very explicit and speak plainly what i desire is that you may be constant to me the vague sense of dread that held possession of innocencia was also fully shared by cyrino so much so that when day arrived his courage failed and he ventured not to broach the question to perillera although the latter's continued complaints against meyer permitted ample opportunities to enter upon the subject
and had cyrino been so disposed he would have been easily enabled to furnish a theme for the decisive conversation he desired to open yet although the succeeding days passed away one after another without bringing any modification of the state of affairs sweet hopes yet lingered in the heart of cyrino dreams picturing a happy life to come and a happy issue from the tangled thread of doubt and tribulation in which he lived chapter nineteen
