Subject: Part 4 cont: Chapter XXII
Author: Robin N (209.244.67.116)
Date: 07-22-1999 23:16
Chapter XXII
Renato goes to see Aimee, who is recovering from her faint on a sofa
in Sofia’s sitting room. She snaps at him and calls Monica an
imbecile (her favorite pejorative). She’s worried that Monica’s been
telling him all about her relationship with Juan. When she finds out
that she hasn’t she pretends to be worried about Monica. Renato,
meanwhile, tells Aimee that she shouldn’t be so worried about not
feeling well ever, he loves her and tells her, “Te quiero para
siempre, y como dice el rito protestante: Hasta que la muerte nos
separe!” Aimee begins working on him. Monica should go back to the
convent. “Ya sé que estás encantado con ella; pero, de cualquier
modo, su puesto no está aqui sino en su convento. Ella no es feliz
con nosotros y es un egoismo my grande de nuestra parte empeñarnos
en retenerla.” Renato protests that he hasn’t insisted on her
staying, besides, he wants to talk about the man who almost ran down
Monica... don’t you know him? Aimee is about to deny knowing Juan
when Renato tells her that Monica told him that she knew him--that
he was often on the beach by their house so it would be curious if
Aimee didn’t know him too. Besides, he’s going to be in charge of
the plantations. Aimee turns on Renato, “¿Estás loco?” “He’s a man
of the sea and he doesn’t know anything about farming! Besides, he’s
been called a pirate.” Renato defends Juan, which annoys Aimee and
makes her very very worried. She can’t face Juan, so she wonders if
she can rest the night on the sofa... her legs won’t support her.
As soon as Renato leaves, Aimee begins plotting on how she can talk
to Juan alone. Ana, the maid who’s been assigned to Aimee, has been
hanging about and Aimee pumps her for information on everybody’s
whereabouts. She’ll give Ana a new silk gown and shoes, and a
necklace if she’ll do as Aimee asks. Ana promises to help.
In the anteroom outside the dining room, Renato joins Monica for
coffee and cognac. Juan has retired. Monica savors the time alone
with him, even if it troubles her as well. He thanks her for keeping
him company with Juan. Everybody else bailed on them for dinner. He
tells her that Aimee, besides his mother, “...tampoco le es
simpático el pobre Juan.” This surprises Monica. They talk of the
work to be done, and he tells her he needs Don Noel to help. He also
wants to get rid of Bautista. They hear a carriage coming.
In the carriage are the sick workers who Monica is going to take
care of. Ana reports back to Aimee that they are occupied. “And
Juan, was he with them?” Ana tells her that he retired after dinner,
and that she’s found out that the boy, Colibri, isn’t in a servant’s
room, he’s staying in Juan’s room. They’re out on one of the patios
now, talking. Aimee sends he to him with a note.
Meanwhile, Colibri asks Juan if they’re going to stay at Campo Real
for a while. He’s worried about Bautista... “Es un viejo más feo,
patrón...!” Juan tells him that they’re leaving in the morning.
“Without seeing the new mistress?” “There is no new mistress,” Juan
tells him. They’ll set out to see and perhaps never return to
Martinique. Forget about the new house. That’s all finished. Ana
arrives and tells him that Aimee wants to see him. He comes face to
face with her. --Acaso le ahoga el golpe del corazón que se desboca,
o el inexplicable escalofrio que recorre su espalda, y murmura: “Tú!
Tú!” Aimee tells him, “Mátame, Juan! Me acerco a ti, para que seas
tú el que me mates...” He tells her that he came to kill her, but he
believes that he doesn’t have that right. Aimee questions him, “You
don’t believe that you have the right? And when have you needed to
have the right to reach out your hands and snatch that which live
wishes to deny you? When, Juan?” She too is struck by how different
Juan is in his new clothes. It’s as if his behavior has changed too.
He seems to her enigmatic, and there’s an almost satanic gleam to
his eyes.
He asks her who she wishes him to kill. Perhaps the husband she
doesn’t love? She tells him that he knows what makes her happy. He
denies this: how can he know what the wife of his best friend would
want. He extols Renato’s virtues as a friend. He tells her she’s a
lucky woman. He tells her that Monica has kept him from his original
intentions. She owes her life to Monica. She can calm down: Renato
doesn’t know anything and she can keep on being the queen of Campo
Real. This infuriates Aimee and she accuses him of destroying her
heart. She threatens to scream for Renato. This amuses Juan who
encourages her to do so... he’d like to see what would happen if
Renato found them together. He fights against his feelings and tells
her... “Basta de mentiras, de embustes, de farsas... Si me hubieras
amado, si me huberias querido sólo un poco, sólo la mitad de lo que
me jurabas...” Aimee pledges her love but he throws it back in her
face. “You married another!” She tells him that she doesn’t love
Renato, that she only married him because Noel told her that Juan
would never return. He wonders that she couldn’t wait just a little
bit for him. She didn’t believe that he could change his life. She
tells him that he will kill her if he leaves her. Ana warns them
that people are coming.
Monica calls to Aimee and Renato wonders at the interesting
conversation that Juan and Aimee appeared to be having. She tells
him that she needed some fresh air, she was hot. Renato tells the
two that Pedro Noel has been sent for. Juan’s intrigued. He tells
Renato that he’ll accept the job... he’ll stay. For a moment, it
looks as if Renato’s sorry he asked him to stay (he has some small
suspicions about Aimee), but he tells Juan that no, on the contrary,
he thinks it’s a good idea. Monica is extremely anxious about the
whole situation and when they hear Don Noel’s coach arrive she stays
behind with Juan and asks him, “Debo suponer que está usted loco?”
Why shouldn’t he stay? She tells him that he has to go. He will, but
just to go intercept Pedro Noel, so that he doesn’t commit an
indiscretion and tell Renato anything about Juan and Aimee. For a
future nun, Monica is good with insults. She calls him vile and
shameful, stupid and a “payaso”! He replies:
“Ese si es un insulto nuevo... Payaso... Hasta ahora nadie me lo
habia llamado. ¿Payaso? Puede ser. Pero el que pretenda reir a costa
de este payaso, pagará la función en moneda de sangre. Digaselo a su
hermana, a la joven señora D’Autremont. Prevéngala de que la entrada
para el circo de Juan del Diablo cuesta muy cara. Demasiado cara!”