Mexico (1992) by Michener James

Author:Michener, James [James, Michener,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-27T19:48:36.312000+00:00

"And the followers of Luther."

"And all obvious enemies of the Church."

'This we admit," Guadalquivir said. "But when the burning started, it was not intended--"

"Whom are you speaking of now?" Antonio asked guardedly.

^ The general picked up a switch and struck his leg with it. "I'm just as willing as the next man to burn Jews," he announced firmly. "But . . ."

It was obvious that he had not the courage to finish the remark. While Father Antonio was considering how to divert the discussion to a new track, he noticed through the archway that a flock of swallows, perhaps three hundred or more, had started to descend on the Moorish tower, and he was captivated by the marvelous way in which they dipped and turned and seemed to ignore the tower until unpredictably they darted into their nests. He watched the birds for some minutes, and then observed abruptly, "You know, sir, that the job of rooting out heretics was given to the Dominicans, and it was intended that they restrict themselves to Jews and Moors. But in the last dozen years they've become much bolder." There was a painful silence, during which the last of the swallows flew home and night fell over Seville. In the darkness the priest added, "And when our church itself was about to ask the Holy Father to restrain the Dominicans, this new difficulty broke out with Martin Luther, and now the Dominicans have become more arrogant than ever."

Without looking at the priest, but with caution lest someone had entered the garden while they were talking, the marquis observed, 'Tomorrow, for the first time, they will burn Spaniards ... like you and me."

"How do you know?" Antonio asked.

"Messengers came to Cordoba. Two men that I know will burn. One fought with me in Granada."

"Can you do nothing?"

"Nothing," Guadalquivir said simply. "The judgment was to have been executed last week. I tried to escape by delaying my return. But the Dominicans demanded my presence--to give the thing public sanction--so they delayed."

"This time there are no Jews and Moors?" Antonio asked.

"Only Spaniards," the marquis replied. What later happened was to prove him wrong.

"Hallooo!" Leticia called from the interior of the house. Bearing a candle whose flickering light heightened her natural beauty, she came into the garden and announced, "The evening meal is ready, Father." But it was apparent that she was speaking not to her father but to the priest, for it was to him that she went with her candle, arousing in him a most unpriestly thought: She moves among those Roman pillars as if she were one of the vestal virgins I've read about. She's like those silvery swallows seeking her nightfall nest. This unfortunate imagery of Roman villas, virgins and her sleeping quarters became so powerful that night when he went to bed he could not sleep; he continued to see her, with her soft dress flowing behind her, and the night passed in a torment that was as strange as it was intense.

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