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116 [ 11 ] DIPLOM ATIC AC TIVITy AFter the conversation with her nephew, Doña Araceli realized that it was important to move forward without hesitation or to desist without further ado. She thought things over and concluded that such a state of affairs could not continue, so she resolved to issue an ultimatum to her niece and to her brother Don Alonso. She wanted them to send the doctor on his way or to accept and recognize him as the official fiancé and future husband of Doña Costanza. Doña Araceli’s reasons, as she reflected on them, should be summarized and set forth here. Don Faustino was beginning to look somewhat ridiculous. Everybody in the town, because in a small provincial town almost nothing is kept secret, knew that he had come to court Doña Costanza, and since the courtship had stalled and in the end could even result in failure, the more time that passed the greater and more sensational would be the snub. Seeing that the doctor was not worldly and was, moreover, in love, he did not understand this very well. Although Doña Araceli loved Doña Costanza with all her heart, love did not put blinders on her, and she saw a bad omen in the pretense and restraint of her niece, who talked to the doctor at the grille, without confiding in her. And Doña Araceli saw an even worse omen in the control that Costanza exercised over herself so that—after seven nights during which such a gallant youth had talked to her about his love with, one could assume, arresting eloquence—she could refrain from accepting his proposal and could continue to consult her heart without discovering what her DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITy 117 heart responded. Doña Araceli recalled her own youth, and deep in the profound secrecy of her conscience she pictured scenes at the grille when she too had talked with a beloved. How to resist, if one loves a little, the sweet, passionate words, the sighs, the promises of love, the complaints, desire expressed in a gesture and in languid glances, when all of it is reinforced by the magic of silence, of nocturnal repose, of darkness, of the unsteady light of stars that seem to fall in love with one another in the blue firmament; reinforced too by the perfume of the flowers, the soft freshness of the pleasant surroundings, the distant cooing of some dove or the amorous trill of some nightingale, and a thousand other incentives to be found at such hours, and in the spring, climate, earth, and sky of Andalusia? All this, as Doña Araceli recalled it, was irresistible at the age of eighteen. Let my readers also understand that I have given indications that Doña Araceli had been somewhat easygoing and more loving than severe. The first thing that women who think themselves severe should not do is go to a grille at night to talk to their suitor or fiancé. Not for such a reason will the author of this story maintain here that there are not women who do go to the grille, who are in love with the one talking to them, and who skimp as much or more than Doña Costanza on favors and generous indulgences. But I repeat, the best thing is not to go to the grille, and so I recommend to the fathers, mothers , and brothers of Andalusian misses: Remove the occasion and you remove the temptation. Wine is not the only thing that intoxicates. Be that as it may, since Costancita had gone down to the grille seven successive nights, Doña Araceli could not comprehend why, despite the girl’s decency and Catholic upbringing, she had not even permitted her cousin to kiss her on the forehead. For Doña Araceli’s nature, impulses, and tender ways, this constituted proof positive that Costancita did not love the doctor and that she was stringing him along and amusing herself at his expense. To be sure, thought Doña Araceli, you have to be full of the devil in order to go down to the garden on the sly, from one to two or three in the morning, and also in order to go with so much mystery that a body would think it was a crime, and with the sole intention of extending her hand to be kissed and to say: “We’ll see if i love you.” clearly...

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