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130 [ 13 ] EXAM I N AT ION OF C ONSC IE NCE With No iNcideNt of note to record, the doctor had made his return journey to Villabermeja. His mother, to whom he related what he had not told her in letters about his courtship of Doña Costanza, and about the disillusioned end of it, berated her niece severely and did not treat any more kindly our friend Don Alonso de Bobadilla. After this natural and excusable outburst, Señora doña Ana Escalante de López de Mendoza grieved profoundly at seeing her son defeated and humiliated, and the doctor himself had to console her, explaining that it was hardly a debacle since he had gone to win Costancita’s love, not that of her father, and maintaining that it was not a humiliation that the marriage did not take place because of the reasons—social and economic—adduced by Don Alonso and the matter of prudence cited by Costancita, which he himself had recognized and accepted as understandable. Thus did a few days pass, until the mail brought the official announcement of Costancita’s marriage to the marquis of Gualdalbarbo . Then Doña Ana’s fury flared up anew, and the doctor tried to pacify her with a thousand judicious considerations. After both calmed down, because there is no excitement that does not end, mother and son slipped into a peaceful melancholy, and they continued to live in Villabermeja, more removed than before from dealings with all those people. Doña Ana administered their reduced fortune, the yield of which was consumed almost entirely in paying interest on the E XA MINATION OF CONSCIENCE 131 debt, and ably ran the house, where, with order and strict economy, she managed to retain aristocratic luster. The doctor, meanwhile, studied, meditated, and took long walks, often climbing hills, especially Watchtower Hill, to get a better view of the horizon. Sometimes he also rode out on horseback to the manor, which was the best of their properties. The manor, atop another hill, was far out in the country and distant from the main roads. Almost the only person with whom the doctor talked, besides his mother, was the faithful Respetilla, who usually entertained him and coaxed a smile out of him with town gossip and news. For want of a more suitable partner, the doctor had taken his servant as an opponent for swordplay and fencing, often leaving welts all over his body with the wood saber, and almost never coming out unscathed himself, inasmuch as he showed no special prowess in swordsmanship, nor had he taken enough lessons to develop skill at it. As to the rest, although the doctor had a heavy hand and struck more than ten blows for each one that he received, those of Respetilla were so hard and fierce that his tenth part more than made up for the blows that landed all over him. This practice or exercise, nonetheless, was highly beneficial for the body as well as the soul of both, and out of habit master and servant felt something like a need, an itch, and even a certain delight in thrashing each other daily. Notwithstanding his chats and contests with Respetilla, and notwithstanding his long conversations with Doña Ana, there were always many hours of the day and night left to the doctor during which, in the most elusive and complete solitude, he took pleasure in giving himself over to thought and exploration of self, judging the events of his life, plumbing the deepest recesses of his conscience. He had not said anything to his mother about the appearance of the mysterious woman, but one of the first things that he had done upon returning to Villabermeja was to go and look at the portrait of the Inca lady, which was in the drawing room, said room being the large or square room on the main floor. The doctor examined the portrait closely, but could not decide whether its perfect likeness with his immortal friend was real or imagined. On the other hand, his immortal friend had seemingly forgotten him for some time now, and his recollection of her, although enduring, was becoming somewhat hazy. Pantoja’s painting was lovely, but in the end it was no more than an image and could awaken in the doctor, who enjoyed full possession of all his faculties , only artistic responses. The certainty that it was the portrait of an ancestor of his, dead...

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