The City of Palaces: A Novel

Chapter 15

237 o 15 Ali­ cia sat in her par­ lor em­ broi­ der­ ing an altar cloth for the altar at San Fran­ cisco ­ Tlalco. In past times she would have been at the ­ weekly lunch­ eon of the Daugh­ ters of Je­ ru­ sa­ lem ­ hosted by the first lady at Cha­ pul­ te­ pec cas­ tle. Soon after she had re­ turned from Ar­ i­ zona, how­ ever, and it be­ came com­ mon knowl­ edge that Mi­ guel had ­ joined ­ Madero’s re­ bel­ lion, a stiff note had ar­ rived from Car­ men Díaz re­ vok­ ing ­ Alicia’s mem­ ber­ ship in the char­ i­ ta­ ble or­ gan­ iza­ tion. The other la­ dies of ­ Señora­ Díaz’s cir­ cle ­ quickly fol­ lowed the first ­ lady’s lead and ­ dropped Ali­ cia­ thoroughly and com­ pletely. Even her sis­ ters were re­ luc­ tant to ap­ pear with her in pub­ lic and her ­ brother-in-law Da­ mian had told her that only a di­ rect ap­ peal from him to Don Por­ fi­ rio had ­ spared her an ex­ tremely un­ pleas­ ant visit by the of­ fi­ cers of la se­ gu­ ri­ dad. “I as­ sured him you know noth­ ing of ­ Miguel’s ac­ tiv­ i­ ties,” he said. “But that is en­ tirely true,” she said. He had sat on the sofa where she now sewed and given her a long, hard look. “You ac­ com­ pa­ nied him to the bor­ der,” he said ac­ cus­ ingly. “On busi­ ness of my own,” she re­ plied. “Busi­ ness that in­ volved a young In­ dian girl you re­ moved from the or­ phan­ age, who ­ traveled with you and did not re­ turn when you did.” His words dis­ quieted her for she had told no one about To­ masa. “How do you know this?” “These old walls have ears,” he said, with a ges­ ture that en­ com­ passed the en­ tire pal­ ace. Then, ­ softly, he added, “Ser­ vants can be ­ bribed, Ali­ cia. I warn you that even your rank will not pro­ tect you if you con­ tinue to in­ volve your­ self in—in­ dis­ cre­ tions.” He stood up, ­ leaned cas­ u­ ally ­ against the chif­ fo­ nier, and said, “Like your ad­ ven­ ture in ­ Coyoacán.” She ­ looked up ­ sharply. “How . . . ?” Then she under­ stood. “Your money ­ bribes my ser­ vants.” 238 The Apostle of Freedom “Bet­ ter me than Díaz,” he re­ plied. “Far bet­ ter, be­ lieve me.” “For how long have you spied on us?” she de­ manded. “For as long as I have been mar­ ried to your sis­ ter,” he said. With a tight, hu­ mor­ less smile, he con­ tin­ ued, “Spare me your in­ dig­ na­ tion. Sat­ u­ rino may fancy him­ self the head of this fam­ ily, but I am the one who works cease­ lessly to pre­ serve its ­ status and pros­ per­ ity. Lis­ ten to me, Ali­ cia. I like your hus­ band, and I am your great­ est ad­ mirer, but I will not have ei­ ther one of you en­ dan­ ger what I have la­ bored so hard to ­ create and main­ tain. La­ bors, which, by the way, sup­ port you, your­ mother, and this ab­ surd res­ i­ dence.” He with­ drew a cig­ ar­ ette from his­ gold-plated cig­ ar­ ette case and lit it. “Don’t mis­ under­ stand me. I have never be­ grudged that sup­ port. In­ deed, I find this ­ fairy-tale world that you and your ­ mother in­ habit to be ­ rather charm­ ing. I ad­ vise you to re­ main in it and leave re­ al­ ity to those, like me, who are ca­ pable of di­ rect­ ing it. Hence­ forth, you will ­ quietly de­ vote your­ self to your child and to your char­ ities. No more mys­ ter­ i­ ous trips to the bor­ der. No more hos­ pices for In­ dians. Is that under­ stood?” “What about Mi­ guel?” Da­ mian ­ shrugged. “I can­ not help him now that he has ­ turned him­ self into a ren­ e­ gade. When this cha­ rade is over, I will do what I can to pre­ vent him from end­ ing up in front of a fir­ ing squad.” She ­ paused in her work and re­ mem­ bered...