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Carmen Ariza Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Carmen Ariza novel. A total of 194 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Carmen Ariza.by Charles Francis Stocking.BOOK 1 Doth this offend you?--the words that I
Carmen Ariza.by Charles Francis Stocking.BOOK 1 Doth this offend you?--the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.--_Jesus._ CARMEN ARIZA CHAPTER 1 The tropical sun mounted the rim of the golden Caribbean, quivered for a moment li
- 1 Carmen Ariza.by Charles Francis Stocking.BOOK 1 Doth this offend you?--the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.--_Jesus._ CARMEN ARIZA CHAPTER 1 The tropical sun mounted the rim of the golden Caribbean, quivered for a moment li
- 2 "How do you know that the Bible does not teach it, my son?""I--I--have read--the Bible," faltered the lad."You have read the Bible!" cried the astonished father. "And where have you done that, you wicked boy?""At the bookstore of Mariano," confe
- 3 "He is morbidly honest, Your Grace.""A trait I wish we might employ to our own advantage," mused the churchman. Then, continuing, "He is learned far beyond his years.Indeed, his questions put me to some stress--but only for the difficulty of framing
- 4 Rome, like a fallen gladiator, spent and prostrate on the Alban hills, still awaits the issue of the conflict between the forces of life and death within. Dead, where the blight of pagan and mediaeval superst.i.tion has eaten into the quivering tissues; i
- 5 But, it may be asked, during the eight years of Jose's course in the seminary, did his tutors not mark the forces at work in the boy's soul? And if so, why did they not urge his dismissal as unfit for the calling of the priesthood?Because, true to his p
- 6 There William of Orange had held his weighty discussion of the Prayer-Book revision, which was hoped to bring Churchmen and Dissenters again into harmony. And there, greatest of all, had gathered, day after day, and year after year, the patient, devoted g
- 7 CHAPTER 9 Always as a child Jose had been the tortured victim of a vague, unformed apprehension of impending disaster, a presentiment that some day a great evil would befall him. The danger before which he now grew white with fear seemed to realize that f
- 8 "Excellent!" exclaimed the Cardinal-Bishop. "Your voice thrills me like a trumpet call.""I would it were such," cried the Bishop excitedly, "summoning the faithful to strike a blow which shall be felt! What right have the United States, or any nati
- 9 Jose dragged himself wearily before the Supreme Pontiff and bent low."_Benedicite_, my erring son." The soft voice of His Holiness floated not unmusically through the tense silence of the room."Arise. The hand of the Lord already has been laid heavily
- 10 Two summers came, and fled again before the chill winds which blew from the Alban hills. Then one day Jose's uncle appeared at the monastery door with a written order from His Holiness, effecting the priest's conditional release. Together they journeyed
- 11 The testy Bishop's wrath flared up anew. "You demand! Am I to sit here and be catechised by _you_? It is enough that I know what occurs in my diocese, and am well informed of your conduct!"The doorway darkened, and the priest turned to meet the object
- 12 "I presume I am," admitted the American genially. "I've been all sorts of things in my day, preacher, teacher, editor. My father used to be a circuit rider in New England forty years ago or more. Pious--good Lord! Why, he was one of the kind who belie
- 13 He paused and looked quizzically at Jose. He seemed to be studying the length to which he could go in his criticism of the ancient faith of the house of Rincon. But Jose remained in expectant silence."Speaking of missionaries," the man resumed, "I shal
- 14 His irons in ecclesiastical, political, social and commercial fires were innumerable. The doctrine of the indivisibility of Church and State had in him an able champion--but only because he thereby found a sure means of increasing his prestige and augment
- 15 A week pa.s.sed. The explorer had gone, as silently and unannounced as he had come. The evening before his departure he and Jose had sat again in the thick shadows of the old wall. The next morning he was on the mighty river; and the priest was left with
- 16 The girl sank back again with a smile of happiness. A deep silence fell upon the room. At the feet of the priest Catalina huddled and wept softly. Marcelena, in the shadow of the bed where she might not be seen, rocked silently back and forth with breakin
- 17 "Good G.o.d!" cried Jose, recoiling. "A leper!"Turning swiftly from the hideous object, his brain awhirl with the horrible nightmare, the priest fled blindly from the scene. Nauseated, quivering with horror, with the obscene ravings of the leper still
- 18 "_Caramba!_ but my German has all slipped from me.""Don't worry," commented Don Jorge cynically; "for I'll wager it took nothing good with it.""_Hombre!_ but you are hard on a loyal servant of the Lord," exclaimed Padre Diego in a tone of mock i
- 19 The eastern sky was blus.h.i.+ng at the approach of the amorous sun when Jose left his hammock and prepared to endure another day on the river.To the south the deep blue vault of heaven was dotted with downy clouds. Behind the laboring steamer the river g
- 20 The foliage on either side of the channel merged into the hot waves that rose trembling about them. The thin, burning air enveloped the little craft with fire. Jose gasped for breath. His tongue swelled.His pulse throbbed violently. His skin cracked. The
- 21 The house he was in was a typical native three-room dwelling, built of strips of _macana_ palm, set upright and tied together with pieces of slender, tough _bejuco_ vine. The interstices between the strips were filled with mud, and the whole whitewashed.
- 22 "No doctor!"Jose kept silence for a few moments. Then-- "But perhaps I do not need one. What time did it occur?""It did not happen to-day, Padre," said Rosendo with pitying compa.s.sion. "It was nearly a week ago.""Nearly a week! And have I lain
- 23 "You are real hungry, and you are going to eat all of this and get strong again. Right away!" she added, emphatically expressing her confidence in the a.s.sumption.Jose made no reply. He seemed again to be trying to sound the unfathomable depths of the
- 24 "But--what say you? Shall we visit the church, which is only across the road? There we can talk without interruption. No one will be in the streets during the heat. And I will carry you over.""Let us go to the church, yes; but I can walk. It is only a
- 25 He leaned over and laid a hand upon the priest's knee. His dark eyes seemed to burn like glowing coals. His whispered words were fraught with a meaning which Jose would some day learn."Padre, _that_ must be left alone!"A long silence fell upon the two
- 26 "Dear little child of G.o.d," he murmured, as he bent over her and touched his lips to her rich brown curls, "I have tried my life long to learn what you already know. And at last I have been led to you--to you, little one, who shall be a lamp unto my
- 27 Jose wisely vouchsafed no answer."Come, Padre," continued Rosendo. "I would not want to have to spend the night here. For, you know, if a man spends a night in a cemetery an evil spirit settles upon him--is it not so?"Jose still kept silence before th
- 28 Jose's plans for educating the girl had gradually evolved into completion during the past two days. He explained them at length to Rosendo after the morning meal; and the latter, with dilating eyes, manifested his great joy by clasping the priest in his
- 29 "Then we will not read it, Padre."The man bent reverently over the little brown head and prayed again for guidance. What could he do with this child, who dwelt with Jehovah--who saw His reflection in every flower and hill and fleecy cloud--who heard His
- 30 But what is righteousness? Ethical conduct? a.s.suredly something vastly more profound, for even that "misses the mark." No, righteousness was right conduct until the marvelous Jesus appeared. But he swept it at once from the material into the mental; f
- 31 Jose became desperate. "Rosendo, we _must_ send money to the Bishop in Cartagena. I _must_ stay here--I _must_! And I can stay only by satisfying Wenceslas! If I can send him money he will think me too valuable to remove. It is not the Church, Rosendo, b
- 32 "_Un canasto de flores_," mused Rosendo, looking off into the infinite blue."A basket of flowers, indeed," responded Jose reverently."Padre--" Rosendo's brain seemed to struggle with a tremendous thought--"I often try to think of what is beyond th
- 33 "But, Padre," persisted Rosendo, "who made the devil?""There is no devil!""But there is wickedness--""No!" interrupted Jose emphatically. "G.o.d is infinite good, and there can be no real evil.""But how do you know that, Padre?""I can't sa
- 34 Alas! for the baneful belief that years bring wisdom. How pitiable, and how cruelly detrimental to the child are an ignorant parent's a.s.sumptions of superiority! How tremendous the responsibility that now lay at his own door! Yet no greater than that w
- 35 "But, Padre, is the picture of the chair carried on the nerve to the brain?""Oh, no, _chiquita_, only vibrations. It is as if the nerve moved just a little distance, but very, very fast, back and forth, or up and down.""And no picture is carried to t
- 36 "It is the activity of thought," said Jose aloud, "that makes us believe that fleshly eyes see and ears hear. We see only our thoughts; and in some way they become externalized as our environment."His reasoning faculty went busily on. Thought builds i
- 37 "There is only one man here to be afraid of," he resumed; "and that is Don Felipe Alcozer; although he may never return to Simiti." He reflected a few moments. Then: "Now, Padre, let us have some understanding about interests in the mine, should Rose
- 38 _Costumbre del pais!_ It is a final answer all through South America.No matter how unreasonable a thing may be, if it is the custom of the country it is a Medean law."But you know this is subversive of Church discipline!" Jose retorted warmly. "Look yo
- 39 Jose had begun to see that discord was the result of unrighteousness, false thought. He began to understand why it was that Jesus always linked disease with sin. His own paradoxical career had furnished ample proof of that. Yet his numberless tribulations
- 40 "But it is just because they think so that they get well, isn't it?"the girl continued."I guess it is, child.""And if they thought right they would be cured without this--is it not so, Padre dear?""I am sure of it--now," replied the priest. "In
- 41 Jose often studied her features while she bent over her work. He spent hours, too, poring over the little locket which had been found among her mother's few effects. The portrait of the man was dim and soiled.Jose wondered if the poor woman's kisses and
- 42 "Yes, Padre. But then I shall know more about the rules that you call principles."She took up each problem with confidence. Jose watched her eagerly."You do not know what the answer will be, _chiquita_," he ventured."No, Padre dear. But I don't care
- 43 Jose burst out laughing at the tremendous question. Carmen joined in heartily."But, Padre," she pursued, "there are rules for solving problems; but there isn't any rule or principle for making mistakes, is there?""Surely not, child!" Jose replied.
- 44 Shame fell upon the priest like a blanket. He, the _Cura_, was deserting his charge! And this quiet, dignified woman had shown herself stronger than the man of G.o.d! He turned to the door. Carmen was just entering. He took the child by the hand and led h
- 45 "I have told you, a few weeks at the most," replied Diego with a show of petulance. "But, just the same, as agent of your friend Wenceslas, I have been a mite too active along the river, especially in the town of Banco, to find safety anywhere within t
- 46 Two years later I was a.s.signed to the parish of Simiti. Here I saw the little locket which I had given her, and knew that Carmen was my child. Ah, _Dios!_ what a revelation to a breaking heart! But I could not openly acknowledge her, for I was already i
- 47 The old man stopped to light the thick cigar which he had rolled during his recital."_Caramba!_ Padre, it was a lucky thought! I located the center of the big bowl as nearly as possible, and began to dig. I washed some of the dirt taken a foot or two bel
- 48 "Why do you ask? Would you go to them? _Bueno_, then across the lake, toward the Juncal. Don Mario stocked their boat last night, while you kept me out on the shales. _Buen arreglo, no?_""Yes, Rosendo," replied Jose gladly, "an excellent arrangement
- 49 "Dear Brother in Christ: It is, as you must know, because of our good Rosendo's foolish anger that I relieve him of the embarra.s.sment of my presence in Simiti. Not that I fear bodily harm, but lest his thoughtlessness urge him to attempt injury upon m
- 50 "But, Padre, she will." Juan was growing bolder. "And--and, Padre, I--I should like it if she would marry me. Ah, _Senor Padre_, already I adore her!"Jose could not be angry. The faithful lad was deeply sincere. And the girl would reach the marriageab
- 51 The Christ prayed that there might be one fold and one shepherd.It is for us this month to pray for the great day when they will be accomplished. But we must be united over the interests of the Sacred Heart. Therefore, liberal plenary indulgences will be
- 52 "True, _chiquita_. Love, life, joy, knowledge, wisdom, health, harmony--all these are spiritual ideas. The physical sometimes manifests them--and sometimes does not. And in the end, called death, it ceases altogether to manifest them.""But--these thing
- 53 she protested, "were you not thinking of things that are not true when I came in?""No--I was--I was thinking of the future--of--well, _chiquita_, I was thinking of something that might happen some day, that is all." He stumbled through it with difficu
- 54 "Why not?" he asked."Mistakes happen, as in solving my algebra problems. But good things never happen, any more than the answers to my problems happen. You know, there are rules for getting the answers; but there are no rules for making mistakes--are t
- 55 Feliz Gomez, who had been sent to Bodega Central for merchandise which Don Mario was awaiting from the coast, had collapsed as he stepped from his boat on his return to Simiti. When he regained consciousness he called wildly for the priest."Padre!" he c
- 56 But Jose slept not that night. The warm, sluggish air lay about him, mephitic in its touch. The great vampire bats that soughed through it symbolized the "pestilence that walketh in darkness." Lonely calls drifted across the warm lake waters from the dr
- 57 She waited a moment for him to express the limitation which the conjunctive implied. Then: "Padre dear, how do you think he did it? How did he cure sick people, and make the dead ones live again?""I--I don't know, child--I am not sure. That knowledge
- 58 She looked up at him with a tender, wistful smile. Then she shook her head. "Padre dear, I love you," she said, "but you make me lots of trouble. But--we are going to love all the fear away, and--" stamping her little bare foot--"we are going to get
- 59 "I will do so this afternoon, after I have visited the sick," he replied pityingly.Mendoza hesitated. Then-- "We think, too, Padre, that if we held a procession--in honor of Santa Barbara--perhaps she would pray for us, and might stop the sickness.We c
- 60 Rosendo looked wonderingly at the excited priest, whose bitter words rang out so harshly on the still night air."The Church has failed utterly to preserve the simple gospel of the Christ! It has basely, wantonly betrayed its traditional trust! It has fou
- 61 "Up, man!" he shouted, seizing his hand. "Up! You are not sick! There is no cholera in Simiti! There is none in Bodega Central! Feliz did not bring it! He and Amado had only a touch of the flux, and they died of fear!"The priest's ringing words acted
- 62 "Marcelena? Yes. She was devoted to the little Maria. The woman was old and ugly--but she loved the child.""Did you not inquire for them when you were in Mompox a few months ago?" pursued Jose eagerly."I made slight inquiry through the clerk in the o
- 63 "Listen," Jose pleaded desperately, "Fernando, leave her here to-night--this is sudden, you must acknowledge--she must have time to take leave of Dona Maria--and--""_Senor Padre_, the Alcalde's order is that she go with me now. I must obey."Jose fe
- 64 "I will cut off the hand that is laid on Juan!" cried Lazaro, advancing."Men! Men! Don Mario and Fernando, go now! Enough of this! And for G.o.d's sake think twice before you make any further move!"Don Mario and his constable departed in sullen silen
- 65 The trembling old man replaced the bars and carried them to Jose's bed. The priest opened the door and called to Carmen."What was in the old box, Padre?" she asked happily, bounding into the room.He stooped and picked her up, almost crus.h.i.+ng her in
- 66 "Of Ayacucho," suggested Jose."Just so," resumed Rosendo. "_Bien_, there was nothing for the poor man to do but hasten down the river to Cartagena as fast as possible, for he knew not what might have befallen his family. He did not dare go back to Si
- 67 And yet they were not really his first introduction to that thought, for, as he pored over these books, his heart expanded with grat.i.tude to the brusque explorer whom he had met in Cartagena, that genial, odd medley of blunt honesty, unquibbling candor,
- 68 "Senores," he said with much dignity, as if the majesty of his little office weighed upon him, "I am commanded by Senor, the Alcalde, to exercise the authority reposing in him and place Don Rosendo Ariza under arrest. You will at once accompany me to t
- 69 "_Na_, Padre, you would not find her. Come, I will go home with you."He took Jose's arm again and led him, blindly stumbling, to the parish house.By this time the little town was agog with excitement. People ran from house to house, or gathered on the
- 70 "_Caramba!_ I have yet to see the color of the _pesos_. I do not much trust your Padre Diego.""_Na, amigo_, a bit of rum will put new life into your soaked gizzard._Cierto_, this trip down the river was a taste of purgatory; but you know we may as well
- 71 "Why, no, Anita dear, he is not a beast--we must love him, for he is G.o.d's child, too," said Carmen, patting the woman's wet cheek with her soft hand."He!--G.o.d's child!" She broke into a shrill of laughter. "_Carita_, he is Satan himself! You
- 72 "_Caramba_, I understand!" replied Diego, turning to the woman.Ana had risen and was making for the stairs. Diego sprang to her and seized her by the wrist. With her free hand she drew the stiletto from her bosom and raised it to strike. Ricardo saw the
- 73 "No, Padre," she answered quietly, "I do not want to come to you. But I want to talk to you--""_Dios y diablo_! enough of your gab! _Caramba_! with a Venus before me do you think I yearn for a sermon? _Hombre_! delay it, delay it--""Padre," she in
- 74 "Yes, Anita, yes; leave him with G.o.d!" pleaded the girl excitedly."Come away, Anita--""But where, child?" asked the bewildered woman."To Simiti!""Simiti! Never! Why--why, my father would kill me!""No, Anita dear; he loves you; he prays for yo
- 75 "Padre, what did you tell me once about the word 'repent'?""It comes from the Greek word '_metanoia_.'""Yes," she reflected; "but what did you say that--""Oh, yes, I told you it meant a complete and radical change of thought.""Well!" she e
- 76 In the midst of the hubbub a hush fell suddenly over the concourse.All heads turned, and all eyes fastened upon Ana, as she entered the room and moved timidly toward Jose. The people fell back to make a pa.s.sage for her. Her shoulders were bent, and her
- 77 A half hour pa.s.sed. Then Jose, wondering, went quietly to the door of his house and looked in. Rosendo sat at the table, with Carmen on his knees."And, padre," the child was saying, "the good Jesus told the woman not to sin any more; and she went awa
- 78 "No, Padre, for we can prove it. And, look here," she continued, referring to her list. "If the kingdom of heaven is within us, then everything that comes to us in life comes from within, and not from without. And so, things never happen, do they? Don
- 79 "_Bien, compadre_," purred Diego, "would it not be well for you to loosen this bit of thread, that we may make our way back to the village? _Caramba!_ but it cuts sore--and I am soft, my friend, for I have been ill."Rosendo's wrath flared up anew. "
- 80 "_Bien_, Padre," said Rosendo, concluding his dramatic and disconnected recital, "I plowed through the water--_Caramba!_ I knew not at what moment I should feel the jaws of a cayman seize upon me!But the Virgin had heard my prayer. I must offer a candl
- 81 "Well, _chiquita_, unless--""Unless you marry, too, Padre," she said, dropping her eyes."Unless I marry! I--a priest! But--what has that to do with it, girl?""Well--oh, Padre dear--can't you see? For then I would marry--" She buried her face in h
- 82 It was this hasty judgment of Wenceslas and his political a.s.sociates which had delayed further consideration of the objectionable measure for six years. But the interim had seen his party enormously strengthened, himself in control of the See, and his p
- 83 Now _un-see_ it. Look at it in the right way. See only G.o.d's child, with perfect sight. And, Padre, after a while _you will see that babe seeing things, just as we do_!"Don't you understand?" she exclaimed, as he sat looking fixedly at her. "Don't
- 84 "It must, Padre," she answered.He studied a moment. Then: "_Chiquita_, how do you know me? What do you see that you call 'me'?""Why, Padre, I see you as G.o.d does--at least, I try always to see you that way?" she answered earnestly. "And that is
- 85 "Padre dear," she murmured, nestling close to him, "I love you so much, so much!"He answered not, except in the tightening of the arm that was about her.CHAPTER 31 In the weeks that followed there were days when the very air seemed pregnant with poten
- 86 There were five of them, strong of heart and brawny of arm. "And there will be more, Padre," added Andres, reading the priest's question in his appraising glance.Thus was the town divided; and while many clung to the Alcalde, partly through fear of off
- 87 "Shoot the doors down! Shoot them down, Don Mario!" yelled the mob.The Alcalde threw himself heavily up against the doors. "_Caramba!_"he shrilled. "Fools! Demons! Open!--or it will be the worse for you!"Jose decided that their silence should no lon
- 88 CHAPTER 33 "Padre! Padre! are you alive?"Rosendo's hoa.r.s.e whisper drifted across the silence like a wraith. He crept out and along the floor, scarce daring to look up. Through the darkness his straining eyes caught the outlines of the two figures st
- 89 Then he framed another despatch. "Your Excellency," it read, "the Church supports the Administration."Late that evening a second message from Bogota was put into his hand.He tore it open and read, "The Hercules ordered to Simiti.""Ah," he sighed,
- 90 "_Bien_," added the captain, addressing Fernando, "quarters for my men, and rations. We return to the Hercules at daybreak. And let all arms and ammunition be collected. Every house must be searched. And we shall want _peones_ to carry it to the river.
- 91 Long before sun-up the soldiers and the _peones_, whom Captain Morales had impressed, were busy gathering the commandeered rifles and carrying them down to the gunboat Hercules, waiting at the mouth of the Boque river, some six or eight miles distant, and
- 92 "Old man," he said, familiarly addressing Jose, "having seen the girl, I do not at all wonder that blood has been shed over her. But to keep her another hour in Simiti is to sacrifice her. Get her away--and at once! If not, the people will drive you ou
- 93 Rosendo and Don Jorge bowed and silently withdrew from the parish house. The former went at once to apprise the wondering Dona Maria of the events which had crowded the morning's early hours and to answer her apprehensive questionings regarding Ana. Carm
- 94 Carmen reflected long, while Jose, with ebbing hope, waited. "Padre dear," she finally said, "then you have not yet worked out your problem--have you?"No, he knew that. And he was now attempting to solve it by flight."I mean, Padre, you have not work
- 95 "And she will go to the States with us! Oh, padre!" cried the girl, bounding up and down with joy.Jose turned and went quickly into his own house. With grim determination he drew the battered haircloth trunk from beneath his bed and began to thr
- 96 The girl did not speak. But her breath came more quickly, and her hand closed more tightly about his."Dearest one," he murmured, bending over the brown curls, "it is G.o.d's way, I guess. Perhaps in the years which I have spent here wi
- 97 What was it that she had said to him that day, long gone, when Diego claimed her as his child? Ah, yes: "Don't feel badly, Padre dear. His thoughts have only the minus sign--and that means nothing, you know."And later, many weeks later: &qu
- 98 "Lord Harry!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Harris, pondering the cryptical remark, "you surely are a queer little dud!"But the girl turned from him to Rosendo. He understood her. Nor would she permit the old man to leave her until, late that nig
- 99 "For, instead of not believing anything, you firmly believe in the presence and power of evil. It is just those very people who boast that they do not believe in anything who believe most thoroughly in evil and its omnipotence and omnipresence."
- 100 Jose, the shadow of his former self, clung pitiably to Rosendo's hand, imploring the constant repet.i.tion of the old man's narrative. Then came Juan, flying to the door. He had seen and talked with the returned _cargadores_. The girl had not co