The Flesh and the Devil by Teresa Denys

'Eugenio, you must reconsider it.'
             
             
              'What I am doing! What we are doing, my dear
Luisa; you cannot disown your part now. Or would you rather give back all we
have gained for the sake of a scruple? The girl will take no hurt, I promise
you - no actual hurt,' he qualified hastily. 'She will be a Duquesa within the
week, a thing most women would sell their honour for. What matter an unknown
bridegroom, compared with such eminence?'
             
             
              'I wish you would not, that is all.' Dona Luisa sounded
tired. 'I know you think that the King has cheated us by forbidding any
marriage, but he has good enough reason, and we have had twenty years here. And
I was content when we lived in Aragon,' she added, half-indistinguishably. 'I
cannot breathe among these stifling hills.'
             
             
              `Tush, you talk as if our lives were over!' De Castaneda
gripped her shoulders, squeezing the fragile bones hard. 'I mean to live for
many years yet, I can tell you, and enjoy each one to its height.'
             
             
              'Senor, you are stayed for.'
             
             
              Juana spoke from the end of the colonnade, and de Castaneda
turned, blinking as he did so. She looked like a flame in that sombre gown, he
thought fancifully, against the forest of sunlit columns; sweat pricked his
palms, and he found himself licking his lips. Not yet , he told himself. Later,
when all is secure . .
              . . He executed an over-defer-ential bow , baring his
teeth, and hurried towards her, leaving his wife to follow.
             
             
              Had she tried, Juana could not have schooled herself to
more complete indifference to the wonders enclosed in the Castillo Benaventes;
her thoughts were so firmly fixed upon her coming meeting with Duque 13artolome
that she barely saw them. She moved through the great building in uncaring
obedience to de Castaneda's urgings, passing through corridors and chambers and
painted galleries with an unmoved face and measured, unhesitating steps.
Nothing could win a sign of wonder or surprise from her, not even the
obeisances of the courtiers they encountered on their way; the pale, sober
figures might have been so many bowing phantasms.
             
             
              A glimpse of her aunt's strained face and hobbling
footsteps recalled her at last to reality.
             
             
              'I am grateful for your care, Senor de Castaneda; she
interposed as he paused for breath, tut I fear that my aunt and I are both too
weary to do justice to any more than you have shown us already. Perhaps we
might return now and see the rest another day?'
             
             
              It was a subtle challenge, and de Castaneda's brows lifted.
             
             
              'By all means, senorita, if you so desire!' Malice settled
briefly about the curves of his fleshy mouth. 'I love the place so well that I
am apt to believe that everyone else must share my passion. But, certainly,
there are many years ahead in which you may examine the smallest detail at your
leisure.'
             
             
              Juana inclined her head, suppressing a wince. The remark
was a shaft she should have foreseen, but it was no less painful for that. With
outward composure she moved forward again on de Castaneda's arm, unaware of the
look he gave her in which admiration mingled with something that made his
bright eyes narrow and speculative. It was Dona Luisa who recognized his
expression, and her heart sank: she knew there would be no persuading her
husband from his purpose now.
             
             
             Dona Beatriz