Free Carmen by Prosper Mérimée

him.’
    “ ‘Beware!’ said she. ‘When any one defies me to do a thing it’s soon done!’
    “Luckily the picador left for Malaga, and I turned my attention to bringing in the Jew’s bales of cotton. I had a great deal to do in that affair, and so did Carmen; and I forgot Lucas; perhaps she forgot him, too, for the moment at least. It was about that time, señor, that I met you, first near Montilla, then at Cordova. I will say nothing about our last interview. Perhaps you remember it better than I do. Carmen stole your watch; she wanted your money, too, and above all, that ring that I see on your finger, which, she said, was a magnificent ring, which it was most important for her to own. We had a violent quarrel, and I struck her. She turned pale and shed tears, and that produced a terrible effect on me. I asked her to forgive me, but she sulked a whole day, and, when I started to return to Montilla, she refused to kiss me. My heart was very heavy, when, three days later, she came to see me with a laughing face and gay as a lark. Everything was forgotten, and we were like lovers of two days’ standing. At the moment of parting, she said to me:
    “ ‘There’s to be a fête at Cordova; I am going to it, and I shall find out what people are going away with money and let you know.’
    “I let her go. When I was alone, I mused upon that fête and upon Carmen’s change of humour. ‘She must have hadher revenge already,’ I thought, ‘as she was the first to make advances.’ A peasant told me that there were bulls at Cordova. My blood began to boil, and like a madman, I started for the city and went to the public square. Lucas was pointed out to me, and on the bench next to the barrier, I recognised Carmen. A single glance at her was enough to satisfy me. Lucas, when the first bull appeared, played the gallant, as I had foreseen. He tore the cockade aa from the bull and carried it to Carmen, who instantly put it in her hair. The bull took it upon himself to avenge me. Lucas was thrown down, with his horse across his chest and the bull on top of them both. I looked for Carmen; she was no longer in her seat. It was impossible for me to leave the place where I was, and I was compelled to wait until the end of the sports. Then I went to the house that you know, and I lay in wait there all the evening and part of the night. About two o’clock Carmen returned, and was rather surprised to see me.
    “ ‘Come with me,’ I said to her.
    “ ‘All right!’ said she. ‘Let us go.’
    “I went for my horse and took her behind me, and we rode all the rest of the night without exchanging a word. At daybreak we stopped at a lonely
venta
, near a little hermitage. There I said to Carmen:
    “ ‘Listen; I will forget everything; I will never say a word to you about anything that has happened; but promise meone thing—that you will go to America with me and remain quietly there.’
    “ ‘No,’ she said, sullenly, ‘I don’t want to go to America. I am very well off here.’
    “ ‘That is because you are near Lucas; but understand this, if he recovers, he won’t live to have old bones. But, after all, why should I be angry with him? I am tired of killing all your lovers; you are the one I will kill.’
    “She looked earnestly at me with that savage look of hers, and said:
    “ ‘I have always thought that you would kill me. The first time I saw you, I had just met a priest at the door of my house. And that night when we left Cordova, didn’t you see anything? A hare crossed the road between your horse’s feet. It is written.’
    “ ‘Carmen, don’t you love me any more?’ I asked her.
    “She made no reply. She was seated with her legs crossed, on a mat, and making figures on the ground with her finger.
    “ ‘Let us change our mode of life, Carmen,’ I said to her in suppliant tone. ‘Let us go somewhere to live where we shall never be parted. You know, we have a hundred and twenty ounces buried