Free Carmen by Prosper Mérimée Page A

under an oak, not far from here. Then, too, we have funds in the Jew Ben-Joseph’s hands.’
    “She smiled and said:
    “ ‘Me first, then you. I know that it is bound to happen so.’
    “ ‘Reflect,’ I continued; ‘I am at the end of my patience and my courage; make up your mind, or I shall make up mine.’
    “I left her and walked in the direction of the hermitage. I found the hermit praying. I waited until his prayer was atan end; I would have liked to pray, but I could not. When he rose I went to him.
    “ ‘Father,’ I said, ‘will you say a prayer for some one who is in great danger?’
    “ ‘I pray for all who are afflicted,’ he said.
    “ ‘Can you say a mass for a soul which perhaps is soon to appear before its Creator?’
    “ ‘Yes,’ he replied, gazing fixedly at me.
    “And, as there was something strange in my manner, he tried to make me talk.
    “ ‘It seems to me that I have seen you before,’ he said.
    “I placed a piastre on his bench.
    “ ‘When will you say the mass?’ I asked.
    “ ‘In half an hour. The son of the innkeeper yonder will come soon to serve it. Tell me, young man, have you not something on your conscience which torments you? Will you listen to the advice of a Christian?’
    “I felt that I was on the point of weeping. I told him that I would come again, and I hurried away. I lay down on the grass until I heard the bell ring. Then I returned, but I remained outside the chapel. When the mass was said, I returned to the
venta
. I hoped that Carmen would have fled—she might have taken my horse and made her escape—but I found her there. She did not propose that any one should say that I had frightened her. During my absence she had ripped the hem of her dress, to take out the lead. Now she was standing by a table, watching the lead, which she had melted and had just thrown into a bowl filled with water. She was so engrossed by her magic that she did not notice my return at first. At onemoment she would take up a piece of lead and turn it in every direction with a melancholy air; then she would sing one of those ballads of magic in which they invoke Maria Padilla, Don Pedro’s mistress, who, they say, was the
Bari Crallisa
, or the great queen of the gypsies. bb
    “ ‘Carmen,’ I said, ‘will you come with me?’
    “She rose, pushed her bowl away, and put her mantilla over her head, as if ready to start. My horse was brought, she mounted behind me, and we rode away.
    “ ‘So, my Carmen,’ I said, after we had ridden a little way, ‘you will go with me, won’t you?’
    “ ‘I will go with you to death, yes, but I won’t live with you any more.’
    “We were in a deserted ravine; I stopped my horse.
    “ ‘Is this the place?’ she said.
    “And with one spring she was on the ground. She took off her mantilla, dropped it at her feet, and stood perfectly still, with one hand on her hip, looking me in the eye.
    “ ‘You mean to kill me, I can see that,’ she said; ‘it is written, but you will not make me yield.’
    “ ‘Be reasonable, I beg,’ I said to her. ‘Listen to me. All of the past is forgotten. However, as you know, it was you who ruined me; it was for your sake that I became a robber and amurderer. Carmen! my Carmen! let me save you and myself with you.’
    “ ‘José,’ she replied, ‘you ask something that is impossible. I no longer love you; you do still love me, and that is the reason you intend to kill me. I could easily tell you some lie; but I don’t choose to take the trouble. All is over between us. As my
rom
, you have a right to kill your
romi
; but Carmen will always be free.
Calli
she was born,
calli
she will die.’
    “ ‘Then you love Lucas?’ I demanded.
    “ ‘Yes, I did love him, as I loved you, for a moment—but less than I loved you, I think. Now, I love nobody, and I hate myself for having loved you.’
    “I threw myself at her feet, I took her hands, I drenched them with my tears. I