The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Torrent, by Vicente Blasco Ibanez

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Torrent
Entre Naranjos

Author: Vicente Blasco Ibanez

Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11674]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TORRENT ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Sjaani and PG Distributed Proofreaders

THE TORRENT

(ENTRE NARANJOS)

By VICENTE BLASCO IBANEZ

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY

ISAAC GOLDBERG

AND

ARTHUR LIVINGSTON

1921

THE TORRENT

PART ONE

I

"Your friends are waiting for you at the Club. They saw you for a moment
only, this morning; they'll be wanting to hear all your stories about
life in Madrid."

Dona Bernarda fixed upon the young deputy a pair of deep, scrutinizing,
severely maternal eyes that recalled to Rafael all the roguish anxieties
of his childhood.

"Are you going directly to the Club?..." she added. "Andres will be
starting too, right away."

Rafael, in reply, wished a blunt "good-afternoon" to his mother and don
Andres, who were still at table sipping their coffee, and strode out of
the dining-room.

Finding himself on the broad, red-marble staircase in the silence of
that ancient mansion, of such princely magnificence, he experienced the
sudden sense of comfort and wellbeing that a traveler feels on plunging
into a bath after a tedious journey.

Ever since he had arrived, with the noisy reception at the station, the
hurrahs, the deafening music, handshakes here, crowding there, the
pushing and elbowing of more than a thousand people who had thronged
the streets of Alcira to get a close look at him, this was the first
moment he had found himself alone, his own master, able to do exactly as
he pleased, without needing to smile automatically in all directions and
welcome with demonstrations of affection persons whose faces he could
scarcely recall.

What a deep breath of relief he drew as he went down the deserted
staircase, which echoed his every footstep! How large and beautiful the
_patio_ was! How broad and lustrous the leaves of the plantains
flourishing in their green boxes! There he had spent the best