is not a happy one--he by this time did not think poor Beatriz
good enough for the Admiral-elect of the Ocean Seas; perhaps (and more
probably) Beatriz was already married and deserted, for she bore the
surname of Enriquez; and in that case, there being no such thing as a
divorce in the Catholic Church, she must either sin or be celibate. But
however that may be, there was an uncanonical alliance between them which
evidently did not in the least scandalise her brothers and which resulted
in the birth of Ferdinand Columbus in the following year. Christopher,
so communicative and discursive upon some of his affairs, is as reticent
about Beatriz as he was about Philippa. Beatriz shares with his
legitimate wife the curious distinction of being spoken of by Columbus to
posterity only in his will, which was executed at Valladolid the day
before he died. In the dry ink and vellum of that ancient legal document
is his only record of these two passions. The reference to Beatriz is as
follows:

"And I direct him [Diego] to make provision for Beatriz Enriquez,
mother of D. Fernando, my son, that she may be able to live
honestly, being a person to whom I am under very great obligation.
And this shall be done for the satisfaction of my conscience,
because this matter weighs heavily upon my soul. The reason for
which it is not fitting to write here."

About the condition of Beatriz, temporal and spiritual, there has been
much controversy; but where the facts are all so buried and inaccessible
it is unseemly to agitate a veil which we cannot lift, and behind which
Columbus himself sheltered this incident of his life. "Acquainted with
poverty" is one fragment of fact concerning her that has come down to us;
acquainted also with love and with happiness, it would seem, as many poor
persons undoubtedly are. Enough for us to know that in the city of
Cordova there lived a woman, rich or poor, gentle or humble, married or
not married, who brought for a time love and friendly companionship into
the life of Columbus; that she gave what she had for giving, without
stint or reserve, and that she became the mother of a son who inherited
much of what was best in his father, and but for whom the world would be
in even greater darkness than it is on the subject of Christopher
himself. And so no more of Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, whom "God has in
his keeping"--and has had now these many centuries of Time.