Of Love And Other Demons

The three-storied convent at Santa Clara faces the ocean and has a garden dividing the building into two wings. The garden contains ferns, banana and palm trees, and a "colossal tree with vanilla vines and strings of orchids" (63) hanging from it. The right wing houses the nuns, who interact with the main chapel through a jalousie "through which they could not see or be seen" (63). Eighty-two Spanish women and thirty-six American-born daughters of viceroys make up the cloistered nuns at the time of Sierva María's arrival. They have all taken vows of "poverty, silence, and chastity" (64), and can only communicate with the outside world in the locutory, where they can hear but not see or be seen by visitors. These visits always require the presence of a chaperone.

The left wing of the convent contains "every kind of workshop" (63), with craftspeople on hand to teach their trades. There is also a kitchen, a butcher, and a bread oven. In the back, a courtyard "always flooded with dirty wash water" (63) houses a group of slaves. Beyond the courtyard, the livestock, horses, bees, and garden are kept. Past that, at the point farthest from the convent stands "a solitary pavilion" (63) which had been used for sixty-eight years by the Spanish Inquisition as a prison. It continues to serve a penal purpose for "Clarissans gone astray" (63), and it's here that Sierva María gets locked away. 

Leading her to the end of a corridor, the nun from the front gate hands Sierva María to a "novice" (63) and asks her to take the girl to the Abbess. Thinking Sierva María must be well-to-do, based on her dress, the novice decides to leave her on a stone bench in the garden, rather than drag her through the kitchen. She plans to come back for Sierva María with the Abbess in tow but forgets to come back. As she waits, two more novices pass by Sierva María. Fascinated by her necklaces and rings, they ask her about them, then whether she knows Spanish at all. When Sierva doesn't respond, they decide that she must be a deaf-mute, or German. The younger of the novices begins to treat Sierva as though she's a doll, unpinning her long hair and stretching the braid to its length, then unbraiding it. Sierva shoots her a look and the novice stops, telling Sierva that Sierva has the Devil's eyes. Sierva lets the novice take one of her rings, but when the older novice goes to touch Sierva's Santería necklaces, she lashes out and bites the girl's arm. The novices run off together, to wash the blood.

Alone, Sierva walks to the water cistern behind the giant tree in the garden. She begins to drink but gets frightened by the sound of the nuns singing and goes back to the stone bench without drinking. When she realizes it's just singing, Sierva goes back to the cistern and scoops a handful of water into her mouth, then squats to urinate behind the tree, holding a stick in her hand to ward off "abusive animals and predatory men" (64), as she'd learned to do from Dominga de Adviento. 

After a while of sitting on the bench, a slave woman passes Sierva and, recognizing her Santería necklaces, begins to speak to the girl in Yoruban. Sierva replies enthusiastically and the slave woman brings Sierva back to the kitchen with her. She's welcomed by the slaves, but then they notice her inflamed ankle and want to know what happened. Sierva explains that her mother cut her there with a knife. When the slaves ask Sierva María her name, she gives them "her black name: María Mandinga" (65). Feeling at home in the kitchen, among black people, Sierva helps kill and butcher a goat, cutting out its eyes and testicles, which she later eats, fried in lard. She sings in Yoruban, Congolese, and Mandingo, and plays diabolo with the children, winning every game. 

Everyone in the convent but the Abbess, Josefa Miranda, knows Sierva María is in the back courtyard with the slaves. A narrow-minded woman who inherited a century-long feud between the Franciscan bishop and the Clarissan sisters, Miranda has no love for Sierva María, even before meeting her. Because of the cruel methods employed by the Bishop in his dispute with the convent, including a Cessatio a Divinis (or suspension of all religious services in the city) and starving the nuns out of the convent, Josefa Miranda is suspicious of Sierva's appearance at Santa Clara. The Abbess also regards American-born nobility, like the Marquis, as "'gutter nobility'" (66). When Sierva hasn't appeared by noon, the Abbess asks the nun who showed her into the convent and what happened to Sierva. The nun says that all she knows is a "man in mourning" (66) and a "fair-haired girl dressed like a queen" (66) came to the convent this morning, but a squabble among the beggars over the Palm Sunday meal kept her from learning anything more about them. The nun gave the vicar Sierva's hat, and the vicar gives it to the Abbess, who has no doubt that it belongs to Sierva, calling it "the hat of a slut" (66). 

However, the Abbess had walked past Sierva María on the stone bench that morning, as she walked by with some masons, discussing the "cost of work on the water pipes" (67). Other nuns had passed her, too, without noticing. The two novices who had harassed Sierva claimed they hadn't seen her at all. At siesta time, a voice awakens the Abbess, filling the convent with singing. The Abbess summons a novice to her room by pulling a cord at her bedside, then asks the novice who was singing so well. The novice replies that it's "the girl" (67). The Abbess says to herself that it's a beautiful voice, then sits up with a start and asks, "What girl?" (67). The novice replies that she doesn't know, only that the girl had "the back courtyard in an uproar" (67) since that morning. The Abbess leaps out of bed and follows the singing to the slaves' courtyard. There, she finds Sierva María sitting on a stool, singing, with her hair spread along the ground, surround by "enchanted servants" (67). She stops singing as soon as she sees the Abbess, who raises her crucifix necklace and says, "Hair Mary Most Pure" (67). The whole courtyard replies, "Conceived without sin" (67). Waving the crucifix at Sierva like a weapon, she yells, "Vade retro" (67), or 'get back.' She calls Sierva the "Spawn of Satan" (67) and claims Sierva made herself invisible to "confound" (67) them.

Sierva doesn't speak a word to the woman. A novice tries to lead Sierva away by the hand, but the Abbess tells her not to touch the girl, then tells everyone around her the same. They take Sierva to her cell, "kicking and snapping" (68) like a dog. She soils herself on the way and they wash her down with buckets of water at the stables. The Abbess remarks that the Bishop only sends "turds" (68) to their convent. In the pavilion, Sierva has a large cell with high ceilings, full-length windows with bars, and a high window on the wall that faces the sea. For furnishing, the cell has a concrete bedframe with a straw-filled mattress, and a built-in stone bench and worktable that also functions as an altar and washbasin. Above that, a single crucifix is nailed to the wall. They leave Sierva María here, soaking wet and afraid, under the care of a single warder. Sierva sits on the bed, staring at the iron bars on the cell's door, and stays there until supper, when a servant girl brings her meal. When Sierva doesn't move at all, the servant girl tries to take off one of Sierva's Santería necklaces. Sierva grabs the girl's wrist to get her to let go. In the convent's acta, or official records, the servant girl states that "a supernatural force" (68) throws her to the ground. 

Sierva eats one bite of her meal of dried meat, cassava bread, and a little chocolate, and spits it onto the ground. She lays down and hears the sound of the sea and the season's first storm approaching. In the morning, when the servant girl reappears with breakfast, she finds Sierva sleeping on the straw, which she ripped from the mattress with her nails and teeth. At midday, Sierva doesn't resist being taken into the refectory to eat her meal with the other young girls who have not yet "taken their reclusive vows" (69). The refectory has a large window that faces the sea, and the sounds of waves crashing against the cliffs seem very close. The twenty or so novices that Sierva shares her meal with have shaved heads, wear simple habits, and don't try to hide their joy and excitement about being close to a woman possessed. Sierva sits near the main door between two warders who don't pay her attention and eats nothing. She wears a gown like those of the other novices, along with her velvet slippers, still damp from her impromptu washing the day before. After the meal, one of the novices tries to touch Sierva's beads and Sierva goes berserk, getting up on the table, shrieking, breaking things, and then leaping out the window. Outside, she upsets the beehives, and the fences keeping the horses and cows enclosed. The animals stampede to the sleeping quarters.

After this incident, Sierva María's "pernicious influence" (69) gets blamed for all incidents around the convent. In the acta, several novices state that they've seen Sierva fly on transparent wings that emit "a strange humming" (70). It takes two days and a "squadron of slaves" (70) to recoup the bees and other animals after Sierva's fit. After this, rumors spread that the pigs have been poisoned, that the water induces hallucinations, and that one of the hens Sierva scared with her antics flew over the convent roof and never returned.

Rather than fear, these rumors serve to pique the entire convent's curiosity about Sierva María. Though the convent has a strict curfew from evening Vespers prayers at seven o'clock until the Mass at six o'clock in the morning, the convent has never been so "agitated and free" (70). Sierva María's presence ushers in an era of clandestine gambling, tobacco smoking, and liquor drinking. The nuns, even the "most rigid" (70), begin to visit Sierva María's cell in small groups. At first, she regards them aggressively, but she learns to interact with each according to their personalities and moods. They ask Sierva to speak to the Devil on their behalf and ask for "impossible favors" (70). Sierva humors them by impersonating "voices from beyond the grave" (70), which, according to the acta, the nuns do not know is an act. One night, a group of nuns attacks Sierva María in her cell and steals her Santería necklaces. While running away, the group's leader slips and fractures her skull. The others have no peace until they return the necklaces. After this, no one comes to her cell again. 

Meanwhile, the Marquis del Casalduero mourns the loss of his daughter. He regrets sending her to live in the convent and even stalks around outside the convent's main building, wondering which of the blue windows hides Sierva, not knowing she's been confined to her pavilion cell. When he returns home, he encounters Bernarda, enjoying the evening air. The Marquis worries she'll ask him what happened to Sierva, but Bernarda says nothing. He lets the mastiffs out of their cages and goes to his hammock, hoping to "sleep forever" (70), but he can't because of the heat. Along with the high temperatures have come "clouds of carnivorous mosquitos" (70), which the Marquis tries to keep away by burning cow dung in his bedroom. 

In the morning, the Marquis goes to Abrenuncio's. He tells the doctor of his actions immediately and feels a sense of relief of his sorrows. Abrenuncio doesn't understand what the Marquis means when he says he took Sierva to Santa Clara. The Marquis clarifies that Sierva "is to be exorcised" (72). Abrenuncio asks the Marquis to tell him everything, and the Marquis does, in an act of confession in which he didn't "hold back a secret for his own enjoyment" (72). The Marquis finishes his story by saying that he felt his action was "a commandment from God" (72). Abrenuncio asks him if this means he's recovered his faith. The Marquis replies that no one ever stops fully believing. Abrenuncio understands this sentiment but cannot understand the Marquis' decision to subject Sierva María to exorcism. He tells the Marquis that a Catholic exorcism is worse than the "witchcraft of the blacks" (72). When the Marquis tells Abrenuncio that Father Delaura attended his meeting with the Bishop, Abrenuncio declares that Father Delaura is "an executioner" (72). Abrenuncio then details some "autos-da-fé" (72), or burning of heretics, that took the lives of various mental patients he'd encountered. He concludes that killing Sierva would have "been more Christian than burying her alive" (72). The Marquis crosses himself. Abrenuncio advises the Marquis to take Sierva out of the convent immediately. The Marquis confesses that he doesn't feel strong enough to oppose God's will, but Abrenuncio tells him that he had better start. That night, the Marquis writes a letter requesting a meeting with the Bishop.

On the following Monday, the Bishop receives news from the Santa Clara convent that Sierva María is ready for exorcism. He sits on his terrace, savoring his midday meal, while Father Delaura reads aloud to him in a dramatic fashion. Besides the nuns who tend to the Bishop, Father Delaura is the only person with access to the Bishop's palace. The Bishop uses only his bedroom, reception room, and terrace, while the rest of the house lays shuttered in disrepair except for the library, which Father Delaura maintains, spending as many as fourteen hours a day there and occasionally sleeping there, too, on a military cot. The Bishop enjoys Father Delaura's company as his personal reader. On this Monday, though, Father Delaura falters in his reading several times.

The Bishop asks Father Delaura what he's thinking about. The man replies that it's just the heat, but the Bishop doesn't accept the explanation. He presses Father Delaura again to say what he's thinking. Father Delaura confesses he's thinking about "the girl" (74). Without further explanation, the Bishop understands that Father Delaura means Sierva María. The two men have spoken of her frequently since the Marquis' visit and even "reviewed histories of possession" (74) together. Father Delaura says that he dreamed about Sierva. The Bishop asks how he knew it was Sierva, since he's never met the girl. Father Delaura remarks that the girl in his dreams was a twelve-year-old "American-born marquise" with hair "like a queen's mantle" (75). Though the Bishop doesn't believe in visions or miracles, he nods in acknowledgement and asks to hear Father Delaura's dream. Delaura says that he dreamed Sierva María was sitting at a window overlooking a snowy field, eating grapes one by one from a cluster she held in her lap. The grapes grew back as soon as she plucked them. In the dream, Delaura knew that Sierva had spent years there, eating slowly as she knew she would die as soon as she ate the last grape. Delaura says the strangest part of the dream was that the window overlooked Salamanca, one winter when snow fell over the fields and killed the lambs. Delaura's dream moves the Bishop emotionally, though he doesn't express this verbally. Instead, he closes his eyes for his three-minute afternoon siesta. 

Father Delaura eats dinner.Rousing from his siesta, the Bishop tells Delaura that he should take charge of Sierva's case. He says this without opening his eyes, so Delaura isn't sure if the Bishop is talking in his sleep. Delaura finishes his meal leisurely and retires to his armchair on the terrace. The Bishop tells Delaura that he never responded and repeats that he entrusts Sierva's health to Father Delaura. Delaura replies that this is the "strangest thing" (76) to ever happen to him. The Bishop asks whether this means he's refusing. Delaura says he's not an exorcist and God has put him on a different path, one that led to a librarianship at the Vatican Library, aided by the Bishop himself. The Bishop insists that taking on Sierva's case could be "the impetus" (76) they need to get Delaura the job. Father Delaura reflects on his "awkwardness with women" (76), which is so severe that even the thought of interacting with a young girl like Sierva gives him the chills. He tells the Bishop that he doesn't feel qualified for the job. The Bishop counters that he's not only qualified but has "inspiration" (76) that anyone else with the job would be lacking. The Bishop gives Delaura until "after the penance of Holy Week, which began that day" (77). 

Father Delaura reflects on the beginning of his relationship with the Bishop, when Delaura was a student of the highest honor at the University of Salamanca, where the Bishop had been "the celebrated chair of theology" (77). The two men talk for the first time during the winter Father Delaura mentions in his dream about Sierva. Delaura's erudition and literacy strike the Bishop, as does Delaura's insistence that he is the descendent of Renaissance poet Garcilaso de la Vega, whom the Bishop believes is pagan, having only mentioned God twice in his work. Delaura assures the Bishop that Garcilaso mentioned God more than twice, but that mentioning God infrequently was common among poets at the time, "even among good Catholics" (77). 

On the day Delaura takes his first vows, the Bishop asks if the young man will join him in "the uncertain kingdom of the Yucatán" (78), to which the Bishop has just been appointed. The snow and bitter cold of Spain makes it hard for Delaura to imagine the heat and swamps of Mexico, his mother's home country. The Bishop, though, fought in Spain's wars in Africa, and thus has an easier time imagining Yucatán. Delaura tells the Bishop he's heard that some clerics go "mad with joy in the Indies" (78). The Bishop agrees, and furthermore adds that the Indies is "a kingdom menaced" (78) by sodomy, idol worship, and even cannibalism, "like the land of the Moors" (78). 

The Bishop believes that the Spanish colonies in the West need clerics like Father Delaura to impose "the gifts of Christian civilization" (78) on their peoples. Father Delaura, however, believes his own fate has "already been decided" (78) by God. He's supposed to become a chief librarian. He's already applied for a library position in Toledo and he tells the Bishop as much. The Bishop replies that it will be easier to "become a saint as a librarian in Yucatán than as a martyr in Toledo" (78). Delaura replies that he'd "rather be an angel than a saint" (78). He declines the librarianship in Toledo, however, and joins the Bishop on his sea voyage to Yucatán. They never reach their destination, though, and are shipwrecked after seventy awful days at sea. Their rescue party drops them off in Santa María la Antigua. Seeing, hearing, and smelling the jungle ashore, Father Delaura finally understands what his mother lamented for every winter in Salamanca. The men wait a year for word about their transfer to Yucatán. When no word comes, and the current bishop dies, Cáceres is named interim bishop of Santa María la Antigua. After twelve years as interim bishop, Cáceres gives up on his dream of Yucatán, and resigns himself to staying alive long enough to secure Father Delaura a clerical position in Rome.

The day after his conversation with the Bishop about taking over Sierva María's care, Father Delaura heads to the Santa Clara convent. He wears a wool habit and carries with him "a flask of holy water and…sacramental oils" (79) to wage war on the demon inside Sierva. The Abbess greets him in the locutory, struck by his youthfulness, martyr-worthy pallor, and shock of white hair. Still though, the Abbess cannot forget that Delaura is "the soldier" (80) of the much-hated Bishop. Father Delaura on his part only notices the cacophony of rooster crows. The Abbess tells him that only six roosters make such a racket. She also says that since Sierva's arrival, a pig has spoken and "a goat gave birth to triplets" (80). Walking through the lush gardens, the Abbess blames Sierva for the plants' unusual flowers, growth rates, and scents. Made anxious, Delaura reminds the Abbess that they haven't yet determined whether Sierva is possessed, only "that there are reasons to suspect it" (80). The Abbess says the unusual occurrences are proof of the possession. Father Delaura counters that sometimes people credit demons for mysterious things to which they don't know to credit God. Unmoved, the Abbess quotes Saint Thomas, saying that one can never believe a demon's word, even when it's telling the truth.

Moving through the silent cloisters, the novices notice Delaura and the Abbess, but continue on with their tasks. In the prison pavilion, Delaura and the Abbess pass Martina Laborde's cell. Laborde is a former nun who murdered two companions with a carving knife. She gave no motive. Imprisoned for eleven years, Martina has become better known for her attempts at escape than for her crime. Her only goal is "to be free even if she had to kill again" (81). Curiosity piqued, Father Delaura peers into Martina's cell. She stands with her back to the cell door, but sensing Delaura's eyes on her, she turns to face him. Delaura feels "the power of her charm" (81). The Abbess moves him away from his view, warning him that Martina is a threat even while contained in a cell. If the Abbess had her way, she would have released the woman long ago. 

They reach Sierva María's cell and an odor of decay assaults them. Sierva María lays on her back on the concrete bedframe, with no mattress, her wrists and ankles bound with leather straps. She appears dead, but on closer look, Delaura sees "the light of the sea" (81) in her eyes. Realizing Sierva is indeed the girl from his dream, Delaura breaks out in "icy perspiration" (81). He says a prayer under his breath and pulls himself together. Looking at the state of the room, Delaura remarks that if she's not currently possessed by a demon, living in this environment might make it so. The Abbess places the blame on Sierva, who, despite the convent's efforts to keep her cell clean, has made her own "dung heap" (82). 

Delaura enters the room, treading carefully to avoid the filth on the floor. He begins flinging holy water onto the walls, saying words of ritual. The water leaves red stains on the white walls, terrifying the Abbess, who thinks the demon inside Sierva has turned the water to blood. Delaura offers that it could more likely be "a miracle" (82) of God, the only entity with the power to make such a transformation. The water turns green when it dries, however, refuting both theories. Delaura asks for the warder and Abbess to leave him alone with Sierva. The Abbess obliges, noting sarcastically that by now she knows the Father and the Bishop are "the masters of God" (83).

Father Delaura inspects Sierva María's body "with the thoroughness of a physician" (83). His sweat dries as he notes the bruises and scratches on her body, the chafing around her ankles and wrists, and the inflammation of her ankle wound. As he examines Sierva, Delaura tells her that she's been brought to the convent not as a martyr, but because they believe she's been possessed by a demon. He needs her help to find out the truth. Sierva does not respond at all. Delaura continues his treatment by applying balms to her skin, finally leaving after Sierva continues her reticent silence. 

Back in the windowless library at the Bishop's palace, Father Delaura devotes five straight days and nights to poring over books on demon possession. The books come from a section forbidden by the Church and permitted to Father Delaura alone. At the end of the five days, he emerges from the library feeling as if he has "the wings of the Holy Spirit" (84). Entering Sierva's cell, once again greeted by the odor of excrement and uneaten food, Delaura sits beside Sierva and tries to feed her some of the black beans given to her for lunch. She turns her head from them. Delaura tries them for himself and discovers they're awful.

He begins to treat her ankle and notices her tear up in pain for the first time. Mistaking this for surrender, he undoes her leather straps, allowing her to move her hands and feet freely for the first time. Sierva looks at Delaura for the first time, then launches herself onto him in an attack. The warder subdues the girl and binds her again. Before he leaves, Father Delaura places a sandalwood crucifix around Sierva's neck, over her Santería beads. Delaura's scratches and bites from Sierva alarm the Bishop, but Delaura regards them as "battle trophies" (85), laughing at "the danger of contracting rabies" (85). The Bishop's doctor, however, regards the wounds with seriousness, fearing that the coming solar eclipse brings with it "grave disasters" (85).

Martina Laborde, on the other hand, has an easier time with Sierva. Coming to the girl's cell one night, Martina smiles at Sierva, who eventually smiles back. In Martina, Sierva feels the presence of Dominga de Adviento. Martina introduces herself to Sierva, detailing her crime, though she claimed innocence. She then asks Sierva why she's imprisoned and the girl replies, "I have a devil inside" (86). Martina assumes that Sierva is lying, or has been lied to, although Martina is "one of the few white women to whom Sierva María had told the truth" (86). In a friendly gesture, Martina shows Sierva her embroidery work. Sierva asks to be freed from her straps to try it for herself. Martina shows Sierva the pair of scissors she carries in her gown's pocket, and says she'll free Sierva, but if Sierva tries to hurt her, Martina has the means to kill her. Sierva agrees and picks up the embroidery with the same facility with which she learned to play theorbo from the Marquis. Before Martina leaves, she promises Sierva she'll get permission for them to watch the solar eclipse on Monday.

Friday morning, the swallows leave the city, making a circle in the sky then raining down a storm of excrement. The stench stays in the air until the next day. People claim they’ve never seen swallows "shit in mid-flight" (86), nor had the stench of that excrement interfere with "ordinary life" (86). At the convent, Sierva María takes the blame for the incident. 

Sunday, Father Delaura arrives at the convent with a basket of fresh pastries. He brings them into Sierva's cell and offers her half of his cruller. She turns her head again, but this time to point out the warder's watchful eye. Delaura shoos him from the door and offers Sierva the pastry again. She tries a bite, but spits it out, saying that it tastes like "swallow shit" (87). Her mood, however, does improve. She allows Father Delaura to put ointment on her bedsores and asks him earnestly what happened to his bandaged hand. He replies that he was bit by a dog with a tail "more than a meter long" (87). Sierva asks to see the wound and he obliges. Touching it, she laughs for the first time, saying she's "worse than the plague" (87). Father Delaura responds with a quote from the poet Garcilaso, telling Sierva that it's best she does this to those that can endure it. 

As he leaves, Father Delaura feels as though something "immense and irreparable" (87) has begun. The warder, as the Abbess' mouthpiece, reminds Delaura that he can't bring in outside food, for fear that it's been poisoned, as it had during the convent's siege. Delaura says he brought the food with the Bishop's permission and files a formal complaint about the prisoners' food "in a convent famous for its fine cuisine" (88). After dinner with the Bishop, Delaura also joins him in evening prayers, closing his eyes to better picture Sierva María. His obsession continues into the night, keeping him awake, inspiring him to recite Garcilaso's love sonnets. When he finally at dawn, the morning prayers stir him from his drowsing at his desk, he imagines Sierva María standing before him. She removes the old carnation from the vase on his desk and replaces it with fragrant gardenias. Delaura quotes Garcilaso to her again, confessing his devotion to her. Sierva smiles without looking at him. Delaura closes his eyes to be sure she's not a hallucination. When he opens them, she's gone, but the scent of gardenias fills the room.