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She said it without thinking, but that was the time that the government had announced its threat to shoot Colonel Gerineldo Márquez if the rebel forces did not surrender Riohacha. The visits stopped. Amaranta shut herself up to weep, overwhelmed by a feeling of guilt similar to the one that had tormented her when Remedios died, as if once more her careless words had been responsible for a death. Her mother consoled her. She inured her that Colonel Aureliano Buendía would do something to prevent the execution and promised that she would take charge of attracting Gerineldo Márquez herself when the war was over. She fulfilled her promise before the imagined time. When Gerineldo Márquez returned to the house, invested with his new dignity of civil and military leader, she received him as a son, thought of delightful bits of flattery to hold him there, and prayed with all her soul that he would remember his plan to marry Amaranta. Her pleas seemed to be answered. On the days that he would have lunch at the house, Colonel Gerineldo Márquez would linger on the begonia porch playing Chinese checkers with Amaranta. úrsula would bring them coffee and milk and biscuits and would take over the children so that they would not bother them. Amaranta was really making an effort to kindle in her heart the forgotten ashes of her youthful passion. With an anxiety that came to be intolerable, she waited for the lunch days, the afternoons of Chinese checkers, and time flew by in the company of the warrior with a nostalgic name whose fingers trembled imperceptibly as he moved the pieces. But the day on which Colonel Gerineldo Márquez repeated his wish to marry her, she rejected him.
"I'm not going to marry anyone," she told him, "much less you. You love Aureliano so much that you want to marry me because you can't marry him."
Colonel Gerineldo Márquez was a patient man. "I'll keep on insisting," he said. "Sooner or later I'll convince you." He kept on visiting the house. Shut up in her bedroom biting back her secret tears, Amaranta put her fingers in her ears so as not to bear the voice of the suitor as he gave úrsula the latest war news, and in spite of the fact that she was dying to see him she had the strength not to go out and meet him. At that time Colonel Aureliano Buendía took the time to send a detailed account to Macondo every two weeks. But only once, almost eight months after he had left, did he write to úrsula. A special messenger brought a sealed envelope to the house with a sheet of paper inside bearing the colonel's delicate hand: Take good care of Papa because he is going to die. úrsula became alarmed. "If Aureliano says so it's because Aureliano knows," she said. And she had them help her take José Arcadio Buendía to his bedroom. Not only was he as heavy as ever, but during his prolonged stay under the chestnut tree he had developed the faculty of being able to increase his weight at will, to such a degree that seven men were unable to lift him and they had to drag him to the bed. A smell of tender mushrooms, of wood-flower fungus, of old and concentrated outdoors impregnated the air of the bedroom as it was breathed by the colossal old man weather-beaten by the sun and the rain. The next morning he was not in his bed. In spite of his undiminished strength, José Arcadio Buendía was in no condition to resist. It was all the same to him. If he went back to the chestnut tree it was not because he wanted to but because of a habit of his body. úrsula took care of him, fed him, brought him news of Aureliano. But actually, the only person with whom he was able to have contact for a long time was Prudencio Aguilar. Almost pulverized at that time by the decrepitude of death, Prudencio Aguilar would come twice a day to chat with him.
她说到枪毙，连她自己都不相信真会发生这样的事，可是政府恰在这时公开声称，如果叛军下交出列奥阿察，他们就要处决格林列尔多·马克斯上校。不准探监了。阿玛兰塔躲在卧室里流泪，感到内疚，就象雷麦黛丝死的时候那样，仿佛她那不吉祥的话再一次招来了死神，母亲安慰她，肯定地说，奥雷连诺上校一定会想法阻止行刑；她还答应：战争一旦结束，她自己会把格林列尔多招来。乌苏娜早于所说的期限履行了自己的诺言。格林列尔多·马克斯担任军政长官以后，重新来到她们家中时，乌苏娜欢迎他就象欢迎亲生儿子似的，不住地奉承他，竭力把他留在家里，衷心地祈求上帝，希望格林列尔多想起自己跟阿玛兰塔结婚的打算。乌苏娜的祈求似乎得到了回答。格林列尔多·马克斯上校到布恩蒂亚家里吃饭的日子里，他总留在秋海棠长廊上跟阿玛兰塔下跳棋。乌苏娜给他俩送上咖啡和饼干，亲自注意不让孩子打扰他俩的幽会。阿玛兰塔真的竭力让自己青春的热情死灰复燃。现在，她怀着越来越难受的焦急心情，等待格林列尔多·马克斯上校在食桌边出现，等待傍晚跟他下棋。跟这个军人在一块儿，时间是过得飞快的；这人有一个富于诗意的名字*，他的指头移动棋子稍微有点儿颤抖。但是，格林列尔多·马克斯重新向阿玛兰塔求婚的那一天，她又拒绝了他。格林列尔多，西班牙民间诗歌中的人物，国王的女儿爱上的一个少年侍卫。
“我不嫁给任何人，”阿玛兰塔说，“尤其是你。你那样爱奥雷连诺，你想跟我结婚，只是因为你不能跟他结婚。”
格林列尔多·马克斯是个有耐心的人。“我可以等，”他说。“我迟早能够说服你。”于是，他继续到这个家里来作客。阿玛兰塔把自己关在卧室里，忍住暗中的呻吟，拿手指塞住耳朵，免得听到求婚者告诉乌苏娜最新战况的声音，尽管她想见他想得要死，但她还是竭力忍住不出去见他。这时，奥雷连诺上校还有足够的空闲时间，每两周都向马孔多发来详细情报，但他只有一次写信给乌苏娜，大约在他离开马孔多八个月之后。一位专派的信差送来一封盖了火漆大印的信，里面有一小张纸，纸上是上校规整的笔迹：“当心爸爸——他快要死啦，”乌苏娜惊慌起来：“既然奥雷连诺那么说，可见他知道。”于是，她请人帮她把霍·阿·布恩蒂亚搬进卧室。他不仅象从前那样重，而且长年累月朱在栗树下面，练成了随意增加体重的本领，以致七个男人都无法把他从板凳上抬起，只好将他拖到床上去。这个身躯高大、日晒雨淋的老头儿一住进卧室，室内的空气就充满了开花的栗树和菌类植物的浓烈气味和年深月久的潮气。第二天早晨，他的床铺就空了。乌苏娜找遍了所有的房间，发现丈夫又在栗树下面了。于是，他们把他捆在床上。尽管霍。 阿·布恩蒂亚力气未衰，但他没有反抗，他对一切都是无所谓的。他回到栗树下去，并不是他有意这么千，而是因为他的身体习惯于那个地方。乌苏娜照顾他，给他吃的，把奥雷连诺的消息告诉他。但是，实际上，他长期接触的只有一个人——普鲁登希奥·阿吉廖尔。普鲁登希奥·阿吉廖尔死后已经衰朽不堪，每天都来两次跟他聊天。
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