The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, Alain René le Sage [most read books .txt] 📗
- Author: Alain René le Sage
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his displeasure. But they were all amply avenged by an
occurrence, the relation of which may give a gentle hint to all
the clerks and secretaries on the list of my readers.
A man very plainly dressed, and certainly not looking at all like
what he was, came up to Calderona and spoke to him about a
memorial, stated to have been presented by himself to the Duke of
Lerma. Don Rodrigo, without looking from his clothes up to his
face, said in a sharp, ungracious tone — Who may you happen to
be, honest man? They called me Francillo in my childhood,
answered the stranger unabashed; my next style and title was that
of Don Francillo de Zuniga; and my present name is the Count de
Pedrosa. Calderona was all in a twitter at this discovery, and
attempted to stammer out an excuse, when he found that he had to
do with a man of the first quality. Sir, said he to the Count, I
have to beg you, ten thousand pardons; but not knowing whom I had
the honour to … . I want none of your apologies, interrupted
Francillo with proud indignation; they are as nauseous as your
rudeness was unbecoming. Recollect henceforth, that a minister’s
secretary ought to receive all descriptions of people with good
manners. You may be vain enough to affect the representative of
your master, but the public know you for his menial servant.
The haughty Don Rodrigo blushed blue at this rebuke. Yet it did
not mend his manners one whit. On me it made a salutary
impression. I determined to take care and ascertain the rank of
my petitioners, before I gave a loose to the insolence of office,
and to inflict torture only upon mutes. As Don Alphonso’s patent
was made out, I sent it by a purpose messenger, with a letter
from the Duke of Lerma, announcing the royal favour. But I took
no notice of my own share in the appointment, nor even
accompanied it with a line, in the fond hope of announcing it by
word of mouth, and surprising him agreeably, when he came to the
court on occasion of taking the customary oaths.
CH. III. — Preparations for the marriage of Gil Blas. A spoke
in the wheel of Hymen.
AND now once more for my lovely Gabriela! We were to be married
in a week. Preparations were making on both sides for the
ceremony. Salero ordered a rich wardrobe for the bride, and I
hired a waiting-woman for her, a footman, and a gentleman usher
of decent aspect and advanced years. The whole establishment was
provided by Scipio, who longed more longingly than myself for the
hour when we were to be fingering the fortune.
On the evening before the happy day, I was supping with my
father-in-law, the rest of the company being made up of uncles,
aunts, and cousins of either sex and every degree. The part of a
supple-visaged son-in-law sat upon me to perfection. Nothing
could exceed my profound respect for the goldsmith and his wife,
or the transports of my passion at Gabriela’s feet, while I
smoothed my way into the graces of the family, by listening with
impregnable patience to their witless repartees and irrational
ratiocinations. Thus did I gain the great end of all my
forbearance, the pleasure of pleasing my new relations. Every
individual of the clan felt himself a foot taller for the honour
of my alliance.
The repast ended, the company moved into a large room, where we
were entertained with a concert of vocal and instrumental music,
not the worst that was ever heard, though the performers were not
selected from the choicest bands at Madrid. Some lively airs put
us in mind of dancing. Heaven knows what sort of performers we
must have been, when they took me for the Coryphaeus of the
opera, though I never had but two or three lessons from a petty
dancing-master, who taught the pages on the establishment of the
Marchioness de Chaves. After we had tired our tendons, it was
time to think of going home. There was no end of my bows and God-bless-you’s. Farewell, my dear son-in-law, said Salero as he
squeezed my hand, I shall be at your house in the morning with
the portion in ready money. You will be welcome, come when you
list, my dear father-in-law, answered I. Afterwards, wishing the
family good night, I jumped into my carriage, and ordered it to
drive home.
Scarcely had I got two hundred yards from Signor Gabriel’s house,
when fifteen or twenty men, some on foot and some on horseback,
all with swords and fire-arms, surrounded and stopped the coach,
crying out, In the name of our sovereign lord the king. They
dragged me out by main force, and thrust me into a hack-chaise,
when the leader of the party got in with me, and ordered the
driver to go for Segovia. There could be no doubt but the honest
gentle man by my side was an alguazil. I wanted to know something
about the cause of my arrest, but he answered in the language of
those gentry, which is very bad language, that he had other
things to do than to satisfy my impertinent curiosity. I
suggested that he might have mistaken his man. No, no, retorted
he, the fool is wiser than that. You are Signor de Santillane;
and in that case you are to go along with me. Not being able to
deny that fact, it became an act of prudence to hold my tongue.
For the remainder of the night we traversed Mancanarez in sulky
silence, changed horses at Colmenar, and arrived the next evening
at Segovia, where the lodging provided for me was in the tower.
CH. IV. — The treatment of Gil Blas in the tower of Segovia. The
cause of his imprisonment.
THEIR first favour was to clap me up in a cell, where they left
me on the straw like a criminal, whose only earthly portion was
to con over his dying speech in solitude. I passed the night, not
in bewailing my fate, for it had not yet presented itself in all
its aggravation, but in endeavouring to divine its cause.
Doubtless it must have been Calderona’s handiwork. And yet though
his branching honours might have pressed thick upon his senses, I
could not conceive how the Duke of Lerma could have been induced
to treat me so inhumanly. Sometimes I apprehended my arrest to
have been without his excellency’s knowledge; at other times I
thought him the contriver of it, for some political reasons, such
as weigh with ministers when they sacrifice their accomplices at
the shrine of state policy.
My mind was vibrating to and fro with these various conjectures,
when the dawn peeping in at my little grated window, presented to
my sight all the horror of the place where I was confined. Then
did I vent my sorrows without ceasing, and my eyes became two
springs of tears, flowing inexhaustibly at the remembrance of my
prosperous state. Pending this paroxysm of grief, a turnkey
brought me my day’s allowance of bread and water. He looked at
me, and on the contemplation of my tear-besprinkled visage,
gaoler as he was, there came over him a sentiment of pity: Do not
despair, said he. This life is full of crosses, but mind them
not. You are young; after these days, you will live to see
better. In the meantime, eat at the king’s mess, with what
appetite you may.
My comforter withdrew with this quaint invitation, answered by my
groans and tears. The rest of the day was spent in cursing my
wayward destiny, without thinking of my empty stomach. As for the
royal morsel, it seemed more like the message of wrath than the
boon of benevolence; the tantalizing protraction of pain, rather
than the solace of affliction.
Night came, and with it the rattle of a key in my keyhole. My
dungeon door opened, and in came a man with a wax-light in his
hand. He advanced towards me, saying — Signor Gil Blas, behold
in me one of your old friends. I am Don Andrew de Tordesillas, in
the Archbishop of Grenada’s service while you enjoyed that
prelate’s favour. You may recollect engaging his interest in my
behalf, and thereby procuring me a post in Mexico; but instead of
embarking for the Indies, I stopped in the town of Alicant. There
I married the governor’s daughter, and by a series of adventures
of which you shall hereafter have the particulars, I am now
warden of this tower. It is expressly forbidden me to let you
speak to any living soul, to give you any better bed than straw,
or any other sustenance than bread and water. But besides that
your misfortunes interest my humanity, you have done me service,
and gratitude countervails the harshness of my orders. They think
to make me the instrument of their cruelty, but it is my better
purpose to soften the rigour of your captivity. Get up and follow
me.
Though my humane keeper was entitled to some acknowledgment, my
spirits were so affected as to interdict my speech. All I could
do was to attend him. We crossed a court, and mounted a narrow
staircase to a little room at the top of the tower. It was no
small surprise, on entering, to find a table with lights on it,
neatly set out with covers for two. They will serve up
immediately, said Tordesillas. We are going to sup together. This
snug retreat is appointed for your lodging; it will agree better
with you than your cell. From your window you will look down on
the flowery banks of the Er�ma, and the delicious vale of Coca,
bounded by the mountains which divide the two Castiles. At first
you will care little for prospects; but when time shall have
softened your keener sensations into a composed melancholy, it
will be a pleasure to feast your eyes on such engaging scenes.
Then, as for linen and other necessaries befitting a man
accustomed to the comforts of life, they shall be always at your
service. Your bed and board shall be such as you could wish, with
a plentiful supply of books. In a word, you shall have everything
but your liberty.
My spirits were a little tranquillized by these obliging offers.
I took courage and returned my best thanks, assuring him that his
generous conduct restored me to life, and that I hoped at some
time or other to find an opportunity of testifying my gratitude.
To be sure! and why should you not? answered he. Did you fancy
yourself a prisoner for life? Nothing less likely! and I would
lay a wager that you will be released in a very few months. What
say you, Signor Don Andrew? exclaimed I. Then surely you are
acquainted with the occasion of my misfortune. You guess right,
replied he. The alguazil who brought you hither told me the whole
story in confidence. The king, hearing that the Count de Lemos
and you were in the habit of escorting the Prince of Spain by
night to a house of suspicious character, as a punishment for
your loose morals, has banished the count, and sent you hither,
to be treated in the style of which you have had a specimen. And
how, said I, did that circumstance come to the king’s knowledge?
That is what I am most curious to ascertain. And that, answered
he, is precisely what the alguazil did not tell, apparently
because he did not know.
At this epoch of our conversation, the servants brought in
supper. When everything was set in order, Tordesillas sent away
the attendants,
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