The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, Alain René le Sage [most read books .txt] 📗

doubtless, some state

affairs to discuss in council. Oh! no, no, answered my master,

you had better stop; you will not interrupt us. This warm old

gentleman has the moderation to lend me money at twenty per cent.

What! at twenty per cent! exclaimed Centell�s in a tone of

astonishment. In good truth! I wish you joy on being in such

hands. I do not come off so cheaply, for my part: I pay through

the nose for every farthing I get. My loans are generally raised

at double that per cent. There is usury! said the father of the

usurious tribe; unconscionable dogs! Where do they expect to go

when they die? I do not wonder there is so strong a prejudice

against money-lenders. It is the exorbitant profit which some of

them derive from their discounts, that brings reproach and ill-will upon us all. If all my brethren of the blue balls were like

me, we should not be treated so scurvily; for my part, I only

lend to do my duty towards my neighbour. Ah! if times were as

good now as in my early days, my purse should be at your service

as a friend; and even now, in the present distress of the money-market, it goes against the grain to take a poor twenty per cent.

But one would think the money was all gone back to the mines

whence it came: there is no such thing to be had, and the

scarcity compels me to depart a little from the disinterested

severity of my benevolence. How much do you want? pursued he,

addressing my master. Two hundred pistoles, answered Don

Matthias. I have four hundred here in a bag, replied the usurer;

it is only to give you half of them. At the same time he drew

from underneath his cloak a blue bag, looking just like that in

which farmer Talego had left five hundred pistoles with

Rodriguez. I was not long in forming my judgment of the matter,

and saw plainly that Melendez had not bragged without reason of

the steward’s aptness in the ways of the world. The old man

emptied the bag, displayed the cash on a table, and set about

counting it. The sight set all my master’s extravagant passions

in a flame; the sum total proved very striking to his

comprehension. Signor Descomulgado, said he to the usurer, I have

just made a very sensible reflection: I am a great fool. I only

borrow enough to redeem my credit, without thinking of my empty

pockets. I should be obliged to give you the trouble of coming

again to-morrow. I think, therefore, it will be best to spare

your age and infirmities, and ease you of the four hundred at

once. My lord, answered the old man, I had destined half of this

money to a good licentiate, who lays out the income of his large

preferments in those pious and charitable uses for which they

were originally given to the clergy, as stewards of the poor, and

guides to the young and unwary. In pursuance of this end, it is

his great delight to wean young girls from the seductions of a

wicked world, and place them in a snug well-furnished little box

of his own, where they may be obnoxious to his ghostly

admonitions by day and by night. But, since you have occasion for

the whole sum, it is at your disposal. Some thing by way of

security … . Oh! as for security, interrupted Rodriguez,

taking a paper out of his pocket, you shall have as good as the

bank. Here is a note which Signor Don Matthias has only just to

sign. He makes over five hundred pistoles, due from one of his

tenants, Talego, a wealthy yeoman of Mondejar. That is enough,

replied the usurer, I never split hairs, but deal upon the

square. The steward insinuated a pen between his master’s

fingers, who signed his name at the bottom of the note, without

reading it; and whistled as he signed, for want of thought.

 

That business settled, the old man took his leave of my noble

employer, who shook him cordially by the hand, saying: Till I

have. the pleasure of seeing you again, good master pounds,

shillings, and pence, I am your most devoted humble servant. I do

not know why you should all be lumped together for a set of

bloodsuckers; you seem to me a necessary link in the chain of

well-ordered society. You are as good as a physician to us

pecuniary invalids of quality, and keep us alive by artificial

restoratives in the last stage of a consumptive purse. You are in

the right, exclaimed Centell�s. Usurers are a very gentlemanly

order in society, and I must not be denied the privilege of

paying my compliments to this illustrious specimen, for the sake

of his twenty per cent. With this banter, he came up and threw

his arms about the old man’s neck: and these two overgrown

children, for their amusement, began sending him backward. and

forward between them like a shuttlecock. After they had tossed

him about from pillar to post, they suffered him to depart with

the steward, who ought to have come in for his share of the game,

and for something a little more serious.

 

When Rodriguez and his stalking-horse had left the room, Don

Matthias sent, by the lacquey in waiting, half his pistoles to

the Countess de Pedrosa, and deposited the other half in a long

purse worked with gold and silk, which he usually wore in his

pocket. Very well pleased to find himself in cash, he said to Don

Antonio, with an air of gaiety: What shall we do with ourselves

to-day? Let us call a council. That is talking like a statesman,

answered Centell�s: I am your man: let us ponder gravely. While

they were collecting their deliberative wisdom on the course they

were to pursue for the day, two other noblemen came in; Don Alexo

Segiar and Don Ferdinand de Gamboa; both nearly about my master’s

age, that is, from eight and twenty to thirty. These four jolly

blades began with such hearty salutations, as if they had not met

for these ten years. After that, Don Ferdinand, a professed

bacchanalian, made his proposals to Don Matthias and Don Antonio:

Gentlemen, said he, where do you dine to-day? If you are not

engaged, I will take you to a tavern, where you shall quaff

celestial liquor. I supped there last night, and did not come

away till between five and six this morning. Would to heaven,

exclaimed my master, I had done the same! I should not have lost

my money.

 

For my part, said Centell�s, I treated myself yesterday evening

with a new amusement; for variety has always its charms for me.

Nothing but a change of pleasures can make the dull round of

human life supportable. One of my friends introduced me neck and

heels to one of those gentry ycleped tax-gatherers, who do the

government business and their own at the same time. There was no

want of magnificence, good taste, or a well-designed set out

table! but I found in the family itself an highly seasoned relish

of absurdity. The farmer of the revenues, though the most meanly

extracted of the whole party, must set up for a great man; and

his wife, though hideously ugly, was a goddess in her own

estimation, and made a thousand silly speeches, the zest of which

was heightened by a Biscayan accent. Add to this, that there were

four or five children with their tutor at table. Judge if it must

not have been an amusing family party.

 

As for me, gentlemen, said Don Alexo Segiar, I supped with

Arsenia the actress. We were six at table: Arsenia, Florimonde, a

coquette of her acquaintance, the Marquis de Zenette, Don Juan de

Moncade, and your humble servant. We passed the night in drinking

and talking bawdy. What a flow of soul! To be sure, Arsenia and

Florimonde are not strong in their upper works; but then they

have a facility in their vocation which is more than all the wit

in the world. They are the dearest madcaps, gay, romping, and

rampant: they are an hundred times better than your modest women

of sense and discretion.

 

CH. IV. — Gil Blas gets into company with his fellows; they shew

him a ready road to the reputation of wit, and impose on him a

singular oath.

 

THOSE noblemen pursued this strain of conversation, till Don

Matthias, about whose person I was fiddling all the while, was

ready to go out. He then told me to follow him; and this bevy of

fashionables set sail together for the tavern, whither Don

Ferdinand de Gamboa proposed to conduct them. I began my march in

the rear rank with three other valets; for each of the gentlemen

had his own. I remarked with astonishment that these three

servants copied their masters, and assumed the same follies. I

introduced myself as a new comer. They returned my salute in

form; and one of them, after having taken measure of me very

accurately, said — Brother, I perceive, by your gait, that you

have never yet lived with a young nobleman. Alas! no, answered I,

neither have I been long in Madrid. So it appears, replied he,

you smell strong of the country. You seem timid and embarrassed;

there is an hitch in your deportment. But no matter, we will soon

wear off all stiffness, take my word for it. Perhaps you think

better of me than I deserve, said I. No, resumed he, no; there is

no such cub as we cannot lick into shape; assure yourself of

that.

 

This specimen was enough to convince me that I had hearty fellows

for my comrades, and that I could not be in better hands to

initiate me into high life below-stairs. On our arrival at the

tavern, we found an entertainment ready which Signor Don

Ferdinand had been so provident as to order in the morning. Our

masters sat down to table, and we arranged ourselves behind their

chairs. The conversation was spirited and lively. My ears tingled

to hear them. Their humour, their way of thinking, their mode of

expression diverted me. What fire! what sallies of imagination!

They appeared like a new order of beings. With the dessert, we

set before them a great choice of the best wines in Spain, and

left the room, to go to dinner in a little parlour, where our

cloth was laid.

 

I was not long in discovering that the combatants in our lists

had more to recommend them than appeared at first sight. They

were not satisfied with aping the manners of their masters, but

even copied their phrases; and these varlets gave such a

facsimile, that bating a little vulgarity, they might have passed

themselves off very well. I admired their free and easy carriage;

still more was I charmed with their wit, but despaired of ever

coming up to them in my own person. Don Ferdinand’s servant, on

the score of his master treating ours, did the honours; and,

determined to do the thing genteelly, he called the landlord, and

said to him — Master tapster, give us ten bottles of your very

best wine; and, as you have an happy knack of doing, make the

gentlemen up stairs believe that they have drank them. With all

my heart, answered the landlord; but, Master Gaspard, you know

that Signor Don Ferdinand owes me for a good many dinners

already. If through your kind intervention I could get some

little matter on account … . Oh! interrupted the valet, do

not be at all uneasy about your debt: I will take it upon myself;

put it down to me. It is true that some unmannerly