The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, Alain René le Sage [most read books .txt] 📗
- Author: Alain René le Sage
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the damage was made good. All the arrangements were in the first
style of elegance, and our lodgings were correspondent to the
magnificence of the establishment in other respects.
The day after, my mistress discovered new charms in Elvira’s
conversation. They dined in a large hall, where there were
several pictures. One among the rest was distinguished for its
admirable execution, but the subject was highly tragic. A
principal figure was a man of superior mien, lying lifeless on
his back, and bathed in his own blood; yet in the very embraces
of death he wore a menacing aspect. At a little distance from him
you might see a young lady in a different posture, though
stretched likewise on the ground. She had a sword plunged in her
bosom, and was giving up her last sighs, at the same time casting
her dying glances at a young man who seemed to suffer a mortal
pang at losing her. The painter had besides charged his picture
with a figure which did not escape my notice. It was an old man
of a venerable physiognomy, sensibly touched with the objects
which struck his sight, and equally alive with the young man to
the impressions of the melancholy scene. It might be said that
these images of blood and desolation affected both the spectators
with the same astonishment and grief, but that the outward
demonstrations of their in ward sentiments were different. The
old man, sunk in a profound melancholy, looked as if he was bowed
down to the ground; while the youth mingled some thing like the
extravagance of despair with the tears of affliction. All these
circumstances were depicted with touches so characteristic and
affecting, that we could not take our eyes off the performance.
My mistress desired to know the subject of the piece. Madam, said
Elvira, it is a faithful delineation of the misfortunes sustained
by my family. This answer excited Aurora’s curiosity; and she
testified so strong a desire to learn the particulars, that the
widow of Don Pedro could do no otherwise than promise her the
satisfaction she desired. This promise, made before Ortiz, her
two fellow-servants, and myself, rooted us to the spot on which
we were listening to their former conversation. My mistress would
have sent us away; but Elvira, who saw plainly that we were dying
with eagerness to be present at the explanation of the picture,
had the goodness to desire us to stay, alleging at the same time
that the story she had to relate was not of a nature to enjoin
secrecy. After a moment’s recollection, she began her recital to
the following effect: —
CH. IV. — The Fatal Marriage; a Novel.
ROGER, king of Sicily, had a brother and a sister. His brother,
by name Mainfroi, rebelled against him, and kindled a war in the
kingdom, bloody in its immediate effects, and portentous in its
future consequences. But it was his fate to lose two battles, and
to fall into the king’s hands. The punishment of his revolt
extended no further than the loss of liberty. This act of
clemency served only to make Roger pass for a barbarian in the
estimation of the disaffected party among his subjects. They
contended that he had saved his brother’s life only to wreak his
vengeance on him by tortures the more merciless because
protracted. People in general, on better grounds, transferred the
blame of Mainfroi’s harsh treatment while in prison to his sister
Matilda. That princess had, in fact, cherished a long-rooted
hatred against this prince, and was indefatigable in her
persecutions during his whole life. She died in a very short time
after him, and her premature fate was considered as the
retribution of a just providence for her disregard of those
sentiments implanted by nature for the best purposes.
Mainfroi left behind him two sons. They were yet in their
childhood. Roger had a kind of lurking desire to get rid of them,
under the apprehension lest, when arrived at a more advanced age,
the wish of avenging their father might hurry them to the revival
of a faction which was not so entirely overthrown as to be
incapable of originating new intrigues in the state. He
communicated his purpose to the senator Leontio Siffredi, his
minister, who diverted him from his bloody thoughts by
undertaking the education of Prince Enriquez, the eldest, and
recommending the care of the younger, by name Don Pedro, to the
constable of Sicily, as a trusty counsellor and loyal servant.
Roger, assured that his nephews would be trained up by these two
men in principles of due submission to the royal authority, gave
up the reins of guardianship to their control, and himself took
charge of his niece Constance. She was of the same age with
Enriquez, and only daughter of the princess Matilda. He allowed
her an establishment of female attendants, and of masters in
every branch of the politer studies, so that nothing was wanting
either to her instruction or her state.
Leontio Siffredi had a castle at the distance of less than two
leagues from Palermo, in a spot named Belmonte. There it was that
this minister exerted all his talents and diligence, to render
Enriquez worthy of one day ascending the throne of Sicily. From
the first, he discovered dispositions so amiable in that prince,
that his attachment became as strong as if he had no child of his
own. He had, however, two daughters — Blanche, the first-born,
one year younger than the prince, was armed at all points with
the weapons of a most perfect beauty. Her sister Portia was still
in her cradle. The mother had died in child-bed of this youngest.
Blanche and Prince Enriquez conceived a reciprocal affection as
soon as they were alive to the influence of love: but they were
not allowed to improve their acquaintance into familiar
intercourse. The prince nevertheless found the means of
occasionally eluding the prudential vigilance of his guardian. He
knew sufficiently well how to avail himself of those precious
moments, and prevailed so far with Siffredi’s daughter, as to
gain her consent to the execution of a project which he
meditated. It happened precisely at this time that Leontio was
obliged by the king’s order to take a journey into one of the
most remote provinces in the island. During his absence Enriquez
got an opening made in the wall of his apartment, which led into
Blanche’s chamber. This opening was concealed by a sliding
shutter, so exactly corresponding with the wainscot, and so
closely fitting in with the ceiling and the floor, that the most
suspicious eye could not have detected the contrivance. A skilful
workman, whom the prince had gained over to his interests, helped
him to this private communication with equal speed and secrecy.
The enamoured Enriquez having obtained this inlet into his
mistress’s chamber, sometimes availed himself of his privilege;
but he never took advantage of her partiality. Imprudent as it
may well be thought, to admit of a secret entrance into her
apartment, it was only on the express and reiterated assurance
that none but the most innocent favours should be requested at
her hands. One night he found her in a state of unusual
perturbation. She had been informed that Roger was drawing near
his end, and had sent for Siffredi as lord high chancellor of the
kingdom, and the legal depository of his last will and testament.
Already did she figure to herself her dear Enriquez elevated to
royal honours. She was afraid of losing her lover in her
sovereign, and that fear had strangely affected her spirits. The
tears were standing in her eyes, when the unconscious cause of
them appeared before her. You weep, madam, said he, what am I to
think of this overwhelming grief? My lord, answered Blanche, it
were vain for me to hide my apprehensions. The king your uncle is
at the point of death, and you will soon be called to supply his
place. When I measure the distance placed between us by your
approaching greatness, I will own to you that my mind misgives
me. The monarch and the lover estimate objects through a far
different medium. What constituted the fondest wish of the
individual, while his aspiring thoughts were checked by the
control of a superior, fades into insignificance before the
tumultuous cares or brilliant destinies of royalty. Be it the
misgiving of an anxious heart, or the whisper of a well-founded
opinion, I feel distracting emotions succeed one another in my
breast, which not all my just confidence in your goodness can
allay. The source of my mistrust is not in the suspected
steadiness of your attachment, but in a diffidence of my own
happy fate. Lovely and beloved Blanche, replied the prince, your
fears but bind me the more firmly in your fetters, and warrant my
devotion to your charms. Yet this excessive indulgence of a fond
jealousy borders on disloyalty to love, and, if I may venture to
say so, trenches on the esteem to which my constancy has hitherto
entitled me. No, no, never entertain a doubt that my destiny can
ever be sundered from yours, but rather indulge the pleasing
anticipation, that you, and you alone, will be the arbitress of
my fate, and the source of all my bliss. Away, then, with these
vain alarms. Why must they disturb an intercourse so charming?
Ah! my lord, rejoined the daughter of Leontio, your subjects,
when they place the crown upon your head, may ask of you a
princess-queen, descended from a long line of kings, whose
glittering alliance shall join new realms to your hereditary
estates. Perhaps, alas! you will meet their ambitious aims, even
at the expense of your softest vows. Nay, why, resumed Enriquez,
with rising passion, why too ready a self-tormentor, do you raise
so afflicting a phantom of futurity? Should heaven take the king
my uncle to itself, and place Sicily under my dominion, I swear
to unite myself with you at Palermo, in presence of my whole
court. To this I call to witness all which is held sacred and
inviolable among men.
The protestations of Enriquez removed the fears of Siffredi’s
daughter. The rest of their discourse turned on the king’s
illness. Enriquez displayed the goodness of his natural
disposition, for he pitied his uncle’s lot, though he had no
reason to be greatly affected by it; but the force of blood
extorted from him sentiments of regret for a prince whose death
held out an immediate prospect of the crown. Blanche did not yet
know all the misfortunes which hung over her. The constable of
Sicily, who had met her coming out of her father’s apartment, one
day when he was at the castle of Belmonte on some business of
importance, was struck with admiration. The very next day, he
made proposals to Siffredi, who entertained his offer favourably;
but the illness of Roger taking place unexpectedly about that
time, the marriage was put off for the present, and the subject
had not been hinted at in the most distant manner to Blanche.
One morning, as Enriquez had just finished dressing, he was
surprised to see Leontio enter his apartment, followed by
Blanche. Sir, said this minister, the news I have to announce
will in some degree afflict your excellent heart, but it is
counteracted by consoling circumstances which ought to moderate
your grief. The king your uncle has departed this life; and by
his death left you the heir of his sceptre. Sicily is at your
feet. The nobility of the kingdom wait your orders at Palermo.
They have commissioned me to receive them in person, and I come,
my liege, with my daughter to pay you the earliest and sincerest
homage of your new subjects. The
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