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

the tranquillity of the castle by

my absence; and that duty I performed the next morning before

daybreak, without taking any leave of my two masters, for fear

they should oppose my departure from a misplaced partiality

towards me. My only notice was to leave behind in my chamber a

memorial, containing an exact account of my receipts and

disbursements during the time of my stewardship.

 

CH. II. — What happened to Gil Blas after his retreat from the

castle of Leyva; shewing that those who are crossed in love are

not always the most miserable of mankind.

 

I WAS mounted on a good horse, my own property, and was the

bearer of two hundred pistoles, the greater part of which arose

from the plunder of the vanquished banditti, and the forfeiture

of Samuel Simon by the Inquisition; for Don Alphonso, without

requiring me to account for any part of the said forfeiture, had

made restitution of the entire sum out of his own funds. Thus,

considering my effects, however obtained, as converted into

lawful property by a sort of vicarious sponsorship, I took them

into my good graces without any remorse of conscience. An estate

like this rendered it absurd to throw away any thought about the

future; and a certain likelihood of doing well, which always

hangs about a young man at my age, held out an additional

security against the caprices of fortune. Besides, Toledo offered

me a retreat exactly to my mind. There could not be a doubt but

the Count de Polan would take a pleasure in giving a kind

reception to one of his deliverers, and would insist on his

accepting an apartment in his own house. But I only looked upon

this nobleman as a very distant resource; and determined, before

laying any tax on his grateful recollection, to spend part of my

ready cash in travelling over the provinces of Murcia and

Grenada, which I had a very particular inclination to see. With

this intention I took the Almanza road, and afterwards, following

the route chalked out, travelled from town to town as far as the

city of Grenada, without stumbling on any sinister occurrence. It

should seem as if fortune, wearied out with the school-girl’s

tricks she had been playing me, was contented at last to leave me

as she found me. But she still had her skittish designs upon me,

as will be seen in the sequel.

 

One of the first persons I met in the streets of Grenada was

Signor Don Ferdinand de Leyva, son-in-law, as well as Don

Alphonso, of the Count de Polan. We were both of us equally

surprised at meeting so far from home. How is this, Gil Blas?

exclaimed he; to find you in this city! What the devil brings you

hither? Sir, said I, if you are astonished at seeing me in this

country, you will be ten times more so when you shall know why I

have quitted the service of Signor Don Caesar and his son. Then I

recounted to him all that had passed between Sephora and myself,

without garbling the facts in any particular. He laughed heartily

at the recital; then, recovering his gravity, My friend, said he,

my mediation is at your service in this affair. I will write to

my sister-in-law … . No, no, sir, interrupted I, do not write

upon the subject, I beseech you. I did not quit the castle of

Leyva to go back again. You may, if you please, make another use

of the kindness you have expressed for me. If any of your friends

should be looking out for a secretary or a steward, I should be

much obliged to you to speak a good word in my favour. I will

take upon me to assure you that you will never be reproached with

recommending an improper object. You have only to command me,

answered he: I will do whatever you desire. My business at

Grenada is to visit an old aunt in an ill state of health. I

shall be here three weeks longer, after which I shall set out on

my return to my castle of Lorqui, where I have left Julia. That

is my lodging, added he, shewing me a house about a hundred yards

from us. Call upon me in a few days; probably I may by that time

have hit upon some eligible appointment.

 

And, in fact, so it was; for the very first time that we came

together again, he said to me: My Lord Archbishop of Grenada, my

relation and friend, is in want of a young man with some little

tinge of literature, who can write a good hand and make fair

copies of his manuscripts; for he is a great author. He has

composed I know not how many homilies, and still goes on

composing more every day, which he delivers to the high

edification of his audience. As you seem to be just the thing for

him, I have mentioned your name, and he has promised to take you.

Go, and make your bow to him as from me; you will judge, by his

reception of you, whether my recommendation has been couched in

handsome terms.

 

The situation was, to all appearance, exactly what I should have

picked out for myself. That being the case, with such an

arrangement of my air and person as seemed most likely to square

with the ideas of a reverend prelate, I presented myself one

morning before the archbishop. If this were a gorgeous romance,

and not a grave history, here might we introduce a pompous

description of the episcopal palace, with architectural

digressions on the structure of the building: here would be the

place to expatiate on the costliness of the furniture like an

upholsterer, to criticise the statues and pictures like a

connoisseur; and the pictures themselves would be nothing to the

uninformed reader, without the stories they represent, till

universal history, fabulous and authentic, sacred and profane,

should be pressed into the service. But I shall content myself

with modestly stating, that the royal palace itself is scarcely

superior in magnificence.

 

Throughout the suite of apartments, there was a complete mob of

ecclesiastics and other officers, consisting of chaplains,

ushers, upper and menial servants. Those of them who were laymen

were most superbly attired; one would sooner have taken them for

temporal nobility than for spiritual understrappers. They were as

proud as the devil; and gave themselves intolerably consequential

airs. I could not help laughing in my sleeve, when I considered

who and what they were, and how they behaved. Set a beggar on

horseback! said I. These gentry are in luck to carry a pack

without feeling the drag of it; for surely if they knew they were

beasts of burden, they would not jingle their bells with so high

a toss of the head. I ventured just to speak to a grave and

portly personage who stood sentinel at the door of the

archbishop’s closet, to turn it upon its hinges as occasion might

require. I asked him civilly if there was no possibility of

speaking with my lord archbishop. Stop a little, said he, with a

supercilious demeanour and repulsive tone: his grace will shortly

come forth, to go and hear mass: you may snatch an audience for a

moment as he passes on. I answered not a single syllable.

Patience was all I had for it; and it even seemed advisable to

try and enter into conversation with some of the jacks in office:

but they began conning me over from the sole of my foot to the

crown of my head, without condescending to favour me with a

single interjection; after which they winked at one another,

whispered, and looked out at the corners of their eyes, in

derision of the liberty I had assumed, by intruding upon their

select society.

 

I felt more fool that I did so, quite out of countenance at such

cavalier treatment from a knot of state footmen. My confusion was

but beginning to subside, when the closet door opened. The

archbishop made his appearance. A profound silence immediately

ensued among his officers, who quitted at once their insolent

behaviour, to adopt a more respectful style before their master.

That prelate was in his sixty-ninth year, formed nearly on the

model of my uncle, Gil Perez the canon, which is as much as to

say, as broad as he was long. But the highest dignitaries should

always be the most amply gifted; accordingly his legs bowed

inwards to the very extremity of the graceful curve, and his bald

head retained but a single lock behind: so that he was obliged to

ensconce his pericranium in a fine woollen cap with long ears. In

spite of all this, I espied the man of quality in his deportment,

doubtless, because I knew that he actually happened to be one. We

common fellows, the fungous growth of the human dunghill, look up

to great lords with a facility of being overawed, which often

furnishes them with a Benjamin’s mess of importance, when nature

has denied even the most scanty and trivial gifts.

 

The archbishop moved towards me in a minuet step, and kindly

inquired what I wanted. I told him I was the young man about whom

Signor Don Ferdinand de Leyva had spoken to him. He did not give

me a moment to go on with my story. Ah! is it you, exclaimed he,

is it you of whom so fine a character has been given me? I take

you into my service at once; you are a mine of literary utility

to me. You have only to take up your abode here. Talking thus

condescendingly, he supported himself between two ushers, and

moved onwards after having given audience to some of his clergy,

who had ecclesiastical business to communicate. He was scarcely

out of the room, when the same officers who had turned upon their

heel, were now cap in hand to court my conversation. Here the

rascals are, pressing round me, currying favour, and expressing

their sincere joy at seeing me become as it were an heir loom of

the archbishopric. They had heard what their master had said, and

were dying with anxiety to know on what footing I was to be about

him; but I had the ill nature not to satisfy their curiosity, in

revenge for their contempt.

 

My lord archbishop was not long before he returned. He took me

with him into his closet for a little private conference. I could

not but suppose that he meant to fathom the depth of my

understanding. I was accordingly on my guard, and prepared to

measure out my words most methodically. He questioned me first in

the classics. My answers were not amiss; he was convinced that I

had more than a schoolboy’s acquaintance with the Greek and Latin

writers. He examined me next in logic; nor could I but suppose

that he would examine me in logic. He found me strong enough

there. Your education, said he, with some degree of surprise, has

not been neglected. Now let us see your handwriting. I took a

blank piece of paper out of my pocket, which I had brought for

the purpose. My ghostly father was not displeased with my

performance. I am very well satisfied with the mechanical part of

your qualifications, exclaimed he, and still more so with the

powers of your mind. I shall thank my nephew, Don Ferdinand, most

heartily, for having sent me so fine a lad; it is absolutely a

gift from above.

 

We were interrupted by some of the neighbouring gentry, who were

come to dine with the archbishop. I left them together, and

withdrew to the second table, where the whole household, with one

consent, insisted on giving me the upper hand. Dinner