Gil Blas, Alain-René Lesage [best romance ebooks .txt] 📗

glory and personal affection, laid hold of this opportunity for expressing her gratitude. The prince had much ado to keep his feelings within bounds. He received the compliment of the princess with so constrained an air, and evinced so unusual a disorder in his behavior, as scarcely to reply in a manner suited to the common forms of good-breeding. At last, no longer master of his violent passions, he went up to Siffredi, whom the formalities of his office detained near the royal person, and said to him in a low tone of voice, ‘What is the meaning of all this, Leontio? The signature which I deposited in your daughter’s hands was not meant for such a use as this. You are guilty of⁠ ⁠…’

“ ‘My liege,’ interrupted Siffredi again with a tone of firmness, ‘look to your own glory. If you refuse to comply with the injunctions of the king your uncle, you lose the crown of Sicily.’ No sooner had he thrown in this salutary hint, than he got away from the king, to prevent all possibility of a reply. Enriquez was left in a most embarrassing situation. A thousand opposite emotions agitated him at once. He was exasperated against Siffredi. To give up Blanche, was more than he could endure: so that, balancing his private feelings and the calls of public honor, he was doubtful to which side he should incline. At length his doubts were resolved, under the idea of having found the means to secure Siffredi’s daughter, without giving up his claim to the throne. He affected, therefore, an entire submission to the will of Roger, in the hope, while a dispensation from his marriage with his cousin was soliciting at Rome, of gaining the leading nobility by his largesses, and thus establishing his power so firmly, as not to be under the necessity of fulfilling the conditions of the obnoxious instrument.

“After forming this design, he got to be more composed; and turning towards Constance, confirmed to her what the lord high chancellor had read in presence of the whole assembly. But at the very moment when he had so far betrayed himself as to pledge his faith, Blanche arrived in the hall of council. She came thither, by her father’s command, to pay her duty to the princess; and her ears, on entering, were startled at the expressions of Enriquez. In addition to this shock, Leontio determined, not to leave her in doubt of her misfortune, accompanied her presentation to Constance with these words: ‘Daughter, make your homage acceptable to your queen; call down upon her the blessings of a prosperous reign and a happy marriage.’

“This terrible blow overwhelmed the unfortunate Blanche. Vain were all her attempts to suppress her anguish; her countenance changed successively from the deepest blush to a deadly paleness, and she trembled from head to foot. And yet the princess had no suspicion how the matter really stood; but attributed the confused style of her compliment to the awkwardness of a young person brought up in a state of rustication, and totally unacquainted with the manners of a court. But the young king was more in the secret. The sight of Blanche put him out of countenance; and the despair, too legible in her eyes, was enough to drive him out of his senses. Her feelings were not to be misunderstood; and they pointed at him as the most faithless of men. Could he have spoken to her, it might have tranquilized his agitation: but how to lay hold of the happy moment, when all Sicily, at least the illustrious part of it, was fixed in anxious expectation on his proceedings? Besides, the stern and inflexible Siffredi extinguished at once every ray of hope. This minister, who was at no loss to decipher the hearts of the two lovers, and was firmly resolved, if possible, to prevent the evil consequences impending over the state from the violence of this imprudent attachment, got his daughter out of the assembly with the dexterity of a practised courtier, and regained the road to Belmonte with her in his possession, determined, for more reasons than one, to marry her as soon as possible.

“When they reached home, he gave her to understand all the horror of her destiny, by announcing his promise to the constable. ‘Just Heaven!’ exclaimed she, transported into a paroxysm of despair, which her father’s presence could not restrain; ‘what unparalleled suffering have you the cruelty to lay up in store for the ill-fated Blanche?’

“Her agony went to such a degree of violence, as to suspend every power of her soul. Her limbs seemed as if stiffened under the icy grasp of death. Cold and pale, she fell senseless into her father’s arms. Neither was he insensible to her melancholy condition. Yet, feeling as he did all the alarm and anxiety of a parent, the stern inflexibility of the statesman remained unshaken. Blanche, after a time, was recalled to life and feeling, rather by the keenness of her mental pangs than by the means which Siffredi used for her recovery. Languishingly did she raise her scarcely conscious eyes: when, glancing on the author of her misery, as he was anxiously employed about her person: ‘My lord,’ said she, with inarticulate and convulsive accents, ‘I am ashamed to let you see my weakness: but death, which cannot be long in finishing my torments, will soon rid you of a wretched daughter, who has ventured to dispose of her heart without consulting you.’

“ ‘No, my dear Blanche,’ answered Leontio, ‘your death would be too dear a sacrifice: Virtue will resume her empire over your actions. The constable’s proposals do you honor; it is one of the most considerable alliances in the state.⁠ ⁠…’

“ ‘I esteem his person and am sensible of his merit,’ interrupted Blanche; ‘but, my lord, the king had given me encouragement to indulge.⁠ ⁠…’

“ ‘Daughter,’ vociferated Siffredi, breaking in upon her discourse, ‘I anticipate all you have to say on that subject. Your partiality for the prince is