The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane - Alain René le Sage (best fiction books of all time .txt) 📗

others, and made the whole circle run the gauntlet of

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,