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

had a very pretty knack at picking out a viceroy.

 

CH. XIII. — Gil Blas meets Don Gaston de Cogollos and Don Andrew

de Tordesillas at the drawing-room, and adjourns with them to a

more convenient place. The story of Don Gaston and Donna Helena

de Galisteo concluded. Santillane renders some service to

Tordesillas.

 

I WAS up to the hilts in joy at having so marvellously

metamorphosed an ex-governor into a viceroy; the Lords of Leyva

themselves were not primed and loaded so near to bursting. But

very soon I had another opportunity of employing my credit in the

beaten track of friendship; and there is the more occasion to

quote these instances, that my readers may clearly discern with

how different a man they are in company, from that graceless Gil

Blas who, under the former ministry, carried on a shameless

traffic in the honours and emoluments of the state.

 

One day I was waiting in the king’s antechamber, in conversation

with some noblemen, who, knowing me to stand well with the prime

minister, were not ashamed of taking me by the hand. In the crowd

was Don Gaston de Cogollos, whom I had left a prisoner in the

tower of Segovia. He was with Don Andrew de Tordesillas, the

warden. I readily quitted my company to go and renew my

acquaintance with my two friends. If they were astonished at the

sight of me, I was no less so to find them here. After mutual

greetings, Don Gaston said: Signor de Santillane, we have many

inquiries to make of each other, and this place affords little

opportunity for private intercourse; allow me to request your

company where we may open our hearts freely. I made no objection;

we pushed our way through the crowd, and left the palace. Don

Gaston’s carriage was ready waiting in the street; we all three

got into it, and drove to the great market-place, where the bull-fights are exhibited. There Cogollos lived in a very handsome

house.

 

Signor Gil Blas, said Don Andrew on our entrance, at your

departure from Segovia you seemed to have conceived a thorough

hatred against the court, and to have formed a settled purpose of

abandoning it for ever. Such was, in fact, my design, answered I;

nor were my sentiments at all changed during the lifetime of the

late king; but when the prince his son came to the throne, I had

a mind to see whether the new monarch would know me again. He did

so, and received me favourably, with a strong recommendation to

the prime minister, who admitted me to his friendship, and took

me more into his confidence than ever did the Duke of Lerma.

This, Signor Don Andrew, is my story. And now tell me whether you

still hold your office in the tower of Segovia. No, indeed!

answered he; my lord duke has removed me, and put another in my

room. He probably considered me as entirely devoted to his

predecessor. And I, said Don Gaston, was set at liberty for the

contrary reason; the prime minister was no sooner informed that

my imprisonment was by the Duke of Lerma’s order, than he ordered

me to be released. The present business, Signor Gil Blas, is to

relate the subsequent particulars of my adventures.

 

The first thing I did, continued he, after thanking Don Andrew

for his kind attentions during my confinement, was to repair to

Madrid. I presented myself before the Count Duke of Olivarez, who

said: You need not be apprehensive of any blemish on your

character in consequence of your late misfortune; you are

honourably acquitted: nay, your innocence is so much the more

satisfactorily established, as the Marquis of Villareal, with

whom you were supposed to be implicated, was not guilty. Though a

Portuguese, and related to the Duke of Braganza, he is less in

his interests than in those of the king my master. That

connection, therefore, ought not to have been imputed to you as a

crime; but, to repair your wrongs, the king has given you a

lieutenant’s commission in the Spanish guards. This I accepted,

begging it as a favour of his excellency to allow me, before I

joined my regiment, to go and see my aunt, Donna Eleonora de

Laxarilla, at Coria. The minister gave me leave of absence for a

month, and I departed with only one servant

 

We had got beyond Colmenar, and were threading a narrow pass

between two mountains, when we came within sight of a gentleman

defending himself bravely against three men, who all fell upon

him together. I did not hesitate about going to his aid; but

hastened forward and planted myself by his side. I remarked while

we were fighting, that our enemies were masked, and that we had

to do with expert swordsmen. But we triumphed over the united

advantages of their skill and disparity. I ran one of the three

through the body; he fell from his horse, and the two others

immediately betook themselves to flight. The victory indeed was

scarcely less fatal to us than to the wretch whom I had killed,

for we were both dangerously wounded. But conceive my surprise,

when I discovered the gentleman to be Combados, the husband of

Donna Helena. He was no less astonished at recognizing me as his

defender. Ah, Don Gaston! exclaimed he, was it you, then, who

came to my assistance? When you took my part so generously, you

little thought it was the person who had snatched your mistress

from you. I really did not know it, answered I; but though I had,

do you think I could have wavered about doing as I have done? Can

you entertain so ill an opinion of me, as to believe my soul so

sordid? No, no, replied he; I think better of you; and should I

die of my wounds, it will be my prayer that yours may not disable

you from profiting by my death. Combados, said I, though I have

not yet forgotten Donna Helena, know that I do not pant after the

possession of her charms at the expense of your life; so far from

it, that I congratulate myself on having contributed to your

rescue from assassination, since by so doing I have performed an

acceptable service to your wife

 

While we were communing together, my servant dismounted; and

drawing near to the gentleman stretched at his length, took off

his mask, when Combados, with sensations of gratitude for his

deliverance, distinctly traced the features. It is Caprara,

exclaimed he; that treacherous cousin who, in mere disgust at

having missed a rich inheritance which he had unjustly disputed

with me, has long since cherished a murderous design against my

life, and fixed on this day to put it in execution; but heaven

has turned him over to its determined vengeance, and made him the

victim of his own attempt.

 

While this conversation was going on, our blood was flowing at

the same rate, and we were becoming more exhausted every minute.

Nevertheless, disabled as we were, we had strength enough to

reach the town of Villar�jo, which lies within gun-shot or two

from the field of battle. At the very first house of call we sent

for surgeons. The most expert came at our summons. He examined

our wounds, and reported them as dangerous. After taking off the

bandages and dressing them a second time, he pronounced those of

Don Blas to be mortal. Of mine he thought more favourably, and

the event corresponded with his prognostic.

 

Combados, finding himself consigned to the grave, thought only of

due preparation for a most serious event. He sent an express to

his wife, with an account for what had happened, particularizing

his present sad condition. Donna Helena soon arrived at

Villar�jo. Her mind was drawn different ways by two opposite

occasions of distress; the hazard of her husband’s life, and the

fear of feeling the revival of a half-extinguished flame at the

sight of me. This sight occasioned her to experience a terrible

agitation. Madam, said Don Blas, when she appeared in his

presence, you are come just in time to receive my farewell. I am

at the point of death, and I consider my fate as a punishment

from heaven for having taken you from Don Gaston by a feint: far

from murmuring at it, I exhort you with my last breath to restore

to him a heart which I had stolen from him. Donna Helena answered

him only by her tears: and indeed it was the best answer she

could make; for she had neither forgotten her first love, nor the

artifices whereby she had been influenced to renounce her

plighted faith.

 

It happened as the surgeon had anticipated, that in less than

three days Combados died of his wounds, while mine on the

contrary wore the appearance of convalescence. The young widow,

whom no earthly considerations could detach from the care of

transporting her late husband’s remains to Coria, that they might

be deposited with due honours in the family vault, left Villar�jo

on her return, after inquiring, merely as a matter of course, how

I was going on. As soon as I was well enough to be removed, I

bent my course to Coria, where my recovery was soon ascertained.

My aunt, Donna Eleonora, and Don George de Galisteo, were

determined that my marriage with Helena should take place

forthwith, lest some new caprice of fortune should part us once

more. The ceremony was privately performed, on account of the

late melancholy event, and within a few days I returned to Madrid

with Donna Helena. As my leave of absence had expired, I was

afraid lest the minister should have superseded me in my

lieutenancy; but he had not filled up the vacancy, and received

my apologies very graciously.

 

Thus am I, continued Cogollos, lieutenant of the Spanish guards,

and my situation is exactly to my mind. The circle of my friends

is respectable and pleasant, and I live at my ease among them.

Would I could say as much! exclaimed Don Andrew: but I am very

far from being satisfied with my lot; I have lost my appointment,

which was not without its advantages, and have no friends of

sufficient interest to procure me a better berth. Excuse me,

Signor Don Andrew, cried I, with a sort of upbraiding smile, you

have a friend in me who may chance to be better than no friend at

all. I have told you already that I am a greater favourite with

my lord duke than with the Duke of Lerma; and will you tell me to

my face that you have no interest at court? Have you not already

experienced the contrary? Recollect that, through the archbishop

of Grenada’s powerful recommendation, I procured you a nomination

for Mexico, where you would have made your fortune, if love had

not stepped in and marred it at Alicant. My means are now more

extensive, since I have the ear of the prime minister. I give

myself up to you then, replied Tordesillas; but do not send me

into New Spain, though the first appointment in the colonies were

at your disposal.

 

Here we were interrupted by Donna Helena, who came into the room,

and improved even upon the visions of my fancy by the reality of

her charms. Cogollos introduced me as the companion who had

solaced the tedious hours of his imprisonment. Yes, madam, said I

to Donna Helena, my conversation did indeed soothe his sorrows,

for it turned on you. The compliment was not thrown away, and I

took my leave with repeated congratulations. With respect to

Tordesillas, I assured him that within a week he should know how

far my power as well as will extended.

 

Nor were these mere words. On the very