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

boots, which I parted with to the landlord for a third of

their cost. At last I sallied out of the ready-furnished lodging,

unencumbered, heaven be praised, with baggage or attendance. The

first thing I did was to go and see if my mules were still at the

inn where we alighted the evening before. It was not to be

supposed that Ambrose would have neglected a due attention to

them; and it would have been well for me if I had always taken

such exact measure of his character. I learned that he had not

waited for the morning, but had been careful to fetch them by

over-night. Under the circumstances, satisfied I should never see

them again, any more than my portmanteau, I walked sulkily along

the streets, musing on the future plans I should adopt. I was

tempted to go back to Burgos, and once more have recourse to

Donna Mencia; but, regarding this as an abuse of that lady’s

goodness, and being aware, moreover, what a fool I should look

like, I thought it best to forego that idea. I made a vow too for

the future to be on my guard against women. I could have sent the

chaste Susanna to the house of correction. From time to time my

ring caught my eye, it was a present from Camilla! and I was

ready to burst with anguish. Alas! thought I, I am no judge of

jewellery, but I shall be, by experience of these hucksters who

exchange without a robbery. I need not go to a jeweller to be

told I am an ass! I can see my own face in my ruby.

 

Yet I did not neglect to know the truth respecting the value of

my ring, and showed it to a lapidary, who rated it at three

ducats. At such an estimate, though as much as I expected, I made

a formal surrender to the devil, of the Philippine isles, the

governor and his niece; or rather, I only restored his own

subjects to their lawful sovereign. As I was going out of the

lapidary’s shop a young fellow brushed by me, and on looking

round, made a full stop. I could not recollect his name at first,

though his features were perfectly familiar to me. How now, Gil

Blas, said he, are you ashamed of an old acquaintance? or have

two years so altered the son of Nunez the barber, that you do not

know him? Do not you recollect Fabricio, your townsman and

schoolfellow? How often have we kept, before Doctor Godinez, upon

universals and metaphysics!

 

These words did not flow so fast as my recollection, and we

embraced with mutual good will. Well, my friend, resumed he, I am

overjoyed to meet with you. Words fall short — But how is this?

Why, you look like — as heaven is my judge, you are dressed

like a grandee! A gentleman’s sword, silk stockings, a velvet

doublet and cloak, embroidered with silver! Plague take it! this

is getting on in the world with a vengeance. I will lay a wager

you are in with some old monied harridan. You reckon without your

host, said I, my affairs are not so prosperous as you imagine.

That will not do for me, replied he, I know better things; but

you have a mind to be close. And that fine ruby on your finger,

master Gil Blas, whence comes that, if I may be so bold? It

comes, quoth I, from an infernal jade. Fabricio, my dear

Fabricio, far from being point, quint, and quatorze with the

ladies of Valladolid, you are to know, my friend, that I am their

complete bubble.

 

I uttered these last words so ruefully, that Fabricio saw plainly

that some trick had been played upon me. He was anxious to learn

why I was out of humour with the lovely sex. I had no difficulty

in satisfying his curiosity; but as the story was a long one, and

besides we had no mind to part in a hurry, we went into a coffee-house to be a little more at ease. There I recounted to him,

during breakfast, all that had happened to me since my departure

from Oviedo. My adventures he thought whimsical enough; and

testifying his sympathy in my present uneasy circumstances, added

— We must make the best, my good lad, of all our misfortunes in

this life. Is a man of parts in distress? he waits patiently for

better luck. Such an one, as Cicero truly observes, never suffers

himself to be humbled so low, as to forget that he is a man. For

my own part, that is just my character; in or out of favour there

is no sinking me; I always float on the surface of ill-luck. For

example, I was in love with a girl of some family at Oviedo, and

was beloved by her in return. I asked her of her father in

marriage, he refused. Many a young fellow would have died of

grief; but no! mark my spirit, I carried off the little baggage.

She was lively, heedless, and coquettish: pleasure consequently

was always uppermost to the prejudice of duty. I took her with me

for six months backwards and forwards about Galicia; thence,

adopting my taste for travelling, she had a mind to go to

Portugal, but in other company — more food for despair. Yet I

did not give in under the weight of this new affliction; but,

improving on Menelaus, thought myself much obliged to the Paris

who had whispered in the ear of my Helen, for ridding me of a bad

bargain; I therefore determined to keep the peace. After that,

not finding it convenient to return to the Asturias and balance

accounts with justice, I went forward into the kingdom of Leon,

spending between one town and another all the loose cash

remaining from the rape of my Indian princess; for we had both of

us birdlimed our fingers at our departure from Oviedo. I got to

Palencia with a solitary ducat, out of which I was obliged to buy

a pair of shoes. The remainder would not go far. My situation

became rather perplexing. I began already to be reduced to short

allowance; something must be done. I resolved to go out to

service. My first place was with a woollen-draper in a large way,

whose son was a lad of wit and fashion; here was a complete

antidote to fasting, but then there was a little awkwardness. The

father ordered me to dog the son, the son begged my assistance in

imposing on the father; it was necessary to take one side or

other. Entreaties sound more musical than commands, and my taste

for music got me turned out of doors. The next service I entered

into was with an old painter, who undertook, as a matter of

favour, to teach me the principles of his art; but he was so busy

in feeding me with knowledge, that he forgot to give me any meat.

This neglect of substance for shadow disgusted me with my abode

at Palencia. I came to Valladolid, where, by the greatest good

luck in the world, I was hired by a governor of the hospital; I

am with him still, and delighted with my quarters. My master,

Signor Manuel Ordonnez, is a man of profound piety. He always

walks with his eyes cast downwards, and a large rosary in his

hand. They say that from his early youth, having been a close

inspector of the poor, he has interested himself in their affairs

with unwearied zeal. Charity draws down a blessing on the

charitable, everything has prospered with him. What a favourite

of heaven! The more he does for the poor, the richer he grows.

 

As Fabricio was going on in this manner, I interrupted him. It is

well you are satisfied with your lot; but, between ourselves,

surely you might play your part better in the world. Do not you

believe it, Gil Blas, replied he; be assured that for a man of my

temper a more agreeable situation could not possibly have been

devised. The trade of a lacquey is toilsome, to be sure, for a

poor creature; but for a lad of spirit it is all enchantment. A

superior genius, when he gets a service, does not go about it

like a lumpish simpleton. He enters into a family as viceroy over

the master, not as an inferior minister. He begins by measuring

the length of his employer’s foot; by lending himself to his

weaknesses, he gains his confidence, and ends with leading him by

the nose. Such has been my plan of operation at the governor’s. I

knew the pilgrim at once by his staff; his wish was for an

earthly canonization. I pretended to believe him to be the saint

he wished to be taken for, hypocrisy costs nothing. Nay, I went

further, for I took pattern by him; and playing the same part

before him which he played before others, I out-cozened the

cozener, and by degrees got to be major-domo. I am in hopes some

day or other, under his wing, to have the fingering of the poor-box. It may bring a blessing upon me as well as another; for I

have caught the flame from him, and already feel deeply for the

interests of charity.

 

These are fine hopes, my dear Fabricio, replied I; and I

congratulate you upon them. For my part, I am determined on my

first plan. I shall straightway convert my embroidered suit into

a cassock, repair to Salamanca, and there, enlisting under the

banner of the university, fulfil the sacred duties of a tutor. A

fine scheme! exclaimed Fabricio, a pleasant conceit! What

madness, at your age, to turn pedant! Are you aware, you stupid

fellow, what you take upon yourself by that choice? As soon as

you are settled, all the house will be upon the watch, your most

trivial actions will be minutely sifted. You will lead a life of

incessant constraint; you must set yourself off with a

counterfeit outside, and affect to entertain a double set of the

cardinal virtues in your bosom. You will not have a moment to

bestow on pleasure. The everlasting censor of your pupil, your

days will pass in teaching grammar and administering saintly

reprehension, when he shall say or do anything against decorum.

After so much labour and confinement, what will be your reward?

If the little gentleman is a pickle, they will lay all the blame

on your bad management; and you will be kicked out of the family,

it may be without your stipend. Do not tell me then of a tutor’s

employment; it is worse than a cure of souls. But talk as much as

you will about a lacquey’s occupation, that is a sinecure, and

pledges you to nothing. Suppose one’s master not to be

immaculate? A servant of superior genius will flatter his vices,

and not unfrequently turn them to account. A footman lives at his

ease in a good family. After having ate and drank his fill, he

goes to bed peaceably, without troubling himself who pays the

bills.

 

I should never have done, my dear fellow, pursued he, were I to

enumerate all the advantages of service. Trust me, Gil Blas,

discard for ever your foolish wish of being a tutor, and follow

my example. So be it: but, Fabricio, replied I, governors like

yours are not to be met with every day; and if resolved to go to

service, I should like at least to get a good situation. Oh! you

are in the right, said he, and that shall be my concern. I will

get you a comfortable place, if it were only to snatch a fine

fellow from the jaws of the university.

 

The near approach