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diff --git a/5915.txt b/5915.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e4dd27 --- /dev/null +++ b/5915.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3621 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Don Quixote, Vol. I., Part +13., by Miguel de Cervantes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Don Quixote, Vol. I., Part 13. + +Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra + +Release Date: July 18, 2004 [EBook #5915] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON QUIXOTE, PART 13 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + DON QUIXOTE + + by Miguel de Cervantes + + Translated by John Ormsby + + + Volume I. + + Part 13. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +IN WHICH IS RELATED THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY" + + +In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy in the province called +Tuscany, there lived two gentlemen of wealth and quality, Anselmo and +Lothario, such great friends that by way of distinction they were called +by all that knew them "The Two Friends." They were unmarried, young, of +the same age and of the same tastes, which was enough to account for the +reciprocal friendship between them. Anselmo, it is true, was somewhat +more inclined to seek pleasure in love than Lothario, for whom the +pleasures of the chase had more attraction; but on occasion Anselmo would +forego his own tastes to yield to those of Lothario, and Lothario would +surrender his to fall in with those of Anselmo, and in this way their +inclinations kept pace one with the other with a concord so perfect that +the best regulated clock could not surpass it. + +Anselmo was deep in love with a high-born and beautiful maiden of the +same city, the daughter of parents so estimable, and so estimable +herself, that he resolved, with the approval of his friend Lothario, +without whom he did nothing, to ask her of them in marriage, and did so, +Lothario being the bearer of the demand, and conducting the negotiation +so much to the satisfaction of his friend that in a short time he was in +possession of the object of his desires, and Camilla so happy in having +won Anselmo for her husband, that she gave thanks unceasingly to heaven +and to Lothario, by whose means such good fortune had fallen to her. The +first few days, those of a wedding being usually days of merry-making, +Lothario frequented his friend Anselmo's house as he had been wont, +striving to do honour to him and to the occasion, and to gratify him in +every way he could; but when the wedding days were over and the +succession of visits and congratulations had slackened, he began +purposely to leave off going to the house of Anselmo, for it seemed to +him, as it naturally would to all men of sense, that friends' houses +ought not to be visited after marriage with the same frequency as in +their masters' bachelor days: because, though true and genuine friendship +cannot and should not be in any way suspicious, still a married man's +honour is a thing of such delicacy that it is held liable to injury from +brothers, much more from friends. Anselmo remarked the cessation of +Lothario's visits, and complained of it to him, saying that if he had +known that marriage was to keep him from enjoying his society as he used, +he would have never married; and that, if by the thorough harmony that +subsisted between them while he was a bachelor they had earned such a +sweet name as that of "The Two Friends," he should not allow a title so +rare and so delightful to be lost through a needless anxiety to act +circumspectly; and so he entreated him, if such a phrase was allowable +between them, to be once more master of his house and to come in and go +out as formerly, assuring him that his wife Camilla had no other desire +or inclination than that which he would wish her to have, and that +knowing how sincerely they loved one another she was grieved to see such +coldness in him. + +To all this and much more that Anselmo said to Lothario to persuade him +to come to his house as he had been in the habit of doing, Lothario +replied with so much prudence, sense, and judgment, that Anselmo was +satisfied of his friend's good intentions, and it was agreed that on two +days in the week, and on holidays, Lothario should come to dine with him; +but though this arrangement was made between them Lothario resolved to +observe it no further than he considered to be in accordance with the +honour of his friend, whose good name was more to him than his own. He +said, and justly, that a married man upon whom heaven had bestowed a +beautiful wife should consider as carefully what friends he brought to +his house as what female friends his wife associated with, for what +cannot be done or arranged in the market-place, in church, at public +festivals or at stations (opportunities that husbands cannot always deny +their wives), may be easily managed in the house of the female friend or +relative in whom most confidence is reposed. Lothario said, too, that +every married man should have some friend who would point out to him any +negligence he might be guilty of in his conduct, for it will sometimes +happen that owing to the deep affection the husband bears his wife either +he does not caution her, or, not to vex her, refrains from telling her to +do or not to do certain things, doing or avoiding which may be a matter +of honour or reproach to him; and errors of this kind he could easily +correct if warned by a friend. But where is such a friend to be found as +Lothario would have, so judicious, so loyal, and so true? + +Of a truth I know not; Lothario alone was such a one, for with the utmost +care and vigilance he watched over the honour of his friend, and strove +to diminish, cut down, and reduce the number of days for going to his +house according to their agreement, lest the visits of a young man, +wealthy, high-born, and with the attractions he was conscious of +possessing, at the house of a woman so beautiful as Camilla, should be +regarded with suspicion by the inquisitive and malicious eyes of the idle +public. For though his integrity and reputation might bridle slanderous +tongues, still he was unwilling to hazard either his own good name or +that of his friend; and for this reason most of the days agreed upon he +devoted to some other business which he pretended was unavoidable; so +that a great portion of the day was taken up with complaints on one side +and excuses on the other. It happened, however, that on one occasion when +the two were strolling together outside the city, Anselmo addressed the +following words to Lothario. + +"Thou mayest suppose, Lothario my friend, that I am unable to give +sufficient thanks for the favours God has rendered me in making me the +son of such parents as mine were, and bestowing upon me with no niggard +hand what are called the gifts of nature as well as those of fortune, and +above all for what he has done in giving me thee for a friend and Camilla +for a wife--two treasures that I value, if not as highly as I ought, at +least as highly as I am able. And yet, with all these good things, which +are commonly all that men need to enable them to live happily, I am the +most discontented and dissatisfied man in the whole world; for, I know +not how long since, I have been harassed and oppressed by a desire so +strange and so unusual, that I wonder at myself and blame and chide +myself when I am alone, and strive to stifle it and hide it from my own +thoughts, and with no better success than if I were endeavouring +deliberately to publish it to all the world; and as, in short, it must +come out, I would confide it to thy safe keeping, feeling sure that by +this means, and by thy readiness as a true friend to afford me relief, I +shall soon find myself freed from the distress it causes me, and that thy +care will give me happiness in the same degree as my own folly has caused +me misery." + +The words of Anselmo struck Lothario with astonishment, unable as he was +to conjecture the purport of such a lengthy preamble; and though be +strove to imagine what desire it could be that so troubled his friend, +his conjectures were all far from the truth, and to relieve the anxiety +which this perplexity was causing him, he told him he was doing a +flagrant injustice to their great friendship in seeking circuitous +methods of confiding to him his most hidden thoughts, for he well knew he +might reckon upon his counsel in diverting them, or his help in carrying +them into effect. + +"That is the truth," replied Anselmo, "and relying upon that I will tell +thee, friend Lothario, that the desire which harasses me is that of +knowing whether my wife Camilla is as good and as perfect as I think her +to be; and I cannot satisfy myself of the truth on this point except by +testing her in such a way that the trial may prove the purity of her +virtue as the fire proves that of gold; because I am persuaded, my +friend, that a woman is virtuous only in proportion as she is or is not +tempted; and that she alone is strong who does not yield to the promises, +gifts, tears, and importunities of earnest lovers; for what thanks does a +woman deserve for being good if no one urges her to be bad, and what +wonder is it that she is reserved and circumspect to whom no opportunity +is given of going wrong and who knows she has a husband that will take +her life the first time he detects her in an impropriety? I do not +therefore hold her who is virtuous through fear or want of opportunity in +the same estimation as her who comes out of temptation and trial with a +crown of victory; and so, for these reasons and many others that I could +give thee to justify and support the opinion I hold, I am desirous that +my wife Camilla should pass this crisis, and be refined and tested by the +fire of finding herself wooed and by one worthy to set his affections +upon her; and if she comes out, as I know she will, victorious from this +struggle, I shall look upon my good fortune as unequalled, I shall be +able to say that the cup of my desire is full, and that the virtuous +woman of whom the sage says 'Who shall find her?' has fallen to my lot. +And if the result be the contrary of what I expect, in the satisfaction +of knowing that I have been right in my opinion, I shall bear without +complaint the pain which my so dearly bought experience will naturally +cause me. And, as nothing of all thou wilt urge in opposition to my wish +will avail to keep me from carrying it into effect, it is my desire, +friend Lothario, that thou shouldst consent to become the instrument for +effecting this purpose that I am bent upon, for I will afford thee +opportunities to that end, and nothing shall be wanting that I may think +necessary for the pursuit of a virtuous, honourable, modest and +high-minded woman. And among other reasons, I am induced to entrust this +arduous task to thee by the consideration that if Camilla be conquered by +thee the conquest will not be pushed to extremes, but only far enough to +account that accomplished which from a sense of honour will be left +undone; thus I shall not be wronged in anything more than intention, and +my wrong will remain buried in the integrity of thy silence, which I know +well will be as lasting as that of death in what concerns me. If, +therefore, thou wouldst have me enjoy what can be called life, thou wilt +at once engage in this love struggle, not lukewarmly nor slothfully, but +with the energy and zeal that my desire demands, and with the loyalty our +friendship assures me of." + +Such were the words Anselmo addressed to Lothario, who listened to them +with such attention that, except to say what has been already mentioned, +he did not open his lips until the other had finished. Then perceiving +that he had no more to say, after regarding him for awhile, as one would +regard something never before seen that excited wonder and amazement, he +said to him, "I cannot persuade myself, Anselmo my friend, that what thou +hast said to me is not in jest; if I thought that thou wert speaking +seriously I would not have allowed thee to go so far; so as to put a stop +to thy long harangue by not listening to thee I verily suspect that +either thou dost not know me, or I do not know thee; but no, I know well +thou art Anselmo, and thou knowest that I am Lothario; the misfortune is, +it seems to me, that thou art not the Anselmo thou wert, and must have +thought that I am not the Lothario I should be; for the things that thou +hast said to me are not those of that Anselmo who was my friend, nor are +those that thou demandest of me what should be asked of the Lothario thou +knowest. True friends will prove their friends and make use of them, as a +poet has said, usque ad aras; whereby he meant that they will not make +use of their friendship in things that are contrary to God's will. If +this, then, was a heathen's feeling about friendship, how much more +should it be a Christian's, who knows that the divine must not be +forfeited for the sake of any human friendship? And if a friend should go +so far as to put aside his duty to Heaven to fulfil his duty to his +friend, it should not be in matters that are trifling or of little +moment, but in such as affect the friend's life and honour. Now tell me, +Anselmo, in which of these two art thou imperilled, that I should hazard +myself to gratify thee, and do a thing so detestable as that thou seekest +of me? Neither forsooth; on the contrary, thou dost ask of me, so far as +I understand, to strive and labour to rob thee of honour and life, and to +rob myself of them at the same time; for if I take away thy honour it is +plain I take away thy life, as a man without honour is worse than dead; +and being the instrument, as thou wilt have it so, of so much wrong to +thee, shall not I, too, be left without honour, and consequently without +life? Listen to me, Anselmo my friend, and be not impatient to answer me +until I have said what occurs to me touching the object of thy desire, +for there will be time enough left for thee to reply and for me to hear." + +"Be it so," said Anselmo, "say what thou wilt." + +Lothario then went on to say, "It seems to me, Anselmo, that thine is +just now the temper of mind which is always that of the Moors, who can +never be brought to see the error of their creed by quotations from the +Holy Scriptures, or by reasons which depend upon the examination of the +understanding or are founded upon the articles of faith, but must have +examples that are palpable, easy, intelligible, capable of proof, not +admitting of doubt, with mathematical demonstrations that cannot be +denied, like, 'If equals be taken from equals, the remainders are equal:' +and if they do not understand this in words, and indeed they do not, it +has to be shown to them with the hands, and put before their eyes, and +even with all this no one succeeds in convincing them of the truth of our +holy religion. This same mode of proceeding I shall have to adopt with +thee, for the desire which has sprung up in thee is so absurd and remote +from everything that has a semblance of reason, that I feel it would be a +waste of time to employ it in reasoning with thy simplicity, for at +present I will call it by no other name; and I am even tempted to leave +thee in thy folly as a punishment for thy pernicious desire; but the +friendship I bear thee, which will not allow me to desert thee in such +manifest danger of destruction, keeps me from dealing so harshly by thee. +And that thou mayest clearly see this, say, Anselmo, hast thou not told +me that I must force my suit upon a modest woman, decoy one that is +virtuous, make overtures to one that is pure-minded, pay court to one +that is prudent? Yes, thou hast told me so. Then, if thou knowest that +thou hast a wife, modest, virtuous, pure-minded and prudent, what is it +that thou seekest? And if thou believest that she will come forth +victorious from all my attacks--as doubtless she would--what higher +titles than those she possesses now dost thou think thou canst upon her +then, or in what will she be better then than she is now? Either thou +dost not hold her to be what thou sayest, or thou knowest not what thou +dost demand. If thou dost not hold her to be what thou why dost thou seek +to prove her instead of treating her as guilty in the way that may seem +best to thee? but if she be as virtuous as thou believest, it is an +uncalled-for proceeding to make trial of truth itself, for, after trial, +it will but be in the same estimation as before. Thus, then, it is +conclusive that to attempt things from which harm rather than advantage +may come to us is the part of unreasoning and reckless minds, more +especially when they are things which we are not forced or compelled to +attempt, and which show from afar that it is plainly madness to attempt +them. + +"Difficulties are attempted either for the sake of God or for the sake of +the world, or for both; those undertaken for God's sake are those which +the saints undertake when they attempt to live the lives of angels in +human bodies; those undertaken for the sake of the world are those of the +men who traverse such a vast expanse of water, such a variety of +climates, so many strange countries, to acquire what are called the +blessings of fortune; and those undertaken for the sake of God and the +world together are those of brave soldiers, who no sooner do they see in +the enemy's wall a breach as wide as a cannon ball could make, than, +casting aside all fear, without hesitating, or heeding the manifest peril +that threatens them, borne onward by the desire of defending their faith, +their country, and their king, they fling themselves dauntlessly into the +midst of the thousand opposing deaths that await them. Such are the +things that men are wont to attempt, and there is honour, glory, gain, in +attempting them, however full of difficulty and peril they may be; but +that which thou sayest it is thy wish to attempt and carry out will not +win thee the glory of God nor the blessings of fortune nor fame among +men; for even if the issue he as thou wouldst have it, thou wilt be no +happier, richer, or more honoured than thou art this moment; and if it be +otherwise thou wilt be reduced to misery greater than can be imagined, +for then it will avail thee nothing to reflect that no one is aware of +the misfortune that has befallen thee; it will suffice to torture and +crush thee that thou knowest it thyself. And in confirmation of the truth +of what I say, let me repeat to thee a stanza made by the famous poet +Luigi Tansillo at the end of the first part of his 'Tears of Saint +Peter,' which says thus: + +The anguish and the shame but greater grew In Peter's heart as morning +slowly came; No eye was there to see him, well he knew, Yet he himself +was to himself a shame; Exposed to all men's gaze, or screened from view, +A noble heart will feel the pang the same; A prey to shame the sinning +soul will be, Though none but heaven and earth its shame can see. + +Thus by keeping it secret thou wilt not escape thy sorrow, but rather +thou wilt shed tears unceasingly, if not tears of the eyes, tears of +blood from the heart, like those shed by that simple doctor our poet +tells us of, that tried the test of the cup, which the wise Rinaldo, +better advised, refused to do; for though this may be a poetic fiction it +contains a moral lesson worthy of attention and study and imitation. +Moreover by what I am about to say to thee thou wilt be led to see the +great error thou wouldst commit. + +"Tell me, Anselmo, if Heaven or good fortune had made thee master and +lawful owner of a diamond of the finest quality, with the excellence and +purity of which all the lapidaries that had seen it had been satisfied, +saying with one voice and common consent that in purity, quality, and +fineness, it was all that a stone of the kind could possibly be, thou +thyself too being of the same belief, as knowing nothing to the contrary, +would it be reasonable in thee to desire to take that diamond and place +it between an anvil and a hammer, and by mere force of blows and strength +of arm try if it were as hard and as fine as they said? And if thou +didst, and if the stone should resist so silly a test, that would add +nothing to its value or reputation; and if it were broken, as it might +be, would not all be lost? Undoubtedly it would, leaving its owner to be +rated as a fool in the opinion of all. Consider, then, Anselmo my friend, +that Camilla is a diamond of the finest quality as well in thy estimation +as in that of others, and that it is contrary to reason to expose her to +the risk of being broken; for if she remains intact she cannot rise to a +higher value than she now possesses; and if she give way and be unable to +resist, bethink thee now how thou wilt be deprived of her, and with what +good reason thou wilt complain of thyself for having been the cause of +her ruin and thine own. Remember there is no jewel in the world so +precious as a chaste and virtuous woman, and that the whole honour of +women consists in reputation; and since thy wife's is of that high +excellence that thou knowest, wherefore shouldst thou seek to call that +truth in question? Remember, my friend, that woman is an imperfect +animal, and that impediments are not to be placed in her way to make her +trip and fall, but that they should be removed, and her path left clear +of all obstacles, so that without hindrance she may run her course freely +to attain the desired perfection, which consists in being virtuous. +Naturalists tell us that the ermine is a little animal which has a fur of +purest white, and that when the hunters wish to take it, they make use of +this artifice. Having ascertained the places which it frequents and +passes, they stop the way to them with mud, and then rousing it, drive it +towards the spot, and as soon as the ermine comes to the mud it halts, +and allows itself to be taken captive rather than pass through the mire, +and spoil and sully its whiteness, which it values more than life and +liberty. The virtuous and chaste woman is an ermine, and whiter and purer +than snow is the virtue of modesty; and he who wishes her not to lose it, +but to keep and preserve it, must adopt a course different from that +employed with the ermine; he must not put before her the mire of the +gifts and attentions of persevering lovers, because perhaps--and even +without a perhaps--she may not have sufficient virtue and natural +strength in herself to pass through and tread under foot these +impediments; they must be removed, and the brightness of virtue and the +beauty of a fair fame must be put before her. A virtuous woman, too, is +like a mirror, of clear shining crystal, liable to be tarnished and +dimmed by every breath that touches it. She must be treated as relics +are; adored, not touched. She must be protected and prized as one +protects and prizes a fair garden full of roses and flowers, the owner of +which allows no one to trespass or pluck a blossom; enough for others +that from afar and through the iron grating they may enjoy its fragrance +and its beauty. Finally let me repeat to thee some verses that come to my +mind; I heard them in a modern comedy, and it seems to me they bear upon +the point we are discussing. A prudent old man was giving advice to +another, the father of a young girl, to lock her up, watch over her and +keep her in seclusion, and among other arguments he used these: + +Woman is a thing of glass; +But her brittleness 'tis best +Not too curiously to test: +Who knows what may come to pass? + +Breaking is an easy matter, +And it's folly to expose +What you cannot mend to blows; +What you can't make whole to shatter. + +This, then, all may hold as true, +And the reason's plain to see; +For if Danaes there be, +There are golden showers too. + +"All that I have said to thee so far, Anselmo, has had reference to what +concerns thee; now it is right that I should say something of what +regards myself; and if I be prolix, pardon me, for the labyrinth into +which thou hast entered and from which thou wouldst have me extricate +thee makes it necessary. + +"Thou dost reckon me thy friend, and thou wouldst rob me of honour, a +thing wholly inconsistent with friendship; and not only dost thou aim at +this, but thou wouldst have me rob thee of it also. That thou wouldst rob +me of it is clear, for when Camilla sees that I pay court to her as thou +requirest, she will certainly regard me as a man without honour or right +feeling, since I attempt and do a thing so much opposed to what I owe to +my own position and thy friendship. That thou wouldst have me rob thee of +it is beyond a doubt, for Camilla, seeing that I press my suit upon her, +will suppose that I have perceived in her something light that has +encouraged me to make known to her my base desire; and if she holds +herself dishonoured, her dishonour touches thee as belonging to her; and +hence arises what so commonly takes place, that the husband of the +adulterous woman, though he may not be aware of or have given any cause +for his wife's failure in her duty, or (being careless or negligent) have +had it in his power to prevent his dishonour, nevertheless is stigmatised +by a vile and reproachful name, and in a manner regarded with eyes of +contempt instead of pity by all who know of his wife's guilt, though they +see that he is unfortunate not by his own fault, but by the lust of a +vicious consort. But I will tell thee why with good reason dishonour +attaches to the husband of the unchaste wife, though he know not that she +is so, nor be to blame, nor have done anything, or given any provocation +to make her so; and be not weary with listening to me, for it will be for +thy good. + +"When God created our first parent in the earthly paradise, the Holy +Scripture says that he infused sleep into Adam and while he slept took a +rib from his left side of which he formed our mother Eve, and when Adam +awoke and beheld her he said, 'This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my +bone.' And God said 'For this shall a man leave his father and his +mother, and they shall be two in one flesh; and then was instituted the +divine sacrament of marriage, with such ties that death alone can loose +them. And such is the force and virtue of this miraculous sacrament that +it makes two different persons one and the same flesh; and even more than +this when the virtuous are married; for though they have two souls they +have but one will. And hence it follows that as the flesh of the wife is +one and the same with that of her husband the stains that may come upon +it, or the injuries it incurs fall upon the husband's flesh, though he, +as has been said, may have given no cause for them; for as the pain of +the foot or any member of the body is felt by the whole body, because all +is one flesh, as the head feels the hurt to the ankle without having +caused it, so the husband, being one with her, shares the dishonour of +the wife; and as all worldly honour or dishonour comes of flesh and +blood, and the erring wife's is of that kind, the husband must needs bear +his part of it and be held dishonoured without knowing it. See, then, +Anselmo, the peril thou art encountering in seeking to disturb the peace +of thy virtuous consort; see for what an empty and ill-advised curiosity +thou wouldst rouse up passions that now repose in quiet in the breast of +thy chaste wife; reflect that what thou art staking all to win is little, +and what thou wilt lose so much that I leave it undescribed, not having +the words to express it. But if all I have said be not enough to turn +thee from thy vile purpose, thou must seek some other instrument for thy +dishonour and misfortune; for such I will not consent to be, though I +lose thy friendship, the greatest loss that I can conceive." + +Having said this, the wise and virtuous Lothario was silent, and Anselmo, +troubled in mind and deep in thought, was unable for a while to utter a +word in reply; but at length he said, "I have listened, Lothario my +friend, attentively, as thou hast seen, to what thou hast chosen to say +to me, and in thy arguments, examples, and comparisons I have seen that +high intelligence thou dost possess, and the perfection of true +friendship thou hast reached; and likewise I see and confess that if I am +not guided by thy opinion, but follow my own, I am flying from the good +and pursuing the evil. This being so, thou must remember that I am now +labouring under that infirmity which women sometimes suffer from, when +the craving seizes them to eat clay, plaster, charcoal, and things even +worse, disgusting to look at, much more to eat; so that it will be +necessary to have recourse to some artifice to cure me; and this can be +easily effected if only thou wilt make a beginning, even though it be in +a lukewarm and make-believe fashion, to pay court to Camilla, who will +not be so yielding that her virtue will give way at the first attack: +with this mere attempt I shall rest satisfied, and thou wilt have done +what our friendship binds thee to do, not only in giving me life, but in +persuading me not to discard my honour. And this thou art bound to do for +one reason alone, that, being, as I am, resolved to apply this test, it +is not for thee to permit me to reveal my weakness to another, and so +imperil that honour thou art striving to keep me from losing; and if +thine may not stand as high as it ought in the estimation of Camilla +while thou art paying court to her, that is of little or no importance, +because ere long, on finding in her that constancy which we expect, thou +canst tell her the plain truth as regards our stratagem, and so regain +thy place in her esteem; and as thou art venturing so little, and by the +venture canst afford me so much satisfaction, refuse not to undertake it, +even if further difficulties present themselves to thee; for, as I have +said, if thou wilt only make a beginning I will acknowledge the issue +decided." + +Lothario seeing the fixed determination of Anselmo, and not knowing what +further examples to offer or arguments to urge in order to dissuade him +from it, and perceiving that he threatened to confide his pernicious +scheme to some one else, to avoid a greater evil resolved to gratify him +and do what he asked, intending to manage the business so as to satisfy +Anselmo without corrupting the mind of Camilla; so in reply he told him +not to communicate his purpose to any other, for he would undertake the +task himself, and would begin it as soon as he pleased. Anselmo embraced +him warmly and affectionately, and thanked him for his offer as if he had +bestowed some great favour upon him; and it was agreed between them to +set about it the next day, Anselmo affording opportunity and time to +Lothario to converse alone with Camilla, and furnishing him with money +and jewels to offer and present to her. He suggested, too, that he should +treat her to music, and write verses in her praise, and if he was +unwilling to take the trouble of composing them, he offered to do it +himself. Lothario agreed to all with an intention very different from +what Anselmo supposed, and with this understanding they returned to +Anselmo's house, where they found Camilla awaiting her husband anxiously +and uneasily, for he was later than usual in returning that day. Lothario +repaired to his own house, and Anselmo remained in his, as well satisfied +as Lothario was troubled in mind; for he could see no satisfactory way +out of this ill-advised business. That night, however, he thought of a +plan by which he might deceive Anselmo without any injury to Camilla. The +next day he went to dine with his friend, and was welcomed by Camilla, +who received and treated him with great cordiality, knowing the affection +her husband felt for him. When dinner was over and the cloth removed, +Anselmo told Lothario to stay there with Camilla while he attended to +some pressing business, as he would return in an hour and a half. Camilla +begged him not to go, and Lothario offered to accompany him, but nothing +could persuade Anselmo, who on the contrary pressed Lothario to remain +waiting for him as he had a matter of great importance to discuss with +him. At the same time he bade Camilla not to leave Lothario alone until +he came back. In short he contrived to put so good a face on the reason, +or the folly, of his absence that no one could have suspected it was a +pretence. + +Anselmo took his departure, and Camilla and Lothario were left alone at +the table, for the rest of the household had gone to dinner. Lothario saw +himself in the lists according to his friend's wish, and facing an enemy +that could by her beauty alone vanquish a squadron of armed knights; +judge whether he had good reason to fear; but what he did was to lean his +elbow on the arm of the chair, and his cheek upon his hand, and, asking +Camilla's pardon for his ill manners, he said he wished to take a little +sleep until Anselmo returned. Camilla in reply said he could repose more +at his ease in the reception-room than in his chair, and begged of him to +go in and sleep there; but Lothario declined, and there he remained +asleep until the return of Anselmo, who finding Camilla in her own room, +and Lothario asleep, imagined that he had stayed away so long as to have +afforded them time enough for conversation and even for sleep, and was +all impatience until Lothario should wake up, that he might go out with +him and question him as to his success. Everything fell out as he wished; +Lothario awoke, and the two at once left the house, and Anselmo asked +what he was anxious to know, and Lothario in answer told him that he had +not thought it advisable to declare himself entirely the first time, and +therefore had only extolled the charms of Camilla, telling her that all +the city spoke of nothing else but her beauty and wit, for this seemed to +him an excellent way of beginning to gain her good-will and render her +disposed to listen to him with pleasure the next time, thus availing +himself of the device the devil has recourse to when he would deceive one +who is on the watch; for he being the angel of darkness transforms +himself into an angel of light, and, under cover of a fair seeming, +discloses himself at length, and effects his purpose if at the beginning +his wiles are not discovered. All this gave great satisfaction to +Anselmo, and he said he would afford the same opportunity every day, but +without leaving the house, for he would find things to do at home so that +Camilla should not detect the plot. + +Thus, then, several days went by, and Lothario, without uttering a word +to Camilla, reported to Anselmo that he had talked with her and that he +had never been able to draw from her the slightest indication of consent +to anything dishonourable, nor even a sign or shadow of hope; on the +contrary, he said she would inform her husband of it. + +"So far well," said Anselmo; "Camilla has thus far resisted words; we +must now see how she will resist deeds. I will give you to-morrow two +thousand crowns in gold for you to offer or even present, and as many +more to buy jewels to lure her, for women are fond of being becomingly +attired and going gaily dressed, and all the more so if they are +beautiful, however chaste they may be; and if she resists this +temptation, I will rest satisfied and will give you no more trouble." + +Lothario replied that now he had begun he would carry on the undertaking +to the end, though he perceived he was to come out of it wearied and +vanquished. The next day he received the four thousand crowns, and with +them four thousand perplexities, for he knew not what to say by way of a +new falsehood; but in the end he made up his mind to tell him that +Camilla stood as firm against gifts and promises as against words, and +that there was no use in taking any further trouble, for the time was all +spent to no purpose. + +But chance, directing things in a different manner, so ordered it that +Anselmo, having left Lothario and Camilla alone as on other occasions, +shut himself into a chamber and posted himself to watch and listen +through the keyhole to what passed between them, and perceived that for +more than half an hour Lothario did not utter a word to Camilla, nor +would utter a word though he were to be there for an age; and he came to +the conclusion that what his friend had told him about the replies of +Camilla was all invention and falsehood, and to ascertain if it were so, +he came out, and calling Lothario aside asked him what news he had and in +what humour Camilla was. Lothario replied that he was not disposed to go +on with the business, for she had answered him so angrily and harshly +that he had no heart to say anything more to her. + +"Ah, Lothario, Lothario," said Anselmo, "how ill dost thou meet thy +obligations to me, and the great confidence I repose in thee! I have been +just now watching through this keyhole, and I have seen that thou has not +said a word to Camilla, whence I conclude that on the former occasions +thou hast not spoken to her either, and if this be so, as no doubt it is, +why dost thou deceive me, or wherefore seekest thou by craft to deprive +me of the means I might find of attaining my desire?" + +Anselmo said no more, but he had said enough to cover Lothario with shame +and confusion, and he, feeling as it were his honour touched by having +been detected in a lie, swore to Anselmo that he would from that moment +devote himself to satisfying him without any deception, as he would see +if he had the curiosity to watch; though he need not take the trouble, +for the pains he would take to satisfy him would remove all suspicions +from his mind. Anselmo believed him, and to afford him an opportunity +more free and less liable to surprise, he resolved to absent himself from +his house for eight days, betaking himself to that of a friend of his who +lived in a village not far from the city; and, the better to account for +his departure to Camilla, he so arranged it that the friend should send +him a very pressing invitation. + +Unhappy, shortsighted Anselmo, what art thou doing, what art thou +plotting, what art thou devising? Bethink thee thou art working against +thyself, plotting thine own dishonour, devising thine own ruin. Thy wife +Camilla is virtuous, thou dost possess her in peace and quietness, no one +assails thy happiness, her thoughts wander not beyond the walls of thy +house, thou art her heaven on earth, the object of her wishes, the +fulfilment of her desires, the measure wherewith she measures her will, +making it conform in all things to thine and Heaven's. If, then, the mine +of her honour, beauty, virtue, and modesty yields thee without labour all +the wealth it contains and thou canst wish for, why wilt thou dig the +earth in search of fresh veins, of new unknown treasure, risking the +collapse of all, since it but rests on the feeble props of her weak +nature? Bethink thee that from him who seeks impossibilities that which +is possible may with justice be withheld, as was better expressed by a +poet who said: + +'Tis mine to seek for life in death, +Health in disease seek I, +I seek in prison freedom's breath, +In traitors loyalty. +So Fate that ever scorns to grant +Or grace or boon to me, +Since what can never be I want, +Denies me what might be. + +The next day Anselmo took his departure for the village, leaving +instructions with Camilla that during his absence Lothario would come to +look after his house and to dine with her, and that she was to treat him +as she would himself. Camilla was distressed, as a discreet and +right-minded woman would be, at the orders her husband left her, and bade +him remember that it was not becoming that anyone should occupy his seat +at the table during his absence, and if he acted thus from not feeling +confidence that she would be able to manage his house, let him try her +this time, and he would find by experience that she was equal to greater +responsibilities. Anselmo replied that it was his pleasure to have it so, +and that she had only to submit and obey. Camilla said she would do so, +though against her will. + +Anselmo went, and the next day Lothario came to his house, where he was +received by Camilla with a friendly and modest welcome; but she never +suffered Lothario to see her alone, for she was always attended by her +men and women servants, especially by a handmaid of hers, Leonela by +name, to whom she was much attached (for they had been brought up +together from childhood in her father's house), and whom she had kept +with her after her marriage with Anselmo. The first three days Lothario +did not speak to her, though he might have done so when they removed the +cloth and the servants retired to dine hastily; for such were Camilla's +orders; nay more, Leonela had directions to dine earlier than Camilla and +never to leave her side. She, however, having her thoughts fixed upon +other things more to her taste, and wanting that time and opportunity for +her own pleasures, did not always obey her mistress's commands, but on +the contrary left them alone, as if they had ordered her to do so; but +the modest bearing of Camilla, the calmness of her countenance, the +composure of her aspect were enough to bridle the tongue of Lothario. But +the influence which the many virtues of Camilla exerted in imposing +silence on Lothario's tongue proved mischievous for both of them, for if +his tongue was silent his thoughts were busy, and could dwell at leisure +upon the perfections of Camilla's goodness and beauty one by one, charms +enough to warm with love a marble statue, not to say a heart of flesh. +Lothario gazed upon her when he might have been speaking to her, and +thought how worthy of being loved she was; and thus reflection began +little by little to assail his allegiance to Anselmo, and a thousand +times he thought of withdrawing from the city and going where Anselmo +should never see him nor he see Camilla. But already the delight he found +in gazing on her interposed and held him fast. He put a constraint upon +himself, and struggled to repel and repress the pleasure he found in +contemplating Camilla; when alone he blamed himself for his weakness, +called himself a bad friend, nay a bad Christian; then he argued the +matter and compared himself with Anselmo; always coming to the conclusion +that the folly and rashness of Anselmo had been worse than his +faithlessness, and that if he could excuse his intentions as easily +before God as with man, he had no reason to fear any punishment for his +offence. + +In short the beauty and goodness of Camilla, joined with the opportunity +which the blind husband had placed in his hands, overthrew the loyalty of +Lothario; and giving heed to nothing save the object towards which his +inclinations led him, after Anselmo had been three days absent, during +which he had been carrying on a continual struggle with his passion, he +began to make love to Camilla with so much vehemence and warmth of +language that she was overwhelmed with amazement, and could only rise +from her place and retire to her room without answering him a word. But +the hope which always springs up with love was not weakened in Lothario +by this repelling demeanour; on the contrary his passion for Camilla +increased, and she discovering in him what she had never expected, knew +not what to do; and considering it neither safe nor right to give him the +chance or opportunity of speaking to her again, she resolved to send, as +she did that very night, one of her servants with a letter to Anselmo, in +which she addressed the following words to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY" + + +"It is commonly said that an army looks ill without its general and a +castle without its castellan, and I say that a young married woman looks +still worse without her husband unless there are very good reasons for +it. I find myself so ill at ease without you, and so incapable of +enduring this separation, that unless you return quickly I shall have to +go for relief to my parents' house, even if I leave yours without a +protector; for the one you left me, if indeed he deserved that title, +has, I think, more regard to his own pleasure than to what concerns you: +as you are possessed of discernment I need say no more to you, nor indeed +is it fitting I should say more." + +Anselmo received this letter, and from it he gathered that Lothario had +already begun his task and that Camilla must have replied to him as he +would have wished; and delighted beyond measure at such intelligence he +sent word to her not to leave his house on any account, as he would very +shortly return. Camilla was astonished at Anselmo's reply, which placed +her in greater perplexity than before, for she neither dared to remain in +her own house, nor yet to go to her parents'; for in remaining her virtue +was imperilled, and in going she was opposing her husband's commands. +Finally she decided upon what was the worse course for her, to remain, +resolving not to fly from the presence of Lothario, that she might not +give food for gossip to her servants; and she now began to regret having +written as she had to her husband, fearing he might imagine that Lothario +had perceived in her some lightness which had impelled him to lay aside +the respect he owed her; but confident of her rectitude she put her trust +in God and in her own virtuous intentions, with which she hoped to resist +in silence all the solicitations of Lothario, without saying anything to +her husband so as not to involve him in any quarrel or trouble; and she +even began to consider how to excuse Lothario to Anselmo when he should +ask her what it was that induced her to write that letter. With these +resolutions, more honourable than judicious or effectual, she remained +the next day listening to Lothario, who pressed his suit so strenuously +that Camilla's firmness began to waver, and her virtue had enough to do +to come to the rescue of her eyes and keep them from showing signs of a +certain tender compassion which the tears and appeals of Lothario had +awakened in her bosom. Lothario observed all this, and it inflamed him +all the more. In short he felt that while Anselmo's absence afforded time +and opportunity he must press the siege of the fortress, and so he +assailed her self-esteem with praises of her beauty, for there is nothing +that more quickly reduces and levels the castle towers of fair women's +vanity than vanity itself upon the tongue of flattery. In fact with the +utmost assiduity he undermined the rock of her purity with such engines +that had Camilla been of brass she must have fallen. He wept, he +entreated, he promised, he flattered, he importuned, he pretended with so +much feeling and apparent sincerity, that he overthrew the virtuous +resolves of Camilla and won the triumph he least expected and most longed +for. Camilla yielded, Camilla fell; but what wonder if the friendship of +Lothario could not stand firm? A clear proof to us that the passion of +love is to be conquered only by flying from it, and that no one should +engage in a struggle with an enemy so mighty; for divine strength is +needed to overcome his human power. Leonela alone knew of her mistress's +weakness, for the two false friends and new lovers were unable to conceal +it. Lothario did not care to tell Camilla the object Anselmo had in view, +nor that he had afforded him the opportunity of attaining such a result, +lest she should undervalue his love and think that it was by chance and +without intending it and not of his own accord that he had made love to +her. + +A few days later Anselmo returned to his house and did not perceive what +it had lost, that which he so lightly treated and so highly prized. He +went at once to see Lothario, and found him at home; they embraced each +other, and Anselmo asked for the tidings of his life or his death. + +"The tidings I have to give thee, Anselmo my friend," said Lothario, "are +that thou dost possess a wife that is worthy to be the pattern and crown +of all good wives. The words that I have addressed to her were borne away +on the wind, my promises have been despised, my presents have been +refused, such feigned tears as I shed have been turned into open +ridicule. In short, as Camilla is the essence of all beauty, so is she +the treasure-house where purity dwells, and gentleness and modesty abide +with all the virtues that can confer praise, honour, and happiness upon a +woman. Take back thy money, my friend; here it is, and I have had no need +to touch it, for the chastity of Camilla yields not to things so base as +gifts or promises. Be content, Anselmo, and refrain from making further +proof; and as thou hast passed dryshod through the sea of those doubts +and suspicions that are and may be entertained of women, seek not to +plunge again into the deep ocean of new embarrassments, or with another +pilot make trial of the goodness and strength of the bark that Heaven has +granted thee for thy passage across the sea of this world; but reckon +thyself now safe in port, moor thyself with the anchor of sound +reflection, and rest in peace until thou art called upon to pay that debt +which no nobility on earth can escape paying." + +Anselmo was completely satisfied by the words of Lothario, and believed +them as fully as if they had been spoken by an oracle; nevertheless he +begged of him not to relinquish the undertaking, were it but for the sake +of curiosity and amusement; though thenceforward he need not make use of +the same earnest endeavours as before; all he wished him to do was to +write some verses to her, praising her under the name of Chloris, for he +himself would give her to understand that he was in love with a lady to +whom he had given that name to enable him to sing her praises with the +decorum due to her modesty; and if Lothario were unwilling to take the +trouble of writing the verses he would compose them himself. + +"That will not be necessary," said Lothario, "for the muses are not such +enemies of mine but that they visit me now and then in the course of the +year. Do thou tell Camilla what thou hast proposed about a pretended +amour of mine; as for the verses will make them, and if not as good as +the subject deserves, they shall be at least the best I can produce." An +agreement to this effect was made between the friends, the ill-advised +one and the treacherous, and Anselmo returning to his house asked Camilla +the question she already wondered he had not asked before--what it was +that had caused her to write the letter she had sent him. Camilla replied +that it had seemed to her that Lothario looked at her somewhat more +freely than when he had been at home; but that now she was undeceived and +believed it to have been only her own imagination, for Lothario now +avoided seeing her, or being alone with her. Anselmo told her she might +be quite easy on the score of that suspicion, for he knew that Lothario +was in love with a damsel of rank in the city whom he celebrated under +the name of Chloris, and that even if he were not, his fidelity and their +great friendship left no room for fear. Had not Camilla, however, been +informed beforehand by Lothario that this love for Chloris was a +pretence, and that he himself had told Anselmo of it in order to be able +sometimes to give utterance to the praises of Camilla herself, no doubt +she would have fallen into the despairing toils of jealousy; but being +forewarned she received the startling news without uneasiness. + +The next day as the three were at table Anselmo asked Lothario to recite +something of what he had composed for his mistress Chloris; for as +Camilla did not know her, he might safely say what he liked. + +"Even did she know her," returned Lothario, "I would hide nothing, for +when a lover praises his lady's beauty, and charges her with cruelty, he +casts no imputation upon her fair name; at any rate, all I can say is +that yesterday I made a sonnet on the ingratitude of this Chloris, which +goes thus: + +SONNET + +At midnight, in the silence, when the eyes + Of happier mortals balmy slumbers close, + The weary tale of my unnumbered woes +To Chloris and to Heaven is wont to rise. +And when the light of day returning dyes + The portals of the east with tints of rose, + With undiminished force my sorrow flows +In broken accents and in burning sighs. +And when the sun ascends his star-girt throne, + And on the earth pours down his midday beams, + Noon but renews my wailing and my tears; +And with the night again goes up my moan. + Yet ever in my agony it seems + To me that neither Heaven nor Chloris hears." + +The sonnet pleased Camilla, and still more Anselmo, for he praised it and +said the lady was excessively cruel who made no return for sincerity so +manifest. On which Camilla said, "Then all that love-smitten poets say is +true?" + +"As poets they do not tell the truth," replied Lothario; "but as lovers +they are not more defective in expression than they are truthful." + +"There is no doubt of that," observed Anselmo, anxious to support and +uphold Lothario's ideas with Camilla, who was as regardless of his design +as she was deep in love with Lothario; and so taking delight in anything +that was his, and knowing that his thoughts and writings had her for +their object, and that she herself was the real Chloris, she asked him to +repeat some other sonnet or verses if he recollected any. + +"I do," replied Lothario, "but I do not think it as good as the first +one, or, more correctly speaking, less bad; but you can easily judge, for +it is this. + +SONNET + +I know that I am doomed; death is to me + As certain as that thou, ungrateful fair, + Dead at thy feet shouldst see me lying, ere +My heart repented of its love for thee. +If buried in oblivion I should be, + Bereft of life, fame, favour, even there + It would be found that I thy image bear +Deep graven in my breast for all to see. +This like some holy relic do I prize + To save me from the fate my truth entails, + Truth that to thy hard heart its vigour owes. +Alas for him that under lowering skies, + In peril o'er a trackless ocean sails, + Where neither friendly port nor pole-star shows." + +Anselmo praised this second sonnet too, as he had praised the first; and +so he went on adding link after link to the chain with which he was +binding himself and making his dishonour secure; for when Lothario was +doing most to dishonour him he told him he was most honoured; and thus +each step that Camilla descended towards the depths of her abasement, she +mounted, in his opinion, towards the summit of virtue and fair fame. + +It so happened that finding herself on one occasion alone with her maid, +Camilla said to her, "I am ashamed to think, my dear Leonela, how lightly +I have valued myself that I did not compel Lothario to purchase by at +least some expenditure of time that full possession of me that I so +quickly yielded him of my own free will. I fear that he will think ill of +my pliancy or lightness, not considering the irresistible influence he +brought to bear upon me." + +"Let not that trouble you, my lady," said Leonela, "for it does not take +away the value of the thing given or make it the less precious to give it +quickly if it be really valuable and worthy of being prized; nay, they +are wont to say that he who gives quickly gives twice." + +"They say also," said Camilla, "that what costs little is valued less." + +"That saying does not hold good in your case," replied Leonela, "for +love, as I have heard say, sometimes flies and sometimes walks; with this +one it runs, with that it moves slowly; some it cools, others it burns; +some it wounds, others it slays; it begins the course of its desires, and +at the same moment completes and ends it; in the morning it will lay +siege to a fortress and by night will have taken it, for there is no +power that can resist it; so what are you in dread of, what do you fear, +when the same must have befallen Lothario, love having chosen the absence +of my lord as the instrument for subduing you? and it was absolutely +necessary to complete then what love had resolved upon, without affording +the time to let Anselmo return and by his presence compel the work to be +left unfinished; for love has no better agent for carrying out his +designs than opportunity; and of opportunity he avails himself in all his +feats, especially at the outset. All this I know well myself, more by +experience than by hearsay, and some day, senora, I will enlighten you on +the subject, for I am of your flesh and blood too. Moreover, lady +Camilla, you did not surrender yourself or yield so quickly but that +first you saw Lothario's whole soul in his eyes, in his sighs, in his +words, his promises and his gifts, and by it and his good qualities +perceived how worthy he was of your love. This, then, being the case, let +not these scrupulous and prudish ideas trouble your imagination, but be +assured that Lothario prizes you as you do him, and rest content and +satisfied that as you are caught in the noose of love it is one of worth +and merit that has taken you, and one that has not only the four S's that +they say true lovers ought to have, but a complete alphabet; only listen +to me and you will see how I can repeat it by rote. He is to my eyes and +thinking, Amiable, Brave, Courteous, Distinguished, Elegant, Fond, Gay, +Honourable, Illustrious, Loyal, Manly, Noble, Open, Polite, Quickwitted, +Rich, and the S's according to the saying, and then Tender, Veracious: X +does not suit him, for it is a rough letter; Y has been given already; +and Z Zealous for your honour." + +Camilla laughed at her maid's alphabet, and perceived her to be more +experienced in love affairs than she said, which she admitted, confessing +to Camilla that she had love passages with a young man of good birth of +the same city. Camilla was uneasy at this, dreading lest it might prove +the means of endangering her honour, and asked whether her intrigue had +gone beyond words, and she with little shame and much effrontery said it +had; for certain it is that ladies' imprudences make servants shameless, +who, when they see their mistresses make a false step, think nothing of +going astray themselves, or of its being known. All that Camilla could do +was to entreat Leonela to say nothing about her doings to him whom she +called her lover, and to conduct her own affairs secretly lest they +should come to the knowledge of Anselmo or of Lothario. Leonela said she +would, but kept her word in such a way that she confirmed Camilla's +apprehension of losing her reputation through her means; for this +abandoned and bold Leonela, as soon as she perceived that her mistress's +demeanour was not what it was wont to be, had the audacity to introduce +her lover into the house, confident that even if her mistress saw him she +would not dare to expose him; for the sins of mistresses entail this +mischief among others; they make themselves the slaves of their own +servants, and are obliged to hide their laxities and depravities; as was +the case with Camilla, who though she perceived, not once but many times, +that Leonela was with her lover in some room of the house, not only did +not dare to chide her, but afforded her opportunities for concealing him +and removed all difficulties, lest he should be seen by her husband. She +was unable, however, to prevent him from being seen on one occasion, as +he sallied forth at daybreak, by Lothario, who, not knowing who he was, +at first took him for a spectre; but, as soon as he saw him hasten away, +muffling his face with his cloak and concealing himself carefully and +cautiously, he rejected this foolish idea, and adopted another, which +would have been the ruin of all had not Camilla found a remedy. It did +not occur to Lothario that this man he had seen issuing at such an +untimely hour from Anselmo's house could have entered it on Leonela's +account, nor did he even remember there was such a person as Leonela; all +he thought was that as Camilla had been light and yielding with him, so +she had been with another; for this further penalty the erring woman's +sin brings with it, that her honour is distrusted even by him to whose +overtures and persuasions she has yielded; and he believes her to have +surrendered more easily to others, and gives implicit credence to every +suspicion that comes into his mind. All Lothario's good sense seems to +have failed him at this juncture; all his prudent maxims escaped his +memory; for without once reflecting rationally, and without more ado, in +his impatience and in the blindness of the jealous rage that gnawed his +heart, and dying to revenge himself upon Camilla, who had done him no +wrong, before Anselmo had risen he hastened to him and said to him, +"Know, Anselmo, that for several days past I have been struggling with +myself, striving to withhold from thee what it is no longer possible or +right that I should conceal from thee. Know that Camilla's fortress has +surrendered and is ready to submit to my will; and if I have been slow to +reveal this fact to thee, it was in order to see if it were some light +caprice of hers, or if she sought to try me and ascertain if the love I +began to make to her with thy permission was made with a serious +intention. I thought, too, that she, if she were what she ought to be, +and what we both believed her, would have ere this given thee information +of my addresses; but seeing that she delays, I believe the truth of the +promise she has given me that the next time thou art absent from the +house she will grant me an interview in the closet where thy jewels are +kept (and it was true that Camilla used to meet him there); but I do not +wish thee to rush precipitately to take vengeance, for the sin is as yet +only committed in intention, and Camilla's may change perhaps between +this and the appointed time, and repentance spring up in its place. As +hitherto thou hast always followed my advice wholly or in part, follow +and observe this that I will give thee now, so that, without mistake, and +with mature deliberation, thou mayest satisfy thyself as to what may seem +the best course; pretend to absent thyself for two or three days as thou +hast been wont to do on other occasions, and contrive to hide thyself in +the closet; for the tapestries and other things there afford great +facilities for thy concealment, and then thou wilt see with thine own +eyes and I with mine what Camilla's purpose may be. And if it be a guilty +one, which may be feared rather than expected, with silence, prudence, +and discretion thou canst thyself become the instrument of punishment for +the wrong done thee." + +Anselmo was amazed, overwhelmed, and astounded at the words of Lothario, +which came upon him at a time when he least expected to hear them, for he +now looked upon Camilla as having triumphed over the pretended attacks of +Lothario, and was beginning to enjoy the glory of her victory. He +remained silent for a considerable time, looking on the ground with fixed +gaze, and at length said, "Thou hast behaved, Lothario, as I expected of +thy friendship: I will follow thy advice in everything; do as thou wilt, +and keep this secret as thou seest it should be kept in circumstances so +unlooked for." + +Lothario gave him his word, but after leaving him he repented altogether +of what he had said to him, perceiving how foolishly he had acted, as he +might have revenged himself upon Camilla in some less cruel and degrading +way. He cursed his want of sense, condemned his hasty resolution, and +knew not what course to take to undo the mischief or find some ready +escape from it. At last he decided upon revealing all to Camilla, and, as +there was no want of opportunity for doing so, he found her alone the +same day; but she, as soon as she had the chance of speaking to him, +said, "Lothario my friend, I must tell thee I have a sorrow in my heart +which fills it so that it seems ready to burst; and it will be a wonder +if it does not; for the audacity of Leonela has now reached such a pitch +that every night she conceals a gallant of hers in this house and remains +with him till morning, at the expense of my reputation; inasmuch as it is +open to anyone to question it who may see him quitting my house at such +unseasonable hours; but what distresses me is that I cannot punish or +chide her, for her privity to our intrigue bridles my mouth and keeps me +silent about hers, while I am dreading that some catastrophe will come of +it." + +As Camilla said this Lothario at first imagined it was some device to +delude him into the idea that the man he had seen going out was Leonela's +lover and not hers; but when he saw how she wept and suffered, and begged +him to help her, he became convinced of the truth, and the conviction +completed his confusion and remorse; however, he told Camilla not to +distress herself, as he would take measures to put a stop to the +insolence of Leonela. At the same time he told her what, driven by the +fierce rage of jealousy, he had said to Anselmo, and how he had arranged +to hide himself in the closet that he might there see plainly how little +she preserved her fidelity to him; and he entreated her pardon for this +madness, and her advice as to how to repair it, and escape safely from +the intricate labyrinth in which his imprudence had involved him. Camilla +was struck with alarm at hearing what Lothario said, and with much anger, +and great good sense, she reproved him and rebuked his base design and +the foolish and mischievous resolution he had made; but as woman has by +nature a nimbler wit than man for good and for evil, though it is apt to +fail when she sets herself deliberately to reason, Camilla on the spur of +the moment thought of a way to remedy what was to all appearance +irremediable, and told Lothario to contrive that the next day Anselmo +should conceal himself in the place he mentioned, for she hoped from his +concealment to obtain the means of their enjoying themselves for the +future without any apprehension; and without revealing her purpose to him +entirely she charged him to be careful, as soon as Anselmo was concealed, +to come to her when Leonela should call him, and to all she said to him +to answer as he would have answered had he not known that Anselmo was +listening. Lothario pressed her to explain her intention fully, so that +he might with more certainty and precaution take care to do what he saw +to be needful. + +"I tell you," said Camilla, "there is nothing to take care of except to +answer me what I shall ask you;" for she did not wish to explain to him +beforehand what she meant to do, fearing lest he should be unwilling to +follow out an idea which seemed to her such a good one, and should try or +devise some other less practicable plan. + +Lothario then retired, and the next day Anselmo, under pretence of going +to his friend's country house, took his departure, and then returned to +conceal himself, which he was able to do easily, as Camilla and Leonela +took care to give him the opportunity; and so he placed himself in hiding +in the state of agitation that it may be imagined he would feel who +expected to see the vitals of his honour laid bare before his eyes, and +found himself on the point of losing the supreme blessing he thought he +possessed in his beloved Camilla. Having made sure of Anselmo's being in +his hiding-place, Camilla and Leonela entered the closet, and the instant +she set foot within it Camilla said, with a deep sigh, "Ah! dear Leonela, +would it not be better, before I do what I am unwilling you should know +lest you should seek to prevent it, that you should take Anselmo's dagger +that I have asked of you and with it pierce this vile heart of mine? But +no; there is no reason why I should suffer the punishment of another's +fault. I will first know what it is that the bold licentious eyes of +Lothario have seen in me that could have encouraged him to reveal to me a +design so base as that which he has disclosed regardless of his friend +and of my honour. Go to the window, Leonela, and call him, for no doubt +he is in the street waiting to carry out his vile project; but mine, +cruel it may be, but honourable, shall be carried out first." + +"Ah, senora," said the crafty Leonela, who knew her part, "what is it you +want to do with this dagger? Can it be that you mean to take your own +life, or Lothario's? for whichever you mean to do, it will lead to the +loss of your reputation and good name. It is better to dissemble your +wrong and not give this wicked man the chance of entering the house now +and finding us alone; consider, senora, we are weak women and he is a +man, and determined, and as he comes with such a base purpose, blind and +urged by passion, perhaps before you can put yours into execution he may +do what will be worse for you than taking your life. Ill betide my +master, Anselmo, for giving such authority in his house to this shameless +fellow! And supposing you kill him, senora, as I suspect you mean to do, +what shall we do with him when he is dead?" + +"What, my friend?" replied Camilla, "we shall leave him for Anselmo to +bury him; for in reason it will be to him a light labour to hide his own +infamy under ground. Summon him, make haste, for all the time I delay in +taking vengeance for my wrong seems to me an offence against the loyalty +I owe my husband." + +Anselmo was listening to all this, and every word that Camilla uttered +made him change his mind; but when he heard that it was resolved to kill +Lothario his first impulse was to come out and show himself to avert such +a disaster; but in his anxiety to see the issue of a resolution so bold +and virtuous he restrained himself, intending to come forth in time to +prevent the deed. At this moment Camilla, throwing herself upon a bed +that was close by, swooned away, and Leonela began to weep bitterly, +exclaiming, "Woe is me! that I should be fated to have dying here in my +arms the flower of virtue upon earth, the crown of true wives, the +pattern of chastity!" with more to the same effect, so that anyone who +heard her would have taken her for the most tender-hearted and faithful +handmaid in the world, and her mistress for another persecuted Penelope. + +Camilla was not long in recovering from her fainting fit and on coming to +herself she said, "Why do you not go, Leonela, to call hither that +friend, the falsest to his friend the sun ever shone upon or night +concealed? Away, run, haste, speed! lest the fire of my wrath burn itself +out with delay, and the righteous vengeance that I hope for melt away in +menaces and maledictions." + +"I am just going to call him, senora," said Leonela; "but you must first +give me that dagger, lest while I am gone you should by means of it give +cause to all who love you to weep all their lives." + +"Go in peace, dear Leonela, I will not do so," said Camilla, "for rash +and foolish as I may be, to your mind, in defending my honour, I am not +going to be so much so as that Lucretia who they say killed herself +without having done anything wrong, and without having first killed him +on whom the guilt of her misfortune lay. I shall die, if I am to die; but +it must be after full vengeance upon him who has brought me here to weep +over audacity that no fault of mine gave birth to." + +Leonela required much pressing before she would go to summon Lothario, +but at last she went, and while awaiting her return Camilla continued, as +if speaking to herself, "Good God! would it not have been more prudent to +have repulsed Lothario, as I have done many a time before, than to allow +him, as I am now doing, to think me unchaste and vile, even for the short +time I must wait until I undeceive him? No doubt it would have been +better; but I should not be avenged, nor the honour of my husband +vindicated, should he find so clear and easy an escape from the strait +into which his depravity has led him. Let the traitor pay with his life +for the temerity of his wanton wishes, and let the world know (if haply +it shall ever come to know) that Camilla not only preserved her +allegiance to her husband, but avenged him of the man who dared to wrong +him. Still, I think it might be better to disclose this to Anselmo. But +then I have called his attention to it in the letter I wrote to him in +the country, and, if he did nothing to prevent the mischief I there +pointed out to him, I suppose it was that from pure goodness of heart and +trustfulness he would not and could not believe that any thought against +his honour could harbour in the breast of so stanch a friend; nor indeed +did I myself believe it for many days, nor should I have ever believed it +if his insolence had not gone so far as to make it manifest by open +presents, lavish promises, and ceaseless tears. But why do I argue thus? +Does a bold determination stand in need of arguments? Surely not. Then +traitors avaunt! Vengeance to my aid! Let the false one come, approach, +advance, die, yield up his life, and then befall what may. Pure I came to +him whom Heaven bestowed upon me, pure I shall leave him; and at the +worst bathed in my own chaste blood and in the foul blood of the falsest +friend that friendship ever saw in the world;" and as she uttered these +words she paced the room holding the unsheathed dagger, with such +irregular and disordered steps, and such gestures that one would have +supposed her to have lost her senses, and taken her for some violent +desperado instead of a delicate woman. + +Anselmo, hidden behind some tapestries where he had concealed himself, +beheld and was amazed at all, and already felt that what he had seen and +heard was a sufficient answer to even greater suspicions; and he would +have been now well pleased if the proof afforded by Lothario's coming +were dispensed with, as he feared some sudden mishap; but as he was on +the point of showing himself and coming forth to embrace and undeceive +his wife he paused as he saw Leonela returning, leading Lothario. Camilla +when she saw him, drawing a long line in front of her on the floor with +the dagger, said to him, "Lothario, pay attention to what I say to thee: +if by any chance thou darest to cross this line thou seest, or even +approach it, the instant I see thee attempt it that same instant will I +pierce my bosom with this dagger that I hold in my hand; and before thou +answerest me a word desire thee to listen to a few from me, and +afterwards thou shalt reply as may please thee. First, I desire thee to +tell me, Lothario, if thou knowest my husband Anselmo, and in what light +thou regardest him; and secondly I desire to know if thou knowest me too. +Answer me this, without embarrassment or reflecting deeply what thou wilt +answer, for they are no riddles I put to thee." + +Lothario was not so dull but that from the first moment when Camilla +directed him to make Anselmo hide himself he understood what she intended +to do, and therefore he fell in with her idea so readily and promptly +that between them they made the imposture look more true than truth; so +he answered her thus: "I did not think, fair Camilla, that thou wert +calling me to ask questions so remote from the object with which I come; +but if it is to defer the promised reward thou art doing so, thou mightst +have put it off still longer, for the longing for happiness gives the +more distress the nearer comes the hope of gaining it; but lest thou +shouldst say that I do not answer thy questions, I say that I know thy +husband Anselmo, and that we have known each other from our earliest +years; I will not speak of what thou too knowest, of our friendship, that +I may not compel myself to testify against the wrong that love, the +mighty excuse for greater errors, makes me inflict upon him. Thee I know +and hold in the same estimation as he does, for were it not so I had not +for a lesser prize acted in opposition to what I owe to my station and +the holy laws of true friendship, now broken and violated by me through +that powerful enemy, love." + +"If thou dost confess that," returned Camilla, "mortal enemy of all that +rightly deserves to be loved, with what face dost thou dare to come +before one whom thou knowest to be the mirror wherein he is reflected on +whom thou shouldst look to see how unworthily thou him? But, woe is me, I +now comprehend what has made thee give so little heed to what thou owest +to thyself; it must have been some freedom of mine, for I will not call +it immodesty, as it did not proceed from any deliberate intention, but +from some heedlessness such as women are guilty of through inadvertence +when they think they have no occasion for reserve. But tell me, traitor, +when did I by word or sign give a reply to thy prayers that could awaken +in thee a shadow of hope of attaining thy base wishes? When were not thy +professions of love sternly and scornfully rejected and rebuked? When +were thy frequent pledges and still more frequent gifts believed or +accepted? But as I am persuaded that no one can long persevere in the +attempt to win love unsustained by some hope, I am willing to attribute +to myself the blame of thy assurance, for no doubt some thoughtlessness +of mine has all this time fostered thy hopes; and therefore will I punish +myself and inflict upon myself the penalty thy guilt deserves. And that +thou mayest see that being so relentless to myself I cannot possibly be +otherwise to thee, I have summoned thee to be a witness of the sacrifice +I mean to offer to the injured honour of my honoured husband, wronged by +thee with all the assiduity thou wert capable of, and by me too through +want of caution in avoiding every occasion, if I have given any, of +encouraging and sanctioning thy base designs. Once more I say the +suspicion in my mind that some imprudence of mine has engendered these +lawless thoughts in thee, is what causes me most distress and what I +desire most to punish with my own hands, for were any other instrument of +punishment employed my error might become perhaps more widely known; but +before I do so, in my death I mean to inflict death, and take with me one +that will fully satisfy my longing for the revenge I hope for and have; +for I shall see, wheresoever it may be that I go, the penalty awarded by +inflexible, unswerving justice on him who has placed me in a position so +desperate." + +As she uttered these words, with incredible energy and swiftness she flew +upon Lothario with the naked dagger, so manifestly bent on burying it in +his breast that he was almost uncertain whether these demonstrations were +real or feigned, for he was obliged to have recourse to all his skill and +strength to prevent her from striking him; and with such reality did she +act this strange farce and mystification that, to give it a colour of +truth, she determined to stain it with her own blood; for perceiving, or +pretending, that she could not wound Lothario, she said, "Fate, it seems, +will not grant my just desire complete satisfaction, but it will not be +able to keep me from satisfying it partially at least;" and making an +effort to free the hand with the dagger which Lothario held in his grasp, +she released it, and directing the point to a place where it could not +inflict a deep wound, she plunged it into her left side high up close to +the shoulder, and then allowed herself to fall to the ground as if in a +faint. + +Leonela and Lothario stood amazed and astounded at the catastrophe, and +seeing Camilla stretched on the ground and bathed in her blood they were +still uncertain as to the true nature of the act. Lothario, terrified and +breathless, ran in haste to pluck out the dagger; but when he saw how +slight the wound was he was relieved of his fears and once more admired +the subtlety, coolness, and ready wit of the fair Camilla; and the better +to support the part he had to play he began to utter profuse and doleful +lamentations over her body as if she were dead, invoking maledictions not +only on himself but also on him who had been the means of placing him in +such a position: and knowing that his friend Anselmo heard him he spoke +in such a way as to make a listener feel much more pity for him than for +Camilla, even though he supposed her dead. Leonela took her up in her +arms and laid her on the bed, entreating Lothario to go in quest of some +one to attend to her wound in secret, and at the same time asking his +advice and opinion as to what they should say to Anselmo about his lady's +wound if he should chance to return before it was healed. He replied they +might say what they liked, for he was not in a state to give advice that +would be of any use; all he could tell her was to try and stanch the +blood, as he was going where he should never more be seen; and with every +appearance of deep grief and sorrow he left the house; but when he found +himself alone, and where there was nobody to see him, he crossed himself +unceasingly, lost in wonder at the adroitness of Camilla and the +consistent acting of Leonela. He reflected how convinced Anselmo would be +that he had a second Portia for a wife, and he looked forward anxiously +to meeting him in order to rejoice together over falsehood and truth the +most craftily veiled that could be imagined. + +Leonela, as he told her, stanched her lady's blood, which was no more +than sufficed to support her deception; and washing the wound with a +little wine she bound it up to the best of her skill, talking all the +time she was tending her in a strain that, even if nothing else had been +said before, would have been enough to assure Anselmo that he had in +Camilla a model of purity. To Leonela's words Camilla added her own, +calling herself cowardly and wanting in spirit, since she had not enough +at the time she had most need of it to rid herself of the life she so +much loathed. She asked her attendant's advice as to whether or not she +ought to inform her beloved husband of all that had happened, but the +other bade her say nothing about it, as she would lay upon him the +obligation of taking vengeance on Lothario, which he could not do but at +great risk to himself; and it was the duty of a true wife not to give her +husband provocation to quarrel, but, on the contrary, to remove it as far +as possible from him. + +Camilla replied that she believed she was right and that she would follow +her advice, but at any rate it would be well to consider how she was to +explain the wound to Anselmo, for he could not help seeing it; to which +Leonela answered that she did not know how to tell a lie even in jest. + +"How then can I know, my dear?" said Camilla, "for I should not dare to +forge or keep up a falsehood if my life depended on it. If we can think +of no escape from this difficulty, it will be better to tell him the +plain truth than that he should find us out in an untrue story." + +"Be not uneasy, senora," said Leonela; "between this and to-morrow I will +think of what we must say to him, and perhaps the wound being where it is +it can be hidden from his sight, and Heaven will be pleased to aid us in +a purpose so good and honourable. Compose yourself, senora, and endeavour +to calm your excitement lest my lord find you agitated; and leave the +rest to my care and God's, who always supports good intentions." + +Anselmo had with the deepest attention listened to and seen played out +the tragedy of the death of his honour, which the performers acted with +such wonderfully effective truth that it seemed as if they had become the +realities of the parts they played. He longed for night and an +opportunity of escaping from the house to go and see his good friend +Lothario, and with him give vent to his joy over the precious pearl he +had gained in having established his wife's purity. Both mistress and +maid took care to give him time and opportunity to get away, and taking +advantage of it he made his escape, and at once went in quest of +Lothario, and it would be impossible to describe how he embraced him when +he found him, and the things he said to him in the joy of his heart, and +the praises he bestowed upon Camilla; all which Lothario listened to +without being able to show any pleasure, for he could not forget how +deceived his friend was, and how dishonourably he had wronged him; and +though Anselmo could see that Lothario was not glad, still he imagined it +was only because he had left Camilla wounded and had been himself the +cause of it; and so among other things he told him not to be distressed +about Camilla's accident, for, as they had agreed to hide it from him, +the wound was evidently trifling; and that being so, he had no cause for +fear, but should henceforward be of good cheer and rejoice with him, +seeing that by his means and adroitness he found himself raised to the +greatest height of happiness that he could have ventured to hope for, and +desired no better pastime than making verses in praise of Camilla that +would preserve her name for all time to come. Lothario commended his +purpose, and promised on his own part to aid him in raising a monument so +glorious. + +And so Anselmo was left the most charmingly hoodwinked man there could be +in the world. He himself, persuaded he was conducting the instrument of +his glory, led home by the hand him who had been the utter destruction of +his good name; whom Camilla received with averted countenance, though +with smiles in her heart. The deception was carried on for some time, +until at the end of a few months Fortune turned her wheel and the guilt +which had been until then so skilfully concealed was published abroad, +and Anselmo paid with his life the penalty of his ill-advised curiosity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +WHICH TREATS OF THE HEROIC AND PRODIGIOUS BATTLE DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH +CERTAIN SKINS OF RED WINE, AND BRINGS THE NOVEL OF "THE ILL-ADVISED +CURIOSITY" TO A CLOSE + + +There remained but little more of the novel to be read, when Sancho Panza +burst forth in wild excitement from the garret where Don Quixote was +lying, shouting, "Run, sirs! quick; and help my master, who is in the +thick of the toughest and stiffest battle I ever laid eyes on. By the +living God he has given the giant, the enemy of my lady the Princess +Micomicona, such a slash that he has sliced his head clean off as if it +were a turnip." + +"What are you talking about, brother?" said the curate, pausing as he was +about to read the remainder of the novel. "Are you in your senses, +Sancho? How the devil can it be as you say, when the giant is two +thousand leagues away?" + +Here they heard a loud noise in the chamber, and Don Quixote shouting +out, "Stand, thief, brigand, villain; now I have got thee, and thy +scimitar shall not avail thee!" And then it seemed as though he were +slashing vigorously at the wall. + +"Don't stop to listen," said Sancho, "but go in and part them or help my +master: though there is no need of that now, for no doubt the giant is +dead by this time and giving account to God of his past wicked life; for +I saw the blood flowing on the ground, and the head cut off and fallen on +one side, and it is as big as a large wine-skin." + +"May I die," said the landlord at this, "if Don Quixote or Don Devil has +not been slashing some of the skins of red wine that stand full at his +bed's head, and the spilt wine must be what this good fellow takes for +blood;" and so saying he went into the room and the rest after him, and +there they found Don Quixote in the strangest costume in the world. He +was in his shirt, which was not long enough in front to cover his thighs +completely and was six fingers shorter behind; his legs were very long +and lean, covered with hair, and anything but clean; on his head he had a +little greasy red cap that belonged to the host, round his left arm he +had rolled the blanket of the bed, to which Sancho, for reasons best +known to himself, owed a grudge, and in his right hand he held his +unsheathed sword, with which he was slashing about on all sides, uttering +exclamations as if he were actually fighting some giant: and the best of +it was his eyes were not open, for he was fast asleep, and dreaming that +he was doing battle with the giant. For his imagination was so wrought +upon by the adventure he was going to accomplish, that it made him dream +he had already reached the kingdom of Micomicon, and was engaged in +combat with his enemy; and believing he was laying on the giant, he had +given so many sword cuts to the skins that the whole room was full of +wine. On seeing this the landlord was so enraged that he fell on Don +Quixote, and with his clenched fist began to pummel him in such a way, +that if Cardenio and the curate had not dragged him off, he would have +brought the war of the giant to an end. But in spite of all the poor +gentleman never woke until the barber brought a great pot of cold water +from the well and flung it with one dash all over his body, on which Don +Quixote woke up, but not so completely as to understand what was the +matter. Dorothea, seeing how short and slight his attire was, would not +go in to witness the battle between her champion and her opponent. As for +Sancho, he went searching all over the floor for the head of the giant, +and not finding it he said, "I see now that it's all enchantment in this +house; for the last time, on this very spot where I am now, I got ever so +many thumps without knowing who gave them to me, or being able to see +anybody; and now this head is not to be seen anywhere about, though I saw +it cut off with my own eyes and the blood running from the body as if +from a fountain." + +"What blood and fountains are you talking about, enemy of God and his +saints?" said the landlord. "Don't you see, you thief, that the blood and +the fountain are only these skins here that have been stabbed and the red +wine swimming all over the room?--and I wish I saw the soul of him that +stabbed them swimming in hell." + +"I know nothing about that," said Sancho; "all I know is it will be my +bad luck that through not finding this head my county will melt away like +salt in water;"--for Sancho awake was worse than his master asleep, so +much had his master's promises addled his wits. + +The landlord was beside himself at the coolness of the squire and the +mischievous doings of the master, and swore it should not be like the +last time when they went without paying; and that their privileges of +chivalry should not hold good this time to let one or other of them off +without paying, even to the cost of the plugs that would have to be put +to the damaged wine-skins. The curate was holding Don Quixote's hands, +who, fancying he had now ended the adventure and was in the presence of +the Princess Micomicona, knelt before the curate and said, "Exalted and +beauteous lady, your highness may live from this day forth fearless of +any harm this base being could do you; and I too from this day forth am +released from the promise I gave you, since by the help of God on high +and by the favour of her by whom I live and breathe, I have fulfilled it +so successfully." + +"Did not I say so?" said Sancho on hearing this. "You see I wasn't drunk; +there you see my master has already salted the giant; there's no doubt +about the bulls; my county is all right!" + +Who could have helped laughing at the absurdities of the pair, master and +man? And laugh they did, all except the landlord, who cursed himself; but +at length the barber, Cardenio, and the curate contrived with no small +trouble to get Don Quixote on the bed, and he fell asleep with every +appearance of excessive weariness. They left him to sleep, and came out +to the gate of the inn to console Sancho Panza on not having found the +head of the giant; but much more work had they to appease the landlord, +who was furious at the sudden death of his wine-skins; and said the +landlady half scolding, half crying, "At an evil moment and in an unlucky +hour he came into my house, this knight-errant--would that I had never +set eyes on him, for dear he has cost me; the last time he went off with +the overnight score against him for supper, bed, straw, and barley, for +himself and his squire and a hack and an ass, saying he was a knight +adventurer--God send unlucky adventures to him and all the adventurers in +the world--and therefore not bound to pay anything, for it was so settled +by the knight-errantry tariff: and then, all because of him, came the +other gentleman and carried off my tail, and gives it back more than two +cuartillos the worse, all stripped of its hair, so that it is no use for +my husband's purpose; and then, for a finishing touch to all, to burst my +wine-skins and spill my wine! I wish I saw his own blood spilt! But let +him not deceive himself, for, by the bones of my father and the shade of +my mother, they shall pay me down every quarts; or my name is not what it +is, and I am not my father's daughter." All this and more to the same +effect the landlady delivered with great irritation, and her good maid +Maritornes backed her up, while the daughter held her peace and smiled +from time to time. The curate smoothed matters by promising to make good +all losses to the best of his power, not only as regarded the wine-skins +but also the wine, and above all the depreciation of the tail which they +set such store by. Dorothea comforted Sancho, telling him that she +pledged herself, as soon as it should appear certain that his master had +decapitated the giant, and she found herself peacefully established in +her kingdom, to bestow upon him the best county there was in it. With +this Sancho consoled himself, and assured the princess she might rely +upon it that he had seen the head of the giant, and more by token it had +a beard that reached to the girdle, and that if it was not to be seen now +it was because everything that happened in that house went by +enchantment, as he himself had proved the last time he had lodged there. +Dorothea said she fully believed it, and that he need not be uneasy, for +all would go well and turn out as he wished. All therefore being +appeased, the curate was anxious to go on with the novel, as he saw there +was but little more left to read. Dorothea and the others begged him to +finish it, and he, as he was willing to please them, and enjoyed reading +it himself, continued the tale in these words: + +The result was, that from the confidence Anselmo felt in Camilla's +virtue, he lived happy and free from anxiety, and Camilla purposely +looked coldly on Lothario, that Anselmo might suppose her feelings +towards him to be the opposite of what they were; and the better to +support the position, Lothario begged to be excused from coming to the +house, as the displeasure with which Camilla regarded his presence was +plain to be seen. But the befooled Anselmo said he would on no account +allow such a thing, and so in a thousand ways he became the author of his +own dishonour, while he believed he was insuring his happiness. Meanwhile +the satisfaction with which Leonela saw herself empowered to carry on her +amour reached such a height that, regardless of everything else, she +followed her inclinations unrestrainedly, feeling confident that her +mistress would screen her, and even show her how to manage it safely. At +last one night Anselmo heard footsteps in Leonela's room, and on trying +to enter to see who it was, he found that the door was held against him, +which made him all the more determined to open it; and exerting his +strength he forced it open, and entered the room in time to see a man +leaping through the window into the street. He ran quickly to seize him +or discover who he was, but he was unable to effect either purpose, for +Leonela flung her arms round him crying, "Be calm, senor; do not give way +to passion or follow him who has escaped from this; he belongs to me, and +in fact he is my husband." + +Anselmo would not believe it, but blind with rage drew a dagger and +threatened to stab Leonela, bidding her tell the truth or he would kill +her. She, in her fear, not knowing what she was saying, exclaimed, "Do +not kill me, senor, for I can tell you things more important than any you +can imagine." + +"Tell me then at once or thou diest," said Anselmo. + +"It would be impossible for me now," said Leonela, "I am so agitated: +leave me till to-morrow, and then you shall hear from me what will fill +you with astonishment; but rest assured that he who leaped through the +window is a young man of this city, who has given me his promise to +become my husband." + +Anselmo was appeased with this, and was content to wait the time she +asked of him, for he never expected to hear anything against Camilla, so +satisfied and sure of her virtue was he; and so he quitted the room, and +left Leonela locked in, telling her she should not come out until she had +told him all she had to make known to him. He went at once to see +Camilla, and tell her, as he did, all that had passed between him and her +handmaid, and the promise she had given him to inform him matters of +serious importance. + +There is no need of saying whether Camilla was agitated or not, for so +great was her fear and dismay, that, making sure, as she had good reason +to do, that Leonela would tell Anselmo all she knew of her faithlessness, +she had not the courage to wait and see if her suspicions were confirmed; +and that same night, as soon as she thought that Anselmo was asleep, she +packed up the most valuable jewels she had and some money, and without +being observed by anybody escaped from the house and betook herself to +Lothario's, to whom she related what had occurred, imploring him to +convey her to some place of safety or fly with her where they might be +safe from Anselmo. The state of perplexity to which Camilla reduced +Lothario was such that he was unable to utter a word in reply, still less +to decide upon what he should do. At length he resolved to conduct her to +a convent of which a sister of his was prioress; Camilla agreed to this, +and with the speed which the circumstances demanded, Lothario took her to +the convent and left her there, and then himself quitted the city without +letting anyone know of his departure. + +As soon as daylight came Anselmo, without missing Camilla from his side, +rose cager to learn what Leonela had to tell him, and hastened to the +room where he had locked her in. He opened the door, entered, but found +no Leonela; all he found was some sheets knotted to the window, a plain +proof that she had let herself down from it and escaped. He returned, +uneasy, to tell Camilla, but not finding her in bed or anywhere in the +house he was lost in amazement. He asked the servants of the house about +her, but none of them could give him any explanation. As he was going in +search of Camilla it happened by chance that he observed her boxes were +lying open, and that the greater part of her jewels were gone; and now he +became fully aware of his disgrace, and that Leonela was not the cause of +his misfortune; and, just as he was, without delaying to dress himself +completely, he repaired, sad at heart and dejected, to his friend +Lothario to make known his sorrow to him; but when he failed to find him +and the servants reported that he had been absent from his house all +night and had taken with him all the money he had, he felt as though he +were losing his senses; and to make all complete on returning to his own +house he found it deserted and empty, not one of all his servants, male +or female, remaining in it. He knew not what to think, or say, or do, and +his reason seemed to be deserting him little by little. He reviewed his +position, and saw himself in a moment left without wife, friend, or +servants, abandoned, he felt, by the heaven above him, and more than all +robbed of his honour, for in Camilla's disappearance he saw his own ruin. +After long reflection he resolved at last to go to his friend's village, +where he had been staying when he afforded opportunities for the +contrivance of this complication of misfortune. He locked the doors of +his house, mounted his horse, and with a broken spirit set out on his +journey; but he had hardly gone half-way when, harassed by his +reflections, he had to dismount and tie his horse to a tree, at the foot +of which he threw himself, giving vent to piteous heartrending sighs; and +there he remained till nearly nightfall, when he observed a man +approaching on horseback from the city, of whom, after saluting him, he +asked what was the news in Florence. + +The citizen replied, "The strangest that have been heard for many a day; +for it is reported abroad that Lothario, the great friend of the wealthy +Anselmo, who lived at San Giovanni, carried off last night Camilla, the +wife of Anselmo, who also has disappeared. All this has been told by a +maid-servant of Camilla's, whom the governor found last night lowering +herself by a sheet from the windows of Anselmo's house. I know not +indeed, precisely, how the affair came to pass; all I know is that the +whole city is wondering at the occurrence, for no one could have expected +a thing of the kind, seeing the great and intimate friendship that +existed between them, so great, they say, that they were called 'The Two +Friends.'" + +"Is it known at all," said Anselmo, "what road Lothario and Camilla +took?" + +"Not in the least," said the citizen, "though the governor has been very +active in searching for them." + +"God speed you, senor," said Anselmo. + +"God be with you," said the citizen and went his way. + +This disastrous intelligence almost robbed Anselmo not only of his senses +but of his life. He got up as well as he was able and reached the house +of his friend, who as yet knew nothing of his misfortune, but seeing him +come pale, worn, and haggard, perceived that he was suffering some heavy +affliction. Anselmo at once begged to be allowed to retire to rest, and +to be given writing materials. His wish was complied with and he was left +lying down and alone, for he desired this, and even that the door should +be locked. Finding himself alone he so took to heart the thought of his +misfortune that by the signs of death he felt within him he knew well his +life was drawing to a close, and therefore he resolved to leave behind +him a declaration of the cause of his strange end. He began to write, but +before he had put down all he meant to say, his breath failed him and he +yielded up his life, a victim to the suffering which his ill-advised +curiosity had entailed upon him. The master of the house observing that +it was now late and that Anselmo did not call, determined to go in and +ascertain if his indisposition was increasing, and found him lying on his +face, his body partly in the bed, partly on the writing-table, on which +he lay with the written paper open and the pen still in his hand. Having +first called to him without receiving any answer, his host approached +him, and taking him by the hand, found that it was cold, and saw that he +was dead. Greatly surprised and distressed he summoned the household to +witness the sad fate which had befallen Anselmo; and then he read the +paper, the handwriting of which he recognised as his, and which contained +these words: + +"A foolish and ill-advised desire has robbed me of life. If the news of +my death should reach the ears of Camilla, let her know that I forgive +her, for she was not bound to perform miracles, nor ought I to have +required her to perform them; and since I have been the author of my own +dishonour, there is no reason why-" + +So far Anselmo had written, and thus it was plain that at this point, +before he could finish what he had to say, his life came to an end. The +next day his friend sent intelligence of his death to his relatives, who +had already ascertained his misfortune, as well as the convent where +Camilla lay almost on the point of accompanying her husband on that +inevitable journey, not on account of the tidings of his death, but +because of those she received of her lover's departure. Although she saw +herself a widow, it is said she refused either to quit the convent or +take the veil, until, not long afterwards, intelligence reached her that +Lothario had been killed in a battle in which M. de Lautrec had been +recently engaged with the Great Captain Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova in +the kingdom of Naples, whither her too late repentant lover had repaired. +On learning this Camilla took the veil, and shortly afterwards died, worn +out by grief and melancholy. This was the end of all three, an end that +came of a thoughtless beginning. + +"I like this novel," said the curate; "but I cannot persuade myself of +its truth; and if it has been invented, the author's invention is faulty, +for it is impossible to imagine any husband so foolish as to try such a +costly experiment as Anselmo's. If it had been represented as occurring +between a gallant and his mistress it might pass; but between husband and +wife there is something of an impossibility about it. As to the way in +which the story is told, however, I have no fault to find." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +WHICH TREATS OF MORE CURIOUS INCIDENTS THAT OCCURRED AT THE INN + + +Just at that instant the landlord, who was standing at the gate of the +inn, exclaimed, "Here comes a fine troop of guests; if they stop here we +may say gaudeamus." + +"What are they?" said Cardenio. + +"Four men," said the landlord, "riding a la jineta, with lances and +bucklers, and all with black veils, and with them there is a woman in +white on a side-saddle, whose face is also veiled, and two attendants on +foot." + +"Are they very near?" said the curate. + +"So near," answered the landlord, "that here they come." + +Hearing this Dorothea covered her face, and Cardenio retreated into Don +Quixote's room, and they hardly had time to do so before the whole party +the host had described entered the inn, and the four that were on +horseback, who were of highbred appearance and bearing, dismounted, and +came forward to take down the woman who rode on the side-saddle, and one +of them taking her in his arms placed her in a chair that stood at the +entrance of the room where Cardenio had hidden himself. All this time +neither she nor they had removed their veils or spoken a word, only on +sitting down on the chair the woman gave a deep sigh and let her arms +fall like one that was ill and weak. The attendants on foot then led the +horses away to the stable. Observing this the curate, curious to know who +these people in such a dress and preserving such silence were, went to +where the servants were standing and put the question to one of them, who +answered him. + +"Faith, sir, I cannot tell you who they are, I only know they seem to be +people of distinction, particularly he who advanced to take the lady you +saw in his arms; and I say so because all the rest show him respect, and +nothing is done except what he directs and orders." + +"And the lady, who is she?" asked the curate. + +"That I cannot tell you either," said the servant, "for I have not seen +her face all the way: I have indeed heard her sigh many times and utter +such groans that she seems to be giving up the ghost every time; but it +is no wonder if we do not know more than we have told you, as my comrade +and I have only been in their company two days, for having met us on the +road they begged and persuaded us to accompany them to Andalusia, +promising to pay us well." + +"And have you heard any of them called by his name?" asked the curate. + +"No, indeed," replied the servant; "they all preserve a marvellous +silence on the road, for not a sound is to be heard among them except the +poor lady's sighs and sobs, which make us pity her; and we feel sure that +wherever it is she is going, it is against her will, and as far as one +can judge from her dress she is a nun or, what is more likely, about to +become one; and perhaps it is because taking the vows is not of her own +free will, that she is so unhappy as she seems to be." + +"That may well be," said the curate, and leaving them he returned to +where Dorothea was, who, hearing the veiled lady sigh, moved by natural +compassion drew near to her and said, "What are you suffering from, +senora? If it be anything that women are accustomed and know how to +relieve, I offer you my services with all my heart." + +To this the unhappy lady made no reply; and though Dorothea repeated her +offers more earnestly she still kept silence, until the gentleman with +the veil, who, the servant said, was obeyed by the rest, approached and +said to Dorothea, "Do not give yourself the trouble, senora, of making +any offers to that woman, for it is her way to give no thanks for +anything that is done for her; and do not try to make her answer unless +you want to hear some lie from her lips." + +"I have never told a lie," was the immediate reply of her who had been +silent until now; "on the contrary, it is because I am so truthful and so +ignorant of lying devices that I am now in this miserable condition; and +this I call you yourself to witness, for it is my unstained truth that +has made you false and a liar." + +Cardenio heard these words clearly and distinctly, being quite close to +the speaker, for there was only the door of Don Quixote's room between +them, and the instant he did so, uttering a loud exclamation he cried, +"Good God! what is this I hear? What voice is this that has reached my +ears?" Startled at the voice the lady turned her head; and not seeing the +speaker she stood up and attempted to enter the room; observing which the +gentleman held her back, preventing her from moving a step. In her +agitation and sudden movement the silk with which she had covered her +face fell off and disclosed a countenance of incomparable and marvellous +beauty, but pale and terrified; for she kept turning her eyes, everywhere +she could direct her gaze, with an eagerness that made her look as if she +had lost her senses, and so marked that it excited the pity of Dorothea +and all who beheld her, though they knew not what caused it. The +gentleman grasped her firmly by the shoulders, and being so fully +occupied with holding her back, he was unable to put a hand to his veil +which was falling off, as it did at length entirely, and Dorothea, who +was holding the lady in her arms, raising her eyes saw that he who +likewise held her was her husband, Don Fernando. The instant she +recognised him, with a prolonged plaintive cry drawn from the depths of +her heart, she fell backwards fainting, and but for the barber being +close by to catch her in his arms, she would have fallen completely to +the ground. The curate at once hastened to uncover her face and throw +water on it, and as he did so Don Fernando, for he it was who held the +other in his arms, recognised her and stood as if death-stricken by the +sight; not, however, relaxing his grasp of Luscinda, for it was she that +was struggling to release herself from his hold, having recognised +Cardenio by his voice, as he had recognised her. Cardenio also heard +Dorothea's cry as she fell fainting, and imagining that it came from his +Luscinda burst forth in terror from the room, and the first thing he saw +was Don Fernando with Luscinda in his arms. Don Fernando, too, knew +Cardenio at once; and all three, Luscinda, Cardenio, and Dorothea, stood +in silent amazement scarcely knowing what had happened to them. + +They gazed at one another without speaking, Dorothea at Don Fernando, Don +Fernando at Cardenio, Cardenio at Luscinda, and Luscinda at Cardenio. The +first to break silence was Luscinda, who thus addressed Don Fernando: +"Leave me, Senor Don Fernando, for the sake of what you owe to yourself; +if no other reason will induce you, leave me to cling to the wall of +which I am the ivy, to the support from which neither your importunities, +nor your threats, nor your promises, nor your gifts have been able to +detach me. See how Heaven, by ways strange and hidden from our sight, has +brought me face to face with my true husband; and well you know by +dear-bought experience that death alone will be able to efface him from +my memory. May this plain declaration, then, lead you, as you can do +nothing else, to turn your love into rage, your affection into +resentment, and so to take my life; for if I yield it up in the presence +of my beloved husband I count it well bestowed; it may be by my death he +will be convinced that I kept my faith to him to the last moment of +life." + +Meanwhile Dorothea had come to herself, and had heard Luscinda's words, +by means of which she divined who she was; but seeing that Don Fernando +did not yet release her or reply to her, summoning up her resolution as +well as she could she rose and knelt at his feet, and with a flood of +bright and touching tears addressed him thus: + +"If, my lord, the beams of that sun that thou holdest eclipsed in thine +arms did not dazzle and rob thine eyes of sight thou wouldst have seen by +this time that she who kneels at thy feet is, so long as thou wilt have +it so, the unhappy and unfortunate Dorothea. I am that lowly peasant girl +whom thou in thy goodness or for thy pleasure wouldst raise high enough +to call herself thine; I am she who in the seclusion of innocence led a +contented life until at the voice of thy importunity, and thy true and +tender passion, as it seemed, she opened the gates of her modesty and +surrendered to thee the keys of her liberty; a gift received by thee but +thanklessly, as is clearly shown by my forced retreat to the place where +thou dost find me, and by thy appearance under the circumstances in which +I see thee. Nevertheless, I would not have thee suppose that I have come +here driven by my shame; it is only grief and sorrow at seeing myself +forgotten by thee that have led me. It was thy will to make me thine, and +thou didst so follow thy will, that now, even though thou repentest, thou +canst not help being mine. Bethink thee, my lord, the unsurpassable +affection I bear thee may compensate for the beauty and noble birth for +which thou wouldst desert me. Thou canst not be the fair Luscinda's +because thou art mine, nor can she be thine because she is Cardenio's; +and it will be easier, remember, to bend thy will to love one who adores +thee, than to lead one to love thee who abhors thee now. Thou didst +address thyself to my simplicity, thou didst lay siege to my virtue, thou +wert not ignorant of my station, well dost thou know how I yielded wholly +to thy will; there is no ground or reason for thee to plead deception, +and if it be so, as it is, and if thou art a Christian as thou art a +gentleman, why dost thou by such subterfuges put off making me as happy +at last as thou didst at first? And if thou wilt not have me for what I +am, thy true and lawful wife, at least take and accept me as thy slave, +for so long as I am thine I will count myself happy and fortunate. Do not +by deserting me let my shame become the talk of the gossips in the +streets; make not the old age of my parents miserable; for the loyal +services they as faithful vassals have ever rendered thine are not +deserving of such a return; and if thou thinkest it will debase thy blood +to mingle it with mine, reflect that there is little or no nobility in +the world that has not travelled the same road, and that in illustrious +lineages it is not the woman's blood that is of account; and, moreover, +that true nobility consists in virtue, and if thou art wanting in that, +refusing me what in justice thou owest me, then even I have higher claims +to nobility than thine. To make an end, senor, these are my last words to +thee: whether thou wilt, or wilt not, I am thy wife; witness thy words, +which must not and ought not to be false, if thou dost pride thyself on +that for want of which thou scornest me; witness the pledge which thou +didst give me, and witness Heaven, which thou thyself didst call to +witness the promise thou hadst made me; and if all this fail, thy own +conscience will not fail to lift up its silent voice in the midst of all +thy gaiety, and vindicate the truth of what I say and mar thy highest +pleasure and enjoyment." + +All this and more the injured Dorothea delivered with such earnest +feeling and such tears that all present, even those who came with Don +Fernando, were constrained to join her in them. Don Fernando listened to +her without replying, until, ceasing to speak, she gave way to such sobs +and sighs that it must have been a heart of brass that was not softened +by the sight of so great sorrow. Luscinda stood regarding her with no +less compassion for her sufferings than admiration for her intelligence +and beauty, and would have gone to her to say some words of comfort to +her, but was prevented by Don Fernando's grasp which held her fast. He, +overwhelmed with confusion and astonishment, after regarding Dorothea for +some moments with a fixed gaze, opened his arms, and, releasing Luscinda, +exclaimed: + +"Thou hast conquered, fair Dorothea, thou hast conquered, for it is +impossible to have the heart to deny the united force of so many truths." + +Luscinda in her feebleness was on the point of falling to the ground when +Don Fernando released her, but Cardenio, who stood near, having retreated +behind Don Fernando to escape recognition, casting fear aside and +regardless of what might happen, ran forward to support her, and said as +he clasped her in his arms, "If Heaven in its compassion is willing to +let thee rest at last, mistress of my heart, true, constant, and fair, +nowhere canst thou rest more safely than in these arms that now receive +thee, and received thee before when fortune permitted me to call thee +mine." + +At these words Luscinda looked up at Cardenio, at first beginning to +recognise him by his voice and then satisfying herself by her eyes that +it was he, and hardly knowing what she did, and heedless of all +considerations of decorum, she flung her arms around his neck and +pressing her face close to his, said, "Yes, my dear lord, you are the +true master of this your slave, even though adverse fate interpose again, +and fresh dangers threaten this life that hangs on yours." + +A strange sight was this for Don Fernando and those that stood around, +filled with surprise at an incident so unlooked for. Dorothea fancied +that Don Fernando changed colour and looked as though he meant to take +vengeance on Cardenio, for she observed him put his hand to his sword; +and the instant the idea struck her, with wonderful quickness she clasped +him round the knees, and kissing them and holding him so as to prevent +his moving, she said, while her tears continued to flow, "What is it thou +wouldst do, my only refuge, in this unforeseen event? Thou hast thy wife +at thy feet, and she whom thou wouldst have for thy wife is in the arms +of her husband: reflect whether it will be right for thee, whether it +will be possible for thee to undo what Heaven has done, or whether it +will be becoming in thee to seek to raise her to be thy mate who in spite +of every obstacle, and strong in her truth and constancy, is before thine +eyes, bathing with the tears of love the face and bosom of her lawful +husband. For God's sake I entreat of thee, for thine own I implore thee, +let not this open manifestation rouse thy anger; but rather so calm it as +to allow these two lovers to live in peace and quiet without any +interference from thee so long as Heaven permits them; and in so doing +thou wilt prove the generosity of thy lofty noble spirit, and the world +shall see that with thee reason has more influence than passion." + +All the time Dorothea was speaking, Cardenio, though he held Luscinda in +his arms, never took his eyes off Don Fernando, determined, if he saw him +make any hostile movement, to try and defend himself and resist as best +he could all who might assail him, though it should cost him his life. +But now Don Fernando's friends, as well as the curate and the barber, who +had been present all the while, not forgetting the worthy Sancho Panza, +ran forward and gathered round Don Fernando, entreating him to have +regard for the tears of Dorothea, and not suffer her reasonable hopes to +be disappointed, since, as they firmly believed, what she said was but +the truth; and bidding him observe that it was not, as it might seem, by +accident, but by a special disposition of Providence that they had all +met in a place where no one could have expected a meeting. And the curate +bade him remember that only death could part Luscinda from Cardenio; that +even if some sword were to separate them they would think their death +most happy; and that in a case that admitted of no remedy his wisest +course was, by conquering and putting a constraint upon himself, to show +a generous mind, and of his own accord suffer these two to enjoy the +happiness Heaven had granted them. He bade him, too, turn his eyes upon +the beauty of Dorothea and he would see that few if any could equal much +less excel her; while to that beauty should be added her modesty and the +surpassing love she bore him. But besides all this, he reminded him that +if he prided himself on being a gentleman and a Christian, he could not +do otherwise than keep his plighted word; and that in doing so he would +obey God and meet the approval of all sensible people, who know and +recognised it to be the privilege of beauty, even in one of humble birth, +provided virtue accompany it, to be able to raise itself to the level of +any rank, without any slur upon him who places it upon an equality with +himself; and furthermore that when the potent sway of passion asserts +itself, so long as there be no mixture of sin in it, he is not to be +blamed who gives way to it. + +To be brief, they added to these such other forcible arguments that Don +Fernando's manly heart, being after all nourished by noble blood, was +touched, and yielded to the truth which, even had he wished it, he could +not gainsay; and he showed his submission, and acceptance of the good +advice that had been offered to him, by stooping down and embracing +Dorothea, saying to her, "Rise, dear lady, it is not right that what I +hold in my heart should be kneeling at my feet; and if until now I have +shown no sign of what I own, it may have been by Heaven's decree in order +that, seeing the constancy with which you love me, I may learn to value +you as you deserve. What I entreat of you is that you reproach me not +with my transgression and grievous wrong-doing; for the same cause and +force that drove me to make you mine impelled me to struggle against +being yours; and to prove this, turn and look at the eyes of the now +happy Luscinda, and you will see in them an excuse for all my errors: and +as she has found and gained the object of her desires, and I have found +in you what satisfies all my wishes, may she live in peace and +contentment as many happy years with her Cardenio, as on my knees I pray +Heaven to allow me to live with my Dorothea;" and with these words he +once more embraced her and pressed his face to hers with so much +tenderness that he had to take great heed to keep his tears from +completing the proof of his love and repentance in the sight of all. Not +so Luscinda, and Cardenio, and almost all the others, for they shed so +many tears, some in their own happiness, some at that of the others, that +one would have supposed a heavy calamity had fallen upon them all. Even +Sancho Panza was weeping; though afterwards he said he only wept because +he saw that Dorothea was not as he fancied the queen Micomicona, of whom +he expected such great favours. Their wonder as well as their weeping +lasted some time, and then Cardenio and Luscinda went and fell on their +knees before Don Fernando, returning him thanks for the favour he had +rendered them in language so grateful that he knew not how to answer +them, and raising them up embraced them with every mark of affection and +courtesy. + +He then asked Dorothea how she had managed to reach a place so far +removed from her own home, and she in a few fitting words told all that +she had previously related to Cardenio, with which Don Fernando and his +companions were so delighted that they wished the story had been longer; +so charmingly did Dorothea describe her misadventures. When she had +finished Don Fernando recounted what had befallen him in the city after +he had found in Luscinda's bosom the paper in which she declared that she +was Cardenio's wife, and never could be his. He said he meant to kill +her, and would have done so had he not been prevented by her parents, and +that he quitted the house full of rage and shame, and resolved to avenge +himself when a more convenient opportunity should offer. The next day he +learned that Luscinda had disappeared from her father's house, and that +no one could tell whither she had gone. Finally, at the end of some +months he ascertained that she was in a convent and meant to remain there +all the rest of her life, if she were not to share it with Cardenio; and +as soon as he had learned this, taking these three gentlemen as his +companions, he arrived at the place where she was, but avoided speaking +to her, fearing that if it were known he was there stricter precautions +would be taken in the convent; and watching a time when the porter's +lodge was open he left two to guard the gate, and he and the other +entered the convent in quest of Luscinda, whom they found in the +cloisters in conversation with one of the nuns, and carrying her off +without giving her time to resist, they reached a place with her where +they provided themselves with what they required for taking her away; all +which they were able to do in complete safety, as the convent was in the +country at a considerable distance from the city. He added that when +Luscinda found herself in his power she lost all consciousness, and after +returning to herself did nothing but weep and sigh without speaking a +word; and thus in silence and tears they reached that inn, which for him +was reaching heaven where all the mischances of earth are over and at an +end. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +IN WHICH IS CONTINUED THE STORY OF THE FAMOUS PRINCESS MICOMICONA, WITH +OTHER DROLL ADVENTURES + + +To all this Sancho listened with no little sorrow at heart to see how his +hopes of dignity were fading away and vanishing in smoke, and how the +fair Princess Micomicona had turned into Dorothea, and the giant into Don +Fernando, while his master was sleeping tranquilly, totally unconscious +of all that had come to pass. Dorothea was unable to persuade herself +that her present happiness was not all a dream; Cardenio was in a similar +state of mind, and Luscinda's thoughts ran in the same direction. Don +Fernando gave thanks to Heaven for the favour shown to him and for having +been rescued from the intricate labyrinth in which he had been brought so +near the destruction of his good name and of his soul; and in short +everybody in the inn was full of contentment and satisfaction at the +happy issue of such a complicated and hopeless business. The curate as a +sensible man made sound reflections upon the whole affair, and +congratulated each upon his good fortune; but the one that was in the +highest spirits and good humour was the landlady, because of the promise +Cardenio and the curate had given her to pay for all the losses and +damage she had sustained through Don Quixote's means. Sancho, as has been +already said, was the only one who was distressed, unhappy, and dejected; +and so with a long face he went in to his master, who had just awoke, and +said to him: + +"Sir Rueful Countenance, your worship may as well sleep on as much as you +like, without troubling yourself about killing any giant or restoring her +kingdom to the princess; for that is all over and settled now." + +"I should think it was," replied Don Quixote, "for I have had the most +prodigious and stupendous battle with the giant that I ever remember +having had all the days of my life; and with one back-stroke-swish!--I +brought his head tumbling to the ground, and so much blood gushed forth +from him that it ran in rivulets over the earth like water." + +"Like red wine, your worship had better say," replied Sancho; "for I +would have you know, if you don't know it, that the dead giant is a +hacked wine-skin, and the blood four-and-twenty gallons of red wine that +it had in its belly, and the cut-off head is the bitch that bore me; and +the devil take it all." + +"What art thou talking about, fool?" said Don Quixote; "art thou in thy +senses?" + +"Let your worship get up," said Sancho, "and you will see the nice +business you have made of it, and what we have to pay; and you will see +the queen turned into a private lady called Dorothea, and other things +that will astonish you, if you understand them." + +"I shall not be surprised at anything of the kind," returned Don Quixote; +"for if thou dost remember the last time we were here I told thee that +everything that happened here was a matter of enchantment, and it would +be no wonder if it were the same now." + +"I could believe all that," replied Sancho, "if my blanketing was the +same sort of thing also; only it wasn't, but real and genuine; for I saw +the landlord, Who is here to-day, holding one end of the blanket and +jerking me up to the skies very neatly and smartly, and with as much +laughter as strength; and when it comes to be a case of knowing people, I +hold for my part, simple and sinner as I am, that there is no enchantment +about it at all, but a great deal of bruising and bad luck." + +"Well, well, God will give a remedy," said Don Quixote; "hand me my +clothes and let me go out, for I want to see these transformations and +things thou speakest of." + +Sancho fetched him his clothes; and while he was dressing, the curate +gave Don Fernando and the others present an account of Don Quixote's +madness and of the stratagem they had made use of to withdraw him from +that Pena Pobre where he fancied himself stationed because of his lady's +scorn. He described to them also nearly all the adventures that Sancho +had mentioned, at which they marvelled and laughed not a little, thinking +it, as all did, the strangest form of madness a crazy intellect could be +capable of. But now, the curate said, that the lady Dorothea's good +fortune prevented her from proceeding with their purpose, it would be +necessary to devise or discover some other way of getting him home. + +Cardenio proposed to carry out the scheme they had begun, and suggested +that Luscinda would act and support Dorothea's part sufficiently well. + +"No," said Don Fernando, "that must not be, for I want Dorothea to follow +out this idea of hers; and if the worthy gentleman's village is not very +far off, I shall be happy if I can do anything for his relief." + +"It is not more than two days' journey from this," said the curate. + +"Even if it were more," said Don Fernando, "I would gladly travel so far +for the sake of doing so good a work. + +"At this moment Don Quixote came out in full panoply, with Mambrino's +helmet, all dinted as it was, on his head, his buckler on his arm, and +leaning on his staff or pike. The strange figure he presented filled Don +Fernando and the rest with amazement as they contemplated his lean yellow +face half a league long, his armour of all sorts, and the solemnity of +his deportment. They stood silent waiting to see what he would say, and +he, fixing his eyes on the air Dorothea, addressed her with great gravity +and composure: + +"I am informed, fair lady, by my squire here that your greatness has been +annihilated and your being abolished, since, from a queen and lady of +high degree as you used to be, you have been turned into a private +maiden. If this has been done by the command of the magician king your +father, through fear that I should not afford you the aid you need and +are entitled to, I may tell you he did not know and does not know half +the mass, and was little versed in the annals of chivalry; for, if he had +read and gone through them as attentively and deliberately as I have, he +would have found at every turn that knights of less renown than mine have +accomplished things more difficult: it is no great matter to kill a whelp +of a giant, however arrogant he may be; for it is not many hours since I +myself was engaged with one, and-I will not speak of it, that they may +not say I am lying; time, however, that reveals all, will tell the tale +when we least expect it." + +"You were engaged with a couple of wine-skins, and not a giant," said the +landlord at this; but Don Fernando told him to hold his tongue and on no +account interrupt Don Quixote, who continued, "I say in conclusion, high +and disinherited lady, that if your father has brought about this +metamorphosis in your person for the reason I have mentioned, you ought +not to attach any importance to it; for there is no peril on earth +through which my sword will not force a way, and with it, before many +days are over, I will bring your enemy's head to the ground and place on +yours the crown of your kingdom." + +Don Quixote said no more, and waited for the reply of the princess, who +aware of Don Fernando's determination to carry on the deception until Don +Quixote had been conveyed to his home, with great ease of manner and +gravity made answer, "Whoever told you, valiant Knight of the Rueful +Countenance, that I had undergone any change or transformation did not +tell you the truth, for I am the same as I was yesterday. It is true that +certain strokes of good fortune, that have given me more than I could +have hoped for, have made some alteration in me; but I have not therefore +ceased to be what I was before, or to entertain the same desire I have +had all through of availing myself of the might of your valiant and +invincible arm. And so, senor, let your goodness reinstate the father +that begot me in your good opinion, and be assured that he was a wise and +prudent man, since by his craft he found out such a sure and easy way of +remedying my misfortune; for I believe, senor, that had it not been for +you I should never have lit upon the good fortune I now possess; and in +this I am saying what is perfectly true; as most of these gentlemen who +are present can fully testify. All that remains is to set out on our +journey to-morrow, for to-day we could not make much way; and for the +rest of the happy result I am looking forward to, I trust to God and the +valour of your heart." + +So said the sprightly Dorothea, and on hearing her Don Quixote turned to +Sancho, and said to him, with an angry air, "I declare now, little +Sancho, thou art the greatest little villain in Spain. Say, thief and +vagabond, hast thou not just now told me that this princess had been +turned into a maiden called Dorothea, and that the head which I am +persuaded I cut off from a giant was the bitch that bore thee, and other +nonsense that put me in the greatest perplexity I have ever been in all +my life? I vow" (and here he looked to heaven and ground his teeth) "I +have a mind to play the mischief with thee, in a way that will teach +sense for the future to all lying squires of knights-errant in the +world." + +"Let your worship be calm, senor," returned Sancho, "for it may well be +that I have been mistaken as to the change of the lady princess +Micomicona; but as to the giant's head, or at least as to the piercing of +the wine-skins, and the blood being red wine, I make no mistake, as sure +as there is a God; because the wounded skins are there at the head of +your worship's bed, and the wine has made a lake of the room; if not you +will see when the eggs come to be fried; I mean when his worship the +landlord calls for all the damages: for the rest, I am heartily glad that +her ladyship the queen is as she was, for it concerns me as much as +anyone." + +"I tell thee again, Sancho, thou art a fool," said Don Quixote; "forgive +me, and that will do." + +"That will do," said Don Fernando; "let us say no more about it; and as +her ladyship the princess proposes to set out to-morrow because it is too +late to-day, so be it, and we will pass the night in pleasant +conversation, and to-morrow we will all accompany Senor Don Quixote; for +we wish to witness the valiant and unparalleled achievements he is about +to perform in the course of this mighty enterprise which he has +undertaken." + +"It is I who shall wait upon and accompany you," said Don Quixote; "and I +am much gratified by the favour that is bestowed upon me, and the good +opinion entertained of me, which I shall strive to justify or it shall +cost me my life, or even more, if it can possibly cost me more." + +Many were the compliments and expressions of politeness that passed +between Don Quixote and Don Fernando; but they were brought to an end by +a traveller who at this moment entered the inn, and who seemed from his +attire to be a Christian lately come from the country of the Moors, for +he was dressed in a short-skirted coat of blue cloth with half-sleeves +and without a collar; his breeches were also of blue cloth, and his cap +of the same colour, and he wore yellow buskins and had a Moorish cutlass +slung from a baldric across his breast. Behind him, mounted upon an ass, +there came a woman dressed in Moorish fashion, with her face veiled and a +scarf on her head, and wearing a little brocaded cap, and a mantle that +covered her from her shoulders to her feet. The man was of a robust and +well-proportioned frame, in age a little over forty, rather swarthy in +complexion, with long moustaches and a full beard, and, in short, his +appearance was such that if he had been well dressed he would have been +taken for a person of quality and good birth. On entering he asked for a +room, and when they told him there was none in the inn he seemed +distressed, and approaching her who by her dress seemed to be a Moor he +her down from saddle in his arms. Luscinda, Dorothea, the landlady, her +daughter and Maritornes, attracted by the strange, and to them entirely +new costume, gathered round her; and Dorothea, who was always kindly, +courteous, and quick-witted, perceiving that both she and the man who had +brought her were annoyed at not finding a room, said to her, "Do not be +put out, senora, by the discomfort and want of luxuries here, for it is +the way of road-side inns to be without them; still, if you will be +pleased to share our lodging with us (pointing to Luscinda) perhaps you +will have found worse accommodation in the course of your journey." + +To this the veiled lady made no reply; all she did was to rise from her +seat, crossing her hands upon her bosom, bowing her head and bending her +body as a sign that she returned thanks. From her silence they concluded +that she must be a Moor and unable to speak a Christian tongue. + +At this moment the captive came up, having been until now otherwise +engaged, and seeing that they all stood round his companion and that she +made no reply to what they addressed to her, he said, "Ladies, this +damsel hardly understands my language and can speak none but that of her +own country, for which reason she does not and cannot answer what has +been asked of her." + +"Nothing has been asked of her," returned Luscinda; "she has only been +offered our company for this evening and a share of the quarters we +occupy, where she shall be made as comfortable as the circumstances +allow, with the good-will we are bound to show all strangers that stand +in need of it, especially if it be a woman to whom the service is +rendered." + +"On her part and my own, senora," replied the captive, "I kiss your +hands, and I esteem highly, as I ought, the favour you have offered, +which, on such an occasion and coming from persons of your appearance, +is, it is plain to see, a very great one." + +"Tell me, senor," said Dorothea, "is this lady a Christian or a Moor? for +her dress and her silence lead us to imagine that she is what we could +wish she was not." + +"In dress and outwardly," said he, "she is a Moor, but at heart she is a +thoroughly good Christian, for she has the greatest desire to become +one." + +"Then she has not been baptised?" returned Luscinda. + +"There has been no opportunity for that," replied the captive, "since she +left Algiers, her native country and home; and up to the present she has +not found herself in any such imminent danger of death as to make it +necessary to baptise her before she has been instructed in all the +ceremonies our holy mother Church ordains; but, please God, ere long she +shall be baptised with the solemnity befitting her which is higher than +her dress or mine indicates." + +By these words he excited a desire in all who heard him, to know who the +Moorish lady and the captive were, but no one liked to ask just then, +seeing that it was a fitter moment for helping them to rest themselves +than for questioning them about their lives. Dorothea took the Moorish +lady by the hand and leading her to a seat beside herself, requested her +to remove her veil. She looked at the captive as if to ask him what they +meant and what she was to do. He said to her in Arabic that they asked +her to take off her veil, and thereupon she removed it and disclosed a +countenance so lovely, that to Dorothea she seemed more beautiful than +Luscinda, and to Luscinda more beautiful than Dorothea, and all the +bystanders felt that if any beauty could compare with theirs it was the +Moorish lady's, and there were even those who were inclined to give it +somewhat the preference. And as it is the privilege and charm of beauty +to win the heart and secure good-will, all forthwith became eager to show +kindness and attention to the lovely Moor. + +Don Fernando asked the captive what her name was, and he replied that it +was Lela Zoraida; but the instant she heard him, she guessed what the +Christian had asked, and said hastily, with some displeasure and energy, +"No, not Zoraida; Maria, Maria!" giving them to understand that she was +called "Maria" and not "Zoraida." These words, and the touching +earnestness with which she uttered them, drew more than one tear from +some of the listeners, particularly the women, who are by nature +tender-hearted and compassionate. Luscinda embraced her affectionately, +saying, "Yes, yes, Maria, Maria," to which the Moor replied, "Yes, yes, +Maria; Zoraida macange," which means "not Zoraida." + +Night was now approaching, and by the orders of those who accompanied Don +Fernando the landlord had taken care and pains to prepare for them the +best supper that was in his power. The hour therefore having arrived they +all took their seats at a long table like a refectory one, for round or +square table there was none in the inn, and the seat of honour at the +head of it, though he was for refusing it, they assigned to Don Quixote, +who desired the lady Micomicona to place herself by his side, as he was +her protector. Luscinda and Zoraida took their places next her, opposite +to them were Don Fernando and Cardenio, and next the captive and the +other gentlemen, and by the side of the ladies, the curate and the +barber. And so they supped in high enjoyment, which was increased when +they observed Don Quixote leave off eating, and, moved by an impulse like +that which made him deliver himself at such length when he supped with +the goatherds, begin to address them: + +"Verily, gentlemen, if we reflect upon it, great and marvellous are the +things they see, who make profession of the order of knight-errantry. +Say, what being is there in this world, who entering the gate of this +castle at this moment, and seeing us as we are here, would suppose or +imagine us to be what we are? Who would say that this lady who is beside +me was the great queen that we all know her to be, or that I am that +Knight of the Rueful Countenance, trumpeted far and wide by the mouth of +Fame? Now, there can be no doubt that this art and calling surpasses all +those that mankind has invented, and is the more deserving of being held +in honour in proportion as it is the more exposed to peril. Away with +those who assert that letters have the preeminence over arms; I will tell +them, whosoever they may be, that they know not what they say. For the +reason which such persons commonly assign, and upon which they chiefly +rest, is, that the labours of the mind are greater than those of the +body, and that arms give employment to the body alone; as if the calling +were a porter's trade, for which nothing more is required than sturdy +strength; or as if, in what we who profess them call arms, there were not +included acts of vigour for the execution of which high intelligence is +requisite; or as if the soul of the warrior, when he has an army, or the +defence of a city under his care, did not exert itself as much by mind as +by body. Nay; see whether by bodily strength it be possible to learn or +divine the intentions of the enemy, his plans, stratagems, or obstacles, +or to ward off impending mischief; for all these are the work of the +mind, and in them the body has no share whatever. Since, therefore, arms +have need of the mind, as much as letters, let us see now which of the +two minds, that of the man of letters or that of the warrior, has most to +do; and this will be seen by the end and goal that each seeks to attain; +for that purpose is the more estimable which has for its aim the nobler +object. The end and goal of letters--I am not speaking now of divine +letters, the aim of which is to raise and direct the soul to Heaven; for +with an end so infinite no other can be compared--I speak of human +letters, the end of which is to establish distributive justice, give to +every man that which is his, and see and take care that good laws are +observed: an end undoubtedly noble, lofty, and deserving of high praise, +but not such as should be given to that sought by arms, which have for +their end and object peace, the greatest boon that men can desire in this +life. The first good news the world and mankind received was that which +the angels announced on the night that was our day, when they sang in the +air, 'Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of +good-will;' and the salutation which the great Master of heaven and earth +taught his disciples and chosen followers when they entered any house, +was to say, 'Peace be on this house;' and many other times he said to +them, 'My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave you, peace be with +you;' a jewel and a precious gift given and left by such a hand: a jewel +without which there can be no happiness either on earth or in heaven. +This peace is the true end of war; and war is only another name for arms. +This, then, being admitted, that the end of war is peace, and that so far +it has the advantage of the end of letters, let us turn to the bodily +labours of the man of letters, and those of him who follows the +profession of arms, and see which are the greater." + +Don Quixote delivered his discourse in such a manner and in such correct +language, that for the time being he made it impossible for any of his +hearers to consider him a madman; on the contrary, as they were mostly +gentlemen, to whom arms are an appurtenance by birth, they listened to +him with great pleasure as he continued: "Here, then, I say is what the +student has to undergo; first of all poverty: not that all are poor, but +to put the case as strongly as possible: and when I have said that he +endures poverty, I think nothing more need be said about his hard +fortune, for he who is poor has no share of the good things of life. This +poverty he suffers from in various ways, hunger, or cold, or nakedness, +or all together; but for all that it is not so extreme but that he gets +something to eat, though it may be at somewhat unseasonable hours and +from the leavings of the rich; for the greatest misery of the student is +what they themselves call 'going out for soup,' and there is always some +neighbour's brazier or hearth for them, which, if it does not warm, at +least tempers the cold to them, and lastly, they sleep comfortably at +night under a roof. I will not go into other particulars, as for example +want of shirts, and no superabundance of shoes, thin and threadbare +garments, and gorging themselves to surfeit in their voracity when good +luck has treated them to a banquet of some sort. By this road that I have +described, rough and hard, stumbling here, falling there, getting up +again to fall again, they reach the rank they desire, and that once +attained, we have seen many who have passed these Syrtes and Scyllas and +Charybdises, as if borne flying on the wings of favouring fortune; we +have seen them, I say, ruling and governing the world from a chair, their +hunger turned into satiety, their cold into comfort, their nakedness into +fine raiment, their sleep on a mat into repose in holland and damask, the +justly earned reward of their virtue; but, contrasted and compared with +what the warrior undergoes, all they have undergone falls far short of +it, as I am now about to show." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +WHICH TREATS OF THE CURIOUS DISCOURSE DON QUIXOTE DELIVERED ON ARMS AND +LETTERS + + +Continuing his discourse Don Quixote said: "As we began in the student's +case with poverty and its accompaniments, let us see now if the soldier +is richer, and we shall find that in poverty itself there is no one +poorer; for he is dependent on his miserable pay, which comes late or +never, or else on what he can plunder, seriously imperilling his life and +conscience; and sometimes his nakedness will be so great that a slashed +doublet serves him for uniform and shirt, and in the depth of winter he +has to defend himself against the inclemency of the weather in the open +field with nothing better than the breath of his mouth, which I need not +say, coming from an empty place, must come out cold, contrary to the laws +of nature. To be sure he looks forward to the approach of night to make +up for all these discomforts on the bed that awaits him, which, unless by +some fault of his, never sins by being over narrow, for he can easily +measure out on the ground as he likes, and roll himself about in it to +his heart's content without any fear of the sheets slipping away from +him. Then, after all this, suppose the day and hour for taking his degree +in his calling to have come; suppose the day of battle to have arrived, +when they invest him with the doctor's cap made of lint, to mend some +bullet-hole, perhaps, that has gone through his temples, or left him with +a crippled arm or leg. Or if this does not happen, and merciful Heaven +watches over him and keeps him safe and sound, it may be he will be in +the same poverty he was in before, and he must go through more +engagements and more battles, and come victorious out of all before he +betters himself; but miracles of that sort are seldom seen. For tell me, +sirs, if you have ever reflected upon it, by how much do those who have +gained by war fall short of the number of those who have perished in it? +No doubt you will reply that there can be no comparison, that the dead +cannot be numbered, while the living who have been rewarded may be summed +up with three figures. All which is the reverse in the case of men of +letters; for by skirts, to say nothing of sleeves, they all find means of +support; so that though the soldier has more to endure, his reward is +much less. But against all this it may be urged that it is easier to +reward two thousand soldiers, for the former may be remunerated by giving +them places, which must perforce be conferred upon men of their calling, +while the latter can only be recompensed out of the very property of the +master they serve; but this impossibility only strengthens my argument. + +"Putting this, however, aside, for it is a puzzling question for which it +is difficult to find a solution, let us return to the superiority of arms +over letters, a matter still undecided, so many are the arguments put +forward on each side; for besides those I have mentioned, letters say +that without them arms cannot maintain themselves, for war, too, has its +laws and is governed by them, and laws belong to the domain of letters +and men of letters. To this arms make answer that without them laws +cannot be maintained, for by arms states are defended, kingdoms +preserved, cities protected, roads made safe, seas cleared of pirates; +and, in short, if it were not for them, states, kingdoms, monarchies, +cities, ways by sea and land would be exposed to the violence and +confusion which war brings with it, so long as it lasts and is free to +make use of its privileges and powers. And then it is plain that whatever +costs most is valued and deserves to be valued most. To attain to +eminence in letters costs a man time, watching, hunger, nakedness, +headaches, indigestions, and other things of the sort, some of which I +have already referred to. But for a man to come in the ordinary course of +things to be a good soldier costs him all the student suffers, and in an +incomparably higher degree, for at every step he runs the risk of losing +his life. For what dread of want or poverty that can reach or harass the +student can compare with what the soldier feels, who finds himself +beleaguered in some stronghold mounting guard in some ravelin or +cavalier, knows that the enemy is pushing a mine towards the post where +he is stationed, and cannot under any circumstances retire or fly from +the imminent danger that threatens him? All he can do is to inform his +captain of what is going on so that he may try to remedy it by a +counter-mine, and then stand his ground in fear and expectation of the +moment when he will fly up to the clouds without wings and descend into +the deep against his will. And if this seems a trifling risk, let us see +whether it is equalled or surpassed by the encounter of two galleys stem +to stem, in the midst of the open sea, locked and entangled one with the +other, when the soldier has no more standing room than two feet of the +plank of the spur; and yet, though he sees before him threatening him as +many ministers of death as there are cannon of the foe pointed at him, +not a lance length from his body, and sees too that with the first +heedless step he will go down to visit the profundities of Neptune's +bosom, still with dauntless heart, urged on by honour that nerves him, he +makes himself a target for all that musketry, and struggles to cross that +narrow path to the enemy's ship. And what is still more marvellous, no +sooner has one gone down into the depths he will never rise from till the +end of the world, than another takes his place; and if he too falls into +the sea that waits for him like an enemy, another and another will +succeed him without a moment's pause between their deaths: courage and +daring the greatest that all the chances of war can show. Happy the blest +ages that knew not the dread fury of those devilish engines of artillery, +whose inventor I am persuaded is in hell receiving the reward of his +diabolical invention, by which he made it easy for a base and cowardly +arm to take the life of a gallant gentleman; and that, when he knows not +how or whence, in the height of the ardour and enthusiasm that fire and +animate brave hearts, there should come some random bullet, discharged +perhaps by one who fled in terror at the flash when he fired off his +accursed machine, which in an instant puts an end to the projects and +cuts off the life of one who deserved to live for ages to come. And thus +when I reflect on this, I am almost tempted to say that in my heart I +repent of having adopted this profession of knight-errant in so +detestable an age as we live in now; for though no peril can make me +fear, still it gives me some uneasiness to think that powder and lead may +rob me of the opportunity of making myself famous and renowned throughout +the known earth by the might of my arm and the edge of my sword. But +Heaven's will be done; if I succeed in my attempt I shall be all the more +honoured, as I have faced greater dangers than the knights-errant of yore +exposed themselves to." + +All this lengthy discourse Don Quixote delivered while the others supped, +forgetting to raise a morsel to his lips, though Sancho more than once +told him to eat his supper, as he would have time enough afterwards to +say all he wanted. It excited fresh pity in those who had heard him to +see a man of apparently sound sense, and with rational views on every +subject he discussed, so hopelessly wanting in all, when his wretched +unlucky chivalry was in question. The curate told him he was quite right +in all he had said in favour of arms, and that he himself, though a man +of letters and a graduate, was of the same opinion. + +They finished their supper, the cloth was removed, and while the hostess, +her daughter, and Maritornes were getting Don Quixote of La Mancha's +garret ready, in which it was arranged that the women were to be +quartered by themselves for the night, Don Fernando begged the captive to +tell them the story of his life, for it could not fail to be strange and +interesting, to judge by the hints he had let fall on his arrival in +company with Zoraida. To this the captive replied that he would very +willingly yield to his request, only he feared his tale would not give +them as much pleasure as he wished; nevertheless, not to be wanting in +compliance, he would tell it. The curate and the others thanked him and +added their entreaties, and he finding himself so pressed said there was +no occasion ask, where a command had such weight, and added, "If your +worships will give me your attention you will hear a true story which, +perhaps, fictitious ones constructed with ingenious and studied art +cannot come up to." These words made them settle themselves in their +places and preserve a deep silence, and he seeing them waiting on his +words in mute expectation, began thus in a pleasant quiet voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +WHEREIN THE CAPTIVE RELATES HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES + + +My family had its origin in a village in the mountains of Leon, and +nature had been kinder and more generous to it than fortune; though in +the general poverty of those communities my father passed for being even +a rich man; and he would have been so in reality had he been as clever in +preserving his property as he was in spending it. This tendency of his to +be liberal and profuse he had acquired from having been a soldier in his +youth, for the soldier's life is a school in which the niggard becomes +free-handed and the free-handed prodigal; and if any soldiers are to be +found who are misers, they are monsters of rare occurrence. My father +went beyond liberality and bordered on prodigality, a disposition by no +means advantageous to a married man who has children to succeed to his +name and position. My father had three, all sons, and all of sufficient +age to make choice of a profession. Finding, then, that he was unable to +resist his propensity, he resolved to divest himself of the instrument +and cause of his prodigality and lavishness, to divest himself of wealth, +without which Alexander himself would have seemed parsimonious; and so +calling us all three aside one day into a room, he addressed us in words +somewhat to the following effect: + +"My sons, to assure you that I love you, no more need be known or said +than that you are my sons; and to encourage a suspicion that I do not +love you, no more is needed than the knowledge that I have no +self-control as far as preservation of your patrimony is concerned; +therefore, that you may for the future feel sure that I love you like a +father, and have no wish to ruin you like a stepfather, I propose to do +with you what I have for some time back meditated, and after mature +deliberation decided upon. You are now of an age to choose your line of +life or at least make choice of a calling that will bring you honour and +profit when you are older; and what I have resolved to do is to divide my +property into four parts; three I will give to you, to each his portion +without making any difference, and the other I will retain to live upon +and support myself for whatever remainder of life Heaven may be pleased +to grant me. But I wish each of you on taking possession of the share +that falls to him to follow one of the paths I shall indicate. In this +Spain of ours there is a proverb, to my mind very true--as they all are, +being short aphorisms drawn from long practical experience--and the one I +refer to says, 'The church, or the sea, or the king's house;' as much as +to say, in plainer language, whoever wants to flourish and become rich, +let him follow the church, or go to sea, adopting commerce as his +calling, or go into the king's service in his household, for they say, +'Better a king's crumb than a lord's favour.' I say so because it is my +will and pleasure that one of you should follow letters, another trade, +and the third serve the king in the wars, for it is a difficult matter to +gain admission to his service in his household, and if war does not bring +much wealth it confers great distinction and fame. Eight days hence I +will give you your full shares in money, without defrauding you of a +farthing, as you will see in the end. Now tell me if you are willing to +follow out my idea and advice as I have laid it before you." + +Having called upon me as the eldest to answer, I, after urging him not to +strip himself of his property but to spend it all as he pleased, for we +were young men able to gain our living, consented to comply with his +wishes, and said that mine were to follow the profession of arms and +thereby serve God and my king. My second brother having made the same +proposal, decided upon going to the Indies, embarking the portion that +fell to him in trade. The youngest, and in my opinion the wisest, said he +would rather follow the church, or go to complete his studies at +Salamanca. As soon as we had come to an understanding, and made choice of +our professions, my father embraced us all, and in the short time he +mentioned carried into effect all he had promised; and when he had given +to each his share, which as well as I remember was three thousand ducats +apiece in cash (for an uncle of ours bought the estate and paid for it +down, not to let it go out of the family), we all three on the same day +took leave of our good father; and at the same time, as it seemed to me +inhuman to leave my father with such scanty means in his old age, I +induced him to take two of my three thousand ducats, as the remainder +would be enough to provide me with all a soldier needed. My two brothers, +moved by my example, gave him each a thousand ducats, so that there was +left for my father four thousand ducats in money, besides three thousand, +the value of the portion that fell to him which he preferred to retain in +land instead of selling it. Finally, as I said, we took leave of him, and +of our uncle whom I have mentioned, not without sorrow and tears on both +sides, they charging us to let them know whenever an opportunity offered +how we fared, whether well or ill. We promised to do so, and when he had +embraced us and given us his blessing, one set out for Salamanca, the +other for Seville, and I for Alicante, where I had heard there was a +Genoese vessel taking in a cargo of wool for Genoa. + +It is now some twenty-two years since I left my father's house, and all +that time, though I have written several letters, I have had no news +whatever of him or of my brothers; my own adventures during that period I +will now relate briefly. I embarked at Alicante, reached Genoa after a +prosperous voyage, and proceeded thence to Milan, where I provided myself +with arms and a few soldier's accoutrements; thence it was my intention +to go and take service in Piedmont, but as I was already on the road to +Alessandria della Paglia, I learned that the great Duke of Alva was on +his way to Flanders. I changed my plans, joined him, served under him in +the campaigns he made, was present at the deaths of the Counts Egmont and +Horn, and was promoted to be ensign under a famous captain of +Guadalajara, Diego de Urbina by name. Some time after my arrival in +Flanders news came of the league that his Holiness Pope Pius V of happy +memory, had made with Venice and Spain against the common enemy, the +Turk, who had just then with his fleet taken the famous island of Cyprus, +which belonged to the Venetians, a loss deplorable and disastrous. It was +known as a fact that the Most Serene Don John of Austria, natural brother +of our good king Don Philip, was coming as commander-in-chief of the +allied forces, and rumours were abroad of the vast warlike preparations +which were being made, all which stirred my heart and filled me with a +longing to take part in the campaign which was expected; and though I had +reason to believe, and almost certain promises, that on the first +opportunity that presented itself I should be promoted to be captain, I +preferred to leave all and betake myself, as I did, to Italy; and it was +my good fortune that Don John had just arrived at Genoa, and was going on +to Naples to join the Venetian fleet, as he afterwards did at Messina. I +may say, in short, that I took part in that glorious expedition, promoted +by this time to be a captain of infantry, to which honourable charge my +good luck rather than my merits raised me; and that day--so fortunate for +Christendom, because then all the nations of the earth were disabused of +the error under which they lay in imagining the Turks to be invincible on +sea-on that day, I say, on which the Ottoman pride and arrogance were +broken, among all that were there made happy (for the Christians who died +that day were happier than those who remained alive and victorious) I +alone was miserable; for, instead of some naval crown that I might have +expected had it been in Roman times, on the night that followed that +famous day I found myself with fetters on my feet and manacles on my +hands. + +It happened in this way: El Uchali, the king of Algiers, a daring and +successful corsair, having attacked and taken the leading Maltese galley +(only three knights being left alive in it, and they badly wounded), the +chief galley of John Andrea, on board of which I and my company were +placed, came to its relief, and doing as was bound to do in such a case, +I leaped on board the enemy's galley, which, sheering off from that which +had attacked it, prevented my men from following me, and so I found +myself alone in the midst of my enemies, who were in such numbers that I +was unable to resist; in short I was taken, covered with wounds; El +Uchali, as you know, sirs, made his escape with his entire squadron, and +I was left a prisoner in his power, the only sad being among so many +filled with joy, and the only captive among so many free; for there were +fifteen thousand Christians, all at the oar in the Turkish fleet, that +regained their longed-for liberty that day. + +They carried me to Constantinople, where the Grand Turk, Selim, made my +master general at sea for having done his duty in the battle and carried +off as evidence of his bravery the standard of the Order of Malta. The +following year, which was the year seventy-two, I found myself at +Navarino rowing in the leading galley with the three lanterns. There I +saw and observed how the opportunity of capturing the whole Turkish fleet +in harbour was lost; for all the marines and janizzaries that belonged to +it made sure that they were about to be attacked inside the very harbour, +and had their kits and pasamaques, or shoes, ready to flee at once on +shore without waiting to be assailed, in so great fear did they stand of +our fleet. But Heaven ordered it otherwise, not for any fault or neglect +of the general who commanded on our side, but for the sins of +Christendom, and because it was God's will and pleasure that we should +always have instruments of punishment to chastise us. As it was, El +Uchali took refuge at Modon, which is an island near Navarino, and +landing forces fortified the mouth of the harbour and waited quietly +until Don John retired. On this expedition was taken the galley called +the Prize, whose captain was a son of the famous corsair Barbarossa. It +was taken by the chief Neapolitan galley called the She-wolf, commanded +by that thunderbolt of war, that father of his men, that successful and +unconquered captain Don Alvaro de Bazan, Marquis of Santa Cruz; and I +cannot help telling you what took place at the capture of the Prize. + +The son of Barbarossa was so cruel, and treated his slaves so badly, +that, when those who were at the oars saw that the She-wolf galley was +bearing down upon them and gaining upon them, they all at once dropped +their oars and seized their captain who stood on the stage at the end of +the gangway shouting to them to row lustily; and passing him on from +bench to bench, from the poop to the prow, they so bit him that before he +had got much past the mast his soul had already got to hell; so great, as +I said, was the cruelty with which he treated them, and the hatred with +which they hated him. + +We returned to Constantinople, and the following year, seventy-three, it +became known that Don John had seized Tunis and taken the kingdom from +the Turks, and placed Muley Hamet in possession, putting an end to the +hopes which Muley Hamida, the cruelest and bravest Moor in the world, +entertained of returning to reign there. The Grand Turk took the loss +greatly to heart, and with the cunning which all his race possess, he +made peace with the Venetians (who were much more eager for it than he +was), and the following year, seventy-four, he attacked the Goletta and +the fort which Don John had left half built near Tunis. While all these +events were occurring, I was labouring at the oar without any hope of +freedom; at least I had no hope of obtaining it by ransom, for I was +firmly resolved not to write to my father telling him of my misfortunes. +At length the Goletta fell, and the fort fell, before which places there +were seventy-five thousand regular Turkish soldiers, and more than four +hundred thousand Moors and Arabs from all parts of Africa, and in the +train of all this great host such munitions and engines of war, and so +many pioneers that with their hands they might have covered the Goletta +and the fort with handfuls of earth. The first to fall was the Goletta, +until then reckoned impregnable, and it fell, not by any fault of its +defenders, who did all that they could and should have done, but because +experiment proved how easily entrenchments could be made in the desert +sand there; for water used to be found at two palms depth, while the +Turks found none at two yards; and so by means of a quantity of sandbags +they raised their works so high that they commanded the walls of the +fort, sweeping them as if from a cavalier, so that no one was able to +make a stand or maintain the defence. + +It was a common opinion that our men should not have shut themselves up +in the Goletta, but should have waited in the open at the landing-place; +but those who say so talk at random and with little knowledge of such +matters; for if in the Goletta and in the fort there were barely seven +thousand soldiers, how could such a small number, however resolute, sally +out and hold their own against numbers like those of the enemy? And how +is it possible to help losing a stronghold that is not relieved, above +all when surrounded by a host of determined enemies in their own country? +But many thought, and I thought so too, that it was special favour and +mercy which Heaven showed to Spain in permitting the destruction of that +source and hiding place of mischief, that devourer, sponge, and moth of +countless money, fruitlessly wasted there to no other purpose save +preserving the memory of its capture by the invincible Charles V; as if +to make that eternal, as it is and will be, these stones were needed to +support it. The fort also fell; but the Turks had to win it inch by inch, +for the soldiers who defended it fought so gallantly and stoutly that the +number of the enemy killed in twenty-two general assaults exceeded +twenty-five thousand. Of three hundred that remained alive not one was +taken unwounded, a clear and manifest proof of their gallantry and +resolution, and how sturdily they had defended themselves and held their +post. A small fort or tower which was in the middle of the lagoon under +the command of Don Juan Zanoguera, a Valencian gentleman and a famous +soldier, capitulated upon terms. They took prisoner Don Pedro +Puertocarrero, commandant of the Goletta, who had done all in his power +to defend his fortress, and took the loss of it so much to heart that he +died of grief on the way to Constantinople, where they were carrying him +a prisoner. They also took the commandant of the fort, Gabrio Cerbellon +by name, a Milanese gentleman, a great engineer and a very brave soldier. +In these two fortresses perished many persons of note, among whom was +Pagano Doria, knight of the Order of St. John, a man of generous +disposition, as was shown by his extreme liberality to his brother, the +famous John Andrea Doria; and what made his death the more sad was that +he was slain by some Arabs to whom, seeing that the fort was now lost, he +entrusted himself, and who offered to conduct him in the disguise of a +Moor to Tabarca, a small fort or station on the coast held by the Genoese +employed in the coral fishery. These Arabs cut off his head and carried +it to the commander of the Turkish fleet, who proved on them the truth of +our Castilian proverb, that "though the treason may please, the traitor +is hated;" for they say he ordered those who brought him the present to +be hanged for not having brought him alive. + +Among the Christians who were taken in the fort was one named Don Pedro +de Aguilar, a native of some place, I know not what, in Andalusia, who +had been ensign in the fort, a soldier of great repute and rare +intelligence, who had in particular a special gift for what they call +poetry. I say so because his fate brought him to my galley and to my +bench, and made him a slave to the same master; and before we left the +port this gentleman composed two sonnets by way of epitaphs, one on the +Goletta and the other on the fort; indeed, I may as well repeat them, for +I have them by heart, and I think they will be liked rather than +disliked. + +The instant the captive mentioned the name of Don Pedro de Aguilar, Don +Fernando looked at his companions and they all three smiled; and when he +came to speak of the sonnets one of them said, "Before your worship +proceeds any further I entreat you to tell me what became of that Don +Pedro de Aguilar you have spoken of." + +"All I know is," replied the captive, "that after having been in +Constantinople two years, he escaped in the disguise of an Arnaut, in +company with a Greek spy; but whether he regained his liberty or not I +cannot tell, though I fancy he did, because a year afterwards I saw the +Greek at Constantinople, though I was unable to ask him what the result +of the journey was." + +"Well then, you are right," returned the gentleman, "for that Don Pedro +is my brother, and he is now in our village in good health, rich, +married, and with three children." + +"Thanks be to God for all the mercies he has shown him," said the +captive; "for to my mind there is no happiness on earth to compare with +recovering lost liberty." + +"And what is more," said the gentleman, "I know the sonnets my brother +made." + +"Then let your worship repeat them," said the captive, "for you will +recite them better than I can." + +"With all my heart," said the gentleman; "that on the Goletta runs thus." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +IN WHICH THE STORY OF THE CAPTIVE IS CONTINUED. + + +SONNET + +"Blest souls, that, from this mortal husk set free, + In guerdon of brave deeds beatified, + Above this lowly orb of ours abide +Made heirs of heaven and immortality, +With noble rage and ardour glowing ye + Your strength, while strength was yours, in battle plied, + And with your own blood and the foeman's dyed +The sandy soil and the encircling sea. +It was the ebbing life-blood first that failed +The weary arms; the stout hearts never quailed. + Though vanquished, yet ye earned the victor's crown: +Though mourned, yet still triumphant was your fall +For there ye won, between the sword and wall, + In Heaven glory and on earth renown." +"That is it exactly, according to my recollection," said the captive. + +"Well then, that on the fort," said the gentleman, "if my memory serves +me, goes thus: + +SONNET + +"Up from this wasted soil, this shattered shell, + Whose walls and towers here in ruin lie, + Three thousand soldier souls took wing on high, +In the bright mansions of the blest to dwell. +The onslaught of the foeman to repel + By might of arm all vainly did they try, + And when at length 'twas left them but to die, +Wearied and few the last defenders fell. +And this same arid soil hath ever been +A haunt of countless mournful memories, + As well in our day as in days of yore. +But never yet to Heaven it sent, I ween, +From its hard bosom purer souls than these, + Or braver bodies on its surface bore." + +The sonnets were not disliked, and the captive was rejoiced at the +tidings they gave him of his comrade, and continuing his tale, he went on +to say: + +The Goletta and the fort being thus in their hands, the Turks gave orders +to dismantle the Goletta--for the fort was reduced to such a state that +there was nothing left to level--and to do the work more quickly and +easily they mined it in three places; but nowhere were they able to blow +up the part which seemed to be the least strong, that is to say, the old +walls, while all that remained standing of the new fortifications that +the Fratin had made came to the ground with the greatest ease. Finally +the fleet returned victorious and triumphant to Constantinople, and a few +months later died my master, El Uchali, otherwise Uchali Fartax, which +means in Turkish "the scabby renegade;" for that he was; it is the +practice with the Turks to name people from some defect or virtue they +may possess; the reason being that there are among them only four +surnames belonging to families tracing their descent from the Ottoman +house, and the others, as I have said, take their names and surnames +either from bodily blemishes or moral qualities. This "scabby one" rowed +at the oar as a slave of the Grand Signor's for fourteen years, and when +over thirty-four years of age, in resentment at having been struck by a +Turk while at the oar, turned renegade and renounced his faith in order +to be able to revenge himself; and such was his valour that, without +owing his advancement to the base ways and means by which most favourites +of the Grand Signor rise to power, he came to be king of Algiers, and +afterwards general-on-sea, which is the third place of trust in the +realm. He was a Calabrian by birth, and a worthy man morally, and he +treated his slaves with great humanity. He had three thousand of them, +and after his death they were divided, as he directed by his will, +between the Grand Signor (who is heir of all who die and shares with the +children of the deceased) and his renegades. I fell to the lot of a +Venetian renegade who, when a cabin boy on board a ship, had been taken +by Uchali and was so much beloved by him that he became one of his most +favoured youths. He came to be the most cruel renegade I ever saw: his +name was Hassan Aga, and he grew very rich and became king of Algiers. +With him I went there from Constantinople, rather glad to be so near +Spain, not that I intended to write to anyone about my unhappy lot, but +to try if fortune would be kinder to me in Algiers than in +Constantinople, where I had attempted in a thousand ways to escape +without ever finding a favourable time or chance; but in Algiers I +resolved to seek for other means of effecting the purpose I cherished so +dearly; for the hope of obtaining my liberty never deserted me; and when +in my plots and schemes and attempts the result did not answer my +expectations, without giving way to despair I immediately began to look +out for or conjure up some new hope to support me, however faint or +feeble it might be. + +In this way I lived on immured in a building or prison called by the +Turks a bano in which they confine the Christian captives, as well those +that are the king's as those belonging to private individuals, and also +what they call those of the Almacen, which is as much as to say the +slaves of the municipality, who serve the city in the public works and +other employments; but captives of this kind recover their liberty with +great difficulty, for, as they are public property and have no particular +master, there is no one with whom to treat for their ransom, even though +they may have the means. To these banos, as I have said, some private +individuals of the town are in the habit of bringing their captives, +especially when they are to be ransomed; because there they can keep them +in safety and comfort until their ransom arrives. The king's captives +also, that are on ransom, do not go out to work with the rest of the +crew, unless when their ransom is delayed; for then, to make them write +for it more pressingly, they compel them to work and go for wood, which +is no light labour. + +I, however, was one of those on ransom, for when it was discovered that I +was a captain, although I declared my scanty means and want of fortune, +nothing could dissuade them from including me among the gentlemen and +those waiting to be ransomed. They put a chain on me, more as a mark of +this than to keep me safe, and so I passed my life in that bano with +several other gentlemen and persons of quality marked out as held to +ransom; but though at times, or rather almost always, we suffered from +hunger and scanty clothing, nothing distressed us so much as hearing and +seeing at every turn the unexampled and unheard-of cruelties my master +inflicted upon the Christians. Every day he hanged a man, impaled one, +cut off the ears of another; and all with so little provocation, or so +entirely without any, that the Turks acknowledged he did it merely for +the sake of doing it, and because he was by nature murderously disposed +towards the whole human race. The only one that fared at all well with +him was a Spanish soldier, something de Saavedra by name, to whom he +never gave a blow himself, or ordered a blow to be given, or addressed a +hard word, although he had done things that will dwell in the memory of +the people there for many a year, and all to recover his liberty; and for +the least of the many things he did we all dreaded that he would be +impaled, and he himself was in fear of it more than once; and only that +time does not allow, I could tell you now something of what that soldier +did, that would interest and astonish you much more than the narration of +my own tale. + +To go on with my story; the courtyard of our prison was overlooked by the +windows of the house belonging to a wealthy Moor of high position; and +these, as is usual in Moorish houses, were rather loopholes than windows, +and besides were covered with thick and close lattice-work. It so +happened, then, that as I was one day on the terrace of our prison with +three other comrades, trying, to pass away the time, how far we could +leap with our chains, we being alone, for all the other Christians had +gone out to work, I chanced to raise my eyes, and from one of these +little closed windows I saw a reed appear with a cloth attached to the +end of it, and it kept waving to and fro, and moving as if making signs +to us to come and take it. We watched it, and one of those who were with +me went and stood under the reed to see whether they would let it drop, +or what they would do, but as he did so the reed was raised and moved +from side to side, as if they meant to say "no" by a shake of the head. +The Christian came back, and it was again lowered, making the same +movements as before. Another of my comrades went, and with him the same +happened as with the first, and then the third went forward, but with the +same result as the first and second. Seeing this I did not like not to +try my luck, and as soon as I came under the reed it was dropped and fell +inside the bano at my feet. I hastened to untie the cloth, in which I +perceived a knot, and in this were ten cianis, which are coins of base +gold, current among the Moors, and each worth ten reals of our money. + +It is needless to say I rejoiced over this godsend, and my joy was not +less than my wonder as I strove to imagine how this good fortune could +have come to us, but to me specially; for the evident unwillingness to +drop the reed for any but me showed that it was for me the favour was +intended. I took my welcome money, broke the reed, and returned to the +terrace, and looking up at the window, I saw a very white hand put out +that opened and shut very quickly. From this we gathered or fancied that +it must be some woman living in that house that had done us this +kindness, and to show that we were grateful for it, we made salaams after +the fashion of the Moors, bowing the head, bending the body, and crossing +the arms on the breast. Shortly afterwards at the same window a small +cross made of reeds was put out and immediately withdrawn. This sign led +us to believe that some Christian woman was a captive in the house, and +that it was she who had been so good to us; but the whiteness of the hand +and the bracelets we had perceived made us dismiss that idea, though we +thought it might be one of the Christian renegades whom their masters +very often take as lawful wives, and gladly, for they prefer them to the +women of their own nation. In all our conjectures we were wide of the +truth; so from that time forward our sole occupation was watching and +gazing at the window where the cross had appeared to us, as if it were +our pole-star; but at least fifteen days passed without our seeing either +it or the hand, or any other sign and though meanwhile we endeavoured +with the utmost pains to ascertain who it was that lived in the house, +and whether there were any Christian renegade in it, nobody could ever +tell us anything more than that he who lived there was a rich Moor of +high position, Hadji Morato by name, formerly alcaide of La Pata, an +office of high dignity among them. But when we least thought it was going +to rain any more cianis from that quarter, we saw the reed suddenly +appear with another cloth tied in a larger knot attached to it, and this +at a time when, as on the former occasion, the bano was deserted and +unoccupied. + +We made trial as before, each of the same three going forward before I +did; but the reed was delivered to none but me, and on my approach it was +let drop. I untied the knot and I found forty Spanish gold crowns with a +paper written in Arabic, and at the end of the writing there was a large +cross drawn. I kissed the cross, took the crowns and returned to the +terrace, and we all made our salaams; again the hand appeared, I made +signs that I would read the paper, and then the window was closed. We +were all puzzled, though filled with joy at what had taken place; and as +none of us understood Arabic, great was our curiosity to know what the +paper contained, and still greater the difficulty of finding some one to +read it. At last I resolved to confide in a renegade, a native of Murcia, +who professed a very great friendship for me, and had given pledges that +bound him to keep any secret I might entrust to him; for it is the custom +with some renegades, when they intend to return to Christian territory, +to carry about them certificates from captives of mark testifying, in +whatever form they can, that such and such a renegade is a worthy man who +has always shown kindness to Christians, and is anxious to escape on the +first opportunity that may present itself. Some obtain these testimonials +with good intentions, others put them to a cunning use; for when they go +to pillage on Christian territory, if they chance to be cast away, or +taken prisoners, they produce their certificates and say that from these +papers may be seen the object they came for, which was to remain on +Christian ground, and that it was to this end they joined the Turks in +their foray. In this way they escape the consequences of the first +outburst and make their peace with the Church before it does them any +harm, and then when they have the chance they return to Barbary to become +what they were before. Others, however, there are who procure these +papers and make use of them honestly, and remain on Christian soil. This +friend of mine, then, was one of these renegades that I have described; +he had certificates from all our comrades, in which we testified in his +favour as strongly as we could; and if the Moors had found the papers +they would have burned him alive. + +I knew that he understood Arabic very well, and could not only speak but +also write it; but before I disclosed the whole matter to him, I asked +him to read for me this paper which I had found by accident in a hole in +my cell. He opened it and remained some time examining it and muttering +to himself as he translated it. I asked him if he understood it, and he +told me he did perfectly well, and that if I wished him to tell me its +meaning word for word, I must give him pen and ink that he might do it +more satisfactorily. We at once gave him what he required, and he set +about translating it bit by bit, and when he had done he said: + +"All that is here in Spanish is what the Moorish paper contains, and you +must bear in mind that when it says 'Lela Marien' it means 'Our Lady the +Virgin Mary.'" + +We read the paper and it ran thus: + +"When I was a child my father had a slave who taught me to pray the +Christian prayer in my own language, and told me many things about Lela +Marien. The Christian died, and I know that she did not go to the fire, +but to Allah, because since then I have seen her twice, and she told me +to go to the land of the Christians to see Lela Marien, who had great +love for me. I know not how to go. I have seen many Christians, but +except thyself none has seemed to me to be a gentleman. I am young and +beautiful, and have plenty of money to take with me. See if thou canst +contrive how we may go, and if thou wilt thou shalt be my husband there, +and if thou wilt not it will not distress me, for Lela Marien will find +me some one to marry me. I myself have written this: have a care to whom +thou givest it to read: trust no Moor, for they are all perfidious. I am +greatly troubled on this account, for I would not have thee confide in +anyone, because if my father knew it he would at once fling me down a +well and cover me with stones. I will put a thread to the reed; tie the +answer to it, and if thou hast no one to write for thee in Arabic, tell +it to me by signs, for Lela Marien will make me understand thee. She and +Allah and this cross, which I often kiss as the captive bade me, protect +thee." + +Judge, sirs, whether we had reason for surprise and joy at the words of +this paper; and both one and the other were so great, that the renegade +perceived that the paper had not been found by chance, but had been in +reality addressed to some one of us, and he begged us, if what he +suspected were the truth, to trust him and tell him all, for he would +risk his life for our freedom; and so saying he took out from his breast +a metal crucifix, and with many tears swore by the God the image +represented, in whom, sinful and wicked as he was, he truly and +faithfully believed, to be loyal to us and keep secret whatever we chose +to reveal to him; for he thought and almost foresaw that by means of her +who had written that paper, he and all of us would obtain our liberty, +and he himself obtain the object he so much desired, his restoration to +the bosom of the Holy Mother Church, from which by his own sin and +ignorance he was now severed like a corrupt limb. The renegade said this +with so many tears and such signs of repentance, that with one consent we +all agreed to tell him the whole truth of the matter, and so we gave him +a full account of all, without hiding anything from him. We pointed out +to him the window at which the reed appeared, and he by that means took +note of the house, and resolved to ascertain with particular care who +lived in it. We agreed also that it would be advisable to answer the +Moorish lady's letter, and the renegade without a moment's delay took +down the words I dictated to him, which were exactly what I shall tell +you, for nothing of importance that took place in this affair has escaped +my memory, or ever will while life lasts. This, then, was the answer +returned to the Moorish lady: + +"The true Allah protect thee, Lady, and that blessed Marien who is the +true mother of God, and who has put it into thy heart to go to the land +of the Christians, because she loves thee. Entreat her that she be +pleased to show thee how thou canst execute the command she gives thee, +for she will, such is her goodness. On my own part, and on that of all +these Christians who are with me, I promise to do all that we can for +thee, even to death. Fail not to write to me and inform me what thou dost +mean to do, and I will always answer thee; for the great Allah has given +us a Christian captive who can speak and write thy language well, as thou +mayest see by this paper; without fear, therefore, thou canst inform us +of all thou wouldst. As to what thou sayest, that if thou dost reach the +land of the Christians thou wilt be my wife, I give thee my promise upon +it as a good Christian; and know that the Christians keep their promises +better than the Moors. Allah and Marien his mother watch over thee, my +Lady." + +The paper being written and folded I waited two days until the bano was +empty as before, and immediately repaired to the usual walk on the +terrace to see if there were any sign of the reed, which was not long in +making its appearance. As soon as I saw it, although I could not +distinguish who put it out, I showed the paper as a sign to attach the +thread, but it was already fixed to the reed, and to it I tied the paper; +and shortly afterwards our star once more made its appearance with the +white flag of peace, the little bundle. It was dropped, and I picked it +up, and found in the cloth, in gold and silver coins of all sorts, more +than fifty crowns, which fifty times more strengthened our joy and +doubled our hope of gaining our liberty. That very night our renegade +returned and said he had learned that the Moor we had been told of lived +in that house, that his name was Hadji Morato, that he was enormously +rich, that he had one only daughter the heiress of all his wealth, and +that it was the general opinion throughout the city that she was the most +beautiful woman in Barbary, and that several of the viceroys who came +there had sought her for a wife, but that she had been always unwilling +to marry; and he had learned, moreover, that she had a Christian slave +who was now dead; all which agreed with the contents of the paper. We +immediately took counsel with the renegade as to what means would have to +be adopted in order to carry off the Moorish lady and bring us all to +Christian territory; and in the end it was agreed that for the present we +should wait for a second communication from Zoraida (for that was the +name of her who now desires to be called Maria), because we saw clearly +that she and no one else could find a way out of all these difficulties. +When we had decided upon this the renegade told us not to be uneasy, for +he would lose his life or restore us to liberty. For four days the bano +was filled with people, for which reason the reed delayed its appearance +for four days, but at the end of that time, when the bano was, as it +generally was, empty, it appeared with the cloth so bulky that it +promised a happy birth. Reed and cloth came down to me, and I found +another paper and a hundred crowns in gold, without any other coin. The +renegade was present, and in our cell we gave him the paper to read, +which was to this effect: + +"I cannot think of a plan, senor, for our going to Spain, nor has Lela +Marien shown me one, though I have asked her. All that can be done is for +me to give you plenty of money in gold from this window. With it ransom +yourself and your friends, and let one of you go to the land of the +Christians, and there buy a vessel and come back for the others; and he +will find me in my father's garden, which is at the Babazon gate near the +seashore, where I shall be all this summer with my father and my +servants. You can carry me away from there by night without any danger, +and bring me to the vessel. And remember thou art to be my husband, else +I will pray to Marien to punish thee. If thou canst not trust anyone to +go for the vessel, ransom thyself and do thou go, for I know thou wilt +return more surely than any other, as thou art a gentleman and a +Christian. Endeavour to make thyself acquainted with the garden; and when +I see thee walking yonder I shall know that the bano is empty and I will +give thee abundance of money. Allah protect thee, senor." + +These were the words and contents of the second paper, and on hearing +them, each declared himself willing to be the ransomed one, and promised +to go and return with scrupulous good faith; and I too made the same +offer; but to all this the renegade objected, saying that he would not on +any account consent to one being set free before all went together, as +experience had taught him how ill those who have been set free keep +promises which they made in captivity; for captives of distinction +frequently had recourse to this plan, paying the ransom of one who was to +go to Valencia or Majorca with money to enable him to arm a bark and +return for the others who had ransomed him, but who never came back; for +recovered liberty and the dread of losing it again efface from the memory +all the obligations in the world. And to prove the truth of what he said, +he told us briefly what had happened to a certain Christian gentleman +almost at that very time, the strangest case that had ever occurred even +there, where astonishing and marvellous things are happening every +instant. In short, he ended by saying that what could and ought to be +done was to give the money intended for the ransom of one of us +Christians to him, so that he might with it buy a vessel there in Algiers +under the pretence of becoming a merchant and trader at Tetuan and along +the coast; and when master of the vessel, it would be easy for him to hit +on some way of getting us all out of the bano and putting us on board; +especially if the Moorish lady gave, as she said, money enough to ransom +all, because once free it would be the easiest thing in the world for us +to embark even in open day; but the greatest difficulty was that the +Moors do not allow any renegade to buy or own any craft, unless it be a +large vessel for going on roving expeditions, because they are afraid +that anyone who buys a small vessel, especially if he be a Spaniard, only +wants it for the purpose of escaping to Christian territory. This however +he could get over by arranging with a Tagarin Moor to go shares with him +in the purchase of the vessel, and in the profit on the cargo; and under +cover of this he could become master of the vessel, in which case he +looked upon all the rest as accomplished. But though to me and my +comrades it had seemed a better plan to send to Majorca for the vessel, +as the Moorish lady suggested, we did not dare to oppose him, fearing +that if we did not do as he said he would denounce us, and place us in +danger of losing all our lives if he were to disclose our dealings with +Zoraida, for whose life we would have all given our own. We therefore +resolved to put ourselves in the hands of God and in the renegade's; and +at the same time an answer was given to Zoraida, telling her that we +would do all she recommended, for she had given as good advice as if Lela +Marien had delivered it, and that it depended on her alone whether we +were to defer the business or put it in execution at once. I renewed my +promise to be her husband; and thus the next day that the bano chanced to +be empty she at different times gave us by means of the reed and cloth +two thousand gold crowns and a paper in which she said that the next +Juma, that is to say Friday, she was going to her father's garden, but +that before she went she would give us more money; and if it were not +enough we were to let her know, as she would give us as much as we asked, +for her father had so much he would not miss it, and besides she kept all +the keys. + +We at once gave the renegade five hundred crowns to buy the vessel, and +with eight hundred I ransomed myself, giving the money to a Valencian +merchant who happened to be in Algiers at the time, and who had me +released on his word, pledging it that on the arrival of the first ship +from Valencia he would pay my ransom; for if he had given the money at +once it would have made the king suspect that my ransom money had been +for a long time in Algiers, and that the merchant had for his own +advantage kept it secret. In fact my master was so difficult to deal with +that I dared not on any account pay down the money at once. The Thursday +before the Friday on which the fair Zoraida was to go to the garden she +gave us a thousand crowns more, and warned us of her departure, begging +me, if I were ransomed, to find out her father's garden at once, and by +all means to seek an opportunity of going there to see her. I answered in +a few words that I would do so, and that she must remember to commend us +to Lela Marien with all the prayers the captive had taught her. This +having been done, steps were taken to ransom our three comrades, so as to +enable them to quit the bano, and lest, seeing me ransomed and themselves +not, though the money was forthcoming, they should make a disturbance +about it and the devil should prompt them to do something that might +injure Zoraida; for though their position might be sufficient to relieve +me from this apprehension, nevertheless I was unwilling to run any risk +in the matter; and so I had them ransomed in the same way as I was, +handing over all the money to the merchant so that he might with safety +and confidence give security; without, however, confiding our arrangement +and secret to him, which might have been dangerous. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Don Quixote, Vol. I., +Part 13., by Miguel de Cervantes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON QUIXOTE, PART 13 *** + +***** This file should be named 5915.txt or 5915.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/1/5915/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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