A substantial joint of meat after the ragouts at length blunted the

edge of their appetites. Eating and drinking went together: so that

they soon got into a merry pin, and made a roaring noise. Well done,

my lads! All talkers and no listeners. One begins a long story,

another cuts a joke; here a fellow bawls, there a fellow sings; and

they all seem to be at cross-purposes. At last Rolando, tired of a

concert in which he could hardly hear the sound of his own voice, let

them know that he was maestro di capella, and brought them into

better tune. Gentlemen, said he, I have a question to put. Instead

of stunning one another with this infernal din, had we not better

enjoy a little rational conversation? A thought is just come into my

head. Since the happy day that united us we have never had the

curiosity to inquire into each other's pedigrees, or by what chain of

circumstances we were each of us led to embrace our present way of

life. There would be no harm in knowing who and who are together.

Let us exchange confidence: we may find some amusement in it. The

lieutenant and the rest, like true heroes of romance, accepted the

challenge with the utmost courtesy, and the captain told the first

story to the following effect:--

Gentlemen, you are to know that I am the only son of a rich citizen

in Madrid. The day of my birth was celebrated in the family by

rejoicings without end. My father, no chicken, thought it a

considerable feat to have got an heir, and my mother was kind enough

to suckle me herself. My maternal grandfather was still living: a

good old man, who did not trouble himself about other people's

concerns, but said his prayers, and fought his campaigns over and

over again; for he had been in the army. Of course I was idolized by

these three persons; never out of their arms. My early years were

passed in the most childish amusements, for fear of hurting my health

by application. It will not do, said my father, to hammer much

learning into children till time has ripened their understanding.

While he waited for this ripening, the season went by. I could

neither read nor write: but I made up for that in other ways. My

father taught me a thousand different games. I became perfectly

acquainted with cards, was no stranger to dice, and my grandfather

set me the example of drawing the long bow, while he entertained me

with his military exploits. He sung the same songs repeatedly one

after another every day; so that when, after saying ten or twelve

lines after him for three months together, I got to boggle through

them without missing, the whole family were in raptures at my memory.

Neither was my wit thought to be at all less extraordinary; for I was

suffered to talk at random, and took care to put in my oar in the

most impertinent manner possible. O, the pretty little dear!

exclaimed my father, as if he had been fascinated. My mother made it

up with kisses, and my grandfather's old eyes overflowed. I played

all sorts of dirty and indecent tricks before them with impunity;

every thing was excusable in so fine a boy: an angel could not do

wrong. Going on in this manner, I was already in my twelfth year

without ever having a master. It was high time; but then he was to

teach me by fair means: he might threaten, but must not flog me.

This arrangement did me but little good; for sometimes I laughed when

my tutor scolded: at others, I ran with tears in my eyes to my mother

or my grandfather, and complained that he had used me ill. The poor

devil got nothing by denying it. My word was always taken before

his, and he came off with the character of a cruel rascal. One day I

scratched myself with my own nails, and set up a howl as if I had

been flogged. My mother ran, and turned the master out of doors,

though he vowed and protested he had never lifted a finger against me.

Thus did I get rid of all my tutors, till at last I met with one to

my mind. He was a bachelor of Alcala. This was the master for a

young man of fashion. Women, wine, and gaming were his principal

amusements. It was impossible to be in better hands. He hit the

right nail on the head: for he let me do what I pleased, and thus got

into the good graces of the family, who abandoned me to his conduct.

They had no reason to repent. He perfected me betimes in the

knowledge of the world. By dint of taking me about to all his

haunts, he gave such a finish to my education, that barring

literature and science, I became a universal scholar. As soon as he

saw that I could go alone in the high road to ruin he went to qualify

others for the same journey.

During my childhood I had lived at home just as I liked, and did not

sufficiently consider, that now I was beginning to be responsible for

my own actions. My father and mother were a standing jest. Yet they

were themselves thrown into convulsions at my sallies; and the more

ridiculous they were made by them, the more waggish they thought me.

In the mean time I got into all manner of scrapes with some young

fellows of my own kidney; and, as our relations kept us rather too

short of cash for the exigencies of so loose a life, we each of us

made free with whatever we could lay our hands on in our own

families. Finding this would not raise the supplies, we began to

pick pockets in the streets at night. As ill luck would have it, our

exploits came to the knowledge of the police. A warrant was out

against us; but some good-natured friend, thinking it a pity we

should be nipped in the bud, gave us a caution. We took to our

heels, and rose in our vocation to the rank of highwaymen. From that

time forth, gentlemen, with a blessing on my endeavors, I have gone

on till I am almost the father of the profession, in spite of the

dangers to which it is exposed.

Here the captain ended, and it came to the turn of the lieutenant.

Gentlemen, extremes are said to meet;--and so it will appear from a

comparison of our commander's education and mine. My father was a

butcher at Toledo. He passed, with reason, for the greatest brute in

the town, and my mother's sweet disposition was not mended by the

example. In my childhood, they whipped me in emulation of one

another; I came in for a thousand lashes of a day! The slightest

fault was followed up by the severest punishment. In vain did I beg

for mercy with tears in my eyes, and protest that I was sorry for

what I had done. They never excused me, and nine times out of ten

flogged me for nothing. When I was under my father's lash, my

mother, not thinking his arm stout enough, lent her assistance,

instead of begging me off. The favors I received at their hands gave

me such a disgust, that I quitted their house before I had completed

my fourteenth year, took the Arragon road, and begged my way to

Saragossa. There I associated with vagrants, who led a merry life

enough. They taught me to counterfeit blindness and lameness, to

dress up an artificial wound in each of my legs, and to adopt many

other methods of imposing on the credulity of the charitable and

humane. In the morning, like actors at rehearsal, we cast our

characters, and settled the business of the comedy. We had each our

exits and our entrances; till in the evening the curtain dropped, and

we regaled at the expense of the dupes we had deluded in the day.

Wearied however with the company of these wretches, and wishing to

live in more worshipful society, I entered into partnership with a

gang of sharpers. These fellows taught me some good tricks: but

Saragossa soon became too hot to hold us, after we had fallen out

with a limb of the law, who had hitherto taken us under his

protection. We each of us provided for ourselves, and left the devil

to take the hindmost. For my part, I enlisted in a brave and veteran

regiment, which had seen abundance of service on the king's highway:

and I found myself so comfortable in their quarters, that I had no

desire to change my birth. So that you see, gentlemen, I was very

much obliged to my relations for their bad behavior; for if they had

treated me a little more kindly, I might have been a blackguard

butcher at this moment, instead of having the honor to be your

lieutenant.

Gentlemen,--interrupted a hopeful young freebooter who sat between

the captain and the lieutenant,--the stories we have just heard are

neither so complicated nor so curious as mine. I peeped into

existence by means of a country-woman in the neighborhood of Seville.

Three weeks after she had set me down in this system, a nurse-child

was offered her. You are to understand she was yet in her prime,

comely in her person, and had a good breast of milk. The young

suckling had noble blood in him, and was an only son. My mother

accepted the proposal with all her heart, and went to fetch the

child. It was entrusted to her care. She had no sooner brought it

home, than, fancying a resemblance, she conceived the idea of

substituting me for the brat of high birth, in the hope of drawing a

handsome commission at some future time for this motherly office in

behalf of her infant. My father, whose morals were on a level with

those of clodhoppers in general, lent himself very willingly to the

cheat: so that with only a change of clouts, the son of Don Rodrigo

de Herrera was packed off in my name to another nurse, and my mother

suckled her own and her master's child at once in my little person.

They may say what they will of instinct and the force of blood! The

little gentleman's parents were very easily taken in. They had not

the slightest suspicion of the trick; and were eternally dandling me

till I was seven years old. As it was their intention to make me a

finished gentleman, they gave me masters of all kinds; but I had very

little taste for their lessons, and above all, I detested the

sciences. I had at any time rather play with the servants or the

stable boys, and was a complete kitchen genius. But tossing up for

heads or tails was not my ruling passion. Before seventeen I had an

itch for getting drunk. I played the devil among the chambermaids;

but my prime favorite was a kitchen girl, who had infinite merit in

my eyes. She was a great bloated horse-god-mother, whose good case

and easy morals suited me exactly. I boarded her with so little

circumspection that Don Rodrigo took notice of it. He took me to

task pretty sharply; twitted me with my low taste; and, for fear the

presence of my charmer should counteract his sage counsels, showed

the goddess of my devotions the outside of the door.

This proceeding was rather offensive; and I determined, to be even

with him. I stole his wife's jewels; and ravishing my Helen from a

laundress of her acquaintance, went off with her in open day, that

the transaction might lose nothing in point of notoriety. But this

was not all. I carried her among her relations, where I married her

according to the rites of the church, as much from the personal

motive of mortifying Herrera, as from the patriotic enthusiasm of

encouraging our young nobility to mend the breed. Three months after

marriage, I heard that Don Rodrigo had gone the way of all flesh.

The intelligence was not lost upon me. I was at Seville in a

twinkling, to administer in due form and order to his effects; but

the tables were turned. My mother had paid the debt of nature, and

in her last agonies had been so much off her guard as to confess the

whole affair to the curate of the village and other competent

witnesses. Don Rodrigo's son had already taken my place, or rather

his own, and his popularity was increased by the deficiency of mine;

so that as the trumps were all out in that hand, and I had no

particular wish for the present my wife was likely to make me, I

joined issue with some desperate blades, with whom I began my trading

ventures.

The young cut-purse having finished his story, another told us that

he was the son of a merchant at Burgos; that, in his youth, prompted

more by piety than wit, he had taken the religious habit and

professed in a very strict order, and that a few years afterwards he

had apostatized. In short, the eight robbers told their tale one

after another, and when I had heard them all, I did not wonder that

the destinies had brought them together. The conversation now took a

different turn. They brought several schemes upon the carpet for the

next campaign; and after having laid down their plan of operations,

rose from table and went to bed. They lighted their night candles,

and withdrew to their apartments. I attended Captain Rolando to his.

While I was fiddling about him as he undressed: Well! Gil Blas, said

he, you see how we live! We are always merry; hatred and envy have

no footing here; we have not the least difference, but hang together

just like monks. You are sure, my good lad, to lead a pleasant life

here; for I do not think you are fool enough to make any bones about

consorting with gentlemen of the road. In what does ours differ from

many a more reputable trade? Depend on it, my friend, all men love

two hands in their neighbor's purse, though only one in their own.

Men's principles are all alike; the only difference lies in the mode

of carrying them into effect. Conquerors, for instance, make free

with the territories of their neighbors. People of fashion borrow,

and do not pay. Bankers, treasurers, brokers, clerks, and traders of

all kinds, wholesale and retail, give ample liberty to their wants to

overdraw on their consciences. I shall not mention the hangers-on of

the law; we all know how it goes with them. At the same time it must

be allowed that they have more humanity than we have; for as it is

often our vocation to take away the life of the innocent for plunder,

it is sometimes theirs for fee and reward to save the guilty.

_CHAPTER VI._

_THE ATTEMPT OF GIL BLAS TO ESCAPE, AND ITS SUCCESS._

After the captain of the banditti had thus apologized for adopting

such a line of life, he went to bed. For my part, I returned to the

hall, where I cleared the table, and set every thing to rights. Then

I went to the kitchen, where Domingo, the old negro, and dame

Leonarda had been expecting me at supper. Though entirely without

appetite, I had the good manners to sit down with them. Not a morsel

could I eat; and, as I scarcely felt more miserable than I looked,

this pair so justly formed to meet by nature, undertook to give me a

little comfort. Why do you take on so, my good lad? said the old

dowager: you ought rather to bless your stars for your good luck.

You are young, and seem a little soft; you would have a fine kettle

of fish of it in the busy world. You might have fallen into bad

hands, and then your morals would have been corrupted; whereas here

your innocence is insured to its full value. Dame Leonarda is in the

right, put in the old negro gravely, the world is but a troublesome

place. Be thankful, my friend, for being so early relieved from the

dangers, the difficulties, and the afflictions of this miserable life.

I bore this prosing very quietly, because I should have got no good

by putting myself in a passion about it. At length Domingo, after

playing a good knife and fork, and getting gloriously muddled, took

himself off to the stable. Leonarda, by the glimmering of a lamp,

showed me the way to a vault which served as a last home to those of

the corps who died a natural death. Here I stumbled upon something

more like a grave than a bed. This is your room, said she. Your

predecessor lay here as long as he was among us, and here he lies to

this day. He suffered himself to be hurried out of life in his

prime: do not you be so foolish as to follow his example. With this

kind advice, she left me with the lamp for my companion and returned

to the kitchen. I threw myself on the little bed, not so much for

rest as meditation. O Heaven! exclaimed I, was there ever a fate so

dreadful as mine! It is determined then that I am to take my leave

of daylight! Beside this, as if it was not enough to be buried alive

at eighteen, my misery is to be aggravated by being in the service of

a banditti; by passing the day with highwaymen, and the night in a

charnel-house. These reflections, which seemed to me very dismal,

and were indeed no better than they seemed, set me crying most

bitterly. I could not conceive what cursed maggot my uncle had got

in his head to send me to Salamanca; repented running away from

Cacabelos, and would have compounded for the torture. But,

considering how vain it was to shut the door when the steed was

stolen, I determined, instead of lamenting the past, to hit upon some

expedient for making my escape. What! thought I, is it impossible to

get off? The cut-throats are asleep; cooky and the black will be

snoring ere long. Why cannot I, by the help of this lamp, find the

passage by which I descended into these infernal regions? I am

afraid indeed my strength is not equal to lifting the trap at the

entrance. However, let us see. Faint heart never won fair lady.

Despair will lend me new force, and who knows but I may succeed?

Thus was the train laid for a grand attempt. I got up, as soon as

Leonarda and Domingo were likely to be asleep. With the lamp in my

hand, I stole out of the vault, putting up my prayers to all the

spirits in paradise, and ten miles round. It was with no small

difficulty that I threaded all the windings of this new labyrinth.

At length I found myself at the stable door, and perceived the

passage which was the object of my search. Pushing on I made my way

towards the trap with a light pair of heels and a beating heart: but,

alas! in the middle of my career I ran against a cursed iron grate

locked fast, with bars so close as not to admit a hand between them.

I looked rather foolish at the occurrence of this new difficulty,

which I had not been aware of at my entrance, because the grate was

then open. However, I tried what I could do by fumbling at the bars.

Then for a peep at the lock; of whether it could not be forced! When

all at once my poor shoulders were saluted with five or six good

strokes of a bull's pizzle. I set up such a shrill alarum, that the

den of Cacus rang with it; when looking round, who should it be but

the old negro in his shirt, holding a dark lanthorn in one hand, and

the instrument of my punishment in the other, O, O! quoth he, my

merry little fellow, you will run away, will you? No, no! you must

not think to set your wits against mine. I heard you all the while.

You thought you should find the grate open, did not you? You may

take it for granted, my friend, that henceforth it will always be

shut. When we keep any one here against his will, he must be a

cleverer fellow than you to make his escape.

In the mean time, at the howl I had set up, two or three of the

robbers waked suddenly; and not knowing but the holy brotherhood

might be falling upon them, they got up and called their comrades.

Without the loss of a moment all were on the alert. Swords and

carbines were put in requisition, and the whole posse advanced

forward almost in a state of nature to the place where I was

parleying with Domingo. But as soon as they learned the cause of the

uproar, their alarm resolved itself into a peal of laughter. How

now, Gil Blas, said the apostate son of the church, you have not been

a good six hours with us, and are you tired of our company already?

You must have a great objection to retirement. Why, what would you

do if you were a Carthusian friar! Get along with you, and go to

bed. This time you shall get off with Domingo's discipline; but if

you are ever caught in a second attempt of the same kind, by Saint

Bartholomew! we will flay you alive. With this hint he retired, and

the rest of the party went back to their rooms. The old negro,

taking credit to himself for his vigilance, returned to his stable:

and I found my way back to my charnel-house, where I passed the

remainder of the night in weeping and wailing.

_CHAPTER VII._

_GIL BLAS, NOT BEING ABLE TO DO WHAT HE LIKES, DOES WHAT HE CAN._

For the first few days, I thought I should have given up the ghost

for very spite and vexation. The lingering life I led was nearly

akin to death itself; but in the end my good genius whispered me to

play the hypocrite. I aimed at looking a little more cheerful; began

to laugh and sing, though it was sometimes on the wrong side of my

mouth; in a word, I put so good a face on the matter, that Leonarda

and Domingo were completely taken in. They thought the bird was

reconciled to his cage. The robbers entertained the same notion. I

looked as brisk as the beverage I poured out, and put in my oar

whenever I thought I could say a good thing. My freedom, far from

offending, was taken in good part. Gil Blas, quoth the captain one

evening, while I was playing the buffoon, you have done well, my

friend, to banish melancholy. I am delighted with your wit and

humor. Some people wear a mask at first acquaintance; I had no

notion what a jovial fellow you were.

My praises now seemed to run from mouth to mouth. They were all so

partial to me, that, not to miss my opportunity;--Gentlemen, quoth I,

allow me to tell you a piece of my mind. Since I have been your

guest, a new light breaks in upon me. I have bid adieu to vulgar

prejudices, and caught a ray at the fountain of your illumination. I

feel that I was born to be your knight companion. I languish to make

one among you, and will stand my chance of a halter with the best.

All the company cried Hear!--I was considered as a promising member

of the senate. It was then determined unanimously to give me a trial

in some inferior department; afterwards to bespeak me a good

desperate encounter in which I might show my prowess; and if I

answered expectation to give me a high and responsible employment in

the commonwealth.

It was necessary therefore to go on exhibiting a copy of my

countenance, and doing my best in my office of cup-bearer. I was

impatient beyond measure; for I only aspired after the honors of the

sitting, to obtain the liberty of going abroad with the rest; and I

was in hopes that by running the risk of getting my neck into one

noose I might get it out of another. This was my only chance. The

time nevertheless seemed long to wait, and I kept my eye on Domingo,

with the hope of outwitting him: but the thing was not feasible; he

was always on the watch. Orpheus as leader of the band, with a

complete orchestra of performers as good as himself, could not have

soothed the savage breast of this Cerberus. The truth is, by the by,

that for fear of exciting his suspicion, I did not set my wits

against him so much as I might have done. He was on the lookout, and

I was obliged to play the prude, or my virtue might have come into

disgrace. I therefore stopped proceedings till the time of my

probation should expire, to which I looked forward with impatience,

just as if I was waiting for a place under government.

Heaven be praised, in about six months I gained my end. The

commandant Rolando addressing his regiment, said: Comrades, we must

stand upon honor with Gil Blas. I have no bad opinion of our young

candidate; we shall make something of him. If you will take my

advice, let him go and reap his first harvest with us to-morrow on

the king's highway. We will lead him on in the path of honor. The

robbers applauded the sentiments of the captain with a thunder of

acclamation; and to show me how much I was considered as one of the

gang, from that moment they dispensed with my attendance at the

sideboard. Dame Leonarda was reinstated in the office from which she

had been discharged to make room for me. They made me change my

dress, which consisted in a plain short cossack a good deal the worse

for wear, and tricked me out in the spoils of a gentleman lately

robbed. After this inauguration, I made my arrangements for my first

campaign.

_CHAPTER VIII._

_GIL BLAS GOES OUT WITH THE GANG, AND PERFORMS AN EXPLOIT ON THE

HIGHWAY._

It was past midnight in the month of September, when I issued from

the subterraneous abode as one of the fraternity. I was armed, like

them, with a carabine, two pistols, a sword and a bayonet, and was

mounted on a very good horse, the property of the gentleman in whose

costume I appeared. I had lived so long like a mole under ground,

that the daybreak could not fail of dazzling me: but my eyes got

reconciled to it by degrees.

We passed close by Pontferrada, and were determined to lie in ambush

behind a small wood skirting the road to Leon. There we were waiting

for whatever fortune might please to throw in our way, when we espied

a Dominican friar, mounted, contrary to the rubric of those pious

fathers, on a shabby mule. God be praised, exclaimed the captain

with a sneer, this is a noble beginning for Gil Blas. Let him go and

trounce that monk: we will bear witness to his qualifications. The

connoisseurs were all of opinion that this commission suited my

talents to a hair, and exhorted me to do my best. Gentlemen, quoth

I, you shall have no reason to complain. I will strip this holy

father to his birthday suit, and give you complete right and title to

his mule. No, no, said Rolando, the beast would not be worth its

fodder: only bring us our reverend pastor's purse; that is all we

require. Hereupon I issued from the wood and pushed up to the man of

God, doing penance all the time in my own breast for the sin I was

committing. I could have liked to have turned my back upon my

fellows at that moment; but most of them had the advantage of better

horses than mine: had they seen me making off, they would have been

at my heels, and would soon have caught me, or perhaps would have

fired a volley, for which I was not sufficiently case-hardened. I

could not therefore venture on so perilous an alternative; so that

claiming acquaintance with the reverend father, I asked to look at

his purse, and just put out the end of a pistol. He stopped short to

gaze upon me; and, without seeming much frightened, said, My child,

you are very young; this is an early apprenticeship to a bad trade.

Father, replied I, bad as it is, I wish I had begun it sooner. What!

my son, rejoined the good friar, who did not understand the real

meaning of what I said, how say you? What blindness! give me leave

to place before your eyes the unhappy condition. Come, come, father!

interrupted I with impatience, a truce to your morality, if you

please. My business on the high road is not to hear sermons. Money

makes my mare to go. Money! said he, with a look of surprise; you

have a poor opinion of Spanish charity, if you think that people of

my stamp have any occasion for such trash upon their travels. Let me

undeceive you. We are made welcome wherever we go, and pay for our

board and lodgings by our prayers. In short, we carry no cash with

us on the road; but draw drafts upon Providence. That is all very

well, replied I; yet for fear your drafts should be dishonored, you

take care to keep about you a little supply for present need. But

come, father, let us make an end: my comrades in the wood are in a

hurry; so your money or your life. At these words, which I

pronounced with a determined air, the friar began to think the

business grew serious. Since needs must, said he, there is

wherewithal to satisfy your craving. A word and a blow is the only

rhetoric with you gentlemen. As he said this, he drew a large

leathern purse from under his gown, and threw it on the ground. I

then told him he might make the best of his way: and he did not wait

for a second bidding, but stuck his heels into the mule, which,

giving the lie to my opinion, for I thought it on a par with my

uncle's, set off at a good round pace. While he was riding for his

life, I dismounted. The purse was none of the lightest. I mounted

again, and got back to the wood, where those nice observers were

waiting with impatience to congratulate me on my success. I could

hardly get my foot out of the stirrup, so eager were they to shake

hands with me. Courage, Gil Blas, said Rolando; you have done

wonders. I have had my eyes on you during your whole performance,

and have watched your countenance. I have no hesitation in

predicting that you will become in time a very accomplished

highwayman. The lieutenant and the rest chimed in with the prophecy,

and assured me that I could not fail of fulfilling it hereafter. I

thanked them for the elevated idea they had formed of my talents, and

promised to do all in my power not to discredit their penetration.

After they had lavished praises, the effect rather of their candor

than of my merit, they took it into their heads to examine the booty

I had brought under my convoy. Let us see, said they, let us see how

a friar's purse is lined. It should be fat and flourishing,

continued one of them, for these good fathers do not mortify the

flesh when they travel. The captain untied the purse, opened it, and

took out two or three handfuls of little copper coins, an Agnus-Dei

here and there, and some scapularies. At sight of so novel a prize,

all the privates burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. God be

praised! cried the lieutenant, we are very much obliged to Gil Blas:

his first attack has produced a supply, very seasonable to our

fraternity. One joke brought on another. These rascals, especially

the fellow who had retired from the church to our subterraneous

hermitage, began to make themselves merry on the subject. They said

a thousand good things, such as showed at once the sharpness of their

wits and the profligacy of their morals. They were all on the broad

grin except myself. It was impossible to be butt and marksman too.

They each of them shot their bolt at me, and the captain said: Faith,

Gil Blas, I would advise you as a friend not to set your wit a second

time against the church: the biter may be bit; for you must live some

time longer among us, before you are a match for them.

_CHAPTER IX._

_A MORE SERIOUS INCIDENT._

We lounged about the wood for the greater part of the day, without

lighting on any traveller to pay toll for the friar. At length we

were beginning to wear our homeward way, as if confining the feats of

the day to this laughable adventure, which furnished a plentiful fund

of conversation, when we got intelligence of a carriage on the road

drawn by four mules. They were coming at a hard gallop, with three

outriders, who seemed to be well armed. Rolando ordered the troop to

halt, and hold a council, the result of whose deliberations was to

attack the enemy. We were regularly drawn up in battle array, and

marched to meet the caravan. In spite of the applause I had gained

in the wood, I felt an oozing sort of a tremor come over me, with a

chill in my veins and a chattering in my teeth that seemed to bode me

no good. As it never rains but it pours, I was in the front of the

battle, hemmed in between the captain and the lieutenant, who had

given me that post of honor, that I might lose no time in learning to

stand fire. Rolando, observing the low ebb of my animal spirits,

looked askew at me, and muttered in a tone more resolute than

courtly: Hark ye! Gil Blas, look sharp about you! I give you fair

notice, that if you play the recreant, I shall lodge a couple of

bullets in your brain. I believed him as firmly as my catechism, and

thought it high time not to neglect the hint; so that I was obliged

to lay an embargo on the expression of my fears, and to think only of

recommending my soul to God in silence.

While all this was going on, the carriage and horsemen drew near.

They suspected what sort of gentry we were; and guessing our trade by

our badge, stopped within gun-shot. They had carabines and pistols

as well as ourselves. While they were preparing to give us a brisk

reception, there jumped out of the coach a well-looking gentleman

richly dressed. He mounted a led horse, and put himself at the head

of his party. Though they were but four against nine, for the

coachman kept his seat on the box, they advanced towards us with a

confidence calculated to redouble my terror. Yet I did not forget,

though trembling in every joint, to hold myself in readiness for a

shot: but, to give a candid relation of the affair, I blinked and

looked the other way in letting off my piece; so that from the

harmlessness of my fire, I was sure not to have murder to answer for

in another world.

I shall not give the particulars of the engagement; though present, I

was no eye-witness; and my fear, while it laid hold of my

imagination, drew a veil over the anticipated horror of the sight.

All I know about the matter is, that after a grand discharge of

musketry, I heard my companions hallooing Victory! Victory! as if

their lungs were made of leather. At this shout the terror which had

made a forcible entry on my senses was ejected, and I beheld the four

horsemen stretched lifeless on the field of battle. On our side, we

had only one man killed. This was the renegade parson, who had now

filled the measure of his apostasy, and paid for jesting with

scapularies and such sacred things. The lieutenant received a slight

wound in the arm; but the bullet did little more than graze the skin.

Master Rolando was the first at the coach-door. Within was a lady of

from four to five-and-twenty, beautiful as an angel in his eyes, in

spite of her sad condition. She had fainted during the conflict, and

her swoon still continued. While he was fixed like a statue on her

charms, the rest of us were in profound meditation on the plunder.

We began by securing the horses of the defunct; for these animals,

frightened at the report of our pieces, had got to a little distance,

after the loss of their riders. For the mules, they had not wagged a

hair, though the coachman had jumped from his box during the

engagement to make his escape. We dismounted for the purpose of

unharnessing and loading them with some trunks tied before and behind

the carriage. This settled, the captain ordered the lady, who had

not yet recovered her faculties, to be set on horseback before the

best mounted of the robbers; then, leaving the carriage and the

uncased carcasses by the roadside, we carried off with us the lady,

the mules, and the horses.

_CHAPTER X._

_THE LADY'S TREATMENT FROM THE ROBBERS. THE EVENT OF THE GREAT

DESIGN, CONCEIVED BY GIL BLAS._

The night had another hour to run, when we arrived at our

subterraneous mansion. The first thing we did was to lead our

cavalry to the stable, where we were obliged to groom them ourselves,

as the old negro had been confined to his bed for three days, with a

violent fit of the gout, and a universal rheumatism. He had no

member supple but his tongue; and that he employed in testifying his

indignation by the most horrible impieties. Leaving this wretch to

curse and swear by himself, we went to the kitchen to look after the

lady. So successful were our attentions, that we succeeded in

recovering her from her fit. But when she had once more the use of

her senses, and saw herself encompassed by strangers, she knew the

extent of her misfortune, and shuddered at the thought. All that

grief and despair together could present, of images the most

distressing, appeared depicted in her eyes, which she lifted up to

Heaven, as if in reproach for the indignities she was threatened

with. Then, giving way at once to these dreadful apprehensions, she

fell again into a swoon, her eyelids closed once more, and the

robbers thought that death was going to snatch from them their prey.

The captain, therefore, judging it more to the purpose to leave her

to herself than to torment her with any more of their assistance,

ordered her to be laid on Leonarda's bed, and at all events to let

nature take its course.

We went into the hall, where one of the robbers, who had been bred a

surgeon, looked at the lieutenant's arm and put a plaster to it.

After this scientific operation, it was thought expedient to examine

the baggage. Some of the trunks were filled with laces and linen,

others with various articles of wearing apparel: but the last

contained some bags of coin; a circumstance highly approved by the

receivers-general of the estate. After this investigation, the cook

set out the sideboard, laid the cloth, and served up supper. Our

conversation ran first on the great victory we had achieved. On this

subject, said Rolando, directing himself to me, confess the truth,

Gil Blas: you cannot deny that you were devilishly frightened. I

candidly admitted the fact; but promised to fight like a crusader,

after my second or third campaign. Hereupon all the company took my

part, alleging the sharpness of the action in my excuse, and that it

was very well for a novice, not yet accustomed to the smell of powder.

We next talked of the mules and horses just added to our

subterraneous stud. It was determined to set off the next morning

before daybreak, and sell them at Mansilla, before there was any

chance of our expedition having got wind. This resolution taken, we

finished our supper, and returned to the kitchen to pay our respects

to the lady. We found her in the same condition. Nevertheless,

though the dregs of life seemed almost exhausted, some of these

poachers could not help casting a wicked leer at her, and giving

visible signs of a motion within them, which would have broken out

into overt act, had not Rolando put a spoke in their wheel, by

representing that they ought at least to wait till the lady had got

rid of her terrors and squeamishness, and could come in for her share

of the amusement. Their respect for the captain operated as a check

to the incontinence of their passions. Nothing else could have saved

the lady; nor would death itself probably have secured her from

violation.

Again therefore did we leave this unhappy female to her melancholy

fate. Rolando contented himself with charging Leonarda to take care

of her, and we all separated for the night. For my part, when I went

to bed, instead of courting sleep, my thoughts were wholly taken up

with the lady's misfortunes. I had no doubt of her being a woman of

quality, and thought her lot on that account so much the more

piteous. I could not paint to myself, without shuddering, the

horrors which awaited her; and felt myself as sensibly affected by

them, as if united to her by the ties of blood or friendship. At

length, after having sufficiently bewailed her destiny, I mused on

the means of preserving her honor from its present danger, and myself

from a longer abode in this dungeon. I considered that the old negro

could not stir, and recollected that since his illness the cook had

the key of the grate. That thought warmed my fancy, and gave birth

to a project not to be hazarded lightly: the stages of its execution

were the following:--

I pretended to have the colic. A lad in the colic cannot help

whining and groaning; but I went further, and cried out lustily, as

loud as my lungs would let me. This roused my gentle friends, and

brought them about me, to know what the deuce was the matter. I

informed them that I had a swinging fit of the gripes, and to humor

the idea, gnashed my teeth, made all manner of wry faces till I

looked like a bedlamite, and twisted my limbs as if I had been going

to be delivered of a heathen oracle. Then I became calm all at once,

as if my pains had abated. The next minute, I flounced up and down

upon my bed, and threw my arms about at random. In a word, I played

my part so well, that these more experienced performers, knowing as

they were, suffered themselves to be thrown off their guard, and to

believe that my malady was real. All at once did they busy

themselves for my relief. One brought me a bottle of brandy, and

forced me to gulp down half of it; another, in spite of my

remonstrances, applied oil of sweet almonds in a very offensive

manner: a third went and made a napkin burning hot, to be clapped

upon my stomach. In vain did I cry mercy; they attributed my noise

to the violence of my disorder, and went on inflicting positive evil

by way of remedy for that which was artificial. At last, able to

bear it no longer, I was obliged to swear that I was better, and

entreat them to give me quarter. They left off killing me with

kindness, and I took care not to complain any more, for fear of

experiencing their tender attentions a second time.

This scene lasted nearly three hours. After which the robbers,

calculating it to be near daybreak, prepared for their journey to

Mansilla. I was for getting up, as if I had set my heart on being of

the party; but that they would not allow. No, no, Gil Blas, said

Signor Rolando, stay here, my lad: your colic may return. You shall

go with us another time; to-day you are not in travelling condition.

I did not think it prudent to urge my attendance too much, for fear

of being taken at my word; but only affected great disappointment,

with so natural an air, that they all went off without the slightest

misgiving of my design. After their departure, for which I had

prayed most fervently, I said to myself: Now is your time, Gil Blas,

to be firm and resolved. Arm yourself with courage to go through

with an enterprise so propitiously begun. Domingo is tied by the

leg, and Leonarda may show her teeth, but she cannot bite. Pounce

down upon opportunity while it offers; you may wait long enough for

another. Thus did I spirit myself up in soliloquy. Having got out

of bed, I laid hold of my sword and pistols; and away I went to the

kitchen. But before I made my appearance, I stopped to hear what

Leonarda was talking about to the fair incognita who was come to her

senses, and on a view of her misfortune in its extremity, took on

most desperately. That is right, my girl, said the old hag, cry your

eyes out, sob away plentifully, you know the good effect of woman's

tears. The sudden shock was too much for you: but the danger is

over, now the engines can play. Your grief will abate by little and

little, and you will get reconciled to living with our gentlemen, who

are very good sort of people. You will be better off than a

princess. You do not know how fond they will be of you. Not a day

will pass without your being obliged to some of them. Many a woman

would give one of her eyes to be in your place.

I did not allow Leonarda time to go on any longer with this babbling.

In I went, and putting a pistol to her breast, insisted with a

menacing air on her delivering up the key of the grate. She did not

know what to make of my behavior; and, though almost in the last

stage of life, had such a propensity to linger on the road, as not to

venture on a refusal. With the key in my hand, I directed the

following speech to the distressed object of my compassion: Madam,

Heaven sends you a deliverer in me; follow, and I will see you safe

whithersoever you wish to be conducted. The lady was not deaf to my

proposal, which made such an impression on her grateful heart, that

she jumped up with all the strength she had left, threw herself at my

feet, and conjured me to save her honor. I raised her from the

ground, and assured her she might rely on me. I then took some ropes

which were opportunely in the kitchen, and with her assistance tied

Leonarda to the legs of a large table, protesting that I would kill

her if she only breathed a murmur. After that, lighting a candle, I

went with the incognita to the treasury, where I filled my pockets

with pistoles, single and double, as full as they could hold. To

encourage the lady not to be scrupulous, I begged she would think

herself at home, and make free with her own. With our finances thus

recruited, we went towards the stable, where I marched in with my

pistols cocked. I was of opinion that the old blackamoor, for all

his gout and rheumatism, would not let me saddle and bridle my horse

peaceably, and my resolution was to put the finishing hand to all his

ailments, if he took it into his head to play the churl: but, by good

luck, he was at that moment in such pain, that I stole the steed

without his perceiving that the door was open. The lady in the mean

time was waiting for me. We were not long in threading the passage

leading to the outlet; but reached the grate, opened it, and at last

got to the trap. Much ado there was to lift it, which we could not

have done, but for the new strength we borrowed from the hopes of our

escape.

Day was beginning to dawn when we emerged from that abyss. Our first

object was to get as far from it as possible. I jumped into the

saddle: the lady got up behind me, and taking the first path that

offered, we soon galloped out of the forest. Coming to some

cross-roads, we took our chance. I trembled for fear of its leading

to Mansilla, and our encountering Rolando and his comrades. Luckily

my apprehensions were unfounded. We got to Astorga by two o'clock in

the afternoon. The people looked at us as if they had never seen

such a sight before, as a woman riding behind a man. We alighted at

the first inn. I immediately ordered a partridge and a young rabbit

to the spit. While my orders were in a train of execution, the lady

was shown to a room, where we began to scrape acquaintance with one

another; which we had not done on the road, on account of the speed

we made. She expressed a high sense of my services, and told me that

after so gentlemanly a conduct, she could not allow herself to think

me one of the gang from whom I had rescued her. I told her my story,

to confirm her good opinion. By these means, I entitled myself to

her confidence, and to the knowledge of her misfortunes, which she

recounted to the following effect.

_CHAPTER XI._

_THE HISTORY Of DONNA MENCIA DE MOSQUERA._

I was born at Valladolid, and am called Donna Mencia de Mosquera. My

father, Don Martin, after spending most of his family estate in the

service, was killed in Portugal at the head of his regiment. He left

me so little property, that I was a bad match, though an only

daughter. I was not, however, without my admirers, notwithstanding

the mediocrity of my fortune. Several of the most considerable

cavaliers in Spain sought me in marriage. My favorite was Don Alvar

de Mello. It is true he had a prettier person than his rivals; but

more solid qualities determined me in his favor. He had wit,

discretion, valor, probity; and in addition to all these, an air of

fashion. Was an entertainment to be given? His taste was sure to be

displayed. If he appeared in the lists, he always fixed the eyes of

the beholders on his strength and dexterity. I singled him out from

among all the rest, and married him.

A few days after our nuptials, he met Don Andrew de Baësa, who had

been his rival, in a private place. They attacked one another sword

in hand, and Don Andrew fell. As he was nephew to the corregidor of

Valladolid, a turbulent man, violently incensed against the house of

Mello, Don Alvar thought he could not soon enough make his escape.

He returned home speedily, and told me what had happened while his

horse was getting ready. My dear Mencia, said he at length, we must

part. You know the corregidor: let us not flatter ourselves; he will

hunt me even to death. You are unacquainted with his influence; this

empire will be too hot to hold me. He was so penetrated by his own

grief and mine, as not to be able to articulate further. I made him

take some cash, and jewels: then he folded me in his arms, and we did

nothing but mingle our sighs and tears for a quarter of an hour. In

a short time the horse was at the door. He tore himself from me, and

left me in a condition not easily to be expressed. It had been well

if the excess of my affliction had destroyed me! How much pain and

trouble might I have escaped by death! Some hours after Don Alvar

was gone, the corregidor became acquainted with his flight. He set

up a hue and cry after him, sparing no pains to get him into his

power. My husband, however, eluded his pursuit, and got into safe

quarters; so that the judge, finding himself reduced to confine his

vengeance to the poor satisfaction of confiscating, where he meant to

execute, labored to good purpose in his vocation. Don Alvar's little

property all went to the hammer.

I remained in a very comfortless situation, with scarcely the means

of subsistence. A retired life was best suited to my circumstances,

with a single female servant. I passed my hours in lamenting, not an

indigence, which I bore patiently, but the absence of a beloved

husband, of whom I received no accounts. He had indeed pledged

himself, in the melancholy moments of our parting, to be punctual in

acquainting me with his destiny, to whatever part of the world his

evil star might conduct him. And yet seven years rolled on without

my hearing of him. My suspense respecting his fate afflicted me most

deeply. At last I heard of his falling in battle, under the

Portuguese banner, in the kingdom of Fez. A man newly returned from

Africa brought me the account, with the assurance that he had been

well acquainted with Don Alvar de Mello; had served with him in the

army, and had seen him drop in the action. To this narrative of

facts he added several collateral circumstances, which left me no

room to doubt of my husband's premature death.

About this time, Don Ambrosio Mesia Carrillo, Marquis de la Guardia,

arrived at Valladolid. He was one of those elderly noblemen who,

with that good breeding acquired by long experience in courts, throw

their years into the background, and retain the faculty of making

themselves agreeable to our sex. One day, he happened by accident to

hear the story of Don Alvar; and, from the part I bore in it and the

description of my person, there arose a desire of being better

acquainted. To satisfy his curiosity, he made interest with one of

my relations to invite me to her house. The gentleman was one of the

party. This first interview made not the less impression on his

heart, for the traces of sorrow which were too obvious on my

countenance. He was touched by its melancholy and languishing

expression, which gave him a favorable forecast of my constancy.

Respect, rather than any warmer sentiment, might perhaps be the

inspirer of his wishes. For he told me more than once what a miracle

of good faith he considered me, and my husband's fate as enviable in

this respect, however lamentable in others. In a word, he was struck

with me at first sight, and did not wait for a review of my

pretensions, but at once took the resolution of making me his wife.

The intervention of my kinswoman was adopted as the means of inducing

me to accept his proposal. She paid me a visit; and in the course of

conversation, pleaded, that as my husband had submitted to the decree

of Providence in the kingdom of Fez, according to very credible

accounts, it was no longer rational to coop up my charms. I had shed

tears enough over a man to whom I had been united but for a few

moments as it were, and I ought to avail myself of the present offer,

and had nothing to do but to step into happiness at once. In

furtherance of these arguments, she set forth the old marquis's

pedigree, his wealth, and high character: but in vain did her

eloquence expatiate on his endowments, for I was not to be moved.

Not that my mind misgave me respecting Don Alvar's death, nor that

the apprehension of his sudden and unwelcome appearance hereafter,

checked my inclinations. My little liking, or rather my extreme

repugnance to a second marriage, after the sad issue of the first,

was the sole obstacle opposed to my relation's urgency. Neither was

she disheartened: on the contrary, her zeal for Don Ambrosio resorted

to endless stratagems. All my family were pressed into the old

lord's service. So beneficial a match was not to be trifled with!

They were eternally besetting, dunning, and tormenting me. In fact,

my despondency, which increased from day to day, contributed not a

little to my yielding.

As there was no getting rid of him, I gave way to their eager suit,

and was wedded to the Marquis de la Guardia. The day after the

nuptials, we went to a very fine castle of his near Burgos, between

Grajal and Rodillas. He conceived a violent love for me: the desire

of pleasing was visible in all his actions: the anticipation of my

slenderest wishes was his earliest and his latest study. No husband

ever regarded his wife more tenderly, no lover could pour forth more

devotion to his mistress. Nor would it have been possible for me to

steel my heart against a return of passion, though our ages were so

disproportioned, had not every soft sentiment been buried in Don

Alvar's grave. But the avenues of a constant heart are barred

against a second inmate. The memory of my first husband threw a damp

on all the kind efforts of the second. Mere gratitude was a cold

retribution for such tenderness; but it was all I had to give.

Such was my temper of mind, when, taking the air one day at a window

in my apartment, I perceived a peasant-looking man in the garden,

viewing me with fixed attention. He appeared to be a common laborer.

The circumstance soon passed out of my thoughts; but the next day,

having again taken my station at the window, I saw him on the

self-same spot, and again found myself the object of his eager gaze.

This seemed strange! I looked at him in my turn; and, after an

attentive scrutiny, thought I could trace the features of the unhappy

Don Alvar. This seeming visit from the tombs roused all the dormant

agony of my soul, and extorted from me a piercing scream. Happily, I

was then alone with Inès, who of all my women engaged the largest

share of my confidence. I told her what surmise had so agitated my

spirits. She only laughed at the idea, and took it for granted that

a slight resemblance had imposed on my fancy. Take courage, madam,

said she, and do not be afraid of seeing your first husband. What

likelihood is there of his being here in the disguise of a peasant?

Is it even within the reach of credibility that he is still alive?

However, I will go down into the garden and talk with this rustic. I

will answer for finding out who he is, and will return in all

possible haste with my intelligence. Inès ran on her errand like a

lapwing; but soon returned to my apartment with a face of mingled

astonishment and emotion. Madam, exclaimed she, your conjecture is

but too well grounded; it is indeed Don Alvar whom you have seen; he

made himself known at once, and pleads for a private interview.

As I had the means of admitting Don Alvar instantaneously, by the

absence of the Marquis at Burgos, I commissioned my waiting-maid to

introduce him into my closet by a private staircase. Well may you

imagine the hurry and agitation of my spirits. How could I support

the presence of a man, who was entitled to overwhelm me with

reproaches? I fainted at his very foot-fall as he entered. They

were about me in a moment;--he as well as Inès; and when they had

recovered me from my swoon, Don Alvar said--Madam, for Heaven's sake

compose yourself. My presence shall never be the cause of pain to

you; nor would I for the world expose you to the slightest anxiety.

I am no savage husband, come to account with you for a sacred pledge;

nor do I impute to criminal motives the second contract you have

formed. I am well aware that it was owing to the importunity of your

friends; your persecutions from that quarter are not unknown to me.

Besides, the report of my death was current in Valladolid; and you

had so much the more reason to give it credit, as no letter from me

gave you any assurance to the contrary. In short, I am no stranger

to your habits of life since our cruel separation; and know that

necessity, not lightness of heart, has thrown you into the arms....

Ah! sir, interrupted I with sobs, why will you make excuses for your

unworthy wife? She is guilty, since you survive. Why am I not still

in the forlorn state, in which I languished before my marriage with

Don Ambrosio? Fatal nuptials!--alas! but for these, I should at

least have had the consolation in my wretchedness of seeing the

object of my first vows again without a blush.

My dear Mencia, replied Don Alvar, with a look which marked how

deeply he was penetrated by my contrition, I make no complaint of

you; and far from upbraiding you with your present prosperity, as

heaven is my witness, I return it thanks for the favors it has

showered on you. Since the sad day of my departure from Valladolid,

my own fate has ever been adverse. My life has been but a tissue of

misfortune; and, as a surcharge of evil destiny, I had no means of

letting you hear from me. Too secure in your affection, I could

neither think nor dream but of the condition to which my fatal love

might have reduced you. Donna Mencia in tears was the lovely, but

killing spectre that haunted me; of all my miseries, your dear idea

was the most acute. Sometimes, I own, I felt remorse for the

transporting crime of having pleased you. I wished you had lent an

ear to the suit of some happier rival, since the preference with

which you had honored me was to fall so cruelly on your own head. To

cut short my melancholy tale--after seven years of suffering, more

enamored than ever, I determined to see you once again. The impulse

was not to be resisted; and the expiration of a long slavery having

furnished me with the power of giving way to it, I have been at

Valladolid under this disguise at the hazard of a discovery. There,

I learned the whole story. I then came to this castle, and found the

means of admission into the gardener's service, who has engaged me as

a laborer. Such was my stratagem to obtain this private interview.

But do not suppose me capable of blasting, by my continuance here,

the happiness of your future days. I love you better than my own

life; I have no consideration but for your repose; and it is my

purpose, after thus unburdening my heart, to finish in exile the

sacrifice of an existence, which has lost its value since no longer

to be devoted to your service.

No, Don Alvar, no, exclaimed I at these words; you shall never quit

me a second time. I will be the companion of your wanderings; and

death only shall divide us from this hour. Take my advice, replied

he, live with Don Ambrosio; unite not yourself with my miseries, but

leave me to stand under their undivided weight. These and other such

entreaties he used; but the more willing he seemed to sacrifice

himself to my welfare, the less did I feel disposed to take advantage

of his generosity. When he saw me resolute in my determination to

follow him, he all at once changed his tone; and assuming an aspect

of more satisfaction, Madam, said he, since you still love Don Alvar

well enough, to prefer adversity with him before your present ease

and affluence, let us then take up our abode at Bétancos, in the

interior of Galicia. There I have a safe retreat. Though my

misfortunes may have stripped me of all my effects, they have not

alienated all my friends; some are yet faithful, and have furnished

me with the means of carrying you off. With their help I have hired

a carriage at Zamora; have bought mules and horses, and am

accompanied by perhaps the three boldest of the Galicians. They are

armed with carabines and pistols, waiting my orders at the village of

Rodillas. Let us avail ourselves of Don Ambrosio's absence, I will

send the carriage to the castle gate, and we will set out without

loss of time. I consented. Don Alvar flew towards Rodillas, and

shortly returned with his escort. My women, from the midst of whom I

was carried off, not knowing what to think of this violent

proceeding, made their escape in great terror. Inès only was in the

secret; but she would not link her fate with mine, on account of a

love affair with Don Ambrosio's favorite man.

I got into the carriage therefore with Don Alvar, taking nothing with

me but my clothes and some jewels of my own before my second

marriage; for I could not think of appropriating any presents of the

Marquis. We travelled in the direction of Galicia, without knowing

if we should be lucky enough to reach it. We had reason to fear Don

Ambrosio's pursuit on his return, and that we should be overtaken by

superior numbers. We went forward for two days without any alarm,

and in the hope of being equally fortunate the third, had got into a

very quiet conversation. Don Alvar was relating the melancholy

adventure which had occasioned the rumor of his death, and how he

recovered his freedom, after five years of slavery, when yesterday we

met upon the Leon road the banditti you were with. He it was whom

they killed with all his attendants, and it is for him the tears

flow, which you see me shedding at this moment.

_CHAPTER XII._

_A DISAGREEABLE INTERRUPTION._

Donna Mencia melted into tears as she finished this recital. I

allowed her to give a free passage to her sighs; I even wept myself

for company, so natural is it to be interested for the afflicted, and

especially for a lovely female in distress. I was just going to ask

her what she meant to do in the present conjuncture, and possibly she

was going to consult me on the same subject if our conversation had

not been interrupted; but we heard a great noise in the inn, which

drew our attention whether we would or no. It was no less than the

arrival of the corregidor, attended by two alguazils and their

marshalmen. They came into the room where we were. A young

gentleman in their train came first up to me, and began taking to

pieces the different articles of my dress. He had no occasion to

examine them long. By saint James, exclaimed he, this is my

identical doublet! It is the very thing, and as safely to be

challenged as my horse. You may commit this spark on my

recognizance; he is one of the gang who have an undiscovered retreat

in this country.

At this discourse, which gave me to understand my accuser to be the

gentleman robbed, whose spoils to my confusion were exclusively my

own, I was without a word to say for myself, looking one way and the

other, and not knowing where to fix my eyes. The corregidor, whose

office was suspicion, set me down for the culprit; and, presuming on

the lady for an accomplice, ordered us into separate custody. This

magistrate was none of your stern gallows-preaching fellows, he had a

jocular epigrammatic sort of countenance. God knows if his heart lay

in the right place for all that! As soon as I was committed, in came

he with his pack. They knew their trade, and began by searching me.

What a forfeit to these lords of the manor! At every handful of

pistoles, what little eyes did I see them make! The corregidor was

absolutely out of his wits! It was the best stroke within the memory

of justice! My pretty lad, said his worship with a softened tone, we

only do our duty, but do not you tremble for your bones before the

time: you will not be broken on the wheel if you do not deserve it.

These blood-suckers were emptying my pockets all the time with their

cursed palaver, and took from me what their betters of the shades

below had the decency to leave--my uncle's forty ducats. They stuck

at nothing! Their stanch fingers, with slow but certain scent,

routed me out from top to toe; they whisked me round and round, and

stripped me even to the shame of modesty, for fear some sneaking

portrait of the king should slink between my shirt and skin. When

they could sift me no further, the corregidor thought it time to

begin his examination. I told a plain tale. My deposition was taken

down; and the sequel was, that he carried in his train his

bloodhounds, and my little property, leaving me to toss without a rag

upon a beggarly whisp of straw.

O, the miseries of human life! groaned I, when I found myself in this

merciless and solitary condition. Our adventures here are whimsical,

and out of all time and tune. From my first outset from Oviedo, I

had got into a pleasant round of difficulties; hardly had I worked

myself out of one danger, before I soused into another. Coming into

town here, how could I expect the honor of the corregidor's

acquaintance? While thus communing with my own thoughts, I got once

more into the cursed doublet and the rest of the paraphernalia which

had got me into such a scrape; then plucking up a little courage,

Never mind, Gil Blas, thought I, do not be chicken-hearted. What is

a prison above ground, after so brimstone a snuffle as thou hast had

of the regions below? But, alas! I hallo before I am out of the

wood! I am in more experienced hands than those of Leonarda and

Domingo. My key will not open this grate! I might well say so, for

a prisoner without money is like a bird with its wings clipped; one

must be in full feather, to flutter out of distance from these

gaol-birds.

But we left a partridge and a young rabbit on the spit! How they got

off I know not; but my supper was a bit of sallow-complexioned bread,

with a pitcher of water to render it amenable to mastication! and

thus was I destined to bite the bridle in my dungeon. A fortnight

was pretty well without seeing a soul but my keeper, who had orders

that I should want for nothing in the bread and water way! Whenever

he made his appearance I was inclined to be sociable, and to parley a

little to get rid of the blue devils; but this majestic minister was

above reply, he was mum! he scarcely trusted his eyes but to see that

I did not slip by him. On the sixteenth day, the corregidor strutted

in to this tune--You are a lucky fellow! I have news for you. The

lady is packed off for Burgos. She came under my examination before

her departure, and her answers went to your exculpation. You will be

at large this very day if your carrier from Pegnaflor to Cacabelos

agrees in the same tale. He is now in Astorga. I have sent for him,

and expect him here; if he confirms the story of the torture, you are

your own master.

At these words I was ready to jump out of my skin for joy. The

business was settled! I thanked the magistrate for the abridgment of

justice with which he had deigned to favor me, and was getting to the

fag end of my compliment, when the muleteer arrived, with an

attendant before and behind. I knew the fellow's face; but he,

having as a matter of course sold my cloak-bag with the contents,

from a deep-rooted affection to the money which the sale had brought,

swore lustily that he had no acquaintance with me, and had never seen

me in the whole course of his life. O! you villain, exclaimed I, go

down on your knees and own that you have sold my clothes. Prythee,

have some regard to truth! Look in my face; am not I one of those

shallow young fellows whom you had the wit to threaten with the rack

in the corporate town of Cacabelos? The muleteer turned upon his

toe, and protested he had not the honor of my acquaintance. As he

persisted in his disavowal, I was recommitted for further

examination. Patience once more! It was only reducing feasts and

fasts to the level of bread and water, and regaling the only sense I

had the means of using with the sight of my tongue-tied warden. But

when I reflected how little innocence would avail to extricate me

from the clutches of the law, the thought was death; I panted for my

subterraneous paradise. Take it for all in all, said I, there were

fewer grievances than in this dungeon. I was hail fellow well met

with the banditti! I bandied about my jokes with the best of them,

and lived on the sweet hope of an escape; whereas my innocence here

will only be a passport to the galleys.

_CHAPTER XIII._

_THE LUCKY MEANS BY WHICH GIL BLAS ESCAPED FROM PRISON, AND HIS

TRAVELS AFTERWARDS._

While I passed the hours in tickling my fancy with my own gay

thoughts, my adventures, word for word, as I had set my hand to them,

were current about the town. The people wanted to make a show of me!

One after another, there they came, peeping in at a little window of

my prison, not too capacious of daylight; and when they had looked

about them, off they went! This raree-show was a novelty. Since my

commitment, there had not been a living creature at that window,

which looked into a court where silence and horror kept guard. This

gave me to understand that I was become the town-talk, and I knew not

whether to divine good or evil from the omen.

One of my first visitors was the little chorister of Mondognedo, who

had a fellow-feeling with me for the rack, and an equally light pair

of heels. I knew him at once, and he had no qualms about

acknowledging me as an acquaintance. We exchanged a kind greeting,

then compared notes since our separation. I was obliged to relate my

adventures in due form and order. The chorister, on his part, told

me what had happened in the inn at Cacabelos, between the muleteer

and the bride, after we had taken to our heels in a panic. Then,

with a friendly assurance at parting, he promised to leave no stone

unturned for my release. His companions, of mere curiosity,

testified their pity for my misfortune; assuring me that they would

lend a helping hand to the little chorister, and do their utmost to

procure my freedom.

They were no worse than their word. The corregidor was applied to in

my favor, who, no longer doubtful of my innocence, above all when he

had heard the chorister's story, came three weeks afterwards into my

cell. Gil Blas, said he, I never stand shilly-shally: begone, you

are free; you may take yourself off whenever you please. But, tell

me, if you were carried to the forest, could you not discover the

subterraneous retreat? No, sir, replied I: as I only entered in the

night, and made my escape before daybreak, it would be impossible to

fix upon the spot. Thereupon the magistrate withdrew, assuring me

that the gaoler should be ordered to give me free egress. In fact,

the very next moment the turnkey came into my dungeon, followed by

one of his outriding establishment, with a bundle of clothes under

his arm. They both of them stripped me with the utmost solemnity,

and without uttering a single syllable, of my doublet and breeches,

which had the honor to be made of a bettermost cloth almost new;

then, having rigged me in an old frock, they shoved me out of their

hospitable mansion by the shoulders.

The taking I was in to see myself so ill equipped, acted as a cooler

to the usual transport of prisoners at recovering their liberty. I

was tempted to escape from the town without delay, that I might

withdraw from the gaze of the people, whose prying eyes I could not

encounter but with pain. My gratitude however got the better of my

diffidence. I went to thank the little chorister, to whom I was so

much obliged. He could not help chuckling when he saw me. That is

your trim, is it? said he. As far as I see, you cannot complain that

your case has not been sifted to the bottom. I have nothing to say

against the laws of my country, replied I; they are as just as need

be. I only wish their officers would take after them. They might

have spared me my suit of clothes! I have paid for them over and

over again. I am quite of your mind, rejoined he; but they would

tell you that these are little formalities of old standing, which

cannot be dispensed with. What! you are foolish enough to suppose,

for instance, that your horse has been restored to its right owner?

Not a word of it, if you please: the beast is at this present in the

stables of the register, where it has been impounded as a witness to

be brought into court: if the poor gentleman comes off with the

crupper, he will be so much in pocket. But let us change the

subject. What is your plan? What do you mean to do with yourself?

I have an inclination, said I, to take the road for Burgos. I may

light on my rescued lady; she will give me a little ready cash: I

shall then buy a new short cassock, and betake myself to Salamanca,

where I shall see what I can make of my Latin. All my trouble is,

how to get to Burgos: one must live on the road. I understand you,

replied he. Take my purse: it is rather thinly lined, to be sure;

but you know a chorister's dividends are not like a bishop's. At the

same time he drew it from his pouch, and inserted it between my hands

with so good a grace, that I could not do otherwise than accept it,

for want of a better. I thanked him as though he had made me a

present of a gold mine, and tendered him a thousand promises of

recompense, to be duly honored and punctually paid at doom's-day.

With this I left him, and skulked out of the town, not paying my

respects, to my other benefactors; but giving them a thousand

blessings from my heart.

The little chorister had reason for speaking modestly of his purse;

it was not orthodox. By good luck, I had been used for these two

months to a very slender diet, and had still a little small change

left when I reached Ponte de Mula, not far from Burgos. I halted

there to inquire after Donna Mencia. The hostess of the inn I put up

at was a little withered, spiteful, emaciated bit of mortality. I

saw at a glance, by the mouths she made at me aside, that my frock

did not hit her fancy; and I thought it a proof of her taste. So I

sat myself down at a table; ate bread and cheese, and drank a few

glasses of execrable wine, such as innkeepers technically call

cassecoquin. During this meal, which was of a piece with the outward

appearance of the guest, I did my utmost to come to closer quarters

with my landlady. Did she know the Marquis de la Guardia? Was his

castle far out of town? Above all, what was become of my lady

marchioness? You ask many questions in a breath, replied she,

bridling with disdain. But I got out of her, though by hard pumping,

that Don Ambrosio's castle was but a short league from Ponte de Mula.

After I had done eating and drinking, as it was night, I thought it

natural to go to bed, and asked for my room. A room for you!

shrieked my landlady, darting at me a glance of contempt and pride; I

have no rooms for fellows who make their supper on a bit of cheese.

All my beds are bespoke. There are people of fashion expected, and

our accommodations are all kept for them. But I will not be

unchristian: you may lie in my barn: I suppose your soft skin will

not be incommoded by the feel of straw. She spoke truth without

knowing it. I took it all in silence, and slunk to my

roosting-place, where I fell asleep like a man, the excess of whose

labors are his ready passport to the blessings of repose.

_CHAPTER XIV._

_DONNA MENCIA'S RECEPTION OF HIM AT BURGOS._

I was no sluggard, but got up the next morning betimes. I paid my

bill to the landlady, who was already stirring, and seemed a little

less lofty and in better humor than the evening before; a

circumstance I attributed to the endeavors of three kind guardsmen

belonging to the holy brotherhood. These gentlemen had slept in the

inn: they were evidently on a very intimate footing with the hostess:

and doubtless it was for guests of such note that all the beds were

bespoke.

I inquired in the town my way to the castle where I wanted to present

myself. By accident I made up to a man not unlike my landlord at

Pegnaflor. He was not satisfied with answering my question to the

point; but informed me that Don Ambrosio had been dead three weeks,

and the marchioness his lady had taken the resolution of retiring to

a convent at Burgos, which he named. I proceeded immediately towards

that town, instead of taking the road to the castle, as I had first

meant to do, and flew at once to the place of Donna Mencia's retreat.

I besought the attendant at the turning-box to tell that lady that a

young man just discharged from prison at Astorga wanted to speak with

her. The nun went on the message immediately. On her return, she

showed me into a parlor, where I did not wait long before Don

Ambrosio's widow appeared at the grate in deep mourning.

You are welcome, said the lady. Four days ago I wrote to a person at

Astorga, to pay you a visit as from me, and to tell you to come and

see me the moment you were released from prison. I had no doubt of

your being discharged shortly: what I told the corregidor in your

exculpation was enough for that. An answer was brought that you had

been set at liberty, but that no one knew what was become of you. I

was afraid of not seeing you any more, and losing the pleasure of

expressing my gratitude. Never mind, added she, observing my

confusion at making my appearance in so wretched a garb; your dress

is of very little consequence. After the important services you have

rendered me, I should be the most ungrateful of my sex, if I were to

do nothing for you in return. I undertake therefore to better your

condition: it is my duty, and the means are in my power. My fortune

is large enough to pay my debt of obligation to you, without putting

myself to inconvenience.

You know, continued she, my story up to the time when we both were

committed to prison. I will now tell you what has happened to me

since. When the corregidor at Astorga had sent me to Burgos, after

having heard from my own lips a faithful recital of my adventures, I

presented myself at the Castle of Ambrosio. My return thither

excited extreme surprise: but they told me that it was too late; the

marquis, as if he had been thunderstruck at my flight, fell sick; and

the physicians despaired of his recovery. Here was a new incident in

the melancholy tragedy of my fate. Yet I ordered my arrival to be

announced. The next moment I ran into his chamber, and threw myself

on my knees by his bedside, with a face running down with tears and a

heart oppressed with the most lively sorrow. Who sent for you

hither? said he as soon as he saw me; are you come to contemplate

your own contrivance? Was it not enough to have deprived me of life?

But was it necessary to satisfy your heart's desire, to be an

eye-witness of my death? My lord, replied I, Inès must have told you

that I fled with my first husband; and, had it not been for the sad

accident which has taken him from me forever, you never would have

seen me more. At the same time I acquainted him that Don Alvar had

been killed by a banditti, whose captive I had consequently been in a

subterraneous dungeon. After relating the particulars of my story to

the end, Don Ambrosio held out to me his hand. It is enough, said he

affectionately, I will make no more complaints. Alas! Have I in

fact any right to reproach you? You were thrown once more in the way

of a beloved husband; and gave me up to follow his fortunes: can I

blame such an instance of your affection? No, madam, it would have

been vain to resist the will of fate. For that reason I gave orders

not to pursue you. In my rival himself I could not but respect the

sacred rights with which he was invested, and even the impulse of

your flight seemed to have been communicated by some superior power.

To close all with an act of justice, and in the spirit of

reconciliation, your return hither has reëstablished you completely

in my affection. Yes, my dear Mencia, your presence fills me with

joy: but, alas! I shall not long be sensible to it. I feel my last

hour to be at hand. No sooner are you restored to me, than I must

bid you an eternal farewell. At these touching expressions, my tears

flowed in torrents. I felt and expressed as much affliction as the

human heart is capable of containing. I question whether Don Alvar's

death, doting on him as I did, had cost me more bitter lamentations.

Don Ambrosio had given way to no mistaken presage of his death, which

happened on the following day; and I remained mistress of a

considerable jointure, settled on me at our marriage. But I shall

take care to make no unworthy use of it. The world shall not see me,

young as I still am, wantoning in the arms of a third husband.

Besides that such levity seems irreconcilable with the feelings of

any but the profligate of our sex, I will frankly own the relish of

life to be extinct in me; so that I mean to end my days in this

convent, and to become a benefactress to it.

Such was Donna Mencia's discourse about her future plans. She then

drew a purse from beneath her robe, and put it into my hands, with

this address: Here are a hundred ducats simply to furnish out your

wardrobe. That done, come and see me again. I mean not to confine

my gratitude within such narrow bounds. I returned her a thousand

thanks, and promised solemnly not to quit Burgos, without taking

leave of her. Having given this pledge, which I had every

inclination to redeem, I went to look out for some house of

entertainment. Entering the first I met with, I asked for a room.

To parry the ill opinion my frock might convey of my finances, I told

the landlord that, however appearances might be against me, I could

pay for my night's lodging as well as a better dressed gentleman. At

this speech, the landlord, whose name was Majuelo, a great banterer

in a coarse way, running over me with his eyes from top to toe,

answered with a cool, sarcastic grin, that there was no need of any

such assurance: it was evident I should pay my way liberally, for he

discovered something of nobility through my disguise, and had no

doubt but I was a gentleman in very easy circumstances. I saw

plainly that the rascal was laughing at me; and, to stop his humor

before it became too convulsive, gave him a little insight into the

state of my purse. I went so far as to count over my ducats on a

table before him, and perceived my coin to have inclined him to a

more respectful judgment. I begged the favor of him to send for a

tailor. A broker would be better, said he; he will bring all sorts

of apparel, and you will be dressed up out of hand. I approved of

this advice, and determined to follow it: but, as the day was on the

point of closing, I put off my purchase till the morrow, and thought

only of getting a good supper, to make me amends for the miserable

fare I had taken up with since my escape from the forest.

_CHAPTER XV._

_GIL BLAS DRESSES HIMSELF TO MORE ADVANTAGE, AND RECEIVES A SECOND

PRESENT FROM THE LADY. HIS EQUIPAGE ON SETTING OUT FROM BURGOS._

They served me up a plentiful fricassee of sheep's trotters, almost

the whole of which I demolished. My drinking kept pace with my

eating: and when I could stuff no longer, I went to bed. I lay

comfortably enough, and was in hopes that a sound sleep would have

the kindness without delay to commit a friendly invasion on my

senses. But I could not close an eye, for ruminating on the dress I

should choose. What shall I do, thought I? Shall I follow my first

plan? Shall I buy a short cassock, and go to Salamanca to set up for

a tutor? Why should I adopt the costume of a licentiate? For the

purpose of going into orders? Do I feel an inward call? No. If I

have any call, it is quite the contrary way. I had rather wear a

sword than an apron: and push my fortune in this world, before I

think of the next.

I made up my mind to take on myself the appearance of a gentleman.

Waiting for the day with the greatest impatience, its first dawn no

sooner greeted my eyes, than I got up. I made such an uproar in the

inn, as to wake the most inveterate sleeper, and called the servants

out of bed who returned my salute with a volley of curses. But they

found themselves under a necessity of stirring, and I let them have

no rest, till they had sent for a broker. The gentleman soon made

his appearance, followed by two lads, each lugging in a great bundle

of green cloth. He accosted me very civilly, to the following

effect: Honored sir, you are a happy man to have been recommended to

me rather than any one else. I do not mean to give my brethren an

ill word: God forbid I should offer the slightest injury to their

reputation! They have none to spare. But, between ourselves, there

is not one of them that has any bowels; they are more extortionate

than the Israelites. There is not a broker but myself, that has any

moral sense. I keep within the bounds of a reasonable profit. I am

satisfied with a pound in the penny;--no, no!--that is wrong:--with a

penny in the pound. Thanks to Heaven, I get forward fair and softly

in the world.

The broker, after this preface, which I, like a fool, took for

chapter and verse, told his journeymen to undo their bundles. They

showed me suits of every color in the rainbow, and exposed to sale a

great choice of plain cloths. These I threw aside with contempt, as

thinking them too undressed; but they made me try on one which fitted

me as well as if I had been measured for it, and just hit my fancy,

though it was a little the worse for wear. It was a doublet with

slashed sleeves, with breeches and a cloak, the whole of blue velvet

with gold embroidery. I felt a little hankering after this

particular article, and attempted to beat down the price. The

broker, who saw my inclination, told me I had a very correct taste.

By all that is sacred! exclaimed he, it is plain you are no younker.

Take this with you! That dress was made for one of the first

nobility in the kingdom, and has not been on his back three times.

Look at the velvet; feel it: nothing can be richer or of a better

color; and for the embroidery, come, now! tell truth: did you ever

see better workmanship? What is the price of it? said I. Only sixty

ducats, replied he. I have refused the money, or else I am a liar.

The alternative could not fail in one proposition or the other. I

bid five and forty: two or three and twenty would have been nearer

the mark. My worthy master, said the broker coolly, I never ask too

much. I have but one price. But here, added he, holding up the

suits I had thrown aside; take these: I can afford to sell them a

better bargain. All this only inflamed my eagerness to buy what I

was cheapening; and as I had no idea that he would have made any

abatement, I paid him down sixty ducats. When he saw how easily a

fool and his money were parted, I verily believe that, in spite of

the moral sense, he heartily repented not having taken a hint from

the extortionate Israelite. But reconciling himself as well as he

could to the small profit, to which he professed to confine himself,

of a pound upon a penny, he retreated with his journeymen. I was not

suffered to forget that they must have something for their trouble.

I had now a cloak, a doublet, and a very decent pair of breeches.

The rest of my wardrobe was to be thought of: and this took up the

whole morning. I bought some linen, a hat, silk stockings, shoes,

and a sword; and concluded by putting on my purchases. What pleasure

was it to see myself so well accoutred! My eyes were never cloyed,

as it were, with the richness of my attire. Never did peacock look

at his own plumage with less philosophy. On that very day, I paid a

second visit to Donna Mencia, who received me with her usual

affability. She thanked me over again for the service I had rendered

her. On that subject, rapid was the interchange of compliments.

Then, wishing every kind of success, she bade me farewell, and

withdrew, without giving me anything but a ring worth thirty

pistoles, which she begged me to keep as a remembrance.

I looked very foolish with my ring! I had reckoned on a much more

considerable present. Thus, little satisfied with the lady's bounty,

I measured back my steps in a very musing attitude: but as I entered

the inn door, a man overtook me, and throwing off his wrapping cloak,

discovered a large bag under his arm. At the vision of the bag,

apparently full of current coin, I stood gaping, as did most of the

company present. The voice of angel or archangel could not have been

sweeter, than when this messenger of earthly dross, laying the bag

upon the table, said: Signor Gil Blas, the lady marchioness desires

her compliments. I bowed the bearer out, with an accumulation of

fine speeches; and, as soon as his back was turned, pounced upon the

bag, like a hawk upon its quarry, and bore it between my talons to my

chamber. I untied it without loss of time, and the contents were;--a

thousand ducats! The landlord, who had overheard the bearer, came in

just as I had done counting them, to know what was in the bag. The

sight of my riches displayed upon a table, struck him in a very

forcible manner. What the devil! here is a sum of money! So, so!

you are the man! pursued he with a waggish sort of leer, you know how

to--tickle the--fancies of the ladies! Four and twenty hours only

have you been in Burgos, and marchionesses, I warrant you, have

surrendered at the first summons!

This discourse was not so much amiss. I was half inclined to leave

Majuelo in his error; for it flattered my vanity. I do not wonder

young fellows are fond of passing for men of gallantry. But as yet

the purity of my morals was proof against the suggestions of my

pride. I undeceived my landlord, by telling him Donna Mencia's

story, to which he listened very attentively. Afterwards I let him

into the state of my affairs; and, as he seemed to take an interest

in them, besought him to assist me with his advice. He ruminated for

some time; then said with a serious air: Master Gil Blas, I have

taken a liking to you; and since you are candid enough to open your

heart to me, I will tell you sincerely what I think would suit you

best. You were evidently born for a court life: I recommend you to

go thither, and to get about the person of some considerable

nobleman. But make a point either of getting at his secrets, or

administering to his pleasures; unless you do that, it will be all

lost time in his family. I know the great: they reckon nothing upon

the zeal and attachment of a real friend; but only care for pimping

sycophants. You have besides another string to your bow. You are

young, with an attractive person: parts out of the question, for they

are not at all times necessary, it is hard if you cannot turn the

head of some rich widow, or handsome wife with a broomstick for her

husband. Love may ruin men of fortune; but it makes amends by

feathering the nests of those who have none. My vote therefore is

for Madrid: but you must not make your appearance there without an

establishment. There, as elsewhere, people judge by the outside; and

you will only be respected according to the figure you make. I will

find you a servant, a tried domestic, a prudent lad; in a word, a

fellow of my own creation. Buy a couple of mules; one for yourself,

the other for him: and set off as fast as you can.

This counsel was too palatable to be refused. On the day following,

I purchased two fine mules, and bargained with my new servant. He

was a young man of thirty, of a very simple and godly appearance. He

told me he was a native of Galicia, by name Ambrose de Lamela. Other

servants are selfish, and think they never can have wages enough.

This fellow assured me he was a man of few wants, and should be

contented with whatever I had the goodness to give him. I bought a

pair of boots, with a portmanteau to lock up my linen and my money.

Having settled with my landlord, I set out from Burgos the next

morning before sunrise, on my way to Madrid.

_CHAPTER XVI._

_SHOWING THAT PROSPERITY WILL SLIP THROUGH A MAN'S FINGERS._

We slept at Duengnas the first night, and reached Valladolid on the

following day, about four o'clock in the afternoon. We alighted at

the inn of the most respectable appearance in the town. I left the

care of the mules to my fellow, and went up to a room whither I

ordered my portmanteau to be carried by a waiter. As I felt a little

weary, I threw myself on a couch in my boots, and fell asleep

involuntarily. It was almost night when I awoke. I called for

Ambrose. He was not to be found in the house; but made his

appearance in a short time. I asked him where he had been: he

answered in his godly way, that he was just come from church, whither

he went for the purpose of thanksgiving, by reason that we had been

graciously preserved from all perils and dangers between Burgos and

Valladolid, I commended his piety; and ordered a chicken to be

roasted for supper.

At the moment when I was giving this order, my landlord came into my

room with a light in his hand. That cursed candle served to

introduce a lady, handsome but not young, and very richly attired.

She leaned upon an usher, none of the youngest, and a little

blackamoor was her train-bearer. I was under no small surprise when

this fair incognita, with a profound obeisance, begged to know if my

name might happen to be Signor Gil Blas of Santillane? I had no

sooner blundered out yes, than she released her sweet hand from the

custody of the usher, and embraced me with a transport of joy, of

which I knew less and less what to make. Heaven be praised, cried

she, for all its mercies! You are he, noble sir, the very man of

whom I was in quest. By this introduction, I was reminded of my

friend the parasite at Pegnaflor, and was on the point of suspecting

the lady to be no better than an honest woman should be: but her

finale gave me a much higher opinion of her. I am, continued she,

first cousin to Donna Mencia de Mosquera, whom you have so greatly

befriended. It was but this morning I received a letter from her.

She writes me word that having learned your intention of going to

Madrid, she wished me to receive you hospitably on your journey, if

you went this way. For these two hours have I been parading the

town. From inn to inn have I gone to inform myself what strangers

were in the house; and I gathered from the landlord's description,

that you were most likely to have been my cousin's deliverer. Since

then I have found you out, you shall know by experience my gratitude

to the friends of my family, and especially to my dear cousin's hero.

You will take up your abode, if you please, at my house. Your

accommodations will be better. I wished to excuse myself; and told

the lady that I could not be so troublesome: but her importunities

were more than a match for my modesty. A carriage was waiting at the

door of the inn to convey us. She saw my portmanteau taken care of

with her own eyes, because, as she justly observed, there were a

great many light-fingered gentry about Valladolid--to be sure there

were a great many light-fingered gentry about Valladolid, as she

justly observed! In short, I got into the carriage with her and the

old usher, and suffered myself to be carried off bodily from the inn,

to the great annoyance of the landlord, who saw himself thus weaned

from all the little perquisites he had reckoned on from my abode

under his roof.

Our carriage, having rolled on some distance, stopped. We alighted

at the door of a handsome house, and went up stairs into a well

furnished apartment, illuminated by twenty or thirty wax candles.

Several servants were in waiting, of whom the lady inquired whether

Don Raphael was come. They answered, No. She then addressed herself

to me: Signor Gil Blas, I am waiting for my brother's return from a

country seat of ours, about two leagues distant. What an agreeable

surprise will it be to him to find a man under his roof to whom our

family is so much indebted! At the very moment she had finished this

pretty speech, we heard a noise, and were informed at the same time

that it was occasioned by the arrival of Don Raphael. This spark

soon made his appearance. He was a young man of portly figure and

genteel manners. I am in ecstasy to see you back again, brother,

said the lady; you will assist me in doing the honors to Signor Gil

Blas of Santillane. We can never do enough to show our sense of his

kindness to our kinswoman, Donna Mencia. Here, read this letter I

have just received. Don Raphael opened the envelope, and read aloud

as follows:--

"MY DEAR CAMILLA: Signor Gil Blas of Santillane, the saviour of my

honor and my life, has just set out for court. He will of course

pass through Valladolid. I conjure you by our family connection, and

still more by our indissoluble friendship, to give him a hospitable

reception, and to detain him for some time as your guest. I flatter

myself that you will so far oblige me, and that my deliverer will

receive every kind of polite attention from yourself, and my cousin

Don Raphael.

Your affectionate cousin,

DONNA MENCIA."

"Burgos.

What! cried Don Raphael, casting his eyes again over the letter, is

it to this gentleman my kinswoman owes her honor and her life? Then

Heaven be praised for this happy meeting. With this sort of

language, he advanced towards me; and squeezing me tightly in his

arms: What joy to me is it, added he, to have the honor of seeing

Signor Gil Blas of Santillane? My cousin the marchioness had no need

to press the hospitality. Had she only told us simply that you were

passing through Valladolid, that would have been enough. My sister

Camilla and I shall be at no loss how to conduct ourselves towards a

young gentleman, who has conferred an obligation, not to be repaid,

on her of all our family most tenderly beloved by us. I made the

best answer I could to these speeches, which were followed by many

others of the same kind, and interlarded with a thousand bows and

scrapes. But Lord bless me, he has his boots on! The servants were

ordered in, to take them off.

We next went into another room, where the cloth was laid. Down we

sat at table, the brother, sister, and myself. They paid me a

hundred compliments during supper. Not a word escaped me, but they

magnified it into an admirable hit! It was impossible not to observe

the assiduity with which they both helped me out of every dish. Don

Raphael often pledged me to Donna Mencia's health. I could not

refuse the challenge; and it looked a little as if Camilla, who was a

very good companion, ogled at me with no questionable meaning. I

even thought I could perceive that she watched her opportunity, as if

she was afraid of being detected by her brother. An oracle could not

have convinced me more firmly that the lady was caught; and I looked

forward to a little delicate amusement from the discovery, during the

short time I was to stay at Valladolid. That hope was my tempter to

comply with the request they made me, of condescending to pass a few

days with them. They thanked me kindly for indulging them with my

company; and Camilla's restrained, but visible transport, confirmed

me in the opinion that I was not altogether disagreeable in her eyes.

Don Raphael, finding I had made up my mind to be his guest for a few

days, proposed to take me to his country house. The description of

it was magnificent, and the round of amusements he meditated for me

was not to be described. At one time, said he, we will take the

diversion of the chase, at another that of fishing; and whenever you

have a mind for a saunter, we have charming woods and gardens. In

addition, we shall have agreeable society. I flatter myself you will

not find the time hang heavy on your hands. I accepted the

invitation, and it was agreed that we should go to this fine country

house the following day. We rose from table with this pleasant

scheme in our mouths. Don Raphael seemed in ecstasy. Signor Gil

Blas, said he, embracing me, I leave you with my sister. I am going

presently to give the necessary orders, and send invitations round to

the families I wish to be of the party. With these words he sallied

forth from the room where we were sitting. I went on chatting with

the lady, whose topics of discourse did not belie the glances of her

expressive eyes. She took me by the hand, and playing with my ring,

You have a mighty pretty brilliant there, said she, but it is small.

Are you a judge of jewelry? I answered, no! I am sorry for that,

resumed she, because I was in hopes you could have told me what this

is worth. As she uttered these words, she showed me a large ruby on

her finger; and, while I was looking at it, said--An uncle of mine,

who was governor of the Spanish settlements in the Philippine Isles,

gave me this ruby. The jewellers at Valladolid value it at three

hundred pistoles. It cannot be worth less, said I, for it is

evidently a very fine stone. Why then, since you have taken a fancy

to it, replied she, an exchange is no robbery. In a twinkling she

whisked off my ring, and placed her own on my little finger. After

this exchange, a genteel way enough of making a present, Camilla

pressed my hand and gazed at me with expressive tenderness; then, all

at once breaking off the conversation, wished me good night, and

retired to hide her blushes, as if she had been ready to sink at the

indiscreet avowal of her sentiments.

No one hitherto had trod less in the paths of gallantry than myself!

Yet I could not shut my eyes to the vista vision opened to me by this

precipitate retreat. Under these circumstances, a country excursion

might have its charms. Full of this flattering idea, and intoxicated

with the prosperous condition of my affairs, I locked myself into my

bed-room, after having told my servant to call me betimes in the

morning. Instead of going to sleep, I gave myself up to the

disagreeable reflections which my portmanteau, snug upon the table,

and my ruby excited in my breast. Heaven be praised, thought I,

though misfortunes have been my lot, I am unfortunate no longer. A

thousand ducats here, a ring of three hundred pistoles value there!

I am in cash for a considerable time. Indeed Majuelo was no

flatterer, I see clearly. The ladies of Madrid will take fire like

touchwood, since the green sticks of Valladolid are so inflammable.

Then the kind regards of the generous Camilla arrayed themselves in

all their charms, and I tasted by anticipation the amusements Don

Raphael was preparing for me at his villa. In the mean while, amid

so many images of pleasure, Sleep was on the watch to strew his

poppies on my couch. As soon as I felt myself drowsy, I undressed

and went to bed.

The next morning, when I awoke, I found it rather late. It was odd

enough that my servant did not make his appearance, after such

particular orders. Ambrose, thought I to myself, my devout Ambrose

is either at church, or abominably lazy this morning. But I soon let

go this opinion of him to take up a worse; for getting out of bed,

and seeing no portmanteau, I suspected him to have stolen it during

the night. To clear up my suspicions, I opened my chamber door, and

called the religious rascal over and over again. An old man

answered, saying--What is your pleasure, sir? All your folks left my

house before daybreak. Your house! How now! exclaimed I; am I not

under Don Raphael's roof? I do not know the gentleman, said he. You

are in a ready-furnished lodging, and I am the landlord. Yesterday

evening, an hour before your arrival, the lady who supped with you

came hither, and engaged this suite of apartments for a nobleman of

high rank, travelling _incognito_, as she called it. She paid me

beforehand. I was now in the secret. It was plain enough what sort

of people Camilla and Don Raphael were; and I conjectured that my

servant, having wormed himself into a complete knowledge of my

concerns, had betrayed me to these impostors. Instead of blaming

myself for this sad accident, and considering that it could never

have happened but for my indiscretion in so unnecessarily betraying

my confidence to Majuelo, I gave bad language to the poor harmless

Dame Fortune, and cursed my ill star in a hundred different

formularies. The master of the ready-furnished lodging, to whom I

related the adventure, which perhaps was as much his as mine, showed

some little outward sensibility to my affliction. He lamented over

me, and protested he was deeply mortified that such a play should

have been acted in his house; but I verily believe, notwithstanding

his fine words, that he had an equal share in the cheat with mine

host at Burgos, to whom I have never denied the merit of so ingenious

an invention.

_CHAPTER XVII._

_THE MEASURES GIL BLAS TOOK AFTER THE ADVENTURE OF THE

READY-FURNISHED LODGING._

After the first transports of my grief were over, I began to

consider, that instead of giving way to remorse, I ought rather to

bear up against my ill fate. I summoned back my resolution, and by

way of comfort, said to myself as I was dressing--I am still in luck

that the knaves have not carried off my clothes and what little money

I had in my pocket. I gave them some credit for being so

considerate. They had even been generous enough to leave me my

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

At last I sallied out of the ready-furnished lodging, unencumbered,

heaven be praised, with baggage or attendance. The first thing I did

was to go and see if my mules were still at the inn, where we

alighted the evening before. It was not to be supposed that Ambrose

would have neglected a due attention to them; and it would have been

well for me if I had always taken such exact measure of his

character. I learned that he had not waited for the morning, but had

been careful to fetch them off over-night. Under these

circumstances, satisfied I should never see them again, any more than

my portmanteau, I walked sulkily along the streets, musing on the

future plans I should adopt. I was tempted to go back to Burgos, and

once more have recourse to Donna Mencia; but, regarding this as an

abuse of that lady's goodness, and being aware, moreover, what a fool

I should look like, I thought it best to forego that idea. I made a

vow too for the future to be on my guard against women. I could have

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

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

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

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

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

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