WHEREIN THREE DELECTABLE EPISTLES ARE READ BY THE DUCHESS
Don Quixote had now been healed of his scratches, and he began to long
for the road; for the life was too easy, he thought, for one who had
dedicated himself to knight-errantry and valorous deeds. But the day
he had decided to break the news to the Duke and the Duchess, the
messenger that the Duchess had sent to Sancho's wife returned,
bringing with him two letters, one addressed to "The Duchess
So-and-so, of I don't know where," and the other one to "The Governor,
Sancho Panza of the Island of Barataria, whom God prosper longer than
me!"
The Duchess was so eager to read her letter that she opened it at
once; and having read it to herself, she felt she ought to give
amusement to the others too, so she read it aloud to all who were
there. She was dying to see what the letter to the Governor contained,
so she asked Don Quixote whether he thought it would be a breach of
etiquette to read it; and Don Quixote took it upon himself, as
Sancho's late master and guardian, to open it. Then he read it to the
Duke and the Duchess, who laughed to their heart's content at the many
drolleries with which Teresa Panza had stuffed her epistle.
Just as the merriment was at its peak, the courier with Sancho Panza's
reply to Don Quixote arrived, and that communication too was read
aloud; and the Duke could not omit remarking that it was a most
excellent and sane letter. The Duchess, however, was anxious to
question the page about his visit with Teresa Panza, so she excused
herself, and withdrew with the page and her presents; for, besides the
acorns, the Governor's wife had sent her a cheese, much to the
gratification of the Duchess.