señor corregidor wants, and if anything bad has happened, be assured the
fault is not mine;" and without waiting to be called a second time, she
took a lighted candle in a silver candlestick, and went into the room
where the corregidor was. As soon as he saw her, he bade the landlord
shut the door, and then taking the candle out of her hand; and holding
it near her face, he stood gazing at her from head to foot. The blush
which this called up into Costanza's cheeks, made her look so beautiful
and so modest that it seemed to the corregidor he beheld an angel
descended on earth. After a long scrutiny, "Landlord," he said, "an inn
is not fit setting for a jewel like this, and I now declare that my son
Don Perequito has shown his good sense in fixing his affections so
worthily. I say, damsel, that they may well call you not only
illustrious, but most illustrious: but it should not be with the
addition of scullery-maid, but with that of duchess."
"She is no scullery-maid, señor," said the host; "her only service in
the house is to keep the keys of the plate, of which, by God's bounty, I
have some quantity for the service of the honourable guests who come to
this inn."
"Be that as it may, landlord," returned the corregidor; "I say it is
neither seemly nor proper that this damsel should live in an inn. Is she
a relation of yours?"
"She is neither my relation nor my servant; and if your worship would
like to know who she is, your worship shall hear, when she is not
present, things that will both please and surprise you."
"I should like to know it. Let Costanza retire, and be assured she may
count on me in all things, as she would upon her own father; for her
great modesty and beauty oblige all who see her to offer themselves for
her service."
Costanza replied not a word, but with great composure made a profound
reverence to the corregidor. On leaving the room she found her mistress
waiting in great agitation. She told her all that had passed, and how
her master remained with the corregidor to tell some things, she knew
not what, which he did not choose her to hear. All this did not quite
tranquilise the landlady, nor did she entirely recover her equanimity
until the corregidor went away, and she saw her husband safe and free.
The latter meanwhile had told the corregidor the following tale:--
"It is now, by my reckoning, señor, fifteen years, one month, and four
days, since there came to this house a lady dressed in the habit of a
pilgrim, and carried in a litter. She was attended by four servant-men
on horseback, and two dueñas and a damsel who rode in a coach. She had
also two sumpter mules richly caparisoned, and carrying a fine bed and
all the necessary implements for cooking. In short, the whole equipage
was first rate, and the pilgrim had all the appearance of being some
great lady; and though she seemed to be about forty years of age, she
was nevertheless beautiful in the extreme. She was in bad health, looked
pale, and was so weary, that she ordered her bed to be instantly made,
and her servants made it in this very room. They asked me who was the
most famous physician in this city. I said Doctor de la Fuente. They
went for him instantly; he came without delay, saw his patient alone,
and the result was that he ordered the bed to be made in some other part
of the house, where the lady might not be disturbed by any noise, which
was immediately done. None of the men-servants entered the lady's
apartment, but only the two dueñas and the damsel. My wife and I asked
the men-servants who was this lady, what was her name, whence she came,
and whither she was going? Was she wife, widow, or maid, and why she
wore that pilgrim's dress? To all these questions, which we repeated
many and many a time, we got no other answer than that this pilgrim was
a noble and wealthy lady of old Castile, that she was a widow, and had
no children to inherit her wealth; and that having been for some months
ill of the dropsy, she had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to our Lady
of Guadalupe, and that was the reason for the dress she wore. As for her
name, they were under orders to call her nothing but the lady pilgrim.
"So much we learned then; but three days after one of the dueñas called
myself and my wife into the lady's presence, and there, with the door
locked, and before her women, she addressed us with tears in her eyes, I
believe in these very words:--
"'Heaven is my witness, friends, that without any fault of mine, I find
myself in the cruel predicament which I shall now declare to you. I am
pregnant, and so near my time, that I already feel the pangs of travail.
None of my men-servants are aware of my misfortune, but from my women
here I have neither been able nor desirous to conceal it. To escape
prying eyes in my own neighbourhood, and that this hour might not come
upon me there, I made a vow to go to our Lady of Guadalupe; but it is
plainly her will that my labour should befal me in your house. It is now
for you to succour and aid me with the secrecy due to one who commits
her honour to your hands. In this purse there are two hundred gold
crowns, which I present to you as a first proof how grateful I shall be
for the good offices I am sure you will render me;' and taking from
under her pillow a green silk purse, embroidered with gold, she put it
into the hands of my wife, who, like a simpleton, stood gaping at the
lady, and did not say so much as a word in the way of thanks or
acknowledgment. For my part I remember that I said there was no need at
all of that, we were not persons to be moved more by interest than by
humanity to do a good deed when the occasion offered. The lady then
continued, 'You must immediately, my friends, look out for some place to
which you may convey my child as soon as it is born, and also you must
contrive some story to tell to the person in whose charge you will leave
it. At first I wish the babe to remain in this city, and afterwards to
be taken to a village. As for what is subsequently done, I will give you
instructions on my return from Guadalupe, if it is God's will that I
should live to complete my pilgrimage, for in the meantime I shall have
had leisure to consider what may be my best course. I shall have no need
of a midwife; for as I know from other confinements of mine, more
honourable than this, I shall do well enough with the aid of my women
only, and thus I shall avoid having an additional witness to my
misfortune.'
"Here the poor distressed pilgrim ended what she had to say, and broke
out into a flood of tears, but was partly composed by the soothing words
spoken to her by my wife, who had recovered her wits. I immediately went
in search of a woman to whom I might take the child when it was born;
and, between twelve and one o'clock that night, when all the people in
the house were fast asleep, the lady was delivered of the most beautiful
little girl that eyes ever beheld, and the very same that your worship
has just seen. But the wonder was that neither did the mother make any
moan in her labour, nor did the baby cry; but all passed off quietly,
and in all the silence that became this extraordinary case. The lady
kept her bed for six days, during which the doctor was constant in his
visits; not that she had informed him of the cause of her illness, or
that she took any of the medicines he prescribed; but she thought to
blind her men-servants by his visits, as she afterwards informed me when
she was out of danger. On the eighth day she left her bed, apparently as
big as she had been before her delivery, continued her pilgrimage, and
returned in three weeks, looking almost quite well, for she had
gradually reduced the bulk of her artificial dropsy. The little girl had
been christened Costanza, in accordance with the order given me by her
mother, and was already placed with a nurse in a village about two
leagues hence, where she passed for my niece. The lady was pleased to
express her satisfaction with all I had done, and gave me when she was
going away a gold chain, which is now in my possession, from which she
took off six links, telling me that they would be brought by the person
who should come to claim the child. She also took a piece of white
parchment, wrote upon it, and then cut zigzag through what she had
written. Look, sir, here are my hands locked together with the fingers
interwoven. Now suppose your honour were to write across my fingers, it
is easy to imagine that one could read the writing whilst the fingers
were joined, but that the meaning would be lost as soon as the hands
were separated, and would appear again as soon as they were united as
before. Just so with the parchment; one half serves as a key to the
other; when they are put together the letters make sense, but separately
they have no meaning. One-half of the parchment and the whole chain,
short of the six links, were left with me, and I keep them still, always
expecting the arrival of the person who is to produce the counterparts;
for the lady told me that in two years she would send for her daughter,
charging me that I should have her brought up not as became her mother's
quality, but as a simple villager; and if by any chance she was not able
to send for the child so soon, I was on no account to acquaint her with
the secret of her birth, even should she have arrived at years of
discretion. The lady moreover begged me to excuse her if she did not
tell me who she was; having for the present important reasons to conceal
her name. Finally, after giving us four hundred gold crowns more, and
embracing my wife with tears, she departed, leaving us filled with
admiration for her discretion, worth, beauty, and modesty.
"Costanza remained at nurse in the village for two years. At the end of
that time I brought her home, and have kept her ever since constantly
with me, in the dress of a girl who had to work for her bread, as her
mother directed. Fifteen years, one month, and four days I have been
looking for the person who should come and claim her, but the length of
time that has elapsed makes me begin to lose all hope of his coming. If
he does not make his appearance before this year is out, it is my
determination to adopt her and bequeath her all I am worth, which is
upwards of sixteen thousand ducats, thanks be to God. It now remains for
me, señor Corregidor, to enumerate to you the virtues and good qualities
of Costanza, if it be possible for me to express them. First and
foremost, she is most piously devoted to our Lady; she confesses and
communicates every month; she can read and write; there's not a better
lace maker in all Toledo; she sings without accompaniment like an angel;
in the matter of behaving with propriety she has not her equal; as for
her beauty, your worship has seen it with your own eyes. Señor Don
Pedro, your worship's son, has never exchanged a word with her in her
life. It is true that from time to time he treats her to some music,
which she never listens to. Many señors, and men of title too, have put
up at this house, and have delayed their journey for several days solely
to have their fill of looking at her; but I well know there is not one
of them can boast with truth that she ever gave them opportunity to say
one word to her either alone or before folk. This, señor, is the real
history of the illustrious scullery-maid, who is no scullion, in which I
have not departed one tittle from the truth."
The host had long ended his narrative before the corregidor broke
silence, so much was he struck by the strange facts he had heard. At
last he desired to see the parchment and the chain; the host produced
them without delay, and they corresponded exactly to the description he
had given of them. The chain was of curious workmanship, and on the
parchment were written, one under the other, on the projecting portions
of the zigzag, the letters, TIITEREOE which manifestly required to be
joined with those of the counterpart to make sense. The corregidor
admired the ingenuity of the contrivance, and judged from the costliness
of the chain, that the pilgrim must have been a lady of great wealth. It
was his intention to remove the lovely girl from the inn as soon as he
had chosen a suitable convent for her abode; but for the present he
contented himself with taking away the parchment only, desiring the
innkeeper to inform him if any one came for Costanza, before he showed
that person the chain, which he left in his custody. And with this
parting injunction the corregidor left the house, much marvelling at
what he had seen and heard.
Whilst all this affair was going on, Tomas was almost beside himself
with agitation and alarm, and lost in a thousand conjectures, every one
of which he dismissed as improbable the moment it was formed. But when
he saw the corregidor go away, leaving Costanza behind him, his spirits
revived and he began to recover his self-possession. He did not venture
to question the landlord, nor did the latter say a word about what had
passed between him and the corregidor to any body but his wife, who was
greatly relieved thereby, and thanked God for her delivery out of a
terrible fright.
About one o'clock on the following day, there came to the inn two
elderly cavaliers of venerable presence, attended by four servants on
horseback and two on foot. Having inquired if that was the Posada del
Sevillano, and being answered in the affirmative, they entered the
gateway, and the four mounted servants, dismounting, first helped their
master's out of their saddles. Costanza came out to meet the new-comers
with her wonted propriety of demeanour, and no sooner had one of the
cavaliers set eyes on her, than, turning to his companion, he said, "I
believe, señor Don Juan, we have already found the very thing we are
come in quest of." Tomas, who had come as usual to take charge of the
horses and mules, instantly recognised two of his father's servants; a
moment after he saw his father himself, and found that his companion was
no other than the father of Carriazo. He instantly conjectured that they
were both on their way to the tunny fisheries to look for himself and
his friend, some one having no doubt told them that it was there, and
not in Flanders, they would find their sons. Not daring to appear before
his father in the garb he wore, he made a bold venture, passed by the
party with his hand before his face, and went to look for Costanza,
whom, by great good luck, he found alone. Then hurriedly, and with a
tremulous voice, dreading lest she would not give him time to say a word
to her, "Costanza," he said, "one of those two elderly cavaliers is my
father--that one whom you will hear called Don Juan de Avendaño. Inquire
of his servants if he has a son, Don Tomas de Avendaño by name, and that
is myself. Thence you may go on to make such other inquiries as will
satisfy you that I have told you the truth respecting my quality, and
that I will keep my word with regard to every offer I have made you. And
now farewell, for I will not return to this house until they have left
it."
Costanza made him no reply, nor did he wait for any, but hurrying out,
with his face concealed as he had come in, he went to acquaint Carriazo
that their fathers had arrived at the Sevillano. The landlord called for
Tomas to give out oats, but no Tomas appearing, he had to do it himself.
Meanwhile, one of the two cavaliers called one of the Gallegan wenches
aside, and asked her what was the name of the beautiful girl he had
seen, and was she a relation of the landlord or the landlady. "The
girl's name is Costanza," replied the Gallegan; "she is no relation
either to the landlord or the landlady, nor do I know what she is. All I
can say is, I wish the murrain had her, for I don't know what there is
about her, that she does not leave one of us girls in the house a single
chance, for all we have our own features too, such as God made them.
Nobody enters these doors but the first thing he does is to ask, Who is
that beautiful girl? and the next is to say all sorts of flattering
things of her, while nobody condescends to say a word to the rest of us,
not so much as 'What are you doing here, devils, or women, or whatever
you are?'"
"From your account, then," said the gentleman, "I suppose she has a fine
time of it with the strangers who put up at this house."
"You think so. Well, just you hold her foot for the shoeing, and see how
you'll like the job. By the Lord, señor, if she would only give her
admirers leave to look at her, she might roll in gold; but she's more
touch-me-not than a hedgehog; she's a devourer of Ave Marias, and spends
the whole day at her needle and her prayers. I wish I was as sure of a
good legacy as she is of working miracles some day. Bless you, she's a
downright saint; my mistress says she wears hair-cloth next her skin."
Highly delighted with what he had heard from the Gallegan, the gentleman
did not wait till they had taken off his spurs, but called for the
landlord, and withdrew with him into a private room. "Señor host," said
he, "I am come to redeem a pledge of mine which has been in your hands
for some years, and I bring you for it a thousand gold crowns, these
links of a chain, and this parchment."
The host instantly recognised the links and the parchment, and highly
delighted with the promise of the thousand crowns, replied, "Señor, the
pledge you wish to redeem is in this house, but not the chain or the
parchment which is to prove the truth of your claim; I pray you
therefore to have patience, and I will return immediately." So saying,
he ran off to inform the corregidor of what was happening.
The corregidor, who had just done dinner, mounted his horse without
delay, and rode to the Posada del Sevillano, taking with him the tally
parchment. No sooner had he entered the room where the two cavaliers
sat, than hastening with open arms to embrace one of them, "Bless my
soul! my good cousin Don Juan de Avendaño! This is indeed a welcome
surprise."
"I am delighted to see you, my good cousin," said Don Juan, "and to
find you as well as I always wish you. Embrace this gentleman, cousin;
this is Don Diego de Carriazo, a great señor and my friend."
"I am already acquainted with the señor Don Diego," replied the
corregidor, "and am his most obedient servant."
After a further interchange of civilities they passed into another room,
where they remained alone with the innkeeper, who said as he produced
the chain, "The señor corregidor knows what you are come for, Don Diego
de Carriazo. Be pleased to produce the links that are wanting to this
chain; his worship will show the parchment which he holds, and let us
come to the proof for which I have been so long waiting."
"It appears, then," said Don Diego, "that it will not be necessary to
explain to the señor corregidor the reason of our coming, since you have
done so already, señor landlord."
"He told me something," said the corregidor, "but he has left much
untold which I long to know. Here is the parchment."
Don Diego produced that which he had brought; the two were put together
and found to fit accurately into each other; and between every two
letters of the innkeeper's portion, which as we have said were TIITEREOE
there now appeared one of the following series HSSHTUTKN, the whole
making together the words, _This is the true token_. The six links of
the chain brought by Don Diego were then compared with the larger
fragment, and found to correspond exactly.
"So far all is clear," said the corregidor; "it now remains for us to
discover, if it be possible, who are the parents of this very beautiful
lady."
"Her father," said Don Diego, "you see in me; her mother is not living,
and you must be content with knowing that she was a lady of such rank
that I might have been her servant. But though I conceal her name, I
would not have you suppose that she was in any wise culpable, however
manifest and avowed her fault may appear to have been. The story I will
now briefly relate to you will completely exonerate her memory.
"You must know, then, that Costanza's mother, being left a widow by a
man of high rank, retired to an estate of hers, where she lived a calm
sequestered life among her servants and vassals. It chanced one day
when I was hunting, that I found myself very near her house and
determined to pay her a visit. It was siesta time when I arrived at her
palace (for I can call it nothing else): giving my horse to one of my
servants, I entered, and saw no one till I was in the very room in which
she lay asleep on a black ottoman. She was extremely handsome; the
silence, the loneliness of the place, and the opportunity, awakened my
guilty desires, and without pausing to reflect, I locked the door, woke
her, and holding her firmly in my grasp said, 'No cries, señora! they
would only serve to proclaim your dishonour; no one has seen me enter
this room, for by good fortune all your servants are fast asleep, and
should your cries bring them hither, they can do no more than kill me in
your very arms; and if they do, your reputation will not be the less
blighted for all that.' In fine, I effected my purpose against her will
and by main force, and left her so stupefied by the calamity that had
befallen her, that she either could not or would not utter one word to
me. Quitting the place as I had entered it, I rode to the house of one
of my friends, who resided within two leagues of my victim's abode. The
lady subsequently removed to another residence, and two years passed
without my seeing her, or making any attempt to do so. At the end, of
that time I heard that she was dead.
"About three weeks since I received a letter from a man who had been the
deceased lady's steward, earnestly entreating me to come to him, as he
had something to communicate to me which deeply concerned my happiness
and honour. I went to him, very far from dreaming of any such thing as I
was about to hear from him, and found him at the point of death. He told
me in brief terms that his lady on her deathbed had made known to him
what had happened between her and me, how she had become pregnant, had
made a pilgrimage to our Lady of Guadalupe to conceal her misfortune,
and had been delivered in this inn of a daughter named Costanza. The man
gave me the tokens upon which she was to be delivered to me, namely the
piece of chain and the parchment, and with them thirty thousand gold
crowns, which the lady had left as a marriage portion for her daughter.
At the same time, he told me that it was the temptation to appropriate
that money which had so long prevented him from obeying the dying
behest of his mistress, but now that he was about to be called to the
great account, he was eager to relieve his conscience by giving me up
the money and putting me in the way to find my daughter. Returning home
with the money and the tokens, I related the whole story to Don Juan de
Avendaño, and he has been kind enough to accompany me to this city."