_Guzman and his wife, having been obliged to leave Madrid for their
exemplary and moral mode of life, proceed to Seville, where Guzman
finds his Mother._
The first day we were fully employed in converting all our effects into
ready money. On the second we hired four mules to carry us and our
baggage, and departed from Madrid on the morning of the third, according
to the sentence.
We took the road to Seville, not only to gratify my great desire to
revisit my native country, but to please Donna Maria, who burned with
impatience to try the effect of her charms upon the rich merchants who,
I had told her, were continually arriving from Peru, laden with gold
and jewels. She doubted not that she should fill her coffers at their
expense. Notwithstanding our good intentions towards these gentlemen,
however, we travelled very slowly for fear of fatigue; and I own that I
felt a secret pleasure in surveying the country through which I had
formerly passed, although it recalled to my remembrance the sad
adventures of my youth. I passed the inn where I had been a servant; and
at the sight of Cantillana I fancied I still smelt those excellent
ragouts of mules with which I had formerly been regaled; and I did not
forget the cudgelling which had been so liberally bestowed on me and the
muleteer by the two officers of the Holy Brotherhood. I arrived and
dined at that charming inn where they made omelets of pullets. I told my
wife this story, and she laughed at it heartily. At last I reached the
hermitage, where I lay the first night after I left Seville, and,
transported with the recollection, I addressed the Saint in these
terms: “Oh great St. Lazarus,” cried I, “when I left the steps of thy
chapel ’twas with tears in my eyes, on foot, alone, and poor, but
innocent; and now thou seest me return, married, and in good condition,
and well mounted; but how innocent, Heaven and thou know!”
It was quite night when we arrived at Seville, so that we were obliged
to take up our quarters at the first inn we came to; but the next
morning I rose betimes and took lodgings in St. Batholomew-street,
whither I had my baggage conveyed. The next thing I did was to ask after
my mother, but I could hear no news of her until some months afterwards,
when Donna Maria being on a visit to a lady with whom she had made an
acquaintance, heard her name mentioned by mere chance, and was much
astonished to learn that she lived very near us with a young lady who
passed for her daughter. No sooner had I ascertained my mother’s
residence than I flew to it, found her at home, and we embraced with
sincere affection.
We related to each other in a few words the adventures that had happened
to us both since our parting, each of us, however, concealing whatever
we thought fit. She was very anxious, for example, to persuade me that
she had brought up the young lady who lived with her, out of pure
charity, having been attached to her from her earliest infancy. I
pretended to believe her word implicitly, though I entertained
considerable doubt whether she had not other views which she did not
choose to confess. After a long conversation, I introduced Donna Maria
to her. My mother received her very kindly, and embraced her in an
affectionate manner not very common in a mother-in-law.
To celebrate our reunion, my mother invited us to several
entertainments, which we returned; and as I had occasion for an old
mouser like her to instruct my wife in the coquetries of the ladies of
Seville, where the modes of gallantry differed from those at Alcala and
Madrid, I proposed to her to come and live with us, representing to her
how much more agreeably she might pass her time. She answered “that she
could not make up her mind to desert her adopted daughter, and that she
feared also she should not be able to agree long with my wife.” I
endeavoured to remove the first obstacle, by consenting to receive the
young lady into my family also. “You cannot think of it, my son,” said
my mother. “You must know but little of women, if you think that two
lively young ladies like Petronilla and Donna Maria, can live even one
month together, without quarrelling themselves, and indeed setting the
whole house in an uproar.”
I succeeded, however, in conquering the repugnance that my mother felt
to grant my request. It is true, that she yielded at last upon my
assurance that she would always find in my wife a daughter submissive to
her wishes. At last she came alone to reside with us, choosing rather to
leave Petronilla to herself, than to be the cause of dissensions in my
family. At the beginning, all went on smoothly, and the only contention
was, who should be the most complaisant. Each seemed to endeavour to
anticipate the desire of the other. They addressed each other
affectionately, and if this good understanding had but lasted, we could
not have failed in making our fortune; but unfortunately, before the
expiration of three months every thing changed, and these same ladies,
who had hitherto agreed so well, now began to pursue a different
conduct. My mother wished to govern despotically, which my wife would
not submit to. They were constantly disputing and quarrelling, and peace
was entirely banished the house. Sometimes I endeavoured to reconcile
them, and to act as umpire, but this only brought upon me the fury of
her whom I decided against. What made matters worse, was, that the ships
which were expected from India, did not come in that year. Money became
scarce, and consequently the profits of my wife’s gallantries were but
trifling, in comparison with the daily expense of our establishment.
Donna Maria was not one who could listen to economy, and no clothes or
ornaments were good enough for her. The natural consequence of all this
was, that as our funds diminished, so in proportion our vexations
increased. We had placed great reliance upon the merchants from Peru,
who never came at all; and my wife, to whom I had given a grand idea of
the opulence and generosity of these merchants, reproached me as if I
had been the cause of their delay. In short every thing fell upon me.
As good luck would have it, I happened to become acquainted with an
Italian, captain of a Neapolitan galley, who by order of the Court had
come to Malaga to carry the Bishop of that city to Naples; but that
prelate not being ready to embark, he had come to Seville in the hopes
of meeting with merchandize to freight his vessel for Italy. I met him
by chance one day at a merchant’s house, and was delighted in having
found a man who spoke Italian as well as myself. He was on his side
equally pleased, and we became very intimate. I invited him to my house,
and introduced him to my wife, who did not fail to charm him. He made me
some trifling presents, which would have been more considerable if his
affairs would have permitted him to remain any longer at Seville: but as
he could not make the bishop wait for him, and could not bear the idea
of parting from my wife, he found means to conciliate his love with his
duty, by persuading her to desert me, and fly with him into Italy.
After all, I believe that he did not find it a very difficult matter to
prevail upon her, for she had been long out of humour with me, and hated
my mother more and more every day; so that we had not an hour’s quiet
for her. However that might be, I cared but little about it; and,
indeed, thought myself happy and rich in having got rid of her,
notwithstanding she had taken her jewels and every thing of value about
the house with her; in which the captain had very honestly assisted her,
before I had the least suspicion of their intentions.