Gil Blas Alain-RenĂ© Lesage (novel books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Alain-René Lesage
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I asked Scipio how he knew his excellency to have had no share in my arrest. âYou may depend on it,â answered he, âmy information is undeniable. One of my friends in the Duke of Uzedaâs confidence acquainted me with all the circumstances of your imprisonment. Calderona, having discovered by a spy that Señora Sirena, with the handle of an alias to her name, was receiving night visits from the Prince of Spain, and that the Count de Lemos managed that intrigue by the pandarism of Señor de Santillane, determined to be revenged on the whole knot. To this end, he waited on the Duke of Uzeda, and discovered the whole affair. The duke, overjoyed at such a fine opportunity of ruining his enemy, did not fail to bestir himself. He laid his information before the king, and painted the princeâs danger in the most lively colors. His majesty was much angered, and showed that he was so by sending Sirena to the nunnery provided for such frail sisters, banishing the Count de Lemos, and condemning Gil Blas to perpetual imprisonment.â
âThis,â pursued Scipio, âis what my friend told me. Hence you gather your misfortune to be the Duke of Uzedaâs handiwork, or rather Calderonaâs.â
Thus it seemed probable that my affairs might be reinstated in time; that the Duke of Lerma, chagrined at his nephewâs banishment, would move heaven and earth for that noblemanâs recall; and it might not be too much to expect that his excellency would not forget me. What a delicate gypsy is hope! She wheedled me out of all anxiety about my shattered fortunes, and made me as lighthearted as if I had good reason to be so. My prison looked not like the dungeon of perpetual misery, but like the vestibule to a more distinguished station. For thus run the train of my reasoning: Don Fernando Borgia, Father Jerome of Florence, and more than all, Friar Louis of Aliaga, who may thank him for his place about the kingâs person, are the prime ministerâs partisans. With the aid of such powerful friends, his excellency will bear down all opposition, even supposing no change to take place in the political barometer. But his majestyâs health is very precarious. The first act of a new reign would be to recall the Count de Lemos; he would not feel himself at home in the young monarchâs presence till he had introduced me at court; and the young monarch would not sit easy on his throne till he had showered benefits on my head. Thus, feasting by anticipation on the pleasures of futurity, I became callous to existing evils. The two bags, snug in the goldsmithâs custody, were no bad doubles to the part which hope acted in this shifting pantomime.
It was impossible not to express my gratitude to Scipio for his zeal and honesty. I offered him half the salvage; but he rejected it. âI expect,â said he, âa very different acknowledgment.â
Astonished as much at his mysterious claim as at his refusal, I asked what more I could do for him.
âLet us never part,â answered he. âAllow me to link my fate with yours. I feel for you what I never felt for any other master.â
âAnd on my part,â my good fellow, said I, âyou may rest assured that your attachment is not thrown away. You caught my fancy at first sight. We must have been born under Libra or Gemini, where friendship is lord of the ascendant. I willingly accept your proffered partnership, and will commence business by prevailing with the warden to immure you along with me in this tower.â
âThat is the very thing,â exclaimed he. âYou were beforehand with me, for I was just going to beg that favor. Your company is dearer to me than liberty itself. I shall only just go to Madrid now and then, to snuff the gale of the ministerial atmosphere, and try whether any scent lies which may be favorable for your pursuit. Thus will you combine in me a bosom friend, a trusty messenger, and an unsuspected spy.â
These advantages were too important for me to forego them. I therefore kept so useful a person about me, with leave of the obliging warden, who would not stand in the way of so soothing a relief to the weariness of solitude.
VIIIScipioâs first journey to Madridâ âits object and successâ âGil Blas falls sickâ âThe consequence of his illness.
If it is a common proverb that our direst enemies are those of our own household, the converse ought equally to be admitted among the saws of a more candid experience. After such incontestable proof of Scipioâs zeal, he became to me like another self. All distinction of place was confounded between Gil Blas and his secretary; all insolence was dropped on the one hand, all cringing on the other. Their lodging, bed, and board were in common.
Scipioâs conversation was of a very lively turn; he might have been dubbed the Spanish Momus, without any derogation to the Punch of the Pantheon. But he had a long head, as well as a fanciful brain, combining the characters of counsellor and jester. âMy friend,â said I, one day, âwhat do you think of writing to the Duke of Lerma? It could, methinks, do no harm.â
âWhy, as to that,â answered he, âthe great are such chameleons, that there is no knowing where to have them. At all events, you may risk it; though I would not lay the postage of your letter on its success. The minister loves you, it is true; but then political love lacks memory as much as personal love lacks visual discrimination. âOut of sight, out of mind!â is at once
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