Gómez Arias

  CHAPTER V.

  _Sterling._ True, True; and since you only transfer from one girl to another, it is no more than transferring so much stock, you know.

  _Sir John._ The very thing.

  _Sterling._ Odso! I had quite forgot. We are reckoning without our host here.

  _Clandestine Marriage._

  "What is to be the wonder now?" asked Gomez Arias, as he observed hisvalet and confidant, Roque, approaching, with an unusual expression ofgravity upon his countenance, such indeed as was seldom discernible inthe features of the merry buffoon.

  "What is it you want?"

  "I wish to leave your service, Senor."

  "Leave my service! Surely, Roque, you are not tired of so indulgent amaster?"

  "Yes, Sir," answered Roque, "I am; and what is more, I have been sothese three years--may I speak out?"

  "Why," said Don Lope, "you never till now asked leave to beimpertinent--but let me hear your complaints."

  "In the first place you are not rich--a grievous fault."

  "How can I help that?" demanded Gomez Arias.

  "Senor, you could have helped it once; but that is passed. Then youplay----"

  "Here's the devil preaching morality," exclaimed his master, with alaugh. "Oh! most conscientious Roque, what are thine objections to thisamusement?"

  "To the amusement in itself, none; I am only discontented with theconsequences. If you gain, you very composedly enjoy the whole fruits ofyour success; if, on the contrary, you lose, I get more than areasonable share of your ill-humours, with which you most liberallyindulge me. Now, Don Lope, I should like fair play, if play you will;to feel a little more the effect of the first, and not quite so much ofthe second."

  "Thou art a pleasant sort of a fool, Roque," said Gomez Arias, as heleisurely twirled round his curling jet-black mustachios, and with muchcomplacency eyed his fine figure in a mirror.

  "Thank you, Sir," replied the valet, with a low bow; "but be pleased toconsider, that the good opinion you entertain of my talents isunfortunately no adequate compensation for the privations and numberlessperils which I undergo in your service. To continue, then, the listof----"

  "My faults!" interrupted his master.

  "I only say of my complaints," returned the valet: "next to your being agamester, what I most deprecate is, your military profession, and thefame which you have acquired by your bravery."

  "Good heavens!" cried Gomez Arias, "why thou art precisely complainingof the qualities that most become a gentleman."

  "But I am no gentleman," pertinently observed Roque; "and I cannotimagine why I should be exposed to the dangers attendant on heroes,without likewise reaping their rewards."

  "I glory in being a soldier," exclaimed Don Lope, a sudden burst ofmartial enthusiasm glowing on his manly countenance.--"Yes, I have laidlow many of the enemies of my country; and before I die I hope often totry my good sword against those accursed and rebellious Moors of theAlpujarras."

  "All that is very fine, certainly," said Roque; "but do you know, Senor,that I do not consider the country so much indebted to you, as no doubtyou most complacently imagine."

  "What!" cried the cavalier, with looks of displeasure.

  "Pray be temperate, Don Lope; I do not mean to offend. You haveunquestionably done great services to Spain, by ridding her of many anunbelieving Moor; but reflect, Sir, that your sword has not been lessfatal to Christian blood. In battle you hew down infidels to yoursoul's content, and in the intervals of peace, to keep you in practice,I suppose, you take no less care to send the bravest of her majesty'swarriors to the grave. Now put this in the balance, and let us considerwhether the country does not suffer more by your duels in peace, thanshe actually gains by your courage in war. But now comes the mostterrible of all your peccadilloes--of all my complaints, I mean."

  "And which is that, pray?"

  "The invincible propensity you have for intrigue, and the no lessunfortunate attendant upon it--inconstancy."

  "Inconstancy!" exclaimed Gomez Arias. "How should it be otherwise?Inconstancy is the very soul of love."

  "I will not attempt to argue that point with so great an adept; myremonstrances are merely limited to the results, and I can truly averthat my life in time of peace is, if possible, more miserable than inwar; for what with carrying love-letters, bribing servants, attendingserenades, watching the movements of venerable fathers, morose duennas,and fierce-looking brothers, I cannot enjoy a moment's rest."

  "Why, 'tis true," said Don Lope, "my life is solely devoted to love andwar."

  "I rather think it a continual war," retorted the valet. "It may be muchto your taste, Sir, but I, that am neither of so amorous a temperament,nor of so warlike a disposition, cannot enjoy the amusement so well.Instead of passing the nights quietly in bed, as good Christians shoulddo, we employ them in parading the silent streets, putting inrequisition all the established signals of love, and singing amoroussongs to the tender cadences of the love-inspiring guitar. Even this Imight endure with Christian resignation, were it not for thedisagreeable results which generally terminate our laudable occupations.It often happens that whilst you are dying with love, and I with fearand apprehension, we meet with persons who unfortunately are not suchdecided amateurs of music. Some surly ill-disposed brother, orunsuccessful lover of the beauty, is invariably sure to come anddisturb our harmony; then discord begins--swords are drawn--womenscream--alguazils pounce upon us, and thus the sport goes on, till oneof the _galanes_[11] is dead or wounded, or till the alguazils are sostrong as to render a prudent retreat advisable. Then by some illfortune I am sure to be collared by the brother or the alguazils inquestion, and without further ceremony, by way of remunerating merit andencouraging a servant for faithfully serving his master, I amentertained with sundry hearty cudgellings, liberally bestowed on mymiserable hide. When they have not left a single sound bone in my skin,they kindly permit me to go, telling me, for consolation, to thank mystars, and that another time I shall not escape so easily. With thispleasing assurance, I creep home as well as I can, and then my humaneand grateful master, by way of sympathising with the misfortunes Isuffer on his account, fiercely demands--'Roque! where have you beenloitering, Sir?' Calls me a most negligent rascal, and other namesequally gratifying, and upon the recital of my tragical adventure, verycoolly, and as he thinks very justly, observes--'It serves youright--'tis all your fault--why did you not watch better?'"

  "Roque," said Gomez Arias, "you have told me the same story over andover again, and I do not see the necessity of your repeating it now."

  "I beg your pardon, Don Lope Gomez Arias," responded the valet, withmost ludicrous solemnity, "but I am firmly resolved to quit your servicein good earnest; for I perceive you are bent on getting into newdifficulties, and I feel no inclination to go in search of freshadventures. Lately you suddenly disappeared on some mysteriousexpedition, and I am sure you have been to Granada, to be a candidate inthe tournament, notwithstanding the perilous nature of such anundertaking; for had you been discovered!----"

  "Enough, Roque--that danger is past."

  "Very well, Sir; but there are a thousand others that are not. Will yoube pleased to reply to a few questions?"

  Gomez Arias, to spare any superfluous expenditure of words, noddedassent.

  "How long is it since we left Granada?"--asked the valet.

  "Two months or so," replied his master.

  "We quitted that city," proceeded Roque, "in consequence of the mortalwounds you inflicted on Don Rodrigo de Cespedes, your rival in theaffections of Leonor de Aguilar."

  "True."

  "We sought a refuge here in Guadix, to lie concealed until the stormblow over."

  "Right."

  "And you are now creditably employed in gaining the affections of ayoung and innocent girl, who knows no more of you than she does of hisholiness the pope."

  "Well?"

  "I don't suppose you intend to marry both these ladies?"
/>
  "Certainly not."

  "Then it puzzles me to decide how you can reconcile these matters; andas I foresee that mischief is likely to ensue, you must excuse me if Iprudently think of withdrawing before the evil is unavoidable. Iffortunately both or even one of your mistresses were a plebeian beauty,I might be persuaded to hush my apprehensions, but as it is I cannot;two ladies of rank are concerned."

  Thus far had Roque proceeded in his eloquent and moral remonstrance,when Gomez Arias turned round, took up a cane that lay near him, andwalking very deliberately to his valet with the most perfectcomposure--"Now, Roque," he said, "you must allow I have listened veryattentively to your prosing. I have had quite enough of your nonsensefor this morning, so I beg you to close your arguments, unless youreally wish that I should honor them with a most unanswerable reply."

  Here to illustrate his meaning, he very expressively shook the cane, andRoque as prudently retreated; for he knew his master strictly adhered tohis word on occasions of this nature.

  "With respect to your quitting my service," continued Don Lope, "I haveno sort of objection, provided that when you part with me, you arelikewise disposed to part with your ears, for I have taken such a fancyto you, my dear Roque, that I cannot possibly allow you to quit me,without leaving me behind a token of remembrance. And now," he added ina more serious tone, "withdraw immediately, and mind your business."

  Roque made an humble bow and retired. Gomez Arias in this instance, aswell as in many others, took advantage of that uncontrollable authoritywhich strong minds generally assume over their inferiors. The valet hadindeed resolved several times to leave his master, for it happened thatthis same Roque had no particular relish for canings, and other favorsof the kind which were liberally administered to him, as a remunerationfor his master's achievements. Moreover, he had the nicest sense ofjustice, and he could not but feel the shocking impropriety of acceptinga reward that was unquestionably due to his superiors. Indeed, it is butfair to add, he never acquiesced in the obligation, until it wasactually forced upon him.

  Roque was moreover blessed with a conscience--that sort of prudentialconscience which must be considered as a most valuable acquisition. Hecertainly was not so unreasonable as to expect a spirited nobleman tolead the life of a sequestered monk, nor could he object to his master'sintrigues, but he nevertheless found it extremely objectionable thatthese should not be kept within the bounds of common prudence. Now,could Gomez Arias have limited his gallantries to the seduction offarmers' daughters, or debauching trademen's wives, Roque would mostimplicitly have approved of the practice, inasmuch as in this case, hismaster would only be asserting a sort of hereditary right attached tothose of his class. But to be deceiving two ladies of distinction wasreally too much for the delicate feelings of the conscientious menial.

  Again, Roque could not urge anything against the courage of his master;he only objected to the effects of its superabundance; for thissuperabundance, together with Don Lope's unusually amorous disposition,were constantly in opposition with the nicety of Roque's conscience, byreason of the difficulties they gave rise to, in the fulfilment of thenatural law of self-preservation.

  It is an averred fact that Roque never wilfully put himself in the wayof infringing so rational a precept, and most fortunately he was endowedwith a quality highly favorable to the observance thereof. A qualitywhich other individuals not blessed with the same scruples, woulddenominate cowardice.

  This is not all: the valet was far from being of a romantic turn ofmind; he evinced no taste whatever for moonlit scenery, and nocturnaladventure; and he was vulgar enough to prefer the gross advantages of asound slumber to all the sentimental beauties of the silvered moon andits appendages.

  These considerations dwelt strongly on the mind of Roque, and he hadaccordingly several times resolved to quit his master, but such was thedominion which Gomez Arias held over him, that the valet's resolutionsfell to the ground, whenever he attempted to put them in practice.