"I do so place it," replied the duenna.
"And I too," added her daughter, all in tears and covered with shameand confusion.
This declaration having been made, and the duke having settled inhis own mind what he would do in the matter, the ladies in blackwithdrew, and the duchess gave orders that for the future they werenot to be treated as servants of hers, but as lady adventurers whocame to her house to demand justice; so they gave them a room tothemselves and waited on them as they would on strangers, to theconsternation of the other women-servants, who did not know wherethe folly and imprudence of Dona Rodriguez and her unlucky daughterwould stop.
And now, to complete the enjoyment of the feast and bring the dinnerto a satisfactory end, lo and behold the page who had carried theletters and presents to Teresa Panza, the wife of the governor Sancho,entered the hall; and the duke and duchess were very well pleased tosee him, being anxious to know the result of his journey; but whenthey asked him the page said in reply that he could not give it beforeso many people or in a few words, and begged their excellences to bepleased to let it wait for a private opportunity, and in themeantime amuse themselves with these letters; and taking out theletters he placed them in the duchess's hand. One bore by way ofaddress, Letter for my lady the Duchess So-and-so, of I don't knowwhere; and the other To my husband Sancho Panza, governor of theisland of Barataria, whom God prosper longer than me. The duchess'sbread would not bake, as the saying is, until she had read her letter;and having looked over it herself and seen that it might be read aloudfor the duke and all present to hear, she read out as follows.
TERESA PANZA'S LETTER TO THE DUCHESS.
The letter your highness wrote me, my lady, gave me greatpleasure, for indeed I found it very welcome. The string of coralbeads is very fine, and my husband's hunting suit does not fallshort of it. All this village is very much pleased that yourladyship has made a governor of my good man Sancho; though nobody willbelieve it, particularly the curate, and Master Nicholas the barber,and the bachelor Samson Carrasco; but I don't care for that, for solong as it is true, as it is, they may all say what they like; though,to tell the truth, if the coral beads and the suit had not come Iwould not have believed it either; for in this village everybodythinks my husband a numskull, and except for governing a flock ofgoats, they cannot fancy what sort of government he can be fit for.God grant it, and direct him according as he sees his children standin need of it. I am resolved with your worship's leave, lady of mysoul, to make the most of this fair day, and go to Court to stretchmyself at ease in a coach, and make all those I have envying mealready burst their eyes out; so I beg your excellence to order myhusband to send me a small trifle of money, and to let it be somethingto speak of, because one's expenses are heavy at the Court; for a loafcosts a real, and meat thirty maravedis a pound, which is beyondeverything; and if he does not want me to go let him tell me intime, for my feet are on the fidgets to he off; and my friends andneighbours tell me that if my daughter and I make a figure and a braveshow at Court, my husband will come to be known far more by me thanI by him, for of course plenty of people will ask, "Who are thoseladies in that coach?" and some servant of mine will answer, "The wifeand daughter of Sancho Panza, governor of the island of Barataria;"and in this way Sancho will become known, and I'll be thought well of,and "to Rome for everything." I am as vexed as vexed can be thatthey have gathered no acorns this year in our village; for all thatI send your highness about half a peck that I went to the wood togather and pick out one by one myself, and I could find no biggerones; I wish they were as big as ostrich eggs.
Let not your high mightiness forget to write to me; and I willtake care to answer, and let you know how I am, and whatever newsthere may be in this place, where I remain, praying our Lord to haveyour highness in his keeping and not to forget me.
Sancha my daughter, and my son, kiss your worship's hands.
She who would rather see your ladyship than write to you,
Your servant,
TERESA PANZA.
All were greatly amused by Teresa Panza's letter, but particularlythe duke and duchess; and the duchess asked Don Quixote's opinionwhether they might open the letter that had come for the governor,which she suspected must be very good. Don Quixote said that togratify them he would open it, and did so, and found that it ran asfollows.
TERESA PANZA'S LETTER TO HER HUSBAND SANCHO PANZA.
I got thy letter, Sancho of my soul, and I promise thee and swear asa Catholic Christian that I was within two fingers' breadth of goingmad I was so happy. I can tell thee, brother, when I came to hear thatthou wert a governor I thought I should have dropped dead with purejoy; and thou knowest they say sudden joy kills as well as greatsorrow; and as for Sanchica thy daughter, she leaked from sheerhappiness. I had before me the suit thou didst send me, and thecoral beads my lady the duchess sent me round my neck, and the lettersin my hands, and there was the bearer of them standing by, and inspite of all this I verily believed and thought that what I saw andhandled was all a dream; for who could have thought that a goatherdwould come to be a governor of islands? Thou knowest, my friend,what my mother used to say, that one must live long to see much; I sayit because I expect to see more if I live longer; for I don't expectto stop until I see thee a farmer of taxes or a collector ofrevenue, which are offices where, though the devil carries off thosewho make a bad use of them, still they make and handle money. Mylady the duchess will tell thee the desire I have to go to theCourt; consider the matter and let me know thy pleasure; I will try todo honour to thee by going in a coach.
Neither the curate, nor the barber, nor the bachelor, nor even thesacristan, can believe that thou art a governor, and they say thewhole thing is a delusion or an enchantment affair, like everythingbelonging to thy master Don Quixote; and Samson says he must go insearch of thee and drive the government out of thy head and themadness out of Don Quixote's skull; I only laugh, and look at mystring of beads, and plan out the dress I am going to make for ourdaughter out of thy suit. I sent some acorns to my lady the duchess; Iwish they had been gold. Send me some strings of pearls if they are infashion in that island. Here is the news of the village; La Berruecahas married her daughter to a good-for-nothing painter, who camehere to paint anything that might turn up. The council gave him anorder to paint his Majesty's arms over the door of the town-hall; heasked two ducats, which they paid him in advance; he worked foreight days, and at the end of them had nothing painted, and thensaid he had no turn for painting such trifling things; he returned themoney, and for all that has married on the pretence of being a goodworkman; to be sure he has now laid aside his paint-brush and takena spade in hand, and goes to the field like a gentleman. PedroLobo's son has received the first orders and tonsure, with theintention of becoming a priest. Minguilla, Mingo Silvato'sgranddaughter, found it out, and has gone to law with him on the scoreof having given her promise of marriage. Evil tongues say she iswith child by him, but he denies it stoutly. There are no olivesthis year, and there is not a drop of vinegar to be had in the wholevillage. A company of soldiers passed through here; when they leftthey took away with them three of the girls of the village; I will nottell thee who they are; perhaps they will come back, and they willbe sure to find those who will take them for wives with all theirblemishes, good or bad. Sanchica is making bonelace; she earns eightmaravedis a day clear, which she puts into a moneybox as a helptowards house furnishing; but now that she is a governor's daughterthou wilt give her a portion without her working for it. Thefountain in the plaza has run dry. A flash of lightning struck thegibbet, and I wish they all lit there. I look for an answer to this,and to know thy mind about my going to the Court; and so, God keepthee longer than me, or as long, for I would not leave thee in thisworld without me.
Thy wife,
TERESA PANZA.
The letters were applauded, laughed over, relished, and admired; andthen, as if to put the seal to the business, the courier arrived,bringing the one Sancho sent to Don Quixote, and this, too, was readout, and it raised some doubts as to the governor's simplicity. Theduchess withdrew to hear from the page about his adventures inSancho's village, which he narrated at full length without leaving asingle circumstance unmentioned. He gave her the acorns, and also acheese which Teresa had given him as being particularly good andsuperior to those of Tronchon. The duchess received it with greatestdelight, in which we will leave her, to describe the end of thegovernment of the great Sancho Panza, flower and mirror of allgovernors of islands.
CHAPTER LIII
OF THE TROUBLOUS END AND TERMINATION SANCHO PANZA'S GOVERNMENTCAME TO
TO FANCY that in this life anything belonging to it will remainfor ever in the same state is an idle fancy; on the contrary, in iteverything seems to go in a circle, I mean round and round. The springsucceeds the summer, the summer the fall, the fall the autumn, theautumn the winter, and the winter the spring, and so time rolls withnever-ceasing wheel. Man's life alone, swifter than time, speedsonward to its end without any hope of renewal, save it be in thatother life which is endless and boundless. Thus saith Cide Hametethe Mahometan philosopher; for there are many that by the light ofnature alone, without the light of faith, have a comprehension ofthe fleeting nature and instability of this present life and theendless duration of that eternal life we hope for; but our author ishere speaking of the rapidity with which Sancho's government came toan end, melted away, disappeared, vanished as it were in smoke andshadow. For as he lay in bed on the night of the seventh day of hisgovernment, sated, not with bread and wine, but with deliveringjudgments and giving opinions and making laws and proclamations,just as sleep, in spite of hunger, was beginning to close his eyelids,he heard such a noise of bell-ringing and shouting that one would havefancied the whole island was going to the bottom. He sat up in bed andremained listening intently to try if he could make out what couldbe the cause of so great an uproar; not only, however, was he unableto discover what it was, but as countless drums and trumpets nowhelped to swell the din of the bells and shouts, he was more puzzledthan ever, and filled with fear and terror; and getting up he put on apair of slippers because of the dampness of the floor, and withoutthrowing a dressing gown or anything of the kind over him he rushedout of the door of his room, just in time to see approaching along acorridor a band of more than twenty persons with lighted torches andnaked swords in their hands, all shouting out, "To arms, to arms,senor governor, to arms! The enemy is in the island in countlessnumbers, and we are lost unless your skill and valour come to oursupport."
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