"O senor," said Don Antonio, "may God forgive you the wrong you havedone the whole world in trying to bring the most amusing madman init back to his senses. Do you not see, senor, that the gain by DonQuixote's sanity can never equal the enjoyment his crazes give? But mybelief is that all the senor bachelor's pains will be of no avail tobring a man so hopelessly cracked to his senses again; and if itwere not uncharitable, I would say may Don Quixote never be cured, forby his recovery we lose not only his own drolleries, but his squireSancho Panza's too, any one of which is enough to turn melancholyitself into merriment. However, I'll hold my peace and say nothingto him, and we'll see whether I am right in my suspicion that SenorCarrasco's efforts will be fruitless."
The bachelor replied that at all events the affair promised well,and he hoped for a happy result from it; and putting his services atDon Antonio's commands he took his leave of him; and having had hisarmour packed at once upon a mule, he rode away from the city the sameday on the horse he rode to battle, and returned to his own countrywithout meeting any adventure calling for record in this veracioushistory.
Don Antonio reported to the viceroy what Carrasco told him, andthe viceroy was not very well pleased to hear it, for with DonQuixote's retirement there was an end to the amusement of all who knewanything of his mad doings.
Six days did Don Quixote keep his bed, dejected, melancholy, moodyand out of sorts, brooding over the unhappy event of his defeat.Sancho strove to comfort him, and among other things he said to him,"Hold up your head, senor, and be of good cheer if you can, and givethanks to heaven that if you have had a tumble to the ground youhave not come off with a broken rib; and, as you know that 'where theygive they take,' and that 'there are not always fletches where thereare pegs,' a fig for the doctor, for there's no need of him to curethis ailment. Let us go home, and give over going about in search ofadventures in strange lands and places; rightly looked at, it is Ithat am the greater loser, though it is your worship that has hadthe worse usage. With the government I gave up all wish to be agovernor again, but I did not give up all longing to be a count; andthat will never come to pass if your worship gives up becoming aking by renouncing the calling of chivalry; and so my hopes aregoing to turn into smoke."
"Peace, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "thou seest my suspension andretirement is not to exceed a year; I shall soon return to my honouredcalling, and I shall not be at a loss for a kingdom to win and acounty to bestow on thee."
"May God hear it and sin be deaf," said Sancho; "I have always heardsay that 'a good hope is better than a bad holding."
As they were talking Don Antonio came in looking extremely pleasedand exclaiming, "Reward me for my good news, Senor Don Quixote! DonGregorio and the renegade who went for him have come ashore- ashore doI say? They are by this time in the viceroy's house, and will behere immediately."
Don Quixote cheered up a little and said, "Of a truth I am almostready to say I should have been glad had it turned out just theother way, for it would have obliged me to cross over to Barbary,where by the might of my arm I should have restored to liberty, notonly Don Gregorio, but all the Christian captives there are inBarbary. But what am I saying, miserable being that I am? Am I nothe that has been conquered? Am I not he that has been overthrown? Am Inot he who must not take up arms for a year? Then what am I makingprofessions for; what am I bragging about; when it is fitter for me tohandle the distaff than the sword?"
"No more of that, senor," said Sancho; "'let the hen live, eventhough it be with her pip; 'today for thee and to-morrow for me;' inthese affairs of encounters and whacks one must not mind them, forhe that falls to-day may get up to-morrow; unless indeed he chooses tolie in bed, I mean gives way to weakness and does not pluck up freshspirit for fresh battles; let your worship get up now to receive DonGregorio; for the household seems to be in a bustle, and no doubt hehas come by this time;" and so it proved, for as soon as DonGregorio and the renegade had given the viceroy an account of thevoyage out and home, Don Gregorio, eager to see Ana Felix, came withthe renegade to Don Antonio's house. When they carried him away fromAlgiers he was in woman's dress; on board the vessel, however, heexchanged it for that of a captive who escaped with him; but inwhatever dress he might be he looked like one to be loved and servedand esteemed, for he was surpassingly well-favoured, and to judge byappearances some seventeen or eighteen years of age. Ricote and hisdaughter came out to welcome him, the father with tears, thedaughter with bashfulness. They did not embrace each other, forwhere there is deep love there will never be overmuch boldness. Seenside by side, the comeliness of Don Gregorio and the beauty of AnaFelix were the admiration of all who were present. It was silence thatspoke for the lovers at that moment, and their eyes were the tonguesthat declared their pure and happy feelings. The renegade explainedthe measures and means he had adopted to rescue Don Gregorio, andDon Gregorio at no great length, but in a few words, in which heshowed that his intelligence was in advance of his years, describedthe peril and embarrassment he found himself in among the women withwhom he had sojourned. To conclude, Ricote liberally recompensed andrewarded as well the renegade as the men who had rowed; and therenegade effected his readmission into the body of the Church andwas reconciled with it, and from a rotten limb became by penance andrepentance a clean and sound one.
Two days later the viceroy discussed with Don Antonio the steps theyshould take to enable Ana Felix and her father to stay in Spain, forit seemed to them there could be no objection to a daughter who was sogood a Christian and a father to all appearance so well disposedremaining there. Don Antonio offered to arrange the matter at thecapital, whither he was compelled to go on some other business,hinting that many a difficult affair was settled there with the helpof favour and bribes.
"Nay," said Ricote, who was present during the conversation, "itwill not do to rely upon favour or bribes, because with the greatDon Bernardino de Velasco, Conde de Salazar, to whom his Majesty hasentrusted our expulsion, neither entreaties nor promises, bribes norappeals to compassion, are of any use; for though it is true hemingles mercy with justice, still, seeing that the whole body of ournation is tainted and corrupt, he applies to it the cautery that burnsrather than the salve that soothes; and thus, by prudence, sagacity,care and the fear he inspires, he has borne on his mighty shouldersthe weight of this great policy and carried it into effect, all ourschemes and plots, importunities and wiles, being ineffectual to blindhis Argus eyes, ever on the watch lest one of us should remainbehind in concealment, and like a hidden root come in course of timeto sprout and bear poisonous fruit in Spain, now cleansed, andrelieved of the fear in which our vast numbers kept it. Heroic resolveof the great Philip the Third, and unparalleled wisdom to haveentrusted it to the said Don Bernardino de Velasco!"
"At any rate," said Don Antonio, "when I am there I will make allpossible efforts, and let heaven do as pleases it best; Don Gregoriowill come with me to relieve the anxiety which his parents must besuffering on account of his absence; Ana Felix will remain in my housewith my wife, or in a monastery; and I know the viceroy will be gladthat the worthy Ricote should stay with him until we see what termsI can make."
The viceroy agreed to all that was proposed; but Don Gregorio onlearning what had passed declared he could not and would not on anyaccount leave Ana Felix; however, as it was his purpose to go andsee his parents and devise some way of returning for her, he fell inwith the proposed arrangement. Ana Felix remained with Don Antonio'swife, and Ricote in the viceroy's house.
The day for Don Antonio's departure came; and two days later thatfor Don Quixote's and Sancho's, for Don Quixote's fall did notsuffer him to take the road sooner. There were tears and sighs,swoonings and sobs, at the parting between Don Gregorio and Ana Felix.Ricote offered Don Gregorio a thousand crowns if he would have them,but he would not take any save five which Don Antonio lent him andhe promised to repay at the capital. So the two of them took theirdeparture, and Don Quixote and Sancho afterwards, as has beenalready said, Don Quixote without his armour and in travelling gear,and Sancho on foot, Dapple being loaded with the armour.CHAPTER LXVI
WHICH TREATS OF WHAT HE WHO READS WILL SEE, OR WHAT HE WHO HAS ITREAD TO HIM WILL HEAR
AS HE left Barcelona, Don Quixote turned gaze upon the spot where hehad fallen. "Here Troy was," said he; "here my ill-luck, not mycowardice, robbed me of all the glory I had won; here Fortune mademe the victim of her caprices; here the lustre of my achievementswas dimmed; here, in a word, fell my happiness never to rise again."
"Senor," said Sancho on hearing this, "it is the part of bravehearts to be patient in adversity just as much as to be glad inprosperity; I judge by myself, for, if when I was a governor I wasglad, now that I am a squire and on foot I am not sad; and I haveheard say that she whom commonly they call Fortune is a drunkenwhimsical jade, and, what is more, blind, and therefore neither seeswhat she does, nor knows whom she casts down or whom she sets up."
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