To this the curate replied that not only were they not weary oflistening to him, but that the details he mentioned interested themgreatly, being of a kind by no means to be omitted and deserving ofthe same attention as the main story.
"To proceed, then," continued Cardenio: "all being assembled inthe hall, the priest of the parish came in and as he took the pairby the hand to perform the requisite ceremony, at the words, 'Willyou, Senora Luscinda, take Senor Don Fernando, here present, foryour lawful husband, as the holy Mother Church ordains?' I thrust myhead and neck out from between the tapestries, and with eager ears andthrobbing heart set myself to listen to Luscinda's answer, awaiting inher reply the sentence of death or the grant of life. Oh, that I hadbut dared at that moment to rush forward crying aloud, 'Luscinda,Luscinda! have a care what thou dost; remember what thou owest me;bethink thee thou art mine and canst not be another's; reflect thatthy utterance of "Yes" and the end of my life will come at the sameinstant. O, treacherous Don Fernando! robber of my glory, death ofmy life! What seekest thou? Remember that thou canst not as aChristian attain the object of thy wishes, for Luscinda is my bride,and I am her husband!' Fool that I am! now that I am far away, and outof danger, I say I should have done what I did not do: now that I haveallowed my precious treasure to be robbed from me, I curse the robber,on whom I might have taken vengeance had I as much heart for it as Ihave for bewailing my fate; in short, as I was then a coward and afool, little wonder is it if I am now dying shame-stricken,remorseful, and mad.
"The priest stood waiting for the answer of Luscinda, who for a longtime withheld it; and just as I thought she was taking out thedagger to save her honour, or struggling for words to make somedeclaration of the truth on my behalf, I heard her say in a faintand feeble voice, 'I will:' Don Fernando said the same, and giving herthe ring they stood linked by a knot that could never be loosed. Thebridegroom then approached to embrace his bride; and she, pressing herhand upon her heart, fell fainting in her mother's arms. It onlyremains now for me to tell you the state I was in when in that consentthat I heard I saw all my hopes mocked, the words and promises ofLuscinda proved falsehoods, and the recovery of the prize I had thatinstant lost rendered impossible for ever. I stood stupefied, whollyabandoned, it seemed, by Heaven, declared the enemy of the earththat bore me, the air refusing me breath for my sighs, the watermoisture for my tears; it was only the fire that gathered strengthso that my whole frame glowed with rage and jealousy. They were allthrown into confusion by Luscinda's fainting, and as her mother wasunlacing her to give her air a sealed paper was discovered in herbosom which Don Fernando seized at once and began to read by the lightof one of the torches. As soon as he had read it he seated himselfin a chair, leaning his cheek on his hand in the attitude of onedeep in thought, without taking any part in the efforts that werebeing made to recover his bride from her fainting fit.
"Seeing all the household in confusion, I ventured to come outregardless whether I were seen or not, and determined, if I were, todo some frenzied deed that would prove to all the world therighteous indignation of my breast in the punishment of thetreacherous Don Fernando, and even in that of the fickle faintingtraitress. But my fate, doubtless reserving me for greater sorrows, ifsuch there be, so ordered it that just then I had enough and tospare of that reason which has since been wanting to me; and so,without seeking to take vengeance on my greatest enemies （whichmight have been easily taken, as all thought of me was so far fromtheir minds）， I resolved to take it upon myself, and on myself toinflict the pain they deserved, perhaps with even greater severitythan I should have dealt out to them had I then slain them; for suddenpain is soon over, but that which is protracted by tortures is everslaying without ending life. In a word, I quitted the house andreached that of the man with whom I had left my mule; I made himsaddle it for me, mounted without bidding him farewell, and rode outof the city, like another Lot, not daring to turn my head to look backupon it; and when I found myself alone in the open country, screenedby the darkness of the night, and tempted by the stillness to givevent to my grief without apprehension or fear of being heard orseen, then I broke silence and lifted up my voice in maledictions uponLuscinda and Don Fernando, as if I could thus avenge the wrong theyhad done me. I called her cruel, ungrateful, false, thankless, butabove all covetous, since the wealth of my enemy had blinded theeyes of her affection, and turned it from me to transfer it to oneto whom fortune had been more generous and liberal. And yet, in themidst of this outburst of execration and upbraiding, I found excusesfor her, saying it was no wonder that a young girl in the seclusion ofher parents' house, trained and schooled to obey them always, shouldhave been ready to yield to their wishes when they offered her for ahusband a gentleman of such distinction, wealth, and noble birth, thatif she had refused to accept him she would have been thought out ofher senses, or to have set her affection elsewhere, a suspicioninjurious to her fair name and fame. But then again, I said, had shedeclared I was her husband, they would have seen that in choosing meshe had not chosen so ill but that they might excuse her, for beforeDon Fernando had made his offer, they themselves could not havedesired, if their desires had been ruled by reason, a more eligiblehusband for their daughter than I was; and she, before taking the lastfatal step of giving her hand, might easily have said that I hadalready given her mine, for I should have come forward to supportany assertion of hers to that effect. In short, I came to theconclusion that feeble love, little reflection, great ambition, anda craving for rank, had made her forget the words with which she haddeceived me, encouraged and supported by my firm hopes andhonourable passion.
"Thus soliloquising and agitated, I journeyed onward for theremainder of the night, and by daybreak I reached one of the passes ofthese mountains, among which I wandered for three days more withouttaking any path or road, until I came to some meadows lying on Iknow not which side of the mountains, and there I inquired of someherdsmen in what direction the most rugged part of the range lay. Theytold me that it was in this quarter, and I at once directed mycourse hither, intending to end my life here; but as I was making myway among these crags, my mule dropped dead through fatigue andhunger, or, as I think more likely, in order to have done with sucha worthless burden as it bore in me. I was left on foot, worn out,famishing, without anyone to help me or any thought of seeking help:and so thus I lay stretched on the ground, how long I know not,after which I rose up free from hunger, and found beside me somegoatherds, who no doubt were the persons who had relieved me in myneed, for they told me how they had found me, and how I had beenuttering ravings that showed plainly I had lost my reason; and sincethen I am conscious that I am not always in full possession of it, butat times so deranged and crazed that I do a thousand mad things,tearing my clothes, crying aloud in these solitudes, cursing myfate, and idly calling on the dear name of her who is my enemy, andonly seeking to end my life in lamentation; and when I recover mysenses I find myself so exhausted and weary that I can scarcelymove. Most commonly my dwelling is the hollow of a cork tree largeenough to shelter this miserable body; the herdsmen and goatherdswho frequent these mountains, moved by compassion, furnish me withfood, leaving it by the wayside or on the rocks, where they think Imay perhaps pass and find it; and so, even though I may be then out ofmy senses, the wants of nature teach me what is required to sustainme, and make me crave it and eager to take it. At other times, so theytell me when they find me in a rational mood, I sally out upon theroad, and though they would gladly give it me, I snatch food byforce from the shepherds bringing it from the village to their huts.Thus do pass the wretched life that remains to me, until it beHeaven's will to bring it to a close, or so to order my memory thatI no longer recollect the beauty and treachery of Luscinda, or thewrong done me by Don Fernando; for if it will do this withoutdepriving me of life, I will turn my thoughts into some betterchannel; if not, I can only implore it to have full mercy on mysoul, for in myself I feel no power or strength to release my bodyfrom this strait in which I have of my own accord chosen to place it.
"Such, sirs, is the dismal story of my misfortune: say if it beone that can be told with less emotion than you have seen in me; anddo not trouble yourselves with urging or pressing upon me whatreason suggests as likely to serve for my relief, for it will avail meas much as the medicine prescribed by a wise physician avails the sickman who will not take it. I have no wish for health withoutLuscinda; and since it is her pleasure to be another's, when she is orshould be mine, let it be mine to be a prey to misery when I mighthave enjoyed happiness. She by her fickleness strove to make my ruinirretrievable; I will strive to gratify her wishes by seekingdestruction; and it will show generations to come that I alone wasdeprived of that of which all others in misfortune have asuperabundance, for to them the impossibility of being consoled isitself a consolation, while to me it is the cause of greater sorrowsand sufferings, for I think that even in death there will not be anend of them."
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