By this time night closed in, and as it did, there came up to theinn a coach attended by some men on horseback, who demandedaccommodation; to which the landlady replied that there was not ahand's breadth of the whole inn unoccupied.
"Still, for all that," said one of those who had entered onhorseback, "room must be found for his lordship the Judge here."
At this name the landlady was taken aback, and said, "Senor, thefact is I have no beds; but if his lordship the Judge carries one withhim, as no doubt he does, let him come in and welcome; for myhusband and I will give up our room to accommodate his worship."
"Very good, so be it," said the squire; but in the meantime a manhad got out of the coach whose dress indicated at a glance theoffice and post he held, for the long robe with ruffled sleeves thathe wore showed that he was, as his servant said, a Judge of appeal. Heled by the hand a young girl in a travelling dress, apparently aboutsixteen years of age, and of such a high-bred air, so beautiful and sograceful, that all were filled with admiration when she made herappearance, and but for having seen Dorothea, Luscinda, and Zoraida,who were there in the inn, they would have fancied that a beautylike that of this maiden's would have been hard to find. Don Quixotewas present at the entrance of the Judge with the young lady, and assoon as he saw him he said, "Your worship may with confidence enterand take your ease in this castle; for though the accommodation bescanty and poor, there are no quarters so cramped or inconvenient thatthey cannot make room for arms and letters; above all if arms andletters have beauty for a guide and leader, as letters representedby your worship have in this fair maiden, to whom not only oughtcastles to throw themselves open and yield themselves up, but rocksshould rend themselves asunder and mountains divide and bow themselvesdown to give her a reception. Enter, your worship, I say, into thisparadise, for here you will find stars and suns to accompany theheaven your worship brings with you, here you will find arms intheir supreme excellence, and beauty in its highest perfection."
The Judge was struck with amazement at the language of DonQuixote, whom he scrutinized very carefully, no less astonished by hisfigure than by his talk; and before he could find words to answerhim he had a fresh surprise, when he saw opposite to him Luscinda,Dorothea, and Zoraida, who, having heard of the new guests and ofthe beauty of the young lady, had come to see her and welcome her; DonFernando, Cardenio, and the curate, however, greeted him in a moreintelligible and polished style. In short, the Judge made his entrancein a state of bewilderment, as well with what he saw as what he heard,and the fair ladies of the inn gave the fair damsel a cordial welcome.On the whole he could perceive that all who were there were peopleof quality; but with the figure, countenance, and bearing of DonQuixote he was at his wits' end; and all civilities having beenexchanged, and the accommodation of the inn inquired into, it wassettled, as it had been before settled, that all the women shouldretire to the garret that has been already mentioned, and that the menshould remain outside as if to guard them; the Judge, therefore, wasvery well pleased to allow his daughter, for such the damsel was, togo with the ladies, which she did very willingly; and with part of thehost's narrow bed and half of what the Judge had brought with him,they made a more comfortable arrangement for the night than they hadexpected.
The captive, whose heart had leaped within him the instant he sawthe Judge, telling him somehow that this was his brother, asked one ofthe servants who accompanied him what his name was, and whether heknew from what part of the country he came. The servant replied thathe was called the Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, and that he hadheard it said he came from a village in the mountains of Leon. Fromthis statement, and what he himself had seen, he felt convinced thatthis was his brother who had adopted letters by his father's advice;and excited and rejoiced, he called Don Fernando and Cardenio andthe curate aside, and told them how the matter stood, assuring themthat the judge was his brother. The servant had further informed himthat he was now going to the Indies with the appointment of Judge ofthe Supreme Court of Mexico; and he had learned, likewise, that theyoung lady was his daughter, whose mother had died in giving birthto her, and that he was very rich in consequence of the dowry leftto him with the daughter. He asked their advice as to what means heshould adopt to make himself known, or to ascertain beforehandwhether, when he had made himself known, his brother, seeing him sopoor, would be ashamed of him, or would receive him with a warm heart.
"Leave it to me to find out that," said the curate; "though there isno reason for supposing, senor captain, that you will not be kindlyreceived, because the worth and wisdom that your brother's bearingshows him to possess do not make it likely that he will provehaughty or insensible, or that he will not know how to estimate theaccidents of fortune at their proper value."
"Still," said the captain, "I would not make myself knownabruptly, but in some indirect way."
"I have told you already," said the curate, "that I will manage itin a way to satisfy us all."
By this time supper was ready, and they all took their seats atthe table, except the captive, and the ladies, who supped bythemselves in their own room. In the middle of supper the curate said:
"I had a comrade of your worship's name, Senor Judge, inConstantinople, where I was a captive for several years, and that samecomrade was one of the stoutest soldiers and captains in the wholeSpanish infantry; but he had as large a share of misfortune as hehad of gallantry and courage."
"And how was the captain called, senor?" asked the Judge.
"He was called Ruy Perez de Viedma," replied the curate, "and he wasborn in a village in the mountains of Leon; and he mentioned acircumstance connected with his father and his brothers which, hadit not been told me by so truthful a man as he was, I should haveset down as one of those fables the old women tell over the fire inwinter; for he said his father had divided his property among histhree sons and had addressed words of advice to them sounder thanany of Cato's. But I can say this much, that the choice he made ofgoing to the wars was attended with such success, that by hisgallant conduct and courage, and without any help save his ownmerit, he rose in a few years to be captain of infantry, and to seehimself on the high-road and in position to be given the command ofa corps before long; but Fortune was against him, for where he mighthave expected her favour he lost it, and with it his liberty, onthat glorious day when so many recovered theirs, at the battle ofLepanto. I lost mine at the Goletta, and after a variety of adventureswe found ourselves comrades at Constantinople. Thence he went toAlgiers, where he met with one of the most extraordinary adventuresthat ever befell anyone in the world."
Here the curate went on to relate briefly his brother's adventurewith Zoraida; to all which the Judge gave such an attentive hearingthat he never before had been so much of a hearer. The curate,however, only went so far as to describe how the Frenchmen plunderedthose who were in the boat, and the poverty and distress in whichhis comrade and the fair Moor were left, of whom he said he had notbeen able to learn what became of them, or whether they had reachedSpain, or been carried to France by the Frenchmen.
The captain, standing a little to one side, was listening to all thecurate said, and watching every movement of his brother, who, assoon as he perceived the curate had made an end of his story, gave adeep sigh and said with his eyes full of tears, "Oh, senor, if youonly knew what news you have given me and how it comes home to me,making me show how I feel it with these tears that spring from my eyesin spite of all my worldly wisdom and self-restraint! That bravecaptain that you speak of is my eldest brother, who, being of a bolderand loftier mind than my other brother or myself, chose the honourableand worthy calling of arms, which was one of the three careers ourfather proposed to us, as your comrade mentioned in that fable youthought he was telling you. I followed that of letters, in which Godand my own exertions have raised me to the position in which you seeme. My second brother is in Peru, so wealthy that with what he hassent to my father and to me he has fully repaid the portion he tookwith him, and has even furnished my father's hands with the means ofgratifying his natural generosity, while I too have been enabled topursue my studies in a more becoming and creditable fashion, and so toattain my present standing. My father is still alive, though dyingwith anxiety to hear of his eldest son, and he prays God unceasinglythat death may not close his eyes until he has looked upon those ofhis son; but with regard to him what surprises me is, that having somuch common sense as he had, he should have neglected to give anyintelligence about himself, either in his troubles and sufferings,or in his prosperity, for if his father or any of us had known ofhis condition he need not have waited for that miracle of the reedto obtain his ransom; but what now disquiets me is the uncertaintywhether those Frenchmen may have restored him to liberty, ormurdered him to hide the robbery. All this will make me continue myjourney, not with the satisfaction in which I began it, but in thedeepest melancholy and sadness. Oh dear brother! that I only knewwhere thou art now, and I would hasten to seek thee out and deliverthee from thy sufferings, though it were to cost me sufferingmyself! Oh that I could bring news to our old father that thou artalive, even wert thou the deepest dungeon of Barbary; for his wealthand my brother's and mine would rescue thee thence! Oh beautiful andgenerous Zoraida, that I could repay thy good goodness to a brother!That I could be present at the new birth of thy soul, and at thybridal that would give us all such happiness!"
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