Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

son of Esculapius, therefore, he never got rich by practising the art: scenes of misery were no way congenial to his disposition; he felt himself happy, and he delighted to see others so; and when the beauty of a summer's evening induced him to regale the children of the neighbourhood with the sound of his guitar, at his little shop door, Pedrosa forgot that there were such things in the world as pain, disease, tooth-drawing, or bleeding.

Misfortunes are inseparable from humanity; why should I attempt to exempt Pedrosa from them! often a hasty call from a suffering patient, or the heedless caprices of a vain customer, deprived him of his dinner; his wife had two or three times been of a different opinion from himself; and once the boys filled his little shop with smoke, blown in at the key-hole by means of a born; these might have discomposed a philosopher, but little Pedrosa philosophised upon no subject whatever, and he felt the misfortune no longer than the actual inconvenience remained.

Kings and kingdoms have their revolutions, and we shall see by the sequel, that poor Pedrosa, in his turn, experienced the capricious mu tability of fortune.

[ocr errors]

It was past twelve o'clock, on a very dark night in the month of September, that a loud thundering noise at the door awakened the little barber and his wife from a profound slumber. What is the matter?' cried he half asleep; what do you want? Get up, Pedrosa, immediately!' said a voice on the outside; the Licentiate Signoir Garcia de sires you will come immediately to bleed him: he is in the utmost danger; his disorder, I believe, has fallen upon his lungs.' I wish it were on yours,' muttered Pedrosa to himself as he jumped out of bed, 'we would not be so disturbed with

your impertinent bawling. Tell the Licentiate,' said he, opening the door to the messinger, that I shall be with him immediately.'

The Licentiate Signoir Garcia, by indulging too frequently in the pleasures of the table, had become too good a customer to be neglected. Holy Virgin have mercy upon his reverence!" said Pedrosa, as he hustled on his clothes, I have drawn more blood from him than might have filled the veins of twenty of his generation.'

The night was, as we have observed before, very dark, but little Pedrosa knew every inch of the way which led to the Licentiate's: he safely passed the windings which led to the great gate of the church of San Nicolas; not a passenger was to be seen in the streets, and poor Pedrosa, who never loved solitude, preferred talking to himself rather than preserving a silence, which he felt at all times disagreeable. He had, already, recited the names of above twenty of his customers, with more real devotion than the archbishop of Toledo probably would those of the saints of the calendar, when passing through a small street, he was suddenly interrupted by the figure of a man, who darted with incredible swiftness across the way, with a drawn sword in his hand. Pedrosa had never in his life evinced the smallest symptom of heroism; he stood motionless with terror, and with staring eye-balls, observed the stranger in his hasty passage to have dropped the dark covering with which he had been enveloped. Bẹfore he could recover his scattered senses, his terror was redoubled by a noise seemingly made by several persons forcing open the door, through which the unknown person had rush, ed into the street. The holy Virgin protect me!' cried the astonished barber; the ideas of robbery and

assassination crowded into his mind, and he instinctively fell with his face to the ground. In the mean time, the people had succeeded in their endeavours to force their passage to the street; three men with drawn swords, and one armed with a poignard, rushed out. It was you, Bernardo,' said one of them, in a furious tone, who let him escape; you ought to have plunged your dag ger in his heart, rather than have marred such a job:' the others made no reply, for they all four immediately rushed forward to overtake the fugitive object of their vengeance. Poor Pedrosa, whom fear rather than prudence had induced to lie hid from observation, gradually recovered, as he imagined the object of his terror to be removed to a distance; and without wishing to have any thing to do with the adventure, began to creep forwards to the place of his destination. Scarcely had he gone two steps, when he felt his feet cntangled in the cloak of the stranger. Though his skin was at that time covered with a copious perspiration, he felt the midnight damp spread its chilling influence over all his body; and as he now fancied himself, every moment, in greater security, the natural good humour of his temper began to exert itself. This is a Lucky adventure for me,' said he to himself, as he lifted the garment from the ground; I shall have a great coat to keep myself from the cold. By spreading it, and rubbing his fingers over it, he soon perceived it to be the habit of a monk of the order of St. Francis. It is the first benefit the holy fathers ever con ferred upon me,' thought little Pedrosa, and when monks go a ranibling. The cautious barber sup. pressed the rest : it was certainly an ill-natured sarcasm on the holy community, which, notwithstanding his loquacious propensity, he was

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

afraid of exposing to the open air. Certain it is, that without any further reflection on the adventure, he folded the garment around him, and tucking up, in the best manner he could, the long skirts, which, by hanging on the ground, shewed sufficiently the disparity, in point of size, betwixt little Pedrosa and the former wearer, he proceeded forwards, recommending himself to the holy care of St. Peter, who, he used often to say, had never forsaken him.

It is asserted by some philosophers, that man has a natural propensity to move in a direct line forwards; but little Pedrosa seemed to have been born to give the lie to this assertion. His air in walking, excepting in the rapidity of his motions, resembled nothing in nature so much as a duck's: the simile, though not perfectly exact, may yet be rendered sufficiently illustrative, by observing that poor Pedrosa had acquired such a facility in turning the one side and the other alternately to that point of the compass whither he was bound, that a person from behind would imagine that at every step he intended to alter his course. This kind of motion, concurring with a rapidity of idea, for which Pedrosa was always remarkable, bestowed a considerable degree of friction on his mental and corporeal faculties; and to this kind of motion alone he was, perhaps, indebted for a discovery, of which we shall hasten to give an account.

Pedrosa had not made above twenty or thirty of these extraordinary evolutions, when he perceived something dangling in a small pocket concealed in the inside of his newlyacquired garment; he darted his hand into it to examine the contents, and felt about thirty ducats and a letter, which though neatly folded up, the broken seal showed to have been already examined. No anti

therefore no sooner found himself among the thickest of the trees, than

quarian could boast of a greater share of curiosity than little Pedrosa; indeed this passion was generally car-striking a light, the implements for

ried to such an excess, that it might have been ranked amongst his faults, had it not been made ample amends for, by a still greater propensity to communicate the intelligence he had gained to every person he met with. This thirst after knowledge now suddenly seized the poor fellow, too powerfully to be resisted- This letter will throw some light upon the business," said he. The Licentiate Signoir Garcia might die of indigestion if he pleased; the pressing case of the patient, and the sovereign remedy of phlebotomy, were forgotten: Pedrosa had discovered an intellectual repast, which it was not in his power to forego; and all he redoubled his pace for was to procure a place, where he might read the mysterious billet, without any witnesses of his enjoyment; though he was firmly resolved that all his customers should be partakers of that pleasure in the morning.

By the side of the convent of Santa Clara, betwixt that and the great church of the Carthusians, stands a small neglected spot, on which may be still traced the ruins of an ancient Moorish palace: it is at present covered with several large and lofty trees, whose thick shades might have been consecrated, by serving as a retreat to many a pair of happy lovers, were it not for the daily sacrifices there made to the Roman goddess Cloacina the ungrateful odour of which must ever banish from delicate minds all ideas of harmonious enjoyment.

By turning the corner of the street, Pedrosa knew he might arrive at this place in the course of a few minutes; he would have taken a journey of as many hours to have gratified his curiosity, when he imagined he could do it with safety: he

which he always carried about him, by the feeble glimmering of a small piece of taper, he made shift to read the following lines:

Fortune is again the friend of our love! yes, my dear Don Juan ! fortune once more permits me to write your name; I say once more, for if I may credit my foreboding fears, we shall soon be separated for ever.

My uncle and duenna, for some days past, seem to watch over me with a more scrutinizing eye than usual-if they should have discovered-alas! I know not what I

fear-if I must die, come, and let me breathe my last sigh on your bosom; you shall see with what fortitude I can bear the greatest calamities, when folded in your arms, and assured of your constancy: come at midnight in your usual disguise; you shall be anxiously expected by

Your

LUCINDA.'

The reading of this billet but barely gratified the curiosity of Pedrosa: he folded it however carefully up, as a memorial of the adventure; and lest some unlucky accident should occur before he could reach home, he deposited the ducats which he had so singularly acquired in a corner of the hollow of a large tree. It was seldom that poor Pedrosa could boast of so much foresight; but the unexpected possession of riches, in some unlucky moment, introduces avarice into the heart, and avarice makes us cautious.

As there was no other thing now to engage Pedrosa's attention, the lamentable condition of the Licentiate Signoir Garcia darted into his mind, and he arose with alacrity to pursue his route; but fortune seemed to have decreed that the Licen

tiate should recover, as he actually did, without the little barber's assistance. Whether we may ascribe this to the good constitution of Signoir Garcia, which once

more

stood his friend, or to the prayers which poor Pedrosa offered up by the way to St. Peter, we cannot pretend to determine. This agreeable circumstance, however, was unknown to little Pedrosa, who made all the haste he could to the relief of his patient; when he met with a much more disagreeable and lasting interruption than the last. Turning an angle of the monastery of St. Francis, with that rapidity which he thought the occasion required, he suddenly justled against an old woman, who was passing along by the side of the wall. Heaven have mercy upon me!' said the old woman, as she caught hold of the sleeve of Pedrosa's monkish habit to prevent herself from falling. Unluckily she guessed the character of the garment, and before Pedrosa could dis-, engage himself, she, by slipping her withered arms across his shoulders, became confirmed in her conjecture. 'Santa Maria be praised! holy fa. ther,' said she, that I have met you: it is a blessed sign of good fortune: who would have thought I should have been so lucky? one ought ne ver to despair! indeed I thought it would be a miracle to meet one of your holy fraternity at this unseasonable hour; but the old gentleman told me that Heaven would help me, and so I kept praying to Santa Maria all the way; for as my first husband used to say'- Well, well, good woman! interrupted Pedrosa, a little troubled at the adventure, 'your first husband, God rest his soul, I hope is in Paradise; and the second will not be long in arriving there but the best thing you can do in this cold raw night, is to go home, to your warm bed, and leave me, in

:

[ocr errors]

God's name; for I have a long way to go.' 'Santa Maria forbid that I should leave you, holy father,' returned the old woman. Heaven has sent you to the relief of an old gentleman's soul to whom I am atten dant, and who is, at this moment, at the point of death-Well! if ever a man deserves heaven by acts of charity, it is he, he has been so generous to me! to be sure, he has plenty of money-what a pity for the poor gentleman's soul to be lost for want of absolution. I dare say, he has a whole closet full of gold; and you know there are a great many charities, which you, holy father, can put him in mind of-and to be sure, it would go very hard with the good old gentleman's soul, if he should forget his poor nurse, seeing that he can take none of his money along with him, and has nobody, that I know of, to give it to: it would make your heart to ache, holy father, to see how I have toiled for this month past in his service; how I have run up stairs and down stairs; and how careful I have been to open the door, every time he came in.-How sorry I should be if the good gentleman went out of this world, without knowing the affection of his poor nurse.'. Good woman,' returned Pedrosa, who began to tremble at the turn the affair was likely to take, and who had only been prevented from interrupting the old woman's' harangue, by reflecting on the means by which he might escape the dan ger which threatened him. 'Good woman, you have taken me at the worst time in the world; you do not know that I am just now performing a penance, which the Abbot of our monastery has enjoined me. Cold and disagreeable as this night is, I dare not return, until I have six times recited the hymn to the Holy Virgin; said thrice as many paternosters, and double the number of

credos: I can hope in no other way to obtain absolution of the sin I have been guilty o; so that, you see, it is impossible I can accompany you.'

6

Heaven forgive the sin, holy father, which lies so heavy upon your Conscience,' returned the old woman; but of all the things in the world, nothing can give me more pleasure than to hear you recite six times the hymn to the Virgin; nay, I will even stay by you until you have said all those paternosters and credos you speak of; and I believe it will be my wisest way, for I might go through all the streets of Madrid, at this late hour, without meeting with another of your holy profession; for as my first husband used to say -take what you can get. Good woman,' interrupted Pedrosa, commanding his temper, and concealing his uneasiness in the best manner he could, we are now but a step from the monastery of the Augustines, and you may easily prevail upon one of the fathers to accompany you.' That is all you know of the matter, holy father,' returned the old woman with great vivacity; 'the Abbot of the Augustines and his brethren would not be disturbed, at this hour, for the Infanta of Spain herself: they are, at present, very busily em ployed, I'll warrant you; and begging the holy fathers' pardons, I know very well what they are about.'

[ocr errors]

During this dialogue, poor Pedrosa and his tormentor kept walking together to the end of the street. His anxiety to get rid of the fiend that harassed him was become so great, that, curious and communicative as he naturally was, he hardly attended to her garrulity: The effect this uneasiness produced upon the vivacity of his temper was truly ludicrous. Cursed old hag!' said Pedrosa to himself as he bit his lip, first shrugged up one shoulder, and

[ocr errors]

scratched it, then the other; sometimes walking with a very quick pace, as if to tire out his disagreeable companion; then creeping along, to exhaust her patience by delay; but all this had no effect upon the old woman, who with a steady eye to her own interest, which, she imagined, would certainly be promoted by Pedrosa's assistance, stood firm to her purpose. tunate little barber, driven almost to despair, tried one scheme more, which he flattered himself would be infallible; and gathering together all the stock of cunning, which nature and art had given him, but which, unfortunately for Pedrosa, was very little; Heaven bless you, good woman!' said he, seeming all of a sudden to recollect himself, 'Heaven bless you, and preserve your memory, for with watching and praying I have entirely lost mine. It is not above a quarter of an hour ago since I was called to perform the holy duties of my function to a noble gentleman of Arragon, who now lies at the point of death-I am assured that he is, at this moment, in such a condition as leaves not the smallest room for delay. He is at the last gasp. Poor gentleman, I am afraid I shall be too late. Good night, my good woman, and may the blessing of Santa Maria and St. Francis rest upon you! Saying this, he endeavoured to walk away as nimbly as he could, without waiting for a reply; but the troublesome old woman, still more tenacious of her purpose, followed him with an alacrity which could hardly be expected from her age. Holy father,' said she, as she held by the long sleeve of his garment, Heaven bless your charity; I shall be sure to remember the poor Arragonian gentleman in my prayers.-Heaven protect you from evil accidents by the way.How far has your holy reverence to

At last, the unfor

« AnteriorContinuar »