MARITANA
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, when Charles II. was reigning in Spain, a wandering tribe of gipsies appeared in the romantic city of Madrid, and every day were to be seen in the streets and public squares, amusing the light-hearted populace with their merry songs and dances.
With this tribe there came a beautiful young girl, named Maritana, who possessed a voice of wonderful charm and sweetness; and in a very short time the enchanting singing and fair looks of the pretty gipsy-maiden had won the hearts of all. Every day Maritana sang and danced before delighted crowds; and even the Queen, as she drove by with her ladies, would stop her state carriage to listen for a few moments to the pretty Gitana's thrilling voice.
Now, when the gay young King of Spain, Charles II., beheld Maritana for the first time he was so struck with her dazzling beauty that he determined to see her again; and several times he went disguised into the streets of the city, mingling with the crowds that applauded the gipsy-maid, in order to gain acquaintance with her.
On one of these occasions he was seen and recognised, in spite of his disguise, by the Chief Minister of State, Don José de Santarem, and this wily nobleman, understanding at once that his royal master was infatuated with the charms of the fair Maritana, quickly decided, in order to serve his own ends, to do all in his power to aid the King in his pursuit of the maiden.
For a long while Don José had secretly loved the cold and stately Queen, whom the pleasure-loving King had already begun to neglect; but so far, all his efforts to gain her favour had proved in vain, for the proud, exalted lady refused even to smile upon him. But the sight of the disguised King paying court to the pretty gipsy gave rise to a sudden scheme in the busy brain of the unscrupulous Minister. He would encourage this temporary infatuation, and convert Maritana to the purposes of the King's unrestrained passion; and then, once the Queen was persuaded of her husband's faithlessness, might she not be persuaded to look for a lover herself, as a means of avenging her wrongs? And that lover should be Don José de Santarem!
Fully determined to carry out this base plan, Don José himself went up to Maritana and began to make pretty speeches to her, praising her beauty and lovely voice; and having observed that the disguised King had slipped gold into her hand, he also gave her a piece of money of the same value, and begged her to sing him another song. Delighted at gaining two pieces of gold in one day, Maritana was glad enough to sing, and when the song came to an end she talked merrily to the Minister, telling him that she longed to be a great lady and to live in dazzling halls, drive in a gilded coach, and wear fine clothes and glittering jewels.
Pleased to find that his intended victim had just such longings and ambitions as would serve him in his schemes regarding her, Don José declared that all these things she desired might indeed be hers, since her own wondrous beauty could easily win them; and he added that if she would trust her fortunes to him, he would quickly make her a great lady.
Maritana merrily replied that she would gladly accept any such good fortune he might offer her; and then she ran off to sing and dance in another street.
No sooner had she gone out of the square than a handsome, but dissipated-looking roysterer, whose once gay garments and general appearance showed signs of poverty and riotous living, and yet who preserved a certain dignity and charm of manner, issued forth from a tavern close by, declaring to the bystanders that he had just lost his last coin to gamblers; and Don José, to his surprise, recognised in this shabby, yet débonnaire stranger, an old friend of his boyhood's days, Don Cæsar de Bazan, a nobleman of equal rank with himself.