Just as the muleteer ended his discourse, another muleteer of his acquaintance came up to us, of whom I asked what was going on at Almagro, whence he had just come, and he informed me that there was a company of soldiers there, newly raised, and destined, he believed, for Italy. I was enraptured at this news, and felt disposed to forgive fortune, now that she presented me with so favourable an opportunity of gratifying my violent desire to go to Genoa, for all the hardships that she had hitherto made me endure.
CHAP. XVIII.
Guzman offers himself to serve in the Company newly raised. His reception by the Captain, and how they afterwards lived together.
All my fear was, that the muleteer had been misinformed; but on entering Almagro, I was soon convinced that he had told the truth. I perceived a flag suspended from a window of one of the houses where I supposed the Captain had taken up his residence.
I proceeded, therefore, to an inn in the neighbourhood, where I took up my lodging for that night; and in the morning I dressed myself in my best suit of clothes, and finest linen, and went to church, where I heard mass, and from thence to wait upon the Captain, whom I saluted with an air calculated to make him believe me a young man of quality, telling him that I had come express to Almagro to have the honour of serving the King by joining his company. My behaviour and appearance had the desired effect of casting a mist before the eyes of this officer, who was an extremely well-bred man. He received me, therefore, in the most polite manner, testifying his joy at finding me disposed to enter so early in the career of glory. He then thanked me for the preference I gave his company, which would be proud to receive among them a cavalier of noble race, which he could easily perceive I was. “All I regret,” added he, “is, that all the posts are filled up; but, though I cannot, therefore, offer you a commission, you shall at least share mine with me, and we will live together as though you were Captain as well as myself.”
To convince me that these excessive civilities were not mere compliments, he insisted on my staying to dinner, and regaled me in good style. He did not, however, forget to charge one of his servants, in private, to inquire of mine who I was. My page, who had frequently heard me style myself Don Juan de Guzman of the house of Toral, answered this question by saying that this was the name I bore, and that was all he knew of me. This was reported to the Captain, who most firmly believed that I was certainly one of the younger branches of that illustrious house. The next day I invited him, in my turn, to dine with me at my inn, and spared no expense to render the entertainment as complete as if I had been in reality the cavalier my valet had represented me to be. I did not stop here, but gave so many other dinners to the Captain and the principal officers of the company, that it is no wonder they all esteemed me, and considered me an honour to their corps. The Captain, in particular, was so extremely attentive to me, that I was frequently quite confused at his kind professions of regard. It is true, that to secure a continuance of his friendship, I sent him, almost every day, some little present by my page, which he was so kind as to accept of as a mark of my affection.
In the mean time my purse, having no flux and reflux like the sea, began to empty itself visibly, without any prospect of being filled again. What with my clothes, my gallantries, and my travelling expenses, in addition to these entertainments and presents, I had already squandered away more than half of my reals, without reckoning what I had lost at play with the officers, the majority of whom knew better than myself how to take advantage in gaming of every turn of fortune in their favour. I had still, however, a sufficient sum remaining to support my assumed character for some time longer, when orders were given for marching, and I followed the company, in quality of a volunteer, to the coast, where we had orders to wait until the galleys which were to transport us into Italy, with other troops, arrived at Barcelona, where we were to embark. But it was God’s pleasure that this embarkment should not take place till three months afterwards. This completed my ruin; for being willing to continue to live with the Captain and other officers as I had begun, I was soon compelled to make use of my corps de reserve; I mean my thirty pistoles, which were yet untouched, and which I soon ran through with as little frugality as my reals. When I found my resources thus at an end, I was obliged to sell my fine clothes and linen, and to get rid of my valet, who went to seek his fortune elsewhere; and having no money to game with, I ceased to associate with the officers, who guessed but too rightly the reasons that obliged me thus to alter my conduct towards them.
Reflections now came thick upon the prodigal child; and though I had not given way to them while my money lasted, now that it was gone, at least a million presented themselves to my imagination. I recalled to mind all my past follies, and reproached myself as severely as a professed pedagogue could have done, resolving to manage better for the future, as though I had still several bags of reals in my portmanteau. I chiefly repented of having given such fine entertainments to the Captain, who no longer invited me to dinner as usual, now that all my money was gone. The other officers, thinking that I had nothing more to lose, turned their backs upon me. The serjeants, who had before been in the habit of visiting me as a second Captain, and who had considered themselves honoured by my condescending to converse with them, no longer came near me. There was not a single soldier but avoided me; and I question if even the blackguards that followed them would have deigned to associate with me, had I been inclined to have been their comrade. But it was but just, after such useless extravagance, that I was punished as I deserved. If there was any thing that could console me in my unfortunate situation it was, that during the whole course of my prosperity I had not committed the least knavery. This gave my Captain a good opinion of me, who, believing as firmly as ever that I was a young man of high birth, still retained some esteem for me in my misery. He had himself too well profited by my foolish conduct not to forgive me from the bottom of his soul; and when I called upon him one evening he received me much as usual, without taking any notice of the situation of my affairs, though he was in reality much affected; and he could not avoid saying, to me, one day that I was more melancholy than usual, “My dear Guzman, I should indeed be hard-hearted and ungrateful were I insensible to your troubles, after the many proofs you have given me of your friendship. But you have yet to learn that my fortune is but little better than your own; and I am sincerely afflicted that I am utterly incapable of convincing you of my good wishes by my actions. All I can pretend to offer you in your present distress is a lodging in my house, and the table of my servants; for myself, I am obliged to dine out, from my utter incapacity to receive my friends at home.”
This proposal, which he did not make without a blush, was tendered in so obliging a manner that I accepted it. Pride becomes nobody, but still less a man who has no money, and knows not where to lay his head; it is a cameleon, which lives only on the wind. From his companion I was now become his servant. But I owe him this piece of justice: instead of treating me like a common servant, he behaved in the most considerate manner towards me. When he wished me to do any thing for him, he requested instead of commanding it; and, on my side, I was always more anxious than the other domestics to make myself useful to him, that I might preserve his friendship, and not eat the bread of idleness; and I so completely succeeded in my desire to please him, by anticipating his every wish, that, believing me to be faithful, and even prudent, though I had sufficiently proved myself the reverse by my former dissipations, he resolved to make me acquainted with the present state of his affairs, to convince me that he placed entire confidence in me.
He confessed to me then that he was so much reduced, that a few jewels which he possessed were his only resource. “Can you guess,” added he, “what has reduced me to this extremity?”—the time that was consumed in soliciting my employment, and the great presents I was obliged to make to obtain it. Yes, were I to begin life afresh, I would renounce such a profession, notwithstanding the desire that every Spanish gentleman naturally has to acquire glory in the army. I cannot reflect on what I have submitted to without blushing; for, besides the money that I have expended, how many whole days have I passed with my hat in my hand, soliciting, flattering, bowing to the ground, kicking my heels at levees, sometimes to speak to one person, sometimes to meet with another, cringing, acting a servant’s part, and a thousand other meannesses of which I am ashamed! But the most provoking treatment that I met with, and which I felt most sensibly, was on the day preceding that on which I had been promised my commission. After having consumed more than eight months in solicitations in the manner I have just described to you, I accompanied my patron as he came out of the palace, and conducted him, with the most profound respect, to the steps of his carriage, which was in waiting for him, but unfortunately put my hat on a moment before the carriage drove off. The Minister noticed this, darted a haughty look at me, and soon convinced me that this accident had offended him, for my commission was not delivered to me for above four months after. I even ran the risk of losing both my trouble and my money by not obtaining it at all.