Guzman and his wife, having been obliged to leave Madrid for their exemplary and moral mode of life, proceed to Seville, where Guzman finds his Mother.
The first day we were fully employed in converting all our effects into ready money. On the second we hired four mules to carry us and our baggage, and departed from Madrid on the morning of the third, according to the sentence.
We took the road to Seville, not only to gratify my great desire to revisit my native country, but to please Donna Maria, who burned with impatience to try the effect of her charms upon the rich merchants who, I had told her, were continually arriving from Peru, laden with gold and jewels. She doubted not that she should fill her coffers at their expense. Notwithstanding our good intentions towards these gentlemen, however, we travelled very slowly for fear of fatigue; and I own that I felt a secret pleasure in surveying the country through which I had formerly passed, although it recalled to my remembrance the sad adventures of my youth. I passed the inn where I had been a servant; and at the sight of Cantillana I fancied I still smelt those excellent ragouts of mules with which I had formerly been regaled; and I did not forget the cudgelling which had been so liberally bestowed on me and the muleteer by the two officers of the Holy Brotherhood. I arrived and dined at that charming inn where they made omelets of pullets. I told my wife this story, and she laughed at it heartily. At last I reached the hermitage, where I lay the first night after I left Seville, and, transported with the recollection, I addressed the Saint in these terms: “Oh great St. Lazarus,” cried I, “when I left the steps of thy chapel ’twas with tears in my eyes, on foot, alone, and poor, but innocent; and now thou seest me return, married, and in good condition, and well mounted; but how innocent, Heaven and thou know!”
It was quite night when we arrived at Seville, so that we were obliged to take up our quarters at the first inn we came to; but the next morning I rose betimes and took lodgings in St. Batholomew-street, whither I had my baggage conveyed. The next thing I did was to ask after my mother, but I could hear no news of her until some months afterwards, when Donna Maria being on a visit to a lady with whom she had made an acquaintance, heard her name mentioned by mere chance, and was much astonished to learn that she lived very near us with a young lady who passed for her daughter. No sooner had I ascertained my mother’s residence than I flew to it, found her at home, and we embraced with sincere affection.
We related to each other in a few words the adventures that had happened to us both since our parting, each of us, however, concealing whatever we thought fit. She was very anxious, for example, to persuade me that she had brought up the young lady who lived with her, out of pure charity, having been attached to her from her earliest infancy. I pretended to believe her word implicitly, though I entertained considerable doubt whether she had not other views which she did not choose to confess. After a long conversation, I introduced Donna Maria to her. My mother received her very kindly, and embraced her in an affectionate manner not very common in a mother-in-law.
To celebrate our reunion, my mother invited us to several entertainments, which we returned; and as I had occasion for an old mouser like her to instruct my wife in the coquetries of the ladies of Seville, where the modes of gallantry differed from those at Alcala and Madrid, I proposed to her to come and live with us, representing to her how much more agreeably she might pass her time. She answered “that she could not make up her mind to desert her adopted daughter, and that she feared also she should not be able to agree long with my wife.” I endeavoured to remove the first obstacle, by consenting to receive the young lady into my family also. “You cannot think of it, my son,” said my mother. “You must know but little of women, if you think that two lively young ladies like Petronilla and Donna Maria, can live even one month together, without quarrelling themselves, and indeed setting the whole house in an uproar.”
I succeeded, however, in conquering the repugnance that my mother felt to grant my request. It is true, that she yielded at last upon my assurance that she would always find in my wife a daughter submissive to her wishes. At last she came alone to reside with us, choosing rather to leave Petronilla to herself, than to be the cause of dissensions in my family. At the beginning, all went on smoothly, and the only contention was, who should be the most complaisant. Each seemed to endeavour to anticipate the desire of the other. They addressed each other affectionately, and if this good understanding had but lasted, we could not have failed in making our fortune; but unfortunately, before the expiration of three months every thing changed, and these same ladies, who had hitherto agreed so well, now began to pursue a different conduct. My mother wished to govern despotically, which my wife would not submit to. They were constantly disputing and quarrelling, and peace was entirely banished the house. Sometimes I endeavoured to reconcile them, and to act as umpire, but this only brought upon me the fury of her whom I decided against. What made matters worse, was, that the ships which were expected from India, did not come in that year. Money became scarce, and consequently the profits of my wife’s gallantries were but trifling, in comparison with the daily expense of our establishment. Donna Maria was not one who could listen to economy, and no clothes or ornaments were good enough for her. The natural consequence of all this was, that as our funds diminished, so in proportion our vexations increased. We had placed great reliance upon the merchants from Peru, who never came at all; and my wife, to whom I had given a grand idea of the opulence and generosity of these merchants, reproached me as if I had been the cause of their delay. In short every thing fell upon me.
As good luck would have it, I happened to become acquainted with an Italian, captain of a Neapolitan galley, who by order of the Court had come to Malaga to carry the Bishop of that city to Naples; but that prelate not being ready to embark, he had come to Seville in the hopes of meeting with merchandize to freight his vessel for Italy. I met him by chance one day at a merchant’s house, and was delighted in having found a man who spoke Italian as well as myself. He was on his side equally pleased, and we became very intimate. I invited him to my house, and introduced him to my wife, who did not fail to charm him. He made me some trifling presents, which would have been more considerable if his affairs would have permitted him to remain any longer at Seville: but as he could not make the bishop wait for him, and could not bear the idea of parting from my wife, he found means to conciliate his love with his duty, by persuading her to desert me, and fly with him into Italy. After all, I believe that he did not find it a very difficult matter to prevail upon her, for she had been long out of humour with me, and hated my mother more and more every day; so that we had not an hour’s quiet for her. However that might be, I cared but little about it; and, indeed, thought myself happy and rich in having got rid of her, notwithstanding she had taken her jewels and every thing of value about the house with her; in which the captain had very honestly assisted her, before I had the least suspicion of their intentions.