"The Duchess.
"From this castle."
"Ah!" quoth Teresa, when she had heard the letter, "what a good lady is this! not a bit of pride in her! Let me be buried with such ladies, and not with such proud madams as we have in our town; who, because they are gentlefolks, forsooth, think the wind must not blow on them, but come flaunting to church as stately as if they were queens. It seems they think it scorn to look upon a poor countrywoman. But, la you! here is a good lady, who, though she be a duchess, calls me her friend, and uses me as if I were as high as herself. Well, may I see her as high as the highest steeple in the whole country! As for the acorns she writes for, I will send her good ladyship a whole peck, and such swinging acorns, that every body shall come to admire them far and near. And now, Sanchica, see that the gentleman be made welcome, and want for nothing. Take care of his horse. Run to the stable; get some eggs; cut some bacon: he shall fare like a prince. The rare news he has brought me, and his good looks, deserve no less. Meanwhile, I must run and tell my neighbours the news. Our good curate, too, shall know it, and Mr. Nicholas the barber; for they have all along been thy father's friends." "Ay, do, mother," said the daughter; "but, hark you, you must give me half the beads; for, I daresay, the great lady knows better things than to give them all to you." "It is all thy own, child," cried the mother; "but let me wear it a few days about my neck, for thou canst not think how it rejoices the very heart of me." "You will rejoice more presently," said the page, "when you see what I have got in my portmanteau; a fine suit of green cloth, which the governor wore but one day a-hunting, and has here sent to my Lady Sanchica."
Presently, away ran Teresa, with the beads about her neck, and the letters in her hand, all the while playing with her fingers on the papers, as if they had been a timbrel; and meeting, by chance, the curate and the bachelor Carrasco, she fell a-dancing and frisking about. "Faith and troth," cried she, "we are all made now. We have got a little thing called a 'government.' And now, let the proudest of them all toss up her nose at me, and I will give her as good as she brings. I will make her know her distance." "How now, Teresa?" said the curate; "what mad fit is this? what papers are these in your hand?" "No mad fit at all," answered Teresa; "but these are letters from duchesses and governors, and these beads about my neck are right coral, the Ave-marias I mean, and the Paternosters are of beaten gold; and I am a governor's lady, I assure you." "Verily," said the curate, "there is no understanding you, Teresa; we do not know what you mean." "There is what will clear the riddle," quoth Teresa; and with that she gave them the letters. Thereupon, the curate having read them aloud, that Sampson Carrasco might also be informed, they both stood and looked on one another, and were more at a loss than before. The bachelor asked her who brought the letter? Teresa told them it was a sweet, handsome, young man, as fine as anything; and that he had brought her another present worth twice as much. The curate took the string of beads from her neck, and finding that it was a thing of value, he could not conceive the meaning of all this. "I cannot tell," cried he, "what to think of this business. I am convinced these beads are right coral and gold; but again, here is a duchess sends to beg a dozen or two of acorns." "Crack that nut if you can," said Sampson Carrasco. "But come, let us go to see the messenger, and probably he will clear our doubts."
Thereupon, going with Teresa, they found the page sifting a little corn for his horse, and Sanchica cutting a rasher of bacon, to be fried with eggs, for his dinner. They both liked the page's mien and his garb; and after the usual compliments, Sampson desired him to tell them some news of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; for though they had read a letter from the latter to his wife, and another from the duchess, they were no better than riddles to them; nor could they imagine how Sancho should come by a government, especially of an island, well knowing that all the islands in the Mediterranean, or the greatest part of them, were the king's.
"Gentlemen," answered the page, "it is a certain truth, that Sigñor Sancho Panza is a governor, but whether it be of an island or not, I do not pretend to determine; but this I can assure you, that he commands in a town that has above a thousand inhabitants. And as for my lady duchess's sending to a countrywoman for a few acorns, that is no such wonder, for she is so free from pride, that I have known her send to borrow a comb of one of her neighbours. You must know, our ladies of Arragon, though they are as noble as those of Castile, do not stand so much upon formalities and punctilios, neither do they take so much state upon them, but treat people with more familiarity."
The curate and the bachelor plainly perceived that the page spoke jestingly; but yet the costly string of beads, and the hunting suit, which by this time Teresa had let them see, confounded them again. "Then, sir, you assure us still," said Carrasco, "that Sancho is really a governor, and that a duchess sends these presents and letters upon his account; for though we see the things, and read the letters, we can scarce prevail with ourselves to believe it, but are apt to run into our friend Don Quixote's opinion, and look on all this as the effect of some enchantment; so that I could find in my heart to feel and try whether you are merely a visionary messenger or a real creature of flesh and blood."
"For my part, gentlemen," answered the page, "all I can tell you is, that I am really the messenger I appear to be; that the Lord Sancho Panza is actually a governor; and that the duke and the duchess, to whom I belong, are able to give, and have given him that government; where, I am credibly informed, he behaves himself most worthily. Now if there be any enchantment in the matter, I leave you to examine that; for I know no more of the business." "That may be," said the bachelor, "but yet dubitat Augustinus." "You may doubt if you please," replied the page, "but I have told you the truth, which will always prevail over falsehood, and rise uppermost, as oil does above water. But if you will operibus credere, et non verbis, let one of you go along with me, and you shall see with your eyes, what you will not believe by the help of your ears." "I will go with all my heart," quoth Sanchica; "take me up behind ye, sir; I have a great mind to see my father." "The daughters of governors," said the page, "must not travel thus unattended, but in coaches or litters, and with a handsome train of servants." "Oh," quoth Sanchica, "I can go a journey as well on an ass as in one of your coaches. I am none of your tender squeamish things, not I." "Peace, chicken," quoth the mother, "thou dost not know what thou sayest; the gentleman is in the right: times are altered. When it was plain Sancho, it was plain Sanchica; but now he is a governor, thou art a lady: I cannot well tell whether I am right or no." "My Lady Teresa says more than she is aware of," said the page. "But now," continued he, "give me a mouthful to eat as soon as you can, for I must go back this afternoon." "Be pleased then, sir," said the curate, "to go with me, and partake of a slender meal at my house, for my neighbour Teresa is more willing than able to entertain so good a guest." The page excused himself a while, but at last complied, being persuaded it would be much for the better; and the curate, on his side, was glad of his company, to have an opportunity to inform himself at large about Don Quixote and his proceedings. The bachelor proffered Teresa to write her answers to her letters; but as she looked upon him to be somewhat waggish, she would not permit him to be of her counsel; so she gave a roll and a couple of eggs to a young acolyte of the church who could write, and he wrote two letters for her,—one to her husband, and the other to the duchess, all of her own inditing; and perhaps not the worst in this famous history, as hereafter may be seen.