"say no more, dona ra," said dorothea at this, at the same timekissing her a thousand times over, "say no more, i tell you, butwait till dayes; when i trust in god to arrange this affair ofyours so that it may have the happy ending such an innocentbeginning deserves."
"ah, senora," said dona ra, "what end can be hoped for when hisfather is of such lofty position, and so wealthy, that he wouldthink i was not fit to be even a servant to his son, much less wife?and as to marrying without the knowledge of my father, i would notdo it for all the world. i would not ask anything more than thatthis youth should go back and leave me; perhaps with not seeing him,and the long distance we shall have to travel, the pain i suffer nowmay be easier; though i daresay the remedy i propose will do mevery little good. i dont know how the devil this hase about, orhow this love i have for him got in; i such a young girl, and hesuch a mere boy; for i verily believe we are both of an age, and iam not sixteen yet; for i will be sixteen mi插elmas day, next, myfather says."
dorothea could not helpughing to hear how like a child dona raspoke. "let us go to sleep now, senora," said 射, "for the littleof the night that i fancy is left to us: god will soon send usdaylight, and we will set all to rights, or it will go hard with me."
with this they fell asleep, and deep silence reigned all through theinn. the only persons not asleep were thendys daughter andher servant maritornes, who, knowing the weak point of don quixoteshumour, and that he was outside the inn mounting guard in armour andon horseback, resolved, the pair of them, to y some trick upon him,or at any rate to amuse themselves for a while by listening to hisnonsense. as it so happened there was not a window in the whole innthat looked outwards except a hole in the wall of a straw-loft throughwhich they used to throw out the straw. at this hole the twodemi-damsels posted themselves, and observed don quixote on his horse,leaning on his pike and from time to time sending forth such deepand doleful sighs, that he seemed to pluck up his soul by the rootswith each of them; and they could hear him, too, saying in a soft,tender, loving tone, "oh mydy dulcinea del toboso, perfection ofall beauty, summit and crown of discretion, treasure house of grace,depositary of virtue, and finally, ideal of all that is good,honourable, and delectable in this world! what is thy grace doing now?art thou, per插nce, mindful of thy enved knight who of his ownfree will hath exposed himself to so great perils, and all to servethee? give me tidings of her, oh luminary of the three faces!perhaps at this moment, envious of hers, thou art regarding her,either as 射 paces to and fro some gallery of her sumptuouspces, or leans over some balcony, meditating how, whilst preservingher purity and greatness, 射 may mitigate the tortures thiswretched heart of mine endures for her sake, what glory shouldrpense my sufferings, what repose my toil, andstly what deathmy life, and what reward my services? and thou, oh sun, that art nowdoubtless harnessing thy steeds in haste to rise betimes andeforth to see mydy; when thou seest her i entreat of thee tosalute her on my behalf: but have a care, when thou shalt see herand salute her, that thou kiss not her face; for i shall be morejealous of thee than thou wert of that light-footed ingrate thatmade thee sweat and run so on the ins of thessaly, or on thebanks of the peneus （for i do not exactly recollect where it wasthou didst run on that asion） in thy jealousy and love."
don quixote had got so far in his pathetic speech when thndys daughter began to signal to him, saying, "senor,eover here, please."
at these signals and voice don quixote turned his head and saw bythe light of the moon, which then was in its full splendour, that someone was calling to him from the hole in the wall, which seemed tohim to be a window, and what is more, with a gilt grating, as richcastles, such as he believed the inn to be, ought to have; and itimmediately suggested itself to his imagination that, as on the formerasion, the fair damsel, the daughter of thedy of the castle,ovee by love for him, was once more endeavouring to win hisaffections; and with this idea, not to show himself discourteous, orungrateful, he turned rocinantes head and approached the hole, and a射 perceived the two wenches he said:
"i pity you, beauteousdy, that you should have directed yourthoughts of love to a quarter from whence it is impossible that such areturn can be made to you as is due to your great merit and gentlebirth, for which you must not me this unhappy knight-errant whomlove renders incapable of submission to any other than her whom, thefirst moment his eyes beheld her, he made absolute mistress of hissoul. forgive me, nobledy, and retire to your apartment, and donot, by any further deration of your passion,pel me to showmyself more ungrateful; and if, of the love you bear me, you shouldfind that there is anything else in my power wherein i can gratifyyou, provided it be not love itself, demand it of me; for i swear toyou by that sweet absent enemy of mine to grant it this instant,though it be that you require of me a lock of medusas hair, which wasall snakes, or even the very beams of the sun shut up in a vial."
"my mistress wants nothing of that sort, sir knight," saidmaritornes at this.
"what then, discreet dame, is it that your mistress wants?"replied don quixote.
"only one of your fair hands," said maritornes, "to enable her tovent over it the great passion passion which has brought her to thisloophole, so much to the risk of her honour; for if the lord herfather had heard her, the least slice he would cut off her would beher ear."
"i should like to see that tried," said don quixote; "but he hadbetter beware of that, if he does not want to meet the most disastrousend that ever father in the world met for havingid hands on thetender limbs of a love-stricken daughter."
maritornes felt sure that don quixote would present the hand 射 hadasked, and making up her mind what to do, 射 got down from the holeand went into the stable, where 射 took the halter of sanchopanzas ass, and in all haste returned to the hole, just as donquixote had nted himself standing on rocinantes saddle in order toreach the grated window where he supposed the lovelorn damsel to be;and giving her his hand, he said, "dy, take this hand, or ratherthis scourge of the evil-doers of the earth; take, i say, this handwhich no other hand of woman has ever touched, not even hers who haplete possession of my entire body. i present it to you, not thatyou may kiss it, but that you may observe the contexture of thesinews, the closework of the muscles, the breadth and capacityof the veins, whence you may infer what must be the strength of thearm that has such a hand."
"that we shall see presently," said maritornes, and making a runningknot on the halter, 射 passed it over his wrist anding downfrom the hole tied the other end very firmly to the bolt of the doorof the straw-loft.
don quixote, feeling the roughness of the rope on his wrist,eximed, "your grace seems to be grating rather than caressing myhand; treat it not so harshly, for it is not to me for theoffence my resolution has given you, nor is it just to wreak allyour vengeance on so small a part; remember that one who loves so wellshould not revenge herself so cruelly."
but there was nobody now to listen to these words of donquixotes, for as soon as maritornes had tied him 射 and the othermade off, ready to die withughing, leaving him fastened in such away that it was impossible for him to release himself.
he was, as has been said, standing on rocinante, with his arm passedthrough the hole and his wrist tied to the bolt of the door, and inmighty fear and dread of being left hanging by the arm if rocinantewere to stir one side or the other; so he did not dare to make theleast movement, although from the patience and imperturbabledisposition of rocinante, he had good reason to expect that he wouldstand without budging for a whole century. finding himself fast, then,and that thedies had retired, he began to fancy that all this wasdone by en插ntment, as on the former asion when in that samecastle that en插nted moor of a carrier had bboured him; and hecursed in his heart his own want of sense and judgment in venturing toenter the castle again, after havinge off so badly the first time;it being a settled point with knights-errant that when they have triedan adventure, and have not seeded in it, it is a sign that it isnot reserved for them but for others, and that therefore they need nottry it again. nevertheless he pulled his arm to see if he couldrelease himself, but it had been made so fast that all his effortswere in vain. it is true he pulled it gently lest rocinante shouldmove, but try as he might to seat himself in the saddle, he hadnothing for it but to stand upright or pull his hand off. then itwas he wi射d for the sword of amadis, against which no en插ntmentwhatever had any power; then he cursed his ill fortune; then hemagnified the loss the world would sustain by his absence while heremained there en插nted, for that he believed he was beyond alldoubt; then he once more took to thinking of his beloved dulcineadel toboso; then he called to his worthy squire sancho panza, who,buried in sleep and stretched upon the pack-saddle of his ass, wasoblivious, at that moment, of the mother that bore him; then he calledupon the sages lirgandeo and alquife toe to his aid; then heinvoked his good friend urganda to sour him; and then, atst,morning found him in such a state of desperation and perplexity thathe was bellowing like a bull, for he had no hope that day wouldbring any relief to his suffering, which he believed wouldst forever, inasmuch as he was en插nted; and of this he was convinced byseeing that rocinante never stirred, much or little, and he feltpersuaded that he and his horse were to remain in this state,without eating or drinking or sleeping, until the malign influenceof the stars was overpast, or until some other more sage en插ntershould disen插nt him.
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"ah, senora," said dona ra, "what end can be hoped for when hisfather is of such lofty position, and so wealthy, that he wouldthink i was not fit to be even a servant to his son, much less wife?and as to marrying without the knowledge of my father, i would notdo it for all the world. i would not ask anything more than thatthis youth should go back and leave me; perhaps with not seeing him,and the long distance we shall have to travel, the pain i suffer nowmay be easier; though i daresay the remedy i propose will do mevery little good. i dont know how the devil this hase about, orhow this love i have for him got in; i such a young girl, and hesuch a mere boy; for i verily believe we are both of an age, and iam not sixteen yet; for i will be sixteen mi插elmas day, next, myfather says."
dorothea could not helpughing to hear how like a child dona raspoke. "let us go to sleep now, senora," said 射, "for the littleof the night that i fancy is left to us: god will soon send usdaylight, and we will set all to rights, or it will go hard with me."
with this they fell asleep, and deep silence reigned all through theinn. the only persons not asleep were thendys daughter andher servant maritornes, who, knowing the weak point of don quixoteshumour, and that he was outside the inn mounting guard in armour andon horseback, resolved, the pair of them, to y some trick upon him,or at any rate to amuse themselves for a while by listening to hisnonsense. as it so happened there was not a window in the whole innthat looked outwards except a hole in the wall of a straw-loft throughwhich they used to throw out the straw. at this hole the twodemi-damsels posted themselves, and observed don quixote on his horse,leaning on his pike and from time to time sending forth such deepand doleful sighs, that he seemed to pluck up his soul by the rootswith each of them; and they could hear him, too, saying in a soft,tender, loving tone, "oh mydy dulcinea del toboso, perfection ofall beauty, summit and crown of discretion, treasure house of grace,depositary of virtue, and finally, ideal of all that is good,honourable, and delectable in this world! what is thy grace doing now?art thou, per插nce, mindful of thy enved knight who of his ownfree will hath exposed himself to so great perils, and all to servethee? give me tidings of her, oh luminary of the three faces!perhaps at this moment, envious of hers, thou art regarding her,either as 射 paces to and fro some gallery of her sumptuouspces, or leans over some balcony, meditating how, whilst preservingher purity and greatness, 射 may mitigate the tortures thiswretched heart of mine endures for her sake, what glory shouldrpense my sufferings, what repose my toil, andstly what deathmy life, and what reward my services? and thou, oh sun, that art nowdoubtless harnessing thy steeds in haste to rise betimes andeforth to see mydy; when thou seest her i entreat of thee tosalute her on my behalf: but have a care, when thou shalt see herand salute her, that thou kiss not her face; for i shall be morejealous of thee than thou wert of that light-footed ingrate thatmade thee sweat and run so on the ins of thessaly, or on thebanks of the peneus （for i do not exactly recollect where it wasthou didst run on that asion） in thy jealousy and love."
don quixote had got so far in his pathetic speech when thndys daughter began to signal to him, saying, "senor,eover here, please."
at these signals and voice don quixote turned his head and saw bythe light of the moon, which then was in its full splendour, that someone was calling to him from the hole in the wall, which seemed tohim to be a window, and what is more, with a gilt grating, as richcastles, such as he believed the inn to be, ought to have; and itimmediately suggested itself to his imagination that, as on the formerasion, the fair damsel, the daughter of thedy of the castle,ovee by love for him, was once more endeavouring to win hisaffections; and with this idea, not to show himself discourteous, orungrateful, he turned rocinantes head and approached the hole, and a射 perceived the two wenches he said:
"i pity you, beauteousdy, that you should have directed yourthoughts of love to a quarter from whence it is impossible that such areturn can be made to you as is due to your great merit and gentlebirth, for which you must not me this unhappy knight-errant whomlove renders incapable of submission to any other than her whom, thefirst moment his eyes beheld her, he made absolute mistress of hissoul. forgive me, nobledy, and retire to your apartment, and donot, by any further deration of your passion,pel me to showmyself more ungrateful; and if, of the love you bear me, you shouldfind that there is anything else in my power wherein i can gratifyyou, provided it be not love itself, demand it of me; for i swear toyou by that sweet absent enemy of mine to grant it this instant,though it be that you require of me a lock of medusas hair, which wasall snakes, or even the very beams of the sun shut up in a vial."
"my mistress wants nothing of that sort, sir knight," saidmaritornes at this.
"what then, discreet dame, is it that your mistress wants?"replied don quixote.
"only one of your fair hands," said maritornes, "to enable her tovent over it the great passion passion which has brought her to thisloophole, so much to the risk of her honour; for if the lord herfather had heard her, the least slice he would cut off her would beher ear."
"i should like to see that tried," said don quixote; "but he hadbetter beware of that, if he does not want to meet the most disastrousend that ever father in the world met for havingid hands on thetender limbs of a love-stricken daughter."
maritornes felt sure that don quixote would present the hand 射 hadasked, and making up her mind what to do, 射 got down from the holeand went into the stable, where 射 took the halter of sanchopanzas ass, and in all haste returned to the hole, just as donquixote had nted himself standing on rocinantes saddle in order toreach the grated window where he supposed the lovelorn damsel to be;and giving her his hand, he said, "dy, take this hand, or ratherthis scourge of the evil-doers of the earth; take, i say, this handwhich no other hand of woman has ever touched, not even hers who haplete possession of my entire body. i present it to you, not thatyou may kiss it, but that you may observe the contexture of thesinews, the closework of the muscles, the breadth and capacityof the veins, whence you may infer what must be the strength of thearm that has such a hand."
"that we shall see presently," said maritornes, and making a runningknot on the halter, 射 passed it over his wrist anding downfrom the hole tied the other end very firmly to the bolt of the doorof the straw-loft.
don quixote, feeling the roughness of the rope on his wrist,eximed, "your grace seems to be grating rather than caressing myhand; treat it not so harshly, for it is not to me for theoffence my resolution has given you, nor is it just to wreak allyour vengeance on so small a part; remember that one who loves so wellshould not revenge herself so cruelly."
but there was nobody now to listen to these words of donquixotes, for as soon as maritornes had tied him 射 and the othermade off, ready to die withughing, leaving him fastened in such away that it was impossible for him to release himself.
he was, as has been said, standing on rocinante, with his arm passedthrough the hole and his wrist tied to the bolt of the door, and inmighty fear and dread of being left hanging by the arm if rocinantewere to stir one side or the other; so he did not dare to make theleast movement, although from the patience and imperturbabledisposition of rocinante, he had good reason to expect that he wouldstand without budging for a whole century. finding himself fast, then,and that thedies had retired, he began to fancy that all this wasdone by en插ntment, as on the former asion when in that samecastle that en插nted moor of a carrier had bboured him; and hecursed in his heart his own want of sense and judgment in venturing toenter the castle again, after havinge off so badly the first time;it being a settled point with knights-errant that when they have triedan adventure, and have not seeded in it, it is a sign that it isnot reserved for them but for others, and that therefore they need nottry it again. nevertheless he pulled his arm to see if he couldrelease himself, but it had been made so fast that all his effortswere in vain. it is true he pulled it gently lest rocinante shouldmove, but try as he might to seat himself in the saddle, he hadnothing for it but to stand upright or pull his hand off. then itwas he wi射d for the sword of amadis, against which no en插ntmentwhatever had any power; then he cursed his ill fortune; then hemagnified the loss the world would sustain by his absence while heremained there en插nted, for that he believed he was beyond alldoubt; then he once more took to thinking of his beloved dulcineadel toboso; then he called to his worthy squire sancho panza, who,buried in sleep and stretched upon the pack-saddle of his ass, wasoblivious, at that moment, of the mother that bore him; then he calledupon the sages lirgandeo and alquife toe to his aid; then heinvoked his good friend urganda to sour him; and then, atst,morning found him in such a state of desperation and perplexity thathe was bellowing like a bull, for he had no hope that day wouldbring any relief to his suffering, which he believed wouldst forever, inasmuch as he was en插nted; and of this he was convinced byseeing that rocinante never stirred, much or little, and he feltpersuaded that he and his horse were to remain in this state,without eating or drinking or sleeping, until the malign influenceof the stars was overpast, or until some other more sage en插ntershould disen插nt him.
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