Blanch

“ Forest, I see you do not recognize me," answered the horseman, smiling and raising his broad-brimmed sombrero which partially concealed his features.
"Don Felipe Ramirez!" cried Blanch and Bessie in [Pg 111] the same breath. "How," exclaimed Blanch, "could you expect us to recognize you in that costume? Why are you masquerading in such a disguise?" Don Felipe laughed as he swung himself lightly from the saddle.
"It's the costume of our people," he answered, shaking them cordially by the hand. "It's the one they prefer, without which one cannot always command their respect. ”

“ At noon they returned, and beside a cold spring that bubbled beneath a rock they opened their lunch baskets. Then they picked flowers, hunted for wintergreen, and decked the horse and wagon with ferns and wreaths of laurel,—only simple country pleasures, it is true, but they at least had the charm of newness for two of the party. That evening they sang all sorts of songs, from gospel hymns to comic operas, and Blanch showed in so many ways that she admired her new-found friend that there was no further restraint. ”

“ And should he not love me as I love him, my life will go out of me swiftly and silently like the waters of the streams in summer when the rains cease; my soul will become barren and parched like the desert, and I shall wither and die."
"Die?" echoed Blanch. "Nobody dies of love nowadays, Señorita," and she laughed lightly.
"Perhaps not among your people, but with Indians it is different. When we love it is terrible—our passion becomes our life, our whole existence! ”

“ What that certain subject was Alice did not see fit to ask, but joined with Blanch in a good laugh at Frank's dolorous description of his trip and its Waterloo at the hands of a few girls.
"It seems you can't get along without us much despised creatures," observed Blanch, "and if you had come to Bethlehem in the first place you would have had a good time. There were no end of pretty girls at the Maplewood, and eligible Romeos were scarce as white crows."
"I never said I could get along without girls," replied Frank, a little piqued, "only I wanted girls to go on my yacht, that was all." ”

“ A room is always waiting for me here."
"How delightful!" exclaimed Blanch. "We shall expect to see a great deal of you. In the meantime, we shall visit the town and shall see you this evening. Until then, á Dios, as you Spaniards say. You observe, we are making rapid progress in the language," she added, smiling and glancing back at him over her shoulder as they moved away in the direction of the highroad.
"What a strange costume for a man like Don Felipe to wear! It's as gay and extravagant as a woman's!" said Bessie as soon as they were out of hearing. ”

“ And then as a climax to these occasional disparaging portrayals, he endows his hero with a low, immoral nature.
Tirant lo Blanch is pictured to us as a noble, generous, religious, intrepid, valiant, and invincible military leader. He is admirable in all respects but one—he is morally a weakling. This inconsistency, together with other incongruities, has led a scholarly critic [80] to declare that Tirant lo Blanch is a parody on the romances of chivalry and that “the animus of the whole narrative is satire.” ”

“ In fact, all the weapons which we women are so fond of employing against men. Whereas, here I am at the feet of my Lord Jack—his indifference is insufferable! Oh! I'll pay him back for this!" she cried, pale with anger.
"Men are brutes—all of them!" remarked Bessie laconically, rising to a sitting posture on the sofa.
"I hate him—hate him!" continued Blanch in a fresh paroxysm of passion. "To think that he of all men should have been the one chosen to show me myself—the only one of us who was strong enough to break away! ”

“ It was his turn now and he could afford to humor her. Though there was nothing triumphant in his manner, he, nevertheless, enjoyed that sneaking feeling of satisfaction which most of us experience on beholding the discomfiture of those who have treated us lightly. Moreover, he thoroughly realized what the [Pg 89] coming of Blanch and his family meant. They had come to laugh at him and his surroundings—to ridicule his ideas. ”

“ The same is the case concerning a Portuguese Tirant lo Blanch, and the doubt as to the accuracy of Martorell’s and de Galba’s assertions increases considerably. And then, finally, the contents of the work, its spirit, its sources, and the fact that there is a Tirant lo Blanch in the Catalan language, strongly impel the reader to conclude that the Catalan book is the original.
Let us first consider the question as to an English original. After a careful study of Tirant lo Blanch, we have come to the conclusion that it is hardly possible that it ever existed as an English romance. ”

“ Frank frowned. "Oh, bother these finicky mothers!" he exclaimed. "Why will they turn up their noses at every poor girl? If Alice had rich parents she would be all right, no matter if she were as homely as a hedge fence."
"Maybe that's so," answered Blanch, "but you can't change mamma, and if you want to win your Alice you must do as I tell you and court mamma. Now I will tell you what to do, and if you're good to me I'll help you do it. In the first place you must stay at Bethlehem until we go home, and do all you can to please your mother. ”

“ They sort of hypnotize them, you know."
"But not a man of Jack's type!"
"Oh, I don't mean to infer that she's beautiful," continued Blanch. "Attractive she may be, but how could anything so common be really beautiful? It's not that which worries me—it's the state of his mind. He has evidently reached a crisis. As long as I can keep him in sight he's safe, but should he be left here alone with one of these women in his present frame of mind, there's no knowing what might happen. Any woman if fairly attractive and a schemer, can marry almost any man she has a mind to. ”

“ Both Guy and Tirant were always successful in their encounters with the enemy. In Guy of Warwick and in Tirant lo Blanch the emperor [111] gave the hand of his daughter to the hero and publicly announced him successor to the imperial throne. But in neither case was the marriage consummated. Guy’s perilous mission as ambassador to the sultan is reëchoed in Tirant lo Blanch, but the scene takes place in Barbary. Tirant went to King Scariano as ambassador of the King of Tremicen, refused to salute him, for they were enemies, and harshly rebuked him for making war against the King of Tremicen. ”

“ She is mighty proud, and I imagine that is why she turned the cold shoulder on my efforts to get her to come to Boston and meet you all. Now, if you go there, if only for one night, the ice will be broken, and of course you will invite her to visit you, and all will go well."
"A nice little scheme," responded Blanch, "but what will mamma and Ede say, do you think?"
"Oh, never mind them," answered the plotter; "they need never know it. Just tell them you are going to Saratoga with me for a few days. We will go there, if you like, only we will stop off at Sandgate on the way. ”

“ But Tirant lo Blanch is supposed to represent Roger de Flor. Does the youthful career of Tirant resemble that of the Catalan hero? Let us consult Muntaner’s Chronica. There we find that Roger de Flor, when eight years old, began his training for a sea-life and at the age of twenty was pronounced a perfect mariner and placed in command of a ship of the Templars. His early laurels were won as a seaman. No mention is made of his prowess in the exercise of arms. ”

“ He and Plaer de mi Vida continued to act as intermediaries in Tirant’s relations with the princess. One day Carmesina, in order to prove her love for the Capita Major, took his right hand in her own and spoke these words: “I, Carmesina, give myself to you, Tirant lo Blanch, as your faithful wife, and accept you as my loyal husband.” Then she took a formal oath that she would never leave him for any other man in the world, and that she would always be true, faithful, and without blemish. ”

“ The Catalan romance of chivalry, Tirant lo Blanch, may be described as a composite historical novel with a hero of a composite historical character. From the beginning of the work to the end of the William of Warwick episode the scenes are laid in England, and were it not for the fact that Martorell describes a Moorish invasion as taking place in that kingdom, we should be obliged to say that the atmosphere is absolutely English. However, after Tirant’s return to the continent, a purely Catalan or Aragonese spirit pervades the romance to the very end. ”

“ The spirit that animated its heroes became a part of him, and consequently it was but natural that that spirit should find expression in a literary production in which a military hero is portrayed.
From the above comparative study of Tirant lo Blanch in relation to its sources, viz., Lull’s Libre del Orde d’Cauayleria, Muntaner’s Chronica, and the English romance, Guy of Warwick, we are convinced that these sources have furnished important ideas and material to Martorell. The features drawn from Lull’s work are few, but, on the other hand, they have been subjected to very little change. ”

“ Miss Blanchard felt herself strongly drawn toward the pale, wistful young girl, who had been so ready to sacrifice her own sorely-needed rest in order to care for the invalid, and had drawn from her many particulars of her hard-working life. ”

“ The same mind and the same heart are always in evidence. The different characters, when laboring under intense emotion, speak and act in practically the same way. Martorell has stamped his work with a strong individuality, and his characteristics are revealed throughout. All these facts tend to indicate that Tirant lo Blanch is the work of one author and one only. If it were not for the statement to the contrary, we feel certain that no one would ever doubt that the whole book was written by Martorell. ”

“ Here, then, is another strong indication that what the author says in the dedicatory letter concerning the translation of an English original into Portuguese is pure invention, for we are certain that no English Tirant lo Blanch existed and that Martorell wrote an original work in which he created a hero according to his own good will and pleasure. The various qualities of this hero manifested themselves in certain spheres of operation which, as has already been pointed out in all other cases, were based on real historical conditions and events. ”

“ He saw no trace of any consciousness and went on, lightly: "And what will you do with yourself in Rockland? By your account there are no wrongs to right in that happy Arcadia."
"Rest, and be thankful," she retorted, in the same tone.
When he spoke again, there was an undercurrent of real feeling struggling through the lightness of his tone.
"Now, Miss Blanchard, you know philanthropy is decidedly your vocation; you ought to have a subject always at hand. ”

“ All that was romantic in the little dressmaker's soul rose to appreciate Delia Blanchflower. So young and so self-sacrificing—and looking like a picture of Saint Cecilia that hung in Miss Toogood's back room! The Movement was indeed wonderful! How it broke down class barriers, and knit all women together! As her eyes fell on the picture of Lady Blanchflower, in a high cap and mittens, over the mantelpiece, Miss Toogood felt a sense of personal triumph over the barbarous and ignorant past.
"What I mind most is the apathy of people—the people down here. ”

“ Blanchard usually dispensed afternoon tea, a ceremony of which he thoroughly approved. The pleasant cosy drawing-room, with Miss Blanchard's graceful figure as a centre-piece, seemed, just then, infinitely more attractive than even the tranquil study with its glowing fire and the prospect of a summons, erelong, to a solitary tea-table. For Mr. Chillingworth was a comparatively young man still, and, notwithstanding a certain fastidious exclusiveness, his social instincts were by no means weak. ”

“ It was not long before Sir Robert Blanchflower, a proud self-indulgent man, with a keen critical sense, a wide acquaintance with men and affairs, and a number of miscellaneous acquirements of which he never made the smallest parade, had divined the spirit of irreconcilable revolt which animated the slight and generally taciturn woman, who had obtained such a hold upon his daughter. ”

“ Could he discover any root of sympathy in himself with what were clearly the passionate beliefs of Delia Blanchflower, the Valkyrie of twenty-one, as they were also the passionate beliefs of the little Swedish lady, the blue-stocking of fifty? If so, it might be possible to guide, even to control such a ward, for the specified three years, at any rate, without exciting unseemly and ridiculous strife between her and her guardian. ”

“ Every eye followed her.
At the counter she turned her head to see Blanchard Cayley still standing by his place. She came hurriedly back as if drawn by some magic spell, blushing hotly, with a strange look in her eyes. She looked up at him as a little girl might look up at her father. The room was hushed. It was too much for that audience to comprehend. The act had almost lost its effrontery; the audacity had become, somehow, pathos.
Fancy walked like a somnambulist, her eyes wide open, staring at Blanchard. ”

“ And she turned toward them, as they passed, a pretty, pert face, beneath a mass of elaborately frizzed hair, and a very tawdry hat.
"Those poor girls!" Miss Blanchard remarked, as soon as they were out of hearing. "How little real interest or pleasure there must be in their lives! How it makes one wish that we, who have so many pleasant things in ours, could do something to brighten theirs!"
"Yes, indeed," replied Roland. "I've often thought about that, and people do try more than they did—in that way. ”