Tiretta

“ The Gonzalès laughed loudly.
“It has killed one person,” said Tiretta, “whose blood, mademoiselle your sister will likely tell you, has dishonoured it for ever.”
“Whose?” said the child eagerly. “Tell me, monsieur.”
Tiretta drew out the blade—an elastic strip of steel, long toughened by use—and ran his finger along it.
“It belonged,” he said, “to an old friend of mine. I thought him one of the noblest of men; but since, like myself, he was a mere soldier of fortune, that may be nothing but my prejudice. He had fought successfully in a number of causes ”

“ His natural hair, of a deep brown and slightly grizzled with powder, was tied into a knot at the nape with a broad black ribbon, and on his head was a hat like his companion’s, but adorned with a pert black cockade.
“I am your friend, Tiretta,” said the prince. “That is why I will not let you talk too much. You will profit by it some day, when I have inured you to a wise reticence. The man of many words empties his heart of thoughts.”
“I could plead,” answered Tiretta, with a little curious amused glance at his companion, “that thoughts, like pea-blossom, throng the thicker being culled ”

“ The European arena was all a welter of Habsburgs and Bourbons, crossing, interlacing, intermarrying, and having no particular aim in common but, like a litter of pigs, to empty among them the Continental trough. It did not seem much to matter which sat on what throne, so long as all available seats were occupied by themselves. A martial spirit, with no genius for genealogy, might very well, under such conditions, fight for the sake of his sword rather than his cause; and likely that had been the case with Tiretta. ”

“ His mandolin rested in its case in the rack above his head. Joseph had little ear or liking for music; yet there was a quality in Tiretta’s which constantly fascinated while it aggravated him.
“If you would condescend to prose,” he said drily.
“It was this,” said Tiretta. “The flower despised its own lowly roots, its poor relations, which connected it with the soil. ‘I would stand alone in my exclusiveness,’ it said; and it persuaded the scythe to sever it. But, lo! the flower fell and died, and the roots sent forth another blossom, fair as the first.” ”

“ The poor wife in tears, and, like Tiretta, bleeding at the nose, besought me to take her away somewhere, as she feared her husband would kill her if she returned to him. So, leaving Tiretta with my brother, I got into a carriage with her and I took her, according to her request, to her kinsman, an old attorney who lived in the fourth story of a house in the Quai de Gevres. He received us politely, and after having heard the tale, he said,
“I am a poor man, and I can do nothing for this unfortunate girl; while if I had a hundred crowns I could do everything.” ”

“ Already and always a student of humanity, there was something about the man, a mystery, a charm, which had curiously puzzled and attracted the royal young metaphysician. Not that Tiretta had made any mystery about himself. If he was a soldier of fortune, he was still a soldier and a gentleman. He had fought with distinction, on the Spanish side, in the wars of the Austrian succession ”

“ On the instant there came into this voiceless paradise the figures of a man and a stunted boy. The man carried a lute or mandolin slung over his shoulder; the boy, large-headed and large-hatted like a gnome, followed importantly in the other’s footsteps.
“It is the enchanted garden of Hesperus,” said Tiretta, pausing on the threshold. He lowered his voice instinctively, as if he had broken unexpectedly into some woodland shrine of the gods; then went a soft step or two and paused again.
“It is a very good plantation,” said Bissy, tolerant and superior. ”

“ Petersburg, and in the year 1767 he was assassinated in Poland.
The same evening I preached Tiretta a severe yet friendly sermon. I pointed out to him that when he played he was at the mercy of the banker, who might be a rogue but a man of courage too, and so in calling him a cheat he was risking his life.
“Am I to let myself be robbed, then?”
“Yes, you have a free choice in the matter; nobody will make you play.”
“I certainly will not pay him that hundred louis.” ”

“ Tiretta was constituted his privileged favourite for the time being, and might speak his mind liberally on most matters. It was rather, perhaps, that he cogitated the invidious position of princes, who, having austere far-seeing mothers to arrange matches for them, must accommodate themselves at bidding to double leading-strings, without being given a choice as to the partner with whom they were destined to run in couple. It made no difference that inclination in himself might jump with another’s policy. ”

“ The man who declares his love for a woman in words wants to be sent to school again.
Three days after the departure of Tiretta, I took him what small belongings he had, and Madame seemed very glad to see me. The Abbe des Forges arrived just as we were sitting down to dinner, and though he had been very friendly to me at Paris he did not so much as look at me all through the meal, and treated Tiretta in the same way. ”

“ A few days afterwards, my friend Tiretta lost his mistress through a grievous illness. Four days before her death, perceiving that she was near her end, she willed to consecrate to God that which man could have no longer, and dismissed her lover with the gift of a valuable jewel and a purse of two hundred louis. Tiretta marched off and came and told me the sad news. I got him a lodging near the Temple, and a month after, approving his idea to try his fortune in India, I gave him a letter of introduction to M. d’O——, of Amsterdam ”

“ And yet there is a virtue in blood. It can produce superior beauty as well as superior men.”
“Wherefore the basil, signore, whose appetite, like the human, grows fiercer with what it feeds on, till nothing but the blood of men will appease it.”
“Come, Aquaviva!”
“So it is said, signore—of murdered men.”
“Is that what your aristocrats here are delaying for?”
“O! they are young; their tastes are not formed; but I daresay a dose of it would facilitate their blossoming.”
Tiretta watched a little longer in silence, then turned and strolled away. ”

“ How could Tiretta succeed in committing this crime with my aunt, which I think would only be possible with the consent of the party attacked, but quite impossible without it; and this makes me believe that if the thing was done it was done with her hearty good will."
"Very true, for if she did not like it she had only to change her position."
"Not so much as that; she need only have kept the door shut."
"There, sweetheart, you are wrong, for a properly-made man only asks you to keep still and he will overcome all obstacles. ”

“ You have cause for anger, and he is to blame for acting in such a manner. But allow me to say that the case is not unexampled or even uncommon, and I think you might make some allowance for the strength of love, the close quarters, and above all for the youth and passion of the sinner. Moreover, the offence is one which may be expiated in a number of ways, provided the parties come to an agreement. Tiretta is young and a perfect gentleman, he is handsome and at bottom a good fellow ”

“ If marriage should not meet your views, we might try a lasting friendship, in which he could shew his repentance and prove himself deserving of pardon. Remember, madam, that Tiretta is only a man, and therefore subject to all the weaknesses of our poor human nature ”

“ My letter was under cover of a note addressed to Tiretta, in which I told him that I should not leave the house till I had got an answer. I had my answer four hours after; it ran as follows: “Dearest, it is too late; you have decided on my destiny, and I cannot go back from my word. Come to dinner at M. Corneman’s, and be sure that in a few weeks we shall be congratulating ourselves on having won a great victory. Our love, crowned all too soon, will soon live only in our memories. ”

“ In the course of the next two hours I shall go and fetch my linen, and I hope to breakfast with you to-morrow."
Tiretta did well. His heart was in the right place, and he was wise not to allow the foolish impulses of youth to plunge him in the sink of corruption. As long as a man has not committed a dishonourable action, as long as his heart is sound, though his head may go astray, the path of duty is still open to him. I should say the same of women if prejudice were not so strong in their case, and if they were not much more under the influence of the heart than the head. ”

“ Her skin is covered with pimples, her eyes distil humours, and her teeth and breath are enough to discourage any man. She's hideous."
"All that is nothing to a young spark of twenty-five; one is always ready for an assault at that age; not like me who only feel myself a man in presence of charms like yours, of which I long to be the lawful possessor."
"You will find me the most affectionate of wives, and I feel quite sure that I shall have your heart in such good keeping that I shall never be afraid of losing it."
We had talked thus pleasantly for an hour, and Tiretta was still with the aunt. ”

“ The King of Egypt accordingly challenged Tirant to mortal combat. In the challenge this king stated that he had made a vow to his lady-love that he would engage in a combat à outrance with a king or a king’s son, or with the best captain of the Christian army, and that it was his intention to send her the head of Tirant to show that his vow had been accomplished. He also suggested that each one of them should champion the cause of a lady, and then the combat should also determine which one of these ladies excelled in beauty, dignity, virtue, lineage, grace, and wisdom. ”

“ A few days after the raising of the siege, two Venetian galleys arrived at the city of Rhodes. They were carrying pilgrims to Jerusalem. Tirant, the King of Sicily, and Philip made arrangements to make their voyage to the Holy City in one of these galleys. The Grand Master wished to reward Tirant for the timely relief that he had brought, but our hero would accept payment neither for the vessel nor for the provisions. The honor that he had won was sufficient reward for him. When the Venetian galleys resumed their voyage, Tirant, the king, Philip, and Diaphebus were among the passengers. ”

“ Tirant’s military genius and his prowess were always in evidence. Never was a lance handled more dexterously, nor a battle-ax wielded more vigorously. He was ever in the thick of the fray unless there was some special work for him to do. Senyor Dagramunt, one of the shipwrecked men who had succeeded in rejoining his great Captain, and Scariano, too, performed many feats of valor, and slew almost as many of the enemy as Tirant. The Moorish kings could not understand how the Christians, so few in numbers compared with their own, could withstand them. ”

“ When the emperor heard of the quarrel between the duke and Tirant, he went to the camp to settle the dispute once for all. The princess accompanied him, and with her went Stephania, Viuda Reposada, Plaer [45] de mi Vida, and other ladies of the court. While they were in camp, the greatest battle of all that had been fought up to this time took place. It was waged fiercely on both sides, from early in the morning until late in the afternoon. The contending foes fought with determination and desperation. Tirant wielded his battle-ax wherever help seemed to be needed most. ”

“ Tirant concerned himself only with killing anyone in his path. When he saw that the men were armed and on horseback, and that they were coming against him, he retreated to the palisade while using his weapons continuously. Once he was in the palisade, he quickly dismounted, and the Moors came up to him. The men in the castle came down to help Tirant, and there was a great skirmish where many men died. The men from the enemy camp pressed on so forcefully that Tirant had to retreat, and they lifted the drawbridge for fear of the Moors. ”

“ We found the Duke of Macedonia dead from a lance wound, and the Duke of Babylonia, the Marquis of Ferrara, and the Marquis of Guast, Count Plegamans. These are the main ones. There are also many other knights who were killed, among them the High Constable. In all, one thousand two hundred thirty-four men died."
The emperor was very pleased with Tirant's accomplishments, and did not know how to reward him. Diafebus remained there, pretending he was ill, and the emperor had him taken care of as well as he would have his own daughter. Tirant stayed in the camp, guarding it well. ”

“ Your Majesty sees that Tirant's life is near its end, all the doctors have given up hope, and I am the only one who can help him. Call the soldiers together, and have them start shouting and go into his chambers and beat their swords against their shields. When he wakes up and sees so many armed men and hears them shouting, and he asks what is happening, you can tell him the Turks are at the gates of the city. Then all those thoughts of his will disappear, and with that virtue he has and out of fear of being shamed, he will get up. ”

“ Then they again set sail, and followed the shores of Barbary. Not only Moorish but also Genoese ships attacked and harassed them until they came near Tunis. Tirant’s vessel landed at Palermo in Sicily to take on more provisions. The royal family of Sicily gave Tirant and Philip a hearty welcome, and during their stay an interesting love affair developed between Philip and the princess Ricomana, which Tirant took great pleasure in promoting. Much of his time was spent at the elbow of Philip, preventing or rectifying awkward blunders. Finally he spoke to the king in behalf of Philip. ”