The Exemplary Novels of CervantesCervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
General
The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
Spanish fiction -- Translations into English
The grandfather and grandmother were surprised at meeting with so much
sympathy on the part of strangers; but far greater was the surprise of
their daughter, who, on looking round her, after the surgeon's report
had somewhat allayed her agitation, plainly perceived that she was in
the very room to which she had been carried by her ravisher. The damask
hangings were no longer there; but she recognised it by other tokens.
She saw the grated window that opened on the garden: it was then closed
on account of the little patient; but she asked if there was a garden on
the outside, and was answered in the affirmative. The bed she too well
remembered was there; and, above all, the cabinet, on which had stood
the image she had taken away, was still on the same spot. Finally, to
corroborate all the other indications, and confirm the truth of her
discovery beyond all question, she counted the steps of the staircase
leading from the room to the street, and found the number exactly what
she had expected; for she had had the presence of mind to count them on
the former occasion, when she descended them blindfold. On her return
home, she imparted her discovery to her mother, who immediately made
inquiries as to whether the gentleman in whose house her grandson lay
ever had a son. She found he had one son, Rodolfo--as we call him--who
was then in Italy; and on comparing the time he was said to have been
abroad with that which had elapsed since her daughter's ravishment, she
found them to agree very closely. She made all this known to her
husband; and it was finally settled between the three that they should
not move in the matter for the present, but wait till the will of Heaven
had declared itself respecting the little patient.
Luis was out of danger in a fortnight; in a month he rose from his bed;
and during all that time he was visited daily by his mother and
grandmother, and treated by the master and mistress of the house as if
he was their own child. Doña Estafania, the kind gentleman's wife, often
observed, in conversation with Leocadia, that the boy so strongly
resembled a son of hers who was in Italy, she never could look at him
without thinking her son was actually before her. One day, when Doña
Estafania repeated this remark, no one being present but herself and
Leocadia, the latter thought it a good opportunity to open her mind to
the lady, in the manner previously concerted between herself and her
parents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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