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Capítulo XIII
Historia de la Princesa de las Galias
—Mi nombre, señora, es Cinecia y mi nacimiento bastante ilustre: yo era hija de un soberano, cuyos ascendientes poseyeron la antigua Galia.
—¡Qué decís! –exclamó Arabela–. ¡Princesa sois!
—Sí, señora, y muy afortunada hasta el momento en que envenenó mi existencia la perfidia de Ariamenes.
—Ruégoos, hermosa princesa, que perdonéis mi familiaridad: debí leer lo que erais en los lineamentos de vuestra cara. p. 225
—¡Ah, cuán funesta me ha sido esta poca hermosura de que estoy dotada!..., pero ya ha desaparecido… La pena ha carcomido mis facciones hasta el punto de no ser conocidas. Fui educada en la corte de mi padre con cuanto cuidado y amor cabe en lo posible. Aún no había cumplido los diez y seis años, y ya estaba rodeada de amantes, que ocultaban cuidadosamente su temeraria pasión. De esta manera viví dos años, hasta que un suceso, que voy a contaros, alteró mi sosiego. –Aquí la princesa suspiró, se detuvo algunos minutos y continuó después–. Paseábame a menudo con una de mis criadas por un bosque contiguo a uno de los palacios de mi padre. Un día advertí que estaba un hombre tendido en tierra; la curiosidad me arrimó a él y vi que estaba desmayado y vertiendo mucha sangre. Sus vestidos eran tan ricos que no me dejaron duda en que era sujeto de alta clase. Al examinarlo, le noté un no sé qué de grandeza que me habló en favor suyo. Mandé a mis mujeres que lo socorrieran, le aplicaron pañuelos sobre sus heridas, le dieron a respirar esencias y, en fin, lo volvieron a la vida. Abrió sus caídos ojos, los fijó en mí; se levantó con dificultad y manifestó en sus miradas y movimientos el agradecimiento que albergaba en su alma. Su extremada flaqueza lo precisó a apoyarse contra un árbol. Acerqueme a él, le enteré de la situación en que lo había encontrado y le pedí que me dijese las circunstancias de su accidente. «Me llamo Ariamenes», así me contestó. «Muchos años ha que viajo y regreso a mi país nativo. Al atravesar por ese bosque me dio gana de descansar; até mi caballo a un árbol y ya empezaba a adormecerme cuando oí ruido a mi alrededor, presté atención y oí la horrorosa conjuración que se tramaba contra la princesa que habita en ese cercano palacio. Trataban nada menos que de robarla». Interrumpí al viajero –continuó Cinecia, con una exclamación dolorosa–. Él conoció entonces que era yo la princesa y me dio mil disculpas de su indiscreción involuntaria. Preguntele si sabía el nombre de mis prevenidos raptores y me respondió que uno de ellos se llamaba Taxandro. (Era uno de los favorecidos de mi padre, que me obsequiaba mucho tiempo había.) Díjome, además, Ariamenes que, indignado contra aquellos viles, se había declarado mi protector y desafiádolos; que Taxandro, sin responderle, se arrojó a él y cometió la bajeza de pedir auxilio a su compañero, que los desarmó a ambos, pero que viéndose herido no pudo montar a caballo y, falto de fuerzas, cayó en tierra, sin sentido. Mientras así hablaba, llegó el coche que había yo enviado a buscar; dile las gracias, que merecía, y sentí que se disponía mi corazón a los afectuosos sentimientos que causaron mi desventura. Y para no molestaros más, señora, omitiré infinitas menudas circunstancias. Bastará deciros que mi padre recibió a Ariamenes con señales nada equívocas de su estimación; que su herida se curó pronto, que se dedicó a mi servicio, que le permití que me amara y que le di un corazón…, un corazón ¡ay! que todavía tiene bajo su dominio. Antes de mucho sospecharon los amigos de Taxandro el amor de Ariamenes. Corrompieron a una de mis criadas, se aseguraron por este medio de nuestro secreto y fueron tan inicuos que lo revelaron. ¡Qué de males no produjo este fatal descubrimiento! Enojado mi padre, me desterró a la última habitación de su palacio y mandó a Ariamenes que saliese de sus estados antes de tres días... Ahorradme, señora, la narración de lo que pasó en nuestra última vista: no me fuera posible pintaros el estado en que nos vimos, sus lágrimas, sus promesas, sus seguridades de fidelidad y, en fin, los desmayos que precedieron a nuestra separación. Mi padre guerreaba, a la sazón, con algunos de sus vecinos. Ariamenes me juró mil veces que pelearía por él y que lo forzaría, por sus hazañas, a que nos uniera. Aguardé la verificación de aquellas ofertas, pero ¡ay de mí! se han pasado dos años sin haber oído hablar de aquel infiel. Mi padre ya no vive y su sucesor (mi hermano) quiso casarme con un príncipe, a quien yo aborrecía. Salí sigilosamente de su corte, acompañada de algunos criados y de la única criada que es esta que veis. Recorrí una parte del mundo y vine a este país, que me han asegurado ser el nativo de Ariamenes. Polenor, el criado más hábil que tengo, ha emprendido el dar con él, pero hasta ahora han sido inútiles sus investigaciones. El nombre que ahora tiene no es Ariamenes. Fatigada de mis correrías, he resuelto retirarme a un sitio desierto para llorar libremente mis desdichas y aguardar la muerte que ha de ponerlas fin. He encontrado un lugarcito nombrado Twickenham bastante cerca de aquí y vengo con frecuencia a gemir junto a este bosquecillo161.
Al concluir Cinecia su historia, se enjugó mucho los ojos, Arabela la dijo cosas de mucho consuelo, la rogó que aceptase un asilo en su casa y la aseguró de que sería tratada con todo el respeto que su nacimiento merecía. No aceptó Cinecia estos ofrecimientos, pero mostró deseos vivos de estrechar amistad con nuestra heroína, quien por su parte protestó con energía que también lo deseaba. La noche separó a las dos heroínas, prometiéndose mutuamente hallarse en aquel mismo puesto la mañana siguiente. Cinecia exigió un secreto inviolable y obligó Arabela a no participar aquella aventura a nadie. Deseó no obstante mucho comunicárselo a Glanville, para probarle el poco fundamento con que la condesa sostenía no haber princesas errantes, pero era discreta y prudente, y se resistió a este placer.
161 Twickenham es una localidad residencial situada en el suroeste de Londres, cercana a Richmond, que ha sufrido el mismo proceso de absorción suburbana como parte del Greater London.
Chapter IV
In which is related the history of the princess of Gaul.
“My name, madam, is Cynecia, my birth illustrious enough, seeing that I am the daughter of a sovereign prince who possesses a large and spacious territory in what is now called ancient Gaul.”
“What, madam!” interrupted Arabella. “Are you a princess, then?”
“Questionless I am, madam,” replied the lady, “and a princess happy and prosperous till the felicity of my life was interrupted by the perfidious Ariamenes.”
“Pardon me, madam,” interrupted Arabella again, “that my ignorance of your quality made me be deficient in those respects which are due to your high birth, and which notwithstanding those characters of greatness I might read in the lineaments of your visage, I yet neglected to pay—”
“Alas! Madam,” said the stranger, “that little beauty which the heavens bestowed on me only to make me wretched, as by the event it has proved, has long since taken its flight, and together with my happiness, I have lost that which made me unhappy. And certain it is grief has made such ravages among what might once have been thought tolerable in my face that I should not be surprised if my being no longer fair should make you with difficulty believe I ever was so.”
[262] Arabella, after a proper compliment in answer to this speech, entreated the princess to go on with her history, who, hesitating a little, complied with her request.
“Be pleased to know then, madam,” said she, “that being bred up with all imaginable tenderness in my father’s court, I had no sooner arrived to my sixteenth year than I saw myself surrounded with lovers, who, nevertheless such was the severity with which I behaved myself, concealed their passions under a respectful silence, well knowing banishment from my presence was the least punishment they had to expect if they presumed to declare their sentiments to me.
“I lived in this fashion, madam, for two years longer, rejoicing in the insensibility of my own heart, and triumphing in the sufferings of others, when my tranquillity was all at once interrupted by an accident which I am going to relate to you.”
The princess stopped here to give vent to some sighs which a cruel remembrance forced from her; and continuing in a deep muse for five or six minutes, resumed her story in this manner.p. 312
“It being my custom to walk in a forest adjoining to one of my father’s summer residences, attended only by my women, one day when I was taking this amusement, I perceived at some distance a man lying on the ground; and impelled by a sudden curiosity, I advanced towards this person, whom upon a nearer view I perceived to have been wounded very much, and fainted away through [263] loss of blood. His habit being very rich, I concluded by that he was of no mean quality. But when I had looked upon his countenance, pale and languishing as it was, methought there appeared so many marks of greatness, accompanied with a sweetness so happily blended that my attention was engaged in an extraordinary manner, and interested me so powerfully in his safety that I commanded some of my women to run immediately for proper assistance, and convey him to the castle, while I directed others to throw some water in his face, and to apply some linen to his wounds to stop the bleeding.
“These charitable cares restored the wounded stranger to his senses; he opened his eyes, and turning them slowly to the objects around him, fixed at last their languishing looks on me. When moved, as it should seem, to some respect by what he saw in my countenance, he rose with some difficulty from the ground, and bowing almost down to it again, by that action seemed to pay me his acknowledgments for what he supposed I had done for his preservation.
“His extreme weakness having obliged him to creep towards a tree, against the back of which he supported himself, I went nearer to him, and having told him the condition in which I found him and the orders I had dispatched for assistance, requested him to acquaint me with his name and quality, and the adventure which had brought him into that condition.
“‘My name, madam,’ answered he, ‘is Ariamenes. My birth is noble enough; I have spent some years in my travels, and was returning [264] to my native country, when passing through this forest I was seized with an inclination to sleep. I had tied my horse to a tree, and retiring some few paces off, stretched myself at the foot of a large oak whose branches promised me an agreeable shade. I had not yet closed my eyes when the slumber I invited was dissipated by the sound of some voices near me. A curiosity, not natural to me, made me listen to the discourse of these persons, whom by the tone of their voices, though I could not see them, I knew to be men. In short, madam, I was a witness to a most horrible scheme which they concerted together; my weakness will not permit me to enter into an exact detail of all I heard. The result of their conference was to seize the princess of this country and carry her off.’
“Here,” pursued Cynecia, “I interrupted the stranger with a loud cry, which giving him to understand who I was, he apologised in the most graceful manner imaginable for the little respect he had hitherto paid me.
“I then entreated him to tell me if he had any opportunity of hearing the name of my designed ravisher, to which he replied that he understood it to be Taxander.
“This man, madam, was one of my father’s favourites, and had been long secretly in love with me.
“Ariamenes then informed me that being enflamed with rage against these impious villains, he rose from the ground, remounted his horse, and defied the two traitors aloud, threatening them with death, unless they abandoned their impious design.p. 313
[265] “Taxander made no answer, but rushed furiously upon him, and had the baseness to suffer his wicked associate to assist him. But the valiant Ariamenes, though he spoke modestly of his victory, yet gave me to understand that he had made both the villains abandon their wicked enterprise, with their lives; and that dismounting, in order to see if they were quite dead, he found himself so faint with the wounds he had received from them both that he had not strength to remount his horse; but crawling on, in hopes of meeting with some assistance, fainted away at last through weariness and loss of blood.
“While he was giving me this account, the chariot I had sent for arrived, and having made him such acknowledgments as the obligation I had received from him demanded, I caused him to get into the chariot, and sending one with him to acquaint the prince my father with all that had happened, and the merit of the valiant stranger, I returned the same way I came with my women, my thoughts being wholly engrossed by this unknown.
“The service he had done me filled me with a gratitude and esteem for him, which prepared my heart for those tender sentiments I afterwards entertained to the ruin of my repose.
“I will not tire your patience, madam, with a minute detail of all the succeeding passages of my story; it shall suffice to tell you that Ariamenes was received with extraordinary marks of esteem by my father; that his cure was soon completed; and that having vowed himself to my service, and declared an unalterable [266] passion for me, I permitted him to love me, and gave him that share in my heart, which I fear not all his infidelities will ever deprive him of.
“His attachment to me was soon suspected by Taxander’s relations, who having secretly vowed his ruin, endeavoured to discover if I had admitted his addresses, and having made themselves masters of our secrets, by means of the treachery of one of my women, procured information to be given to my father of our mutual passion.
“Alas! What mischiefs did not this fatal discovery produce! My father, enraged to the last degree at this intelligence, confined me to my apartment, and ordered Ariamenes to leave his dominions within three days.
“Spare me, madam, the repetition of what passed at our last sad interview, which by large bribes to my guards he obtained.
“His tears, his agonies, his vows of everlasting fidelity so soothed my melancholy at parting with him, and persuaded me of his constancy, that I waited for several months with perfect tranquillity for the performance of the promise he made me, to do my father such considerable services in the war he was engaged in with one of his neighbours, as should oblige him to give me to him for his reward.p. 314
“But, alas! Two years rolled on without bringing back the unfaithful Ariamenes. My father died, and my brother, who succeeded him, being about to force me to marry a prince whom I detested, I secretly quitted the court, and attended only by this faithful confidante whom [267] you behold with me, and some few of my trusty domestics, I came hither in search of Ariamenes; he having told me this country was the place of his birth.
“Polenor, the most prudent and faithful of my servants, undertook to find out the ungrateful Ariamenes, whom yet I was willing to find excuses for, but all his enquiries were to no effect; the name of Ariamenes was not known in this part of the world.
“Tired out with unsuccessful enquiries, I resolved to seek out some obscure place, where I might in secret lament my misfortunes, and expect the end of them in death. My attendants found me out such a retreat as I wanted in a neighbouring village which they call Twickenham, I think, from whence I often make excursions to this park, attended only as you see; and here indulge myself in complaints upon the cruelty of my destiny.”
The sorrowful Cynecia here ended her story, to which in the course of her relation she had given a great many interruptions through the violence of her grief. And Arabella, after having said everything she could think on to alleviate her affliction, earnestly entreated her to accept of an asylum at her house, where she should be treated with all the respect due to her illustrious birth.
The afflicted lady, though she respectfully declined this offer, yet expressed a great desire of commencing a strict amity with our fair heroine, who, on her part, made her the most tender protestations of friendship. [268]
The evening being almost closed, they parted with great reluctancy on both sides, mutually promising to meet in the same place the next day.
Cynecia having enjoined her new friend to absolute secrecy, Arabella was under a necessity of keeping this adventure to herself. And though she longed to tell Mr. Glanville, who came to visit her the next day, that the countess was extremely mistaken when she maintained there were no more wandering princesses in the world, yet the engagement she had submitted to kept her silent.