The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane

BOOK IV

THE ADVENTURES OF GIL BLAS of Santillane. BOOK IV. chapter i. Gil Blas being disgusted at the irregularities of the actresses, quits the service of Arsenia, and gets into a more creditable family. Aremnant of honour and religion, which I did not fail to preserve, amidst such corruption of morals, made me resolve not only to leave Arsenia, but also to break off all correspondence with Laura, whom, however, I could not help loving, though I was sensible of her flagrant infidelity. Happy is he who can thus profit by those moments of reflection that interrupt the pleasures which engross his attention! Early one morning, I bundled up my cloaths, and without clearing with Arsenia, who was indeed, little or nothing in my debt; or taking leave of my dear Laura, I quitted the house where I had breathed nothing but the air of debauchery; and I had no sooner performed such a good action than heaven rewarded me for it, by throwing me in the way of the steward1 of Don Matthias my late master. Having saluted him, he knew me, and stopt to enquire if I was in any service; to which I answered, that I had been about a minute or two out of place: for that after having lived about a month with Arsenia, whose behaviour I did not like, I had left her of my own accord, in order to preserve my innocence. The steward, as if he had been scrupulously religious, approved of my delicacy, and told me that since I was a young man of such honour, he would make it his business to settle me in an advantageous place. He performed his promise, and that very day, introduced me into the service of Don Vincent de Guzman, whose manager was one of his acquaintance. I could not have got into a better family, and therefore had no cause to be displeased with my situation in the sequel. Don Vincent was a very rich old nobleman, who had lived many years without law-suit or wife; the physicians2 having deprived him of his spouse, by endeavouring to free her of a cough, which she might have preserved much longer had she abstained from their prescriptions. Instead of marrying again, he had ...