The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Read Online Free PDF Page B

did not address either of us but squatted in a corner, where he remained without moving as though he was a statue, his eye fixed on a crucifix which he held in his hand. When I had finished eating, I asked the hermit who this man was.
    â€˜My son,’ he replied. ‘He is possessed of a devil whom I am exorcizing. His terrible story proves the dread tyranny that the angel of darkness exercises over this unfortunate land. His story may help you to win your salvation and I shall command him to tell it to you.’
    Then turning to the possessed man he said, ‘Pacheco, Pacheco, in the name of your Redeemer, I command you to tell your story.’
    Pacheco uttered a terrible cry and began as follows:
   THE STORY OF PACHECO THE DEMONIAC   
    I was born in Córdoba, where my father lived a more than comfortable existence. Three years ago my mother died. At first my father seemed to mourn greatly for her but, after several months, having occasion to travel to Seville, he fell in love with a young widow whose name was Camilla de Tormes. She did not enjoy a very good reputation and some of my father’s friends tried to keep him from her company, but in spite of their assiduous efforts my father married her two years after the death of my mother. The wedding took place in Seville and a few days later my father returned to Córdoba with Camilla, his new wife, and one of her sisters, called Inesilla.
    My new stepmother lived up to her bad reputation in every way and began by trying to make me fall in love with her, in which she did not succeed. But I did fall in love, not with her but with her sister Inesilla. Soon my passion grew so strong that I went to see my father, threw myself at his feet and asked for the hand of his sister-in-law in marriage.
    My father gently raised me to my feet and said, ‘My son, I forbid you to think of such a match, for three reasons. First, it would be undignified for you to become in a sort of way the brother-in-law of your father. Second, the sacred canons of the Church do not give their blessing to such unions. Third, I do not wish you to marry Inesilla.’
    Having informed me of these three reasons, my father turned his back on me and went away.
    I retired to my bedchamber, where I succumbed to despair. My father had at once told my stepmother what had happened. She came to see me and told me that I was wrong to be so upset; if I could not become the husband of Inesilla then at least I could become her
cortejo
, that is, her lover, and that she would arrange this for me. But at the same time she declared her own love for me and stressed the sacrifice she was making in surrendering me to her sister. I was only too ready to listen to what she said, for it flattered my own desires. But Inesilla was so modest that it seemed to me impossible to bring her ever to return my love.
    At about that time my father decided to travel to Madrid to solicit the position of
corregidor
3 of Córdoba, and took his wife and sister-in-law with him. His absence was only to last two months but the time seemed interminable to me, because I was separated from Inesilla.
    After about two months I received a letter from my father, telling me to come to meet him and to wait for him at the Venta Quemada in the foothills of the Sierra Morena. Some weeks before I would not readily have taken the decision to travel through the Sierra Morena, but Zoto’s two brothers had just been hanged. His band had been dispersed and the roads were said to be reasonably safe.
    So I set out from Córdoba just before ten in the morning and reached Andújar, where I stayed the night with one of the most talkative innkeepers in Andalusia. I ordered a large supper at his inn, of which I ate part and kept what remained for the rest of the journey.
    The next day I had a midday meal at Los Alcornoques, consistingof what I had kept from the night before, and arrived that same evening at the Venta Quemada.