Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 4

OF GIL B L A S.
I muft own that the good lady was a little prolix in
►her narrations; and flic would have fpared me three-
[fourths of her hiftory, had flie fupprefled all the
trivial circumftances of it : fiie toncluded at length,
|ind I began mine. I palled lightly over all my ad¬
ventures ; but when I came to the vifit which I re¬
ived at Madrid from the Ion of Bertrand Mufcada,
fthe grocer of Oviedo, I enlarged upon that article:
m, (faid I to my mother), I gave that young
a very bad reception ; who, to be revenged,
has doubtlefs drawn a very frightful pidture of
’’ “ In that he did not fail, (anfwered flie):
he told us that he found you lb proud of the fa¬
vour of the prime-minifter, that you fcarce deign¬
ed to recolledt him ; and when he defcribed our
H2 diftrefs, heard him with the utmoft indifference.
I!'** As parents, (added flie), always endeavour to
Br‘ find excules for the behaviour of their children,
f1** we could not believe that you had fuch a bad
■“ heart. Your arrival at Oviedo juftifies our good
opinion of you, and you* prefent lorrow confirms
your apology.”
“ You judge too favourably of me, (I replied):
there is a great deal of truth in young Mufcada’s
B“ report: when he vifited me, I was wholly engrofftd
C“ by the care of making my fortune; and the ambi-
i “ tion that poffeffed me would not permit me to
think of my parents. It muft not therefore be
wondered at, if, in this difpofition, I gave an un¬
welcome reception to a man, who, accofting me
ffc* rudely, told me in a brutal manner, that, hearing
J|j“ 1 was richer than a Jew, he came to advife me to
r?“ fend you fotne money, of which you flood in great
need : he even reproached my indifference for my
If Vol. IV. C