Dona Elvire

It is by miracle that Don Juan, after this terrible adventure, escaped justice. But he received several sword wounds from the soldiers, so that he could plead legitimate defense. Doña Inès fled to the convent; but a few days after her return, she began to waste away and died, consumed by the terrible inner illness that was devouring her. Some claim that the appalling death of her father was the cause of this beautiful child's demise; those who knew her better assert that it was her unfulfilled passion for Don Juan that led her to the grave.

Don Juan, to be sure, was not the same from that day on. It seemed that he wanted to exercise a kind of vengeance against that feminine humanity which he had already caused so much suffering. The sense of love that he had possessed so strongly, so beautifully, appeared to be blunted within him. He had once been sincere in his seductions; from now on, it was all just a game and a comedy for him. Thus, he entered into several marriages that were broken by the tragic deaths of his wives, the annulments pronounced in Rome with the support of the cardinals impressed by the great name of the Tenorios, or simply by abandonment. Engaged to Doña Elvire, he seduced her a few days before the wedding date and then left for a secluded countryside, abandoning the wedding there.

The cynicism of Don Juan was such that his faithful servant, Ciutti, master of rascalities, himself took disgust and allowed himself on several occasions to reproach his master for it.

"What, he replied to Don Juan, do you want to bind yourself to the first object that takes hold of you, to renounce the world for it, and to have no eyes for anyone else! The beautiful thing to want to pride oneself on a false honor of being faithful, to bury oneself forever in a passion and to be dead in youth to all the other beauties that may strike our eyes! No, no, constancy is good for ridiculous beings: all beauties have the right to enchant us, and the advantage of being encountered first should not rob others of their rightful claims on our hearts. For me, beauty delights me everywhere I find it, and I easily yield to this sweet violence that carries us away. No matter how committed I am, the love I have for a beauty does not prevent my soul from doing injustice to others; I keep my eyes open to see the merit of all and pay homage and tribute to each in accordance with what nature demands of us.

However it may be, I cannot refuse my heart to all that I see as lovely, and as soon as a beautiful face asks it of me, if I had ten thousand, I would give them all. The nascent inclinations, after all, have inexplicable charms, and all the pleasure of love lies in change. One tastes an extreme sweetness in enchanting the heart of a young beauty with a hundred tributes; in witnessing day by day the little progress made; in battling with transports, tears, and sighs against the innocent modesty that struggles to surrender; in forcing foot by foot all the little resistances she opposes to us; in overcoming the scruples that she takes pride in and leading her gently where we wish to take her.

But as soon as one is master of her, there is nothing more to wish for; all the beauty of passion is over, and we fall asleep in the tranquility of such a love if some new object does not come to awaken our desires and present to our hearts the alluring charms of a conquest to be made. Ultimately, nothing is as sweet as triumphing over the resistance of a beautiful person, and I have in this regard the ambition of conquerors who perpetually fly from victory to victory and cannot resolve to limit their desires.

Nothing can stop the impetuosity of my desires; I feel a heart to love all the earth, and like Alexander, I would wish for other worlds to extend my amorous conquests.

—Alas! Sir, as long as you only took on men! ... but this girl you dared to dispute with God! And do you fear nothing from that commander whom you killed with a pistol shot?

—I've had my grace in this matter. "

In the midst of this, the bell rang. Don Juan thought it was a charming little girl whom, in this countryside, he had begun to pursue in the absence of a richer prize. He had her let in. But his dismay was great when, beneath her black veils, he saw the fiancée he had abandoned, Elvire, now gaunt, and on whose face an infinite desolation could be read. He made a gesture of impatience.

"Will you do me the grace, Don Juan, said Elvire, of kindly recognizing me, and may I at least hope that you will deign to turn your face this way?

—Madame, I admit that I am surprised and that I did not expect you here.

—Yes, I see quite well that you did not expect me, and you are surprised, to be sure, but in a way entirely different from what I hoped, and the manner in which you appear to me fully persuades me of what I refused to believe. I admire the simplicity and weakness of my heart for doubting a betrayal that so many appearances confirmed to me... My rightful suspicions had spoken to me daily, yet I dismissed the voice that made you criminal in my eyes and listened with pleasure to a thousand ridiculous chimerae that painted you innocent to my heart; but finally, this encounter no longer allows me to doubt, and the glance that received me teaches me much more than I would like to know. I would be glad, however, to hear from your mouth the reasons for your departure... Speak, Don Juan, I pray you, and let’s see how you will justify yourself.

—Madame, here is Ciutti who knows why I left. "

Ciutti was very anxious to see himself implicated.

"Me, sir, he whispered to his master’s ear, I do not know anything, if you please.

—Well then! Ciutti, speak, said Don Juan loudly, not appearing to hear...

—Speak, Ciutti, resumed Doña Elvire, it does not matter to me from which mouth I hear these reasons.

—Come on, speak, knave... "

Pressed by questions and seeing that, in any case, the matter would turn out badly for him, Ciutti decided to take on an innocent demeanor:

"Madame, he said, the conquerors, Alexander and others from different worlds are the reason for our departure. There you are, sir, all that I can say.

—Would you, Don Juan, replied Doña Elvire, enlighten these beautiful mysteries...

—Madame, said the guilty one, quite sheepishly, to tell you the truth...

—Ah! how badly you defend yourself for a man of court who must be accustomed to such things! I pity you for your confusion. Why do you not arm your forehead with a noble effrontery? Why do you not swear to me that you are still of the same feelings for me, that you still love me with an unparalleled ardor, and that nothing can detach you from me except death? Why do you not tell me that matters of the utmost importance compelled you to leave without warning me; that you must stay here for a while despite yourself, and that I need only return from whence I came, assured that you will follow my steps as soon as it is possible; that it is certain you burn to rejoin me, and that being away from me you suffer as a body separated from its soul? This is how you should defend yourself, and not be as stunned as you are.

—I admit to you, madame, that I do not have the talent for dissimulation and that I carry a sincere heart. I will not tell you that I remain of the same sentiments for you and that I burn to rejoin you, since, after all, it is certain that I left only to flee from you, not for the reasons you might imagine, but for a matter of conscience, and to not believe that with you any longer I could live without sin. It is wrong to have consummated a union before the date. It is to profane the sacrament of marriage. Such an insult to divine and human laws cannot be overly atoned for. Our union, madame, would have been unhappy and cursed. Yes, remorse has seized me, and I fear the wrath of heaven...

—Ah! scoundrel; it is now that I know you entirely, and, for my misfortune, I know you when it is too late and when such knowledge can only serve to despair me; but know that your crime will not go unpunished, and that the same Heaven you mock will know how to avenge me for your perfidy...

—What do you think of Heaven, Ciutti?

—Indeed, we do not care for that, we others, replied the servant, who trembled at the same time from the blasphemy he was compelled to utter.

—That is enough, resumed Doña Elvire, who had regained her pride by so much impudence; I do not want to hear any more of this and even accuse myself of having heard too much. It is a cowardice to have one’s shame explained too much, and on such a subject a noble heart, at the first word, must take its stance. Do not wait for me to burst out here in reproaches and insults: no, no, I do not have a wrath to be exhaled in vain words, and all its heat is reserved for my vengeance.

I tell you again, Heaven will punish you, perfidious one, for the outrage you do me. And if Heaven has nothing you can apprehend, at least apprehend the anger of an offended woman."

Don Juan indeed had a fight with the brothers and cousins of Doña Elvire who had banded together against him. But he unexpectedly saved one of them from an attack by bandits, wounding another in a duel, and thus managed to gain some time.