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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:52 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13757-0.txt b/13757-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3f46ab --- /dev/null +++ b/13757-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16260 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13757 *** + + SARACINESCA + + BY F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF 'MR. ISAACS,' 'DR. CLAUDIUS,' 'A ROMAN SINGER,' 'ZOROASTER,' +'A TALE OF A LONELY PARISH,' ETC. + + 1887 + + + + +NOTE + + +It was at first feared that the name Saracinesca, as it is now +printed, might be attached to an unused title in the possession of a +Roman house. The name was therefore printed with an additional +consonant--Sarracinesca--in the pages of 'Blackwood's Magazine.' +After careful inquiry, the original spelling is now restored. + + + + +SARACINESCA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the year 1865 Rome was still in a great measure its old self. It had +not then acquired that modern air which is now beginning to pervade it. +The Corso had not been widened and whitewashed; the Villa Aldobrandini +had not been cut through to make the Via Nazionale; the south wing of the +Palazzo Colonna still looked upon a narrow lane through which men +hesitated to pass after dark; the Tiber's course had not then been +corrected below the Farnesina; the Farnesina itself was but just under +repair; the iron bridge at the Ripetta was not dreamed of; and the Prati +di Castello were still, as their name implies, a series of waste meadows. +At the southern extremity of the city, the space between the fountain of +Moses and the newly erected railway station, running past the Baths of +Diocletian, was still an exercising-ground for the French cavalry. Even +the people in the streets then presented an appearance very different +from that which is now observed by the visitors and foreigners who come +to Rome in the winter. French dragoons and hussars, French infantry and +French officers, were everywhere to be seen in great numbers, mingled +with a goodly sprinkling of the Papal Zouaves, whose grey Turco uniforms +with bright red facings, red sashes, and short yellow gaiters, gave +colour to any crowd. A fine corps of men they were, too; counting +hundreds of gentlemen in their ranks, and officered by some of the best +blood in France and Austria. In those days also were to be seen the great +coaches of the cardinals, with their gorgeous footmen and magnificent +black horses, the huge red umbrellas lying upon the top, while from the +open windows the stately princes of the Church from time to time returned +the salutations of the pedestrians in the street. And often in the +afternoon there was heard the tramp of horse as a detachment of the noble +guards trotted down the Corso on their great chargers, escorting the holy +Father himself, while all who met him dropped upon one knee and uncovered +their heads to receive the benediction of the mild-eyed old man with the +beautiful features, the head of Church and State. Many a time, too, +Pius IX. would descend from his coach and walk upon the Pincio, all +clothed in white, stopping sometimes to talk with those who accompanied +him, or to lay his gentle hand on the fair curls of some little English +child that paused from its play in awe and admiration as the Pope went +by. For he loved children well, and most of all, children with golden +hair--angels, not Angles, as Gregory said. + +As for the fashions of those days, it is probable that most of us would +suffer severe penalties rather than return to them, beautiful as they +then appeared to us by contrast with the exaggerated crinoline and +flower-garden bonnet, which had given way to the somewhat milder form of +hoop-skirt madness, but had not yet flown to the opposite extreme in the +invention of the close-fitting _princesse_ garments of 1868. But, to each +other, people looked then as they look now. Fashion in dress, concerning +which nine-tenths of society gives itself so much trouble, appears to +exercise less influence upon men and women in their relations towards +each other than does any other product of human ingenuity. Provided every +one is in the fashion, everything goes on in the age of high heels and +gowns tied back precisely as it did five-and-twenty years ago, when +people wore flat shoes, and when gloves with three buttons had not been +dreamed of--when a woman of most moderate dimensions occupied three or +four square yards of space upon a ball-room floor, and men wore peg-top +trousers. Human beings since the days of Adam seem to have retired like +caterpillars into cocoons of dress, expecting constantly the wondrous +hour when they shall emerge from their self-woven prison in the garb of +the angelic butterfly, having entered into the chrysalis state as mere +human grubs. But though they both toil and spin at their garments, and +vie with Solomon in his glory to outshine the lily of the field, the +humanity of the grub shows no signs of developing either in character or +appearance in the direction of anything particularly angelic. + +It was not the dress of the period which gave to the streets of Rome +their distinctive feature. It would be hard to say, now that so much is +changed, wherein the peculiar charm of the old-time city consisted; but +it was there, nevertheless, and made itself felt so distinctly beyond the +charm of any other place, that the very fascination of Rome was +proverbial. Perhaps no spot in Europe has ever possessed such an +attractive individuality. In those days there were many foreigners, too, +as there are to-day, both residents and visitors; but they seemed to +belong to a different class of humanity. They seemed less inharmonious to +their surroundings then than now, less offensive to the general air of +antiquity. Probably they were more in earnest; they came to Rome with the +intention of liking the place, rather than of abusing the cookery in the +hotels. They came with a certain knowledge of the history, the +literature, and the manners of the ancients, derived from an education +which in those days taught more through the classics and less through +handy text-books and shallow treatises concerning the Renaissance; they +came with preconceived notions which were often strongly dashed with +old-fashioned prejudice, but which did not lack originality: they come +now in the smattering mood, imbued with no genuine beliefs, but covered +with exceeding thick varnish. Old gentlemen then visited the sights in +the morning, and quoted Horace to each other, and in the evening +endeavoured by associating with Romans to understand something of Rome; +young gentlemen now spend one or two mornings in finding fault with the +architecture of Bramante, and "in the evening," like David's enemies, +"they grin like a dog and run about the city:" young women were content +to find much beauty in the galleries and in the museums, and were simple +enough to admire what they liked; young ladies of the present day can +find nothing to admire except their own perspicacity in detecting faults +in Raphael's drawing or Michael Angelo's colouring. This is the age of +incompetent criticism in matters artistic, and no one is too ignorant to +volunteer an opinion. It is sufficient to have visited half-a-dozen +Italian towns, and to have read a few pages of fashionable aesthetic +literature--no other education is needed to fit the intelligent young +critic for his easy task. The art of paradox can be learned in five +minutes, and practised by any child; it consists chiefly in taking two +expressions of opinion from different authors, halving them, and uniting +the first half of the one with the second half of the other. The result +is invariably startling, and generally incomprehensible. When a young +society critic knows how to be startling and incomprehensible, his +reputation is soon made, for people readily believe that what they cannot +understand is profound, and anything which astonishes is agreeable to a +taste deadened by a surfeit of spices. But in 1865 the taste of Europe +was in a very different state. The Second Empire was in its glory. +M. Emile Zola had not written his 'Assommoir.' Count Bismarck had only +just brought to a successful termination the first part of his trimachy; +Sadowa and Sedan were yet unfought. Garibaldi had won Naples, and Cavour +had said, "If we did for ourselves what we are doing for Italy, we should +be great scoundrels;" but Garibaldi had not yet failed at Mentana, nor +had Austria ceded Venice. Cardinal Antonelli had yet ten years of life +before him in which to maintain his gallant struggle for the remnant of +the temporal power; Pius IX. was to live thirteen years longer, just long +enough to outlive by one month the "honest king," Victor Emmanuel. +Antonelli's influence pervaded Rome, and to a great extent all the +Catholic Courts of Europe; yet he was far from popular with the Romans. +The Jesuits, however, were even less popular than he, and certainly +received a much larger share of abuse. For the Romans love faction more +than party, and understand it better; so that popular opinion is too +frequently represented by a transitory frenzy, violent and pestilent +while it lasts, utterly insignificant when it has spent its fury. + +But Rome in those days was peopled solely by Romans, whereas now a large +proportion of the population consists of Italians from the north and +south, who have been attracted to the capital by many interests--races as +different from its former citizens as Germans or Spaniards, and +unfortunately not disposed to show overmuch good-fellowship or +loving-kindness to the original inhabitants. The Roman is a grumbler by +nature, but he is also a "peace-at-any-price" man. Politicians and +revolutionary agents have more than once been deceived by these traits, +supposing that because the Roman grumbled he really desired change, but +realising too late, when the change has been begun, that that same Roman +is but a lukewarm partisan. The Papal Government repressed grumbling as a +nuisance, and the people consequently took a delight in annoying the +authorities by grumbling in secret places and calling themselves +conspirators. The harmless whispering of petty discontent was mistaken by +the Italian party for the low thunder of a smothered volcano; but, the +change being brought about, the Italians find to their disgust that the +Roman meant nothing by his murmurings, and that he now not only still +grumbles at everything, but takes the trouble to fight the Government at +every point which concerns the internal management of the city. In the +days before the change, a paternal Government directed the affairs of the +little State, and thought it best to remove all possibility of strife by +giving the grumblers no voice in public or economic matters. The +grumblers made a grievance of tins; and then, as soon as the grievance +had been redressed, they redoubled their complaints and retrenched +themselves within the infallibility of inaction, on the principle that +men who persist in doing nothing cannot possibly do wrong. + +Those were the days, too, of the old school of artists--men who, if their +powers of creation were not always proportioned to their ambition for +excellence, were as superior to their more recent successors in their +pure conceptions of what art should be as Apelles was to the Pompeian +wall-painters, and as the Pompeians were to modern house-decorators. The +age of Overbeck and the last religious painters was almost past, but the +age of fashionable artistic debauchery had hardly begun. Water-colour +was in its infancy; wood-engraving was hardly yet a great profession; +but the "Dirty Boy" had not yet taken a prize at Paris, nor had indecency +become a fine art. The French school had not demonstrated the startling +distinction between the nude and the naked, nor had the English school +dreamed nightmares of anatomical distortion. + +Darwin's theories had been propagated, but had not yet been passed into +law, and very few Romans had heard of them; still less had any one been +found to assert that the real truth of these theories would be soon +demonstrated retrogressively by the rapid degeneration of men into apes, +while apes would hereafter have cause to congratulate themselves upon not +having developed into men. Many theories also were then enjoying vast +popularity which have since fallen low in the popular estimation. Prussia +was still, in theory, a Power of the second class, and the empire of +Louis Napoleon was supposed to possess elements of stability. The great +civil war in the United States had just been fought, and people still +doubted whether the republic would hold together. It is hard to recall +the common beliefs of those times. A great part of the political creed of +twenty years ago seems now a mass of idiotic superstition, in no wise +preferable, as Macaulay would have said, to the Egyptian worship of cats +and onions. Nevertheless, then, as now, men met together secretly in +cellars and dens, as well as in drawing-rooms and clubs, and whispered +together, and said their theories were worth something, and ought to be +tried. The word republic possessed then, as now, a delicious attraction +for people who had grievances; and although, after the conquest of +Naples, Garibaldi had made a sort of public abjuration of republican +principles, so far as Italy was concerned, the plotters of all classes +persisted in coupling his name with the idea of a commonwealth erected on +the plan of "sois mon frère ou je te tue." Profound silence on the part +of Governments, and a still more guarded secrecy on the part of +conspiring bodies, were practised as the very first principle of all +political operations. No copyist, at half-a-crown an hour, had yet +betrayed the English Foreign Office; and it had not dawned upon the +clouded intellects of European statesmen that deliberate national +perjury, accompanied by public meetings of sovereigns, and much blare of +many trumpets, could be practised with such triumphant success as events +have since shown. In the beginning of the year 1865 people crossed the +Alps in carriages; the Suez Canal had not been opened; the first Atlantic +cable was not laid; German unity had not been invented; Pius IX. reigned +in the Pontifical States; Louis Napoleon was the idol of the French; +President Lincoln had not been murdered,--is anything needed to widen the +gulf which separates those times from these? The difference between the +States of the world in 1865 and in 1885 is nearly as great as that which +divided the Europe of 1789 from the Europe of 1814. + +But my business is with Rome, and not with Europe at large. I intend to +tell the story of certain persons, of their good and bad fortune, their +adventures, and the complications in which they found themselves placed +during a period of about twenty years. The people of whom I tell this +story are chiefly patricians; and in the first part of their history they +have very little to do with any but their own class--a class peculiar and +almost unique in the world. + +Speaking broadly, there is no one at once so thoroughly Roman and so +thoroughly non-Roman as the Roman noble. This is no paradox, no play on +words. Roman nobles are Roman by education and tradition; by blood they +are almost cosmopolitans. The practice of intermarrying with the great +families of the rest of Europe is so general as to be almost a rule. One +Roman prince is an English peer; most of the Roman princes are grandees +of Spain; many of them have married daughters of great French houses, of +reigning German princes, of ex-kings and ex-queens. In one princely house +alone are found the following combinations: There are three brothers: the +eldest married first the daughter of a great English peer, and secondly +the daughter of an even greater peer of France; the second brother +married first a German "serene highness," and secondly the daughter of a +great Hungarian noble; the third brother married the daughter of a French +house of royal Stuart descent. This is no solitary instance. A score of +families might be cited who, by constant foreign marriages, have almost +eliminated from their blood the original Italian element; and this great +intermixture of races may account for the strangely un-Italian types that +are found among them, for the undying vitality which seems to animate +races already a thousand years old, and above all, for a very remarkable +cosmopolitanism which pervades Roman society. A set of people whose near +relations are socially prominent in every capital of Europe, could hardly +be expected to have anything provincial about them in appearance or +manners; still less can they be considered to be types of their own +nation. And yet such is the force of tradition, of the patriarchal family +life, of the early surroundings in which are placed these children of a +mixed race, that they acquire from their earliest years the unmistakable +outward manner of Romans, the broad Roman speech, and a sort of clannish +and federative spirit which has not its like in the same class anywhere +in Europe. They grow up together, go to school together, go together into +the world, and together discuss all the social affairs of their native +city. Not a house is bought or sold, not a hundred francs won at écarté, +not a marriage contract made, without being duly considered and commented +upon by the whole of society. And yet, though there is much gossip, there +is little scandal; there was even less twenty years ago than there is +now--not, perhaps, because the increment of people attracted to the new +capital have had any bad influence, but simply because the city has grown +much larger, and in some respects has outgrown a certain simplicity of +manners it once possessed, and which was its chief safeguard. For, in +spite of a vast number of writers of all nations who have attempted to +describe Italian life, and who, from an imperfect acquaintance with the +people, have fallen into the error of supposing them to live perpetually +in a highly complicated state of mind, the foundation of the Italian +character is simple--far more so than that of his hereditary antagonist, +the northern European. It is enough to notice that the Italian habitually +expresses what he feels, while it is the chief pride of Northern men that +whatever they may feel they express nothing. The chief object of most +Italians is to make life agreeable; the chief object of the Teutonic +races is to make it profitable. Hence the Italian excels in the art of +pleasing, and in pleasing by means of the arts; whereas the Northern man +is pre-eminent in the faculty of producing wealth under any +circumstances, and when he has amassed enough possessions to think of +enjoying his leisure, has generally been under the necessity of employing +Southern art as a means to that end. But Southern simplicity carried to +its ultimate expression leads not uncommonly to startling results; for it +is not generally a satisfaction to an Italian to be paid a sum of money +as damages for an injury done. When his enemy has harmed him, he desires +the simple retribution afforded by putting his enemy to death, and he +frequently exacts it by any means that he finds ready to his hand. Being +simple, he reflects little, and often acts with violence. The Northern +mind, capable of vast intricacy of thought, seeks to combine revenge of +injury with personal profit, and in a spirit of cold, far-sighted +calculation, reckons up the advantages to be got by sacrificing an innate +desire for blood to a civilised greed of money. + +Dr. Johnson would have liked the Romans--for in general they are good +lovers and good haters, whatever faults they may have. The patriarchal +system, which was all but universal twenty years ago, and is only now +beginning to yield to more modern institutions of life, tends to foster +the passions of love and hate. Where father and mother sit at the head +and foot of the table, their sons with their wives and their children +each in his or her place, often to the number of twenty souls--all living +under one roof, one name, and one bond of family unity--there is likely +to be a great similarity of feeling upon all questions of family pride, +especially among people who discuss everything with vehemence, from +European politics to the family cook. They may bicker and squabble among +themselves,--and they frequently do,--but in their outward relations with +the world they act as one individual, and the enemy of one is the enemy +of all; for the pride of race and name is very great. There is a family +in Rome who, since the memory of man, have not failed to dine together +twice every week, and there are now more than thirty persons who take +their places at the patriarchal board. No excuse can be pleaded for +absence, and no one would think of violating the rule. Whether such a +mode of life is good or not is a matter of opinion; it is, at all events, +a fact, and one not generally understood or even known by persons who +make studies of Italian character. Free and constant discussion of all +manner of topics should certainly tend to widen the intelligence; but, on +the other hand, where the dialecticians are all of one race, and name, +and blood, the practice may often merely lead to an undue development of +prejudice. In Rome, particularly, where so many families take a distinct +character from the influence of a foreign mother, the opinions of a house +are associated with its mere name. Casa Borghese thinks so and so, Casa +Colonna has diametrically opposite views, while Casa Altieri may differ +wholly from both; and in connection with most subjects the mere names +Borghese, Altieri, Colonna, are associated in the minds of Romans of all +classes with distinct sets of principles and ideas, with distinct types +of character, and with distinctly different outward and visible signs of +race. Some of these conditions exist among the nobility of other +countries, but not, I believe, to the same extent. In Germany, the +aristocratic body takes a certain uniform hue, so to speak, from the +army, in which it plays so important a part, and the patriarchal system +is broken up by the long absences from the ancestral home of the +soldier-sons. In France, the main divisions of republicans, monarchists, +and imperialists have absorbed and unified the ideas and principles of +large bodies of families into bodies politic. In England, the practice of +allowing younger sons to shift for themselves, and the division of the +whole aristocracy into two main political parties, destroy the +patriarchal spirit; while it must also be remembered, that at a period +when in Italy the hand of every house was against its neighbour, and the +struggles of Guelph and Ghibelline were but an excuse for the prosecution +of private feuds, England was engaged in great wars which enlisted vast +bodies of men under a common standard for a common principle. Whether +the principle involved chanced to be that of English domination in +France, or whether men flocked to the standards of the White Rose of York +or the Red Rose of Lancaster, was of little importance; the result was +the same,--the tendency of powerful families to maintain internecine +traditional feuds was stamped out, or rather was absorbed in the +maintenance of the perpetual feud between the great principles of Tory +and Whig--of the party for the absolute monarch, and the party for the +freedom of the people. + +Be the causes what they may, the Roman nobility has many characteristics +peculiar to it and to no other aristocracy. It is cosmopolitan by its +foreign marriages, renewed in every generation; it is patriarchal and +feudal by its own unbroken traditions of family life; and it is only +essentially Roman by its speech and social customs. It has undergone +great vicissitudes during twenty years; but most of these features remain +in spite of new and larger parties, new and bitter political hatreds, new +ideas of domestic life, and new fashions in dress and cookery. + +In considering an account of the life of Giovanni Saracinesca from the +time when, in 1865, he was thirty years of age, down to the present day, +it is therefore just that he should be judged with a knowledge of some of +these peculiarities of his class. He is not a Roman of the people like +Giovanni Cardegna, the great tenor, and few of his ideas have any +connection with those of the singer; but he has, in common with him, that +singular simplicity of character which he derives from his Roman descent +upon the male side, and in which will be found the key to many of his +actions both good and bad--a simplicity which loves peace, but cannot +always refrain from sudden violence, which loves and hates strongly and +to some purpose. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The hour was six o'clock, and the rooms of the Embassy were as full as +they were likely to be that day. There would doubtless have been more +people had the weather been fine; but it was raining heavily, and below, +in the vast court that formed the centre of the palace, the lamps of +fifty carriages gleamed through the water and the darkness, and the +coachmen, of all dimensions and characters, sat beneath their huge +umbrellas and growled to each other, envying the lot of the footmen who +were congregated in the ante-chamber up-stairs around the great bronze +braziers. But in the reception-rooms there was much light and warmth; +there were bright fires and softly shaded lamps; velvet-footed servants +stealing softly among the guests, with immense burdens of tea and cake; +men of more or less celebrity chatting about politics in corners; women +of more or less beauty gossiping over their tea, or flirting, or wishing +they had somebody to flirt with; people of many nations and ideas, with +a goodly leaven of Romans. They all seemed endeavouring to get away from +the men and women of their own nationality, in order to amuse themselves +with the difficulties of conversation in languages not their own. Whether +they amused themselves or not is of small importance; but as they were +all willing to find themselves together twice a-day for the five months +of the Roman season--from the first improvised dance before Christmas, +to the last set ball in the warm April weather after Easter--it may be +argued that they did not dislike each other's society. In case the +afternoon should seem dull, his Excellency had engaged the services of +Signor Strillone, the singer. From time to time he struck a few chords +upon the grand piano, and gave forth a song of his own composition in +loud and passionate tones, varied with, very sudden effects of extreme +pianissimo, which occasionally surprised some one who was trying to make +his conversation heard above the music. + +There was a little knot of people standing about the door of the great +drawing-room. Some of them were watching their opportunity to slip away +unperceived; others had just arrived, and were making a survey of the +scene to ascertain the exact position of their Excellencies, and of the +persons they most desired to avoid, before coming forward. Suddenly, just +as Signor Strillone had reached a high note and was preparing to bellow +upon it before letting his voice die away to a pathetic falsetto, the +crowd at the door parted a little. A lady entered the room alone, and +stood out before the rest, pausing till the singer should have passed the +climax of his song, before she proceeded upon her way. She was a very +striking woman; every one knew who she was, every one looked towards her, +and the little murmur that went round the room was due to her entrance +rather than to Signor Strillone's high note. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente stood still, and quietly looked about her. A +minister, two secretaries, and three or four princes sprang towards her, +each with a chair in hand; but she declined each offer, nodding to one, +thanking another by name, and exchanging a few words with a third. She +would not sit down; she had not yet spoken to the ambassadress. + +Two men followed her closely as she crossed the room when the song was +finished. One was a fair man of five-and-thirty, rather stout, and +elaborately dressed. He trod softly and carried his hat behind him, while +he leaned a little forward in his walk. There was something unpleasant +about his face, caused perhaps by his pale complexion and almost +colourless moustache; his blue eyes were small and near together, and had +a watery, undecided look; his thin fair hair was parted in the middle +over his low forehead; there was a scornful look about his mouth, though +half concealed by the moustache; and his chin retreated rather abruptly +from his lower lip. On the other hand, he was dressed with extreme care, +and his manner showed no small confidence in himself as he pushed +forwards, keeping as close as he could to the Duchessa. He had the air +of being thoroughly at home in his surroundings. + +Ugo del Ferice was indeed rarely disconcerted, and his self-reliance was +most probably one chief cause of his success. He was a man who performed +the daily miracle of creating everything for himself out of nothing. His +father had barely been considered a member of the lower nobility, +although he always called himself "dei conti del Ferice"--of the family +of the counts of his name; but where or when the Conti del Ferice had +lived, was a question he never was able to answer satisfactorily. He had +made a little money, and had squandered most of it before he died, +leaving the small remainder to his only son, who had spent every scudo of +it in the first year. But to make up for the exiguity of his financial +resources, Ugo had from his youth obtained social success. He had begun +life by boldly calling himself "Il conte del Ferice." No one had ever +thought it worth while to dispute him the title; and as he had hitherto +not succeeded in conferring it upon any dowered damsel, the question of +his countship was left unchallenged. He had made many acquaintances in +the college where he had been educated; for his father had paid for +his schooling in the Collegio dei Nobili, and that in itself was a +passport--for as the lad grew to the young man, he zealously cultivated +the society of his old school-fellows, and by wisely avoiding all other +company, acquired a right to be considered one of themselves. He was very +civil and obliging in his youth, and had in that way acquired a certain +reputation for being indispensable, which had stood him in good stead. +No one asked whether he had paid his tailor's bill; or whether upon +certain conditions, his tailor supplied him with raiment gratis. He was +always elaborately dressed, he was always ready to take a hand at cards, +and he was always invited to every party in the season. He had cultivated +with success the science of amusing, and people asked him to dinner in +the winter, and to their country houses in the summer. He had been seen +in Paris, and was often seen at Monte Carlo; but his real home and +hunting-ground was Rome, where he knew every one and every one knew him. +He had made one or two fruitless attempts to marry young women of +American extraction and large fortune; he had not succeeded in satisfying +the paternal mind in regard to guarantees, and had consequently been +worsted in his endeavours. Last summer, however, it appeared that he had +been favoured with an increase of fortune. He gave out that an old uncle +of his, who had settled in the south of Italy, had died, leaving him a +modest competence; and while assuming a narrow band of _crêpe_ upon his +hat, he had adopted also a somewhat more luxurious mode of living. +Instead of going about on foot or in cabs, he kept a very small coupé, +with a very small horse and a diminutive coachman: the whole turn-out was +very quiet in appearance, but very serviceable withal. Ugo sometimes wore +too much jewellery; but his bad taste, if so it could be called, did not +extend to the modest equipage. People accepted the story of the deceased +uncle, and congratulated Ugo, whose pale face assumed on such occasions +a somewhat deprecating smile. "A few scudi," he would answer--"a very +small competence; but what would you have? I need so little--it is enough +for me." Nevertheless people who knew him well warned him that he was +growing stout. + +The other man who followed the Duchessa d'Astrardente across the +drawing-room was of a different type. Don Giovanni Saracinesca was +neither very tall nor remarkably handsome, though in the matter of his +beauty opinion varied greatly. He was very dark--almost as dark for a +man as the Duchessa was for a woman. He was strongly built, but very +lean, and his features stood out in bold and sharp relief from the +setting of his short black hair and pointed beard. His nose was perhaps a +little large for his face, and the unusual brilliancy of his eyes gave +him an expression of restless energy; there was something noble in the +shaping of his high square forehead and in the turn of his sinewy throat. +His hands were broad and brown, but nervous and well knit, with straight +long fingers and squarely cut nails. Many women said Don Giovanni was +the handsomest man in Rome; others said he was too dark or too thin, and +that his face was hard and his features ugly. There was a great +difference of opinion in regard to his appearance. Don Giovanni was not +married, but there were few marriageable women in Rome who would not have +been overjoyed to become his wife. But hitherto he had hesitated--or, to +speak more accurately, he had not hesitated at all in his celibacy. His +conduct in refusing to marry had elicited much criticism, little of which +had reached his ears. He cared not much for what his friends said to him, +and not at all for the opinion of the world at large, in consequence of +which state of mind people often said he was selfish--a view taken +extensively by elderly princesses with unmarried daughters, and even by +Don Giovanni's father and only near relation, the old Prince Saracinesca, +who earnestly desired to see his name perpetuated. Indeed Giovanni would +have made a good husband, for he was honest and constant by nature, +courteous by disposition, and considerate by habit and experience. His +reputation for wildness rested rather upon his taste for dangerous +amusements than upon such scandalous adventures as made up the lives of +many of his contemporaries. But to all matrimonial proposals he answered +that he was barely thirty years of age, that he had plenty of time before +him, that he had not yet seen the woman whom he would be willing to +marry, and that he intended to please himself. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente made her speech to her hostess and passed on, +still followed by the two men; but they now approached her, one on each +side, and endeavoured to engage her attention. Apparently she intended to +be impartial, for she sat down in the middle one of three chairs, and +motioned to her two companions to seat themselves also, which they +immediately did, whereby they became for the moment the two most +important men in the room. + +Corona d'Astrardente was a very dark woman. In all the Southern land +there were no eyes so black as hers, no cheeks of such a warm dark-olive +tint, no tresses of such raven hue. But if she was not fair, she was very +beautiful; there was a delicacy in her regular features that artists said +was matchless; her mouth, not small, but generous and nobly cut, showed +perhaps more strength, more even determination, than most men like to see +in women's faces; but in the exquisitely moulded nostrils there lurked +much sensitiveness and the expression of much courage; and the level brow +and straight-cut nose were in their clearness as an earnest of the noble +thoughts that were within, and that so often spoke from the depths of her +splendid eyes. She was not a scornful beauty, though her face could +express scorn well enough. Where another woman would have shown disdain, +she needed but to look grave, and her silence did the rest. She wielded +magnificent weapons, and wielded them nobly, as she did all things. She +needed all her strength, too, for her position from the first was not +easy. She had few troubles, but they were great ones, and she bore +them bravely. + +One may well ask why Corona del Carmine had married the old man who was +her husband--the broken-down and worn-out dandy of sixty, whose career +was so well known, and whose doings had been as scandalous as his ancient +name was famous in the history of his country. Her marriage was in itself +almost a tragedy. It matters little to know how it came about; she +accepted Astrardente with his dukedom, his great wealth, and his evil +past, on the day when she left the convent where she had been educated; +she did it to save her father from ruin, almost from starvation; she + was seventeen, years of age; she was told that the world was bad, and +she resolved to begin her life by a heroic sacrifice; she took the +step heroically, and no human being had ever heard her complain. Five +years had elapsed since then, and her father--for whom she had given all +she had, herself, her beauty, her brave heart, and her hopes of +happiness--her old father, whom she so loved, was dead, the last of his +race, saving only this beautiful but childless daughter. What she +suffered now--whether she suffered at all--no man knew. There had been a +wild burst of enthusiasm when she appeared first in society, a universal +cry that it was a sin and a shame. But the cynics who had said she would +console herself had been obliged to own their worldly wisdom at fault; +the men of all sorts who had lost their hearts to her were ignominiously +driven in course of time to find them again elsewhere. Amid all the +excitement of the first two years of her life in the world, Corona had +moved calmly upon her way, wrapped in the perfect dignity of her +character; and the old Duca d'Astrardente had smiled and played with the +curled locks of his wonderful wig, and had told every one that his wife +was the one woman in the universe who was above suspicion. People had +laughed incredulously at first; but as time wore on they held their +peace, tacitly acknowledging that the aged fop was right as usual, but +swearing in their hearts that it was the shame of shames to see the +noblest woman in their midst tied to such a wretched remnant of +dissipated humanity as the Duca d'Astrardente. Corona went everywhere, +like other people; she received in her own house a vast number of +acquaintances; there were a few friends who came and went much as they +pleased, and some of them were young; but there was never a breath of +scandal breathed about the Duchessa. She was indeed above suspicion. + +She sat now between two men who were evidently anxious to please her. The +position was not new; she was, as usual, to talk to both, and yet to show +no preference for either. And yet she had a preference, and in her heart +she knew it was a strong one. It was by no means indifferent to her which +of those two men left her side and which remained. She was above +suspicion--yes, above the suspicion of any human being besides herself, +as she had been for five long years. She knew that had her husband +entered the room and passed that way, he would have nodded to Giovanni +Saracinesca as carelessly as though Giovanni had been his wife's +brother--as carelessly as he would have noticed Ugo del Ferice upon her +other side. But in her own heart she knew that there was but one face in +all Rome she loved to see, but one voice she loved, and dreaded too, for +it had the power to make her life seem unreal, till she wondered how long +it would last, and whether there would ever be any change. The difference +between Giovanni and other men had always been apparent. Others would sit +beside her and make conversation, and then occasionally would make +speeches she did not care to hear, would talk to her of love--some +praising it as the only thing worth living for, some with affected +cynicism scoffing at it as the greatest of unrealities, contradicting +themselves a moment later in some passionate declaration to herself. When +they were foolish, she laughed at them; when they went too far, she +quietly rose and left them. Such experiences had grown rare of late, for +she had earned the reputation of being cold and unmoved, and that +protected her. But Giovanni had never talked like the rest of them. He +never mentioned the old, worn subjects that the others harped upon. She +would not have found it easy to say what he talked about, for he talked +indifferently about many subjects. She was not sure whether he spent more +time with her when in society than with other women; she reflected that +he was not so brilliant as many men she knew, not so talkative as the +majority of men she met; she knew only--and it was the thing she most +bitterly reproached herself with--that she preferred his face above all +other faces, and his voice beyond all voices. It never entered her head +to think that she loved him; it was bad enough in her simple creed that +there should be any man whom she would rather see than not, and whom she +missed when he did not approach her. She was a very strong and loyal +woman, who had sacrificed herself to a man who knew the world very +thoroughly, who in the thoroughness of his knowledge was able to see that +the world is not all bad, and who, in spite of all his evil deeds, was +proud of his wife's loyalty. Astrardente had made a bargain when he +married Corona; but he was a wise man in his generation, and he knew and +valued her when he had got her. He knew the precise dangers to which she +was exposed, and he was not so cruel as to expose her to them willingly. +He had at first watched keenly the effect produced upon her by conversing +with men of all sorts in the world, and among others he had noticed +Giovanni; but he had come to the conclusion that his wife was equal to +any situation in which she might be placed. Moreover, Giovanni was not an +_habitué_ at the Palazzo Astrardente, and showed none of the usual signs +of anxiety to please the Duchessa. + +From the time when Corona began to notice her own predilection for +Saracinesca, she had been angry with herself for it, and she tried to +avoid him; at all events, she gave him no idea that she liked him +especially. Her husband, who at first had delivered many lectures on the +subject of behaviour in the world, had especially warned her against +showing any marked coldness to a man she wished to shun. "Men," said he, +"are accustomed to that; they regard it as the first indication that a +woman is really interested; when you want to get rid of a man, treat him +systematically as you treat everybody, and he will be wounded at your +indifference and go away." But Giovanni did not go, and Corona began to +wonder whether she ought not to do something to break the interest she +felt in him. + +At the present moment she wanted a cup of tea. She would have liked to +send Ugo del Ferice for it; she did what she thought least pleasant to +herself, and she sent Giovanni. The servants who were serving the +refreshments had all left the room, and Saracinesca went in pursuit of +them. As soon as he was gone Del Ferice spoke. His voice was soft, and +had an insinuating tone in it. + +"They are saying that Don Giovanni is to be married," he remarked, +watching the Duchessa from the corners of his eyes as he indifferently +delivered himself of his news. + +The Duchessa was too dark a woman to show emotion easily. Perhaps she did +not believe the story; her eyes fixed themselves on some distant object +in the room, as though she were intensely interested in something she +saw, and she paused before she answered. + +"That is news indeed, if it is true. And whom is he going to marry?" + +"Donna Tullia Mayer, the widow of the financier. She is immensely rich, +and is some kind of cousin of the Saracinesca." + +"How strange!" exclaimed Corona. "I was just looking at her. Is not that +she over there, with the green feathers?" + +"Yes," answered Del Ferice, looking in the direction the Duchessa +indicated. "That is she. One may know her at a vast distance by her +dress. But it is not all settled yet." + +"Then one cannot congratulate Don Giovanni to-day?" asked the Duchessa, +facing her interlocutor rather suddenly. + +"No," he answered; "it is perhaps better not to speak to him about it." + +"It is as well that you warned me, for I would certainly have spoken." + +"I do not imagine that Saracinesca likes to talk of his affairs of the +heart," said Del Ferice, with considerable gravity. "But here he comes. I +had hoped he would have taken even longer to get that cup of tea." + +"It was long enough for you to tell your news," answered Corona quietly, +as Don Giovanni came up. + +"What is the news?" asked he, as he sat down beside her. + +"Only an engagement that is not yet announced," answered the Duchessa. +"Del Ferice has the secret; perhaps he will tell you." + +Giovanni glanced across her at the fair pale man, whose fat face, +however, expressed nothing. Seeing he was not enlightened, Saracinesca +civilly turned the subject. + +"Are you going to the meet to-morrow, Duchessa?" he asked. + +"That depends upon the weather and upon the Duke," she answered. "Are you +going to follow?" + +"Of course. What a pity it is that you do not ride!" + +"It seems such an unnatural thing to see a woman hunting," remarked Del +Ferice, who remembered to have heard the Duchessa say something of the +kind, and was consequently sure that she would agree with him. + +"You do not ride yourself," said Don Giovanni, shortly. "That is the +reason you do not approve of it for ladies." + +"I am not rich enough to hunt," said Ugo, modestly. "Besides, the other +reason is a good one; for when ladies hunt I am deprived of their +society." + +The Duchessa laughed slightly. She never felt less like laughing in her +life, and yet it was necessary to encourage the conversation. Giovanni +did not abandon the subject. + +"It will be a beautiful meet," he said. "Many people are going out for +the first time this year. There is a man here who has brought his horses +from England. I forget his name--a rich Englishman." + +"I have met him," said Del Ferice, who was proud of knowing everybody. +"He is a type--enormously rich--a lord--I cannot pronounce his name--not +married either. He will make a sensation in society. He won races in +Paris last year, and they say he will enter one of his hunters for the +steeplechases here at Easter." + +"That is a great inducement to go to the meet, to see this Englishman," +said the Duchessa rather wearily, as she leaned back in her chair. +Giovanni was silent, but showed no intention of going. Del Ferice, with +an equal determination to stay, chattered vivaciously. + +"Don Giovanni is quite right," he continued. "Every one is going. There +will be two or three drags. Madame Mayer has induced Valdarno to have out +his four-in-hand, and to take her and a large party." + +The Duchessa did not hear the remainder of Del Ferice's speech, for at +the mention of Donna Tullia--now commonly called Madame Mayer--she +instinctively turned and looked at Giovanni. He, too, had caught the +name, though he was not listening in the least to Ugo's chatter; and as +he met Corona's eyes he moved uneasily, as much as to say he wished the +fellow would stop talking. A moment later Del Ferice rose from his seat; +he had seen Donna Tullia passing near, and thought the opportunity +favourable for obtaining an invitation to join the party on the drag. +With a murmured excuse which Corona did not hear, he went in pursuit of +his game. + +"I thought he was never going," said Giovanni, moodily. He was not in the +habit of posing as the rival of any one who happened to be talking to the +Duchessa. He had never said anything of the kind before, and Corona +experienced a new sensation, not altogether unpleasant. She looked at him +in some surprise. + +"Do you not like Del Ferice?" she inquired, gravely. + +"Do you like him yourself?" he asked in reply. + +"What a question! Why should I like or dislike any one?" There was +perhaps the smallest shade of bitterness in her voice as she asked the +question she had so often asked herself. Why should she like Giovanni +Saracinesca, for instance? + +"I do not know what the world would be like if we had no likes and +dislikes," said Giovanni, suddenly. "It would be a poor place; perhaps it +is only a poor place at best. I merely wondered whether Del Ferice amused +you as he amuses everybody." + +"Well then, frankly, he has not amused me to-day," answered Corona, with +a smile. + +"Then you are glad he is gone?" + +"I do not regret it." + +"Duchessa," said Giovanni, suddenly changing his position, "I am glad he +is gone, because I want to ask you a question. Do I know you well enough +to ask you a question?" + +"It depends--" Corona felt the blood rise suddenly to her dark forehead. +Her hands burned intensely in her gloves. The anticipation of something +she had never heard made her heart beat uncontrollably in her breast. + +"It is only about myself," continued Giovanni, in low tones. He had seen +the blush, so rare a sight that there was not another man in Rome who had +seen it. He had not time to think what it meant. "It is only about +myself," he went on. "My father wants me to marry; he insists that I +should marry Donna Tullia--Madame Mayer." + +"Well?" asked Corona. She shivered; a moment before, she had been +oppressed with the heat. Her monosyllabic question was low and +indistinct. She wondered whether Giovanni could hear the beatings of her +heart, so slow, so loud they almost deafened her. + +"Simply this. Do you advise me to marry her?" + +"Why do you ask me, of all people?" asked Corona, faintly. + +"I would like to have your advice," said Giovanni, twisting his brown +hands together and fixing his bright eyes upon her face. + +"She is young yet. She is handsome--she is fabulously rich. Why should +you not marry her? Would she make you happy?" + +"Happy? Happy with her? No indeed. Do you think life would be bearable +with such a woman?" + +"I do not know. Many men would marry her if they could--" + +"Then you think I should?" asked Giovanni. Corona hesitated; she could +not understand why she should care, and yet she was conscious that there +had been no such struggle in her life since the day she had blindly +resolved to sacrifice herself to her father's wishes in accepting +Astrardente. Still there could be no doubt what she should say: how could +she advise any one to marry without the prospect of the happiness she had +never had? + +"Will you not give me your counsel?" repeated Saracinesca. He had grown +very pale, and spoke with such earnestness that Corona hesitated no +longer. + +"I would certainly advise you to think no more about it, if you are sure +that you cannot be happy with her." + +Giovanni drew a long breath, the blood returned to his face, and his +hands unlocked themselves. + +"I will think no more about it," he said. "Heaven bless you for your +advice, Duchessa!" + +"Heaven grant I have advised you well!" said Corona, almost inaudibly. +"How cold this house is! Will you put down my cup of tea? Let us go near +the fire; Strillone is going to sing again." + +"I would like him to sing a 'Nune dimittis, Domine,' for me," murmured +Giovanni, whose eyes were filled with a strange light. + +Half an hour later Corona d'Astrardente went down the steps of the +Embassy wrapped in her furs and preceded by her footman. As she reached +the bottom Giovanni Saracinesca came swiftly down and joined her as +her carriage drove up out of the dark courtyard. The footman opened the +door, but Giovanni put out his hand to help Corona to mount the step. She +laid her small gloved fingers upon the sleeve of his overcoat, and as she +sprang lightly in she thought his arm trembled. + +"Good night, Duchessa; I am very grateful to you," he said. + +"Good night; why should you be grateful?" she asked, almost sadly. + +Giovanni did not answer, but stood hat in hand as the great carriage +rolled out under the arch. Then he buttoned his greatcoat, and went out +alone into the dark and muddy streets. The rain had ceased, but +everything was wet, and the broad pavements gleamed under the uncertain +light of the flickering gas-lamps. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The palace of the Saracinesca is in an ancient quarter of Rome, far +removed from the broad white streets of mushroom dwelling-houses and +machine-laid macadam; far from the foreigners' region, the varnish of the +fashionable shops, the whirl of brilliant equipages, and the scream of +the newsvendor. The vast irregular buildings are built around three +courtyards, and face on all sides upon narrow streets. The first sixteen +feet, up to the heavily ironed windows of the lower storey, consist of +great blocks of stone, worn at the corners and scored along their length +by the battering of ages, by the heavy carts that from time immemorial +have found the way too narrow and have ground their iron axles against +the massive masonry. Of the three enormous arched gates that give access +to the interior from different sides, one is closed by an iron grating, +another by huge doors studded with iron bolts, and the third alone is +usually open as an entrance. A tall old porter used to stand there in a +long livery-coat and a cocked-hat; on holidays he appeared in the +traditional garb of the Parisian "Suisse," magnificent in silk stockings +and a heavily laced coat of dark green, leaning upon his tall mace--a +constant object of wonder to the small boys of the quarter. He trimmed +his white beard in imitation of his master's--broad and square--and his +words were few and to the point. + +No one was ever at home in the Palazzo Saracinesca in those days; there +were no ladies in the house; it was a man's establishment, and there was +something severely masculine in the air of the gloomy courtyards +surrounded by dark archways, where not a single plant or bit of colour +relieved the ancient stone. The pavement was clean and well kept, a new +flagstone here and there showing that some care was bestowed upon +maintaining it in good repair; but for any decoration there was to be +found in the courts, the place might have been a fortress, as indeed it +once was. The owners, father and son, lived in their ancestral home in a +sort of solemn magnificence that savoured of feudal times. Giovanni was +the only son of five-and-twenty years of wedlock. His mother had been +older than his father, and had now been dead some time. She had been a +stern dark woman, and had lent no feminine touch of grace to the palace +while she lived in it, her melancholic temper rather rejoicing in the +sepulchral gloom that hung over the house. The Saracinesca had always +been a manly race, preferring strength to beauty, and the reality of +power to the amenities of comfort. + +Giovanni walked home from the afternoon reception at the Embassy. His +temper seemed to crave the bleak wet air of the cold streets, and he did +not hurry himself. He intended to dine at home that evening, and he +anticipated some kind of disagreement with his father. The two men were +too much alike not to be congenial, but too combative by nature to care +for eternal peace. On the present occasion it was likely that there would +be a struggle, for Giovanni had made up his mind not to marry Madame +Mayer, and his father was equally determined that he should marry her at +once: both were singularly strong men, singularly tenacious of their +opinions. + +At precisely seven o'clock father and son entered from different doors +the small sitting-room in which they generally met, and they had no +sooner entered than dinner was announced. Two words might suffice for the +description of old Prince Saracinesca--he was an elder edition of his +son. Sixty years of life had not bent his strong frame nor dimmed the +brilliancy of his eyes, but his hair and beard were snowy white. He was +broader in the shoulder and deeper in the chest than Giovanni, but of +the same height, and well proportioned still, with little tendency to +stoutness. He was to all appearance precisely what his son would be at +his age--keen and vigorous, the stern lines of his face grown deeper, and +his very dark eyes and complexion made more noticeable by the dazzling +whiteness of his hair and broad square beard--the same type in a +different stage of development. + +The dinner was served with a certain old-fashioned magnificence which has +grown rare in Rome. There was old plate and old china upon the table, old +cut glass of the diamond pattern, and an old butler who moved noiselessly +about in the performance of the functions he had exercised in the same +room for forty years, and which his father had exercised there before +him. Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni sat on opposite sides of the +round table, now and then exchanging a few words. + +"I was caught in the rain this afternoon," remarked the Prince. + +"I hope you will not have a cold," replied his son, civilly. "Why do you +walk in such weather?" + +"And you--why do you walk?" retorted his father. "Are you less likely to +take cold than I am? I walk because I have always walked." + +"That is an excellent reason. I walk because I do not keep a carriage." + +"Why do not you keep one if you wish to?" asked the Prince. + +"I will do as you wish. I will buy an equipage to-morrow, lest I should +again walk in the rain and catch cold. Where did you see me on foot?" + +"In the Orso, half an hour ago. Why do you talk about my wishes in that +absurd way?" + +"Since you say it is absurd, I will not do so," said Giovanni, quietly. + +"You are always contradicting me," said the Prince. "Some wine, +Pasquale." + +"Contradicting you?" repeated Giovanni. "Nothing could be further from my +intentions." + +The old Prince slowly sipped a glass of wine before he answered. + +"Why do not you set up an establishment for yourself and live like a +gentleman?" he asked at length. "You are rich--why do you go about on +foot and dine in cafés?" + +"Do I ever dine at a café when you are dining alone?" + +"You have got used to living in restaurants in Paris," retorted his +father. "It is a bad habit. What was the use of your mother leaving you a +fortune, unless you will live in a proper fashion?" + +"I understand you very well," answered Giovanni, his dark eyes beginning +to gleam. "You know all that is a pretence. I am the most home-staying +man of your acquaintance. It is a mere pretence. You are going to talk +about my marriage again." + +"And has any one a more natural right to insist upon your marriage than I +have?" asked the elder man, hotly. "Leave the wine on the table, +Pasquale--and the fruit--here. Give Don Giovanni his cheese. I will ring +for the coffee--leave us." The butler and the footman left the room. "Has +any one a more natural right, I ask?" repeated the Prince when they were +alone. + +"No one but myself, I should say," answered Giovanni, bitterly. + +"Yourself--yourself indeed! What have you to say about it? This a family +matter. Would you have Saracinesca sold, to be distributed piecemeal +among a herd of dogs of starving relations you never heard of, merely +because you are such a vagabond, such a Bohemian, such a break-neck, +crazy good-for-nothing, that you will not take the trouble to accept one +of all the women who rush into your arms?" + +"Your affectionate manner of speaking of your relatives is only surpassed +by your good taste in describing the probabilities of my marriage," +remarked Giovanni, scornfully. + +"And you say you never contradict me!" exclaimed the Prince, angrily. + +"If this is an instance, I can safely say so. Comment is not +contradiction." + +"Do you mean to say you have not repeatedly refused to marry?" inquired +old Saracinesca. + +"That would be untrue. I have refused, I do refuse, and I will refuse, +just so long as it pleases me." + +"That is definite, at all events. You will go on refusing until you have +broken your silly neck in imitating Englishmen, and then--good night +Saracinesca! The last of the family will have come to a noble end!" + +"If the only use of my existence is to become the father of heirs to your +titles, I do not care to enjoy them myself." + +"You will not enjoy them till my death, at all events. Did you ever +reflect that I might marry again?" + +"If you please to do so, do not hesitate on my account. Madame Mayer will +accept you as soon as me. Marry by all means, and may you have a numerous +progeny; and may they all marry in their turn, the day they are twenty. I +wish you joy." + +"You are intolerable, Giovanni. I should think you would have more +respect for Donna Tullia--" + +"Than to call her Madame Mayer," interrupted Giovanni. + +"Than to suggest that she cares for nothing but a title and a fortune--" + +"You showed much respect to her a moment ago, when you suggested that she +was ready to rush into my arms." + +"I! I never said such a thing. I said that any woman--" + +"Including Madame Mayer, of course," interrupted Giovanni again. + +"Can you not let me speak?" roared the Prince. Giovanni shrugged his +shoulders a little, poured out a glass of wine, and helped himself to +cheese, but said nothing. Seeing that his son said nothing, old +Saracinesca was silent too; he was so angry that he had lost the thread +of his ideas. Perhaps Giovanni regretted the quarrelsome tone he had +taken, for he presently spoke to his father in a more conciliatory tone. + +"Let us be just," he said. "I will listen to you, and I shall be glad if +you will listen to me. In the first place, when I think of marriage I +represent something to myself by the term--" + +"I hope so," growled the old man. + +"I look upon marriage as an important step in a man's life. I am not so +old as to make my marriage an immediate necessity, nor so young as to be +able wholly to disregard it. I do not desire to be hurried; for when I +make up my mind, I intend to make a choice which, if it does not ensure +happiness, will at least ensure peace. I do not wish to marry Madame +Mayer. She is young, handsome, rich--" + +"Very," ejaculated the Prince. + +"Very. I also am young and rich, if not handsome." + +"Certainly not handsome," said his father, who was nursing his wrath, and +meanwhile spoke calmly. "You are the image of me." + +"I am proud of the likeness," said Giovanni, gravely. "But to return to +Madame Mayer. She is a widow--" + +"Is that her fault?" inquired his father irrelevantly, his anger rising +again. + +"I trust not," said Giovanni, with a smile. "I trust she did not murder +old Mayer. Nevertheless she is a widow. That is a strong objection. Have +any of my ancestors married widows?" + +"You show your ignorance at every turn," said the old Prince, with a +scornful laugh. "Leone Saracinesca married the widow of the Elector of +Limburger-Stinkenstein in 1581." + +"It is probably the German blood in our veins which gives you your +taste for argument," remarked Giovanni. "Because three hundred years +ago an ancestor married a widow, I am to marry one now. Wait--do not be +angry--there are other reasons why I do not care for Madame Mayer. She is +too gay for me--too fond of the world." + +The Prince burst into aloud ironical laugh. His white hair and beard +bristled about his dark face, and he showed all his teeth, strong and +white still. + +"That is magnificent!" he cried; "it is superb, splendid, a piece of +unpurchasable humour! Giovanni Saracinesca has found a woman who is too +gay for him! Heaven be praised! We know his taste at last. We will give +him a nun, a miracle of all the virtues, a little girl out of a convent, +vowed to a life of sacrifice and self-renunciation. That will please +him--he will be a model happy husband." + +"I do not understand this extraordinary outburst," answered Giovanni, +with cold scorn. "Your mirth is amazing, but I fail to understand its +source." + +His father ceased laughing, and looked at him curiously, his heavy brows +bending with the intenseness of his gaze. Giovanni returned the look, and +it seemed as though those two strong angry men were fencing across the +table with their fiery glances. The son was the first to speak. + +"Do you mean to imply that I am not the kind of man to be allowed to +marry a young girl?" he asked, not taking his eyes from his father. + +"Look you, boy," returned the Prince, "I will have no more nonsense. I +insist upon this match, as I have told you before. It is the most +suitable one that I can find for you; and instead of being grateful, you +turn upon me and refuse to do your duty. Donna Tullia is twenty-three +years of age. She is brilliant, rich. There is nothing against her. She +is a distant cousin--" + +"One of the flock of vultures you so tenderly referred to," remarked +Giovanni. + +"Silence!" cried old Saracinesca, striking his heavy hand upon the table +so that the glasses shook together. "I will be heard; and what is more, I +will be obeyed. Donna Tullia is a relation. The union of two such +fortunes will be of immense advantage to your children. There is +everything in favour of the match--nothing against it. You shall marry +her a month from to-day. I will give you the title of Sant' Ilario, with +the estate outright into the bargain, and the palace in the Corso to +live in, if you do not care to live here." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Giovanni, choking down his anger. + +"If you refuse, you shall leave my house a month from to-day," said the +Prince, savagely. + +"Whereby I shall be fulfilling your previous commands, in setting up an +establishment for myself and living like a gentleman," returned Giovanni, +with a bitter laugh. "It is nothing to me--if you turn me out. I am rich, +as you justly observed." + +"You will have the more leisure to lead the life you like best," retorted +the Prince; "to hang about in society, to go where you please, to make +love to--" the old man stopped a moment. His son was watching him +fiercely, his hand clenched upon the table, his face as white as death. + +"To whom?" he asked with a terrible effort to be calm. + +"Do you think I am afraid of you? Do you think your father is less strong +or less fierce than you? To whom?" cried the angry old man, his whole +pent-up fury bursting out as he rose suddenly to his feet. "To whom but +to Corona d'Astrardente--to whom else should you make love?--wasting your +youth and life upon a mad passion! All Rome says it--I will say it too!" + +"You have said it indeed," answered Giovanni, in a very low voice. He +remained seated at the table, not moving a muscle, his face as the face +of the dead. "You have said it, and in insulting that lady you have said +a thing not worthy for one of our blood to say. God help me to remember +that you are my father," he added, trembling suddenly. + +"Hold!" said the Prince, who, with all his ambition for his son, and his +hasty temper, was an honest gentleman. "I never insulted, her--she is +above suspicion. It is you who are wasting your life in a hopeless +passion for her. See, I speak calmly--" + +"What does 'all Rome say'?" asked Giovanni, interrupting him. He was +still deadly pale, but his hand was unclenched, and as he spoke he rested +his head upon it, looking down at the tablecloth. + +"Everybody says that you are in love with the Astrardente, and that her +husband is beginning to notice it." + +"It is enough, sir," said Giovanni, in low tones. "I will consider this +marriage you propose. Give me until the spring to decide." + +"That is a long time," remarked the old Prince, resuming his seat and +beginning to peel an orange, as though nothing had happened. He was far +from being calm, but his son's sudden change of manner had disarmed his +anger. He was passionate and impetuous, thoughtless in his language, and +tyrannical in his determination; but he loved Giovanni dearly for all +that. + +"I do not think it long," said Giovanni, thoughtfully. "I give you my +word that I will seriously consider the marriage. If it is possible for +me to marry Donna Tullia, I will obey you, and I will give you my answer +before Easter-day. I cannot do more." + +"I sincerely hope you will take my advice," answered Saracinesca, now +entirely pacified. "If you cannot make up your mind to the match, I may +be able to find something else. There is Bianca Valdarno--she will have a +quarter of the estate." + +"She is so very ugly," objected Giovanni, quietly. He was still much +agitated, but he answered his father mechanically. + +"That is true--they are all ugly, those Valdarni. Besides, they are of +Tuscan origin. What do you say to the little Rocca girl? She has great +_chic_; she was brought up in England. She is pretty enough." + +"I am afraid she would be extravagant." + +"She could spend her own money then; it will be sufficient." + +"It is better to be on the safe side," said Giovanni. Suddenly he changed +his position, and again looked at his father. "I am sorry we always +quarrel about this question," he said. "I do not really want to marry, +but I wish to oblige you, and I will try. Why do we always come to words +over it?" + +"I am sure I do not know," said the Prince, with a pleasant smile. "I +have such a diabolical temper, I suppose." + +"And I have inherited it," answered Don Giovanni, with a laugh that was +meant to be cheerful. "But I quite see your point of view. I suppose I +ought to settle in life by this time." + +"Seriously, I think so, my son. Here is to your future happiness," said +the old gentleman, touching his glass with his lips. + +"And here is to our future peace," returned Giovanni, also drinking. + +"We never really quarrel, Giovanni, do we?" said his father. Every trace +of anger had vanished. His strong face beamed with an affectionate smile +that was like the sun after a thunderstorm. + +"No, indeed," answered his son, cordially. "We cannot afford to quarrel; +there are only two of us left." + +"That is what I always say," assented the Prince, beginning to eat the +orange he had carefully peeled since he had grown calm. "If two men like +you and me, my boy, can thoroughly agree, there is nothing we cannot +accomplish; whereas if we go against each other--" + +"Justitia non fit, coelum vero ruet," suggested Giovanni, in parody of +the proverb. + +"I am a little rusty in my Latin, Giovanni," said the old gentleman. + +"Heaven is turned upside down, but justice is not done." + +"No; one is never just when one is angry. But storms clear the sky, as +they say up at Saracinesca." + +"By the bye, have you heard whether that question of the timber has been +settled yet?" asked Giovanni. + +"Of course--I had forgotten. I will tell you all about it," answered his +father, cheerfully. So they chatted peacefully for another half-hour; and +no one would have thought, in looking at them, that such fierce passions +had been roused, nor that one of them felt as though his death-warrant +had been signed. When they separated, Giovanni went to his own rooms, and +locked himself in. + +He had assumed an air of calmness which was not real before he left his +father. In truth he was violently agitated. He was as fiery as his +father, but his passions were of greater strength and of longer duration; +for his mother had been a Spaniard, and something of the melancholy of +her country had entered into his soul, giving depth and durability to the +hot Italian character he inherited from his father. Nor did the latter +suspect the cause of his son's sudden change of tone in regard to the +marriage. It was precisely the difference in temperament which made +Giovanni incomprehensible to the old Prince. + +Giovanni had realised for more than a year past that he loved Corona +d'Astrardente. Contrary to the custom of young men in his position, he +determined from the first that he would never let her know it; and herein +lay the key to all his actions. He had, as he thought, made a point of +behaving to her on all occasions as he behaved to the other women he met +in the world, and he believed that he had skilfully concealed his passion +from the world and from the woman he loved. He had acted on all occasions +with a circumspection which was not natural to him, and for which he +undeniably deserved great credit. It had been a year of constant +struggles, constant efforts at self-control, constant determination that, +if possible, he would overcome his instincts. It was true that, when +occasion offered, he had permitted himself the pleasure of talking to +Corona d'Astrardente--talking, he well knew, upon the most general +subjects, but finding at each interview some new point of sympathy. +Never, he could honestly say, had he approached in that time the subject +of love, nor even the equally dangerous topic of friendship, the +discussion of which leads to so many ruinous experiments. He had never by +look or word sought to interest the dark Duchessa in his doings nor in +himself; he had talked of books, of politics, of social questions, but +never of himself nor of herself. He had faithfully kept the promise he +had made in his heart, that since he was so unfortunate as to love the +wife of another--a woman of such nobility that even in Rome no breath had +been breathed against her--he would keep his unfortunate passion to +himself. Astrardente was old, almost decrepit, in spite of his +magnificent wig; Corona was but two-and-twenty years of age. If ever her +husband died, Giovanni would present himself before the world as her +suitor; meanwhile he would do nothing to injure her self-respect nor to +disturb her peace--he hardly flattered himself he could do that, for he +loved her truly--and above all, he would do nothing to compromise the +unsullied reputation she enjoyed. She might never love him; but he was +strong and patient, and would do her the only honour it was in his power +to do her, by waiting patiently. + +But Giovanni had not considered that he was the most conspicuous man in +society; that there were many who watched his movements, in hopes he +would come their way; that when he entered a room, many had noticed +that, though he never went directly to Corona's side, he always looked +first towards her, and never omitted to speak with her in the course of +an evening. Keen observers, the jays of society who hover about the +eagle's nest, had not failed to observe a look of annoyance on Giovanni's +face when he did not succeed in being alone by Corona's side for at least +a few minutes; and Del Ferice, who was a sort of news-carrier in Rome, +had now and then hinted that Giovanni was in love. People had repeated +his hints, as he intended they should, with the illuminating wit peculiar +to tale-bearers, and the story had gone abroad accordingly. True, there +was not a man in Rome bold enough to allude to the matter in Giovanni's +presence, even if any one had seen any advantage in so doing; but such +things do not remain hidden. His own father had told him in a fit of +anger, and the blow had produced its effect. + +Giovanni sat down in a deep easy-chair in his own room, and thought over +the situation. His first impulse had been to be furiously angry with his +father; but the latter having instantly explained that there was nothing +to be said against the Duchessa, Giovanni's anger against the Prince had +turned against himself. It was bitter to think that all his self-denial, +all his many and prolonged efforts to conceal his love, had been of no +avail. He cursed his folly and imprudence, while wondering how it was +possible that the story should have got abroad. He did not waver in his +determination to hide his inclinations, to destroy the impression he had +so unwillingly produced. The first means he found in his way seemed the +best. To marry Donna Tullia at once, before the story of his affection +for the Duchessa had gathered force, would, he thought, effectually shut +the mouths of the gossips. From one point of view it was a noble thought, +the determination to sacrifice himself wholly and for ever, rather than +permit his name to be mentioned ever so innocently in connection with the +woman he loved; to root out utterly his love for her by seriously +engaging his faith to another, and keeping that engagement with all the +strength of fidelity he knew himself to possess. He would save Corona +from annoyance, and her name from the scandal-mongers; and if any one +ever dared to mention the story-- + +Giovanni rose to his feet and mechanically took a fencing-foil from the +wall, as he often did for practice. If any one mentioned the story, he +thought, he had the means to silence them, quickly and for ever. His eyes +flashed suddenly at the idea of action--any action, even fighting, which +might be distantly connected with Corona. Then he tossed down the rapier +and threw himself into his chair, and sat quite still, staring at the +trophies of armour upon the wall opposite. + +He could not do it. To wrong one woman for the sake of shielding another +was not in his power. People might laugh at him and call him Quixotic, +forsooth, because he would not do like every one else and make a marriage +of convenience--of propriety. Propriety! when his heart was breaking +within him; when every fibre of his strong frame quivered with the strain +of passion; when his aching eyes saw only one face, and his ears echoed +the words she had spoken that very afternoon! Propriety indeed! Propriety +was good enough for cold-blooded dullards. Donna Tullia had done him no +harm that he should marry her for propriety's sake, and make her life +miserable for thirty, forty, fifty years. It would be propriety rather +for him to go away, to bury himself in the ends of the earth, until he +could forget Corona d'Astrardente, her splendid eyes, and her deep sweet +voice. + +He had pledged his father his word that he would consider the marriage, +and he was to give his answer before Easter. That was a long time yet. He +would consider it; and if by Eastertide he had forgotten Corona, he +would--he laughed aloud in his silent room, and the sound of his voice +startled him from his reverie. + +Forget? Did such men as he forget? Other men did. What were they made of? +They did not love such women, perhaps; that was the reason they forgot. +Any one could forget poor Donna Tullia. And yet how was it possible to +forget if one loved truly? + +Giovanni had never believed himself in love before. He had known one or +two women who had attracted him strongly; but he had soon found out that +he had no real sympathy with them, that though they amused him they had +no charm for him--most of all, that he could not imagine himself tied to +any one of them for life without conceiving the situation horrible in the +extreme. To his independent nature the idea of such ties was repugnant: +he knew himself too courteous to break through the civilities of life +with a wife he did not love; but he knew also that in marrying a woman +who was indifferent to him, he would be engaging to play a part for life +in the most fearful of all plays--the part of a man who strives to bear +bravely the galling of a chain he is too honourable to break. + +It was four o'clock in the morning when Giovanni went to bed; and even +then he slept little, for his dreams were disturbed. Once he thought he +stood upon a green lawn with a sword in his hand, and the blood upon its +point, his opponent lying at his feet. Again, he thought he was alone in +a vast drawing-room, and a dark woman came and spoke gently to him, +saying, "Marry her for my sake." He awoke with a groan. The church clocks +were striking eight, and the meet was at eleven, five miles beyond the +Porta Pia. Giovanni started up and rang for his servant. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It was a beautiful day, and half Rome turned out to see the meet, not +because it was in any way different from other meets, but because it +chanced that society had a fancy to attend it. Society is very like a +fever patient in a delirium; it is rarely accountable for its actions; it +scarcely ever knows what it is saying; and occasionally, without the +least warning or premeditation, it leaps out of bed at an early hour of +the morning and rushes frantically in pursuit of its last hallucination. +The main difference is, that whereas a man in a fever has a nurse, +society has none. + +On the present occasion every one had suddenly conceived the idea of +going to the meet, and the long road beyond the Porta Pia was dotted for +miles with equipages of every description, from the four-in-hand of +Prince Valdarno to the humble donkey-cart of the caterer who sells +messes of boiled beans, and bread and cheese, and salad to the grooms--an +institution not connected in the English mind with hunting. One after +another the vehicles rolled out along the road, past Sant' Agnese, down +the hill and across the Ponte Nomentana, and far up beyond to a place +where three roads met and there was a broad open stretch of wet, withered +grass. Here the carriages turned in and ranged themselves side by side, +as though they were pausing in the afternoon drive upon the Pincio, +instead of being five miles out upon the broad Campagna. + +To describe the mountains to southward of Rome would be an insult to +nature; to describe a meet would be an affront to civilised readers of +the English language. The one is too familiar to everybody; the pretty +crowd of men and women, dotted with pink and set off by the neutral +colour of the winter fields; the hunters of all ages, and sizes, and +breeds, led slowly up and down by the grooms; while from time to time +some rider gets into the saddle and makes himself comfortable, assures +himself of girth and stirrup, and of the proper disposal of the +sandwich-box and sherry-flask, gives a final word of instruction to his +groom, and then moves slowly off. A Roman meet is a little less +business-like than the same thing elsewhere; there is a little more +dawdling, a little more conversation when many ladies chance to have come +to see the hounds throw off; otherwise it is not different from other +meets. As for the Roman mountains, they are so totally unlike any other +hills in the world, and so extremely beautiful in their own peculiar way, +that to describe them would be an idle and a useless task, which could +only serve to exhibit the vanity of the writer and the feebleness of his +pen. + +Don Giovanni arrived early in spite of his sleepless night. He descended +from his dogcart by the roadside, instead of driving into the field, and +he took a careful survey of the carriages he saw before him. Conspicuous +in the distance he distinguished Donna Tullia Mayer standing among a +little crowd of men near Valdarno's drag. She was easily known by her +dress, as Del Ferice had remarked on the previous evening. On this +occasion she wore a costume in which the principal colours were green and +yellow, an enormous hat, with feathers in the same proportion surmounting +her head, and she carried a yellow parasol. She was a rather handsome +woman of middle height, with unnaturally blond hair, and a fairly good +complexion, which as yet she had wisely abstained from attempting to +improve by artificial means; her eyes were blue, but uncertain in their +glance--of the kind which do not inspire confidence; and her mouth was +much admired, being small and red, with full lips. She was rapid in her +movements, and she spoke in a loud voice, easily collecting people about +her wherever there were any to collect. Her conversation was not +brilliant, but it was so abundant that its noisy vivacity passed current +for cleverness; she had a remarkably keen judgment of people, and a +remarkably bad taste in her opinions of things artistic, from beauty in +nature to beauty in dress, but she maintained her point of view +obstinately, and admitted no contradiction. It was a singular +circumstance that whereas many of her attributes were distinctly vulgar, +she nevertheless had an indescribable air of good breeding, the strange +inimitable stamp of social superiority which cannot be acquired by any +known process of education. A person seeing her might be surprised at her +loud talking, amused at her eccentricities of dress, and shocked at her +bold manner, but no one would ever think of classing her anywhere save in +what calls itself "the best society." + +Among the men who stood talking to Donna Tullia was the inevitable Del +Ferice, a man of whom it might be said that he was never missed, because +he was always present. Giovanni disliked Del Ferice without being able to +define his aversion. He disliked generally men whom he suspected of +duplicity; and he had no reason for supposing that truth, looking into +her mirror, would have seen there the image of Ugo's fat pale face and +colourless moustache. But if Ugo was a liar, he must have had a good +memory, for he never got himself into trouble, and he had the reputation +of being a useful member of society, an honour to which persons of +doubtful veracity rarely attain. Giovanni, however, disliked him, and +suspected him of many things; and although he had intended to go up to +Donna Tullia, the sight of Del Ferice at her side very nearly prevented +him. He strolled leisurely down the little slope, and as he neared the +crowd, spoke to one or two acquaintances, mentally determining to avoid +Madame Mayer, and to mount immediately. But he was disappointed in his +intention. As he stood for a moment beside the carriage of the Marchesa +Rocca, exchanging a few words with her, and looking with some interest at +her daughter, the little Rocca girl whom his father had proposed as a +possible wife for him, he forgot his proximity to the lady he wished to +avoid; and when, a few seconds later, he proceeded in the direction of +his horse, Madame Mayer stepped forward from the knot of her admirers and +tapped him familiarly upon the shoulder with the handle of her parasol. + +"So you were not going to speak to me to-day?" she said rather roughly, +after her manner. + +Giovanni turned sharply and faced her, bowing low. Donna Tullia laughed. + +"Is there anything so amazingly ridiculous in my appearance?" he asked. + +"_Altro_! when you make that tremendous salute--" + +"It was intended to convey an apology as well as a greeting," answered +Don Giovanni, politely. + +"I would like more apology and less greeting." + +"I am ready to apologise--" + +"Humbly, without defending yourself," said Donna Tullia, beginning to +walk slowly forward. Giovanni was obliged to follow her. + +"My defence is, nevertheless, a very good one," he said. + +"Well, if it is really good, I may listen to it; but you will not make me +believe that you intended to behave properly." + +"I am in a very bad humour. I would not inflict my cross temper upon you; +therefore I avoided you." + +Donna Tullia eyed him attentively. When she answered she drew in her +small red lips with an air of annoyance. + +"You look as though you were in bad humour," she answered. "I am sorry I +disturbed you. It is better to leave sleeping dogs alone, as the proverb +says." + +"I have not snapped yet," said Giovanni. "I am not dangerous, I assure +you." + +"Oh, I am not in the least afraid of you," replied his companion, with a +little scorn. "Do not flatter yourself your little humours frighten me. I +suppose you intend to follow?" + +"Yes," answered Saracinesca, shortly; he was beginning to weary of Donna +Tullia's manner of taking him to task. + +"You had much better come with us, and leave the poor foxes alone. +Valdarno is going to drive us round by the cross-roads to the Capannelle. +We will have a picnic lunch, and be home before three o'clock." + +"Thanks very much. I cannot let my horse shirk his work. I must beg you +to excuse me--" + +"Again?" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "You are always making excuses." Then +she suddenly changed her tone, and looked down. "I wish you would come +with us," she said, gently. "It is not often I ask you to do anything." + +Giovanni looked at her quickly. He knew that Donna Tullia wished to +marry him; he even suspected that his father had discussed the matter +with her--no uncommon occurrence when a marriage has to be arranged with +a widow. But he did not know that Donna Tullia was in love with him in +her own odd fashion. He looked at her, and he saw that as she spoke there +were tears of vexation in her bold blue eyes. He hesitated a moment, but +natural courtesy won the day. + +"I will go with you," he said, quietly. A blush of pleasure rose to +Madame Mayer's pink cheeks; she felt she had made a point, but she was +not willing to show her satisfaction. + +"You say it as though you were conferring a favour," she said, with a +show of annoyance, which was belied by the happy expression of her face. + +"Pardon me; I myself am the favoured person," replied Giovanni, +mechanically. He had yielded because he did not know how to refuse; but +he already regretted it, and would have given much to escape from the +party. + +"You do not look as though you believed it," said Donna Tullia, eyeing +him critically. "If you are going to be disagreeable, I release you." She +said this well knowing, the while, that he would not accept of his +liberty. + +"If you are so ready to release me, as you call it, you do not really +want me," said her companion. Donna Tullia bit her lip, and there was a +moment's pause. "If you will excuse me a moment I will send my horse +home--I will join you at once." + +"There is your horse--right before us," said Madame Mayer. Even that +short respite was not allowed him, and she waited while Don Giovanni +ordered the astonished groom to take his hunter for an hour's exercise in +a direction where he would not fall in with the hounds. + +"I did not believe you would really do it," said Donna Tullia, as the two +turned and sauntered back towards the carriages. Most of the men who +meant to follow had already mounted, and the little crowd had thinned +considerably. But while they had been talking another carriage had driven +into the field, and had halted a few yards from Valdarno's drag. +Astrardente had taken it into his head to come to the meet with his wife, +and they had arrived late. Astrardente always arrived a little late, on +principle. As Giovanni and Donna Tullia came back to their drag, they +suddenly found themselves face to face with the Duchessa and her husband. +It did not surprise Corona to see Giovanni walking with the woman he did +not intend to marry, but it seemed to give the old Duke undisguised +pleasure. + +"Do you see, Corona, there is no doubt of it! It is just as I told you," +exclaimed the aged dandy, in a voice so audible that Giovanni frowned and +Donna Tullia blushed slightly. Both of them bowed as they passed the +carriage. Don Giovanni looked straight into Corona's face as he took +off his hat. He might very well have made her a little sign, the smallest +gesture, imperceptible to Donna Tullia, whereby he could have given her +the idea that his position was involuntary. But Don Giovanni was a +gentleman, and he did nothing of the kind; he bowed and looked calmly at +the woman he loved as he passed by. Astrardente watched him keenly, and +as he noticed the indifference of Saracinesca's look, he gave a curious +little snuffling snort that was peculiar to him. He could have sworn that +neither his wife nor Giovanni had shown the smallest interest in each +other. He was satisfied. His wife was above suspicion, as he always said; +but he was an old man, and had seen the world, and he knew that however +implicitly he might trust the noble woman who had sacrificed her youth to +his old age, it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that she might +become innocently interested, even unawares, in some younger man--in some +such man as Giovanni Saracinesca-and he thought it worth his while to +watch her. His little snort, however, was indicative of satisfaction. +Corona had not winced at the mention of the marriage, and had nodded with +the greatest unconcern to the man as he passed. + +"Ah, Donna Tullia!" he cried, as he returned their greeting, "you are +preventing Don Giovanni from mounting; the riders will be off in a +moment." + +Being thus directly addressed, there was nothing to be done but to stop +and exchange a few words. The Duchessa was on the side nearest to the +pair as they passed, and her husband rose and sat opposite her, so as to +talk more at his ease. There were renewed greetings on both sides, and +Giovanni naturally found himself talking to Corona, while her husband and +Donna Tullia conversed together. + +"What man could think of hunting when he could be talking to you +instead?" said old Astrardente, whose painted face adjusted itself in a +sort of leer that had once been a winning smile. Every one knew he +painted, his teeth were a miracle of American dentistry, and his wig +had deceived a great portrait-painter. The padding in his clothes was +disposed with cunning wisdom, and in public he rarely removed the gloves +from his small hands. Donna Tullia laughed at what he said. + +"You should teach Don Giovanni to make pretty speeches," she said. "He is +as surly as a wolf this morning." + +"I should think a man in his position would not need much teaching in +order to be gallant to you," replied the old dandy, with a knowing look. +Then lowering his voice, he added confidentially, "I hope that before +very long I may be allowed to congrat--" + +"I have prevailed upon him to give up following the hounds to-day," +interrupted Donna Tullia, quickly. She spoke loud enough to be noticed by +Corona. "He is coming with us to picnic at the Capannelle instead." + +Giovanni could not help glancing quickly at Corona. She smiled faintly, +and her face betrayed no emotion. + +"I daresay it will be very pleasant," she said gently, looking far out +over the Campagna. In the next field the pack was moving away, followed +at a little distance by a score of riders in pink; one or two men who had +stayed behind in conversation, mounted hastily and rode after the hunt; +some of the carriages turned out of the field and began to follow slowly +along the road, in hopes of seeing the hounds throw off; the party who +were going with Valdarno gathered about the drag, waiting for Donna +Tullia; the grooms who were left behind congregated around the men who +sold boiled beans and salad; and in a few minutes the meet had +practically dispersed. + +"Why will you not join us, Duchessa?" asked Madame Mayer. "There is lunch +enough for everybody, and the more people we are the pleasanter it will +be." Donna Tullia made her suggestion with her usual frank manner, fixing +her blue eyes upon Corona as she spoke. There was every appearance of +cordiality in the invitation; but Donna Tullia knew well enough that +there was a sting in her words, or at all events that she meant there +should be. Corona, however, glanced quietly at her husband, and then +courteously refused. + +"You are most kind," she said, "but I fear we cannot join you to-day. We +are very regular people," she explained, with a slight smile, "and we are +not prepared to go to-day. Many thanks; I wish we could accept your kind +invitation." + +"Well, I am sorry you will not come," said Donna Tullia, with a rather +hard laugh. "We mean to enjoy ourselves immensely." + +Giovanni said nothing. There was only one thing which could have rendered +the prospect of Madame Mayer's picnic more disagreeable to him than it +already was, and that would have been the presence of the Duchessa. He +knew himself to be in a thoroughly false position in consequence of +having yielded to Donna Tullia's half-tearful request that he would join +the party. He remembered how he had spoken to Corona on the previous +evening, assuring her that he would not marry Madame Mayer. Corona knew +nothing of the change his plans had undergone during the stormy interview +he had had with his father; he longed, indeed, to be able to make the +Duchessa understand, but any attempt at explanation would be wholly +impossible. Corona would think he was inconsistent, or at least that he +was willing to flirt with the gay widow, while determined not to marry +her. He reflected that it was part of his self-condemnation that he +should appear unfavourably to the woman he loved, and whom he was +determined to renounce; but he realised for the first time how bitter it +would be to stand thus always in the appearance of weakness and +self-contradiction in the eyes of the only human being whose good opinion +he coveted, and for whose dear sake he was willing to do all things. As +he stood by her, his hand rested upon the side of the carriage, and he +stared blankly at the distant hounds and the retreating riders. + +"Come, Don Giovanni, we must be going," said Donna Tullia. "What in the +world are you thinking of? You look as though you had been turned into a +statue!" + +"I beg your pardon," returned Saracinesca, suddenly called back from +the absorbing train of his unpleasant thoughts. "Good-bye, Duchessa; +good-bye, Astrardente--a pleasant drive to you." + +"You will always regret not having come, you know," cried Madame Mayer, +shaking hands with both the occupants of the carriage. "We shall probably +end by driving to Albano, and staying all night--just fancy! Immense +fun--not even a comb in the whole party! Good-bye. I suppose we shall all +meet to-night--that is, if we ever come back to Rome at all. Come along, +Giovanni," she said, familiarly dropping the prefix from his name. After +all, he was a sort of cousin, and people in Rome are very apt to call +each other by their Christian names. But Donna Tullia knew what she was +about; she knew that Corona d'Astrardente could never, under any +circumstances whatever, call Saracinesca plain "Giovanni." But she had +not the satisfaction of seeing that anything she said produced any change +in Corona's proud dark face; she seemed of no more importance in the +Duchessa's eyes than if she had been a fly buzzing in the sunshine. + +So Giovanni and Madame Mayer joined their noisy party, and began to climb +into their places upon the drag; but before they were prepared to start, +the Astrardente carriage turned and drove rapidly out of the field. The +laughter and loud talking came to Corona's ears, growing fainter and more +distant every second, and the sound was very cruel to her; but she set +her strong brave lips together, and leaned back, adjusting the blanket +over her old husband's knees with one hand, and shading the sun from her +eyes with the parasol she held in the other. + +"Thank you, my dear; you are an angel of thoughtfulness," said the old +dandy, stroking his wife's hand. "What a singularly vulgar woman Madame +Mayer is! And yet she has a certain little _chic_ of her own." + +Corona did not withdraw her fingers from her husband's caress. She was +used to it. After all, he was kind to her in his way. It would have been +absurd to have been jealous of the grossly flattering speeches he made to +other women; and indeed he was as fond of turning compliments to his wife +as to any one. It was a singular relation that had grown up between the +old man and the young girl he had married. Had he been less thoroughly a +man of the world, or had Corona been less entirely honest and loyal and +self-sacrificing, there would have been small peace in their wedlock. But +Astrardente, decayed roué and worn-out dandy as he was, was in love with +his wife; and she, in all the young magnificence of her beauty, submitted +to be loved by him, because she had promised that she would do so, and +because, having sworn, she regarded the breaking of her faith by the +smallest act of unkindness as a thing beyond the bounds of possibility. +It had been a terrible blow to her to discover that she cared for Don +Giovanni even in the way she believed she did, as a man whose society she +preferred to that of other men, and whose face it gave her pleasure to +see. She, too, had spent a sleepless night; and when she had risen in the +morning, she had determined to forget Giovanni, and if she could not +forget him, she had sworn that more than ever she would be all things to +her husband. + +She wondered now, as Giovanni had known she would, why he had suddenly +thrown over his day's hunting in order to spend his time with Donna +Tullia; but she would not acknowledge, even to herself, that the dull +pain she felt near her heart, and that seemed to oppress her breathing, +bore any relation to the scene she had just witnessed. She shut her lips +tightly, and arranged the blanket for her husband. + +"Madame Mayer is vulgar," she answered. "I suppose she cannot help it." + +"Women can always help being vulgar," returned Astrardente. "I believe +she learned it from her husband. Women are not naturally like that. +Nevertheless she is an excellent match for Giovanni Saracinesca. Rich, by +millions. Undeniably handsome, gay--well, rather too gay; but Giovanni is +so serious that the contrast will be to their mutual advantage." + +Corona was silent. There was nothing the old man disliked so much as +silence. + +"Why do you not answer me?" he asked, rather petulantly. + +"I do not know--I was thinking," said Corona, simply. "I do not see that +it is a great match after all, for the last of the Saracinesca." + +"You think she will lead him a terrible dance, I daresay," returned the +old man. "She is gay--very gay; and Giovanni is very, very solemn." + +"I did not mean that she was too gay. I only think that Saracinesca might +marry, for instance, the Rocca girl. Why should he take a widow?" + +"Such a young widow. Old Mayer was as decrepit as any old statue in a +museum. He was paralysed in one arm, and gouty--gouty, my dear; you do +not know how gouty he was." The old fellow grinned scornfully; he had +never had the gout. "Donna Tullia is a very young widow. Besides, think +of the fortune. It would break old Saracinesca's heart to let so much +money go out of the family. He is a miserly old wretch, Saracinesca!" + +"I never heard that," said Corona. + +"Oh, there are many things in Rome that one never hears, and that is one +of them. I hate avarice--it is so extremely vulgar." + +Indeed Astrardente was not himself avaricious, though he had all his life +known how to protect his interests. He loved money, but he loved also to +spend it, especially in such a way as to make a great show with it. It +was not true, however, that Saracinesca was miserly. He spent a large +income without the smallest ostentation. + +"Really, I should hardly call Prince Saracinesca a miser," said Corona. +"I cannot imagine, from what I know of him, why he should be so anxious +to get Madame Mayer's fortune; but I do not think it is out of mere +greediness." + +"Then I do not know what you can call it," returned her husband, sharply. +"They have always had that dismal black melancholy in that family--that +detestable love of secretly piling up money, while their faces are as +grave and sour as any Jew's in the Ghetto." + +Corona glanced at her husband, and smiled faintly as she looked at his +thin old features, where the lights and shadows were touched in with +delicate colour more artfully than any actress's, superficially +concealing the lines traced by years of affectation and refined egotism; +and she thought of Giovanni's strong manly face, passionate indeed, but +noble and bold. A moment later she resolutely put the comparison out of +her mind, and finding that her husband was inclined to abuse the +Saracinesca, she tried to turn the conversation. + +"I suppose it will be a great ball at the Frangipani's," she said. "We +will go, of course?" she added, interrogatively. + +"Of course. I would not miss it for all the world. There has not been +such a ball for years as that will be. Do I ever miss an opportunity of +enjoying myself--I mean, of letting you enjoy yourself?" + +"No, you are very good," said Corona, gently. "Indeed I sometimes think +you give yourself trouble about going out on my account. Really, I am not +so greedy of society. I would often gladly stay at home if you wished +it." + +"Do you think I am past enjoying the world, then?" asked the old man, +sourly. + +"No indeed," replied Corona, patiently. "Why should I think that? I see +how much you like going out." + +"Of course I like it. A rational man in the prime of life always likes to +see his fellow-creatures. Why should not I?" + +The Duchessa did not smile. She was used to hearing her aged husband +speak of himself as young. It was a harmless fancy. + +"I think it is quite natural," she said. + +"What I cannot understand," said Astrardente, muffling his thin throat +more closely against the keen bright _tramontana_ wind, "is that such old +fellows as Saracinesca should still want to play a part in the world." + +Saracinesca was younger than Astrardente, and his iron constitution bade +fair to outlast another generation, in spite of his white hair. + +"You do not seem to be in a good humour with Saracinesca to-day," +remarked Corona, by way of answer. + +"Why do you defend him?" asked her husband, in a new fit of irritation. +"He jars on my nerves, the sour old creature!" + +"I fancy all Rome will go to the Frangipani ball," began Corona again, +without heeding the old man's petulance. + +"You seem to be interested in it," returned Astrardente. + +Corona was silent; it was her only weapon when he became petulant. He +hated silence, and generally returned to the conversation with more +suavity. Perhaps, in his great experience, he really appreciated his +wife's wonderful patience with his moods, and it is certain that he was +exceedingly fond of her. + +"You must have a new gown, my dear," he said presently, in a conciliatory +tone. + +His wife passed for the best-dressed woman in Rome, as she was undeniably +the most remarkable in many other ways. She was not above taking an +interest in dress, and her old husband had an admirable taste; moreover, +he took a vast pride in her appearance, and if she had looked a whit less +superior to other women, his smiling boast that she was above suspicion +would have lost some of its force. + +"I hardly think it is necessary," said Corona; "I have so many things, +and it will be a great crowd." + +"My dear, be economical of your beauty, but not in your adornment of it," +said the old man, with one of his engaging grins. "I desire that you have +a new gown for this ball which will be remembered by every one who goes +to it. You must set about it at once." + +"Well, that is an easy request for any woman to grant," answered Corona, +with a little laugh; "though I do not believe my gown will be remembered +so long as you think." + +"Who knows--who knows?" said Astrardente, thoughtfully. "I remember gowns +I saw"--he checked himself--"why, as many as ten years ago!" he added, +laughing in his turn, perhaps at nearly having said forty for ten. +"Gowns, my dear," he continued, "make a profound impression upon men's +minds." + +"For the matter of that," said the Duchessa, "I do not care to impress +men at all nor women either." She spoke lightly, pleased that the +conversation should have taken a more pleasant turn. + +"Not even to impress me, my dear?" asked old Astrardente, with a leer. + +"That is different," answered Corona, quietly. + +So they talked upon the subject of the gown and the ball until the +carriage rolled under the archway of the Astrardente palace. But when it +was three o'clock, and Corona was at liberty to go out upon her usual +round of visits, she was glad that she could go alone; and as she sat +among her cushions, driving from house to house and distributing cards, +she had time to think seriously of her situation. It would seem a light +thing to most wives of aged husbands to have taken a fancy to a man such +as Giovanni Saracinesca. But the more Corona thought of it, the more +certain it appeared to her that she was committing a great sin. It +weighed heavily upon her mind, and took from her the innocent pleasure +she was wont to feel in driving in the bright evening air in the Villa +Borghese. It took the colour from the sky, and the softness from the +cushions, it haunted her and made her miserably unhappy. At every turn +she expected to see Giovanni's figure and face, and the constant +recurrence of the thought seemed to add magnitude to the crime of which +she accused herself,--the crime of even thinking of any man save her +old husband--of wishing that Giovanni might not marry Donna Tullia after +all. + +"I will go to Padre Filippo," she said to herself as she reached home. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Valdarno took Donna Tullia by his side upon the front seat of the drag; +and as luck would have it, Giovanni and Del Ferice sat together behind +them. Half-a-dozen other men found seats somewhere, and among them were +the melancholy Spicca, who was a famous duellist, and a certain +Casalverde, a man of rather doubtful reputation. The others were members +of what Donna Tullia called her "corps de ballet." In those days Donna +Tullia's conduct was criticised, and she was thought to be emancipated, +as the phrase went. Old people opened their eyes at the spectacle of the +gay young widow going off into the Campagna to picnic with a party of +men; but if any intimate enemy had ventured to observe to her that she +was giving occasion for gossip, she would have raised her eyebrows, +explaining that they were all just like her brothers, and that Giovanni +was indeed a sort of cousin. She would perhaps have condescended to say +that she would not have done such a thing in Paris, but that in dear old +Rome one was in the bosom of one's family, and might do anything. At +present she sat chatting with Valdarno, a tall and fair young man, with a +weak mouth and a good-natured disposition; she had secured Giovanni, and +though he sat sullenly smoking behind her, his presence gave her +satisfaction. Del Ferice's smooth face wore an expression of ineffable +calm, and his watery blue eyes gazed languidly on the broad stretch of +brown grass which bordered the highroad. + +For some time the drag bowled along, and Giovanni was left to his own +reflections, which were not of a very pleasing kind. The other men talked +of the chances of luck with the hounds; and Spicca, who had been a great +deal in England, occasionally put in a remark not very complimentary to +the Roman hunt. Del Ferice listened in silence, and Giovanni did not +listen at all, but buttoned his overcoat to the throat, half closed his +eyes, and smoked one cigarette after another, leaning back in his seat. +Suddenly Donna Tullia's laugh was heard as she turned half round to look +at Valdarno. + +"Do you really think so?" she cried. "How soon? What a dance we will lead +them then!" + +Del Fence pricked his ears in the direction of her voice, like a terrier +that suspects the presence of a rat. Valdarno's answer was inaudible, but +Donna Tullia ceased laughing immediately. + +"They are talking politics," said Del Ferice in a low voice, leaning +towards Giovanni as he spoke. The latter shrugged his shoulders and went +on smoking. He did not care to be drawn into a conversation with Del +Ferice. + +Del Ferice was a man who was suspected of revolutionary sympathies by the +authorities in Rome, but who was not feared. He was therefore allowed to +live his life much as he pleased, though he was conscious from time to +time that he was watched. Being a man, however, who under all +circumstances pursued his own interests with more attention than he +bestowed on those of any party, he did not pretend to attach any +importance to the distinction of being occasionally followed by a spy, as +a more foolish man might have done. If he was watched, he did not care to +exhibit himself to his friends as a martyr, to tell stories of the +_sbirro_ who sometimes dogged his footsteps, nor to cry aloud that he was +unjustly persecuted. He affected a character above suspicion, and rarely +allowed himself to express an opinion. He was no propagator of new +doctrines; that was too dangerous a trade for one of his temper. But he +foresaw changes to come, and he determined that he would profit by them. +He had little to lose, but he had everything to gain; and being a patient +man, he resolved to gain all he could by circumspection--in other words, +by acting according to his nature, rather than by risking himself in a +bold course of action for which he was wholly unsuited. He was too wise +to attempt wholly to deceive the authorities, knowing well that they were +not easily deceived; and he accordingly steered a middle course, +constantly speaking in favour of progress, of popular education, and of +freedom of the press, but at the same time loudly proclaiming that all +these things--that every benefit of civilisation, in fact--could be +obtained without the slightest change in the form of government. He thus +asserted his loyalty to the temporal power while affecting a belief in +the possibility of useful reforms, and the position he thus acquired +exactly suited his own ends; for he attracted to himself a certain amount +of suspicion on account of his progressist professions, and then disarmed +that suspicion by exhibiting a serene indifference to the espionage of +which he was the object. The consequence was, that at the very time when +he was most deeply implicated in much more serious matters--of which the +object was invariably his own ultimate profit--at the time when he was +receiving money for information he was able to obtain through his social +position, he was regarded by the authorities, and by most of his +acquaintances, as a harmless man, who might indeed injure himself by his +foolish doctrines of progress, but who certainly could not injure any one +else. Few guessed that his zealous attention to social duties, his +occasional bursts of enthusiasm for liberal education and a free press, +were but parts of his machinery for making money out of politics. He was +so modest, so unostentatious, that no one suspected that the mainspring +of his existence was the desire for money. + +But, like many intelligent and bad men, Del Ferice had a weakness which +was gradually gaining upon him and growing in force, and which was +destined to hasten the course of the events which he had planned for +himself. It is an extraordinary peculiarity in unbelievers that they are +often more subject to petty superstitions than other men; and similarly, +it often happens that the most cynical and coldly calculating of +conspirators, who believe themselves proof against all outward +influences, yield to some feeling of nervous dislike for an individual +who has never harmed them, and are led on from dislike to hatred, until +their soberest actions take colour from what in its earliest beginnings +was nothing more than a senseless prejudice. Del Ferice's weakness was +his unaccountable detestation of Giovanni Saracinesca; and he had so far +suffered this abhorrence of the man to dominate his existence, that it +had come to be one of his chiefest delights in life to thwart Giovanni +wherever he could. How it had begun, or when, he no longer knew nor +cared. He had perhaps thought Giovanni treated him superciliously, or +even despised him; and his antagonism being roused by some fancied +slight, he had shown a petty resentment, which, again, Saracinesca +had treated with cold indifference. Little by little his fancied +grievance had acquired great proportions in his own estimation, and he +had learned to hate Giovanni more than any man living. At first it might +have seemed an easy matter to ruin his adversary, or, at all event, to +cause him great and serious injury; and but for that very indifference +which Del Ferice so resented, his attempts might have been successful. + +Giovanni belonged to a family who from the earliest times had been at +swords-drawn with the Government. Their property had been more than once +confiscated by the popes, had been seized again by force of arms, and had +been ultimately left to them for the mere sake of peace. They seem to +have quarrelled with everybody on every conceivable pretext, and to have +generally got the best of the struggle. No pope had ever reckoned upon +the friendship of Casa Saracinesca. For generations they had headed the +opposition whenever there was one, and had plotted to form one when there +was none ready to their hands. It seemed to Del Ferice that in the +stirring times that followed the annexation of Naples to the Italian +crown, when all Europe was watching the growth of the new Power, it +should be an easy matter to draw a Saracinesca into any scheme for the +subversion of a Government against which so many generations of +Saracinesca had plotted and fought. To involve Giovanni in some Liberal +conspiracy, and then by betraying him to cause him to be imprisoned or +exiled from Rome, was a plan which pleased Del Ferice, and which he +desired earnestly to put into execution. He had often tried to lead his +enemy into conversation, repressing and hiding his dislike for the sake +of his end; but at the first mention of political subjects Giovanni +became impenetrable, shrugged, his shoulders, and assumed an air of the +utmost indifference. No paradox could draw him into argument, no +flattery could loose his tongue. Indeed those were times when men +hesitated to express an opinion, not only because any opinion they +might express was liable to be exaggerated and distorted by willing +enemies--a consideration which would not have greatly intimidated +Giovanni Saracinesca--but also because it was impossible for the wisest +man to form any satisfactory judgment upon the course of events. It was +clear to every one that ever since 1848 the temporal power had been +sustained by France; and though no one in 1865 foresaw the downfall of +the Second Empire, no one saw any reason for supposing that the military +protectorate of Louis Napoleon in Rome could last for ever: what would be +likely to occur if that protection were withdrawn was indeed a matter of +doubt, but was not looked upon by the Government as a legitimate matter +for speculation. + +Del Ferice, however, did not desist from his attempts to make Giovanni +speak out his mind, and whenever an opportunity offered, tried to draw +him into conversation. He was destined on the present occasion to meet +with greater success than had hitherto attended his efforts. The picnic +was noisy, and Giovanni was in a bad humour; he did not care for Donna +Tullia's glances, nor for the remarks she constantly levelled at him; +still less was he amused by the shallow gaiety of her party of admirers, +tempered as their talk was by the occasional tonic of some outrageous +cynicism from the melancholy Spicca. Del Ferice smiled, and talked, and +smiled again, seeking to flatter and please Donna Tullia, as was his +wont. By-and-by the clear north wind and the bright sun dried the ground, +and Madame Mayer proposed that the party should walk a little on the road +towards Rome--a proposal of such startling originality that it was +carried by acclamation. Donna Tullia wanted to walk with Giovanni; but +on pretence of having left something upon the drag, he gave Valdarno time +to take his place. When Giovanni began to follow the rest, he found that +Del Ferice had lagged behind, and seemed to be waiting for him. + +Giovanni was in a bad humour that day. He had suffered himself to be +persuaded into joining in a species of amusement for which he cared +nothing, by a mere word from a woman for whom he cared less, but whom he +had half determined to marry, and who had wholly determined to marry him. +He, who hated vacillation, had been dangling for four-and-twenty hours +like a pendulum, or, as he said to himself, like an ass between two +bundles of hay. At one moment he meant to marry Donna Tullia, and at +another he loathed the thought; now he felt that he would make any +sacrifice to rid the Duchessa d'Astrardente of himself, and now again he +felt how futile such a sacrifice would be. He was ashamed in his heart, +for he was no boy of twenty to be swayed by a woman's look or a fit of +Quixotism; he was a strong grown man who had seen the world. He had been +in the habit of supposing his impulses to be good, and of following them +naturally without much thought; it seemed desperately perplexing to be +forced into an analysis of those impulses in order to decide what he +should do. He was in a thoroughly bad humour, and Del Ferice guessed that +if Giovanni could ever be induced to speak out, it must be when his +temper was not under control. In Rome, in the club--there was only one +club in those days--in society, Ugo never got a chance to talk to his +enemy; but here upon the Appian Way, with the broad Campagna stretching +away to right and left and rear, while the remainder of the party walked +three hundred yards in front, and Giovanni showed an evident reluctance +to join them, it would go hard indeed if he could not be led into +conversation. + +"I should think," Del Ferice began, "that if you had your choice, you +would walk anywhere rather than here." + +"Why?" asked Giovanni, carelessly. "It is a very good road." + +"I should think that our Roman Campagna would be anything but a source of +satisfaction to its possessors--like yourself," answered Del Ferice. + +"It is a very good grazing ground." + +"It might be something better. When one thinks that in ancient times it +was a vast series of villas--" + +"The conditions were very different. We do not live in ancient times," +returned Giovanni, drily. + +"Ah, the conditions!" ejaculated Del Ferice, with a suave sigh. "Surely +the conditions depend on man--not on nature. What our proud forefathers +accomplished by law and energy, we could, we can accomplish, if we +restore law and energy in our midst." + +"You are entirely mistaken," answered Saracinesca. "It would take five +times the energy of the ancient Romans to turn the Campagna into a +garden, or even into a fertile productive region. No one is five times as +energetic as the ancients. As for the laws, they do well enough." + +Del Ferice was delighted. For the first time, Giovanni seemed inclined to +enter upon an argument with him. + +"Why are the conditions so different? I do not see. Here is the same +undulating country, the same climate--" + +"And twice as much water," interrupted Giovanni. "You forget that the +Campagna is very low, and that the rivers in it have risen very much. +There are parts of ancient Rome now laid bare which lie below the present +water-mark of the Tiber. If the city were built upon its old level, much +of it would be constantly flooded. The rivers have risen and have swamped +the country. Do you think any amount of law or energy could drain this +fever-stricken plain into the sea? I do not. Do you think that if I could +be persuaded that the land could be improved into fertility I would +hesitate, at any expenditure in my power, to reclaim the miles of desert +my father and I own here? The plain is a series of swamps and stone +quarries. In one place you find the rock a foot below the surface, and +the soil burns up in summer; a hundred yards farther you find a bog +hundreds of feet deep, which even in summer is never dry." + +"But," suggested Del Ferice, who listened patiently enough, "supposing +the Government passed a law forcing all of you proprietors to plant trees +and dig ditches, it would have some effect." + +"The law cannot force us to sacrifice men's lives. The Trappist monks at +the Tre Fontane are trying it, and dying by scores. Do you think I, or +any other Roman, would send peasants to such a place, or could induce +them to go?" + +"Well, it is one of a great many questions which will be settled some +day," said Del Fence. "You will not deny that there is room for much +improvement in our country, and that an infusion of some progressist +ideas would be wholesome." + +"Perhaps so; but you understand one thing by progress, and I understand +quite another," replied Giovanni, eyeing in the bright distance the +figures of Donna Tullia and her friends, and regulating his pace so as +not to lessen the distance which separated them from him. He preferred +talking political economy with a man he disliked, to being obliged to +make conversation for Madame Mayer. + +"I mean by progress, positive improvement without revolutionary change," +explained Del Ferice, using the phrase he had long since constructed as +his profession of faith to the world. Giovanni eyed him keenly for a +moment. He cared nothing for Ugo or his ideas, but he suspected him of +very different principles. + +"You will pardon me," he said, civilly, "if I venture to doubt whether +you have frankly expressed your views. I am under the impression that you +really connect the idea of improvement with a very positive revolutionary +change." + +Del Ferice did not wince, but he involuntarily cast a glance behind him. +Those were times when people were cautious of being overheard. But Del +Ferice knew his man, and he knew that the only way in which he could +continue the interview was to accept the imputation as though trusting +implicitly to the discretion of his companion. + +"Will you give me a fair answer to a fair question?" he asked, very +gravely. + +"Let me hear the question," returned Giovanni, indifferently. He also +knew his man, and attached no more belief to anything he said than to the +chattering of a parrot. And yet Del Ferice had not the reputation of a +liar in the world at large. + +"Certainly," answered Ugo. "You are the heir of a family which from +immemorial time has opposed the popes. You cannot be supposed to feel any +kind of loyal attachment to the temporal power. I do not know whether +you individually would support it or not. But frankly, how would you +regard such a revolutionary change as you suspect me of desiring?" + +"I have no objection to telling you that. I would simply make the best of +it." + +Del Ferice laughed at the ambiguous answer, affecting to consider it as a +mere evasion. + +"We should all try to do that," he answered; "but what I mean to ask is, +whether you would personally take up arms to fight for the temporal +power, or whether you would allow events to take their course? I fancy +that would be the ultimate test of loyalty." + +"My instinct would certainly be to fight, whether fighting were of any +use or not. But the propriety of fighting in such a case is a very nice +question of judgment. So long as there is anything to fight for, no +matter how hopeless the odds, a gentleman should go to the front--but no +longer. The question must be to decide the precise point at which the +position becomes untenable. So long as France makes our quarrels hers, +every man should give his personal assistance to the cause; but it is +absurd to suppose that if we were left alone, a handful of Romans against +a great Power, we could do more, or should do more, than make a formal +show of resistance. It has been a rule in all ages that a general, +however brave, who sacrifices the lives of his soldiers in a perfectly +hopeless resistance, rather than accept the terms of an honourable +capitulation, is guilty of a military crime." + +"In other words," answered Del Ferice, quietly, "if the French troops +were withdrawn, and the Italians were besieging Rome, you would at once +capitulate?" + +"Certainly--after making a formal protest. It would be criminal to +sacrifice our fellow-citizens' lives in such a case." + +"And then?" + +"Then, as I said before, I would make the best of it--not omitting to +congratulate Del Ferice upon obtaining a post in the new Government," +added Giovanni, with a laugh. + +But Del Ferice took no notice of the jest. + +"Do you not think that, aside from any question of sympathy or loyalty to +the holy Father, the change of government would be an immense advantage +to Rome?" + +"No, I do not. To Italy the advantage would be inestimable; to Rome it +would be an injury. Italy would consolidate the prestige she began to +acquire when Cavour succeeded in sending a handful of troops to the +Crimea eleven years ago; she would at once take a high position as a +European Power--provided always that the smouldering republican element +should not break out in opposition to the constitutional monarchy. But +Rome would be ruined. She is no longer the geographical capital of +Italy--she is not even the largest city; but in the course of a few +years, violent efforts would be made to give her a fictitious modern +grandeur, in the place of the moral importance she now enjoys as the +headquarters of the Catholic world. Those efforts at a spurious growth +would ruin her financially, and the hatred of Romans for Italians of the +north would cause endless internal dissension. We should be subjected to +a system of taxation which would fall more heavily on us than on other +Italians, in proportion as our land is less productive. On the whole, we +should grow rapidly poorer; for prices would rise, and we should have a +paper currency instead of a metallic one. Especially we landed +proprietors would suffer terribly by the Italian land system being +suddenly thrust upon us. To be obliged to sell one's acres to any peasant +who can scrape together enough to capitalise the pittance he now pays as +rent, at five per cent, would scarcely be agreeable. Such a fellow, from +whom I have the greatest difficulty in extracting his yearly bushel of +grain, could borrow twenty bushels from a neighbour, or the value of +them, and buy me out without my consent--acquiring land worth ten times +the rent he and his father have paid for it, and his father before him. +It would produce an extraordinary state of things, I can assure you. +No--even putting aside what you call my sympathies and my loyalty to the +Pope--I do not desire any change. Nobody who owns much property does; the +revolutionary spirits are people who own nothing." + +"On the other hand, those who own nothing, or next to nothing, are the +great majority." + +"Even if that is true, which I doubt, I do not see why the intelligent +few should be ruled by that same ignorant majority." + +"But you forget that the majority is to be educated," objected Del +Ferice. + +"Education is a term few people can define," returned Giovanni. "Any good +schoolmaster knows vastly more than you or I. Would you like to be +governed by a majority of schoolmasters?" + +"That is a plausible argument," laughed Del Ferice, "but it is not +sound." + +"It is not sound!" repeated Giovanni, impatiently. "People are so fond of +exclaiming that what they do not like is not sound! Do you think that it +would not be a fair case to put five hundred schoolmasters against five +hundred gentlemen of average education? I think it would be very fair. +The schoolmasters would certainly have the advantage in education: do you +mean to say they would make better or wiser electors than the same number +of gentlemen who cannot name all the cities and rivers in Italy, nor +translate a page of Latin without a mistake, but who understand the +conditions of property by practical experience as no schoolmaster can +possibly understand them? I tell you it is nonsense. Education, of the +kind which is of any practical value in the government of a nation, means +the teaching of human motives, of humanising ideas, of some system +whereby the majority of electors can distinguish the qualities of honesty +and common-sense in the candidate they wish to elect. I do not pretend to +say what that system may be, but I assert that no education which does +not lead to that kind of knowledge is of any practical use to the voting +majority of a constitutionally governed country." + +Del Ferice sighed rather sadly. + +"I am afraid you will not discover that system in Europe," he said. He +was disappointed in Giovanni, and in his hopes of detecting in him some +signs of a revolutionary spirit. Saracinesca was a gentleman of the old +school, who evidently despised majorities and modern political science as +a whole, who for the sake of his own interests desired no change from the +Government under which he lived, and who would surely be the first to +draw the sword for the temporal power, and the last to sheathe it. His +calm judgment concerning the fallacy of holding a hopeless position would +vanish like smoke if his fiery blood were once roused. He was so honest a +man that even Del Ferice could not suspect him of parading views he did +not hold; and Ugo then and there abandoned all idea of bringing him into +political trouble and disgrace, though he by no means gave up all hope of +being able to ruin him in some other way. + +"I agree with you there at least," said Saracinesca. "The only +improvements worth having are certainly not to be found in Europe. Donna +Tullia is calling us. We had better join that harmless flock of lambs, +and give over speculating on the advantages of allying ourselves with a +pack of wolves who will eat us up, house and home, bag and baggage." + +So the whole party climbed again to their seats upon the drag, and +Valdarno drove them back into Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Corona d'Astrardente had been educated in a convent--that is to say, she +had been brought up in the strict practice of her religion; and during +the five years which had elapsed since she had come out into the world, +she had found no cause for forsaking the habits she had acquired in her +girlhood. Some people find religion a burden; others regard it as an +indifferently useless institution, in which they desire no share, and +concerning which they never trouble themselves; others, again, look upon +it as the mainstay of their lives. + +It is natural to suppose that the mode of thought and the habits acquired +by young girls in a religious institution will not disappear without a +trace when they first go into the world, and it may even be expected that +some memory of the early disposition thus cultivated will cling to them +throughout their lives. But the multifarious interests of social +existence do much to shake that young edifice of faith. The driving +strength of stormy passions of all kinds undermines the walls of the +fabric, and when at last the bolt of adversity strikes full upon the +keystone of the arch, upon the self of man or woman, weakened and +loosened by the tempests of years, the whole palace of the soul falls in, +a hopeless wreck, wherein not even the memory of outline can be traced, +nor the faint shadow of a beauty which is destroyed for ever. + +But there are some whose interests in this world are not strong enough to +shake their faith in the next; whose passions do not get the mastery, and +whose self is sheltered from danger by something more than the feeble +defence of an accomplished egotism. Corona was one of these, for her lot +had not been happy, nor her path strewn with roses. + +She was a friendless woman, destined to suffer much, and her suffering +was the more intense that she seemed always upon the point of finding +friends in the world where she played so conspicuous a part. There can be +little happiness when a whole life has been placed upon a false +foundation, even though so dire a mistake may have been committed +willingly and from a sense of duty and obligation, such as drove Corona +to marry old Astrardente. Consolation is not satisfaction; and though, +when she reflected on what she had done, she knew that from her point of +view she had done her best, she knew also that she had closed upon +herself the gates of the earthly paradise, and that for her the prospect +of happiness had been removed from the now to the hereafter--the dim and +shadowy glass in which we love to see any reflection save that of our +present lives. And to her, thus living in submission to the consequences +of her choice, that faith in things better which had inspired her to +sacrifice was the chief remaining source of consolation. There was a good +man to whom she went for advice, as she had gone to him ever since she +could remember. When she found herself in trouble she never hesitated. +Padre Filippo was to her the living proof of the possibility of human +goodness, as faith is to us all the evidence of things not seen. + +Corona was in trouble now--in a trouble so new that she hardly understood +it, so terrible and yet so vague that she felt her peril imminent. She +did not hesitate, therefore, nor change her mind upon the morning +following the day of the meet, but drove to the church of the Capuchins +in the Piazza Barberini, and went up the broad steps with a beating +heart, not knowing how she should tell what she meant to tell, yet +knowing that there was for her no hope of peace unless she told it +quickly, and got that advice and direction she so earnestly craved. + +Padre Filippo had been a man of the world in his time--a man of great +cultivation, full of refined tastes and understanding of tastes in +others, gentle and courteous in his manners, and very kind of heart. No +one knew whence he came. He spoke Italian correctly and with a keen +scholarly use of words, but his slight accent betrayed his foreign birth. +He had been a Capuchin monk for many years, perhaps for more than half +his lifetime, and Corona could remember him from her childhood, for he +had been a friend of her father's; but he had not been consulted about +her marriage,--she even remembered that, though she had earnestly desired +to see him before the wedding-day, her father had told her that he had +left Rome for a time. For the old gentleman was in terrible earnest about +the match, so that in his heart he feared lest Corona might waver and ask +Padre Filippo's advice; and he knew the good monk too well to think that +he would give his countenance to such a sacrifice as was contemplated +in marrying the young girl to old Astrardente. Corona had known this +later, but had hardly realised the selfishness of her father, nor indeed +had desired to realise it. It was sufficient that he had died satisfied +in seeing her married to a great noble, and that she had been able, in +his last days, to relieve him from the distress of debt and embarrassment +which had doubtless contributed to shorten his life. + +The proud woman who had thus once humbled herself for an object she +thought good, had never referred to her action again. She had never +spoken of her position to Padre Filippo, so that the monk wondered and +admired her steadfastness. If she suffered, it was in silence, without +comment and without complaint, and so she would have suffered to the end. +But it had been ordered otherwise. For months she had known that the +interest she felt in Giovanni Saracinesca was increasing: she had choked +it down, had done all in her power to prove herself indifferent to him; +but at last the crisis had come. When he spoke to her of his marriage, +she had felt--she knew now that it was so--that she loved him. The very +word, as she repeated it to herself, rang like an awful, almost +incomprehensible, accusation of evil in her ears. One moment she stood at +the top of the steps outside the church, looking down at the bare +straggling trees below, and upward to the grey sky, against which the +lofty eaves of the Palazzo Barberini stood out sharply defined. The +weather had changed again, and a soft southerly wind was blowing the +spray of the fountain half across the piazza. Corona paused, her graceful +figure half leaning against the stone doorpost of the church, her hand +upon the heavy leathern curtain in the act to lift it; and as she stood +there, a desperate temptation assailed her. It seemed desperate to +her--to many another woman it would have appeared only the natural course +to pursue--to turn her back upon the church, to put off the hard moment +of confession, to go down again into the city, and to say to herself that +there was no harm in seeing Don Giovanni, provided she never let him +speak of love. Why should he speak of it? Had she any reason to suppose +there was danger to her in anything he meant to say? Had he ever, by word +or deed, betrayed that interest in her which she knew in herself was love +for him? Had he ever?--ah yes! It was only the night before last that he +had asked her advice, had besought her to advise him not to marry +another, had suffered his arm to tremble when she laid her hand upon it. +In the quick remembrance that he too had shown some feeling, there was a +sudden burst of joy such as Corona had never felt, and a moment later she +knew it and was afraid. It was true, then. At the very time when she was +most oppressed with the sense of her fault in loving him, there was an +inward rejoicing in her heart at the bare thought that she loved him. +Could a woman fall lower, she asked herself--lower than to delight in +what she knew to be most bad? And yet it was such a poor little thrill of +pleasure after all; but it was the first she had ever known. To turn away +and reflect for a few days would be so easy! It would be so sweet to +think of it, even though the excuse for thinking of Giovanni should be a +good determination to root him from her life. It would be so sweet to +drive again alone among the trees that very afternoon, and to weigh the +salvation of her soul in the balance of her heart: her heart would know +how to turn the scales, surely enough. Corona stood still, holding the +curtain in her hand. She was a brave woman, but she turned pale--not +hesitating, she said to herself, but pausing. Then, suddenly, a great +scorn of herself arose in her. Was it worthy of her even to pause in +doing right? The nobility of her courage cried loudly to her to go in and +do the thing most worthy: her hand lifted the heavy leathern apron, and +she entered the church. + +The air within was heavy and moist, and the grey light fell coldly +through the tall windows. Corona shuddered, and drew her furs more +closely about her as she passed up the aisle to the door of the sacristy. +She found the monk she sought, and she made her confession. + +"Padre mio," she said at last, when the good man thought she had +finished--"Padre mio, I am a very miserable woman." She hid her dark face +in her ungloved hands, and one by one the crystal tears welled from her +eyes and trickled down upon her small fingers and upon the worn black +wood of the confessional. + +"My daughter," said the good monk, "I will pray for you, others will pray +for you--but before all things, you must pray for yourself. And let me +advise you, my child, that as we are all led into temptation, we must +not think that because we have been in temptation we have sinned +hopelessly; nor, if we have fought against the thing that tempts us, +should we at once imagine that we have overcome it, and have done +altogether right. If there were no evil in ourselves, there could be no +temptation from without, for nothing evil could seem pleasant. But with +you I cannot find that you have done any great wrong as yet. You must +take courage. We are all in the world, and do what we may, we cannot +disregard it. The sin you see is real, but it is yet not very near you +since you so abhor it; and if you pray that you may hate it, it will go +further from you till you may hope not even to understand how it could +once have been so near. Take courage--take comfort. Do not be morbid. +Resist temptation, but do not analyse it nor yourself too closely; for +it is one of the chief signs of evil in us that when we dwell too much +upon ourselves and upon our temptations, we ourselves seem good in our +own eyes, and our temptations not unpleasant, because the very resisting +of them seems to make us appear better than we are." + +But the tears still flowed from Corona's eyes in the dark corner of the +church, and she could not be comforted. + +"Padre mio," she repeated, "I am very unhappy. I have not a friend in the +world to whom I can speak. I have never seen my life before as I see it +now. God forgive me, I have never loved my husband. I never knew what it +meant to love. I was a mere child, a very innocent child, when I was +married to him. I would have sought your advice, but they told me you +were away, and I thought I was doing right in obeying my father." + +Padre Filippo sighed. He had long known and understood why Corona had not +been allowed to come to him at the most important moment of her life. + +"My husband is very kind to me," she continued in broken tones. "He loves +me in his way, but I do not love him. That of itself is a great sin. It +seems to me as though I saw but one half of life, and saw it from the +window of a prison; and yet I am not imprisoned. I would that I were, for +I should never have seen another man. I should never have heard his +voice, nor seen his face, nor--nor loved him, as I do love him," she +sobbed. + +"Hush, my daughter," said the old monk, very gently. "You told me you had +never spoken of love; that you were interested in him, indeed, but that +you did not know--" + +"I know--I know now," cried Corona, losing all control as the passionate +tears flowed down. "I could not say it--it seemed so dreadful--I love him +with my whole self! I can never get it out--it burns me. O God, I am so +wretched!" + +Padre Filippo was silent for a while. It was a terrible case. He could +not remember in all his experience to have known one more sad to +contemplate, though his business was with the sins and the sorrows of the +world. The beautiful woman kneeling outside his confessional was +innocent--as innocent as a child, brave and faithful. She had sacrificed +her whole life for her father, who had been little worthy of such +devotion; she had borne for years the suffering of being tied to an old +man whom she could not help despising, however honestly she tried to +conceal the fact from herself, however effectually she hid it from +others. It was a wonder the disaster had not occurred before: it showed +how loyal and true a woman she was, that, living in the very centre and +midst of the world, admired and assailed by many, she should never in +five years have so much as thought of any man beside her husband. A woman +made for love and happiness, in the glory of beauty and youth, capable +of such unfaltering determination in her loyalty, so good, so noble, so +generous,--it seemed unspeakably pathetic to hear her weeping her heart +out, and confessing that, after so many struggles and efforts and +sacrifices, she had at last met the common fate of all humanity, and +was become subject to love. What might have been her happiness was turned +to dishonour; what should have been the pride of her young life was made +a reproach. + +She would not fall. The grey-haired monk believed that, in his great +knowledge of mankind. But she would suffer terribly, and it might be that +others would suffer also. It was the consequence of an irretrievable +error in the beginning, when it had seemed to the young girl just +leaving the convent that the best protection against the world of evil +into which she was to go would be the unconditional sacrifice of herself. + +Padre Filippo was silent. He hoped that the passionate outburst of grief +and self-reproach would pass, though he himself could find little enough +to say. It was all too natural. What was he, he thought, that he should +explain away nature, and bid a friendless woman defy a power that has +more than once overset the reckoning of the world? He could bid her pray +for help and strength, but he found it hard to argue the case with her; +for he had to allow that his beautiful penitent was, after all, only +experiencing what it might have been foretold that she must feel, and +that, as far as he could see, she was struggling bravely against the +dangers of her situation. + +Corona cried bitterly as she knelt there. It was a great relief to give +way for a time to the whole violence of what she felt. It may be that in +her tears there was a subtle instinctive knowledge that she was weeping +for her love as well as for her sin in loving, but her grief was none +the less real. She did not understand herself. She did not know, as Padre +Filippo knew, that her woman's heart was breaking for sympathy rather +than for religious counsel. She knew many women, but her noble pride +would not have let her even contemplate the possibility of confiding in +any one of them, even if she could have done so in the certainty of not +being herself betrayed and of not betraying the man she loved. She had +been accustomed to come to her confessor for counsel, and she now came to +him with her troubles and craved sympathy for them, in the knowledge that +Padre Filippo could never know the name of the man who had disturbed her +peace. + +But the monk understood well enough, and his kind heart comprehended hers +and felt for her. + +"My daughter," he said at last, when she seemed to have grown more calm, +"it would be an inestimable advantage if this man could go away for a +time, but that is probably not to be expected. Meanwhile, you must not +listen to him if he speaks--" + +"It is not that," interrupted Corona--"it is not that. He never speaks of +love. Oh, I really believe he does not love me at all!" But in her heart +she felt that he must love her; and her hand, as it lay upon the hard +wood of the confessional, seemed still to feel his trembling arm. + +"That is so much the better, my child," said the monk, quietly. "For if +he does not love you, your temptations will not grow stronger." + +"And yet, perhaps--he may--" murmured Corona, feeling that it would be +wrong even to conceal her faintest suspicions at such a time. + +"Let there be no perhaps," answered Padre Filippo, almost sternly. "Let +it never enter your mind that he might love you. Think that even from the +worldly point there is small dignity in a woman who exhibits love for a +man who has never mentioned love to her. You have no reason to suppose +you are loved save that you desire to be. Let there be no perhaps." + +The monk's keen insight into character had given him an unexpected weapon +in Corona's defence. He knew how of all things a proud woman hates to +know that where she has placed her heart there is no response, and that +if she fails to awaken an affection akin to her own, what has been love +may be turned to loathing, or at least to indifference. The strong +character of the Duchessa d'Astrardente responded to his touch as he +expected. Her tears ceased to flow, and her scorn rose haughtily against +herself. + +"It is true. I am despicable," she said, suddenly. "You have shown me +myself. There shall be no perhaps. I loathe myself for thinking of it. +Pray for me, lest I fall so low again." + +A few minutes later Corona left the confessional and went and kneeled in +the body of the church to collect her thoughts. She was in a very +different frame of mind from that in which she had left home an hour ago. +She hardly knew whether she felt herself a better woman, but she was +sure that she was stronger. There was no desire left in her to meditate +sadly upon her sorrow--to go over and over in her thoughts the feelings +she experienced, the fears she felt, the half-formulated hope that +Giovanni might love her after all. There was left only a haughty +determination to have done with her folly quickly and surely, and to try +and forget it for ever. The confessor's words had produced their effect. +Henceforth she would never stoop so low again. She was ready to go out +into the world now, and she felt no fear. It was more from habit than for +the sake of saying a prayer that she knelt in the church after her +confession, for she felt very strong. She rose to her feet presently, and +moved towards the door: she had not gone half the length of the church +when she came face to face with Donna Tullia Mayer. + +It was a strange coincidence. The ladies of Rome frequently go to the +church of the Capuchins, as Corona had done, to seek the aid and counsel +of Padre Filippo, but Corona had never met Donna Tullia there. Madame +Mayer did not profess to be very devout. As a matter of fact, she had not +found it convenient to go to confession during the Christmas season, and +she had been intending to make up for the deficiency for some time past; +but it is improbable that she would have decided upon fulfilling her +religious obligations before Lent if she had not chanced to see the +Duchessa d'Astrardente's carriage standing at the foot of the church +steps. + +Donna Tullia had risen early because she was going to sit for her +portrait to a young artist who lived in the neighbourhood of the Piazza +Barberini, and as she passed in her brougham she caught sight of the +Duchessa's liveries. The artist could wait half an hour: the opportunity +was admirable. She was alone, and would not only do her duty in going to +confession, but would have a chance of seeing how Corona looked when she +had been at her devotions. It might also be possible to judge from Padre +Filippo's manner whether the interview had been an interesting one. The +Astrardente was so very devout that she probably had difficulty in +inventing sins to confess. One might perhaps tell from her face whether +she had felt any emotion. At all events the opportunity should not be +lost. Besides, if Donna Tullia found that she herself was really not in a +proper frame of mind for religious exercises, she could easily spend a +few moments in the church and then proceed upon her way. She stopped her +carriage and went in. She had just entered when she was aware of the tall +figure of Corona d'Astrardente coming towards her, magnificent in the +simplicity of her furs, a short veil just covering half her face, and an +unwonted colour in her dark cheeks. + +Corona was surprised at meeting Madame Mayer, but she did not show it. +She nodded with a sufficiently pleasant smile, and would have passed on. +This would not have suited Donna Tullia's intentions, however, for she +meant to have a good look at her friend. It was not for nothing that she +had made up her mind to go to confession at a moment's notice. She +therefore stopped the Duchessa, and insisted upon shaking hands. + +"What an extraordinary coincidence!" she exclaimed. "You must have been +to see Padre Filippo too?" + +"Yes," answered Corona. "You will find him in the sacristy." She noticed +that Madame Mayer regarded her with great interest. Indeed she could +hardly be aware how unlike her usual self she appeared. There were dark +rings beneath her eyes, and her eyes themselves seemed to emit a strange +light; while an unwonted colour illuminated her olive cheeks, and her +voice had a curiously excited tone. Madame Mayer stared at her so hard +that she noticed it. + +"Why do you look at me like that?" asked the Duchessa, with a smile. + +"I was wondering what in the world you could find to confess," replied +Donna Tullia, sweetly. "You are so immensely good, you see; everybody +wonders at you." + +Corona's eyes flashed darkly. She suspected that Madame Mayer noticed +something unusual in her appearance, and had made the awkward speech to +conceal her curiosity. She was annoyed at the meeting, still more at +being detained in conversation within the church. + +"It is very kind of you to invest me with such virtues," she answered. "I +assure you I am not half so good as you suppose. Good-bye--I must be +going home." + +"Stay!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "I can go to confession another time. +Will not you come with me to Gouache's studio? I am going to sit. It is +such a bore to go alone." + +"Thank you very much," said Corona, civilly. "I am afraid I cannot go. My +husband expects me at home. I wish you a good sitting." + +"Well, good-bye. Oh, I forgot to tell you, we had such a charming picnic +yesterday. It was so fortunate--the only fine day this week. Giovanni was +very amusing: he was completely _en train_, and kept us laughing the +whole day. Good-bye; I do so wish you had come." + +"I was very sorry," answered Corona, quietly, "but it was impossible. I +am glad you all enjoyed it so much. Good-bye." + +So they parted. + +"How she wishes that same husband of hers would follow the example of my +excellent old Mayer, of blessed memory, and take himself out of the world +to-day or to-morrow!" thought Donna Tullia, as she walked up the church. + +She was sure something unusual had occurred, and she longed to fathom the +mystery. But she was not altogether a bad woman, and when she had +collected her thoughts she made up her mind that even by the utmost +stretch of moral indulgence, she could not consider herself in a proper +state to undertake so serious a matter as confession. She therefore +waited a few minutes, to give time for Corona to drive away, and then +turned back. She cautiously pushed aside the curtain and looked out. +The Astrardente carriage was just disappearing in the distance. Donna +Tullia descended the steps, got into her brougham, and proceeded to the +studio of Monsieur Anastase Gouache, the portrait-painter. She had not +accomplished much, save to rouse her curiosity, and that parting thrust +concerning Don Giovanni had been rather ill-timed. + +She drove to the door of the studio and found Del Ferice waiting for her +as usual. If Corona had accompanied her, she would have expressed +astonishment at finding him; but, as a matter of fact, Ugo always met +her there, and helped to pass the time while she was sitting. He was very +amusing, and not altogether unsympathetic to her; and moreover, he +professed for her the most profound devotion--genuine, perhaps, and +certainly skilfully expressed. If any one had paid much attention to Del +Fence's doings, it would have been said that he was paying court to the +rich young widow. But he was never looked upon by society from the point +of view of matrimonial possibility, and no one thought of attaching any +importance to his doings. Nevertheless Ugo, who had been gradually rising +in the social scale for many years, saw no reason why he should not win +the hand of Donna Tullia as well as any one else, if only Giovanni +Saracinesca could be kept out of the way; and he devoted himself with +becoming assiduity to the service of the widow, while doing his utmost to +promote Giovanni's attachment for the Astrardente, which he had been the +first to discover. Donna Tullia would probably have laughed to scorn the +idea that Del Ferice could think of himself seriously as a suitor, but of +all her admirers she found him the most constant and the most convenient. + +"What are the news this morning?" she asked, as he opened her +carriage-door for her before the studio. + +"None, save that I am your faithful slave as ever," he answered. + +"I have just seen the Astrardente," said Donna Tullia, still sitting in +her seat. "I will let you guess where it was that we met." + +"You met in the church of the Capuchins," replied Del Ferice promptly, +with a smile of satisfaction. + +"You are a sorcerer: how did you know? Did you guess it?" + +"If you will look down this street from where I stand, you will perceive +that I could distinctly see any carriage which turned out of the Piazza +Barberini towards the Capuchins," replied Ugo. "She was there nearly an +hour, and you only stayed five minutes." + +"How dreadful it is to be watched like this!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, +with a little laugh, half expressive of satisfaction and half of +amusement at Del Fence's devotion. + +"How can I help watching you, as the earth watches the sun in its daily +course?" said Ugo, with a sentimental intonation of his soft persuasive +voice. Donna Tullia looked at his smooth face, and laughed again, half +kindly. + +"The Astrardente had been confessing her sins," she remarked. + +"Again? She is always confessing." + +"What do you suppose she finds to say?" asked Donna Tullia. + +"That her husband is hideous, and that you are beautiful," answered Del +Ferice, readily enough. + +"Why?" + +"Because she hates her husband and hates you." + +"Why, again?" + +"Because you took Giovanni Saracinesca to your picnic yesterday; because +you are always taking him away from her. For the matter of that, I hate +him as much as the Astrardente hates you," added Del Ferice, with an +agreeable smile. Donna Tullia did not despise flattery, but Ugo made her +thoughtful. + +"Do you think she really cares--?" she asked. + +"As surely as that he does not," replied Del Ferice. + +"It would be strange," said Donna Tullia, meditatively. "I would like to +know if it is true." + +"You have only to watch them." + +"Surely Giovanni cares more than she does," objected Madame Mayer. +"Everybody says he loves her; nobody says she loves him." + +"All the more reason. Popular report is always mistaken--except +in regard to you." + +"To me?" + +"Since it ascribes to you so much that is good, it cannot be wrong," +replied Del Ferice. + +Donna Tullia laughed, and took his hand to descend from her carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Monsieur Gouache's studio was on the second floor. The narrow flight of +steps ended abruptly against a green door, perforated by a slit for the +insertion of letters, by a shabby green cord which, being pulled, rang a +feeble bell, and adorned by a visiting-card, whereon with many +superfluous flourishes and ornaments of caligraphy was inscribed the name +of the artist--ANASTASE GOUACHE. + +The door being opened by a string, Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, +and mounting half-a-dozen more steps, found themselves in the studio, a +spacious room with a window high above the floor, half shaded by a +curtain of grey cotton. In one corner an iron stove gave out loud +cracking sounds, pleasant to hear on the damp winter's morning, and the +flame shone red through chinks of the rusty door. A dark-green carpet in +passably good condition covered the floor; three or four broad divans, +spread with oriental rugs, and two very much dilapidated carved chairs +with leathern seats, constituted the furniture; the walls were hung with +sketches of heads and figures; half-finished portraits stood upon two +easels, and others were leaning together in a corner; a couple of small +tables were covered with colour-tubes, brushes, and palette-knives; +mingled odours of paint, varnish, and cigarette-smoke pervaded the air; +and, lastly, upon a high stool before one of the easels, his sleeves +turned up to the elbow, and his feet tucked in upon a rail beneath him, +sat Anastase Gouache himself. + +He was a man of not more than seven-and-twenty years, with delicate pale +features, and an abundance of glossy black hair. A small and very much +pointed moustache shaded his upper lip, and the extremities thereof rose +short and perpendicular from the corners of his well-shaped mouth. His +eyes were dark and singularly expressive, his forehead low and very +broad; his hands were sufficiently nervous and well knit, but white as a +woman's, and the fingers tapered delicately to the tips. He wore a brown +velvet coat more or less daubed with paint, and his collar was low at the +throat. + +He sprang from his high stool as Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, his +palette and mahl-stick in his hand, and made a most ceremonious bow; +whereat Donna Tullia laughed gaily. + +"Well, Gouache," she said familiarly, "what have you been doing?" + +Anastase motioned to her to come before his canvas and contemplate the +portrait of herself upon which he was working. It was undeniably good--a +striking figure in full-length, life-size, and breathing with Donna +Tullia's vitality, if also with something of her coarseness. + +"Ah, my friend," remarked Del Ferice, "you will never be successful until +you take my advice." + +"I think it is very like," said Donna Tullia, thoughtfully. + +"You are too modest," answered Del Ferice. "There is the foundation of +likeness, but it lacks yet the soul." + +"Oh, but that will come," returned Madame Mayer. Then turning to the +artist, she added in a more doubtful voice, "Perhaps, as Del Ferice says, +you might give it a little more expression--what shall I say?--more +poetry." + +Anastase Gouache smiled a fine smile. He was a man of immense talent; +since he had won the Prix de Rome he had made great progress, and was +already half famous with that young celebrity which young men easily +mistake for fame itself. A new comet visible only through a good glass +causes a deal of talk and speculation in the world; but unless it comes +near enough to brush the earth with its tail, it is very soon forgotten. +But Gouache seemed to understand this, and worked steadily on. When +Madame Mayer expressed a wish for a little more poetry in her portrait, +he smiled, well knowing that poetry was as far removed from her nature as +dry champagne is different in quality from small beer. + +"Yes," he said; "I know--I am only too conscious of that defect." As +indeed he was--conscious of the defect of it in herself. But he had many +reasons for not wishing to quarrel with Donna Tullia, and he swallowed +his artistic convictions in a rash resolve to make her look like an +inspired prophetess rather than displease her. + +"If you will sit down, I will work upon the head," he said; and moving +one of the old carved chairs into position for her, he adjusted the light +and began to work without any further words. Del Ferice installed himself +upon a divan whence he could see Donna Tullia and her portrait, and the +sitting began. It might have continued for some time in a profound +silence as far as the two men were concerned, but silence was not +bearable for long to Donna Tullia. + +"What were you and Saracinesca talking about yesterday?" she asked +suddenly, looking towards Del Ferice. + +"Politics," he answered, and was silent. + +"Well?" inquired Madame Mayer, rather anxiously. + +"I am sure you know his views as well as I," returned Del Ferice, rather +gloomily. "He is stupid and prejudiced." + +"Really?" ejaculated Gouache, with innocent surprise. "A little more +towards me, Madame. Thank you--so." And he continued painting. + +"You are absurd, Del Ferice!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, colouring a little. +"You think every one prejudiced and stupid who does not agree with you." + +"With me? With you, with us, you should say. Giovanni is a specimen of +the furious Conservative, who hates change and has a cold chill at the +word 'republic' Do you call that intelligent?" + +"Giovanni is intelligent for all that," answered Madame Mayer. "I am not +sure that he is not more intelligent than you--in some ways," she added, +after allowing her rebuke to take effect. + +Del Ferice smiled blandly. It was not his business to show that he was +hurt. + +"In one thing he is stupid compared with me," he replied. "He is very far +from doing justice to your charms. It must be a singular lack of +intelligence which prevents him from seeing that you are as beautiful as +you are charming. Is it not so, Gouache?" + +"Does any one deny it?" asked the Frenchman, with an air of devotion. + +Madame Mayer blushed with annoyance; both because she coveted Giovanni's +admiration more than that of other men, and knew that she had not won it, +and because she hated to feel that Del Ferice was able to wound her so +easily. To cover her discomfiture she returned to the subject of +politics. + +"We talk a great deal of our convictions," she said; "but in the +meanwhile we must acknowledge that we have accomplished nothing at all. +What is the good of our meeting here two or three times a-week, meeting +in society, whispering together, corresponding in cipher, and doing all +manner of things, when everything goes on just the same as before?" + +"Better give it up and join Don Giovanni and his party," returned Del +Ferice, with a sneer. "He says if a change comes he will make the best of +it. Of course, we could not do better." + +"With us it is so easy," said Gouache, thoughtfully. "A handful of +students, a few paving-stones, 'Vive la République!' and we have a tumult +in no time." + +That was not the kind of revolution in which Del Ferice proposed to have +a hand. He meditated playing a very small part in some great movement; +and when the fighting should be over, he meant to exaggerate the part he +had played, and claim a substantial reward. For a good title and twenty +thousand francs a-year he would have become as stanch for the temporal +power as any canon of St. Peter's. When he had begun talking of +revolutions to Madame Mayer and to half-a-dozen harebrained youths, of +whom Gouache the painter was one, he had not really the slightest idea of +accomplishing anything. He took advantage of the prevailing excitement +in order to draw Donna Tullia into a closer confidence than he could +otherwise have aspired to obtain. He wanted to marry her, and every new +power he could obtain over her was a step towards his goal. Neither she +nor her friends were of the stuff required for revolutionary work; but +Del Ferice had hopes that, by means of the knot of malcontents he was +gradually drawing together, he might ruin Giovanni Saracinesca, and get +the hand of Donna Tullia in marriage. He himself was indeed deeply +implicated in the plots of the Italian party; but he was only employed as +a spy, and in reality knew no more of the real intentions of those he +served than did Donna Tullia herself. But the position was sufficiently +lucrative; so much so that he had been obliged to account for his +accession of fortune by saying that an uncle of his had died and left him +money. + +"If you expected Don Giovanni to join a mob of students in tearing up +paving-stones and screaming 'Vive la République!' I am not surprised that +you are disappointed in your expectations," said Donna Tullia, rather +scornfully. + +"That is only Gouache's idea of a popular movement," answered Del Ferice. + +"And yours," returned Anastase, lowering his mahl-stick and brushes, and +turning sharply upon the Italian--"yours would be to begin by stabbing +Cardinal Antonelli in the back." + +"You mistake me, my friend," returned Del Ferice, blandly. "If you +volunteered to perform that service to Italy, I would certainly not +dissuade you. But I would certainly not offer you my assistance." + +"Fie! How can you talk like that of murder!" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "Go +on with your painting, Gouache, and do not be ridiculous." + +"The question of tyrannicide is marvellously interesting," answered +Anastase in a meditative tone, as he resumed his work, and glanced +critically from Madame Mayer to his canvas and back again. + +"It belongs to a class of actions at which Del Ferice rejoices, but in +which he desires no part," said Donna Tullia. + +"It seems to me wiser to contemplate accomplishing the good result +without any unnecessary and treacherous bloodshed," answered Del Ferice, +sententiously. Again Gouache smiled in his delicate satirical fashion, +and glanced at Madame Mayer, who burst into a laugh. + +"Moral reflections never sound so especially and ridiculously moral as in +your mouth, Ugo," she said. + +"Why?" he asked, in an injured tone. + +"I am sure I do not know. Of course, we all would like to see Victor +Emmanuel in the Quirinal, and Rome the capital of a free Italy. Of course +we would all like to see it accomplished without murder or bloodshed; but +somehow, when you put it into words, it sounds very absurd." + +In her brutal fashion Madame Mayer had hit upon a great truth, and Del +Ferice was very much annoyed. He knew himself to be a scoundrel; he knew +Madame Mayer to be a woman of very commonplace intellect; he wondered +why he was not able to deceive her more effectually. He was often able to +direct her, he sometimes elicited from her some expression of admiration +at his astuteness; but in spite of his best efforts, she saw through him +and understood him better than he liked. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that what is honourable should sound ridiculous +when it comes from me. I like to think sometimes that you believe in me." + +"Oh, I do," protested Donna Tullia, with a sudden change of manner. "I +was only laughing. I think you are really in earnest. Only, you know, +nowadays, it is not the fashion to utter moralities in a severe tone, +with an air of conviction. A little dash of cynicism--you know, a sort of +half sneer--is so much more _chic_; it gives a much higher idea of the +morality, because it conveys the impression that it is utterly beyond +you. Ask Gouache--" + +"By all means," said the artist, squeezing a little more red from the +tube upon his palette, "one should always sneer at what one cannot reach. +The fox, you remember, called the grapes sour. He was probably right, for +he is the most intelligent of animals." + +"I would like to hear what Giovanni had to say about those grapes," +remarked Donna Tullia. + +"Oh, he sneered in the most fashionable way," answered Del Ferice. "He +would have pleased you immensely. He said that he would be ruined by a +change of government, and that he thought it his duty to fight against +it. He talked a great deal about the level of the Tiber, and landed +property, and the duties of gentlemen. And he ended by saying he would +make the best of any change that happened to come about, like a +thoroughgoing egotist, as he is!" + +"I would like to hear what you think of Don Giovanni Saracinesca," said +Gouache; "and then I would like to hear what he thinks of you." + +"I can tell you both," answered Del Fence. "I think of him that he is a +thorough aristocrat, full of prejudices and money, unwilling to sacrifice +his convictions to his wealth or his wealth to his convictions, +intelligent in regard to his own interests and blind to those of others, +imbued with a thousand and one curious feudal notions, and overcome with +a sense of his own importance." + +"And what does he think of you?" asked Anastase, working busily. + +"Oh, it is very simple," returned Del Ferice, with a laugh. "He thinks I +am a great scoundrel." + +"Really! How strange! I should not have said that." + +"What? That Del Fence is a scoundrel?" asked Donna Tullia, laughing. + +"No; I should not have said it," repeated Anastase, thoughtfully. "I +should say that our friend Del Ferice is a man of the most profound +philanthropic convictions, nobly devoting his life to the pursuit of +liberty, fraternity, and equality." + +"Do you really think so?" asked Donna Tullia, with a half-comic glance at +Ugo, who looked uncommonly grave. + +"Madame," returned Gouache, "I never permit myself to think otherwise of +any of my friends." + +"Upon my word," remarked Del Fence, "I am delighted at the compliment, my +dear fellow; but I must infer that your judgment of your friends is +singularly limited." + +"Perhaps," answered Gouache. "But the number of my friends is not large, +and I myself am very enthusiastic. I look forward to the day when +'liberty, equality, and fraternity' shall be inscribed in letters of +flame, in the most expensive Bengal lights if you please, over the _porte +cochère_ of every palace in Rome, not to mention the churches. I look +forward to that day, but I have not the slightest expectation of ever +seeing it. Moreover, if it ever comes, I will pack up my palette and +brushes and go somewhere else by the nearest route." + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "how can you talk like +that? It is really dreadfully irreverent to jest about our most sacred +convictions, or to say that we desire to see those words written over the +doors of our churches!" + +"I am not jesting. I worship Victor Hugo. I love to dream of the +universal republic--it has immense artistic attractions--the fierce +yelling crowd, the savage faces, the red caps, the terrible mænad women +urging the brawny ruffians on to shed more blood, the lurid light of +burning churches, the pale and trembling victims dragged beneath the +poised knife,--ah, it is superb, it has stupendous artistic capabilities! +But for myself--bah! I am a good Catholic--I wish nobody any harm, for +life is very gay after all." + +At this remarkable exposition of Anastase Gouache's views in regard to +the utility of revolutions, Del Ferice laughed loudly; but Anastase +remained perfectly grave, for he was perfectly sincere. Del Ferice, to +whom the daily whispered talk of revolution in Donna Tullia's circle was +mere child's play, was utterly indifferent, and suffered himself to be +amused by the young artist's vagaries. But Donna Tullia, who longed to +see herself the centre of a real plot, thought that she was being +laughed at, and pouted her red lips and frowned her displeasure. + +"I believe you have no convictions!" she said angrily. "While we are +risking our lives and fortunes for the good cause, you sit here in your +studio dreaming of barricades and guillotines, merely as subjects for +pictures--you even acknowledge that in case we produce a revolution +you would go away." + +"Not without finishing this portrait," returned Anastase, quite unmoved. +"It is an exceedingly good likeness; and in case you should ever +disappear--you know people sometimes do in revolutions--or if by any +unlucky accident your beautiful neck should chance beneath that +guillotine you just mentioned,--why, then, this canvas would be the most +delightful souvenir of many pleasant mornings, would it not?" + +"You are incorrigible," said Donna Tullia, with a slight laugh. "You +cannot be serious for a moment." + +"It is very hard to paint you when your expression changes so often," +replied Anastase, calmly. + +"I am not in a good humour for sitting to you this morning. I wish you +would amuse me, Del Ferice. You generally can." + +"I thought politics amused you--" + +"They interest me. But Gouache's ideas are detestable." + +"Will you not give us some of your own, Madame?" inquired the painter, +stepping back from his canvas to get a better view of his work. + +"Oh, mine are very simple," answered Donna Tullia. "Victor Emmanuel, +Garibaldi, and a free press." + +"A combination of monarchy, republicanism, and popular education--not +very interesting," remarked Gouache, still eyeing his picture. + +"No; there would be nothing for you to paint, except portraits of the +liberators--" + +"There is a great deal of that done. I have seen them in every café in +the north of Italy," interrupted the artist. "I would like to paint +Garibaldi. He has a fine head." + +"I will ask him to sit to you when he comes here." + +"When he comes I shall be here no longer," answered Gouache. "They will +whitewash the Corso, they will make a restaurant of the Colosseum, and +they will hoist the Italian flag on the cross of St. Peter's. Then I will +go to Constantinople; there will still be some years before Turkey is +modernised." + +"Artists are hopeless people," said Del Ferice. "They are utterly +illogical, and it is impossible to deal with them. If you like old +cities, why do you not like old women? Why would you not rather paint +Donna Tullia's old Countess than Donna Tullia herself?" + +"That is precisely the opposite case," replied Anastase, quietly. "The +works of man are never so beautiful as when they are falling to decay; +the works of God are most beautiful when they are young. You might as +well say that because wine improves with age, therefore horses do +likewise. The faculty of comparison is lacking in your mind, my dear Del +Ferice, as it is generally lacking in the minds of true patriots. Great +reforms and great revolutions are generally brought about by people of +fierce and desperate convictions, like yours, who go to extreme lengths, +and never know when to stop. The quintessence of an artist's talent is +precisely that faculty of comparison, that gift of knowing when the thing +he is doing corresponds as nearly as he can make it with the thing he has +imagined." + +There was no tinge of sarcasm in Gouache's voice as he imputed to Del +Ferice the savage enthusiasm of a revolutionist. But when Gouache, who +was by no means calm by nature, said anything in a particularly gentle +tone, there was generally a sting in it, and Del Ferice reflected upon +the mean traffic in stolen information by which he got his livelihood, +and was ashamed. Somehow, too, Donna Tullia felt that the part she +fancied herself playing was contemptible enough when compared with the +hard work, the earnest purpose, and the remarkable talent of the young +artist. But though she felt her inferiority, she would have died rather +than own it, even to Del Ferice. She knew that for months she had talked +with Del Ferice, with Valdarno, with Casalverde, even with the melancholy +and ironical Spicca, concerning conspiracies and deeds of darkness of all +kinds, and she knew that she and they might go on talking for ever in the +same strain without producing the smallest effect on events; but she +never to the very end relinquished the illusion she cherished so dearly, +that she was really and truly a conspirator, and that if any one of her +light-headed acquaintance betrayed the rest, they might all be ordered +out of Rome in four-and-twenty hours, or might even disappear into that +long range of dark buildings to the left of the colonnade of St. Peter's, +martyrs to the cause of their own self-importance and semi-theatrical +vanity. There were many knots of such self-fancied conspirators in those +days, whose wildest deed of daring was to whisper across a glass of +champagne in a ball-room, or over a tumbler of Velletri wine in a +Trasteverine cellar, the magic and awe-inspiring words, "Viva Garibaldi! +Viva Vittorio!" They accomplished nothing. The same men and women are now +grumbling and regretting the flesh-pots of the old Government, or +whispering in impotent discontent "Viva la Repubblica!" and they and +their descendants will go on whispering something to each other to the +end of time, while mightier hands than theirs are tearing down empires +and building up irresistible coalitions, and drawing red pencil-marks +through the geography of Europe. + +The conspirators of those days accomplished nothing after Pius IX. +returned from Gaeta; the only men who were of any use at all were those +who, like Del Ferice, had sources of secret information, and basely sold +their scraps of news. But even they were of small importance. The moment +had not come, and all the talking and whispering and tale-bearing in the +world could not hasten events, nor change their course. But Donna Tullia +was puffed up with a sense of her importance, and Del Ferice managed to +attract just as much attention to his harmless chatter about progress as +would permit him undisturbed to carry on his lucrative traffic in secret +information. + +Donna Tullia, who was not in the least artistic, and who by no means +appreciated the merits of the portrait Gouache was painting, was very far +from comprehending his definition of artistic comparison; but Del Ferice +understood it very well. Donna Tullia had much foreign blood in her +veins, like most of her class; but Del Ferice's obscure descent was in +all probability purely Italian, and he had inherited the common instinct +in matters of art which is a part of the Italian birthright. He had +recognised Gouache's wonderful talent, and had first brought Donna Tullia +to his studio--a matter of little difficulty when she had learned that +the young artist had already a reputation. It pleased her to fancy that +by telling him to paint her portrait she might pose as his patroness, and +hereafter reap the reputation of having influenced his career. For +fashion, and the desire to be the representative of fashion, led Donna +Tullia hither and thither as a lapdog is led by a string; and there +is nothing more in the fashion than to patronise a fashionable +portrait-painter. + +But after Anastase Gouache had thus delivered himself of his views upon +Del Ferice and the faculty of artistic comparison, the conversation +languished, and Donna Tullia grew restless. "She had sat enough," she +said; and as her expression was not favourable to the portrait, Anastase +did not contradict her, but presently suffered her to depart in peace +with her devoted adorer at her heels. And when they were gone, Anastase +lighted a cigarette, and took a piece of charcoal and sketched a +caricature of Donna Tullia in a liberty cap, in a fine theatrical +attitude, invoking the aid of Del Ferice, who appeared as the Angel of +Death, with the guillotine in the background. Having put the finishing +touches to this work of art, Anastase locked his studio and went to +breakfast, humming an air from the "Belle Hélène." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +When Corona reached home she went to her own small boudoir, with the +intention of remaining there for an hour if she could do so without being +disturbed. There was a prospect of this; for on inquiry she ascertained +that her husband was not yet dressed, and his dressing took a very long +time. He had a cosmopolitan valet, who alone of living men understood the +art of fitting the artificial and the natural Astrardente together. +Corona believed this man to be an accomplished scoundrel; but she never +had any proof that he was anything worse than a very clever servant, +thoroughly unscrupulous where his master's interests or his own were +concerned. The old Duca believed in him sincerely and trusted him alone, +feeling that since he could never be a hero in his valet's eyes, he might +as well take advantage of that misfortune in order to gain a confident. + +Corona found three or four letters upon her table, and sat down to read +them, letting her fur mantle drop to the floor, and putting her small +feet out towards the fire, for the pavement of the church had been cold. + +She was destined to pass an eventful day, it seemed. One of the letters +was from Giovanni Saracinesca. It was the first time he had ever written +to her, and she was greatly surprised on finding his name at the foot of +the page. He wrote a strong clear handwriting, entirely without adornment +of penmanship, close and regular and straight: there was an air of +determination about it which was sympathetic, and a conciseness of +expression which startled Corona, as though she had heard the man himself +speaking to her. + +"I write, dear Duchessa, because I covet your good opinion, and my motive +is therefore before all things an interested one. I would not have you +think that I had idly asked your advice about a thing so important to me +as my marriage, in order to discard your counsel at the first +opportunity. There was too much reason in the view you took of the matter +to admit of my not giving your opinion all the weight I could, even if I +had not already determined upon the very course you advised. +Circumstances have occurred, however, which have almost induced me to +change my mind. I have had an interview with my father, who has put the +matter very plainly before me. I hardly know how to tell you this, but I +feel that I owe it to you to explain myself, however much you may despise +me for what I am going to say. It is very simple, nevertheless. My father +has informed me that by my conduct I have caused my name to be coupled +in the mouth of the gossips with that of a person very dear to me, but +whom I am unfortunately prevented from marrying. He has convinced me that +I owe to this lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me, the +only reparation possible to be made--that of taking a wife, and thus +publicly demonstrating that there was never any truth in what has been +said. As a marriage will probably be forced upon me some day, it is as +well to let things take their course at once, in order that a step so +disagreeable to myself may at least distantly profit one whom I love in +removing me from the appearance of being a factor in her life. The gossip +about me has never reached your ears, but if it should, you will be the +better able to understand my position. + +"Do not think, therefore, that if I do not follow your advice I am +altogether inconsistent, or that I wantonly presumed to consult you +without any intention of being guided by you. Forgive me also this +letter, which I am impelled to write from somewhat mean motives of +vanity, in the hope of not altogether forfeiting your opinion; and +especially I beg you to believe that I am at all times the most obedient +of your servants, + +"GIOVANNI SARACINESCA." + +Of what use was it that she had that morning determined to forget +Giovanni, since he had the power of thus bringing himself before her by +means of a scrap of paper? Corona's hand closed upon the letter +convulsively, and for a moment the room seemed to swim around her. + +So there was some one whom he loved, some one for whose fair name he was +willing to sacrifice himself even to the extent of marrying against his +will. Some one, too, who not only did not love him, but took no interest +whatever in him. Those were his own words, and they must be true, for he +never lied. That accounted for his accompanying Donna Tullia to the +picnic. He was going to marry her after all. To save the woman he loved +so hopelessly from the mere suspicion of being loved by him, he was going +to tie himself for life to the first who would marry him. That would +never prevent the gossips from saying that he loved this other woman as +much as ever. It could do her no great harm, since she took no interest +whatever in him. Who could she be, this cold creature, whom even Giovanni +could not move to interest? It was absurd--the letter was absurd--the +whole thing was absurd! None but a madman would think of pursuing such a +course; and why should he think it necessary to confide his plans--his +very foolish plans--to her, Corona d'Astrardente,--why? Ah, Giovanni, how +different things might have been! + +Corona rose angrily from her seat and leaned against the broad +chimney-piece, and looked at the clock--it was nearly mid-day. He might +marry whom he pleased, and be welcome--what was it to her? He might marry +and sacrifice himself if he pleased--what was it to her? + +She thought of her own life. She, too, had sacrificed herself; she, too, +had tied herself for life to a man she despised in her heart, and she had +done it for an object she had thought good. She looked steadily at the +clock, for she would not give way, nor bend her head and cry bitter tears +again; but the tears were in her eyes, nevertheless. + +"Giovanni, you must not do it--you must not do it!" Her lips formed the +words without speaking them, and repeated the thought again and again. +Her heart beat fast and her cheeks flushed darkly. She spread out the +crumpled letter and read it once more. As she read, the most intense +curiosity seized her to know who this woman might be whom Giovanni so +loved; and with her curiosity there was a new feeling--an utterly hateful +and hating passion--something so strong, that it suddenly dried her tears +and sent the blood from her cheeks back to her heart. Her white hand was +clenched, and her eyes were on fire. Ah, if she could only find that +woman he loved! if she could only see her dead--dead with Giovanni +Saracinesca there upon the floor before her! As she thought of it, she +stamped her foot upon the thick carpet, and her face grew paler. She did +not know what it was that she felt, but it completely overmastered her. +Padre Filippo would be pleased, she thought, for she knew how in that +moment she hated Giovanni Saracinesca. + +With a sudden impulse she again sat down and opened the letter next to +her hand. It was a gossiping epistle from a friend in Paris, full of +stories of the day, exclamations upon fashion and all kinds of emptiness; +she was about to throw it down impatiently and take up the next when her +eyes caught Giovanni's name. + +"Of course it is not true that Saracinesca is to marry Madame +Mayer..." were the words she read. But that was all. There chanced to +have been just room for the sentence at the foot of the page, and by the +time her friend had turned over the leaf, she had already forgotten what +she had written, and was running on with a different idea. It seemed as +though Corona were haunted by Giovanni at every turn; but she had not +reached the end yet, for one letter still remained. She tore open the +envelope, and found that the contents consisted of a few lines penned in +a small and irregular hand, without signature. There was an air of +disguise about the whole, which was unpleasant; it was written upon a +common sort of paper, and had come through the city post. It ran as +follows:-- + +"The Duchessa d'Astrardente reminds us of the fable of the dog in the +horse's manger, for she can neither eat herself nor let others eat. She +will not accept Don Giovanni Saracinesca's devotion, but she effectually +prevents him from fulfilling his engagements to others." + +If Corona had been in her ordinary mood, she would very likely have +laughed at the anonymous communication. She had formerly received more +than one passionate declaration, not signed indeed, but accompanied +always by some clue to the identity of the writer, and she had carelessly +thrown them into the fire. But there was no such indication here whereby +she might discover who it was who had undertaken to criticise her, to +cast upon her so unjust an accusation. Moreover, she was very angry and +altogether thrown out of her usually calm humour. Her first impulse was +to go to her husband, and in the strength of her innocence to show him +the letter. Then she laughed bitterly as she thought how the selfish old +dandy would scoff at her sensitiveness, and how utterly incapable he +would be of discovering the offender or of punishing the offence. Then +again her face was grave, and she asked herself whether it was true that +she was innocent; whether she were not really to be blamed, if perhaps +she had really prevented Giovanni from marrying Donna Tullia. + +But if that were true, she must herself be the woman he spoke of in his +letter. Any other woman would have suspected as much. Corona went to the +window, and for an instant there was a strange light of pleasure in her +face. Then she grew very thoughtful, and her whole mood changed. She +could not conceive it possible that Giovanni so loved her as to marry for +her sake. Besides, no one could ever have breathed a word of him in +connection with herself--until this abominable anonymous letter was +written. + +The thought that she might, after all, be the "person very dear to him," +the one who "took no interest whatever in him," had nevertheless crossed +her mind, and had given her for one moment a sense of wild and +indescribable pleasure. Then she remembered what she had felt before; how +angry, how utterly beside herself, she had been at the thought of another +woman being loved by him, and she suddenly understood that she was +jealous of her. The very thought revived in her the belief that it was +not she herself who was thus influencing the life of Giovanni +Saracinesca, but another, and she sat silent and pale. + +Of course it was another! What had she done, what word had she spoken, +whereby the world might pretend to believe that she controlled this man's +actions? "Fulfilling his engagements," the letter said, too. It must have +been written by an ignorant person--by some one who had no idea of what +was passing, and who wrote at random, hoping to touch a sensitive chord, +to do some harm, to inflict some pain, in petty vengeance for a fancied +slight. But in her heart, though she crushed down the instinct, she +would have believed the anonymous jest well founded, for the sake of +believing, too, that Giovanni Saracinesca was ready to lay his life at +her feet--although in that belief she would have felt that she was +committing a mortal sin. + +She went back to her interview that morning with Padre Filippo, and +thought over all she had said and all he had answered; how she had been +willing to admit the possibility of Giovanni's love, and how sternly the +confessor had ruled down the clause, and told her there should never +arise such a doubt in her mind; how she had scorned herself for being +capable of seeking love where there was none, and how she had sworn that +there should be no perhaps in the matter. It seemed very hard to do +right, but she would try to see where the right lay. In the first place, +she should burn the anonymous letter, and never condescend to think of +it; and she should also burn Giovanni's, because it would be an injustice +to him to keep it. She looked once more at the unsigned, ill-written +page, and, with a little scornful laugh, threw it from where she sat into +the fire with its envelope; then she took Giovanni's note, and would +have done the same, but her hand trembled, and the crumpled bit of paper +fell upon the hearth. She rose from her chair quickly, and took it up +again, kneeling before the fire, like some beautiful dark priestess of +old feeding the flames of a sacred altar. She smoothed the paper out once +more, and once more read the even characters, and looked long at the +signature, and back again to the writing. + +"This lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me...." + +"How could he say it!" she exclaimed aloud. "Oh, if I knew who she was!" +With an impatient movement she thrust the letter among the coals, and +watched the fire curl it and burn it, from white to brown and from brown +to black, till it was all gone. Then she rose to her feet and left the +room. + +Her husband certainly did not guess that the Duchessa d'Astrardente had +spent so eventful a morning; and if any one had told him that his wife +had been through a dozen stages of emotion, he would have laughed, and +would have told his informant that Corona was not of the sort who +experience violent passions. That evening they went to the opera +together, and the old man was in an unusually cheerful humour. A new coat +had just arrived from Paris, and the padding had attained a higher degree +of scientific perfection than heretofore. Corona also looked more +beautiful than even her husband ever remembered to have seen her; she +wore a perfectly simple gown of black satin without the smallest relief +of colour, and upon her neck the famous Astrardente necklace of pearls, +three strings of even thickness, each jewel exquisitely white and just +lighted in its shadow by a delicate pink tinge--such a necklace as an +empress might have worn. In the raven masses of her hair there was not +the least ornament, nor did any flower enhance the rich blackness of its +silken coils. It would be impossible to imagine greater simplicity than +Corona showed in her dress, but it would be hard to conceive of any woman +who possessed by virtue of severe beauty a more indubitable right to +dispense with ornament. + +The theatre was crowded. There was a performance of "Norma" for which +several celebrated artists had been engaged--an occurrence so rare in +Rome, that the theatre was absolutely full. The Astrardente box was +upon the second tier, just where the amphitheatre began to curve. There +was room in it for four or five persons to see the stage. + +The Duchessa and her husband arrived in the middle of the first act, and +remained alone until it was over. Corona was extremely fond of "Norma," +and after she was seated never took her eyes from the stage. Astrardente, +on the other hand, maintained his character as a man of no illusions, and +swept the house with his small opera-glass. The instrument itself was +like him, and would have been appropriate for a fine lady of the First +Empire; it was of mother-of-pearl, made very small and light, the +metal-work upon it heavily gilt and ornamented with turquoises. The old +man glanced from time to time at the stage, and then again settled +himself to the study of the audience, which interested him far more than +the opera. + +"Every human being you ever heard of is here," he remarked at the end of +the first act. "Really I should think you would find it worth while to +look at your magnificent fellow-creatures, my dear." + +Corona looked slowly round the house. She had excellent eyes, and never +used a glass. She saw the same faces she had seen for five years, the +same occasional flash of beauty, the same average number of over-dressed +women, the same paint, the same feathers, the same jewels. She saw +opposite to her Madame Mayer, with the elderly countess whom she +patronised for the sake of deafness, and found convenient as a sort of +flying chaperon. The countess could not hear much of the music, but she +was fond of the world and liked to be seen, and she could not hear at all +what Del Ferice said in an undertone to Madame Mayer. Sufficient to her +were the good things of the day; the rest was in no way her business. +There was Valdarno in the club-box, with a knot of other men of his own +stamp. There were the Rocca, mother and daughter and son--a boy of +eighteen--and a couple of men in the back of the box. Everybody was +there, as her husband had said; and as she dropped her glance toward +the stalls, she was aware of Giovanni Saracinesca's black eyes looking +anxiously up to her. A faint smile crossed her serene face, and almost +involuntarily she nodded to him and then looked away. Many men were +watching her, and bowed as she glanced at them, and she bent her head to +each; but there was no smile for any save Giovanni, and when she looked +again to where he had been standing with his back to the stage, he was +gone from his place. + +"They are the same old things," said Astrardente, "but they are still +very amusing. Madame Mayer always seems to get the wrong man into her +box. She would give all those diamonds to have Giovanni Saracinesca +instead of that newsmonger fellow. If he comes here I will send him +across." + +"Perhaps she likes Del Ferice," suggested Corona. + +"He is a good lapdog--a very good dog," answered her husband. "He cannot +bite at all, and his bark is so soft that you would take it for the +mewing of a kitten. He fetches and carries admirably." + +"Those are good points, but not interesting ones. He is very tiresome +with his eternal puns and insipid compliments, and his gossip." + +"But he is so very harmless," answered Astrardente, with compassionate +scorn. "He is incapable of doing an injury. Donna Tullia is wise in +adopting him as her slave. She would not be so safe with Saracinesca, for +instance. If you feel the need of an admirer, my dear, take Del Ferice. I +have no objection to him." + +"Why should I need admirers?" asked Corona, quietly. + +"I was merely jesting, my love. Is not your own husband the greatest of +your admirers, and your devoted slave into the bargain?" Old +Astrardente's face twisted itself into the semblance of a smile, as he +leaned towards his young wife, lowering his cracked voice to a thin +whisper. He was genuinely in love with her, and lost no opportunity +of telling her so. She smiled a little wearily. + +"You are very good to me," she said. She had often wondered how it was +that this aged creature, who had never been faithful to any attachment in +his life for five months, did really seem to love her just as he had done +for five years. It was perhaps the greatest triumph she could have +attained, though she never thought of it in that light; but though she +could not respect her husband very much, she could not think unkindly of +him--for, as she said, he was very good to her. She often reproached +herself because he wearied her; she believed that she should have taken +more pleasure in his admiration. + +"I cannot help being good to you, my angel," he said. "How could I be +otherwise? Do I not love you most passionately?" + +"Indeed, I think so," Corona answered. As she spoke there was a knock at +the door. Her heart leaped wildly, and she turned a little pale. + +"The devil seize these visitors!" muttered old Astrardente, annoyed +beyond measure at being interrupted when making love to his wife. "I +suppose we must let them in?" + +"I suppose so," assented the Duchessa, with forced calm. Her husband +opened the door, and Giovanni Saracinesca entered, hat in hand. + +"Sit down," said Astrardente, rather harshly. + +"I trust I am not disturbing you," replied Giovanni, still standing. He +was somewhat surprised at the old man's inhospitable tone. + +"Oh no; not in the least," said the latter, quickly regaining his +composure. "Pray sit down; the act will begin in a moment." + +Giovanni established himself upon the chair immediately behind the +Duchessa. He had come to talk, and he anticipated that during the second +act he would have an excellent opportunity. + +"I hear you enjoyed yourselves yesterday," said Corona, turning her head +so as to speak more easily. + +"Indeed!" Giovanni answered, and a shade of annoyance crossed his face. +"And who was your informant, Duchessa?" + +"Donna Tullia. I met her this morning. She said you amused them all--kept +them laughing the whole day." + +"What an extraordinary statement!" exclaimed Giovanni. "It shows how one +may unconsciously furnish matter for mirth. I do not recollect having +talked much to any one. It was a noisy party enough, however." + +"Perhaps Donna Tullia spoke ironically," suggested Corona. "Do you like +'Norma'?" + +"Oh yes; one opera is as good as another. There goes the curtain." + +The act began, and for some minutes no one in the box spoke. Presently +there was a burst of orchestral music. Giovanni leaned forward so that +his face was close behind Corona. He could speak without being heard by +Astrardente. + +"Did you receive my letter?" he asked. Corona made an almost +imperceptible inclination of her head, but did not speak. + +"Do you understand my position?" he asked again. He could not see her +face, and for some seconds she made no sign; at last she moved her head +again, but this time to express a negative. + +"It is simple enough, it seems to me," said Giovanni, bending his brows. + +Corona found that by turning a little she could still look at the stage, +and at the same time speak to the man behind her. + +"How can I judge?" she said. "You have not told me all. Why do you ask me +to judge whether you are right?" + +"I could not do it if you thought me wrong," he answered shortly. + +The Duchessa suddenly thought of that other woman for whom the man who +asked her advice was willing to sacrifice his life. + +"You attach an astonishing degree of importance to my opinion," she said +very coldly, and turned her head from him. + +"There is no one so well able to give an opinion," said Giovanni, +insisting. + +Corona was offended. She interpreted the speech to mean that since she +had sacrificed her life to the old man on the opposite side of the box, +she was able to judge whether Giovanni would do wisely in making a +marriage of convenience, for the sake of an end which even to her mind +seemed visionary. She turned quickly upon him, and there was an angry +gleam in her eyes. + +"Pray do not introduce the subject of my life," she said haughtily. + +Giovanni was too much astonished to answer her at once. He had indeed not +intended the least reference to her marriage. + +"You have entirely misunderstood me," he said presently. + +"Then you must express yourself more clearly," she replied. She would +have felt very guilty to be thus talking to Giovanni, as she would not +have talked before her husband, had she not felt that it was upon +Giovanni's business, and that the matter discussed in no way concerned +herself. As for Saracinesca, he was in a dangerous position, and was +rapidly losing his self-control. He was too near to her, his heart was +bearing too fast, the blood was throbbing in his temples, and he was +stung by being misunderstood. + +"It is not possible for me to express myself more clearly," he answered. +"I am suffering for having told you too little when I dare not tell you +all. I make no reference to your marriage when I speak to you of my own. +Forgive me; I will not refer to the matter again." + +Corona felt again that strange thrill, half of pain, half of pleasure, +and the lights of the theatre seemed moving before her uncertainly, as +things look when one falls from a height. Almost unconsciously she spoke, +hardly knowing that she turned her head, and that her dark eyes rested +upon Giovanni's pale face. + +"And yet there must be some reason why you tell me that little, and why +you do not tell me more." When she had spoken, she would have given all +the world to have taken back her words. It was too late. Giovanni +answered in a low thick voice that sounded as though he were choking, +his face grew white, and his teeth seemed almost to chatter as though he +were cold, but his eyes shone like black stars in the shadow of the box. + +"There is every reason. You are the woman I love." + +Corona did not move for several seconds, as though not comprehending what +he had said. Then she suddenly shivered, and her eyelids drooped as she +leaned back in her chair. Her fingers relaxed their tight hold upon her +fan, and the thing fell rattling upon the floor of the box. + +Old Astrardente, who had taken no notice of the pair, being annoyed at +Giovanni's visit, and much interested in the proceedings of Madame Mayer +in the box opposite, heard the noise, and stooped with considerable +alacrity to pick up the fan which lay at his feet. + +"You are not well, my love," he said quickly, as he observed his wife's +unusual pallor. + +"It is nothing; it will pass," she murmured, with a terrible effort. +Then, as though she had not said enough, she added, "There must be a +draught here; I have a chill." + +Giovanni had sat like a statue, utterly overcome by the sense of his own +folly and rashness, as well as by the shock of having so miserably failed +to keep the secret he dreaded to reveal. On hearing Corona's voice, he +rose suddenly, as from a dream. + +"Forgive me," he said hurriedly, "I have just remembered a most important +engagement--" + +"Do not mention it," said Astrardente, sourly. Giovanni bowed to the +Duchessa and left the box. She did not look at him as he went away. + +"We had better go home, my angel," said the old man. "You have got a bad +chill." + +"Oh no, I would rather stay. It is nothing, and the best part of the +opera is to come." Corona spoke quietly enough. Her strong nerves had +already recovered from the shock she had experienced, and she could +command her voice. She did not want to go home; on the contrary, the +brilliant lights and the music served for a time to soothe her. If there +had been a ball that night she would have gone to it; she would have done +anything that would take her thoughts from herself. Her husband looked at +her curiously. The suspicion crossed his mind that Don Giovanni had said +something which had either frightened or offended her, but on second +thoughts the theory seemed absurd. He regarded Saracinesca as little +more than a mere acquaintance of his wife's. + +"As you please, my love," he answered, drawing his chair a little nearer +to hers. "I am glad that fellow is gone. We can talk at our ease now." + +"Yes; I am glad he is gone. We can talk now," repeated Corona, +mechanically. + +"I thought his excuse slightly conventional, to say the least of it," +remarked Astrardente. "An important engagement!--just a little _banal_. +However, any excuse was good enough which took him away." + +"Did he say that?" asked Corona. "I did not hear. Of course, any excuse +would do, as you say." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Giovanni left the theatre at once, alone, and on foot. He was very much +agitated. He had done suddenly and unawares the thing of all others he +had determined never to do; his resolutions had been broken down and +carried away as an ineffectual barrier is swept to the sea by the floods +of spring. His heart had spoken in spite of him, and in speaking had +silenced every prompting of reason. He blamed himself bitterly, as he +strode out across the deserted bridge of Sant' Angelo and into the broad +gloom beyond, where the street widens from the fortress to the entrance +of the three Borghi: he walked on and on, finding at every step fresh +reason for self-reproach, and trying to understand what he had done. He +paused at the end of the open piazza and looked down towards the black +rushing river which he could hear, but hardly see; he turned into the +silent Borgo Santo Spirito, and passed along the endless wall of the +great hospital up to the colonnades, and still wandering on, he came to +the broad steps of St. Peter's and sat down, alone in the darkness, at +the foot of the stupendous pile. + +He was perhaps not so much to blame as he was willing to allow in his +just anger against himself. Corona had tempted him sorely in that last +question she had put to him. She had not known, she had not even faintly +guessed what she was doing, for her own brain was intoxicated with a new +and indescribable sensation which had left no room for reflection nor for +weighing the force of words. But Giovanni, who had been willing to give +up everything, even to his personal liberty, for the sake of concealing +his love, would not allow himself any argument in extenuation of what he +had done. He had had but very few affairs of the heart in his life, and +they had been for the most part very insignificant, and his experience +was limited. Even now it never entered his mind to imagine that Corona +would condone his offence; he felt sure that she was deeply wounded, and +that his next meeting with her would be a terrible ordeal--so terrible, +indeed, that he doubted whether he had the courage to meet her at all. +His love was so great, and its object so sacred to him, that he hesitated +to conceive himself loved in return; perhaps if he had been able to +understand that Corona loved him he would have left Rome for ever, rather +than trouble her peace by his presence. + +It would have been absolutely different if he had been paying court to +Donna Tullia, for instance. The feeling that he should be justified would +have lent him courage, and the coldness in his own heart would have left +his judgment free play. He could have watched her calmly, and would have +tried to take advantage of every mood in the prosecution of his suit. He +was a very honourable man, but he did not consider marriages of propriety +and convenience as being at all contrary to the ordinary standard of +social honour, and would have thought himself justified in using every +means of persuasion in order to win a woman whom, upon mature reflection, +he had judged suitable to become his wife, even though he felt no real +love for her. That is an idea inherent in most old countries, an idea for +which Giovanni Saracinesca was certainly in no way responsible, seeing +that it had been instilled into him from his boyhood. Personally he would +have preferred to live and die unmarried, rather than to take a wife as a +matter of obligation towards his family; but seeing that he had never +seriously loved any woman, he had acquired the habit of contemplating +such a marriage as a probability, perhaps as an ultimate necessity, to +be put off as long as possible, but to which he would at last yield with +a good grace. + +But the current of his life had been turned. He was certainly not a +romantic character, not a man who desired to experience the external +sensations to be obtained by voluntarily creating dramatic events. He +loved action, and he had a taste for danger, but he had sought both in +a legitimate way; he never desired to implicate himself in adventures +where the feelings were concerned, and hitherto such experiences had +not fallen in his path. As is usual with such men, when love came at +last, it came with a strength such as boys of twenty do not dream of. +The mature man of thirty years, with his strong and dominant temper, +his carelessness of danger, his high and untried ideals of what a +true affection should be, resisting the first impressions of the +master-passion with the indifference of one accustomed to believe that +love could not come near his life, and was in general a thing to be +avoided--a man, moreover, who by his individual gifts and by his +brilliant position was able to command much that smaller men would +not dream of aspiring to,--such a man, in short, as Giovanni +Saracinesca,--was not likely to experience love-sickness in a mild +degree. Proud, despotic, and fiercely unyielding by his inheritance of +temper, he was outwardly gentle and courteous by acquired habit, a man +of those whom women easily love and men very generally fear. + +He did not realise his own nature, he did not suspect the extremes of +feeling of which he was eminently capable. He had at first felt Corona's +influence, and her face and voice seemed to awaken in him a memory, which +was as yet but an anticipation, and not a real remembrance. It was as the +faint perfume of the spring wafted up to a prisoner in some stern +fortress, as the first gentle sweetness that rose from the enchanted +lakes of the cisalpine country to the nostrils of the war-hardened Goths +as they descended the last snow-slopes in their southern wandering--an +anticipation that seemed already a memory, a looking forward again to +something that had been already loved in a former state. Giovanni had +laughed at himself for it at first, then he had dreaded its growing +charm, and at the last he had fallen hopelessly under the spell, +retaining only enough of his former self to make him determined that the +harm which had come upon himself should not come near this woman whom he +so adored. + +And behold, at the first provocation, the very first time that by a +careless word she had fired his blood and set his brain throbbing, he had +not only been unable to hide what he felt, but had spoken such words as +he would not have believed he could speak--so bluntly, so roughly, that +she had almost fainted before his very eyes. + +She must have been very angry, he thought. Perhaps, too, she was +frightened. It was so rude, so utterly contrary to all that was +chivalrous to say thus at the first opportunity, "I love you"--just that +and nothing more. Giovanni had never thought much about it, but he +supposed that men in love, very seriously in love, must take a long time +to express themselves, as is the manner in books; whereas he was +horrified at his own bluntness in having blurted out rashly such words as +could never be taken back, as could never even be explained now, he +feared, because he had put himself beyond the pale of all explanation, +perhaps beyond the reach of forgiveness. + +Nobody ever yet explained away the distinct statement "I love you," upon +any pretence of a mistake. Giovanni almost laughed at the idea, and yet +he conceived that some kind of apology would be necessary, though he +could not imagine how he was to frame one. He reflected that few women +would consider a declaration, even as sudden as his had been, in the +light of an insult; but he knew how little cause Corona had given him for +speaking to her of love, and he judged from her manner that she had been +either offended or frightened, or both, and that he was to blame for it. +He was greatly disturbed, and the sweat stood in great drops upon his +forehead as he sat there upon the steps of St. Peter's in the cold night +wind. He remained nearly an hour without changing his position, and then +at last he rose and slowly retraced his steps, and went home by narrow +streets, avoiding the theatre and the crowd of carriages that stood +before it. + +He had almost determined to go away for a time, and to let his absence +speak for his contrition. But he had reckoned upon his former self, and +he doubted now whether he had the strength to leave Rome. The most that +seemed possible was that he should keep out of Corona's way for a few +days, until she should have recovered from the shock of the scene in the +theatre. After that he would go to her and tell her quite simply that he +was very sorry, but that he had been unable to control himself. It would +soon be over. She would not refuse to speak to him, he argued, for fear +of attracting the attention of the gossips and making an open scandal. +She would perhaps tell him to avoid her, and her words would be few and +haughty, but she would speak to him, nevertheless. + +Giovanni went to bed. The next day he gave out that he had a touch of +fever, and remained in his own apartments. His father, who was +passionately attached to him, in spite of his rough temper and hasty +speeches, came and spent most of the day with him, and in the intervals +of his kindly talk, marched up and down the room, swearing that Giovanni +was no more ill than he was himself, and that he had acquired his +accursed habit of staying in bed upon his travels. As Giovanni had never +before been known to spend twenty-four hours in bed for any reason +whatsoever, the accusation was unjust; but he only smiled and pretended +to argue the case for the sake of pleasing the old prince. He really +felt exceedingly uncomfortable, and would have been glad to be left alone +at any price; but there was nothing for it but to pretend to be ill in +body, when he was really sick at heart, and he remained obstinately in +bed the whole day. On the following morning he declared his intention of +going out of town, and by an early train he left the city. No one saw +Giovanni again until the evening of the Frangipani ball. + +Meanwhile it would have surprised him greatly to know that Corona looked +for him in vain wherever she went, and that, not seeing him, she grew +silent and pale, and gave short answers to the pleasant speeches men made +her. Every one missed Giovanni. He wrote to Valdarno to say that he had +been suddenly obliged to visit Saracinesca in order to see to some +details connected with the timber question; but everybody wondered why he +should have taken himself away in the height of the season for so trivial +a matter. He had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera, +where he had only stayed a few minutes, as Del Ferice was able to +testify, having sat immediately opposite in the box of Madame Mayer. Del +Ferice swore secretly that he would find out what was the matter; and +Donna Tullia abused Giovanni in unmeasured terms to a circle of intimate +friends and admirers, because he had been engaged to dance with her at +the Valdarno cotillon, and had not even sent word that he could not come. +Thereupon all the men present immediately offered themselves for the +vacant dance, and Donna Tullia made them draw lots by tossing a copper +sou in the corner of the ball-room. The man who won the toss recklessly +threw over the partner he had already engaged, and almost had to fight a +duel in consequence; all of which was intensely amusing to Donna Tullia. +Nevertheless, in her heart, she was very angry at Giovanni's departure. + +But Corona sought him everywhere, and at last heard that he had left +town, two days after everybody else in Rome had known it. She would +probably have been very much disturbed, if she had actually met him +within a day or two of that fatal evening, but the desire to see him was +so great, that she entirely overlooked the consequences. For the time +being, her whole life seemed to have undergone a revolution--she trembled +at the echo of the words she had heard--she spent long hours in solitude, +praying with all her strength that she might be forgiven for having +heard him speak; but the moment she left her room, and went out into the +world, the dominant desire to see him again returned. The secret longing +of her soul was to hear him speak again as he had spoken once. She would +have gone again to Padre Filippo and told him all; but when she was alone +in the solitude of her passionate prayers and self-accusation, she felt +that she must fight this fight alone, without help of any one; and when +she was in the world, she lacked courage to put altogether from her what +was so very sweet, and her eyes searched unceasingly for the dark face +she loved. But the stirring strength of the mighty passion played upon +her soul and body in spite of her, as upon an instrument of strings; and +sometimes the music was gentle and full of sweet harmony, but often there +were crashes of discord, so that she trembled and felt her heart wrung as +by torture; then she set her strong lips, and her white fingers wound +themselves together, and she could have cried aloud, but that her pride +forbade her. + +The days came and went, but Giovanni did not return, and Corona's face +grew every morning more pale and her eyes every night more wistful. Her +husband did not understand, but he saw that something was the matter, as +others saw it, and in his quick suspicious humour he connected the +trouble in his wife's face with the absence of Giovanni and with the +strange chill she had felt in the theatre. But Corona d'Astrardente was a +very brave and strong woman, and she bore what seemed to her like the +agony of death renewed each day, so calmly that those who knew her +thought it was but a passing indisposition or annoyance, unusual with +her, who was never ill nor troubled, but yet insignificant. She gave +particular attention to the gown which her husband had desired she +should wear at the great ball, and the need she felt for distracting her +mind from her chief care made society necessary to her. + +The evening of the Frangipani ball came, and all Rome was in a state of +excitement and expectation. The great old family had been in mourning for +years, owing to three successive deaths, and during all that time the +ancient stronghold which was called their palace had been closed to the +world. For some time, indeed, no one of the name had been in Rome--the +prince and princess preferring to pass the time of mourning in the +country and in travelling; while the eldest son, now just of age, was +finishing his academic career at an English University. But this year the +family had returned: there had been both dinners and receptions at the +palace, and the ball, which was to be a sort of festival in honour of the +coming of age of the heir, was expected as the principal event of the +year. It was rumoured that there would be nearly thirty rooms opened +besides the great hall, which was set aside for dancing, and that the +arrangements were on a scale worthy of a household which had endured in +its high position for upwards of a thousand years. It was understood that +no distinction had been made, in issuing the invitations, between parties +in politics or in society, and that there would be more people seen there +than had been collected under one roof for many years. + +The Frangipani did things magnificently, and no one was disappointed. The +gardens and courts of the palace were brilliantly illuminated; vast +suites of apartments were thrown open, and lavishly decorated with rare +flowers; the grand staircase was lined with footmen in the liveries of +the house, standing motionless as the guests passed up; the supper was a +banquet such as is read of in the chronicles of medieval splendour; the +enormous conservatory in the distant south wing was softly lit by shaded +candles concealed among the tropical plants; and the ceilings and walls +of the great hall itself had been newly decorated by famous painters; +while the polished wooden floor presented an innovation upon the +old-fashioned canvas-covered brick pavement, not hitherto seen in any +Roman palace. A thousand candles, disposed in every variety of chandelier +and candelabra, shed a soft rich light from far above, and high in the +gallery at one end an orchestra of Viennese musicians played unceasingly. + +As generally happens at very large balls, the dancing began late, but +numbers of persons had come early in order to survey the wonders of the +palace at their leisure. Among those who arrived soon after ten o'clock +was Giovanni Saracinesca, who was greeted loudly by all who knew him. He +looked pale and tired, if his tough nature could ever be said to seem +weary; but he was in an unusually affable mood, and exchanged words with +every one he met. Indeed he had been sad for so many days that he hardly +understood why he felt gay, unless it was in the anticipation of once +more seeing the woman he loved. He wandered through the rooms carelessly +enough, but he was in reality devoured by impatience, and his quick eyes +sought Corona's tall figure in every direction. But she was not yet +there, and Giovanni at last came and took his station in one of the outer +halls, waiting patiently for her arrival. + +While he waited, leaning against one of the marble pillars of the door, +the throng increased rapidly; but he hardly noticed the swelling crowd, +until suddenly there was a lull in the unceasing talk, and the men and +women parted to allow a cardinal to pass out from the inner rooms. With +many gracious nods and winning looks, the great man moved on, his keen +eyes embracing every one and everything within the range of his vision, +his courteous smile seeming intended for each separate individual, and +yet overlooking none, nor resting long on any, his high brow serene and +unbent, his flowing robes falling back from his courtly figure, as with +his red hat in his hand he bowed his way through the bowing crowd. His +departure, which was quickly followed by that of several other cardinals +and prelates, was the signal that the dancing would soon begin; and when +he had passed out, the throng of men and women pressed more quickly in +through the door on their way to the ball-room. + +But as the great cardinal's eye rested on Giovanni Saracinesca, +accompanied by that invariable smile that so many can remember well to +this day, his delicate hand made a gesture as though beckoning to the +young man to follow him. Giovanni obeyed the summons, and became for the +moment the most notable man in the room. The two passed out together, and +a moment later were standing in the outer hall. Already the torch-bearers +were standing without upon the grand staircase, and the lackeys were +mustering in long files to salute the Prime Minister. Just then the +master of the house came running breathless from within. He had not seen +that Cardinal Antonelli was taking his leave, and hastened to overtake +him, lest any breach of etiquette on his part should attract the +displeasure of the statesman. + +"Your Eminence's pardon!" he exclaimed, hurriedly "I had not seen that +your Eminence was leaving us--so early too--the Princess feared--" + +"Do not speak of it," answered the Cardinal, in suave tones. "I am not so +strong as I used to be. We old fellows must to bed betimes, and leave you +young ones to enjoy yourselves. No excuses--good night--a beautiful +ball--I congratulate you on the reopening of your house--good night +again. I will have a word with Giovanni here before I go down-stairs." + +He extended his hand to Frangipani, who lifted it respectfully to his +lips and withdrew, seeing that he was not wanted. He and many others +speculated long upon the business which engaged his Eminence in close +conversation with Giovanni Saracinesca, keeping him for more than a +quarter of an hour in the cold ante-chamber, where the night wind blew in +unhindered from the vast staircase of the palace. As a matter of fact, +Giovanni was as much surprised as any one. + +"Where have you been, my friend?" inquired the Cardinal, when they were +alone. + +"To Saracinesca, your Eminence." + +"And what have you been doing in Saracinesca at this time of year? I hope +you are attending to the woods there--you have not been cutting timber?" + +"No one can be more anxious than we to see the woods grow thick upon our +hills," replied Giovanni. "Your Eminence need have no fear." + +"Not for your estates," said the great Cardinal, his small keen black +eyes resting searchingly on Giovanni's face. "But I confess I have some +fears for yourself." + +"For me, Eminence?" repeated Giovanni, in some astonishment. + +"For you. I have heard with considerable anxiety that there is a question +of marrying you to Madame Mayer. Such a match would not meet with the +Holy Father's approval, nor--if I may be permitted to mention my humble +self in the same breath with our august sovereign--would it be wise in my +own estimation." + +"Permit me to remark to your Eminence," answered Giovanni, proudly, "that +in my house we have never been in the habit of asking advice upon such +subjects. Donna Tullia is a good Catholic. There can therefore be no +valid objection to my asking her hand, if my father and I agree that it +is best." + +"You are terrible fellows, you Saracinesca," returned the Cardinal, +blandly. "I have read your family history with immense interest, and what +you say is quite true. I cannot find an instance on record of your taking +the advice of any one--certainly not of the Holy Church. It is with the +utmost circumspection that I venture to approach the subject with you, +and I am sure that you will believe me when I say that my words are not +dictated by any officious or meddling spirit; I am addressing you by the +direct desire of the Holy Father himself." + +A soft answer turneth away wrath, and if the all-powerful statesman's +answer to Giovanni seems to have been more soft than might have been +expected, it must be remembered that he was speaking to the heir of one +of the most powerful houses in the Roman State, at a time when the +personal friendship of such men as the Saracinesca was of vastly greater +importance than it is now. At that time some twenty noblemen owned a +great part of the Pontifical States, and the influence they could exert +upon their tenantry was very great, for the feudal system was not +extinct, nor the feudal spirit. Moreover, though Cardinal Antonelli was +far from popular with any party, Pius IX. was respected and beloved by a +vast majority of the gentlemen as well as of the people. Giovanni's first +impulse was to resist any interference whatsoever in his affairs; but on +receiving the Cardinal's mild answer to his own somewhat arrogant +assertion of independence, he bowed politely and professed himself +willing to listen to reason. + +"But," he said, "since his Holiness has mentioned the matter, I beg that +your Eminence will inform him that, though the question of my marriage +seems to be in everybody's mouth, it is as yet merely a project in which +no active steps have been taken." + +"I am glad of it, Giovanni," replied the Cardinal, familiarly taking his +arm, and beginning to pace the hall; "I am glad of it. There are reasons +why the match appears to be unworthy of you. If you will permit me, +without any offence to Madame Mayer, I will tell you what those reasons +are." + +"I am at your service," said Giovanni, gravely, "provided only there is +no offence to Donna Tullia." + +"None whatever. The reasons are purely political. Madame Mayer--or Donna +Tullia, since you prefer to call her so--is the centre of a sort of club +of so-called Liberals, of whom the most active and the most foolish +member is a certain Ugo del Ferice, a fellow who calls himself a count, +but whose grandfather was a coachman in the Vatican under Leo XII. He +will get himself into trouble some day. He is always in attendance upon +Donna Tullia, and probably led her into this band of foolish young people +for objects of his own. It is a very silly society; I daresay you have +heard some of their talk?" + +"Very little," replied Giovanni; "I do not trouble myself about politics. +I did not even know that there was such a club as your Eminence speaks +of." + +Cardinal Antonelli glanced sharply at his companion as he proceeded. + +"They affect solidarity and secrecy, these young people," he said, with a +sneer, "and their solidarity betrays their secrecy, because it is +unfortunately true in our dear Rome that wherever two or three are +gathered together they are engaged in some mischief. But they may gather +in peace at the studio of Monsieur Gouache, or anywhere else they please, +for all I care. Gouache is a clever fellow; he is to paint my portrait. +Do you know him? But, to return to my sheep in wolves' clothing--my +amusing little conspirators. They can do no harm, for they know not even +what they say, and their words are not followed by any kind of action +whatsoever. But the principle of the thing is bad, Giovanni. Your brave +old ancestors used to fight us Churchmen outright, and unless the Lord is +especially merciful, their souls are in an evil case, for the devil +knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster. But they fought +outright, like gentlemen; whereas these people--_foderunt foveam ut +caperent me_--they have digged a ditch, but they will certainly not catch +me, nor any one else. Their conciliabules, as Rousseau would have called +them, meet daily and talk great nonsense and do nothing; which does not +prove their principles to be good, while it demonstrates their intellect +to be contemptible. No offence to the Signor Conte del Ferice, but I +think ignorance has marked his little party for its own, and inanity +waits on all his councils. If they believe in half the absurdities they +utter, why do they not pack up their goods and chattels and cross the +frontier? If they meant anything, they would do something." + +"Evidently," replied Giovanni, half amused at his Eminence's tirade. + +"Evidently. Therefore they mean nothing. Therefore our good friend Donna +Tullia is dabbling in the emptiness of political dilettanteism for the +satisfaction of a hollow vanity; no offence to her--it is the manner of +her kind." + +Giovanni was silent. + +"Believe me, prince," said the Cardinal, suddenly changing his tone and +speaking very seriously, "there is something better for strong men like +you and me to do, in these times, than to dabble in conspiracy and to +toss off glasses of champagne to Italian unity and Victor Emmanuel. The +condition of our lives is battle, and battle against terrible odds. +Neither you nor I should be content to waste our strength in fighting +shadows, in waging war on petty troubles of our own raising, knowing +all the while that the powers of evil are marshalled in a deadly array +against the powers of good. _Sed non praevalebunt!_" + +The Cardinal's thin face assumed a strange look of determination, and his +delicate fingers grasped Giovanni's arm with a force that startled him. + +"You speak bravely," answered the young man. "You are more sanguine than +we men of the world. You believe that disaster impossible which to me +seems growing daily more imminent." + +Cardinal Antonelli turned his gleaming black eyes full on his companion. + +"_O generatio incredula!_ If you have not faith, you have not courage, +and if you have not courage you will waste your life in the pursuit of +emptiness! It is for men like you, for men of ancient race, of broad +acres, of iron body and healthy mind, to put your hand to the good work +and help us who have struggled for many years and whose strength is +already failing. Every action of your life, every thought of your +waking hours, should be for the good end, lest we all perish together +and expiate our lukewarm indifference. _Timidi nunquam statuerunt +trapaeum_--if we would divide the spoil we must gird on the sword and use +it boldly; we must not allow the possibility of failure; we must be +vigilant; we must be united as one man. You tell me that you men of the +world already regard a disaster as imminent--to expect defeat is +nine-tenths of a defeat itself. Ah, if we could count upon such men as +you to the very death, our case would be far from desperate." + +"For the matter of that, your Eminence can count upon us well enough," +replied Giovanni, quietly. + +"Upon you, Giovanni--yes, for you are a brave gentleman. But upon your +friends, even upon your class--no. Can I count upon the Valdarno, even? +You know as well as I that they are in sympathy with the Liberals--that +they have neither the courage to support us nor the audacity to renounce +us; and, what is worse, they represent a large class, of whom, I regret +to say, Donna Tullia Mayer is one of the most prominent members. With her +wealth, her youth, her effervescent spirits, and her early widowhood, she +leads men after her; they talk, they chatter, they set up an opinion and +gloat over it, while they lack the spirit to support it. They are all +alike--_non tantum ovum ovo simile_--one egg is not more like another +than they are. _Non tali auxilio_--we want no such help. We ask for +bread, not for stones; we want men, not empty-headed dandies. We have +both at present; but if the Emperor fails us, we shall have too many +dandies and too few men--too few men like you, Don Giovanni. Instead of +armed battalions we shall have polite societies for mutual assurance +against political risks,--instead of the support of the greatest military +power in Europe, we shall have to rely on a parcel of young gentlemen +whose opinions are guided by Donna Tullia Mayer." + +Giovanni laughed and glanced at his Eminence, who chose to refer all the +imminent disasters of the State to the lady whom he did not wish to see +married to his companion. + +"Is her influence really so great?" asked Saracinesca, incredulously. + +"She is agreeable, she is pretty, she is rich--her influence is a type of +the whole influence which is abroad in Rome--a reflection of the life of +Paris. There, at least, the women play a real part--very often a great +one: here, when they have got command of a drawing-room full of fops, +they do not know where to lead them; they change their minds twenty times +a-day; they have an access of religious enthusiasm in Advent, followed by +an attack of Liberal fever in Carnival, and their season is brought to +a fitting termination by the prostration which overtakes them in Lent. By +that time all their principles are upset, and they go to Paris for the +month of May--_pour se retremper dans les idées idéalistes_, as they +express it. Do you think one could construct a party out of such +elements, especially when you reflect that this mass of uncertainty is +certain always to yield to the ultimate consideration of self-interest? +Half of them keep an Italian flag with the Papal one, ready to thrust +either of them out of the window as occasion may require. Good night, +Giovanni. I have talked enough, and all Rome will set upon you to find +out what secrets of State I have been confiding. You had better prepare +an answer, for you can hardly inform Donna Tullia and her set that I have +been calling them a parcel of--weak and ill-advised people. They might +take offence--they might even call me by bad names,--fancy how very +terribly that would afflict me! Good night, Giovanni--my greetings to +your father." + +The Cardinal nodded, but did not offer his hand. He knew that Giovanni +hated to kiss his ring, and he had too much tact to press the ceremonial +etiquette upon any one whom he desired to influence. But he nodded +graciously, and receiving his cloak from the gentleman who accompanied +him and who had waited at a respectful distance, the statesman passed out +of the great doorway, where the double line of torch-bearers stood ready +to accompany him down the grand staircase to his carriage, in accordance +with the custom of those days. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When he was alone, Giovanni retraced his steps, and again took up his +position near the entrance to the reception-rooms. He had matter for +reflection in the interview which had just ended; and, having nothing +better to do while he waited for Corona, he thought about what had +happened. He was not altogether pleased at the interest his marriage +excited in high quarters; he hated interference, and he regarded Cardinal +Antonelli's advice in such a matter as an interference of the most +unwarrantable kind. Neither he himself nor his father were men who sought +counsel from without, for independence in action was with them a family +tradition, as independence of thought was in their race a hereditary +quality. To think that if he, Giovanni Saracinesca, chose to marry any +woman whatsoever, any one, no matter how exalted in station, should dare +to express approval or disapproval was a shock to every inborn and +cultivated prejudice in his nature. He had nearly quarrelled with his own +father for seeking to influence his matrimonial projects; it was not +likely that he would suffer Cardinal Antonelli to interfere with them. If +Giovanni had really made up his mind--had firmly determined to ask the +hand of Donna Tullia--it is more than probable that the statesman's +advice would not only have failed signally in preventing the match, but +by the very opposition it would have aroused in Giovanni's heart it would +have had the effect of throwing him into the arms of a party which +already desired his adhesion, and which, under his guidance, might have +become as formidable as it was previously insignificant. But the great +Cardinal was probably well informed, and his words had not fallen upon a +barren soil. Giovanni had vacillated sadly in trying to come to a +decision. His first Quixotic impulse to marry Madame Mayer, in order to +show the world that he cared nothing for Corona d'Astrardente, had proved +itself absurd, even to his impetuous intelligence. The growing antipathy +he felt for Donna Tullia had made his marriage with her appear in the +light of a disagreeable duty, and his rashness in confessing his love for +Corona had so disturbed his previous conceptions that marriage no longer +seemed a duty at all. What had been but a few days before almost a fixed +resolution, had dwindled till it seemed an impracticable and even a +useless scheme. When he had arrived at the Palazzo Frangipani that +evening, he had very nearly forgotten Donna Tullia, and had quite +determined that whatever his father might say he would not give the +promised answer before Easter. By the time the Cardinal had left him, he +had decided that no power on earth should induce him to marry Madame +Mayer. He did not take the trouble of saying to himself that he would +marry no one else. + +The Cardinal's words had struck deep, in a deep nature. Giovanni had +given Del Ferice a very fair exposition of the views he believed himself +to hold, on the day when they had walked together after Donna Tullia's +picnic. He believed himself a practical man, loyal to the temporal power +by principle rather than by any sort of enthusiastic devotion; not +desirous of any great change, because any change that might reasonably be +expected would be bad for his own vested interests; not prejudiced for +any policy save that of peace--preferring, indeed, with Cicero, the most +unjust peace to the most just war; tenacious of old customs, and not +particularly inquisitive concerning ideas of progress,--on the whole, +Giovanni thought himself what his father had been in his youth, and more +or less what he hoped his sons, if he ever had any, would be after him. + +But there was more in him than all this, and at the first distant sound +of battle he felt the spirit stir within him, for his real nature was +brave and loyal, unselfish and devoted, instinctively sympathizing with +the weak and hating the lukewarm. He had told Del Ferice that he believed +he would fight as a matter of principle: as he leaned against the marble +pillar of the door in the Palazzo Frangipani, he wished the fight had +already begun. + +Waiting there, and staring into the moving crowd, he was aware of a young +man with pale and delicate features and black hair, who stood quietly by +his side, and seemed like himself an idle though not uninterested +spectator of the scene. Giovanni glanced once at the young fellow, and +thought he recognised him, and glancing again, he met his earnest look, +and saw that it was Anastase Gouache, the painter. Giovanni knew him +slightly, for Gouache was regarded as a rising celebrity, and, thanks to +Donna Tullia, was invited to most of the great receptions and balls of +that season, though he was not yet anywhere on a footing of intimacy. +Gouache was proud, and would perhaps have stood aloof altogether rather +than be treated as one of the herd who are asked "with everybody," as +the phrase goes; but he was of an observing turn of mind, and it amused +him immensely to stand unnoticed, following the movements of society's +planets, comets, and satellites, and studying the many types of the +cosmopolitan Roman world. + +"Good evening, Monsieur Gouache," said Giovanni. + +"Good evening, prince," replied the artist, with a somewhat formal +bow--after which both men relapsed into silence, and continued to watch +the crowd. + +"And what do you think of our Roman world?" asked Giovanni, presently. + +"I cannot compare it to any other world," answered Gouache, simply. "I +never went into society till I came to Rome. I think it is at once +brilliant and sedate--it has a magnificent air of historical antiquity, +and it is a little paradoxical." + +"Where is the paradox?" inquired Giovanni. + +"'Es-tu libre? Les lois sont-elles respectées? +Crains-tu de voir ton champ pillé par le voisin? +Le maître a-t-il son toit, et l'ouvrier son pain?'" + +A smile flickered over the young artist's face as he quoted Musset's +lines in answer to Giovanni's question. Giovanni himself laughed, and +looked at Anastase with somewhat increased interest. + +"Do you mean that we are revelling under the sword of Damocles--dancing +on the eve of our execution?" + +"Not precisely. A delicate flavour of uncertainty about to-morrow gives +zest to the appetite of to-day. It is impossible that such a large +society should be wholly unconscious of its own imminent danger--and yet +these men and women go about to-night as if they were Romans of old, +rulers of the world, only less sure of themselves than of the stability +of their empire." + +"Why not?" asked Giovanni, glancing curiously at the pale young man +beside him. "In answer to your quotation, I can say that I am as free as +I care to be; that the laws are sufficiently respected; that no one has +hitherto thought it worth while to plunder my acres; that I have a modest +roof of my own; and that, as far as I am aware, there are no workmen +starving in the streets at present. You are answered, it seems to me, +Monsieur Gouache." + +"Is that really your belief?" asked the artist, quietly. + +"Yes. As for my freedom, I am as free as air; no one thinks of hindering +my movements. As for the laws, they are made for good citizens, and good +citizens will respect them; if bad citizens do not, that is their loss. +My acres are safe, possibly because they are not worth taking, though +they yield me a modest competence sufficient for my needs and for the +needs of those who cultivate them for me." + +"And yet there is a great deal of talk in Rome about misery and injustice +and oppression--" + +"There will be a great deal more talk about those evils, with much better +cause, if people who think like you succeed in bringing about a +revolution, Monsieur Gouache," answered Giovanni, coldly. + +"If many people think like you, prince, a revolution is not to be thought +of. As for me I am a foreigner and I see what I can, and listen to what I +hear." + +"A revolution is not to be thought of. It was tried here and failed. If +we are overcome by a great power from without, we shall have no choice +but to yield, if any of us survive--for we would fight. But we have +nothing to fear from within." + +"Perhaps not," returned Gouache, thoughtfully. "I hear such opposite +opinions that I hardly know what to think." + +"I hear that you are to paint Cardinal Antonelli's portrait," said +Giovanni. "Perhaps his Eminence will help you to decide." + +"Yes; they say he is the cleverest man in Europe." + +"In that opinion they--whoever they may be--are mistaken," replied +Giovanni. "But he is a man of immense intellect, nevertheless." + +"I am not sure whether I will paint his portrait after all," said +Gouache. + +"You do not wish to be persuaded?" + +"No. My own ideas please me very well for the present. I would not +exchange them for those of any one else." + +"May I ask what those ideas are?" inquired Giovanni, with a show of +interest. + +"I am a republican," answered Gouache, quietly. "I am also a good +Catholic." + +"Then you are yourself much more paradoxical than the whole of our Roman +society put together," answered Giovanni, with a dry laugh. + +"Perhaps. There comes the most beautiful woman in the world." + +It was nearly twelve o'clock when Corona arrived, old Astrardente +sauntering jauntily by her side, his face arranged with more than usual +care, and his glossy wig curled cunningly to represent nature. He was +said to possess a number of wigs of different lengths, which he wore in +rotation, thus sustaining the impression that his hair was cut from time +to time. In his eye a single eyeglass was adjusted, and as he walked he +swung his hat delicately in his tightly gloved fingers. He wore the +plainest of collars and the simplest of gold studs; no chain dangled +showily from his waistcoat-pocket, and his small feet were encased in +little patent-leather shoes. But for his painted face, he might have +passed for the very incarnation of fashionable simplicity. But his face +betrayed him. + +As for Corona, she was dazzlingly beautiful. Not that any colour or +material she wore could greatly enhance her beauty, for all who saw her +on that memorable night remembered the wonderful light in her face, and +the strange look in her splendid eyes; but the thick soft fall of the +white velvet made as it were a pedestal for her loveliness, and the +Astrardente jewels that clasped her waist and throat and crowned her +black hair, collected the radiance of the many candles, and made the +light cling to her and follow her as she walked. Giovanni saw her enter, +and his whole adoration came upon him as a madness upon a sick man in a +fever, so that he would have sprung forward to meet her, and fallen at +her feet and worshipped her, had he not suddenly felt that he was watched +by more than one of the many who paused to see her go by. He moved from +his place and waited near the door where she would have to pass, and for +a moment his heart stood still. + +He hardly knew how it was. He found himself speaking to her. He asked her +for a dance, he asked boldly for the cotillon--he never knew how he had +dared; she assented, let her eyes rest upon him for one moment with an +indescribable expression, then grew very calm and cold, and passed on. + +It was all over in an instant. Giovanni moved back to his place as she +went by, and stood still like a man stunned. It was well that there were +yet nearly two hours before the preliminary dancing would be over; he +needed some time to collect himself. The air seemed full of strange +voices, and he watched the moving faces as in a dream, unable to +concentrate his attention upon anything he saw. + +"He looks as though he had a stroke of paralysis," said a woman's voice +near him. It did not strike him, in his strange bewilderment, that it was +Donna Tullia who had spoken, still less that she was speaking of him +almost to him. + +"Something very like it, I should say," answered Del Ferice's oily voice. +"He has probably been ill since you saw him. Saracinesca is an unhealthy +place." + +Giovanni turned sharply round. + +"Yes; we were speaking of you, Don Giovanni," said Donna Tullia, with +some scorn. "Does it strike you that you were exceedingly rude in not +letting me know that you were going out of town when you had promised to +dance with me at the Valdarno ball?" She curled her small lip and showed +her sharp white teeth. Giovanni was a man of the world, however, and was +equal to the occasion. + +"I apologise most humbly," he said. "It was indeed very rude; but in the +urgency of the case, I forgot all other engagements. I really beg your +pardon. Will you honour me with a dance this evening?" + +"I have every dance engaged," answered Madame Mayer, coldly staring at +him. + +"I am very sorry," said Giovanni, inwardly thanking heaven for his good +fortune, and wishing she would go away. + +"Wait a moment," said Donna Tullia, judging that she had produced the +desired effect upon him. "Let me look. I believe I have one waltz left. +Let me see. Yes, the one before the last--you can have it if you like." + +"Thank you," murmured Giovanni, greatly annoyed. "I will remember." + +Madame Mayer laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and moved away. She was +a vain woman, and being in love with Saracinesca after her own fashion, +could not understand that he should be wholly indifferent to her. She +thought that in telling him she had no dances she had given him a little +wholesome punishment, and that in giving one after all she had conferred +a favour upon him. She also believed that she had annoyed Del Ferice, +which, always amused her. But Del Ferice was more than a match for her, +with his quiet ways and smooth tongue. + +They went into the ball-room together and danced a few minutes. When the +music ceased, Ugo excused himself on the plea that he was engaged for the +quadrille that followed. He at once set out in search of the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, and did not lose sight of her again. She did not dance +before the cotillon, she said; and she sat down in a high chair in the +picture-gallery, while three or four men, among whom was Valdarno, sat +and stood near her, doing their best to amuse her. Others came, and some +went away, but Corona did not move, and sat amongst her little court, +glad to have the time pass in any way until the cotillon. When Del Ferice +had ascertained her position, he went about his business, which was +manifold--dancing frequently, and making a point of speaking to every one +in the room. At the end of an hour, he joined the group of men around the +Duchessa and took part in the conversation. + +It was an easy matter to make the talk turn upon Giovanni Saracinesca. +Every one was more or less curious about the journey he had made, and +especially about the cause of his absence. Each of the men had something +to say, and each, knowing the popular report that Giovanni was in love +with Corona, said his say with as much wit as he could command. Corona +herself was interested, for she alone understood his sudden absence, and +was anxious to hear the common opinion concerning it. + +The theories advanced were various. Some said he had been quarrelling +with the local authorities of Saracinesca, who interfered with his +developments and improvements upon the estate, and they gave laughable +portraits of the village sages with whom he had been engaged. Others +said he had only stopped there a day, and had been in Naples. One said he +had been boar-hunting; another, that the Saracinesca woods had been +infested by a band of robbers, who were terrorising the country. + +"And what do you say, Del Ferice?" asked Corona, seeing a cunning smile +upon the man's pale fat face. + +"It is very simple," said Ugo; "it is a very simple matter indeed. If the +Duchessa will permit me, I will call him, and we will ask him directly +what he has been doing. There he stands with old Cantalorgano at the +other end of the room. Public curiosity demands to be satisfied. May I +call him, Duchessa?" + +"By no means," said Corona, quickly. But before she had spoken, Valdarno, +who was always sanguine and impulsive, had rapidly crossed the gallery +and was already speaking to Giovanni. The latter bowed his head as though +obeying an order, and came quietly back with the young man who had called +him. The crowd of men parted before him as he advanced to the Duchessa's +chair, and stood waiting in some surprise. + +"What are your commands, Duchessa?" he asked, in somewhat formal tones. + +"Valdarno is too quick," answered Corona, who was greatly annoyed. "Some +one suggested calling you to settle a dispute, and he went before I could +stop him. I fear it is very impertinent of us." + +"I am entirely at your service," said Giovanni, who was delighted at +having been called, and had found time to recover from his first +excitement on seeing her. "What is the question?" + +"We were all talking about you," said Valdarno. + +"We were wondering where you had been," said another. + +"They said you had gone boar-hunting." + +"Or to Naples." + +"Or even to Paris." Three or four spoke in one breath. + +"I am exceedingly flattered at the interest you all show in me," said +Giovanni, quietly. "There is very little to tell. I have been in +Saracinesca upon a matter of business, spending my days in the woods with +my steward, and my nights in keeping away the cold and the ghosts. I +would have invited you all to join the festivity, had I known how much +you were interested. The beef up there is monstrously tough, and the rats +are abominably noisy, but the mountain air is said to be very healthy." + +Most of the men present felt that they had not only behaved foolishly, +but had spoiled the little circle around the Duchessa by introducing a +man who had the power to interest her, whereas they could only afford her +a little amusement. Valdarno was still standing, and his chair beside +Corona was vacant. Giovanni calmly installed himself upon it, and began +to talk as though nothing had happened. + +"You are not dancing, Duchessa," he remarked. "I suppose you have been in +the ball-room?" + +"Yes--but I am rather tired this evening. I will wait." + +"You were here at the last great ball, before the old prince died, were +you not?" asked Giovanni, remembering that he had first seen her on that +occasion. + +"Yes," she answered; "and I remember that we danced together; and the +accident to the window, and the story of the ghost." + +So they fell into conversation, and though one or two of the men ventured +an ineffectual remark, the little circle dropped away, and Giovanni was +left alone by the side of the Duchessa. The distant opening strains of a +waltz came floating down the gallery, but neither of the two heard, nor +cared. + +"It is strange," Giovanni said. "They say it has always happened, since +the memory of man. No one has ever seen anything, but whenever there is a +great ball, there is a crash of broken glass some time in the course of +the evening. Nobody could ever explain why that window fell in, five +years ago--five years ago this month,--this very day, I believe," he +continued suddenly, in the act of recollection. "Yes--the nineteenth of +January, I remember very well--it was my mother's birthday." + +"It is not so extraordinary," said Corona, "for it chances to be the +name-day of the present prince. That was probably the reason why it was +chosen this year." She spoke a little nervously, as though still ill at +ease. + +"But it is very strange," said Giovanni, in a low voice. "It is strange +that we should have met here the first time, and that we should not have +met here since, until--to-day." + +He looked towards her as he spoke, and their eyes met and lingered in +each other's gaze. Suddenly the blood mounted to Corona's cheeks, her +eyelids drooped, she leaned back in her seat and was silent. + +Far off, at the entrance to the ball-room, Del Ferice found Donna Tullia +alone. She was very angry. The dance for which she was engaged to +Giovanni Saracinesca had begun, and was already half over, and still he +did not come. Her pink face was unusually flushed, and there was a +disagreeable look in her blue eyes. + +"Ah!--I see Don Giovanni has again forgotten his engagement," said Ugo, +in smooth tones. He well knew that he himself had brought about the +omission, but none could have guessed it from his manner. "May I have the +honour of a turn before your cavalier arrives?" he asked. + +"No," said Donna Tullia, angrily. "Give me your arm. We will go and find +him." She almost hissed the words through her closed teeth. + +She hardly knew that Del Ferice was leading her as they moved towards the +picture-gallery, passing through the crowded rooms that lay between. She +never spoke; but her movement was impetuous, and she resented being +delayed by the hosts of men and women who filled the way. As they entered +the long apartment, where the portraits of the Frangipani lined the walls +from end to end, Del Ferice uttered a well-feigned exclamation. + +"Oh, there he is!" he cried. "Do you see him?--his back is turned--he is +alone with the Astrardente." + +"Come," said Donna Tullia, shortly. Del Ferice would have preferred to +have let her go alone, and to have witnessed from a distance the scene he +had brought about. But he could not refuse to accompany Madame Mayer. + +Neither Corona, who was facing the pair, but was talking with Giovanni, +nor Giovanni himself, who was turned away from them, noticed their +approach until they came and stood still beside them. Saracinesca looked +up and started. The Duchessa d'Astrardente raised her black eyebrows in +surprise. + +"Our dance!" exclaimed Giovanni, in considerable agitation. "It is the +one after this--" + +"On the contrary," said Donna Tullia, in tones trembling with rage, "it +is already over. It is the most unparalleled insolence!" + +Giovanni was profoundly disgusted at himself and Donna Tullia. He cared +not so much for the humiliation itself, which was bad enough, as for the +annoyance the scene caused Corona, who looked from one to the other in +angry astonishment, but of course could have nothing to say. + +"I can only assure you that I thought--" + +"You need not assure me!" cried Donna Tullia, losing all self-control. +"There is no excuse, nor pardon--it is the second time. Do not insult me +further, by inventing untruths for your apology." + +"Nevertheless--" began Giovanni, who was sincerely sorry for his great +rudeness, and would gladly have attempted to explain his conduct, seeing +that Donna Tullia was so justly angry. + +"There is no nevertheless!" she interrupted. "You may stay where you +are," she added, with a scornful glance at the Duchessa d'Astrardente. +Then she laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and swept angrily past, so +that the train of her red silk gown brushed sharply against Corona's soft +white velvet. + +Giovanni remained standing a moment, with a puzzled expression upon his +face. + +"How could you do anything so rude?" asked Corona, very gravely. "She +will never forgive you, and she will be quite right." + +"I do not know how I forgot," he answered, seating himself again. "It is +dreadful--unpardonable--but perhaps the consequences will be good." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Corona was ill at ease. In the first few moments of being alone with +Giovanni the pleasure she felt outweighed all other thoughts. But as the +minutes lengthened to a quarter of an hour, then to half an hour, she +grew nervous, and her answers came more and more shortly. She said to +herself that she should never have given him the cotillon, and she +wondered how the remainder of the time would pass. The realisation of +what had occurred came upon her, and the hot blood rose to her face and +ebbed away again, and rose once more. Yet she could not speak out what +her pride prompted her to say, because she pitied Giovanni a little, and +was willing to think for a moment that it was only compassion she felt, +lest she should feel that she must send him away. + +But Giovanni sat beside her, and knew that the spell was working upon +him, and that there was no salvation. He had taken her unawares, though +he hardly knew it, when she first entered, and he asked her suddenly for +a dance. He had wondered vaguely why she had so freely consented; but, in +the wild delight of being by her side, he completely lost all hold upon +himself, and yielded to the exquisite charm of her presence, as a man who +has struggled for a moment against a powerful opiate sinks under its +influence, and involuntarily acknowledges his weakness. Strong as he was, +his strength was all gone, and he knew not where he should find it. + +"You will have to make her some further apology," said Corona, as Madame +Mayer's red train disappeared through the doorway at the other end of the +room. + +"Of course--I must do something about it," said Giovanni, absently. +"After all, I do not wonder--it is amazing that I should have recognised +her at all. I should forget anything to-night, except that I am to +dance with you." + +The Duchessa looked away, and fanned herself slowly; but she sighed, and +checked the deep-drawn breath as by a great effort. The waltz was over, +and the dancers streamed through the intervening rooms towards the +gallery in quest of fresher air and freer space. Two and two they came, +quickly following each other and passing on, some filling the high seats +along the walls, others hastening towards the supper-rooms beyond. A few +minutes earlier Saracinesca and Corona had been almost alone in the great +apartment; now they were surrounded on all sides by a chattering crowd of +men and women, with flushed faces or unnaturally pale, according as the +effort of dancing affected each, and the indistinguishable din of +hundreds of voices so filled the air that Giovanni and the Duchessa could +hardly hear each other speak. + +"This is intolerable," said Giovanni, suddenly. "You are not engaged for +the last quadrille? Shall we not go away until the cotillon begins?" + +Corona hesitated a moment, and was silent. She glanced once at Giovanni, +and again surveyed the moving crowd. + +"Yes," she said at last; "let us go away." + +"You are very good," answered Giovanni in a low voice, as he offered her +his arm. She looked at him inquiringly, and her face grew grave, as they +slowly made their way out of the room. + +At last they came to the conservatory, and went in among the great plants +and the soft lights. There was no one there, and they slowly paced the +broad walk that was left clear all round the glass-covered chamber, and +up and down the middle. The plants were disposed so thickly as to form +almost impenetrable walls of green on either side; and at one end there +was an open space where a little marble fountain played, around which +were disposed seats of carved wood. But Giovanni and Corona continued to +walk slowly along the tiled path. + +"Why did you say I was good just now?" asked Corona at last. Her voice +sounded cold. + +"I should not have said it, perhaps," answered Giovanni. "I say many +things which I cannot help saying. I am very sorry." + +"I am very sorry too," answered the Duchessa, quietly. + +"Ah! if you knew, you would forgive me. If you could guess half the +truth, you would forgive me." + +"I would rather not guess it." + +"Of course; but you have already--you know it all. Have I not told you?" +Giovanni spoke in despairing tones. He was utterly weak and spellbound; +he could hardly find any words at all. + +"Don Giovanni," said Corona, speaking very proudly and calmly, but not +unkindly, "I have known you so long, I believe you to be so honourable a +man, that I am willing to suppose that you said--what you said--in a +moment of madness." + +"Madness! It was madness; but it is more sweet to remember than all the +other doings of my life," said Saracinesca, his tongue unloosed at last. +"If it is madness to love you, I am mad past all cure. There is no +healing for me now; I shall never find my senses again, for they are lost +in you, and lost for ever. Drive me away, crush me, trample on me if you +will; you cannot kill me nor kill my madness, for I live in you and for +you, and I cannot die. That is all. I am not eloquent as other men are, +to use smooth words and twist phrases. I love you--" + +"You have said too much already--too much, far too much," murmured +Corona, in broken tones. She had withdrawn her hand from his during his +passionate speech, and stood back from him against the dark wall of green +plants, her head drooping upon her breast, her fingers clasped fast +together. His short rude words were terribly sweet to hear, it was +fearful to think that she was alone with him, that one step would bring +her to his side, that with one passionate impulse she might throw her +white arms about his neck, that one faltering sigh of overwhelming love +might bring her queenly head down upon his shoulder. Ah, God! how gladly +she would let her tears flow and speak for her! how unutterably sweet it +would be to rest for one instant in his arms, to love and be loved as she +longed to be! + +"You are so cold," he cried, passionately. "You cannot understand. All +spoken words are not too much, are not enough to move you, to make you +see that I do really worship and adore you; you, the whole of you--your +glorious face, your sweet small hands, your queenly ways, the light of +your eyes, and the words of your lips--all of you, body and soul, I love. +I would I might die now, for you know it, even if you will not +understand--" + +He moved a step nearer to her, stretching out his hands as he spoke. +Corona trembled convulsively, and her lips turned white in the torture of +temptation; she leaned far back against the green leaves, staring wildly +at Giovanni, held as in a vice by the mighty passions of love and fear. +Having yielded her ears to his words, they fascinated her horribly. He, +poor man, had long lost all control of himself. His resolutions, long +pondered in the solitude of Saracinesca, had vanished like unsubstantial +vapours before a strong fire, and his heart and soul were ablaze. + +"Do not look at me so," he said almost tenderly. "Do not look at me as +though you feared me, as though you hated me. Can you not see that it is +I who fear you as well as love you, who tremble at your coldness, who +watch for your slightest kind look? Ah, Corona, you have made me so +happy!--there is no angel in all heaven but would give up his Paradise to +change for mine!" + +He had taken her hand and pressed it wildly to his lips. Her eyelids +drooped, and her head fell back for one moment. They stood so very near +that his arm had almost stolen about her slender waist, he almost thought +he was supporting her. + +Suddenly, without the least warning, she drew herself up to her full +height, and thrust Giovanni back to her arm's length strongly, almost +roughly. + +"Never!" she said. "I am a weak woman, but not so weak as that. I am +miserable, but not so miserable as to listen to you. Giovanni +Saracinesca, you say you love me--God grant it is not true! but you say +it. Then, have you no honour, no courage, no strength? Is there nothing +of the man left in you? Is there no truth in your love, no generosity in +your heart? If you so love me as you say you do, do you care so little +what becomes of me as to tempt me to love you?" + +She spoke very earnestly, not scornfully nor angrily, but in the +certainty of strength and right, and in the strong persuasion that the +headstrong man would hear and be convinced. She was weak no longer, for +one desperate moment her fate had trembled in the balance, but she had +not hesitated even then; she had struggled bravely, and her brave soul +had won the great battle. She had been weak the other day at the theatre, +in letting herself ask the question to which she knew the answer; she had +been miserably weak that very night in so abandoning herself to the +influence she loved and dreaded; but at the great moment, when heaven and +earth swam before her as in a wild and unreal mirage, with the voice of +the man she loved ringing in her ears, speaking such words as it was +an ecstasy to hear, she had been no longer weak--the reality of danger +had brought forth the sincerity of her goodness, and her heart had found +courage to do a great deed. She had overcome, and she knew it. + +Giovanni stood back from her, and hung his head. In a moment the force of +his passion was checked, and from the supreme verge of unspeakable and +rapturous delight, he was cast suddenly into the depths of his own +remorse. He stood silent before her, trembling and awestruck. + +"You cannot understand me," she said, "I do not understand myself. But +this I know, that you are not what you have seemed to-night--that there +is enough manliness and nobility in you to respect a woman, and that you +will hereafter prove that I am right. I pray that I may not see you any +more; but if I must see you, I will trust you this much--say that I may +trust you," she added, her strong smooth voice sinking in a trembling +cadence, half beseeching, and yet wholly commanding. + +Saracinesca bent his heavy brows, and was silent for a moment. Then he +looked up, and his eyes met hers, and seemed to gather strength from her. + +"If you will let me see you sometimes, you may trust me. I would I were +as noble and good as you--I am not. I will try to be. Ah, Corona!" he +cried suddenly, "forgive me, forgive me! I hardly knew what I said." + +"Hush!" said the Duchessa, gently; "you must not speak like that, nor +call me Corona. Perhaps I am wrong to forgive you wholly, but I believe +in you. I believe you will understand, and that you will be worthy of the +trust I place in you." + +"Indeed, Duchessa, none shall say that they have trusted me in vain," +answered Giovanni very proudly--"neither man nor woman--and, least of all +women, you." + +"That is well," said she, with a faint shadow of a smile. "I would rather +see you proud than reckless. See that you remain so--that neither by word +nor deed you ever remind me that I have had anything to forgive. It is +the only way in which any intercourse between us can be possible after +this--this dreadful night." + +Giovanni bowed his head. He was still pale, but he had regained control +of himself. + +"I solemnly promise that I will not recall it to your memory, and I +implore your forgiveness, even though you cannot forget." + +"I cannot forget," said Corona, almost under her breath. Giovanni's eyes +flashed for a moment. "Shall we go back to the ball-room? I will go home +soon." + +As they turned to go, a loud crash, as of broken glass, with the fall of +some heavy body, startled them, and made them stand still in the middle +of the walk. The noisy concussion was followed by a complete silence. +Corona, whose nerves had been severely tried, trembled slightly. + +"It is strange," she said; "they say it always happens." + +There was nothing to be seen. The thick web of plants hid the cause of +the noise from view, whatever it might be. Giovanni hesitated a moment, +looking about to see how he could get behind the banks of flower-pots. +Then he left Corona without a word, and striding to the end of the walk, +disappeared into the depths of the conservatory. He had noticed that +there was a narrow entrance at the end nearest the fountain, intended +probably to admit the gardener for the purpose of watering the plants. +Corona could hear his quick steps; she thought she heard a low groan and +a voice whispering,--but she might have been mistaken, for the place was +large, and her heart was beating fast. + +Giovanni had not gone far in the narrow way, which was sufficiently +lighted by the soft light of the many candles concealed in various parts +of the conservatory, when he came upon the figure of a man sitting, as he +had apparently fallen, across the small passage. The fragments of a heavy +earthenware vase lay beyond him, with a heap of earth and roots; and the +tall india-rubber plant which grew in it had fallen against the sloping +glass roof and shattered several panes. As Giovanni came suddenly upon +him, the man struggled to rise, and in the dim light Saracinesca +recognised Del Ferice. The truth flashed upon him at once. The fellow had +been listening, and had probably heard all. Giovanni instantly resolved +to conceal the fact from the Duchessa, to whom the knowledge that the +painful scene had been overheard would be a bitter mortification. +Giovanni could undertake to silence the eavesdropper. + +Quick as thought his strong brown hands gripped the throat of Ugo del +Ferice, stifling his breath like a collar of iron. + +"Dog!" he whispered fiercely in the wretch's ear, "if you breathe, I will +kill you now! You will find me in my own house in an hour. Be silent +now!" Giovanni whispered, with such a terrible grip on the fellow's +throat that his eyeballs seemed starting from his head. Then he turned +and went out by the way he had entered, leaving Del Ferice writhing with +pain and gasping for breath. As he joined Corona, his face betrayed no +emotion--he had been so pale before that he could not turn whiter in his +anger--but his eyes gleamed fiercely at the thought of fight. The +Duchessa stood where he had left her, still much agitated. + +"It is nothing," said Giovanni, with a forced laugh, as he offered her +his arm and led her quickly away. "Imagine. A great vase with one of +Frangipani's favourite plants in it had been badly propped, and had +fallen right through the glass, outward." + +"It is strange," said Corona. "I was almost sure I heard a groan." + +"It was the wind. The glass was broken, and it is a stormy night." + +"That was just the way that window fell in five years ago," said Corona. +"Something always happens here. I think I will go home--let us find my +husband." + +No one would have guessed, from Corona's face, that anything +extraordinary had occurred in the half-hour she had spent in the +conservatory. She walked calmly by Giovanni's side, not a trace of +excitement on her pale proud face, not a sign of uneasiness in the quiet +glance of her splendid eyes. She had conquered, and she knew it, never to +be tempted again; she had conquered herself and she had overcome the man +beside her. Giovanni glanced at her in wondering admiration. + +"You are the bravest woman in the world, as I am the most contemptible of +men," he said suddenly, as they entered the picture-gallery. + +"I am not brave," she answered calmly, "neither are you contemptible, my +friend. We have both been very near to our destruction, but it has +pleased God to save us." + +"By you," said Saracinesca, very solemnly. He knew that within six hours +he might be lying dead upon some plot of wet grass without the city, and +he grew very grave, after the manner of brave men when death is abroad. + +"You have saved my soul to-night," he said earnestly. "Will you give me +your blessing and whole forgiveness? Do not laugh at me, nor think me +foolish. The blessing of such women as you should make men braver and +better." + +The gallery was again deserted. The cotillon had begun, and those who +were not dancing were at supper. Corona stood still for one moment by the +very chair where they had sat so long. + +"I forgive you wholly. I pray that all blessings may be upon you always, +in life and in death, for ever." + +Giovanni bowed his head reverently. It seemed as though the woman he so +loved was speaking a benediction upon his death, a last _in pace_ which +should follow him for all eternity. + +"In life and in death, I will honour you truly and serve you faithfully +for ever," he answered. As he raised his head, Corona saw that there were +tears in his eyes, and she felt that there were tears in her own. + +"Come," she said, and they passed on in silence. + +She found her husband at last in the supper-room. He was leisurely +discussing the wing of a chicken and a small glass of claret-and-water, +with a gouty ambassador whose wife had insisted upon dancing the +cotillon, and who was revenging himself upon a Strasbourg _pâté_ and a +bottle of dry champagne. + +"Ah, my dear," said Astrardente, looking up from his modest fare, "you +have been dancing? You have come to supper? You are very wise. I have +danced a great deal myself, but I have not seen you--the room was so +crowded. Here--this small table will hold us all, just a quartet." + +"Thanks--I am not hungry. Will you take me home when you have finished +supper? Or are you going to stay? Do not wait, Don Giovanni; I know you +are busy in the cotillon. My husband will take care of me. Good night." + +Giovanni bowed, and went away, glad to be alone at last. He had to be at +home in half an hour according to his engagement, and he had to look +about him for a friend. All Rome was at the ball; but the men upon whom +he could call for such service as he required, were all dancing. +Moreover, he reflected that in such a matter it was necessary to have +some one especially trustworthy. It would not do to have the real cause +of the duel known, and the choice of a second was a very important +matter. He never doubted that Del Ferice would send some one with a +challenge at the appointed time. Del Ferice was a scoundrel, doubtless; +but he was quick with the foils, and had often appeared as second in +affairs of honour. + +Giovanni stood by the door of the ball-room, looking at the many familiar +faces, and wondering how he could induce any one to leave his partner at +that hour, and go home with him. Suddenly he was aware that his father +was standing beside him and eyeing him curiously. + +"What is the matter, Giovanni?" inquired the old Prince. "Why are you not +dancing?" + +"The fact is--" began Giovanni, and then stopped suddenly. An idea struck +him. He went close to his father, and spoke in a low voice. + +"The fact is, that I have just taken a man by the throat and otherwise +insulted him, by calling him a dog. The fellow seemed annoyed, and so I +told him he might send to our house in an hour for an explanation. I +cannot find a friend, because everybody is dancing this abominable +cotillon. Perhaps you can help me," he added, looking at his father +rather doubtfully. To his surprise and considerable relief the old Prince +burst into a hearty laugh. + +"Of course," he cried. "What do you take me for? Do you think I would +desert my boy in a fight? Go and call my carriage, and wait for me while +I pick up somebody for a witness; we can talk on the way home." + +The old Prince had been a duellist in his day, and he would no more have +thought of advising his son not to fight than of refusing a challenge +himself. He was, moreover, exceedingly bored at the ball, and not in the +least sleepy. The prospect of an exciting night was novel and delightful. +He knew Giovanni's extraordinary skill, and feared nothing for him. He +knew everybody in the ball-room was engaged, and he went straight to the +supper-table, expecting to find some one there. Astrardente, the +Duchessa, and the gouty ambassador were still together, as Giovanni had +left them a moment before. The Prince did not like Astrardente, but he +knew the ambassador very well. He called him aside, with an apology to +the Duchessa. + +"I want a young man immediately," said old Saracinesca, stroking his +white beard with his broad brown hand. "Can you tell of any one who is +not dancing?" + +"There is Astrardente," answered his Excellency, with an ironical smile. +"A duel?" he asked. + +Saracinesca nodded. + +"I am too old," said the diplomatist, thoughtfully; "but it would be +infinitely amusing. I cannot give you one of my secretaries either. It +always makes such a scandal. Oh, there goes the very man! Catch him +before it is too late!" + +Old Saracinesca glanced in the direction the ambassador indicated, and +darted away. He was as active as a boy, in spite of his sixty years. + +"Eh!" he cried. "Hi! you! Come here! Spicca! Stop! Excuse me--I am in a +great hurry!" + +Count Spicca, whom he thus addressed, paused and looked round through his +single eyeglass in some surprise. He was an immensely tall and +cadaverous-looking man, with a black beard and searching grey eyes. + +"I really beg your pardon," said the Prince hurriedly, in a low voice, as +he came up, "but I am in a great hurry--an affair of honour--will you be +witness? My carriage is at the door." + +"With pleasure," said Count Spicca, quietly; and without further comment +he accompanied the Prince to the outer hall. Giovanni was waiting, and +the Prince's footman stood at the head of the stairs. In three minutes +the father and son and the melancholy Spicca were seated in the carriage, +on their way to the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Now then, Giovannino," said the Prince, as he lit a cigarette in the +darkness, "tell us all about it." + +"There is not much to tell," said Giovanni. "If the challenge arrives, +there is nothing to be done but to fight. I took him by the throat and +nearly strangled him." + +"Whom?" asked Spicca, mournfully. + +"Oh! it is Del Ferice," answered Giovanni, who had forgotten that he had +not mentioned the name of his probable antagonist. The Prince laughed. + +"Del Ferice! Who would have thought it? He is a dead man. What was it all +about?" + +"That is unnecessary to say here," said Giovanni, quietly. "He insulted +me grossly. I half-strangled him, and told him he was a dog. I suppose he +will fight." + +"Ah yes; he will probably fight," repeated Spicca, thoughtfully. "What +are your weapons, Don Giovanni?" + +"Anything he likes." + +"But the choice is yours if he challenges," returned the Count. + +"As you please. Arrange all that--foils, swords, or pistols." + +"You do not seem to take much interest in this affair," remarked Spicca, +sadly. + +"He is best with foils," said the old Prince. + +"Foils or pistols, of course," said the Count. "Swords are child's play." + +Satisfied that his seconds meant business, Giovanni sank back in his +corner of the carriage, and was silent. + +"We had better have the meeting in my villa," said his father. "If it +rains, they can fight indoors. I will send for the surgeon at once." + +In a few moments they reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. The Prince left +word at the porter's lodge that any gentlemen who arrived were to be +admitted, and all three went up-stairs. It was half-past two o'clock. + +As they entered the apartments, they heard a carriage drive under the +great archway below. + +"Go to your rooms, Giovanni," said the old Prince. "These fellows are +punctual. I will call you when they are gone. I suppose you mean business +seriously?" + +"I care nothing about him. I will give him any satisfaction he pleases," +answered Giovanni. "It is very kind of you to undertake the matter--I am +very grateful." + +"I would not leave it to anybody else," muttered the old Prince, as he +hurried away to meet Del Fence's seconds. + +Giovanni entered his own rooms, and went straight to his writing-table. +He took a pen and a sheet of paper and began writing. His face was very +grave, but his hand was steady. For more than an hour he wrote without +pausing. Then his father entered the room. + +"Well?" said Giovanni, looking up. + +"It is all settled," said the old gentleman, seriously. "I was afraid +they might make some objection to me as a second. You know there is an +old clause about near relations acting in such cases. But they declared +that they considered my co-operation an honour--so that is all right. +You must do your best, my boy. This rascal means to hurt you if he can. +Seven o'clock is the time. We must leave here at half-past six. You can +sleep two hours and a half. I will sit up and call you. Spicca has gone +home to change his clothes, and is coming back immediately. Now lie down. +I will see to your foils--" + +"Is it foils, then?" asked Giovanni, quietly. + +"Yes. They made no objection. You had better lie down." + +"I will. Father, if anything should happen to me--it may, you know--you +will find my keys in this drawer, and this letter, which I beg you will +read. It is to yourself." + +"Nonsense, my dear boy! Nothing will happen to you--you will just run him +through the arm and come home to breakfast." + +The old Prince spoke in his rough cheerful way; but his voice trembled, +and he turned aside to hide two great tears that had fallen upon his dark +cheeks and were losing themselves in his white beard. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Giovanni slept soundly for two hours. He was very tired with the many +emotions of the night, and the arrangements for the meeting being +completed, it seemed as though work were over and the pressure removed. +It is said that men will sleep for hours when the trial is over and the +sentence of death has been passed; and though it was more likely that Del +Ferice would be killed than that Giovanni would be hurt, the latter felt +not unlike a man who has been tried for his life. He had suffered in a +couple of hours almost every emotion of which he was capable--his love +for Corona, long controlled and choked down, had broken bounds at last, +and found expression for itself; he had in a moment suffered the severest +humiliation and the most sincere sorrow at her reproaches; he had known +the fear of seeing her no more, and the sweetness of pardon from her own +lips; he had found himself on a sudden in a frenzy of righteous wrath +against Del Ferice, and a moment later he had been forced to hide his +anger under a calm face; and at last, when the night was far spent, he +had received the assurance that in less than four hours he would have +ample opportunity for taking vengeance upon the cowardly eavesdropper who +had so foully got possession of the one secret he held dear. Worn out +with all he had suffered, and calm in the expectation of the morning's +struggle, Giovanni lay down upon his bed and slept. + +Del Ferice, on the contrary, was very wakeful. He had an unpleasant +sensation about his throat as though he had been hanged, and cut down +before he was dead; and he suffered the unutterable mortification of +knowing that, after a long and successful social career, he had been +detected by his worst enemy in a piece of disgraceful villany. In the +first place, Giovanni might kill him. Del Ferice was a very good fencer, +but Saracinesca was stronger and more active; there was certainly +considerable danger in the duel. On the other hand, if he survived, +Giovanni had him in his power for the rest of his life, and there was no +escape possible. He had been caught listening--caught in a flagrantly +dishonest trick--and he well knew that if the matter had been brought +before a jury of honour, he would have been declared incompetent +to claim any satisfaction. + +It was not the first time Del Ferice had done such things, but it was the +first time he had been caught. He cursed his awkwardness in oversetting +the vase just at the moment when his game was successfully played to the +end--just when he thought that he began to see land, in having discovered +beyond all doubt that Giovanni was devoted body and soul to Corona +d'Astrardente. The information had been necessary to him, for he was +beginning seriously to press his suit with Donna Tullia, and he needed to +be sure that Giovanni was not a rival to be feared. He had long suspected +Saracinesca's devotion to the dark Duchessa, and by constantly putting +himself in his way, he had done his best to excite his jealousy and to +stimulate his passion. Giovanni never could have considered Del Ferice as +a rival; the idea would have been ridiculous. But the constant annoyance +of finding the man by Corona's side, when he desired to be alone with +her, had in some measure heightened the effect Del Ferice desired, though +it had not actually produced it. Being a good judge of character, he had +sensibly reckoned his chances against Giovanni, and he had formed so just +an opinion of the man's bold and devoted character as to be absolutely +sure that if Saracinesca loved Corona he would not seriously think of +marrying Donna Tullia. He had done all he could to strengthen the passion +when he guessed it was already growing, and at the very moment when he +had received circumstantial evidence of it which placed it beyond all +doubt, he had allowed himself to be discovered, through his own +unpardonable carelessness. + +Evidently the only satisfactory way out of the difficulty was to kill +Giovanni outright, if he could do it. In that way he would rid himself +of an enemy, and at the same time of the evidence against himself. +The question was, how this could be accomplished; for Giovanni was a +man of courage, strength, and experience, and he himself--Ugo del +Ferice--possessed none of those qualities in any great degree. The result +was, that he slept not at all, but passed the night in a state of nervous +anxiety by no means conducive to steadiness of hand or calmness of the +nerves. He was less pleased than ever when he heard that Giovanni's +seconds were his own father and the melancholy Spicca, who was the most +celebrated duellist in Italy, in spite of his cadaverous long body, his +sad voice, and his expression of mournful resignation to the course of +events. + +In the event of his neither killing Don Giovanni nor being himself +killed, what he most dreaded was the certainty that for the rest of his +life he must be in his enemy's power. He knew that, for Corona's sake, +Giovanni would not mention the cause of the duel, and no one could have +induced him to speak of it himself; but it would be a terrible hindrance +in his life to feel at every turn that the man he hated had the power to +expose him to the world as a scoundrel of the first water. What he had +heard gave him but small influence over Saracinesca, though it was of +great value in determining his own action. To say aloud to the world that +Giovanni loved the Duchessa d'Astrardente would be of little use. Del +Ferice could not, for very shame, tell how he had found it out; and there +was no other proof but his evidence, for he guessed that from that time +forward the open relation between the two would be even more formal than +before--and the most credulous people do not believe in a great fire +unless they can see a little smoke. He had not even the advantage of +turning the duel to account in his interest with Donna Tullia, since +Giovanni could force him to deny that she was implicated in the question, +on pain of exposing his treachery. There was palpably no satisfactory way +out of the matter unless he could kill his adversary. He would have to +leave the country for a while; but Giovanni once dead, it would be easy +to make Donna Tullia believe they had fought on her account, and to +derive all the advantage there was to be gained from posing before the +world as her defender. + +But though Del Ferice's rest was disturbed by the contemplation of his +difficulties, he did not neglect any precaution which might save his +strength for the morrow. He lay down upon his bed, stretching himself at +full length, and carefully keeping his right arm free, lest, by letting +his weight fall upon it as he lay, he should benumb the muscles or +stiffen the joints; from time to time he rubbed a little strengthening +ointment upon his wrist, and he was careful that the light should not +shine in his eyes and weary them. At six o'clock his seconds appeared +with the surgeon they had engaged, and the four men were soon driving +rapidly down the Corso towards the gate. + +So punctual were the two parties that they arrived simultaneously at the +gate of the villa which had been selected for the encounter. The old +Prince took a key from his pocket and himself opened the great iron gate. +The carriages drove in, and the gates were closed by the astonished +porter, who came running out as they creaked upon their hinges. The light +was already sufficient for the purpose of fencing, as the eight men +descended simultaneously before the house. The morning was cloudy, but +the ground was dry. The principals and seconds saluted each other +formally. Giovanni withdrew to a little distance on one side with his +surgeon, and Del Ferice stood aside with his. + +The melancholy Spicca, who looked like the shadow of death in the dim +morning light, was the first to speak. + +"Of course you know the best spot in the villa?" he said to the old +Prince. + +"As there is no sun, I suggest that they fight upon the ground behind the +house. It is hard and dry." + +The whole party followed old Saracinesca. Spicca had the foils in a green +bag. The place suggested by the Prince seemed in every way adapted, and +Del Ferice's seconds made no objection. There was absolutely no choice of +position upon the ground, which was an open space about twenty yards +square, hard and well rolled, preferable in every way to a grass lawn. + +Without further comment, Giovanni took off his coat and waistcoat, and +Del Ferice, who looked paler and more unhealthy than usual, followed his +example. The seconds crossed sides to examine the principals' shirts, +and to assure themselves that they wore no flannel underneath the +unstarched linen. This formality being accomplished, the foils were +carefully compared, and Giovanni was offered the first choice. He took +the one nearest his hand, and the other was carried to Del Ferice. They +were simple fencing foils, the buttons being removed and the points +sharpened--there was nothing to choose between them. The seconds then +each took a sword, and stationed the combatants some seven or eight +paces apart, while they themselves stood a little aside, each upon the +right hand of his principal, and the witnesses placed themselves at +opposite corners of the ground, the surgeons remaining at the ends behind +the antagonists. There was a moment's pause. When all was ready, old +Saracinesca came close to Giovanni, while Del Ferice's second approached +his principal in like manner. + +"Giovanni," said the old Prince, gravely, "as your second I am bound to +recommend you to make any advance in your power towards a friendly +understanding. Can you do so?" + +"No, father, I cannot," answered Giovanni, with a slight smile. His face +was perfectly calm, and of a natural colour. Old Saracinesca crossed the +ground, and met Casalverde, the opposite second, half-way. Each formally +expressed to the other his great regret that no arrangement would be +possible, and then retired again to the right hand of his principal. + +"Gentlemen," said the Prince, in a loud voice, "are you ready?" As both +men bowed their assent, he added immediately, in a sharp tone of command, +"In guard!" + +Giovanni and Del Ferice each made a step forward, saluted each other with +their foils, repeated the salute to the seconds and witnesses, and then +came face to face and fell into position. Each made one thrust in tierce +at the other, in the usual fashion of compliment, each parrying in the +same way. + +"Halt!" cried Saracinesca and Casalverde, in the same breath. + +"In guard!" shouted the Prince again, and the duel commenced. + +In a moment the difference between the two men was apparent. Del Ferice +fenced in the Neapolitan style--his arm straight before him, never +bending from the elbow, making all his play with his wrist, his back +straight, and his knees so much bent that he seemed not more than half +his height. He made his movements short and quick, and relatively few, in +evident fear of tiring himself at the start. To a casual observer his +fence was less graceful than his antagonist's, his lunges less daring, +his parries less brilliant. But as the old Prince watched him he saw that +the point of his foil advanced and retreated in a perfectly straight +line, and in parrying described the smallest circle possible, while his +cold watery blue eye was fixed steadily upon his antagonist; old +Saracinesca ground his teeth, for he saw that the man was a most +accomplished swordsman. + +Giovanni fought with the air of one who defended himself, without much +thought of attack. He did not bend so low as Del Ferice, his arm doubled +a little before his lunge, and his foil occasionally made a wide circle +in the air. He seemed careless, but in strength and elasticity he was far +superior to his enemy, and could perhaps afford to trust to these +advantages, when a man like Del Ferice was obliged to employ his whole +skill and science. + +They had been fencing for more than two minutes, without any apparent +result, when Giovanni seemed suddenly to change his tactics. He lowered +the point of his weapon a little, and, keeping it straight before him, +began to press more closely upon his antagonist. Del Ferice kept his arm +at full length, and broke ground for a yard or two, making clever feints +in carte at Giovanni's body, with the object of stopping his advance. But +Giovanni pressed him, and suddenly made a peculiar movement with his +foil, bringing it in contact with his enemy's along its length. + +"Halt!" cried Casalverde. Both men lowered their weapons instantly, and +the seconds sprang forward and touched their swords between them. +Giovanni bit his lip angrily. + +"Why 'halt'?" asked the Prince, sharply. "Neither is touched." + +"My principal's shoe-string is untied," answered Casalverde, calmly. It +was true. "He might easily trip and fall," explained Del Ferice's friend, +bending down and proceeding to tie the silk ribbon. The Prince shrugged +his shoulders, and retired with Giovanni a few steps back. + +"Giovanni," he said, in a voice trembling with emotion, "if you are not +more careful, he will do you a mischief. For heaven's sake run him +through the arm and let us be done with it." + +"I should have disarmed him that time if his second had not stopped us," +said Giovanni, calmly. "He is ready again," he added, "come on." + +"In guard!" + +Again the two men advanced, and again the foils crossed and recrossed and +rang loudly in the cold morning air. Once more Giovanni pressed upon Del +Ferice, and Del Ferice broke ground. In answer to a quick feint, Giovanni +made a round parry and a sharp short lunge in tierce. + +"Halt!" yelled Casalverde. Old Saracinesca sprang in, and Giovanni +lowered his weapon. But Casalverde did not interpose his sword. A full +two seconds after the cry to halt, Del Ferice lunged right forward. +Giovanni thrust out his arm to save his body from the foul attempt--he +had not time to raise his weapon. Del Ferice's sharp rapier entered his +wrist and tore a long wound nearly to the elbow. + +Giovanni said nothing, but his sword dropped from his hand and he turned +upon his father, white with rage. The blood streamed down his sleeve, and +his surgeon came running towards him. + +The old man had understood at a glance the foul play that had been +practised, and going forward laid his hand upon the arm of Del Ferice's +second. + +"Why did you stop them, sir? And where was your sword?" he said in great +anger. Del Ferice was leaning upon his friend; a greenish pallor had +overspread his face, but there was a smile under his colourless +moustache. + +"My principal was touched," said Casalverde, pointing to a tiny scratch +upon Del Ferice's neck, from which a single drop of blood was slowly +oozing. + +"Then why did you not prevent your principal from thrusting after you +cried the halt?" asked Saracinesca, severely. "You have singularly +misunderstood your duties, sir, and when these gentlemen are satisfied, +you will be answerable to me." + +Casalverde was silent. + +"I protest myself wholly satisfied," said Ugo, with a disagreeable smile, +as he glanced to where the surgeon was binding up Giovanni's arm. + +"Sir," said old Saracinesca, fiercely addressing the second, "I am not +here to bandy words with your principal. He may express himself satisfied +through you, if he pleases. My principal, through me, expresses his +entire dissatisfaction." + +"Your principal, Prince," answered Casalverde, coldly, "is unable to +proceed, seeing that his right arm is injured." + +"My son, sir, fences as readily with his left hand as with his right," +returned old Saracinesca. + +Del Ferice's face fell, and his smile vanished instantly. + +"In that case we are ready," returned Casalverde, unable, however, to +conceal his annoyance. He was a friend of Del Ferice's and would gladly +have seen Giovanni run through the body by the foul thrust. + +There was a moment's consultation on the other side. + +"I will give myself the pleasure of killing that gentleman to-morrow +morning," remarked Spicca, as he mournfully watched the surgeon's +operations. + +"Unless I kill him myself to-day," returned the Prince savagely, in his +white beard. "Are you ready, Giovanni?" It never occurred to him to ask +his son if he was too badly hurt to proceed. + +Giovanni never spoke, but the hot blood had mounted to his temples, and +he was dangerously angry. He took the foil they gave him, and felt the +point quietly. It was sharp as a needle. He nodded to his father's +question, and they resumed their places, the old Prince this time +standing on the left, as his son had changed hands. Del Ferice came +forward rather timidly. His courage had sustained him so far, but the +consciousness of having done a foul deed, and the sight of the angry man +before him, were beginning to make him nervous. He felt uncomfortable, +too, at the idea of fencing against a left-handed antagonist. + +Giovanni made one or two lunges, and then, with a strange movement unlike +anything any one present was acquainted with, seemed to wind his blade +round Del Ferice's, and, with a violent jerk of the wrist, sent the +weapon flying across the open space. It struck a window of the house, and +crashed through the panes. + +"More broken glass!" said Giovanni scornfully, as he lowered his point +and stepped back two paces. "Take another sword, sir," he said; "I will +not kill you defenceless." + +"Good heavens, Giovanni!" exclaimed his father in the greatest +excitement; "where on earth did you learn that trick?" + +"On my travels, father," returned Giovanni, with a smile; "where you tell +me I learned so much that was bad. He looks frightened," he added in a +low voice, as he glanced at Del Ferice's livid face. + +"He has cause," returned the Prince, "if he ever had in his life!" + +Casalverde and his witness advanced from the other side with a fresh pair +of foils; for the one that had gone through the window could not be +recovered at once, and was probably badly bent by the twist it had +received. The gentlemen offered Giovanni his choice. + +"If there is no objection I will keep the one I have," said he to his +father. The foils were measured, and were found to be alike. The two +gentlemen retired, and Del Ferice chose a weapon. + +"That is right," said Spicca, as he slowly went back to his place. "You +should never part with an old friend." + +"We are ready!" was called from the opposite side. + +"In guard, then!" cried the Prince. The angry flush had not subsided from +Giovanni's forehead, as he again went forward. Del Ferice came up like a +man who has suddenly made up his mind to meet death, with a look of +extraordinary determination on his pale face. + +Before they had made half-a-dozen passes Ugo slipped, or pretended to +slip, and fell upon his right knee; but as he came to the ground, he made +a sharp thrust upwards under Giovanni's extended left arm. + +The old Prince uttered a fearful oath, that rang and echoed along the +walls of the ancient villa. Del Ferice had executed the celebrated feint +known long ago as the "Colpo del Tancredi," "Tancred's lunge," from the +supposed name of its inventor. It is now no longer permitted in duelling. +But the deadly thrust loses half its danger against a left-handed man. +The foil grazed the flesh on Giovanni's left side, and the blood again +stained his white shirt. In the moment when Del Ferice slipped, Giovanni +had made a straight and deadly lunge at his body, and the sword, instead +of passing through Ugo's lungs, ran swift and sure through his throat, +with such force that the iron guard struck the falling man's jaw with +tremendous impetus, before the oath the old Prince had uttered was fairly +out of his mouth. + +Seconds and witnesses and surgeons sprang forward hastily. Del Ferice lay +upon his side; he had fallen so heavily and suddenly as to wrench the +sword from Giovanni's grip. The old Prince gave one look, and dragged +his son away. + +"He is as dead as a stone," he muttered, with a savage gleam in his eyes. + +Giovanni hastily began to dress, without paying any attention to the +fresh wound he had received in the last encounter. In the general +excitement, his surgeon had joined the group about the fallen man. Before +Giovanni had got his overcoat on he came back with Spicca, who looked +crestfallen and disappointed. + +"He is not dead at all," said the surgeon. "You did the thing with a +master's hand--you ran his throat through without touching the jugular +artery or the spine." + +"Does he want to go on?" asked Giovanni, so savagely that the three men +stared at him. + +"Do not be so bloodthirsty, Giovanni," said the old Prince, +reproachfully. + +"I should be justified in going back and killing him as he lies there," +said the younger Saracinesca, fiercely. "He nearly murdered me twice this +morning." + +"That is true," said the Prince, "the dastardly brute!" + +"By the bye," said Spicca, lighting a cigarette, "I am afraid I have +deprived you of the pleasure of dealing with the man who called himself +Del Ferice's second. I just took the opportunity of having a moment's +private conversation with him--we disagreed, a little." + +"Oh, very well," growled the Prince; "as you please. I daresay I shall +have enough to do in taking care of Giovanni to-morrow. That is a +villanous bad scratch on his arm." + +"Bah! it is nothing to mention, save for the foul way it was given," said +Giovanni between his teeth. + +Once more old Saracinesca and Spicca crossed the ground. There was a word +of formality exchanged, to the effect that both combatants were +satisfied, and then Giovanni and his party moved off, Spicca carrying his +green bag of foils under his arm, and puffing clouds of smoke into the +damp morning air. They had been nearly an hour on the ground, and were +chilled with cold, and exhausted for want of sleep. They entered their +carriage and drove rapidly homewards. + +"Come in and breakfast with us," said the old Prince to Spicca, as they +reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Thank you, no," answered the melancholy man. "I have much to do, as I +shall go to Paris to-morrow morning by the ten o'clock train. Can I do +anything for you there? I shall be absent some months." + +"I thought you were going to fight to-morrow," objected the Prince. + +"Exactly. It will be convenient for me to leave the country immediately +afterwards." + +The old man shuddered. With all his fierce blood and headstrong passion, +he could not comprehend the fearful calm of this strange man, whose skill +was such that he regarded his adversary's death as a matter of course +whenever he so pleased. As for Giovanni, he was still so angry that he +cared little for the issue of the second duel. + +"I am sincerely grateful for your kind offices," he said, as Spicca took +leave of him. + +"You shall be amply revenged of the two attempts to murder you," said +Spicca, quietly; and so, having shaken hands with all, he again entered +the carriage. It was the last they saw of him for a long time. He +faithfully fulfilled his programme. He met Casalverde on the following +morning at seven o'clock, and at precisely a quarter past, he left him +dead on the field. He breakfasted with his seconds at half-past eight, +and left Rome with them for Paris at ten o'clock. He had selected two +French officers who were about to return to their home, in order not to +inconvenience any of his friends by obliging them to leave the country; +which showed that, even in moments of great excitement, Count Spicca was +thoughtful of others. + +When the surgeon had dressed Giovanni's wounds, he left the father and +son together. Giovanni lay upon a couch in his own sitting-room, eating +his breakfast as best he could with one hand. The old Prince paced the +floor, commenting from time to time upon the events of the morning. + +"It is just as well that you did not kill him, Giovanni," he remarked; +"it would have been a nuisance to have been obliged to go away just now." + +Giovanni did not answer. + +"Of course, duelling is a great sin, and is strictly forbidden by our +religion," said the Prince suddenly. "But then--" + +"Precisely," returned Giovanni. "We nevertheless cannot always help +ourselves." + +"I was going to say," continued his father, "that it is, of course, very +wicked, and if one is killed in a duel, one probably goes straight into +hell. But then--it was worth something to see how you sent that fellow's +foil flying through the window!" + +"It is a very simple trick. If you will take a foil, I will teach it to +you." + +"Presently, presently; when you have finished your breakfast. Tell me, +why did you say, 'more broken glass'?" + +Giovanni bit his lip, remembering his imprudence. + +"I hardly know. I believe it suggested something to my mind. One says all +sorts of foolish things in moments of excitement." + +"It struck me as a very odd remark," answered the Prince, still walking +about. "By the bye," he added, pausing before the writing-table, "here is +that letter you wrote for me. Do you want me to read it?" + +"No," said Giovanni, with a laugh. "It is of no use now. It would seem +absurd, since I am alive and well. It was only a word of farewell." + +The Prince laughed too, and threw the sealed letter into the fire. + +"The last of the Saracinesca is not dead yet," he said. "Giovanni, what +are we to say to the gossips? All Rome will be ringing with this affair +before night. Of course, you must stay at home for a few days, or you +will catch cold, in your arm. I will go out and carry the news of our +victory." + +"Better to say nothing about it--better to refer people to Del Ferice, +and tell them he challenged me. Come in!" cried Giovanni, in answer to a +knock at the door. Pasquale, the old butler, entered the room. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente has sent to inquire after the health of his +Excellency Don Giovanni," said the old man, respectfully. + +The elder Saracinesca paused in his walk, and broke out into a loud +laugh. + +"Already! You see, Giovannino," he said. "Tell him, Pasquale, that Don +Giovanni caught a severe cold at the ball last night--or no--wait! What +shall we say, Giovannino?" + +"Tell the servant," said Giovanni, sternly, "that I am much obliged for +the kind inquiry, that I am perfectly well, and that you have just seen +me eating my breakfast." + +Pasquale bowed and left the room. + +"I suppose you do not want her to know--" said the Prince, who had +suddenly recovered his gravity. + +Giovanni bowed his head silently. + +"Quite right, my boy," said the old man, gravely. "I do not want to know +anything about it either. How the devil could they have found out?" + +The question was addressed more to himself than to his son, and the +latter volunteered no answer. He was grateful to his father for his +considerate silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +When Astrardente saw the elder Saracinesca's face during his short +interview with the diplomatist, his curiosity was immediately aroused. He +perceived that there was something the matter, and he proceeded to try +and ascertain the circumstances from his acquaintance. The ambassador +returned to his _pâté_ and his champagne with an air of amused interest, +but vouchsafed no information whatever. + +"What a singularly amusing fellow old Saracinesca is!" remarked +Astrardente. + +"When he likes to be," returned his Excellency, with his mouth full. + +"On the contrary--when he least meditates it. I never knew a man better +suited for a successful caricature. Indeed he is not a bad caricature of +his own son, or his own son of him--I am not sure which." + +The ambassador laughed a little and took a large mouthful. + +"Ha! ha! very good," he mumbled as he ate. "He would appreciate that. He +loves his own race. He would rather feel that he is a comic +misrepresentation of the most hideous Saracinesca who ever lived, than +possess all the beauty of the Astrardente and be called by another +name." + +The diplomatist paused for a second after this speech, and then bowed a +little to the Duchessa; but the hit had touched her husband in a +sensitive spot. The old dandy had been handsome once, in a certain way, +and he did his best, by artificial means, to preserve some trace of his +good looks. The Duchessa smiled faintly. + +"I would wager," said Astrardente, sourly, "that his excited manner just +now was due to one of two things--either his vanity or his money is in +danger. As for the way he yelled after Spicca, it looked as though there +were a duel in the air--fancy the old fellow fighting a duel! Too +ridiculous!" + +"A duel!" repeated Corona in a low voice. + +"I do not see anything so very ridiculous in it," said the diplomatist, +slowly twisting his glass of champagne in his fingers, and then sipping +it. "Besides," he added deliberately, glancing at the Duchessa from the +corner of his eyes, "he has a son." + +Corona started very slightly. + +"Why should there be a duel?" she asked. + +"It was your husband who suggested the idea," returned the diplomatist. + +"But you said there was nothing ridiculous in it," objected the Duchessa. + +"But I did not say there was any truth in it, either," answered his +Excellency with a reassuring smile. "What made you think of duelling?" he +asked, turning to Astrardente. + +"Spicca," said the latter. "Wherever Spicca is concerned there is a duel. +He is a terrible fellow, with his death's-head and dangling bones--one of +those extraordinary phenomena--bah! it makes one shiver to think of him!" +The old fellow made the sign of the horns with his forefinger and little +finger, hiding his thumb in the palm of his hand, as though to protect +himself against the evil eye--the sinister influence invoked by the +mention of Spicca. Old Astrardente was very superstitious. The ambassador +laughed, and even Corona smiled a little. + +"Yes," said the diplomatist, "Spicca is a living _memento mori_; he +occasionally reminds men of death by killing them." + +"How horrible!" exclaimed Corona. + +"Ah, my dear lady, the world is full of horrible things." + +"That is not a reason for making jests of them." + +"It is better to make light of the inevitable," said Astrardente. "Are +you ready to go home, my dear?" + +"Quite--I was only waiting for you," answered Corona, who longed to be at +home and alone. + +"Let me know the result of old Saracinesca's warlike undertakings," said +Astrardente, with a cunning smile on his painted face. "Of course, as he +consulted you, he will send you word in the morning." + +"You seem so anxious that there should be a duel, that I should almost be +tempted to invent an account of one, lest you should be too grievously +disappointed," returned the diplomatist. + +"You know very well that no invention will be necessary," said the Duca, +pressing him, for his curiosity was roused. + +"Well--as you please to consider it. Good night," replied the ambassador. +It had amused him to annoy Astrardente a little, and he left him with the +pleasant consciousness of having excited the inquisitive faculty of his +friend to its highest pitch, without giving it anything to feed upon. + +Men who have to do with men, rather than with things, frequently take a +profound and seemingly cruel delight in playing upon the feelings and +petty vanities of their fellow-creatures. The habit is as strong with +them as the constant practice of conjuring becomes with a juggler; even +when he is not performing, he will for hours pass coins, perform little +tricks of sleight-of-hand with cards, or toss balls in the air in +marvellously rapid succession, unable to lay aside his profession even +for a day, because it has grown to be the only natural expression of +his faculties. With men whose business it is to understand other men, +it is the same. They cannot be in a man's company for a quarter of an +hour without attempting to discover the peculiar weaknesses of his +character--his vanities, his tastes, his vices, his curiosity, his love +of money or of reputation; so that the operation of such men's minds may +be compared to the process of auscultation--for their ears are always +upon their neighbours' hearts--and their conversation to the percutations +of a physician to ascertain the seat of disease in a pair of +consumptive lungs. + +But, with all his failings, Astrardente was a man of considerable +acuteness of moral vision. He had made a shrewd guess at Saracinesca's +business, and had further gathered from a remark dropped by his +diplomatic friend, that if there was to be a duel at all, it would be +fought by Giovanni. As a matter of fact, the ambassador himself knew +nothing certainly concerning the matter, or it is possible that, for the +sake of observing the effect of the news upon the Duchessa, he would have +told the whole truth; for he had of course heard the current gossip +concerning Giovanni's passion for her, and the experiment would have been +too attractive and interesting to be missed. As it was, she had started +at the mention of Saracinesca's son. The diplomatist only did what +everyone else who came near Corona attempted to do at that time, in +endeavouring to ascertain whether she herself entertained any feeling for +the man whom the gossips had set down as her most devoted admirer. + +Poor Duchessa! It was no wonder that she had started at the idea that +Giovanni was in trouble. He had played a great part in her life that day, +and she could not forget him. She had hardly as yet had time to think +of what she felt, for it was only by a supreme effort that she had been +able to bear the great strain upon her strength. If she had not loved +him, it would have been different; and in the strange medley of emotions +through which she was passing, she wished that she might never have +loved--that, loving, she might be allowed wholly to forget her love, and +to return by some sudden miracle to that cold dreamy state of +indifference to all other men, and of unfailing thoughtfulness for her +husband, from which she had been so cruelly awakened. She would have +given anything to have not loved, now that the great struggle was over; +but until the supreme moment had come, she had not been willing to put +the dangerous thought from her, saving in those hours of prayer and +solitary suffering, when the whole truth rose up clearly before her in +its undisguised nakedness. So soon as she had gone into the world, she +had recklessly longed for Giovanni Saracinesca's presence. + +But now it was all changed. She had not deceived herself when she had +told him that she would rather not see him any more. It was true; not +only did she wish not to see him, but she earnestly desired that the love +of him might pass from her heart. With a sudden longing, her thoughts +went back to the old convent-life of her girlhood, with its regular +occupations, its constant religious exercises, its narrowness of view, +and its unchanging simplicity. What mattered narrowness, when all beyond +that close limitation was filled with evil? Was it not better that the +lips should be busy with singing litanies than that the heart should be +tormented by temptation? Were not those simple tasks, that had seemed so +all-important then, more sweet in the performance than the manifold +duties of this complicated social existence, this vast web and woof of +life's loom, this great machinery that worked and groaned and rolled +endlessly upon its wheels without producing any more result than the +ceaseless turning of a prison treadmill? But there was no way out of life +now; there was no escape, as there was also no prospect of relief, from +care and anxiety. There was no reason why Giovanni should go away--no +reason either why Corona should ever love him less. She belonged to a +class of women, if there are enough of them to be called a class, who, +where love is concerned, can feel but one impression, which becomes in +their hearts the distinctive seal and mark of their lives, for good or +for evil. Corona was indeed so loyal and good a woman, that the strong +pressure of her love could not abase her nobility, nor put untruth where +all was so true; but the sign of her love for Giovanni was upon her for +ever. The vacant place in her heart had been filled, and filled wholly; +the bulwark she had reared against the love of man was broken down and +swept away, and the waters flowed softly over its place and remembered it +not. She would never be the same woman again, and it was bitter to her to +feel it: for ever the face of Giovanni would haunt her waking hours and +visit her dreams unbidden,--a perpetual reproach to her, a perpetual +memory of the most desperate struggle of her life, and more than a +memory--the undying present of an unchanging love. + +She was quite sure of herself in future, as she also trusted sincerely in +Giovanni's promise. There should be no moment of weakness, no word should +ever fall from her lips to tempt him to a fresh outbreak of passionate +words and acts; her life should be measured in the future by the account +of the dangers past, and there should be no instant of unguarded conduct, +no hour wherein even to herself she would say it was sweet to love and to +be loved. It was indeed not sweet, but bitter as death itself, to feel +that weight at her heart, that constant toiling effort in her mind to +keep down the passion in her breast. But Corona had sacrificed much; she +would sacrifice this also; she would get strength by her prayers and +courage from her high pride, and she would smile to all the world as she +had never smiled before. She could trust herself, for she was doing the +right and trampling upon the wrong. But the suffering would be none the +less for all her pride; there was no concealing it--it would be horrible. +To meet him daily in the world, to speak to him and to hear his voice, +perhaps to touch his hand, and all the while to smile coldly, and to be +still and for ever above suspicion, while her own burning consciousness +accused her of the past, and seemed to make the dangers of mere living +yawn beside her path at every step,--all this would be terrible to bear, +but by God's help she would bear it to the end. + +But now a new horror seized her, and terrified her beyond measure. This +rumour of a duel--a mere word dropped carelessly in conversation by a +thoughtless acquaintance--called up to her sudden visions of evil to +come. Surely, howsoever she might struggle against love and beat it +roughly to silence in her breast, it was not wrong to fear danger for +Giovanni,--it could not be a sin to dread the issue of peril when it was +all so very near to her. It might perhaps not be true, for people in the +world are willing to amuse their empty minds with empty tales, +acknowledging the emptiness. It could not be true; she had seen Giovanni +but a moment before--he would have given some hint, some sign. + +Why--after all? Was it not the boast of such men that they could face the +world and wear an indifferent look, at times of the greatest anxiety and +danger? But, again, if Giovanni had been involved in a quarrel so serious +as to require the arbitrament of blood, some rumour of it would have +reached her. She had talked with many men that night, and with some +women--gossips all, whose tongues wagged merrily over the troubles of +friend, or foe, and who would have battened upon anything so novel as a +society duel, as a herd of jackals upon the dead body of one of their +fellows, to make their feast off it with a light heart. Some one of all +these would have told her; the quarrel would have been common property in +half an hour, for somebody must have witnessed it. + +It was a consolation to Corona to reflect upon the extreme improbability +of the story; for when the diplomatist was gone, her husband dwelt upon +it--whether because he could not conceal his unsatisfied curiosity, or +from other motives, it was hard to tell. + +Astrardente led his wife from the supper-table through the great rooms, +now almost deserted, and past the wide doors of the hall where the +cotillon was at its height. They paused a moment and looked in, as +Giovanni had done a quarter of an hour earlier. It was a magnificent +scene; the lights flashed back from the jewels of fair women, and surged +in the dance as starlight upon rippling waves. The air was heavy with the +odour of the countless flowers that filled the deep recesses of the +windows, and were distributed in hundreds of nosegays for the figures of +the cotillon; enchanting strains of waltz music seemed to float down from +above and inspire the crowd of men and women with harmonious motion, so +that sound was made visible by translation into graceful movement. As +Corona looked there was a pause, and the crowd parted, while a huge +tiger, the heraldic beast of the Frangipani family, was drawn into the +hall by the young prince and Bianca Valdarno. The magnificent skin had +been so artfully stuffed as to convey a startling impression of life, and +in the creature's huge jaws hung a great basket filled with tiny tigers, +which were to be distributed as badges for the dance by the leaders. A +wild burst of applause greeted this novel figure, and every one ran +forward to obtain a nearer view. + +"Ah!" exclaimed old Astrardente, "I envy them that invention, my dear; it +is perfectly magnificent. You must have a tiger to take home. How +fortunate we were to be in time!" He forced his way into the crowd, +leaving his wife alone for a moment by the door; and he managed to catch +Valdarno, who was distributing the little emblems to right and left. +Madame Mayer's quick eyes had caught sight of Corona and her husband, and +from some instinct of curiosity she made towards the Duchessa. She was +still angry, as she had never been in her short life, at Giovanni's +rudeness in forgetting her dance, and she longed to inflict some wound +upon the beautiful woman who had led him into such forgetfulness. When +Astrardente left his wife's side, Donna Tullia pressed forward with her +partner in the general confusion that followed upon the entrance of the +tiger, and she managed to pass close to Corona. She looked up suddenly +with an air of surprise. + +"What! not dancing, Duchessa?" she asked. "Has your partner gone home?" + +With the look that accompanied the question, it was an insulting speech +enough. Had Donna Tullia seen old Astrardente close behind her, she would +not have made it. The old dandy was returning in triumph in possession of +the little tiger-badge for Corona. He heard the words, and observed with +inward pleasure his wife's calm look of indifference. + +"Madam," he said, placing himself suddenly in Madame Mayer's way, "my +wife's partners do not go home while she remains." + +"Oh, I see," returned Donna Tullia, flushing quickly; "the Duchessa is +dancing the cotillon with you. I beg your pardon--I had forgotten that +you still danced." + +"Indeed it is long since I did myself the honour of asking you for a +quadrille, madam," answered Astrardente with a polite smile; and so +saying, he turned and presented the little tiger to his wife with a +courtly bow. There was good blood in the old _roué_. + +Corona was touched by his thoughtfulness in wishing to get her the little +keepsake of the dance, and she was still more affected by his ready +defence of her. He was indeed sometimes a little ridiculous, with his +paint and his artificial smile--he was often petulant and unreasonable +in little things; but he was never unkind to her, nor discourteous. In +spite of her cold and indifferent stare at Donna Tullia, she had keenly +felt the insult, and she was grateful to the old man for taking her part. +Knowing what she knew of herself that night, she was deeply sensible to +his kindness. She took the little gift, and laid her hand upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she said, as they moved away, "if I am ever ungrateful to +you. You are so very good to me. I know no one so courteous and kind as +you are." + +Her husband looked at her in delight. He loved her sincerely with all +that remained of him. There was something sad in the thought of a man +like him finding the only real passion of his life when worn out with age +and dissipation. Her little speech raised him to the seventh heaven of +joy. + +"I am the happiest man in all Rome," he said, assuming his most jaunty +walk, and swinging his hat gaily between his thumb and finger. But a +current of deep thought was stirring in him as he went down the broad, +staircase by his wife's side. He was thinking what life might have been +to him had he found Corona del Carmine--how could he? she was not born +then--had he found her, or her counterpart, thirty years ago. He was +wondering what conceivable sacrifice there could be which he would not +make to regain his youth--even to have his life lived out and behind him, +if he could only have looked back to thirty years of marriage with +Corona. How differently he would have lived, how very differently he +would have thought! how his whole memory would be full of the sweet past, +and would be common with her own past life, which, to her too, would be +sweet to ponder on! He would have been such a good man--so true to her +in all those years! But they were gone, and he had not found her until +his foot was on the edge of the grave--until he could hardly count on one +year more of a pitiful artificial life, painted, bewigged, stuffed to the +semblance of a man by a clever tailor--and she in the bloom of her glory +beside him! What he would have given to have old Saracinesca's strength +and fresh vitality--old Saracinesca whom he hated! Yes, with all that +hair--it was white, but a little dye would change it. What was a little +dye compared with the profound artificiality of his own outer man? How +the old fellow's deep voice rang, loud and clear, from his broad chest! +How strong he was, with his firm step, and his broad brown hands, and his +fiery black eyes! He hated him for the greenness of his age--he hated him +for his stalwart son, another of those long-lived fierce Saracinesca, who +seemed destined to outlive time. He himself had no children, no +relations, no one to bear his name--he had only a beautiful young wife +and much wealth, with just enough strength left to affect a gay walk when +he was with her, and to totter unsteadily to his couch when he was alone, +worn out with the effort of trying to seem young. + +As they sat in their carriage he thought bitterly of all these things, +and never spoke. Corona herself was weary, and glad to be silent. They +went up-stairs, and as she took his arm, she gently tried to help him +rather than be helped. He noticed it, and made an effort, but he was +very tired. He paused upon the landing, and looked at her, and a gentle +and sad smile stole over his face, such as Corona had never seen there. + +"Shall we go into your boudoir for ten minutes, my love?" he said; "or +will you come into my smoking-room? I would like to smoke a little before +going to bed." + +"You may smoke in my boudoir, of course," she answered kindly, though she +was surprised at the request. It was half-past three o'clock. They went +into the softly lighted little room, where the embers of the fire were +still glowing upon the hearth. Corona dropped her furs upon a chair, and +sat down upon one side of the chimney piece. Astrardente sank wearily +into a deep easy-chair opposite her, and having found a cigarette, +lighted it, and began to smoke. He seemed in a mood which Corona had +never seen. After a short silence he spoke. + +"Corona," he said, "I love you." His wife looked up with a gentle smile, +and in her determination to be loyal to him she almost forgot that other +man who had said those words but two hours before, so differently. + +"Yes," he said, with a sigh, "you have heard it before--it is not new to +you. I think you believe it. You are good, but you do not love me--no, do +not interrupt me, my dear; I know what you would say. How should you +love me? I am an old man--very old, older than my years." Again he +sighed, more bitterly, as he confessed what he had never owned before. +The Duchessa was too much astonished to answer him. + +"Corona," he said again, "I shall not live much longer." + +"Ah, do not speak like that," she cried suddenly. "I trust and pray that +you have yet many years to live." Her husband looked keenly at her. + +"You are so good," he answered, "that you are really capable of uttering +such a prayer, absurd as it would seem." + +"Why absurd? It is unkind of you to say it--" + +"No, my dear; I know the world very well. That is all. I suppose it is +impossible for me to make you understand how I love you. It must seem +incredible to you, in the magnificence of your strength and beautiful +youth, that a man like me--an artificial man"--he laughed scornfully--"a +creature of paint and dye--let me be honest--a creature with a wig, +should be capable of a mad passion. And yet, Corona," he added, his thin +cracked voice trembling with a real emotion, "I do love you--very dearly. +There are two things that make my life bitter: the regret that I did not +meet you, that you were not born, when I was young; and worse than that, +the knowledge that I must leave you very soon--I, the exhausted dandy, +the shadow of what I was, tottering to my grave in a last vain effort to +be young for your sake--for your sake, Corona dear. Ah, it is +contemptible!" he almost moaned. + +Corona hid her eyes in her hand. She was taken off her guard by his +strange speech. + +"Oh, do not speak like that--do not!" she cried. "You make me very +unhappy. Do I reproach you? Do I ever make you feel that you are--older +than I? I will lead a new life; you shall never think of it again. +You are too kind--too good for me." + +"No one ever said I was too good before," replied the old man with a +shade of sadness. "I am glad the one person who finds me good, should be +the only one for whose sake I ever cultivated goodness. I could have +been different, Corona, if I had had you for my wife for thirty years, +instead of five. But it is too late now. Before long I shall be dead, and +you will be free." + +"What makes you say such things to me?" asked Corona. "Can you think I am +so vile, so ungrateful, so unloving, as to wish your death?" + +"Not unloving; no, my dear child. But not loving, either. I do not ask +impossibilities. You will mourn for me a while--my poor soul will rest in +peace if you feel one moment of real regret for me, for your old husband, +before you take another. Do not cry, Corona, dearest; it is the way of +the world. We waste our youth in scoffing at reality, and in the +unrealness of our old age the present no longer avails us much. You know +me, perhaps you despise me. You would not have scorned me when I was +young--oh, how young I was! how strong and vain of my youth, thirty years +ago!" + +"Indeed, indeed, no such thought ever crossed my mind. I give you all I +have," cried Corona, in great distress; "I will give you more--I will +devote my whole life to you--" + +"You do, my dear. I am sensible of it," said Astrardente, quietly. "You +cannot do more, if you will; you cannot make me young again, nor take +away the bitterness of death--of a death that leaves you behind." + +Corona leaned forward, staring into the dying embers of the fire, one +hand supporting her chin. The tears stood in her eyes and on her cheeks. +The old dandy in his genuine misery had excited her compassion. + +"I would mourn you long," she said. "You may have wasted your life; you +say so. I would love you more if I could, God knows. You have always been +to me a courteous gentleman and a faithful husband." + +The old man rose with difficulty from his deep chair, and came and stood +by her, and took the hand that lay idle on her knees. She looked up at +him. + +"If I thought my blessing were worth anything, I would bless you for what +you say. But I would not have you waste your youth. Youth is that which, +being wasted, is like water poured out upon the ground. You must marry +again, and marry soon--do not start. You will inherit all my fortune; you +will have my title. It must descend to your children. It has come to an +unworthy end in me; it must be revived in you." + +"How can you think of it? Are you ill?" asked Corona kindly, pressing +gently his thin hand in hers. "Why do you dwell on the idea of death +to-night?" + +"I am ill; yes, past all cure, my dear," said the old man, gently raising +her hand to his lips, and kissing it. + +"What do you mean?" asked Corona, suddenly rising to her feet and laying +her hand affectionately upon his shoulder. "Why have you never told me?" + +"Why should I tell you--except that it is near, and you must be prepared? +Why should I burden you with anxiety? But you were so gentle and kind +to-night, upon the stairs," he said, with some hesitation, "that I +thought perhaps it would be a relief to you to know--to know that it is +not for long." + +There was something so gentle in his tone, so infinitely pathetic in his +thought that possibly he might lighten the burden his wife bore so +bravely, there was something at last so human in the loving regret with +which he spoke, that Corona forgot all his foolish ways, his wig and his +false teeth and his petty vanities, and letting her head fall upon his +shoulder, burst into passionate tears. + +"Oh no, no!" she sobbed. "It must be a long time yet; you must not die!" + +"It may be a year, not more," he said gently. "God bless you for those +tears, Corona--the tears you have shed for me. Good night, my dearest." + +He let her sink upon her chair, and his hand rested for one moment upon +her raven hair. Then with a last remnant of energy he quickly left the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Such affairs as the encounter between Giovanni and Del Ferice were very +rare in Rome. There were many duels fought; but, as a general rule, they +were not very serious, and the first slight wound decided the matter in +hand to the satisfaction of both parties. But here there had been a fight +for life and death. One of the combatants had received two such wounds as +would have been sufficient to terminate an ordinary meeting, and the +other was lying at death's door stabbed through the throat. Society was +frantic with excitement. Giovanni was visited by scores of acquaintances, +whom he allowed to be admitted, and he talked with them cheerfully, in +order to have it thoroughly known that he was not badly hurt. Del +Ferice's lodging was besieged by the same young gentlemen of leisure, who +went directly from one to the other, anxious to get all the news in their +power. But Del Ferice's door was guarded jealously from intruders by his +faithful Neapolitan servant--a fellow who knew more about his master than +all the rest of Rome together, but who had such a dazzlingly brilliant +talent for lying as to make him a safe repository for any secret +committed to his keeping. On the present occasion, however, he had small +use for duplicity. He sat all day long by the open door, for he had +removed the bell-handle, lest the ringing should disturb his master. He +had a basket into which he dropped the cards of the visitors who called, +answering each inquiry with the same unchanging words: + +"He is very ill, the signorino. Do not make any noise." + +"Where is he hurt?" the visitor would ask. Whereupon Temistocle pointed +to his throat. + +"Will he live?" was the next question; to which the man answered by +raising his shoulders to his ears, elevating his eyebrows, and at the +same time shutting his eyes, while he spread out the palms of his hands +over his basket of cards--whereby he meant to signify that he did not +know, but doubted greatly. It being impossible to extract any further +information from him, the visitor had nothing left but to leave his card +and turn away. Within, the wounded man was watched by a Sister of Mercy. +The surgeon had pronounced his recovery probable if he had proper care: +the wound was a dangerous one, but not likely to prove mortal unless the +patient died of the fever or of exhaustion. + +The young gentlemen of leisure who thus obtained the news of the two +duellists, lost no time in carrying it from house to house. Giovanni +himself sent twice in the course of the day to inquire after his +antagonist, and received by his servant the answer which was given to +everybody. By the time the early winter night was descending upon Rome, +there were two perfectly well-authenticated stories circulated in regard +to the cause of the quarrel--neither of which, of course, contained a +grain of truth. In the first place, it was confidently asserted by one +party, represented by Valdarno and his set, that Giovanni had taken +offence at Del Ferice for having proposed to call him to be examined +before the Duchessa d'Astrardente in regard to his absence from town: +that this was a palpable excuse for picking a quarrel, because it was +well known that Saracinesca loved the Astrardente, and that Del Ferice +was always in his way. + +"Giovanni is a rough fellow," remarked Valdarno, "and will not stand any +opposition, so he took the first opportunity of getting the man out of +the way. Do you see? The old story--jealous of the wrong man. Can one be +jealous of Del Ferice? Bah!" + +"And who would have been the right man to attack?" was asked. + +"Her husband, of course," returned Valdarno with a sneer. "That angel of +beauty has the ineffably eccentric idea that she loves that old +transparency, that old magic-lantern slide of a man!" + +On the other hand, there was a party of people who affirmed, as beyond +all doubt, that the duel had been brought about by Giovanni's forgetting +his dance with Donna Tullia. Del Ferice was naturally willing to put +himself forward in her defence, reckoning on the favour he would gain in +her eyes. He had spoken sharply to Giovanni about it, and told him he had +behaved in an ungentlemanly manner--whereupon Giovanni had answered +that it was none of his business; an altercation had ensued in a remote +room in the Frangipani palace, and Giovanni had lost his temper and taken +Del Ferice by the throat, and otherwise greatly insulted him. The result +had been the duel in which Del Ferice had been nearly killed. There was a +show of truth about this story, and it was told in such a manner as to +make Del Ferice appear as the injured party. Indeed, whichever tale were +true, there was no doubt that the two men had disliked each other for a +long time, and that they were both looking out for the opportunity of an +open disagreement. + +Old Saracinesca appeared in the afternoon, and was surrounded by eager +questioners of all sorts. The fact of his having served his own son in +the capacity of second excited general astonishment. Such a thing had +not been heard of in the annals of Roman society, and many ancient +wisdom-mongers severely censured the course he had pursued. Could +anything be more abominably unnatural? Was it possible to conceive of the +hard-heartedness of a man who could stand quietly and see his son +risk his life? Disgraceful! + +The old Prince either would not tell what he knew, or had no information +to give. The latter theory was improbable. Some one made a remark to that +effect. + +"But, Prince," the man said, "would you second your own son in an affair +without knowing the cause of the quarrel?" + +"Sir," returned the old man, proudly, "my son asked my assistance; I did +not sell it to him for his confidence." People knew the old man's +obstinacy, and had to be satisfied with his short answers, for he was +himself as quarrelsome as a Berserker or as one of his own irascible +ancestors. + +He met Donna Tullia in the street. She stopped her carriage, and beckoned +him to come to her. She looked paler than Saracinesca had ever seen her, +and was much excited. + +"How could you let them fight?" were her first words. + +"It could not be helped. The quarrel was too serious. No one would more +gladly have prevented it than I; but as my son had so desperately +insulted Del Ferice, he was bound to give him satisfaction." + +"Satisfaction!" cried Donna Tullia. "Do you call it satisfaction to cut a +man's throat? What was the real cause of the quarrel?" + +"I do not know." + +"Do not tell me that--I do not believe you," answered Donna Tullia, +angrily. + +"I give you my word of honour that I do not know," returned the Prince. + +"That is different. Will you get in and drive with me for a few minutes?" + +"At your commands." Saracinesca opened the carriage-door and got in. + +"We shall astonish the world; but I do not care," said Donna Tullia. +"Tell me, is Don Giovanni seriously hurt?" + +"No--a couple of scratches that will heal in a week. Del Ferice is very +seriously wounded." + +"I know," answered Donna Tullia, sadly. "It is dreadful--I am afraid it +was my fault." + +"How so?" asked Saracinesca, quickly. He had not heard the story of the +forgotten waltz, and was really ignorant of the original cause of +disagreement. He guessed, however, that Donna Tullia was not so much +concerned in it as the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Your son was very rude to me," said Madame Mayer. "Perhaps I ought not +to tell you, but it is best you should know. He was engaged to dance with +me the last waltz but one before the cotillon. He forgot me, and I found +him with that--with a lady--talking quietly." + +"With whom did you say?" asked Saracinesca, very gravely. + +"With the Astrardente--if you will know," returned Donna Tullia, her +anger at the memory of the insult bringing the blood suddenly to her +face. + +"My dear lady," said the old Prince, "in the name of my son I offer you +the humble apologies which he will make in person when he is well enough +to ask your forgiveness." + +"I do not want apologies," answered Madame Mayer, turning her face away. + +"Nevertheless they shall be offered. But, pardon my curiosity, how did +Del Ferice come to be concerned in that incident?" + +"He was with me when I found Don Giovanni with the Duchessa. It is very +simple. I was very angry--I am very angry still; but I would not have had +Don Giovanni risk his life on my account for anything, nor poor Del +Ferice either. I am horribly upset about it all." + +Old Saracinesca wondered whether Donna Tullia's vanity would suffer if he +told her that the duel had not been fought for anything which concerned +her. But he reflected that her supposition was very plausible, and +that he himself had no evidence. Furthermore, and in spite of his +good-natured treatment of Giovanni, he was very angry at the thought that +his son had quarrelled about the Duchessa. When Giovanni should be +recovered from his wounds he intended to speak his mind to him. But he +was sorry for Donna Tullia, for he liked her in spite of her +eccentricities, and would have been satisfied to see her married to his +son. He was a practical man, and he took a prosaic view of the world. +Donna Tullia was rich, and good-looking enough to be called handsome. She +had the talent to make herself a sort of centre in her world. She was a +little noisy; but noise was fashionable, and there was no harm in her--no +one had ever said anything against her. Besides, she was one of the few +relations still left to the Saracinesca. The daughter of a cousin of the +Prince, she would make a good wife for Giovanni, and would bring sunshine +into the house. There was a tinge of vulgarity in her manner; but, like +many elderly men of his type, Saracinesca pardoned her this fault in +consideration of her noisy good spirits and general good-nature. He was +very much annoyed at hearing that his son had offended her so grossly by +his forgetfulness; especially it was unfortunate that since she believed +herself the cause of the duel, she should have the impression that it had +been provoked by Del Ferice to obtain satisfaction for the insult +Giovanni had offered her. There would be small chance of making the match +contemplated after such an affair. + +"I am sincerely sorry," said the Prince, stroking his white beard and +trying to get a sight of his companion's face, which she obstinately +turned away from him. "Perhaps it is better not to think too much of the +matter until the exact circumstances are known. Some one is sure to +tell the story one of these days." + +"How coldly you speak of it! One would think it had happened in Peru, +instead of here, this very morning." + +Saracinesca was at his wits' end. He wanted to smooth the matter over, or +at least to soften the unfavourable impression against Giovanni. He had +not the remotest idea how to do it. He was not a very diplomatic man. + +"No, no; you misunderstand me. I am not cold. I quite appreciate your +situation. You are very justly annoyed." + +"Of course I am," said Donna Tullia impatiently. She was beginning to +regret that she had made him get into her carriage. + +"Precisely; of course you are. Now, so soon as Giovanni is quite +recovered, I will send him to explain his conduct to you if he can, or +to--" + +"Explain it? How can he explain it? I do not want you to send him, if he +will not come of his own accord. Why should I?" + +"Well, well, as you please, my dear cousin," said old Saracinesca, +smiling to cover his perplexity. "I am not a good ambassador; but you +know I am a good friend, and I really want to do something to restore +Giovanni to your graces." + +"That will be difficult," answered Donna Tullia, although she knew very +well that she would receive Giovanni kindly enough when she had once had +an opportunity of speaking her mind to him. + +"Do not be hard-hearted," urged the Prince. "I am sure he is very +penitent." + +"Then let him say so." + +"That is exactly what I ask." + +"Is it? Oh, very well. If he chooses to call I will receive him, since +you desire it. Where shall I put you down?" + +"Anywhere, thank you. Here, if you wish--at the corner. Good-bye. Do not +be too hard on the boy." + +"We shall see," answered Donna Tullia, unwilling to show too much +indulgence. The old Prince bowed, and walked away into the gloom of the +dusky streets. + +"That is over," he muttered to himself. "I wonder how the Astrardente +takes it." He would have liked to see her; but he recognized that, as he +so very rarely called upon her, it would seem strange to choose such a +time for his visit. It would not do--it would be hardly decent, seeing +that he believed her to be the cause of the catastrophe. His steps, +however, led him almost unconsciously in the direction of the Astrardente +palace; he found himself in front of the arched entrance almost before +he knew where he was. The temptation to see Corona was more than he could +resist. He asked the porter if the Duchessa was at home, and on being +answered in the affirmative, he boldly entered and ascended the marble +staircase--boldly, but with an odd sensation, like that of a schoolboy +who is getting himself into trouble. + +Corona had just come home, and was sitting by the fire in her great +drawing-room, alone, with a book in her hand, which she was not reading. +She rarely remained in the reception-rooms; but to-day she had rather +capriciously taken a fancy to the broad solitude of the place, and had +accordingly installed herself there. She was very much surprised when the +doors were suddenly opened wide and the servant announced Prince +Saracinesca. For a moment she thought it must be Giovanni, for his father +rarely entered her house, and when the old man's stalwart figure advanced +towards her, she dropped her book in astonishment, and rose from her +deep chair to meet him. She was very pale, and there were dark rings +under her eyes that spoke of pain and want of sleep. She was so utterly +different from Donna Tullia, whom he had just left, that the Prince was +almost awed by her stateliness, and felt more than ever like a boy in a +bad scrape. Corona bowed rather coldly, but extended her hand, which the +old gentleman raised to his lips respectfully, in the manner of the old +school. + +"I trust you are not exhausted after the ball?" he began, not knowing +what to say. + +"Not in the least. We did not stay late," replied Corona, secretly +wondering why he had come. + +"It was really magnificent," he answered. "There has been no such ball +for years. Very unfortunate that it should have terminated in such an +unpleasant way," he added, making a bold dash at the subject of which he +wished to speak. + +"Very. You did a bad morning's work," said the Duchessa, severely. "I +wonder that you should speak of it." + +"No one speaks of anything else," returned the Prince, apologetically. +"Besides, I do not see what was to be done." + +"You should have stopped it," answered Corona, her dark eyes gleaming +with righteous indignation. "You should have prevented it at any price, +if not in the name of religion, which forbids it as a crime, at least in +the name of decency--as being Don Giovanni's father." + +"You speak strong words, Duchessa," said the Prince, evidently annoyed at +her tone. + +"If I speak strongly, it is because I think you acted shamefully in +permitting this disgraceful butchery." + +Saracinesca suddenly lost his temper, as he frequently did. + +"Madam," he said, "it is certainly not for you to accuse me of crime, +lack of decency, and what you are pleased to call disgraceful butchery, +seeing who was the probable cause of the honourable encounter which you +characterise in such tasteful language." + +"Honourable indeed!" said Corona, very scornfully. "Let that pass. Who, +pray, is more to blame than you? Who is the probable cause?" + +"Need I tell you?" asked the old man, fixing his flashing eyes upon her. + +"What do you mean?" inquired Corona, turning white, and her voice +trembling between her anger and her emotion. + +"I may be wrong," said the Prince, "but I believe I am right. I believe +the duel was fought on your account." + +"On my account!" repeated Corona, half rising from her chair in her +indignation. Then she sank back again, and added, very coldly, "If you +have come here to insult me, Prince, I will send for my husband." + +"I beg your pardon, Duchessa," said old Saracinesca. "It is very far from +my intention to insult you." + +"And who has told you this abominable lie?" asked Corona, still very +angry. + +"No one, upon my word." + +"Then how dare you--" + +"Because I have reason to believe that you are the only woman alive for +whom my son would engage in a quarrel." + +"It is impossible," cried Corona. "I will never believe that Don Giovanni +could--" She checked herself. + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca is a gentleman, madam," said the old Prince, +proudly. "He keeps his own counsel. I have come by the information +without any evidence of it from his lips." + +"Then I am at a loss to understand you," returned the Duchessa. "I must +beg you either to explain your extraordinary language, or else to leave +me." + +Corona d'Astrardente was a match for any man when she was angry. But old +Saracinesca, though no diplomatist, was a formidable adversary, from his +boldness and determination to discover the truth at any price. + +"It is precisely because, at the risk of offending you, I desired an +explanation, that I have intruded myself upon you to-day," he answered. +"Will you permit me one question before I leave you?" + +"Provided it is not an insulting one, I will answer it," replied Corona. + +"Do you know anything of the circumstances which led to this morning's +encounter?" + +"Certainly not," Corona answered, hotly. "I assure you most solemnly," +she continued in calmer tones, "that I am wholly ignorant of it. I +suppose you have a right to be told that." + +"I, on my part, assure you, upon my word, that I know no more than you +yourself, excepting this: on some provocation, concerning which he will +not speak, my son seized Del Ferice by the throat and used strong words +to him. No one witnessed the scene. Del Ferice sent the challenge. +My son could find no one to act for him and applied to me, as was quite +right that he should. There was no apology possible--Giovanni had to give +the man satisfaction. You know as much as I know now." + +"That does not help me to understand why you accuse me of having caused +the quarrel," said Corona. "What have I to do with Del Ferice, poor man?" + +"This--any one can see that you are as indifferent to my son as to any +other man. Every one knows that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is above +suspicion." + +Corona raised her head proudly and stared at Saracinesca. + +"But, on the other hand, every one knows that my son loves you madly--can +you yourself deny it?" + +"Who dares to say it?" asked Corona, her anger rising afresh. + +"Who sees, dares. Can you deny it?" + +"You have no right to repeat such hearsay tales to me," answered Corona. +But the blush rose to her pale dark cheeks, and she suddenly dropped her +eyes. + +"Can you deny it, Duchessa?" asked the Prince a third time, insisting +roughly. + +"Since you are so certain, why need you care for my denial?" inquired +Corona. + +"Duchessa, you must forgive me," answered Saracinesca, his tone suddenly +softening. "I am rough, probably rude; but I love my son dearly. I cannot +bear to see him running into a dangerous and hopeless passion, from which +he may issue only to find himself grown suddenly old and bitter, +disappointed and miserable for the rest of his life. I believe you to be +a very good woman; I cannot look at you and doubt the truth of anything +you tell me. If he loves you, you have influence over him. If you have +influence, use it for his good; use it to break down this mad love of +his, to show him his own folly--to save him, in short, from his fate. Do +you understand me? Do I ask too much?" + +Corona understood well enough--far too well. She knew the whole extent of +Giovanni's love for her, and, what old Saracinesca never guessed, the +strength of her own love for him, for the sake of which she would do all +that a woman could do. There was a long pause after the old Prince had +spoken. He waited patiently for an answer. + +"I understand you--yes," she said at last. "If you are right in your +surmises, I should have some influence over your son. If I can advise +him, and he will take my advice, I will give him the best counsel I can. +You have placed me in a very embarrassing position, and you have shown +little courtesy in the way you have spoken to me; but I will try to do as +you request me, if the opportunity offers, for the sake of--of turning +what is very bad into something which may at last be good." + +"Thank you, thank you, Duchessa!" cried the Prince. "I will never +forget--" + +"Do not thank me," said Corona, coldly. "I am not in a mood to appreciate +your gratitude. There is too much blood of those honest gentlemen upon +your hands." + +"Pardon me, Duchessa, I wish there were on my hands and head the blood of +that gentleman you call honest--the gentleman who twice tried to murder +my son this morning, and twice nearly succeeded." + +"What!" cried Corona, in sudden terror. + +"That fellow thrust at Giovanni once to kill him while they were halting +and his sword was hanging lowered in his hand; and once again he threw +himself upon his knee and tried to stab him in the body--which is a +dastardly trick not permitted in any country. Even in duelling, such +things are called murder; and it is their right name." + +Corona was very pale. Giovanni's danger had been suddenly brought before +her in a very vivid light, and she was horror-struck at the thought of +it. + +"Is--is Don Giovanni very badly wounded?" she asked. + +"No, thank heaven; he will be wall in a week. But either one of those +attempts might have killed him; and he would have died, I think--pardon +me, no insult this time--I think, on your account. Do you see why for +him I dread this attachment to you, which leads him to risk his life at +every turn for a word about you? Do you see why I implore you to take the +matter into your serious consideration, and to use your influence to +bring him to his senses?" + +"I see; but in this question of the duel you have no proof that I was +concerned." + +"No,--no proof, perhaps. I will not weary you with surmises; but even if +it was not for you this time, you see that it might have been." + +"Perhaps," said Corona, very sadly. + +"I have to thank you, even if you will not listen to me," said the +Prince, rising. "You have understood me. It was all I asked. Good night." + +"Good night," answered Corona, who did not move from her seat nor extend +her hand this time. She was too much agitated to think of formalities. +Saracinesca bowed low and left the room. + +It was characteristic of him that he had come to see the Duchessa not +knowing what he should say, and that he had blurted out the whole truth, +and then lost his temper in support of it. He was a hasty man, of noble +instincts, but always inclined rather to cut a knot than to unloose +it--to do by force what another man would do by skill--angry at +opposition, and yet craving it by his combative nature. + +His first impulse on leaving Corona was to go to Giovanni and tell him +what he had done; but he reflected as he went home that his son was ill +with his wounds, and that it would be bad for him to be angry, as of +course he would be if he were told of his father's doings. Moreover, as +old Saracinesca thought more seriously of the matter, he wisely concluded +that it would be better not to speak of the visit; and when he entered +the room where Giovanni was lying on his couch with a novel and a +cigarette, he had determined to conceal the whole matter. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "we are the talk of the town, of course." + +"It was to be expected. Whom have you seen?" + +"In the first place, I have seen Madame Mayer. She is in a state of anger +against you which borders on madness--not because you have wounded Del +Ferice, but because you forgot to dance with her. I cannot conceive +how you could be so foolish." + +"Nor I. It was idiotic in the last degree," replied Giovanni, annoyed +that his father should have learned the story. + +"You must go and see her at once--as soon as you can go out. It is a +disagreeable business." + +"Of course. What else did she say?" + +"She thought that Del Ferice had challenged you on her account, because +you had not danced with her." + +"How silly! As if I should fight duels about her." + +"Since there was probably a woman in the case, she might have been the +one," remarked his father. + +"There was no woman in the case, practically speaking," said Giovanni, +shortly. + +"Oh, I supposed there was. However, I told Donna Tullia that I advised +her not to think anything more of the matter until the whole story came +out." + +"When is that likely to occur?" asked Giovanni, laughing. "No one alive +knows the cause of the quarrel but Del Ferice and I myself. He will +certainly not tell the world, as the thing was even more disgraceful to +him than his behaviour this morning. There is no reason why I should +speak of it either." + +"How reticent you are, Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. + +"Believe me, if I could tell you the whole story without injuring any one +but Del Ferice, I would." + +"Then there was really a woman in the case?" + +"There was a woman outside the case, who caused us to be in it," returned +Giovanni. + +"Always your detestable riddles," cried the old man, petulantly; and +presently, seeing that his son was obstinately silent, he left the room +to dress for dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It may be that when Astrardente spoke so tenderly to his wife after the +Frangipani ball, he felt some warning that told him his strength was +failing. His heart was in a dangerous condition, the family doctor had +said, and it was necessary that he should take care of himself. He had +been very tired after that long evening, and perhaps some sudden sinking +had shaken his courage. He awoke from an unusually heavy sleep with a +strange sense of astonishment, as though he had not expected to awake +again in life. He felt weaker than he had felt for a long time, and even +his accustomed beverage of chocolate mixed with coffee failed to give him +the support he needed in the morning. He rose very late, and his servant +found him more than usually petulant, nor did the message brought back +from Giovanni seem to improve his temper. He met his wife at the midday +breakfast, and was strangely silent, and in the afternoon he shut himself +up in his own rooms and would see nobody. But at dinner he appeared +again, seemingly revived, and declared his intention of accompanying his +wife to a reception given at the Austrian embassy. He seemed so unlike +his usual self, that Corona did not venture to speak of the duel which +had taken place in the morning; for she feared anything which might +excite him, well knowing that excitement might prove fatal. She did what +she could to dissuade him from going out; but he grew petulant, and she +unwillingly yielded. + +At the embassy he soon heard all the details, for no one talked of +anything else; but Astrardente was ashamed of not having heard it all +before, and affected a cynical indifference to the tale which the +military attaché of the embassy repeated for his benefit. He vouchsafed +some remark to the effect that fighting duels was the natural amusement +of young gentlemen, and that if one of them killed another there was at +least one fool the less in society; after which he looked about him for +some young beauty to whom he might reel off a score of compliments. He +knew all the time that he was making a great effort, that he felt +unaccountably ill, and that he wished he had taken his wife's advice and +stayed quietly at home. But at the end of the evening he chanced to +overhear a remark that Valdarno was making to Casalverde, who looked +exceedingly pale and ill at ease. + +"You had better make your will, my dear fellow," said Valdarno. "Spicca +is a terrible man with the foils." + +Astrardente turned quickly and looked at the speaker. But both men were +suddenly silent, and seemed absorbed in gazing at the crowd. It was +enough, however. Astrardente had gathered that Casalverde was to fight +Spicca the next day, and that the affair begun that morning had not yet +reached its termination. He determined that he would not again be guilty +of not knowing what was going on in society; and with the intention of +rising early on the following morning, he found Corona, and rather +unceremoniously told her it was time to go home. + +On the next day the Duca d'Astrardente walked into the club soon after +ten o'clock. On ordinary occasions that resort of his fellows was +entirely empty until a much later hour; but Astrardente was not +disappointed to-day. Twenty or thirty men were congregated in the large +hall which served as a smoking-room, and all of them were talking +together excitedly. As the door swung on its hinges and the old dandy +entered, a sudden silence fell upon the assembly. Astrardente naturally +judged that the conversation had turned upon himself, and had been +checked by his appearance; but he affected to take no notice of the +occurrence, adjusting his single eyeglass in his eye and serenely +surveying the men in the room. He could see that, although they had been +talking loudly, the matter in hand was serious enough, for there was no +trace of mirth on any of the faces before him. He at once assumed an air +of gravity, and going up to Valdarno, who seemed to have occupied the +most prominent place in the recent discussion, he put his question in an +undertone. + +"I suppose Spicca killed him?" + +Valdarno nodded, and looked grave. He was a thoughtless young fellow +enough, but the news of the tragedy had sobered him. Astrardente had +anticipated the death of Casalverde, and was not surprised. But he was +not without human feeling, and showed a becoming regret at the sad end of +a man he had been accustomed to see so frequently. + +"How was it?" he asked. + +"A simple 'un, deux,' tierce and carte at the first bout. Spicca is as +quick as lightning. Come away from this crowd," added Valdarno, in a low +voice, "and I will tell you all about it." + +In spite of his sorrow at his friend's death, Valdarno felt a certain +sense of importance at being able to tell the story to Astrardente. +Valdarno was vain in a small way, though his vanity was to that of the +old Duca as the humble violet to the full-blown cabbage-rose. Astrardente +enjoyed a considerable importance in society as the husband of Corona, +and was an object of especial interest to Valdarno, who supported the +incredible theory of Corona's devotion to the old man. Valdarno's stables +were near the club, and on pretence of showing a new horse to +Astrardente, he nodded to his friends, and left the room with the aged +dandy. It was a clear, bright winter's morning, and the two men strolled +slowly down the Corso towards Valdarno's palace. + +"You know, of course, how the affair began?" asked the young man. + +"The first duel? Nobody knows--certainly not I." + +"Well--perhaps not," returned Valdarno, doubtfully. "At all events, you +know that Spicca flew into a passion because poor Casalverde forgot to +step in after he cried halt; and then Del Ferice ran Giovanni through the +arm." + +"That was highly improper--most reprehensible," said Astrardente, putting +up his eyeglass to look at a pretty little sempstress who hurried past on +her way to her work. + +"I suppose so. But Casalverde certainly meant no harm; and if Del Ferice +had not been so unlucky as to forget himself in the excitement of the +moment, no one would have thought anything of it." + +"Ah yes, I suppose not," murmured Astrardente, still looking after the +girl. When he could see her face no longer, he turned sharply back to +Valdarno. + +"This is exceedingly interesting," he said. "Tell me more about it." + +"Well, when it was over, old Saracinesca was for killing Casalverde +himself." + +"The old fire-eater! He ought to be ashamed of himself." + +"However, Spicca was before him, and challenged Casalverde then and +there. As both the principals in the first duel were so badly wounded, it +had to be put off until this morning." + +"They went out, and--piff, paff! Spicca ran him through," interrupted +Astrardente. "What a horrible tragedy!" + +"Ah yes; and what is worse--" + +"What surprises me most," interrupted the Duca again, "is that in this +delightfully peaceful and paternally governed little nest of ours, the +authorities should not have been able to prevent either of these duels. +It is perfectly amazing! I cannot remember a parallel instance. Do you +mean to say that there was not a _sbirro_ or a _gendarme_ in the +neighbourhood to-day nor yesterday?" + +"That is not so surprising," answered Valdarno, with a knowing look. +"There would have been few tears in high quarters if Del Ferice had been +killed yesterday; there will be few to-day over the death of poor +Casalverde." + +"Bah!" ejaculated Astrardente. "If Antonelli had heard of these affairs +he would have stopped them soon enough." + +Valdarno glanced behind him, and, bending a little, whispered in +Astrardente's ear-- + +"They were both Liberals, you must know." + +"Liberals?" repeated the old dandy, with a cynical sneer. "Nonsense, I +say! Liberals? Yes, in the way you are a Liberal, and Donna Tullia Mayer, +and Spicca himself, who has just killed that other Liberal, Casalverde. +Liberals indeed! Do you flatter yourself for a moment that Antonelli is +afraid of such Liberals as you are? Do you think the life of Del Ferice +is of any more importance to politics than the life of that dog there?" + +It was Astrardente's habit to scoff mercilessly at all the petty +manifestations of political feeling he saw about him in the world. He +represented a class distinct both from the Valdarno set and from the men +represented by the Saracinesca--a class who despised everything political +as unworthy of the attention of gentlemen, who took everything for +granted, and believed that all was for the best, provided that society +moved upon rollers and so long as no one meddled with old institutions. +To question the wisdom of the municipal regulations was to attack the +Government itself; to attack the Government was to cast a slight upon his +Holiness the Pope, which was rank heresy, and very vulgar into the +bargain. Astrardente had seen a great deal of the world, but his ideas of +politics were almost childishly simple--whereas many people said that his +principles in relation to his fellows were fiendishly cynical. He was +certainly not a very good man; and if he pretended to no reputation for +devoutness, it was probable that he recognised the absurdity of his +attempting such a pose. But politically he believed in Cardinal +Antonelli's ability to defy Europe with or without the aid of France, and +laughed as loudly at Louis Napoleon's old idea of putting the sovereign +Pontiff at the head of an Italian federation, as he jeered at Cavour's +favourite phrase concerning a free Church in a free State. He had good +blood in him, and the hereditary courage often found with it. He had a +certain skill in matters worldly; but his wit in things political seemed +to belong to an earlier generation, and to be incapable of receiving new +impressions. + +But Valdarno, who was vain and set great value on his opinions, was +deeply offended at the way Astrardente spoke of him and his friends. In +his eyes he was risking much for what he considered a good object, and he +resented any contemptuous mention of Liberal principles, whenever he +dared. No one cared much for Astrardente, and certainly no one feared +him; nevertheless in those times men hesitated to defend anything which +came under the general head of Liberalism, when they were likely to be +overheard, or when they could not trust the man to whom they were +speaking. If no one feared Astrardente, no one trusted him either. +Valdarno consequently judged it best to smother his annoyance at the old +man's words, and to retaliate by striking him in a weak spot. + +"If you despise Del Ferice as much as you say," he remarked, "I wonder +that you tolerate him as you do." + +"I tolerate him. Toleration is the very word--it delightfully expresses +my feelings towards him. He is a perfectly harmless creature, who affects +immense depth of insight into human affairs, and who cannot see an inch +before his face. Dear me! yes, I shall always tolerate Del Ferice, poor +fellow!" + +"You may not be called upon to do so much longer," replied Valdarno. +"They say he is in a very dangerous condition." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Astrardente, putting up his eyeglass at his companion. +"Ah, you don't say so!" + +There was something so insolent in the old man's affected stare that even +the foolish and good-natured Valdarno lost his temper, being already +somewhat irritated. + +"It is a pity that you should be so indifferent. It is hardly becoming. +If you had not tolerated him as you have, he might not be lying there at +the point of death." + +Astrardente stared harder than ever. + +"My dear young friend," he said, "your language is the most extraordinary +I ever heard. How in the world can my treatment of that unfortunate man +have had anything to do with his being wounded in a duel?" + +"My dear old friend," replied Valdarno, impudently mimicking the old +man's tone, "your simplicity surpasses anything I ever knew. Is it +possible that you do not know that this duel was fought for your wife?" + +Astrardente looked fixedly at Valdarno; his eyeglass dropped from his +eye, and he turned ashy pale beneath his paint. He staggered a moment, +and steadied himself against the door of a shop. They were just passing +the corner of the Piazza di Sciarra, the most crowded crossing of the +Corso. + +"Valdarno," said the old man, his cracked voice dropping to a hoarser and +deeper tone, "you must explain yourself or answer for this." + +"What! Another duel!" cried Valdarno, in some scorn. Then, seeing that +his companion looked ill, he took him by the arm and led him rapidly +through the crowd, across the Arco dei Carbognani. Entering the Caffè +Aragno, a new institution in those days, both men sat down at a small +marble table. The old dandy was white with emotion; Valdarno felt that he +was enjoying his revenge. + +"A glass of cognac, Duke?" he said, as the waiter came up. Astrardente +nodded, and there was silence while the man brought the cordial. The Duca +lived by an invariable rule, seeking to balance the follies of his youth +by excessive care in his old age; it was long, indeed, since he had taken +a glass of brandy in the morning. He swallowed it quickly, and the +stimulant produced its effect immediately; he readjusted his eyeglass, +and faced Valdarno sternly. + +"And now," he said, "that we are at our ease, may I inquire what the +devil you mean by your insinuations about my wife?" + +"Oh," replied Valdarno, affecting great indifference, "I only say what +everybody says. There is no offence to the Duchessa." + +"I should suppose not, indeed. Go on." + +"Do you really care to hear the story?" asked the young man. + +"I intend to hear it, and at once," replied Astrardente. + +"You will not have to employ force to extract it from me, I can assure +you," said Valdarno, settling himself in his chair, but avoiding the +angry glance of the old man. "Everybody has been repeating it since the +day before yesterday, when it occurred. You were at the Frangipani +ball--you might have seen it all. In the first place, you must know that +there exists another of those beings to whom you extend your merciful +toleration--a certain Giovanni Saracinesca--you may have noticed him?" + +"What of him?" asked Astrardente, fiercely. + +"Among other things, he is the man who wounded Del Ferice, as I daresay +you have heard. Among other things concerning him, he has done himself +the honour of falling desperately, madly in love with the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who--" + +"What?" cried the old man in a cracked voice, as Valdarno paused. + +"Who does you the honour of ignoring his existence on most occasions, but +who was so unfortunate as to recall him to her memory on the night of the +Frangipani ball. We were all sitting in a circle round the Duchessa's +chair that night, when the conversation chanced to turn upon this same +Giovanni Saracinesca, a fire-eating fellow with a bad temper. He had been +away for some days; indeed he was last seen at the Apollo in your box, +when they gave 'Norma'--" + +"I remember," interrupted Astrardente. The mention of that evening was +but a random shot. Valdarno had been in the club-box, and had seen +Giovanni when he made his visit to the Astrardente; he had not seen him +again till the Frangipani ball. + +"Well, as I was saying, we spoke of Giovanni, and every one had something +to say about his absence. The Duchessa expressed her curiosity, and Del +Ferice, who was with us, proposed calling him--he was at the other end of +the room, you see--that he might answer for himself. So I went and +brought him up. He was in a very bad humour--" + +"What has all this absurd story got to do with the matter?" asked the old +man, impatiently. + +"It is the matter itself. The irascible Giovanni is angry at being +questioned, treats us all like mud under his feet, sits down by the +Duchessa and forces us to go away. The Duchessa tells him the story, with +a laugh no doubt, and Giovanni's wrath overflows. He goes in search of +Del Ferice, and nearly strangles him. The result of these eccentricities +is the first duel, leading to the second." + +Astrardente was very angry, and his thin gloved hands twitched nervously +at the handle of his stick. + +"And this," he said, "this string of trivial ball-room incident, seems to +you a sufficient pretext for stating that the duel was about my wife?" + +"Certainly," replied Valdarno, coolly. "If Saracinesca had not been for +months openly devoting himself to the Duchessa--who, I assure you, takes +no kind of notice of him--" + +"You need not waste words--" + +"I do not,--and if Giovanni had not thought it worth while to be jealous +of Del Ferice, there would have been no fighting." + +"Have you been telling your young friends that my wife was the cause of +all this?" asked Astrardente, trembling with a genuine rage which lent a +certain momentary dignity to his feeble frame and painted face. + +"Why not?" + +"Have you or have you not?" + +"Certainly--if you please," returned Valdarno insolently, enjoying the +old man's fury. + +"Then permit me to tell you that you have taken upon yourself an +outrageous liberty, that you have lied, and that you do not deserve to be +treated like a gentleman." + +Astrardente got upon his feet and left the café without further words. +Valdarno had indeed wounded him in a weak spot, and the wound was mortal. +His blood was up, and at that moment he would have faced Valdarno sword +in hand, and might have proved himself no mean adversary, so great is the +power of anger to revive in the most decrepit the energies of youth. He +believed in his wife with a rare sincerity, and his blood boiled at the +idea of her being rudely spoken of as the cause of a scandalous quarrel, +however much Valdarno insisted upon it that she was as indifferent to +Giovanni as to Del Ferice. The story was a shallow invention upon the +face of it. But though the old man told himself so again and again as he +almost ran through the narrow streets towards his house, there was one +thought suggested by Valdarno which rankled deep. It was true that +Giovanni had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera; but he +had not remained five minutes seated by the Duchessa before he had +suddenly invented a shallow excuse for leaving; and finally, there was no +doubt that at that very moment Corona had seemed violently agitated. +Giovanni had not reappeared till the night of the Frangipani ball, and +the duel had taken place on the very next morning. Astrardente could not +reason--his mind was too much disturbed by his anger against Valdarno; +but a vague impression that there was something wrong in it all, drove +him homewards in wild excitement. He was ill, too, and had he been in a +frame of mind to reflect upon himself, he would have noticed that his +heart was beating with ominous irregularity. He did not even think of +taking a cab, but hurried along on foot, finding, perhaps, a momentary +relief in violent exertion. The old blood rushed to his face in good +earnest, and shamed the delicately painted lights and shadows touched in +by the master-hand of Monsieur Isidore, the cosmopolitan valet. + +Valdarno remained seated in the café, rather disturbed at what he had +done. He certainly had had no intention of raising such a storm; he was a +weak and good-natured fellow, whose vanity was easily wounded, but who +was not otherwise very sensitive, and was certainly not very intelligent. +Astrardente had laughed at him and his friends in a way which touched him +to the quick, and with childish petulance he had retaliated in the +easiest way which presented itself. Indeed there was more foundation for +his tale than Astrardente would allow. At least it was true that the +story was in the mouths of all the gossips that morning, and Valdarno had +only repeated what he had heard. He had meant to annoy the old man; he +had certainly not intended to make him so furiously angry. As for the +deliberate insult he had received, it was undoubtedly very shocking to be +told that one lied in such very plain terms; but on the other hand, to +demand satisfaction of such an old wreck as Astrardente would be +ridiculous in the extreme. Valdarno was incapable of very violent +passion, and was easily persuaded that he was in the wrong when any one +contradicted him flatly; not that he was altogether devoid of a certain +physical courage if hard pushed, but because he was not very strong, not +very confident of himself, not very combative, and not very truthful. +When Astrardente was gone, he waited a few minutes, and then sauntered up +the Corso again towards the club, debating in his mind how he should turn +a good story out of his morning's adventure without making himself appear +either foolish or pusillanimous. It was also necessary so to turn his +narrative that in case any one repeated it to Giovanni, the latter might +not propose to cut his throat, though it was not probable that any one +would be bold enough to desire a conversation with the younger +Saracinesca on such a subject. + +When he again entered the smoking-room of the club, he was greeted by a +chorus of inquiries concerning his interview with Astrardente. + +"What did he ask? What did he say? Where is he? What did you tell him? +Did he drop his eyeglass? Did he blush through his paint?" + +Everybody spoke together in the same breath. Valdarno's vanity rose to +the occasion. Weak and insignificant by nature, he particularly delighted +in being the centre of general interest, if even for a moment only. + +"He really dropped his eyeglass," he answered, with a gay laugh, "and he +really changed colour in spite of his paint." + +"It must have been a terrible interview, then," remarked one or two of +the loungers. + +"I shall be happy to offer you my services in case you wish to cut each +other's throats," said a French officer of the Papal Zouaves who stood by +the fireplace rolling a cigarette. Whereupon everybody laughed loudly. + +"Thanks," answered Valdarno; "I am expecting a challenge every minute. If +he proposes a powder-puff and a box of rouge for the weapons, I accept +without hesitation. Well, it was very amusing. He wanted to know all +about it, and so I told him about the scene in Casa Frangipani. He did +not seem to understand at all. He is a very obtuse old gentleman." + +"I hope you explained the connection of events," said some one. + +"Indeed I did. It was delightful to witness his fury. It was then that he +dropped his eyeglass and turned as red as a boiled lobster. He swore that +his wife was above suspicion, as usual." + +"That is true," said a young man who had attempted to make love to Corona +during the previous year. + +"Of course it is true," echoed all the rest, with unanimity rare indeed +where a woman's reputation is concerned. + +"Yes," continued Valdarno, "of course. But he goes so far as to say it is +absurd that any one should admire his wife, who is nevertheless a most +admirable woman. He stamped, he screamed, he turned red in the face, and +he went off without taking leave of me, flourishing his stick, and +swearing eternal hatred and vengeance against the entire civilised +society of the world. He was delightfully amusing. Will anybody play +baccarat? I will start a bank." + +The majority were for the game, and in a few minutes were seated at a +large green table, drawing cards and betting with a good will, and +interspersing their play with stray remarks on the events of the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Corona was fast coming to a state of mind in which a kind of passive +expectation--a sort of blind submission to fate--was the chief feature. +She had shed tears when her husband spoke of his approaching end, because +her gentle heart was grateful to him, and by its own sacrifices had grown +used to his presence, and because she suddenly felt that she had +comprehended the depth of his love for her, as she had never understood +it before. In the five years of married life she had spent with him, she +had not allowed herself to think of his selfishness, of his small daily +egotism; for, though it was at no great expense to himself, he had been +uniformly generous and considerate to her. But she had been conscious +that if she should ever remove from her conscience the pressure of a +self-imposed censorship, so that her judgment might speak boldly, the +verdict of her heart would not have been so indulgent to her husband as +was that formal opinion of him which she forced herself to hold. Now, +however, it seemed as though the best things she had desired to believe +of him were true; and with the conviction that he was not only not +selfish, but absolutely devoted to herself, there had come upon her a +fear of desolation, a dread of being left alone--of finding herself +abandoned by this strange companion, the only person in the world with +whom she had the habit of familiarity and the bond of a common past. +Astrardente had thought, and had told her too, that the knowledge of his +impending death might lighten her burden--might make the days of +self-sacrifice that yet remained seem shorter; he had spoken kindly of +her marrying again when he should be dead, deeming perhaps, in his sudden +burst of generosity that she would be capable of looking beyond the +unhappy present to the possibilities of a more brilliant future, or at +least that the certainty of his consent to such a second union would +momentarily please her. It was hard to say why he had spoken. It had been +an impulse such as the most selfish people sometimes yield to when their +failing strength brings upon them suddenly the sense of their inability +to resist any longer the course of events. The vanity of man is so +amazing that when he is past arrogating to himself the attention which is +necessary to him as his daily bread, he is capable of so demeaning his +manhood as to excite interest in his weaknesses rather than that he +should cease to be the object of any interest whatever. The analysis of +the feelings of old and selfish persons is the most difficult of all +studies; for in proportion as the strength of the dominant passion or +passions is quenched in the bitter still waters of the harbour of +superannuation, the small influences of life grow in importance. As when, +from the breaking surge of an angry ocean, the water is dashed high among +the re-echoing rocks, leaving little pools of limpid clearness in the +hollows of the storm-beaten cliffs; and as when the anger of the tossing +waves has subsided, the hot sun shines upon the mimic seas, and the clear +waters that were so transparent grow thick and foul with the motion of a +tiny and insignificant insect-life undreamed of before in such crystal +purity: so also the clear strong sea of youth is left to dry in the +pools and puddles of old age, and in the motionless calm of the still +places where the ocean of life has washed it, it is dried up and consumed +by myriads of tiny parasites--lives within lives, passions within +passions--tiny efforts at mimic greatness,--a restless little world, the +very parody and infinitesimal reproduction of the mighty flood whence it +came, wherein great monsters have their being, and things of unspeakable +beauty grow free in the large depths of an unfathomed ocean. + +To Corona d'Astrardente in the freshness of her youth the study of her +husband's strange littleness had grown to be a second nature from the +habit of her devotion to him. But she could not understand him; she could +not explain to herself the sudden confession of old age, the quiet +anticipation of death, the inexplicable generosity towards herself. She +only knew that he must be at heart a man more kindly and of better +impulse than he had generally been considered, and she resolved to do +her utmost to repay him, and to soothe the misery of his last years. + +Since he had told her so plainly, it must be true. It was natural, +perhaps--for he was growing more feeble every day--but it was very sad. +Five years ago, when she had choked down her loathing for the old man to +whom she had sold herself for her father's sake, she would not have +believed that she should one day feel the tears rise fast at the thought +of his dying and leaving her free. He had said it; she would be free. +They say that men who have been long confined in a dungeon become +indifferent, and when turned out upon the world would at first gladly +return to their prison walls. Liberty is in the first place an instinct, +but it will easily grow to be a habit. Corona had renounced all thought +of freedom five years ago, and in the patient bowing of her noble nature +to the path she had chosen, she had attained to a state of renunciation +like that of a man who has buried himself for ever in an order of +Trappists, and neither dreams of the freedom of the outer world, nor +desires to dream of it. And she had grown fond of the aged dandy and his +foolish ways--ways which seemed foolish because they were those of youth +grafted upon senility. She had not known that she was fond of him, it is +true; but now that he spoke of dying, she felt that she would weep his +loss. He was her only companion, her only friend. In the loyal +determination to be faithful to him, she had so shut herself from all +intimacy with the world that she had not a friend. She kept women at a +distance from her, instinctively dreading lest in their careless talk +some hint or comment should remind her that she had married a man +ridiculous in their eyes; and with men she could have but little +intercourse, for their society was dangerous. No man save Giovanni +Saracinesca had for years put himself in the light of a mere +acquaintance, always ready to talk to her upon general subjects, +studiously avoiding himself in all discussions, and delicately +flattering her vanity by his deference to her judgment. The other men had +generally spoken of love at the second meeting, and declared themselves +devoted to her for life at the end of a week: she had quietly repulsed +them, and they had dropped back into the position of indifferent +acquaintances, going in search of other game, after the manner of young +gentlemen of leisure. Giovanni alone had sternly maintained his air of +calmness, had never offended her simple pride of loyalty to Astrardente +by word or deed; so that, although she felt and dreaded her growing +interest in him, she had actually believed that he was nothing in her +life, until at last she had been undeceived and awakened to the knowledge +of his fierce passion, and being taken unawares, had nearly been carried +off her feet by the tempest his words had roused in her own breast. But +her strength had not utterly deserted her. Years of supreme devotion to +the right, of honest and unwavering loyalty, neither deceiving her +conscience on the one hand with the morbid food of a fictitious religious +exaltation, nor, upon the other, sinking to a cynical indifference to +inevitable misery; days of quiet and constant effort; long hours of +thoughtful meditation upon the one resolution of her life,--all this had +strengthened the natural force of her character, so that, when at last +the great trial had come, she had not yielded, but had conquered once and +for ever, in the very moment of sorest temptation. And with her there +would be no return of the danger. Having found strength to resist, +she knew that there would be no more weakness; her love for Giovanni was +deep and sincere, but it had become now the chief cause of suffering in +her life; it had utterly ceased to be the chief element of joy, as it had +been for a few short days. It was one thing more to be borne, and it +outweighed all other cares. + +The news of the duel had given her great distress. She believed honestly +that she was in no way concerned in it, and she had bitterly resented old +Saracinesca's imputation. In the hot words that had passed between +them, she had felt her anger rise justly against the old Prince; but when +he appealed to her on account of his son, her love for Giovanni had +vanquished her wrath against the old man. Come what might, she would do +what was best for him. If possible, she would induce him to leave Rome at +once, and thus free herself from the pain of constantly meeting him. +Perhaps she could make him marry--anything would be better than to allow +things to go on in their present course, to have to face him at every +turn, and to know that at any moment he might be quarrelling with +somebody and fighting duels on her account. + +She went boldly into the world that night, not knowing whether she should +meet Giovanni or not, but resolved upon her course if he appeared. Many +people looked curiously at her, and smiled cunningly as they thought they +detected traces of care upon her proud face; but though they studied her, +and lost no opportunity of talking to her upon the one topic which +absorbed the general conversation, no one had the satisfaction of moving +her even so much as to blush a little, or to lower the gaze of her eyes +that looked them all indifferently through and through. + +Giovanni, however, did not appear, and people told her he would not leave +his room for several days, so that she returned to her home without +having accomplished anything in the matter. Her husband was very silent, +but looked at her with an expression of uncertainty, as though hesitating +to speak to her upon some subject that absorbed his interest. Neither of +them referred to the strange interview of the previous night. They went +home early, as has been already recorded, seeing it was only a great and +formal reception to which the world went that night; and even the +toughest old society jades were weary from the ball of the day before, +which had not broken up until half-past six in the morning. + +On the next day, at about twelve o'clock, Corona was sitting in her +boudoir writing a number of invitations which were to be distributed in +the afternoon, when the door opened and her husband entered the room. + +"My dear," he cried in great excitement, "it is perfectly horrible! Have +you heard?" + +"What?" asked Corona, laying down her pen. + +"Spicca has killed Casalverde--the man who seconded Del Ferice +yesterday,--killed him on the spot--" + +Corona uttered an exclamation of horror. + +"And they say Del Ferice is dead, or just dying"--his cracked voice rose +at every word; "and they say," he almost screamed, laying his withered +hand roughly upon his wife's shoulder,--"they say that the duel was about +you--you, do you understand?" + +"That is not true," said Corona, firmly. "Calm yourself--I beseech you to +be calm. Tell me connectedly what has happened--who told you this story." + +"What right has any man to drag your name into a quarrel?" cried the old +man, hoarsely. "Everybody is saying it--it is outrageous, abominable--" + +Corona quietly pushed her husband into a chair, and sat down beside him. + +"You are excited--you will harm yourself,--remember your health," she +said, endeavouring to soothe him. "Tell me, in the first place, who told +you that it was about me." + +"Valdarno told me; he told me that every one was saying it--that it was +the talk of the town." + +"But why?" insisted Corona. "You allow yourself to be furious for the +sake of a piece of gossip which has no foundation whatever. What is the +story they tell?" + +"Some nonsense about Giovanni Saracinesca's going away last week. Del +Ferice proposed to call him before you, and Giovanni was angry." + +"That is absurd," said Corona. "Don Giovanni was not the least annoyed. +He was with me afterwards--" + +"Always Giovanni! Always Giovanni! Wherever you go, it is Giovanni!" +cried the old man, in unreasonable petulance--unreasonable from his point +of view, reasonable enough had he known the truth. But he struck +unconsciously upon the key-note of all Corona's troubles, and she turned +pale to the lips. + +"You say it is not true," he began again. "How do you know? How can you +tell what may have been said? How can you guess it? Giovanni Saracinesca +is about you in society more than any one. He has quarrelled about you, +and two men have lost their lives in consequence. He is in love with you, +I tell you. Can you not see it? You must be blind!" + +Corona leaned back in her chair, utterly overcome by the suddenness of +the situation, unable to answer, her hands folded tightly together, her +pale lips compressed. Angry at her silence, old Astrardente continued, +his rage gradually getting the mastery of his sense, and his passion +working itself up to the pitch of madness. + +"Blind--yes--positively blind!" he cried. "Do you think that I am blind +too? Do you think I will overlook all this? Do you not see that your +reputation is injured--that people associate your name with his--that no +woman can be mentioned in the same breath with Giovanni Saracinesca and +hope to maintain a fair fame? A fellow whose adventures are in +everybody's mouth, whose doings are notorious; who has but to look at a +woman to destroy her; who is a duellist, a libertine--" + +"That is not true," interrupted Corona, unable to listen calmly to the +abuse thus heaped upon the man she so dearly loved. "You are mad--" + +"You defend him!" screamed Astrardente, leaning far forward in his chair +and clenching his hands. "You dare to support him--you acknowledge that +you care for him! Does he not pursue you everywhere, so that the town +rings with it? You ought to long to be rid of him, to wish he were dead, +rather than allow his name to be breathed with yours; and instead, you +defend him to me--you say he is right, that you prefer his odious +devotion to your good name, to my good name! Oh, it is not to be +believed! If you loved him yourself you could not do worse!" + +"If half you say were true--" said Corona, in terrible distress. + +"True?" cried Astrardente, who would not brook interruption. "It is all +true--and more also. It is true that he loves you, true that all the +world says it, true--by all that is holy, from your face I would almost +believe that you do love him! Why do you not deny it? Miserable woman!" +he screamed, springing towards her and seizing her roughly by the arm, as +she hid her face in her hands. "Miserable woman! you have betrayed me--" + +In the paroxysm of his rage the feeble old man became almost strong; his +grip tightened upon his wife's wrist, and he dragged her violently from +her seat. + +"Betrayed! And by you!" he cried again, shaking with passion. "You whom I +have loved! This is your gratitude, your sanctified devotion, your +cunning pretence at patience! All to hide your love for such a man as +that! You hypocrite, you--" + +By a sudden effort Corona shook off his grasp, and drew herself up to her +full height in magnificent anger. + +"You shall hear me," she said, in deep commanding tones. "I have deserved +much, but I have not deserved this." + +"Ha!" he hissed, standing back from her a step, "you can speak now--I +have touched you! You have found words. It was time!" + +Corona was as white as death, and her black eyes shone like coals of +fire. Her words came slowly, every accent clear and strong with +concentrated passion. + +"I have not betrayed you. I have spoken no word of love to any man alive, +and you know that I speak the truth. If any one has said to me what +should not be said, I have rebuked him to silence. You know, while you +accuse me, that I have done my best to honour and love you; you know well +that I would die by my own hand, your loyal and true wife, rather than +let my lips utter one syllable of love for any other man." + +Corona possessed a supreme power over her husband. She was so true a +woman that the truth blazed visibly from her clear eyes; and what she +said was nothing but the truth. She had doubted it herself for one +dreadful moment; she knew it now beyond all doubting. In a moment the old +man's wrath broke and vanished before the strong assertion of her perfect +innocence. He turned pale under his paint, and his limbs trembled. He +made a step forward, and fell upon his knees before her, and tried to +take her hands. + +"Oh, Corona, forgive me," he moaned--"forgive me! I so love you!" + +Suddenly his grasp relaxed from her hands, and with a groan he fell +forward against her knees. + +"God knows I forgive you!" cried Corona, the tears starting to her eyes +in sudden pity. She bent down to support him; but as she moved, he fell +prostrate upon his face before her. With a cry of terror she kneeled +beside him; with her strong arms she turned his body and raised his head +upon her knees. His face was ghastly white, save where the tinges of +paint made a hideous mockery of colour upon his livid skin. His parted +lips were faintly purple, and his hollow eyes stared wide open at his +wife's face, while the curled wig was thrust far back upon his bald and +wrinkled forehead. + +Corona supported his weight upon one knee, and took his nerveless hand in +hers. An agony of terror seized her. + +"Onofrio!" she cried--she rarely called him by his name--"Onofrio! speak +to me! My husband!" She clasped him wildly in her arms. "O God, have +mercy!" + +Onofrio d'Astrardente was dead. The poor old dandy, in his paint and his +wig and his padding, had died at his wife's feet, protesting his love for +her to the last. The long averted blow had fallen. For years he had +guarded himself against sudden emotions, for he was warned of the disease +at his heart, and knew his danger; but his anger had killed him. He might +have lived another hour while his rage lasted; but the revulsion of +feeling, the sudden repentance for the violence he had done his wife, had +sent the blood back to its source too quickly, and with his last cry of +love upon his lips he was dead. + +Corona had hardly ever seen death. She gently lowered the dead man's +weight till he lay at full length upon the floor. Then she started to her +feet, and drew back against the fireplace, and gazed at the body of her +husband. + +For fully five minutes she stood motionless, scarcely daring to draw +breath, dazed and stupefied with horror, trying to realise what had +happened. There he lay, her only friend, the companion of her life since +she had known life; the man who in that very room, but two nights since, +had spoken such kind words to her that her tears had flowed--the tears +that would not flow now; the man who but a moment since was railing at +her in a paroxysm of rage--whose anger had melted at her first word of +defence, who had fallen at her feet to ask forgiveness, and to declare +once more, for the last time, that he loved her! Her friend, her +companion, her husband--had he heard her answer, that she forgave him +freely? He could not be dead--it was impossible. A moment ago he had been +speaking to her. She went forward again and kneeled beside him. + +"Onofrio," she said very gently, "you are not dead--you heard me?" + +She gazed down for a moment at the motionless features. Womanly +thoughtful, she moved his head a little, and straightened the wig upon +his poor forehead. Then, in an instant, she realised all, and with a wild +cry of despair fell prostrate upon his body in an agony of passionate +weeping. How long she lay, she knew not. A knock at the door did not +reach her ears, nor another and another, at short intervals; and then +some one entered. It was the butler, who had come to announce the mid-day +breakfast. He uttered an exclamation and started back, holding the handle +of the door in his hand. + +Corona raised herself slowly to her knees, gazing down once more upon the +dead man's face. Then she lifted her streaming eyes and saw the servant. + +"Your master is dead," she said, solemnly. + +The man grew pale and trembled, hesitated, and then turned and fled down +the hall without, after the manner of Italian servants, who fear death, +and even the sight of it, as they fear nothing else in the world. + +Corona rose to her feet and brushed the tears from her eyes. Then she +turned and rang the bell. No one answered the summons for some time. The +news had spread all over the house in an instant, and everything was +disorganised. At last a woman came and stood timidly at the door. She was +a lower servant, a simple strong creature from the mountains. Seeing the +others terrified and paralysed, it had struck her common-sense that her +mistress was alone. Corona understood. + +"Help me to carry him," she said, quietly; and the peasant and the noble +lady stooped and lifted the dead duke, and bore him to his chamber +without a word, and laid him tenderly upon his bed. + +"Send for the doctor," said Corona; "I will watch beside him." + +"But, Excellency, are you not afraid?" asked the woman. + +Corona's lip curled a little. + +"I am not afraid," she answered. "Send at once." When the woman was gone, +she sat down by the bedside and waited. Her tears were dry now, but she +could not think. She waited motionless for an hour. Then the old +physician entered softly, while a crowd of servants stood without, +peering timidly through the open door. Corona crossed the room and +quietly shut it. The physician stood by the bedside. + +"It is simple enough, Signora Duchessa," he said, gently. "He is quite +dead. It was only the day before yesterday that I warned him that the +heart disease was worse. Can you tell me how it happened?" + +"Yes, exactly," answered Corona, in a low voice. She was calm enough now. +"He came into my room two hours ago, and suddenly, in conversation, he +became very angry. Then his anger subsided in a moment, and he fell at my +feet." + +"It is just as I expected," answered the physician, quietly. "They always +die in this way. I entreat you to be calm--to consider that all men are +mortal--" + +"I am calm now," interrupted Corona. "I am alone. Will you see that what +is necessary is done quickly? I will leave you for a moment. There are +people outside." + +As she opened the door the gaping crowd of servants slunk out of her way. +With bent head she passed between them, and went out into the great +reception-rooms, and sat down alone in her grief. + +It was genuine, of its kind. The poor man's soul might rest in peace, for +she felt the real sorrow at his death which he had longed for, which he +had perhaps scarcely dared to hope she would feel. Had it not been real, +in those first moments some thought would have crossed her mind--some +faint, repressed satisfaction at being free at last--free to marry +Giovanni Saracinesca. But it was not so. She did not feel free--she felt +alone, intensely alone. She longed for the familiar sound of his +querulous voice--for the expression of his thousand little wants and +interests; she remembered tenderly his harmless little vanities. She +thought of his wig, and she wept. So true it is that what is most +ridiculous in life is most sorrowfully pathetic in death. There was not +one of the small things about him she did not recall with a pang of +regret. It was all over now. His vanity was dead with him; his tender +love for her was dead too. It was the only love she had known, until that +other love--that dark and stirring passion--had been roused in her. But +that did not trouble her now. Perhaps the unconscious sense that +henceforth she was free to love whom she pleased had suddenly made +insignificant a feeling which had before borne in her mind the terrible +name of crime. The struggle for loyalty was no more, but the memory of +what she had borne for the dead man made him dearer than before. The +follies of his life had been many, but many of them had been for her, and +there was the true ring in his last words. "To be young for your sake, +Corona--for your sake!" The phrase echoed again and again in her +remembrance, and her silent tears flowed afresh. The follies of his life +had been many, but to her he had been true. The very violence of his last +moments, the tenderness of his passionate appeal for forgiveness, spoke +for the honesty of his heart, even though his heart had never been honest +before. + +She needed never to think again of pleasing him, of helping him, of +foregoing for his sake any intimacy with the world which she might +desire. But the thought brought no relief. He had become so much a part +of her life that she could not conceive of living without him, and she +would miss him at every turn. The new existence before her seemed dismal +and empty beyond all expression. She wondered vaguely what she should do +with her time. For one moment a strange longing came over her to return +to the dear old convent, to lay aside for ever her coronet and state, and +in a simple garb to do simple and good things to the honour of God. + +She roused herself at last, and went to her own rooms, dragging her steps +slowly as though weighed down by a heavy burden. She entered the room +where he had died, and a cold shudder passed over her. The afternoon sun +was streaming through the window upon the writing table where yet lay the +unfinished invitation she had been writing, and upon the plants and the +rich ornaments, upon the heavy carpet--the very spot where he had +breathed his last word of love and died at her feet. + +Upon that spot Corona d'Astrardente knelt down reverently and +prayed,--prayed that she might be forgiven for all her shortcomings to +the dear dead man; that she might have strength to bear her sorrow and to +honour his memory; above all, that his soul might rest in peace and find +forgiveness, and that he might know that she had been truly innocent--she +prayed for that too, for she had a dreadful doubt. But surely he knew all +now: how she had striven to be loyal, and how truly--yes, how truly--she +mourned his death. + +At last she rose to her feet, and lingered still a moment, her hands +clasped as they had been in her prayer. Glancing down, something +glistened on the carpet. She stooped and picked it up. It was her +husband's sealring, engraven with the ancient arms of the Astrardente. +She looked long at the jewel, and then put it upon her finger. + +"God give me grace to honour his memory as he would have me honour it," +she said, solemnly. + +Truly, she had deserved the love the poor old dandy had so deeply felt +for her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +That night Giovanni insisted on going out. His wounds no longer pained +him, he said; there was no danger whatever, and he was tired of staying +at home. But he would dine with his father as usual. He loved his +father's company, and when the two omitted to quarrel over trifles they +were very congenial. To tell the truth, the differences between them +arose generally from the petulant quickness of the Prince; for in his son +his own irascible character was joined with the melancholy gravity which +Giovanni inherited from his mother, and in virtue of which, being +taciturn, he was sometimes thought long-suffering. + +As usual, they sat opposite each other, and the ancient butler Pasquale +served them. As the man deposited Giovanni's soup before him, he spoke. A +certain liberty was always granted to Pasquale; Italian servants are +members of the family, even in princely houses. Never assuming that +confidence implies familiarity, they enjoy the one without ever +approaching the latter. Nevertheless it was very rarely that Pasquale +spoke to his masters when they were at table. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon--" he began, as he put down the +soup-plate. + +"Well, Pasquale?" asked old Saracinesca, looking sharply at the old +servant from under his heavy brows. + +"Have your Excellencies heard the news?" + +"What news? No," returned the Prince. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente--" + +"Well, what of him?" + +"Is dead." + +"Dead!" repeated Giovanni in a loud voice, that echoed to the vaulted +roof of the dining-room. + +"It is not true," said old Saracinesca; "I saw him in the street this +morning." + +"Nevertheless, your Excellency," replied Pasquale, "it is quite true. The +gates of the palace were already draped with black before the Ave Maria +this evening; and the porter, who is a nephew of mine, had _crêpe_ upon +his hat and arm. He told me that the Duca fell down dead of a stroke in +the Signora Duchessa's room at half-past twelve to-day." + +"Is that all you could learn?" asked the Prince. + +"Except that the Signora Duchessa was overcome with grief," returned the +servant, gravely. + +"I should think so--her husband dead of an apoplexy! It is natural," said +the Prince, looking at Giovanni. The latter was silent, and tried to eat +as though, nothing had happened--inwardly endeavouring not to rejoice too +madly at the terrible catastrophe. In his effort to control his features, +the blood rushed to his forehead, and his hand trembled violently. His +father saw it, but made no remark. + +"Poor Astrardente!" he said. "He was not so bad as people thought him." + +"No," replied Giovanni, with a great effort; "he was a very good man." + +"I should hardly say that," returned his father, with a grim smile of +amusement. "I do not think that by the greatest stretch of indulgence he +could be called good." + +"And why not?" asked the younger man, sharply snatching at any possible +discussion in order to conceal his embarrassment. + +"Why not, indeed! Why, because he had a goodly share of original sin, to +which he added others of his own originating but having an equal claim to +originality." + +"I say I think he was a very good man," repeated Giovanni, maintaining +his point with an air of conviction. + +"If that is your conception of goodness, it is no wonder that you have +not attained to sanctity," said the old man, with a sneer. + +"It pleases you to be witty," answered his son. "Astrardente did not +gamble; he had no vices of late. He was kind to his wife." + +"No vices--no. He did not steal like a fraudulent bank-clerk, nor try to +do murder like Del Ferice. He did not deceive his wife, nor starve her to +death. He had therefore no vices. He was a good man." + +"Let us leave poor Del Ferice alone," said Giovanni. + +"I suppose you will pity him now," replied the Prince, sarcastically. +"You will talk differently if he dies and you have to leave the country +at a moment's notice, like Spicca this morning." + +"I should be very sorry if Del Ferice died. I should never recover from +it. I am not a professional duellist like Spicca. And yet Casalverde +deserved his death. I can quite understand that Del Ferice might in the +excitement of the moment have lunged at me after the halt was cried, but +I cannot understand how Casalverde could be so infamous as not to cross +his sword when he himself called. It looked very much like a preconcerted +arrangement. Casalverde deserved to die, for the safety of society. +I should think that Rome had had enough of duelling for a while." + +"Yes; but after all, Casalverde did not count for much. I am not sure I +ever saw the fellow before in my life. And I suppose Del Ferice will +recover. There was a story this morning that he was dead; but I went and +inquired myself, and found that he was better. People are much shocked +at this second duel. Well, it could not be helped. Poor old Astrardente! +So we shall never see his wig again at every ball and theatre and +supper-party! There was a man who enjoyed his life to the very end!" + +"I should not call it enjoyment to be built up every day by one's valet, +like a card-house, merely to tumble to pieces again when the pins are +taken out," said Giovanni. + +"You do not seem so enthusiastic in his defence as you were a few minutes +ago," said the Prince, with a smile. + +Giovanni was so much disturbed at the surprising news that he hardly knew +what he said. He made a desperate attempt to be sensible. + +"It appears to me that moral goodness and personal appearance are two +things," he said, oracularly. The Prince burst into a loud laugh. + +"Most people would say that! Eat your dinner, Giovanni, and do not talk +such arrant nonsense." + +"Why is it nonsense? Because you do not agree with me?" + +"Because you are too much excited to talk sensibly," said his father. "Do +you think I cannot see it?" + +Giovanni was silent for a time. He was angry at his father for detecting +the cause of his vagueness, but he supposed there was no help for it. At +last Pasquale left the room. Old Saracinesca gave a sigh of relief. + +"And now, Giovannino," he said familiarly, "what have you got to say for +yourself?" + +"I?" asked his son, in some surprise. + +"You! What are you going to do?" + +"I will stay at home," said Giovanni, shortly. + +"That is not the question. You are wise to stay at home, because you +ought to get yourself healed of that scratch. Giovanni, the Astrardente +is now a widow." + +"Seeing that her husband is dead--of course. There is vast ingenuity in +your deduction," returned the younger man, eyeing his father +suspiciously. + +"Do not be an idiot, Giovannino. I mean, that as she is a widow, I have +no objection to your marrying her." + +"Good God, sir!" cried Giovanni, "what do you mean?" + +"What I say. She is the most beautiful woman in Rome. She is one of the +best women I know. She will have a sufficient jointure. Marry her. You +will never be happy with a silly little girl just out of a convent You +are not that sort of man. The Astrardente is not three-and-twenty, but +she has had five years of the world, and she has stood the test well. I +shall be proud to call her my daughter." + +In his excitement Giovanni sprang from his seat, and rushing to his +father's side, threw his arms round his neck and embraced him. He had +never done such a thing in his life. Then he remained standing, and grew +suddenly thoughtful. + +"It is heartless of us to talk in this way," he said. "The poor man is +not buried yet." + +"My dear boy," said the old Prince, "Astrardente is dead. He hated me, +and was beginning to hate you, I fancy. We were neither of us his +friends, at any rate. We do not rejoice at his death; we merely regard it +in the light of an event which modifies our immediate future. He is dead, +and his wife is free. So long as he was alive, the fact of your loving +her was exceedingly unfortunate: it was injuring you and doing a wrong to +her. Now, on the contrary, the greatest good fortune that can happen to +you both is that you should marry each other." + +"That is true," returned Giovanni. In the suddenness of the news, it had +not struck him that his father would ever look favourably upon the match, +although the immediate possibility of the marriage had burst upon him as +a great light suddenly rising in a thick darkness. But his nature, as +strong as his father's, was a little more delicate, a shade less rough; +and even in the midst of his great joy, it struck him as heartless to be +discussing the chances of marrying a woman whose husband was not yet +buried. No such scruple disturbed the geniality of the old Prince. He was +an honest and straightforward man--a man easily possessed by a single +idea--and he was capable of profound affections. He had loved his Spanish +wife strongly in his own fashion, and she had loved him, but there was no +one left to him now but his son, whom he delighted in, and he regarded +the rest of the world merely as pawns to be moved into position for the +honour and glory of the Saracinesca. He thought no more of a man's life +than of the end of a cigar, smoked out and fit to be thrown away. +Astrardente had been nothing to him but an obstacle. It had not struck +him that he could ever be removed; but since it had pleased Providence +to take him out of the way, there was no earthly reason for mourning his +death. All men must die--it was better that death should come to those +who stood in the way of their fellow-creatures. + +"I am not at all sure that she will consent," said Giovanni, beginning to +walk up and down the room. + +"Bah!" ejaculated his father. "You are the best match in Italy. Why +should any woman refuse you?" + +"I am not so sure. She is not like other women. Let us not talk of it +now. It will not be possible to do anything for a year, I suppose. A year +is a long time. Meanwhile I will go to that poor man's funeral." + +"Of course. So will I." + +And they both went, and found themselves in a vast crowd of +acquaintances. No one had believed that Astrardente could ever die, that +the day would ever come when society should know his place no more; and +with one consent everybody sent their carriages to the funeral, and went +themselves a day or two later to the great requiem Mass in the parish +church. There was nothing to be seen but the great black catafalque, with +Corona's household of servants in deep mourning liveries kneeling behind +it. Relations she had none, and the dead man was the last of his race-- +she was utterly alone. + +"She need not have made it so terribly impressive," said Madame Mayer +to Valdarno when the Mass was over. Madame Mayer paused beside the +holy-water basin, and dipping one gloved finger, she presented it to +Valdarno with an engaging smile. Both crossed themselves. + +"She need not have got it up so terribly impressively, after all," she +repeated. + +"I daresay she will miss him at first," returned Valdarno, who was a +kind-hearted fellow enough, and was very far from realising how much he +had contributed to the sudden death of the old dandy. "She is a strange +woman. I believe she had grown fond of him." + +"Oh, I know all that," said Donna Tullia, as they left the church. + +"Yes," answered her companion, with a significant smile, "I presume you +do." Donna Tullia laughed harshly as she got into her carriage. + +"You are detestable, Valdarno--you always misunderstand me. Are you going +to the ball to-night?" + +"Of course. May I have the pleasure of the cotillon?" + +"If you are very good--if you will go and ask the news of Del Ferice." + +"I sent this morning. He is quite out of danger, they believe." + +"Is he? Oh, I am very glad--I felt so very badly, you know. Ah, Don +Giovanni, are you recovered?" she asked coldly, as Saracinesca approached +the other side of the carriage. Valdarno retired to a distance, and +pretended to be buttoning his greatcoat; he wanted to see what would +happen. + +"Thank you, yes; I was not much hurt. This is the first time I have been +out, and I am glad to find an opportunity of speaking to you. Let me say +again how profoundly I regret my forgetfulness at the ball the other +night--" + +Donna Tullia was a clever woman, and though she had been very angry at +the time, she was in love with Giovanni. She therefore looked at him +suddenly with a gentle smile, and just for one moment her fingers touched +his hand as it rested upon the side of the carriage. + +"Do you think it was kind?" she asked, in a low voice. + +"It was abominable. I shall never forgive myself," answered Giovanni. + +"I will forgive you," answered Donna Tullia, softly. She really loved +him. It was the best thing in her nature, but it was more than balanced +by the jealousy she had conceived for the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Was it on that account that you quarrelled with poor Del Ferice?" she +asked, after a moment's pause. "I have feared it--" + +"Certainly not," answered Giovanni, quickly. "Pray set your mind at rest. +Del Ferice or any other man would have been quite justified in calling me +out for it--but it was not for that. It was not on account of you." + +It would have been hard to say whether Donna Tullia's face expressed more +clearly her surprise or her disappointment at the intelligence. Perhaps +she had both really believed herself the cause of the duel, and had +been flattered at the thought that men would fight for her. + +"Oh, I am very glad--it is a great relief," she said, rather coldly. "Are +you going to the ball to-night?" + +"No; I cannot dance. My right arm is bound up in a sling, as you see." + +"I am sorry you are not coming. Good-bye, then." + +"Good-bye; I am very grateful for your forgiveness." Giovanni bowed low, +and Donna Tullia's brilliant equipage dashed away. + +Giovanni was well satisfied at having made his peace so easily, but he +nevertheless apprehended danger from Donna Tullia. + +The next thing which interested Roman society was Astrardente's will, +but no one was much surprised when the terms of it were known. As there +were no relations, everything was left to his wife. The palace in Rome, +the town and castle in the Sabines, the broad lands in the low +hill-country towards Ceprano, and what surprised even the family lawyer, +a goodly sum in solid English securities,--a splendid fortune in all, +according to Roman ideas. Astrardente abhorred the name of money in his +conversation--it had been one of his affectations; but he had an +excellent understanding of business, and was exceedingly methodical in +the management of his affairs. The inheritance, the lawer thought, might +be estimated at three millions of scudi. + +"Is all this wealth mine, then?" asked Corona, when the solicitor had +explained the situation. + +"All, Signora Duchessa. You are enormously rich." + +Enormously rich! And alone in the world. Corona asked herself if she was +the same woman, the same Corona del Carmine who five years before had +suffered in the old convent the humiliation of having no pocket-money, +whose wedding-gown had been provided from the proceeds of a little sale +of the last relics of her father's once splendid collection of old china +and pictures. She had never thought of money since she had been married; +her husband was generous, but methodical; she never bought anything +without consulting him, and the bills all went through his hands. Now and +then she had rather timidly asked for a small sum for some charity; she +had lacked nothing that money could buy, but she never remembered to have +had more than a hundred francs in her purse. Astrardente had once offered +to give her an allowance, and had seemed pleased that she refused it. He +liked to manage things himself, being a man of detail. + +And now she was enormously rich, and alone. It was a strange sensation. +She felt it to be so new that she innocently said so to the lawyer. + +"What shall I do with it all?" + +"Signora Duchessa," returned the old man, "with regard to money the +question is, not what to do with it, but how to do without it. You are +very young, Signora Duchessa." + +"I shall be twenty-three in August," said Corona, simply. + +"Precisely. I would beg to be allowed to observe that by the terms of the +will, and by the laws of this country, you are not the dowager-duchess, +but you are in your own right and person the sole and only feudal +mistress and holder of the title." + +"Am I?" + +"Certainly, with all the privileges thereto attached. It may be--I beg +pardon for being so bold as to suggest it--it may be that in years to +come, when time has soothed your sorrow, you may wish, you may consent, +to renew the marriage tie." + +"I doubt it--but the thing is possible," said Corona, quietly. + +"In that case, and should you prefer to contract a marriage of +inclination, you will have no difficulty in conferring your title upon +your husband, with any reservations you please. Your children will then +inherit from you, and become in their turn Dukes of Astrardente. This I +conceive to have been the purpose and spirit of the late Duke's will. The +estate, magnificent as it is, will not be too large for the foundation of +a new race. If you desire any distinctive title, you can call yourself +Duchessa del Carmine d'Astrardente--it would sound very well," remarked +the lawyer, contemplating the beautiful woman before him. + +"It is of little importance what I call myself," said Corona. "At present +I shall certainly make no change. It is very unlikely that I shall ever +marry." + +"I trust, Signora Duchessa, that in any case you will always command my +most humble services." + +With this protestation of fidelity the lawyer left the Palazzo +Astrardente, and Corona remained in her boudoir in meditation of what it +would be like to be the feudal mistress of a great title and estate. She +was very sad, but she was growing used to her solitude. Her liberty was +strange to her, but little by little she was beginning to enjoy it. At +first she had missed the constant care of the poor man who for five years +had been her companion; she had missed his presence and the burden of +thinking for him at every turn of the day. But it was not for long. Her +memory of him was kind and tender, and for months after his death the +occasional sight of some object associated with him brought the tears to +her eyes. She often wished he could walk into the room in his old way, +and begin talking of the thousand and one bits of town gossip that +interested him. But the first feeling of desolation soon passed, for he +had not been more than a companion; she could analyse every memory she +had of him to its source and reason. There was not in her that passionate +unformulated yearning for him that comes upon a loving heart when its +fellow is taken away, and which alone is a proof that love has been real +and true. She soon grew accustomed to his absence. + +To marry again--every one would say she would be right--to marry and to +be the mother of children, of brave sons and noble girls,--ah yes! that +was a new thought, a wonderful thought, one of many that were +wonderful. + +Then, again, her strong nature suddenly rose in a new sense of strength, +and she paced the room slowly with a strange expression of sternness upon +her beautiful features. + +"I am a power in the world," she said to herself, almost starting at the +truth of the thought, and yet taking delight in it. "I am what men call +rich and powerful; I have money, estates, castles, and palaces; I am +young, I am strong. What shall I do with it all?" + +As she walked, she dreamed of raising some great institution of charity; +she knew not for what precise object, but there was room enough for +charity in Rome. The great Torlonia had built churches, and hospitals, +and asylums. She would do likewise; she would make for herself an +interest in doing good, a satisfaction in the exercise of her power to +combat evil. It would be magnificent to feel that she had done it +herself, alone and unaided; that she had built the walls from the +foundation and the corner-stone to the eaves; that she had entered +herself into the study of each detail, and herself peopled the great +institution with such as needed most help in the world--with little +children, perhaps. She would visit them every day, and herself provide +for their wants and care for their sufferings. She would give the place +her husband's name, and the good she would accomplish with his earthly +portion might perhaps profit his soul. She would go to Padre Filippo and +ask his advice. He would know what was best to be done, for he knew more +of the misery in Rome than any one, and had a greater mind to relieve it. +She had seen him since her husband's death, but she had not yet conceived +this scheme. + +And Giovanni--she thought of him too; but the habit of putting him out of +her heart was strong. She dimly fancied that in the far future a day +might come when she would be justified in thinking of him if she so +pleased; but for the present, her loyalty to her dead husband seemed more +than ever a sacred duty. She would not permit herself to think of +Giovanni, even though, from a general point of view, she might +contemplate the possibility of a second marriage. She would go to Padre +Filippo and talk over everything with him; he would advise her well. + +Then a wild longing seized her to leave Rome for a while, to breathe the +air of the country, to get away from the scene of all her troubles, of +all the terrible emotions that had swept over her life in the last three +weeks, to be alone in the hills or by the sea. It seemed dreadful to be +tied to her great house in the city, in her mourning, shut off suddenly +from the world, and bound down by the chain of conventionality to a fixed +method of existence. She would give anything to go away. Why not? She +suddenly realised what was so hard to understand, that she was free to go +where she pleased--if only, by accident, she could chance to meet +Giovanni Saracinesca before she left. No--the thought was unworthy. She +would leave town at once--surely she could have nothing to say to +Giovanni--she would leave to-morrow morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Corona found it impossible to leave town so soon as she had wished. She +had indeed sent out great cart-loads of furniture, servants, horses, and +all the paraphernalia of an establishment in the country, and she +believed herself ready to move at once, when she received an exceedingly +courteous note from Cardinal Antonelli requesting the honour of being +received by her the next day at twelve o'clock. It was impossible to +refuse, and to her great annoyance she was obliged to postpone her +departure another twenty-four hours. She guessed that the great man was +the bearer of some message from the Holy Father himself; and in her +present frame of mind, such words of comfort could not fail to be +acceptable from one whom she reverenced and loved, as all who knew +Pius IX. did sincerely revere and love him. She did not like the +Cardinal, it is true; but she did not confound the ambassador with him +who sent the embassy. The Cardinal was a most courteous and accomplished +man of the world, and Corona could not easily have explained the aversion +she felt for him. It is very likely that if she could have understood the +part he was sustaining in the great European struggle of those days, she +would have accorded him at least the admiration he deserved as a +statesman. He had his faults, and they were faults little becoming a +cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. But few are willing to consider that, +though a cardinal, he was not a priest--that he was practically a layman +who, by his own unaided genius, had attained to great power, and that +those faults which have been charged against him with such virulence +would have passed, nay, actually pass, unnoticed and uncensured in many a +great statesman of those days and of these. He was a brave man, who +fought a desperate and hopeless fight to his last breath, and who fought +almost alone--a man most bitterly hated by many, at whose death many +rejoiced loudly and few mourned; and to the shame of many be it said, +that his most obstinate adversaries, those who unsparingly heaped abuse +upon him during his lifetime, and most unseemingly exulted over his end, +were the very men among whom he should have found the most willing +supporters and the firmest friends. But in 1865 he was feared, and those +who reckoned without him in the game of politics reckoned badly. + +Corona was a woman, and very young. She had not the knowledge or the +experience to understand his value, and she had taken a personal dislike +to him when she first appeared in society. He was too smooth for her; she +thought him false. She preferred a rougher type. Her husband, on the +other hand, had a boundless admiration for the cardinal-statesman; and +perhaps the way in which Astrardente constantly tried to impress his wife +with a sense of the great man's virtues, indirectly contributed to +increase her aversion. Nevertheless, when he sent word that he desired to +be received by her, she did not hesitate a moment, but expressed her +willingness at once. Punctually as the gun of Sant Angelo roared out the +news that the sun was on the meridian, Cardinal Antonelli entered +Corona's house. She received him in the great drawing-room. There was an +air of solemnity about the meeting. The room itself, divested of a +thousand trifles which had already been sent into the country, looked +desolate and formal; the heavy curtains admitted but little light; there +was no fire on the hearth; Corona stood all in black--a very incarnation +of mourning--as her visitor trod softly across the dark carpet towards +her. + +The Cardinal's expressive face was softened by a look of gentle sympathy, +as he came forward and took her hand in both of his, and gazed for a +moment into her beautiful eyes. + +"I am an ambassador, Duchessa," he said softly. "I come to tell you how +deeply our Holy Father sympathises in your great sorrow." + +Corona bent her head respectfully, and motioned to the Cardinal to be +seated. + +"I beg that your Eminence will convey to his Holiness my most sincere +gratitude for this expression of his paternal kindness to one so +unhappy." + +"Indeed I will not fail to deliver your message, Duchessa," answered the +Cardinal, seating himself by her side in one of the great arm-chairs +which had been placed together in the middle of the room. "His Holiness +has promised to remember you in his august prayers; and I also, for my +own part, entreat you to believe that my poor sympathy is wholly with you +in your distress." + +"Your Eminence is most kind," replied Corona, gravely. + +It seemed as though there were little more to be said in such a case. +There was no friendship between the two, no bond of union or fellowship: +it was simply a formal visit of condolence, entailed as a necessity by +Corona's high position. The Pope had sent her a gift at her wedding; he +sent her a message of sympathy at her husband's death. Half-a-dozen +phrases would be exchanged, and the Cardinal would take his leave, +accompanied by a file of the Duchessa's lackeys--and so it would all be +over. But the Cardinal was a statesman, a diplomatist, and one of the +best talkers in Europe; moreover, he never allowed an opportunity of +pursuing his ends to pass unimproved. + +"Ah, Duchessa!" he said, folding his hands upon his knee and looking +down, "there is but one Consoler in sorrow such as yours. It is vain for +us mortals to talk of any such thing as alleviating real mental +suffering. There are consolations--many of them--for some people, but +they are not for you. To many the accidents of wealth, of youth, of +beauty, seem to open the perspective of a brilliant future at the very +moment when all the present appears to be shrouded in darkness; but if +you will permit me, who know you so little, to say it frankly, I do not +believe that any of these things which you possess in such plentiful +abundance will lessen the measure of your grief. It is not right that +they should, I suppose. It is not fitting that noble minds should even +possess the faculty of forgetting real suffering in the unreal trifles +of a great worldly possession, which so easily restore the weak to +courage, and natter the vulgar into the forgetfulness of honourable +sorrow. I am no moraliser, no pedantic philosopher. The stoic may have +shrugged his heavy shoulders in sullen indifference to fate; the +epicurean may have found such bodily ease in his excessive refinement +of moderate enjoyment as to overlook the deepest afflictions in +anticipating the animal pleasure of the next meal. I cannot conceive of +such men as those philosophising diners; nor can I imagine by what +arguments the wisest of mankind could induce a fellow-creature in +distress to forget his sufferings. Sorrow is sorrow still to all finely +organised natures. The capacity for feeling sorrow is one of the highest +tests of nobility--a nobility of nature not found always in those of high +blood and birth, but existing in the people, wherever the people are +good." + +The Cardinal's voice became even more gentle as he spoke. He was himself +of very humble origin, and spoke feelingly. Corona listened, though she +only heard half of what he said; but his soft tone soothed her almost +unconsciously. + +"There is little consolation for me--I am quite alone," she said. + +"You are not of those who find relief in worldly greatness," continued +the Cardinal. "But I have seen women, young, rich, and beautiful, wear +their mourning with wonderful composure. Youth is so much, wealth is so +much more, beauty is such a power in the world--all three together are +resistless. Many a young widow is not ashamed to think of marriage before +her husband has been dead a month. Indeed they do not always make bad +wives. A woman who has been married young and is early deprived of her +husband, has great experience, great knowledge of the world. Many feel +that they have no right to waste the goods given them in a life of +solitary mourning. Wealth is given to be used, and perhaps many a rich +young widow thinks she can use it more wisely in the company of a husband +young as herself. It may be; I cannot tell. These are days when power of +any sort should be used, and perhaps no one should even for a moment +think of withdrawing from the scene where such great battles are being +fought. But one may choose wisely a way of using power, or one may choose +unwisely. There is much to be done." + +"How?" asked Corona, catching at his expression of an idea which pursued +her. "Here am I, rich, alone, idle--above all, very unhappy. What can I +do? I wish I knew, for I would try and do it." + +"Ah! I was not speaking of you, Duchessa," answered the statesman. "You +are too noble a woman to be easily consoled. And yet, though you may not +find relief from your great sorrow, there are many things within your +reach which you might do, and feel that in your mourning you have done +honour to your departed husband as well as to yourself. You have great +estates--you can improve them, and especially you can improve the +condition of your peasants, and strengthen their loyalty to you and to +the State. You can find many a village on your lands where a school +might be established, an asylum built, a road opened--anything which +shall give employment to the poor, and which, when finished, shall +benefit their condition. Especially about Astrardente they are very poor; +I know the country well. In six months you might change many things; and +then you might return to Rome next winter. If it pleases you, you can do +anything with society. You can make your house a centre for a new +party--the oldest of all parties it is, but it would now be thought new +here. We have no centre. There is no _salon_ in the good old sense of the +word--no house where all that is intelligent, all that is powerful, all +that is influential, is irresistibly drawn. To make a centre of that kind +would be a worthy object, it seems to me. You would surround yourself +with men of genius; you would bring those together who cannot meet +elsewhere; you would give a vigorous tone to a society which is fast +falling to decay from inanition; you could become a power, a real power, +not only in Rome, but in Europe; you could make your house famous as the +point from which, in Rome, all that is good and great should radiate to +the very ends of the earth. You could do all this in your young +widowhood, and you would not dishonour the memory of him you loved so +dearly." + +Corona looked earnestly at the Cardinal as he enlarged upon the +possibilities of her life. What he said seemed true and good. It opened +to her a larger field than she had dreamed of half an hour ago. +Especially the plan of working for the improvement of her estates and +people attracted her. She wanted to do something at once--something +good, and something worth doing. + +"I believe you are right," she said. "I shall die if I am idle." + +"I know I am right," returned the Cardinal, in a tone of conviction. "Not +that I propose all this as an unalterable plan for you. I would not have +you think I mean to lay down any system, or even to advise you at all. I +was merely thinking aloud. I am too happy if my thoughts please you--if +anything I say can even for a moment relieve your mind from the pressure +of this sudden grief. It is not consolation I offer you. I am not a +priest, but a man of action; and it is action I propose to you, not as +an anodyne for sorrow, but simply because it is right that in these days +we should all strive with a good will. Your peasants are many of them in +an evil case: you can save them and make them happy, even though you find +no happiness for yourself. Our social world here is falling to pieces, +going astray after strange gods, and especially after Madame Mayer and +her _lares_ and _penates_, young Valdarno and Del Ferice: it is in your +power to create a new life here, or at least to contribute greatly +towards reestablishing the social balance. I say, do this thing, if you +will, for it is a good thing to do. At all events, while you are building +roads--and perhaps schools--at Astrardente, you can think over the course +you will afterwards pursue. And now, my dear Duchessa, I have detained +you far too long. Forgive me if I have wearied you, for I have great +things at heart, and must sometimes speak of them though I speak feebly. +Count on me always for any assistance you may require. Bear with me if I +weary you, for I was a good friend of him we both mourn." + +"Thank you--you have given me good thoughts," said Corona, simply. + +So the courtly Cardinal rose and took his leave, and once more Corona was +left alone. It was a strange thing that, while he disclaimed all power to +comfort her, and denied that consolation was possible in her case, she +had nevertheless listened to him with interest, and now found herself +thinking seriously of what he had said. He seemed to have put her +thoughts into shape, and to have given direction to that sense of power +she had already begun to feel. For the first time in her life she felt +something like sympathy for the Cardinal, and she lingered for some +minutes alone in the great reception-room, wondering whether she could +accomplish any of the things he had proposed to her. At all events, there +was nothing now to hinder her departure; and she thought with something +like pleasure of the rocky Sabines, the solitude of the mountains, the +simple faces of the people about her place, and of the quiet life she +intended to lead there during the next six months. + +But the Cardinal went on his way, rolling along through the narrow +streets in his great coach. Leaning far back in his cushioned seat, he +could just catch a glimpse of the people as he passed, and his quick eyes +recognised many, both high and low. But he did not care to show himself, +for he felt himself disliked, and deep in his finely organised nature +there lay a sensitiveness which was wounded by the popular hatred. It +hurt him to see the lowering glances of the poor man, and to return the +forced bow of the rich man who feared him. He often longed to be able to +explain many things to them both, to the rich and to the poor; and then, +knowing how impossible it was that he should be understood by either, +he sighed somewhat bitterly, and hid himself still deeper in his +carriage. Few men in the midst of the world have stood so wholly alone as +Cardinal Antonelli. + +To-day, however, he had an appointment which he anticipated with a sort +of interest quite new to him. Anastase Gouache was coming to begin his +portrait, and Anastase was an object of curiosity to him. It would have +surprised the young Frenchman had he guessed how carefully he was +watched, for he was a modest fellow, and did not think himself of very +much importance. He allowed Donna Tullia and her friends to come to his +studio whenever they pleased, and he listened to their shallow talk, and +joined, occasionally in the conversation, letting them believe that he +sympathised with them, simply because his own ideas were unsettled. It +was a good thing for him to paint a portrait of Donna Tullia, for it made +him the fashion, and he had small scruple in agreeing with her views so +long as he had no fixed convictions of his own. She and her set regarded +him as a harmless boy, and looked upon his little studio as a +convenience, in payment whereof they pushed him into society, and spread +abroad the rumour that he was the rising artist of the day. But the great +Cardinal had seen him more than once, and had conceived a liking for +his delicate intellectual face and unobtrusive manner. He had watched him +and caused him to be watched, and his interest had increased, and finally +he had taken a fancy to have a portrait of himself painted by the young +fellow. This was the day appointed for the first sitting; and when the +Cardinal reached his lodgings, high up in the Vatican pile, he found +Anastase Gouache waiting for him in the small ante-chamber. + +The prime minister was not luxuriously lodged. Four rooms sufficed +him--to wit, the said ante-chamber, bare and uncarpeted, and furnished +with three painted wooden box benches; a comfortable study lined +throughout with shelves and lockers, furnished with half-a-dozen large +chairs and a single writing-table, whereon stood a crucifix and an +inkstand; beyond this a bedroom and a small dining-room: that was all. +The drawers of the lockers and bookcases contained a correspondence which +would have astonished Europe, and a collection of gems and precious +stones unrivalled in the world; but there was nothing in the shape of +ornament visible to the eye, unless one were to class under that head a +fairly good bust of Pius IX, which stood upon a plain marble pedestal +in one corner. Gouache followed the great man into this study. He was +surprised by the simplicity of the apartment; but he felt in sympathy +with it, and with the Cardinal himself; and with the intuitive knowledge +of a true artist, he foresaw that he was to paint a successful portrait. + +The Cardinal busied himself with some papers while the painter silently +made his preparations. + +"If your Eminence is ready?" suggested Gouache. + +"At your service, my friend," replied the Cardinal, blandly. "How shall I +sit? The portrait must be taken in full face, I think." + +"By all means. Here, I think--so; the light is very good at this hour, +but a little later we shall have the sun. If your Eminence will look at +me--a little more to the left--I think that will do. I will draw it in in +charcoal and your Eminence can judge." + +"Precisely," returned the Cardinal. "You will paint the devil even +blacker than he is." + +"The devil?" repeated Gouache, raising his eyebrows with a slight smile. +"I was not aware--" + +"And yet you have been in Rome four years!" + +"I am very careful," returned Gouache. "I never by any chance hear any +evil of those whom I am to paint." + +"You have very well-bred ears, Monsieur Gouache. I fear that if I had +attended some of the meetings in your studio while Donna Tullia was +having her portrait painted, I should have heard strange things. Have +they all escaped you?" + +Gouache was silent for a moment. It did not surprise him to learn that +the omniscient Cardinal was fully acquainted with the doings in his +studio, but he looked curiously at the great man before he answered. The +Cardinal's small gleaming eyes met his with the fearlessness of +superiority. + +"I remember nothing but good of your Eminence," the painter replied at +last, with a laugh; and applying himself to his work, he began to draw in +the outline of the Cardinal's head. The words he had just heard, implying +as they did a thorough knowledge of the minutest details of social life, +would have terrified Madame Mayer, and would perhaps have driven Del +Ferice out of the Papal States in fear of his life. Even the good-natured +and foolish Valdarno might reasonably have been startled; but Anastase +was made of different stuff. His grandfather had helped to storm the +Bastille, his father had been among the men of 1848; there was +revolutionary blood in his veins, and he distinguished between real and +imaginary conspiracy with the unerring certainty of instinct, as the +bloodhound knows the track of man from the slot of meaner game. He +laughed at Donna Tullia, he distrusted Del Ferice, and to some extent he +understood the Cardinal. And the statesman understood him, too, and was +interested by him. + +"You may as well forget their chatter. It does me no harm, and it amuses +them. It does not seem to surprise you that I should know all about it, +however. You have good nerves, Monsieur Gouache." + +"Of course your Eminence can send me out of Rome to-morrow, if you +please," answered Gouache, with perfect unconcern. "But the portrait will +not be finished so soon." + +"No--that would be a pity. You shall stay. But the others--what would you +advise me to do with them?" asked the Cardinal, his bright eyes twinkling +with amusement. + +"If by the others your Eminence means my friends," replied Gouache, +quietly, "I can assure you that none of them will ever cause you the +slightest inconvenience." + +"I believe you are right--their ability to annoy me is considerably +inferior to their inclination. Is it not so?" + +"If your Eminence will allow me," said Gouache, rising suddenly and +laying down his charcoal pencil, "I will pin this curtain across the +window. The sun is beginning to come in." + +He had no intention of answering any questions. If the Cardinal knew of +the meetings in the Via San Basilio, that was not Gouache's fault; +Gouache would certainly not give any further information. The statesman +had expected as much, and was not at all surprised at the young man's +silence. + +"One of those young gentlemen seems to have met his match, at all +events," he remarked, presently. "I am sorry it should have come about in +that way." + +"Your Eminence might easily have prevented the duel." + +"I knew nothing about it," answered the Cardinal, glancing keenly at +Anastase. + +"Nor I," said the artist, simply. + +"You see my information is not always so good as people imagine, my +friend." + +"It is a pity," remarked Gouache. "It would have been better had poor Del +Ferice been killed outright. The matter would have terminated there." + +"Whereas--" + +"Whereas Del Ferice will naturally seek an occasion for revenge." + +"You speak as though you were a friend of Don Giovanni's," said the +Cardinal. + +"No; I have a very slight acquaintance with him. I admire him, he has +such a fine head. I should be sorry if anything happened to him." + +"Do you think Del Ferice is capable of murdering him?" + +"Oh no! He might annoy him a great deal." + +"I think not," answered the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Del Ferice was +afraid that Don Giovanni would marry Donna Tullia and spoil his own +projects. But Giovanni will not think of that again." + +"No; I suppose Don Giovanni will marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente." + +"Of course," replied the Cardinal. For some minutes there was silence. +Gouache, while busy with his pencil, was wondering at the interest the +great man took in such details of the Roman social life. The Cardinal was +thinking of Corona, whom he had seen but half an hour ago, and was +revolving in his mind the advantages that might be got by allying her to +Giovanni. He had in view for her a certain Serene Highness whom he wished +to conciliate, and whose circumstances were not so splendid as to make +Corona's fortune seem insignificant to him. But on the other hand, the +Cardinal had no Serene Highness ready for Giovanni, and feared lest he +should after all marry Donna Tullia, and get into the opposite camp. + +"You are from Paris, Monsieur Gouache, I believe," said the Cardinal at +last. + +"Parisian of the Parisians, your Eminence." + +"How can you bear to live in exile so long? You have not been to your +home these four years, I think." + +"I would rather live in Rome for the present. I will go to Paris some +day. It will always be a pleasant recollection to have seen Rome in these +days. My friends write me that Paris is gay, but not pleasant." + +"You think there will soon be nothing of this time left but the +recollection of it?" suggested the Cardinal. + +"I do not know what to think. The times seem unsettled, and so are my +ideas. I was told that your Eminence would help me to decide what to +believe." Gouache smiled pleasantly, and looked up. + +"And who told you that?" + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca." + +"But I must have some clue to what your ideas are," said the Cardinal. +"When did Don Giovanni say that?" + +"At Prince Frangipani's. He had been talking with your Eminence--perhaps +he had come to some conclusion in consequence," suggested Gouache. + +"Perhaps so," answered the great man, with a look of considerable +satisfaction. "At all events I am flattered by the opinion he gave you of +me. Perhaps I may help you to decide. What are your opinions? or rather, +what would you like your opinions to be?" + +"I am an ardent republican," said Gouache, boldly. It needed no ordinary +courage to make such a statement to the incarnate chief of reactionary +politics in those days--within the walls of the Vatican, not a hundred +yards from the private apartments of the Holy Father. But Cardinal +Antonelli smiled blandly, and seemed not in the least surprised nor +offended. + +"Republicanism is an exceedingly vague term, Monsieur Gouache," he said. +"But with what other opinions do you wish to reconcile your +republicanism?" + +"With those held by the Church. I am a good Catholic, and I desire to +remain one--indeed I cannot help remaining one." + +"Christianity is not vague, at all events," answered the Cardinal, who, +to tell the truth, was somewhat astonished at the artist's juxtaposition +of two such principles. "In the first place, allow me to observe, my +friend, that Christianity is the purest form of a republic which the +world has ever seen, and that it therefore only depends upon your good +sense to reconcile in your own mind two ideas which from the first have +been indissolubly bound together." + +It was Gouache's turn to be startled at the Cardinal's confidence. + +"I am afraid I must ask your Eminence for some further explanation," he +said. "I had no idea that Christianity and republicanism were the same +thing." + +"Republicanism," returned the statesman, "is a vague term, invented in an +abortive attempt to define by one word the mass of inextricable disorder +arising in our times from the fusion of socialistic ideas with ideas +purely republican. If you mean to speak of this kind of thing, you must +define precisely your position in regard to socialism, and in regard to +the pure theory of a commonwealth. If you mean to speak of a real +republic in any known form, such as the ancient Roman, the Dutch, or the +American, I understand you without further explanation." + +"I certainly mean to speak of the pure republic. I believe that under a +pure republic the partition of wealth would take care of itself." + +"Very good, my friend. Now, with regard to the early Christians, should +you say that their communities were monarchic, or aristocratic, or +oligarchic?" + +"None of those three, I should think," said Gouache. + +"There are only two systems left, then--democracy and hierarchy. You will +probably say that the government of the early Christians was of the +latter kind--that they were governed by priests, in fact. But on the +other hand, there is no doubt that both those who governed, and those who +were governed by them, had all things in common, regarded no man as +naturally superior to another, and preached a fraternity and equality at +least as sincere as those inculcated by the first French Republic. I do +not see how you can avoid calling such community a republic, seeing that +there was an equal partition of wealth; and defining it as a democratic +one, seeing that they all called each other brethren." + +"But the hierarchy--what became of it?" inquired Gouache. + +"The hierarchy existed within the democracy, by common consent and for +the public good, and formed a second democracy of smaller extent but +greater power. Any man might become a priest, any priest might become a +bishop, any bishop might become pope, as surely as any born citizen of +Rome could become consul, or any native of New York may be elected +President of the United States. Now in theory this was beautiful, and in +practice the democratic spirit of the hierarchy, the smaller republic, +has survived in undiminished vigour to the present day. In the original +Christian theory the whole world should now be one vast republic, in +which all Christians should call each other brothers, and support each +other in worldly as well as spiritual matters. Within this should exist +the smaller republic of the hierarchy, by common consent,--an elective +body, recruiting its numbers from the larger, as it does now; choosing +its head, the sovereign Pontiff, as it does now, to be the head of both +Church and State; eminently fitted for that position, for the very simple +reason that in a community organised and maintained upon such principles, +in which, by virtue of the real and universal love of religion, the best +men would find their way into the Church, and would ultimately find their +way to the papal throne." + +"Your Eminence states the case very convincingly," answered Gouache. "But +why has the larger republic, which was to contain the smaller one, ceased +to exist? or rather, why did it never come into existence?" + +"Because man has not yet fulfilled his part in the great contract. The +matter lies in a nutshell. The men who enter the Church are sufficiently +intelligent and well educated to appreciate the advantages of Christian +democracy, fellowship, solidarity, and brotherly love. The republic of +the Church has therefore survived, and will survive for ever. The men who +form the majority, on the other hand, have never had either the +intelligence or the education to understand that democracy is the +ultimate form of government: instead of forming themselves into a +federation, they have divided themselves into hostile factions, calling +themselves nations, and seeking every occasion for destroying and +plundering each other, frequently even turning against the Church +herself. The Church has committed faults in history, without doubt, but +on the whole she has nobly fulfilled her contract, and reaps the fruits +of fidelity in the vigour and unity she displays after eighteen +centuries. Man, on the other hand, has failed to do his duty, and all +races of men are consequently suffering for their misdeeds; the nations +are divided against each other, and every nation is a house divided +against itself, which sooner or later shall fall." + +"But," objected Gouache, "allowing, as one easily may, that all this is +true, your Eminence is always called reactionary in politics. Does that +accord with these views?" + +Gouache believed the question unanswerable, but as he put it he worked +calmly on with his pencil, labouring hard to catch something of the +Cardinal's striking expression in the rough drawing he was making. + +"Nothing is easier, my friend," replied the statesman. "The republic of +the Church is driven to bay. We are on a war footing. For the sake of +strength we are obliged to hold together so firmly that for the time we +can only think of maintaining old traditions without dreaming of progress +or spending time in experiments. When we have weathered the storm we +shall have leisure for improving much that needs improvement. Do not +think that if I am alive twenty years hence I shall advise what I advise +now. We are fighting now, and we have no time to think of the arts of +peace. We shall have peace some day. We shall lose an ornament or two +from our garments in the struggle, but our body will not be injured, and +in time of peace our ornaments will be restored to us fourfold. But now +there is war and rumour of war. There is a vast difference between the +ideal republic which I was speaking of, and the real anarchy and +confusion which would be brought about by what is called republicanism." + +"In other words, if the attack upon the Church were suddenly abandoned, +your Eminence would immediately abandon your reactionary policy," said +Gouache, "and adopt progressive views?" + +"Immediately," replied the Cardinal. + +"I see," said Gouache. "A little more towards me--just so that I can +catch that eye. Thank you--that will do." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +When Del Ferice was thought sufficiently recovered of his wound to hear +some of the news of the day, which was about three weeks after the duel, +he learned that Astrardente was dead, that the Duchessa had inherited +all his fortune, and that she was on the point of leaving Rome. It would +be hard to say how the information of her approaching departure had got +abroad; it might be merely a clever guess of the gossips, or it might be +the report gleaned from her maid by all the other maids in town. Be that +as it may, when Del Ferice heard it he ground his teeth as he lay upon +his bed, and swore that if it were possible to prevent the Duchessa +d'Astrardente from leaving town he would do it. In his judgment it +would be a dangerous thing to let Corona and Giovanni part, and to allow +Donna Tullia free play in her matrimonial designs. Of course Giovanni +would never marry Madame Mayer, especially as he was now at liberty to +marry the Astrardente; but Madame Mayer herself might become fatally +interested in him, as she already seemed inclined to be, and this would +be bad for Del Ferice's own prospects. It would not do to squander any of +the advantages gained by the death of the old Duca. Giovanni must be +hastened into a marriage with Corona; it would be time enough to think of +revenge upon him afterwards for the ghastly wound that took so long to +heal. + +It was a pity that Del Ferice and Donna Tullia were not allies, for if +Madame Mayer hated Corona d'Astrardente, Ugo del Ferice detested Giovanni +with equal virulency, not only because he had been so terribly worsted +by him in the duel his own vile conduct had made inevitable, but because +Donna Tullia loved him and was doing her very best to marry him. +Evidently the best thing to be done was to produce a misunderstanding +between the two; but it would be dangerous to play any tricks with +Giovanni, for he held Del Ferice in his power by his knowledge of that +disagreeable scene behind the plants in the conservatory. Saracinesca was +a great man in society and celebrated for his honesty; people would +believe him rather than Del Ferice, if the story got abroad. This would +not do. The next best thing was to endeavour to draw Giovanni and Corona +together as quickly as possible, to precipitate their engagement, and +thus to clear the field of a dangerous rival. Del Ferice was a very +obstinate and a very intelligent man. He meant more than ever to marry +Donna Tullia himself, and he would not be hindered in the accomplishment +of his object by an insignificant scruple. + +He was not allowed to speak much, lest the effort should retard the +healing of his throat; but in the long days and nights, when he lay +silent in his quiet lodging, he had ample time to revolve many schemes in +his brain. At last he no longer needed the care of the Sister of Mercy; +his servant took charge of him, and the surgeon came twice a-day to dress +his wound. He lay in bed one morning watching Temistocle, who moved +noiselessly about the room. + +"Temistocle," he said, "you are a youth of intelligence: you must use the +gifts nature has given you." + +Temistocle was at that time not more than five-and-twenty years of age. +He had a muddy complexion, a sharp hooked nose, and a cast in one eye +that gave him a singularly unpleasant expression. As his master addressed +him, he stood still and listened with a sort of distorted smile in +acknowledgment of the compliment made him. + +"Temistocle, you must find out when the Duchessa d'Astrardente means to +leave Rome, and where she is going. You know somebody in the house?" + +"Yes, sir--the under-cook; he stood godfather with me for the baby of a +cousin of mine--the young man who drives Prince Valdarno's private +brougham: a clever fellow, too." + +"And this under-cook," said Del Ferice, who was not above entering into +details with his servant--"is he a discreet character?" + +"Oh, for that, you may trust him. Only sometimes--" Temistocle grinned, +and made a gesture which signified drinking. + +"And when he is drunk?" asked Del Ferice. + +"When he is drunk he tells everything; but he never remembers anything he +has been told, or has said. When he is drunk he is a dictionary; but the +first draught of water washes out his memory like a slate." + +"Well--give me my purse; it is under my pillow. Go. Here is a _scudo_, +Temistocle. You can make him very drunk for that." + +Temistocle hesitated, and looked at the money. + +"Another couple of _pauls_ would make it safer," he remarked. + +"Well, there they are; but you must make him very drunk indeed. You must +find out all he knows, and you must keep sober yourself." + +"Leave that to me. I will make of him a sponge; he shall be squeezed dry, +and sopped again and squeezed again. I will be his confessor." + +"If you find out what I want, I will give you--" Del Ferice hesitated; he +did not mean to give too much. + +"The grey trousers?" asked Temistocle, with an avaricious light in the +eye which did not wander. + +"Yes," answered his master, rather regretfully; "I suppose you must have +the grey trousers at last." + +"For those grey trousers I will upset heaven and earth," returned +Temistocle in great glee. + +Nothing more was said on that day, but early on the following morning the +man entered and opened the shutters, and removed the little oil-light +that had burned all night. He kept one eye upon his master, who presently +turned slowly and looked inquiringly at him. + +"The Duchessa goes to Astrardente in the Sabines on the day after +to-morrow," said Temistocle. "It is quite sure that she goes, because she +has already sent out two pairs of horses, and several boxes of effects, +besides the second housemaid and the butler and two grooms." + +"Ah! that is very good. Temistocle, I think I will get up this morning +and sit in the next room." + +"And the grey trousers?" + +"Take them, and wear them in honour of the most generous master living," +said Del Ferice, impressively. "It is not every master who gives his +servant a pair of grey trousers. Remember that." + +"Heaven bless you, Signor Conte!" exclaimed Temistocle, devoutly. + +Del Ferice lost no time. He was terribly weak still, and his wound +was not entirely healed yet; but he set himself resolutely to his +writing-table, and did not rise until he had written two letters. The +first was carefully written in a large round hand, such as is used by +copyists in Italy, resembling the Gothic. It was impossible to connect +the laboriously formed and conventional letters with any particular +person. It was very short, as follows:-- + +"It may interest you to know that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is going to +her castle in the Sabines on the day after to-morrow." + +This laconic epistle Del Ferice carefully directed to Don Giovanni +Saracinesca at his palace, and fastened a stamp upon it; but he concealed +the address from Temistocle. The second letter was longer, and written in +his own small and ornate handwriting. It was to Donna Tullia Mayer. +It ran thus:-- + +"You would forgive my importuning you with a letter, most charming Donna +Tullia, if you could conceive of my desolation and loneliness. For more +than three weeks I have been entirely deprived of the pleasure, the +exquisite delight, of conversing with her for whom I have suffered. I +still suffer so much. Ah! if my paper were a cloth of gold, and my pen in +moving traced characters of diamond and pearl, yet any words which speak +of you would be ineffectually honoured by such transcription! In the +miserable days and nights I have passed between life and death, it is +your image which has consoled me, the echo of your delicate voice which +has soothed my pain, the remembrance of the last hours I spent with you +which has gilded the feverish dreams of my sickness. You are the +guardian angel of a most unhappy man, Donna Tullia. Do you know it? But +for you I would have wooed death as a comforter. As it is, I have +struggled desperately to keep my grasp upon life, in the hope of once +more seeing your smile and hearing your happy laugh; perhaps--I dare not +expect it--I may receive from you some slight word of sympathy, some +little half-sighed hint that you do not altogether regret having been in +these long weeks the unconscious comforter of my sorrowing spirit and +tormented body. You would hardly know me, could you see me; but saving +for your sweet spiritual presence, which has rescued me from the jaws of +death, you would never have seen me again. Is it presumption in me to +write thus? Have you ever given me a right to speak in these words? I do +not know. I do not care. Man has a right to be grateful. It is the first +and most divine right I possess, to feel and to express my gratitude. For +out of the store of your kindness shown me when I was in the world, +strong and happy in the privilege of your society, I have drawn healing +medicine in my sickness, as tormented souls in purgatory get refreshment +from the prayers of good and kind people who remember them on earth. So, +therefore, if I have said too much, forgive me, forgive the heartfelt +gratitude which prompts me; and believe still in the respectful and +undying devotion of the humblest of your servants, UGO DEL FERICE." + +Del Ferice read over what he had written with considerable satisfaction, +and having addressed his letter to Donna Tullia, he lost no time in +despatching Temistocle with it, instructing him to ask if there would be +an answer. As soon as the man was out of the house, Ugo rang for his +landlady, and sent for the porter's little boy, to whom he delivered the +letter to Don Giovanni, to be dropped into the nearest post-box. Then he +lay down, exhausted with his morning's work. In the course of two hours +Temistocle returned from Donna Tullia's house with a little scented +note--too much scented, and the paper just a shade too small. She took no +notice of what he had said in his carefully penned epistle; but merely +told him she was sincerely glad that he was better, and asked him to call +as soon as he could. Ugo was not disappointed; he had expected no +compromising expression of interest in response to his own effusions; and +he was well pleased with the invitation, for it showed that what he had +written had produced the desired result. + +Don Giovanni Saracinesca received the anonymous note late in the evening. +He had, of course, together with his father, deposited cards of +condolence at the Palazzo Astrardente, and he had been alone to inquire +if the Duchessa would receive him. The porter had answered that, for +the present, there were standing orders to admit no one; and as Giovanni +could boast of no especial intimacy, and had no valid excuse to give, he +was obliged to be satisfied. He had patiently waited in the Villa +Borghese and by the band-stand on the Pincio, taking it for granted that +sooner or later Corona's carriage would appear; but when at last he had +seen her brougham, she had driven rapidly past him, thickly veiled, and +he did not think she had even noticed him. He would have written to her, +but he was still unable to hold a pen; and he reflected that, after all, +it would have been a hideous farce for him to offer condolences and +sympathy, however much he might desire to hide from himself his secret +satisfaction at her husband's death. Too proud to think of obtaining +information through such base channels as Del Ferice was willing to use, +he was wholly ignorant of Corona's intentions; and it was a brilliant +proof of Ugo's astuteness that he had rightly judged Giovanni's position +with regard to her, and justly estimated the value of the news conveyed +by his anonymous note. + +Saracinesca read the scrap of writing, and tossed it angrily into the +fire. He hated underhand dealings, and scorned himself for the interest +the note excited in him, wondering who could find advantage in informing +him of the Duchessa's movements. But the note took effect, nevertheless, +although he was ashamed of it, and all night he pondered upon what it +told him. The next day, at three o'clock, he went out alone, and walked +rapidly towards the Palazzo Astrardente. He was unable to bear the +suspense any longer; the thought that Corona was going away, apparently +to shut herself up in the solitude of the ancient fortress, for any +unknown number of months, and that he might not see her until the autumn, +was intolerable. He knew that by the mere use of his name he could at +least make sure that she should know he was at her door, and he +determined to make the attempt. He waited a long time, pacing slowly the +broad flagstones beneath the arch of the palace, while the porter +himself went up with his card and message. The fellow had hesitated, but +Don Giovanni Saracinesca was not a man to be refused by a servant. At +last the porter returned, and, bowing to the ground, said that the +Signora Duchessa would receive him. + +In five minutes he was waiting alone in the great drawing-room. It had +cost Corona a struggle to allow him to be admitted. She hesitated long, +for it seemed like a positive wrong to her husband's memory, but the +woman in her yielded at last; she was going away on the following +morning, and she could not refuse to see him for once. She hesitated +again as she laid her hand upon the latch of the door, knowing that he +was in the room beyond; then at last she entered. + +Her face was very pale and very grave. Her simple gown of close-fitting +black set off her height and figure, and flowed softly in harmony with +her stately movements as she advanced towards Giovanni, who stood almost +awestruck in the middle of the room. He could not realise that this dark +sad princess was the same woman to whom less than a month ago he had +spoken such passionate words, whom he had madly tried to take into his +arms. Proud as he was, it seemed presumptuous in him to think of love in +connection with so royal a woman; and yet he knew that he loved her +better and more truly than he had done a month before. She held out her +hand to him, and he raised it to his lips. Then they both sat down in +silence. + +"I had despaired of ever seeing you again," said Giovanni at last, +speaking in a subdued voice. "I had wished for some opportunity of +telling you how sincerely I sympathise with you in your great loss." It +was a very formal speech, such as men make in such situations. It might +have been better, but he was not eloquent; even his rough old father had +a better command of language on ordinary occasions, though Giovanni could +speak well enough when he was roused. But he felt constrained in the +presence of the woman he adored. Corona herself hardly knew how to +answer. + +"You are very kind," she said, simply. + +"I wish it were possible to be of any service to you," he answered. "I +need not tell you that both my father and myself would hold it an honour +to assist you in any way." He mentioned his father from a feeling of +delicacy; he did not wish to put himself forward. + +"You are very kind," repeated Corona, gravely. "I have not had any +annoyance. I have an excellent man of business." + +There was a moment's pause. Then she seemed to understand that he was +embarrassed, and spoke again. + +"I am glad to see that you are recovered," she said. + +"It was nothing," answered Giovanni, with a glance at his right arm, +which was still confined in a bandage of black silk, but was no longer in +a sling. + +"It was very wrong of you," returned Corona, looking seriously into his +eyes. "I do not know why you fought, but it was wrong; it is a great +sin." + +Giovanni smiled a little. + +"We all have to sin sometimes," he said. "Would you have me stand quietly +and see an abominable piece of baseness, and not lift a hand to punish +the offender?" + +"People who do base things always come to a bad end," answered the +Duchessa. + +"Perhaps. But we poor sinners are impatient to see justice done at once. +I am sorry to have done anything you consider wrong," he added, with a +shade of bitterness. "Will you permit me to change the subject? Are +you thinking of remaining in Rome, or do you mean to go away?" + +"I am going up to Astrardente to-morrow," answered Corona, readily. "I +want to be alone and in the country." + +Giovanni showed no surprise: his anonymous information had been accurate; +Del Ferice had not parted with the grey trousers in vain. + +"I suppose you are right," he said. "But at this time of year I should +think the mountains would be very cold." + +"The castle is comfortable. It has been recently fitted up, and there are +many warm rooms in it. I am fond of the old place, and I need to be alone +for a long time." + +Giovanni thought the conversation was becoming oppressive. He thought of +what had passed between them at their last meeting in the conservatory of +the Palazzo Frangipani. + +"I shall myself pass the summer in Saracinesca," he said, suddenly. "You +know it is not very far. May I hope that I may sometimes be permitted to +see you?" + +Corona had certainly had no thought of seeing Giovanni when she had +determined to go to Astrardente; she had not been there often, and had +not realised that it was within reach of the Saracinesca estate. She +started slightly. + +"Is it so near?" she asked. + +"Half a day's ride over the hills," replied Giovanni. + +"I did not know. Of course, if you come, you will not be denied +hospitality." + +"But you would rather not see me?" asked Saracinesca, in a tone of +disappointment. He had hoped for something more encouraging. Corona +answered courageously. + +"I would rather not see you. Do not think me unkind," she added, her +voice softening a little. "Why need there be any explanations? Do not try +to see me. I wish you well; I wish you more--all happiness--but do not +try to see me." + +Giovanni's face grew grave and pale. He was disappointed, even +humiliated; but something told him that it was not coldness which +prompted her request. + +"Your commands are my laws," he answered. + +"I would rather that instead of regarding what I ask you as a command, +you should feel that it ought to be the natural prompting of your own +heart," replied Corona, somewhat coldly. + +"Forgive me if my heart dictates what my obedience to you must +effectually forbid," said Giovanni. "I beseech you to be satisfied that +what you ask I will perform--blindly." + +"Not blindly--you know all my reasons." + +"There is that between you and me which annihilates reason," answered +Giovanni, his voice trembling a little. + +"There is that in my position which should command your respect," said +Corona. She feared he was going too far, and yet this time she knew she +had not said too much, and that in bidding him avoid her, she was only +doing what was strictly necessary for her peace. "I am a widow," she +continued, very gravely; "I am a woman, and I am alone. My only +protection lies in the courtesy I have a right to expect from men like +you. You have expressed your sympathy; show it then by cheerfully +fulfilling my request. I do not speak in riddles, but very plainly. You +recall to me a moment of great pain, and your presence, the mere fact of +my receiving you, seems a disloyalty to the memory of my husband. I have +given you no reason to believe that I ever took a greater interest in you +than such as I might take in a friend. I hourly pray that this--this too +great interest you show in me, may pass quickly, and leave you what you +were before. You see I do not speak darkly, and I do not mean to speak +unkindly. Do not answer me, I beseech you, but take this as my last word. +Forget me if you can--" + +"I cannot," said Giovanni, deeply moved. + +"Try. If you cannot, God help you! but I am sure that if you try +faithfully, you will succeed. And now you must go," she said, in gentler +tones. "You should not have come--I should not have let you see me. But +it is best so. I am grateful for the sympathy you have expressed. I do +not doubt that you will do as I have asked you, and as you have promised. +Good-bye." + +Corona rose to her feet, her hands folded before her. Giovanni had no +choice. She let her eyes rest upon him, not unkindly, but she did not +extend her hand. He stood one moment in hesitation, then bowed and left +the room without a word. Corona stood still, and her eyes followed his +retreating figure until at the door he turned once more and bent his head +and then was gone. Then she fell back into her chair and gazed listlessly +at the wall opposite. + +"It is done," she said at last. "I hope it is well done and wisely." +Indeed it had been a hard thing to say; but it was better to say it at +once than to regret an ill-timed indulgence when it should be too late. +And yet it had cost her less to send him away definitely than it had +cost her to resist his passionate appeal a month ago. She seemed to have +gained strength from her sorrows. So he was gone! She gave a sigh of +relief, which was instantly followed by a sharp throb of pain, so sudden +that she hardly understood it. + +Her preparations were all made. She had at the last moment realised that +it was not fitting for her, at her age, to travel alone, nor to live +wholly alone in her widowhood. She had revolved the matter in her mind, +and had decided that there was no woman of her acquaintance whom she +could ask even for a short time to stay with her. She had no friends, no +relations, none to turn to in such a need. It was not that she cared for +company in her solitude; it was merely a question of propriety. To +overcome the difficulty, she obtained permission to take with her one of +the sisters of a charitable order of nuns, a lady in middle life, but +broken down and in ill health from her untiring labours. The thing was +easily managed; and the next morning, on leaving the palace, she stopped +at the gate of the community and found Sister Gabrielle waiting with her +modest box. The nun entered the huge travelling carriage, and the two +ladies set out for Astrardente. + +It was the first day of Carnival, and a memorably sad one for Giovanni +Saracinesca. He would have been capable of leaving Rome at once, but that +he had promised Corona not to attempt to see her. He would have gone to +Saracinesca for the mere sake of being nearer to her, had he not +reflected that he would be encouraging all manner of gossip by so doing. +But he determined that so soon as Lent began, he would declare his +intention of leaving the city for a year. No one ever went to +Saracinesca, and by making a circuit he could reach the ancestral +castle without creating suspicion. He might even go to Paris for a few +days, and have it supposed that he was wandering about Europe, for he +could trust his own servants implicitly; they were not of the type who +would drink wine at a tavern with Temistocle or any of his class. + +The old Prince came into his son's room in the morning and found him +disconsolately looking over his guns, for the sake of an occupation. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "you have time to reflect upon your future +conduct. What! are you going upon a shooting expedition?" + +"I wish I could. I wish I could find anything to do," answered Giovanni, +laying down the breech-loader and looking out of the window. "The world +is turned inside out like a beggar's pocket, and there is nothing in it." + +"So the Astrardente is gone," remarked the Prince. + +"Yes; gone to live within twenty miles of Saracinesca," replied Giovanni, +with an angry intonation. + +"Do not go there yet," said his father. "Leave her alone a while. Women +become frantic in solitude." + +"Do you think I am an idiot?" exclaimed Giovanni. "Of course I shall stay +where I am till Carnival is over." He was not in a good humour. + +"Why are you so petulant?" retorted the old man. "I merely gave you my +advice." + +"Well, I am going to follow it. It is good. When Carnival is over I will +go away, and perhaps get to Saracinesca by a roundabout way, so that no +one will know where I am. Will you not come too?" + +"I daresay," answered the Prince, who was always pleased when his son +expressed a desire for his company. "I wish we lived in the good old +times." + +"Why?" + +"We would make small scruple of besieging Astrardente and carrying off +the Duchessa for you, my boy," said the Prince, grimly. + +Giovanni laughed. Perhaps the same idea had crossed his mind. He was not +quite sure whether it was respectful to Corona to think of carrying her +off in the way his father suggested; but there was a curious flavour of +possibility in the suggestion, coming as it did from a man whose +grandfather might have done such a thing, and whose great-grandfather was +said to have done it. So strong are the instincts of barbaric domination +in races where the traditions of violence exist in an unbroken chain, +that both father and son smiled at the idea as if it were quite natural, +although Giovanni had only the previous day promised that he would not +even attempt to see Corona d'Astrardente without her permission. He did +not tell his father of his promise, however, for his more delicate +instinct made him sure that though he had acted rightly, his father would +laugh at his scruples, and tell him that women liked to be wooed roughly. + +Meanwhile Giovanni felt that Rome had become for him a vast solitude, and +the smile soon faded from his face at the thought that he must go out +into the world, and for Corona's sake act as though nothing had happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Poor Madame Mayer was in great anxiety of mind. She had not a great +amount of pride, but she made up for it by a plentiful endowment of +vanity, in which she suffered acutely. She was a good-natured woman +enough, and by nature she was not vindictive; but she could not help +being jealous, for she was in love. She felt how Giovanni every day +evidently cared less and less for her society, and how, on the other +hand, Del Ferice was quietly assuring his position, so that people +already began to whisper that he had a chance of becoming her husband. +She did not dislike Del Ferice; he was a convenient man of the world, +whom she always found ready to help her when she needed help. But by dint +of making use of him, she was beginning to feel in some way bound to +consider him as an element in her life, and she did not like the +position. The letter he had written her was of the kind a man might +write to the woman he loved; it bordered upon the familiar, even while +the writer expressed himself in terms of exaggerated respect. Perhaps if +Del Ferice had been well, she would have simply taken no notice of what +he had written, and would not even have sent an answer; but she had not +the heart to repulse him altogether in his present condition. There was a +phrase cunningly introduced and ambiguously worded, which seemed to mean +that he had come by his wound in her cause. He spoke of having suffered +and of still suffering so much for her,--did he mean to refer to pain of +body or of mind? It was not certain. Don Giovanni had assured her that +she was in no way concerned in the duel, and he was well known for his +honesty; nevertheless, out of delicacy, he might have desired to conceal +the truth from her. It seemed like him. She longed for an opportunity of +talking with him and eliciting some explanation of his conduct. There +had been a time when he used to visit her, and always spent some time in +her society when they met in the world--now, on the contrary, he seemed +to avoid her whenever he could; and in proportion as she noticed that +his manner cooled, her own jealousy against Corona d'Astrardente +increased in force, until at last it seemed to absorb her love for +Giovanni into itself and turn it into hate. + +Love is a passion which, like certain powerful drugs, acts differently +upon each different constitution of temper; love also acts more strongly +when it is unreturned or thwarted than when it is mutual and uneventful. +If two persons love each other truly, and there is no obstacle to their +union, it is probable that, without any violent emotion, their love will +grow and become stronger by imperceptible degrees, without changing in +its natural quality; but if thwarted by untoward circumstances, the +passion, if true, attains suddenly to the dimensions which it would +otherwise need years to reach. It sometimes happens that the nature in +which this unforeseen and abnormal development takes place is unable to +bear the precocious growth; then, losing sight of its identity in the +strange inward confusion of heart and mind which ensues, it is driven to +madness, and, breaking every barrier, either attains its object at a +single bound, or is shivered and ruined in dashing itself against the +impenetrable wall of complete impossibility. But again, in the last case, +when love is wholly unreturned, it dies a natural death of atrophy, when +it has existed in a person of common and average nature; or if the man or +woman so afflicted be proud and of noble instincts, the passion becomes a +kind of religion to the heart--sacred, and worthy to be guarded from the +eyes of the world; or, finally, again, where it finds vanity the dominant +characteristic of the being in whom it has grown, it draws a poisonous +life from the unhealthy soil on which it is fed, and the tender seed of +love shoots and puts forth evil leaves and blossoms, and grows to be a +most venomous tree, which is the tree of hatred. + +Donna Tullia was certainly a woman who belonged to the latter class of +individuals. She had qualities which were perhaps good because not bad; +but the mainspring of her being was an inordinate vanity; and it was in +this characteristic that she was most deeply wounded, as she found +herself gradually abandoned by Giovanni Saracinesca. She had been in the +habit of thinking of him as a probable husband; the popular talk had +fostered the idea, and occasional hints, aad smiling questions concerning +him, had made her feel that he could not long hang back. She had been in +the habit of treating him familiarly; and he, tutored by his father to +the belief that she was the best match for him, and reluctantly yielding +to the force of circumstances, which seemed driving him into matrimony, +had suffered himself to be ordered about and made use of with an +indifference which, in Madame Mayer's eyes, had passed for consent. She +had watched with growing fear and jealousy his devotion to the +Astrardente, which all the world had noticed; and at last her anger had +broken out at the affront she had received at the Frangipani ball. But +even then she loved Giovanni in her own vain way. It was not till Corona +was suddenly left a widow, that Donna Tullia began to realise the +hopelessness of her position; and when she found how determinately +Saracinesca avoided her wherever they met, the affection she had hitherto +felt for him turned into a bitter hatred, stronger even than her jealousy +against the Duchessa. There was no scene of explanation between them, no +words passed, no dramatic situation, such as Donna Tullia loved; the +change came in a few days, and was complete. She had not even the +satisfaction of receiving some share of the attention Giovanni would have +bestowed upon Corona if she had been in town. Not only had he grown +utterly indifferent to her; he openly avoided her, and thereby inflicted +upon her vanity the cruellest wound she was capable of feeling. + +With Donna Tullia to hate was to injure, to long for revenge--not of the +kind which is enjoyed in secret, and known only to the person who suffers +and the person who causes the suffering. She did not care for that so +much as she desired some brilliant triumph over her enemies before the +world; some startling instance of poetic justice, which should at one +blow do a mortal injury to Corona d'Astrardente, and bring Giovanni +Saracinesca to her own feet by force, repentant and crushed, to be dealt +with as she saw fit, according to his misdeeds. But she had chosen her +adversaries ill, and her heart misgave her. She had no hold upon them, +for they were very strong people, very powerful, and very much respected +by their fellows. It was not easy to bring them into trouble; it +seemed impossible to humiliate them as she wished to do, and yet her hate +was very strong. She waited and pondered, and in the meanwhile, when she +met Giovanni, she began to treat him with haughty coldness. But Giovanni +smiled, and seemed well satisfied that she should at last give over what +was to him very like a persecution. Her anger grew hotter from its very +impotence. The world saw it, and laughed. + +The days of Carnival came and passed, much as they usually pass, in a +whirl of gaiety. Giovanni went everywhere, and showed his grave face; but +he talked little, and of course every one said he was melancholy at the +departure of the Duchessa. Nevertheless he kept up an appearance of +interest in what was done, and as nobody cared to risk asking him +questions, people left him in peace. The hurrying crowd of social life +filled up the place occupied by old Astrardente and the beautiful +Duchessa, and they were soon forgotten, for they had not had many +intimate friends. + +On the last night of Carnival, Del Ferice appeared once more. He had not +been able to resist the temptation of getting one glimpse of the world he +loved, before the wet blanket of Lent extinguished the lights of the +ballrooms and the jollity of the dancers. Every one was surprised to see +him, and most people were pleased; he was such a useful man, that he had +often been missed during the time of his illness. He was improved in +appearance; for though he was very pale, he had grown also extremely +thin, and his features had gained delicacy. + +When Giovanni saw him, he went up to him, and the two men exchanged a +formal salutation, while every one stood still for a moment to see the +meeting. It was over in a moment, and society gave a little sigh of +relief, as though a weight were removed from its mind. Then Del Ferice +went to Donna Tullia's side. They were soon alone upon a small sofa in a +small room, whither a couple strayed now and then to remain a few minutes +before returning to the ball. A few people passed through, but for more +than an hour they were not disturbed. + +"I am very glad to see you," said Donna Tullia; "but I had hoped that the +first time you went out you would have come to my house." + +"This is the first time I have been out--you see I should not have found +you at home, since I have found you here." + +"Are you entirely recovered? You still look ill." + +"I am a little weak--but an hour with you will do me more good than all +the doctors in the world." + +"Thanks," said Donna Tullia, with a little laugh. "It was strange to see +you shaking hands with Giovanni Saracinesca just now. I suppose men have +to do that sort of thing." + +"You may be sure I would not have done it unless it had been necessary," +returned Del Ferice, bitterly. + +"I should think not. What an arrogant man he is!" + +"You no longer like him?" asked Del Fence, innocently. + +"Like him! No; I never liked him," replied Donna Tullia, quickly. + +"Oh, I thought you did; I used to wonder at it." Ugo grew thoughtful. + +"I was always good to him," said Donna Tullia. "But of course I can never +forgive him for what he did at the Frangipani ball." + +"No; nor I," answered Del Ferice, readily. "I shall always hate him for +that too." + +"I do not say that I exactly hate him." + +"You have every reason. It appears to me that since my illness we have +another idea in common, another bond of sympathy." Del Ferice spoke +almost tenderly; but he laughed immediately afterwards, as though not +wishing his words to be interpreted too seriously. Donna Tullia smiled +too; she was inclined to be very kind to him. + +"You are very quick to jump at conclusions," she said, playing with her +red fan and looking down. + +"It is always easy to reach that pleasant conclusion--that you and I are +in sympathy," he answered, with a tender glance, "even in regard to +hating the same person. The bond would be close indeed, if it depended on +the opposite of hate. And yet I sometimes think it does. Are you not the +best friend I have in the world?" + +"I do not know,--I am a good friend to you," she answered. + +"Indeed you are; but do you not think it would be possible to cement our +friendship even more closely yet?" + +Donna Tullia looked up sharply; she had no idea of allowing him to +propose to marry her. His face, however, was grave--unlike his usual +expression when he meant to be tender, and which she knew very well. + +"I do not know," she said, with a light laugh. "How do you mean?" + +"If I could do you some great service--if I could by any means satisfy +what is now your chief desire in life--would not that help to cement our +friendship, as I said?" + +"Perhaps," she answered, thoughtfully. "But then you do not know--you +cannot guess even--what I most wish at this moment." + +"I think I could," said Del Ferice, fixing his eyes upon her. "I am sure +I could, but I will not. I should risk offending you." + +"No; I will not be angry. You may guess if you please." Donna Tullia in +her turn looked, fixedly at her companion. They seemed trying to read +each other's thoughts. + +"Very well," said Ugo at last, "I will tell you. You would like to see +the Astrardente dead and Giovanni Saracinesca profoundly humiliated." + +Donna Tullia started. But indeed there was nothing strange in her +companion's knowledge of her feelings. Many people, being asked what she +felt, would very likely have said the same, for the world had seen her +discomfiture and had laughed at it. + +"You are a very singular man," she said, uneasily. + +"In other words," replied Del Ferice, calmly, "I am perfectly right in my +surmises. I see it in your face. Of course," he added, with a laugh, "it +is mere jest. But the thing is quite possible. If I fulfilled your desire +of just and poetic vengeance, what would you give me?" + +Donna Tullia laughed in her turn, to conceal the extreme interest she +felt in what he said. + +"Whatever you like," she said. But even while the laugh was on her lips +her eyes sought his uneasily. + +"Would you marry me, for instance, as the enchanted princess in the fairy +story marries the prince who frees her from the spell?" He seemed +immensely amused at the idea. + +"Why not?" she laughed. + +"It would be the only just recompense," he answered. "See how impossible +the thing appears. And yet a few pounds of dynamite would blow up the +Great Pyramid. Giovanni Saracinesca is not so strong as he looks." + +"Oh, I would not have him hurt!" exclaimed Donna Tullia in alarm. + +"I do not mean physically, nor morally, but socially." + +"How?" + +"That is my secret," returned Del Ferice, quietly. + +"It sounds as though you were pretending to know more than you really +do," she answered. + +"No; it is the plain truth," said Del Ferice, quietly. "If you were in +earnest I might be willing to tell you what the secret is, but for a mere +jest I cannot. It is far too serious a matter." + +His tone convinced Donna Tullia that he really possessed some weapon +which he could use against Don Giovanni if he pleased. She wondered only +why, if it were true, he did not use it, seeing that he must hate +Saracinesca with all his heart. Del Ferice knew so much about people, so +many strange and forgotten stories, he had so accurate a memory and so +acute an intelligence, that it was by no means impossible that he was in +possession of some secret connected with the Saracinesca. They were, +or were thought to be, wild, unruly men, both father and son; there were +endless stories about them both; and there was nothing more likely than +that, in his numerous absences from home, Giovanni had at one time or +another figured in some romantic affair, which he would be sorry to have +had generally known. Del Ferice was wise enough to keep his own counsel; +but now that his hatred was thoroughly roused, he might very likely make +use of the knowledge he possessed. Donna Tullia's curiosity was excited +to its highest pitch, and at the same time she had pleasant visions of +the possible humiliation of the man by whom she felt herself so ill-used. +It would be worth while making the sacrifice in order to learn Del +Fence's secret. + +"This need not be a mere jest," she said, after a moment's silence. + +"That is as you please," returned Del Ferice, seriously. "If you are +willing to do your part, you may be sure that I will do mine." + +"You cannot think I really meant what I said just now," replied Donna +Tullia. "It would be madness." + +"Why? Am I halt, am I lame, am I blind? Am I repulsively ugly? Am I a +pauper, that I should care for your money? Have I not loved you--yes, +loved you long and faithfully? Am I too old? Is there anything in the +nature of things why I should not aspire to be your husband?" + +It was strange. He spoke calmly, as though enumerating the advantages of +a friend. Donna Tullia looked at him for a moment, and then laughed +outright. + +"No," she said; "all that is very true. You may aspire, as you call it. +The question is, whether I shall aspire too. Of course, if we happened to +agree in aspiring, we could be married to-morrow." + +"Precisely," answered Del Ferice, perfectly unmoved. "I am not proposing +to marry you. I am arguing the case. There is this in the case which is +perhaps outside the argument--this, that I am devotedly attached to you. +The case is the stronger for that. I was only trying to demonstrate that +the idea of our being married is not so unutterably absurd. You +laughingly said you would marry me if I could accomplish something which +would please you very much. I laughed also; but now I seriously repeat my +proposition, because I am convinced that although at first sight it may +appear extremely humourous, on a closer inspection it will be found +exceedingly practical. In union is strength." + +Donna Tullia was silent for a moment, and her face grew grave. There was +reason in what he said. She did not care for him--she had never thought +of marrying him; but she recognised the justice of what he said. It was +clear that a man of his social position, received everywhere and intimate +with all her associates, might think of marrying her. He looked +positively handsome since he was wounded; he was accomplished and +intelligent; he had sufficient means of support to prevent him from +being suspected of marrying solely for money, and he had calmly stated +that he loved her. Perhaps he did. It was flattering to Donna Tullia's +vanity to believe him, and his acts had certainly not belied his words. +He was by far the most thoughtful of all her admirers, and he affected to +treat her always with a certain respect which she had never succeeded in +obtaining from Valdarno and the rest. A woman who likes to be noisy, but +is conscious of being a little vulgar, is always flattered when a man +behaves towards her with profound reverence. It will even sometimes cure +her of her vulgarity. Donna Tullia reflected seriously upon what Del +Ferice had said. + +"I never had such a proposition made to me in my life," she said. "Of +course you cannot think I regard it as a possible one, even now. You +cannot think I am so base as to sell myself for the sake of revenging an +insult once offered me. If I am to regard this as a proposal of marriage, +I must decline it with thanks. If it is merely a proposition for an +alliance, I think the terms of the treaty are unequal." + +Del Ferice smiled. + +"I knew you well enough to know what your answer would be," he said. "I +never insulted you by dreaming that you would accept such a proposition. +But as a subject for speculation it is very pleasant. It is delightful +to me to think of being your husband; it is equally delightful to you to +think of the humiliation of an enemy. I took the liberty of uniting the +two thoughts in one dream--a dream of unspeakable bliss for myself." + +Donna Tullia's gay humour returned. + +"You have certainly amused me very well for a quarter of an hour with +your dreams," she answered. "I wish you would tell me what you know of +Don Giovanni. It must be very interesting if it can really seriously +influence his life." + +"I cannot tell you. The secret is too valuable." + +"But if the thing you know has such power, why do you not use it +yourself? You must hate him far more than I do." + +"I doubt that," answered Del Ferice, with a cunning smile. "I do not use +it, I do not choose to strike the blow, because I do not care enough for +retribution merely on my own account. I do not pretend to generosity, but +I am not interested enough in him to harm him, though I dislike him +exceedingly. We had a temporary settlement of our difficulties the other +day, and we were both wounded. Poor Casalverde lost his head and did a +foolish thing, and that cold-blooded villain Spicca killed him in +consequence. It seems to me that there has been enough blood spilled in +our quarrel. I am prepared to leave him alone so far as I am concerned. +But for you it would be different. I could do something worse than kill +him if I chose." + +"For me?" said Donna Tullia. "What would you do for me?" She smiled +sweetly, willing to use all her persuasion to extract his secret. + +"I could prevent Don Giovanni from marrying the Astrardente, as he +intends to do," he answered, looking straight at his companion. + +"How in the world could you do that?" she asked, in great surprise. + +"That, my dear friend, is my secret, as I said before. I cannot reveal it +to you at present." + +"You are as dark as the Holy Office," said Donna Tullia, a little +impatiently. "What possible harm could it do if you told me?" + +"What possible good either?" asked Del Ferice, in reply. "You could not +use it as I could. You would gain no advantage by knowing it. Of course," +he added, with a laugh, "if we entered into the alliance we were jesting +about, it would be different." + +"You will not tell me unless I promise to marry you?" + +"Frankly, no," he answered, still laughing. + +It exasperated Donna Tullia beyond measure to feel that he was in +possession of what she so coveted, and to feel that he was bargaining, +half in earnest, for her life in exchange for his secret. She was almost +tempted for one moment to assent, to say she would marry him, so great +was her curiosity; it would be easy to break her promise, and laugh at +him afterwards. But she was not a bad woman, as women of her class are +considered. She had suffered a great disappointment, and her resentment +was in proportion to her vanity. But she was not prepared to give a false +promise for the sake of vengeance; she was only bad enough to imagine +such bad faith possible. + +"But you said you never seriously thought I could accept such an +engagement," she objected, not knowing what to say. + +"I did," replied Del Ferice. "I might have added that I never seriously +contemplated parting with my secret." + +"There is nothing to be got from you," said Donna Tullia, in a tone of +disappointment. "I think that when you have nearly driven me mad with +curiosity, you might really tell me something." + +"Ah no, dear lady," answered her companion. "You may ask anything of me +but that--anything. You may ask that too, if you will sign the treaty I +propose." + +"You will drive me into marrying you out of sheer curiosity," said Donna +Tullia, with an impatient laugh. + +"I wish that were possible. I wish I could see my way to telling you as +it is, for the thing is so curious that it would have the most intense +interest for you. But it is quite out of the question." + +"You should never have told me anything about it," replied Madame Mayer. + +"Well, I will think about it," said Del Ferice at last, as though +suddenly resolving to make a sacrifice. "I will look over some papers I +have, and I will think about it. I promise you that if I feel that I can +conscientiously tell you something of the matter, you may be sure that +I will." + +Donna Tullia's manner changed again, from impatience to persuasion. The +sudden hope he held out to her was delicious to contemplate. She could +not realise that Del Ferice, having once thoroughly interested her, could +play upon her moods as on the keys of an instrument. If she had been less +anxious that the story he told should be true, she might have suspected +that he was practising upon her credulity. But she seized the idea of +obtaining some secret influence over the life of Giovanni, and it +completely carried her away. + +"You must tell me--I am sure you will," she said, letting her kindest +glance rest upon her companion. "Come and dine with me,--do you fast? +No--nor I. Come on Friday--will you?" + +"I shall be delighted," answered Del Ferice, with a quiet smile of +triumph. + +"I will have the old lady, of course, so you cannot tell me at dinner; +but she will go to sleep soon afterwards--she always does. Come at seven. +Besides, she is deaf, you know." + +The old lady in question was the aged Countess whom Donna Tullia affected +as a companion in her solitary magnificence. + +"And now, will you take me back to the ball-room? I have an idea that a +partner is looking for me." + +Del Ferice left her dancing, and went home in his little coupé. He was +desperately fatigued, for he was still very weak, and he feared lest his +imprudence in going out so soon might bring on a relapse from his +convalescence. Nevertheless, before he went to bed he dismissed +Temistocle, and opened a shabby-looking black box which stood upon his +writing-table. It was bound with iron, and was fastened by a patent lock +which had frequently defied Temistocle's ingenuity. From this repository +he took a great number of papers, which were all neatly filed away and +marked in the owner's small and ornamented handwriting. Beneath many +packages of letters he found what he sought for, a long envelope +containing several folded documents. + +He spread out the papers and read them carefully over. + +"It is a very singular thing," he said to himself; "but there can be no +doubt about it. There it is." + +He folded the papers again, returned them to their envelope, and replaced +the latter deep among the letters in his box. He then locked it, attached +the key to a chain he wore about his neck, and went to bed, worn out +with fatigue. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Del Ferice had purposely excited Donna Tullia's curiosity, and he meant +before long to tell more than he had vouchsafed in his first confidence. +But he himself trembled before the magnitude of what he had suddenly +thought of doing, for the fear of Giovanni was in his heart. The +temptation to boast to Donna Tullia that he had the means of preventing +Giovanni from marrying was too strong; but when it had come to telling +her what those means were, prudence had restrained him. He desired that +if the scheme were put into execution it might be by some one else; for, +extraordinary as it was, he was not absolutely certain of its success. He +was not sure of Donna Tullia's discretion, either, until by a judicious +withholding of the secret he had given her a sufficient idea of its +importance. But on mature reflection he came to the conclusion that, even +if she possessed the information he was able to give, she would not dare +to mention it, nor even to hint at it. + +The grey light of Ash-Wednesday morning broke over Rome, and stole +through the windows of Giovanni Saracinesca's bedroom. Giovanni had not +slept much, but his restlessness was due rather to his gladness at having +performed the last of his social duties than to any disturbance of mind. +All night he lay planning what he should do,--how he might reach his +place in the mountains by a circuitous route, leaving the general +impression that he was abroad--and how, when at last he had got to +Saracinesca unobserved, he would revel in the solitude and in the thought +of being within half a day's journey of Corona d'Astrardente. He was +willing to take a great deal of trouble, for he did not wish people to +know his whereabouts; he would not have it said that he had gone into +the country to be near Corona and to see her every day, as would +certainly be said if his real movements were discovered. Accordingly, he +fulfilled his programme to the letter. He left Rome on the afternoon of +Ash-Wednesday for Florence; there he visited several acquaintances who, +he knew, would write to their friends in Rome of his appearance; from +Florence he went to Paris, and gave out that he was going upon a shooting +expedition in the Arctic regions, as soon as the weather was warm enough. +As he was well known for a sportsman and a traveller, this statement +created no suspicion; and when he finally left Paris, the newspapers and +the gossips all said he had gone to Copenhagen on his way to the far +north. In due time the statement reached Rome, and it was supposed that +society had lost sight of Giovanni Saracinesca for at least eight months. +It was thought that he had acted with great delicacy in absenting +himself; he would thus allow the first months of Corona's mourning to +pass before formally presenting himself to society as her suitor. +Considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, there would be +nothing improper, from a social point of view, in his marrying Corona at +the expiration of a year after her husband's death. Of course he would +marry her; there was no doubt of that--he had been in love with her so +long, and now she was both free and rich. No one suspected that Giovanni, +instead of being in Scandinavia, was quietly established at Saracinesca, +a day's journey from Rome, busying himself with the management of the +estate, and momentarily satisfied in feeling himself so near the woman he +loved. + +Donna Tullia could hardly wait until the day when Del Ferice was coming +to dinner: she was several times on the point of writing a note to ask +him to come at once. But she wisely refrained, guessing that the more she +pressed him the more difficulties he would make. At last he came, looking +pale and worn--interesting, as Donna Tullia would have expressed it. The +old Countess talked a great deal during dinner; but as she was too deaf +to hear more than a quarter of what was said by the others, the +conversation was not interesting. When the meal was over, she established +herself in a comfortable chair in the little sitting-room, and took a +book. After a few minutes, Donna Tullia suggested to Del Ferice that they +should go into the drawing-room. She had received some new waltz-music +from Vienna which she wanted to look over, and Ugo might help her. She +was not a musician, but was fond of a cheerful noise, and played upon the +piano with the average skill of a well-educated young woman of the +world. Of course the doors were left open between the drawing-room and +the boudoir, where the Countess dozed over her book and presently fell +asleep. + +Donna Tullia sat at the grand piano, and made Del Ferice sit beside her. +She struck a few chords, and played a fragment of dance-music. + +"Of course you have heard that Don Giovanni is gone?" she asked, +carelessly. "I suppose he is gone to Saracinesca; they say there is a +very good road between that and Astrardente." + +"I should think he would have more decency than to pursue the Duchessa in +the first month of her mourning," answered Del Ferice, resting one arm +upon the piano, and supporting his pale face with his hand as he watched +Donna Tullia's fingers move upon the keys. + +"Why? He does not care what people say--why should he? He will marry her +when the year is out. Why should he care?" + +"He can never marry her unless I choose to allow it," said Del Ferice, +quietly. + +"So you told me the other night," returned Donna Tullia. "But you will +allow him, of course. Besides, you could not stop it, after all. I do not +believe that you could." She leaned far back in her chair, her hands +resting upon the keys without striking them, and she looked at Del Ferice +with a sweet smile. There was a moment's pause. + +"I have decided to tell you something," he said at last, "upon one +condition." + +"Why make conditions?" asked Donna Tullia, trying to conceal her +excitement. + +"Only one, that of secrecy. Will you promise never to mention what I am +going to tell you without previously consulting me? I do not mean a +common promise; I mean it to be an oath." He spoke very earnestly. "This +is a very serious matter. We are playing with fire and with life and +death. You must give me some guarantee that you will be secret." + +His manner impressed Donna Tullia; she had never seen him so much in +earnest in her life. + +"I will promise in any way you please," she said. + +"Then say this," he answered. "Say, 'I swear and solemnly bind myself +that I will faithfully keep the secret about to be committed to me; and +that if I fail to keep it I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del +Ferice--'" + +"That is absurd!" cried Donna Tullia, starting back from him. He did not +heed her. + +"'And I take to witness of this oath the blessed memory of my mother, the +hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic of the True Cross.'" He +pointed to the locket she wore at her neck, which she had often told +him contained the relic he mentioned. + +"It is impossible!" she cried again. "I cannot swear so solemnly about +such a matter. I cannot promise to marry you." + +"Then it is because you cannot promise to keep my secret," he answered +calmly. He knew her very well, and he believed that she would not break +such an oath as he had dictated, under any circumstances. He did not +choose to risk anything by her indiscretion. Donna Tullia hesitated, +seeing that he was firm. She was tortured with curiosity beyond all +endurance. + +"I am only promising to marry you in case I reveal the secret?" she +asked. He bowed assent. "So that I am really only promising to be silent? +Well, I cannot understand why it should be solemn; but if you wish it +so, I will do it. What are the words?" + +He repeated them slowly, and she followed him. He watched her at every +word, to be sure she overlooked nothing. + +"I, Tullia Mayer, swear and solemnly bind myself that I will faithfully +keep the secret about to be committed to me; and that if I fail to keep +it, I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del Ferice"--her voice +trembled nervously: "and I take to witness of this oath the blessed +memory of my mother, the hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic +of the True Cross." At the last words she took the locket in her fingers. + +"You understand that you have promised to marry me if you reveal my +secret? You fully understand that?" asked Del Ferice. + +"I understand it," she answered hurriedly, as though ashamed of what she +had done. "And now, the secret," she added eagerly, feeling that she had +undergone a certain humiliation for the sake of what she so much +coveted. + +"Don Giovanni cannot marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente, because"--he +paused a moment to give full weight to his statement--"because Don +Giovanni Saracinesca is married already." + +"What!" cried Donna Tullia, starting from her chair in amazement at the +astounding news. + +"It is quite true," said Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. "Calm yourself; +it is quite true. I know what you are thinking of--all Rome thought he +was going to marry you." + +Donna Tullia was overcome by the strangeness of the situation. She hid +her face in her hands for a moment as she leaned forward over the piano. +Then she suddenly looked up. + +"What a hideous piece of villany!" she exclaimed, in a stifled voice. +Then slowly recovering from the first shock of the intelligence, she +looked at Del Ferice; she was almost as pale as he. "What proof have +you?" she asked. + +"I have the attested copy of the banns published by the priest who +married them. That is evidence. Moreover, the real book of banns exists, +and Giovanni's name is upon the parish register. I have also a copy of +the certificate of the civil marriage, which is signed by Giovanni +himself." + +"Tell me more," said Donna Tullia, eagerly. "How did you find it?" + +"It is very simple," answered Del Ferice. "You may go and see for +yourself, if you do not mind making a short journey. Last summer I was +wandering a little for my health's sake, as I often do, and I chanced to +be in the town of Aquila--you know, the capital of Abruzzi. One day I +happened to go into the sacristy of one of the parish churches to see +some pictures which are hung there. There had been a marriage service +performed, and as the sacristan moved about explaining the pictures, he +laid his hand upon an open book which looked like a register of some +kind. I idly asked him what it was, and he showed it to me; it was +amusing to look at the names of the people, and I turned over the leaves +curiously. Suddenly my attention was arrested by a name I knew--'Giovanni +Saracinesca,' written clearly across the page, and below it, 'Felice +Baldi,'--the woman he had married. The date of the marriage was the 19th +of June 1863. You remember, perhaps, that in that summer, in fact during +the whole of that year, Don Giovanni was supposed to be absent upon +his famous shooting expedition in Canada, about which he talks so much. +It appears, then, that two years ago, instead of being in America, he was +living in Aquila, married to Felice Baldi--probably some pretty peasant +girl. I started at the sight of the names. I got permission to have an +attested copy of it made by a notary. I found the priest who had married +them, but he could not remember the couple. The man, he said, was dark, +he was sure; the woman, he thought, had been fair. He married so many +people in a year. These were not natives of Aquila; they had apparently +come there from the country--perhaps had met. The banns--yes, he had +the book of banns; he had also the register of marriages from which he +sometimes issued certified extracts. He was a good old man, and seemed +ready to oblige me; but his memory was very defective. He allowed me to +take notary's copies of the banns and the entry in the list, as well as +of the register. Then I went to the office of the Stato Civile. You know +that people do not sign the register in the church themselves; the names +are written down by the priest. I wanted to see the signatures, and the +book of civil marriages was shown to me. The handwriting was Giovanni's, +I am sure--larger, and a little less firm, but distinguishable at a +glance. I took the copies for curiosity, and never said anything about +it, but I have kept them. That is the history. Do you see how serious a +matter it is?" + +"Indeed, yes," answered Donna Tullia, who had listened with intense +interest to the story. "But what could have induced him to marry that +woman?" + +"One of those amiable eccentricities peculiar to his family," replied Del +Ferice, shrugging his shoulders. "The interesting thing would be to +discover what became of Felice Baldi--Donna Felice Saracinesca, as I +suppose she has a right to be called." + +"Let us find her--Giovanni's wife," exclaimed Donna Tullia, eagerly. +"Where can she be?" + +"Who knows?" ejaculated Del Ferice. "I would be curious to see her. The +name of her native village is given, and the names of her parents. +Giovanni described himself in the paper as 'of Naples, a landholder,' and +omitted somehow the details of his parentage. Nothing could be more +vague; everybody is a landholder, from the wretched peasant who +cultivates one acre to their high-and-mightinesses the Princes of +Saracinesca. Perhaps by going to the village mentioned some information +might be obtained. He probably left her sufficiently provided for, and, +departing on pretence of a day's journey, never returned. He is a +perfectly unscrupulous man, and thinks no more of this mad scrape than of +shooting a chamois in the Tyrol. He knows she can never find him--never +guessed who he really was." + +"Perhaps she is dead," suggested Donna Tullia, her face suddenly growing +grave. + +"Why? He would not have taken the trouble to kill her--a peasant girl in +the Abruzzi! He would have had no difficulty in leaving her, and she is +probably alive and well at the present moment, perhaps the mother of the +future Prince Saracinesca--who can tell?" + +"But do you not see," said Donna Tullia, "that unless you have proof that +she is alive, we have no hold upon him? He may acknowledge the whole +thing, and calmly inform us that she is dead." + +"That is true; but even then he must show that she came to a natural end +and was buried. Believe me, Giovanni would relinquish all intentions of +marrying the Astrardente rather than have this scandalous story +published." + +"I would like to tax him with it in a point-blank question, and watch his +face," said Donna Tullia, fiercely. + +"Remember your oath," said Del Ferice. "But he is gone now. You will not +meet him for some months." + +"Tell me, how could you make use of this knowledge, if you really wanted +to prevent his marriage with the Astrardente?" + +"I would advise you to go to her and state the case. You need mention +nobody. Any one who chooses may go to Aquila and examine the registers. I +think that you could convey the information to her with as much command +of language as would be necessary." + +"I daresay I could," she answered, between her teeth. "What a strange +chance it was that brought that register under your hand!" + +"Heaven sends opportunities," said Del Ferice, devoutly; "it is for man +to make good use of them. Who knows but what you may make a brilliant use +of this?" + +"I cannot, since I am bound by my promise," said Donna Tullia. + +"No; I am sure you will not think of doing it. But then, we might perhaps +agree that circumstances made it advisable to act. Many months must pass +before he can think of offering himself to her. It will be time enough +to consider the matter then--to consider whether we should be justified +in raising such a terrible scandal, in causing so much unhappiness to an +innocent woman like the Duchessa, and to a worthless man like Don +Giovanni. Think what a disgrace it would be to the Saracinesca to have it +made public that Giovanni was openly engaged to marry a great heiress +while already secretly married to a peasant woman!" + +"It would indeed be horrible," said Donna Tullia, with a disagreeable +look in her blue eyes. "Perhaps we should not even think of it," she +added, turning over the leaves of the music upon the piano. Then suddenly +she added, "Do you know that you have put me in a dreadful position +by exacting that promise from me?" + +"No," said Del Ferice, quietly. "You wanted to hear the secret. You have +heard it. You have nothing to do but to keep it to yourself." + +"That is precisely--" She checked herself, and struck a loud chord upon +the instrument. She had turned from Del Ferice, and could not see the +smile upon his face, which flickered across the pale features and +vanished instantly. + +"Think no more about it," he said pleasantly. "It is so easy to forget +such stories when one resolutely puts them out of one's mind." + +Donna Tullia smiled bitterly, and was silent. She began playing from the +sheet before her, with indifferent accuracy, but with more than +sufficient energy. Del Ferice sat patiently by her side, turning over the +leaves, and glancing from time to time at her face, which he really +admired exceedingly. He belonged to the type of pale and somewhat +phlegmatic men who frequently fall in love with women of sanguine +complexion and robust appearance. Donna Tullia was a fine type of this +class, and was called handsome, though she did not compare well with +women of less pretension to beauty, but more delicacy and refinement. Del +Ferice admired her greatly, however; and, as has been said, he admired +her fortune even more. He saw himself gradually approaching the goal of +his intentions, and as he neared the desired end he grew more and more +cautious. He had played one of his strongest cards that night, and he was +content to wait and let matters develop quietly, without any more pushing +from him. The seed would grow, there was no fear of that, and his +position was strong. He could wait quietly for the result. + +At the end of half an hour he excused himself upon the plea that he was +still only convalescent, and was unable to bear the fatigue of late +hours. Donna Tullia did not press him to stay, for she wished to be +alone; and when he was gone she sat long at the open piano, pondering +upon what she had done, and even more upon what she had escaped doing. It +was a hideous thought that if Giovanni, in all that long winter, had +asked her to be his wife, she would readily have consented; it was +fearful to think what her position would have been towards Del Ferice, +who would have been able by a mere word to annul her marriage by proving +the previous one at Aquila. People do not trifle with such accusations, +and he certainly knew what he was doing; she would have been bound hand +and foot. Or supposing that Del Ferice had died of the wound he received +in the duel, and his papers had been ransacked by his heirs, whoever +they might be--these attested documents would have become public +property. What a narrow escape Giovanni had had! And she herself, too, +how nearly had she been involved in his ruin! She liked to think that +he had almost offered himself to her; it flattered her, although she now +hated him so cordially. She could not help admiring Del Ferice's +wonderful discretion in so long concealing a piece of scandal that would +have shaken Roman society to its foundations, and she trembled when she +thought what would happen if she herself were ever tempted to reveal what +she had heard. Del Ferice was certainly a man of genius--so quiet, and +yet possessing such weapons; there was some generosity about him too, or +he would have revenged himself for his wound by destroying Giovanni's +reputation. She considered whether she could have kept her counsel so +well in his place. After all, as he had said, the moment for using the +documents had not yet come, for hitherto Giovanni had never proposed to +marry any one. Perhaps this secret wedding in Aquila explained his +celibacy; Del Ferice had perhaps misjudged him in saying that he was +unscrupulous; he had perhaps left his peasant wife, repenting of his +folly, but it was perhaps on her account that he had never proposed to +marry Donna Tullia; he had, then, only been amusing himself with Corona. +That all seemed likely enough--so likely, that it heightened the +certainty of Del Ferice's information. + +A few days later, as Giovanni had intended, news began to reach Rome that +he had been in Florence, and was actually in Paris; then it was said that +he was going upon a shooting expedition somewhere in the far north +during the summer. It was like him, and in accordance with his tastes. He +hated the quiet receptions at the great houses during Lent, to which, if +he remained in Rome, he was obliged to go. He naturally escaped when he +could. But there was no escape for Donna Tullia, and after all she +managed to extract some amusement from these gatherings. She was the +acknowledged centre of the more noisy set, and wherever she went, +people who wanted to be amused, and were willing to amuse each other, +congregated around her. On one of these occasions she met old +Saracinesca. He did not go out much since his son had left; but he seemed +cheerful enough, and as he liked Madame Mayer, for some inscrutable +reason, she rather liked him. Moreover, her interest in Giovanni, though +now the very reverse of affectionate, made her anxious to know something +of his movements. + +"You must be lonely since Don Giovanni has gone upon his travels again," +she said. + +"That is the reason I go out," said the Prince. "It is not very gay, but +it is better than nothing. It suggests cold meat served up after the +dessert; but when people are hungry, the order of their food is not of +much importance." + +"Is there any news, Prince? I want to be amused." + +"News? No. The world is at peace, and consequently given over to sin, as +it mostly is when it is resting from a fit of violence." + +"You seem to be inclined to moralities this evening," said Donna Tullia, +smiling, and gently swaying the red fan she always carried. + +"Am I? Then I am growing old, I suppose. It is the privilege of old age +to censure in others what it is no longer young enough to praise in +itself. It is a bad thing to grow old, but it makes people good, or makes +them think they are, which in their own eyes is precisely the same +thing." + +"How delightfully cynical!" + +"Doggish?" inquired the Prince, with a laugh. "I have heard it said by +scholars, that cynical means doggish in Greek. The fable of the dog in +the horse's manger was invented to define the real cynic--the man who +neither enjoys life himself nor will allow other people to enjoy it. I am +not such a man. I hope you, for instance, will enjoy everything that +comes in your way." + +"Even the cold meat after the dessert which you spoke of just now?" asked +Donna Tullia. "Thank you--I will try; perhaps you can help me." + +"My son despised it," said Saracinesca. "He is gone in search of fresh +pastures of sweets." + +"Leaving you behind." + +"Somebody once said that the wisest thing a son could do was to get rid +of his father as soon as possible--" + +"Then Don Giovanni is a wise man," returned Donna Tullia. + +"Perhaps. However, he asked me to accompany him." + +"You refused?" + +"Of course. Such expeditions are good enough for boys. I dislike +Florence, I am not especially fond of Paris, and I detest the North Pole. +I suppose you have seen from the papers that he is going in that +direction? It is like him, he hankers after originality, I suppose. Being +born in the south, he naturally goes to the extreme north." + +"He will write you very interesting letters, I should think," remarked +Donna Tullia. "Is he a good correspondent?" + +"Remarkably, for he never gives one any trouble. He sends his address +from time to time, and draws frequently on his banker. His letters are +not so full of interest as might be thought, as they rarely extend over +five lines; but on the other hand it does not take long to read them, +which is a blessing." + +"You seem to be an affectionate parent," said Donna Tullia, with a laugh. + +"If you measure affection by the cost of postage-stamps, you have a right +to be sarcastic. If you measure it in any other way, you are wrong. I +could not help loving any one so like myself as my son. It would show a +detestable lack of appreciation of my own gifts." + +"I do not think Don Giovanni so very like you," said Donna Tullia, +thoughtfully. + +"Perhaps you do not know him so well as I do," remarked the Prince. +"Where do you see the greatest difference?" + +"I think you talk better, and I think you are more--not exactly more +honest, perhaps, but more straightforward." + +"I do not agree with you," said old Saracinesca, quickly. "There is no +one alive who can say they ever knew Giovanni approach in the most +innocent way to a distortion of truth. I daresay you have discovered, +however, that he is reticent; he can hold his tongue; he is no chatterer, +no parrot, my son." + +"Indeed he is not," answered Donna Tullia, and the reply pacified the old +man; but she herself was thinking what supreme reticence Giovanni had +shown in the matter of his marriage, and she wondered whether the Prince +had ever heard of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Anastase Gouache worked hard at the Cardinal's portrait, and at the same +time did his best to satisfy Donna Tullia. The latter, indeed, was not +easily pleased, and Gouache found it hard to instil into his +representation of her the precise amount of poetry she required, without +doing violence to his own artistic sense of fitness. But the other +picture progressed rapidly. The Cardinal was a restless man, and after +the first two or three sittings, desired nothing so much as to be done +with them altogether. Anastase amused him, it is true, and the statesman +soon perceived that he had made a conquest of the young man's mind, and +that, as Giovanni Saracinesca had predicted, he had helped Gouache to +come to a decision. He was not prepared, however, for the practical turn +that decision immediately took, and he was just beginning to wish the +sittings at an end when Anastase surprised him by a very startling +announcement. + +As usual, they were in the Cardinal's study; the statesman was silent and +thoughtful, and Gouache was working with all his might. + +"I have made up my mind," said the latter, suddenly. + +"Concerning what, my friend?" inquired the great man, rather absently. + +"Concerning everything, Eminence," answered Gouache "concerning politics, +religion, life, death, and everything else which belongs to my career. I +am going to enlist with the Zouaves." + +The Cardinal looked at him for a moment, and then broke into a low laugh. + +"_Extremis malis extrema remedial!_" he exclaimed. + +"Precisely--_aux grands maux les grands remèdes,_ as we say. I am going +to join the Church militant. I am convinced that it is the best thing an +honest man can do. I like fighting, and I like the Church--therefore I +will fight for the Church." + +"Very good logic, indeed," answered the Cardinal. But he looked at +Anastase, and marking his delicate features and light frame, he almost +wondered how the lad would look in the garb of a soldier. "Very good +logic; but, my dear Monsieur Gouache, what is to become of your art?" + +"I shall not be mounting guard all day, and the Zouaves are allowed to +live in their own lodgings. I will live in my studio, and paint when I am +not mounting guard." + +"And my portrait?" inquired Cardinal Antonelli, much amused. + +"Your Eminence will doubtless be kind enough to manage that I may have +liberty to finish it." + +"You could not put off enlisting for a week, I suppose?" + +Gouache looked annoyed; he hated the idea of waiting. + +"I have taken too long to make up my mind already," he replied. "I must +make the plunge at once. I am convinced--your Eminence has convinced +me--that I have been very foolish." + +"I certainly never intended to convince you of that," remarked the +Cardinal, with a smile. + +"Very foolish," repeated Gouache, not heeding the interruption. "I have +talked great nonsense,--I scarcely know why--perhaps to try and find +where the sense really lay. I have dreamed so many dreams, so long, that +I sometimes think I am morbid. All artists are morbid, I suppose. It is +better to do anything active than to lose one's self in the slums of a +sickly imagination." + +"I agree with you," answered the Cardinal; "but I do not think you +suffered from a sickly imagination,--I should rather call it abundant +than sickly. Frankly, I should be sorry to think that in following this +new idea you were in any way injuring the great career which, I am sure, +is before you; but, on the other hand, I cannot help wishing that a +greater number of young men would follow your example." + +"Your Eminence approves, then?" + +"Do you think you will make a good soldier?" + +"Other artists have been good soldiers. There was Cellini--" + +"Benvenuto Cellini said he made a good soldier; he said it himself, but +his reputation for veracity in other matters was doubtful, to say the +least. If he did not shoot the Connétable de Bourbon, it is very certain +that some one else did. Besides, a soldier in our times should be a very +different kind of man from the self-armed citizen of the time of Clement +the Ninth and the aforesaid Connétable. You will have to wear a uniform +and sleep on boards in a guard-house; you will have to be up early to +drill, and up late mounting guard, in wind and rain and cold. It is hard +work; I do not believe you have the constitution for it. Nevertheless, +the intention is good. You can try it, and if you fall ill I will see +that you have no difficulty in returning to your artist life." + +"I do not mean to give it up," replied Gouache, in a tone of conviction. +"And as for my health, I am as strong as any one." + +"Perhaps," said the Cardinal, doubtfully. "And when are you going to join +the corps?" + +"In about an hour," said Gouache, quietly. + +And he kept his word. But he had told no one, save the Cardinal, of his +intention; and for a day or two, though he passed many acquaintances in +the street, no one recognised Anastase Gouache in the handsome young +soldier with his grey Turco uniform, a red sash round his slender waist, +and a small _képi_ set jauntily upon one side. + +It was one of the phenomena of those times. Foreigners swarmed in Rome, +and many of them joined the cosmopolitan corps--gentlemen, noblemen, +artists, men of the learned professions, adventurers, duellists driven +from their country in a temporary exile, enthusiasts, strolling +Irishmen, men of all sorts and conditions. But, take them all in all, +they were a fine set of fellows, who set no value whatever on their +lives, and who, as a whole, fought for an idea, in the old crusading +spirit. There were many who, like Gouache, joined solely from conviction; +and there were few instances indeed of any who, having joined, deserted. +It often happened that a stranger came to Rome for a mere visit, and at +the end of a month surprised his friends by appearing in the grey +uniform. You had met him the night before at a ball in the ordinary garb +of civilisation, covered with cotillon favours, waltzing like a madman; +the next morning he entered the Café de Rome in a braided jacket open at +the throat, and told you he was a soldier--a private soldier, who touched +his cap to every corporal of the French infantry, and was liable to be +locked up for twenty-four hours if he was late to quarters. + +Donna Tullia's portrait was not quite finished, and Gouache had asked for +one or two more sittings. Three days after the artist had taken his great +resolution, Madame Mayer and Del Ferice entered his studio. He had had no +difficulty in being at liberty at the hour of the sitting, and had merely +exchanged his jacket for an old painting-coat, not taking the trouble to +divest himself of the remainder of his uniform. + +"Where have you been all this time?" asked Donna Tullia, as she lifted +the curtain and entered the studio. He had kept out of her way during the +past few days. + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" cried Del Ferice, starting back, as he caught +sight of the artist's grey trousers and yellow gaiters. "What is the +meaning of this comedy?" + +"What?" asked Gouache, coolly. Then, glancing at his legs, he answered, +"Oh, nothing. I have turned Zouave--that is all. Will you sit down, Donna +Tullia? I was waiting for you." + +"Turned Zouave!" exclaimed Madame Mayer and Del Ferice in a breath. +"Turned Zouave!" + +"Well?" said Gouache, raising his eyebrows and enjoying their surprise. +"Well--why not?" + +Del Ferice struck a fine attitude, and, laying one hand upon Donna +Tullia's arm, whispered hoarsely in her ear-- + +"_Siamo traditi_--we are betrayed!" he said. Whereupon Donna Tullia +turned a little pale. + +"Betrayed!" she repeated, "and by Gouache!" + +Gouache laughed, as he drew out the battered old carved chair on which +Madame Mayer was accustomed to sit when he painted. + +"Calm yourself, Madame," he said. "I have not the least intention of +betraying you. I have made a counter-revolution--but I am perfectly +frank. I will not tell of the ferocious deeds I have heard discussed." + +Del Ferice scowled and drew back, partly acting, partly in earnest. It +lay in his schemes to make Donna Tullia believe herself involved in a +genuine plot, and from this point of view he felt that he must pretend +the greatest horror and surprise. On the other hand, he knew that Gouache +had been painting the Cardinal's portrait, and guessed that the statesman +had acquired a strong influence over the artist's mind--an influence +which was already showing itself in a way that looked dangerous. It had +never struck him until quite lately that Anastase, a republican by +descent and conviction, could suddenly step into the reactionary camp. + +"Pardon me, Donna Tullia," said Ugo, in serious tones, "pardon me--but I +think we should do well to leave Monsieur Gouache to the contemplation of +his new career. This is no place for us--the company of traitors--" + +"Look here, Del Ferice," said Gouache, suddenly going up to him and +looking him in the face,--"do you seriously believe that anything you +have ever said, in this room is worth betraying? or, if you do, do you +really think that I would betray it?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, interposing, "it is nonsense! Gouache is a +gentleman, of course--and besides, I mean to have my portrait, politics +or no politics." + +With this round statement Donna Tullia sat down, and Del Ferice had no +choice but to follow her example. He was profoundly disgusted, but he saw +at a glance that it would be hopeless to attempt to dissuade Madame Mayer +when she had once made up her mind. + +"And now you can tell us all about it," said Donna Tullia. "What, in the +name of all that is senseless, has induced you to join the Zouaves? It +really makes me very nervous to see you." + +"That lends poetry to your expression," interrupted Gouache. "I wish you +were always nervous. You really want to know why I am a Zouave? It is +very simple. You must know that I always follow my impulses." + +"Impulses!" ejaculated Del Ferice, moodily. + +"Yes; because my impulses are always good,--whereas when I reflect much, +my judgment is always bad. I felt a strong impulse to wear the grey +uniform, so I walked into the recruiting office and wrote my name down." + +"I feel a strong impulse to walk out of your studio, Monsieur Gouache," +said Donna Tullia, with a rather nervous laugh. + +"Then allow me to tell you that, whereas my impulses are good, yours are +not," replied Anastase, quietly painting. "Because I have a new dress--" + +"And new convictions," interrupted Del Ferice; "you who were always +arguing about convictions!" + +"I had none; that is the reason I argued about them. I have plenty +now--I argue no longer." + +"You are wise," retorted Ugo. "Those you have got will never bear +discussion." + +"Excuse me," answered Gouache; "if you will take the trouble to be +introduced to his Eminence Cardinal Antonelli--" + +Donna Tullia held up her hands in horror. + +"That horrible man! That Mephistopheles!" she cried. + +"That Macchiavelli! That arch-enemy of our holy liberty!" exclaimed Del +Ferice, in theatrical tones. + +"Exactly," answered Gouache. "If he could be induced to devote a quarter +of an hour of his valuable time to talking with you, he would turn your +convictions round his finger." + +"This is too much!" cried Del Ferice, angrily. + +"I think it is very amusing," said Donna Tullia, "What a pity that all +Liberals are not artists, whom his Eminence could engage to paint his +portrait and be converted at so much an hour!" + +Gouache smiled quietly, and went on with his work. + +"So he told you to go and turn Zouave," remarked Donna Tullia, after a +pause, "and you submitted like a lamb." + +"So far was the Cardinal from advising me to turn soldier, that he +expressed the greatest surprise when I told him of my intention," +returned Gouache, rather coldly. + +"Indeed it is enough to take away even a cardinal's breath," answered +Madame Mayer. "I was never, never so surprised in my life!" + +Gouache stood up to get a view of his work, and Donna Tullia looked at +him critically. + +"_Tiens_!" she exclaimed, "it is rather becoming--what small ankles you +have, Gouache!" + +Anastase laughed. It was impossible to be grave in the face of such +utterly frivolous inconsistency. + +"You will allow your expression to change so often, Donna Tullia! It is +impossible to catch it." + +"Like your convictions," murmured Del Ferice from his corner. Indeed Ugo +did not know what to make of the scene. He had miscalculated the strength +of Donna Tullia's fears as compared with her longing to possess a +flattering portrait of herself. Rather than leave the picture unfinished, +she exhibited a cynical indifference to danger which would have done +honour to a better man than Del Ferice. Perhaps, too, she understood +Gouache well enough to know that he might be trusted. Indeed any one +would have trusted Gouache. Even Del Ferice was less disturbed at the +possibility of the artist's repeating any of the trivial liberal talk +which he had listened to, than at the indifference to discovery shown by +Donna Tullia. To Del Ferice, the whole thing had been but a harmless +play; but he wanted Madame Mayer to believe that it had all been in +solemn earnest, and that she was really implicated in a dangerous plot; +for it gave him a stronger hold upon her for his own ends. + +"So you are going to fight for Pio Nono," remarked Ugo, scornfully, after +another pause. + +"I am," replied Gouache. "And, no offence to you, my friend, if I meet +you in a red shirt among the Garibaldini, I will kill you. It would be +very unpleasant, so I hope that you will not join them." + +"Take care, Del Ferice," laughed Donna Tullia; "your life is in danger! +You had better join the Zouaves instead." + +"I cannot paint his Eminence's portrait," returned Ugo, with a sneer, "so +there is no chance of that." + +"You might assist him with wholesome advice, I should think," answered +Gouache. "I have no doubt you could tell him much that would be very +useful." + +"And turn traitor to--" + +"Hush! Do not be so silly, Del Ferice," interrupted Donna Tullia, who +began to fear that Del Ferice's taunts would make trouble. She had a +secret conviction that it would not be good to push the gentle Anastase +too far. He was too quiet, too determined, and too serious not to be a +little dangerous if roused. + +"Do not be absurd," she repeated. "Whatever Gouache may choose to do, he +is a gentleman, and I will not have you talk of traitors like that. He +does not quarrel with you--why do you try to quarrel with him?" + +"I think he has done quite enough to justify a quarrel, I am sure," +replied Del Ferice, moodily. + +"My dear sir," said Gouache, desisting from his work and turning towards +Ugo, "Madame is quite right. I not only do not quarrel, but I refuse to +be quarrelled with. You have my most solemn assurance that whatever has +previously passed here, whatever I have heard said by you, by Donna +Tullia, by Valdarno, by any of your friends, I regard as an inviolable +secret. You formerly said I had no convictions, and you were right. I had +none, and I listened to your exposition of your own with considerable +interest. My case is changed. I need not tell you what I believe, for I +wear the uniform of a Papal Zouave. When I put it on, I certainly did not +contemplate offending you; I do not wish to offend you now--I only beg +that you will refrain from offending me. For my part, I need only say +that henceforth I do not desire to take a part in your councils. If Donna +Tullia is satisfied with her portrait, there need be no further occasion +for our meeting. If, on the contrary, we are to meet again, I beg that we +may meet on a footing of courtesy and mutual respect." + +It was impossible to say more; and Gouache's speech terminated the +situation so far as Del Ferice was concerned. Donna Tullia smilingly +expressed her approval. + +"Quite right, Gouache," she said. "You know it would be impossible to +leave the portrait as it is now. The mouth, you know--you promised to do +something to it--just the expression, you know." + +Gouache bowed his head a little, and set to work again without a word. +Del Ferice did not speak again during the sitting, but sat moodily +staring at the canvas, at Donna Tullia, and at the floor. It was not +often that he was moved from his habitual suavity of manner, but +Gouache's conduct had made him feel particularly uncomfortable. + +The next time Donna Tullia came to sit, she brought her old Countess, and +Del Ferice did not appear. The portrait was ultimately finished to the +satisfaction of all parties, and was hung in Donna Tullia's drawing-room, +to be admired and criticised by all her friends. But Gouache rejoiced +when the thing was finally removed from his studio, for he had grown to +hate it, and had been almost willing to flatter it out of all likeness to +Madame Mayer, for the sake of not being eternally confronted by the cold +stare of her blue eyes. He finished the Cardinal's portrait too; and the +statesman not only paid for it with unusual liberality, but gave the +artist what he called a little memento of the long hours they had spent +together. He opened one of the lockers in his study, and from a small +drawer selected an ancient ring, in which was set a piece of crystal with +a delicate intaglio of a figure of Victory. He took Gouache's hand and +slipped the ring upon his finger. He had taken a singular liking to +Anastase. + +"Wear it as a little souvenir of me," he said kindly. "It is a Victory; +you are a soldier now, so I pray that victory may go with you; and I give +Victory herself into your hands." + +"And I," said Gouache, "will pray that it may be a symbol in my hand of +the real victories you are to win." + +"Only a symbol," returned the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Nothing but a +symbol. I was not born to conquer, but to lead a forlorn hope--to deceive +vanquished men with a hope not real, and to deceive the victors with an +unreal fear. Nevertheless, my friend," he added, grasping Gouache's hand, +and fixing upon him his small bright eyes,--"nevertheless, let us fight, +fight--fight to the very end!" + +"We will fight to the end, Eminence," said Gouache. He was only a private +of Zouaves, and the man whose hand he held was great and powerful; but +the same spirit was in the hearts of both, the same courage, the same +devotion to the failing cause--and both kept their words, each in his own +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Astrardente was in some respects a picturesque place. The position of the +little town gave it a view in both directions from where it stood; for it +was built upon a precipitous eminence rising suddenly out of the midst of +the narrow strip of fertile land, the long and rising valley which, from +its lower extremity, conducted by many circuits to the Roman Campagna, +and which ended above in the first rough passes of the lower Abruzzi. The +base of the town extended into the vineyards and olive-orchards which +surrounded the little hill on all sides; and the summit of it was crowned +by the feudal palace-castle--an enormous building of solid stone, in the +style of the fifteenth century. Upon the same spot had formally stood a +rugged fortress, but the magnificent ideas of the Astrardente pope +had not tolerated such remains of barbarism; the ancient stronghold had +been torn down, and on its foundations rose a gigantic mansion, +consisting of a main palace, with great balconies and columned front, +overlooking the town, and of two massive wings leading back like towers +to the edge of the precipitous rock to northwards. Between these wings a +great paved court formed a sort of terrace, open upon one side, and +ornamented within with a few antique statues dug up upon the estates, and +with numerous plants, which the old duke had caused to be carefully +cultivated in vases, and which were only exposed upon the terrace during +the warm summer months. The view from the court was to the north--that is +to say, down the valley, comprehending ranges of hills that seemed to +cross and recross into the extreme distance, their outlines being each +time less clearly defined, as the masses in each succeeding range took a +softer purple hue. + +Within, the palace presented a great variety of apartments. There were +suites of vaulted rooms upon the lower floor, frescoed in the good manner +of the fifteenth century; there were other suites above, hung with +ancient tapestry and furnished with old-fashioned marble tables, and +mirrors in heavily gilt frames, and one entire wing had been lately +fitted up in the modern style. In this part of the house Corona +established herself with Sister Gabrielle, and began to lead a life of +regular occupations and profound retirement, which seemed to be rather a +continuation of her existence in the convent where she had been educated +as a girl, than to form any part in the life of the superb Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who for five years had been one of the most conspicuous +persons in society. Every morning at eight o'clock the two ladies, always +clad in deep black, attended the Mass which was celebrated for them in +the palace chapel. Then Corona walked for an hour with her companion upon +the terrace, or, if it rained, beneath the covered balconies upon the +south side. The morning hours she passed in solitude, reading such books +of devotion and serious matter as most suited the sad temper of her mind; +precisely at mid-day she and Sister Gabrielle breakfasted together in a +sort of solemn state; and at three o'clock the great landau, with its +black horses and mourning liveries, stood under the inner gate. The two +ladies appeared five minutes later, and by a gesture Corona indicated +whether she would be driven up or down the valley. The dashing equipage +descended the long smooth road that wound through the town, and returned +invariably at the end of two hours, again ascended the tortuous way, and +disappeared beneath the dark entrance. At six o'clock dinner was served, +with the same solemn state as attended the morning meal; Corona and +Sister Gabrielle remained together until ten, and the day was over. There +was no more variation in the routine of their lives than if they had been +moved by a machinery connected with the great castle clock overhead, +which chimed the hours and the quarters by day and night, and regulated +the doings of the town below. + +But in spite of this unchanging sequence of similar habit, the time +passed pleasantly for Corona. She had had too much of the brilliant +lights and the buzzing din of society for the last five years, too much +noise, too much idle talk, too much aimless movement; she needed rest, +too, from the constant strain of her efforts to fulfil her self-imposed +duties towards her husband--most of all, perhaps, she required a respite +from the sufferings she had undergone through her stifled love for +Giovanni Saracinesca. All this she found in the magnificent calm of +the life at Astrardente. She meditated long upon the memory of her +husband, recalling lovingly those things which had been most worthy in +him, willingly forgetting his many follies and vanities and moments of +petulance. She went over in her mind the many and varied scenes of the +past, and learned to love the sweet and silent solitude of the present by +comparison of it with all the useless and noisy activity of the world she +had for a time abandoned. She had not expected to find anything more than +a passive companion in Sister Gabrielle; but in the course of their daily +converse she discovered in her a character of extreme refinement and +quick perception, a depth of human sympathy and a breadth of experience +which amazed her, and made her own views of things seem small. The Sister +was devout and rigid in the observance of the institutions of her order, +in so far as she was able to follow out the detail of religious +regulation without interfering with the convenience of her companion; +but in her conversation she showed an intimate knowledge of character +which was a constant source of pleasure to Corona, who told the Sister +long stories of people she had known for the sake of hearing her +admirable comments upon social questions. + +But besides her reading and her long hours of meditation and her talks +with Sister Gabrielle, Corona found occupation in the state of the town +below her residence. She attempted once or twice to visit the poor +cottages, in the hope of doing some good; but she found that she was +such an object of holy awe to the inmates that they were speechless in +her presence, or became so nervous in their desire to answer her +questions, that the information she was able to obtain concerning their +troubles was too vague to be of any use. + +The Italian peasant is not the same in all parts of the country, as is +generally supposed; and although the Tuscan, who is constantly brought +into familiar contact with his landlord, and acquires a certain pleasant +faith in him, grows eloquent upon the conditions of his being, the same +is not true of the rougher race that labours in the valleys of the Sabine +and the Samnite hills. The peasant of the Agro Romano is indeed capable +of civilisation and he is able to understand his superiors, provided that +he is gradually accustomed to seeing them: unfortunately this occurs but +rarely. Many of the great Roman landholders spend a couple of months of +every year upon their estates: old Astrardente had in his later years +gone to considerable expense in refitting and repairing the castle, but +he had done little for the town. Men like the Saracinesca, however, were +great exceptions at that time; though they travelled much abroad, they +often remained for many months in their rugged old fortress. They knew +the inhabitants of their lands far and wide, and were themselves not only +known but loved; they spent their money in improving the condition of +their peasants, in increasing the area of their forests, and in fostering +the fertility of the soil, but they cared nothing for adorning the grey +stone walls of their ancestors' stronghold. It had done well enough for a +thousand years, it would do well enough still; it had stood firm against +fierce sieges in the dark ages of the Roman baronry, it could afford to +stand unchanged in its monumental strength against the advancing sea of +nineteenth-century civilisation. They themselves, father and son, were +content with such practical improvements as they could introduce for the +good of their people and the enriching of their land; a manly race, +despising luxury, they cared little whether their home was thought +comfortable by the few guests they occasionally invited to spend a week +with them. They saw much of the peasantry, and went daily among them, +understanding their wants, and wisely promoting in their minds the belief +that land cannot prosper unless both landlord and tenant do their share. + +But Astrardente was a holding of a very different kind, and Corona, in +her first attempts at understanding the state of things, found herself +stopped by a dead wall of silence, beyond which she guessed that there +lay an undiscovered land of trouble. She knew next to nothing of the +condition of her people; she only imperfectly understood the relations in +which they actually stood to herself, the extent of her power over them, +and of their power over her. The mysteries of _emphyteusis, emphyteuma,_ +and _emphyteuta_ were still hidden to her, though her steward spoke of +them with surprising loquacity and fluency. She laboured hard to +understand the system upon which her tenants held their lands from her, +and it was some time before she succeeded. It is easier to explain the +matter at once than to follow Corona in her attempts to comprehend it. + +To judge from the terms employed, the system of holdings common in the +Pontifical States has descended without interruption from the time of the +Romans to the present day. As in old Roman law, _emphyteusis_, now spelt +_emfiteuse_, means the possession of rights over another person's land, +capable of transmission by inheritance; and to-day, as under the Romans, +the holder of such rights is called the _emphyteuta_, or _emfiteuta_. How +the Romans came to use Greek words in their tenant-law does not belong to +the matter in hand; these words are the only ones now in use in this part +of Italy, and they are used precisely as they were in remote times. + +A tenant may acquire rights of _emfiteuse_ directly from the owner +of the land, like an ordinary lease; or he may acquire them by +settlement--"squatting," as the popular term is. Wherever land is lying +waste, any one may establish himself upon it and cultivate it, on +condition of paying to the owner a certain proportion of the yield of the +land--generally one quarter--either in kind or in money. The landlord +may, indeed, refuse the right of settlement in the first instance, which +would very rarely occur, since most people who own barren tracts of rock +and heath are only too glad to promote any kind of cultivation. But when +the landlord has once allowed the right, the right itself is constituted +thereby into a possession of which the peasant may dispose as he pleases, +even by selling it to another. The law provides, however, that in case of +transfers by sale, the landlord shall receive one year's rent in kind or +in money in addition to the rent due, and this bonus is paid jointly by +the buyer and the seller according to agreement. Such holdings are +inherited from father to son for many generations, and are considered to +be perpetual leases. The landlord cannot expel a tenant except for +non-payment of rent during three consecutive years. In actual fact, the +right of the _emfiteuta_ in the soil is far more important than that of +the landlord; for the tenant can cheat his landlord as much as he +pleases, whereas the injustice of the law provides that under no +circumstances whatsoever shall the landlord cheat the tenant. In actual +fact, also, the rents are universally paid in kind, and the peasant eats +what remains of the produce, so that very little cash is seen in the +land. + +Corona discovered that the income she enjoyed from the lands of +Astrardente was collected by the basketful from the threshing-floors, and +by the barrel from the vineyards of some two hundred tenants. It was a +serious matter to gather from two hundred threshing-floors precisely a +quarter of the grain threshed, and from fifty or sixty vineyards +precisely a quarter of the wine made in each. The peasants all made their +wine at the same time, and all threshed their grain in the same week. If +the agent was not on the spot during the threshing and the vintage, the +peasant had no difficulty whatever in hiding a large quantity of his +produce. As the rent was never fixed, but depended solely on the yield of +the year, it was preeminently to the advantage of the tenant to throw +dust in the eyes of the landlord whenever he got a chance. The landlord +found the business of watching his tenants tedious and unprofitable, and +naturally resorted to the crowning evil of agricultural evils--the +employment of a rent-farmer. The latter, at all events, was willing to +pay a fixed sum yearly; and if the sum paid was generally considerably +below the real value of the rents, the arrangement at least assured a +fixed income to the landlord, with the certainty of getting it without +trouble to himself. The middleman then proceeded to grind the tenants at +his leisure and discretion in order to make the best of his bargain. The +result was, that while the tenant starved and the landlord got less than +his due in consideration of being saved from annoyance, the middleman +gradually accumulated money. + +Upon this system nine-tenths of the land in the Pontifical States was +held, and much of the same land is so held to-day, in spite of the modern +tenant-law, for reasons which will be clearly explained in another part +of this history. Corona saw and understood that the evil was very great. +She discussed the matter with her steward, or _ministro_ as he was +called, who was none other than the aforesaid middleman; and the more she +discussed the question, the more hopeless the question appeared. The +steward held a contract from her dead husband for a number of years. He +had regularly paid the yearly sums agreed upon, and it would be +impossible to remove him for several years to come. He, of course, was +strenuously opposed to any change, and did his best to make himself +appear as an angel of mercy and justice, presiding over a happy family of +rejoicing peasants in the heart of a terrestrial paradise. Unfortunately +for himself, however, he had not at first understood the motive which +prompted Corona's inquiries. He supposed in the beginning that she was +not satisfied with the amount of rent he paid, and that at the expiration +of his contract she intended to raise the sum; so that, on the first +occasion when she sent for him, he had drawn a piteous picture of the +peasant's condition, and had expatiated with eloquence on his own +poverty, and on the extreme difficulty of collecting any rents at all. It +was not until he discovered that Corona's chief preoccupation was for the +welfare of her tenants that he changed his tactics, and endeavoured to +prove that all was for the best upon the best of all possible estates. + +Then, to his great astonishment, Corona informed him that his contract +would not be renewed, and that at the expiration of his term she would +collect her rents herself. It had taken her long to understand the +situation, but when she had comprehended it, she made up her mind that +something must be done. If her fortune had depended solely upon the +income she received from the Astrardente lands, she would have made up +her mind to reduce herself to penury rather than allow things to go in +the way they were going. Fortunately she was rich, and if she had not all +the experience necessary to deal with such matters, she had plenty of +goodwill, plenty of generosity, and plenty of money. In her simple +theory of agrarian economy the best way to improve an estate seemed to be +to spend the income arising from it directly upon its improvement, until +she could take the whole management of it into her own hands. The +trouble, as she thought, was that there was too little money among the +peasants; the best way to help them was to put money within their reach. +The only question was how to do this without demoralising them, and +without increasing their liabilities towards the _ministro_ or middleman. + +Then she sent for the curate. From him she learned that the people did +well enough in the summer, but that the winter was dreaded. She asked +why. He answered that they were not provident; that the land system was +bad; and that even if they saved anything the _ministro_ would take it +from them. She inquired whether he thought it possible to induce them to +be more thrifty. He thought it might be done in ten years, but not in +one. + +"In that case," said Corona, "the only way to improve their condition is +to give them work in the winter. I will make roads through the estate, +and build large dwelling-houses in the town. There shall be work enough +for everybody." + +It was a simple plan, but it was destined to be carried into execution, +and to change the face of the Astrardente domain in a few years. Corona +sent to Rome for an engineer who was also a good architect, and she set +herself to study the possibilities of the place, giving the man +sufficient scope, and only insisting that there should be no labour and +no material imported from beyond the limits of her lands. This provided +her with an occupation whereby the time passed quickly enough. + +The Lenten season ended, and Eastertide ran swiftly on to Pentecost. The +early fruit-trees blossomed white, and the flowers fell in a snow-shower +to the ground, to give place to the cherries and the almonds and the +pears. The brown bramble-hedges turned leafy, and were alive with little +birds; and the great green lizards shot across the woodland paths upon +the hillside, and caught the flies that buzzed noisily in the spring +sunshine. The dried-up vines put forth tiny leaves, and the maize shot +suddenly up to the sun out of the rich furrows, like myriads of brilliant +green poignards piercing the brown skin of the earth. By the roadside the +grass grew high, and the broad shallow brooks shrank to narrow rivulets, +and disappeared in the overgrowing rushes before the increasing heat of +the climbing sun. + +Corona's daily round of life never changed, but as the months wore on, a +stealing thought came often and often again--shy, as though fearing to be +driven away; silent at first, as a shadow in a dream, but taking form and +reality from familiarity with its own self, and speaking intelligible +words, saying at last plainly, "Will he keep his promise? Will he never +come?" + +But he came not as the fresh colours of spring deepened with the rich +maturity of summer; and Corona, gazing down the valley, saw the change +that came over the fair earth, and half guessed the change that was +coming over her own life. She had sought solitude instinctively, but +she had not known what it would bring her. She had desired to honour her +dead husband by withdrawing from the world for a time and thinking of him +and remembering him. She had done so, but the youth in her rebelled at +last against the constant memory of old age--of an old age, too, which +had passed away from her and was dead for ever. + +It was right to dwell for a time upon the thought of her widowhood, but +the voice said it would not be always right. The calm and noiseless tide +of the old man's ceasing life had ebbed slowly and reluctantly from her +shore, and she had followed the sad sea in her sorrow to the furthest +verge of its retreat; but as she stood upon the edge of the stagnant +waters, gazing far out and trying to follow even further the slow +subsiding ooze, the tide had turned upon her unawares, the fresh seaward +breeze sprang up and broke the dead calm with the fresh motion of crisp +ripples that once more flowed gladly over the dreary sand, and the waters +of life plashed again and laughed gladly together around her feet. + +The thought of Giovanni--the one thought that again and again kept +recurring in her mind--grew very sweet,--as sweet as it had once been +bitter. There was nothing to stop its growth now, and she let it have its +way. What did it matter, so long as he did not come near her--for the +present? Some day he would come; she wondered when, and how long he would +keep his promise. But meanwhile she was not unhappy, and she went about +her occupations as before; only sometimes she would go alone at evening +to the balcony that faced the higher mountains, and there she would stand +for half an hour gazing southward towards the precipitous rocks that +caught the red glare of the sinking sun, and she asked herself if he were +there, or whether, as report had told her, he were in the far north. +It was but half a day's ride over the hills, he had said. But strain her +sight as she would, she could not pierce the heavy crags nor see into the +wooded dells beyond. He had said he would pass the summer there; had he +changed his mind? + +But she was not unhappy. There was that in her which forbade unhappiness, +which would have broken out into great joy if she would have let it; but +yet she would not. It was too soon yet to say aloud what she said in her +heart daily, that she loved Giovanni with a great love, and that she knew +she was free to love him. In that thought there was enough of joy. But he +might come if he would; her anger would not be great if he broke his +promise now, he had kept it so long--six whole months. But by-and-by, +as the days passed, the first note of happiness was marred by the +discordant ring of a distant fear. What if she had too effectually +forbidden him to see her? What if he had gone out disappointed of all +hope, and was really in distant Scandinavia, as the papers said, risking +his life in mad adventures? + +But after all, that was not what she feared. He was strong, young, +brave--he had survived a thousand dangers, he would survive these also. +There arose between her and the thought of him an evil shadow, the image +of a woman, and it took the shape of Donna Tullia so vividly that she +could see the red lips move and almost hear the noisy laugh. She was +angry with herself at the idea, but it recurred continually and gave her +pain, and the pain grew to an intolerable fear. She began to feel that +she must know where he was, at any cost, or she could have no peace. She +was restless and nervous, and began to be absent-minded in her +conversation with Sister Gabrielle. The good woman saw it, and advised a +little change--anything, an excursion of a day for instance. Corona, she +said, was too young to lead this life. + +Her mind leaped at the idea. It was but half a day's ride, he had said; +she would climb those hills and look down upon Saracinesca--only once. +She might perhaps meet some peasant, and by a careless inquiry she would +learn whether he was there--or would be there in the summer. No one would +know; and besides, Sister Gabrielle had said that an excursion would do +Corona good. Sister Gabrielle had probably never heard that Saracinesca +was so near, and she certainly would not guess that the Duchessa had any +interest in its lord. She announced her intention, and the Sister +approved--she herself, she said, was too weak to undergo the fatigue. + +On the following morning, Corona alone entered her carriage and was +driven many miles up the southward hills, till the road was joined by a +broad bridle-path that led eastwards towards the Abruzzi. Here she was +met by a party of horsemen, her own _guardiani_, or forest-keepers, as +they are called, in rough dark-blue coats and leathern gaiters. Each man +wore upon his breast a round plate of chiselled silver, bearing the arms +of the Astrardente; each had a long rifle slung behind him, and carried a +holster at the bow of his huge saddle. A couple of sturdy black-browed +peasants held a mule by the bridle, heavily caparisoned in the old +fashion, under a great red velvet Spanish saddle, with long tarnished +trappings that had once been embroidered with silver. A little knot of +peasants and ragged boys stood all around watching the preparations +with interest, and commenting audibly upon the beauty of the great lady. + +Corona mounted from a stone by the wayside, and the young men led her +beast up the path. She smiled to herself, for she had never done such a +thing before, but she was not uneasy in the company of her rough-looking +escort. She knew well enough that she was as safe with them as in her own +house. + +As the bridle-path wound up from the road, the country grew more rugged, +the vegetation more scanty, and the stones more plentiful. It was a +wilderness of rocky desolation; as far as one could see there was no sign +of humanity, not a soul upon the solitary road, not a living thing upon +the desolate hills that rose on either side in jagged points to the sky. +Corona talked a little with the head-keeper who rode beside her with a +slack rein, letting his small mountain horse pick its own way over the +rough path. He told her that few people ever passed that way. It was the +short road to Saracinesca. The princes sometimes sent their carriage +round by the longer way and rode over the hills; and in the vintage-time +there was some traffic, as many of the smaller peasants carried grapes +across the pass to the larger wine-presses, and sold them outright. It +was not a dangerous road, for the very reason that it was so +unfrequented. The Duchessa explained that she only wanted to see the +valley beyond from the summit of the pass, and would then return. It was +past mid-day when the party reached the highest point,--a depression +between the crags just wide enough to admit one loaded mule. The keeper +said she could see Saracinesca from the end of the narrow way, before the +descent began. She uttered an exclamation of surprise as she reached the +spot. + +Scarcely a quarter of a mile to the right, at the extremity of a broad +hill-road, she saw the huge towers of Saracinesca, grey and storm-beaten, +rising out of a thick wood. The whole intervening space--and indeed the +whole deep valley as far as she could see--was an unbroken forest of +chestnut-trees. Here and there below the castle the houses of the town +showed their tiled gables, but the mass of the buildings was hidden +completely from sight. Corona had had no idea that she should find +herself so near to the place, and she was seized with a sudden fear lest +Giovanni should appear upon the long straight path that led into the +trees. She drew back a little among her followers. + +"Are the princes there now?" she asked of the head-keeper. + +He did not know; but a moment later a peasant, riding astride of a bag of +corn upon his donkey's back, passed along the straight road by the +entrance to the bridle-path. The keeper hailed him, and put the question. +Seeing Corona upon her mule, surrounded by armed men in livery, the man +halted, and pulled off his soft black-cloth hat. + +Both the princes were in Saracinesca, he said. The young prince had been +there ever since Easter. They were busy building an aqueduct which was to +supply the whole town with water; it was to pass above, up there among +the woods. The princes went almost every day to visit the works. Her +Excellency might, perhaps, find them there now, or if not, they were at +the castle. + +But her Excellency had no intention of finding them. She gave the fellow +a coin, and beat a somewhat hasty retreat. Her followers were silent men, +accustomed to obey, and they followed her down the steep path without +even exchanging a word among themselves. Beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock she halted, and, dismounting from her mule, was served +with the lunch that had been brought. She ate little, and then sat +thoughtfully contemplating the bare stones, while the men at a little +distance hastily disposed of the remains of her meal. She had experienced +an extraordinary emotion on finding herself suddenly so near to Giovanni; +it was almost as though she had seen him, and her heart beat fast, while +a dark flush rose from time to time to her cheek. It would have been so +natural that he should pass that way, just as she was halting at the +entrance to the bridle-path. How unspeakably dreadful it would have been +to be discovered thus spying out his dwelling-place when she had so +strictly forbidden him to attempt to see her! The blush burned upon her +cheeks--she had done a thing so undignified, so ill befitting her +magnificent superiority. For a moment she was desperately ashamed. But +for all that, she could not repress the glad delight she felt at +knowing that he was there after all; that, if he had kept his word, in +avoiding her, he had, nevertheless, also fulfilled his intention of +spending the summer in Saracinesca. He had even been there since Easter, +and the story of his going to the North had been a mere invention of the +newspapers. She could not understand his conduct, nor why he had gone to +Paris--a fact attested by people who knew him. It had probably been for +some matter of business--that excuse which, in a woman's mind, explains +almost any sudden journey a man may undertake. But he was there in the +castle now, and her heart was satisfied. + +The men packed the things in the basket, and Corona was helped upon her +mule. Slowly the party descended the steep path that grew broader and +more practicable as they neared the bottom; there the carriage awaited +her, and soon she was bowling along the smooth road towards home, leaving +far behind her the mounted guards, the peasants, and her slow-paced mule. +The sun was low when the carriage rolled under the archway of +Astrardente. Sister Gabrielle said Corona looked much the better for her +excursion, and she added that she must be very strong to bear such +fatigue so well. And the next day--and for many days--the Sister noticed +the change in her hostess's manner, and promised herself that if the +Duchessa became uneasy again she would advise another day among the +hills, so wonderful was the effect of a slight change from the ordinary +routine of her life. + +That night old Saracinesca and his son sat at dinner in a wide hall of +their castle. The faithful Pasquale served them as solemnly as he was +used to do in Rome. This evening he spoke again. He had ventured no +remark since he had informed them of the Duca d'Astrardente's death. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon," he began, adopting his usual formula +of apologetic address. + +"Well, Pasquale, what is it?" asked old Saracinesca. + +"I did not know whether your Excellency was aware that the Duchessa +d'Astrardente had been here to-day." + +"What?" roared the Prince. + +"You must be mad, Pasquale?" exclaimed Giovanni in a low voice. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon if I am wrong, but this is how I know. +Gigi Secchi, the peasant from Aquaviva in the lower forest, brought a bag +of corn to the mill to-day, and he told the miller, and the miller told +Ettore, and Ettore told Nino, and Nino told--" + +"What the devil did he tell him?" interrupted old Saracinesca. + +"Nino told the cook's boy," continued Pasquale unmoved, "and the cook's +boy told me, your Excellency, that Gigi was passing along the road to +Serveti coming here, when he was stopped by a number of _guardiani_ who +accompanied a beautiful dark lady in black, who rode upon a mule, and the +_guardiani_ asked him if your Excellencies were at Saracinesca; and when +he said you were, the lady gave him a coin, and turned at once and rode +down the bridle-path towards Astrardente, and he said the _guardiani_ +were those of the Astrardente, because he remembered to have seen one of +them, who has a scar over his left eye, at the great fair at Genazzano +last year. And that is how I heard." + +"That is a remarkable narrative, Pasquale," answered the Prince, laughing +loudly, "but it seems very credible. Go and send for Gigi Secchi if he is +still in the neighbourhood, and bring him here, and let us have the story +from his own lips." + +When they were alone the two men looked at each other for a moment, and +then old Saracinesca laughed again; but Giovanni looked very grave, and +his face was pale. Presently his father became serious again. + +"If this thing is true," he said, "I would advise you, Giovanni, to pay a +visit to the other side of the hills. It is time." + +Giovanni was silent for a moment. He was intensely interested in the +situation, but he could not tell his father that he had promised Corona +not to see her, and he had not yet explained to himself her sudden +appearance so near Saracinesca. + +"I think it would be better for you to go first," he said to his father. +"But I am not at all sure this story is true." + +"I? Oh, I will go when you please," returned the old man, with another +laugh. He was always ready for anything active. + +But Gigi Secchi could not be found. He had returned to Aquaviva at once, +and it was not easy to send a message. Two days later, however, Giovanni +took the trouble of going to the man's home. He was not altogether +surprised when Gigi confirmed Pasquale's tale in every particular. +Corona had actually been at Saracinesca to find out if Giovanni was there +or not; and on hearing that he was at the castle, she had fled +precipitately. Giovanni was naturally grave and of a melancholy temper; +but during the last few months he had been more than usually taciturn, +occupying himself with dogged obstinacy in the construction of his +aqueduct, visiting the works in the day and spending hours in the evening +over the plans. He was waiting. He believed that Corona cared for him, +and he knew that he loved her, but for the present he must wait +patiently, both for the sake of his promise and for the sake of a decent +respect of her widowhood. In order to wait he felt the necessity of +constant occupation, and to that end he had set himself resolutely to +work with his father, whose ideal dream was to make Saracinesea the most +complete and prosperous community in that part of the mountains. + +"I think if you would go over," he said, at the end of a week, "it would +be much better. I do not want to intrude myself upon her at present, and +you could easily find out whether she would like to see me. After all, +she may have been merely making an excursion for her amusement, and +may have chanced upon us by accident. I have often noticed how suddenly +one comes in view of the castle from that bridle-path." + +"On the other hand," returned the Prince with a smile, "any one would +tell her that the path leads nowhere except to Saracinesca. But I will go +to-morrow," he added. "I will set your mind at rest in twenty-four +hours." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Old Saracinesca kept his word, and on the following morning, eight days +after Corona's excursion upon the hills, he rode down to Astrardente, +reaching the palace at about mid-day. He sent in his card, and stood +waiting beneath the great gate, beating the dust from his boots with his +heavy whip. His face looked darker than ever, from constant exposure to +the sun, and his close-cropped hair and short square beard had turned +even whiter than before in the last six months, but his strong form was +erect, and his step firm and elastic. He was a remarkable old man; many a +boy of twenty might have envied his strength and energetic vitality. + +Corona was at her mid-day breakfast with Sister Gabrielle, when the old +Prince's card was brought. She started at the sight of the name; and +though upon the bit of pasteboard she read plainly enough, "_Il Principe +di Saracinesca_," she hesitated, and asked the butler if it was really +the Prince. He said it was. + +"Would you mind seeing him?" she asked of Sister Gabrielle. "He is an old +gentleman," she added, in explanation--"a near neighbour here in the +mountains." + +Sister Gabrielle had no objection. She even remarked that it would do the +Duchessa good to see some one. + +"Ask the Prince to come in, and put another place at the table," said +Corona. + +A moment later the old man entered, and Corona rose to receive him. There +was something refreshing in the ring of his deep voice and the clank of +his spurs as he crossed the marble floor. + +"Signora Duchessa, you are very good to receive me. I did not know that +this was your breakfast-hour. Ah!" he exclaimed, glancing at Sister +Gabrielle, who had also risen to her feet, "good day, my Sister." + +"Sister Gabrielle," said Corona, as an introduction; "she is good enough +to be my companion in solitude." + +To tell the truth, Corona felt uneasy; but the sensation was somehow +rather pleasurable, although it crossed her mind that the Prince might +have heard of her excursion, and had possibly come to find out why she +had been so near to his place. She boldly faced the situation. + +"I nearly came upon you the other day as unexpectedly as you have visited +me," she said with a smile. "I had a fancy to look over into your valley, +and when I reached the top of the hill I found I was almost in your +house." + +"I wish you had quite been there," returned the Prince. "Of course I +heard that you had been seen, and we guessed you had stumbled upon us in +some mountain excursion. My son rode all the way to Aquaviva to see the +man who had spoken with you." + +Saracinesca said this as though it were perfectly natural, helping +himself to the dish the servant offered him. But when he looked up he saw +that Corona blushed beneath her dark skin. + +"It is such a very sudden view at that point," she said, nervously, "that +I was startled." + +"I wish you had preserved your equanimity to the extent of going a little +further. Saracinesca has rarely been honoured with the visit of a +Duchessa d'Astrardente. But since you have explained your visit--or the +visit which you did not make--I ought to explain mine. You must know, in +the first place, that I am not here by accident, but by intention, +preconceived, well pondered, and finally executed to my own complete +satisfaction. I came, not to get a glimpse of your valley nor a distant +view of your palace, but to see you, yourself. Your hospitality in +receiving me has therefore crowned and complimented the desire I had of +seeing you." + +Corona laughed a little. + +"That is a very pretty speech," she said. + +"Which you would have lost if you had not received me," he answered, +gaily. "I have not done yet. I have many pretty speeches for you. The +sight of you induces beauty in language as the sun in May makes the +flowers open." + +"That is another," laughed Corona. "Do you spend your days in studying +the poets at Saracinesca? Does Don Giovanni study with you?" + +"Giovanni is a fact," returned the Prince; "I am a fable. Old men are +always fables, for they represent, in a harmless form, the follies of all +mankind; their end is always in itself a moral, and young people can +learn much by studying them." + +"Your comparison is witty," said Corona, who was much amused at old +Saracinesca's conversation; "but I doubt whether you are so harmless as +you represent. You are certainly not foolish, and I am not sure whether, +as a study for the young--" she hesitated, and laughed. + +"Whether extremely young persons would have the wit to comprehend virtue +by the concealment of it--to say, as that witty old Roman said, that the +images of Cassius and Brutus were more remarkable than those of any one +else, for the very reason that they were nowhere to be seen--like my +virtues? Giovanni, for instance, is the very reverse of me in that, +though he has shown such singularly bad taste in resembling my outward +man." + +"One should never conceal virtues," said Sister Gabrielle, gently. "One +should not hide one's light under a basket, you know." + +"My Sister," replied the old Prince, his black eyes twinkling merrily, +"if I had in my whole composition as much light as would enable you to +read half-a-dozen words in your breviary, it should be at your disposal. +I would set it in the midst of Piazza Colonna, and call it the most +wonderful illumination on record. Unfortunately my light, like the +lantern of a solitary miner, is only perceptible to myself, and dimly at +that." + +"You must not depreciate yourself so very much," said Corona. + +"No; that is true. You will either believe I am speaking the truth, or +you will not. I do not know which would be the worse fate. I will change +the subject. My son Giovanni, Duchessa, desires to be remembered in your +good graces." + +"Thanks. How is he?" + +"He is well, but the temper of him is marvellously melancholy. He is +building an aqueduct, and so am I. The thing is accomplished by his +working perpetually while I smoke cigarettes and read novels." + +"The division of labour is to your advantage, I should say," remarked +Corona. + +"Immensely, I assure you. He promotes the natural advantages of my lands, +and I encourage the traffic in tobacco and literature. He works from +morning till night, is his own engineer, contractor, overseer, and +master-mason. He does everything, and does it well. If we were less +barbarous in our bachelor establishment I would ask you to come and see +us--in earnest this time--and visit the work we are doing. It is well +worth while. Perhaps you would consent as it is. We will vacate the +castle for your benefit, and mount guard outside the gates all night." + +Again Corona blushed. She would have given anything to go, but she felt +that it was impossible. + +"I would like to go," she said. "If one could come back the same day." + +"You did before," remarked Saracinesca, bluntly. + +"But it was late when I reached home, and I spent no time at all there." + +"I know you did not," laughed the old man. "You gave Gigi Secchi some +money, and then fled precipitately." + +"Indeed I was afraid you would suddenly come upon me, and I ran away," +answered Corona, laughing in her turn, as the dark blood rose to her +olive cheeks. + +"As my amiable ancestors did in the same place when anybody passed with a +full purse," suggested Saracinesca. "But we have improved a little since +then. We would have asked you to breakfast. Will you come?" + +"I do not like to go alone; I cannot, you see. Sister Gabrielle could +never ride up that hill on a mule." + +"There is a road for carriages," said the Prince. "I will propose +something in the way of a compromise. I will bring Giovanni down with me +and our team of mountain horses. Those great beasts of yours cannot do +this kind of work. We will take you and Sister Gabrielle up almost as +fast as you could go by the bridle-path." "And back on the same day?" +asked Corona. + +"No; on the next day." + +"But I do not see where the compromise is," she replied. "Sister +Gabrielle is at once the compromise and the cause that you will not be +compromised. I beg her pardon--" + +Both ladies laughed. + +"I will be very glad to go," said the Sister. "I do not see that there is +anything extraordinary in the Prince's proposal." + +"My Sister," returned Saracinesca, "you are on the way to saintship; you +already enjoy the beatific vision; you see with a heavenly perspicuity." + +"It is a charming proposition," said Corona; "but in that case you will +have to come down the day before." She was a little embarrassed. + +"We will not invade the cloister," answered the Prince. "Giovanni and I +will spend the night in concocting pretty speeches, and will appear armed +with them at dawn before your gates." + +"There is room in Astrardente," replied Corona. "You shall not lack +hospitality for a night. When will you come?" + +"To-morrow evening, if you please. A good thing should be done quickly, +in order not to delay doing it again." + +"Do you think I would go again?" + +Saracinesca fixed his black eyes on Corona's, and gazed at her some +seconds before he answered. + +"Madam," he said at last, very gravely, "I trust you will come again and +stay longer." + +"You are very good," returned Corona, quietly. "At all events, I will go +this first time." + +"We will endeavour to show our gratitude by making you comfortable," +answered the Prince, resuming his former tone. "You shall have a mass in +the morning and a litany in the evening. We are godless fellows up +there, but we have a priest." + +"You seem to associate our comfort entirely with religious services," +laughed Corona. "But you are very considerate." + +"I see the most charming evidence of devotion at your side," he replied; +"Sister Gabrielle is both the evidence of your piety and is in herself +an exposition of the benefits of religion. There shall be other +attractions, however, besides masses and litanies." + +Breakfast being ended, Sister Gabrielle left the two together. They went +from the dining-room to the great vaulted hall of the inner building. It +was cool there, and there were great old arm-chairs ranged along the +walls. The closed blinds admitted a soft green light from the hot noonday +without. Corona loved to walk upon the cool marble floor; she was a very +strong and active woman, delighting in mere motion--not restless, but +almost incapable of weariness; her movements not rapid, but full of grace +and ease. Saracinesca walked by her side, smoking thoughtfully for some +minutes. + +"Duchessa," he said at last, glancing at her beautiful face, "things are +greatly changed since we met last. You were angry with me then. I do not +know whether you were so justly, but you were very angry for a few +moments. I am going to return to the subject now; I trust you will not be +offended with me." + +Corona trembled for a moment, and was silent. She would have prevented +him from going on, but before she could find the words she sought he +continued. + +"Things are much changed, in some respects; in others, not at all. It is +but natural to suppose that in the course of time you will think of the +possibility of marrying again. My son, Duchessa, loves you very truly. +Pardon me, it is no disrespect to you, now, that he should have told me +so. I am his father, and I have no one else to care for. He is too honest +a gentleman to have spoken of his affection for you at an eailier period, +but he has told me of it now." + +Corona stood still in the midst of the great hall, and faced the old +Prince. She had grown pale while he was speaking. Still she was silent. + +"I have nothing more to say--that is all," said Saracinesca, gazing +earnestly into the depths of her eyes. "I have nothing more to say." + +"Do you then mean to repeat the warning you once gave me?" asked Corona, +growing whiter still. "Do you mean to imply that there is danger to your +son?" + +"There is danger--great danger for him, unless you will avert it." + +"And how?" asked Corona, in a low voice. + +"Madam, by becoming his wife." + +Corona started and turned away in great agitation. Saracinesca stood +still while she slowly walked a few steps from him. She could not speak. + +"I could say a great deal more, Duchessa," he said, as she came back +towards him. "I could say that the marriage is not only fitting in every +other way, but is also advantageous from a worldly point of view. You +are sole mistress of Astrardente; my son will before long be sole master +of Saracinesca. Our lands are near together--that is a great advantage, +that question of fortune. Again, I would observe that, with your +magnificent position, you could not condescend to accept a man of lower +birth than the highest in the country. There is none higher than the +Saracinesca--pardon my arrogance,--and among princes there is no braver, +truer gentleman than my son Giovanni. I ask no pardon for saying that; I +will maintain it against all comers. I forego all questions of advantage, +and base my argument upon that. He is the best man I know, and he loves +you devotedly." + +"Is he aware that you are here for this purpose?" asked Corona, suddenly. +She spoke with a great effort. + +"No. He knows that I am here, and was glad that I came. He desired me to +ascertain if you would see him. He would certainly not have thought of +addressing you at present. I am an old man, and I feel that I must do +things quickly. That is my excuse." + +Corona was again silent. She was too truthful to give an evasive answer, +and yet she hesitated to speak. The position was an embarrassing one; she +was taken unawares, and was terrified at the emotion she felt. It had +never entered her mind that the old Prince could appear on his son's +behalf, and she did not know how to meet him. + +"I have perhaps been too abrupt," said Saracinesca. "I love my son very +dearly, and his happiness is more to me than what remains of my own. If +from the first you regard my proposition as an impossible one, I would +spare him the pain of a humiliation,--I fear I could not save him from +the rest, from a suffering that might drive him mad. It is for this +reason that I implore you, if you are able, to give me some answer, not +that I may convey it to him, but in order that I may be guided in future. +He cannot forget you; but he has not seen you for six months. To see you +again if he must leave you for ever, would only inflict a fresh wound." +He paused, while Corona slowly walked by his side. + +"I do not see why I should conceal the truth, from you," she said at +last. "I cannot conceal it from myself. I am not a child that I should +be ashamed of it. There is nothing wrong in it--no reason why it should +not be. You are honest, too--why should we try to deceive ourselves? I +trust to your honour to be silent, and I own that I--that I love your +son." + +Corona stood still and turned her face away, as the burning blush rose to +her cheeks. The answer she had given was characteristic of her, +straightforward and honest. She was not ashamed of it, and yet the words +were so new, so strange in their sound, and so strong in their meaning, +that she blushed as she uttered them. Saracinesca was greatly surprised, +too, for he had expected some evasive turn, some hint that he might bring +Giovanni. But his delight had no bounds. + +"Duchessa," he said, "the happiest day I can remember was when I brought +home my wife to Saracinesca. My proudest day will be that on which my son +enters the same gates with you by his side." + +He took her hand and raised it to his lips, with a courteous gesture. + +"It will be long before that--it must be very long," answered Corona. + +"It shall be when you please, Madam, provided it is at last. Meanwhile we +will come down to-morrow, and take you to our tower. Do you understand +now why I said that I hoped you would come again and stay longer? I +trust you have not changed your mind in regard to the excursion." + +"No. We will expect you to-morrow night. Remember, I have been honest +with you--I trust to you to be silent." + +"You have my word. And now, with your permission, I will return to +Saracinesca. Believe me, the news that you expect us will be good enough +to tell Giovanni." + +"You may greet him from me. But will you not rest awhile before you ride +back? You must be tired." + +"No fear of that!" answered the Prince. "You have put a new man into an +old one. I shall never tire of bearing the news of your greetings." + +So the old man left her, and mounted his horse and rode up the pass. But +Corona remained for hours in the vaulted hall, pacing up and down. It had +come too soon--far too soon. And yet, how she had longed for it! +how she had wondered whether it would ever come at all! + +The situation was sufficiently strange, too. Giovanni had once told her +of his love, and she had silenced him. He was to tell her again, and she +was to accept what he said. He was to ask her to marry him, and her +answer was a foregone conclusion. It seemed as though this greatest event +of her life were planned to the very smallest details beforehand; as +though she were to act a part which she had studied, and which was yet no +comedy because it was the expression of her life's truth. The future had +been, as it were, prophesied and completely foretold to her, and held no +surprises; and yet it was more sweet to think of than all the past +together. She wondered how he would say it, what his words would be, how +he would look, whether he would again be as strangely violent as he +had been that night at the Palazzo Frangipani. She wondered, most of all, +how she would answer him. But it would be long yet. There would be many +meetings, many happy days before that happiest day of all. + +Sister Gabrielle saw a wonderful change in Corona's face that afternoon +when they drove up the valley together, and she remarked what wonderful +effect a little variety had upon her companion's spirits--she could not +say upon her health, for Corona seemed made of velvet and steel, so +smooth and dark, and yet so supple and strong. Corona smiled brightly as +she looked far up at the beetling crags behind which Saracinesca was +hidden. + +"We shall be up there the day after to-morrow," she said. "How strange it +will seem!" And leaning back, her deep eyes flashed, and she laughed +happily. + +On the following evening, again, they drove along the road that led up +the valley. But they had not gone far when they saw in the distance a +cloud of dust, from which in a few moments emerged a vehicle drawn by +three strong horses, and driven by Giovanni Saracinesca himself. His +father sat beside him in front, and a man in livery was seated at the +back, with a long rifle between his knees. The vehicle was a kind of +double cart, capable of holding four persons, and two servants at the +back. + +In a moment the two carriages met and stopped side by side. Giovanni +sprang from his seat, throwing the reins to his father, who stood up hat +in hand, and bowed from where he was. Corona held out her hand to +Giovanni as he stood bareheaded in the road beside her. One long look +told all the tale; there could be no words there before the Sister and +the old Prince, but their eyes told all--the pain of past separation, the +joy of two loving hearts that met at last without hindrance. + +"Let your servant drive, and get in with us," said Corona, who could +hardly speak in her excitement. Then she started slightly, and smiled in +her embarrassment. She had continued to hold Giovanni's hand, +unconsciously leaving her fingers in his. + +The Prince's groom climbed into the front seat, and old Saracinesca got +down and entered the landau. It was a strangely silent meeting, long +expected by the two who so loved each other--long looked for, but hardly +realised now that it had come. The Prince was the first to speak, +as usual. + +"You expected to meet us, Duchessa?" he said; "we expected to meet you. +An expectation fulfilled is better than a surprise. Everything at +Saracinesca is prepared for your reception. Don Angelo, our priest, has +been warned of your coming, and the boy who serves mass has been washed. +You may imagine that a great festivity is expected. Giovanni has turned +the castle inside out, and had a room hung entirely with tapestries of my +great-grandmother's own working. He says that since the place is so old, +its antiquity should be carried into the smallest details." + +Corona laughed gaily--she would have laughed at anything that day--and +the old Prince's tone was fresh and sparkling and merry. He had relieved +the first embarrassment of the situation. + +"There have been preparations at Astrardente for your reception, too," +answered the Duchessa. "There was a difficulty of choice, as there are +about a hundred vacant rooms in the house. The butler proposed to give +you a suite of sixteen to pass the night in, but I selected an airy +little nook in one of the wings, where you need only go through ten to +get to your bedroom." + +"There is nothing like space," said the Prince; "it enlarges the ideas." + +"I cannot imagine what my father would do if his ideas were extended," +remarked Giovanni. "Everything he imagines is colossal already. He talks +about tunnelling the mountains for my aqueduct, as though it were no more +trouble than to run a stick through a piece of paper." + +"Your aqueduct, indeed!" exclaimed his father. "I would like to know +whose idea it was?" + +"I hear you are working like an engineer yourself, Don Giovanni," said +Corona. "I have a man at work at Astrardente on some plans of roads. +Perhaps some day you could give us your advice." + +Some day! How sweet the words sounded to Giovanni as he sat opposite the +woman he loved, bowling along through the rich vine lands in the cool of +the summer evening! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The opportunity which Giovanni sought of being alone with Corona was long +in coming. Sister Gabrielle retired immediately after dinner, and the +Duchessa was left alone with the two men. Old Saracinesca would gladly +have left his son with the hostess, but the thing was evidently +impossible. The manners of the time would not allow it, and the result +was that the Prince spent the evening in making conversation for two +rather indifferent listeners. He tried to pick a friendly quarrel with +Giovanni, but the latter was too absent-minded even to be annoyed; he +tried to excite the Duchessa's interest, but she only smiled gently, +making a remark from time to time which was conspicuous for its +irrelevancy. But old Saracinesca was in a good humour, and he bore up +bravely until ten o'clock, when Corona gave the signal for retiring. They +were to start very early in the morning, she said, and she must have +rest. + +When the two men were alone, the Prince turned upon his son in semi-comic +anger, and upbraided him with his obstinate dulness during the evening. +Giovanni only smiled calmly, and shrugged his shoulders. There was +nothing more to be said. + +But on the following morning, soon after six o'clock, Giovanni had +the supreme satisfaction of installing Corona beside him upon the +driving-seat of his cart, while his father and Sister Gabrielle sat +together behind him. The sun was not yet above the hills, and the +mountain air was keen and fresh; the stamping of the horses sounded crisp +and sharp, and their bells rang merrily as they shook their sturdy necks +and pricked their short ears to catch Giovanni's voice. + +"Have you forgotten nothing, Duchessa?" asked Giovanni, gathering the +reins in his hand. + +"Nothing, thanks. I have sent our things on mules--by the bridle-path." +She smiled involuntarily as she recalled her adventure, and half turned +her face away. + +"Ah, yes--the bridle-path," repeated Giovanni, as he nodded to the groom +to stand clear of the horses' heads. In a moment they were briskly +descending the winding road through the town of Astrardente: the streets +were quiet and cool, for the peasants had all gone to their occupations +two hours before, and the children were not yet turned loose. + +"I never hoped to have the honour of myself driving you to Saracinesca," +said Giovanni. "It is a wild place enough, in its way. You will be able +to fancy yourself in Switzerland." + +"I would rather be in Italy," answered Corona. "I do not care for the +Alps. Our own mountains are as beautiful, and are not infested by +tourists." + +"You are a tourist to-day," said Giovanni. "And it has pleased Heaven to +make me your guide." + +"I will listen to your explanations of the sights with interest." + +"It is a reversal of the situation, is it not? When we last met, it was +you who guided me, and I humbly followed your instructions. I did +precisely as you told me." + +"Had I doubted that you would do as I asked, I would not have spoken," +answered Corona. + +"There was one thing you advised me to do which I have not even +attempted." + +"What was that?" + +"You told me to forget you. I have spent six months in constantly +remembering you, and in looking forward to this moment. Was I wrong?" + +"Of course," replied the Duchessa, with a little laugh. "You should by +this time have forgotten my existence. They said you were gone to the +North Pole--why did you change your mind?" + +"I followed my load-star. It led me from Rome to Saracinesca by the way +of Paris. I should have remained at Saracinesca--but you also changed +your mind. I began to think you never would." + +"How long do you think of staying up there?" asked Corona, to turn the +conversation. + +"Just so long as you stay at Astrardente," he answered. "You will not +forbid me to follow you to Rome?" + +"How can I prevent you if you choose to do it?" + +"By a word, as you did before." + +"Do you think I would speak that word?" she asked. + +"I trust not. Why should you cause me needless pain and suffering? It +was right then, it is not right now. Besides, you know me too well to +think that I would annoy you or thrust myself upon you. But I will do as +you wish." + +"Thank you," she said quietly. But she turned her dark face toward him, +and looked at him for a moment very gently, almost lovingly. Where was +the use of trying to conceal what would not be hidden? Every word he +spoke told of his unchanged love, although the phrases were short and +simple. Why should she conceal what she felt? She knew it was a foregone +conclusion. They loved each other, and she would certainly marry him in +the course of a year. The long pent up forces of her nature were +beginning to assert themselves; she had conquered and fought down her +natural being in the effort to be all things to her old husband, to +quench her growing interest in Giovanni, to resist his declared love, to +drive him from her in her widowhood; but now it seemed as though all +obstacles were suddenly removed. She saw clearly how well she loved him, +and it seemed folly to try and conceal it. As she sat by his side she +was unboundedly happy, as she had never been in her life before: the cool +morning breeze fanned her cheeks, and the music of his low voice soothed +her, while the delicious sense of rapid motion lent a thrill of pleasure +to every breath she drew. It was no matter what she said; it was as +though she spoke unconsciously. All seemed predestined and foreplanned +from all time, to be acted out to the end. The past vanished slowly as a +retreating landscape. The weary traveller, exhausted with the heat of the +scorching Campagna, slowly climbs the ascent towards Tivoli, the haven of +cool waters, and pausing now and then upon the path, looks back and sees +how the dreary waste of undulating hillocks beneath him seems gradually +to subside into a dim flat plain, while, in the far distance, the mighty +domes and towers of Rome dwindle to an unreal mirage in the warm haze of +the western sky; then advancing again, he feels the breath of the +mountains upon him, and hears the fresh plunge of the cold cataract, till +at last, when his strength is almost failing, it is renewed within him, +and the dust and the heat of the day's journey are forgotten in the +fulness of refreshment. So Corona d'Astrardente, wearied though not +broken by the fatigues and the troubles and the temptations of the past +five years, seemed suddenly to be taken up and borne swiftly through the +gardens of an earthly paradise, where there was neither care nor +temptation, and where, in the cool air of a new life, the one voice she +loved was ever murmuring gentle things to her willing ear. + +As the road began to ascend, sweeping round the base of the mountain and +upwards by even gradations upon its southern flank, the sun rose higher +in the heavens, and the locusts broke into their summer song among the +hedges with that even, long-drawn, humming note, so sweet to southern +ears. But Corona did not feel the heat, nor notice the dust upon the way; +she was in a new state, wherein such things could not trouble her. The +first embarrassment of a renewed intimacy was fast disappearing, and she +talked easily to Giovanni of many things, reviewing past scenes and +speaking of mutual acquaintances, turning the conversation when it +concerned Giovanni or herself too directly, yet ever and again coming +back to that sweet ground which was no longer dangerous now. At last, at +a turn in the road, the grim towers of ancient Saracinesca loomed in the +distance, and the carriage entered a vast forest of chestnut trees, shady +and cool after the sunny ascent. So they reached the castle, and the +sturdy horses sprang wildly forward up the last incline till their hoofs +struck noisily upon the flagstones of the bridge, and with a rush and a +plunge they dashed under the black archway, and halted in the broad court +beyond. + +Corona was surprised at the size of the old fortress. It seemed an +endless irregular mass of towers and buildings, all of rough grey stone, +surrounded by battlements and ramparts, kept in perfect repair, but +destitute of any kind of ornament whatever. It might have been even now a +military stronghold, and it was evident that there were traditions of +precision and obedience within its walls which would have done credit to +any barracks. The dominant temper of the master made itself felt at every +turn, and the servants moved quickly and silently about their duties. +There was something intensely attractive to Corona in the air of strength +that pervaded the place, and Giovanni had never seemed to her so manly +and so much in his element as under the grey walls of his ancestral home. +The place, too, was associated in history with so many events,--the two +men, Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca, stood there beside her, where their +ancestors of the same names had stood nearly a thousand years before, +their strong dark faces having the same characteristics that for +centuries had marked their race, features familiar to Romans by countless +statues and pictures, as the stones of Rome themselves--but for a detail +of dress, it seemed to Corona as though she had been suddenly transported +back to the thirteenth century. The idea fascinated her. The two men led +her up the broad stone staircase, and ushered her and Sister Gabrielle +into the apartments of state which had been prepared for them. + +"We have done our best," said the Prince, "but it is long since we have +entertained ladies at Saracinesca." + +"It is magnificent!" exclaimed Corona, as she entered the ante-chamber. +The walls were hung from end to end with priceless tapestries, and the +stone floor was covered with long eastern carpets. Corona paused. + +"You must show us all over the castle by-and-by," she said. + +"Giovanni will show you everything," answered the Prince. "If it pleases +you, we will breakfast in half-an-hour." He turned away with his son, and +left the two ladies to refresh themselves before the mid-day meal. + +Giovanni kept his word, and spared his guests no detail of the vast +stronghold, until at last poor Sister Gabrielle could go no farther. +Giovanni had anticipated that she would be tired, and with the +heartlessness of a lover seeking his opportunity, he had secretly longed +for the moment when she should, be obliged to stop. + +"You have not yet seen the view from the great tower," he said. "It is +superb, and this is the very best hour for it. Are you tired, Duchessa?" + +"No--I am never tired," answered Corona. + +"Why not go with Giovanni?" suggested the Prince. "I will stay with +Sister Gabrielle, who has nearly exhausted herself with seeing our +sights." + +Corona hesitated. The idea of being alone with Giovanni for a quarter of +an hour was delightful, but somehow it did not seem altogether fitting +for her to be wandering over the castle with him. On the other hand, to +refuse would seem almost an affectation: she was not in Rome, where her +every movement was a subject for remark; moreover, she was not only a +married woman, but a widow, and she had known Giovanni for years--it +would be ridiculous to refuse. + +"Very well," said she. "Let us see the view before it is too late." + +Sister Gabrielle and old Saracinesea sat down on a stone seat upon the +rampart to wait, and the Duchessa disappeared with Giovanni through the +low door that led into the great tower. + +"What a wonderful woman you are!" exclaimed Giovanni, as they reached the +top of the winding stair, which was indeed broader than the staircase of +many great houses in Rome. "You seem to be never tired." + +"No--I am very strong," answered Corona, with a smile. She was not even +out of breath. "What a wonderful view!" she exclaimed, as they emerged +upon the stone platform at the top of the tower. Giovanni was silent for +a moment. The two stood together and looked far out at the purple +mountains to eastward that caught the last rays of the sun high up above +the shadows of the valley; and then looking down, they saw the Prince and +the Sister a hundred feet below them upon the rampart. + +Both were thinking of the same thing: three days ago, their meeting had +seemed infinitely far off, a thing dreamed of and hoped for--and now they +were standing alone upon the topmost turret of Giovanni's house, familiar +with each other by a long day's conversation, feeling as though they had +never been parted, feeling also that most certainly they would not be +parted again. + +"It is very strange," said Giovanni, "how things happen in this world, +and how little we ever know of what is before us. Last week I wondered +whether I should ever see you--now I cannot imagine not seeing you. Is +it not strange?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, in a low voice. + +"That, yesterday, we should have seemed parted by an insurmountable +barrier, and that to-day--" he stopped. "Oh, if to-day could only last +for ever!" he exclaimed, suddenly. + +Corona gazed out upon the purple hills in silence, but her face caught +some of the radiance of the distant glow, and her dark eyes had strange +lights in them. She could not have prevented him from speaking; she had +loosed the bonds that had held her life so long; the anchor was up, and +the breath of love fanned the sails, and gently bore the craft in which +she trusted out to seaward over the fair water. In seeing him she had +resigned herself to him, and she could not again get the mastery if she +would. It had come too soon, but it was sweet. + +"And why not?" he said, very softly. "Why should it not remain so for +ever--till our last breath? Why will you not let it last?" + +Still she was silent; but the tears gathered slowly in her eyes, and +welled over and lay upon her velvet cheek like dewdrops on the leaves of +a soft dark tulip. Giovanni saw them, and knew that they were the jewels +which crowned his life. + +"You will," he said, his broad brown hand gently covering her small +fingers and taking them in his. "You will--I know that you will." + +She said nothing, and though she at first made a slight movement--not of +resistance, but of timid reluctance, utterly unlike herself--she suffered +him to hold her hand. He drew closer to her, himself more diffident in +the moment of success than he had ever been when he anticipated failure; +she was so unlike any woman he had ever known before. Very gently he put +his arm about her, and drew her to him. + +"My beloved--at last," he whispered, as her head sank upon his shoulder. + +Then with a sudden movement she sprang to her height, and for one instant +gazed upon him. Her whole being was transfigured in the might of her +passion: her dark face was luminously pale, her lips almost white, and +from her eyes there seemed to flash a blazing fire. For one instant she +gazed upon him, and then her arms went round his neck, and she clasped +him fiercely to her breast. + +"Ah, Giovanni," she cried, passionately, "you do not know what love +means!" + +A moment later her arms dropped from him; she turned and buried her face +in her hands, leaning against the high stone parapet of the tower. She +was not weeping, but her face was white, and her bosom heaved with +quick and strong-drawn breath. + +Giovanni went to her side and took her strongly in his right arm, and +again her head rested upon his shoulder. + +"It is too soon--too soon," she murmured. "But how can I help it? I love +you so that there is no counting of time. It seems years since we met +last night, and I thought it would be years before I told you. Oh, +Giovanni, I am so happy! Is it possible that you love me as I love you?" + +It is a marvellous thing to see how soon two people who love each other +learn the gentle confidence that only love can bring. A few moments later +Giovanni and Corona were slowly pacing the platform, and his arm was +about her waist and her hand in his. + +"Do you know," she was saying, "I used to wonder whether you would keep +your word, and never try to see me. The days were so long at +Astrardente." + +"Not half so long as at Saracinesca," he answered. "I was going to call +my aqueduct the Bridge of Sighs; I will christen it now the Spring of +Love." + +"I must go and see it to-morrow," said she. + +"Or the next day--" + +"The next day!" she exclaimed, with a happy laugh. "Do you think I am +going to stay--" + +"For ever," interrupted Giovanni. "We have a priest here, you know,--he +can marry us to-morrow, and then you need never go away." + +Corona's face grew grave. + +"We must not talk of that yet," she said, gently, "even in jest." + +"No; you are right. Forgive me," he answered; "I forget many things--it +seems to me I have forgotten everything, except that I love you." + +"Giovanni,"--she lingered on the name,--"Giovanni, we must tell your +father at once." + +"Are you willing I should?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Of course--he ought to know; and Sister Gabrielle too. But no one else +must be told. There must be no talk of this in Rome until--until next +year." + +"We will stay in the country until then, shall we not?" asked Giovanni, +anxiously. "It seems to me so much better. We can meet here, and nobody +will talk. I will go and live in the town at Astrardente, and play the +engineer, and build your roads for you." + +"I hardly know," said Corona, with a doubtful smile. "You could not do +that. But you may come and spend the day once--in a week, perhaps." + +"We will arrange all that," answered Giovanni, laughing. "If you think I +can exist by only seeing you once a week--well, you do not know me." + +"We shall see," returned Corona, laughing too. "By the bye, how long have +we been here?" + +"I do not know," said Giovanni; "but the view is magnificent, is it not?" + +"Enchanting," she replied, looking into his eyes. Then suddenly the blood +mounted to her cheeks. "Oh, Giovanni," she said, "how could I do it?" + +"I should have died if you had not," he answered, and clasped her once +more in his arms. + +"Come," said she, "let us be going down. It is growing late." + +When they reached the foot of the tower, they found the Prince walking +the rampart alone. Sister Gabrielle was afraid of the evening air, and +had retired into the house. Old Saracinesca faced them suddenly. He +looked like an old lion, his thick white hair and beard bristling about +his dark features. + +"My father," said Giovanni, coming forward, "the Duchessa d'Astrardente +has consented to be my wife. I crave your blessing." + +The old man started, and then stood stock-still. His son had fairly taken +his breath away, for he had not expected the news for three or four +months to come. Then he advanced and took Corona's hand, and kissed it. + +"Madam," he said, "you have done my son an honour which extends to myself +and to every Saracinesca, dead, living, and to come." + +Then he laid Corona's hand in Giovanni's, and held his own upon them +both. + +"God bless you," he said, solemnly; and as Corona bent her proud head, he +touched her forehead with his lips. Then he embraced Giovanni, and his +joy broke out in wild enthusiasm. + +"Ha, my children," he cried, "there has not been such a couple as you are +for generations--there has not been such good news told in these old +walls since they have stood here. We will illuminate the castle, the +whole town, in your honour--we will ring the bells and have a Te Deum +sung--we will have such a festival as was never seen before--we will go +to Rome to-morrow and celebrate the espousal--we will--" + +"Softly, _padre mio_," interrupted Giovanni. "No one must know as yet. +You must consider--" + +"Consider what? consider the marriage? Of course we will consider it, as +soon as you please. You shall have such a wedding as was never heard of-- +you shall be married by the Cardinal Archpriest of Saint Peter's, by the +Holy Father himself. The whole country shall ring with it." + +It was with difficulty Giovanni succeeded in calming his father's +excitement, and in recalling to his mind the circumstances which made it +necessary to conceal the engagement for the present. But at last the old +man reluctantly consented, and returned to a quieter humour. For some +time the three continued to pace the stone rampart. + +"This is a case of arrant cruelty to a man of my temper," said the +Prince. "To be expected to behave like an ordinary creature, with grins +and smiles and decent paces, when I have just heard what I have longed to +hear for years. But I will revenge myself by making a noise about +it by-and-by. I will concoct schemes for your wedding, and dream of +nothing but illuminations and decorations. You shall be Prince of Sant' +Ilario, Giovanni, as I was before my father died; and I will give you +that estate outright, and the palace in the Corso to live in." + +"Perhaps we might live in my palace," suggested Corona. It seemed strange +to her to be discussing her own marriage, but it was necessary to humour +the old Prince. "Of course," he said. "I forgot all about it. You have +places enough to live in. One forgets that you will in the end be the +richest couple in Italy. Ha!" he cried, in sudden enthusiasm, "the +Saracinesca are not dead yet! They are greater than ever--and our lands +here so near together, too. We will build a new road to Astrardente, +and when you are married you shall be the first to drive over it from +Astrardente here. We will do all kinds of things--we will tunnel the +mountain!" + +"I am sure you will do that in the end," said Giovanni, laughing. + +"Well--let us go to dinner," answered his father. "It has grown quite +dark since we have been talking, and we shall be falling over the edge if +we are not careful." + +"I will go and tell Sister Gabrielle before dinner," said Corona to +Giovanni. + +So they left her at the door of her apartment, and she went in. She found +the Sister in an inner room, with a book of devotions in her hand. + +"Pray for me, my Sister," she said, quietly. "I have resolved upon a +great step. I am going to be married again." + +Sister Gabrielle looked up, and a quiet smile stole over her thin face. + +"It is soon, my friend," she said. "It is soon to think of that. But +perhaps you are right--is it the young Prince?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, and sank into a deep tapestried chair. "It is +soon I know well. But it has been long--have struggled hard--I love him +very much--so much, you do not know!" + +The Sister sighed faintly, and came and took her hand. + +"It is right that you should marry," she said, gently. "You are too +young, too famously beautiful, too richly endowed, to lead the life you +have led at Astrardente these many months." + +"It is not that," said Corona, an expression of strange beauty +illuminating her lovely face. "Not that I am young, beautiful as you say, +if it is so, or endowed with riches--those reasons are nothing. It is +this that tells me," she whispered, pressing her left hand to her heart. +"When one loves as I love, it is right." + +"Indeed it is," assented the good Sister. "And I think you have chosen +wisely. When will you be married?" + +"Hardly before next summer--I can hardly think connectedly yet--it has +been very sudden. I knew I should marry him in the end, but I never +thought I could consent so soon. Oh, Sister Gabrielle, you are so +good--were you never in love?" + +The Sister was silent, and looked away. + +"No--of course you cannot tell me," continued Corona; "but it is such a +wonderful thing. It makes days seem like hundreds of years, or makes them +pass in a flash of light, in a second. It oversets every idea of time, +and plays with one's resolutions as the wind with a feather. If once it +gets the mastery of one, it crowds a lifetime of pain and pleasure into +one day; it never leaves one for a moment. I cannot explain love--it is a +wonderful thing." + +"My dear friend," said the Sister, "the explanation of love is life." + +"But the end of it is not death. It cannot be," continued Corona, +earnestly. "It must last for ever and ever. It must grow better and purer +and stronger, until it is perfect in heaven at last: but where is the use +of trying to express such things?" + +"I think it is enough to feel them," said Sister Gabrielle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The summer season ripened into autumn, and autumn again turned to winter, +and Rome was once more full. The talk of society turned frequently upon +the probability of the match between the Duchessa d'Astrardente and +Giovanni Saracinesca; and when at last, three weeks before Lent, the +engagement was made known, there was a general murmur of approbation. It +seemed as though the momentous question of Corona's life, which had for +years agitated the gossips, were at last to be settled: every one had +been accustomed to regard her marriage with old Astrardente as a +temporary affair, seeing that he certainly could not live long, and +speculation in regard to her future had been nearly as common during his +lifetime as it was after his death. One of the duties most congenial +to society, and one which it never fails to perform conscientiously, is +that judicial astrology, whereby it forecasts the issue of its +neighbour's doings. Everybody's social horoscope must be cast by the +circle of five-o'clock-tea-drinking astro-sociologists, and, generally +speaking, their predictions are not far short of the truth, for society +knoweth its own bitterness, and is uncommonly quick in the diagnosis of +its own state of health. + +When it was announced that Corona was to marry Giovanni after Easter, +society looked and saw that the arrangement was good. There was not one +dissenting voice heard in the universal applause. Corona had behaved with +exemplary decency during the year of her mourning--had lived a life of +religious retirement upon her estates in the sole company of a Sister of +Charity, had given no cause for scandal in any way. Everybody aspired +to like her--that is to say, to be noticed by her; but with one +exception, she had caused no jealousy nor ill-feeling by her +indifference, for no one had ever heard her say an unkind word concerning +anybody she knew. Donna Tullia had her own reasons for hating Corona, and +perhaps the world suspected them; but people did not connect the noisy +Donna Tullia, full of animal spirits and gay silly talk, with the idea of +serious hatred, much less with the execution of any scheme of revenge. + +Indeed Madame Mayer had not spent the summer and autumn in nursing her +wrath against Corona. She had travelled with the old Countess, her +companion, and several times Ugo del Ferice had appeared suddenly at the +watering-places which she had selected for her temporary residence. From +time to time he gave her news of mutual friends, which she repaid +conscientiously with interesting accounts of the latest scandals. They +were a congenial pair, and Ugo felt that by his constant attention to her +wishes, and by her never-varying willingness to accept his service, he +had obtained a hold upon her intimacy which, in the ensuing winter, would +give him a decided advantage over all competitors in the field. She +believed that she might have married half-a-dozen times, and that with +her fortune she could easily have made a very brilliant match; she even +thought that she could have married Valdarno, who was very good-natured: +but her attachment to Giovanni, and the expectations she had so long +entertained in regard to him, had prevented her from showing any marked +preference for others; and while she was hesitating, Del Ferice, by his +superior skill, had succeeded in making himself indispensable to her--a +success the more remarkable that, in spite of his gifts and the curious +popularity he enjoyed, he was by far the least desirable man of her +acquaintance from the matrimonial point of view. + +But when Donna Tullia again met Giovanni in the world, the remembrance of +her wrongs revived her anger against him, and the news of his engagement +to the Astrardente brought matters to a climax. In the excitement of the +moment, both her jealousy and her anger were illuminated by the light of +a righteous wrath. She knew, or thought she knew, that Don Giovanni was +already married. She had no proof that the peasant wife mentioned in the +certificate was alive, but there was nothing either to show that she was +dead. Even in the latter ease it was a scandalous thing that he should +marry again without informing Corona of the circumstances of his past +life, and Donna Tullia felt an inner conviction that he had told the +Duchessa nothing of the matter. The latter was such a proud woman, that +she would be horrified at the idea of uniting herself to a man who had +been the husband of a peasant. + +Madame Mayer remembered her solemn promise to Del Ferice, and feared to +act without his consent. An hour after she had heard the news of the +engagement, she sent for him to come to her immediately. To her +astonishment and dismay, her servant brought back word that he had +suddenly gone to Naples upon urgent business. This news made her pause; +but while the messenger had been gone to Del Ferice's house, Donna Tullia +had been anticipating and going over in her mind the scene which would +ensue when she told Corona the secret. Donna Tullia was a very sanguine +woman, and the idea of at last being revenged for all the slights she had +received worked suddenly upon her brain, so that as she paced her +drawing-room in expectation of the arrival of Del Ferice, she entirely +acted out in her imagination the circumstances of the approaching crisis, +the blood beat hotly in her temples, and she lost all sense of prudence +in the delicious anticipation of violent words. Del Ferice had cruelly +calculated upon her temperament, and he had hoped that in the excitement +of the moment she would lose her head, and irrevocably commit herself to +him by the betrayal of the secret. This was precisely what occurred. On +being told that he was out of town, she could no longer contain herself, +and with a sudden determination to risk anything blindly, rather than to +forego the pleasure and the excitement she had been meditating, she +ordered her carriage and drove to the Palazzo Astrardente. + +Corona was surprised at the unexpected visit. She was herself on the +point of going out, and was standing in her boudoir, drawing on her black +gloves before the fire, while her furs lay upon a chair at her side. She +wondered why Donna Tullia called, and it was in part her curiosity which +induced her to receive her visit. Donna Tullia, armed to the teeth with +the terrible news she was about to disclose, entered the room quickly, +and remained standing before the Duchessa with a semi-tragic air that +astonished Corona. + +"How do you do, Donna Tullia?" said the latter, putting out her hand. + +"I have come to speak to you upon a very serious matter," answered her +visitor, without noticing the greeting. + +Corona stared at her for a moment, but not being easily disconcerted, she +quietly motioned to Donna Tullia to sit down, and installed herself in a +chair opposite to her. + +"I have just heard the news that you are to marry Don Giovanni +Saracinesca," said Madame Mayer. "You will pardon me the interest I take +in you; but is it true?" + +"It is quite true," answered Corona. + +"It is in connection with your marriage that I wish to speak, Duchessa. I +implore you to reconsider your decision." + +"And why, if you please?" asked Corona, raising her black eyebrows, and +fixing her haughty gaze upon her visitor. + +"I could tell you--I would rather not," answered Donna Tullia, unabashed, +for her blood was up. "I could tell you--but I beseech you not to ask me. +Only consider the matter again, I beg you. It is very serious. Nothing +but the great interest I feel in you, and my conviction--" + +"Donna Tullia, your conduct is so extraordinary," interrupted Corona, +looking at her curiously, "that I am tempted to believe you are mad. I +must beg you to explain what you mean by your words." + +"Ah, no," answered Madame Mayer. "You do me injustice. I am not mad, but +I would save you from the most horrible danger." + +"Again I say, what do you mean? I will not be trifled with in this way," +said the Duchessa, who would have been more angry if she had been less +astonished, but whose temper was rapidly rising. + +"I am not trifling with you," returned Donna Tullia. "I am imploring you +to think before you act, before you marry Don Giovanni. You cannot think +that I would venture to intrude upon you without the strongest reasons. +I am in earnest." + +"Then, in heaven's name, speak out!" cried Corona, losing all patience. +"I presume that if this is a warning, you have some grounds, you have +some accusation to make against Don Giovanni. Have the goodness to state +what you have to say, and be brief." + +"I will," said Donna Tullia, and she paused a moment, her face growing +red with excitement, and her blue eyes sparkling disagreeably. "You +cannot marry Don Giovanni," she said at length, "because there is an +insurmountable impediment in the way." + +"What is it?" asked Corona, controlling her anger. + +"He is already married!" hissed Donna Tullia. + +Corona turned a little pale, and started back. But in an instant her +colour returned, and she broke into a low laugh. + +"You are certainly insane," she said, eyeing Madame Mayer suspiciously. +It was not an easy matter to shake her faith in the man she loved. Donna +Tullia was disappointed at the effect she had produced. She was a clever +woman in her way, but she did not understand how to make the best of the +situation. She saw that she was simply an object of curiosity, and that +Corona seriously believed her mind deranged. She was frightened, and, +in order to help herself, she plunged deeper. + +"You may call me mad, if you please," she replied, angrily. "I tell you +it is true. Don Giovanni was married on the 19th of June 1863, at Aquila, +in the Abruzzi, to a woman called Felice Baldi--whoever she may have +been. The register is extant, and the duplicate of the marriage +certificate. I have seen the copies attested by a notary. I tell you it +is true," she continued, her voice rising to a harsh treble; "you are +engaged to marry a man who has a wife--a peasant woman--somewhere in the +mountains." + +Corona rose from her seat and put out her hand to ring the bell. She was +pale, but not excited. She believed Donna Tullia to be insane, perhaps +dangerous, and she calmly proceeded to protect herself by calling for +assistance. + +"Either you are mad, or you mean what you say," she said, keeping her +eyes upon the angry woman before her. "You will not leave this house +except in charge of my physician, if you are mad; and if you mean what +you say, you shall not go until you have repeated your words to +Don Giovanni Saracinesca himself,--no, do not start or try to escape--it +is of no use. I am very sudden and violent--beware!" + +Donna Tullia bit her red lip. She was beginning to realise that she had +got herself into trouble, and that it might be hard to get out of it. But +she felt herself strong, and she wished she had with her those proofs +which would make her case good. She was so sanguine by nature that she +was willing to carry the fight to the end, and to take her chance for the +result. + +"You may send for Don Giovanni if you please," she said. "I have spoken +the truth--if he denies it I can prove it. If I were you I would spare +him the humiliation--" + +A servant entered the room in answer to the bell, and Corona interrupted +Donna Tullia's speech by giving the man her orders. + +"Go at once to the Palazzo Saracinesca, and beg Don Giovanni to come here +instantly with his father the Prince. Take the carriage--it is waiting +below." + +The man disappeared, and Corona quietly resumed her seat. Donna Tullia +was silent for a few moments, attempting to control her anger in an +assumption of dignity; but soon she broke out afresh, being rendered very +nervous and uncomfortable by the Duchessa's calm manner and apparent +indifference to consequences. + +"I cannot see why you should expose yourself to such a scene," said +Madame Mayer presently. "I honestly wished to save you from a terrible +danger. It seems to me it would be quite sufficient if I proved the fact +to you beyond dispute. I should think that instead of being angry, you +would show some gratitude." + +"I am not angry," answered Corona, quietly. "I am merely giving you an +immediate opportunity of proving your assertion and your sanity." + +"My sanity!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, angrily. "Do you seriously +believe--" + +"Nothing that you say," said Corona, completing the sentence. + +Unable to bear the situation, Madame Mayer rose suddenly from her seat, +and began to pace the small room with short, angry steps. + +"You shall see," she said, fiercely--"you shall see that it is all true. +You shall see this man's face when I accuse him--you shall see him +humiliated, overthrown, exposed in his villany--the wretch! You shall see +how--" + +Corona's strong voice interrupted her enemy's invective in ringing tones. + +"Be silent!" she cried. "In twenty minutes he will be here. But if you +say one word against him before he comes, I will lock you into this room +and leave you. I certainly will not hear you." + +Donna Tullia reflected that the Duchessa was in her own house, and +moreover that she was not a woman to be trifled with. She threw herself +into a chair, and taking up a book that lay upon the table, she pretended +to read. + +Corona remained seated by the fireplace, glancing at her from time to +time. She was strangely inclined to laugh at the whole situation, which +seemed to her absurd in the extreme--for it never crossed her mind to +believe that there was a word of truth in the accusation against +Giovanni. Nevertheless she was puzzled to account for Donna Tullia's +assurance, and especially for her readiness to face the man she so +calumniated. A quarter of an hour elapsed in this armed silence--the two +women glancing at each other from time to time, until the distant sound +of wheels rolling under the great gate announced that the messenger had +returned from the Palazzo Saracinesca, probably conveying Don Giovanni +and his father. + +"Then you have made up your mind to the humiliation of the man you love?" +asked Donna Tullia, looking up from her book with a sneer on her face. + +Corona vouchsafed no answer, but her eyes turned towards the door in +expectation. Presently there were steps heard without. The servant +entered, and announced Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni. Corona +rose. The old man came in first, followed by his son. + +"An unexpected pleasure," he said, gaily. "Such good luck! We were both +at home. Ah, Donna Tullia," he cried, seeing Madame Mayer, "how are you?" +Then seeing her face, he added, suddenly, "Is anything the matter?" + +Meanwhile Giovanni had entered, and stood by Corona's side near the +fireplace. He saw at once that something was wrong, and he looked +anxiously from the Duchessa to Donna Tullia. Corona spoke at once. + +"Donna Tullia," she said, quietly, "I have the honour to offer you an +opportunity of explaining yourself." + +Madame Mayer remained seated by the table, her face red with anger. She +leaned back in her seat, and half closing her eyes with a disagreeable +look of contempt, she addressed Giovanni. + +"I am sorry to cause you such profound humiliation," she began, "but in +the interest of the Duchessa d'Astrardente I feel bound to speak. Don +Giovanni, do you remember Aquila?" + +"Certainly," he replied, coolly--"I have often been there. What of it?" + +Old Saracinesca stared from one to the other. + +"What is this comedy?" he asked of Corona. But she nodded to him to be +silent. + +"Then you doubtless remember Felice Baldi--poor Felice Baldi," continued +Donna Tullia, still gazing scornfully up at Giovanni from where she sat. + +"I never heard the name, that I can remember," answered Giovanni, as +though trying to recall some memory of the past. He could not imagine +what she was leading to, but he was willing to answer her questions. + +"You do not remember that you were married to her at Aquila on the 19th +of June--" + +"I--married?" cried Giovanni, in blank astonishment. + +"Signora Duchessa," said the Prince, bending his heavy brows, "what is +the meaning of all this?" + +"I will tell you the meaning of it," said Donna Tullia, in low hissing +tones, and rising suddenly to her feet she assumed a somewhat theatrical +attitude as she pointed to Giovanni. "I will tell what it means. It means +that Don Giovanni Saracinesca was married in the church of San +Bernardino, at Aquila, on the 19th of June 1863, to the woman Felice +Baldi--who is his lawful wife to-day, and for aught we know the mother of +his children, while he is here in Rome attempting to marry the Duchessa +d'Astrardente--can he deny it? Can he deny that his own signature is +there, there in the office of the State Civile at Aquila, to testify +against him? Can he--?" + +"Silence!" roared the Prince. "Silence, woman, or by God in heaven I will +stop your talking for ever!" He made a step towards her, and there was a +murderous red light in his black eyes. But Giovanni sprang forward and +seized his father by the wrist. + +"You cannot silence me," screamed Donna Tullia. "I will be heard, and by +all Rome. I will cry it upon the housetops to all the world--" + +"Then you will precipitate your confinement in the asylum of Santo +Spirito," said Giovanni, in cold, calm tones. "You are clearly mad." + +"So I said," assented Corona, who was nevertheless pale, and trembling +with excitement. + +"Allow me to speak with her," said Giovanni, who, like most dangerous +men, seemed to grow cold as others grew hot. Donna Tullia leaned upon the +table, breathing hard between her closed teeth, her face scarlet. + +"Madame," said Giovanni, advancing a step and confronting her, "you say +that I am married, and that I am contemplating a monstrous crime. Upon +what do you base your extraordinary assertions?" + +"Upon attested copies of your marriage certificate, of the civil register +where your handwriting has been seen and recognised. What more would you +have?" + +"It is monstrous!" cried the Prince, advancing again. "It is the most +abominable lie ever concocted! My son married without my knowledge, and +to a peasant! Absurd!" + +But Giovanni waved his father back, and kept his place before Donna +Tullia. + +"I give you the alternative of producing instantly those proofs you refer +to," he said, "and which you certainly cannot produce, or of waiting in +this house until a competent physician has decided whether you are +sufficiently sane to be allowed to go home alone." + +Donna Tullia hesitated. She was in a terrible position, for Del Ferice +had left Rome suddenly, and though the papers were somewhere in his +house, she knew not where, nor how to get at them. It was impossible to +imagine a situation more desperate, and she felt it as she looked +round and saw the pale dark faces of the three resolute persons whose +anger she had thus roused. She believed that Giovanni was capable of +anything, but she was astonished at his extraordinary calmness. She +hesitated for a moment. + +"That is perfectly just," said Corona. "If you have proofs, you can +produce them. If you have none, you are insane." + +"I have them, and I will produce them before this hour to-morrow," +answered Donna Tullia, not knowing how she should get the papers, but +knowing that she was lost if she failed to obtain them. + +"Why not to-day--at once?" asked Giovanni, with some scorn. + +"It will take twenty-four hours to forge them," growled his father. + +"You have no right to insult me so grossly," cried Donna Tullia. "But +beware--I have you in my power. By this time to-morrow you shall see with +your own eyes that I speak the truth. Let me go," she cried, as the old +Prince placed himself between her and the door. + +"I will," said he. "But before you go, I beg you to observe that if +between now and the time you show us these documents you breathe abroad +one word of your accusations, I will have you arrested as a dangerous +lunatic, and lodged in Santo Spirito; and if these papers are not +authentic, you will be arrested to-morrow afternoon on a charge of +forgery. You quite understand me?" He stood aside to let her pass. She +laughed scornfully in his face, and went out. + +When she was gone the three looked at each other, as though trying to +comprehend what had happened. Indeed, it was beyond their comprehension. +Corona leaned against the chimneypiece, and her eyes rested lovingly upon +Giovanni. No doubt had ever crossed her mind of his perfect honesty. Old +Saracinesca looked from one to the other for a moment, and then, striking +the palms of his hands together, turned and began to walk up and down the +room. + +"In the first place," said Giovanni, "at the time she mentions I was in +Canada, upon a shooting expedition, with a party of Englishmen. It is +easy to prove that, as they are all alive and well now, so far as I have +heard. Donna Tullia is clearly out of her mind." + +"The news of your engagement has driven her mad," said the old Prince, +with a grim laugh. "It is a very interesting and romantic case." + +Corona blushed a little, and her eyes sought Giovanni's, but her face was +very grave. It was a terrible thing to see a person she had known so long +becoming insane, and for the sake of the man she herself so loved. And +yet she had not a doubt of Donna Tullia's madness. It was very sad. + +"I wonder who could have put this idea into her head," said Giovanni, +thoughtfully. "It does not look like a creation of her own brain. I +wonder, too, what absurdities she will produce in the way of documents. +Of course they must be forged." + +"She will not bring them," returned his father, in a tone of certainty. +"We shall hear to-morrow that she is raving in the delirium of a +brain-fever." + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Corona. "It is dreadful to think of it." + +"It is dreadful to think that she should have caused you all this trouble +and annoyance," said Giovanni, warmly. "You must have had a terrible +scene with her before we came. What did she say?" + +"Just what she said to you. Then she began to rail against you; and I +sent for you, and told her that unless she could be silent I would lock +her up alone until you arrived. So she sat down in that chair, and +pretended to read. But it was an immense relief when you came!" + +"You did not once believe what she said might possibly be true?" asked +Giovanni, with a loving look. + +"I? How could you ever think it!" exclaimed Corona. Then she laughed, and +added, "But of course you knew that I would not." + +"Indeed, yes," he answered. "It never entered my head." + +"By-the-bye," said old Saracinesca, glancing at the Duchessa's black +bonnet and gloved hands, "you must have been just ready to go out when +she came--we must not keep you. I suppose that when she said she would +bring her proofs to-morrow at this hour, she meant she would bring them +here. Shall we come to-morrow then?" + +"Yes--by all means," she answered. "Come to breakfast at one o'clock. I +am alone, you know, for Sister Gabrielle has insisted upon going back to +her community. But what does it matter now?" + +"What does it matter?" echoed the Prince. "You are to be married so soon. +I really think we can do as we please." He generally did as he pleased. + +The two men left her, and a few minutes later she descended the steps of +the palace and entered her carriage, as though nothing had happened. + +Six months had passed since she had given her troth to Giovanni upon the +tower of Saracinesca, and she knew that she loved him better now than +then. Little had happened of interest in the interval of time, and the +days had seemed long. But until after Christmas she had remained at +Astrardente, busying herself constantly with the improvements she had +already begun, and aided by the counsels of Giovanni. He had taken a +cottage of hers in the lower part of her village, and had fitted it up +with the few comforts he judged necessary. In this lodging he had +generally spent half the week, going daily to the palace upon the hill +and remaining for long hours in Corona's society, studying her plans and +visiting with her the works which grew beneath their joint direction. She +had grown to know him as she had not known him before, and to understand +more fully his manly character. He was a very resolute man, and very much +in earnest when he chanced to be doing anything; but the strain of +melancholy which he inherited from his mother made him often inclined to +a sort of contemplative idleness, during which his mind seemed +preoccupied with absorbing thoughts. Many people called his fits of +silence an affectation, or part of his system for rendering himself +interesting; but Corona soon saw how real was his abstraction, and she +saw also that she alone was able to attract his attention and interest +him when the fit was upon him. Slowly, by a gradual study of him, she +learned what few had ever guessed, namely, that beneath the experienced +man of the world, under his modest manner and his gentle ways, there +lay a powerful mainspring of ambition, a mine of strength, which would +one day exert itself and make itself felt upon his surroundings. He had +developed slowly, feeding upon many experiences of the world in many +countries, his quick Italian intelligence comprehending often more than +it seemed to do, while the quiet dignity he got from his Spanish blood +made him appear often very cold. But now and again, when under the +influence of some large idea, his tongue was loosed in the charm of +Corona's presence, and he spoke to her, as he had never spoken to any +one, of projects and plans which should make the world move. She did not +always understand him wholly, but she knew that the man she loved was +something more than the world at large believed him to be, and there was +a thrill of pride in the thought which delighted her inmost soul. She, +too, was ambitious, but her ambition was all for him. She felt that there +was little room for common aspirations in his position or in her own. All +that high birth, and wealth, and personal consideration could give, they +both had abundantly, beyond their utmost wishes; anything they could +desire beyond that must lie in a larger sphere of action than mere +society, in the world of political power. She herself had had dreams, and +entertained them still, of founding some great institution of charity, of +doing something for her poorer fellows. But she learned by degrees that +Giovanni looked further than to such ordinary means of employing power, +and that there was in him a great ambition to bring great forces to bear +upon great questions for the accomplishment of great results. The six +months of her engagement to him had not only strengthened her love for +him, already deep and strong, but had implanted in her an unchanging +determination to second him in all his life, to omit nothing in her power +which could assist him in the career he should choose for himself, and +which she regarded as the ultimate field for his extraordinary powers. It +was strange that, while granting him everything else, people had never +thought of calling him a man of remarkable intelligence. But no one knew +him as Corona knew him; no one suspected that there was in him anything +more than the traditional temper of the Saracinesca, with sufficient mind +to make him as fair a representative of his race as his father was. + +There was more than mere love and devotion in the complete security she +felt when she saw him attacked by Donna Tullia; there was already the +certainty that he was born to be above small things, and to create a +sphere of his own in which he would move as other men could not. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +When Donna Tullia quitted the Palazzo Astrardente her head swam. She had +utterly failed to do what she had expected; and from being the accuser, +she felt that she was suddenly thrust into the position of the accused. +Instead of inspiring terror in Corona, and causing Giovanni the terrible +humiliation she had supposed he would feel at the exposure of his +previous marriage, she had been coldly told that she was mad, and that +her pretended proofs were forgeries. Though she herself felt no doubt +whatever concerning the authenticity of the documents, it was very +disappointing to find that the first mention of them produced no +startling effect upon any one, least of all upon Giovanni himself. The +man, she thought, was a most accomplished villain; since he was capable +of showing such hardened indifference to her accusation, he was capable +also of thwarting her in her demonstration of their truth--and she +trembled at the thought of what she saw. Old Saracinesca was not a man to +be trifled with, nor his son either: they were powerful, and would be +revenged for the insult. But in the meanwhile she had promised to produce +her proofs; and when she regained enough composure to consider the matter +from all its points, she came to the conclusion that after all her game +was not lost, seeing that attested documents are evidence not easily +refuted, even by powerful men like Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca. She +gradually convinced herself that their indifference was a pretence, and +that they were accomplices in the matter, their object being to gain +Corona with all her fortune for Giovanni's wife. But, at the same time, +Donna Tullia felt in the depths of her heart a misgiving: she was clever +enough to recognise, even in spite of herself, the difference between a +liar and an honest man. + +She must get possession of these papers--and immediately too; there must +be no delay in showing them to Corona, and in convincing her that this +was no mere fable, but an assertion founded upon very substantial +evidence. Del Ferice was suddenly gone to Naples: obviously the only +way to get at the papers was to bribe his servant to deliver them up. Ugo +had once or twice mentioned Temistocle to her, and she judged from the +few words he had let fall that the fellow was a scoundrel, who would +sell his soul for money. Madame Mayer drove home, and put on the only +dark-coloured gown she possessed, wound a thick veil about her head, +provided herself with a number of bank-notes, which she thrust between +the palm of her hand and her glove, left the house on foot, and took a +cab. There was nothing to be done but to go herself, for she could trust +no one. Her heart beat fast as she ascended the narrow stone steps of +Del Ferice's lodging, and stopped upon the landing before the small green +door, whereon she read his name. She pulled the bell, and Temistocle +appeared in his shirt-sleeves. + +"Does Count Del Ferice live here?" asked Donna Tullia, peering over the +man's shoulder into the dark and narrow passage within. + +"He lives here, but he is gone to Naples," answered Temistocle, promptly. + +"When will he be back?" she inquired. The man raised his shoulders to his +ears, and spread out the palms of his hands to signify that he did not +know. Donna Tullia hesitated. She had never attempted to bribe anybody +in her life, and hardly knew how to go about it. She thought that the +sight of the money might produce an impression, and she withdrew a +bank-note from the hollow of her hand, spreading it out between her +fingers. Temistocle eyed it greedily. + +"There are twenty-five scudi," she said. "If you will help me to find a +piece of paper in your master's room, you shall have them." + +Temistocle drew himself up with an air of mock pride. Madame Mayer looked +at him. + +"Impossible, signora," he said. Then she drew out another. Temistocle +eyed the glove curiously to see if it contained more. + +"Signora," he repeated, "it is impossible. My master would kill me. I +cannot think of it." But his tone seemed to yield a little. Donna Tullia +found another bank-note; there were now seventy-five scudi in her hand. +She thought she saw Temistocle tremble with excitement. But still he +hesitated. + +"Signora, my conscience," he said, in a low voice of protestation. + +"Come," said Madame Mayer, impatiently, "there is another--there are a +hundred scudi--that is all I have got," she added, turning down her empty +glove. + +Suddenly Temistocle put out his hand and grasped the bank-notes eagerly. +But instead of retiring to allow her to enter, he pushed roughly past +her. + +"You may go in," he said in a hoarse whisper, and turning quickly, fled +precipitately down the narrow steps, in his shirt-sleeves as he was. +Madame Mayer stood for a moment looking after him in surprise, even when +he had already disappeared. + +Then she turned and entered the door rather timidly; but before she had +gone two steps in the dark passage, she uttered a cry of horror. Del +Ferice stood in her way, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, a curious +expression upon his pale face, which from its whiteness was clearly +distinguishable in the gloom. Temistocle had cheated her, had lied in +telling her that his master was absent, had taken her bribe and had fled. +He would easily find an excuse for having allowed her to enter; and with +his quick valet's instinct, he guessed that she would not confess to +Del Ferice that she had bribed him. Ugo came forward a step and instantly +recognised Madame Mayer. + +"Donna Tullia!" he cried, "what are you doing? You must not be seen +here." + +A less clever man than Ugo would have pretended to be overjoyed at her +coming. Del Fence's fine instincts told him that for whatever cause she +had come--and he guessed the cause well enough--he would get a firmer +hold upon her consideration by appearing to be shocked at her imprudence. +Donna Tullia was nearly fainting with fright, and stood leaning against +the wall of the passage. + +"I thought--I--I must see you at once," she stammered. + +"Not here," he answered, quickly. "Go home at once; I will join you in +five minutes. It will ruin you to have it known that you have been here." + +Madame Mayer took courage at his tone. + +"You must bring them--those papers," she said, hurriedly. "Something +dreadful has happened. Promise me to come at once!" + +"I will come at once, my dear lady," he said, gently pushing her towards +the door. "I cannot even go down-stairs with you--forgive me. You have +your carriage of course?" + +"I have a cab," replied Donna Tullia, faintly, submitting to be put +out of the door. He seized her hand and kissed it passionately, or +with a magnificent semblance of passion. With a startled look, Donna +Tullia turned and went rapidly down the steps. Del Ferice smiled +softly to himself when she was gone, and went in again to exchange his +dressing-gown for a coat. He had her in his power at last. He had guessed +that she would betray the secret--that after the engagement became known, +she would not be able to refrain from communicating it to Corona +d'Astrardente; and so soon as he heard the news, he had shut himself up +in his lodging, pretending a sudden journey to Naples, determined not to +set foot out of the house until he heard that Donna Tullia had committed +herself. He knew that when she had once spoken she would make a desperate +attempt to obtain the papers, for he knew that such an assertion as hers +would need to be immediately proved, at the risk of her position in +society. His plot had succeeded so far. His only anxiety was to know +whether she had mentioned his name in connection with the subject, but he +guessed, from his knowledge of her character, that she would not do so: +she would respect her oath enough to conceal his name, even while +breaking her promise; she would enjoy taking the sole credit of the +discovery upon herself, and she would shun an avowal which would prove +her to have discussed with any one else the means of preventing the +marriage, because it would be a confession of jealousy, and consequently +of personal interest in Don Giovanni. Del Ferice was a very clever +fellow. + +He put on his coat, and in five minutes was seated in a cab on his way to +Donna Tullia's house, with a large envelope full of papers in his pocket. +He found her as she had left him, her face still wrapped in a veil, +walking up and down her drawing-room in great excitement. He advanced +and saluted her courteously, maintaining a dignified gravity of bearing +which he judged fitting for the occasion. + +"And now, my dear lady," he said, gently, "will you tell me exactly what +you have done?" + +"This morning," answered Madame Mayer, in a stifled voice, "I heard of +the Astrardente's engagement to Don Giovanni. It seemed such a terrible +thing!" + +"Terrible, indeed," said Del Ferice, solemnly. + +"I sent for you at once, to know what to do: they said you were gone to +Naples. I thought, of course, that you would approve if you were here, +because we ought to prevent such a dreadful crime--of course." She waited +for some sign of assent, but Del Ferice's pale face expressed nothing but +a sort of grave reproach. + +"And then," she continued, "as I could not find you, I thought it was +best to act at once, and so I went to see the Astrardente, feeling that +you would entirely support me. There was a terrific scene. She sent for +the two Saracinesca, and I--waited till they came, because I was +determined to see justice done. I am sure I was right,--was I not?" + +"What did they say?" asked Del Ferice, quietly watching her face. + +"If you will believe it, that monster of villany, Don Giovanni, was as +cold as stone, and denied the whole matter from beginning to end; but his +father was very angry. Of course they demanded the proofs. I never saw +anything like the brazen assurance of Don Giovanni." + +"Did you mention me?" inquired Del Ferice. + +"No, I had not seen you: of course I did not want to implicate you. I +said I would show them the papers to-morrow at the same hour." + +"And then you came to see me," said Del Ferice. "That was very rash. You +might have seriously compromised yourself. I would have come if you had +sent for me." + +"But they said you had gone to Naples. Your servant," continued Donna +Tullia, blushing scarlet at the remembrance of her interview with +Temistocle,--"your servant assured me in person that you had gone to +Naples--" + +"I see," replied Del Ferice, quietly. He did not wish to press her to a +confession of having tried to get the papers in his absence. His object +was to put her at her ease. + +"My dear lady," he continued, gently, "you have done an exceedingly rash +thing; but I will support you in every way, by putting the documents in +your possession at once. It is unfortunate that you should have acted so +suddenly, for we do not know what has become of this Felice Baldi, nor +have we any immediate means of finding out. It might have taken weeks to +find her. Why were you so rash? You could have waited till I returned, +and we could have discussed the matter carefully, and decided whether it +were really wise to make use of my information." + +"You do not doubt that I did right?" asked Donna Tullia, turning a little +pale. + +"I think you acted precipitately in speaking without consulting me. All +may yet be well. But in the first place, as you did not ask my opinion, +you will see the propriety of not mentioning my name, since you have +not done so already. It can do no good, for the papers speak for +themselves, and whatever value they may have is inherent in them. Do you +see?" + +"Of course there is no need of mentioning you, unless you wish to have a +share in the exposure of this abominable wickedness." + +"I am satisfied with my share," replied Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. + +"It is not an important one," returned Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"It is the lion's share," he answered. "Most adorable of women, you have +not, I am sure, forgotten the terms of our agreement--terms so dear to +me, that every word of them is engraven for ever upon the tablet of my +heart." + +Madame Mayer started slightly. She had not realised that her promise to +marry Ugo was now due--she did not believe that he would press it; he had +exacted it to frighten her, and besides, she had so persuaded herself +that he would approve of her conduct, that she had not felt as though she +were betraying his secret. + +"You will not--you cannot hold me to that; you approve of telling the +Astrardente, on the whole,--it is the same as though I had consulted +you--" + +"Pardon me, my dear lady; you did not consult me," answered Del Ferice, +soothingly. He sat near her by the fire, his hat upon his knee, no longer +watching her, but gazing contemplatively at the burning logs. There was a +delicacy about his pale face since the wound he had received a year +before which was rather attractive: from having been a little inclined to +stoutness, he had grown slender and more graceful, partly because his +health had really been affected by his illness, and partly because he had +determined never again to risk being too fat. + +"I tried to consult you," objected Donna Tullia. "It is the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing to me," he answered, "although you have not +involved me in the affair. I would have most distinctly advised you to +say nothing about it at present. You have acted rashly, have put yourself +in a most painful situation; and you have broken your promise to me--a +very solemn promise, Donna Tullia, sworn upon the memory of your mother +and upon a holy relic. One cannot make light of such promises as +that." + +"You made me give it in order to frighten me. The Church does not bind us +to oaths sworn under compulsion," she argued. + +"Excuse me; there was no compulsion whatever. You wanted to know my +secret, and for the sake of knowing it you bound yourself. That is not +compulsion. I cannot compel you. I could not think of presuming to compel +you to marry me now. But I can say to you that I am devotedly attached to +you, that to marry you is the aim and object of my life, and if you +refuse, I will tell you that you are doing a great wrong, repudiating a +solemn contract--" + +"If I refuse--well--but you would give me the papers?" asked Donna +Tullia, who was beginning to tremble for the result of the interview. She +had a vague suspicion that, for the sake of obtaining them, she would +even be willing to promise to marry Del Ferice. It would be very wrong, +perhaps; but it would be for the sake of accomplishing good, by +preventing Corona from falling into the trap--Corona, whom she hated! +Still, it would be a generous act to save her. The minds of women like +Madame Mayer are apt to be a little tortuous when they find themselves +hemmed in between their own jealousies, hatreds, and personal interests. + +"If you refused--no; if you refused, I am afraid I could not give you the +papers," replied Del Ferice, musing as he gazed at the fire. "I love you +too much to lose that chance of winning you, even for the sake of saving +the Duchessa d'Astrardente from her fate. Why do you refuse? why do you +bargain?" he asked, suddenly turning towards her. "Does all my devotion +count for nothing--all my love, all my years of patient waiting? Oh, you +cannot be so cruel as to snatch the cup from my very lips! It is not for +the sake of these miserable documents: what is it to me whether Don +Giovanni appears as the criminal in a case of bigamy--whether he is +ruined now, as by his evil deeds he will be hereafter, or whether he goes +on unharmed and unthwarted upon his career of wickedness? He is nothing +to me, nor his pale-faced bride either. It is for you that I care, for +you that I will do anything, bad or good, to win you that I would risk my +life and my soul. Can you not see it? Have I not been faithful for very +long? Take pity on me--forget this whole business, forget that you have +promised anything, forget all except that I am here at your feet, a +miserable man, unless you speak the word, and turn all my wretchedness +into joy!" + +He slipped from his seat and knelt upon one knee before her, clasping one +of her hands passionately between both his own. The scene was well +planned and well executed; his voice had a ring of emotion that sounded +pleasantly in Donna Tullia's ears, and his hands trembled with +excitement. She did not repulse him, being a vain woman and willing to +believe in the reality of the passion so well simulated. Perhaps, too, it +was not wholly put on, for she was a handsome, dashing woman, in the +prime of youth, and Del Ferice was a man who had always been susceptible +to charms of that kind. Donna Tullia hesitated, wondering what more he +could say. But he, on his part, knew the danger of trusting too much to +eloquence when not backed by a greater strength than his, and he pressed +her for an answer. + +"Be generous--trust me," he cried. "Believe that your happiness is +everything to me; believe that I will take no unfair advantage of a hasty +promise. Tell me that, of your own free will, you will be my wife, and +command me anything, that I may prove my devotion. It is so true, so +honest,--Tullia, I adore you, I live only for you! Speak the word, and +make me the happiest of men!" + +He really looked handsome as he knelt before her, and she felt the light, +nervous pressure of his hand at every word he spoke. After all, what did +it matter? She might accept him, and then--well, if she did not like the +idea, she could throw him over. It would only cost her a violent scene, +and a few moments of discomfort. Meanwhile she would get the papers. + +"But you would give me the papers, would you not, and leave me to decide +whether--Really, Del Ferice," she said, interrupting herself with a +nervous laugh, "this is very absurd." + +"I implore you not to speak of the papers--it is not absurd. It may seem +so to you, but it is life or death to me: death if you refuse me--life if +you will speak the word and be mine!" + +Donna Tullia made up her mind. He would evidently not give her what she +wanted, except in return for a promise of marriage. She had grown used to +him, almost fond of him, in the last year. + +"Well, I do not know whether I am right," she said, "but I am really very +fond of you; and if you will do all I say--" + +"Everything, my dear lady; everything in the world I will do, if you will +make me so supremely happy," cried Del Ferice, ardently. + +"Then--yes; I will marry you. Only get up and sit upon your chair like a +reasonable being. No; you really must be reasonable, or you must go +away." Ugo was madly kissing her hands. He was really a good actor, if +it was all acting. She could not but be moved by his pale delicate face +and passionate words. With a quick movement he sprang to his feet and +stood before her, clasping his hands together and gazing into her face. + +"Oh, I am the happiest man alive to-day!" he exclaimed, and the sense of +triumph that he felt lent energy to his voice. + +"Do sit down," said Donna Tullia, gaily, "and let us talk it all over. In +the first place, what am I to do first?" + +Del Ferice found it convenient to let his excitement subside, and as a +preliminary he walked twice the length of the room. + +"It is so hard to be calm!" he exclaimed; but nevertheless he presently +sat down in his former seat, and seemed to collect his faculties with +wonderful ease. + +"What is to be done first?" asked Donna Tullia again. + +"In the first place," answered Del Ferice, "here are those precious +papers. As they are notary's copies themselves, and not the originals, it +is of no importance whether Don Giovanni tears them up or not. It is easy +to get others if he does. I have noted down all the names and dates. I +wish we had some information about Felice Baldi. It is very unfortunate +that we have not, but it would perhaps take a month to find her." + +"I must act at once," said Donna Tullia, firmly; for she remembered old +Saracinesca's threats, and was in a hurry. + +"Of course. These documents speak for themselves. They bear the address +of the notary who made the copies in Aquila. If the Saracinesca choose, +they can themselves go there and see the originals." + +"Could they not destroy those too?" asked Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"No; they can only see one at a time, and the person who will show them +will watch them. Besides, it is easy to write to the curate of the church +of San Bernardino to be on his guard. We will do that in any case. The +matter is perfectly plain. Your best course is to meet the Astrardente +to-morrow at the appointed time, and simply present these papers for +inspection. No one can deny their authenticity, for they bear the +Government stamp and the notary's seal, as you see, here and here. If +they ask you, as they certainly will, how you came by them, you can +afford to answer, that, since you have them, it is not necessary to know +whence they came; that they may go and verify the originals; and that in +warning them of the fact, you have fulfilled a duty to society, and have +done a service to the Astrardente, if not to Giovanni Saracinesca. You +have them in your power, and you can afford to take the high hand in the +matter. They must believe the evidence of their senses; and they must +either allow that Giovanni's first wife is alive, or they must account +for her death, and prove it. There is no denial possible in the face of +these proofs." + +Donna Tullia drew a long breath, for the case seemed perfectly clear; and +the anticipation of her triumph already atoned for the sacrifice she had +made. + +"You are a wonderful man, Del Ferice!" she exclaimed. "I do not know +whether I am wise in promising to marry you, but I have the greatest +admiration for your intellect." + +Del Ferice glanced at her and smiled. Then he made as though he would +return the papers to his pocket. She sprang towards him, and seized him +by the wrist. + +"Do not be afraid!" she cried, "I will keep my promise." + +"Solemnly?" he asked, still smiling, and holding the envelope firmly in +his hand. + +"Solemnly," she answered; and then added, with a quick laugh, "but you +are so abominably clever, that I believe you could make me marry you +against my will." + +"Never!" said Del Ferice, earnestly; "I love you far too much." He had +wonderfully clear instincts. "And now," he continued, "we have settled +that matter; when shall the happy day be?" + +"Oh, there is time enough to think of that," answered Donna Tullia, with +a blush that might have passed for the result of a coy shyness, but which +was in reality caused by a certain annoyance at being pressed. + +"No," objected Del Ferice, "we must announce our engagement at once. +There is no reason for delay--to-day is better than to-morrow." + +"To-day?" repeated Donna Tullia, in some alarm. + +"Why not? Why not, my dear lady, since you and I are both in earnest?" + +"I think it would be much better to let this affair pass first." + +"On the contrary," he argued, "from the moment we are publicly engaged I +become your natural protector. If any one offers you any insult in this +matter, I shall then have an acknowledged right to avenge you--a right +I dearly covet. Do you think I would dread to meet Don Giovanni again? He +wounded me, it is true, but he has the marks of my sword upon his body +also. Give me at once the privilege of appearing as your champion, +and you will not regret it. But if you delay doing so, all sorts of +circumstances may arise, all sorts of unpleasantness--who could protect +you? Of course, even in that case I would; but you know the tongues of +the gossips in Rome--it would do you harm instead of good." + +"That is true, and you are very brave and very kind. But it seems almost +too soon," objected Donna Tullia, who, however, was fast learning to +yield to his judgment. + +"Those things cannot be done too soon. It gives us liberty, and it gives +the world satisfaction; it protects you, and it will be an inestimable +pleasure to me. Why delay the inevitable? Let us appear at once as +engaged to be married, and you put a sword in my hand to defend you and +to enforce your position in this unfortunate affair with the +Astrardente." + +"Well, you may announce it if you please," she answered, reluctantly. + +"Thank you, my dear lady," said Del Ferice. "And here are the papers. +Make the best use of them you can--any use that you make of them will be +good, I know. How could it be otherwise?" + +Donna Tullia's fingers closed upon the large envelope with a grasping +grip, as though she would never relinquish that for which she had paid so +dear a price. She had, indeed, at one time almost despaired of getting +possession of them, and she had passed a terrible hour, besides having +abased herself to the fruitless bribery she had practised upon +Temistocle. But she had gained her end, even at the expense of permitting +Del Ferice to publish her engagement to marry him. She felt that she +could break it off if she decided at last that the union was too +distasteful to her; but she foresaw that, from the point of worldly +ambition, she would be no great loser by marrying a man of such cunning +wit, who possessed such weapons against his enemies, and who, on the +whole, as she believed, entirely sympathised with her view of life. She +recognised that her chances of making a great match were diminishing +rapidly; she could not tell precisely why, but she felt, to her +mortification, that she had not made a good use of her rich widowhood: +people did not respect her much, and as this touched her vanity, she was +susceptible to their lack of deference. She had done no harm, but she +knew that every one thought her an irresponsible woman, and the thrifty +Romans feared her extravagance, though some of them perhaps courted her +fortune: many had admired her, and had to some extent expressed their +devotion, but no scion of all the great families had asked her to be his +wife. The nearest approach to a proposal had been the doubtful attention +she had received from Giovanni Saracinesca during the time when his +headstrong father had almost persuaded him to marry her, and she thought +of her disappointed hopes with much bitterness. To destroy Giovanni by +the revelations she now proposed to make, to marry Del Ferice, and then +to develop her position by means of the large fortune she had inherited +from her first husband, seemed on the whole a wise plan. Del Ferice's +title was not much, to be sure, but, on the other hand, he was intimate +with every one she knew, and for a few thousand scudi she could buy some +small estate with a good title attached to it. She would then change +her mode of life, and assume the pose of a social power, which as a young +widow she could not do. It was not so bad, after all, especially if she +could celebrate the first day of her engagement by destroying the +reputation of Giovanni Saracinesca, root and branch, and dealing a blow +at Corona's happiness from which it would not recover. + +As for Del Ferice, he regarded his triumph as complete. He cared little +what became of Giovanni--whether he was able to refute the evidence +brought against him or not. There had been nothing in the matter which +was dishonest, and properly made out marriage-certificates are not easy +things to annul. Giovanni might swim or sink--it was nothing to Ugo del +Ferice, now that he had gained the great object of his life, and was at +liberty to publish his engagement to Donna Tullia Mayer. He lost no time +in telling his friends the good news, and before the evening was over a +hundred people had congratulated him. Donna Tullia, too, appeared in more +than usually gay attire, and smilingly received the expressions of good +wishes which were showered upon her. She was not inclined to question the +sincerity of those who spoke, for in her present mood the stimulus of a +little popular noise was soothing to her nerves, which had been badly +strained by the excitement of the day. When she closed her eyes she had +evil visions of Temistocle retreating at full speed down the stairs with +his unearned bribe, or of Del Ferice's calm, pale face, as he had sat in +her house that afternoon grasping the precious documents in his hand +until she promised to pay the price he asked, which was herself. But +she smiled at each new congratulation readily enough, and said in her +heart that she would yet become a great power in society, and make her +house the centre of all attractions. And meanwhile she pondered on the +title she should buy for her husband: she came of high blood herself, and +she knew how such dignities as a "principe" or a "duca" were regarded +when bought. There was nothing for it but to find some snug little +marquisate--"marchese" sounded very well, though one could not be called +"eccellenza" by one's servants; still, as the daughter of a prince, she +might manage even that. "Marchese"--yes, that would do. What a pity there +were only four "canopy" marquises--"marchesi del baldacchino"--in Rome +with the rank of princes! That was exactly the combination of dignities +Donna Tullia required for her husband. But once a "marchese," if she was +very charitable, and did something in the way of a public work, the Holy +Father might condescend to make Del Ferice a "duca" in the ordinary +course as a step in the nobility. Donna Tullia dreamed many things that +night, and she afterwards accomplished most of them, to the surprise of +everybody, and, if the truth were told, to her own considerable +astonishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"Giovanni, you are the victim of some outrageous plot," said old +Saracinesca, entering his son's room on the following morning. "I have +thought it all out in the night, and I am convinced of it." + +Giovanni was extended upon a sofa, with a book in his hand and a cigar +between his lips. He looked up quietly from his reading. + +"I am not the victim yet, nor ever will be," he answered; "but it is +evident that there is something at the bottom of this besides Madame +Mayer's imagination. I will find out." + +"What pleases me especially," remarked the old Prince, "is the wonderful +originality of the idea. It would have been commonplace to make out that +you had poisoned half-a-dozen wives, and buried their bodies in the +vaults of Saracinesca; it would have been _banal_ to say that you were +not yourself, but some one else; or to assert that you were a +revolutionary agent in disguise, and that the real Giovanni had been +murdered by you, who had taken his place without my discovering it,--very +commonplace all that. But to say that you actually have a living wife, +and to try to prove it by documents, is an idea worthy of a great mind. +It takes one's breath away." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"It will end in our having to go to Aquila in search of my supposed +better half," he said. "Aquila, of all places! If she had said Paris--or +even Florence--but why, in the name of geography, Aquila?" + +"She probably looked for some out-of-the-way place upon an alphabetical +list," laughed the Prince. "Aquila stood first. We shall know in two +hours--come along. It is time to be going." + +They found Corona in her boudoir. She had passed an uneasy hour on the +previous afternoon after they had left her, but her equanimity was now +entirely restored. She had made up her mind that, however ingenious the +concocted evidence might turn out to be, it was absolutely impossible to +harm Giovanni by means of it. His position was beyond attack, as, in her +mind, his character was above slander. Far from experiencing any +sensation of anxiety as to the result of Donna Tullia's visit, what she +most felt was curiosity to see what these fancied proofs would be like. +She still believed that Madame Mayer was mad. + +"I have been remarking to Giovanni upon Donna Tullia's originality," said +old Saracinesca. "It is charming; it shows a talent for fiction which the +world has been long in realising, which we have not even suspected--an +amazing and transcendent genius for invention." + +"It is pure insanity," answered Corona, in a tone of conviction. "The +woman is mad." + +"Mad as an Englishman," asseverated the Prince, using the most powerful +simile in the Italian language. "We will have her in Santo Spirito before +night, and she will puzzle the doctors." + +"She is not mad," said Giovanni, quietly. "I do not even believe we shall +find that her documents are forgeries." + +"What?" cried his father. Corona looked quickly at Giovanni. + +"You yourself," said the latter, turning to old Saracinesca, "were +assuring me half an hour ago that I was the victim of a plot. Now, if +anything of the kind is seriously attempted, you may be sure it will be +well done. She has a good ally in the man to whom she is engaged. Del +Ferice is no fool, and he hates me." + +"Del Ferice!" exclaimed Corona, in surprise. As she went nowhere as yet, +she had, of course, not heard the news which had been published on the +previous evening. "You do not mean to say that she is going to marry Del +Ferice?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Giovanni. "They both appeared last night and +announced the fact, and received everybody's congratulations. It is a +most appropriate match." + +"I agree with you--a beautiful triangular alliteration of wit, wealth, +and wickedness," observed the Prince. "He has brains, she has money, and +they are both as bad as possible." + +"I thought you used to like Donna Tullia," said Corona, suppressing a +smile. + +"I did," said old Saracinesea, stoutly. "I wanted Giovanni to marry her. +It has pleased Providence to avert that awful catastrophe. I liked Madame +Mayer because she was rich and noisy and good-looking, and I thought +that, as Giovanni's wife, she would make the house gay. We are such a +pair of solemn bears together, that it seemed appropriate that somebody +should make us dance. It was a foolish idea, I confess, though I thought +it very beautiful at the time. It merely shows how liable we are to make +mistakes. Imagine Giovanni married to a lunatic!" + +"I repeat that she is not mad," said Giovanni. "I cannot tell how they +have managed it, but I am sure it has been managed well, and will give us +trouble. You will see." + +"I do not understand at all how there can be any trouble about it," said +Corona, proudly. "It is perfectly simple for us to tell the truth, and to +show that what they say is a lie. You can prove easily enough that you +were in Canada at the time. I wish it were time for her to come. Let us +go to breakfast in the meanwhile." + +The views taken by the three were characteristic of their various +natures. The old Prince, who was violent of temper, and inclined always +to despise an enemy in any shape, scoffed at the idea that there was +anything to show; and though his natural wit suggested from time to time +that there was a plot against his son, his general opinion was, that it +was a singular case of madness. He hardly believed Donna Tullia would +appear at all; and if she did, he expected some extraordinary outburst, +some pitiable exhibition of insanity. Corona, on the other hand, +maintained a proud indifference, scorning to suppose that anything could +possibly injure Giovanni in any way, loving him too entirely to admit +that he was vulnerable at all, still less that he could possibly have +done anything to give colour to the accusation brought against him. +Giovanni alone of all the three foresaw that there would be trouble, and +dimly guessed how the thing had been done; for he did not fall into his +father's error of despising an enemy, and he had seen too much of the +world not to understand that danger is often greatest when the appearance +of it is least. + +Breakfast was hardly over when Donna Tullia was announced. All rose to +meet her, and all looked at her with equal interest. She was calmer than +on the previous day, and she carried a package of papers in her hand. +Her red lips were compressed, and her eyes looked defiantly round upon +all present. Whatever might be her faults, she was not a coward when +brought face to face with danger. She was determined to carry the matter +through, both because she knew that she had no other alternative, and +because she believed herself to be doing a righteous act, which, at the +same time, fully satisfied her desire for vengeance. She came forward +boldly and stood beside the table in the midst of the room. Corona was +upon one side of the fireplace, and the two Saracinesea upon the other. +All three held their breath in expectation of what Donna Tullia was about +to say; the sense of her importance impressed her, and her love of +dramatic situations being satisfied, she assumed something of the air of +a theatrical avenging angel, and her utterance was rhetorical. + +"I come here," she said, "at your invitation, to exhibit to your eyes the +evidence of what I yesterday asserted--the evidence of the monstrous +crime of which I accuse that man." Here she raised her finger with a +gesture of scorn, and extending her whole arm, pointed towards Giovanni. + +"Madam," interrupted the old Prince, "I will trouble you to select your +epithets and expressions with more care. Pray be brief, and show what you +have brought." + +"I will show it, indeed," replied Donna Tullia, "and you shall tremble at +what you see. When you have evidence of the truth of what I say, you may +choose any language you please to define the action of your son. These +documents," she said, holding up the package, "are attested copies made +from the originals--the first two in the possession of the curate of the +church of San Bernardino da Siena, at Aquila, the other in the office of +the Stato Civile in the same city. As they are only copies, you need not +think that you will gain anything by destroying them." + +"Spare your comments upon our probable conduct," interrupted the Prince, +roughly. Donna Tullia eyed him with a scornful glance, and her face began +to grow red. + +"You may destroy them if you please," she repeated; "but I advise you to +observe that they bear the Government stamp and the notarial seal of +Gianbattista Caldani, notary public in the city of Aquila, and that they +are, consequently, beyond all doubt genuine copies of genuine documents." + +Donna Tullia proceeded to open the envelope and withdraw the three papers +it contained. Spreading them out, she took up the first, which contained +the extract from the curate's book of banns. It set forth that upon the +three Sundays preceding the 19th of June 1863, the said curate had +published, in the parish church of San Bernardino da Siena, the banns of +marriage between Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi. Donna Tullia read +it aloud. + +Giovanni could hardly suppress a laugh, it sounded so strangely. Corona +herself turned pale, though she firmly believed the whole thing to be an +imposture of some kind. + +"Permit me, madam," said old Saracinesca, stepping forward and taking the +paper from her hand. He carefully examined the seal and stamp. "It is +very cleverly done," he said with a sneer; "but there should be only +one letter _r_ in the name Saracinesca--here it is spelt with two! Very +clever, but a slight mistake! Observe," he said, showing the place to +Donna Tullia. + +"It is a mistake of the copyist," she said, scornfully. "The name is +properly spelt in the other papers. Here is the copy of the marriage +register. Shall I read it also?" + +"Spare me the humiliation," said Giovanni, in quiet contempt. "Spare me +the unutterable mortification of discovering that there is another +Giovanni Saracinesca in the world!" + +"I could not have believed that any one could be so hardened," said Donna +Tullia. "But whether you are humiliated or not by the evidence of your +misdeeds, I will spare you nothing. Here it is in full, and you may +notice that your name is spelt properly too." + +She held up the document and then read it out--the copy of the curate's +register, stating that on the 19th of June 1863 Giovanni Saracinesca and +Felice Baldi were united in holy matrimony in the church of San +Bernardino da Siena. She handed the paper to the Prince, and then read +the extract from the register of the Civil marriage and the notary's +attestation to the signatures. She gave this also to old Saracinesca, and +then folding her arms in a fine attitude, confronted the three. + +"Are you satisfied that I spoke the truth?" she asked, defiantly. + +"The thing is certainly remarkably well done," answered the old Prince, +who scrutinised the papers with a puzzled air. Though he knew perfectly +well that his son had been in Canada at the time of this pretended +marriage, he confessed to himself that if such evidence had been brought +against any other man, he would have believed it. + +"It is a shameful fraud!" exclaimed Corona, looking at the papers over +the old man's shoulder. + +"That is a lie!" cried Donna Tullia, growing scarlet with anger. + +"Do not forget your manners, or you will get into trouble," said +Giovanni, sternly. "I see through the whole thing. There has been no +fraud, and yet the deductions are entirely untrue. In the first place, +Donna Tullia, how do you make the statements here given to coincide with +the fact that during the whole summer of 1863 and during the early part +of 1864 I was in Canada with a party of gentlemen, who are all alive to +testify to the fact?" + +"I do not believe it," answered Madame Mayer, contemptuously. "I would +not believe your friends if they were here and swore to it. You will very +likely produce witnesses to prove that you were in the arctic regions +last summer, as the newspapers said, whereas every one knows now that you +were at Saracinesca. You are exceedingly clever at concealing your +movements, as we all know." + +Giovanni did not lose his temper, but calmly proceeded to demonstrate his +theory. + +"You will find that the courts of law will accept the evidence of +gentlemen upon oath," he replied, quietly. "Moreover, as a further +evidence, and a piece of very singular proof, I can probably produce +Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi themselves to witness against you. +And I apprehend that the said Giovanni Saracinesca will vehemently +protest that the said Felice Baldi is his wife, and not mine." + +"You speak in wonderful riddles, but you will not deceive me. Money will +doubtless do much, but it will not do what you expect." + +"Certainly not," returned Giovanni, unmoved by her reply. "Money will +certainly not create out of nothing a second Giovanni Saracinesca, nor +his circle of acquaintances, nor the police registers concerning him +which are kept throughout the kingdom of Italy, very much as they are +kept here in the Pontifical States. Money will do none of these things." + +While he was speaking, his father and the Duchessa listened with intense +interest. + +"Donna Tullia," continued Giovanni, "I am willing to believe from your +manner that you are really sure that I am the man mentioned in your +papers; but permit me to inform you that you have been made the victim of +a shallow trick, probably by the person who gave those same papers into +your hands, and suggested to you the use you have made of them." + +"I? I, the victim of a trick?" repeated Donna Tullia, frightened at last +by his obstinately calm manner. + +"Yes," he replied. "I know Aquila and the Abruzzi very well. It +chances that although we, the Saracinesca of Rome, are not numerous, +the name is not uncommon in that part of the country. It is the same +with all our great names. There are Colonna, Orsini, Caetani all over the +country--there are even many families bearing the name of the Medici, who +are extinct. You know it as well as I, or you should know it, for I +believe your mother was my father's cousin. Has it not struck you that +this same Giovanni Saracinesca herein mentioned, is simply some low-born +namesake of mine?" + +Donna Tullia had grown very pale, and she leaned upon the table as though +she were faint. The others listened breathlessly. + +"I do not believe it," said Madame Mayer, in a low and broken voice. + +"Now I will tell you what I will do," continued Giovanni. "I will go to +Aquila at once, and I daresay my father will accompany me--" + +"Of course I will," broke in the old Prince. + +"We will go, and in a fortnight's time we will produce the whole history +of this Giovanni Saracinesca, together with his wife and himself in his +own person, if they are both alive; we will bring them here, and they +will assure you that you have been egregiously deceived, played upon and +put in a false position by--by the person who furnished you with these +documents. I wonder that any Roman of common-sense should not have seen +at once the cause of this mistake." + +"I cannot believe it," murmured Donna Tullia. Then raising her voice, she +added, "Whatever may be the result of your inquiry, I cannot but feel +that I have done my duty in this affair. I do not believe in your theory, +nor in you, and I shall not, until you produce this other man. I have +done my duty--" + +"An exceedingly painful one, no doubt," remarked old Saracinesca. Then he +broke into a loud peal of laughter. + +"And if you do not succeed in your search, it will be my duty, in the +interests of society, to put the matter in the hands of the police. Since +you have the effrontery to say that those papers are of no use, I demand +them back." + +"Not at all, madam," replied the Prince, whose laughter subsided at the +renewed boldness of her tone. "I will not give them back to you. I intend +to compare them with the originals. If there are no originals, they will +serve very well to commit the notary whose seal is on them, and yourself, +upon a well-founded indictment for forgery, wilful calumniation, and a +whole list of crimes sufficient to send you to the galleys for life. If, +on the other hand, the originals exist, they can be of no possible value +to you, as you can send to Aquila and have fresh copies made whenever you +please, as you yourself informed me." + +Things were taking a bad turn for Donna Tullia. She believed the papers +to be genuine, but a fearful doubt crossed her mind that Del Ferice might +possibly have deceived her by having them manufactured. Anybody +could buy Government paper, and it would be but a simple matter to have a +notary's seal engraved. She was terrified at the idea, but there was no +possibility of getting the documents back from the old Prince, who held +them firmly in his broad brown hand. There was nothing to be done but to +face the situation out to the end and go. + +"As you please," she said. "It is natural that you should insult me, a +defenceless woman trying to do what is right. It is worthy of your race +and reputation. I will leave you to the consideration of the course you +intend to follow, and I advise you to omit nothing which can help to +prove the innocence of your son." + +Donna Tullia bestowed one more glance of contemptuous defiance upon the +group, and brushed angrily out of the room. + +"So much for her madness!" exclaimed Giovanni, when she was gone. "I +think I have got to the bottom of that affair." + +"It seems so simple, and yet I never thought of it," said Corona. "How +clever you are, Giovanni!" + +"There was not much cleverness needed to see through so shallow a trick," +replied Giovanni. "I suspected it this morning; and when I saw that the +documents were genuine and all in order, I was convinced of it. This +thing has been done by Del Ferice, I suppose in order to revenge himself +upon me for nearly killing him in fair fight. It was a noble plan. With a +little more intelligence and a little more pains, he could have given me +great trouble. Certificates like those he produced, if they had come from +a remote French village in Canada, would have given us occupation for +some time." + +"I wish Donna Tullia joy of her husband," remarked the Prince. "He will +spend her money in a year or two, and then leave her to the contemplation +of his past extravagance. I wonder how he induced her to consent." + +"Many people like Del Ferice," said Giovanni. "He is popular, and has +attractions." + +"How can you say that!" exclaimed Corona, indignantly. "You should have a +better opinion of women than to think any woman could find attractions in +such a man." + +"Nevertheless, Donna Tullia is going to marry him," returned Giovanni. +"She must find him to her taste. I used to think she might have married +Valdarno--he is so good-natured, you know!" + +Giovanni spoke in a tone of reflection; the other two laughed. + +"And now, Giovannino," said his father, "we must set out for Aquila, and +find your namesake." + +"You will not really go?" asked Corona, with a look of disappointment. +She could not bear the thought of being separated even for a day from the +man she loved. + +"I do not see that we can do anything else," returned the Prince. "I must +satisfy myself whether those papers are forgeries or not. If they are, +that woman must go to prison for them." + +"But she is our cousin--you cannot do that," objected Giovanni. + +"Indeed I will. I am angry. Do not try to stop me. Do you suppose I care +anything for the relationship in comparison with repaying her for all +this trouble? You are not going to turn merciful, Giovanni? I should not +recognise you." + +There was a sort of mournful reproach about the old Prince's tone, as +though he were reproving his son for having fallen from the paths of +virtue. Corona laughed; she was not hard-hearted, but she was not so +angelic of nature as to be beyond feeling deep and lasting resentment +for injuries received. At that moment the idea of bringing Donna Tullia +to justice was pleasant. + +"Well," said Giovanni, "no human being can boast of having ever prevented +you from doing whatever you were determined to do. The best thing that +can happen will be, that you should find the papers genuine, and my +namesake alive. I wish Aquila were Florence or Naples," he added, turning +to Corona; "you might manage to go at the same time." + +"That is impossible," she answered, sadly. "How long will you be gone, do +you think?" + +Giovanni did not believe that, if the papers were genuine, and if they +had to search for the man mentioned in them, they could return in less +than a fortnight. + +"Why not send a detective--a _sbirro_?" suggested Corona. + +"He could not accomplish anything," replied the Prince. + +"He would be at a great disadvantage there; we must go ourselves." + +"Both?" asked Corona, regretfully, gazing at Giovanni's face. + +"It is my business," replied the latter. "I can hardly ask my father to +go alone." + +"Absurd!" exclaimed the old Prince, resenting the idea that he needed any +help to accomplish his mission. "Do you think I need some one to take +care of me, like a baby in arms? I will go alone; you shall not come even +if you wish it. Absurd, to talk of my needing anybody with me! I will +show you what your father can do when his blood is up." + +Protestations were useless after that. The old man grew angry at the +opposition, and, regardless of all propriety, seized his hat and left the +room, growling that he was as good as anybody, and a great deal better. + +Corona and Giovanni looked at each other when he was gone, and smiled. + +"I believe my father is the best man alive," said Giovanni. "He would go +in a moment if I would let him. I will go after him and bring him back--I +suppose I ought." + +"I suppose so," answered Corona; but as they stood side by side, she +passed her hand under his arm affectionately, and looked into his eyes. +It was a very tender look, very loving and gentle--such a look as none +but Giovanni had ever seen upon her face. He put his arm about her waist +and drew her to him, and kissed her dark cheek. + +"I cannot bear to go away and leave you, even for a day," he said, +pressing her to his side. + +"Why should you?" she murmured, looking up to him. "Why should he go, +after all? This has been such a silly affair. I wonder if that woman +thought that anything could ever come between you and me? That was what +made me think she was really mad." + +"And an excellent reason," he answered. "Anybody must be insane who +dreams of parting us two. It seems as though a year ago I had not loved +you at all." + +"I am so glad," said Corona. "Do you remember, last summer, on the tower +at Saracinesca, I told you that you did not know what love was?" + +"It was true, Corona--I did not know. But I thought I did. I never +imagined what the happiness of love was, nor how great it was, nor how it +could enter into every thought." + +"Into every thought? Into your great thoughts too?" + +"If any thoughts of mine are great, they are so because you are the +mainspring of them," he answered. + +"Will it always be so?" she asked. "You will be a very great man some +day, Giovanni; will you always feel that I am something to you?" + +"Always--more than anything to me, more than all of me together." + +"I sometimes wonder," said Corona. "I think I understand you better than +I used to do. I like to think that you feel how I understand you when you +tell me anything. Of course I am not clever like you, but I love you so +much that just while you are talking I seem to understand everything. It +is like a flash of light in a dark room." + +Giovanni kissed her again. + +"What makes you think that I shall be great, Corona? Nobody ever thinks I +am even clever. My father would laugh at you, and say it is quite enough +greatness to be born a Saracinesca. What makes you think it?" + +Corona stood up beside him and laid her delicate hand upon his thick, +close-cut black hair, and gazed into his eyes. + +"I know it," she said. "I know it, because I love you so. A man like you +must be great. There is something in you that nobody guesses but I, that +will amaze people some day--I know it." + +"I wonder if you could tell me what it is? I wonder if it is really there +at all?" said Giovanni. + +"It is ambition," said Corona, gravely. "You are the most ambitious man I +ever knew, and nobody has found it out." + +"I believe it is true, Corona," said Giovanni, turning away and leaning +upon the chimneypiece, his head supported on one hand. "I believe you are +right. I am ambitious: if I only had the brains that some men have I +would do great things." + +"You are wrong, Giovanni. It is neither brains nor ambition nor strength +that you lack--it is opportunity." + +"They say that a man who has anything in him creates opportunities for +himself," answered Giovanni, rather sadly. "I fear it is because I really +have nothing in me that I can do nothing. It sometimes makes me very +unhappy to think so. I suppose that is because my vanity is wounded." + +"Do not talk like that," said Corona. "You have vanity, of course, but it +is of the large kind, and I call it ambition. It is not only because I +love you better than any man was ever loved before that I say that. It is +that I know it instinctively I have heard you say that these are +unsettled times. Wait; your opportunity will come, as it came often to +your forefathers in other centuries." + +"I hardly think that their example is a good one," replied Giovanni, with +a smile. + +"They generally did something remarkable in remarkable times," said +Corona. "You will do the same. Your father, for instance, would not." + +"He is far more clever than I," objected Giovanni. + +"Clever! It passes for cleverness. He is quick, active, a good talker, a +man with a ready wit and a sharp answer--kind-hearted when the fancy +takes him, cruel when he is so disposed--but not a man of great +convictions or of great actions. You are very different from him." + +"Will you draw my portrait, Corona?" asked Giovanni. + +"As far as I know you. You are a man quick to think and slow to make a +decision. You are not brilliant in conversation--you see I do not flatter +you; I am just. You have the very remarkable quality of growing cold +when others grow hot, and of keeping the full use of your faculties in +any situation. When you have made a decision, you cannot be moved from +it; but you are open to conviction in argument. You have a great repose +of manner, which conceals a very restless brain. All your passions are +very strong. You never forgive, never forget, and scarcely ever repent. +Beneath all, you have an untamable ambition which has not yet found its +proper field. Those are your qualities--and I love them all, and you +more than them all." + +Corona finished her speech by throwing her arms round his neck, and +breaking into a happy laugh as she buried her face upon his shoulder. No +one who saw her in the world would have believed her capable of those +sudden and violent demonstrations--she was thought so very cold. + +When Giovanni reached home, he was informed that his father had left Rome +an hour earlier by the train for Terni, leaving word that he had gone to +Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +In those days the railroad did not extend beyond Terni in the direction +of Aquila, and it was necessary to perform the journey of forty miles +between those towns by diligence. It was late in the afternoon of the +next day before the cumbrous coach rolled up to the door of the Locanda +del Sole in Aquila, and Prince Saracinesca found himself at his +destination. The red evening sun gilded the snow of the Gran Sasso +d'Italia, the huge domed mountain that towers above the city of +Frederick. The city itself had long been in the shade, and the spring +air was sharp and biting. Saracinesca deposited his slender luggage with +the portly landlord, said he would return for supper in half an hour, and +inquired the way to the church of San Bernardino da Siena. There was +no difficulty in finding it, at the end of the Corso--the inevitable +"Corso" of every Italian town. The old gentleman walked briskly along the +broad, clean street, and reached the door of the church just as the +sacristan was hoisting the heavy leathern curtain, preparatory to locking +up for the night. + +"Where can I find the Padre Curato?" inquired the Prince. The man looked +at him but made no answer, and proceeded to close the doors with great +care. He was an old man in a shabby cassock, with four days' beard on +his face, and he appeared to have taken snuff recently. + +"Where is the Curator?" repeated the Prince, plucking him by the sleeve. +But the man shook his head, and began turning the ponderous key in the +lock. Two little ragged boys were playing a game upon the church steps, +piling five chestnuts in a heap and then knocking them down with a small +stone. One of them having upset the heap, desisted and came near the +Prince. + +"That one is deaf," he said, pointing to the sacristan. Then running +behind, him he stood on tiptoe and screamed in his ear--"_Brutta +bestia_!" + +The sacristan did not hear, but caught sight of the urchin and made a +lunge at him. He missed him, however, and nearly fell over. + +"What education!--_che educazione_!" cried the old man, angrily. + +Meanwhile the little boy took refuge behind Saracinesca, and pulling his +coat asked for a _soldo_. The sacristan calmly withdrew the key from the +lock, and went away without vouchsafing a look to the Prince. + +"He is deaf," screamed the little boy, who was now joined by his +companion, and both in great excitement danced round the fine gentleman. + +"Give me a _soldo_," they yelled together. + +"Show me the house of the Padre Curato," answered the Prince, "then I +will give you each a _soldo. Lesti!_ Quick!" + +Whereupon both the boys began turning cart-wheels on their feet and hands +with marvellous dexterity. At last they subsided into a natural position, +and led the way to the curate's house, not twenty yards from the church, +in a narrow alley. The Prince pulled the bell by the long chain which +hung beside the open street door, and gave the boys the promised coppers. +They did not leave him, however, but stood by to see what would happen. +An old woman looked out of an upper window, and after surveying the +Prince with care, called down to him-- + +"What do you want?" + +"Is the Padre Curato at home?" + +"Of course he is at home," screamed the old woman, "At this hour!" she +added, contemptuously. + +"_Ebbene_--can I see him?" + +"What! is the door shut?" returned the hag. + +"No." + +"Then why don't you come up without asking?" The old woman's head +disappeared, and the window was shut with a clattering noise. + +"She is a woman without education," remarked one of the ragged boys, +making a face towards the closed window. + +The Prince entered the door and stumbled up the dark stairs, and after +some further palaver obtained admittance to the curate's lodging. The +curate sat in a room which appeared to serve as dining-room, living-room, +and study. A small table was spread with a clean cloth, upon which were +arranged a plate, a loaf of bread, a battered spoon, a knife, and a small +measure of thin-looking wine. A brass lamp with three wicks, one of which +only was burning, shed a feeble light through the poor apartment. Against +the wall stood a rough table with an inkstand and three or four mouldy +books. Above this hung a little black cross bearing a brass Christ, and +above this again a coloured print of San Bernardino of Siena. The walls +were whitewashed, and perfectly clean,--as indeed was everything +else in the room,--and there was a sweet smell of flowers from a huge pot +of pinks which had been taken in for the night, and stood upon the stone +sill within the closed window. + +The curate was a tall old man, with a singularly gentle face and soft +brown eyes. He wore a threadbare cassock, carefully brushed; and from +beneath his three-cornered black cap his thin hair hung in a straight +grey fringe. As the Prince entered the room, the old woman called +over his shoulder to the priest an uncertain formula of introduction. + +"Don Paolo, _c'è uno_--there is one." Then she retired, grumbling +audibly. + +The priest removed his cap, and bowing politely, offered one of the two +chairs to his visitor. With an apology, he replaced his cap upon his +head, and seated himself opposite the Prince. There was much courteous +simplicity in his manner. + +"In what way can I serve you, Signore?" he asked. + +"These papers," answered the Prince, drawing the famous envelope from his +breast-pocket, "are copies of certain documents in your keeping, relating +to the supposed marriage of one Giovanni Saracinesca. With your very kind +permission, I desire to see the originals." + +The old curate bowed, as though giving his assent, and looked steadily at +his visitor for a moment before he answered. + +"There is nothing simpler, my good sir. You will pardon me, however, if I +venture to inquire your name, and to ask you for what purpose you desire +to consult the documents?" + +"I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome--" + +The priest started uneasily. + +"A relation of Giovanni Saracinesca?" he inquired. Then he added +immediately, "Will you kindly excuse me for one moment?" and left the +room abruptly. The Prince was considerably astonished, but he held his +papers firmly in his hand, and did not move from his seat. The curate +returned in a few seconds, bringing with him a little painted porcelain +basket, much chipped and the worse for age, and which contained a +collection of visiting-cards. There were not more than a score of them, +turning brown with accumulated dust. The priest found one which was +rather newer than the rest, and after carefully adjusting a pair of huge +spectacles upon his nose, he went over to the lamp and examined it. + +"'Il Conte del Ferice,'" he read slowly. "Do you happen to know that +gentleman, my good sir?" he inquired, turning to the Prince, and looking +keenly at him over his glasses. + +"Certainly," answered Saracinesca, beginning to understand the situation. +"I know him very well." + +"Ah, that is good!" said the priest. "He was here two years ago, +and had those same entries concerning Giovanni Saracinesca copied. +Probably--certainly, indeed--the papers you have there are the very ones +he took away with him. When he came to see me about it, he gave me this +card." + +"I wonder he did," answered Saracinesca. + +"Indeed," replied the curate, after a moment's thought, "I remember that +he came the next day--yes--and asked to have his card returned. But I +could not find it for him. There was a hole in one of my pockets--it had +slipped down. Carmela, my old servant, found it a day or two later in the +lining of my cassock. I thought it strange that he should have asked for +it." + +"It was very natural. He wished you to forget his existence." + +"He asked me many questions about Giovanni," said the priest, "but I +could not answer him at that time." + +"You could answer now?" inquired the Prince, eagerly. + +"Excuse me, my good sir; what relation are you to Giovanni? You say you +are from Rome?" + +"Let us understand each other, Signor Curato," said Saracinesca. "I +see I had better explain the position. I am Leone Saracinesca, the prince +of that name, and the head of the family." The priest bowed respectfully +at this intelligence. "My only son lives with me in Rome--he is now +there--and his name is Giovanni Saracinesca. He is engaged to be married. +When the engagement became known, an enemy of the family attempted to +prove, by means of these papers, that he was married already to a certain +Felice Baldi. Now I wish to know who this Giovanni Saracinesca is, where +he is, and how he comes to have my son's name. I wish a certificate or +some proof that he is not my son,--that he is alive, or that he is dead +and buried." + +The old priest burst into a genial laugh, and rubbed his hands together +in delight. + +"My dear sir--your Excellency, I mean--I baptised Felice Baldi's second +baby a fortnight ago! There is nothing simpler--" + +"I knew it!" cried the Prince, springing from his chair in great +excitement; "I knew it! Where is that baby? Send and get the baby at +once--the mother--the father--everybody!" + +"_Subito!_ At once--or come with me. I will show you the whole family +together," said the curate, in innocent delight. "Splendid children they +are, too. Carmela, my cloak--_sbrigati_, be quick!" + +"One moment," objected Saracinesca, as though suddenly recollecting +something. "One moment, Sign or Curato; who goes slowly goes safely. +Where does this man come from, and how does he come by his name? I would +like to know something about him before I see him." + +"True," answered the priest, resuming his seat. "I had forgotten. Well, +it is not a long story. Giovanni Saracinesca is from Naples. You know +there was once a branch of your family in the Neapolitan kingdom--at +least so Giovanni says, and he is an honest fellow. Their title was +Marchese di San Giacinto; and if Giovanni liked to claim it, he has a +right to the title still." + +"But those Saracinesca were extinct fifty years ago," objected the +Prince, who knew his family history very well. + +"Giovanni says they were not. They were believed to be. The last Marchese +di San Giacinto fought under Napoleon. He lost all he possessed--lands, +money, everything--by confiscation, when Ferdinand was restored in 1815. +He was a rough man; he dropped his title, married a peasant's only +daughter, became a peasant himself, and died obscurely in a village near +Salerno. He left a son who worked on the farm and inherited it from his +mother, married a woman of the village of some education, and died of the +cholera, leaving his son, the present Giovanni Saracinesca. This Giovanni +received a better education than his father had before him, improved his +farm, began to sell wine and oil for exportation, travelled as far as +Aquila, and met Felice Baldi, the daughter of a man of some wealth, who +has since established an inn here. Giovanni loved her. I married them. He +went back to Naples, sold his farm for a good price last year, and +returned to Aquila. He manages his father-in-law's inn, which is the +second largest here, and drives a good business, having put his own +capital into the enterprise. They have two children, the second one of +which was born three weeks ago, and they are perfectly happy." + +Saracinesca looked thoughtfully at Don Paolo, the old curate. + +"Has this man any papers to prove the truth of this very singular story?" +he inquired at last. + +"_Altro!_ That was all his grandfather left--a heap of parchments. They +seem to be in order--he showed them to me when I married him." + +"Why does he make no claim to have the attainder of his grandfather +reversed?" + +The curate shrugged his shoulders and spread out the palms of his hands, +smiling incredulously. + +"The lands, he says, have fallen into the hands of certain patriots. +There is no chance of getting them back. It is of little use to be a +Marchese without property. What he possesses is a modest competence; it +is wealth, even, in his present position. For a nobleman it would be +nothing. Besides, he is half a peasant by blood and tradition." + +"He is not the only nobleman in that position," laughed Saracinesca. "But +are you aware--" + +He stopped short. He was going to say that if he himself and his son both +died, the innkeeper of Aquila would become Prince Saracinesca. The idea +shocked him, and he kept it to himself. + +"After all," he continued, "the man is of my blood by direct descent. I +would like to see him." + +"Nothing easier. If you will come with me, I will present him to your +Excellency," said the priest. "Do you still wish to see the documents?" + +"It is useless. The mystery is solved. Let us go and see this new-found +relation of mine." + +Don Paolo wrapped his cloak around him, and ushering his guest from the +room, led the way down-stairs. He carried a bit of wax taper, which he +held low to the steps, frequently stopping and warning the Prince to be +careful. It was night when they went out. The air was sharp and cold, and +Saracinesca buttoned his greatcoat to his throat as he strode by the side +of the old priest. The two walked on in silence for ten minutes, keeping +straight down the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. At last the curate stopped +before a clean, new house, from the windows of which the bright light +streamed into the street. Don Paolo motioned to the Prince to enter, and +followed him in. A man in a white apron, with his arms full of plates, +who was probably servant, butler, boots, and factotum to the +establishment, came out of the dining-room, which was to the left of the +entrance, and which, to judge by the noise, seemed to be full of people. +He looked at the curate, and then at the Prince. + +"Sorry to disappoint you, Don Paolo _mio_," he said, supposing the priest +had brought a customer--"very sorry; there is not a bed in the house." + +"That is no matter, Giacchino," answered the curate. "We want to see Sor +Giovanni for a moment." The man disappeared, and a moment later Sor +Giovanni himself came down the passage. + +"_Favorisca_, dear Don Paolo, come in." And he bowed to the Prince as he +opened the door which led into a small sitting-room reserved for the +innkeeper's family. + +When they had entered, Saracinesca looked at his son's namesake. He saw +before him a man whose face and figure he long remembered with an +instinctive dislike. Giovanni the innkeeper was of a powerful build. Two +generations of peasant blood had given renewed strength to the old race. +He was large, with large bones, vast breadth of shoulder, and massive +joints; lean withal, and brown of face, his high cheek-bones making his +cheeks look hollow; clean shaved, his hair straight and black and neatly +combed; piercing black eyes near together, the heavy eyebrows joining +together in the midst of his forehead; thin and cruel lips, now parted in +a smile and showing a formidable set of short, white, even teeth; a +prominent square jaw, and a broad, strong nose, rather unnaturally +pointed,--altogether a striking face, one that would be noticed in a +crowd for its strength, but strangely cunning in expression, and not +without ferocity. Years afterwards Saracinesca remembered his first +meeting with Giovanni the innkeeper, and did not wonder that his first +impulse had been to dislike the man. At present, however, he looked at +him with considerable curiosity, and if he disliked him at first sight, +he told himself that it was beneath him to show antipathy for an +innkeeper. + +"Sor Giovanni," said the curate, "this gentleman is desirous of making +your acquaintance." + +Giovanni, whose manners were above his station, bowed politely, and +looked inquiringly at his visitor. + +"Signor Saracinesca," said the Prince, "I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome. I +have just heard of your existence. We have long believed your family to +be extinct--I am delighted to find it still represented, and by one who +seems likely to perpetuate the name." + +The innkeeper fixed his piercing eyes on the speaker's face, and looked +long before he answered. + +"So you are Prince Saracinesca," he said, gravely. + +"And you are the Marchese di San Giacinto," said the Prince, in the same +tone, holding out his hand frankly. + +"Pardon me,--I am Giovanni Saracinesca, the innkeeper of Aquila," +returned the other. But he took the Prince's hand. Then they all sat +down. + +"As you please," said the Prince. "The title is none the less yours. If +you had signed yourself with it when you married, you would have saved me +a vast deal of trouble; but on the other hand, I should not have been +so fortunate as to meet you." + +"I do not understand," said Giovanni. + +The Prince told his story in as few words as possible. + +"Amazing! extraordinary! what a chance!" ejaculated the curate, nodding +his old head from time to time while the Prince spoke, as though he had +not heard it all before. The innkeeper said nothing until old Saracinesca +had finished. + +"I see how it was managed," he said at last. "When that gentleman was +making inquiries, I was away. I had taken my wife back to Salerno, and my +wife's father had not yet established himself in Aquila. Signor Del--what +is his name?" + +"Del Ferice." + +"Del Ferice, exactly. He thought we had disappeared, and were not likely +to come back. Or else he is a fool." + +"He is not a fool," said Saracinesca. "He thought he was safe. It is all +very clear now. Well, Signor Marchese, or Signor Saracinesca, I am very +glad to have made your acquaintance. You have cleared up a very important +question by returning to Aquila. It will always give me the greatest +pleasure to serve you in any way I can." + +"A thousand thanks. Anything I can do for you during your stay--" + +"You are very kind. I will hire horses and return to Terni to-night. My +business in Rome is urgent. There is some suspense there in my absence." + +"You will drink a glass before going?" asked Giovanni; and without +waiting for an answer, he strode from the room. + +"And what does your Excellency think of your relation?" asked the curate, +when he was alone with the Prince. + +"A terrible-looking fellow! But--" The Prince made a face and a gesture +indicating a question in regard to the innkeeper's character. + +"Oh, do not be afraid," answered the priest. "He is the most honest man +alive." + +"Of course," returned the Prince, politely, "you have had many occasions +of ascertaining that." + +Giovanni, the innkeeper, returned with a bottle of wine and three +glasses, which he placed upon the table, and proceeded to fill. + +"By the by," said the Prince, "in the excitement I forgot to inquire for +your Signora. She is well, I hope?" + +"Thank you--she is very well," replied Giovanni, shortly. + +"A boy, I have no doubt?" + +"A splendid boy," answered the curate. "Sor Giovanni has a little girl, +too. He is a very happy man." + +"Your health," said the innkeeper, holding up his glass to the light. + +"And yours," returned the Prince. + +"And of all the Saracinesca family," said the curate, sipping his wine +slowly. He rarely got a glass of old Lacrima, and he enjoyed it +thoroughly. + +"And now," said the Prince, "I must be off. Many thanks for your +hospitality. I shall always remember with pleasure the day when I met an +unknown relation." + +"The Albergo di Napoli will not forget that Prince Saracinesca has been +its guest," replied Giovanni politely, a smile upon his thin lips. He +shook hands with both his guests, and ushered them out to the door with a +courteous bow. Before they had gone twenty yards in the street, the +Prince looked back and caught a last glimpse of Giovanni's towering +figure, standing upon the steps with the bright light falling upon it +from within. He remembered that impression long. + +At the door of his own inn he took leave of the good curate with many +expressions of thanks, and with many invitations to the Palazzo +Saracinesca, in case the old man ever visited Home. + +"I have never seen Rome, your Excellency," answered the priest, rather +sadly. "I am an old man--I shall never see it now." + +So they parted, and the Prince had a solitary supper of pigeons and salad +in the great dusky hall of the Locanda del Sole, while his horses were +being got ready for the long night-journey. + +The meeting and the whole clearing up of the curious difficulty had +produced a profound impression upon the old Prince. He had not the +slightest doubt but that the story of the curate was perfectly accurate. +It was all so very probable, too. In the wild times between 1806 and +1815 the last of the Neapolitan branch of the Saracinesca had +disappeared, and the rich and powerful Roman princes of the name had been +quite willing to believe the Marchesi di San Giacinto extinct. They had +not even troubled themselves to claim the title, for they possessed more +than fifty of their own, and there was no chance of recovering the San +Giacinto estate, already mortgaged, and more than half squandered at the +time of the confiscation. That the rough soldier of fortune should have +hidden himself in his native country after the return of Ferdinand, his +lawful king, against whom he had fought, was natural enough; as it was +also natural that, with his rough nature, he should accommodate himself +to a peasant's life, and marry a peasant's only daughter, with her +broad acres of orange and olive and vine land; for peasants in the far +south were often rich, and their daughters were generally beautiful--a +very different race from the starved tenants of the Roman Campagna. + +The Prince decided that the story was perfectly true, and he reflected +somewhat bitterly that unless his son had heirs after him, this herculean +innkeeper of Aquila was the lawful successor to his own title, and to all +the Saracinesca lands. He determined that Giovanni's marriage should not +be delayed another day, and with his usual impetuosity he hastened back +to Rome, hardly remembering that he had spent the previous night and all +that day upon the road, and that he had another twenty-four hours of +travel before him. + +At dawn his carriage stopped at a little town not far from the papal +frontier. Just as the vehicle was starting, a large man, muffled in a +huge cloak, from the folds of which protruded the long brown barrel of a +rifle, put his head into the window. The Prince started and grasped his +revolver, which lay beside him on the seat. + +"Good morning, Prince," said the man. "I hope you have slept well." + +"Sor Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "Where did you drop from?" + +"The roads are not very safe," returned the innkeeper. "So I thought it +best to accompany you. Good-bye--_buon viaggio_!" + +Before the Prince could answer, the carriage rolled off, the horses +springing forward at a gallop. Saracinesca put his head out of the +window, but his namesake had disappeared, and he rolled on towards Terni, +wondering at the innkeeper's anxiety for his safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Even old Saracinesca's iron strength was in need of rest when, at the end +of forty-eight hours, he again entered his son's rooms, and threw himself +upon the great divan. + +"How is Corona?" was his first question. + +"She is very anxious about you," returned Giovanni, who was himself +considerably disturbed. + +"We will go and set her mind at rest as soon as I have had something to +eat," said his father. + +"It is all right, then? It was just as I said--a namesake?" + +"Precisely. Only the namesake happens to be a cousin--the last of the San +Giacinto, who keeps an inn in Aquila. I saw him, and shook hands with +him." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Giovanni. "They are all extinct--" + +"There has been a resurrection," returned the Prince. He told the whole +story of his journey, graphically and quickly. + +"That is a very extraordinary tale," remarked Giovanni, thoughtfully. +"So, if I die without children the innkeeper will be prince." + +"Precisely. And now, Giovanni, you must be married next week." + +"As soon as you please--to-morrow if you like." + +"What shall we do with Del Ferice?" asked the old prince. + +"Ask him to the wedding," answered Giovanni, magnanimously. + +"The wedding will have to be a very quiet one, I suppose," remarked his +father, thoughtfully. "The year is hardly over--" + +"The more quiet the better, provided it is done quickly. Of course we +must consult Corona at once." + +"Do you suppose I am going to fix the wedding-day without consulting +her?" asked the old man. "For heaven's sake order dinner, and let us be +quick about it." + +The Prince was evidently in a hurry, and moreover, he was tired and +very hungry. An hour later, as both the men sat over the coffee in the +dining-room, his mood was mellower. A dinner at home has a wonderful +effect upon the temper of a man who has travelled and fared badly for +eight-and-forty hours. + +"Giovannino," said old Saracinesca, "have you any idea what the Cardinal +thinks of your marriage?" + +"No; and I do not care," answered the younger man. "He once advised me +not to marry Donna Tullia. He has not seen me often since then." + +"I have an idea that it will please him immensely," said the Prince. + +"It would be very much the same if it displeased him." + +"Very much the same. Have you seen Corona to-day?" + +"Yes--of course," answered Giovanni. + +"What is the use of my going with you this evening?" asked his father, +suddenly. "I should think you could manage your own affairs without my +help." + +"I thought that as you have taken so much trouble, you would enjoy +telling her the story yourself." + +"Do you think I am a vain fool, sir, to be amused by a woman's praise? +Nonsense! Go yourself." + +"By all means," answered Giovanni. He was used to his father's habit of +being quarrelsome over trifles, and he was much too happy to take any +notice of it now. + +"You are tired," he continued. "I am sure you have a right to be. You +must want to go to bed." + +"To bed indeed!" growled the old man. "Tired! You think I am good for +nothing; I know you do. You look upon me as a doting old cripple. I tell +you, boy, I can--" + +"For heaven's sake, _padre mio_, do precisely as you are inclined. I +never said--" + +"Never said what? Why are you always quarrelling with me?" roared his +father, who had not lost his temper for two days, and missed his +favourite exercise. + +"What day shall we fix upon?" asked Giovanni, unmoved. + +"Day! Any day. What do I care? Oh!--well, since you speak of it, you +might say a week from Sunday. To-day is Friday. But I do not care in the +least." + +"Very well--if Corona can get ready." + +"She shall be ready--she must be ready!" answered the old gentleman, in a +tone of conviction. "Why should she not be ready, I would like to know?" + +"No reason whatever," said Giovanni, with unusual mildness. + +"Of course not. There is never any reason in anything you say, you +unreasonable boy." + +"Never, of course." Giovanni rose to go, biting his lips to keep down a +laugh. + +"What the devil do you mean by always agreeing with me, you impertinent +scapegrace? And you are laughing, too--laughing at me, sir, as I live! +Upon my word!" + +Giovanni turned his back and lighted a cigar. Then, without looking +round, he walked towards the door. + +"Giovannino," called the Prince. + +"Well?" + +"I feel better now. I wanted to abuse somebody. Look here--wait a +moment." He rose quickly, and left the room. + +Giovanni sat down and smoked rather impatiently, looking at his watch +from time to time. In five minutes his father returned, bringing in his +hand an old red morocco case. + +"Give it to her with my compliments, my boy," he said. "They are some of +your mother's diamonds--just a few of them. She shall have the rest on +the wedding-day." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni, and pressed his father's hand. + +"And give her my love, and say I will call to-morrow at two o'clock," +added the Prince, now perfectly serene. + +With the diamonds under his arm, Giovanni went out. The sky was clear and +frosty, and the stars shone brightly, high up between the tall houses of +the narrow street. Giovanni had not ordered a carriage, and seeing how +fine the night was, he decided to walk to his destination. It was not +eight o'clock, and Corona would have scarcely finished dinner at that +hour. He walked slowly. As he emerged into the Piazza di Venezia some +one overtook him. + +"Good evening, Prince." Giovanni turned, and recognised Anastase Gouache, +the Zouave. + +"Ah, Gouache--how are you?" + +"I am going to pay you a visit," answered the Frenchman. + +"I am very sorry--I have just left home," returned Giovanni, in some +surprise. + +"Not at your house," continued Anastase. "My company is ordered to the +mountains. We leave to-morrow morning for Subiaco, and some of us are to +be quartered at Saracinesca." + +"I hope you will be among the number," said Giovanni. "I shall probably +be married next week, and the Duchessa wishes to go at once to the +mountains. We shall be delighted to see you." + +"Thank you very much. I will not fail to do myself the honour. My homage +to Madame la Duchesse. I must turn here. Good night." + +"_Au revoir_," said Giovanni, and went on his way. + +He found Corona in an inner sitting-room, reading beside a great +wood-fire. There were soft shades of lilac mingled with the black of her +dress. The year of mourning was past, and so soon as she could she +modified her widow's weeds into something less solemnly black. It +was impossible to wear funeral robes on the eve of her second marriage; +and the world had declared that she had shown an extraordinary degree of +virtue in mourning so long for a death which every one considered so +highly appropriate. Corona, however, felt differently. To her, her dead +husband and the man she now so wholly loved belonged to two totally +distinct classes of men. Her love, her marriage with Giovanni, seemed so +natural a consequence of her being left alone--so absolutely removed +from her former life--that, on the eve of her wedding, she could almost +wish that poor old Astrardente were alive to look as her friend upon her +new-found happiness. + +She welcomed Giovanni with a bright smile. She had not expected him that +evening, for he had been with her all the afternoon. She sprang to her +feet and came quickly to meet him. She almost unconsciously took the +morocco case from his hands, not looking at it, and hardly noticing what +she did. + +"My father has come back. It is all settled!" cried Giovanni. + +"So soon! He must have flown!" said she, making him sit down. + +"Yes, he has never rested, and he has found out all about it. It is a +most extraordinary story. By the by, he sends you affectionate messages, +and begs you to accept these diamonds. They were my mother's," he added, +his voice softening and changing. Corona understood his tone, and perhaps +realised, too, how very short the time now was. She opened the case +carefully. + +"They are very beautiful; your mother wore them, Giovanni?" She looked +lovingly at him, and then bending down kissed the splendid coronet as +though in reverence of the dead Spanish woman who had borne the man +she loved. Whereat Giovanni stole to her side, and kissed her own dark +hair very tenderly. + +"I was to tell you that there are a great many more," he said, "which my +father will offer you on the wedding--day." Then he kneeled down beside +her, and raising the crown from its case, set it with both his hands upon +her diadem of braids. + +"My princess!" he exclaimed. "How beautiful you are!" He took the great +necklace, and clasped it about her white throat. "Of course," he said, +"you have such splendid jewels of your own, perhaps you hardly care for +these and the rest. But I like to see you with them--it makes me feel +that you are really mine." + +Corona smiled happily, and gently took the coronet from her head, +returning it to its case. She let the necklace remain about her throat. + +"You have not told me about your father's discovery," she said, suddenly. + +"Yes--I will tell you." + +In a few minutes he communicated to her the details of the journey. She +listened with profound interest. + +"It is very strange," she said. "And yet it is so very natural." + +"You see it is all Del Ferice's doing," said Giovanni. "I suppose it was +really an accident in the first place; but he managed to make a great +deal of it. It is certainly very amusing to find that the last of the +other branch is an innkeeper in the Abruzzi. However, I daresay we +shall never hear of him again. He does not seem inclined to claim his +title. Corona _mia_, I have something much more serious to say to you +to-night." + +"What is it?" she asked, turning her great dark eyes rather wonderingly +to his face. + +"There is no reason why we should not be married, now--" + +"Do you think I ever believed there was?" she asked, reproachfully. + +"No, dear. Only--would you mind its being very soon?" + +The dark blood rose slowly to her cheek, but she answered without any +hesitation. She was too proud to hesitate. + +"Whenever you please, Giovanni. Only it must be very quiet, and we will +go straight to Saracinesca. If you agree to those two things, it shall be +as soon as you please." + +"Next week? A week from Sunday?" asked Giovanni, eagerly. + +"Yes--a week from Sunday. I would rather not go through the ordeal of a +long engagement. I cannot bear to have every one here, congratulating me +from morning till night, as they insist upon doing." + +"I will send the people out to Saracinesca to-morrow," said Giovanni, in +great delight. "They have been at work all winter, making the place +respectable." + +"Not changing, I hope?" exclaimed Corona, who dearly loved the old grey +walls. + +"Only repairing the state apartments. By the by, I met Gouache this +evening. He is going out with a company of Zouaves to hunt the brigands, +if there really are any." + +"I hope he will not come near us," answered Corona. "I want to be all +alone with you, Giovanni, for ever so long. Would you not rather be +alone for a little while?" she asked, looking up suddenly with a timid +smile. "Should I bore you very much?" + +It is unnecessary to record Giovanni's answer. If Corona longed to be +alone with him in the hills, Giovanni himself desired such a retreat +still more. To be out of the world, even for a month, seemed to him the +most delightful of prospects, for he was weary of the city, of society, +of everything save the woman he was about to marry. Of her he could never +tire; he could not imagine that in her company the days would ever seem +long, even in old Saracinesca, among the grey rocks of the Sabines. The +average man is gregarious, perhaps; but in strong minds there is often a +great desire for solitude, or at least for retirement, in the society of +one sympathetic soul. The instinct which bids such people leave the world +for a time is never permanent, unless they become morbid. It is a natural +feeling; and a strong brain gathers strength from communing with itself +or with its natural mate. There are few great men who have not at one +time or another withdrawn into solitude, and their retreat has generally +been succeeded by a period of extraordinary activity. Strong minds are +often, at some time or another, exposed to doubt and uncertainty +incomprehensible to a smaller intellect--due, indeed, to that very +breadth of view which contemplates the same idea from a vast number of +sides. To a man so endowed, the casting-vote of some one whom he loves, +and with whom he almost unconsciously sympathises, is sometimes necessary +to produce action, to direct the faculties, to guide the overflowing +flood of his thought into the mill-race of life's work. Without a certain +amount of prejudice to determine the resultant of its forces, many a +fine intellect would expend its power in burrowing among its own +labyrinths, unrecognised, misunderstood, unheard by the working-day world +without. For the working-day world never lacks prejudice to direct its +working. + +For some time Giovanni and Corona talked of their plans for the spring +and summer. They would read, they would work together at the schemes for +uniting and improving their estates; they would build that new road from +Astrardente to Saracinesca, concerning which there had been so much +discussion during the last year; they would visit every part of their +lands together, and inquire into the condition of every peasant; they +would especially devote their attention to extending the forest +enclosures, in which Giovanni foresaw a source of wealth for his +children; above all, they would talk to their hearts' content, and feel, +as each day dawned upon their happiness, that they were free to go where +they would, without being confronted at every turn by the troublesome +duties of an exigent society. + +At last the conversation turned again upon recent events, and especially +upon the part Del Ferice and Donna Tullia had played in attempting to +prevent the marriage. Corona asked what Giovanni intended to do about the +matter. + +"I do not see that there is much to be done," he answered. "I will go to +Donna Tullia to-morrow, and explain that there has been a curious +mistake--that I am exceedingly obliged to her for calling my attention to +the existence of a distant relative, but that I trust she will not in +future interfere in my affairs." + +"Do you think she will marry Del Ferice after all?" asked Corona. + +"Why not? Of course he gave her the papers. Very possibly he thought they +really proved my former marriage. She will perhaps blame him for her +failure, but he will defend himself, never fear; he will make her +marry him." + +"I wish they would marry and go away," said Corona to whom the very name +of Del Ferice was abhorrent, and who detested Donna Tullia almost as +heartily. Corona was a very good and noble woman, but she was very far +from that saintly superiority which forgets to resent injuries. Her +passions were eminently human, and very strong. She had struggled bravely +against her overwhelming love for Giovanni; and she had so far got the +mastery of herself, that she would have endured to the end if her +husband's death had not set her at liberty. Perhaps, too, while she felt +the necessity of fighting against that love, she attained for a time to +an elevation of character which would have made such personal injuries +as Donna Tullia could inflict seem insignificant in comparison with the +great struggle she sustained against an even greater evil. But in the +realisation of her freedom, in suddenly giving the rein to her nature, so +long controlled by her resolute will, all passion seemed to break out at +once with renewed force; and the conviction that her anger against her +two enemies was perfectly just and righteous, added fuel to the fire. Her +eyes gleamed fiercely as she spoke of Del Ferice and his bride, and no +punishment seemed too severe for those who had so treacherously tried to +dash the cup of her happiness from her very lips. + +"I wish they would marry," she repeated, "and I wish the Cardinal would +turn them out of Rome the next day." + +"That might be done," said Giovanni, who had himself revolved more than +one scheme of vengeance against the evil-doers. "The trouble is, that the +Cardinal despises Del Ferice and his political dilettanteism. He does not +care a fig whether the fellow remains in Rome or goes away. I confess it +would be a great satisfaction to wring the villain's neck." + +"You must not fight him again, Giovanni," said Corona, in sudden alarm. +"You must not risk your life now--you know it is mine now." She laid her +hand tenderly on his, and it trembled. + +"No, dearest--I certainly will not. But my father is very angry. I think +we may safely leave the treatment of Del Fence in his hands. My father is +a very sudden and violent man." + +"I know," replied Corona. "He is magnificent when he is angry. I have no +doubt he will settle Del Ferice's affairs satisfactorily." She laughed +almost fiercely. Giovanni looked at her anxiously, yet not without pride, +as he recognised in her strong anger something akin to himself. + +"How fierce you are!" he said, with a smile. + +"Have I not cause to be? Have I not cause to wish these people an +evil end? Have they not nearly separated us? Nothing is bad enough for +them--what is the use of pretending not to feel? You are calm, Giovanni? +Perhaps you are much stronger than I am. I do not think you realise what +they meant to do--to separate us--_us!_ As if any torture were bad enough +for them!" + +Giovanni had never seen her so thoroughly roused. He was angry himself, +and more than angry, for his cheek paled, and his stern features grew +more hard, while his voice dropped to a hoarser tone. + +"Do not mistake me, Corona," he said. "Do not think I am indifferent +because I am quiet. Del Ferice shall expiate all some day, and bitterly +too." + +"Indeed I hope so," answered Corona between her teeth. Had Giovanni +foreseen the long and bitter struggle he would one day have to endure +before that expiation was complete, he would very likely have renounced +his vengeance then and there, for his wife's sake. But we mortals see but +in a glass; and when the mirror is darkened by the master-passion of +hate, we see not at all. Corona and Giovanni, united, rich and powerful, +might indeed appear formidable to a wretch like Del Ferice, dependent +upon a system of daily treachery for the very bread he ate. But in those +days the wheel of fortune was beginning to turn, and far-sighted men +prophesied that many an obscure individual would one day be playing the +part of a great personage. Years would still elapse before the change, +but the change would surely come at last. + +Giovanni was very thoughtful as he walked home that night. He was happy, +and he had cause to be, for the long-desired day was at hand. He had +nearly attained the object of his life, and there was now no longer any +obstacle to be overcome. The relief he felt at his father's return was +very great; for although he had known that the impediment raised would be +soon removed, any impediment whatever was exasperating, and he could not +calculate the trouble that might be caused by the further machinations of +Donna Tullia and her affianced husband. All difficulties had, however, +been overcome by his father's energetic action, and at once Giovanni felt +as though a load had fallen from his shoulders, and a veil from his eyes. +He saw himself wedded to Corona in less than a fortnight, removed from +the sphere of society and of all his troubles, living for a space alone +with her in his ancestral home, calling her, at last, his wife. +Nevertheless he was thoughtful, and his expression was not one of +unmingled gladness, as he threaded the streets on his way home; for his +mind reverted to Del Ferice and to Donna Tullia, and Corona's fierce look +was still before him. He reflected that she had been nearly as much +injured as himself, that her wrath was legitimate, and that it was his +duty to visit her sufferings as well as his own upon the offenders. His +melancholic nature easily fell to brooding over any evil which was strong +enough to break the barrier of his indifference; and the annoyances which +had sprung originally from so small a cause had grown to gigantic +proportions, and had struck at the very roots of his happiness. + +He had begun by disliking Del Ferice in an indifferent way whenever he +chanced to cross his path. Del Ferice had resented this haughty +indifference as a personal insult, and had set about injuring Giovanni, +attempting to thwart him whenever he could. Giovanni had caught Del +Ferice in a dastardly trick, and had been so far roused as to take +summary vengeance upon him in the duel which tools place after the +Frangipani ball. The wound had entered into Ugo's soul, and his hatred +had grown the faster that he found no opportunity of revenge. Then, at +last, when Giovanni's happiness had seemed complete, his enemy had put +forward his pretended proof of a former marriage; knowing well enough +that his weapons were not invincible--were indeed very weak--but unable +to resist any longer the desire for vengeance. Once more Giovanni had +triumphed easily, but with victory came the feeling that it was his turn +to punish his adversary. And now there was a new and powerful motive +added to Giovanni's just resentment, in the anger his future wife felt +and had a good right to feel, at the treachery which had been practised +upon both. It had taken two years to rouse Giovanni to energetic action +against one whom he had in turn regarded with indifference, then +despised, then honestly disliked, and finally hated. But his hatred had +been doubled each time by a greater injury, and was not likely to be +easily satisfied. Nothing short of Del Fence's destruction would be +enough, and his destruction must be brought about by legal means. + +Giovanni had not far to seek for his weapons. He had long suspected Del +Ferice of treasonable practices; he did not doubt that with small +exertion he could find evidence to convict him. He would, then, allow him +to marry Donna Tullia; and on the day after the wedding, Del Ferice +should be arrested and lodged in the prison of the Holy Office as a +political delinquent of the meanest and most dangerous kind--as a +political spy. The determination was soon reached. It did not seem cruel +to Giovanni, for he was in a relentless mood; it would not have seemed +cruel to Corona,--Del Ferice had deserved all that, and more also. + +So Giovanni went home and slept the sleep of a man who has made up his +mind upon an important matter. And in the morning he rose early and +communicated his ideas to his father. The result was that they determined +for the present to avoid an interview with Donna Tullia, and to +communicate to her by letter the result of old Saracinesca's rapid +journey to Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +When Donna Tullia received Saracinesca's note, explaining the existence +of a second Giovanni, his pedigree and present circumstances, she almost +fainted with disappointment. It seemed to her that she had compromised +herself before the world, that all Rome knew the ridiculous part she had +played in Del Ferice's comedy, and that her shame would never be +forgotten. Suddenly she saw how she had been led away by her hatred of +Giovanni into believing blindly in a foolish tale which ought not to have +deceived a child. So soon as she learned the existence of a second +Giovanni Saracinesca, it seemed to her that she must have been mad not to +foresee such an explanation from the first. She had been duped, she had +been made a cat's-paw, she had been abominably deceived by Del Ferice, +who had made use of this worthless bribe in order to extort from her a +promise of marriage. She felt very ill, as very vain people often do +when they feel that they have been made ridiculous. She lay upon the +sofa in her little boudoir, where everything was in the worst possible +taste--from the gaudy velvet carpet and satin furniture to the gilt clock +on the chimney-piece--and she turned red and pale and red again, and +wished she were dead, or in Paris, or anywhere save in Rome. If she went +out she might meet one of the Saracinesca at any turn of the street, or +even Corona herself. How they would bow and smile sweetly at her, +enjoying her discomfiture with the polite superiority of people who +cannot be hurt! + +And she herself--she could not tell what she should do. She had announced +her engagement to Del Ferice, but she could not marry him. She had been +entrapped into making him a promise, into swearing a terrible oath; +but the Church did not consider such oaths binding. She would go to Padre +Filippo and ask his advice. + +But then, if she went to Padre Filippo, she would have to confess all she +had done, and she was not prepared to do that. A few weeks would pass, +and that time would be sufficient to mellow and smooth the remembrance of +her revengeful projects into a less questionable shape. No--she could not +confess all that just yet. Surely such an oath was not binding; at all +events, she could not marry Del Fence, whether she broke her promise or +not. In the first place, she would send for him and vent her anger upon +him while it was hot. + +Accordingly, in the space of three-quarters of an hour, Ugo appeared, +smiling, smooth and persuasive as usual. Donna Tullia assumed a fine +attitude of disdain as she heard his step outside the door. She intended +to impress him with a full and sudden view of her just anger. He did not +seem much moved, and came forward as usual to take her hand and kiss it. +But she folded her arms and stared at him with all the contempt she could +concentrate in the gaze of her blue eyes. It was a good comedy. Del +Ferice, who had noticed as soon as he entered the room that something was +wrong, and had already half guessed the cause, affected to spring back in +horror when she refused to give her hand. His pale face expressed +sufficiently well a mixture of indignation and sorrow at the harsh +treatment he received. Still Donna Tullia's cold eye rested upon him in a +fixed stare. + +"What is this? What have I done?" asked Del Ferice in low tones. + +"Can you ask? Wretch! Read that, and understand what you have done," +answered Donna Tullia, making a step forward and thrusting Saracinesca's +letter in his face. + +Del Ferice had already seen the handwriting, and knew what the contents +were likely to be. He took the letter in one hand, and without looking at +it, still faced the angry woman. His brows contracted into a heavy frown, +and his half-closed eyes gazed menacingly at her. + +"It will be an evil day for any man who comes between you and me," he +said, in tragic tones. + +Donna Tullia laughed harshly, and again drew herself up, watching his +face, and expecting to witness his utter confusion. But she was no match +for the actor whom she had promised to marry. Del Ferice began to read, +and as he read, his frown relaxed; gradually an ugly smile, intended to +represent fiendish cunning, stole over his features, and when he had +finished, he uttered a cry of triumph. + +"Ha!" he said, "I guessed it! I hoped it--and it is true! He is found at +last! The very man--the real Saracinesca! It is only a matter of time--" + +Donna Tullia now stared in unfeigned surprise. Instead of crushing him to +the ground as she had expected, the letter seemed to fill him with +boundless delight. He paced the room in wild excitement, chattering like +a madman. In spite of herself, however, her own spirits rose, and her +anger against Del Ferice softened. All was perhaps not lost--who could +fathom the intricacy of his great schemes? Surely he was not the man to +fall a victim to his own machinations. + +"Will you please explain your extraordinary satisfaction at this news?" +said Madame Mayer. Between her late anger, her revived hopes, and her +newly roused curiosity, she was in a terrible state of suspense. + +"Explain?" he cried. "Explain what, most adorable of women? Does it not +explain itself? Have we not found the Marchese di San Giacinto, the real +Saracinesca? Is not that enough?" + +"I do not understand--" + +Del Ferice was now by her side. He seemed hardly able to control himself +for joy. As a matter of fact he was acting, and acting a desperate part +too, suggested on the spur of the moment by the risk he ran of losing +this woman and her fortune on the very eve of marriage. Now he seized her +hand, and drawing her arm through his, led her quickly backwards and +forwards, talking fast and earnestly. It would not do to hesitate, for by +a moment's appearance of uncertainty all would be lost. + +"No; of course you cannot understand the vast importance of this +discovery. I must explain. I must enter into historic details, and I am +so much overcome by this extraordinary turn of fortune that I can hardly +speak. Remove all doubt from your mind, my dear lady, for we have already +triumphed. This innkeeper, this Giovanni Saracinesca, this Marchese di +San Giacinto, is the lawful and right Prince Saracinesca, the head of the +house--" + +"What!" screamed Donna Tullia, stopping short, and gripping his arm as in +a vice. + +"Indeed he is. I suspected it when I first found the signature at Aquila; +but the man was gone, with his newly married wife, no one knew whither; +and I could not find him, search as I might. He is now returned, and +what is more, as this letter says, with all his papers proving his +identity. This is how the matter lies. Listen, Tullia _mia_. The old +Leone Saracinesca who last bore the title of Marquis--" + +"The one mentioned here?" asked Donna Tullia, breathlessly. + +"Yes--the one who took service under Murat, under Napoleon. Well, it is +perfectly well known that he laid claim to the Roman title, and with +perfect justice. Two generations before that, there had been an amicable +arrangement--amicable, but totally illegal--whereby the elder brother, +who was an unmarried invalid, transferred the Roman estates to his +younger brother, who was married and had children, and, in exchange, took +the Neapolitan estates and title, which had just fallen back to the main +branch by the death of a childless Marchese di San Giacinto. Late in life +this old recluse invalid married, contrary to all expectation--certainly +contrary to his own previous intentions. However, a child was born--a +boy. The old man found himself deprived by his own act of his +principality, and the succession turned from his son to the son of his +younger brother. He began a negotiation for again obtaining possession of +the Roman title--at least so the family tradition goes--but his brother, +who was firmly established in Rome, refused to listen to his demands. At +this juncture the old man died, being legally, observe, still the head of +the family of Saracinesca; his son should have succeeded him. But his +wife, the young daughter of an obscure Neapolitan nobleman, was not more +than eighteen years of age, and the child was only six months old. People +married young in those days. She entered some kind of protest, which, +however, was of no avail; and the boy grew up to be called the Marchese +di San Griacinto. He learned the story of his birth from his mother, and +protested in his turn. He ruined himself in trying to push his suit in +the Neapolitan courts; and finally, in the days of Napoleon's success, he +took service under Murat, receiving the solemn promise of the Emperor +that he should be reinstated in his title. But the Emperor forgot his +promise, or did not find it convenient to keep it, having perhaps reasons +of his own for not quarrelling with Pius the Seventh, who protected the +Roman Saracinesea Then came 1815, the downfall of the Empire, the +restoration of Ferdinand IV. in Naples, the confiscation of property from +all who had joined the Emperor, and the consequent complete ruin of San +Giacinto's hopes. He was supposed to have been killed, or to have made +away with himself. Saracinesea himself acknowledges that his grandson is +alive, and possesses all the family papers. Saracinesca himself has +discovered, seen, and conversed with the lawful head of his race, who, by +the blessing of heaven and the assistance of the courts, will before long +turn him out of house and home, and reign in his stead in all the glories +of the Palazzo Saracinesca, Prince of Rome, of the Holy Roman Empire, +grandee of Spain of the first class, and all the rest of it. Do you +wonder I rejoice, now that I am sure of putting an innkeeper over my +enemy's head? Fancy the humiliation of old Saracinesca, of Giovanni, who +will have to take his wife's title for the sake of respectability, of the +Astrardente herself, when she finds she has married the penniless son of +a penniless pretender!" + +Del Ferice knew enough of the Saracinesca's family history to know that +something like what he had so fluently detailed to Donna Tullia had +actually occurred, and he knew well enough that she would not remember +every detail of his rapidly told tale. Hating the family as he did, he +had diligently sought out all information about them which he could +obtain without gaining access to their private archives. His ready wit +helped him to string the whole into a singularly plausible story. So +plausible, indeed, that it entirely upset all Donna Tullia's +determination to be angry at Del Ferice, and filled her with something of +the enthusiasm he showed. For himself he hoped that there was enough in +his story to do some palpable injury to the Saracinesca; but his more +immediate object was not to lose Donna Tullia by letting her feel any +disappointment at the discovery recently made by the old Prince. Donna +Tullia listened with breathless interest until he had finished. + +"What a man you are, Ugo! How you turn defeat into victory! Is it all +really true? Do you think we can do it?" + +"If I were to die this instant," Del Ferice asseverated, solemnly raising +his hand, "it is all perfectly true, so help me God!" + +He hoped, for many reasons, that he was not perjuring himself. + +"What shall we do, then?" asked Madame Mayer. + +"Let them marry first, and then we shall be sure of humiliating them +both," he answered. Unconsciously he repeated the very determination +which Giovanni had formed against him the night before. "Meanwhile, +you and I can consult the lawyers and see how this thing can best be +accomplished quickly and surely," he added. + +"You will have to send for the innkeeper--" + +"I will go and see him. It will not be hard to persuade him to claim his +lawful rights." + +Del Ferice remained some time in conversation with Donna Tullia. The +magnitude of the scheme fascinated her, and instead of thinking of +breaking her promise to Ugo as she had intended doing, she so far fell +under his influence as to name the wedding-day,--Easter Monday, they +agreed, would exactly suit them and their plans. Indeed the idea of +refusing to fulfil her engagement had been but the result of a transitory +fit of anger; if she had had any fear of making a misalliance in marrying +Del Ferice, the way in which the world received the news of the +engagement removed all such apprehension from her mind. Del Ferice was +already treated with increased respect--the very servants began to call +him "Eccellenza," a distinction to which he neither had, nor could ever +have, any kind of claim, but which pleased Donna Tullia's vain soul. The +position which Ugo had obtained for himself by an assiduous attention to +the social claims and prejudices of social lights and oracles, was +suddenly assured to him, and rendered tenfold more brilliant by the news +of his alliance with Donna Tullia. He excited no jealousies either; for +Donna Tullia's peculiarities were of a kind which seemed to have +interfered from the first with her matrimonial projects. As a young girl, +a relation of the Saracinesca, whom she now so bitterly hated, she should +have been regarded as marriageable by any of the young Roman nobles, from +Valdarno down. But she had only a small dowry, and she was said to be +extravagant--two objections then not so easily overcome as now. Moreover, +she was considered to be somewhat flighty; and the social jury decided +that when she was married, she would be excellent company, but would make +a very poor wife. Almost before they had finished discussing her, +however, she had found a husband, in the shape of the wealthy foreign +contractor, Mayer, who wanted a wife from a good Roman house, and cared +not at all for money. She treated him very well, but was speedily +delivered from all her cares by his untimely death. Then, of all her +fellow-citizens, none was found save the eccentric old Saracinesca, +who believed that she would do for his son; wherein it appeared that +Giovanni's father was the man of all others who least understood +Giovanni's inclinations. But this match fell to the ground, owing to +Giovanni's attachment to Corona, and Madame Mayer was left with the +prospect of remaining a widow for the rest of her life, or of marrying +a poor man. She chose the latter alternative, and fate threw into her way +the cleverest poor man in Rome, as though desiring to compensate her for +not having married one of the greatest nobles, in the person of Giovanni. +Though she was always a centre of attraction, no one of those she most +attracted wanted to marry her, and all expressed their unqualified +approval of her ultimate choice. One said she was very generous to marry +a penniless gentleman; another remarked that she showed wisdom in +choosing a man who was in the way of making himself a good position under +the Italian Government; a third observed that he was delighted, because +he could enjoy her society without being suspected of wanting to marry +her; and all agreed in praising her, and in treating Del Ferice with the +respect due to a man highly favored by fortune. + +Donna Tullia named the wedding-day, and her affianced husband departed in +high spirits with himself, with her, and with his scheme. He felt still a +little excited, and wanted to be alone. He hardly realised the magnitude +of the plot he had undertaken, and needed time to reflect upon it; but +with the true instinct of an intriguing genius he recognised at once that +his new plan was the thing he had sought for long and ardently, and that +it was worth all his other plans put together. Accordingly he went home, +and proceeded to devote himself to the study of the question, sending a +note to a friend of his--a young lawyer of doubtful reputation, but of +brilliant parts, whom he at once selected as his chief counsellor in the +important affair he had undertaken. + +Before long he heard that the marriage of Don Giovanni Saracinesca to the +Duchessa d'Astrardente was to take place the next week, in the chapel of +the Palazzo Saracinesca. At least popular report said that the ceremony +was to take place there; and that it was to be performed with great +privacy was sufficiently evident from the fact that no invitations +appeared to have been issued. Society did not fail to comment upon such +exclusiveness, and it commented unfavourably, for it felt that it was +being deprived of a long-anticipated spectacle. This state of things +lasted for two days, when, upon the Sunday morning precisely a week +before the wedding, all Rome was surprised by receiving an imposing +invitation, setting forth that the marriage would be solemnised in the +Basilica of the Santi Apostoli, and that it would be followed by a state +reception at the Palazzo Saracinesca. It was soon known that the ceremony +would be performed by the Cardinal Archpriest of St Peter's, that the +united choirs of St Peter's and of the Sixtine Chapel would sing the High +Mass, and that the whole occasion would be one of unprecedented solemnity +and magnificence. This was the programme published by the 'Osservatore +Romano,' and that newspaper proceeded to pronounce a eulogy of some +length and considerable eloquence upon the happy pair. Rome was fairly +taken off its feet; and although some malcontents were found, who said it +was improper that Corona's marriage should be celebrated with such pomp +so soon after her husband's death, the general verdict was that the whole +proceeding was eminently proper and becoming to so important an event. So +soon as every one had been invited, no one seemed to think it remarkable +that the invitations should have been issued so late. It was not +generally known that in the short time which elapsed between the naming +of the day and the issuing of the cards, there had been several +interviews between old Saracinesca and Cardinal Antonelli; that the +former had explained Corona's natural wish that the marriage should be +private, and that the latter had urged many reasons why so great an event +ought to be public; that Saracinesca had said he did not care at all, +and was only expressing the views of his son and of the bride; that the +Cardinal had repeatedly asseverated that he wished to please everybody; +that Corona had refused to be pleased by a public ceremony; and that, +finally, the Cardinal, seeing himself hard pressed, had persuaded his +Holiness himself to express a wish that the marriage should take place in +the most solemn and public manner; wherefore Corona had reluctantly +yielded the point, and the matter was arranged. The fact was that the +Cardinal wished to make a sort of demonstration of the solidarity of the +Roman nobility: it suited his aims to enter into every detail which could +add to the importance of the Roman Court, and which could help to impress +upon the foreign Ministers the belief that in all matters the Romans as +one man would stand by each other and by the Vatican. No one knew better +than he how the spectacle of a religious solemnity, at which the whole +nobility would attend in a body, must strike the mind of a stranger in +Rome; for in Roman ceremonies of that day there was a pomp and +magnificence surpassing that found in any other Court of Europe. The +whole marriage would become an event of which he could make an impressive +use, and he was determined not to forego any advantages which might arise +from it; for he was a man who of all men well understood the value of +details in maintaining prestige. + +But to the two principal actors in the day's doings the affair was an +unmitigated annoyance, and even their own great and true happiness could +not lighten the excessive fatigue of the pompous ceremony and of the +still more pompous reception which followed it. To describe that day +would be to make out a catalogue of gorgeous equipages, gorgeous +costumes, gorgeous decorations. Many pages would not suffice to enumerate +the cardinals, the dignitaries, the ambassadors, the great nobles, whose +magnificent coaches drove up in long file through the Piazza dei Santi +Apostoli to the door of the Basilica. The columns of the 'Osservatore +Romano' were full of it for a week afterwards. There was no end to the +descriptions of the costumes, from the white satin and diamonds of +the bride to the festal uniforms of the Cardinal Arch-priest's retinue. +Not a personage of importance was overlooked in the newspaper account, +not a diplomatist, not an officer of Zouaves. And society read the praise +of itself, and found it much more interesting than the praise of the +bride and bridegroom; and only one or two people were offended because +the paper had made a mistake in naming the colours of the hammer-cloths +upon their coaches: so that the affair was a great success. + +But when at last the sun was low and the guests had departed from the +Palazzo Saracinesca, Corona and Giovanni got into their travelling +carriage under the great dark archway, and sighed a sigh of infinite +relief. The old Prince put his arms tenderly around his new daughter and +kissed her; and for the second time in the course of this history, it is +to be recorded that two tears stole silently down his brown cheeks to his +grey beard. Then he embraced Giovanni, whose face was pale and earnest. + +"This is not the end of our living together, _padre mio,_" he said. "We +shall expect you before long at Saracinesca." + +"Yes, my boy," returned the old man; "I will come and see you after +Easter. But do not stay if it is too cold; I have a little business to +attend to in Rome before I join you," he added, with a grim smile. + +"I know," replied Giovanni, a savage light in his black eyes. "If you +need help, send to me, or come yourself." + +"No fear of that, Giovannino; I have got a terrible helper. Now, be off. +The guards are growing impatient." + +"Good-bye. God bless you, _padre mio!_" + +"God bless you both!" So they drove off, and left old Saracinesca +standing bareheaded and alone under the dim archway of his ancestral +palace. The great carriage rolled out, and the guard of mounted +gendarmes, which the Cardinal had insisted upon sending with the young +couple, half out of compliment, half for safety, fell in behind, and +trotted down the narrow street, with a deafening clatter of hoofs and +clang of scabbards. + +But Giovanni held Corona's hand in his, and both were silent for a time. +Then they rolled under the low vault of the Porta San Lorenzo and out +into the evening sunlight of the Campagna beyond. + +"God be praised that it has come at last!" said Giovanni. + +"Yes, it has come," answered Corona, her strong white fingers closing +upon his brown hand almost convulsively; "and, come what may, you are +mine, Giovanni, until we die!" + +There was something fierce in the way those two loved each other; for +they had fought many fights before they were united, and had overcome +themselves, each alone, before they had overcome other obstacles +together. + +Relays of horses awaited them on their way, and relays of mounted guards. +Late that night they reached Saracinesca, all ablaze with torches and +lanterns; and the young men took the horses from the coach and yoked +themselves to it with ropes, and dragged the cumbrous carriage up the +last hill with furious speed, shouting and singing like madmen in the +cool mountain air. Up the steep they rushed, and under the grand old +gateway, made as bright as day with flaming torches; and then there +went up a shout that struck the old vaults like a wild chord of fierce +music, and Corona knew that her journey was ended. + +So it was that Giovanni Saracinesca brought home his bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +The old Prince was left alone, as he had often been left before, when +Giovanni was gone to the ends of the earth in pursuit of his amusements. +On such occasions old Saracinesca frequently packed up his traps and +followed his son's example; but he rarely went further than Paris, where +he had many friends, and where he generally succeeded in finding +consolation for his solitude. + +Now, however, he felt more than usually lonely. Giovanni had not gone +far, it is true, for with good horses it was scarcely more than eight +hours to the castle; but, for the first time in his life, old Saracinesca +felt that if he had suddenly determined to follow his son, he would not +be welcome. The boy was married at last, and must be left in peace for a +few days with his bride. With the contrariety natural to him, old +Saracinesca no sooner felt that his son was gone than he experienced the +most ardent desire to be with him. He had often seen Giovanni leave the +house at twenty-four hours' notice on his way to some distant capital, +and had not cared to accompany him, simply because he knew he might do so +if he pleased; but now he felt that some one else had taken his place, +and that, for a time at least, he was forcibly excluded from Giovanni's +society. It is very likely that but for the business which detained him +in Rome he would have astonished the happy pair by riding into the +gateway of the old castle on the day after the wedding: that business, +however, was urgent, secret, and, moreover, very congenial to the old +man's present temper. + +He had discussed the matter fully with Giovanni, and they had agreed upon +the course to be pursued. There was, nevertheless, much to be done before +the end they both so earnestly desired could be attained. It seemed a +simple plan to go to Cardinal Antonelli and to demand the arrest of Del +Ferice for his misdeeds; but as yet those misdeeds were undefined, and it +was necessary to define them. The Cardinal rarely resorted to such +measures except when the case was urgent, and Saracinesca knew perfectly +well that it would be hard to prove anything more serious against Del +Ferice than the crime of joining in the silly talk of Valdarno and his +set. Giovanni had told his father plainly that he was sure Del Ferice +derived his living from some illicit source, but he was wholly unable to +show what that source was. Most people believed the story that Del Ferice +had inherited money from an obscure relative; most people thought he was +clever and astute, but were so far deceived by his frank and unaffected +manner as to feel sure that he always said everything that came into his +head; most people are so much delighted when an unusually clever man +deigns to talk to them, that they cannot, for vanity's sake, suspect him +of deceiving them. Saracinesca did not doubt that the mere statement of +his own belief in regard to Del Ferice would have considerable weight +with the Cardinal, for he was used to power of a certain kind, and was +accustomed to see his judgment treated with deference; but he knew the +Cardinal to be a cautious man, hating despotic measures, because by his +use of them he had made himself so bitterly hated--loth always to do by +force what might be accomplished by skill, and in the end far more likely +to attempt the conversion of Del Ferice to the reactionary view, than to +order his expulsion because his views were over liberal. Even if old +Saracinesca had possessed a vastly greater diplomatic instinct than he +did, coupled with an unscrupulous mendacity which he certainly had not, +he would have found it hard to persuade the Cardinal against his will; +but Saracinesca was, of all men, a man violent in action and averse to +reflection before or after the fact. That he should ultimately be +revenged upon Del Ferice and Donna Tullia for the part they had lately +played, was a matter which it never entered his head to doubt; but when +he endeavoured to find means which should persuade the Cardinal to assist +him, he seemed fenced in on all sides by impossibilities. One thing only +helped him--namely, the conviction that if the statesman could be induced +to examine Del Ferice's conduct seriously, the latter would prove to be +not only an enemy to the State, but a bitter enemy to the Cardinal +himself. + +The more Saracinesca thought of the matter, the more convinced he was +that he should go boldly to the Cardinal and state his belief that Del +Ferice was a dangerous traitor, who ought to be summarily dealt with. If +the Cardinal argued the case, the Prince would asseverate, after his +manner, and some sort of result was sure to follow. As he thus determined +upon his course, his doubts seemed to vanish, as they generally do in the +mind of a strong man, when action becomes imminent, and the confidence +the old man had exhibited to his son very soon became genuine. It was +almost intolerable to have to wait so long, however, before doing +anything. Giovanni and he had decided to allow Del Ferice's marriage +to take place before producing the explosion, in order the more certainly +to strike both the offenders; now it seemed best to strike at once. +Supposing, he argued with himself, that Donna Tullia and her husband +chose to leave Rome for Paris the day after their wedding, half the +triumph would be lost; for half the triumph was to consist in Del +Ferice's being imprisoned for a spy in Rome, whereas if he once crossed +the frontier, he could at most be forbidden to return, which would be but +a small satisfaction to Saracinesca, or to Giovanni. + +A week passed by, and the gaiety of Carnival was again at its height; and +again a week elapsed, and Lent was come. Saracinesca went everywhere and +saw everybody as usual, and then after Ash-Wednesday he occasionally +showed himself at some of those quiet evening receptions which his son so +much detested. But he was restless and discontented. He longed to begin +the fight, and could not sleep for thinking of it. Like Giovanni, he was +strong and revengeful; but Giovanni had from his mother a certain +slowness of temperament, which often deterred him from action just long +enough to give him time for reflection, whereas the father, when roused, +and he was roused easily, loved to strike at once. It chanced one +evening, in a great house, that Saracinesca came upon the Cardinal +standing alone in an outer room. He was on his way into the reception; +but he had stopped, attracted by a beautiful crystal cup of old +workmanship, which stood, among other objects of the kind, upon a marble +table in one of the drawing-rooms through which he had to pass. The cup +itself, of deeply carved rock crystal, was set in chiselled silver, and +if not the work of Cellini himself, must have been made by one of his +pupils. Saracinesca stopped by the great man's side. + +"Good evening, Eminence," he said. + +"Good evening, Prince," returned the Cardinal, who recognised +Saracinesca's voice without looking up. "Have you ever seen this +marvellous piece of work? I have been admiring it for a quarter of an +hour." He loved all objects of the kind, and understood them with rare +knowledge. + +"It is indeed exceedingly beautiful," answered Saracinesca, who longed to +take advantage of the opportunity of speaking to Cardinal Antonelli upon +the subject nearest to his heart. + +"Yes--yes," returned the Cardinal rather vaguely, and made as though he +would go on. He saw from Saracinesca's commonplace praise, that he knew +nothing of the subject. The old Prince saw his opportunity slipping +from him, and lost his head. He did not recollect that he could see the +Cardinal alone whenever he pleased, by merely asking for an interview. +Fate had thrust the Cardinal in his path, and fate was responsible. + +"If your Eminence will allow me, I would like a word with you," he said +suddenly. + +"As many as you please," answered the statesman, blandly. "Let us sit +down in that corner--no one will disturb us for a while." + +He seemed unusually affable, as he sat himself down by Saracinesca's +side, gathering the skirt of his scarlet mantle across his knee, and +folding his delicate hands together in an attitude of restful attention. + +"You know, I daresay, a certain Del Ferice, Eminence?" began the Prince. + +"Very well--the _deus ex machinâ_ who has appeared to carry off Donna +Tullia Mayer. Yes, I know him." + +"Precisely, and they will match very well together; the world cannot help +applauding the union of the flesh and the devil." + +The Cardinal smiled. + +"The metaphor is apt," he said; "but what about them?" + +"I will tell you in two words," replied Saracinesca. "Del Ferice is a +scoundrel of the first water--" + +"A jewel among scoundrels," interrupted the Cardinal, "for being a +scoundrel he is yet harmless--a stage villain." + +"I believe your Eminence is deceived in him." + +"That may easily be," answered the statesman. "I am much more often +deceived than people imagine." He spoke very mildly, but his small black +eyes turned keenly upon Saracinesca. "What has he been doing?" he asked, +after a short pause. + +"He has been trying to do a great deal of harm to my son and to my son's +wife. I suspect him strongly of doing harm to you." + +Whether Saracinesca was strictly honest in saying "you" to the Cardinal, +when he meant the whole State as represented by the prime minister, is a +matter not easily decided. There is a Latin saying, to the effect that a +man who is feared by many should himself fear many, and the saying is +true. The Cardinal was personally a brave man; but he knew his danger, +and the memory of the murdered Rossi was fresh in his mind. Nevertheless, +he smiled blandly as he answered-- + +"That is rather vague, my friend. How is he doing me harm, if I may ask?" + +"I argue in this way," returned Saracinesca, thus pressed. "The fellow +found a most ingenious way of attacking my son--he searched the whole +country till he found that a man called Giovanni Saracinesca had been, +married some time ago in Aquila. He copied the certificates, and produced +them as pretended proof that my son was already married. If I had not +found the man myself, there would have been trouble. Now besides this, +Del Ferice is known to hold Liberal views--" + +"Of the feeblest kind," interrupted the statesman, who nevertheless +became very grave. + +"Those he exhibits are of the feeblest kind, and he takes no trouble to +hide them. But a fellow so ingenious as to imagine the scheme he +practised against us is not a fool." + +"I understand, my good friend," said the Cardinal. "You have been injured +by this fellow, and you would like me to revenge the injury by locking +him up. Is that it?" + +"Precisely," answered Saracinesca, laughing at his own simplicity. "I +might as well have said so from the first." + +"Much better. You would make a poor diplomatist, Prince. But what in the +world shall I gain by revenging your wrongs upon that creature?" + +"Nothing--unless when you have taken the trouble to examine his conduct, +you find that he is really dangerous. In that case your Eminence will be +obliged to look to your own safety. If you find him innocent, you will +let him go." + +"And in that case, what will you do?" asked the Cardinal with a smile. + +"I will cut his throat," answered Saracinesca, unmoved. + +"Murder him?" + +"No--call him out and kill him like a gentleman, which is a great deal +better than he deserves." + +"I have no doubt you would," said the Cardinal, gravely. "I think your +proposition reasonable, however. If this man is really dangerous, I will +look to him myself. But I must really beg you not to do anything rash. I +have determined that this duelling shall stop, and I warn you that +neither you nor any one else will escape imprisonment if you are involved +in any more of these personal encounters." + +Saracinesca suppressed a smile at the Cardinal's threat; but he perceived +that he had gained his point, and was pleased accordingly. He had, he +felt sure, sown in the statesman's mind a germ of suspicion which would +before long bring forth fruit. In those days danger was plentiful, and +people could not afford to overlook it, no matter in what form it +presented itself, least of all such people as the Cardinal himself, who, +while sustaining an unequal combat against superior forces outside the +State, felt that his every step was encompassed by perils from within. +That he had long despised Del Ferice as an idle chatterer did not prevent +him from understanding that he might have been deceived, as Saracinesca +suggested. He had caused Ugo to be watched, it is true, but only from +time to time, and by men whose only duty was to follow him and to see +whether he frequented suspicious society. The little nest of talkers at +Gouache's studio in the Via San Basilio was soon discovered, and proved +to be harmless enough. Del Ferice was then allowed to go on his way +unobserved. But the half-dozen words in which Saracinesca had described +Ugo's scheme for hindering Giovanni's marriage had set the Cardinal +thinking, and the Cardinal seldom wasted time in thinking in vain. His +interview with Saracinesca ended very soon, and the Prince and the +statesman entered the crowded drawing-room and mixed in the throng. It +was long before they met again in private. + +The Cardinal on the following day gave orders that Del Ferice's letters +were to be stopped--by no means an uncommon proceeding in those times, +nor so rare in our own day as is supposed. The post-office was then in +the hands of a private individual so far as all management was concerned, +and the Cardinal's word was law. Del Ferice's letters were regularly +opened and examined. + +The first thing that was discovered was that they frequently contained +money, generally in the shape of small drafts on London signed by a +Florentine banker, and that the envelopes which contained money never +contained anything else. They were all posted in Florence. With regard +to his letters, they appeared to be very innocent communications from all +sorts of people, rarely referring to politics, and then only in the most +general terms. If Del Ferice had expected to have his correspondence +examined, he could not have arranged matters better for his own safety. +To trace the drafts to the person who sent them was not an easy business; +it was impossible to introduce a spy into the banking-house in Florence, +and among the many drafts daily bought and sold, it was almost impossible +to identify, without the aid of the banker's books, the person who +chanced to buy any particular one. The addresses were, it is true, +uniformly written by the same hand; but the writing was in no way +peculiar, and was certainly not that of any prominent person whose +autograph the Cardinal possessed. + +The next step was to get possession of some letter written by Del Ferice +himself, and, if possible, to intercept everything he wrote. But although +the letters containing the drafts were regularly opened, and, after +having been examined and sealed again, were regularly transmitted +through the post-office to Ugo's address, the expert persons set to catch +the letters he himself wrote were obliged to own, after three weeks' +careful watching, that he never seemed to write any letters at all, and +that he certainly never posted any. They acknowledged their failure to +the Cardinal with timid anxiety, expecting to be reprimanded for their +carelessness. But the Cardinal merely told them not to relax their +attention, and dismissed them with a bland smile. He knew, now, that he +was on the track of mischief; for a man who never writes any letters at +all, while he receives many, might reasonably be suspected of having a +secret post-office of his own. For some days Del Ferice's movements were +narrowly watched, but with no result whatever. Then the Cardinal sent for +the police register of the district where Del Ferice lived, and in which +the name, nationality, and residence of every individual in the "Rione" +or quarter were carefully inscribed, as they still are. + +Running his eye down the list, the Cardinal came upon the name of +"Temistocle Fattorusso, of Naples, servant to Ugo dei Conti del Ferice:" +an idea struck him. + +"His servant is a Neapolitan," he reflected. "He probably sends his +letters by way of Naples." + +Accordingly Temistocle was watched instead of his master. It was found +that he frequented the society of other Neapolitans, and especially that +he was in the habit of going from time to time to the Ripa Grande, the +port of the Tiber, where he seemed to have numerous acquaintances among +the Neapolitan boatmen who constantly came up the coast in their +"martingane"--heavy, sea-going, lateen-rigged vessels, bringing cargoes +of oranges and lemons to the Roman market. The mystery was now solved. +One day Temistocle was actually seen giving a letter into the hands of a +huge fellow in a red woollen cap. The _sbirro_ who saw him do it marked +the sailor and his vessel, and never lost sight of him till he hoisted +his jib and floated away down stream. Then the spy took horse and +galloped down to Fiumicino, where he waited for the little vessel, +boarded her from a boat, escorted by a couple of gendarmes, and had no +difficulty in taking the letter from the terrified seaman, who was glad +enough to escape without detention. During the next fortnight several +letters were stopped in this way, carried by different sailors, and the +whole correspondence went straight to the Cardinal. It was not often that +he troubled himself to play the detective in person, but when he did so, +he was not easily baffled. And now he observed that about a week after +the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come +so frequently to Del Ferice's address from Florence suddenly ceased, +proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its +value so soon as it was received. + +With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said. So +sure was Del Ferice of his means of transmission that he did not even use +a cipher, though he, of course, never signed any of his writings. The +matter was invariably a detailed chronicle of Roman sayings and doings, a +record as minute as Del Ferice could make it, of everything that took +place, and even the Cardinal himself was astonished at the accuracy of +the information thus conveyed. His own appearances in public--the names +of those with whom he talked--even fragments of his conversation--were +given with annoying exactness. The statesman learned with infinite +disgust that he had for some time past been subjected to a system of +espionage at least as complete as any of his own invention; and, what was +still more annoying to his vanity, the spy was the man of all others whom +he had most despised, calling him harmless and weak, because he cunningly +affected weakness. Where or how Del Ferice procured so much information +the Cardinal cared little enough, for he determined there and then that +he should procure no more. That there were other traitors in the camp was +more than likely, and that they had aided Del Ferice with their counsels; +but though by prolonging the situation it might be possible to track them +down, such delay would be valuable to enemies abroad. Moreover, if Del +Ferice began to find out, as he soon must, that his private +correspondence was being overhauled at the Vatican, he was not a man to +hesitate about attempting his escape; and he would certainly not be an +easy man to catch, if he could once succeed in putting a few miles of +Campagna between himself and Rome. There was no knowing what disguise he +might not find in which to slip over the frontier; and indeed, as he +afterwards proved, he was well prepared for such an emergency. + +The Cardinal did not hesitate. He had just received the fourth letter, +and if he waited any longer Del Ferice would take alarm, and slip through +his fingers. He wrote with his own hand a note to the chief of police, +ordering the immediate arrest of Ugo dei Conti del Ferice, with +instructions that he should be taken in his own house, without any +publicity, and conveyed in a private carriage to the Sant' Uffizio by men +in plain clothes. It was six o'clock in the evening when he wrote the +order, and delivered it to his private servant to be taken to its +destination. The man lost no time, and within twenty minutes the chief of +police was in possession of his orders, which he hastened to execute with +all possible speed. Before seven o'clock two respectable-looking citizens +were seated in the chief's own carriage, driving rapidly in the direction +of Del Fence's house. In less than half an hour the man who had caused so +much trouble would be safely lodged in the prisons of the Holy Office, to +be judged for his sins as a political spy. In a fortnight he was to have +been married to Donna Tullia Mayer,--and her trousseau had just arrived +from Paris. + +It can hardly be said that the Cardinal's conduct was unjustifiable, +though many will say that Del Fence's secret doings were easily +defensible on the ground of his patriotism. Cardinal Antonelli had +precisely defined the situation in his talk with Anastase Gouache by +saying that the temporal power was driven to bay. To all appearances +Europe was at peace, but as a matter of fact the peace was but an armed +neutrality. An amount of interest was concentrated upon the situation of +the Papal States which has rarely been excited by events of much greater +apparent importance than the occupation of a small principality by +foreign troops. All Europe was arming. In a few months Austria was to +sustain one of the most sudden and overwhelming defeats recorded in +military history. In a few years the greatest military power in the world +was to be overtaken by an even more appalling disaster. And these +events, then close at hand, were to deal the death-blow to papal +independence. The papacy was driven to bay, and those to whom the last +defence was confided were certainly justified in employing every means in +their power for strengthening their position. That Rome herself was +riddled with rotten conspiracies, and turned into a hunting-ground for +political spies, while the support she received from Louis Napoleon had +been already partially withdrawn, proves only how hard was the task of +that man who, against such odds, maintained so gallant a fight. It is no +wonder that he hunted down spies, and signed orders forcing suspicious +characters to leave the city at a day's notice; for the city was +practically in a state of siege, and any relaxation of the iron +discipline by which the great Cardinal governed would at any moment in +those twenty years have proved disastrous. He was hated and feared; more +than once he was in imminent danger of his life, but he did his duty in +his post. Had his authority fallen, it is impossible to say what evil +might have ensued to the city and its inhabitants--evils vastly more to +be feared than the entrance of an orderly Italian army through the Porta +Pia. For the recollections of Count Rossi's murder, and of the short and +lawless Republic of 1848, were fresh in the minds of the people, and +before they had faded there were dangerous rumours of a rising even less +truly Republican in theory, and far more fatal in the practical social +anarchy which must have resulted from its success. Giuseppe Mazzini had +survived his arch-enemy, the great Cavour, and his influence was +incalculable. + +But my business is not to write the history of those uncertain days, +though no one who considers the social life of Rome, either then or now, +can afford to overlook the influence of political events upon the +everyday doings of men and women. We must follow the private carriage +containing the two respectable citizens who were on their way to Del +Ferice's house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +Now it chanced that Del Ferice was not at home at the hour when the +carriage containing the detectives drew up at his door. Indeed he was +rarely to be found at that time, for when he was not engaged elsewhere, +he dined with Donna Tullia and her old countess, accompanying them +afterwards to any of the quiet Lenten receptions to which they desired to +go. Temistocle was also out, for it was his hour for supper, a meal which +he generally ate in a small _osteria_ opposite his master's lodging. +There he sat now, finishing his dish of beans and oil, and debating +whether he should indulge himself in another _mezza foglietta_ of his +favourite white wine. He was installed upon the wooden bench against the +wall, behind the narrow table on which was spread a dirty napkin with the +remains of his unctuous meal. The light from the solitary oil-lamp that +hung from the black ceiling was not brilliant, and he could see well +enough through the panes of the glass door that the carriage which had +just stopped on the opposite side of the street was not a cab. Suspecting +that some one had called at that unusual hour in search of his master, he +rose from his seat and went out. + +He stood looking at the carriage. It did not please him. It had that +peculiar look which used to mark the equipages of the Vatican, and which +to this day distinguishes them from all others in the eyes of a born +Roman. The vehicle was of rather antiquated shape, the horses were black, +the coachman wore a plain black coat, with a somewhat old-fashioned hat; +withal, the turnout was respectable enough, and well kept. But it did not +please Temistocle. Drawing his hat over his eyes, he passed behind it, +and having ascertained that the occupants, if there had been any, had +already entered the house, he himself went in. The narrow staircase was +dimly lighted by small oil-lamps. Temistocle ascended the steps on +tiptoe, for he could already hear the men ringing the bell, and talking +together in a low voice. The Neapolitan crept nearer. Again and again +the bell was rung, and the men began to grow impatient. + +"He has escaped," said one angrily. + +"Perhaps--or he has gone out to dinner--much more likely." + +"We had better go away and come later," suggested the first. + +"He is sure to come home. We had better wait. The orders are to take him +in his lodgings." + +"We might go into the _osteria_ opposite and drink a _foglietta_." + +"No," said the other, who seemed to be the one in authority. "We must +wait here, if we wait till midnight. Those are the orders." + +The second detective grumbled something not clearly audible, and silence +ensued. But Temistocle had heard quite enough. He was a quick-witted +fellow, as has been seen, much more anxious for his own interests than +for his master's, though he had hitherto found it easy to consult both. +Indeed, in a certain way he was faithful to Del Ferice, and admired him +as a soldier admires his general. The resolution he now formed did honour +to his loyalty to Ugo and to his thievish instincts. He determined to +save his master if he could, and to rob him at his leisure afterwards. +If Del Ferice failed to escape, he would probably reward Temistocle for +having done his best to help him; if, on the other hand, he got away, +Temistocle had the key of his lodgings, and would help himself. But there +was one difficulty in the way. Del Ferice was in evening dress at the +house of Donna Tullia. In such a costume he would have no chance of +passing the gates, which in those days were closed and guarded all night. +Del Ferice was a cautious man, and, like many another in those days, kept +in his rooms a couple of disguises which might serve if he was hard +pressed. His ready money he always carried with him, because he +frequently went into the club before coming home, and played a game of +écarté, in which he was usually lucky. The question was how to enter the +lodgings, to get possession of the necessary clothes, and to go out +again, without exciting the suspicions of the detectives. + +Temistocle's mind was soon made up. He crept softly down the stairs, so +as not to appear to have been too near, and then, making as much noise as +he could, ascended boldly, drawing the key of the lodgings from his +pocket as he reached the landing where the two men stood under the +little oil-lamp. + +"_Buona sera, signori_," he said, politely, thrusting the key into the +lock without hesitation. "Did you wish to see the Conte del Ferice?" + +"Yes," answered the elder man, affecting an urbane manner. "Is the Count +at home?" + +"I do not think so," returned the Neapolitan. "But I will see. Come in, +gentlemen. He will not be long--_sempre verso quest'ora_--he always comes +home about this time." + +"Thank you," said the detective. "If you will allow us to wait--" + +"_Altro_--what? Should I leave the _padrone's_ friends on the stairs? +Come in, gentlemen--sit down. It is dark. I will light the lamp." And +striking a match, Temistocle lit a couple of candles and placed them upon +the table of the small sitting-room. The two men sat down, holding their +hats upon their knees. + +"If you will excuse me," said Temistocle, "I will go and make the +signore's coffee. He dines at the restaurant, and always comes home for +his coffee. Perhaps the signori will also take a cup? It is the same to +make three as one." + +But the men thanked Temistocle, and said they wanted none, which was just +as well, since Temistocle had no idea of giving them any. He retired, +however, to the small kitchen which belongs to every Roman lodging, and +made a great clattering with the coffee-pot. Presently he slipped into +Del Ferice's bedroom, and extracted from a dark corner a shabby black +bag, which he took back with him into the kitchen. From the kitchen +window ran the usual iron wire to the well in the small court, bearing an +iron traveller with a rope for drawing water. Temistocle, clattering +loudly, hooked the bag to the traveller and let it run down noisily; then +he tied the rope and went out. He had carefully closed the door of the +sitting-room, but he had been careful to leave the door which opened upon +the stairs unlatched. He crept noiselessly out, and leaving the door +still open, rushed down-stairs, turned into the little court, unhooked +his bag from the rope, and taking it in his hand, passed quietly out into +the street. The coachman was dozing upon the box of the carriage which +still waited before the door, and would not have noticed Temistocle had +he been awake. In a moment more the Neapolitan was beyond pursuit. In +the Piazza di Spagna he hailed a cab and drove rapidly to Donna Tullia's +house, where he paid the man and sent him away. The servants knew him +well enough, for scarcely a day passed without his bringing some note or +message from his master to Madame Mayer. He sent in to say that he must +speak to his master on business. Del Ferice came out hastily in +considerable agitation, which was by no means diminished by the sight of +the well-known shabby black bag. + +Temistocle glanced round the hall to see that they were alone. + +"The _forza_--the police," he whispered, "are in the house, Eccellenza. +Here is the bag. Save yourself, for the love of heaven!" + +Del Ferice turned ghastly pale, and his face twitched nervously. + +"But--" he began, and then staggering back leaned against the wall. + +"Quick--fly!" urged Temistocle, shaking him roughly by the arm. "It is +the Holy Office--you have time. I told them you would be back, and they +are waiting quietly--they will wait all night. Here is your overcoat," he +added, almost forcing his master into the garment--"and your hat--here! +Come along, there is no time to lose. I will take you to a place where +you can dress." + +Del Ferice submitted almost blindly. By especial good fortune the footman +did not come out into the hall. Donna Tullia and her guests had finished +dinner, and the servants had retired to theirs; indeed the footman had +complained to Temistocle of being called away from his meal to open the +door. The Neapolitan pushed his master out upon the stairs, urging him to +use all speed. As the two men hurried along the dark street they +conversed in low tones. Del Ferice was trembling in every joint. + +"But Donna Tullia," he almost whined. "I cannot leave her so--she must +know--" + +"Save your own skin from the Holy Office, master," answered Temistocle, +dragging him along as fast as he could. "I will go back and tell your +lady, never fear. She will leave Rome to-morrow. Of course you will go +to Naples. She will follow you. She will be there before you." + +Del Ferice mumbled an unintelligible answer. His teeth were chattering +with cold and fear; but as he began to realise his extreme peril, terror +lent wings to his heels, and he almost outstripped the nimble Temistocle +in the race for safety. They reached at last the ruined part of the city +near the Porta Maggiore, and in the shadow of the deep archway where the +road branches to the right towards Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Temistocle +halted. + +"Here," he said, shortly. Del Ferice said never a word, but began to +undress himself in the dark. It was a gloomy and lowering night, the +roads were muddy, and from time to time a few drops of cold rain fell +silently, portending a coming storm. In a few moments the transformation +was complete, and Del Ferice stood by his servant's side in the shabby +brown cowl and rope-girdle of a Capuchin monk. + +"Now comes the hard part," said Temistocle, producing a razor and a pair +of scissors from the bottom of the bag. Del Ferice had too often +contemplated the possibility of flight to have omitted so important a +detail. + +"You cannot see--you will cut my throat," he murmured plaintively. + +But the fellow was equal to the emergency. Retiring deeper into the +recess of the arch, he lit a cigar, and holding it between his teeth, +puffed violently at it, producing a feeble light by which he could just +see his master's face. He was in the habit of shaving him, and had no +difficulty in removing the fair moustache from his upper lip. Then, +making him hold his head down, and puffing harder than ever, he cropped +his thin hair, and managed to make a tolerably respectable tonsure. But +the whole operation had consumed half an hour at the least, and Del +Ferice was trembling still. Temistocle thrust the clothes into his bag. + +"My watch!" objected the unfortunate man, "and my pearl studs--give them +to me--what? You villain! you thief! you--" + +"No _chiacchiere_, no talk, _padrone_," interrupted Temistocle, snapping +the lock of the bag. "If you chance to be searched, it would ill become a +mendicant friar to be carrying gold watches and pearl studs. I will give +them to Donna Tullia this very evening. You have money--you can say that +you are taking that to your convent." + +"Swear to give the watch to Donna Tullia," said Del Ferice. Whereupon +Temistocle swore a terrible oath, which he did not fail to break, of +course. But his master had to be satisfied, and when all was completed +the two parted company. + +"I will ask Donna Tullia to take me to Naples on her passport," said the +Neapolitan. + +"Take care of my things, Temistocle. Burn all the papers if you +can--though I suppose the _sbirri_ have got them by this time. Bring my +clothes--if you steal anything, remember there are knives in Rome, and I +know where to write to have them used." Whereat Temistocle broke into a +torrent of protestations. How could his master think that, after saving +him at such risk, his faithful servant would plunder him? + +"Well," said Del Ferice, thoughtfully, "you are a great scoundrel, you +know. But you have saved me, as you say. There is a scudo for you." + +Temistocle never refused anything. He took the coin, kissed his master's +hand as a final exhibition of servility, and turned back towards the city +without another word. Del Ferice shuddered, and drew his heavy cowl over +his head as he began to walk quickly towards the Porta Maggiore. Then he +took the inside road, skirting the walls through the mud to the Porta San +Lorenzo. He was perfectly safe in his disguise. He had dined abundantly, +he had money in his pocket, and he had escaped the clutches of the Holy +Office. A barefooted friar might walk for days unchallenged through the +Roman Campagna and the neighbouring hills, and it was not far to the +south-eastern frontier. He did not know the way beyond Tivoli, but he +could inquire without exciting the least suspicion. There are few +disguises more complete than the garb of a Capuchin monk, and Del Ferice +had long contemplated playing the part, for it was one which eminently +suited him. His face, much thinner now than formerly, was yet naturally +round, and without his moustache would certainly pass for a harmless +clerical visage. He had received an excellent education, and knew vastly +more Latin than the majority of mendicant monks. As a good Roman he was +well acquainted with every convent in the city, and knew the names of all +the chief dignitaries of the Capuchin order. When a lad he had frequently +served at Mass, and was acquainted with most of the ordinary details of +monastic life. The worst that could happen to him might be to be called +upon in the course of his travels to hear the dying confession of some +poor wretch who had been stabbed after a game of _mora_. His case was +altogether not so bad as might seem, considering the far greater evils he +had escaped. + +At the Porta San Lorenzo the gates were closed as usual, but the dozing +watchman let Del Ferice out of the small door without remark. Any one +might leave the city, though it required a pass to gain admittance during +the night. The heavily-ironed oak clanged behind the fugitive, and he +breathed more freely as he stepped upon the road to Tivoli. In an hour he +had crossed the Ponte Mammolo, shuddering as he looked down through the +deep gloom at the white foam of the Teverone, swollen with the winter +rains. But the fear of the Holy Office was behind him, and he hurried on +his lonely way, walking painfully in the sandals he had been obliged to +put on to complete his disguise, sinking occasionally ankle-deep in mud, +and then trudging over a long stretch of broken stones where the road had +been mended; but not noticing nor caring for pain and fatigue, while he +felt that every minute took him nearer to the frontier hills where he +would be safe from pursuit. And so he toiled on, till he smelled the +fetid air of the sulphur springs full fourteen miles from Rome; and at +last, as the road began to rise towards Hadrian's Villa, he sat down upon +a stone by the wayside to rest a little. He had walked five hours through +the darkness, seeing but a few yards of the broad road before him as he +went. He was weary and footsore, and the night was growing wilder with +gathering wind and rain as the storm swept down the mountains and through +the deep gorge of Tivoli on its way to the desolate black Campagna. He +felt that if he did not die of exposure he was safe, and to a man in his +condition bad weather is the least of evils. + +His reflections were not sweet. Five hours earlier he had been dressed as +a fine gentleman should be, seated at a luxurious table in the company of +a handsome and amusing woman who was to be his wife. He could still +almost taste the delicate _chaud froid_, the tender woodcock, the dry +champagne; he could still almost hear Donna Tullia's last noisy sally +ringing in his ears--and behold, he was now sitting by the roadside in +the rain, in the wretched garb of a begging monk, five hours' journey +from Rome. He had left his affianced bride without a word of warning, had +abandoned all his possessions to Temistocle--that scoundrelly thief +Temistocle!--and he was utterly alone. + +But as he rested himself, drawing his monk's hood closely over his head +and trying to warm his freezing feet with the skirts of his rough brown +frock, he reflected that if he ever got safely across the frontier he +would be treated as a patriot, as a man who had suffered for the cause, +and certainly as a man who deserved to be rewarded. He reflected that +Donna Tullia was a woman who had a theatrical taste for romance, and that +his present position was in theory highly romantic, however uncomfortable +it might be in the practice. When he was safe his story would be told in +the newspapers, and he would himself take care that it was made +interesting. Donna Tullia would read it, would be fascinated by the tale +of his sufferings, and would follow him. His marriage with her would then +add immense importance to his own position. He would play his cards well, +and with her wealth at his disposal he might aspire to any distinction he +coveted. He only wished the situation could have been prolonged for three +weeks, till he was actually married. Meanwhile he must take courage and +push on, beyond the reach of pursuit. If once he could gain Subiaco, he +could be over the frontier in twelve hours. From Tivoli there were +_vetture_ up the valley, cheap conveyances for the country people, in +which a barefooted friar could travel unnoticed. He knew that he must +cross the boundary by Trevi and the Serra di Sant' Antonio. He would +inquire the way from Subiaco. + +While Del Ferice was thus making his way across the Campagna, Temistocle +was taking measures for his own advantage and safety. He had the bag with +his master's clothes, the valuable watch and chain, and the pearl studs. +He had also the key to Del Ferice's lodgings, of which he promised +himself to make some use, as soon as he should be sure that the +detectives had left the house. In the first place he made up his mind to +leave Donna Tullia in ignorance of his master's sudden departure. +There was nothing to be gained by telling her the news, for she would +probably in her rash way go to Del Ferice's house herself, as she had +done once before, and on finding he was actually gone she would take +charge of his effects, whereby Temistocle would be the loser. As he +walked briskly away from the ruinous district near the Porta Maggiore, +and began to see the lights of the city gleaming before him, his courage +rose in his breast. He remembered how easily he had eluded the detectives +an hour and a half before, and he determined to cheat them again. + +But he had reckoned unwisely. Before he had been gone ten minutes the two +men suspected, from the prolonged silence, that something was wrong, and +after searching the lodging perceived that the polite servant who had +offered them coffee had left the house without taking leave. One of the +two immediately drove to the house of his chief and asked for +instructions. The order to arrest the servant if he appeared again came +back at once. The consequence was that when Temistocle boldly opened +the door with a ready framed excuse for his absence, he was suddenly +pinioned by four strong arms, dragged into the sitting-room, and told to +hold his tongue in the name of the law. And that is the last that was +heard of Temistocle for some time. But when the day dawned the men +knew that Del Ferice had escaped them. + +The affair had not been well managed. The Cardinal was a good detective, +but a bad policeman. In his haste he had made the mistake of ordering Del +Ferice to be arrested instantly and in his lodgings. Had the statesman +simply told the chief of police to secure Ugo as soon as possible without +any scandal, he could not have escaped. But the officer interpreted the +Cardinal's note to mean that Del Ferice was actually at his lodgings when +the order was given. The Cardinal was supposed to be omniscient by +his subordinates, and no one ever thought of giving any interpretation +not perfectly literal to his commands. Of course the Cardinal was at once +informed, and telegrams and mounted detectives were dispatched in all +directions. But Del Ferice's disguise was good, and when just after +sunrise a gendarme galloped into Tivoli, he did not suspect that the +travel-stained and pale-faced friar, who stood telling his beads before +the shrine just outside the Roman gate, was the political delinquent whom +he was sent to overtake. + +Donna Tullia spent an anxious night. She sent down to Del Ferice's +lodgings, as Temistocle had anticipated, and the servant brought back +word that he had not seen the Neapolitan, and that the house was held in +possession by strangers, who refused him admittance. Madame Mayer +understood well enough what had happened, and began to tremble for +herself. Indeed she began to think of packing together her own valuables, +in case she should be ordered to leave Rome, for she did not doubt that +the Holy Office was in pursuit of Del Ferice, in consequence of some +discovery relating to her little club of malcontents. She trembled for +Ugo with an anxiety more genuine than any feeling of hers had been for +many a day, not knowing whether he had escaped or not. But on the +following evening she was partially reassured by hearing from Valdarno +that the police had offered a large reward for Del Ferice's apprehension. +Valdarno declared his intention of leaving Rome at once. His life, +he said, was not safe for a moment. That villain Gouache, who had turned +Zouave, had betrayed them all, and they might be lodged in the Sant' +Uffizio any day. As a matter of fact, after he discovered how egregiously +he had been deceived by Del Ferice, the Cardinal grew more suspicious, +and his emissaries were more busy than they had been before. But Valdarno +had never manifested enough wisdom, nor enough folly, to make him a cause +of anxiety to the Prime Minister. Nevertheless he actually left Rome and +spent a long time in Paris before he was induced to believe that he might +safely return to his home. + +Roman society was shaken to its foundations by the news of the attempted +arrest, and Donna Tullia found some slight compensation in becoming for a +time the centre of interest. She felt, indeed, great anxiety for the man +she was engaged to marry; but for the first time in her life she felt +also that she was living in an element of real romance, of which she had +long dreamed, but of which she had never found the smallest realisation. +Society saw, and speculated, and gossiped, after its fashion; but its +gossip was more subdued than of yore, for men began to ask who was safe, +since the harmless Del Ferice had been proscribed. Old Saracinesca said +little. He would have gone to see the Cardinal and to offer him his +congratulations, since it would not be decent to offer his thanks; but +the Cardinal was not in a position to be congratulated. If he had caught +Del Ferice he would have thanked the Prince instead of waiting for any +expressions of gratitude; but he did not catch Del Ferice, for certain +very good reasons which will appear in the last scene of this comedy. + +Three days after Ugo's disappearance, the old Prince got into his +carriage and drove out to Saracinesca. More than a month had elapsed +since the marriage, and he felt that he must see his son, even at the +risk of interrupting the honeymoon. On the whole, he felt that his +revenge had been inadequate. Del Fence had escaped the Holy Office, no +one knew how; and Donna Tullia, instead of being profoundly humiliated, +as she would have been had Del Ferice been tried as a common spy, was +become a centre of attraction and interest, because her affianced husband +had for some unknown cause incurred the displeasure of the great +Cardinal, almost on the eve of her marriage--a state of things +significant as regards the tone of Roman society. Indeed the whole +circumstance, which, was soon bruited about among all classes with the +most lively adornment and exaggeration, tended greatly to increase the +fear and hatred which high and low alike felt for Cardinal Antonelli--the +man who was always accused and never heard in his own defence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +People wondered that Giovanni and Corona should have chosen to retire +into the country for their honeymoon, instead of travelling to France and +England, and ending their wedding-trip in Switzerland. The hills were so +very cold at that early season, and besides, they would be utterly alone. +People could not understand why Corona did not take advantage of the +termination of her widowhood to mix at once with the world, and indemnify +herself for the year of mourning by a year of unusual gaiety. But there +were many, on the other hand, who loudly applauded the action, which, it +was maintained, showed a wise spirit of economy, and contrasted very +favourably with the extravagance recently exhibited by young couples who +in reality had far more cause to be careful of their money. Those who +held this view belonged to the old, patriarchal class, the still +flourishing remnant of the last generation, who prided themselves upon +good management, good morals, and ascetic living; the class of people in +whose marriage-contracts it was stipulated that the wife was to have meat +twice a-day, excepting on fast days, a drive--the _trottata_, as it used +to be called--daily, and two new gowns every year. Even in our times, +when most of that generation are dead, these clauses are often +introduced; in the first half of the century they were universal. A +little earlier it used to be stipulated that the "meat" was not to be +copra, goat's-flesh, which was considered to be food fit only for +servants. But the patriarchal generation were a fine old class in spite +of their economy, and they loudly aplauded Giovanni's conduct. + +No one, however, understood that the solitude of Saracinesca was really +the greatest luxury the newly-married couple could desire. They wanted to +be left alone, and they got their wish. No one had known of the +preparations Giovanni had made for his wife's reception, and had any +idea of the changes in the castle reached the ears of the aforesaid +patriarchs, they would probably have changed their minds in regard to +Giovanni's economy. The Saracinesca were not ostentatious, but they spent +their money royally in their own quiet way, and the interior of the old +stronghold had undergone a complete transformation, while the ancient +grey stones of the outer walls and towers frowned as gloomily as ever +upon the valley. Vast halls had been decorated and furnished in a style +suited to the antiquity of the fortress, small sunny rooms had been +fitted up with the more refined luxury which was beginning to be +appreciated in Italy twenty years ago. A great conservatory had been +built out upon the southern battlement. The aqueduct had been completed +successfully, and fountains now played in the courts. The old-fashioned +fireplaces had been again put into use, and huge logs burned upon huge +fire-dogs in the halls, shedding a ruddy glow upon the trophies of old +armour, the polished floors, and the heavy curtains. Quantities of +magnificent tapestry, some of which had been produced when Corona first +visited the castle, were now hung upon the stairs and in the corridors. +The great _baldacchino_, the canopy which Roman princes are privileged to +display in their antechambers, was draped above the quartered arms of +Saracinesca and Astrardente, and the same armorial bearings appeared in +rich stained glass in the window of the grand staircase. The solidity and +rare strength of the ancient stronghold seemed to grow even more imposing +under the decorations and improvements of a later age, and for the first +time Giovanni felt that justice had been done to the splendour of his +ancestral home. + +Here he and his dark bride dwelt in perfect unity and happiness, in the +midst of their own lands, surrounded by their own people, and wholly +devoted to each other. But though much of the day was passed in that +unceasing conversation and exchange of ideas which seem to belong +exclusively to happily-wedded man and wife, the hours were not wholly +idle. Daily the two mounted their horses and rode along the level stretch +towards Aquaviva till they came to the turning from which Corona had +first caught sight of Saracinesca. Here a broad road was already broken +out; the construction was so far advanced that two miles at least were +already serviceable, the gentle grade winding backwards and forwards, +crossing and recrossing the old bridle-path as it descended to the valley +below; and now from the furthest point completed Corona could distinguish +in the dim distance the great square palace of Astrardente crowning the +hills above the town. Thither the two rode daily, pushing on the work, +consulting with the engineer they employed, and often looking forward +to the day when for the first time their carriage should roll smoothly +down from Saracinesca to Astrardente without making the vast detour which +the old road followed as it skirted the mountain. There was an +inexpressible pleasure in watching the growth of the work they had so +long contemplated, in speculating on the advantages they would obtain by +so uniting their respective villages, and in feeling that, being at last +one, they were working together for the good of their people. For the men +who did the work were without exception their own peasants, who were +unemployed during the winter time, and who, but for the timely occupation +provided for them, would have spent the cold months in that state of +half-starved torpor peculiar to the indigent agricultural labourer when +he has nothing to do--at that bitter season when father and mother and +shivering little ones watch wistfully the ever-dwindling sack of maize, +as day by day two or three handfuls are ground between the stones of the +hand-mill and kneaded into a thick unwholesome dough, the only food of +the poorer peasants in the winter. But now every man who could handle +pickaxe and bore, and sledge-hammer and spade, was out upon the road from +dawn to dark, and every Saturday night each man took home a silver scudo +in his pocket; and where people are sober and do not drink their wages, a +silver scudo goes a long way further than nothing. Yet many a lean and +swarthy fellow there would have felt that he was cheated if besides his +money he had not carried home daily the remembrance of that tall dark +lady's face and kindly eyes and encouraging voice, and they used to watch +for the coming of the "_gran principessa_" as anxiously as they expected +the coming of the steward with the money-bags on a Saturday evening. +Often, too, the wives and daughters of the rough workers would bring the +men their dinners at noonday, rather than let them carry away their food +with them in the morning, just for the sake of catching a sight of +Corona, and of her broad-shouldered manly husband. And the men worked +with a right good will, for the story had gone abroad that for years to +come there would be no lack of work for willing hands. + +So the days sped, and were not interrupted by any incident for several +weeks. One day Gouache, the artist Zouave, called at the castle. He had +been quartered at Subiaco with a part of his company, but had not been +sent on at once to Saracinesca as he had expected. Now, however, he had +arrived with a small detachment of half-a-dozen men, with instructions to +watch the pass. There was nothing extraordinary in his being sent in that +direction, for Saracinesca was very near the frontier, and lay on one of +the direct routes to the Serra di Sant' Antonio, which was the shortest +hill-route into the kingdom of Naples; the country around was thought to +be particularly liable to disturbance, and though no one had seen a +brigand there for some years, the mountain-paths were supposed to be +infested with robbers. As a matter of fact there was a great deal of +smuggling carried on through the pass, and from time to time some +political refugee found his way across the frontier at that point. + +Gouache was received very well by Giovanni, and rather coldly by Corona, +who knew him but slightly. + +"I congratulate you," said Giovanni, noticing the stripes on the young +man's sleeves; "I see that you have risen in grade." + +"Yes. I hold an important command of six men. I spend much time in +studying the strategy of Condé and Napoleon. By the bye, I am here on a +very important mission." + +"Indeed!" + +"I suppose you give yourselves the luxury of never reading the papers in +this delightful retreat. The day before yesterday the Cardinal attempted +to arrest our friend Del Ferice--have you heard that?" + +"No--what--has he escaped?" asked Giovanni and Corona in a breath. But +their tones were different. Giovanni had anticipated the news, and was +disgusted at the idea that the fellow had got off. Corona was merely +surprised. + +"Yes. Heaven knows how--he has escaped. I am here to cut him off if he +tries to get to the Serra di Sant' Antonio." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"He will scarcely try to come this way--under the very walls of my +house," he said. + +"He may do anything. He is a slippery fellow." Gouache proceeded to tell +all he knew of the circumstances. + +"That is very strange," said Corona, thoughtfully. Then after a pause, +she added, "We are going to visit our road, Monsieur Gouache. Will you +not come with us? My husband will give you a horse." + +Gouache was charmed. He preferred talking to Giovanni and looking at +Corona's face to returning to his six Zouaves, or patrolling the hills in +search of Del Ferice. In a few minutes the three were mounted, and riding +slowly along the level stretch towards the works. As they entered the new +road Giovanni and Corona unconsciously fell into conversation, as usual, +about what they were doing, and forgot their visitor. Gouache dropped +behind, watching the pair and admiring them with true artistic +appreciation. He had a Parisian's love of luxury and perfect appointments +as well as an artist's love of beauty, and his eyes rested with +unmitigated pleasure on the riders and their horses, losing no detail of +their dress, their simple English accoutrements, their firm seats and +graceful carriage. But at a turn of the grade the two riders suddenly +slipped from his field of vision, and his attention was attracted to the +marvellous beauty of the landscape, as looking down the valley towards +Astrardente he saw range on range of purple hills rising in a deep +perspective, crowned with jagged rocks or sharply defined brown villages, +ruddy in the lowering sun. He stopped his horse and sat motionless, +drinking in the loveliness before him. So it is that accidents in nature +make accidents in the lives of men. + +But Giovanni and Corona rode slowly down the gentle incline, hardly +noticing that Gouache had stopped behind, and talking of the work. As +they again turned a curve of the grade Corona, who was on the inside, +looked up and caught sight of Gouache's motionless figure at the opposite +extremity of the gradient they had just descended. Giovanni looked +straight before him, and was aware of a pale-faced Capuchin friar who +with downcast eyes was toiling up the road, seemingly exhausted; a +particularly weather-stained and dilapidated friar even for those wild +mountains. + +"Gouache is studying geography," remarked Corona. + +"Another of those Capuccini!" exclaimed Giovanni, instinctively feeling +in his pocket for coppers. Then with a sudden movement he seized his +wife's arm. She was close to him as they rode slowly along side by side. + +"Good God! Corona," he cried, "it is Del Ferice!" Corona looked quickly +at the monk. His cowl was raised enough to show his features; but she +would, perhaps, not have recognised his smooth shaven face had Giovanni +not called her attention to it. + +Del Ferice had recognised them too, and, horror-struck, he paused, +trembling and uncertain what to do. He had taken the wrong turn from the +main road below; unaccustomed to the dialect of the hills, he had +misunderstood the peasant who had told him especially not to take the +bridle-path if he wished to avoid Saracinesca. He stopped, hesitated, and +then, pulling his cowl over his face, walked steadily on. Giovanni +glanced up and saw that Gouache was slowly descending the road, still +absorbed in contemplating the landscape. + +"Let him take his chance," muttered Saracinesca. "What should I care?" + +"No--no! Save him, Giovanni,--he looks so miserable," cried Corona, with +ready sympathy. She was pale with excitement. + +Giovanni looked at her one moment and hesitated, but her pleading eyes +were not to be refused. + +"Then gallop back, darling. Tell Gouache it is cold in the +valley--anything. Make him go back with you--I will save him since you +wish it." + +Corona wheeled her horse without a word and cantered up the hill again. +The monk had continued his slow walk, and was now almost at Giovanni's +saddle-bow. The latter drew rein, staring hard at the pale features +under the cowl. + +"If you go on you are lost," he said, in low distinct tones. "The Zouaves +are waiting for you. Stop, I say!" he exclaimed, as the monk attempted to +pass on. Leaping to the ground Giovanni seized his arm and held him +tightly. Then Del Ferice broke down. + +"You will not give me up--for the love of Christ!" he whined. "Oh, if you +have any pity--let me go--I never meant to harm you--" + +"Look here," said Giovanni. "I would just as soon give you up to the Holy +Office as not; but my wife asked me to save you--" + +"God bless her! Oh, the saints bless her! God render her kindness!" +blubbered Del Ferice, who, between fear and exhaustion, was by this time +half idiotic. + +"Silence!" said Giovanni, sternly. "You may thank her if you ever have a +chance. Come with me quietly. I will send one of the workmen round the +hill with you. You must sleep at Trevi, and then get over the Serra as +best you can." He ran his arm through the bridle of his horse and walked +by his enemy's side. + +"You will not give me up," moaned the wretched man. "For the love of +heaven do not betray me--I have come so far--I am so tired." + +"The wolves may make a meal of you, for all I care," returned Giovanni. +"I will not. I give you my word that I will send you safely on, if you +will stop this whining and behave like a man." + +At that moment Del Ferice was past taking offence, but for many a year +afterwards the rough words rankled in his heart. Giovanni was brutal for +once; he longed to wring the fellow's neck, or to give him up to Gouache +and the Zouaves. The tones of Ugo's voice reminded him of injuries not so +old as to be yet forgotten. But he smothered his wrath and strode on, +having promised his wife to save the wretch, much against his will. It +was a quarter of an hour before they reached the works, the longest +quarter of an hour Del Ferice remembered in his whole life. Neither spoke +a word. Giovanni hailed a sturdy-looking fellow who was breaking stones +by the roadside. + +"Get up, Carluccio," he said. "This good monk has lost his way. You must +take him round the mountain, above Ponza to Arcinazzo, and show him the +road to Trevi. It is a long way, but the road is good enough after +Ponza--it is shorter than to go round by Saracinesca, and the good friar +is in a hurry." + +Carluccio started up with alacrity. He greatly preferred roaming about +the hills to breaking stones, provided he was paid for it. He picked up +his torn jacket and threw it over one shoulder, setting his battered hat +jauntily on his thick black curls. + +"Give us a benediction, _padre mio_, and let us be off--_non è mica un +passo_--it is a good walk to Trevi." + +Del Ferice hesitated. He hardly knew what to do or say, and even if he +had wished to speak he was scarcely able to control his voice. Giovanni +cut the situation short by turning on his heel and mounting his horse. A +moment later he was cantering up the road again, to the considerable +astonishment of the labourers, who were accustomed to see him spend at +least half an hour in examining the work done. But Giovanni was in no +humour to talk about roads. He had spent a horrible quarter of an hour, +between his desire to see Del Ferice punished and the promise he had +given his wife to save him. He felt so little sure of himself that he +never once looked back, lest he should be tempted to send a second man to +stop the fugitive and deliver him up to justice. He ground his teeth +together, and his heart was full of bitter curses as he rode up the hill, +hardly daring to reflect upon what he had done. That, in the eyes of the +law, he had wittingly helped a traitor to escape, troubled his conscience +little. His instinct bade him destroy Del Ferice by giving him up, and he +would have saved himself a vast deal of trouble if he had followed his +impulse. But the impulse really arose from a deep-rooted desire for +revenge, which, having resisted, he regretted bitterly--very much as +Shakespeare's murderer complained to his companion that the devil was at +his elbow bidding him not murder the duke. Giovanni spared his enemy +solely to please his wife, and half-a-dozen words from her had produced a +result which no consideration of mercy or pity could have brought about. + +Corona and Gouache had halted at the top of the road to wait for him. By +an imperceptible nod, Giovanni informed his wife that Del Ferice was +safe. + +"I am sorry to have cut short our ride," he said, coldly. "My wife found +it chilly in the valley." + +Anastase looked curiously at Giovanni's pale face, and wondered whether +anything was wrong. Corona herself seemed strangely agitated. + +"Yes," answered Gouache, with his gentle smile; "the mountain air is +still cold." + +So the three rode silently back to the castle, and at the gate Gouache +dismounted and left them, politely declining a rather cold invitation to +come in. Giovanni and Corona went silently up the staircase together, and +on into a small apartment which in that cold season they had set apart as +a sitting-room. When they were alone, Corona laid her hands upon +Giovanni's shoulders and gazed long into his angry eyes. Then she threw +her arms round his neck and drew him to her. + +"My beloved," she cried, proudly, "you are all I thought--and more too." + +"Do not say that," answered Giovanni. "I would not have lifted a finger +to save that hound, but for you." + +"Ah, but you did it, dear, all the same," she said, and kissed him. + +On the following evening, without any warning, old Saracinesca arrived, +and was warmly greeted. After dinner Giovanni told him the story of Del +Ferice's escape. Thereupon the old gentleman flew into a towering rage, +swearing and cursing in a most characteristic manner, but finally +declaring that to arrest spies was the work of spies, and that Giovanni +had behaved like a gentleman, as of course he could not help doing, +seeing that he was his own son. + + * * * * * + +And so the curtain falls upon the first act. Giovanni and Corona are +happily married. Del Ferice is safe across the frontier among his friends +in Naples, and Donna Tullia is waiting still for news of him, in the last +days of Lent, in the year 1866. To carry on the tale from this point +would be to enter upon a new series of events more interesting, perhaps, +than those herein detailed, and of like importance in the history of the +Saracinesca family, but forming by their very nature a distinct +narrative--a second act to the drama, if it may be so called. I am +content if in the foregoing pages I have so far acquainted the reader +with those characters which hereafter will play more important parts, as +to enable him to comprehend the story of their subsequent lives, and in +some measure to judge of their future by their past, regarding them as +acquaintances, if not sympathetic, yet worthy of some attention. + +Especially I ask for indulgence in matters political. I am not writing +the history of political events, but the history of a Roman family during +times of great uncertainty and agitation. If any one says that I have set +up Del Ferice as a type of the Italian Liberal party, carefully +constructing a villain in order to batter him to pieces with the +artillery of poetic justice, I answer that I have done nothing of the +kind. Del Ferice is indeed a type, but a type of a depraved class which +very unjustly represented the Liberal party in Rome before 1870, and +which, among those who witnessed its proceedings, drew upon the great +political body which demanded the unity of Italy an opprobrium that body +was very far from deserving. The honest and upright Liberals were waiting +in 1866. What they did, they did from their own country, and they did it +boldly. To no man of intelligence need I say that Del Ferice had no more +affinity with Massimo D'Azeglio, with the great Cavour, with Cavour's +great enemy Giuseppe Mazzini, or with Garibaldi, than the jackal has with +the lion. Del Ferice represented the scum which remained after the +revolution of 1848 had subsided. He was one of those men who were used +and despised by their betters, and in using whom Cavour himself was +provoked into writing "Se noi facessimo per noi quel che faciamo per +l'Italia, saremmo gran bricconi"--if we did for ourselves what we do for +Italy, we should be great blackguards. And that there were honourable +and just men outside of Rome will sufficiently appear in the sequel to +this veracious tale. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Saracinesca, by F. Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13757 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fe7233 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13757 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13757) diff --git a/old/13757-8.txt b/old/13757-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9416d9b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13757-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16650 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saracinesca, by F. Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Saracinesca + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: October 15, 2004 [EBook #13757] +[Last updated: October 16, 2015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SARACINESCA *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + SARACINESCA + + BY F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF 'MR. ISAACS,' 'DR. CLAUDIUS,' 'A ROMAN SINGER,' 'ZOROASTER,' +'A TALE OF A LONELY PARISH,' ETC. + + 1887 + + + + +NOTE + + +It was at first feared that the name Saracinesca, as it is now +printed, might be attached to an unused title in the possession of a +Roman house. The name was therefore printed with an additional +consonant--Sarracinesca--in the pages of 'Blackwood's Magazine.' +After careful inquiry, the original spelling is now restored. + + + + +SARACINESCA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the year 1865 Rome was still in a great measure its old self. It had +not then acquired that modern air which is now beginning to pervade it. +The Corso had not been widened and whitewashed; the Villa Aldobrandini +had not been cut through to make the Via Nazionale; the south wing of the +Palazzo Colonna still looked upon a narrow lane through which men +hesitated to pass after dark; the Tiber's course had not then been +corrected below the Farnesina; the Farnesina itself was but just under +repair; the iron bridge at the Ripetta was not dreamed of; and the Prati +di Castello were still, as their name implies, a series of waste meadows. +At the southern extremity of the city, the space between the fountain of +Moses and the newly erected railway station, running past the Baths of +Diocletian, was still an exercising-ground for the French cavalry. Even +the people in the streets then presented an appearance very different +from that which is now observed by the visitors and foreigners who come +to Rome in the winter. French dragoons and hussars, French infantry and +French officers, were everywhere to be seen in great numbers, mingled +with a goodly sprinkling of the Papal Zouaves, whose grey Turco uniforms +with bright red facings, red sashes, and short yellow gaiters, gave +colour to any crowd. A fine corps of men they were, too; counting +hundreds of gentlemen in their ranks, and officered by some of the best +blood in France and Austria. In those days also were to be seen the great +coaches of the cardinals, with their gorgeous footmen and magnificent +black horses, the huge red umbrellas lying upon the top, while from the +open windows the stately princes of the Church from time to time returned +the salutations of the pedestrians in the street. And often in the +afternoon there was heard the tramp of horse as a detachment of the noble +guards trotted down the Corso on their great chargers, escorting the holy +Father himself, while all who met him dropped upon one knee and uncovered +their heads to receive the benediction of the mild-eyed old man with the +beautiful features, the head of Church and State. Many a time, too, +Pius IX. would descend from his coach and walk upon the Pincio, all +clothed in white, stopping sometimes to talk with those who accompanied +him, or to lay his gentle hand on the fair curls of some little English +child that paused from its play in awe and admiration as the Pope went +by. For he loved children well, and most of all, children with golden +hair--angels, not Angles, as Gregory said. + +As for the fashions of those days, it is probable that most of us would +suffer severe penalties rather than return to them, beautiful as they +then appeared to us by contrast with the exaggerated crinoline and +flower-garden bonnet, which had given way to the somewhat milder form of +hoop-skirt madness, but had not yet flown to the opposite extreme in the +invention of the close-fitting _princesse_ garments of 1868. But, to each +other, people looked then as they look now. Fashion in dress, concerning +which nine-tenths of society gives itself so much trouble, appears to +exercise less influence upon men and women in their relations towards +each other than does any other product of human ingenuity. Provided every +one is in the fashion, everything goes on in the age of high heels and +gowns tied back precisely as it did five-and-twenty years ago, when +people wore flat shoes, and when gloves with three buttons had not been +dreamed of--when a woman of most moderate dimensions occupied three or +four square yards of space upon a ball-room floor, and men wore peg-top +trousers. Human beings since the days of Adam seem to have retired like +caterpillars into cocoons of dress, expecting constantly the wondrous +hour when they shall emerge from their self-woven prison in the garb of +the angelic butterfly, having entered into the chrysalis state as mere +human grubs. But though they both toil and spin at their garments, and +vie with Solomon in his glory to outshine the lily of the field, the +humanity of the grub shows no signs of developing either in character or +appearance in the direction of anything particularly angelic. + +It was not the dress of the period which gave to the streets of Rome +their distinctive feature. It would be hard to say, now that so much is +changed, wherein the peculiar charm of the old-time city consisted; but +it was there, nevertheless, and made itself felt so distinctly beyond the +charm of any other place, that the very fascination of Rome was +proverbial. Perhaps no spot in Europe has ever possessed such an +attractive individuality. In those days there were many foreigners, too, +as there are to-day, both residents and visitors; but they seemed to +belong to a different class of humanity. They seemed less inharmonious to +their surroundings then than now, less offensive to the general air of +antiquity. Probably they were more in earnest; they came to Rome with the +intention of liking the place, rather than of abusing the cookery in the +hotels. They came with a certain knowledge of the history, the +literature, and the manners of the ancients, derived from an education +which in those days taught more through the classics and less through +handy text-books and shallow treatises concerning the Renaissance; they +came with preconceived notions which were often strongly dashed with +old-fashioned prejudice, but which did not lack originality: they come +now in the smattering mood, imbued with no genuine beliefs, but covered +with exceeding thick varnish. Old gentlemen then visited the sights in +the morning, and quoted Horace to each other, and in the evening +endeavoured by associating with Romans to understand something of Rome; +young gentlemen now spend one or two mornings in finding fault with the +architecture of Bramante, and "in the evening," like David's enemies, +"they grin like a dog and run about the city:" young women were content +to find much beauty in the galleries and in the museums, and were simple +enough to admire what they liked; young ladies of the present day can +find nothing to admire except their own perspicacity in detecting faults +in Raphael's drawing or Michael Angelo's colouring. This is the age of +incompetent criticism in matters artistic, and no one is too ignorant to +volunteer an opinion. It is sufficient to have visited half-a-dozen +Italian towns, and to have read a few pages of fashionable aesthetic +literature--no other education is needed to fit the intelligent young +critic for his easy task. The art of paradox can be learned in five +minutes, and practised by any child; it consists chiefly in taking two +expressions of opinion from different authors, halving them, and uniting +the first half of the one with the second half of the other. The result +is invariably startling, and generally incomprehensible. When a young +society critic knows how to be startling and incomprehensible, his +reputation is soon made, for people readily believe that what they cannot +understand is profound, and anything which astonishes is agreeable to a +taste deadened by a surfeit of spices. But in 1865 the taste of Europe +was in a very different state. The Second Empire was in its glory. +M. Emile Zola had not written his 'Assommoir.' Count Bismarck had only +just brought to a successful termination the first part of his trimachy; +Sadowa and Sedan were yet unfought. Garibaldi had won Naples, and Cavour +had said, "If we did for ourselves what we are doing for Italy, we should +be great scoundrels;" but Garibaldi had not yet failed at Mentana, nor +had Austria ceded Venice. Cardinal Antonelli had yet ten years of life +before him in which to maintain his gallant struggle for the remnant of +the temporal power; Pius IX. was to live thirteen years longer, just long +enough to outlive by one month the "honest king," Victor Emmanuel. +Antonelli's influence pervaded Rome, and to a great extent all the +Catholic Courts of Europe; yet he was far from popular with the Romans. +The Jesuits, however, were even less popular than he, and certainly +received a much larger share of abuse. For the Romans love faction more +than party, and understand it better; so that popular opinion is too +frequently represented by a transitory frenzy, violent and pestilent +while it lasts, utterly insignificant when it has spent its fury. + +But Rome in those days was peopled solely by Romans, whereas now a large +proportion of the population consists of Italians from the north and +south, who have been attracted to the capital by many interests--races as +different from its former citizens as Germans or Spaniards, and +unfortunately not disposed to show overmuch good-fellowship or +loving-kindness to the original inhabitants. The Roman is a grumbler by +nature, but he is also a "peace-at-any-price" man. Politicians and +revolutionary agents have more than once been deceived by these traits, +supposing that because the Roman grumbled he really desired change, but +realising too late, when the change has been begun, that that same Roman +is but a lukewarm partisan. The Papal Government repressed grumbling as a +nuisance, and the people consequently took a delight in annoying the +authorities by grumbling in secret places and calling themselves +conspirators. The harmless whispering of petty discontent was mistaken by +the Italian party for the low thunder of a smothered volcano; but, the +change being brought about, the Italians find to their disgust that the +Roman meant nothing by his murmurings, and that he now not only still +grumbles at everything, but takes the trouble to fight the Government at +every point which concerns the internal management of the city. In the +days before the change, a paternal Government directed the affairs of the +little State, and thought it best to remove all possibility of strife by +giving the grumblers no voice in public or economic matters. The +grumblers made a grievance of tins; and then, as soon as the grievance +had been redressed, they redoubled their complaints and retrenched +themselves within the infallibility of inaction, on the principle that +men who persist in doing nothing cannot possibly do wrong. + +Those were the days, too, of the old school of artists--men who, if their +powers of creation were not always proportioned to their ambition for +excellence, were as superior to their more recent successors in their +pure conceptions of what art should be as Apelles was to the Pompeian +wall-painters, and as the Pompeians were to modern house-decorators. The +age of Overbeck and the last religious painters was almost past, but the +age of fashionable artistic debauchery had hardly begun. Water-colour +was in its infancy; wood-engraving was hardly yet a great profession; +but the "Dirty Boy" had not yet taken a prize at Paris, nor had indecency +become a fine art. The French school had not demonstrated the startling +distinction between the nude and the naked, nor had the English school +dreamed nightmares of anatomical distortion. + +Darwin's theories had been propagated, but had not yet been passed into +law, and very few Romans had heard of them; still less had any one been +found to assert that the real truth of these theories would be soon +demonstrated retrogressively by the rapid degeneration of men into apes, +while apes would hereafter have cause to congratulate themselves upon not +having developed into men. Many theories also were then enjoying vast +popularity which have since fallen low in the popular estimation. Prussia +was still, in theory, a Power of the second class, and the empire of +Louis Napoleon was supposed to possess elements of stability. The great +civil war in the United States had just been fought, and people still +doubted whether the republic would hold together. It is hard to recall +the common beliefs of those times. A great part of the political creed of +twenty years ago seems now a mass of idiotic superstition, in no wise +preferable, as Macaulay would have said, to the Egyptian worship of cats +and onions. Nevertheless, then, as now, men met together secretly in +cellars and dens, as well as in drawing-rooms and clubs, and whispered +together, and said their theories were worth something, and ought to be +tried. The word republic possessed then, as now, a delicious attraction +for people who had grievances; and although, after the conquest of +Naples, Garibaldi had made a sort of public abjuration of republican +principles, so far as Italy was concerned, the plotters of all classes +persisted in coupling his name with the idea of a commonwealth erected on +the plan of "sois mon frère ou je te tue." Profound silence on the part +of Governments, and a still more guarded secrecy on the part of +conspiring bodies, were practised as the very first principle of all +political operations. No copyist, at half-a-crown an hour, had yet +betrayed the English Foreign Office; and it had not dawned upon the +clouded intellects of European statesmen that deliberate national +perjury, accompanied by public meetings of sovereigns, and much blare of +many trumpets, could be practised with such triumphant success as events +have since shown. In the beginning of the year 1865 people crossed the +Alps in carriages; the Suez Canal had not been opened; the first Atlantic +cable was not laid; German unity had not been invented; Pius IX. reigned +in the Pontifical States; Louis Napoleon was the idol of the French; +President Lincoln had not been murdered,--is anything needed to widen the +gulf which separates those times from these? The difference between the +States of the world in 1865 and in 1885 is nearly as great as that which +divided the Europe of 1789 from the Europe of 1814. + +But my business is with Rome, and not with Europe at large. I intend to +tell the story of certain persons, of their good and bad fortune, their +adventures, and the complications in which they found themselves placed +during a period of about twenty years. The people of whom I tell this +story are chiefly patricians; and in the first part of their history they +have very little to do with any but their own class--a class peculiar and +almost unique in the world. + +Speaking broadly, there is no one at once so thoroughly Roman and so +thoroughly non-Roman as the Roman noble. This is no paradox, no play on +words. Roman nobles are Roman by education and tradition; by blood they +are almost cosmopolitans. The practice of intermarrying with the great +families of the rest of Europe is so general as to be almost a rule. One +Roman prince is an English peer; most of the Roman princes are grandees +of Spain; many of them have married daughters of great French houses, of +reigning German princes, of ex-kings and ex-queens. In one princely house +alone are found the following combinations: There are three brothers: the +eldest married first the daughter of a great English peer, and secondly +the daughter of an even greater peer of France; the second brother +married first a German "serene highness," and secondly the daughter of a +great Hungarian noble; the third brother married the daughter of a French +house of royal Stuart descent. This is no solitary instance. A score of +families might be cited who, by constant foreign marriages, have almost +eliminated from their blood the original Italian element; and this great +intermixture of races may account for the strangely un-Italian types that +are found among them, for the undying vitality which seems to animate +races already a thousand years old, and above all, for a very remarkable +cosmopolitanism which pervades Roman society. A set of people whose near +relations are socially prominent in every capital of Europe, could hardly +be expected to have anything provincial about them in appearance or +manners; still less can they be considered to be types of their own +nation. And yet such is the force of tradition, of the patriarchal family +life, of the early surroundings in which are placed these children of a +mixed race, that they acquire from their earliest years the unmistakable +outward manner of Romans, the broad Roman speech, and a sort of clannish +and federative spirit which has not its like in the same class anywhere +in Europe. They grow up together, go to school together, go together into +the world, and together discuss all the social affairs of their native +city. Not a house is bought or sold, not a hundred francs won at écarté, +not a marriage contract made, without being duly considered and commented +upon by the whole of society. And yet, though there is much gossip, there +is little scandal; there was even less twenty years ago than there is +now--not, perhaps, because the increment of people attracted to the new +capital have had any bad influence, but simply because the city has grown +much larger, and in some respects has outgrown a certain simplicity of +manners it once possessed, and which was its chief safeguard. For, in +spite of a vast number of writers of all nations who have attempted to +describe Italian life, and who, from an imperfect acquaintance with the +people, have fallen into the error of supposing them to live perpetually +in a highly complicated state of mind, the foundation of the Italian +character is simple--far more so than that of his hereditary antagonist, +the northern European. It is enough to notice that the Italian habitually +expresses what he feels, while it is the chief pride of Northern men that +whatever they may feel they express nothing. The chief object of most +Italians is to make life agreeable; the chief object of the Teutonic +races is to make it profitable. Hence the Italian excels in the art of +pleasing, and in pleasing by means of the arts; whereas the Northern man +is pre-eminent in the faculty of producing wealth under any +circumstances, and when he has amassed enough possessions to think of +enjoying his leisure, has generally been under the necessity of employing +Southern art as a means to that end. But Southern simplicity carried to +its ultimate expression leads not uncommonly to startling results; for it +is not generally a satisfaction to an Italian to be paid a sum of money +as damages for an injury done. When his enemy has harmed him, he desires +the simple retribution afforded by putting his enemy to death, and he +frequently exacts it by any means that he finds ready to his hand. Being +simple, he reflects little, and often acts with violence. The Northern +mind, capable of vast intricacy of thought, seeks to combine revenge of +injury with personal profit, and in a spirit of cold, far-sighted +calculation, reckons up the advantages to be got by sacrificing an innate +desire for blood to a civilised greed of money. + +Dr. Johnson would have liked the Romans--for in general they are good +lovers and good haters, whatever faults they may have. The patriarchal +system, which was all but universal twenty years ago, and is only now +beginning to yield to more modern institutions of life, tends to foster +the passions of love and hate. Where father and mother sit at the head +and foot of the table, their sons with their wives and their children +each in his or her place, often to the number of twenty souls--all living +under one roof, one name, and one bond of family unity--there is likely +to be a great similarity of feeling upon all questions of family pride, +especially among people who discuss everything with vehemence, from +European politics to the family cook. They may bicker and squabble among +themselves,--and they frequently do,--but in their outward relations with +the world they act as one individual, and the enemy of one is the enemy +of all; for the pride of race and name is very great. There is a family +in Rome who, since the memory of man, have not failed to dine together +twice every week, and there are now more than thirty persons who take +their places at the patriarchal board. No excuse can be pleaded for +absence, and no one would think of violating the rule. Whether such a +mode of life is good or not is a matter of opinion; it is, at all events, +a fact, and one not generally understood or even known by persons who +make studies of Italian character. Free and constant discussion of all +manner of topics should certainly tend to widen the intelligence; but, on +the other hand, where the dialecticians are all of one race, and name, +and blood, the practice may often merely lead to an undue development of +prejudice. In Rome, particularly, where so many families take a distinct +character from the influence of a foreign mother, the opinions of a house +are associated with its mere name. Casa Borghese thinks so and so, Casa +Colonna has diametrically opposite views, while Casa Altieri may differ +wholly from both; and in connection with most subjects the mere names +Borghese, Altieri, Colonna, are associated in the minds of Romans of all +classes with distinct sets of principles and ideas, with distinct types +of character, and with distinctly different outward and visible signs of +race. Some of these conditions exist among the nobility of other +countries, but not, I believe, to the same extent. In Germany, the +aristocratic body takes a certain uniform hue, so to speak, from the +army, in which it plays so important a part, and the patriarchal system +is broken up by the long absences from the ancestral home of the +soldier-sons. In France, the main divisions of republicans, monarchists, +and imperialists have absorbed and unified the ideas and principles of +large bodies of families into bodies politic. In England, the practice of +allowing younger sons to shift for themselves, and the division of the +whole aristocracy into two main political parties, destroy the +patriarchal spirit; while it must also be remembered, that at a period +when in Italy the hand of every house was against its neighbour, and the +struggles of Guelph and Ghibelline were but an excuse for the prosecution +of private feuds, England was engaged in great wars which enlisted vast +bodies of men under a common standard for a common principle. Whether +the principle involved chanced to be that of English domination in +France, or whether men flocked to the standards of the White Rose of York +or the Red Rose of Lancaster, was of little importance; the result was +the same,--the tendency of powerful families to maintain internecine +traditional feuds was stamped out, or rather was absorbed in the +maintenance of the perpetual feud between the great principles of Tory +and Whig--of the party for the absolute monarch, and the party for the +freedom of the people. + +Be the causes what they may, the Roman nobility has many characteristics +peculiar to it and to no other aristocracy. It is cosmopolitan by its +foreign marriages, renewed in every generation; it is patriarchal and +feudal by its own unbroken traditions of family life; and it is only +essentially Roman by its speech and social customs. It has undergone +great vicissitudes during twenty years; but most of these features remain +in spite of new and larger parties, new and bitter political hatreds, new +ideas of domestic life, and new fashions in dress and cookery. + +In considering an account of the life of Giovanni Saracinesca from the +time when, in 1865, he was thirty years of age, down to the present day, +it is therefore just that he should be judged with a knowledge of some of +these peculiarities of his class. He is not a Roman of the people like +Giovanni Cardegna, the great tenor, and few of his ideas have any +connection with those of the singer; but he has, in common with him, that +singular simplicity of character which he derives from his Roman descent +upon the male side, and in which will be found the key to many of his +actions both good and bad--a simplicity which loves peace, but cannot +always refrain from sudden violence, which loves and hates strongly and +to some purpose. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The hour was six o'clock, and the rooms of the Embassy were as full as +they were likely to be that day. There would doubtless have been more +people had the weather been fine; but it was raining heavily, and below, +in the vast court that formed the centre of the palace, the lamps of +fifty carriages gleamed through the water and the darkness, and the +coachmen, of all dimensions and characters, sat beneath their huge +umbrellas and growled to each other, envying the lot of the footmen who +were congregated in the ante-chamber up-stairs around the great bronze +braziers. But in the reception-rooms there was much light and warmth; +there were bright fires and softly shaded lamps; velvet-footed servants +stealing softly among the guests, with immense burdens of tea and cake; +men of more or less celebrity chatting about politics in corners; women +of more or less beauty gossiping over their tea, or flirting, or wishing +they had somebody to flirt with; people of many nations and ideas, with +a goodly leaven of Romans. They all seemed endeavouring to get away from +the men and women of their own nationality, in order to amuse themselves +with the difficulties of conversation in languages not their own. Whether +they amused themselves or not is of small importance; but as they were +all willing to find themselves together twice a-day for the five months +of the Roman season--from the first improvised dance before Christmas, +to the last set ball in the warm April weather after Easter--it may be +argued that they did not dislike each other's society. In case the +afternoon should seem dull, his Excellency had engaged the services of +Signor Strillone, the singer. From time to time he struck a few chords +upon the grand piano, and gave forth a song of his own composition in +loud and passionate tones, varied with, very sudden effects of extreme +pianissimo, which occasionally surprised some one who was trying to make +his conversation heard above the music. + +There was a little knot of people standing about the door of the great +drawing-room. Some of them were watching their opportunity to slip away +unperceived; others had just arrived, and were making a survey of the +scene to ascertain the exact position of their Excellencies, and of the +persons they most desired to avoid, before coming forward. Suddenly, just +as Signor Strillone had reached a high note and was preparing to bellow +upon it before letting his voice die away to a pathetic falsetto, the +crowd at the door parted a little. A lady entered the room alone, and +stood out before the rest, pausing till the singer should have passed the +climax of his song, before she proceeded upon her way. She was a very +striking woman; every one knew who she was, every one looked towards her, +and the little murmur that went round the room was due to her entrance +rather than to Signor Strillone's high note. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente stood still, and quietly looked about her. A +minister, two secretaries, and three or four princes sprang towards her, +each with a chair in hand; but she declined each offer, nodding to one, +thanking another by name, and exchanging a few words with a third. She +would not sit down; she had not yet spoken to the ambassadress. + +Two men followed her closely as she crossed the room when the song was +finished. One was a fair man of five-and-thirty, rather stout, and +elaborately dressed. He trod softly and carried his hat behind him, while +he leaned a little forward in his walk. There was something unpleasant +about his face, caused perhaps by his pale complexion and almost +colourless moustache; his blue eyes were small and near together, and had +a watery, undecided look; his thin fair hair was parted in the middle +over his low forehead; there was a scornful look about his mouth, though +half concealed by the moustache; and his chin retreated rather abruptly +from his lower lip. On the other hand, he was dressed with extreme care, +and his manner showed no small confidence in himself as he pushed +forwards, keeping as close as he could to the Duchessa. He had the air +of being thoroughly at home in his surroundings. + +Ugo del Ferice was indeed rarely disconcerted, and his self-reliance was +most probably one chief cause of his success. He was a man who performed +the daily miracle of creating everything for himself out of nothing. His +father had barely been considered a member of the lower nobility, +although he always called himself "dei conti del Ferice"--of the family +of the counts of his name; but where or when the Conti del Ferice had +lived, was a question he never was able to answer satisfactorily. He had +made a little money, and had squandered most of it before he died, +leaving the small remainder to his only son, who had spent every scudo of +it in the first year. But to make up for the exiguity of his financial +resources, Ugo had from his youth obtained social success. He had begun +life by boldly calling himself "Il conte del Ferice." No one had ever +thought it worth while to dispute him the title; and as he had hitherto +not succeeded in conferring it upon any dowered damsel, the question of +his countship was left unchallenged. He had made many acquaintances in +the college where he had been educated; for his father had paid for +his schooling in the Collegio dei Nobili, and that in itself was a +passport--for as the lad grew to the young man, he zealously cultivated +the society of his old school-fellows, and by wisely avoiding all other +company, acquired a right to be considered one of themselves. He was very +civil and obliging in his youth, and had in that way acquired a certain +reputation for being indispensable, which had stood him in good stead. +No one asked whether he had paid his tailor's bill; or whether upon +certain conditions, his tailor supplied him with raiment gratis. He was +always elaborately dressed, he was always ready to take a hand at cards, +and he was always invited to every party in the season. He had cultivated +with success the science of amusing, and people asked him to dinner in +the winter, and to their country houses in the summer. He had been seen +in Paris, and was often seen at Monte Carlo; but his real home and +hunting-ground was Rome, where he knew every one and every one knew him. +He had made one or two fruitless attempts to marry young women of +American extraction and large fortune; he had not succeeded in satisfying +the paternal mind in regard to guarantees, and had consequently been +worsted in his endeavours. Last summer, however, it appeared that he had +been favoured with an increase of fortune. He gave out that an old uncle +of his, who had settled in the south of Italy, had died, leaving him a +modest competence; and while assuming a narrow band of _crêpe_ upon his +hat, he had adopted also a somewhat more luxurious mode of living. +Instead of going about on foot or in cabs, he kept a very small coupé, +with a very small horse and a diminutive coachman: the whole turn-out was +very quiet in appearance, but very serviceable withal. Ugo sometimes wore +too much jewellery; but his bad taste, if so it could be called, did not +extend to the modest equipage. People accepted the story of the deceased +uncle, and congratulated Ugo, whose pale face assumed on such occasions +a somewhat deprecating smile. "A few scudi," he would answer--"a very +small competence; but what would you have? I need so little--it is enough +for me." Nevertheless people who knew him well warned him that he was +growing stout. + +The other man who followed the Duchessa d'Astrardente across the +drawing-room was of a different type. Don Giovanni Saracinesca was +neither very tall nor remarkably handsome, though in the matter of his +beauty opinion varied greatly. He was very dark--almost as dark for a +man as the Duchessa was for a woman. He was strongly built, but very +lean, and his features stood out in bold and sharp relief from the +setting of his short black hair and pointed beard. His nose was perhaps a +little large for his face, and the unusual brilliancy of his eyes gave +him an expression of restless energy; there was something noble in the +shaping of his high square forehead and in the turn of his sinewy throat. +His hands were broad and brown, but nervous and well knit, with straight +long fingers and squarely cut nails. Many women said Don Giovanni was +the handsomest man in Rome; others said he was too dark or too thin, and +that his face was hard and his features ugly. There was a great +difference of opinion in regard to his appearance. Don Giovanni was not +married, but there were few marriageable women in Rome who would not have +been overjoyed to become his wife. But hitherto he had hesitated--or, to +speak more accurately, he had not hesitated at all in his celibacy. His +conduct in refusing to marry had elicited much criticism, little of which +had reached his ears. He cared not much for what his friends said to him, +and not at all for the opinion of the world at large, in consequence of +which state of mind people often said he was selfish--a view taken +extensively by elderly princesses with unmarried daughters, and even by +Don Giovanni's father and only near relation, the old Prince Saracinesca, +who earnestly desired to see his name perpetuated. Indeed Giovanni would +have made a good husband, for he was honest and constant by nature, +courteous by disposition, and considerate by habit and experience. His +reputation for wildness rested rather upon his taste for dangerous +amusements than upon such scandalous adventures as made up the lives of +many of his contemporaries. But to all matrimonial proposals he answered +that he was barely thirty years of age, that he had plenty of time before +him, that he had not yet seen the woman whom he would be willing to +marry, and that he intended to please himself. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente made her speech to her hostess and passed on, +still followed by the two men; but they now approached her, one on each +side, and endeavoured to engage her attention. Apparently she intended to +be impartial, for she sat down in the middle one of three chairs, and +motioned to her two companions to seat themselves also, which they +immediately did, whereby they became for the moment the two most +important men in the room. + +Corona d'Astrardente was a very dark woman. In all the Southern land +there were no eyes so black as hers, no cheeks of such a warm dark-olive +tint, no tresses of such raven hue. But if she was not fair, she was very +beautiful; there was a delicacy in her regular features that artists said +was matchless; her mouth, not small, but generous and nobly cut, showed +perhaps more strength, more even determination, than most men like to see +in women's faces; but in the exquisitely moulded nostrils there lurked +much sensitiveness and the expression of much courage; and the level brow +and straight-cut nose were in their clearness as an earnest of the noble +thoughts that were within, and that so often spoke from the depths of her +splendid eyes. She was not a scornful beauty, though her face could +express scorn well enough. Where another woman would have shown disdain, +she needed but to look grave, and her silence did the rest. She wielded +magnificent weapons, and wielded them nobly, as she did all things. She +needed all her strength, too, for her position from the first was not +easy. She had few troubles, but they were great ones, and she bore +them bravely. + +One may well ask why Corona del Carmine had married the old man who was +her husband--the broken-down and worn-out dandy of sixty, whose career +was so well known, and whose doings had been as scandalous as his ancient +name was famous in the history of his country. Her marriage was in itself +almost a tragedy. It matters little to know how it came about; she +accepted Astrardente with his dukedom, his great wealth, and his evil +past, on the day when she left the convent where she had been educated; +she did it to save her father from ruin, almost from starvation; she + was seventeen, years of age; she was told that the world was bad, and +she resolved to begin her life by a heroic sacrifice; she took the +step heroically, and no human being had ever heard her complain. Five +years had elapsed since then, and her father--for whom she had given all +she had, herself, her beauty, her brave heart, and her hopes of +happiness--her old father, whom she so loved, was dead, the last of his +race, saving only this beautiful but childless daughter. What she +suffered now--whether she suffered at all--no man knew. There had been a +wild burst of enthusiasm when she appeared first in society, a universal +cry that it was a sin and a shame. But the cynics who had said she would +console herself had been obliged to own their worldly wisdom at fault; +the men of all sorts who had lost their hearts to her were ignominiously +driven in course of time to find them again elsewhere. Amid all the +excitement of the first two years of her life in the world, Corona had +moved calmly upon her way, wrapped in the perfect dignity of her +character; and the old Duca d'Astrardente had smiled and played with the +curled locks of his wonderful wig, and had told every one that his wife +was the one woman in the universe who was above suspicion. People had +laughed incredulously at first; but as time wore on they held their +peace, tacitly acknowledging that the aged fop was right as usual, but +swearing in their hearts that it was the shame of shames to see the +noblest woman in their midst tied to such a wretched remnant of +dissipated humanity as the Duca d'Astrardente. Corona went everywhere, +like other people; she received in her own house a vast number of +acquaintances; there were a few friends who came and went much as they +pleased, and some of them were young; but there was never a breath of +scandal breathed about the Duchessa. She was indeed above suspicion. + +She sat now between two men who were evidently anxious to please her. The +position was not new; she was, as usual, to talk to both, and yet to show +no preference for either. And yet she had a preference, and in her heart +she knew it was a strong one. It was by no means indifferent to her which +of those two men left her side and which remained. She was above +suspicion--yes, above the suspicion of any human being besides herself, +as she had been for five long years. She knew that had her husband +entered the room and passed that way, he would have nodded to Giovanni +Saracinesca as carelessly as though Giovanni had been his wife's +brother--as carelessly as he would have noticed Ugo del Ferice upon her +other side. But in her own heart she knew that there was but one face in +all Rome she loved to see, but one voice she loved, and dreaded too, for +it had the power to make her life seem unreal, till she wondered how long +it would last, and whether there would ever be any change. The difference +between Giovanni and other men had always been apparent. Others would sit +beside her and make conversation, and then occasionally would make +speeches she did not care to hear, would talk to her of love--some +praising it as the only thing worth living for, some with affected +cynicism scoffing at it as the greatest of unrealities, contradicting +themselves a moment later in some passionate declaration to herself. When +they were foolish, she laughed at them; when they went too far, she +quietly rose and left them. Such experiences had grown rare of late, for +she had earned the reputation of being cold and unmoved, and that +protected her. But Giovanni had never talked like the rest of them. He +never mentioned the old, worn subjects that the others harped upon. She +would not have found it easy to say what he talked about, for he talked +indifferently about many subjects. She was not sure whether he spent more +time with her when in society than with other women; she reflected that +he was not so brilliant as many men she knew, not so talkative as the +majority of men she met; she knew only--and it was the thing she most +bitterly reproached herself with--that she preferred his face above all +other faces, and his voice beyond all voices. It never entered her head +to think that she loved him; it was bad enough in her simple creed that +there should be any man whom she would rather see than not, and whom she +missed when he did not approach her. She was a very strong and loyal +woman, who had sacrificed herself to a man who knew the world very +thoroughly, who in the thoroughness of his knowledge was able to see that +the world is not all bad, and who, in spite of all his evil deeds, was +proud of his wife's loyalty. Astrardente had made a bargain when he +married Corona; but he was a wise man in his generation, and he knew and +valued her when he had got her. He knew the precise dangers to which she +was exposed, and he was not so cruel as to expose her to them willingly. +He had at first watched keenly the effect produced upon her by conversing +with men of all sorts in the world, and among others he had noticed +Giovanni; but he had come to the conclusion that his wife was equal to +any situation in which she might be placed. Moreover, Giovanni was not an +_habitué_ at the Palazzo Astrardente, and showed none of the usual signs +of anxiety to please the Duchessa. + +From the time when Corona began to notice her own predilection for +Saracinesca, she had been angry with herself for it, and she tried to +avoid him; at all events, she gave him no idea that she liked him +especially. Her husband, who at first had delivered many lectures on the +subject of behaviour in the world, had especially warned her against +showing any marked coldness to a man she wished to shun. "Men," said he, +"are accustomed to that; they regard it as the first indication that a +woman is really interested; when you want to get rid of a man, treat him +systematically as you treat everybody, and he will be wounded at your +indifference and go away." But Giovanni did not go, and Corona began to +wonder whether she ought not to do something to break the interest she +felt in him. + +At the present moment she wanted a cup of tea. She would have liked to +send Ugo del Ferice for it; she did what she thought least pleasant to +herself, and she sent Giovanni. The servants who were serving the +refreshments had all left the room, and Saracinesca went in pursuit of +them. As soon as he was gone Del Ferice spoke. His voice was soft, and +had an insinuating tone in it. + +"They are saying that Don Giovanni is to be married," he remarked, +watching the Duchessa from the corners of his eyes as he indifferently +delivered himself of his news. + +The Duchessa was too dark a woman to show emotion easily. Perhaps she did +not believe the story; her eyes fixed themselves on some distant object +in the room, as though she were intensely interested in something she +saw, and she paused before she answered. + +"That is news indeed, if it is true. And whom is he going to marry?" + +"Donna Tullia Mayer, the widow of the financier. She is immensely rich, +and is some kind of cousin of the Saracinesca." + +"How strange!" exclaimed Corona. "I was just looking at her. Is not that +she over there, with the green feathers?" + +"Yes," answered Del Ferice, looking in the direction the Duchessa +indicated. "That is she. One may know her at a vast distance by her +dress. But it is not all settled yet." + +"Then one cannot congratulate Don Giovanni to-day?" asked the Duchessa, +facing her interlocutor rather suddenly. + +"No," he answered; "it is perhaps better not to speak to him about it." + +"It is as well that you warned me, for I would certainly have spoken." + +"I do not imagine that Saracinesca likes to talk of his affairs of the +heart," said Del Ferice, with considerable gravity. "But here he comes. I +had hoped he would have taken even longer to get that cup of tea." + +"It was long enough for you to tell your news," answered Corona quietly, +as Don Giovanni came up. + +"What is the news?" asked he, as he sat down beside her. + +"Only an engagement that is not yet announced," answered the Duchessa. +"Del Ferice has the secret; perhaps he will tell you." + +Giovanni glanced across her at the fair pale man, whose fat face, +however, expressed nothing. Seeing he was not enlightened, Saracinesca +civilly turned the subject. + +"Are you going to the meet to-morrow, Duchessa?" he asked. + +"That depends upon the weather and upon the Duke," she answered. "Are you +going to follow?" + +"Of course. What a pity it is that you do not ride!" + +"It seems such an unnatural thing to see a woman hunting," remarked Del +Ferice, who remembered to have heard the Duchessa say something of the +kind, and was consequently sure that she would agree with him. + +"You do not ride yourself," said Don Giovanni, shortly. "That is the +reason you do not approve of it for ladies." + +"I am not rich enough to hunt," said Ugo, modestly. "Besides, the other +reason is a good one; for when ladies hunt I am deprived of their +society." + +The Duchessa laughed slightly. She never felt less like laughing in her +life, and yet it was necessary to encourage the conversation. Giovanni +did not abandon the subject. + +"It will be a beautiful meet," he said. "Many people are going out for +the first time this year. There is a man here who has brought his horses +from England. I forget his name--a rich Englishman." + +"I have met him," said Del Ferice, who was proud of knowing everybody. +"He is a type--enormously rich--a lord--I cannot pronounce his name--not +married either. He will make a sensation in society. He won races in +Paris last year, and they say he will enter one of his hunters for the +steeplechases here at Easter." + +"That is a great inducement to go to the meet, to see this Englishman," +said the Duchessa rather wearily, as she leaned back in her chair. +Giovanni was silent, but showed no intention of going. Del Ferice, with +an equal determination to stay, chattered vivaciously. + +"Don Giovanni is quite right," he continued. "Every one is going. There +will be two or three drags. Madame Mayer has induced Valdarno to have out +his four-in-hand, and to take her and a large party." + +The Duchessa did not hear the remainder of Del Ferice's speech, for at +the mention of Donna Tullia--now commonly called Madame Mayer--she +instinctively turned and looked at Giovanni. He, too, had caught the +name, though he was not listening in the least to Ugo's chatter; and as +he met Corona's eyes he moved uneasily, as much as to say he wished the +fellow would stop talking. A moment later Del Ferice rose from his seat; +he had seen Donna Tullia passing near, and thought the opportunity +favourable for obtaining an invitation to join the party on the drag. +With a murmured excuse which Corona did not hear, he went in pursuit of +his game. + +"I thought he was never going," said Giovanni, moodily. He was not in the +habit of posing as the rival of any one who happened to be talking to the +Duchessa. He had never said anything of the kind before, and Corona +experienced a new sensation, not altogether unpleasant. She looked at him +in some surprise. + +"Do you not like Del Ferice?" she inquired, gravely. + +"Do you like him yourself?" he asked in reply. + +"What a question! Why should I like or dislike any one?" There was +perhaps the smallest shade of bitterness in her voice as she asked the +question she had so often asked herself. Why should she like Giovanni +Saracinesca, for instance? + +"I do not know what the world would be like if we had no likes and +dislikes," said Giovanni, suddenly. "It would be a poor place; perhaps it +is only a poor place at best. I merely wondered whether Del Ferice amused +you as he amuses everybody." + +"Well then, frankly, he has not amused me to-day," answered Corona, with +a smile. + +"Then you are glad he is gone?" + +"I do not regret it." + +"Duchessa," said Giovanni, suddenly changing his position, "I am glad he +is gone, because I want to ask you a question. Do I know you well enough +to ask you a question?" + +"It depends--" Corona felt the blood rise suddenly to her dark forehead. +Her hands burned intensely in her gloves. The anticipation of something +she had never heard made her heart beat uncontrollably in her breast. + +"It is only about myself," continued Giovanni, in low tones. He had seen +the blush, so rare a sight that there was not another man in Rome who had +seen it. He had not time to think what it meant. "It is only about +myself," he went on. "My father wants me to marry; he insists that I +should marry Donna Tullia--Madame Mayer." + +"Well?" asked Corona. She shivered; a moment before, she had been +oppressed with the heat. Her monosyllabic question was low and +indistinct. She wondered whether Giovanni could hear the beatings of her +heart, so slow, so loud they almost deafened her. + +"Simply this. Do you advise me to marry her?" + +"Why do you ask me, of all people?" asked Corona, faintly. + +"I would like to have your advice," said Giovanni, twisting his brown +hands together and fixing his bright eyes upon her face. + +"She is young yet. She is handsome--she is fabulously rich. Why should +you not marry her? Would she make you happy?" + +"Happy? Happy with her? No indeed. Do you think life would be bearable +with such a woman?" + +"I do not know. Many men would marry her if they could--" + +"Then you think I should?" asked Giovanni. Corona hesitated; she could +not understand why she should care, and yet she was conscious that there +had been no such struggle in her life since the day she had blindly +resolved to sacrifice herself to her father's wishes in accepting +Astrardente. Still there could be no doubt what she should say: how could +she advise any one to marry without the prospect of the happiness she had +never had? + +"Will you not give me your counsel?" repeated Saracinesca. He had grown +very pale, and spoke with such earnestness that Corona hesitated no +longer. + +"I would certainly advise you to think no more about it, if you are sure +that you cannot be happy with her." + +Giovanni drew a long breath, the blood returned to his face, and his +hands unlocked themselves. + +"I will think no more about it," he said. "Heaven bless you for your +advice, Duchessa!" + +"Heaven grant I have advised you well!" said Corona, almost inaudibly. +"How cold this house is! Will you put down my cup of tea? Let us go near +the fire; Strillone is going to sing again." + +"I would like him to sing a 'Nune dimittis, Domine,' for me," murmured +Giovanni, whose eyes were filled with a strange light. + +Half an hour later Corona d'Astrardente went down the steps of the +Embassy wrapped in her furs and preceded by her footman. As she reached +the bottom Giovanni Saracinesca came swiftly down and joined her as +her carriage drove up out of the dark courtyard. The footman opened the +door, but Giovanni put out his hand to help Corona to mount the step. She +laid her small gloved fingers upon the sleeve of his overcoat, and as she +sprang lightly in she thought his arm trembled. + +"Good night, Duchessa; I am very grateful to you," he said. + +"Good night; why should you be grateful?" she asked, almost sadly. + +Giovanni did not answer, but stood hat in hand as the great carriage +rolled out under the arch. Then he buttoned his greatcoat, and went out +alone into the dark and muddy streets. The rain had ceased, but +everything was wet, and the broad pavements gleamed under the uncertain +light of the flickering gas-lamps. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The palace of the Saracinesca is in an ancient quarter of Rome, far +removed from the broad white streets of mushroom dwelling-houses and +machine-laid macadam; far from the foreigners' region, the varnish of the +fashionable shops, the whirl of brilliant equipages, and the scream of +the newsvendor. The vast irregular buildings are built around three +courtyards, and face on all sides upon narrow streets. The first sixteen +feet, up to the heavily ironed windows of the lower storey, consist of +great blocks of stone, worn at the corners and scored along their length +by the battering of ages, by the heavy carts that from time immemorial +have found the way too narrow and have ground their iron axles against +the massive masonry. Of the three enormous arched gates that give access +to the interior from different sides, one is closed by an iron grating, +another by huge doors studded with iron bolts, and the third alone is +usually open as an entrance. A tall old porter used to stand there in a +long livery-coat and a cocked-hat; on holidays he appeared in the +traditional garb of the Parisian "Suisse," magnificent in silk stockings +and a heavily laced coat of dark green, leaning upon his tall mace--a +constant object of wonder to the small boys of the quarter. He trimmed +his white beard in imitation of his master's--broad and square--and his +words were few and to the point. + +No one was ever at home in the Palazzo Saracinesca in those days; there +were no ladies in the house; it was a man's establishment, and there was +something severely masculine in the air of the gloomy courtyards +surrounded by dark archways, where not a single plant or bit of colour +relieved the ancient stone. The pavement was clean and well kept, a new +flagstone here and there showing that some care was bestowed upon +maintaining it in good repair; but for any decoration there was to be +found in the courts, the place might have been a fortress, as indeed it +once was. The owners, father and son, lived in their ancestral home in a +sort of solemn magnificence that savoured of feudal times. Giovanni was +the only son of five-and-twenty years of wedlock. His mother had been +older than his father, and had now been dead some time. She had been a +stern dark woman, and had lent no feminine touch of grace to the palace +while she lived in it, her melancholic temper rather rejoicing in the +sepulchral gloom that hung over the house. The Saracinesca had always +been a manly race, preferring strength to beauty, and the reality of +power to the amenities of comfort. + +Giovanni walked home from the afternoon reception at the Embassy. His +temper seemed to crave the bleak wet air of the cold streets, and he did +not hurry himself. He intended to dine at home that evening, and he +anticipated some kind of disagreement with his father. The two men were +too much alike not to be congenial, but too combative by nature to care +for eternal peace. On the present occasion it was likely that there would +be a struggle, for Giovanni had made up his mind not to marry Madame +Mayer, and his father was equally determined that he should marry her at +once: both were singularly strong men, singularly tenacious of their +opinions. + +At precisely seven o'clock father and son entered from different doors +the small sitting-room in which they generally met, and they had no +sooner entered than dinner was announced. Two words might suffice for the +description of old Prince Saracinesca--he was an elder edition of his +son. Sixty years of life had not bent his strong frame nor dimmed the +brilliancy of his eyes, but his hair and beard were snowy white. He was +broader in the shoulder and deeper in the chest than Giovanni, but of +the same height, and well proportioned still, with little tendency to +stoutness. He was to all appearance precisely what his son would be at +his age--keen and vigorous, the stern lines of his face grown deeper, and +his very dark eyes and complexion made more noticeable by the dazzling +whiteness of his hair and broad square beard--the same type in a +different stage of development. + +The dinner was served with a certain old-fashioned magnificence which has +grown rare in Rome. There was old plate and old china upon the table, old +cut glass of the diamond pattern, and an old butler who moved noiselessly +about in the performance of the functions he had exercised in the same +room for forty years, and which his father had exercised there before +him. Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni sat on opposite sides of the +round table, now and then exchanging a few words. + +"I was caught in the rain this afternoon," remarked the Prince. + +"I hope you will not have a cold," replied his son, civilly. "Why do you +walk in such weather?" + +"And you--why do you walk?" retorted his father. "Are you less likely to +take cold than I am? I walk because I have always walked." + +"That is an excellent reason. I walk because I do not keep a carriage." + +"Why do not you keep one if you wish to?" asked the Prince. + +"I will do as you wish. I will buy an equipage to-morrow, lest I should +again walk in the rain and catch cold. Where did you see me on foot?" + +"In the Orso, half an hour ago. Why do you talk about my wishes in that +absurd way?" + +"Since you say it is absurd, I will not do so," said Giovanni, quietly. + +"You are always contradicting me," said the Prince. "Some wine, +Pasquale." + +"Contradicting you?" repeated Giovanni. "Nothing could be further from my +intentions." + +The old Prince slowly sipped a glass of wine before he answered. + +"Why do not you set up an establishment for yourself and live like a +gentleman?" he asked at length. "You are rich--why do you go about on +foot and dine in cafés?" + +"Do I ever dine at a café when you are dining alone?" + +"You have got used to living in restaurants in Paris," retorted his +father. "It is a bad habit. What was the use of your mother leaving you a +fortune, unless you will live in a proper fashion?" + +"I understand you very well," answered Giovanni, his dark eyes beginning +to gleam. "You know all that is a pretence. I am the most home-staying +man of your acquaintance. It is a mere pretence. You are going to talk +about my marriage again." + +"And has any one a more natural right to insist upon your marriage than I +have?" asked the elder man, hotly. "Leave the wine on the table, +Pasquale--and the fruit--here. Give Don Giovanni his cheese. I will ring +for the coffee--leave us." The butler and the footman left the room. "Has +any one a more natural right, I ask?" repeated the Prince when they were +alone. + +"No one but myself, I should say," answered Giovanni, bitterly. + +"Yourself--yourself indeed! What have you to say about it? This a family +matter. Would you have Saracinesca sold, to be distributed piecemeal +among a herd of dogs of starving relations you never heard of, merely +because you are such a vagabond, such a Bohemian, such a break-neck, +crazy good-for-nothing, that you will not take the trouble to accept one +of all the women who rush into your arms?" + +"Your affectionate manner of speaking of your relatives is only surpassed +by your good taste in describing the probabilities of my marriage," +remarked Giovanni, scornfully. + +"And you say you never contradict me!" exclaimed the Prince, angrily. + +"If this is an instance, I can safely say so. Comment is not +contradiction." + +"Do you mean to say you have not repeatedly refused to marry?" inquired +old Saracinesca. + +"That would be untrue. I have refused, I do refuse, and I will refuse, +just so long as it pleases me." + +"That is definite, at all events. You will go on refusing until you have +broken your silly neck in imitating Englishmen, and then--good night +Saracinesca! The last of the family will have come to a noble end!" + +"If the only use of my existence is to become the father of heirs to your +titles, I do not care to enjoy them myself." + +"You will not enjoy them till my death, at all events. Did you ever +reflect that I might marry again?" + +"If you please to do so, do not hesitate on my account. Madame Mayer will +accept you as soon as me. Marry by all means, and may you have a numerous +progeny; and may they all marry in their turn, the day they are twenty. I +wish you joy." + +"You are intolerable, Giovanni. I should think you would have more +respect for Donna Tullia--" + +"Than to call her Madame Mayer," interrupted Giovanni. + +"Than to suggest that she cares for nothing but a title and a fortune--" + +"You showed much respect to her a moment ago, when you suggested that she +was ready to rush into my arms." + +"I! I never said such a thing. I said that any woman--" + +"Including Madame Mayer, of course," interrupted Giovanni again. + +"Can you not let me speak?" roared the Prince. Giovanni shrugged his +shoulders a little, poured out a glass of wine, and helped himself to +cheese, but said nothing. Seeing that his son said nothing, old +Saracinesca was silent too; he was so angry that he had lost the thread +of his ideas. Perhaps Giovanni regretted the quarrelsome tone he had +taken, for he presently spoke to his father in a more conciliatory tone. + +"Let us be just," he said. "I will listen to you, and I shall be glad if +you will listen to me. In the first place, when I think of marriage I +represent something to myself by the term--" + +"I hope so," growled the old man. + +"I look upon marriage as an important step in a man's life. I am not so +old as to make my marriage an immediate necessity, nor so young as to be +able wholly to disregard it. I do not desire to be hurried; for when I +make up my mind, I intend to make a choice which, if it does not ensure +happiness, will at least ensure peace. I do not wish to marry Madame +Mayer. She is young, handsome, rich--" + +"Very," ejaculated the Prince. + +"Very. I also am young and rich, if not handsome." + +"Certainly not handsome," said his father, who was nursing his wrath, and +meanwhile spoke calmly. "You are the image of me." + +"I am proud of the likeness," said Giovanni, gravely. "But to return to +Madame Mayer. She is a widow--" + +"Is that her fault?" inquired his father irrelevantly, his anger rising +again. + +"I trust not," said Giovanni, with a smile. "I trust she did not murder +old Mayer. Nevertheless she is a widow. That is a strong objection. Have +any of my ancestors married widows?" + +"You show your ignorance at every turn," said the old Prince, with a +scornful laugh. "Leone Saracinesca married the widow of the Elector of +Limburger-Stinkenstein in 1581." + +"It is probably the German blood in our veins which gives you your +taste for argument," remarked Giovanni. "Because three hundred years +ago an ancestor married a widow, I am to marry one now. Wait--do not be +angry--there are other reasons why I do not care for Madame Mayer. She is +too gay for me--too fond of the world." + +The Prince burst into aloud ironical laugh. His white hair and beard +bristled about his dark face, and he showed all his teeth, strong and +white still. + +"That is magnificent!" he cried; "it is superb, splendid, a piece of +unpurchasable humour! Giovanni Saracinesca has found a woman who is too +gay for him! Heaven be praised! We know his taste at last. We will give +him a nun, a miracle of all the virtues, a little girl out of a convent, +vowed to a life of sacrifice and self-renunciation. That will please +him--he will be a model happy husband." + +"I do not understand this extraordinary outburst," answered Giovanni, +with cold scorn. "Your mirth is amazing, but I fail to understand its +source." + +His father ceased laughing, and looked at him curiously, his heavy brows +bending with the intenseness of his gaze. Giovanni returned the look, and +it seemed as though those two strong angry men were fencing across the +table with their fiery glances. The son was the first to speak. + +"Do you mean to imply that I am not the kind of man to be allowed to +marry a young girl?" he asked, not taking his eyes from his father. + +"Look you, boy," returned the Prince, "I will have no more nonsense. I +insist upon this match, as I have told you before. It is the most +suitable one that I can find for you; and instead of being grateful, you +turn upon me and refuse to do your duty. Donna Tullia is twenty-three +years of age. She is brilliant, rich. There is nothing against her. She +is a distant cousin--" + +"One of the flock of vultures you so tenderly referred to," remarked +Giovanni. + +"Silence!" cried old Saracinesca, striking his heavy hand upon the table +so that the glasses shook together. "I will be heard; and what is more, I +will be obeyed. Donna Tullia is a relation. The union of two such +fortunes will be of immense advantage to your children. There is +everything in favour of the match--nothing against it. You shall marry +her a month from to-day. I will give you the title of Sant' Ilario, with +the estate outright into the bargain, and the palace in the Corso to +live in, if you do not care to live here." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Giovanni, choking down his anger. + +"If you refuse, you shall leave my house a month from to-day," said the +Prince, savagely. + +"Whereby I shall be fulfilling your previous commands, in setting up an +establishment for myself and living like a gentleman," returned Giovanni, +with a bitter laugh. "It is nothing to me--if you turn me out. I am rich, +as you justly observed." + +"You will have the more leisure to lead the life you like best," retorted +the Prince; "to hang about in society, to go where you please, to make +love to--" the old man stopped a moment. His son was watching him +fiercely, his hand clenched upon the table, his face as white as death. + +"To whom?" he asked with a terrible effort to be calm. + +"Do you think I am afraid of you? Do you think your father is less strong +or less fierce than you? To whom?" cried the angry old man, his whole +pent-up fury bursting out as he rose suddenly to his feet. "To whom but +to Corona d'Astrardente--to whom else should you make love?--wasting your +youth and life upon a mad passion! All Rome says it--I will say it too!" + +"You have said it indeed," answered Giovanni, in a very low voice. He +remained seated at the table, not moving a muscle, his face as the face +of the dead. "You have said it, and in insulting that lady you have said +a thing not worthy for one of our blood to say. God help me to remember +that you are my father," he added, trembling suddenly. + +"Hold!" said the Prince, who, with all his ambition for his son, and his +hasty temper, was an honest gentleman. "I never insulted, her--she is +above suspicion. It is you who are wasting your life in a hopeless +passion for her. See, I speak calmly--" + +"What does 'all Rome say'?" asked Giovanni, interrupting him. He was +still deadly pale, but his hand was unclenched, and as he spoke he rested +his head upon it, looking down at the tablecloth. + +"Everybody says that you are in love with the Astrardente, and that her +husband is beginning to notice it." + +"It is enough, sir," said Giovanni, in low tones. "I will consider this +marriage you propose. Give me until the spring to decide." + +"That is a long time," remarked the old Prince, resuming his seat and +beginning to peel an orange, as though nothing had happened. He was far +from being calm, but his son's sudden change of manner had disarmed his +anger. He was passionate and impetuous, thoughtless in his language, and +tyrannical in his determination; but he loved Giovanni dearly for all +that. + +"I do not think it long," said Giovanni, thoughtfully. "I give you my +word that I will seriously consider the marriage. If it is possible for +me to marry Donna Tullia, I will obey you, and I will give you my answer +before Easter-day. I cannot do more." + +"I sincerely hope you will take my advice," answered Saracinesca, now +entirely pacified. "If you cannot make up your mind to the match, I may +be able to find something else. There is Bianca Valdarno--she will have a +quarter of the estate." + +"She is so very ugly," objected Giovanni, quietly. He was still much +agitated, but he answered his father mechanically. + +"That is true--they are all ugly, those Valdarni. Besides, they are of +Tuscan origin. What do you say to the little Rocca girl? She has great +_chic_; she was brought up in England. She is pretty enough." + +"I am afraid she would be extravagant." + +"She could spend her own money then; it will be sufficient." + +"It is better to be on the safe side," said Giovanni. Suddenly he changed +his position, and again looked at his father. "I am sorry we always +quarrel about this question," he said. "I do not really want to marry, +but I wish to oblige you, and I will try. Why do we always come to words +over it?" + +"I am sure I do not know," said the Prince, with a pleasant smile. "I +have such a diabolical temper, I suppose." + +"And I have inherited it," answered Don Giovanni, with a laugh that was +meant to be cheerful. "But I quite see your point of view. I suppose I +ought to settle in life by this time." + +"Seriously, I think so, my son. Here is to your future happiness," said +the old gentleman, touching his glass with his lips. + +"And here is to our future peace," returned Giovanni, also drinking. + +"We never really quarrel, Giovanni, do we?" said his father. Every trace +of anger had vanished. His strong face beamed with an affectionate smile +that was like the sun after a thunderstorm. + +"No, indeed," answered his son, cordially. "We cannot afford to quarrel; +there are only two of us left." + +"That is what I always say," assented the Prince, beginning to eat the +orange he had carefully peeled since he had grown calm. "If two men like +you and me, my boy, can thoroughly agree, there is nothing we cannot +accomplish; whereas if we go against each other--" + +"Justitia non fit, coelum vero ruet," suggested Giovanni, in parody of +the proverb. + +"I am a little rusty in my Latin, Giovanni," said the old gentleman. + +"Heaven is turned upside down, but justice is not done." + +"No; one is never just when one is angry. But storms clear the sky, as +they say up at Saracinesca." + +"By the bye, have you heard whether that question of the timber has been +settled yet?" asked Giovanni. + +"Of course--I had forgotten. I will tell you all about it," answered his +father, cheerfully. So they chatted peacefully for another half-hour; and +no one would have thought, in looking at them, that such fierce passions +had been roused, nor that one of them felt as though his death-warrant +had been signed. When they separated, Giovanni went to his own rooms, and +locked himself in. + +He had assumed an air of calmness which was not real before he left his +father. In truth he was violently agitated. He was as fiery as his +father, but his passions were of greater strength and of longer duration; +for his mother had been a Spaniard, and something of the melancholy of +her country had entered into his soul, giving depth and durability to the +hot Italian character he inherited from his father. Nor did the latter +suspect the cause of his son's sudden change of tone in regard to the +marriage. It was precisely the difference in temperament which made +Giovanni incomprehensible to the old Prince. + +Giovanni had realised for more than a year past that he loved Corona +d'Astrardente. Contrary to the custom of young men in his position, he +determined from the first that he would never let her know it; and herein +lay the key to all his actions. He had, as he thought, made a point of +behaving to her on all occasions as he behaved to the other women he met +in the world, and he believed that he had skilfully concealed his passion +from the world and from the woman he loved. He had acted on all occasions +with a circumspection which was not natural to him, and for which he +undeniably deserved great credit. It had been a year of constant +struggles, constant efforts at self-control, constant determination that, +if possible, he would overcome his instincts. It was true that, when +occasion offered, he had permitted himself the pleasure of talking to +Corona d'Astrardente--talking, he well knew, upon the most general +subjects, but finding at each interview some new point of sympathy. +Never, he could honestly say, had he approached in that time the subject +of love, nor even the equally dangerous topic of friendship, the +discussion of which leads to so many ruinous experiments. He had never by +look or word sought to interest the dark Duchessa in his doings nor in +himself; he had talked of books, of politics, of social questions, but +never of himself nor of herself. He had faithfully kept the promise he +had made in his heart, that since he was so unfortunate as to love the +wife of another--a woman of such nobility that even in Rome no breath had +been breathed against her--he would keep his unfortunate passion to +himself. Astrardente was old, almost decrepit, in spite of his +magnificent wig; Corona was but two-and-twenty years of age. If ever her +husband died, Giovanni would present himself before the world as her +suitor; meanwhile he would do nothing to injure her self-respect nor to +disturb her peace--he hardly flattered himself he could do that, for he +loved her truly--and above all, he would do nothing to compromise the +unsullied reputation she enjoyed. She might never love him; but he was +strong and patient, and would do her the only honour it was in his power +to do her, by waiting patiently. + +But Giovanni had not considered that he was the most conspicuous man in +society; that there were many who watched his movements, in hopes he +would come their way; that when he entered a room, many had noticed +that, though he never went directly to Corona's side, he always looked +first towards her, and never omitted to speak with her in the course of +an evening. Keen observers, the jays of society who hover about the +eagle's nest, had not failed to observe a look of annoyance on Giovanni's +face when he did not succeed in being alone by Corona's side for at least +a few minutes; and Del Ferice, who was a sort of news-carrier in Rome, +had now and then hinted that Giovanni was in love. People had repeated +his hints, as he intended they should, with the illuminating wit peculiar +to tale-bearers, and the story had gone abroad accordingly. True, there +was not a man in Rome bold enough to allude to the matter in Giovanni's +presence, even if any one had seen any advantage in so doing; but such +things do not remain hidden. His own father had told him in a fit of +anger, and the blow had produced its effect. + +Giovanni sat down in a deep easy-chair in his own room, and thought over +the situation. His first impulse had been to be furiously angry with his +father; but the latter having instantly explained that there was nothing +to be said against the Duchessa, Giovanni's anger against the Prince had +turned against himself. It was bitter to think that all his self-denial, +all his many and prolonged efforts to conceal his love, had been of no +avail. He cursed his folly and imprudence, while wondering how it was +possible that the story should have got abroad. He did not waver in his +determination to hide his inclinations, to destroy the impression he had +so unwillingly produced. The first means he found in his way seemed the +best. To marry Donna Tullia at once, before the story of his affection +for the Duchessa had gathered force, would, he thought, effectually shut +the mouths of the gossips. From one point of view it was a noble thought, +the determination to sacrifice himself wholly and for ever, rather than +permit his name to be mentioned ever so innocently in connection with the +woman he loved; to root out utterly his love for her by seriously +engaging his faith to another, and keeping that engagement with all the +strength of fidelity he knew himself to possess. He would save Corona +from annoyance, and her name from the scandal-mongers; and if any one +ever dared to mention the story-- + +Giovanni rose to his feet and mechanically took a fencing-foil from the +wall, as he often did for practice. If any one mentioned the story, he +thought, he had the means to silence them, quickly and for ever. His eyes +flashed suddenly at the idea of action--any action, even fighting, which +might be distantly connected with Corona. Then he tossed down the rapier +and threw himself into his chair, and sat quite still, staring at the +trophies of armour upon the wall opposite. + +He could not do it. To wrong one woman for the sake of shielding another +was not in his power. People might laugh at him and call him Quixotic, +forsooth, because he would not do like every one else and make a marriage +of convenience--of propriety. Propriety! when his heart was breaking +within him; when every fibre of his strong frame quivered with the strain +of passion; when his aching eyes saw only one face, and his ears echoed +the words she had spoken that very afternoon! Propriety indeed! Propriety +was good enough for cold-blooded dullards. Donna Tullia had done him no +harm that he should marry her for propriety's sake, and make her life +miserable for thirty, forty, fifty years. It would be propriety rather +for him to go away, to bury himself in the ends of the earth, until he +could forget Corona d'Astrardente, her splendid eyes, and her deep sweet +voice. + +He had pledged his father his word that he would consider the marriage, +and he was to give his answer before Easter. That was a long time yet. He +would consider it; and if by Eastertide he had forgotten Corona, he +would--he laughed aloud in his silent room, and the sound of his voice +startled him from his reverie. + +Forget? Did such men as he forget? Other men did. What were they made of? +They did not love such women, perhaps; that was the reason they forgot. +Any one could forget poor Donna Tullia. And yet how was it possible to +forget if one loved truly? + +Giovanni had never believed himself in love before. He had known one or +two women who had attracted him strongly; but he had soon found out that +he had no real sympathy with them, that though they amused him they had +no charm for him--most of all, that he could not imagine himself tied to +any one of them for life without conceiving the situation horrible in the +extreme. To his independent nature the idea of such ties was repugnant: +he knew himself too courteous to break through the civilities of life +with a wife he did not love; but he knew also that in marrying a woman +who was indifferent to him, he would be engaging to play a part for life +in the most fearful of all plays--the part of a man who strives to bear +bravely the galling of a chain he is too honourable to break. + +It was four o'clock in the morning when Giovanni went to bed; and even +then he slept little, for his dreams were disturbed. Once he thought he +stood upon a green lawn with a sword in his hand, and the blood upon its +point, his opponent lying at his feet. Again, he thought he was alone in +a vast drawing-room, and a dark woman came and spoke gently to him, +saying, "Marry her for my sake." He awoke with a groan. The church clocks +were striking eight, and the meet was at eleven, five miles beyond the +Porta Pia. Giovanni started up and rang for his servant. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It was a beautiful day, and half Rome turned out to see the meet, not +because it was in any way different from other meets, but because it +chanced that society had a fancy to attend it. Society is very like a +fever patient in a delirium; it is rarely accountable for its actions; it +scarcely ever knows what it is saying; and occasionally, without the +least warning or premeditation, it leaps out of bed at an early hour of +the morning and rushes frantically in pursuit of its last hallucination. +The main difference is, that whereas a man in a fever has a nurse, +society has none. + +On the present occasion every one had suddenly conceived the idea of +going to the meet, and the long road beyond the Porta Pia was dotted for +miles with equipages of every description, from the four-in-hand of +Prince Valdarno to the humble donkey-cart of the caterer who sells +messes of boiled beans, and bread and cheese, and salad to the grooms--an +institution not connected in the English mind with hunting. One after +another the vehicles rolled out along the road, past Sant' Agnese, down +the hill and across the Ponte Nomentana, and far up beyond to a place +where three roads met and there was a broad open stretch of wet, withered +grass. Here the carriages turned in and ranged themselves side by side, +as though they were pausing in the afternoon drive upon the Pincio, +instead of being five miles out upon the broad Campagna. + +To describe the mountains to southward of Rome would be an insult to +nature; to describe a meet would be an affront to civilised readers of +the English language. The one is too familiar to everybody; the pretty +crowd of men and women, dotted with pink and set off by the neutral +colour of the winter fields; the hunters of all ages, and sizes, and +breeds, led slowly up and down by the grooms; while from time to time +some rider gets into the saddle and makes himself comfortable, assures +himself of girth and stirrup, and of the proper disposal of the +sandwich-box and sherry-flask, gives a final word of instruction to his +groom, and then moves slowly off. A Roman meet is a little less +business-like than the same thing elsewhere; there is a little more +dawdling, a little more conversation when many ladies chance to have come +to see the hounds throw off; otherwise it is not different from other +meets. As for the Roman mountains, they are so totally unlike any other +hills in the world, and so extremely beautiful in their own peculiar way, +that to describe them would be an idle and a useless task, which could +only serve to exhibit the vanity of the writer and the feebleness of his +pen. + +Don Giovanni arrived early in spite of his sleepless night. He descended +from his dogcart by the roadside, instead of driving into the field, and +he took a careful survey of the carriages he saw before him. Conspicuous +in the distance he distinguished Donna Tullia Mayer standing among a +little crowd of men near Valdarno's drag. She was easily known by her +dress, as Del Ferice had remarked on the previous evening. On this +occasion she wore a costume in which the principal colours were green and +yellow, an enormous hat, with feathers in the same proportion surmounting +her head, and she carried a yellow parasol. She was a rather handsome +woman of middle height, with unnaturally blond hair, and a fairly good +complexion, which as yet she had wisely abstained from attempting to +improve by artificial means; her eyes were blue, but uncertain in their +glance--of the kind which do not inspire confidence; and her mouth was +much admired, being small and red, with full lips. She was rapid in her +movements, and she spoke in a loud voice, easily collecting people about +her wherever there were any to collect. Her conversation was not +brilliant, but it was so abundant that its noisy vivacity passed current +for cleverness; she had a remarkably keen judgment of people, and a +remarkably bad taste in her opinions of things artistic, from beauty in +nature to beauty in dress, but she maintained her point of view +obstinately, and admitted no contradiction. It was a singular +circumstance that whereas many of her attributes were distinctly vulgar, +she nevertheless had an indescribable air of good breeding, the strange +inimitable stamp of social superiority which cannot be acquired by any +known process of education. A person seeing her might be surprised at her +loud talking, amused at her eccentricities of dress, and shocked at her +bold manner, but no one would ever think of classing her anywhere save in +what calls itself "the best society." + +Among the men who stood talking to Donna Tullia was the inevitable Del +Ferice, a man of whom it might be said that he was never missed, because +he was always present. Giovanni disliked Del Ferice without being able to +define his aversion. He disliked generally men whom he suspected of +duplicity; and he had no reason for supposing that truth, looking into +her mirror, would have seen there the image of Ugo's fat pale face and +colourless moustache. But if Ugo was a liar, he must have had a good +memory, for he never got himself into trouble, and he had the reputation +of being a useful member of society, an honour to which persons of +doubtful veracity rarely attain. Giovanni, however, disliked him, and +suspected him of many things; and although he had intended to go up to +Donna Tullia, the sight of Del Ferice at her side very nearly prevented +him. He strolled leisurely down the little slope, and as he neared the +crowd, spoke to one or two acquaintances, mentally determining to avoid +Madame Mayer, and to mount immediately. But he was disappointed in his +intention. As he stood for a moment beside the carriage of the Marchesa +Rocca, exchanging a few words with her, and looking with some interest at +her daughter, the little Rocca girl whom his father had proposed as a +possible wife for him, he forgot his proximity to the lady he wished to +avoid; and when, a few seconds later, he proceeded in the direction of +his horse, Madame Mayer stepped forward from the knot of her admirers and +tapped him familiarly upon the shoulder with the handle of her parasol. + +"So you were not going to speak to me to-day?" she said rather roughly, +after her manner. + +Giovanni turned sharply and faced her, bowing low. Donna Tullia laughed. + +"Is there anything so amazingly ridiculous in my appearance?" he asked. + +"_Altro_! when you make that tremendous salute--" + +"It was intended to convey an apology as well as a greeting," answered +Don Giovanni, politely. + +"I would like more apology and less greeting." + +"I am ready to apologise--" + +"Humbly, without defending yourself," said Donna Tullia, beginning to +walk slowly forward. Giovanni was obliged to follow her. + +"My defence is, nevertheless, a very good one," he said. + +"Well, if it is really good, I may listen to it; but you will not make me +believe that you intended to behave properly." + +"I am in a very bad humour. I would not inflict my cross temper upon you; +therefore I avoided you." + +Donna Tullia eyed him attentively. When she answered she drew in her +small red lips with an air of annoyance. + +"You look as though you were in bad humour," she answered. "I am sorry I +disturbed you. It is better to leave sleeping dogs alone, as the proverb +says." + +"I have not snapped yet," said Giovanni. "I am not dangerous, I assure +you." + +"Oh, I am not in the least afraid of you," replied his companion, with a +little scorn. "Do not flatter yourself your little humours frighten me. I +suppose you intend to follow?" + +"Yes," answered Saracinesca, shortly; he was beginning to weary of Donna +Tullia's manner of taking him to task. + +"You had much better come with us, and leave the poor foxes alone. +Valdarno is going to drive us round by the cross-roads to the Capannelle. +We will have a picnic lunch, and be home before three o'clock." + +"Thanks very much. I cannot let my horse shirk his work. I must beg you +to excuse me--" + +"Again?" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "You are always making excuses." Then +she suddenly changed her tone, and looked down. "I wish you would come +with us," she said, gently. "It is not often I ask you to do anything." + +Giovanni looked at her quickly. He knew that Donna Tullia wished to +marry him; he even suspected that his father had discussed the matter +with her--no uncommon occurrence when a marriage has to be arranged with +a widow. But he did not know that Donna Tullia was in love with him in +her own odd fashion. He looked at her, and he saw that as she spoke there +were tears of vexation in her bold blue eyes. He hesitated a moment, but +natural courtesy won the day. + +"I will go with you," he said, quietly. A blush of pleasure rose to +Madame Mayer's pink cheeks; she felt she had made a point, but she was +not willing to show her satisfaction. + +"You say it as though you were conferring a favour," she said, with a +show of annoyance, which was belied by the happy expression of her face. + +"Pardon me; I myself am the favoured person," replied Giovanni, +mechanically. He had yielded because he did not know how to refuse; but +he already regretted it, and would have given much to escape from the +party. + +"You do not look as though you believed it," said Donna Tullia, eyeing +him critically. "If you are going to be disagreeable, I release you." She +said this well knowing, the while, that he would not accept of his +liberty. + +"If you are so ready to release me, as you call it, you do not really +want me," said her companion. Donna Tullia bit her lip, and there was a +moment's pause. "If you will excuse me a moment I will send my horse +home--I will join you at once." + +"There is your horse--right before us," said Madame Mayer. Even that +short respite was not allowed him, and she waited while Don Giovanni +ordered the astonished groom to take his hunter for an hour's exercise in +a direction where he would not fall in with the hounds. + +"I did not believe you would really do it," said Donna Tullia, as the two +turned and sauntered back towards the carriages. Most of the men who +meant to follow had already mounted, and the little crowd had thinned +considerably. But while they had been talking another carriage had driven +into the field, and had halted a few yards from Valdarno's drag. +Astrardente had taken it into his head to come to the meet with his wife, +and they had arrived late. Astrardente always arrived a little late, on +principle. As Giovanni and Donna Tullia came back to their drag, they +suddenly found themselves face to face with the Duchessa and her husband. +It did not surprise Corona to see Giovanni walking with the woman he did +not intend to marry, but it seemed to give the old Duke undisguised +pleasure. + +"Do you see, Corona, there is no doubt of it! It is just as I told you," +exclaimed the aged dandy, in a voice so audible that Giovanni frowned and +Donna Tullia blushed slightly. Both of them bowed as they passed the +carriage. Don Giovanni looked straight into Corona's face as he took +off his hat. He might very well have made her a little sign, the smallest +gesture, imperceptible to Donna Tullia, whereby he could have given her +the idea that his position was involuntary. But Don Giovanni was a +gentleman, and he did nothing of the kind; he bowed and looked calmly at +the woman he loved as he passed by. Astrardente watched him keenly, and +as he noticed the indifference of Saracinesca's look, he gave a curious +little snuffling snort that was peculiar to him. He could have sworn that +neither his wife nor Giovanni had shown the smallest interest in each +other. He was satisfied. His wife was above suspicion, as he always said; +but he was an old man, and had seen the world, and he knew that however +implicitly he might trust the noble woman who had sacrificed her youth to +his old age, it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that she might +become innocently interested, even unawares, in some younger man--in some +such man as Giovanni Saracinesca-and he thought it worth his while to +watch her. His little snort, however, was indicative of satisfaction. +Corona had not winced at the mention of the marriage, and had nodded with +the greatest unconcern to the man as he passed. + +"Ah, Donna Tullia!" he cried, as he returned their greeting, "you are +preventing Don Giovanni from mounting; the riders will be off in a +moment." + +Being thus directly addressed, there was nothing to be done but to stop +and exchange a few words. The Duchessa was on the side nearest to the +pair as they passed, and her husband rose and sat opposite her, so as to +talk more at his ease. There were renewed greetings on both sides, and +Giovanni naturally found himself talking to Corona, while her husband and +Donna Tullia conversed together. + +"What man could think of hunting when he could be talking to you +instead?" said old Astrardente, whose painted face adjusted itself in a +sort of leer that had once been a winning smile. Every one knew he +painted, his teeth were a miracle of American dentistry, and his wig +had deceived a great portrait-painter. The padding in his clothes was +disposed with cunning wisdom, and in public he rarely removed the gloves +from his small hands. Donna Tullia laughed at what he said. + +"You should teach Don Giovanni to make pretty speeches," she said. "He is +as surly as a wolf this morning." + +"I should think a man in his position would not need much teaching in +order to be gallant to you," replied the old dandy, with a knowing look. +Then lowering his voice, he added confidentially, "I hope that before +very long I may be allowed to congrat--" + +"I have prevailed upon him to give up following the hounds to-day," +interrupted Donna Tullia, quickly. She spoke loud enough to be noticed by +Corona. "He is coming with us to picnic at the Capannelle instead." + +Giovanni could not help glancing quickly at Corona. She smiled faintly, +and her face betrayed no emotion. + +"I daresay it will be very pleasant," she said gently, looking far out +over the Campagna. In the next field the pack was moving away, followed +at a little distance by a score of riders in pink; one or two men who had +stayed behind in conversation, mounted hastily and rode after the hunt; +some of the carriages turned out of the field and began to follow slowly +along the road, in hopes of seeing the hounds throw off; the party who +were going with Valdarno gathered about the drag, waiting for Donna +Tullia; the grooms who were left behind congregated around the men who +sold boiled beans and salad; and in a few minutes the meet had +practically dispersed. + +"Why will you not join us, Duchessa?" asked Madame Mayer. "There is lunch +enough for everybody, and the more people we are the pleasanter it will +be." Donna Tullia made her suggestion with her usual frank manner, fixing +her blue eyes upon Corona as she spoke. There was every appearance of +cordiality in the invitation; but Donna Tullia knew well enough that +there was a sting in her words, or at all events that she meant there +should be. Corona, however, glanced quietly at her husband, and then +courteously refused. + +"You are most kind," she said, "but I fear we cannot join you to-day. We +are very regular people," she explained, with a slight smile, "and we are +not prepared to go to-day. Many thanks; I wish we could accept your kind +invitation." + +"Well, I am sorry you will not come," said Donna Tullia, with a rather +hard laugh. "We mean to enjoy ourselves immensely." + +Giovanni said nothing. There was only one thing which could have rendered +the prospect of Madame Mayer's picnic more disagreeable to him than it +already was, and that would have been the presence of the Duchessa. He +knew himself to be in a thoroughly false position in consequence of +having yielded to Donna Tullia's half-tearful request that he would join +the party. He remembered how he had spoken to Corona on the previous +evening, assuring her that he would not marry Madame Mayer. Corona knew +nothing of the change his plans had undergone during the stormy interview +he had had with his father; he longed, indeed, to be able to make the +Duchessa understand, but any attempt at explanation would be wholly +impossible. Corona would think he was inconsistent, or at least that he +was willing to flirt with the gay widow, while determined not to marry +her. He reflected that it was part of his self-condemnation that he +should appear unfavourably to the woman he loved, and whom he was +determined to renounce; but he realised for the first time how bitter it +would be to stand thus always in the appearance of weakness and +self-contradiction in the eyes of the only human being whose good opinion +he coveted, and for whose dear sake he was willing to do all things. As +he stood by her, his hand rested upon the side of the carriage, and he +stared blankly at the distant hounds and the retreating riders. + +"Come, Don Giovanni, we must be going," said Donna Tullia. "What in the +world are you thinking of? You look as though you had been turned into a +statue!" + +"I beg your pardon," returned Saracinesca, suddenly called back from +the absorbing train of his unpleasant thoughts. "Good-bye, Duchessa; +good-bye, Astrardente--a pleasant drive to you." + +"You will always regret not having come, you know," cried Madame Mayer, +shaking hands with both the occupants of the carriage. "We shall probably +end by driving to Albano, and staying all night--just fancy! Immense +fun--not even a comb in the whole party! Good-bye. I suppose we shall all +meet to-night--that is, if we ever come back to Rome at all. Come along, +Giovanni," she said, familiarly dropping the prefix from his name. After +all, he was a sort of cousin, and people in Rome are very apt to call +each other by their Christian names. But Donna Tullia knew what she was +about; she knew that Corona d'Astrardente could never, under any +circumstances whatever, call Saracinesca plain "Giovanni." But she had +not the satisfaction of seeing that anything she said produced any change +in Corona's proud dark face; she seemed of no more importance in the +Duchessa's eyes than if she had been a fly buzzing in the sunshine. + +So Giovanni and Madame Mayer joined their noisy party, and began to climb +into their places upon the drag; but before they were prepared to start, +the Astrardente carriage turned and drove rapidly out of the field. The +laughter and loud talking came to Corona's ears, growing fainter and more +distant every second, and the sound was very cruel to her; but she set +her strong brave lips together, and leaned back, adjusting the blanket +over her old husband's knees with one hand, and shading the sun from her +eyes with the parasol she held in the other. + +"Thank you, my dear; you are an angel of thoughtfulness," said the old +dandy, stroking his wife's hand. "What a singularly vulgar woman Madame +Mayer is! And yet she has a certain little _chic_ of her own." + +Corona did not withdraw her fingers from her husband's caress. She was +used to it. After all, he was kind to her in his way. It would have been +absurd to have been jealous of the grossly flattering speeches he made to +other women; and indeed he was as fond of turning compliments to his wife +as to any one. It was a singular relation that had grown up between the +old man and the young girl he had married. Had he been less thoroughly a +man of the world, or had Corona been less entirely honest and loyal and +self-sacrificing, there would have been small peace in their wedlock. But +Astrardente, decayed roué and worn-out dandy as he was, was in love with +his wife; and she, in all the young magnificence of her beauty, submitted +to be loved by him, because she had promised that she would do so, and +because, having sworn, she regarded the breaking of her faith by the +smallest act of unkindness as a thing beyond the bounds of possibility. +It had been a terrible blow to her to discover that she cared for Don +Giovanni even in the way she believed she did, as a man whose society she +preferred to that of other men, and whose face it gave her pleasure to +see. She, too, had spent a sleepless night; and when she had risen in the +morning, she had determined to forget Giovanni, and if she could not +forget him, she had sworn that more than ever she would be all things to +her husband. + +She wondered now, as Giovanni had known she would, why he had suddenly +thrown over his day's hunting in order to spend his time with Donna +Tullia; but she would not acknowledge, even to herself, that the dull +pain she felt near her heart, and that seemed to oppress her breathing, +bore any relation to the scene she had just witnessed. She shut her lips +tightly, and arranged the blanket for her husband. + +"Madame Mayer is vulgar," she answered. "I suppose she cannot help it." + +"Women can always help being vulgar," returned Astrardente. "I believe +she learned it from her husband. Women are not naturally like that. +Nevertheless she is an excellent match for Giovanni Saracinesca. Rich, by +millions. Undeniably handsome, gay--well, rather too gay; but Giovanni is +so serious that the contrast will be to their mutual advantage." + +Corona was silent. There was nothing the old man disliked so much as +silence. + +"Why do you not answer me?" he asked, rather petulantly. + +"I do not know--I was thinking," said Corona, simply. "I do not see that +it is a great match after all, for the last of the Saracinesca." + +"You think she will lead him a terrible dance, I daresay," returned the +old man. "She is gay--very gay; and Giovanni is very, very solemn." + +"I did not mean that she was too gay. I only think that Saracinesca might +marry, for instance, the Rocca girl. Why should he take a widow?" + +"Such a young widow. Old Mayer was as decrepit as any old statue in a +museum. He was paralysed in one arm, and gouty--gouty, my dear; you do +not know how gouty he was." The old fellow grinned scornfully; he had +never had the gout. "Donna Tullia is a very young widow. Besides, think +of the fortune. It would break old Saracinesca's heart to let so much +money go out of the family. He is a miserly old wretch, Saracinesca!" + +"I never heard that," said Corona. + +"Oh, there are many things in Rome that one never hears, and that is one +of them. I hate avarice--it is so extremely vulgar." + +Indeed Astrardente was not himself avaricious, though he had all his life +known how to protect his interests. He loved money, but he loved also to +spend it, especially in such a way as to make a great show with it. It +was not true, however, that Saracinesca was miserly. He spent a large +income without the smallest ostentation. + +"Really, I should hardly call Prince Saracinesca a miser," said Corona. +"I cannot imagine, from what I know of him, why he should be so anxious +to get Madame Mayer's fortune; but I do not think it is out of mere +greediness." + +"Then I do not know what you can call it," returned her husband, sharply. +"They have always had that dismal black melancholy in that family--that +detestable love of secretly piling up money, while their faces are as +grave and sour as any Jew's in the Ghetto." + +Corona glanced at her husband, and smiled faintly as she looked at his +thin old features, where the lights and shadows were touched in with +delicate colour more artfully than any actress's, superficially +concealing the lines traced by years of affectation and refined egotism; +and she thought of Giovanni's strong manly face, passionate indeed, but +noble and bold. A moment later she resolutely put the comparison out of +her mind, and finding that her husband was inclined to abuse the +Saracinesca, she tried to turn the conversation. + +"I suppose it will be a great ball at the Frangipani's," she said. "We +will go, of course?" she added, interrogatively. + +"Of course. I would not miss it for all the world. There has not been +such a ball for years as that will be. Do I ever miss an opportunity of +enjoying myself--I mean, of letting you enjoy yourself?" + +"No, you are very good," said Corona, gently. "Indeed I sometimes think +you give yourself trouble about going out on my account. Really, I am not +so greedy of society. I would often gladly stay at home if you wished +it." + +"Do you think I am past enjoying the world, then?" asked the old man, +sourly. + +"No indeed," replied Corona, patiently. "Why should I think that? I see +how much you like going out." + +"Of course I like it. A rational man in the prime of life always likes to +see his fellow-creatures. Why should not I?" + +The Duchessa did not smile. She was used to hearing her aged husband +speak of himself as young. It was a harmless fancy. + +"I think it is quite natural," she said. + +"What I cannot understand," said Astrardente, muffling his thin throat +more closely against the keen bright _tramontana_ wind, "is that such old +fellows as Saracinesca should still want to play a part in the world." + +Saracinesca was younger than Astrardente, and his iron constitution bade +fair to outlast another generation, in spite of his white hair. + +"You do not seem to be in a good humour with Saracinesca to-day," +remarked Corona, by way of answer. + +"Why do you defend him?" asked her husband, in a new fit of irritation. +"He jars on my nerves, the sour old creature!" + +"I fancy all Rome will go to the Frangipani ball," began Corona again, +without heeding the old man's petulance. + +"You seem to be interested in it," returned Astrardente. + +Corona was silent; it was her only weapon when he became petulant. He +hated silence, and generally returned to the conversation with more +suavity. Perhaps, in his great experience, he really appreciated his +wife's wonderful patience with his moods, and it is certain that he was +exceedingly fond of her. + +"You must have a new gown, my dear," he said presently, in a conciliatory +tone. + +His wife passed for the best-dressed woman in Rome, as she was undeniably +the most remarkable in many other ways. She was not above taking an +interest in dress, and her old husband had an admirable taste; moreover, +he took a vast pride in her appearance, and if she had looked a whit less +superior to other women, his smiling boast that she was above suspicion +would have lost some of its force. + +"I hardly think it is necessary," said Corona; "I have so many things, +and it will be a great crowd." + +"My dear, be economical of your beauty, but not in your adornment of it," +said the old man, with one of his engaging grins. "I desire that you have +a new gown for this ball which will be remembered by every one who goes +to it. You must set about it at once." + +"Well, that is an easy request for any woman to grant," answered Corona, +with a little laugh; "though I do not believe my gown will be remembered +so long as you think." + +"Who knows--who knows?" said Astrardente, thoughtfully. "I remember gowns +I saw"--he checked himself--"why, as many as ten years ago!" he added, +laughing in his turn, perhaps at nearly having said forty for ten. +"Gowns, my dear," he continued, "make a profound impression upon men's +minds." + +"For the matter of that," said the Duchessa, "I do not care to impress +men at all nor women either." She spoke lightly, pleased that the +conversation should have taken a more pleasant turn. + +"Not even to impress me, my dear?" asked old Astrardente, with a leer. + +"That is different," answered Corona, quietly. + +So they talked upon the subject of the gown and the ball until the +carriage rolled under the archway of the Astrardente palace. But when it +was three o'clock, and Corona was at liberty to go out upon her usual +round of visits, she was glad that she could go alone; and as she sat +among her cushions, driving from house to house and distributing cards, +she had time to think seriously of her situation. It would seem a light +thing to most wives of aged husbands to have taken a fancy to a man such +as Giovanni Saracinesca. But the more Corona thought of it, the more +certain it appeared to her that she was committing a great sin. It +weighed heavily upon her mind, and took from her the innocent pleasure +she was wont to feel in driving in the bright evening air in the Villa +Borghese. It took the colour from the sky, and the softness from the +cushions, it haunted her and made her miserably unhappy. At every turn +she expected to see Giovanni's figure and face, and the constant +recurrence of the thought seemed to add magnitude to the crime of which +she accused herself,--the crime of even thinking of any man save her +old husband--of wishing that Giovanni might not marry Donna Tullia after +all. + +"I will go to Padre Filippo," she said to herself as she reached home. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Valdarno took Donna Tullia by his side upon the front seat of the drag; +and as luck would have it, Giovanni and Del Ferice sat together behind +them. Half-a-dozen other men found seats somewhere, and among them were +the melancholy Spicca, who was a famous duellist, and a certain +Casalverde, a man of rather doubtful reputation. The others were members +of what Donna Tullia called her "corps de ballet." In those days Donna +Tullia's conduct was criticised, and she was thought to be emancipated, +as the phrase went. Old people opened their eyes at the spectacle of the +gay young widow going off into the Campagna to picnic with a party of +men; but if any intimate enemy had ventured to observe to her that she +was giving occasion for gossip, she would have raised her eyebrows, +explaining that they were all just like her brothers, and that Giovanni +was indeed a sort of cousin. She would perhaps have condescended to say +that she would not have done such a thing in Paris, but that in dear old +Rome one was in the bosom of one's family, and might do anything. At +present she sat chatting with Valdarno, a tall and fair young man, with a +weak mouth and a good-natured disposition; she had secured Giovanni, and +though he sat sullenly smoking behind her, his presence gave her +satisfaction. Del Ferice's smooth face wore an expression of ineffable +calm, and his watery blue eyes gazed languidly on the broad stretch of +brown grass which bordered the highroad. + +For some time the drag bowled along, and Giovanni was left to his own +reflections, which were not of a very pleasing kind. The other men talked +of the chances of luck with the hounds; and Spicca, who had been a great +deal in England, occasionally put in a remark not very complimentary to +the Roman hunt. Del Ferice listened in silence, and Giovanni did not +listen at all, but buttoned his overcoat to the throat, half closed his +eyes, and smoked one cigarette after another, leaning back in his seat. +Suddenly Donna Tullia's laugh was heard as she turned half round to look +at Valdarno. + +"Do you really think so?" she cried. "How soon? What a dance we will lead +them then!" + +Del Fence pricked his ears in the direction of her voice, like a terrier +that suspects the presence of a rat. Valdarno's answer was inaudible, but +Donna Tullia ceased laughing immediately. + +"They are talking politics," said Del Ferice in a low voice, leaning +towards Giovanni as he spoke. The latter shrugged his shoulders and went +on smoking. He did not care to be drawn into a conversation with Del +Ferice. + +Del Ferice was a man who was suspected of revolutionary sympathies by the +authorities in Rome, but who was not feared. He was therefore allowed to +live his life much as he pleased, though he was conscious from time to +time that he was watched. Being a man, however, who under all +circumstances pursued his own interests with more attention than he +bestowed on those of any party, he did not pretend to attach any +importance to the distinction of being occasionally followed by a spy, as +a more foolish man might have done. If he was watched, he did not care to +exhibit himself to his friends as a martyr, to tell stories of the +_sbirro_ who sometimes dogged his footsteps, nor to cry aloud that he was +unjustly persecuted. He affected a character above suspicion, and rarely +allowed himself to express an opinion. He was no propagator of new +doctrines; that was too dangerous a trade for one of his temper. But he +foresaw changes to come, and he determined that he would profit by them. +He had little to lose, but he had everything to gain; and being a patient +man, he resolved to gain all he could by circumspection--in other words, +by acting according to his nature, rather than by risking himself in a +bold course of action for which he was wholly unsuited. He was too wise +to attempt wholly to deceive the authorities, knowing well that they were +not easily deceived; and he accordingly steered a middle course, +constantly speaking in favour of progress, of popular education, and of +freedom of the press, but at the same time loudly proclaiming that all +these things--that every benefit of civilisation, in fact--could be +obtained without the slightest change in the form of government. He thus +asserted his loyalty to the temporal power while affecting a belief in +the possibility of useful reforms, and the position he thus acquired +exactly suited his own ends; for he attracted to himself a certain amount +of suspicion on account of his progressist professions, and then disarmed +that suspicion by exhibiting a serene indifference to the espionage of +which he was the object. The consequence was, that at the very time when +he was most deeply implicated in much more serious matters--of which the +object was invariably his own ultimate profit--at the time when he was +receiving money for information he was able to obtain through his social +position, he was regarded by the authorities, and by most of his +acquaintances, as a harmless man, who might indeed injure himself by his +foolish doctrines of progress, but who certainly could not injure any one +else. Few guessed that his zealous attention to social duties, his +occasional bursts of enthusiasm for liberal education and a free press, +were but parts of his machinery for making money out of politics. He was +so modest, so unostentatious, that no one suspected that the mainspring +of his existence was the desire for money. + +But, like many intelligent and bad men, Del Ferice had a weakness which +was gradually gaining upon him and growing in force, and which was +destined to hasten the course of the events which he had planned for +himself. It is an extraordinary peculiarity in unbelievers that they are +often more subject to petty superstitions than other men; and similarly, +it often happens that the most cynical and coldly calculating of +conspirators, who believe themselves proof against all outward +influences, yield to some feeling of nervous dislike for an individual +who has never harmed them, and are led on from dislike to hatred, until +their soberest actions take colour from what in its earliest beginnings +was nothing more than a senseless prejudice. Del Ferice's weakness was +his unaccountable detestation of Giovanni Saracinesca; and he had so far +suffered this abhorrence of the man to dominate his existence, that it +had come to be one of his chiefest delights in life to thwart Giovanni +wherever he could. How it had begun, or when, he no longer knew nor +cared. He had perhaps thought Giovanni treated him superciliously, or +even despised him; and his antagonism being roused by some fancied +slight, he had shown a petty resentment, which, again, Saracinesca +had treated with cold indifference. Little by little his fancied +grievance had acquired great proportions in his own estimation, and he +had learned to hate Giovanni more than any man living. At first it might +have seemed an easy matter to ruin his adversary, or, at all event, to +cause him great and serious injury; and but for that very indifference +which Del Ferice so resented, his attempts might have been successful. + +Giovanni belonged to a family who from the earliest times had been at +swords-drawn with the Government. Their property had been more than once +confiscated by the popes, had been seized again by force of arms, and had +been ultimately left to them for the mere sake of peace. They seem to +have quarrelled with everybody on every conceivable pretext, and to have +generally got the best of the struggle. No pope had ever reckoned upon +the friendship of Casa Saracinesca. For generations they had headed the +opposition whenever there was one, and had plotted to form one when there +was none ready to their hands. It seemed to Del Ferice that in the +stirring times that followed the annexation of Naples to the Italian +crown, when all Europe was watching the growth of the new Power, it +should be an easy matter to draw a Saracinesca into any scheme for the +subversion of a Government against which so many generations of +Saracinesca had plotted and fought. To involve Giovanni in some Liberal +conspiracy, and then by betraying him to cause him to be imprisoned or +exiled from Rome, was a plan which pleased Del Ferice, and which he +desired earnestly to put into execution. He had often tried to lead his +enemy into conversation, repressing and hiding his dislike for the sake +of his end; but at the first mention of political subjects Giovanni +became impenetrable, shrugged, his shoulders, and assumed an air of the +utmost indifference. No paradox could draw him into argument, no +flattery could loose his tongue. Indeed those were times when men +hesitated to express an opinion, not only because any opinion they +might express was liable to be exaggerated and distorted by willing +enemies--a consideration which would not have greatly intimidated +Giovanni Saracinesca--but also because it was impossible for the wisest +man to form any satisfactory judgment upon the course of events. It was +clear to every one that ever since 1848 the temporal power had been +sustained by France; and though no one in 1865 foresaw the downfall of +the Second Empire, no one saw any reason for supposing that the military +protectorate of Louis Napoleon in Rome could last for ever: what would be +likely to occur if that protection were withdrawn was indeed a matter of +doubt, but was not looked upon by the Government as a legitimate matter +for speculation. + +Del Ferice, however, did not desist from his attempts to make Giovanni +speak out his mind, and whenever an opportunity offered, tried to draw +him into conversation. He was destined on the present occasion to meet +with greater success than had hitherto attended his efforts. The picnic +was noisy, and Giovanni was in a bad humour; he did not care for Donna +Tullia's glances, nor for the remarks she constantly levelled at him; +still less was he amused by the shallow gaiety of her party of admirers, +tempered as their talk was by the occasional tonic of some outrageous +cynicism from the melancholy Spicca. Del Ferice smiled, and talked, and +smiled again, seeking to flatter and please Donna Tullia, as was his +wont. By-and-by the clear north wind and the bright sun dried the ground, +and Madame Mayer proposed that the party should walk a little on the road +towards Rome--a proposal of such startling originality that it was +carried by acclamation. Donna Tullia wanted to walk with Giovanni; but +on pretence of having left something upon the drag, he gave Valdarno time +to take his place. When Giovanni began to follow the rest, he found that +Del Ferice had lagged behind, and seemed to be waiting for him. + +Giovanni was in a bad humour that day. He had suffered himself to be +persuaded into joining in a species of amusement for which he cared +nothing, by a mere word from a woman for whom he cared less, but whom he +had half determined to marry, and who had wholly determined to marry him. +He, who hated vacillation, had been dangling for four-and-twenty hours +like a pendulum, or, as he said to himself, like an ass between two +bundles of hay. At one moment he meant to marry Donna Tullia, and at +another he loathed the thought; now he felt that he would make any +sacrifice to rid the Duchessa d'Astrardente of himself, and now again he +felt how futile such a sacrifice would be. He was ashamed in his heart, +for he was no boy of twenty to be swayed by a woman's look or a fit of +Quixotism; he was a strong grown man who had seen the world. He had been +in the habit of supposing his impulses to be good, and of following them +naturally without much thought; it seemed desperately perplexing to be +forced into an analysis of those impulses in order to decide what he +should do. He was in a thoroughly bad humour, and Del Ferice guessed that +if Giovanni could ever be induced to speak out, it must be when his +temper was not under control. In Rome, in the club--there was only one +club in those days--in society, Ugo never got a chance to talk to his +enemy; but here upon the Appian Way, with the broad Campagna stretching +away to right and left and rear, while the remainder of the party walked +three hundred yards in front, and Giovanni showed an evident reluctance +to join them, it would go hard indeed if he could not be led into +conversation. + +"I should think," Del Ferice began, "that if you had your choice, you +would walk anywhere rather than here." + +"Why?" asked Giovanni, carelessly. "It is a very good road." + +"I should think that our Roman Campagna would be anything but a source of +satisfaction to its possessors--like yourself," answered Del Ferice. + +"It is a very good grazing ground." + +"It might be something better. When one thinks that in ancient times it +was a vast series of villas--" + +"The conditions were very different. We do not live in ancient times," +returned Giovanni, drily. + +"Ah, the conditions!" ejaculated Del Ferice, with a suave sigh. "Surely +the conditions depend on man--not on nature. What our proud forefathers +accomplished by law and energy, we could, we can accomplish, if we +restore law and energy in our midst." + +"You are entirely mistaken," answered Saracinesca. "It would take five +times the energy of the ancient Romans to turn the Campagna into a +garden, or even into a fertile productive region. No one is five times as +energetic as the ancients. As for the laws, they do well enough." + +Del Ferice was delighted. For the first time, Giovanni seemed inclined to +enter upon an argument with him. + +"Why are the conditions so different? I do not see. Here is the same +undulating country, the same climate--" + +"And twice as much water," interrupted Giovanni. "You forget that the +Campagna is very low, and that the rivers in it have risen very much. +There are parts of ancient Rome now laid bare which lie below the present +water-mark of the Tiber. If the city were built upon its old level, much +of it would be constantly flooded. The rivers have risen and have swamped +the country. Do you think any amount of law or energy could drain this +fever-stricken plain into the sea? I do not. Do you think that if I could +be persuaded that the land could be improved into fertility I would +hesitate, at any expenditure in my power, to reclaim the miles of desert +my father and I own here? The plain is a series of swamps and stone +quarries. In one place you find the rock a foot below the surface, and +the soil burns up in summer; a hundred yards farther you find a bog +hundreds of feet deep, which even in summer is never dry." + +"But," suggested Del Ferice, who listened patiently enough, "supposing +the Government passed a law forcing all of you proprietors to plant trees +and dig ditches, it would have some effect." + +"The law cannot force us to sacrifice men's lives. The Trappist monks at +the Tre Fontane are trying it, and dying by scores. Do you think I, or +any other Roman, would send peasants to such a place, or could induce +them to go?" + +"Well, it is one of a great many questions which will be settled some +day," said Del Fence. "You will not deny that there is room for much +improvement in our country, and that an infusion of some progressist +ideas would be wholesome." + +"Perhaps so; but you understand one thing by progress, and I understand +quite another," replied Giovanni, eyeing in the bright distance the +figures of Donna Tullia and her friends, and regulating his pace so as +not to lessen the distance which separated them from him. He preferred +talking political economy with a man he disliked, to being obliged to +make conversation for Madame Mayer. + +"I mean by progress, positive improvement without revolutionary change," +explained Del Ferice, using the phrase he had long since constructed as +his profession of faith to the world. Giovanni eyed him keenly for a +moment. He cared nothing for Ugo or his ideas, but he suspected him of +very different principles. + +"You will pardon me," he said, civilly, "if I venture to doubt whether +you have frankly expressed your views. I am under the impression that you +really connect the idea of improvement with a very positive revolutionary +change." + +Del Ferice did not wince, but he involuntarily cast a glance behind him. +Those were times when people were cautious of being overheard. But Del +Ferice knew his man, and he knew that the only way in which he could +continue the interview was to accept the imputation as though trusting +implicitly to the discretion of his companion. + +"Will you give me a fair answer to a fair question?" he asked, very +gravely. + +"Let me hear the question," returned Giovanni, indifferently. He also +knew his man, and attached no more belief to anything he said than to the +chattering of a parrot. And yet Del Ferice had not the reputation of a +liar in the world at large. + +"Certainly," answered Ugo. "You are the heir of a family which from +immemorial time has opposed the popes. You cannot be supposed to feel any +kind of loyal attachment to the temporal power. I do not know whether +you individually would support it or not. But frankly, how would you +regard such a revolutionary change as you suspect me of desiring?" + +"I have no objection to telling you that. I would simply make the best of +it." + +Del Ferice laughed at the ambiguous answer, affecting to consider it as a +mere evasion. + +"We should all try to do that," he answered; "but what I mean to ask is, +whether you would personally take up arms to fight for the temporal +power, or whether you would allow events to take their course? I fancy +that would be the ultimate test of loyalty." + +"My instinct would certainly be to fight, whether fighting were of any +use or not. But the propriety of fighting in such a case is a very nice +question of judgment. So long as there is anything to fight for, no +matter how hopeless the odds, a gentleman should go to the front--but no +longer. The question must be to decide the precise point at which the +position becomes untenable. So long as France makes our quarrels hers, +every man should give his personal assistance to the cause; but it is +absurd to suppose that if we were left alone, a handful of Romans against +a great Power, we could do more, or should do more, than make a formal +show of resistance. It has been a rule in all ages that a general, +however brave, who sacrifices the lives of his soldiers in a perfectly +hopeless resistance, rather than accept the terms of an honourable +capitulation, is guilty of a military crime." + +"In other words," answered Del Ferice, quietly, "if the French troops +were withdrawn, and the Italians were besieging Rome, you would at once +capitulate?" + +"Certainly--after making a formal protest. It would be criminal to +sacrifice our fellow-citizens' lives in such a case." + +"And then?" + +"Then, as I said before, I would make the best of it--not omitting to +congratulate Del Ferice upon obtaining a post in the new Government," +added Giovanni, with a laugh. + +But Del Ferice took no notice of the jest. + +"Do you not think that, aside from any question of sympathy or loyalty to +the holy Father, the change of government would be an immense advantage +to Rome?" + +"No, I do not. To Italy the advantage would be inestimable; to Rome it +would be an injury. Italy would consolidate the prestige she began to +acquire when Cavour succeeded in sending a handful of troops to the +Crimea eleven years ago; she would at once take a high position as a +European Power--provided always that the smouldering republican element +should not break out in opposition to the constitutional monarchy. But +Rome would be ruined. She is no longer the geographical capital of +Italy--she is not even the largest city; but in the course of a few +years, violent efforts would be made to give her a fictitious modern +grandeur, in the place of the moral importance she now enjoys as the +headquarters of the Catholic world. Those efforts at a spurious growth +would ruin her financially, and the hatred of Romans for Italians of the +north would cause endless internal dissension. We should be subjected to +a system of taxation which would fall more heavily on us than on other +Italians, in proportion as our land is less productive. On the whole, we +should grow rapidly poorer; for prices would rise, and we should have a +paper currency instead of a metallic one. Especially we landed +proprietors would suffer terribly by the Italian land system being +suddenly thrust upon us. To be obliged to sell one's acres to any peasant +who can scrape together enough to capitalise the pittance he now pays as +rent, at five per cent, would scarcely be agreeable. Such a fellow, from +whom I have the greatest difficulty in extracting his yearly bushel of +grain, could borrow twenty bushels from a neighbour, or the value of +them, and buy me out without my consent--acquiring land worth ten times +the rent he and his father have paid for it, and his father before him. +It would produce an extraordinary state of things, I can assure you. +No--even putting aside what you call my sympathies and my loyalty to the +Pope--I do not desire any change. Nobody who owns much property does; the +revolutionary spirits are people who own nothing." + +"On the other hand, those who own nothing, or next to nothing, are the +great majority." + +"Even if that is true, which I doubt, I do not see why the intelligent +few should be ruled by that same ignorant majority." + +"But you forget that the majority is to be educated," objected Del +Ferice. + +"Education is a term few people can define," returned Giovanni. "Any good +schoolmaster knows vastly more than you or I. Would you like to be +governed by a majority of schoolmasters?" + +"That is a plausible argument," laughed Del Ferice, "but it is not +sound." + +"It is not sound!" repeated Giovanni, impatiently. "People are so fond of +exclaiming that what they do not like is not sound! Do you think that it +would not be a fair case to put five hundred schoolmasters against five +hundred gentlemen of average education? I think it would be very fair. +The schoolmasters would certainly have the advantage in education: do you +mean to say they would make better or wiser electors than the same number +of gentlemen who cannot name all the cities and rivers in Italy, nor +translate a page of Latin without a mistake, but who understand the +conditions of property by practical experience as no schoolmaster can +possibly understand them? I tell you it is nonsense. Education, of the +kind which is of any practical value in the government of a nation, means +the teaching of human motives, of humanising ideas, of some system +whereby the majority of electors can distinguish the qualities of honesty +and common-sense in the candidate they wish to elect. I do not pretend to +say what that system may be, but I assert that no education which does +not lead to that kind of knowledge is of any practical use to the voting +majority of a constitutionally governed country." + +Del Ferice sighed rather sadly. + +"I am afraid you will not discover that system in Europe," he said. He +was disappointed in Giovanni, and in his hopes of detecting in him some +signs of a revolutionary spirit. Saracinesca was a gentleman of the old +school, who evidently despised majorities and modern political science as +a whole, who for the sake of his own interests desired no change from the +Government under which he lived, and who would surely be the first to +draw the sword for the temporal power, and the last to sheathe it. His +calm judgment concerning the fallacy of holding a hopeless position would +vanish like smoke if his fiery blood were once roused. He was so honest a +man that even Del Ferice could not suspect him of parading views he did +not hold; and Ugo then and there abandoned all idea of bringing him into +political trouble and disgrace, though he by no means gave up all hope of +being able to ruin him in some other way. + +"I agree with you there at least," said Saracinesca. "The only +improvements worth having are certainly not to be found in Europe. Donna +Tullia is calling us. We had better join that harmless flock of lambs, +and give over speculating on the advantages of allying ourselves with a +pack of wolves who will eat us up, house and home, bag and baggage." + +So the whole party climbed again to their seats upon the drag, and +Valdarno drove them back into Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Corona d'Astrardente had been educated in a convent--that is to say, she +had been brought up in the strict practice of her religion; and during +the five years which had elapsed since she had come out into the world, +she had found no cause for forsaking the habits she had acquired in her +girlhood. Some people find religion a burden; others regard it as an +indifferently useless institution, in which they desire no share, and +concerning which they never trouble themselves; others, again, look upon +it as the mainstay of their lives. + +It is natural to suppose that the mode of thought and the habits acquired +by young girls in a religious institution will not disappear without a +trace when they first go into the world, and it may even be expected that +some memory of the early disposition thus cultivated will cling to them +throughout their lives. But the multifarious interests of social +existence do much to shake that young edifice of faith. The driving +strength of stormy passions of all kinds undermines the walls of the +fabric, and when at last the bolt of adversity strikes full upon the +keystone of the arch, upon the self of man or woman, weakened and +loosened by the tempests of years, the whole palace of the soul falls in, +a hopeless wreck, wherein not even the memory of outline can be traced, +nor the faint shadow of a beauty which is destroyed for ever. + +But there are some whose interests in this world are not strong enough to +shake their faith in the next; whose passions do not get the mastery, and +whose self is sheltered from danger by something more than the feeble +defence of an accomplished egotism. Corona was one of these, for her lot +had not been happy, nor her path strewn with roses. + +She was a friendless woman, destined to suffer much, and her suffering +was the more intense that she seemed always upon the point of finding +friends in the world where she played so conspicuous a part. There can be +little happiness when a whole life has been placed upon a false +foundation, even though so dire a mistake may have been committed +willingly and from a sense of duty and obligation, such as drove Corona +to marry old Astrardente. Consolation is not satisfaction; and though, +when she reflected on what she had done, she knew that from her point of +view she had done her best, she knew also that she had closed upon +herself the gates of the earthly paradise, and that for her the prospect +of happiness had been removed from the now to the hereafter--the dim and +shadowy glass in which we love to see any reflection save that of our +present lives. And to her, thus living in submission to the consequences +of her choice, that faith in things better which had inspired her to +sacrifice was the chief remaining source of consolation. There was a good +man to whom she went for advice, as she had gone to him ever since she +could remember. When she found herself in trouble she never hesitated. +Padre Filippo was to her the living proof of the possibility of human +goodness, as faith is to us all the evidence of things not seen. + +Corona was in trouble now--in a trouble so new that she hardly understood +it, so terrible and yet so vague that she felt her peril imminent. She +did not hesitate, therefore, nor change her mind upon the morning +following the day of the meet, but drove to the church of the Capuchins +in the Piazza Barberini, and went up the broad steps with a beating +heart, not knowing how she should tell what she meant to tell, yet +knowing that there was for her no hope of peace unless she told it +quickly, and got that advice and direction she so earnestly craved. + +Padre Filippo had been a man of the world in his time--a man of great +cultivation, full of refined tastes and understanding of tastes in +others, gentle and courteous in his manners, and very kind of heart. No +one knew whence he came. He spoke Italian correctly and with a keen +scholarly use of words, but his slight accent betrayed his foreign birth. +He had been a Capuchin monk for many years, perhaps for more than half +his lifetime, and Corona could remember him from her childhood, for he +had been a friend of her father's; but he had not been consulted about +her marriage,--she even remembered that, though she had earnestly desired +to see him before the wedding-day, her father had told her that he had +left Rome for a time. For the old gentleman was in terrible earnest about +the match, so that in his heart he feared lest Corona might waver and ask +Padre Filippo's advice; and he knew the good monk too well to think that +he would give his countenance to such a sacrifice as was contemplated +in marrying the young girl to old Astrardente. Corona had known this +later, but had hardly realised the selfishness of her father, nor indeed +had desired to realise it. It was sufficient that he had died satisfied +in seeing her married to a great noble, and that she had been able, in +his last days, to relieve him from the distress of debt and embarrassment +which had doubtless contributed to shorten his life. + +The proud woman who had thus once humbled herself for an object she +thought good, had never referred to her action again. She had never +spoken of her position to Padre Filippo, so that the monk wondered and +admired her steadfastness. If she suffered, it was in silence, without +comment and without complaint, and so she would have suffered to the end. +But it had been ordered otherwise. For months she had known that the +interest she felt in Giovanni Saracinesca was increasing: she had choked +it down, had done all in her power to prove herself indifferent to him; +but at last the crisis had come. When he spoke to her of his marriage, +she had felt--she knew now that it was so--that she loved him. The very +word, as she repeated it to herself, rang like an awful, almost +incomprehensible, accusation of evil in her ears. One moment she stood at +the top of the steps outside the church, looking down at the bare +straggling trees below, and upward to the grey sky, against which the +lofty eaves of the Palazzo Barberini stood out sharply defined. The +weather had changed again, and a soft southerly wind was blowing the +spray of the fountain half across the piazza. Corona paused, her graceful +figure half leaning against the stone doorpost of the church, her hand +upon the heavy leathern curtain in the act to lift it; and as she stood +there, a desperate temptation assailed her. It seemed desperate to +her--to many another woman it would have appeared only the natural course +to pursue--to turn her back upon the church, to put off the hard moment +of confession, to go down again into the city, and to say to herself that +there was no harm in seeing Don Giovanni, provided she never let him +speak of love. Why should he speak of it? Had she any reason to suppose +there was danger to her in anything he meant to say? Had he ever, by word +or deed, betrayed that interest in her which she knew in herself was love +for him? Had he ever?--ah yes! It was only the night before last that he +had asked her advice, had besought her to advise him not to marry +another, had suffered his arm to tremble when she laid her hand upon it. +In the quick remembrance that he too had shown some feeling, there was a +sudden burst of joy such as Corona had never felt, and a moment later she +knew it and was afraid. It was true, then. At the very time when she was +most oppressed with the sense of her fault in loving him, there was an +inward rejoicing in her heart at the bare thought that she loved him. +Could a woman fall lower, she asked herself--lower than to delight in +what she knew to be most bad? And yet it was such a poor little thrill of +pleasure after all; but it was the first she had ever known. To turn away +and reflect for a few days would be so easy! It would be so sweet to +think of it, even though the excuse for thinking of Giovanni should be a +good determination to root him from her life. It would be so sweet to +drive again alone among the trees that very afternoon, and to weigh the +salvation of her soul in the balance of her heart: her heart would know +how to turn the scales, surely enough. Corona stood still, holding the +curtain in her hand. She was a brave woman, but she turned pale--not +hesitating, she said to herself, but pausing. Then, suddenly, a great +scorn of herself arose in her. Was it worthy of her even to pause in +doing right? The nobility of her courage cried loudly to her to go in and +do the thing most worthy: her hand lifted the heavy leathern apron, and +she entered the church. + +The air within was heavy and moist, and the grey light fell coldly +through the tall windows. Corona shuddered, and drew her furs more +closely about her as she passed up the aisle to the door of the sacristy. +She found the monk she sought, and she made her confession. + +"Padre mio," she said at last, when the good man thought she had +finished--"Padre mio, I am a very miserable woman." She hid her dark face +in her ungloved hands, and one by one the crystal tears welled from her +eyes and trickled down upon her small fingers and upon the worn black +wood of the confessional. + +"My daughter," said the good monk, "I will pray for you, others will pray +for you--but before all things, you must pray for yourself. And let me +advise you, my child, that as we are all led into temptation, we must +not think that because we have been in temptation we have sinned +hopelessly; nor, if we have fought against the thing that tempts us, +should we at once imagine that we have overcome it, and have done +altogether right. If there were no evil in ourselves, there could be no +temptation from without, for nothing evil could seem pleasant. But with +you I cannot find that you have done any great wrong as yet. You must +take courage. We are all in the world, and do what we may, we cannot +disregard it. The sin you see is real, but it is yet not very near you +since you so abhor it; and if you pray that you may hate it, it will go +further from you till you may hope not even to understand how it could +once have been so near. Take courage--take comfort. Do not be morbid. +Resist temptation, but do not analyse it nor yourself too closely; for +it is one of the chief signs of evil in us that when we dwell too much +upon ourselves and upon our temptations, we ourselves seem good in our +own eyes, and our temptations not unpleasant, because the very resisting +of them seems to make us appear better than we are." + +But the tears still flowed from Corona's eyes in the dark corner of the +church, and she could not be comforted. + +"Padre mio," she repeated, "I am very unhappy. I have not a friend in the +world to whom I can speak. I have never seen my life before as I see it +now. God forgive me, I have never loved my husband. I never knew what it +meant to love. I was a mere child, a very innocent child, when I was +married to him. I would have sought your advice, but they told me you +were away, and I thought I was doing right in obeying my father." + +Padre Filippo sighed. He had long known and understood why Corona had not +been allowed to come to him at the most important moment of her life. + +"My husband is very kind to me," she continued in broken tones. "He loves +me in his way, but I do not love him. That of itself is a great sin. It +seems to me as though I saw but one half of life, and saw it from the +window of a prison; and yet I am not imprisoned. I would that I were, for +I should never have seen another man. I should never have heard his +voice, nor seen his face, nor--nor loved him, as I do love him," she +sobbed. + +"Hush, my daughter," said the old monk, very gently. "You told me you had +never spoken of love; that you were interested in him, indeed, but that +you did not know--" + +"I know--I know now," cried Corona, losing all control as the passionate +tears flowed down. "I could not say it--it seemed so dreadful--I love him +with my whole self! I can never get it out--it burns me. O God, I am so +wretched!" + +Padre Filippo was silent for a while. It was a terrible case. He could +not remember in all his experience to have known one more sad to +contemplate, though his business was with the sins and the sorrows of the +world. The beautiful woman kneeling outside his confessional was +innocent--as innocent as a child, brave and faithful. She had sacrificed +her whole life for her father, who had been little worthy of such +devotion; she had borne for years the suffering of being tied to an old +man whom she could not help despising, however honestly she tried to +conceal the fact from herself, however effectually she hid it from +others. It was a wonder the disaster had not occurred before: it showed +how loyal and true a woman she was, that, living in the very centre and +midst of the world, admired and assailed by many, she should never in +five years have so much as thought of any man beside her husband. A woman +made for love and happiness, in the glory of beauty and youth, capable +of such unfaltering determination in her loyalty, so good, so noble, so +generous,--it seemed unspeakably pathetic to hear her weeping her heart +out, and confessing that, after so many struggles and efforts and +sacrifices, she had at last met the common fate of all humanity, and +was become subject to love. What might have been her happiness was turned +to dishonour; what should have been the pride of her young life was made +a reproach. + +She would not fall. The grey-haired monk believed that, in his great +knowledge of mankind. But she would suffer terribly, and it might be that +others would suffer also. It was the consequence of an irretrievable +error in the beginning, when it had seemed to the young girl just +leaving the convent that the best protection against the world of evil +into which she was to go would be the unconditional sacrifice of herself. + +Padre Filippo was silent. He hoped that the passionate outburst of grief +and self-reproach would pass, though he himself could find little enough +to say. It was all too natural. What was he, he thought, that he should +explain away nature, and bid a friendless woman defy a power that has +more than once overset the reckoning of the world? He could bid her pray +for help and strength, but he found it hard to argue the case with her; +for he had to allow that his beautiful penitent was, after all, only +experiencing what it might have been foretold that she must feel, and +that, as far as he could see, she was struggling bravely against the +dangers of her situation. + +Corona cried bitterly as she knelt there. It was a great relief to give +way for a time to the whole violence of what she felt. It may be that in +her tears there was a subtle instinctive knowledge that she was weeping +for her love as well as for her sin in loving, but her grief was none +the less real. She did not understand herself. She did not know, as Padre +Filippo knew, that her woman's heart was breaking for sympathy rather +than for religious counsel. She knew many women, but her noble pride +would not have let her even contemplate the possibility of confiding in +any one of them, even if she could have done so in the certainty of not +being herself betrayed and of not betraying the man she loved. She had +been accustomed to come to her confessor for counsel, and she now came to +him with her troubles and craved sympathy for them, in the knowledge that +Padre Filippo could never know the name of the man who had disturbed her +peace. + +But the monk understood well enough, and his kind heart comprehended hers +and felt for her. + +"My daughter," he said at last, when she seemed to have grown more calm, +"it would be an inestimable advantage if this man could go away for a +time, but that is probably not to be expected. Meanwhile, you must not +listen to him if he speaks--" + +"It is not that," interrupted Corona--"it is not that. He never speaks of +love. Oh, I really believe he does not love me at all!" But in her heart +she felt that he must love her; and her hand, as it lay upon the hard +wood of the confessional, seemed still to feel his trembling arm. + +"That is so much the better, my child," said the monk, quietly. "For if +he does not love you, your temptations will not grow stronger." + +"And yet, perhaps--he may--" murmured Corona, feeling that it would be +wrong even to conceal her faintest suspicions at such a time. + +"Let there be no perhaps," answered Padre Filippo, almost sternly. "Let +it never enter your mind that he might love you. Think that even from the +worldly point there is small dignity in a woman who exhibits love for a +man who has never mentioned love to her. You have no reason to suppose +you are loved save that you desire to be. Let there be no perhaps." + +The monk's keen insight into character had given him an unexpected weapon +in Corona's defence. He knew how of all things a proud woman hates to +know that where she has placed her heart there is no response, and that +if she fails to awaken an affection akin to her own, what has been love +may be turned to loathing, or at least to indifference. The strong +character of the Duchessa d'Astrardente responded to his touch as he +expected. Her tears ceased to flow, and her scorn rose haughtily against +herself. + +"It is true. I am despicable," she said, suddenly. "You have shown me +myself. There shall be no perhaps. I loathe myself for thinking of it. +Pray for me, lest I fall so low again." + +A few minutes later Corona left the confessional and went and kneeled in +the body of the church to collect her thoughts. She was in a very +different frame of mind from that in which she had left home an hour ago. +She hardly knew whether she felt herself a better woman, but she was +sure that she was stronger. There was no desire left in her to meditate +sadly upon her sorrow--to go over and over in her thoughts the feelings +she experienced, the fears she felt, the half-formulated hope that +Giovanni might love her after all. There was left only a haughty +determination to have done with her folly quickly and surely, and to try +and forget it for ever. The confessor's words had produced their effect. +Henceforth she would never stoop so low again. She was ready to go out +into the world now, and she felt no fear. It was more from habit than for +the sake of saying a prayer that she knelt in the church after her +confession, for she felt very strong. She rose to her feet presently, and +moved towards the door: she had not gone half the length of the church +when she came face to face with Donna Tullia Mayer. + +It was a strange coincidence. The ladies of Rome frequently go to the +church of the Capuchins, as Corona had done, to seek the aid and counsel +of Padre Filippo, but Corona had never met Donna Tullia there. Madame +Mayer did not profess to be very devout. As a matter of fact, she had not +found it convenient to go to confession during the Christmas season, and +she had been intending to make up for the deficiency for some time past; +but it is improbable that she would have decided upon fulfilling her +religious obligations before Lent if she had not chanced to see the +Duchessa d'Astrardente's carriage standing at the foot of the church +steps. + +Donna Tullia had risen early because she was going to sit for her +portrait to a young artist who lived in the neighbourhood of the Piazza +Barberini, and as she passed in her brougham she caught sight of the +Duchessa's liveries. The artist could wait half an hour: the opportunity +was admirable. She was alone, and would not only do her duty in going to +confession, but would have a chance of seeing how Corona looked when she +had been at her devotions. It might also be possible to judge from Padre +Filippo's manner whether the interview had been an interesting one. The +Astrardente was so very devout that she probably had difficulty in +inventing sins to confess. One might perhaps tell from her face whether +she had felt any emotion. At all events the opportunity should not be +lost. Besides, if Donna Tullia found that she herself was really not in a +proper frame of mind for religious exercises, she could easily spend a +few moments in the church and then proceed upon her way. She stopped her +carriage and went in. She had just entered when she was aware of the tall +figure of Corona d'Astrardente coming towards her, magnificent in the +simplicity of her furs, a short veil just covering half her face, and an +unwonted colour in her dark cheeks. + +Corona was surprised at meeting Madame Mayer, but she did not show it. +She nodded with a sufficiently pleasant smile, and would have passed on. +This would not have suited Donna Tullia's intentions, however, for she +meant to have a good look at her friend. It was not for nothing that she +had made up her mind to go to confession at a moment's notice. She +therefore stopped the Duchessa, and insisted upon shaking hands. + +"What an extraordinary coincidence!" she exclaimed. "You must have been +to see Padre Filippo too?" + +"Yes," answered Corona. "You will find him in the sacristy." She noticed +that Madame Mayer regarded her with great interest. Indeed she could +hardly be aware how unlike her usual self she appeared. There were dark +rings beneath her eyes, and her eyes themselves seemed to emit a strange +light; while an unwonted colour illuminated her olive cheeks, and her +voice had a curiously excited tone. Madame Mayer stared at her so hard +that she noticed it. + +"Why do you look at me like that?" asked the Duchessa, with a smile. + +"I was wondering what in the world you could find to confess," replied +Donna Tullia, sweetly. "You are so immensely good, you see; everybody +wonders at you." + +Corona's eyes flashed darkly. She suspected that Madame Mayer noticed +something unusual in her appearance, and had made the awkward speech to +conceal her curiosity. She was annoyed at the meeting, still more at +being detained in conversation within the church. + +"It is very kind of you to invest me with such virtues," she answered. "I +assure you I am not half so good as you suppose. Good-bye--I must be +going home." + +"Stay!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "I can go to confession another time. +Will not you come with me to Gouache's studio? I am going to sit. It is +such a bore to go alone." + +"Thank you very much," said Corona, civilly. "I am afraid I cannot go. My +husband expects me at home. I wish you a good sitting." + +"Well, good-bye. Oh, I forgot to tell you, we had such a charming picnic +yesterday. It was so fortunate--the only fine day this week. Giovanni was +very amusing: he was completely _en train_, and kept us laughing the +whole day. Good-bye; I do so wish you had come." + +"I was very sorry," answered Corona, quietly, "but it was impossible. I +am glad you all enjoyed it so much. Good-bye." + +So they parted. + +"How she wishes that same husband of hers would follow the example of my +excellent old Mayer, of blessed memory, and take himself out of the world +to-day or to-morrow!" thought Donna Tullia, as she walked up the church. + +She was sure something unusual had occurred, and she longed to fathom the +mystery. But she was not altogether a bad woman, and when she had +collected her thoughts she made up her mind that even by the utmost +stretch of moral indulgence, she could not consider herself in a proper +state to undertake so serious a matter as confession. She therefore +waited a few minutes, to give time for Corona to drive away, and then +turned back. She cautiously pushed aside the curtain and looked out. +The Astrardente carriage was just disappearing in the distance. Donna +Tullia descended the steps, got into her brougham, and proceeded to the +studio of Monsieur Anastase Gouache, the portrait-painter. She had not +accomplished much, save to rouse her curiosity, and that parting thrust +concerning Don Giovanni had been rather ill-timed. + +She drove to the door of the studio and found Del Ferice waiting for her +as usual. If Corona had accompanied her, she would have expressed +astonishment at finding him; but, as a matter of fact, Ugo always met +her there, and helped to pass the time while she was sitting. He was very +amusing, and not altogether unsympathetic to her; and moreover, he +professed for her the most profound devotion--genuine, perhaps, and +certainly skilfully expressed. If any one had paid much attention to Del +Fence's doings, it would have been said that he was paying court to the +rich young widow. But he was never looked upon by society from the point +of view of matrimonial possibility, and no one thought of attaching any +importance to his doings. Nevertheless Ugo, who had been gradually rising +in the social scale for many years, saw no reason why he should not win +the hand of Donna Tullia as well as any one else, if only Giovanni +Saracinesca could be kept out of the way; and he devoted himself with +becoming assiduity to the service of the widow, while doing his utmost to +promote Giovanni's attachment for the Astrardente, which he had been the +first to discover. Donna Tullia would probably have laughed to scorn the +idea that Del Ferice could think of himself seriously as a suitor, but of +all her admirers she found him the most constant and the most convenient. + +"What are the news this morning?" she asked, as he opened her +carriage-door for her before the studio. + +"None, save that I am your faithful slave as ever," he answered. + +"I have just seen the Astrardente," said Donna Tullia, still sitting in +her seat. "I will let you guess where it was that we met." + +"You met in the church of the Capuchins," replied Del Ferice promptly, +with a smile of satisfaction. + +"You are a sorcerer: how did you know? Did you guess it?" + +"If you will look down this street from where I stand, you will perceive +that I could distinctly see any carriage which turned out of the Piazza +Barberini towards the Capuchins," replied Ugo. "She was there nearly an +hour, and you only stayed five minutes." + +"How dreadful it is to be watched like this!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, +with a little laugh, half expressive of satisfaction and half of +amusement at Del Fence's devotion. + +"How can I help watching you, as the earth watches the sun in its daily +course?" said Ugo, with a sentimental intonation of his soft persuasive +voice. Donna Tullia looked at his smooth face, and laughed again, half +kindly. + +"The Astrardente had been confessing her sins," she remarked. + +"Again? She is always confessing." + +"What do you suppose she finds to say?" asked Donna Tullia. + +"That her husband is hideous, and that you are beautiful," answered Del +Ferice, readily enough. + +"Why?" + +"Because she hates her husband and hates you." + +"Why, again?" + +"Because you took Giovanni Saracinesca to your picnic yesterday; because +you are always taking him away from her. For the matter of that, I hate +him as much as the Astrardente hates you," added Del Ferice, with an +agreeable smile. Donna Tullia did not despise flattery, but Ugo made her +thoughtful. + +"Do you think she really cares--?" she asked. + +"As surely as that he does not," replied Del Ferice. + +"It would be strange," said Donna Tullia, meditatively. "I would like to +know if it is true." + +"You have only to watch them." + +"Surely Giovanni cares more than she does," objected Madame Mayer. +"Everybody says he loves her; nobody says she loves him." + +"All the more reason. Popular report is always mistaken--except +in regard to you." + +"To me?" + +"Since it ascribes to you so much that is good, it cannot be wrong," +replied Del Ferice. + +Donna Tullia laughed, and took his hand to descend from her carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Monsieur Gouache's studio was on the second floor. The narrow flight of +steps ended abruptly against a green door, perforated by a slit for the +insertion of letters, by a shabby green cord which, being pulled, rang a +feeble bell, and adorned by a visiting-card, whereon with many +superfluous flourishes and ornaments of caligraphy was inscribed the name +of the artist--ANASTASE GOUACHE. + +The door being opened by a string, Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, +and mounting half-a-dozen more steps, found themselves in the studio, a +spacious room with a window high above the floor, half shaded by a +curtain of grey cotton. In one corner an iron stove gave out loud +cracking sounds, pleasant to hear on the damp winter's morning, and the +flame shone red through chinks of the rusty door. A dark-green carpet in +passably good condition covered the floor; three or four broad divans, +spread with oriental rugs, and two very much dilapidated carved chairs +with leathern seats, constituted the furniture; the walls were hung with +sketches of heads and figures; half-finished portraits stood upon two +easels, and others were leaning together in a corner; a couple of small +tables were covered with colour-tubes, brushes, and palette-knives; +mingled odours of paint, varnish, and cigarette-smoke pervaded the air; +and, lastly, upon a high stool before one of the easels, his sleeves +turned up to the elbow, and his feet tucked in upon a rail beneath him, +sat Anastase Gouache himself. + +He was a man of not more than seven-and-twenty years, with delicate pale +features, and an abundance of glossy black hair. A small and very much +pointed moustache shaded his upper lip, and the extremities thereof rose +short and perpendicular from the corners of his well-shaped mouth. His +eyes were dark and singularly expressive, his forehead low and very +broad; his hands were sufficiently nervous and well knit, but white as a +woman's, and the fingers tapered delicately to the tips. He wore a brown +velvet coat more or less daubed with paint, and his collar was low at the +throat. + +He sprang from his high stool as Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, his +palette and mahl-stick in his hand, and made a most ceremonious bow; +whereat Donna Tullia laughed gaily. + +"Well, Gouache," she said familiarly, "what have you been doing?" + +Anastase motioned to her to come before his canvas and contemplate the +portrait of herself upon which he was working. It was undeniably good--a +striking figure in full-length, life-size, and breathing with Donna +Tullia's vitality, if also with something of her coarseness. + +"Ah, my friend," remarked Del Ferice, "you will never be successful until +you take my advice." + +"I think it is very like," said Donna Tullia, thoughtfully. + +"You are too modest," answered Del Ferice. "There is the foundation of +likeness, but it lacks yet the soul." + +"Oh, but that will come," returned Madame Mayer. Then turning to the +artist, she added in a more doubtful voice, "Perhaps, as Del Ferice says, +you might give it a little more expression--what shall I say?--more +poetry." + +Anastase Gouache smiled a fine smile. He was a man of immense talent; +since he had won the Prix de Rome he had made great progress, and was +already half famous with that young celebrity which young men easily +mistake for fame itself. A new comet visible only through a good glass +causes a deal of talk and speculation in the world; but unless it comes +near enough to brush the earth with its tail, it is very soon forgotten. +But Gouache seemed to understand this, and worked steadily on. When +Madame Mayer expressed a wish for a little more poetry in her portrait, +he smiled, well knowing that poetry was as far removed from her nature as +dry champagne is different in quality from small beer. + +"Yes," he said; "I know--I am only too conscious of that defect." As +indeed he was--conscious of the defect of it in herself. But he had many +reasons for not wishing to quarrel with Donna Tullia, and he swallowed +his artistic convictions in a rash resolve to make her look like an +inspired prophetess rather than displease her. + +"If you will sit down, I will work upon the head," he said; and moving +one of the old carved chairs into position for her, he adjusted the light +and began to work without any further words. Del Ferice installed himself +upon a divan whence he could see Donna Tullia and her portrait, and the +sitting began. It might have continued for some time in a profound +silence as far as the two men were concerned, but silence was not +bearable for long to Donna Tullia. + +"What were you and Saracinesca talking about yesterday?" she asked +suddenly, looking towards Del Ferice. + +"Politics," he answered, and was silent. + +"Well?" inquired Madame Mayer, rather anxiously. + +"I am sure you know his views as well as I," returned Del Ferice, rather +gloomily. "He is stupid and prejudiced." + +"Really?" ejaculated Gouache, with innocent surprise. "A little more +towards me, Madame. Thank you--so." And he continued painting. + +"You are absurd, Del Ferice!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, colouring a little. +"You think every one prejudiced and stupid who does not agree with you." + +"With me? With you, with us, you should say. Giovanni is a specimen of +the furious Conservative, who hates change and has a cold chill at the +word 'republic' Do you call that intelligent?" + +"Giovanni is intelligent for all that," answered Madame Mayer. "I am not +sure that he is not more intelligent than you--in some ways," she added, +after allowing her rebuke to take effect. + +Del Ferice smiled blandly. It was not his business to show that he was +hurt. + +"In one thing he is stupid compared with me," he replied. "He is very far +from doing justice to your charms. It must be a singular lack of +intelligence which prevents him from seeing that you are as beautiful as +you are charming. Is it not so, Gouache?" + +"Does any one deny it?" asked the Frenchman, with an air of devotion. + +Madame Mayer blushed with annoyance; both because she coveted Giovanni's +admiration more than that of other men, and knew that she had not won it, +and because she hated to feel that Del Ferice was able to wound her so +easily. To cover her discomfiture she returned to the subject of +politics. + +"We talk a great deal of our convictions," she said; "but in the +meanwhile we must acknowledge that we have accomplished nothing at all. +What is the good of our meeting here two or three times a-week, meeting +in society, whispering together, corresponding in cipher, and doing all +manner of things, when everything goes on just the same as before?" + +"Better give it up and join Don Giovanni and his party," returned Del +Ferice, with a sneer. "He says if a change comes he will make the best of +it. Of course, we could not do better." + +"With us it is so easy," said Gouache, thoughtfully. "A handful of +students, a few paving-stones, 'Vive la République!' and we have a tumult +in no time." + +That was not the kind of revolution in which Del Ferice proposed to have +a hand. He meditated playing a very small part in some great movement; +and when the fighting should be over, he meant to exaggerate the part he +had played, and claim a substantial reward. For a good title and twenty +thousand francs a-year he would have become as stanch for the temporal +power as any canon of St. Peter's. When he had begun talking of +revolutions to Madame Mayer and to half-a-dozen harebrained youths, of +whom Gouache the painter was one, he had not really the slightest idea of +accomplishing anything. He took advantage of the prevailing excitement +in order to draw Donna Tullia into a closer confidence than he could +otherwise have aspired to obtain. He wanted to marry her, and every new +power he could obtain over her was a step towards his goal. Neither she +nor her friends were of the stuff required for revolutionary work; but +Del Ferice had hopes that, by means of the knot of malcontents he was +gradually drawing together, he might ruin Giovanni Saracinesca, and get +the hand of Donna Tullia in marriage. He himself was indeed deeply +implicated in the plots of the Italian party; but he was only employed as +a spy, and in reality knew no more of the real intentions of those he +served than did Donna Tullia herself. But the position was sufficiently +lucrative; so much so that he had been obliged to account for his +accession of fortune by saying that an uncle of his had died and left him +money. + +"If you expected Don Giovanni to join a mob of students in tearing up +paving-stones and screaming 'Vive la République!' I am not surprised that +you are disappointed in your expectations," said Donna Tullia, rather +scornfully. + +"That is only Gouache's idea of a popular movement," answered Del Ferice. + +"And yours," returned Anastase, lowering his mahl-stick and brushes, and +turning sharply upon the Italian--"yours would be to begin by stabbing +Cardinal Antonelli in the back." + +"You mistake me, my friend," returned Del Ferice, blandly. "If you +volunteered to perform that service to Italy, I would certainly not +dissuade you. But I would certainly not offer you my assistance." + +"Fie! How can you talk like that of murder!" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "Go +on with your painting, Gouache, and do not be ridiculous." + +"The question of tyrannicide is marvellously interesting," answered +Anastase in a meditative tone, as he resumed his work, and glanced +critically from Madame Mayer to his canvas and back again. + +"It belongs to a class of actions at which Del Ferice rejoices, but in +which he desires no part," said Donna Tullia. + +"It seems to me wiser to contemplate accomplishing the good result +without any unnecessary and treacherous bloodshed," answered Del Ferice, +sententiously. Again Gouache smiled in his delicate satirical fashion, +and glanced at Madame Mayer, who burst into a laugh. + +"Moral reflections never sound so especially and ridiculously moral as in +your mouth, Ugo," she said. + +"Why?" he asked, in an injured tone. + +"I am sure I do not know. Of course, we all would like to see Victor +Emmanuel in the Quirinal, and Rome the capital of a free Italy. Of course +we would all like to see it accomplished without murder or bloodshed; but +somehow, when you put it into words, it sounds very absurd." + +In her brutal fashion Madame Mayer had hit upon a great truth, and Del +Ferice was very much annoyed. He knew himself to be a scoundrel; he knew +Madame Mayer to be a woman of very commonplace intellect; he wondered +why he was not able to deceive her more effectually. He was often able to +direct her, he sometimes elicited from her some expression of admiration +at his astuteness; but in spite of his best efforts, she saw through him +and understood him better than he liked. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that what is honourable should sound ridiculous +when it comes from me. I like to think sometimes that you believe in me." + +"Oh, I do," protested Donna Tullia, with a sudden change of manner. "I +was only laughing. I think you are really in earnest. Only, you know, +nowadays, it is not the fashion to utter moralities in a severe tone, +with an air of conviction. A little dash of cynicism--you know, a sort of +half sneer--is so much more _chic_; it gives a much higher idea of the +morality, because it conveys the impression that it is utterly beyond +you. Ask Gouache--" + +"By all means," said the artist, squeezing a little more red from the +tube upon his palette, "one should always sneer at what one cannot reach. +The fox, you remember, called the grapes sour. He was probably right, for +he is the most intelligent of animals." + +"I would like to hear what Giovanni had to say about those grapes," +remarked Donna Tullia. + +"Oh, he sneered in the most fashionable way," answered Del Ferice. "He +would have pleased you immensely. He said that he would be ruined by a +change of government, and that he thought it his duty to fight against +it. He talked a great deal about the level of the Tiber, and landed +property, and the duties of gentlemen. And he ended by saying he would +make the best of any change that happened to come about, like a +thoroughgoing egotist, as he is!" + +"I would like to hear what you think of Don Giovanni Saracinesca," said +Gouache; "and then I would like to hear what he thinks of you." + +"I can tell you both," answered Del Fence. "I think of him that he is a +thorough aristocrat, full of prejudices and money, unwilling to sacrifice +his convictions to his wealth or his wealth to his convictions, +intelligent in regard to his own interests and blind to those of others, +imbued with a thousand and one curious feudal notions, and overcome with +a sense of his own importance." + +"And what does he think of you?" asked Anastase, working busily. + +"Oh, it is very simple," returned Del Ferice, with a laugh. "He thinks I +am a great scoundrel." + +"Really! How strange! I should not have said that." + +"What? That Del Fence is a scoundrel?" asked Donna Tullia, laughing. + +"No; I should not have said it," repeated Anastase, thoughtfully. "I +should say that our friend Del Ferice is a man of the most profound +philanthropic convictions, nobly devoting his life to the pursuit of +liberty, fraternity, and equality." + +"Do you really think so?" asked Donna Tullia, with a half-comic glance at +Ugo, who looked uncommonly grave. + +"Madame," returned Gouache, "I never permit myself to think otherwise of +any of my friends." + +"Upon my word," remarked Del Fence, "I am delighted at the compliment, my +dear fellow; but I must infer that your judgment of your friends is +singularly limited." + +"Perhaps," answered Gouache. "But the number of my friends is not large, +and I myself am very enthusiastic. I look forward to the day when +'liberty, equality, and fraternity' shall be inscribed in letters of +flame, in the most expensive Bengal lights if you please, over the _porte +cochère_ of every palace in Rome, not to mention the churches. I look +forward to that day, but I have not the slightest expectation of ever +seeing it. Moreover, if it ever comes, I will pack up my palette and +brushes and go somewhere else by the nearest route." + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "how can you talk like +that? It is really dreadfully irreverent to jest about our most sacred +convictions, or to say that we desire to see those words written over the +doors of our churches!" + +"I am not jesting. I worship Victor Hugo. I love to dream of the +universal republic--it has immense artistic attractions--the fierce +yelling crowd, the savage faces, the red caps, the terrible mænad women +urging the brawny ruffians on to shed more blood, the lurid light of +burning churches, the pale and trembling victims dragged beneath the +poised knife,--ah, it is superb, it has stupendous artistic capabilities! +But for myself--bah! I am a good Catholic--I wish nobody any harm, for +life is very gay after all." + +At this remarkable exposition of Anastase Gouache's views in regard to +the utility of revolutions, Del Ferice laughed loudly; but Anastase +remained perfectly grave, for he was perfectly sincere. Del Ferice, to +whom the daily whispered talk of revolution in Donna Tullia's circle was +mere child's play, was utterly indifferent, and suffered himself to be +amused by the young artist's vagaries. But Donna Tullia, who longed to +see herself the centre of a real plot, thought that she was being +laughed at, and pouted her red lips and frowned her displeasure. + +"I believe you have no convictions!" she said angrily. "While we are +risking our lives and fortunes for the good cause, you sit here in your +studio dreaming of barricades and guillotines, merely as subjects for +pictures--you even acknowledge that in case we produce a revolution +you would go away." + +"Not without finishing this portrait," returned Anastase, quite unmoved. +"It is an exceedingly good likeness; and in case you should ever +disappear--you know people sometimes do in revolutions--or if by any +unlucky accident your beautiful neck should chance beneath that +guillotine you just mentioned,--why, then, this canvas would be the most +delightful souvenir of many pleasant mornings, would it not?" + +"You are incorrigible," said Donna Tullia, with a slight laugh. "You +cannot be serious for a moment." + +"It is very hard to paint you when your expression changes so often," +replied Anastase, calmly. + +"I am not in a good humour for sitting to you this morning. I wish you +would amuse me, Del Ferice. You generally can." + +"I thought politics amused you--" + +"They interest me. But Gouache's ideas are detestable." + +"Will you not give us some of your own, Madame?" inquired the painter, +stepping back from his canvas to get a better view of his work. + +"Oh, mine are very simple," answered Donna Tullia. "Victor Emmanuel, +Garibaldi, and a free press." + +"A combination of monarchy, republicanism, and popular education--not +very interesting," remarked Gouache, still eyeing his picture. + +"No; there would be nothing for you to paint, except portraits of the +liberators--" + +"There is a great deal of that done. I have seen them in every café in +the north of Italy," interrupted the artist. "I would like to paint +Garibaldi. He has a fine head." + +"I will ask him to sit to you when he comes here." + +"When he comes I shall be here no longer," answered Gouache. "They will +whitewash the Corso, they will make a restaurant of the Colosseum, and +they will hoist the Italian flag on the cross of St. Peter's. Then I will +go to Constantinople; there will still be some years before Turkey is +modernised." + +"Artists are hopeless people," said Del Ferice. "They are utterly +illogical, and it is impossible to deal with them. If you like old +cities, why do you not like old women? Why would you not rather paint +Donna Tullia's old Countess than Donna Tullia herself?" + +"That is precisely the opposite case," replied Anastase, quietly. "The +works of man are never so beautiful as when they are falling to decay; +the works of God are most beautiful when they are young. You might as +well say that because wine improves with age, therefore horses do +likewise. The faculty of comparison is lacking in your mind, my dear Del +Ferice, as it is generally lacking in the minds of true patriots. Great +reforms and great revolutions are generally brought about by people of +fierce and desperate convictions, like yours, who go to extreme lengths, +and never know when to stop. The quintessence of an artist's talent is +precisely that faculty of comparison, that gift of knowing when the thing +he is doing corresponds as nearly as he can make it with the thing he has +imagined." + +There was no tinge of sarcasm in Gouache's voice as he imputed to Del +Ferice the savage enthusiasm of a revolutionist. But when Gouache, who +was by no means calm by nature, said anything in a particularly gentle +tone, there was generally a sting in it, and Del Ferice reflected upon +the mean traffic in stolen information by which he got his livelihood, +and was ashamed. Somehow, too, Donna Tullia felt that the part she +fancied herself playing was contemptible enough when compared with the +hard work, the earnest purpose, and the remarkable talent of the young +artist. But though she felt her inferiority, she would have died rather +than own it, even to Del Ferice. She knew that for months she had talked +with Del Ferice, with Valdarno, with Casalverde, even with the melancholy +and ironical Spicca, concerning conspiracies and deeds of darkness of all +kinds, and she knew that she and they might go on talking for ever in the +same strain without producing the smallest effect on events; but she +never to the very end relinquished the illusion she cherished so dearly, +that she was really and truly a conspirator, and that if any one of her +light-headed acquaintance betrayed the rest, they might all be ordered +out of Rome in four-and-twenty hours, or might even disappear into that +long range of dark buildings to the left of the colonnade of St. Peter's, +martyrs to the cause of their own self-importance and semi-theatrical +vanity. There were many knots of such self-fancied conspirators in those +days, whose wildest deed of daring was to whisper across a glass of +champagne in a ball-room, or over a tumbler of Velletri wine in a +Trasteverine cellar, the magic and awe-inspiring words, "Viva Garibaldi! +Viva Vittorio!" They accomplished nothing. The same men and women are now +grumbling and regretting the flesh-pots of the old Government, or +whispering in impotent discontent "Viva la Repubblica!" and they and +their descendants will go on whispering something to each other to the +end of time, while mightier hands than theirs are tearing down empires +and building up irresistible coalitions, and drawing red pencil-marks +through the geography of Europe. + +The conspirators of those days accomplished nothing after Pius IX. +returned from Gaeta; the only men who were of any use at all were those +who, like Del Ferice, had sources of secret information, and basely sold +their scraps of news. But even they were of small importance. The moment +had not come, and all the talking and whispering and tale-bearing in the +world could not hasten events, nor change their course. But Donna Tullia +was puffed up with a sense of her importance, and Del Ferice managed to +attract just as much attention to his harmless chatter about progress as +would permit him undisturbed to carry on his lucrative traffic in secret +information. + +Donna Tullia, who was not in the least artistic, and who by no means +appreciated the merits of the portrait Gouache was painting, was very far +from comprehending his definition of artistic comparison; but Del Ferice +understood it very well. Donna Tullia had much foreign blood in her +veins, like most of her class; but Del Ferice's obscure descent was in +all probability purely Italian, and he had inherited the common instinct +in matters of art which is a part of the Italian birthright. He had +recognised Gouache's wonderful talent, and had first brought Donna Tullia +to his studio--a matter of little difficulty when she had learned that +the young artist had already a reputation. It pleased her to fancy that +by telling him to paint her portrait she might pose as his patroness, and +hereafter reap the reputation of having influenced his career. For +fashion, and the desire to be the representative of fashion, led Donna +Tullia hither and thither as a lapdog is led by a string; and there +is nothing more in the fashion than to patronise a fashionable +portrait-painter. + +But after Anastase Gouache had thus delivered himself of his views upon +Del Ferice and the faculty of artistic comparison, the conversation +languished, and Donna Tullia grew restless. "She had sat enough," she +said; and as her expression was not favourable to the portrait, Anastase +did not contradict her, but presently suffered her to depart in peace +with her devoted adorer at her heels. And when they were gone, Anastase +lighted a cigarette, and took a piece of charcoal and sketched a +caricature of Donna Tullia in a liberty cap, in a fine theatrical +attitude, invoking the aid of Del Ferice, who appeared as the Angel of +Death, with the guillotine in the background. Having put the finishing +touches to this work of art, Anastase locked his studio and went to +breakfast, humming an air from the "Belle Hélène." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +When Corona reached home she went to her own small boudoir, with the +intention of remaining there for an hour if she could do so without being +disturbed. There was a prospect of this; for on inquiry she ascertained +that her husband was not yet dressed, and his dressing took a very long +time. He had a cosmopolitan valet, who alone of living men understood the +art of fitting the artificial and the natural Astrardente together. +Corona believed this man to be an accomplished scoundrel; but she never +had any proof that he was anything worse than a very clever servant, +thoroughly unscrupulous where his master's interests or his own were +concerned. The old Duca believed in him sincerely and trusted him alone, +feeling that since he could never be a hero in his valet's eyes, he might +as well take advantage of that misfortune in order to gain a confident. + +Corona found three or four letters upon her table, and sat down to read +them, letting her fur mantle drop to the floor, and putting her small +feet out towards the fire, for the pavement of the church had been cold. + +She was destined to pass an eventful day, it seemed. One of the letters +was from Giovanni Saracinesca. It was the first time he had ever written +to her, and she was greatly surprised on finding his name at the foot of +the page. He wrote a strong clear handwriting, entirely without adornment +of penmanship, close and regular and straight: there was an air of +determination about it which was sympathetic, and a conciseness of +expression which startled Corona, as though she had heard the man himself +speaking to her. + +"I write, dear Duchessa, because I covet your good opinion, and my motive +is therefore before all things an interested one. I would not have you +think that I had idly asked your advice about a thing so important to me +as my marriage, in order to discard your counsel at the first +opportunity. There was too much reason in the view you took of the matter +to admit of my not giving your opinion all the weight I could, even if I +had not already determined upon the very course you advised. +Circumstances have occurred, however, which have almost induced me to +change my mind. I have had an interview with my father, who has put the +matter very plainly before me. I hardly know how to tell you this, but I +feel that I owe it to you to explain myself, however much you may despise +me for what I am going to say. It is very simple, nevertheless. My father +has informed me that by my conduct I have caused my name to be coupled +in the mouth of the gossips with that of a person very dear to me, but +whom I am unfortunately prevented from marrying. He has convinced me that +I owe to this lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me, the +only reparation possible to be made--that of taking a wife, and thus +publicly demonstrating that there was never any truth in what has been +said. As a marriage will probably be forced upon me some day, it is as +well to let things take their course at once, in order that a step so +disagreeable to myself may at least distantly profit one whom I love in +removing me from the appearance of being a factor in her life. The gossip +about me has never reached your ears, but if it should, you will be the +better able to understand my position. + +"Do not think, therefore, that if I do not follow your advice I am +altogether inconsistent, or that I wantonly presumed to consult you +without any intention of being guided by you. Forgive me also this +letter, which I am impelled to write from somewhat mean motives of +vanity, in the hope of not altogether forfeiting your opinion; and +especially I beg you to believe that I am at all times the most obedient +of your servants, + +"GIOVANNI SARACINESCA." + +Of what use was it that she had that morning determined to forget +Giovanni, since he had the power of thus bringing himself before her by +means of a scrap of paper? Corona's hand closed upon the letter +convulsively, and for a moment the room seemed to swim around her. + +So there was some one whom he loved, some one for whose fair name he was +willing to sacrifice himself even to the extent of marrying against his +will. Some one, too, who not only did not love him, but took no interest +whatever in him. Those were his own words, and they must be true, for he +never lied. That accounted for his accompanying Donna Tullia to the +picnic. He was going to marry her after all. To save the woman he loved +so hopelessly from the mere suspicion of being loved by him, he was going +to tie himself for life to the first who would marry him. That would +never prevent the gossips from saying that he loved this other woman as +much as ever. It could do her no great harm, since she took no interest +whatever in him. Who could she be, this cold creature, whom even Giovanni +could not move to interest? It was absurd--the letter was absurd--the +whole thing was absurd! None but a madman would think of pursuing such a +course; and why should he think it necessary to confide his plans--his +very foolish plans--to her, Corona d'Astrardente,--why? Ah, Giovanni, how +different things might have been! + +Corona rose angrily from her seat and leaned against the broad +chimney-piece, and looked at the clock--it was nearly mid-day. He might +marry whom he pleased, and be welcome--what was it to her? He might marry +and sacrifice himself if he pleased--what was it to her? + +She thought of her own life. She, too, had sacrificed herself; she, too, +had tied herself for life to a man she despised in her heart, and she had +done it for an object she had thought good. She looked steadily at the +clock, for she would not give way, nor bend her head and cry bitter tears +again; but the tears were in her eyes, nevertheless. + +"Giovanni, you must not do it--you must not do it!" Her lips formed the +words without speaking them, and repeated the thought again and again. +Her heart beat fast and her cheeks flushed darkly. She spread out the +crumpled letter and read it once more. As she read, the most intense +curiosity seized her to know who this woman might be whom Giovanni so +loved; and with her curiosity there was a new feeling--an utterly hateful +and hating passion--something so strong, that it suddenly dried her tears +and sent the blood from her cheeks back to her heart. Her white hand was +clenched, and her eyes were on fire. Ah, if she could only find that +woman he loved! if she could only see her dead--dead with Giovanni +Saracinesca there upon the floor before her! As she thought of it, she +stamped her foot upon the thick carpet, and her face grew paler. She did +not know what it was that she felt, but it completely overmastered her. +Padre Filippo would be pleased, she thought, for she knew how in that +moment she hated Giovanni Saracinesca. + +With a sudden impulse she again sat down and opened the letter next to +her hand. It was a gossiping epistle from a friend in Paris, full of +stories of the day, exclamations upon fashion and all kinds of emptiness; +she was about to throw it down impatiently and take up the next when her +eyes caught Giovanni's name. + +"Of course it is not true that Saracinesca is to marry Madame +Mayer..." were the words she read. But that was all. There chanced to +have been just room for the sentence at the foot of the page, and by the +time her friend had turned over the leaf, she had already forgotten what +she had written, and was running on with a different idea. It seemed as +though Corona were haunted by Giovanni at every turn; but she had not +reached the end yet, for one letter still remained. She tore open the +envelope, and found that the contents consisted of a few lines penned in +a small and irregular hand, without signature. There was an air of +disguise about the whole, which was unpleasant; it was written upon a +common sort of paper, and had come through the city post. It ran as +follows:-- + +"The Duchessa d'Astrardente reminds us of the fable of the dog in the +horse's manger, for she can neither eat herself nor let others eat. She +will not accept Don Giovanni Saracinesca's devotion, but she effectually +prevents him from fulfilling his engagements to others." + +If Corona had been in her ordinary mood, she would very likely have +laughed at the anonymous communication. She had formerly received more +than one passionate declaration, not signed indeed, but accompanied +always by some clue to the identity of the writer, and she had carelessly +thrown them into the fire. But there was no such indication here whereby +she might discover who it was who had undertaken to criticise her, to +cast upon her so unjust an accusation. Moreover, she was very angry and +altogether thrown out of her usually calm humour. Her first impulse was +to go to her husband, and in the strength of her innocence to show him +the letter. Then she laughed bitterly as she thought how the selfish old +dandy would scoff at her sensitiveness, and how utterly incapable he +would be of discovering the offender or of punishing the offence. Then +again her face was grave, and she asked herself whether it was true that +she was innocent; whether she were not really to be blamed, if perhaps +she had really prevented Giovanni from marrying Donna Tullia. + +But if that were true, she must herself be the woman he spoke of in his +letter. Any other woman would have suspected as much. Corona went to the +window, and for an instant there was a strange light of pleasure in her +face. Then she grew very thoughtful, and her whole mood changed. She +could not conceive it possible that Giovanni so loved her as to marry for +her sake. Besides, no one could ever have breathed a word of him in +connection with herself--until this abominable anonymous letter was +written. + +The thought that she might, after all, be the "person very dear to him," +the one who "took no interest whatever in him," had nevertheless crossed +her mind, and had given her for one moment a sense of wild and +indescribable pleasure. Then she remembered what she had felt before; how +angry, how utterly beside herself, she had been at the thought of another +woman being loved by him, and she suddenly understood that she was +jealous of her. The very thought revived in her the belief that it was +not she herself who was thus influencing the life of Giovanni +Saracinesca, but another, and she sat silent and pale. + +Of course it was another! What had she done, what word had she spoken, +whereby the world might pretend to believe that she controlled this man's +actions? "Fulfilling his engagements," the letter said, too. It must have +been written by an ignorant person--by some one who had no idea of what +was passing, and who wrote at random, hoping to touch a sensitive chord, +to do some harm, to inflict some pain, in petty vengeance for a fancied +slight. But in her heart, though she crushed down the instinct, she +would have believed the anonymous jest well founded, for the sake of +believing, too, that Giovanni Saracinesca was ready to lay his life at +her feet--although in that belief she would have felt that she was +committing a mortal sin. + +She went back to her interview that morning with Padre Filippo, and +thought over all she had said and all he had answered; how she had been +willing to admit the possibility of Giovanni's love, and how sternly the +confessor had ruled down the clause, and told her there should never +arise such a doubt in her mind; how she had scorned herself for being +capable of seeking love where there was none, and how she had sworn that +there should be no perhaps in the matter. It seemed very hard to do +right, but she would try to see where the right lay. In the first place, +she should burn the anonymous letter, and never condescend to think of +it; and she should also burn Giovanni's, because it would be an injustice +to him to keep it. She looked once more at the unsigned, ill-written +page, and, with a little scornful laugh, threw it from where she sat into +the fire with its envelope; then she took Giovanni's note, and would +have done the same, but her hand trembled, and the crumpled bit of paper +fell upon the hearth. She rose from her chair quickly, and took it up +again, kneeling before the fire, like some beautiful dark priestess of +old feeding the flames of a sacred altar. She smoothed the paper out once +more, and once more read the even characters, and looked long at the +signature, and back again to the writing. + +"This lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me...." + +"How could he say it!" she exclaimed aloud. "Oh, if I knew who she was!" +With an impatient movement she thrust the letter among the coals, and +watched the fire curl it and burn it, from white to brown and from brown +to black, till it was all gone. Then she rose to her feet and left the +room. + +Her husband certainly did not guess that the Duchessa d'Astrardente had +spent so eventful a morning; and if any one had told him that his wife +had been through a dozen stages of emotion, he would have laughed, and +would have told his informant that Corona was not of the sort who +experience violent passions. That evening they went to the opera +together, and the old man was in an unusually cheerful humour. A new coat +had just arrived from Paris, and the padding had attained a higher degree +of scientific perfection than heretofore. Corona also looked more +beautiful than even her husband ever remembered to have seen her; she +wore a perfectly simple gown of black satin without the smallest relief +of colour, and upon her neck the famous Astrardente necklace of pearls, +three strings of even thickness, each jewel exquisitely white and just +lighted in its shadow by a delicate pink tinge--such a necklace as an +empress might have worn. In the raven masses of her hair there was not +the least ornament, nor did any flower enhance the rich blackness of its +silken coils. It would be impossible to imagine greater simplicity than +Corona showed in her dress, but it would be hard to conceive of any woman +who possessed by virtue of severe beauty a more indubitable right to +dispense with ornament. + +The theatre was crowded. There was a performance of "Norma" for which +several celebrated artists had been engaged--an occurrence so rare in +Rome, that the theatre was absolutely full. The Astrardente box was +upon the second tier, just where the amphitheatre began to curve. There +was room in it for four or five persons to see the stage. + +The Duchessa and her husband arrived in the middle of the first act, and +remained alone until it was over. Corona was extremely fond of "Norma," +and after she was seated never took her eyes from the stage. Astrardente, +on the other hand, maintained his character as a man of no illusions, and +swept the house with his small opera-glass. The instrument itself was +like him, and would have been appropriate for a fine lady of the First +Empire; it was of mother-of-pearl, made very small and light, the +metal-work upon it heavily gilt and ornamented with turquoises. The old +man glanced from time to time at the stage, and then again settled +himself to the study of the audience, which interested him far more than +the opera. + +"Every human being you ever heard of is here," he remarked at the end of +the first act. "Really I should think you would find it worth while to +look at your magnificent fellow-creatures, my dear." + +Corona looked slowly round the house. She had excellent eyes, and never +used a glass. She saw the same faces she had seen for five years, the +same occasional flash of beauty, the same average number of over-dressed +women, the same paint, the same feathers, the same jewels. She saw +opposite to her Madame Mayer, with the elderly countess whom she +patronised for the sake of deafness, and found convenient as a sort of +flying chaperon. The countess could not hear much of the music, but she +was fond of the world and liked to be seen, and she could not hear at all +what Del Ferice said in an undertone to Madame Mayer. Sufficient to her +were the good things of the day; the rest was in no way her business. +There was Valdarno in the club-box, with a knot of other men of his own +stamp. There were the Rocca, mother and daughter and son--a boy of +eighteen--and a couple of men in the back of the box. Everybody was +there, as her husband had said; and as she dropped her glance toward +the stalls, she was aware of Giovanni Saracinesca's black eyes looking +anxiously up to her. A faint smile crossed her serene face, and almost +involuntarily she nodded to him and then looked away. Many men were +watching her, and bowed as she glanced at them, and she bent her head to +each; but there was no smile for any save Giovanni, and when she looked +again to where he had been standing with his back to the stage, he was +gone from his place. + +"They are the same old things," said Astrardente, "but they are still +very amusing. Madame Mayer always seems to get the wrong man into her +box. She would give all those diamonds to have Giovanni Saracinesca +instead of that newsmonger fellow. If he comes here I will send him +across." + +"Perhaps she likes Del Ferice," suggested Corona. + +"He is a good lapdog--a very good dog," answered her husband. "He cannot +bite at all, and his bark is so soft that you would take it for the +mewing of a kitten. He fetches and carries admirably." + +"Those are good points, but not interesting ones. He is very tiresome +with his eternal puns and insipid compliments, and his gossip." + +"But he is so very harmless," answered Astrardente, with compassionate +scorn. "He is incapable of doing an injury. Donna Tullia is wise in +adopting him as her slave. She would not be so safe with Saracinesca, for +instance. If you feel the need of an admirer, my dear, take Del Ferice. I +have no objection to him." + +"Why should I need admirers?" asked Corona, quietly. + +"I was merely jesting, my love. Is not your own husband the greatest of +your admirers, and your devoted slave into the bargain?" Old +Astrardente's face twisted itself into the semblance of a smile, as he +leaned towards his young wife, lowering his cracked voice to a thin +whisper. He was genuinely in love with her, and lost no opportunity +of telling her so. She smiled a little wearily. + +"You are very good to me," she said. She had often wondered how it was +that this aged creature, who had never been faithful to any attachment in +his life for five months, did really seem to love her just as he had done +for five years. It was perhaps the greatest triumph she could have +attained, though she never thought of it in that light; but though she +could not respect her husband very much, she could not think unkindly of +him--for, as she said, he was very good to her. She often reproached +herself because he wearied her; she believed that she should have taken +more pleasure in his admiration. + +"I cannot help being good to you, my angel," he said. "How could I be +otherwise? Do I not love you most passionately?" + +"Indeed, I think so," Corona answered. As she spoke there was a knock at +the door. Her heart leaped wildly, and she turned a little pale. + +"The devil seize these visitors!" muttered old Astrardente, annoyed +beyond measure at being interrupted when making love to his wife. "I +suppose we must let them in?" + +"I suppose so," assented the Duchessa, with forced calm. Her husband +opened the door, and Giovanni Saracinesca entered, hat in hand. + +"Sit down," said Astrardente, rather harshly. + +"I trust I am not disturbing you," replied Giovanni, still standing. He +was somewhat surprised at the old man's inhospitable tone. + +"Oh no; not in the least," said the latter, quickly regaining his +composure. "Pray sit down; the act will begin in a moment." + +Giovanni established himself upon the chair immediately behind the +Duchessa. He had come to talk, and he anticipated that during the second +act he would have an excellent opportunity. + +"I hear you enjoyed yourselves yesterday," said Corona, turning her head +so as to speak more easily. + +"Indeed!" Giovanni answered, and a shade of annoyance crossed his face. +"And who was your informant, Duchessa?" + +"Donna Tullia. I met her this morning. She said you amused them all--kept +them laughing the whole day." + +"What an extraordinary statement!" exclaimed Giovanni. "It shows how one +may unconsciously furnish matter for mirth. I do not recollect having +talked much to any one. It was a noisy party enough, however." + +"Perhaps Donna Tullia spoke ironically," suggested Corona. "Do you like +'Norma'?" + +"Oh yes; one opera is as good as another. There goes the curtain." + +The act began, and for some minutes no one in the box spoke. Presently +there was a burst of orchestral music. Giovanni leaned forward so that +his face was close behind Corona. He could speak without being heard by +Astrardente. + +"Did you receive my letter?" he asked. Corona made an almost +imperceptible inclination of her head, but did not speak. + +"Do you understand my position?" he asked again. He could not see her +face, and for some seconds she made no sign; at last she moved her head +again, but this time to express a negative. + +"It is simple enough, it seems to me," said Giovanni, bending his brows. + +Corona found that by turning a little she could still look at the stage, +and at the same time speak to the man behind her. + +"How can I judge?" she said. "You have not told me all. Why do you ask me +to judge whether you are right?" + +"I could not do it if you thought me wrong," he answered shortly. + +The Duchessa suddenly thought of that other woman for whom the man who +asked her advice was willing to sacrifice his life. + +"You attach an astonishing degree of importance to my opinion," she said +very coldly, and turned her head from him. + +"There is no one so well able to give an opinion," said Giovanni, +insisting. + +Corona was offended. She interpreted the speech to mean that since she +had sacrificed her life to the old man on the opposite side of the box, +she was able to judge whether Giovanni would do wisely in making a +marriage of convenience, for the sake of an end which even to her mind +seemed visionary. She turned quickly upon him, and there was an angry +gleam in her eyes. + +"Pray do not introduce the subject of my life," she said haughtily. + +Giovanni was too much astonished to answer her at once. He had indeed not +intended the least reference to her marriage. + +"You have entirely misunderstood me," he said presently. + +"Then you must express yourself more clearly," she replied. She would +have felt very guilty to be thus talking to Giovanni, as she would not +have talked before her husband, had she not felt that it was upon +Giovanni's business, and that the matter discussed in no way concerned +herself. As for Saracinesca, he was in a dangerous position, and was +rapidly losing his self-control. He was too near to her, his heart was +bearing too fast, the blood was throbbing in his temples, and he was +stung by being misunderstood. + +"It is not possible for me to express myself more clearly," he answered. +"I am suffering for having told you too little when I dare not tell you +all. I make no reference to your marriage when I speak to you of my own. +Forgive me; I will not refer to the matter again." + +Corona felt again that strange thrill, half of pain, half of pleasure, +and the lights of the theatre seemed moving before her uncertainly, as +things look when one falls from a height. Almost unconsciously she spoke, +hardly knowing that she turned her head, and that her dark eyes rested +upon Giovanni's pale face. + +"And yet there must be some reason why you tell me that little, and why +you do not tell me more." When she had spoken, she would have given all +the world to have taken back her words. It was too late. Giovanni +answered in a low thick voice that sounded as though he were choking, +his face grew white, and his teeth seemed almost to chatter as though he +were cold, but his eyes shone like black stars in the shadow of the box. + +"There is every reason. You are the woman I love." + +Corona did not move for several seconds, as though not comprehending what +he had said. Then she suddenly shivered, and her eyelids drooped as she +leaned back in her chair. Her fingers relaxed their tight hold upon her +fan, and the thing fell rattling upon the floor of the box. + +Old Astrardente, who had taken no notice of the pair, being annoyed at +Giovanni's visit, and much interested in the proceedings of Madame Mayer +in the box opposite, heard the noise, and stooped with considerable +alacrity to pick up the fan which lay at his feet. + +"You are not well, my love," he said quickly, as he observed his wife's +unusual pallor. + +"It is nothing; it will pass," she murmured, with a terrible effort. +Then, as though she had not said enough, she added, "There must be a +draught here; I have a chill." + +Giovanni had sat like a statue, utterly overcome by the sense of his own +folly and rashness, as well as by the shock of having so miserably failed +to keep the secret he dreaded to reveal. On hearing Corona's voice, he +rose suddenly, as from a dream. + +"Forgive me," he said hurriedly, "I have just remembered a most important +engagement--" + +"Do not mention it," said Astrardente, sourly. Giovanni bowed to the +Duchessa and left the box. She did not look at him as he went away. + +"We had better go home, my angel," said the old man. "You have got a bad +chill." + +"Oh no, I would rather stay. It is nothing, and the best part of the +opera is to come." Corona spoke quietly enough. Her strong nerves had +already recovered from the shock she had experienced, and she could +command her voice. She did not want to go home; on the contrary, the +brilliant lights and the music served for a time to soothe her. If there +had been a ball that night she would have gone to it; she would have done +anything that would take her thoughts from herself. Her husband looked at +her curiously. The suspicion crossed his mind that Don Giovanni had said +something which had either frightened or offended her, but on second +thoughts the theory seemed absurd. He regarded Saracinesca as little +more than a mere acquaintance of his wife's. + +"As you please, my love," he answered, drawing his chair a little nearer +to hers. "I am glad that fellow is gone. We can talk at our ease now." + +"Yes; I am glad he is gone. We can talk now," repeated Corona, +mechanically. + +"I thought his excuse slightly conventional, to say the least of it," +remarked Astrardente. "An important engagement!--just a little _banal_. +However, any excuse was good enough which took him away." + +"Did he say that?" asked Corona. "I did not hear. Of course, any excuse +would do, as you say." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Giovanni left the theatre at once, alone, and on foot. He was very much +agitated. He had done suddenly and unawares the thing of all others he +had determined never to do; his resolutions had been broken down and +carried away as an ineffectual barrier is swept to the sea by the floods +of spring. His heart had spoken in spite of him, and in speaking had +silenced every prompting of reason. He blamed himself bitterly, as he +strode out across the deserted bridge of Sant' Angelo and into the broad +gloom beyond, where the street widens from the fortress to the entrance +of the three Borghi: he walked on and on, finding at every step fresh +reason for self-reproach, and trying to understand what he had done. He +paused at the end of the open piazza and looked down towards the black +rushing river which he could hear, but hardly see; he turned into the +silent Borgo Santo Spirito, and passed along the endless wall of the +great hospital up to the colonnades, and still wandering on, he came to +the broad steps of St. Peter's and sat down, alone in the darkness, at +the foot of the stupendous pile. + +He was perhaps not so much to blame as he was willing to allow in his +just anger against himself. Corona had tempted him sorely in that last +question she had put to him. She had not known, she had not even faintly +guessed what she was doing, for her own brain was intoxicated with a new +and indescribable sensation which had left no room for reflection nor for +weighing the force of words. But Giovanni, who had been willing to give +up everything, even to his personal liberty, for the sake of concealing +his love, would not allow himself any argument in extenuation of what he +had done. He had had but very few affairs of the heart in his life, and +they had been for the most part very insignificant, and his experience +was limited. Even now it never entered his mind to imagine that Corona +would condone his offence; he felt sure that she was deeply wounded, and +that his next meeting with her would be a terrible ordeal--so terrible, +indeed, that he doubted whether he had the courage to meet her at all. +His love was so great, and its object so sacred to him, that he hesitated +to conceive himself loved in return; perhaps if he had been able to +understand that Corona loved him he would have left Rome for ever, rather +than trouble her peace by his presence. + +It would have been absolutely different if he had been paying court to +Donna Tullia, for instance. The feeling that he should be justified would +have lent him courage, and the coldness in his own heart would have left +his judgment free play. He could have watched her calmly, and would have +tried to take advantage of every mood in the prosecution of his suit. He +was a very honourable man, but he did not consider marriages of propriety +and convenience as being at all contrary to the ordinary standard of +social honour, and would have thought himself justified in using every +means of persuasion in order to win a woman whom, upon mature reflection, +he had judged suitable to become his wife, even though he felt no real +love for her. That is an idea inherent in most old countries, an idea for +which Giovanni Saracinesca was certainly in no way responsible, seeing +that it had been instilled into him from his boyhood. Personally he would +have preferred to live and die unmarried, rather than to take a wife as a +matter of obligation towards his family; but seeing that he had never +seriously loved any woman, he had acquired the habit of contemplating +such a marriage as a probability, perhaps as an ultimate necessity, to +be put off as long as possible, but to which he would at last yield with +a good grace. + +But the current of his life had been turned. He was certainly not a +romantic character, not a man who desired to experience the external +sensations to be obtained by voluntarily creating dramatic events. He +loved action, and he had a taste for danger, but he had sought both in +a legitimate way; he never desired to implicate himself in adventures +where the feelings were concerned, and hitherto such experiences had +not fallen in his path. As is usual with such men, when love came at +last, it came with a strength such as boys of twenty do not dream of. +The mature man of thirty years, with his strong and dominant temper, +his carelessness of danger, his high and untried ideals of what a +true affection should be, resisting the first impressions of the +master-passion with the indifference of one accustomed to believe that +love could not come near his life, and was in general a thing to be +avoided--a man, moreover, who by his individual gifts and by his +brilliant position was able to command much that smaller men would +not dream of aspiring to,--such a man, in short, as Giovanni +Saracinesca,--was not likely to experience love-sickness in a mild +degree. Proud, despotic, and fiercely unyielding by his inheritance of +temper, he was outwardly gentle and courteous by acquired habit, a man +of those whom women easily love and men very generally fear. + +He did not realise his own nature, he did not suspect the extremes of +feeling of which he was eminently capable. He had at first felt Corona's +influence, and her face and voice seemed to awaken in him a memory, which +was as yet but an anticipation, and not a real remembrance. It was as the +faint perfume of the spring wafted up to a prisoner in some stern +fortress, as the first gentle sweetness that rose from the enchanted +lakes of the cisalpine country to the nostrils of the war-hardened Goths +as they descended the last snow-slopes in their southern wandering--an +anticipation that seemed already a memory, a looking forward again to +something that had been already loved in a former state. Giovanni had +laughed at himself for it at first, then he had dreaded its growing +charm, and at the last he had fallen hopelessly under the spell, +retaining only enough of his former self to make him determined that the +harm which had come upon himself should not come near this woman whom he +so adored. + +And behold, at the first provocation, the very first time that by a +careless word she had fired his blood and set his brain throbbing, he had +not only been unable to hide what he felt, but had spoken such words as +he would not have believed he could speak--so bluntly, so roughly, that +she had almost fainted before his very eyes. + +She must have been very angry, he thought. Perhaps, too, she was +frightened. It was so rude, so utterly contrary to all that was +chivalrous to say thus at the first opportunity, "I love you"--just that +and nothing more. Giovanni had never thought much about it, but he +supposed that men in love, very seriously in love, must take a long time +to express themselves, as is the manner in books; whereas he was +horrified at his own bluntness in having blurted out rashly such words as +could never be taken back, as could never even be explained now, he +feared, because he had put himself beyond the pale of all explanation, +perhaps beyond the reach of forgiveness. + +Nobody ever yet explained away the distinct statement "I love you," upon +any pretence of a mistake. Giovanni almost laughed at the idea, and yet +he conceived that some kind of apology would be necessary, though he +could not imagine how he was to frame one. He reflected that few women +would consider a declaration, even as sudden as his had been, in the +light of an insult; but he knew how little cause Corona had given him for +speaking to her of love, and he judged from her manner that she had been +either offended or frightened, or both, and that he was to blame for it. +He was greatly disturbed, and the sweat stood in great drops upon his +forehead as he sat there upon the steps of St. Peter's in the cold night +wind. He remained nearly an hour without changing his position, and then +at last he rose and slowly retraced his steps, and went home by narrow +streets, avoiding the theatre and the crowd of carriages that stood +before it. + +He had almost determined to go away for a time, and to let his absence +speak for his contrition. But he had reckoned upon his former self, and +he doubted now whether he had the strength to leave Rome. The most that +seemed possible was that he should keep out of Corona's way for a few +days, until she should have recovered from the shock of the scene in the +theatre. After that he would go to her and tell her quite simply that he +was very sorry, but that he had been unable to control himself. It would +soon be over. She would not refuse to speak to him, he argued, for fear +of attracting the attention of the gossips and making an open scandal. +She would perhaps tell him to avoid her, and her words would be few and +haughty, but she would speak to him, nevertheless. + +Giovanni went to bed. The next day he gave out that he had a touch of +fever, and remained in his own apartments. His father, who was +passionately attached to him, in spite of his rough temper and hasty +speeches, came and spent most of the day with him, and in the intervals +of his kindly talk, marched up and down the room, swearing that Giovanni +was no more ill than he was himself, and that he had acquired his +accursed habit of staying in bed upon his travels. As Giovanni had never +before been known to spend twenty-four hours in bed for any reason +whatsoever, the accusation was unjust; but he only smiled and pretended +to argue the case for the sake of pleasing the old prince. He really +felt exceedingly uncomfortable, and would have been glad to be left alone +at any price; but there was nothing for it but to pretend to be ill in +body, when he was really sick at heart, and he remained obstinately in +bed the whole day. On the following morning he declared his intention of +going out of town, and by an early train he left the city. No one saw +Giovanni again until the evening of the Frangipani ball. + +Meanwhile it would have surprised him greatly to know that Corona looked +for him in vain wherever she went, and that, not seeing him, she grew +silent and pale, and gave short answers to the pleasant speeches men made +her. Every one missed Giovanni. He wrote to Valdarno to say that he had +been suddenly obliged to visit Saracinesca in order to see to some +details connected with the timber question; but everybody wondered why he +should have taken himself away in the height of the season for so trivial +a matter. He had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera, +where he had only stayed a few minutes, as Del Ferice was able to +testify, having sat immediately opposite in the box of Madame Mayer. Del +Ferice swore secretly that he would find out what was the matter; and +Donna Tullia abused Giovanni in unmeasured terms to a circle of intimate +friends and admirers, because he had been engaged to dance with her at +the Valdarno cotillon, and had not even sent word that he could not come. +Thereupon all the men present immediately offered themselves for the +vacant dance, and Donna Tullia made them draw lots by tossing a copper +sou in the corner of the ball-room. The man who won the toss recklessly +threw over the partner he had already engaged, and almost had to fight a +duel in consequence; all of which was intensely amusing to Donna Tullia. +Nevertheless, in her heart, she was very angry at Giovanni's departure. + +But Corona sought him everywhere, and at last heard that he had left +town, two days after everybody else in Rome had known it. She would +probably have been very much disturbed, if she had actually met him +within a day or two of that fatal evening, but the desire to see him was +so great, that she entirely overlooked the consequences. For the time +being, her whole life seemed to have undergone a revolution--she trembled +at the echo of the words she had heard--she spent long hours in solitude, +praying with all her strength that she might be forgiven for having +heard him speak; but the moment she left her room, and went out into the +world, the dominant desire to see him again returned. The secret longing +of her soul was to hear him speak again as he had spoken once. She would +have gone again to Padre Filippo and told him all; but when she was alone +in the solitude of her passionate prayers and self-accusation, she felt +that she must fight this fight alone, without help of any one; and when +she was in the world, she lacked courage to put altogether from her what +was so very sweet, and her eyes searched unceasingly for the dark face +she loved. But the stirring strength of the mighty passion played upon +her soul and body in spite of her, as upon an instrument of strings; and +sometimes the music was gentle and full of sweet harmony, but often there +were crashes of discord, so that she trembled and felt her heart wrung as +by torture; then she set her strong lips, and her white fingers wound +themselves together, and she could have cried aloud, but that her pride +forbade her. + +The days came and went, but Giovanni did not return, and Corona's face +grew every morning more pale and her eyes every night more wistful. Her +husband did not understand, but he saw that something was the matter, as +others saw it, and in his quick suspicious humour he connected the +trouble in his wife's face with the absence of Giovanni and with the +strange chill she had felt in the theatre. But Corona d'Astrardente was a +very brave and strong woman, and she bore what seemed to her like the +agony of death renewed each day, so calmly that those who knew her +thought it was but a passing indisposition or annoyance, unusual with +her, who was never ill nor troubled, but yet insignificant. She gave +particular attention to the gown which her husband had desired she +should wear at the great ball, and the need she felt for distracting her +mind from her chief care made society necessary to her. + +The evening of the Frangipani ball came, and all Rome was in a state of +excitement and expectation. The great old family had been in mourning for +years, owing to three successive deaths, and during all that time the +ancient stronghold which was called their palace had been closed to the +world. For some time, indeed, no one of the name had been in Rome--the +prince and princess preferring to pass the time of mourning in the +country and in travelling; while the eldest son, now just of age, was +finishing his academic career at an English University. But this year the +family had returned: there had been both dinners and receptions at the +palace, and the ball, which was to be a sort of festival in honour of the +coming of age of the heir, was expected as the principal event of the +year. It was rumoured that there would be nearly thirty rooms opened +besides the great hall, which was set aside for dancing, and that the +arrangements were on a scale worthy of a household which had endured in +its high position for upwards of a thousand years. It was understood that +no distinction had been made, in issuing the invitations, between parties +in politics or in society, and that there would be more people seen there +than had been collected under one roof for many years. + +The Frangipani did things magnificently, and no one was disappointed. The +gardens and courts of the palace were brilliantly illuminated; vast +suites of apartments were thrown open, and lavishly decorated with rare +flowers; the grand staircase was lined with footmen in the liveries of +the house, standing motionless as the guests passed up; the supper was a +banquet such as is read of in the chronicles of medieval splendour; the +enormous conservatory in the distant south wing was softly lit by shaded +candles concealed among the tropical plants; and the ceilings and walls +of the great hall itself had been newly decorated by famous painters; +while the polished wooden floor presented an innovation upon the +old-fashioned canvas-covered brick pavement, not hitherto seen in any +Roman palace. A thousand candles, disposed in every variety of chandelier +and candelabra, shed a soft rich light from far above, and high in the +gallery at one end an orchestra of Viennese musicians played unceasingly. + +As generally happens at very large balls, the dancing began late, but +numbers of persons had come early in order to survey the wonders of the +palace at their leisure. Among those who arrived soon after ten o'clock +was Giovanni Saracinesca, who was greeted loudly by all who knew him. He +looked pale and tired, if his tough nature could ever be said to seem +weary; but he was in an unusually affable mood, and exchanged words with +every one he met. Indeed he had been sad for so many days that he hardly +understood why he felt gay, unless it was in the anticipation of once +more seeing the woman he loved. He wandered through the rooms carelessly +enough, but he was in reality devoured by impatience, and his quick eyes +sought Corona's tall figure in every direction. But she was not yet +there, and Giovanni at last came and took his station in one of the outer +halls, waiting patiently for her arrival. + +While he waited, leaning against one of the marble pillars of the door, +the throng increased rapidly; but he hardly noticed the swelling crowd, +until suddenly there was a lull in the unceasing talk, and the men and +women parted to allow a cardinal to pass out from the inner rooms. With +many gracious nods and winning looks, the great man moved on, his keen +eyes embracing every one and everything within the range of his vision, +his courteous smile seeming intended for each separate individual, and +yet overlooking none, nor resting long on any, his high brow serene and +unbent, his flowing robes falling back from his courtly figure, as with +his red hat in his hand he bowed his way through the bowing crowd. His +departure, which was quickly followed by that of several other cardinals +and prelates, was the signal that the dancing would soon begin; and when +he had passed out, the throng of men and women pressed more quickly in +through the door on their way to the ball-room. + +But as the great cardinal's eye rested on Giovanni Saracinesca, +accompanied by that invariable smile that so many can remember well to +this day, his delicate hand made a gesture as though beckoning to the +young man to follow him. Giovanni obeyed the summons, and became for the +moment the most notable man in the room. The two passed out together, and +a moment later were standing in the outer hall. Already the torch-bearers +were standing without upon the grand staircase, and the lackeys were +mustering in long files to salute the Prime Minister. Just then the +master of the house came running breathless from within. He had not seen +that Cardinal Antonelli was taking his leave, and hastened to overtake +him, lest any breach of etiquette on his part should attract the +displeasure of the statesman. + +"Your Eminence's pardon!" he exclaimed, hurriedly "I had not seen that +your Eminence was leaving us--so early too--the Princess feared--" + +"Do not speak of it," answered the Cardinal, in suave tones. "I am not so +strong as I used to be. We old fellows must to bed betimes, and leave you +young ones to enjoy yourselves. No excuses--good night--a beautiful +ball--I congratulate you on the reopening of your house--good night +again. I will have a word with Giovanni here before I go down-stairs." + +He extended his hand to Frangipani, who lifted it respectfully to his +lips and withdrew, seeing that he was not wanted. He and many others +speculated long upon the business which engaged his Eminence in close +conversation with Giovanni Saracinesca, keeping him for more than a +quarter of an hour in the cold ante-chamber, where the night wind blew in +unhindered from the vast staircase of the palace. As a matter of fact, +Giovanni was as much surprised as any one. + +"Where have you been, my friend?" inquired the Cardinal, when they were +alone. + +"To Saracinesca, your Eminence." + +"And what have you been doing in Saracinesca at this time of year? I hope +you are attending to the woods there--you have not been cutting timber?" + +"No one can be more anxious than we to see the woods grow thick upon our +hills," replied Giovanni. "Your Eminence need have no fear." + +"Not for your estates," said the great Cardinal, his small keen black +eyes resting searchingly on Giovanni's face. "But I confess I have some +fears for yourself." + +"For me, Eminence?" repeated Giovanni, in some astonishment. + +"For you. I have heard with considerable anxiety that there is a question +of marrying you to Madame Mayer. Such a match would not meet with the +Holy Father's approval, nor--if I may be permitted to mention my humble +self in the same breath with our august sovereign--would it be wise in my +own estimation." + +"Permit me to remark to your Eminence," answered Giovanni, proudly, "that +in my house we have never been in the habit of asking advice upon such +subjects. Donna Tullia is a good Catholic. There can therefore be no +valid objection to my asking her hand, if my father and I agree that it +is best." + +"You are terrible fellows, you Saracinesca," returned the Cardinal, +blandly. "I have read your family history with immense interest, and what +you say is quite true. I cannot find an instance on record of your taking +the advice of any one--certainly not of the Holy Church. It is with the +utmost circumspection that I venture to approach the subject with you, +and I am sure that you will believe me when I say that my words are not +dictated by any officious or meddling spirit; I am addressing you by the +direct desire of the Holy Father himself." + +A soft answer turneth away wrath, and if the all-powerful statesman's +answer to Giovanni seems to have been more soft than might have been +expected, it must be remembered that he was speaking to the heir of one +of the most powerful houses in the Roman State, at a time when the +personal friendship of such men as the Saracinesca was of vastly greater +importance than it is now. At that time some twenty noblemen owned a +great part of the Pontifical States, and the influence they could exert +upon their tenantry was very great, for the feudal system was not +extinct, nor the feudal spirit. Moreover, though Cardinal Antonelli was +far from popular with any party, Pius IX. was respected and beloved by a +vast majority of the gentlemen as well as of the people. Giovanni's first +impulse was to resist any interference whatsoever in his affairs; but on +receiving the Cardinal's mild answer to his own somewhat arrogant +assertion of independence, he bowed politely and professed himself +willing to listen to reason. + +"But," he said, "since his Holiness has mentioned the matter, I beg that +your Eminence will inform him that, though the question of my marriage +seems to be in everybody's mouth, it is as yet merely a project in which +no active steps have been taken." + +"I am glad of it, Giovanni," replied the Cardinal, familiarly taking his +arm, and beginning to pace the hall; "I am glad of it. There are reasons +why the match appears to be unworthy of you. If you will permit me, +without any offence to Madame Mayer, I will tell you what those reasons +are." + +"I am at your service," said Giovanni, gravely, "provided only there is +no offence to Donna Tullia." + +"None whatever. The reasons are purely political. Madame Mayer--or Donna +Tullia, since you prefer to call her so--is the centre of a sort of club +of so-called Liberals, of whom the most active and the most foolish +member is a certain Ugo del Ferice, a fellow who calls himself a count, +but whose grandfather was a coachman in the Vatican under Leo XII. He +will get himself into trouble some day. He is always in attendance upon +Donna Tullia, and probably led her into this band of foolish young people +for objects of his own. It is a very silly society; I daresay you have +heard some of their talk?" + +"Very little," replied Giovanni; "I do not trouble myself about politics. +I did not even know that there was such a club as your Eminence speaks +of." + +Cardinal Antonelli glanced sharply at his companion as he proceeded. + +"They affect solidarity and secrecy, these young people," he said, with a +sneer, "and their solidarity betrays their secrecy, because it is +unfortunately true in our dear Rome that wherever two or three are +gathered together they are engaged in some mischief. But they may gather +in peace at the studio of Monsieur Gouache, or anywhere else they please, +for all I care. Gouache is a clever fellow; he is to paint my portrait. +Do you know him? But, to return to my sheep in wolves' clothing--my +amusing little conspirators. They can do no harm, for they know not even +what they say, and their words are not followed by any kind of action +whatsoever. But the principle of the thing is bad, Giovanni. Your brave +old ancestors used to fight us Churchmen outright, and unless the Lord is +especially merciful, their souls are in an evil case, for the devil +knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster. But they fought +outright, like gentlemen; whereas these people--_foderunt foveam ut +caperent me_--they have digged a ditch, but they will certainly not catch +me, nor any one else. Their conciliabules, as Rousseau would have called +them, meet daily and talk great nonsense and do nothing; which does not +prove their principles to be good, while it demonstrates their intellect +to be contemptible. No offence to the Signor Conte del Ferice, but I +think ignorance has marked his little party for its own, and inanity +waits on all his councils. If they believe in half the absurdities they +utter, why do they not pack up their goods and chattels and cross the +frontier? If they meant anything, they would do something." + +"Evidently," replied Giovanni, half amused at his Eminence's tirade. + +"Evidently. Therefore they mean nothing. Therefore our good friend Donna +Tullia is dabbling in the emptiness of political dilettanteism for the +satisfaction of a hollow vanity; no offence to her--it is the manner of +her kind." + +Giovanni was silent. + +"Believe me, prince," said the Cardinal, suddenly changing his tone and +speaking very seriously, "there is something better for strong men like +you and me to do, in these times, than to dabble in conspiracy and to +toss off glasses of champagne to Italian unity and Victor Emmanuel. The +condition of our lives is battle, and battle against terrible odds. +Neither you nor I should be content to waste our strength in fighting +shadows, in waging war on petty troubles of our own raising, knowing +all the while that the powers of evil are marshalled in a deadly array +against the powers of good. _Sed non praevalebunt!_" + +The Cardinal's thin face assumed a strange look of determination, and his +delicate fingers grasped Giovanni's arm with a force that startled him. + +"You speak bravely," answered the young man. "You are more sanguine than +we men of the world. You believe that disaster impossible which to me +seems growing daily more imminent." + +Cardinal Antonelli turned his gleaming black eyes full on his companion. + +"_O generatio incredula!_ If you have not faith, you have not courage, +and if you have not courage you will waste your life in the pursuit of +emptiness! It is for men like you, for men of ancient race, of broad +acres, of iron body and healthy mind, to put your hand to the good work +and help us who have struggled for many years and whose strength is +already failing. Every action of your life, every thought of your +waking hours, should be for the good end, lest we all perish together +and expiate our lukewarm indifference. _Timidi nunquam statuerunt +trapaeum_--if we would divide the spoil we must gird on the sword and use +it boldly; we must not allow the possibility of failure; we must be +vigilant; we must be united as one man. You tell me that you men of the +world already regard a disaster as imminent--to expect defeat is +nine-tenths of a defeat itself. Ah, if we could count upon such men as +you to the very death, our case would be far from desperate." + +"For the matter of that, your Eminence can count upon us well enough," +replied Giovanni, quietly. + +"Upon you, Giovanni--yes, for you are a brave gentleman. But upon your +friends, even upon your class--no. Can I count upon the Valdarno, even? +You know as well as I that they are in sympathy with the Liberals--that +they have neither the courage to support us nor the audacity to renounce +us; and, what is worse, they represent a large class, of whom, I regret +to say, Donna Tullia Mayer is one of the most prominent members. With her +wealth, her youth, her effervescent spirits, and her early widowhood, she +leads men after her; they talk, they chatter, they set up an opinion and +gloat over it, while they lack the spirit to support it. They are all +alike--_non tantum ovum ovo simile_--one egg is not more like another +than they are. _Non tali auxilio_--we want no such help. We ask for +bread, not for stones; we want men, not empty-headed dandies. We have +both at present; but if the Emperor fails us, we shall have too many +dandies and too few men--too few men like you, Don Giovanni. Instead of +armed battalions we shall have polite societies for mutual assurance +against political risks,--instead of the support of the greatest military +power in Europe, we shall have to rely on a parcel of young gentlemen +whose opinions are guided by Donna Tullia Mayer." + +Giovanni laughed and glanced at his Eminence, who chose to refer all the +imminent disasters of the State to the lady whom he did not wish to see +married to his companion. + +"Is her influence really so great?" asked Saracinesca, incredulously. + +"She is agreeable, she is pretty, she is rich--her influence is a type of +the whole influence which is abroad in Rome--a reflection of the life of +Paris. There, at least, the women play a real part--very often a great +one: here, when they have got command of a drawing-room full of fops, +they do not know where to lead them; they change their minds twenty times +a-day; they have an access of religious enthusiasm in Advent, followed by +an attack of Liberal fever in Carnival, and their season is brought to +a fitting termination by the prostration which overtakes them in Lent. By +that time all their principles are upset, and they go to Paris for the +month of May--_pour se retremper dans les idées idéalistes_, as they +express it. Do you think one could construct a party out of such +elements, especially when you reflect that this mass of uncertainty is +certain always to yield to the ultimate consideration of self-interest? +Half of them keep an Italian flag with the Papal one, ready to thrust +either of them out of the window as occasion may require. Good night, +Giovanni. I have talked enough, and all Rome will set upon you to find +out what secrets of State I have been confiding. You had better prepare +an answer, for you can hardly inform Donna Tullia and her set that I have +been calling them a parcel of--weak and ill-advised people. They might +take offence--they might even call me by bad names,--fancy how very +terribly that would afflict me! Good night, Giovanni--my greetings to +your father." + +The Cardinal nodded, but did not offer his hand. He knew that Giovanni +hated to kiss his ring, and he had too much tact to press the ceremonial +etiquette upon any one whom he desired to influence. But he nodded +graciously, and receiving his cloak from the gentleman who accompanied +him and who had waited at a respectful distance, the statesman passed out +of the great doorway, where the double line of torch-bearers stood ready +to accompany him down the grand staircase to his carriage, in accordance +with the custom of those days. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When he was alone, Giovanni retraced his steps, and again took up his +position near the entrance to the reception-rooms. He had matter for +reflection in the interview which had just ended; and, having nothing +better to do while he waited for Corona, he thought about what had +happened. He was not altogether pleased at the interest his marriage +excited in high quarters; he hated interference, and he regarded Cardinal +Antonelli's advice in such a matter as an interference of the most +unwarrantable kind. Neither he himself nor his father were men who sought +counsel from without, for independence in action was with them a family +tradition, as independence of thought was in their race a hereditary +quality. To think that if he, Giovanni Saracinesca, chose to marry any +woman whatsoever, any one, no matter how exalted in station, should dare +to express approval or disapproval was a shock to every inborn and +cultivated prejudice in his nature. He had nearly quarrelled with his own +father for seeking to influence his matrimonial projects; it was not +likely that he would suffer Cardinal Antonelli to interfere with them. If +Giovanni had really made up his mind--had firmly determined to ask the +hand of Donna Tullia--it is more than probable that the statesman's +advice would not only have failed signally in preventing the match, but +by the very opposition it would have aroused in Giovanni's heart it would +have had the effect of throwing him into the arms of a party which +already desired his adhesion, and which, under his guidance, might have +become as formidable as it was previously insignificant. But the great +Cardinal was probably well informed, and his words had not fallen upon a +barren soil. Giovanni had vacillated sadly in trying to come to a +decision. His first Quixotic impulse to marry Madame Mayer, in order to +show the world that he cared nothing for Corona d'Astrardente, had proved +itself absurd, even to his impetuous intelligence. The growing antipathy +he felt for Donna Tullia had made his marriage with her appear in the +light of a disagreeable duty, and his rashness in confessing his love for +Corona had so disturbed his previous conceptions that marriage no longer +seemed a duty at all. What had been but a few days before almost a fixed +resolution, had dwindled till it seemed an impracticable and even a +useless scheme. When he had arrived at the Palazzo Frangipani that +evening, he had very nearly forgotten Donna Tullia, and had quite +determined that whatever his father might say he would not give the +promised answer before Easter. By the time the Cardinal had left him, he +had decided that no power on earth should induce him to marry Madame +Mayer. He did not take the trouble of saying to himself that he would +marry no one else. + +The Cardinal's words had struck deep, in a deep nature. Giovanni had +given Del Ferice a very fair exposition of the views he believed himself +to hold, on the day when they had walked together after Donna Tullia's +picnic. He believed himself a practical man, loyal to the temporal power +by principle rather than by any sort of enthusiastic devotion; not +desirous of any great change, because any change that might reasonably be +expected would be bad for his own vested interests; not prejudiced for +any policy save that of peace--preferring, indeed, with Cicero, the most +unjust peace to the most just war; tenacious of old customs, and not +particularly inquisitive concerning ideas of progress,--on the whole, +Giovanni thought himself what his father had been in his youth, and more +or less what he hoped his sons, if he ever had any, would be after him. + +But there was more in him than all this, and at the first distant sound +of battle he felt the spirit stir within him, for his real nature was +brave and loyal, unselfish and devoted, instinctively sympathizing with +the weak and hating the lukewarm. He had told Del Ferice that he believed +he would fight as a matter of principle: as he leaned against the marble +pillar of the door in the Palazzo Frangipani, he wished the fight had +already begun. + +Waiting there, and staring into the moving crowd, he was aware of a young +man with pale and delicate features and black hair, who stood quietly by +his side, and seemed like himself an idle though not uninterested +spectator of the scene. Giovanni glanced once at the young fellow, and +thought he recognised him, and glancing again, he met his earnest look, +and saw that it was Anastase Gouache, the painter. Giovanni knew him +slightly, for Gouache was regarded as a rising celebrity, and, thanks to +Donna Tullia, was invited to most of the great receptions and balls of +that season, though he was not yet anywhere on a footing of intimacy. +Gouache was proud, and would perhaps have stood aloof altogether rather +than be treated as one of the herd who are asked "with everybody," as +the phrase goes; but he was of an observing turn of mind, and it amused +him immensely to stand unnoticed, following the movements of society's +planets, comets, and satellites, and studying the many types of the +cosmopolitan Roman world. + +"Good evening, Monsieur Gouache," said Giovanni. + +"Good evening, prince," replied the artist, with a somewhat formal +bow--after which both men relapsed into silence, and continued to watch +the crowd. + +"And what do you think of our Roman world?" asked Giovanni, presently. + +"I cannot compare it to any other world," answered Gouache, simply. "I +never went into society till I came to Rome. I think it is at once +brilliant and sedate--it has a magnificent air of historical antiquity, +and it is a little paradoxical." + +"Where is the paradox?" inquired Giovanni. + +"'Es-tu libre? Les lois sont-elles respectées? +Crains-tu de voir ton champ pillé par le voisin? +Le maître a-t-il son toit, et l'ouvrier son pain?'" + +A smile flickered over the young artist's face as he quoted Musset's +lines in answer to Giovanni's question. Giovanni himself laughed, and +looked at Anastase with somewhat increased interest. + +"Do you mean that we are revelling under the sword of Damocles--dancing +on the eve of our execution?" + +"Not precisely. A delicate flavour of uncertainty about to-morrow gives +zest to the appetite of to-day. It is impossible that such a large +society should be wholly unconscious of its own imminent danger--and yet +these men and women go about to-night as if they were Romans of old, +rulers of the world, only less sure of themselves than of the stability +of their empire." + +"Why not?" asked Giovanni, glancing curiously at the pale young man +beside him. "In answer to your quotation, I can say that I am as free as +I care to be; that the laws are sufficiently respected; that no one has +hitherto thought it worth while to plunder my acres; that I have a modest +roof of my own; and that, as far as I am aware, there are no workmen +starving in the streets at present. You are answered, it seems to me, +Monsieur Gouache." + +"Is that really your belief?" asked the artist, quietly. + +"Yes. As for my freedom, I am as free as air; no one thinks of hindering +my movements. As for the laws, they are made for good citizens, and good +citizens will respect them; if bad citizens do not, that is their loss. +My acres are safe, possibly because they are not worth taking, though +they yield me a modest competence sufficient for my needs and for the +needs of those who cultivate them for me." + +"And yet there is a great deal of talk in Rome about misery and injustice +and oppression--" + +"There will be a great deal more talk about those evils, with much better +cause, if people who think like you succeed in bringing about a +revolution, Monsieur Gouache," answered Giovanni, coldly. + +"If many people think like you, prince, a revolution is not to be thought +of. As for me I am a foreigner and I see what I can, and listen to what I +hear." + +"A revolution is not to be thought of. It was tried here and failed. If +we are overcome by a great power from without, we shall have no choice +but to yield, if any of us survive--for we would fight. But we have +nothing to fear from within." + +"Perhaps not," returned Gouache, thoughtfully. "I hear such opposite +opinions that I hardly know what to think." + +"I hear that you are to paint Cardinal Antonelli's portrait," said +Giovanni. "Perhaps his Eminence will help you to decide." + +"Yes; they say he is the cleverest man in Europe." + +"In that opinion they--whoever they may be--are mistaken," replied +Giovanni. "But he is a man of immense intellect, nevertheless." + +"I am not sure whether I will paint his portrait after all," said +Gouache. + +"You do not wish to be persuaded?" + +"No. My own ideas please me very well for the present. I would not +exchange them for those of any one else." + +"May I ask what those ideas are?" inquired Giovanni, with a show of +interest. + +"I am a republican," answered Gouache, quietly. "I am also a good +Catholic." + +"Then you are yourself much more paradoxical than the whole of our Roman +society put together," answered Giovanni, with a dry laugh. + +"Perhaps. There comes the most beautiful woman in the world." + +It was nearly twelve o'clock when Corona arrived, old Astrardente +sauntering jauntily by her side, his face arranged with more than usual +care, and his glossy wig curled cunningly to represent nature. He was +said to possess a number of wigs of different lengths, which he wore in +rotation, thus sustaining the impression that his hair was cut from time +to time. In his eye a single eyeglass was adjusted, and as he walked he +swung his hat delicately in his tightly gloved fingers. He wore the +plainest of collars and the simplest of gold studs; no chain dangled +showily from his waistcoat-pocket, and his small feet were encased in +little patent-leather shoes. But for his painted face, he might have +passed for the very incarnation of fashionable simplicity. But his face +betrayed him. + +As for Corona, she was dazzlingly beautiful. Not that any colour or +material she wore could greatly enhance her beauty, for all who saw her +on that memorable night remembered the wonderful light in her face, and +the strange look in her splendid eyes; but the thick soft fall of the +white velvet made as it were a pedestal for her loveliness, and the +Astrardente jewels that clasped her waist and throat and crowned her +black hair, collected the radiance of the many candles, and made the +light cling to her and follow her as she walked. Giovanni saw her enter, +and his whole adoration came upon him as a madness upon a sick man in a +fever, so that he would have sprung forward to meet her, and fallen at +her feet and worshipped her, had he not suddenly felt that he was watched +by more than one of the many who paused to see her go by. He moved from +his place and waited near the door where she would have to pass, and for +a moment his heart stood still. + +He hardly knew how it was. He found himself speaking to her. He asked her +for a dance, he asked boldly for the cotillon--he never knew how he had +dared; she assented, let her eyes rest upon him for one moment with an +indescribable expression, then grew very calm and cold, and passed on. + +It was all over in an instant. Giovanni moved back to his place as she +went by, and stood still like a man stunned. It was well that there were +yet nearly two hours before the preliminary dancing would be over; he +needed some time to collect himself. The air seemed full of strange +voices, and he watched the moving faces as in a dream, unable to +concentrate his attention upon anything he saw. + +"He looks as though he had a stroke of paralysis," said a woman's voice +near him. It did not strike him, in his strange bewilderment, that it was +Donna Tullia who had spoken, still less that she was speaking of him +almost to him. + +"Something very like it, I should say," answered Del Ferice's oily voice. +"He has probably been ill since you saw him. Saracinesca is an unhealthy +place." + +Giovanni turned sharply round. + +"Yes; we were speaking of you, Don Giovanni," said Donna Tullia, with +some scorn. "Does it strike you that you were exceedingly rude in not +letting me know that you were going out of town when you had promised to +dance with me at the Valdarno ball?" She curled her small lip and showed +her sharp white teeth. Giovanni was a man of the world, however, and was +equal to the occasion. + +"I apologise most humbly," he said. "It was indeed very rude; but in the +urgency of the case, I forgot all other engagements. I really beg your +pardon. Will you honour me with a dance this evening?" + +"I have every dance engaged," answered Madame Mayer, coldly staring at +him. + +"I am very sorry," said Giovanni, inwardly thanking heaven for his good +fortune, and wishing she would go away. + +"Wait a moment," said Donna Tullia, judging that she had produced the +desired effect upon him. "Let me look. I believe I have one waltz left. +Let me see. Yes, the one before the last--you can have it if you like." + +"Thank you," murmured Giovanni, greatly annoyed. "I will remember." + +Madame Mayer laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and moved away. She was +a vain woman, and being in love with Saracinesca after her own fashion, +could not understand that he should be wholly indifferent to her. She +thought that in telling him she had no dances she had given him a little +wholesome punishment, and that in giving one after all she had conferred +a favour upon him. She also believed that she had annoyed Del Ferice, +which, always amused her. But Del Ferice was more than a match for her, +with his quiet ways and smooth tongue. + +They went into the ball-room together and danced a few minutes. When the +music ceased, Ugo excused himself on the plea that he was engaged for the +quadrille that followed. He at once set out in search of the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, and did not lose sight of her again. She did not dance +before the cotillon, she said; and she sat down in a high chair in the +picture-gallery, while three or four men, among whom was Valdarno, sat +and stood near her, doing their best to amuse her. Others came, and some +went away, but Corona did not move, and sat amongst her little court, +glad to have the time pass in any way until the cotillon. When Del Ferice +had ascertained her position, he went about his business, which was +manifold--dancing frequently, and making a point of speaking to every one +in the room. At the end of an hour, he joined the group of men around the +Duchessa and took part in the conversation. + +It was an easy matter to make the talk turn upon Giovanni Saracinesca. +Every one was more or less curious about the journey he had made, and +especially about the cause of his absence. Each of the men had something +to say, and each, knowing the popular report that Giovanni was in love +with Corona, said his say with as much wit as he could command. Corona +herself was interested, for she alone understood his sudden absence, and +was anxious to hear the common opinion concerning it. + +The theories advanced were various. Some said he had been quarrelling +with the local authorities of Saracinesca, who interfered with his +developments and improvements upon the estate, and they gave laughable +portraits of the village sages with whom he had been engaged. Others +said he had only stopped there a day, and had been in Naples. One said he +had been boar-hunting; another, that the Saracinesca woods had been +infested by a band of robbers, who were terrorising the country. + +"And what do you say, Del Ferice?" asked Corona, seeing a cunning smile +upon the man's pale fat face. + +"It is very simple," said Ugo; "it is a very simple matter indeed. If the +Duchessa will permit me, I will call him, and we will ask him directly +what he has been doing. There he stands with old Cantalorgano at the +other end of the room. Public curiosity demands to be satisfied. May I +call him, Duchessa?" + +"By no means," said Corona, quickly. But before she had spoken, Valdarno, +who was always sanguine and impulsive, had rapidly crossed the gallery +and was already speaking to Giovanni. The latter bowed his head as though +obeying an order, and came quietly back with the young man who had called +him. The crowd of men parted before him as he advanced to the Duchessa's +chair, and stood waiting in some surprise. + +"What are your commands, Duchessa?" he asked, in somewhat formal tones. + +"Valdarno is too quick," answered Corona, who was greatly annoyed. "Some +one suggested calling you to settle a dispute, and he went before I could +stop him. I fear it is very impertinent of us." + +"I am entirely at your service," said Giovanni, who was delighted at +having been called, and had found time to recover from his first +excitement on seeing her. "What is the question?" + +"We were all talking about you," said Valdarno. + +"We were wondering where you had been," said another. + +"They said you had gone boar-hunting." + +"Or to Naples." + +"Or even to Paris." Three or four spoke in one breath. + +"I am exceedingly flattered at the interest you all show in me," said +Giovanni, quietly. "There is very little to tell. I have been in +Saracinesca upon a matter of business, spending my days in the woods with +my steward, and my nights in keeping away the cold and the ghosts. I +would have invited you all to join the festivity, had I known how much +you were interested. The beef up there is monstrously tough, and the rats +are abominably noisy, but the mountain air is said to be very healthy." + +Most of the men present felt that they had not only behaved foolishly, +but had spoiled the little circle around the Duchessa by introducing a +man who had the power to interest her, whereas they could only afford her +a little amusement. Valdarno was still standing, and his chair beside +Corona was vacant. Giovanni calmly installed himself upon it, and began +to talk as though nothing had happened. + +"You are not dancing, Duchessa," he remarked. "I suppose you have been in +the ball-room?" + +"Yes--but I am rather tired this evening. I will wait." + +"You were here at the last great ball, before the old prince died, were +you not?" asked Giovanni, remembering that he had first seen her on that +occasion. + +"Yes," she answered; "and I remember that we danced together; and the +accident to the window, and the story of the ghost." + +So they fell into conversation, and though one or two of the men ventured +an ineffectual remark, the little circle dropped away, and Giovanni was +left alone by the side of the Duchessa. The distant opening strains of a +waltz came floating down the gallery, but neither of the two heard, nor +cared. + +"It is strange," Giovanni said. "They say it has always happened, since +the memory of man. No one has ever seen anything, but whenever there is a +great ball, there is a crash of broken glass some time in the course of +the evening. Nobody could ever explain why that window fell in, five +years ago--five years ago this month,--this very day, I believe," he +continued suddenly, in the act of recollection. "Yes--the nineteenth of +January, I remember very well--it was my mother's birthday." + +"It is not so extraordinary," said Corona, "for it chances to be the +name-day of the present prince. That was probably the reason why it was +chosen this year." She spoke a little nervously, as though still ill at +ease. + +"But it is very strange," said Giovanni, in a low voice. "It is strange +that we should have met here the first time, and that we should not have +met here since, until--to-day." + +He looked towards her as he spoke, and their eyes met and lingered in +each other's gaze. Suddenly the blood mounted to Corona's cheeks, her +eyelids drooped, she leaned back in her seat and was silent. + +Far off, at the entrance to the ball-room, Del Ferice found Donna Tullia +alone. She was very angry. The dance for which she was engaged to +Giovanni Saracinesca had begun, and was already half over, and still he +did not come. Her pink face was unusually flushed, and there was a +disagreeable look in her blue eyes. + +"Ah!--I see Don Giovanni has again forgotten his engagement," said Ugo, +in smooth tones. He well knew that he himself had brought about the +omission, but none could have guessed it from his manner. "May I have the +honour of a turn before your cavalier arrives?" he asked. + +"No," said Donna Tullia, angrily. "Give me your arm. We will go and find +him." She almost hissed the words through her closed teeth. + +She hardly knew that Del Ferice was leading her as they moved towards the +picture-gallery, passing through the crowded rooms that lay between. She +never spoke; but her movement was impetuous, and she resented being +delayed by the hosts of men and women who filled the way. As they entered +the long apartment, where the portraits of the Frangipani lined the walls +from end to end, Del Ferice uttered a well-feigned exclamation. + +"Oh, there he is!" he cried. "Do you see him?--his back is turned--he is +alone with the Astrardente." + +"Come," said Donna Tullia, shortly. Del Ferice would have preferred to +have let her go alone, and to have witnessed from a distance the scene he +had brought about. But he could not refuse to accompany Madame Mayer. + +Neither Corona, who was facing the pair, but was talking with Giovanni, +nor Giovanni himself, who was turned away from them, noticed their +approach until they came and stood still beside them. Saracinesca looked +up and started. The Duchessa d'Astrardente raised her black eyebrows in +surprise. + +"Our dance!" exclaimed Giovanni, in considerable agitation. "It is the +one after this--" + +"On the contrary," said Donna Tullia, in tones trembling with rage, "it +is already over. It is the most unparalleled insolence!" + +Giovanni was profoundly disgusted at himself and Donna Tullia. He cared +not so much for the humiliation itself, which was bad enough, as for the +annoyance the scene caused Corona, who looked from one to the other in +angry astonishment, but of course could have nothing to say. + +"I can only assure you that I thought--" + +"You need not assure me!" cried Donna Tullia, losing all self-control. +"There is no excuse, nor pardon--it is the second time. Do not insult me +further, by inventing untruths for your apology." + +"Nevertheless--" began Giovanni, who was sincerely sorry for his great +rudeness, and would gladly have attempted to explain his conduct, seeing +that Donna Tullia was so justly angry. + +"There is no nevertheless!" she interrupted. "You may stay where you +are," she added, with a scornful glance at the Duchessa d'Astrardente. +Then she laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and swept angrily past, so +that the train of her red silk gown brushed sharply against Corona's soft +white velvet. + +Giovanni remained standing a moment, with a puzzled expression upon his +face. + +"How could you do anything so rude?" asked Corona, very gravely. "She +will never forgive you, and she will be quite right." + +"I do not know how I forgot," he answered, seating himself again. "It is +dreadful--unpardonable--but perhaps the consequences will be good." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Corona was ill at ease. In the first few moments of being alone with +Giovanni the pleasure she felt outweighed all other thoughts. But as the +minutes lengthened to a quarter of an hour, then to half an hour, she +grew nervous, and her answers came more and more shortly. She said to +herself that she should never have given him the cotillon, and she +wondered how the remainder of the time would pass. The realisation of +what had occurred came upon her, and the hot blood rose to her face and +ebbed away again, and rose once more. Yet she could not speak out what +her pride prompted her to say, because she pitied Giovanni a little, and +was willing to think for a moment that it was only compassion she felt, +lest she should feel that she must send him away. + +But Giovanni sat beside her, and knew that the spell was working upon +him, and that there was no salvation. He had taken her unawares, though +he hardly knew it, when she first entered, and he asked her suddenly for +a dance. He had wondered vaguely why she had so freely consented; but, in +the wild delight of being by her side, he completely lost all hold upon +himself, and yielded to the exquisite charm of her presence, as a man who +has struggled for a moment against a powerful opiate sinks under its +influence, and involuntarily acknowledges his weakness. Strong as he was, +his strength was all gone, and he knew not where he should find it. + +"You will have to make her some further apology," said Corona, as Madame +Mayer's red train disappeared through the doorway at the other end of the +room. + +"Of course--I must do something about it," said Giovanni, absently. +"After all, I do not wonder--it is amazing that I should have recognised +her at all. I should forget anything to-night, except that I am to +dance with you." + +The Duchessa looked away, and fanned herself slowly; but she sighed, and +checked the deep-drawn breath as by a great effort. The waltz was over, +and the dancers streamed through the intervening rooms towards the +gallery in quest of fresher air and freer space. Two and two they came, +quickly following each other and passing on, some filling the high seats +along the walls, others hastening towards the supper-rooms beyond. A few +minutes earlier Saracinesca and Corona had been almost alone in the great +apartment; now they were surrounded on all sides by a chattering crowd of +men and women, with flushed faces or unnaturally pale, according as the +effort of dancing affected each, and the indistinguishable din of +hundreds of voices so filled the air that Giovanni and the Duchessa could +hardly hear each other speak. + +"This is intolerable," said Giovanni, suddenly. "You are not engaged for +the last quadrille? Shall we not go away until the cotillon begins?" + +Corona hesitated a moment, and was silent. She glanced once at Giovanni, +and again surveyed the moving crowd. + +"Yes," she said at last; "let us go away." + +"You are very good," answered Giovanni in a low voice, as he offered her +his arm. She looked at him inquiringly, and her face grew grave, as they +slowly made their way out of the room. + +At last they came to the conservatory, and went in among the great plants +and the soft lights. There was no one there, and they slowly paced the +broad walk that was left clear all round the glass-covered chamber, and +up and down the middle. The plants were disposed so thickly as to form +almost impenetrable walls of green on either side; and at one end there +was an open space where a little marble fountain played, around which +were disposed seats of carved wood. But Giovanni and Corona continued to +walk slowly along the tiled path. + +"Why did you say I was good just now?" asked Corona at last. Her voice +sounded cold. + +"I should not have said it, perhaps," answered Giovanni. "I say many +things which I cannot help saying. I am very sorry." + +"I am very sorry too," answered the Duchessa, quietly. + +"Ah! if you knew, you would forgive me. If you could guess half the +truth, you would forgive me." + +"I would rather not guess it." + +"Of course; but you have already--you know it all. Have I not told you?" +Giovanni spoke in despairing tones. He was utterly weak and spellbound; +he could hardly find any words at all. + +"Don Giovanni," said Corona, speaking very proudly and calmly, but not +unkindly, "I have known you so long, I believe you to be so honourable a +man, that I am willing to suppose that you said--what you said--in a +moment of madness." + +"Madness! It was madness; but it is more sweet to remember than all the +other doings of my life," said Saracinesca, his tongue unloosed at last. +"If it is madness to love you, I am mad past all cure. There is no +healing for me now; I shall never find my senses again, for they are lost +in you, and lost for ever. Drive me away, crush me, trample on me if you +will; you cannot kill me nor kill my madness, for I live in you and for +you, and I cannot die. That is all. I am not eloquent as other men are, +to use smooth words and twist phrases. I love you--" + +"You have said too much already--too much, far too much," murmured +Corona, in broken tones. She had withdrawn her hand from his during his +passionate speech, and stood back from him against the dark wall of green +plants, her head drooping upon her breast, her fingers clasped fast +together. His short rude words were terribly sweet to hear, it was +fearful to think that she was alone with him, that one step would bring +her to his side, that with one passionate impulse she might throw her +white arms about his neck, that one faltering sigh of overwhelming love +might bring her queenly head down upon his shoulder. Ah, God! how gladly +she would let her tears flow and speak for her! how unutterably sweet it +would be to rest for one instant in his arms, to love and be loved as she +longed to be! + +"You are so cold," he cried, passionately. "You cannot understand. All +spoken words are not too much, are not enough to move you, to make you +see that I do really worship and adore you; you, the whole of you--your +glorious face, your sweet small hands, your queenly ways, the light of +your eyes, and the words of your lips--all of you, body and soul, I love. +I would I might die now, for you know it, even if you will not +understand--" + +He moved a step nearer to her, stretching out his hands as he spoke. +Corona trembled convulsively, and her lips turned white in the torture of +temptation; she leaned far back against the green leaves, staring wildly +at Giovanni, held as in a vice by the mighty passions of love and fear. +Having yielded her ears to his words, they fascinated her horribly. He, +poor man, had long lost all control of himself. His resolutions, long +pondered in the solitude of Saracinesca, had vanished like unsubstantial +vapours before a strong fire, and his heart and soul were ablaze. + +"Do not look at me so," he said almost tenderly. "Do not look at me as +though you feared me, as though you hated me. Can you not see that it is +I who fear you as well as love you, who tremble at your coldness, who +watch for your slightest kind look? Ah, Corona, you have made me so +happy!--there is no angel in all heaven but would give up his Paradise to +change for mine!" + +He had taken her hand and pressed it wildly to his lips. Her eyelids +drooped, and her head fell back for one moment. They stood so very near +that his arm had almost stolen about her slender waist, he almost thought +he was supporting her. + +Suddenly, without the least warning, she drew herself up to her full +height, and thrust Giovanni back to her arm's length strongly, almost +roughly. + +"Never!" she said. "I am a weak woman, but not so weak as that. I am +miserable, but not so miserable as to listen to you. Giovanni +Saracinesca, you say you love me--God grant it is not true! but you say +it. Then, have you no honour, no courage, no strength? Is there nothing +of the man left in you? Is there no truth in your love, no generosity in +your heart? If you so love me as you say you do, do you care so little +what becomes of me as to tempt me to love you?" + +She spoke very earnestly, not scornfully nor angrily, but in the +certainty of strength and right, and in the strong persuasion that the +headstrong man would hear and be convinced. She was weak no longer, for +one desperate moment her fate had trembled in the balance, but she had +not hesitated even then; she had struggled bravely, and her brave soul +had won the great battle. She had been weak the other day at the theatre, +in letting herself ask the question to which she knew the answer; she had +been miserably weak that very night in so abandoning herself to the +influence she loved and dreaded; but at the great moment, when heaven and +earth swam before her as in a wild and unreal mirage, with the voice of +the man she loved ringing in her ears, speaking such words as it was +an ecstasy to hear, she had been no longer weak--the reality of danger +had brought forth the sincerity of her goodness, and her heart had found +courage to do a great deed. She had overcome, and she knew it. + +Giovanni stood back from her, and hung his head. In a moment the force of +his passion was checked, and from the supreme verge of unspeakable and +rapturous delight, he was cast suddenly into the depths of his own +remorse. He stood silent before her, trembling and awestruck. + +"You cannot understand me," she said, "I do not understand myself. But +this I know, that you are not what you have seemed to-night--that there +is enough manliness and nobility in you to respect a woman, and that you +will hereafter prove that I am right. I pray that I may not see you any +more; but if I must see you, I will trust you this much--say that I may +trust you," she added, her strong smooth voice sinking in a trembling +cadence, half beseeching, and yet wholly commanding. + +Saracinesca bent his heavy brows, and was silent for a moment. Then he +looked up, and his eyes met hers, and seemed to gather strength from her. + +"If you will let me see you sometimes, you may trust me. I would I were +as noble and good as you--I am not. I will try to be. Ah, Corona!" he +cried suddenly, "forgive me, forgive me! I hardly knew what I said." + +"Hush!" said the Duchessa, gently; "you must not speak like that, nor +call me Corona. Perhaps I am wrong to forgive you wholly, but I believe +in you. I believe you will understand, and that you will be worthy of the +trust I place in you." + +"Indeed, Duchessa, none shall say that they have trusted me in vain," +answered Giovanni very proudly--"neither man nor woman--and, least of all +women, you." + +"That is well," said she, with a faint shadow of a smile. "I would rather +see you proud than reckless. See that you remain so--that neither by word +nor deed you ever remind me that I have had anything to forgive. It is +the only way in which any intercourse between us can be possible after +this--this dreadful night." + +Giovanni bowed his head. He was still pale, but he had regained control +of himself. + +"I solemnly promise that I will not recall it to your memory, and I +implore your forgiveness, even though you cannot forget." + +"I cannot forget," said Corona, almost under her breath. Giovanni's eyes +flashed for a moment. "Shall we go back to the ball-room? I will go home +soon." + +As they turned to go, a loud crash, as of broken glass, with the fall of +some heavy body, startled them, and made them stand still in the middle +of the walk. The noisy concussion was followed by a complete silence. +Corona, whose nerves had been severely tried, trembled slightly. + +"It is strange," she said; "they say it always happens." + +There was nothing to be seen. The thick web of plants hid the cause of +the noise from view, whatever it might be. Giovanni hesitated a moment, +looking about to see how he could get behind the banks of flower-pots. +Then he left Corona without a word, and striding to the end of the walk, +disappeared into the depths of the conservatory. He had noticed that +there was a narrow entrance at the end nearest the fountain, intended +probably to admit the gardener for the purpose of watering the plants. +Corona could hear his quick steps; she thought she heard a low groan and +a voice whispering,--but she might have been mistaken, for the place was +large, and her heart was beating fast. + +Giovanni had not gone far in the narrow way, which was sufficiently +lighted by the soft light of the many candles concealed in various parts +of the conservatory, when he came upon the figure of a man sitting, as he +had apparently fallen, across the small passage. The fragments of a heavy +earthenware vase lay beyond him, with a heap of earth and roots; and the +tall india-rubber plant which grew in it had fallen against the sloping +glass roof and shattered several panes. As Giovanni came suddenly upon +him, the man struggled to rise, and in the dim light Saracinesca +recognised Del Ferice. The truth flashed upon him at once. The fellow had +been listening, and had probably heard all. Giovanni instantly resolved +to conceal the fact from the Duchessa, to whom the knowledge that the +painful scene had been overheard would be a bitter mortification. +Giovanni could undertake to silence the eavesdropper. + +Quick as thought his strong brown hands gripped the throat of Ugo del +Ferice, stifling his breath like a collar of iron. + +"Dog!" he whispered fiercely in the wretch's ear, "if you breathe, I will +kill you now! You will find me in my own house in an hour. Be silent +now!" Giovanni whispered, with such a terrible grip on the fellow's +throat that his eyeballs seemed starting from his head. Then he turned +and went out by the way he had entered, leaving Del Ferice writhing with +pain and gasping for breath. As he joined Corona, his face betrayed no +emotion--he had been so pale before that he could not turn whiter in his +anger--but his eyes gleamed fiercely at the thought of fight. The +Duchessa stood where he had left her, still much agitated. + +"It is nothing," said Giovanni, with a forced laugh, as he offered her +his arm and led her quickly away. "Imagine. A great vase with one of +Frangipani's favourite plants in it had been badly propped, and had +fallen right through the glass, outward." + +"It is strange," said Corona. "I was almost sure I heard a groan." + +"It was the wind. The glass was broken, and it is a stormy night." + +"That was just the way that window fell in five years ago," said Corona. +"Something always happens here. I think I will go home--let us find my +husband." + +No one would have guessed, from Corona's face, that anything +extraordinary had occurred in the half-hour she had spent in the +conservatory. She walked calmly by Giovanni's side, not a trace of +excitement on her pale proud face, not a sign of uneasiness in the quiet +glance of her splendid eyes. She had conquered, and she knew it, never to +be tempted again; she had conquered herself and she had overcome the man +beside her. Giovanni glanced at her in wondering admiration. + +"You are the bravest woman in the world, as I am the most contemptible of +men," he said suddenly, as they entered the picture-gallery. + +"I am not brave," she answered calmly, "neither are you contemptible, my +friend. We have both been very near to our destruction, but it has +pleased God to save us." + +"By you," said Saracinesca, very solemnly. He knew that within six hours +he might be lying dead upon some plot of wet grass without the city, and +he grew very grave, after the manner of brave men when death is abroad. + +"You have saved my soul to-night," he said earnestly. "Will you give me +your blessing and whole forgiveness? Do not laugh at me, nor think me +foolish. The blessing of such women as you should make men braver and +better." + +The gallery was again deserted. The cotillon had begun, and those who +were not dancing were at supper. Corona stood still for one moment by the +very chair where they had sat so long. + +"I forgive you wholly. I pray that all blessings may be upon you always, +in life and in death, for ever." + +Giovanni bowed his head reverently. It seemed as though the woman he so +loved was speaking a benediction upon his death, a last _in pace_ which +should follow him for all eternity. + +"In life and in death, I will honour you truly and serve you faithfully +for ever," he answered. As he raised his head, Corona saw that there were +tears in his eyes, and she felt that there were tears in her own. + +"Come," she said, and they passed on in silence. + +She found her husband at last in the supper-room. He was leisurely +discussing the wing of a chicken and a small glass of claret-and-water, +with a gouty ambassador whose wife had insisted upon dancing the +cotillon, and who was revenging himself upon a Strasbourg _pâté_ and a +bottle of dry champagne. + +"Ah, my dear," said Astrardente, looking up from his modest fare, "you +have been dancing? You have come to supper? You are very wise. I have +danced a great deal myself, but I have not seen you--the room was so +crowded. Here--this small table will hold us all, just a quartet." + +"Thanks--I am not hungry. Will you take me home when you have finished +supper? Or are you going to stay? Do not wait, Don Giovanni; I know you +are busy in the cotillon. My husband will take care of me. Good night." + +Giovanni bowed, and went away, glad to be alone at last. He had to be at +home in half an hour according to his engagement, and he had to look +about him for a friend. All Rome was at the ball; but the men upon whom +he could call for such service as he required, were all dancing. +Moreover, he reflected that in such a matter it was necessary to have +some one especially trustworthy. It would not do to have the real cause +of the duel known, and the choice of a second was a very important +matter. He never doubted that Del Ferice would send some one with a +challenge at the appointed time. Del Ferice was a scoundrel, doubtless; +but he was quick with the foils, and had often appeared as second in +affairs of honour. + +Giovanni stood by the door of the ball-room, looking at the many familiar +faces, and wondering how he could induce any one to leave his partner at +that hour, and go home with him. Suddenly he was aware that his father +was standing beside him and eyeing him curiously. + +"What is the matter, Giovanni?" inquired the old Prince. "Why are you not +dancing?" + +"The fact is--" began Giovanni, and then stopped suddenly. An idea struck +him. He went close to his father, and spoke in a low voice. + +"The fact is, that I have just taken a man by the throat and otherwise +insulted him, by calling him a dog. The fellow seemed annoyed, and so I +told him he might send to our house in an hour for an explanation. I +cannot find a friend, because everybody is dancing this abominable +cotillon. Perhaps you can help me," he added, looking at his father +rather doubtfully. To his surprise and considerable relief the old Prince +burst into a hearty laugh. + +"Of course," he cried. "What do you take me for? Do you think I would +desert my boy in a fight? Go and call my carriage, and wait for me while +I pick up somebody for a witness; we can talk on the way home." + +The old Prince had been a duellist in his day, and he would no more have +thought of advising his son not to fight than of refusing a challenge +himself. He was, moreover, exceedingly bored at the ball, and not in the +least sleepy. The prospect of an exciting night was novel and delightful. +He knew Giovanni's extraordinary skill, and feared nothing for him. He +knew everybody in the ball-room was engaged, and he went straight to the +supper-table, expecting to find some one there. Astrardente, the +Duchessa, and the gouty ambassador were still together, as Giovanni had +left them a moment before. The Prince did not like Astrardente, but he +knew the ambassador very well. He called him aside, with an apology to +the Duchessa. + +"I want a young man immediately," said old Saracinesca, stroking his +white beard with his broad brown hand. "Can you tell of any one who is +not dancing?" + +"There is Astrardente," answered his Excellency, with an ironical smile. +"A duel?" he asked. + +Saracinesca nodded. + +"I am too old," said the diplomatist, thoughtfully; "but it would be +infinitely amusing. I cannot give you one of my secretaries either. It +always makes such a scandal. Oh, there goes the very man! Catch him +before it is too late!" + +Old Saracinesca glanced in the direction the ambassador indicated, and +darted away. He was as active as a boy, in spite of his sixty years. + +"Eh!" he cried. "Hi! you! Come here! Spicca! Stop! Excuse me--I am in a +great hurry!" + +Count Spicca, whom he thus addressed, paused and looked round through his +single eyeglass in some surprise. He was an immensely tall and +cadaverous-looking man, with a black beard and searching grey eyes. + +"I really beg your pardon," said the Prince hurriedly, in a low voice, as +he came up, "but I am in a great hurry--an affair of honour--will you be +witness? My carriage is at the door." + +"With pleasure," said Count Spicca, quietly; and without further comment +he accompanied the Prince to the outer hall. Giovanni was waiting, and +the Prince's footman stood at the head of the stairs. In three minutes +the father and son and the melancholy Spicca were seated in the carriage, +on their way to the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Now then, Giovannino," said the Prince, as he lit a cigarette in the +darkness, "tell us all about it." + +"There is not much to tell," said Giovanni. "If the challenge arrives, +there is nothing to be done but to fight. I took him by the throat and +nearly strangled him." + +"Whom?" asked Spicca, mournfully. + +"Oh! it is Del Ferice," answered Giovanni, who had forgotten that he had +not mentioned the name of his probable antagonist. The Prince laughed. + +"Del Ferice! Who would have thought it? He is a dead man. What was it all +about?" + +"That is unnecessary to say here," said Giovanni, quietly. "He insulted +me grossly. I half-strangled him, and told him he was a dog. I suppose he +will fight." + +"Ah yes; he will probably fight," repeated Spicca, thoughtfully. "What +are your weapons, Don Giovanni?" + +"Anything he likes." + +"But the choice is yours if he challenges," returned the Count. + +"As you please. Arrange all that--foils, swords, or pistols." + +"You do not seem to take much interest in this affair," remarked Spicca, +sadly. + +"He is best with foils," said the old Prince. + +"Foils or pistols, of course," said the Count. "Swords are child's play." + +Satisfied that his seconds meant business, Giovanni sank back in his +corner of the carriage, and was silent. + +"We had better have the meeting in my villa," said his father. "If it +rains, they can fight indoors. I will send for the surgeon at once." + +In a few moments they reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. The Prince left +word at the porter's lodge that any gentlemen who arrived were to be +admitted, and all three went up-stairs. It was half-past two o'clock. + +As they entered the apartments, they heard a carriage drive under the +great archway below. + +"Go to your rooms, Giovanni," said the old Prince. "These fellows are +punctual. I will call you when they are gone. I suppose you mean business +seriously?" + +"I care nothing about him. I will give him any satisfaction he pleases," +answered Giovanni. "It is very kind of you to undertake the matter--I am +very grateful." + +"I would not leave it to anybody else," muttered the old Prince, as he +hurried away to meet Del Fence's seconds. + +Giovanni entered his own rooms, and went straight to his writing-table. +He took a pen and a sheet of paper and began writing. His face was very +grave, but his hand was steady. For more than an hour he wrote without +pausing. Then his father entered the room. + +"Well?" said Giovanni, looking up. + +"It is all settled," said the old gentleman, seriously. "I was afraid +they might make some objection to me as a second. You know there is an +old clause about near relations acting in such cases. But they declared +that they considered my co-operation an honour--so that is all right. +You must do your best, my boy. This rascal means to hurt you if he can. +Seven o'clock is the time. We must leave here at half-past six. You can +sleep two hours and a half. I will sit up and call you. Spicca has gone +home to change his clothes, and is coming back immediately. Now lie down. +I will see to your foils--" + +"Is it foils, then?" asked Giovanni, quietly. + +"Yes. They made no objection. You had better lie down." + +"I will. Father, if anything should happen to me--it may, you know--you +will find my keys in this drawer, and this letter, which I beg you will +read. It is to yourself." + +"Nonsense, my dear boy! Nothing will happen to you--you will just run him +through the arm and come home to breakfast." + +The old Prince spoke in his rough cheerful way; but his voice trembled, +and he turned aside to hide two great tears that had fallen upon his dark +cheeks and were losing themselves in his white beard. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Giovanni slept soundly for two hours. He was very tired with the many +emotions of the night, and the arrangements for the meeting being +completed, it seemed as though work were over and the pressure removed. +It is said that men will sleep for hours when the trial is over and the +sentence of death has been passed; and though it was more likely that Del +Ferice would be killed than that Giovanni would be hurt, the latter felt +not unlike a man who has been tried for his life. He had suffered in a +couple of hours almost every emotion of which he was capable--his love +for Corona, long controlled and choked down, had broken bounds at last, +and found expression for itself; he had in a moment suffered the severest +humiliation and the most sincere sorrow at her reproaches; he had known +the fear of seeing her no more, and the sweetness of pardon from her own +lips; he had found himself on a sudden in a frenzy of righteous wrath +against Del Ferice, and a moment later he had been forced to hide his +anger under a calm face; and at last, when the night was far spent, he +had received the assurance that in less than four hours he would have +ample opportunity for taking vengeance upon the cowardly eavesdropper who +had so foully got possession of the one secret he held dear. Worn out +with all he had suffered, and calm in the expectation of the morning's +struggle, Giovanni lay down upon his bed and slept. + +Del Ferice, on the contrary, was very wakeful. He had an unpleasant +sensation about his throat as though he had been hanged, and cut down +before he was dead; and he suffered the unutterable mortification of +knowing that, after a long and successful social career, he had been +detected by his worst enemy in a piece of disgraceful villany. In the +first place, Giovanni might kill him. Del Ferice was a very good fencer, +but Saracinesca was stronger and more active; there was certainly +considerable danger in the duel. On the other hand, if he survived, +Giovanni had him in his power for the rest of his life, and there was no +escape possible. He had been caught listening--caught in a flagrantly +dishonest trick--and he well knew that if the matter had been brought +before a jury of honour, he would have been declared incompetent +to claim any satisfaction. + +It was not the first time Del Ferice had done such things, but it was the +first time he had been caught. He cursed his awkwardness in oversetting +the vase just at the moment when his game was successfully played to the +end--just when he thought that he began to see land, in having discovered +beyond all doubt that Giovanni was devoted body and soul to Corona +d'Astrardente. The information had been necessary to him, for he was +beginning seriously to press his suit with Donna Tullia, and he needed to +be sure that Giovanni was not a rival to be feared. He had long suspected +Saracinesca's devotion to the dark Duchessa, and by constantly putting +himself in his way, he had done his best to excite his jealousy and to +stimulate his passion. Giovanni never could have considered Del Ferice as +a rival; the idea would have been ridiculous. But the constant annoyance +of finding the man by Corona's side, when he desired to be alone with +her, had in some measure heightened the effect Del Ferice desired, though +it had not actually produced it. Being a good judge of character, he had +sensibly reckoned his chances against Giovanni, and he had formed so just +an opinion of the man's bold and devoted character as to be absolutely +sure that if Saracinesca loved Corona he would not seriously think of +marrying Donna Tullia. He had done all he could to strengthen the passion +when he guessed it was already growing, and at the very moment when he +had received circumstantial evidence of it which placed it beyond all +doubt, he had allowed himself to be discovered, through his own +unpardonable carelessness. + +Evidently the only satisfactory way out of the difficulty was to kill +Giovanni outright, if he could do it. In that way he would rid himself +of an enemy, and at the same time of the evidence against himself. +The question was, how this could be accomplished; for Giovanni was a +man of courage, strength, and experience, and he himself--Ugo del +Ferice--possessed none of those qualities in any great degree. The result +was, that he slept not at all, but passed the night in a state of nervous +anxiety by no means conducive to steadiness of hand or calmness of the +nerves. He was less pleased than ever when he heard that Giovanni's +seconds were his own father and the melancholy Spicca, who was the most +celebrated duellist in Italy, in spite of his cadaverous long body, his +sad voice, and his expression of mournful resignation to the course of +events. + +In the event of his neither killing Don Giovanni nor being himself +killed, what he most dreaded was the certainty that for the rest of his +life he must be in his enemy's power. He knew that, for Corona's sake, +Giovanni would not mention the cause of the duel, and no one could have +induced him to speak of it himself; but it would be a terrible hindrance +in his life to feel at every turn that the man he hated had the power to +expose him to the world as a scoundrel of the first water. What he had +heard gave him but small influence over Saracinesca, though it was of +great value in determining his own action. To say aloud to the world that +Giovanni loved the Duchessa d'Astrardente would be of little use. Del +Ferice could not, for very shame, tell how he had found it out; and there +was no other proof but his evidence, for he guessed that from that time +forward the open relation between the two would be even more formal than +before--and the most credulous people do not believe in a great fire +unless they can see a little smoke. He had not even the advantage of +turning the duel to account in his interest with Donna Tullia, since +Giovanni could force him to deny that she was implicated in the question, +on pain of exposing his treachery. There was palpably no satisfactory way +out of the matter unless he could kill his adversary. He would have to +leave the country for a while; but Giovanni once dead, it would be easy +to make Donna Tullia believe they had fought on her account, and to +derive all the advantage there was to be gained from posing before the +world as her defender. + +But though Del Ferice's rest was disturbed by the contemplation of his +difficulties, he did not neglect any precaution which might save his +strength for the morrow. He lay down upon his bed, stretching himself at +full length, and carefully keeping his right arm free, lest, by letting +his weight fall upon it as he lay, he should benumb the muscles or +stiffen the joints; from time to time he rubbed a little strengthening +ointment upon his wrist, and he was careful that the light should not +shine in his eyes and weary them. At six o'clock his seconds appeared +with the surgeon they had engaged, and the four men were soon driving +rapidly down the Corso towards the gate. + +So punctual were the two parties that they arrived simultaneously at the +gate of the villa which had been selected for the encounter. The old +Prince took a key from his pocket and himself opened the great iron gate. +The carriages drove in, and the gates were closed by the astonished +porter, who came running out as they creaked upon their hinges. The light +was already sufficient for the purpose of fencing, as the eight men +descended simultaneously before the house. The morning was cloudy, but +the ground was dry. The principals and seconds saluted each other +formally. Giovanni withdrew to a little distance on one side with his +surgeon, and Del Ferice stood aside with his. + +The melancholy Spicca, who looked like the shadow of death in the dim +morning light, was the first to speak. + +"Of course you know the best spot in the villa?" he said to the old +Prince. + +"As there is no sun, I suggest that they fight upon the ground behind the +house. It is hard and dry." + +The whole party followed old Saracinesca. Spicca had the foils in a green +bag. The place suggested by the Prince seemed in every way adapted, and +Del Ferice's seconds made no objection. There was absolutely no choice of +position upon the ground, which was an open space about twenty yards +square, hard and well rolled, preferable in every way to a grass lawn. + +Without further comment, Giovanni took off his coat and waistcoat, and +Del Ferice, who looked paler and more unhealthy than usual, followed his +example. The seconds crossed sides to examine the principals' shirts, +and to assure themselves that they wore no flannel underneath the +unstarched linen. This formality being accomplished, the foils were +carefully compared, and Giovanni was offered the first choice. He took +the one nearest his hand, and the other was carried to Del Ferice. They +were simple fencing foils, the buttons being removed and the points +sharpened--there was nothing to choose between them. The seconds then +each took a sword, and stationed the combatants some seven or eight +paces apart, while they themselves stood a little aside, each upon the +right hand of his principal, and the witnesses placed themselves at +opposite corners of the ground, the surgeons remaining at the ends behind +the antagonists. There was a moment's pause. When all was ready, old +Saracinesca came close to Giovanni, while Del Ferice's second approached +his principal in like manner. + +"Giovanni," said the old Prince, gravely, "as your second I am bound to +recommend you to make any advance in your power towards a friendly +understanding. Can you do so?" + +"No, father, I cannot," answered Giovanni, with a slight smile. His face +was perfectly calm, and of a natural colour. Old Saracinesca crossed the +ground, and met Casalverde, the opposite second, half-way. Each formally +expressed to the other his great regret that no arrangement would be +possible, and then retired again to the right hand of his principal. + +"Gentlemen," said the Prince, in a loud voice, "are you ready?" As both +men bowed their assent, he added immediately, in a sharp tone of command, +"In guard!" + +Giovanni and Del Ferice each made a step forward, saluted each other with +their foils, repeated the salute to the seconds and witnesses, and then +came face to face and fell into position. Each made one thrust in tierce +at the other, in the usual fashion of compliment, each parrying in the +same way. + +"Halt!" cried Saracinesca and Casalverde, in the same breath. + +"In guard!" shouted the Prince again, and the duel commenced. + +In a moment the difference between the two men was apparent. Del Ferice +fenced in the Neapolitan style--his arm straight before him, never +bending from the elbow, making all his play with his wrist, his back +straight, and his knees so much bent that he seemed not more than half +his height. He made his movements short and quick, and relatively few, in +evident fear of tiring himself at the start. To a casual observer his +fence was less graceful than his antagonist's, his lunges less daring, +his parries less brilliant. But as the old Prince watched him he saw that +the point of his foil advanced and retreated in a perfectly straight +line, and in parrying described the smallest circle possible, while his +cold watery blue eye was fixed steadily upon his antagonist; old +Saracinesca ground his teeth, for he saw that the man was a most +accomplished swordsman. + +Giovanni fought with the air of one who defended himself, without much +thought of attack. He did not bend so low as Del Ferice, his arm doubled +a little before his lunge, and his foil occasionally made a wide circle +in the air. He seemed careless, but in strength and elasticity he was far +superior to his enemy, and could perhaps afford to trust to these +advantages, when a man like Del Ferice was obliged to employ his whole +skill and science. + +They had been fencing for more than two minutes, without any apparent +result, when Giovanni seemed suddenly to change his tactics. He lowered +the point of his weapon a little, and, keeping it straight before him, +began to press more closely upon his antagonist. Del Ferice kept his arm +at full length, and broke ground for a yard or two, making clever feints +in carte at Giovanni's body, with the object of stopping his advance. But +Giovanni pressed him, and suddenly made a peculiar movement with his +foil, bringing it in contact with his enemy's along its length. + +"Halt!" cried Casalverde. Both men lowered their weapons instantly, and +the seconds sprang forward and touched their swords between them. +Giovanni bit his lip angrily. + +"Why 'halt'?" asked the Prince, sharply. "Neither is touched." + +"My principal's shoe-string is untied," answered Casalverde, calmly. It +was true. "He might easily trip and fall," explained Del Ferice's friend, +bending down and proceeding to tie the silk ribbon. The Prince shrugged +his shoulders, and retired with Giovanni a few steps back. + +"Giovanni," he said, in a voice trembling with emotion, "if you are not +more careful, he will do you a mischief. For heaven's sake run him +through the arm and let us be done with it." + +"I should have disarmed him that time if his second had not stopped us," +said Giovanni, calmly. "He is ready again," he added, "come on." + +"In guard!" + +Again the two men advanced, and again the foils crossed and recrossed and +rang loudly in the cold morning air. Once more Giovanni pressed upon Del +Ferice, and Del Ferice broke ground. In answer to a quick feint, Giovanni +made a round parry and a sharp short lunge in tierce. + +"Halt!" yelled Casalverde. Old Saracinesca sprang in, and Giovanni +lowered his weapon. But Casalverde did not interpose his sword. A full +two seconds after the cry to halt, Del Ferice lunged right forward. +Giovanni thrust out his arm to save his body from the foul attempt--he +had not time to raise his weapon. Del Ferice's sharp rapier entered his +wrist and tore a long wound nearly to the elbow. + +Giovanni said nothing, but his sword dropped from his hand and he turned +upon his father, white with rage. The blood streamed down his sleeve, and +his surgeon came running towards him. + +The old man had understood at a glance the foul play that had been +practised, and going forward laid his hand upon the arm of Del Ferice's +second. + +"Why did you stop them, sir? And where was your sword?" he said in great +anger. Del Ferice was leaning upon his friend; a greenish pallor had +overspread his face, but there was a smile under his colourless +moustache. + +"My principal was touched," said Casalverde, pointing to a tiny scratch +upon Del Ferice's neck, from which a single drop of blood was slowly +oozing. + +"Then why did you not prevent your principal from thrusting after you +cried the halt?" asked Saracinesca, severely. "You have singularly +misunderstood your duties, sir, and when these gentlemen are satisfied, +you will be answerable to me." + +Casalverde was silent. + +"I protest myself wholly satisfied," said Ugo, with a disagreeable smile, +as he glanced to where the surgeon was binding up Giovanni's arm. + +"Sir," said old Saracinesca, fiercely addressing the second, "I am not +here to bandy words with your principal. He may express himself satisfied +through you, if he pleases. My principal, through me, expresses his +entire dissatisfaction." + +"Your principal, Prince," answered Casalverde, coldly, "is unable to +proceed, seeing that his right arm is injured." + +"My son, sir, fences as readily with his left hand as with his right," +returned old Saracinesca. + +Del Ferice's face fell, and his smile vanished instantly. + +"In that case we are ready," returned Casalverde, unable, however, to +conceal his annoyance. He was a friend of Del Ferice's and would gladly +have seen Giovanni run through the body by the foul thrust. + +There was a moment's consultation on the other side. + +"I will give myself the pleasure of killing that gentleman to-morrow +morning," remarked Spicca, as he mournfully watched the surgeon's +operations. + +"Unless I kill him myself to-day," returned the Prince savagely, in his +white beard. "Are you ready, Giovanni?" It never occurred to him to ask +his son if he was too badly hurt to proceed. + +Giovanni never spoke, but the hot blood had mounted to his temples, and +he was dangerously angry. He took the foil they gave him, and felt the +point quietly. It was sharp as a needle. He nodded to his father's +question, and they resumed their places, the old Prince this time +standing on the left, as his son had changed hands. Del Ferice came +forward rather timidly. His courage had sustained him so far, but the +consciousness of having done a foul deed, and the sight of the angry man +before him, were beginning to make him nervous. He felt uncomfortable, +too, at the idea of fencing against a left-handed antagonist. + +Giovanni made one or two lunges, and then, with a strange movement unlike +anything any one present was acquainted with, seemed to wind his blade +round Del Ferice's, and, with a violent jerk of the wrist, sent the +weapon flying across the open space. It struck a window of the house, and +crashed through the panes. + +"More broken glass!" said Giovanni scornfully, as he lowered his point +and stepped back two paces. "Take another sword, sir," he said; "I will +not kill you defenceless." + +"Good heavens, Giovanni!" exclaimed his father in the greatest +excitement; "where on earth did you learn that trick?" + +"On my travels, father," returned Giovanni, with a smile; "where you tell +me I learned so much that was bad. He looks frightened," he added in a +low voice, as he glanced at Del Ferice's livid face. + +"He has cause," returned the Prince, "if he ever had in his life!" + +Casalverde and his witness advanced from the other side with a fresh pair +of foils; for the one that had gone through the window could not be +recovered at once, and was probably badly bent by the twist it had +received. The gentlemen offered Giovanni his choice. + +"If there is no objection I will keep the one I have," said he to his +father. The foils were measured, and were found to be alike. The two +gentlemen retired, and Del Ferice chose a weapon. + +"That is right," said Spicca, as he slowly went back to his place. "You +should never part with an old friend." + +"We are ready!" was called from the opposite side. + +"In guard, then!" cried the Prince. The angry flush had not subsided from +Giovanni's forehead, as he again went forward. Del Ferice came up like a +man who has suddenly made up his mind to meet death, with a look of +extraordinary determination on his pale face. + +Before they had made half-a-dozen passes Ugo slipped, or pretended to +slip, and fell upon his right knee; but as he came to the ground, he made +a sharp thrust upwards under Giovanni's extended left arm. + +The old Prince uttered a fearful oath, that rang and echoed along the +walls of the ancient villa. Del Ferice had executed the celebrated feint +known long ago as the "Colpo del Tancredi," "Tancred's lunge," from the +supposed name of its inventor. It is now no longer permitted in duelling. +But the deadly thrust loses half its danger against a left-handed man. +The foil grazed the flesh on Giovanni's left side, and the blood again +stained his white shirt. In the moment when Del Ferice slipped, Giovanni +had made a straight and deadly lunge at his body, and the sword, instead +of passing through Ugo's lungs, ran swift and sure through his throat, +with such force that the iron guard struck the falling man's jaw with +tremendous impetus, before the oath the old Prince had uttered was fairly +out of his mouth. + +Seconds and witnesses and surgeons sprang forward hastily. Del Ferice lay +upon his side; he had fallen so heavily and suddenly as to wrench the +sword from Giovanni's grip. The old Prince gave one look, and dragged +his son away. + +"He is as dead as a stone," he muttered, with a savage gleam in his eyes. + +Giovanni hastily began to dress, without paying any attention to the +fresh wound he had received in the last encounter. In the general +excitement, his surgeon had joined the group about the fallen man. Before +Giovanni had got his overcoat on he came back with Spicca, who looked +crestfallen and disappointed. + +"He is not dead at all," said the surgeon. "You did the thing with a +master's hand--you ran his throat through without touching the jugular +artery or the spine." + +"Does he want to go on?" asked Giovanni, so savagely that the three men +stared at him. + +"Do not be so bloodthirsty, Giovanni," said the old Prince, +reproachfully. + +"I should be justified in going back and killing him as he lies there," +said the younger Saracinesca, fiercely. "He nearly murdered me twice this +morning." + +"That is true," said the Prince, "the dastardly brute!" + +"By the bye," said Spicca, lighting a cigarette, "I am afraid I have +deprived you of the pleasure of dealing with the man who called himself +Del Ferice's second. I just took the opportunity of having a moment's +private conversation with him--we disagreed, a little." + +"Oh, very well," growled the Prince; "as you please. I daresay I shall +have enough to do in taking care of Giovanni to-morrow. That is a +villanous bad scratch on his arm." + +"Bah! it is nothing to mention, save for the foul way it was given," said +Giovanni between his teeth. + +Once more old Saracinesca and Spicca crossed the ground. There was a word +of formality exchanged, to the effect that both combatants were +satisfied, and then Giovanni and his party moved off, Spicca carrying his +green bag of foils under his arm, and puffing clouds of smoke into the +damp morning air. They had been nearly an hour on the ground, and were +chilled with cold, and exhausted for want of sleep. They entered their +carriage and drove rapidly homewards. + +"Come in and breakfast with us," said the old Prince to Spicca, as they +reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Thank you, no," answered the melancholy man. "I have much to do, as I +shall go to Paris to-morrow morning by the ten o'clock train. Can I do +anything for you there? I shall be absent some months." + +"I thought you were going to fight to-morrow," objected the Prince. + +"Exactly. It will be convenient for me to leave the country immediately +afterwards." + +The old man shuddered. With all his fierce blood and headstrong passion, +he could not comprehend the fearful calm of this strange man, whose skill +was such that he regarded his adversary's death as a matter of course +whenever he so pleased. As for Giovanni, he was still so angry that he +cared little for the issue of the second duel. + +"I am sincerely grateful for your kind offices," he said, as Spicca took +leave of him. + +"You shall be amply revenged of the two attempts to murder you," said +Spicca, quietly; and so, having shaken hands with all, he again entered +the carriage. It was the last they saw of him for a long time. He +faithfully fulfilled his programme. He met Casalverde on the following +morning at seven o'clock, and at precisely a quarter past, he left him +dead on the field. He breakfasted with his seconds at half-past eight, +and left Rome with them for Paris at ten o'clock. He had selected two +French officers who were about to return to their home, in order not to +inconvenience any of his friends by obliging them to leave the country; +which showed that, even in moments of great excitement, Count Spicca was +thoughtful of others. + +When the surgeon had dressed Giovanni's wounds, he left the father and +son together. Giovanni lay upon a couch in his own sitting-room, eating +his breakfast as best he could with one hand. The old Prince paced the +floor, commenting from time to time upon the events of the morning. + +"It is just as well that you did not kill him, Giovanni," he remarked; +"it would have been a nuisance to have been obliged to go away just now." + +Giovanni did not answer. + +"Of course, duelling is a great sin, and is strictly forbidden by our +religion," said the Prince suddenly. "But then--" + +"Precisely," returned Giovanni. "We nevertheless cannot always help +ourselves." + +"I was going to say," continued his father, "that it is, of course, very +wicked, and if one is killed in a duel, one probably goes straight into +hell. But then--it was worth something to see how you sent that fellow's +foil flying through the window!" + +"It is a very simple trick. If you will take a foil, I will teach it to +you." + +"Presently, presently; when you have finished your breakfast. Tell me, +why did you say, 'more broken glass'?" + +Giovanni bit his lip, remembering his imprudence. + +"I hardly know. I believe it suggested something to my mind. One says all +sorts of foolish things in moments of excitement." + +"It struck me as a very odd remark," answered the Prince, still walking +about. "By the bye," he added, pausing before the writing-table, "here is +that letter you wrote for me. Do you want me to read it?" + +"No," said Giovanni, with a laugh. "It is of no use now. It would seem +absurd, since I am alive and well. It was only a word of farewell." + +The Prince laughed too, and threw the sealed letter into the fire. + +"The last of the Saracinesca is not dead yet," he said. "Giovanni, what +are we to say to the gossips? All Rome will be ringing with this affair +before night. Of course, you must stay at home for a few days, or you +will catch cold, in your arm. I will go out and carry the news of our +victory." + +"Better to say nothing about it--better to refer people to Del Ferice, +and tell them he challenged me. Come in!" cried Giovanni, in answer to a +knock at the door. Pasquale, the old butler, entered the room. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente has sent to inquire after the health of his +Excellency Don Giovanni," said the old man, respectfully. + +The elder Saracinesca paused in his walk, and broke out into a loud +laugh. + +"Already! You see, Giovannino," he said. "Tell him, Pasquale, that Don +Giovanni caught a severe cold at the ball last night--or no--wait! What +shall we say, Giovannino?" + +"Tell the servant," said Giovanni, sternly, "that I am much obliged for +the kind inquiry, that I am perfectly well, and that you have just seen +me eating my breakfast." + +Pasquale bowed and left the room. + +"I suppose you do not want her to know--" said the Prince, who had +suddenly recovered his gravity. + +Giovanni bowed his head silently. + +"Quite right, my boy," said the old man, gravely. "I do not want to know +anything about it either. How the devil could they have found out?" + +The question was addressed more to himself than to his son, and the +latter volunteered no answer. He was grateful to his father for his +considerate silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +When Astrardente saw the elder Saracinesca's face during his short +interview with the diplomatist, his curiosity was immediately aroused. He +perceived that there was something the matter, and he proceeded to try +and ascertain the circumstances from his acquaintance. The ambassador +returned to his _pâté_ and his champagne with an air of amused interest, +but vouchsafed no information whatever. + +"What a singularly amusing fellow old Saracinesca is!" remarked +Astrardente. + +"When he likes to be," returned his Excellency, with his mouth full. + +"On the contrary--when he least meditates it. I never knew a man better +suited for a successful caricature. Indeed he is not a bad caricature of +his own son, or his own son of him--I am not sure which." + +The ambassador laughed a little and took a large mouthful. + +"Ha! ha! very good," he mumbled as he ate. "He would appreciate that. He +loves his own race. He would rather feel that he is a comic +misrepresentation of the most hideous Saracinesca who ever lived, than +possess all the beauty of the Astrardente and be called by another +name." + +The diplomatist paused for a second after this speech, and then bowed a +little to the Duchessa; but the hit had touched her husband in a +sensitive spot. The old dandy had been handsome once, in a certain way, +and he did his best, by artificial means, to preserve some trace of his +good looks. The Duchessa smiled faintly. + +"I would wager," said Astrardente, sourly, "that his excited manner just +now was due to one of two things--either his vanity or his money is in +danger. As for the way he yelled after Spicca, it looked as though there +were a duel in the air--fancy the old fellow fighting a duel! Too +ridiculous!" + +"A duel!" repeated Corona in a low voice. + +"I do not see anything so very ridiculous in it," said the diplomatist, +slowly twisting his glass of champagne in his fingers, and then sipping +it. "Besides," he added deliberately, glancing at the Duchessa from the +corner of his eyes, "he has a son." + +Corona started very slightly. + +"Why should there be a duel?" she asked. + +"It was your husband who suggested the idea," returned the diplomatist. + +"But you said there was nothing ridiculous in it," objected the Duchessa. + +"But I did not say there was any truth in it, either," answered his +Excellency with a reassuring smile. "What made you think of duelling?" he +asked, turning to Astrardente. + +"Spicca," said the latter. "Wherever Spicca is concerned there is a duel. +He is a terrible fellow, with his death's-head and dangling bones--one of +those extraordinary phenomena--bah! it makes one shiver to think of him!" +The old fellow made the sign of the horns with his forefinger and little +finger, hiding his thumb in the palm of his hand, as though to protect +himself against the evil eye--the sinister influence invoked by the +mention of Spicca. Old Astrardente was very superstitious. The ambassador +laughed, and even Corona smiled a little. + +"Yes," said the diplomatist, "Spicca is a living _memento mori_; he +occasionally reminds men of death by killing them." + +"How horrible!" exclaimed Corona. + +"Ah, my dear lady, the world is full of horrible things." + +"That is not a reason for making jests of them." + +"It is better to make light of the inevitable," said Astrardente. "Are +you ready to go home, my dear?" + +"Quite--I was only waiting for you," answered Corona, who longed to be at +home and alone. + +"Let me know the result of old Saracinesca's warlike undertakings," said +Astrardente, with a cunning smile on his painted face. "Of course, as he +consulted you, he will send you word in the morning." + +"You seem so anxious that there should be a duel, that I should almost be +tempted to invent an account of one, lest you should be too grievously +disappointed," returned the diplomatist. + +"You know very well that no invention will be necessary," said the Duca, +pressing him, for his curiosity was roused. + +"Well--as you please to consider it. Good night," replied the ambassador. +It had amused him to annoy Astrardente a little, and he left him with the +pleasant consciousness of having excited the inquisitive faculty of his +friend to its highest pitch, without giving it anything to feed upon. + +Men who have to do with men, rather than with things, frequently take a +profound and seemingly cruel delight in playing upon the feelings and +petty vanities of their fellow-creatures. The habit is as strong with +them as the constant practice of conjuring becomes with a juggler; even +when he is not performing, he will for hours pass coins, perform little +tricks of sleight-of-hand with cards, or toss balls in the air in +marvellously rapid succession, unable to lay aside his profession even +for a day, because it has grown to be the only natural expression of +his faculties. With men whose business it is to understand other men, +it is the same. They cannot be in a man's company for a quarter of an +hour without attempting to discover the peculiar weaknesses of his +character--his vanities, his tastes, his vices, his curiosity, his love +of money or of reputation; so that the operation of such men's minds may +be compared to the process of auscultation--for their ears are always +upon their neighbours' hearts--and their conversation to the percutations +of a physician to ascertain the seat of disease in a pair of +consumptive lungs. + +But, with all his failings, Astrardente was a man of considerable +acuteness of moral vision. He had made a shrewd guess at Saracinesca's +business, and had further gathered from a remark dropped by his +diplomatic friend, that if there was to be a duel at all, it would be +fought by Giovanni. As a matter of fact, the ambassador himself knew +nothing certainly concerning the matter, or it is possible that, for the +sake of observing the effect of the news upon the Duchessa, he would have +told the whole truth; for he had of course heard the current gossip +concerning Giovanni's passion for her, and the experiment would have been +too attractive and interesting to be missed. As it was, she had started +at the mention of Saracinesca's son. The diplomatist only did what +everyone else who came near Corona attempted to do at that time, in +endeavouring to ascertain whether she herself entertained any feeling for +the man whom the gossips had set down as her most devoted admirer. + +Poor Duchessa! It was no wonder that she had started at the idea that +Giovanni was in trouble. He had played a great part in her life that day, +and she could not forget him. She had hardly as yet had time to think +of what she felt, for it was only by a supreme effort that she had been +able to bear the great strain upon her strength. If she had not loved +him, it would have been different; and in the strange medley of emotions +through which she was passing, she wished that she might never have +loved--that, loving, she might be allowed wholly to forget her love, and +to return by some sudden miracle to that cold dreamy state of +indifference to all other men, and of unfailing thoughtfulness for her +husband, from which she had been so cruelly awakened. She would have +given anything to have not loved, now that the great struggle was over; +but until the supreme moment had come, she had not been willing to put +the dangerous thought from her, saving in those hours of prayer and +solitary suffering, when the whole truth rose up clearly before her in +its undisguised nakedness. So soon as she had gone into the world, she +had recklessly longed for Giovanni Saracinesca's presence. + +But now it was all changed. She had not deceived herself when she had +told him that she would rather not see him any more. It was true; not +only did she wish not to see him, but she earnestly desired that the love +of him might pass from her heart. With a sudden longing, her thoughts +went back to the old convent-life of her girlhood, with its regular +occupations, its constant religious exercises, its narrowness of view, +and its unchanging simplicity. What mattered narrowness, when all beyond +that close limitation was filled with evil? Was it not better that the +lips should be busy with singing litanies than that the heart should be +tormented by temptation? Were not those simple tasks, that had seemed so +all-important then, more sweet in the performance than the manifold +duties of this complicated social existence, this vast web and woof of +life's loom, this great machinery that worked and groaned and rolled +endlessly upon its wheels without producing any more result than the +ceaseless turning of a prison treadmill? But there was no way out of life +now; there was no escape, as there was also no prospect of relief, from +care and anxiety. There was no reason why Giovanni should go away--no +reason either why Corona should ever love him less. She belonged to a +class of women, if there are enough of them to be called a class, who, +where love is concerned, can feel but one impression, which becomes in +their hearts the distinctive seal and mark of their lives, for good or +for evil. Corona was indeed so loyal and good a woman, that the strong +pressure of her love could not abase her nobility, nor put untruth where +all was so true; but the sign of her love for Giovanni was upon her for +ever. The vacant place in her heart had been filled, and filled wholly; +the bulwark she had reared against the love of man was broken down and +swept away, and the waters flowed softly over its place and remembered it +not. She would never be the same woman again, and it was bitter to her to +feel it: for ever the face of Giovanni would haunt her waking hours and +visit her dreams unbidden,--a perpetual reproach to her, a perpetual +memory of the most desperate struggle of her life, and more than a +memory--the undying present of an unchanging love. + +She was quite sure of herself in future, as she also trusted sincerely in +Giovanni's promise. There should be no moment of weakness, no word should +ever fall from her lips to tempt him to a fresh outbreak of passionate +words and acts; her life should be measured in the future by the account +of the dangers past, and there should be no instant of unguarded conduct, +no hour wherein even to herself she would say it was sweet to love and to +be loved. It was indeed not sweet, but bitter as death itself, to feel +that weight at her heart, that constant toiling effort in her mind to +keep down the passion in her breast. But Corona had sacrificed much; she +would sacrifice this also; she would get strength by her prayers and +courage from her high pride, and she would smile to all the world as she +had never smiled before. She could trust herself, for she was doing the +right and trampling upon the wrong. But the suffering would be none the +less for all her pride; there was no concealing it--it would be horrible. +To meet him daily in the world, to speak to him and to hear his voice, +perhaps to touch his hand, and all the while to smile coldly, and to be +still and for ever above suspicion, while her own burning consciousness +accused her of the past, and seemed to make the dangers of mere living +yawn beside her path at every step,--all this would be terrible to bear, +but by God's help she would bear it to the end. + +But now a new horror seized her, and terrified her beyond measure. This +rumour of a duel--a mere word dropped carelessly in conversation by a +thoughtless acquaintance--called up to her sudden visions of evil to +come. Surely, howsoever she might struggle against love and beat it +roughly to silence in her breast, it was not wrong to fear danger for +Giovanni,--it could not be a sin to dread the issue of peril when it was +all so very near to her. It might perhaps not be true, for people in the +world are willing to amuse their empty minds with empty tales, +acknowledging the emptiness. It could not be true; she had seen Giovanni +but a moment before--he would have given some hint, some sign. + +Why--after all? Was it not the boast of such men that they could face the +world and wear an indifferent look, at times of the greatest anxiety and +danger? But, again, if Giovanni had been involved in a quarrel so serious +as to require the arbitrament of blood, some rumour of it would have +reached her. She had talked with many men that night, and with some +women--gossips all, whose tongues wagged merrily over the troubles of +friend, or foe, and who would have battened upon anything so novel as a +society duel, as a herd of jackals upon the dead body of one of their +fellows, to make their feast off it with a light heart. Some one of all +these would have told her; the quarrel would have been common property in +half an hour, for somebody must have witnessed it. + +It was a consolation to Corona to reflect upon the extreme improbability +of the story; for when the diplomatist was gone, her husband dwelt upon +it--whether because he could not conceal his unsatisfied curiosity, or +from other motives, it was hard to tell. + +Astrardente led his wife from the supper-table through the great rooms, +now almost deserted, and past the wide doors of the hall where the +cotillon was at its height. They paused a moment and looked in, as +Giovanni had done a quarter of an hour earlier. It was a magnificent +scene; the lights flashed back from the jewels of fair women, and surged +in the dance as starlight upon rippling waves. The air was heavy with the +odour of the countless flowers that filled the deep recesses of the +windows, and were distributed in hundreds of nosegays for the figures of +the cotillon; enchanting strains of waltz music seemed to float down from +above and inspire the crowd of men and women with harmonious motion, so +that sound was made visible by translation into graceful movement. As +Corona looked there was a pause, and the crowd parted, while a huge +tiger, the heraldic beast of the Frangipani family, was drawn into the +hall by the young prince and Bianca Valdarno. The magnificent skin had +been so artfully stuffed as to convey a startling impression of life, and +in the creature's huge jaws hung a great basket filled with tiny tigers, +which were to be distributed as badges for the dance by the leaders. A +wild burst of applause greeted this novel figure, and every one ran +forward to obtain a nearer view. + +"Ah!" exclaimed old Astrardente, "I envy them that invention, my dear; it +is perfectly magnificent. You must have a tiger to take home. How +fortunate we were to be in time!" He forced his way into the crowd, +leaving his wife alone for a moment by the door; and he managed to catch +Valdarno, who was distributing the little emblems to right and left. +Madame Mayer's quick eyes had caught sight of Corona and her husband, and +from some instinct of curiosity she made towards the Duchessa. She was +still angry, as she had never been in her short life, at Giovanni's +rudeness in forgetting her dance, and she longed to inflict some wound +upon the beautiful woman who had led him into such forgetfulness. When +Astrardente left his wife's side, Donna Tullia pressed forward with her +partner in the general confusion that followed upon the entrance of the +tiger, and she managed to pass close to Corona. She looked up suddenly +with an air of surprise. + +"What! not dancing, Duchessa?" she asked. "Has your partner gone home?" + +With the look that accompanied the question, it was an insulting speech +enough. Had Donna Tullia seen old Astrardente close behind her, she would +not have made it. The old dandy was returning in triumph in possession of +the little tiger-badge for Corona. He heard the words, and observed with +inward pleasure his wife's calm look of indifference. + +"Madam," he said, placing himself suddenly in Madame Mayer's way, "my +wife's partners do not go home while she remains." + +"Oh, I see," returned Donna Tullia, flushing quickly; "the Duchessa is +dancing the cotillon with you. I beg your pardon--I had forgotten that +you still danced." + +"Indeed it is long since I did myself the honour of asking you for a +quadrille, madam," answered Astrardente with a polite smile; and so +saying, he turned and presented the little tiger to his wife with a +courtly bow. There was good blood in the old _roué_. + +Corona was touched by his thoughtfulness in wishing to get her the little +keepsake of the dance, and she was still more affected by his ready +defence of her. He was indeed sometimes a little ridiculous, with his +paint and his artificial smile--he was often petulant and unreasonable +in little things; but he was never unkind to her, nor discourteous. In +spite of her cold and indifferent stare at Donna Tullia, she had keenly +felt the insult, and she was grateful to the old man for taking her part. +Knowing what she knew of herself that night, she was deeply sensible to +his kindness. She took the little gift, and laid her hand upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she said, as they moved away, "if I am ever ungrateful to +you. You are so very good to me. I know no one so courteous and kind as +you are." + +Her husband looked at her in delight. He loved her sincerely with all +that remained of him. There was something sad in the thought of a man +like him finding the only real passion of his life when worn out with age +and dissipation. Her little speech raised him to the seventh heaven of +joy. + +"I am the happiest man in all Rome," he said, assuming his most jaunty +walk, and swinging his hat gaily between his thumb and finger. But a +current of deep thought was stirring in him as he went down the broad, +staircase by his wife's side. He was thinking what life might have been +to him had he found Corona del Carmine--how could he? she was not born +then--had he found her, or her counterpart, thirty years ago. He was +wondering what conceivable sacrifice there could be which he would not +make to regain his youth--even to have his life lived out and behind him, +if he could only have looked back to thirty years of marriage with +Corona. How differently he would have lived, how very differently he +would have thought! how his whole memory would be full of the sweet past, +and would be common with her own past life, which, to her too, would be +sweet to ponder on! He would have been such a good man--so true to her +in all those years! But they were gone, and he had not found her until +his foot was on the edge of the grave--until he could hardly count on one +year more of a pitiful artificial life, painted, bewigged, stuffed to the +semblance of a man by a clever tailor--and she in the bloom of her glory +beside him! What he would have given to have old Saracinesca's strength +and fresh vitality--old Saracinesca whom he hated! Yes, with all that +hair--it was white, but a little dye would change it. What was a little +dye compared with the profound artificiality of his own outer man? How +the old fellow's deep voice rang, loud and clear, from his broad chest! +How strong he was, with his firm step, and his broad brown hands, and his +fiery black eyes! He hated him for the greenness of his age--he hated him +for his stalwart son, another of those long-lived fierce Saracinesca, who +seemed destined to outlive time. He himself had no children, no +relations, no one to bear his name--he had only a beautiful young wife +and much wealth, with just enough strength left to affect a gay walk when +he was with her, and to totter unsteadily to his couch when he was alone, +worn out with the effort of trying to seem young. + +As they sat in their carriage he thought bitterly of all these things, +and never spoke. Corona herself was weary, and glad to be silent. They +went up-stairs, and as she took his arm, she gently tried to help him +rather than be helped. He noticed it, and made an effort, but he was +very tired. He paused upon the landing, and looked at her, and a gentle +and sad smile stole over his face, such as Corona had never seen there. + +"Shall we go into your boudoir for ten minutes, my love?" he said; "or +will you come into my smoking-room? I would like to smoke a little before +going to bed." + +"You may smoke in my boudoir, of course," she answered kindly, though she +was surprised at the request. It was half-past three o'clock. They went +into the softly lighted little room, where the embers of the fire were +still glowing upon the hearth. Corona dropped her furs upon a chair, and +sat down upon one side of the chimney piece. Astrardente sank wearily +into a deep easy-chair opposite her, and having found a cigarette, +lighted it, and began to smoke. He seemed in a mood which Corona had +never seen. After a short silence he spoke. + +"Corona," he said, "I love you." His wife looked up with a gentle smile, +and in her determination to be loyal to him she almost forgot that other +man who had said those words but two hours before, so differently. + +"Yes," he said, with a sigh, "you have heard it before--it is not new to +you. I think you believe it. You are good, but you do not love me--no, do +not interrupt me, my dear; I know what you would say. How should you +love me? I am an old man--very old, older than my years." Again he +sighed, more bitterly, as he confessed what he had never owned before. +The Duchessa was too much astonished to answer him. + +"Corona," he said again, "I shall not live much longer." + +"Ah, do not speak like that," she cried suddenly. "I trust and pray that +you have yet many years to live." Her husband looked keenly at her. + +"You are so good," he answered, "that you are really capable of uttering +such a prayer, absurd as it would seem." + +"Why absurd? It is unkind of you to say it--" + +"No, my dear; I know the world very well. That is all. I suppose it is +impossible for me to make you understand how I love you. It must seem +incredible to you, in the magnificence of your strength and beautiful +youth, that a man like me--an artificial man"--he laughed scornfully--"a +creature of paint and dye--let me be honest--a creature with a wig, +should be capable of a mad passion. And yet, Corona," he added, his thin +cracked voice trembling with a real emotion, "I do love you--very dearly. +There are two things that make my life bitter: the regret that I did not +meet you, that you were not born, when I was young; and worse than that, +the knowledge that I must leave you very soon--I, the exhausted dandy, +the shadow of what I was, tottering to my grave in a last vain effort to +be young for your sake--for your sake, Corona dear. Ah, it is +contemptible!" he almost moaned. + +Corona hid her eyes in her hand. She was taken off her guard by his +strange speech. + +"Oh, do not speak like that--do not!" she cried. "You make me very +unhappy. Do I reproach you? Do I ever make you feel that you are--older +than I? I will lead a new life; you shall never think of it again. +You are too kind--too good for me." + +"No one ever said I was too good before," replied the old man with a +shade of sadness. "I am glad the one person who finds me good, should be +the only one for whose sake I ever cultivated goodness. I could have +been different, Corona, if I had had you for my wife for thirty years, +instead of five. But it is too late now. Before long I shall be dead, and +you will be free." + +"What makes you say such things to me?" asked Corona. "Can you think I am +so vile, so ungrateful, so unloving, as to wish your death?" + +"Not unloving; no, my dear child. But not loving, either. I do not ask +impossibilities. You will mourn for me a while--my poor soul will rest in +peace if you feel one moment of real regret for me, for your old husband, +before you take another. Do not cry, Corona, dearest; it is the way of +the world. We waste our youth in scoffing at reality, and in the +unrealness of our old age the present no longer avails us much. You know +me, perhaps you despise me. You would not have scorned me when I was +young--oh, how young I was! how strong and vain of my youth, thirty years +ago!" + +"Indeed, indeed, no such thought ever crossed my mind. I give you all I +have," cried Corona, in great distress; "I will give you more--I will +devote my whole life to you--" + +"You do, my dear. I am sensible of it," said Astrardente, quietly. "You +cannot do more, if you will; you cannot make me young again, nor take +away the bitterness of death--of a death that leaves you behind." + +Corona leaned forward, staring into the dying embers of the fire, one +hand supporting her chin. The tears stood in her eyes and on her cheeks. +The old dandy in his genuine misery had excited her compassion. + +"I would mourn you long," she said. "You may have wasted your life; you +say so. I would love you more if I could, God knows. You have always been +to me a courteous gentleman and a faithful husband." + +The old man rose with difficulty from his deep chair, and came and stood +by her, and took the hand that lay idle on her knees. She looked up at +him. + +"If I thought my blessing were worth anything, I would bless you for what +you say. But I would not have you waste your youth. Youth is that which, +being wasted, is like water poured out upon the ground. You must marry +again, and marry soon--do not start. You will inherit all my fortune; you +will have my title. It must descend to your children. It has come to an +unworthy end in me; it must be revived in you." + +"How can you think of it? Are you ill?" asked Corona kindly, pressing +gently his thin hand in hers. "Why do you dwell on the idea of death +to-night?" + +"I am ill; yes, past all cure, my dear," said the old man, gently raising +her hand to his lips, and kissing it. + +"What do you mean?" asked Corona, suddenly rising to her feet and laying +her hand affectionately upon his shoulder. "Why have you never told me?" + +"Why should I tell you--except that it is near, and you must be prepared? +Why should I burden you with anxiety? But you were so gentle and kind +to-night, upon the stairs," he said, with some hesitation, "that I +thought perhaps it would be a relief to you to know--to know that it is +not for long." + +There was something so gentle in his tone, so infinitely pathetic in his +thought that possibly he might lighten the burden his wife bore so +bravely, there was something at last so human in the loving regret with +which he spoke, that Corona forgot all his foolish ways, his wig and his +false teeth and his petty vanities, and letting her head fall upon his +shoulder, burst into passionate tears. + +"Oh no, no!" she sobbed. "It must be a long time yet; you must not die!" + +"It may be a year, not more," he said gently. "God bless you for those +tears, Corona--the tears you have shed for me. Good night, my dearest." + +He let her sink upon her chair, and his hand rested for one moment upon +her raven hair. Then with a last remnant of energy he quickly left the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Such affairs as the encounter between Giovanni and Del Ferice were very +rare in Rome. There were many duels fought; but, as a general rule, they +were not very serious, and the first slight wound decided the matter in +hand to the satisfaction of both parties. But here there had been a fight +for life and death. One of the combatants had received two such wounds as +would have been sufficient to terminate an ordinary meeting, and the +other was lying at death's door stabbed through the throat. Society was +frantic with excitement. Giovanni was visited by scores of acquaintances, +whom he allowed to be admitted, and he talked with them cheerfully, in +order to have it thoroughly known that he was not badly hurt. Del +Ferice's lodging was besieged by the same young gentlemen of leisure, who +went directly from one to the other, anxious to get all the news in their +power. But Del Ferice's door was guarded jealously from intruders by his +faithful Neapolitan servant--a fellow who knew more about his master than +all the rest of Rome together, but who had such a dazzlingly brilliant +talent for lying as to make him a safe repository for any secret +committed to his keeping. On the present occasion, however, he had small +use for duplicity. He sat all day long by the open door, for he had +removed the bell-handle, lest the ringing should disturb his master. He +had a basket into which he dropped the cards of the visitors who called, +answering each inquiry with the same unchanging words: + +"He is very ill, the signorino. Do not make any noise." + +"Where is he hurt?" the visitor would ask. Whereupon Temistocle pointed +to his throat. + +"Will he live?" was the next question; to which the man answered by +raising his shoulders to his ears, elevating his eyebrows, and at the +same time shutting his eyes, while he spread out the palms of his hands +over his basket of cards--whereby he meant to signify that he did not +know, but doubted greatly. It being impossible to extract any further +information from him, the visitor had nothing left but to leave his card +and turn away. Within, the wounded man was watched by a Sister of Mercy. +The surgeon had pronounced his recovery probable if he had proper care: +the wound was a dangerous one, but not likely to prove mortal unless the +patient died of the fever or of exhaustion. + +The young gentlemen of leisure who thus obtained the news of the two +duellists, lost no time in carrying it from house to house. Giovanni +himself sent twice in the course of the day to inquire after his +antagonist, and received by his servant the answer which was given to +everybody. By the time the early winter night was descending upon Rome, +there were two perfectly well-authenticated stories circulated in regard +to the cause of the quarrel--neither of which, of course, contained a +grain of truth. In the first place, it was confidently asserted by one +party, represented by Valdarno and his set, that Giovanni had taken +offence at Del Ferice for having proposed to call him to be examined +before the Duchessa d'Astrardente in regard to his absence from town: +that this was a palpable excuse for picking a quarrel, because it was +well known that Saracinesca loved the Astrardente, and that Del Ferice +was always in his way. + +"Giovanni is a rough fellow," remarked Valdarno, "and will not stand any +opposition, so he took the first opportunity of getting the man out of +the way. Do you see? The old story--jealous of the wrong man. Can one be +jealous of Del Ferice? Bah!" + +"And who would have been the right man to attack?" was asked. + +"Her husband, of course," returned Valdarno with a sneer. "That angel of +beauty has the ineffably eccentric idea that she loves that old +transparency, that old magic-lantern slide of a man!" + +On the other hand, there was a party of people who affirmed, as beyond +all doubt, that the duel had been brought about by Giovanni's forgetting +his dance with Donna Tullia. Del Ferice was naturally willing to put +himself forward in her defence, reckoning on the favour he would gain in +her eyes. He had spoken sharply to Giovanni about it, and told him he had +behaved in an ungentlemanly manner--whereupon Giovanni had answered +that it was none of his business; an altercation had ensued in a remote +room in the Frangipani palace, and Giovanni had lost his temper and taken +Del Ferice by the throat, and otherwise greatly insulted him. The result +had been the duel in which Del Ferice had been nearly killed. There was a +show of truth about this story, and it was told in such a manner as to +make Del Ferice appear as the injured party. Indeed, whichever tale were +true, there was no doubt that the two men had disliked each other for a +long time, and that they were both looking out for the opportunity of an +open disagreement. + +Old Saracinesca appeared in the afternoon, and was surrounded by eager +questioners of all sorts. The fact of his having served his own son in +the capacity of second excited general astonishment. Such a thing had +not been heard of in the annals of Roman society, and many ancient +wisdom-mongers severely censured the course he had pursued. Could +anything be more abominably unnatural? Was it possible to conceive of the +hard-heartedness of a man who could stand quietly and see his son +risk his life? Disgraceful! + +The old Prince either would not tell what he knew, or had no information +to give. The latter theory was improbable. Some one made a remark to that +effect. + +"But, Prince," the man said, "would you second your own son in an affair +without knowing the cause of the quarrel?" + +"Sir," returned the old man, proudly, "my son asked my assistance; I did +not sell it to him for his confidence." People knew the old man's +obstinacy, and had to be satisfied with his short answers, for he was +himself as quarrelsome as a Berserker or as one of his own irascible +ancestors. + +He met Donna Tullia in the street. She stopped her carriage, and beckoned +him to come to her. She looked paler than Saracinesca had ever seen her, +and was much excited. + +"How could you let them fight?" were her first words. + +"It could not be helped. The quarrel was too serious. No one would more +gladly have prevented it than I; but as my son had so desperately +insulted Del Ferice, he was bound to give him satisfaction." + +"Satisfaction!" cried Donna Tullia. "Do you call it satisfaction to cut a +man's throat? What was the real cause of the quarrel?" + +"I do not know." + +"Do not tell me that--I do not believe you," answered Donna Tullia, +angrily. + +"I give you my word of honour that I do not know," returned the Prince. + +"That is different. Will you get in and drive with me for a few minutes?" + +"At your commands." Saracinesca opened the carriage-door and got in. + +"We shall astonish the world; but I do not care," said Donna Tullia. +"Tell me, is Don Giovanni seriously hurt?" + +"No--a couple of scratches that will heal in a week. Del Ferice is very +seriously wounded." + +"I know," answered Donna Tullia, sadly. "It is dreadful--I am afraid it +was my fault." + +"How so?" asked Saracinesca, quickly. He had not heard the story of the +forgotten waltz, and was really ignorant of the original cause of +disagreement. He guessed, however, that Donna Tullia was not so much +concerned in it as the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Your son was very rude to me," said Madame Mayer. "Perhaps I ought not +to tell you, but it is best you should know. He was engaged to dance with +me the last waltz but one before the cotillon. He forgot me, and I found +him with that--with a lady--talking quietly." + +"With whom did you say?" asked Saracinesca, very gravely. + +"With the Astrardente--if you will know," returned Donna Tullia, her +anger at the memory of the insult bringing the blood suddenly to her +face. + +"My dear lady," said the old Prince, "in the name of my son I offer you +the humble apologies which he will make in person when he is well enough +to ask your forgiveness." + +"I do not want apologies," answered Madame Mayer, turning her face away. + +"Nevertheless they shall be offered. But, pardon my curiosity, how did +Del Ferice come to be concerned in that incident?" + +"He was with me when I found Don Giovanni with the Duchessa. It is very +simple. I was very angry--I am very angry still; but I would not have had +Don Giovanni risk his life on my account for anything, nor poor Del +Ferice either. I am horribly upset about it all." + +Old Saracinesca wondered whether Donna Tullia's vanity would suffer if he +told her that the duel had not been fought for anything which concerned +her. But he reflected that her supposition was very plausible, and +that he himself had no evidence. Furthermore, and in spite of his +good-natured treatment of Giovanni, he was very angry at the thought that +his son had quarrelled about the Duchessa. When Giovanni should be +recovered from his wounds he intended to speak his mind to him. But he +was sorry for Donna Tullia, for he liked her in spite of her +eccentricities, and would have been satisfied to see her married to his +son. He was a practical man, and he took a prosaic view of the world. +Donna Tullia was rich, and good-looking enough to be called handsome. She +had the talent to make herself a sort of centre in her world. She was a +little noisy; but noise was fashionable, and there was no harm in her--no +one had ever said anything against her. Besides, she was one of the few +relations still left to the Saracinesca. The daughter of a cousin of the +Prince, she would make a good wife for Giovanni, and would bring sunshine +into the house. There was a tinge of vulgarity in her manner; but, like +many elderly men of his type, Saracinesca pardoned her this fault in +consideration of her noisy good spirits and general good-nature. He was +very much annoyed at hearing that his son had offended her so grossly by +his forgetfulness; especially it was unfortunate that since she believed +herself the cause of the duel, she should have the impression that it had +been provoked by Del Ferice to obtain satisfaction for the insult +Giovanni had offered her. There would be small chance of making the match +contemplated after such an affair. + +"I am sincerely sorry," said the Prince, stroking his white beard and +trying to get a sight of his companion's face, which she obstinately +turned away from him. "Perhaps it is better not to think too much of the +matter until the exact circumstances are known. Some one is sure to +tell the story one of these days." + +"How coldly you speak of it! One would think it had happened in Peru, +instead of here, this very morning." + +Saracinesca was at his wits' end. He wanted to smooth the matter over, or +at least to soften the unfavourable impression against Giovanni. He had +not the remotest idea how to do it. He was not a very diplomatic man. + +"No, no; you misunderstand me. I am not cold. I quite appreciate your +situation. You are very justly annoyed." + +"Of course I am," said Donna Tullia impatiently. She was beginning to +regret that she had made him get into her carriage. + +"Precisely; of course you are. Now, so soon as Giovanni is quite +recovered, I will send him to explain his conduct to you if he can, or +to--" + +"Explain it? How can he explain it? I do not want you to send him, if he +will not come of his own accord. Why should I?" + +"Well, well, as you please, my dear cousin," said old Saracinesca, +smiling to cover his perplexity. "I am not a good ambassador; but you +know I am a good friend, and I really want to do something to restore +Giovanni to your graces." + +"That will be difficult," answered Donna Tullia, although she knew very +well that she would receive Giovanni kindly enough when she had once had +an opportunity of speaking her mind to him. + +"Do not be hard-hearted," urged the Prince. "I am sure he is very +penitent." + +"Then let him say so." + +"That is exactly what I ask." + +"Is it? Oh, very well. If he chooses to call I will receive him, since +you desire it. Where shall I put you down?" + +"Anywhere, thank you. Here, if you wish--at the corner. Good-bye. Do not +be too hard on the boy." + +"We shall see," answered Donna Tullia, unwilling to show too much +indulgence. The old Prince bowed, and walked away into the gloom of the +dusky streets. + +"That is over," he muttered to himself. "I wonder how the Astrardente +takes it." He would have liked to see her; but he recognized that, as he +so very rarely called upon her, it would seem strange to choose such a +time for his visit. It would not do--it would be hardly decent, seeing +that he believed her to be the cause of the catastrophe. His steps, +however, led him almost unconsciously in the direction of the Astrardente +palace; he found himself in front of the arched entrance almost before +he knew where he was. The temptation to see Corona was more than he could +resist. He asked the porter if the Duchessa was at home, and on being +answered in the affirmative, he boldly entered and ascended the marble +staircase--boldly, but with an odd sensation, like that of a schoolboy +who is getting himself into trouble. + +Corona had just come home, and was sitting by the fire in her great +drawing-room, alone, with a book in her hand, which she was not reading. +She rarely remained in the reception-rooms; but to-day she had rather +capriciously taken a fancy to the broad solitude of the place, and had +accordingly installed herself there. She was very much surprised when the +doors were suddenly opened wide and the servant announced Prince +Saracinesca. For a moment she thought it must be Giovanni, for his father +rarely entered her house, and when the old man's stalwart figure advanced +towards her, she dropped her book in astonishment, and rose from her +deep chair to meet him. She was very pale, and there were dark rings +under her eyes that spoke of pain and want of sleep. She was so utterly +different from Donna Tullia, whom he had just left, that the Prince was +almost awed by her stateliness, and felt more than ever like a boy in a +bad scrape. Corona bowed rather coldly, but extended her hand, which the +old gentleman raised to his lips respectfully, in the manner of the old +school. + +"I trust you are not exhausted after the ball?" he began, not knowing +what to say. + +"Not in the least. We did not stay late," replied Corona, secretly +wondering why he had come. + +"It was really magnificent," he answered. "There has been no such ball +for years. Very unfortunate that it should have terminated in such an +unpleasant way," he added, making a bold dash at the subject of which he +wished to speak. + +"Very. You did a bad morning's work," said the Duchessa, severely. "I +wonder that you should speak of it." + +"No one speaks of anything else," returned the Prince, apologetically. +"Besides, I do not see what was to be done." + +"You should have stopped it," answered Corona, her dark eyes gleaming +with righteous indignation. "You should have prevented it at any price, +if not in the name of religion, which forbids it as a crime, at least in +the name of decency--as being Don Giovanni's father." + +"You speak strong words, Duchessa," said the Prince, evidently annoyed at +her tone. + +"If I speak strongly, it is because I think you acted shamefully in +permitting this disgraceful butchery." + +Saracinesca suddenly lost his temper, as he frequently did. + +"Madam," he said, "it is certainly not for you to accuse me of crime, +lack of decency, and what you are pleased to call disgraceful butchery, +seeing who was the probable cause of the honourable encounter which you +characterise in such tasteful language." + +"Honourable indeed!" said Corona, very scornfully. "Let that pass. Who, +pray, is more to blame than you? Who is the probable cause?" + +"Need I tell you?" asked the old man, fixing his flashing eyes upon her. + +"What do you mean?" inquired Corona, turning white, and her voice +trembling between her anger and her emotion. + +"I may be wrong," said the Prince, "but I believe I am right. I believe +the duel was fought on your account." + +"On my account!" repeated Corona, half rising from her chair in her +indignation. Then she sank back again, and added, very coldly, "If you +have come here to insult me, Prince, I will send for my husband." + +"I beg your pardon, Duchessa," said old Saracinesca. "It is very far from +my intention to insult you." + +"And who has told you this abominable lie?" asked Corona, still very +angry. + +"No one, upon my word." + +"Then how dare you--" + +"Because I have reason to believe that you are the only woman alive for +whom my son would engage in a quarrel." + +"It is impossible," cried Corona. "I will never believe that Don Giovanni +could--" She checked herself. + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca is a gentleman, madam," said the old Prince, +proudly. "He keeps his own counsel. I have come by the information +without any evidence of it from his lips." + +"Then I am at a loss to understand you," returned the Duchessa. "I must +beg you either to explain your extraordinary language, or else to leave +me." + +Corona d'Astrardente was a match for any man when she was angry. But old +Saracinesca, though no diplomatist, was a formidable adversary, from his +boldness and determination to discover the truth at any price. + +"It is precisely because, at the risk of offending you, I desired an +explanation, that I have intruded myself upon you to-day," he answered. +"Will you permit me one question before I leave you?" + +"Provided it is not an insulting one, I will answer it," replied Corona. + +"Do you know anything of the circumstances which led to this morning's +encounter?" + +"Certainly not," Corona answered, hotly. "I assure you most solemnly," +she continued in calmer tones, "that I am wholly ignorant of it. I +suppose you have a right to be told that." + +"I, on my part, assure you, upon my word, that I know no more than you +yourself, excepting this: on some provocation, concerning which he will +not speak, my son seized Del Ferice by the throat and used strong words +to him. No one witnessed the scene. Del Ferice sent the challenge. +My son could find no one to act for him and applied to me, as was quite +right that he should. There was no apology possible--Giovanni had to give +the man satisfaction. You know as much as I know now." + +"That does not help me to understand why you accuse me of having caused +the quarrel," said Corona. "What have I to do with Del Ferice, poor man?" + +"This--any one can see that you are as indifferent to my son as to any +other man. Every one knows that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is above +suspicion." + +Corona raised her head proudly and stared at Saracinesca. + +"But, on the other hand, every one knows that my son loves you madly--can +you yourself deny it?" + +"Who dares to say it?" asked Corona, her anger rising afresh. + +"Who sees, dares. Can you deny it?" + +"You have no right to repeat such hearsay tales to me," answered Corona. +But the blush rose to her pale dark cheeks, and she suddenly dropped her +eyes. + +"Can you deny it, Duchessa?" asked the Prince a third time, insisting +roughly. + +"Since you are so certain, why need you care for my denial?" inquired +Corona. + +"Duchessa, you must forgive me," answered Saracinesca, his tone suddenly +softening. "I am rough, probably rude; but I love my son dearly. I cannot +bear to see him running into a dangerous and hopeless passion, from which +he may issue only to find himself grown suddenly old and bitter, +disappointed and miserable for the rest of his life. I believe you to be +a very good woman; I cannot look at you and doubt the truth of anything +you tell me. If he loves you, you have influence over him. If you have +influence, use it for his good; use it to break down this mad love of +his, to show him his own folly--to save him, in short, from his fate. Do +you understand me? Do I ask too much?" + +Corona understood well enough--far too well. She knew the whole extent of +Giovanni's love for her, and, what old Saracinesca never guessed, the +strength of her own love for him, for the sake of which she would do all +that a woman could do. There was a long pause after the old Prince had +spoken. He waited patiently for an answer. + +"I understand you--yes," she said at last. "If you are right in your +surmises, I should have some influence over your son. If I can advise +him, and he will take my advice, I will give him the best counsel I can. +You have placed me in a very embarrassing position, and you have shown +little courtesy in the way you have spoken to me; but I will try to do as +you request me, if the opportunity offers, for the sake of--of turning +what is very bad into something which may at last be good." + +"Thank you, thank you, Duchessa!" cried the Prince. "I will never +forget--" + +"Do not thank me," said Corona, coldly. "I am not in a mood to appreciate +your gratitude. There is too much blood of those honest gentlemen upon +your hands." + +"Pardon me, Duchessa, I wish there were on my hands and head the blood of +that gentleman you call honest--the gentleman who twice tried to murder +my son this morning, and twice nearly succeeded." + +"What!" cried Corona, in sudden terror. + +"That fellow thrust at Giovanni once to kill him while they were halting +and his sword was hanging lowered in his hand; and once again he threw +himself upon his knee and tried to stab him in the body--which is a +dastardly trick not permitted in any country. Even in duelling, such +things are called murder; and it is their right name." + +Corona was very pale. Giovanni's danger had been suddenly brought before +her in a very vivid light, and she was horror-struck at the thought of +it. + +"Is--is Don Giovanni very badly wounded?" she asked. + +"No, thank heaven; he will be wall in a week. But either one of those +attempts might have killed him; and he would have died, I think--pardon +me, no insult this time--I think, on your account. Do you see why for +him I dread this attachment to you, which leads him to risk his life at +every turn for a word about you? Do you see why I implore you to take the +matter into your serious consideration, and to use your influence to +bring him to his senses?" + +"I see; but in this question of the duel you have no proof that I was +concerned." + +"No,--no proof, perhaps. I will not weary you with surmises; but even if +it was not for you this time, you see that it might have been." + +"Perhaps," said Corona, very sadly. + +"I have to thank you, even if you will not listen to me," said the +Prince, rising. "You have understood me. It was all I asked. Good night." + +"Good night," answered Corona, who did not move from her seat nor extend +her hand this time. She was too much agitated to think of formalities. +Saracinesca bowed low and left the room. + +It was characteristic of him that he had come to see the Duchessa not +knowing what he should say, and that he had blurted out the whole truth, +and then lost his temper in support of it. He was a hasty man, of noble +instincts, but always inclined rather to cut a knot than to unloose +it--to do by force what another man would do by skill--angry at +opposition, and yet craving it by his combative nature. + +His first impulse on leaving Corona was to go to Giovanni and tell him +what he had done; but he reflected as he went home that his son was ill +with his wounds, and that it would be bad for him to be angry, as of +course he would be if he were told of his father's doings. Moreover, as +old Saracinesca thought more seriously of the matter, he wisely concluded +that it would be better not to speak of the visit; and when he entered +the room where Giovanni was lying on his couch with a novel and a +cigarette, he had determined to conceal the whole matter. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "we are the talk of the town, of course." + +"It was to be expected. Whom have you seen?" + +"In the first place, I have seen Madame Mayer. She is in a state of anger +against you which borders on madness--not because you have wounded Del +Ferice, but because you forgot to dance with her. I cannot conceive +how you could be so foolish." + +"Nor I. It was idiotic in the last degree," replied Giovanni, annoyed +that his father should have learned the story. + +"You must go and see her at once--as soon as you can go out. It is a +disagreeable business." + +"Of course. What else did she say?" + +"She thought that Del Ferice had challenged you on her account, because +you had not danced with her." + +"How silly! As if I should fight duels about her." + +"Since there was probably a woman in the case, she might have been the +one," remarked his father. + +"There was no woman in the case, practically speaking," said Giovanni, +shortly. + +"Oh, I supposed there was. However, I told Donna Tullia that I advised +her not to think anything more of the matter until the whole story came +out." + +"When is that likely to occur?" asked Giovanni, laughing. "No one alive +knows the cause of the quarrel but Del Ferice and I myself. He will +certainly not tell the world, as the thing was even more disgraceful to +him than his behaviour this morning. There is no reason why I should +speak of it either." + +"How reticent you are, Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. + +"Believe me, if I could tell you the whole story without injuring any one +but Del Ferice, I would." + +"Then there was really a woman in the case?" + +"There was a woman outside the case, who caused us to be in it," returned +Giovanni. + +"Always your detestable riddles," cried the old man, petulantly; and +presently, seeing that his son was obstinately silent, he left the room +to dress for dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It may be that when Astrardente spoke so tenderly to his wife after the +Frangipani ball, he felt some warning that told him his strength was +failing. His heart was in a dangerous condition, the family doctor had +said, and it was necessary that he should take care of himself. He had +been very tired after that long evening, and perhaps some sudden sinking +had shaken his courage. He awoke from an unusually heavy sleep with a +strange sense of astonishment, as though he had not expected to awake +again in life. He felt weaker than he had felt for a long time, and even +his accustomed beverage of chocolate mixed with coffee failed to give him +the support he needed in the morning. He rose very late, and his servant +found him more than usually petulant, nor did the message brought back +from Giovanni seem to improve his temper. He met his wife at the midday +breakfast, and was strangely silent, and in the afternoon he shut himself +up in his own rooms and would see nobody. But at dinner he appeared +again, seemingly revived, and declared his intention of accompanying his +wife to a reception given at the Austrian embassy. He seemed so unlike +his usual self, that Corona did not venture to speak of the duel which +had taken place in the morning; for she feared anything which might +excite him, well knowing that excitement might prove fatal. She did what +she could to dissuade him from going out; but he grew petulant, and she +unwillingly yielded. + +At the embassy he soon heard all the details, for no one talked of +anything else; but Astrardente was ashamed of not having heard it all +before, and affected a cynical indifference to the tale which the +military attaché of the embassy repeated for his benefit. He vouchsafed +some remark to the effect that fighting duels was the natural amusement +of young gentlemen, and that if one of them killed another there was at +least one fool the less in society; after which he looked about him for +some young beauty to whom he might reel off a score of compliments. He +knew all the time that he was making a great effort, that he felt +unaccountably ill, and that he wished he had taken his wife's advice and +stayed quietly at home. But at the end of the evening he chanced to +overhear a remark that Valdarno was making to Casalverde, who looked +exceedingly pale and ill at ease. + +"You had better make your will, my dear fellow," said Valdarno. "Spicca +is a terrible man with the foils." + +Astrardente turned quickly and looked at the speaker. But both men were +suddenly silent, and seemed absorbed in gazing at the crowd. It was +enough, however. Astrardente had gathered that Casalverde was to fight +Spicca the next day, and that the affair begun that morning had not yet +reached its termination. He determined that he would not again be guilty +of not knowing what was going on in society; and with the intention of +rising early on the following morning, he found Corona, and rather +unceremoniously told her it was time to go home. + +On the next day the Duca d'Astrardente walked into the club soon after +ten o'clock. On ordinary occasions that resort of his fellows was +entirely empty until a much later hour; but Astrardente was not +disappointed to-day. Twenty or thirty men were congregated in the large +hall which served as a smoking-room, and all of them were talking +together excitedly. As the door swung on its hinges and the old dandy +entered, a sudden silence fell upon the assembly. Astrardente naturally +judged that the conversation had turned upon himself, and had been +checked by his appearance; but he affected to take no notice of the +occurrence, adjusting his single eyeglass in his eye and serenely +surveying the men in the room. He could see that, although they had been +talking loudly, the matter in hand was serious enough, for there was no +trace of mirth on any of the faces before him. He at once assumed an air +of gravity, and going up to Valdarno, who seemed to have occupied the +most prominent place in the recent discussion, he put his question in an +undertone. + +"I suppose Spicca killed him?" + +Valdarno nodded, and looked grave. He was a thoughtless young fellow +enough, but the news of the tragedy had sobered him. Astrardente had +anticipated the death of Casalverde, and was not surprised. But he was +not without human feeling, and showed a becoming regret at the sad end of +a man he had been accustomed to see so frequently. + +"How was it?" he asked. + +"A simple 'un, deux,' tierce and carte at the first bout. Spicca is as +quick as lightning. Come away from this crowd," added Valdarno, in a low +voice, "and I will tell you all about it." + +In spite of his sorrow at his friend's death, Valdarno felt a certain +sense of importance at being able to tell the story to Astrardente. +Valdarno was vain in a small way, though his vanity was to that of the +old Duca as the humble violet to the full-blown cabbage-rose. Astrardente +enjoyed a considerable importance in society as the husband of Corona, +and was an object of especial interest to Valdarno, who supported the +incredible theory of Corona's devotion to the old man. Valdarno's stables +were near the club, and on pretence of showing a new horse to +Astrardente, he nodded to his friends, and left the room with the aged +dandy. It was a clear, bright winter's morning, and the two men strolled +slowly down the Corso towards Valdarno's palace. + +"You know, of course, how the affair began?" asked the young man. + +"The first duel? Nobody knows--certainly not I." + +"Well--perhaps not," returned Valdarno, doubtfully. "At all events, you +know that Spicca flew into a passion because poor Casalverde forgot to +step in after he cried halt; and then Del Ferice ran Giovanni through the +arm." + +"That was highly improper--most reprehensible," said Astrardente, putting +up his eyeglass to look at a pretty little sempstress who hurried past on +her way to her work. + +"I suppose so. But Casalverde certainly meant no harm; and if Del Ferice +had not been so unlucky as to forget himself in the excitement of the +moment, no one would have thought anything of it." + +"Ah yes, I suppose not," murmured Astrardente, still looking after the +girl. When he could see her face no longer, he turned sharply back to +Valdarno. + +"This is exceedingly interesting," he said. "Tell me more about it." + +"Well, when it was over, old Saracinesca was for killing Casalverde +himself." + +"The old fire-eater! He ought to be ashamed of himself." + +"However, Spicca was before him, and challenged Casalverde then and +there. As both the principals in the first duel were so badly wounded, it +had to be put off until this morning." + +"They went out, and--piff, paff! Spicca ran him through," interrupted +Astrardente. "What a horrible tragedy!" + +"Ah yes; and what is worse--" + +"What surprises me most," interrupted the Duca again, "is that in this +delightfully peaceful and paternally governed little nest of ours, the +authorities should not have been able to prevent either of these duels. +It is perfectly amazing! I cannot remember a parallel instance. Do you +mean to say that there was not a _sbirro_ or a _gendarme_ in the +neighbourhood to-day nor yesterday?" + +"That is not so surprising," answered Valdarno, with a knowing look. +"There would have been few tears in high quarters if Del Ferice had been +killed yesterday; there will be few to-day over the death of poor +Casalverde." + +"Bah!" ejaculated Astrardente. "If Antonelli had heard of these affairs +he would have stopped them soon enough." + +Valdarno glanced behind him, and, bending a little, whispered in +Astrardente's ear-- + +"They were both Liberals, you must know." + +"Liberals?" repeated the old dandy, with a cynical sneer. "Nonsense, I +say! Liberals? Yes, in the way you are a Liberal, and Donna Tullia Mayer, +and Spicca himself, who has just killed that other Liberal, Casalverde. +Liberals indeed! Do you flatter yourself for a moment that Antonelli is +afraid of such Liberals as you are? Do you think the life of Del Ferice +is of any more importance to politics than the life of that dog there?" + +It was Astrardente's habit to scoff mercilessly at all the petty +manifestations of political feeling he saw about him in the world. He +represented a class distinct both from the Valdarno set and from the men +represented by the Saracinesca--a class who despised everything political +as unworthy of the attention of gentlemen, who took everything for +granted, and believed that all was for the best, provided that society +moved upon rollers and so long as no one meddled with old institutions. +To question the wisdom of the municipal regulations was to attack the +Government itself; to attack the Government was to cast a slight upon his +Holiness the Pope, which was rank heresy, and very vulgar into the +bargain. Astrardente had seen a great deal of the world, but his ideas of +politics were almost childishly simple--whereas many people said that his +principles in relation to his fellows were fiendishly cynical. He was +certainly not a very good man; and if he pretended to no reputation for +devoutness, it was probable that he recognised the absurdity of his +attempting such a pose. But politically he believed in Cardinal +Antonelli's ability to defy Europe with or without the aid of France, and +laughed as loudly at Louis Napoleon's old idea of putting the sovereign +Pontiff at the head of an Italian federation, as he jeered at Cavour's +favourite phrase concerning a free Church in a free State. He had good +blood in him, and the hereditary courage often found with it. He had a +certain skill in matters worldly; but his wit in things political seemed +to belong to an earlier generation, and to be incapable of receiving new +impressions. + +But Valdarno, who was vain and set great value on his opinions, was +deeply offended at the way Astrardente spoke of him and his friends. In +his eyes he was risking much for what he considered a good object, and he +resented any contemptuous mention of Liberal principles, whenever he +dared. No one cared much for Astrardente, and certainly no one feared +him; nevertheless in those times men hesitated to defend anything which +came under the general head of Liberalism, when they were likely to be +overheard, or when they could not trust the man to whom they were +speaking. If no one feared Astrardente, no one trusted him either. +Valdarno consequently judged it best to smother his annoyance at the old +man's words, and to retaliate by striking him in a weak spot. + +"If you despise Del Ferice as much as you say," he remarked, "I wonder +that you tolerate him as you do." + +"I tolerate him. Toleration is the very word--it delightfully expresses +my feelings towards him. He is a perfectly harmless creature, who affects +immense depth of insight into human affairs, and who cannot see an inch +before his face. Dear me! yes, I shall always tolerate Del Ferice, poor +fellow!" + +"You may not be called upon to do so much longer," replied Valdarno. +"They say he is in a very dangerous condition." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Astrardente, putting up his eyeglass at his companion. +"Ah, you don't say so!" + +There was something so insolent in the old man's affected stare that even +the foolish and good-natured Valdarno lost his temper, being already +somewhat irritated. + +"It is a pity that you should be so indifferent. It is hardly becoming. +If you had not tolerated him as you have, he might not be lying there at +the point of death." + +Astrardente stared harder than ever. + +"My dear young friend," he said, "your language is the most extraordinary +I ever heard. How in the world can my treatment of that unfortunate man +have had anything to do with his being wounded in a duel?" + +"My dear old friend," replied Valdarno, impudently mimicking the old +man's tone, "your simplicity surpasses anything I ever knew. Is it +possible that you do not know that this duel was fought for your wife?" + +Astrardente looked fixedly at Valdarno; his eyeglass dropped from his +eye, and he turned ashy pale beneath his paint. He staggered a moment, +and steadied himself against the door of a shop. They were just passing +the corner of the Piazza di Sciarra, the most crowded crossing of the +Corso. + +"Valdarno," said the old man, his cracked voice dropping to a hoarser and +deeper tone, "you must explain yourself or answer for this." + +"What! Another duel!" cried Valdarno, in some scorn. Then, seeing that +his companion looked ill, he took him by the arm and led him rapidly +through the crowd, across the Arco dei Carbognani. Entering the Caffè +Aragno, a new institution in those days, both men sat down at a small +marble table. The old dandy was white with emotion; Valdarno felt that he +was enjoying his revenge. + +"A glass of cognac, Duke?" he said, as the waiter came up. Astrardente +nodded, and there was silence while the man brought the cordial. The Duca +lived by an invariable rule, seeking to balance the follies of his youth +by excessive care in his old age; it was long, indeed, since he had taken +a glass of brandy in the morning. He swallowed it quickly, and the +stimulant produced its effect immediately; he readjusted his eyeglass, +and faced Valdarno sternly. + +"And now," he said, "that we are at our ease, may I inquire what the +devil you mean by your insinuations about my wife?" + +"Oh," replied Valdarno, affecting great indifference, "I only say what +everybody says. There is no offence to the Duchessa." + +"I should suppose not, indeed. Go on." + +"Do you really care to hear the story?" asked the young man. + +"I intend to hear it, and at once," replied Astrardente. + +"You will not have to employ force to extract it from me, I can assure +you," said Valdarno, settling himself in his chair, but avoiding the +angry glance of the old man. "Everybody has been repeating it since the +day before yesterday, when it occurred. You were at the Frangipani +ball--you might have seen it all. In the first place, you must know that +there exists another of those beings to whom you extend your merciful +toleration--a certain Giovanni Saracinesca--you may have noticed him?" + +"What of him?" asked Astrardente, fiercely. + +"Among other things, he is the man who wounded Del Ferice, as I daresay +you have heard. Among other things concerning him, he has done himself +the honour of falling desperately, madly in love with the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who--" + +"What?" cried the old man in a cracked voice, as Valdarno paused. + +"Who does you the honour of ignoring his existence on most occasions, but +who was so unfortunate as to recall him to her memory on the night of the +Frangipani ball. We were all sitting in a circle round the Duchessa's +chair that night, when the conversation chanced to turn upon this same +Giovanni Saracinesca, a fire-eating fellow with a bad temper. He had been +away for some days; indeed he was last seen at the Apollo in your box, +when they gave 'Norma'--" + +"I remember," interrupted Astrardente. The mention of that evening was +but a random shot. Valdarno had been in the club-box, and had seen +Giovanni when he made his visit to the Astrardente; he had not seen him +again till the Frangipani ball. + +"Well, as I was saying, we spoke of Giovanni, and every one had something +to say about his absence. The Duchessa expressed her curiosity, and Del +Ferice, who was with us, proposed calling him--he was at the other end of +the room, you see--that he might answer for himself. So I went and +brought him up. He was in a very bad humour--" + +"What has all this absurd story got to do with the matter?" asked the old +man, impatiently. + +"It is the matter itself. The irascible Giovanni is angry at being +questioned, treats us all like mud under his feet, sits down by the +Duchessa and forces us to go away. The Duchessa tells him the story, with +a laugh no doubt, and Giovanni's wrath overflows. He goes in search of +Del Ferice, and nearly strangles him. The result of these eccentricities +is the first duel, leading to the second." + +Astrardente was very angry, and his thin gloved hands twitched nervously +at the handle of his stick. + +"And this," he said, "this string of trivial ball-room incident, seems to +you a sufficient pretext for stating that the duel was about my wife?" + +"Certainly," replied Valdarno, coolly. "If Saracinesca had not been for +months openly devoting himself to the Duchessa--who, I assure you, takes +no kind of notice of him--" + +"You need not waste words--" + +"I do not,--and if Giovanni had not thought it worth while to be jealous +of Del Ferice, there would have been no fighting." + +"Have you been telling your young friends that my wife was the cause of +all this?" asked Astrardente, trembling with a genuine rage which lent a +certain momentary dignity to his feeble frame and painted face. + +"Why not?" + +"Have you or have you not?" + +"Certainly--if you please," returned Valdarno insolently, enjoying the +old man's fury. + +"Then permit me to tell you that you have taken upon yourself an +outrageous liberty, that you have lied, and that you do not deserve to be +treated like a gentleman." + +Astrardente got upon his feet and left the café without further words. +Valdarno had indeed wounded him in a weak spot, and the wound was mortal. +His blood was up, and at that moment he would have faced Valdarno sword +in hand, and might have proved himself no mean adversary, so great is the +power of anger to revive in the most decrepit the energies of youth. He +believed in his wife with a rare sincerity, and his blood boiled at the +idea of her being rudely spoken of as the cause of a scandalous quarrel, +however much Valdarno insisted upon it that she was as indifferent to +Giovanni as to Del Ferice. The story was a shallow invention upon the +face of it. But though the old man told himself so again and again as he +almost ran through the narrow streets towards his house, there was one +thought suggested by Valdarno which rankled deep. It was true that +Giovanni had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera; but he +had not remained five minutes seated by the Duchessa before he had +suddenly invented a shallow excuse for leaving; and finally, there was no +doubt that at that very moment Corona had seemed violently agitated. +Giovanni had not reappeared till the night of the Frangipani ball, and +the duel had taken place on the very next morning. Astrardente could not +reason--his mind was too much disturbed by his anger against Valdarno; +but a vague impression that there was something wrong in it all, drove +him homewards in wild excitement. He was ill, too, and had he been in a +frame of mind to reflect upon himself, he would have noticed that his +heart was beating with ominous irregularity. He did not even think of +taking a cab, but hurried along on foot, finding, perhaps, a momentary +relief in violent exertion. The old blood rushed to his face in good +earnest, and shamed the delicately painted lights and shadows touched in +by the master-hand of Monsieur Isidore, the cosmopolitan valet. + +Valdarno remained seated in the café, rather disturbed at what he had +done. He certainly had had no intention of raising such a storm; he was a +weak and good-natured fellow, whose vanity was easily wounded, but who +was not otherwise very sensitive, and was certainly not very intelligent. +Astrardente had laughed at him and his friends in a way which touched him +to the quick, and with childish petulance he had retaliated in the +easiest way which presented itself. Indeed there was more foundation for +his tale than Astrardente would allow. At least it was true that the +story was in the mouths of all the gossips that morning, and Valdarno had +only repeated what he had heard. He had meant to annoy the old man; he +had certainly not intended to make him so furiously angry. As for the +deliberate insult he had received, it was undoubtedly very shocking to be +told that one lied in such very plain terms; but on the other hand, to +demand satisfaction of such an old wreck as Astrardente would be +ridiculous in the extreme. Valdarno was incapable of very violent +passion, and was easily persuaded that he was in the wrong when any one +contradicted him flatly; not that he was altogether devoid of a certain +physical courage if hard pushed, but because he was not very strong, not +very confident of himself, not very combative, and not very truthful. +When Astrardente was gone, he waited a few minutes, and then sauntered up +the Corso again towards the club, debating in his mind how he should turn +a good story out of his morning's adventure without making himself appear +either foolish or pusillanimous. It was also necessary so to turn his +narrative that in case any one repeated it to Giovanni, the latter might +not propose to cut his throat, though it was not probable that any one +would be bold enough to desire a conversation with the younger +Saracinesca on such a subject. + +When he again entered the smoking-room of the club, he was greeted by a +chorus of inquiries concerning his interview with Astrardente. + +"What did he ask? What did he say? Where is he? What did you tell him? +Did he drop his eyeglass? Did he blush through his paint?" + +Everybody spoke together in the same breath. Valdarno's vanity rose to +the occasion. Weak and insignificant by nature, he particularly delighted +in being the centre of general interest, if even for a moment only. + +"He really dropped his eyeglass," he answered, with a gay laugh, "and he +really changed colour in spite of his paint." + +"It must have been a terrible interview, then," remarked one or two of +the loungers. + +"I shall be happy to offer you my services in case you wish to cut each +other's throats," said a French officer of the Papal Zouaves who stood by +the fireplace rolling a cigarette. Whereupon everybody laughed loudly. + +"Thanks," answered Valdarno; "I am expecting a challenge every minute. If +he proposes a powder-puff and a box of rouge for the weapons, I accept +without hesitation. Well, it was very amusing. He wanted to know all +about it, and so I told him about the scene in Casa Frangipani. He did +not seem to understand at all. He is a very obtuse old gentleman." + +"I hope you explained the connection of events," said some one. + +"Indeed I did. It was delightful to witness his fury. It was then that he +dropped his eyeglass and turned as red as a boiled lobster. He swore that +his wife was above suspicion, as usual." + +"That is true," said a young man who had attempted to make love to Corona +during the previous year. + +"Of course it is true," echoed all the rest, with unanimity rare indeed +where a woman's reputation is concerned. + +"Yes," continued Valdarno, "of course. But he goes so far as to say it is +absurd that any one should admire his wife, who is nevertheless a most +admirable woman. He stamped, he screamed, he turned red in the face, and +he went off without taking leave of me, flourishing his stick, and +swearing eternal hatred and vengeance against the entire civilised +society of the world. He was delightfully amusing. Will anybody play +baccarat? I will start a bank." + +The majority were for the game, and in a few minutes were seated at a +large green table, drawing cards and betting with a good will, and +interspersing their play with stray remarks on the events of the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Corona was fast coming to a state of mind in which a kind of passive +expectation--a sort of blind submission to fate--was the chief feature. +She had shed tears when her husband spoke of his approaching end, because +her gentle heart was grateful to him, and by its own sacrifices had grown +used to his presence, and because she suddenly felt that she had +comprehended the depth of his love for her, as she had never understood +it before. In the five years of married life she had spent with him, she +had not allowed herself to think of his selfishness, of his small daily +egotism; for, though it was at no great expense to himself, he had been +uniformly generous and considerate to her. But she had been conscious +that if she should ever remove from her conscience the pressure of a +self-imposed censorship, so that her judgment might speak boldly, the +verdict of her heart would not have been so indulgent to her husband as +was that formal opinion of him which she forced herself to hold. Now, +however, it seemed as though the best things she had desired to believe +of him were true; and with the conviction that he was not only not +selfish, but absolutely devoted to herself, there had come upon her a +fear of desolation, a dread of being left alone--of finding herself +abandoned by this strange companion, the only person in the world with +whom she had the habit of familiarity and the bond of a common past. +Astrardente had thought, and had told her too, that the knowledge of his +impending death might lighten her burden--might make the days of +self-sacrifice that yet remained seem shorter; he had spoken kindly of +her marrying again when he should be dead, deeming perhaps, in his sudden +burst of generosity that she would be capable of looking beyond the +unhappy present to the possibilities of a more brilliant future, or at +least that the certainty of his consent to such a second union would +momentarily please her. It was hard to say why he had spoken. It had been +an impulse such as the most selfish people sometimes yield to when their +failing strength brings upon them suddenly the sense of their inability +to resist any longer the course of events. The vanity of man is so +amazing that when he is past arrogating to himself the attention which is +necessary to him as his daily bread, he is capable of so demeaning his +manhood as to excite interest in his weaknesses rather than that he +should cease to be the object of any interest whatever. The analysis of +the feelings of old and selfish persons is the most difficult of all +studies; for in proportion as the strength of the dominant passion or +passions is quenched in the bitter still waters of the harbour of +superannuation, the small influences of life grow in importance. As when, +from the breaking surge of an angry ocean, the water is dashed high among +the re-echoing rocks, leaving little pools of limpid clearness in the +hollows of the storm-beaten cliffs; and as when the anger of the tossing +waves has subsided, the hot sun shines upon the mimic seas, and the clear +waters that were so transparent grow thick and foul with the motion of a +tiny and insignificant insect-life undreamed of before in such crystal +purity: so also the clear strong sea of youth is left to dry in the +pools and puddles of old age, and in the motionless calm of the still +places where the ocean of life has washed it, it is dried up and consumed +by myriads of tiny parasites--lives within lives, passions within +passions--tiny efforts at mimic greatness,--a restless little world, the +very parody and infinitesimal reproduction of the mighty flood whence it +came, wherein great monsters have their being, and things of unspeakable +beauty grow free in the large depths of an unfathomed ocean. + +To Corona d'Astrardente in the freshness of her youth the study of her +husband's strange littleness had grown to be a second nature from the +habit of her devotion to him. But she could not understand him; she could +not explain to herself the sudden confession of old age, the quiet +anticipation of death, the inexplicable generosity towards herself. She +only knew that he must be at heart a man more kindly and of better +impulse than he had generally been considered, and she resolved to do +her utmost to repay him, and to soothe the misery of his last years. + +Since he had told her so plainly, it must be true. It was natural, +perhaps--for he was growing more feeble every day--but it was very sad. +Five years ago, when she had choked down her loathing for the old man to +whom she had sold herself for her father's sake, she would not have +believed that she should one day feel the tears rise fast at the thought +of his dying and leaving her free. He had said it; she would be free. +They say that men who have been long confined in a dungeon become +indifferent, and when turned out upon the world would at first gladly +return to their prison walls. Liberty is in the first place an instinct, +but it will easily grow to be a habit. Corona had renounced all thought +of freedom five years ago, and in the patient bowing of her noble nature +to the path she had chosen, she had attained to a state of renunciation +like that of a man who has buried himself for ever in an order of +Trappists, and neither dreams of the freedom of the outer world, nor +desires to dream of it. And she had grown fond of the aged dandy and his +foolish ways--ways which seemed foolish because they were those of youth +grafted upon senility. She had not known that she was fond of him, it is +true; but now that he spoke of dying, she felt that she would weep his +loss. He was her only companion, her only friend. In the loyal +determination to be faithful to him, she had so shut herself from all +intimacy with the world that she had not a friend. She kept women at a +distance from her, instinctively dreading lest in their careless talk +some hint or comment should remind her that she had married a man +ridiculous in their eyes; and with men she could have but little +intercourse, for their society was dangerous. No man save Giovanni +Saracinesca had for years put himself in the light of a mere +acquaintance, always ready to talk to her upon general subjects, +studiously avoiding himself in all discussions, and delicately +flattering her vanity by his deference to her judgment. The other men had +generally spoken of love at the second meeting, and declared themselves +devoted to her for life at the end of a week: she had quietly repulsed +them, and they had dropped back into the position of indifferent +acquaintances, going in search of other game, after the manner of young +gentlemen of leisure. Giovanni alone had sternly maintained his air of +calmness, had never offended her simple pride of loyalty to Astrardente +by word or deed; so that, although she felt and dreaded her growing +interest in him, she had actually believed that he was nothing in her +life, until at last she had been undeceived and awakened to the knowledge +of his fierce passion, and being taken unawares, had nearly been carried +off her feet by the tempest his words had roused in her own breast. But +her strength had not utterly deserted her. Years of supreme devotion to +the right, of honest and unwavering loyalty, neither deceiving her +conscience on the one hand with the morbid food of a fictitious religious +exaltation, nor, upon the other, sinking to a cynical indifference to +inevitable misery; days of quiet and constant effort; long hours of +thoughtful meditation upon the one resolution of her life,--all this had +strengthened the natural force of her character, so that, when at last +the great trial had come, she had not yielded, but had conquered once and +for ever, in the very moment of sorest temptation. And with her there +would be no return of the danger. Having found strength to resist, +she knew that there would be no more weakness; her love for Giovanni was +deep and sincere, but it had become now the chief cause of suffering in +her life; it had utterly ceased to be the chief element of joy, as it had +been for a few short days. It was one thing more to be borne, and it +outweighed all other cares. + +The news of the duel had given her great distress. She believed honestly +that she was in no way concerned in it, and she had bitterly resented old +Saracinesca's imputation. In the hot words that had passed between +them, she had felt her anger rise justly against the old Prince; but when +he appealed to her on account of his son, her love for Giovanni had +vanquished her wrath against the old man. Come what might, she would do +what was best for him. If possible, she would induce him to leave Rome at +once, and thus free herself from the pain of constantly meeting him. +Perhaps she could make him marry--anything would be better than to allow +things to go on in their present course, to have to face him at every +turn, and to know that at any moment he might be quarrelling with +somebody and fighting duels on her account. + +She went boldly into the world that night, not knowing whether she should +meet Giovanni or not, but resolved upon her course if he appeared. Many +people looked curiously at her, and smiled cunningly as they thought they +detected traces of care upon her proud face; but though they studied her, +and lost no opportunity of talking to her upon the one topic which +absorbed the general conversation, no one had the satisfaction of moving +her even so much as to blush a little, or to lower the gaze of her eyes +that looked them all indifferently through and through. + +Giovanni, however, did not appear, and people told her he would not leave +his room for several days, so that she returned to her home without +having accomplished anything in the matter. Her husband was very silent, +but looked at her with an expression of uncertainty, as though hesitating +to speak to her upon some subject that absorbed his interest. Neither of +them referred to the strange interview of the previous night. They went +home early, as has been already recorded, seeing it was only a great and +formal reception to which the world went that night; and even the +toughest old society jades were weary from the ball of the day before, +which had not broken up until half-past six in the morning. + +On the next day, at about twelve o'clock, Corona was sitting in her +boudoir writing a number of invitations which were to be distributed in +the afternoon, when the door opened and her husband entered the room. + +"My dear," he cried in great excitement, "it is perfectly horrible! Have +you heard?" + +"What?" asked Corona, laying down her pen. + +"Spicca has killed Casalverde--the man who seconded Del Ferice +yesterday,--killed him on the spot--" + +Corona uttered an exclamation of horror. + +"And they say Del Ferice is dead, or just dying"--his cracked voice rose +at every word; "and they say," he almost screamed, laying his withered +hand roughly upon his wife's shoulder,--"they say that the duel was about +you--you, do you understand?" + +"That is not true," said Corona, firmly. "Calm yourself--I beseech you to +be calm. Tell me connectedly what has happened--who told you this story." + +"What right has any man to drag your name into a quarrel?" cried the old +man, hoarsely. "Everybody is saying it--it is outrageous, abominable--" + +Corona quietly pushed her husband into a chair, and sat down beside him. + +"You are excited--you will harm yourself,--remember your health," she +said, endeavouring to soothe him. "Tell me, in the first place, who told +you that it was about me." + +"Valdarno told me; he told me that every one was saying it--that it was +the talk of the town." + +"But why?" insisted Corona. "You allow yourself to be furious for the +sake of a piece of gossip which has no foundation whatever. What is the +story they tell?" + +"Some nonsense about Giovanni Saracinesca's going away last week. Del +Ferice proposed to call him before you, and Giovanni was angry." + +"That is absurd," said Corona. "Don Giovanni was not the least annoyed. +He was with me afterwards--" + +"Always Giovanni! Always Giovanni! Wherever you go, it is Giovanni!" +cried the old man, in unreasonable petulance--unreasonable from his point +of view, reasonable enough had he known the truth. But he struck +unconsciously upon the key-note of all Corona's troubles, and she turned +pale to the lips. + +"You say it is not true," he began again. "How do you know? How can you +tell what may have been said? How can you guess it? Giovanni Saracinesca +is about you in society more than any one. He has quarrelled about you, +and two men have lost their lives in consequence. He is in love with you, +I tell you. Can you not see it? You must be blind!" + +Corona leaned back in her chair, utterly overcome by the suddenness of +the situation, unable to answer, her hands folded tightly together, her +pale lips compressed. Angry at her silence, old Astrardente continued, +his rage gradually getting the mastery of his sense, and his passion +working itself up to the pitch of madness. + +"Blind--yes--positively blind!" he cried. "Do you think that I am blind +too? Do you think I will overlook all this? Do you not see that your +reputation is injured--that people associate your name with his--that no +woman can be mentioned in the same breath with Giovanni Saracinesca and +hope to maintain a fair fame? A fellow whose adventures are in +everybody's mouth, whose doings are notorious; who has but to look at a +woman to destroy her; who is a duellist, a libertine--" + +"That is not true," interrupted Corona, unable to listen calmly to the +abuse thus heaped upon the man she so dearly loved. "You are mad--" + +"You defend him!" screamed Astrardente, leaning far forward in his chair +and clenching his hands. "You dare to support him--you acknowledge that +you care for him! Does he not pursue you everywhere, so that the town +rings with it? You ought to long to be rid of him, to wish he were dead, +rather than allow his name to be breathed with yours; and instead, you +defend him to me--you say he is right, that you prefer his odious +devotion to your good name, to my good name! Oh, it is not to be +believed! If you loved him yourself you could not do worse!" + +"If half you say were true--" said Corona, in terrible distress. + +"True?" cried Astrardente, who would not brook interruption. "It is all +true--and more also. It is true that he loves you, true that all the +world says it, true--by all that is holy, from your face I would almost +believe that you do love him! Why do you not deny it? Miserable woman!" +he screamed, springing towards her and seizing her roughly by the arm, as +she hid her face in her hands. "Miserable woman! you have betrayed me--" + +In the paroxysm of his rage the feeble old man became almost strong; his +grip tightened upon his wife's wrist, and he dragged her violently from +her seat. + +"Betrayed! And by you!" he cried again, shaking with passion. "You whom I +have loved! This is your gratitude, your sanctified devotion, your +cunning pretence at patience! All to hide your love for such a man as +that! You hypocrite, you--" + +By a sudden effort Corona shook off his grasp, and drew herself up to her +full height in magnificent anger. + +"You shall hear me," she said, in deep commanding tones. "I have deserved +much, but I have not deserved this." + +"Ha!" he hissed, standing back from her a step, "you can speak now--I +have touched you! You have found words. It was time!" + +Corona was as white as death, and her black eyes shone like coals of +fire. Her words came slowly, every accent clear and strong with +concentrated passion. + +"I have not betrayed you. I have spoken no word of love to any man alive, +and you know that I speak the truth. If any one has said to me what +should not be said, I have rebuked him to silence. You know, while you +accuse me, that I have done my best to honour and love you; you know well +that I would die by my own hand, your loyal and true wife, rather than +let my lips utter one syllable of love for any other man." + +Corona possessed a supreme power over her husband. She was so true a +woman that the truth blazed visibly from her clear eyes; and what she +said was nothing but the truth. She had doubted it herself for one +dreadful moment; she knew it now beyond all doubting. In a moment the old +man's wrath broke and vanished before the strong assertion of her perfect +innocence. He turned pale under his paint, and his limbs trembled. He +made a step forward, and fell upon his knees before her, and tried to +take her hands. + +"Oh, Corona, forgive me," he moaned--"forgive me! I so love you!" + +Suddenly his grasp relaxed from her hands, and with a groan he fell +forward against her knees. + +"God knows I forgive you!" cried Corona, the tears starting to her eyes +in sudden pity. She bent down to support him; but as she moved, he fell +prostrate upon his face before her. With a cry of terror she kneeled +beside him; with her strong arms she turned his body and raised his head +upon her knees. His face was ghastly white, save where the tinges of +paint made a hideous mockery of colour upon his livid skin. His parted +lips were faintly purple, and his hollow eyes stared wide open at his +wife's face, while the curled wig was thrust far back upon his bald and +wrinkled forehead. + +Corona supported his weight upon one knee, and took his nerveless hand in +hers. An agony of terror seized her. + +"Onofrio!" she cried--she rarely called him by his name--"Onofrio! speak +to me! My husband!" She clasped him wildly in her arms. "O God, have +mercy!" + +Onofrio d'Astrardente was dead. The poor old dandy, in his paint and his +wig and his padding, had died at his wife's feet, protesting his love for +her to the last. The long averted blow had fallen. For years he had +guarded himself against sudden emotions, for he was warned of the disease +at his heart, and knew his danger; but his anger had killed him. He might +have lived another hour while his rage lasted; but the revulsion of +feeling, the sudden repentance for the violence he had done his wife, had +sent the blood back to its source too quickly, and with his last cry of +love upon his lips he was dead. + +Corona had hardly ever seen death. She gently lowered the dead man's +weight till he lay at full length upon the floor. Then she started to her +feet, and drew back against the fireplace, and gazed at the body of her +husband. + +For fully five minutes she stood motionless, scarcely daring to draw +breath, dazed and stupefied with horror, trying to realise what had +happened. There he lay, her only friend, the companion of her life since +she had known life; the man who in that very room, but two nights since, +had spoken such kind words to her that her tears had flowed--the tears +that would not flow now; the man who but a moment since was railing at +her in a paroxysm of rage--whose anger had melted at her first word of +defence, who had fallen at her feet to ask forgiveness, and to declare +once more, for the last time, that he loved her! Her friend, her +companion, her husband--had he heard her answer, that she forgave him +freely? He could not be dead--it was impossible. A moment ago he had been +speaking to her. She went forward again and kneeled beside him. + +"Onofrio," she said very gently, "you are not dead--you heard me?" + +She gazed down for a moment at the motionless features. Womanly +thoughtful, she moved his head a little, and straightened the wig upon +his poor forehead. Then, in an instant, she realised all, and with a wild +cry of despair fell prostrate upon his body in an agony of passionate +weeping. How long she lay, she knew not. A knock at the door did not +reach her ears, nor another and another, at short intervals; and then +some one entered. It was the butler, who had come to announce the mid-day +breakfast. He uttered an exclamation and started back, holding the handle +of the door in his hand. + +Corona raised herself slowly to her knees, gazing down once more upon the +dead man's face. Then she lifted her streaming eyes and saw the servant. + +"Your master is dead," she said, solemnly. + +The man grew pale and trembled, hesitated, and then turned and fled down +the hall without, after the manner of Italian servants, who fear death, +and even the sight of it, as they fear nothing else in the world. + +Corona rose to her feet and brushed the tears from her eyes. Then she +turned and rang the bell. No one answered the summons for some time. The +news had spread all over the house in an instant, and everything was +disorganised. At last a woman came and stood timidly at the door. She was +a lower servant, a simple strong creature from the mountains. Seeing the +others terrified and paralysed, it had struck her common-sense that her +mistress was alone. Corona understood. + +"Help me to carry him," she said, quietly; and the peasant and the noble +lady stooped and lifted the dead duke, and bore him to his chamber +without a word, and laid him tenderly upon his bed. + +"Send for the doctor," said Corona; "I will watch beside him." + +"But, Excellency, are you not afraid?" asked the woman. + +Corona's lip curled a little. + +"I am not afraid," she answered. "Send at once." When the woman was gone, +she sat down by the bedside and waited. Her tears were dry now, but she +could not think. She waited motionless for an hour. Then the old +physician entered softly, while a crowd of servants stood without, +peering timidly through the open door. Corona crossed the room and +quietly shut it. The physician stood by the bedside. + +"It is simple enough, Signora Duchessa," he said, gently. "He is quite +dead. It was only the day before yesterday that I warned him that the +heart disease was worse. Can you tell me how it happened?" + +"Yes, exactly," answered Corona, in a low voice. She was calm enough now. +"He came into my room two hours ago, and suddenly, in conversation, he +became very angry. Then his anger subsided in a moment, and he fell at my +feet." + +"It is just as I expected," answered the physician, quietly. "They always +die in this way. I entreat you to be calm--to consider that all men are +mortal--" + +"I am calm now," interrupted Corona. "I am alone. Will you see that what +is necessary is done quickly? I will leave you for a moment. There are +people outside." + +As she opened the door the gaping crowd of servants slunk out of her way. +With bent head she passed between them, and went out into the great +reception-rooms, and sat down alone in her grief. + +It was genuine, of its kind. The poor man's soul might rest in peace, for +she felt the real sorrow at his death which he had longed for, which he +had perhaps scarcely dared to hope she would feel. Had it not been real, +in those first moments some thought would have crossed her mind--some +faint, repressed satisfaction at being free at last--free to marry +Giovanni Saracinesca. But it was not so. She did not feel free--she felt +alone, intensely alone. She longed for the familiar sound of his +querulous voice--for the expression of his thousand little wants and +interests; she remembered tenderly his harmless little vanities. She +thought of his wig, and she wept. So true it is that what is most +ridiculous in life is most sorrowfully pathetic in death. There was not +one of the small things about him she did not recall with a pang of +regret. It was all over now. His vanity was dead with him; his tender +love for her was dead too. It was the only love she had known, until that +other love--that dark and stirring passion--had been roused in her. But +that did not trouble her now. Perhaps the unconscious sense that +henceforth she was free to love whom she pleased had suddenly made +insignificant a feeling which had before borne in her mind the terrible +name of crime. The struggle for loyalty was no more, but the memory of +what she had borne for the dead man made him dearer than before. The +follies of his life had been many, but many of them had been for her, and +there was the true ring in his last words. "To be young for your sake, +Corona--for your sake!" The phrase echoed again and again in her +remembrance, and her silent tears flowed afresh. The follies of his life +had been many, but to her he had been true. The very violence of his last +moments, the tenderness of his passionate appeal for forgiveness, spoke +for the honesty of his heart, even though his heart had never been honest +before. + +She needed never to think again of pleasing him, of helping him, of +foregoing for his sake any intimacy with the world which she might +desire. But the thought brought no relief. He had become so much a part +of her life that she could not conceive of living without him, and she +would miss him at every turn. The new existence before her seemed dismal +and empty beyond all expression. She wondered vaguely what she should do +with her time. For one moment a strange longing came over her to return +to the dear old convent, to lay aside for ever her coronet and state, and +in a simple garb to do simple and good things to the honour of God. + +She roused herself at last, and went to her own rooms, dragging her steps +slowly as though weighed down by a heavy burden. She entered the room +where he had died, and a cold shudder passed over her. The afternoon sun +was streaming through the window upon the writing table where yet lay the +unfinished invitation she had been writing, and upon the plants and the +rich ornaments, upon the heavy carpet--the very spot where he had +breathed his last word of love and died at her feet. + +Upon that spot Corona d'Astrardente knelt down reverently and +prayed,--prayed that she might be forgiven for all her shortcomings to +the dear dead man; that she might have strength to bear her sorrow and to +honour his memory; above all, that his soul might rest in peace and find +forgiveness, and that he might know that she had been truly innocent--she +prayed for that too, for she had a dreadful doubt. But surely he knew all +now: how she had striven to be loyal, and how truly--yes, how truly--she +mourned his death. + +At last she rose to her feet, and lingered still a moment, her hands +clasped as they had been in her prayer. Glancing down, something +glistened on the carpet. She stooped and picked it up. It was her +husband's sealring, engraven with the ancient arms of the Astrardente. +She looked long at the jewel, and then put it upon her finger. + +"God give me grace to honour his memory as he would have me honour it," +she said, solemnly. + +Truly, she had deserved the love the poor old dandy had so deeply felt +for her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +That night Giovanni insisted on going out. His wounds no longer pained +him, he said; there was no danger whatever, and he was tired of staying +at home. But he would dine with his father as usual. He loved his +father's company, and when the two omitted to quarrel over trifles they +were very congenial. To tell the truth, the differences between them +arose generally from the petulant quickness of the Prince; for in his son +his own irascible character was joined with the melancholy gravity which +Giovanni inherited from his mother, and in virtue of which, being +taciturn, he was sometimes thought long-suffering. + +As usual, they sat opposite each other, and the ancient butler Pasquale +served them. As the man deposited Giovanni's soup before him, he spoke. A +certain liberty was always granted to Pasquale; Italian servants are +members of the family, even in princely houses. Never assuming that +confidence implies familiarity, they enjoy the one without ever +approaching the latter. Nevertheless it was very rarely that Pasquale +spoke to his masters when they were at table. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon--" he began, as he put down the +soup-plate. + +"Well, Pasquale?" asked old Saracinesca, looking sharply at the old +servant from under his heavy brows. + +"Have your Excellencies heard the news?" + +"What news? No," returned the Prince. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente--" + +"Well, what of him?" + +"Is dead." + +"Dead!" repeated Giovanni in a loud voice, that echoed to the vaulted +roof of the dining-room. + +"It is not true," said old Saracinesca; "I saw him in the street this +morning." + +"Nevertheless, your Excellency," replied Pasquale, "it is quite true. The +gates of the palace were already draped with black before the Ave Maria +this evening; and the porter, who is a nephew of mine, had _crêpe_ upon +his hat and arm. He told me that the Duca fell down dead of a stroke in +the Signora Duchessa's room at half-past twelve to-day." + +"Is that all you could learn?" asked the Prince. + +"Except that the Signora Duchessa was overcome with grief," returned the +servant, gravely. + +"I should think so--her husband dead of an apoplexy! It is natural," said +the Prince, looking at Giovanni. The latter was silent, and tried to eat +as though, nothing had happened--inwardly endeavouring not to rejoice too +madly at the terrible catastrophe. In his effort to control his features, +the blood rushed to his forehead, and his hand trembled violently. His +father saw it, but made no remark. + +"Poor Astrardente!" he said. "He was not so bad as people thought him." + +"No," replied Giovanni, with a great effort; "he was a very good man." + +"I should hardly say that," returned his father, with a grim smile of +amusement. "I do not think that by the greatest stretch of indulgence he +could be called good." + +"And why not?" asked the younger man, sharply snatching at any possible +discussion in order to conceal his embarrassment. + +"Why not, indeed! Why, because he had a goodly share of original sin, to +which he added others of his own originating but having an equal claim to +originality." + +"I say I think he was a very good man," repeated Giovanni, maintaining +his point with an air of conviction. + +"If that is your conception of goodness, it is no wonder that you have +not attained to sanctity," said the old man, with a sneer. + +"It pleases you to be witty," answered his son. "Astrardente did not +gamble; he had no vices of late. He was kind to his wife." + +"No vices--no. He did not steal like a fraudulent bank-clerk, nor try to +do murder like Del Ferice. He did not deceive his wife, nor starve her to +death. He had therefore no vices. He was a good man." + +"Let us leave poor Del Ferice alone," said Giovanni. + +"I suppose you will pity him now," replied the Prince, sarcastically. +"You will talk differently if he dies and you have to leave the country +at a moment's notice, like Spicca this morning." + +"I should be very sorry if Del Ferice died. I should never recover from +it. I am not a professional duellist like Spicca. And yet Casalverde +deserved his death. I can quite understand that Del Ferice might in the +excitement of the moment have lunged at me after the halt was cried, but +I cannot understand how Casalverde could be so infamous as not to cross +his sword when he himself called. It looked very much like a preconcerted +arrangement. Casalverde deserved to die, for the safety of society. +I should think that Rome had had enough of duelling for a while." + +"Yes; but after all, Casalverde did not count for much. I am not sure I +ever saw the fellow before in my life. And I suppose Del Ferice will +recover. There was a story this morning that he was dead; but I went and +inquired myself, and found that he was better. People are much shocked +at this second duel. Well, it could not be helped. Poor old Astrardente! +So we shall never see his wig again at every ball and theatre and +supper-party! There was a man who enjoyed his life to the very end!" + +"I should not call it enjoyment to be built up every day by one's valet, +like a card-house, merely to tumble to pieces again when the pins are +taken out," said Giovanni. + +"You do not seem so enthusiastic in his defence as you were a few minutes +ago," said the Prince, with a smile. + +Giovanni was so much disturbed at the surprising news that he hardly knew +what he said. He made a desperate attempt to be sensible. + +"It appears to me that moral goodness and personal appearance are two +things," he said, oracularly. The Prince burst into a loud laugh. + +"Most people would say that! Eat your dinner, Giovanni, and do not talk +such arrant nonsense." + +"Why is it nonsense? Because you do not agree with me?" + +"Because you are too much excited to talk sensibly," said his father. "Do +you think I cannot see it?" + +Giovanni was silent for a time. He was angry at his father for detecting +the cause of his vagueness, but he supposed there was no help for it. At +last Pasquale left the room. Old Saracinesca gave a sigh of relief. + +"And now, Giovannino," he said familiarly, "what have you got to say for +yourself?" + +"I?" asked his son, in some surprise. + +"You! What are you going to do?" + +"I will stay at home," said Giovanni, shortly. + +"That is not the question. You are wise to stay at home, because you +ought to get yourself healed of that scratch. Giovanni, the Astrardente +is now a widow." + +"Seeing that her husband is dead--of course. There is vast ingenuity in +your deduction," returned the younger man, eyeing his father +suspiciously. + +"Do not be an idiot, Giovannino. I mean, that as she is a widow, I have +no objection to your marrying her." + +"Good God, sir!" cried Giovanni, "what do you mean?" + +"What I say. She is the most beautiful woman in Rome. She is one of the +best women I know. She will have a sufficient jointure. Marry her. You +will never be happy with a silly little girl just out of a convent You +are not that sort of man. The Astrardente is not three-and-twenty, but +she has had five years of the world, and she has stood the test well. I +shall be proud to call her my daughter." + +In his excitement Giovanni sprang from his seat, and rushing to his +father's side, threw his arms round his neck and embraced him. He had +never done such a thing in his life. Then he remained standing, and grew +suddenly thoughtful. + +"It is heartless of us to talk in this way," he said. "The poor man is +not buried yet." + +"My dear boy," said the old Prince, "Astrardente is dead. He hated me, +and was beginning to hate you, I fancy. We were neither of us his +friends, at any rate. We do not rejoice at his death; we merely regard it +in the light of an event which modifies our immediate future. He is dead, +and his wife is free. So long as he was alive, the fact of your loving +her was exceedingly unfortunate: it was injuring you and doing a wrong to +her. Now, on the contrary, the greatest good fortune that can happen to +you both is that you should marry each other." + +"That is true," returned Giovanni. In the suddenness of the news, it had +not struck him that his father would ever look favourably upon the match, +although the immediate possibility of the marriage had burst upon him as +a great light suddenly rising in a thick darkness. But his nature, as +strong as his father's, was a little more delicate, a shade less rough; +and even in the midst of his great joy, it struck him as heartless to be +discussing the chances of marrying a woman whose husband was not yet +buried. No such scruple disturbed the geniality of the old Prince. He was +an honest and straightforward man--a man easily possessed by a single +idea--and he was capable of profound affections. He had loved his Spanish +wife strongly in his own fashion, and she had loved him, but there was no +one left to him now but his son, whom he delighted in, and he regarded +the rest of the world merely as pawns to be moved into position for the +honour and glory of the Saracinesca. He thought no more of a man's life +than of the end of a cigar, smoked out and fit to be thrown away. +Astrardente had been nothing to him but an obstacle. It had not struck +him that he could ever be removed; but since it had pleased Providence +to take him out of the way, there was no earthly reason for mourning his +death. All men must die--it was better that death should come to those +who stood in the way of their fellow-creatures. + +"I am not at all sure that she will consent," said Giovanni, beginning to +walk up and down the room. + +"Bah!" ejaculated his father. "You are the best match in Italy. Why +should any woman refuse you?" + +"I am not so sure. She is not like other women. Let us not talk of it +now. It will not be possible to do anything for a year, I suppose. A year +is a long time. Meanwhile I will go to that poor man's funeral." + +"Of course. So will I." + +And they both went, and found themselves in a vast crowd of +acquaintances. No one had believed that Astrardente could ever die, that +the day would ever come when society should know his place no more; and +with one consent everybody sent their carriages to the funeral, and went +themselves a day or two later to the great requiem Mass in the parish +church. There was nothing to be seen but the great black catafalque, with +Corona's household of servants in deep mourning liveries kneeling behind +it. Relations she had none, and the dead man was the last of his race-- +she was utterly alone. + +"She need not have made it so terribly impressive," said Madame Mayer +to Valdarno when the Mass was over. Madame Mayer paused beside the +holy-water basin, and dipping one gloved finger, she presented it to +Valdarno with an engaging smile. Both crossed themselves. + +"She need not have got it up so terribly impressively, after all," she +repeated. + +"I daresay she will miss him at first," returned Valdarno, who was a +kind-hearted fellow enough, and was very far from realising how much he +had contributed to the sudden death of the old dandy. "She is a strange +woman. I believe she had grown fond of him." + +"Oh, I know all that," said Donna Tullia, as they left the church. + +"Yes," answered her companion, with a significant smile, "I presume you +do." Donna Tullia laughed harshly as she got into her carriage. + +"You are detestable, Valdarno--you always misunderstand me. Are you going +to the ball to-night?" + +"Of course. May I have the pleasure of the cotillon?" + +"If you are very good--if you will go and ask the news of Del Ferice." + +"I sent this morning. He is quite out of danger, they believe." + +"Is he? Oh, I am very glad--I felt so very badly, you know. Ah, Don +Giovanni, are you recovered?" she asked coldly, as Saracinesca approached +the other side of the carriage. Valdarno retired to a distance, and +pretended to be buttoning his greatcoat; he wanted to see what would +happen. + +"Thank you, yes; I was not much hurt. This is the first time I have been +out, and I am glad to find an opportunity of speaking to you. Let me say +again how profoundly I regret my forgetfulness at the ball the other +night--" + +Donna Tullia was a clever woman, and though she had been very angry at +the time, she was in love with Giovanni. She therefore looked at him +suddenly with a gentle smile, and just for one moment her fingers touched +his hand as it rested upon the side of the carriage. + +"Do you think it was kind?" she asked, in a low voice. + +"It was abominable. I shall never forgive myself," answered Giovanni. + +"I will forgive you," answered Donna Tullia, softly. She really loved +him. It was the best thing in her nature, but it was more than balanced +by the jealousy she had conceived for the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Was it on that account that you quarrelled with poor Del Ferice?" she +asked, after a moment's pause. "I have feared it--" + +"Certainly not," answered Giovanni, quickly. "Pray set your mind at rest. +Del Ferice or any other man would have been quite justified in calling me +out for it--but it was not for that. It was not on account of you." + +It would have been hard to say whether Donna Tullia's face expressed more +clearly her surprise or her disappointment at the intelligence. Perhaps +she had both really believed herself the cause of the duel, and had +been flattered at the thought that men would fight for her. + +"Oh, I am very glad--it is a great relief," she said, rather coldly. "Are +you going to the ball to-night?" + +"No; I cannot dance. My right arm is bound up in a sling, as you see." + +"I am sorry you are not coming. Good-bye, then." + +"Good-bye; I am very grateful for your forgiveness." Giovanni bowed low, +and Donna Tullia's brilliant equipage dashed away. + +Giovanni was well satisfied at having made his peace so easily, but he +nevertheless apprehended danger from Donna Tullia. + +The next thing which interested Roman society was Astrardente's will, +but no one was much surprised when the terms of it were known. As there +were no relations, everything was left to his wife. The palace in Rome, +the town and castle in the Sabines, the broad lands in the low +hill-country towards Ceprano, and what surprised even the family lawyer, +a goodly sum in solid English securities,--a splendid fortune in all, +according to Roman ideas. Astrardente abhorred the name of money in his +conversation--it had been one of his affectations; but he had an +excellent understanding of business, and was exceedingly methodical in +the management of his affairs. The inheritance, the lawer thought, might +be estimated at three millions of scudi. + +"Is all this wealth mine, then?" asked Corona, when the solicitor had +explained the situation. + +"All, Signora Duchessa. You are enormously rich." + +Enormously rich! And alone in the world. Corona asked herself if she was +the same woman, the same Corona del Carmine who five years before had +suffered in the old convent the humiliation of having no pocket-money, +whose wedding-gown had been provided from the proceeds of a little sale +of the last relics of her father's once splendid collection of old china +and pictures. She had never thought of money since she had been married; +her husband was generous, but methodical; she never bought anything +without consulting him, and the bills all went through his hands. Now and +then she had rather timidly asked for a small sum for some charity; she +had lacked nothing that money could buy, but she never remembered to have +had more than a hundred francs in her purse. Astrardente had once offered +to give her an allowance, and had seemed pleased that she refused it. He +liked to manage things himself, being a man of detail. + +And now she was enormously rich, and alone. It was a strange sensation. +She felt it to be so new that she innocently said so to the lawyer. + +"What shall I do with it all?" + +"Signora Duchessa," returned the old man, "with regard to money the +question is, not what to do with it, but how to do without it. You are +very young, Signora Duchessa." + +"I shall be twenty-three in August," said Corona, simply. + +"Precisely. I would beg to be allowed to observe that by the terms of the +will, and by the laws of this country, you are not the dowager-duchess, +but you are in your own right and person the sole and only feudal +mistress and holder of the title." + +"Am I?" + +"Certainly, with all the privileges thereto attached. It may be--I beg +pardon for being so bold as to suggest it--it may be that in years to +come, when time has soothed your sorrow, you may wish, you may consent, +to renew the marriage tie." + +"I doubt it--but the thing is possible," said Corona, quietly. + +"In that case, and should you prefer to contract a marriage of +inclination, you will have no difficulty in conferring your title upon +your husband, with any reservations you please. Your children will then +inherit from you, and become in their turn Dukes of Astrardente. This I +conceive to have been the purpose and spirit of the late Duke's will. The +estate, magnificent as it is, will not be too large for the foundation of +a new race. If you desire any distinctive title, you can call yourself +Duchessa del Carmine d'Astrardente--it would sound very well," remarked +the lawyer, contemplating the beautiful woman before him. + +"It is of little importance what I call myself," said Corona. "At present +I shall certainly make no change. It is very unlikely that I shall ever +marry." + +"I trust, Signora Duchessa, that in any case you will always command my +most humble services." + +With this protestation of fidelity the lawyer left the Palazzo +Astrardente, and Corona remained in her boudoir in meditation of what it +would be like to be the feudal mistress of a great title and estate. She +was very sad, but she was growing used to her solitude. Her liberty was +strange to her, but little by little she was beginning to enjoy it. At +first she had missed the constant care of the poor man who for five years +had been her companion; she had missed his presence and the burden of +thinking for him at every turn of the day. But it was not for long. Her +memory of him was kind and tender, and for months after his death the +occasional sight of some object associated with him brought the tears to +her eyes. She often wished he could walk into the room in his old way, +and begin talking of the thousand and one bits of town gossip that +interested him. But the first feeling of desolation soon passed, for he +had not been more than a companion; she could analyse every memory she +had of him to its source and reason. There was not in her that passionate +unformulated yearning for him that comes upon a loving heart when its +fellow is taken away, and which alone is a proof that love has been real +and true. She soon grew accustomed to his absence. + +To marry again--every one would say she would be right--to marry and to +be the mother of children, of brave sons and noble girls,--ah yes! that +was a new thought, a wonderful thought, one of many that were +wonderful. + +Then, again, her strong nature suddenly rose in a new sense of strength, +and she paced the room slowly with a strange expression of sternness upon +her beautiful features. + +"I am a power in the world," she said to herself, almost starting at the +truth of the thought, and yet taking delight in it. "I am what men call +rich and powerful; I have money, estates, castles, and palaces; I am +young, I am strong. What shall I do with it all?" + +As she walked, she dreamed of raising some great institution of charity; +she knew not for what precise object, but there was room enough for +charity in Rome. The great Torlonia had built churches, and hospitals, +and asylums. She would do likewise; she would make for herself an +interest in doing good, a satisfaction in the exercise of her power to +combat evil. It would be magnificent to feel that she had done it +herself, alone and unaided; that she had built the walls from the +foundation and the corner-stone to the eaves; that she had entered +herself into the study of each detail, and herself peopled the great +institution with such as needed most help in the world--with little +children, perhaps. She would visit them every day, and herself provide +for their wants and care for their sufferings. She would give the place +her husband's name, and the good she would accomplish with his earthly +portion might perhaps profit his soul. She would go to Padre Filippo and +ask his advice. He would know what was best to be done, for he knew more +of the misery in Rome than any one, and had a greater mind to relieve it. +She had seen him since her husband's death, but she had not yet conceived +this scheme. + +And Giovanni--she thought of him too; but the habit of putting him out of +her heart was strong. She dimly fancied that in the far future a day +might come when she would be justified in thinking of him if she so +pleased; but for the present, her loyalty to her dead husband seemed more +than ever a sacred duty. She would not permit herself to think of +Giovanni, even though, from a general point of view, she might +contemplate the possibility of a second marriage. She would go to Padre +Filippo and talk over everything with him; he would advise her well. + +Then a wild longing seized her to leave Rome for a while, to breathe the +air of the country, to get away from the scene of all her troubles, of +all the terrible emotions that had swept over her life in the last three +weeks, to be alone in the hills or by the sea. It seemed dreadful to be +tied to her great house in the city, in her mourning, shut off suddenly +from the world, and bound down by the chain of conventionality to a fixed +method of existence. She would give anything to go away. Why not? She +suddenly realised what was so hard to understand, that she was free to go +where she pleased--if only, by accident, she could chance to meet +Giovanni Saracinesca before she left. No--the thought was unworthy. She +would leave town at once--surely she could have nothing to say to +Giovanni--she would leave to-morrow morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Corona found it impossible to leave town so soon as she had wished. She +had indeed sent out great cart-loads of furniture, servants, horses, and +all the paraphernalia of an establishment in the country, and she +believed herself ready to move at once, when she received an exceedingly +courteous note from Cardinal Antonelli requesting the honour of being +received by her the next day at twelve o'clock. It was impossible to +refuse, and to her great annoyance she was obliged to postpone her +departure another twenty-four hours. She guessed that the great man was +the bearer of some message from the Holy Father himself; and in her +present frame of mind, such words of comfort could not fail to be +acceptable from one whom she reverenced and loved, as all who knew +Pius IX. did sincerely revere and love him. She did not like the +Cardinal, it is true; but she did not confound the ambassador with him +who sent the embassy. The Cardinal was a most courteous and accomplished +man of the world, and Corona could not easily have explained the aversion +she felt for him. It is very likely that if she could have understood the +part he was sustaining in the great European struggle of those days, she +would have accorded him at least the admiration he deserved as a +statesman. He had his faults, and they were faults little becoming a +cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. But few are willing to consider that, +though a cardinal, he was not a priest--that he was practically a layman +who, by his own unaided genius, had attained to great power, and that +those faults which have been charged against him with such virulence +would have passed, nay, actually pass, unnoticed and uncensured in many a +great statesman of those days and of these. He was a brave man, who +fought a desperate and hopeless fight to his last breath, and who fought +almost alone--a man most bitterly hated by many, at whose death many +rejoiced loudly and few mourned; and to the shame of many be it said, +that his most obstinate adversaries, those who unsparingly heaped abuse +upon him during his lifetime, and most unseemingly exulted over his end, +were the very men among whom he should have found the most willing +supporters and the firmest friends. But in 1865 he was feared, and those +who reckoned without him in the game of politics reckoned badly. + +Corona was a woman, and very young. She had not the knowledge or the +experience to understand his value, and she had taken a personal dislike +to him when she first appeared in society. He was too smooth for her; she +thought him false. She preferred a rougher type. Her husband, on the +other hand, had a boundless admiration for the cardinal-statesman; and +perhaps the way in which Astrardente constantly tried to impress his wife +with a sense of the great man's virtues, indirectly contributed to +increase her aversion. Nevertheless, when he sent word that he desired to +be received by her, she did not hesitate a moment, but expressed her +willingness at once. Punctually as the gun of Sant Angelo roared out the +news that the sun was on the meridian, Cardinal Antonelli entered +Corona's house. She received him in the great drawing-room. There was an +air of solemnity about the meeting. The room itself, divested of a +thousand trifles which had already been sent into the country, looked +desolate and formal; the heavy curtains admitted but little light; there +was no fire on the hearth; Corona stood all in black--a very incarnation +of mourning--as her visitor trod softly across the dark carpet towards +her. + +The Cardinal's expressive face was softened by a look of gentle sympathy, +as he came forward and took her hand in both of his, and gazed for a +moment into her beautiful eyes. + +"I am an ambassador, Duchessa," he said softly. "I come to tell you how +deeply our Holy Father sympathises in your great sorrow." + +Corona bent her head respectfully, and motioned to the Cardinal to be +seated. + +"I beg that your Eminence will convey to his Holiness my most sincere +gratitude for this expression of his paternal kindness to one so +unhappy." + +"Indeed I will not fail to deliver your message, Duchessa," answered the +Cardinal, seating himself by her side in one of the great arm-chairs +which had been placed together in the middle of the room. "His Holiness +has promised to remember you in his august prayers; and I also, for my +own part, entreat you to believe that my poor sympathy is wholly with you +in your distress." + +"Your Eminence is most kind," replied Corona, gravely. + +It seemed as though there were little more to be said in such a case. +There was no friendship between the two, no bond of union or fellowship: +it was simply a formal visit of condolence, entailed as a necessity by +Corona's high position. The Pope had sent her a gift at her wedding; he +sent her a message of sympathy at her husband's death. Half-a-dozen +phrases would be exchanged, and the Cardinal would take his leave, +accompanied by a file of the Duchessa's lackeys--and so it would all be +over. But the Cardinal was a statesman, a diplomatist, and one of the +best talkers in Europe; moreover, he never allowed an opportunity of +pursuing his ends to pass unimproved. + +"Ah, Duchessa!" he said, folding his hands upon his knee and looking +down, "there is but one Consoler in sorrow such as yours. It is vain for +us mortals to talk of any such thing as alleviating real mental +suffering. There are consolations--many of them--for some people, but +they are not for you. To many the accidents of wealth, of youth, of +beauty, seem to open the perspective of a brilliant future at the very +moment when all the present appears to be shrouded in darkness; but if +you will permit me, who know you so little, to say it frankly, I do not +believe that any of these things which you possess in such plentiful +abundance will lessen the measure of your grief. It is not right that +they should, I suppose. It is not fitting that noble minds should even +possess the faculty of forgetting real suffering in the unreal trifles +of a great worldly possession, which so easily restore the weak to +courage, and natter the vulgar into the forgetfulness of honourable +sorrow. I am no moraliser, no pedantic philosopher. The stoic may have +shrugged his heavy shoulders in sullen indifference to fate; the +epicurean may have found such bodily ease in his excessive refinement +of moderate enjoyment as to overlook the deepest afflictions in +anticipating the animal pleasure of the next meal. I cannot conceive of +such men as those philosophising diners; nor can I imagine by what +arguments the wisest of mankind could induce a fellow-creature in +distress to forget his sufferings. Sorrow is sorrow still to all finely +organised natures. The capacity for feeling sorrow is one of the highest +tests of nobility--a nobility of nature not found always in those of high +blood and birth, but existing in the people, wherever the people are +good." + +The Cardinal's voice became even more gentle as he spoke. He was himself +of very humble origin, and spoke feelingly. Corona listened, though she +only heard half of what he said; but his soft tone soothed her almost +unconsciously. + +"There is little consolation for me--I am quite alone," she said. + +"You are not of those who find relief in worldly greatness," continued +the Cardinal. "But I have seen women, young, rich, and beautiful, wear +their mourning with wonderful composure. Youth is so much, wealth is so +much more, beauty is such a power in the world--all three together are +resistless. Many a young widow is not ashamed to think of marriage before +her husband has been dead a month. Indeed they do not always make bad +wives. A woman who has been married young and is early deprived of her +husband, has great experience, great knowledge of the world. Many feel +that they have no right to waste the goods given them in a life of +solitary mourning. Wealth is given to be used, and perhaps many a rich +young widow thinks she can use it more wisely in the company of a husband +young as herself. It may be; I cannot tell. These are days when power of +any sort should be used, and perhaps no one should even for a moment +think of withdrawing from the scene where such great battles are being +fought. But one may choose wisely a way of using power, or one may choose +unwisely. There is much to be done." + +"How?" asked Corona, catching at his expression of an idea which pursued +her. "Here am I, rich, alone, idle--above all, very unhappy. What can I +do? I wish I knew, for I would try and do it." + +"Ah! I was not speaking of you, Duchessa," answered the statesman. "You +are too noble a woman to be easily consoled. And yet, though you may not +find relief from your great sorrow, there are many things within your +reach which you might do, and feel that in your mourning you have done +honour to your departed husband as well as to yourself. You have great +estates--you can improve them, and especially you can improve the +condition of your peasants, and strengthen their loyalty to you and to +the State. You can find many a village on your lands where a school +might be established, an asylum built, a road opened--anything which +shall give employment to the poor, and which, when finished, shall +benefit their condition. Especially about Astrardente they are very poor; +I know the country well. In six months you might change many things; and +then you might return to Rome next winter. If it pleases you, you can do +anything with society. You can make your house a centre for a new +party--the oldest of all parties it is, but it would now be thought new +here. We have no centre. There is no _salon_ in the good old sense of the +word--no house where all that is intelligent, all that is powerful, all +that is influential, is irresistibly drawn. To make a centre of that kind +would be a worthy object, it seems to me. You would surround yourself +with men of genius; you would bring those together who cannot meet +elsewhere; you would give a vigorous tone to a society which is fast +falling to decay from inanition; you could become a power, a real power, +not only in Rome, but in Europe; you could make your house famous as the +point from which, in Rome, all that is good and great should radiate to +the very ends of the earth. You could do all this in your young +widowhood, and you would not dishonour the memory of him you loved so +dearly." + +Corona looked earnestly at the Cardinal as he enlarged upon the +possibilities of her life. What he said seemed true and good. It opened +to her a larger field than she had dreamed of half an hour ago. +Especially the plan of working for the improvement of her estates and +people attracted her. She wanted to do something at once--something +good, and something worth doing. + +"I believe you are right," she said. "I shall die if I am idle." + +"I know I am right," returned the Cardinal, in a tone of conviction. "Not +that I propose all this as an unalterable plan for you. I would not have +you think I mean to lay down any system, or even to advise you at all. I +was merely thinking aloud. I am too happy if my thoughts please you--if +anything I say can even for a moment relieve your mind from the pressure +of this sudden grief. It is not consolation I offer you. I am not a +priest, but a man of action; and it is action I propose to you, not as +an anodyne for sorrow, but simply because it is right that in these days +we should all strive with a good will. Your peasants are many of them in +an evil case: you can save them and make them happy, even though you find +no happiness for yourself. Our social world here is falling to pieces, +going astray after strange gods, and especially after Madame Mayer and +her _lares_ and _penates_, young Valdarno and Del Ferice: it is in your +power to create a new life here, or at least to contribute greatly +towards reestablishing the social balance. I say, do this thing, if you +will, for it is a good thing to do. At all events, while you are building +roads--and perhaps schools--at Astrardente, you can think over the course +you will afterwards pursue. And now, my dear Duchessa, I have detained +you far too long. Forgive me if I have wearied you, for I have great +things at heart, and must sometimes speak of them though I speak feebly. +Count on me always for any assistance you may require. Bear with me if I +weary you, for I was a good friend of him we both mourn." + +"Thank you--you have given me good thoughts," said Corona, simply. + +So the courtly Cardinal rose and took his leave, and once more Corona was +left alone. It was a strange thing that, while he disclaimed all power to +comfort her, and denied that consolation was possible in her case, she +had nevertheless listened to him with interest, and now found herself +thinking seriously of what he had said. He seemed to have put her +thoughts into shape, and to have given direction to that sense of power +she had already begun to feel. For the first time in her life she felt +something like sympathy for the Cardinal, and she lingered for some +minutes alone in the great reception-room, wondering whether she could +accomplish any of the things he had proposed to her. At all events, there +was nothing now to hinder her departure; and she thought with something +like pleasure of the rocky Sabines, the solitude of the mountains, the +simple faces of the people about her place, and of the quiet life she +intended to lead there during the next six months. + +But the Cardinal went on his way, rolling along through the narrow +streets in his great coach. Leaning far back in his cushioned seat, he +could just catch a glimpse of the people as he passed, and his quick eyes +recognised many, both high and low. But he did not care to show himself, +for he felt himself disliked, and deep in his finely organised nature +there lay a sensitiveness which was wounded by the popular hatred. It +hurt him to see the lowering glances of the poor man, and to return the +forced bow of the rich man who feared him. He often longed to be able to +explain many things to them both, to the rich and to the poor; and then, +knowing how impossible it was that he should be understood by either, +he sighed somewhat bitterly, and hid himself still deeper in his +carriage. Few men in the midst of the world have stood so wholly alone as +Cardinal Antonelli. + +To-day, however, he had an appointment which he anticipated with a sort +of interest quite new to him. Anastase Gouache was coming to begin his +portrait, and Anastase was an object of curiosity to him. It would have +surprised the young Frenchman had he guessed how carefully he was +watched, for he was a modest fellow, and did not think himself of very +much importance. He allowed Donna Tullia and her friends to come to his +studio whenever they pleased, and he listened to their shallow talk, and +joined, occasionally in the conversation, letting them believe that he +sympathised with them, simply because his own ideas were unsettled. It +was a good thing for him to paint a portrait of Donna Tullia, for it made +him the fashion, and he had small scruple in agreeing with her views so +long as he had no fixed convictions of his own. She and her set regarded +him as a harmless boy, and looked upon his little studio as a +convenience, in payment whereof they pushed him into society, and spread +abroad the rumour that he was the rising artist of the day. But the great +Cardinal had seen him more than once, and had conceived a liking for +his delicate intellectual face and unobtrusive manner. He had watched him +and caused him to be watched, and his interest had increased, and finally +he had taken a fancy to have a portrait of himself painted by the young +fellow. This was the day appointed for the first sitting; and when the +Cardinal reached his lodgings, high up in the Vatican pile, he found +Anastase Gouache waiting for him in the small ante-chamber. + +The prime minister was not luxuriously lodged. Four rooms sufficed +him--to wit, the said ante-chamber, bare and uncarpeted, and furnished +with three painted wooden box benches; a comfortable study lined +throughout with shelves and lockers, furnished with half-a-dozen large +chairs and a single writing-table, whereon stood a crucifix and an +inkstand; beyond this a bedroom and a small dining-room: that was all. +The drawers of the lockers and bookcases contained a correspondence which +would have astonished Europe, and a collection of gems and precious +stones unrivalled in the world; but there was nothing in the shape of +ornament visible to the eye, unless one were to class under that head a +fairly good bust of Pius IX, which stood upon a plain marble pedestal +in one corner. Gouache followed the great man into this study. He was +surprised by the simplicity of the apartment; but he felt in sympathy +with it, and with the Cardinal himself; and with the intuitive knowledge +of a true artist, he foresaw that he was to paint a successful portrait. + +The Cardinal busied himself with some papers while the painter silently +made his preparations. + +"If your Eminence is ready?" suggested Gouache. + +"At your service, my friend," replied the Cardinal, blandly. "How shall I +sit? The portrait must be taken in full face, I think." + +"By all means. Here, I think--so; the light is very good at this hour, +but a little later we shall have the sun. If your Eminence will look at +me--a little more to the left--I think that will do. I will draw it in in +charcoal and your Eminence can judge." + +"Precisely," returned the Cardinal. "You will paint the devil even +blacker than he is." + +"The devil?" repeated Gouache, raising his eyebrows with a slight smile. +"I was not aware--" + +"And yet you have been in Rome four years!" + +"I am very careful," returned Gouache. "I never by any chance hear any +evil of those whom I am to paint." + +"You have very well-bred ears, Monsieur Gouache. I fear that if I had +attended some of the meetings in your studio while Donna Tullia was +having her portrait painted, I should have heard strange things. Have +they all escaped you?" + +Gouache was silent for a moment. It did not surprise him to learn that +the omniscient Cardinal was fully acquainted with the doings in his +studio, but he looked curiously at the great man before he answered. The +Cardinal's small gleaming eyes met his with the fearlessness of +superiority. + +"I remember nothing but good of your Eminence," the painter replied at +last, with a laugh; and applying himself to his work, he began to draw in +the outline of the Cardinal's head. The words he had just heard, implying +as they did a thorough knowledge of the minutest details of social life, +would have terrified Madame Mayer, and would perhaps have driven Del +Ferice out of the Papal States in fear of his life. Even the good-natured +and foolish Valdarno might reasonably have been startled; but Anastase +was made of different stuff. His grandfather had helped to storm the +Bastille, his father had been among the men of 1848; there was +revolutionary blood in his veins, and he distinguished between real and +imaginary conspiracy with the unerring certainty of instinct, as the +bloodhound knows the track of man from the slot of meaner game. He +laughed at Donna Tullia, he distrusted Del Ferice, and to some extent he +understood the Cardinal. And the statesman understood him, too, and was +interested by him. + +"You may as well forget their chatter. It does me no harm, and it amuses +them. It does not seem to surprise you that I should know all about it, +however. You have good nerves, Monsieur Gouache." + +"Of course your Eminence can send me out of Rome to-morrow, if you +please," answered Gouache, with perfect unconcern. "But the portrait will +not be finished so soon." + +"No--that would be a pity. You shall stay. But the others--what would you +advise me to do with them?" asked the Cardinal, his bright eyes twinkling +with amusement. + +"If by the others your Eminence means my friends," replied Gouache, +quietly, "I can assure you that none of them will ever cause you the +slightest inconvenience." + +"I believe you are right--their ability to annoy me is considerably +inferior to their inclination. Is it not so?" + +"If your Eminence will allow me," said Gouache, rising suddenly and +laying down his charcoal pencil, "I will pin this curtain across the +window. The sun is beginning to come in." + +He had no intention of answering any questions. If the Cardinal knew of +the meetings in the Via San Basilio, that was not Gouache's fault; +Gouache would certainly not give any further information. The statesman +had expected as much, and was not at all surprised at the young man's +silence. + +"One of those young gentlemen seems to have met his match, at all +events," he remarked, presently. "I am sorry it should have come about in +that way." + +"Your Eminence might easily have prevented the duel." + +"I knew nothing about it," answered the Cardinal, glancing keenly at +Anastase. + +"Nor I," said the artist, simply. + +"You see my information is not always so good as people imagine, my +friend." + +"It is a pity," remarked Gouache. "It would have been better had poor Del +Ferice been killed outright. The matter would have terminated there." + +"Whereas--" + +"Whereas Del Ferice will naturally seek an occasion for revenge." + +"You speak as though you were a friend of Don Giovanni's," said the +Cardinal. + +"No; I have a very slight acquaintance with him. I admire him, he has +such a fine head. I should be sorry if anything happened to him." + +"Do you think Del Ferice is capable of murdering him?" + +"Oh no! He might annoy him a great deal." + +"I think not," answered the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Del Ferice was +afraid that Don Giovanni would marry Donna Tullia and spoil his own +projects. But Giovanni will not think of that again." + +"No; I suppose Don Giovanni will marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente." + +"Of course," replied the Cardinal. For some minutes there was silence. +Gouache, while busy with his pencil, was wondering at the interest the +great man took in such details of the Roman social life. The Cardinal was +thinking of Corona, whom he had seen but half an hour ago, and was +revolving in his mind the advantages that might be got by allying her to +Giovanni. He had in view for her a certain Serene Highness whom he wished +to conciliate, and whose circumstances were not so splendid as to make +Corona's fortune seem insignificant to him. But on the other hand, the +Cardinal had no Serene Highness ready for Giovanni, and feared lest he +should after all marry Donna Tullia, and get into the opposite camp. + +"You are from Paris, Monsieur Gouache, I believe," said the Cardinal at +last. + +"Parisian of the Parisians, your Eminence." + +"How can you bear to live in exile so long? You have not been to your +home these four years, I think." + +"I would rather live in Rome for the present. I will go to Paris some +day. It will always be a pleasant recollection to have seen Rome in these +days. My friends write me that Paris is gay, but not pleasant." + +"You think there will soon be nothing of this time left but the +recollection of it?" suggested the Cardinal. + +"I do not know what to think. The times seem unsettled, and so are my +ideas. I was told that your Eminence would help me to decide what to +believe." Gouache smiled pleasantly, and looked up. + +"And who told you that?" + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca." + +"But I must have some clue to what your ideas are," said the Cardinal. +"When did Don Giovanni say that?" + +"At Prince Frangipani's. He had been talking with your Eminence--perhaps +he had come to some conclusion in consequence," suggested Gouache. + +"Perhaps so," answered the great man, with a look of considerable +satisfaction. "At all events I am flattered by the opinion he gave you of +me. Perhaps I may help you to decide. What are your opinions? or rather, +what would you like your opinions to be?" + +"I am an ardent republican," said Gouache, boldly. It needed no ordinary +courage to make such a statement to the incarnate chief of reactionary +politics in those days--within the walls of the Vatican, not a hundred +yards from the private apartments of the Holy Father. But Cardinal +Antonelli smiled blandly, and seemed not in the least surprised nor +offended. + +"Republicanism is an exceedingly vague term, Monsieur Gouache," he said. +"But with what other opinions do you wish to reconcile your +republicanism?" + +"With those held by the Church. I am a good Catholic, and I desire to +remain one--indeed I cannot help remaining one." + +"Christianity is not vague, at all events," answered the Cardinal, who, +to tell the truth, was somewhat astonished at the artist's juxtaposition +of two such principles. "In the first place, allow me to observe, my +friend, that Christianity is the purest form of a republic which the +world has ever seen, and that it therefore only depends upon your good +sense to reconcile in your own mind two ideas which from the first have +been indissolubly bound together." + +It was Gouache's turn to be startled at the Cardinal's confidence. + +"I am afraid I must ask your Eminence for some further explanation," he +said. "I had no idea that Christianity and republicanism were the same +thing." + +"Republicanism," returned the statesman, "is a vague term, invented in an +abortive attempt to define by one word the mass of inextricable disorder +arising in our times from the fusion of socialistic ideas with ideas +purely republican. If you mean to speak of this kind of thing, you must +define precisely your position in regard to socialism, and in regard to +the pure theory of a commonwealth. If you mean to speak of a real +republic in any known form, such as the ancient Roman, the Dutch, or the +American, I understand you without further explanation." + +"I certainly mean to speak of the pure republic. I believe that under a +pure republic the partition of wealth would take care of itself." + +"Very good, my friend. Now, with regard to the early Christians, should +you say that their communities were monarchic, or aristocratic, or +oligarchic?" + +"None of those three, I should think," said Gouache. + +"There are only two systems left, then--democracy and hierarchy. You will +probably say that the government of the early Christians was of the +latter kind--that they were governed by priests, in fact. But on the +other hand, there is no doubt that both those who governed, and those who +were governed by them, had all things in common, regarded no man as +naturally superior to another, and preached a fraternity and equality at +least as sincere as those inculcated by the first French Republic. I do +not see how you can avoid calling such community a republic, seeing that +there was an equal partition of wealth; and defining it as a democratic +one, seeing that they all called each other brethren." + +"But the hierarchy--what became of it?" inquired Gouache. + +"The hierarchy existed within the democracy, by common consent and for +the public good, and formed a second democracy of smaller extent but +greater power. Any man might become a priest, any priest might become a +bishop, any bishop might become pope, as surely as any born citizen of +Rome could become consul, or any native of New York may be elected +President of the United States. Now in theory this was beautiful, and in +practice the democratic spirit of the hierarchy, the smaller republic, +has survived in undiminished vigour to the present day. In the original +Christian theory the whole world should now be one vast republic, in +which all Christians should call each other brothers, and support each +other in worldly as well as spiritual matters. Within this should exist +the smaller republic of the hierarchy, by common consent,--an elective +body, recruiting its numbers from the larger, as it does now; choosing +its head, the sovereign Pontiff, as it does now, to be the head of both +Church and State; eminently fitted for that position, for the very simple +reason that in a community organised and maintained upon such principles, +in which, by virtue of the real and universal love of religion, the best +men would find their way into the Church, and would ultimately find their +way to the papal throne." + +"Your Eminence states the case very convincingly," answered Gouache. "But +why has the larger republic, which was to contain the smaller one, ceased +to exist? or rather, why did it never come into existence?" + +"Because man has not yet fulfilled his part in the great contract. The +matter lies in a nutshell. The men who enter the Church are sufficiently +intelligent and well educated to appreciate the advantages of Christian +democracy, fellowship, solidarity, and brotherly love. The republic of +the Church has therefore survived, and will survive for ever. The men who +form the majority, on the other hand, have never had either the +intelligence or the education to understand that democracy is the +ultimate form of government: instead of forming themselves into a +federation, they have divided themselves into hostile factions, calling +themselves nations, and seeking every occasion for destroying and +plundering each other, frequently even turning against the Church +herself. The Church has committed faults in history, without doubt, but +on the whole she has nobly fulfilled her contract, and reaps the fruits +of fidelity in the vigour and unity she displays after eighteen +centuries. Man, on the other hand, has failed to do his duty, and all +races of men are consequently suffering for their misdeeds; the nations +are divided against each other, and every nation is a house divided +against itself, which sooner or later shall fall." + +"But," objected Gouache, "allowing, as one easily may, that all this is +true, your Eminence is always called reactionary in politics. Does that +accord with these views?" + +Gouache believed the question unanswerable, but as he put it he worked +calmly on with his pencil, labouring hard to catch something of the +Cardinal's striking expression in the rough drawing he was making. + +"Nothing is easier, my friend," replied the statesman. "The republic of +the Church is driven to bay. We are on a war footing. For the sake of +strength we are obliged to hold together so firmly that for the time we +can only think of maintaining old traditions without dreaming of progress +or spending time in experiments. When we have weathered the storm we +shall have leisure for improving much that needs improvement. Do not +think that if I am alive twenty years hence I shall advise what I advise +now. We are fighting now, and we have no time to think of the arts of +peace. We shall have peace some day. We shall lose an ornament or two +from our garments in the struggle, but our body will not be injured, and +in time of peace our ornaments will be restored to us fourfold. But now +there is war and rumour of war. There is a vast difference between the +ideal republic which I was speaking of, and the real anarchy and +confusion which would be brought about by what is called republicanism." + +"In other words, if the attack upon the Church were suddenly abandoned, +your Eminence would immediately abandon your reactionary policy," said +Gouache, "and adopt progressive views?" + +"Immediately," replied the Cardinal. + +"I see," said Gouache. "A little more towards me--just so that I can +catch that eye. Thank you--that will do." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +When Del Ferice was thought sufficiently recovered of his wound to hear +some of the news of the day, which was about three weeks after the duel, +he learned that Astrardente was dead, that the Duchessa had inherited +all his fortune, and that she was on the point of leaving Rome. It would +be hard to say how the information of her approaching departure had got +abroad; it might be merely a clever guess of the gossips, or it might be +the report gleaned from her maid by all the other maids in town. Be that +as it may, when Del Ferice heard it he ground his teeth as he lay upon +his bed, and swore that if it were possible to prevent the Duchessa +d'Astrardente from leaving town he would do it. In his judgment it +would be a dangerous thing to let Corona and Giovanni part, and to allow +Donna Tullia free play in her matrimonial designs. Of course Giovanni +would never marry Madame Mayer, especially as he was now at liberty to +marry the Astrardente; but Madame Mayer herself might become fatally +interested in him, as she already seemed inclined to be, and this would +be bad for Del Ferice's own prospects. It would not do to squander any of +the advantages gained by the death of the old Duca. Giovanni must be +hastened into a marriage with Corona; it would be time enough to think of +revenge upon him afterwards for the ghastly wound that took so long to +heal. + +It was a pity that Del Ferice and Donna Tullia were not allies, for if +Madame Mayer hated Corona d'Astrardente, Ugo del Ferice detested Giovanni +with equal virulency, not only because he had been so terribly worsted +by him in the duel his own vile conduct had made inevitable, but because +Donna Tullia loved him and was doing her very best to marry him. +Evidently the best thing to be done was to produce a misunderstanding +between the two; but it would be dangerous to play any tricks with +Giovanni, for he held Del Ferice in his power by his knowledge of that +disagreeable scene behind the plants in the conservatory. Saracinesca was +a great man in society and celebrated for his honesty; people would +believe him rather than Del Ferice, if the story got abroad. This would +not do. The next best thing was to endeavour to draw Giovanni and Corona +together as quickly as possible, to precipitate their engagement, and +thus to clear the field of a dangerous rival. Del Ferice was a very +obstinate and a very intelligent man. He meant more than ever to marry +Donna Tullia himself, and he would not be hindered in the accomplishment +of his object by an insignificant scruple. + +He was not allowed to speak much, lest the effort should retard the +healing of his throat; but in the long days and nights, when he lay +silent in his quiet lodging, he had ample time to revolve many schemes in +his brain. At last he no longer needed the care of the Sister of Mercy; +his servant took charge of him, and the surgeon came twice a-day to dress +his wound. He lay in bed one morning watching Temistocle, who moved +noiselessly about the room. + +"Temistocle," he said, "you are a youth of intelligence: you must use the +gifts nature has given you." + +Temistocle was at that time not more than five-and-twenty years of age. +He had a muddy complexion, a sharp hooked nose, and a cast in one eye +that gave him a singularly unpleasant expression. As his master addressed +him, he stood still and listened with a sort of distorted smile in +acknowledgment of the compliment made him. + +"Temistocle, you must find out when the Duchessa d'Astrardente means to +leave Rome, and where she is going. You know somebody in the house?" + +"Yes, sir--the under-cook; he stood godfather with me for the baby of a +cousin of mine--the young man who drives Prince Valdarno's private +brougham: a clever fellow, too." + +"And this under-cook," said Del Ferice, who was not above entering into +details with his servant--"is he a discreet character?" + +"Oh, for that, you may trust him. Only sometimes--" Temistocle grinned, +and made a gesture which signified drinking. + +"And when he is drunk?" asked Del Ferice. + +"When he is drunk he tells everything; but he never remembers anything he +has been told, or has said. When he is drunk he is a dictionary; but the +first draught of water washes out his memory like a slate." + +"Well--give me my purse; it is under my pillow. Go. Here is a _scudo_, +Temistocle. You can make him very drunk for that." + +Temistocle hesitated, and looked at the money. + +"Another couple of _pauls_ would make it safer," he remarked. + +"Well, there they are; but you must make him very drunk indeed. You must +find out all he knows, and you must keep sober yourself." + +"Leave that to me. I will make of him a sponge; he shall be squeezed dry, +and sopped again and squeezed again. I will be his confessor." + +"If you find out what I want, I will give you--" Del Ferice hesitated; he +did not mean to give too much. + +"The grey trousers?" asked Temistocle, with an avaricious light in the +eye which did not wander. + +"Yes," answered his master, rather regretfully; "I suppose you must have +the grey trousers at last." + +"For those grey trousers I will upset heaven and earth," returned +Temistocle in great glee. + +Nothing more was said on that day, but early on the following morning the +man entered and opened the shutters, and removed the little oil-light +that had burned all night. He kept one eye upon his master, who presently +turned slowly and looked inquiringly at him. + +"The Duchessa goes to Astrardente in the Sabines on the day after +to-morrow," said Temistocle. "It is quite sure that she goes, because she +has already sent out two pairs of horses, and several boxes of effects, +besides the second housemaid and the butler and two grooms." + +"Ah! that is very good. Temistocle, I think I will get up this morning +and sit in the next room." + +"And the grey trousers?" + +"Take them, and wear them in honour of the most generous master living," +said Del Ferice, impressively. "It is not every master who gives his +servant a pair of grey trousers. Remember that." + +"Heaven bless you, Signor Conte!" exclaimed Temistocle, devoutly. + +Del Ferice lost no time. He was terribly weak still, and his wound +was not entirely healed yet; but he set himself resolutely to his +writing-table, and did not rise until he had written two letters. The +first was carefully written in a large round hand, such as is used by +copyists in Italy, resembling the Gothic. It was impossible to connect +the laboriously formed and conventional letters with any particular +person. It was very short, as follows:-- + +"It may interest you to know that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is going to +her castle in the Sabines on the day after to-morrow." + +This laconic epistle Del Ferice carefully directed to Don Giovanni +Saracinesca at his palace, and fastened a stamp upon it; but he concealed +the address from Temistocle. The second letter was longer, and written in +his own small and ornate handwriting. It was to Donna Tullia Mayer. +It ran thus:-- + +"You would forgive my importuning you with a letter, most charming Donna +Tullia, if you could conceive of my desolation and loneliness. For more +than three weeks I have been entirely deprived of the pleasure, the +exquisite delight, of conversing with her for whom I have suffered. I +still suffer so much. Ah! if my paper were a cloth of gold, and my pen in +moving traced characters of diamond and pearl, yet any words which speak +of you would be ineffectually honoured by such transcription! In the +miserable days and nights I have passed between life and death, it is +your image which has consoled me, the echo of your delicate voice which +has soothed my pain, the remembrance of the last hours I spent with you +which has gilded the feverish dreams of my sickness. You are the +guardian angel of a most unhappy man, Donna Tullia. Do you know it? But +for you I would have wooed death as a comforter. As it is, I have +struggled desperately to keep my grasp upon life, in the hope of once +more seeing your smile and hearing your happy laugh; perhaps--I dare not +expect it--I may receive from you some slight word of sympathy, some +little half-sighed hint that you do not altogether regret having been in +these long weeks the unconscious comforter of my sorrowing spirit and +tormented body. You would hardly know me, could you see me; but saving +for your sweet spiritual presence, which has rescued me from the jaws of +death, you would never have seen me again. Is it presumption in me to +write thus? Have you ever given me a right to speak in these words? I do +not know. I do not care. Man has a right to be grateful. It is the first +and most divine right I possess, to feel and to express my gratitude. For +out of the store of your kindness shown me when I was in the world, +strong and happy in the privilege of your society, I have drawn healing +medicine in my sickness, as tormented souls in purgatory get refreshment +from the prayers of good and kind people who remember them on earth. So, +therefore, if I have said too much, forgive me, forgive the heartfelt +gratitude which prompts me; and believe still in the respectful and +undying devotion of the humblest of your servants, UGO DEL FERICE." + +Del Ferice read over what he had written with considerable satisfaction, +and having addressed his letter to Donna Tullia, he lost no time in +despatching Temistocle with it, instructing him to ask if there would be +an answer. As soon as the man was out of the house, Ugo rang for his +landlady, and sent for the porter's little boy, to whom he delivered the +letter to Don Giovanni, to be dropped into the nearest post-box. Then he +lay down, exhausted with his morning's work. In the course of two hours +Temistocle returned from Donna Tullia's house with a little scented +note--too much scented, and the paper just a shade too small. She took no +notice of what he had said in his carefully penned epistle; but merely +told him she was sincerely glad that he was better, and asked him to call +as soon as he could. Ugo was not disappointed; he had expected no +compromising expression of interest in response to his own effusions; and +he was well pleased with the invitation, for it showed that what he had +written had produced the desired result. + +Don Giovanni Saracinesca received the anonymous note late in the evening. +He had, of course, together with his father, deposited cards of +condolence at the Palazzo Astrardente, and he had been alone to inquire +if the Duchessa would receive him. The porter had answered that, for +the present, there were standing orders to admit no one; and as Giovanni +could boast of no especial intimacy, and had no valid excuse to give, he +was obliged to be satisfied. He had patiently waited in the Villa +Borghese and by the band-stand on the Pincio, taking it for granted that +sooner or later Corona's carriage would appear; but when at last he had +seen her brougham, she had driven rapidly past him, thickly veiled, and +he did not think she had even noticed him. He would have written to her, +but he was still unable to hold a pen; and he reflected that, after all, +it would have been a hideous farce for him to offer condolences and +sympathy, however much he might desire to hide from himself his secret +satisfaction at her husband's death. Too proud to think of obtaining +information through such base channels as Del Ferice was willing to use, +he was wholly ignorant of Corona's intentions; and it was a brilliant +proof of Ugo's astuteness that he had rightly judged Giovanni's position +with regard to her, and justly estimated the value of the news conveyed +by his anonymous note. + +Saracinesca read the scrap of writing, and tossed it angrily into the +fire. He hated underhand dealings, and scorned himself for the interest +the note excited in him, wondering who could find advantage in informing +him of the Duchessa's movements. But the note took effect, nevertheless, +although he was ashamed of it, and all night he pondered upon what it +told him. The next day, at three o'clock, he went out alone, and walked +rapidly towards the Palazzo Astrardente. He was unable to bear the +suspense any longer; the thought that Corona was going away, apparently +to shut herself up in the solitude of the ancient fortress, for any +unknown number of months, and that he might not see her until the autumn, +was intolerable. He knew that by the mere use of his name he could at +least make sure that she should know he was at her door, and he +determined to make the attempt. He waited a long time, pacing slowly the +broad flagstones beneath the arch of the palace, while the porter +himself went up with his card and message. The fellow had hesitated, but +Don Giovanni Saracinesca was not a man to be refused by a servant. At +last the porter returned, and, bowing to the ground, said that the +Signora Duchessa would receive him. + +In five minutes he was waiting alone in the great drawing-room. It had +cost Corona a struggle to allow him to be admitted. She hesitated long, +for it seemed like a positive wrong to her husband's memory, but the +woman in her yielded at last; she was going away on the following +morning, and she could not refuse to see him for once. She hesitated +again as she laid her hand upon the latch of the door, knowing that he +was in the room beyond; then at last she entered. + +Her face was very pale and very grave. Her simple gown of close-fitting +black set off her height and figure, and flowed softly in harmony with +her stately movements as she advanced towards Giovanni, who stood almost +awestruck in the middle of the room. He could not realise that this dark +sad princess was the same woman to whom less than a month ago he had +spoken such passionate words, whom he had madly tried to take into his +arms. Proud as he was, it seemed presumptuous in him to think of love in +connection with so royal a woman; and yet he knew that he loved her +better and more truly than he had done a month before. She held out her +hand to him, and he raised it to his lips. Then they both sat down in +silence. + +"I had despaired of ever seeing you again," said Giovanni at last, +speaking in a subdued voice. "I had wished for some opportunity of +telling you how sincerely I sympathise with you in your great loss." It +was a very formal speech, such as men make in such situations. It might +have been better, but he was not eloquent; even his rough old father had +a better command of language on ordinary occasions, though Giovanni could +speak well enough when he was roused. But he felt constrained in the +presence of the woman he adored. Corona herself hardly knew how to +answer. + +"You are very kind," she said, simply. + +"I wish it were possible to be of any service to you," he answered. "I +need not tell you that both my father and myself would hold it an honour +to assist you in any way." He mentioned his father from a feeling of +delicacy; he did not wish to put himself forward. + +"You are very kind," repeated Corona, gravely. "I have not had any +annoyance. I have an excellent man of business." + +There was a moment's pause. Then she seemed to understand that he was +embarrassed, and spoke again. + +"I am glad to see that you are recovered," she said. + +"It was nothing," answered Giovanni, with a glance at his right arm, +which was still confined in a bandage of black silk, but was no longer in +a sling. + +"It was very wrong of you," returned Corona, looking seriously into his +eyes. "I do not know why you fought, but it was wrong; it is a great +sin." + +Giovanni smiled a little. + +"We all have to sin sometimes," he said. "Would you have me stand quietly +and see an abominable piece of baseness, and not lift a hand to punish +the offender?" + +"People who do base things always come to a bad end," answered the +Duchessa. + +"Perhaps. But we poor sinners are impatient to see justice done at once. +I am sorry to have done anything you consider wrong," he added, with a +shade of bitterness. "Will you permit me to change the subject? Are +you thinking of remaining in Rome, or do you mean to go away?" + +"I am going up to Astrardente to-morrow," answered Corona, readily. "I +want to be alone and in the country." + +Giovanni showed no surprise: his anonymous information had been accurate; +Del Ferice had not parted with the grey trousers in vain. + +"I suppose you are right," he said. "But at this time of year I should +think the mountains would be very cold." + +"The castle is comfortable. It has been recently fitted up, and there are +many warm rooms in it. I am fond of the old place, and I need to be alone +for a long time." + +Giovanni thought the conversation was becoming oppressive. He thought of +what had passed between them at their last meeting in the conservatory of +the Palazzo Frangipani. + +"I shall myself pass the summer in Saracinesca," he said, suddenly. "You +know it is not very far. May I hope that I may sometimes be permitted to +see you?" + +Corona had certainly had no thought of seeing Giovanni when she had +determined to go to Astrardente; she had not been there often, and had +not realised that it was within reach of the Saracinesca estate. She +started slightly. + +"Is it so near?" she asked. + +"Half a day's ride over the hills," replied Giovanni. + +"I did not know. Of course, if you come, you will not be denied +hospitality." + +"But you would rather not see me?" asked Saracinesca, in a tone of +disappointment. He had hoped for something more encouraging. Corona +answered courageously. + +"I would rather not see you. Do not think me unkind," she added, her +voice softening a little. "Why need there be any explanations? Do not try +to see me. I wish you well; I wish you more--all happiness--but do not +try to see me." + +Giovanni's face grew grave and pale. He was disappointed, even +humiliated; but something told him that it was not coldness which +prompted her request. + +"Your commands are my laws," he answered. + +"I would rather that instead of regarding what I ask you as a command, +you should feel that it ought to be the natural prompting of your own +heart," replied Corona, somewhat coldly. + +"Forgive me if my heart dictates what my obedience to you must +effectually forbid," said Giovanni. "I beseech you to be satisfied that +what you ask I will perform--blindly." + +"Not blindly--you know all my reasons." + +"There is that between you and me which annihilates reason," answered +Giovanni, his voice trembling a little. + +"There is that in my position which should command your respect," said +Corona. She feared he was going too far, and yet this time she knew she +had not said too much, and that in bidding him avoid her, she was only +doing what was strictly necessary for her peace. "I am a widow," she +continued, very gravely; "I am a woman, and I am alone. My only +protection lies in the courtesy I have a right to expect from men like +you. You have expressed your sympathy; show it then by cheerfully +fulfilling my request. I do not speak in riddles, but very plainly. You +recall to me a moment of great pain, and your presence, the mere fact of +my receiving you, seems a disloyalty to the memory of my husband. I have +given you no reason to believe that I ever took a greater interest in you +than such as I might take in a friend. I hourly pray that this--this too +great interest you show in me, may pass quickly, and leave you what you +were before. You see I do not speak darkly, and I do not mean to speak +unkindly. Do not answer me, I beseech you, but take this as my last word. +Forget me if you can--" + +"I cannot," said Giovanni, deeply moved. + +"Try. If you cannot, God help you! but I am sure that if you try +faithfully, you will succeed. And now you must go," she said, in gentler +tones. "You should not have come--I should not have let you see me. But +it is best so. I am grateful for the sympathy you have expressed. I do +not doubt that you will do as I have asked you, and as you have promised. +Good-bye." + +Corona rose to her feet, her hands folded before her. Giovanni had no +choice. She let her eyes rest upon him, not unkindly, but she did not +extend her hand. He stood one moment in hesitation, then bowed and left +the room without a word. Corona stood still, and her eyes followed his +retreating figure until at the door he turned once more and bent his head +and then was gone. Then she fell back into her chair and gazed listlessly +at the wall opposite. + +"It is done," she said at last. "I hope it is well done and wisely." +Indeed it had been a hard thing to say; but it was better to say it at +once than to regret an ill-timed indulgence when it should be too late. +And yet it had cost her less to send him away definitely than it had +cost her to resist his passionate appeal a month ago. She seemed to have +gained strength from her sorrows. So he was gone! She gave a sigh of +relief, which was instantly followed by a sharp throb of pain, so sudden +that she hardly understood it. + +Her preparations were all made. She had at the last moment realised that +it was not fitting for her, at her age, to travel alone, nor to live +wholly alone in her widowhood. She had revolved the matter in her mind, +and had decided that there was no woman of her acquaintance whom she +could ask even for a short time to stay with her. She had no friends, no +relations, none to turn to in such a need. It was not that she cared for +company in her solitude; it was merely a question of propriety. To +overcome the difficulty, she obtained permission to take with her one of +the sisters of a charitable order of nuns, a lady in middle life, but +broken down and in ill health from her untiring labours. The thing was +easily managed; and the next morning, on leaving the palace, she stopped +at the gate of the community and found Sister Gabrielle waiting with her +modest box. The nun entered the huge travelling carriage, and the two +ladies set out for Astrardente. + +It was the first day of Carnival, and a memorably sad one for Giovanni +Saracinesca. He would have been capable of leaving Rome at once, but that +he had promised Corona not to attempt to see her. He would have gone to +Saracinesca for the mere sake of being nearer to her, had he not +reflected that he would be encouraging all manner of gossip by so doing. +But he determined that so soon as Lent began, he would declare his +intention of leaving the city for a year. No one ever went to +Saracinesca, and by making a circuit he could reach the ancestral +castle without creating suspicion. He might even go to Paris for a few +days, and have it supposed that he was wandering about Europe, for he +could trust his own servants implicitly; they were not of the type who +would drink wine at a tavern with Temistocle or any of his class. + +The old Prince came into his son's room in the morning and found him +disconsolately looking over his guns, for the sake of an occupation. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "you have time to reflect upon your future +conduct. What! are you going upon a shooting expedition?" + +"I wish I could. I wish I could find anything to do," answered Giovanni, +laying down the breech-loader and looking out of the window. "The world +is turned inside out like a beggar's pocket, and there is nothing in it." + +"So the Astrardente is gone," remarked the Prince. + +"Yes; gone to live within twenty miles of Saracinesca," replied Giovanni, +with an angry intonation. + +"Do not go there yet," said his father. "Leave her alone a while. Women +become frantic in solitude." + +"Do you think I am an idiot?" exclaimed Giovanni. "Of course I shall stay +where I am till Carnival is over." He was not in a good humour. + +"Why are you so petulant?" retorted the old man. "I merely gave you my +advice." + +"Well, I am going to follow it. It is good. When Carnival is over I will +go away, and perhaps get to Saracinesca by a roundabout way, so that no +one will know where I am. Will you not come too?" + +"I daresay," answered the Prince, who was always pleased when his son +expressed a desire for his company. "I wish we lived in the good old +times." + +"Why?" + +"We would make small scruple of besieging Astrardente and carrying off +the Duchessa for you, my boy," said the Prince, grimly. + +Giovanni laughed. Perhaps the same idea had crossed his mind. He was not +quite sure whether it was respectful to Corona to think of carrying her +off in the way his father suggested; but there was a curious flavour of +possibility in the suggestion, coming as it did from a man whose +grandfather might have done such a thing, and whose great-grandfather was +said to have done it. So strong are the instincts of barbaric domination +in races where the traditions of violence exist in an unbroken chain, +that both father and son smiled at the idea as if it were quite natural, +although Giovanni had only the previous day promised that he would not +even attempt to see Corona d'Astrardente without her permission. He did +not tell his father of his promise, however, for his more delicate +instinct made him sure that though he had acted rightly, his father would +laugh at his scruples, and tell him that women liked to be wooed roughly. + +Meanwhile Giovanni felt that Rome had become for him a vast solitude, and +the smile soon faded from his face at the thought that he must go out +into the world, and for Corona's sake act as though nothing had happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Poor Madame Mayer was in great anxiety of mind. She had not a great +amount of pride, but she made up for it by a plentiful endowment of +vanity, in which she suffered acutely. She was a good-natured woman +enough, and by nature she was not vindictive; but she could not help +being jealous, for she was in love. She felt how Giovanni every day +evidently cared less and less for her society, and how, on the other +hand, Del Ferice was quietly assuring his position, so that people +already began to whisper that he had a chance of becoming her husband. +She did not dislike Del Ferice; he was a convenient man of the world, +whom she always found ready to help her when she needed help. But by dint +of making use of him, she was beginning to feel in some way bound to +consider him as an element in her life, and she did not like the +position. The letter he had written her was of the kind a man might +write to the woman he loved; it bordered upon the familiar, even while +the writer expressed himself in terms of exaggerated respect. Perhaps if +Del Ferice had been well, she would have simply taken no notice of what +he had written, and would not even have sent an answer; but she had not +the heart to repulse him altogether in his present condition. There was a +phrase cunningly introduced and ambiguously worded, which seemed to mean +that he had come by his wound in her cause. He spoke of having suffered +and of still suffering so much for her,--did he mean to refer to pain of +body or of mind? It was not certain. Don Giovanni had assured her that +she was in no way concerned in the duel, and he was well known for his +honesty; nevertheless, out of delicacy, he might have desired to conceal +the truth from her. It seemed like him. She longed for an opportunity of +talking with him and eliciting some explanation of his conduct. There +had been a time when he used to visit her, and always spent some time in +her society when they met in the world--now, on the contrary, he seemed +to avoid her whenever he could; and in proportion as she noticed that +his manner cooled, her own jealousy against Corona d'Astrardente +increased in force, until at last it seemed to absorb her love for +Giovanni into itself and turn it into hate. + +Love is a passion which, like certain powerful drugs, acts differently +upon each different constitution of temper; love also acts more strongly +when it is unreturned or thwarted than when it is mutual and uneventful. +If two persons love each other truly, and there is no obstacle to their +union, it is probable that, without any violent emotion, their love will +grow and become stronger by imperceptible degrees, without changing in +its natural quality; but if thwarted by untoward circumstances, the +passion, if true, attains suddenly to the dimensions which it would +otherwise need years to reach. It sometimes happens that the nature in +which this unforeseen and abnormal development takes place is unable to +bear the precocious growth; then, losing sight of its identity in the +strange inward confusion of heart and mind which ensues, it is driven to +madness, and, breaking every barrier, either attains its object at a +single bound, or is shivered and ruined in dashing itself against the +impenetrable wall of complete impossibility. But again, in the last case, +when love is wholly unreturned, it dies a natural death of atrophy, when +it has existed in a person of common and average nature; or if the man or +woman so afflicted be proud and of noble instincts, the passion becomes a +kind of religion to the heart--sacred, and worthy to be guarded from the +eyes of the world; or, finally, again, where it finds vanity the dominant +characteristic of the being in whom it has grown, it draws a poisonous +life from the unhealthy soil on which it is fed, and the tender seed of +love shoots and puts forth evil leaves and blossoms, and grows to be a +most venomous tree, which is the tree of hatred. + +Donna Tullia was certainly a woman who belonged to the latter class of +individuals. She had qualities which were perhaps good because not bad; +but the mainspring of her being was an inordinate vanity; and it was in +this characteristic that she was most deeply wounded, as she found +herself gradually abandoned by Giovanni Saracinesca. She had been in the +habit of thinking of him as a probable husband; the popular talk had +fostered the idea, and occasional hints, aad smiling questions concerning +him, had made her feel that he could not long hang back. She had been in +the habit of treating him familiarly; and he, tutored by his father to +the belief that she was the best match for him, and reluctantly yielding +to the force of circumstances, which seemed driving him into matrimony, +had suffered himself to be ordered about and made use of with an +indifference which, in Madame Mayer's eyes, had passed for consent. She +had watched with growing fear and jealousy his devotion to the +Astrardente, which all the world had noticed; and at last her anger had +broken out at the affront she had received at the Frangipani ball. But +even then she loved Giovanni in her own vain way. It was not till Corona +was suddenly left a widow, that Donna Tullia began to realise the +hopelessness of her position; and when she found how determinately +Saracinesca avoided her wherever they met, the affection she had hitherto +felt for him turned into a bitter hatred, stronger even than her jealousy +against the Duchessa. There was no scene of explanation between them, no +words passed, no dramatic situation, such as Donna Tullia loved; the +change came in a few days, and was complete. She had not even the +satisfaction of receiving some share of the attention Giovanni would have +bestowed upon Corona if she had been in town. Not only had he grown +utterly indifferent to her; he openly avoided her, and thereby inflicted +upon her vanity the cruellest wound she was capable of feeling. + +With Donna Tullia to hate was to injure, to long for revenge--not of the +kind which is enjoyed in secret, and known only to the person who suffers +and the person who causes the suffering. She did not care for that so +much as she desired some brilliant triumph over her enemies before the +world; some startling instance of poetic justice, which should at one +blow do a mortal injury to Corona d'Astrardente, and bring Giovanni +Saracinesca to her own feet by force, repentant and crushed, to be dealt +with as she saw fit, according to his misdeeds. But she had chosen her +adversaries ill, and her heart misgave her. She had no hold upon them, +for they were very strong people, very powerful, and very much respected +by their fellows. It was not easy to bring them into trouble; it +seemed impossible to humiliate them as she wished to do, and yet her hate +was very strong. She waited and pondered, and in the meanwhile, when she +met Giovanni, she began to treat him with haughty coldness. But Giovanni +smiled, and seemed well satisfied that she should at last give over what +was to him very like a persecution. Her anger grew hotter from its very +impotence. The world saw it, and laughed. + +The days of Carnival came and passed, much as they usually pass, in a +whirl of gaiety. Giovanni went everywhere, and showed his grave face; but +he talked little, and of course every one said he was melancholy at the +departure of the Duchessa. Nevertheless he kept up an appearance of +interest in what was done, and as nobody cared to risk asking him +questions, people left him in peace. The hurrying crowd of social life +filled up the place occupied by old Astrardente and the beautiful +Duchessa, and they were soon forgotten, for they had not had many +intimate friends. + +On the last night of Carnival, Del Ferice appeared once more. He had not +been able to resist the temptation of getting one glimpse of the world he +loved, before the wet blanket of Lent extinguished the lights of the +ballrooms and the jollity of the dancers. Every one was surprised to see +him, and most people were pleased; he was such a useful man, that he had +often been missed during the time of his illness. He was improved in +appearance; for though he was very pale, he had grown also extremely +thin, and his features had gained delicacy. + +When Giovanni saw him, he went up to him, and the two men exchanged a +formal salutation, while every one stood still for a moment to see the +meeting. It was over in a moment, and society gave a little sigh of +relief, as though a weight were removed from its mind. Then Del Ferice +went to Donna Tullia's side. They were soon alone upon a small sofa in a +small room, whither a couple strayed now and then to remain a few minutes +before returning to the ball. A few people passed through, but for more +than an hour they were not disturbed. + +"I am very glad to see you," said Donna Tullia; "but I had hoped that the +first time you went out you would have come to my house." + +"This is the first time I have been out--you see I should not have found +you at home, since I have found you here." + +"Are you entirely recovered? You still look ill." + +"I am a little weak--but an hour with you will do me more good than all +the doctors in the world." + +"Thanks," said Donna Tullia, with a little laugh. "It was strange to see +you shaking hands with Giovanni Saracinesca just now. I suppose men have +to do that sort of thing." + +"You may be sure I would not have done it unless it had been necessary," +returned Del Ferice, bitterly. + +"I should think not. What an arrogant man he is!" + +"You no longer like him?" asked Del Fence, innocently. + +"Like him! No; I never liked him," replied Donna Tullia, quickly. + +"Oh, I thought you did; I used to wonder at it." Ugo grew thoughtful. + +"I was always good to him," said Donna Tullia. "But of course I can never +forgive him for what he did at the Frangipani ball." + +"No; nor I," answered Del Ferice, readily. "I shall always hate him for +that too." + +"I do not say that I exactly hate him." + +"You have every reason. It appears to me that since my illness we have +another idea in common, another bond of sympathy." Del Ferice spoke +almost tenderly; but he laughed immediately afterwards, as though not +wishing his words to be interpreted too seriously. Donna Tullia smiled +too; she was inclined to be very kind to him. + +"You are very quick to jump at conclusions," she said, playing with her +red fan and looking down. + +"It is always easy to reach that pleasant conclusion--that you and I are +in sympathy," he answered, with a tender glance, "even in regard to +hating the same person. The bond would be close indeed, if it depended on +the opposite of hate. And yet I sometimes think it does. Are you not the +best friend I have in the world?" + +"I do not know,--I am a good friend to you," she answered. + +"Indeed you are; but do you not think it would be possible to cement our +friendship even more closely yet?" + +Donna Tullia looked up sharply; she had no idea of allowing him to +propose to marry her. His face, however, was grave--unlike his usual +expression when he meant to be tender, and which she knew very well. + +"I do not know," she said, with a light laugh. "How do you mean?" + +"If I could do you some great service--if I could by any means satisfy +what is now your chief desire in life--would not that help to cement our +friendship, as I said?" + +"Perhaps," she answered, thoughtfully. "But then you do not know--you +cannot guess even--what I most wish at this moment." + +"I think I could," said Del Ferice, fixing his eyes upon her. "I am sure +I could, but I will not. I should risk offending you." + +"No; I will not be angry. You may guess if you please." Donna Tullia in +her turn looked, fixedly at her companion. They seemed trying to read +each other's thoughts. + +"Very well," said Ugo at last, "I will tell you. You would like to see +the Astrardente dead and Giovanni Saracinesca profoundly humiliated." + +Donna Tullia started. But indeed there was nothing strange in her +companion's knowledge of her feelings. Many people, being asked what she +felt, would very likely have said the same, for the world had seen her +discomfiture and had laughed at it. + +"You are a very singular man," she said, uneasily. + +"In other words," replied Del Ferice, calmly, "I am perfectly right in my +surmises. I see it in your face. Of course," he added, with a laugh, "it +is mere jest. But the thing is quite possible. If I fulfilled your desire +of just and poetic vengeance, what would you give me?" + +Donna Tullia laughed in her turn, to conceal the extreme interest she +felt in what he said. + +"Whatever you like," she said. But even while the laugh was on her lips +her eyes sought his uneasily. + +"Would you marry me, for instance, as the enchanted princess in the fairy +story marries the prince who frees her from the spell?" He seemed +immensely amused at the idea. + +"Why not?" she laughed. + +"It would be the only just recompense," he answered. "See how impossible +the thing appears. And yet a few pounds of dynamite would blow up the +Great Pyramid. Giovanni Saracinesca is not so strong as he looks." + +"Oh, I would not have him hurt!" exclaimed Donna Tullia in alarm. + +"I do not mean physically, nor morally, but socially." + +"How?" + +"That is my secret," returned Del Ferice, quietly. + +"It sounds as though you were pretending to know more than you really +do," she answered. + +"No; it is the plain truth," said Del Ferice, quietly. "If you were in +earnest I might be willing to tell you what the secret is, but for a mere +jest I cannot. It is far too serious a matter." + +His tone convinced Donna Tullia that he really possessed some weapon +which he could use against Don Giovanni if he pleased. She wondered only +why, if it were true, he did not use it, seeing that he must hate +Saracinesca with all his heart. Del Ferice knew so much about people, so +many strange and forgotten stories, he had so accurate a memory and so +acute an intelligence, that it was by no means impossible that he was in +possession of some secret connected with the Saracinesca. They were, +or were thought to be, wild, unruly men, both father and son; there were +endless stories about them both; and there was nothing more likely than +that, in his numerous absences from home, Giovanni had at one time or +another figured in some romantic affair, which he would be sorry to have +had generally known. Del Ferice was wise enough to keep his own counsel; +but now that his hatred was thoroughly roused, he might very likely make +use of the knowledge he possessed. Donna Tullia's curiosity was excited +to its highest pitch, and at the same time she had pleasant visions of +the possible humiliation of the man by whom she felt herself so ill-used. +It would be worth while making the sacrifice in order to learn Del +Fence's secret. + +"This need not be a mere jest," she said, after a moment's silence. + +"That is as you please," returned Del Ferice, seriously. "If you are +willing to do your part, you may be sure that I will do mine." + +"You cannot think I really meant what I said just now," replied Donna +Tullia. "It would be madness." + +"Why? Am I halt, am I lame, am I blind? Am I repulsively ugly? Am I a +pauper, that I should care for your money? Have I not loved you--yes, +loved you long and faithfully? Am I too old? Is there anything in the +nature of things why I should not aspire to be your husband?" + +It was strange. He spoke calmly, as though enumerating the advantages of +a friend. Donna Tullia looked at him for a moment, and then laughed +outright. + +"No," she said; "all that is very true. You may aspire, as you call it. +The question is, whether I shall aspire too. Of course, if we happened to +agree in aspiring, we could be married to-morrow." + +"Precisely," answered Del Ferice, perfectly unmoved. "I am not proposing +to marry you. I am arguing the case. There is this in the case which is +perhaps outside the argument--this, that I am devotedly attached to you. +The case is the stronger for that. I was only trying to demonstrate that +the idea of our being married is not so unutterably absurd. You +laughingly said you would marry me if I could accomplish something which +would please you very much. I laughed also; but now I seriously repeat my +proposition, because I am convinced that although at first sight it may +appear extremely humourous, on a closer inspection it will be found +exceedingly practical. In union is strength." + +Donna Tullia was silent for a moment, and her face grew grave. There was +reason in what he said. She did not care for him--she had never thought +of marrying him; but she recognised the justice of what he said. It was +clear that a man of his social position, received everywhere and intimate +with all her associates, might think of marrying her. He looked +positively handsome since he was wounded; he was accomplished and +intelligent; he had sufficient means of support to prevent him from +being suspected of marrying solely for money, and he had calmly stated +that he loved her. Perhaps he did. It was flattering to Donna Tullia's +vanity to believe him, and his acts had certainly not belied his words. +He was by far the most thoughtful of all her admirers, and he affected to +treat her always with a certain respect which she had never succeeded in +obtaining from Valdarno and the rest. A woman who likes to be noisy, but +is conscious of being a little vulgar, is always flattered when a man +behaves towards her with profound reverence. It will even sometimes cure +her of her vulgarity. Donna Tullia reflected seriously upon what Del +Ferice had said. + +"I never had such a proposition made to me in my life," she said. "Of +course you cannot think I regard it as a possible one, even now. You +cannot think I am so base as to sell myself for the sake of revenging an +insult once offered me. If I am to regard this as a proposal of marriage, +I must decline it with thanks. If it is merely a proposition for an +alliance, I think the terms of the treaty are unequal." + +Del Ferice smiled. + +"I knew you well enough to know what your answer would be," he said. "I +never insulted you by dreaming that you would accept such a proposition. +But as a subject for speculation it is very pleasant. It is delightful +to me to think of being your husband; it is equally delightful to you to +think of the humiliation of an enemy. I took the liberty of uniting the +two thoughts in one dream--a dream of unspeakable bliss for myself." + +Donna Tullia's gay humour returned. + +"You have certainly amused me very well for a quarter of an hour with +your dreams," she answered. "I wish you would tell me what you know of +Don Giovanni. It must be very interesting if it can really seriously +influence his life." + +"I cannot tell you. The secret is too valuable." + +"But if the thing you know has such power, why do you not use it +yourself? You must hate him far more than I do." + +"I doubt that," answered Del Ferice, with a cunning smile. "I do not use +it, I do not choose to strike the blow, because I do not care enough for +retribution merely on my own account. I do not pretend to generosity, but +I am not interested enough in him to harm him, though I dislike him +exceedingly. We had a temporary settlement of our difficulties the other +day, and we were both wounded. Poor Casalverde lost his head and did a +foolish thing, and that cold-blooded villain Spicca killed him in +consequence. It seems to me that there has been enough blood spilled in +our quarrel. I am prepared to leave him alone so far as I am concerned. +But for you it would be different. I could do something worse than kill +him if I chose." + +"For me?" said Donna Tullia. "What would you do for me?" She smiled +sweetly, willing to use all her persuasion to extract his secret. + +"I could prevent Don Giovanni from marrying the Astrardente, as he +intends to do," he answered, looking straight at his companion. + +"How in the world could you do that?" she asked, in great surprise. + +"That, my dear friend, is my secret, as I said before. I cannot reveal it +to you at present." + +"You are as dark as the Holy Office," said Donna Tullia, a little +impatiently. "What possible harm could it do if you told me?" + +"What possible good either?" asked Del Ferice, in reply. "You could not +use it as I could. You would gain no advantage by knowing it. Of course," +he added, with a laugh, "if we entered into the alliance we were jesting +about, it would be different." + +"You will not tell me unless I promise to marry you?" + +"Frankly, no," he answered, still laughing. + +It exasperated Donna Tullia beyond measure to feel that he was in +possession of what she so coveted, and to feel that he was bargaining, +half in earnest, for her life in exchange for his secret. She was almost +tempted for one moment to assent, to say she would marry him, so great +was her curiosity; it would be easy to break her promise, and laugh at +him afterwards. But she was not a bad woman, as women of her class are +considered. She had suffered a great disappointment, and her resentment +was in proportion to her vanity. But she was not prepared to give a false +promise for the sake of vengeance; she was only bad enough to imagine +such bad faith possible. + +"But you said you never seriously thought I could accept such an +engagement," she objected, not knowing what to say. + +"I did," replied Del Ferice. "I might have added that I never seriously +contemplated parting with my secret." + +"There is nothing to be got from you," said Donna Tullia, in a tone of +disappointment. "I think that when you have nearly driven me mad with +curiosity, you might really tell me something." + +"Ah no, dear lady," answered her companion. "You may ask anything of me +but that--anything. You may ask that too, if you will sign the treaty I +propose." + +"You will drive me into marrying you out of sheer curiosity," said Donna +Tullia, with an impatient laugh. + +"I wish that were possible. I wish I could see my way to telling you as +it is, for the thing is so curious that it would have the most intense +interest for you. But it is quite out of the question." + +"You should never have told me anything about it," replied Madame Mayer. + +"Well, I will think about it," said Del Ferice at last, as though +suddenly resolving to make a sacrifice. "I will look over some papers I +have, and I will think about it. I promise you that if I feel that I can +conscientiously tell you something of the matter, you may be sure that +I will." + +Donna Tullia's manner changed again, from impatience to persuasion. The +sudden hope he held out to her was delicious to contemplate. She could +not realise that Del Ferice, having once thoroughly interested her, could +play upon her moods as on the keys of an instrument. If she had been less +anxious that the story he told should be true, she might have suspected +that he was practising upon her credulity. But she seized the idea of +obtaining some secret influence over the life of Giovanni, and it +completely carried her away. + +"You must tell me--I am sure you will," she said, letting her kindest +glance rest upon her companion. "Come and dine with me,--do you fast? +No--nor I. Come on Friday--will you?" + +"I shall be delighted," answered Del Ferice, with a quiet smile of +triumph. + +"I will have the old lady, of course, so you cannot tell me at dinner; +but she will go to sleep soon afterwards--she always does. Come at seven. +Besides, she is deaf, you know." + +The old lady in question was the aged Countess whom Donna Tullia affected +as a companion in her solitary magnificence. + +"And now, will you take me back to the ball-room? I have an idea that a +partner is looking for me." + +Del Ferice left her dancing, and went home in his little coupé. He was +desperately fatigued, for he was still very weak, and he feared lest his +imprudence in going out so soon might bring on a relapse from his +convalescence. Nevertheless, before he went to bed he dismissed +Temistocle, and opened a shabby-looking black box which stood upon his +writing-table. It was bound with iron, and was fastened by a patent lock +which had frequently defied Temistocle's ingenuity. From this repository +he took a great number of papers, which were all neatly filed away and +marked in the owner's small and ornamented handwriting. Beneath many +packages of letters he found what he sought for, a long envelope +containing several folded documents. + +He spread out the papers and read them carefully over. + +"It is a very singular thing," he said to himself; "but there can be no +doubt about it. There it is." + +He folded the papers again, returned them to their envelope, and replaced +the latter deep among the letters in his box. He then locked it, attached +the key to a chain he wore about his neck, and went to bed, worn out +with fatigue. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Del Ferice had purposely excited Donna Tullia's curiosity, and he meant +before long to tell more than he had vouchsafed in his first confidence. +But he himself trembled before the magnitude of what he had suddenly +thought of doing, for the fear of Giovanni was in his heart. The +temptation to boast to Donna Tullia that he had the means of preventing +Giovanni from marrying was too strong; but when it had come to telling +her what those means were, prudence had restrained him. He desired that +if the scheme were put into execution it might be by some one else; for, +extraordinary as it was, he was not absolutely certain of its success. He +was not sure of Donna Tullia's discretion, either, until by a judicious +withholding of the secret he had given her a sufficient idea of its +importance. But on mature reflection he came to the conclusion that, even +if she possessed the information he was able to give, she would not dare +to mention it, nor even to hint at it. + +The grey light of Ash-Wednesday morning broke over Rome, and stole +through the windows of Giovanni Saracinesca's bedroom. Giovanni had not +slept much, but his restlessness was due rather to his gladness at having +performed the last of his social duties than to any disturbance of mind. +All night he lay planning what he should do,--how he might reach his +place in the mountains by a circuitous route, leaving the general +impression that he was abroad--and how, when at last he had got to +Saracinesca unobserved, he would revel in the solitude and in the thought +of being within half a day's journey of Corona d'Astrardente. He was +willing to take a great deal of trouble, for he did not wish people to +know his whereabouts; he would not have it said that he had gone into +the country to be near Corona and to see her every day, as would +certainly be said if his real movements were discovered. Accordingly, he +fulfilled his programme to the letter. He left Rome on the afternoon of +Ash-Wednesday for Florence; there he visited several acquaintances who, +he knew, would write to their friends in Rome of his appearance; from +Florence he went to Paris, and gave out that he was going upon a shooting +expedition in the Arctic regions, as soon as the weather was warm enough. +As he was well known for a sportsman and a traveller, this statement +created no suspicion; and when he finally left Paris, the newspapers and +the gossips all said he had gone to Copenhagen on his way to the far +north. In due time the statement reached Rome, and it was supposed that +society had lost sight of Giovanni Saracinesca for at least eight months. +It was thought that he had acted with great delicacy in absenting +himself; he would thus allow the first months of Corona's mourning to +pass before formally presenting himself to society as her suitor. +Considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, there would be +nothing improper, from a social point of view, in his marrying Corona at +the expiration of a year after her husband's death. Of course he would +marry her; there was no doubt of that--he had been in love with her so +long, and now she was both free and rich. No one suspected that Giovanni, +instead of being in Scandinavia, was quietly established at Saracinesca, +a day's journey from Rome, busying himself with the management of the +estate, and momentarily satisfied in feeling himself so near the woman he +loved. + +Donna Tullia could hardly wait until the day when Del Ferice was coming +to dinner: she was several times on the point of writing a note to ask +him to come at once. But she wisely refrained, guessing that the more she +pressed him the more difficulties he would make. At last he came, looking +pale and worn--interesting, as Donna Tullia would have expressed it. The +old Countess talked a great deal during dinner; but as she was too deaf +to hear more than a quarter of what was said by the others, the +conversation was not interesting. When the meal was over, she established +herself in a comfortable chair in the little sitting-room, and took a +book. After a few minutes, Donna Tullia suggested to Del Ferice that they +should go into the drawing-room. She had received some new waltz-music +from Vienna which she wanted to look over, and Ugo might help her. She +was not a musician, but was fond of a cheerful noise, and played upon the +piano with the average skill of a well-educated young woman of the +world. Of course the doors were left open between the drawing-room and +the boudoir, where the Countess dozed over her book and presently fell +asleep. + +Donna Tullia sat at the grand piano, and made Del Ferice sit beside her. +She struck a few chords, and played a fragment of dance-music. + +"Of course you have heard that Don Giovanni is gone?" she asked, +carelessly. "I suppose he is gone to Saracinesca; they say there is a +very good road between that and Astrardente." + +"I should think he would have more decency than to pursue the Duchessa in +the first month of her mourning," answered Del Ferice, resting one arm +upon the piano, and supporting his pale face with his hand as he watched +Donna Tullia's fingers move upon the keys. + +"Why? He does not care what people say--why should he? He will marry her +when the year is out. Why should he care?" + +"He can never marry her unless I choose to allow it," said Del Ferice, +quietly. + +"So you told me the other night," returned Donna Tullia. "But you will +allow him, of course. Besides, you could not stop it, after all. I do not +believe that you could." She leaned far back in her chair, her hands +resting upon the keys without striking them, and she looked at Del Ferice +with a sweet smile. There was a moment's pause. + +"I have decided to tell you something," he said at last, "upon one +condition." + +"Why make conditions?" asked Donna Tullia, trying to conceal her +excitement. + +"Only one, that of secrecy. Will you promise never to mention what I am +going to tell you without previously consulting me? I do not mean a +common promise; I mean it to be an oath." He spoke very earnestly. "This +is a very serious matter. We are playing with fire and with life and +death. You must give me some guarantee that you will be secret." + +His manner impressed Donna Tullia; she had never seen him so much in +earnest in her life. + +"I will promise in any way you please," she said. + +"Then say this," he answered. "Say, 'I swear and solemnly bind myself +that I will faithfully keep the secret about to be committed to me; and +that if I fail to keep it I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del +Ferice--'" + +"That is absurd!" cried Donna Tullia, starting back from him. He did not +heed her. + +"'And I take to witness of this oath the blessed memory of my mother, the +hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic of the True Cross.'" He +pointed to the locket she wore at her neck, which she had often told +him contained the relic he mentioned. + +"It is impossible!" she cried again. "I cannot swear so solemnly about +such a matter. I cannot promise to marry you." + +"Then it is because you cannot promise to keep my secret," he answered +calmly. He knew her very well, and he believed that she would not break +such an oath as he had dictated, under any circumstances. He did not +choose to risk anything by her indiscretion. Donna Tullia hesitated, +seeing that he was firm. She was tortured with curiosity beyond all +endurance. + +"I am only promising to marry you in case I reveal the secret?" she +asked. He bowed assent. "So that I am really only promising to be silent? +Well, I cannot understand why it should be solemn; but if you wish it +so, I will do it. What are the words?" + +He repeated them slowly, and she followed him. He watched her at every +word, to be sure she overlooked nothing. + +"I, Tullia Mayer, swear and solemnly bind myself that I will faithfully +keep the secret about to be committed to me; and that if I fail to keep +it, I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del Ferice"--her voice +trembled nervously: "and I take to witness of this oath the blessed +memory of my mother, the hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic +of the True Cross." At the last words she took the locket in her fingers. + +"You understand that you have promised to marry me if you reveal my +secret? You fully understand that?" asked Del Ferice. + +"I understand it," she answered hurriedly, as though ashamed of what she +had done. "And now, the secret," she added eagerly, feeling that she had +undergone a certain humiliation for the sake of what she so much +coveted. + +"Don Giovanni cannot marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente, because"--he +paused a moment to give full weight to his statement--"because Don +Giovanni Saracinesca is married already." + +"What!" cried Donna Tullia, starting from her chair in amazement at the +astounding news. + +"It is quite true," said Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. "Calm yourself; +it is quite true. I know what you are thinking of--all Rome thought he +was going to marry you." + +Donna Tullia was overcome by the strangeness of the situation. She hid +her face in her hands for a moment as she leaned forward over the piano. +Then she suddenly looked up. + +"What a hideous piece of villany!" she exclaimed, in a stifled voice. +Then slowly recovering from the first shock of the intelligence, she +looked at Del Ferice; she was almost as pale as he. "What proof have +you?" she asked. + +"I have the attested copy of the banns published by the priest who +married them. That is evidence. Moreover, the real book of banns exists, +and Giovanni's name is upon the parish register. I have also a copy of +the certificate of the civil marriage, which is signed by Giovanni +himself." + +"Tell me more," said Donna Tullia, eagerly. "How did you find it?" + +"It is very simple," answered Del Ferice. "You may go and see for +yourself, if you do not mind making a short journey. Last summer I was +wandering a little for my health's sake, as I often do, and I chanced to +be in the town of Aquila--you know, the capital of Abruzzi. One day I +happened to go into the sacristy of one of the parish churches to see +some pictures which are hung there. There had been a marriage service +performed, and as the sacristan moved about explaining the pictures, he +laid his hand upon an open book which looked like a register of some +kind. I idly asked him what it was, and he showed it to me; it was +amusing to look at the names of the people, and I turned over the leaves +curiously. Suddenly my attention was arrested by a name I knew--'Giovanni +Saracinesca,' written clearly across the page, and below it, 'Felice +Baldi,'--the woman he had married. The date of the marriage was the 19th +of June 1863. You remember, perhaps, that in that summer, in fact during +the whole of that year, Don Giovanni was supposed to be absent upon +his famous shooting expedition in Canada, about which he talks so much. +It appears, then, that two years ago, instead of being in America, he was +living in Aquila, married to Felice Baldi--probably some pretty peasant +girl. I started at the sight of the names. I got permission to have an +attested copy of it made by a notary. I found the priest who had married +them, but he could not remember the couple. The man, he said, was dark, +he was sure; the woman, he thought, had been fair. He married so many +people in a year. These were not natives of Aquila; they had apparently +come there from the country--perhaps had met. The banns--yes, he had +the book of banns; he had also the register of marriages from which he +sometimes issued certified extracts. He was a good old man, and seemed +ready to oblige me; but his memory was very defective. He allowed me to +take notary's copies of the banns and the entry in the list, as well as +of the register. Then I went to the office of the Stato Civile. You know +that people do not sign the register in the church themselves; the names +are written down by the priest. I wanted to see the signatures, and the +book of civil marriages was shown to me. The handwriting was Giovanni's, +I am sure--larger, and a little less firm, but distinguishable at a +glance. I took the copies for curiosity, and never said anything about +it, but I have kept them. That is the history. Do you see how serious a +matter it is?" + +"Indeed, yes," answered Donna Tullia, who had listened with intense +interest to the story. "But what could have induced him to marry that +woman?" + +"One of those amiable eccentricities peculiar to his family," replied Del +Ferice, shrugging his shoulders. "The interesting thing would be to +discover what became of Felice Baldi--Donna Felice Saracinesca, as I +suppose she has a right to be called." + +"Let us find her--Giovanni's wife," exclaimed Donna Tullia, eagerly. +"Where can she be?" + +"Who knows?" ejaculated Del Ferice. "I would be curious to see her. The +name of her native village is given, and the names of her parents. +Giovanni described himself in the paper as 'of Naples, a landholder,' and +omitted somehow the details of his parentage. Nothing could be more +vague; everybody is a landholder, from the wretched peasant who +cultivates one acre to their high-and-mightinesses the Princes of +Saracinesca. Perhaps by going to the village mentioned some information +might be obtained. He probably left her sufficiently provided for, and, +departing on pretence of a day's journey, never returned. He is a +perfectly unscrupulous man, and thinks no more of this mad scrape than of +shooting a chamois in the Tyrol. He knows she can never find him--never +guessed who he really was." + +"Perhaps she is dead," suggested Donna Tullia, her face suddenly growing +grave. + +"Why? He would not have taken the trouble to kill her--a peasant girl in +the Abruzzi! He would have had no difficulty in leaving her, and she is +probably alive and well at the present moment, perhaps the mother of the +future Prince Saracinesca--who can tell?" + +"But do you not see," said Donna Tullia, "that unless you have proof that +she is alive, we have no hold upon him? He may acknowledge the whole +thing, and calmly inform us that she is dead." + +"That is true; but even then he must show that she came to a natural end +and was buried. Believe me, Giovanni would relinquish all intentions of +marrying the Astrardente rather than have this scandalous story +published." + +"I would like to tax him with it in a point-blank question, and watch his +face," said Donna Tullia, fiercely. + +"Remember your oath," said Del Ferice. "But he is gone now. You will not +meet him for some months." + +"Tell me, how could you make use of this knowledge, if you really wanted +to prevent his marriage with the Astrardente?" + +"I would advise you to go to her and state the case. You need mention +nobody. Any one who chooses may go to Aquila and examine the registers. I +think that you could convey the information to her with as much command +of language as would be necessary." + +"I daresay I could," she answered, between her teeth. "What a strange +chance it was that brought that register under your hand!" + +"Heaven sends opportunities," said Del Ferice, devoutly; "it is for man +to make good use of them. Who knows but what you may make a brilliant use +of this?" + +"I cannot, since I am bound by my promise," said Donna Tullia. + +"No; I am sure you will not think of doing it. But then, we might perhaps +agree that circumstances made it advisable to act. Many months must pass +before he can think of offering himself to her. It will be time enough +to consider the matter then--to consider whether we should be justified +in raising such a terrible scandal, in causing so much unhappiness to an +innocent woman like the Duchessa, and to a worthless man like Don +Giovanni. Think what a disgrace it would be to the Saracinesca to have it +made public that Giovanni was openly engaged to marry a great heiress +while already secretly married to a peasant woman!" + +"It would indeed be horrible," said Donna Tullia, with a disagreeable +look in her blue eyes. "Perhaps we should not even think of it," she +added, turning over the leaves of the music upon the piano. Then suddenly +she added, "Do you know that you have put me in a dreadful position +by exacting that promise from me?" + +"No," said Del Ferice, quietly. "You wanted to hear the secret. You have +heard it. You have nothing to do but to keep it to yourself." + +"That is precisely--" She checked herself, and struck a loud chord upon +the instrument. She had turned from Del Ferice, and could not see the +smile upon his face, which flickered across the pale features and +vanished instantly. + +"Think no more about it," he said pleasantly. "It is so easy to forget +such stories when one resolutely puts them out of one's mind." + +Donna Tullia smiled bitterly, and was silent. She began playing from the +sheet before her, with indifferent accuracy, but with more than +sufficient energy. Del Ferice sat patiently by her side, turning over the +leaves, and glancing from time to time at her face, which he really +admired exceedingly. He belonged to the type of pale and somewhat +phlegmatic men who frequently fall in love with women of sanguine +complexion and robust appearance. Donna Tullia was a fine type of this +class, and was called handsome, though she did not compare well with +women of less pretension to beauty, but more delicacy and refinement. Del +Ferice admired her greatly, however; and, as has been said, he admired +her fortune even more. He saw himself gradually approaching the goal of +his intentions, and as he neared the desired end he grew more and more +cautious. He had played one of his strongest cards that night, and he was +content to wait and let matters develop quietly, without any more pushing +from him. The seed would grow, there was no fear of that, and his +position was strong. He could wait quietly for the result. + +At the end of half an hour he excused himself upon the plea that he was +still only convalescent, and was unable to bear the fatigue of late +hours. Donna Tullia did not press him to stay, for she wished to be +alone; and when he was gone she sat long at the open piano, pondering +upon what she had done, and even more upon what she had escaped doing. It +was a hideous thought that if Giovanni, in all that long winter, had +asked her to be his wife, she would readily have consented; it was +fearful to think what her position would have been towards Del Ferice, +who would have been able by a mere word to annul her marriage by proving +the previous one at Aquila. People do not trifle with such accusations, +and he certainly knew what he was doing; she would have been bound hand +and foot. Or supposing that Del Ferice had died of the wound he received +in the duel, and his papers had been ransacked by his heirs, whoever +they might be--these attested documents would have become public +property. What a narrow escape Giovanni had had! And she herself, too, +how nearly had she been involved in his ruin! She liked to think that +he had almost offered himself to her; it flattered her, although she now +hated him so cordially. She could not help admiring Del Ferice's +wonderful discretion in so long concealing a piece of scandal that would +have shaken Roman society to its foundations, and she trembled when she +thought what would happen if she herself were ever tempted to reveal what +she had heard. Del Ferice was certainly a man of genius--so quiet, and +yet possessing such weapons; there was some generosity about him too, or +he would have revenged himself for his wound by destroying Giovanni's +reputation. She considered whether she could have kept her counsel so +well in his place. After all, as he had said, the moment for using the +documents had not yet come, for hitherto Giovanni had never proposed to +marry any one. Perhaps this secret wedding in Aquila explained his +celibacy; Del Ferice had perhaps misjudged him in saying that he was +unscrupulous; he had perhaps left his peasant wife, repenting of his +folly, but it was perhaps on her account that he had never proposed to +marry Donna Tullia; he had, then, only been amusing himself with Corona. +That all seemed likely enough--so likely, that it heightened the +certainty of Del Ferice's information. + +A few days later, as Giovanni had intended, news began to reach Rome that +he had been in Florence, and was actually in Paris; then it was said that +he was going upon a shooting expedition somewhere in the far north +during the summer. It was like him, and in accordance with his tastes. He +hated the quiet receptions at the great houses during Lent, to which, if +he remained in Rome, he was obliged to go. He naturally escaped when he +could. But there was no escape for Donna Tullia, and after all she +managed to extract some amusement from these gatherings. She was the +acknowledged centre of the more noisy set, and wherever she went, +people who wanted to be amused, and were willing to amuse each other, +congregated around her. On one of these occasions she met old +Saracinesca. He did not go out much since his son had left; but he seemed +cheerful enough, and as he liked Madame Mayer, for some inscrutable +reason, she rather liked him. Moreover, her interest in Giovanni, though +now the very reverse of affectionate, made her anxious to know something +of his movements. + +"You must be lonely since Don Giovanni has gone upon his travels again," +she said. + +"That is the reason I go out," said the Prince. "It is not very gay, but +it is better than nothing. It suggests cold meat served up after the +dessert; but when people are hungry, the order of their food is not of +much importance." + +"Is there any news, Prince? I want to be amused." + +"News? No. The world is at peace, and consequently given over to sin, as +it mostly is when it is resting from a fit of violence." + +"You seem to be inclined to moralities this evening," said Donna Tullia, +smiling, and gently swaying the red fan she always carried. + +"Am I? Then I am growing old, I suppose. It is the privilege of old age +to censure in others what it is no longer young enough to praise in +itself. It is a bad thing to grow old, but it makes people good, or makes +them think they are, which in their own eyes is precisely the same +thing." + +"How delightfully cynical!" + +"Doggish?" inquired the Prince, with a laugh. "I have heard it said by +scholars, that cynical means doggish in Greek. The fable of the dog in +the horse's manger was invented to define the real cynic--the man who +neither enjoys life himself nor will allow other people to enjoy it. I am +not such a man. I hope you, for instance, will enjoy everything that +comes in your way." + +"Even the cold meat after the dessert which you spoke of just now?" asked +Donna Tullia. "Thank you--I will try; perhaps you can help me." + +"My son despised it," said Saracinesca. "He is gone in search of fresh +pastures of sweets." + +"Leaving you behind." + +"Somebody once said that the wisest thing a son could do was to get rid +of his father as soon as possible--" + +"Then Don Giovanni is a wise man," returned Donna Tullia. + +"Perhaps. However, he asked me to accompany him." + +"You refused?" + +"Of course. Such expeditions are good enough for boys. I dislike +Florence, I am not especially fond of Paris, and I detest the North Pole. +I suppose you have seen from the papers that he is going in that +direction? It is like him, he hankers after originality, I suppose. Being +born in the south, he naturally goes to the extreme north." + +"He will write you very interesting letters, I should think," remarked +Donna Tullia. "Is he a good correspondent?" + +"Remarkably, for he never gives one any trouble. He sends his address +from time to time, and draws frequently on his banker. His letters are +not so full of interest as might be thought, as they rarely extend over +five lines; but on the other hand it does not take long to read them, +which is a blessing." + +"You seem to be an affectionate parent," said Donna Tullia, with a laugh. + +"If you measure affection by the cost of postage-stamps, you have a right +to be sarcastic. If you measure it in any other way, you are wrong. I +could not help loving any one so like myself as my son. It would show a +detestable lack of appreciation of my own gifts." + +"I do not think Don Giovanni so very like you," said Donna Tullia, +thoughtfully. + +"Perhaps you do not know him so well as I do," remarked the Prince. +"Where do you see the greatest difference?" + +"I think you talk better, and I think you are more--not exactly more +honest, perhaps, but more straightforward." + +"I do not agree with you," said old Saracinesca, quickly. "There is no +one alive who can say they ever knew Giovanni approach in the most +innocent way to a distortion of truth. I daresay you have discovered, +however, that he is reticent; he can hold his tongue; he is no chatterer, +no parrot, my son." + +"Indeed he is not," answered Donna Tullia, and the reply pacified the old +man; but she herself was thinking what supreme reticence Giovanni had +shown in the matter of his marriage, and she wondered whether the Prince +had ever heard of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Anastase Gouache worked hard at the Cardinal's portrait, and at the same +time did his best to satisfy Donna Tullia. The latter, indeed, was not +easily pleased, and Gouache found it hard to instil into his +representation of her the precise amount of poetry she required, without +doing violence to his own artistic sense of fitness. But the other +picture progressed rapidly. The Cardinal was a restless man, and after +the first two or three sittings, desired nothing so much as to be done +with them altogether. Anastase amused him, it is true, and the statesman +soon perceived that he had made a conquest of the young man's mind, and +that, as Giovanni Saracinesca had predicted, he had helped Gouache to +come to a decision. He was not prepared, however, for the practical turn +that decision immediately took, and he was just beginning to wish the +sittings at an end when Anastase surprised him by a very startling +announcement. + +As usual, they were in the Cardinal's study; the statesman was silent and +thoughtful, and Gouache was working with all his might. + +"I have made up my mind," said the latter, suddenly. + +"Concerning what, my friend?" inquired the great man, rather absently. + +"Concerning everything, Eminence," answered Gouache "concerning politics, +religion, life, death, and everything else which belongs to my career. I +am going to enlist with the Zouaves." + +The Cardinal looked at him for a moment, and then broke into a low laugh. + +"_Extremis malis extrema remedial!_" he exclaimed. + +"Precisely--_aux grands maux les grands remèdes,_ as we say. I am going +to join the Church militant. I am convinced that it is the best thing an +honest man can do. I like fighting, and I like the Church--therefore I +will fight for the Church." + +"Very good logic, indeed," answered the Cardinal. But he looked at +Anastase, and marking his delicate features and light frame, he almost +wondered how the lad would look in the garb of a soldier. "Very good +logic; but, my dear Monsieur Gouache, what is to become of your art?" + +"I shall not be mounting guard all day, and the Zouaves are allowed to +live in their own lodgings. I will live in my studio, and paint when I am +not mounting guard." + +"And my portrait?" inquired Cardinal Antonelli, much amused. + +"Your Eminence will doubtless be kind enough to manage that I may have +liberty to finish it." + +"You could not put off enlisting for a week, I suppose?" + +Gouache looked annoyed; he hated the idea of waiting. + +"I have taken too long to make up my mind already," he replied. "I must +make the plunge at once. I am convinced--your Eminence has convinced +me--that I have been very foolish." + +"I certainly never intended to convince you of that," remarked the +Cardinal, with a smile. + +"Very foolish," repeated Gouache, not heeding the interruption. "I have +talked great nonsense,--I scarcely know why--perhaps to try and find +where the sense really lay. I have dreamed so many dreams, so long, that +I sometimes think I am morbid. All artists are morbid, I suppose. It is +better to do anything active than to lose one's self in the slums of a +sickly imagination." + +"I agree with you," answered the Cardinal; "but I do not think you +suffered from a sickly imagination,--I should rather call it abundant +than sickly. Frankly, I should be sorry to think that in following this +new idea you were in any way injuring the great career which, I am sure, +is before you; but, on the other hand, I cannot help wishing that a +greater number of young men would follow your example." + +"Your Eminence approves, then?" + +"Do you think you will make a good soldier?" + +"Other artists have been good soldiers. There was Cellini--" + +"Benvenuto Cellini said he made a good soldier; he said it himself, but +his reputation for veracity in other matters was doubtful, to say the +least. If he did not shoot the Connétable de Bourbon, it is very certain +that some one else did. Besides, a soldier in our times should be a very +different kind of man from the self-armed citizen of the time of Clement +the Ninth and the aforesaid Connétable. You will have to wear a uniform +and sleep on boards in a guard-house; you will have to be up early to +drill, and up late mounting guard, in wind and rain and cold. It is hard +work; I do not believe you have the constitution for it. Nevertheless, +the intention is good. You can try it, and if you fall ill I will see +that you have no difficulty in returning to your artist life." + +"I do not mean to give it up," replied Gouache, in a tone of conviction. +"And as for my health, I am as strong as any one." + +"Perhaps," said the Cardinal, doubtfully. "And when are you going to join +the corps?" + +"In about an hour," said Gouache, quietly. + +And he kept his word. But he had told no one, save the Cardinal, of his +intention; and for a day or two, though he passed many acquaintances in +the street, no one recognised Anastase Gouache in the handsome young +soldier with his grey Turco uniform, a red sash round his slender waist, +and a small _képi_ set jauntily upon one side. + +It was one of the phenomena of those times. Foreigners swarmed in Rome, +and many of them joined the cosmopolitan corps--gentlemen, noblemen, +artists, men of the learned professions, adventurers, duellists driven +from their country in a temporary exile, enthusiasts, strolling +Irishmen, men of all sorts and conditions. But, take them all in all, +they were a fine set of fellows, who set no value whatever on their +lives, and who, as a whole, fought for an idea, in the old crusading +spirit. There were many who, like Gouache, joined solely from conviction; +and there were few instances indeed of any who, having joined, deserted. +It often happened that a stranger came to Rome for a mere visit, and at +the end of a month surprised his friends by appearing in the grey +uniform. You had met him the night before at a ball in the ordinary garb +of civilisation, covered with cotillon favours, waltzing like a madman; +the next morning he entered the Café de Rome in a braided jacket open at +the throat, and told you he was a soldier--a private soldier, who touched +his cap to every corporal of the French infantry, and was liable to be +locked up for twenty-four hours if he was late to quarters. + +Donna Tullia's portrait was not quite finished, and Gouache had asked for +one or two more sittings. Three days after the artist had taken his great +resolution, Madame Mayer and Del Ferice entered his studio. He had had no +difficulty in being at liberty at the hour of the sitting, and had merely +exchanged his jacket for an old painting-coat, not taking the trouble to +divest himself of the remainder of his uniform. + +"Where have you been all this time?" asked Donna Tullia, as she lifted +the curtain and entered the studio. He had kept out of her way during the +past few days. + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" cried Del Ferice, starting back, as he caught +sight of the artist's grey trousers and yellow gaiters. "What is the +meaning of this comedy?" + +"What?" asked Gouache, coolly. Then, glancing at his legs, he answered, +"Oh, nothing. I have turned Zouave--that is all. Will you sit down, Donna +Tullia? I was waiting for you." + +"Turned Zouave!" exclaimed Madame Mayer and Del Ferice in a breath. +"Turned Zouave!" + +"Well?" said Gouache, raising his eyebrows and enjoying their surprise. +"Well--why not?" + +Del Ferice struck a fine attitude, and, laying one hand upon Donna +Tullia's arm, whispered hoarsely in her ear-- + +"_Siamo traditi_--we are betrayed!" he said. Whereupon Donna Tullia +turned a little pale. + +"Betrayed!" she repeated, "and by Gouache!" + +Gouache laughed, as he drew out the battered old carved chair on which +Madame Mayer was accustomed to sit when he painted. + +"Calm yourself, Madame," he said. "I have not the least intention of +betraying you. I have made a counter-revolution--but I am perfectly +frank. I will not tell of the ferocious deeds I have heard discussed." + +Del Ferice scowled and drew back, partly acting, partly in earnest. It +lay in his schemes to make Donna Tullia believe herself involved in a +genuine plot, and from this point of view he felt that he must pretend +the greatest horror and surprise. On the other hand, he knew that Gouache +had been painting the Cardinal's portrait, and guessed that the statesman +had acquired a strong influence over the artist's mind--an influence +which was already showing itself in a way that looked dangerous. It had +never struck him until quite lately that Anastase, a republican by +descent and conviction, could suddenly step into the reactionary camp. + +"Pardon me, Donna Tullia," said Ugo, in serious tones, "pardon me--but I +think we should do well to leave Monsieur Gouache to the contemplation of +his new career. This is no place for us--the company of traitors--" + +"Look here, Del Ferice," said Gouache, suddenly going up to him and +looking him in the face,--"do you seriously believe that anything you +have ever said, in this room is worth betraying? or, if you do, do you +really think that I would betray it?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, interposing, "it is nonsense! Gouache is a +gentleman, of course--and besides, I mean to have my portrait, politics +or no politics." + +With this round statement Donna Tullia sat down, and Del Ferice had no +choice but to follow her example. He was profoundly disgusted, but he saw +at a glance that it would be hopeless to attempt to dissuade Madame Mayer +when she had once made up her mind. + +"And now you can tell us all about it," said Donna Tullia. "What, in the +name of all that is senseless, has induced you to join the Zouaves? It +really makes me very nervous to see you." + +"That lends poetry to your expression," interrupted Gouache. "I wish you +were always nervous. You really want to know why I am a Zouave? It is +very simple. You must know that I always follow my impulses." + +"Impulses!" ejaculated Del Ferice, moodily. + +"Yes; because my impulses are always good,--whereas when I reflect much, +my judgment is always bad. I felt a strong impulse to wear the grey +uniform, so I walked into the recruiting office and wrote my name down." + +"I feel a strong impulse to walk out of your studio, Monsieur Gouache," +said Donna Tullia, with a rather nervous laugh. + +"Then allow me to tell you that, whereas my impulses are good, yours are +not," replied Anastase, quietly painting. "Because I have a new dress--" + +"And new convictions," interrupted Del Ferice; "you who were always +arguing about convictions!" + +"I had none; that is the reason I argued about them. I have plenty +now--I argue no longer." + +"You are wise," retorted Ugo. "Those you have got will never bear +discussion." + +"Excuse me," answered Gouache; "if you will take the trouble to be +introduced to his Eminence Cardinal Antonelli--" + +Donna Tullia held up her hands in horror. + +"That horrible man! That Mephistopheles!" she cried. + +"That Macchiavelli! That arch-enemy of our holy liberty!" exclaimed Del +Ferice, in theatrical tones. + +"Exactly," answered Gouache. "If he could be induced to devote a quarter +of an hour of his valuable time to talking with you, he would turn your +convictions round his finger." + +"This is too much!" cried Del Ferice, angrily. + +"I think it is very amusing," said Donna Tullia, "What a pity that all +Liberals are not artists, whom his Eminence could engage to paint his +portrait and be converted at so much an hour!" + +Gouache smiled quietly, and went on with his work. + +"So he told you to go and turn Zouave," remarked Donna Tullia, after a +pause, "and you submitted like a lamb." + +"So far was the Cardinal from advising me to turn soldier, that he +expressed the greatest surprise when I told him of my intention," +returned Gouache, rather coldly. + +"Indeed it is enough to take away even a cardinal's breath," answered +Madame Mayer. "I was never, never so surprised in my life!" + +Gouache stood up to get a view of his work, and Donna Tullia looked at +him critically. + +"_Tiens_!" she exclaimed, "it is rather becoming--what small ankles you +have, Gouache!" + +Anastase laughed. It was impossible to be grave in the face of such +utterly frivolous inconsistency. + +"You will allow your expression to change so often, Donna Tullia! It is +impossible to catch it." + +"Like your convictions," murmured Del Ferice from his corner. Indeed Ugo +did not know what to make of the scene. He had miscalculated the strength +of Donna Tullia's fears as compared with her longing to possess a +flattering portrait of herself. Rather than leave the picture unfinished, +she exhibited a cynical indifference to danger which would have done +honour to a better man than Del Ferice. Perhaps, too, she understood +Gouache well enough to know that he might be trusted. Indeed any one +would have trusted Gouache. Even Del Ferice was less disturbed at the +possibility of the artist's repeating any of the trivial liberal talk +which he had listened to, than at the indifference to discovery shown by +Donna Tullia. To Del Ferice, the whole thing had been but a harmless +play; but he wanted Madame Mayer to believe that it had all been in +solemn earnest, and that she was really implicated in a dangerous plot; +for it gave him a stronger hold upon her for his own ends. + +"So you are going to fight for Pio Nono," remarked Ugo, scornfully, after +another pause. + +"I am," replied Gouache. "And, no offence to you, my friend, if I meet +you in a red shirt among the Garibaldini, I will kill you. It would be +very unpleasant, so I hope that you will not join them." + +"Take care, Del Ferice," laughed Donna Tullia; "your life is in danger! +You had better join the Zouaves instead." + +"I cannot paint his Eminence's portrait," returned Ugo, with a sneer, "so +there is no chance of that." + +"You might assist him with wholesome advice, I should think," answered +Gouache. "I have no doubt you could tell him much that would be very +useful." + +"And turn traitor to--" + +"Hush! Do not be so silly, Del Ferice," interrupted Donna Tullia, who +began to fear that Del Ferice's taunts would make trouble. She had a +secret conviction that it would not be good to push the gentle Anastase +too far. He was too quiet, too determined, and too serious not to be a +little dangerous if roused. + +"Do not be absurd," she repeated. "Whatever Gouache may choose to do, he +is a gentleman, and I will not have you talk of traitors like that. He +does not quarrel with you--why do you try to quarrel with him?" + +"I think he has done quite enough to justify a quarrel, I am sure," +replied Del Ferice, moodily. + +"My dear sir," said Gouache, desisting from his work and turning towards +Ugo, "Madame is quite right. I not only do not quarrel, but I refuse to +be quarrelled with. You have my most solemn assurance that whatever has +previously passed here, whatever I have heard said by you, by Donna +Tullia, by Valdarno, by any of your friends, I regard as an inviolable +secret. You formerly said I had no convictions, and you were right. I had +none, and I listened to your exposition of your own with considerable +interest. My case is changed. I need not tell you what I believe, for I +wear the uniform of a Papal Zouave. When I put it on, I certainly did not +contemplate offending you; I do not wish to offend you now--I only beg +that you will refrain from offending me. For my part, I need only say +that henceforth I do not desire to take a part in your councils. If Donna +Tullia is satisfied with her portrait, there need be no further occasion +for our meeting. If, on the contrary, we are to meet again, I beg that we +may meet on a footing of courtesy and mutual respect." + +It was impossible to say more; and Gouache's speech terminated the +situation so far as Del Ferice was concerned. Donna Tullia smilingly +expressed her approval. + +"Quite right, Gouache," she said. "You know it would be impossible to +leave the portrait as it is now. The mouth, you know--you promised to do +something to it--just the expression, you know." + +Gouache bowed his head a little, and set to work again without a word. +Del Ferice did not speak again during the sitting, but sat moodily +staring at the canvas, at Donna Tullia, and at the floor. It was not +often that he was moved from his habitual suavity of manner, but +Gouache's conduct had made him feel particularly uncomfortable. + +The next time Donna Tullia came to sit, she brought her old Countess, and +Del Ferice did not appear. The portrait was ultimately finished to the +satisfaction of all parties, and was hung in Donna Tullia's drawing-room, +to be admired and criticised by all her friends. But Gouache rejoiced +when the thing was finally removed from his studio, for he had grown to +hate it, and had been almost willing to flatter it out of all likeness to +Madame Mayer, for the sake of not being eternally confronted by the cold +stare of her blue eyes. He finished the Cardinal's portrait too; and the +statesman not only paid for it with unusual liberality, but gave the +artist what he called a little memento of the long hours they had spent +together. He opened one of the lockers in his study, and from a small +drawer selected an ancient ring, in which was set a piece of crystal with +a delicate intaglio of a figure of Victory. He took Gouache's hand and +slipped the ring upon his finger. He had taken a singular liking to +Anastase. + +"Wear it as a little souvenir of me," he said kindly. "It is a Victory; +you are a soldier now, so I pray that victory may go with you; and I give +Victory herself into your hands." + +"And I," said Gouache, "will pray that it may be a symbol in my hand of +the real victories you are to win." + +"Only a symbol," returned the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Nothing but a +symbol. I was not born to conquer, but to lead a forlorn hope--to deceive +vanquished men with a hope not real, and to deceive the victors with an +unreal fear. Nevertheless, my friend," he added, grasping Gouache's hand, +and fixing upon him his small bright eyes,--"nevertheless, let us fight, +fight--fight to the very end!" + +"We will fight to the end, Eminence," said Gouache. He was only a private +of Zouaves, and the man whose hand he held was great and powerful; but +the same spirit was in the hearts of both, the same courage, the same +devotion to the failing cause--and both kept their words, each in his own +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Astrardente was in some respects a picturesque place. The position of the +little town gave it a view in both directions from where it stood; for it +was built upon a precipitous eminence rising suddenly out of the midst of +the narrow strip of fertile land, the long and rising valley which, from +its lower extremity, conducted by many circuits to the Roman Campagna, +and which ended above in the first rough passes of the lower Abruzzi. The +base of the town extended into the vineyards and olive-orchards which +surrounded the little hill on all sides; and the summit of it was crowned +by the feudal palace-castle--an enormous building of solid stone, in the +style of the fifteenth century. Upon the same spot had formally stood a +rugged fortress, but the magnificent ideas of the Astrardente pope +had not tolerated such remains of barbarism; the ancient stronghold had +been torn down, and on its foundations rose a gigantic mansion, +consisting of a main palace, with great balconies and columned front, +overlooking the town, and of two massive wings leading back like towers +to the edge of the precipitous rock to northwards. Between these wings a +great paved court formed a sort of terrace, open upon one side, and +ornamented within with a few antique statues dug up upon the estates, and +with numerous plants, which the old duke had caused to be carefully +cultivated in vases, and which were only exposed upon the terrace during +the warm summer months. The view from the court was to the north--that is +to say, down the valley, comprehending ranges of hills that seemed to +cross and recross into the extreme distance, their outlines being each +time less clearly defined, as the masses in each succeeding range took a +softer purple hue. + +Within, the palace presented a great variety of apartments. There were +suites of vaulted rooms upon the lower floor, frescoed in the good manner +of the fifteenth century; there were other suites above, hung with +ancient tapestry and furnished with old-fashioned marble tables, and +mirrors in heavily gilt frames, and one entire wing had been lately +fitted up in the modern style. In this part of the house Corona +established herself with Sister Gabrielle, and began to lead a life of +regular occupations and profound retirement, which seemed to be rather a +continuation of her existence in the convent where she had been educated +as a girl, than to form any part in the life of the superb Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who for five years had been one of the most conspicuous +persons in society. Every morning at eight o'clock the two ladies, always +clad in deep black, attended the Mass which was celebrated for them in +the palace chapel. Then Corona walked for an hour with her companion upon +the terrace, or, if it rained, beneath the covered balconies upon the +south side. The morning hours she passed in solitude, reading such books +of devotion and serious matter as most suited the sad temper of her mind; +precisely at mid-day she and Sister Gabrielle breakfasted together in a +sort of solemn state; and at three o'clock the great landau, with its +black horses and mourning liveries, stood under the inner gate. The two +ladies appeared five minutes later, and by a gesture Corona indicated +whether she would be driven up or down the valley. The dashing equipage +descended the long smooth road that wound through the town, and returned +invariably at the end of two hours, again ascended the tortuous way, and +disappeared beneath the dark entrance. At six o'clock dinner was served, +with the same solemn state as attended the morning meal; Corona and +Sister Gabrielle remained together until ten, and the day was over. There +was no more variation in the routine of their lives than if they had been +moved by a machinery connected with the great castle clock overhead, +which chimed the hours and the quarters by day and night, and regulated +the doings of the town below. + +But in spite of this unchanging sequence of similar habit, the time +passed pleasantly for Corona. She had had too much of the brilliant +lights and the buzzing din of society for the last five years, too much +noise, too much idle talk, too much aimless movement; she needed rest, +too, from the constant strain of her efforts to fulfil her self-imposed +duties towards her husband--most of all, perhaps, she required a respite +from the sufferings she had undergone through her stifled love for +Giovanni Saracinesca. All this she found in the magnificent calm of +the life at Astrardente. She meditated long upon the memory of her +husband, recalling lovingly those things which had been most worthy in +him, willingly forgetting his many follies and vanities and moments of +petulance. She went over in her mind the many and varied scenes of the +past, and learned to love the sweet and silent solitude of the present by +comparison of it with all the useless and noisy activity of the world she +had for a time abandoned. She had not expected to find anything more than +a passive companion in Sister Gabrielle; but in the course of their daily +converse she discovered in her a character of extreme refinement and +quick perception, a depth of human sympathy and a breadth of experience +which amazed her, and made her own views of things seem small. The Sister +was devout and rigid in the observance of the institutions of her order, +in so far as she was able to follow out the detail of religious +regulation without interfering with the convenience of her companion; +but in her conversation she showed an intimate knowledge of character +which was a constant source of pleasure to Corona, who told the Sister +long stories of people she had known for the sake of hearing her +admirable comments upon social questions. + +But besides her reading and her long hours of meditation and her talks +with Sister Gabrielle, Corona found occupation in the state of the town +below her residence. She attempted once or twice to visit the poor +cottages, in the hope of doing some good; but she found that she was +such an object of holy awe to the inmates that they were speechless in +her presence, or became so nervous in their desire to answer her +questions, that the information she was able to obtain concerning their +troubles was too vague to be of any use. + +The Italian peasant is not the same in all parts of the country, as is +generally supposed; and although the Tuscan, who is constantly brought +into familiar contact with his landlord, and acquires a certain pleasant +faith in him, grows eloquent upon the conditions of his being, the same +is not true of the rougher race that labours in the valleys of the Sabine +and the Samnite hills. The peasant of the Agro Romano is indeed capable +of civilisation and he is able to understand his superiors, provided that +he is gradually accustomed to seeing them: unfortunately this occurs but +rarely. Many of the great Roman landholders spend a couple of months of +every year upon their estates: old Astrardente had in his later years +gone to considerable expense in refitting and repairing the castle, but +he had done little for the town. Men like the Saracinesca, however, were +great exceptions at that time; though they travelled much abroad, they +often remained for many months in their rugged old fortress. They knew +the inhabitants of their lands far and wide, and were themselves not only +known but loved; they spent their money in improving the condition of +their peasants, in increasing the area of their forests, and in fostering +the fertility of the soil, but they cared nothing for adorning the grey +stone walls of their ancestors' stronghold. It had done well enough for a +thousand years, it would do well enough still; it had stood firm against +fierce sieges in the dark ages of the Roman baronry, it could afford to +stand unchanged in its monumental strength against the advancing sea of +nineteenth-century civilisation. They themselves, father and son, were +content with such practical improvements as they could introduce for the +good of their people and the enriching of their land; a manly race, +despising luxury, they cared little whether their home was thought +comfortable by the few guests they occasionally invited to spend a week +with them. They saw much of the peasantry, and went daily among them, +understanding their wants, and wisely promoting in their minds the belief +that land cannot prosper unless both landlord and tenant do their share. + +But Astrardente was a holding of a very different kind, and Corona, in +her first attempts at understanding the state of things, found herself +stopped by a dead wall of silence, beyond which she guessed that there +lay an undiscovered land of trouble. She knew next to nothing of the +condition of her people; she only imperfectly understood the relations in +which they actually stood to herself, the extent of her power over them, +and of their power over her. The mysteries of _emphyteusis, emphyteuma,_ +and _emphyteuta_ were still hidden to her, though her steward spoke of +them with surprising loquacity and fluency. She laboured hard to +understand the system upon which her tenants held their lands from her, +and it was some time before she succeeded. It is easier to explain the +matter at once than to follow Corona in her attempts to comprehend it. + +To judge from the terms employed, the system of holdings common in the +Pontifical States has descended without interruption from the time of the +Romans to the present day. As in old Roman law, _emphyteusis_, now spelt +_emfiteuse_, means the possession of rights over another person's land, +capable of transmission by inheritance; and to-day, as under the Romans, +the holder of such rights is called the _emphyteuta_, or _emfiteuta_. How +the Romans came to use Greek words in their tenant-law does not belong to +the matter in hand; these words are the only ones now in use in this part +of Italy, and they are used precisely as they were in remote times. + +A tenant may acquire rights of _emfiteuse_ directly from the owner +of the land, like an ordinary lease; or he may acquire them by +settlement--"squatting," as the popular term is. Wherever land is lying +waste, any one may establish himself upon it and cultivate it, on +condition of paying to the owner a certain proportion of the yield of the +land--generally one quarter--either in kind or in money. The landlord +may, indeed, refuse the right of settlement in the first instance, which +would very rarely occur, since most people who own barren tracts of rock +and heath are only too glad to promote any kind of cultivation. But when +the landlord has once allowed the right, the right itself is constituted +thereby into a possession of which the peasant may dispose as he pleases, +even by selling it to another. The law provides, however, that in case of +transfers by sale, the landlord shall receive one year's rent in kind or +in money in addition to the rent due, and this bonus is paid jointly by +the buyer and the seller according to agreement. Such holdings are +inherited from father to son for many generations, and are considered to +be perpetual leases. The landlord cannot expel a tenant except for +non-payment of rent during three consecutive years. In actual fact, the +right of the _emfiteuta_ in the soil is far more important than that of +the landlord; for the tenant can cheat his landlord as much as he +pleases, whereas the injustice of the law provides that under no +circumstances whatsoever shall the landlord cheat the tenant. In actual +fact, also, the rents are universally paid in kind, and the peasant eats +what remains of the produce, so that very little cash is seen in the +land. + +Corona discovered that the income she enjoyed from the lands of +Astrardente was collected by the basketful from the threshing-floors, and +by the barrel from the vineyards of some two hundred tenants. It was a +serious matter to gather from two hundred threshing-floors precisely a +quarter of the grain threshed, and from fifty or sixty vineyards +precisely a quarter of the wine made in each. The peasants all made their +wine at the same time, and all threshed their grain in the same week. If +the agent was not on the spot during the threshing and the vintage, the +peasant had no difficulty whatever in hiding a large quantity of his +produce. As the rent was never fixed, but depended solely on the yield of +the year, it was preeminently to the advantage of the tenant to throw +dust in the eyes of the landlord whenever he got a chance. The landlord +found the business of watching his tenants tedious and unprofitable, and +naturally resorted to the crowning evil of agricultural evils--the +employment of a rent-farmer. The latter, at all events, was willing to +pay a fixed sum yearly; and if the sum paid was generally considerably +below the real value of the rents, the arrangement at least assured a +fixed income to the landlord, with the certainty of getting it without +trouble to himself. The middleman then proceeded to grind the tenants at +his leisure and discretion in order to make the best of his bargain. The +result was, that while the tenant starved and the landlord got less than +his due in consideration of being saved from annoyance, the middleman +gradually accumulated money. + +Upon this system nine-tenths of the land in the Pontifical States was +held, and much of the same land is so held to-day, in spite of the modern +tenant-law, for reasons which will be clearly explained in another part +of this history. Corona saw and understood that the evil was very great. +She discussed the matter with her steward, or _ministro_ as he was +called, who was none other than the aforesaid middleman; and the more she +discussed the question, the more hopeless the question appeared. The +steward held a contract from her dead husband for a number of years. He +had regularly paid the yearly sums agreed upon, and it would be +impossible to remove him for several years to come. He, of course, was +strenuously opposed to any change, and did his best to make himself +appear as an angel of mercy and justice, presiding over a happy family of +rejoicing peasants in the heart of a terrestrial paradise. Unfortunately +for himself, however, he had not at first understood the motive which +prompted Corona's inquiries. He supposed in the beginning that she was +not satisfied with the amount of rent he paid, and that at the expiration +of his contract she intended to raise the sum; so that, on the first +occasion when she sent for him, he had drawn a piteous picture of the +peasant's condition, and had expatiated with eloquence on his own +poverty, and on the extreme difficulty of collecting any rents at all. It +was not until he discovered that Corona's chief preoccupation was for the +welfare of her tenants that he changed his tactics, and endeavoured to +prove that all was for the best upon the best of all possible estates. + +Then, to his great astonishment, Corona informed him that his contract +would not be renewed, and that at the expiration of his term she would +collect her rents herself. It had taken her long to understand the +situation, but when she had comprehended it, she made up her mind that +something must be done. If her fortune had depended solely upon the +income she received from the Astrardente lands, she would have made up +her mind to reduce herself to penury rather than allow things to go in +the way they were going. Fortunately she was rich, and if she had not all +the experience necessary to deal with such matters, she had plenty of +goodwill, plenty of generosity, and plenty of money. In her simple +theory of agrarian economy the best way to improve an estate seemed to be +to spend the income arising from it directly upon its improvement, until +she could take the whole management of it into her own hands. The +trouble, as she thought, was that there was too little money among the +peasants; the best way to help them was to put money within their reach. +The only question was how to do this without demoralising them, and +without increasing their liabilities towards the _ministro_ or middleman. + +Then she sent for the curate. From him she learned that the people did +well enough in the summer, but that the winter was dreaded. She asked +why. He answered that they were not provident; that the land system was +bad; and that even if they saved anything the _ministro_ would take it +from them. She inquired whether he thought it possible to induce them to +be more thrifty. He thought it might be done in ten years, but not in +one. + +"In that case," said Corona, "the only way to improve their condition is +to give them work in the winter. I will make roads through the estate, +and build large dwelling-houses in the town. There shall be work enough +for everybody." + +It was a simple plan, but it was destined to be carried into execution, +and to change the face of the Astrardente domain in a few years. Corona +sent to Rome for an engineer who was also a good architect, and she set +herself to study the possibilities of the place, giving the man +sufficient scope, and only insisting that there should be no labour and +no material imported from beyond the limits of her lands. This provided +her with an occupation whereby the time passed quickly enough. + +The Lenten season ended, and Eastertide ran swiftly on to Pentecost. The +early fruit-trees blossomed white, and the flowers fell in a snow-shower +to the ground, to give place to the cherries and the almonds and the +pears. The brown bramble-hedges turned leafy, and were alive with little +birds; and the great green lizards shot across the woodland paths upon +the hillside, and caught the flies that buzzed noisily in the spring +sunshine. The dried-up vines put forth tiny leaves, and the maize shot +suddenly up to the sun out of the rich furrows, like myriads of brilliant +green poignards piercing the brown skin of the earth. By the roadside the +grass grew high, and the broad shallow brooks shrank to narrow rivulets, +and disappeared in the overgrowing rushes before the increasing heat of +the climbing sun. + +Corona's daily round of life never changed, but as the months wore on, a +stealing thought came often and often again--shy, as though fearing to be +driven away; silent at first, as a shadow in a dream, but taking form and +reality from familiarity with its own self, and speaking intelligible +words, saying at last plainly, "Will he keep his promise? Will he never +come?" + +But he came not as the fresh colours of spring deepened with the rich +maturity of summer; and Corona, gazing down the valley, saw the change +that came over the fair earth, and half guessed the change that was +coming over her own life. She had sought solitude instinctively, but +she had not known what it would bring her. She had desired to honour her +dead husband by withdrawing from the world for a time and thinking of him +and remembering him. She had done so, but the youth in her rebelled at +last against the constant memory of old age--of an old age, too, which +had passed away from her and was dead for ever. + +It was right to dwell for a time upon the thought of her widowhood, but +the voice said it would not be always right. The calm and noiseless tide +of the old man's ceasing life had ebbed slowly and reluctantly from her +shore, and she had followed the sad sea in her sorrow to the furthest +verge of its retreat; but as she stood upon the edge of the stagnant +waters, gazing far out and trying to follow even further the slow +subsiding ooze, the tide had turned upon her unawares, the fresh seaward +breeze sprang up and broke the dead calm with the fresh motion of crisp +ripples that once more flowed gladly over the dreary sand, and the waters +of life plashed again and laughed gladly together around her feet. + +The thought of Giovanni--the one thought that again and again kept +recurring in her mind--grew very sweet,--as sweet as it had once been +bitter. There was nothing to stop its growth now, and she let it have its +way. What did it matter, so long as he did not come near her--for the +present? Some day he would come; she wondered when, and how long he would +keep his promise. But meanwhile she was not unhappy, and she went about +her occupations as before; only sometimes she would go alone at evening +to the balcony that faced the higher mountains, and there she would stand +for half an hour gazing southward towards the precipitous rocks that +caught the red glare of the sinking sun, and she asked herself if he were +there, or whether, as report had told her, he were in the far north. +It was but half a day's ride over the hills, he had said. But strain her +sight as she would, she could not pierce the heavy crags nor see into the +wooded dells beyond. He had said he would pass the summer there; had he +changed his mind? + +But she was not unhappy. There was that in her which forbade unhappiness, +which would have broken out into great joy if she would have let it; but +yet she would not. It was too soon yet to say aloud what she said in her +heart daily, that she loved Giovanni with a great love, and that she knew +she was free to love him. In that thought there was enough of joy. But he +might come if he would; her anger would not be great if he broke his +promise now, he had kept it so long--six whole months. But by-and-by, +as the days passed, the first note of happiness was marred by the +discordant ring of a distant fear. What if she had too effectually +forbidden him to see her? What if he had gone out disappointed of all +hope, and was really in distant Scandinavia, as the papers said, risking +his life in mad adventures? + +But after all, that was not what she feared. He was strong, young, +brave--he had survived a thousand dangers, he would survive these also. +There arose between her and the thought of him an evil shadow, the image +of a woman, and it took the shape of Donna Tullia so vividly that she +could see the red lips move and almost hear the noisy laugh. She was +angry with herself at the idea, but it recurred continually and gave her +pain, and the pain grew to an intolerable fear. She began to feel that +she must know where he was, at any cost, or she could have no peace. She +was restless and nervous, and began to be absent-minded in her +conversation with Sister Gabrielle. The good woman saw it, and advised a +little change--anything, an excursion of a day for instance. Corona, she +said, was too young to lead this life. + +Her mind leaped at the idea. It was but half a day's ride, he had said; +she would climb those hills and look down upon Saracinesca--only once. +She might perhaps meet some peasant, and by a careless inquiry she would +learn whether he was there--or would be there in the summer. No one would +know; and besides, Sister Gabrielle had said that an excursion would do +Corona good. Sister Gabrielle had probably never heard that Saracinesca +was so near, and she certainly would not guess that the Duchessa had any +interest in its lord. She announced her intention, and the Sister +approved--she herself, she said, was too weak to undergo the fatigue. + +On the following morning, Corona alone entered her carriage and was +driven many miles up the southward hills, till the road was joined by a +broad bridle-path that led eastwards towards the Abruzzi. Here she was +met by a party of horsemen, her own _guardiani_, or forest-keepers, as +they are called, in rough dark-blue coats and leathern gaiters. Each man +wore upon his breast a round plate of chiselled silver, bearing the arms +of the Astrardente; each had a long rifle slung behind him, and carried a +holster at the bow of his huge saddle. A couple of sturdy black-browed +peasants held a mule by the bridle, heavily caparisoned in the old +fashion, under a great red velvet Spanish saddle, with long tarnished +trappings that had once been embroidered with silver. A little knot of +peasants and ragged boys stood all around watching the preparations +with interest, and commenting audibly upon the beauty of the great lady. + +Corona mounted from a stone by the wayside, and the young men led her +beast up the path. She smiled to herself, for she had never done such a +thing before, but she was not uneasy in the company of her rough-looking +escort. She knew well enough that she was as safe with them as in her own +house. + +As the bridle-path wound up from the road, the country grew more rugged, +the vegetation more scanty, and the stones more plentiful. It was a +wilderness of rocky desolation; as far as one could see there was no sign +of humanity, not a soul upon the solitary road, not a living thing upon +the desolate hills that rose on either side in jagged points to the sky. +Corona talked a little with the head-keeper who rode beside her with a +slack rein, letting his small mountain horse pick its own way over the +rough path. He told her that few people ever passed that way. It was the +short road to Saracinesca. The princes sometimes sent their carriage +round by the longer way and rode over the hills; and in the vintage-time +there was some traffic, as many of the smaller peasants carried grapes +across the pass to the larger wine-presses, and sold them outright. It +was not a dangerous road, for the very reason that it was so +unfrequented. The Duchessa explained that she only wanted to see the +valley beyond from the summit of the pass, and would then return. It was +past mid-day when the party reached the highest point,--a depression +between the crags just wide enough to admit one loaded mule. The keeper +said she could see Saracinesca from the end of the narrow way, before the +descent began. She uttered an exclamation of surprise as she reached the +spot. + +Scarcely a quarter of a mile to the right, at the extremity of a broad +hill-road, she saw the huge towers of Saracinesca, grey and storm-beaten, +rising out of a thick wood. The whole intervening space--and indeed the +whole deep valley as far as she could see--was an unbroken forest of +chestnut-trees. Here and there below the castle the houses of the town +showed their tiled gables, but the mass of the buildings was hidden +completely from sight. Corona had had no idea that she should find +herself so near to the place, and she was seized with a sudden fear lest +Giovanni should appear upon the long straight path that led into the +trees. She drew back a little among her followers. + +"Are the princes there now?" she asked of the head-keeper. + +He did not know; but a moment later a peasant, riding astride of a bag of +corn upon his donkey's back, passed along the straight road by the +entrance to the bridle-path. The keeper hailed him, and put the question. +Seeing Corona upon her mule, surrounded by armed men in livery, the man +halted, and pulled off his soft black-cloth hat. + +Both the princes were in Saracinesca, he said. The young prince had been +there ever since Easter. They were busy building an aqueduct which was to +supply the whole town with water; it was to pass above, up there among +the woods. The princes went almost every day to visit the works. Her +Excellency might, perhaps, find them there now, or if not, they were at +the castle. + +But her Excellency had no intention of finding them. She gave the fellow +a coin, and beat a somewhat hasty retreat. Her followers were silent men, +accustomed to obey, and they followed her down the steep path without +even exchanging a word among themselves. Beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock she halted, and, dismounting from her mule, was served +with the lunch that had been brought. She ate little, and then sat +thoughtfully contemplating the bare stones, while the men at a little +distance hastily disposed of the remains of her meal. She had experienced +an extraordinary emotion on finding herself suddenly so near to Giovanni; +it was almost as though she had seen him, and her heart beat fast, while +a dark flush rose from time to time to her cheek. It would have been so +natural that he should pass that way, just as she was halting at the +entrance to the bridle-path. How unspeakably dreadful it would have been +to be discovered thus spying out his dwelling-place when she had so +strictly forbidden him to attempt to see her! The blush burned upon her +cheeks--she had done a thing so undignified, so ill befitting her +magnificent superiority. For a moment she was desperately ashamed. But +for all that, she could not repress the glad delight she felt at +knowing that he was there after all; that, if he had kept his word, in +avoiding her, he had, nevertheless, also fulfilled his intention of +spending the summer in Saracinesca. He had even been there since Easter, +and the story of his going to the North had been a mere invention of the +newspapers. She could not understand his conduct, nor why he had gone to +Paris--a fact attested by people who knew him. It had probably been for +some matter of business--that excuse which, in a woman's mind, explains +almost any sudden journey a man may undertake. But he was there in the +castle now, and her heart was satisfied. + +The men packed the things in the basket, and Corona was helped upon her +mule. Slowly the party descended the steep path that grew broader and +more practicable as they neared the bottom; there the carriage awaited +her, and soon she was bowling along the smooth road towards home, leaving +far behind her the mounted guards, the peasants, and her slow-paced mule. +The sun was low when the carriage rolled under the archway of +Astrardente. Sister Gabrielle said Corona looked much the better for her +excursion, and she added that she must be very strong to bear such +fatigue so well. And the next day--and for many days--the Sister noticed +the change in her hostess's manner, and promised herself that if the +Duchessa became uneasy again she would advise another day among the +hills, so wonderful was the effect of a slight change from the ordinary +routine of her life. + +That night old Saracinesca and his son sat at dinner in a wide hall of +their castle. The faithful Pasquale served them as solemnly as he was +used to do in Rome. This evening he spoke again. He had ventured no +remark since he had informed them of the Duca d'Astrardente's death. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon," he began, adopting his usual formula +of apologetic address. + +"Well, Pasquale, what is it?" asked old Saracinesca. + +"I did not know whether your Excellency was aware that the Duchessa +d'Astrardente had been here to-day." + +"What?" roared the Prince. + +"You must be mad, Pasquale?" exclaimed Giovanni in a low voice. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon if I am wrong, but this is how I know. +Gigi Secchi, the peasant from Aquaviva in the lower forest, brought a bag +of corn to the mill to-day, and he told the miller, and the miller told +Ettore, and Ettore told Nino, and Nino told--" + +"What the devil did he tell him?" interrupted old Saracinesca. + +"Nino told the cook's boy," continued Pasquale unmoved, "and the cook's +boy told me, your Excellency, that Gigi was passing along the road to +Serveti coming here, when he was stopped by a number of _guardiani_ who +accompanied a beautiful dark lady in black, who rode upon a mule, and the +_guardiani_ asked him if your Excellencies were at Saracinesca; and when +he said you were, the lady gave him a coin, and turned at once and rode +down the bridle-path towards Astrardente, and he said the _guardiani_ +were those of the Astrardente, because he remembered to have seen one of +them, who has a scar over his left eye, at the great fair at Genazzano +last year. And that is how I heard." + +"That is a remarkable narrative, Pasquale," answered the Prince, laughing +loudly, "but it seems very credible. Go and send for Gigi Secchi if he is +still in the neighbourhood, and bring him here, and let us have the story +from his own lips." + +When they were alone the two men looked at each other for a moment, and +then old Saracinesca laughed again; but Giovanni looked very grave, and +his face was pale. Presently his father became serious again. + +"If this thing is true," he said, "I would advise you, Giovanni, to pay a +visit to the other side of the hills. It is time." + +Giovanni was silent for a moment. He was intensely interested in the +situation, but he could not tell his father that he had promised Corona +not to see her, and he had not yet explained to himself her sudden +appearance so near Saracinesca. + +"I think it would be better for you to go first," he said to his father. +"But I am not at all sure this story is true." + +"I? Oh, I will go when you please," returned the old man, with another +laugh. He was always ready for anything active. + +But Gigi Secchi could not be found. He had returned to Aquaviva at once, +and it was not easy to send a message. Two days later, however, Giovanni +took the trouble of going to the man's home. He was not altogether +surprised when Gigi confirmed Pasquale's tale in every particular. +Corona had actually been at Saracinesca to find out if Giovanni was there +or not; and on hearing that he was at the castle, she had fled +precipitately. Giovanni was naturally grave and of a melancholy temper; +but during the last few months he had been more than usually taciturn, +occupying himself with dogged obstinacy in the construction of his +aqueduct, visiting the works in the day and spending hours in the evening +over the plans. He was waiting. He believed that Corona cared for him, +and he knew that he loved her, but for the present he must wait +patiently, both for the sake of his promise and for the sake of a decent +respect of her widowhood. In order to wait he felt the necessity of +constant occupation, and to that end he had set himself resolutely to +work with his father, whose ideal dream was to make Saracinesea the most +complete and prosperous community in that part of the mountains. + +"I think if you would go over," he said, at the end of a week, "it would +be much better. I do not want to intrude myself upon her at present, and +you could easily find out whether she would like to see me. After all, +she may have been merely making an excursion for her amusement, and +may have chanced upon us by accident. I have often noticed how suddenly +one comes in view of the castle from that bridle-path." + +"On the other hand," returned the Prince with a smile, "any one would +tell her that the path leads nowhere except to Saracinesca. But I will go +to-morrow," he added. "I will set your mind at rest in twenty-four +hours." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Old Saracinesca kept his word, and on the following morning, eight days +after Corona's excursion upon the hills, he rode down to Astrardente, +reaching the palace at about mid-day. He sent in his card, and stood +waiting beneath the great gate, beating the dust from his boots with his +heavy whip. His face looked darker than ever, from constant exposure to +the sun, and his close-cropped hair and short square beard had turned +even whiter than before in the last six months, but his strong form was +erect, and his step firm and elastic. He was a remarkable old man; many a +boy of twenty might have envied his strength and energetic vitality. + +Corona was at her mid-day breakfast with Sister Gabrielle, when the old +Prince's card was brought. She started at the sight of the name; and +though upon the bit of pasteboard she read plainly enough, "_Il Principe +di Saracinesca_," she hesitated, and asked the butler if it was really +the Prince. He said it was. + +"Would you mind seeing him?" she asked of Sister Gabrielle. "He is an old +gentleman," she added, in explanation--"a near neighbour here in the +mountains." + +Sister Gabrielle had no objection. She even remarked that it would do the +Duchessa good to see some one. + +"Ask the Prince to come in, and put another place at the table," said +Corona. + +A moment later the old man entered, and Corona rose to receive him. There +was something refreshing in the ring of his deep voice and the clank of +his spurs as he crossed the marble floor. + +"Signora Duchessa, you are very good to receive me. I did not know that +this was your breakfast-hour. Ah!" he exclaimed, glancing at Sister +Gabrielle, who had also risen to her feet, "good day, my Sister." + +"Sister Gabrielle," said Corona, as an introduction; "she is good enough +to be my companion in solitude." + +To tell the truth, Corona felt uneasy; but the sensation was somehow +rather pleasurable, although it crossed her mind that the Prince might +have heard of her excursion, and had possibly come to find out why she +had been so near to his place. She boldly faced the situation. + +"I nearly came upon you the other day as unexpectedly as you have visited +me," she said with a smile. "I had a fancy to look over into your valley, +and when I reached the top of the hill I found I was almost in your +house." + +"I wish you had quite been there," returned the Prince. "Of course I +heard that you had been seen, and we guessed you had stumbled upon us in +some mountain excursion. My son rode all the way to Aquaviva to see the +man who had spoken with you." + +Saracinesca said this as though it were perfectly natural, helping +himself to the dish the servant offered him. But when he looked up he saw +that Corona blushed beneath her dark skin. + +"It is such a very sudden view at that point," she said, nervously, "that +I was startled." + +"I wish you had preserved your equanimity to the extent of going a little +further. Saracinesca has rarely been honoured with the visit of a +Duchessa d'Astrardente. But since you have explained your visit--or the +visit which you did not make--I ought to explain mine. You must know, in +the first place, that I am not here by accident, but by intention, +preconceived, well pondered, and finally executed to my own complete +satisfaction. I came, not to get a glimpse of your valley nor a distant +view of your palace, but to see you, yourself. Your hospitality in +receiving me has therefore crowned and complimented the desire I had of +seeing you." + +Corona laughed a little. + +"That is a very pretty speech," she said. + +"Which you would have lost if you had not received me," he answered, +gaily. "I have not done yet. I have many pretty speeches for you. The +sight of you induces beauty in language as the sun in May makes the +flowers open." + +"That is another," laughed Corona. "Do you spend your days in studying +the poets at Saracinesca? Does Don Giovanni study with you?" + +"Giovanni is a fact," returned the Prince; "I am a fable. Old men are +always fables, for they represent, in a harmless form, the follies of all +mankind; their end is always in itself a moral, and young people can +learn much by studying them." + +"Your comparison is witty," said Corona, who was much amused at old +Saracinesca's conversation; "but I doubt whether you are so harmless as +you represent. You are certainly not foolish, and I am not sure whether, +as a study for the young--" she hesitated, and laughed. + +"Whether extremely young persons would have the wit to comprehend virtue +by the concealment of it--to say, as that witty old Roman said, that the +images of Cassius and Brutus were more remarkable than those of any one +else, for the very reason that they were nowhere to be seen--like my +virtues? Giovanni, for instance, is the very reverse of me in that, +though he has shown such singularly bad taste in resembling my outward +man." + +"One should never conceal virtues," said Sister Gabrielle, gently. "One +should not hide one's light under a basket, you know." + +"My Sister," replied the old Prince, his black eyes twinkling merrily, +"if I had in my whole composition as much light as would enable you to +read half-a-dozen words in your breviary, it should be at your disposal. +I would set it in the midst of Piazza Colonna, and call it the most +wonderful illumination on record. Unfortunately my light, like the +lantern of a solitary miner, is only perceptible to myself, and dimly at +that." + +"You must not depreciate yourself so very much," said Corona. + +"No; that is true. You will either believe I am speaking the truth, or +you will not. I do not know which would be the worse fate. I will change +the subject. My son Giovanni, Duchessa, desires to be remembered in your +good graces." + +"Thanks. How is he?" + +"He is well, but the temper of him is marvellously melancholy. He is +building an aqueduct, and so am I. The thing is accomplished by his +working perpetually while I smoke cigarettes and read novels." + +"The division of labour is to your advantage, I should say," remarked +Corona. + +"Immensely, I assure you. He promotes the natural advantages of my lands, +and I encourage the traffic in tobacco and literature. He works from +morning till night, is his own engineer, contractor, overseer, and +master-mason. He does everything, and does it well. If we were less +barbarous in our bachelor establishment I would ask you to come and see +us--in earnest this time--and visit the work we are doing. It is well +worth while. Perhaps you would consent as it is. We will vacate the +castle for your benefit, and mount guard outside the gates all night." + +Again Corona blushed. She would have given anything to go, but she felt +that it was impossible. + +"I would like to go," she said. "If one could come back the same day." + +"You did before," remarked Saracinesca, bluntly. + +"But it was late when I reached home, and I spent no time at all there." + +"I know you did not," laughed the old man. "You gave Gigi Secchi some +money, and then fled precipitately." + +"Indeed I was afraid you would suddenly come upon me, and I ran away," +answered Corona, laughing in her turn, as the dark blood rose to her +olive cheeks. + +"As my amiable ancestors did in the same place when anybody passed with a +full purse," suggested Saracinesca. "But we have improved a little since +then. We would have asked you to breakfast. Will you come?" + +"I do not like to go alone; I cannot, you see. Sister Gabrielle could +never ride up that hill on a mule." + +"There is a road for carriages," said the Prince. "I will propose +something in the way of a compromise. I will bring Giovanni down with me +and our team of mountain horses. Those great beasts of yours cannot do +this kind of work. We will take you and Sister Gabrielle up almost as +fast as you could go by the bridle-path." "And back on the same day?" +asked Corona. + +"No; on the next day." + +"But I do not see where the compromise is," she replied. "Sister +Gabrielle is at once the compromise and the cause that you will not be +compromised. I beg her pardon--" + +Both ladies laughed. + +"I will be very glad to go," said the Sister. "I do not see that there is +anything extraordinary in the Prince's proposal." + +"My Sister," returned Saracinesca, "you are on the way to saintship; you +already enjoy the beatific vision; you see with a heavenly perspicuity." + +"It is a charming proposition," said Corona; "but in that case you will +have to come down the day before." She was a little embarrassed. + +"We will not invade the cloister," answered the Prince. "Giovanni and I +will spend the night in concocting pretty speeches, and will appear armed +with them at dawn before your gates." + +"There is room in Astrardente," replied Corona. "You shall not lack +hospitality for a night. When will you come?" + +"To-morrow evening, if you please. A good thing should be done quickly, +in order not to delay doing it again." + +"Do you think I would go again?" + +Saracinesca fixed his black eyes on Corona's, and gazed at her some +seconds before he answered. + +"Madam," he said at last, very gravely, "I trust you will come again and +stay longer." + +"You are very good," returned Corona, quietly. "At all events, I will go +this first time." + +"We will endeavour to show our gratitude by making you comfortable," +answered the Prince, resuming his former tone. "You shall have a mass in +the morning and a litany in the evening. We are godless fellows up +there, but we have a priest." + +"You seem to associate our comfort entirely with religious services," +laughed Corona. "But you are very considerate." + +"I see the most charming evidence of devotion at your side," he replied; +"Sister Gabrielle is both the evidence of your piety and is in herself +an exposition of the benefits of religion. There shall be other +attractions, however, besides masses and litanies." + +Breakfast being ended, Sister Gabrielle left the two together. They went +from the dining-room to the great vaulted hall of the inner building. It +was cool there, and there were great old arm-chairs ranged along the +walls. The closed blinds admitted a soft green light from the hot noonday +without. Corona loved to walk upon the cool marble floor; she was a very +strong and active woman, delighting in mere motion--not restless, but +almost incapable of weariness; her movements not rapid, but full of grace +and ease. Saracinesca walked by her side, smoking thoughtfully for some +minutes. + +"Duchessa," he said at last, glancing at her beautiful face, "things are +greatly changed since we met last. You were angry with me then. I do not +know whether you were so justly, but you were very angry for a few +moments. I am going to return to the subject now; I trust you will not be +offended with me." + +Corona trembled for a moment, and was silent. She would have prevented +him from going on, but before she could find the words she sought he +continued. + +"Things are much changed, in some respects; in others, not at all. It is +but natural to suppose that in the course of time you will think of the +possibility of marrying again. My son, Duchessa, loves you very truly. +Pardon me, it is no disrespect to you, now, that he should have told me +so. I am his father, and I have no one else to care for. He is too honest +a gentleman to have spoken of his affection for you at an eailier period, +but he has told me of it now." + +Corona stood still in the midst of the great hall, and faced the old +Prince. She had grown pale while he was speaking. Still she was silent. + +"I have nothing more to say--that is all," said Saracinesca, gazing +earnestly into the depths of her eyes. "I have nothing more to say." + +"Do you then mean to repeat the warning you once gave me?" asked Corona, +growing whiter still. "Do you mean to imply that there is danger to your +son?" + +"There is danger--great danger for him, unless you will avert it." + +"And how?" asked Corona, in a low voice. + +"Madam, by becoming his wife." + +Corona started and turned away in great agitation. Saracinesca stood +still while she slowly walked a few steps from him. She could not speak. + +"I could say a great deal more, Duchessa," he said, as she came back +towards him. "I could say that the marriage is not only fitting in every +other way, but is also advantageous from a worldly point of view. You +are sole mistress of Astrardente; my son will before long be sole master +of Saracinesca. Our lands are near together--that is a great advantage, +that question of fortune. Again, I would observe that, with your +magnificent position, you could not condescend to accept a man of lower +birth than the highest in the country. There is none higher than the +Saracinesca--pardon my arrogance,--and among princes there is no braver, +truer gentleman than my son Giovanni. I ask no pardon for saying that; I +will maintain it against all comers. I forego all questions of advantage, +and base my argument upon that. He is the best man I know, and he loves +you devotedly." + +"Is he aware that you are here for this purpose?" asked Corona, suddenly. +She spoke with a great effort. + +"No. He knows that I am here, and was glad that I came. He desired me to +ascertain if you would see him. He would certainly not have thought of +addressing you at present. I am an old man, and I feel that I must do +things quickly. That is my excuse." + +Corona was again silent. She was too truthful to give an evasive answer, +and yet she hesitated to speak. The position was an embarrassing one; she +was taken unawares, and was terrified at the emotion she felt. It had +never entered her mind that the old Prince could appear on his son's +behalf, and she did not know how to meet him. + +"I have perhaps been too abrupt," said Saracinesca. "I love my son very +dearly, and his happiness is more to me than what remains of my own. If +from the first you regard my proposition as an impossible one, I would +spare him the pain of a humiliation,--I fear I could not save him from +the rest, from a suffering that might drive him mad. It is for this +reason that I implore you, if you are able, to give me some answer, not +that I may convey it to him, but in order that I may be guided in future. +He cannot forget you; but he has not seen you for six months. To see you +again if he must leave you for ever, would only inflict a fresh wound." +He paused, while Corona slowly walked by his side. + +"I do not see why I should conceal the truth, from you," she said at +last. "I cannot conceal it from myself. I am not a child that I should +be ashamed of it. There is nothing wrong in it--no reason why it should +not be. You are honest, too--why should we try to deceive ourselves? I +trust to your honour to be silent, and I own that I--that I love your +son." + +Corona stood still and turned her face away, as the burning blush rose to +her cheeks. The answer she had given was characteristic of her, +straightforward and honest. She was not ashamed of it, and yet the words +were so new, so strange in their sound, and so strong in their meaning, +that she blushed as she uttered them. Saracinesca was greatly surprised, +too, for he had expected some evasive turn, some hint that he might bring +Giovanni. But his delight had no bounds. + +"Duchessa," he said, "the happiest day I can remember was when I brought +home my wife to Saracinesca. My proudest day will be that on which my son +enters the same gates with you by his side." + +He took her hand and raised it to his lips, with a courteous gesture. + +"It will be long before that--it must be very long," answered Corona. + +"It shall be when you please, Madam, provided it is at last. Meanwhile we +will come down to-morrow, and take you to our tower. Do you understand +now why I said that I hoped you would come again and stay longer? I +trust you have not changed your mind in regard to the excursion." + +"No. We will expect you to-morrow night. Remember, I have been honest +with you--I trust to you to be silent." + +"You have my word. And now, with your permission, I will return to +Saracinesca. Believe me, the news that you expect us will be good enough +to tell Giovanni." + +"You may greet him from me. But will you not rest awhile before you ride +back? You must be tired." + +"No fear of that!" answered the Prince. "You have put a new man into an +old one. I shall never tire of bearing the news of your greetings." + +So the old man left her, and mounted his horse and rode up the pass. But +Corona remained for hours in the vaulted hall, pacing up and down. It had +come too soon--far too soon. And yet, how she had longed for it! +how she had wondered whether it would ever come at all! + +The situation was sufficiently strange, too. Giovanni had once told her +of his love, and she had silenced him. He was to tell her again, and she +was to accept what he said. He was to ask her to marry him, and her +answer was a foregone conclusion. It seemed as though this greatest event +of her life were planned to the very smallest details beforehand; as +though she were to act a part which she had studied, and which was yet no +comedy because it was the expression of her life's truth. The future had +been, as it were, prophesied and completely foretold to her, and held no +surprises; and yet it was more sweet to think of than all the past +together. She wondered how he would say it, what his words would be, how +he would look, whether he would again be as strangely violent as he +had been that night at the Palazzo Frangipani. She wondered, most of all, +how she would answer him. But it would be long yet. There would be many +meetings, many happy days before that happiest day of all. + +Sister Gabrielle saw a wonderful change in Corona's face that afternoon +when they drove up the valley together, and she remarked what wonderful +effect a little variety had upon her companion's spirits--she could not +say upon her health, for Corona seemed made of velvet and steel, so +smooth and dark, and yet so supple and strong. Corona smiled brightly as +she looked far up at the beetling crags behind which Saracinesca was +hidden. + +"We shall be up there the day after to-morrow," she said. "How strange it +will seem!" And leaning back, her deep eyes flashed, and she laughed +happily. + +On the following evening, again, they drove along the road that led up +the valley. But they had not gone far when they saw in the distance a +cloud of dust, from which in a few moments emerged a vehicle drawn by +three strong horses, and driven by Giovanni Saracinesca himself. His +father sat beside him in front, and a man in livery was seated at the +back, with a long rifle between his knees. The vehicle was a kind of +double cart, capable of holding four persons, and two servants at the +back. + +In a moment the two carriages met and stopped side by side. Giovanni +sprang from his seat, throwing the reins to his father, who stood up hat +in hand, and bowed from where he was. Corona held out her hand to +Giovanni as he stood bareheaded in the road beside her. One long look +told all the tale; there could be no words there before the Sister and +the old Prince, but their eyes told all--the pain of past separation, the +joy of two loving hearts that met at last without hindrance. + +"Let your servant drive, and get in with us," said Corona, who could +hardly speak in her excitement. Then she started slightly, and smiled in +her embarrassment. She had continued to hold Giovanni's hand, +unconsciously leaving her fingers in his. + +The Prince's groom climbed into the front seat, and old Saracinesca got +down and entered the landau. It was a strangely silent meeting, long +expected by the two who so loved each other--long looked for, but hardly +realised now that it had come. The Prince was the first to speak, +as usual. + +"You expected to meet us, Duchessa?" he said; "we expected to meet you. +An expectation fulfilled is better than a surprise. Everything at +Saracinesca is prepared for your reception. Don Angelo, our priest, has +been warned of your coming, and the boy who serves mass has been washed. +You may imagine that a great festivity is expected. Giovanni has turned +the castle inside out, and had a room hung entirely with tapestries of my +great-grandmother's own working. He says that since the place is so old, +its antiquity should be carried into the smallest details." + +Corona laughed gaily--she would have laughed at anything that day--and +the old Prince's tone was fresh and sparkling and merry. He had relieved +the first embarrassment of the situation. + +"There have been preparations at Astrardente for your reception, too," +answered the Duchessa. "There was a difficulty of choice, as there are +about a hundred vacant rooms in the house. The butler proposed to give +you a suite of sixteen to pass the night in, but I selected an airy +little nook in one of the wings, where you need only go through ten to +get to your bedroom." + +"There is nothing like space," said the Prince; "it enlarges the ideas." + +"I cannot imagine what my father would do if his ideas were extended," +remarked Giovanni. "Everything he imagines is colossal already. He talks +about tunnelling the mountains for my aqueduct, as though it were no more +trouble than to run a stick through a piece of paper." + +"Your aqueduct, indeed!" exclaimed his father. "I would like to know +whose idea it was?" + +"I hear you are working like an engineer yourself, Don Giovanni," said +Corona. "I have a man at work at Astrardente on some plans of roads. +Perhaps some day you could give us your advice." + +Some day! How sweet the words sounded to Giovanni as he sat opposite the +woman he loved, bowling along through the rich vine lands in the cool of +the summer evening! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The opportunity which Giovanni sought of being alone with Corona was long +in coming. Sister Gabrielle retired immediately after dinner, and the +Duchessa was left alone with the two men. Old Saracinesca would gladly +have left his son with the hostess, but the thing was evidently +impossible. The manners of the time would not allow it, and the result +was that the Prince spent the evening in making conversation for two +rather indifferent listeners. He tried to pick a friendly quarrel with +Giovanni, but the latter was too absent-minded even to be annoyed; he +tried to excite the Duchessa's interest, but she only smiled gently, +making a remark from time to time which was conspicuous for its +irrelevancy. But old Saracinesca was in a good humour, and he bore up +bravely until ten o'clock, when Corona gave the signal for retiring. They +were to start very early in the morning, she said, and she must have +rest. + +When the two men were alone, the Prince turned upon his son in semi-comic +anger, and upbraided him with his obstinate dulness during the evening. +Giovanni only smiled calmly, and shrugged his shoulders. There was +nothing more to be said. + +But on the following morning, soon after six o'clock, Giovanni had +the supreme satisfaction of installing Corona beside him upon the +driving-seat of his cart, while his father and Sister Gabrielle sat +together behind him. The sun was not yet above the hills, and the +mountain air was keen and fresh; the stamping of the horses sounded crisp +and sharp, and their bells rang merrily as they shook their sturdy necks +and pricked their short ears to catch Giovanni's voice. + +"Have you forgotten nothing, Duchessa?" asked Giovanni, gathering the +reins in his hand. + +"Nothing, thanks. I have sent our things on mules--by the bridle-path." +She smiled involuntarily as she recalled her adventure, and half turned +her face away. + +"Ah, yes--the bridle-path," repeated Giovanni, as he nodded to the groom +to stand clear of the horses' heads. In a moment they were briskly +descending the winding road through the town of Astrardente: the streets +were quiet and cool, for the peasants had all gone to their occupations +two hours before, and the children were not yet turned loose. + +"I never hoped to have the honour of myself driving you to Saracinesca," +said Giovanni. "It is a wild place enough, in its way. You will be able +to fancy yourself in Switzerland." + +"I would rather be in Italy," answered Corona. "I do not care for the +Alps. Our own mountains are as beautiful, and are not infested by +tourists." + +"You are a tourist to-day," said Giovanni. "And it has pleased Heaven to +make me your guide." + +"I will listen to your explanations of the sights with interest." + +"It is a reversal of the situation, is it not? When we last met, it was +you who guided me, and I humbly followed your instructions. I did +precisely as you told me." + +"Had I doubted that you would do as I asked, I would not have spoken," +answered Corona. + +"There was one thing you advised me to do which I have not even +attempted." + +"What was that?" + +"You told me to forget you. I have spent six months in constantly +remembering you, and in looking forward to this moment. Was I wrong?" + +"Of course," replied the Duchessa, with a little laugh. "You should by +this time have forgotten my existence. They said you were gone to the +North Pole--why did you change your mind?" + +"I followed my load-star. It led me from Rome to Saracinesca by the way +of Paris. I should have remained at Saracinesca--but you also changed +your mind. I began to think you never would." + +"How long do you think of staying up there?" asked Corona, to turn the +conversation. + +"Just so long as you stay at Astrardente," he answered. "You will not +forbid me to follow you to Rome?" + +"How can I prevent you if you choose to do it?" + +"By a word, as you did before." + +"Do you think I would speak that word?" she asked. + +"I trust not. Why should you cause me needless pain and suffering? It +was right then, it is not right now. Besides, you know me too well to +think that I would annoy you or thrust myself upon you. But I will do as +you wish." + +"Thank you," she said quietly. But she turned her dark face toward him, +and looked at him for a moment very gently, almost lovingly. Where was +the use of trying to conceal what would not be hidden? Every word he +spoke told of his unchanged love, although the phrases were short and +simple. Why should she conceal what she felt? She knew it was a foregone +conclusion. They loved each other, and she would certainly marry him in +the course of a year. The long pent up forces of her nature were +beginning to assert themselves; she had conquered and fought down her +natural being in the effort to be all things to her old husband, to +quench her growing interest in Giovanni, to resist his declared love, to +drive him from her in her widowhood; but now it seemed as though all +obstacles were suddenly removed. She saw clearly how well she loved him, +and it seemed folly to try and conceal it. As she sat by his side she +was unboundedly happy, as she had never been in her life before: the cool +morning breeze fanned her cheeks, and the music of his low voice soothed +her, while the delicious sense of rapid motion lent a thrill of pleasure +to every breath she drew. It was no matter what she said; it was as +though she spoke unconsciously. All seemed predestined and foreplanned +from all time, to be acted out to the end. The past vanished slowly as a +retreating landscape. The weary traveller, exhausted with the heat of the +scorching Campagna, slowly climbs the ascent towards Tivoli, the haven of +cool waters, and pausing now and then upon the path, looks back and sees +how the dreary waste of undulating hillocks beneath him seems gradually +to subside into a dim flat plain, while, in the far distance, the mighty +domes and towers of Rome dwindle to an unreal mirage in the warm haze of +the western sky; then advancing again, he feels the breath of the +mountains upon him, and hears the fresh plunge of the cold cataract, till +at last, when his strength is almost failing, it is renewed within him, +and the dust and the heat of the day's journey are forgotten in the +fulness of refreshment. So Corona d'Astrardente, wearied though not +broken by the fatigues and the troubles and the temptations of the past +five years, seemed suddenly to be taken up and borne swiftly through the +gardens of an earthly paradise, where there was neither care nor +temptation, and where, in the cool air of a new life, the one voice she +loved was ever murmuring gentle things to her willing ear. + +As the road began to ascend, sweeping round the base of the mountain and +upwards by even gradations upon its southern flank, the sun rose higher +in the heavens, and the locusts broke into their summer song among the +hedges with that even, long-drawn, humming note, so sweet to southern +ears. But Corona did not feel the heat, nor notice the dust upon the way; +she was in a new state, wherein such things could not trouble her. The +first embarrassment of a renewed intimacy was fast disappearing, and she +talked easily to Giovanni of many things, reviewing past scenes and +speaking of mutual acquaintances, turning the conversation when it +concerned Giovanni or herself too directly, yet ever and again coming +back to that sweet ground which was no longer dangerous now. At last, at +a turn in the road, the grim towers of ancient Saracinesca loomed in the +distance, and the carriage entered a vast forest of chestnut trees, shady +and cool after the sunny ascent. So they reached the castle, and the +sturdy horses sprang wildly forward up the last incline till their hoofs +struck noisily upon the flagstones of the bridge, and with a rush and a +plunge they dashed under the black archway, and halted in the broad court +beyond. + +Corona was surprised at the size of the old fortress. It seemed an +endless irregular mass of towers and buildings, all of rough grey stone, +surrounded by battlements and ramparts, kept in perfect repair, but +destitute of any kind of ornament whatever. It might have been even now a +military stronghold, and it was evident that there were traditions of +precision and obedience within its walls which would have done credit to +any barracks. The dominant temper of the master made itself felt at every +turn, and the servants moved quickly and silently about their duties. +There was something intensely attractive to Corona in the air of strength +that pervaded the place, and Giovanni had never seemed to her so manly +and so much in his element as under the grey walls of his ancestral home. +The place, too, was associated in history with so many events,--the two +men, Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca, stood there beside her, where their +ancestors of the same names had stood nearly a thousand years before, +their strong dark faces having the same characteristics that for +centuries had marked their race, features familiar to Romans by countless +statues and pictures, as the stones of Rome themselves--but for a detail +of dress, it seemed to Corona as though she had been suddenly transported +back to the thirteenth century. The idea fascinated her. The two men led +her up the broad stone staircase, and ushered her and Sister Gabrielle +into the apartments of state which had been prepared for them. + +"We have done our best," said the Prince, "but it is long since we have +entertained ladies at Saracinesca." + +"It is magnificent!" exclaimed Corona, as she entered the ante-chamber. +The walls were hung from end to end with priceless tapestries, and the +stone floor was covered with long eastern carpets. Corona paused. + +"You must show us all over the castle by-and-by," she said. + +"Giovanni will show you everything," answered the Prince. "If it pleases +you, we will breakfast in half-an-hour." He turned away with his son, and +left the two ladies to refresh themselves before the mid-day meal. + +Giovanni kept his word, and spared his guests no detail of the vast +stronghold, until at last poor Sister Gabrielle could go no farther. +Giovanni had anticipated that she would be tired, and with the +heartlessness of a lover seeking his opportunity, he had secretly longed +for the moment when she should, be obliged to stop. + +"You have not yet seen the view from the great tower," he said. "It is +superb, and this is the very best hour for it. Are you tired, Duchessa?" + +"No--I am never tired," answered Corona. + +"Why not go with Giovanni?" suggested the Prince. "I will stay with +Sister Gabrielle, who has nearly exhausted herself with seeing our +sights." + +Corona hesitated. The idea of being alone with Giovanni for a quarter of +an hour was delightful, but somehow it did not seem altogether fitting +for her to be wandering over the castle with him. On the other hand, to +refuse would seem almost an affectation: she was not in Rome, where her +every movement was a subject for remark; moreover, she was not only a +married woman, but a widow, and she had known Giovanni for years--it +would be ridiculous to refuse. + +"Very well," said she. "Let us see the view before it is too late." + +Sister Gabrielle and old Saracinesea sat down on a stone seat upon the +rampart to wait, and the Duchessa disappeared with Giovanni through the +low door that led into the great tower. + +"What a wonderful woman you are!" exclaimed Giovanni, as they reached the +top of the winding stair, which was indeed broader than the staircase of +many great houses in Rome. "You seem to be never tired." + +"No--I am very strong," answered Corona, with a smile. She was not even +out of breath. "What a wonderful view!" she exclaimed, as they emerged +upon the stone platform at the top of the tower. Giovanni was silent for +a moment. The two stood together and looked far out at the purple +mountains to eastward that caught the last rays of the sun high up above +the shadows of the valley; and then looking down, they saw the Prince and +the Sister a hundred feet below them upon the rampart. + +Both were thinking of the same thing: three days ago, their meeting had +seemed infinitely far off, a thing dreamed of and hoped for--and now they +were standing alone upon the topmost turret of Giovanni's house, familiar +with each other by a long day's conversation, feeling as though they had +never been parted, feeling also that most certainly they would not be +parted again. + +"It is very strange," said Giovanni, "how things happen in this world, +and how little we ever know of what is before us. Last week I wondered +whether I should ever see you--now I cannot imagine not seeing you. Is +it not strange?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, in a low voice. + +"That, yesterday, we should have seemed parted by an insurmountable +barrier, and that to-day--" he stopped. "Oh, if to-day could only last +for ever!" he exclaimed, suddenly. + +Corona gazed out upon the purple hills in silence, but her face caught +some of the radiance of the distant glow, and her dark eyes had strange +lights in them. She could not have prevented him from speaking; she had +loosed the bonds that had held her life so long; the anchor was up, and +the breath of love fanned the sails, and gently bore the craft in which +she trusted out to seaward over the fair water. In seeing him she had +resigned herself to him, and she could not again get the mastery if she +would. It had come too soon, but it was sweet. + +"And why not?" he said, very softly. "Why should it not remain so for +ever--till our last breath? Why will you not let it last?" + +Still she was silent; but the tears gathered slowly in her eyes, and +welled over and lay upon her velvet cheek like dewdrops on the leaves of +a soft dark tulip. Giovanni saw them, and knew that they were the jewels +which crowned his life. + +"You will," he said, his broad brown hand gently covering her small +fingers and taking them in his. "You will--I know that you will." + +She said nothing, and though she at first made a slight movement--not of +resistance, but of timid reluctance, utterly unlike herself--she suffered +him to hold her hand. He drew closer to her, himself more diffident in +the moment of success than he had ever been when he anticipated failure; +she was so unlike any woman he had ever known before. Very gently he put +his arm about her, and drew her to him. + +"My beloved--at last," he whispered, as her head sank upon his shoulder. + +Then with a sudden movement she sprang to her height, and for one instant +gazed upon him. Her whole being was transfigured in the might of her +passion: her dark face was luminously pale, her lips almost white, and +from her eyes there seemed to flash a blazing fire. For one instant she +gazed upon him, and then her arms went round his neck, and she clasped +him fiercely to her breast. + +"Ah, Giovanni," she cried, passionately, "you do not know what love +means!" + +A moment later her arms dropped from him; she turned and buried her face +in her hands, leaning against the high stone parapet of the tower. She +was not weeping, but her face was white, and her bosom heaved with +quick and strong-drawn breath. + +Giovanni went to her side and took her strongly in his right arm, and +again her head rested upon his shoulder. + +"It is too soon--too soon," she murmured. "But how can I help it? I love +you so that there is no counting of time. It seems years since we met +last night, and I thought it would be years before I told you. Oh, +Giovanni, I am so happy! Is it possible that you love me as I love you?" + +It is a marvellous thing to see how soon two people who love each other +learn the gentle confidence that only love can bring. A few moments later +Giovanni and Corona were slowly pacing the platform, and his arm was +about her waist and her hand in his. + +"Do you know," she was saying, "I used to wonder whether you would keep +your word, and never try to see me. The days were so long at +Astrardente." + +"Not half so long as at Saracinesca," he answered. "I was going to call +my aqueduct the Bridge of Sighs; I will christen it now the Spring of +Love." + +"I must go and see it to-morrow," said she. + +"Or the next day--" + +"The next day!" she exclaimed, with a happy laugh. "Do you think I am +going to stay--" + +"For ever," interrupted Giovanni. "We have a priest here, you know,--he +can marry us to-morrow, and then you need never go away." + +Corona's face grew grave. + +"We must not talk of that yet," she said, gently, "even in jest." + +"No; you are right. Forgive me," he answered; "I forget many things--it +seems to me I have forgotten everything, except that I love you." + +"Giovanni,"--she lingered on the name,--"Giovanni, we must tell your +father at once." + +"Are you willing I should?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Of course--he ought to know; and Sister Gabrielle too. But no one else +must be told. There must be no talk of this in Rome until--until next +year." + +"We will stay in the country until then, shall we not?" asked Giovanni, +anxiously. "It seems to me so much better. We can meet here, and nobody +will talk. I will go and live in the town at Astrardente, and play the +engineer, and build your roads for you." + +"I hardly know," said Corona, with a doubtful smile. "You could not do +that. But you may come and spend the day once--in a week, perhaps." + +"We will arrange all that," answered Giovanni, laughing. "If you think I +can exist by only seeing you once a week--well, you do not know me." + +"We shall see," returned Corona, laughing too. "By the bye, how long have +we been here?" + +"I do not know," said Giovanni; "but the view is magnificent, is it not?" + +"Enchanting," she replied, looking into his eyes. Then suddenly the blood +mounted to her cheeks. "Oh, Giovanni," she said, "how could I do it?" + +"I should have died if you had not," he answered, and clasped her once +more in his arms. + +"Come," said she, "let us be going down. It is growing late." + +When they reached the foot of the tower, they found the Prince walking +the rampart alone. Sister Gabrielle was afraid of the evening air, and +had retired into the house. Old Saracinesca faced them suddenly. He +looked like an old lion, his thick white hair and beard bristling about +his dark features. + +"My father," said Giovanni, coming forward, "the Duchessa d'Astrardente +has consented to be my wife. I crave your blessing." + +The old man started, and then stood stock-still. His son had fairly taken +his breath away, for he had not expected the news for three or four +months to come. Then he advanced and took Corona's hand, and kissed it. + +"Madam," he said, "you have done my son an honour which extends to myself +and to every Saracinesca, dead, living, and to come." + +Then he laid Corona's hand in Giovanni's, and held his own upon them +both. + +"God bless you," he said, solemnly; and as Corona bent her proud head, he +touched her forehead with his lips. Then he embraced Giovanni, and his +joy broke out in wild enthusiasm. + +"Ha, my children," he cried, "there has not been such a couple as you are +for generations--there has not been such good news told in these old +walls since they have stood here. We will illuminate the castle, the +whole town, in your honour--we will ring the bells and have a Te Deum +sung--we will have such a festival as was never seen before--we will go +to Rome to-morrow and celebrate the espousal--we will--" + +"Softly, _padre mio_," interrupted Giovanni. "No one must know as yet. +You must consider--" + +"Consider what? consider the marriage? Of course we will consider it, as +soon as you please. You shall have such a wedding as was never heard of-- +you shall be married by the Cardinal Archpriest of Saint Peter's, by the +Holy Father himself. The whole country shall ring with it." + +It was with difficulty Giovanni succeeded in calming his father's +excitement, and in recalling to his mind the circumstances which made it +necessary to conceal the engagement for the present. But at last the old +man reluctantly consented, and returned to a quieter humour. For some +time the three continued to pace the stone rampart. + +"This is a case of arrant cruelty to a man of my temper," said the +Prince. "To be expected to behave like an ordinary creature, with grins +and smiles and decent paces, when I have just heard what I have longed to +hear for years. But I will revenge myself by making a noise about +it by-and-by. I will concoct schemes for your wedding, and dream of +nothing but illuminations and decorations. You shall be Prince of Sant' +Ilario, Giovanni, as I was before my father died; and I will give you +that estate outright, and the palace in the Corso to live in." + +"Perhaps we might live in my palace," suggested Corona. It seemed strange +to her to be discussing her own marriage, but it was necessary to humour +the old Prince. "Of course," he said. "I forgot all about it. You have +places enough to live in. One forgets that you will in the end be the +richest couple in Italy. Ha!" he cried, in sudden enthusiasm, "the +Saracinesca are not dead yet! They are greater than ever--and our lands +here so near together, too. We will build a new road to Astrardente, +and when you are married you shall be the first to drive over it from +Astrardente here. We will do all kinds of things--we will tunnel the +mountain!" + +"I am sure you will do that in the end," said Giovanni, laughing. + +"Well--let us go to dinner," answered his father. "It has grown quite +dark since we have been talking, and we shall be falling over the edge if +we are not careful." + +"I will go and tell Sister Gabrielle before dinner," said Corona to +Giovanni. + +So they left her at the door of her apartment, and she went in. She found +the Sister in an inner room, with a book of devotions in her hand. + +"Pray for me, my Sister," she said, quietly. "I have resolved upon a +great step. I am going to be married again." + +Sister Gabrielle looked up, and a quiet smile stole over her thin face. + +"It is soon, my friend," she said. "It is soon to think of that. But +perhaps you are right--is it the young Prince?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, and sank into a deep tapestried chair. "It is +soon I know well. But it has been long--have struggled hard--I love him +very much--so much, you do not know!" + +The Sister sighed faintly, and came and took her hand. + +"It is right that you should marry," she said, gently. "You are too +young, too famously beautiful, too richly endowed, to lead the life you +have led at Astrardente these many months." + +"It is not that," said Corona, an expression of strange beauty +illuminating her lovely face. "Not that I am young, beautiful as you say, +if it is so, or endowed with riches--those reasons are nothing. It is +this that tells me," she whispered, pressing her left hand to her heart. +"When one loves as I love, it is right." + +"Indeed it is," assented the good Sister. "And I think you have chosen +wisely. When will you be married?" + +"Hardly before next summer--I can hardly think connectedly yet--it has +been very sudden. I knew I should marry him in the end, but I never +thought I could consent so soon. Oh, Sister Gabrielle, you are so +good--were you never in love?" + +The Sister was silent, and looked away. + +"No--of course you cannot tell me," continued Corona; "but it is such a +wonderful thing. It makes days seem like hundreds of years, or makes them +pass in a flash of light, in a second. It oversets every idea of time, +and plays with one's resolutions as the wind with a feather. If once it +gets the mastery of one, it crowds a lifetime of pain and pleasure into +one day; it never leaves one for a moment. I cannot explain love--it is a +wonderful thing." + +"My dear friend," said the Sister, "the explanation of love is life." + +"But the end of it is not death. It cannot be," continued Corona, +earnestly. "It must last for ever and ever. It must grow better and purer +and stronger, until it is perfect in heaven at last: but where is the use +of trying to express such things?" + +"I think it is enough to feel them," said Sister Gabrielle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The summer season ripened into autumn, and autumn again turned to winter, +and Rome was once more full. The talk of society turned frequently upon +the probability of the match between the Duchessa d'Astrardente and +Giovanni Saracinesca; and when at last, three weeks before Lent, the +engagement was made known, there was a general murmur of approbation. It +seemed as though the momentous question of Corona's life, which had for +years agitated the gossips, were at last to be settled: every one had +been accustomed to regard her marriage with old Astrardente as a +temporary affair, seeing that he certainly could not live long, and +speculation in regard to her future had been nearly as common during his +lifetime as it was after his death. One of the duties most congenial +to society, and one which it never fails to perform conscientiously, is +that judicial astrology, whereby it forecasts the issue of its +neighbour's doings. Everybody's social horoscope must be cast by the +circle of five-o'clock-tea-drinking astro-sociologists, and, generally +speaking, their predictions are not far short of the truth, for society +knoweth its own bitterness, and is uncommonly quick in the diagnosis of +its own state of health. + +When it was announced that Corona was to marry Giovanni after Easter, +society looked and saw that the arrangement was good. There was not one +dissenting voice heard in the universal applause. Corona had behaved with +exemplary decency during the year of her mourning--had lived a life of +religious retirement upon her estates in the sole company of a Sister of +Charity, had given no cause for scandal in any way. Everybody aspired +to like her--that is to say, to be noticed by her; but with one +exception, she had caused no jealousy nor ill-feeling by her +indifference, for no one had ever heard her say an unkind word concerning +anybody she knew. Donna Tullia had her own reasons for hating Corona, and +perhaps the world suspected them; but people did not connect the noisy +Donna Tullia, full of animal spirits and gay silly talk, with the idea of +serious hatred, much less with the execution of any scheme of revenge. + +Indeed Madame Mayer had not spent the summer and autumn in nursing her +wrath against Corona. She had travelled with the old Countess, her +companion, and several times Ugo del Ferice had appeared suddenly at the +watering-places which she had selected for her temporary residence. From +time to time he gave her news of mutual friends, which she repaid +conscientiously with interesting accounts of the latest scandals. They +were a congenial pair, and Ugo felt that by his constant attention to her +wishes, and by her never-varying willingness to accept his service, he +had obtained a hold upon her intimacy which, in the ensuing winter, would +give him a decided advantage over all competitors in the field. She +believed that she might have married half-a-dozen times, and that with +her fortune she could easily have made a very brilliant match; she even +thought that she could have married Valdarno, who was very good-natured: +but her attachment to Giovanni, and the expectations she had so long +entertained in regard to him, had prevented her from showing any marked +preference for others; and while she was hesitating, Del Ferice, by his +superior skill, had succeeded in making himself indispensable to her--a +success the more remarkable that, in spite of his gifts and the curious +popularity he enjoyed, he was by far the least desirable man of her +acquaintance from the matrimonial point of view. + +But when Donna Tullia again met Giovanni in the world, the remembrance of +her wrongs revived her anger against him, and the news of his engagement +to the Astrardente brought matters to a climax. In the excitement of the +moment, both her jealousy and her anger were illuminated by the light of +a righteous wrath. She knew, or thought she knew, that Don Giovanni was +already married. She had no proof that the peasant wife mentioned in the +certificate was alive, but there was nothing either to show that she was +dead. Even in the latter ease it was a scandalous thing that he should +marry again without informing Corona of the circumstances of his past +life, and Donna Tullia felt an inner conviction that he had told the +Duchessa nothing of the matter. The latter was such a proud woman, that +she would be horrified at the idea of uniting herself to a man who had +been the husband of a peasant. + +Madame Mayer remembered her solemn promise to Del Ferice, and feared to +act without his consent. An hour after she had heard the news of the +engagement, she sent for him to come to her immediately. To her +astonishment and dismay, her servant brought back word that he had +suddenly gone to Naples upon urgent business. This news made her pause; +but while the messenger had been gone to Del Ferice's house, Donna Tullia +had been anticipating and going over in her mind the scene which would +ensue when she told Corona the secret. Donna Tullia was a very sanguine +woman, and the idea of at last being revenged for all the slights she had +received worked suddenly upon her brain, so that as she paced her +drawing-room in expectation of the arrival of Del Ferice, she entirely +acted out in her imagination the circumstances of the approaching crisis, +the blood beat hotly in her temples, and she lost all sense of prudence +in the delicious anticipation of violent words. Del Ferice had cruelly +calculated upon her temperament, and he had hoped that in the excitement +of the moment she would lose her head, and irrevocably commit herself to +him by the betrayal of the secret. This was precisely what occurred. On +being told that he was out of town, she could no longer contain herself, +and with a sudden determination to risk anything blindly, rather than to +forego the pleasure and the excitement she had been meditating, she +ordered her carriage and drove to the Palazzo Astrardente. + +Corona was surprised at the unexpected visit. She was herself on the +point of going out, and was standing in her boudoir, drawing on her black +gloves before the fire, while her furs lay upon a chair at her side. She +wondered why Donna Tullia called, and it was in part her curiosity which +induced her to receive her visit. Donna Tullia, armed to the teeth with +the terrible news she was about to disclose, entered the room quickly, +and remained standing before the Duchessa with a semi-tragic air that +astonished Corona. + +"How do you do, Donna Tullia?" said the latter, putting out her hand. + +"I have come to speak to you upon a very serious matter," answered her +visitor, without noticing the greeting. + +Corona stared at her for a moment, but not being easily disconcerted, she +quietly motioned to Donna Tullia to sit down, and installed herself in a +chair opposite to her. + +"I have just heard the news that you are to marry Don Giovanni +Saracinesca," said Madame Mayer. "You will pardon me the interest I take +in you; but is it true?" + +"It is quite true," answered Corona. + +"It is in connection with your marriage that I wish to speak, Duchessa. I +implore you to reconsider your decision." + +"And why, if you please?" asked Corona, raising her black eyebrows, and +fixing her haughty gaze upon her visitor. + +"I could tell you--I would rather not," answered Donna Tullia, unabashed, +for her blood was up. "I could tell you--but I beseech you not to ask me. +Only consider the matter again, I beg you. It is very serious. Nothing +but the great interest I feel in you, and my conviction--" + +"Donna Tullia, your conduct is so extraordinary," interrupted Corona, +looking at her curiously, "that I am tempted to believe you are mad. I +must beg you to explain what you mean by your words." + +"Ah, no," answered Madame Mayer. "You do me injustice. I am not mad, but +I would save you from the most horrible danger." + +"Again I say, what do you mean? I will not be trifled with in this way," +said the Duchessa, who would have been more angry if she had been less +astonished, but whose temper was rapidly rising. + +"I am not trifling with you," returned Donna Tullia. "I am imploring you +to think before you act, before you marry Don Giovanni. You cannot think +that I would venture to intrude upon you without the strongest reasons. +I am in earnest." + +"Then, in heaven's name, speak out!" cried Corona, losing all patience. +"I presume that if this is a warning, you have some grounds, you have +some accusation to make against Don Giovanni. Have the goodness to state +what you have to say, and be brief." + +"I will," said Donna Tullia, and she paused a moment, her face growing +red with excitement, and her blue eyes sparkling disagreeably. "You +cannot marry Don Giovanni," she said at length, "because there is an +insurmountable impediment in the way." + +"What is it?" asked Corona, controlling her anger. + +"He is already married!" hissed Donna Tullia. + +Corona turned a little pale, and started back. But in an instant her +colour returned, and she broke into a low laugh. + +"You are certainly insane," she said, eyeing Madame Mayer suspiciously. +It was not an easy matter to shake her faith in the man she loved. Donna +Tullia was disappointed at the effect she had produced. She was a clever +woman in her way, but she did not understand how to make the best of the +situation. She saw that she was simply an object of curiosity, and that +Corona seriously believed her mind deranged. She was frightened, and, +in order to help herself, she plunged deeper. + +"You may call me mad, if you please," she replied, angrily. "I tell you +it is true. Don Giovanni was married on the 19th of June 1863, at Aquila, +in the Abruzzi, to a woman called Felice Baldi--whoever she may have +been. The register is extant, and the duplicate of the marriage +certificate. I have seen the copies attested by a notary. I tell you it +is true," she continued, her voice rising to a harsh treble; "you are +engaged to marry a man who has a wife--a peasant woman--somewhere in the +mountains." + +Corona rose from her seat and put out her hand to ring the bell. She was +pale, but not excited. She believed Donna Tullia to be insane, perhaps +dangerous, and she calmly proceeded to protect herself by calling for +assistance. + +"Either you are mad, or you mean what you say," she said, keeping her +eyes upon the angry woman before her. "You will not leave this house +except in charge of my physician, if you are mad; and if you mean what +you say, you shall not go until you have repeated your words to +Don Giovanni Saracinesca himself,--no, do not start or try to escape--it +is of no use. I am very sudden and violent--beware!" + +Donna Tullia bit her red lip. She was beginning to realise that she had +got herself into trouble, and that it might be hard to get out of it. But +she felt herself strong, and she wished she had with her those proofs +which would make her case good. She was so sanguine by nature that she +was willing to carry the fight to the end, and to take her chance for the +result. + +"You may send for Don Giovanni if you please," she said. "I have spoken +the truth--if he denies it I can prove it. If I were you I would spare +him the humiliation--" + +A servant entered the room in answer to the bell, and Corona interrupted +Donna Tullia's speech by giving the man her orders. + +"Go at once to the Palazzo Saracinesca, and beg Don Giovanni to come here +instantly with his father the Prince. Take the carriage--it is waiting +below." + +The man disappeared, and Corona quietly resumed her seat. Donna Tullia +was silent for a few moments, attempting to control her anger in an +assumption of dignity; but soon she broke out afresh, being rendered very +nervous and uncomfortable by the Duchessa's calm manner and apparent +indifference to consequences. + +"I cannot see why you should expose yourself to such a scene," said +Madame Mayer presently. "I honestly wished to save you from a terrible +danger. It seems to me it would be quite sufficient if I proved the fact +to you beyond dispute. I should think that instead of being angry, you +would show some gratitude." + +"I am not angry," answered Corona, quietly. "I am merely giving you an +immediate opportunity of proving your assertion and your sanity." + +"My sanity!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, angrily. "Do you seriously +believe--" + +"Nothing that you say," said Corona, completing the sentence. + +Unable to bear the situation, Madame Mayer rose suddenly from her seat, +and began to pace the small room with short, angry steps. + +"You shall see," she said, fiercely--"you shall see that it is all true. +You shall see this man's face when I accuse him--you shall see him +humiliated, overthrown, exposed in his villany--the wretch! You shall see +how--" + +Corona's strong voice interrupted her enemy's invective in ringing tones. + +"Be silent!" she cried. "In twenty minutes he will be here. But if you +say one word against him before he comes, I will lock you into this room +and leave you. I certainly will not hear you." + +Donna Tullia reflected that the Duchessa was in her own house, and +moreover that she was not a woman to be trifled with. She threw herself +into a chair, and taking up a book that lay upon the table, she pretended +to read. + +Corona remained seated by the fireplace, glancing at her from time to +time. She was strangely inclined to laugh at the whole situation, which +seemed to her absurd in the extreme--for it never crossed her mind to +believe that there was a word of truth in the accusation against +Giovanni. Nevertheless she was puzzled to account for Donna Tullia's +assurance, and especially for her readiness to face the man she so +calumniated. A quarter of an hour elapsed in this armed silence--the two +women glancing at each other from time to time, until the distant sound +of wheels rolling under the great gate announced that the messenger had +returned from the Palazzo Saracinesca, probably conveying Don Giovanni +and his father. + +"Then you have made up your mind to the humiliation of the man you love?" +asked Donna Tullia, looking up from her book with a sneer on her face. + +Corona vouchsafed no answer, but her eyes turned towards the door in +expectation. Presently there were steps heard without. The servant +entered, and announced Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni. Corona +rose. The old man came in first, followed by his son. + +"An unexpected pleasure," he said, gaily. "Such good luck! We were both +at home. Ah, Donna Tullia," he cried, seeing Madame Mayer, "how are you?" +Then seeing her face, he added, suddenly, "Is anything the matter?" + +Meanwhile Giovanni had entered, and stood by Corona's side near the +fireplace. He saw at once that something was wrong, and he looked +anxiously from the Duchessa to Donna Tullia. Corona spoke at once. + +"Donna Tullia," she said, quietly, "I have the honour to offer you an +opportunity of explaining yourself." + +Madame Mayer remained seated by the table, her face red with anger. She +leaned back in her seat, and half closing her eyes with a disagreeable +look of contempt, she addressed Giovanni. + +"I am sorry to cause you such profound humiliation," she began, "but in +the interest of the Duchessa d'Astrardente I feel bound to speak. Don +Giovanni, do you remember Aquila?" + +"Certainly," he replied, coolly--"I have often been there. What of it?" + +Old Saracinesca stared from one to the other. + +"What is this comedy?" he asked of Corona. But she nodded to him to be +silent. + +"Then you doubtless remember Felice Baldi--poor Felice Baldi," continued +Donna Tullia, still gazing scornfully up at Giovanni from where she sat. + +"I never heard the name, that I can remember," answered Giovanni, as +though trying to recall some memory of the past. He could not imagine +what she was leading to, but he was willing to answer her questions. + +"You do not remember that you were married to her at Aquila on the 19th +of June--" + +"I--married?" cried Giovanni, in blank astonishment. + +"Signora Duchessa," said the Prince, bending his heavy brows, "what is +the meaning of all this?" + +"I will tell you the meaning of it," said Donna Tullia, in low hissing +tones, and rising suddenly to her feet she assumed a somewhat theatrical +attitude as she pointed to Giovanni. "I will tell what it means. It means +that Don Giovanni Saracinesca was married in the church of San +Bernardino, at Aquila, on the 19th of June 1863, to the woman Felice +Baldi--who is his lawful wife to-day, and for aught we know the mother of +his children, while he is here in Rome attempting to marry the Duchessa +d'Astrardente--can he deny it? Can he deny that his own signature is +there, there in the office of the State Civile at Aquila, to testify +against him? Can he--?" + +"Silence!" roared the Prince. "Silence, woman, or by God in heaven I will +stop your talking for ever!" He made a step towards her, and there was a +murderous red light in his black eyes. But Giovanni sprang forward and +seized his father by the wrist. + +"You cannot silence me," screamed Donna Tullia. "I will be heard, and by +all Rome. I will cry it upon the housetops to all the world--" + +"Then you will precipitate your confinement in the asylum of Santo +Spirito," said Giovanni, in cold, calm tones. "You are clearly mad." + +"So I said," assented Corona, who was nevertheless pale, and trembling +with excitement. + +"Allow me to speak with her," said Giovanni, who, like most dangerous +men, seemed to grow cold as others grew hot. Donna Tullia leaned upon the +table, breathing hard between her closed teeth, her face scarlet. + +"Madame," said Giovanni, advancing a step and confronting her, "you say +that I am married, and that I am contemplating a monstrous crime. Upon +what do you base your extraordinary assertions?" + +"Upon attested copies of your marriage certificate, of the civil register +where your handwriting has been seen and recognised. What more would you +have?" + +"It is monstrous!" cried the Prince, advancing again. "It is the most +abominable lie ever concocted! My son married without my knowledge, and +to a peasant! Absurd!" + +But Giovanni waved his father back, and kept his place before Donna +Tullia. + +"I give you the alternative of producing instantly those proofs you refer +to," he said, "and which you certainly cannot produce, or of waiting in +this house until a competent physician has decided whether you are +sufficiently sane to be allowed to go home alone." + +Donna Tullia hesitated. She was in a terrible position, for Del Ferice +had left Rome suddenly, and though the papers were somewhere in his +house, she knew not where, nor how to get at them. It was impossible to +imagine a situation more desperate, and she felt it as she looked +round and saw the pale dark faces of the three resolute persons whose +anger she had thus roused. She believed that Giovanni was capable of +anything, but she was astonished at his extraordinary calmness. She +hesitated for a moment. + +"That is perfectly just," said Corona. "If you have proofs, you can +produce them. If you have none, you are insane." + +"I have them, and I will produce them before this hour to-morrow," +answered Donna Tullia, not knowing how she should get the papers, but +knowing that she was lost if she failed to obtain them. + +"Why not to-day--at once?" asked Giovanni, with some scorn. + +"It will take twenty-four hours to forge them," growled his father. + +"You have no right to insult me so grossly," cried Donna Tullia. "But +beware--I have you in my power. By this time to-morrow you shall see with +your own eyes that I speak the truth. Let me go," she cried, as the old +Prince placed himself between her and the door. + +"I will," said he. "But before you go, I beg you to observe that if +between now and the time you show us these documents you breathe abroad +one word of your accusations, I will have you arrested as a dangerous +lunatic, and lodged in Santo Spirito; and if these papers are not +authentic, you will be arrested to-morrow afternoon on a charge of +forgery. You quite understand me?" He stood aside to let her pass. She +laughed scornfully in his face, and went out. + +When she was gone the three looked at each other, as though trying to +comprehend what had happened. Indeed, it was beyond their comprehension. +Corona leaned against the chimneypiece, and her eyes rested lovingly upon +Giovanni. No doubt had ever crossed her mind of his perfect honesty. Old +Saracinesca looked from one to the other for a moment, and then, striking +the palms of his hands together, turned and began to walk up and down the +room. + +"In the first place," said Giovanni, "at the time she mentions I was in +Canada, upon a shooting expedition, with a party of Englishmen. It is +easy to prove that, as they are all alive and well now, so far as I have +heard. Donna Tullia is clearly out of her mind." + +"The news of your engagement has driven her mad," said the old Prince, +with a grim laugh. "It is a very interesting and romantic case." + +Corona blushed a little, and her eyes sought Giovanni's, but her face was +very grave. It was a terrible thing to see a person she had known so long +becoming insane, and for the sake of the man she herself so loved. And +yet she had not a doubt of Donna Tullia's madness. It was very sad. + +"I wonder who could have put this idea into her head," said Giovanni, +thoughtfully. "It does not look like a creation of her own brain. I +wonder, too, what absurdities she will produce in the way of documents. +Of course they must be forged." + +"She will not bring them," returned his father, in a tone of certainty. +"We shall hear to-morrow that she is raving in the delirium of a +brain-fever." + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Corona. "It is dreadful to think of it." + +"It is dreadful to think that she should have caused you all this trouble +and annoyance," said Giovanni, warmly. "You must have had a terrible +scene with her before we came. What did she say?" + +"Just what she said to you. Then she began to rail against you; and I +sent for you, and told her that unless she could be silent I would lock +her up alone until you arrived. So she sat down in that chair, and +pretended to read. But it was an immense relief when you came!" + +"You did not once believe what she said might possibly be true?" asked +Giovanni, with a loving look. + +"I? How could you ever think it!" exclaimed Corona. Then she laughed, and +added, "But of course you knew that I would not." + +"Indeed, yes," he answered. "It never entered my head." + +"By-the-bye," said old Saracinesca, glancing at the Duchessa's black +bonnet and gloved hands, "you must have been just ready to go out when +she came--we must not keep you. I suppose that when she said she would +bring her proofs to-morrow at this hour, she meant she would bring them +here. Shall we come to-morrow then?" + +"Yes--by all means," she answered. "Come to breakfast at one o'clock. I +am alone, you know, for Sister Gabrielle has insisted upon going back to +her community. But what does it matter now?" + +"What does it matter?" echoed the Prince. "You are to be married so soon. +I really think we can do as we please." He generally did as he pleased. + +The two men left her, and a few minutes later she descended the steps of +the palace and entered her carriage, as though nothing had happened. + +Six months had passed since she had given her troth to Giovanni upon the +tower of Saracinesca, and she knew that she loved him better now than +then. Little had happened of interest in the interval of time, and the +days had seemed long. But until after Christmas she had remained at +Astrardente, busying herself constantly with the improvements she had +already begun, and aided by the counsels of Giovanni. He had taken a +cottage of hers in the lower part of her village, and had fitted it up +with the few comforts he judged necessary. In this lodging he had +generally spent half the week, going daily to the palace upon the hill +and remaining for long hours in Corona's society, studying her plans and +visiting with her the works which grew beneath their joint direction. She +had grown to know him as she had not known him before, and to understand +more fully his manly character. He was a very resolute man, and very much +in earnest when he chanced to be doing anything; but the strain of +melancholy which he inherited from his mother made him often inclined to +a sort of contemplative idleness, during which his mind seemed +preoccupied with absorbing thoughts. Many people called his fits of +silence an affectation, or part of his system for rendering himself +interesting; but Corona soon saw how real was his abstraction, and she +saw also that she alone was able to attract his attention and interest +him when the fit was upon him. Slowly, by a gradual study of him, she +learned what few had ever guessed, namely, that beneath the experienced +man of the world, under his modest manner and his gentle ways, there +lay a powerful mainspring of ambition, a mine of strength, which would +one day exert itself and make itself felt upon his surroundings. He had +developed slowly, feeding upon many experiences of the world in many +countries, his quick Italian intelligence comprehending often more than +it seemed to do, while the quiet dignity he got from his Spanish blood +made him appear often very cold. But now and again, when under the +influence of some large idea, his tongue was loosed in the charm of +Corona's presence, and he spoke to her, as he had never spoken to any +one, of projects and plans which should make the world move. She did not +always understand him wholly, but she knew that the man she loved was +something more than the world at large believed him to be, and there was +a thrill of pride in the thought which delighted her inmost soul. She, +too, was ambitious, but her ambition was all for him. She felt that there +was little room for common aspirations in his position or in her own. All +that high birth, and wealth, and personal consideration could give, they +both had abundantly, beyond their utmost wishes; anything they could +desire beyond that must lie in a larger sphere of action than mere +society, in the world of political power. She herself had had dreams, and +entertained them still, of founding some great institution of charity, of +doing something for her poorer fellows. But she learned by degrees that +Giovanni looked further than to such ordinary means of employing power, +and that there was in him a great ambition to bring great forces to bear +upon great questions for the accomplishment of great results. The six +months of her engagement to him had not only strengthened her love for +him, already deep and strong, but had implanted in her an unchanging +determination to second him in all his life, to omit nothing in her power +which could assist him in the career he should choose for himself, and +which she regarded as the ultimate field for his extraordinary powers. It +was strange that, while granting him everything else, people had never +thought of calling him a man of remarkable intelligence. But no one knew +him as Corona knew him; no one suspected that there was in him anything +more than the traditional temper of the Saracinesca, with sufficient mind +to make him as fair a representative of his race as his father was. + +There was more than mere love and devotion in the complete security she +felt when she saw him attacked by Donna Tullia; there was already the +certainty that he was born to be above small things, and to create a +sphere of his own in which he would move as other men could not. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +When Donna Tullia quitted the Palazzo Astrardente her head swam. She had +utterly failed to do what she had expected; and from being the accuser, +she felt that she was suddenly thrust into the position of the accused. +Instead of inspiring terror in Corona, and causing Giovanni the terrible +humiliation she had supposed he would feel at the exposure of his +previous marriage, she had been coldly told that she was mad, and that +her pretended proofs were forgeries. Though she herself felt no doubt +whatever concerning the authenticity of the documents, it was very +disappointing to find that the first mention of them produced no +startling effect upon any one, least of all upon Giovanni himself. The +man, she thought, was a most accomplished villain; since he was capable +of showing such hardened indifference to her accusation, he was capable +also of thwarting her in her demonstration of their truth--and she +trembled at the thought of what she saw. Old Saracinesca was not a man to +be trifled with, nor his son either: they were powerful, and would be +revenged for the insult. But in the meanwhile she had promised to produce +her proofs; and when she regained enough composure to consider the matter +from all its points, she came to the conclusion that after all her game +was not lost, seeing that attested documents are evidence not easily +refuted, even by powerful men like Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca. She +gradually convinced herself that their indifference was a pretence, and +that they were accomplices in the matter, their object being to gain +Corona with all her fortune for Giovanni's wife. But, at the same time, +Donna Tullia felt in the depths of her heart a misgiving: she was clever +enough to recognise, even in spite of herself, the difference between a +liar and an honest man. + +She must get possession of these papers--and immediately too; there must +be no delay in showing them to Corona, and in convincing her that this +was no mere fable, but an assertion founded upon very substantial +evidence. Del Ferice was suddenly gone to Naples: obviously the only +way to get at the papers was to bribe his servant to deliver them up. Ugo +had once or twice mentioned Temistocle to her, and she judged from the +few words he had let fall that the fellow was a scoundrel, who would +sell his soul for money. Madame Mayer drove home, and put on the only +dark-coloured gown she possessed, wound a thick veil about her head, +provided herself with a number of bank-notes, which she thrust between +the palm of her hand and her glove, left the house on foot, and took a +cab. There was nothing to be done but to go herself, for she could trust +no one. Her heart beat fast as she ascended the narrow stone steps of +Del Ferice's lodging, and stopped upon the landing before the small green +door, whereon she read his name. She pulled the bell, and Temistocle +appeared in his shirt-sleeves. + +"Does Count Del Ferice live here?" asked Donna Tullia, peering over the +man's shoulder into the dark and narrow passage within. + +"He lives here, but he is gone to Naples," answered Temistocle, promptly. + +"When will he be back?" she inquired. The man raised his shoulders to his +ears, and spread out the palms of his hands to signify that he did not +know. Donna Tullia hesitated. She had never attempted to bribe anybody +in her life, and hardly knew how to go about it. She thought that the +sight of the money might produce an impression, and she withdrew a +bank-note from the hollow of her hand, spreading it out between her +fingers. Temistocle eyed it greedily. + +"There are twenty-five scudi," she said. "If you will help me to find a +piece of paper in your master's room, you shall have them." + +Temistocle drew himself up with an air of mock pride. Madame Mayer looked +at him. + +"Impossible, signora," he said. Then she drew out another. Temistocle +eyed the glove curiously to see if it contained more. + +"Signora," he repeated, "it is impossible. My master would kill me. I +cannot think of it." But his tone seemed to yield a little. Donna Tullia +found another bank-note; there were now seventy-five scudi in her hand. +She thought she saw Temistocle tremble with excitement. But still he +hesitated. + +"Signora, my conscience," he said, in a low voice of protestation. + +"Come," said Madame Mayer, impatiently, "there is another--there are a +hundred scudi--that is all I have got," she added, turning down her empty +glove. + +Suddenly Temistocle put out his hand and grasped the bank-notes eagerly. +But instead of retiring to allow her to enter, he pushed roughly past +her. + +"You may go in," he said in a hoarse whisper, and turning quickly, fled +precipitately down the narrow steps, in his shirt-sleeves as he was. +Madame Mayer stood for a moment looking after him in surprise, even when +he had already disappeared. + +Then she turned and entered the door rather timidly; but before she had +gone two steps in the dark passage, she uttered a cry of horror. Del +Ferice stood in her way, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, a curious +expression upon his pale face, which from its whiteness was clearly +distinguishable in the gloom. Temistocle had cheated her, had lied in +telling her that his master was absent, had taken her bribe and had fled. +He would easily find an excuse for having allowed her to enter; and with +his quick valet's instinct, he guessed that she would not confess to +Del Ferice that she had bribed him. Ugo came forward a step and instantly +recognised Madame Mayer. + +"Donna Tullia!" he cried, "what are you doing? You must not be seen +here." + +A less clever man than Ugo would have pretended to be overjoyed at her +coming. Del Fence's fine instincts told him that for whatever cause she +had come--and he guessed the cause well enough--he would get a firmer +hold upon her consideration by appearing to be shocked at her imprudence. +Donna Tullia was nearly fainting with fright, and stood leaning against +the wall of the passage. + +"I thought--I--I must see you at once," she stammered. + +"Not here," he answered, quickly. "Go home at once; I will join you in +five minutes. It will ruin you to have it known that you have been here." + +Madame Mayer took courage at his tone. + +"You must bring them--those papers," she said, hurriedly. "Something +dreadful has happened. Promise me to come at once!" + +"I will come at once, my dear lady," he said, gently pushing her towards +the door. "I cannot even go down-stairs with you--forgive me. You have +your carriage of course?" + +"I have a cab," replied Donna Tullia, faintly, submitting to be put +out of the door. He seized her hand and kissed it passionately, or +with a magnificent semblance of passion. With a startled look, Donna +Tullia turned and went rapidly down the steps. Del Ferice smiled +softly to himself when she was gone, and went in again to exchange his +dressing-gown for a coat. He had her in his power at last. He had guessed +that she would betray the secret--that after the engagement became known, +she would not be able to refrain from communicating it to Corona +d'Astrardente; and so soon as he heard the news, he had shut himself up +in his lodging, pretending a sudden journey to Naples, determined not to +set foot out of the house until he heard that Donna Tullia had committed +herself. He knew that when she had once spoken she would make a desperate +attempt to obtain the papers, for he knew that such an assertion as hers +would need to be immediately proved, at the risk of her position in +society. His plot had succeeded so far. His only anxiety was to know +whether she had mentioned his name in connection with the subject, but he +guessed, from his knowledge of her character, that she would not do so: +she would respect her oath enough to conceal his name, even while +breaking her promise; she would enjoy taking the sole credit of the +discovery upon herself, and she would shun an avowal which would prove +her to have discussed with any one else the means of preventing the +marriage, because it would be a confession of jealousy, and consequently +of personal interest in Don Giovanni. Del Ferice was a very clever +fellow. + +He put on his coat, and in five minutes was seated in a cab on his way to +Donna Tullia's house, with a large envelope full of papers in his pocket. +He found her as she had left him, her face still wrapped in a veil, +walking up and down her drawing-room in great excitement. He advanced +and saluted her courteously, maintaining a dignified gravity of bearing +which he judged fitting for the occasion. + +"And now, my dear lady," he said, gently, "will you tell me exactly what +you have done?" + +"This morning," answered Madame Mayer, in a stifled voice, "I heard of +the Astrardente's engagement to Don Giovanni. It seemed such a terrible +thing!" + +"Terrible, indeed," said Del Ferice, solemnly. + +"I sent for you at once, to know what to do: they said you were gone to +Naples. I thought, of course, that you would approve if you were here, +because we ought to prevent such a dreadful crime--of course." She waited +for some sign of assent, but Del Ferice's pale face expressed nothing but +a sort of grave reproach. + +"And then," she continued, "as I could not find you, I thought it was +best to act at once, and so I went to see the Astrardente, feeling that +you would entirely support me. There was a terrific scene. She sent for +the two Saracinesca, and I--waited till they came, because I was +determined to see justice done. I am sure I was right,--was I not?" + +"What did they say?" asked Del Ferice, quietly watching her face. + +"If you will believe it, that monster of villany, Don Giovanni, was as +cold as stone, and denied the whole matter from beginning to end; but his +father was very angry. Of course they demanded the proofs. I never saw +anything like the brazen assurance of Don Giovanni." + +"Did you mention me?" inquired Del Ferice. + +"No, I had not seen you: of course I did not want to implicate you. I +said I would show them the papers to-morrow at the same hour." + +"And then you came to see me," said Del Ferice. "That was very rash. You +might have seriously compromised yourself. I would have come if you had +sent for me." + +"But they said you had gone to Naples. Your servant," continued Donna +Tullia, blushing scarlet at the remembrance of her interview with +Temistocle,--"your servant assured me in person that you had gone to +Naples--" + +"I see," replied Del Ferice, quietly. He did not wish to press her to a +confession of having tried to get the papers in his absence. His object +was to put her at her ease. + +"My dear lady," he continued, gently, "you have done an exceedingly rash +thing; but I will support you in every way, by putting the documents in +your possession at once. It is unfortunate that you should have acted so +suddenly, for we do not know what has become of this Felice Baldi, nor +have we any immediate means of finding out. It might have taken weeks to +find her. Why were you so rash? You could have waited till I returned, +and we could have discussed the matter carefully, and decided whether it +were really wise to make use of my information." + +"You do not doubt that I did right?" asked Donna Tullia, turning a little +pale. + +"I think you acted precipitately in speaking without consulting me. All +may yet be well. But in the first place, as you did not ask my opinion, +you will see the propriety of not mentioning my name, since you have +not done so already. It can do no good, for the papers speak for +themselves, and whatever value they may have is inherent in them. Do you +see?" + +"Of course there is no need of mentioning you, unless you wish to have a +share in the exposure of this abominable wickedness." + +"I am satisfied with my share," replied Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. + +"It is not an important one," returned Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"It is the lion's share," he answered. "Most adorable of women, you have +not, I am sure, forgotten the terms of our agreement--terms so dear to +me, that every word of them is engraven for ever upon the tablet of my +heart." + +Madame Mayer started slightly. She had not realised that her promise to +marry Ugo was now due--she did not believe that he would press it; he had +exacted it to frighten her, and besides, she had so persuaded herself +that he would approve of her conduct, that she had not felt as though she +were betraying his secret. + +"You will not--you cannot hold me to that; you approve of telling the +Astrardente, on the whole,--it is the same as though I had consulted +you--" + +"Pardon me, my dear lady; you did not consult me," answered Del Ferice, +soothingly. He sat near her by the fire, his hat upon his knee, no longer +watching her, but gazing contemplatively at the burning logs. There was a +delicacy about his pale face since the wound he had received a year +before which was rather attractive: from having been a little inclined to +stoutness, he had grown slender and more graceful, partly because his +health had really been affected by his illness, and partly because he had +determined never again to risk being too fat. + +"I tried to consult you," objected Donna Tullia. "It is the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing to me," he answered, "although you have not +involved me in the affair. I would have most distinctly advised you to +say nothing about it at present. You have acted rashly, have put yourself +in a most painful situation; and you have broken your promise to me--a +very solemn promise, Donna Tullia, sworn upon the memory of your mother +and upon a holy relic. One cannot make light of such promises as +that." + +"You made me give it in order to frighten me. The Church does not bind us +to oaths sworn under compulsion," she argued. + +"Excuse me; there was no compulsion whatever. You wanted to know my +secret, and for the sake of knowing it you bound yourself. That is not +compulsion. I cannot compel you. I could not think of presuming to compel +you to marry me now. But I can say to you that I am devotedly attached to +you, that to marry you is the aim and object of my life, and if you +refuse, I will tell you that you are doing a great wrong, repudiating a +solemn contract--" + +"If I refuse--well--but you would give me the papers?" asked Donna +Tullia, who was beginning to tremble for the result of the interview. She +had a vague suspicion that, for the sake of obtaining them, she would +even be willing to promise to marry Del Ferice. It would be very wrong, +perhaps; but it would be for the sake of accomplishing good, by +preventing Corona from falling into the trap--Corona, whom she hated! +Still, it would be a generous act to save her. The minds of women like +Madame Mayer are apt to be a little tortuous when they find themselves +hemmed in between their own jealousies, hatreds, and personal interests. + +"If you refused--no; if you refused, I am afraid I could not give you the +papers," replied Del Ferice, musing as he gazed at the fire. "I love you +too much to lose that chance of winning you, even for the sake of saving +the Duchessa d'Astrardente from her fate. Why do you refuse? why do you +bargain?" he asked, suddenly turning towards her. "Does all my devotion +count for nothing--all my love, all my years of patient waiting? Oh, you +cannot be so cruel as to snatch the cup from my very lips! It is not for +the sake of these miserable documents: what is it to me whether Don +Giovanni appears as the criminal in a case of bigamy--whether he is +ruined now, as by his evil deeds he will be hereafter, or whether he goes +on unharmed and unthwarted upon his career of wickedness? He is nothing +to me, nor his pale-faced bride either. It is for you that I care, for +you that I will do anything, bad or good, to win you that I would risk my +life and my soul. Can you not see it? Have I not been faithful for very +long? Take pity on me--forget this whole business, forget that you have +promised anything, forget all except that I am here at your feet, a +miserable man, unless you speak the word, and turn all my wretchedness +into joy!" + +He slipped from his seat and knelt upon one knee before her, clasping one +of her hands passionately between both his own. The scene was well +planned and well executed; his voice had a ring of emotion that sounded +pleasantly in Donna Tullia's ears, and his hands trembled with +excitement. She did not repulse him, being a vain woman and willing to +believe in the reality of the passion so well simulated. Perhaps, too, it +was not wholly put on, for she was a handsome, dashing woman, in the +prime of youth, and Del Ferice was a man who had always been susceptible +to charms of that kind. Donna Tullia hesitated, wondering what more he +could say. But he, on his part, knew the danger of trusting too much to +eloquence when not backed by a greater strength than his, and he pressed +her for an answer. + +"Be generous--trust me," he cried. "Believe that your happiness is +everything to me; believe that I will take no unfair advantage of a hasty +promise. Tell me that, of your own free will, you will be my wife, and +command me anything, that I may prove my devotion. It is so true, so +honest,--Tullia, I adore you, I live only for you! Speak the word, and +make me the happiest of men!" + +He really looked handsome as he knelt before her, and she felt the light, +nervous pressure of his hand at every word he spoke. After all, what did +it matter? She might accept him, and then--well, if she did not like the +idea, she could throw him over. It would only cost her a violent scene, +and a few moments of discomfort. Meanwhile she would get the papers. + +"But you would give me the papers, would you not, and leave me to decide +whether--Really, Del Ferice," she said, interrupting herself with a +nervous laugh, "this is very absurd." + +"I implore you not to speak of the papers--it is not absurd. It may seem +so to you, but it is life or death to me: death if you refuse me--life if +you will speak the word and be mine!" + +Donna Tullia made up her mind. He would evidently not give her what she +wanted, except in return for a promise of marriage. She had grown used to +him, almost fond of him, in the last year. + +"Well, I do not know whether I am right," she said, "but I am really very +fond of you; and if you will do all I say--" + +"Everything, my dear lady; everything in the world I will do, if you will +make me so supremely happy," cried Del Ferice, ardently. + +"Then--yes; I will marry you. Only get up and sit upon your chair like a +reasonable being. No; you really must be reasonable, or you must go +away." Ugo was madly kissing her hands. He was really a good actor, if +it was all acting. She could not but be moved by his pale delicate face +and passionate words. With a quick movement he sprang to his feet and +stood before her, clasping his hands together and gazing into her face. + +"Oh, I am the happiest man alive to-day!" he exclaimed, and the sense of +triumph that he felt lent energy to his voice. + +"Do sit down," said Donna Tullia, gaily, "and let us talk it all over. In +the first place, what am I to do first?" + +Del Ferice found it convenient to let his excitement subside, and as a +preliminary he walked twice the length of the room. + +"It is so hard to be calm!" he exclaimed; but nevertheless he presently +sat down in his former seat, and seemed to collect his faculties with +wonderful ease. + +"What is to be done first?" asked Donna Tullia again. + +"In the first place," answered Del Ferice, "here are those precious +papers. As they are notary's copies themselves, and not the originals, it +is of no importance whether Don Giovanni tears them up or not. It is easy +to get others if he does. I have noted down all the names and dates. I +wish we had some information about Felice Baldi. It is very unfortunate +that we have not, but it would perhaps take a month to find her." + +"I must act at once," said Donna Tullia, firmly; for she remembered old +Saracinesca's threats, and was in a hurry. + +"Of course. These documents speak for themselves. They bear the address +of the notary who made the copies in Aquila. If the Saracinesca choose, +they can themselves go there and see the originals." + +"Could they not destroy those too?" asked Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"No; they can only see one at a time, and the person who will show them +will watch them. Besides, it is easy to write to the curate of the church +of San Bernardino to be on his guard. We will do that in any case. The +matter is perfectly plain. Your best course is to meet the Astrardente +to-morrow at the appointed time, and simply present these papers for +inspection. No one can deny their authenticity, for they bear the +Government stamp and the notary's seal, as you see, here and here. If +they ask you, as they certainly will, how you came by them, you can +afford to answer, that, since you have them, it is not necessary to know +whence they came; that they may go and verify the originals; and that in +warning them of the fact, you have fulfilled a duty to society, and have +done a service to the Astrardente, if not to Giovanni Saracinesca. You +have them in your power, and you can afford to take the high hand in the +matter. They must believe the evidence of their senses; and they must +either allow that Giovanni's first wife is alive, or they must account +for her death, and prove it. There is no denial possible in the face of +these proofs." + +Donna Tullia drew a long breath, for the case seemed perfectly clear; and +the anticipation of her triumph already atoned for the sacrifice she had +made. + +"You are a wonderful man, Del Ferice!" she exclaimed. "I do not know +whether I am wise in promising to marry you, but I have the greatest +admiration for your intellect." + +Del Ferice glanced at her and smiled. Then he made as though he would +return the papers to his pocket. She sprang towards him, and seized him +by the wrist. + +"Do not be afraid!" she cried, "I will keep my promise." + +"Solemnly?" he asked, still smiling, and holding the envelope firmly in +his hand. + +"Solemnly," she answered; and then added, with a quick laugh, "but you +are so abominably clever, that I believe you could make me marry you +against my will." + +"Never!" said Del Ferice, earnestly; "I love you far too much." He had +wonderfully clear instincts. "And now," he continued, "we have settled +that matter; when shall the happy day be?" + +"Oh, there is time enough to think of that," answered Donna Tullia, with +a blush that might have passed for the result of a coy shyness, but which +was in reality caused by a certain annoyance at being pressed. + +"No," objected Del Ferice, "we must announce our engagement at once. +There is no reason for delay--to-day is better than to-morrow." + +"To-day?" repeated Donna Tullia, in some alarm. + +"Why not? Why not, my dear lady, since you and I are both in earnest?" + +"I think it would be much better to let this affair pass first." + +"On the contrary," he argued, "from the moment we are publicly engaged I +become your natural protector. If any one offers you any insult in this +matter, I shall then have an acknowledged right to avenge you--a right +I dearly covet. Do you think I would dread to meet Don Giovanni again? He +wounded me, it is true, but he has the marks of my sword upon his body +also. Give me at once the privilege of appearing as your champion, +and you will not regret it. But if you delay doing so, all sorts of +circumstances may arise, all sorts of unpleasantness--who could protect +you? Of course, even in that case I would; but you know the tongues of +the gossips in Rome--it would do you harm instead of good." + +"That is true, and you are very brave and very kind. But it seems almost +too soon," objected Donna Tullia, who, however, was fast learning to +yield to his judgment. + +"Those things cannot be done too soon. It gives us liberty, and it gives +the world satisfaction; it protects you, and it will be an inestimable +pleasure to me. Why delay the inevitable? Let us appear at once as +engaged to be married, and you put a sword in my hand to defend you and +to enforce your position in this unfortunate affair with the +Astrardente." + +"Well, you may announce it if you please," she answered, reluctantly. + +"Thank you, my dear lady," said Del Ferice. "And here are the papers. +Make the best use of them you can--any use that you make of them will be +good, I know. How could it be otherwise?" + +Donna Tullia's fingers closed upon the large envelope with a grasping +grip, as though she would never relinquish that for which she had paid so +dear a price. She had, indeed, at one time almost despaired of getting +possession of them, and she had passed a terrible hour, besides having +abased herself to the fruitless bribery she had practised upon +Temistocle. But she had gained her end, even at the expense of permitting +Del Ferice to publish her engagement to marry him. She felt that she +could break it off if she decided at last that the union was too +distasteful to her; but she foresaw that, from the point of worldly +ambition, she would be no great loser by marrying a man of such cunning +wit, who possessed such weapons against his enemies, and who, on the +whole, as she believed, entirely sympathised with her view of life. She +recognised that her chances of making a great match were diminishing +rapidly; she could not tell precisely why, but she felt, to her +mortification, that she had not made a good use of her rich widowhood: +people did not respect her much, and as this touched her vanity, she was +susceptible to their lack of deference. She had done no harm, but she +knew that every one thought her an irresponsible woman, and the thrifty +Romans feared her extravagance, though some of them perhaps courted her +fortune: many had admired her, and had to some extent expressed their +devotion, but no scion of all the great families had asked her to be his +wife. The nearest approach to a proposal had been the doubtful attention +she had received from Giovanni Saracinesca during the time when his +headstrong father had almost persuaded him to marry her, and she thought +of her disappointed hopes with much bitterness. To destroy Giovanni by +the revelations she now proposed to make, to marry Del Ferice, and then +to develop her position by means of the large fortune she had inherited +from her first husband, seemed on the whole a wise plan. Del Ferice's +title was not much, to be sure, but, on the other hand, he was intimate +with every one she knew, and for a few thousand scudi she could buy some +small estate with a good title attached to it. She would then change +her mode of life, and assume the pose of a social power, which as a young +widow she could not do. It was not so bad, after all, especially if she +could celebrate the first day of her engagement by destroying the +reputation of Giovanni Saracinesca, root and branch, and dealing a blow +at Corona's happiness from which it would not recover. + +As for Del Ferice, he regarded his triumph as complete. He cared little +what became of Giovanni--whether he was able to refute the evidence +brought against him or not. There had been nothing in the matter which +was dishonest, and properly made out marriage-certificates are not easy +things to annul. Giovanni might swim or sink--it was nothing to Ugo del +Ferice, now that he had gained the great object of his life, and was at +liberty to publish his engagement to Donna Tullia Mayer. He lost no time +in telling his friends the good news, and before the evening was over a +hundred people had congratulated him. Donna Tullia, too, appeared in more +than usually gay attire, and smilingly received the expressions of good +wishes which were showered upon her. She was not inclined to question the +sincerity of those who spoke, for in her present mood the stimulus of a +little popular noise was soothing to her nerves, which had been badly +strained by the excitement of the day. When she closed her eyes she had +evil visions of Temistocle retreating at full speed down the stairs with +his unearned bribe, or of Del Ferice's calm, pale face, as he had sat in +her house that afternoon grasping the precious documents in his hand +until she promised to pay the price he asked, which was herself. But +she smiled at each new congratulation readily enough, and said in her +heart that she would yet become a great power in society, and make her +house the centre of all attractions. And meanwhile she pondered on the +title she should buy for her husband: she came of high blood herself, and +she knew how such dignities as a "principe" or a "duca" were regarded +when bought. There was nothing for it but to find some snug little +marquisate--"marchese" sounded very well, though one could not be called +"eccellenza" by one's servants; still, as the daughter of a prince, she +might manage even that. "Marchese"--yes, that would do. What a pity there +were only four "canopy" marquises--"marchesi del baldacchino"--in Rome +with the rank of princes! That was exactly the combination of dignities +Donna Tullia required for her husband. But once a "marchese," if she was +very charitable, and did something in the way of a public work, the Holy +Father might condescend to make Del Ferice a "duca" in the ordinary +course as a step in the nobility. Donna Tullia dreamed many things that +night, and she afterwards accomplished most of them, to the surprise of +everybody, and, if the truth were told, to her own considerable +astonishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"Giovanni, you are the victim of some outrageous plot," said old +Saracinesca, entering his son's room on the following morning. "I have +thought it all out in the night, and I am convinced of it." + +Giovanni was extended upon a sofa, with a book in his hand and a cigar +between his lips. He looked up quietly from his reading. + +"I am not the victim yet, nor ever will be," he answered; "but it is +evident that there is something at the bottom of this besides Madame +Mayer's imagination. I will find out." + +"What pleases me especially," remarked the old Prince, "is the wonderful +originality of the idea. It would have been commonplace to make out that +you had poisoned half-a-dozen wives, and buried their bodies in the +vaults of Saracinesca; it would have been _banal_ to say that you were +not yourself, but some one else; or to assert that you were a +revolutionary agent in disguise, and that the real Giovanni had been +murdered by you, who had taken his place without my discovering it,--very +commonplace all that. But to say that you actually have a living wife, +and to try to prove it by documents, is an idea worthy of a great mind. +It takes one's breath away." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"It will end in our having to go to Aquila in search of my supposed +better half," he said. "Aquila, of all places! If she had said Paris--or +even Florence--but why, in the name of geography, Aquila?" + +"She probably looked for some out-of-the-way place upon an alphabetical +list," laughed the Prince. "Aquila stood first. We shall know in two +hours--come along. It is time to be going." + +They found Corona in her boudoir. She had passed an uneasy hour on the +previous afternoon after they had left her, but her equanimity was now +entirely restored. She had made up her mind that, however ingenious the +concocted evidence might turn out to be, it was absolutely impossible to +harm Giovanni by means of it. His position was beyond attack, as, in her +mind, his character was above slander. Far from experiencing any +sensation of anxiety as to the result of Donna Tullia's visit, what she +most felt was curiosity to see what these fancied proofs would be like. +She still believed that Madame Mayer was mad. + +"I have been remarking to Giovanni upon Donna Tullia's originality," said +old Saracinesca. "It is charming; it shows a talent for fiction which the +world has been long in realising, which we have not even suspected--an +amazing and transcendent genius for invention." + +"It is pure insanity," answered Corona, in a tone of conviction. "The +woman is mad." + +"Mad as an Englishman," asseverated the Prince, using the most powerful +simile in the Italian language. "We will have her in Santo Spirito before +night, and she will puzzle the doctors." + +"She is not mad," said Giovanni, quietly. "I do not even believe we shall +find that her documents are forgeries." + +"What?" cried his father. Corona looked quickly at Giovanni. + +"You yourself," said the latter, turning to old Saracinesca, "were +assuring me half an hour ago that I was the victim of a plot. Now, if +anything of the kind is seriously attempted, you may be sure it will be +well done. She has a good ally in the man to whom she is engaged. Del +Ferice is no fool, and he hates me." + +"Del Ferice!" exclaimed Corona, in surprise. As she went nowhere as yet, +she had, of course, not heard the news which had been published on the +previous evening. "You do not mean to say that she is going to marry Del +Ferice?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Giovanni. "They both appeared last night and +announced the fact, and received everybody's congratulations. It is a +most appropriate match." + +"I agree with you--a beautiful triangular alliteration of wit, wealth, +and wickedness," observed the Prince. "He has brains, she has money, and +they are both as bad as possible." + +"I thought you used to like Donna Tullia," said Corona, suppressing a +smile. + +"I did," said old Saracinesea, stoutly. "I wanted Giovanni to marry her. +It has pleased Providence to avert that awful catastrophe. I liked Madame +Mayer because she was rich and noisy and good-looking, and I thought +that, as Giovanni's wife, she would make the house gay. We are such a +pair of solemn bears together, that it seemed appropriate that somebody +should make us dance. It was a foolish idea, I confess, though I thought +it very beautiful at the time. It merely shows how liable we are to make +mistakes. Imagine Giovanni married to a lunatic!" + +"I repeat that she is not mad," said Giovanni. "I cannot tell how they +have managed it, but I am sure it has been managed well, and will give us +trouble. You will see." + +"I do not understand at all how there can be any trouble about it," said +Corona, proudly. "It is perfectly simple for us to tell the truth, and to +show that what they say is a lie. You can prove easily enough that you +were in Canada at the time. I wish it were time for her to come. Let us +go to breakfast in the meanwhile." + +The views taken by the three were characteristic of their various +natures. The old Prince, who was violent of temper, and inclined always +to despise an enemy in any shape, scoffed at the idea that there was +anything to show; and though his natural wit suggested from time to time +that there was a plot against his son, his general opinion was, that it +was a singular case of madness. He hardly believed Donna Tullia would +appear at all; and if she did, he expected some extraordinary outburst, +some pitiable exhibition of insanity. Corona, on the other hand, +maintained a proud indifference, scorning to suppose that anything could +possibly injure Giovanni in any way, loving him too entirely to admit +that he was vulnerable at all, still less that he could possibly have +done anything to give colour to the accusation brought against him. +Giovanni alone of all the three foresaw that there would be trouble, and +dimly guessed how the thing had been done; for he did not fall into his +father's error of despising an enemy, and he had seen too much of the +world not to understand that danger is often greatest when the appearance +of it is least. + +Breakfast was hardly over when Donna Tullia was announced. All rose to +meet her, and all looked at her with equal interest. She was calmer than +on the previous day, and she carried a package of papers in her hand. +Her red lips were compressed, and her eyes looked defiantly round upon +all present. Whatever might be her faults, she was not a coward when +brought face to face with danger. She was determined to carry the matter +through, both because she knew that she had no other alternative, and +because she believed herself to be doing a righteous act, which, at the +same time, fully satisfied her desire for vengeance. She came forward +boldly and stood beside the table in the midst of the room. Corona was +upon one side of the fireplace, and the two Saracinesea upon the other. +All three held their breath in expectation of what Donna Tullia was about +to say; the sense of her importance impressed her, and her love of +dramatic situations being satisfied, she assumed something of the air of +a theatrical avenging angel, and her utterance was rhetorical. + +"I come here," she said, "at your invitation, to exhibit to your eyes the +evidence of what I yesterday asserted--the evidence of the monstrous +crime of which I accuse that man." Here she raised her finger with a +gesture of scorn, and extending her whole arm, pointed towards Giovanni. + +"Madam," interrupted the old Prince, "I will trouble you to select your +epithets and expressions with more care. Pray be brief, and show what you +have brought." + +"I will show it, indeed," replied Donna Tullia, "and you shall tremble at +what you see. When you have evidence of the truth of what I say, you may +choose any language you please to define the action of your son. These +documents," she said, holding up the package, "are attested copies made +from the originals--the first two in the possession of the curate of the +church of San Bernardino da Siena, at Aquila, the other in the office of +the Stato Civile in the same city. As they are only copies, you need not +think that you will gain anything by destroying them." + +"Spare your comments upon our probable conduct," interrupted the Prince, +roughly. Donna Tullia eyed him with a scornful glance, and her face began +to grow red. + +"You may destroy them if you please," she repeated; "but I advise you to +observe that they bear the Government stamp and the notarial seal of +Gianbattista Caldani, notary public in the city of Aquila, and that they +are, consequently, beyond all doubt genuine copies of genuine documents." + +Donna Tullia proceeded to open the envelope and withdraw the three papers +it contained. Spreading them out, she took up the first, which contained +the extract from the curate's book of banns. It set forth that upon the +three Sundays preceding the 19th of June 1863, the said curate had +published, in the parish church of San Bernardino da Siena, the banns of +marriage between Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi. Donna Tullia read +it aloud. + +Giovanni could hardly suppress a laugh, it sounded so strangely. Corona +herself turned pale, though she firmly believed the whole thing to be an +imposture of some kind. + +"Permit me, madam," said old Saracinesca, stepping forward and taking the +paper from her hand. He carefully examined the seal and stamp. "It is +very cleverly done," he said with a sneer; "but there should be only +one letter _r_ in the name Saracinesca--here it is spelt with two! Very +clever, but a slight mistake! Observe," he said, showing the place to +Donna Tullia. + +"It is a mistake of the copyist," she said, scornfully. "The name is +properly spelt in the other papers. Here is the copy of the marriage +register. Shall I read it also?" + +"Spare me the humiliation," said Giovanni, in quiet contempt. "Spare me +the unutterable mortification of discovering that there is another +Giovanni Saracinesca in the world!" + +"I could not have believed that any one could be so hardened," said Donna +Tullia. "But whether you are humiliated or not by the evidence of your +misdeeds, I will spare you nothing. Here it is in full, and you may +notice that your name is spelt properly too." + +She held up the document and then read it out--the copy of the curate's +register, stating that on the 19th of June 1863 Giovanni Saracinesca and +Felice Baldi were united in holy matrimony in the church of San +Bernardino da Siena. She handed the paper to the Prince, and then read +the extract from the register of the Civil marriage and the notary's +attestation to the signatures. She gave this also to old Saracinesca, and +then folding her arms in a fine attitude, confronted the three. + +"Are you satisfied that I spoke the truth?" she asked, defiantly. + +"The thing is certainly remarkably well done," answered the old Prince, +who scrutinised the papers with a puzzled air. Though he knew perfectly +well that his son had been in Canada at the time of this pretended +marriage, he confessed to himself that if such evidence had been brought +against any other man, he would have believed it. + +"It is a shameful fraud!" exclaimed Corona, looking at the papers over +the old man's shoulder. + +"That is a lie!" cried Donna Tullia, growing scarlet with anger. + +"Do not forget your manners, or you will get into trouble," said +Giovanni, sternly. "I see through the whole thing. There has been no +fraud, and yet the deductions are entirely untrue. In the first place, +Donna Tullia, how do you make the statements here given to coincide with +the fact that during the whole summer of 1863 and during the early part +of 1864 I was in Canada with a party of gentlemen, who are all alive to +testify to the fact?" + +"I do not believe it," answered Madame Mayer, contemptuously. "I would +not believe your friends if they were here and swore to it. You will very +likely produce witnesses to prove that you were in the arctic regions +last summer, as the newspapers said, whereas every one knows now that you +were at Saracinesca. You are exceedingly clever at concealing your +movements, as we all know." + +Giovanni did not lose his temper, but calmly proceeded to demonstrate his +theory. + +"You will find that the courts of law will accept the evidence of +gentlemen upon oath," he replied, quietly. "Moreover, as a further +evidence, and a piece of very singular proof, I can probably produce +Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi themselves to witness against you. +And I apprehend that the said Giovanni Saracinesca will vehemently +protest that the said Felice Baldi is his wife, and not mine." + +"You speak in wonderful riddles, but you will not deceive me. Money will +doubtless do much, but it will not do what you expect." + +"Certainly not," returned Giovanni, unmoved by her reply. "Money will +certainly not create out of nothing a second Giovanni Saracinesca, nor +his circle of acquaintances, nor the police registers concerning him +which are kept throughout the kingdom of Italy, very much as they are +kept here in the Pontifical States. Money will do none of these things." + +While he was speaking, his father and the Duchessa listened with intense +interest. + +"Donna Tullia," continued Giovanni, "I am willing to believe from your +manner that you are really sure that I am the man mentioned in your +papers; but permit me to inform you that you have been made the victim of +a shallow trick, probably by the person who gave those same papers into +your hands, and suggested to you the use you have made of them." + +"I? I, the victim of a trick?" repeated Donna Tullia, frightened at last +by his obstinately calm manner. + +"Yes," he replied. "I know Aquila and the Abruzzi very well. It +chances that although we, the Saracinesca of Rome, are not numerous, +the name is not uncommon in that part of the country. It is the same +with all our great names. There are Colonna, Orsini, Caetani all over the +country--there are even many families bearing the name of the Medici, who +are extinct. You know it as well as I, or you should know it, for I +believe your mother was my father's cousin. Has it not struck you that +this same Giovanni Saracinesca herein mentioned, is simply some low-born +namesake of mine?" + +Donna Tullia had grown very pale, and she leaned upon the table as though +she were faint. The others listened breathlessly. + +"I do not believe it," said Madame Mayer, in a low and broken voice. + +"Now I will tell you what I will do," continued Giovanni. "I will go to +Aquila at once, and I daresay my father will accompany me--" + +"Of course I will," broke in the old Prince. + +"We will go, and in a fortnight's time we will produce the whole history +of this Giovanni Saracinesca, together with his wife and himself in his +own person, if they are both alive; we will bring them here, and they +will assure you that you have been egregiously deceived, played upon and +put in a false position by--by the person who furnished you with these +documents. I wonder that any Roman of common-sense should not have seen +at once the cause of this mistake." + +"I cannot believe it," murmured Donna Tullia. Then raising her voice, she +added, "Whatever may be the result of your inquiry, I cannot but feel +that I have done my duty in this affair. I do not believe in your theory, +nor in you, and I shall not, until you produce this other man. I have +done my duty--" + +"An exceedingly painful one, no doubt," remarked old Saracinesca. Then he +broke into a loud peal of laughter. + +"And if you do not succeed in your search, it will be my duty, in the +interests of society, to put the matter in the hands of the police. Since +you have the effrontery to say that those papers are of no use, I demand +them back." + +"Not at all, madam," replied the Prince, whose laughter subsided at the +renewed boldness of her tone. "I will not give them back to you. I intend +to compare them with the originals. If there are no originals, they will +serve very well to commit the notary whose seal is on them, and yourself, +upon a well-founded indictment for forgery, wilful calumniation, and a +whole list of crimes sufficient to send you to the galleys for life. If, +on the other hand, the originals exist, they can be of no possible value +to you, as you can send to Aquila and have fresh copies made whenever you +please, as you yourself informed me." + +Things were taking a bad turn for Donna Tullia. She believed the papers +to be genuine, but a fearful doubt crossed her mind that Del Ferice might +possibly have deceived her by having them manufactured. Anybody +could buy Government paper, and it would be but a simple matter to have a +notary's seal engraved. She was terrified at the idea, but there was no +possibility of getting the documents back from the old Prince, who held +them firmly in his broad brown hand. There was nothing to be done but to +face the situation out to the end and go. + +"As you please," she said. "It is natural that you should insult me, a +defenceless woman trying to do what is right. It is worthy of your race +and reputation. I will leave you to the consideration of the course you +intend to follow, and I advise you to omit nothing which can help to +prove the innocence of your son." + +Donna Tullia bestowed one more glance of contemptuous defiance upon the +group, and brushed angrily out of the room. + +"So much for her madness!" exclaimed Giovanni, when she was gone. "I +think I have got to the bottom of that affair." + +"It seems so simple, and yet I never thought of it," said Corona. "How +clever you are, Giovanni!" + +"There was not much cleverness needed to see through so shallow a trick," +replied Giovanni. "I suspected it this morning; and when I saw that the +documents were genuine and all in order, I was convinced of it. This +thing has been done by Del Ferice, I suppose in order to revenge himself +upon me for nearly killing him in fair fight. It was a noble plan. With a +little more intelligence and a little more pains, he could have given me +great trouble. Certificates like those he produced, if they had come from +a remote French village in Canada, would have given us occupation for +some time." + +"I wish Donna Tullia joy of her husband," remarked the Prince. "He will +spend her money in a year or two, and then leave her to the contemplation +of his past extravagance. I wonder how he induced her to consent." + +"Many people like Del Ferice," said Giovanni. "He is popular, and has +attractions." + +"How can you say that!" exclaimed Corona, indignantly. "You should have a +better opinion of women than to think any woman could find attractions in +such a man." + +"Nevertheless, Donna Tullia is going to marry him," returned Giovanni. +"She must find him to her taste. I used to think she might have married +Valdarno--he is so good-natured, you know!" + +Giovanni spoke in a tone of reflection; the other two laughed. + +"And now, Giovannino," said his father, "we must set out for Aquila, and +find your namesake." + +"You will not really go?" asked Corona, with a look of disappointment. +She could not bear the thought of being separated even for a day from the +man she loved. + +"I do not see that we can do anything else," returned the Prince. "I must +satisfy myself whether those papers are forgeries or not. If they are, +that woman must go to prison for them." + +"But she is our cousin--you cannot do that," objected Giovanni. + +"Indeed I will. I am angry. Do not try to stop me. Do you suppose I care +anything for the relationship in comparison with repaying her for all +this trouble? You are not going to turn merciful, Giovanni? I should not +recognise you." + +There was a sort of mournful reproach about the old Prince's tone, as +though he were reproving his son for having fallen from the paths of +virtue. Corona laughed; she was not hard-hearted, but she was not so +angelic of nature as to be beyond feeling deep and lasting resentment +for injuries received. At that moment the idea of bringing Donna Tullia +to justice was pleasant. + +"Well," said Giovanni, "no human being can boast of having ever prevented +you from doing whatever you were determined to do. The best thing that +can happen will be, that you should find the papers genuine, and my +namesake alive. I wish Aquila were Florence or Naples," he added, turning +to Corona; "you might manage to go at the same time." + +"That is impossible," she answered, sadly. "How long will you be gone, do +you think?" + +Giovanni did not believe that, if the papers were genuine, and if they +had to search for the man mentioned in them, they could return in less +than a fortnight. + +"Why not send a detective--a _sbirro_?" suggested Corona. + +"He could not accomplish anything," replied the Prince. + +"He would be at a great disadvantage there; we must go ourselves." + +"Both?" asked Corona, regretfully, gazing at Giovanni's face. + +"It is my business," replied the latter. "I can hardly ask my father to +go alone." + +"Absurd!" exclaimed the old Prince, resenting the idea that he needed any +help to accomplish his mission. "Do you think I need some one to take +care of me, like a baby in arms? I will go alone; you shall not come even +if you wish it. Absurd, to talk of my needing anybody with me! I will +show you what your father can do when his blood is up." + +Protestations were useless after that. The old man grew angry at the +opposition, and, regardless of all propriety, seized his hat and left the +room, growling that he was as good as anybody, and a great deal better. + +Corona and Giovanni looked at each other when he was gone, and smiled. + +"I believe my father is the best man alive," said Giovanni. "He would go +in a moment if I would let him. I will go after him and bring him back--I +suppose I ought." + +"I suppose so," answered Corona; but as they stood side by side, she +passed her hand under his arm affectionately, and looked into his eyes. +It was a very tender look, very loving and gentle--such a look as none +but Giovanni had ever seen upon her face. He put his arm about her waist +and drew her to him, and kissed her dark cheek. + +"I cannot bear to go away and leave you, even for a day," he said, +pressing her to his side. + +"Why should you?" she murmured, looking up to him. "Why should he go, +after all? This has been such a silly affair. I wonder if that woman +thought that anything could ever come between you and me? That was what +made me think she was really mad." + +"And an excellent reason," he answered. "Anybody must be insane who +dreams of parting us two. It seems as though a year ago I had not loved +you at all." + +"I am so glad," said Corona. "Do you remember, last summer, on the tower +at Saracinesca, I told you that you did not know what love was?" + +"It was true, Corona--I did not know. But I thought I did. I never +imagined what the happiness of love was, nor how great it was, nor how it +could enter into every thought." + +"Into every thought? Into your great thoughts too?" + +"If any thoughts of mine are great, they are so because you are the +mainspring of them," he answered. + +"Will it always be so?" she asked. "You will be a very great man some +day, Giovanni; will you always feel that I am something to you?" + +"Always--more than anything to me, more than all of me together." + +"I sometimes wonder," said Corona. "I think I understand you better than +I used to do. I like to think that you feel how I understand you when you +tell me anything. Of course I am not clever like you, but I love you so +much that just while you are talking I seem to understand everything. It +is like a flash of light in a dark room." + +Giovanni kissed her again. + +"What makes you think that I shall be great, Corona? Nobody ever thinks I +am even clever. My father would laugh at you, and say it is quite enough +greatness to be born a Saracinesca. What makes you think it?" + +Corona stood up beside him and laid her delicate hand upon his thick, +close-cut black hair, and gazed into his eyes. + +"I know it," she said. "I know it, because I love you so. A man like you +must be great. There is something in you that nobody guesses but I, that +will amaze people some day--I know it." + +"I wonder if you could tell me what it is? I wonder if it is really there +at all?" said Giovanni. + +"It is ambition," said Corona, gravely. "You are the most ambitious man I +ever knew, and nobody has found it out." + +"I believe it is true, Corona," said Giovanni, turning away and leaning +upon the chimneypiece, his head supported on one hand. "I believe you are +right. I am ambitious: if I only had the brains that some men have I +would do great things." + +"You are wrong, Giovanni. It is neither brains nor ambition nor strength +that you lack--it is opportunity." + +"They say that a man who has anything in him creates opportunities for +himself," answered Giovanni, rather sadly. "I fear it is because I really +have nothing in me that I can do nothing. It sometimes makes me very +unhappy to think so. I suppose that is because my vanity is wounded." + +"Do not talk like that," said Corona. "You have vanity, of course, but it +is of the large kind, and I call it ambition. It is not only because I +love you better than any man was ever loved before that I say that. It is +that I know it instinctively I have heard you say that these are +unsettled times. Wait; your opportunity will come, as it came often to +your forefathers in other centuries." + +"I hardly think that their example is a good one," replied Giovanni, with +a smile. + +"They generally did something remarkable in remarkable times," said +Corona. "You will do the same. Your father, for instance, would not." + +"He is far more clever than I," objected Giovanni. + +"Clever! It passes for cleverness. He is quick, active, a good talker, a +man with a ready wit and a sharp answer--kind-hearted when the fancy +takes him, cruel when he is so disposed--but not a man of great +convictions or of great actions. You are very different from him." + +"Will you draw my portrait, Corona?" asked Giovanni. + +"As far as I know you. You are a man quick to think and slow to make a +decision. You are not brilliant in conversation--you see I do not flatter +you; I am just. You have the very remarkable quality of growing cold +when others grow hot, and of keeping the full use of your faculties in +any situation. When you have made a decision, you cannot be moved from +it; but you are open to conviction in argument. You have a great repose +of manner, which conceals a very restless brain. All your passions are +very strong. You never forgive, never forget, and scarcely ever repent. +Beneath all, you have an untamable ambition which has not yet found its +proper field. Those are your qualities--and I love them all, and you +more than them all." + +Corona finished her speech by throwing her arms round his neck, and +breaking into a happy laugh as she buried her face upon his shoulder. No +one who saw her in the world would have believed her capable of those +sudden and violent demonstrations--she was thought so very cold. + +When Giovanni reached home, he was informed that his father had left Rome +an hour earlier by the train for Terni, leaving word that he had gone to +Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +In those days the railroad did not extend beyond Terni in the direction +of Aquila, and it was necessary to perform the journey of forty miles +between those towns by diligence. It was late in the afternoon of the +next day before the cumbrous coach rolled up to the door of the Locanda +del Sole in Aquila, and Prince Saracinesca found himself at his +destination. The red evening sun gilded the snow of the Gran Sasso +d'Italia, the huge domed mountain that towers above the city of +Frederick. The city itself had long been in the shade, and the spring +air was sharp and biting. Saracinesca deposited his slender luggage with +the portly landlord, said he would return for supper in half an hour, and +inquired the way to the church of San Bernardino da Siena. There was +no difficulty in finding it, at the end of the Corso--the inevitable +"Corso" of every Italian town. The old gentleman walked briskly along the +broad, clean street, and reached the door of the church just as the +sacristan was hoisting the heavy leathern curtain, preparatory to locking +up for the night. + +"Where can I find the Padre Curato?" inquired the Prince. The man looked +at him but made no answer, and proceeded to close the doors with great +care. He was an old man in a shabby cassock, with four days' beard on +his face, and he appeared to have taken snuff recently. + +"Where is the Curator?" repeated the Prince, plucking him by the sleeve. +But the man shook his head, and began turning the ponderous key in the +lock. Two little ragged boys were playing a game upon the church steps, +piling five chestnuts in a heap and then knocking them down with a small +stone. One of them having upset the heap, desisted and came near the +Prince. + +"That one is deaf," he said, pointing to the sacristan. Then running +behind, him he stood on tiptoe and screamed in his ear--"_Brutta +bestia_!" + +The sacristan did not hear, but caught sight of the urchin and made a +lunge at him. He missed him, however, and nearly fell over. + +"What education!--_che educazione_!" cried the old man, angrily. + +Meanwhile the little boy took refuge behind Saracinesca, and pulling his +coat asked for a _soldo_. The sacristan calmly withdrew the key from the +lock, and went away without vouchsafing a look to the Prince. + +"He is deaf," screamed the little boy, who was now joined by his +companion, and both in great excitement danced round the fine gentleman. + +"Give me a _soldo_," they yelled together. + +"Show me the house of the Padre Curato," answered the Prince, "then I +will give you each a _soldo. Lesti!_ Quick!" + +Whereupon both the boys began turning cart-wheels on their feet and hands +with marvellous dexterity. At last they subsided into a natural position, +and led the way to the curate's house, not twenty yards from the church, +in a narrow alley. The Prince pulled the bell by the long chain which +hung beside the open street door, and gave the boys the promised coppers. +They did not leave him, however, but stood by to see what would happen. +An old woman looked out of an upper window, and after surveying the +Prince with care, called down to him-- + +"What do you want?" + +"Is the Padre Curato at home?" + +"Of course he is at home," screamed the old woman, "At this hour!" she +added, contemptuously. + +"_Ebbene_--can I see him?" + +"What! is the door shut?" returned the hag. + +"No." + +"Then why don't you come up without asking?" The old woman's head +disappeared, and the window was shut with a clattering noise. + +"She is a woman without education," remarked one of the ragged boys, +making a face towards the closed window. + +The Prince entered the door and stumbled up the dark stairs, and after +some further palaver obtained admittance to the curate's lodging. The +curate sat in a room which appeared to serve as dining-room, living-room, +and study. A small table was spread with a clean cloth, upon which were +arranged a plate, a loaf of bread, a battered spoon, a knife, and a small +measure of thin-looking wine. A brass lamp with three wicks, one of which +only was burning, shed a feeble light through the poor apartment. Against +the wall stood a rough table with an inkstand and three or four mouldy +books. Above this hung a little black cross bearing a brass Christ, and +above this again a coloured print of San Bernardino of Siena. The walls +were whitewashed, and perfectly clean,--as indeed was everything +else in the room,--and there was a sweet smell of flowers from a huge pot +of pinks which had been taken in for the night, and stood upon the stone +sill within the closed window. + +The curate was a tall old man, with a singularly gentle face and soft +brown eyes. He wore a threadbare cassock, carefully brushed; and from +beneath his three-cornered black cap his thin hair hung in a straight +grey fringe. As the Prince entered the room, the old woman called +over his shoulder to the priest an uncertain formula of introduction. + +"Don Paolo, _c'è uno_--there is one." Then she retired, grumbling +audibly. + +The priest removed his cap, and bowing politely, offered one of the two +chairs to his visitor. With an apology, he replaced his cap upon his +head, and seated himself opposite the Prince. There was much courteous +simplicity in his manner. + +"In what way can I serve you, Signore?" he asked. + +"These papers," answered the Prince, drawing the famous envelope from his +breast-pocket, "are copies of certain documents in your keeping, relating +to the supposed marriage of one Giovanni Saracinesca. With your very kind +permission, I desire to see the originals." + +The old curate bowed, as though giving his assent, and looked steadily at +his visitor for a moment before he answered. + +"There is nothing simpler, my good sir. You will pardon me, however, if I +venture to inquire your name, and to ask you for what purpose you desire +to consult the documents?" + +"I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome--" + +The priest started uneasily. + +"A relation of Giovanni Saracinesca?" he inquired. Then he added +immediately, "Will you kindly excuse me for one moment?" and left the +room abruptly. The Prince was considerably astonished, but he held his +papers firmly in his hand, and did not move from his seat. The curate +returned in a few seconds, bringing with him a little painted porcelain +basket, much chipped and the worse for age, and which contained a +collection of visiting-cards. There were not more than a score of them, +turning brown with accumulated dust. The priest found one which was +rather newer than the rest, and after carefully adjusting a pair of huge +spectacles upon his nose, he went over to the lamp and examined it. + +"'Il Conte del Ferice,'" he read slowly. "Do you happen to know that +gentleman, my good sir?" he inquired, turning to the Prince, and looking +keenly at him over his glasses. + +"Certainly," answered Saracinesca, beginning to understand the situation. +"I know him very well." + +"Ah, that is good!" said the priest. "He was here two years ago, +and had those same entries concerning Giovanni Saracinesca copied. +Probably--certainly, indeed--the papers you have there are the very ones +he took away with him. When he came to see me about it, he gave me this +card." + +"I wonder he did," answered Saracinesca. + +"Indeed," replied the curate, after a moment's thought, "I remember that +he came the next day--yes--and asked to have his card returned. But I +could not find it for him. There was a hole in one of my pockets--it had +slipped down. Carmela, my old servant, found it a day or two later in the +lining of my cassock. I thought it strange that he should have asked for +it." + +"It was very natural. He wished you to forget his existence." + +"He asked me many questions about Giovanni," said the priest, "but I +could not answer him at that time." + +"You could answer now?" inquired the Prince, eagerly. + +"Excuse me, my good sir; what relation are you to Giovanni? You say you +are from Rome?" + +"Let us understand each other, Signor Curato," said Saracinesca. "I +see I had better explain the position. I am Leone Saracinesca, the prince +of that name, and the head of the family." The priest bowed respectfully +at this intelligence. "My only son lives with me in Rome--he is now +there--and his name is Giovanni Saracinesca. He is engaged to be married. +When the engagement became known, an enemy of the family attempted to +prove, by means of these papers, that he was married already to a certain +Felice Baldi. Now I wish to know who this Giovanni Saracinesca is, where +he is, and how he comes to have my son's name. I wish a certificate or +some proof that he is not my son,--that he is alive, or that he is dead +and buried." + +The old priest burst into a genial laugh, and rubbed his hands together +in delight. + +"My dear sir--your Excellency, I mean--I baptised Felice Baldi's second +baby a fortnight ago! There is nothing simpler--" + +"I knew it!" cried the Prince, springing from his chair in great +excitement; "I knew it! Where is that baby? Send and get the baby at +once--the mother--the father--everybody!" + +"_Subito!_ At once--or come with me. I will show you the whole family +together," said the curate, in innocent delight. "Splendid children they +are, too. Carmela, my cloak--_sbrigati_, be quick!" + +"One moment," objected Saracinesca, as though suddenly recollecting +something. "One moment, Sign or Curato; who goes slowly goes safely. +Where does this man come from, and how does he come by his name? I would +like to know something about him before I see him." + +"True," answered the priest, resuming his seat. "I had forgotten. Well, +it is not a long story. Giovanni Saracinesca is from Naples. You know +there was once a branch of your family in the Neapolitan kingdom--at +least so Giovanni says, and he is an honest fellow. Their title was +Marchese di San Giacinto; and if Giovanni liked to claim it, he has a +right to the title still." + +"But those Saracinesca were extinct fifty years ago," objected the +Prince, who knew his family history very well. + +"Giovanni says they were not. They were believed to be. The last Marchese +di San Giacinto fought under Napoleon. He lost all he possessed--lands, +money, everything--by confiscation, when Ferdinand was restored in 1815. +He was a rough man; he dropped his title, married a peasant's only +daughter, became a peasant himself, and died obscurely in a village near +Salerno. He left a son who worked on the farm and inherited it from his +mother, married a woman of the village of some education, and died of the +cholera, leaving his son, the present Giovanni Saracinesca. This Giovanni +received a better education than his father had before him, improved his +farm, began to sell wine and oil for exportation, travelled as far as +Aquila, and met Felice Baldi, the daughter of a man of some wealth, who +has since established an inn here. Giovanni loved her. I married them. He +went back to Naples, sold his farm for a good price last year, and +returned to Aquila. He manages his father-in-law's inn, which is the +second largest here, and drives a good business, having put his own +capital into the enterprise. They have two children, the second one of +which was born three weeks ago, and they are perfectly happy." + +Saracinesca looked thoughtfully at Don Paolo, the old curate. + +"Has this man any papers to prove the truth of this very singular story?" +he inquired at last. + +"_Altro!_ That was all his grandfather left--a heap of parchments. They +seem to be in order--he showed them to me when I married him." + +"Why does he make no claim to have the attainder of his grandfather +reversed?" + +The curate shrugged his shoulders and spread out the palms of his hands, +smiling incredulously. + +"The lands, he says, have fallen into the hands of certain patriots. +There is no chance of getting them back. It is of little use to be a +Marchese without property. What he possesses is a modest competence; it +is wealth, even, in his present position. For a nobleman it would be +nothing. Besides, he is half a peasant by blood and tradition." + +"He is not the only nobleman in that position," laughed Saracinesca. "But +are you aware--" + +He stopped short. He was going to say that if he himself and his son both +died, the innkeeper of Aquila would become Prince Saracinesca. The idea +shocked him, and he kept it to himself. + +"After all," he continued, "the man is of my blood by direct descent. I +would like to see him." + +"Nothing easier. If you will come with me, I will present him to your +Excellency," said the priest. "Do you still wish to see the documents?" + +"It is useless. The mystery is solved. Let us go and see this new-found +relation of mine." + +Don Paolo wrapped his cloak around him, and ushering his guest from the +room, led the way down-stairs. He carried a bit of wax taper, which he +held low to the steps, frequently stopping and warning the Prince to be +careful. It was night when they went out. The air was sharp and cold, and +Saracinesca buttoned his greatcoat to his throat as he strode by the side +of the old priest. The two walked on in silence for ten minutes, keeping +straight down the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. At last the curate stopped +before a clean, new house, from the windows of which the bright light +streamed into the street. Don Paolo motioned to the Prince to enter, and +followed him in. A man in a white apron, with his arms full of plates, +who was probably servant, butler, boots, and factotum to the +establishment, came out of the dining-room, which was to the left of the +entrance, and which, to judge by the noise, seemed to be full of people. +He looked at the curate, and then at the Prince. + +"Sorry to disappoint you, Don Paolo _mio_," he said, supposing the priest +had brought a customer--"very sorry; there is not a bed in the house." + +"That is no matter, Giacchino," answered the curate. "We want to see Sor +Giovanni for a moment." The man disappeared, and a moment later Sor +Giovanni himself came down the passage. + +"_Favorisca_, dear Don Paolo, come in." And he bowed to the Prince as he +opened the door which led into a small sitting-room reserved for the +innkeeper's family. + +When they had entered, Saracinesca looked at his son's namesake. He saw +before him a man whose face and figure he long remembered with an +instinctive dislike. Giovanni the innkeeper was of a powerful build. Two +generations of peasant blood had given renewed strength to the old race. +He was large, with large bones, vast breadth of shoulder, and massive +joints; lean withal, and brown of face, his high cheek-bones making his +cheeks look hollow; clean shaved, his hair straight and black and neatly +combed; piercing black eyes near together, the heavy eyebrows joining +together in the midst of his forehead; thin and cruel lips, now parted in +a smile and showing a formidable set of short, white, even teeth; a +prominent square jaw, and a broad, strong nose, rather unnaturally +pointed,--altogether a striking face, one that would be noticed in a +crowd for its strength, but strangely cunning in expression, and not +without ferocity. Years afterwards Saracinesca remembered his first +meeting with Giovanni the innkeeper, and did not wonder that his first +impulse had been to dislike the man. At present, however, he looked at +him with considerable curiosity, and if he disliked him at first sight, +he told himself that it was beneath him to show antipathy for an +innkeeper. + +"Sor Giovanni," said the curate, "this gentleman is desirous of making +your acquaintance." + +Giovanni, whose manners were above his station, bowed politely, and +looked inquiringly at his visitor. + +"Signor Saracinesca," said the Prince, "I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome. I +have just heard of your existence. We have long believed your family to +be extinct--I am delighted to find it still represented, and by one who +seems likely to perpetuate the name." + +The innkeeper fixed his piercing eyes on the speaker's face, and looked +long before he answered. + +"So you are Prince Saracinesca," he said, gravely. + +"And you are the Marchese di San Giacinto," said the Prince, in the same +tone, holding out his hand frankly. + +"Pardon me,--I am Giovanni Saracinesca, the innkeeper of Aquila," +returned the other. But he took the Prince's hand. Then they all sat +down. + +"As you please," said the Prince. "The title is none the less yours. If +you had signed yourself with it when you married, you would have saved me +a vast deal of trouble; but on the other hand, I should not have been +so fortunate as to meet you." + +"I do not understand," said Giovanni. + +The Prince told his story in as few words as possible. + +"Amazing! extraordinary! what a chance!" ejaculated the curate, nodding +his old head from time to time while the Prince spoke, as though he had +not heard it all before. The innkeeper said nothing until old Saracinesca +had finished. + +"I see how it was managed," he said at last. "When that gentleman was +making inquiries, I was away. I had taken my wife back to Salerno, and my +wife's father had not yet established himself in Aquila. Signor Del--what +is his name?" + +"Del Ferice." + +"Del Ferice, exactly. He thought we had disappeared, and were not likely +to come back. Or else he is a fool." + +"He is not a fool," said Saracinesca. "He thought he was safe. It is all +very clear now. Well, Signor Marchese, or Signor Saracinesca, I am very +glad to have made your acquaintance. You have cleared up a very important +question by returning to Aquila. It will always give me the greatest +pleasure to serve you in any way I can." + +"A thousand thanks. Anything I can do for you during your stay--" + +"You are very kind. I will hire horses and return to Terni to-night. My +business in Rome is urgent. There is some suspense there in my absence." + +"You will drink a glass before going?" asked Giovanni; and without +waiting for an answer, he strode from the room. + +"And what does your Excellency think of your relation?" asked the curate, +when he was alone with the Prince. + +"A terrible-looking fellow! But--" The Prince made a face and a gesture +indicating a question in regard to the innkeeper's character. + +"Oh, do not be afraid," answered the priest. "He is the most honest man +alive." + +"Of course," returned the Prince, politely, "you have had many occasions +of ascertaining that." + +Giovanni, the innkeeper, returned with a bottle of wine and three +glasses, which he placed upon the table, and proceeded to fill. + +"By the by," said the Prince, "in the excitement I forgot to inquire for +your Signora. She is well, I hope?" + +"Thank you--she is very well," replied Giovanni, shortly. + +"A boy, I have no doubt?" + +"A splendid boy," answered the curate. "Sor Giovanni has a little girl, +too. He is a very happy man." + +"Your health," said the innkeeper, holding up his glass to the light. + +"And yours," returned the Prince. + +"And of all the Saracinesca family," said the curate, sipping his wine +slowly. He rarely got a glass of old Lacrima, and he enjoyed it +thoroughly. + +"And now," said the Prince, "I must be off. Many thanks for your +hospitality. I shall always remember with pleasure the day when I met an +unknown relation." + +"The Albergo di Napoli will not forget that Prince Saracinesca has been +its guest," replied Giovanni politely, a smile upon his thin lips. He +shook hands with both his guests, and ushered them out to the door with a +courteous bow. Before they had gone twenty yards in the street, the +Prince looked back and caught a last glimpse of Giovanni's towering +figure, standing upon the steps with the bright light falling upon it +from within. He remembered that impression long. + +At the door of his own inn he took leave of the good curate with many +expressions of thanks, and with many invitations to the Palazzo +Saracinesca, in case the old man ever visited Home. + +"I have never seen Rome, your Excellency," answered the priest, rather +sadly. "I am an old man--I shall never see it now." + +So they parted, and the Prince had a solitary supper of pigeons and salad +in the great dusky hall of the Locanda del Sole, while his horses were +being got ready for the long night-journey. + +The meeting and the whole clearing up of the curious difficulty had +produced a profound impression upon the old Prince. He had not the +slightest doubt but that the story of the curate was perfectly accurate. +It was all so very probable, too. In the wild times between 1806 and +1815 the last of the Neapolitan branch of the Saracinesca had +disappeared, and the rich and powerful Roman princes of the name had been +quite willing to believe the Marchesi di San Giacinto extinct. They had +not even troubled themselves to claim the title, for they possessed more +than fifty of their own, and there was no chance of recovering the San +Giacinto estate, already mortgaged, and more than half squandered at the +time of the confiscation. That the rough soldier of fortune should have +hidden himself in his native country after the return of Ferdinand, his +lawful king, against whom he had fought, was natural enough; as it was +also natural that, with his rough nature, he should accommodate himself +to a peasant's life, and marry a peasant's only daughter, with her +broad acres of orange and olive and vine land; for peasants in the far +south were often rich, and their daughters were generally beautiful--a +very different race from the starved tenants of the Roman Campagna. + +The Prince decided that the story was perfectly true, and he reflected +somewhat bitterly that unless his son had heirs after him, this herculean +innkeeper of Aquila was the lawful successor to his own title, and to all +the Saracinesca lands. He determined that Giovanni's marriage should not +be delayed another day, and with his usual impetuosity he hastened back +to Rome, hardly remembering that he had spent the previous night and all +that day upon the road, and that he had another twenty-four hours of +travel before him. + +At dawn his carriage stopped at a little town not far from the papal +frontier. Just as the vehicle was starting, a large man, muffled in a +huge cloak, from the folds of which protruded the long brown barrel of a +rifle, put his head into the window. The Prince started and grasped his +revolver, which lay beside him on the seat. + +"Good morning, Prince," said the man. "I hope you have slept well." + +"Sor Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "Where did you drop from?" + +"The roads are not very safe," returned the innkeeper. "So I thought it +best to accompany you. Good-bye--_buon viaggio_!" + +Before the Prince could answer, the carriage rolled off, the horses +springing forward at a gallop. Saracinesca put his head out of the +window, but his namesake had disappeared, and he rolled on towards Terni, +wondering at the innkeeper's anxiety for his safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Even old Saracinesca's iron strength was in need of rest when, at the end +of forty-eight hours, he again entered his son's rooms, and threw himself +upon the great divan. + +"How is Corona?" was his first question. + +"She is very anxious about you," returned Giovanni, who was himself +considerably disturbed. + +"We will go and set her mind at rest as soon as I have had something to +eat," said his father. + +"It is all right, then? It was just as I said--a namesake?" + +"Precisely. Only the namesake happens to be a cousin--the last of the San +Giacinto, who keeps an inn in Aquila. I saw him, and shook hands with +him." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Giovanni. "They are all extinct--" + +"There has been a resurrection," returned the Prince. He told the whole +story of his journey, graphically and quickly. + +"That is a very extraordinary tale," remarked Giovanni, thoughtfully. +"So, if I die without children the innkeeper will be prince." + +"Precisely. And now, Giovanni, you must be married next week." + +"As soon as you please--to-morrow if you like." + +"What shall we do with Del Ferice?" asked the old prince. + +"Ask him to the wedding," answered Giovanni, magnanimously. + +"The wedding will have to be a very quiet one, I suppose," remarked his +father, thoughtfully. "The year is hardly over--" + +"The more quiet the better, provided it is done quickly. Of course we +must consult Corona at once." + +"Do you suppose I am going to fix the wedding-day without consulting +her?" asked the old man. "For heaven's sake order dinner, and let us be +quick about it." + +The Prince was evidently in a hurry, and moreover, he was tired and +very hungry. An hour later, as both the men sat over the coffee in the +dining-room, his mood was mellower. A dinner at home has a wonderful +effect upon the temper of a man who has travelled and fared badly for +eight-and-forty hours. + +"Giovannino," said old Saracinesca, "have you any idea what the Cardinal +thinks of your marriage?" + +"No; and I do not care," answered the younger man. "He once advised me +not to marry Donna Tullia. He has not seen me often since then." + +"I have an idea that it will please him immensely," said the Prince. + +"It would be very much the same if it displeased him." + +"Very much the same. Have you seen Corona to-day?" + +"Yes--of course," answered Giovanni. + +"What is the use of my going with you this evening?" asked his father, +suddenly. "I should think you could manage your own affairs without my +help." + +"I thought that as you have taken so much trouble, you would enjoy +telling her the story yourself." + +"Do you think I am a vain fool, sir, to be amused by a woman's praise? +Nonsense! Go yourself." + +"By all means," answered Giovanni. He was used to his father's habit of +being quarrelsome over trifles, and he was much too happy to take any +notice of it now. + +"You are tired," he continued. "I am sure you have a right to be. You +must want to go to bed." + +"To bed indeed!" growled the old man. "Tired! You think I am good for +nothing; I know you do. You look upon me as a doting old cripple. I tell +you, boy, I can--" + +"For heaven's sake, _padre mio_, do precisely as you are inclined. I +never said--" + +"Never said what? Why are you always quarrelling with me?" roared his +father, who had not lost his temper for two days, and missed his +favourite exercise. + +"What day shall we fix upon?" asked Giovanni, unmoved. + +"Day! Any day. What do I care? Oh!--well, since you speak of it, you +might say a week from Sunday. To-day is Friday. But I do not care in the +least." + +"Very well--if Corona can get ready." + +"She shall be ready--she must be ready!" answered the old gentleman, in a +tone of conviction. "Why should she not be ready, I would like to know?" + +"No reason whatever," said Giovanni, with unusual mildness. + +"Of course not. There is never any reason in anything you say, you +unreasonable boy." + +"Never, of course." Giovanni rose to go, biting his lips to keep down a +laugh. + +"What the devil do you mean by always agreeing with me, you impertinent +scapegrace? And you are laughing, too--laughing at me, sir, as I live! +Upon my word!" + +Giovanni turned his back and lighted a cigar. Then, without looking +round, he walked towards the door. + +"Giovannino," called the Prince. + +"Well?" + +"I feel better now. I wanted to abuse somebody. Look here--wait a +moment." He rose quickly, and left the room. + +Giovanni sat down and smoked rather impatiently, looking at his watch +from time to time. In five minutes his father returned, bringing in his +hand an old red morocco case. + +"Give it to her with my compliments, my boy," he said. "They are some of +your mother's diamonds--just a few of them. She shall have the rest on +the wedding-day." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni, and pressed his father's hand. + +"And give her my love, and say I will call to-morrow at two o'clock," +added the Prince, now perfectly serene. + +With the diamonds under his arm, Giovanni went out. The sky was clear and +frosty, and the stars shone brightly, high up between the tall houses of +the narrow street. Giovanni had not ordered a carriage, and seeing how +fine the night was, he decided to walk to his destination. It was not +eight o'clock, and Corona would have scarcely finished dinner at that +hour. He walked slowly. As he emerged into the Piazza di Venezia some +one overtook him. + +"Good evening, Prince." Giovanni turned, and recognised Anastase Gouache, +the Zouave. + +"Ah, Gouache--how are you?" + +"I am going to pay you a visit," answered the Frenchman. + +"I am very sorry--I have just left home," returned Giovanni, in some +surprise. + +"Not at your house," continued Anastase. "My company is ordered to the +mountains. We leave to-morrow morning for Subiaco, and some of us are to +be quartered at Saracinesca." + +"I hope you will be among the number," said Giovanni. "I shall probably +be married next week, and the Duchessa wishes to go at once to the +mountains. We shall be delighted to see you." + +"Thank you very much. I will not fail to do myself the honour. My homage +to Madame la Duchesse. I must turn here. Good night." + +"_Au revoir_," said Giovanni, and went on his way. + +He found Corona in an inner sitting-room, reading beside a great +wood-fire. There were soft shades of lilac mingled with the black of her +dress. The year of mourning was past, and so soon as she could she +modified her widow's weeds into something less solemnly black. It +was impossible to wear funeral robes on the eve of her second marriage; +and the world had declared that she had shown an extraordinary degree of +virtue in mourning so long for a death which every one considered so +highly appropriate. Corona, however, felt differently. To her, her dead +husband and the man she now so wholly loved belonged to two totally +distinct classes of men. Her love, her marriage with Giovanni, seemed so +natural a consequence of her being left alone--so absolutely removed +from her former life--that, on the eve of her wedding, she could almost +wish that poor old Astrardente were alive to look as her friend upon her +new-found happiness. + +She welcomed Giovanni with a bright smile. She had not expected him that +evening, for he had been with her all the afternoon. She sprang to her +feet and came quickly to meet him. She almost unconsciously took the +morocco case from his hands, not looking at it, and hardly noticing what +she did. + +"My father has come back. It is all settled!" cried Giovanni. + +"So soon! He must have flown!" said she, making him sit down. + +"Yes, he has never rested, and he has found out all about it. It is a +most extraordinary story. By the by, he sends you affectionate messages, +and begs you to accept these diamonds. They were my mother's," he added, +his voice softening and changing. Corona understood his tone, and perhaps +realised, too, how very short the time now was. She opened the case +carefully. + +"They are very beautiful; your mother wore them, Giovanni?" She looked +lovingly at him, and then bending down kissed the splendid coronet as +though in reverence of the dead Spanish woman who had borne the man +she loved. Whereat Giovanni stole to her side, and kissed her own dark +hair very tenderly. + +"I was to tell you that there are a great many more," he said, "which my +father will offer you on the wedding--day." Then he kneeled down beside +her, and raising the crown from its case, set it with both his hands upon +her diadem of braids. + +"My princess!" he exclaimed. "How beautiful you are!" He took the great +necklace, and clasped it about her white throat. "Of course," he said, +"you have such splendid jewels of your own, perhaps you hardly care for +these and the rest. But I like to see you with them--it makes me feel +that you are really mine." + +Corona smiled happily, and gently took the coronet from her head, +returning it to its case. She let the necklace remain about her throat. + +"You have not told me about your father's discovery," she said, suddenly. + +"Yes--I will tell you." + +In a few minutes he communicated to her the details of the journey. She +listened with profound interest. + +"It is very strange," she said. "And yet it is so very natural." + +"You see it is all Del Ferice's doing," said Giovanni. "I suppose it was +really an accident in the first place; but he managed to make a great +deal of it. It is certainly very amusing to find that the last of the +other branch is an innkeeper in the Abruzzi. However, I daresay we +shall never hear of him again. He does not seem inclined to claim his +title. Corona _mia_, I have something much more serious to say to you +to-night." + +"What is it?" she asked, turning her great dark eyes rather wonderingly +to his face. + +"There is no reason why we should not be married, now--" + +"Do you think I ever believed there was?" she asked, reproachfully. + +"No, dear. Only--would you mind its being very soon?" + +The dark blood rose slowly to her cheek, but she answered without any +hesitation. She was too proud to hesitate. + +"Whenever you please, Giovanni. Only it must be very quiet, and we will +go straight to Saracinesca. If you agree to those two things, it shall be +as soon as you please." + +"Next week? A week from Sunday?" asked Giovanni, eagerly. + +"Yes--a week from Sunday. I would rather not go through the ordeal of a +long engagement. I cannot bear to have every one here, congratulating me +from morning till night, as they insist upon doing." + +"I will send the people out to Saracinesca to-morrow," said Giovanni, in +great delight. "They have been at work all winter, making the place +respectable." + +"Not changing, I hope?" exclaimed Corona, who dearly loved the old grey +walls. + +"Only repairing the state apartments. By the by, I met Gouache this +evening. He is going out with a company of Zouaves to hunt the brigands, +if there really are any." + +"I hope he will not come near us," answered Corona. "I want to be all +alone with you, Giovanni, for ever so long. Would you not rather be +alone for a little while?" she asked, looking up suddenly with a timid +smile. "Should I bore you very much?" + +It is unnecessary to record Giovanni's answer. If Corona longed to be +alone with him in the hills, Giovanni himself desired such a retreat +still more. To be out of the world, even for a month, seemed to him the +most delightful of prospects, for he was weary of the city, of society, +of everything save the woman he was about to marry. Of her he could never +tire; he could not imagine that in her company the days would ever seem +long, even in old Saracinesca, among the grey rocks of the Sabines. The +average man is gregarious, perhaps; but in strong minds there is often a +great desire for solitude, or at least for retirement, in the society of +one sympathetic soul. The instinct which bids such people leave the world +for a time is never permanent, unless they become morbid. It is a natural +feeling; and a strong brain gathers strength from communing with itself +or with its natural mate. There are few great men who have not at one +time or another withdrawn into solitude, and their retreat has generally +been succeeded by a period of extraordinary activity. Strong minds are +often, at some time or another, exposed to doubt and uncertainty +incomprehensible to a smaller intellect--due, indeed, to that very +breadth of view which contemplates the same idea from a vast number of +sides. To a man so endowed, the casting-vote of some one whom he loves, +and with whom he almost unconsciously sympathises, is sometimes necessary +to produce action, to direct the faculties, to guide the overflowing +flood of his thought into the mill-race of life's work. Without a certain +amount of prejudice to determine the resultant of its forces, many a +fine intellect would expend its power in burrowing among its own +labyrinths, unrecognised, misunderstood, unheard by the working-day world +without. For the working-day world never lacks prejudice to direct its +working. + +For some time Giovanni and Corona talked of their plans for the spring +and summer. They would read, they would work together at the schemes for +uniting and improving their estates; they would build that new road from +Astrardente to Saracinesca, concerning which there had been so much +discussion during the last year; they would visit every part of their +lands together, and inquire into the condition of every peasant; they +would especially devote their attention to extending the forest +enclosures, in which Giovanni foresaw a source of wealth for his +children; above all, they would talk to their hearts' content, and feel, +as each day dawned upon their happiness, that they were free to go where +they would, without being confronted at every turn by the troublesome +duties of an exigent society. + +At last the conversation turned again upon recent events, and especially +upon the part Del Ferice and Donna Tullia had played in attempting to +prevent the marriage. Corona asked what Giovanni intended to do about the +matter. + +"I do not see that there is much to be done," he answered. "I will go to +Donna Tullia to-morrow, and explain that there has been a curious +mistake--that I am exceedingly obliged to her for calling my attention to +the existence of a distant relative, but that I trust she will not in +future interfere in my affairs." + +"Do you think she will marry Del Ferice after all?" asked Corona. + +"Why not? Of course he gave her the papers. Very possibly he thought they +really proved my former marriage. She will perhaps blame him for her +failure, but he will defend himself, never fear; he will make her +marry him." + +"I wish they would marry and go away," said Corona to whom the very name +of Del Ferice was abhorrent, and who detested Donna Tullia almost as +heartily. Corona was a very good and noble woman, but she was very far +from that saintly superiority which forgets to resent injuries. Her +passions were eminently human, and very strong. She had struggled bravely +against her overwhelming love for Giovanni; and she had so far got the +mastery of herself, that she would have endured to the end if her +husband's death had not set her at liberty. Perhaps, too, while she felt +the necessity of fighting against that love, she attained for a time to +an elevation of character which would have made such personal injuries +as Donna Tullia could inflict seem insignificant in comparison with the +great struggle she sustained against an even greater evil. But in the +realisation of her freedom, in suddenly giving the rein to her nature, so +long controlled by her resolute will, all passion seemed to break out at +once with renewed force; and the conviction that her anger against her +two enemies was perfectly just and righteous, added fuel to the fire. Her +eyes gleamed fiercely as she spoke of Del Ferice and his bride, and no +punishment seemed too severe for those who had so treacherously tried to +dash the cup of her happiness from her very lips. + +"I wish they would marry," she repeated, "and I wish the Cardinal would +turn them out of Rome the next day." + +"That might be done," said Giovanni, who had himself revolved more than +one scheme of vengeance against the evil-doers. "The trouble is, that the +Cardinal despises Del Ferice and his political dilettanteism. He does not +care a fig whether the fellow remains in Rome or goes away. I confess it +would be a great satisfaction to wring the villain's neck." + +"You must not fight him again, Giovanni," said Corona, in sudden alarm. +"You must not risk your life now--you know it is mine now." She laid her +hand tenderly on his, and it trembled. + +"No, dearest--I certainly will not. But my father is very angry. I think +we may safely leave the treatment of Del Fence in his hands. My father is +a very sudden and violent man." + +"I know," replied Corona. "He is magnificent when he is angry. I have no +doubt he will settle Del Ferice's affairs satisfactorily." She laughed +almost fiercely. Giovanni looked at her anxiously, yet not without pride, +as he recognised in her strong anger something akin to himself. + +"How fierce you are!" he said, with a smile. + +"Have I not cause to be? Have I not cause to wish these people an +evil end? Have they not nearly separated us? Nothing is bad enough for +them--what is the use of pretending not to feel? You are calm, Giovanni? +Perhaps you are much stronger than I am. I do not think you realise what +they meant to do--to separate us--_us!_ As if any torture were bad enough +for them!" + +Giovanni had never seen her so thoroughly roused. He was angry himself, +and more than angry, for his cheek paled, and his stern features grew +more hard, while his voice dropped to a hoarser tone. + +"Do not mistake me, Corona," he said. "Do not think I am indifferent +because I am quiet. Del Ferice shall expiate all some day, and bitterly +too." + +"Indeed I hope so," answered Corona between her teeth. Had Giovanni +foreseen the long and bitter struggle he would one day have to endure +before that expiation was complete, he would very likely have renounced +his vengeance then and there, for his wife's sake. But we mortals see but +in a glass; and when the mirror is darkened by the master-passion of +hate, we see not at all. Corona and Giovanni, united, rich and powerful, +might indeed appear formidable to a wretch like Del Ferice, dependent +upon a system of daily treachery for the very bread he ate. But in those +days the wheel of fortune was beginning to turn, and far-sighted men +prophesied that many an obscure individual would one day be playing the +part of a great personage. Years would still elapse before the change, +but the change would surely come at last. + +Giovanni was very thoughtful as he walked home that night. He was happy, +and he had cause to be, for the long-desired day was at hand. He had +nearly attained the object of his life, and there was now no longer any +obstacle to be overcome. The relief he felt at his father's return was +very great; for although he had known that the impediment raised would be +soon removed, any impediment whatever was exasperating, and he could not +calculate the trouble that might be caused by the further machinations of +Donna Tullia and her affianced husband. All difficulties had, however, +been overcome by his father's energetic action, and at once Giovanni felt +as though a load had fallen from his shoulders, and a veil from his eyes. +He saw himself wedded to Corona in less than a fortnight, removed from +the sphere of society and of all his troubles, living for a space alone +with her in his ancestral home, calling her, at last, his wife. +Nevertheless he was thoughtful, and his expression was not one of +unmingled gladness, as he threaded the streets on his way home; for his +mind reverted to Del Ferice and to Donna Tullia, and Corona's fierce look +was still before him. He reflected that she had been nearly as much +injured as himself, that her wrath was legitimate, and that it was his +duty to visit her sufferings as well as his own upon the offenders. His +melancholic nature easily fell to brooding over any evil which was strong +enough to break the barrier of his indifference; and the annoyances which +had sprung originally from so small a cause had grown to gigantic +proportions, and had struck at the very roots of his happiness. + +He had begun by disliking Del Ferice in an indifferent way whenever he +chanced to cross his path. Del Ferice had resented this haughty +indifference as a personal insult, and had set about injuring Giovanni, +attempting to thwart him whenever he could. Giovanni had caught Del +Ferice in a dastardly trick, and had been so far roused as to take +summary vengeance upon him in the duel which tools place after the +Frangipani ball. The wound had entered into Ugo's soul, and his hatred +had grown the faster that he found no opportunity of revenge. Then, at +last, when Giovanni's happiness had seemed complete, his enemy had put +forward his pretended proof of a former marriage; knowing well enough +that his weapons were not invincible--were indeed very weak--but unable +to resist any longer the desire for vengeance. Once more Giovanni had +triumphed easily, but with victory came the feeling that it was his turn +to punish his adversary. And now there was a new and powerful motive +added to Giovanni's just resentment, in the anger his future wife felt +and had a good right to feel, at the treachery which had been practised +upon both. It had taken two years to rouse Giovanni to energetic action +against one whom he had in turn regarded with indifference, then +despised, then honestly disliked, and finally hated. But his hatred had +been doubled each time by a greater injury, and was not likely to be +easily satisfied. Nothing short of Del Fence's destruction would be +enough, and his destruction must be brought about by legal means. + +Giovanni had not far to seek for his weapons. He had long suspected Del +Ferice of treasonable practices; he did not doubt that with small +exertion he could find evidence to convict him. He would, then, allow him +to marry Donna Tullia; and on the day after the wedding, Del Ferice +should be arrested and lodged in the prison of the Holy Office as a +political delinquent of the meanest and most dangerous kind--as a +political spy. The determination was soon reached. It did not seem cruel +to Giovanni, for he was in a relentless mood; it would not have seemed +cruel to Corona,--Del Ferice had deserved all that, and more also. + +So Giovanni went home and slept the sleep of a man who has made up his +mind upon an important matter. And in the morning he rose early and +communicated his ideas to his father. The result was that they determined +for the present to avoid an interview with Donna Tullia, and to +communicate to her by letter the result of old Saracinesca's rapid +journey to Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +When Donna Tullia received Saracinesca's note, explaining the existence +of a second Giovanni, his pedigree and present circumstances, she almost +fainted with disappointment. It seemed to her that she had compromised +herself before the world, that all Rome knew the ridiculous part she had +played in Del Ferice's comedy, and that her shame would never be +forgotten. Suddenly she saw how she had been led away by her hatred of +Giovanni into believing blindly in a foolish tale which ought not to have +deceived a child. So soon as she learned the existence of a second +Giovanni Saracinesca, it seemed to her that she must have been mad not to +foresee such an explanation from the first. She had been duped, she had +been made a cat's-paw, she had been abominably deceived by Del Ferice, +who had made use of this worthless bribe in order to extort from her a +promise of marriage. She felt very ill, as very vain people often do +when they feel that they have been made ridiculous. She lay upon the +sofa in her little boudoir, where everything was in the worst possible +taste--from the gaudy velvet carpet and satin furniture to the gilt clock +on the chimney-piece--and she turned red and pale and red again, and +wished she were dead, or in Paris, or anywhere save in Rome. If she went +out she might meet one of the Saracinesca at any turn of the street, or +even Corona herself. How they would bow and smile sweetly at her, +enjoying her discomfiture with the polite superiority of people who +cannot be hurt! + +And she herself--she could not tell what she should do. She had announced +her engagement to Del Ferice, but she could not marry him. She had been +entrapped into making him a promise, into swearing a terrible oath; +but the Church did not consider such oaths binding. She would go to Padre +Filippo and ask his advice. + +But then, if she went to Padre Filippo, she would have to confess all she +had done, and she was not prepared to do that. A few weeks would pass, +and that time would be sufficient to mellow and smooth the remembrance of +her revengeful projects into a less questionable shape. No--she could not +confess all that just yet. Surely such an oath was not binding; at all +events, she could not marry Del Fence, whether she broke her promise or +not. In the first place, she would send for him and vent her anger upon +him while it was hot. + +Accordingly, in the space of three-quarters of an hour, Ugo appeared, +smiling, smooth and persuasive as usual. Donna Tullia assumed a fine +attitude of disdain as she heard his step outside the door. She intended +to impress him with a full and sudden view of her just anger. He did not +seem much moved, and came forward as usual to take her hand and kiss it. +But she folded her arms and stared at him with all the contempt she could +concentrate in the gaze of her blue eyes. It was a good comedy. Del +Ferice, who had noticed as soon as he entered the room that something was +wrong, and had already half guessed the cause, affected to spring back in +horror when she refused to give her hand. His pale face expressed +sufficiently well a mixture of indignation and sorrow at the harsh +treatment he received. Still Donna Tullia's cold eye rested upon him in a +fixed stare. + +"What is this? What have I done?" asked Del Ferice in low tones. + +"Can you ask? Wretch! Read that, and understand what you have done," +answered Donna Tullia, making a step forward and thrusting Saracinesca's +letter in his face. + +Del Ferice had already seen the handwriting, and knew what the contents +were likely to be. He took the letter in one hand, and without looking at +it, still faced the angry woman. His brows contracted into a heavy frown, +and his half-closed eyes gazed menacingly at her. + +"It will be an evil day for any man who comes between you and me," he +said, in tragic tones. + +Donna Tullia laughed harshly, and again drew herself up, watching his +face, and expecting to witness his utter confusion. But she was no match +for the actor whom she had promised to marry. Del Ferice began to read, +and as he read, his frown relaxed; gradually an ugly smile, intended to +represent fiendish cunning, stole over his features, and when he had +finished, he uttered a cry of triumph. + +"Ha!" he said, "I guessed it! I hoped it--and it is true! He is found at +last! The very man--the real Saracinesca! It is only a matter of time--" + +Donna Tullia now stared in unfeigned surprise. Instead of crushing him to +the ground as she had expected, the letter seemed to fill him with +boundless delight. He paced the room in wild excitement, chattering like +a madman. In spite of herself, however, her own spirits rose, and her +anger against Del Ferice softened. All was perhaps not lost--who could +fathom the intricacy of his great schemes? Surely he was not the man to +fall a victim to his own machinations. + +"Will you please explain your extraordinary satisfaction at this news?" +said Madame Mayer. Between her late anger, her revived hopes, and her +newly roused curiosity, she was in a terrible state of suspense. + +"Explain?" he cried. "Explain what, most adorable of women? Does it not +explain itself? Have we not found the Marchese di San Giacinto, the real +Saracinesca? Is not that enough?" + +"I do not understand--" + +Del Ferice was now by her side. He seemed hardly able to control himself +for joy. As a matter of fact he was acting, and acting a desperate part +too, suggested on the spur of the moment by the risk he ran of losing +this woman and her fortune on the very eve of marriage. Now he seized her +hand, and drawing her arm through his, led her quickly backwards and +forwards, talking fast and earnestly. It would not do to hesitate, for by +a moment's appearance of uncertainty all would be lost. + +"No; of course you cannot understand the vast importance of this +discovery. I must explain. I must enter into historic details, and I am +so much overcome by this extraordinary turn of fortune that I can hardly +speak. Remove all doubt from your mind, my dear lady, for we have already +triumphed. This innkeeper, this Giovanni Saracinesca, this Marchese di +San Giacinto, is the lawful and right Prince Saracinesca, the head of the +house--" + +"What!" screamed Donna Tullia, stopping short, and gripping his arm as in +a vice. + +"Indeed he is. I suspected it when I first found the signature at Aquila; +but the man was gone, with his newly married wife, no one knew whither; +and I could not find him, search as I might. He is now returned, and +what is more, as this letter says, with all his papers proving his +identity. This is how the matter lies. Listen, Tullia _mia_. The old +Leone Saracinesca who last bore the title of Marquis--" + +"The one mentioned here?" asked Donna Tullia, breathlessly. + +"Yes--the one who took service under Murat, under Napoleon. Well, it is +perfectly well known that he laid claim to the Roman title, and with +perfect justice. Two generations before that, there had been an amicable +arrangement--amicable, but totally illegal--whereby the elder brother, +who was an unmarried invalid, transferred the Roman estates to his +younger brother, who was married and had children, and, in exchange, took +the Neapolitan estates and title, which had just fallen back to the main +branch by the death of a childless Marchese di San Giacinto. Late in life +this old recluse invalid married, contrary to all expectation--certainly +contrary to his own previous intentions. However, a child was born--a +boy. The old man found himself deprived by his own act of his +principality, and the succession turned from his son to the son of his +younger brother. He began a negotiation for again obtaining possession of +the Roman title--at least so the family tradition goes--but his brother, +who was firmly established in Rome, refused to listen to his demands. At +this juncture the old man died, being legally, observe, still the head of +the family of Saracinesca; his son should have succeeded him. But his +wife, the young daughter of an obscure Neapolitan nobleman, was not more +than eighteen years of age, and the child was only six months old. People +married young in those days. She entered some kind of protest, which, +however, was of no avail; and the boy grew up to be called the Marchese +di San Griacinto. He learned the story of his birth from his mother, and +protested in his turn. He ruined himself in trying to push his suit in +the Neapolitan courts; and finally, in the days of Napoleon's success, he +took service under Murat, receiving the solemn promise of the Emperor +that he should be reinstated in his title. But the Emperor forgot his +promise, or did not find it convenient to keep it, having perhaps reasons +of his own for not quarrelling with Pius the Seventh, who protected the +Roman Saracinesea Then came 1815, the downfall of the Empire, the +restoration of Ferdinand IV. in Naples, the confiscation of property from +all who had joined the Emperor, and the consequent complete ruin of San +Giacinto's hopes. He was supposed to have been killed, or to have made +away with himself. Saracinesea himself acknowledges that his grandson is +alive, and possesses all the family papers. Saracinesca himself has +discovered, seen, and conversed with the lawful head of his race, who, by +the blessing of heaven and the assistance of the courts, will before long +turn him out of house and home, and reign in his stead in all the glories +of the Palazzo Saracinesca, Prince of Rome, of the Holy Roman Empire, +grandee of Spain of the first class, and all the rest of it. Do you +wonder I rejoice, now that I am sure of putting an innkeeper over my +enemy's head? Fancy the humiliation of old Saracinesca, of Giovanni, who +will have to take his wife's title for the sake of respectability, of the +Astrardente herself, when she finds she has married the penniless son of +a penniless pretender!" + +Del Ferice knew enough of the Saracinesca's family history to know that +something like what he had so fluently detailed to Donna Tullia had +actually occurred, and he knew well enough that she would not remember +every detail of his rapidly told tale. Hating the family as he did, he +had diligently sought out all information about them which he could +obtain without gaining access to their private archives. His ready wit +helped him to string the whole into a singularly plausible story. So +plausible, indeed, that it entirely upset all Donna Tullia's +determination to be angry at Del Ferice, and filled her with something of +the enthusiasm he showed. For himself he hoped that there was enough in +his story to do some palpable injury to the Saracinesca; but his more +immediate object was not to lose Donna Tullia by letting her feel any +disappointment at the discovery recently made by the old Prince. Donna +Tullia listened with breathless interest until he had finished. + +"What a man you are, Ugo! How you turn defeat into victory! Is it all +really true? Do you think we can do it?" + +"If I were to die this instant," Del Ferice asseverated, solemnly raising +his hand, "it is all perfectly true, so help me God!" + +He hoped, for many reasons, that he was not perjuring himself. + +"What shall we do, then?" asked Madame Mayer. + +"Let them marry first, and then we shall be sure of humiliating them +both," he answered. Unconsciously he repeated the very determination +which Giovanni had formed against him the night before. "Meanwhile, +you and I can consult the lawyers and see how this thing can best be +accomplished quickly and surely," he added. + +"You will have to send for the innkeeper--" + +"I will go and see him. It will not be hard to persuade him to claim his +lawful rights." + +Del Ferice remained some time in conversation with Donna Tullia. The +magnitude of the scheme fascinated her, and instead of thinking of +breaking her promise to Ugo as she had intended doing, she so far fell +under his influence as to name the wedding-day,--Easter Monday, they +agreed, would exactly suit them and their plans. Indeed the idea of +refusing to fulfil her engagement had been but the result of a transitory +fit of anger; if she had had any fear of making a misalliance in marrying +Del Ferice, the way in which the world received the news of the +engagement removed all such apprehension from her mind. Del Ferice was +already treated with increased respect--the very servants began to call +him "Eccellenza," a distinction to which he neither had, nor could ever +have, any kind of claim, but which pleased Donna Tullia's vain soul. The +position which Ugo had obtained for himself by an assiduous attention to +the social claims and prejudices of social lights and oracles, was +suddenly assured to him, and rendered tenfold more brilliant by the news +of his alliance with Donna Tullia. He excited no jealousies either; for +Donna Tullia's peculiarities were of a kind which seemed to have +interfered from the first with her matrimonial projects. As a young girl, +a relation of the Saracinesca, whom she now so bitterly hated, she should +have been regarded as marriageable by any of the young Roman nobles, from +Valdarno down. But she had only a small dowry, and she was said to be +extravagant--two objections then not so easily overcome as now. Moreover, +she was considered to be somewhat flighty; and the social jury decided +that when she was married, she would be excellent company, but would make +a very poor wife. Almost before they had finished discussing her, +however, she had found a husband, in the shape of the wealthy foreign +contractor, Mayer, who wanted a wife from a good Roman house, and cared +not at all for money. She treated him very well, but was speedily +delivered from all her cares by his untimely death. Then, of all her +fellow-citizens, none was found save the eccentric old Saracinesca, +who believed that she would do for his son; wherein it appeared that +Giovanni's father was the man of all others who least understood +Giovanni's inclinations. But this match fell to the ground, owing to +Giovanni's attachment to Corona, and Madame Mayer was left with the +prospect of remaining a widow for the rest of her life, or of marrying +a poor man. She chose the latter alternative, and fate threw into her way +the cleverest poor man in Rome, as though desiring to compensate her for +not having married one of the greatest nobles, in the person of Giovanni. +Though she was always a centre of attraction, no one of those she most +attracted wanted to marry her, and all expressed their unqualified +approval of her ultimate choice. One said she was very generous to marry +a penniless gentleman; another remarked that she showed wisdom in +choosing a man who was in the way of making himself a good position under +the Italian Government; a third observed that he was delighted, because +he could enjoy her society without being suspected of wanting to marry +her; and all agreed in praising her, and in treating Del Ferice with the +respect due to a man highly favored by fortune. + +Donna Tullia named the wedding-day, and her affianced husband departed in +high spirits with himself, with her, and with his scheme. He felt still a +little excited, and wanted to be alone. He hardly realised the magnitude +of the plot he had undertaken, and needed time to reflect upon it; but +with the true instinct of an intriguing genius he recognised at once that +his new plan was the thing he had sought for long and ardently, and that +it was worth all his other plans put together. Accordingly he went home, +and proceeded to devote himself to the study of the question, sending a +note to a friend of his--a young lawyer of doubtful reputation, but of +brilliant parts, whom he at once selected as his chief counsellor in the +important affair he had undertaken. + +Before long he heard that the marriage of Don Giovanni Saracinesca to the +Duchessa d'Astrardente was to take place the next week, in the chapel of +the Palazzo Saracinesca. At least popular report said that the ceremony +was to take place there; and that it was to be performed with great +privacy was sufficiently evident from the fact that no invitations +appeared to have been issued. Society did not fail to comment upon such +exclusiveness, and it commented unfavourably, for it felt that it was +being deprived of a long-anticipated spectacle. This state of things +lasted for two days, when, upon the Sunday morning precisely a week +before the wedding, all Rome was surprised by receiving an imposing +invitation, setting forth that the marriage would be solemnised in the +Basilica of the Santi Apostoli, and that it would be followed by a state +reception at the Palazzo Saracinesca. It was soon known that the ceremony +would be performed by the Cardinal Archpriest of St Peter's, that the +united choirs of St Peter's and of the Sixtine Chapel would sing the High +Mass, and that the whole occasion would be one of unprecedented solemnity +and magnificence. This was the programme published by the 'Osservatore +Romano,' and that newspaper proceeded to pronounce a eulogy of some +length and considerable eloquence upon the happy pair. Rome was fairly +taken off its feet; and although some malcontents were found, who said it +was improper that Corona's marriage should be celebrated with such pomp +so soon after her husband's death, the general verdict was that the whole +proceeding was eminently proper and becoming to so important an event. So +soon as every one had been invited, no one seemed to think it remarkable +that the invitations should have been issued so late. It was not +generally known that in the short time which elapsed between the naming +of the day and the issuing of the cards, there had been several +interviews between old Saracinesca and Cardinal Antonelli; that the +former had explained Corona's natural wish that the marriage should be +private, and that the latter had urged many reasons why so great an event +ought to be public; that Saracinesca had said he did not care at all, +and was only expressing the views of his son and of the bride; that the +Cardinal had repeatedly asseverated that he wished to please everybody; +that Corona had refused to be pleased by a public ceremony; and that, +finally, the Cardinal, seeing himself hard pressed, had persuaded his +Holiness himself to express a wish that the marriage should take place in +the most solemn and public manner; wherefore Corona had reluctantly +yielded the point, and the matter was arranged. The fact was that the +Cardinal wished to make a sort of demonstration of the solidarity of the +Roman nobility: it suited his aims to enter into every detail which could +add to the importance of the Roman Court, and which could help to impress +upon the foreign Ministers the belief that in all matters the Romans as +one man would stand by each other and by the Vatican. No one knew better +than he how the spectacle of a religious solemnity, at which the whole +nobility would attend in a body, must strike the mind of a stranger in +Rome; for in Roman ceremonies of that day there was a pomp and +magnificence surpassing that found in any other Court of Europe. The +whole marriage would become an event of which he could make an impressive +use, and he was determined not to forego any advantages which might arise +from it; for he was a man who of all men well understood the value of +details in maintaining prestige. + +But to the two principal actors in the day's doings the affair was an +unmitigated annoyance, and even their own great and true happiness could +not lighten the excessive fatigue of the pompous ceremony and of the +still more pompous reception which followed it. To describe that day +would be to make out a catalogue of gorgeous equipages, gorgeous +costumes, gorgeous decorations. Many pages would not suffice to enumerate +the cardinals, the dignitaries, the ambassadors, the great nobles, whose +magnificent coaches drove up in long file through the Piazza dei Santi +Apostoli to the door of the Basilica. The columns of the 'Osservatore +Romano' were full of it for a week afterwards. There was no end to the +descriptions of the costumes, from the white satin and diamonds of +the bride to the festal uniforms of the Cardinal Arch-priest's retinue. +Not a personage of importance was overlooked in the newspaper account, +not a diplomatist, not an officer of Zouaves. And society read the praise +of itself, and found it much more interesting than the praise of the +bride and bridegroom; and only one or two people were offended because +the paper had made a mistake in naming the colours of the hammer-cloths +upon their coaches: so that the affair was a great success. + +But when at last the sun was low and the guests had departed from the +Palazzo Saracinesca, Corona and Giovanni got into their travelling +carriage under the great dark archway, and sighed a sigh of infinite +relief. The old Prince put his arms tenderly around his new daughter and +kissed her; and for the second time in the course of this history, it is +to be recorded that two tears stole silently down his brown cheeks to his +grey beard. Then he embraced Giovanni, whose face was pale and earnest. + +"This is not the end of our living together, _padre mio,_" he said. "We +shall expect you before long at Saracinesca." + +"Yes, my boy," returned the old man; "I will come and see you after +Easter. But do not stay if it is too cold; I have a little business to +attend to in Rome before I join you," he added, with a grim smile. + +"I know," replied Giovanni, a savage light in his black eyes. "If you +need help, send to me, or come yourself." + +"No fear of that, Giovannino; I have got a terrible helper. Now, be off. +The guards are growing impatient." + +"Good-bye. God bless you, _padre mio!_" + +"God bless you both!" So they drove off, and left old Saracinesca +standing bareheaded and alone under the dim archway of his ancestral +palace. The great carriage rolled out, and the guard of mounted +gendarmes, which the Cardinal had insisted upon sending with the young +couple, half out of compliment, half for safety, fell in behind, and +trotted down the narrow street, with a deafening clatter of hoofs and +clang of scabbards. + +But Giovanni held Corona's hand in his, and both were silent for a time. +Then they rolled under the low vault of the Porta San Lorenzo and out +into the evening sunlight of the Campagna beyond. + +"God be praised that it has come at last!" said Giovanni. + +"Yes, it has come," answered Corona, her strong white fingers closing +upon his brown hand almost convulsively; "and, come what may, you are +mine, Giovanni, until we die!" + +There was something fierce in the way those two loved each other; for +they had fought many fights before they were united, and had overcome +themselves, each alone, before they had overcome other obstacles +together. + +Relays of horses awaited them on their way, and relays of mounted guards. +Late that night they reached Saracinesca, all ablaze with torches and +lanterns; and the young men took the horses from the coach and yoked +themselves to it with ropes, and dragged the cumbrous carriage up the +last hill with furious speed, shouting and singing like madmen in the +cool mountain air. Up the steep they rushed, and under the grand old +gateway, made as bright as day with flaming torches; and then there +went up a shout that struck the old vaults like a wild chord of fierce +music, and Corona knew that her journey was ended. + +So it was that Giovanni Saracinesca brought home his bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +The old Prince was left alone, as he had often been left before, when +Giovanni was gone to the ends of the earth in pursuit of his amusements. +On such occasions old Saracinesca frequently packed up his traps and +followed his son's example; but he rarely went further than Paris, where +he had many friends, and where he generally succeeded in finding +consolation for his solitude. + +Now, however, he felt more than usually lonely. Giovanni had not gone +far, it is true, for with good horses it was scarcely more than eight +hours to the castle; but, for the first time in his life, old Saracinesca +felt that if he had suddenly determined to follow his son, he would not +be welcome. The boy was married at last, and must be left in peace for a +few days with his bride. With the contrariety natural to him, old +Saracinesca no sooner felt that his son was gone than he experienced the +most ardent desire to be with him. He had often seen Giovanni leave the +house at twenty-four hours' notice on his way to some distant capital, +and had not cared to accompany him, simply because he knew he might do so +if he pleased; but now he felt that some one else had taken his place, +and that, for a time at least, he was forcibly excluded from Giovanni's +society. It is very likely that but for the business which detained him +in Rome he would have astonished the happy pair by riding into the +gateway of the old castle on the day after the wedding: that business, +however, was urgent, secret, and, moreover, very congenial to the old +man's present temper. + +He had discussed the matter fully with Giovanni, and they had agreed upon +the course to be pursued. There was, nevertheless, much to be done before +the end they both so earnestly desired could be attained. It seemed a +simple plan to go to Cardinal Antonelli and to demand the arrest of Del +Ferice for his misdeeds; but as yet those misdeeds were undefined, and it +was necessary to define them. The Cardinal rarely resorted to such +measures except when the case was urgent, and Saracinesca knew perfectly +well that it would be hard to prove anything more serious against Del +Ferice than the crime of joining in the silly talk of Valdarno and his +set. Giovanni had told his father plainly that he was sure Del Ferice +derived his living from some illicit source, but he was wholly unable to +show what that source was. Most people believed the story that Del Ferice +had inherited money from an obscure relative; most people thought he was +clever and astute, but were so far deceived by his frank and unaffected +manner as to feel sure that he always said everything that came into his +head; most people are so much delighted when an unusually clever man +deigns to talk to them, that they cannot, for vanity's sake, suspect him +of deceiving them. Saracinesca did not doubt that the mere statement of +his own belief in regard to Del Ferice would have considerable weight +with the Cardinal, for he was used to power of a certain kind, and was +accustomed to see his judgment treated with deference; but he knew the +Cardinal to be a cautious man, hating despotic measures, because by his +use of them he had made himself so bitterly hated--loth always to do by +force what might be accomplished by skill, and in the end far more likely +to attempt the conversion of Del Ferice to the reactionary view, than to +order his expulsion because his views were over liberal. Even if old +Saracinesca had possessed a vastly greater diplomatic instinct than he +did, coupled with an unscrupulous mendacity which he certainly had not, +he would have found it hard to persuade the Cardinal against his will; +but Saracinesca was, of all men, a man violent in action and averse to +reflection before or after the fact. That he should ultimately be +revenged upon Del Ferice and Donna Tullia for the part they had lately +played, was a matter which it never entered his head to doubt; but when +he endeavoured to find means which should persuade the Cardinal to assist +him, he seemed fenced in on all sides by impossibilities. One thing only +helped him--namely, the conviction that if the statesman could be induced +to examine Del Ferice's conduct seriously, the latter would prove to be +not only an enemy to the State, but a bitter enemy to the Cardinal +himself. + +The more Saracinesca thought of the matter, the more convinced he was +that he should go boldly to the Cardinal and state his belief that Del +Ferice was a dangerous traitor, who ought to be summarily dealt with. If +the Cardinal argued the case, the Prince would asseverate, after his +manner, and some sort of result was sure to follow. As he thus determined +upon his course, his doubts seemed to vanish, as they generally do in the +mind of a strong man, when action becomes imminent, and the confidence +the old man had exhibited to his son very soon became genuine. It was +almost intolerable to have to wait so long, however, before doing +anything. Giovanni and he had decided to allow Del Ferice's marriage +to take place before producing the explosion, in order the more certainly +to strike both the offenders; now it seemed best to strike at once. +Supposing, he argued with himself, that Donna Tullia and her husband +chose to leave Rome for Paris the day after their wedding, half the +triumph would be lost; for half the triumph was to consist in Del +Ferice's being imprisoned for a spy in Rome, whereas if he once crossed +the frontier, he could at most be forbidden to return, which would be but +a small satisfaction to Saracinesca, or to Giovanni. + +A week passed by, and the gaiety of Carnival was again at its height; and +again a week elapsed, and Lent was come. Saracinesca went everywhere and +saw everybody as usual, and then after Ash-Wednesday he occasionally +showed himself at some of those quiet evening receptions which his son so +much detested. But he was restless and discontented. He longed to begin +the fight, and could not sleep for thinking of it. Like Giovanni, he was +strong and revengeful; but Giovanni had from his mother a certain +slowness of temperament, which often deterred him from action just long +enough to give him time for reflection, whereas the father, when roused, +and he was roused easily, loved to strike at once. It chanced one +evening, in a great house, that Saracinesca came upon the Cardinal +standing alone in an outer room. He was on his way into the reception; +but he had stopped, attracted by a beautiful crystal cup of old +workmanship, which stood, among other objects of the kind, upon a marble +table in one of the drawing-rooms through which he had to pass. The cup +itself, of deeply carved rock crystal, was set in chiselled silver, and +if not the work of Cellini himself, must have been made by one of his +pupils. Saracinesca stopped by the great man's side. + +"Good evening, Eminence," he said. + +"Good evening, Prince," returned the Cardinal, who recognised +Saracinesca's voice without looking up. "Have you ever seen this +marvellous piece of work? I have been admiring it for a quarter of an +hour." He loved all objects of the kind, and understood them with rare +knowledge. + +"It is indeed exceedingly beautiful," answered Saracinesca, who longed to +take advantage of the opportunity of speaking to Cardinal Antonelli upon +the subject nearest to his heart. + +"Yes--yes," returned the Cardinal rather vaguely, and made as though he +would go on. He saw from Saracinesca's commonplace praise, that he knew +nothing of the subject. The old Prince saw his opportunity slipping +from him, and lost his head. He did not recollect that he could see the +Cardinal alone whenever he pleased, by merely asking for an interview. +Fate had thrust the Cardinal in his path, and fate was responsible. + +"If your Eminence will allow me, I would like a word with you," he said +suddenly. + +"As many as you please," answered the statesman, blandly. "Let us sit +down in that corner--no one will disturb us for a while." + +He seemed unusually affable, as he sat himself down by Saracinesca's +side, gathering the skirt of his scarlet mantle across his knee, and +folding his delicate hands together in an attitude of restful attention. + +"You know, I daresay, a certain Del Ferice, Eminence?" began the Prince. + +"Very well--the _deus ex machinâ_ who has appeared to carry off Donna +Tullia Mayer. Yes, I know him." + +"Precisely, and they will match very well together; the world cannot help +applauding the union of the flesh and the devil." + +The Cardinal smiled. + +"The metaphor is apt," he said; "but what about them?" + +"I will tell you in two words," replied Saracinesca. "Del Ferice is a +scoundrel of the first water--" + +"A jewel among scoundrels," interrupted the Cardinal, "for being a +scoundrel he is yet harmless--a stage villain." + +"I believe your Eminence is deceived in him." + +"That may easily be," answered the statesman. "I am much more often +deceived than people imagine." He spoke very mildly, but his small black +eyes turned keenly upon Saracinesca. "What has he been doing?" he asked, +after a short pause. + +"He has been trying to do a great deal of harm to my son and to my son's +wife. I suspect him strongly of doing harm to you." + +Whether Saracinesca was strictly honest in saying "you" to the Cardinal, +when he meant the whole State as represented by the prime minister, is a +matter not easily decided. There is a Latin saying, to the effect that a +man who is feared by many should himself fear many, and the saying is +true. The Cardinal was personally a brave man; but he knew his danger, +and the memory of the murdered Rossi was fresh in his mind. Nevertheless, +he smiled blandly as he answered-- + +"That is rather vague, my friend. How is he doing me harm, if I may ask?" + +"I argue in this way," returned Saracinesca, thus pressed. "The fellow +found a most ingenious way of attacking my son--he searched the whole +country till he found that a man called Giovanni Saracinesca had been, +married some time ago in Aquila. He copied the certificates, and produced +them as pretended proof that my son was already married. If I had not +found the man myself, there would have been trouble. Now besides this, +Del Ferice is known to hold Liberal views--" + +"Of the feeblest kind," interrupted the statesman, who nevertheless +became very grave. + +"Those he exhibits are of the feeblest kind, and he takes no trouble to +hide them. But a fellow so ingenious as to imagine the scheme he +practised against us is not a fool." + +"I understand, my good friend," said the Cardinal. "You have been injured +by this fellow, and you would like me to revenge the injury by locking +him up. Is that it?" + +"Precisely," answered Saracinesca, laughing at his own simplicity. "I +might as well have said so from the first." + +"Much better. You would make a poor diplomatist, Prince. But what in the +world shall I gain by revenging your wrongs upon that creature?" + +"Nothing--unless when you have taken the trouble to examine his conduct, +you find that he is really dangerous. In that case your Eminence will be +obliged to look to your own safety. If you find him innocent, you will +let him go." + +"And in that case, what will you do?" asked the Cardinal with a smile. + +"I will cut his throat," answered Saracinesca, unmoved. + +"Murder him?" + +"No--call him out and kill him like a gentleman, which is a great deal +better than he deserves." + +"I have no doubt you would," said the Cardinal, gravely. "I think your +proposition reasonable, however. If this man is really dangerous, I will +look to him myself. But I must really beg you not to do anything rash. I +have determined that this duelling shall stop, and I warn you that +neither you nor any one else will escape imprisonment if you are involved +in any more of these personal encounters." + +Saracinesca suppressed a smile at the Cardinal's threat; but he perceived +that he had gained his point, and was pleased accordingly. He had, he +felt sure, sown in the statesman's mind a germ of suspicion which would +before long bring forth fruit. In those days danger was plentiful, and +people could not afford to overlook it, no matter in what form it +presented itself, least of all such people as the Cardinal himself, who, +while sustaining an unequal combat against superior forces outside the +State, felt that his every step was encompassed by perils from within. +That he had long despised Del Ferice as an idle chatterer did not prevent +him from understanding that he might have been deceived, as Saracinesca +suggested. He had caused Ugo to be watched, it is true, but only from +time to time, and by men whose only duty was to follow him and to see +whether he frequented suspicious society. The little nest of talkers at +Gouache's studio in the Via San Basilio was soon discovered, and proved +to be harmless enough. Del Ferice was then allowed to go on his way +unobserved. But the half-dozen words in which Saracinesca had described +Ugo's scheme for hindering Giovanni's marriage had set the Cardinal +thinking, and the Cardinal seldom wasted time in thinking in vain. His +interview with Saracinesca ended very soon, and the Prince and the +statesman entered the crowded drawing-room and mixed in the throng. It +was long before they met again in private. + +The Cardinal on the following day gave orders that Del Ferice's letters +were to be stopped--by no means an uncommon proceeding in those times, +nor so rare in our own day as is supposed. The post-office was then in +the hands of a private individual so far as all management was concerned, +and the Cardinal's word was law. Del Ferice's letters were regularly +opened and examined. + +The first thing that was discovered was that they frequently contained +money, generally in the shape of small drafts on London signed by a +Florentine banker, and that the envelopes which contained money never +contained anything else. They were all posted in Florence. With regard +to his letters, they appeared to be very innocent communications from all +sorts of people, rarely referring to politics, and then only in the most +general terms. If Del Ferice had expected to have his correspondence +examined, he could not have arranged matters better for his own safety. +To trace the drafts to the person who sent them was not an easy business; +it was impossible to introduce a spy into the banking-house in Florence, +and among the many drafts daily bought and sold, it was almost impossible +to identify, without the aid of the banker's books, the person who +chanced to buy any particular one. The addresses were, it is true, +uniformly written by the same hand; but the writing was in no way +peculiar, and was certainly not that of any prominent person whose +autograph the Cardinal possessed. + +The next step was to get possession of some letter written by Del Ferice +himself, and, if possible, to intercept everything he wrote. But although +the letters containing the drafts were regularly opened, and, after +having been examined and sealed again, were regularly transmitted +through the post-office to Ugo's address, the expert persons set to catch +the letters he himself wrote were obliged to own, after three weeks' +careful watching, that he never seemed to write any letters at all, and +that he certainly never posted any. They acknowledged their failure to +the Cardinal with timid anxiety, expecting to be reprimanded for their +carelessness. But the Cardinal merely told them not to relax their +attention, and dismissed them with a bland smile. He knew, now, that he +was on the track of mischief; for a man who never writes any letters at +all, while he receives many, might reasonably be suspected of having a +secret post-office of his own. For some days Del Ferice's movements were +narrowly watched, but with no result whatever. Then the Cardinal sent for +the police register of the district where Del Ferice lived, and in which +the name, nationality, and residence of every individual in the "Rione" +or quarter were carefully inscribed, as they still are. + +Running his eye down the list, the Cardinal came upon the name of +"Temistocle Fattorusso, of Naples, servant to Ugo dei Conti del Ferice:" +an idea struck him. + +"His servant is a Neapolitan," he reflected. "He probably sends his +letters by way of Naples." + +Accordingly Temistocle was watched instead of his master. It was found +that he frequented the society of other Neapolitans, and especially that +he was in the habit of going from time to time to the Ripa Grande, the +port of the Tiber, where he seemed to have numerous acquaintances among +the Neapolitan boatmen who constantly came up the coast in their +"martingane"--heavy, sea-going, lateen-rigged vessels, bringing cargoes +of oranges and lemons to the Roman market. The mystery was now solved. +One day Temistocle was actually seen giving a letter into the hands of a +huge fellow in a red woollen cap. The _sbirro_ who saw him do it marked +the sailor and his vessel, and never lost sight of him till he hoisted +his jib and floated away down stream. Then the spy took horse and +galloped down to Fiumicino, where he waited for the little vessel, +boarded her from a boat, escorted by a couple of gendarmes, and had no +difficulty in taking the letter from the terrified seaman, who was glad +enough to escape without detention. During the next fortnight several +letters were stopped in this way, carried by different sailors, and the +whole correspondence went straight to the Cardinal. It was not often that +he troubled himself to play the detective in person, but when he did so, +he was not easily baffled. And now he observed that about a week after +the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come +so frequently to Del Ferice's address from Florence suddenly ceased, +proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its +value so soon as it was received. + +With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said. So +sure was Del Ferice of his means of transmission that he did not even use +a cipher, though he, of course, never signed any of his writings. The +matter was invariably a detailed chronicle of Roman sayings and doings, a +record as minute as Del Ferice could make it, of everything that took +place, and even the Cardinal himself was astonished at the accuracy of +the information thus conveyed. His own appearances in public--the names +of those with whom he talked--even fragments of his conversation--were +given with annoying exactness. The statesman learned with infinite +disgust that he had for some time past been subjected to a system of +espionage at least as complete as any of his own invention; and, what was +still more annoying to his vanity, the spy was the man of all others whom +he had most despised, calling him harmless and weak, because he cunningly +affected weakness. Where or how Del Ferice procured so much information +the Cardinal cared little enough, for he determined there and then that +he should procure no more. That there were other traitors in the camp was +more than likely, and that they had aided Del Ferice with their counsels; +but though by prolonging the situation it might be possible to track them +down, such delay would be valuable to enemies abroad. Moreover, if Del +Ferice began to find out, as he soon must, that his private +correspondence was being overhauled at the Vatican, he was not a man to +hesitate about attempting his escape; and he would certainly not be an +easy man to catch, if he could once succeed in putting a few miles of +Campagna between himself and Rome. There was no knowing what disguise he +might not find in which to slip over the frontier; and indeed, as he +afterwards proved, he was well prepared for such an emergency. + +The Cardinal did not hesitate. He had just received the fourth letter, +and if he waited any longer Del Ferice would take alarm, and slip through +his fingers. He wrote with his own hand a note to the chief of police, +ordering the immediate arrest of Ugo dei Conti del Ferice, with +instructions that he should be taken in his own house, without any +publicity, and conveyed in a private carriage to the Sant' Uffizio by men +in plain clothes. It was six o'clock in the evening when he wrote the +order, and delivered it to his private servant to be taken to its +destination. The man lost no time, and within twenty minutes the chief of +police was in possession of his orders, which he hastened to execute with +all possible speed. Before seven o'clock two respectable-looking citizens +were seated in the chief's own carriage, driving rapidly in the direction +of Del Fence's house. In less than half an hour the man who had caused so +much trouble would be safely lodged in the prisons of the Holy Office, to +be judged for his sins as a political spy. In a fortnight he was to have +been married to Donna Tullia Mayer,--and her trousseau had just arrived +from Paris. + +It can hardly be said that the Cardinal's conduct was unjustifiable, +though many will say that Del Fence's secret doings were easily +defensible on the ground of his patriotism. Cardinal Antonelli had +precisely defined the situation in his talk with Anastase Gouache by +saying that the temporal power was driven to bay. To all appearances +Europe was at peace, but as a matter of fact the peace was but an armed +neutrality. An amount of interest was concentrated upon the situation of +the Papal States which has rarely been excited by events of much greater +apparent importance than the occupation of a small principality by +foreign troops. All Europe was arming. In a few months Austria was to +sustain one of the most sudden and overwhelming defeats recorded in +military history. In a few years the greatest military power in the world +was to be overtaken by an even more appalling disaster. And these +events, then close at hand, were to deal the death-blow to papal +independence. The papacy was driven to bay, and those to whom the last +defence was confided were certainly justified in employing every means in +their power for strengthening their position. That Rome herself was +riddled with rotten conspiracies, and turned into a hunting-ground for +political spies, while the support she received from Louis Napoleon had +been already partially withdrawn, proves only how hard was the task of +that man who, against such odds, maintained so gallant a fight. It is no +wonder that he hunted down spies, and signed orders forcing suspicious +characters to leave the city at a day's notice; for the city was +practically in a state of siege, and any relaxation of the iron +discipline by which the great Cardinal governed would at any moment in +those twenty years have proved disastrous. He was hated and feared; more +than once he was in imminent danger of his life, but he did his duty in +his post. Had his authority fallen, it is impossible to say what evil +might have ensued to the city and its inhabitants--evils vastly more to +be feared than the entrance of an orderly Italian army through the Porta +Pia. For the recollections of Count Rossi's murder, and of the short and +lawless Republic of 1848, were fresh in the minds of the people, and +before they had faded there were dangerous rumours of a rising even less +truly Republican in theory, and far more fatal in the practical social +anarchy which must have resulted from its success. Giuseppe Mazzini had +survived his arch-enemy, the great Cavour, and his influence was +incalculable. + +But my business is not to write the history of those uncertain days, +though no one who considers the social life of Rome, either then or now, +can afford to overlook the influence of political events upon the +everyday doings of men and women. We must follow the private carriage +containing the two respectable citizens who were on their way to Del +Ferice's house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +Now it chanced that Del Ferice was not at home at the hour when the +carriage containing the detectives drew up at his door. Indeed he was +rarely to be found at that time, for when he was not engaged elsewhere, +he dined with Donna Tullia and her old countess, accompanying them +afterwards to any of the quiet Lenten receptions to which they desired to +go. Temistocle was also out, for it was his hour for supper, a meal which +he generally ate in a small _osteria_ opposite his master's lodging. +There he sat now, finishing his dish of beans and oil, and debating +whether he should indulge himself in another _mezza foglietta_ of his +favourite white wine. He was installed upon the wooden bench against the +wall, behind the narrow table on which was spread a dirty napkin with the +remains of his unctuous meal. The light from the solitary oil-lamp that +hung from the black ceiling was not brilliant, and he could see well +enough through the panes of the glass door that the carriage which had +just stopped on the opposite side of the street was not a cab. Suspecting +that some one had called at that unusual hour in search of his master, he +rose from his seat and went out. + +He stood looking at the carriage. It did not please him. It had that +peculiar look which used to mark the equipages of the Vatican, and which +to this day distinguishes them from all others in the eyes of a born +Roman. The vehicle was of rather antiquated shape, the horses were black, +the coachman wore a plain black coat, with a somewhat old-fashioned hat; +withal, the turnout was respectable enough, and well kept. But it did not +please Temistocle. Drawing his hat over his eyes, he passed behind it, +and having ascertained that the occupants, if there had been any, had +already entered the house, he himself went in. The narrow staircase was +dimly lighted by small oil-lamps. Temistocle ascended the steps on +tiptoe, for he could already hear the men ringing the bell, and talking +together in a low voice. The Neapolitan crept nearer. Again and again +the bell was rung, and the men began to grow impatient. + +"He has escaped," said one angrily. + +"Perhaps--or he has gone out to dinner--much more likely." + +"We had better go away and come later," suggested the first. + +"He is sure to come home. We had better wait. The orders are to take him +in his lodgings." + +"We might go into the _osteria_ opposite and drink a _foglietta_." + +"No," said the other, who seemed to be the one in authority. "We must +wait here, if we wait till midnight. Those are the orders." + +The second detective grumbled something not clearly audible, and silence +ensued. But Temistocle had heard quite enough. He was a quick-witted +fellow, as has been seen, much more anxious for his own interests than +for his master's, though he had hitherto found it easy to consult both. +Indeed, in a certain way he was faithful to Del Ferice, and admired him +as a soldier admires his general. The resolution he now formed did honour +to his loyalty to Ugo and to his thievish instincts. He determined to +save his master if he could, and to rob him at his leisure afterwards. +If Del Ferice failed to escape, he would probably reward Temistocle for +having done his best to help him; if, on the other hand, he got away, +Temistocle had the key of his lodgings, and would help himself. But there +was one difficulty in the way. Del Ferice was in evening dress at the +house of Donna Tullia. In such a costume he would have no chance of +passing the gates, which in those days were closed and guarded all night. +Del Ferice was a cautious man, and, like many another in those days, kept +in his rooms a couple of disguises which might serve if he was hard +pressed. His ready money he always carried with him, because he +frequently went into the club before coming home, and played a game of +écarté, in which he was usually lucky. The question was how to enter the +lodgings, to get possession of the necessary clothes, and to go out +again, without exciting the suspicions of the detectives. + +Temistocle's mind was soon made up. He crept softly down the stairs, so +as not to appear to have been too near, and then, making as much noise as +he could, ascended boldly, drawing the key of the lodgings from his +pocket as he reached the landing where the two men stood under the +little oil-lamp. + +"_Buona sera, signori_," he said, politely, thrusting the key into the +lock without hesitation. "Did you wish to see the Conte del Ferice?" + +"Yes," answered the elder man, affecting an urbane manner. "Is the Count +at home?" + +"I do not think so," returned the Neapolitan. "But I will see. Come in, +gentlemen. He will not be long--_sempre verso quest'ora_--he always comes +home about this time." + +"Thank you," said the detective. "If you will allow us to wait--" + +"_Altro_--what? Should I leave the _padrone's_ friends on the stairs? +Come in, gentlemen--sit down. It is dark. I will light the lamp." And +striking a match, Temistocle lit a couple of candles and placed them upon +the table of the small sitting-room. The two men sat down, holding their +hats upon their knees. + +"If you will excuse me," said Temistocle, "I will go and make the +signore's coffee. He dines at the restaurant, and always comes home for +his coffee. Perhaps the signori will also take a cup? It is the same to +make three as one." + +But the men thanked Temistocle, and said they wanted none, which was just +as well, since Temistocle had no idea of giving them any. He retired, +however, to the small kitchen which belongs to every Roman lodging, and +made a great clattering with the coffee-pot. Presently he slipped into +Del Ferice's bedroom, and extracted from a dark corner a shabby black +bag, which he took back with him into the kitchen. From the kitchen +window ran the usual iron wire to the well in the small court, bearing an +iron traveller with a rope for drawing water. Temistocle, clattering +loudly, hooked the bag to the traveller and let it run down noisily; then +he tied the rope and went out. He had carefully closed the door of the +sitting-room, but he had been careful to leave the door which opened upon +the stairs unlatched. He crept noiselessly out, and leaving the door +still open, rushed down-stairs, turned into the little court, unhooked +his bag from the rope, and taking it in his hand, passed quietly out into +the street. The coachman was dozing upon the box of the carriage which +still waited before the door, and would not have noticed Temistocle had +he been awake. In a moment more the Neapolitan was beyond pursuit. In +the Piazza di Spagna he hailed a cab and drove rapidly to Donna Tullia's +house, where he paid the man and sent him away. The servants knew him +well enough, for scarcely a day passed without his bringing some note or +message from his master to Madame Mayer. He sent in to say that he must +speak to his master on business. Del Ferice came out hastily in +considerable agitation, which was by no means diminished by the sight of +the well-known shabby black bag. + +Temistocle glanced round the hall to see that they were alone. + +"The _forza_--the police," he whispered, "are in the house, Eccellenza. +Here is the bag. Save yourself, for the love of heaven!" + +Del Ferice turned ghastly pale, and his face twitched nervously. + +"But--" he began, and then staggering back leaned against the wall. + +"Quick--fly!" urged Temistocle, shaking him roughly by the arm. "It is +the Holy Office--you have time. I told them you would be back, and they +are waiting quietly--they will wait all night. Here is your overcoat," he +added, almost forcing his master into the garment--"and your hat--here! +Come along, there is no time to lose. I will take you to a place where +you can dress." + +Del Ferice submitted almost blindly. By especial good fortune the footman +did not come out into the hall. Donna Tullia and her guests had finished +dinner, and the servants had retired to theirs; indeed the footman had +complained to Temistocle of being called away from his meal to open the +door. The Neapolitan pushed his master out upon the stairs, urging him to +use all speed. As the two men hurried along the dark street they +conversed in low tones. Del Ferice was trembling in every joint. + +"But Donna Tullia," he almost whined. "I cannot leave her so--she must +know--" + +"Save your own skin from the Holy Office, master," answered Temistocle, +dragging him along as fast as he could. "I will go back and tell your +lady, never fear. She will leave Rome to-morrow. Of course you will go +to Naples. She will follow you. She will be there before you." + +Del Ferice mumbled an unintelligible answer. His teeth were chattering +with cold and fear; but as he began to realise his extreme peril, terror +lent wings to his heels, and he almost outstripped the nimble Temistocle +in the race for safety. They reached at last the ruined part of the city +near the Porta Maggiore, and in the shadow of the deep archway where the +road branches to the right towards Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Temistocle +halted. + +"Here," he said, shortly. Del Ferice said never a word, but began to +undress himself in the dark. It was a gloomy and lowering night, the +roads were muddy, and from time to time a few drops of cold rain fell +silently, portending a coming storm. In a few moments the transformation +was complete, and Del Ferice stood by his servant's side in the shabby +brown cowl and rope-girdle of a Capuchin monk. + +"Now comes the hard part," said Temistocle, producing a razor and a pair +of scissors from the bottom of the bag. Del Ferice had too often +contemplated the possibility of flight to have omitted so important a +detail. + +"You cannot see--you will cut my throat," he murmured plaintively. + +But the fellow was equal to the emergency. Retiring deeper into the +recess of the arch, he lit a cigar, and holding it between his teeth, +puffed violently at it, producing a feeble light by which he could just +see his master's face. He was in the habit of shaving him, and had no +difficulty in removing the fair moustache from his upper lip. Then, +making him hold his head down, and puffing harder than ever, he cropped +his thin hair, and managed to make a tolerably respectable tonsure. But +the whole operation had consumed half an hour at the least, and Del +Ferice was trembling still. Temistocle thrust the clothes into his bag. + +"My watch!" objected the unfortunate man, "and my pearl studs--give them +to me--what? You villain! you thief! you--" + +"No _chiacchiere_, no talk, _padrone_," interrupted Temistocle, snapping +the lock of the bag. "If you chance to be searched, it would ill become a +mendicant friar to be carrying gold watches and pearl studs. I will give +them to Donna Tullia this very evening. You have money--you can say that +you are taking that to your convent." + +"Swear to give the watch to Donna Tullia," said Del Ferice. Whereupon +Temistocle swore a terrible oath, which he did not fail to break, of +course. But his master had to be satisfied, and when all was completed +the two parted company. + +"I will ask Donna Tullia to take me to Naples on her passport," said the +Neapolitan. + +"Take care of my things, Temistocle. Burn all the papers if you +can--though I suppose the _sbirri_ have got them by this time. Bring my +clothes--if you steal anything, remember there are knives in Rome, and I +know where to write to have them used." Whereat Temistocle broke into a +torrent of protestations. How could his master think that, after saving +him at such risk, his faithful servant would plunder him? + +"Well," said Del Ferice, thoughtfully, "you are a great scoundrel, you +know. But you have saved me, as you say. There is a scudo for you." + +Temistocle never refused anything. He took the coin, kissed his master's +hand as a final exhibition of servility, and turned back towards the city +without another word. Del Ferice shuddered, and drew his heavy cowl over +his head as he began to walk quickly towards the Porta Maggiore. Then he +took the inside road, skirting the walls through the mud to the Porta San +Lorenzo. He was perfectly safe in his disguise. He had dined abundantly, +he had money in his pocket, and he had escaped the clutches of the Holy +Office. A barefooted friar might walk for days unchallenged through the +Roman Campagna and the neighbouring hills, and it was not far to the +south-eastern frontier. He did not know the way beyond Tivoli, but he +could inquire without exciting the least suspicion. There are few +disguises more complete than the garb of a Capuchin monk, and Del Ferice +had long contemplated playing the part, for it was one which eminently +suited him. His face, much thinner now than formerly, was yet naturally +round, and without his moustache would certainly pass for a harmless +clerical visage. He had received an excellent education, and knew vastly +more Latin than the majority of mendicant monks. As a good Roman he was +well acquainted with every convent in the city, and knew the names of all +the chief dignitaries of the Capuchin order. When a lad he had frequently +served at Mass, and was acquainted with most of the ordinary details of +monastic life. The worst that could happen to him might be to be called +upon in the course of his travels to hear the dying confession of some +poor wretch who had been stabbed after a game of _mora_. His case was +altogether not so bad as might seem, considering the far greater evils he +had escaped. + +At the Porta San Lorenzo the gates were closed as usual, but the dozing +watchman let Del Ferice out of the small door without remark. Any one +might leave the city, though it required a pass to gain admittance during +the night. The heavily-ironed oak clanged behind the fugitive, and he +breathed more freely as he stepped upon the road to Tivoli. In an hour he +had crossed the Ponte Mammolo, shuddering as he looked down through the +deep gloom at the white foam of the Teverone, swollen with the winter +rains. But the fear of the Holy Office was behind him, and he hurried on +his lonely way, walking painfully in the sandals he had been obliged to +put on to complete his disguise, sinking occasionally ankle-deep in mud, +and then trudging over a long stretch of broken stones where the road had +been mended; but not noticing nor caring for pain and fatigue, while he +felt that every minute took him nearer to the frontier hills where he +would be safe from pursuit. And so he toiled on, till he smelled the +fetid air of the sulphur springs full fourteen miles from Rome; and at +last, as the road began to rise towards Hadrian's Villa, he sat down upon +a stone by the wayside to rest a little. He had walked five hours through +the darkness, seeing but a few yards of the broad road before him as he +went. He was weary and footsore, and the night was growing wilder with +gathering wind and rain as the storm swept down the mountains and through +the deep gorge of Tivoli on its way to the desolate black Campagna. He +felt that if he did not die of exposure he was safe, and to a man in his +condition bad weather is the least of evils. + +His reflections were not sweet. Five hours earlier he had been dressed as +a fine gentleman should be, seated at a luxurious table in the company of +a handsome and amusing woman who was to be his wife. He could still +almost taste the delicate _chaud froid_, the tender woodcock, the dry +champagne; he could still almost hear Donna Tullia's last noisy sally +ringing in his ears--and behold, he was now sitting by the roadside in +the rain, in the wretched garb of a begging monk, five hours' journey +from Rome. He had left his affianced bride without a word of warning, had +abandoned all his possessions to Temistocle--that scoundrelly thief +Temistocle!--and he was utterly alone. + +But as he rested himself, drawing his monk's hood closely over his head +and trying to warm his freezing feet with the skirts of his rough brown +frock, he reflected that if he ever got safely across the frontier he +would be treated as a patriot, as a man who had suffered for the cause, +and certainly as a man who deserved to be rewarded. He reflected that +Donna Tullia was a woman who had a theatrical taste for romance, and that +his present position was in theory highly romantic, however uncomfortable +it might be in the practice. When he was safe his story would be told in +the newspapers, and he would himself take care that it was made +interesting. Donna Tullia would read it, would be fascinated by the tale +of his sufferings, and would follow him. His marriage with her would then +add immense importance to his own position. He would play his cards well, +and with her wealth at his disposal he might aspire to any distinction he +coveted. He only wished the situation could have been prolonged for three +weeks, till he was actually married. Meanwhile he must take courage and +push on, beyond the reach of pursuit. If once he could gain Subiaco, he +could be over the frontier in twelve hours. From Tivoli there were +_vetture_ up the valley, cheap conveyances for the country people, in +which a barefooted friar could travel unnoticed. He knew that he must +cross the boundary by Trevi and the Serra di Sant' Antonio. He would +inquire the way from Subiaco. + +While Del Ferice was thus making his way across the Campagna, Temistocle +was taking measures for his own advantage and safety. He had the bag with +his master's clothes, the valuable watch and chain, and the pearl studs. +He had also the key to Del Ferice's lodgings, of which he promised +himself to make some use, as soon as he should be sure that the +detectives had left the house. In the first place he made up his mind to +leave Donna Tullia in ignorance of his master's sudden departure. +There was nothing to be gained by telling her the news, for she would +probably in her rash way go to Del Ferice's house herself, as she had +done once before, and on finding he was actually gone she would take +charge of his effects, whereby Temistocle would be the loser. As he +walked briskly away from the ruinous district near the Porta Maggiore, +and began to see the lights of the city gleaming before him, his courage +rose in his breast. He remembered how easily he had eluded the detectives +an hour and a half before, and he determined to cheat them again. + +But he had reckoned unwisely. Before he had been gone ten minutes the two +men suspected, from the prolonged silence, that something was wrong, and +after searching the lodging perceived that the polite servant who had +offered them coffee had left the house without taking leave. One of the +two immediately drove to the house of his chief and asked for +instructions. The order to arrest the servant if he appeared again came +back at once. The consequence was that when Temistocle boldly opened +the door with a ready framed excuse for his absence, he was suddenly +pinioned by four strong arms, dragged into the sitting-room, and told to +hold his tongue in the name of the law. And that is the last that was +heard of Temistocle for some time. But when the day dawned the men +knew that Del Ferice had escaped them. + +The affair had not been well managed. The Cardinal was a good detective, +but a bad policeman. In his haste he had made the mistake of ordering Del +Ferice to be arrested instantly and in his lodgings. Had the statesman +simply told the chief of police to secure Ugo as soon as possible without +any scandal, he could not have escaped. But the officer interpreted the +Cardinal's note to mean that Del Ferice was actually at his lodgings when +the order was given. The Cardinal was supposed to be omniscient by +his subordinates, and no one ever thought of giving any interpretation +not perfectly literal to his commands. Of course the Cardinal was at once +informed, and telegrams and mounted detectives were dispatched in all +directions. But Del Ferice's disguise was good, and when just after +sunrise a gendarme galloped into Tivoli, he did not suspect that the +travel-stained and pale-faced friar, who stood telling his beads before +the shrine just outside the Roman gate, was the political delinquent whom +he was sent to overtake. + +Donna Tullia spent an anxious night. She sent down to Del Ferice's +lodgings, as Temistocle had anticipated, and the servant brought back +word that he had not seen the Neapolitan, and that the house was held in +possession by strangers, who refused him admittance. Madame Mayer +understood well enough what had happened, and began to tremble for +herself. Indeed she began to think of packing together her own valuables, +in case she should be ordered to leave Rome, for she did not doubt that +the Holy Office was in pursuit of Del Ferice, in consequence of some +discovery relating to her little club of malcontents. She trembled for +Ugo with an anxiety more genuine than any feeling of hers had been for +many a day, not knowing whether he had escaped or not. But on the +following evening she was partially reassured by hearing from Valdarno +that the police had offered a large reward for Del Ferice's apprehension. +Valdarno declared his intention of leaving Rome at once. His life, +he said, was not safe for a moment. That villain Gouache, who had turned +Zouave, had betrayed them all, and they might be lodged in the Sant' +Uffizio any day. As a matter of fact, after he discovered how egregiously +he had been deceived by Del Ferice, the Cardinal grew more suspicious, +and his emissaries were more busy than they had been before. But Valdarno +had never manifested enough wisdom, nor enough folly, to make him a cause +of anxiety to the Prime Minister. Nevertheless he actually left Rome and +spent a long time in Paris before he was induced to believe that he might +safely return to his home. + +Roman society was shaken to its foundations by the news of the attempted +arrest, and Donna Tullia found some slight compensation in becoming for a +time the centre of interest. She felt, indeed, great anxiety for the man +she was engaged to marry; but for the first time in her life she felt +also that she was living in an element of real romance, of which she had +long dreamed, but of which she had never found the smallest realisation. +Society saw, and speculated, and gossiped, after its fashion; but its +gossip was more subdued than of yore, for men began to ask who was safe, +since the harmless Del Ferice had been proscribed. Old Saracinesca said +little. He would have gone to see the Cardinal and to offer him his +congratulations, since it would not be decent to offer his thanks; but +the Cardinal was not in a position to be congratulated. If he had caught +Del Ferice he would have thanked the Prince instead of waiting for any +expressions of gratitude; but he did not catch Del Ferice, for certain +very good reasons which will appear in the last scene of this comedy. + +Three days after Ugo's disappearance, the old Prince got into his +carriage and drove out to Saracinesca. More than a month had elapsed +since the marriage, and he felt that he must see his son, even at the +risk of interrupting the honeymoon. On the whole, he felt that his +revenge had been inadequate. Del Fence had escaped the Holy Office, no +one knew how; and Donna Tullia, instead of being profoundly humiliated, +as she would have been had Del Ferice been tried as a common spy, was +become a centre of attraction and interest, because her affianced husband +had for some unknown cause incurred the displeasure of the great +Cardinal, almost on the eve of her marriage--a state of things +significant as regards the tone of Roman society. Indeed the whole +circumstance, which, was soon bruited about among all classes with the +most lively adornment and exaggeration, tended greatly to increase the +fear and hatred which high and low alike felt for Cardinal Antonelli--the +man who was always accused and never heard in his own defence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +People wondered that Giovanni and Corona should have chosen to retire +into the country for their honeymoon, instead of travelling to France and +England, and ending their wedding-trip in Switzerland. The hills were so +very cold at that early season, and besides, they would be utterly alone. +People could not understand why Corona did not take advantage of the +termination of her widowhood to mix at once with the world, and indemnify +herself for the year of mourning by a year of unusual gaiety. But there +were many, on the other hand, who loudly applauded the action, which, it +was maintained, showed a wise spirit of economy, and contrasted very +favourably with the extravagance recently exhibited by young couples who +in reality had far more cause to be careful of their money. Those who +held this view belonged to the old, patriarchal class, the still +flourishing remnant of the last generation, who prided themselves upon +good management, good morals, and ascetic living; the class of people in +whose marriage-contracts it was stipulated that the wife was to have meat +twice a-day, excepting on fast days, a drive--the _trottata_, as it used +to be called--daily, and two new gowns every year. Even in our times, +when most of that generation are dead, these clauses are often +introduced; in the first half of the century they were universal. A +little earlier it used to be stipulated that the "meat" was not to be +copra, goat's-flesh, which was considered to be food fit only for +servants. But the patriarchal generation were a fine old class in spite +of their economy, and they loudly aplauded Giovanni's conduct. + +No one, however, understood that the solitude of Saracinesca was really +the greatest luxury the newly-married couple could desire. They wanted to +be left alone, and they got their wish. No one had known of the +preparations Giovanni had made for his wife's reception, and had any +idea of the changes in the castle reached the ears of the aforesaid +patriarchs, they would probably have changed their minds in regard to +Giovanni's economy. The Saracinesca were not ostentatious, but they spent +their money royally in their own quiet way, and the interior of the old +stronghold had undergone a complete transformation, while the ancient +grey stones of the outer walls and towers frowned as gloomily as ever +upon the valley. Vast halls had been decorated and furnished in a style +suited to the antiquity of the fortress, small sunny rooms had been +fitted up with the more refined luxury which was beginning to be +appreciated in Italy twenty years ago. A great conservatory had been +built out upon the southern battlement. The aqueduct had been completed +successfully, and fountains now played in the courts. The old-fashioned +fireplaces had been again put into use, and huge logs burned upon huge +fire-dogs in the halls, shedding a ruddy glow upon the trophies of old +armour, the polished floors, and the heavy curtains. Quantities of +magnificent tapestry, some of which had been produced when Corona first +visited the castle, were now hung upon the stairs and in the corridors. +The great _baldacchino_, the canopy which Roman princes are privileged to +display in their antechambers, was draped above the quartered arms of +Saracinesca and Astrardente, and the same armorial bearings appeared in +rich stained glass in the window of the grand staircase. The solidity and +rare strength of the ancient stronghold seemed to grow even more imposing +under the decorations and improvements of a later age, and for the first +time Giovanni felt that justice had been done to the splendour of his +ancestral home. + +Here he and his dark bride dwelt in perfect unity and happiness, in the +midst of their own lands, surrounded by their own people, and wholly +devoted to each other. But though much of the day was passed in that +unceasing conversation and exchange of ideas which seem to belong +exclusively to happily-wedded man and wife, the hours were not wholly +idle. Daily the two mounted their horses and rode along the level stretch +towards Aquaviva till they came to the turning from which Corona had +first caught sight of Saracinesca. Here a broad road was already broken +out; the construction was so far advanced that two miles at least were +already serviceable, the gentle grade winding backwards and forwards, +crossing and recrossing the old bridle-path as it descended to the valley +below; and now from the furthest point completed Corona could distinguish +in the dim distance the great square palace of Astrardente crowning the +hills above the town. Thither the two rode daily, pushing on the work, +consulting with the engineer they employed, and often looking forward +to the day when for the first time their carriage should roll smoothly +down from Saracinesca to Astrardente without making the vast detour which +the old road followed as it skirted the mountain. There was an +inexpressible pleasure in watching the growth of the work they had so +long contemplated, in speculating on the advantages they would obtain by +so uniting their respective villages, and in feeling that, being at last +one, they were working together for the good of their people. For the men +who did the work were without exception their own peasants, who were +unemployed during the winter time, and who, but for the timely occupation +provided for them, would have spent the cold months in that state of +half-starved torpor peculiar to the indigent agricultural labourer when +he has nothing to do--at that bitter season when father and mother and +shivering little ones watch wistfully the ever-dwindling sack of maize, +as day by day two or three handfuls are ground between the stones of the +hand-mill and kneaded into a thick unwholesome dough, the only food of +the poorer peasants in the winter. But now every man who could handle +pickaxe and bore, and sledge-hammer and spade, was out upon the road from +dawn to dark, and every Saturday night each man took home a silver scudo +in his pocket; and where people are sober and do not drink their wages, a +silver scudo goes a long way further than nothing. Yet many a lean and +swarthy fellow there would have felt that he was cheated if besides his +money he had not carried home daily the remembrance of that tall dark +lady's face and kindly eyes and encouraging voice, and they used to watch +for the coming of the "_gran principessa_" as anxiously as they expected +the coming of the steward with the money-bags on a Saturday evening. +Often, too, the wives and daughters of the rough workers would bring the +men their dinners at noonday, rather than let them carry away their food +with them in the morning, just for the sake of catching a sight of +Corona, and of her broad-shouldered manly husband. And the men worked +with a right good will, for the story had gone abroad that for years to +come there would be no lack of work for willing hands. + +So the days sped, and were not interrupted by any incident for several +weeks. One day Gouache, the artist Zouave, called at the castle. He had +been quartered at Subiaco with a part of his company, but had not been +sent on at once to Saracinesca as he had expected. Now, however, he had +arrived with a small detachment of half-a-dozen men, with instructions to +watch the pass. There was nothing extraordinary in his being sent in that +direction, for Saracinesca was very near the frontier, and lay on one of +the direct routes to the Serra di Sant' Antonio, which was the shortest +hill-route into the kingdom of Naples; the country around was thought to +be particularly liable to disturbance, and though no one had seen a +brigand there for some years, the mountain-paths were supposed to be +infested with robbers. As a matter of fact there was a great deal of +smuggling carried on through the pass, and from time to time some +political refugee found his way across the frontier at that point. + +Gouache was received very well by Giovanni, and rather coldly by Corona, +who knew him but slightly. + +"I congratulate you," said Giovanni, noticing the stripes on the young +man's sleeves; "I see that you have risen in grade." + +"Yes. I hold an important command of six men. I spend much time in +studying the strategy of Condé and Napoleon. By the bye, I am here on a +very important mission." + +"Indeed!" + +"I suppose you give yourselves the luxury of never reading the papers in +this delightful retreat. The day before yesterday the Cardinal attempted +to arrest our friend Del Ferice--have you heard that?" + +"No--what--has he escaped?" asked Giovanni and Corona in a breath. But +their tones were different. Giovanni had anticipated the news, and was +disgusted at the idea that the fellow had got off. Corona was merely +surprised. + +"Yes. Heaven knows how--he has escaped. I am here to cut him off if he +tries to get to the Serra di Sant' Antonio." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"He will scarcely try to come this way--under the very walls of my +house," he said. + +"He may do anything. He is a slippery fellow." Gouache proceeded to tell +all he knew of the circumstances. + +"That is very strange," said Corona, thoughtfully. Then after a pause, +she added, "We are going to visit our road, Monsieur Gouache. Will you +not come with us? My husband will give you a horse." + +Gouache was charmed. He preferred talking to Giovanni and looking at +Corona's face to returning to his six Zouaves, or patrolling the hills in +search of Del Ferice. In a few minutes the three were mounted, and riding +slowly along the level stretch towards the works. As they entered the new +road Giovanni and Corona unconsciously fell into conversation, as usual, +about what they were doing, and forgot their visitor. Gouache dropped +behind, watching the pair and admiring them with true artistic +appreciation. He had a Parisian's love of luxury and perfect appointments +as well as an artist's love of beauty, and his eyes rested with +unmitigated pleasure on the riders and their horses, losing no detail of +their dress, their simple English accoutrements, their firm seats and +graceful carriage. But at a turn of the grade the two riders suddenly +slipped from his field of vision, and his attention was attracted to the +marvellous beauty of the landscape, as looking down the valley towards +Astrardente he saw range on range of purple hills rising in a deep +perspective, crowned with jagged rocks or sharply defined brown villages, +ruddy in the lowering sun. He stopped his horse and sat motionless, +drinking in the loveliness before him. So it is that accidents in nature +make accidents in the lives of men. + +But Giovanni and Corona rode slowly down the gentle incline, hardly +noticing that Gouache had stopped behind, and talking of the work. As +they again turned a curve of the grade Corona, who was on the inside, +looked up and caught sight of Gouache's motionless figure at the opposite +extremity of the gradient they had just descended. Giovanni looked +straight before him, and was aware of a pale-faced Capuchin friar who +with downcast eyes was toiling up the road, seemingly exhausted; a +particularly weather-stained and dilapidated friar even for those wild +mountains. + +"Gouache is studying geography," remarked Corona. + +"Another of those Capuccini!" exclaimed Giovanni, instinctively feeling +in his pocket for coppers. Then with a sudden movement he seized his +wife's arm. She was close to him as they rode slowly along side by side. + +"Good God! Corona," he cried, "it is Del Ferice!" Corona looked quickly +at the monk. His cowl was raised enough to show his features; but she +would, perhaps, not have recognised his smooth shaven face had Giovanni +not called her attention to it. + +Del Ferice had recognised them too, and, horror-struck, he paused, +trembling and uncertain what to do. He had taken the wrong turn from the +main road below; unaccustomed to the dialect of the hills, he had +misunderstood the peasant who had told him especially not to take the +bridle-path if he wished to avoid Saracinesca. He stopped, hesitated, and +then, pulling his cowl over his face, walked steadily on. Giovanni +glanced up and saw that Gouache was slowly descending the road, still +absorbed in contemplating the landscape. + +"Let him take his chance," muttered Saracinesca. "What should I care?" + +"No--no! Save him, Giovanni,--he looks so miserable," cried Corona, with +ready sympathy. She was pale with excitement. + +Giovanni looked at her one moment and hesitated, but her pleading eyes +were not to be refused. + +"Then gallop back, darling. Tell Gouache it is cold in the +valley--anything. Make him go back with you--I will save him since you +wish it." + +Corona wheeled her horse without a word and cantered up the hill again. +The monk had continued his slow walk, and was now almost at Giovanni's +saddle-bow. The latter drew rein, staring hard at the pale features +under the cowl. + +"If you go on you are lost," he said, in low distinct tones. "The Zouaves +are waiting for you. Stop, I say!" he exclaimed, as the monk attempted to +pass on. Leaping to the ground Giovanni seized his arm and held him +tightly. Then Del Ferice broke down. + +"You will not give me up--for the love of Christ!" he whined. "Oh, if you +have any pity--let me go--I never meant to harm you--" + +"Look here," said Giovanni. "I would just as soon give you up to the Holy +Office as not; but my wife asked me to save you--" + +"God bless her! Oh, the saints bless her! God render her kindness!" +blubbered Del Ferice, who, between fear and exhaustion, was by this time +half idiotic. + +"Silence!" said Giovanni, sternly. "You may thank her if you ever have a +chance. Come with me quietly. I will send one of the workmen round the +hill with you. You must sleep at Trevi, and then get over the Serra as +best you can." He ran his arm through the bridle of his horse and walked +by his enemy's side. + +"You will not give me up," moaned the wretched man. "For the love of +heaven do not betray me--I have come so far--I am so tired." + +"The wolves may make a meal of you, for all I care," returned Giovanni. +"I will not. I give you my word that I will send you safely on, if you +will stop this whining and behave like a man." + +At that moment Del Ferice was past taking offence, but for many a year +afterwards the rough words rankled in his heart. Giovanni was brutal for +once; he longed to wring the fellow's neck, or to give him up to Gouache +and the Zouaves. The tones of Ugo's voice reminded him of injuries not so +old as to be yet forgotten. But he smothered his wrath and strode on, +having promised his wife to save the wretch, much against his will. It +was a quarter of an hour before they reached the works, the longest +quarter of an hour Del Ferice remembered in his whole life. Neither spoke +a word. Giovanni hailed a sturdy-looking fellow who was breaking stones +by the roadside. + +"Get up, Carluccio," he said. "This good monk has lost his way. You must +take him round the mountain, above Ponza to Arcinazzo, and show him the +road to Trevi. It is a long way, but the road is good enough after +Ponza--it is shorter than to go round by Saracinesca, and the good friar +is in a hurry." + +Carluccio started up with alacrity. He greatly preferred roaming about +the hills to breaking stones, provided he was paid for it. He picked up +his torn jacket and threw it over one shoulder, setting his battered hat +jauntily on his thick black curls. + +"Give us a benediction, _padre mio_, and let us be off--_non è mica un +passo_--it is a good walk to Trevi." + +Del Ferice hesitated. He hardly knew what to do or say, and even if he +had wished to speak he was scarcely able to control his voice. Giovanni +cut the situation short by turning on his heel and mounting his horse. A +moment later he was cantering up the road again, to the considerable +astonishment of the labourers, who were accustomed to see him spend at +least half an hour in examining the work done. But Giovanni was in no +humour to talk about roads. He had spent a horrible quarter of an hour, +between his desire to see Del Ferice punished and the promise he had +given his wife to save him. He felt so little sure of himself that he +never once looked back, lest he should be tempted to send a second man to +stop the fugitive and deliver him up to justice. He ground his teeth +together, and his heart was full of bitter curses as he rode up the hill, +hardly daring to reflect upon what he had done. That, in the eyes of the +law, he had wittingly helped a traitor to escape, troubled his conscience +little. His instinct bade him destroy Del Ferice by giving him up, and he +would have saved himself a vast deal of trouble if he had followed his +impulse. But the impulse really arose from a deep-rooted desire for +revenge, which, having resisted, he regretted bitterly--very much as +Shakespeare's murderer complained to his companion that the devil was at +his elbow bidding him not murder the duke. Giovanni spared his enemy +solely to please his wife, and half-a-dozen words from her had produced a +result which no consideration of mercy or pity could have brought about. + +Corona and Gouache had halted at the top of the road to wait for him. By +an imperceptible nod, Giovanni informed his wife that Del Ferice was +safe. + +"I am sorry to have cut short our ride," he said, coldly. "My wife found +it chilly in the valley." + +Anastase looked curiously at Giovanni's pale face, and wondered whether +anything was wrong. Corona herself seemed strangely agitated. + +"Yes," answered Gouache, with his gentle smile; "the mountain air is +still cold." + +So the three rode silently back to the castle, and at the gate Gouache +dismounted and left them, politely declining a rather cold invitation to +come in. Giovanni and Corona went silently up the staircase together, and +on into a small apartment which in that cold season they had set apart as +a sitting-room. When they were alone, Corona laid her hands upon +Giovanni's shoulders and gazed long into his angry eyes. Then she threw +her arms round his neck and drew him to her. + +"My beloved," she cried, proudly, "you are all I thought--and more too." + +"Do not say that," answered Giovanni. "I would not have lifted a finger +to save that hound, but for you." + +"Ah, but you did it, dear, all the same," she said, and kissed him. + +On the following evening, without any warning, old Saracinesca arrived, +and was warmly greeted. After dinner Giovanni told him the story of Del +Ferice's escape. Thereupon the old gentleman flew into a towering rage, +swearing and cursing in a most characteristic manner, but finally +declaring that to arrest spies was the work of spies, and that Giovanni +had behaved like a gentleman, as of course he could not help doing, +seeing that he was his own son. + + * * * * * + +And so the curtain falls upon the first act. Giovanni and Corona are +happily married. Del Ferice is safe across the frontier among his friends +in Naples, and Donna Tullia is waiting still for news of him, in the last +days of Lent, in the year 1866. To carry on the tale from this point +would be to enter upon a new series of events more interesting, perhaps, +than those herein detailed, and of like importance in the history of the +Saracinesca family, but forming by their very nature a distinct +narrative--a second act to the drama, if it may be so called. I am +content if in the foregoing pages I have so far acquainted the reader +with those characters which hereafter will play more important parts, as +to enable him to comprehend the story of their subsequent lives, and in +some measure to judge of their future by their past, regarding them as +acquaintances, if not sympathetic, yet worthy of some attention. + +Especially I ask for indulgence in matters political. I am not writing +the history of political events, but the history of a Roman family during +times of great uncertainty and agitation. If any one says that I have set +up Del Ferice as a type of the Italian Liberal party, carefully +constructing a villain in order to batter him to pieces with the +artillery of poetic justice, I answer that I have done nothing of the +kind. Del Ferice is indeed a type, but a type of a depraved class which +very unjustly represented the Liberal party in Rome before 1870, and +which, among those who witnessed its proceedings, drew upon the great +political body which demanded the unity of Italy an opprobrium that body +was very far from deserving. The honest and upright Liberals were waiting +in 1866. What they did, they did from their own country, and they did it +boldly. To no man of intelligence need I say that Del Ferice had no more +affinity with Massimo D'Azeglio, with the great Cavour, with Cavour's +great enemy Giuseppe Mazzini, or with Garibaldi, than the jackal has with +the lion. Del Ferice represented the scum which remained after the +revolution of 1848 had subsided. He was one of those men who were used +and despised by their betters, and in using whom Cavour himself was +provoked into writing "Se noi facessimo per noi quel che faciamo per +l'Italia, saremmo gran bricconi"--if we did for ourselves what we do for +Italy, we should be great blackguards. And that there were honourable +and just men outside of Rome will sufficiently appear in the sequel to +this veracious tale. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Saracinesca, by F. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/13757-8.zip b/old/13757-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1708a1f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13757-8.zip diff --git a/old/13757.txt b/old/13757.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..300c42c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13757.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16650 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Saracinesca, by F. Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Saracinesca + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: October 15, 2004 [EBook #13757] +[Last updated: October 16, 2015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SARACINESCA *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + SARACINESCA + + BY F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF 'MR. ISAACS,' 'DR. CLAUDIUS,' 'A ROMAN SINGER,' 'ZOROASTER,' +'A TALE OF A LONELY PARISH,' ETC. + + 1887 + + + + +NOTE + + +It was at first feared that the name Saracinesca, as it is now +printed, might be attached to an unused title in the possession of a +Roman house. The name was therefore printed with an additional +consonant--Sarracinesca--in the pages of 'Blackwood's Magazine.' +After careful inquiry, the original spelling is now restored. + + + + +SARACINESCA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the year 1865 Rome was still in a great measure its old self. It had +not then acquired that modern air which is now beginning to pervade it. +The Corso had not been widened and whitewashed; the Villa Aldobrandini +had not been cut through to make the Via Nazionale; the south wing of the +Palazzo Colonna still looked upon a narrow lane through which men +hesitated to pass after dark; the Tiber's course had not then been +corrected below the Farnesina; the Farnesina itself was but just under +repair; the iron bridge at the Ripetta was not dreamed of; and the Prati +di Castello were still, as their name implies, a series of waste meadows. +At the southern extremity of the city, the space between the fountain of +Moses and the newly erected railway station, running past the Baths of +Diocletian, was still an exercising-ground for the French cavalry. Even +the people in the streets then presented an appearance very different +from that which is now observed by the visitors and foreigners who come +to Rome in the winter. French dragoons and hussars, French infantry and +French officers, were everywhere to be seen in great numbers, mingled +with a goodly sprinkling of the Papal Zouaves, whose grey Turco uniforms +with bright red facings, red sashes, and short yellow gaiters, gave +colour to any crowd. A fine corps of men they were, too; counting +hundreds of gentlemen in their ranks, and officered by some of the best +blood in France and Austria. In those days also were to be seen the great +coaches of the cardinals, with their gorgeous footmen and magnificent +black horses, the huge red umbrellas lying upon the top, while from the +open windows the stately princes of the Church from time to time returned +the salutations of the pedestrians in the street. And often in the +afternoon there was heard the tramp of horse as a detachment of the noble +guards trotted down the Corso on their great chargers, escorting the holy +Father himself, while all who met him dropped upon one knee and uncovered +their heads to receive the benediction of the mild-eyed old man with the +beautiful features, the head of Church and State. Many a time, too, +Pius IX. would descend from his coach and walk upon the Pincio, all +clothed in white, stopping sometimes to talk with those who accompanied +him, or to lay his gentle hand on the fair curls of some little English +child that paused from its play in awe and admiration as the Pope went +by. For he loved children well, and most of all, children with golden +hair--angels, not Angles, as Gregory said. + +As for the fashions of those days, it is probable that most of us would +suffer severe penalties rather than return to them, beautiful as they +then appeared to us by contrast with the exaggerated crinoline and +flower-garden bonnet, which had given way to the somewhat milder form of +hoop-skirt madness, but had not yet flown to the opposite extreme in the +invention of the close-fitting _princesse_ garments of 1868. But, to each +other, people looked then as they look now. Fashion in dress, concerning +which nine-tenths of society gives itself so much trouble, appears to +exercise less influence upon men and women in their relations towards +each other than does any other product of human ingenuity. Provided every +one is in the fashion, everything goes on in the age of high heels and +gowns tied back precisely as it did five-and-twenty years ago, when +people wore flat shoes, and when gloves with three buttons had not been +dreamed of--when a woman of most moderate dimensions occupied three or +four square yards of space upon a ball-room floor, and men wore peg-top +trousers. Human beings since the days of Adam seem to have retired like +caterpillars into cocoons of dress, expecting constantly the wondrous +hour when they shall emerge from their self-woven prison in the garb of +the angelic butterfly, having entered into the chrysalis state as mere +human grubs. But though they both toil and spin at their garments, and +vie with Solomon in his glory to outshine the lily of the field, the +humanity of the grub shows no signs of developing either in character or +appearance in the direction of anything particularly angelic. + +It was not the dress of the period which gave to the streets of Rome +their distinctive feature. It would be hard to say, now that so much is +changed, wherein the peculiar charm of the old-time city consisted; but +it was there, nevertheless, and made itself felt so distinctly beyond the +charm of any other place, that the very fascination of Rome was +proverbial. Perhaps no spot in Europe has ever possessed such an +attractive individuality. In those days there were many foreigners, too, +as there are to-day, both residents and visitors; but they seemed to +belong to a different class of humanity. They seemed less inharmonious to +their surroundings then than now, less offensive to the general air of +antiquity. Probably they were more in earnest; they came to Rome with the +intention of liking the place, rather than of abusing the cookery in the +hotels. They came with a certain knowledge of the history, the +literature, and the manners of the ancients, derived from an education +which in those days taught more through the classics and less through +handy text-books and shallow treatises concerning the Renaissance; they +came with preconceived notions which were often strongly dashed with +old-fashioned prejudice, but which did not lack originality: they come +now in the smattering mood, imbued with no genuine beliefs, but covered +with exceeding thick varnish. Old gentlemen then visited the sights in +the morning, and quoted Horace to each other, and in the evening +endeavoured by associating with Romans to understand something of Rome; +young gentlemen now spend one or two mornings in finding fault with the +architecture of Bramante, and "in the evening," like David's enemies, +"they grin like a dog and run about the city:" young women were content +to find much beauty in the galleries and in the museums, and were simple +enough to admire what they liked; young ladies of the present day can +find nothing to admire except their own perspicacity in detecting faults +in Raphael's drawing or Michael Angelo's colouring. This is the age of +incompetent criticism in matters artistic, and no one is too ignorant to +volunteer an opinion. It is sufficient to have visited half-a-dozen +Italian towns, and to have read a few pages of fashionable aesthetic +literature--no other education is needed to fit the intelligent young +critic for his easy task. The art of paradox can be learned in five +minutes, and practised by any child; it consists chiefly in taking two +expressions of opinion from different authors, halving them, and uniting +the first half of the one with the second half of the other. The result +is invariably startling, and generally incomprehensible. When a young +society critic knows how to be startling and incomprehensible, his +reputation is soon made, for people readily believe that what they cannot +understand is profound, and anything which astonishes is agreeable to a +taste deadened by a surfeit of spices. But in 1865 the taste of Europe +was in a very different state. The Second Empire was in its glory. +M. Emile Zola had not written his 'Assommoir.' Count Bismarck had only +just brought to a successful termination the first part of his trimachy; +Sadowa and Sedan were yet unfought. Garibaldi had won Naples, and Cavour +had said, "If we did for ourselves what we are doing for Italy, we should +be great scoundrels;" but Garibaldi had not yet failed at Mentana, nor +had Austria ceded Venice. Cardinal Antonelli had yet ten years of life +before him in which to maintain his gallant struggle for the remnant of +the temporal power; Pius IX. was to live thirteen years longer, just long +enough to outlive by one month the "honest king," Victor Emmanuel. +Antonelli's influence pervaded Rome, and to a great extent all the +Catholic Courts of Europe; yet he was far from popular with the Romans. +The Jesuits, however, were even less popular than he, and certainly +received a much larger share of abuse. For the Romans love faction more +than party, and understand it better; so that popular opinion is too +frequently represented by a transitory frenzy, violent and pestilent +while it lasts, utterly insignificant when it has spent its fury. + +But Rome in those days was peopled solely by Romans, whereas now a large +proportion of the population consists of Italians from the north and +south, who have been attracted to the capital by many interests--races as +different from its former citizens as Germans or Spaniards, and +unfortunately not disposed to show overmuch good-fellowship or +loving-kindness to the original inhabitants. The Roman is a grumbler by +nature, but he is also a "peace-at-any-price" man. Politicians and +revolutionary agents have more than once been deceived by these traits, +supposing that because the Roman grumbled he really desired change, but +realising too late, when the change has been begun, that that same Roman +is but a lukewarm partisan. The Papal Government repressed grumbling as a +nuisance, and the people consequently took a delight in annoying the +authorities by grumbling in secret places and calling themselves +conspirators. The harmless whispering of petty discontent was mistaken by +the Italian party for the low thunder of a smothered volcano; but, the +change being brought about, the Italians find to their disgust that the +Roman meant nothing by his murmurings, and that he now not only still +grumbles at everything, but takes the trouble to fight the Government at +every point which concerns the internal management of the city. In the +days before the change, a paternal Government directed the affairs of the +little State, and thought it best to remove all possibility of strife by +giving the grumblers no voice in public or economic matters. The +grumblers made a grievance of tins; and then, as soon as the grievance +had been redressed, they redoubled their complaints and retrenched +themselves within the infallibility of inaction, on the principle that +men who persist in doing nothing cannot possibly do wrong. + +Those were the days, too, of the old school of artists--men who, if their +powers of creation were not always proportioned to their ambition for +excellence, were as superior to their more recent successors in their +pure conceptions of what art should be as Apelles was to the Pompeian +wall-painters, and as the Pompeians were to modern house-decorators. The +age of Overbeck and the last religious painters was almost past, but the +age of fashionable artistic debauchery had hardly begun. Water-colour +was in its infancy; wood-engraving was hardly yet a great profession; +but the "Dirty Boy" had not yet taken a prize at Paris, nor had indecency +become a fine art. The French school had not demonstrated the startling +distinction between the nude and the naked, nor had the English school +dreamed nightmares of anatomical distortion. + +Darwin's theories had been propagated, but had not yet been passed into +law, and very few Romans had heard of them; still less had any one been +found to assert that the real truth of these theories would be soon +demonstrated retrogressively by the rapid degeneration of men into apes, +while apes would hereafter have cause to congratulate themselves upon not +having developed into men. Many theories also were then enjoying vast +popularity which have since fallen low in the popular estimation. Prussia +was still, in theory, a Power of the second class, and the empire of +Louis Napoleon was supposed to possess elements of stability. The great +civil war in the United States had just been fought, and people still +doubted whether the republic would hold together. It is hard to recall +the common beliefs of those times. A great part of the political creed of +twenty years ago seems now a mass of idiotic superstition, in no wise +preferable, as Macaulay would have said, to the Egyptian worship of cats +and onions. Nevertheless, then, as now, men met together secretly in +cellars and dens, as well as in drawing-rooms and clubs, and whispered +together, and said their theories were worth something, and ought to be +tried. The word republic possessed then, as now, a delicious attraction +for people who had grievances; and although, after the conquest of +Naples, Garibaldi had made a sort of public abjuration of republican +principles, so far as Italy was concerned, the plotters of all classes +persisted in coupling his name with the idea of a commonwealth erected on +the plan of "sois mon frere ou je te tue." Profound silence on the part +of Governments, and a still more guarded secrecy on the part of +conspiring bodies, were practised as the very first principle of all +political operations. No copyist, at half-a-crown an hour, had yet +betrayed the English Foreign Office; and it had not dawned upon the +clouded intellects of European statesmen that deliberate national +perjury, accompanied by public meetings of sovereigns, and much blare of +many trumpets, could be practised with such triumphant success as events +have since shown. In the beginning of the year 1865 people crossed the +Alps in carriages; the Suez Canal had not been opened; the first Atlantic +cable was not laid; German unity had not been invented; Pius IX. reigned +in the Pontifical States; Louis Napoleon was the idol of the French; +President Lincoln had not been murdered,--is anything needed to widen the +gulf which separates those times from these? The difference between the +States of the world in 1865 and in 1885 is nearly as great as that which +divided the Europe of 1789 from the Europe of 1814. + +But my business is with Rome, and not with Europe at large. I intend to +tell the story of certain persons, of their good and bad fortune, their +adventures, and the complications in which they found themselves placed +during a period of about twenty years. The people of whom I tell this +story are chiefly patricians; and in the first part of their history they +have very little to do with any but their own class--a class peculiar and +almost unique in the world. + +Speaking broadly, there is no one at once so thoroughly Roman and so +thoroughly non-Roman as the Roman noble. This is no paradox, no play on +words. Roman nobles are Roman by education and tradition; by blood they +are almost cosmopolitans. The practice of intermarrying with the great +families of the rest of Europe is so general as to be almost a rule. One +Roman prince is an English peer; most of the Roman princes are grandees +of Spain; many of them have married daughters of great French houses, of +reigning German princes, of ex-kings and ex-queens. In one princely house +alone are found the following combinations: There are three brothers: the +eldest married first the daughter of a great English peer, and secondly +the daughter of an even greater peer of France; the second brother +married first a German "serene highness," and secondly the daughter of a +great Hungarian noble; the third brother married the daughter of a French +house of royal Stuart descent. This is no solitary instance. A score of +families might be cited who, by constant foreign marriages, have almost +eliminated from their blood the original Italian element; and this great +intermixture of races may account for the strangely un-Italian types that +are found among them, for the undying vitality which seems to animate +races already a thousand years old, and above all, for a very remarkable +cosmopolitanism which pervades Roman society. A set of people whose near +relations are socially prominent in every capital of Europe, could hardly +be expected to have anything provincial about them in appearance or +manners; still less can they be considered to be types of their own +nation. And yet such is the force of tradition, of the patriarchal family +life, of the early surroundings in which are placed these children of a +mixed race, that they acquire from their earliest years the unmistakable +outward manner of Romans, the broad Roman speech, and a sort of clannish +and federative spirit which has not its like in the same class anywhere +in Europe. They grow up together, go to school together, go together into +the world, and together discuss all the social affairs of their native +city. Not a house is bought or sold, not a hundred francs won at ecarte, +not a marriage contract made, without being duly considered and commented +upon by the whole of society. And yet, though there is much gossip, there +is little scandal; there was even less twenty years ago than there is +now--not, perhaps, because the increment of people attracted to the new +capital have had any bad influence, but simply because the city has grown +much larger, and in some respects has outgrown a certain simplicity of +manners it once possessed, and which was its chief safeguard. For, in +spite of a vast number of writers of all nations who have attempted to +describe Italian life, and who, from an imperfect acquaintance with the +people, have fallen into the error of supposing them to live perpetually +in a highly complicated state of mind, the foundation of the Italian +character is simple--far more so than that of his hereditary antagonist, +the northern European. It is enough to notice that the Italian habitually +expresses what he feels, while it is the chief pride of Northern men that +whatever they may feel they express nothing. The chief object of most +Italians is to make life agreeable; the chief object of the Teutonic +races is to make it profitable. Hence the Italian excels in the art of +pleasing, and in pleasing by means of the arts; whereas the Northern man +is pre-eminent in the faculty of producing wealth under any +circumstances, and when he has amassed enough possessions to think of +enjoying his leisure, has generally been under the necessity of employing +Southern art as a means to that end. But Southern simplicity carried to +its ultimate expression leads not uncommonly to startling results; for it +is not generally a satisfaction to an Italian to be paid a sum of money +as damages for an injury done. When his enemy has harmed him, he desires +the simple retribution afforded by putting his enemy to death, and he +frequently exacts it by any means that he finds ready to his hand. Being +simple, he reflects little, and often acts with violence. The Northern +mind, capable of vast intricacy of thought, seeks to combine revenge of +injury with personal profit, and in a spirit of cold, far-sighted +calculation, reckons up the advantages to be got by sacrificing an innate +desire for blood to a civilised greed of money. + +Dr. Johnson would have liked the Romans--for in general they are good +lovers and good haters, whatever faults they may have. The patriarchal +system, which was all but universal twenty years ago, and is only now +beginning to yield to more modern institutions of life, tends to foster +the passions of love and hate. Where father and mother sit at the head +and foot of the table, their sons with their wives and their children +each in his or her place, often to the number of twenty souls--all living +under one roof, one name, and one bond of family unity--there is likely +to be a great similarity of feeling upon all questions of family pride, +especially among people who discuss everything with vehemence, from +European politics to the family cook. They may bicker and squabble among +themselves,--and they frequently do,--but in their outward relations with +the world they act as one individual, and the enemy of one is the enemy +of all; for the pride of race and name is very great. There is a family +in Rome who, since the memory of man, have not failed to dine together +twice every week, and there are now more than thirty persons who take +their places at the patriarchal board. No excuse can be pleaded for +absence, and no one would think of violating the rule. Whether such a +mode of life is good or not is a matter of opinion; it is, at all events, +a fact, and one not generally understood or even known by persons who +make studies of Italian character. Free and constant discussion of all +manner of topics should certainly tend to widen the intelligence; but, on +the other hand, where the dialecticians are all of one race, and name, +and blood, the practice may often merely lead to an undue development of +prejudice. In Rome, particularly, where so many families take a distinct +character from the influence of a foreign mother, the opinions of a house +are associated with its mere name. Casa Borghese thinks so and so, Casa +Colonna has diametrically opposite views, while Casa Altieri may differ +wholly from both; and in connection with most subjects the mere names +Borghese, Altieri, Colonna, are associated in the minds of Romans of all +classes with distinct sets of principles and ideas, with distinct types +of character, and with distinctly different outward and visible signs of +race. Some of these conditions exist among the nobility of other +countries, but not, I believe, to the same extent. In Germany, the +aristocratic body takes a certain uniform hue, so to speak, from the +army, in which it plays so important a part, and the patriarchal system +is broken up by the long absences from the ancestral home of the +soldier-sons. In France, the main divisions of republicans, monarchists, +and imperialists have absorbed and unified the ideas and principles of +large bodies of families into bodies politic. In England, the practice of +allowing younger sons to shift for themselves, and the division of the +whole aristocracy into two main political parties, destroy the +patriarchal spirit; while it must also be remembered, that at a period +when in Italy the hand of every house was against its neighbour, and the +struggles of Guelph and Ghibelline were but an excuse for the prosecution +of private feuds, England was engaged in great wars which enlisted vast +bodies of men under a common standard for a common principle. Whether +the principle involved chanced to be that of English domination in +France, or whether men flocked to the standards of the White Rose of York +or the Red Rose of Lancaster, was of little importance; the result was +the same,--the tendency of powerful families to maintain internecine +traditional feuds was stamped out, or rather was absorbed in the +maintenance of the perpetual feud between the great principles of Tory +and Whig--of the party for the absolute monarch, and the party for the +freedom of the people. + +Be the causes what they may, the Roman nobility has many characteristics +peculiar to it and to no other aristocracy. It is cosmopolitan by its +foreign marriages, renewed in every generation; it is patriarchal and +feudal by its own unbroken traditions of family life; and it is only +essentially Roman by its speech and social customs. It has undergone +great vicissitudes during twenty years; but most of these features remain +in spite of new and larger parties, new and bitter political hatreds, new +ideas of domestic life, and new fashions in dress and cookery. + +In considering an account of the life of Giovanni Saracinesca from the +time when, in 1865, he was thirty years of age, down to the present day, +it is therefore just that he should be judged with a knowledge of some of +these peculiarities of his class. He is not a Roman of the people like +Giovanni Cardegna, the great tenor, and few of his ideas have any +connection with those of the singer; but he has, in common with him, that +singular simplicity of character which he derives from his Roman descent +upon the male side, and in which will be found the key to many of his +actions both good and bad--a simplicity which loves peace, but cannot +always refrain from sudden violence, which loves and hates strongly and +to some purpose. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The hour was six o'clock, and the rooms of the Embassy were as full as +they were likely to be that day. There would doubtless have been more +people had the weather been fine; but it was raining heavily, and below, +in the vast court that formed the centre of the palace, the lamps of +fifty carriages gleamed through the water and the darkness, and the +coachmen, of all dimensions and characters, sat beneath their huge +umbrellas and growled to each other, envying the lot of the footmen who +were congregated in the ante-chamber up-stairs around the great bronze +braziers. But in the reception-rooms there was much light and warmth; +there were bright fires and softly shaded lamps; velvet-footed servants +stealing softly among the guests, with immense burdens of tea and cake; +men of more or less celebrity chatting about politics in corners; women +of more or less beauty gossiping over their tea, or flirting, or wishing +they had somebody to flirt with; people of many nations and ideas, with +a goodly leaven of Romans. They all seemed endeavouring to get away from +the men and women of their own nationality, in order to amuse themselves +with the difficulties of conversation in languages not their own. Whether +they amused themselves or not is of small importance; but as they were +all willing to find themselves together twice a-day for the five months +of the Roman season--from the first improvised dance before Christmas, +to the last set ball in the warm April weather after Easter--it may be +argued that they did not dislike each other's society. In case the +afternoon should seem dull, his Excellency had engaged the services of +Signor Strillone, the singer. From time to time he struck a few chords +upon the grand piano, and gave forth a song of his own composition in +loud and passionate tones, varied with, very sudden effects of extreme +pianissimo, which occasionally surprised some one who was trying to make +his conversation heard above the music. + +There was a little knot of people standing about the door of the great +drawing-room. Some of them were watching their opportunity to slip away +unperceived; others had just arrived, and were making a survey of the +scene to ascertain the exact position of their Excellencies, and of the +persons they most desired to avoid, before coming forward. Suddenly, just +as Signor Strillone had reached a high note and was preparing to bellow +upon it before letting his voice die away to a pathetic falsetto, the +crowd at the door parted a little. A lady entered the room alone, and +stood out before the rest, pausing till the singer should have passed the +climax of his song, before she proceeded upon her way. She was a very +striking woman; every one knew who she was, every one looked towards her, +and the little murmur that went round the room was due to her entrance +rather than to Signor Strillone's high note. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente stood still, and quietly looked about her. A +minister, two secretaries, and three or four princes sprang towards her, +each with a chair in hand; but she declined each offer, nodding to one, +thanking another by name, and exchanging a few words with a third. She +would not sit down; she had not yet spoken to the ambassadress. + +Two men followed her closely as she crossed the room when the song was +finished. One was a fair man of five-and-thirty, rather stout, and +elaborately dressed. He trod softly and carried his hat behind him, while +he leaned a little forward in his walk. There was something unpleasant +about his face, caused perhaps by his pale complexion and almost +colourless moustache; his blue eyes were small and near together, and had +a watery, undecided look; his thin fair hair was parted in the middle +over his low forehead; there was a scornful look about his mouth, though +half concealed by the moustache; and his chin retreated rather abruptly +from his lower lip. On the other hand, he was dressed with extreme care, +and his manner showed no small confidence in himself as he pushed +forwards, keeping as close as he could to the Duchessa. He had the air +of being thoroughly at home in his surroundings. + +Ugo del Ferice was indeed rarely disconcerted, and his self-reliance was +most probably one chief cause of his success. He was a man who performed +the daily miracle of creating everything for himself out of nothing. His +father had barely been considered a member of the lower nobility, +although he always called himself "dei conti del Ferice"--of the family +of the counts of his name; but where or when the Conti del Ferice had +lived, was a question he never was able to answer satisfactorily. He had +made a little money, and had squandered most of it before he died, +leaving the small remainder to his only son, who had spent every scudo of +it in the first year. But to make up for the exiguity of his financial +resources, Ugo had from his youth obtained social success. He had begun +life by boldly calling himself "Il conte del Ferice." No one had ever +thought it worth while to dispute him the title; and as he had hitherto +not succeeded in conferring it upon any dowered damsel, the question of +his countship was left unchallenged. He had made many acquaintances in +the college where he had been educated; for his father had paid for +his schooling in the Collegio dei Nobili, and that in itself was a +passport--for as the lad grew to the young man, he zealously cultivated +the society of his old school-fellows, and by wisely avoiding all other +company, acquired a right to be considered one of themselves. He was very +civil and obliging in his youth, and had in that way acquired a certain +reputation for being indispensable, which had stood him in good stead. +No one asked whether he had paid his tailor's bill; or whether upon +certain conditions, his tailor supplied him with raiment gratis. He was +always elaborately dressed, he was always ready to take a hand at cards, +and he was always invited to every party in the season. He had cultivated +with success the science of amusing, and people asked him to dinner in +the winter, and to their country houses in the summer. He had been seen +in Paris, and was often seen at Monte Carlo; but his real home and +hunting-ground was Rome, where he knew every one and every one knew him. +He had made one or two fruitless attempts to marry young women of +American extraction and large fortune; he had not succeeded in satisfying +the paternal mind in regard to guarantees, and had consequently been +worsted in his endeavours. Last summer, however, it appeared that he had +been favoured with an increase of fortune. He gave out that an old uncle +of his, who had settled in the south of Italy, had died, leaving him a +modest competence; and while assuming a narrow band of _crepe_ upon his +hat, he had adopted also a somewhat more luxurious mode of living. +Instead of going about on foot or in cabs, he kept a very small coupe, +with a very small horse and a diminutive coachman: the whole turn-out was +very quiet in appearance, but very serviceable withal. Ugo sometimes wore +too much jewellery; but his bad taste, if so it could be called, did not +extend to the modest equipage. People accepted the story of the deceased +uncle, and congratulated Ugo, whose pale face assumed on such occasions +a somewhat deprecating smile. "A few scudi," he would answer--"a very +small competence; but what would you have? I need so little--it is enough +for me." Nevertheless people who knew him well warned him that he was +growing stout. + +The other man who followed the Duchessa d'Astrardente across the +drawing-room was of a different type. Don Giovanni Saracinesca was +neither very tall nor remarkably handsome, though in the matter of his +beauty opinion varied greatly. He was very dark--almost as dark for a +man as the Duchessa was for a woman. He was strongly built, but very +lean, and his features stood out in bold and sharp relief from the +setting of his short black hair and pointed beard. His nose was perhaps a +little large for his face, and the unusual brilliancy of his eyes gave +him an expression of restless energy; there was something noble in the +shaping of his high square forehead and in the turn of his sinewy throat. +His hands were broad and brown, but nervous and well knit, with straight +long fingers and squarely cut nails. Many women said Don Giovanni was +the handsomest man in Rome; others said he was too dark or too thin, and +that his face was hard and his features ugly. There was a great +difference of opinion in regard to his appearance. Don Giovanni was not +married, but there were few marriageable women in Rome who would not have +been overjoyed to become his wife. But hitherto he had hesitated--or, to +speak more accurately, he had not hesitated at all in his celibacy. His +conduct in refusing to marry had elicited much criticism, little of which +had reached his ears. He cared not much for what his friends said to him, +and not at all for the opinion of the world at large, in consequence of +which state of mind people often said he was selfish--a view taken +extensively by elderly princesses with unmarried daughters, and even by +Don Giovanni's father and only near relation, the old Prince Saracinesca, +who earnestly desired to see his name perpetuated. Indeed Giovanni would +have made a good husband, for he was honest and constant by nature, +courteous by disposition, and considerate by habit and experience. His +reputation for wildness rested rather upon his taste for dangerous +amusements than upon such scandalous adventures as made up the lives of +many of his contemporaries. But to all matrimonial proposals he answered +that he was barely thirty years of age, that he had plenty of time before +him, that he had not yet seen the woman whom he would be willing to +marry, and that he intended to please himself. + +The Duchessa d'Astrardente made her speech to her hostess and passed on, +still followed by the two men; but they now approached her, one on each +side, and endeavoured to engage her attention. Apparently she intended to +be impartial, for she sat down in the middle one of three chairs, and +motioned to her two companions to seat themselves also, which they +immediately did, whereby they became for the moment the two most +important men in the room. + +Corona d'Astrardente was a very dark woman. In all the Southern land +there were no eyes so black as hers, no cheeks of such a warm dark-olive +tint, no tresses of such raven hue. But if she was not fair, she was very +beautiful; there was a delicacy in her regular features that artists said +was matchless; her mouth, not small, but generous and nobly cut, showed +perhaps more strength, more even determination, than most men like to see +in women's faces; but in the exquisitely moulded nostrils there lurked +much sensitiveness and the expression of much courage; and the level brow +and straight-cut nose were in their clearness as an earnest of the noble +thoughts that were within, and that so often spoke from the depths of her +splendid eyes. She was not a scornful beauty, though her face could +express scorn well enough. Where another woman would have shown disdain, +she needed but to look grave, and her silence did the rest. She wielded +magnificent weapons, and wielded them nobly, as she did all things. She +needed all her strength, too, for her position from the first was not +easy. She had few troubles, but they were great ones, and she bore +them bravely. + +One may well ask why Corona del Carmine had married the old man who was +her husband--the broken-down and worn-out dandy of sixty, whose career +was so well known, and whose doings had been as scandalous as his ancient +name was famous in the history of his country. Her marriage was in itself +almost a tragedy. It matters little to know how it came about; she +accepted Astrardente with his dukedom, his great wealth, and his evil +past, on the day when she left the convent where she had been educated; +she did it to save her father from ruin, almost from starvation; she + was seventeen, years of age; she was told that the world was bad, and +she resolved to begin her life by a heroic sacrifice; she took the +step heroically, and no human being had ever heard her complain. Five +years had elapsed since then, and her father--for whom she had given all +she had, herself, her beauty, her brave heart, and her hopes of +happiness--her old father, whom she so loved, was dead, the last of his +race, saving only this beautiful but childless daughter. What she +suffered now--whether she suffered at all--no man knew. There had been a +wild burst of enthusiasm when she appeared first in society, a universal +cry that it was a sin and a shame. But the cynics who had said she would +console herself had been obliged to own their worldly wisdom at fault; +the men of all sorts who had lost their hearts to her were ignominiously +driven in course of time to find them again elsewhere. Amid all the +excitement of the first two years of her life in the world, Corona had +moved calmly upon her way, wrapped in the perfect dignity of her +character; and the old Duca d'Astrardente had smiled and played with the +curled locks of his wonderful wig, and had told every one that his wife +was the one woman in the universe who was above suspicion. People had +laughed incredulously at first; but as time wore on they held their +peace, tacitly acknowledging that the aged fop was right as usual, but +swearing in their hearts that it was the shame of shames to see the +noblest woman in their midst tied to such a wretched remnant of +dissipated humanity as the Duca d'Astrardente. Corona went everywhere, +like other people; she received in her own house a vast number of +acquaintances; there were a few friends who came and went much as they +pleased, and some of them were young; but there was never a breath of +scandal breathed about the Duchessa. She was indeed above suspicion. + +She sat now between two men who were evidently anxious to please her. The +position was not new; she was, as usual, to talk to both, and yet to show +no preference for either. And yet she had a preference, and in her heart +she knew it was a strong one. It was by no means indifferent to her which +of those two men left her side and which remained. She was above +suspicion--yes, above the suspicion of any human being besides herself, +as she had been for five long years. She knew that had her husband +entered the room and passed that way, he would have nodded to Giovanni +Saracinesca as carelessly as though Giovanni had been his wife's +brother--as carelessly as he would have noticed Ugo del Ferice upon her +other side. But in her own heart she knew that there was but one face in +all Rome she loved to see, but one voice she loved, and dreaded too, for +it had the power to make her life seem unreal, till she wondered how long +it would last, and whether there would ever be any change. The difference +between Giovanni and other men had always been apparent. Others would sit +beside her and make conversation, and then occasionally would make +speeches she did not care to hear, would talk to her of love--some +praising it as the only thing worth living for, some with affected +cynicism scoffing at it as the greatest of unrealities, contradicting +themselves a moment later in some passionate declaration to herself. When +they were foolish, she laughed at them; when they went too far, she +quietly rose and left them. Such experiences had grown rare of late, for +she had earned the reputation of being cold and unmoved, and that +protected her. But Giovanni had never talked like the rest of them. He +never mentioned the old, worn subjects that the others harped upon. She +would not have found it easy to say what he talked about, for he talked +indifferently about many subjects. She was not sure whether he spent more +time with her when in society than with other women; she reflected that +he was not so brilliant as many men she knew, not so talkative as the +majority of men she met; she knew only--and it was the thing she most +bitterly reproached herself with--that she preferred his face above all +other faces, and his voice beyond all voices. It never entered her head +to think that she loved him; it was bad enough in her simple creed that +there should be any man whom she would rather see than not, and whom she +missed when he did not approach her. She was a very strong and loyal +woman, who had sacrificed herself to a man who knew the world very +thoroughly, who in the thoroughness of his knowledge was able to see that +the world is not all bad, and who, in spite of all his evil deeds, was +proud of his wife's loyalty. Astrardente had made a bargain when he +married Corona; but he was a wise man in his generation, and he knew and +valued her when he had got her. He knew the precise dangers to which she +was exposed, and he was not so cruel as to expose her to them willingly. +He had at first watched keenly the effect produced upon her by conversing +with men of all sorts in the world, and among others he had noticed +Giovanni; but he had come to the conclusion that his wife was equal to +any situation in which she might be placed. Moreover, Giovanni was not an +_habitue_ at the Palazzo Astrardente, and showed none of the usual signs +of anxiety to please the Duchessa. + +From the time when Corona began to notice her own predilection for +Saracinesca, she had been angry with herself for it, and she tried to +avoid him; at all events, she gave him no idea that she liked him +especially. Her husband, who at first had delivered many lectures on the +subject of behaviour in the world, had especially warned her against +showing any marked coldness to a man she wished to shun. "Men," said he, +"are accustomed to that; they regard it as the first indication that a +woman is really interested; when you want to get rid of a man, treat him +systematically as you treat everybody, and he will be wounded at your +indifference and go away." But Giovanni did not go, and Corona began to +wonder whether she ought not to do something to break the interest she +felt in him. + +At the present moment she wanted a cup of tea. She would have liked to +send Ugo del Ferice for it; she did what she thought least pleasant to +herself, and she sent Giovanni. The servants who were serving the +refreshments had all left the room, and Saracinesca went in pursuit of +them. As soon as he was gone Del Ferice spoke. His voice was soft, and +had an insinuating tone in it. + +"They are saying that Don Giovanni is to be married," he remarked, +watching the Duchessa from the corners of his eyes as he indifferently +delivered himself of his news. + +The Duchessa was too dark a woman to show emotion easily. Perhaps she did +not believe the story; her eyes fixed themselves on some distant object +in the room, as though she were intensely interested in something she +saw, and she paused before she answered. + +"That is news indeed, if it is true. And whom is he going to marry?" + +"Donna Tullia Mayer, the widow of the financier. She is immensely rich, +and is some kind of cousin of the Saracinesca." + +"How strange!" exclaimed Corona. "I was just looking at her. Is not that +she over there, with the green feathers?" + +"Yes," answered Del Ferice, looking in the direction the Duchessa +indicated. "That is she. One may know her at a vast distance by her +dress. But it is not all settled yet." + +"Then one cannot congratulate Don Giovanni to-day?" asked the Duchessa, +facing her interlocutor rather suddenly. + +"No," he answered; "it is perhaps better not to speak to him about it." + +"It is as well that you warned me, for I would certainly have spoken." + +"I do not imagine that Saracinesca likes to talk of his affairs of the +heart," said Del Ferice, with considerable gravity. "But here he comes. I +had hoped he would have taken even longer to get that cup of tea." + +"It was long enough for you to tell your news," answered Corona quietly, +as Don Giovanni came up. + +"What is the news?" asked he, as he sat down beside her. + +"Only an engagement that is not yet announced," answered the Duchessa. +"Del Ferice has the secret; perhaps he will tell you." + +Giovanni glanced across her at the fair pale man, whose fat face, +however, expressed nothing. Seeing he was not enlightened, Saracinesca +civilly turned the subject. + +"Are you going to the meet to-morrow, Duchessa?" he asked. + +"That depends upon the weather and upon the Duke," she answered. "Are you +going to follow?" + +"Of course. What a pity it is that you do not ride!" + +"It seems such an unnatural thing to see a woman hunting," remarked Del +Ferice, who remembered to have heard the Duchessa say something of the +kind, and was consequently sure that she would agree with him. + +"You do not ride yourself," said Don Giovanni, shortly. "That is the +reason you do not approve of it for ladies." + +"I am not rich enough to hunt," said Ugo, modestly. "Besides, the other +reason is a good one; for when ladies hunt I am deprived of their +society." + +The Duchessa laughed slightly. She never felt less like laughing in her +life, and yet it was necessary to encourage the conversation. Giovanni +did not abandon the subject. + +"It will be a beautiful meet," he said. "Many people are going out for +the first time this year. There is a man here who has brought his horses +from England. I forget his name--a rich Englishman." + +"I have met him," said Del Ferice, who was proud of knowing everybody. +"He is a type--enormously rich--a lord--I cannot pronounce his name--not +married either. He will make a sensation in society. He won races in +Paris last year, and they say he will enter one of his hunters for the +steeplechases here at Easter." + +"That is a great inducement to go to the meet, to see this Englishman," +said the Duchessa rather wearily, as she leaned back in her chair. +Giovanni was silent, but showed no intention of going. Del Ferice, with +an equal determination to stay, chattered vivaciously. + +"Don Giovanni is quite right," he continued. "Every one is going. There +will be two or three drags. Madame Mayer has induced Valdarno to have out +his four-in-hand, and to take her and a large party." + +The Duchessa did not hear the remainder of Del Ferice's speech, for at +the mention of Donna Tullia--now commonly called Madame Mayer--she +instinctively turned and looked at Giovanni. He, too, had caught the +name, though he was not listening in the least to Ugo's chatter; and as +he met Corona's eyes he moved uneasily, as much as to say he wished the +fellow would stop talking. A moment later Del Ferice rose from his seat; +he had seen Donna Tullia passing near, and thought the opportunity +favourable for obtaining an invitation to join the party on the drag. +With a murmured excuse which Corona did not hear, he went in pursuit of +his game. + +"I thought he was never going," said Giovanni, moodily. He was not in the +habit of posing as the rival of any one who happened to be talking to the +Duchessa. He had never said anything of the kind before, and Corona +experienced a new sensation, not altogether unpleasant. She looked at him +in some surprise. + +"Do you not like Del Ferice?" she inquired, gravely. + +"Do you like him yourself?" he asked in reply. + +"What a question! Why should I like or dislike any one?" There was +perhaps the smallest shade of bitterness in her voice as she asked the +question she had so often asked herself. Why should she like Giovanni +Saracinesca, for instance? + +"I do not know what the world would be like if we had no likes and +dislikes," said Giovanni, suddenly. "It would be a poor place; perhaps it +is only a poor place at best. I merely wondered whether Del Ferice amused +you as he amuses everybody." + +"Well then, frankly, he has not amused me to-day," answered Corona, with +a smile. + +"Then you are glad he is gone?" + +"I do not regret it." + +"Duchessa," said Giovanni, suddenly changing his position, "I am glad he +is gone, because I want to ask you a question. Do I know you well enough +to ask you a question?" + +"It depends--" Corona felt the blood rise suddenly to her dark forehead. +Her hands burned intensely in her gloves. The anticipation of something +she had never heard made her heart beat uncontrollably in her breast. + +"It is only about myself," continued Giovanni, in low tones. He had seen +the blush, so rare a sight that there was not another man in Rome who had +seen it. He had not time to think what it meant. "It is only about +myself," he went on. "My father wants me to marry; he insists that I +should marry Donna Tullia--Madame Mayer." + +"Well?" asked Corona. She shivered; a moment before, she had been +oppressed with the heat. Her monosyllabic question was low and +indistinct. She wondered whether Giovanni could hear the beatings of her +heart, so slow, so loud they almost deafened her. + +"Simply this. Do you advise me to marry her?" + +"Why do you ask me, of all people?" asked Corona, faintly. + +"I would like to have your advice," said Giovanni, twisting his brown +hands together and fixing his bright eyes upon her face. + +"She is young yet. She is handsome--she is fabulously rich. Why should +you not marry her? Would she make you happy?" + +"Happy? Happy with her? No indeed. Do you think life would be bearable +with such a woman?" + +"I do not know. Many men would marry her if they could--" + +"Then you think I should?" asked Giovanni. Corona hesitated; she could +not understand why she should care, and yet she was conscious that there +had been no such struggle in her life since the day she had blindly +resolved to sacrifice herself to her father's wishes in accepting +Astrardente. Still there could be no doubt what she should say: how could +she advise any one to marry without the prospect of the happiness she had +never had? + +"Will you not give me your counsel?" repeated Saracinesca. He had grown +very pale, and spoke with such earnestness that Corona hesitated no +longer. + +"I would certainly advise you to think no more about it, if you are sure +that you cannot be happy with her." + +Giovanni drew a long breath, the blood returned to his face, and his +hands unlocked themselves. + +"I will think no more about it," he said. "Heaven bless you for your +advice, Duchessa!" + +"Heaven grant I have advised you well!" said Corona, almost inaudibly. +"How cold this house is! Will you put down my cup of tea? Let us go near +the fire; Strillone is going to sing again." + +"I would like him to sing a 'Nune dimittis, Domine,' for me," murmured +Giovanni, whose eyes were filled with a strange light. + +Half an hour later Corona d'Astrardente went down the steps of the +Embassy wrapped in her furs and preceded by her footman. As she reached +the bottom Giovanni Saracinesca came swiftly down and joined her as +her carriage drove up out of the dark courtyard. The footman opened the +door, but Giovanni put out his hand to help Corona to mount the step. She +laid her small gloved fingers upon the sleeve of his overcoat, and as she +sprang lightly in she thought his arm trembled. + +"Good night, Duchessa; I am very grateful to you," he said. + +"Good night; why should you be grateful?" she asked, almost sadly. + +Giovanni did not answer, but stood hat in hand as the great carriage +rolled out under the arch. Then he buttoned his greatcoat, and went out +alone into the dark and muddy streets. The rain had ceased, but +everything was wet, and the broad pavements gleamed under the uncertain +light of the flickering gas-lamps. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The palace of the Saracinesca is in an ancient quarter of Rome, far +removed from the broad white streets of mushroom dwelling-houses and +machine-laid macadam; far from the foreigners' region, the varnish of the +fashionable shops, the whirl of brilliant equipages, and the scream of +the newsvendor. The vast irregular buildings are built around three +courtyards, and face on all sides upon narrow streets. The first sixteen +feet, up to the heavily ironed windows of the lower storey, consist of +great blocks of stone, worn at the corners and scored along their length +by the battering of ages, by the heavy carts that from time immemorial +have found the way too narrow and have ground their iron axles against +the massive masonry. Of the three enormous arched gates that give access +to the interior from different sides, one is closed by an iron grating, +another by huge doors studded with iron bolts, and the third alone is +usually open as an entrance. A tall old porter used to stand there in a +long livery-coat and a cocked-hat; on holidays he appeared in the +traditional garb of the Parisian "Suisse," magnificent in silk stockings +and a heavily laced coat of dark green, leaning upon his tall mace--a +constant object of wonder to the small boys of the quarter. He trimmed +his white beard in imitation of his master's--broad and square--and his +words were few and to the point. + +No one was ever at home in the Palazzo Saracinesca in those days; there +were no ladies in the house; it was a man's establishment, and there was +something severely masculine in the air of the gloomy courtyards +surrounded by dark archways, where not a single plant or bit of colour +relieved the ancient stone. The pavement was clean and well kept, a new +flagstone here and there showing that some care was bestowed upon +maintaining it in good repair; but for any decoration there was to be +found in the courts, the place might have been a fortress, as indeed it +once was. The owners, father and son, lived in their ancestral home in a +sort of solemn magnificence that savoured of feudal times. Giovanni was +the only son of five-and-twenty years of wedlock. His mother had been +older than his father, and had now been dead some time. She had been a +stern dark woman, and had lent no feminine touch of grace to the palace +while she lived in it, her melancholic temper rather rejoicing in the +sepulchral gloom that hung over the house. The Saracinesca had always +been a manly race, preferring strength to beauty, and the reality of +power to the amenities of comfort. + +Giovanni walked home from the afternoon reception at the Embassy. His +temper seemed to crave the bleak wet air of the cold streets, and he did +not hurry himself. He intended to dine at home that evening, and he +anticipated some kind of disagreement with his father. The two men were +too much alike not to be congenial, but too combative by nature to care +for eternal peace. On the present occasion it was likely that there would +be a struggle, for Giovanni had made up his mind not to marry Madame +Mayer, and his father was equally determined that he should marry her at +once: both were singularly strong men, singularly tenacious of their +opinions. + +At precisely seven o'clock father and son entered from different doors +the small sitting-room in which they generally met, and they had no +sooner entered than dinner was announced. Two words might suffice for the +description of old Prince Saracinesca--he was an elder edition of his +son. Sixty years of life had not bent his strong frame nor dimmed the +brilliancy of his eyes, but his hair and beard were snowy white. He was +broader in the shoulder and deeper in the chest than Giovanni, but of +the same height, and well proportioned still, with little tendency to +stoutness. He was to all appearance precisely what his son would be at +his age--keen and vigorous, the stern lines of his face grown deeper, and +his very dark eyes and complexion made more noticeable by the dazzling +whiteness of his hair and broad square beard--the same type in a +different stage of development. + +The dinner was served with a certain old-fashioned magnificence which has +grown rare in Rome. There was old plate and old china upon the table, old +cut glass of the diamond pattern, and an old butler who moved noiselessly +about in the performance of the functions he had exercised in the same +room for forty years, and which his father had exercised there before +him. Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni sat on opposite sides of the +round table, now and then exchanging a few words. + +"I was caught in the rain this afternoon," remarked the Prince. + +"I hope you will not have a cold," replied his son, civilly. "Why do you +walk in such weather?" + +"And you--why do you walk?" retorted his father. "Are you less likely to +take cold than I am? I walk because I have always walked." + +"That is an excellent reason. I walk because I do not keep a carriage." + +"Why do not you keep one if you wish to?" asked the Prince. + +"I will do as you wish. I will buy an equipage to-morrow, lest I should +again walk in the rain and catch cold. Where did you see me on foot?" + +"In the Orso, half an hour ago. Why do you talk about my wishes in that +absurd way?" + +"Since you say it is absurd, I will not do so," said Giovanni, quietly. + +"You are always contradicting me," said the Prince. "Some wine, +Pasquale." + +"Contradicting you?" repeated Giovanni. "Nothing could be further from my +intentions." + +The old Prince slowly sipped a glass of wine before he answered. + +"Why do not you set up an establishment for yourself and live like a +gentleman?" he asked at length. "You are rich--why do you go about on +foot and dine in cafes?" + +"Do I ever dine at a cafe when you are dining alone?" + +"You have got used to living in restaurants in Paris," retorted his +father. "It is a bad habit. What was the use of your mother leaving you a +fortune, unless you will live in a proper fashion?" + +"I understand you very well," answered Giovanni, his dark eyes beginning +to gleam. "You know all that is a pretence. I am the most home-staying +man of your acquaintance. It is a mere pretence. You are going to talk +about my marriage again." + +"And has any one a more natural right to insist upon your marriage than I +have?" asked the elder man, hotly. "Leave the wine on the table, +Pasquale--and the fruit--here. Give Don Giovanni his cheese. I will ring +for the coffee--leave us." The butler and the footman left the room. "Has +any one a more natural right, I ask?" repeated the Prince when they were +alone. + +"No one but myself, I should say," answered Giovanni, bitterly. + +"Yourself--yourself indeed! What have you to say about it? This a family +matter. Would you have Saracinesca sold, to be distributed piecemeal +among a herd of dogs of starving relations you never heard of, merely +because you are such a vagabond, such a Bohemian, such a break-neck, +crazy good-for-nothing, that you will not take the trouble to accept one +of all the women who rush into your arms?" + +"Your affectionate manner of speaking of your relatives is only surpassed +by your good taste in describing the probabilities of my marriage," +remarked Giovanni, scornfully. + +"And you say you never contradict me!" exclaimed the Prince, angrily. + +"If this is an instance, I can safely say so. Comment is not +contradiction." + +"Do you mean to say you have not repeatedly refused to marry?" inquired +old Saracinesca. + +"That would be untrue. I have refused, I do refuse, and I will refuse, +just so long as it pleases me." + +"That is definite, at all events. You will go on refusing until you have +broken your silly neck in imitating Englishmen, and then--good night +Saracinesca! The last of the family will have come to a noble end!" + +"If the only use of my existence is to become the father of heirs to your +titles, I do not care to enjoy them myself." + +"You will not enjoy them till my death, at all events. Did you ever +reflect that I might marry again?" + +"If you please to do so, do not hesitate on my account. Madame Mayer will +accept you as soon as me. Marry by all means, and may you have a numerous +progeny; and may they all marry in their turn, the day they are twenty. I +wish you joy." + +"You are intolerable, Giovanni. I should think you would have more +respect for Donna Tullia--" + +"Than to call her Madame Mayer," interrupted Giovanni. + +"Than to suggest that she cares for nothing but a title and a fortune--" + +"You showed much respect to her a moment ago, when you suggested that she +was ready to rush into my arms." + +"I! I never said such a thing. I said that any woman--" + +"Including Madame Mayer, of course," interrupted Giovanni again. + +"Can you not let me speak?" roared the Prince. Giovanni shrugged his +shoulders a little, poured out a glass of wine, and helped himself to +cheese, but said nothing. Seeing that his son said nothing, old +Saracinesca was silent too; he was so angry that he had lost the thread +of his ideas. Perhaps Giovanni regretted the quarrelsome tone he had +taken, for he presently spoke to his father in a more conciliatory tone. + +"Let us be just," he said. "I will listen to you, and I shall be glad if +you will listen to me. In the first place, when I think of marriage I +represent something to myself by the term--" + +"I hope so," growled the old man. + +"I look upon marriage as an important step in a man's life. I am not so +old as to make my marriage an immediate necessity, nor so young as to be +able wholly to disregard it. I do not desire to be hurried; for when I +make up my mind, I intend to make a choice which, if it does not ensure +happiness, will at least ensure peace. I do not wish to marry Madame +Mayer. She is young, handsome, rich--" + +"Very," ejaculated the Prince. + +"Very. I also am young and rich, if not handsome." + +"Certainly not handsome," said his father, who was nursing his wrath, and +meanwhile spoke calmly. "You are the image of me." + +"I am proud of the likeness," said Giovanni, gravely. "But to return to +Madame Mayer. She is a widow--" + +"Is that her fault?" inquired his father irrelevantly, his anger rising +again. + +"I trust not," said Giovanni, with a smile. "I trust she did not murder +old Mayer. Nevertheless she is a widow. That is a strong objection. Have +any of my ancestors married widows?" + +"You show your ignorance at every turn," said the old Prince, with a +scornful laugh. "Leone Saracinesca married the widow of the Elector of +Limburger-Stinkenstein in 1581." + +"It is probably the German blood in our veins which gives you your +taste for argument," remarked Giovanni. "Because three hundred years +ago an ancestor married a widow, I am to marry one now. Wait--do not be +angry--there are other reasons why I do not care for Madame Mayer. She is +too gay for me--too fond of the world." + +The Prince burst into aloud ironical laugh. His white hair and beard +bristled about his dark face, and he showed all his teeth, strong and +white still. + +"That is magnificent!" he cried; "it is superb, splendid, a piece of +unpurchasable humour! Giovanni Saracinesca has found a woman who is too +gay for him! Heaven be praised! We know his taste at last. We will give +him a nun, a miracle of all the virtues, a little girl out of a convent, +vowed to a life of sacrifice and self-renunciation. That will please +him--he will be a model happy husband." + +"I do not understand this extraordinary outburst," answered Giovanni, +with cold scorn. "Your mirth is amazing, but I fail to understand its +source." + +His father ceased laughing, and looked at him curiously, his heavy brows +bending with the intenseness of his gaze. Giovanni returned the look, and +it seemed as though those two strong angry men were fencing across the +table with their fiery glances. The son was the first to speak. + +"Do you mean to imply that I am not the kind of man to be allowed to +marry a young girl?" he asked, not taking his eyes from his father. + +"Look you, boy," returned the Prince, "I will have no more nonsense. I +insist upon this match, as I have told you before. It is the most +suitable one that I can find for you; and instead of being grateful, you +turn upon me and refuse to do your duty. Donna Tullia is twenty-three +years of age. She is brilliant, rich. There is nothing against her. She +is a distant cousin--" + +"One of the flock of vultures you so tenderly referred to," remarked +Giovanni. + +"Silence!" cried old Saracinesca, striking his heavy hand upon the table +so that the glasses shook together. "I will be heard; and what is more, I +will be obeyed. Donna Tullia is a relation. The union of two such +fortunes will be of immense advantage to your children. There is +everything in favour of the match--nothing against it. You shall marry +her a month from to-day. I will give you the title of Sant' Ilario, with +the estate outright into the bargain, and the palace in the Corso to +live in, if you do not care to live here." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Giovanni, choking down his anger. + +"If you refuse, you shall leave my house a month from to-day," said the +Prince, savagely. + +"Whereby I shall be fulfilling your previous commands, in setting up an +establishment for myself and living like a gentleman," returned Giovanni, +with a bitter laugh. "It is nothing to me--if you turn me out. I am rich, +as you justly observed." + +"You will have the more leisure to lead the life you like best," retorted +the Prince; "to hang about in society, to go where you please, to make +love to--" the old man stopped a moment. His son was watching him +fiercely, his hand clenched upon the table, his face as white as death. + +"To whom?" he asked with a terrible effort to be calm. + +"Do you think I am afraid of you? Do you think your father is less strong +or less fierce than you? To whom?" cried the angry old man, his whole +pent-up fury bursting out as he rose suddenly to his feet. "To whom but +to Corona d'Astrardente--to whom else should you make love?--wasting your +youth and life upon a mad passion! All Rome says it--I will say it too!" + +"You have said it indeed," answered Giovanni, in a very low voice. He +remained seated at the table, not moving a muscle, his face as the face +of the dead. "You have said it, and in insulting that lady you have said +a thing not worthy for one of our blood to say. God help me to remember +that you are my father," he added, trembling suddenly. + +"Hold!" said the Prince, who, with all his ambition for his son, and his +hasty temper, was an honest gentleman. "I never insulted, her--she is +above suspicion. It is you who are wasting your life in a hopeless +passion for her. See, I speak calmly--" + +"What does 'all Rome say'?" asked Giovanni, interrupting him. He was +still deadly pale, but his hand was unclenched, and as he spoke he rested +his head upon it, looking down at the tablecloth. + +"Everybody says that you are in love with the Astrardente, and that her +husband is beginning to notice it." + +"It is enough, sir," said Giovanni, in low tones. "I will consider this +marriage you propose. Give me until the spring to decide." + +"That is a long time," remarked the old Prince, resuming his seat and +beginning to peel an orange, as though nothing had happened. He was far +from being calm, but his son's sudden change of manner had disarmed his +anger. He was passionate and impetuous, thoughtless in his language, and +tyrannical in his determination; but he loved Giovanni dearly for all +that. + +"I do not think it long," said Giovanni, thoughtfully. "I give you my +word that I will seriously consider the marriage. If it is possible for +me to marry Donna Tullia, I will obey you, and I will give you my answer +before Easter-day. I cannot do more." + +"I sincerely hope you will take my advice," answered Saracinesca, now +entirely pacified. "If you cannot make up your mind to the match, I may +be able to find something else. There is Bianca Valdarno--she will have a +quarter of the estate." + +"She is so very ugly," objected Giovanni, quietly. He was still much +agitated, but he answered his father mechanically. + +"That is true--they are all ugly, those Valdarni. Besides, they are of +Tuscan origin. What do you say to the little Rocca girl? She has great +_chic_; she was brought up in England. She is pretty enough." + +"I am afraid she would be extravagant." + +"She could spend her own money then; it will be sufficient." + +"It is better to be on the safe side," said Giovanni. Suddenly he changed +his position, and again looked at his father. "I am sorry we always +quarrel about this question," he said. "I do not really want to marry, +but I wish to oblige you, and I will try. Why do we always come to words +over it?" + +"I am sure I do not know," said the Prince, with a pleasant smile. "I +have such a diabolical temper, I suppose." + +"And I have inherited it," answered Don Giovanni, with a laugh that was +meant to be cheerful. "But I quite see your point of view. I suppose I +ought to settle in life by this time." + +"Seriously, I think so, my son. Here is to your future happiness," said +the old gentleman, touching his glass with his lips. + +"And here is to our future peace," returned Giovanni, also drinking. + +"We never really quarrel, Giovanni, do we?" said his father. Every trace +of anger had vanished. His strong face beamed with an affectionate smile +that was like the sun after a thunderstorm. + +"No, indeed," answered his son, cordially. "We cannot afford to quarrel; +there are only two of us left." + +"That is what I always say," assented the Prince, beginning to eat the +orange he had carefully peeled since he had grown calm. "If two men like +you and me, my boy, can thoroughly agree, there is nothing we cannot +accomplish; whereas if we go against each other--" + +"Justitia non fit, coelum vero ruet," suggested Giovanni, in parody of +the proverb. + +"I am a little rusty in my Latin, Giovanni," said the old gentleman. + +"Heaven is turned upside down, but justice is not done." + +"No; one is never just when one is angry. But storms clear the sky, as +they say up at Saracinesca." + +"By the bye, have you heard whether that question of the timber has been +settled yet?" asked Giovanni. + +"Of course--I had forgotten. I will tell you all about it," answered his +father, cheerfully. So they chatted peacefully for another half-hour; and +no one would have thought, in looking at them, that such fierce passions +had been roused, nor that one of them felt as though his death-warrant +had been signed. When they separated, Giovanni went to his own rooms, and +locked himself in. + +He had assumed an air of calmness which was not real before he left his +father. In truth he was violently agitated. He was as fiery as his +father, but his passions were of greater strength and of longer duration; +for his mother had been a Spaniard, and something of the melancholy of +her country had entered into his soul, giving depth and durability to the +hot Italian character he inherited from his father. Nor did the latter +suspect the cause of his son's sudden change of tone in regard to the +marriage. It was precisely the difference in temperament which made +Giovanni incomprehensible to the old Prince. + +Giovanni had realised for more than a year past that he loved Corona +d'Astrardente. Contrary to the custom of young men in his position, he +determined from the first that he would never let her know it; and herein +lay the key to all his actions. He had, as he thought, made a point of +behaving to her on all occasions as he behaved to the other women he met +in the world, and he believed that he had skilfully concealed his passion +from the world and from the woman he loved. He had acted on all occasions +with a circumspection which was not natural to him, and for which he +undeniably deserved great credit. It had been a year of constant +struggles, constant efforts at self-control, constant determination that, +if possible, he would overcome his instincts. It was true that, when +occasion offered, he had permitted himself the pleasure of talking to +Corona d'Astrardente--talking, he well knew, upon the most general +subjects, but finding at each interview some new point of sympathy. +Never, he could honestly say, had he approached in that time the subject +of love, nor even the equally dangerous topic of friendship, the +discussion of which leads to so many ruinous experiments. He had never by +look or word sought to interest the dark Duchessa in his doings nor in +himself; he had talked of books, of politics, of social questions, but +never of himself nor of herself. He had faithfully kept the promise he +had made in his heart, that since he was so unfortunate as to love the +wife of another--a woman of such nobility that even in Rome no breath had +been breathed against her--he would keep his unfortunate passion to +himself. Astrardente was old, almost decrepit, in spite of his +magnificent wig; Corona was but two-and-twenty years of age. If ever her +husband died, Giovanni would present himself before the world as her +suitor; meanwhile he would do nothing to injure her self-respect nor to +disturb her peace--he hardly flattered himself he could do that, for he +loved her truly--and above all, he would do nothing to compromise the +unsullied reputation she enjoyed. She might never love him; but he was +strong and patient, and would do her the only honour it was in his power +to do her, by waiting patiently. + +But Giovanni had not considered that he was the most conspicuous man in +society; that there were many who watched his movements, in hopes he +would come their way; that when he entered a room, many had noticed +that, though he never went directly to Corona's side, he always looked +first towards her, and never omitted to speak with her in the course of +an evening. Keen observers, the jays of society who hover about the +eagle's nest, had not failed to observe a look of annoyance on Giovanni's +face when he did not succeed in being alone by Corona's side for at least +a few minutes; and Del Ferice, who was a sort of news-carrier in Rome, +had now and then hinted that Giovanni was in love. People had repeated +his hints, as he intended they should, with the illuminating wit peculiar +to tale-bearers, and the story had gone abroad accordingly. True, there +was not a man in Rome bold enough to allude to the matter in Giovanni's +presence, even if any one had seen any advantage in so doing; but such +things do not remain hidden. His own father had told him in a fit of +anger, and the blow had produced its effect. + +Giovanni sat down in a deep easy-chair in his own room, and thought over +the situation. His first impulse had been to be furiously angry with his +father; but the latter having instantly explained that there was nothing +to be said against the Duchessa, Giovanni's anger against the Prince had +turned against himself. It was bitter to think that all his self-denial, +all his many and prolonged efforts to conceal his love, had been of no +avail. He cursed his folly and imprudence, while wondering how it was +possible that the story should have got abroad. He did not waver in his +determination to hide his inclinations, to destroy the impression he had +so unwillingly produced. The first means he found in his way seemed the +best. To marry Donna Tullia at once, before the story of his affection +for the Duchessa had gathered force, would, he thought, effectually shut +the mouths of the gossips. From one point of view it was a noble thought, +the determination to sacrifice himself wholly and for ever, rather than +permit his name to be mentioned ever so innocently in connection with the +woman he loved; to root out utterly his love for her by seriously +engaging his faith to another, and keeping that engagement with all the +strength of fidelity he knew himself to possess. He would save Corona +from annoyance, and her name from the scandal-mongers; and if any one +ever dared to mention the story-- + +Giovanni rose to his feet and mechanically took a fencing-foil from the +wall, as he often did for practice. If any one mentioned the story, he +thought, he had the means to silence them, quickly and for ever. His eyes +flashed suddenly at the idea of action--any action, even fighting, which +might be distantly connected with Corona. Then he tossed down the rapier +and threw himself into his chair, and sat quite still, staring at the +trophies of armour upon the wall opposite. + +He could not do it. To wrong one woman for the sake of shielding another +was not in his power. People might laugh at him and call him Quixotic, +forsooth, because he would not do like every one else and make a marriage +of convenience--of propriety. Propriety! when his heart was breaking +within him; when every fibre of his strong frame quivered with the strain +of passion; when his aching eyes saw only one face, and his ears echoed +the words she had spoken that very afternoon! Propriety indeed! Propriety +was good enough for cold-blooded dullards. Donna Tullia had done him no +harm that he should marry her for propriety's sake, and make her life +miserable for thirty, forty, fifty years. It would be propriety rather +for him to go away, to bury himself in the ends of the earth, until he +could forget Corona d'Astrardente, her splendid eyes, and her deep sweet +voice. + +He had pledged his father his word that he would consider the marriage, +and he was to give his answer before Easter. That was a long time yet. He +would consider it; and if by Eastertide he had forgotten Corona, he +would--he laughed aloud in his silent room, and the sound of his voice +startled him from his reverie. + +Forget? Did such men as he forget? Other men did. What were they made of? +They did not love such women, perhaps; that was the reason they forgot. +Any one could forget poor Donna Tullia. And yet how was it possible to +forget if one loved truly? + +Giovanni had never believed himself in love before. He had known one or +two women who had attracted him strongly; but he had soon found out that +he had no real sympathy with them, that though they amused him they had +no charm for him--most of all, that he could not imagine himself tied to +any one of them for life without conceiving the situation horrible in the +extreme. To his independent nature the idea of such ties was repugnant: +he knew himself too courteous to break through the civilities of life +with a wife he did not love; but he knew also that in marrying a woman +who was indifferent to him, he would be engaging to play a part for life +in the most fearful of all plays--the part of a man who strives to bear +bravely the galling of a chain he is too honourable to break. + +It was four o'clock in the morning when Giovanni went to bed; and even +then he slept little, for his dreams were disturbed. Once he thought he +stood upon a green lawn with a sword in his hand, and the blood upon its +point, his opponent lying at his feet. Again, he thought he was alone in +a vast drawing-room, and a dark woman came and spoke gently to him, +saying, "Marry her for my sake." He awoke with a groan. The church clocks +were striking eight, and the meet was at eleven, five miles beyond the +Porta Pia. Giovanni started up and rang for his servant. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +It was a beautiful day, and half Rome turned out to see the meet, not +because it was in any way different from other meets, but because it +chanced that society had a fancy to attend it. Society is very like a +fever patient in a delirium; it is rarely accountable for its actions; it +scarcely ever knows what it is saying; and occasionally, without the +least warning or premeditation, it leaps out of bed at an early hour of +the morning and rushes frantically in pursuit of its last hallucination. +The main difference is, that whereas a man in a fever has a nurse, +society has none. + +On the present occasion every one had suddenly conceived the idea of +going to the meet, and the long road beyond the Porta Pia was dotted for +miles with equipages of every description, from the four-in-hand of +Prince Valdarno to the humble donkey-cart of the caterer who sells +messes of boiled beans, and bread and cheese, and salad to the grooms--an +institution not connected in the English mind with hunting. One after +another the vehicles rolled out along the road, past Sant' Agnese, down +the hill and across the Ponte Nomentana, and far up beyond to a place +where three roads met and there was a broad open stretch of wet, withered +grass. Here the carriages turned in and ranged themselves side by side, +as though they were pausing in the afternoon drive upon the Pincio, +instead of being five miles out upon the broad Campagna. + +To describe the mountains to southward of Rome would be an insult to +nature; to describe a meet would be an affront to civilised readers of +the English language. The one is too familiar to everybody; the pretty +crowd of men and women, dotted with pink and set off by the neutral +colour of the winter fields; the hunters of all ages, and sizes, and +breeds, led slowly up and down by the grooms; while from time to time +some rider gets into the saddle and makes himself comfortable, assures +himself of girth and stirrup, and of the proper disposal of the +sandwich-box and sherry-flask, gives a final word of instruction to his +groom, and then moves slowly off. A Roman meet is a little less +business-like than the same thing elsewhere; there is a little more +dawdling, a little more conversation when many ladies chance to have come +to see the hounds throw off; otherwise it is not different from other +meets. As for the Roman mountains, they are so totally unlike any other +hills in the world, and so extremely beautiful in their own peculiar way, +that to describe them would be an idle and a useless task, which could +only serve to exhibit the vanity of the writer and the feebleness of his +pen. + +Don Giovanni arrived early in spite of his sleepless night. He descended +from his dogcart by the roadside, instead of driving into the field, and +he took a careful survey of the carriages he saw before him. Conspicuous +in the distance he distinguished Donna Tullia Mayer standing among a +little crowd of men near Valdarno's drag. She was easily known by her +dress, as Del Ferice had remarked on the previous evening. On this +occasion she wore a costume in which the principal colours were green and +yellow, an enormous hat, with feathers in the same proportion surmounting +her head, and she carried a yellow parasol. She was a rather handsome +woman of middle height, with unnaturally blond hair, and a fairly good +complexion, which as yet she had wisely abstained from attempting to +improve by artificial means; her eyes were blue, but uncertain in their +glance--of the kind which do not inspire confidence; and her mouth was +much admired, being small and red, with full lips. She was rapid in her +movements, and she spoke in a loud voice, easily collecting people about +her wherever there were any to collect. Her conversation was not +brilliant, but it was so abundant that its noisy vivacity passed current +for cleverness; she had a remarkably keen judgment of people, and a +remarkably bad taste in her opinions of things artistic, from beauty in +nature to beauty in dress, but she maintained her point of view +obstinately, and admitted no contradiction. It was a singular +circumstance that whereas many of her attributes were distinctly vulgar, +she nevertheless had an indescribable air of good breeding, the strange +inimitable stamp of social superiority which cannot be acquired by any +known process of education. A person seeing her might be surprised at her +loud talking, amused at her eccentricities of dress, and shocked at her +bold manner, but no one would ever think of classing her anywhere save in +what calls itself "the best society." + +Among the men who stood talking to Donna Tullia was the inevitable Del +Ferice, a man of whom it might be said that he was never missed, because +he was always present. Giovanni disliked Del Ferice without being able to +define his aversion. He disliked generally men whom he suspected of +duplicity; and he had no reason for supposing that truth, looking into +her mirror, would have seen there the image of Ugo's fat pale face and +colourless moustache. But if Ugo was a liar, he must have had a good +memory, for he never got himself into trouble, and he had the reputation +of being a useful member of society, an honour to which persons of +doubtful veracity rarely attain. Giovanni, however, disliked him, and +suspected him of many things; and although he had intended to go up to +Donna Tullia, the sight of Del Ferice at her side very nearly prevented +him. He strolled leisurely down the little slope, and as he neared the +crowd, spoke to one or two acquaintances, mentally determining to avoid +Madame Mayer, and to mount immediately. But he was disappointed in his +intention. As he stood for a moment beside the carriage of the Marchesa +Rocca, exchanging a few words with her, and looking with some interest at +her daughter, the little Rocca girl whom his father had proposed as a +possible wife for him, he forgot his proximity to the lady he wished to +avoid; and when, a few seconds later, he proceeded in the direction of +his horse, Madame Mayer stepped forward from the knot of her admirers and +tapped him familiarly upon the shoulder with the handle of her parasol. + +"So you were not going to speak to me to-day?" she said rather roughly, +after her manner. + +Giovanni turned sharply and faced her, bowing low. Donna Tullia laughed. + +"Is there anything so amazingly ridiculous in my appearance?" he asked. + +"_Altro_! when you make that tremendous salute--" + +"It was intended to convey an apology as well as a greeting," answered +Don Giovanni, politely. + +"I would like more apology and less greeting." + +"I am ready to apologise--" + +"Humbly, without defending yourself," said Donna Tullia, beginning to +walk slowly forward. Giovanni was obliged to follow her. + +"My defence is, nevertheless, a very good one," he said. + +"Well, if it is really good, I may listen to it; but you will not make me +believe that you intended to behave properly." + +"I am in a very bad humour. I would not inflict my cross temper upon you; +therefore I avoided you." + +Donna Tullia eyed him attentively. When she answered she drew in her +small red lips with an air of annoyance. + +"You look as though you were in bad humour," she answered. "I am sorry I +disturbed you. It is better to leave sleeping dogs alone, as the proverb +says." + +"I have not snapped yet," said Giovanni. "I am not dangerous, I assure +you." + +"Oh, I am not in the least afraid of you," replied his companion, with a +little scorn. "Do not flatter yourself your little humours frighten me. I +suppose you intend to follow?" + +"Yes," answered Saracinesca, shortly; he was beginning to weary of Donna +Tullia's manner of taking him to task. + +"You had much better come with us, and leave the poor foxes alone. +Valdarno is going to drive us round by the cross-roads to the Capannelle. +We will have a picnic lunch, and be home before three o'clock." + +"Thanks very much. I cannot let my horse shirk his work. I must beg you +to excuse me--" + +"Again?" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "You are always making excuses." Then +she suddenly changed her tone, and looked down. "I wish you would come +with us," she said, gently. "It is not often I ask you to do anything." + +Giovanni looked at her quickly. He knew that Donna Tullia wished to +marry him; he even suspected that his father had discussed the matter +with her--no uncommon occurrence when a marriage has to be arranged with +a widow. But he did not know that Donna Tullia was in love with him in +her own odd fashion. He looked at her, and he saw that as she spoke there +were tears of vexation in her bold blue eyes. He hesitated a moment, but +natural courtesy won the day. + +"I will go with you," he said, quietly. A blush of pleasure rose to +Madame Mayer's pink cheeks; she felt she had made a point, but she was +not willing to show her satisfaction. + +"You say it as though you were conferring a favour," she said, with a +show of annoyance, which was belied by the happy expression of her face. + +"Pardon me; I myself am the favoured person," replied Giovanni, +mechanically. He had yielded because he did not know how to refuse; but +he already regretted it, and would have given much to escape from the +party. + +"You do not look as though you believed it," said Donna Tullia, eyeing +him critically. "If you are going to be disagreeable, I release you." She +said this well knowing, the while, that he would not accept of his +liberty. + +"If you are so ready to release me, as you call it, you do not really +want me," said her companion. Donna Tullia bit her lip, and there was a +moment's pause. "If you will excuse me a moment I will send my horse +home--I will join you at once." + +"There is your horse--right before us," said Madame Mayer. Even that +short respite was not allowed him, and she waited while Don Giovanni +ordered the astonished groom to take his hunter for an hour's exercise in +a direction where he would not fall in with the hounds. + +"I did not believe you would really do it," said Donna Tullia, as the two +turned and sauntered back towards the carriages. Most of the men who +meant to follow had already mounted, and the little crowd had thinned +considerably. But while they had been talking another carriage had driven +into the field, and had halted a few yards from Valdarno's drag. +Astrardente had taken it into his head to come to the meet with his wife, +and they had arrived late. Astrardente always arrived a little late, on +principle. As Giovanni and Donna Tullia came back to their drag, they +suddenly found themselves face to face with the Duchessa and her husband. +It did not surprise Corona to see Giovanni walking with the woman he did +not intend to marry, but it seemed to give the old Duke undisguised +pleasure. + +"Do you see, Corona, there is no doubt of it! It is just as I told you," +exclaimed the aged dandy, in a voice so audible that Giovanni frowned and +Donna Tullia blushed slightly. Both of them bowed as they passed the +carriage. Don Giovanni looked straight into Corona's face as he took +off his hat. He might very well have made her a little sign, the smallest +gesture, imperceptible to Donna Tullia, whereby he could have given her +the idea that his position was involuntary. But Don Giovanni was a +gentleman, and he did nothing of the kind; he bowed and looked calmly at +the woman he loved as he passed by. Astrardente watched him keenly, and +as he noticed the indifference of Saracinesca's look, he gave a curious +little snuffling snort that was peculiar to him. He could have sworn that +neither his wife nor Giovanni had shown the smallest interest in each +other. He was satisfied. His wife was above suspicion, as he always said; +but he was an old man, and had seen the world, and he knew that however +implicitly he might trust the noble woman who had sacrificed her youth to +his old age, it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that she might +become innocently interested, even unawares, in some younger man--in some +such man as Giovanni Saracinesca-and he thought it worth his while to +watch her. His little snort, however, was indicative of satisfaction. +Corona had not winced at the mention of the marriage, and had nodded with +the greatest unconcern to the man as he passed. + +"Ah, Donna Tullia!" he cried, as he returned their greeting, "you are +preventing Don Giovanni from mounting; the riders will be off in a +moment." + +Being thus directly addressed, there was nothing to be done but to stop +and exchange a few words. The Duchessa was on the side nearest to the +pair as they passed, and her husband rose and sat opposite her, so as to +talk more at his ease. There were renewed greetings on both sides, and +Giovanni naturally found himself talking to Corona, while her husband and +Donna Tullia conversed together. + +"What man could think of hunting when he could be talking to you +instead?" said old Astrardente, whose painted face adjusted itself in a +sort of leer that had once been a winning smile. Every one knew he +painted, his teeth were a miracle of American dentistry, and his wig +had deceived a great portrait-painter. The padding in his clothes was +disposed with cunning wisdom, and in public he rarely removed the gloves +from his small hands. Donna Tullia laughed at what he said. + +"You should teach Don Giovanni to make pretty speeches," she said. "He is +as surly as a wolf this morning." + +"I should think a man in his position would not need much teaching in +order to be gallant to you," replied the old dandy, with a knowing look. +Then lowering his voice, he added confidentially, "I hope that before +very long I may be allowed to congrat--" + +"I have prevailed upon him to give up following the hounds to-day," +interrupted Donna Tullia, quickly. She spoke loud enough to be noticed by +Corona. "He is coming with us to picnic at the Capannelle instead." + +Giovanni could not help glancing quickly at Corona. She smiled faintly, +and her face betrayed no emotion. + +"I daresay it will be very pleasant," she said gently, looking far out +over the Campagna. In the next field the pack was moving away, followed +at a little distance by a score of riders in pink; one or two men who had +stayed behind in conversation, mounted hastily and rode after the hunt; +some of the carriages turned out of the field and began to follow slowly +along the road, in hopes of seeing the hounds throw off; the party who +were going with Valdarno gathered about the drag, waiting for Donna +Tullia; the grooms who were left behind congregated around the men who +sold boiled beans and salad; and in a few minutes the meet had +practically dispersed. + +"Why will you not join us, Duchessa?" asked Madame Mayer. "There is lunch +enough for everybody, and the more people we are the pleasanter it will +be." Donna Tullia made her suggestion with her usual frank manner, fixing +her blue eyes upon Corona as she spoke. There was every appearance of +cordiality in the invitation; but Donna Tullia knew well enough that +there was a sting in her words, or at all events that she meant there +should be. Corona, however, glanced quietly at her husband, and then +courteously refused. + +"You are most kind," she said, "but I fear we cannot join you to-day. We +are very regular people," she explained, with a slight smile, "and we are +not prepared to go to-day. Many thanks; I wish we could accept your kind +invitation." + +"Well, I am sorry you will not come," said Donna Tullia, with a rather +hard laugh. "We mean to enjoy ourselves immensely." + +Giovanni said nothing. There was only one thing which could have rendered +the prospect of Madame Mayer's picnic more disagreeable to him than it +already was, and that would have been the presence of the Duchessa. He +knew himself to be in a thoroughly false position in consequence of +having yielded to Donna Tullia's half-tearful request that he would join +the party. He remembered how he had spoken to Corona on the previous +evening, assuring her that he would not marry Madame Mayer. Corona knew +nothing of the change his plans had undergone during the stormy interview +he had had with his father; he longed, indeed, to be able to make the +Duchessa understand, but any attempt at explanation would be wholly +impossible. Corona would think he was inconsistent, or at least that he +was willing to flirt with the gay widow, while determined not to marry +her. He reflected that it was part of his self-condemnation that he +should appear unfavourably to the woman he loved, and whom he was +determined to renounce; but he realised for the first time how bitter it +would be to stand thus always in the appearance of weakness and +self-contradiction in the eyes of the only human being whose good opinion +he coveted, and for whose dear sake he was willing to do all things. As +he stood by her, his hand rested upon the side of the carriage, and he +stared blankly at the distant hounds and the retreating riders. + +"Come, Don Giovanni, we must be going," said Donna Tullia. "What in the +world are you thinking of? You look as though you had been turned into a +statue!" + +"I beg your pardon," returned Saracinesca, suddenly called back from +the absorbing train of his unpleasant thoughts. "Good-bye, Duchessa; +good-bye, Astrardente--a pleasant drive to you." + +"You will always regret not having come, you know," cried Madame Mayer, +shaking hands with both the occupants of the carriage. "We shall probably +end by driving to Albano, and staying all night--just fancy! Immense +fun--not even a comb in the whole party! Good-bye. I suppose we shall all +meet to-night--that is, if we ever come back to Rome at all. Come along, +Giovanni," she said, familiarly dropping the prefix from his name. After +all, he was a sort of cousin, and people in Rome are very apt to call +each other by their Christian names. But Donna Tullia knew what she was +about; she knew that Corona d'Astrardente could never, under any +circumstances whatever, call Saracinesca plain "Giovanni." But she had +not the satisfaction of seeing that anything she said produced any change +in Corona's proud dark face; she seemed of no more importance in the +Duchessa's eyes than if she had been a fly buzzing in the sunshine. + +So Giovanni and Madame Mayer joined their noisy party, and began to climb +into their places upon the drag; but before they were prepared to start, +the Astrardente carriage turned and drove rapidly out of the field. The +laughter and loud talking came to Corona's ears, growing fainter and more +distant every second, and the sound was very cruel to her; but she set +her strong brave lips together, and leaned back, adjusting the blanket +over her old husband's knees with one hand, and shading the sun from her +eyes with the parasol she held in the other. + +"Thank you, my dear; you are an angel of thoughtfulness," said the old +dandy, stroking his wife's hand. "What a singularly vulgar woman Madame +Mayer is! And yet she has a certain little _chic_ of her own." + +Corona did not withdraw her fingers from her husband's caress. She was +used to it. After all, he was kind to her in his way. It would have been +absurd to have been jealous of the grossly flattering speeches he made to +other women; and indeed he was as fond of turning compliments to his wife +as to any one. It was a singular relation that had grown up between the +old man and the young girl he had married. Had he been less thoroughly a +man of the world, or had Corona been less entirely honest and loyal and +self-sacrificing, there would have been small peace in their wedlock. But +Astrardente, decayed roue and worn-out dandy as he was, was in love with +his wife; and she, in all the young magnificence of her beauty, submitted +to be loved by him, because she had promised that she would do so, and +because, having sworn, she regarded the breaking of her faith by the +smallest act of unkindness as a thing beyond the bounds of possibility. +It had been a terrible blow to her to discover that she cared for Don +Giovanni even in the way she believed she did, as a man whose society she +preferred to that of other men, and whose face it gave her pleasure to +see. She, too, had spent a sleepless night; and when she had risen in the +morning, she had determined to forget Giovanni, and if she could not +forget him, she had sworn that more than ever she would be all things to +her husband. + +She wondered now, as Giovanni had known she would, why he had suddenly +thrown over his day's hunting in order to spend his time with Donna +Tullia; but she would not acknowledge, even to herself, that the dull +pain she felt near her heart, and that seemed to oppress her breathing, +bore any relation to the scene she had just witnessed. She shut her lips +tightly, and arranged the blanket for her husband. + +"Madame Mayer is vulgar," she answered. "I suppose she cannot help it." + +"Women can always help being vulgar," returned Astrardente. "I believe +she learned it from her husband. Women are not naturally like that. +Nevertheless she is an excellent match for Giovanni Saracinesca. Rich, by +millions. Undeniably handsome, gay--well, rather too gay; but Giovanni is +so serious that the contrast will be to their mutual advantage." + +Corona was silent. There was nothing the old man disliked so much as +silence. + +"Why do you not answer me?" he asked, rather petulantly. + +"I do not know--I was thinking," said Corona, simply. "I do not see that +it is a great match after all, for the last of the Saracinesca." + +"You think she will lead him a terrible dance, I daresay," returned the +old man. "She is gay--very gay; and Giovanni is very, very solemn." + +"I did not mean that she was too gay. I only think that Saracinesca might +marry, for instance, the Rocca girl. Why should he take a widow?" + +"Such a young widow. Old Mayer was as decrepit as any old statue in a +museum. He was paralysed in one arm, and gouty--gouty, my dear; you do +not know how gouty he was." The old fellow grinned scornfully; he had +never had the gout. "Donna Tullia is a very young widow. Besides, think +of the fortune. It would break old Saracinesca's heart to let so much +money go out of the family. He is a miserly old wretch, Saracinesca!" + +"I never heard that," said Corona. + +"Oh, there are many things in Rome that one never hears, and that is one +of them. I hate avarice--it is so extremely vulgar." + +Indeed Astrardente was not himself avaricious, though he had all his life +known how to protect his interests. He loved money, but he loved also to +spend it, especially in such a way as to make a great show with it. It +was not true, however, that Saracinesca was miserly. He spent a large +income without the smallest ostentation. + +"Really, I should hardly call Prince Saracinesca a miser," said Corona. +"I cannot imagine, from what I know of him, why he should be so anxious +to get Madame Mayer's fortune; but I do not think it is out of mere +greediness." + +"Then I do not know what you can call it," returned her husband, sharply. +"They have always had that dismal black melancholy in that family--that +detestable love of secretly piling up money, while their faces are as +grave and sour as any Jew's in the Ghetto." + +Corona glanced at her husband, and smiled faintly as she looked at his +thin old features, where the lights and shadows were touched in with +delicate colour more artfully than any actress's, superficially +concealing the lines traced by years of affectation and refined egotism; +and she thought of Giovanni's strong manly face, passionate indeed, but +noble and bold. A moment later she resolutely put the comparison out of +her mind, and finding that her husband was inclined to abuse the +Saracinesca, she tried to turn the conversation. + +"I suppose it will be a great ball at the Frangipani's," she said. "We +will go, of course?" she added, interrogatively. + +"Of course. I would not miss it for all the world. There has not been +such a ball for years as that will be. Do I ever miss an opportunity of +enjoying myself--I mean, of letting you enjoy yourself?" + +"No, you are very good," said Corona, gently. "Indeed I sometimes think +you give yourself trouble about going out on my account. Really, I am not +so greedy of society. I would often gladly stay at home if you wished +it." + +"Do you think I am past enjoying the world, then?" asked the old man, +sourly. + +"No indeed," replied Corona, patiently. "Why should I think that? I see +how much you like going out." + +"Of course I like it. A rational man in the prime of life always likes to +see his fellow-creatures. Why should not I?" + +The Duchessa did not smile. She was used to hearing her aged husband +speak of himself as young. It was a harmless fancy. + +"I think it is quite natural," she said. + +"What I cannot understand," said Astrardente, muffling his thin throat +more closely against the keen bright _tramontana_ wind, "is that such old +fellows as Saracinesca should still want to play a part in the world." + +Saracinesca was younger than Astrardente, and his iron constitution bade +fair to outlast another generation, in spite of his white hair. + +"You do not seem to be in a good humour with Saracinesca to-day," +remarked Corona, by way of answer. + +"Why do you defend him?" asked her husband, in a new fit of irritation. +"He jars on my nerves, the sour old creature!" + +"I fancy all Rome will go to the Frangipani ball," began Corona again, +without heeding the old man's petulance. + +"You seem to be interested in it," returned Astrardente. + +Corona was silent; it was her only weapon when he became petulant. He +hated silence, and generally returned to the conversation with more +suavity. Perhaps, in his great experience, he really appreciated his +wife's wonderful patience with his moods, and it is certain that he was +exceedingly fond of her. + +"You must have a new gown, my dear," he said presently, in a conciliatory +tone. + +His wife passed for the best-dressed woman in Rome, as she was undeniably +the most remarkable in many other ways. She was not above taking an +interest in dress, and her old husband had an admirable taste; moreover, +he took a vast pride in her appearance, and if she had looked a whit less +superior to other women, his smiling boast that she was above suspicion +would have lost some of its force. + +"I hardly think it is necessary," said Corona; "I have so many things, +and it will be a great crowd." + +"My dear, be economical of your beauty, but not in your adornment of it," +said the old man, with one of his engaging grins. "I desire that you have +a new gown for this ball which will be remembered by every one who goes +to it. You must set about it at once." + +"Well, that is an easy request for any woman to grant," answered Corona, +with a little laugh; "though I do not believe my gown will be remembered +so long as you think." + +"Who knows--who knows?" said Astrardente, thoughtfully. "I remember gowns +I saw"--he checked himself--"why, as many as ten years ago!" he added, +laughing in his turn, perhaps at nearly having said forty for ten. +"Gowns, my dear," he continued, "make a profound impression upon men's +minds." + +"For the matter of that," said the Duchessa, "I do not care to impress +men at all nor women either." She spoke lightly, pleased that the +conversation should have taken a more pleasant turn. + +"Not even to impress me, my dear?" asked old Astrardente, with a leer. + +"That is different," answered Corona, quietly. + +So they talked upon the subject of the gown and the ball until the +carriage rolled under the archway of the Astrardente palace. But when it +was three o'clock, and Corona was at liberty to go out upon her usual +round of visits, she was glad that she could go alone; and as she sat +among her cushions, driving from house to house and distributing cards, +she had time to think seriously of her situation. It would seem a light +thing to most wives of aged husbands to have taken a fancy to a man such +as Giovanni Saracinesca. But the more Corona thought of it, the more +certain it appeared to her that she was committing a great sin. It +weighed heavily upon her mind, and took from her the innocent pleasure +she was wont to feel in driving in the bright evening air in the Villa +Borghese. It took the colour from the sky, and the softness from the +cushions, it haunted her and made her miserably unhappy. At every turn +she expected to see Giovanni's figure and face, and the constant +recurrence of the thought seemed to add magnitude to the crime of which +she accused herself,--the crime of even thinking of any man save her +old husband--of wishing that Giovanni might not marry Donna Tullia after +all. + +"I will go to Padre Filippo," she said to herself as she reached home. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Valdarno took Donna Tullia by his side upon the front seat of the drag; +and as luck would have it, Giovanni and Del Ferice sat together behind +them. Half-a-dozen other men found seats somewhere, and among them were +the melancholy Spicca, who was a famous duellist, and a certain +Casalverde, a man of rather doubtful reputation. The others were members +of what Donna Tullia called her "corps de ballet." In those days Donna +Tullia's conduct was criticised, and she was thought to be emancipated, +as the phrase went. Old people opened their eyes at the spectacle of the +gay young widow going off into the Campagna to picnic with a party of +men; but if any intimate enemy had ventured to observe to her that she +was giving occasion for gossip, she would have raised her eyebrows, +explaining that they were all just like her brothers, and that Giovanni +was indeed a sort of cousin. She would perhaps have condescended to say +that she would not have done such a thing in Paris, but that in dear old +Rome one was in the bosom of one's family, and might do anything. At +present she sat chatting with Valdarno, a tall and fair young man, with a +weak mouth and a good-natured disposition; she had secured Giovanni, and +though he sat sullenly smoking behind her, his presence gave her +satisfaction. Del Ferice's smooth face wore an expression of ineffable +calm, and his watery blue eyes gazed languidly on the broad stretch of +brown grass which bordered the highroad. + +For some time the drag bowled along, and Giovanni was left to his own +reflections, which were not of a very pleasing kind. The other men talked +of the chances of luck with the hounds; and Spicca, who had been a great +deal in England, occasionally put in a remark not very complimentary to +the Roman hunt. Del Ferice listened in silence, and Giovanni did not +listen at all, but buttoned his overcoat to the throat, half closed his +eyes, and smoked one cigarette after another, leaning back in his seat. +Suddenly Donna Tullia's laugh was heard as she turned half round to look +at Valdarno. + +"Do you really think so?" she cried. "How soon? What a dance we will lead +them then!" + +Del Fence pricked his ears in the direction of her voice, like a terrier +that suspects the presence of a rat. Valdarno's answer was inaudible, but +Donna Tullia ceased laughing immediately. + +"They are talking politics," said Del Ferice in a low voice, leaning +towards Giovanni as he spoke. The latter shrugged his shoulders and went +on smoking. He did not care to be drawn into a conversation with Del +Ferice. + +Del Ferice was a man who was suspected of revolutionary sympathies by the +authorities in Rome, but who was not feared. He was therefore allowed to +live his life much as he pleased, though he was conscious from time to +time that he was watched. Being a man, however, who under all +circumstances pursued his own interests with more attention than he +bestowed on those of any party, he did not pretend to attach any +importance to the distinction of being occasionally followed by a spy, as +a more foolish man might have done. If he was watched, he did not care to +exhibit himself to his friends as a martyr, to tell stories of the +_sbirro_ who sometimes dogged his footsteps, nor to cry aloud that he was +unjustly persecuted. He affected a character above suspicion, and rarely +allowed himself to express an opinion. He was no propagator of new +doctrines; that was too dangerous a trade for one of his temper. But he +foresaw changes to come, and he determined that he would profit by them. +He had little to lose, but he had everything to gain; and being a patient +man, he resolved to gain all he could by circumspection--in other words, +by acting according to his nature, rather than by risking himself in a +bold course of action for which he was wholly unsuited. He was too wise +to attempt wholly to deceive the authorities, knowing well that they were +not easily deceived; and he accordingly steered a middle course, +constantly speaking in favour of progress, of popular education, and of +freedom of the press, but at the same time loudly proclaiming that all +these things--that every benefit of civilisation, in fact--could be +obtained without the slightest change in the form of government. He thus +asserted his loyalty to the temporal power while affecting a belief in +the possibility of useful reforms, and the position he thus acquired +exactly suited his own ends; for he attracted to himself a certain amount +of suspicion on account of his progressist professions, and then disarmed +that suspicion by exhibiting a serene indifference to the espionage of +which he was the object. The consequence was, that at the very time when +he was most deeply implicated in much more serious matters--of which the +object was invariably his own ultimate profit--at the time when he was +receiving money for information he was able to obtain through his social +position, he was regarded by the authorities, and by most of his +acquaintances, as a harmless man, who might indeed injure himself by his +foolish doctrines of progress, but who certainly could not injure any one +else. Few guessed that his zealous attention to social duties, his +occasional bursts of enthusiasm for liberal education and a free press, +were but parts of his machinery for making money out of politics. He was +so modest, so unostentatious, that no one suspected that the mainspring +of his existence was the desire for money. + +But, like many intelligent and bad men, Del Ferice had a weakness which +was gradually gaining upon him and growing in force, and which was +destined to hasten the course of the events which he had planned for +himself. It is an extraordinary peculiarity in unbelievers that they are +often more subject to petty superstitions than other men; and similarly, +it often happens that the most cynical and coldly calculating of +conspirators, who believe themselves proof against all outward +influences, yield to some feeling of nervous dislike for an individual +who has never harmed them, and are led on from dislike to hatred, until +their soberest actions take colour from what in its earliest beginnings +was nothing more than a senseless prejudice. Del Ferice's weakness was +his unaccountable detestation of Giovanni Saracinesca; and he had so far +suffered this abhorrence of the man to dominate his existence, that it +had come to be one of his chiefest delights in life to thwart Giovanni +wherever he could. How it had begun, or when, he no longer knew nor +cared. He had perhaps thought Giovanni treated him superciliously, or +even despised him; and his antagonism being roused by some fancied +slight, he had shown a petty resentment, which, again, Saracinesca +had treated with cold indifference. Little by little his fancied +grievance had acquired great proportions in his own estimation, and he +had learned to hate Giovanni more than any man living. At first it might +have seemed an easy matter to ruin his adversary, or, at all event, to +cause him great and serious injury; and but for that very indifference +which Del Ferice so resented, his attempts might have been successful. + +Giovanni belonged to a family who from the earliest times had been at +swords-drawn with the Government. Their property had been more than once +confiscated by the popes, had been seized again by force of arms, and had +been ultimately left to them for the mere sake of peace. They seem to +have quarrelled with everybody on every conceivable pretext, and to have +generally got the best of the struggle. No pope had ever reckoned upon +the friendship of Casa Saracinesca. For generations they had headed the +opposition whenever there was one, and had plotted to form one when there +was none ready to their hands. It seemed to Del Ferice that in the +stirring times that followed the annexation of Naples to the Italian +crown, when all Europe was watching the growth of the new Power, it +should be an easy matter to draw a Saracinesca into any scheme for the +subversion of a Government against which so many generations of +Saracinesca had plotted and fought. To involve Giovanni in some Liberal +conspiracy, and then by betraying him to cause him to be imprisoned or +exiled from Rome, was a plan which pleased Del Ferice, and which he +desired earnestly to put into execution. He had often tried to lead his +enemy into conversation, repressing and hiding his dislike for the sake +of his end; but at the first mention of political subjects Giovanni +became impenetrable, shrugged, his shoulders, and assumed an air of the +utmost indifference. No paradox could draw him into argument, no +flattery could loose his tongue. Indeed those were times when men +hesitated to express an opinion, not only because any opinion they +might express was liable to be exaggerated and distorted by willing +enemies--a consideration which would not have greatly intimidated +Giovanni Saracinesca--but also because it was impossible for the wisest +man to form any satisfactory judgment upon the course of events. It was +clear to every one that ever since 1848 the temporal power had been +sustained by France; and though no one in 1865 foresaw the downfall of +the Second Empire, no one saw any reason for supposing that the military +protectorate of Louis Napoleon in Rome could last for ever: what would be +likely to occur if that protection were withdrawn was indeed a matter of +doubt, but was not looked upon by the Government as a legitimate matter +for speculation. + +Del Ferice, however, did not desist from his attempts to make Giovanni +speak out his mind, and whenever an opportunity offered, tried to draw +him into conversation. He was destined on the present occasion to meet +with greater success than had hitherto attended his efforts. The picnic +was noisy, and Giovanni was in a bad humour; he did not care for Donna +Tullia's glances, nor for the remarks she constantly levelled at him; +still less was he amused by the shallow gaiety of her party of admirers, +tempered as their talk was by the occasional tonic of some outrageous +cynicism from the melancholy Spicca. Del Ferice smiled, and talked, and +smiled again, seeking to flatter and please Donna Tullia, as was his +wont. By-and-by the clear north wind and the bright sun dried the ground, +and Madame Mayer proposed that the party should walk a little on the road +towards Rome--a proposal of such startling originality that it was +carried by acclamation. Donna Tullia wanted to walk with Giovanni; but +on pretence of having left something upon the drag, he gave Valdarno time +to take his place. When Giovanni began to follow the rest, he found that +Del Ferice had lagged behind, and seemed to be waiting for him. + +Giovanni was in a bad humour that day. He had suffered himself to be +persuaded into joining in a species of amusement for which he cared +nothing, by a mere word from a woman for whom he cared less, but whom he +had half determined to marry, and who had wholly determined to marry him. +He, who hated vacillation, had been dangling for four-and-twenty hours +like a pendulum, or, as he said to himself, like an ass between two +bundles of hay. At one moment he meant to marry Donna Tullia, and at +another he loathed the thought; now he felt that he would make any +sacrifice to rid the Duchessa d'Astrardente of himself, and now again he +felt how futile such a sacrifice would be. He was ashamed in his heart, +for he was no boy of twenty to be swayed by a woman's look or a fit of +Quixotism; he was a strong grown man who had seen the world. He had been +in the habit of supposing his impulses to be good, and of following them +naturally without much thought; it seemed desperately perplexing to be +forced into an analysis of those impulses in order to decide what he +should do. He was in a thoroughly bad humour, and Del Ferice guessed that +if Giovanni could ever be induced to speak out, it must be when his +temper was not under control. In Rome, in the club--there was only one +club in those days--in society, Ugo never got a chance to talk to his +enemy; but here upon the Appian Way, with the broad Campagna stretching +away to right and left and rear, while the remainder of the party walked +three hundred yards in front, and Giovanni showed an evident reluctance +to join them, it would go hard indeed if he could not be led into +conversation. + +"I should think," Del Ferice began, "that if you had your choice, you +would walk anywhere rather than here." + +"Why?" asked Giovanni, carelessly. "It is a very good road." + +"I should think that our Roman Campagna would be anything but a source of +satisfaction to its possessors--like yourself," answered Del Ferice. + +"It is a very good grazing ground." + +"It might be something better. When one thinks that in ancient times it +was a vast series of villas--" + +"The conditions were very different. We do not live in ancient times," +returned Giovanni, drily. + +"Ah, the conditions!" ejaculated Del Ferice, with a suave sigh. "Surely +the conditions depend on man--not on nature. What our proud forefathers +accomplished by law and energy, we could, we can accomplish, if we +restore law and energy in our midst." + +"You are entirely mistaken," answered Saracinesca. "It would take five +times the energy of the ancient Romans to turn the Campagna into a +garden, or even into a fertile productive region. No one is five times as +energetic as the ancients. As for the laws, they do well enough." + +Del Ferice was delighted. For the first time, Giovanni seemed inclined to +enter upon an argument with him. + +"Why are the conditions so different? I do not see. Here is the same +undulating country, the same climate--" + +"And twice as much water," interrupted Giovanni. "You forget that the +Campagna is very low, and that the rivers in it have risen very much. +There are parts of ancient Rome now laid bare which lie below the present +water-mark of the Tiber. If the city were built upon its old level, much +of it would be constantly flooded. The rivers have risen and have swamped +the country. Do you think any amount of law or energy could drain this +fever-stricken plain into the sea? I do not. Do you think that if I could +be persuaded that the land could be improved into fertility I would +hesitate, at any expenditure in my power, to reclaim the miles of desert +my father and I own here? The plain is a series of swamps and stone +quarries. In one place you find the rock a foot below the surface, and +the soil burns up in summer; a hundred yards farther you find a bog +hundreds of feet deep, which even in summer is never dry." + +"But," suggested Del Ferice, who listened patiently enough, "supposing +the Government passed a law forcing all of you proprietors to plant trees +and dig ditches, it would have some effect." + +"The law cannot force us to sacrifice men's lives. The Trappist monks at +the Tre Fontane are trying it, and dying by scores. Do you think I, or +any other Roman, would send peasants to such a place, or could induce +them to go?" + +"Well, it is one of a great many questions which will be settled some +day," said Del Fence. "You will not deny that there is room for much +improvement in our country, and that an infusion of some progressist +ideas would be wholesome." + +"Perhaps so; but you understand one thing by progress, and I understand +quite another," replied Giovanni, eyeing in the bright distance the +figures of Donna Tullia and her friends, and regulating his pace so as +not to lessen the distance which separated them from him. He preferred +talking political economy with a man he disliked, to being obliged to +make conversation for Madame Mayer. + +"I mean by progress, positive improvement without revolutionary change," +explained Del Ferice, using the phrase he had long since constructed as +his profession of faith to the world. Giovanni eyed him keenly for a +moment. He cared nothing for Ugo or his ideas, but he suspected him of +very different principles. + +"You will pardon me," he said, civilly, "if I venture to doubt whether +you have frankly expressed your views. I am under the impression that you +really connect the idea of improvement with a very positive revolutionary +change." + +Del Ferice did not wince, but he involuntarily cast a glance behind him. +Those were times when people were cautious of being overheard. But Del +Ferice knew his man, and he knew that the only way in which he could +continue the interview was to accept the imputation as though trusting +implicitly to the discretion of his companion. + +"Will you give me a fair answer to a fair question?" he asked, very +gravely. + +"Let me hear the question," returned Giovanni, indifferently. He also +knew his man, and attached no more belief to anything he said than to the +chattering of a parrot. And yet Del Ferice had not the reputation of a +liar in the world at large. + +"Certainly," answered Ugo. "You are the heir of a family which from +immemorial time has opposed the popes. You cannot be supposed to feel any +kind of loyal attachment to the temporal power. I do not know whether +you individually would support it or not. But frankly, how would you +regard such a revolutionary change as you suspect me of desiring?" + +"I have no objection to telling you that. I would simply make the best of +it." + +Del Ferice laughed at the ambiguous answer, affecting to consider it as a +mere evasion. + +"We should all try to do that," he answered; "but what I mean to ask is, +whether you would personally take up arms to fight for the temporal +power, or whether you would allow events to take their course? I fancy +that would be the ultimate test of loyalty." + +"My instinct would certainly be to fight, whether fighting were of any +use or not. But the propriety of fighting in such a case is a very nice +question of judgment. So long as there is anything to fight for, no +matter how hopeless the odds, a gentleman should go to the front--but no +longer. The question must be to decide the precise point at which the +position becomes untenable. So long as France makes our quarrels hers, +every man should give his personal assistance to the cause; but it is +absurd to suppose that if we were left alone, a handful of Romans against +a great Power, we could do more, or should do more, than make a formal +show of resistance. It has been a rule in all ages that a general, +however brave, who sacrifices the lives of his soldiers in a perfectly +hopeless resistance, rather than accept the terms of an honourable +capitulation, is guilty of a military crime." + +"In other words," answered Del Ferice, quietly, "if the French troops +were withdrawn, and the Italians were besieging Rome, you would at once +capitulate?" + +"Certainly--after making a formal protest. It would be criminal to +sacrifice our fellow-citizens' lives in such a case." + +"And then?" + +"Then, as I said before, I would make the best of it--not omitting to +congratulate Del Ferice upon obtaining a post in the new Government," +added Giovanni, with a laugh. + +But Del Ferice took no notice of the jest. + +"Do you not think that, aside from any question of sympathy or loyalty to +the holy Father, the change of government would be an immense advantage +to Rome?" + +"No, I do not. To Italy the advantage would be inestimable; to Rome it +would be an injury. Italy would consolidate the prestige she began to +acquire when Cavour succeeded in sending a handful of troops to the +Crimea eleven years ago; she would at once take a high position as a +European Power--provided always that the smouldering republican element +should not break out in opposition to the constitutional monarchy. But +Rome would be ruined. She is no longer the geographical capital of +Italy--she is not even the largest city; but in the course of a few +years, violent efforts would be made to give her a fictitious modern +grandeur, in the place of the moral importance she now enjoys as the +headquarters of the Catholic world. Those efforts at a spurious growth +would ruin her financially, and the hatred of Romans for Italians of the +north would cause endless internal dissension. We should be subjected to +a system of taxation which would fall more heavily on us than on other +Italians, in proportion as our land is less productive. On the whole, we +should grow rapidly poorer; for prices would rise, and we should have a +paper currency instead of a metallic one. Especially we landed +proprietors would suffer terribly by the Italian land system being +suddenly thrust upon us. To be obliged to sell one's acres to any peasant +who can scrape together enough to capitalise the pittance he now pays as +rent, at five per cent, would scarcely be agreeable. Such a fellow, from +whom I have the greatest difficulty in extracting his yearly bushel of +grain, could borrow twenty bushels from a neighbour, or the value of +them, and buy me out without my consent--acquiring land worth ten times +the rent he and his father have paid for it, and his father before him. +It would produce an extraordinary state of things, I can assure you. +No--even putting aside what you call my sympathies and my loyalty to the +Pope--I do not desire any change. Nobody who owns much property does; the +revolutionary spirits are people who own nothing." + +"On the other hand, those who own nothing, or next to nothing, are the +great majority." + +"Even if that is true, which I doubt, I do not see why the intelligent +few should be ruled by that same ignorant majority." + +"But you forget that the majority is to be educated," objected Del +Ferice. + +"Education is a term few people can define," returned Giovanni. "Any good +schoolmaster knows vastly more than you or I. Would you like to be +governed by a majority of schoolmasters?" + +"That is a plausible argument," laughed Del Ferice, "but it is not +sound." + +"It is not sound!" repeated Giovanni, impatiently. "People are so fond of +exclaiming that what they do not like is not sound! Do you think that it +would not be a fair case to put five hundred schoolmasters against five +hundred gentlemen of average education? I think it would be very fair. +The schoolmasters would certainly have the advantage in education: do you +mean to say they would make better or wiser electors than the same number +of gentlemen who cannot name all the cities and rivers in Italy, nor +translate a page of Latin without a mistake, but who understand the +conditions of property by practical experience as no schoolmaster can +possibly understand them? I tell you it is nonsense. Education, of the +kind which is of any practical value in the government of a nation, means +the teaching of human motives, of humanising ideas, of some system +whereby the majority of electors can distinguish the qualities of honesty +and common-sense in the candidate they wish to elect. I do not pretend to +say what that system may be, but I assert that no education which does +not lead to that kind of knowledge is of any practical use to the voting +majority of a constitutionally governed country." + +Del Ferice sighed rather sadly. + +"I am afraid you will not discover that system in Europe," he said. He +was disappointed in Giovanni, and in his hopes of detecting in him some +signs of a revolutionary spirit. Saracinesca was a gentleman of the old +school, who evidently despised majorities and modern political science as +a whole, who for the sake of his own interests desired no change from the +Government under which he lived, and who would surely be the first to +draw the sword for the temporal power, and the last to sheathe it. His +calm judgment concerning the fallacy of holding a hopeless position would +vanish like smoke if his fiery blood were once roused. He was so honest a +man that even Del Ferice could not suspect him of parading views he did +not hold; and Ugo then and there abandoned all idea of bringing him into +political trouble and disgrace, though he by no means gave up all hope of +being able to ruin him in some other way. + +"I agree with you there at least," said Saracinesca. "The only +improvements worth having are certainly not to be found in Europe. Donna +Tullia is calling us. We had better join that harmless flock of lambs, +and give over speculating on the advantages of allying ourselves with a +pack of wolves who will eat us up, house and home, bag and baggage." + +So the whole party climbed again to their seats upon the drag, and +Valdarno drove them back into Rome by the Porta San Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Corona d'Astrardente had been educated in a convent--that is to say, she +had been brought up in the strict practice of her religion; and during +the five years which had elapsed since she had come out into the world, +she had found no cause for forsaking the habits she had acquired in her +girlhood. Some people find religion a burden; others regard it as an +indifferently useless institution, in which they desire no share, and +concerning which they never trouble themselves; others, again, look upon +it as the mainstay of their lives. + +It is natural to suppose that the mode of thought and the habits acquired +by young girls in a religious institution will not disappear without a +trace when they first go into the world, and it may even be expected that +some memory of the early disposition thus cultivated will cling to them +throughout their lives. But the multifarious interests of social +existence do much to shake that young edifice of faith. The driving +strength of stormy passions of all kinds undermines the walls of the +fabric, and when at last the bolt of adversity strikes full upon the +keystone of the arch, upon the self of man or woman, weakened and +loosened by the tempests of years, the whole palace of the soul falls in, +a hopeless wreck, wherein not even the memory of outline can be traced, +nor the faint shadow of a beauty which is destroyed for ever. + +But there are some whose interests in this world are not strong enough to +shake their faith in the next; whose passions do not get the mastery, and +whose self is sheltered from danger by something more than the feeble +defence of an accomplished egotism. Corona was one of these, for her lot +had not been happy, nor her path strewn with roses. + +She was a friendless woman, destined to suffer much, and her suffering +was the more intense that she seemed always upon the point of finding +friends in the world where she played so conspicuous a part. There can be +little happiness when a whole life has been placed upon a false +foundation, even though so dire a mistake may have been committed +willingly and from a sense of duty and obligation, such as drove Corona +to marry old Astrardente. Consolation is not satisfaction; and though, +when she reflected on what she had done, she knew that from her point of +view she had done her best, she knew also that she had closed upon +herself the gates of the earthly paradise, and that for her the prospect +of happiness had been removed from the now to the hereafter--the dim and +shadowy glass in which we love to see any reflection save that of our +present lives. And to her, thus living in submission to the consequences +of her choice, that faith in things better which had inspired her to +sacrifice was the chief remaining source of consolation. There was a good +man to whom she went for advice, as she had gone to him ever since she +could remember. When she found herself in trouble she never hesitated. +Padre Filippo was to her the living proof of the possibility of human +goodness, as faith is to us all the evidence of things not seen. + +Corona was in trouble now--in a trouble so new that she hardly understood +it, so terrible and yet so vague that she felt her peril imminent. She +did not hesitate, therefore, nor change her mind upon the morning +following the day of the meet, but drove to the church of the Capuchins +in the Piazza Barberini, and went up the broad steps with a beating +heart, not knowing how she should tell what she meant to tell, yet +knowing that there was for her no hope of peace unless she told it +quickly, and got that advice and direction she so earnestly craved. + +Padre Filippo had been a man of the world in his time--a man of great +cultivation, full of refined tastes and understanding of tastes in +others, gentle and courteous in his manners, and very kind of heart. No +one knew whence he came. He spoke Italian correctly and with a keen +scholarly use of words, but his slight accent betrayed his foreign birth. +He had been a Capuchin monk for many years, perhaps for more than half +his lifetime, and Corona could remember him from her childhood, for he +had been a friend of her father's; but he had not been consulted about +her marriage,--she even remembered that, though she had earnestly desired +to see him before the wedding-day, her father had told her that he had +left Rome for a time. For the old gentleman was in terrible earnest about +the match, so that in his heart he feared lest Corona might waver and ask +Padre Filippo's advice; and he knew the good monk too well to think that +he would give his countenance to such a sacrifice as was contemplated +in marrying the young girl to old Astrardente. Corona had known this +later, but had hardly realised the selfishness of her father, nor indeed +had desired to realise it. It was sufficient that he had died satisfied +in seeing her married to a great noble, and that she had been able, in +his last days, to relieve him from the distress of debt and embarrassment +which had doubtless contributed to shorten his life. + +The proud woman who had thus once humbled herself for an object she +thought good, had never referred to her action again. She had never +spoken of her position to Padre Filippo, so that the monk wondered and +admired her steadfastness. If she suffered, it was in silence, without +comment and without complaint, and so she would have suffered to the end. +But it had been ordered otherwise. For months she had known that the +interest she felt in Giovanni Saracinesca was increasing: she had choked +it down, had done all in her power to prove herself indifferent to him; +but at last the crisis had come. When he spoke to her of his marriage, +she had felt--she knew now that it was so--that she loved him. The very +word, as she repeated it to herself, rang like an awful, almost +incomprehensible, accusation of evil in her ears. One moment she stood at +the top of the steps outside the church, looking down at the bare +straggling trees below, and upward to the grey sky, against which the +lofty eaves of the Palazzo Barberini stood out sharply defined. The +weather had changed again, and a soft southerly wind was blowing the +spray of the fountain half across the piazza. Corona paused, her graceful +figure half leaning against the stone doorpost of the church, her hand +upon the heavy leathern curtain in the act to lift it; and as she stood +there, a desperate temptation assailed her. It seemed desperate to +her--to many another woman it would have appeared only the natural course +to pursue--to turn her back upon the church, to put off the hard moment +of confession, to go down again into the city, and to say to herself that +there was no harm in seeing Don Giovanni, provided she never let him +speak of love. Why should he speak of it? Had she any reason to suppose +there was danger to her in anything he meant to say? Had he ever, by word +or deed, betrayed that interest in her which she knew in herself was love +for him? Had he ever?--ah yes! It was only the night before last that he +had asked her advice, had besought her to advise him not to marry +another, had suffered his arm to tremble when she laid her hand upon it. +In the quick remembrance that he too had shown some feeling, there was a +sudden burst of joy such as Corona had never felt, and a moment later she +knew it and was afraid. It was true, then. At the very time when she was +most oppressed with the sense of her fault in loving him, there was an +inward rejoicing in her heart at the bare thought that she loved him. +Could a woman fall lower, she asked herself--lower than to delight in +what she knew to be most bad? And yet it was such a poor little thrill of +pleasure after all; but it was the first she had ever known. To turn away +and reflect for a few days would be so easy! It would be so sweet to +think of it, even though the excuse for thinking of Giovanni should be a +good determination to root him from her life. It would be so sweet to +drive again alone among the trees that very afternoon, and to weigh the +salvation of her soul in the balance of her heart: her heart would know +how to turn the scales, surely enough. Corona stood still, holding the +curtain in her hand. She was a brave woman, but she turned pale--not +hesitating, she said to herself, but pausing. Then, suddenly, a great +scorn of herself arose in her. Was it worthy of her even to pause in +doing right? The nobility of her courage cried loudly to her to go in and +do the thing most worthy: her hand lifted the heavy leathern apron, and +she entered the church. + +The air within was heavy and moist, and the grey light fell coldly +through the tall windows. Corona shuddered, and drew her furs more +closely about her as she passed up the aisle to the door of the sacristy. +She found the monk she sought, and she made her confession. + +"Padre mio," she said at last, when the good man thought she had +finished--"Padre mio, I am a very miserable woman." She hid her dark face +in her ungloved hands, and one by one the crystal tears welled from her +eyes and trickled down upon her small fingers and upon the worn black +wood of the confessional. + +"My daughter," said the good monk, "I will pray for you, others will pray +for you--but before all things, you must pray for yourself. And let me +advise you, my child, that as we are all led into temptation, we must +not think that because we have been in temptation we have sinned +hopelessly; nor, if we have fought against the thing that tempts us, +should we at once imagine that we have overcome it, and have done +altogether right. If there were no evil in ourselves, there could be no +temptation from without, for nothing evil could seem pleasant. But with +you I cannot find that you have done any great wrong as yet. You must +take courage. We are all in the world, and do what we may, we cannot +disregard it. The sin you see is real, but it is yet not very near you +since you so abhor it; and if you pray that you may hate it, it will go +further from you till you may hope not even to understand how it could +once have been so near. Take courage--take comfort. Do not be morbid. +Resist temptation, but do not analyse it nor yourself too closely; for +it is one of the chief signs of evil in us that when we dwell too much +upon ourselves and upon our temptations, we ourselves seem good in our +own eyes, and our temptations not unpleasant, because the very resisting +of them seems to make us appear better than we are." + +But the tears still flowed from Corona's eyes in the dark corner of the +church, and she could not be comforted. + +"Padre mio," she repeated, "I am very unhappy. I have not a friend in the +world to whom I can speak. I have never seen my life before as I see it +now. God forgive me, I have never loved my husband. I never knew what it +meant to love. I was a mere child, a very innocent child, when I was +married to him. I would have sought your advice, but they told me you +were away, and I thought I was doing right in obeying my father." + +Padre Filippo sighed. He had long known and understood why Corona had not +been allowed to come to him at the most important moment of her life. + +"My husband is very kind to me," she continued in broken tones. "He loves +me in his way, but I do not love him. That of itself is a great sin. It +seems to me as though I saw but one half of life, and saw it from the +window of a prison; and yet I am not imprisoned. I would that I were, for +I should never have seen another man. I should never have heard his +voice, nor seen his face, nor--nor loved him, as I do love him," she +sobbed. + +"Hush, my daughter," said the old monk, very gently. "You told me you had +never spoken of love; that you were interested in him, indeed, but that +you did not know--" + +"I know--I know now," cried Corona, losing all control as the passionate +tears flowed down. "I could not say it--it seemed so dreadful--I love him +with my whole self! I can never get it out--it burns me. O God, I am so +wretched!" + +Padre Filippo was silent for a while. It was a terrible case. He could +not remember in all his experience to have known one more sad to +contemplate, though his business was with the sins and the sorrows of the +world. The beautiful woman kneeling outside his confessional was +innocent--as innocent as a child, brave and faithful. She had sacrificed +her whole life for her father, who had been little worthy of such +devotion; she had borne for years the suffering of being tied to an old +man whom she could not help despising, however honestly she tried to +conceal the fact from herself, however effectually she hid it from +others. It was a wonder the disaster had not occurred before: it showed +how loyal and true a woman she was, that, living in the very centre and +midst of the world, admired and assailed by many, she should never in +five years have so much as thought of any man beside her husband. A woman +made for love and happiness, in the glory of beauty and youth, capable +of such unfaltering determination in her loyalty, so good, so noble, so +generous,--it seemed unspeakably pathetic to hear her weeping her heart +out, and confessing that, after so many struggles and efforts and +sacrifices, she had at last met the common fate of all humanity, and +was become subject to love. What might have been her happiness was turned +to dishonour; what should have been the pride of her young life was made +a reproach. + +She would not fall. The grey-haired monk believed that, in his great +knowledge of mankind. But she would suffer terribly, and it might be that +others would suffer also. It was the consequence of an irretrievable +error in the beginning, when it had seemed to the young girl just +leaving the convent that the best protection against the world of evil +into which she was to go would be the unconditional sacrifice of herself. + +Padre Filippo was silent. He hoped that the passionate outburst of grief +and self-reproach would pass, though he himself could find little enough +to say. It was all too natural. What was he, he thought, that he should +explain away nature, and bid a friendless woman defy a power that has +more than once overset the reckoning of the world? He could bid her pray +for help and strength, but he found it hard to argue the case with her; +for he had to allow that his beautiful penitent was, after all, only +experiencing what it might have been foretold that she must feel, and +that, as far as he could see, she was struggling bravely against the +dangers of her situation. + +Corona cried bitterly as she knelt there. It was a great relief to give +way for a time to the whole violence of what she felt. It may be that in +her tears there was a subtle instinctive knowledge that she was weeping +for her love as well as for her sin in loving, but her grief was none +the less real. She did not understand herself. She did not know, as Padre +Filippo knew, that her woman's heart was breaking for sympathy rather +than for religious counsel. She knew many women, but her noble pride +would not have let her even contemplate the possibility of confiding in +any one of them, even if she could have done so in the certainty of not +being herself betrayed and of not betraying the man she loved. She had +been accustomed to come to her confessor for counsel, and she now came to +him with her troubles and craved sympathy for them, in the knowledge that +Padre Filippo could never know the name of the man who had disturbed her +peace. + +But the monk understood well enough, and his kind heart comprehended hers +and felt for her. + +"My daughter," he said at last, when she seemed to have grown more calm, +"it would be an inestimable advantage if this man could go away for a +time, but that is probably not to be expected. Meanwhile, you must not +listen to him if he speaks--" + +"It is not that," interrupted Corona--"it is not that. He never speaks of +love. Oh, I really believe he does not love me at all!" But in her heart +she felt that he must love her; and her hand, as it lay upon the hard +wood of the confessional, seemed still to feel his trembling arm. + +"That is so much the better, my child," said the monk, quietly. "For if +he does not love you, your temptations will not grow stronger." + +"And yet, perhaps--he may--" murmured Corona, feeling that it would be +wrong even to conceal her faintest suspicions at such a time. + +"Let there be no perhaps," answered Padre Filippo, almost sternly. "Let +it never enter your mind that he might love you. Think that even from the +worldly point there is small dignity in a woman who exhibits love for a +man who has never mentioned love to her. You have no reason to suppose +you are loved save that you desire to be. Let there be no perhaps." + +The monk's keen insight into character had given him an unexpected weapon +in Corona's defence. He knew how of all things a proud woman hates to +know that where she has placed her heart there is no response, and that +if she fails to awaken an affection akin to her own, what has been love +may be turned to loathing, or at least to indifference. The strong +character of the Duchessa d'Astrardente responded to his touch as he +expected. Her tears ceased to flow, and her scorn rose haughtily against +herself. + +"It is true. I am despicable," she said, suddenly. "You have shown me +myself. There shall be no perhaps. I loathe myself for thinking of it. +Pray for me, lest I fall so low again." + +A few minutes later Corona left the confessional and went and kneeled in +the body of the church to collect her thoughts. She was in a very +different frame of mind from that in which she had left home an hour ago. +She hardly knew whether she felt herself a better woman, but she was +sure that she was stronger. There was no desire left in her to meditate +sadly upon her sorrow--to go over and over in her thoughts the feelings +she experienced, the fears she felt, the half-formulated hope that +Giovanni might love her after all. There was left only a haughty +determination to have done with her folly quickly and surely, and to try +and forget it for ever. The confessor's words had produced their effect. +Henceforth she would never stoop so low again. She was ready to go out +into the world now, and she felt no fear. It was more from habit than for +the sake of saying a prayer that she knelt in the church after her +confession, for she felt very strong. She rose to her feet presently, and +moved towards the door: she had not gone half the length of the church +when she came face to face with Donna Tullia Mayer. + +It was a strange coincidence. The ladies of Rome frequently go to the +church of the Capuchins, as Corona had done, to seek the aid and counsel +of Padre Filippo, but Corona had never met Donna Tullia there. Madame +Mayer did not profess to be very devout. As a matter of fact, she had not +found it convenient to go to confession during the Christmas season, and +she had been intending to make up for the deficiency for some time past; +but it is improbable that she would have decided upon fulfilling her +religious obligations before Lent if she had not chanced to see the +Duchessa d'Astrardente's carriage standing at the foot of the church +steps. + +Donna Tullia had risen early because she was going to sit for her +portrait to a young artist who lived in the neighbourhood of the Piazza +Barberini, and as she passed in her brougham she caught sight of the +Duchessa's liveries. The artist could wait half an hour: the opportunity +was admirable. She was alone, and would not only do her duty in going to +confession, but would have a chance of seeing how Corona looked when she +had been at her devotions. It might also be possible to judge from Padre +Filippo's manner whether the interview had been an interesting one. The +Astrardente was so very devout that she probably had difficulty in +inventing sins to confess. One might perhaps tell from her face whether +she had felt any emotion. At all events the opportunity should not be +lost. Besides, if Donna Tullia found that she herself was really not in a +proper frame of mind for religious exercises, she could easily spend a +few moments in the church and then proceed upon her way. She stopped her +carriage and went in. She had just entered when she was aware of the tall +figure of Corona d'Astrardente coming towards her, magnificent in the +simplicity of her furs, a short veil just covering half her face, and an +unwonted colour in her dark cheeks. + +Corona was surprised at meeting Madame Mayer, but she did not show it. +She nodded with a sufficiently pleasant smile, and would have passed on. +This would not have suited Donna Tullia's intentions, however, for she +meant to have a good look at her friend. It was not for nothing that she +had made up her mind to go to confession at a moment's notice. She +therefore stopped the Duchessa, and insisted upon shaking hands. + +"What an extraordinary coincidence!" she exclaimed. "You must have been +to see Padre Filippo too?" + +"Yes," answered Corona. "You will find him in the sacristy." She noticed +that Madame Mayer regarded her with great interest. Indeed she could +hardly be aware how unlike her usual self she appeared. There were dark +rings beneath her eyes, and her eyes themselves seemed to emit a strange +light; while an unwonted colour illuminated her olive cheeks, and her +voice had a curiously excited tone. Madame Mayer stared at her so hard +that she noticed it. + +"Why do you look at me like that?" asked the Duchessa, with a smile. + +"I was wondering what in the world you could find to confess," replied +Donna Tullia, sweetly. "You are so immensely good, you see; everybody +wonders at you." + +Corona's eyes flashed darkly. She suspected that Madame Mayer noticed +something unusual in her appearance, and had made the awkward speech to +conceal her curiosity. She was annoyed at the meeting, still more at +being detained in conversation within the church. + +"It is very kind of you to invest me with such virtues," she answered. "I +assure you I am not half so good as you suppose. Good-bye--I must be +going home." + +"Stay!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "I can go to confession another time. +Will not you come with me to Gouache's studio? I am going to sit. It is +such a bore to go alone." + +"Thank you very much," said Corona, civilly. "I am afraid I cannot go. My +husband expects me at home. I wish you a good sitting." + +"Well, good-bye. Oh, I forgot to tell you, we had such a charming picnic +yesterday. It was so fortunate--the only fine day this week. Giovanni was +very amusing: he was completely _en train_, and kept us laughing the +whole day. Good-bye; I do so wish you had come." + +"I was very sorry," answered Corona, quietly, "but it was impossible. I +am glad you all enjoyed it so much. Good-bye." + +So they parted. + +"How she wishes that same husband of hers would follow the example of my +excellent old Mayer, of blessed memory, and take himself out of the world +to-day or to-morrow!" thought Donna Tullia, as she walked up the church. + +She was sure something unusual had occurred, and she longed to fathom the +mystery. But she was not altogether a bad woman, and when she had +collected her thoughts she made up her mind that even by the utmost +stretch of moral indulgence, she could not consider herself in a proper +state to undertake so serious a matter as confession. She therefore +waited a few minutes, to give time for Corona to drive away, and then +turned back. She cautiously pushed aside the curtain and looked out. +The Astrardente carriage was just disappearing in the distance. Donna +Tullia descended the steps, got into her brougham, and proceeded to the +studio of Monsieur Anastase Gouache, the portrait-painter. She had not +accomplished much, save to rouse her curiosity, and that parting thrust +concerning Don Giovanni had been rather ill-timed. + +She drove to the door of the studio and found Del Ferice waiting for her +as usual. If Corona had accompanied her, she would have expressed +astonishment at finding him; but, as a matter of fact, Ugo always met +her there, and helped to pass the time while she was sitting. He was very +amusing, and not altogether unsympathetic to her; and moreover, he +professed for her the most profound devotion--genuine, perhaps, and +certainly skilfully expressed. If any one had paid much attention to Del +Fence's doings, it would have been said that he was paying court to the +rich young widow. But he was never looked upon by society from the point +of view of matrimonial possibility, and no one thought of attaching any +importance to his doings. Nevertheless Ugo, who had been gradually rising +in the social scale for many years, saw no reason why he should not win +the hand of Donna Tullia as well as any one else, if only Giovanni +Saracinesca could be kept out of the way; and he devoted himself with +becoming assiduity to the service of the widow, while doing his utmost to +promote Giovanni's attachment for the Astrardente, which he had been the +first to discover. Donna Tullia would probably have laughed to scorn the +idea that Del Ferice could think of himself seriously as a suitor, but of +all her admirers she found him the most constant and the most convenient. + +"What are the news this morning?" she asked, as he opened her +carriage-door for her before the studio. + +"None, save that I am your faithful slave as ever," he answered. + +"I have just seen the Astrardente," said Donna Tullia, still sitting in +her seat. "I will let you guess where it was that we met." + +"You met in the church of the Capuchins," replied Del Ferice promptly, +with a smile of satisfaction. + +"You are a sorcerer: how did you know? Did you guess it?" + +"If you will look down this street from where I stand, you will perceive +that I could distinctly see any carriage which turned out of the Piazza +Barberini towards the Capuchins," replied Ugo. "She was there nearly an +hour, and you only stayed five minutes." + +"How dreadful it is to be watched like this!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, +with a little laugh, half expressive of satisfaction and half of +amusement at Del Fence's devotion. + +"How can I help watching you, as the earth watches the sun in its daily +course?" said Ugo, with a sentimental intonation of his soft persuasive +voice. Donna Tullia looked at his smooth face, and laughed again, half +kindly. + +"The Astrardente had been confessing her sins," she remarked. + +"Again? She is always confessing." + +"What do you suppose she finds to say?" asked Donna Tullia. + +"That her husband is hideous, and that you are beautiful," answered Del +Ferice, readily enough. + +"Why?" + +"Because she hates her husband and hates you." + +"Why, again?" + +"Because you took Giovanni Saracinesca to your picnic yesterday; because +you are always taking him away from her. For the matter of that, I hate +him as much as the Astrardente hates you," added Del Ferice, with an +agreeable smile. Donna Tullia did not despise flattery, but Ugo made her +thoughtful. + +"Do you think she really cares--?" she asked. + +"As surely as that he does not," replied Del Ferice. + +"It would be strange," said Donna Tullia, meditatively. "I would like to +know if it is true." + +"You have only to watch them." + +"Surely Giovanni cares more than she does," objected Madame Mayer. +"Everybody says he loves her; nobody says she loves him." + +"All the more reason. Popular report is always mistaken--except +in regard to you." + +"To me?" + +"Since it ascribes to you so much that is good, it cannot be wrong," +replied Del Ferice. + +Donna Tullia laughed, and took his hand to descend from her carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Monsieur Gouache's studio was on the second floor. The narrow flight of +steps ended abruptly against a green door, perforated by a slit for the +insertion of letters, by a shabby green cord which, being pulled, rang a +feeble bell, and adorned by a visiting-card, whereon with many +superfluous flourishes and ornaments of caligraphy was inscribed the name +of the artist--ANASTASE GOUACHE. + +The door being opened by a string, Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, +and mounting half-a-dozen more steps, found themselves in the studio, a +spacious room with a window high above the floor, half shaded by a +curtain of grey cotton. In one corner an iron stove gave out loud +cracking sounds, pleasant to hear on the damp winter's morning, and the +flame shone red through chinks of the rusty door. A dark-green carpet in +passably good condition covered the floor; three or four broad divans, +spread with oriental rugs, and two very much dilapidated carved chairs +with leathern seats, constituted the furniture; the walls were hung with +sketches of heads and figures; half-finished portraits stood upon two +easels, and others were leaning together in a corner; a couple of small +tables were covered with colour-tubes, brushes, and palette-knives; +mingled odours of paint, varnish, and cigarette-smoke pervaded the air; +and, lastly, upon a high stool before one of the easels, his sleeves +turned up to the elbow, and his feet tucked in upon a rail beneath him, +sat Anastase Gouache himself. + +He was a man of not more than seven-and-twenty years, with delicate pale +features, and an abundance of glossy black hair. A small and very much +pointed moustache shaded his upper lip, and the extremities thereof rose +short and perpendicular from the corners of his well-shaped mouth. His +eyes were dark and singularly expressive, his forehead low and very +broad; his hands were sufficiently nervous and well knit, but white as a +woman's, and the fingers tapered delicately to the tips. He wore a brown +velvet coat more or less daubed with paint, and his collar was low at the +throat. + +He sprang from his high stool as Donna Tullia and Del Ferice entered, his +palette and mahl-stick in his hand, and made a most ceremonious bow; +whereat Donna Tullia laughed gaily. + +"Well, Gouache," she said familiarly, "what have you been doing?" + +Anastase motioned to her to come before his canvas and contemplate the +portrait of herself upon which he was working. It was undeniably good--a +striking figure in full-length, life-size, and breathing with Donna +Tullia's vitality, if also with something of her coarseness. + +"Ah, my friend," remarked Del Ferice, "you will never be successful until +you take my advice." + +"I think it is very like," said Donna Tullia, thoughtfully. + +"You are too modest," answered Del Ferice. "There is the foundation of +likeness, but it lacks yet the soul." + +"Oh, but that will come," returned Madame Mayer. Then turning to the +artist, she added in a more doubtful voice, "Perhaps, as Del Ferice says, +you might give it a little more expression--what shall I say?--more +poetry." + +Anastase Gouache smiled a fine smile. He was a man of immense talent; +since he had won the Prix de Rome he had made great progress, and was +already half famous with that young celebrity which young men easily +mistake for fame itself. A new comet visible only through a good glass +causes a deal of talk and speculation in the world; but unless it comes +near enough to brush the earth with its tail, it is very soon forgotten. +But Gouache seemed to understand this, and worked steadily on. When +Madame Mayer expressed a wish for a little more poetry in her portrait, +he smiled, well knowing that poetry was as far removed from her nature as +dry champagne is different in quality from small beer. + +"Yes," he said; "I know--I am only too conscious of that defect." As +indeed he was--conscious of the defect of it in herself. But he had many +reasons for not wishing to quarrel with Donna Tullia, and he swallowed +his artistic convictions in a rash resolve to make her look like an +inspired prophetess rather than displease her. + +"If you will sit down, I will work upon the head," he said; and moving +one of the old carved chairs into position for her, he adjusted the light +and began to work without any further words. Del Ferice installed himself +upon a divan whence he could see Donna Tullia and her portrait, and the +sitting began. It might have continued for some time in a profound +silence as far as the two men were concerned, but silence was not +bearable for long to Donna Tullia. + +"What were you and Saracinesca talking about yesterday?" she asked +suddenly, looking towards Del Ferice. + +"Politics," he answered, and was silent. + +"Well?" inquired Madame Mayer, rather anxiously. + +"I am sure you know his views as well as I," returned Del Ferice, rather +gloomily. "He is stupid and prejudiced." + +"Really?" ejaculated Gouache, with innocent surprise. "A little more +towards me, Madame. Thank you--so." And he continued painting. + +"You are absurd, Del Ferice!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, colouring a little. +"You think every one prejudiced and stupid who does not agree with you." + +"With me? With you, with us, you should say. Giovanni is a specimen of +the furious Conservative, who hates change and has a cold chill at the +word 'republic' Do you call that intelligent?" + +"Giovanni is intelligent for all that," answered Madame Mayer. "I am not +sure that he is not more intelligent than you--in some ways," she added, +after allowing her rebuke to take effect. + +Del Ferice smiled blandly. It was not his business to show that he was +hurt. + +"In one thing he is stupid compared with me," he replied. "He is very far +from doing justice to your charms. It must be a singular lack of +intelligence which prevents him from seeing that you are as beautiful as +you are charming. Is it not so, Gouache?" + +"Does any one deny it?" asked the Frenchman, with an air of devotion. + +Madame Mayer blushed with annoyance; both because she coveted Giovanni's +admiration more than that of other men, and knew that she had not won it, +and because she hated to feel that Del Ferice was able to wound her so +easily. To cover her discomfiture she returned to the subject of +politics. + +"We talk a great deal of our convictions," she said; "but in the +meanwhile we must acknowledge that we have accomplished nothing at all. +What is the good of our meeting here two or three times a-week, meeting +in society, whispering together, corresponding in cipher, and doing all +manner of things, when everything goes on just the same as before?" + +"Better give it up and join Don Giovanni and his party," returned Del +Ferice, with a sneer. "He says if a change comes he will make the best of +it. Of course, we could not do better." + +"With us it is so easy," said Gouache, thoughtfully. "A handful of +students, a few paving-stones, 'Vive la Republique!' and we have a tumult +in no time." + +That was not the kind of revolution in which Del Ferice proposed to have +a hand. He meditated playing a very small part in some great movement; +and when the fighting should be over, he meant to exaggerate the part he +had played, and claim a substantial reward. For a good title and twenty +thousand francs a-year he would have become as stanch for the temporal +power as any canon of St. Peter's. When he had begun talking of +revolutions to Madame Mayer and to half-a-dozen harebrained youths, of +whom Gouache the painter was one, he had not really the slightest idea of +accomplishing anything. He took advantage of the prevailing excitement +in order to draw Donna Tullia into a closer confidence than he could +otherwise have aspired to obtain. He wanted to marry her, and every new +power he could obtain over her was a step towards his goal. Neither she +nor her friends were of the stuff required for revolutionary work; but +Del Ferice had hopes that, by means of the knot of malcontents he was +gradually drawing together, he might ruin Giovanni Saracinesca, and get +the hand of Donna Tullia in marriage. He himself was indeed deeply +implicated in the plots of the Italian party; but he was only employed as +a spy, and in reality knew no more of the real intentions of those he +served than did Donna Tullia herself. But the position was sufficiently +lucrative; so much so that he had been obliged to account for his +accession of fortune by saying that an uncle of his had died and left him +money. + +"If you expected Don Giovanni to join a mob of students in tearing up +paving-stones and screaming 'Vive la Republique!' I am not surprised that +you are disappointed in your expectations," said Donna Tullia, rather +scornfully. + +"That is only Gouache's idea of a popular movement," answered Del Ferice. + +"And yours," returned Anastase, lowering his mahl-stick and brushes, and +turning sharply upon the Italian--"yours would be to begin by stabbing +Cardinal Antonelli in the back." + +"You mistake me, my friend," returned Del Ferice, blandly. "If you +volunteered to perform that service to Italy, I would certainly not +dissuade you. But I would certainly not offer you my assistance." + +"Fie! How can you talk like that of murder!" exclaimed Donna Tullia. "Go +on with your painting, Gouache, and do not be ridiculous." + +"The question of tyrannicide is marvellously interesting," answered +Anastase in a meditative tone, as he resumed his work, and glanced +critically from Madame Mayer to his canvas and back again. + +"It belongs to a class of actions at which Del Ferice rejoices, but in +which he desires no part," said Donna Tullia. + +"It seems to me wiser to contemplate accomplishing the good result +without any unnecessary and treacherous bloodshed," answered Del Ferice, +sententiously. Again Gouache smiled in his delicate satirical fashion, +and glanced at Madame Mayer, who burst into a laugh. + +"Moral reflections never sound so especially and ridiculously moral as in +your mouth, Ugo," she said. + +"Why?" he asked, in an injured tone. + +"I am sure I do not know. Of course, we all would like to see Victor +Emmanuel in the Quirinal, and Rome the capital of a free Italy. Of course +we would all like to see it accomplished without murder or bloodshed; but +somehow, when you put it into words, it sounds very absurd." + +In her brutal fashion Madame Mayer had hit upon a great truth, and Del +Ferice was very much annoyed. He knew himself to be a scoundrel; he knew +Madame Mayer to be a woman of very commonplace intellect; he wondered +why he was not able to deceive her more effectually. He was often able to +direct her, he sometimes elicited from her some expression of admiration +at his astuteness; but in spite of his best efforts, she saw through him +and understood him better than he liked. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that what is honourable should sound ridiculous +when it comes from me. I like to think sometimes that you believe in me." + +"Oh, I do," protested Donna Tullia, with a sudden change of manner. "I +was only laughing. I think you are really in earnest. Only, you know, +nowadays, it is not the fashion to utter moralities in a severe tone, +with an air of conviction. A little dash of cynicism--you know, a sort of +half sneer--is so much more _chic_; it gives a much higher idea of the +morality, because it conveys the impression that it is utterly beyond +you. Ask Gouache--" + +"By all means," said the artist, squeezing a little more red from the +tube upon his palette, "one should always sneer at what one cannot reach. +The fox, you remember, called the grapes sour. He was probably right, for +he is the most intelligent of animals." + +"I would like to hear what Giovanni had to say about those grapes," +remarked Donna Tullia. + +"Oh, he sneered in the most fashionable way," answered Del Ferice. "He +would have pleased you immensely. He said that he would be ruined by a +change of government, and that he thought it his duty to fight against +it. He talked a great deal about the level of the Tiber, and landed +property, and the duties of gentlemen. And he ended by saying he would +make the best of any change that happened to come about, like a +thoroughgoing egotist, as he is!" + +"I would like to hear what you think of Don Giovanni Saracinesca," said +Gouache; "and then I would like to hear what he thinks of you." + +"I can tell you both," answered Del Fence. "I think of him that he is a +thorough aristocrat, full of prejudices and money, unwilling to sacrifice +his convictions to his wealth or his wealth to his convictions, +intelligent in regard to his own interests and blind to those of others, +imbued with a thousand and one curious feudal notions, and overcome with +a sense of his own importance." + +"And what does he think of you?" asked Anastase, working busily. + +"Oh, it is very simple," returned Del Ferice, with a laugh. "He thinks I +am a great scoundrel." + +"Really! How strange! I should not have said that." + +"What? That Del Fence is a scoundrel?" asked Donna Tullia, laughing. + +"No; I should not have said it," repeated Anastase, thoughtfully. "I +should say that our friend Del Ferice is a man of the most profound +philanthropic convictions, nobly devoting his life to the pursuit of +liberty, fraternity, and equality." + +"Do you really think so?" asked Donna Tullia, with a half-comic glance at +Ugo, who looked uncommonly grave. + +"Madame," returned Gouache, "I never permit myself to think otherwise of +any of my friends." + +"Upon my word," remarked Del Fence, "I am delighted at the compliment, my +dear fellow; but I must infer that your judgment of your friends is +singularly limited." + +"Perhaps," answered Gouache. "But the number of my friends is not large, +and I myself am very enthusiastic. I look forward to the day when +'liberty, equality, and fraternity' shall be inscribed in letters of +flame, in the most expensive Bengal lights if you please, over the _porte +cochere_ of every palace in Rome, not to mention the churches. I look +forward to that day, but I have not the slightest expectation of ever +seeing it. Moreover, if it ever comes, I will pack up my palette and +brushes and go somewhere else by the nearest route." + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" exclaimed Donna Tullia; "how can you talk like +that? It is really dreadfully irreverent to jest about our most sacred +convictions, or to say that we desire to see those words written over the +doors of our churches!" + +"I am not jesting. I worship Victor Hugo. I love to dream of the +universal republic--it has immense artistic attractions--the fierce +yelling crowd, the savage faces, the red caps, the terrible maenad women +urging the brawny ruffians on to shed more blood, the lurid light of +burning churches, the pale and trembling victims dragged beneath the +poised knife,--ah, it is superb, it has stupendous artistic capabilities! +But for myself--bah! I am a good Catholic--I wish nobody any harm, for +life is very gay after all." + +At this remarkable exposition of Anastase Gouache's views in regard to +the utility of revolutions, Del Ferice laughed loudly; but Anastase +remained perfectly grave, for he was perfectly sincere. Del Ferice, to +whom the daily whispered talk of revolution in Donna Tullia's circle was +mere child's play, was utterly indifferent, and suffered himself to be +amused by the young artist's vagaries. But Donna Tullia, who longed to +see herself the centre of a real plot, thought that she was being +laughed at, and pouted her red lips and frowned her displeasure. + +"I believe you have no convictions!" she said angrily. "While we are +risking our lives and fortunes for the good cause, you sit here in your +studio dreaming of barricades and guillotines, merely as subjects for +pictures--you even acknowledge that in case we produce a revolution +you would go away." + +"Not without finishing this portrait," returned Anastase, quite unmoved. +"It is an exceedingly good likeness; and in case you should ever +disappear--you know people sometimes do in revolutions--or if by any +unlucky accident your beautiful neck should chance beneath that +guillotine you just mentioned,--why, then, this canvas would be the most +delightful souvenir of many pleasant mornings, would it not?" + +"You are incorrigible," said Donna Tullia, with a slight laugh. "You +cannot be serious for a moment." + +"It is very hard to paint you when your expression changes so often," +replied Anastase, calmly. + +"I am not in a good humour for sitting to you this morning. I wish you +would amuse me, Del Ferice. You generally can." + +"I thought politics amused you--" + +"They interest me. But Gouache's ideas are detestable." + +"Will you not give us some of your own, Madame?" inquired the painter, +stepping back from his canvas to get a better view of his work. + +"Oh, mine are very simple," answered Donna Tullia. "Victor Emmanuel, +Garibaldi, and a free press." + +"A combination of monarchy, republicanism, and popular education--not +very interesting," remarked Gouache, still eyeing his picture. + +"No; there would be nothing for you to paint, except portraits of the +liberators--" + +"There is a great deal of that done. I have seen them in every cafe in +the north of Italy," interrupted the artist. "I would like to paint +Garibaldi. He has a fine head." + +"I will ask him to sit to you when he comes here." + +"When he comes I shall be here no longer," answered Gouache. "They will +whitewash the Corso, they will make a restaurant of the Colosseum, and +they will hoist the Italian flag on the cross of St. Peter's. Then I will +go to Constantinople; there will still be some years before Turkey is +modernised." + +"Artists are hopeless people," said Del Ferice. "They are utterly +illogical, and it is impossible to deal with them. If you like old +cities, why do you not like old women? Why would you not rather paint +Donna Tullia's old Countess than Donna Tullia herself?" + +"That is precisely the opposite case," replied Anastase, quietly. "The +works of man are never so beautiful as when they are falling to decay; +the works of God are most beautiful when they are young. You might as +well say that because wine improves with age, therefore horses do +likewise. The faculty of comparison is lacking in your mind, my dear Del +Ferice, as it is generally lacking in the minds of true patriots. Great +reforms and great revolutions are generally brought about by people of +fierce and desperate convictions, like yours, who go to extreme lengths, +and never know when to stop. The quintessence of an artist's talent is +precisely that faculty of comparison, that gift of knowing when the thing +he is doing corresponds as nearly as he can make it with the thing he has +imagined." + +There was no tinge of sarcasm in Gouache's voice as he imputed to Del +Ferice the savage enthusiasm of a revolutionist. But when Gouache, who +was by no means calm by nature, said anything in a particularly gentle +tone, there was generally a sting in it, and Del Ferice reflected upon +the mean traffic in stolen information by which he got his livelihood, +and was ashamed. Somehow, too, Donna Tullia felt that the part she +fancied herself playing was contemptible enough when compared with the +hard work, the earnest purpose, and the remarkable talent of the young +artist. But though she felt her inferiority, she would have died rather +than own it, even to Del Ferice. She knew that for months she had talked +with Del Ferice, with Valdarno, with Casalverde, even with the melancholy +and ironical Spicca, concerning conspiracies and deeds of darkness of all +kinds, and she knew that she and they might go on talking for ever in the +same strain without producing the smallest effect on events; but she +never to the very end relinquished the illusion she cherished so dearly, +that she was really and truly a conspirator, and that if any one of her +light-headed acquaintance betrayed the rest, they might all be ordered +out of Rome in four-and-twenty hours, or might even disappear into that +long range of dark buildings to the left of the colonnade of St. Peter's, +martyrs to the cause of their own self-importance and semi-theatrical +vanity. There were many knots of such self-fancied conspirators in those +days, whose wildest deed of daring was to whisper across a glass of +champagne in a ball-room, or over a tumbler of Velletri wine in a +Trasteverine cellar, the magic and awe-inspiring words, "Viva Garibaldi! +Viva Vittorio!" They accomplished nothing. The same men and women are now +grumbling and regretting the flesh-pots of the old Government, or +whispering in impotent discontent "Viva la Repubblica!" and they and +their descendants will go on whispering something to each other to the +end of time, while mightier hands than theirs are tearing down empires +and building up irresistible coalitions, and drawing red pencil-marks +through the geography of Europe. + +The conspirators of those days accomplished nothing after Pius IX. +returned from Gaeta; the only men who were of any use at all were those +who, like Del Ferice, had sources of secret information, and basely sold +their scraps of news. But even they were of small importance. The moment +had not come, and all the talking and whispering and tale-bearing in the +world could not hasten events, nor change their course. But Donna Tullia +was puffed up with a sense of her importance, and Del Ferice managed to +attract just as much attention to his harmless chatter about progress as +would permit him undisturbed to carry on his lucrative traffic in secret +information. + +Donna Tullia, who was not in the least artistic, and who by no means +appreciated the merits of the portrait Gouache was painting, was very far +from comprehending his definition of artistic comparison; but Del Ferice +understood it very well. Donna Tullia had much foreign blood in her +veins, like most of her class; but Del Ferice's obscure descent was in +all probability purely Italian, and he had inherited the common instinct +in matters of art which is a part of the Italian birthright. He had +recognised Gouache's wonderful talent, and had first brought Donna Tullia +to his studio--a matter of little difficulty when she had learned that +the young artist had already a reputation. It pleased her to fancy that +by telling him to paint her portrait she might pose as his patroness, and +hereafter reap the reputation of having influenced his career. For +fashion, and the desire to be the representative of fashion, led Donna +Tullia hither and thither as a lapdog is led by a string; and there +is nothing more in the fashion than to patronise a fashionable +portrait-painter. + +But after Anastase Gouache had thus delivered himself of his views upon +Del Ferice and the faculty of artistic comparison, the conversation +languished, and Donna Tullia grew restless. "She had sat enough," she +said; and as her expression was not favourable to the portrait, Anastase +did not contradict her, but presently suffered her to depart in peace +with her devoted adorer at her heels. And when they were gone, Anastase +lighted a cigarette, and took a piece of charcoal and sketched a +caricature of Donna Tullia in a liberty cap, in a fine theatrical +attitude, invoking the aid of Del Ferice, who appeared as the Angel of +Death, with the guillotine in the background. Having put the finishing +touches to this work of art, Anastase locked his studio and went to +breakfast, humming an air from the "Belle Helene." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +When Corona reached home she went to her own small boudoir, with the +intention of remaining there for an hour if she could do so without being +disturbed. There was a prospect of this; for on inquiry she ascertained +that her husband was not yet dressed, and his dressing took a very long +time. He had a cosmopolitan valet, who alone of living men understood the +art of fitting the artificial and the natural Astrardente together. +Corona believed this man to be an accomplished scoundrel; but she never +had any proof that he was anything worse than a very clever servant, +thoroughly unscrupulous where his master's interests or his own were +concerned. The old Duca believed in him sincerely and trusted him alone, +feeling that since he could never be a hero in his valet's eyes, he might +as well take advantage of that misfortune in order to gain a confident. + +Corona found three or four letters upon her table, and sat down to read +them, letting her fur mantle drop to the floor, and putting her small +feet out towards the fire, for the pavement of the church had been cold. + +She was destined to pass an eventful day, it seemed. One of the letters +was from Giovanni Saracinesca. It was the first time he had ever written +to her, and she was greatly surprised on finding his name at the foot of +the page. He wrote a strong clear handwriting, entirely without adornment +of penmanship, close and regular and straight: there was an air of +determination about it which was sympathetic, and a conciseness of +expression which startled Corona, as though she had heard the man himself +speaking to her. + +"I write, dear Duchessa, because I covet your good opinion, and my motive +is therefore before all things an interested one. I would not have you +think that I had idly asked your advice about a thing so important to me +as my marriage, in order to discard your counsel at the first +opportunity. There was too much reason in the view you took of the matter +to admit of my not giving your opinion all the weight I could, even if I +had not already determined upon the very course you advised. +Circumstances have occurred, however, which have almost induced me to +change my mind. I have had an interview with my father, who has put the +matter very plainly before me. I hardly know how to tell you this, but I +feel that I owe it to you to explain myself, however much you may despise +me for what I am going to say. It is very simple, nevertheless. My father +has informed me that by my conduct I have caused my name to be coupled +in the mouth of the gossips with that of a person very dear to me, but +whom I am unfortunately prevented from marrying. He has convinced me that +I owe to this lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me, the +only reparation possible to be made--that of taking a wife, and thus +publicly demonstrating that there was never any truth in what has been +said. As a marriage will probably be forced upon me some day, it is as +well to let things take their course at once, in order that a step so +disagreeable to myself may at least distantly profit one whom I love in +removing me from the appearance of being a factor in her life. The gossip +about me has never reached your ears, but if it should, you will be the +better able to understand my position. + +"Do not think, therefore, that if I do not follow your advice I am +altogether inconsistent, or that I wantonly presumed to consult you +without any intention of being guided by you. Forgive me also this +letter, which I am impelled to write from somewhat mean motives of +vanity, in the hope of not altogether forfeiting your opinion; and +especially I beg you to believe that I am at all times the most obedient +of your servants, + +"GIOVANNI SARACINESCA." + +Of what use was it that she had that morning determined to forget +Giovanni, since he had the power of thus bringing himself before her by +means of a scrap of paper? Corona's hand closed upon the letter +convulsively, and for a moment the room seemed to swim around her. + +So there was some one whom he loved, some one for whose fair name he was +willing to sacrifice himself even to the extent of marrying against his +will. Some one, too, who not only did not love him, but took no interest +whatever in him. Those were his own words, and they must be true, for he +never lied. That accounted for his accompanying Donna Tullia to the +picnic. He was going to marry her after all. To save the woman he loved +so hopelessly from the mere suspicion of being loved by him, he was going +to tie himself for life to the first who would marry him. That would +never prevent the gossips from saying that he loved this other woman as +much as ever. It could do her no great harm, since she took no interest +whatever in him. Who could she be, this cold creature, whom even Giovanni +could not move to interest? It was absurd--the letter was absurd--the +whole thing was absurd! None but a madman would think of pursuing such a +course; and why should he think it necessary to confide his plans--his +very foolish plans--to her, Corona d'Astrardente,--why? Ah, Giovanni, how +different things might have been! + +Corona rose angrily from her seat and leaned against the broad +chimney-piece, and looked at the clock--it was nearly mid-day. He might +marry whom he pleased, and be welcome--what was it to her? He might marry +and sacrifice himself if he pleased--what was it to her? + +She thought of her own life. She, too, had sacrificed herself; she, too, +had tied herself for life to a man she despised in her heart, and she had +done it for an object she had thought good. She looked steadily at the +clock, for she would not give way, nor bend her head and cry bitter tears +again; but the tears were in her eyes, nevertheless. + +"Giovanni, you must not do it--you must not do it!" Her lips formed the +words without speaking them, and repeated the thought again and again. +Her heart beat fast and her cheeks flushed darkly. She spread out the +crumpled letter and read it once more. As she read, the most intense +curiosity seized her to know who this woman might be whom Giovanni so +loved; and with her curiosity there was a new feeling--an utterly hateful +and hating passion--something so strong, that it suddenly dried her tears +and sent the blood from her cheeks back to her heart. Her white hand was +clenched, and her eyes were on fire. Ah, if she could only find that +woman he loved! if she could only see her dead--dead with Giovanni +Saracinesca there upon the floor before her! As she thought of it, she +stamped her foot upon the thick carpet, and her face grew paler. She did +not know what it was that she felt, but it completely overmastered her. +Padre Filippo would be pleased, she thought, for she knew how in that +moment she hated Giovanni Saracinesca. + +With a sudden impulse she again sat down and opened the letter next to +her hand. It was a gossiping epistle from a friend in Paris, full of +stories of the day, exclamations upon fashion and all kinds of emptiness; +she was about to throw it down impatiently and take up the next when her +eyes caught Giovanni's name. + +"Of course it is not true that Saracinesca is to marry Madame +Mayer..." were the words she read. But that was all. There chanced to +have been just room for the sentence at the foot of the page, and by the +time her friend had turned over the leaf, she had already forgotten what +she had written, and was running on with a different idea. It seemed as +though Corona were haunted by Giovanni at every turn; but she had not +reached the end yet, for one letter still remained. She tore open the +envelope, and found that the contents consisted of a few lines penned in +a small and irregular hand, without signature. There was an air of +disguise about the whole, which was unpleasant; it was written upon a +common sort of paper, and had come through the city post. It ran as +follows:-- + +"The Duchessa d'Astrardente reminds us of the fable of the dog in the +horse's manger, for she can neither eat herself nor let others eat. She +will not accept Don Giovanni Saracinesca's devotion, but she effectually +prevents him from fulfilling his engagements to others." + +If Corona had been in her ordinary mood, she would very likely have +laughed at the anonymous communication. She had formerly received more +than one passionate declaration, not signed indeed, but accompanied +always by some clue to the identity of the writer, and she had carelessly +thrown them into the fire. But there was no such indication here whereby +she might discover who it was who had undertaken to criticise her, to +cast upon her so unjust an accusation. Moreover, she was very angry and +altogether thrown out of her usually calm humour. Her first impulse was +to go to her husband, and in the strength of her innocence to show him +the letter. Then she laughed bitterly as she thought how the selfish old +dandy would scoff at her sensitiveness, and how utterly incapable he +would be of discovering the offender or of punishing the offence. Then +again her face was grave, and she asked herself whether it was true that +she was innocent; whether she were not really to be blamed, if perhaps +she had really prevented Giovanni from marrying Donna Tullia. + +But if that were true, she must herself be the woman he spoke of in his +letter. Any other woman would have suspected as much. Corona went to the +window, and for an instant there was a strange light of pleasure in her +face. Then she grew very thoughtful, and her whole mood changed. She +could not conceive it possible that Giovanni so loved her as to marry for +her sake. Besides, no one could ever have breathed a word of him in +connection with herself--until this abominable anonymous letter was +written. + +The thought that she might, after all, be the "person very dear to him," +the one who "took no interest whatever in him," had nevertheless crossed +her mind, and had given her for one moment a sense of wild and +indescribable pleasure. Then she remembered what she had felt before; how +angry, how utterly beside herself, she had been at the thought of another +woman being loved by him, and she suddenly understood that she was +jealous of her. The very thought revived in her the belief that it was +not she herself who was thus influencing the life of Giovanni +Saracinesca, but another, and she sat silent and pale. + +Of course it was another! What had she done, what word had she spoken, +whereby the world might pretend to believe that she controlled this man's +actions? "Fulfilling his engagements," the letter said, too. It must have +been written by an ignorant person--by some one who had no idea of what +was passing, and who wrote at random, hoping to touch a sensitive chord, +to do some harm, to inflict some pain, in petty vengeance for a fancied +slight. But in her heart, though she crushed down the instinct, she +would have believed the anonymous jest well founded, for the sake of +believing, too, that Giovanni Saracinesca was ready to lay his life at +her feet--although in that belief she would have felt that she was +committing a mortal sin. + +She went back to her interview that morning with Padre Filippo, and +thought over all she had said and all he had answered; how she had been +willing to admit the possibility of Giovanni's love, and how sternly the +confessor had ruled down the clause, and told her there should never +arise such a doubt in her mind; how she had scorned herself for being +capable of seeking love where there was none, and how she had sworn that +there should be no perhaps in the matter. It seemed very hard to do +right, but she would try to see where the right lay. In the first place, +she should burn the anonymous letter, and never condescend to think of +it; and she should also burn Giovanni's, because it would be an injustice +to him to keep it. She looked once more at the unsigned, ill-written +page, and, with a little scornful laugh, threw it from where she sat into +the fire with its envelope; then she took Giovanni's note, and would +have done the same, but her hand trembled, and the crumpled bit of paper +fell upon the hearth. She rose from her chair quickly, and took it up +again, kneeling before the fire, like some beautiful dark priestess of +old feeding the flames of a sacred altar. She smoothed the paper out once +more, and once more read the even characters, and looked long at the +signature, and back again to the writing. + +"This lady, who, I confess, takes no interest whatever in me...." + +"How could he say it!" she exclaimed aloud. "Oh, if I knew who she was!" +With an impatient movement she thrust the letter among the coals, and +watched the fire curl it and burn it, from white to brown and from brown +to black, till it was all gone. Then she rose to her feet and left the +room. + +Her husband certainly did not guess that the Duchessa d'Astrardente had +spent so eventful a morning; and if any one had told him that his wife +had been through a dozen stages of emotion, he would have laughed, and +would have told his informant that Corona was not of the sort who +experience violent passions. That evening they went to the opera +together, and the old man was in an unusually cheerful humour. A new coat +had just arrived from Paris, and the padding had attained a higher degree +of scientific perfection than heretofore. Corona also looked more +beautiful than even her husband ever remembered to have seen her; she +wore a perfectly simple gown of black satin without the smallest relief +of colour, and upon her neck the famous Astrardente necklace of pearls, +three strings of even thickness, each jewel exquisitely white and just +lighted in its shadow by a delicate pink tinge--such a necklace as an +empress might have worn. In the raven masses of her hair there was not +the least ornament, nor did any flower enhance the rich blackness of its +silken coils. It would be impossible to imagine greater simplicity than +Corona showed in her dress, but it would be hard to conceive of any woman +who possessed by virtue of severe beauty a more indubitable right to +dispense with ornament. + +The theatre was crowded. There was a performance of "Norma" for which +several celebrated artists had been engaged--an occurrence so rare in +Rome, that the theatre was absolutely full. The Astrardente box was +upon the second tier, just where the amphitheatre began to curve. There +was room in it for four or five persons to see the stage. + +The Duchessa and her husband arrived in the middle of the first act, and +remained alone until it was over. Corona was extremely fond of "Norma," +and after she was seated never took her eyes from the stage. Astrardente, +on the other hand, maintained his character as a man of no illusions, and +swept the house with his small opera-glass. The instrument itself was +like him, and would have been appropriate for a fine lady of the First +Empire; it was of mother-of-pearl, made very small and light, the +metal-work upon it heavily gilt and ornamented with turquoises. The old +man glanced from time to time at the stage, and then again settled +himself to the study of the audience, which interested him far more than +the opera. + +"Every human being you ever heard of is here," he remarked at the end of +the first act. "Really I should think you would find it worth while to +look at your magnificent fellow-creatures, my dear." + +Corona looked slowly round the house. She had excellent eyes, and never +used a glass. She saw the same faces she had seen for five years, the +same occasional flash of beauty, the same average number of over-dressed +women, the same paint, the same feathers, the same jewels. She saw +opposite to her Madame Mayer, with the elderly countess whom she +patronised for the sake of deafness, and found convenient as a sort of +flying chaperon. The countess could not hear much of the music, but she +was fond of the world and liked to be seen, and she could not hear at all +what Del Ferice said in an undertone to Madame Mayer. Sufficient to her +were the good things of the day; the rest was in no way her business. +There was Valdarno in the club-box, with a knot of other men of his own +stamp. There were the Rocca, mother and daughter and son--a boy of +eighteen--and a couple of men in the back of the box. Everybody was +there, as her husband had said; and as she dropped her glance toward +the stalls, she was aware of Giovanni Saracinesca's black eyes looking +anxiously up to her. A faint smile crossed her serene face, and almost +involuntarily she nodded to him and then looked away. Many men were +watching her, and bowed as she glanced at them, and she bent her head to +each; but there was no smile for any save Giovanni, and when she looked +again to where he had been standing with his back to the stage, he was +gone from his place. + +"They are the same old things," said Astrardente, "but they are still +very amusing. Madame Mayer always seems to get the wrong man into her +box. She would give all those diamonds to have Giovanni Saracinesca +instead of that newsmonger fellow. If he comes here I will send him +across." + +"Perhaps she likes Del Ferice," suggested Corona. + +"He is a good lapdog--a very good dog," answered her husband. "He cannot +bite at all, and his bark is so soft that you would take it for the +mewing of a kitten. He fetches and carries admirably." + +"Those are good points, but not interesting ones. He is very tiresome +with his eternal puns and insipid compliments, and his gossip." + +"But he is so very harmless," answered Astrardente, with compassionate +scorn. "He is incapable of doing an injury. Donna Tullia is wise in +adopting him as her slave. She would not be so safe with Saracinesca, for +instance. If you feel the need of an admirer, my dear, take Del Ferice. I +have no objection to him." + +"Why should I need admirers?" asked Corona, quietly. + +"I was merely jesting, my love. Is not your own husband the greatest of +your admirers, and your devoted slave into the bargain?" Old +Astrardente's face twisted itself into the semblance of a smile, as he +leaned towards his young wife, lowering his cracked voice to a thin +whisper. He was genuinely in love with her, and lost no opportunity +of telling her so. She smiled a little wearily. + +"You are very good to me," she said. She had often wondered how it was +that this aged creature, who had never been faithful to any attachment in +his life for five months, did really seem to love her just as he had done +for five years. It was perhaps the greatest triumph she could have +attained, though she never thought of it in that light; but though she +could not respect her husband very much, she could not think unkindly of +him--for, as she said, he was very good to her. She often reproached +herself because he wearied her; she believed that she should have taken +more pleasure in his admiration. + +"I cannot help being good to you, my angel," he said. "How could I be +otherwise? Do I not love you most passionately?" + +"Indeed, I think so," Corona answered. As she spoke there was a knock at +the door. Her heart leaped wildly, and she turned a little pale. + +"The devil seize these visitors!" muttered old Astrardente, annoyed +beyond measure at being interrupted when making love to his wife. "I +suppose we must let them in?" + +"I suppose so," assented the Duchessa, with forced calm. Her husband +opened the door, and Giovanni Saracinesca entered, hat in hand. + +"Sit down," said Astrardente, rather harshly. + +"I trust I am not disturbing you," replied Giovanni, still standing. He +was somewhat surprised at the old man's inhospitable tone. + +"Oh no; not in the least," said the latter, quickly regaining his +composure. "Pray sit down; the act will begin in a moment." + +Giovanni established himself upon the chair immediately behind the +Duchessa. He had come to talk, and he anticipated that during the second +act he would have an excellent opportunity. + +"I hear you enjoyed yourselves yesterday," said Corona, turning her head +so as to speak more easily. + +"Indeed!" Giovanni answered, and a shade of annoyance crossed his face. +"And who was your informant, Duchessa?" + +"Donna Tullia. I met her this morning. She said you amused them all--kept +them laughing the whole day." + +"What an extraordinary statement!" exclaimed Giovanni. "It shows how one +may unconsciously furnish matter for mirth. I do not recollect having +talked much to any one. It was a noisy party enough, however." + +"Perhaps Donna Tullia spoke ironically," suggested Corona. "Do you like +'Norma'?" + +"Oh yes; one opera is as good as another. There goes the curtain." + +The act began, and for some minutes no one in the box spoke. Presently +there was a burst of orchestral music. Giovanni leaned forward so that +his face was close behind Corona. He could speak without being heard by +Astrardente. + +"Did you receive my letter?" he asked. Corona made an almost +imperceptible inclination of her head, but did not speak. + +"Do you understand my position?" he asked again. He could not see her +face, and for some seconds she made no sign; at last she moved her head +again, but this time to express a negative. + +"It is simple enough, it seems to me," said Giovanni, bending his brows. + +Corona found that by turning a little she could still look at the stage, +and at the same time speak to the man behind her. + +"How can I judge?" she said. "You have not told me all. Why do you ask me +to judge whether you are right?" + +"I could not do it if you thought me wrong," he answered shortly. + +The Duchessa suddenly thought of that other woman for whom the man who +asked her advice was willing to sacrifice his life. + +"You attach an astonishing degree of importance to my opinion," she said +very coldly, and turned her head from him. + +"There is no one so well able to give an opinion," said Giovanni, +insisting. + +Corona was offended. She interpreted the speech to mean that since she +had sacrificed her life to the old man on the opposite side of the box, +she was able to judge whether Giovanni would do wisely in making a +marriage of convenience, for the sake of an end which even to her mind +seemed visionary. She turned quickly upon him, and there was an angry +gleam in her eyes. + +"Pray do not introduce the subject of my life," she said haughtily. + +Giovanni was too much astonished to answer her at once. He had indeed not +intended the least reference to her marriage. + +"You have entirely misunderstood me," he said presently. + +"Then you must express yourself more clearly," she replied. She would +have felt very guilty to be thus talking to Giovanni, as she would not +have talked before her husband, had she not felt that it was upon +Giovanni's business, and that the matter discussed in no way concerned +herself. As for Saracinesca, he was in a dangerous position, and was +rapidly losing his self-control. He was too near to her, his heart was +bearing too fast, the blood was throbbing in his temples, and he was +stung by being misunderstood. + +"It is not possible for me to express myself more clearly," he answered. +"I am suffering for having told you too little when I dare not tell you +all. I make no reference to your marriage when I speak to you of my own. +Forgive me; I will not refer to the matter again." + +Corona felt again that strange thrill, half of pain, half of pleasure, +and the lights of the theatre seemed moving before her uncertainly, as +things look when one falls from a height. Almost unconsciously she spoke, +hardly knowing that she turned her head, and that her dark eyes rested +upon Giovanni's pale face. + +"And yet there must be some reason why you tell me that little, and why +you do not tell me more." When she had spoken, she would have given all +the world to have taken back her words. It was too late. Giovanni +answered in a low thick voice that sounded as though he were choking, +his face grew white, and his teeth seemed almost to chatter as though he +were cold, but his eyes shone like black stars in the shadow of the box. + +"There is every reason. You are the woman I love." + +Corona did not move for several seconds, as though not comprehending what +he had said. Then she suddenly shivered, and her eyelids drooped as she +leaned back in her chair. Her fingers relaxed their tight hold upon her +fan, and the thing fell rattling upon the floor of the box. + +Old Astrardente, who had taken no notice of the pair, being annoyed at +Giovanni's visit, and much interested in the proceedings of Madame Mayer +in the box opposite, heard the noise, and stooped with considerable +alacrity to pick up the fan which lay at his feet. + +"You are not well, my love," he said quickly, as he observed his wife's +unusual pallor. + +"It is nothing; it will pass," she murmured, with a terrible effort. +Then, as though she had not said enough, she added, "There must be a +draught here; I have a chill." + +Giovanni had sat like a statue, utterly overcome by the sense of his own +folly and rashness, as well as by the shock of having so miserably failed +to keep the secret he dreaded to reveal. On hearing Corona's voice, he +rose suddenly, as from a dream. + +"Forgive me," he said hurriedly, "I have just remembered a most important +engagement--" + +"Do not mention it," said Astrardente, sourly. Giovanni bowed to the +Duchessa and left the box. She did not look at him as he went away. + +"We had better go home, my angel," said the old man. "You have got a bad +chill." + +"Oh no, I would rather stay. It is nothing, and the best part of the +opera is to come." Corona spoke quietly enough. Her strong nerves had +already recovered from the shock she had experienced, and she could +command her voice. She did not want to go home; on the contrary, the +brilliant lights and the music served for a time to soothe her. If there +had been a ball that night she would have gone to it; she would have done +anything that would take her thoughts from herself. Her husband looked at +her curiously. The suspicion crossed his mind that Don Giovanni had said +something which had either frightened or offended her, but on second +thoughts the theory seemed absurd. He regarded Saracinesca as little +more than a mere acquaintance of his wife's. + +"As you please, my love," he answered, drawing his chair a little nearer +to hers. "I am glad that fellow is gone. We can talk at our ease now." + +"Yes; I am glad he is gone. We can talk now," repeated Corona, +mechanically. + +"I thought his excuse slightly conventional, to say the least of it," +remarked Astrardente. "An important engagement!--just a little _banal_. +However, any excuse was good enough which took him away." + +"Did he say that?" asked Corona. "I did not hear. Of course, any excuse +would do, as you say." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Giovanni left the theatre at once, alone, and on foot. He was very much +agitated. He had done suddenly and unawares the thing of all others he +had determined never to do; his resolutions had been broken down and +carried away as an ineffectual barrier is swept to the sea by the floods +of spring. His heart had spoken in spite of him, and in speaking had +silenced every prompting of reason. He blamed himself bitterly, as he +strode out across the deserted bridge of Sant' Angelo and into the broad +gloom beyond, where the street widens from the fortress to the entrance +of the three Borghi: he walked on and on, finding at every step fresh +reason for self-reproach, and trying to understand what he had done. He +paused at the end of the open piazza and looked down towards the black +rushing river which he could hear, but hardly see; he turned into the +silent Borgo Santo Spirito, and passed along the endless wall of the +great hospital up to the colonnades, and still wandering on, he came to +the broad steps of St. Peter's and sat down, alone in the darkness, at +the foot of the stupendous pile. + +He was perhaps not so much to blame as he was willing to allow in his +just anger against himself. Corona had tempted him sorely in that last +question she had put to him. She had not known, she had not even faintly +guessed what she was doing, for her own brain was intoxicated with a new +and indescribable sensation which had left no room for reflection nor for +weighing the force of words. But Giovanni, who had been willing to give +up everything, even to his personal liberty, for the sake of concealing +his love, would not allow himself any argument in extenuation of what he +had done. He had had but very few affairs of the heart in his life, and +they had been for the most part very insignificant, and his experience +was limited. Even now it never entered his mind to imagine that Corona +would condone his offence; he felt sure that she was deeply wounded, and +that his next meeting with her would be a terrible ordeal--so terrible, +indeed, that he doubted whether he had the courage to meet her at all. +His love was so great, and its object so sacred to him, that he hesitated +to conceive himself loved in return; perhaps if he had been able to +understand that Corona loved him he would have left Rome for ever, rather +than trouble her peace by his presence. + +It would have been absolutely different if he had been paying court to +Donna Tullia, for instance. The feeling that he should be justified would +have lent him courage, and the coldness in his own heart would have left +his judgment free play. He could have watched her calmly, and would have +tried to take advantage of every mood in the prosecution of his suit. He +was a very honourable man, but he did not consider marriages of propriety +and convenience as being at all contrary to the ordinary standard of +social honour, and would have thought himself justified in using every +means of persuasion in order to win a woman whom, upon mature reflection, +he had judged suitable to become his wife, even though he felt no real +love for her. That is an idea inherent in most old countries, an idea for +which Giovanni Saracinesca was certainly in no way responsible, seeing +that it had been instilled into him from his boyhood. Personally he would +have preferred to live and die unmarried, rather than to take a wife as a +matter of obligation towards his family; but seeing that he had never +seriously loved any woman, he had acquired the habit of contemplating +such a marriage as a probability, perhaps as an ultimate necessity, to +be put off as long as possible, but to which he would at last yield with +a good grace. + +But the current of his life had been turned. He was certainly not a +romantic character, not a man who desired to experience the external +sensations to be obtained by voluntarily creating dramatic events. He +loved action, and he had a taste for danger, but he had sought both in +a legitimate way; he never desired to implicate himself in adventures +where the feelings were concerned, and hitherto such experiences had +not fallen in his path. As is usual with such men, when love came at +last, it came with a strength such as boys of twenty do not dream of. +The mature man of thirty years, with his strong and dominant temper, +his carelessness of danger, his high and untried ideals of what a +true affection should be, resisting the first impressions of the +master-passion with the indifference of one accustomed to believe that +love could not come near his life, and was in general a thing to be +avoided--a man, moreover, who by his individual gifts and by his +brilliant position was able to command much that smaller men would +not dream of aspiring to,--such a man, in short, as Giovanni +Saracinesca,--was not likely to experience love-sickness in a mild +degree. Proud, despotic, and fiercely unyielding by his inheritance of +temper, he was outwardly gentle and courteous by acquired habit, a man +of those whom women easily love and men very generally fear. + +He did not realise his own nature, he did not suspect the extremes of +feeling of which he was eminently capable. He had at first felt Corona's +influence, and her face and voice seemed to awaken in him a memory, which +was as yet but an anticipation, and not a real remembrance. It was as the +faint perfume of the spring wafted up to a prisoner in some stern +fortress, as the first gentle sweetness that rose from the enchanted +lakes of the cisalpine country to the nostrils of the war-hardened Goths +as they descended the last snow-slopes in their southern wandering--an +anticipation that seemed already a memory, a looking forward again to +something that had been already loved in a former state. Giovanni had +laughed at himself for it at first, then he had dreaded its growing +charm, and at the last he had fallen hopelessly under the spell, +retaining only enough of his former self to make him determined that the +harm which had come upon himself should not come near this woman whom he +so adored. + +And behold, at the first provocation, the very first time that by a +careless word she had fired his blood and set his brain throbbing, he had +not only been unable to hide what he felt, but had spoken such words as +he would not have believed he could speak--so bluntly, so roughly, that +she had almost fainted before his very eyes. + +She must have been very angry, he thought. Perhaps, too, she was +frightened. It was so rude, so utterly contrary to all that was +chivalrous to say thus at the first opportunity, "I love you"--just that +and nothing more. Giovanni had never thought much about it, but he +supposed that men in love, very seriously in love, must take a long time +to express themselves, as is the manner in books; whereas he was +horrified at his own bluntness in having blurted out rashly such words as +could never be taken back, as could never even be explained now, he +feared, because he had put himself beyond the pale of all explanation, +perhaps beyond the reach of forgiveness. + +Nobody ever yet explained away the distinct statement "I love you," upon +any pretence of a mistake. Giovanni almost laughed at the idea, and yet +he conceived that some kind of apology would be necessary, though he +could not imagine how he was to frame one. He reflected that few women +would consider a declaration, even as sudden as his had been, in the +light of an insult; but he knew how little cause Corona had given him for +speaking to her of love, and he judged from her manner that she had been +either offended or frightened, or both, and that he was to blame for it. +He was greatly disturbed, and the sweat stood in great drops upon his +forehead as he sat there upon the steps of St. Peter's in the cold night +wind. He remained nearly an hour without changing his position, and then +at last he rose and slowly retraced his steps, and went home by narrow +streets, avoiding the theatre and the crowd of carriages that stood +before it. + +He had almost determined to go away for a time, and to let his absence +speak for his contrition. But he had reckoned upon his former self, and +he doubted now whether he had the strength to leave Rome. The most that +seemed possible was that he should keep out of Corona's way for a few +days, until she should have recovered from the shock of the scene in the +theatre. After that he would go to her and tell her quite simply that he +was very sorry, but that he had been unable to control himself. It would +soon be over. She would not refuse to speak to him, he argued, for fear +of attracting the attention of the gossips and making an open scandal. +She would perhaps tell him to avoid her, and her words would be few and +haughty, but she would speak to him, nevertheless. + +Giovanni went to bed. The next day he gave out that he had a touch of +fever, and remained in his own apartments. His father, who was +passionately attached to him, in spite of his rough temper and hasty +speeches, came and spent most of the day with him, and in the intervals +of his kindly talk, marched up and down the room, swearing that Giovanni +was no more ill than he was himself, and that he had acquired his +accursed habit of staying in bed upon his travels. As Giovanni had never +before been known to spend twenty-four hours in bed for any reason +whatsoever, the accusation was unjust; but he only smiled and pretended +to argue the case for the sake of pleasing the old prince. He really +felt exceedingly uncomfortable, and would have been glad to be left alone +at any price; but there was nothing for it but to pretend to be ill in +body, when he was really sick at heart, and he remained obstinately in +bed the whole day. On the following morning he declared his intention of +going out of town, and by an early train he left the city. No one saw +Giovanni again until the evening of the Frangipani ball. + +Meanwhile it would have surprised him greatly to know that Corona looked +for him in vain wherever she went, and that, not seeing him, she grew +silent and pale, and gave short answers to the pleasant speeches men made +her. Every one missed Giovanni. He wrote to Valdarno to say that he had +been suddenly obliged to visit Saracinesca in order to see to some +details connected with the timber question; but everybody wondered why he +should have taken himself away in the height of the season for so trivial +a matter. He had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera, +where he had only stayed a few minutes, as Del Ferice was able to +testify, having sat immediately opposite in the box of Madame Mayer. Del +Ferice swore secretly that he would find out what was the matter; and +Donna Tullia abused Giovanni in unmeasured terms to a circle of intimate +friends and admirers, because he had been engaged to dance with her at +the Valdarno cotillon, and had not even sent word that he could not come. +Thereupon all the men present immediately offered themselves for the +vacant dance, and Donna Tullia made them draw lots by tossing a copper +sou in the corner of the ball-room. The man who won the toss recklessly +threw over the partner he had already engaged, and almost had to fight a +duel in consequence; all of which was intensely amusing to Donna Tullia. +Nevertheless, in her heart, she was very angry at Giovanni's departure. + +But Corona sought him everywhere, and at last heard that he had left +town, two days after everybody else in Rome had known it. She would +probably have been very much disturbed, if she had actually met him +within a day or two of that fatal evening, but the desire to see him was +so great, that she entirely overlooked the consequences. For the time +being, her whole life seemed to have undergone a revolution--she trembled +at the echo of the words she had heard--she spent long hours in solitude, +praying with all her strength that she might be forgiven for having +heard him speak; but the moment she left her room, and went out into the +world, the dominant desire to see him again returned. The secret longing +of her soul was to hear him speak again as he had spoken once. She would +have gone again to Padre Filippo and told him all; but when she was alone +in the solitude of her passionate prayers and self-accusation, she felt +that she must fight this fight alone, without help of any one; and when +she was in the world, she lacked courage to put altogether from her what +was so very sweet, and her eyes searched unceasingly for the dark face +she loved. But the stirring strength of the mighty passion played upon +her soul and body in spite of her, as upon an instrument of strings; and +sometimes the music was gentle and full of sweet harmony, but often there +were crashes of discord, so that she trembled and felt her heart wrung as +by torture; then she set her strong lips, and her white fingers wound +themselves together, and she could have cried aloud, but that her pride +forbade her. + +The days came and went, but Giovanni did not return, and Corona's face +grew every morning more pale and her eyes every night more wistful. Her +husband did not understand, but he saw that something was the matter, as +others saw it, and in his quick suspicious humour he connected the +trouble in his wife's face with the absence of Giovanni and with the +strange chill she had felt in the theatre. But Corona d'Astrardente was a +very brave and strong woman, and she bore what seemed to her like the +agony of death renewed each day, so calmly that those who knew her +thought it was but a passing indisposition or annoyance, unusual with +her, who was never ill nor troubled, but yet insignificant. She gave +particular attention to the gown which her husband had desired she +should wear at the great ball, and the need she felt for distracting her +mind from her chief care made society necessary to her. + +The evening of the Frangipani ball came, and all Rome was in a state of +excitement and expectation. The great old family had been in mourning for +years, owing to three successive deaths, and during all that time the +ancient stronghold which was called their palace had been closed to the +world. For some time, indeed, no one of the name had been in Rome--the +prince and princess preferring to pass the time of mourning in the +country and in travelling; while the eldest son, now just of age, was +finishing his academic career at an English University. But this year the +family had returned: there had been both dinners and receptions at the +palace, and the ball, which was to be a sort of festival in honour of the +coming of age of the heir, was expected as the principal event of the +year. It was rumoured that there would be nearly thirty rooms opened +besides the great hall, which was set aside for dancing, and that the +arrangements were on a scale worthy of a household which had endured in +its high position for upwards of a thousand years. It was understood that +no distinction had been made, in issuing the invitations, between parties +in politics or in society, and that there would be more people seen there +than had been collected under one roof for many years. + +The Frangipani did things magnificently, and no one was disappointed. The +gardens and courts of the palace were brilliantly illuminated; vast +suites of apartments were thrown open, and lavishly decorated with rare +flowers; the grand staircase was lined with footmen in the liveries of +the house, standing motionless as the guests passed up; the supper was a +banquet such as is read of in the chronicles of medieval splendour; the +enormous conservatory in the distant south wing was softly lit by shaded +candles concealed among the tropical plants; and the ceilings and walls +of the great hall itself had been newly decorated by famous painters; +while the polished wooden floor presented an innovation upon the +old-fashioned canvas-covered brick pavement, not hitherto seen in any +Roman palace. A thousand candles, disposed in every variety of chandelier +and candelabra, shed a soft rich light from far above, and high in the +gallery at one end an orchestra of Viennese musicians played unceasingly. + +As generally happens at very large balls, the dancing began late, but +numbers of persons had come early in order to survey the wonders of the +palace at their leisure. Among those who arrived soon after ten o'clock +was Giovanni Saracinesca, who was greeted loudly by all who knew him. He +looked pale and tired, if his tough nature could ever be said to seem +weary; but he was in an unusually affable mood, and exchanged words with +every one he met. Indeed he had been sad for so many days that he hardly +understood why he felt gay, unless it was in the anticipation of once +more seeing the woman he loved. He wandered through the rooms carelessly +enough, but he was in reality devoured by impatience, and his quick eyes +sought Corona's tall figure in every direction. But she was not yet +there, and Giovanni at last came and took his station in one of the outer +halls, waiting patiently for her arrival. + +While he waited, leaning against one of the marble pillars of the door, +the throng increased rapidly; but he hardly noticed the swelling crowd, +until suddenly there was a lull in the unceasing talk, and the men and +women parted to allow a cardinal to pass out from the inner rooms. With +many gracious nods and winning looks, the great man moved on, his keen +eyes embracing every one and everything within the range of his vision, +his courteous smile seeming intended for each separate individual, and +yet overlooking none, nor resting long on any, his high brow serene and +unbent, his flowing robes falling back from his courtly figure, as with +his red hat in his hand he bowed his way through the bowing crowd. His +departure, which was quickly followed by that of several other cardinals +and prelates, was the signal that the dancing would soon begin; and when +he had passed out, the throng of men and women pressed more quickly in +through the door on their way to the ball-room. + +But as the great cardinal's eye rested on Giovanni Saracinesca, +accompanied by that invariable smile that so many can remember well to +this day, his delicate hand made a gesture as though beckoning to the +young man to follow him. Giovanni obeyed the summons, and became for the +moment the most notable man in the room. The two passed out together, and +a moment later were standing in the outer hall. Already the torch-bearers +were standing without upon the grand staircase, and the lackeys were +mustering in long files to salute the Prime Minister. Just then the +master of the house came running breathless from within. He had not seen +that Cardinal Antonelli was taking his leave, and hastened to overtake +him, lest any breach of etiquette on his part should attract the +displeasure of the statesman. + +"Your Eminence's pardon!" he exclaimed, hurriedly "I had not seen that +your Eminence was leaving us--so early too--the Princess feared--" + +"Do not speak of it," answered the Cardinal, in suave tones. "I am not so +strong as I used to be. We old fellows must to bed betimes, and leave you +young ones to enjoy yourselves. No excuses--good night--a beautiful +ball--I congratulate you on the reopening of your house--good night +again. I will have a word with Giovanni here before I go down-stairs." + +He extended his hand to Frangipani, who lifted it respectfully to his +lips and withdrew, seeing that he was not wanted. He and many others +speculated long upon the business which engaged his Eminence in close +conversation with Giovanni Saracinesca, keeping him for more than a +quarter of an hour in the cold ante-chamber, where the night wind blew in +unhindered from the vast staircase of the palace. As a matter of fact, +Giovanni was as much surprised as any one. + +"Where have you been, my friend?" inquired the Cardinal, when they were +alone. + +"To Saracinesca, your Eminence." + +"And what have you been doing in Saracinesca at this time of year? I hope +you are attending to the woods there--you have not been cutting timber?" + +"No one can be more anxious than we to see the woods grow thick upon our +hills," replied Giovanni. "Your Eminence need have no fear." + +"Not for your estates," said the great Cardinal, his small keen black +eyes resting searchingly on Giovanni's face. "But I confess I have some +fears for yourself." + +"For me, Eminence?" repeated Giovanni, in some astonishment. + +"For you. I have heard with considerable anxiety that there is a question +of marrying you to Madame Mayer. Such a match would not meet with the +Holy Father's approval, nor--if I may be permitted to mention my humble +self in the same breath with our august sovereign--would it be wise in my +own estimation." + +"Permit me to remark to your Eminence," answered Giovanni, proudly, "that +in my house we have never been in the habit of asking advice upon such +subjects. Donna Tullia is a good Catholic. There can therefore be no +valid objection to my asking her hand, if my father and I agree that it +is best." + +"You are terrible fellows, you Saracinesca," returned the Cardinal, +blandly. "I have read your family history with immense interest, and what +you say is quite true. I cannot find an instance on record of your taking +the advice of any one--certainly not of the Holy Church. It is with the +utmost circumspection that I venture to approach the subject with you, +and I am sure that you will believe me when I say that my words are not +dictated by any officious or meddling spirit; I am addressing you by the +direct desire of the Holy Father himself." + +A soft answer turneth away wrath, and if the all-powerful statesman's +answer to Giovanni seems to have been more soft than might have been +expected, it must be remembered that he was speaking to the heir of one +of the most powerful houses in the Roman State, at a time when the +personal friendship of such men as the Saracinesca was of vastly greater +importance than it is now. At that time some twenty noblemen owned a +great part of the Pontifical States, and the influence they could exert +upon their tenantry was very great, for the feudal system was not +extinct, nor the feudal spirit. Moreover, though Cardinal Antonelli was +far from popular with any party, Pius IX. was respected and beloved by a +vast majority of the gentlemen as well as of the people. Giovanni's first +impulse was to resist any interference whatsoever in his affairs; but on +receiving the Cardinal's mild answer to his own somewhat arrogant +assertion of independence, he bowed politely and professed himself +willing to listen to reason. + +"But," he said, "since his Holiness has mentioned the matter, I beg that +your Eminence will inform him that, though the question of my marriage +seems to be in everybody's mouth, it is as yet merely a project in which +no active steps have been taken." + +"I am glad of it, Giovanni," replied the Cardinal, familiarly taking his +arm, and beginning to pace the hall; "I am glad of it. There are reasons +why the match appears to be unworthy of you. If you will permit me, +without any offence to Madame Mayer, I will tell you what those reasons +are." + +"I am at your service," said Giovanni, gravely, "provided only there is +no offence to Donna Tullia." + +"None whatever. The reasons are purely political. Madame Mayer--or Donna +Tullia, since you prefer to call her so--is the centre of a sort of club +of so-called Liberals, of whom the most active and the most foolish +member is a certain Ugo del Ferice, a fellow who calls himself a count, +but whose grandfather was a coachman in the Vatican under Leo XII. He +will get himself into trouble some day. He is always in attendance upon +Donna Tullia, and probably led her into this band of foolish young people +for objects of his own. It is a very silly society; I daresay you have +heard some of their talk?" + +"Very little," replied Giovanni; "I do not trouble myself about politics. +I did not even know that there was such a club as your Eminence speaks +of." + +Cardinal Antonelli glanced sharply at his companion as he proceeded. + +"They affect solidarity and secrecy, these young people," he said, with a +sneer, "and their solidarity betrays their secrecy, because it is +unfortunately true in our dear Rome that wherever two or three are +gathered together they are engaged in some mischief. But they may gather +in peace at the studio of Monsieur Gouache, or anywhere else they please, +for all I care. Gouache is a clever fellow; he is to paint my portrait. +Do you know him? But, to return to my sheep in wolves' clothing--my +amusing little conspirators. They can do no harm, for they know not even +what they say, and their words are not followed by any kind of action +whatsoever. But the principle of the thing is bad, Giovanni. Your brave +old ancestors used to fight us Churchmen outright, and unless the Lord is +especially merciful, their souls are in an evil case, for the devil +knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster. But they fought +outright, like gentlemen; whereas these people--_foderunt foveam ut +caperent me_--they have digged a ditch, but they will certainly not catch +me, nor any one else. Their conciliabules, as Rousseau would have called +them, meet daily and talk great nonsense and do nothing; which does not +prove their principles to be good, while it demonstrates their intellect +to be contemptible. No offence to the Signor Conte del Ferice, but I +think ignorance has marked his little party for its own, and inanity +waits on all his councils. If they believe in half the absurdities they +utter, why do they not pack up their goods and chattels and cross the +frontier? If they meant anything, they would do something." + +"Evidently," replied Giovanni, half amused at his Eminence's tirade. + +"Evidently. Therefore they mean nothing. Therefore our good friend Donna +Tullia is dabbling in the emptiness of political dilettanteism for the +satisfaction of a hollow vanity; no offence to her--it is the manner of +her kind." + +Giovanni was silent. + +"Believe me, prince," said the Cardinal, suddenly changing his tone and +speaking very seriously, "there is something better for strong men like +you and me to do, in these times, than to dabble in conspiracy and to +toss off glasses of champagne to Italian unity and Victor Emmanuel. The +condition of our lives is battle, and battle against terrible odds. +Neither you nor I should be content to waste our strength in fighting +shadows, in waging war on petty troubles of our own raising, knowing +all the while that the powers of evil are marshalled in a deadly array +against the powers of good. _Sed non praevalebunt!_" + +The Cardinal's thin face assumed a strange look of determination, and his +delicate fingers grasped Giovanni's arm with a force that startled him. + +"You speak bravely," answered the young man. "You are more sanguine than +we men of the world. You believe that disaster impossible which to me +seems growing daily more imminent." + +Cardinal Antonelli turned his gleaming black eyes full on his companion. + +"_O generatio incredula!_ If you have not faith, you have not courage, +and if you have not courage you will waste your life in the pursuit of +emptiness! It is for men like you, for men of ancient race, of broad +acres, of iron body and healthy mind, to put your hand to the good work +and help us who have struggled for many years and whose strength is +already failing. Every action of your life, every thought of your +waking hours, should be for the good end, lest we all perish together +and expiate our lukewarm indifference. _Timidi nunquam statuerunt +trapaeum_--if we would divide the spoil we must gird on the sword and use +it boldly; we must not allow the possibility of failure; we must be +vigilant; we must be united as one man. You tell me that you men of the +world already regard a disaster as imminent--to expect defeat is +nine-tenths of a defeat itself. Ah, if we could count upon such men as +you to the very death, our case would be far from desperate." + +"For the matter of that, your Eminence can count upon us well enough," +replied Giovanni, quietly. + +"Upon you, Giovanni--yes, for you are a brave gentleman. But upon your +friends, even upon your class--no. Can I count upon the Valdarno, even? +You know as well as I that they are in sympathy with the Liberals--that +they have neither the courage to support us nor the audacity to renounce +us; and, what is worse, they represent a large class, of whom, I regret +to say, Donna Tullia Mayer is one of the most prominent members. With her +wealth, her youth, her effervescent spirits, and her early widowhood, she +leads men after her; they talk, they chatter, they set up an opinion and +gloat over it, while they lack the spirit to support it. They are all +alike--_non tantum ovum ovo simile_--one egg is not more like another +than they are. _Non tali auxilio_--we want no such help. We ask for +bread, not for stones; we want men, not empty-headed dandies. We have +both at present; but if the Emperor fails us, we shall have too many +dandies and too few men--too few men like you, Don Giovanni. Instead of +armed battalions we shall have polite societies for mutual assurance +against political risks,--instead of the support of the greatest military +power in Europe, we shall have to rely on a parcel of young gentlemen +whose opinions are guided by Donna Tullia Mayer." + +Giovanni laughed and glanced at his Eminence, who chose to refer all the +imminent disasters of the State to the lady whom he did not wish to see +married to his companion. + +"Is her influence really so great?" asked Saracinesca, incredulously. + +"She is agreeable, she is pretty, she is rich--her influence is a type of +the whole influence which is abroad in Rome--a reflection of the life of +Paris. There, at least, the women play a real part--very often a great +one: here, when they have got command of a drawing-room full of fops, +they do not know where to lead them; they change their minds twenty times +a-day; they have an access of religious enthusiasm in Advent, followed by +an attack of Liberal fever in Carnival, and their season is brought to +a fitting termination by the prostration which overtakes them in Lent. By +that time all their principles are upset, and they go to Paris for the +month of May--_pour se retremper dans les idees idealistes_, as they +express it. Do you think one could construct a party out of such +elements, especially when you reflect that this mass of uncertainty is +certain always to yield to the ultimate consideration of self-interest? +Half of them keep an Italian flag with the Papal one, ready to thrust +either of them out of the window as occasion may require. Good night, +Giovanni. I have talked enough, and all Rome will set upon you to find +out what secrets of State I have been confiding. You had better prepare +an answer, for you can hardly inform Donna Tullia and her set that I have +been calling them a parcel of--weak and ill-advised people. They might +take offence--they might even call me by bad names,--fancy how very +terribly that would afflict me! Good night, Giovanni--my greetings to +your father." + +The Cardinal nodded, but did not offer his hand. He knew that Giovanni +hated to kiss his ring, and he had too much tact to press the ceremonial +etiquette upon any one whom he desired to influence. But he nodded +graciously, and receiving his cloak from the gentleman who accompanied +him and who had waited at a respectful distance, the statesman passed out +of the great doorway, where the double line of torch-bearers stood ready +to accompany him down the grand staircase to his carriage, in accordance +with the custom of those days. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +When he was alone, Giovanni retraced his steps, and again took up his +position near the entrance to the reception-rooms. He had matter for +reflection in the interview which had just ended; and, having nothing +better to do while he waited for Corona, he thought about what had +happened. He was not altogether pleased at the interest his marriage +excited in high quarters; he hated interference, and he regarded Cardinal +Antonelli's advice in such a matter as an interference of the most +unwarrantable kind. Neither he himself nor his father were men who sought +counsel from without, for independence in action was with them a family +tradition, as independence of thought was in their race a hereditary +quality. To think that if he, Giovanni Saracinesca, chose to marry any +woman whatsoever, any one, no matter how exalted in station, should dare +to express approval or disapproval was a shock to every inborn and +cultivated prejudice in his nature. He had nearly quarrelled with his own +father for seeking to influence his matrimonial projects; it was not +likely that he would suffer Cardinal Antonelli to interfere with them. If +Giovanni had really made up his mind--had firmly determined to ask the +hand of Donna Tullia--it is more than probable that the statesman's +advice would not only have failed signally in preventing the match, but +by the very opposition it would have aroused in Giovanni's heart it would +have had the effect of throwing him into the arms of a party which +already desired his adhesion, and which, under his guidance, might have +become as formidable as it was previously insignificant. But the great +Cardinal was probably well informed, and his words had not fallen upon a +barren soil. Giovanni had vacillated sadly in trying to come to a +decision. His first Quixotic impulse to marry Madame Mayer, in order to +show the world that he cared nothing for Corona d'Astrardente, had proved +itself absurd, even to his impetuous intelligence. The growing antipathy +he felt for Donna Tullia had made his marriage with her appear in the +light of a disagreeable duty, and his rashness in confessing his love for +Corona had so disturbed his previous conceptions that marriage no longer +seemed a duty at all. What had been but a few days before almost a fixed +resolution, had dwindled till it seemed an impracticable and even a +useless scheme. When he had arrived at the Palazzo Frangipani that +evening, he had very nearly forgotten Donna Tullia, and had quite +determined that whatever his father might say he would not give the +promised answer before Easter. By the time the Cardinal had left him, he +had decided that no power on earth should induce him to marry Madame +Mayer. He did not take the trouble of saying to himself that he would +marry no one else. + +The Cardinal's words had struck deep, in a deep nature. Giovanni had +given Del Ferice a very fair exposition of the views he believed himself +to hold, on the day when they had walked together after Donna Tullia's +picnic. He believed himself a practical man, loyal to the temporal power +by principle rather than by any sort of enthusiastic devotion; not +desirous of any great change, because any change that might reasonably be +expected would be bad for his own vested interests; not prejudiced for +any policy save that of peace--preferring, indeed, with Cicero, the most +unjust peace to the most just war; tenacious of old customs, and not +particularly inquisitive concerning ideas of progress,--on the whole, +Giovanni thought himself what his father had been in his youth, and more +or less what he hoped his sons, if he ever had any, would be after him. + +But there was more in him than all this, and at the first distant sound +of battle he felt the spirit stir within him, for his real nature was +brave and loyal, unselfish and devoted, instinctively sympathizing with +the weak and hating the lukewarm. He had told Del Ferice that he believed +he would fight as a matter of principle: as he leaned against the marble +pillar of the door in the Palazzo Frangipani, he wished the fight had +already begun. + +Waiting there, and staring into the moving crowd, he was aware of a young +man with pale and delicate features and black hair, who stood quietly by +his side, and seemed like himself an idle though not uninterested +spectator of the scene. Giovanni glanced once at the young fellow, and +thought he recognised him, and glancing again, he met his earnest look, +and saw that it was Anastase Gouache, the painter. Giovanni knew him +slightly, for Gouache was regarded as a rising celebrity, and, thanks to +Donna Tullia, was invited to most of the great receptions and balls of +that season, though he was not yet anywhere on a footing of intimacy. +Gouache was proud, and would perhaps have stood aloof altogether rather +than be treated as one of the herd who are asked "with everybody," as +the phrase goes; but he was of an observing turn of mind, and it amused +him immensely to stand unnoticed, following the movements of society's +planets, comets, and satellites, and studying the many types of the +cosmopolitan Roman world. + +"Good evening, Monsieur Gouache," said Giovanni. + +"Good evening, prince," replied the artist, with a somewhat formal +bow--after which both men relapsed into silence, and continued to watch +the crowd. + +"And what do you think of our Roman world?" asked Giovanni, presently. + +"I cannot compare it to any other world," answered Gouache, simply. "I +never went into society till I came to Rome. I think it is at once +brilliant and sedate--it has a magnificent air of historical antiquity, +and it is a little paradoxical." + +"Where is the paradox?" inquired Giovanni. + +"'Es-tu libre? Les lois sont-elles respectees? +Crains-tu de voir ton champ pille par le voisin? +Le maitre a-t-il son toit, et l'ouvrier son pain?'" + +A smile flickered over the young artist's face as he quoted Musset's +lines in answer to Giovanni's question. Giovanni himself laughed, and +looked at Anastase with somewhat increased interest. + +"Do you mean that we are revelling under the sword of Damocles--dancing +on the eve of our execution?" + +"Not precisely. A delicate flavour of uncertainty about to-morrow gives +zest to the appetite of to-day. It is impossible that such a large +society should be wholly unconscious of its own imminent danger--and yet +these men and women go about to-night as if they were Romans of old, +rulers of the world, only less sure of themselves than of the stability +of their empire." + +"Why not?" asked Giovanni, glancing curiously at the pale young man +beside him. "In answer to your quotation, I can say that I am as free as +I care to be; that the laws are sufficiently respected; that no one has +hitherto thought it worth while to plunder my acres; that I have a modest +roof of my own; and that, as far as I am aware, there are no workmen +starving in the streets at present. You are answered, it seems to me, +Monsieur Gouache." + +"Is that really your belief?" asked the artist, quietly. + +"Yes. As for my freedom, I am as free as air; no one thinks of hindering +my movements. As for the laws, they are made for good citizens, and good +citizens will respect them; if bad citizens do not, that is their loss. +My acres are safe, possibly because they are not worth taking, though +they yield me a modest competence sufficient for my needs and for the +needs of those who cultivate them for me." + +"And yet there is a great deal of talk in Rome about misery and injustice +and oppression--" + +"There will be a great deal more talk about those evils, with much better +cause, if people who think like you succeed in bringing about a +revolution, Monsieur Gouache," answered Giovanni, coldly. + +"If many people think like you, prince, a revolution is not to be thought +of. As for me I am a foreigner and I see what I can, and listen to what I +hear." + +"A revolution is not to be thought of. It was tried here and failed. If +we are overcome by a great power from without, we shall have no choice +but to yield, if any of us survive--for we would fight. But we have +nothing to fear from within." + +"Perhaps not," returned Gouache, thoughtfully. "I hear such opposite +opinions that I hardly know what to think." + +"I hear that you are to paint Cardinal Antonelli's portrait," said +Giovanni. "Perhaps his Eminence will help you to decide." + +"Yes; they say he is the cleverest man in Europe." + +"In that opinion they--whoever they may be--are mistaken," replied +Giovanni. "But he is a man of immense intellect, nevertheless." + +"I am not sure whether I will paint his portrait after all," said +Gouache. + +"You do not wish to be persuaded?" + +"No. My own ideas please me very well for the present. I would not +exchange them for those of any one else." + +"May I ask what those ideas are?" inquired Giovanni, with a show of +interest. + +"I am a republican," answered Gouache, quietly. "I am also a good +Catholic." + +"Then you are yourself much more paradoxical than the whole of our Roman +society put together," answered Giovanni, with a dry laugh. + +"Perhaps. There comes the most beautiful woman in the world." + +It was nearly twelve o'clock when Corona arrived, old Astrardente +sauntering jauntily by her side, his face arranged with more than usual +care, and his glossy wig curled cunningly to represent nature. He was +said to possess a number of wigs of different lengths, which he wore in +rotation, thus sustaining the impression that his hair was cut from time +to time. In his eye a single eyeglass was adjusted, and as he walked he +swung his hat delicately in his tightly gloved fingers. He wore the +plainest of collars and the simplest of gold studs; no chain dangled +showily from his waistcoat-pocket, and his small feet were encased in +little patent-leather shoes. But for his painted face, he might have +passed for the very incarnation of fashionable simplicity. But his face +betrayed him. + +As for Corona, she was dazzlingly beautiful. Not that any colour or +material she wore could greatly enhance her beauty, for all who saw her +on that memorable night remembered the wonderful light in her face, and +the strange look in her splendid eyes; but the thick soft fall of the +white velvet made as it were a pedestal for her loveliness, and the +Astrardente jewels that clasped her waist and throat and crowned her +black hair, collected the radiance of the many candles, and made the +light cling to her and follow her as she walked. Giovanni saw her enter, +and his whole adoration came upon him as a madness upon a sick man in a +fever, so that he would have sprung forward to meet her, and fallen at +her feet and worshipped her, had he not suddenly felt that he was watched +by more than one of the many who paused to see her go by. He moved from +his place and waited near the door where she would have to pass, and for +a moment his heart stood still. + +He hardly knew how it was. He found himself speaking to her. He asked her +for a dance, he asked boldly for the cotillon--he never knew how he had +dared; she assented, let her eyes rest upon him for one moment with an +indescribable expression, then grew very calm and cold, and passed on. + +It was all over in an instant. Giovanni moved back to his place as she +went by, and stood still like a man stunned. It was well that there were +yet nearly two hours before the preliminary dancing would be over; he +needed some time to collect himself. The air seemed full of strange +voices, and he watched the moving faces as in a dream, unable to +concentrate his attention upon anything he saw. + +"He looks as though he had a stroke of paralysis," said a woman's voice +near him. It did not strike him, in his strange bewilderment, that it was +Donna Tullia who had spoken, still less that she was speaking of him +almost to him. + +"Something very like it, I should say," answered Del Ferice's oily voice. +"He has probably been ill since you saw him. Saracinesca is an unhealthy +place." + +Giovanni turned sharply round. + +"Yes; we were speaking of you, Don Giovanni," said Donna Tullia, with +some scorn. "Does it strike you that you were exceedingly rude in not +letting me know that you were going out of town when you had promised to +dance with me at the Valdarno ball?" She curled her small lip and showed +her sharp white teeth. Giovanni was a man of the world, however, and was +equal to the occasion. + +"I apologise most humbly," he said. "It was indeed very rude; but in the +urgency of the case, I forgot all other engagements. I really beg your +pardon. Will you honour me with a dance this evening?" + +"I have every dance engaged," answered Madame Mayer, coldly staring at +him. + +"I am very sorry," said Giovanni, inwardly thanking heaven for his good +fortune, and wishing she would go away. + +"Wait a moment," said Donna Tullia, judging that she had produced the +desired effect upon him. "Let me look. I believe I have one waltz left. +Let me see. Yes, the one before the last--you can have it if you like." + +"Thank you," murmured Giovanni, greatly annoyed. "I will remember." + +Madame Mayer laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and moved away. She was +a vain woman, and being in love with Saracinesca after her own fashion, +could not understand that he should be wholly indifferent to her. She +thought that in telling him she had no dances she had given him a little +wholesome punishment, and that in giving one after all she had conferred +a favour upon him. She also believed that she had annoyed Del Ferice, +which, always amused her. But Del Ferice was more than a match for her, +with his quiet ways and smooth tongue. + +They went into the ball-room together and danced a few minutes. When the +music ceased, Ugo excused himself on the plea that he was engaged for the +quadrille that followed. He at once set out in search of the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, and did not lose sight of her again. She did not dance +before the cotillon, she said; and she sat down in a high chair in the +picture-gallery, while three or four men, among whom was Valdarno, sat +and stood near her, doing their best to amuse her. Others came, and some +went away, but Corona did not move, and sat amongst her little court, +glad to have the time pass in any way until the cotillon. When Del Ferice +had ascertained her position, he went about his business, which was +manifold--dancing frequently, and making a point of speaking to every one +in the room. At the end of an hour, he joined the group of men around the +Duchessa and took part in the conversation. + +It was an easy matter to make the talk turn upon Giovanni Saracinesca. +Every one was more or less curious about the journey he had made, and +especially about the cause of his absence. Each of the men had something +to say, and each, knowing the popular report that Giovanni was in love +with Corona, said his say with as much wit as he could command. Corona +herself was interested, for she alone understood his sudden absence, and +was anxious to hear the common opinion concerning it. + +The theories advanced were various. Some said he had been quarrelling +with the local authorities of Saracinesca, who interfered with his +developments and improvements upon the estate, and they gave laughable +portraits of the village sages with whom he had been engaged. Others +said he had only stopped there a day, and had been in Naples. One said he +had been boar-hunting; another, that the Saracinesca woods had been +infested by a band of robbers, who were terrorising the country. + +"And what do you say, Del Ferice?" asked Corona, seeing a cunning smile +upon the man's pale fat face. + +"It is very simple," said Ugo; "it is a very simple matter indeed. If the +Duchessa will permit me, I will call him, and we will ask him directly +what he has been doing. There he stands with old Cantalorgano at the +other end of the room. Public curiosity demands to be satisfied. May I +call him, Duchessa?" + +"By no means," said Corona, quickly. But before she had spoken, Valdarno, +who was always sanguine and impulsive, had rapidly crossed the gallery +and was already speaking to Giovanni. The latter bowed his head as though +obeying an order, and came quietly back with the young man who had called +him. The crowd of men parted before him as he advanced to the Duchessa's +chair, and stood waiting in some surprise. + +"What are your commands, Duchessa?" he asked, in somewhat formal tones. + +"Valdarno is too quick," answered Corona, who was greatly annoyed. "Some +one suggested calling you to settle a dispute, and he went before I could +stop him. I fear it is very impertinent of us." + +"I am entirely at your service," said Giovanni, who was delighted at +having been called, and had found time to recover from his first +excitement on seeing her. "What is the question?" + +"We were all talking about you," said Valdarno. + +"We were wondering where you had been," said another. + +"They said you had gone boar-hunting." + +"Or to Naples." + +"Or even to Paris." Three or four spoke in one breath. + +"I am exceedingly flattered at the interest you all show in me," said +Giovanni, quietly. "There is very little to tell. I have been in +Saracinesca upon a matter of business, spending my days in the woods with +my steward, and my nights in keeping away the cold and the ghosts. I +would have invited you all to join the festivity, had I known how much +you were interested. The beef up there is monstrously tough, and the rats +are abominably noisy, but the mountain air is said to be very healthy." + +Most of the men present felt that they had not only behaved foolishly, +but had spoiled the little circle around the Duchessa by introducing a +man who had the power to interest her, whereas they could only afford her +a little amusement. Valdarno was still standing, and his chair beside +Corona was vacant. Giovanni calmly installed himself upon it, and began +to talk as though nothing had happened. + +"You are not dancing, Duchessa," he remarked. "I suppose you have been in +the ball-room?" + +"Yes--but I am rather tired this evening. I will wait." + +"You were here at the last great ball, before the old prince died, were +you not?" asked Giovanni, remembering that he had first seen her on that +occasion. + +"Yes," she answered; "and I remember that we danced together; and the +accident to the window, and the story of the ghost." + +So they fell into conversation, and though one or two of the men ventured +an ineffectual remark, the little circle dropped away, and Giovanni was +left alone by the side of the Duchessa. The distant opening strains of a +waltz came floating down the gallery, but neither of the two heard, nor +cared. + +"It is strange," Giovanni said. "They say it has always happened, since +the memory of man. No one has ever seen anything, but whenever there is a +great ball, there is a crash of broken glass some time in the course of +the evening. Nobody could ever explain why that window fell in, five +years ago--five years ago this month,--this very day, I believe," he +continued suddenly, in the act of recollection. "Yes--the nineteenth of +January, I remember very well--it was my mother's birthday." + +"It is not so extraordinary," said Corona, "for it chances to be the +name-day of the present prince. That was probably the reason why it was +chosen this year." She spoke a little nervously, as though still ill at +ease. + +"But it is very strange," said Giovanni, in a low voice. "It is strange +that we should have met here the first time, and that we should not have +met here since, until--to-day." + +He looked towards her as he spoke, and their eyes met and lingered in +each other's gaze. Suddenly the blood mounted to Corona's cheeks, her +eyelids drooped, she leaned back in her seat and was silent. + +Far off, at the entrance to the ball-room, Del Ferice found Donna Tullia +alone. She was very angry. The dance for which she was engaged to +Giovanni Saracinesca had begun, and was already half over, and still he +did not come. Her pink face was unusually flushed, and there was a +disagreeable look in her blue eyes. + +"Ah!--I see Don Giovanni has again forgotten his engagement," said Ugo, +in smooth tones. He well knew that he himself had brought about the +omission, but none could have guessed it from his manner. "May I have the +honour of a turn before your cavalier arrives?" he asked. + +"No," said Donna Tullia, angrily. "Give me your arm. We will go and find +him." She almost hissed the words through her closed teeth. + +She hardly knew that Del Ferice was leading her as they moved towards the +picture-gallery, passing through the crowded rooms that lay between. She +never spoke; but her movement was impetuous, and she resented being +delayed by the hosts of men and women who filled the way. As they entered +the long apartment, where the portraits of the Frangipani lined the walls +from end to end, Del Ferice uttered a well-feigned exclamation. + +"Oh, there he is!" he cried. "Do you see him?--his back is turned--he is +alone with the Astrardente." + +"Come," said Donna Tullia, shortly. Del Ferice would have preferred to +have let her go alone, and to have witnessed from a distance the scene he +had brought about. But he could not refuse to accompany Madame Mayer. + +Neither Corona, who was facing the pair, but was talking with Giovanni, +nor Giovanni himself, who was turned away from them, noticed their +approach until they came and stood still beside them. Saracinesca looked +up and started. The Duchessa d'Astrardente raised her black eyebrows in +surprise. + +"Our dance!" exclaimed Giovanni, in considerable agitation. "It is the +one after this--" + +"On the contrary," said Donna Tullia, in tones trembling with rage, "it +is already over. It is the most unparalleled insolence!" + +Giovanni was profoundly disgusted at himself and Donna Tullia. He cared +not so much for the humiliation itself, which was bad enough, as for the +annoyance the scene caused Corona, who looked from one to the other in +angry astonishment, but of course could have nothing to say. + +"I can only assure you that I thought--" + +"You need not assure me!" cried Donna Tullia, losing all self-control. +"There is no excuse, nor pardon--it is the second time. Do not insult me +further, by inventing untruths for your apology." + +"Nevertheless--" began Giovanni, who was sincerely sorry for his great +rudeness, and would gladly have attempted to explain his conduct, seeing +that Donna Tullia was so justly angry. + +"There is no nevertheless!" she interrupted. "You may stay where you +are," she added, with a scornful glance at the Duchessa d'Astrardente. +Then she laid her hand upon Del Ferice's arm, and swept angrily past, so +that the train of her red silk gown brushed sharply against Corona's soft +white velvet. + +Giovanni remained standing a moment, with a puzzled expression upon his +face. + +"How could you do anything so rude?" asked Corona, very gravely. "She +will never forgive you, and she will be quite right." + +"I do not know how I forgot," he answered, seating himself again. "It is +dreadful--unpardonable--but perhaps the consequences will be good." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Corona was ill at ease. In the first few moments of being alone with +Giovanni the pleasure she felt outweighed all other thoughts. But as the +minutes lengthened to a quarter of an hour, then to half an hour, she +grew nervous, and her answers came more and more shortly. She said to +herself that she should never have given him the cotillon, and she +wondered how the remainder of the time would pass. The realisation of +what had occurred came upon her, and the hot blood rose to her face and +ebbed away again, and rose once more. Yet she could not speak out what +her pride prompted her to say, because she pitied Giovanni a little, and +was willing to think for a moment that it was only compassion she felt, +lest she should feel that she must send him away. + +But Giovanni sat beside her, and knew that the spell was working upon +him, and that there was no salvation. He had taken her unawares, though +he hardly knew it, when she first entered, and he asked her suddenly for +a dance. He had wondered vaguely why she had so freely consented; but, in +the wild delight of being by her side, he completely lost all hold upon +himself, and yielded to the exquisite charm of her presence, as a man who +has struggled for a moment against a powerful opiate sinks under its +influence, and involuntarily acknowledges his weakness. Strong as he was, +his strength was all gone, and he knew not where he should find it. + +"You will have to make her some further apology," said Corona, as Madame +Mayer's red train disappeared through the doorway at the other end of the +room. + +"Of course--I must do something about it," said Giovanni, absently. +"After all, I do not wonder--it is amazing that I should have recognised +her at all. I should forget anything to-night, except that I am to +dance with you." + +The Duchessa looked away, and fanned herself slowly; but she sighed, and +checked the deep-drawn breath as by a great effort. The waltz was over, +and the dancers streamed through the intervening rooms towards the +gallery in quest of fresher air and freer space. Two and two they came, +quickly following each other and passing on, some filling the high seats +along the walls, others hastening towards the supper-rooms beyond. A few +minutes earlier Saracinesca and Corona had been almost alone in the great +apartment; now they were surrounded on all sides by a chattering crowd of +men and women, with flushed faces or unnaturally pale, according as the +effort of dancing affected each, and the indistinguishable din of +hundreds of voices so filled the air that Giovanni and the Duchessa could +hardly hear each other speak. + +"This is intolerable," said Giovanni, suddenly. "You are not engaged for +the last quadrille? Shall we not go away until the cotillon begins?" + +Corona hesitated a moment, and was silent. She glanced once at Giovanni, +and again surveyed the moving crowd. + +"Yes," she said at last; "let us go away." + +"You are very good," answered Giovanni in a low voice, as he offered her +his arm. She looked at him inquiringly, and her face grew grave, as they +slowly made their way out of the room. + +At last they came to the conservatory, and went in among the great plants +and the soft lights. There was no one there, and they slowly paced the +broad walk that was left clear all round the glass-covered chamber, and +up and down the middle. The plants were disposed so thickly as to form +almost impenetrable walls of green on either side; and at one end there +was an open space where a little marble fountain played, around which +were disposed seats of carved wood. But Giovanni and Corona continued to +walk slowly along the tiled path. + +"Why did you say I was good just now?" asked Corona at last. Her voice +sounded cold. + +"I should not have said it, perhaps," answered Giovanni. "I say many +things which I cannot help saying. I am very sorry." + +"I am very sorry too," answered the Duchessa, quietly. + +"Ah! if you knew, you would forgive me. If you could guess half the +truth, you would forgive me." + +"I would rather not guess it." + +"Of course; but you have already--you know it all. Have I not told you?" +Giovanni spoke in despairing tones. He was utterly weak and spellbound; +he could hardly find any words at all. + +"Don Giovanni," said Corona, speaking very proudly and calmly, but not +unkindly, "I have known you so long, I believe you to be so honourable a +man, that I am willing to suppose that you said--what you said--in a +moment of madness." + +"Madness! It was madness; but it is more sweet to remember than all the +other doings of my life," said Saracinesca, his tongue unloosed at last. +"If it is madness to love you, I am mad past all cure. There is no +healing for me now; I shall never find my senses again, for they are lost +in you, and lost for ever. Drive me away, crush me, trample on me if you +will; you cannot kill me nor kill my madness, for I live in you and for +you, and I cannot die. That is all. I am not eloquent as other men are, +to use smooth words and twist phrases. I love you--" + +"You have said too much already--too much, far too much," murmured +Corona, in broken tones. She had withdrawn her hand from his during his +passionate speech, and stood back from him against the dark wall of green +plants, her head drooping upon her breast, her fingers clasped fast +together. His short rude words were terribly sweet to hear, it was +fearful to think that she was alone with him, that one step would bring +her to his side, that with one passionate impulse she might throw her +white arms about his neck, that one faltering sigh of overwhelming love +might bring her queenly head down upon his shoulder. Ah, God! how gladly +she would let her tears flow and speak for her! how unutterably sweet it +would be to rest for one instant in his arms, to love and be loved as she +longed to be! + +"You are so cold," he cried, passionately. "You cannot understand. All +spoken words are not too much, are not enough to move you, to make you +see that I do really worship and adore you; you, the whole of you--your +glorious face, your sweet small hands, your queenly ways, the light of +your eyes, and the words of your lips--all of you, body and soul, I love. +I would I might die now, for you know it, even if you will not +understand--" + +He moved a step nearer to her, stretching out his hands as he spoke. +Corona trembled convulsively, and her lips turned white in the torture of +temptation; she leaned far back against the green leaves, staring wildly +at Giovanni, held as in a vice by the mighty passions of love and fear. +Having yielded her ears to his words, they fascinated her horribly. He, +poor man, had long lost all control of himself. His resolutions, long +pondered in the solitude of Saracinesca, had vanished like unsubstantial +vapours before a strong fire, and his heart and soul were ablaze. + +"Do not look at me so," he said almost tenderly. "Do not look at me as +though you feared me, as though you hated me. Can you not see that it is +I who fear you as well as love you, who tremble at your coldness, who +watch for your slightest kind look? Ah, Corona, you have made me so +happy!--there is no angel in all heaven but would give up his Paradise to +change for mine!" + +He had taken her hand and pressed it wildly to his lips. Her eyelids +drooped, and her head fell back for one moment. They stood so very near +that his arm had almost stolen about her slender waist, he almost thought +he was supporting her. + +Suddenly, without the least warning, she drew herself up to her full +height, and thrust Giovanni back to her arm's length strongly, almost +roughly. + +"Never!" she said. "I am a weak woman, but not so weak as that. I am +miserable, but not so miserable as to listen to you. Giovanni +Saracinesca, you say you love me--God grant it is not true! but you say +it. Then, have you no honour, no courage, no strength? Is there nothing +of the man left in you? Is there no truth in your love, no generosity in +your heart? If you so love me as you say you do, do you care so little +what becomes of me as to tempt me to love you?" + +She spoke very earnestly, not scornfully nor angrily, but in the +certainty of strength and right, and in the strong persuasion that the +headstrong man would hear and be convinced. She was weak no longer, for +one desperate moment her fate had trembled in the balance, but she had +not hesitated even then; she had struggled bravely, and her brave soul +had won the great battle. She had been weak the other day at the theatre, +in letting herself ask the question to which she knew the answer; she had +been miserably weak that very night in so abandoning herself to the +influence she loved and dreaded; but at the great moment, when heaven and +earth swam before her as in a wild and unreal mirage, with the voice of +the man she loved ringing in her ears, speaking such words as it was +an ecstasy to hear, she had been no longer weak--the reality of danger +had brought forth the sincerity of her goodness, and her heart had found +courage to do a great deed. She had overcome, and she knew it. + +Giovanni stood back from her, and hung his head. In a moment the force of +his passion was checked, and from the supreme verge of unspeakable and +rapturous delight, he was cast suddenly into the depths of his own +remorse. He stood silent before her, trembling and awestruck. + +"You cannot understand me," she said, "I do not understand myself. But +this I know, that you are not what you have seemed to-night--that there +is enough manliness and nobility in you to respect a woman, and that you +will hereafter prove that I am right. I pray that I may not see you any +more; but if I must see you, I will trust you this much--say that I may +trust you," she added, her strong smooth voice sinking in a trembling +cadence, half beseeching, and yet wholly commanding. + +Saracinesca bent his heavy brows, and was silent for a moment. Then he +looked up, and his eyes met hers, and seemed to gather strength from her. + +"If you will let me see you sometimes, you may trust me. I would I were +as noble and good as you--I am not. I will try to be. Ah, Corona!" he +cried suddenly, "forgive me, forgive me! I hardly knew what I said." + +"Hush!" said the Duchessa, gently; "you must not speak like that, nor +call me Corona. Perhaps I am wrong to forgive you wholly, but I believe +in you. I believe you will understand, and that you will be worthy of the +trust I place in you." + +"Indeed, Duchessa, none shall say that they have trusted me in vain," +answered Giovanni very proudly--"neither man nor woman--and, least of all +women, you." + +"That is well," said she, with a faint shadow of a smile. "I would rather +see you proud than reckless. See that you remain so--that neither by word +nor deed you ever remind me that I have had anything to forgive. It is +the only way in which any intercourse between us can be possible after +this--this dreadful night." + +Giovanni bowed his head. He was still pale, but he had regained control +of himself. + +"I solemnly promise that I will not recall it to your memory, and I +implore your forgiveness, even though you cannot forget." + +"I cannot forget," said Corona, almost under her breath. Giovanni's eyes +flashed for a moment. "Shall we go back to the ball-room? I will go home +soon." + +As they turned to go, a loud crash, as of broken glass, with the fall of +some heavy body, startled them, and made them stand still in the middle +of the walk. The noisy concussion was followed by a complete silence. +Corona, whose nerves had been severely tried, trembled slightly. + +"It is strange," she said; "they say it always happens." + +There was nothing to be seen. The thick web of plants hid the cause of +the noise from view, whatever it might be. Giovanni hesitated a moment, +looking about to see how he could get behind the banks of flower-pots. +Then he left Corona without a word, and striding to the end of the walk, +disappeared into the depths of the conservatory. He had noticed that +there was a narrow entrance at the end nearest the fountain, intended +probably to admit the gardener for the purpose of watering the plants. +Corona could hear his quick steps; she thought she heard a low groan and +a voice whispering,--but she might have been mistaken, for the place was +large, and her heart was beating fast. + +Giovanni had not gone far in the narrow way, which was sufficiently +lighted by the soft light of the many candles concealed in various parts +of the conservatory, when he came upon the figure of a man sitting, as he +had apparently fallen, across the small passage. The fragments of a heavy +earthenware vase lay beyond him, with a heap of earth and roots; and the +tall india-rubber plant which grew in it had fallen against the sloping +glass roof and shattered several panes. As Giovanni came suddenly upon +him, the man struggled to rise, and in the dim light Saracinesca +recognised Del Ferice. The truth flashed upon him at once. The fellow had +been listening, and had probably heard all. Giovanni instantly resolved +to conceal the fact from the Duchessa, to whom the knowledge that the +painful scene had been overheard would be a bitter mortification. +Giovanni could undertake to silence the eavesdropper. + +Quick as thought his strong brown hands gripped the throat of Ugo del +Ferice, stifling his breath like a collar of iron. + +"Dog!" he whispered fiercely in the wretch's ear, "if you breathe, I will +kill you now! You will find me in my own house in an hour. Be silent +now!" Giovanni whispered, with such a terrible grip on the fellow's +throat that his eyeballs seemed starting from his head. Then he turned +and went out by the way he had entered, leaving Del Ferice writhing with +pain and gasping for breath. As he joined Corona, his face betrayed no +emotion--he had been so pale before that he could not turn whiter in his +anger--but his eyes gleamed fiercely at the thought of fight. The +Duchessa stood where he had left her, still much agitated. + +"It is nothing," said Giovanni, with a forced laugh, as he offered her +his arm and led her quickly away. "Imagine. A great vase with one of +Frangipani's favourite plants in it had been badly propped, and had +fallen right through the glass, outward." + +"It is strange," said Corona. "I was almost sure I heard a groan." + +"It was the wind. The glass was broken, and it is a stormy night." + +"That was just the way that window fell in five years ago," said Corona. +"Something always happens here. I think I will go home--let us find my +husband." + +No one would have guessed, from Corona's face, that anything +extraordinary had occurred in the half-hour she had spent in the +conservatory. She walked calmly by Giovanni's side, not a trace of +excitement on her pale proud face, not a sign of uneasiness in the quiet +glance of her splendid eyes. She had conquered, and she knew it, never to +be tempted again; she had conquered herself and she had overcome the man +beside her. Giovanni glanced at her in wondering admiration. + +"You are the bravest woman in the world, as I am the most contemptible of +men," he said suddenly, as they entered the picture-gallery. + +"I am not brave," she answered calmly, "neither are you contemptible, my +friend. We have both been very near to our destruction, but it has +pleased God to save us." + +"By you," said Saracinesca, very solemnly. He knew that within six hours +he might be lying dead upon some plot of wet grass without the city, and +he grew very grave, after the manner of brave men when death is abroad. + +"You have saved my soul to-night," he said earnestly. "Will you give me +your blessing and whole forgiveness? Do not laugh at me, nor think me +foolish. The blessing of such women as you should make men braver and +better." + +The gallery was again deserted. The cotillon had begun, and those who +were not dancing were at supper. Corona stood still for one moment by the +very chair where they had sat so long. + +"I forgive you wholly. I pray that all blessings may be upon you always, +in life and in death, for ever." + +Giovanni bowed his head reverently. It seemed as though the woman he so +loved was speaking a benediction upon his death, a last _in pace_ which +should follow him for all eternity. + +"In life and in death, I will honour you truly and serve you faithfully +for ever," he answered. As he raised his head, Corona saw that there were +tears in his eyes, and she felt that there were tears in her own. + +"Come," she said, and they passed on in silence. + +She found her husband at last in the supper-room. He was leisurely +discussing the wing of a chicken and a small glass of claret-and-water, +with a gouty ambassador whose wife had insisted upon dancing the +cotillon, and who was revenging himself upon a Strasbourg _pate_ and a +bottle of dry champagne. + +"Ah, my dear," said Astrardente, looking up from his modest fare, "you +have been dancing? You have come to supper? You are very wise. I have +danced a great deal myself, but I have not seen you--the room was so +crowded. Here--this small table will hold us all, just a quartet." + +"Thanks--I am not hungry. Will you take me home when you have finished +supper? Or are you going to stay? Do not wait, Don Giovanni; I know you +are busy in the cotillon. My husband will take care of me. Good night." + +Giovanni bowed, and went away, glad to be alone at last. He had to be at +home in half an hour according to his engagement, and he had to look +about him for a friend. All Rome was at the ball; but the men upon whom +he could call for such service as he required, were all dancing. +Moreover, he reflected that in such a matter it was necessary to have +some one especially trustworthy. It would not do to have the real cause +of the duel known, and the choice of a second was a very important +matter. He never doubted that Del Ferice would send some one with a +challenge at the appointed time. Del Ferice was a scoundrel, doubtless; +but he was quick with the foils, and had often appeared as second in +affairs of honour. + +Giovanni stood by the door of the ball-room, looking at the many familiar +faces, and wondering how he could induce any one to leave his partner at +that hour, and go home with him. Suddenly he was aware that his father +was standing beside him and eyeing him curiously. + +"What is the matter, Giovanni?" inquired the old Prince. "Why are you not +dancing?" + +"The fact is--" began Giovanni, and then stopped suddenly. An idea struck +him. He went close to his father, and spoke in a low voice. + +"The fact is, that I have just taken a man by the throat and otherwise +insulted him, by calling him a dog. The fellow seemed annoyed, and so I +told him he might send to our house in an hour for an explanation. I +cannot find a friend, because everybody is dancing this abominable +cotillon. Perhaps you can help me," he added, looking at his father +rather doubtfully. To his surprise and considerable relief the old Prince +burst into a hearty laugh. + +"Of course," he cried. "What do you take me for? Do you think I would +desert my boy in a fight? Go and call my carriage, and wait for me while +I pick up somebody for a witness; we can talk on the way home." + +The old Prince had been a duellist in his day, and he would no more have +thought of advising his son not to fight than of refusing a challenge +himself. He was, moreover, exceedingly bored at the ball, and not in the +least sleepy. The prospect of an exciting night was novel and delightful. +He knew Giovanni's extraordinary skill, and feared nothing for him. He +knew everybody in the ball-room was engaged, and he went straight to the +supper-table, expecting to find some one there. Astrardente, the +Duchessa, and the gouty ambassador were still together, as Giovanni had +left them a moment before. The Prince did not like Astrardente, but he +knew the ambassador very well. He called him aside, with an apology to +the Duchessa. + +"I want a young man immediately," said old Saracinesca, stroking his +white beard with his broad brown hand. "Can you tell of any one who is +not dancing?" + +"There is Astrardente," answered his Excellency, with an ironical smile. +"A duel?" he asked. + +Saracinesca nodded. + +"I am too old," said the diplomatist, thoughtfully; "but it would be +infinitely amusing. I cannot give you one of my secretaries either. It +always makes such a scandal. Oh, there goes the very man! Catch him +before it is too late!" + +Old Saracinesca glanced in the direction the ambassador indicated, and +darted away. He was as active as a boy, in spite of his sixty years. + +"Eh!" he cried. "Hi! you! Come here! Spicca! Stop! Excuse me--I am in a +great hurry!" + +Count Spicca, whom he thus addressed, paused and looked round through his +single eyeglass in some surprise. He was an immensely tall and +cadaverous-looking man, with a black beard and searching grey eyes. + +"I really beg your pardon," said the Prince hurriedly, in a low voice, as +he came up, "but I am in a great hurry--an affair of honour--will you be +witness? My carriage is at the door." + +"With pleasure," said Count Spicca, quietly; and without further comment +he accompanied the Prince to the outer hall. Giovanni was waiting, and +the Prince's footman stood at the head of the stairs. In three minutes +the father and son and the melancholy Spicca were seated in the carriage, +on their way to the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Now then, Giovannino," said the Prince, as he lit a cigarette in the +darkness, "tell us all about it." + +"There is not much to tell," said Giovanni. "If the challenge arrives, +there is nothing to be done but to fight. I took him by the throat and +nearly strangled him." + +"Whom?" asked Spicca, mournfully. + +"Oh! it is Del Ferice," answered Giovanni, who had forgotten that he had +not mentioned the name of his probable antagonist. The Prince laughed. + +"Del Ferice! Who would have thought it? He is a dead man. What was it all +about?" + +"That is unnecessary to say here," said Giovanni, quietly. "He insulted +me grossly. I half-strangled him, and told him he was a dog. I suppose he +will fight." + +"Ah yes; he will probably fight," repeated Spicca, thoughtfully. "What +are your weapons, Don Giovanni?" + +"Anything he likes." + +"But the choice is yours if he challenges," returned the Count. + +"As you please. Arrange all that--foils, swords, or pistols." + +"You do not seem to take much interest in this affair," remarked Spicca, +sadly. + +"He is best with foils," said the old Prince. + +"Foils or pistols, of course," said the Count. "Swords are child's play." + +Satisfied that his seconds meant business, Giovanni sank back in his +corner of the carriage, and was silent. + +"We had better have the meeting in my villa," said his father. "If it +rains, they can fight indoors. I will send for the surgeon at once." + +In a few moments they reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. The Prince left +word at the porter's lodge that any gentlemen who arrived were to be +admitted, and all three went up-stairs. It was half-past two o'clock. + +As they entered the apartments, they heard a carriage drive under the +great archway below. + +"Go to your rooms, Giovanni," said the old Prince. "These fellows are +punctual. I will call you when they are gone. I suppose you mean business +seriously?" + +"I care nothing about him. I will give him any satisfaction he pleases," +answered Giovanni. "It is very kind of you to undertake the matter--I am +very grateful." + +"I would not leave it to anybody else," muttered the old Prince, as he +hurried away to meet Del Fence's seconds. + +Giovanni entered his own rooms, and went straight to his writing-table. +He took a pen and a sheet of paper and began writing. His face was very +grave, but his hand was steady. For more than an hour he wrote without +pausing. Then his father entered the room. + +"Well?" said Giovanni, looking up. + +"It is all settled," said the old gentleman, seriously. "I was afraid +they might make some objection to me as a second. You know there is an +old clause about near relations acting in such cases. But they declared +that they considered my co-operation an honour--so that is all right. +You must do your best, my boy. This rascal means to hurt you if he can. +Seven o'clock is the time. We must leave here at half-past six. You can +sleep two hours and a half. I will sit up and call you. Spicca has gone +home to change his clothes, and is coming back immediately. Now lie down. +I will see to your foils--" + +"Is it foils, then?" asked Giovanni, quietly. + +"Yes. They made no objection. You had better lie down." + +"I will. Father, if anything should happen to me--it may, you know--you +will find my keys in this drawer, and this letter, which I beg you will +read. It is to yourself." + +"Nonsense, my dear boy! Nothing will happen to you--you will just run him +through the arm and come home to breakfast." + +The old Prince spoke in his rough cheerful way; but his voice trembled, +and he turned aside to hide two great tears that had fallen upon his dark +cheeks and were losing themselves in his white beard. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Giovanni slept soundly for two hours. He was very tired with the many +emotions of the night, and the arrangements for the meeting being +completed, it seemed as though work were over and the pressure removed. +It is said that men will sleep for hours when the trial is over and the +sentence of death has been passed; and though it was more likely that Del +Ferice would be killed than that Giovanni would be hurt, the latter felt +not unlike a man who has been tried for his life. He had suffered in a +couple of hours almost every emotion of which he was capable--his love +for Corona, long controlled and choked down, had broken bounds at last, +and found expression for itself; he had in a moment suffered the severest +humiliation and the most sincere sorrow at her reproaches; he had known +the fear of seeing her no more, and the sweetness of pardon from her own +lips; he had found himself on a sudden in a frenzy of righteous wrath +against Del Ferice, and a moment later he had been forced to hide his +anger under a calm face; and at last, when the night was far spent, he +had received the assurance that in less than four hours he would have +ample opportunity for taking vengeance upon the cowardly eavesdropper who +had so foully got possession of the one secret he held dear. Worn out +with all he had suffered, and calm in the expectation of the morning's +struggle, Giovanni lay down upon his bed and slept. + +Del Ferice, on the contrary, was very wakeful. He had an unpleasant +sensation about his throat as though he had been hanged, and cut down +before he was dead; and he suffered the unutterable mortification of +knowing that, after a long and successful social career, he had been +detected by his worst enemy in a piece of disgraceful villany. In the +first place, Giovanni might kill him. Del Ferice was a very good fencer, +but Saracinesca was stronger and more active; there was certainly +considerable danger in the duel. On the other hand, if he survived, +Giovanni had him in his power for the rest of his life, and there was no +escape possible. He had been caught listening--caught in a flagrantly +dishonest trick--and he well knew that if the matter had been brought +before a jury of honour, he would have been declared incompetent +to claim any satisfaction. + +It was not the first time Del Ferice had done such things, but it was the +first time he had been caught. He cursed his awkwardness in oversetting +the vase just at the moment when his game was successfully played to the +end--just when he thought that he began to see land, in having discovered +beyond all doubt that Giovanni was devoted body and soul to Corona +d'Astrardente. The information had been necessary to him, for he was +beginning seriously to press his suit with Donna Tullia, and he needed to +be sure that Giovanni was not a rival to be feared. He had long suspected +Saracinesca's devotion to the dark Duchessa, and by constantly putting +himself in his way, he had done his best to excite his jealousy and to +stimulate his passion. Giovanni never could have considered Del Ferice as +a rival; the idea would have been ridiculous. But the constant annoyance +of finding the man by Corona's side, when he desired to be alone with +her, had in some measure heightened the effect Del Ferice desired, though +it had not actually produced it. Being a good judge of character, he had +sensibly reckoned his chances against Giovanni, and he had formed so just +an opinion of the man's bold and devoted character as to be absolutely +sure that if Saracinesca loved Corona he would not seriously think of +marrying Donna Tullia. He had done all he could to strengthen the passion +when he guessed it was already growing, and at the very moment when he +had received circumstantial evidence of it which placed it beyond all +doubt, he had allowed himself to be discovered, through his own +unpardonable carelessness. + +Evidently the only satisfactory way out of the difficulty was to kill +Giovanni outright, if he could do it. In that way he would rid himself +of an enemy, and at the same time of the evidence against himself. +The question was, how this could be accomplished; for Giovanni was a +man of courage, strength, and experience, and he himself--Ugo del +Ferice--possessed none of those qualities in any great degree. The result +was, that he slept not at all, but passed the night in a state of nervous +anxiety by no means conducive to steadiness of hand or calmness of the +nerves. He was less pleased than ever when he heard that Giovanni's +seconds were his own father and the melancholy Spicca, who was the most +celebrated duellist in Italy, in spite of his cadaverous long body, his +sad voice, and his expression of mournful resignation to the course of +events. + +In the event of his neither killing Don Giovanni nor being himself +killed, what he most dreaded was the certainty that for the rest of his +life he must be in his enemy's power. He knew that, for Corona's sake, +Giovanni would not mention the cause of the duel, and no one could have +induced him to speak of it himself; but it would be a terrible hindrance +in his life to feel at every turn that the man he hated had the power to +expose him to the world as a scoundrel of the first water. What he had +heard gave him but small influence over Saracinesca, though it was of +great value in determining his own action. To say aloud to the world that +Giovanni loved the Duchessa d'Astrardente would be of little use. Del +Ferice could not, for very shame, tell how he had found it out; and there +was no other proof but his evidence, for he guessed that from that time +forward the open relation between the two would be even more formal than +before--and the most credulous people do not believe in a great fire +unless they can see a little smoke. He had not even the advantage of +turning the duel to account in his interest with Donna Tullia, since +Giovanni could force him to deny that she was implicated in the question, +on pain of exposing his treachery. There was palpably no satisfactory way +out of the matter unless he could kill his adversary. He would have to +leave the country for a while; but Giovanni once dead, it would be easy +to make Donna Tullia believe they had fought on her account, and to +derive all the advantage there was to be gained from posing before the +world as her defender. + +But though Del Ferice's rest was disturbed by the contemplation of his +difficulties, he did not neglect any precaution which might save his +strength for the morrow. He lay down upon his bed, stretching himself at +full length, and carefully keeping his right arm free, lest, by letting +his weight fall upon it as he lay, he should benumb the muscles or +stiffen the joints; from time to time he rubbed a little strengthening +ointment upon his wrist, and he was careful that the light should not +shine in his eyes and weary them. At six o'clock his seconds appeared +with the surgeon they had engaged, and the four men were soon driving +rapidly down the Corso towards the gate. + +So punctual were the two parties that they arrived simultaneously at the +gate of the villa which had been selected for the encounter. The old +Prince took a key from his pocket and himself opened the great iron gate. +The carriages drove in, and the gates were closed by the astonished +porter, who came running out as they creaked upon their hinges. The light +was already sufficient for the purpose of fencing, as the eight men +descended simultaneously before the house. The morning was cloudy, but +the ground was dry. The principals and seconds saluted each other +formally. Giovanni withdrew to a little distance on one side with his +surgeon, and Del Ferice stood aside with his. + +The melancholy Spicca, who looked like the shadow of death in the dim +morning light, was the first to speak. + +"Of course you know the best spot in the villa?" he said to the old +Prince. + +"As there is no sun, I suggest that they fight upon the ground behind the +house. It is hard and dry." + +The whole party followed old Saracinesca. Spicca had the foils in a green +bag. The place suggested by the Prince seemed in every way adapted, and +Del Ferice's seconds made no objection. There was absolutely no choice of +position upon the ground, which was an open space about twenty yards +square, hard and well rolled, preferable in every way to a grass lawn. + +Without further comment, Giovanni took off his coat and waistcoat, and +Del Ferice, who looked paler and more unhealthy than usual, followed his +example. The seconds crossed sides to examine the principals' shirts, +and to assure themselves that they wore no flannel underneath the +unstarched linen. This formality being accomplished, the foils were +carefully compared, and Giovanni was offered the first choice. He took +the one nearest his hand, and the other was carried to Del Ferice. They +were simple fencing foils, the buttons being removed and the points +sharpened--there was nothing to choose between them. The seconds then +each took a sword, and stationed the combatants some seven or eight +paces apart, while they themselves stood a little aside, each upon the +right hand of his principal, and the witnesses placed themselves at +opposite corners of the ground, the surgeons remaining at the ends behind +the antagonists. There was a moment's pause. When all was ready, old +Saracinesca came close to Giovanni, while Del Ferice's second approached +his principal in like manner. + +"Giovanni," said the old Prince, gravely, "as your second I am bound to +recommend you to make any advance in your power towards a friendly +understanding. Can you do so?" + +"No, father, I cannot," answered Giovanni, with a slight smile. His face +was perfectly calm, and of a natural colour. Old Saracinesca crossed the +ground, and met Casalverde, the opposite second, half-way. Each formally +expressed to the other his great regret that no arrangement would be +possible, and then retired again to the right hand of his principal. + +"Gentlemen," said the Prince, in a loud voice, "are you ready?" As both +men bowed their assent, he added immediately, in a sharp tone of command, +"In guard!" + +Giovanni and Del Ferice each made a step forward, saluted each other with +their foils, repeated the salute to the seconds and witnesses, and then +came face to face and fell into position. Each made one thrust in tierce +at the other, in the usual fashion of compliment, each parrying in the +same way. + +"Halt!" cried Saracinesca and Casalverde, in the same breath. + +"In guard!" shouted the Prince again, and the duel commenced. + +In a moment the difference between the two men was apparent. Del Ferice +fenced in the Neapolitan style--his arm straight before him, never +bending from the elbow, making all his play with his wrist, his back +straight, and his knees so much bent that he seemed not more than half +his height. He made his movements short and quick, and relatively few, in +evident fear of tiring himself at the start. To a casual observer his +fence was less graceful than his antagonist's, his lunges less daring, +his parries less brilliant. But as the old Prince watched him he saw that +the point of his foil advanced and retreated in a perfectly straight +line, and in parrying described the smallest circle possible, while his +cold watery blue eye was fixed steadily upon his antagonist; old +Saracinesca ground his teeth, for he saw that the man was a most +accomplished swordsman. + +Giovanni fought with the air of one who defended himself, without much +thought of attack. He did not bend so low as Del Ferice, his arm doubled +a little before his lunge, and his foil occasionally made a wide circle +in the air. He seemed careless, but in strength and elasticity he was far +superior to his enemy, and could perhaps afford to trust to these +advantages, when a man like Del Ferice was obliged to employ his whole +skill and science. + +They had been fencing for more than two minutes, without any apparent +result, when Giovanni seemed suddenly to change his tactics. He lowered +the point of his weapon a little, and, keeping it straight before him, +began to press more closely upon his antagonist. Del Ferice kept his arm +at full length, and broke ground for a yard or two, making clever feints +in carte at Giovanni's body, with the object of stopping his advance. But +Giovanni pressed him, and suddenly made a peculiar movement with his +foil, bringing it in contact with his enemy's along its length. + +"Halt!" cried Casalverde. Both men lowered their weapons instantly, and +the seconds sprang forward and touched their swords between them. +Giovanni bit his lip angrily. + +"Why 'halt'?" asked the Prince, sharply. "Neither is touched." + +"My principal's shoe-string is untied," answered Casalverde, calmly. It +was true. "He might easily trip and fall," explained Del Ferice's friend, +bending down and proceeding to tie the silk ribbon. The Prince shrugged +his shoulders, and retired with Giovanni a few steps back. + +"Giovanni," he said, in a voice trembling with emotion, "if you are not +more careful, he will do you a mischief. For heaven's sake run him +through the arm and let us be done with it." + +"I should have disarmed him that time if his second had not stopped us," +said Giovanni, calmly. "He is ready again," he added, "come on." + +"In guard!" + +Again the two men advanced, and again the foils crossed and recrossed and +rang loudly in the cold morning air. Once more Giovanni pressed upon Del +Ferice, and Del Ferice broke ground. In answer to a quick feint, Giovanni +made a round parry and a sharp short lunge in tierce. + +"Halt!" yelled Casalverde. Old Saracinesca sprang in, and Giovanni +lowered his weapon. But Casalverde did not interpose his sword. A full +two seconds after the cry to halt, Del Ferice lunged right forward. +Giovanni thrust out his arm to save his body from the foul attempt--he +had not time to raise his weapon. Del Ferice's sharp rapier entered his +wrist and tore a long wound nearly to the elbow. + +Giovanni said nothing, but his sword dropped from his hand and he turned +upon his father, white with rage. The blood streamed down his sleeve, and +his surgeon came running towards him. + +The old man had understood at a glance the foul play that had been +practised, and going forward laid his hand upon the arm of Del Ferice's +second. + +"Why did you stop them, sir? And where was your sword?" he said in great +anger. Del Ferice was leaning upon his friend; a greenish pallor had +overspread his face, but there was a smile under his colourless +moustache. + +"My principal was touched," said Casalverde, pointing to a tiny scratch +upon Del Ferice's neck, from which a single drop of blood was slowly +oozing. + +"Then why did you not prevent your principal from thrusting after you +cried the halt?" asked Saracinesca, severely. "You have singularly +misunderstood your duties, sir, and when these gentlemen are satisfied, +you will be answerable to me." + +Casalverde was silent. + +"I protest myself wholly satisfied," said Ugo, with a disagreeable smile, +as he glanced to where the surgeon was binding up Giovanni's arm. + +"Sir," said old Saracinesca, fiercely addressing the second, "I am not +here to bandy words with your principal. He may express himself satisfied +through you, if he pleases. My principal, through me, expresses his +entire dissatisfaction." + +"Your principal, Prince," answered Casalverde, coldly, "is unable to +proceed, seeing that his right arm is injured." + +"My son, sir, fences as readily with his left hand as with his right," +returned old Saracinesca. + +Del Ferice's face fell, and his smile vanished instantly. + +"In that case we are ready," returned Casalverde, unable, however, to +conceal his annoyance. He was a friend of Del Ferice's and would gladly +have seen Giovanni run through the body by the foul thrust. + +There was a moment's consultation on the other side. + +"I will give myself the pleasure of killing that gentleman to-morrow +morning," remarked Spicca, as he mournfully watched the surgeon's +operations. + +"Unless I kill him myself to-day," returned the Prince savagely, in his +white beard. "Are you ready, Giovanni?" It never occurred to him to ask +his son if he was too badly hurt to proceed. + +Giovanni never spoke, but the hot blood had mounted to his temples, and +he was dangerously angry. He took the foil they gave him, and felt the +point quietly. It was sharp as a needle. He nodded to his father's +question, and they resumed their places, the old Prince this time +standing on the left, as his son had changed hands. Del Ferice came +forward rather timidly. His courage had sustained him so far, but the +consciousness of having done a foul deed, and the sight of the angry man +before him, were beginning to make him nervous. He felt uncomfortable, +too, at the idea of fencing against a left-handed antagonist. + +Giovanni made one or two lunges, and then, with a strange movement unlike +anything any one present was acquainted with, seemed to wind his blade +round Del Ferice's, and, with a violent jerk of the wrist, sent the +weapon flying across the open space. It struck a window of the house, and +crashed through the panes. + +"More broken glass!" said Giovanni scornfully, as he lowered his point +and stepped back two paces. "Take another sword, sir," he said; "I will +not kill you defenceless." + +"Good heavens, Giovanni!" exclaimed his father in the greatest +excitement; "where on earth did you learn that trick?" + +"On my travels, father," returned Giovanni, with a smile; "where you tell +me I learned so much that was bad. He looks frightened," he added in a +low voice, as he glanced at Del Ferice's livid face. + +"He has cause," returned the Prince, "if he ever had in his life!" + +Casalverde and his witness advanced from the other side with a fresh pair +of foils; for the one that had gone through the window could not be +recovered at once, and was probably badly bent by the twist it had +received. The gentlemen offered Giovanni his choice. + +"If there is no objection I will keep the one I have," said he to his +father. The foils were measured, and were found to be alike. The two +gentlemen retired, and Del Ferice chose a weapon. + +"That is right," said Spicca, as he slowly went back to his place. "You +should never part with an old friend." + +"We are ready!" was called from the opposite side. + +"In guard, then!" cried the Prince. The angry flush had not subsided from +Giovanni's forehead, as he again went forward. Del Ferice came up like a +man who has suddenly made up his mind to meet death, with a look of +extraordinary determination on his pale face. + +Before they had made half-a-dozen passes Ugo slipped, or pretended to +slip, and fell upon his right knee; but as he came to the ground, he made +a sharp thrust upwards under Giovanni's extended left arm. + +The old Prince uttered a fearful oath, that rang and echoed along the +walls of the ancient villa. Del Ferice had executed the celebrated feint +known long ago as the "Colpo del Tancredi," "Tancred's lunge," from the +supposed name of its inventor. It is now no longer permitted in duelling. +But the deadly thrust loses half its danger against a left-handed man. +The foil grazed the flesh on Giovanni's left side, and the blood again +stained his white shirt. In the moment when Del Ferice slipped, Giovanni +had made a straight and deadly lunge at his body, and the sword, instead +of passing through Ugo's lungs, ran swift and sure through his throat, +with such force that the iron guard struck the falling man's jaw with +tremendous impetus, before the oath the old Prince had uttered was fairly +out of his mouth. + +Seconds and witnesses and surgeons sprang forward hastily. Del Ferice lay +upon his side; he had fallen so heavily and suddenly as to wrench the +sword from Giovanni's grip. The old Prince gave one look, and dragged +his son away. + +"He is as dead as a stone," he muttered, with a savage gleam in his eyes. + +Giovanni hastily began to dress, without paying any attention to the +fresh wound he had received in the last encounter. In the general +excitement, his surgeon had joined the group about the fallen man. Before +Giovanni had got his overcoat on he came back with Spicca, who looked +crestfallen and disappointed. + +"He is not dead at all," said the surgeon. "You did the thing with a +master's hand--you ran his throat through without touching the jugular +artery or the spine." + +"Does he want to go on?" asked Giovanni, so savagely that the three men +stared at him. + +"Do not be so bloodthirsty, Giovanni," said the old Prince, +reproachfully. + +"I should be justified in going back and killing him as he lies there," +said the younger Saracinesca, fiercely. "He nearly murdered me twice this +morning." + +"That is true," said the Prince, "the dastardly brute!" + +"By the bye," said Spicca, lighting a cigarette, "I am afraid I have +deprived you of the pleasure of dealing with the man who called himself +Del Ferice's second. I just took the opportunity of having a moment's +private conversation with him--we disagreed, a little." + +"Oh, very well," growled the Prince; "as you please. I daresay I shall +have enough to do in taking care of Giovanni to-morrow. That is a +villanous bad scratch on his arm." + +"Bah! it is nothing to mention, save for the foul way it was given," said +Giovanni between his teeth. + +Once more old Saracinesca and Spicca crossed the ground. There was a word +of formality exchanged, to the effect that both combatants were +satisfied, and then Giovanni and his party moved off, Spicca carrying his +green bag of foils under his arm, and puffing clouds of smoke into the +damp morning air. They had been nearly an hour on the ground, and were +chilled with cold, and exhausted for want of sleep. They entered their +carriage and drove rapidly homewards. + +"Come in and breakfast with us," said the old Prince to Spicca, as they +reached the Palazzo Saracinesca. + +"Thank you, no," answered the melancholy man. "I have much to do, as I +shall go to Paris to-morrow morning by the ten o'clock train. Can I do +anything for you there? I shall be absent some months." + +"I thought you were going to fight to-morrow," objected the Prince. + +"Exactly. It will be convenient for me to leave the country immediately +afterwards." + +The old man shuddered. With all his fierce blood and headstrong passion, +he could not comprehend the fearful calm of this strange man, whose skill +was such that he regarded his adversary's death as a matter of course +whenever he so pleased. As for Giovanni, he was still so angry that he +cared little for the issue of the second duel. + +"I am sincerely grateful for your kind offices," he said, as Spicca took +leave of him. + +"You shall be amply revenged of the two attempts to murder you," said +Spicca, quietly; and so, having shaken hands with all, he again entered +the carriage. It was the last they saw of him for a long time. He +faithfully fulfilled his programme. He met Casalverde on the following +morning at seven o'clock, and at precisely a quarter past, he left him +dead on the field. He breakfasted with his seconds at half-past eight, +and left Rome with them for Paris at ten o'clock. He had selected two +French officers who were about to return to their home, in order not to +inconvenience any of his friends by obliging them to leave the country; +which showed that, even in moments of great excitement, Count Spicca was +thoughtful of others. + +When the surgeon had dressed Giovanni's wounds, he left the father and +son together. Giovanni lay upon a couch in his own sitting-room, eating +his breakfast as best he could with one hand. The old Prince paced the +floor, commenting from time to time upon the events of the morning. + +"It is just as well that you did not kill him, Giovanni," he remarked; +"it would have been a nuisance to have been obliged to go away just now." + +Giovanni did not answer. + +"Of course, duelling is a great sin, and is strictly forbidden by our +religion," said the Prince suddenly. "But then--" + +"Precisely," returned Giovanni. "We nevertheless cannot always help +ourselves." + +"I was going to say," continued his father, "that it is, of course, very +wicked, and if one is killed in a duel, one probably goes straight into +hell. But then--it was worth something to see how you sent that fellow's +foil flying through the window!" + +"It is a very simple trick. If you will take a foil, I will teach it to +you." + +"Presently, presently; when you have finished your breakfast. Tell me, +why did you say, 'more broken glass'?" + +Giovanni bit his lip, remembering his imprudence. + +"I hardly know. I believe it suggested something to my mind. One says all +sorts of foolish things in moments of excitement." + +"It struck me as a very odd remark," answered the Prince, still walking +about. "By the bye," he added, pausing before the writing-table, "here is +that letter you wrote for me. Do you want me to read it?" + +"No," said Giovanni, with a laugh. "It is of no use now. It would seem +absurd, since I am alive and well. It was only a word of farewell." + +The Prince laughed too, and threw the sealed letter into the fire. + +"The last of the Saracinesca is not dead yet," he said. "Giovanni, what +are we to say to the gossips? All Rome will be ringing with this affair +before night. Of course, you must stay at home for a few days, or you +will catch cold, in your arm. I will go out and carry the news of our +victory." + +"Better to say nothing about it--better to refer people to Del Ferice, +and tell them he challenged me. Come in!" cried Giovanni, in answer to a +knock at the door. Pasquale, the old butler, entered the room. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente has sent to inquire after the health of his +Excellency Don Giovanni," said the old man, respectfully. + +The elder Saracinesca paused in his walk, and broke out into a loud +laugh. + +"Already! You see, Giovannino," he said. "Tell him, Pasquale, that Don +Giovanni caught a severe cold at the ball last night--or no--wait! What +shall we say, Giovannino?" + +"Tell the servant," said Giovanni, sternly, "that I am much obliged for +the kind inquiry, that I am perfectly well, and that you have just seen +me eating my breakfast." + +Pasquale bowed and left the room. + +"I suppose you do not want her to know--" said the Prince, who had +suddenly recovered his gravity. + +Giovanni bowed his head silently. + +"Quite right, my boy," said the old man, gravely. "I do not want to know +anything about it either. How the devil could they have found out?" + +The question was addressed more to himself than to his son, and the +latter volunteered no answer. He was grateful to his father for his +considerate silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +When Astrardente saw the elder Saracinesca's face during his short +interview with the diplomatist, his curiosity was immediately aroused. He +perceived that there was something the matter, and he proceeded to try +and ascertain the circumstances from his acquaintance. The ambassador +returned to his _pate_ and his champagne with an air of amused interest, +but vouchsafed no information whatever. + +"What a singularly amusing fellow old Saracinesca is!" remarked +Astrardente. + +"When he likes to be," returned his Excellency, with his mouth full. + +"On the contrary--when he least meditates it. I never knew a man better +suited for a successful caricature. Indeed he is not a bad caricature of +his own son, or his own son of him--I am not sure which." + +The ambassador laughed a little and took a large mouthful. + +"Ha! ha! very good," he mumbled as he ate. "He would appreciate that. He +loves his own race. He would rather feel that he is a comic +misrepresentation of the most hideous Saracinesca who ever lived, than +possess all the beauty of the Astrardente and be called by another +name." + +The diplomatist paused for a second after this speech, and then bowed a +little to the Duchessa; but the hit had touched her husband in a +sensitive spot. The old dandy had been handsome once, in a certain way, +and he did his best, by artificial means, to preserve some trace of his +good looks. The Duchessa smiled faintly. + +"I would wager," said Astrardente, sourly, "that his excited manner just +now was due to one of two things--either his vanity or his money is in +danger. As for the way he yelled after Spicca, it looked as though there +were a duel in the air--fancy the old fellow fighting a duel! Too +ridiculous!" + +"A duel!" repeated Corona in a low voice. + +"I do not see anything so very ridiculous in it," said the diplomatist, +slowly twisting his glass of champagne in his fingers, and then sipping +it. "Besides," he added deliberately, glancing at the Duchessa from the +corner of his eyes, "he has a son." + +Corona started very slightly. + +"Why should there be a duel?" she asked. + +"It was your husband who suggested the idea," returned the diplomatist. + +"But you said there was nothing ridiculous in it," objected the Duchessa. + +"But I did not say there was any truth in it, either," answered his +Excellency with a reassuring smile. "What made you think of duelling?" he +asked, turning to Astrardente. + +"Spicca," said the latter. "Wherever Spicca is concerned there is a duel. +He is a terrible fellow, with his death's-head and dangling bones--one of +those extraordinary phenomena--bah! it makes one shiver to think of him!" +The old fellow made the sign of the horns with his forefinger and little +finger, hiding his thumb in the palm of his hand, as though to protect +himself against the evil eye--the sinister influence invoked by the +mention of Spicca. Old Astrardente was very superstitious. The ambassador +laughed, and even Corona smiled a little. + +"Yes," said the diplomatist, "Spicca is a living _memento mori_; he +occasionally reminds men of death by killing them." + +"How horrible!" exclaimed Corona. + +"Ah, my dear lady, the world is full of horrible things." + +"That is not a reason for making jests of them." + +"It is better to make light of the inevitable," said Astrardente. "Are +you ready to go home, my dear?" + +"Quite--I was only waiting for you," answered Corona, who longed to be at +home and alone. + +"Let me know the result of old Saracinesca's warlike undertakings," said +Astrardente, with a cunning smile on his painted face. "Of course, as he +consulted you, he will send you word in the morning." + +"You seem so anxious that there should be a duel, that I should almost be +tempted to invent an account of one, lest you should be too grievously +disappointed," returned the diplomatist. + +"You know very well that no invention will be necessary," said the Duca, +pressing him, for his curiosity was roused. + +"Well--as you please to consider it. Good night," replied the ambassador. +It had amused him to annoy Astrardente a little, and he left him with the +pleasant consciousness of having excited the inquisitive faculty of his +friend to its highest pitch, without giving it anything to feed upon. + +Men who have to do with men, rather than with things, frequently take a +profound and seemingly cruel delight in playing upon the feelings and +petty vanities of their fellow-creatures. The habit is as strong with +them as the constant practice of conjuring becomes with a juggler; even +when he is not performing, he will for hours pass coins, perform little +tricks of sleight-of-hand with cards, or toss balls in the air in +marvellously rapid succession, unable to lay aside his profession even +for a day, because it has grown to be the only natural expression of +his faculties. With men whose business it is to understand other men, +it is the same. They cannot be in a man's company for a quarter of an +hour without attempting to discover the peculiar weaknesses of his +character--his vanities, his tastes, his vices, his curiosity, his love +of money or of reputation; so that the operation of such men's minds may +be compared to the process of auscultation--for their ears are always +upon their neighbours' hearts--and their conversation to the percutations +of a physician to ascertain the seat of disease in a pair of +consumptive lungs. + +But, with all his failings, Astrardente was a man of considerable +acuteness of moral vision. He had made a shrewd guess at Saracinesca's +business, and had further gathered from a remark dropped by his +diplomatic friend, that if there was to be a duel at all, it would be +fought by Giovanni. As a matter of fact, the ambassador himself knew +nothing certainly concerning the matter, or it is possible that, for the +sake of observing the effect of the news upon the Duchessa, he would have +told the whole truth; for he had of course heard the current gossip +concerning Giovanni's passion for her, and the experiment would have been +too attractive and interesting to be missed. As it was, she had started +at the mention of Saracinesca's son. The diplomatist only did what +everyone else who came near Corona attempted to do at that time, in +endeavouring to ascertain whether she herself entertained any feeling for +the man whom the gossips had set down as her most devoted admirer. + +Poor Duchessa! It was no wonder that she had started at the idea that +Giovanni was in trouble. He had played a great part in her life that day, +and she could not forget him. She had hardly as yet had time to think +of what she felt, for it was only by a supreme effort that she had been +able to bear the great strain upon her strength. If she had not loved +him, it would have been different; and in the strange medley of emotions +through which she was passing, she wished that she might never have +loved--that, loving, she might be allowed wholly to forget her love, and +to return by some sudden miracle to that cold dreamy state of +indifference to all other men, and of unfailing thoughtfulness for her +husband, from which she had been so cruelly awakened. She would have +given anything to have not loved, now that the great struggle was over; +but until the supreme moment had come, she had not been willing to put +the dangerous thought from her, saving in those hours of prayer and +solitary suffering, when the whole truth rose up clearly before her in +its undisguised nakedness. So soon as she had gone into the world, she +had recklessly longed for Giovanni Saracinesca's presence. + +But now it was all changed. She had not deceived herself when she had +told him that she would rather not see him any more. It was true; not +only did she wish not to see him, but she earnestly desired that the love +of him might pass from her heart. With a sudden longing, her thoughts +went back to the old convent-life of her girlhood, with its regular +occupations, its constant religious exercises, its narrowness of view, +and its unchanging simplicity. What mattered narrowness, when all beyond +that close limitation was filled with evil? Was it not better that the +lips should be busy with singing litanies than that the heart should be +tormented by temptation? Were not those simple tasks, that had seemed so +all-important then, more sweet in the performance than the manifold +duties of this complicated social existence, this vast web and woof of +life's loom, this great machinery that worked and groaned and rolled +endlessly upon its wheels without producing any more result than the +ceaseless turning of a prison treadmill? But there was no way out of life +now; there was no escape, as there was also no prospect of relief, from +care and anxiety. There was no reason why Giovanni should go away--no +reason either why Corona should ever love him less. She belonged to a +class of women, if there are enough of them to be called a class, who, +where love is concerned, can feel but one impression, which becomes in +their hearts the distinctive seal and mark of their lives, for good or +for evil. Corona was indeed so loyal and good a woman, that the strong +pressure of her love could not abase her nobility, nor put untruth where +all was so true; but the sign of her love for Giovanni was upon her for +ever. The vacant place in her heart had been filled, and filled wholly; +the bulwark she had reared against the love of man was broken down and +swept away, and the waters flowed softly over its place and remembered it +not. She would never be the same woman again, and it was bitter to her to +feel it: for ever the face of Giovanni would haunt her waking hours and +visit her dreams unbidden,--a perpetual reproach to her, a perpetual +memory of the most desperate struggle of her life, and more than a +memory--the undying present of an unchanging love. + +She was quite sure of herself in future, as she also trusted sincerely in +Giovanni's promise. There should be no moment of weakness, no word should +ever fall from her lips to tempt him to a fresh outbreak of passionate +words and acts; her life should be measured in the future by the account +of the dangers past, and there should be no instant of unguarded conduct, +no hour wherein even to herself she would say it was sweet to love and to +be loved. It was indeed not sweet, but bitter as death itself, to feel +that weight at her heart, that constant toiling effort in her mind to +keep down the passion in her breast. But Corona had sacrificed much; she +would sacrifice this also; she would get strength by her prayers and +courage from her high pride, and she would smile to all the world as she +had never smiled before. She could trust herself, for she was doing the +right and trampling upon the wrong. But the suffering would be none the +less for all her pride; there was no concealing it--it would be horrible. +To meet him daily in the world, to speak to him and to hear his voice, +perhaps to touch his hand, and all the while to smile coldly, and to be +still and for ever above suspicion, while her own burning consciousness +accused her of the past, and seemed to make the dangers of mere living +yawn beside her path at every step,--all this would be terrible to bear, +but by God's help she would bear it to the end. + +But now a new horror seized her, and terrified her beyond measure. This +rumour of a duel--a mere word dropped carelessly in conversation by a +thoughtless acquaintance--called up to her sudden visions of evil to +come. Surely, howsoever she might struggle against love and beat it +roughly to silence in her breast, it was not wrong to fear danger for +Giovanni,--it could not be a sin to dread the issue of peril when it was +all so very near to her. It might perhaps not be true, for people in the +world are willing to amuse their empty minds with empty tales, +acknowledging the emptiness. It could not be true; she had seen Giovanni +but a moment before--he would have given some hint, some sign. + +Why--after all? Was it not the boast of such men that they could face the +world and wear an indifferent look, at times of the greatest anxiety and +danger? But, again, if Giovanni had been involved in a quarrel so serious +as to require the arbitrament of blood, some rumour of it would have +reached her. She had talked with many men that night, and with some +women--gossips all, whose tongues wagged merrily over the troubles of +friend, or foe, and who would have battened upon anything so novel as a +society duel, as a herd of jackals upon the dead body of one of their +fellows, to make their feast off it with a light heart. Some one of all +these would have told her; the quarrel would have been common property in +half an hour, for somebody must have witnessed it. + +It was a consolation to Corona to reflect upon the extreme improbability +of the story; for when the diplomatist was gone, her husband dwelt upon +it--whether because he could not conceal his unsatisfied curiosity, or +from other motives, it was hard to tell. + +Astrardente led his wife from the supper-table through the great rooms, +now almost deserted, and past the wide doors of the hall where the +cotillon was at its height. They paused a moment and looked in, as +Giovanni had done a quarter of an hour earlier. It was a magnificent +scene; the lights flashed back from the jewels of fair women, and surged +in the dance as starlight upon rippling waves. The air was heavy with the +odour of the countless flowers that filled the deep recesses of the +windows, and were distributed in hundreds of nosegays for the figures of +the cotillon; enchanting strains of waltz music seemed to float down from +above and inspire the crowd of men and women with harmonious motion, so +that sound was made visible by translation into graceful movement. As +Corona looked there was a pause, and the crowd parted, while a huge +tiger, the heraldic beast of the Frangipani family, was drawn into the +hall by the young prince and Bianca Valdarno. The magnificent skin had +been so artfully stuffed as to convey a startling impression of life, and +in the creature's huge jaws hung a great basket filled with tiny tigers, +which were to be distributed as badges for the dance by the leaders. A +wild burst of applause greeted this novel figure, and every one ran +forward to obtain a nearer view. + +"Ah!" exclaimed old Astrardente, "I envy them that invention, my dear; it +is perfectly magnificent. You must have a tiger to take home. How +fortunate we were to be in time!" He forced his way into the crowd, +leaving his wife alone for a moment by the door; and he managed to catch +Valdarno, who was distributing the little emblems to right and left. +Madame Mayer's quick eyes had caught sight of Corona and her husband, and +from some instinct of curiosity she made towards the Duchessa. She was +still angry, as she had never been in her short life, at Giovanni's +rudeness in forgetting her dance, and she longed to inflict some wound +upon the beautiful woman who had led him into such forgetfulness. When +Astrardente left his wife's side, Donna Tullia pressed forward with her +partner in the general confusion that followed upon the entrance of the +tiger, and she managed to pass close to Corona. She looked up suddenly +with an air of surprise. + +"What! not dancing, Duchessa?" she asked. "Has your partner gone home?" + +With the look that accompanied the question, it was an insulting speech +enough. Had Donna Tullia seen old Astrardente close behind her, she would +not have made it. The old dandy was returning in triumph in possession of +the little tiger-badge for Corona. He heard the words, and observed with +inward pleasure his wife's calm look of indifference. + +"Madam," he said, placing himself suddenly in Madame Mayer's way, "my +wife's partners do not go home while she remains." + +"Oh, I see," returned Donna Tullia, flushing quickly; "the Duchessa is +dancing the cotillon with you. I beg your pardon--I had forgotten that +you still danced." + +"Indeed it is long since I did myself the honour of asking you for a +quadrille, madam," answered Astrardente with a polite smile; and so +saying, he turned and presented the little tiger to his wife with a +courtly bow. There was good blood in the old _roue_. + +Corona was touched by his thoughtfulness in wishing to get her the little +keepsake of the dance, and she was still more affected by his ready +defence of her. He was indeed sometimes a little ridiculous, with his +paint and his artificial smile--he was often petulant and unreasonable +in little things; but he was never unkind to her, nor discourteous. In +spite of her cold and indifferent stare at Donna Tullia, she had keenly +felt the insult, and she was grateful to the old man for taking her part. +Knowing what she knew of herself that night, she was deeply sensible to +his kindness. She took the little gift, and laid her hand upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she said, as they moved away, "if I am ever ungrateful to +you. You are so very good to me. I know no one so courteous and kind as +you are." + +Her husband looked at her in delight. He loved her sincerely with all +that remained of him. There was something sad in the thought of a man +like him finding the only real passion of his life when worn out with age +and dissipation. Her little speech raised him to the seventh heaven of +joy. + +"I am the happiest man in all Rome," he said, assuming his most jaunty +walk, and swinging his hat gaily between his thumb and finger. But a +current of deep thought was stirring in him as he went down the broad, +staircase by his wife's side. He was thinking what life might have been +to him had he found Corona del Carmine--how could he? she was not born +then--had he found her, or her counterpart, thirty years ago. He was +wondering what conceivable sacrifice there could be which he would not +make to regain his youth--even to have his life lived out and behind him, +if he could only have looked back to thirty years of marriage with +Corona. How differently he would have lived, how very differently he +would have thought! how his whole memory would be full of the sweet past, +and would be common with her own past life, which, to her too, would be +sweet to ponder on! He would have been such a good man--so true to her +in all those years! But they were gone, and he had not found her until +his foot was on the edge of the grave--until he could hardly count on one +year more of a pitiful artificial life, painted, bewigged, stuffed to the +semblance of a man by a clever tailor--and she in the bloom of her glory +beside him! What he would have given to have old Saracinesca's strength +and fresh vitality--old Saracinesca whom he hated! Yes, with all that +hair--it was white, but a little dye would change it. What was a little +dye compared with the profound artificiality of his own outer man? How +the old fellow's deep voice rang, loud and clear, from his broad chest! +How strong he was, with his firm step, and his broad brown hands, and his +fiery black eyes! He hated him for the greenness of his age--he hated him +for his stalwart son, another of those long-lived fierce Saracinesca, who +seemed destined to outlive time. He himself had no children, no +relations, no one to bear his name--he had only a beautiful young wife +and much wealth, with just enough strength left to affect a gay walk when +he was with her, and to totter unsteadily to his couch when he was alone, +worn out with the effort of trying to seem young. + +As they sat in their carriage he thought bitterly of all these things, +and never spoke. Corona herself was weary, and glad to be silent. They +went up-stairs, and as she took his arm, she gently tried to help him +rather than be helped. He noticed it, and made an effort, but he was +very tired. He paused upon the landing, and looked at her, and a gentle +and sad smile stole over his face, such as Corona had never seen there. + +"Shall we go into your boudoir for ten minutes, my love?" he said; "or +will you come into my smoking-room? I would like to smoke a little before +going to bed." + +"You may smoke in my boudoir, of course," she answered kindly, though she +was surprised at the request. It was half-past three o'clock. They went +into the softly lighted little room, where the embers of the fire were +still glowing upon the hearth. Corona dropped her furs upon a chair, and +sat down upon one side of the chimney piece. Astrardente sank wearily +into a deep easy-chair opposite her, and having found a cigarette, +lighted it, and began to smoke. He seemed in a mood which Corona had +never seen. After a short silence he spoke. + +"Corona," he said, "I love you." His wife looked up with a gentle smile, +and in her determination to be loyal to him she almost forgot that other +man who had said those words but two hours before, so differently. + +"Yes," he said, with a sigh, "you have heard it before--it is not new to +you. I think you believe it. You are good, but you do not love me--no, do +not interrupt me, my dear; I know what you would say. How should you +love me? I am an old man--very old, older than my years." Again he +sighed, more bitterly, as he confessed what he had never owned before. +The Duchessa was too much astonished to answer him. + +"Corona," he said again, "I shall not live much longer." + +"Ah, do not speak like that," she cried suddenly. "I trust and pray that +you have yet many years to live." Her husband looked keenly at her. + +"You are so good," he answered, "that you are really capable of uttering +such a prayer, absurd as it would seem." + +"Why absurd? It is unkind of you to say it--" + +"No, my dear; I know the world very well. That is all. I suppose it is +impossible for me to make you understand how I love you. It must seem +incredible to you, in the magnificence of your strength and beautiful +youth, that a man like me--an artificial man"--he laughed scornfully--"a +creature of paint and dye--let me be honest--a creature with a wig, +should be capable of a mad passion. And yet, Corona," he added, his thin +cracked voice trembling with a real emotion, "I do love you--very dearly. +There are two things that make my life bitter: the regret that I did not +meet you, that you were not born, when I was young; and worse than that, +the knowledge that I must leave you very soon--I, the exhausted dandy, +the shadow of what I was, tottering to my grave in a last vain effort to +be young for your sake--for your sake, Corona dear. Ah, it is +contemptible!" he almost moaned. + +Corona hid her eyes in her hand. She was taken off her guard by his +strange speech. + +"Oh, do not speak like that--do not!" she cried. "You make me very +unhappy. Do I reproach you? Do I ever make you feel that you are--older +than I? I will lead a new life; you shall never think of it again. +You are too kind--too good for me." + +"No one ever said I was too good before," replied the old man with a +shade of sadness. "I am glad the one person who finds me good, should be +the only one for whose sake I ever cultivated goodness. I could have +been different, Corona, if I had had you for my wife for thirty years, +instead of five. But it is too late now. Before long I shall be dead, and +you will be free." + +"What makes you say such things to me?" asked Corona. "Can you think I am +so vile, so ungrateful, so unloving, as to wish your death?" + +"Not unloving; no, my dear child. But not loving, either. I do not ask +impossibilities. You will mourn for me a while--my poor soul will rest in +peace if you feel one moment of real regret for me, for your old husband, +before you take another. Do not cry, Corona, dearest; it is the way of +the world. We waste our youth in scoffing at reality, and in the +unrealness of our old age the present no longer avails us much. You know +me, perhaps you despise me. You would not have scorned me when I was +young--oh, how young I was! how strong and vain of my youth, thirty years +ago!" + +"Indeed, indeed, no such thought ever crossed my mind. I give you all I +have," cried Corona, in great distress; "I will give you more--I will +devote my whole life to you--" + +"You do, my dear. I am sensible of it," said Astrardente, quietly. "You +cannot do more, if you will; you cannot make me young again, nor take +away the bitterness of death--of a death that leaves you behind." + +Corona leaned forward, staring into the dying embers of the fire, one +hand supporting her chin. The tears stood in her eyes and on her cheeks. +The old dandy in his genuine misery had excited her compassion. + +"I would mourn you long," she said. "You may have wasted your life; you +say so. I would love you more if I could, God knows. You have always been +to me a courteous gentleman and a faithful husband." + +The old man rose with difficulty from his deep chair, and came and stood +by her, and took the hand that lay idle on her knees. She looked up at +him. + +"If I thought my blessing were worth anything, I would bless you for what +you say. But I would not have you waste your youth. Youth is that which, +being wasted, is like water poured out upon the ground. You must marry +again, and marry soon--do not start. You will inherit all my fortune; you +will have my title. It must descend to your children. It has come to an +unworthy end in me; it must be revived in you." + +"How can you think of it? Are you ill?" asked Corona kindly, pressing +gently his thin hand in hers. "Why do you dwell on the idea of death +to-night?" + +"I am ill; yes, past all cure, my dear," said the old man, gently raising +her hand to his lips, and kissing it. + +"What do you mean?" asked Corona, suddenly rising to her feet and laying +her hand affectionately upon his shoulder. "Why have you never told me?" + +"Why should I tell you--except that it is near, and you must be prepared? +Why should I burden you with anxiety? But you were so gentle and kind +to-night, upon the stairs," he said, with some hesitation, "that I +thought perhaps it would be a relief to you to know--to know that it is +not for long." + +There was something so gentle in his tone, so infinitely pathetic in his +thought that possibly he might lighten the burden his wife bore so +bravely, there was something at last so human in the loving regret with +which he spoke, that Corona forgot all his foolish ways, his wig and his +false teeth and his petty vanities, and letting her head fall upon his +shoulder, burst into passionate tears. + +"Oh no, no!" she sobbed. "It must be a long time yet; you must not die!" + +"It may be a year, not more," he said gently. "God bless you for those +tears, Corona--the tears you have shed for me. Good night, my dearest." + +He let her sink upon her chair, and his hand rested for one moment upon +her raven hair. Then with a last remnant of energy he quickly left the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Such affairs as the encounter between Giovanni and Del Ferice were very +rare in Rome. There were many duels fought; but, as a general rule, they +were not very serious, and the first slight wound decided the matter in +hand to the satisfaction of both parties. But here there had been a fight +for life and death. One of the combatants had received two such wounds as +would have been sufficient to terminate an ordinary meeting, and the +other was lying at death's door stabbed through the throat. Society was +frantic with excitement. Giovanni was visited by scores of acquaintances, +whom he allowed to be admitted, and he talked with them cheerfully, in +order to have it thoroughly known that he was not badly hurt. Del +Ferice's lodging was besieged by the same young gentlemen of leisure, who +went directly from one to the other, anxious to get all the news in their +power. But Del Ferice's door was guarded jealously from intruders by his +faithful Neapolitan servant--a fellow who knew more about his master than +all the rest of Rome together, but who had such a dazzlingly brilliant +talent for lying as to make him a safe repository for any secret +committed to his keeping. On the present occasion, however, he had small +use for duplicity. He sat all day long by the open door, for he had +removed the bell-handle, lest the ringing should disturb his master. He +had a basket into which he dropped the cards of the visitors who called, +answering each inquiry with the same unchanging words: + +"He is very ill, the signorino. Do not make any noise." + +"Where is he hurt?" the visitor would ask. Whereupon Temistocle pointed +to his throat. + +"Will he live?" was the next question; to which the man answered by +raising his shoulders to his ears, elevating his eyebrows, and at the +same time shutting his eyes, while he spread out the palms of his hands +over his basket of cards--whereby he meant to signify that he did not +know, but doubted greatly. It being impossible to extract any further +information from him, the visitor had nothing left but to leave his card +and turn away. Within, the wounded man was watched by a Sister of Mercy. +The surgeon had pronounced his recovery probable if he had proper care: +the wound was a dangerous one, but not likely to prove mortal unless the +patient died of the fever or of exhaustion. + +The young gentlemen of leisure who thus obtained the news of the two +duellists, lost no time in carrying it from house to house. Giovanni +himself sent twice in the course of the day to inquire after his +antagonist, and received by his servant the answer which was given to +everybody. By the time the early winter night was descending upon Rome, +there were two perfectly well-authenticated stories circulated in regard +to the cause of the quarrel--neither of which, of course, contained a +grain of truth. In the first place, it was confidently asserted by one +party, represented by Valdarno and his set, that Giovanni had taken +offence at Del Ferice for having proposed to call him to be examined +before the Duchessa d'Astrardente in regard to his absence from town: +that this was a palpable excuse for picking a quarrel, because it was +well known that Saracinesca loved the Astrardente, and that Del Ferice +was always in his way. + +"Giovanni is a rough fellow," remarked Valdarno, "and will not stand any +opposition, so he took the first opportunity of getting the man out of +the way. Do you see? The old story--jealous of the wrong man. Can one be +jealous of Del Ferice? Bah!" + +"And who would have been the right man to attack?" was asked. + +"Her husband, of course," returned Valdarno with a sneer. "That angel of +beauty has the ineffably eccentric idea that she loves that old +transparency, that old magic-lantern slide of a man!" + +On the other hand, there was a party of people who affirmed, as beyond +all doubt, that the duel had been brought about by Giovanni's forgetting +his dance with Donna Tullia. Del Ferice was naturally willing to put +himself forward in her defence, reckoning on the favour he would gain in +her eyes. He had spoken sharply to Giovanni about it, and told him he had +behaved in an ungentlemanly manner--whereupon Giovanni had answered +that it was none of his business; an altercation had ensued in a remote +room in the Frangipani palace, and Giovanni had lost his temper and taken +Del Ferice by the throat, and otherwise greatly insulted him. The result +had been the duel in which Del Ferice had been nearly killed. There was a +show of truth about this story, and it was told in such a manner as to +make Del Ferice appear as the injured party. Indeed, whichever tale were +true, there was no doubt that the two men had disliked each other for a +long time, and that they were both looking out for the opportunity of an +open disagreement. + +Old Saracinesca appeared in the afternoon, and was surrounded by eager +questioners of all sorts. The fact of his having served his own son in +the capacity of second excited general astonishment. Such a thing had +not been heard of in the annals of Roman society, and many ancient +wisdom-mongers severely censured the course he had pursued. Could +anything be more abominably unnatural? Was it possible to conceive of the +hard-heartedness of a man who could stand quietly and see his son +risk his life? Disgraceful! + +The old Prince either would not tell what he knew, or had no information +to give. The latter theory was improbable. Some one made a remark to that +effect. + +"But, Prince," the man said, "would you second your own son in an affair +without knowing the cause of the quarrel?" + +"Sir," returned the old man, proudly, "my son asked my assistance; I did +not sell it to him for his confidence." People knew the old man's +obstinacy, and had to be satisfied with his short answers, for he was +himself as quarrelsome as a Berserker or as one of his own irascible +ancestors. + +He met Donna Tullia in the street. She stopped her carriage, and beckoned +him to come to her. She looked paler than Saracinesca had ever seen her, +and was much excited. + +"How could you let them fight?" were her first words. + +"It could not be helped. The quarrel was too serious. No one would more +gladly have prevented it than I; but as my son had so desperately +insulted Del Ferice, he was bound to give him satisfaction." + +"Satisfaction!" cried Donna Tullia. "Do you call it satisfaction to cut a +man's throat? What was the real cause of the quarrel?" + +"I do not know." + +"Do not tell me that--I do not believe you," answered Donna Tullia, +angrily. + +"I give you my word of honour that I do not know," returned the Prince. + +"That is different. Will you get in and drive with me for a few minutes?" + +"At your commands." Saracinesca opened the carriage-door and got in. + +"We shall astonish the world; but I do not care," said Donna Tullia. +"Tell me, is Don Giovanni seriously hurt?" + +"No--a couple of scratches that will heal in a week. Del Ferice is very +seriously wounded." + +"I know," answered Donna Tullia, sadly. "It is dreadful--I am afraid it +was my fault." + +"How so?" asked Saracinesca, quickly. He had not heard the story of the +forgotten waltz, and was really ignorant of the original cause of +disagreement. He guessed, however, that Donna Tullia was not so much +concerned in it as the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Your son was very rude to me," said Madame Mayer. "Perhaps I ought not +to tell you, but it is best you should know. He was engaged to dance with +me the last waltz but one before the cotillon. He forgot me, and I found +him with that--with a lady--talking quietly." + +"With whom did you say?" asked Saracinesca, very gravely. + +"With the Astrardente--if you will know," returned Donna Tullia, her +anger at the memory of the insult bringing the blood suddenly to her +face. + +"My dear lady," said the old Prince, "in the name of my son I offer you +the humble apologies which he will make in person when he is well enough +to ask your forgiveness." + +"I do not want apologies," answered Madame Mayer, turning her face away. + +"Nevertheless they shall be offered. But, pardon my curiosity, how did +Del Ferice come to be concerned in that incident?" + +"He was with me when I found Don Giovanni with the Duchessa. It is very +simple. I was very angry--I am very angry still; but I would not have had +Don Giovanni risk his life on my account for anything, nor poor Del +Ferice either. I am horribly upset about it all." + +Old Saracinesca wondered whether Donna Tullia's vanity would suffer if he +told her that the duel had not been fought for anything which concerned +her. But he reflected that her supposition was very plausible, and +that he himself had no evidence. Furthermore, and in spite of his +good-natured treatment of Giovanni, he was very angry at the thought that +his son had quarrelled about the Duchessa. When Giovanni should be +recovered from his wounds he intended to speak his mind to him. But he +was sorry for Donna Tullia, for he liked her in spite of her +eccentricities, and would have been satisfied to see her married to his +son. He was a practical man, and he took a prosaic view of the world. +Donna Tullia was rich, and good-looking enough to be called handsome. She +had the talent to make herself a sort of centre in her world. She was a +little noisy; but noise was fashionable, and there was no harm in her--no +one had ever said anything against her. Besides, she was one of the few +relations still left to the Saracinesca. The daughter of a cousin of the +Prince, she would make a good wife for Giovanni, and would bring sunshine +into the house. There was a tinge of vulgarity in her manner; but, like +many elderly men of his type, Saracinesca pardoned her this fault in +consideration of her noisy good spirits and general good-nature. He was +very much annoyed at hearing that his son had offended her so grossly by +his forgetfulness; especially it was unfortunate that since she believed +herself the cause of the duel, she should have the impression that it had +been provoked by Del Ferice to obtain satisfaction for the insult +Giovanni had offered her. There would be small chance of making the match +contemplated after such an affair. + +"I am sincerely sorry," said the Prince, stroking his white beard and +trying to get a sight of his companion's face, which she obstinately +turned away from him. "Perhaps it is better not to think too much of the +matter until the exact circumstances are known. Some one is sure to +tell the story one of these days." + +"How coldly you speak of it! One would think it had happened in Peru, +instead of here, this very morning." + +Saracinesca was at his wits' end. He wanted to smooth the matter over, or +at least to soften the unfavourable impression against Giovanni. He had +not the remotest idea how to do it. He was not a very diplomatic man. + +"No, no; you misunderstand me. I am not cold. I quite appreciate your +situation. You are very justly annoyed." + +"Of course I am," said Donna Tullia impatiently. She was beginning to +regret that she had made him get into her carriage. + +"Precisely; of course you are. Now, so soon as Giovanni is quite +recovered, I will send him to explain his conduct to you if he can, or +to--" + +"Explain it? How can he explain it? I do not want you to send him, if he +will not come of his own accord. Why should I?" + +"Well, well, as you please, my dear cousin," said old Saracinesca, +smiling to cover his perplexity. "I am not a good ambassador; but you +know I am a good friend, and I really want to do something to restore +Giovanni to your graces." + +"That will be difficult," answered Donna Tullia, although she knew very +well that she would receive Giovanni kindly enough when she had once had +an opportunity of speaking her mind to him. + +"Do not be hard-hearted," urged the Prince. "I am sure he is very +penitent." + +"Then let him say so." + +"That is exactly what I ask." + +"Is it? Oh, very well. If he chooses to call I will receive him, since +you desire it. Where shall I put you down?" + +"Anywhere, thank you. Here, if you wish--at the corner. Good-bye. Do not +be too hard on the boy." + +"We shall see," answered Donna Tullia, unwilling to show too much +indulgence. The old Prince bowed, and walked away into the gloom of the +dusky streets. + +"That is over," he muttered to himself. "I wonder how the Astrardente +takes it." He would have liked to see her; but he recognized that, as he +so very rarely called upon her, it would seem strange to choose such a +time for his visit. It would not do--it would be hardly decent, seeing +that he believed her to be the cause of the catastrophe. His steps, +however, led him almost unconsciously in the direction of the Astrardente +palace; he found himself in front of the arched entrance almost before +he knew where he was. The temptation to see Corona was more than he could +resist. He asked the porter if the Duchessa was at home, and on being +answered in the affirmative, he boldly entered and ascended the marble +staircase--boldly, but with an odd sensation, like that of a schoolboy +who is getting himself into trouble. + +Corona had just come home, and was sitting by the fire in her great +drawing-room, alone, with a book in her hand, which she was not reading. +She rarely remained in the reception-rooms; but to-day she had rather +capriciously taken a fancy to the broad solitude of the place, and had +accordingly installed herself there. She was very much surprised when the +doors were suddenly opened wide and the servant announced Prince +Saracinesca. For a moment she thought it must be Giovanni, for his father +rarely entered her house, and when the old man's stalwart figure advanced +towards her, she dropped her book in astonishment, and rose from her +deep chair to meet him. She was very pale, and there were dark rings +under her eyes that spoke of pain and want of sleep. She was so utterly +different from Donna Tullia, whom he had just left, that the Prince was +almost awed by her stateliness, and felt more than ever like a boy in a +bad scrape. Corona bowed rather coldly, but extended her hand, which the +old gentleman raised to his lips respectfully, in the manner of the old +school. + +"I trust you are not exhausted after the ball?" he began, not knowing +what to say. + +"Not in the least. We did not stay late," replied Corona, secretly +wondering why he had come. + +"It was really magnificent," he answered. "There has been no such ball +for years. Very unfortunate that it should have terminated in such an +unpleasant way," he added, making a bold dash at the subject of which he +wished to speak. + +"Very. You did a bad morning's work," said the Duchessa, severely. "I +wonder that you should speak of it." + +"No one speaks of anything else," returned the Prince, apologetically. +"Besides, I do not see what was to be done." + +"You should have stopped it," answered Corona, her dark eyes gleaming +with righteous indignation. "You should have prevented it at any price, +if not in the name of religion, which forbids it as a crime, at least in +the name of decency--as being Don Giovanni's father." + +"You speak strong words, Duchessa," said the Prince, evidently annoyed at +her tone. + +"If I speak strongly, it is because I think you acted shamefully in +permitting this disgraceful butchery." + +Saracinesca suddenly lost his temper, as he frequently did. + +"Madam," he said, "it is certainly not for you to accuse me of crime, +lack of decency, and what you are pleased to call disgraceful butchery, +seeing who was the probable cause of the honourable encounter which you +characterise in such tasteful language." + +"Honourable indeed!" said Corona, very scornfully. "Let that pass. Who, +pray, is more to blame than you? Who is the probable cause?" + +"Need I tell you?" asked the old man, fixing his flashing eyes upon her. + +"What do you mean?" inquired Corona, turning white, and her voice +trembling between her anger and her emotion. + +"I may be wrong," said the Prince, "but I believe I am right. I believe +the duel was fought on your account." + +"On my account!" repeated Corona, half rising from her chair in her +indignation. Then she sank back again, and added, very coldly, "If you +have come here to insult me, Prince, I will send for my husband." + +"I beg your pardon, Duchessa," said old Saracinesca. "It is very far from +my intention to insult you." + +"And who has told you this abominable lie?" asked Corona, still very +angry. + +"No one, upon my word." + +"Then how dare you--" + +"Because I have reason to believe that you are the only woman alive for +whom my son would engage in a quarrel." + +"It is impossible," cried Corona. "I will never believe that Don Giovanni +could--" She checked herself. + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca is a gentleman, madam," said the old Prince, +proudly. "He keeps his own counsel. I have come by the information +without any evidence of it from his lips." + +"Then I am at a loss to understand you," returned the Duchessa. "I must +beg you either to explain your extraordinary language, or else to leave +me." + +Corona d'Astrardente was a match for any man when she was angry. But old +Saracinesca, though no diplomatist, was a formidable adversary, from his +boldness and determination to discover the truth at any price. + +"It is precisely because, at the risk of offending you, I desired an +explanation, that I have intruded myself upon you to-day," he answered. +"Will you permit me one question before I leave you?" + +"Provided it is not an insulting one, I will answer it," replied Corona. + +"Do you know anything of the circumstances which led to this morning's +encounter?" + +"Certainly not," Corona answered, hotly. "I assure you most solemnly," +she continued in calmer tones, "that I am wholly ignorant of it. I +suppose you have a right to be told that." + +"I, on my part, assure you, upon my word, that I know no more than you +yourself, excepting this: on some provocation, concerning which he will +not speak, my son seized Del Ferice by the throat and used strong words +to him. No one witnessed the scene. Del Ferice sent the challenge. +My son could find no one to act for him and applied to me, as was quite +right that he should. There was no apology possible--Giovanni had to give +the man satisfaction. You know as much as I know now." + +"That does not help me to understand why you accuse me of having caused +the quarrel," said Corona. "What have I to do with Del Ferice, poor man?" + +"This--any one can see that you are as indifferent to my son as to any +other man. Every one knows that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is above +suspicion." + +Corona raised her head proudly and stared at Saracinesca. + +"But, on the other hand, every one knows that my son loves you madly--can +you yourself deny it?" + +"Who dares to say it?" asked Corona, her anger rising afresh. + +"Who sees, dares. Can you deny it?" + +"You have no right to repeat such hearsay tales to me," answered Corona. +But the blush rose to her pale dark cheeks, and she suddenly dropped her +eyes. + +"Can you deny it, Duchessa?" asked the Prince a third time, insisting +roughly. + +"Since you are so certain, why need you care for my denial?" inquired +Corona. + +"Duchessa, you must forgive me," answered Saracinesca, his tone suddenly +softening. "I am rough, probably rude; but I love my son dearly. I cannot +bear to see him running into a dangerous and hopeless passion, from which +he may issue only to find himself grown suddenly old and bitter, +disappointed and miserable for the rest of his life. I believe you to be +a very good woman; I cannot look at you and doubt the truth of anything +you tell me. If he loves you, you have influence over him. If you have +influence, use it for his good; use it to break down this mad love of +his, to show him his own folly--to save him, in short, from his fate. Do +you understand me? Do I ask too much?" + +Corona understood well enough--far too well. She knew the whole extent of +Giovanni's love for her, and, what old Saracinesca never guessed, the +strength of her own love for him, for the sake of which she would do all +that a woman could do. There was a long pause after the old Prince had +spoken. He waited patiently for an answer. + +"I understand you--yes," she said at last. "If you are right in your +surmises, I should have some influence over your son. If I can advise +him, and he will take my advice, I will give him the best counsel I can. +You have placed me in a very embarrassing position, and you have shown +little courtesy in the way you have spoken to me; but I will try to do as +you request me, if the opportunity offers, for the sake of--of turning +what is very bad into something which may at last be good." + +"Thank you, thank you, Duchessa!" cried the Prince. "I will never +forget--" + +"Do not thank me," said Corona, coldly. "I am not in a mood to appreciate +your gratitude. There is too much blood of those honest gentlemen upon +your hands." + +"Pardon me, Duchessa, I wish there were on my hands and head the blood of +that gentleman you call honest--the gentleman who twice tried to murder +my son this morning, and twice nearly succeeded." + +"What!" cried Corona, in sudden terror. + +"That fellow thrust at Giovanni once to kill him while they were halting +and his sword was hanging lowered in his hand; and once again he threw +himself upon his knee and tried to stab him in the body--which is a +dastardly trick not permitted in any country. Even in duelling, such +things are called murder; and it is their right name." + +Corona was very pale. Giovanni's danger had been suddenly brought before +her in a very vivid light, and she was horror-struck at the thought of +it. + +"Is--is Don Giovanni very badly wounded?" she asked. + +"No, thank heaven; he will be wall in a week. But either one of those +attempts might have killed him; and he would have died, I think--pardon +me, no insult this time--I think, on your account. Do you see why for +him I dread this attachment to you, which leads him to risk his life at +every turn for a word about you? Do you see why I implore you to take the +matter into your serious consideration, and to use your influence to +bring him to his senses?" + +"I see; but in this question of the duel you have no proof that I was +concerned." + +"No,--no proof, perhaps. I will not weary you with surmises; but even if +it was not for you this time, you see that it might have been." + +"Perhaps," said Corona, very sadly. + +"I have to thank you, even if you will not listen to me," said the +Prince, rising. "You have understood me. It was all I asked. Good night." + +"Good night," answered Corona, who did not move from her seat nor extend +her hand this time. She was too much agitated to think of formalities. +Saracinesca bowed low and left the room. + +It was characteristic of him that he had come to see the Duchessa not +knowing what he should say, and that he had blurted out the whole truth, +and then lost his temper in support of it. He was a hasty man, of noble +instincts, but always inclined rather to cut a knot than to unloose +it--to do by force what another man would do by skill--angry at +opposition, and yet craving it by his combative nature. + +His first impulse on leaving Corona was to go to Giovanni and tell him +what he had done; but he reflected as he went home that his son was ill +with his wounds, and that it would be bad for him to be angry, as of +course he would be if he were told of his father's doings. Moreover, as +old Saracinesca thought more seriously of the matter, he wisely concluded +that it would be better not to speak of the visit; and when he entered +the room where Giovanni was lying on his couch with a novel and a +cigarette, he had determined to conceal the whole matter. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "we are the talk of the town, of course." + +"It was to be expected. Whom have you seen?" + +"In the first place, I have seen Madame Mayer. She is in a state of anger +against you which borders on madness--not because you have wounded Del +Ferice, but because you forgot to dance with her. I cannot conceive +how you could be so foolish." + +"Nor I. It was idiotic in the last degree," replied Giovanni, annoyed +that his father should have learned the story. + +"You must go and see her at once--as soon as you can go out. It is a +disagreeable business." + +"Of course. What else did she say?" + +"She thought that Del Ferice had challenged you on her account, because +you had not danced with her." + +"How silly! As if I should fight duels about her." + +"Since there was probably a woman in the case, she might have been the +one," remarked his father. + +"There was no woman in the case, practically speaking," said Giovanni, +shortly. + +"Oh, I supposed there was. However, I told Donna Tullia that I advised +her not to think anything more of the matter until the whole story came +out." + +"When is that likely to occur?" asked Giovanni, laughing. "No one alive +knows the cause of the quarrel but Del Ferice and I myself. He will +certainly not tell the world, as the thing was even more disgraceful to +him than his behaviour this morning. There is no reason why I should +speak of it either." + +"How reticent you are, Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. + +"Believe me, if I could tell you the whole story without injuring any one +but Del Ferice, I would." + +"Then there was really a woman in the case?" + +"There was a woman outside the case, who caused us to be in it," returned +Giovanni. + +"Always your detestable riddles," cried the old man, petulantly; and +presently, seeing that his son was obstinately silent, he left the room +to dress for dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It may be that when Astrardente spoke so tenderly to his wife after the +Frangipani ball, he felt some warning that told him his strength was +failing. His heart was in a dangerous condition, the family doctor had +said, and it was necessary that he should take care of himself. He had +been very tired after that long evening, and perhaps some sudden sinking +had shaken his courage. He awoke from an unusually heavy sleep with a +strange sense of astonishment, as though he had not expected to awake +again in life. He felt weaker than he had felt for a long time, and even +his accustomed beverage of chocolate mixed with coffee failed to give him +the support he needed in the morning. He rose very late, and his servant +found him more than usually petulant, nor did the message brought back +from Giovanni seem to improve his temper. He met his wife at the midday +breakfast, and was strangely silent, and in the afternoon he shut himself +up in his own rooms and would see nobody. But at dinner he appeared +again, seemingly revived, and declared his intention of accompanying his +wife to a reception given at the Austrian embassy. He seemed so unlike +his usual self, that Corona did not venture to speak of the duel which +had taken place in the morning; for she feared anything which might +excite him, well knowing that excitement might prove fatal. She did what +she could to dissuade him from going out; but he grew petulant, and she +unwillingly yielded. + +At the embassy he soon heard all the details, for no one talked of +anything else; but Astrardente was ashamed of not having heard it all +before, and affected a cynical indifference to the tale which the +military attache of the embassy repeated for his benefit. He vouchsafed +some remark to the effect that fighting duels was the natural amusement +of young gentlemen, and that if one of them killed another there was at +least one fool the less in society; after which he looked about him for +some young beauty to whom he might reel off a score of compliments. He +knew all the time that he was making a great effort, that he felt +unaccountably ill, and that he wished he had taken his wife's advice and +stayed quietly at home. But at the end of the evening he chanced to +overhear a remark that Valdarno was making to Casalverde, who looked +exceedingly pale and ill at ease. + +"You had better make your will, my dear fellow," said Valdarno. "Spicca +is a terrible man with the foils." + +Astrardente turned quickly and looked at the speaker. But both men were +suddenly silent, and seemed absorbed in gazing at the crowd. It was +enough, however. Astrardente had gathered that Casalverde was to fight +Spicca the next day, and that the affair begun that morning had not yet +reached its termination. He determined that he would not again be guilty +of not knowing what was going on in society; and with the intention of +rising early on the following morning, he found Corona, and rather +unceremoniously told her it was time to go home. + +On the next day the Duca d'Astrardente walked into the club soon after +ten o'clock. On ordinary occasions that resort of his fellows was +entirely empty until a much later hour; but Astrardente was not +disappointed to-day. Twenty or thirty men were congregated in the large +hall which served as a smoking-room, and all of them were talking +together excitedly. As the door swung on its hinges and the old dandy +entered, a sudden silence fell upon the assembly. Astrardente naturally +judged that the conversation had turned upon himself, and had been +checked by his appearance; but he affected to take no notice of the +occurrence, adjusting his single eyeglass in his eye and serenely +surveying the men in the room. He could see that, although they had been +talking loudly, the matter in hand was serious enough, for there was no +trace of mirth on any of the faces before him. He at once assumed an air +of gravity, and going up to Valdarno, who seemed to have occupied the +most prominent place in the recent discussion, he put his question in an +undertone. + +"I suppose Spicca killed him?" + +Valdarno nodded, and looked grave. He was a thoughtless young fellow +enough, but the news of the tragedy had sobered him. Astrardente had +anticipated the death of Casalverde, and was not surprised. But he was +not without human feeling, and showed a becoming regret at the sad end of +a man he had been accustomed to see so frequently. + +"How was it?" he asked. + +"A simple 'un, deux,' tierce and carte at the first bout. Spicca is as +quick as lightning. Come away from this crowd," added Valdarno, in a low +voice, "and I will tell you all about it." + +In spite of his sorrow at his friend's death, Valdarno felt a certain +sense of importance at being able to tell the story to Astrardente. +Valdarno was vain in a small way, though his vanity was to that of the +old Duca as the humble violet to the full-blown cabbage-rose. Astrardente +enjoyed a considerable importance in society as the husband of Corona, +and was an object of especial interest to Valdarno, who supported the +incredible theory of Corona's devotion to the old man. Valdarno's stables +were near the club, and on pretence of showing a new horse to +Astrardente, he nodded to his friends, and left the room with the aged +dandy. It was a clear, bright winter's morning, and the two men strolled +slowly down the Corso towards Valdarno's palace. + +"You know, of course, how the affair began?" asked the young man. + +"The first duel? Nobody knows--certainly not I." + +"Well--perhaps not," returned Valdarno, doubtfully. "At all events, you +know that Spicca flew into a passion because poor Casalverde forgot to +step in after he cried halt; and then Del Ferice ran Giovanni through the +arm." + +"That was highly improper--most reprehensible," said Astrardente, putting +up his eyeglass to look at a pretty little sempstress who hurried past on +her way to her work. + +"I suppose so. But Casalverde certainly meant no harm; and if Del Ferice +had not been so unlucky as to forget himself in the excitement of the +moment, no one would have thought anything of it." + +"Ah yes, I suppose not," murmured Astrardente, still looking after the +girl. When he could see her face no longer, he turned sharply back to +Valdarno. + +"This is exceedingly interesting," he said. "Tell me more about it." + +"Well, when it was over, old Saracinesca was for killing Casalverde +himself." + +"The old fire-eater! He ought to be ashamed of himself." + +"However, Spicca was before him, and challenged Casalverde then and +there. As both the principals in the first duel were so badly wounded, it +had to be put off until this morning." + +"They went out, and--piff, paff! Spicca ran him through," interrupted +Astrardente. "What a horrible tragedy!" + +"Ah yes; and what is worse--" + +"What surprises me most," interrupted the Duca again, "is that in this +delightfully peaceful and paternally governed little nest of ours, the +authorities should not have been able to prevent either of these duels. +It is perfectly amazing! I cannot remember a parallel instance. Do you +mean to say that there was not a _sbirro_ or a _gendarme_ in the +neighbourhood to-day nor yesterday?" + +"That is not so surprising," answered Valdarno, with a knowing look. +"There would have been few tears in high quarters if Del Ferice had been +killed yesterday; there will be few to-day over the death of poor +Casalverde." + +"Bah!" ejaculated Astrardente. "If Antonelli had heard of these affairs +he would have stopped them soon enough." + +Valdarno glanced behind him, and, bending a little, whispered in +Astrardente's ear-- + +"They were both Liberals, you must know." + +"Liberals?" repeated the old dandy, with a cynical sneer. "Nonsense, I +say! Liberals? Yes, in the way you are a Liberal, and Donna Tullia Mayer, +and Spicca himself, who has just killed that other Liberal, Casalverde. +Liberals indeed! Do you flatter yourself for a moment that Antonelli is +afraid of such Liberals as you are? Do you think the life of Del Ferice +is of any more importance to politics than the life of that dog there?" + +It was Astrardente's habit to scoff mercilessly at all the petty +manifestations of political feeling he saw about him in the world. He +represented a class distinct both from the Valdarno set and from the men +represented by the Saracinesca--a class who despised everything political +as unworthy of the attention of gentlemen, who took everything for +granted, and believed that all was for the best, provided that society +moved upon rollers and so long as no one meddled with old institutions. +To question the wisdom of the municipal regulations was to attack the +Government itself; to attack the Government was to cast a slight upon his +Holiness the Pope, which was rank heresy, and very vulgar into the +bargain. Astrardente had seen a great deal of the world, but his ideas of +politics were almost childishly simple--whereas many people said that his +principles in relation to his fellows were fiendishly cynical. He was +certainly not a very good man; and if he pretended to no reputation for +devoutness, it was probable that he recognised the absurdity of his +attempting such a pose. But politically he believed in Cardinal +Antonelli's ability to defy Europe with or without the aid of France, and +laughed as loudly at Louis Napoleon's old idea of putting the sovereign +Pontiff at the head of an Italian federation, as he jeered at Cavour's +favourite phrase concerning a free Church in a free State. He had good +blood in him, and the hereditary courage often found with it. He had a +certain skill in matters worldly; but his wit in things political seemed +to belong to an earlier generation, and to be incapable of receiving new +impressions. + +But Valdarno, who was vain and set great value on his opinions, was +deeply offended at the way Astrardente spoke of him and his friends. In +his eyes he was risking much for what he considered a good object, and he +resented any contemptuous mention of Liberal principles, whenever he +dared. No one cared much for Astrardente, and certainly no one feared +him; nevertheless in those times men hesitated to defend anything which +came under the general head of Liberalism, when they were likely to be +overheard, or when they could not trust the man to whom they were +speaking. If no one feared Astrardente, no one trusted him either. +Valdarno consequently judged it best to smother his annoyance at the old +man's words, and to retaliate by striking him in a weak spot. + +"If you despise Del Ferice as much as you say," he remarked, "I wonder +that you tolerate him as you do." + +"I tolerate him. Toleration is the very word--it delightfully expresses +my feelings towards him. He is a perfectly harmless creature, who affects +immense depth of insight into human affairs, and who cannot see an inch +before his face. Dear me! yes, I shall always tolerate Del Ferice, poor +fellow!" + +"You may not be called upon to do so much longer," replied Valdarno. +"They say he is in a very dangerous condition." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Astrardente, putting up his eyeglass at his companion. +"Ah, you don't say so!" + +There was something so insolent in the old man's affected stare that even +the foolish and good-natured Valdarno lost his temper, being already +somewhat irritated. + +"It is a pity that you should be so indifferent. It is hardly becoming. +If you had not tolerated him as you have, he might not be lying there at +the point of death." + +Astrardente stared harder than ever. + +"My dear young friend," he said, "your language is the most extraordinary +I ever heard. How in the world can my treatment of that unfortunate man +have had anything to do with his being wounded in a duel?" + +"My dear old friend," replied Valdarno, impudently mimicking the old +man's tone, "your simplicity surpasses anything I ever knew. Is it +possible that you do not know that this duel was fought for your wife?" + +Astrardente looked fixedly at Valdarno; his eyeglass dropped from his +eye, and he turned ashy pale beneath his paint. He staggered a moment, +and steadied himself against the door of a shop. They were just passing +the corner of the Piazza di Sciarra, the most crowded crossing of the +Corso. + +"Valdarno," said the old man, his cracked voice dropping to a hoarser and +deeper tone, "you must explain yourself or answer for this." + +"What! Another duel!" cried Valdarno, in some scorn. Then, seeing that +his companion looked ill, he took him by the arm and led him rapidly +through the crowd, across the Arco dei Carbognani. Entering the Caffe +Aragno, a new institution in those days, both men sat down at a small +marble table. The old dandy was white with emotion; Valdarno felt that he +was enjoying his revenge. + +"A glass of cognac, Duke?" he said, as the waiter came up. Astrardente +nodded, and there was silence while the man brought the cordial. The Duca +lived by an invariable rule, seeking to balance the follies of his youth +by excessive care in his old age; it was long, indeed, since he had taken +a glass of brandy in the morning. He swallowed it quickly, and the +stimulant produced its effect immediately; he readjusted his eyeglass, +and faced Valdarno sternly. + +"And now," he said, "that we are at our ease, may I inquire what the +devil you mean by your insinuations about my wife?" + +"Oh," replied Valdarno, affecting great indifference, "I only say what +everybody says. There is no offence to the Duchessa." + +"I should suppose not, indeed. Go on." + +"Do you really care to hear the story?" asked the young man. + +"I intend to hear it, and at once," replied Astrardente. + +"You will not have to employ force to extract it from me, I can assure +you," said Valdarno, settling himself in his chair, but avoiding the +angry glance of the old man. "Everybody has been repeating it since the +day before yesterday, when it occurred. You were at the Frangipani +ball--you might have seen it all. In the first place, you must know that +there exists another of those beings to whom you extend your merciful +toleration--a certain Giovanni Saracinesca--you may have noticed him?" + +"What of him?" asked Astrardente, fiercely. + +"Among other things, he is the man who wounded Del Ferice, as I daresay +you have heard. Among other things concerning him, he has done himself +the honour of falling desperately, madly in love with the Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who--" + +"What?" cried the old man in a cracked voice, as Valdarno paused. + +"Who does you the honour of ignoring his existence on most occasions, but +who was so unfortunate as to recall him to her memory on the night of the +Frangipani ball. We were all sitting in a circle round the Duchessa's +chair that night, when the conversation chanced to turn upon this same +Giovanni Saracinesca, a fire-eating fellow with a bad temper. He had been +away for some days; indeed he was last seen at the Apollo in your box, +when they gave 'Norma'--" + +"I remember," interrupted Astrardente. The mention of that evening was +but a random shot. Valdarno had been in the club-box, and had seen +Giovanni when he made his visit to the Astrardente; he had not seen him +again till the Frangipani ball. + +"Well, as I was saying, we spoke of Giovanni, and every one had something +to say about his absence. The Duchessa expressed her curiosity, and Del +Ferice, who was with us, proposed calling him--he was at the other end of +the room, you see--that he might answer for himself. So I went and +brought him up. He was in a very bad humour--" + +"What has all this absurd story got to do with the matter?" asked the old +man, impatiently. + +"It is the matter itself. The irascible Giovanni is angry at being +questioned, treats us all like mud under his feet, sits down by the +Duchessa and forces us to go away. The Duchessa tells him the story, with +a laugh no doubt, and Giovanni's wrath overflows. He goes in search of +Del Ferice, and nearly strangles him. The result of these eccentricities +is the first duel, leading to the second." + +Astrardente was very angry, and his thin gloved hands twitched nervously +at the handle of his stick. + +"And this," he said, "this string of trivial ball-room incident, seems to +you a sufficient pretext for stating that the duel was about my wife?" + +"Certainly," replied Valdarno, coolly. "If Saracinesca had not been for +months openly devoting himself to the Duchessa--who, I assure you, takes +no kind of notice of him--" + +"You need not waste words--" + +"I do not,--and if Giovanni had not thought it worth while to be jealous +of Del Ferice, there would have been no fighting." + +"Have you been telling your young friends that my wife was the cause of +all this?" asked Astrardente, trembling with a genuine rage which lent a +certain momentary dignity to his feeble frame and painted face. + +"Why not?" + +"Have you or have you not?" + +"Certainly--if you please," returned Valdarno insolently, enjoying the +old man's fury. + +"Then permit me to tell you that you have taken upon yourself an +outrageous liberty, that you have lied, and that you do not deserve to be +treated like a gentleman." + +Astrardente got upon his feet and left the cafe without further words. +Valdarno had indeed wounded him in a weak spot, and the wound was mortal. +His blood was up, and at that moment he would have faced Valdarno sword +in hand, and might have proved himself no mean adversary, so great is the +power of anger to revive in the most decrepit the energies of youth. He +believed in his wife with a rare sincerity, and his blood boiled at the +idea of her being rudely spoken of as the cause of a scandalous quarrel, +however much Valdarno insisted upon it that she was as indifferent to +Giovanni as to Del Ferice. The story was a shallow invention upon the +face of it. But though the old man told himself so again and again as he +almost ran through the narrow streets towards his house, there was one +thought suggested by Valdarno which rankled deep. It was true that +Giovanni had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera; but he +had not remained five minutes seated by the Duchessa before he had +suddenly invented a shallow excuse for leaving; and finally, there was no +doubt that at that very moment Corona had seemed violently agitated. +Giovanni had not reappeared till the night of the Frangipani ball, and +the duel had taken place on the very next morning. Astrardente could not +reason--his mind was too much disturbed by his anger against Valdarno; +but a vague impression that there was something wrong in it all, drove +him homewards in wild excitement. He was ill, too, and had he been in a +frame of mind to reflect upon himself, he would have noticed that his +heart was beating with ominous irregularity. He did not even think of +taking a cab, but hurried along on foot, finding, perhaps, a momentary +relief in violent exertion. The old blood rushed to his face in good +earnest, and shamed the delicately painted lights and shadows touched in +by the master-hand of Monsieur Isidore, the cosmopolitan valet. + +Valdarno remained seated in the cafe, rather disturbed at what he had +done. He certainly had had no intention of raising such a storm; he was a +weak and good-natured fellow, whose vanity was easily wounded, but who +was not otherwise very sensitive, and was certainly not very intelligent. +Astrardente had laughed at him and his friends in a way which touched him +to the quick, and with childish petulance he had retaliated in the +easiest way which presented itself. Indeed there was more foundation for +his tale than Astrardente would allow. At least it was true that the +story was in the mouths of all the gossips that morning, and Valdarno had +only repeated what he had heard. He had meant to annoy the old man; he +had certainly not intended to make him so furiously angry. As for the +deliberate insult he had received, it was undoubtedly very shocking to be +told that one lied in such very plain terms; but on the other hand, to +demand satisfaction of such an old wreck as Astrardente would be +ridiculous in the extreme. Valdarno was incapable of very violent +passion, and was easily persuaded that he was in the wrong when any one +contradicted him flatly; not that he was altogether devoid of a certain +physical courage if hard pushed, but because he was not very strong, not +very confident of himself, not very combative, and not very truthful. +When Astrardente was gone, he waited a few minutes, and then sauntered up +the Corso again towards the club, debating in his mind how he should turn +a good story out of his morning's adventure without making himself appear +either foolish or pusillanimous. It was also necessary so to turn his +narrative that in case any one repeated it to Giovanni, the latter might +not propose to cut his throat, though it was not probable that any one +would be bold enough to desire a conversation with the younger +Saracinesca on such a subject. + +When he again entered the smoking-room of the club, he was greeted by a +chorus of inquiries concerning his interview with Astrardente. + +"What did he ask? What did he say? Where is he? What did you tell him? +Did he drop his eyeglass? Did he blush through his paint?" + +Everybody spoke together in the same breath. Valdarno's vanity rose to +the occasion. Weak and insignificant by nature, he particularly delighted +in being the centre of general interest, if even for a moment only. + +"He really dropped his eyeglass," he answered, with a gay laugh, "and he +really changed colour in spite of his paint." + +"It must have been a terrible interview, then," remarked one or two of +the loungers. + +"I shall be happy to offer you my services in case you wish to cut each +other's throats," said a French officer of the Papal Zouaves who stood by +the fireplace rolling a cigarette. Whereupon everybody laughed loudly. + +"Thanks," answered Valdarno; "I am expecting a challenge every minute. If +he proposes a powder-puff and a box of rouge for the weapons, I accept +without hesitation. Well, it was very amusing. He wanted to know all +about it, and so I told him about the scene in Casa Frangipani. He did +not seem to understand at all. He is a very obtuse old gentleman." + +"I hope you explained the connection of events," said some one. + +"Indeed I did. It was delightful to witness his fury. It was then that he +dropped his eyeglass and turned as red as a boiled lobster. He swore that +his wife was above suspicion, as usual." + +"That is true," said a young man who had attempted to make love to Corona +during the previous year. + +"Of course it is true," echoed all the rest, with unanimity rare indeed +where a woman's reputation is concerned. + +"Yes," continued Valdarno, "of course. But he goes so far as to say it is +absurd that any one should admire his wife, who is nevertheless a most +admirable woman. He stamped, he screamed, he turned red in the face, and +he went off without taking leave of me, flourishing his stick, and +swearing eternal hatred and vengeance against the entire civilised +society of the world. He was delightfully amusing. Will anybody play +baccarat? I will start a bank." + +The majority were for the game, and in a few minutes were seated at a +large green table, drawing cards and betting with a good will, and +interspersing their play with stray remarks on the events of the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Corona was fast coming to a state of mind in which a kind of passive +expectation--a sort of blind submission to fate--was the chief feature. +She had shed tears when her husband spoke of his approaching end, because +her gentle heart was grateful to him, and by its own sacrifices had grown +used to his presence, and because she suddenly felt that she had +comprehended the depth of his love for her, as she had never understood +it before. In the five years of married life she had spent with him, she +had not allowed herself to think of his selfishness, of his small daily +egotism; for, though it was at no great expense to himself, he had been +uniformly generous and considerate to her. But she had been conscious +that if she should ever remove from her conscience the pressure of a +self-imposed censorship, so that her judgment might speak boldly, the +verdict of her heart would not have been so indulgent to her husband as +was that formal opinion of him which she forced herself to hold. Now, +however, it seemed as though the best things she had desired to believe +of him were true; and with the conviction that he was not only not +selfish, but absolutely devoted to herself, there had come upon her a +fear of desolation, a dread of being left alone--of finding herself +abandoned by this strange companion, the only person in the world with +whom she had the habit of familiarity and the bond of a common past. +Astrardente had thought, and had told her too, that the knowledge of his +impending death might lighten her burden--might make the days of +self-sacrifice that yet remained seem shorter; he had spoken kindly of +her marrying again when he should be dead, deeming perhaps, in his sudden +burst of generosity that she would be capable of looking beyond the +unhappy present to the possibilities of a more brilliant future, or at +least that the certainty of his consent to such a second union would +momentarily please her. It was hard to say why he had spoken. It had been +an impulse such as the most selfish people sometimes yield to when their +failing strength brings upon them suddenly the sense of their inability +to resist any longer the course of events. The vanity of man is so +amazing that when he is past arrogating to himself the attention which is +necessary to him as his daily bread, he is capable of so demeaning his +manhood as to excite interest in his weaknesses rather than that he +should cease to be the object of any interest whatever. The analysis of +the feelings of old and selfish persons is the most difficult of all +studies; for in proportion as the strength of the dominant passion or +passions is quenched in the bitter still waters of the harbour of +superannuation, the small influences of life grow in importance. As when, +from the breaking surge of an angry ocean, the water is dashed high among +the re-echoing rocks, leaving little pools of limpid clearness in the +hollows of the storm-beaten cliffs; and as when the anger of the tossing +waves has subsided, the hot sun shines upon the mimic seas, and the clear +waters that were so transparent grow thick and foul with the motion of a +tiny and insignificant insect-life undreamed of before in such crystal +purity: so also the clear strong sea of youth is left to dry in the +pools and puddles of old age, and in the motionless calm of the still +places where the ocean of life has washed it, it is dried up and consumed +by myriads of tiny parasites--lives within lives, passions within +passions--tiny efforts at mimic greatness,--a restless little world, the +very parody and infinitesimal reproduction of the mighty flood whence it +came, wherein great monsters have their being, and things of unspeakable +beauty grow free in the large depths of an unfathomed ocean. + +To Corona d'Astrardente in the freshness of her youth the study of her +husband's strange littleness had grown to be a second nature from the +habit of her devotion to him. But she could not understand him; she could +not explain to herself the sudden confession of old age, the quiet +anticipation of death, the inexplicable generosity towards herself. She +only knew that he must be at heart a man more kindly and of better +impulse than he had generally been considered, and she resolved to do +her utmost to repay him, and to soothe the misery of his last years. + +Since he had told her so plainly, it must be true. It was natural, +perhaps--for he was growing more feeble every day--but it was very sad. +Five years ago, when she had choked down her loathing for the old man to +whom she had sold herself for her father's sake, she would not have +believed that she should one day feel the tears rise fast at the thought +of his dying and leaving her free. He had said it; she would be free. +They say that men who have been long confined in a dungeon become +indifferent, and when turned out upon the world would at first gladly +return to their prison walls. Liberty is in the first place an instinct, +but it will easily grow to be a habit. Corona had renounced all thought +of freedom five years ago, and in the patient bowing of her noble nature +to the path she had chosen, she had attained to a state of renunciation +like that of a man who has buried himself for ever in an order of +Trappists, and neither dreams of the freedom of the outer world, nor +desires to dream of it. And she had grown fond of the aged dandy and his +foolish ways--ways which seemed foolish because they were those of youth +grafted upon senility. She had not known that she was fond of him, it is +true; but now that he spoke of dying, she felt that she would weep his +loss. He was her only companion, her only friend. In the loyal +determination to be faithful to him, she had so shut herself from all +intimacy with the world that she had not a friend. She kept women at a +distance from her, instinctively dreading lest in their careless talk +some hint or comment should remind her that she had married a man +ridiculous in their eyes; and with men she could have but little +intercourse, for their society was dangerous. No man save Giovanni +Saracinesca had for years put himself in the light of a mere +acquaintance, always ready to talk to her upon general subjects, +studiously avoiding himself in all discussions, and delicately +flattering her vanity by his deference to her judgment. The other men had +generally spoken of love at the second meeting, and declared themselves +devoted to her for life at the end of a week: she had quietly repulsed +them, and they had dropped back into the position of indifferent +acquaintances, going in search of other game, after the manner of young +gentlemen of leisure. Giovanni alone had sternly maintained his air of +calmness, had never offended her simple pride of loyalty to Astrardente +by word or deed; so that, although she felt and dreaded her growing +interest in him, she had actually believed that he was nothing in her +life, until at last she had been undeceived and awakened to the knowledge +of his fierce passion, and being taken unawares, had nearly been carried +off her feet by the tempest his words had roused in her own breast. But +her strength had not utterly deserted her. Years of supreme devotion to +the right, of honest and unwavering loyalty, neither deceiving her +conscience on the one hand with the morbid food of a fictitious religious +exaltation, nor, upon the other, sinking to a cynical indifference to +inevitable misery; days of quiet and constant effort; long hours of +thoughtful meditation upon the one resolution of her life,--all this had +strengthened the natural force of her character, so that, when at last +the great trial had come, she had not yielded, but had conquered once and +for ever, in the very moment of sorest temptation. And with her there +would be no return of the danger. Having found strength to resist, +she knew that there would be no more weakness; her love for Giovanni was +deep and sincere, but it had become now the chief cause of suffering in +her life; it had utterly ceased to be the chief element of joy, as it had +been for a few short days. It was one thing more to be borne, and it +outweighed all other cares. + +The news of the duel had given her great distress. She believed honestly +that she was in no way concerned in it, and she had bitterly resented old +Saracinesca's imputation. In the hot words that had passed between +them, she had felt her anger rise justly against the old Prince; but when +he appealed to her on account of his son, her love for Giovanni had +vanquished her wrath against the old man. Come what might, she would do +what was best for him. If possible, she would induce him to leave Rome at +once, and thus free herself from the pain of constantly meeting him. +Perhaps she could make him marry--anything would be better than to allow +things to go on in their present course, to have to face him at every +turn, and to know that at any moment he might be quarrelling with +somebody and fighting duels on her account. + +She went boldly into the world that night, not knowing whether she should +meet Giovanni or not, but resolved upon her course if he appeared. Many +people looked curiously at her, and smiled cunningly as they thought they +detected traces of care upon her proud face; but though they studied her, +and lost no opportunity of talking to her upon the one topic which +absorbed the general conversation, no one had the satisfaction of moving +her even so much as to blush a little, or to lower the gaze of her eyes +that looked them all indifferently through and through. + +Giovanni, however, did not appear, and people told her he would not leave +his room for several days, so that she returned to her home without +having accomplished anything in the matter. Her husband was very silent, +but looked at her with an expression of uncertainty, as though hesitating +to speak to her upon some subject that absorbed his interest. Neither of +them referred to the strange interview of the previous night. They went +home early, as has been already recorded, seeing it was only a great and +formal reception to which the world went that night; and even the +toughest old society jades were weary from the ball of the day before, +which had not broken up until half-past six in the morning. + +On the next day, at about twelve o'clock, Corona was sitting in her +boudoir writing a number of invitations which were to be distributed in +the afternoon, when the door opened and her husband entered the room. + +"My dear," he cried in great excitement, "it is perfectly horrible! Have +you heard?" + +"What?" asked Corona, laying down her pen. + +"Spicca has killed Casalverde--the man who seconded Del Ferice +yesterday,--killed him on the spot--" + +Corona uttered an exclamation of horror. + +"And they say Del Ferice is dead, or just dying"--his cracked voice rose +at every word; "and they say," he almost screamed, laying his withered +hand roughly upon his wife's shoulder,--"they say that the duel was about +you--you, do you understand?" + +"That is not true," said Corona, firmly. "Calm yourself--I beseech you to +be calm. Tell me connectedly what has happened--who told you this story." + +"What right has any man to drag your name into a quarrel?" cried the old +man, hoarsely. "Everybody is saying it--it is outrageous, abominable--" + +Corona quietly pushed her husband into a chair, and sat down beside him. + +"You are excited--you will harm yourself,--remember your health," she +said, endeavouring to soothe him. "Tell me, in the first place, who told +you that it was about me." + +"Valdarno told me; he told me that every one was saying it--that it was +the talk of the town." + +"But why?" insisted Corona. "You allow yourself to be furious for the +sake of a piece of gossip which has no foundation whatever. What is the +story they tell?" + +"Some nonsense about Giovanni Saracinesca's going away last week. Del +Ferice proposed to call him before you, and Giovanni was angry." + +"That is absurd," said Corona. "Don Giovanni was not the least annoyed. +He was with me afterwards--" + +"Always Giovanni! Always Giovanni! Wherever you go, it is Giovanni!" +cried the old man, in unreasonable petulance--unreasonable from his point +of view, reasonable enough had he known the truth. But he struck +unconsciously upon the key-note of all Corona's troubles, and she turned +pale to the lips. + +"You say it is not true," he began again. "How do you know? How can you +tell what may have been said? How can you guess it? Giovanni Saracinesca +is about you in society more than any one. He has quarrelled about you, +and two men have lost their lives in consequence. He is in love with you, +I tell you. Can you not see it? You must be blind!" + +Corona leaned back in her chair, utterly overcome by the suddenness of +the situation, unable to answer, her hands folded tightly together, her +pale lips compressed. Angry at her silence, old Astrardente continued, +his rage gradually getting the mastery of his sense, and his passion +working itself up to the pitch of madness. + +"Blind--yes--positively blind!" he cried. "Do you think that I am blind +too? Do you think I will overlook all this? Do you not see that your +reputation is injured--that people associate your name with his--that no +woman can be mentioned in the same breath with Giovanni Saracinesca and +hope to maintain a fair fame? A fellow whose adventures are in +everybody's mouth, whose doings are notorious; who has but to look at a +woman to destroy her; who is a duellist, a libertine--" + +"That is not true," interrupted Corona, unable to listen calmly to the +abuse thus heaped upon the man she so dearly loved. "You are mad--" + +"You defend him!" screamed Astrardente, leaning far forward in his chair +and clenching his hands. "You dare to support him--you acknowledge that +you care for him! Does he not pursue you everywhere, so that the town +rings with it? You ought to long to be rid of him, to wish he were dead, +rather than allow his name to be breathed with yours; and instead, you +defend him to me--you say he is right, that you prefer his odious +devotion to your good name, to my good name! Oh, it is not to be +believed! If you loved him yourself you could not do worse!" + +"If half you say were true--" said Corona, in terrible distress. + +"True?" cried Astrardente, who would not brook interruption. "It is all +true--and more also. It is true that he loves you, true that all the +world says it, true--by all that is holy, from your face I would almost +believe that you do love him! Why do you not deny it? Miserable woman!" +he screamed, springing towards her and seizing her roughly by the arm, as +she hid her face in her hands. "Miserable woman! you have betrayed me--" + +In the paroxysm of his rage the feeble old man became almost strong; his +grip tightened upon his wife's wrist, and he dragged her violently from +her seat. + +"Betrayed! And by you!" he cried again, shaking with passion. "You whom I +have loved! This is your gratitude, your sanctified devotion, your +cunning pretence at patience! All to hide your love for such a man as +that! You hypocrite, you--" + +By a sudden effort Corona shook off his grasp, and drew herself up to her +full height in magnificent anger. + +"You shall hear me," she said, in deep commanding tones. "I have deserved +much, but I have not deserved this." + +"Ha!" he hissed, standing back from her a step, "you can speak now--I +have touched you! You have found words. It was time!" + +Corona was as white as death, and her black eyes shone like coals of +fire. Her words came slowly, every accent clear and strong with +concentrated passion. + +"I have not betrayed you. I have spoken no word of love to any man alive, +and you know that I speak the truth. If any one has said to me what +should not be said, I have rebuked him to silence. You know, while you +accuse me, that I have done my best to honour and love you; you know well +that I would die by my own hand, your loyal and true wife, rather than +let my lips utter one syllable of love for any other man." + +Corona possessed a supreme power over her husband. She was so true a +woman that the truth blazed visibly from her clear eyes; and what she +said was nothing but the truth. She had doubted it herself for one +dreadful moment; she knew it now beyond all doubting. In a moment the old +man's wrath broke and vanished before the strong assertion of her perfect +innocence. He turned pale under his paint, and his limbs trembled. He +made a step forward, and fell upon his knees before her, and tried to +take her hands. + +"Oh, Corona, forgive me," he moaned--"forgive me! I so love you!" + +Suddenly his grasp relaxed from her hands, and with a groan he fell +forward against her knees. + +"God knows I forgive you!" cried Corona, the tears starting to her eyes +in sudden pity. She bent down to support him; but as she moved, he fell +prostrate upon his face before her. With a cry of terror she kneeled +beside him; with her strong arms she turned his body and raised his head +upon her knees. His face was ghastly white, save where the tinges of +paint made a hideous mockery of colour upon his livid skin. His parted +lips were faintly purple, and his hollow eyes stared wide open at his +wife's face, while the curled wig was thrust far back upon his bald and +wrinkled forehead. + +Corona supported his weight upon one knee, and took his nerveless hand in +hers. An agony of terror seized her. + +"Onofrio!" she cried--she rarely called him by his name--"Onofrio! speak +to me! My husband!" She clasped him wildly in her arms. "O God, have +mercy!" + +Onofrio d'Astrardente was dead. The poor old dandy, in his paint and his +wig and his padding, had died at his wife's feet, protesting his love for +her to the last. The long averted blow had fallen. For years he had +guarded himself against sudden emotions, for he was warned of the disease +at his heart, and knew his danger; but his anger had killed him. He might +have lived another hour while his rage lasted; but the revulsion of +feeling, the sudden repentance for the violence he had done his wife, had +sent the blood back to its source too quickly, and with his last cry of +love upon his lips he was dead. + +Corona had hardly ever seen death. She gently lowered the dead man's +weight till he lay at full length upon the floor. Then she started to her +feet, and drew back against the fireplace, and gazed at the body of her +husband. + +For fully five minutes she stood motionless, scarcely daring to draw +breath, dazed and stupefied with horror, trying to realise what had +happened. There he lay, her only friend, the companion of her life since +she had known life; the man who in that very room, but two nights since, +had spoken such kind words to her that her tears had flowed--the tears +that would not flow now; the man who but a moment since was railing at +her in a paroxysm of rage--whose anger had melted at her first word of +defence, who had fallen at her feet to ask forgiveness, and to declare +once more, for the last time, that he loved her! Her friend, her +companion, her husband--had he heard her answer, that she forgave him +freely? He could not be dead--it was impossible. A moment ago he had been +speaking to her. She went forward again and kneeled beside him. + +"Onofrio," she said very gently, "you are not dead--you heard me?" + +She gazed down for a moment at the motionless features. Womanly +thoughtful, she moved his head a little, and straightened the wig upon +his poor forehead. Then, in an instant, she realised all, and with a wild +cry of despair fell prostrate upon his body in an agony of passionate +weeping. How long she lay, she knew not. A knock at the door did not +reach her ears, nor another and another, at short intervals; and then +some one entered. It was the butler, who had come to announce the mid-day +breakfast. He uttered an exclamation and started back, holding the handle +of the door in his hand. + +Corona raised herself slowly to her knees, gazing down once more upon the +dead man's face. Then she lifted her streaming eyes and saw the servant. + +"Your master is dead," she said, solemnly. + +The man grew pale and trembled, hesitated, and then turned and fled down +the hall without, after the manner of Italian servants, who fear death, +and even the sight of it, as they fear nothing else in the world. + +Corona rose to her feet and brushed the tears from her eyes. Then she +turned and rang the bell. No one answered the summons for some time. The +news had spread all over the house in an instant, and everything was +disorganised. At last a woman came and stood timidly at the door. She was +a lower servant, a simple strong creature from the mountains. Seeing the +others terrified and paralysed, it had struck her common-sense that her +mistress was alone. Corona understood. + +"Help me to carry him," she said, quietly; and the peasant and the noble +lady stooped and lifted the dead duke, and bore him to his chamber +without a word, and laid him tenderly upon his bed. + +"Send for the doctor," said Corona; "I will watch beside him." + +"But, Excellency, are you not afraid?" asked the woman. + +Corona's lip curled a little. + +"I am not afraid," she answered. "Send at once." When the woman was gone, +she sat down by the bedside and waited. Her tears were dry now, but she +could not think. She waited motionless for an hour. Then the old +physician entered softly, while a crowd of servants stood without, +peering timidly through the open door. Corona crossed the room and +quietly shut it. The physician stood by the bedside. + +"It is simple enough, Signora Duchessa," he said, gently. "He is quite +dead. It was only the day before yesterday that I warned him that the +heart disease was worse. Can you tell me how it happened?" + +"Yes, exactly," answered Corona, in a low voice. She was calm enough now. +"He came into my room two hours ago, and suddenly, in conversation, he +became very angry. Then his anger subsided in a moment, and he fell at my +feet." + +"It is just as I expected," answered the physician, quietly. "They always +die in this way. I entreat you to be calm--to consider that all men are +mortal--" + +"I am calm now," interrupted Corona. "I am alone. Will you see that what +is necessary is done quickly? I will leave you for a moment. There are +people outside." + +As she opened the door the gaping crowd of servants slunk out of her way. +With bent head she passed between them, and went out into the great +reception-rooms, and sat down alone in her grief. + +It was genuine, of its kind. The poor man's soul might rest in peace, for +she felt the real sorrow at his death which he had longed for, which he +had perhaps scarcely dared to hope she would feel. Had it not been real, +in those first moments some thought would have crossed her mind--some +faint, repressed satisfaction at being free at last--free to marry +Giovanni Saracinesca. But it was not so. She did not feel free--she felt +alone, intensely alone. She longed for the familiar sound of his +querulous voice--for the expression of his thousand little wants and +interests; she remembered tenderly his harmless little vanities. She +thought of his wig, and she wept. So true it is that what is most +ridiculous in life is most sorrowfully pathetic in death. There was not +one of the small things about him she did not recall with a pang of +regret. It was all over now. His vanity was dead with him; his tender +love for her was dead too. It was the only love she had known, until that +other love--that dark and stirring passion--had been roused in her. But +that did not trouble her now. Perhaps the unconscious sense that +henceforth she was free to love whom she pleased had suddenly made +insignificant a feeling which had before borne in her mind the terrible +name of crime. The struggle for loyalty was no more, but the memory of +what she had borne for the dead man made him dearer than before. The +follies of his life had been many, but many of them had been for her, and +there was the true ring in his last words. "To be young for your sake, +Corona--for your sake!" The phrase echoed again and again in her +remembrance, and her silent tears flowed afresh. The follies of his life +had been many, but to her he had been true. The very violence of his last +moments, the tenderness of his passionate appeal for forgiveness, spoke +for the honesty of his heart, even though his heart had never been honest +before. + +She needed never to think again of pleasing him, of helping him, of +foregoing for his sake any intimacy with the world which she might +desire. But the thought brought no relief. He had become so much a part +of her life that she could not conceive of living without him, and she +would miss him at every turn. The new existence before her seemed dismal +and empty beyond all expression. She wondered vaguely what she should do +with her time. For one moment a strange longing came over her to return +to the dear old convent, to lay aside for ever her coronet and state, and +in a simple garb to do simple and good things to the honour of God. + +She roused herself at last, and went to her own rooms, dragging her steps +slowly as though weighed down by a heavy burden. She entered the room +where he had died, and a cold shudder passed over her. The afternoon sun +was streaming through the window upon the writing table where yet lay the +unfinished invitation she had been writing, and upon the plants and the +rich ornaments, upon the heavy carpet--the very spot where he had +breathed his last word of love and died at her feet. + +Upon that spot Corona d'Astrardente knelt down reverently and +prayed,--prayed that she might be forgiven for all her shortcomings to +the dear dead man; that she might have strength to bear her sorrow and to +honour his memory; above all, that his soul might rest in peace and find +forgiveness, and that he might know that she had been truly innocent--she +prayed for that too, for she had a dreadful doubt. But surely he knew all +now: how she had striven to be loyal, and how truly--yes, how truly--she +mourned his death. + +At last she rose to her feet, and lingered still a moment, her hands +clasped as they had been in her prayer. Glancing down, something +glistened on the carpet. She stooped and picked it up. It was her +husband's sealring, engraven with the ancient arms of the Astrardente. +She looked long at the jewel, and then put it upon her finger. + +"God give me grace to honour his memory as he would have me honour it," +she said, solemnly. + +Truly, she had deserved the love the poor old dandy had so deeply felt +for her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +That night Giovanni insisted on going out. His wounds no longer pained +him, he said; there was no danger whatever, and he was tired of staying +at home. But he would dine with his father as usual. He loved his +father's company, and when the two omitted to quarrel over trifles they +were very congenial. To tell the truth, the differences between them +arose generally from the petulant quickness of the Prince; for in his son +his own irascible character was joined with the melancholy gravity which +Giovanni inherited from his mother, and in virtue of which, being +taciturn, he was sometimes thought long-suffering. + +As usual, they sat opposite each other, and the ancient butler Pasquale +served them. As the man deposited Giovanni's soup before him, he spoke. A +certain liberty was always granted to Pasquale; Italian servants are +members of the family, even in princely houses. Never assuming that +confidence implies familiarity, they enjoy the one without ever +approaching the latter. Nevertheless it was very rarely that Pasquale +spoke to his masters when they were at table. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon--" he began, as he put down the +soup-plate. + +"Well, Pasquale?" asked old Saracinesca, looking sharply at the old +servant from under his heavy brows. + +"Have your Excellencies heard the news?" + +"What news? No," returned the Prince. + +"The Duca d'Astrardente--" + +"Well, what of him?" + +"Is dead." + +"Dead!" repeated Giovanni in a loud voice, that echoed to the vaulted +roof of the dining-room. + +"It is not true," said old Saracinesca; "I saw him in the street this +morning." + +"Nevertheless, your Excellency," replied Pasquale, "it is quite true. The +gates of the palace were already draped with black before the Ave Maria +this evening; and the porter, who is a nephew of mine, had _crepe_ upon +his hat and arm. He told me that the Duca fell down dead of a stroke in +the Signora Duchessa's room at half-past twelve to-day." + +"Is that all you could learn?" asked the Prince. + +"Except that the Signora Duchessa was overcome with grief," returned the +servant, gravely. + +"I should think so--her husband dead of an apoplexy! It is natural," said +the Prince, looking at Giovanni. The latter was silent, and tried to eat +as though, nothing had happened--inwardly endeavouring not to rejoice too +madly at the terrible catastrophe. In his effort to control his features, +the blood rushed to his forehead, and his hand trembled violently. His +father saw it, but made no remark. + +"Poor Astrardente!" he said. "He was not so bad as people thought him." + +"No," replied Giovanni, with a great effort; "he was a very good man." + +"I should hardly say that," returned his father, with a grim smile of +amusement. "I do not think that by the greatest stretch of indulgence he +could be called good." + +"And why not?" asked the younger man, sharply snatching at any possible +discussion in order to conceal his embarrassment. + +"Why not, indeed! Why, because he had a goodly share of original sin, to +which he added others of his own originating but having an equal claim to +originality." + +"I say I think he was a very good man," repeated Giovanni, maintaining +his point with an air of conviction. + +"If that is your conception of goodness, it is no wonder that you have +not attained to sanctity," said the old man, with a sneer. + +"It pleases you to be witty," answered his son. "Astrardente did not +gamble; he had no vices of late. He was kind to his wife." + +"No vices--no. He did not steal like a fraudulent bank-clerk, nor try to +do murder like Del Ferice. He did not deceive his wife, nor starve her to +death. He had therefore no vices. He was a good man." + +"Let us leave poor Del Ferice alone," said Giovanni. + +"I suppose you will pity him now," replied the Prince, sarcastically. +"You will talk differently if he dies and you have to leave the country +at a moment's notice, like Spicca this morning." + +"I should be very sorry if Del Ferice died. I should never recover from +it. I am not a professional duellist like Spicca. And yet Casalverde +deserved his death. I can quite understand that Del Ferice might in the +excitement of the moment have lunged at me after the halt was cried, but +I cannot understand how Casalverde could be so infamous as not to cross +his sword when he himself called. It looked very much like a preconcerted +arrangement. Casalverde deserved to die, for the safety of society. +I should think that Rome had had enough of duelling for a while." + +"Yes; but after all, Casalverde did not count for much. I am not sure I +ever saw the fellow before in my life. And I suppose Del Ferice will +recover. There was a story this morning that he was dead; but I went and +inquired myself, and found that he was better. People are much shocked +at this second duel. Well, it could not be helped. Poor old Astrardente! +So we shall never see his wig again at every ball and theatre and +supper-party! There was a man who enjoyed his life to the very end!" + +"I should not call it enjoyment to be built up every day by one's valet, +like a card-house, merely to tumble to pieces again when the pins are +taken out," said Giovanni. + +"You do not seem so enthusiastic in his defence as you were a few minutes +ago," said the Prince, with a smile. + +Giovanni was so much disturbed at the surprising news that he hardly knew +what he said. He made a desperate attempt to be sensible. + +"It appears to me that moral goodness and personal appearance are two +things," he said, oracularly. The Prince burst into a loud laugh. + +"Most people would say that! Eat your dinner, Giovanni, and do not talk +such arrant nonsense." + +"Why is it nonsense? Because you do not agree with me?" + +"Because you are too much excited to talk sensibly," said his father. "Do +you think I cannot see it?" + +Giovanni was silent for a time. He was angry at his father for detecting +the cause of his vagueness, but he supposed there was no help for it. At +last Pasquale left the room. Old Saracinesca gave a sigh of relief. + +"And now, Giovannino," he said familiarly, "what have you got to say for +yourself?" + +"I?" asked his son, in some surprise. + +"You! What are you going to do?" + +"I will stay at home," said Giovanni, shortly. + +"That is not the question. You are wise to stay at home, because you +ought to get yourself healed of that scratch. Giovanni, the Astrardente +is now a widow." + +"Seeing that her husband is dead--of course. There is vast ingenuity in +your deduction," returned the younger man, eyeing his father +suspiciously. + +"Do not be an idiot, Giovannino. I mean, that as she is a widow, I have +no objection to your marrying her." + +"Good God, sir!" cried Giovanni, "what do you mean?" + +"What I say. She is the most beautiful woman in Rome. She is one of the +best women I know. She will have a sufficient jointure. Marry her. You +will never be happy with a silly little girl just out of a convent You +are not that sort of man. The Astrardente is not three-and-twenty, but +she has had five years of the world, and she has stood the test well. I +shall be proud to call her my daughter." + +In his excitement Giovanni sprang from his seat, and rushing to his +father's side, threw his arms round his neck and embraced him. He had +never done such a thing in his life. Then he remained standing, and grew +suddenly thoughtful. + +"It is heartless of us to talk in this way," he said. "The poor man is +not buried yet." + +"My dear boy," said the old Prince, "Astrardente is dead. He hated me, +and was beginning to hate you, I fancy. We were neither of us his +friends, at any rate. We do not rejoice at his death; we merely regard it +in the light of an event which modifies our immediate future. He is dead, +and his wife is free. So long as he was alive, the fact of your loving +her was exceedingly unfortunate: it was injuring you and doing a wrong to +her. Now, on the contrary, the greatest good fortune that can happen to +you both is that you should marry each other." + +"That is true," returned Giovanni. In the suddenness of the news, it had +not struck him that his father would ever look favourably upon the match, +although the immediate possibility of the marriage had burst upon him as +a great light suddenly rising in a thick darkness. But his nature, as +strong as his father's, was a little more delicate, a shade less rough; +and even in the midst of his great joy, it struck him as heartless to be +discussing the chances of marrying a woman whose husband was not yet +buried. No such scruple disturbed the geniality of the old Prince. He was +an honest and straightforward man--a man easily possessed by a single +idea--and he was capable of profound affections. He had loved his Spanish +wife strongly in his own fashion, and she had loved him, but there was no +one left to him now but his son, whom he delighted in, and he regarded +the rest of the world merely as pawns to be moved into position for the +honour and glory of the Saracinesca. He thought no more of a man's life +than of the end of a cigar, smoked out and fit to be thrown away. +Astrardente had been nothing to him but an obstacle. It had not struck +him that he could ever be removed; but since it had pleased Providence +to take him out of the way, there was no earthly reason for mourning his +death. All men must die--it was better that death should come to those +who stood in the way of their fellow-creatures. + +"I am not at all sure that she will consent," said Giovanni, beginning to +walk up and down the room. + +"Bah!" ejaculated his father. "You are the best match in Italy. Why +should any woman refuse you?" + +"I am not so sure. She is not like other women. Let us not talk of it +now. It will not be possible to do anything for a year, I suppose. A year +is a long time. Meanwhile I will go to that poor man's funeral." + +"Of course. So will I." + +And they both went, and found themselves in a vast crowd of +acquaintances. No one had believed that Astrardente could ever die, that +the day would ever come when society should know his place no more; and +with one consent everybody sent their carriages to the funeral, and went +themselves a day or two later to the great requiem Mass in the parish +church. There was nothing to be seen but the great black catafalque, with +Corona's household of servants in deep mourning liveries kneeling behind +it. Relations she had none, and the dead man was the last of his race-- +she was utterly alone. + +"She need not have made it so terribly impressive," said Madame Mayer +to Valdarno when the Mass was over. Madame Mayer paused beside the +holy-water basin, and dipping one gloved finger, she presented it to +Valdarno with an engaging smile. Both crossed themselves. + +"She need not have got it up so terribly impressively, after all," she +repeated. + +"I daresay she will miss him at first," returned Valdarno, who was a +kind-hearted fellow enough, and was very far from realising how much he +had contributed to the sudden death of the old dandy. "She is a strange +woman. I believe she had grown fond of him." + +"Oh, I know all that," said Donna Tullia, as they left the church. + +"Yes," answered her companion, with a significant smile, "I presume you +do." Donna Tullia laughed harshly as she got into her carriage. + +"You are detestable, Valdarno--you always misunderstand me. Are you going +to the ball to-night?" + +"Of course. May I have the pleasure of the cotillon?" + +"If you are very good--if you will go and ask the news of Del Ferice." + +"I sent this morning. He is quite out of danger, they believe." + +"Is he? Oh, I am very glad--I felt so very badly, you know. Ah, Don +Giovanni, are you recovered?" she asked coldly, as Saracinesca approached +the other side of the carriage. Valdarno retired to a distance, and +pretended to be buttoning his greatcoat; he wanted to see what would +happen. + +"Thank you, yes; I was not much hurt. This is the first time I have been +out, and I am glad to find an opportunity of speaking to you. Let me say +again how profoundly I regret my forgetfulness at the ball the other +night--" + +Donna Tullia was a clever woman, and though she had been very angry at +the time, she was in love with Giovanni. She therefore looked at him +suddenly with a gentle smile, and just for one moment her fingers touched +his hand as it rested upon the side of the carriage. + +"Do you think it was kind?" she asked, in a low voice. + +"It was abominable. I shall never forgive myself," answered Giovanni. + +"I will forgive you," answered Donna Tullia, softly. She really loved +him. It was the best thing in her nature, but it was more than balanced +by the jealousy she had conceived for the Duchessa d'Astrardente. + +"Was it on that account that you quarrelled with poor Del Ferice?" she +asked, after a moment's pause. "I have feared it--" + +"Certainly not," answered Giovanni, quickly. "Pray set your mind at rest. +Del Ferice or any other man would have been quite justified in calling me +out for it--but it was not for that. It was not on account of you." + +It would have been hard to say whether Donna Tullia's face expressed more +clearly her surprise or her disappointment at the intelligence. Perhaps +she had both really believed herself the cause of the duel, and had +been flattered at the thought that men would fight for her. + +"Oh, I am very glad--it is a great relief," she said, rather coldly. "Are +you going to the ball to-night?" + +"No; I cannot dance. My right arm is bound up in a sling, as you see." + +"I am sorry you are not coming. Good-bye, then." + +"Good-bye; I am very grateful for your forgiveness." Giovanni bowed low, +and Donna Tullia's brilliant equipage dashed away. + +Giovanni was well satisfied at having made his peace so easily, but he +nevertheless apprehended danger from Donna Tullia. + +The next thing which interested Roman society was Astrardente's will, +but no one was much surprised when the terms of it were known. As there +were no relations, everything was left to his wife. The palace in Rome, +the town and castle in the Sabines, the broad lands in the low +hill-country towards Ceprano, and what surprised even the family lawyer, +a goodly sum in solid English securities,--a splendid fortune in all, +according to Roman ideas. Astrardente abhorred the name of money in his +conversation--it had been one of his affectations; but he had an +excellent understanding of business, and was exceedingly methodical in +the management of his affairs. The inheritance, the lawer thought, might +be estimated at three millions of scudi. + +"Is all this wealth mine, then?" asked Corona, when the solicitor had +explained the situation. + +"All, Signora Duchessa. You are enormously rich." + +Enormously rich! And alone in the world. Corona asked herself if she was +the same woman, the same Corona del Carmine who five years before had +suffered in the old convent the humiliation of having no pocket-money, +whose wedding-gown had been provided from the proceeds of a little sale +of the last relics of her father's once splendid collection of old china +and pictures. She had never thought of money since she had been married; +her husband was generous, but methodical; she never bought anything +without consulting him, and the bills all went through his hands. Now and +then she had rather timidly asked for a small sum for some charity; she +had lacked nothing that money could buy, but she never remembered to have +had more than a hundred francs in her purse. Astrardente had once offered +to give her an allowance, and had seemed pleased that she refused it. He +liked to manage things himself, being a man of detail. + +And now she was enormously rich, and alone. It was a strange sensation. +She felt it to be so new that she innocently said so to the lawyer. + +"What shall I do with it all?" + +"Signora Duchessa," returned the old man, "with regard to money the +question is, not what to do with it, but how to do without it. You are +very young, Signora Duchessa." + +"I shall be twenty-three in August," said Corona, simply. + +"Precisely. I would beg to be allowed to observe that by the terms of the +will, and by the laws of this country, you are not the dowager-duchess, +but you are in your own right and person the sole and only feudal +mistress and holder of the title." + +"Am I?" + +"Certainly, with all the privileges thereto attached. It may be--I beg +pardon for being so bold as to suggest it--it may be that in years to +come, when time has soothed your sorrow, you may wish, you may consent, +to renew the marriage tie." + +"I doubt it--but the thing is possible," said Corona, quietly. + +"In that case, and should you prefer to contract a marriage of +inclination, you will have no difficulty in conferring your title upon +your husband, with any reservations you please. Your children will then +inherit from you, and become in their turn Dukes of Astrardente. This I +conceive to have been the purpose and spirit of the late Duke's will. The +estate, magnificent as it is, will not be too large for the foundation of +a new race. If you desire any distinctive title, you can call yourself +Duchessa del Carmine d'Astrardente--it would sound very well," remarked +the lawyer, contemplating the beautiful woman before him. + +"It is of little importance what I call myself," said Corona. "At present +I shall certainly make no change. It is very unlikely that I shall ever +marry." + +"I trust, Signora Duchessa, that in any case you will always command my +most humble services." + +With this protestation of fidelity the lawyer left the Palazzo +Astrardente, and Corona remained in her boudoir in meditation of what it +would be like to be the feudal mistress of a great title and estate. She +was very sad, but she was growing used to her solitude. Her liberty was +strange to her, but little by little she was beginning to enjoy it. At +first she had missed the constant care of the poor man who for five years +had been her companion; she had missed his presence and the burden of +thinking for him at every turn of the day. But it was not for long. Her +memory of him was kind and tender, and for months after his death the +occasional sight of some object associated with him brought the tears to +her eyes. She often wished he could walk into the room in his old way, +and begin talking of the thousand and one bits of town gossip that +interested him. But the first feeling of desolation soon passed, for he +had not been more than a companion; she could analyse every memory she +had of him to its source and reason. There was not in her that passionate +unformulated yearning for him that comes upon a loving heart when its +fellow is taken away, and which alone is a proof that love has been real +and true. She soon grew accustomed to his absence. + +To marry again--every one would say she would be right--to marry and to +be the mother of children, of brave sons and noble girls,--ah yes! that +was a new thought, a wonderful thought, one of many that were +wonderful. + +Then, again, her strong nature suddenly rose in a new sense of strength, +and she paced the room slowly with a strange expression of sternness upon +her beautiful features. + +"I am a power in the world," she said to herself, almost starting at the +truth of the thought, and yet taking delight in it. "I am what men call +rich and powerful; I have money, estates, castles, and palaces; I am +young, I am strong. What shall I do with it all?" + +As she walked, she dreamed of raising some great institution of charity; +she knew not for what precise object, but there was room enough for +charity in Rome. The great Torlonia had built churches, and hospitals, +and asylums. She would do likewise; she would make for herself an +interest in doing good, a satisfaction in the exercise of her power to +combat evil. It would be magnificent to feel that she had done it +herself, alone and unaided; that she had built the walls from the +foundation and the corner-stone to the eaves; that she had entered +herself into the study of each detail, and herself peopled the great +institution with such as needed most help in the world--with little +children, perhaps. She would visit them every day, and herself provide +for their wants and care for their sufferings. She would give the place +her husband's name, and the good she would accomplish with his earthly +portion might perhaps profit his soul. She would go to Padre Filippo and +ask his advice. He would know what was best to be done, for he knew more +of the misery in Rome than any one, and had a greater mind to relieve it. +She had seen him since her husband's death, but she had not yet conceived +this scheme. + +And Giovanni--she thought of him too; but the habit of putting him out of +her heart was strong. She dimly fancied that in the far future a day +might come when she would be justified in thinking of him if she so +pleased; but for the present, her loyalty to her dead husband seemed more +than ever a sacred duty. She would not permit herself to think of +Giovanni, even though, from a general point of view, she might +contemplate the possibility of a second marriage. She would go to Padre +Filippo and talk over everything with him; he would advise her well. + +Then a wild longing seized her to leave Rome for a while, to breathe the +air of the country, to get away from the scene of all her troubles, of +all the terrible emotions that had swept over her life in the last three +weeks, to be alone in the hills or by the sea. It seemed dreadful to be +tied to her great house in the city, in her mourning, shut off suddenly +from the world, and bound down by the chain of conventionality to a fixed +method of existence. She would give anything to go away. Why not? She +suddenly realised what was so hard to understand, that she was free to go +where she pleased--if only, by accident, she could chance to meet +Giovanni Saracinesca before she left. No--the thought was unworthy. She +would leave town at once--surely she could have nothing to say to +Giovanni--she would leave to-morrow morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Corona found it impossible to leave town so soon as she had wished. She +had indeed sent out great cart-loads of furniture, servants, horses, and +all the paraphernalia of an establishment in the country, and she +believed herself ready to move at once, when she received an exceedingly +courteous note from Cardinal Antonelli requesting the honour of being +received by her the next day at twelve o'clock. It was impossible to +refuse, and to her great annoyance she was obliged to postpone her +departure another twenty-four hours. She guessed that the great man was +the bearer of some message from the Holy Father himself; and in her +present frame of mind, such words of comfort could not fail to be +acceptable from one whom she reverenced and loved, as all who knew +Pius IX. did sincerely revere and love him. She did not like the +Cardinal, it is true; but she did not confound the ambassador with him +who sent the embassy. The Cardinal was a most courteous and accomplished +man of the world, and Corona could not easily have explained the aversion +she felt for him. It is very likely that if she could have understood the +part he was sustaining in the great European struggle of those days, she +would have accorded him at least the admiration he deserved as a +statesman. He had his faults, and they were faults little becoming a +cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. But few are willing to consider that, +though a cardinal, he was not a priest--that he was practically a layman +who, by his own unaided genius, had attained to great power, and that +those faults which have been charged against him with such virulence +would have passed, nay, actually pass, unnoticed and uncensured in many a +great statesman of those days and of these. He was a brave man, who +fought a desperate and hopeless fight to his last breath, and who fought +almost alone--a man most bitterly hated by many, at whose death many +rejoiced loudly and few mourned; and to the shame of many be it said, +that his most obstinate adversaries, those who unsparingly heaped abuse +upon him during his lifetime, and most unseemingly exulted over his end, +were the very men among whom he should have found the most willing +supporters and the firmest friends. But in 1865 he was feared, and those +who reckoned without him in the game of politics reckoned badly. + +Corona was a woman, and very young. She had not the knowledge or the +experience to understand his value, and she had taken a personal dislike +to him when she first appeared in society. He was too smooth for her; she +thought him false. She preferred a rougher type. Her husband, on the +other hand, had a boundless admiration for the cardinal-statesman; and +perhaps the way in which Astrardente constantly tried to impress his wife +with a sense of the great man's virtues, indirectly contributed to +increase her aversion. Nevertheless, when he sent word that he desired to +be received by her, she did not hesitate a moment, but expressed her +willingness at once. Punctually as the gun of Sant Angelo roared out the +news that the sun was on the meridian, Cardinal Antonelli entered +Corona's house. She received him in the great drawing-room. There was an +air of solemnity about the meeting. The room itself, divested of a +thousand trifles which had already been sent into the country, looked +desolate and formal; the heavy curtains admitted but little light; there +was no fire on the hearth; Corona stood all in black--a very incarnation +of mourning--as her visitor trod softly across the dark carpet towards +her. + +The Cardinal's expressive face was softened by a look of gentle sympathy, +as he came forward and took her hand in both of his, and gazed for a +moment into her beautiful eyes. + +"I am an ambassador, Duchessa," he said softly. "I come to tell you how +deeply our Holy Father sympathises in your great sorrow." + +Corona bent her head respectfully, and motioned to the Cardinal to be +seated. + +"I beg that your Eminence will convey to his Holiness my most sincere +gratitude for this expression of his paternal kindness to one so +unhappy." + +"Indeed I will not fail to deliver your message, Duchessa," answered the +Cardinal, seating himself by her side in one of the great arm-chairs +which had been placed together in the middle of the room. "His Holiness +has promised to remember you in his august prayers; and I also, for my +own part, entreat you to believe that my poor sympathy is wholly with you +in your distress." + +"Your Eminence is most kind," replied Corona, gravely. + +It seemed as though there were little more to be said in such a case. +There was no friendship between the two, no bond of union or fellowship: +it was simply a formal visit of condolence, entailed as a necessity by +Corona's high position. The Pope had sent her a gift at her wedding; he +sent her a message of sympathy at her husband's death. Half-a-dozen +phrases would be exchanged, and the Cardinal would take his leave, +accompanied by a file of the Duchessa's lackeys--and so it would all be +over. But the Cardinal was a statesman, a diplomatist, and one of the +best talkers in Europe; moreover, he never allowed an opportunity of +pursuing his ends to pass unimproved. + +"Ah, Duchessa!" he said, folding his hands upon his knee and looking +down, "there is but one Consoler in sorrow such as yours. It is vain for +us mortals to talk of any such thing as alleviating real mental +suffering. There are consolations--many of them--for some people, but +they are not for you. To many the accidents of wealth, of youth, of +beauty, seem to open the perspective of a brilliant future at the very +moment when all the present appears to be shrouded in darkness; but if +you will permit me, who know you so little, to say it frankly, I do not +believe that any of these things which you possess in such plentiful +abundance will lessen the measure of your grief. It is not right that +they should, I suppose. It is not fitting that noble minds should even +possess the faculty of forgetting real suffering in the unreal trifles +of a great worldly possession, which so easily restore the weak to +courage, and natter the vulgar into the forgetfulness of honourable +sorrow. I am no moraliser, no pedantic philosopher. The stoic may have +shrugged his heavy shoulders in sullen indifference to fate; the +epicurean may have found such bodily ease in his excessive refinement +of moderate enjoyment as to overlook the deepest afflictions in +anticipating the animal pleasure of the next meal. I cannot conceive of +such men as those philosophising diners; nor can I imagine by what +arguments the wisest of mankind could induce a fellow-creature in +distress to forget his sufferings. Sorrow is sorrow still to all finely +organised natures. The capacity for feeling sorrow is one of the highest +tests of nobility--a nobility of nature not found always in those of high +blood and birth, but existing in the people, wherever the people are +good." + +The Cardinal's voice became even more gentle as he spoke. He was himself +of very humble origin, and spoke feelingly. Corona listened, though she +only heard half of what he said; but his soft tone soothed her almost +unconsciously. + +"There is little consolation for me--I am quite alone," she said. + +"You are not of those who find relief in worldly greatness," continued +the Cardinal. "But I have seen women, young, rich, and beautiful, wear +their mourning with wonderful composure. Youth is so much, wealth is so +much more, beauty is such a power in the world--all three together are +resistless. Many a young widow is not ashamed to think of marriage before +her husband has been dead a month. Indeed they do not always make bad +wives. A woman who has been married young and is early deprived of her +husband, has great experience, great knowledge of the world. Many feel +that they have no right to waste the goods given them in a life of +solitary mourning. Wealth is given to be used, and perhaps many a rich +young widow thinks she can use it more wisely in the company of a husband +young as herself. It may be; I cannot tell. These are days when power of +any sort should be used, and perhaps no one should even for a moment +think of withdrawing from the scene where such great battles are being +fought. But one may choose wisely a way of using power, or one may choose +unwisely. There is much to be done." + +"How?" asked Corona, catching at his expression of an idea which pursued +her. "Here am I, rich, alone, idle--above all, very unhappy. What can I +do? I wish I knew, for I would try and do it." + +"Ah! I was not speaking of you, Duchessa," answered the statesman. "You +are too noble a woman to be easily consoled. And yet, though you may not +find relief from your great sorrow, there are many things within your +reach which you might do, and feel that in your mourning you have done +honour to your departed husband as well as to yourself. You have great +estates--you can improve them, and especially you can improve the +condition of your peasants, and strengthen their loyalty to you and to +the State. You can find many a village on your lands where a school +might be established, an asylum built, a road opened--anything which +shall give employment to the poor, and which, when finished, shall +benefit their condition. Especially about Astrardente they are very poor; +I know the country well. In six months you might change many things; and +then you might return to Rome next winter. If it pleases you, you can do +anything with society. You can make your house a centre for a new +party--the oldest of all parties it is, but it would now be thought new +here. We have no centre. There is no _salon_ in the good old sense of the +word--no house where all that is intelligent, all that is powerful, all +that is influential, is irresistibly drawn. To make a centre of that kind +would be a worthy object, it seems to me. You would surround yourself +with men of genius; you would bring those together who cannot meet +elsewhere; you would give a vigorous tone to a society which is fast +falling to decay from inanition; you could become a power, a real power, +not only in Rome, but in Europe; you could make your house famous as the +point from which, in Rome, all that is good and great should radiate to +the very ends of the earth. You could do all this in your young +widowhood, and you would not dishonour the memory of him you loved so +dearly." + +Corona looked earnestly at the Cardinal as he enlarged upon the +possibilities of her life. What he said seemed true and good. It opened +to her a larger field than she had dreamed of half an hour ago. +Especially the plan of working for the improvement of her estates and +people attracted her. She wanted to do something at once--something +good, and something worth doing. + +"I believe you are right," she said. "I shall die if I am idle." + +"I know I am right," returned the Cardinal, in a tone of conviction. "Not +that I propose all this as an unalterable plan for you. I would not have +you think I mean to lay down any system, or even to advise you at all. I +was merely thinking aloud. I am too happy if my thoughts please you--if +anything I say can even for a moment relieve your mind from the pressure +of this sudden grief. It is not consolation I offer you. I am not a +priest, but a man of action; and it is action I propose to you, not as +an anodyne for sorrow, but simply because it is right that in these days +we should all strive with a good will. Your peasants are many of them in +an evil case: you can save them and make them happy, even though you find +no happiness for yourself. Our social world here is falling to pieces, +going astray after strange gods, and especially after Madame Mayer and +her _lares_ and _penates_, young Valdarno and Del Ferice: it is in your +power to create a new life here, or at least to contribute greatly +towards reestablishing the social balance. I say, do this thing, if you +will, for it is a good thing to do. At all events, while you are building +roads--and perhaps schools--at Astrardente, you can think over the course +you will afterwards pursue. And now, my dear Duchessa, I have detained +you far too long. Forgive me if I have wearied you, for I have great +things at heart, and must sometimes speak of them though I speak feebly. +Count on me always for any assistance you may require. Bear with me if I +weary you, for I was a good friend of him we both mourn." + +"Thank you--you have given me good thoughts," said Corona, simply. + +So the courtly Cardinal rose and took his leave, and once more Corona was +left alone. It was a strange thing that, while he disclaimed all power to +comfort her, and denied that consolation was possible in her case, she +had nevertheless listened to him with interest, and now found herself +thinking seriously of what he had said. He seemed to have put her +thoughts into shape, and to have given direction to that sense of power +she had already begun to feel. For the first time in her life she felt +something like sympathy for the Cardinal, and she lingered for some +minutes alone in the great reception-room, wondering whether she could +accomplish any of the things he had proposed to her. At all events, there +was nothing now to hinder her departure; and she thought with something +like pleasure of the rocky Sabines, the solitude of the mountains, the +simple faces of the people about her place, and of the quiet life she +intended to lead there during the next six months. + +But the Cardinal went on his way, rolling along through the narrow +streets in his great coach. Leaning far back in his cushioned seat, he +could just catch a glimpse of the people as he passed, and his quick eyes +recognised many, both high and low. But he did not care to show himself, +for he felt himself disliked, and deep in his finely organised nature +there lay a sensitiveness which was wounded by the popular hatred. It +hurt him to see the lowering glances of the poor man, and to return the +forced bow of the rich man who feared him. He often longed to be able to +explain many things to them both, to the rich and to the poor; and then, +knowing how impossible it was that he should be understood by either, +he sighed somewhat bitterly, and hid himself still deeper in his +carriage. Few men in the midst of the world have stood so wholly alone as +Cardinal Antonelli. + +To-day, however, he had an appointment which he anticipated with a sort +of interest quite new to him. Anastase Gouache was coming to begin his +portrait, and Anastase was an object of curiosity to him. It would have +surprised the young Frenchman had he guessed how carefully he was +watched, for he was a modest fellow, and did not think himself of very +much importance. He allowed Donna Tullia and her friends to come to his +studio whenever they pleased, and he listened to their shallow talk, and +joined, occasionally in the conversation, letting them believe that he +sympathised with them, simply because his own ideas were unsettled. It +was a good thing for him to paint a portrait of Donna Tullia, for it made +him the fashion, and he had small scruple in agreeing with her views so +long as he had no fixed convictions of his own. She and her set regarded +him as a harmless boy, and looked upon his little studio as a +convenience, in payment whereof they pushed him into society, and spread +abroad the rumour that he was the rising artist of the day. But the great +Cardinal had seen him more than once, and had conceived a liking for +his delicate intellectual face and unobtrusive manner. He had watched him +and caused him to be watched, and his interest had increased, and finally +he had taken a fancy to have a portrait of himself painted by the young +fellow. This was the day appointed for the first sitting; and when the +Cardinal reached his lodgings, high up in the Vatican pile, he found +Anastase Gouache waiting for him in the small ante-chamber. + +The prime minister was not luxuriously lodged. Four rooms sufficed +him--to wit, the said ante-chamber, bare and uncarpeted, and furnished +with three painted wooden box benches; a comfortable study lined +throughout with shelves and lockers, furnished with half-a-dozen large +chairs and a single writing-table, whereon stood a crucifix and an +inkstand; beyond this a bedroom and a small dining-room: that was all. +The drawers of the lockers and bookcases contained a correspondence which +would have astonished Europe, and a collection of gems and precious +stones unrivalled in the world; but there was nothing in the shape of +ornament visible to the eye, unless one were to class under that head a +fairly good bust of Pius IX, which stood upon a plain marble pedestal +in one corner. Gouache followed the great man into this study. He was +surprised by the simplicity of the apartment; but he felt in sympathy +with it, and with the Cardinal himself; and with the intuitive knowledge +of a true artist, he foresaw that he was to paint a successful portrait. + +The Cardinal busied himself with some papers while the painter silently +made his preparations. + +"If your Eminence is ready?" suggested Gouache. + +"At your service, my friend," replied the Cardinal, blandly. "How shall I +sit? The portrait must be taken in full face, I think." + +"By all means. Here, I think--so; the light is very good at this hour, +but a little later we shall have the sun. If your Eminence will look at +me--a little more to the left--I think that will do. I will draw it in in +charcoal and your Eminence can judge." + +"Precisely," returned the Cardinal. "You will paint the devil even +blacker than he is." + +"The devil?" repeated Gouache, raising his eyebrows with a slight smile. +"I was not aware--" + +"And yet you have been in Rome four years!" + +"I am very careful," returned Gouache. "I never by any chance hear any +evil of those whom I am to paint." + +"You have very well-bred ears, Monsieur Gouache. I fear that if I had +attended some of the meetings in your studio while Donna Tullia was +having her portrait painted, I should have heard strange things. Have +they all escaped you?" + +Gouache was silent for a moment. It did not surprise him to learn that +the omniscient Cardinal was fully acquainted with the doings in his +studio, but he looked curiously at the great man before he answered. The +Cardinal's small gleaming eyes met his with the fearlessness of +superiority. + +"I remember nothing but good of your Eminence," the painter replied at +last, with a laugh; and applying himself to his work, he began to draw in +the outline of the Cardinal's head. The words he had just heard, implying +as they did a thorough knowledge of the minutest details of social life, +would have terrified Madame Mayer, and would perhaps have driven Del +Ferice out of the Papal States in fear of his life. Even the good-natured +and foolish Valdarno might reasonably have been startled; but Anastase +was made of different stuff. His grandfather had helped to storm the +Bastille, his father had been among the men of 1848; there was +revolutionary blood in his veins, and he distinguished between real and +imaginary conspiracy with the unerring certainty of instinct, as the +bloodhound knows the track of man from the slot of meaner game. He +laughed at Donna Tullia, he distrusted Del Ferice, and to some extent he +understood the Cardinal. And the statesman understood him, too, and was +interested by him. + +"You may as well forget their chatter. It does me no harm, and it amuses +them. It does not seem to surprise you that I should know all about it, +however. You have good nerves, Monsieur Gouache." + +"Of course your Eminence can send me out of Rome to-morrow, if you +please," answered Gouache, with perfect unconcern. "But the portrait will +not be finished so soon." + +"No--that would be a pity. You shall stay. But the others--what would you +advise me to do with them?" asked the Cardinal, his bright eyes twinkling +with amusement. + +"If by the others your Eminence means my friends," replied Gouache, +quietly, "I can assure you that none of them will ever cause you the +slightest inconvenience." + +"I believe you are right--their ability to annoy me is considerably +inferior to their inclination. Is it not so?" + +"If your Eminence will allow me," said Gouache, rising suddenly and +laying down his charcoal pencil, "I will pin this curtain across the +window. The sun is beginning to come in." + +He had no intention of answering any questions. If the Cardinal knew of +the meetings in the Via San Basilio, that was not Gouache's fault; +Gouache would certainly not give any further information. The statesman +had expected as much, and was not at all surprised at the young man's +silence. + +"One of those young gentlemen seems to have met his match, at all +events," he remarked, presently. "I am sorry it should have come about in +that way." + +"Your Eminence might easily have prevented the duel." + +"I knew nothing about it," answered the Cardinal, glancing keenly at +Anastase. + +"Nor I," said the artist, simply. + +"You see my information is not always so good as people imagine, my +friend." + +"It is a pity," remarked Gouache. "It would have been better had poor Del +Ferice been killed outright. The matter would have terminated there." + +"Whereas--" + +"Whereas Del Ferice will naturally seek an occasion for revenge." + +"You speak as though you were a friend of Don Giovanni's," said the +Cardinal. + +"No; I have a very slight acquaintance with him. I admire him, he has +such a fine head. I should be sorry if anything happened to him." + +"Do you think Del Ferice is capable of murdering him?" + +"Oh no! He might annoy him a great deal." + +"I think not," answered the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Del Ferice was +afraid that Don Giovanni would marry Donna Tullia and spoil his own +projects. But Giovanni will not think of that again." + +"No; I suppose Don Giovanni will marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente." + +"Of course," replied the Cardinal. For some minutes there was silence. +Gouache, while busy with his pencil, was wondering at the interest the +great man took in such details of the Roman social life. The Cardinal was +thinking of Corona, whom he had seen but half an hour ago, and was +revolving in his mind the advantages that might be got by allying her to +Giovanni. He had in view for her a certain Serene Highness whom he wished +to conciliate, and whose circumstances were not so splendid as to make +Corona's fortune seem insignificant to him. But on the other hand, the +Cardinal had no Serene Highness ready for Giovanni, and feared lest he +should after all marry Donna Tullia, and get into the opposite camp. + +"You are from Paris, Monsieur Gouache, I believe," said the Cardinal at +last. + +"Parisian of the Parisians, your Eminence." + +"How can you bear to live in exile so long? You have not been to your +home these four years, I think." + +"I would rather live in Rome for the present. I will go to Paris some +day. It will always be a pleasant recollection to have seen Rome in these +days. My friends write me that Paris is gay, but not pleasant." + +"You think there will soon be nothing of this time left but the +recollection of it?" suggested the Cardinal. + +"I do not know what to think. The times seem unsettled, and so are my +ideas. I was told that your Eminence would help me to decide what to +believe." Gouache smiled pleasantly, and looked up. + +"And who told you that?" + +"Don Giovanni Saracinesca." + +"But I must have some clue to what your ideas are," said the Cardinal. +"When did Don Giovanni say that?" + +"At Prince Frangipani's. He had been talking with your Eminence--perhaps +he had come to some conclusion in consequence," suggested Gouache. + +"Perhaps so," answered the great man, with a look of considerable +satisfaction. "At all events I am flattered by the opinion he gave you of +me. Perhaps I may help you to decide. What are your opinions? or rather, +what would you like your opinions to be?" + +"I am an ardent republican," said Gouache, boldly. It needed no ordinary +courage to make such a statement to the incarnate chief of reactionary +politics in those days--within the walls of the Vatican, not a hundred +yards from the private apartments of the Holy Father. But Cardinal +Antonelli smiled blandly, and seemed not in the least surprised nor +offended. + +"Republicanism is an exceedingly vague term, Monsieur Gouache," he said. +"But with what other opinions do you wish to reconcile your +republicanism?" + +"With those held by the Church. I am a good Catholic, and I desire to +remain one--indeed I cannot help remaining one." + +"Christianity is not vague, at all events," answered the Cardinal, who, +to tell the truth, was somewhat astonished at the artist's juxtaposition +of two such principles. "In the first place, allow me to observe, my +friend, that Christianity is the purest form of a republic which the +world has ever seen, and that it therefore only depends upon your good +sense to reconcile in your own mind two ideas which from the first have +been indissolubly bound together." + +It was Gouache's turn to be startled at the Cardinal's confidence. + +"I am afraid I must ask your Eminence for some further explanation," he +said. "I had no idea that Christianity and republicanism were the same +thing." + +"Republicanism," returned the statesman, "is a vague term, invented in an +abortive attempt to define by one word the mass of inextricable disorder +arising in our times from the fusion of socialistic ideas with ideas +purely republican. If you mean to speak of this kind of thing, you must +define precisely your position in regard to socialism, and in regard to +the pure theory of a commonwealth. If you mean to speak of a real +republic in any known form, such as the ancient Roman, the Dutch, or the +American, I understand you without further explanation." + +"I certainly mean to speak of the pure republic. I believe that under a +pure republic the partition of wealth would take care of itself." + +"Very good, my friend. Now, with regard to the early Christians, should +you say that their communities were monarchic, or aristocratic, or +oligarchic?" + +"None of those three, I should think," said Gouache. + +"There are only two systems left, then--democracy and hierarchy. You will +probably say that the government of the early Christians was of the +latter kind--that they were governed by priests, in fact. But on the +other hand, there is no doubt that both those who governed, and those who +were governed by them, had all things in common, regarded no man as +naturally superior to another, and preached a fraternity and equality at +least as sincere as those inculcated by the first French Republic. I do +not see how you can avoid calling such community a republic, seeing that +there was an equal partition of wealth; and defining it as a democratic +one, seeing that they all called each other brethren." + +"But the hierarchy--what became of it?" inquired Gouache. + +"The hierarchy existed within the democracy, by common consent and for +the public good, and formed a second democracy of smaller extent but +greater power. Any man might become a priest, any priest might become a +bishop, any bishop might become pope, as surely as any born citizen of +Rome could become consul, or any native of New York may be elected +President of the United States. Now in theory this was beautiful, and in +practice the democratic spirit of the hierarchy, the smaller republic, +has survived in undiminished vigour to the present day. In the original +Christian theory the whole world should now be one vast republic, in +which all Christians should call each other brothers, and support each +other in worldly as well as spiritual matters. Within this should exist +the smaller republic of the hierarchy, by common consent,--an elective +body, recruiting its numbers from the larger, as it does now; choosing +its head, the sovereign Pontiff, as it does now, to be the head of both +Church and State; eminently fitted for that position, for the very simple +reason that in a community organised and maintained upon such principles, +in which, by virtue of the real and universal love of religion, the best +men would find their way into the Church, and would ultimately find their +way to the papal throne." + +"Your Eminence states the case very convincingly," answered Gouache. "But +why has the larger republic, which was to contain the smaller one, ceased +to exist? or rather, why did it never come into existence?" + +"Because man has not yet fulfilled his part in the great contract. The +matter lies in a nutshell. The men who enter the Church are sufficiently +intelligent and well educated to appreciate the advantages of Christian +democracy, fellowship, solidarity, and brotherly love. The republic of +the Church has therefore survived, and will survive for ever. The men who +form the majority, on the other hand, have never had either the +intelligence or the education to understand that democracy is the +ultimate form of government: instead of forming themselves into a +federation, they have divided themselves into hostile factions, calling +themselves nations, and seeking every occasion for destroying and +plundering each other, frequently even turning against the Church +herself. The Church has committed faults in history, without doubt, but +on the whole she has nobly fulfilled her contract, and reaps the fruits +of fidelity in the vigour and unity she displays after eighteen +centuries. Man, on the other hand, has failed to do his duty, and all +races of men are consequently suffering for their misdeeds; the nations +are divided against each other, and every nation is a house divided +against itself, which sooner or later shall fall." + +"But," objected Gouache, "allowing, as one easily may, that all this is +true, your Eminence is always called reactionary in politics. Does that +accord with these views?" + +Gouache believed the question unanswerable, but as he put it he worked +calmly on with his pencil, labouring hard to catch something of the +Cardinal's striking expression in the rough drawing he was making. + +"Nothing is easier, my friend," replied the statesman. "The republic of +the Church is driven to bay. We are on a war footing. For the sake of +strength we are obliged to hold together so firmly that for the time we +can only think of maintaining old traditions without dreaming of progress +or spending time in experiments. When we have weathered the storm we +shall have leisure for improving much that needs improvement. Do not +think that if I am alive twenty years hence I shall advise what I advise +now. We are fighting now, and we have no time to think of the arts of +peace. We shall have peace some day. We shall lose an ornament or two +from our garments in the struggle, but our body will not be injured, and +in time of peace our ornaments will be restored to us fourfold. But now +there is war and rumour of war. There is a vast difference between the +ideal republic which I was speaking of, and the real anarchy and +confusion which would be brought about by what is called republicanism." + +"In other words, if the attack upon the Church were suddenly abandoned, +your Eminence would immediately abandon your reactionary policy," said +Gouache, "and adopt progressive views?" + +"Immediately," replied the Cardinal. + +"I see," said Gouache. "A little more towards me--just so that I can +catch that eye. Thank you--that will do." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +When Del Ferice was thought sufficiently recovered of his wound to hear +some of the news of the day, which was about three weeks after the duel, +he learned that Astrardente was dead, that the Duchessa had inherited +all his fortune, and that she was on the point of leaving Rome. It would +be hard to say how the information of her approaching departure had got +abroad; it might be merely a clever guess of the gossips, or it might be +the report gleaned from her maid by all the other maids in town. Be that +as it may, when Del Ferice heard it he ground his teeth as he lay upon +his bed, and swore that if it were possible to prevent the Duchessa +d'Astrardente from leaving town he would do it. In his judgment it +would be a dangerous thing to let Corona and Giovanni part, and to allow +Donna Tullia free play in her matrimonial designs. Of course Giovanni +would never marry Madame Mayer, especially as he was now at liberty to +marry the Astrardente; but Madame Mayer herself might become fatally +interested in him, as she already seemed inclined to be, and this would +be bad for Del Ferice's own prospects. It would not do to squander any of +the advantages gained by the death of the old Duca. Giovanni must be +hastened into a marriage with Corona; it would be time enough to think of +revenge upon him afterwards for the ghastly wound that took so long to +heal. + +It was a pity that Del Ferice and Donna Tullia were not allies, for if +Madame Mayer hated Corona d'Astrardente, Ugo del Ferice detested Giovanni +with equal virulency, not only because he had been so terribly worsted +by him in the duel his own vile conduct had made inevitable, but because +Donna Tullia loved him and was doing her very best to marry him. +Evidently the best thing to be done was to produce a misunderstanding +between the two; but it would be dangerous to play any tricks with +Giovanni, for he held Del Ferice in his power by his knowledge of that +disagreeable scene behind the plants in the conservatory. Saracinesca was +a great man in society and celebrated for his honesty; people would +believe him rather than Del Ferice, if the story got abroad. This would +not do. The next best thing was to endeavour to draw Giovanni and Corona +together as quickly as possible, to precipitate their engagement, and +thus to clear the field of a dangerous rival. Del Ferice was a very +obstinate and a very intelligent man. He meant more than ever to marry +Donna Tullia himself, and he would not be hindered in the accomplishment +of his object by an insignificant scruple. + +He was not allowed to speak much, lest the effort should retard the +healing of his throat; but in the long days and nights, when he lay +silent in his quiet lodging, he had ample time to revolve many schemes in +his brain. At last he no longer needed the care of the Sister of Mercy; +his servant took charge of him, and the surgeon came twice a-day to dress +his wound. He lay in bed one morning watching Temistocle, who moved +noiselessly about the room. + +"Temistocle," he said, "you are a youth of intelligence: you must use the +gifts nature has given you." + +Temistocle was at that time not more than five-and-twenty years of age. +He had a muddy complexion, a sharp hooked nose, and a cast in one eye +that gave him a singularly unpleasant expression. As his master addressed +him, he stood still and listened with a sort of distorted smile in +acknowledgment of the compliment made him. + +"Temistocle, you must find out when the Duchessa d'Astrardente means to +leave Rome, and where she is going. You know somebody in the house?" + +"Yes, sir--the under-cook; he stood godfather with me for the baby of a +cousin of mine--the young man who drives Prince Valdarno's private +brougham: a clever fellow, too." + +"And this under-cook," said Del Ferice, who was not above entering into +details with his servant--"is he a discreet character?" + +"Oh, for that, you may trust him. Only sometimes--" Temistocle grinned, +and made a gesture which signified drinking. + +"And when he is drunk?" asked Del Ferice. + +"When he is drunk he tells everything; but he never remembers anything he +has been told, or has said. When he is drunk he is a dictionary; but the +first draught of water washes out his memory like a slate." + +"Well--give me my purse; it is under my pillow. Go. Here is a _scudo_, +Temistocle. You can make him very drunk for that." + +Temistocle hesitated, and looked at the money. + +"Another couple of _pauls_ would make it safer," he remarked. + +"Well, there they are; but you must make him very drunk indeed. You must +find out all he knows, and you must keep sober yourself." + +"Leave that to me. I will make of him a sponge; he shall be squeezed dry, +and sopped again and squeezed again. I will be his confessor." + +"If you find out what I want, I will give you--" Del Ferice hesitated; he +did not mean to give too much. + +"The grey trousers?" asked Temistocle, with an avaricious light in the +eye which did not wander. + +"Yes," answered his master, rather regretfully; "I suppose you must have +the grey trousers at last." + +"For those grey trousers I will upset heaven and earth," returned +Temistocle in great glee. + +Nothing more was said on that day, but early on the following morning the +man entered and opened the shutters, and removed the little oil-light +that had burned all night. He kept one eye upon his master, who presently +turned slowly and looked inquiringly at him. + +"The Duchessa goes to Astrardente in the Sabines on the day after +to-morrow," said Temistocle. "It is quite sure that she goes, because she +has already sent out two pairs of horses, and several boxes of effects, +besides the second housemaid and the butler and two grooms." + +"Ah! that is very good. Temistocle, I think I will get up this morning +and sit in the next room." + +"And the grey trousers?" + +"Take them, and wear them in honour of the most generous master living," +said Del Ferice, impressively. "It is not every master who gives his +servant a pair of grey trousers. Remember that." + +"Heaven bless you, Signor Conte!" exclaimed Temistocle, devoutly. + +Del Ferice lost no time. He was terribly weak still, and his wound +was not entirely healed yet; but he set himself resolutely to his +writing-table, and did not rise until he had written two letters. The +first was carefully written in a large round hand, such as is used by +copyists in Italy, resembling the Gothic. It was impossible to connect +the laboriously formed and conventional letters with any particular +person. It was very short, as follows:-- + +"It may interest you to know that the Duchessa d'Astrardente is going to +her castle in the Sabines on the day after to-morrow." + +This laconic epistle Del Ferice carefully directed to Don Giovanni +Saracinesca at his palace, and fastened a stamp upon it; but he concealed +the address from Temistocle. The second letter was longer, and written in +his own small and ornate handwriting. It was to Donna Tullia Mayer. +It ran thus:-- + +"You would forgive my importuning you with a letter, most charming Donna +Tullia, if you could conceive of my desolation and loneliness. For more +than three weeks I have been entirely deprived of the pleasure, the +exquisite delight, of conversing with her for whom I have suffered. I +still suffer so much. Ah! if my paper were a cloth of gold, and my pen in +moving traced characters of diamond and pearl, yet any words which speak +of you would be ineffectually honoured by such transcription! In the +miserable days and nights I have passed between life and death, it is +your image which has consoled me, the echo of your delicate voice which +has soothed my pain, the remembrance of the last hours I spent with you +which has gilded the feverish dreams of my sickness. You are the +guardian angel of a most unhappy man, Donna Tullia. Do you know it? But +for you I would have wooed death as a comforter. As it is, I have +struggled desperately to keep my grasp upon life, in the hope of once +more seeing your smile and hearing your happy laugh; perhaps--I dare not +expect it--I may receive from you some slight word of sympathy, some +little half-sighed hint that you do not altogether regret having been in +these long weeks the unconscious comforter of my sorrowing spirit and +tormented body. You would hardly know me, could you see me; but saving +for your sweet spiritual presence, which has rescued me from the jaws of +death, you would never have seen me again. Is it presumption in me to +write thus? Have you ever given me a right to speak in these words? I do +not know. I do not care. Man has a right to be grateful. It is the first +and most divine right I possess, to feel and to express my gratitude. For +out of the store of your kindness shown me when I was in the world, +strong and happy in the privilege of your society, I have drawn healing +medicine in my sickness, as tormented souls in purgatory get refreshment +from the prayers of good and kind people who remember them on earth. So, +therefore, if I have said too much, forgive me, forgive the heartfelt +gratitude which prompts me; and believe still in the respectful and +undying devotion of the humblest of your servants, UGO DEL FERICE." + +Del Ferice read over what he had written with considerable satisfaction, +and having addressed his letter to Donna Tullia, he lost no time in +despatching Temistocle with it, instructing him to ask if there would be +an answer. As soon as the man was out of the house, Ugo rang for his +landlady, and sent for the porter's little boy, to whom he delivered the +letter to Don Giovanni, to be dropped into the nearest post-box. Then he +lay down, exhausted with his morning's work. In the course of two hours +Temistocle returned from Donna Tullia's house with a little scented +note--too much scented, and the paper just a shade too small. She took no +notice of what he had said in his carefully penned epistle; but merely +told him she was sincerely glad that he was better, and asked him to call +as soon as he could. Ugo was not disappointed; he had expected no +compromising expression of interest in response to his own effusions; and +he was well pleased with the invitation, for it showed that what he had +written had produced the desired result. + +Don Giovanni Saracinesca received the anonymous note late in the evening. +He had, of course, together with his father, deposited cards of +condolence at the Palazzo Astrardente, and he had been alone to inquire +if the Duchessa would receive him. The porter had answered that, for +the present, there were standing orders to admit no one; and as Giovanni +could boast of no especial intimacy, and had no valid excuse to give, he +was obliged to be satisfied. He had patiently waited in the Villa +Borghese and by the band-stand on the Pincio, taking it for granted that +sooner or later Corona's carriage would appear; but when at last he had +seen her brougham, she had driven rapidly past him, thickly veiled, and +he did not think she had even noticed him. He would have written to her, +but he was still unable to hold a pen; and he reflected that, after all, +it would have been a hideous farce for him to offer condolences and +sympathy, however much he might desire to hide from himself his secret +satisfaction at her husband's death. Too proud to think of obtaining +information through such base channels as Del Ferice was willing to use, +he was wholly ignorant of Corona's intentions; and it was a brilliant +proof of Ugo's astuteness that he had rightly judged Giovanni's position +with regard to her, and justly estimated the value of the news conveyed +by his anonymous note. + +Saracinesca read the scrap of writing, and tossed it angrily into the +fire. He hated underhand dealings, and scorned himself for the interest +the note excited in him, wondering who could find advantage in informing +him of the Duchessa's movements. But the note took effect, nevertheless, +although he was ashamed of it, and all night he pondered upon what it +told him. The next day, at three o'clock, he went out alone, and walked +rapidly towards the Palazzo Astrardente. He was unable to bear the +suspense any longer; the thought that Corona was going away, apparently +to shut herself up in the solitude of the ancient fortress, for any +unknown number of months, and that he might not see her until the autumn, +was intolerable. He knew that by the mere use of his name he could at +least make sure that she should know he was at her door, and he +determined to make the attempt. He waited a long time, pacing slowly the +broad flagstones beneath the arch of the palace, while the porter +himself went up with his card and message. The fellow had hesitated, but +Don Giovanni Saracinesca was not a man to be refused by a servant. At +last the porter returned, and, bowing to the ground, said that the +Signora Duchessa would receive him. + +In five minutes he was waiting alone in the great drawing-room. It had +cost Corona a struggle to allow him to be admitted. She hesitated long, +for it seemed like a positive wrong to her husband's memory, but the +woman in her yielded at last; she was going away on the following +morning, and she could not refuse to see him for once. She hesitated +again as she laid her hand upon the latch of the door, knowing that he +was in the room beyond; then at last she entered. + +Her face was very pale and very grave. Her simple gown of close-fitting +black set off her height and figure, and flowed softly in harmony with +her stately movements as she advanced towards Giovanni, who stood almost +awestruck in the middle of the room. He could not realise that this dark +sad princess was the same woman to whom less than a month ago he had +spoken such passionate words, whom he had madly tried to take into his +arms. Proud as he was, it seemed presumptuous in him to think of love in +connection with so royal a woman; and yet he knew that he loved her +better and more truly than he had done a month before. She held out her +hand to him, and he raised it to his lips. Then they both sat down in +silence. + +"I had despaired of ever seeing you again," said Giovanni at last, +speaking in a subdued voice. "I had wished for some opportunity of +telling you how sincerely I sympathise with you in your great loss." It +was a very formal speech, such as men make in such situations. It might +have been better, but he was not eloquent; even his rough old father had +a better command of language on ordinary occasions, though Giovanni could +speak well enough when he was roused. But he felt constrained in the +presence of the woman he adored. Corona herself hardly knew how to +answer. + +"You are very kind," she said, simply. + +"I wish it were possible to be of any service to you," he answered. "I +need not tell you that both my father and myself would hold it an honour +to assist you in any way." He mentioned his father from a feeling of +delicacy; he did not wish to put himself forward. + +"You are very kind," repeated Corona, gravely. "I have not had any +annoyance. I have an excellent man of business." + +There was a moment's pause. Then she seemed to understand that he was +embarrassed, and spoke again. + +"I am glad to see that you are recovered," she said. + +"It was nothing," answered Giovanni, with a glance at his right arm, +which was still confined in a bandage of black silk, but was no longer in +a sling. + +"It was very wrong of you," returned Corona, looking seriously into his +eyes. "I do not know why you fought, but it was wrong; it is a great +sin." + +Giovanni smiled a little. + +"We all have to sin sometimes," he said. "Would you have me stand quietly +and see an abominable piece of baseness, and not lift a hand to punish +the offender?" + +"People who do base things always come to a bad end," answered the +Duchessa. + +"Perhaps. But we poor sinners are impatient to see justice done at once. +I am sorry to have done anything you consider wrong," he added, with a +shade of bitterness. "Will you permit me to change the subject? Are +you thinking of remaining in Rome, or do you mean to go away?" + +"I am going up to Astrardente to-morrow," answered Corona, readily. "I +want to be alone and in the country." + +Giovanni showed no surprise: his anonymous information had been accurate; +Del Ferice had not parted with the grey trousers in vain. + +"I suppose you are right," he said. "But at this time of year I should +think the mountains would be very cold." + +"The castle is comfortable. It has been recently fitted up, and there are +many warm rooms in it. I am fond of the old place, and I need to be alone +for a long time." + +Giovanni thought the conversation was becoming oppressive. He thought of +what had passed between them at their last meeting in the conservatory of +the Palazzo Frangipani. + +"I shall myself pass the summer in Saracinesca," he said, suddenly. "You +know it is not very far. May I hope that I may sometimes be permitted to +see you?" + +Corona had certainly had no thought of seeing Giovanni when she had +determined to go to Astrardente; she had not been there often, and had +not realised that it was within reach of the Saracinesca estate. She +started slightly. + +"Is it so near?" she asked. + +"Half a day's ride over the hills," replied Giovanni. + +"I did not know. Of course, if you come, you will not be denied +hospitality." + +"But you would rather not see me?" asked Saracinesca, in a tone of +disappointment. He had hoped for something more encouraging. Corona +answered courageously. + +"I would rather not see you. Do not think me unkind," she added, her +voice softening a little. "Why need there be any explanations? Do not try +to see me. I wish you well; I wish you more--all happiness--but do not +try to see me." + +Giovanni's face grew grave and pale. He was disappointed, even +humiliated; but something told him that it was not coldness which +prompted her request. + +"Your commands are my laws," he answered. + +"I would rather that instead of regarding what I ask you as a command, +you should feel that it ought to be the natural prompting of your own +heart," replied Corona, somewhat coldly. + +"Forgive me if my heart dictates what my obedience to you must +effectually forbid," said Giovanni. "I beseech you to be satisfied that +what you ask I will perform--blindly." + +"Not blindly--you know all my reasons." + +"There is that between you and me which annihilates reason," answered +Giovanni, his voice trembling a little. + +"There is that in my position which should command your respect," said +Corona. She feared he was going too far, and yet this time she knew she +had not said too much, and that in bidding him avoid her, she was only +doing what was strictly necessary for her peace. "I am a widow," she +continued, very gravely; "I am a woman, and I am alone. My only +protection lies in the courtesy I have a right to expect from men like +you. You have expressed your sympathy; show it then by cheerfully +fulfilling my request. I do not speak in riddles, but very plainly. You +recall to me a moment of great pain, and your presence, the mere fact of +my receiving you, seems a disloyalty to the memory of my husband. I have +given you no reason to believe that I ever took a greater interest in you +than such as I might take in a friend. I hourly pray that this--this too +great interest you show in me, may pass quickly, and leave you what you +were before. You see I do not speak darkly, and I do not mean to speak +unkindly. Do not answer me, I beseech you, but take this as my last word. +Forget me if you can--" + +"I cannot," said Giovanni, deeply moved. + +"Try. If you cannot, God help you! but I am sure that if you try +faithfully, you will succeed. And now you must go," she said, in gentler +tones. "You should not have come--I should not have let you see me. But +it is best so. I am grateful for the sympathy you have expressed. I do +not doubt that you will do as I have asked you, and as you have promised. +Good-bye." + +Corona rose to her feet, her hands folded before her. Giovanni had no +choice. She let her eyes rest upon him, not unkindly, but she did not +extend her hand. He stood one moment in hesitation, then bowed and left +the room without a word. Corona stood still, and her eyes followed his +retreating figure until at the door he turned once more and bent his head +and then was gone. Then she fell back into her chair and gazed listlessly +at the wall opposite. + +"It is done," she said at last. "I hope it is well done and wisely." +Indeed it had been a hard thing to say; but it was better to say it at +once than to regret an ill-timed indulgence when it should be too late. +And yet it had cost her less to send him away definitely than it had +cost her to resist his passionate appeal a month ago. She seemed to have +gained strength from her sorrows. So he was gone! She gave a sigh of +relief, which was instantly followed by a sharp throb of pain, so sudden +that she hardly understood it. + +Her preparations were all made. She had at the last moment realised that +it was not fitting for her, at her age, to travel alone, nor to live +wholly alone in her widowhood. She had revolved the matter in her mind, +and had decided that there was no woman of her acquaintance whom she +could ask even for a short time to stay with her. She had no friends, no +relations, none to turn to in such a need. It was not that she cared for +company in her solitude; it was merely a question of propriety. To +overcome the difficulty, she obtained permission to take with her one of +the sisters of a charitable order of nuns, a lady in middle life, but +broken down and in ill health from her untiring labours. The thing was +easily managed; and the next morning, on leaving the palace, she stopped +at the gate of the community and found Sister Gabrielle waiting with her +modest box. The nun entered the huge travelling carriage, and the two +ladies set out for Astrardente. + +It was the first day of Carnival, and a memorably sad one for Giovanni +Saracinesca. He would have been capable of leaving Rome at once, but that +he had promised Corona not to attempt to see her. He would have gone to +Saracinesca for the mere sake of being nearer to her, had he not +reflected that he would be encouraging all manner of gossip by so doing. +But he determined that so soon as Lent began, he would declare his +intention of leaving the city for a year. No one ever went to +Saracinesca, and by making a circuit he could reach the ancestral +castle without creating suspicion. He might even go to Paris for a few +days, and have it supposed that he was wandering about Europe, for he +could trust his own servants implicitly; they were not of the type who +would drink wine at a tavern with Temistocle or any of his class. + +The old Prince came into his son's room in the morning and found him +disconsolately looking over his guns, for the sake of an occupation. + +"Well, Giovanni," he said, "you have time to reflect upon your future +conduct. What! are you going upon a shooting expedition?" + +"I wish I could. I wish I could find anything to do," answered Giovanni, +laying down the breech-loader and looking out of the window. "The world +is turned inside out like a beggar's pocket, and there is nothing in it." + +"So the Astrardente is gone," remarked the Prince. + +"Yes; gone to live within twenty miles of Saracinesca," replied Giovanni, +with an angry intonation. + +"Do not go there yet," said his father. "Leave her alone a while. Women +become frantic in solitude." + +"Do you think I am an idiot?" exclaimed Giovanni. "Of course I shall stay +where I am till Carnival is over." He was not in a good humour. + +"Why are you so petulant?" retorted the old man. "I merely gave you my +advice." + +"Well, I am going to follow it. It is good. When Carnival is over I will +go away, and perhaps get to Saracinesca by a roundabout way, so that no +one will know where I am. Will you not come too?" + +"I daresay," answered the Prince, who was always pleased when his son +expressed a desire for his company. "I wish we lived in the good old +times." + +"Why?" + +"We would make small scruple of besieging Astrardente and carrying off +the Duchessa for you, my boy," said the Prince, grimly. + +Giovanni laughed. Perhaps the same idea had crossed his mind. He was not +quite sure whether it was respectful to Corona to think of carrying her +off in the way his father suggested; but there was a curious flavour of +possibility in the suggestion, coming as it did from a man whose +grandfather might have done such a thing, and whose great-grandfather was +said to have done it. So strong are the instincts of barbaric domination +in races where the traditions of violence exist in an unbroken chain, +that both father and son smiled at the idea as if it were quite natural, +although Giovanni had only the previous day promised that he would not +even attempt to see Corona d'Astrardente without her permission. He did +not tell his father of his promise, however, for his more delicate +instinct made him sure that though he had acted rightly, his father would +laugh at his scruples, and tell him that women liked to be wooed roughly. + +Meanwhile Giovanni felt that Rome had become for him a vast solitude, and +the smile soon faded from his face at the thought that he must go out +into the world, and for Corona's sake act as though nothing had happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Poor Madame Mayer was in great anxiety of mind. She had not a great +amount of pride, but she made up for it by a plentiful endowment of +vanity, in which she suffered acutely. She was a good-natured woman +enough, and by nature she was not vindictive; but she could not help +being jealous, for she was in love. She felt how Giovanni every day +evidently cared less and less for her society, and how, on the other +hand, Del Ferice was quietly assuring his position, so that people +already began to whisper that he had a chance of becoming her husband. +She did not dislike Del Ferice; he was a convenient man of the world, +whom she always found ready to help her when she needed help. But by dint +of making use of him, she was beginning to feel in some way bound to +consider him as an element in her life, and she did not like the +position. The letter he had written her was of the kind a man might +write to the woman he loved; it bordered upon the familiar, even while +the writer expressed himself in terms of exaggerated respect. Perhaps if +Del Ferice had been well, she would have simply taken no notice of what +he had written, and would not even have sent an answer; but she had not +the heart to repulse him altogether in his present condition. There was a +phrase cunningly introduced and ambiguously worded, which seemed to mean +that he had come by his wound in her cause. He spoke of having suffered +and of still suffering so much for her,--did he mean to refer to pain of +body or of mind? It was not certain. Don Giovanni had assured her that +she was in no way concerned in the duel, and he was well known for his +honesty; nevertheless, out of delicacy, he might have desired to conceal +the truth from her. It seemed like him. She longed for an opportunity of +talking with him and eliciting some explanation of his conduct. There +had been a time when he used to visit her, and always spent some time in +her society when they met in the world--now, on the contrary, he seemed +to avoid her whenever he could; and in proportion as she noticed that +his manner cooled, her own jealousy against Corona d'Astrardente +increased in force, until at last it seemed to absorb her love for +Giovanni into itself and turn it into hate. + +Love is a passion which, like certain powerful drugs, acts differently +upon each different constitution of temper; love also acts more strongly +when it is unreturned or thwarted than when it is mutual and uneventful. +If two persons love each other truly, and there is no obstacle to their +union, it is probable that, without any violent emotion, their love will +grow and become stronger by imperceptible degrees, without changing in +its natural quality; but if thwarted by untoward circumstances, the +passion, if true, attains suddenly to the dimensions which it would +otherwise need years to reach. It sometimes happens that the nature in +which this unforeseen and abnormal development takes place is unable to +bear the precocious growth; then, losing sight of its identity in the +strange inward confusion of heart and mind which ensues, it is driven to +madness, and, breaking every barrier, either attains its object at a +single bound, or is shivered and ruined in dashing itself against the +impenetrable wall of complete impossibility. But again, in the last case, +when love is wholly unreturned, it dies a natural death of atrophy, when +it has existed in a person of common and average nature; or if the man or +woman so afflicted be proud and of noble instincts, the passion becomes a +kind of religion to the heart--sacred, and worthy to be guarded from the +eyes of the world; or, finally, again, where it finds vanity the dominant +characteristic of the being in whom it has grown, it draws a poisonous +life from the unhealthy soil on which it is fed, and the tender seed of +love shoots and puts forth evil leaves and blossoms, and grows to be a +most venomous tree, which is the tree of hatred. + +Donna Tullia was certainly a woman who belonged to the latter class of +individuals. She had qualities which were perhaps good because not bad; +but the mainspring of her being was an inordinate vanity; and it was in +this characteristic that she was most deeply wounded, as she found +herself gradually abandoned by Giovanni Saracinesca. She had been in the +habit of thinking of him as a probable husband; the popular talk had +fostered the idea, and occasional hints, aad smiling questions concerning +him, had made her feel that he could not long hang back. She had been in +the habit of treating him familiarly; and he, tutored by his father to +the belief that she was the best match for him, and reluctantly yielding +to the force of circumstances, which seemed driving him into matrimony, +had suffered himself to be ordered about and made use of with an +indifference which, in Madame Mayer's eyes, had passed for consent. She +had watched with growing fear and jealousy his devotion to the +Astrardente, which all the world had noticed; and at last her anger had +broken out at the affront she had received at the Frangipani ball. But +even then she loved Giovanni in her own vain way. It was not till Corona +was suddenly left a widow, that Donna Tullia began to realise the +hopelessness of her position; and when she found how determinately +Saracinesca avoided her wherever they met, the affection she had hitherto +felt for him turned into a bitter hatred, stronger even than her jealousy +against the Duchessa. There was no scene of explanation between them, no +words passed, no dramatic situation, such as Donna Tullia loved; the +change came in a few days, and was complete. She had not even the +satisfaction of receiving some share of the attention Giovanni would have +bestowed upon Corona if she had been in town. Not only had he grown +utterly indifferent to her; he openly avoided her, and thereby inflicted +upon her vanity the cruellest wound she was capable of feeling. + +With Donna Tullia to hate was to injure, to long for revenge--not of the +kind which is enjoyed in secret, and known only to the person who suffers +and the person who causes the suffering. She did not care for that so +much as she desired some brilliant triumph over her enemies before the +world; some startling instance of poetic justice, which should at one +blow do a mortal injury to Corona d'Astrardente, and bring Giovanni +Saracinesca to her own feet by force, repentant and crushed, to be dealt +with as she saw fit, according to his misdeeds. But she had chosen her +adversaries ill, and her heart misgave her. She had no hold upon them, +for they were very strong people, very powerful, and very much respected +by their fellows. It was not easy to bring them into trouble; it +seemed impossible to humiliate them as she wished to do, and yet her hate +was very strong. She waited and pondered, and in the meanwhile, when she +met Giovanni, she began to treat him with haughty coldness. But Giovanni +smiled, and seemed well satisfied that she should at last give over what +was to him very like a persecution. Her anger grew hotter from its very +impotence. The world saw it, and laughed. + +The days of Carnival came and passed, much as they usually pass, in a +whirl of gaiety. Giovanni went everywhere, and showed his grave face; but +he talked little, and of course every one said he was melancholy at the +departure of the Duchessa. Nevertheless he kept up an appearance of +interest in what was done, and as nobody cared to risk asking him +questions, people left him in peace. The hurrying crowd of social life +filled up the place occupied by old Astrardente and the beautiful +Duchessa, and they were soon forgotten, for they had not had many +intimate friends. + +On the last night of Carnival, Del Ferice appeared once more. He had not +been able to resist the temptation of getting one glimpse of the world he +loved, before the wet blanket of Lent extinguished the lights of the +ballrooms and the jollity of the dancers. Every one was surprised to see +him, and most people were pleased; he was such a useful man, that he had +often been missed during the time of his illness. He was improved in +appearance; for though he was very pale, he had grown also extremely +thin, and his features had gained delicacy. + +When Giovanni saw him, he went up to him, and the two men exchanged a +formal salutation, while every one stood still for a moment to see the +meeting. It was over in a moment, and society gave a little sigh of +relief, as though a weight were removed from its mind. Then Del Ferice +went to Donna Tullia's side. They were soon alone upon a small sofa in a +small room, whither a couple strayed now and then to remain a few minutes +before returning to the ball. A few people passed through, but for more +than an hour they were not disturbed. + +"I am very glad to see you," said Donna Tullia; "but I had hoped that the +first time you went out you would have come to my house." + +"This is the first time I have been out--you see I should not have found +you at home, since I have found you here." + +"Are you entirely recovered? You still look ill." + +"I am a little weak--but an hour with you will do me more good than all +the doctors in the world." + +"Thanks," said Donna Tullia, with a little laugh. "It was strange to see +you shaking hands with Giovanni Saracinesca just now. I suppose men have +to do that sort of thing." + +"You may be sure I would not have done it unless it had been necessary," +returned Del Ferice, bitterly. + +"I should think not. What an arrogant man he is!" + +"You no longer like him?" asked Del Fence, innocently. + +"Like him! No; I never liked him," replied Donna Tullia, quickly. + +"Oh, I thought you did; I used to wonder at it." Ugo grew thoughtful. + +"I was always good to him," said Donna Tullia. "But of course I can never +forgive him for what he did at the Frangipani ball." + +"No; nor I," answered Del Ferice, readily. "I shall always hate him for +that too." + +"I do not say that I exactly hate him." + +"You have every reason. It appears to me that since my illness we have +another idea in common, another bond of sympathy." Del Ferice spoke +almost tenderly; but he laughed immediately afterwards, as though not +wishing his words to be interpreted too seriously. Donna Tullia smiled +too; she was inclined to be very kind to him. + +"You are very quick to jump at conclusions," she said, playing with her +red fan and looking down. + +"It is always easy to reach that pleasant conclusion--that you and I are +in sympathy," he answered, with a tender glance, "even in regard to +hating the same person. The bond would be close indeed, if it depended on +the opposite of hate. And yet I sometimes think it does. Are you not the +best friend I have in the world?" + +"I do not know,--I am a good friend to you," she answered. + +"Indeed you are; but do you not think it would be possible to cement our +friendship even more closely yet?" + +Donna Tullia looked up sharply; she had no idea of allowing him to +propose to marry her. His face, however, was grave--unlike his usual +expression when he meant to be tender, and which she knew very well. + +"I do not know," she said, with a light laugh. "How do you mean?" + +"If I could do you some great service--if I could by any means satisfy +what is now your chief desire in life--would not that help to cement our +friendship, as I said?" + +"Perhaps," she answered, thoughtfully. "But then you do not know--you +cannot guess even--what I most wish at this moment." + +"I think I could," said Del Ferice, fixing his eyes upon her. "I am sure +I could, but I will not. I should risk offending you." + +"No; I will not be angry. You may guess if you please." Donna Tullia in +her turn looked, fixedly at her companion. They seemed trying to read +each other's thoughts. + +"Very well," said Ugo at last, "I will tell you. You would like to see +the Astrardente dead and Giovanni Saracinesca profoundly humiliated." + +Donna Tullia started. But indeed there was nothing strange in her +companion's knowledge of her feelings. Many people, being asked what she +felt, would very likely have said the same, for the world had seen her +discomfiture and had laughed at it. + +"You are a very singular man," she said, uneasily. + +"In other words," replied Del Ferice, calmly, "I am perfectly right in my +surmises. I see it in your face. Of course," he added, with a laugh, "it +is mere jest. But the thing is quite possible. If I fulfilled your desire +of just and poetic vengeance, what would you give me?" + +Donna Tullia laughed in her turn, to conceal the extreme interest she +felt in what he said. + +"Whatever you like," she said. But even while the laugh was on her lips +her eyes sought his uneasily. + +"Would you marry me, for instance, as the enchanted princess in the fairy +story marries the prince who frees her from the spell?" He seemed +immensely amused at the idea. + +"Why not?" she laughed. + +"It would be the only just recompense," he answered. "See how impossible +the thing appears. And yet a few pounds of dynamite would blow up the +Great Pyramid. Giovanni Saracinesca is not so strong as he looks." + +"Oh, I would not have him hurt!" exclaimed Donna Tullia in alarm. + +"I do not mean physically, nor morally, but socially." + +"How?" + +"That is my secret," returned Del Ferice, quietly. + +"It sounds as though you were pretending to know more than you really +do," she answered. + +"No; it is the plain truth," said Del Ferice, quietly. "If you were in +earnest I might be willing to tell you what the secret is, but for a mere +jest I cannot. It is far too serious a matter." + +His tone convinced Donna Tullia that he really possessed some weapon +which he could use against Don Giovanni if he pleased. She wondered only +why, if it were true, he did not use it, seeing that he must hate +Saracinesca with all his heart. Del Ferice knew so much about people, so +many strange and forgotten stories, he had so accurate a memory and so +acute an intelligence, that it was by no means impossible that he was in +possession of some secret connected with the Saracinesca. They were, +or were thought to be, wild, unruly men, both father and son; there were +endless stories about them both; and there was nothing more likely than +that, in his numerous absences from home, Giovanni had at one time or +another figured in some romantic affair, which he would be sorry to have +had generally known. Del Ferice was wise enough to keep his own counsel; +but now that his hatred was thoroughly roused, he might very likely make +use of the knowledge he possessed. Donna Tullia's curiosity was excited +to its highest pitch, and at the same time she had pleasant visions of +the possible humiliation of the man by whom she felt herself so ill-used. +It would be worth while making the sacrifice in order to learn Del +Fence's secret. + +"This need not be a mere jest," she said, after a moment's silence. + +"That is as you please," returned Del Ferice, seriously. "If you are +willing to do your part, you may be sure that I will do mine." + +"You cannot think I really meant what I said just now," replied Donna +Tullia. "It would be madness." + +"Why? Am I halt, am I lame, am I blind? Am I repulsively ugly? Am I a +pauper, that I should care for your money? Have I not loved you--yes, +loved you long and faithfully? Am I too old? Is there anything in the +nature of things why I should not aspire to be your husband?" + +It was strange. He spoke calmly, as though enumerating the advantages of +a friend. Donna Tullia looked at him for a moment, and then laughed +outright. + +"No," she said; "all that is very true. You may aspire, as you call it. +The question is, whether I shall aspire too. Of course, if we happened to +agree in aspiring, we could be married to-morrow." + +"Precisely," answered Del Ferice, perfectly unmoved. "I am not proposing +to marry you. I am arguing the case. There is this in the case which is +perhaps outside the argument--this, that I am devotedly attached to you. +The case is the stronger for that. I was only trying to demonstrate that +the idea of our being married is not so unutterably absurd. You +laughingly said you would marry me if I could accomplish something which +would please you very much. I laughed also; but now I seriously repeat my +proposition, because I am convinced that although at first sight it may +appear extremely humourous, on a closer inspection it will be found +exceedingly practical. In union is strength." + +Donna Tullia was silent for a moment, and her face grew grave. There was +reason in what he said. She did not care for him--she had never thought +of marrying him; but she recognised the justice of what he said. It was +clear that a man of his social position, received everywhere and intimate +with all her associates, might think of marrying her. He looked +positively handsome since he was wounded; he was accomplished and +intelligent; he had sufficient means of support to prevent him from +being suspected of marrying solely for money, and he had calmly stated +that he loved her. Perhaps he did. It was flattering to Donna Tullia's +vanity to believe him, and his acts had certainly not belied his words. +He was by far the most thoughtful of all her admirers, and he affected to +treat her always with a certain respect which she had never succeeded in +obtaining from Valdarno and the rest. A woman who likes to be noisy, but +is conscious of being a little vulgar, is always flattered when a man +behaves towards her with profound reverence. It will even sometimes cure +her of her vulgarity. Donna Tullia reflected seriously upon what Del +Ferice had said. + +"I never had such a proposition made to me in my life," she said. "Of +course you cannot think I regard it as a possible one, even now. You +cannot think I am so base as to sell myself for the sake of revenging an +insult once offered me. If I am to regard this as a proposal of marriage, +I must decline it with thanks. If it is merely a proposition for an +alliance, I think the terms of the treaty are unequal." + +Del Ferice smiled. + +"I knew you well enough to know what your answer would be," he said. "I +never insulted you by dreaming that you would accept such a proposition. +But as a subject for speculation it is very pleasant. It is delightful +to me to think of being your husband; it is equally delightful to you to +think of the humiliation of an enemy. I took the liberty of uniting the +two thoughts in one dream--a dream of unspeakable bliss for myself." + +Donna Tullia's gay humour returned. + +"You have certainly amused me very well for a quarter of an hour with +your dreams," she answered. "I wish you would tell me what you know of +Don Giovanni. It must be very interesting if it can really seriously +influence his life." + +"I cannot tell you. The secret is too valuable." + +"But if the thing you know has such power, why do you not use it +yourself? You must hate him far more than I do." + +"I doubt that," answered Del Ferice, with a cunning smile. "I do not use +it, I do not choose to strike the blow, because I do not care enough for +retribution merely on my own account. I do not pretend to generosity, but +I am not interested enough in him to harm him, though I dislike him +exceedingly. We had a temporary settlement of our difficulties the other +day, and we were both wounded. Poor Casalverde lost his head and did a +foolish thing, and that cold-blooded villain Spicca killed him in +consequence. It seems to me that there has been enough blood spilled in +our quarrel. I am prepared to leave him alone so far as I am concerned. +But for you it would be different. I could do something worse than kill +him if I chose." + +"For me?" said Donna Tullia. "What would you do for me?" She smiled +sweetly, willing to use all her persuasion to extract his secret. + +"I could prevent Don Giovanni from marrying the Astrardente, as he +intends to do," he answered, looking straight at his companion. + +"How in the world could you do that?" she asked, in great surprise. + +"That, my dear friend, is my secret, as I said before. I cannot reveal it +to you at present." + +"You are as dark as the Holy Office," said Donna Tullia, a little +impatiently. "What possible harm could it do if you told me?" + +"What possible good either?" asked Del Ferice, in reply. "You could not +use it as I could. You would gain no advantage by knowing it. Of course," +he added, with a laugh, "if we entered into the alliance we were jesting +about, it would be different." + +"You will not tell me unless I promise to marry you?" + +"Frankly, no," he answered, still laughing. + +It exasperated Donna Tullia beyond measure to feel that he was in +possession of what she so coveted, and to feel that he was bargaining, +half in earnest, for her life in exchange for his secret. She was almost +tempted for one moment to assent, to say she would marry him, so great +was her curiosity; it would be easy to break her promise, and laugh at +him afterwards. But she was not a bad woman, as women of her class are +considered. She had suffered a great disappointment, and her resentment +was in proportion to her vanity. But she was not prepared to give a false +promise for the sake of vengeance; she was only bad enough to imagine +such bad faith possible. + +"But you said you never seriously thought I could accept such an +engagement," she objected, not knowing what to say. + +"I did," replied Del Ferice. "I might have added that I never seriously +contemplated parting with my secret." + +"There is nothing to be got from you," said Donna Tullia, in a tone of +disappointment. "I think that when you have nearly driven me mad with +curiosity, you might really tell me something." + +"Ah no, dear lady," answered her companion. "You may ask anything of me +but that--anything. You may ask that too, if you will sign the treaty I +propose." + +"You will drive me into marrying you out of sheer curiosity," said Donna +Tullia, with an impatient laugh. + +"I wish that were possible. I wish I could see my way to telling you as +it is, for the thing is so curious that it would have the most intense +interest for you. But it is quite out of the question." + +"You should never have told me anything about it," replied Madame Mayer. + +"Well, I will think about it," said Del Ferice at last, as though +suddenly resolving to make a sacrifice. "I will look over some papers I +have, and I will think about it. I promise you that if I feel that I can +conscientiously tell you something of the matter, you may be sure that +I will." + +Donna Tullia's manner changed again, from impatience to persuasion. The +sudden hope he held out to her was delicious to contemplate. She could +not realise that Del Ferice, having once thoroughly interested her, could +play upon her moods as on the keys of an instrument. If she had been less +anxious that the story he told should be true, she might have suspected +that he was practising upon her credulity. But she seized the idea of +obtaining some secret influence over the life of Giovanni, and it +completely carried her away. + +"You must tell me--I am sure you will," she said, letting her kindest +glance rest upon her companion. "Come and dine with me,--do you fast? +No--nor I. Come on Friday--will you?" + +"I shall be delighted," answered Del Ferice, with a quiet smile of +triumph. + +"I will have the old lady, of course, so you cannot tell me at dinner; +but she will go to sleep soon afterwards--she always does. Come at seven. +Besides, she is deaf, you know." + +The old lady in question was the aged Countess whom Donna Tullia affected +as a companion in her solitary magnificence. + +"And now, will you take me back to the ball-room? I have an idea that a +partner is looking for me." + +Del Ferice left her dancing, and went home in his little coupe. He was +desperately fatigued, for he was still very weak, and he feared lest his +imprudence in going out so soon might bring on a relapse from his +convalescence. Nevertheless, before he went to bed he dismissed +Temistocle, and opened a shabby-looking black box which stood upon his +writing-table. It was bound with iron, and was fastened by a patent lock +which had frequently defied Temistocle's ingenuity. From this repository +he took a great number of papers, which were all neatly filed away and +marked in the owner's small and ornamented handwriting. Beneath many +packages of letters he found what he sought for, a long envelope +containing several folded documents. + +He spread out the papers and read them carefully over. + +"It is a very singular thing," he said to himself; "but there can be no +doubt about it. There it is." + +He folded the papers again, returned them to their envelope, and replaced +the latter deep among the letters in his box. He then locked it, attached +the key to a chain he wore about his neck, and went to bed, worn out +with fatigue. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Del Ferice had purposely excited Donna Tullia's curiosity, and he meant +before long to tell more than he had vouchsafed in his first confidence. +But he himself trembled before the magnitude of what he had suddenly +thought of doing, for the fear of Giovanni was in his heart. The +temptation to boast to Donna Tullia that he had the means of preventing +Giovanni from marrying was too strong; but when it had come to telling +her what those means were, prudence had restrained him. He desired that +if the scheme were put into execution it might be by some one else; for, +extraordinary as it was, he was not absolutely certain of its success. He +was not sure of Donna Tullia's discretion, either, until by a judicious +withholding of the secret he had given her a sufficient idea of its +importance. But on mature reflection he came to the conclusion that, even +if she possessed the information he was able to give, she would not dare +to mention it, nor even to hint at it. + +The grey light of Ash-Wednesday morning broke over Rome, and stole +through the windows of Giovanni Saracinesca's bedroom. Giovanni had not +slept much, but his restlessness was due rather to his gladness at having +performed the last of his social duties than to any disturbance of mind. +All night he lay planning what he should do,--how he might reach his +place in the mountains by a circuitous route, leaving the general +impression that he was abroad--and how, when at last he had got to +Saracinesca unobserved, he would revel in the solitude and in the thought +of being within half a day's journey of Corona d'Astrardente. He was +willing to take a great deal of trouble, for he did not wish people to +know his whereabouts; he would not have it said that he had gone into +the country to be near Corona and to see her every day, as would +certainly be said if his real movements were discovered. Accordingly, he +fulfilled his programme to the letter. He left Rome on the afternoon of +Ash-Wednesday for Florence; there he visited several acquaintances who, +he knew, would write to their friends in Rome of his appearance; from +Florence he went to Paris, and gave out that he was going upon a shooting +expedition in the Arctic regions, as soon as the weather was warm enough. +As he was well known for a sportsman and a traveller, this statement +created no suspicion; and when he finally left Paris, the newspapers and +the gossips all said he had gone to Copenhagen on his way to the far +north. In due time the statement reached Rome, and it was supposed that +society had lost sight of Giovanni Saracinesca for at least eight months. +It was thought that he had acted with great delicacy in absenting +himself; he would thus allow the first months of Corona's mourning to +pass before formally presenting himself to society as her suitor. +Considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, there would be +nothing improper, from a social point of view, in his marrying Corona at +the expiration of a year after her husband's death. Of course he would +marry her; there was no doubt of that--he had been in love with her so +long, and now she was both free and rich. No one suspected that Giovanni, +instead of being in Scandinavia, was quietly established at Saracinesca, +a day's journey from Rome, busying himself with the management of the +estate, and momentarily satisfied in feeling himself so near the woman he +loved. + +Donna Tullia could hardly wait until the day when Del Ferice was coming +to dinner: she was several times on the point of writing a note to ask +him to come at once. But she wisely refrained, guessing that the more she +pressed him the more difficulties he would make. At last he came, looking +pale and worn--interesting, as Donna Tullia would have expressed it. The +old Countess talked a great deal during dinner; but as she was too deaf +to hear more than a quarter of what was said by the others, the +conversation was not interesting. When the meal was over, she established +herself in a comfortable chair in the little sitting-room, and took a +book. After a few minutes, Donna Tullia suggested to Del Ferice that they +should go into the drawing-room. She had received some new waltz-music +from Vienna which she wanted to look over, and Ugo might help her. She +was not a musician, but was fond of a cheerful noise, and played upon the +piano with the average skill of a well-educated young woman of the +world. Of course the doors were left open between the drawing-room and +the boudoir, where the Countess dozed over her book and presently fell +asleep. + +Donna Tullia sat at the grand piano, and made Del Ferice sit beside her. +She struck a few chords, and played a fragment of dance-music. + +"Of course you have heard that Don Giovanni is gone?" she asked, +carelessly. "I suppose he is gone to Saracinesca; they say there is a +very good road between that and Astrardente." + +"I should think he would have more decency than to pursue the Duchessa in +the first month of her mourning," answered Del Ferice, resting one arm +upon the piano, and supporting his pale face with his hand as he watched +Donna Tullia's fingers move upon the keys. + +"Why? He does not care what people say--why should he? He will marry her +when the year is out. Why should he care?" + +"He can never marry her unless I choose to allow it," said Del Ferice, +quietly. + +"So you told me the other night," returned Donna Tullia. "But you will +allow him, of course. Besides, you could not stop it, after all. I do not +believe that you could." She leaned far back in her chair, her hands +resting upon the keys without striking them, and she looked at Del Ferice +with a sweet smile. There was a moment's pause. + +"I have decided to tell you something," he said at last, "upon one +condition." + +"Why make conditions?" asked Donna Tullia, trying to conceal her +excitement. + +"Only one, that of secrecy. Will you promise never to mention what I am +going to tell you without previously consulting me? I do not mean a +common promise; I mean it to be an oath." He spoke very earnestly. "This +is a very serious matter. We are playing with fire and with life and +death. You must give me some guarantee that you will be secret." + +His manner impressed Donna Tullia; she had never seen him so much in +earnest in her life. + +"I will promise in any way you please," she said. + +"Then say this," he answered. "Say, 'I swear and solemnly bind myself +that I will faithfully keep the secret about to be committed to me; and +that if I fail to keep it I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del +Ferice--'" + +"That is absurd!" cried Donna Tullia, starting back from him. He did not +heed her. + +"'And I take to witness of this oath the blessed memory of my mother, the +hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic of the True Cross.'" He +pointed to the locket she wore at her neck, which she had often told +him contained the relic he mentioned. + +"It is impossible!" she cried again. "I cannot swear so solemnly about +such a matter. I cannot promise to marry you." + +"Then it is because you cannot promise to keep my secret," he answered +calmly. He knew her very well, and he believed that she would not break +such an oath as he had dictated, under any circumstances. He did not +choose to risk anything by her indiscretion. Donna Tullia hesitated, +seeing that he was firm. She was tortured with curiosity beyond all +endurance. + +"I am only promising to marry you in case I reveal the secret?" she +asked. He bowed assent. "So that I am really only promising to be silent? +Well, I cannot understand why it should be solemn; but if you wish it +so, I will do it. What are the words?" + +He repeated them slowly, and she followed him. He watched her at every +word, to be sure she overlooked nothing. + +"I, Tullia Mayer, swear and solemnly bind myself that I will faithfully +keep the secret about to be committed to me; and that if I fail to keep +it, I will atone by immediately marrying Ugo del Ferice"--her voice +trembled nervously: "and I take to witness of this oath the blessed +memory of my mother, the hope of the salvation of my soul, and this relic +of the True Cross." At the last words she took the locket in her fingers. + +"You understand that you have promised to marry me if you reveal my +secret? You fully understand that?" asked Del Ferice. + +"I understand it," she answered hurriedly, as though ashamed of what she +had done. "And now, the secret," she added eagerly, feeling that she had +undergone a certain humiliation for the sake of what she so much +coveted. + +"Don Giovanni cannot marry the Duchessa d'Astrardente, because"--he +paused a moment to give full weight to his statement--"because Don +Giovanni Saracinesca is married already." + +"What!" cried Donna Tullia, starting from her chair in amazement at the +astounding news. + +"It is quite true," said Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. "Calm yourself; +it is quite true. I know what you are thinking of--all Rome thought he +was going to marry you." + +Donna Tullia was overcome by the strangeness of the situation. She hid +her face in her hands for a moment as she leaned forward over the piano. +Then she suddenly looked up. + +"What a hideous piece of villany!" she exclaimed, in a stifled voice. +Then slowly recovering from the first shock of the intelligence, she +looked at Del Ferice; she was almost as pale as he. "What proof have +you?" she asked. + +"I have the attested copy of the banns published by the priest who +married them. That is evidence. Moreover, the real book of banns exists, +and Giovanni's name is upon the parish register. I have also a copy of +the certificate of the civil marriage, which is signed by Giovanni +himself." + +"Tell me more," said Donna Tullia, eagerly. "How did you find it?" + +"It is very simple," answered Del Ferice. "You may go and see for +yourself, if you do not mind making a short journey. Last summer I was +wandering a little for my health's sake, as I often do, and I chanced to +be in the town of Aquila--you know, the capital of Abruzzi. One day I +happened to go into the sacristy of one of the parish churches to see +some pictures which are hung there. There had been a marriage service +performed, and as the sacristan moved about explaining the pictures, he +laid his hand upon an open book which looked like a register of some +kind. I idly asked him what it was, and he showed it to me; it was +amusing to look at the names of the people, and I turned over the leaves +curiously. Suddenly my attention was arrested by a name I knew--'Giovanni +Saracinesca,' written clearly across the page, and below it, 'Felice +Baldi,'--the woman he had married. The date of the marriage was the 19th +of June 1863. You remember, perhaps, that in that summer, in fact during +the whole of that year, Don Giovanni was supposed to be absent upon +his famous shooting expedition in Canada, about which he talks so much. +It appears, then, that two years ago, instead of being in America, he was +living in Aquila, married to Felice Baldi--probably some pretty peasant +girl. I started at the sight of the names. I got permission to have an +attested copy of it made by a notary. I found the priest who had married +them, but he could not remember the couple. The man, he said, was dark, +he was sure; the woman, he thought, had been fair. He married so many +people in a year. These were not natives of Aquila; they had apparently +come there from the country--perhaps had met. The banns--yes, he had +the book of banns; he had also the register of marriages from which he +sometimes issued certified extracts. He was a good old man, and seemed +ready to oblige me; but his memory was very defective. He allowed me to +take notary's copies of the banns and the entry in the list, as well as +of the register. Then I went to the office of the Stato Civile. You know +that people do not sign the register in the church themselves; the names +are written down by the priest. I wanted to see the signatures, and the +book of civil marriages was shown to me. The handwriting was Giovanni's, +I am sure--larger, and a little less firm, but distinguishable at a +glance. I took the copies for curiosity, and never said anything about +it, but I have kept them. That is the history. Do you see how serious a +matter it is?" + +"Indeed, yes," answered Donna Tullia, who had listened with intense +interest to the story. "But what could have induced him to marry that +woman?" + +"One of those amiable eccentricities peculiar to his family," replied Del +Ferice, shrugging his shoulders. "The interesting thing would be to +discover what became of Felice Baldi--Donna Felice Saracinesca, as I +suppose she has a right to be called." + +"Let us find her--Giovanni's wife," exclaimed Donna Tullia, eagerly. +"Where can she be?" + +"Who knows?" ejaculated Del Ferice. "I would be curious to see her. The +name of her native village is given, and the names of her parents. +Giovanni described himself in the paper as 'of Naples, a landholder,' and +omitted somehow the details of his parentage. Nothing could be more +vague; everybody is a landholder, from the wretched peasant who +cultivates one acre to their high-and-mightinesses the Princes of +Saracinesca. Perhaps by going to the village mentioned some information +might be obtained. He probably left her sufficiently provided for, and, +departing on pretence of a day's journey, never returned. He is a +perfectly unscrupulous man, and thinks no more of this mad scrape than of +shooting a chamois in the Tyrol. He knows she can never find him--never +guessed who he really was." + +"Perhaps she is dead," suggested Donna Tullia, her face suddenly growing +grave. + +"Why? He would not have taken the trouble to kill her--a peasant girl in +the Abruzzi! He would have had no difficulty in leaving her, and she is +probably alive and well at the present moment, perhaps the mother of the +future Prince Saracinesca--who can tell?" + +"But do you not see," said Donna Tullia, "that unless you have proof that +she is alive, we have no hold upon him? He may acknowledge the whole +thing, and calmly inform us that she is dead." + +"That is true; but even then he must show that she came to a natural end +and was buried. Believe me, Giovanni would relinquish all intentions of +marrying the Astrardente rather than have this scandalous story +published." + +"I would like to tax him with it in a point-blank question, and watch his +face," said Donna Tullia, fiercely. + +"Remember your oath," said Del Ferice. "But he is gone now. You will not +meet him for some months." + +"Tell me, how could you make use of this knowledge, if you really wanted +to prevent his marriage with the Astrardente?" + +"I would advise you to go to her and state the case. You need mention +nobody. Any one who chooses may go to Aquila and examine the registers. I +think that you could convey the information to her with as much command +of language as would be necessary." + +"I daresay I could," she answered, between her teeth. "What a strange +chance it was that brought that register under your hand!" + +"Heaven sends opportunities," said Del Ferice, devoutly; "it is for man +to make good use of them. Who knows but what you may make a brilliant use +of this?" + +"I cannot, since I am bound by my promise," said Donna Tullia. + +"No; I am sure you will not think of doing it. But then, we might perhaps +agree that circumstances made it advisable to act. Many months must pass +before he can think of offering himself to her. It will be time enough +to consider the matter then--to consider whether we should be justified +in raising such a terrible scandal, in causing so much unhappiness to an +innocent woman like the Duchessa, and to a worthless man like Don +Giovanni. Think what a disgrace it would be to the Saracinesca to have it +made public that Giovanni was openly engaged to marry a great heiress +while already secretly married to a peasant woman!" + +"It would indeed be horrible," said Donna Tullia, with a disagreeable +look in her blue eyes. "Perhaps we should not even think of it," she +added, turning over the leaves of the music upon the piano. Then suddenly +she added, "Do you know that you have put me in a dreadful position +by exacting that promise from me?" + +"No," said Del Ferice, quietly. "You wanted to hear the secret. You have +heard it. You have nothing to do but to keep it to yourself." + +"That is precisely--" She checked herself, and struck a loud chord upon +the instrument. She had turned from Del Ferice, and could not see the +smile upon his face, which flickered across the pale features and +vanished instantly. + +"Think no more about it," he said pleasantly. "It is so easy to forget +such stories when one resolutely puts them out of one's mind." + +Donna Tullia smiled bitterly, and was silent. She began playing from the +sheet before her, with indifferent accuracy, but with more than +sufficient energy. Del Ferice sat patiently by her side, turning over the +leaves, and glancing from time to time at her face, which he really +admired exceedingly. He belonged to the type of pale and somewhat +phlegmatic men who frequently fall in love with women of sanguine +complexion and robust appearance. Donna Tullia was a fine type of this +class, and was called handsome, though she did not compare well with +women of less pretension to beauty, but more delicacy and refinement. Del +Ferice admired her greatly, however; and, as has been said, he admired +her fortune even more. He saw himself gradually approaching the goal of +his intentions, and as he neared the desired end he grew more and more +cautious. He had played one of his strongest cards that night, and he was +content to wait and let matters develop quietly, without any more pushing +from him. The seed would grow, there was no fear of that, and his +position was strong. He could wait quietly for the result. + +At the end of half an hour he excused himself upon the plea that he was +still only convalescent, and was unable to bear the fatigue of late +hours. Donna Tullia did not press him to stay, for she wished to be +alone; and when he was gone she sat long at the open piano, pondering +upon what she had done, and even more upon what she had escaped doing. It +was a hideous thought that if Giovanni, in all that long winter, had +asked her to be his wife, she would readily have consented; it was +fearful to think what her position would have been towards Del Ferice, +who would have been able by a mere word to annul her marriage by proving +the previous one at Aquila. People do not trifle with such accusations, +and he certainly knew what he was doing; she would have been bound hand +and foot. Or supposing that Del Ferice had died of the wound he received +in the duel, and his papers had been ransacked by his heirs, whoever +they might be--these attested documents would have become public +property. What a narrow escape Giovanni had had! And she herself, too, +how nearly had she been involved in his ruin! She liked to think that +he had almost offered himself to her; it flattered her, although she now +hated him so cordially. She could not help admiring Del Ferice's +wonderful discretion in so long concealing a piece of scandal that would +have shaken Roman society to its foundations, and she trembled when she +thought what would happen if she herself were ever tempted to reveal what +she had heard. Del Ferice was certainly a man of genius--so quiet, and +yet possessing such weapons; there was some generosity about him too, or +he would have revenged himself for his wound by destroying Giovanni's +reputation. She considered whether she could have kept her counsel so +well in his place. After all, as he had said, the moment for using the +documents had not yet come, for hitherto Giovanni had never proposed to +marry any one. Perhaps this secret wedding in Aquila explained his +celibacy; Del Ferice had perhaps misjudged him in saying that he was +unscrupulous; he had perhaps left his peasant wife, repenting of his +folly, but it was perhaps on her account that he had never proposed to +marry Donna Tullia; he had, then, only been amusing himself with Corona. +That all seemed likely enough--so likely, that it heightened the +certainty of Del Ferice's information. + +A few days later, as Giovanni had intended, news began to reach Rome that +he had been in Florence, and was actually in Paris; then it was said that +he was going upon a shooting expedition somewhere in the far north +during the summer. It was like him, and in accordance with his tastes. He +hated the quiet receptions at the great houses during Lent, to which, if +he remained in Rome, he was obliged to go. He naturally escaped when he +could. But there was no escape for Donna Tullia, and after all she +managed to extract some amusement from these gatherings. She was the +acknowledged centre of the more noisy set, and wherever she went, +people who wanted to be amused, and were willing to amuse each other, +congregated around her. On one of these occasions she met old +Saracinesca. He did not go out much since his son had left; but he seemed +cheerful enough, and as he liked Madame Mayer, for some inscrutable +reason, she rather liked him. Moreover, her interest in Giovanni, though +now the very reverse of affectionate, made her anxious to know something +of his movements. + +"You must be lonely since Don Giovanni has gone upon his travels again," +she said. + +"That is the reason I go out," said the Prince. "It is not very gay, but +it is better than nothing. It suggests cold meat served up after the +dessert; but when people are hungry, the order of their food is not of +much importance." + +"Is there any news, Prince? I want to be amused." + +"News? No. The world is at peace, and consequently given over to sin, as +it mostly is when it is resting from a fit of violence." + +"You seem to be inclined to moralities this evening," said Donna Tullia, +smiling, and gently swaying the red fan she always carried. + +"Am I? Then I am growing old, I suppose. It is the privilege of old age +to censure in others what it is no longer young enough to praise in +itself. It is a bad thing to grow old, but it makes people good, or makes +them think they are, which in their own eyes is precisely the same +thing." + +"How delightfully cynical!" + +"Doggish?" inquired the Prince, with a laugh. "I have heard it said by +scholars, that cynical means doggish in Greek. The fable of the dog in +the horse's manger was invented to define the real cynic--the man who +neither enjoys life himself nor will allow other people to enjoy it. I am +not such a man. I hope you, for instance, will enjoy everything that +comes in your way." + +"Even the cold meat after the dessert which you spoke of just now?" asked +Donna Tullia. "Thank you--I will try; perhaps you can help me." + +"My son despised it," said Saracinesca. "He is gone in search of fresh +pastures of sweets." + +"Leaving you behind." + +"Somebody once said that the wisest thing a son could do was to get rid +of his father as soon as possible--" + +"Then Don Giovanni is a wise man," returned Donna Tullia. + +"Perhaps. However, he asked me to accompany him." + +"You refused?" + +"Of course. Such expeditions are good enough for boys. I dislike +Florence, I am not especially fond of Paris, and I detest the North Pole. +I suppose you have seen from the papers that he is going in that +direction? It is like him, he hankers after originality, I suppose. Being +born in the south, he naturally goes to the extreme north." + +"He will write you very interesting letters, I should think," remarked +Donna Tullia. "Is he a good correspondent?" + +"Remarkably, for he never gives one any trouble. He sends his address +from time to time, and draws frequently on his banker. His letters are +not so full of interest as might be thought, as they rarely extend over +five lines; but on the other hand it does not take long to read them, +which is a blessing." + +"You seem to be an affectionate parent," said Donna Tullia, with a laugh. + +"If you measure affection by the cost of postage-stamps, you have a right +to be sarcastic. If you measure it in any other way, you are wrong. I +could not help loving any one so like myself as my son. It would show a +detestable lack of appreciation of my own gifts." + +"I do not think Don Giovanni so very like you," said Donna Tullia, +thoughtfully. + +"Perhaps you do not know him so well as I do," remarked the Prince. +"Where do you see the greatest difference?" + +"I think you talk better, and I think you are more--not exactly more +honest, perhaps, but more straightforward." + +"I do not agree with you," said old Saracinesca, quickly. "There is no +one alive who can say they ever knew Giovanni approach in the most +innocent way to a distortion of truth. I daresay you have discovered, +however, that he is reticent; he can hold his tongue; he is no chatterer, +no parrot, my son." + +"Indeed he is not," answered Donna Tullia, and the reply pacified the old +man; but she herself was thinking what supreme reticence Giovanni had +shown in the matter of his marriage, and she wondered whether the Prince +had ever heard of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Anastase Gouache worked hard at the Cardinal's portrait, and at the same +time did his best to satisfy Donna Tullia. The latter, indeed, was not +easily pleased, and Gouache found it hard to instil into his +representation of her the precise amount of poetry she required, without +doing violence to his own artistic sense of fitness. But the other +picture progressed rapidly. The Cardinal was a restless man, and after +the first two or three sittings, desired nothing so much as to be done +with them altogether. Anastase amused him, it is true, and the statesman +soon perceived that he had made a conquest of the young man's mind, and +that, as Giovanni Saracinesca had predicted, he had helped Gouache to +come to a decision. He was not prepared, however, for the practical turn +that decision immediately took, and he was just beginning to wish the +sittings at an end when Anastase surprised him by a very startling +announcement. + +As usual, they were in the Cardinal's study; the statesman was silent and +thoughtful, and Gouache was working with all his might. + +"I have made up my mind," said the latter, suddenly. + +"Concerning what, my friend?" inquired the great man, rather absently. + +"Concerning everything, Eminence," answered Gouache "concerning politics, +religion, life, death, and everything else which belongs to my career. I +am going to enlist with the Zouaves." + +The Cardinal looked at him for a moment, and then broke into a low laugh. + +"_Extremis malis extrema remedial!_" he exclaimed. + +"Precisely--_aux grands maux les grands remedes,_ as we say. I am going +to join the Church militant. I am convinced that it is the best thing an +honest man can do. I like fighting, and I like the Church--therefore I +will fight for the Church." + +"Very good logic, indeed," answered the Cardinal. But he looked at +Anastase, and marking his delicate features and light frame, he almost +wondered how the lad would look in the garb of a soldier. "Very good +logic; but, my dear Monsieur Gouache, what is to become of your art?" + +"I shall not be mounting guard all day, and the Zouaves are allowed to +live in their own lodgings. I will live in my studio, and paint when I am +not mounting guard." + +"And my portrait?" inquired Cardinal Antonelli, much amused. + +"Your Eminence will doubtless be kind enough to manage that I may have +liberty to finish it." + +"You could not put off enlisting for a week, I suppose?" + +Gouache looked annoyed; he hated the idea of waiting. + +"I have taken too long to make up my mind already," he replied. "I must +make the plunge at once. I am convinced--your Eminence has convinced +me--that I have been very foolish." + +"I certainly never intended to convince you of that," remarked the +Cardinal, with a smile. + +"Very foolish," repeated Gouache, not heeding the interruption. "I have +talked great nonsense,--I scarcely know why--perhaps to try and find +where the sense really lay. I have dreamed so many dreams, so long, that +I sometimes think I am morbid. All artists are morbid, I suppose. It is +better to do anything active than to lose one's self in the slums of a +sickly imagination." + +"I agree with you," answered the Cardinal; "but I do not think you +suffered from a sickly imagination,--I should rather call it abundant +than sickly. Frankly, I should be sorry to think that in following this +new idea you were in any way injuring the great career which, I am sure, +is before you; but, on the other hand, I cannot help wishing that a +greater number of young men would follow your example." + +"Your Eminence approves, then?" + +"Do you think you will make a good soldier?" + +"Other artists have been good soldiers. There was Cellini--" + +"Benvenuto Cellini said he made a good soldier; he said it himself, but +his reputation for veracity in other matters was doubtful, to say the +least. If he did not shoot the Connetable de Bourbon, it is very certain +that some one else did. Besides, a soldier in our times should be a very +different kind of man from the self-armed citizen of the time of Clement +the Ninth and the aforesaid Connetable. You will have to wear a uniform +and sleep on boards in a guard-house; you will have to be up early to +drill, and up late mounting guard, in wind and rain and cold. It is hard +work; I do not believe you have the constitution for it. Nevertheless, +the intention is good. You can try it, and if you fall ill I will see +that you have no difficulty in returning to your artist life." + +"I do not mean to give it up," replied Gouache, in a tone of conviction. +"And as for my health, I am as strong as any one." + +"Perhaps," said the Cardinal, doubtfully. "And when are you going to join +the corps?" + +"In about an hour," said Gouache, quietly. + +And he kept his word. But he had told no one, save the Cardinal, of his +intention; and for a day or two, though he passed many acquaintances in +the street, no one recognised Anastase Gouache in the handsome young +soldier with his grey Turco uniform, a red sash round his slender waist, +and a small _kepi_ set jauntily upon one side. + +It was one of the phenomena of those times. Foreigners swarmed in Rome, +and many of them joined the cosmopolitan corps--gentlemen, noblemen, +artists, men of the learned professions, adventurers, duellists driven +from their country in a temporary exile, enthusiasts, strolling +Irishmen, men of all sorts and conditions. But, take them all in all, +they were a fine set of fellows, who set no value whatever on their +lives, and who, as a whole, fought for an idea, in the old crusading +spirit. There were many who, like Gouache, joined solely from conviction; +and there were few instances indeed of any who, having joined, deserted. +It often happened that a stranger came to Rome for a mere visit, and at +the end of a month surprised his friends by appearing in the grey +uniform. You had met him the night before at a ball in the ordinary garb +of civilisation, covered with cotillon favours, waltzing like a madman; +the next morning he entered the Cafe de Rome in a braided jacket open at +the throat, and told you he was a soldier--a private soldier, who touched +his cap to every corporal of the French infantry, and was liable to be +locked up for twenty-four hours if he was late to quarters. + +Donna Tullia's portrait was not quite finished, and Gouache had asked for +one or two more sittings. Three days after the artist had taken his great +resolution, Madame Mayer and Del Ferice entered his studio. He had had no +difficulty in being at liberty at the hour of the sitting, and had merely +exchanged his jacket for an old painting-coat, not taking the trouble to +divest himself of the remainder of his uniform. + +"Where have you been all this time?" asked Donna Tullia, as she lifted +the curtain and entered the studio. He had kept out of her way during the +past few days. + +"Good heavens, Gouache!" cried Del Ferice, starting back, as he caught +sight of the artist's grey trousers and yellow gaiters. "What is the +meaning of this comedy?" + +"What?" asked Gouache, coolly. Then, glancing at his legs, he answered, +"Oh, nothing. I have turned Zouave--that is all. Will you sit down, Donna +Tullia? I was waiting for you." + +"Turned Zouave!" exclaimed Madame Mayer and Del Ferice in a breath. +"Turned Zouave!" + +"Well?" said Gouache, raising his eyebrows and enjoying their surprise. +"Well--why not?" + +Del Ferice struck a fine attitude, and, laying one hand upon Donna +Tullia's arm, whispered hoarsely in her ear-- + +"_Siamo traditi_--we are betrayed!" he said. Whereupon Donna Tullia +turned a little pale. + +"Betrayed!" she repeated, "and by Gouache!" + +Gouache laughed, as he drew out the battered old carved chair on which +Madame Mayer was accustomed to sit when he painted. + +"Calm yourself, Madame," he said. "I have not the least intention of +betraying you. I have made a counter-revolution--but I am perfectly +frank. I will not tell of the ferocious deeds I have heard discussed." + +Del Ferice scowled and drew back, partly acting, partly in earnest. It +lay in his schemes to make Donna Tullia believe herself involved in a +genuine plot, and from this point of view he felt that he must pretend +the greatest horror and surprise. On the other hand, he knew that Gouache +had been painting the Cardinal's portrait, and guessed that the statesman +had acquired a strong influence over the artist's mind--an influence +which was already showing itself in a way that looked dangerous. It had +never struck him until quite lately that Anastase, a republican by +descent and conviction, could suddenly step into the reactionary camp. + +"Pardon me, Donna Tullia," said Ugo, in serious tones, "pardon me--but I +think we should do well to leave Monsieur Gouache to the contemplation of +his new career. This is no place for us--the company of traitors--" + +"Look here, Del Ferice," said Gouache, suddenly going up to him and +looking him in the face,--"do you seriously believe that anything you +have ever said, in this room is worth betraying? or, if you do, do you +really think that I would betray it?" + +"Bah!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, interposing, "it is nonsense! Gouache is a +gentleman, of course--and besides, I mean to have my portrait, politics +or no politics." + +With this round statement Donna Tullia sat down, and Del Ferice had no +choice but to follow her example. He was profoundly disgusted, but he saw +at a glance that it would be hopeless to attempt to dissuade Madame Mayer +when she had once made up her mind. + +"And now you can tell us all about it," said Donna Tullia. "What, in the +name of all that is senseless, has induced you to join the Zouaves? It +really makes me very nervous to see you." + +"That lends poetry to your expression," interrupted Gouache. "I wish you +were always nervous. You really want to know why I am a Zouave? It is +very simple. You must know that I always follow my impulses." + +"Impulses!" ejaculated Del Ferice, moodily. + +"Yes; because my impulses are always good,--whereas when I reflect much, +my judgment is always bad. I felt a strong impulse to wear the grey +uniform, so I walked into the recruiting office and wrote my name down." + +"I feel a strong impulse to walk out of your studio, Monsieur Gouache," +said Donna Tullia, with a rather nervous laugh. + +"Then allow me to tell you that, whereas my impulses are good, yours are +not," replied Anastase, quietly painting. "Because I have a new dress--" + +"And new convictions," interrupted Del Ferice; "you who were always +arguing about convictions!" + +"I had none; that is the reason I argued about them. I have plenty +now--I argue no longer." + +"You are wise," retorted Ugo. "Those you have got will never bear +discussion." + +"Excuse me," answered Gouache; "if you will take the trouble to be +introduced to his Eminence Cardinal Antonelli--" + +Donna Tullia held up her hands in horror. + +"That horrible man! That Mephistopheles!" she cried. + +"That Macchiavelli! That arch-enemy of our holy liberty!" exclaimed Del +Ferice, in theatrical tones. + +"Exactly," answered Gouache. "If he could be induced to devote a quarter +of an hour of his valuable time to talking with you, he would turn your +convictions round his finger." + +"This is too much!" cried Del Ferice, angrily. + +"I think it is very amusing," said Donna Tullia, "What a pity that all +Liberals are not artists, whom his Eminence could engage to paint his +portrait and be converted at so much an hour!" + +Gouache smiled quietly, and went on with his work. + +"So he told you to go and turn Zouave," remarked Donna Tullia, after a +pause, "and you submitted like a lamb." + +"So far was the Cardinal from advising me to turn soldier, that he +expressed the greatest surprise when I told him of my intention," +returned Gouache, rather coldly. + +"Indeed it is enough to take away even a cardinal's breath," answered +Madame Mayer. "I was never, never so surprised in my life!" + +Gouache stood up to get a view of his work, and Donna Tullia looked at +him critically. + +"_Tiens_!" she exclaimed, "it is rather becoming--what small ankles you +have, Gouache!" + +Anastase laughed. It was impossible to be grave in the face of such +utterly frivolous inconsistency. + +"You will allow your expression to change so often, Donna Tullia! It is +impossible to catch it." + +"Like your convictions," murmured Del Ferice from his corner. Indeed Ugo +did not know what to make of the scene. He had miscalculated the strength +of Donna Tullia's fears as compared with her longing to possess a +flattering portrait of herself. Rather than leave the picture unfinished, +she exhibited a cynical indifference to danger which would have done +honour to a better man than Del Ferice. Perhaps, too, she understood +Gouache well enough to know that he might be trusted. Indeed any one +would have trusted Gouache. Even Del Ferice was less disturbed at the +possibility of the artist's repeating any of the trivial liberal talk +which he had listened to, than at the indifference to discovery shown by +Donna Tullia. To Del Ferice, the whole thing had been but a harmless +play; but he wanted Madame Mayer to believe that it had all been in +solemn earnest, and that she was really implicated in a dangerous plot; +for it gave him a stronger hold upon her for his own ends. + +"So you are going to fight for Pio Nono," remarked Ugo, scornfully, after +another pause. + +"I am," replied Gouache. "And, no offence to you, my friend, if I meet +you in a red shirt among the Garibaldini, I will kill you. It would be +very unpleasant, so I hope that you will not join them." + +"Take care, Del Ferice," laughed Donna Tullia; "your life is in danger! +You had better join the Zouaves instead." + +"I cannot paint his Eminence's portrait," returned Ugo, with a sneer, "so +there is no chance of that." + +"You might assist him with wholesome advice, I should think," answered +Gouache. "I have no doubt you could tell him much that would be very +useful." + +"And turn traitor to--" + +"Hush! Do not be so silly, Del Ferice," interrupted Donna Tullia, who +began to fear that Del Ferice's taunts would make trouble. She had a +secret conviction that it would not be good to push the gentle Anastase +too far. He was too quiet, too determined, and too serious not to be a +little dangerous if roused. + +"Do not be absurd," she repeated. "Whatever Gouache may choose to do, he +is a gentleman, and I will not have you talk of traitors like that. He +does not quarrel with you--why do you try to quarrel with him?" + +"I think he has done quite enough to justify a quarrel, I am sure," +replied Del Ferice, moodily. + +"My dear sir," said Gouache, desisting from his work and turning towards +Ugo, "Madame is quite right. I not only do not quarrel, but I refuse to +be quarrelled with. You have my most solemn assurance that whatever has +previously passed here, whatever I have heard said by you, by Donna +Tullia, by Valdarno, by any of your friends, I regard as an inviolable +secret. You formerly said I had no convictions, and you were right. I had +none, and I listened to your exposition of your own with considerable +interest. My case is changed. I need not tell you what I believe, for I +wear the uniform of a Papal Zouave. When I put it on, I certainly did not +contemplate offending you; I do not wish to offend you now--I only beg +that you will refrain from offending me. For my part, I need only say +that henceforth I do not desire to take a part in your councils. If Donna +Tullia is satisfied with her portrait, there need be no further occasion +for our meeting. If, on the contrary, we are to meet again, I beg that we +may meet on a footing of courtesy and mutual respect." + +It was impossible to say more; and Gouache's speech terminated the +situation so far as Del Ferice was concerned. Donna Tullia smilingly +expressed her approval. + +"Quite right, Gouache," she said. "You know it would be impossible to +leave the portrait as it is now. The mouth, you know--you promised to do +something to it--just the expression, you know." + +Gouache bowed his head a little, and set to work again without a word. +Del Ferice did not speak again during the sitting, but sat moodily +staring at the canvas, at Donna Tullia, and at the floor. It was not +often that he was moved from his habitual suavity of manner, but +Gouache's conduct had made him feel particularly uncomfortable. + +The next time Donna Tullia came to sit, she brought her old Countess, and +Del Ferice did not appear. The portrait was ultimately finished to the +satisfaction of all parties, and was hung in Donna Tullia's drawing-room, +to be admired and criticised by all her friends. But Gouache rejoiced +when the thing was finally removed from his studio, for he had grown to +hate it, and had been almost willing to flatter it out of all likeness to +Madame Mayer, for the sake of not being eternally confronted by the cold +stare of her blue eyes. He finished the Cardinal's portrait too; and the +statesman not only paid for it with unusual liberality, but gave the +artist what he called a little memento of the long hours they had spent +together. He opened one of the lockers in his study, and from a small +drawer selected an ancient ring, in which was set a piece of crystal with +a delicate intaglio of a figure of Victory. He took Gouache's hand and +slipped the ring upon his finger. He had taken a singular liking to +Anastase. + +"Wear it as a little souvenir of me," he said kindly. "It is a Victory; +you are a soldier now, so I pray that victory may go with you; and I give +Victory herself into your hands." + +"And I," said Gouache, "will pray that it may be a symbol in my hand of +the real victories you are to win." + +"Only a symbol," returned the Cardinal, thoughtfully. "Nothing but a +symbol. I was not born to conquer, but to lead a forlorn hope--to deceive +vanquished men with a hope not real, and to deceive the victors with an +unreal fear. Nevertheless, my friend," he added, grasping Gouache's hand, +and fixing upon him his small bright eyes,--"nevertheless, let us fight, +fight--fight to the very end!" + +"We will fight to the end, Eminence," said Gouache. He was only a private +of Zouaves, and the man whose hand he held was great and powerful; but +the same spirit was in the hearts of both, the same courage, the same +devotion to the failing cause--and both kept their words, each in his own +way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Astrardente was in some respects a picturesque place. The position of the +little town gave it a view in both directions from where it stood; for it +was built upon a precipitous eminence rising suddenly out of the midst of +the narrow strip of fertile land, the long and rising valley which, from +its lower extremity, conducted by many circuits to the Roman Campagna, +and which ended above in the first rough passes of the lower Abruzzi. The +base of the town extended into the vineyards and olive-orchards which +surrounded the little hill on all sides; and the summit of it was crowned +by the feudal palace-castle--an enormous building of solid stone, in the +style of the fifteenth century. Upon the same spot had formally stood a +rugged fortress, but the magnificent ideas of the Astrardente pope +had not tolerated such remains of barbarism; the ancient stronghold had +been torn down, and on its foundations rose a gigantic mansion, +consisting of a main palace, with great balconies and columned front, +overlooking the town, and of two massive wings leading back like towers +to the edge of the precipitous rock to northwards. Between these wings a +great paved court formed a sort of terrace, open upon one side, and +ornamented within with a few antique statues dug up upon the estates, and +with numerous plants, which the old duke had caused to be carefully +cultivated in vases, and which were only exposed upon the terrace during +the warm summer months. The view from the court was to the north--that is +to say, down the valley, comprehending ranges of hills that seemed to +cross and recross into the extreme distance, their outlines being each +time less clearly defined, as the masses in each succeeding range took a +softer purple hue. + +Within, the palace presented a great variety of apartments. There were +suites of vaulted rooms upon the lower floor, frescoed in the good manner +of the fifteenth century; there were other suites above, hung with +ancient tapestry and furnished with old-fashioned marble tables, and +mirrors in heavily gilt frames, and one entire wing had been lately +fitted up in the modern style. In this part of the house Corona +established herself with Sister Gabrielle, and began to lead a life of +regular occupations and profound retirement, which seemed to be rather a +continuation of her existence in the convent where she had been educated +as a girl, than to form any part in the life of the superb Duchessa +d'Astrardente, who for five years had been one of the most conspicuous +persons in society. Every morning at eight o'clock the two ladies, always +clad in deep black, attended the Mass which was celebrated for them in +the palace chapel. Then Corona walked for an hour with her companion upon +the terrace, or, if it rained, beneath the covered balconies upon the +south side. The morning hours she passed in solitude, reading such books +of devotion and serious matter as most suited the sad temper of her mind; +precisely at mid-day she and Sister Gabrielle breakfasted together in a +sort of solemn state; and at three o'clock the great landau, with its +black horses and mourning liveries, stood under the inner gate. The two +ladies appeared five minutes later, and by a gesture Corona indicated +whether she would be driven up or down the valley. The dashing equipage +descended the long smooth road that wound through the town, and returned +invariably at the end of two hours, again ascended the tortuous way, and +disappeared beneath the dark entrance. At six o'clock dinner was served, +with the same solemn state as attended the morning meal; Corona and +Sister Gabrielle remained together until ten, and the day was over. There +was no more variation in the routine of their lives than if they had been +moved by a machinery connected with the great castle clock overhead, +which chimed the hours and the quarters by day and night, and regulated +the doings of the town below. + +But in spite of this unchanging sequence of similar habit, the time +passed pleasantly for Corona. She had had too much of the brilliant +lights and the buzzing din of society for the last five years, too much +noise, too much idle talk, too much aimless movement; she needed rest, +too, from the constant strain of her efforts to fulfil her self-imposed +duties towards her husband--most of all, perhaps, she required a respite +from the sufferings she had undergone through her stifled love for +Giovanni Saracinesca. All this she found in the magnificent calm of +the life at Astrardente. She meditated long upon the memory of her +husband, recalling lovingly those things which had been most worthy in +him, willingly forgetting his many follies and vanities and moments of +petulance. She went over in her mind the many and varied scenes of the +past, and learned to love the sweet and silent solitude of the present by +comparison of it with all the useless and noisy activity of the world she +had for a time abandoned. She had not expected to find anything more than +a passive companion in Sister Gabrielle; but in the course of their daily +converse she discovered in her a character of extreme refinement and +quick perception, a depth of human sympathy and a breadth of experience +which amazed her, and made her own views of things seem small. The Sister +was devout and rigid in the observance of the institutions of her order, +in so far as she was able to follow out the detail of religious +regulation without interfering with the convenience of her companion; +but in her conversation she showed an intimate knowledge of character +which was a constant source of pleasure to Corona, who told the Sister +long stories of people she had known for the sake of hearing her +admirable comments upon social questions. + +But besides her reading and her long hours of meditation and her talks +with Sister Gabrielle, Corona found occupation in the state of the town +below her residence. She attempted once or twice to visit the poor +cottages, in the hope of doing some good; but she found that she was +such an object of holy awe to the inmates that they were speechless in +her presence, or became so nervous in their desire to answer her +questions, that the information she was able to obtain concerning their +troubles was too vague to be of any use. + +The Italian peasant is not the same in all parts of the country, as is +generally supposed; and although the Tuscan, who is constantly brought +into familiar contact with his landlord, and acquires a certain pleasant +faith in him, grows eloquent upon the conditions of his being, the same +is not true of the rougher race that labours in the valleys of the Sabine +and the Samnite hills. The peasant of the Agro Romano is indeed capable +of civilisation and he is able to understand his superiors, provided that +he is gradually accustomed to seeing them: unfortunately this occurs but +rarely. Many of the great Roman landholders spend a couple of months of +every year upon their estates: old Astrardente had in his later years +gone to considerable expense in refitting and repairing the castle, but +he had done little for the town. Men like the Saracinesca, however, were +great exceptions at that time; though they travelled much abroad, they +often remained for many months in their rugged old fortress. They knew +the inhabitants of their lands far and wide, and were themselves not only +known but loved; they spent their money in improving the condition of +their peasants, in increasing the area of their forests, and in fostering +the fertility of the soil, but they cared nothing for adorning the grey +stone walls of their ancestors' stronghold. It had done well enough for a +thousand years, it would do well enough still; it had stood firm against +fierce sieges in the dark ages of the Roman baronry, it could afford to +stand unchanged in its monumental strength against the advancing sea of +nineteenth-century civilisation. They themselves, father and son, were +content with such practical improvements as they could introduce for the +good of their people and the enriching of their land; a manly race, +despising luxury, they cared little whether their home was thought +comfortable by the few guests they occasionally invited to spend a week +with them. They saw much of the peasantry, and went daily among them, +understanding their wants, and wisely promoting in their minds the belief +that land cannot prosper unless both landlord and tenant do their share. + +But Astrardente was a holding of a very different kind, and Corona, in +her first attempts at understanding the state of things, found herself +stopped by a dead wall of silence, beyond which she guessed that there +lay an undiscovered land of trouble. She knew next to nothing of the +condition of her people; she only imperfectly understood the relations in +which they actually stood to herself, the extent of her power over them, +and of their power over her. The mysteries of _emphyteusis, emphyteuma,_ +and _emphyteuta_ were still hidden to her, though her steward spoke of +them with surprising loquacity and fluency. She laboured hard to +understand the system upon which her tenants held their lands from her, +and it was some time before she succeeded. It is easier to explain the +matter at once than to follow Corona in her attempts to comprehend it. + +To judge from the terms employed, the system of holdings common in the +Pontifical States has descended without interruption from the time of the +Romans to the present day. As in old Roman law, _emphyteusis_, now spelt +_emfiteuse_, means the possession of rights over another person's land, +capable of transmission by inheritance; and to-day, as under the Romans, +the holder of such rights is called the _emphyteuta_, or _emfiteuta_. How +the Romans came to use Greek words in their tenant-law does not belong to +the matter in hand; these words are the only ones now in use in this part +of Italy, and they are used precisely as they were in remote times. + +A tenant may acquire rights of _emfiteuse_ directly from the owner +of the land, like an ordinary lease; or he may acquire them by +settlement--"squatting," as the popular term is. Wherever land is lying +waste, any one may establish himself upon it and cultivate it, on +condition of paying to the owner a certain proportion of the yield of the +land--generally one quarter--either in kind or in money. The landlord +may, indeed, refuse the right of settlement in the first instance, which +would very rarely occur, since most people who own barren tracts of rock +and heath are only too glad to promote any kind of cultivation. But when +the landlord has once allowed the right, the right itself is constituted +thereby into a possession of which the peasant may dispose as he pleases, +even by selling it to another. The law provides, however, that in case of +transfers by sale, the landlord shall receive one year's rent in kind or +in money in addition to the rent due, and this bonus is paid jointly by +the buyer and the seller according to agreement. Such holdings are +inherited from father to son for many generations, and are considered to +be perpetual leases. The landlord cannot expel a tenant except for +non-payment of rent during three consecutive years. In actual fact, the +right of the _emfiteuta_ in the soil is far more important than that of +the landlord; for the tenant can cheat his landlord as much as he +pleases, whereas the injustice of the law provides that under no +circumstances whatsoever shall the landlord cheat the tenant. In actual +fact, also, the rents are universally paid in kind, and the peasant eats +what remains of the produce, so that very little cash is seen in the +land. + +Corona discovered that the income she enjoyed from the lands of +Astrardente was collected by the basketful from the threshing-floors, and +by the barrel from the vineyards of some two hundred tenants. It was a +serious matter to gather from two hundred threshing-floors precisely a +quarter of the grain threshed, and from fifty or sixty vineyards +precisely a quarter of the wine made in each. The peasants all made their +wine at the same time, and all threshed their grain in the same week. If +the agent was not on the spot during the threshing and the vintage, the +peasant had no difficulty whatever in hiding a large quantity of his +produce. As the rent was never fixed, but depended solely on the yield of +the year, it was preeminently to the advantage of the tenant to throw +dust in the eyes of the landlord whenever he got a chance. The landlord +found the business of watching his tenants tedious and unprofitable, and +naturally resorted to the crowning evil of agricultural evils--the +employment of a rent-farmer. The latter, at all events, was willing to +pay a fixed sum yearly; and if the sum paid was generally considerably +below the real value of the rents, the arrangement at least assured a +fixed income to the landlord, with the certainty of getting it without +trouble to himself. The middleman then proceeded to grind the tenants at +his leisure and discretion in order to make the best of his bargain. The +result was, that while the tenant starved and the landlord got less than +his due in consideration of being saved from annoyance, the middleman +gradually accumulated money. + +Upon this system nine-tenths of the land in the Pontifical States was +held, and much of the same land is so held to-day, in spite of the modern +tenant-law, for reasons which will be clearly explained in another part +of this history. Corona saw and understood that the evil was very great. +She discussed the matter with her steward, or _ministro_ as he was +called, who was none other than the aforesaid middleman; and the more she +discussed the question, the more hopeless the question appeared. The +steward held a contract from her dead husband for a number of years. He +had regularly paid the yearly sums agreed upon, and it would be +impossible to remove him for several years to come. He, of course, was +strenuously opposed to any change, and did his best to make himself +appear as an angel of mercy and justice, presiding over a happy family of +rejoicing peasants in the heart of a terrestrial paradise. Unfortunately +for himself, however, he had not at first understood the motive which +prompted Corona's inquiries. He supposed in the beginning that she was +not satisfied with the amount of rent he paid, and that at the expiration +of his contract she intended to raise the sum; so that, on the first +occasion when she sent for him, he had drawn a piteous picture of the +peasant's condition, and had expatiated with eloquence on his own +poverty, and on the extreme difficulty of collecting any rents at all. It +was not until he discovered that Corona's chief preoccupation was for the +welfare of her tenants that he changed his tactics, and endeavoured to +prove that all was for the best upon the best of all possible estates. + +Then, to his great astonishment, Corona informed him that his contract +would not be renewed, and that at the expiration of his term she would +collect her rents herself. It had taken her long to understand the +situation, but when she had comprehended it, she made up her mind that +something must be done. If her fortune had depended solely upon the +income she received from the Astrardente lands, she would have made up +her mind to reduce herself to penury rather than allow things to go in +the way they were going. Fortunately she was rich, and if she had not all +the experience necessary to deal with such matters, she had plenty of +goodwill, plenty of generosity, and plenty of money. In her simple +theory of agrarian economy the best way to improve an estate seemed to be +to spend the income arising from it directly upon its improvement, until +she could take the whole management of it into her own hands. The +trouble, as she thought, was that there was too little money among the +peasants; the best way to help them was to put money within their reach. +The only question was how to do this without demoralising them, and +without increasing their liabilities towards the _ministro_ or middleman. + +Then she sent for the curate. From him she learned that the people did +well enough in the summer, but that the winter was dreaded. She asked +why. He answered that they were not provident; that the land system was +bad; and that even if they saved anything the _ministro_ would take it +from them. She inquired whether he thought it possible to induce them to +be more thrifty. He thought it might be done in ten years, but not in +one. + +"In that case," said Corona, "the only way to improve their condition is +to give them work in the winter. I will make roads through the estate, +and build large dwelling-houses in the town. There shall be work enough +for everybody." + +It was a simple plan, but it was destined to be carried into execution, +and to change the face of the Astrardente domain in a few years. Corona +sent to Rome for an engineer who was also a good architect, and she set +herself to study the possibilities of the place, giving the man +sufficient scope, and only insisting that there should be no labour and +no material imported from beyond the limits of her lands. This provided +her with an occupation whereby the time passed quickly enough. + +The Lenten season ended, and Eastertide ran swiftly on to Pentecost. The +early fruit-trees blossomed white, and the flowers fell in a snow-shower +to the ground, to give place to the cherries and the almonds and the +pears. The brown bramble-hedges turned leafy, and were alive with little +birds; and the great green lizards shot across the woodland paths upon +the hillside, and caught the flies that buzzed noisily in the spring +sunshine. The dried-up vines put forth tiny leaves, and the maize shot +suddenly up to the sun out of the rich furrows, like myriads of brilliant +green poignards piercing the brown skin of the earth. By the roadside the +grass grew high, and the broad shallow brooks shrank to narrow rivulets, +and disappeared in the overgrowing rushes before the increasing heat of +the climbing sun. + +Corona's daily round of life never changed, but as the months wore on, a +stealing thought came often and often again--shy, as though fearing to be +driven away; silent at first, as a shadow in a dream, but taking form and +reality from familiarity with its own self, and speaking intelligible +words, saying at last plainly, "Will he keep his promise? Will he never +come?" + +But he came not as the fresh colours of spring deepened with the rich +maturity of summer; and Corona, gazing down the valley, saw the change +that came over the fair earth, and half guessed the change that was +coming over her own life. She had sought solitude instinctively, but +she had not known what it would bring her. She had desired to honour her +dead husband by withdrawing from the world for a time and thinking of him +and remembering him. She had done so, but the youth in her rebelled at +last against the constant memory of old age--of an old age, too, which +had passed away from her and was dead for ever. + +It was right to dwell for a time upon the thought of her widowhood, but +the voice said it would not be always right. The calm and noiseless tide +of the old man's ceasing life had ebbed slowly and reluctantly from her +shore, and she had followed the sad sea in her sorrow to the furthest +verge of its retreat; but as she stood upon the edge of the stagnant +waters, gazing far out and trying to follow even further the slow +subsiding ooze, the tide had turned upon her unawares, the fresh seaward +breeze sprang up and broke the dead calm with the fresh motion of crisp +ripples that once more flowed gladly over the dreary sand, and the waters +of life plashed again and laughed gladly together around her feet. + +The thought of Giovanni--the one thought that again and again kept +recurring in her mind--grew very sweet,--as sweet as it had once been +bitter. There was nothing to stop its growth now, and she let it have its +way. What did it matter, so long as he did not come near her--for the +present? Some day he would come; she wondered when, and how long he would +keep his promise. But meanwhile she was not unhappy, and she went about +her occupations as before; only sometimes she would go alone at evening +to the balcony that faced the higher mountains, and there she would stand +for half an hour gazing southward towards the precipitous rocks that +caught the red glare of the sinking sun, and she asked herself if he were +there, or whether, as report had told her, he were in the far north. +It was but half a day's ride over the hills, he had said. But strain her +sight as she would, she could not pierce the heavy crags nor see into the +wooded dells beyond. He had said he would pass the summer there; had he +changed his mind? + +But she was not unhappy. There was that in her which forbade unhappiness, +which would have broken out into great joy if she would have let it; but +yet she would not. It was too soon yet to say aloud what she said in her +heart daily, that she loved Giovanni with a great love, and that she knew +she was free to love him. In that thought there was enough of joy. But he +might come if he would; her anger would not be great if he broke his +promise now, he had kept it so long--six whole months. But by-and-by, +as the days passed, the first note of happiness was marred by the +discordant ring of a distant fear. What if she had too effectually +forbidden him to see her? What if he had gone out disappointed of all +hope, and was really in distant Scandinavia, as the papers said, risking +his life in mad adventures? + +But after all, that was not what she feared. He was strong, young, +brave--he had survived a thousand dangers, he would survive these also. +There arose between her and the thought of him an evil shadow, the image +of a woman, and it took the shape of Donna Tullia so vividly that she +could see the red lips move and almost hear the noisy laugh. She was +angry with herself at the idea, but it recurred continually and gave her +pain, and the pain grew to an intolerable fear. She began to feel that +she must know where he was, at any cost, or she could have no peace. She +was restless and nervous, and began to be absent-minded in her +conversation with Sister Gabrielle. The good woman saw it, and advised a +little change--anything, an excursion of a day for instance. Corona, she +said, was too young to lead this life. + +Her mind leaped at the idea. It was but half a day's ride, he had said; +she would climb those hills and look down upon Saracinesca--only once. +She might perhaps meet some peasant, and by a careless inquiry she would +learn whether he was there--or would be there in the summer. No one would +know; and besides, Sister Gabrielle had said that an excursion would do +Corona good. Sister Gabrielle had probably never heard that Saracinesca +was so near, and she certainly would not guess that the Duchessa had any +interest in its lord. She announced her intention, and the Sister +approved--she herself, she said, was too weak to undergo the fatigue. + +On the following morning, Corona alone entered her carriage and was +driven many miles up the southward hills, till the road was joined by a +broad bridle-path that led eastwards towards the Abruzzi. Here she was +met by a party of horsemen, her own _guardiani_, or forest-keepers, as +they are called, in rough dark-blue coats and leathern gaiters. Each man +wore upon his breast a round plate of chiselled silver, bearing the arms +of the Astrardente; each had a long rifle slung behind him, and carried a +holster at the bow of his huge saddle. A couple of sturdy black-browed +peasants held a mule by the bridle, heavily caparisoned in the old +fashion, under a great red velvet Spanish saddle, with long tarnished +trappings that had once been embroidered with silver. A little knot of +peasants and ragged boys stood all around watching the preparations +with interest, and commenting audibly upon the beauty of the great lady. + +Corona mounted from a stone by the wayside, and the young men led her +beast up the path. She smiled to herself, for she had never done such a +thing before, but she was not uneasy in the company of her rough-looking +escort. She knew well enough that she was as safe with them as in her own +house. + +As the bridle-path wound up from the road, the country grew more rugged, +the vegetation more scanty, and the stones more plentiful. It was a +wilderness of rocky desolation; as far as one could see there was no sign +of humanity, not a soul upon the solitary road, not a living thing upon +the desolate hills that rose on either side in jagged points to the sky. +Corona talked a little with the head-keeper who rode beside her with a +slack rein, letting his small mountain horse pick its own way over the +rough path. He told her that few people ever passed that way. It was the +short road to Saracinesca. The princes sometimes sent their carriage +round by the longer way and rode over the hills; and in the vintage-time +there was some traffic, as many of the smaller peasants carried grapes +across the pass to the larger wine-presses, and sold them outright. It +was not a dangerous road, for the very reason that it was so +unfrequented. The Duchessa explained that she only wanted to see the +valley beyond from the summit of the pass, and would then return. It was +past mid-day when the party reached the highest point,--a depression +between the crags just wide enough to admit one loaded mule. The keeper +said she could see Saracinesca from the end of the narrow way, before the +descent began. She uttered an exclamation of surprise as she reached the +spot. + +Scarcely a quarter of a mile to the right, at the extremity of a broad +hill-road, she saw the huge towers of Saracinesca, grey and storm-beaten, +rising out of a thick wood. The whole intervening space--and indeed the +whole deep valley as far as she could see--was an unbroken forest of +chestnut-trees. Here and there below the castle the houses of the town +showed their tiled gables, but the mass of the buildings was hidden +completely from sight. Corona had had no idea that she should find +herself so near to the place, and she was seized with a sudden fear lest +Giovanni should appear upon the long straight path that led into the +trees. She drew back a little among her followers. + +"Are the princes there now?" she asked of the head-keeper. + +He did not know; but a moment later a peasant, riding astride of a bag of +corn upon his donkey's back, passed along the straight road by the +entrance to the bridle-path. The keeper hailed him, and put the question. +Seeing Corona upon her mule, surrounded by armed men in livery, the man +halted, and pulled off his soft black-cloth hat. + +Both the princes were in Saracinesca, he said. The young prince had been +there ever since Easter. They were busy building an aqueduct which was to +supply the whole town with water; it was to pass above, up there among +the woods. The princes went almost every day to visit the works. Her +Excellency might, perhaps, find them there now, or if not, they were at +the castle. + +But her Excellency had no intention of finding them. She gave the fellow +a coin, and beat a somewhat hasty retreat. Her followers were silent men, +accustomed to obey, and they followed her down the steep path without +even exchanging a word among themselves. Beneath the shade of an +overhanging rock she halted, and, dismounting from her mule, was served +with the lunch that had been brought. She ate little, and then sat +thoughtfully contemplating the bare stones, while the men at a little +distance hastily disposed of the remains of her meal. She had experienced +an extraordinary emotion on finding herself suddenly so near to Giovanni; +it was almost as though she had seen him, and her heart beat fast, while +a dark flush rose from time to time to her cheek. It would have been so +natural that he should pass that way, just as she was halting at the +entrance to the bridle-path. How unspeakably dreadful it would have been +to be discovered thus spying out his dwelling-place when she had so +strictly forbidden him to attempt to see her! The blush burned upon her +cheeks--she had done a thing so undignified, so ill befitting her +magnificent superiority. For a moment she was desperately ashamed. But +for all that, she could not repress the glad delight she felt at +knowing that he was there after all; that, if he had kept his word, in +avoiding her, he had, nevertheless, also fulfilled his intention of +spending the summer in Saracinesca. He had even been there since Easter, +and the story of his going to the North had been a mere invention of the +newspapers. She could not understand his conduct, nor why he had gone to +Paris--a fact attested by people who knew him. It had probably been for +some matter of business--that excuse which, in a woman's mind, explains +almost any sudden journey a man may undertake. But he was there in the +castle now, and her heart was satisfied. + +The men packed the things in the basket, and Corona was helped upon her +mule. Slowly the party descended the steep path that grew broader and +more practicable as they neared the bottom; there the carriage awaited +her, and soon she was bowling along the smooth road towards home, leaving +far behind her the mounted guards, the peasants, and her slow-paced mule. +The sun was low when the carriage rolled under the archway of +Astrardente. Sister Gabrielle said Corona looked much the better for her +excursion, and she added that she must be very strong to bear such +fatigue so well. And the next day--and for many days--the Sister noticed +the change in her hostess's manner, and promised herself that if the +Duchessa became uneasy again she would advise another day among the +hills, so wonderful was the effect of a slight change from the ordinary +routine of her life. + +That night old Saracinesca and his son sat at dinner in a wide hall of +their castle. The faithful Pasquale served them as solemnly as he was +used to do in Rome. This evening he spoke again. He had ventured no +remark since he had informed them of the Duca d'Astrardente's death. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon," he began, adopting his usual formula +of apologetic address. + +"Well, Pasquale, what is it?" asked old Saracinesca. + +"I did not know whether your Excellency was aware that the Duchessa +d'Astrardente had been here to-day." + +"What?" roared the Prince. + +"You must be mad, Pasquale?" exclaimed Giovanni in a low voice. + +"I beg your Excellencies' pardon if I am wrong, but this is how I know. +Gigi Secchi, the peasant from Aquaviva in the lower forest, brought a bag +of corn to the mill to-day, and he told the miller, and the miller told +Ettore, and Ettore told Nino, and Nino told--" + +"What the devil did he tell him?" interrupted old Saracinesca. + +"Nino told the cook's boy," continued Pasquale unmoved, "and the cook's +boy told me, your Excellency, that Gigi was passing along the road to +Serveti coming here, when he was stopped by a number of _guardiani_ who +accompanied a beautiful dark lady in black, who rode upon a mule, and the +_guardiani_ asked him if your Excellencies were at Saracinesca; and when +he said you were, the lady gave him a coin, and turned at once and rode +down the bridle-path towards Astrardente, and he said the _guardiani_ +were those of the Astrardente, because he remembered to have seen one of +them, who has a scar over his left eye, at the great fair at Genazzano +last year. And that is how I heard." + +"That is a remarkable narrative, Pasquale," answered the Prince, laughing +loudly, "but it seems very credible. Go and send for Gigi Secchi if he is +still in the neighbourhood, and bring him here, and let us have the story +from his own lips." + +When they were alone the two men looked at each other for a moment, and +then old Saracinesca laughed again; but Giovanni looked very grave, and +his face was pale. Presently his father became serious again. + +"If this thing is true," he said, "I would advise you, Giovanni, to pay a +visit to the other side of the hills. It is time." + +Giovanni was silent for a moment. He was intensely interested in the +situation, but he could not tell his father that he had promised Corona +not to see her, and he had not yet explained to himself her sudden +appearance so near Saracinesca. + +"I think it would be better for you to go first," he said to his father. +"But I am not at all sure this story is true." + +"I? Oh, I will go when you please," returned the old man, with another +laugh. He was always ready for anything active. + +But Gigi Secchi could not be found. He had returned to Aquaviva at once, +and it was not easy to send a message. Two days later, however, Giovanni +took the trouble of going to the man's home. He was not altogether +surprised when Gigi confirmed Pasquale's tale in every particular. +Corona had actually been at Saracinesca to find out if Giovanni was there +or not; and on hearing that he was at the castle, she had fled +precipitately. Giovanni was naturally grave and of a melancholy temper; +but during the last few months he had been more than usually taciturn, +occupying himself with dogged obstinacy in the construction of his +aqueduct, visiting the works in the day and spending hours in the evening +over the plans. He was waiting. He believed that Corona cared for him, +and he knew that he loved her, but for the present he must wait +patiently, both for the sake of his promise and for the sake of a decent +respect of her widowhood. In order to wait he felt the necessity of +constant occupation, and to that end he had set himself resolutely to +work with his father, whose ideal dream was to make Saracinesea the most +complete and prosperous community in that part of the mountains. + +"I think if you would go over," he said, at the end of a week, "it would +be much better. I do not want to intrude myself upon her at present, and +you could easily find out whether she would like to see me. After all, +she may have been merely making an excursion for her amusement, and +may have chanced upon us by accident. I have often noticed how suddenly +one comes in view of the castle from that bridle-path." + +"On the other hand," returned the Prince with a smile, "any one would +tell her that the path leads nowhere except to Saracinesca. But I will go +to-morrow," he added. "I will set your mind at rest in twenty-four +hours." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Old Saracinesca kept his word, and on the following morning, eight days +after Corona's excursion upon the hills, he rode down to Astrardente, +reaching the palace at about mid-day. He sent in his card, and stood +waiting beneath the great gate, beating the dust from his boots with his +heavy whip. His face looked darker than ever, from constant exposure to +the sun, and his close-cropped hair and short square beard had turned +even whiter than before in the last six months, but his strong form was +erect, and his step firm and elastic. He was a remarkable old man; many a +boy of twenty might have envied his strength and energetic vitality. + +Corona was at her mid-day breakfast with Sister Gabrielle, when the old +Prince's card was brought. She started at the sight of the name; and +though upon the bit of pasteboard she read plainly enough, "_Il Principe +di Saracinesca_," she hesitated, and asked the butler if it was really +the Prince. He said it was. + +"Would you mind seeing him?" she asked of Sister Gabrielle. "He is an old +gentleman," she added, in explanation--"a near neighbour here in the +mountains." + +Sister Gabrielle had no objection. She even remarked that it would do the +Duchessa good to see some one. + +"Ask the Prince to come in, and put another place at the table," said +Corona. + +A moment later the old man entered, and Corona rose to receive him. There +was something refreshing in the ring of his deep voice and the clank of +his spurs as he crossed the marble floor. + +"Signora Duchessa, you are very good to receive me. I did not know that +this was your breakfast-hour. Ah!" he exclaimed, glancing at Sister +Gabrielle, who had also risen to her feet, "good day, my Sister." + +"Sister Gabrielle," said Corona, as an introduction; "she is good enough +to be my companion in solitude." + +To tell the truth, Corona felt uneasy; but the sensation was somehow +rather pleasurable, although it crossed her mind that the Prince might +have heard of her excursion, and had possibly come to find out why she +had been so near to his place. She boldly faced the situation. + +"I nearly came upon you the other day as unexpectedly as you have visited +me," she said with a smile. "I had a fancy to look over into your valley, +and when I reached the top of the hill I found I was almost in your +house." + +"I wish you had quite been there," returned the Prince. "Of course I +heard that you had been seen, and we guessed you had stumbled upon us in +some mountain excursion. My son rode all the way to Aquaviva to see the +man who had spoken with you." + +Saracinesca said this as though it were perfectly natural, helping +himself to the dish the servant offered him. But when he looked up he saw +that Corona blushed beneath her dark skin. + +"It is such a very sudden view at that point," she said, nervously, "that +I was startled." + +"I wish you had preserved your equanimity to the extent of going a little +further. Saracinesca has rarely been honoured with the visit of a +Duchessa d'Astrardente. But since you have explained your visit--or the +visit which you did not make--I ought to explain mine. You must know, in +the first place, that I am not here by accident, but by intention, +preconceived, well pondered, and finally executed to my own complete +satisfaction. I came, not to get a glimpse of your valley nor a distant +view of your palace, but to see you, yourself. Your hospitality in +receiving me has therefore crowned and complimented the desire I had of +seeing you." + +Corona laughed a little. + +"That is a very pretty speech," she said. + +"Which you would have lost if you had not received me," he answered, +gaily. "I have not done yet. I have many pretty speeches for you. The +sight of you induces beauty in language as the sun in May makes the +flowers open." + +"That is another," laughed Corona. "Do you spend your days in studying +the poets at Saracinesca? Does Don Giovanni study with you?" + +"Giovanni is a fact," returned the Prince; "I am a fable. Old men are +always fables, for they represent, in a harmless form, the follies of all +mankind; their end is always in itself a moral, and young people can +learn much by studying them." + +"Your comparison is witty," said Corona, who was much amused at old +Saracinesca's conversation; "but I doubt whether you are so harmless as +you represent. You are certainly not foolish, and I am not sure whether, +as a study for the young--" she hesitated, and laughed. + +"Whether extremely young persons would have the wit to comprehend virtue +by the concealment of it--to say, as that witty old Roman said, that the +images of Cassius and Brutus were more remarkable than those of any one +else, for the very reason that they were nowhere to be seen--like my +virtues? Giovanni, for instance, is the very reverse of me in that, +though he has shown such singularly bad taste in resembling my outward +man." + +"One should never conceal virtues," said Sister Gabrielle, gently. "One +should not hide one's light under a basket, you know." + +"My Sister," replied the old Prince, his black eyes twinkling merrily, +"if I had in my whole composition as much light as would enable you to +read half-a-dozen words in your breviary, it should be at your disposal. +I would set it in the midst of Piazza Colonna, and call it the most +wonderful illumination on record. Unfortunately my light, like the +lantern of a solitary miner, is only perceptible to myself, and dimly at +that." + +"You must not depreciate yourself so very much," said Corona. + +"No; that is true. You will either believe I am speaking the truth, or +you will not. I do not know which would be the worse fate. I will change +the subject. My son Giovanni, Duchessa, desires to be remembered in your +good graces." + +"Thanks. How is he?" + +"He is well, but the temper of him is marvellously melancholy. He is +building an aqueduct, and so am I. The thing is accomplished by his +working perpetually while I smoke cigarettes and read novels." + +"The division of labour is to your advantage, I should say," remarked +Corona. + +"Immensely, I assure you. He promotes the natural advantages of my lands, +and I encourage the traffic in tobacco and literature. He works from +morning till night, is his own engineer, contractor, overseer, and +master-mason. He does everything, and does it well. If we were less +barbarous in our bachelor establishment I would ask you to come and see +us--in earnest this time--and visit the work we are doing. It is well +worth while. Perhaps you would consent as it is. We will vacate the +castle for your benefit, and mount guard outside the gates all night." + +Again Corona blushed. She would have given anything to go, but she felt +that it was impossible. + +"I would like to go," she said. "If one could come back the same day." + +"You did before," remarked Saracinesca, bluntly. + +"But it was late when I reached home, and I spent no time at all there." + +"I know you did not," laughed the old man. "You gave Gigi Secchi some +money, and then fled precipitately." + +"Indeed I was afraid you would suddenly come upon me, and I ran away," +answered Corona, laughing in her turn, as the dark blood rose to her +olive cheeks. + +"As my amiable ancestors did in the same place when anybody passed with a +full purse," suggested Saracinesca. "But we have improved a little since +then. We would have asked you to breakfast. Will you come?" + +"I do not like to go alone; I cannot, you see. Sister Gabrielle could +never ride up that hill on a mule." + +"There is a road for carriages," said the Prince. "I will propose +something in the way of a compromise. I will bring Giovanni down with me +and our team of mountain horses. Those great beasts of yours cannot do +this kind of work. We will take you and Sister Gabrielle up almost as +fast as you could go by the bridle-path." "And back on the same day?" +asked Corona. + +"No; on the next day." + +"But I do not see where the compromise is," she replied. "Sister +Gabrielle is at once the compromise and the cause that you will not be +compromised. I beg her pardon--" + +Both ladies laughed. + +"I will be very glad to go," said the Sister. "I do not see that there is +anything extraordinary in the Prince's proposal." + +"My Sister," returned Saracinesca, "you are on the way to saintship; you +already enjoy the beatific vision; you see with a heavenly perspicuity." + +"It is a charming proposition," said Corona; "but in that case you will +have to come down the day before." She was a little embarrassed. + +"We will not invade the cloister," answered the Prince. "Giovanni and I +will spend the night in concocting pretty speeches, and will appear armed +with them at dawn before your gates." + +"There is room in Astrardente," replied Corona. "You shall not lack +hospitality for a night. When will you come?" + +"To-morrow evening, if you please. A good thing should be done quickly, +in order not to delay doing it again." + +"Do you think I would go again?" + +Saracinesca fixed his black eyes on Corona's, and gazed at her some +seconds before he answered. + +"Madam," he said at last, very gravely, "I trust you will come again and +stay longer." + +"You are very good," returned Corona, quietly. "At all events, I will go +this first time." + +"We will endeavour to show our gratitude by making you comfortable," +answered the Prince, resuming his former tone. "You shall have a mass in +the morning and a litany in the evening. We are godless fellows up +there, but we have a priest." + +"You seem to associate our comfort entirely with religious services," +laughed Corona. "But you are very considerate." + +"I see the most charming evidence of devotion at your side," he replied; +"Sister Gabrielle is both the evidence of your piety and is in herself +an exposition of the benefits of religion. There shall be other +attractions, however, besides masses and litanies." + +Breakfast being ended, Sister Gabrielle left the two together. They went +from the dining-room to the great vaulted hall of the inner building. It +was cool there, and there were great old arm-chairs ranged along the +walls. The closed blinds admitted a soft green light from the hot noonday +without. Corona loved to walk upon the cool marble floor; she was a very +strong and active woman, delighting in mere motion--not restless, but +almost incapable of weariness; her movements not rapid, but full of grace +and ease. Saracinesca walked by her side, smoking thoughtfully for some +minutes. + +"Duchessa," he said at last, glancing at her beautiful face, "things are +greatly changed since we met last. You were angry with me then. I do not +know whether you were so justly, but you were very angry for a few +moments. I am going to return to the subject now; I trust you will not be +offended with me." + +Corona trembled for a moment, and was silent. She would have prevented +him from going on, but before she could find the words she sought he +continued. + +"Things are much changed, in some respects; in others, not at all. It is +but natural to suppose that in the course of time you will think of the +possibility of marrying again. My son, Duchessa, loves you very truly. +Pardon me, it is no disrespect to you, now, that he should have told me +so. I am his father, and I have no one else to care for. He is too honest +a gentleman to have spoken of his affection for you at an eailier period, +but he has told me of it now." + +Corona stood still in the midst of the great hall, and faced the old +Prince. She had grown pale while he was speaking. Still she was silent. + +"I have nothing more to say--that is all," said Saracinesca, gazing +earnestly into the depths of her eyes. "I have nothing more to say." + +"Do you then mean to repeat the warning you once gave me?" asked Corona, +growing whiter still. "Do you mean to imply that there is danger to your +son?" + +"There is danger--great danger for him, unless you will avert it." + +"And how?" asked Corona, in a low voice. + +"Madam, by becoming his wife." + +Corona started and turned away in great agitation. Saracinesca stood +still while she slowly walked a few steps from him. She could not speak. + +"I could say a great deal more, Duchessa," he said, as she came back +towards him. "I could say that the marriage is not only fitting in every +other way, but is also advantageous from a worldly point of view. You +are sole mistress of Astrardente; my son will before long be sole master +of Saracinesca. Our lands are near together--that is a great advantage, +that question of fortune. Again, I would observe that, with your +magnificent position, you could not condescend to accept a man of lower +birth than the highest in the country. There is none higher than the +Saracinesca--pardon my arrogance,--and among princes there is no braver, +truer gentleman than my son Giovanni. I ask no pardon for saying that; I +will maintain it against all comers. I forego all questions of advantage, +and base my argument upon that. He is the best man I know, and he loves +you devotedly." + +"Is he aware that you are here for this purpose?" asked Corona, suddenly. +She spoke with a great effort. + +"No. He knows that I am here, and was glad that I came. He desired me to +ascertain if you would see him. He would certainly not have thought of +addressing you at present. I am an old man, and I feel that I must do +things quickly. That is my excuse." + +Corona was again silent. She was too truthful to give an evasive answer, +and yet she hesitated to speak. The position was an embarrassing one; she +was taken unawares, and was terrified at the emotion she felt. It had +never entered her mind that the old Prince could appear on his son's +behalf, and she did not know how to meet him. + +"I have perhaps been too abrupt," said Saracinesca. "I love my son very +dearly, and his happiness is more to me than what remains of my own. If +from the first you regard my proposition as an impossible one, I would +spare him the pain of a humiliation,--I fear I could not save him from +the rest, from a suffering that might drive him mad. It is for this +reason that I implore you, if you are able, to give me some answer, not +that I may convey it to him, but in order that I may be guided in future. +He cannot forget you; but he has not seen you for six months. To see you +again if he must leave you for ever, would only inflict a fresh wound." +He paused, while Corona slowly walked by his side. + +"I do not see why I should conceal the truth, from you," she said at +last. "I cannot conceal it from myself. I am not a child that I should +be ashamed of it. There is nothing wrong in it--no reason why it should +not be. You are honest, too--why should we try to deceive ourselves? I +trust to your honour to be silent, and I own that I--that I love your +son." + +Corona stood still and turned her face away, as the burning blush rose to +her cheeks. The answer she had given was characteristic of her, +straightforward and honest. She was not ashamed of it, and yet the words +were so new, so strange in their sound, and so strong in their meaning, +that she blushed as she uttered them. Saracinesca was greatly surprised, +too, for he had expected some evasive turn, some hint that he might bring +Giovanni. But his delight had no bounds. + +"Duchessa," he said, "the happiest day I can remember was when I brought +home my wife to Saracinesca. My proudest day will be that on which my son +enters the same gates with you by his side." + +He took her hand and raised it to his lips, with a courteous gesture. + +"It will be long before that--it must be very long," answered Corona. + +"It shall be when you please, Madam, provided it is at last. Meanwhile we +will come down to-morrow, and take you to our tower. Do you understand +now why I said that I hoped you would come again and stay longer? I +trust you have not changed your mind in regard to the excursion." + +"No. We will expect you to-morrow night. Remember, I have been honest +with you--I trust to you to be silent." + +"You have my word. And now, with your permission, I will return to +Saracinesca. Believe me, the news that you expect us will be good enough +to tell Giovanni." + +"You may greet him from me. But will you not rest awhile before you ride +back? You must be tired." + +"No fear of that!" answered the Prince. "You have put a new man into an +old one. I shall never tire of bearing the news of your greetings." + +So the old man left her, and mounted his horse and rode up the pass. But +Corona remained for hours in the vaulted hall, pacing up and down. It had +come too soon--far too soon. And yet, how she had longed for it! +how she had wondered whether it would ever come at all! + +The situation was sufficiently strange, too. Giovanni had once told her +of his love, and she had silenced him. He was to tell her again, and she +was to accept what he said. He was to ask her to marry him, and her +answer was a foregone conclusion. It seemed as though this greatest event +of her life were planned to the very smallest details beforehand; as +though she were to act a part which she had studied, and which was yet no +comedy because it was the expression of her life's truth. The future had +been, as it were, prophesied and completely foretold to her, and held no +surprises; and yet it was more sweet to think of than all the past +together. She wondered how he would say it, what his words would be, how +he would look, whether he would again be as strangely violent as he +had been that night at the Palazzo Frangipani. She wondered, most of all, +how she would answer him. But it would be long yet. There would be many +meetings, many happy days before that happiest day of all. + +Sister Gabrielle saw a wonderful change in Corona's face that afternoon +when they drove up the valley together, and she remarked what wonderful +effect a little variety had upon her companion's spirits--she could not +say upon her health, for Corona seemed made of velvet and steel, so +smooth and dark, and yet so supple and strong. Corona smiled brightly as +she looked far up at the beetling crags behind which Saracinesca was +hidden. + +"We shall be up there the day after to-morrow," she said. "How strange it +will seem!" And leaning back, her deep eyes flashed, and she laughed +happily. + +On the following evening, again, they drove along the road that led up +the valley. But they had not gone far when they saw in the distance a +cloud of dust, from which in a few moments emerged a vehicle drawn by +three strong horses, and driven by Giovanni Saracinesca himself. His +father sat beside him in front, and a man in livery was seated at the +back, with a long rifle between his knees. The vehicle was a kind of +double cart, capable of holding four persons, and two servants at the +back. + +In a moment the two carriages met and stopped side by side. Giovanni +sprang from his seat, throwing the reins to his father, who stood up hat +in hand, and bowed from where he was. Corona held out her hand to +Giovanni as he stood bareheaded in the road beside her. One long look +told all the tale; there could be no words there before the Sister and +the old Prince, but their eyes told all--the pain of past separation, the +joy of two loving hearts that met at last without hindrance. + +"Let your servant drive, and get in with us," said Corona, who could +hardly speak in her excitement. Then she started slightly, and smiled in +her embarrassment. She had continued to hold Giovanni's hand, +unconsciously leaving her fingers in his. + +The Prince's groom climbed into the front seat, and old Saracinesca got +down and entered the landau. It was a strangely silent meeting, long +expected by the two who so loved each other--long looked for, but hardly +realised now that it had come. The Prince was the first to speak, +as usual. + +"You expected to meet us, Duchessa?" he said; "we expected to meet you. +An expectation fulfilled is better than a surprise. Everything at +Saracinesca is prepared for your reception. Don Angelo, our priest, has +been warned of your coming, and the boy who serves mass has been washed. +You may imagine that a great festivity is expected. Giovanni has turned +the castle inside out, and had a room hung entirely with tapestries of my +great-grandmother's own working. He says that since the place is so old, +its antiquity should be carried into the smallest details." + +Corona laughed gaily--she would have laughed at anything that day--and +the old Prince's tone was fresh and sparkling and merry. He had relieved +the first embarrassment of the situation. + +"There have been preparations at Astrardente for your reception, too," +answered the Duchessa. "There was a difficulty of choice, as there are +about a hundred vacant rooms in the house. The butler proposed to give +you a suite of sixteen to pass the night in, but I selected an airy +little nook in one of the wings, where you need only go through ten to +get to your bedroom." + +"There is nothing like space," said the Prince; "it enlarges the ideas." + +"I cannot imagine what my father would do if his ideas were extended," +remarked Giovanni. "Everything he imagines is colossal already. He talks +about tunnelling the mountains for my aqueduct, as though it were no more +trouble than to run a stick through a piece of paper." + +"Your aqueduct, indeed!" exclaimed his father. "I would like to know +whose idea it was?" + +"I hear you are working like an engineer yourself, Don Giovanni," said +Corona. "I have a man at work at Astrardente on some plans of roads. +Perhaps some day you could give us your advice." + +Some day! How sweet the words sounded to Giovanni as he sat opposite the +woman he loved, bowling along through the rich vine lands in the cool of +the summer evening! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The opportunity which Giovanni sought of being alone with Corona was long +in coming. Sister Gabrielle retired immediately after dinner, and the +Duchessa was left alone with the two men. Old Saracinesca would gladly +have left his son with the hostess, but the thing was evidently +impossible. The manners of the time would not allow it, and the result +was that the Prince spent the evening in making conversation for two +rather indifferent listeners. He tried to pick a friendly quarrel with +Giovanni, but the latter was too absent-minded even to be annoyed; he +tried to excite the Duchessa's interest, but she only smiled gently, +making a remark from time to time which was conspicuous for its +irrelevancy. But old Saracinesca was in a good humour, and he bore up +bravely until ten o'clock, when Corona gave the signal for retiring. They +were to start very early in the morning, she said, and she must have +rest. + +When the two men were alone, the Prince turned upon his son in semi-comic +anger, and upbraided him with his obstinate dulness during the evening. +Giovanni only smiled calmly, and shrugged his shoulders. There was +nothing more to be said. + +But on the following morning, soon after six o'clock, Giovanni had +the supreme satisfaction of installing Corona beside him upon the +driving-seat of his cart, while his father and Sister Gabrielle sat +together behind him. The sun was not yet above the hills, and the +mountain air was keen and fresh; the stamping of the horses sounded crisp +and sharp, and their bells rang merrily as they shook their sturdy necks +and pricked their short ears to catch Giovanni's voice. + +"Have you forgotten nothing, Duchessa?" asked Giovanni, gathering the +reins in his hand. + +"Nothing, thanks. I have sent our things on mules--by the bridle-path." +She smiled involuntarily as she recalled her adventure, and half turned +her face away. + +"Ah, yes--the bridle-path," repeated Giovanni, as he nodded to the groom +to stand clear of the horses' heads. In a moment they were briskly +descending the winding road through the town of Astrardente: the streets +were quiet and cool, for the peasants had all gone to their occupations +two hours before, and the children were not yet turned loose. + +"I never hoped to have the honour of myself driving you to Saracinesca," +said Giovanni. "It is a wild place enough, in its way. You will be able +to fancy yourself in Switzerland." + +"I would rather be in Italy," answered Corona. "I do not care for the +Alps. Our own mountains are as beautiful, and are not infested by +tourists." + +"You are a tourist to-day," said Giovanni. "And it has pleased Heaven to +make me your guide." + +"I will listen to your explanations of the sights with interest." + +"It is a reversal of the situation, is it not? When we last met, it was +you who guided me, and I humbly followed your instructions. I did +precisely as you told me." + +"Had I doubted that you would do as I asked, I would not have spoken," +answered Corona. + +"There was one thing you advised me to do which I have not even +attempted." + +"What was that?" + +"You told me to forget you. I have spent six months in constantly +remembering you, and in looking forward to this moment. Was I wrong?" + +"Of course," replied the Duchessa, with a little laugh. "You should by +this time have forgotten my existence. They said you were gone to the +North Pole--why did you change your mind?" + +"I followed my load-star. It led me from Rome to Saracinesca by the way +of Paris. I should have remained at Saracinesca--but you also changed +your mind. I began to think you never would." + +"How long do you think of staying up there?" asked Corona, to turn the +conversation. + +"Just so long as you stay at Astrardente," he answered. "You will not +forbid me to follow you to Rome?" + +"How can I prevent you if you choose to do it?" + +"By a word, as you did before." + +"Do you think I would speak that word?" she asked. + +"I trust not. Why should you cause me needless pain and suffering? It +was right then, it is not right now. Besides, you know me too well to +think that I would annoy you or thrust myself upon you. But I will do as +you wish." + +"Thank you," she said quietly. But she turned her dark face toward him, +and looked at him for a moment very gently, almost lovingly. Where was +the use of trying to conceal what would not be hidden? Every word he +spoke told of his unchanged love, although the phrases were short and +simple. Why should she conceal what she felt? She knew it was a foregone +conclusion. They loved each other, and she would certainly marry him in +the course of a year. The long pent up forces of her nature were +beginning to assert themselves; she had conquered and fought down her +natural being in the effort to be all things to her old husband, to +quench her growing interest in Giovanni, to resist his declared love, to +drive him from her in her widowhood; but now it seemed as though all +obstacles were suddenly removed. She saw clearly how well she loved him, +and it seemed folly to try and conceal it. As she sat by his side she +was unboundedly happy, as she had never been in her life before: the cool +morning breeze fanned her cheeks, and the music of his low voice soothed +her, while the delicious sense of rapid motion lent a thrill of pleasure +to every breath she drew. It was no matter what she said; it was as +though she spoke unconsciously. All seemed predestined and foreplanned +from all time, to be acted out to the end. The past vanished slowly as a +retreating landscape. The weary traveller, exhausted with the heat of the +scorching Campagna, slowly climbs the ascent towards Tivoli, the haven of +cool waters, and pausing now and then upon the path, looks back and sees +how the dreary waste of undulating hillocks beneath him seems gradually +to subside into a dim flat plain, while, in the far distance, the mighty +domes and towers of Rome dwindle to an unreal mirage in the warm haze of +the western sky; then advancing again, he feels the breath of the +mountains upon him, and hears the fresh plunge of the cold cataract, till +at last, when his strength is almost failing, it is renewed within him, +and the dust and the heat of the day's journey are forgotten in the +fulness of refreshment. So Corona d'Astrardente, wearied though not +broken by the fatigues and the troubles and the temptations of the past +five years, seemed suddenly to be taken up and borne swiftly through the +gardens of an earthly paradise, where there was neither care nor +temptation, and where, in the cool air of a new life, the one voice she +loved was ever murmuring gentle things to her willing ear. + +As the road began to ascend, sweeping round the base of the mountain and +upwards by even gradations upon its southern flank, the sun rose higher +in the heavens, and the locusts broke into their summer song among the +hedges with that even, long-drawn, humming note, so sweet to southern +ears. But Corona did not feel the heat, nor notice the dust upon the way; +she was in a new state, wherein such things could not trouble her. The +first embarrassment of a renewed intimacy was fast disappearing, and she +talked easily to Giovanni of many things, reviewing past scenes and +speaking of mutual acquaintances, turning the conversation when it +concerned Giovanni or herself too directly, yet ever and again coming +back to that sweet ground which was no longer dangerous now. At last, at +a turn in the road, the grim towers of ancient Saracinesca loomed in the +distance, and the carriage entered a vast forest of chestnut trees, shady +and cool after the sunny ascent. So they reached the castle, and the +sturdy horses sprang wildly forward up the last incline till their hoofs +struck noisily upon the flagstones of the bridge, and with a rush and a +plunge they dashed under the black archway, and halted in the broad court +beyond. + +Corona was surprised at the size of the old fortress. It seemed an +endless irregular mass of towers and buildings, all of rough grey stone, +surrounded by battlements and ramparts, kept in perfect repair, but +destitute of any kind of ornament whatever. It might have been even now a +military stronghold, and it was evident that there were traditions of +precision and obedience within its walls which would have done credit to +any barracks. The dominant temper of the master made itself felt at every +turn, and the servants moved quickly and silently about their duties. +There was something intensely attractive to Corona in the air of strength +that pervaded the place, and Giovanni had never seemed to her so manly +and so much in his element as under the grey walls of his ancestral home. +The place, too, was associated in history with so many events,--the two +men, Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca, stood there beside her, where their +ancestors of the same names had stood nearly a thousand years before, +their strong dark faces having the same characteristics that for +centuries had marked their race, features familiar to Romans by countless +statues and pictures, as the stones of Rome themselves--but for a detail +of dress, it seemed to Corona as though she had been suddenly transported +back to the thirteenth century. The idea fascinated her. The two men led +her up the broad stone staircase, and ushered her and Sister Gabrielle +into the apartments of state which had been prepared for them. + +"We have done our best," said the Prince, "but it is long since we have +entertained ladies at Saracinesca." + +"It is magnificent!" exclaimed Corona, as she entered the ante-chamber. +The walls were hung from end to end with priceless tapestries, and the +stone floor was covered with long eastern carpets. Corona paused. + +"You must show us all over the castle by-and-by," she said. + +"Giovanni will show you everything," answered the Prince. "If it pleases +you, we will breakfast in half-an-hour." He turned away with his son, and +left the two ladies to refresh themselves before the mid-day meal. + +Giovanni kept his word, and spared his guests no detail of the vast +stronghold, until at last poor Sister Gabrielle could go no farther. +Giovanni had anticipated that she would be tired, and with the +heartlessness of a lover seeking his opportunity, he had secretly longed +for the moment when she should, be obliged to stop. + +"You have not yet seen the view from the great tower," he said. "It is +superb, and this is the very best hour for it. Are you tired, Duchessa?" + +"No--I am never tired," answered Corona. + +"Why not go with Giovanni?" suggested the Prince. "I will stay with +Sister Gabrielle, who has nearly exhausted herself with seeing our +sights." + +Corona hesitated. The idea of being alone with Giovanni for a quarter of +an hour was delightful, but somehow it did not seem altogether fitting +for her to be wandering over the castle with him. On the other hand, to +refuse would seem almost an affectation: she was not in Rome, where her +every movement was a subject for remark; moreover, she was not only a +married woman, but a widow, and she had known Giovanni for years--it +would be ridiculous to refuse. + +"Very well," said she. "Let us see the view before it is too late." + +Sister Gabrielle and old Saracinesea sat down on a stone seat upon the +rampart to wait, and the Duchessa disappeared with Giovanni through the +low door that led into the great tower. + +"What a wonderful woman you are!" exclaimed Giovanni, as they reached the +top of the winding stair, which was indeed broader than the staircase of +many great houses in Rome. "You seem to be never tired." + +"No--I am very strong," answered Corona, with a smile. She was not even +out of breath. "What a wonderful view!" she exclaimed, as they emerged +upon the stone platform at the top of the tower. Giovanni was silent for +a moment. The two stood together and looked far out at the purple +mountains to eastward that caught the last rays of the sun high up above +the shadows of the valley; and then looking down, they saw the Prince and +the Sister a hundred feet below them upon the rampart. + +Both were thinking of the same thing: three days ago, their meeting had +seemed infinitely far off, a thing dreamed of and hoped for--and now they +were standing alone upon the topmost turret of Giovanni's house, familiar +with each other by a long day's conversation, feeling as though they had +never been parted, feeling also that most certainly they would not be +parted again. + +"It is very strange," said Giovanni, "how things happen in this world, +and how little we ever know of what is before us. Last week I wondered +whether I should ever see you--now I cannot imagine not seeing you. Is +it not strange?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, in a low voice. + +"That, yesterday, we should have seemed parted by an insurmountable +barrier, and that to-day--" he stopped. "Oh, if to-day could only last +for ever!" he exclaimed, suddenly. + +Corona gazed out upon the purple hills in silence, but her face caught +some of the radiance of the distant glow, and her dark eyes had strange +lights in them. She could not have prevented him from speaking; she had +loosed the bonds that had held her life so long; the anchor was up, and +the breath of love fanned the sails, and gently bore the craft in which +she trusted out to seaward over the fair water. In seeing him she had +resigned herself to him, and she could not again get the mastery if she +would. It had come too soon, but it was sweet. + +"And why not?" he said, very softly. "Why should it not remain so for +ever--till our last breath? Why will you not let it last?" + +Still she was silent; but the tears gathered slowly in her eyes, and +welled over and lay upon her velvet cheek like dewdrops on the leaves of +a soft dark tulip. Giovanni saw them, and knew that they were the jewels +which crowned his life. + +"You will," he said, his broad brown hand gently covering her small +fingers and taking them in his. "You will--I know that you will." + +She said nothing, and though she at first made a slight movement--not of +resistance, but of timid reluctance, utterly unlike herself--she suffered +him to hold her hand. He drew closer to her, himself more diffident in +the moment of success than he had ever been when he anticipated failure; +she was so unlike any woman he had ever known before. Very gently he put +his arm about her, and drew her to him. + +"My beloved--at last," he whispered, as her head sank upon his shoulder. + +Then with a sudden movement she sprang to her height, and for one instant +gazed upon him. Her whole being was transfigured in the might of her +passion: her dark face was luminously pale, her lips almost white, and +from her eyes there seemed to flash a blazing fire. For one instant she +gazed upon him, and then her arms went round his neck, and she clasped +him fiercely to her breast. + +"Ah, Giovanni," she cried, passionately, "you do not know what love +means!" + +A moment later her arms dropped from him; she turned and buried her face +in her hands, leaning against the high stone parapet of the tower. She +was not weeping, but her face was white, and her bosom heaved with +quick and strong-drawn breath. + +Giovanni went to her side and took her strongly in his right arm, and +again her head rested upon his shoulder. + +"It is too soon--too soon," she murmured. "But how can I help it? I love +you so that there is no counting of time. It seems years since we met +last night, and I thought it would be years before I told you. Oh, +Giovanni, I am so happy! Is it possible that you love me as I love you?" + +It is a marvellous thing to see how soon two people who love each other +learn the gentle confidence that only love can bring. A few moments later +Giovanni and Corona were slowly pacing the platform, and his arm was +about her waist and her hand in his. + +"Do you know," she was saying, "I used to wonder whether you would keep +your word, and never try to see me. The days were so long at +Astrardente." + +"Not half so long as at Saracinesca," he answered. "I was going to call +my aqueduct the Bridge of Sighs; I will christen it now the Spring of +Love." + +"I must go and see it to-morrow," said she. + +"Or the next day--" + +"The next day!" she exclaimed, with a happy laugh. "Do you think I am +going to stay--" + +"For ever," interrupted Giovanni. "We have a priest here, you know,--he +can marry us to-morrow, and then you need never go away." + +Corona's face grew grave. + +"We must not talk of that yet," she said, gently, "even in jest." + +"No; you are right. Forgive me," he answered; "I forget many things--it +seems to me I have forgotten everything, except that I love you." + +"Giovanni,"--she lingered on the name,--"Giovanni, we must tell your +father at once." + +"Are you willing I should?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Of course--he ought to know; and Sister Gabrielle too. But no one else +must be told. There must be no talk of this in Rome until--until next +year." + +"We will stay in the country until then, shall we not?" asked Giovanni, +anxiously. "It seems to me so much better. We can meet here, and nobody +will talk. I will go and live in the town at Astrardente, and play the +engineer, and build your roads for you." + +"I hardly know," said Corona, with a doubtful smile. "You could not do +that. But you may come and spend the day once--in a week, perhaps." + +"We will arrange all that," answered Giovanni, laughing. "If you think I +can exist by only seeing you once a week--well, you do not know me." + +"We shall see," returned Corona, laughing too. "By the bye, how long have +we been here?" + +"I do not know," said Giovanni; "but the view is magnificent, is it not?" + +"Enchanting," she replied, looking into his eyes. Then suddenly the blood +mounted to her cheeks. "Oh, Giovanni," she said, "how could I do it?" + +"I should have died if you had not," he answered, and clasped her once +more in his arms. + +"Come," said she, "let us be going down. It is growing late." + +When they reached the foot of the tower, they found the Prince walking +the rampart alone. Sister Gabrielle was afraid of the evening air, and +had retired into the house. Old Saracinesca faced them suddenly. He +looked like an old lion, his thick white hair and beard bristling about +his dark features. + +"My father," said Giovanni, coming forward, "the Duchessa d'Astrardente +has consented to be my wife. I crave your blessing." + +The old man started, and then stood stock-still. His son had fairly taken +his breath away, for he had not expected the news for three or four +months to come. Then he advanced and took Corona's hand, and kissed it. + +"Madam," he said, "you have done my son an honour which extends to myself +and to every Saracinesca, dead, living, and to come." + +Then he laid Corona's hand in Giovanni's, and held his own upon them +both. + +"God bless you," he said, solemnly; and as Corona bent her proud head, he +touched her forehead with his lips. Then he embraced Giovanni, and his +joy broke out in wild enthusiasm. + +"Ha, my children," he cried, "there has not been such a couple as you are +for generations--there has not been such good news told in these old +walls since they have stood here. We will illuminate the castle, the +whole town, in your honour--we will ring the bells and have a Te Deum +sung--we will have such a festival as was never seen before--we will go +to Rome to-morrow and celebrate the espousal--we will--" + +"Softly, _padre mio_," interrupted Giovanni. "No one must know as yet. +You must consider--" + +"Consider what? consider the marriage? Of course we will consider it, as +soon as you please. You shall have such a wedding as was never heard of-- +you shall be married by the Cardinal Archpriest of Saint Peter's, by the +Holy Father himself. The whole country shall ring with it." + +It was with difficulty Giovanni succeeded in calming his father's +excitement, and in recalling to his mind the circumstances which made it +necessary to conceal the engagement for the present. But at last the old +man reluctantly consented, and returned to a quieter humour. For some +time the three continued to pace the stone rampart. + +"This is a case of arrant cruelty to a man of my temper," said the +Prince. "To be expected to behave like an ordinary creature, with grins +and smiles and decent paces, when I have just heard what I have longed to +hear for years. But I will revenge myself by making a noise about +it by-and-by. I will concoct schemes for your wedding, and dream of +nothing but illuminations and decorations. You shall be Prince of Sant' +Ilario, Giovanni, as I was before my father died; and I will give you +that estate outright, and the palace in the Corso to live in." + +"Perhaps we might live in my palace," suggested Corona. It seemed strange +to her to be discussing her own marriage, but it was necessary to humour +the old Prince. "Of course," he said. "I forgot all about it. You have +places enough to live in. One forgets that you will in the end be the +richest couple in Italy. Ha!" he cried, in sudden enthusiasm, "the +Saracinesca are not dead yet! They are greater than ever--and our lands +here so near together, too. We will build a new road to Astrardente, +and when you are married you shall be the first to drive over it from +Astrardente here. We will do all kinds of things--we will tunnel the +mountain!" + +"I am sure you will do that in the end," said Giovanni, laughing. + +"Well--let us go to dinner," answered his father. "It has grown quite +dark since we have been talking, and we shall be falling over the edge if +we are not careful." + +"I will go and tell Sister Gabrielle before dinner," said Corona to +Giovanni. + +So they left her at the door of her apartment, and she went in. She found +the Sister in an inner room, with a book of devotions in her hand. + +"Pray for me, my Sister," she said, quietly. "I have resolved upon a +great step. I am going to be married again." + +Sister Gabrielle looked up, and a quiet smile stole over her thin face. + +"It is soon, my friend," she said. "It is soon to think of that. But +perhaps you are right--is it the young Prince?" + +"Yes," answered Corona, and sank into a deep tapestried chair. "It is +soon I know well. But it has been long--have struggled hard--I love him +very much--so much, you do not know!" + +The Sister sighed faintly, and came and took her hand. + +"It is right that you should marry," she said, gently. "You are too +young, too famously beautiful, too richly endowed, to lead the life you +have led at Astrardente these many months." + +"It is not that," said Corona, an expression of strange beauty +illuminating her lovely face. "Not that I am young, beautiful as you say, +if it is so, or endowed with riches--those reasons are nothing. It is +this that tells me," she whispered, pressing her left hand to her heart. +"When one loves as I love, it is right." + +"Indeed it is," assented the good Sister. "And I think you have chosen +wisely. When will you be married?" + +"Hardly before next summer--I can hardly think connectedly yet--it has +been very sudden. I knew I should marry him in the end, but I never +thought I could consent so soon. Oh, Sister Gabrielle, you are so +good--were you never in love?" + +The Sister was silent, and looked away. + +"No--of course you cannot tell me," continued Corona; "but it is such a +wonderful thing. It makes days seem like hundreds of years, or makes them +pass in a flash of light, in a second. It oversets every idea of time, +and plays with one's resolutions as the wind with a feather. If once it +gets the mastery of one, it crowds a lifetime of pain and pleasure into +one day; it never leaves one for a moment. I cannot explain love--it is a +wonderful thing." + +"My dear friend," said the Sister, "the explanation of love is life." + +"But the end of it is not death. It cannot be," continued Corona, +earnestly. "It must last for ever and ever. It must grow better and purer +and stronger, until it is perfect in heaven at last: but where is the use +of trying to express such things?" + +"I think it is enough to feel them," said Sister Gabrielle. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The summer season ripened into autumn, and autumn again turned to winter, +and Rome was once more full. The talk of society turned frequently upon +the probability of the match between the Duchessa d'Astrardente and +Giovanni Saracinesca; and when at last, three weeks before Lent, the +engagement was made known, there was a general murmur of approbation. It +seemed as though the momentous question of Corona's life, which had for +years agitated the gossips, were at last to be settled: every one had +been accustomed to regard her marriage with old Astrardente as a +temporary affair, seeing that he certainly could not live long, and +speculation in regard to her future had been nearly as common during his +lifetime as it was after his death. One of the duties most congenial +to society, and one which it never fails to perform conscientiously, is +that judicial astrology, whereby it forecasts the issue of its +neighbour's doings. Everybody's social horoscope must be cast by the +circle of five-o'clock-tea-drinking astro-sociologists, and, generally +speaking, their predictions are not far short of the truth, for society +knoweth its own bitterness, and is uncommonly quick in the diagnosis of +its own state of health. + +When it was announced that Corona was to marry Giovanni after Easter, +society looked and saw that the arrangement was good. There was not one +dissenting voice heard in the universal applause. Corona had behaved with +exemplary decency during the year of her mourning--had lived a life of +religious retirement upon her estates in the sole company of a Sister of +Charity, had given no cause for scandal in any way. Everybody aspired +to like her--that is to say, to be noticed by her; but with one +exception, she had caused no jealousy nor ill-feeling by her +indifference, for no one had ever heard her say an unkind word concerning +anybody she knew. Donna Tullia had her own reasons for hating Corona, and +perhaps the world suspected them; but people did not connect the noisy +Donna Tullia, full of animal spirits and gay silly talk, with the idea of +serious hatred, much less with the execution of any scheme of revenge. + +Indeed Madame Mayer had not spent the summer and autumn in nursing her +wrath against Corona. She had travelled with the old Countess, her +companion, and several times Ugo del Ferice had appeared suddenly at the +watering-places which she had selected for her temporary residence. From +time to time he gave her news of mutual friends, which she repaid +conscientiously with interesting accounts of the latest scandals. They +were a congenial pair, and Ugo felt that by his constant attention to her +wishes, and by her never-varying willingness to accept his service, he +had obtained a hold upon her intimacy which, in the ensuing winter, would +give him a decided advantage over all competitors in the field. She +believed that she might have married half-a-dozen times, and that with +her fortune she could easily have made a very brilliant match; she even +thought that she could have married Valdarno, who was very good-natured: +but her attachment to Giovanni, and the expectations she had so long +entertained in regard to him, had prevented her from showing any marked +preference for others; and while she was hesitating, Del Ferice, by his +superior skill, had succeeded in making himself indispensable to her--a +success the more remarkable that, in spite of his gifts and the curious +popularity he enjoyed, he was by far the least desirable man of her +acquaintance from the matrimonial point of view. + +But when Donna Tullia again met Giovanni in the world, the remembrance of +her wrongs revived her anger against him, and the news of his engagement +to the Astrardente brought matters to a climax. In the excitement of the +moment, both her jealousy and her anger were illuminated by the light of +a righteous wrath. She knew, or thought she knew, that Don Giovanni was +already married. She had no proof that the peasant wife mentioned in the +certificate was alive, but there was nothing either to show that she was +dead. Even in the latter ease it was a scandalous thing that he should +marry again without informing Corona of the circumstances of his past +life, and Donna Tullia felt an inner conviction that he had told the +Duchessa nothing of the matter. The latter was such a proud woman, that +she would be horrified at the idea of uniting herself to a man who had +been the husband of a peasant. + +Madame Mayer remembered her solemn promise to Del Ferice, and feared to +act without his consent. An hour after she had heard the news of the +engagement, she sent for him to come to her immediately. To her +astonishment and dismay, her servant brought back word that he had +suddenly gone to Naples upon urgent business. This news made her pause; +but while the messenger had been gone to Del Ferice's house, Donna Tullia +had been anticipating and going over in her mind the scene which would +ensue when she told Corona the secret. Donna Tullia was a very sanguine +woman, and the idea of at last being revenged for all the slights she had +received worked suddenly upon her brain, so that as she paced her +drawing-room in expectation of the arrival of Del Ferice, she entirely +acted out in her imagination the circumstances of the approaching crisis, +the blood beat hotly in her temples, and she lost all sense of prudence +in the delicious anticipation of violent words. Del Ferice had cruelly +calculated upon her temperament, and he had hoped that in the excitement +of the moment she would lose her head, and irrevocably commit herself to +him by the betrayal of the secret. This was precisely what occurred. On +being told that he was out of town, she could no longer contain herself, +and with a sudden determination to risk anything blindly, rather than to +forego the pleasure and the excitement she had been meditating, she +ordered her carriage and drove to the Palazzo Astrardente. + +Corona was surprised at the unexpected visit. She was herself on the +point of going out, and was standing in her boudoir, drawing on her black +gloves before the fire, while her furs lay upon a chair at her side. She +wondered why Donna Tullia called, and it was in part her curiosity which +induced her to receive her visit. Donna Tullia, armed to the teeth with +the terrible news she was about to disclose, entered the room quickly, +and remained standing before the Duchessa with a semi-tragic air that +astonished Corona. + +"How do you do, Donna Tullia?" said the latter, putting out her hand. + +"I have come to speak to you upon a very serious matter," answered her +visitor, without noticing the greeting. + +Corona stared at her for a moment, but not being easily disconcerted, she +quietly motioned to Donna Tullia to sit down, and installed herself in a +chair opposite to her. + +"I have just heard the news that you are to marry Don Giovanni +Saracinesca," said Madame Mayer. "You will pardon me the interest I take +in you; but is it true?" + +"It is quite true," answered Corona. + +"It is in connection with your marriage that I wish to speak, Duchessa. I +implore you to reconsider your decision." + +"And why, if you please?" asked Corona, raising her black eyebrows, and +fixing her haughty gaze upon her visitor. + +"I could tell you--I would rather not," answered Donna Tullia, unabashed, +for her blood was up. "I could tell you--but I beseech you not to ask me. +Only consider the matter again, I beg you. It is very serious. Nothing +but the great interest I feel in you, and my conviction--" + +"Donna Tullia, your conduct is so extraordinary," interrupted Corona, +looking at her curiously, "that I am tempted to believe you are mad. I +must beg you to explain what you mean by your words." + +"Ah, no," answered Madame Mayer. "You do me injustice. I am not mad, but +I would save you from the most horrible danger." + +"Again I say, what do you mean? I will not be trifled with in this way," +said the Duchessa, who would have been more angry if she had been less +astonished, but whose temper was rapidly rising. + +"I am not trifling with you," returned Donna Tullia. "I am imploring you +to think before you act, before you marry Don Giovanni. You cannot think +that I would venture to intrude upon you without the strongest reasons. +I am in earnest." + +"Then, in heaven's name, speak out!" cried Corona, losing all patience. +"I presume that if this is a warning, you have some grounds, you have +some accusation to make against Don Giovanni. Have the goodness to state +what you have to say, and be brief." + +"I will," said Donna Tullia, and she paused a moment, her face growing +red with excitement, and her blue eyes sparkling disagreeably. "You +cannot marry Don Giovanni," she said at length, "because there is an +insurmountable impediment in the way." + +"What is it?" asked Corona, controlling her anger. + +"He is already married!" hissed Donna Tullia. + +Corona turned a little pale, and started back. But in an instant her +colour returned, and she broke into a low laugh. + +"You are certainly insane," she said, eyeing Madame Mayer suspiciously. +It was not an easy matter to shake her faith in the man she loved. Donna +Tullia was disappointed at the effect she had produced. She was a clever +woman in her way, but she did not understand how to make the best of the +situation. She saw that she was simply an object of curiosity, and that +Corona seriously believed her mind deranged. She was frightened, and, +in order to help herself, she plunged deeper. + +"You may call me mad, if you please," she replied, angrily. "I tell you +it is true. Don Giovanni was married on the 19th of June 1863, at Aquila, +in the Abruzzi, to a woman called Felice Baldi--whoever she may have +been. The register is extant, and the duplicate of the marriage +certificate. I have seen the copies attested by a notary. I tell you it +is true," she continued, her voice rising to a harsh treble; "you are +engaged to marry a man who has a wife--a peasant woman--somewhere in the +mountains." + +Corona rose from her seat and put out her hand to ring the bell. She was +pale, but not excited. She believed Donna Tullia to be insane, perhaps +dangerous, and she calmly proceeded to protect herself by calling for +assistance. + +"Either you are mad, or you mean what you say," she said, keeping her +eyes upon the angry woman before her. "You will not leave this house +except in charge of my physician, if you are mad; and if you mean what +you say, you shall not go until you have repeated your words to +Don Giovanni Saracinesca himself,--no, do not start or try to escape--it +is of no use. I am very sudden and violent--beware!" + +Donna Tullia bit her red lip. She was beginning to realise that she had +got herself into trouble, and that it might be hard to get out of it. But +she felt herself strong, and she wished she had with her those proofs +which would make her case good. She was so sanguine by nature that she +was willing to carry the fight to the end, and to take her chance for the +result. + +"You may send for Don Giovanni if you please," she said. "I have spoken +the truth--if he denies it I can prove it. If I were you I would spare +him the humiliation--" + +A servant entered the room in answer to the bell, and Corona interrupted +Donna Tullia's speech by giving the man her orders. + +"Go at once to the Palazzo Saracinesca, and beg Don Giovanni to come here +instantly with his father the Prince. Take the carriage--it is waiting +below." + +The man disappeared, and Corona quietly resumed her seat. Donna Tullia +was silent for a few moments, attempting to control her anger in an +assumption of dignity; but soon she broke out afresh, being rendered very +nervous and uncomfortable by the Duchessa's calm manner and apparent +indifference to consequences. + +"I cannot see why you should expose yourself to such a scene," said +Madame Mayer presently. "I honestly wished to save you from a terrible +danger. It seems to me it would be quite sufficient if I proved the fact +to you beyond dispute. I should think that instead of being angry, you +would show some gratitude." + +"I am not angry," answered Corona, quietly. "I am merely giving you an +immediate opportunity of proving your assertion and your sanity." + +"My sanity!" exclaimed Donna Tullia, angrily. "Do you seriously +believe--" + +"Nothing that you say," said Corona, completing the sentence. + +Unable to bear the situation, Madame Mayer rose suddenly from her seat, +and began to pace the small room with short, angry steps. + +"You shall see," she said, fiercely--"you shall see that it is all true. +You shall see this man's face when I accuse him--you shall see him +humiliated, overthrown, exposed in his villany--the wretch! You shall see +how--" + +Corona's strong voice interrupted her enemy's invective in ringing tones. + +"Be silent!" she cried. "In twenty minutes he will be here. But if you +say one word against him before he comes, I will lock you into this room +and leave you. I certainly will not hear you." + +Donna Tullia reflected that the Duchessa was in her own house, and +moreover that she was not a woman to be trifled with. She threw herself +into a chair, and taking up a book that lay upon the table, she pretended +to read. + +Corona remained seated by the fireplace, glancing at her from time to +time. She was strangely inclined to laugh at the whole situation, which +seemed to her absurd in the extreme--for it never crossed her mind to +believe that there was a word of truth in the accusation against +Giovanni. Nevertheless she was puzzled to account for Donna Tullia's +assurance, and especially for her readiness to face the man she so +calumniated. A quarter of an hour elapsed in this armed silence--the two +women glancing at each other from time to time, until the distant sound +of wheels rolling under the great gate announced that the messenger had +returned from the Palazzo Saracinesca, probably conveying Don Giovanni +and his father. + +"Then you have made up your mind to the humiliation of the man you love?" +asked Donna Tullia, looking up from her book with a sneer on her face. + +Corona vouchsafed no answer, but her eyes turned towards the door in +expectation. Presently there were steps heard without. The servant +entered, and announced Prince Saracinesca and Don Giovanni. Corona +rose. The old man came in first, followed by his son. + +"An unexpected pleasure," he said, gaily. "Such good luck! We were both +at home. Ah, Donna Tullia," he cried, seeing Madame Mayer, "how are you?" +Then seeing her face, he added, suddenly, "Is anything the matter?" + +Meanwhile Giovanni had entered, and stood by Corona's side near the +fireplace. He saw at once that something was wrong, and he looked +anxiously from the Duchessa to Donna Tullia. Corona spoke at once. + +"Donna Tullia," she said, quietly, "I have the honour to offer you an +opportunity of explaining yourself." + +Madame Mayer remained seated by the table, her face red with anger. She +leaned back in her seat, and half closing her eyes with a disagreeable +look of contempt, she addressed Giovanni. + +"I am sorry to cause you such profound humiliation," she began, "but in +the interest of the Duchessa d'Astrardente I feel bound to speak. Don +Giovanni, do you remember Aquila?" + +"Certainly," he replied, coolly--"I have often been there. What of it?" + +Old Saracinesca stared from one to the other. + +"What is this comedy?" he asked of Corona. But she nodded to him to be +silent. + +"Then you doubtless remember Felice Baldi--poor Felice Baldi," continued +Donna Tullia, still gazing scornfully up at Giovanni from where she sat. + +"I never heard the name, that I can remember," answered Giovanni, as +though trying to recall some memory of the past. He could not imagine +what she was leading to, but he was willing to answer her questions. + +"You do not remember that you were married to her at Aquila on the 19th +of June--" + +"I--married?" cried Giovanni, in blank astonishment. + +"Signora Duchessa," said the Prince, bending his heavy brows, "what is +the meaning of all this?" + +"I will tell you the meaning of it," said Donna Tullia, in low hissing +tones, and rising suddenly to her feet she assumed a somewhat theatrical +attitude as she pointed to Giovanni. "I will tell what it means. It means +that Don Giovanni Saracinesca was married in the church of San +Bernardino, at Aquila, on the 19th of June 1863, to the woman Felice +Baldi--who is his lawful wife to-day, and for aught we know the mother of +his children, while he is here in Rome attempting to marry the Duchessa +d'Astrardente--can he deny it? Can he deny that his own signature is +there, there in the office of the State Civile at Aquila, to testify +against him? Can he--?" + +"Silence!" roared the Prince. "Silence, woman, or by God in heaven I will +stop your talking for ever!" He made a step towards her, and there was a +murderous red light in his black eyes. But Giovanni sprang forward and +seized his father by the wrist. + +"You cannot silence me," screamed Donna Tullia. "I will be heard, and by +all Rome. I will cry it upon the housetops to all the world--" + +"Then you will precipitate your confinement in the asylum of Santo +Spirito," said Giovanni, in cold, calm tones. "You are clearly mad." + +"So I said," assented Corona, who was nevertheless pale, and trembling +with excitement. + +"Allow me to speak with her," said Giovanni, who, like most dangerous +men, seemed to grow cold as others grew hot. Donna Tullia leaned upon the +table, breathing hard between her closed teeth, her face scarlet. + +"Madame," said Giovanni, advancing a step and confronting her, "you say +that I am married, and that I am contemplating a monstrous crime. Upon +what do you base your extraordinary assertions?" + +"Upon attested copies of your marriage certificate, of the civil register +where your handwriting has been seen and recognised. What more would you +have?" + +"It is monstrous!" cried the Prince, advancing again. "It is the most +abominable lie ever concocted! My son married without my knowledge, and +to a peasant! Absurd!" + +But Giovanni waved his father back, and kept his place before Donna +Tullia. + +"I give you the alternative of producing instantly those proofs you refer +to," he said, "and which you certainly cannot produce, or of waiting in +this house until a competent physician has decided whether you are +sufficiently sane to be allowed to go home alone." + +Donna Tullia hesitated. She was in a terrible position, for Del Ferice +had left Rome suddenly, and though the papers were somewhere in his +house, she knew not where, nor how to get at them. It was impossible to +imagine a situation more desperate, and she felt it as she looked +round and saw the pale dark faces of the three resolute persons whose +anger she had thus roused. She believed that Giovanni was capable of +anything, but she was astonished at his extraordinary calmness. She +hesitated for a moment. + +"That is perfectly just," said Corona. "If you have proofs, you can +produce them. If you have none, you are insane." + +"I have them, and I will produce them before this hour to-morrow," +answered Donna Tullia, not knowing how she should get the papers, but +knowing that she was lost if she failed to obtain them. + +"Why not to-day--at once?" asked Giovanni, with some scorn. + +"It will take twenty-four hours to forge them," growled his father. + +"You have no right to insult me so grossly," cried Donna Tullia. "But +beware--I have you in my power. By this time to-morrow you shall see with +your own eyes that I speak the truth. Let me go," she cried, as the old +Prince placed himself between her and the door. + +"I will," said he. "But before you go, I beg you to observe that if +between now and the time you show us these documents you breathe abroad +one word of your accusations, I will have you arrested as a dangerous +lunatic, and lodged in Santo Spirito; and if these papers are not +authentic, you will be arrested to-morrow afternoon on a charge of +forgery. You quite understand me?" He stood aside to let her pass. She +laughed scornfully in his face, and went out. + +When she was gone the three looked at each other, as though trying to +comprehend what had happened. Indeed, it was beyond their comprehension. +Corona leaned against the chimneypiece, and her eyes rested lovingly upon +Giovanni. No doubt had ever crossed her mind of his perfect honesty. Old +Saracinesca looked from one to the other for a moment, and then, striking +the palms of his hands together, turned and began to walk up and down the +room. + +"In the first place," said Giovanni, "at the time she mentions I was in +Canada, upon a shooting expedition, with a party of Englishmen. It is +easy to prove that, as they are all alive and well now, so far as I have +heard. Donna Tullia is clearly out of her mind." + +"The news of your engagement has driven her mad," said the old Prince, +with a grim laugh. "It is a very interesting and romantic case." + +Corona blushed a little, and her eyes sought Giovanni's, but her face was +very grave. It was a terrible thing to see a person she had known so long +becoming insane, and for the sake of the man she herself so loved. And +yet she had not a doubt of Donna Tullia's madness. It was very sad. + +"I wonder who could have put this idea into her head," said Giovanni, +thoughtfully. "It does not look like a creation of her own brain. I +wonder, too, what absurdities she will produce in the way of documents. +Of course they must be forged." + +"She will not bring them," returned his father, in a tone of certainty. +"We shall hear to-morrow that she is raving in the delirium of a +brain-fever." + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Corona. "It is dreadful to think of it." + +"It is dreadful to think that she should have caused you all this trouble +and annoyance," said Giovanni, warmly. "You must have had a terrible +scene with her before we came. What did she say?" + +"Just what she said to you. Then she began to rail against you; and I +sent for you, and told her that unless she could be silent I would lock +her up alone until you arrived. So she sat down in that chair, and +pretended to read. But it was an immense relief when you came!" + +"You did not once believe what she said might possibly be true?" asked +Giovanni, with a loving look. + +"I? How could you ever think it!" exclaimed Corona. Then she laughed, and +added, "But of course you knew that I would not." + +"Indeed, yes," he answered. "It never entered my head." + +"By-the-bye," said old Saracinesca, glancing at the Duchessa's black +bonnet and gloved hands, "you must have been just ready to go out when +she came--we must not keep you. I suppose that when she said she would +bring her proofs to-morrow at this hour, she meant she would bring them +here. Shall we come to-morrow then?" + +"Yes--by all means," she answered. "Come to breakfast at one o'clock. I +am alone, you know, for Sister Gabrielle has insisted upon going back to +her community. But what does it matter now?" + +"What does it matter?" echoed the Prince. "You are to be married so soon. +I really think we can do as we please." He generally did as he pleased. + +The two men left her, and a few minutes later she descended the steps of +the palace and entered her carriage, as though nothing had happened. + +Six months had passed since she had given her troth to Giovanni upon the +tower of Saracinesca, and she knew that she loved him better now than +then. Little had happened of interest in the interval of time, and the +days had seemed long. But until after Christmas she had remained at +Astrardente, busying herself constantly with the improvements she had +already begun, and aided by the counsels of Giovanni. He had taken a +cottage of hers in the lower part of her village, and had fitted it up +with the few comforts he judged necessary. In this lodging he had +generally spent half the week, going daily to the palace upon the hill +and remaining for long hours in Corona's society, studying her plans and +visiting with her the works which grew beneath their joint direction. She +had grown to know him as she had not known him before, and to understand +more fully his manly character. He was a very resolute man, and very much +in earnest when he chanced to be doing anything; but the strain of +melancholy which he inherited from his mother made him often inclined to +a sort of contemplative idleness, during which his mind seemed +preoccupied with absorbing thoughts. Many people called his fits of +silence an affectation, or part of his system for rendering himself +interesting; but Corona soon saw how real was his abstraction, and she +saw also that she alone was able to attract his attention and interest +him when the fit was upon him. Slowly, by a gradual study of him, she +learned what few had ever guessed, namely, that beneath the experienced +man of the world, under his modest manner and his gentle ways, there +lay a powerful mainspring of ambition, a mine of strength, which would +one day exert itself and make itself felt upon his surroundings. He had +developed slowly, feeding upon many experiences of the world in many +countries, his quick Italian intelligence comprehending often more than +it seemed to do, while the quiet dignity he got from his Spanish blood +made him appear often very cold. But now and again, when under the +influence of some large idea, his tongue was loosed in the charm of +Corona's presence, and he spoke to her, as he had never spoken to any +one, of projects and plans which should make the world move. She did not +always understand him wholly, but she knew that the man she loved was +something more than the world at large believed him to be, and there was +a thrill of pride in the thought which delighted her inmost soul. She, +too, was ambitious, but her ambition was all for him. She felt that there +was little room for common aspirations in his position or in her own. All +that high birth, and wealth, and personal consideration could give, they +both had abundantly, beyond their utmost wishes; anything they could +desire beyond that must lie in a larger sphere of action than mere +society, in the world of political power. She herself had had dreams, and +entertained them still, of founding some great institution of charity, of +doing something for her poorer fellows. But she learned by degrees that +Giovanni looked further than to such ordinary means of employing power, +and that there was in him a great ambition to bring great forces to bear +upon great questions for the accomplishment of great results. The six +months of her engagement to him had not only strengthened her love for +him, already deep and strong, but had implanted in her an unchanging +determination to second him in all his life, to omit nothing in her power +which could assist him in the career he should choose for himself, and +which she regarded as the ultimate field for his extraordinary powers. It +was strange that, while granting him everything else, people had never +thought of calling him a man of remarkable intelligence. But no one knew +him as Corona knew him; no one suspected that there was in him anything +more than the traditional temper of the Saracinesca, with sufficient mind +to make him as fair a representative of his race as his father was. + +There was more than mere love and devotion in the complete security she +felt when she saw him attacked by Donna Tullia; there was already the +certainty that he was born to be above small things, and to create a +sphere of his own in which he would move as other men could not. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +When Donna Tullia quitted the Palazzo Astrardente her head swam. She had +utterly failed to do what she had expected; and from being the accuser, +she felt that she was suddenly thrust into the position of the accused. +Instead of inspiring terror in Corona, and causing Giovanni the terrible +humiliation she had supposed he would feel at the exposure of his +previous marriage, she had been coldly told that she was mad, and that +her pretended proofs were forgeries. Though she herself felt no doubt +whatever concerning the authenticity of the documents, it was very +disappointing to find that the first mention of them produced no +startling effect upon any one, least of all upon Giovanni himself. The +man, she thought, was a most accomplished villain; since he was capable +of showing such hardened indifference to her accusation, he was capable +also of thwarting her in her demonstration of their truth--and she +trembled at the thought of what she saw. Old Saracinesca was not a man to +be trifled with, nor his son either: they were powerful, and would be +revenged for the insult. But in the meanwhile she had promised to produce +her proofs; and when she regained enough composure to consider the matter +from all its points, she came to the conclusion that after all her game +was not lost, seeing that attested documents are evidence not easily +refuted, even by powerful men like Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca. She +gradually convinced herself that their indifference was a pretence, and +that they were accomplices in the matter, their object being to gain +Corona with all her fortune for Giovanni's wife. But, at the same time, +Donna Tullia felt in the depths of her heart a misgiving: she was clever +enough to recognise, even in spite of herself, the difference between a +liar and an honest man. + +She must get possession of these papers--and immediately too; there must +be no delay in showing them to Corona, and in convincing her that this +was no mere fable, but an assertion founded upon very substantial +evidence. Del Ferice was suddenly gone to Naples: obviously the only +way to get at the papers was to bribe his servant to deliver them up. Ugo +had once or twice mentioned Temistocle to her, and she judged from the +few words he had let fall that the fellow was a scoundrel, who would +sell his soul for money. Madame Mayer drove home, and put on the only +dark-coloured gown she possessed, wound a thick veil about her head, +provided herself with a number of bank-notes, which she thrust between +the palm of her hand and her glove, left the house on foot, and took a +cab. There was nothing to be done but to go herself, for she could trust +no one. Her heart beat fast as she ascended the narrow stone steps of +Del Ferice's lodging, and stopped upon the landing before the small green +door, whereon she read his name. She pulled the bell, and Temistocle +appeared in his shirt-sleeves. + +"Does Count Del Ferice live here?" asked Donna Tullia, peering over the +man's shoulder into the dark and narrow passage within. + +"He lives here, but he is gone to Naples," answered Temistocle, promptly. + +"When will he be back?" she inquired. The man raised his shoulders to his +ears, and spread out the palms of his hands to signify that he did not +know. Donna Tullia hesitated. She had never attempted to bribe anybody +in her life, and hardly knew how to go about it. She thought that the +sight of the money might produce an impression, and she withdrew a +bank-note from the hollow of her hand, spreading it out between her +fingers. Temistocle eyed it greedily. + +"There are twenty-five scudi," she said. "If you will help me to find a +piece of paper in your master's room, you shall have them." + +Temistocle drew himself up with an air of mock pride. Madame Mayer looked +at him. + +"Impossible, signora," he said. Then she drew out another. Temistocle +eyed the glove curiously to see if it contained more. + +"Signora," he repeated, "it is impossible. My master would kill me. I +cannot think of it." But his tone seemed to yield a little. Donna Tullia +found another bank-note; there were now seventy-five scudi in her hand. +She thought she saw Temistocle tremble with excitement. But still he +hesitated. + +"Signora, my conscience," he said, in a low voice of protestation. + +"Come," said Madame Mayer, impatiently, "there is another--there are a +hundred scudi--that is all I have got," she added, turning down her empty +glove. + +Suddenly Temistocle put out his hand and grasped the bank-notes eagerly. +But instead of retiring to allow her to enter, he pushed roughly past +her. + +"You may go in," he said in a hoarse whisper, and turning quickly, fled +precipitately down the narrow steps, in his shirt-sleeves as he was. +Madame Mayer stood for a moment looking after him in surprise, even when +he had already disappeared. + +Then she turned and entered the door rather timidly; but before she had +gone two steps in the dark passage, she uttered a cry of horror. Del +Ferice stood in her way, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, a curious +expression upon his pale face, which from its whiteness was clearly +distinguishable in the gloom. Temistocle had cheated her, had lied in +telling her that his master was absent, had taken her bribe and had fled. +He would easily find an excuse for having allowed her to enter; and with +his quick valet's instinct, he guessed that she would not confess to +Del Ferice that she had bribed him. Ugo came forward a step and instantly +recognised Madame Mayer. + +"Donna Tullia!" he cried, "what are you doing? You must not be seen +here." + +A less clever man than Ugo would have pretended to be overjoyed at her +coming. Del Fence's fine instincts told him that for whatever cause she +had come--and he guessed the cause well enough--he would get a firmer +hold upon her consideration by appearing to be shocked at her imprudence. +Donna Tullia was nearly fainting with fright, and stood leaning against +the wall of the passage. + +"I thought--I--I must see you at once," she stammered. + +"Not here," he answered, quickly. "Go home at once; I will join you in +five minutes. It will ruin you to have it known that you have been here." + +Madame Mayer took courage at his tone. + +"You must bring them--those papers," she said, hurriedly. "Something +dreadful has happened. Promise me to come at once!" + +"I will come at once, my dear lady," he said, gently pushing her towards +the door. "I cannot even go down-stairs with you--forgive me. You have +your carriage of course?" + +"I have a cab," replied Donna Tullia, faintly, submitting to be put +out of the door. He seized her hand and kissed it passionately, or +with a magnificent semblance of passion. With a startled look, Donna +Tullia turned and went rapidly down the steps. Del Ferice smiled +softly to himself when she was gone, and went in again to exchange his +dressing-gown for a coat. He had her in his power at last. He had guessed +that she would betray the secret--that after the engagement became known, +she would not be able to refrain from communicating it to Corona +d'Astrardente; and so soon as he heard the news, he had shut himself up +in his lodging, pretending a sudden journey to Naples, determined not to +set foot out of the house until he heard that Donna Tullia had committed +herself. He knew that when she had once spoken she would make a desperate +attempt to obtain the papers, for he knew that such an assertion as hers +would need to be immediately proved, at the risk of her position in +society. His plot had succeeded so far. His only anxiety was to know +whether she had mentioned his name in connection with the subject, but he +guessed, from his knowledge of her character, that she would not do so: +she would respect her oath enough to conceal his name, even while +breaking her promise; she would enjoy taking the sole credit of the +discovery upon herself, and she would shun an avowal which would prove +her to have discussed with any one else the means of preventing the +marriage, because it would be a confession of jealousy, and consequently +of personal interest in Don Giovanni. Del Ferice was a very clever +fellow. + +He put on his coat, and in five minutes was seated in a cab on his way to +Donna Tullia's house, with a large envelope full of papers in his pocket. +He found her as she had left him, her face still wrapped in a veil, +walking up and down her drawing-room in great excitement. He advanced +and saluted her courteously, maintaining a dignified gravity of bearing +which he judged fitting for the occasion. + +"And now, my dear lady," he said, gently, "will you tell me exactly what +you have done?" + +"This morning," answered Madame Mayer, in a stifled voice, "I heard of +the Astrardente's engagement to Don Giovanni. It seemed such a terrible +thing!" + +"Terrible, indeed," said Del Ferice, solemnly. + +"I sent for you at once, to know what to do: they said you were gone to +Naples. I thought, of course, that you would approve if you were here, +because we ought to prevent such a dreadful crime--of course." She waited +for some sign of assent, but Del Ferice's pale face expressed nothing but +a sort of grave reproach. + +"And then," she continued, "as I could not find you, I thought it was +best to act at once, and so I went to see the Astrardente, feeling that +you would entirely support me. There was a terrific scene. She sent for +the two Saracinesca, and I--waited till they came, because I was +determined to see justice done. I am sure I was right,--was I not?" + +"What did they say?" asked Del Ferice, quietly watching her face. + +"If you will believe it, that monster of villany, Don Giovanni, was as +cold as stone, and denied the whole matter from beginning to end; but his +father was very angry. Of course they demanded the proofs. I never saw +anything like the brazen assurance of Don Giovanni." + +"Did you mention me?" inquired Del Ferice. + +"No, I had not seen you: of course I did not want to implicate you. I +said I would show them the papers to-morrow at the same hour." + +"And then you came to see me," said Del Ferice. "That was very rash. You +might have seriously compromised yourself. I would have come if you had +sent for me." + +"But they said you had gone to Naples. Your servant," continued Donna +Tullia, blushing scarlet at the remembrance of her interview with +Temistocle,--"your servant assured me in person that you had gone to +Naples--" + +"I see," replied Del Ferice, quietly. He did not wish to press her to a +confession of having tried to get the papers in his absence. His object +was to put her at her ease. + +"My dear lady," he continued, gently, "you have done an exceedingly rash +thing; but I will support you in every way, by putting the documents in +your possession at once. It is unfortunate that you should have acted so +suddenly, for we do not know what has become of this Felice Baldi, nor +have we any immediate means of finding out. It might have taken weeks to +find her. Why were you so rash? You could have waited till I returned, +and we could have discussed the matter carefully, and decided whether it +were really wise to make use of my information." + +"You do not doubt that I did right?" asked Donna Tullia, turning a little +pale. + +"I think you acted precipitately in speaking without consulting me. All +may yet be well. But in the first place, as you did not ask my opinion, +you will see the propriety of not mentioning my name, since you have +not done so already. It can do no good, for the papers speak for +themselves, and whatever value they may have is inherent in them. Do you +see?" + +"Of course there is no need of mentioning you, unless you wish to have a +share in the exposure of this abominable wickedness." + +"I am satisfied with my share," replied Del Ferice, with a quiet smile. + +"It is not an important one," returned Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"It is the lion's share," he answered. "Most adorable of women, you have +not, I am sure, forgotten the terms of our agreement--terms so dear to +me, that every word of them is engraven for ever upon the tablet of my +heart." + +Madame Mayer started slightly. She had not realised that her promise to +marry Ugo was now due--she did not believe that he would press it; he had +exacted it to frighten her, and besides, she had so persuaded herself +that he would approve of her conduct, that she had not felt as though she +were betraying his secret. + +"You will not--you cannot hold me to that; you approve of telling the +Astrardente, on the whole,--it is the same as though I had consulted +you--" + +"Pardon me, my dear lady; you did not consult me," answered Del Ferice, +soothingly. He sat near her by the fire, his hat upon his knee, no longer +watching her, but gazing contemplatively at the burning logs. There was a +delicacy about his pale face since the wound he had received a year +before which was rather attractive: from having been a little inclined to +stoutness, he had grown slender and more graceful, partly because his +health had really been affected by his illness, and partly because he had +determined never again to risk being too fat. + +"I tried to consult you," objected Donna Tullia. "It is the same thing." + +"It is not the same thing to me," he answered, "although you have not +involved me in the affair. I would have most distinctly advised you to +say nothing about it at present. You have acted rashly, have put yourself +in a most painful situation; and you have broken your promise to me--a +very solemn promise, Donna Tullia, sworn upon the memory of your mother +and upon a holy relic. One cannot make light of such promises as +that." + +"You made me give it in order to frighten me. The Church does not bind us +to oaths sworn under compulsion," she argued. + +"Excuse me; there was no compulsion whatever. You wanted to know my +secret, and for the sake of knowing it you bound yourself. That is not +compulsion. I cannot compel you. I could not think of presuming to compel +you to marry me now. But I can say to you that I am devotedly attached to +you, that to marry you is the aim and object of my life, and if you +refuse, I will tell you that you are doing a great wrong, repudiating a +solemn contract--" + +"If I refuse--well--but you would give me the papers?" asked Donna +Tullia, who was beginning to tremble for the result of the interview. She +had a vague suspicion that, for the sake of obtaining them, she would +even be willing to promise to marry Del Ferice. It would be very wrong, +perhaps; but it would be for the sake of accomplishing good, by +preventing Corona from falling into the trap--Corona, whom she hated! +Still, it would be a generous act to save her. The minds of women like +Madame Mayer are apt to be a little tortuous when they find themselves +hemmed in between their own jealousies, hatreds, and personal interests. + +"If you refused--no; if you refused, I am afraid I could not give you the +papers," replied Del Ferice, musing as he gazed at the fire. "I love you +too much to lose that chance of winning you, even for the sake of saving +the Duchessa d'Astrardente from her fate. Why do you refuse? why do you +bargain?" he asked, suddenly turning towards her. "Does all my devotion +count for nothing--all my love, all my years of patient waiting? Oh, you +cannot be so cruel as to snatch the cup from my very lips! It is not for +the sake of these miserable documents: what is it to me whether Don +Giovanni appears as the criminal in a case of bigamy--whether he is +ruined now, as by his evil deeds he will be hereafter, or whether he goes +on unharmed and unthwarted upon his career of wickedness? He is nothing +to me, nor his pale-faced bride either. It is for you that I care, for +you that I will do anything, bad or good, to win you that I would risk my +life and my soul. Can you not see it? Have I not been faithful for very +long? Take pity on me--forget this whole business, forget that you have +promised anything, forget all except that I am here at your feet, a +miserable man, unless you speak the word, and turn all my wretchedness +into joy!" + +He slipped from his seat and knelt upon one knee before her, clasping one +of her hands passionately between both his own. The scene was well +planned and well executed; his voice had a ring of emotion that sounded +pleasantly in Donna Tullia's ears, and his hands trembled with +excitement. She did not repulse him, being a vain woman and willing to +believe in the reality of the passion so well simulated. Perhaps, too, it +was not wholly put on, for she was a handsome, dashing woman, in the +prime of youth, and Del Ferice was a man who had always been susceptible +to charms of that kind. Donna Tullia hesitated, wondering what more he +could say. But he, on his part, knew the danger of trusting too much to +eloquence when not backed by a greater strength than his, and he pressed +her for an answer. + +"Be generous--trust me," he cried. "Believe that your happiness is +everything to me; believe that I will take no unfair advantage of a hasty +promise. Tell me that, of your own free will, you will be my wife, and +command me anything, that I may prove my devotion. It is so true, so +honest,--Tullia, I adore you, I live only for you! Speak the word, and +make me the happiest of men!" + +He really looked handsome as he knelt before her, and she felt the light, +nervous pressure of his hand at every word he spoke. After all, what did +it matter? She might accept him, and then--well, if she did not like the +idea, she could throw him over. It would only cost her a violent scene, +and a few moments of discomfort. Meanwhile she would get the papers. + +"But you would give me the papers, would you not, and leave me to decide +whether--Really, Del Ferice," she said, interrupting herself with a +nervous laugh, "this is very absurd." + +"I implore you not to speak of the papers--it is not absurd. It may seem +so to you, but it is life or death to me: death if you refuse me--life if +you will speak the word and be mine!" + +Donna Tullia made up her mind. He would evidently not give her what she +wanted, except in return for a promise of marriage. She had grown used to +him, almost fond of him, in the last year. + +"Well, I do not know whether I am right," she said, "but I am really very +fond of you; and if you will do all I say--" + +"Everything, my dear lady; everything in the world I will do, if you will +make me so supremely happy," cried Del Ferice, ardently. + +"Then--yes; I will marry you. Only get up and sit upon your chair like a +reasonable being. No; you really must be reasonable, or you must go +away." Ugo was madly kissing her hands. He was really a good actor, if +it was all acting. She could not but be moved by his pale delicate face +and passionate words. With a quick movement he sprang to his feet and +stood before her, clasping his hands together and gazing into her face. + +"Oh, I am the happiest man alive to-day!" he exclaimed, and the sense of +triumph that he felt lent energy to his voice. + +"Do sit down," said Donna Tullia, gaily, "and let us talk it all over. In +the first place, what am I to do first?" + +Del Ferice found it convenient to let his excitement subside, and as a +preliminary he walked twice the length of the room. + +"It is so hard to be calm!" he exclaimed; but nevertheless he presently +sat down in his former seat, and seemed to collect his faculties with +wonderful ease. + +"What is to be done first?" asked Donna Tullia again. + +"In the first place," answered Del Ferice, "here are those precious +papers. As they are notary's copies themselves, and not the originals, it +is of no importance whether Don Giovanni tears them up or not. It is easy +to get others if he does. I have noted down all the names and dates. I +wish we had some information about Felice Baldi. It is very unfortunate +that we have not, but it would perhaps take a month to find her." + +"I must act at once," said Donna Tullia, firmly; for she remembered old +Saracinesca's threats, and was in a hurry. + +"Of course. These documents speak for themselves. They bear the address +of the notary who made the copies in Aquila. If the Saracinesca choose, +they can themselves go there and see the originals." + +"Could they not destroy those too?" asked Donna Tullia, nervously. + +"No; they can only see one at a time, and the person who will show them +will watch them. Besides, it is easy to write to the curate of the church +of San Bernardino to be on his guard. We will do that in any case. The +matter is perfectly plain. Your best course is to meet the Astrardente +to-morrow at the appointed time, and simply present these papers for +inspection. No one can deny their authenticity, for they bear the +Government stamp and the notary's seal, as you see, here and here. If +they ask you, as they certainly will, how you came by them, you can +afford to answer, that, since you have them, it is not necessary to know +whence they came; that they may go and verify the originals; and that in +warning them of the fact, you have fulfilled a duty to society, and have +done a service to the Astrardente, if not to Giovanni Saracinesca. You +have them in your power, and you can afford to take the high hand in the +matter. They must believe the evidence of their senses; and they must +either allow that Giovanni's first wife is alive, or they must account +for her death, and prove it. There is no denial possible in the face of +these proofs." + +Donna Tullia drew a long breath, for the case seemed perfectly clear; and +the anticipation of her triumph already atoned for the sacrifice she had +made. + +"You are a wonderful man, Del Ferice!" she exclaimed. "I do not know +whether I am wise in promising to marry you, but I have the greatest +admiration for your intellect." + +Del Ferice glanced at her and smiled. Then he made as though he would +return the papers to his pocket. She sprang towards him, and seized him +by the wrist. + +"Do not be afraid!" she cried, "I will keep my promise." + +"Solemnly?" he asked, still smiling, and holding the envelope firmly in +his hand. + +"Solemnly," she answered; and then added, with a quick laugh, "but you +are so abominably clever, that I believe you could make me marry you +against my will." + +"Never!" said Del Ferice, earnestly; "I love you far too much." He had +wonderfully clear instincts. "And now," he continued, "we have settled +that matter; when shall the happy day be?" + +"Oh, there is time enough to think of that," answered Donna Tullia, with +a blush that might have passed for the result of a coy shyness, but which +was in reality caused by a certain annoyance at being pressed. + +"No," objected Del Ferice, "we must announce our engagement at once. +There is no reason for delay--to-day is better than to-morrow." + +"To-day?" repeated Donna Tullia, in some alarm. + +"Why not? Why not, my dear lady, since you and I are both in earnest?" + +"I think it would be much better to let this affair pass first." + +"On the contrary," he argued, "from the moment we are publicly engaged I +become your natural protector. If any one offers you any insult in this +matter, I shall then have an acknowledged right to avenge you--a right +I dearly covet. Do you think I would dread to meet Don Giovanni again? He +wounded me, it is true, but he has the marks of my sword upon his body +also. Give me at once the privilege of appearing as your champion, +and you will not regret it. But if you delay doing so, all sorts of +circumstances may arise, all sorts of unpleasantness--who could protect +you? Of course, even in that case I would; but you know the tongues of +the gossips in Rome--it would do you harm instead of good." + +"That is true, and you are very brave and very kind. But it seems almost +too soon," objected Donna Tullia, who, however, was fast learning to +yield to his judgment. + +"Those things cannot be done too soon. It gives us liberty, and it gives +the world satisfaction; it protects you, and it will be an inestimable +pleasure to me. Why delay the inevitable? Let us appear at once as +engaged to be married, and you put a sword in my hand to defend you and +to enforce your position in this unfortunate affair with the +Astrardente." + +"Well, you may announce it if you please," she answered, reluctantly. + +"Thank you, my dear lady," said Del Ferice. "And here are the papers. +Make the best use of them you can--any use that you make of them will be +good, I know. How could it be otherwise?" + +Donna Tullia's fingers closed upon the large envelope with a grasping +grip, as though she would never relinquish that for which she had paid so +dear a price. She had, indeed, at one time almost despaired of getting +possession of them, and she had passed a terrible hour, besides having +abased herself to the fruitless bribery she had practised upon +Temistocle. But she had gained her end, even at the expense of permitting +Del Ferice to publish her engagement to marry him. She felt that she +could break it off if she decided at last that the union was too +distasteful to her; but she foresaw that, from the point of worldly +ambition, she would be no great loser by marrying a man of such cunning +wit, who possessed such weapons against his enemies, and who, on the +whole, as she believed, entirely sympathised with her view of life. She +recognised that her chances of making a great match were diminishing +rapidly; she could not tell precisely why, but she felt, to her +mortification, that she had not made a good use of her rich widowhood: +people did not respect her much, and as this touched her vanity, she was +susceptible to their lack of deference. She had done no harm, but she +knew that every one thought her an irresponsible woman, and the thrifty +Romans feared her extravagance, though some of them perhaps courted her +fortune: many had admired her, and had to some extent expressed their +devotion, but no scion of all the great families had asked her to be his +wife. The nearest approach to a proposal had been the doubtful attention +she had received from Giovanni Saracinesca during the time when his +headstrong father had almost persuaded him to marry her, and she thought +of her disappointed hopes with much bitterness. To destroy Giovanni by +the revelations she now proposed to make, to marry Del Ferice, and then +to develop her position by means of the large fortune she had inherited +from her first husband, seemed on the whole a wise plan. Del Ferice's +title was not much, to be sure, but, on the other hand, he was intimate +with every one she knew, and for a few thousand scudi she could buy some +small estate with a good title attached to it. She would then change +her mode of life, and assume the pose of a social power, which as a young +widow she could not do. It was not so bad, after all, especially if she +could celebrate the first day of her engagement by destroying the +reputation of Giovanni Saracinesca, root and branch, and dealing a blow +at Corona's happiness from which it would not recover. + +As for Del Ferice, he regarded his triumph as complete. He cared little +what became of Giovanni--whether he was able to refute the evidence +brought against him or not. There had been nothing in the matter which +was dishonest, and properly made out marriage-certificates are not easy +things to annul. Giovanni might swim or sink--it was nothing to Ugo del +Ferice, now that he had gained the great object of his life, and was at +liberty to publish his engagement to Donna Tullia Mayer. He lost no time +in telling his friends the good news, and before the evening was over a +hundred people had congratulated him. Donna Tullia, too, appeared in more +than usually gay attire, and smilingly received the expressions of good +wishes which were showered upon her. She was not inclined to question the +sincerity of those who spoke, for in her present mood the stimulus of a +little popular noise was soothing to her nerves, which had been badly +strained by the excitement of the day. When she closed her eyes she had +evil visions of Temistocle retreating at full speed down the stairs with +his unearned bribe, or of Del Ferice's calm, pale face, as he had sat in +her house that afternoon grasping the precious documents in his hand +until she promised to pay the price he asked, which was herself. But +she smiled at each new congratulation readily enough, and said in her +heart that she would yet become a great power in society, and make her +house the centre of all attractions. And meanwhile she pondered on the +title she should buy for her husband: she came of high blood herself, and +she knew how such dignities as a "principe" or a "duca" were regarded +when bought. There was nothing for it but to find some snug little +marquisate--"marchese" sounded very well, though one could not be called +"eccellenza" by one's servants; still, as the daughter of a prince, she +might manage even that. "Marchese"--yes, that would do. What a pity there +were only four "canopy" marquises--"marchesi del baldacchino"--in Rome +with the rank of princes! That was exactly the combination of dignities +Donna Tullia required for her husband. But once a "marchese," if she was +very charitable, and did something in the way of a public work, the Holy +Father might condescend to make Del Ferice a "duca" in the ordinary +course as a step in the nobility. Donna Tullia dreamed many things that +night, and she afterwards accomplished most of them, to the surprise of +everybody, and, if the truth were told, to her own considerable +astonishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"Giovanni, you are the victim of some outrageous plot," said old +Saracinesca, entering his son's room on the following morning. "I have +thought it all out in the night, and I am convinced of it." + +Giovanni was extended upon a sofa, with a book in his hand and a cigar +between his lips. He looked up quietly from his reading. + +"I am not the victim yet, nor ever will be," he answered; "but it is +evident that there is something at the bottom of this besides Madame +Mayer's imagination. I will find out." + +"What pleases me especially," remarked the old Prince, "is the wonderful +originality of the idea. It would have been commonplace to make out that +you had poisoned half-a-dozen wives, and buried their bodies in the +vaults of Saracinesca; it would have been _banal_ to say that you were +not yourself, but some one else; or to assert that you were a +revolutionary agent in disguise, and that the real Giovanni had been +murdered by you, who had taken his place without my discovering it,--very +commonplace all that. But to say that you actually have a living wife, +and to try to prove it by documents, is an idea worthy of a great mind. +It takes one's breath away." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"It will end in our having to go to Aquila in search of my supposed +better half," he said. "Aquila, of all places! If she had said Paris--or +even Florence--but why, in the name of geography, Aquila?" + +"She probably looked for some out-of-the-way place upon an alphabetical +list," laughed the Prince. "Aquila stood first. We shall know in two +hours--come along. It is time to be going." + +They found Corona in her boudoir. She had passed an uneasy hour on the +previous afternoon after they had left her, but her equanimity was now +entirely restored. She had made up her mind that, however ingenious the +concocted evidence might turn out to be, it was absolutely impossible to +harm Giovanni by means of it. His position was beyond attack, as, in her +mind, his character was above slander. Far from experiencing any +sensation of anxiety as to the result of Donna Tullia's visit, what she +most felt was curiosity to see what these fancied proofs would be like. +She still believed that Madame Mayer was mad. + +"I have been remarking to Giovanni upon Donna Tullia's originality," said +old Saracinesca. "It is charming; it shows a talent for fiction which the +world has been long in realising, which we have not even suspected--an +amazing and transcendent genius for invention." + +"It is pure insanity," answered Corona, in a tone of conviction. "The +woman is mad." + +"Mad as an Englishman," asseverated the Prince, using the most powerful +simile in the Italian language. "We will have her in Santo Spirito before +night, and she will puzzle the doctors." + +"She is not mad," said Giovanni, quietly. "I do not even believe we shall +find that her documents are forgeries." + +"What?" cried his father. Corona looked quickly at Giovanni. + +"You yourself," said the latter, turning to old Saracinesca, "were +assuring me half an hour ago that I was the victim of a plot. Now, if +anything of the kind is seriously attempted, you may be sure it will be +well done. She has a good ally in the man to whom she is engaged. Del +Ferice is no fool, and he hates me." + +"Del Ferice!" exclaimed Corona, in surprise. As she went nowhere as yet, +she had, of course, not heard the news which had been published on the +previous evening. "You do not mean to say that she is going to marry Del +Ferice?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Giovanni. "They both appeared last night and +announced the fact, and received everybody's congratulations. It is a +most appropriate match." + +"I agree with you--a beautiful triangular alliteration of wit, wealth, +and wickedness," observed the Prince. "He has brains, she has money, and +they are both as bad as possible." + +"I thought you used to like Donna Tullia," said Corona, suppressing a +smile. + +"I did," said old Saracinesea, stoutly. "I wanted Giovanni to marry her. +It has pleased Providence to avert that awful catastrophe. I liked Madame +Mayer because she was rich and noisy and good-looking, and I thought +that, as Giovanni's wife, she would make the house gay. We are such a +pair of solemn bears together, that it seemed appropriate that somebody +should make us dance. It was a foolish idea, I confess, though I thought +it very beautiful at the time. It merely shows how liable we are to make +mistakes. Imagine Giovanni married to a lunatic!" + +"I repeat that she is not mad," said Giovanni. "I cannot tell how they +have managed it, but I am sure it has been managed well, and will give us +trouble. You will see." + +"I do not understand at all how there can be any trouble about it," said +Corona, proudly. "It is perfectly simple for us to tell the truth, and to +show that what they say is a lie. You can prove easily enough that you +were in Canada at the time. I wish it were time for her to come. Let us +go to breakfast in the meanwhile." + +The views taken by the three were characteristic of their various +natures. The old Prince, who was violent of temper, and inclined always +to despise an enemy in any shape, scoffed at the idea that there was +anything to show; and though his natural wit suggested from time to time +that there was a plot against his son, his general opinion was, that it +was a singular case of madness. He hardly believed Donna Tullia would +appear at all; and if she did, he expected some extraordinary outburst, +some pitiable exhibition of insanity. Corona, on the other hand, +maintained a proud indifference, scorning to suppose that anything could +possibly injure Giovanni in any way, loving him too entirely to admit +that he was vulnerable at all, still less that he could possibly have +done anything to give colour to the accusation brought against him. +Giovanni alone of all the three foresaw that there would be trouble, and +dimly guessed how the thing had been done; for he did not fall into his +father's error of despising an enemy, and he had seen too much of the +world not to understand that danger is often greatest when the appearance +of it is least. + +Breakfast was hardly over when Donna Tullia was announced. All rose to +meet her, and all looked at her with equal interest. She was calmer than +on the previous day, and she carried a package of papers in her hand. +Her red lips were compressed, and her eyes looked defiantly round upon +all present. Whatever might be her faults, she was not a coward when +brought face to face with danger. She was determined to carry the matter +through, both because she knew that she had no other alternative, and +because she believed herself to be doing a righteous act, which, at the +same time, fully satisfied her desire for vengeance. She came forward +boldly and stood beside the table in the midst of the room. Corona was +upon one side of the fireplace, and the two Saracinesea upon the other. +All three held their breath in expectation of what Donna Tullia was about +to say; the sense of her importance impressed her, and her love of +dramatic situations being satisfied, she assumed something of the air of +a theatrical avenging angel, and her utterance was rhetorical. + +"I come here," she said, "at your invitation, to exhibit to your eyes the +evidence of what I yesterday asserted--the evidence of the monstrous +crime of which I accuse that man." Here she raised her finger with a +gesture of scorn, and extending her whole arm, pointed towards Giovanni. + +"Madam," interrupted the old Prince, "I will trouble you to select your +epithets and expressions with more care. Pray be brief, and show what you +have brought." + +"I will show it, indeed," replied Donna Tullia, "and you shall tremble at +what you see. When you have evidence of the truth of what I say, you may +choose any language you please to define the action of your son. These +documents," she said, holding up the package, "are attested copies made +from the originals--the first two in the possession of the curate of the +church of San Bernardino da Siena, at Aquila, the other in the office of +the Stato Civile in the same city. As they are only copies, you need not +think that you will gain anything by destroying them." + +"Spare your comments upon our probable conduct," interrupted the Prince, +roughly. Donna Tullia eyed him with a scornful glance, and her face began +to grow red. + +"You may destroy them if you please," she repeated; "but I advise you to +observe that they bear the Government stamp and the notarial seal of +Gianbattista Caldani, notary public in the city of Aquila, and that they +are, consequently, beyond all doubt genuine copies of genuine documents." + +Donna Tullia proceeded to open the envelope and withdraw the three papers +it contained. Spreading them out, she took up the first, which contained +the extract from the curate's book of banns. It set forth that upon the +three Sundays preceding the 19th of June 1863, the said curate had +published, in the parish church of San Bernardino da Siena, the banns of +marriage between Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi. Donna Tullia read +it aloud. + +Giovanni could hardly suppress a laugh, it sounded so strangely. Corona +herself turned pale, though she firmly believed the whole thing to be an +imposture of some kind. + +"Permit me, madam," said old Saracinesca, stepping forward and taking the +paper from her hand. He carefully examined the seal and stamp. "It is +very cleverly done," he said with a sneer; "but there should be only +one letter _r_ in the name Saracinesca--here it is spelt with two! Very +clever, but a slight mistake! Observe," he said, showing the place to +Donna Tullia. + +"It is a mistake of the copyist," she said, scornfully. "The name is +properly spelt in the other papers. Here is the copy of the marriage +register. Shall I read it also?" + +"Spare me the humiliation," said Giovanni, in quiet contempt. "Spare me +the unutterable mortification of discovering that there is another +Giovanni Saracinesca in the world!" + +"I could not have believed that any one could be so hardened," said Donna +Tullia. "But whether you are humiliated or not by the evidence of your +misdeeds, I will spare you nothing. Here it is in full, and you may +notice that your name is spelt properly too." + +She held up the document and then read it out--the copy of the curate's +register, stating that on the 19th of June 1863 Giovanni Saracinesca and +Felice Baldi were united in holy matrimony in the church of San +Bernardino da Siena. She handed the paper to the Prince, and then read +the extract from the register of the Civil marriage and the notary's +attestation to the signatures. She gave this also to old Saracinesca, and +then folding her arms in a fine attitude, confronted the three. + +"Are you satisfied that I spoke the truth?" she asked, defiantly. + +"The thing is certainly remarkably well done," answered the old Prince, +who scrutinised the papers with a puzzled air. Though he knew perfectly +well that his son had been in Canada at the time of this pretended +marriage, he confessed to himself that if such evidence had been brought +against any other man, he would have believed it. + +"It is a shameful fraud!" exclaimed Corona, looking at the papers over +the old man's shoulder. + +"That is a lie!" cried Donna Tullia, growing scarlet with anger. + +"Do not forget your manners, or you will get into trouble," said +Giovanni, sternly. "I see through the whole thing. There has been no +fraud, and yet the deductions are entirely untrue. In the first place, +Donna Tullia, how do you make the statements here given to coincide with +the fact that during the whole summer of 1863 and during the early part +of 1864 I was in Canada with a party of gentlemen, who are all alive to +testify to the fact?" + +"I do not believe it," answered Madame Mayer, contemptuously. "I would +not believe your friends if they were here and swore to it. You will very +likely produce witnesses to prove that you were in the arctic regions +last summer, as the newspapers said, whereas every one knows now that you +were at Saracinesca. You are exceedingly clever at concealing your +movements, as we all know." + +Giovanni did not lose his temper, but calmly proceeded to demonstrate his +theory. + +"You will find that the courts of law will accept the evidence of +gentlemen upon oath," he replied, quietly. "Moreover, as a further +evidence, and a piece of very singular proof, I can probably produce +Giovanni Saracinesca and Felice Baldi themselves to witness against you. +And I apprehend that the said Giovanni Saracinesca will vehemently +protest that the said Felice Baldi is his wife, and not mine." + +"You speak in wonderful riddles, but you will not deceive me. Money will +doubtless do much, but it will not do what you expect." + +"Certainly not," returned Giovanni, unmoved by her reply. "Money will +certainly not create out of nothing a second Giovanni Saracinesca, nor +his circle of acquaintances, nor the police registers concerning him +which are kept throughout the kingdom of Italy, very much as they are +kept here in the Pontifical States. Money will do none of these things." + +While he was speaking, his father and the Duchessa listened with intense +interest. + +"Donna Tullia," continued Giovanni, "I am willing to believe from your +manner that you are really sure that I am the man mentioned in your +papers; but permit me to inform you that you have been made the victim of +a shallow trick, probably by the person who gave those same papers into +your hands, and suggested to you the use you have made of them." + +"I? I, the victim of a trick?" repeated Donna Tullia, frightened at last +by his obstinately calm manner. + +"Yes," he replied. "I know Aquila and the Abruzzi very well. It +chances that although we, the Saracinesca of Rome, are not numerous, +the name is not uncommon in that part of the country. It is the same +with all our great names. There are Colonna, Orsini, Caetani all over the +country--there are even many families bearing the name of the Medici, who +are extinct. You know it as well as I, or you should know it, for I +believe your mother was my father's cousin. Has it not struck you that +this same Giovanni Saracinesca herein mentioned, is simply some low-born +namesake of mine?" + +Donna Tullia had grown very pale, and she leaned upon the table as though +she were faint. The others listened breathlessly. + +"I do not believe it," said Madame Mayer, in a low and broken voice. + +"Now I will tell you what I will do," continued Giovanni. "I will go to +Aquila at once, and I daresay my father will accompany me--" + +"Of course I will," broke in the old Prince. + +"We will go, and in a fortnight's time we will produce the whole history +of this Giovanni Saracinesca, together with his wife and himself in his +own person, if they are both alive; we will bring them here, and they +will assure you that you have been egregiously deceived, played upon and +put in a false position by--by the person who furnished you with these +documents. I wonder that any Roman of common-sense should not have seen +at once the cause of this mistake." + +"I cannot believe it," murmured Donna Tullia. Then raising her voice, she +added, "Whatever may be the result of your inquiry, I cannot but feel +that I have done my duty in this affair. I do not believe in your theory, +nor in you, and I shall not, until you produce this other man. I have +done my duty--" + +"An exceedingly painful one, no doubt," remarked old Saracinesca. Then he +broke into a loud peal of laughter. + +"And if you do not succeed in your search, it will be my duty, in the +interests of society, to put the matter in the hands of the police. Since +you have the effrontery to say that those papers are of no use, I demand +them back." + +"Not at all, madam," replied the Prince, whose laughter subsided at the +renewed boldness of her tone. "I will not give them back to you. I intend +to compare them with the originals. If there are no originals, they will +serve very well to commit the notary whose seal is on them, and yourself, +upon a well-founded indictment for forgery, wilful calumniation, and a +whole list of crimes sufficient to send you to the galleys for life. If, +on the other hand, the originals exist, they can be of no possible value +to you, as you can send to Aquila and have fresh copies made whenever you +please, as you yourself informed me." + +Things were taking a bad turn for Donna Tullia. She believed the papers +to be genuine, but a fearful doubt crossed her mind that Del Ferice might +possibly have deceived her by having them manufactured. Anybody +could buy Government paper, and it would be but a simple matter to have a +notary's seal engraved. She was terrified at the idea, but there was no +possibility of getting the documents back from the old Prince, who held +them firmly in his broad brown hand. There was nothing to be done but to +face the situation out to the end and go. + +"As you please," she said. "It is natural that you should insult me, a +defenceless woman trying to do what is right. It is worthy of your race +and reputation. I will leave you to the consideration of the course you +intend to follow, and I advise you to omit nothing which can help to +prove the innocence of your son." + +Donna Tullia bestowed one more glance of contemptuous defiance upon the +group, and brushed angrily out of the room. + +"So much for her madness!" exclaimed Giovanni, when she was gone. "I +think I have got to the bottom of that affair." + +"It seems so simple, and yet I never thought of it," said Corona. "How +clever you are, Giovanni!" + +"There was not much cleverness needed to see through so shallow a trick," +replied Giovanni. "I suspected it this morning; and when I saw that the +documents were genuine and all in order, I was convinced of it. This +thing has been done by Del Ferice, I suppose in order to revenge himself +upon me for nearly killing him in fair fight. It was a noble plan. With a +little more intelligence and a little more pains, he could have given me +great trouble. Certificates like those he produced, if they had come from +a remote French village in Canada, would have given us occupation for +some time." + +"I wish Donna Tullia joy of her husband," remarked the Prince. "He will +spend her money in a year or two, and then leave her to the contemplation +of his past extravagance. I wonder how he induced her to consent." + +"Many people like Del Ferice," said Giovanni. "He is popular, and has +attractions." + +"How can you say that!" exclaimed Corona, indignantly. "You should have a +better opinion of women than to think any woman could find attractions in +such a man." + +"Nevertheless, Donna Tullia is going to marry him," returned Giovanni. +"She must find him to her taste. I used to think she might have married +Valdarno--he is so good-natured, you know!" + +Giovanni spoke in a tone of reflection; the other two laughed. + +"And now, Giovannino," said his father, "we must set out for Aquila, and +find your namesake." + +"You will not really go?" asked Corona, with a look of disappointment. +She could not bear the thought of being separated even for a day from the +man she loved. + +"I do not see that we can do anything else," returned the Prince. "I must +satisfy myself whether those papers are forgeries or not. If they are, +that woman must go to prison for them." + +"But she is our cousin--you cannot do that," objected Giovanni. + +"Indeed I will. I am angry. Do not try to stop me. Do you suppose I care +anything for the relationship in comparison with repaying her for all +this trouble? You are not going to turn merciful, Giovanni? I should not +recognise you." + +There was a sort of mournful reproach about the old Prince's tone, as +though he were reproving his son for having fallen from the paths of +virtue. Corona laughed; she was not hard-hearted, but she was not so +angelic of nature as to be beyond feeling deep and lasting resentment +for injuries received. At that moment the idea of bringing Donna Tullia +to justice was pleasant. + +"Well," said Giovanni, "no human being can boast of having ever prevented +you from doing whatever you were determined to do. The best thing that +can happen will be, that you should find the papers genuine, and my +namesake alive. I wish Aquila were Florence or Naples," he added, turning +to Corona; "you might manage to go at the same time." + +"That is impossible," she answered, sadly. "How long will you be gone, do +you think?" + +Giovanni did not believe that, if the papers were genuine, and if they +had to search for the man mentioned in them, they could return in less +than a fortnight. + +"Why not send a detective--a _sbirro_?" suggested Corona. + +"He could not accomplish anything," replied the Prince. + +"He would be at a great disadvantage there; we must go ourselves." + +"Both?" asked Corona, regretfully, gazing at Giovanni's face. + +"It is my business," replied the latter. "I can hardly ask my father to +go alone." + +"Absurd!" exclaimed the old Prince, resenting the idea that he needed any +help to accomplish his mission. "Do you think I need some one to take +care of me, like a baby in arms? I will go alone; you shall not come even +if you wish it. Absurd, to talk of my needing anybody with me! I will +show you what your father can do when his blood is up." + +Protestations were useless after that. The old man grew angry at the +opposition, and, regardless of all propriety, seized his hat and left the +room, growling that he was as good as anybody, and a great deal better. + +Corona and Giovanni looked at each other when he was gone, and smiled. + +"I believe my father is the best man alive," said Giovanni. "He would go +in a moment if I would let him. I will go after him and bring him back--I +suppose I ought." + +"I suppose so," answered Corona; but as they stood side by side, she +passed her hand under his arm affectionately, and looked into his eyes. +It was a very tender look, very loving and gentle--such a look as none +but Giovanni had ever seen upon her face. He put his arm about her waist +and drew her to him, and kissed her dark cheek. + +"I cannot bear to go away and leave you, even for a day," he said, +pressing her to his side. + +"Why should you?" she murmured, looking up to him. "Why should he go, +after all? This has been such a silly affair. I wonder if that woman +thought that anything could ever come between you and me? That was what +made me think she was really mad." + +"And an excellent reason," he answered. "Anybody must be insane who +dreams of parting us two. It seems as though a year ago I had not loved +you at all." + +"I am so glad," said Corona. "Do you remember, last summer, on the tower +at Saracinesca, I told you that you did not know what love was?" + +"It was true, Corona--I did not know. But I thought I did. I never +imagined what the happiness of love was, nor how great it was, nor how it +could enter into every thought." + +"Into every thought? Into your great thoughts too?" + +"If any thoughts of mine are great, they are so because you are the +mainspring of them," he answered. + +"Will it always be so?" she asked. "You will be a very great man some +day, Giovanni; will you always feel that I am something to you?" + +"Always--more than anything to me, more than all of me together." + +"I sometimes wonder," said Corona. "I think I understand you better than +I used to do. I like to think that you feel how I understand you when you +tell me anything. Of course I am not clever like you, but I love you so +much that just while you are talking I seem to understand everything. It +is like a flash of light in a dark room." + +Giovanni kissed her again. + +"What makes you think that I shall be great, Corona? Nobody ever thinks I +am even clever. My father would laugh at you, and say it is quite enough +greatness to be born a Saracinesca. What makes you think it?" + +Corona stood up beside him and laid her delicate hand upon his thick, +close-cut black hair, and gazed into his eyes. + +"I know it," she said. "I know it, because I love you so. A man like you +must be great. There is something in you that nobody guesses but I, that +will amaze people some day--I know it." + +"I wonder if you could tell me what it is? I wonder if it is really there +at all?" said Giovanni. + +"It is ambition," said Corona, gravely. "You are the most ambitious man I +ever knew, and nobody has found it out." + +"I believe it is true, Corona," said Giovanni, turning away and leaning +upon the chimneypiece, his head supported on one hand. "I believe you are +right. I am ambitious: if I only had the brains that some men have I +would do great things." + +"You are wrong, Giovanni. It is neither brains nor ambition nor strength +that you lack--it is opportunity." + +"They say that a man who has anything in him creates opportunities for +himself," answered Giovanni, rather sadly. "I fear it is because I really +have nothing in me that I can do nothing. It sometimes makes me very +unhappy to think so. I suppose that is because my vanity is wounded." + +"Do not talk like that," said Corona. "You have vanity, of course, but it +is of the large kind, and I call it ambition. It is not only because I +love you better than any man was ever loved before that I say that. It is +that I know it instinctively I have heard you say that these are +unsettled times. Wait; your opportunity will come, as it came often to +your forefathers in other centuries." + +"I hardly think that their example is a good one," replied Giovanni, with +a smile. + +"They generally did something remarkable in remarkable times," said +Corona. "You will do the same. Your father, for instance, would not." + +"He is far more clever than I," objected Giovanni. + +"Clever! It passes for cleverness. He is quick, active, a good talker, a +man with a ready wit and a sharp answer--kind-hearted when the fancy +takes him, cruel when he is so disposed--but not a man of great +convictions or of great actions. You are very different from him." + +"Will you draw my portrait, Corona?" asked Giovanni. + +"As far as I know you. You are a man quick to think and slow to make a +decision. You are not brilliant in conversation--you see I do not flatter +you; I am just. You have the very remarkable quality of growing cold +when others grow hot, and of keeping the full use of your faculties in +any situation. When you have made a decision, you cannot be moved from +it; but you are open to conviction in argument. You have a great repose +of manner, which conceals a very restless brain. All your passions are +very strong. You never forgive, never forget, and scarcely ever repent. +Beneath all, you have an untamable ambition which has not yet found its +proper field. Those are your qualities--and I love them all, and you +more than them all." + +Corona finished her speech by throwing her arms round his neck, and +breaking into a happy laugh as she buried her face upon his shoulder. No +one who saw her in the world would have believed her capable of those +sudden and violent demonstrations--she was thought so very cold. + +When Giovanni reached home, he was informed that his father had left Rome +an hour earlier by the train for Terni, leaving word that he had gone to +Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +In those days the railroad did not extend beyond Terni in the direction +of Aquila, and it was necessary to perform the journey of forty miles +between those towns by diligence. It was late in the afternoon of the +next day before the cumbrous coach rolled up to the door of the Locanda +del Sole in Aquila, and Prince Saracinesca found himself at his +destination. The red evening sun gilded the snow of the Gran Sasso +d'Italia, the huge domed mountain that towers above the city of +Frederick. The city itself had long been in the shade, and the spring +air was sharp and biting. Saracinesca deposited his slender luggage with +the portly landlord, said he would return for supper in half an hour, and +inquired the way to the church of San Bernardino da Siena. There was +no difficulty in finding it, at the end of the Corso--the inevitable +"Corso" of every Italian town. The old gentleman walked briskly along the +broad, clean street, and reached the door of the church just as the +sacristan was hoisting the heavy leathern curtain, preparatory to locking +up for the night. + +"Where can I find the Padre Curato?" inquired the Prince. The man looked +at him but made no answer, and proceeded to close the doors with great +care. He was an old man in a shabby cassock, with four days' beard on +his face, and he appeared to have taken snuff recently. + +"Where is the Curator?" repeated the Prince, plucking him by the sleeve. +But the man shook his head, and began turning the ponderous key in the +lock. Two little ragged boys were playing a game upon the church steps, +piling five chestnuts in a heap and then knocking them down with a small +stone. One of them having upset the heap, desisted and came near the +Prince. + +"That one is deaf," he said, pointing to the sacristan. Then running +behind, him he stood on tiptoe and screamed in his ear--"_Brutta +bestia_!" + +The sacristan did not hear, but caught sight of the urchin and made a +lunge at him. He missed him, however, and nearly fell over. + +"What education!--_che educazione_!" cried the old man, angrily. + +Meanwhile the little boy took refuge behind Saracinesca, and pulling his +coat asked for a _soldo_. The sacristan calmly withdrew the key from the +lock, and went away without vouchsafing a look to the Prince. + +"He is deaf," screamed the little boy, who was now joined by his +companion, and both in great excitement danced round the fine gentleman. + +"Give me a _soldo_," they yelled together. + +"Show me the house of the Padre Curato," answered the Prince, "then I +will give you each a _soldo. Lesti!_ Quick!" + +Whereupon both the boys began turning cart-wheels on their feet and hands +with marvellous dexterity. At last they subsided into a natural position, +and led the way to the curate's house, not twenty yards from the church, +in a narrow alley. The Prince pulled the bell by the long chain which +hung beside the open street door, and gave the boys the promised coppers. +They did not leave him, however, but stood by to see what would happen. +An old woman looked out of an upper window, and after surveying the +Prince with care, called down to him-- + +"What do you want?" + +"Is the Padre Curato at home?" + +"Of course he is at home," screamed the old woman, "At this hour!" she +added, contemptuously. + +"_Ebbene_--can I see him?" + +"What! is the door shut?" returned the hag. + +"No." + +"Then why don't you come up without asking?" The old woman's head +disappeared, and the window was shut with a clattering noise. + +"She is a woman without education," remarked one of the ragged boys, +making a face towards the closed window. + +The Prince entered the door and stumbled up the dark stairs, and after +some further palaver obtained admittance to the curate's lodging. The +curate sat in a room which appeared to serve as dining-room, living-room, +and study. A small table was spread with a clean cloth, upon which were +arranged a plate, a loaf of bread, a battered spoon, a knife, and a small +measure of thin-looking wine. A brass lamp with three wicks, one of which +only was burning, shed a feeble light through the poor apartment. Against +the wall stood a rough table with an inkstand and three or four mouldy +books. Above this hung a little black cross bearing a brass Christ, and +above this again a coloured print of San Bernardino of Siena. The walls +were whitewashed, and perfectly clean,--as indeed was everything +else in the room,--and there was a sweet smell of flowers from a huge pot +of pinks which had been taken in for the night, and stood upon the stone +sill within the closed window. + +The curate was a tall old man, with a singularly gentle face and soft +brown eyes. He wore a threadbare cassock, carefully brushed; and from +beneath his three-cornered black cap his thin hair hung in a straight +grey fringe. As the Prince entered the room, the old woman called +over his shoulder to the priest an uncertain formula of introduction. + +"Don Paolo, _c'e uno_--there is one." Then she retired, grumbling +audibly. + +The priest removed his cap, and bowing politely, offered one of the two +chairs to his visitor. With an apology, he replaced his cap upon his +head, and seated himself opposite the Prince. There was much courteous +simplicity in his manner. + +"In what way can I serve you, Signore?" he asked. + +"These papers," answered the Prince, drawing the famous envelope from his +breast-pocket, "are copies of certain documents in your keeping, relating +to the supposed marriage of one Giovanni Saracinesca. With your very kind +permission, I desire to see the originals." + +The old curate bowed, as though giving his assent, and looked steadily at +his visitor for a moment before he answered. + +"There is nothing simpler, my good sir. You will pardon me, however, if I +venture to inquire your name, and to ask you for what purpose you desire +to consult the documents?" + +"I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome--" + +The priest started uneasily. + +"A relation of Giovanni Saracinesca?" he inquired. Then he added +immediately, "Will you kindly excuse me for one moment?" and left the +room abruptly. The Prince was considerably astonished, but he held his +papers firmly in his hand, and did not move from his seat. The curate +returned in a few seconds, bringing with him a little painted porcelain +basket, much chipped and the worse for age, and which contained a +collection of visiting-cards. There were not more than a score of them, +turning brown with accumulated dust. The priest found one which was +rather newer than the rest, and after carefully adjusting a pair of huge +spectacles upon his nose, he went over to the lamp and examined it. + +"'Il Conte del Ferice,'" he read slowly. "Do you happen to know that +gentleman, my good sir?" he inquired, turning to the Prince, and looking +keenly at him over his glasses. + +"Certainly," answered Saracinesca, beginning to understand the situation. +"I know him very well." + +"Ah, that is good!" said the priest. "He was here two years ago, +and had those same entries concerning Giovanni Saracinesca copied. +Probably--certainly, indeed--the papers you have there are the very ones +he took away with him. When he came to see me about it, he gave me this +card." + +"I wonder he did," answered Saracinesca. + +"Indeed," replied the curate, after a moment's thought, "I remember that +he came the next day--yes--and asked to have his card returned. But I +could not find it for him. There was a hole in one of my pockets--it had +slipped down. Carmela, my old servant, found it a day or two later in the +lining of my cassock. I thought it strange that he should have asked for +it." + +"It was very natural. He wished you to forget his existence." + +"He asked me many questions about Giovanni," said the priest, "but I +could not answer him at that time." + +"You could answer now?" inquired the Prince, eagerly. + +"Excuse me, my good sir; what relation are you to Giovanni? You say you +are from Rome?" + +"Let us understand each other, Signor Curato," said Saracinesca. "I +see I had better explain the position. I am Leone Saracinesca, the prince +of that name, and the head of the family." The priest bowed respectfully +at this intelligence. "My only son lives with me in Rome--he is now +there--and his name is Giovanni Saracinesca. He is engaged to be married. +When the engagement became known, an enemy of the family attempted to +prove, by means of these papers, that he was married already to a certain +Felice Baldi. Now I wish to know who this Giovanni Saracinesca is, where +he is, and how he comes to have my son's name. I wish a certificate or +some proof that he is not my son,--that he is alive, or that he is dead +and buried." + +The old priest burst into a genial laugh, and rubbed his hands together +in delight. + +"My dear sir--your Excellency, I mean--I baptised Felice Baldi's second +baby a fortnight ago! There is nothing simpler--" + +"I knew it!" cried the Prince, springing from his chair in great +excitement; "I knew it! Where is that baby? Send and get the baby at +once--the mother--the father--everybody!" + +"_Subito!_ At once--or come with me. I will show you the whole family +together," said the curate, in innocent delight. "Splendid children they +are, too. Carmela, my cloak--_sbrigati_, be quick!" + +"One moment," objected Saracinesca, as though suddenly recollecting +something. "One moment, Sign or Curato; who goes slowly goes safely. +Where does this man come from, and how does he come by his name? I would +like to know something about him before I see him." + +"True," answered the priest, resuming his seat. "I had forgotten. Well, +it is not a long story. Giovanni Saracinesca is from Naples. You know +there was once a branch of your family in the Neapolitan kingdom--at +least so Giovanni says, and he is an honest fellow. Their title was +Marchese di San Giacinto; and if Giovanni liked to claim it, he has a +right to the title still." + +"But those Saracinesca were extinct fifty years ago," objected the +Prince, who knew his family history very well. + +"Giovanni says they were not. They were believed to be. The last Marchese +di San Giacinto fought under Napoleon. He lost all he possessed--lands, +money, everything--by confiscation, when Ferdinand was restored in 1815. +He was a rough man; he dropped his title, married a peasant's only +daughter, became a peasant himself, and died obscurely in a village near +Salerno. He left a son who worked on the farm and inherited it from his +mother, married a woman of the village of some education, and died of the +cholera, leaving his son, the present Giovanni Saracinesca. This Giovanni +received a better education than his father had before him, improved his +farm, began to sell wine and oil for exportation, travelled as far as +Aquila, and met Felice Baldi, the daughter of a man of some wealth, who +has since established an inn here. Giovanni loved her. I married them. He +went back to Naples, sold his farm for a good price last year, and +returned to Aquila. He manages his father-in-law's inn, which is the +second largest here, and drives a good business, having put his own +capital into the enterprise. They have two children, the second one of +which was born three weeks ago, and they are perfectly happy." + +Saracinesca looked thoughtfully at Don Paolo, the old curate. + +"Has this man any papers to prove the truth of this very singular story?" +he inquired at last. + +"_Altro!_ That was all his grandfather left--a heap of parchments. They +seem to be in order--he showed them to me when I married him." + +"Why does he make no claim to have the attainder of his grandfather +reversed?" + +The curate shrugged his shoulders and spread out the palms of his hands, +smiling incredulously. + +"The lands, he says, have fallen into the hands of certain patriots. +There is no chance of getting them back. It is of little use to be a +Marchese without property. What he possesses is a modest competence; it +is wealth, even, in his present position. For a nobleman it would be +nothing. Besides, he is half a peasant by blood and tradition." + +"He is not the only nobleman in that position," laughed Saracinesca. "But +are you aware--" + +He stopped short. He was going to say that if he himself and his son both +died, the innkeeper of Aquila would become Prince Saracinesca. The idea +shocked him, and he kept it to himself. + +"After all," he continued, "the man is of my blood by direct descent. I +would like to see him." + +"Nothing easier. If you will come with me, I will present him to your +Excellency," said the priest. "Do you still wish to see the documents?" + +"It is useless. The mystery is solved. Let us go and see this new-found +relation of mine." + +Don Paolo wrapped his cloak around him, and ushering his guest from the +room, led the way down-stairs. He carried a bit of wax taper, which he +held low to the steps, frequently stopping and warning the Prince to be +careful. It was night when they went out. The air was sharp and cold, and +Saracinesca buttoned his greatcoat to his throat as he strode by the side +of the old priest. The two walked on in silence for ten minutes, keeping +straight down the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. At last the curate stopped +before a clean, new house, from the windows of which the bright light +streamed into the street. Don Paolo motioned to the Prince to enter, and +followed him in. A man in a white apron, with his arms full of plates, +who was probably servant, butler, boots, and factotum to the +establishment, came out of the dining-room, which was to the left of the +entrance, and which, to judge by the noise, seemed to be full of people. +He looked at the curate, and then at the Prince. + +"Sorry to disappoint you, Don Paolo _mio_," he said, supposing the priest +had brought a customer--"very sorry; there is not a bed in the house." + +"That is no matter, Giacchino," answered the curate. "We want to see Sor +Giovanni for a moment." The man disappeared, and a moment later Sor +Giovanni himself came down the passage. + +"_Favorisca_, dear Don Paolo, come in." And he bowed to the Prince as he +opened the door which led into a small sitting-room reserved for the +innkeeper's family. + +When they had entered, Saracinesca looked at his son's namesake. He saw +before him a man whose face and figure he long remembered with an +instinctive dislike. Giovanni the innkeeper was of a powerful build. Two +generations of peasant blood had given renewed strength to the old race. +He was large, with large bones, vast breadth of shoulder, and massive +joints; lean withal, and brown of face, his high cheek-bones making his +cheeks look hollow; clean shaved, his hair straight and black and neatly +combed; piercing black eyes near together, the heavy eyebrows joining +together in the midst of his forehead; thin and cruel lips, now parted in +a smile and showing a formidable set of short, white, even teeth; a +prominent square jaw, and a broad, strong nose, rather unnaturally +pointed,--altogether a striking face, one that would be noticed in a +crowd for its strength, but strangely cunning in expression, and not +without ferocity. Years afterwards Saracinesca remembered his first +meeting with Giovanni the innkeeper, and did not wonder that his first +impulse had been to dislike the man. At present, however, he looked at +him with considerable curiosity, and if he disliked him at first sight, +he told himself that it was beneath him to show antipathy for an +innkeeper. + +"Sor Giovanni," said the curate, "this gentleman is desirous of making +your acquaintance." + +Giovanni, whose manners were above his station, bowed politely, and +looked inquiringly at his visitor. + +"Signor Saracinesca," said the Prince, "I am Leone Saracinesca of Rome. I +have just heard of your existence. We have long believed your family to +be extinct--I am delighted to find it still represented, and by one who +seems likely to perpetuate the name." + +The innkeeper fixed his piercing eyes on the speaker's face, and looked +long before he answered. + +"So you are Prince Saracinesca," he said, gravely. + +"And you are the Marchese di San Giacinto," said the Prince, in the same +tone, holding out his hand frankly. + +"Pardon me,--I am Giovanni Saracinesca, the innkeeper of Aquila," +returned the other. But he took the Prince's hand. Then they all sat +down. + +"As you please," said the Prince. "The title is none the less yours. If +you had signed yourself with it when you married, you would have saved me +a vast deal of trouble; but on the other hand, I should not have been +so fortunate as to meet you." + +"I do not understand," said Giovanni. + +The Prince told his story in as few words as possible. + +"Amazing! extraordinary! what a chance!" ejaculated the curate, nodding +his old head from time to time while the Prince spoke, as though he had +not heard it all before. The innkeeper said nothing until old Saracinesca +had finished. + +"I see how it was managed," he said at last. "When that gentleman was +making inquiries, I was away. I had taken my wife back to Salerno, and my +wife's father had not yet established himself in Aquila. Signor Del--what +is his name?" + +"Del Ferice." + +"Del Ferice, exactly. He thought we had disappeared, and were not likely +to come back. Or else he is a fool." + +"He is not a fool," said Saracinesca. "He thought he was safe. It is all +very clear now. Well, Signor Marchese, or Signor Saracinesca, I am very +glad to have made your acquaintance. You have cleared up a very important +question by returning to Aquila. It will always give me the greatest +pleasure to serve you in any way I can." + +"A thousand thanks. Anything I can do for you during your stay--" + +"You are very kind. I will hire horses and return to Terni to-night. My +business in Rome is urgent. There is some suspense there in my absence." + +"You will drink a glass before going?" asked Giovanni; and without +waiting for an answer, he strode from the room. + +"And what does your Excellency think of your relation?" asked the curate, +when he was alone with the Prince. + +"A terrible-looking fellow! But--" The Prince made a face and a gesture +indicating a question in regard to the innkeeper's character. + +"Oh, do not be afraid," answered the priest. "He is the most honest man +alive." + +"Of course," returned the Prince, politely, "you have had many occasions +of ascertaining that." + +Giovanni, the innkeeper, returned with a bottle of wine and three +glasses, which he placed upon the table, and proceeded to fill. + +"By the by," said the Prince, "in the excitement I forgot to inquire for +your Signora. She is well, I hope?" + +"Thank you--she is very well," replied Giovanni, shortly. + +"A boy, I have no doubt?" + +"A splendid boy," answered the curate. "Sor Giovanni has a little girl, +too. He is a very happy man." + +"Your health," said the innkeeper, holding up his glass to the light. + +"And yours," returned the Prince. + +"And of all the Saracinesca family," said the curate, sipping his wine +slowly. He rarely got a glass of old Lacrima, and he enjoyed it +thoroughly. + +"And now," said the Prince, "I must be off. Many thanks for your +hospitality. I shall always remember with pleasure the day when I met an +unknown relation." + +"The Albergo di Napoli will not forget that Prince Saracinesca has been +its guest," replied Giovanni politely, a smile upon his thin lips. He +shook hands with both his guests, and ushered them out to the door with a +courteous bow. Before they had gone twenty yards in the street, the +Prince looked back and caught a last glimpse of Giovanni's towering +figure, standing upon the steps with the bright light falling upon it +from within. He remembered that impression long. + +At the door of his own inn he took leave of the good curate with many +expressions of thanks, and with many invitations to the Palazzo +Saracinesca, in case the old man ever visited Home. + +"I have never seen Rome, your Excellency," answered the priest, rather +sadly. "I am an old man--I shall never see it now." + +So they parted, and the Prince had a solitary supper of pigeons and salad +in the great dusky hall of the Locanda del Sole, while his horses were +being got ready for the long night-journey. + +The meeting and the whole clearing up of the curious difficulty had +produced a profound impression upon the old Prince. He had not the +slightest doubt but that the story of the curate was perfectly accurate. +It was all so very probable, too. In the wild times between 1806 and +1815 the last of the Neapolitan branch of the Saracinesca had +disappeared, and the rich and powerful Roman princes of the name had been +quite willing to believe the Marchesi di San Giacinto extinct. They had +not even troubled themselves to claim the title, for they possessed more +than fifty of their own, and there was no chance of recovering the San +Giacinto estate, already mortgaged, and more than half squandered at the +time of the confiscation. That the rough soldier of fortune should have +hidden himself in his native country after the return of Ferdinand, his +lawful king, against whom he had fought, was natural enough; as it was +also natural that, with his rough nature, he should accommodate himself +to a peasant's life, and marry a peasant's only daughter, with her +broad acres of orange and olive and vine land; for peasants in the far +south were often rich, and their daughters were generally beautiful--a +very different race from the starved tenants of the Roman Campagna. + +The Prince decided that the story was perfectly true, and he reflected +somewhat bitterly that unless his son had heirs after him, this herculean +innkeeper of Aquila was the lawful successor to his own title, and to all +the Saracinesca lands. He determined that Giovanni's marriage should not +be delayed another day, and with his usual impetuosity he hastened back +to Rome, hardly remembering that he had spent the previous night and all +that day upon the road, and that he had another twenty-four hours of +travel before him. + +At dawn his carriage stopped at a little town not far from the papal +frontier. Just as the vehicle was starting, a large man, muffled in a +huge cloak, from the folds of which protruded the long brown barrel of a +rifle, put his head into the window. The Prince started and grasped his +revolver, which lay beside him on the seat. + +"Good morning, Prince," said the man. "I hope you have slept well." + +"Sor Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "Where did you drop from?" + +"The roads are not very safe," returned the innkeeper. "So I thought it +best to accompany you. Good-bye--_buon viaggio_!" + +Before the Prince could answer, the carriage rolled off, the horses +springing forward at a gallop. Saracinesca put his head out of the +window, but his namesake had disappeared, and he rolled on towards Terni, +wondering at the innkeeper's anxiety for his safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Even old Saracinesca's iron strength was in need of rest when, at the end +of forty-eight hours, he again entered his son's rooms, and threw himself +upon the great divan. + +"How is Corona?" was his first question. + +"She is very anxious about you," returned Giovanni, who was himself +considerably disturbed. + +"We will go and set her mind at rest as soon as I have had something to +eat," said his father. + +"It is all right, then? It was just as I said--a namesake?" + +"Precisely. Only the namesake happens to be a cousin--the last of the San +Giacinto, who keeps an inn in Aquila. I saw him, and shook hands with +him." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Giovanni. "They are all extinct--" + +"There has been a resurrection," returned the Prince. He told the whole +story of his journey, graphically and quickly. + +"That is a very extraordinary tale," remarked Giovanni, thoughtfully. +"So, if I die without children the innkeeper will be prince." + +"Precisely. And now, Giovanni, you must be married next week." + +"As soon as you please--to-morrow if you like." + +"What shall we do with Del Ferice?" asked the old prince. + +"Ask him to the wedding," answered Giovanni, magnanimously. + +"The wedding will have to be a very quiet one, I suppose," remarked his +father, thoughtfully. "The year is hardly over--" + +"The more quiet the better, provided it is done quickly. Of course we +must consult Corona at once." + +"Do you suppose I am going to fix the wedding-day without consulting +her?" asked the old man. "For heaven's sake order dinner, and let us be +quick about it." + +The Prince was evidently in a hurry, and moreover, he was tired and +very hungry. An hour later, as both the men sat over the coffee in the +dining-room, his mood was mellower. A dinner at home has a wonderful +effect upon the temper of a man who has travelled and fared badly for +eight-and-forty hours. + +"Giovannino," said old Saracinesca, "have you any idea what the Cardinal +thinks of your marriage?" + +"No; and I do not care," answered the younger man. "He once advised me +not to marry Donna Tullia. He has not seen me often since then." + +"I have an idea that it will please him immensely," said the Prince. + +"It would be very much the same if it displeased him." + +"Very much the same. Have you seen Corona to-day?" + +"Yes--of course," answered Giovanni. + +"What is the use of my going with you this evening?" asked his father, +suddenly. "I should think you could manage your own affairs without my +help." + +"I thought that as you have taken so much trouble, you would enjoy +telling her the story yourself." + +"Do you think I am a vain fool, sir, to be amused by a woman's praise? +Nonsense! Go yourself." + +"By all means," answered Giovanni. He was used to his father's habit of +being quarrelsome over trifles, and he was much too happy to take any +notice of it now. + +"You are tired," he continued. "I am sure you have a right to be. You +must want to go to bed." + +"To bed indeed!" growled the old man. "Tired! You think I am good for +nothing; I know you do. You look upon me as a doting old cripple. I tell +you, boy, I can--" + +"For heaven's sake, _padre mio_, do precisely as you are inclined. I +never said--" + +"Never said what? Why are you always quarrelling with me?" roared his +father, who had not lost his temper for two days, and missed his +favourite exercise. + +"What day shall we fix upon?" asked Giovanni, unmoved. + +"Day! Any day. What do I care? Oh!--well, since you speak of it, you +might say a week from Sunday. To-day is Friday. But I do not care in the +least." + +"Very well--if Corona can get ready." + +"She shall be ready--she must be ready!" answered the old gentleman, in a +tone of conviction. "Why should she not be ready, I would like to know?" + +"No reason whatever," said Giovanni, with unusual mildness. + +"Of course not. There is never any reason in anything you say, you +unreasonable boy." + +"Never, of course." Giovanni rose to go, biting his lips to keep down a +laugh. + +"What the devil do you mean by always agreeing with me, you impertinent +scapegrace? And you are laughing, too--laughing at me, sir, as I live! +Upon my word!" + +Giovanni turned his back and lighted a cigar. Then, without looking +round, he walked towards the door. + +"Giovannino," called the Prince. + +"Well?" + +"I feel better now. I wanted to abuse somebody. Look here--wait a +moment." He rose quickly, and left the room. + +Giovanni sat down and smoked rather impatiently, looking at his watch +from time to time. In five minutes his father returned, bringing in his +hand an old red morocco case. + +"Give it to her with my compliments, my boy," he said. "They are some of +your mother's diamonds--just a few of them. She shall have the rest on +the wedding-day." + +"Thank you," said Giovanni, and pressed his father's hand. + +"And give her my love, and say I will call to-morrow at two o'clock," +added the Prince, now perfectly serene. + +With the diamonds under his arm, Giovanni went out. The sky was clear and +frosty, and the stars shone brightly, high up between the tall houses of +the narrow street. Giovanni had not ordered a carriage, and seeing how +fine the night was, he decided to walk to his destination. It was not +eight o'clock, and Corona would have scarcely finished dinner at that +hour. He walked slowly. As he emerged into the Piazza di Venezia some +one overtook him. + +"Good evening, Prince." Giovanni turned, and recognised Anastase Gouache, +the Zouave. + +"Ah, Gouache--how are you?" + +"I am going to pay you a visit," answered the Frenchman. + +"I am very sorry--I have just left home," returned Giovanni, in some +surprise. + +"Not at your house," continued Anastase. "My company is ordered to the +mountains. We leave to-morrow morning for Subiaco, and some of us are to +be quartered at Saracinesca." + +"I hope you will be among the number," said Giovanni. "I shall probably +be married next week, and the Duchessa wishes to go at once to the +mountains. We shall be delighted to see you." + +"Thank you very much. I will not fail to do myself the honour. My homage +to Madame la Duchesse. I must turn here. Good night." + +"_Au revoir_," said Giovanni, and went on his way. + +He found Corona in an inner sitting-room, reading beside a great +wood-fire. There were soft shades of lilac mingled with the black of her +dress. The year of mourning was past, and so soon as she could she +modified her widow's weeds into something less solemnly black. It +was impossible to wear funeral robes on the eve of her second marriage; +and the world had declared that she had shown an extraordinary degree of +virtue in mourning so long for a death which every one considered so +highly appropriate. Corona, however, felt differently. To her, her dead +husband and the man she now so wholly loved belonged to two totally +distinct classes of men. Her love, her marriage with Giovanni, seemed so +natural a consequence of her being left alone--so absolutely removed +from her former life--that, on the eve of her wedding, she could almost +wish that poor old Astrardente were alive to look as her friend upon her +new-found happiness. + +She welcomed Giovanni with a bright smile. She had not expected him that +evening, for he had been with her all the afternoon. She sprang to her +feet and came quickly to meet him. She almost unconsciously took the +morocco case from his hands, not looking at it, and hardly noticing what +she did. + +"My father has come back. It is all settled!" cried Giovanni. + +"So soon! He must have flown!" said she, making him sit down. + +"Yes, he has never rested, and he has found out all about it. It is a +most extraordinary story. By the by, he sends you affectionate messages, +and begs you to accept these diamonds. They were my mother's," he added, +his voice softening and changing. Corona understood his tone, and perhaps +realised, too, how very short the time now was. She opened the case +carefully. + +"They are very beautiful; your mother wore them, Giovanni?" She looked +lovingly at him, and then bending down kissed the splendid coronet as +though in reverence of the dead Spanish woman who had borne the man +she loved. Whereat Giovanni stole to her side, and kissed her own dark +hair very tenderly. + +"I was to tell you that there are a great many more," he said, "which my +father will offer you on the wedding--day." Then he kneeled down beside +her, and raising the crown from its case, set it with both his hands upon +her diadem of braids. + +"My princess!" he exclaimed. "How beautiful you are!" He took the great +necklace, and clasped it about her white throat. "Of course," he said, +"you have such splendid jewels of your own, perhaps you hardly care for +these and the rest. But I like to see you with them--it makes me feel +that you are really mine." + +Corona smiled happily, and gently took the coronet from her head, +returning it to its case. She let the necklace remain about her throat. + +"You have not told me about your father's discovery," she said, suddenly. + +"Yes--I will tell you." + +In a few minutes he communicated to her the details of the journey. She +listened with profound interest. + +"It is very strange," she said. "And yet it is so very natural." + +"You see it is all Del Ferice's doing," said Giovanni. "I suppose it was +really an accident in the first place; but he managed to make a great +deal of it. It is certainly very amusing to find that the last of the +other branch is an innkeeper in the Abruzzi. However, I daresay we +shall never hear of him again. He does not seem inclined to claim his +title. Corona _mia_, I have something much more serious to say to you +to-night." + +"What is it?" she asked, turning her great dark eyes rather wonderingly +to his face. + +"There is no reason why we should not be married, now--" + +"Do you think I ever believed there was?" she asked, reproachfully. + +"No, dear. Only--would you mind its being very soon?" + +The dark blood rose slowly to her cheek, but she answered without any +hesitation. She was too proud to hesitate. + +"Whenever you please, Giovanni. Only it must be very quiet, and we will +go straight to Saracinesca. If you agree to those two things, it shall be +as soon as you please." + +"Next week? A week from Sunday?" asked Giovanni, eagerly. + +"Yes--a week from Sunday. I would rather not go through the ordeal of a +long engagement. I cannot bear to have every one here, congratulating me +from morning till night, as they insist upon doing." + +"I will send the people out to Saracinesca to-morrow," said Giovanni, in +great delight. "They have been at work all winter, making the place +respectable." + +"Not changing, I hope?" exclaimed Corona, who dearly loved the old grey +walls. + +"Only repairing the state apartments. By the by, I met Gouache this +evening. He is going out with a company of Zouaves to hunt the brigands, +if there really are any." + +"I hope he will not come near us," answered Corona. "I want to be all +alone with you, Giovanni, for ever so long. Would you not rather be +alone for a little while?" she asked, looking up suddenly with a timid +smile. "Should I bore you very much?" + +It is unnecessary to record Giovanni's answer. If Corona longed to be +alone with him in the hills, Giovanni himself desired such a retreat +still more. To be out of the world, even for a month, seemed to him the +most delightful of prospects, for he was weary of the city, of society, +of everything save the woman he was about to marry. Of her he could never +tire; he could not imagine that in her company the days would ever seem +long, even in old Saracinesca, among the grey rocks of the Sabines. The +average man is gregarious, perhaps; but in strong minds there is often a +great desire for solitude, or at least for retirement, in the society of +one sympathetic soul. The instinct which bids such people leave the world +for a time is never permanent, unless they become morbid. It is a natural +feeling; and a strong brain gathers strength from communing with itself +or with its natural mate. There are few great men who have not at one +time or another withdrawn into solitude, and their retreat has generally +been succeeded by a period of extraordinary activity. Strong minds are +often, at some time or another, exposed to doubt and uncertainty +incomprehensible to a smaller intellect--due, indeed, to that very +breadth of view which contemplates the same idea from a vast number of +sides. To a man so endowed, the casting-vote of some one whom he loves, +and with whom he almost unconsciously sympathises, is sometimes necessary +to produce action, to direct the faculties, to guide the overflowing +flood of his thought into the mill-race of life's work. Without a certain +amount of prejudice to determine the resultant of its forces, many a +fine intellect would expend its power in burrowing among its own +labyrinths, unrecognised, misunderstood, unheard by the working-day world +without. For the working-day world never lacks prejudice to direct its +working. + +For some time Giovanni and Corona talked of their plans for the spring +and summer. They would read, they would work together at the schemes for +uniting and improving their estates; they would build that new road from +Astrardente to Saracinesca, concerning which there had been so much +discussion during the last year; they would visit every part of their +lands together, and inquire into the condition of every peasant; they +would especially devote their attention to extending the forest +enclosures, in which Giovanni foresaw a source of wealth for his +children; above all, they would talk to their hearts' content, and feel, +as each day dawned upon their happiness, that they were free to go where +they would, without being confronted at every turn by the troublesome +duties of an exigent society. + +At last the conversation turned again upon recent events, and especially +upon the part Del Ferice and Donna Tullia had played in attempting to +prevent the marriage. Corona asked what Giovanni intended to do about the +matter. + +"I do not see that there is much to be done," he answered. "I will go to +Donna Tullia to-morrow, and explain that there has been a curious +mistake--that I am exceedingly obliged to her for calling my attention to +the existence of a distant relative, but that I trust she will not in +future interfere in my affairs." + +"Do you think she will marry Del Ferice after all?" asked Corona. + +"Why not? Of course he gave her the papers. Very possibly he thought they +really proved my former marriage. She will perhaps blame him for her +failure, but he will defend himself, never fear; he will make her +marry him." + +"I wish they would marry and go away," said Corona to whom the very name +of Del Ferice was abhorrent, and who detested Donna Tullia almost as +heartily. Corona was a very good and noble woman, but she was very far +from that saintly superiority which forgets to resent injuries. Her +passions were eminently human, and very strong. She had struggled bravely +against her overwhelming love for Giovanni; and she had so far got the +mastery of herself, that she would have endured to the end if her +husband's death had not set her at liberty. Perhaps, too, while she felt +the necessity of fighting against that love, she attained for a time to +an elevation of character which would have made such personal injuries +as Donna Tullia could inflict seem insignificant in comparison with the +great struggle she sustained against an even greater evil. But in the +realisation of her freedom, in suddenly giving the rein to her nature, so +long controlled by her resolute will, all passion seemed to break out at +once with renewed force; and the conviction that her anger against her +two enemies was perfectly just and righteous, added fuel to the fire. Her +eyes gleamed fiercely as she spoke of Del Ferice and his bride, and no +punishment seemed too severe for those who had so treacherously tried to +dash the cup of her happiness from her very lips. + +"I wish they would marry," she repeated, "and I wish the Cardinal would +turn them out of Rome the next day." + +"That might be done," said Giovanni, who had himself revolved more than +one scheme of vengeance against the evil-doers. "The trouble is, that the +Cardinal despises Del Ferice and his political dilettanteism. He does not +care a fig whether the fellow remains in Rome or goes away. I confess it +would be a great satisfaction to wring the villain's neck." + +"You must not fight him again, Giovanni," said Corona, in sudden alarm. +"You must not risk your life now--you know it is mine now." She laid her +hand tenderly on his, and it trembled. + +"No, dearest--I certainly will not. But my father is very angry. I think +we may safely leave the treatment of Del Fence in his hands. My father is +a very sudden and violent man." + +"I know," replied Corona. "He is magnificent when he is angry. I have no +doubt he will settle Del Ferice's affairs satisfactorily." She laughed +almost fiercely. Giovanni looked at her anxiously, yet not without pride, +as he recognised in her strong anger something akin to himself. + +"How fierce you are!" he said, with a smile. + +"Have I not cause to be? Have I not cause to wish these people an +evil end? Have they not nearly separated us? Nothing is bad enough for +them--what is the use of pretending not to feel? You are calm, Giovanni? +Perhaps you are much stronger than I am. I do not think you realise what +they meant to do--to separate us--_us!_ As if any torture were bad enough +for them!" + +Giovanni had never seen her so thoroughly roused. He was angry himself, +and more than angry, for his cheek paled, and his stern features grew +more hard, while his voice dropped to a hoarser tone. + +"Do not mistake me, Corona," he said. "Do not think I am indifferent +because I am quiet. Del Ferice shall expiate all some day, and bitterly +too." + +"Indeed I hope so," answered Corona between her teeth. Had Giovanni +foreseen the long and bitter struggle he would one day have to endure +before that expiation was complete, he would very likely have renounced +his vengeance then and there, for his wife's sake. But we mortals see but +in a glass; and when the mirror is darkened by the master-passion of +hate, we see not at all. Corona and Giovanni, united, rich and powerful, +might indeed appear formidable to a wretch like Del Ferice, dependent +upon a system of daily treachery for the very bread he ate. But in those +days the wheel of fortune was beginning to turn, and far-sighted men +prophesied that many an obscure individual would one day be playing the +part of a great personage. Years would still elapse before the change, +but the change would surely come at last. + +Giovanni was very thoughtful as he walked home that night. He was happy, +and he had cause to be, for the long-desired day was at hand. He had +nearly attained the object of his life, and there was now no longer any +obstacle to be overcome. The relief he felt at his father's return was +very great; for although he had known that the impediment raised would be +soon removed, any impediment whatever was exasperating, and he could not +calculate the trouble that might be caused by the further machinations of +Donna Tullia and her affianced husband. All difficulties had, however, +been overcome by his father's energetic action, and at once Giovanni felt +as though a load had fallen from his shoulders, and a veil from his eyes. +He saw himself wedded to Corona in less than a fortnight, removed from +the sphere of society and of all his troubles, living for a space alone +with her in his ancestral home, calling her, at last, his wife. +Nevertheless he was thoughtful, and his expression was not one of +unmingled gladness, as he threaded the streets on his way home; for his +mind reverted to Del Ferice and to Donna Tullia, and Corona's fierce look +was still before him. He reflected that she had been nearly as much +injured as himself, that her wrath was legitimate, and that it was his +duty to visit her sufferings as well as his own upon the offenders. His +melancholic nature easily fell to brooding over any evil which was strong +enough to break the barrier of his indifference; and the annoyances which +had sprung originally from so small a cause had grown to gigantic +proportions, and had struck at the very roots of his happiness. + +He had begun by disliking Del Ferice in an indifferent way whenever he +chanced to cross his path. Del Ferice had resented this haughty +indifference as a personal insult, and had set about injuring Giovanni, +attempting to thwart him whenever he could. Giovanni had caught Del +Ferice in a dastardly trick, and had been so far roused as to take +summary vengeance upon him in the duel which tools place after the +Frangipani ball. The wound had entered into Ugo's soul, and his hatred +had grown the faster that he found no opportunity of revenge. Then, at +last, when Giovanni's happiness had seemed complete, his enemy had put +forward his pretended proof of a former marriage; knowing well enough +that his weapons were not invincible--were indeed very weak--but unable +to resist any longer the desire for vengeance. Once more Giovanni had +triumphed easily, but with victory came the feeling that it was his turn +to punish his adversary. And now there was a new and powerful motive +added to Giovanni's just resentment, in the anger his future wife felt +and had a good right to feel, at the treachery which had been practised +upon both. It had taken two years to rouse Giovanni to energetic action +against one whom he had in turn regarded with indifference, then +despised, then honestly disliked, and finally hated. But his hatred had +been doubled each time by a greater injury, and was not likely to be +easily satisfied. Nothing short of Del Fence's destruction would be +enough, and his destruction must be brought about by legal means. + +Giovanni had not far to seek for his weapons. He had long suspected Del +Ferice of treasonable practices; he did not doubt that with small +exertion he could find evidence to convict him. He would, then, allow him +to marry Donna Tullia; and on the day after the wedding, Del Ferice +should be arrested and lodged in the prison of the Holy Office as a +political delinquent of the meanest and most dangerous kind--as a +political spy. The determination was soon reached. It did not seem cruel +to Giovanni, for he was in a relentless mood; it would not have seemed +cruel to Corona,--Del Ferice had deserved all that, and more also. + +So Giovanni went home and slept the sleep of a man who has made up his +mind upon an important matter. And in the morning he rose early and +communicated his ideas to his father. The result was that they determined +for the present to avoid an interview with Donna Tullia, and to +communicate to her by letter the result of old Saracinesca's rapid +journey to Aquila. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +When Donna Tullia received Saracinesca's note, explaining the existence +of a second Giovanni, his pedigree and present circumstances, she almost +fainted with disappointment. It seemed to her that she had compromised +herself before the world, that all Rome knew the ridiculous part she had +played in Del Ferice's comedy, and that her shame would never be +forgotten. Suddenly she saw how she had been led away by her hatred of +Giovanni into believing blindly in a foolish tale which ought not to have +deceived a child. So soon as she learned the existence of a second +Giovanni Saracinesca, it seemed to her that she must have been mad not to +foresee such an explanation from the first. She had been duped, she had +been made a cat's-paw, she had been abominably deceived by Del Ferice, +who had made use of this worthless bribe in order to extort from her a +promise of marriage. She felt very ill, as very vain people often do +when they feel that they have been made ridiculous. She lay upon the +sofa in her little boudoir, where everything was in the worst possible +taste--from the gaudy velvet carpet and satin furniture to the gilt clock +on the chimney-piece--and she turned red and pale and red again, and +wished she were dead, or in Paris, or anywhere save in Rome. If she went +out she might meet one of the Saracinesca at any turn of the street, or +even Corona herself. How they would bow and smile sweetly at her, +enjoying her discomfiture with the polite superiority of people who +cannot be hurt! + +And she herself--she could not tell what she should do. She had announced +her engagement to Del Ferice, but she could not marry him. She had been +entrapped into making him a promise, into swearing a terrible oath; +but the Church did not consider such oaths binding. She would go to Padre +Filippo and ask his advice. + +But then, if she went to Padre Filippo, she would have to confess all she +had done, and she was not prepared to do that. A few weeks would pass, +and that time would be sufficient to mellow and smooth the remembrance of +her revengeful projects into a less questionable shape. No--she could not +confess all that just yet. Surely such an oath was not binding; at all +events, she could not marry Del Fence, whether she broke her promise or +not. In the first place, she would send for him and vent her anger upon +him while it was hot. + +Accordingly, in the space of three-quarters of an hour, Ugo appeared, +smiling, smooth and persuasive as usual. Donna Tullia assumed a fine +attitude of disdain as she heard his step outside the door. She intended +to impress him with a full and sudden view of her just anger. He did not +seem much moved, and came forward as usual to take her hand and kiss it. +But she folded her arms and stared at him with all the contempt she could +concentrate in the gaze of her blue eyes. It was a good comedy. Del +Ferice, who had noticed as soon as he entered the room that something was +wrong, and had already half guessed the cause, affected to spring back in +horror when she refused to give her hand. His pale face expressed +sufficiently well a mixture of indignation and sorrow at the harsh +treatment he received. Still Donna Tullia's cold eye rested upon him in a +fixed stare. + +"What is this? What have I done?" asked Del Ferice in low tones. + +"Can you ask? Wretch! Read that, and understand what you have done," +answered Donna Tullia, making a step forward and thrusting Saracinesca's +letter in his face. + +Del Ferice had already seen the handwriting, and knew what the contents +were likely to be. He took the letter in one hand, and without looking at +it, still faced the angry woman. His brows contracted into a heavy frown, +and his half-closed eyes gazed menacingly at her. + +"It will be an evil day for any man who comes between you and me," he +said, in tragic tones. + +Donna Tullia laughed harshly, and again drew herself up, watching his +face, and expecting to witness his utter confusion. But she was no match +for the actor whom she had promised to marry. Del Ferice began to read, +and as he read, his frown relaxed; gradually an ugly smile, intended to +represent fiendish cunning, stole over his features, and when he had +finished, he uttered a cry of triumph. + +"Ha!" he said, "I guessed it! I hoped it--and it is true! He is found at +last! The very man--the real Saracinesca! It is only a matter of time--" + +Donna Tullia now stared in unfeigned surprise. Instead of crushing him to +the ground as she had expected, the letter seemed to fill him with +boundless delight. He paced the room in wild excitement, chattering like +a madman. In spite of herself, however, her own spirits rose, and her +anger against Del Ferice softened. All was perhaps not lost--who could +fathom the intricacy of his great schemes? Surely he was not the man to +fall a victim to his own machinations. + +"Will you please explain your extraordinary satisfaction at this news?" +said Madame Mayer. Between her late anger, her revived hopes, and her +newly roused curiosity, she was in a terrible state of suspense. + +"Explain?" he cried. "Explain what, most adorable of women? Does it not +explain itself? Have we not found the Marchese di San Giacinto, the real +Saracinesca? Is not that enough?" + +"I do not understand--" + +Del Ferice was now by her side. He seemed hardly able to control himself +for joy. As a matter of fact he was acting, and acting a desperate part +too, suggested on the spur of the moment by the risk he ran of losing +this woman and her fortune on the very eve of marriage. Now he seized her +hand, and drawing her arm through his, led her quickly backwards and +forwards, talking fast and earnestly. It would not do to hesitate, for by +a moment's appearance of uncertainty all would be lost. + +"No; of course you cannot understand the vast importance of this +discovery. I must explain. I must enter into historic details, and I am +so much overcome by this extraordinary turn of fortune that I can hardly +speak. Remove all doubt from your mind, my dear lady, for we have already +triumphed. This innkeeper, this Giovanni Saracinesca, this Marchese di +San Giacinto, is the lawful and right Prince Saracinesca, the head of the +house--" + +"What!" screamed Donna Tullia, stopping short, and gripping his arm as in +a vice. + +"Indeed he is. I suspected it when I first found the signature at Aquila; +but the man was gone, with his newly married wife, no one knew whither; +and I could not find him, search as I might. He is now returned, and +what is more, as this letter says, with all his papers proving his +identity. This is how the matter lies. Listen, Tullia _mia_. The old +Leone Saracinesca who last bore the title of Marquis--" + +"The one mentioned here?" asked Donna Tullia, breathlessly. + +"Yes--the one who took service under Murat, under Napoleon. Well, it is +perfectly well known that he laid claim to the Roman title, and with +perfect justice. Two generations before that, there had been an amicable +arrangement--amicable, but totally illegal--whereby the elder brother, +who was an unmarried invalid, transferred the Roman estates to his +younger brother, who was married and had children, and, in exchange, took +the Neapolitan estates and title, which had just fallen back to the main +branch by the death of a childless Marchese di San Giacinto. Late in life +this old recluse invalid married, contrary to all expectation--certainly +contrary to his own previous intentions. However, a child was born--a +boy. The old man found himself deprived by his own act of his +principality, and the succession turned from his son to the son of his +younger brother. He began a negotiation for again obtaining possession of +the Roman title--at least so the family tradition goes--but his brother, +who was firmly established in Rome, refused to listen to his demands. At +this juncture the old man died, being legally, observe, still the head of +the family of Saracinesca; his son should have succeeded him. But his +wife, the young daughter of an obscure Neapolitan nobleman, was not more +than eighteen years of age, and the child was only six months old. People +married young in those days. She entered some kind of protest, which, +however, was of no avail; and the boy grew up to be called the Marchese +di San Griacinto. He learned the story of his birth from his mother, and +protested in his turn. He ruined himself in trying to push his suit in +the Neapolitan courts; and finally, in the days of Napoleon's success, he +took service under Murat, receiving the solemn promise of the Emperor +that he should be reinstated in his title. But the Emperor forgot his +promise, or did not find it convenient to keep it, having perhaps reasons +of his own for not quarrelling with Pius the Seventh, who protected the +Roman Saracinesea Then came 1815, the downfall of the Empire, the +restoration of Ferdinand IV. in Naples, the confiscation of property from +all who had joined the Emperor, and the consequent complete ruin of San +Giacinto's hopes. He was supposed to have been killed, or to have made +away with himself. Saracinesea himself acknowledges that his grandson is +alive, and possesses all the family papers. Saracinesca himself has +discovered, seen, and conversed with the lawful head of his race, who, by +the blessing of heaven and the assistance of the courts, will before long +turn him out of house and home, and reign in his stead in all the glories +of the Palazzo Saracinesca, Prince of Rome, of the Holy Roman Empire, +grandee of Spain of the first class, and all the rest of it. Do you +wonder I rejoice, now that I am sure of putting an innkeeper over my +enemy's head? Fancy the humiliation of old Saracinesca, of Giovanni, who +will have to take his wife's title for the sake of respectability, of the +Astrardente herself, when she finds she has married the penniless son of +a penniless pretender!" + +Del Ferice knew enough of the Saracinesca's family history to know that +something like what he had so fluently detailed to Donna Tullia had +actually occurred, and he knew well enough that she would not remember +every detail of his rapidly told tale. Hating the family as he did, he +had diligently sought out all information about them which he could +obtain without gaining access to their private archives. His ready wit +helped him to string the whole into a singularly plausible story. So +plausible, indeed, that it entirely upset all Donna Tullia's +determination to be angry at Del Ferice, and filled her with something of +the enthusiasm he showed. For himself he hoped that there was enough in +his story to do some palpable injury to the Saracinesca; but his more +immediate object was not to lose Donna Tullia by letting her feel any +disappointment at the discovery recently made by the old Prince. Donna +Tullia listened with breathless interest until he had finished. + +"What a man you are, Ugo! How you turn defeat into victory! Is it all +really true? Do you think we can do it?" + +"If I were to die this instant," Del Ferice asseverated, solemnly raising +his hand, "it is all perfectly true, so help me God!" + +He hoped, for many reasons, that he was not perjuring himself. + +"What shall we do, then?" asked Madame Mayer. + +"Let them marry first, and then we shall be sure of humiliating them +both," he answered. Unconsciously he repeated the very determination +which Giovanni had formed against him the night before. "Meanwhile, +you and I can consult the lawyers and see how this thing can best be +accomplished quickly and surely," he added. + +"You will have to send for the innkeeper--" + +"I will go and see him. It will not be hard to persuade him to claim his +lawful rights." + +Del Ferice remained some time in conversation with Donna Tullia. The +magnitude of the scheme fascinated her, and instead of thinking of +breaking her promise to Ugo as she had intended doing, she so far fell +under his influence as to name the wedding-day,--Easter Monday, they +agreed, would exactly suit them and their plans. Indeed the idea of +refusing to fulfil her engagement had been but the result of a transitory +fit of anger; if she had had any fear of making a misalliance in marrying +Del Ferice, the way in which the world received the news of the +engagement removed all such apprehension from her mind. Del Ferice was +already treated with increased respect--the very servants began to call +him "Eccellenza," a distinction to which he neither had, nor could ever +have, any kind of claim, but which pleased Donna Tullia's vain soul. The +position which Ugo had obtained for himself by an assiduous attention to +the social claims and prejudices of social lights and oracles, was +suddenly assured to him, and rendered tenfold more brilliant by the news +of his alliance with Donna Tullia. He excited no jealousies either; for +Donna Tullia's peculiarities were of a kind which seemed to have +interfered from the first with her matrimonial projects. As a young girl, +a relation of the Saracinesca, whom she now so bitterly hated, she should +have been regarded as marriageable by any of the young Roman nobles, from +Valdarno down. But she had only a small dowry, and she was said to be +extravagant--two objections then not so easily overcome as now. Moreover, +she was considered to be somewhat flighty; and the social jury decided +that when she was married, she would be excellent company, but would make +a very poor wife. Almost before they had finished discussing her, +however, she had found a husband, in the shape of the wealthy foreign +contractor, Mayer, who wanted a wife from a good Roman house, and cared +not at all for money. She treated him very well, but was speedily +delivered from all her cares by his untimely death. Then, of all her +fellow-citizens, none was found save the eccentric old Saracinesca, +who believed that she would do for his son; wherein it appeared that +Giovanni's father was the man of all others who least understood +Giovanni's inclinations. But this match fell to the ground, owing to +Giovanni's attachment to Corona, and Madame Mayer was left with the +prospect of remaining a widow for the rest of her life, or of marrying +a poor man. She chose the latter alternative, and fate threw into her way +the cleverest poor man in Rome, as though desiring to compensate her for +not having married one of the greatest nobles, in the person of Giovanni. +Though she was always a centre of attraction, no one of those she most +attracted wanted to marry her, and all expressed their unqualified +approval of her ultimate choice. One said she was very generous to marry +a penniless gentleman; another remarked that she showed wisdom in +choosing a man who was in the way of making himself a good position under +the Italian Government; a third observed that he was delighted, because +he could enjoy her society without being suspected of wanting to marry +her; and all agreed in praising her, and in treating Del Ferice with the +respect due to a man highly favored by fortune. + +Donna Tullia named the wedding-day, and her affianced husband departed in +high spirits with himself, with her, and with his scheme. He felt still a +little excited, and wanted to be alone. He hardly realised the magnitude +of the plot he had undertaken, and needed time to reflect upon it; but +with the true instinct of an intriguing genius he recognised at once that +his new plan was the thing he had sought for long and ardently, and that +it was worth all his other plans put together. Accordingly he went home, +and proceeded to devote himself to the study of the question, sending a +note to a friend of his--a young lawyer of doubtful reputation, but of +brilliant parts, whom he at once selected as his chief counsellor in the +important affair he had undertaken. + +Before long he heard that the marriage of Don Giovanni Saracinesca to the +Duchessa d'Astrardente was to take place the next week, in the chapel of +the Palazzo Saracinesca. At least popular report said that the ceremony +was to take place there; and that it was to be performed with great +privacy was sufficiently evident from the fact that no invitations +appeared to have been issued. Society did not fail to comment upon such +exclusiveness, and it commented unfavourably, for it felt that it was +being deprived of a long-anticipated spectacle. This state of things +lasted for two days, when, upon the Sunday morning precisely a week +before the wedding, all Rome was surprised by receiving an imposing +invitation, setting forth that the marriage would be solemnised in the +Basilica of the Santi Apostoli, and that it would be followed by a state +reception at the Palazzo Saracinesca. It was soon known that the ceremony +would be performed by the Cardinal Archpriest of St Peter's, that the +united choirs of St Peter's and of the Sixtine Chapel would sing the High +Mass, and that the whole occasion would be one of unprecedented solemnity +and magnificence. This was the programme published by the 'Osservatore +Romano,' and that newspaper proceeded to pronounce a eulogy of some +length and considerable eloquence upon the happy pair. Rome was fairly +taken off its feet; and although some malcontents were found, who said it +was improper that Corona's marriage should be celebrated with such pomp +so soon after her husband's death, the general verdict was that the whole +proceeding was eminently proper and becoming to so important an event. So +soon as every one had been invited, no one seemed to think it remarkable +that the invitations should have been issued so late. It was not +generally known that in the short time which elapsed between the naming +of the day and the issuing of the cards, there had been several +interviews between old Saracinesca and Cardinal Antonelli; that the +former had explained Corona's natural wish that the marriage should be +private, and that the latter had urged many reasons why so great an event +ought to be public; that Saracinesca had said he did not care at all, +and was only expressing the views of his son and of the bride; that the +Cardinal had repeatedly asseverated that he wished to please everybody; +that Corona had refused to be pleased by a public ceremony; and that, +finally, the Cardinal, seeing himself hard pressed, had persuaded his +Holiness himself to express a wish that the marriage should take place in +the most solemn and public manner; wherefore Corona had reluctantly +yielded the point, and the matter was arranged. The fact was that the +Cardinal wished to make a sort of demonstration of the solidarity of the +Roman nobility: it suited his aims to enter into every detail which could +add to the importance of the Roman Court, and which could help to impress +upon the foreign Ministers the belief that in all matters the Romans as +one man would stand by each other and by the Vatican. No one knew better +than he how the spectacle of a religious solemnity, at which the whole +nobility would attend in a body, must strike the mind of a stranger in +Rome; for in Roman ceremonies of that day there was a pomp and +magnificence surpassing that found in any other Court of Europe. The +whole marriage would become an event of which he could make an impressive +use, and he was determined not to forego any advantages which might arise +from it; for he was a man who of all men well understood the value of +details in maintaining prestige. + +But to the two principal actors in the day's doings the affair was an +unmitigated annoyance, and even their own great and true happiness could +not lighten the excessive fatigue of the pompous ceremony and of the +still more pompous reception which followed it. To describe that day +would be to make out a catalogue of gorgeous equipages, gorgeous +costumes, gorgeous decorations. Many pages would not suffice to enumerate +the cardinals, the dignitaries, the ambassadors, the great nobles, whose +magnificent coaches drove up in long file through the Piazza dei Santi +Apostoli to the door of the Basilica. The columns of the 'Osservatore +Romano' were full of it for a week afterwards. There was no end to the +descriptions of the costumes, from the white satin and diamonds of +the bride to the festal uniforms of the Cardinal Arch-priest's retinue. +Not a personage of importance was overlooked in the newspaper account, +not a diplomatist, not an officer of Zouaves. And society read the praise +of itself, and found it much more interesting than the praise of the +bride and bridegroom; and only one or two people were offended because +the paper had made a mistake in naming the colours of the hammer-cloths +upon their coaches: so that the affair was a great success. + +But when at last the sun was low and the guests had departed from the +Palazzo Saracinesca, Corona and Giovanni got into their travelling +carriage under the great dark archway, and sighed a sigh of infinite +relief. The old Prince put his arms tenderly around his new daughter and +kissed her; and for the second time in the course of this history, it is +to be recorded that two tears stole silently down his brown cheeks to his +grey beard. Then he embraced Giovanni, whose face was pale and earnest. + +"This is not the end of our living together, _padre mio,_" he said. "We +shall expect you before long at Saracinesca." + +"Yes, my boy," returned the old man; "I will come and see you after +Easter. But do not stay if it is too cold; I have a little business to +attend to in Rome before I join you," he added, with a grim smile. + +"I know," replied Giovanni, a savage light in his black eyes. "If you +need help, send to me, or come yourself." + +"No fear of that, Giovannino; I have got a terrible helper. Now, be off. +The guards are growing impatient." + +"Good-bye. God bless you, _padre mio!_" + +"God bless you both!" So they drove off, and left old Saracinesca +standing bareheaded and alone under the dim archway of his ancestral +palace. The great carriage rolled out, and the guard of mounted +gendarmes, which the Cardinal had insisted upon sending with the young +couple, half out of compliment, half for safety, fell in behind, and +trotted down the narrow street, with a deafening clatter of hoofs and +clang of scabbards. + +But Giovanni held Corona's hand in his, and both were silent for a time. +Then they rolled under the low vault of the Porta San Lorenzo and out +into the evening sunlight of the Campagna beyond. + +"God be praised that it has come at last!" said Giovanni. + +"Yes, it has come," answered Corona, her strong white fingers closing +upon his brown hand almost convulsively; "and, come what may, you are +mine, Giovanni, until we die!" + +There was something fierce in the way those two loved each other; for +they had fought many fights before they were united, and had overcome +themselves, each alone, before they had overcome other obstacles +together. + +Relays of horses awaited them on their way, and relays of mounted guards. +Late that night they reached Saracinesca, all ablaze with torches and +lanterns; and the young men took the horses from the coach and yoked +themselves to it with ropes, and dragged the cumbrous carriage up the +last hill with furious speed, shouting and singing like madmen in the +cool mountain air. Up the steep they rushed, and under the grand old +gateway, made as bright as day with flaming torches; and then there +went up a shout that struck the old vaults like a wild chord of fierce +music, and Corona knew that her journey was ended. + +So it was that Giovanni Saracinesca brought home his bride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +The old Prince was left alone, as he had often been left before, when +Giovanni was gone to the ends of the earth in pursuit of his amusements. +On such occasions old Saracinesca frequently packed up his traps and +followed his son's example; but he rarely went further than Paris, where +he had many friends, and where he generally succeeded in finding +consolation for his solitude. + +Now, however, he felt more than usually lonely. Giovanni had not gone +far, it is true, for with good horses it was scarcely more than eight +hours to the castle; but, for the first time in his life, old Saracinesca +felt that if he had suddenly determined to follow his son, he would not +be welcome. The boy was married at last, and must be left in peace for a +few days with his bride. With the contrariety natural to him, old +Saracinesca no sooner felt that his son was gone than he experienced the +most ardent desire to be with him. He had often seen Giovanni leave the +house at twenty-four hours' notice on his way to some distant capital, +and had not cared to accompany him, simply because he knew he might do so +if he pleased; but now he felt that some one else had taken his place, +and that, for a time at least, he was forcibly excluded from Giovanni's +society. It is very likely that but for the business which detained him +in Rome he would have astonished the happy pair by riding into the +gateway of the old castle on the day after the wedding: that business, +however, was urgent, secret, and, moreover, very congenial to the old +man's present temper. + +He had discussed the matter fully with Giovanni, and they had agreed upon +the course to be pursued. There was, nevertheless, much to be done before +the end they both so earnestly desired could be attained. It seemed a +simple plan to go to Cardinal Antonelli and to demand the arrest of Del +Ferice for his misdeeds; but as yet those misdeeds were undefined, and it +was necessary to define them. The Cardinal rarely resorted to such +measures except when the case was urgent, and Saracinesca knew perfectly +well that it would be hard to prove anything more serious against Del +Ferice than the crime of joining in the silly talk of Valdarno and his +set. Giovanni had told his father plainly that he was sure Del Ferice +derived his living from some illicit source, but he was wholly unable to +show what that source was. Most people believed the story that Del Ferice +had inherited money from an obscure relative; most people thought he was +clever and astute, but were so far deceived by his frank and unaffected +manner as to feel sure that he always said everything that came into his +head; most people are so much delighted when an unusually clever man +deigns to talk to them, that they cannot, for vanity's sake, suspect him +of deceiving them. Saracinesca did not doubt that the mere statement of +his own belief in regard to Del Ferice would have considerable weight +with the Cardinal, for he was used to power of a certain kind, and was +accustomed to see his judgment treated with deference; but he knew the +Cardinal to be a cautious man, hating despotic measures, because by his +use of them he had made himself so bitterly hated--loth always to do by +force what might be accomplished by skill, and in the end far more likely +to attempt the conversion of Del Ferice to the reactionary view, than to +order his expulsion because his views were over liberal. Even if old +Saracinesca had possessed a vastly greater diplomatic instinct than he +did, coupled with an unscrupulous mendacity which he certainly had not, +he would have found it hard to persuade the Cardinal against his will; +but Saracinesca was, of all men, a man violent in action and averse to +reflection before or after the fact. That he should ultimately be +revenged upon Del Ferice and Donna Tullia for the part they had lately +played, was a matter which it never entered his head to doubt; but when +he endeavoured to find means which should persuade the Cardinal to assist +him, he seemed fenced in on all sides by impossibilities. One thing only +helped him--namely, the conviction that if the statesman could be induced +to examine Del Ferice's conduct seriously, the latter would prove to be +not only an enemy to the State, but a bitter enemy to the Cardinal +himself. + +The more Saracinesca thought of the matter, the more convinced he was +that he should go boldly to the Cardinal and state his belief that Del +Ferice was a dangerous traitor, who ought to be summarily dealt with. If +the Cardinal argued the case, the Prince would asseverate, after his +manner, and some sort of result was sure to follow. As he thus determined +upon his course, his doubts seemed to vanish, as they generally do in the +mind of a strong man, when action becomes imminent, and the confidence +the old man had exhibited to his son very soon became genuine. It was +almost intolerable to have to wait so long, however, before doing +anything. Giovanni and he had decided to allow Del Ferice's marriage +to take place before producing the explosion, in order the more certainly +to strike both the offenders; now it seemed best to strike at once. +Supposing, he argued with himself, that Donna Tullia and her husband +chose to leave Rome for Paris the day after their wedding, half the +triumph would be lost; for half the triumph was to consist in Del +Ferice's being imprisoned for a spy in Rome, whereas if he once crossed +the frontier, he could at most be forbidden to return, which would be but +a small satisfaction to Saracinesca, or to Giovanni. + +A week passed by, and the gaiety of Carnival was again at its height; and +again a week elapsed, and Lent was come. Saracinesca went everywhere and +saw everybody as usual, and then after Ash-Wednesday he occasionally +showed himself at some of those quiet evening receptions which his son so +much detested. But he was restless and discontented. He longed to begin +the fight, and could not sleep for thinking of it. Like Giovanni, he was +strong and revengeful; but Giovanni had from his mother a certain +slowness of temperament, which often deterred him from action just long +enough to give him time for reflection, whereas the father, when roused, +and he was roused easily, loved to strike at once. It chanced one +evening, in a great house, that Saracinesca came upon the Cardinal +standing alone in an outer room. He was on his way into the reception; +but he had stopped, attracted by a beautiful crystal cup of old +workmanship, which stood, among other objects of the kind, upon a marble +table in one of the drawing-rooms through which he had to pass. The cup +itself, of deeply carved rock crystal, was set in chiselled silver, and +if not the work of Cellini himself, must have been made by one of his +pupils. Saracinesca stopped by the great man's side. + +"Good evening, Eminence," he said. + +"Good evening, Prince," returned the Cardinal, who recognised +Saracinesca's voice without looking up. "Have you ever seen this +marvellous piece of work? I have been admiring it for a quarter of an +hour." He loved all objects of the kind, and understood them with rare +knowledge. + +"It is indeed exceedingly beautiful," answered Saracinesca, who longed to +take advantage of the opportunity of speaking to Cardinal Antonelli upon +the subject nearest to his heart. + +"Yes--yes," returned the Cardinal rather vaguely, and made as though he +would go on. He saw from Saracinesca's commonplace praise, that he knew +nothing of the subject. The old Prince saw his opportunity slipping +from him, and lost his head. He did not recollect that he could see the +Cardinal alone whenever he pleased, by merely asking for an interview. +Fate had thrust the Cardinal in his path, and fate was responsible. + +"If your Eminence will allow me, I would like a word with you," he said +suddenly. + +"As many as you please," answered the statesman, blandly. "Let us sit +down in that corner--no one will disturb us for a while." + +He seemed unusually affable, as he sat himself down by Saracinesca's +side, gathering the skirt of his scarlet mantle across his knee, and +folding his delicate hands together in an attitude of restful attention. + +"You know, I daresay, a certain Del Ferice, Eminence?" began the Prince. + +"Very well--the _deus ex machina_ who has appeared to carry off Donna +Tullia Mayer. Yes, I know him." + +"Precisely, and they will match very well together; the world cannot help +applauding the union of the flesh and the devil." + +The Cardinal smiled. + +"The metaphor is apt," he said; "but what about them?" + +"I will tell you in two words," replied Saracinesca. "Del Ferice is a +scoundrel of the first water--" + +"A jewel among scoundrels," interrupted the Cardinal, "for being a +scoundrel he is yet harmless--a stage villain." + +"I believe your Eminence is deceived in him." + +"That may easily be," answered the statesman. "I am much more often +deceived than people imagine." He spoke very mildly, but his small black +eyes turned keenly upon Saracinesca. "What has he been doing?" he asked, +after a short pause. + +"He has been trying to do a great deal of harm to my son and to my son's +wife. I suspect him strongly of doing harm to you." + +Whether Saracinesca was strictly honest in saying "you" to the Cardinal, +when he meant the whole State as represented by the prime minister, is a +matter not easily decided. There is a Latin saying, to the effect that a +man who is feared by many should himself fear many, and the saying is +true. The Cardinal was personally a brave man; but he knew his danger, +and the memory of the murdered Rossi was fresh in his mind. Nevertheless, +he smiled blandly as he answered-- + +"That is rather vague, my friend. How is he doing me harm, if I may ask?" + +"I argue in this way," returned Saracinesca, thus pressed. "The fellow +found a most ingenious way of attacking my son--he searched the whole +country till he found that a man called Giovanni Saracinesca had been, +married some time ago in Aquila. He copied the certificates, and produced +them as pretended proof that my son was already married. If I had not +found the man myself, there would have been trouble. Now besides this, +Del Ferice is known to hold Liberal views--" + +"Of the feeblest kind," interrupted the statesman, who nevertheless +became very grave. + +"Those he exhibits are of the feeblest kind, and he takes no trouble to +hide them. But a fellow so ingenious as to imagine the scheme he +practised against us is not a fool." + +"I understand, my good friend," said the Cardinal. "You have been injured +by this fellow, and you would like me to revenge the injury by locking +him up. Is that it?" + +"Precisely," answered Saracinesca, laughing at his own simplicity. "I +might as well have said so from the first." + +"Much better. You would make a poor diplomatist, Prince. But what in the +world shall I gain by revenging your wrongs upon that creature?" + +"Nothing--unless when you have taken the trouble to examine his conduct, +you find that he is really dangerous. In that case your Eminence will be +obliged to look to your own safety. If you find him innocent, you will +let him go." + +"And in that case, what will you do?" asked the Cardinal with a smile. + +"I will cut his throat," answered Saracinesca, unmoved. + +"Murder him?" + +"No--call him out and kill him like a gentleman, which is a great deal +better than he deserves." + +"I have no doubt you would," said the Cardinal, gravely. "I think your +proposition reasonable, however. If this man is really dangerous, I will +look to him myself. But I must really beg you not to do anything rash. I +have determined that this duelling shall stop, and I warn you that +neither you nor any one else will escape imprisonment if you are involved +in any more of these personal encounters." + +Saracinesca suppressed a smile at the Cardinal's threat; but he perceived +that he had gained his point, and was pleased accordingly. He had, he +felt sure, sown in the statesman's mind a germ of suspicion which would +before long bring forth fruit. In those days danger was plentiful, and +people could not afford to overlook it, no matter in what form it +presented itself, least of all such people as the Cardinal himself, who, +while sustaining an unequal combat against superior forces outside the +State, felt that his every step was encompassed by perils from within. +That he had long despised Del Ferice as an idle chatterer did not prevent +him from understanding that he might have been deceived, as Saracinesca +suggested. He had caused Ugo to be watched, it is true, but only from +time to time, and by men whose only duty was to follow him and to see +whether he frequented suspicious society. The little nest of talkers at +Gouache's studio in the Via San Basilio was soon discovered, and proved +to be harmless enough. Del Ferice was then allowed to go on his way +unobserved. But the half-dozen words in which Saracinesca had described +Ugo's scheme for hindering Giovanni's marriage had set the Cardinal +thinking, and the Cardinal seldom wasted time in thinking in vain. His +interview with Saracinesca ended very soon, and the Prince and the +statesman entered the crowded drawing-room and mixed in the throng. It +was long before they met again in private. + +The Cardinal on the following day gave orders that Del Ferice's letters +were to be stopped--by no means an uncommon proceeding in those times, +nor so rare in our own day as is supposed. The post-office was then in +the hands of a private individual so far as all management was concerned, +and the Cardinal's word was law. Del Ferice's letters were regularly +opened and examined. + +The first thing that was discovered was that they frequently contained +money, generally in the shape of small drafts on London signed by a +Florentine banker, and that the envelopes which contained money never +contained anything else. They were all posted in Florence. With regard +to his letters, they appeared to be very innocent communications from all +sorts of people, rarely referring to politics, and then only in the most +general terms. If Del Ferice had expected to have his correspondence +examined, he could not have arranged matters better for his own safety. +To trace the drafts to the person who sent them was not an easy business; +it was impossible to introduce a spy into the banking-house in Florence, +and among the many drafts daily bought and sold, it was almost impossible +to identify, without the aid of the banker's books, the person who +chanced to buy any particular one. The addresses were, it is true, +uniformly written by the same hand; but the writing was in no way +peculiar, and was certainly not that of any prominent person whose +autograph the Cardinal possessed. + +The next step was to get possession of some letter written by Del Ferice +himself, and, if possible, to intercept everything he wrote. But although +the letters containing the drafts were regularly opened, and, after +having been examined and sealed again, were regularly transmitted +through the post-office to Ugo's address, the expert persons set to catch +the letters he himself wrote were obliged to own, after three weeks' +careful watching, that he never seemed to write any letters at all, and +that he certainly never posted any. They acknowledged their failure to +the Cardinal with timid anxiety, expecting to be reprimanded for their +carelessness. But the Cardinal merely told them not to relax their +attention, and dismissed them with a bland smile. He knew, now, that he +was on the track of mischief; for a man who never writes any letters at +all, while he receives many, might reasonably be suspected of having a +secret post-office of his own. For some days Del Ferice's movements were +narrowly watched, but with no result whatever. Then the Cardinal sent for +the police register of the district where Del Ferice lived, and in which +the name, nationality, and residence of every individual in the "Rione" +or quarter were carefully inscribed, as they still are. + +Running his eye down the list, the Cardinal came upon the name of +"Temistocle Fattorusso, of Naples, servant to Ugo dei Conti del Ferice:" +an idea struck him. + +"His servant is a Neapolitan," he reflected. "He probably sends his +letters by way of Naples." + +Accordingly Temistocle was watched instead of his master. It was found +that he frequented the society of other Neapolitans, and especially that +he was in the habit of going from time to time to the Ripa Grande, the +port of the Tiber, where he seemed to have numerous acquaintances among +the Neapolitan boatmen who constantly came up the coast in their +"martingane"--heavy, sea-going, lateen-rigged vessels, bringing cargoes +of oranges and lemons to the Roman market. The mystery was now solved. +One day Temistocle was actually seen giving a letter into the hands of a +huge fellow in a red woollen cap. The _sbirro_ who saw him do it marked +the sailor and his vessel, and never lost sight of him till he hoisted +his jib and floated away down stream. Then the spy took horse and +galloped down to Fiumicino, where he waited for the little vessel, +boarded her from a boat, escorted by a couple of gendarmes, and had no +difficulty in taking the letter from the terrified seaman, who was glad +enough to escape without detention. During the next fortnight several +letters were stopped in this way, carried by different sailors, and the +whole correspondence went straight to the Cardinal. It was not often that +he troubled himself to play the detective in person, but when he did so, +he was not easily baffled. And now he observed that about a week after +the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come +so frequently to Del Ferice's address from Florence suddenly ceased, +proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its +value so soon as it was received. + +With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said. So +sure was Del Ferice of his means of transmission that he did not even use +a cipher, though he, of course, never signed any of his writings. The +matter was invariably a detailed chronicle of Roman sayings and doings, a +record as minute as Del Ferice could make it, of everything that took +place, and even the Cardinal himself was astonished at the accuracy of +the information thus conveyed. His own appearances in public--the names +of those with whom he talked--even fragments of his conversation--were +given with annoying exactness. The statesman learned with infinite +disgust that he had for some time past been subjected to a system of +espionage at least as complete as any of his own invention; and, what was +still more annoying to his vanity, the spy was the man of all others whom +he had most despised, calling him harmless and weak, because he cunningly +affected weakness. Where or how Del Ferice procured so much information +the Cardinal cared little enough, for he determined there and then that +he should procure no more. That there were other traitors in the camp was +more than likely, and that they had aided Del Ferice with their counsels; +but though by prolonging the situation it might be possible to track them +down, such delay would be valuable to enemies abroad. Moreover, if Del +Ferice began to find out, as he soon must, that his private +correspondence was being overhauled at the Vatican, he was not a man to +hesitate about attempting his escape; and he would certainly not be an +easy man to catch, if he could once succeed in putting a few miles of +Campagna between himself and Rome. There was no knowing what disguise he +might not find in which to slip over the frontier; and indeed, as he +afterwards proved, he was well prepared for such an emergency. + +The Cardinal did not hesitate. He had just received the fourth letter, +and if he waited any longer Del Ferice would take alarm, and slip through +his fingers. He wrote with his own hand a note to the chief of police, +ordering the immediate arrest of Ugo dei Conti del Ferice, with +instructions that he should be taken in his own house, without any +publicity, and conveyed in a private carriage to the Sant' Uffizio by men +in plain clothes. It was six o'clock in the evening when he wrote the +order, and delivered it to his private servant to be taken to its +destination. The man lost no time, and within twenty minutes the chief of +police was in possession of his orders, which he hastened to execute with +all possible speed. Before seven o'clock two respectable-looking citizens +were seated in the chief's own carriage, driving rapidly in the direction +of Del Fence's house. In less than half an hour the man who had caused so +much trouble would be safely lodged in the prisons of the Holy Office, to +be judged for his sins as a political spy. In a fortnight he was to have +been married to Donna Tullia Mayer,--and her trousseau had just arrived +from Paris. + +It can hardly be said that the Cardinal's conduct was unjustifiable, +though many will say that Del Fence's secret doings were easily +defensible on the ground of his patriotism. Cardinal Antonelli had +precisely defined the situation in his talk with Anastase Gouache by +saying that the temporal power was driven to bay. To all appearances +Europe was at peace, but as a matter of fact the peace was but an armed +neutrality. An amount of interest was concentrated upon the situation of +the Papal States which has rarely been excited by events of much greater +apparent importance than the occupation of a small principality by +foreign troops. All Europe was arming. In a few months Austria was to +sustain one of the most sudden and overwhelming defeats recorded in +military history. In a few years the greatest military power in the world +was to be overtaken by an even more appalling disaster. And these +events, then close at hand, were to deal the death-blow to papal +independence. The papacy was driven to bay, and those to whom the last +defence was confided were certainly justified in employing every means in +their power for strengthening their position. That Rome herself was +riddled with rotten conspiracies, and turned into a hunting-ground for +political spies, while the support she received from Louis Napoleon had +been already partially withdrawn, proves only how hard was the task of +that man who, against such odds, maintained so gallant a fight. It is no +wonder that he hunted down spies, and signed orders forcing suspicious +characters to leave the city at a day's notice; for the city was +practically in a state of siege, and any relaxation of the iron +discipline by which the great Cardinal governed would at any moment in +those twenty years have proved disastrous. He was hated and feared; more +than once he was in imminent danger of his life, but he did his duty in +his post. Had his authority fallen, it is impossible to say what evil +might have ensued to the city and its inhabitants--evils vastly more to +be feared than the entrance of an orderly Italian army through the Porta +Pia. For the recollections of Count Rossi's murder, and of the short and +lawless Republic of 1848, were fresh in the minds of the people, and +before they had faded there were dangerous rumours of a rising even less +truly Republican in theory, and far more fatal in the practical social +anarchy which must have resulted from its success. Giuseppe Mazzini had +survived his arch-enemy, the great Cavour, and his influence was +incalculable. + +But my business is not to write the history of those uncertain days, +though no one who considers the social life of Rome, either then or now, +can afford to overlook the influence of political events upon the +everyday doings of men and women. We must follow the private carriage +containing the two respectable citizens who were on their way to Del +Ferice's house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +Now it chanced that Del Ferice was not at home at the hour when the +carriage containing the detectives drew up at his door. Indeed he was +rarely to be found at that time, for when he was not engaged elsewhere, +he dined with Donna Tullia and her old countess, accompanying them +afterwards to any of the quiet Lenten receptions to which they desired to +go. Temistocle was also out, for it was his hour for supper, a meal which +he generally ate in a small _osteria_ opposite his master's lodging. +There he sat now, finishing his dish of beans and oil, and debating +whether he should indulge himself in another _mezza foglietta_ of his +favourite white wine. He was installed upon the wooden bench against the +wall, behind the narrow table on which was spread a dirty napkin with the +remains of his unctuous meal. The light from the solitary oil-lamp that +hung from the black ceiling was not brilliant, and he could see well +enough through the panes of the glass door that the carriage which had +just stopped on the opposite side of the street was not a cab. Suspecting +that some one had called at that unusual hour in search of his master, he +rose from his seat and went out. + +He stood looking at the carriage. It did not please him. It had that +peculiar look which used to mark the equipages of the Vatican, and which +to this day distinguishes them from all others in the eyes of a born +Roman. The vehicle was of rather antiquated shape, the horses were black, +the coachman wore a plain black coat, with a somewhat old-fashioned hat; +withal, the turnout was respectable enough, and well kept. But it did not +please Temistocle. Drawing his hat over his eyes, he passed behind it, +and having ascertained that the occupants, if there had been any, had +already entered the house, he himself went in. The narrow staircase was +dimly lighted by small oil-lamps. Temistocle ascended the steps on +tiptoe, for he could already hear the men ringing the bell, and talking +together in a low voice. The Neapolitan crept nearer. Again and again +the bell was rung, and the men began to grow impatient. + +"He has escaped," said one angrily. + +"Perhaps--or he has gone out to dinner--much more likely." + +"We had better go away and come later," suggested the first. + +"He is sure to come home. We had better wait. The orders are to take him +in his lodgings." + +"We might go into the _osteria_ opposite and drink a _foglietta_." + +"No," said the other, who seemed to be the one in authority. "We must +wait here, if we wait till midnight. Those are the orders." + +The second detective grumbled something not clearly audible, and silence +ensued. But Temistocle had heard quite enough. He was a quick-witted +fellow, as has been seen, much more anxious for his own interests than +for his master's, though he had hitherto found it easy to consult both. +Indeed, in a certain way he was faithful to Del Ferice, and admired him +as a soldier admires his general. The resolution he now formed did honour +to his loyalty to Ugo and to his thievish instincts. He determined to +save his master if he could, and to rob him at his leisure afterwards. +If Del Ferice failed to escape, he would probably reward Temistocle for +having done his best to help him; if, on the other hand, he got away, +Temistocle had the key of his lodgings, and would help himself. But there +was one difficulty in the way. Del Ferice was in evening dress at the +house of Donna Tullia. In such a costume he would have no chance of +passing the gates, which in those days were closed and guarded all night. +Del Ferice was a cautious man, and, like many another in those days, kept +in his rooms a couple of disguises which might serve if he was hard +pressed. His ready money he always carried with him, because he +frequently went into the club before coming home, and played a game of +ecarte, in which he was usually lucky. The question was how to enter the +lodgings, to get possession of the necessary clothes, and to go out +again, without exciting the suspicions of the detectives. + +Temistocle's mind was soon made up. He crept softly down the stairs, so +as not to appear to have been too near, and then, making as much noise as +he could, ascended boldly, drawing the key of the lodgings from his +pocket as he reached the landing where the two men stood under the +little oil-lamp. + +"_Buona sera, signori_," he said, politely, thrusting the key into the +lock without hesitation. "Did you wish to see the Conte del Ferice?" + +"Yes," answered the elder man, affecting an urbane manner. "Is the Count +at home?" + +"I do not think so," returned the Neapolitan. "But I will see. Come in, +gentlemen. He will not be long--_sempre verso quest'ora_--he always comes +home about this time." + +"Thank you," said the detective. "If you will allow us to wait--" + +"_Altro_--what? Should I leave the _padrone's_ friends on the stairs? +Come in, gentlemen--sit down. It is dark. I will light the lamp." And +striking a match, Temistocle lit a couple of candles and placed them upon +the table of the small sitting-room. The two men sat down, holding their +hats upon their knees. + +"If you will excuse me," said Temistocle, "I will go and make the +signore's coffee. He dines at the restaurant, and always comes home for +his coffee. Perhaps the signori will also take a cup? It is the same to +make three as one." + +But the men thanked Temistocle, and said they wanted none, which was just +as well, since Temistocle had no idea of giving them any. He retired, +however, to the small kitchen which belongs to every Roman lodging, and +made a great clattering with the coffee-pot. Presently he slipped into +Del Ferice's bedroom, and extracted from a dark corner a shabby black +bag, which he took back with him into the kitchen. From the kitchen +window ran the usual iron wire to the well in the small court, bearing an +iron traveller with a rope for drawing water. Temistocle, clattering +loudly, hooked the bag to the traveller and let it run down noisily; then +he tied the rope and went out. He had carefully closed the door of the +sitting-room, but he had been careful to leave the door which opened upon +the stairs unlatched. He crept noiselessly out, and leaving the door +still open, rushed down-stairs, turned into the little court, unhooked +his bag from the rope, and taking it in his hand, passed quietly out into +the street. The coachman was dozing upon the box of the carriage which +still waited before the door, and would not have noticed Temistocle had +he been awake. In a moment more the Neapolitan was beyond pursuit. In +the Piazza di Spagna he hailed a cab and drove rapidly to Donna Tullia's +house, where he paid the man and sent him away. The servants knew him +well enough, for scarcely a day passed without his bringing some note or +message from his master to Madame Mayer. He sent in to say that he must +speak to his master on business. Del Ferice came out hastily in +considerable agitation, which was by no means diminished by the sight of +the well-known shabby black bag. + +Temistocle glanced round the hall to see that they were alone. + +"The _forza_--the police," he whispered, "are in the house, Eccellenza. +Here is the bag. Save yourself, for the love of heaven!" + +Del Ferice turned ghastly pale, and his face twitched nervously. + +"But--" he began, and then staggering back leaned against the wall. + +"Quick--fly!" urged Temistocle, shaking him roughly by the arm. "It is +the Holy Office--you have time. I told them you would be back, and they +are waiting quietly--they will wait all night. Here is your overcoat," he +added, almost forcing his master into the garment--"and your hat--here! +Come along, there is no time to lose. I will take you to a place where +you can dress." + +Del Ferice submitted almost blindly. By especial good fortune the footman +did not come out into the hall. Donna Tullia and her guests had finished +dinner, and the servants had retired to theirs; indeed the footman had +complained to Temistocle of being called away from his meal to open the +door. The Neapolitan pushed his master out upon the stairs, urging him to +use all speed. As the two men hurried along the dark street they +conversed in low tones. Del Ferice was trembling in every joint. + +"But Donna Tullia," he almost whined. "I cannot leave her so--she must +know--" + +"Save your own skin from the Holy Office, master," answered Temistocle, +dragging him along as fast as he could. "I will go back and tell your +lady, never fear. She will leave Rome to-morrow. Of course you will go +to Naples. She will follow you. She will be there before you." + +Del Ferice mumbled an unintelligible answer. His teeth were chattering +with cold and fear; but as he began to realise his extreme peril, terror +lent wings to his heels, and he almost outstripped the nimble Temistocle +in the race for safety. They reached at last the ruined part of the city +near the Porta Maggiore, and in the shadow of the deep archway where the +road branches to the right towards Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Temistocle +halted. + +"Here," he said, shortly. Del Ferice said never a word, but began to +undress himself in the dark. It was a gloomy and lowering night, the +roads were muddy, and from time to time a few drops of cold rain fell +silently, portending a coming storm. In a few moments the transformation +was complete, and Del Ferice stood by his servant's side in the shabby +brown cowl and rope-girdle of a Capuchin monk. + +"Now comes the hard part," said Temistocle, producing a razor and a pair +of scissors from the bottom of the bag. Del Ferice had too often +contemplated the possibility of flight to have omitted so important a +detail. + +"You cannot see--you will cut my throat," he murmured plaintively. + +But the fellow was equal to the emergency. Retiring deeper into the +recess of the arch, he lit a cigar, and holding it between his teeth, +puffed violently at it, producing a feeble light by which he could just +see his master's face. He was in the habit of shaving him, and had no +difficulty in removing the fair moustache from his upper lip. Then, +making him hold his head down, and puffing harder than ever, he cropped +his thin hair, and managed to make a tolerably respectable tonsure. But +the whole operation had consumed half an hour at the least, and Del +Ferice was trembling still. Temistocle thrust the clothes into his bag. + +"My watch!" objected the unfortunate man, "and my pearl studs--give them +to me--what? You villain! you thief! you--" + +"No _chiacchiere_, no talk, _padrone_," interrupted Temistocle, snapping +the lock of the bag. "If you chance to be searched, it would ill become a +mendicant friar to be carrying gold watches and pearl studs. I will give +them to Donna Tullia this very evening. You have money--you can say that +you are taking that to your convent." + +"Swear to give the watch to Donna Tullia," said Del Ferice. Whereupon +Temistocle swore a terrible oath, which he did not fail to break, of +course. But his master had to be satisfied, and when all was completed +the two parted company. + +"I will ask Donna Tullia to take me to Naples on her passport," said the +Neapolitan. + +"Take care of my things, Temistocle. Burn all the papers if you +can--though I suppose the _sbirri_ have got them by this time. Bring my +clothes--if you steal anything, remember there are knives in Rome, and I +know where to write to have them used." Whereat Temistocle broke into a +torrent of protestations. How could his master think that, after saving +him at such risk, his faithful servant would plunder him? + +"Well," said Del Ferice, thoughtfully, "you are a great scoundrel, you +know. But you have saved me, as you say. There is a scudo for you." + +Temistocle never refused anything. He took the coin, kissed his master's +hand as a final exhibition of servility, and turned back towards the city +without another word. Del Ferice shuddered, and drew his heavy cowl over +his head as he began to walk quickly towards the Porta Maggiore. Then he +took the inside road, skirting the walls through the mud to the Porta San +Lorenzo. He was perfectly safe in his disguise. He had dined abundantly, +he had money in his pocket, and he had escaped the clutches of the Holy +Office. A barefooted friar might walk for days unchallenged through the +Roman Campagna and the neighbouring hills, and it was not far to the +south-eastern frontier. He did not know the way beyond Tivoli, but he +could inquire without exciting the least suspicion. There are few +disguises more complete than the garb of a Capuchin monk, and Del Ferice +had long contemplated playing the part, for it was one which eminently +suited him. His face, much thinner now than formerly, was yet naturally +round, and without his moustache would certainly pass for a harmless +clerical visage. He had received an excellent education, and knew vastly +more Latin than the majority of mendicant monks. As a good Roman he was +well acquainted with every convent in the city, and knew the names of all +the chief dignitaries of the Capuchin order. When a lad he had frequently +served at Mass, and was acquainted with most of the ordinary details of +monastic life. The worst that could happen to him might be to be called +upon in the course of his travels to hear the dying confession of some +poor wretch who had been stabbed after a game of _mora_. His case was +altogether not so bad as might seem, considering the far greater evils he +had escaped. + +At the Porta San Lorenzo the gates were closed as usual, but the dozing +watchman let Del Ferice out of the small door without remark. Any one +might leave the city, though it required a pass to gain admittance during +the night. The heavily-ironed oak clanged behind the fugitive, and he +breathed more freely as he stepped upon the road to Tivoli. In an hour he +had crossed the Ponte Mammolo, shuddering as he looked down through the +deep gloom at the white foam of the Teverone, swollen with the winter +rains. But the fear of the Holy Office was behind him, and he hurried on +his lonely way, walking painfully in the sandals he had been obliged to +put on to complete his disguise, sinking occasionally ankle-deep in mud, +and then trudging over a long stretch of broken stones where the road had +been mended; but not noticing nor caring for pain and fatigue, while he +felt that every minute took him nearer to the frontier hills where he +would be safe from pursuit. And so he toiled on, till he smelled the +fetid air of the sulphur springs full fourteen miles from Rome; and at +last, as the road began to rise towards Hadrian's Villa, he sat down upon +a stone by the wayside to rest a little. He had walked five hours through +the darkness, seeing but a few yards of the broad road before him as he +went. He was weary and footsore, and the night was growing wilder with +gathering wind and rain as the storm swept down the mountains and through +the deep gorge of Tivoli on its way to the desolate black Campagna. He +felt that if he did not die of exposure he was safe, and to a man in his +condition bad weather is the least of evils. + +His reflections were not sweet. Five hours earlier he had been dressed as +a fine gentleman should be, seated at a luxurious table in the company of +a handsome and amusing woman who was to be his wife. He could still +almost taste the delicate _chaud froid_, the tender woodcock, the dry +champagne; he could still almost hear Donna Tullia's last noisy sally +ringing in his ears--and behold, he was now sitting by the roadside in +the rain, in the wretched garb of a begging monk, five hours' journey +from Rome. He had left his affianced bride without a word of warning, had +abandoned all his possessions to Temistocle--that scoundrelly thief +Temistocle!--and he was utterly alone. + +But as he rested himself, drawing his monk's hood closely over his head +and trying to warm his freezing feet with the skirts of his rough brown +frock, he reflected that if he ever got safely across the frontier he +would be treated as a patriot, as a man who had suffered for the cause, +and certainly as a man who deserved to be rewarded. He reflected that +Donna Tullia was a woman who had a theatrical taste for romance, and that +his present position was in theory highly romantic, however uncomfortable +it might be in the practice. When he was safe his story would be told in +the newspapers, and he would himself take care that it was made +interesting. Donna Tullia would read it, would be fascinated by the tale +of his sufferings, and would follow him. His marriage with her would then +add immense importance to his own position. He would play his cards well, +and with her wealth at his disposal he might aspire to any distinction he +coveted. He only wished the situation could have been prolonged for three +weeks, till he was actually married. Meanwhile he must take courage and +push on, beyond the reach of pursuit. If once he could gain Subiaco, he +could be over the frontier in twelve hours. From Tivoli there were +_vetture_ up the valley, cheap conveyances for the country people, in +which a barefooted friar could travel unnoticed. He knew that he must +cross the boundary by Trevi and the Serra di Sant' Antonio. He would +inquire the way from Subiaco. + +While Del Ferice was thus making his way across the Campagna, Temistocle +was taking measures for his own advantage and safety. He had the bag with +his master's clothes, the valuable watch and chain, and the pearl studs. +He had also the key to Del Ferice's lodgings, of which he promised +himself to make some use, as soon as he should be sure that the +detectives had left the house. In the first place he made up his mind to +leave Donna Tullia in ignorance of his master's sudden departure. +There was nothing to be gained by telling her the news, for she would +probably in her rash way go to Del Ferice's house herself, as she had +done once before, and on finding he was actually gone she would take +charge of his effects, whereby Temistocle would be the loser. As he +walked briskly away from the ruinous district near the Porta Maggiore, +and began to see the lights of the city gleaming before him, his courage +rose in his breast. He remembered how easily he had eluded the detectives +an hour and a half before, and he determined to cheat them again. + +But he had reckoned unwisely. Before he had been gone ten minutes the two +men suspected, from the prolonged silence, that something was wrong, and +after searching the lodging perceived that the polite servant who had +offered them coffee had left the house without taking leave. One of the +two immediately drove to the house of his chief and asked for +instructions. The order to arrest the servant if he appeared again came +back at once. The consequence was that when Temistocle boldly opened +the door with a ready framed excuse for his absence, he was suddenly +pinioned by four strong arms, dragged into the sitting-room, and told to +hold his tongue in the name of the law. And that is the last that was +heard of Temistocle for some time. But when the day dawned the men +knew that Del Ferice had escaped them. + +The affair had not been well managed. The Cardinal was a good detective, +but a bad policeman. In his haste he had made the mistake of ordering Del +Ferice to be arrested instantly and in his lodgings. Had the statesman +simply told the chief of police to secure Ugo as soon as possible without +any scandal, he could not have escaped. But the officer interpreted the +Cardinal's note to mean that Del Ferice was actually at his lodgings when +the order was given. The Cardinal was supposed to be omniscient by +his subordinates, and no one ever thought of giving any interpretation +not perfectly literal to his commands. Of course the Cardinal was at once +informed, and telegrams and mounted detectives were dispatched in all +directions. But Del Ferice's disguise was good, and when just after +sunrise a gendarme galloped into Tivoli, he did not suspect that the +travel-stained and pale-faced friar, who stood telling his beads before +the shrine just outside the Roman gate, was the political delinquent whom +he was sent to overtake. + +Donna Tullia spent an anxious night. She sent down to Del Ferice's +lodgings, as Temistocle had anticipated, and the servant brought back +word that he had not seen the Neapolitan, and that the house was held in +possession by strangers, who refused him admittance. Madame Mayer +understood well enough what had happened, and began to tremble for +herself. Indeed she began to think of packing together her own valuables, +in case she should be ordered to leave Rome, for she did not doubt that +the Holy Office was in pursuit of Del Ferice, in consequence of some +discovery relating to her little club of malcontents. She trembled for +Ugo with an anxiety more genuine than any feeling of hers had been for +many a day, not knowing whether he had escaped or not. But on the +following evening she was partially reassured by hearing from Valdarno +that the police had offered a large reward for Del Ferice's apprehension. +Valdarno declared his intention of leaving Rome at once. His life, +he said, was not safe for a moment. That villain Gouache, who had turned +Zouave, had betrayed them all, and they might be lodged in the Sant' +Uffizio any day. As a matter of fact, after he discovered how egregiously +he had been deceived by Del Ferice, the Cardinal grew more suspicious, +and his emissaries were more busy than they had been before. But Valdarno +had never manifested enough wisdom, nor enough folly, to make him a cause +of anxiety to the Prime Minister. Nevertheless he actually left Rome and +spent a long time in Paris before he was induced to believe that he might +safely return to his home. + +Roman society was shaken to its foundations by the news of the attempted +arrest, and Donna Tullia found some slight compensation in becoming for a +time the centre of interest. She felt, indeed, great anxiety for the man +she was engaged to marry; but for the first time in her life she felt +also that she was living in an element of real romance, of which she had +long dreamed, but of which she had never found the smallest realisation. +Society saw, and speculated, and gossiped, after its fashion; but its +gossip was more subdued than of yore, for men began to ask who was safe, +since the harmless Del Ferice had been proscribed. Old Saracinesca said +little. He would have gone to see the Cardinal and to offer him his +congratulations, since it would not be decent to offer his thanks; but +the Cardinal was not in a position to be congratulated. If he had caught +Del Ferice he would have thanked the Prince instead of waiting for any +expressions of gratitude; but he did not catch Del Ferice, for certain +very good reasons which will appear in the last scene of this comedy. + +Three days after Ugo's disappearance, the old Prince got into his +carriage and drove out to Saracinesca. More than a month had elapsed +since the marriage, and he felt that he must see his son, even at the +risk of interrupting the honeymoon. On the whole, he felt that his +revenge had been inadequate. Del Fence had escaped the Holy Office, no +one knew how; and Donna Tullia, instead of being profoundly humiliated, +as she would have been had Del Ferice been tried as a common spy, was +become a centre of attraction and interest, because her affianced husband +had for some unknown cause incurred the displeasure of the great +Cardinal, almost on the eve of her marriage--a state of things +significant as regards the tone of Roman society. Indeed the whole +circumstance, which, was soon bruited about among all classes with the +most lively adornment and exaggeration, tended greatly to increase the +fear and hatred which high and low alike felt for Cardinal Antonelli--the +man who was always accused and never heard in his own defence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +People wondered that Giovanni and Corona should have chosen to retire +into the country for their honeymoon, instead of travelling to France and +England, and ending their wedding-trip in Switzerland. The hills were so +very cold at that early season, and besides, they would be utterly alone. +People could not understand why Corona did not take advantage of the +termination of her widowhood to mix at once with the world, and indemnify +herself for the year of mourning by a year of unusual gaiety. But there +were many, on the other hand, who loudly applauded the action, which, it +was maintained, showed a wise spirit of economy, and contrasted very +favourably with the extravagance recently exhibited by young couples who +in reality had far more cause to be careful of their money. Those who +held this view belonged to the old, patriarchal class, the still +flourishing remnant of the last generation, who prided themselves upon +good management, good morals, and ascetic living; the class of people in +whose marriage-contracts it was stipulated that the wife was to have meat +twice a-day, excepting on fast days, a drive--the _trottata_, as it used +to be called--daily, and two new gowns every year. Even in our times, +when most of that generation are dead, these clauses are often +introduced; in the first half of the century they were universal. A +little earlier it used to be stipulated that the "meat" was not to be +copra, goat's-flesh, which was considered to be food fit only for +servants. But the patriarchal generation were a fine old class in spite +of their economy, and they loudly aplauded Giovanni's conduct. + +No one, however, understood that the solitude of Saracinesca was really +the greatest luxury the newly-married couple could desire. They wanted to +be left alone, and they got their wish. No one had known of the +preparations Giovanni had made for his wife's reception, and had any +idea of the changes in the castle reached the ears of the aforesaid +patriarchs, they would probably have changed their minds in regard to +Giovanni's economy. The Saracinesca were not ostentatious, but they spent +their money royally in their own quiet way, and the interior of the old +stronghold had undergone a complete transformation, while the ancient +grey stones of the outer walls and towers frowned as gloomily as ever +upon the valley. Vast halls had been decorated and furnished in a style +suited to the antiquity of the fortress, small sunny rooms had been +fitted up with the more refined luxury which was beginning to be +appreciated in Italy twenty years ago. A great conservatory had been +built out upon the southern battlement. The aqueduct had been completed +successfully, and fountains now played in the courts. The old-fashioned +fireplaces had been again put into use, and huge logs burned upon huge +fire-dogs in the halls, shedding a ruddy glow upon the trophies of old +armour, the polished floors, and the heavy curtains. Quantities of +magnificent tapestry, some of which had been produced when Corona first +visited the castle, were now hung upon the stairs and in the corridors. +The great _baldacchino_, the canopy which Roman princes are privileged to +display in their antechambers, was draped above the quartered arms of +Saracinesca and Astrardente, and the same armorial bearings appeared in +rich stained glass in the window of the grand staircase. The solidity and +rare strength of the ancient stronghold seemed to grow even more imposing +under the decorations and improvements of a later age, and for the first +time Giovanni felt that justice had been done to the splendour of his +ancestral home. + +Here he and his dark bride dwelt in perfect unity and happiness, in the +midst of their own lands, surrounded by their own people, and wholly +devoted to each other. But though much of the day was passed in that +unceasing conversation and exchange of ideas which seem to belong +exclusively to happily-wedded man and wife, the hours were not wholly +idle. Daily the two mounted their horses and rode along the level stretch +towards Aquaviva till they came to the turning from which Corona had +first caught sight of Saracinesca. Here a broad road was already broken +out; the construction was so far advanced that two miles at least were +already serviceable, the gentle grade winding backwards and forwards, +crossing and recrossing the old bridle-path as it descended to the valley +below; and now from the furthest point completed Corona could distinguish +in the dim distance the great square palace of Astrardente crowning the +hills above the town. Thither the two rode daily, pushing on the work, +consulting with the engineer they employed, and often looking forward +to the day when for the first time their carriage should roll smoothly +down from Saracinesca to Astrardente without making the vast detour which +the old road followed as it skirted the mountain. There was an +inexpressible pleasure in watching the growth of the work they had so +long contemplated, in speculating on the advantages they would obtain by +so uniting their respective villages, and in feeling that, being at last +one, they were working together for the good of their people. For the men +who did the work were without exception their own peasants, who were +unemployed during the winter time, and who, but for the timely occupation +provided for them, would have spent the cold months in that state of +half-starved torpor peculiar to the indigent agricultural labourer when +he has nothing to do--at that bitter season when father and mother and +shivering little ones watch wistfully the ever-dwindling sack of maize, +as day by day two or three handfuls are ground between the stones of the +hand-mill and kneaded into a thick unwholesome dough, the only food of +the poorer peasants in the winter. But now every man who could handle +pickaxe and bore, and sledge-hammer and spade, was out upon the road from +dawn to dark, and every Saturday night each man took home a silver scudo +in his pocket; and where people are sober and do not drink their wages, a +silver scudo goes a long way further than nothing. Yet many a lean and +swarthy fellow there would have felt that he was cheated if besides his +money he had not carried home daily the remembrance of that tall dark +lady's face and kindly eyes and encouraging voice, and they used to watch +for the coming of the "_gran principessa_" as anxiously as they expected +the coming of the steward with the money-bags on a Saturday evening. +Often, too, the wives and daughters of the rough workers would bring the +men their dinners at noonday, rather than let them carry away their food +with them in the morning, just for the sake of catching a sight of +Corona, and of her broad-shouldered manly husband. And the men worked +with a right good will, for the story had gone abroad that for years to +come there would be no lack of work for willing hands. + +So the days sped, and were not interrupted by any incident for several +weeks. One day Gouache, the artist Zouave, called at the castle. He had +been quartered at Subiaco with a part of his company, but had not been +sent on at once to Saracinesca as he had expected. Now, however, he had +arrived with a small detachment of half-a-dozen men, with instructions to +watch the pass. There was nothing extraordinary in his being sent in that +direction, for Saracinesca was very near the frontier, and lay on one of +the direct routes to the Serra di Sant' Antonio, which was the shortest +hill-route into the kingdom of Naples; the country around was thought to +be particularly liable to disturbance, and though no one had seen a +brigand there for some years, the mountain-paths were supposed to be +infested with robbers. As a matter of fact there was a great deal of +smuggling carried on through the pass, and from time to time some +political refugee found his way across the frontier at that point. + +Gouache was received very well by Giovanni, and rather coldly by Corona, +who knew him but slightly. + +"I congratulate you," said Giovanni, noticing the stripes on the young +man's sleeves; "I see that you have risen in grade." + +"Yes. I hold an important command of six men. I spend much time in +studying the strategy of Conde and Napoleon. By the bye, I am here on a +very important mission." + +"Indeed!" + +"I suppose you give yourselves the luxury of never reading the papers in +this delightful retreat. The day before yesterday the Cardinal attempted +to arrest our friend Del Ferice--have you heard that?" + +"No--what--has he escaped?" asked Giovanni and Corona in a breath. But +their tones were different. Giovanni had anticipated the news, and was +disgusted at the idea that the fellow had got off. Corona was merely +surprised. + +"Yes. Heaven knows how--he has escaped. I am here to cut him off if he +tries to get to the Serra di Sant' Antonio." + +Giovanni laughed. + +"He will scarcely try to come this way--under the very walls of my +house," he said. + +"He may do anything. He is a slippery fellow." Gouache proceeded to tell +all he knew of the circumstances. + +"That is very strange," said Corona, thoughtfully. Then after a pause, +she added, "We are going to visit our road, Monsieur Gouache. Will you +not come with us? My husband will give you a horse." + +Gouache was charmed. He preferred talking to Giovanni and looking at +Corona's face to returning to his six Zouaves, or patrolling the hills in +search of Del Ferice. In a few minutes the three were mounted, and riding +slowly along the level stretch towards the works. As they entered the new +road Giovanni and Corona unconsciously fell into conversation, as usual, +about what they were doing, and forgot their visitor. Gouache dropped +behind, watching the pair and admiring them with true artistic +appreciation. He had a Parisian's love of luxury and perfect appointments +as well as an artist's love of beauty, and his eyes rested with +unmitigated pleasure on the riders and their horses, losing no detail of +their dress, their simple English accoutrements, their firm seats and +graceful carriage. But at a turn of the grade the two riders suddenly +slipped from his field of vision, and his attention was attracted to the +marvellous beauty of the landscape, as looking down the valley towards +Astrardente he saw range on range of purple hills rising in a deep +perspective, crowned with jagged rocks or sharply defined brown villages, +ruddy in the lowering sun. He stopped his horse and sat motionless, +drinking in the loveliness before him. So it is that accidents in nature +make accidents in the lives of men. + +But Giovanni and Corona rode slowly down the gentle incline, hardly +noticing that Gouache had stopped behind, and talking of the work. As +they again turned a curve of the grade Corona, who was on the inside, +looked up and caught sight of Gouache's motionless figure at the opposite +extremity of the gradient they had just descended. Giovanni looked +straight before him, and was aware of a pale-faced Capuchin friar who +with downcast eyes was toiling up the road, seemingly exhausted; a +particularly weather-stained and dilapidated friar even for those wild +mountains. + +"Gouache is studying geography," remarked Corona. + +"Another of those Capuccini!" exclaimed Giovanni, instinctively feeling +in his pocket for coppers. Then with a sudden movement he seized his +wife's arm. She was close to him as they rode slowly along side by side. + +"Good God! Corona," he cried, "it is Del Ferice!" Corona looked quickly +at the monk. His cowl was raised enough to show his features; but she +would, perhaps, not have recognised his smooth shaven face had Giovanni +not called her attention to it. + +Del Ferice had recognised them too, and, horror-struck, he paused, +trembling and uncertain what to do. He had taken the wrong turn from the +main road below; unaccustomed to the dialect of the hills, he had +misunderstood the peasant who had told him especially not to take the +bridle-path if he wished to avoid Saracinesca. He stopped, hesitated, and +then, pulling his cowl over his face, walked steadily on. Giovanni +glanced up and saw that Gouache was slowly descending the road, still +absorbed in contemplating the landscape. + +"Let him take his chance," muttered Saracinesca. "What should I care?" + +"No--no! Save him, Giovanni,--he looks so miserable," cried Corona, with +ready sympathy. She was pale with excitement. + +Giovanni looked at her one moment and hesitated, but her pleading eyes +were not to be refused. + +"Then gallop back, darling. Tell Gouache it is cold in the +valley--anything. Make him go back with you--I will save him since you +wish it." + +Corona wheeled her horse without a word and cantered up the hill again. +The monk had continued his slow walk, and was now almost at Giovanni's +saddle-bow. The latter drew rein, staring hard at the pale features +under the cowl. + +"If you go on you are lost," he said, in low distinct tones. "The Zouaves +are waiting for you. Stop, I say!" he exclaimed, as the monk attempted to +pass on. Leaping to the ground Giovanni seized his arm and held him +tightly. Then Del Ferice broke down. + +"You will not give me up--for the love of Christ!" he whined. "Oh, if you +have any pity--let me go--I never meant to harm you--" + +"Look here," said Giovanni. "I would just as soon give you up to the Holy +Office as not; but my wife asked me to save you--" + +"God bless her! Oh, the saints bless her! God render her kindness!" +blubbered Del Ferice, who, between fear and exhaustion, was by this time +half idiotic. + +"Silence!" said Giovanni, sternly. "You may thank her if you ever have a +chance. Come with me quietly. I will send one of the workmen round the +hill with you. You must sleep at Trevi, and then get over the Serra as +best you can." He ran his arm through the bridle of his horse and walked +by his enemy's side. + +"You will not give me up," moaned the wretched man. "For the love of +heaven do not betray me--I have come so far--I am so tired." + +"The wolves may make a meal of you, for all I care," returned Giovanni. +"I will not. I give you my word that I will send you safely on, if you +will stop this whining and behave like a man." + +At that moment Del Ferice was past taking offence, but for many a year +afterwards the rough words rankled in his heart. Giovanni was brutal for +once; he longed to wring the fellow's neck, or to give him up to Gouache +and the Zouaves. The tones of Ugo's voice reminded him of injuries not so +old as to be yet forgotten. But he smothered his wrath and strode on, +having promised his wife to save the wretch, much against his will. It +was a quarter of an hour before they reached the works, the longest +quarter of an hour Del Ferice remembered in his whole life. Neither spoke +a word. Giovanni hailed a sturdy-looking fellow who was breaking stones +by the roadside. + +"Get up, Carluccio," he said. "This good monk has lost his way. You must +take him round the mountain, above Ponza to Arcinazzo, and show him the +road to Trevi. It is a long way, but the road is good enough after +Ponza--it is shorter than to go round by Saracinesca, and the good friar +is in a hurry." + +Carluccio started up with alacrity. He greatly preferred roaming about +the hills to breaking stones, provided he was paid for it. He picked up +his torn jacket and threw it over one shoulder, setting his battered hat +jauntily on his thick black curls. + +"Give us a benediction, _padre mio_, and let us be off--_non e mica un +passo_--it is a good walk to Trevi." + +Del Ferice hesitated. He hardly knew what to do or say, and even if he +had wished to speak he was scarcely able to control his voice. Giovanni +cut the situation short by turning on his heel and mounting his horse. A +moment later he was cantering up the road again, to the considerable +astonishment of the labourers, who were accustomed to see him spend at +least half an hour in examining the work done. But Giovanni was in no +humour to talk about roads. He had spent a horrible quarter of an hour, +between his desire to see Del Ferice punished and the promise he had +given his wife to save him. He felt so little sure of himself that he +never once looked back, lest he should be tempted to send a second man to +stop the fugitive and deliver him up to justice. He ground his teeth +together, and his heart was full of bitter curses as he rode up the hill, +hardly daring to reflect upon what he had done. That, in the eyes of the +law, he had wittingly helped a traitor to escape, troubled his conscience +little. His instinct bade him destroy Del Ferice by giving him up, and he +would have saved himself a vast deal of trouble if he had followed his +impulse. But the impulse really arose from a deep-rooted desire for +revenge, which, having resisted, he regretted bitterly--very much as +Shakespeare's murderer complained to his companion that the devil was at +his elbow bidding him not murder the duke. Giovanni spared his enemy +solely to please his wife, and half-a-dozen words from her had produced a +result which no consideration of mercy or pity could have brought about. + +Corona and Gouache had halted at the top of the road to wait for him. By +an imperceptible nod, Giovanni informed his wife that Del Ferice was +safe. + +"I am sorry to have cut short our ride," he said, coldly. "My wife found +it chilly in the valley." + +Anastase looked curiously at Giovanni's pale face, and wondered whether +anything was wrong. Corona herself seemed strangely agitated. + +"Yes," answered Gouache, with his gentle smile; "the mountain air is +still cold." + +So the three rode silently back to the castle, and at the gate Gouache +dismounted and left them, politely declining a rather cold invitation to +come in. Giovanni and Corona went silently up the staircase together, and +on into a small apartment which in that cold season they had set apart as +a sitting-room. When they were alone, Corona laid her hands upon +Giovanni's shoulders and gazed long into his angry eyes. Then she threw +her arms round his neck and drew him to her. + +"My beloved," she cried, proudly, "you are all I thought--and more too." + +"Do not say that," answered Giovanni. "I would not have lifted a finger +to save that hound, but for you." + +"Ah, but you did it, dear, all the same," she said, and kissed him. + +On the following evening, without any warning, old Saracinesca arrived, +and was warmly greeted. After dinner Giovanni told him the story of Del +Ferice's escape. Thereupon the old gentleman flew into a towering rage, +swearing and cursing in a most characteristic manner, but finally +declaring that to arrest spies was the work of spies, and that Giovanni +had behaved like a gentleman, as of course he could not help doing, +seeing that he was his own son. + + * * * * * + +And so the curtain falls upon the first act. Giovanni and Corona are +happily married. Del Ferice is safe across the frontier among his friends +in Naples, and Donna Tullia is waiting still for news of him, in the last +days of Lent, in the year 1866. To carry on the tale from this point +would be to enter upon a new series of events more interesting, perhaps, +than those herein detailed, and of like importance in the history of the +Saracinesca family, but forming by their very nature a distinct +narrative--a second act to the drama, if it may be so called. I am +content if in the foregoing pages I have so far acquainted the reader +with those characters which hereafter will play more important parts, as +to enable him to comprehend the story of their subsequent lives, and in +some measure to judge of their future by their past, regarding them as +acquaintances, if not sympathetic, yet worthy of some attention. + +Especially I ask for indulgence in matters political. I am not writing +the history of political events, but the history of a Roman family during +times of great uncertainty and agitation. If any one says that I have set +up Del Ferice as a type of the Italian Liberal party, carefully +constructing a villain in order to batter him to pieces with the +artillery of poetic justice, I answer that I have done nothing of the +kind. Del Ferice is indeed a type, but a type of a depraved class which +very unjustly represented the Liberal party in Rome before 1870, and +which, among those who witnessed its proceedings, drew upon the great +political body which demanded the unity of Italy an opprobrium that body +was very far from deserving. The honest and upright Liberals were waiting +in 1866. What they did, they did from their own country, and they did it +boldly. To no man of intelligence need I say that Del Ferice had no more +affinity with Massimo D'Azeglio, with the great Cavour, with Cavour's +great enemy Giuseppe Mazzini, or with Garibaldi, than the jackal has with +the lion. Del Ferice represented the scum which remained after the +revolution of 1848 had subsided. He was one of those men who were used +and despised by their betters, and in using whom Cavour himself was +provoked into writing "Se noi facessimo per noi quel che faciamo per +l'Italia, saremmo gran bricconi"--if we did for ourselves what we do for +Italy, we should be great blackguards. And that there were honourable +and just men outside of Rome will sufficiently appear in the sequel to +this veracious tale. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Saracinesca, by F. 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