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diff --git a/old/jcmmn11.txt b/old/jcmmn11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e25cae2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jcmmn11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3431 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Milan and Mantua, by Jacques Casanova +#5 in our series by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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Her hair +dressed with powder did not please me as well as the raven black of +her beautiful locks, and her fashionable town attire did not, in my +eyes, suit her as well as her rich country dress. But the +countenances of husband and wife bore the stamp of happiness. +Charles reproached me in a friendly manner because I had not called +once upon them, and, in order to atone for my apparent negligence, I +went to see them the next day with M. Dandolo. Charles told me that +his wife was idolized by his aunt and his sister who had become her +bosom friend; that she was kind, affectionate, unassuming, and of a +disposition which enforced affection. I was no less pleased with +this favourable state of things than with the facility with which +Christine was learning the Venetian dialect. + +When M. Dandolo and I called at their house, Charles was not at home; +Christine was alone with his two relatives. The most friendly +welcome was proffered to us, and in the course of conversation the +aunt praised the progress made by Christine in her writing very +highly, and asked her to let me see her copy-book. I followed her to +the next room, where she told me that she was very happy; that every +day she discovered new virtues in her husband. He had told her, +without the slightest appearance of suspicion of displeasure, that he +knew that we had spent two days together in Treviso, and that he had +laughed at the well-meaning fool who had given him that piece of +information in the hope of raising a cloud in the heaven of their +felicity. + +Charles was truly endowed with all the virtues, with all the noble +qualities of an honest and distinguished man. Twenty-six years +afterwards I happened to require the assistance of his purse, and +found him my true friend. I never was a frequent visitor at his +house, and he appreciated my delicacy. He died a few months before +my last departure from Venice, leaving his widow in easy +circumstances, and three well-educated sons, all with good positions, +who may, for what I know, be still living with their mother. + +In June I went to the fair at Padua, and made the acquaintance of a +young man of my own age, who was then studying mathematics under the +celebrated Professor Succi. His name was Tognolo, but thinking it +did not sound well, he changed it for that of Fabris. He became, in +after years, Comte de Fabris, lieutenant-general under Joseph II., +and died Governor of Transylvania. This man, who owed his high +fortune to his talents, would, perhaps, have lived and died unknown +if he had kept his name of Tognolo, a truly vulgar one. He was from +Uderzo, a large village of the Venetian Friuli. He had a brother in +the Church, a man of parts, and a great gamester, who, having a deep +knowledge of the world, had taken the name of Fabris, and the younger +brother had to assume it likewise. Soon afterwards he bought an +estate with the title of count, became a Venetian nobleman, and his +origin as a country bumpkin was forgotten. If he had kept his name +of Tognolo it would have injured him, for he could not have +pronounced it without reminding his hearers of what is called, by the +most contemptible of prejudices, low extraction, and the privileged +class, through an absurd error, does not admit the possibility of a +peasant having talent or genius. No doubt a time will come when +society, more enlightened, and therefore more reasonable, will +acknowledge that noble feelings, honour, and heroism can be found in +every condition of life as easily as in a class, the blood of which +is not always exempt from the taint of a misalliance. + +The new count, while he allowed others to forget his origin, was too +wise to forget it himself, and in legal documents he always signed +his family name as well as the one he had adopted. His brother had +offered him two ways to win fortune in the world, leaving him +perfectly free in his choice. Both required an expenditure of one +thousand sequins, but the abbe had put the amount aside for that +purpose. My friend had to choose between the sword of Mars and the +bird of Minerva. The abbe knew that he could purchase for his +brother a company in the army of his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty, +or obtain for him a professorship at the University of Padua; for +money can do everything. But my friend, who was gifted with noble +feelings and good sense, knew that in either profession talents and +knowledge were essentials, and before making a choice he was applying +himself with great success to the study of mathematics. He +utlimately decided upon the military profession, thus imitating +Achilles, who preferred the sword to the distaff, and he paid for it +with his life like the son of Peleus; though not so young, and not +through a wound inflicted by an arrow, but from the plague, which he +caught in the unhappy country in which the indolence of Europe allows +the Turks to perpetuate that fearful disease. + +The distinguished appearance, the noble sentiments, the great +knowledge, and the talents of Fabris would have been turned into +ridicule in a man called Tognolo, for such is the force of +prejudices, particularly of those which have no ground to rest upon, +that an ill-sounding name is degrading in this our stupid society. +My opinion is that men who have an ill-sounding name, or one which +presents an indecent or ridiculous idea, are right in changing it if +they intend to win honour, fame, and fortune either in arts or +sciences. No one can reasonably deny them that right, provided the +name they assume belongs to nobody. The alphabet is general +property, and everyone has the right to use it for the creation of a +word forming an appellative sound. But he must truly create it. +Voltaire, in spite of his genius, would not perhaps have reached +posterity under his name of Arouet, especially amongst the French, +who always give way so easily to their keen sense of ridicule and +equivocation. How could they have imagined that a writer 'a rouet' +could be a man of genius? And D'Alembert, would he have attained his +high fame, his universal reputation, if he had been satisfied with +his name of M. Le Rond, or Mr. Allround? What would have become of +Metastasio under his true name of Trapasso? What impression would +Melanchthon have made with his name of Schwarzerd? Would he then +have dared to raise the voice of a moralist philosopher, of a +reformer of the Eucharist, and so many other holy things? Would not +M. de Beauharnais have caused some persons to laugh and others to +blush if he had kept his name of Beauvit, even if the first founder +of his family had been indebted for his fortune to the fine quality +expressed by that name? + +Would the Bourbeux have made as good a figure on the throne as the +Bourbons? I think that King Poniatowski ought to have abdicated the +name of Augustus, which he had taken at the time of his accession to +the throne, when he abdicated royalty. The Coleoni of Bergamo, +however, would find it rather difficult to change their name, because +they would be compelled at the same time to change their coat of arms +(the two generative glands), and thus to annihilate the glory of +their ancestor, the hero Bartholomeo. + +Towards the end of autumn my friend Fabris introduced me to a family +in the midst of which the mind and the heart could find delicious +food. That family resided in the country on the road to Zero. Card- +playing, lovemaking, and practical jokes were the order of the day. +Some of those jokes were rather severe ones, but the order of the day +was never to get angry and to laugh at everything, for one was to +take every jest pleasantly or be thought a bore. Bedsteads would at +night tumble down under their occupants, ghosts were personated, +diuretic pills or sugar-plums were given to young ladies, as well as +comfits who produced certain winds rising from the netherlands, and +impossible to keep under control. These jokes would sometimes go +rather too far, but such was the spirit animating all the members of +that circle; they would laugh. I was not less inured than the others +to the war of offence and defence, but at last there was such a +bitter joke played upon me that it suggested to me another, the fatal +consequences of which put a stop to the mania by which we were all +possessed. + +We were in the habit of walking to a farm which was about half a +league distant by the road, but the distance could be reduced by half +by going over a deep and miry ditch across which a narrow plank was +thrown, and I always insisted upon going that way, in spite of the +fright of the ladies who always trembled on the narrow bridge, +although I never failed to cross the first, and to offer my hand to +help them over. One fine day, I crossed first so as to give them +courage, but suddenly, when I reached the middle of the plank, it +gave way under me, and there I was in the ditch, up to the chin in +stinking mud, and, in spite of my inward rage, obliged, according to +the general understanding, to join in the merry laughter of all my +companions. But the merriment did not last long, for the joke was +too bad, and everyone declared it to be so. Some peasants were +called to the rescue, and with much difficulty they dragged me out in +the most awful state. An entirely new dress, embroidered with +spangles, my silk stockings, my lace, everything, was of course +spoiled, but not minding it, I laughed more heartily that anybody +else, although I had already made an inward vow to have the most +cruel revenge. In order to know the author of that bitter joke I had +only to appear calm and indifferent about it. It was evident that +the plank had been purposely sawn. I was taken back to the house, a +shirt, a coat, a complete costume, were lent me, for I had come that +time only for twenty-four hours, and had not brought anything with +me. I went to the city the next morning, and towards the evening I +returned to the gay company. Fabris, who had been as angry as +myself, observed to me that the perpetrator of the joke evidently +felt his guilt, because he took good care not to discover himself. +But I unveiled the mystery by promising one sequin to a peasant woman +if she could find out who had sawn the plank. She contrived to +discover the young man who had done the work. I called on him, and +the offer of a sequin, together with my threats, compelled him to +confess that he had been paid for his work by Signor Demetrio, a +Greek, dealer in spices, a good and amiable man of between forty-five +and fifty years, on whom I never played any trick, except in the case +of a pretty, young servant girl whom he was courting, and whom I had +juggled from him. + +Satisfied with my discovery, I was racking my brain to invent a good +practical joke, but to obtain complete revenge it was necessary that +my trick should prove worse than the one he had played upon me. +Unfortunately my imagination was at bay. I could not find anything. +A funeral put an end to my difficulties. + +Armed with my hunting-knife, I went alone to the cemetery a little +after midnight, and opening the grave of the dead man who had been +buried that very day, I cut off one of the arms near the shoulder, +not without some trouble, and after I had re-buried the corpse, I +returned to my room with the arm of the defunct. The next day, when +supper was over, I left the table and retired to my chamber as if I +intended to go to bed, but taking the arm with me I hid myself under +Demetrio's bed. A short time after, the Greek comes in, undresses +himself, put his light out, and lies down. I give him time to fall +nearly asleep; then, placing myself at the foot of the bed, I pull +away the clothes little by little until he is half naked. He laughs +and calls out, + +"Whoever you may be, go away and let me sleep quietly, for I do not +believe in ghosts;" he covers himself again and composes himself to +sleep. + +I wait five or six minutes, and pull again at the bedclothes; but +when he tries to draw up the sheet, saying that he does not care for +ghosts, I oppose some resistance. He sits up so as to catch the hand +which is pulling at the clothes, and I take care that he should get +hold of the dead hand. Confident that he has caught the man or the +woman who was playing the trick, he pulls it towards him, laughing +all the time; I keep tight hold of the arm for a few instants, and +then let it go suddenly; the Greek falls back on his pillow without +uttering a single word. + +The trick was played, I leave the room without any noise, and, +reaching my chamber, go to bed. + +I was fast asleep, when towards morning I was awoke by persons going +about, and not understanding why they should be up so early, I got +up. The first person I met--the mistress of the house--told me that +I had played an abominable joke. + +"I? What have I done?" + +"M. Demetrio is dying." + +"Have I killed him?" + +She went away without answering me. I dressed myself, rather +frightened, I confess, but determined upon pleading complete +ignorance of everything, and I proceeded to Demetrio's room; and I +was confronted with horror-stricken countenances and bitter +reproaches. I found all the guests around him. I protested my +innocence, but everyone smiled. The archpriest and the beadle, who +had just arrived, would not bury the arm which was lying there, and +they told me that I had been guilty of a great crime. + +"I am astonished, reverend sir," I said to the priest, "at the hasty +judgment which is thus passed upon me, when there is no proof to +condemn me." + +"You have done it," exclaimed all the guests, "you alone are capable +of such an abomination; it is just like you. No one but you would +have dared to do such a thing!" + +"I am compelled," said the archpriest, "to draw up an official +report." + +"As you please, I have not the slightest objection," I answered, "I +have nothing to fear." + +And I left the room. + +I continued to take it coolly, and at the dinner-table I was informed +that M. Demetrio had been bled, that he had recovered the use of his +eyes, but not of his tongue or of his limbs. The next day he could +speak, and I heard, after I had taken leave of the family, that he +was stupid and spasmodic. The poor man remained in that painful +state for the rest of his life. I felt deeply grieved, but I had not +intended to injure him so badly. I thought that the trick he had +played upon me might have cost my life, and I could not help deriving +consolation from that idea. + +On the same day, the archpriest made up his mind to have the arm +buried, and to send a formal denunciation .against me to the +episcopal chancellorship of Treviso. + +Annoyed at the reproaches which I received on all sides, I returned +to Venice. A fortnight afterwards I was summoned to appear before +the 'magistrato alla blasfemia'. I begged M. Barbaro to enquire the +cause of the aforesaid summons, for it was a formidable court. I was +surprised at the proceedings being taken against me, as if there had +been a certainty of my having desecrated a grave, whilst there could +be nothing but suspicion. But I was mistaken, the summons was not +relating to that affair. M. Barbaro informed me in the evening that +a woman had brought a complaint against me for having violated her +daughter. She stated in her complaint that, having decoyed her child +to the Zuecca, I had abused her by violence, and she adduced as a +proof that her daughter was confined to her bed, owing to the bad +treatment she had received from me in my endeavours to ravish her. +It was one of those complaints which are often made, in order to give +trouble and to cause expense, even against innocent persons. I was +innocent of violation, but it was quite true that I had given the +girl a sound thrashing. I prepared my defence, and begged M. +Barbaro to deliver it to the magistrate's secretary. + + + DECLARATION + +I hereby declare that, on such a day, having met the woman with her +daughter, I accosted them and offered to give them some refreshments +at a coffee-house near by; that the daughter refused to accept my +caresses, and that the mother said to me,-- + +"My daughter is yet a virgin, and she is quite right not to lose her +maidenhood without making a good profit by it." + +"If so," I answered, "I will give you ten sequins for her virginity." + +"You may judge for yourself," said the mother. + +Having assured myself of the fact by the assistance of the sense of +feeling, and having ascertained that it might be true, I told the +mother to bring the girl in the afternoon to the Zuecca, and that I +would give her the ten sequins. My offer was joyfully accepted, the +mother brought her daughter to me, she received the money, and +leaving us together in the Garden of the Cross, she went away. +When I tried to avail myself of the right for which I had paid, the +girl, most likely trained to the business by her mother, contrived to +prevent me. At first the game amused me, but at last, being tired of +it, I told her to have done. She answered quietly that it was not +her fault if I was not able to do what I wanted. Vexed and annoyed, +I placed her in such a position that she found herself at bay, but, +making a violent effort, she managed to change her position and +debarred me from making any further attempts. + +"Why," I said to her, "did you move?" + +"Because I would not have it in that position." + +"You would not?" + +"No." + +Without more ado, I got hold of a broomstick, and gave her a good +lesson, in order to get something for the ten sequins which I had +been foolish enough to pay in advance. But I have broken none of her +limbs, and I took care to apply my blows only on her posteriors, on +which spot I have no doubt that all the marks may be seen. In the +evening I made her dress herself again, and sent her back in a boat +which chanced to pass, and she was landed in safety. The mother +received ten sequins, the daughter has kept her hateful maidenhood, +and, if I am guilty of anything, it is only of having given a +thrashing to an infamous girl, the pupil of a still more infamous +mother. + +My declaration had no effect. The magistrate was acquainted with the +girl, and the mother laughed at having duped me so easily. I was +summoned, but did not appear before the court, and a writ was on the +point of being issued against my body, when the complaint of the +profanation of a grave was filed against me before the same +magistrate. It would have been less serious for me if the second +affair had been carried before the Council of Ten, because one court +might have saved me from the other. + +The second crime, which, after all, was only a joke, was high felony +in the eyes of the clergy, and a great deal was made of it. I was +summoned to appear within twenty-four hours, and it was evident that +I would be arrested immediately afterwards. M. de Bragadin, who +always gave good advice, told me that the best way to avoid the +threatening storm was to run away. The advice was certainly wise, +and I lost no time in getting ready. + +I have never left Venice with so much regret as I did then, for I had +some pleasant intrigues on hand, and I was very lucky at cards. My +three friends assured me that, within one year at the furthest, the +cases against me would be forgotten, and in Venice, when public +opinion has forgotten anything, it can be easily arranged. + +I left Venice in the evening and the next day I slept at Verona. Two +days afterwards I reached Mantua. I was alone, with plenty of +clothes and jewels, without letters of introduction, but with a well- +filled purse, enjoying excellent health and my twenty-three years. + +In Mantua I ordered an excellent dinner, the very first thing one +ought to do at a large hotel, and after dinner I went out for a walk. +In the evening, after I had seen the coffee-houses and the places of +resort, I went to the theatre, and I was delighted to see Marina +appear on the stage as a comic dancer, amid the greatest applause, +which she deserved, for she danced beautifully. She was tall, +handsome, very well made and very graceful. I immediately resolved +on renewing my acquaintance with her, if she happened to be free, and +after the opera I engaged a boy to take me to her house. She had +just sat down to supper with someone, but the moment she saw me she +threw her napkin down and flew to my arms. I returned her kisses, +judging by her warmth that her guest was a man of no consequence. + +The servant, without waiting for orders, had already laid a plate for +me, and Marina invited me to sit down near her. I felt vexed, +because the aforesaid individual had not risen to salute me, and +before I accepted Marina's invitation I asked her who the gentleman +was, begging her to introduce me. + +"This gentleman," she said, "is Count Celi, of Rome; he is my lover." + +"I congratulate you," I said to her, and turning towards the so- +called count, "Sir," I added, "do not be angry at our mutual +affection, Marina is my daughter." + +"She is a prostitute." + +"True," said Marina, "and you can believe the count, for he is my +procurer." + +At those words, the brute threw his knife at her face, but she +avoided it by running away. The scoundrel followed her, but I drew +my sword, and said, + +"Stop, or you are a dead man." + +I immediately asked Marina to order her servant to light me out, but +she hastily put a cloak on, and taking my arm she entreated me to +take her with me. + +"With pleasure," I said. + +The count then invited me to meet him alone, on the following day, at +the Casino of Pomi, to hear what he had to say. + +"Very well, sir, at four in the afternoon," I answered. + +I took Marina to my inn, where I lodged her in the room adjoining +mine, and we sat down to supper. + +Marina, seeing that I was thoughtful, said, + +"Are you sorry to have saved me from the rage of that brute?" + +"No, I am glad to have done so, but tell me truly who and what he +is." + +"He is a gambler by profession, and gives himself out as Count Celi. +I made his acquaintance here. He courted me, invited me to supper, +played after supper, and, having won a large sum from an Englishman +whom he had decoyed to his supper by telling him that I would be +present, he gave me fifty guineas, saying that he had given me an +interest in his bank. As soon as I had become his mistress, he +insisted upon my being compliant with all the men he wanted to make +his dupes, and at last he took up his quarters at my lodgings. The +welcome I gave you very likely vexed him, and you know the rest. +Here I am, and here I will remain until my departure for Mantua where +I have an engagement as first dancer. My servant will bring me all I +need for to-night, and I will give him orders to move all my luggage +to-morrow. I will not see that scoundrel any more. I will be only +yours, if you are free as in Corfu, and if you love me still." + +"Yes, my dear Marina, I do love you, but if you wish to be my +mistress, you must be only mine." + +"Oh! of course. I have three hundred sequins, and I will give them +to you to-morrow if you will take me as your mistress." + +"I do not want any money; all I want is yourself. Well, it is all +arranged; to-morrow evening we shall feel more comfortable." + +"Perhaps you are thinking of a duel for to-morrow? But do not +imagine such a thing, dearest. I know that man; he is an arrant +coward." + +"I must keep my engagement with him." + +"I know that, but he will not keep his, and I am very glad of it." + +Changing the conversation and speaking of our old acquaintances, she +informed me that she had quarreled with her brother Petronio, that +her sister was primadonna in Genoa, and that Bellino Therese was +still in Naples, where she continued to ruin dukes. She concluded by +saying; + +"I am the most unhappy of the family." + +"How so? You are beautiful, and you have become an excellent dancer. +Do not be so prodigal of your favours, and you cannot fail to meet +with a man who will take care of your fortune." + +"To be sparing of my favours is very difficult; when I love, I am no +longer mine, but when I do not love, I cannot be amiable. Well, +dearest, I could be very happy with you." + +"Dear Marina, I am not wealthy, and my honour would not allow me...." + +"Hold your tongue; I understand you." + +"Why have you not a lady's maid with you instead of a male servant?" + +"You are right. A maid would look more respectable, but my servant +is so clever and so faithful!" + +"I can guess all his qualities, but he is not a fit servant for you." + +The next day after dinner I left Marina getting ready for the +theatre, and having put everything of value I possessed in my pocket, +I took a carriage and proceeded to the Casino of Pomi. I felt +confident of disabling the false count, and sent the carriage away. +I was conscious of being guilty of great folly in exposing my life +with such an adversary. I might have broken my engagement with him +without implicating my honour, but, the fact is that I felt well +disposed for a fight, and as I was certainly in the right I thought +the prospect of a duel very delightful. A visit to a dancer, a brute +professing to be a nobleman, who insults her in my presence, who +wants to kill her, who allows her to be carried off in his very +teeth, and whose only opposition is to give me an appointment! It +seemed to me that if I had failed to come, I should have given him +the right to call me a coward. + +The count had not yet arrived. I entered the coffee-room to wait for +him. I met a good-looking Frenchman there, and I addressed him. +Being pleased with his conversation, I told him that I expected the +arrival of a man, and that as my honour required that he should find +me alone I would feel grateful if he would go away as soon as I saw +the man approaching. A short time afterwards I saw my adversary +coming along, but with a second. I then told the Frenchman that he +would oblige me by remaining, and he accepted as readily as if I had +invited him to a party of pleasure. The count came in with his +follower, who was sporting a sword at least forty inches long, and +had all the look of a cut-throat. I advanced towards the count, and +said to him dryly,-- + +"You told me that you would come alone." + +"My friend will not be in the way, as I only want to speak to you." + +"If I had known that, I would not have gone out of my way. But do +not let us be noisy, and let us go to some place where we can +exchange a few words without being seen. Follow me." + +I left the coffee-room with the young Frenchman, who, being well +acquainted with the place, took me to the most favourable spot, and +we waited there for the two other champions, who were walking slowly +and talking together. When they were within ten paces I drew my +sword and called upon my adversary to get ready. My Frenchman had +already taken out his sword, but he kept it under his arm. + +"Two to one!" exclaimed Celi. + +"Send your friend away, and this gentleman will go likewise; at all +events, your friend wears a sword, therefore we are two against two." + +"Yes," said the Frenchman, "let us have a four-handed game." + +"I do not cross swords with a dancer," said the cutthroat. + +He had scarcely uttered those words when my friend, going up to him, +told him that a dancer was certainly as good as a blackleg, and gave +him a violent bow with the flat of his sword on the face. I followed +his example with Celi, who began to beat a retreat, and said that he +only wanted to tell me something, and that he would fight afterwards. + +"Well, speak." + +"You know me and I do not know you. Tell me who you are." + +My only answer was to resume laying my sword upon the scoundrel, +while the Frenchman was shewing the same dexterity upon the back of +his companion, but the two cowards took to their heels, and there was +nothing for us to do but to sheathe our weapons. Thus did the duel +end in a manner even more amusing than Marina herself had +anticipated. + +My brave Frenchman was expecting someone at the casino. I left him +after inviting him to supper for that evening after the opera. I +gave him; the name which I had assumed for my journey and the address +of my hotel. + +I gave Marina a full description of the adventure. + +"I will," she said, "amuse everybody at the theatre this evening with +the story of your meeting. But that which pleases me most is that, +if your second is really a dancer, he can be no other than M. +Baletti, who is engaged with me for the Mantua Theatre." + +I stored all my valuables in my trunk again, and went to the opera, +where I saw Baletti, who recognized me, and pointed me out to all his +friends, to whom he was relating the adventure. He joined me after +the performance, and accompanied me to the inn. Marina, who had +already returned, came to my room as soon as she heard my voice, and +I was amused at the surprise of the amiable Frenchman, when he saw +the young artist with whom he had engaged to dance the comic parts. +Marina, although an excellent dancer, did not like the serious style. +Those two handsome adepts of Terpsichore had never met before, and +they began an amorous warfare which made me enjoy my supper +immensely, because, as he was a fellow artist, Marina assumed towards +Baletti a tone well adapted to the circumstances, and very different +to her usual manner with other men. She shone with wit and beauty +that evening, and was in an excellent temper, for she had been much +applauded by the public, the true version of the Celi business being +already well known. + +The theatre was to be open only for ten more nights, and as Marina +wished to leave Milan immediately after the last performance, we +decided on travelling together. In the mean time, I invited Baletti +(it was an Italian name which he had adopted for the stage) to be our +guest during the remainder of our stay in Milan. The friendship +between us had a great influence upon all the subsequent events of my +life, as the reader will see in these Memoirs. He had great talent +as a dancer, but that was the least of his excellent qualities. He +was honest, his feelings were noble, he had studied much, and he had +received the best education that could be given in those days in +France to a nobleman. + +On the third day I saw plainly that Marina wished to make a conquest +of her colleague, and feeling what great advantage might accrue to +her from it I resolved on helping her. She had a post-chaise for two +persons, and I easily persuaded her to take Baletti with her, saying +that I wished to arrive alone in Mantua for several reasons which I +could not confide to her. The fact was that if I had arrived with +her, people would have naturally supposed that I was her lover, and I +wished to avoid that. Baletti was delighted with the proposal; he +insisted upon paying his share of the expenses, but Marina would not +hear of it. The reasons alleged by the young man for paying his own +expenses were excellent ones, and it was with great difficulty that I +prevailed upon him to accept Marina's offer, but I ultimately +succeeded. I promised to wait for them on the road, so as to take +dinner and supper together, and on the day appointed for our +departure I left Milan one hour before them. + +Reaching the city of Cremona very early, where we intended to sleep, +I took a walk about the streets, and, finding a coffee-house, I went +in. I made there the acquaintance of a French officer, and we left +the coffee-room together to take a short ramble. A very pretty woman +happened to pass in a carriage, and my companion stopped her to say a +few words. Their conversation was soon over, and the officer joined +me again. + +"Who is that lovely lady?" I enquired. + +"She is a truly charming woman, and I can tell you an anecdote about +her worthy of being transmitted to posterity. You need not suppose +that I am going to exaggerate, for the adventure is known to +everybody in Cremona. The charming woman whom you have just seen is +gifted with wit greater even than her beauty, and here is a specimen +of it. A young officer, one amongst many military men who were +courting her, when Marshal de Richelieu was commanding in Genoa, +boasted of being treated by her with more favour than all the others, +and one day, in the very coffee-room where we met, he advised a +brother officer not to lose his time in courting her, because he had +no chance whatever of obtaining any favour. + +"'My dear fellow,' said the other officer, 'I have a much better +right to give you that piece of advice; for I have already obtained +from her everything which can be granted to a lover.' + +"'I am certain that you are telling a lie,' exclaimed the young man, +'and I request you to follow me out.' + +"'Most willingly,' said the indiscreet swain, 'but what is the good +of ascertaining the truth through a duel and of cutting our throats, +when I can make the lady herself certify the fact in your presence.' + +"'I bet twenty-five louis that it is all untrue,' said the +incredulous officer. + +"'I accept your bet. Let us go.' + +"The two contending parties proceeded together towards the dwelling +of the lady whom you saw just now, who was to name the winner of the +twenty-five louis. + +"They found her in her dressing-room. 'Well gentlemen,' she said, +'what lucky wind has brought you here together at this hour? + +"'It is a bet, madam,' answered the unbelieving officer, 'and you +alone can be the umpire in our quarrel. This gentleman has been +boasting of having obtained from you everything a woman can grant to +the most favoured lover. I have given him the lie in the most +impressive manner, and a duel was to ensue, when he offered to have +the truth of his boast certified by you. I have bet twenty-five +Louis that you would not admit it, and he has taken my bet. Now, +madam, you can say which of us two is right.' + +"You have lost, sir," she said to him; 'but now I beg both of you to +quit my house, and I give you fair warning that if you ever dare to +shew your faces here again, you will be sorry for it.' + +"The two heedless fellows went away dreadfully mortified. The +unbeliever paid the bet, but he was deeply vexed, called the other a +coxcomb, and a week afterwards killed him in a duel. + +"Since that time the lady goes to the casino, and continues to mix in +society, but does not see company at her own house, and lives in +perfect accord with her husband." + +"How did the husband take it all?" + +"Quite well, and like an intelligent, sensible man. He said that, if +his wife had acted differently, he would have applied for a divorce, +because in that case no one would have entertained a doubt of her +being guilty." + +"That husband is indeed a sensible fellow. It is certain that, if +his wife had given the lie to the indiscreet officer, he would have +paid the bet, but he would have stood by what he had said, and +everybody would have believed him. By declaring him the winner of +the bet she has cut the matter short, and she has avoided a judgment +by which she would have been dishonoured. The inconsiderate boaster +was guilty of a double mistake for which he paid the penalty of his +life, but his adversary was as much wanting in delicacy, for in such +matters rightly-minded men do not venture upon betting. If the one +who says yes is imprudent, the one who says no is a dupe. I like the +lady's presence of mind." + +"But what sentence would you pass on her. Guilty or not guilty?" + +"Not guilty." + +"I am of the same opinion, and it has been the verdict of the public +likewise, for she has since been treated even better than before the +affair. You will see, if you go to the casino, and I shall be happy +to introduce you to her" + +I invited the officer to sup with us, and we spent a very pleasant +evening. After he had gone, I remarked with pleasure that Marina was +capable of observing the rules of propriety. She had taken a bedroom +to herself, so as not to hurt the feelings of her respectable fellow- +dancer. + +When I arrived in Mantua, I put up at St. Mark's hotel. Marina, to +whom I had given a notice that my intention was to call on her but +seldom, took up her abode in the house assigned to her by the +theatrical manager. + +In the afternoon of the same day, as I was walking about, I went into +a bookseller's shop to ascertain whether there was any new work out. +I remained there without perceiving that the night had come, and on +being told that the shop was going to be closed, I went out. I had +only gone a few yards when I was arrested by a patrol, the officer of +which told me that, as I had no lantern and as eight o'clock had +struck, his duty was to take me to the guardhouse. It was in vain +that I observed that, having arrived only in the afternoon, I could +not know that order of the police. I was compelled to follow him. + +When we reached the guardhouse, the officer of the patrol introduced +me to his captain, a tall, fine-looking young man who received me in +the most cheerful manner. I begged him to let me return to my hotel +as I needed rest after my journey. He laughed and answered, "No, +indeed, I want you to spend a joyous night with me, and in good +company." He told the officer to give me back my sword, and, +addressing me again, he said, "I only consider you, my dear sir, as +my friend and guest." + +I could not help being amused at such a novel mode of invitation, and +I accepted it. He gave some orders to a German soldier, and soon +afterwards the table was laid out for four persons. The two other +officers joined us, and we had a very gay supper. When the desert +had been served the company was increased by the arrival of two +disgusting, dissolute females. A green cloth was spread over the +table, and one of the officers began a faro bank. I punted so as not +to appear unwilling to join the game, and after losing a few sequins +I went out to breathe the fresh air, for we had drunk freely. One of +the two females followed me, teased me, and finally contrived, in +spite of myself, to make me a present which condemned me to a regimen +of six weeks. After that fine exploit, I went in again. + +A young and pleasant officer, who had lost some fifteen or twenty +sequins, was swearing like a trooper because the banker had pocketed +his money and was going. The young officer had a great deal of gold +before him on the table, and he contended that the banker ought to +have warned him that it would be the last game. + +"Sir," I said to him, politely, "you are in the wrong, for faro is +the freest of games. Why do you not take the bank yourself ?" + +"It would be too much trouble, and these gentlemen do not punt high +enough for me, but if that sort of thing amuses you, take the bank +and I will punt." + +"Captain," I said, "will you take a fourth share in my bank?" + +"Willingly." + +"Gentlemen, I beg you to give notice that I will lay the cards down +after six games." + +I asked for new packs of cards, and put three hundred sequins on the +table. The captain wrote on the back of a card, "Good for a hundred +sequins, O'Neilan," and placing it with my gold I began my bank. + +The young officer was delighted, and said to me, + +"Your bank might be defunct before the end of the sixth game." + +I did not answer, and the play went on. + +At the beginning of the fifth game, my bank was in the pangs of +death; the young officer was in high glee. I rather astonished him +by telling him that I was glad to lose, for I thought him a much more +agreeable companion when he was winning. + +There are some civilities which very likely prove unlucky for those +to whom they are addressed, and it turned out so in this case, for my +compliment turned his brain. During the fifth game, a run of adverse +cards made him lose all he had won, and as he tried to do violence to +Dame Fortune in the sixth round, he lost every sequin he had. + +"Sir," he said to me, "you have been very lucky, but I hope you will +give me my revenge to-morrow." + +"It would be with the greatest pleasure, sir, but I never play except +when I am under arrest." + +I counted my money, and found that I had wan two hundred and fifty +sequins, besides a debt of fifty sequins due by an officer who played +on trust which Captain O'Neilan took on his own account. I completed +his share, and at day-break he allowed me to go away. + +As soon as I got to my hotel, I went to bed, and when I awoke, I had +a visit from Captain Laurent, the officer who had played on trust. +Thinking that his object was to pay me what he had lost, I told him +that O'Neilan had taken his debt on himself, but he answered than he +had only called for the purpose of begging of me a loan of six +sequins on his note of hand, by which he would pledge his honour to +repay me within one week. I gave him the money, and he begged that +the matter, might remain between us. + +"I promise it," I said to him, "but do not break your word." + +The next day I was ill, and the reader is aware of the nature of my +illness. I immediately placed myself under a proper course of diet, +however unpleasant it was at my age; but I kept to my system, and it +cured me rapidly. + +Three or four days afterwards Captain O'Neilan called on me, and when +I told him the nature of my sickness he laughed, much to my surprise. + +"Then you were all right before that night?" he enquired. + +"Yes, my health was excellent." + +"I am sorry that you should have lost your health in such an ugly +place. I would have warned you if I had thought you had any +intentions in that quarter." + +"Did you know of the woman having...?" + +"Zounds! Did I not? It is only a week since I paid a visit to the +very same place myself, and I believe the creature was all right +before my visit." + +"Then I have to thank you for the present she has bestowed upon me." + +"Most likely; but it is only a trifle, and you can easily get cured +if you care to take the trouble." + +"What! Do you not try to cure yourself?" + +"Faith, no. It would be too much trouble to follow a regular diet, +and what is the use of curing such a trifling inconvenience when I am +certain of getting it again in a fortnight. Ten times in my life I +have had that patience, but I got tired of it, and for the last two +years I have resigned myself, and now I put up with it." + +"I pity you, for a man like you would have great success in love." + +"I do not care a fig for love; it requires cares which would bother +me much more than the slight inconvenience to which we were alluding, +and to which I am used now." + +"I am not of your opinion, for the amorous pleasure is insipid when +love does not throw a little spice in it. Do you think, for +instance, that the ugly wretch I met at the guard-room is worth what +I now suffer on her account?" + +"Of course not, and that is why I am sorry for you. If I had known, +I could have introduced you to something better." + +"The very best in that line is not worth my health, and health ought +to be sacrificed only for love." + +"Oh! you want women worthy of love? There are a few here; stop with +us for some time, and when you are cured there is nothing to prevent +you from making conquests." + +O'Neilan was only twenty-three years old; his father, who was dead, +had been a general, and the beautiful Countess Borsati was his +sister. He presented me to the Countess Zanardi Nerli, still more +lovely than his sister, but I was prudent enough not to burn my +incense before either of them, for it seemed to me that everybody +could guess the state of my health. + +I have never met a young man more addicted to debauchery than +O'Neilan. I have often spent the night rambling about with him, and +I was amazed at his cynical boldness and impudence. Yet he was +noble, generous, brave, and honourable. If in those days young +officers were often guilty of so much immorality, of so many vile +actions, it was not so much their fault as the fault of the +privileges which they enjoyed through custom, indulgence, or party +spirit. Here is an example: + +One day O'Neilan, having drunk rather freely, rides through the city +at full speed. A poor old woman who was crossing the street has no +time to avoid him, she falls, and her head is cut open by the horse's +feet. O'Neilan places himself under arrest, but the next day he is +set at liberty. He had, only to plead that it was an accident. + +The officer Laurent not having called upon me to redeem his promisory +note of six sequins during the week, I told him in the street that I +would no longer consider myself bound to keep the affair secret. +Instead of excusing himself, he said, + +"I do not care!" + +The answer was insulting, and I intended to compel him to give me +reparation, but the next day O'Neilan told me that Captain Laurent +had gone mad and had been locked up in a mad-house. He subsequently +recovered his reason, but his conduct was so infamous that he was +cashiered. + +O'Neilan, who was as brave as Bayard, was killed a few years +afterwards at the battle of Prague. A man of his complexion was +certain to fall the victim of Mars or of Venus. He might be alive +now if he had been endowed only with the courage of the fox, but he +had the courage of the lion. It is a virtue in a soldier, but almost +a fault in an officer. Those who brave danger with a full knowledge +of it are worthy of praise, but those who do not realize it escape +only by a miracle, and without any merit attaching itself to them. +Yet we must respect those great warriors, for their unconquerable +courage is the offspring of a strong soul, of a virtue which places +them above ordinary mortals. + +Whenever I think of Prince Charles de Ligne I cannot restrain my +tears. He was as brave as Achilles, but Achilles was invulnerable. +He would be alive now if he had remembered during the fight that he +was mortal. Who are they that, having known him, have not shed tears +in his memory? He was handsome, kind, polished, learned, a lover of +the arts, cheerful, witty in his conversation, a pleasant companion, +and a man of perfect equability. Fatal, terrible revolution! A +cannon ball took him from his friends, from his family, from the +happiness which surrounded him. + +The Prince de Waldeck has also paid the penalty of his intrepidity +with the loss of one arm. It is said that he consoles himself for +that loss with the consciousness that with the remaining one he can +yet command an army. + +O you who despise life, tell me whether that contempt of life renders +you worthy of it? + +The opera opened immediately after Easter, and I was present at every +performance. I was then entirely cured, and had resumed my usual +life. I was pleased to see that Baletti shewed off Marina to the +best advantage. I never visited her, but Baletti was in the habit of +breakfasting with me almost every morning. + +He had often mentioned an old actress who had left the stage for more +than twenty years, and pretended to have been my father's friend. +One day I took a fancy to call upon her, and he accompanied me to her +house. + +I saw an old, broken-down crone whose toilet astonished me as much as +her person. In spite of her wrinkles, her face was plastered with +red and white, and her eyebrows were indebted to India ink for their +black appearance. She exposed one-half of her flabby, disgusting +bosom, and there could be no doubt as to her false set of teeth. She +wore a wig which fitted very badly, and allowed the intrusion of a +few gray hairs which had survived the havoc of time. Her shaking +hands made mine quiver when she pressed them. She diffused a perfume +of amber at a distance of twenty yards, and her affected, mincing +manner amused and sickened me at the same time. Her dress might +possibly have been the fashion twenty years before. I was looking +with dread at the fearful havoc of old age upon a face which, before +merciless time had blighted it, had evidently been handsome, but what +amazed me was the childish effrontery with which this time-withered +specimen of womankind was still waging war with the help of her +blasted charms. + +Baletti, who feared lest my too visible astonishment should vex her, +told her that I was amazed at the fact that the beautiful strawberry +which bloomed upon her chest had not been withered by the hand of +Time. It was a birth-mark which was really very much like a +strawberry. "It is that mark," said the old woman, simpering, "which +gave me the name of 'La Fragoletta.'" + +Those words made me shudder. + +I had before my eyes the fatal phantom which was the cause of my +existence. I saw the woman who had thirty years before, seduced my +father: if it had not been for her, he would never have thought of +leaving his father's house, and would never have engendered me in the +womb of a Venetian woman. I have never been of the opinion of the +old author who says, 'Nemo vitam vellet si daretur scientibus'. + +Seeing how thoughtful I was, she politely enquired my name from +Baletti, for he had presented me only as a friend, and without having +given her notice of my visit. When he told her that my name was +Casanova, she was extremely surprised. + +"Yes, madam," I said, "I am the son of Gaetan Casanova, of Parma." + +"Heavens and earth! what is this? Ah! my friend, I adored your +father! He was jealous without cause, and abandoned me. Had he not +done so, you would have been my son! Allow me to embrace you with +the feelings of a loving mother." + +I expected as much, and, for fear she should fall, I went to her, +received her kiss, and abandoned myself to her tender recollections. +Still an actress, she pressed her handkerchief to her eyes, +pretending to weep, and assuring me that I was not to doubt the truth +of what she said. + +"Although," she added, "I do not look an old woman yet." + +"The only fault of your dear father," she continued, "was a want of +gratitude" + +I have no doubt that she passed the same sentence upon the son, for, +in spite of her kind invitation, I never paid her another visit. + +My purse was well filled, and as I did not care for Mantua, I +resolved on going to Naples, to see again my dear Therese, Donna +Lucrezia, Palo father and son, Don Antonio Casanova, and all my +former acquaintances. However, my good genius did not approve of +that decision, for I was not allowed to carry it into execution. I +should have left Mantua three days later, had I not gone to the opera +that night. + +I lived like an anchorite during my two months' stay in Mantua, owing +to the folly. I committed on the night of my arrival. I played only +that time, and then I had been lucky. My slight erotic inconvenience, +by compelling me to follow the diet necessary to my cure, most likely +saved me from greater misfortunes which, perhaps, I should not have +been able to avoid. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +My Journey to Cesena in Search of Treasure--I Take Up My Quarters in +Franzia's House--His Daughter Javotte + + +The opera was nearly over when I was accosted by a young man who, +abruptly, and without any introduction, told me that as a stranger-- +I had been very wrong in spending two months in Mantua without paying +a visit to the natural history collection belonging to his father, +Don Antonio Capitani, commissary and prebendal president. + +"Sir," I answered, "I have been guilty only through ignorance, and if +you would be so good as to call for me at my hotel to-morrow morning, +before the evening I shall have atoned for my error, and you will no +longer have the right to address me the same reproach" + +The son of the prebendal commissary called for me, and I found in his +father a most eccentric, whimsical sort of man. The curiosities of +his collection consisted of his family tree, of books of magic, +relics, coins which he believed to be antediluvian, a model of the +ark taken from nature at the time when Noah arrived in that +extraordinary harbour, Mount Ararat, in Armenia. He load several +medals, one of Sesostris, another of Semiramis, and an old knife of a +queer shape, covered with rust. Besides all those wonderful +treasures, he possessed, but under lock and key, all the +paraphernalia of freemasonry. + +"Pray, tell me," I said to him, "what relation there is between this +collection and natural history? I see nothing here representing the +three kingdoms." + +"What! You do not see the antediluvian kingdom, that of Sesostris +and that of Semiramis? Are not those the three kingdoms?" + +When I heard that answer I embraced him with an exclamation of +delight, which was sarcastic in its intent, but which he took for +admiration, and he at once unfolded all the treasures of his +whimsical knowledge respecting his possessions, ending with the rusty +blade which he said was the very knife with which Saint Peter cut off +the ear of Malek. + +"What!" I exclaimed, "you are the possessor of this knife, and you +are not as rich as Croesus?" + +"How could I be so through the possession of the knife?" + +"In two ways. In the first place, you could obtain possession of all +the treasures hidden under ground in the States of the Church." + +"Yes, that is a natural consequence, because St. Peter has the keys." + +"In the second place, you might sell the knife to the Pope, if you +happen to possess proof of its authenticity." + +"You mean the parchment. Of course I have it; do you think I would +have bought one without the other?" + +"All right, then. In order to get possession of that knife, the Pope +would, I have no doubt, make a cardinal of your son, but you must +have the sheath too." + +"I have not got it, but it is unnecessary. At all events I can have +one made." + +"That would not do, you must have the very one in which Saint Peter +himself sheathed the knife when God said, 'Mitte gladium tuum in +vaginam'. That very sheath does exist, and it is now in the hands of +a person who might sell it to you at a reasonable price, or you might +sell him your knife, for the sheath without the knife is of no use to +him, just as the knife is useless to you without the sheath." + +"How much would it cost me?" + +"One thousand sequins." + +"And how much would that person give me for the knife?" + +"One thousand sequins, for one has as much value as the other." + +The commissary, greatly astonished, looked at his son, and said, with +the voice of a judge on the bench, + +"Well, son, would you ever have thought that I would be offered one +thousand sequins for this knife?" + +He then opened a drawer and took out of it an old piece of paper, +which he placed before me. It was written in Hebrew, and a facsimile +of the knife was drawn on it. I pretended to be lost in admiration, +and advised him very strongly to purchase the sheath. + +"It is not necessary for me to buy it, or for your friend to purchase +the knife. We can find out and dig up the treasures together." + +"Not at all. The rubric says in the most forcible manner that the +owner of the blade, 'in vaginam', shall be one. If the Pope were in +possession of it he would be able, through a magical operation known +to me, to cut off one of the ears of every Christian king who might +be thinking of encroaching upon the rights of the Church." + +"Wonderful, indeed! But it is very true, for it is said in the +Gospel that Saint Peter did cut off the ear of somebody." + +"Yes, of a king." + +"Oh, no! not of a king." + +"Of a king, I tell you. Enquire whether Malek or Melek does not mean +king." + +"Well! in case I should make up my mind to sell the knife, who would +give me the thousand sequins?" + +"I would; one half to-morrow, cash down; the balance of five hundred +in a letter of exchange payable one month after date." + +"Ah! that is like business. Be good enough, to accept a dish of +macaroni with us to-morrow, and under a solemn pledge of secrecy we +will discuss this important affair." + +I accepted and took my leave, firmly resolved on keeping up the joke. +I came back on the following day, and the very first thing he told me +was that, to his certain knowledge, there was an immense treasure +hidden somewhere in the Papal States, and that he would make up his +mind to purchase the sheath. This satisfied me that there was no +fear of his taking me at my word, so I produced a purse full of gold, +saying I was quite ready to complete our bargain for the purchase of +the knife. + +"The Treasure," he said, "is worth millions; but let us have dinner. +You are not going to be served in silver plates and dishes, but in +real Raphael mosaic." + +"My dear commissary, your magnificence astonishes me; mosaic is, +indeed, by far superior to silver plate, although an ignorant fool +would only consider it ugly earthen ware." + +The compliment delighted him. + +After dinner, he spoke as follows: + +"A man in very good circumstances, residing in the Papal States, and +owner of the country house in which he lives with all his family, is +certain that there is a treasure in his cellar. He has written to my +son, declaring himself ready to undertake all expenses necessary to +possess himself of that treasure, if we could procure a magician +powerful enough to unearth it." + +The son then took a letter out of his pocket, read me some passages, +and begged me to excuse him if, in consequence of his having pledged +himself to keep the secret, he could not communicate all the contents +of the letter; but I had, unperceived by him, read the word Cesena, +the name of the village, and that was enough for me. + +"Therefore all that is necessary is to give me the possibility of +purchasing the sheath on credit, for I have no ready cash at present. +You need not be afraid of endorsing my letters of exchange, and if +you should know the magician you might go halves with him." + +"The magician is ready; it is I, but unless you give me five hundred +sequins cash down we cannot agree." + +"I have no money." + +"Then sell me the knife:" + +"No." + +"You are wrong, for now that I have seen it I can easily take it from +you. But I am honest enough not to wish to play such a trick upon +you." + +"You could take my knife from me? I should like to be convinced of +that, but I do not believe it." + +"You do not? Very well, to-morrow the knife will be in my +possession, but when it is once in my hands you need not hope to see +it again. A spirit which is under my orders will bring it to me at +midnight, and the same spirit will tell me where the treasure is +buried:" + +"Let the spirit tell you that, and I shall be convinced." + +"Give me a pen, ink and paper." + +I asked a question from my oracle, and the answer I had was that the +treasure was to be found not far from the Rubicon. + +"That is," I said, "a torrent which was once a river:" + +They consulted a dictionary, and found that the Rubicon flowed +through Cesena. They were amazed, and, as I wished them to have full +scope for wrong reasoning, I left them. + +I had taken a fancy, not to purloin five hundred sequins from those +poor fools, but to go and unearth the amount at their expense in the +house of another fool, and to laugh at them all into the bargain. I +longed to play the part of a magician. With that idea, when I left +the house of the ridiculous antiquarian, I proceeded to the public +library, where, with the assistance of a dictionary, I wrote the +following specimen of facetious erudition: + +"The treasure is buried in the earth at a depth of seventeen and a +half fathoms, and has been there for six centuries. Its value +amounts to two millions of sequins, enclosed in a casket, the same +which was taken by Godfrey de Bouillon from Mathilda, Countess of +Tuscany, in the year 1081, when he endeavoured to assist Henry IV, +against that princess. He buried the box himself in the very spot +where it now is, before he went to lay siege to Jerusalem. Gregory +VII, who was a great magician, having been informed of the place +where it had been hidden, had resolved on getting possession of it +himself, but death prevented him from carrying out his intentions. +After the death of the Countess Mathilda, in the year 1116, the +genius presiding over all hidden treasures appointed seven spirits to +guard the box. During a night with a full moon, a learned magician +can raise the treasure to the surface of the earth by placing himself +in the middle of the magical ring called maximus:" + +I expected to see the father and son, and they came early in the +morning. After some rambling conversation, I gave them what I had +composed at the library, namely, the history of the treasure taken +from the Countess Mathilda. + +I told them that I had made up my mind to recover the treasure, and I +promised them the fourth part of it, provided they would purchase the +sheath; I concluded by threatening again to possess myself of their +knife. + +"I cannot decide," said the commissary, "before I have seen the +sheath." + +"I pledge my word to shew it to you to-morrow," I answered. + +We parted company, highly pleased with each other. + +In order to manufacture a sheath, such as the wonderful knife +required, it was necessary to combine the most whimsical idea with +the oddest shape. I recollected very well the form of the blade, +and, as I was revolving in my mind the best way to produce something +very extravagant but well adapted to the purpose I had in view, I +spied in the yard of the hotel an old piece of leather, the remnant +of what had been a fine gentleman's boot; it was exactly what I +wanted. + +I took that old sole, boiled it, and made in it a slit in which I was +certain that the knife would go easily. Then I pared it carefully on +all sides to prevent the possibility of its former use being found +out; I rubbed it with pumice stone, sand, and ochre, and finally I +succeeded in imparting to my production such a queer, old-fashioned +shape that I could not help laughing in looking at my work. + +When I presented it to the commissary, and he had found it an exact +fit for the knife, the good man remained astounded. We dined +together, and after dinner it was decided that his son should +accompany me, and introduce me to the master of the house in which +the treasure was buried, that I was to receive a letter of exchange +for one thousand Roman crowns, drawn by the son on Bologna, which +would be made payable to my name only after I should have found the +treasure, and that the knife with the sheath would be delivered into +my hands only when I should require it for the great operation; until +then the son was to retain possession of it. + +Those conditions having been agreed upon, we made an agreement in +writing, binding upon all parties, and our departure was fixed for +the day after the morrow. + +As we left Mantua, the father pronounced a fervent blessing over his +son's head, and told me that he was count palatine, shewing me the +diploma which he had received from the Pope. I embraced him, giving +him his title of count, and pocketed his letter of exchange. + +After bidding adieu to Marina, who was then the acknowledged mistress +of Count Arcorati, and to Baletti whom I was sure of meeting again in +Venice before the end of the year, I went to sup with my friend +O'Neilan. + +We started early in the morning, travelled through Ferrara and +Bologna, and reached Cesena, where we put up at the posting-house. +We got up early the next day and walked quietly to the house of +George Franzia, a wealthy peasant, who was owner of the treasure. It +was only a quarter of a mile from the city, and the good man was +agreeably surprised by our arrival. He embraced Capitani, whom he +knew already, and leaving me with his family he went out with my +companion to talk business. + +Observant as usual, I passed the family in review, and fixed my +choice upon the eldest daughter. The youngest girl was ugly, and the +son looked a regular fool. The mother seemed to be the real master +of the household, and there were three or four servants going about +the premises. + +The eldest daughter was called Genevieve, or Javotte, a very common +name among the girls of Cesena. I told her that I thought her +eighteen; but she answered, in a tone half serious, half vexed, that +I was very much mistaken, for she had only just completed her +fourteenth year. + +"I am very glad it is so, my pretty child." + +These words brought back her smile. + +The house was well situated, and there was not another dwelling +around it for at least four hundred yards. I was glad to see that I +should have comfortable quarters, but I was annoyed by a very +unpleasant stink which tainted the air, and which could certainly not +be agreeable to the spirits I had to evoke. + +"Madame Franzia," said I, to the mistress of the house, "what is the +cause of that bad smell?" + +"Sir, it arises from the hemp which we are macerating." + +I concluded that if the cause were removed, I should get rid of the +effect. + +"What is that hemp worth, madam?" I enquired. + +"About forty crowns." + +"Here they are; the hemp belongs to me now, and I must beg your +husband to have it removed immediately." + +Capitani called me, and I joined him. Franzia shewed me all the +respect due to a great magician, although I had not much the +appearance of one. + +We agreed that he should receive one-fourth of the treasure, Capitani +another fourth, and that the remainder should belong to me. We +certainly did not shew much respect for the rights of Saint Peter. + +I told Franzia that I should require a room with two beds for myself +alone, and an ante-room with bathing apparatus. Capitani's room was +to be in a different part of the house, and my room was to be +provided with three tables, two of them small and one large. I added +that he must at once procure me a sewing-girl between the ages of +fourteen and eighteen, she was to be a virgin, and it was necessary +that she should, as well as every person in the house, keep the +secret faithfully, in order that no suspicion of our proceedings +should reach the Inquisition, or all would be lost. + +"I intend to take up my quarters here to-morrow," I added; "I require +two meals every day, and the only wine I can drink is jevese. For my +breakfast I drink a peculiar kind of chocolate which I make myself, +and which I have brought with me. I promise to pay my own expenses +in case we do not succeed. Please remove the hemp to a place +sufficiently distant from the house, so that its bad smell may not +annoy the spirits to be evoked by me, and let the air be purified by +the discharge of gunpowder. Besides, you must send a trusty servant +to-morrow to convey our luggage from the hotel here, and keep +constantly in the house and at my disposal one hundred new wax +candles and three torches." + +After I had given those instructions to Franzia, I left him, and went +towards Cesena with Capitani, but we had not gone a hundred yards +when we heard the good man running after us. + +"Sir," he said to me, "be kind enough to take back the forty crowns +which you paid to my wife for the hemp." + +"No, I will not do anything of the sort, for I do not want you to +sustain any loss." + +"Take them back, I beg. I can sell the hemp in the course of the day +for forty crowns without difficulty" + +"In that case I will, for I have confidence in what you say." + +Such proceedings on my part impressed the excellent man very +favourably, and he entertained the deepest veneration for me, which +was increased, when, against Capitani's advice, I resolutely refused +one hundred sequins which he wanted to force upon me for my +travelling expenses. I threw him into raptures by telling him that +on the eve of possessing an immense treasure, it was unnecessary to +think of such trifles. + +The next morning our luggage was sent for, and we found ourselves +comfortably located in the house of the wealthy and simple Franzia. + +He gave us a good dinner, but with too many dishes, and I told him to +be more economical, and to give only some good fish for our supper, +which he did. After supper he told me that, as far as the young +maiden was concerned, he thought he could recommend his daughter +Javotte, as he had consulted his wife, and had found I could rely +upon the girl being a virgin. + +"Very good," I said; "now tell me what grounds you have for supposing +that there is a treasure in your house?" + +"In the first place, the oral tradition transmitted from father to +son for the last eight generations; in the second, the heavy sounds +which are heard under ground during the night. Besides, the door of +the cellar opens and shuts of itself every three or four minutes; +which must certainly be the work of the devils seen every night +wandering through the country in the shape of pyramidal flames." + +"If it is as you say, it is evident that you have a treasure hidden +somewhere in your house; it is as certain as the fact that two and +two are four. Be very careful not to put a lock to the door of the +cellar to prevent its opening and shutting of itself; otherwise you +would have an earthquake, which would destroy everything here. +Spirits will enjoy perfect freedom, and they break through every +obstacle raised against them." + +"God be praised for having sent here, forty years ago, a learned man +who told my father exactly the same thing! That great magician +required only three days more to unearth the treasure when my father +heard that the Inquisition had given orders to arrest him, and he +lost no time in insuring his escape. Can you tell me how it is that +magicians are not more powerful than the Inquisitors?" + +"Because the monks have a greater number of devils under their +command than we have. But I feel certain that your father had +already expended a great deal of money with that learned man." + +"About two thousand crowns." + +"Oh! more, more." + +I told Franzia to follow me, and, in order to accomplish something in +the magic line, I dipped a towel in some water, and uttering fearful +words which belonged to no human language, I washed the eyes, the +temples, and the chest of every person in the family, including +Javotte, who might have objected to it if I had not begun with her +father, mother, and brother. I made them swear upon my pocket-book +that they were not labouring under any impure disease, and I +concluded the ceremony by compelling Javotte to swear likewise that +she had her maidenhood. As I saw that she was blushing to the very +roots of her hair in taking the oath, I was cruel enough to explain +to her what it meant; I then asked her to swear again, but she +answered that there was no need of it now that she knew what it was. +I ordered all the family to kiss me, and finding that Javotte had +eaten garlic I forbade the use of it entirely, which order Franzia +promised should be complied with. + +Genevieve was not a beauty as far as her features were concerned; her +complexion was too much sunburnt, and her mouth was too large, but +her teeth were splendid, and her under lip projected slightly as if +it had been formed to receive kisses. Her bosom was well made and as +firm as a rock, but her hair was too light, and her hands too fleshy. +The defects, however, had to be overlooked, and altogether she was +not an unpleasant morsel. I did not purpose to make her fall in love +with me; with a peasant girl that task might have been a long one; +all I wanted was to train her to perfect obedience, which, in default +of love, has always appeared to me the essential point. True that in +such a case one does not enjoy the ecstatic raptures of love, but one +finds a compensation in the complete control obtained over the woman. + +I gave notice to the father, to Capitani, and to Javotte, that each +would, in turn and in the order of their age, take supper with me, +and that Javotte would sleep every night in my ante-room, where was +to be placed a bath in which I would bathe my guest one half hour +before sitting down to supper, and the guest was not to have broken +his fast throughout the day. + +I prepared a list of all the articles of which I pretended to be in +need, and giving it to Franzia I told him to go to Cesena himself the +next day, and to purchase everything without bargaining to obtain a +lower price. Among other things, I ordered a piece, from twenty to +thirty yards long, of white linen, thread, scissors, needles, storax, +myrrh, sulphur, olive oil, camphor, one ream of paper, pens and ink, +twelve sheets of parchment, brushes, and a branch of olive tree to +make a stick of eighteen inches in length. + +After I had given all my orders very seriously and without any wish +to laugh, I went to bed highly pleased with my personification of a +magician, in which I was astonished to find myself so completely +successful. + +The next morning, as soon as I was dressed, I sent for Capitani, and +commanded him to proceed every day to Cesena, to go to the best +coffee-house, to learn carefully every piece of news and every +rumour, and to report them to me. + +Franzia, who had faithfully obeyed my orders, returned before noon +from the city with all the articles I had asked for. + +"I have not bargained for anything," he said to me, "and the +merchants must, I have no doubt, have taken me for a fool, for I have +certainly paid one-third more than the things are worth." + +"So much the worse for them if they have deceived you, but you would +have spoilt everything if you had beaten them down in their price. +Now, send me your daughter and let me be alone with her." + +As soon as Javotte was in my room, I made her cut the linen in seven +pieces, four of five feet long, two of two feet, and one of two feet +and a half; the last one was intended to form the hood of the robe I +was to wear for the great operation. Then I said to Javotte: + +"Sit down near my bed and begin sewing. You will dine here and +remain at work until the evening. When your father comes, you must +let us be alone, but as soon as he leaves me, come back and go to +bed." + +She dined in my room, where her mother waited on her without +speaking, and gave her nothing to drink except St. Jevese wine. +Towards evening her father came, and she left us. + +I had the patience to wash the good man while he was in the bath, +after which he had supper with me; he ate voraciously, telling me +that it was the first time in his life that he had remained twenty- +four hours without breaking his fast. Intoxicated with the St. +Jevese wine he had drunk, he went to bed and slept soundly until +morning, when his wife brought me my chocolate. Javotte was kept +sewing as on the day before; she left the room in the evening when +Capitani came in, and I treated him in the same manner as Franzia; on +the third day, it was Javotte's turn, and that had been the object I +had kept in view all the time. + +When the hour came, I said to her, + +"Go, Javotte, get into the bath and call me when you are ready, for I +must purify you as I have purified your father and Capitani." + +She obeyed, and within a quarter of an hour she called me. I +performed a great many ablutions on every part of her body, making +her assume all sorts of positions, for she was perfectly docile, but, +as I was afraid of betraying myself, I felt more suffering than +enjoyment, and my indiscreet hands, running over every part of her +person, and remaining longer and more willingly on a certain spot, +the sensitiveness of which is extreme, the poor girl was excited by +an ardent fire which was at last quenched by the natural result of +that excitement. I made her get out of the bath soon after that, and +as I was drying her I was very near forgetting magic to follow the +impulse of nature, but, quicker than I, nature relieved itself, and I +was thus enabled to reach the end of the scene without anticipating +the denouement. I told Javotte to dress herself, and to come back to +me as soon as she was ready. + +She had been fasting all day, and her toilet did not take a long +time. She ate with a ferocious appetite, and the St. Jevese wine, +which she drank like water, imparted so much animation to her +complexion that it was no longer possible to see how sunburnt she +was. Being alone with her after supper, I said to her, + +"My dear Javotte, have you been displeased at all I have compelled +you to submit to this evening?" + +"Not at all; I liked it very much." + +"Then I hope that you will have no objection to get in the bath with +me to-morrow, and to wash me as I have washed you." + +"Most willingly, but shall I know how to do it well?" + +"I will teach you, and for the future I wish you to sleep every night +in my room, because I must have a complete certainty that on the +night of the great operation I shall find you such as you ought to +be." + +From that time Javotte was at her ease with me, all her restraint +disappeared, she would look at me and smile with entire confidence. +Nature had operated, and the mind of a young girl soon enlarges its +sphere when pleasure is her teacher. She went to bed, and as she +knew that she had no longer anything to conceal from me, her modesty +was not alarmed when she undressed herself in my presence. It was +very warm, any kind of covering is unpleasant in the hot weather, so +she stripped to the skin and soon fell asleep. I did the same, but I +could not help feeling some regret at having engaged myself not to +take advantage of the position before the night of the great +incantation. I knew that the operation to unearth the treasure would +be a complete failure, but I knew likewise that it would not fail +because Javotte's virginity was gone. + +At day-break the girl rose and began sewing. As soon as she had +finished the robe, I told her to make a crown of parchment with seven +long points, on which I painted some fearful figures and hieroglyphs. + +In the evening, one hour before supper, I got into the bath, and +Javotte joined me as soon as I called her. She performed upon me +with great zeal the same ceremonies that I had done for her the day +before, and she was as gentle and docile as possible. I spent a +delicious hour in that bath, enjoying everything, but respecting the +essential point. + +My kisses making her happy, and seeing that I had no objection to her +caresses, she loaded me with them. I was so pleased at all the +amorous enjoyment her senses were evidently experiencing, that I made +her easy by telling her that the success of the great magic operation +depended upon the amount of pleasure she enjoyed. She then made +extraordinary efforts to persuade me that she was happy, and without +overstepping the limits where I had made up my mind to stop, we got +out of the bath highly pleased with each other. + +As we were on the point of going to bed, she said to me, + +"Would it injure the success of your operation if we were to sleep +together?" + +"No, my dear girl; provided you are a virgin on the day of the great +incantation, it is all I require." + +She threw herself in my arms, and we spent a delightful night, during +which I had full opportunity of admiring the strength of her +constitution as well as my own restraint, for I had sufficient +control over myself not to break through the last obstacle. + +I passed a great part of the following night with Franzia and +Capitani in order to see with my own eyes the wonderful things which +the worthy peasant had mentioned to me. Standing in the yard, I +heard distinctly heavy blows struck under the ground at intervals of +three or four minutes. It was like the noise which would be made by +a heavy pestle falling in a large copper mortar. I took my pistols +and placed myself near the self-moving door of the cellar, holding a +dark lantern in my hand. I saw the door open slowly, and in about +thirty seconds closing with violence. I opened and closed it myself +several times, and, unable to discover any hidden physical cause for +the phenomenon, I felt satisfied that there was some unknown roguery +at work, but I did not care much to find it out. + +We went upstairs again, and, placing myself on the balcony, I saw in +the yard several shadows moving about. They were evidently caused by +the heavy and damp atmosphere, and as to the pyramidal flames which I +could see hovering over the fields, it was a phenomenon well known to +me. But I allowed my two companions to remain persuaded that they +were the spirits keeping watch over the treasure. + +That phenomenon is very common throughout southern Italy where the +country is often at night illuminated by those meteors which the +people believe to be devils, and ignorance has called night spirits, +or will-o'-the-wisps. + +Dear reader, the next chapter will tell you how my magic undertaking +ended, and perhaps you will enjoy a good laugh at my expense, but you +need not be afraid of hurting my feelings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The Incantation--A Terrible Storm--My Fright--Javotte's Virginity Is +Saved--I Give Up the Undertaking, and Sell the Sheath to Capitani--I +Meet Juliette and Count Alfani, Alias Count Celi--I Make Up My Mind +to Go to Naples--Why I Take a Different Road + + +My great operation had to be performed on the following day; +otherwise, according to all established rules, I would have had to +wait until the next full moon. I had to make the gnomes raise the +treasure to the surface of the earth at the very spot on which my +incantations would be performed. Of course, I knew well enough that +I should not succeed, but I knew likewise that I could easily +reconcile Franzia and Capitani to a failure, by inventing some +excellent reasons for our want of success. In the mean time I had to +play my part of a magician, in which I took a real delight. I kept +Javotte at work all day, sewing together, in the shape of a ring, +some thirty sheets of paper on which I painted the most wonderful +designs. That ring, which I called maximus, had a diameter of three +geometric paces. I had manufactured a sort of sceptre or magic wand +with the branch of olive brought by Franzia from Cesena. Thus +prepared, I told Javotte that, at twelve o'clock at night, when I +came out of the magic ring, she was to be ready for everything. The +order did not seem repugnant to her; she longed to give me that proof +of her obedience, and, on my side, considering myself as her debtor, +I was in a hurry to pay my debt and to give her every satisfaction. + +The hour having struck, I ordered Franzia and Capitani to stand on +the balcony, so as to be ready to come to me if I called for them, +and also to prevent anyone in the house seeing my proceedings. I +then threw off all profane garments. I clothe myself in the long +white robe, the work of a virgin's innocent hands. I allow my long +hair to fall loosely. I place the extraordinary crown on my head, +the circle maximus on my shoulders, and, seizing the sceptre with one +hand, the wonderful knife with the other, I go down into the yard. +There I spread my circle on the ground, uttering the most barbarous +words, and after going round it three times I jump into the middle. + +Squatting down there, I remain a few minutes motionless, then I rise, +and I fix my eyes upon a heavy, dark cloud coming from the west, +whilst from the same quarter the thunder is rumbling loudly. What a +sublime genius I should have appeared in the eyes of my two fools, +if, having a short time before taken notice of the sky in that part +of the horizon, I had announced to them that my operation would be +attended by that phenomenon. + +The cloud spreads with fearful rapidity, and soon the sky seems +covered with a funeral pall, on which the most vivid flashes of +lightning keep blazing every moment. + +Such a storm was a very natural occurrence, and I had no reason to be +astonished at it, but somehow, fear was beginning to creep into me, +and I wished myself in my room. My fright soon increased at the +sight of the lightning, and on hearing the claps of thunder which +succeeded each other with fearful rapidity and seemed to roar over my +very head. I then realized what extraordinary effect fear can have +on the mind, for I fancied that, if I was not annihilated by the +fires of heaven which were flashing all around me, it was only +because they could not enter my magic ring. Thus was I admiring my +own deceitful work! That foolish reason prevented me from leaving +the circle in spite of the fear which caused me to shudder. If it +had not been for that belief, the result of a cowardly fright, I +would not have remained one minute where I was, and my hurried flight +would no doubt have opened the eyes of my two dupes, who could not +have failed to see that, far from being a magician, I was only a +poltroon. The violence of the wind, the claps of thunder, the +piercing cold, and above all, fear, made me tremble all over like an +aspen leaf. My system, which I thought proof against every accident, +had vanished: I acknowledged an avenging God who had waited for this +opportunity of punishing me at one blow for all my sins, and of +annihilating me, in order to put an end to my want of faith. The +complete immobility which paralyzed all my limbs seemed to me a proof +of the uselessness of my repentance, and that conviction only +increased my consternation. + +But the roaring of the thunder dies away, the rain begins to fall +heavily, danger vanishes, and I feel my courage reviving. Such is +man! or at all events, such was I at that moment. It was raining so +fast that, if it had continued pouring with the same violence for a +quarter of an hour, the country would have been inundated. As soon +as the rain had ceased, the wind abated, the clouds were dispersed, +and the moon shone in all its splendour, like silver in the pure, +blue sky. I take up my magic ring, and telling the two friends to +retire to their beds without speaking to me, I hurry to my room. I +still felt rather shaken, and, casting my eyes on Javotte, I thought +her so pretty that I felt positively frightened. I allowed her to +dry me, and after that necessary operation I told her piteously to go +to bed. The next morning she told me that, when she saw me come in, +shaking all over in spite of the heat, she had herself shuddered with +fear. + +After eight hours of sound sleep I felt all right, but I had had +enough of the comedy, and to my great surprise the sight of Genevieve +did not move me in any way. The obedient Javotte had certainly not +changed, but I was not the same. I was for the first time in my life +reduced to a state of apathy, and in consequence of the superstitious +ideas which had crowded in my mind the previous night I imagined that +the innocence of that young girl was under the special protection of +Heaven, and that if I had dared to rob her of her virginity the most +rapid and terrible death would have been my punishment. + +At all events, thanks to my youth and my exalted ideas, I fancied +that through my self-denying resolutions the father would not be so +great a dupe, and the daughter not so unhappy, unless the result +should prove as unfortunate for her as it had been for poor Lucy, of +Pasean. + +The moment that Javotte became in my eyes an object of holy horror, +my departure was decided. The resolution was all the more +irrevocable because I fancied some old peasant might have witnessed +all my tricks in the middle of the magic ring, in which case the most +Holy, or, if you like, the most infernal, Inquisition, receiving +information from him, might very well have caught me and enhanced my +fame by some splendid 'auto-da-fe' in which I had not the slightest +wish to be the principal actor. It struck me as so entirely within +the limits of probability that I sent at once for Franzia and +Capitani, and in the presence of the unpolluted virgin I told them +that I had obtained from the seven spirits watching over the treasure +all the necessary particulars, but that I had been compelled to enter +into an agreement with them to delay the extraction of the treasure +placed under their guardianship. I told Franzia that I would hand to +him in writing all the information which I had compelled the spirits +to give me. I produced, in reality, a few minutes afterwards, a +document similar to the one I had concocted at the public library in +Mantua, adding that the treasure consisted of diamonds, rubies, +emeralds, and one hundred thousand pounds of gold dust. I made him +take an oath on my pocket-book to wait for me, and not to have faith +in any magician unless he gave him an account of the treasure in +every way similar to the one which, as a great favor, I was leaving +in his hands. I ordered him to burn the crown and the ring, but to +keep the other things carefully until my return. + +"As for you, Capitani," I said to my companion, "proceed at once to +Cesena, and remain at the inn until our luggage has been brought by +the man whom Franzia is going to send with it." + +Seeing that poor Javotte looked miserable, I went up to her, and, +speaking to her very tenderly, I promised to see her again before +long. I told her at the same time that, the great operation having +been performed successfully, her virginity was no longer necessary, +and that she was at liberty to marry as soon as she pleased, or +whenever a good opportunity offered itself. + +I at once returned to the city, where I found Capitani making his +preparations to go to the fair of Lugo, and then to Mantua. He told +me, crying like a child, that his father would be in despair when he +saw him come back without the knife of Saint Peter. + +"You may have it," I said, "with the sheath, if you will let me have +the one thousand Roman crowns, the amount of the letter of exchange:" + +He thought it an excellent bargain, and accepted it joyfully. I gave +him back the letter of exchange, and made him sign a paper by which +he undertook to return the sheath whenever I brought the same amount, +but he is still waiting for it. + +I did not know what to do with the wonderful sheath, and I was not in +want of money, but I should have considered myself dishonoured if I +had given it to him for nothing; besides, I thought it a good joke to +levy a contribution upon the ignorant credulity of a count palatine +created by the grace of the Pope. In after days, however, I would +willingly have refunded his money, but, as fate would have it, we did +not see each other for a long time, and when I met him again I was +not in a position to return the amount. It is, therefore, only to +chance that I was indebted for the sum, and certainly Capitani never +dreamed of complaining, for being the possessor of 'gladium cum +vagina' he truly believed himself the master of every treasure +concealed in the Papal States. + +Capitani took leave of me on the following day, and I intended to +proceed at once to Naples, but I was again prevented; this is how it +happened. + +As I returned to the inn after a short walk, mine host handed me the +bill of the play announcing four performances of the Didone of +Metastasio at the Spada. Seeing no acquaintance of mine among the +actors or actresses, I made up my mind to go to the play in the +evening, and to start early the next day with post-horses. A remnant +of my fear of the Inquisition urged me on, and I could not help +fancying that spies were at my heels. + +Before entering the house I went into the actresses dressing-room, +and the leading lady struck me as rather good-looking. Her name was +Narici, and she was from Bologna. I bowed to her, and after the +common-place conversation usual in such cases, I asked her whether +she was free. + +"I am only engaged with the manager," she answered. + +"Have you any lover?" + +"No." + +"I offer myself for the post, if you have no objection" + +She smiled jeeringly, and said, + +"Will you take four tickets for the four performances?" + +I took two sequins out of my purse, taking care to let her see that +it was well filled, and when she gave me the four tickets, presented +them to the maid who was dressing her and was prettier than the +mistress, and so left the room without uttering a single word. She +called me back; I pretended not to hear her, and took a ticket for +the pit. After the first ballet, finding the whole performance very +poor, I was thinking of going away, when, happening to look towards +the chief box, I saw to my, astonishment that it was tenanted by the +Venetian Manzoni and the celebrated Juliette. The reader will +doubtless remember the ball she gave at my house in Venice, and the +smack with which she saluted my cheek on that occasion. + +They had not yet noticed me, and I enquired from the person seated +next to me who was that beautiful lady wearing so many diamonds. He +told me that she was Madame Querini, from Venice, whom Count Spada, +the owner of the theatre, who was sitting near her, had brought with +him from Faenza. I was glad to hear that M. Querini had married her +at last, but I did not think of renewing the acquaintance, for +reasons which my reader cannot have forgotten if he recollects our +quarrel when I had to dress her as an abbe. I was on the point of +going away when she happened to see me and called me. I went up to +her, and, not wishing to be known by anyone, I whispered to her that +my name was Farusi. Manzoni informed me that I was speaking to her +excellency, Madame Querini. "I know it," I said, "through a letter +which I have received from Venice, and I beg to offer my most sincere +congratulations to Madame." She heard me and introduced me to Count +Spada, creating me a baron on the spot. He invited me most kindly to +come to his box, asked me where I came from, where I was going to, +etc., and begged the pleasure of my company at supper for the same +evening. + +Ten years before, he had been Juliette's friend in Vienna, when Maria +Theresa, having been informed of the pernicious influence of her +beauty, gave her notice to quit the city. She had renewed her +acquaintance with him in Venice, and had contrived to make him take +her to Bologna on a pleasure trip. M. Manzoni, her old follower, who +gave me all this information, accompanied her in order to bear +witness of her good conduct before M. Querini. I must say that +Manzoni was not a well-chosen chaperon. + +In Venice she wanted everybody to believe that Querini had married +her secretly, but at a distance of fifty leagues she did not think +such a formality necessary, and she had already been presented by the +general to all the nobility of Cesena as Madame Querini Papozzes. +M. Querini would have been wrong in being jealous of the count, for +he was an old acquaintance who would do no harm. Besides, it is +admitted amongst certain women that the reigning lover who is jealous +of an old acquaintance is nothing but a fool, and ought to be treated +as such. Juliette, most likely afraid of my being indiscreet, had +lost no time in making the first advances, but, seeing that I had +likewise some reason to fear her want of discretion, she felt +reassured. From the first moment I treated her politely, and with +every consideration due to her position. + +I found numerous company at the general's, and some pretty women. +Not seeing Juliette, I enquired for her from M. Manzoni, who told me +that she was at the faro table, losing her money. I saw her seated +next to the banker, who turned pale at the sight of my face. He was +no other than the so-called Count Celi. He offered me a card, which +I refused politely, but I accepted Juliette's offer to be her +partner. She had about fifty sequins, I handed her the same sum, and +took a seat near her. After the first round, she asked me if I knew +the banker; Celi had heard the question; I answered negatively. A +lady on my left told me that the banker was Count Alfani. Half an +hour later, Madame Querini went seven and lost, she increased her +stake of ten sequins; it was the last deal of the game, and therefore +the decisive one. I rose from my chair, and fixed my eyes on the +banker's hands. But in spite of that, he cheated before me, and +Madame lost. + +Just at that moment the general offered her his arm to go to supper; +she left the remainder of her gold on the table, and after supper, +having played again, she lost every sequin. + +I enlivened the supper by my stories and witty jests. I captivated +everybody's friendship, and particularly the general's, who, having +heard me say that I was going to Naples only to gratify an amorous +fancy, entreated me to spend a month with him and to sacrifice my +whim. But it was all in vain. My heart was unoccupied; I longed to +see Lucrezia and Therese, whose charms after five years I could +scarcely recollect. I only consented to remain in Cesena the four +days during which the general intended to stay. + +The next morning as I was dressing I had a call from the cowardly +Alfani-Celi; I received him with a jeering smile, saying that I had +expected him. + +The hair-dresser being in the room Celi did not answer, but as soon +as we were alone he said, + +"How could you possibly expect my visit?" + +"I will tell you my reason as soon as you have handed me one hundred +sequins, and you are going to do so at once.' + +"Here are fifty which I brought for you; you cannot demand more from +me." + +"Thank you, I take them on account, but as I am good-natured I advise +you not to shew yourself this evening in Count Spada's drawing-rooms, +for you would not be admitted, and it would be owing to me." + +"I hope that you will think twice before you are guilty of such an +ungenerous act." + +"I have made up my mind; but now leave me." + +There was a knock at my door, and the self-styled Count Alfani went +away without giving me the trouble of repeating my order. My new +visitor proved to be the first castrato of the theatre, who brought +an invitation to dinner from Narici. The invitation was curious, and +I accepted it with a smile. The castrato was named Nicolas Peritti; +he pretended to be the grandson of a natural child of Sixtus V.; it +might have been so I shall have to mention him again in fifteen +years. + +When I made my appearance at Narici's house I saw Count Alfani, who +certainly did not expect me, and must have taken me for his evil +genius. He bowed to me with great politeness, and begged that I +would listen to a few words in private. + +"Here are fifty sequins more," he said; "but as an honest man you can +take them only to give them to Madame Querini. But how can you hand +the amount to her without letting her know that you have forced me to +refund it? You understand what consequences such a confession might +have for me." + +"I shall give her the money only when you have left this place; in +the mean time I promise to be discreet, but be careful not to assist +fortune in my presence, or I must act in a manner that will not be +agreeable to you." + +"Double the capital of my bank, and we can be partners." + +"Your proposal is an insult." + +He gave me fifty sequins, and I promised to keep his secret. + +There was a numerous attendance in Narici's rooms, especially of +young men, who after dinner lost all their money. I did not play, +and it was a disappointment for my pretty hostess, who had invited me +only because she had judged me as simple as the others. I remained +an indifferent witness of the play, and it gave me an opportunity of +realizing how wise Mahomet had been in forbidding all games of +chance. + +In the evening after the opera Count Celi had the faro bank, and I +lose two hundred sequins, but I could only accuse ill luck. Madame +Querini won. The next day before supper I broke the bank, and after +supper, feeling tired and well pleased with what I had won, I +returned to the inn. + +The following morning, which was the third day, and therefore the +last but one of my stay in Cesena, I called at the general's. I +heard that his adjutant had thrown the cards in Alfani's face, and +that a meeting had been arranged between them for twelve o'clock. +I went to the adjutant's room and offered to be his second, assuring +him that there would be no blood spilt. He declined my offer with +many thanks, and at dinner-time he told me that I had guessed +rightly, for Count Alfani had left for Rome. + +"In that case," I said to the guests, "I will take the bank tonight." + +After dinner, being alone with Madame Querini, I told her all about +Alfani, alias Celi, and handed her the fifty sequins of which I was +the depositary. + +"I suppose," she said, "that by means of this fable you hope to make +me accept fifty sequins, but I thank you, I am not in want of money." + +"I give you my word that I have compelled the thief to refund this +money, together with the fifty sequins of which he had likewise +cheated me." + +"That may be, but I do not wish to believe you. I beg to inform you +that I am not simple enough to allow myself to be duped, and, what is +worse, cheated in such a manner." + +Philosophy forbids a man to feel repentance for a good deed, but he +must certainly have a right to regret such a deed when it is +malevolently misconstrued, and turned against him as a reproach. + +In the evening, after the performance, which was to be the last, I +took the bank according to my promise: I lost a few sequins, but was +caressed by everybody, and that is much more pleasant than winning, +when we are not labouring under the hard necessity of making money. + +Count Spada, who had got quite fond of me, wanted me to accompany him +to Brisighetta, but I resisted his entreaties because I had firmly +resolved on going to Naples. + +The next morning I was awoke by a terrible noise in the passage, +almost at the door of my room. + +Getting out of my bed, I open my door to ascertain the cause of the +uproar. I see a troop of 'sbirri' at the door of a chamber, and in +that chamber, sitting up in bed, a fine-looking man who was making +himself hoarse by screaming in Latin against that rabble, the plague +of Italy, and against the inn-keeper who had been rascally enough to +open the door. + +I enquire of the inn-keeper what it all means. + +"This gentleman," answers the scoundrel, "who, it appears, can only +speak Latin, is in bed with a girl, and the 'sbirri' of the bishop +have been sent to know whether she is truly his wife; all perfectly +regular. If she is his wife, he has only to convince them by shewing +a certificate of marriage, but if she is not, of course he must go to +prison with her. Yet it need not happen, for I undertake to arrange +everything in a friendly manner for a few sequins. I have only to +exchange a few words with the chief of the 'sbirri', and they will +all go away. If you can speak Latin, you had better go in, and make +him listen to reason." + +"Who has broken open the door of his room?" + +"Nobody; I have opened it myself with the key, as is my duty." + +"Yes, the duty of a highway robber, but not of an honest inn-keeper." + +Such infamous dealing aroused my indignation, and I made up my mind +to interfere. I enter the room, although I had still my nightcap on, +and inform the gentleman of the cause of the disturbance. He answers +with a laugh that, in the first place, it was impossible to say +whether the person who was in bed with him was a woman, for that +person had only been seen in the costume of a military officer, and +that, in the second place, he did not think that any human being had +a right to compel him to say whether his bed-fellow was his wife or +his mistress, even supposing that his companion was truly a woman. + +"At all events," he added, "I am determined not to give one crown to +arrange the affair, and to remain in bed until my door is shut. The +moment I am dressed, I will treat you to an amusing denouement of the +comedy. I will drive away all those scoundrels at the point of my +sword." + +I then see in a corner a broad sword, and a Hungarian costume looking +like a military uniform. I ask whether he is an officer. + +"I have written my name and profession," he answers, "in the hotel +book." + +Astonished at the absurdity of the inn-keeper, I ask him whether it +is so; he confesses it, but adds that the clergy have the right to +prevent scandal. + +"The insult you have offered to that officer, Mr. Landlord, will cost +you very dear." + +His only answer is to laugh in my face. Highly enraged at seeing +such a scoundrel laugh at me, I take up the officer's quarrel warmly, +and asked him to entrust his passport to me for a few minutes. + +"I have two," he says; "therefore I can let you have one." And +taking the document out of his pocket-book, he hands it to me. The +passport was signed by Cardinal Albani. The officer was a captain in +a Hungarian regiment belonging to the empress and queen. He was from +Rome, on his way to Parma with dispatches from Cardinal Albani +Alexander to M. Dutillot, prime minister of the Infante of Parma. + +At the same moment, a man burst into the room, speaking very loudly, +and asked me to tell the officer that the affair must be settled at +once, because he wanted to leave Cesena immediately. + +"Who are you?" I asked the man. + +He answered that he was the 'vetturino' whom the captain had engaged. +I saw that it was a regular put-up thing, and begged the captain to +let me attend to the business, assuring him that I would settle it to +his honour and advantage. + +"Do exactly as you please," he said. + +Then turning towards the 'vetturino', I ordered him to bring up the +captain's luggage, saying that he would be paid at once. When he had +done so, I handed him eight sequins out of my own purse, and made him +give me a receipt in the name of the captain, who could only speak +German, Hungarian, and Latin. The vetturino went away, and the +'sbirri' followed him in the greatest consternation, except two who +remained. + +"Captain," I said to the Hungarian, "keep your bed until I return. I +am going now to the bishop to give him an account of these +proceedings, and make him understand that he owes you some +reparation. Besides, General Spada is here, and...." + +"I know him," interrupted the captain, "and if I had been aware of +his being in Cesena, I would have shot the landlord when he opened my +door to those scoundrels." + +I hurried over my toilet, and without waiting for my hair to be +dressed I proceeded to the bishop's palace, and making a great deal +of noise I almost compelled the servants to take me to his room. A +lackey who was at the door informed me that his lordship was still in +bed. + +"Never mind, I cannot wait." + +I pushed him aside and entered the room. I related the whole affair +to the bishop, exaggerating the uproar, making much of the injustice +of such proceedings, and railing at a vexatious police daring to +molest travellers and to insult the sacred rights of individuals and +nations. + +The bishop without answering me referred me to his chancellor, to +whom I repeated all I had said to the bishop, but with words +calculated to irritate rather than to soften, and certainly not +likely to obtain the release of the captain. I even went so far as +to threaten, and I said that if I were in the place of the officer I +would demand a public reparation. The priest laughed at my threats; +it was just what I wanted, and after asking me whether I had taken +leave of my senses, the chancellor told me to apply to the captain of +the 'sbirri'. + +"I shall go to somebody else," I said, "reverend sir, besides the +captain of the 'sbirri'." + +Delighted at having made matters worse, I left him and proceeded +straight to the house of General Spada, but being told that he could +not be seen before eight o'clock, I returned to the inn. + +The state of excitement in which I was, the ardour with which I had +made the affair mine, might have led anyone to suppose that my +indignation had been roused only by disgust at seeing an odious +persecution perpetrated upon a stranger by an unrestrained, immoral, +and vexatious police; but why should I deceive the kind reader, to +whom I have promised to tell the truth; I must therefore say that my +indignation was real, but my ardour was excited by another feeling of +a more personal nature. I fancied that the woman concealed under the +bed-clothes was a beauty. I longed to see her face, which shame, +most likely, had prevented her from shewing. She had heard me speak, +and the good opinion that I had of myself did not leave the shadow of +a doubt in my mind that she would prefer me to her captain. + +The door of the room being still open, I went in and related to the +captain all I had done, assuring him that in the course of the day he +would be at liberty to continue his journey at the bishop's expense, +for the general would not fail to obtain complete satisfaction for +him. He thanked me warmly, gave back the eight ducats I had paid for +him, and said that he would not leave the city till the next day. + +"From what country," I asked him, "is your travelling companion?" + +"From France, and he only speaks his native language." + +"Then you speak French?" + +"Not one word." + +"That is amusing! Then you converse in pantomime?" + +"Exactly." + +"I pity you, for it is a difficult language." + +"Yes, to express the various shades of thought, but in the material +part of our intercourse we understand each other quite well." + +"May I invite myself to breakfast with you?" + +"Ask my friend whether he has any objection." + +"Amiable companion of the captain," I said in French, "will you +kindly accept me as a third guest at the breakfast-table?" + +At these words I saw coming out of the bed-clothes a lovely head, +with dishevelled hair, and a blooming, laughing face which, although +it was crowned with a man's cap, left no doubt that the captain's +friend belonged to that sex without which man would be the most +miserable animal on earth. + +Delighted with the graceful creature, I told her that I had been +happy enough to feel interested in her even before I had seen her, +and that now that I had the pleasure of seeing her, I could but renew +with greater zeal all my efforts to serve her. + +She answered me with the grace and the animation which are the +exclusive privilege of her native country, and retorted my argument +in the most witty manner; I was already under the charm. My request +was granted; I went out to order breakfast, and to give them an +opportunity of making themselves comfortable in bed, for they were +determined not to get up until the door of their room was closed +again. + +The waiter came, and I went in with him. I found my lovely +Frenchwoman wearing a blue frock-coat, with her hair badly arranged +like a man's, but very charming even in that strange costume. I +longed to see her up. She ate her breakfast without once +interrupting the officer speaking to me, but to whom I was not +listening, or listening with very little attention, for I was in a +sort of ecstatic trance. + +Immediately after breakfast, I called on the general, and related the +affair to him, enlarging upon it in such a manner as to pique his +martial pride. I told him that, unless he settled the matter +himself, the Hungarian captain was determined to send an express to +the cardinal immediately. But my eloquence was unnecessary, for the +general liked to see priests attend to the business of Heaven, but he +could not bear them to meddle in temporal affairs. + +"I shall," he said, "immediately put a stop to this ridiculous +comedy, and treat it in a very serious manner." + +"Go at once to the inn," he said to his aide-de-camp, "invite that +officer and his companion to dine with me to-day, and repair +afterwards to the bishop's palace. Give him notice that the officer +who has been so grossly insulted by his 'sbirri' shall not leave the +city before he has received a complete apology, and whatever sum of +money he may claim as damages. Tell him that the notice comes from +me, and that all the expenses incurred by the officer shall be paid +by him." + +What pleasure it was for me to listen to these words! In my vanity, +I fancied I had almost prompted them to the general. I accompanied +the aide-de-camp, and introduced him to the captain who received him +with the joy of a soldier meeting a comrade. The adjutant gave him +the general's invitation for him and his companion, and asked him to +write down what satisfaction he wanted, as well as the amount of +damages he claimed. At the sight of the general's adjutant, the +'sbirri' had quickly vanished. I handed to the captain pen, paper +and ink, and he wrote his claim in pretty good Latin for a native of +Hungary. The excellent fellow absolutely refused to ask for more +than thirty sequins, in spite of all I said to make him claim one +hundred. He was likewise a great deal too easy as to the +satisfaction he demanded, for all he asked was to see the landlord +and the 'sbirri' beg his pardon on their knees in the presence of the +general's adjutant. He threatened the bishop to send an express to +Rome to Cardinal Alexander, unless his demands were complied with +within two hours, and to remain in Cesena at the rate of ten sequins +a day at the bishop's expense. + +The officer left us, and a moment afterwards the landlord came in +respectfully, to inform the captain that he was free, but the captain +having begged me to tell the scoundrel that he owed him a sound +thrashing, he lost no time in gaining the door. + +I left my friends alone to get dressed, and to attend to my own +toilet, as I dined with them at the general's. An hour afterwards I +found them ready in their military costumes. The uniform of the +Frenchwoman was of course a fancy one, but very elegant. The moment +I saw her, I gave up all idea of Naples, and decided upon +accompanying the two friends to Parma. The beauty of the lovely +Frenchwoman had already captivated me. The captain was certainly on +the threshold of sixty, and, as a matter of course, I thought such a +union very badly assorted. I imagined that the affair which I was +already concocting in my brain could be arranged amicably. + +The adjutant came back with a priest sent by the bishop, who told the +captain that he should have the satisfaction as well as the damages +he had claimed, but that he must be content with fifteen sequins. + +"Thirty or nothing," dryly answered the Hungarian. + +They were at last given to him, and thus the matter ended. The +victory was due to my exertions, and I had won the friendship of the +captain and his lovely companion. + +In order to guess, even at first sight, that the friend of the worthy +captain was not a man, it was enough to look at the hips. She was +too well made as a woman ever to pass for a man, and the women who +disguise themselves in male attire, and boast of being like men, are +very wrong, for by such a boast they confess themselves deficient in +one of the greatest perfections appertaining to woman. + +A little before dinner-time we repaired to General Spada's mansion, +and the general presented the two officers to all the ladies. Not +one of them was deceived in the young officer, but, being already +acquainted with the adventure, they were all delighted to dine with +the hero of the comedy, and treated the handsome officer exactly as +if he had truly been a man, but I am bound to confess that the male +guests offered the Frenchwoman homages more worthy of her sex. + +Madame Querini alone did not seem pleased, because the lovely +stranger monopolized the general attention, and it was a blow to her +vanity to see herself neglected. She never spoke to her, except to +shew off her French, which she could speak well. The poor captain +scarcely opened his lips, for no one cared to speak Latin, and the +general had not much to say in German. + +An elderly priest, who was one of the guests, tried to justify the +conduct of the bishop by assuring us that the inn-keeper and the +'sbirri' had acted only under the orders of the Holy Office. + +"That is the reason," he said, "for which no bolts are allowed in the +rooms of the hotels, so that strangers may not shut themselves up in +their chambers. The Holy Inquisition does not allow a man to sleep +with any woman but his wife." + +Twenty years later I found all the doors in Spain with a bolt +outside, so that travellers were, as if they had been in prison, +exposed to the outrageous molestation of nocturnal visits from the +police. That disease is so chronic in Spain that it threatens to +overthrow the monarchy some day, and I should not be astonished if +one fine morning the Grand Inquisitor was to have the king shaved, +and to take his place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +I Purchase a Handsome Carriage, and Proceed to Parma With the Old +Captain and the Young Frenchwoman--I Pay a Visit to Javotte, and +Present Her With a Beautiful Pair of Gold Bracelets--My Perplexities +Respecting My Lovely Travelling Companion--A Monologue--Conversation +with the Captain--Tete-a-Tete with Henriette + + +The conversation was animated, and the young female officer was +entertaining everybody, even Madame Querini, although she hardly took +the trouble of concealing her spleen. + +"It seems strange," she remarked, "that you and the captain should +live together without ever speaking to each other." + +"Why, madam? We understand one another perfectly, for speech is of +very little consequence in the kind of business we do together." + +That answer, given with graceful liveliness, made everybody laugh, +except Madame Querini-Juliette, who, foolishly assuming the air of a +prude, thought that its meaning was too clearly expressed. + +"I do not know any kind of business," she said, "that can be +transacted without the assistance of the voice or the pen." + +"Excuse me, madam, there are some: playing at cards, for instance, is +a business of that sort." + +"Are you always playing?" + +"We do nothing else. We play the game of the Pharaoh (faro), and I +hold the bank." + +Everybody, understanding the shrewdness of this evasive answer, +laughed again, and Juliette herself could not help joining in the +general merriment. + +"But tell me," said Count Spada, "does the bank receive much?" + +"As for the deposits, they are of so little importance, that they are +hardly worth mentioning." + +No one ventured upon translating that sentence for the benefit of the +worthy captain. The conversation continued in the same amusing +style, and all the guests were delighted with the graceful wit of the +charming officer. + +Late in the evening I took leave of the general, and wished him a +pleasant journey. + +"Adieu," he said, "I wish you a pleasant journey to Naples, and hope +you will enjoy yourself there" + +"Well, general, I am not going to Naples immediately; I have changed +my mind and intend to proceed to Parma, where I wish to see the +Infante. I also wish to constitute myself the interpreter of these +two officers who know nothing of Italian:" + +"Ah, young man! opportunity makes a thief, does it not? Well, if I +were in your place, I would do the same." + +I also bade farewell to Madame Querini, who asked me to write to her +from Bologna. I gave her a promise to do so, but without meaning to +fulfil it. + +I had felt interested in the young Frenchwoman when she was hiding +under the bed-clothes: she had taken my fancy the moment she had +shewn her features, and still more when I had seen her dressed. She +completed her conquest at the dinner-table by the display of a wit +which I greatly admired. It is rare in Italy, and seems to belong +generally to the daughters of France. I did not think it would be +very difficult to win her love, and I resolved on trying. Putting my +self-esteem on one side, I fancied I would suit her much better than +the old Hungarian, a very pleasant man for his age, but who, after +all, carried his sixty years on his face, while my twenty-three were +blooming on my countenance. It seemed to me that the captain himself +would not raise any great objection, for he seemed one of those men +who, treating love as a matter of pure fancy, accept all +circumstances easily, and give way good-naturedly to all the freaks +of fortune. By becoming the travelling companion of this ill-matched +couple, I should probably succeed in my aims. I never dreamed of +experiencing a refusal at their hands, my company would certainly be +agreeable to them, as they could not exchange a single word by +themselves. + +With this idea I asked the captain, as we reached our inn, whether he +intended to proceed to Parma by the public coach or otherwise. + +"As I have no carriage of my own," he answered, "we shall have to +take the coach." + +"I have a very comfortable carriage, and I offer you the two back +seats if you have no objection to my society." + +"That is a piece of good fortune. Be kind enough to propose it to +Henriette." + +"Will you, madam, grant me the favour of accompanying you to Parma?" + +"I should be delighted, for we could have some conversation, but take +care, sir, your task will not be an easy one, you will often find +yourself obliged to translate for both of us." + +"I shall do so with great pleasure; I am only sorry that the journey +is not longer. We can arrange everything at supper-time; allow me to +leave you now as I have some business to settle." + +My business was in reference to a carriage, for the one I had boasted +of existed only in my imagination. I went to the most fashionable +coffee-house, and, as good luck would have it, heard that there was a +travelling carriage for sale, which no one would buy because it was +too expensive. Two hundred sequins were asked for it, although it +had but two seats and a bracket-stool for a third person. It was +just what I wanted. I called at the place where it would be seen. I +found a very fine English carriage which could not have cost less +than two hundred guineas. Its noble proprietor was then at supper, +so I sent him my name, requesting him not to dispose of his carriage +until the next morning, and I went back to the hotel well pleased +with my discovery. At supper I arranged with the captain that we +would not leave Cesena till after dinner on the following day, and +the conversation was almost entirely a dialogue between Henriette and +myself; it was my first talk with a French woman. I thought this +young creature more and more charming, yet I could not suppose her to +be anything else but an adventurers, and I was astonished at +discovering in her those noble and delicate feelings which denote a +good education. However, as such an idea would not have suited the +views I had about her, I rejected it whenever it presented itself to +my mind. Whenever I tried to make her talk about the captain she +would change the subject of conversation, or evade my insinuations +with a tact and a shrewdness which astonished and delighted me at the +same time, for everything she said bore the impress of grace and wit. +Yet she did not elude this question: + +"At least tell me, madam, whether the captain is your husband or your +father." + +"Neither one nor the other," she answered, with a smile. + +That was enough for me, and in reality what more did I want to know? +The worthy captain had fallen asleep. When he awoke I wished them +both good night, and retired to my room with a heart full of love and +a mind full of projects. I saw that everything had taken a good +turn, and I felt certain of success, for I was young, I enjoyed +excellent health, I had money and plenty of daring. I liked the +affair all the better because it must come to a conclusion in a few +days. + +Early the next morning I called upon Count Dandini, the owner of the +carriage, and as I passed a jeweller's shop I bought a pair of gold +bracelets in Venetian filigree, each five yards long and of rare +fineness. I intended them as a present for Javotte. + +The moment Count Dandini saw me he recognized me. He had seen me in +Padua at the house of his father, who was professor of civil law at +the time I was a student there. I bought his carriage on condition +that he would send it to me in good repair at one o'clock in the +afternoon. + +Having completed the purchase, I went to my friend, Franzia, and my +present of the bracelets made Javotte perfectly happy. There was. +not one girl in Cesena who could boast of possessing a finer pair, +and with that present my conscience felt at ease, for it paid the +expense I had occasioned during my stay of ten or twelve days at her +father's house four times over. But this was not the most important +present I offered the family. I made the father take an oath to wait +for me, and never to trust in any pretended magician for the +necessary operation to obtain the treasure, even if I did not return +or give any news of myself for ten years. + +"Because," I said to him, "in consequence of the agreement in which I +have entered with the spirits watching the treasure, at the first +attempt made by any other person, the casket containing the treasure +will sink to twice its present depth, that is to say as deep as +thirty-five fathoms, and then I shall have myself ten times more +difficulty in raising it to the surface. I cannot state precisely +the time of my return, for it depends upon certain combinations which +are not under my control, but recollect that the treasure cannot be +obtained by anyone but I." + +I accompanied my advice with threats of utter ruin to his family if +he should ever break his oath. And in this manner I atoned for all I +had done, for, far from deceiving the worthy man, I became his +benefactor by guarding against the deceit of some cheat who would +have cared for his money more than for his daughter. I never saw him +again, and most likely he is dead, but knowing the deep impression I +left on his mind I am certain that his descendants are even now +waiting for me, for the name of Farusi must have remained immortal in +that family. + +Javotte accompanied me as far as the gate of the city, where I kissed +her affectionately, which made me feel that the thunder and lightning +had had but a momentary effect upon me; yet I kept control over my +senses, and I congratulate myself on doing so to this day. I told +her, before bidding her adieu, that, her virginity being no longer +necessary for my magic operations, I advised her to get married as +soon as possible, if I did not return within three months. She shed +a few tears, but promised to follow my advice. + +I trust that my readers will approve of the noble manner in which I +concluded my magic business. I hardly dare to boast of it, but I +think I deserve some praise for my behaviour. Perhaps, I might have +ruined poor Franzia with a light heart, had I not possessed a well- +filled purse. I do not wish to enquire whether any young man, having +intelligence, loving pleasure, and placed in the same position, would +not have done the same, but I beg my readers to address that question +to themselves. + +As for Capitani, to whom I sold the sheath of St. Peter's knife for +rather more than it was worth, I confess that I have not yet repented +on his account, for Capitani thought he had duped me in accepting it +as security for the amount he gave me, and the count, his father, +valued it until his death as more precious than the finest diamond in +the world. Dying with such a firm belief, he died rich, and I shall +die a poor man. Let the reader judge which of the two made the best +bargain. But I must return now to my future travelling companions. + +As soon as I had reached the inn, I prepared everything for our +departure for which I was now longing. Henriette could not open her +lips without my discovering some fresh perfection, for her wit +delighted me even more than her beauty. It struck me that the old +captain was pleased with all the attention I shewed her, and it +seemed evident to me that she would not be sorry to exchange her +elderly lover for me. I had all the better right to think so, +inasmuch as I was perfection from a physical point of view, and I +appeared to be wealthy, although I had no servant. I told Henriette +that, for the sake of having none, I spent twice as much as a servant +would have cost me, that, by my being my own servant, I was certain +of being served according to my taste, and I had the satisfaction of +having no spy at my heels and no privileged thief to fear. She +agreed with everything I said, and it increased my love. + +The honest Hungarian insisted upon giving me in advance the amount to +be paid for the post-horses at the different stages as far as Parma. +We left Cesena after dinner, but not without a contest of politeness +respecting the seats. The captain wanted me to occupy the back seat- +near Henriette, but the reader will understand how much better the +seat opposite to her suited me; therefore I insisted upon taking the +bracket-seat, and had the double advantage of shewing my politeness, +and of having constantly and without difficulty before my eyes the +lovely woman whom I adored. + +My happiness would have been too great if there had been no drawback +to it. But where can we find roses without thorns? When the +charming Frenchwoman uttered some of those witty sayings which +proceed so naturally from the lips of her countrywomen, I could not +help pitying the sorry face of the poor Hungarian, and, wishing to +make him share my mirth, I would undertake to translate in Latin +Henriette's sallies; but far from making him merry, I often saw his +face bear a look of astonishment, as if what I had said seemed to him +rather flat. I had to acknowledge to myself that I could not speak +Latin as well as she spoke French, and this was indeed the case. The +last thing which we learn in all languages is wit, and wit never +shines so well as in jests. I was thirty years of age before I began +to laugh in reading Terence, Plautus and Martial. + +Something being the matter with the carriage, we stopped at Forli to +have it repaired. After a very cheerful supper, I retired to my room +to go to bed, thinking of nothing else but the charming woman by whom +I was so completely captivated. Along the road, Henriette had struck +me as so strange that I would not sleep in the second bed in their +room. I was afraid lest she should leave her old comrade to come to +my bed and sleep with me, and I did not know how far the worthy +captain would have put up with such a joke. I wished, of course, to +possess that lovely creature, but I wanted everything to be settled +amicably, for I felt some respect for the brave officer. + +Henriette had nothing but the military costume in which she stood, +not any woman's linen, not even one chemise. For a change she took +the captain's shirt. Such a state of things was so new to me that +the situation seemed to me a complete enigma. + +In Bologna, excited by an excellent supper and by the amorous passion +which was every hour burning more fiercely in me, I asked her by what +singular adventure she had become the friend of the honest fellow who +looked her father rather than her lover. + +"If you wish to know," she answered, with a smile, "ask him to relate +the whole story himself, only you must request him not to omit any of +the particulars." + +Of course I applied at once to the captain, and, having first +ascertained by signs that the charming Frenchwoman had no objection, +the good man spoke to me thus: + +"A friend of mine, an officer in the army, having occasion to go to +Rome, I solicited a furlough of six months, and accompanied him. I +seized with great delight the opportunity of visiting a city, the +name of which has a powerful influence on the imagination, owing to +the memories of the past attached to it. I did not entertain any +doubt that the Latin language was spoken there in good society, at +least as generally as in Hungary. But I was indeed greatly mistaken, +for nobody can speak it, not even the priests, who only pretend to +write it, and it is true that some of them do so with great purity. +I was therefore rather uncomfortable during my stay in Rome, and with +the exception of my eyes my senses remained perfectly inactive. I +had spent a very tedious month in that city, the ancient queen of the +world, when Cardinal Albani gave my friend dispatches for Naples. +Before leaving Rome, he introduced me to his eminence, and his +recommendation had so much influence that the cardinal promised to +send me very soon with dispatches for the Duke of Parma, Piacenza, +and Guastalla, assuring me that all my travelling expenses would be +defrayed. As I wished to see the harbour called in former times +Centum cellae and now Civita-Vecchia, I gave up the remainder of my +time to that visit, and I proceeded there with a cicerone who spoke +Latin. + +"I was loitering about the harbour when I saw, coming out of a +tartan, an elderly officer and this young woman dressed as she is +now. Her beauty struck me, but I should not have thought any more +about it, if the officer had not put up at my inn, and in an +apartment over which I had a complete view whenever I opened my +window. In the evening I saw the couple taking supper at the same +table, but I remarked that the elderly officer never addressed a word +to the young one. When the supper was over, the disguised girl left +the room, and her companion did not lift his eyes from a letter which +he was reading, as it seemed to me, with the deepest attention. Soon +afterwards the officer closed the windows, the light was put out, and +I suppose my neighbors went to bed. The next morning, being up early +as is my habit, I saw the officer go out, and the girl remained alone +in the room. + +"I sent my cicerone, who was also my servant, to tell the girl in the +garb of an officer that I would give her ten sequins for an hour's +conversation. He fulfilled my instructions, and on his return he +informed me that her answer, given in French, had been to the effect +that she would leave for Rome immediately after breakfast, and that, +once in that city, I should easily find some opportunity of speaking +to her. + +"'I can find out from the vetturino,' said my cicerone, 'where they +put up in Rome, and I promise you to enquire of him.' + +"She left Civita-Vecchia with the elderly officer, and I returned +home on the following day. + +"Two days afterwards, the cardinal gave me the dispatches, which were +addressed to M. Dutillot, the French minister, with a passport and +the money necessary for the journey. He told me, with great +kindness, that I need not hurry on the road. + +"I had almost forgotten the handsome adventuress, when, two days +before my departure, my cicerone gave me the information that he had +found out where she lived, and that she was with the same officer. I +told him to try to see her, and to let her know that my departure was +fixed for the day after the morrow. She sent me word by him that, if +I would inform her of the hour of my departure, she would meet me +outside of the gate, and get into the coach with me to accompany me +on my way. I thought the arrangement very ingenious and during the +day I sent the cicerone to tell her the hour at which I intended to +leave, and where I would wait for her outside of the Porto del +Popolo. She came at the appointed time, and we have remained +together ever since. As soon as she was seated near me, she made me +understand by signs that she wanted to dine with me. You may imagine +what difficulty we had in understanding one another, but we guessed +somehow the meaning expressed by our pantomime, and I accepted the +adventure with delight. + +"We dined gaily together, speaking without understanding, but after +the dessert we comprehended each other very well. I fancied that I +had seen the end of it, and you may imagine how surprised I was when, +upon my offering her the ten sequins, she refused most positively to +take any money, making me understand that she would rather go with me +to Parma, because she had some business in that city, and did not +want to return to Rome. + +"The proposal was, after all, rather agreeable to me; I consented to +her wishes. I only regretted my inability to make her understand +that, if she was followed by anyone from Rome, and if that person +wanted to take her back, I was not in a position to defend her +against violence. I was also sorry that, with our mutual ignorance +of the language spoken by each of us, we had no opportunity of +conversation, for I should have been greatly pleased to hear her +adventures, which, I think, must be interesting. You can, of course, +guess that I have no idea of who she can be. I only know that she +calls herself Henriette, that she must be a Frenchwoman, that she is +as gentle as a turtledove, that she has evidently received a good +education, and that she enjoys good health. She is witty and +courageous, as we have both seen, I in Rome and you in Cesena at +General Spada's table. If she would tell you her history, and allow +you to translate it for me in Latin she would indeed please me much, +for I am sincerely her friend, and I can assure you that it will +grieve me to part from her in Parma. Please to tell her that I +intend to give her the thirty sequins I received from the Bishop of +Cesena, and that if I were rich I would give her more substantial +proofs of my tender affection. Now, sir, I shall feel obliged to you +if you will explain it all to her in French." + +I asked her whether she would feel offended if I gave her an exact +translation. She assured me that, on the contrary, she wished me to +speak openly, and I told her literally what the captain had related +to me. + +With a noble frankness which a slight shade of-shame rendered more +interesting, Henriette confirmed the truth of her friend's narrative, +but she begged me to tell him that she could not grant his wish +respecting the adventures of her life. + +"Be good enough to inform him," she added, "that the same principle +which forbids me to utter a falsehood, does not allow me to tell the +truth. As for the thirty sequins which he intends to give me, I will +not accept even one of them, and he would deeply grieve me by +pressing them upon me. The moment we reach Parma I wish him to allow +me to lodge wherever I may please, to make no enquiries whatever +about me, and, in case he should happen to meet me, to crown his +great kindness to me by not appearing to have ever known me." + +As she uttered the last words of this short speech, which she had +delivered very seriously and with a mixture of modesty and +resolution, she kissed her elderly friend in a manner which indicated +esteem and gratitude rather than love. The captain, who did not know +why she was kissing him, was deeply grieved when I translated what +Henriette had said. He begged me to tell her that, if he was to obey +her with an easy conscience, he must know whether she would have +everything she required in Parma. + +"You can assure him," she answered, "that he need not entertain any +anxiety about me." + +This conversation had made us all very sad; we remained for a long +time thoughtful and silent, until, feeling the situation to be +painful, I rose, wishing them good night, and I saw that Henriette's +face wore a look of great excitement. + +As soon as I found myself alone in my room, deeply moved by +conflicting feelings of love, surprise, and uncertainty, I began to +give vent to my feelings in a kind of soliloquy, as I always do when +I am strongly excited by anything; thinking is not, in those cases, +enough for me; I must speak aloud, and I throw so much action, so +much animation into these monologues that I forget I am alone. What +I knew now of Henriette had upset me altogether. + +"Who can she be," I said, speaking to the walls; "this girl who seems +to have the most elevated feelings under the veil of the most cynical +libertinism? She says that in Parma she wishes to remain perfectly +unknown, her own mistress, and I cannot, of course, flatter myself +that she will not place me under the same restrictions as the captain +to whom she has already abandoned herself. Goodbye to my +expectations, to my money, and my illusions! But who is she--what is +she? She must have either a lover or a husband in Parma, or she must +belong to a respectable family; or, perhaps, thanks to a boundless +love for debauchery and to her confidence in her own charms, she +intends to set fortune, misery, and degradation at defiance, and to +try to enslave some wealthy nobleman! But that would be the plan of +a mad woman or of a person reduced to utter despair, and it does not +seem to be the case with Henriette. Yet she possesses nothing. +True, but she refused, as if she had been provided with all she +needed, the kind assistance of a man who has the right to offer it, +and from whom, in sooth, she can accept without blushing, since she +has not been ashamed to grant him favours with which love had nothing +to do. Does she think that it is less shameful for a woman to +abandon herself to the desires of a man unknown and unloved than to +receive a present from an esteemed friend, and particularly at the +eve of finding herself in the street, entirely destitute in the +middle of a foreign city, amongst people whose language she cannot +even speak? Perhaps she thinks that such conduct will justify the +'faux pas' of which she has been guilty with the captain, and give +him to understand that she had abandoned herself to him only for the +sake of escaping from the officer with whom she was in Rome. But she +ought to be quite certain that the captain does not entertain any +other idea; he shews himself so reasonable that it is impossible to +suppose that he ever admitted the possibility of having inspired her +with a violent passion, because she had seen him once through a +window in Civita-Vecchia. She might possibly be right, and feel +herself justified in her conduct towards the captain, but it is not +the same with me, for with her intelligence she must be aware that I +would not have travelled with them if she had been indifferent to me, +and she must know that there is but one way in which she can obtain +my pardon. She may be endowed with many virtues, but she has not the +only one which could prevent me from wishing the reward which every +man expects to receive at the hands of the woman he loves. If she +wants to assume prudish manners towards me and to make a dupe of me, +I am bound in honour to shew her how much she is mistaken." + +After this monologue, which had made me still more angry, I made up +my mind to have an explanation in the morning before our departure. + +"I shall ask her," said I to myself, "to grant me the same favours +which she has so easily granted to her old captain, and if I meet +with a refusal the best revenge will be to shew her a cold and +profound contempt until our arrival in Parma." + +I felt sure that she could not refuse me some marks of real or of +pretended affection, unless she wished to make a show of a modesty +which certainly did not belong to her, and, knowing that her modesty +would only be all pretence, I was determined not to be a mere toy in +her hands. + +As for the captain, I felt certain, from what he had told me, that he +would not be angry with me if I risked a declaration, for as a +sensible man he could only assume a neutral position. + +Satisfied with my wise reasoning, and with my mind fully made up, I +fell asleep. My thoughts were too completely absorbed by Henriette +for her not to haunt my dreams, but the dream which I had throughout +the night was so much like reality that, on awaking, I looked for her +in my bed, and my imagination was so deeply struck with the delights +of that night that, if my door had not been fastened with a bolt, I +should have believed that she had left me during my sleep to resume +her place near the worthy Hungarian. + +When I was awake I found that the happy dream of the night had turned +my love for the lovely creature into a perfect amorous frenzy, and it +could not be other wise. Let the reader imagine a poor devil going +to bed broken down with fatigue and starvation; he succumbs to sleep, +that most imperative of all human wants, but in his dream he finds +himself before a table covered with every delicacy; what will then +happen? Why, a very natural result. His appetite, much more lively +than on the previous day, does not give him a minute's rest he must +satisfy it or die of sheer hunger. + +I dressed myself, resolved on making sure of the possession of the +woman who had inflamed all my senses, even before resuming our +journey. + +"If I do not succeed," I said to myself, "I will not go one step +further." + +But, in order not to offend against propriety, and not to deserve the +reproaches of an honest man, I felt that it was my duty to have an +explanation with the captain in the first place. + +I fancy that I hear one of those sensible, calm, passionless readers, +who have had the advantage of what is called a youth without storms, +or one of those whom old age has forced to become virtuous, exclaim, + +"Can anyone attach so much importance to such nonsense?" + +Age has calmed my passions down by rendering them powerless, but my +heart has not grown old, and my memory has kept all the freshness of +youth; and far from considering that sort of thing a mere trifle, my +only sorrow, dear reader, arises from the fact that I have not the +power to practise, to the day of my death, that which has been the +principal affair of my life! + +When I was ready I repaired to the chamber occupied by my two +travelling companions, and after paying each of them the usual +morning compliments I told the officer that I was deeply in love with +Henriette, and I asked him whether he would object to my trying to +obtain her as my mistress. + +"The reason for which she begs you," I added, "to leave her in Parma +and not to take any further notice of her, must be that she hopes to +meet some lover of hers there. Let me have half an hour's +conversation with her, and I flatter myself I can persuade her to +sacrifice that lover for me. If she refuses me, I remain here; you +will go with her to Parma, where you will leave my carriage at the +post, only sending me a receipt, so that I can claim it whenever I +please." + +"As soon as breakfast is over," said the excellent man, "I shall go +and visit the institute, and leave you alone with Henriette. I hope +you may succeed, for I should be delighted to see her under your +protection when I part with her. Should she persist in her first +resolution, I could easily find a 'vetturino' here, and you could +keep your carriage. I thank you for your proposal, and it will +grieve me to leave you." + +Highly pleased at having accomplished half of my task, and at seeing +myself near the denouement, I asked the lovely Frenchwoman whether +she would like to see the sights of Bologna. + +"I should like it very much," she said, "if I had some other clothes; +but with such a costume as this I do not care to shew myself about +the city." + +"Then you do not want to go out?" + +"No." + +"Can I keep you company?" + +"That would be delightful:" + +The captain went out immediately after breakfast. The moment he had +gone I told Henriette that her friend had left us alone purposely, so +as to give me the opportunity of a private interview with her. + +"Tell me now whether you intended the order which you gave him +yesterday to forget you, never to enquire after you; and even not to +know you if he happened to meet you, from the time of our arrival in +Parma, for me as well as for him." + +"It is not an order that I gave him; I have no right to do so, and I +could not so far forget myself; it is only a prayer I addressed to +him, a service which circumstances have compelled me to claim at his +hands, and as he has no right to refuse me, I never entertained any +doubt of his granting my command. As far as you are concerned, it is +certain that I should have addressed the same prayer to you, if I had +thought that you had any views about me. You have given me some +marks of your friendship, but you must understand that if, under the +circumstances, I am likely to be injured by the kind attentions of +the captain, yours would injure me much more. If you have any +friendship for me, you would have felt all that." + +"As you know that I entertain great friendship for you, you cannot +possibly suppose that I would leave you alone, without money, without +resources in the middle of a city where you cannot even make yourself +understood. Do you think that a man who feels for you the most +tender affection can abandon you when he has been fortunate enough to +make your acquaintance, when he is aware of the sad position in which +you are placed? If you think such a thing possible, you must have a +very false idea of friendship, and should such a man grant your +request, he would only prove that he is not your friend." + +"I am certain that the captain is my friend; yet you have heard him, +he will obey me, and forget me." + +"I do not know what sort of affection that honest man feels for you, +or how far he can rely upon the control he may have over himself, but +I know that if he can grant you what you have asked from him, his +friendship must be of a nature very different from mine, for I am +bound to tell you it is not only impossible for me to afford you +willingly the strange gratification of abandoning you in your +position, but even that, if I go to Parma, you could not possibly +carry out your wishes, because I love you so passionately that you +must promise to be mine, or I must remain here. In that case you +must go to Parma alone with the captain, for I feel that, if I +accompanied you any further, I should soon be the most wretched of +men. I could not bear to see you with another lover, with a husband, +not even in the midst of your family; in fact, I would fain see you +and live with you forever. Let me tell you, lovely Henriette, that +if it is possible for a Frenchman to forget, an Italian cannot do it, +at least if I judge from my own feelings. I have made up my mind, +you must be good enough to decide now, and to tell me whether I am to +accompany you or to remain here. Answer yes or no; if I remain here +it is all over. I shall leave for Naples to-morrow, and I know I +shall be cured in time of the mad passion I feel for you, but if you +tell me that I can accompany you to Parma, you must promise me that +your heart will forever belong to me alone. I must be the only one +to possess you, but I am ready to accept as a condition, if you like, +that you shall not crown my happiness until you have judged me worthy +of it by my attentions and by my loving care. Now, be kind enough to +decide before the return of the too happy captain. He knows all, for +I have told him what I feel." + +"And what did he answer?" + +"That he would be happy to see you under my protection. But what is +the meaning of that smile playing on your lips?" + +"Pray, allow me to laugh, for I have never in my life realized the +idea of a furious declaration of love. Do you understand what it is +to say to a woman in a declaration which ought to be passionate, but +at the same time tender and gentle, the following terrible words: + +"'Madam, make your choice, either one or the other, and decide +instanter!' Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Yes, I understand perfectly. It is neither gentle, nor gallant, nor +pathetic, but it is passionate. Remember that this is a serious +matter, and that I have never yet found myself so much pressed by +time. Can you, on your side, realize the painful position of a man, +who, being deeply in love, finds himself compelled to take a decision +which may perhaps decide issues of life and death? Be good enough to +remark that, in spite of the passion raging in me, I do not fail in +the respect I owe you; that the resolution I intend to take, if you +should persist in your original decision, is not a threat, but an +effort worthy of a hero, which ought to call for your esteem. I beg +of you to consider that we cannot afford to lose time. The word +choose must not sound harshly in your ears, since it leaves my fate +as well as yours entirely in your hands. To feel certain of my love, +do you want to see me kneeling before you like a simpleton, crying +and entreating you to take pity on me? No, madam, that would +certainly displease you, and it would not help me. I am conscious of +being worthy of your love, I therefore ask for that feeling and not +for pity. Leave me, if I displease you, but let me go away; for if +you are humane enough to wish that I should forget you, allow me to +go far away from you so as to make my sorrow less immense. Should I +follow you to Parma, I would not answer for myself, for I might give +way to my despair. Consider everything well, I beseech you; you +would indeed be guilty of great cruelty, were you to answer now: +'Come to Parma, although I must beg of you not to see me in that +city.' Confess that you cannot, in all fairness, give me such an +answer; am I not right?" + +"Certainly, if you truly love me." + +"Good God! if I love you? Oh, yes! believe me, my love is immense, +sincere! Now, decide my fate." + +"What! always the same song?" + +"Yes." + +"But are you aware that you look very angry?" + +"No, for it is not so. I am only in a state of uncontrollable +excitement, in one of the decisive hours of my life, a prey to the +most fearful anxiety. I ought to curse my whimsical destiny and the +'sbirri' of Cesena (may God curse them, too!), for, without them, I +should never have known you." + +"Are you, then, so very sorry to have made my acquaintance?" + +"Have I not some reason to be so?" + +"No, for I have not given you my decision yet." + +"Now I breathe more freely, for I am sure you will tell me to +accompany you to Parma." + +"Yes, come to Parma." + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of MEMOIRES OF JACQUES CASANOVA +VENETION YEARS, Vol. 1e, MILAN AND MANTUA +by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt + |