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diff --git a/old/vndtt10.txt b/old/vndtt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..285b699 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vndtt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15885 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Vendetta +by Marie Corelli +(#5 in our series by Marie Corelli) + +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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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +VENDETTA + +A STORY OF ONE FORGOTTEN + +By MARIE CORELLI + +Author of "ARDATH," "THELMA," "A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS," "WORMWOOD," +etc., etc. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Lest those who read the following pages should deem this story at +all improbable, it is perhaps necessary to say that its chief +incidents are founded on an actual occurrence which took place in +Naples during the last scathing visitation of the cholera in 1884. +We know well enough, by the chronicle of daily journalism, that the +infidelity of wives is, most unhappily, becoming common--far too +common for the peace and good repute of society. Not so common is an +outraged husband's vengeance--not often dare he take the law into +his own hands--for in England, at least, such boldness on his part +would doubtless be deemed a worse crime than that by which he +personally is doomed to suffer. But in Italy things are on a +different footing--the verbosity and red-tape of the law, and the +hesitating verdict of special juries, are not there considered +sufficiently efficacious to sooths a man's damaged honor and ruined +name. And thus--whether right or wrong--it often happens that +strange and awful deeds are perpetrated--deeds of which the world in +general hears nothing, and which, when brought to light at last, are +received with surprise and incredulity. Yet the romances planned by +the brain of the novelist or dramatist are poor in comparison with +the romances of real life-life wrongly termed commonplace, but +which, in fact, teems with tragedies as great and dark and soul- +torturing as any devised by Sophocles or Shakespeare. Nothing is +more strange than truth--nothing, at times, more terrible! + +MARIE CORELLI. + +August, 1886. + + + + +VENDETTA! + +CHAPTER I. + + +I, who write this, am a dead man. Dead legally--dead by absolute +proofs--dead and buried! Ask for me in my native city and they will +tell you I was one of the victims of the cholera that ravaged Naples +in 1884, and that my mortal remains lie moldering in the funeral +vault of my ancestors. Yet--I live! I feel the warm blood coursing +through my veins--the blood of thirty summers--the prime of early +manhood invigorates me, and makes these eyes of mine keen and +bright--these muscles strong as iron--this hand powerful of grip-- +this well-knit form erect and proud of bearing. Yes!--I am alive, +though declared to be dead; alive in the fullness of manly force-- +and even sorrow has left few distinguishing marks upon me, save one. +My hair, once ebony-black, is white as a wreath of Alpine snow, +though its clustering curls are thick as ever. + +"A constitutional inheritance?" asks one physician, observing my +frosted locks. + +"A sudden shock?" suggests another. + +"Exposure to intense heat?" hints a third. + +I answer none of them. I did so once. I told my story to a man I met +by chance--one renowned for medical skill and kindliness. He heard +me to the end in evident incredulity and alarm, and hinted at the +possibility of madness. Since then I have never spoken. + +But now I write. I am far from all persecution--I can set down the +truth fearlessly. I can dip the pen in my own blood if I choose, and +none shall gainsay me! For the green silence of a vast South +American forest encompasses me--the grand and stately silence of a +virginal nature, almost unbroken by the ruthless step of man's +civilization--a haven of perfect calm, delicately disturbed by the +fluttering wings and soft voices of birds, and the gentle or stormy +murmur of the freeborn winds of heaven. Within this charmed circle +of rest I dwell--here I lift up my overburdened heart like a +brimming chalice, and empty it on the ground, to the last drop of +gall contained therein. The world shall know my history. + +Dead, and yet living! How can that be?--you ask. Ah, my friends! If +you seek to be rid of your dead relations for a certainty, you +should have their bodies cremated. Otherwise there is no knowing +what may happen! Cremation is the best way--the only way. It is +clean, and SAFE. Why should there be any prejudice against it? +Surely it is better to give the remains of what we loved (or +pretended to love) to cleansing fire and pure air than to lay them +in a cold vault of stone, or down, down in the wet and clinging +earth. For loathly things are hidden deep in the mold--things, foul +and all unnameable--long worms--slimy creatures with blind eyes and +useless wings--abortions and deformities of the insect tribe born of +poisonous vapor--creatures the very sight of which would drive you, +oh, delicate woman, into a fit of hysteria, and would provoke even +you, oh, strong man, to a shudder of repulsion! But there is a worse +thing than these merely physical horrors which come of so-called +Christian burial--that is, the terrible UNCERTAINTY. What, if after +we have lowered the narrow strong box containing our dear deceased +relation into its vault or hollow in the ground--what, if after we +have worn a seemly garb of woe, and tortured our faces into the +fitting expression of gentle and patient melancholy--what, I say, if +after all the reasonable precautions taken to insure safety, they +should actually prove insufficient? What--if the prison to which we +have consigned the deeply regretted one should not have such close +doors as we fondly imagined? What, if the stout coffin should be +wrenched apart by fierce and frenzied fingers--what, if our late +dear friend should NOT be dead, but should, like Lazarus of old, +come forth to challenge our affection anew? Should we not grieve +sorely that we had failed to avail ourselves of the secure and +classical method of cremation? Especially if we had benefited by +worldly goods or money left to us by the so deservedly lamented! For +we are self-deceiving hypocrites--few of us are really sorry for the +dead--few of us remember them with any real tenderness or affection. +And yet God knows! they may need more pity than we dream of! + +But let me to my task. I, Fabio Romani, lately deceased, am about to +chronicle the events of one short year--a year in which was +compressed the agony of a long and tortured life-time! One little +year!--one sharp thrust from the dagger of Time! It pierced my +heart--the wound still gapes and bleeds, and every drop of blood is +tainted as it falls! + +One suffering, common to many, I have never known--that is--poverty. +I was born rich. When my father, Count Filippo Romani, died, leaving +me, then a lad of seventeen, sole heir to his enormous possessions-- +sole head of his powerful house--there were many candid friends who, +with their usual kindness, prophesied the worst things of my future. +Nay, there were even some who looked forward to my physical and +mental destruction with a certain degree of malignant expectation-- +and they were estimable persons too. They were respectably +connected--their words carried weight--and for a time I was an +object of their maliciously pious fears. I was destined, according +to their calculations, to be a gambler, a spendthrift, a drunkard, +an incurable roue of the most abandoned character. Yet, strange to +say, I became none of these things. Though a Neapolitan, with all +the fiery passions and hot blood of my race, I had an innate scorn +for the contemptible vices and low desires of the unthinking vulgar. +Gambling seemed to me a delirious folly--drink, a destroyer of +health and reason--and licentious extravagance an outrage on the +poor. I chose my own way of life--a middle course between simplicity +and luxury--a judicious mingling of home-like peace with the gayety +of sympathetic social intercourse--an even tenor of intelligent +existence which neither exhausted the mind nor injured the body. + +I dwelt in my father's villa--a miniature palace of white marble, +situated on a wooded height overlooking the Bay of Naples. My +pleasure-grounds were fringed with fragrant groves of orange and +myrtle, where hundreds of full-voiced nightingales warbled their +love-melodies to the golden moon. Sparkling fountains rose and fell in +huge stone basins carved with many a quaint design, and their cool +murmurous splash refreshed the burning silence of the hottest summer +air. In this retreat I lived at peace for some happy years, surrounded +by books and pictures, and visited frequently by friends--young men +whose tastes were more or less like my own, and who were capable of +equally appreciating the merits of an antique volume, or the flavor of +a rare vintage. + +Of women I saw little or nothing. Truth to tell, I instinctively +avoided them. Parents with marriageable daughters invited me +frequently to their houses, but these invitations I generally +refused. My best books warned me against feminine society--and I +believed and accepted the warning. This tendency of mine exposed me +to the ridicule of those among my companions who were amorously +inclined, but their gay jests at what they termed my "weakness" +never affected me. I trusted in friendship rather than love, and I +had a friend--one for whom at that time I would gladly have laid +down my life--one who inspired me with the most profound attachment. +He, Guido Ferrari, also joined occasionally with others in the good- +natured mockery I brought down upon myself by my shrinking dislike +of women. + +"Fie on thee, Fabio!" he would cry. "Thou wilt not taste life till +thou hast sipped the nectar from a pair of rose-red lips--thou shalt +not guess the riddle of the stars till thou hast gazed deep down +into the fathomless glory of a maiden's eyes--thou canst not know +delight till thou hast clasped eager arms round a coy waist and +heard the beating of a passionate heart against thine own! A truce +to thy musty volumes! Believe it, those ancient and sorrowful +philosophers had no manhood in them--their blood was water--and +their slanders against women were but the pettish utterances of +their own deserved disappointments. Those who miss the chief prize +of life would fain persuade others that it is not worth having. +What, man! Thou, with a ready wit, a glancing eye, a gay smile, a +supple form, thou wilt not enter the lists of love? What says +Voltaire of the blind god? + + "'Qui que tu sois voila ton maitre, + Il fut--il est--ou il doit etre!'" + +When my friend spoke thus I smiled, but answered nothing. His +arguments failed to convince me. Yet I loved to hear him talk--his +voice was mellow as the note of a thrush, and his eyes had an +eloquence greater than all speech. I loved him--God knows! +unselfishly, sincerely--with that rare tenderness sometimes felt by +schoolboys for one another, but seldom experienced by grown men. I +was happy in his society, as he, indeed, appeared to be in mine. We +passed most of our time together, he, like myself, having been +bereaved of his parents in early youth, and therefore left to shape +out his own course of life as suited his particular fancy. He chose +art as a profession, and, though a fairly successful painter, was as +poor as I was rich. I remedied this neglect of fortune for him in +various ways with due forethought and delicacy--and gave him as many +commissions as I possibly could without rousing his suspicion or +wounding his pride. For he possessed a strong attraction for me--we +had much the same tastes, we shared the same sympathies, in short, I +desired nothing better than his confidence and companionship. + +In this world no one, however harmless, is allowed to continue +happy. Fate--or caprice--cannot endure to see us monotonously at +rest. Something perfectly trivial--a look, a word, a touch, and lo! +a long chain of old associations is broken asunder, and the peace we +deemed so deep and lasting in finally interrupted. This change came +to me, as surely as it comes to all. One day--how well I remember +it!--one sultry evening toward the end of May, 1881, I was in +Naples. I had passed the afternoon in my yacht, idly and slowly +sailing over the bay, availing myself of what little wind there was. +Guido's absence (he had gone to Rome on a visit of some weeks' +duration) rendered me somewhat of a solitary, and as my light craft +ran into harbor, I found myself in a pensive, half-uncertain mood, +which brought with it its own depression. The few sailors who manned +my vessel dispersed right and left as soon as they were landed--each +to his own favorite haunts of pleasure or dissipation--but I was in +no humor to be easily amused. Though I had plenty of acquaintance in +the city, I cared little for such entertainment as they could offer +me. As I strolled along through one of the principal streets, +considering whether or not I should return on foot to my own +dwelling on the heights, I heard a sound of singing, and perceived +in the distance a glimmer of white robes. It was the Month of Mary, +and I at once concluded that this must be an approaching Procession +of the Virgin. Half in idleness, half in curiosity, I stood still +and waited. The singing voices came nearer and nearer--I saw the +priests, the acolytes, the swinging gold censers heavy with +fragrance, the flaring candles, the snowy veils of children and +girls--and then all suddenly the picturesque beauty of the scene +danced before my eyes in a whirling blur of brilliancy and color +from which looked forth--one face! One face beaming out like a star +from a cloud of amber tresses--one face of rose-tinted, childlike +loveliness--a loveliness absolutely perfect, lighted up by two +luminous eyes, large and black as night--one face in which the +small, curved mouth smiled half provokingly, half sweetly! I gazed +and gazed again, dazzled and excited, beauty makes such fools of us +all! This was a woman--one of the sex I mistrusted and avoided--a +woman in the earliest spring of her youth, a girl of fifteen or +sixteen at the utmost. Her veil had been thrown back by accident or +design, and for one brief moment I drank in that soul-tempting +glance, that witch-like smile! The procession passed--the vision +faded--but in that breath of time one epoch of my life had closed +forever, and another had begun! + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * + +Of course I married her. We Neapolitans lose no time in such +matters. We are not prudent. Unlike the calm blood of Englishmen, +ours rushes swiftly through our veins--it is warm as wine and +sunlight, and needs no fictitious stimulant. We love, we desire, we +possess; and then? We tire, you say? These southern races are so +fickle! All wrong--we are less tired than you deem. And do not +Englishmen tire? Have they no secret ennui at times when sitting in +the chimney nook of "home, sweet home," with their fat wives and +ever-spreading families? Truly, yes! But they are too cautious to +say so. + +I need not relate the story of my courtship--it was brief and sweet +as a song sung perfectly. There were no obstacles. The girl I sought +was the only daughter of a ruined Florentine noble of dissolute +character, who gained a bare subsistence by frequenting the gaming- +tables. His child had been brought up in a convent renowned for +strict discipline--she knew nothing of the world. She was, he +assured me, with maudlin tears in his eyes, "as innocent as a flower +on the altar of the Madonna." I believed him--for what could this +lovely, youthful, low-voiced maiden know of even the shadow of evil? +I was eager to gather so fair a lily for my own proud wearing--and +her father gladly gave her to me, no doubt inwardly congratulating +himself on the wealthy match that had fallen to the lot of his +dowerless daughter. + +We were married at the end of June, and Guido Ferrari graced our +bridal with his handsome and gallant presence. + +"By the body of Bacchus!" he exclaimed to me when the nuptial +ceremony was over, "thou hast profited by my teaching, Fabio! A +quiet rogue is often most cunning! Thou hast rifled the casket of +Venus, and stolen her fairest jewel--thou hast secured the loveliest +maiden in the two Sicilies!" + +I pressed his hand, and a touch of remorse stole over me, for he was +no longer first in my affection. Almost I regretted it--yes, on my +very wedding-morn I looked back to the old days--old now though so +recent--and sighed to think they were ended. I glanced at Nina, my +wife. It was enough! Her beauty dazzled and overcame me. The melting +languor of her large limpid eyes stole into my veins--I forgot all +but her. I was in that high delirium of passion in which love, and +love only, seems the keynote of creation. I touched the topmost peak +of the height of joy--the days were feasts of fairy-land, the nights +dreams of rapture! No; I never tired! My wife's beauty never palled +upon me; she grew fairer with each day of possession. I never saw +her otherwise than attractive, and within a few months she had +probed all the depths of my nature. She discovered how certain sweet +looks of hers could draw me to her side, a willing and devoted +slave; she measured my weakness with her own power; she knew--what +did she not know? I torture myself with these foolish memories. All +men past the age of twenty have learned somewhat of the tricks of +women--the pretty playful nothings that weaken the will and sap the +force of the strongest hero. She loved me? Oh, yes, I suppose so! +Looking back on those days, I can frankly say I believe she loved +me--as nine hundred wives out of a thousand love their husbands, +namely--for what they can get. And I grudged her nothing. If I chose +to idolize her, and raise her to the stature of an angel when she +was but on the low level of mere womanhood, that was my folly, not +her fault. + +We kept open house. Our villa was a place of rendezvous for the +leading members of the best society in and around Naples. My wife +was universally admired; her lovely face and graceful manners were +themes of conversation throughout the whole neighborhood. Guido +Ferrari, my friend, was one of those who were loudest in her praise, +and the chivalrous homage he displayed toward her doubly endeared +him to me. I trusted him as a brother; he came and went as pleased +him; he brought Nina gifts of flowers and fanciful trifles adapted +to her taste, and treated her with fraternal and delicate kindness. +I deemed my happiness perfect--with love, wealth, and friendship, +what more could a man desire? + +Yet another drop of honey was added to my cup of sweetness. On the +first morning of May, 1882, our child was born--a girl-babe, fair as +one of the white anemones which at that season grew thickly in the +woods surrounding out home. They brought the little one to me in the +shaded veranda where I sat at breakfast with Guido--a tiny, almost +shapeless bundle, wrapped in soft cashmere and old lace. I took the +fragile thing in my arms with a tender reverence; it opened its +eyes; they were large and dark like Nina's, and the light of a +recent heaven seemed still to linger in their pure depths. I kissed +the little face; Guido did the same; and those clear, quiet eyes +regarded us both with a strange half-inquiring solemnity. A bird +perched on a bough of jasmine broke into a low, sweet song, the soft +wind blew and scattered the petals of a white rose at our feet. I +gave the infant back to the nurse, who waited to receive it, and +said, with a smile, "Tell my wife we have welcomed her May-blossom." + +Guido laid his hand on my shoulder as the servant retired; his face +was unusually pale. + +"Thou art a good fellow, Fabio!" he said, abruptly. + +"Indeed! How so?" I asked, half laughingly; "I am no better than +other men." + +"You are less suspicious than the majority," he returned, turning +away from me and playing idly with a spray of clematis that trailed +on one of the pillars of the veranda. + +I glanced at him in surprise. "What do you mean, amico? Have I +reason to suspect any one?" + +He laughed and resumed his seat at the breakfast-table. + +"Why, no!" he answered, with a frank look. "But in Naples the air is +pregnant with suspicion--jealousy's dagger is ever ready to strike, +justly or unjustly--the very children are learned in the ways of +vice. Penitents confess to priests who are worse than penitents, and +by Heaven! in such a state of society, where conjugal fidelity is a +farce"--he paused a moment, and then went on--"is it not wonderful +to know a man like you, Fabio? A man happy in home affections, +without a cloud on the sky of his confidence?" + +"I have no cause for distrust," I said. "Nina is as innocent as the +little child of whom she is to-day the mother." + +"True!" exclaimed Ferrari. "Perfectly true!" and he looked me full +in the eyes, with a smile. "White as the virgin snow on the summit +of Mont Blanc--purer than the flawless diamond--and unapproachable +as the furthest star! Is it not so?" + +I assented with a certain gravity; something in his manner puzzled +me. Our conversation soon turned on different topics, and I thought +no more of the matter. But a time came--and that speedily--when I +had stern reason to remember every word he had uttered. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Every one knows what kind of summer we had in Naples in 1884. The +newspapers of all lands teemed with the story of its horrors. The +cholera walked abroad like a destroying demon; under its withering +touch scores of people, young and old, dropped down in the streets +to die. The fell disease, born of dirt and criminal neglect of +sanitary precautions, gained on the city with awful rapidity, and +worse even than the plague was the unreasoning but universal panic. +The never-to-be-forgotten heroism of King Humbert had its effect on +the more educated classes, but among the low Neapolitan populace, +abject fear, vulgar superstition, and utter selfishness reigned +supreme. One case may serve as an example of many others. A +fisherman, well known in the place, a handsome and popular young +fellow, was seized, while working in his boat, with the first +symptoms of cholera. He was carried to his mother's house. The old +woman, a villainous-looking hag, watched the little procession as it +approached her dwelling, and taking in the situation at once, she +shut and barricaded her door. + +"Santissima Madonna!" she yelled, shrilly, through a half-opened +window. "Leave him in the street, the abandoned, miserable one! The +ungrateful pig! He would bring the plague to his own hard-working, +honest mother! Holy Joseph! who would have children? Leave him in +the street, I tell you!" + +It was useless to expostulate with this feminine scarecrow; her son +was, happily for himself, unconscious, and after some more wrangling +he was laid down on her doorstep, where he shortly afterward +expired, his body being afterward carted away like so much rubbish +by the beccamorti. + +The heat in the city was intense. The sky was a burning dome of +brilliancy, the bay was still as a glittering sheet of glass. A thin +column of smoke issuing from the crater of Vesuvius increased the +impression of an all-pervading, though imperceptible ring of fire, +that seemed to surround the place. No birds sung save in the late +evening, when the nightingales in my gardens broke out in a bubbling +torrent of melody, half joyous, half melancholy. Up on that wooded +height where I dwelt it was comparatively cool. I took all +precautions necessary to prevent the contagion from attacking our +household; In fact, I would have left the neighborhood altogether, +had I not known that hasty flight from an infected district often +carries with it the possibility of closer contact with the disease. +My wife, besides, was not nervous--I think very beautiful women +seldom are. Their superb vanity is an excellent shield to repel +pestilence; it does away with the principal element of danger--fear. +As for our Stella, a toddling mite of two years old, she was a +healthy child, for whom neither her mother nor myself entertained +the least anxiety. + +Guido Ferrari came and stayed with us, and while the cholera, like a +sharp scythe put into a field of ripe corn, mowed down the dirt- +loving Neapolitans by hundreds, we three, with a small retinue of +servants, none of whom were ever permitted to visit the city, lived +on farinaceous food and distilled water, bathed regularly, rose and +retired early, and enjoyed the most perfect health. + +Among her many other attractions my wife was gifted with a beautiful +and well-trained voice. She sung with exquisite expression, and many +an evening when Guido and myself sat smoking in the garden, after +little Stella had gone to bed, Nina would ravish our ears with the +music of her nightingale notes, singing song after song, quaint +stornelli and ritornelli--songs of the people, full of wild and +passionate beauty. In these Guido would often join her, his full +barytone chiming in with her delicate and clear soprano as +deliciously as the fall of a fountain with the trill of a bird. I +can hear those two voices now; their united melody still rings +mockingly in my ears; the heavy perfume of orange-blossom, mingled +with myrtle, floats toward me on the air; the yellow moon burns +round and full in the dense blue sky, like the King of Thule's +goblet of gold flung into a deep sea, and again I behold those two +heads leaning together, the one fair, the other dark; my wife, my +friend--those two whose lives were a million times dearer to me than +my own. Ah! they were happy days--days of self-delusion always are. +We are never grateful enough to the candid persons who wake us from +our dream--yet such are in truth our best friends, could we but +realize it. + +August was the most terrible of all the summer months in Naples. The +cholera increased with frightful steadiness, and the people seemed +to be literally mad with terror. Some of them, seized with a wild +spirit of defiance, plunged into orgies of vice and intemperance +with a reckless disregard of consequences. One of these frantic +revels took place at a well-known cafe. Eight young men, accompanied +by eight girls of remarkable beauty, arrived, and ordered a private +room, where they were served with a sumptuous repast. At its close +one of the party raised his glass and proposed, "Success to the +cholera!" The toast was received with riotous shouts of applause, +and all drank it with delirious laughter. That very night every one +of the revelers died in horrible agony; their bodies, as usual, were +thrust into flimsy coffins and buried one on top of another in a +hole hastily dug for the purpose. Dismal stories like these reached +us every day, but we were not morbidly impressed by them. Stella was +a living charm against pestilence; her innocent playfulness and +prattle kept us amused and employed, and surrounded us with an +atmosphere that was physically and mentally wholesome. + +One morning--one of the very hottest mornings of that scorching +month--I woke at an earlier hour than usual. A suggestion of +possible coolness in the air tempted me to rise and stroll through +the garden. My wife slept soundly at my side. I dressed softly, +without disturbing her. As I was about to leave the room some +instinct made me turn back to look at her once more. How lovely she +was! she smiled in her sleep! My heart beat as I gazed--she had been +mine for three years--mine only!--and my passionate admiration and +love of her had increased in proportion to that length of time. I +raised one of the scattered golden locks that lay shining like a +sunbeam on the pillow, and kissed it tenderly. Then--all unconscious +of my fate--I left her. + +A faint breeze greeted me as I sauntered slowly along the garden +walks--a breath of wind scarce strong enough to flutter the leaves, +yet it had a salt savor in it that was refreshing after the tropical +heat of the past night. I was at that time absorbed in the study of +Plato, and as I walked, my mind occupied itself with many high +problems and deep questions suggested by that great teacher. Lost in +a train of profound yet pleasant thought, I strayed on further than +I intended, and found myself at last in a by-path, long disused by +our household--a winding footway leading downward in the direction +of the harbor. It was shady and cool, and I followed the road almost +unconsciously, till I caught a glimpse of masts and white sails +gleaming through the leafage of the overarching trees. I was then +about to retrace my steps, when I was startled by a sudden sound. It +was a low moan of intense pain--a smothered cry that seemed to be +wrung from some animal in torture. I turned in the direction whence +it came, and saw, lying face downward on the grass, a boy--a little +fruit-seller of eleven or twelve years of age. His basket of wares +stood beside him, a tempting pile of peaches, grapes, pomegranates, +and melons--lovely but dangerous eating in cholera times. I touched +the lad on the shoulder. + +"What ails you?" I asked. He twisted himself convulsively and turned +his face toward me--a beautiful face, though livid with anguish. + +"The plague, signor!" he moaned; "the plague! Keep away from me, for +the love of God! I am dying!" + +I hesitated. For myself I had no fear. But my wife--my child--for +their sakes it was necessary to be prudent. Yet I could not leave +this poor boy unassisted. I resolved to go to the harbor in search +of medical aid. With this idea in my mind I spoke cheerfully. + +"Courage, my boy," I said; "do not lose heart! All illness is not +the plague. Rest here till I return; I am going to fetch a doctor." + +The little fellow looked at me with wondering, pathetic eyes, and +tried to smile. He pointed to his throat, and made an effort to +speak, but vainly. Then he crouched down in the grass and writhed in +torture like a hunted animal wounded to the death. I left him and +walked on rapidly; reaching the harbor, where the heat was +sulphurous and intense, I found a few scared-looking men standing +aimlessly about, to whom I explained the boy's case, and appealed +for assistance. They all hung back--none of them would accompany me, +not even for the gold I offered. Cursing their cowardice, I hurried +on in search of a physician, and found one at last, a sallow +Frenchman, who listened with obvious reluctance to my account of the +condition in which I had left the little fruit-seller, and at the +end shook his head decisively, and refused to move. + +"He is as good as dead," he observed, with cold brevity. "Better +call at the house of the Miserecordia; the brethren will fetch his +body." + +"What!" I cried; "you will nor try if you can save him?" + +The Frenchman bowed with satirical suavity. + +"Monsieur must pardon me! My own health would be seriously +endangered by touching a cholera corpse. Allow me to wish monsieur +the good-day!" + +And he disappeared, shutting his door in my face. I was thoroughly +exasperated, and though the heat and the fetid odor of the sun-baked +streets made me feel faint and sick, I forgot all danger for myself +as I stood in the plague-stricken city, wondering what I should do +next to obtain succor. A grave, kind voice saluted my ear. + +"You seek aid, my son?" + +I looked up. A tall monk, whose cowl partly concealed his pale, but +resolute features, stood at my side--one of those heroes who, for +the love of Christ, came forth at that terrible time and faced the +pestilence fearlessly, where the blatant boasters of no-religion +scurried away like frightened hares from the very scent of danger. I +greeted him with an obeisance, and explained my errand. + +"I will go at once," he said, with an accent of pity in his voice. +"But I fear the worst. I have remedies with me; I may not be too +late." + +"I will accompany you," I said, eagerly. "One would not let a dog +die unaided; much less this poor lad, who seems friendless." + +The monk looked at me attentively as we walked on together. + +"You are not residing in Naples?" he asked. + +I gave him my name, which he knew by repute, and described the +position of my villa. + +"Up on that height we enjoy perfect health," I added. "I cannot +understand the panic that prevails in the city. The plague is +fostered by such cowardice." + +"Of course!" he answered, calmly. "But what will you? The people +here love pleasure. Their hearts are set solely on this life. When +death, common to all, enters their midst, they are like babes scared +by a dark shadow. Religion itself"--here he sighed deeply--"has no +hold upon them." + +"But you, my father," I began, and stopped abruptly, conscious of a +sharp throbbing pain in my temples. + +"I," he answered, gravely, "am the servant of Christ. As such, the +plague has no terrors for me. Unworthy as I am, for my Master's sake +I am ready--nay, willing--to face all deaths." + +He spoke firmly, yet without arrogance. I looked at him in a certain +admiration, and was about to speak, when a curious dizziness +overcame me, and I caught at his arm to save myself from falling. +The street rocked like a ship at sea, and the skies whirled round me +in circles of blue fire. The feeling slowly passed, and I heard the +monk's voice, as though it were a long way off, asking me anxiously +what was the matter. I forced a smile. + +"It is the heat, I think," I said, in feeble tones like those of a +very aged man. "I am faint--giddy. You had best leave me here--see +to the boy. Oh, my God!" + +This last exclamation was wrung out of me by sheer anguish. My limbs +refused to support me, and a pang, cold and bitter as though naked +steel had been thrust through my body, caused me to sink down upon +the pavement in a kind of convulsion. The tall and sinewy monk, +without a moment's hesitation, dragged me up and half carried, half +led me into a kind of auberge, or restaurant for the poorer classes. +Here he placed me in a recumbent position on one of the wooden +benches, and called up the proprietor of the place, a man to whom he +seemed to be well known. Though suffering acutely I was conscious, +and could hear and see everything that passed. + +"Attend to him well, Pietro--it is the rich Count Fabio Romani. Thou +wilt not lose by thy pains. I will return within an hour." + +"The Count Romani! Santissima Madonna! He has caught the plague!" + +"Thou fool!" exclaimed the monk, fiercely. "How canst thou tell? A +stroke of the sun is not the plague, thou coward! See to him, or by +St. Peter and the keys there shall be no place for thee in heaven!" + +The trembling innkeeper looked terrified at this menace, and +submissively approached me with pillows, which he placed under my +head. The monk, meanwhile, held a glass to my lips containing some +medicinal mixture, which I swallowed mechanically. + +"Rest here, my son," he said, addressing me in soothing tones. +"These people are good-natured. I will but hasten to the boy for +whom you sought assistance--in less than an hour I will be with you +again." + +I laid a detaining hand on his arm. + +"Stay," I murmured, feebly, "let me know the worst. Is this the +plague?" + +"I hope not!" he replied, compassionately. "But what if it be? You +are young and strong enough to fight against it without fear." + +"I have no fear," I said. "But, father, promise me one thing--send +no word of my illness to my wife--swear it! Even if I am +unconscious--dead--swear that I shall not be taken to the villa. +Swear it! I cannot rest till I have your word." + +"I swear it most willingly, my son," he answered, solemnly. "By all +I hold sacred, I will respect your wishes." + +I was infinitely relieved--the safety of those I loved was assured-- +and I thanked him by a mute gesture. I was too weak to say more. He +disappeared, and my brain wandered into a chaos of strange fancies. +Let me try to revolve these delusions. I plainly see the interior of +the common room where I lie. There is the timid innkeeper--he +polishes his glasses and bottles, casting ever and anon a scared +glance in my direction. Groups of men look in at the door, and, +seeing me, hurry away. I observe all this--I know where I am--yet I +am also climbing the steep passes of an Alpine gorge--the cold snow +is at my feet--I hear the rush and roar of a thousand torrents. A +crimson cloud floats above the summit of a white glacier--it parts +asunder gradually, and in its bright center a face smiles forth! +"Nina! my love, my wife, my soul!" I cry aloud. I stretch out my +arms--I clasp her!--bah! it is this good rogue of an innkeeper who +holds me in his musty embrace! I struggle with him fiercely-- +pantingly. + +"Fool!" I shriek in his ear. "Let me go to her--her lips pout for +kisses--let me go!" + +Another man advances and seizes me; he and the innkeeper force me +back on the pillows--they overcome me, and the utter incapacity of a +terrible exhaustion steals away my strength. I cease to struggle. +Pietro and his assistant look down upon me. + +"E morto!" they whisper one to the other. + +I hear them and smile. Dead? Not I! The scorching sunlight streams +through the open door of the inn--the thirsty flies buzz with +persistent loudness--some voices are singing "La Fata di Amalfi"--I +can distinguish the words-- + + "Chiagnaro la mia sventura + Si non tuorne chiu, Rosella! + Tu d' Amalfi la chiu bella, + Tu na Fata si pe me! + Viene, vie, regina mie, + Viene curre a chisto core, + Ca non c'e non c'e sciore, + Non c'e Stella comm'a te!" + [Footnote: A popular song in the Neapolitan dialect.] + +That is a true song, Nina mia! "Non c'e Stella comm' a te!" What did +Guido say? "Purer than the flawless diamond--unapproachable as the +furthest star!" That foolish Pietro still polishes his wine-bottles. I +see him--his meek round face is greasy with heat and dust; but I +cannot understand how he comes to be here at all, for I am on the +banks of a tropical river where huge palms grow wild, and drowsy +alligators lie asleep in the sun. Their large jaws are open--their +small eyes glitter greenly. A light boat glides over the silent +water--in it I behold the erect lithe figure of an Indian. His +features are strangely similar to those of Guido. He draws a long thin +shining blade of steel as he approaches. Brave fellow!--he means to +attack single-handed the cruel creatures who lie in wait for him on +the sultry shore. He springs to land--I watch him with a weird +fascination. He passes the alligators--he seems not to be aware of +their presence--he comes with swift, unhesitating step to ME--it is I +whom he seeks--it is in MY heart that he plunges the cold steel +dagger, and draws it out again dripping with blood! +Once--twice--thrice!--and yet I cannot die! I writhe--I moan in bitter +anguish! Then something dark comes between me and the glaring +sun--something cool and shadowy, against which I fling myself +despairingly. Two dark eyes look steadily into mine, and a voice +speaks: + +"Be calm, my son, be calm. Commend thyself to Christ!" + +It is my friend the monk. I recognize him gladly. He has returned +from his errand of mercy. Though I can scarcely speak, I hear myself +asking for news of the boy. The holy man crosses himself devoutly. + +"May his young soul rest in peace! I found him dead." + +I am dreamily astonished at this. Dead--so soon! I cannot understand +it; and I drift off again into a state of confused imaginings. As I +look back now to that time, I find I have no specially distinct +recollection of what afterward happened to me. I know I suffered +intense, intolerable pain--that I was literally tortured on a rack +of excruciating anguish--and that through all the delirium of my +senses I heard a muffled, melancholy sound like a chant or prayer. I +have an idea that I also heard the tinkle of the bell that +accompanies the Host, but my brain reeled more wildly with each +moment, and I cannot be certain of this. I remember shrieking out +after what seemed an eternity of pain, "Not to the villa! no, no, +not there! You shall not take me--my curse on him who disobeys me!" + +I remember then a fearful sensation, as of being dragged into a deep +whirlpool, from whence I stretched up appealing hands and eyes to +the monk who stood above me--I caught a drowning glimpse of a silver +crucifix glittering before my gaze, and at last, with one loud cry +for help, I sunk--down--down! into an abyss of black night and +nothingness! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +There followed a long drowsy time of stillness and shadow. I seemed +to have fallen in some deep well of delicious oblivion and +obscurity. Dream-like images still flitted before my fancy--these +were at first undefinable, but after awhile they took more certain +shapes. Strange fluttering creatures hovered about me--lonely eyes +stared at me from a visible deep gloom; long white bony fingers +grasping at nothing made signs to me of warning or menace. Then-- +very gradually, there dawned upon my sense of vision a cloudy red +mist like a stormy sunset, and from the middle of the blood-like +haze a huge black hand descended toward me. It pounced upon my +chest--it grasped my throat in its monstrous clutch, and held me +down with a weight of iron. I struggled violently--I strove to cry +out, but that terrific pressure took from me all power of utterance. +I twisted myself to right and left in an endeavor to escape--but my +tyrant of the sable hand had bound me in on all sides. Yet I +continued to wrestle with the cruel opposing force that strove to +overwhelm me--little by little--inch by inch--so! At last! One more +struggle--victory! I woke! Merciful God! Where was I? In what +horrible atmosphere--in what dense darkness? Slowly, as my senses +returned to me, I remembered my recent illness. The monk--the man +Pietro--where were they? What had they done to me? By degrees, I +realized that I was lying straight down upon my back--the couch was +surely very hard? Why had they taken the pillows from under my head? +A pricking sensation darted through my veins--I felt my own hands +curiously--they were warm, and my pulse beat strongly, though +fitfully. But what was this that hindered my breathing? Air--air! I +must have air! I put up my hands--horror! They struck against a hard +opposing substance above me. Quick as lightning then the truth +flashed upon my mind! I had been buried--buried alive; this wooden +prison that inclosed me was a coffin! A frenzy surpassing that of an +infuriated tiger took swift possession of me--with hands and nails I +tore and scratched at the accursed boards--with all the force of my +shoulders and arms I toiled to wrench open the closed lid! My +efforts were fruitless! I grew more ferociously mad with rage and +terror. How easy were all deaths compared to one like this! I was +suffocating--I felt my eyes start from their sockets--blood sprung +from my mouth and nostrils--and icy drops of sweat trickled from my +forehead. I paused, gasping for breath. Then, suddenly nerving +myself for one more wild effort, I hurled my limbs with all the +force of agony and desperation against one side of my narrow prison. +It cracked--it split asunder!--and then--a new and horrid fear beset +me, and I crouched back, panting heavily. If--if I were buried in +the ground--so ran my ghastly thoughts--of what use to break open +the coffin and let in the mold--the damp wormy mold, rich with the +bones of the dead--the penetrating mold that would choke up my mouth +and eyes, and seal me into silence forever! My mind quailed at this +idea--my brain tottered on the verge of madness! I laughed--think of +it!--and my laugh sounded in my ears like the last rattle in the +throat of a dying man. But I could breathe more easily--even in the +stupefaction of my fears--I was conscious of air. Yes!--the blessed +air had rushed in somehow. Revived and encouraged as I recognized +this fact, I felt with both hands till I found the crevice I had +made, and then with frantic haste and strength I pulled and dragged +at the wood, till suddenly the whole side of the coffin gave way, +and I was able to force up the lid. I stretched out my arms--no +weight of earth impeded their movements--I felt nothing but air-- +empty air. Yielding to my first strong impulse, I leaped out of the +hateful box, and fell--fell some little distance, bruising my hands +and knees on what seemed to be a stone pavement. Something weighty +fell also, with a dull crashing thud close to me. The darkness was +impenetrable. But there was breathing room, and the atmosphere was +cool and refreshing. With some pain and difficulty I raised myself +to a sitting position where I had fallen. My limbs were stiff and +cramped as well as wounded, and I shivered as with strong ague. But +my senses were clear--the tangled chain of my disordered thoughts +became even and connected--my previous mad excitement gradually +calmed, and I began to consider my condition. I had certainly been +buried alive--there was no doubt of that. Intense pain had, I +suppose, resolved itself into a long trance of unconsciousness--the +people of the inn where I had been taken ill had at once believed me +to be dead of cholera, and with the panic-stricken, indecent haste +common in all Italy, especially at a time of plague, had thrust me +into one of those flimsy coffins which were then being manufactured +by scores in Naples--mere shells of thin deal, nailed together with +clumsy hurry and fear. But how I blessed their wretched +construction! Had I been laid in a stronger casket, who knows if +even the most desperate frenzy of my strength might not have proved +unavailing! I shuddered at the thought. Yet the question remained-- +Where was I? I reviewed my case from all points, and for some time +could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion. Stay, though! I +remembered that I had told the monk my name; he knew that I was the +only descendant of the rich Romani family. What followed? Why, +naturally, the good father had only done what his duty called upon +him to do. He had seen me laid in the vault of my ancestors--the +great Romani vault that had never been opened since my father's body +was carried to its last resting-place with all the solemn pomp and +magnificence of a wealthy nobleman's funeral obsequies. The more I +thought of this the more probable it seemed. The Romani vault! Its +forbidding gloom had terrified me as a lad when I followed my +father's coffin to the stone niche assigned to it, and I had turned +my eyes away in shuddering pain when I was told to look at the heavy +oaken casket hung with tattered velvet and ornamented with tarnished +silver, which contained all that was left of my mother, who died +young. I had felt sick and faint and cold, and had only recovered +myself when I stood out again in the free air with the blue dome of +heaven high above me. And now I was shut in the same vault--a +prisoner--with what hope of escape? I reflected. The entrance to the +vault, I remembered, was barred by a heavy door of closely twisted +iron--from thence a flight of steep steps led downward--downward to +where in all probability I now was. Suppose I could in the dense +darkness feel my way to those steps and climb up to that door--of +what avail? It was locked--nay, barred--and as it was situated in a +remote part of the burial-ground, there was no likelihood of even +the keeper of the cemetery passing by it for days--perhaps not for +weeks. Then must I starve? Or die of thirst? Tortured by these +imaginings, I rose up from the pavement and stood erect. My feet +were bare, and the cold stone on which I stood chilled me to the +marrow. It was fortunate for me, I thought, that they had buried me +as a cholera corpse--they had left me half-clothed for fear of +infection. That is, I had my flannel shirt on and my usual walking +trousers. Something there was, too, round my neck; I felt it, and as +I did so a flood of sweet and sorrowful memories rushed over me. It +was a slight gold chain, and on it hung a locket containing the +portraits of my wife and child. I drew it out in the darkness; I +covered it with passionate kisses and tears--the first I had shed +since my death--like trance-tears scalding and bitter welled into my +eyes. Life was worth living while Nina's smile lightened the world! +I resolved to fight for existence, no matter what dire horrors +should be yet in store for me. Nina--my love--my beautiful one! Her +face gleamed out upon me in the pestilent gloom of the charnel- +house; her eyes beckoned me--her young faithful eyes that were now, +I felt sure, drowned in weeping for my supposed death. I seemed to +see my tender-hearted darling sobbing alone in the empty silence of +the room that had witnessed a thousand embraces between herself and +me; her lovely hair disheveled; her sweet face pale and haggard with +the bitterness of grief! Baby Stella, too, no doubt she would +wonder, poor innocent! why I did not come to swing her as usual +under the orange boughs. And Guido--brave and true friend! I thought +of him with tenderness. I felt I knew how deep and lasting would be +his honest regret for my loss. Oh, I would leave no means of escape +untried; I would find some way out of this grim vault! How overjoyed +they would all be to see me again--to know that I was not dead after +all! What a welcome I should receive! How Nina would nestle into my +arms; how my little child would cling to me; how Guido would clasp +me by the hand! I smiled as I pictured the scene of rejoicing at the +dear old villa--the happy home sanctified by perfect friendship and +faithful love! + +A deep hollow sound booming suddenly on my ears startled me--one! +two! three! I counted the strokes up to twelve. It was some church +bell tolling the hour. My pleasing fancies dispersed--I again faced +the drear reality of my position. Twelve o'clock! Midday or +midnight? I could not tell. I began to calculate. It was early +morning when I had been taken ill--not much past eight when I had +met the monk and sought his assistance for the poor little fruit- +seller who had after all perished alone in his sufferings. Now +supposing my illness had lasted some hours, I might have fallen into +a trance--died--as those around me had thought, somewhere about +noon. In that case they would certainly have buried me with as +little delay as possible--before sunset at all events. Thinking +these points over one by one, I came to the conclusion that the bell +I had just heard must have struck midnight--the midnight of the very +day of my burial. I shivered; a kind of nervous dread stole over me. +I have always been physically courageous, but at the same time, in +spite of my education, I am somewhat superstitious--what Neapolitan +is not? it runs in the southern blood. And there was something +unutterably fearful in the sound of that midnight bell clanging +harshly on the ears of a man pent up alive in a funeral vault with +the decaying bodies of his ancestors close within reach of his hand! +I tried to conquer my feelings--to summon up my fortitude. I +endeavored to reason out the best method of escape. I resolved to +feel my way, if possible, to the steps of the vault, and with this +idea in my mind I put out my hands and began to move along slowly +and with the utmost care. What was that? I stopped; I listened; the +blood curdled in my veins! A shrill cry, piercing, prolonged, and +melancholy, echoed through the hollow arches of my tomb. A cold +perspiration broke out all over my body--my heart beat so loudly +that I could hear it thumping against my ribs. Again--again--that +weird shriek, followed by a whir and flap of wings. I breathed +again. + +"It is an owl," I said to myself, ashamed of my fears; "a poor +innocent bird--a companion and watcher of the dead, and therefore +its voice is full of sorrowful lamentation--but it is harmless," and +I crept on with increased caution. Suddenly out of the dense +darkness there stared two large yellow eyes, glittering with +fiendish hunger and cruelty. For a moment I was startled, and +stepped back; the creature flew at me with the ferocity of a tiger- +cat! I fought with the horrible thing in all directions; it wheeled +round my head, it pounced toward my face, it beat me with its large +wings--wings that I could feel but not see; the yellow eyes alone +shone in the thick gloom like the eyes of some vindictive demon! I +struck at it right and left--the revolting combat lasted some +moments--I grew sick and dizzy, yet I battled on recklessly. At +last, thank Heaven! the huge owl was vanquished; it fluttered +backward and downward, apparently exhausted, giving one wild screech +of baffled fury, as its lamp-like eyes disappeared in the darkness. +Breathless, but not subdued--every nerve in my body quivering with +excitement--I pursued my way, as I thought, toward the stone +staircase feeling the air with my outstretched hands as I groped +along. In a little while I met with an obstruction--it was hard and +cold--a stone wall, surely? I felt it up and down and found a hollow +in it--was this the first step of the stair? I wondered; it seemed +very high. I touched it cautiously--suddenly I came in contact with +something soft and clammy to the touch like moss or wet velvet. +Fingering this with a kind of repulsion, I soon traced out the +oblong shape of a coffin Curiously enough, I was not affected much +by the discovery. I found myself monotonously counting the bits of +raised metal which served, as I judged, for its ornamentation. Eight +bits lengthwise--and the soft wet stuff between--four bits across; +then a pang shot through me, and I drew my hand away quickly, as I +considered--WHOSE coffin was this? My father's? Or was I thus +plucking, like a man in delirium, at the fragments of velvet on that +cumbrous oaken casket wherein lay the sacred ashes of my mother's +perished beauty? I roused myself from the apathy into which I had +fallen. All the pains I had taken to find my way through the vault +were wasted; I was lost in the profound gloom, and knew not where to +turn. The horror of my situation presented itself to me with +redoubled force. I began to be tormented with thirst. I fell on my +knees and groaned aloud. + +"God of infinite mercy!" I cried. "Saviour of the world! By the +souls of the sacred dead whom Thou hast in Thy holy keeping, have +pity upon me! Oh, my mother! if indeed thine earthly remains are +near me--think of me, sweet angel in that heaven where thy spirit +dwells at rest--plead for me and save me, or let me die now and be +tortured no more!" + +I uttered these words aloud, and the sound of my wailing voice +ringing through the somber arches of the vault was strange and full +of fantastic terror to my own ears. I knew that were my agony much +further prolonged I should go mad. And I dared not picture to myself +the frightful things which a maniac might be capable of, shut up in +such a place of death and darkness, with moldering corpses for +companions! I remained on my knees, my face buried in my hands. I +forced myself into comparative calmness, and strove to preserve the +equilibrium of my distracted mind. Hush! What exquisite far-off +floating voice of cheer was that? I raised my head and listened, +entranced! + +"Jug, jug, Jug! lodola, lodola! trill-lil-lil! sweet, sweet, sweet!" + +It was a nightingale. Familiar, delicious, angel-throated bird! How I +blessed thee in that dark hour of despair! How I praised God for thine +innocent existence! How I sprung up and laughed and wept for joy, as, +all unconscious of me, thou didst shake out a shower of pearly +warblings on the breast of the soothed air! Heavenly messenger of +consolation!--even now I think of thee with tenderness--for thy sweet +sake all birds possess me as their worshiper; humanity has grown +hideous in my sight, but the singing-life of the woods and hills--how +pure, how fresh!--the nearest thing to happiness on this side heaven! + +A rush of strength and courage invigorated me. A new idea entered my +brain. I determined to follow the voice of the nightingale. It sung +on sweetly, encouragingly--and I began afresh my journeyings through +the darkness. I fancied that the bird was perched on one of the +trees outside the entrance of the vault, and that if I tried to get +within closer hearing of its voice, I should most likely be thus +guided to the very staircase I had been so painfully seeking. I +stumbled along slowly. I felt feeble, and my limbs shook under me. +This time nothing impeded my progress; the nightingale's liquid +notes floated nearer and nearer, and hope, almost exhausted, sprung +up again in my heart. I was scarcely conscious of my own movements. +I seemed to be drawn along like one in a dream by the golden thread +of the bird's sweet singing. All at once I caught my foot against a +stone and fell forward with some force, but I felt no pain--my limbs +were too numb to be sensible of any fresh suffering. I raised my +heavy, aching eyes in the darkness; as I did so I uttered an +exclamation of thanksgiving. A slender stream of moonlight, no +thicker than the stem of an arrow, slanted downward toward me, and +showed me that I had at last reached the spot I sought--in fact, I +had fallen upon the lowest step of the stone stairway. I could not +distinguish the entrance door of the vault, but I knew that it must +be at the summit of the steep ascent. I was too weary to move +further just then. I lay still where I was, staring at the solitary +moon-ray, and listening to the nightingale, whose rapturous melodies +now rang out upon my ears with full distinctness. ONE! The harsh- +toned bell I had heard before clanged forth the hour. It would soon +be morning; I resolved to rest till then. Utterly worn out in body +and mind, I laid down my head upon the cold stones as readily as if +they had been the softest cushions, and in a few moments forgot all +my miseries in a profound sleep. + +*** + +I must have slumbered for some time, when I was suddenly awakened by +a suffocating sensation of faintness and nausea, accompanied by a +sharp pain on my neck as though some creatures were stinging me. I +put my hand up to the place--God! shall I ever forget the feel of +the THING my trembling fingers closed upon! It was fastened in my +flesh--a winged, clammy, breathing horror! It clung to me with a +loathly persistency that nearly drove me frantic, and wild with +disgust and terror I screamed aloud! I closed both hands +convulsively upon its fat, soft body--I literally tore it from my +flesh and flung it as far back as I could into the interior +blackness of the vault. For a time I believe I was indeed mad--the +echoes rang with the piercing shrieks I could not restrain! Silent +at last through sneer exhaustion I glared about me. The moonbeam had +vanished, in its place lay a shaft of pale gray light, by which I +could easily distinguish the whole length of the staircase and the +closed gateway it its summit. I rushed up the ascent with the +feverish haste of a madman--I grasped the iron grating with both +hands and shook it fiercely It was firm as a rock, locked fast. I +called for help. Utter silence answered me. I peered through the +closely twisted bars. I saw the grass, the drooping boughs of trees, +and straight before my line of vision a little piece of the blessed +sky, opal tinted and faintly blushing with the consciousness of the +approaching sunrise I drank in the sweet fresh air, a long trailing +branch of the wild grape vine hung near me; its leaves were covered +thickly with dew. I squeezed one hand through the grating and +gathered a few of these green morsels of coolness--I ate them +greedily. They seemed to me more delicious than any thing I had ever +tasted, they relieved the burning fever of my parched throat and +tongue. The glimpse of the trees and sky soothed and calmed me. +There was a gentle twittering of awaking birds, my nightingale had +ceased singing. + +I began to recover slowly from my nervous terrors, and leaning +against the gloomy arch of my charnel house I took courage to glance +backward down the steep stairway up which I had sprung with such +furious precipitation. Something white lay in a corner on the +seventh step from the top. Curious to see what it was, I descended +cautiously and with some reluctance; it was the half of a thick +waxen taper, such as are used in the Catholic ritual at the burial +of the dead. No doubt it had been thrown down there by some careless +acolyte, to save himself the trouble of carrying it after the +service had ended. I looked at it meditatively. If I only had a +light! I plunged my hands half abstractedly into the pockets of my +trousers--something jingled! Truly they had buried me in haste. My +purse, a small bunch of keys, my card-case--one by one I drew them +out and examined them surprisedly--they looked so familiar, and +withal so strange! I searched again; and this time found something +of real value to one in my condition--a small box of wax vestas. +Now, had they left me my cigar-case? No, that was gone. It was a +valuable silver one--no doubt the monk, who attended my supposed +last moments, had taken it, together with my watch and chain, to my +wife. + +Well, I could not smoke, but I could strike a light. And there was the +funeral taper ready for use. The sun had not yet risen. I must +certainly wait till broad day before I could hope to attract by my +shouts any stray person who might pass through the cemetery. +Meanwhile, a fantastic idea suggested itself. I would go and look at +my own coffin! Why not? It would be a novel experience. The sense of +fear had entirely deserted me; the possession of that box of matches +was sufficient to endow me with absolute hardihood. I picked up the +church-candle and lighted it; it gave at first a feeble flicker, but +afterward burned with a clear and steady flame. Shading it with one +hand from the draught, I gave a parting glance at the fair daylight +that peeped smilingly in through my prison door, and then went +down--down again into the dismal place where I had passed the night in +such indescribable agony. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Numbers of lizards glided away from my feet as I descended the +steps, and when the flare of my torch penetrated the darkness I +heard a scurrying of wings mingled with various hissing sounds and +wild cries. I knew now--none better--what weird and abominable +things had habitation in this storehouse of the dead, but I felt I +could defy them all, armed with the light I carried. The way that +had seemed so long in the dense gloom was brief and easy, and I soon +found myself at the scene of my unexpected awakening from sleep. The +actual body of the vault was square-shaped, like a small room +inclosed within high walls--walls which were scooped out in various +places so as to form niches in which the narrow caskets containing +the bones of all the departed members of the Romani family were +placed one above the other like so many bales of goods arranged +evenly on the shelves of an ordinary warehouse. I held the candle +high above my head and looked about me with a morbid interest. I +soon perceived what I sought--my own coffin. + +There it was in a niche some five feet from the ground, its +splintered portions bearing decided witness to the dreadful struggle +I had made to obtain my freedom. I advanced and examined it closely. +It was a frail shell enough--unlined, unornamented--a wretched +sample of the undertaker's art, though God knows _I_ had no fault to +find with its workmanship, nor with the haste of him who fashioned +it. Something shone at the bottom of it--it was a crucifix of ebony +and silver. That good monk again! His conscience had not allowed him +to see me buried without this sacred symbol; he had perhaps laid it +on my breast as the last service he could render me; it had fallen +from thence, no doubt, when I had wrenched my way through the boards +that inclosed me. I took it and kissed it reverently--I resolved +that if ever I met the holy father again, I would tell him my story, +and, as a proof of its truth, restore to him this cross, which he +would be sure to recognize. Had they put my name on the coffin-lid? +I wondered. Yes, there it was--painted on the wood in coarse, black +letters, "FABIO ROMANI"--then followed the date of my birth; then a +short Latin inscription, stating that I had died of cholera on +August 15, 1884. That was yesterday--only yesterday! I seemed to +have lived a century since then. + +I turned to look at my father's resting-place. The velvet on his +coffin hung from its sides in moldering remnants--but it was not so +utterly damp-destroyed and worm-eaten as the soaked and +indistinguishable material that still clung to the massive oaken +chest in the next niche, where SHE lay--she from whose tender arms I +had received my first embrace--she in whose loving eyes I had first +beheld the world! I knew by a sort of instinct that it must have +been with the frayed fragments on her coffin that my fingers had +idly played in the darkness. I counted as before the bits of metal-- +eight bits length-wise, and four bits across--and on my father's +close casket there were ten silver plates lengthwise and five +across. My poor little mother! I thought of her picture--it hung in +my library at home; the picture of a young, smiling, dark-haired +beauty, whose delicate tint was as that of a peach ripening in the +summer sun. All that loveliness had decayed into--what? I shuddered +involuntarily--then I knelt humbly before those two sad hollows in +the cold stone, and implored the blessing of the dead and gone +beloved ones to whom, while they lived, my welfare had been dear. +While I occupied this kneeling position the flame of my torch fell +directly on some small object that glittered with remarkable luster. +I went to examine it; it was a jeweled pendant composed of one large +pear-shaped pearl, set round with fine rose brilliants! Surprised at +this discovery, I looked about to see where such a valuable gem +could possible have come from I then noticed an unusually large +coffin lying sideways on the ground; it appeared as if it had fallen +suddenly and with force, for a number of loose stones and mortar +were sprinkled near it. Holding the light close to the ground, I +observed that a niche exactly below the one in which _I_ had been +laid was empty, and that a considerable portion of the wall there +was broken away. I then remembered that when I had sprung so +desperately out of my narrow box I had heard something fall with a +crash beside me, This was the thing, then--this long coffin, big +enough to contain a man seven feet high and broad in proportion. +What gigantic ancestor had I irreverently dislodged?--and was it +from a skeleton throat that the rare jewel which I held in my hand +had been accidentally shaken? + +My curiosity was excited, and I bent close to examine the lid of this +funeral chest. There was no name on it--no mark of any sort, save +one--a dagger roughly painted in red. Here was a mystery! I resolved +to penetrate it. I set up my candle in a little crevice of one of the +empty niches, and laid the pearl and diamond pendant beside it, thus +disembarrassing myself of all incumbrance. The huge coffin lay on its +side, as I have said; its uppermost corner was splintered; I applied +both hands to the work of breaking further asunder these already split +portions. As I did so a leathern pouch or bag rolled out and fell at +my feet. I picked it up and opened it--it was full of gold pieces! +More excited than ever, I seized a large pointed stone, and by the aid +of this extemporized instrument, together with the force of my own +arms, hands, and feet, I managed, after some ten minutes' hard labor, +to break open the mysterious casket. + +When I had accomplished this deed I stared at the result like a man +stupefied. No moldering horror met my gaze--no blanched or decaying +bones; no grinning skull mocked me with its hollow eye-sockets. I +looked upon a treasure worthy of an emperor's envy! The big coffin was +literally lined and packed with incalculable wealth. Fifty large +leathern bags tied with coarse cord lay uppermost; more than half of +these were crammed with gold coins, the rest were full of priceless +gems--necklaces, tiaras, bracelets, watches, chains, and other +articles of feminine adornment were mingled with loose precious +stones--diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and opals, some of unusual size +and luster, some uncut, and some all ready for the jeweler's setting. +Beneath these bags were packed a number of pieces of silk, velvet, and +cloth of gold, each piece being wrapped by itself in a sort of +oil-skin, strongly perfumed with camphor and other spices. There were +also three lengths of old lace, fine as gossamer, of matchless +artistic design, in perfect condition. Among these materials lay two +large trays of solid gold workmanship, most exquisitely engraved and +ornamented, also four gold drinking-cups, of quaint and massive +construction. Other valuables and curious trifles there were, such as +an ivory statuette of Psyche on a silver pedestal, a waistband of +coins linked together, a painted fan with a handle set in amber and +turquois, a fine steel dagger in a jeweled sheath, and a mirror framed +in old pearls. Last, but not least, at the very bottom of the chest +lay rolls upon rolls of paper money amounting to some millions of +francs--in all far surpassing what I had myself formerly enjoyed from +my own revenues. I plunged my hands deep in the leathern bags; I +fingered the rich materials; all this treasure was mine! I had found +it in my own burial vault! I had surely the right to consider it as my +property? I began to consider--how could it have been placed there +without my knowledge? The answer to this question occurred to me at +once. Brigands! Of course!--what a fool I was not to have thought of +them before; the dagger painted on the lid of the chest should have +guided me to the solution of the mystery. A red dagger was the +recognized sign-manual of a bold and dangerous brigand named Carmelo +Neri, who, with his reckless gang, haunted the vicinity of Palermo. + +"So!" I thought, "this is one of your bright ideas, my cut-throat +Carmelo! Cunning rogue! you calculated well--you thought that none +would disturb the dead, much less break open a coffin in search of +gold. Admirably planned, my Carmelo! But this time you must play a +losing game! A supposed dead man coming to life again deserves +something for his trouble, and I should be a fool not to accept the +goods the gods and the robbers provide. An ill-gotten hoard of +wealth, no doubt; but better in my hands than in yours friend +Carmelo!" + +And I meditated for some minutes on this strange affair If, indeed-- +and I saw no reason to doubt it--I had chanced to find some of the +spoils of the redoubtable Neri, this great chest must have been +brought over by sea from Palermo. Probably four stout rascals had +carried the supposed coffin in a mock solemn procession, under the +pretense of its containing the body of a comrade. These thieves have +a high sense of humor. Yet the question remained to be solved--How +had they gained access to MY ancestral vault, unless by means of a +false key? All at once I was left in darkness, My candle went out as +though blown upon by a gust of air. I had my matches, and of course +could easily light it again, but I was puzzled to imagine the cause +of its sudden extinction. I looked about me in the temporary gloom +and saw, to my surprise, a ray of light proceeding from a corner of +the very niche where I had fixed the candle between two stones. I +approached and put my hand to the place; a strong draught blew +through a hole large enough to admit the passage of three fingers. I +quickly relighted my torch, and examining this hole and the back of +the niche attentively, found that four blocks of granite in the wall +had been removed and their places supplied by thick square logs cut +from the trunks of trees. These logs were quite loosely fitted. I +took them out easily one by one, and then came upon a close pile of +brushwood. As I gradually cleared this away a large aperture +disclosed itself wide enough for any man to pass through without +trouble. My heart beat with the rapture of expected liberty; I +clambered up--I looked--thank God! I saw the landscape--the sky! In +two minutes I stood outside the vault on the soft grass, with the +high arch of heaven above me, and the broad Bay of Naples glittering +deliciously before my eyes! I clapped my hands and shouted for pure +joy! I was free! Free to return to life, to love, to the arms of my +beautiful Nina--free to resume the pleasant course of existence on +the gladsome earth--free to forget, if I could, the gloomy horrors +of my premature burial. If Carmelo Neri had heard the blessings I +heaped upon his head--he would for once have deemed himself a saint +rather than a brigand. What did I not owe to the glorious ruffian! +Fortune and freedom! for it was evident that this secret passage +into the Romani vault had been cunningly contrived by himself or his +followers for their own private purposes. Seldom has any man been +more grateful to his best benefactor than I was to the famous thief +upon whose grim head, as I knew, a price had been set for many +months. The poor wretch was in hiding. Well! the authorities should +get no aid from me, I resolved; even if I were to discover his +whereabouts. Why should I betray him? He had unconsciously done more +for me than my best friend. Nay, what friends will you find at all +in the world when you need substantial good? Few, or none. Touch the +purse--test the heart! + +What castles in the air I built as I stood rejoicing in the morning +light and my newly acquired liberty--what dreams of perfect +happiness flitted radiantly before my fancy! Nina and I would love +each other more fondly than before, I thought--our separation had +been brief, but terrible--and the idea of what it might have been +would endear us to one another with tenfold fervor. And little +Stella! Why--this very evening I would swing her again under the +orange boughs and listen to her sweet shrill laughter! This very +evening I would clasp Guido's hand in a gladness too great for +words! This very night my wife's fair head would lie pillowed on my +breast in an ecstatic silence broken only by the music of kisses. +Ah! my brain grew dizzy with the joyful visions that crowded thickly +and dazzlingly upon me! The sun had risen--his long straight beams, +like golden spears, touched the tops of the green trees, and roused +little flashes as of red and blue fire on the shining surface of the +bay. I heard the rippling of water and the measured soft dash of +oars; and somewhere from a distant boat the mellifluous voice of a +sailor sung a verse of the popular ritornello-- + + "Sciore d'amenta + Sta parolella mia tieul' ammento + Zompa llari llira! + Sciore limone! + Le voglio fa mori de passione + Zompa llari llira!" +[Footnote: Neapolitan dialect] + +I smiled--"Mori de passione!" Nina and I would know the meaning of +those sweet words when the moon rose and the nightingales sung their +love-songs to the dreaming flowers! Full of these happy fancies, I +inhaled the pure morning air for some minutes, and then re-entered +the vault. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The first thing I did was to repack all the treasures I had +discovered. This work was easily accomplished. For the present I +contented myself with taking two of the leathern bags for my own +use, one full of gold pieces, the other of jewels. The chest had +been strongly made, and was not much injured by being forced open. I +closed its lid as tightly as possible, and dragged it to a remote +and dark corner of the vault, where I placed three heavy stones upon +it. I then took the two leathern pouches I had selected, and stuffed +one in each of the pockets of my trousers. The action reminded me of +the scantiness of attire in which I stood arrayed. Could I be seen +in the public roads in such a plight? I examined my purse, which, as +I before stated, had been left to me, together with my keys and +card-case, by the terrified persons who had huddled me into my +coffin with such scant ceremony. It contained two twenty-franc +pieces and some loose silver. Enough to buy a decent costume of some +sort. But where could I make the purchase, and how? Must I wait till +evening and slink out of this charnel-house like the ghost of a +wretched criminal? No! come what would, I made up my mind not to +linger a moment longer in the vault. The swarms of beggars that +infest Naples exhibit themselves in every condition of rags, dirt, +and misery; at the very worst I could only be taken for one of them. +And whatever difficulties I might encounter, no matter!--they would +soon be over. + +Satisfied that I had placed the brigand coffin in a safe position, I +secured the pearl and diamond pendant I had first found, to the +chain round my neck. I intended this ornament as a gift for my wife. +Then, once more climbing through the aperture, I closed it +completely with the logs and brushwood as it was before, and +examining it narrowly from the outside, I saw that it was utterly +impossible to discern the smallest hint of any entrance to a +subterranean passage, so well and cunningly had it been contrived. +Now, nothing more remained for me to do but to make the best of my +way to the city, there to declare my identity, obtain food and +clothes, and then to hasten with all possible speed to my own +residence. + +Standing on a little hillock, I looked about me to see which +direction I should take. The cemetery was situated on the outskirts +of Naples--Naples itself lay on my left hand. I perceived a sloping +road winding in that direction, and judged that if I followed it it +would lead me to the city suburbs. Without further hesitation I +commenced my walk. It was now full day. My bare feet sunk deep in +the dust that was hot as desert sand--the blazing sun beat down +fiercely on my uncovered head, but I felt none of these discomforts; +my heart was too full of gladness. I could have sung aloud for +delight as I stepped swiftly along toward home--and Nina! I was +aware of a great weakness in my limbs--my eyes and head ached with +the strong dazzling light; occasionally, too, an icy shiver ran +through me that made my teeth chatter. But I recognized these +symptoms as the after effects of my so nearly fatal illness, and I +paid no heed to them. A few weeks' rest under my wife's loving care, +and I knew I should be as well as ever. I stepped on bravely. For +some time I met no one, but at last I overtook a small cart laden +with freshly gathered grapes. The driver lay on his seat asleep; his +pony meanwhile cropped the green herbage by the roadside, and every +now and then shook the jingling bells on his harness as though +expressing the satisfaction he felt at being left to his own +devices. The piled-up grapes looked tempting, and I was both hungry +and thirsty, I laid a hand on the sleeping man's shoulder; he awoke +with a start. Seeing me, his face assumed an expression of the +wildest terror; he jumped from his cart and sunk down on his knees +in the dust, imploring me by the Madonna, St. Joseph, and all the +saints to spare his life. I laughed; his fears seemed to me +ludicrous. Surely there was nothing alarming about me beyond my +paucity of clothing. + +"Get up, man!" I said. "I want nothing of you but a few grapes, and +for them I will pay." And I held out to him a couple of francs. He +rose from the dust, still trembling and eying me askance with +evident suspicion, took several bunches of the purple fruit, and +gave them to me without saying a word. Then, pocketing the money I +proffered, he sprung into his cart, and lashing his pony till the +unfortunate animal plunged and reared with pain and fury, rattled +off down the road at such a break-neck speed that I saw nothing but +a whirling blot of wheels disappearing in the distance. I was amused +at the absurdity of this man's terror. What did he take me for, I +wondered? A ghost or a brigand? I ate my grapes leisurely as I +walked along--they were deliciously cool and refreshing--food and +wine in one. I met several other persons as I neared the city, +market people and venders of ices--but they took no note of me--in +fact, I avoided them all as much as possible. On reaching the +suburbs I turned into the first street I saw that seemed likely to +contain a few shops. It was close and dark and foul-smelling, but I +had not gone far down it when I came upon the sort of place I +sought--a wretched tumble-down hovel, with a partly broken window, +through which a shabby array of second-hand garments were to be +dimly perceived, strung up for show on pieces of coarse twine. It +was one of those dirty dens where sailors, returning from long +voyages, frequently go to dispose of the various trifles they have +picked up in foreign countries, so that among the forlorn specimens +of second-hand wearing apparel many quaint and curious objects were +to be seen, such as shells, branches of rough coral, strings of +beads, cups and dishes carved out of cocoa-nut, dried gourds, horns +of animals, fans, stuffed parakeets, and old coins--while a +grotesque wooden idol peered hideously forth from between the +stretched-out portions of a pair of old nankeen trousers, as though +surveying the miscellaneous collection in idiotic amazement. An aged +man sat smoking at the open door of this promising habitation--a +true specimen of a Neapolitan grown old. The skin of his face was +like a piece of brown parchment scored all over with deep furrows +and wrinkles, as though Time, disapproving of the history he had +himself penned upon it, had scratched over and blotted out all +records, so that no one should henceforth be able to read what had +once been clear writing. The only animation left in him seemed to +have concentrated itself in his eyes, which were black and bead- +like, and roved hither and thither with a glance of ever-restless +and ever-suspicious inquiry. He saw me coming toward him, but he +pretended to be absorbed in a profound study of the patch of blue +sky that gleamed between the closely leaning houses of the narrow +street. I accosted him--and he brought his gaze swiftly down to my +level, and stared at me with keen inquisitiveness. + +"I have had a long tramp," I said, briefly, for he was not the kind +of man to whom I could explain my recent terrible adventure, "and I +have lost some of my clothes by an accident on the way. Can you sell +me a suit? Anything will do--I am not particular." + +The old man took his pipe from his mouth. + +"Do you fear the plague?" he asked. + +"I have just recovered from an attack of it," I replied, coolly. + +He looked at me attentively from head to foot, and then broke into a +low chuckling laugh. + +"Ha! ha!" he muttered, half to himself, half to me. "Good--good! +Here is one like myself--not afraid--not afraid! We are not cowards. +We do not find fault with the blessed saints--they send the plague. +The beautiful plague!--I love it! I buy all the clothes I can get +that are taken from the corpses--they are nearly always excellent +clothes. I never clean them--I sell them again at once--yes--yes! +Why not? The people must die--the sooner the better! I help the good +God as much as I can." And the old blasphemer crossed himself +devoutly. + +I looked down upon him from where I stood drawn up to my full +height, with a glance of disgust. He filled me with something of the +same repulsion I had felt when I touched the unnameable Thing that +fastened on my neck while I slept in the vault. + +"Come!" I said, somewhat roughly, "will you sell me a suit or no?" + +"Yes, yes!" and he rose stiffly from his seat; he was very short of +stature, and so bent with age and infirmity that he looked more like +the crooked bough of a tree than a man, as he hobbled before me into +his dark shop. "Come inside, come inside! Take your choice; there is +enough here to suit all tastes. See now, what would you? Behold here +the dress of a gentleman, ah! what beautiful cloth, what strong +wool! English make? Yes, yes! He was English that wore it; a big, +strong milord, that drank beer and brandy like water--and rich--just +heaven!--how rich! But the plague took him; he died cursing God, and +calling bravely for more brandy. Ha, ha! a fine death--a splendid +death! His landlord sold me his clothes for three francs--one, two, +three--but you must give me six; that is fair profit, is it not? And +I am old and poor. I must make something to live upon." + +I threw aside the tweed suit he displayed for my inspection. "Nay," +I said, "I care nothing for the plague, but find me something better +than the cast-off clothing of a brandy-soaked Englishman. I would +rather wear the motley garb of a fellow who played the fool in +carnival." + +The old dealer laughed with a crackling sound in his withered +throat, like the rattling of stones in a tin pot. + +"Good, good!" he croaked. "I like that, I like that! Thou art old, +but thou art merry. That pleases me; one should laugh always. Why +not? Death laughs; you never see a solemn skull; it laughs always!" + +And he plunged his long lean fingers into a deep drawer full of +miscellaneous garments, mumbling to himself all the while. I stood +beside him in silence, pondering on his words, "Thou art OLD, but +merry." What did he mean by calling ME old? He must be blind, I +thought, or in his dotage. Suddenly he looked up. + +"Talking of the plague," he said, "it is not always wise. It did a +foolish thing yesterday--a very foolish thing. It took one of the +richest men in the neighborhood, young too, strong and brave; looked +as if he would never die. The plague touched him in the +morning--before sunset he was nailed up and put down in his big family +vault--a cold lodging, and less handsomely furnished than his grand +marble villa on the heights yonder. When I heard the news I told the +Madonna she was wicked. Oh, yes! I rated her soundly; she is a woman, +and capricious; a good scolding brings her to reason. Look you! I am a +friend to God and the plague, but they both did a stupid thing when +they took Count Fabio Romani." + +I started, but quickly controlled myself into an appearance of +indifference. + +"Indeed!" I said, carelessly. "And pray who was he that he should +not deserve to die as well as other people?" + +The old man raised himself from his stooping attitude, and stared at +me with his keen black eyes. + +"Who was he? who was he?" he cried, in a shrill tone. "Oh, he! One +can see you know nothing of Naples. You have not heard of the rich +Romani? See you, I wished him to live. He was clever and bold, but I +did not grudge him that--no, he was good to the poor; he gave away +hundreds of francs in charity. I have seen him often--I saw him +married." And here his parchment face screwed itself into an +expression of the most malignant cruelty. "Pah! I hate his wife--a +fair, soft thing, like a white snake! I used to watch them both from +the corners of the streets as they drove along in their fine +carriage, and I wondered how it would all end, whether he or she +would gain the victory first. I wanted HIM to win; I would have +helped him to kill her, yes! But the saints have made a mistake this +time, for he is dead, and that she-devil has all. Oh, yes! God and +the plague have done a foolish thing for once." + +I listened to the old wretch with deepening aversion, yet with some +curiosity too. Why should he hate my wife? I thought, unless, +indeed, he hated all youth and beauty, as was probably the case. And +if he had seen me as often as he averred he must know me by sight. +How was it then that he did not recognize me now? Following out this +thought, I said aloud: + +"What sort of looking man was this Count Romani? You say he was +handsome--was he tall or short--dark or fair?" + +Putting back his straggling gray locks from his forehead, the dealer +stretched out a yellow, claw-like hand, as though pointing to some +distant vision. + +"A beautiful man!" he exclaimed; "a man good for the eyes to see! As +straight as you are!--as tall as you are!--as broad as you are! But +your eyes are sunken and dim--his were full and large and sparkling. +Your face is drawn and pale--his was of a clear olive tint, round +and flushed with health; and his hair was glossy black--ah! as jet- +black, my friend, as yours is snow-white!" + +I recoiled from these last words in a sort of terror; they were like +an electric shock! Was I indeed so changed? Was it possible that the +horrors of a night in the vault had made such a dire impression upon +me? My hair white?--mine! I could hardly believe it. If so, perhaps +Nina would not recognize me--she might be terrified at my aspect-- +Guido himself might have doubts of my identity. Though, for that +matter, I could easily prove myself to be indeed Fabio Romani--even +if I had to show the vault and my own sundered coffin. While I +revolved all this in my mind the old man, unconscious of my emotion, +went on with his mumbling chatter. + +"Ah, yes, yes! He was a fine fellow--a strong fellow. I used to +rejoice that he was so strong. He could have taken the little throat +of his wife between finger and thumb and nipped it--so! and she +would have told no more lies. I wanted him to do it--I waited for +it. He would have done it surely, had he lived. That is why I am +sorry he died." + +Mastering my feelings by a violent effort, I forced myself to speak +calmly to this malignant old brute. + +"Why do you hate the Countess Romani so much?" I asked him with +sternness. "Has she done you any harm?" + +He straightened himself as much as he was able and looked me full in +the eyes. + +"See you!" he answered, with a sort of leering laugh about the corners +of his wicked mouth. "I will tell you why I hate her--yes--I will tell +you, because you are a man and strong. I like strong men--they are +sometimes fooled by women, it is true--but then they can take revenge. +I was strong myself once. And you--you are old--but you love a +jest--you will understand. The Romani woman has done me no harm. She +laughed--once. That was when her horses knocked me down in the street. +I was hurt--but I saw her red lips widen and her white teeth +glitter--she has a baby smile--the people will tell you--so innocent! +I was picked up--her carriage drove on--her husband was not with +her--he would have acted differently. But it is no matter--I tell you +she laughed--and then I saw at once the likeness." + +"The likness!" I exclaimed impatiently, for his story annoyed me. +"What likeness?" + +"Between her and my wife," the dealer replied, fixing his cruel eyes +upon me with increasing intensity of regard. "Oh, yes! I know what +love is. I know too that God had very little to do with the making +of women. It was a long time before even He could find the Madonna. +Yes--yes, I know! I tell you I married a thing as beautiful as a +morning in spring-time--with a little head that seemed to droop like +a flower under its weight of sunbeam hair--and eyes! ah--like those +of a tiny child when it looks up and asks you for kisses. I was +absent once--I returned and found her sleeping tranquilly--yes! on +the breast of a black-browed street-singer from Venice--a handsome +lad enough and brave as a young lion. He saw me and sprung at my +throat--I held him down and knelt upon his chest--she woke and gazed +upon us, too terrified to speak or scream--she only shivered and +made a little moaning sound like that of a spoiled baby. I looked +down into her prostrate lover's eyes and smiled. 'I will not hurt +you,' I said. 'Had she not consented, you could not have gained the +victory. All I ask of you is to remain here for a few moments +longer.' He stared, but was mute. I bound him hand and foot so that +he could not stir. Then I took my knife and went to her. Her blue +eyes glared wide--imploringly she turned them upon me--and ever she +wrung her small hands and shivered and moaned. I plunged the keen +bright blade deep through her soft white flesh--her lover cried out +in agony--her heart's blood welled up in a crimson tide, staining +with a bright hue the white garments she wore; she flung up her +arms--she sank back on her pillows--dead. I drew the knife from her +body, and with it cut the bonds of the Venetian boy. I then gave it +to him. + +"'Take it as a remembrance of her,' I said. 'In a month she would +have betrayed you as she betrayed me.'" + +"He raged like a madman. He rushed out and called the gendarmes. Of +course I was tried for murder--but it was not murder--it was +justice. The judge found extenuating circumstances. Naturally! He +had a wife of his own. He understood my case. Now you know why I +hate that dainty jeweled woman up at the Villa Romani. She is just +like that other one--that creature I slew--she has just the same +slow smile and the same child-like eyes. I tell you again, I am +sorry her husband is dead--it vexes me sorely to think of it. For he +would have killed her in time--yes!--of that I am quite sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +I listened to his narrative with a pained feeling at my heart, and a +shuddering sensation as of icy cold ran through my veins. Why, I had +fancied that all who beheld Nina must, perforce, love and admire +her. True, when this old man was accidentally knocked down by her +horses (a circumstance she had never mentioned to me), it was +careless of her not to stop and make inquiry as to the extent of his +injuries, but she was young and thoughtless; she could not be +intentionally heartless. I was horrified to think that she should +have made such an enemy as even this aged and poverty-stricken +wretch; but I said nothing. I had no wish to betray myself. He +waited for me to speak and grew impatient at my silence. + +"Say now, my friend!" he queried, with a sort of childish eagerness, +"did I not take a good vengeance? God himself could not have done +better!" + +"I think your wife deserved her fate," I said, curtly, "but I cannot +say I admire you for being her murderer." + +He turned upon me rapidly, throwing both hands above his head with a +frantic gesticulation. His voice rose to a kind of muffled shriek. + +"Murderer you call me--ha! ha! that is good. No, no! She murdered +me! I tell you I died when I saw her asleep in her lover's arms--she +killed me at one blow. A devil rose up in my body and took swift +revenge; that devil is in me now, a brave devil, a strong devil! +That is why I do not fear the plague; the devil in me frightens away +death. Some day it will leave me"--here his smothered yell sunk +gradually to a feeble, weary tone; "yes, it will leave me and I +shall find a dark place where I can sleep; I do not sleep much now." +He eyed me half wistfully. + +"You see," he explained, almost gently, "my memory is very good, and +when one thinks of many things one cannot sleep. It is many years +ago, but every night I see HER; she comes to me wringing her little +white hands, her blue eyes stare, I hear short moans of terror. +Every night, every night!" He paused, and passed his hands in a +bewildered way across his forehead. Then, like a man suddenly waking +from sleep, he stared as though he saw me now for the first time, +and broke into a low chuckling laugh. + +"What a thing, what a thing it is, the memory!" he muttered. +"Strange--strange! See, I remembered all that, and forgot you! But I +know what you want--a suit of clothes--yes, you need them badly, and +I also need the money for them. Ha, ha! And you will not have the +fine coat of Milord Inglese! No, no! I understand. I will find you +something--patience, patience!" + +And he began to grope among a number of things that were thrown in a +confused heap at the back of the shop. While in this attitude he +looked so gaunt and grim that he reminded me of an aged vulture +stooping over carrion, and yet there was something pitiable about +him too. In a way I was sorry for him; a poor half-witted wretch, +whose life had been full of such gall and wormwood. What a different +fate was his to mine, I thought. _I_ had endured but one short night +of agony; how trifling it seemed compared to HIS hourly remorse and +suffering! He hated Nina for an act of thoughtlessness; well, no +doubt she was not the only woman whose existence annoyed him; it was +most probably that he was at enmity with all women. I watched him +pityingly as he searched among the worn-out garments which were his +stock-in-trade, and wondered why Death, so active in smiting down +the strongest in the city, should have thus cruelly passed by this +forlorn wreck of human misery, for whom the grave would have surely +been a most welcome release and rest. He turned round at last with +an exulting gesture. + +"I have found it!" he exclaimed. "The very thing to suit you. Your +are perhaps a coral-fisher? You will like a fisherman's dress. Here +is one, red sash, cap and all, in beautiful condition! He that wore +it was about your height it will fit you as well as it fitted him, +and, look you! the plague is not in it, the sea has soaked through +and through it; it smells of the sand and weed." + +He spread out the rough garb before me. I glanced at it carelessly. + +"Did the former wearer kill HIS wife'" I asked, with a slight smile. + +The old rag-picker shook his head and made a sign with his outspread +fingers expressive of contempt. + +"Not he!--He was a fool--He killed himself" + +"How was that? By accident or design?" + +"Che! Che! He knew very well what he was doing. It happened only two +months since. It was for the sake of a black-eyed jade, she lives +and laughs all day long up at Sorrento. He had been on a long +voyage, he brought her pearls for her throat and coral pins for her +hair. She had promised to marry him. He had just landed, he met her +on the quay, he offered her the pearl and coral trinkets. She threw +them back and told him she was tired of him. Just that--nothing +more. He tried to soften her; she raged at him like a tiger-cat. +Yes, I was one of the little crowd that stood round them on the +quay, I saw it all. Her black eyes flashed, she stamped and bit her +lips at him, her full bosom heaved as though it would burst her +laced bodice. She was only a market-girl, but she gave herself the +airs of a queen. 'I am tired of you!' she said to him. 'Go! I wish +to see you no more.' He was tall and well-made, a powerful fellow; +but he staggered, his face grew pale, his lips quivered. He bent his +head a little--turned--and before any hand could stop him he sprung +from the edge of the quay into the waves, they closed over his head, +for he did not try to swim; he just sunk down, down, like a stone. +Next day his body came ashore, and I bought his clothes for two +francs; you shall have them for four." + +"And what became of the girl?" I asked. + +"Oh, SHE! She laughs all day long, as I told you. She has a new +lover every week. What should SHE care?" + +I drew out my purse. "I will take this suit," I said. "You ask four +francs, here are six, but for the extra two you must show me some +private corner where I can dress." + +"Yes, yes. But certainly!" and the old fellow trembled all over with +avaricious eagerness as I counted the silver pieces into his withered +palm. "Anything to oblige a generous stranger! There is the place I +sleep in; it is not much, but there is a mirror--HER mirror--the only +thing I keep of hers; come this way, come this way!" + +And stumbling hastily along, almost falling over the disordered +bundles of clothing that lay about in all directions, he opened a +little door that seemed to be cut in the wall, and led me into a +kind of close cupboard, smelling most vilely, and furnished with a +miserable pallet bed and one broken chair. A small square pane of +glass admitted light enough to see all that there was to be seen, +and close to this extemporized window hung the mirror alluded to, a +beautiful thing set in silver of antique workmanship, the costliness +of which I at once recognized, though into the glass itself I dared +not for the moment look. The old man showed me with some pride that +the door to this narrow den of his locked from within. + +"I made the lock and key, and fitted it all myself," he said. "Look +how neat and strong! Yes; I was clever once at all that work--it was +my trade--till that morning when I found her with the singer from +Venice; then I forgot all I used to know--it went away somehow, I +could never understand why. Here is the fisherman's suit; you can +take your time to put it on; fasten the door; the room is at your +service." + +And he nodded several times in a manner that was meant to be +friendly, and left me. I followed his advice at once and locked +myself in. Then I stepped steadily to the mirror hanging on the +wall, and looked at my own reflection. A bitter pang shot through +me. The dealer's sight was good, he had said truly. I was old! If +twenty years of suffering had passed over my head, they could hardly +have changed me more terribly. My illness had thinned my face and +marked it with deep lines of pain; my eyes had retreated far back +into my head, while a certain wildness of expression in them bore +witness to the terrors I had suffered in the vault, and to crown +all, my hair was indeed perfectly white. I understood now the alarm +of the man who had sold me grapes on the highway that morning; my +appearance was strange enough to startle any one. Indeed, I scarcely +recognized myself. Would my wife, would Guido recognize me? Almost I +doubted it. This thought was so painful to me that the tears sprung +to my eyes. I brushed them away in haste. + +"Fy on thee, Fabio! Be a man!" I said, addressing myself angrily. +"Of what matter after all whether hairs are black or white? What +matter how the face changes, so long as the heart is true? For a +moment, perhaps, thy love may grow pale at sight of thee; but when +she knows of thy sufferings, wilt thou not be dearer to her than +ever? Will not one of her soft embraces recompense thee for all thy +past anguish, and suffice to make thee young again?" + +And thus encouraging my sinking spirits, I quickly arrayed myself in +the Neapolitan coral-fisher's garb. The trousers were very loose, +and were provided with two long deep pockets, convenient +receptacles, which easily contained the leathern bags of gold and +jewels I had taken from the brigand's coffin. When my hasty toilet +was completed I took another glance at the mirror, this time with a +half smile. True, I was greatly altered; but after all I did not +look so bad. The fisherman's picturesque costume became me well; the +scarlet cap sat jauntily on the snow-white curls that clustered so +thickly over my forehead, and the consciousness I had of approaching +happiness sent a little of the old fearless luster back into my +sunken eyes. Besides, I knew I should not always have this care-worn +and wasted appearance; rest, and perhaps a change of air, would +infallibly restore the roundness to my face and the freshness to my +complexion; even my white locks might return to their pristine +color, such things had been; and supposing they remained white? +well!--there were many who would admire the peculiar contrast +between a young man's face and an old man's hair. + +Having finished dressing, I unlocked the door of the stuffy little +cabin and called the old rag-picker. He came shuffling along with +his head bent, but raising his eyes as he approached me, he threw up +his hands in astonishment, exclaiming, + +"Santissima Madonna! But you are a fine man--a fine man! Eh, eh! +Holy Joseph! What height and breadth! A pity--a pity you are old; +you must have been strong when you were young!" + +Half in joke, and half to humor him in his fancy for mere muscular +force, I rolled up the sleeve of my jacket to the shoulder, saying, +lightly, + +"Oh, as for being strong! There is plenty of strength in me still, +you see." + +He stared; laid his yellow fingers on my bared arm with a kind of +ghoul-like interest and wonder, and felt the muscles of it with +childish, almost maudlin admiration. + +"Beautiful, beautiful!" he mumbled. "Like iron--just think of it! +Yes, yes. You could kill anything easily. Ah! I used to be like that +once. I was clever at sword-play. I could, with well-tempered steel, +cut asunder a seven-times-folded piece of silk at one blow without +fraying out a thread. Yes, as neatly as one cuts butter! You could +do that too if you liked. It all lies in the arm--the brave arm that +kills at a single stroke." + +And he gazed at me intently with his small blear eyes as though +anxious to know more of my character and temperament. I turned +abruptly from him, and called his attention to my own discarded +garments. + +"See," I said, carelessly; "you can have these, though they are not +of much value. And, stay, here are another three francs for some +socks and shoes, which I dare say you can find to suit me." + +He clasped his hands ecstatically, and poured out a torrent of +thanks and praises for this additional and unexpected sum, and +protesting by all the saints that he and the entire contents of his +shop were at the service of so generous a stranger, he at once +produced the articles I asked for. I put them on--and then stood up +thoroughly equipped and ready to make my way back to my own home +when I chose. But I had resolved on one thing. Seeing that I was so +greatly changed, I determined not to go to the Villa Romani by +daylight, lest I should startle my wife too suddenly. Women are +delicate; my unexpected appearance might give her a nervous shock +which perhaps would have serious results. I would wait till the sun +had set, and then go up to the house by a back way I knew of, and +try to get speech with one of the servants. I might even meet my +friend Guido Ferrari, and he would break the joyful news of my +return from death to Nina by degrees, and also prepare her for my +altered looks. While these thoughts flitted rapidly through my +brain, the old ragpicker stood near me with his head on one side +like a meditative raven, and regarded me intently. + +"Are you going far?" he asked at last, with a kind of timidity. + +"Yes," I answered him, abruptly; "very far." + +He laid a detaining hand on my sleeve, and his eyes glittered--with +a malignant expression. + +"Tell me," he muttered, eagerly, "tell me--I will keep the secret. +Are you going to a woman?" + +I looked down upon him, half in disdain, half in amusement. + +"Yes!" I said, quietly, "I am going to a woman." + +He broke into silent laughter--hideous laughter that contorted his +visage and twisted his body in convulsive writhings. + +I glanced at him in disgust, and shaking off his hand from my arm, I +made my way to the door of the shop He hobbled quickly after me, +wiping away the moisture that his inward merriment had brought into +his eyes. + +"Going to a woman!" he croaked "Ha, ha! You are not the first, nor +will you be the last, that has gone so! Going to a woman! that is +well--that is good! Go to her, go! You are strong, you have a brave +arm! Go to her, find her out, and--KILL HER! Yes, yes--you will be +able to do it easily--quite easily! Go and kill her.'" + +He stood at his low door mouthing and pointing, his stunted figure +and evil face reminding me of one of Heinrich Heine's dwarf devils +who are depicted as piling fire on the heads of the saints. I bade +him "Good day" in an indifferent tone, but he made me no answer I +walked slowly away. Looking back once I saw him still standing on +the threshold of his wretched dwelling, his wicked mouth working +itself into all manner of grimaces, while with his crooked fingers +he made signs in the air as if he caught an invisible something and +throttled it. I went on down the street and out of it into the +broader thoroughfares, with his last words ringing in my ears, "go +and kill her!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +That day seemed very long to me I wandered aimlessly about the city, +seeing few faces that I knew, for the wealthier inhabitants, afraid +of the cholera, had either left the place together or remained +closely shut within their own houses. Everywhere I went something +bore witness to the terrible ravages of the plague. At almost every +corner I met a funeral procession. Once I came upon a group of men +who were standing in an open door way packing a dead body into a +coffin too small for it. There was something truly revolting in the +way they doubled up the arms and legs and squeezed in the shoulders +of the deceased man--one could hear the bones crack. I watched the +brutal proceedings for a minute or so, and then I said aloud: + +"You had better make sure he is quite dead," + +The beccamorti looked at me in surprise; one laughed grimly and +swore. "By the body of God, if I thought he were not I would twist +his accursed neck for him! But the cholera never fails, he is dead +for certain--see!" And he knocked the head of the corpse to and fro +against the sides of the coffin with no more compunction than if it +had been a block of wood. Sickened at the sight, I turned away and +said no more. On reaching one of the more important thoroughfares I +perceived several knots of people collected, who glanced at one +another with eager yet shamed faces, and spoke in low voices. A +whisper reached my ears, "The king! the king!" All heads were turned +in one direction; I paused and looked also. Walking at a leisurely +pace, accompanied by a few gentlemen of earnest mien and grave +deportment, I saw the fearless monarch, Humbert of Italy--he whom +his subjects delight to honor. He was making a round of visits to +all the vilest holes and corners of the city, where the plague raged +most terribly--he had not so much as a cigarette in his mouth to +ward off infection. He walked with the easy and assured step of a +hero; his face was somewhat sad, as though the sufferings of his +people had pressed heavily upon his sympathetic heart. I bared my +head reverently as he passed, his keen kind eyes lighted on me with +a smile. + +"A subject for a painting, yon white-haired fisherman!" I heard him +say to one of his attendants. Almost I betrayed myself. I was on the +point of springing forward and throwing myself at his feet to tell +him my story. It seemed to me both cruel and unnatural that he, my +beloved sovereign, should pass me without recognition--me, to whom +he had spoken so often and so cordially. For when I visited Rome, as +I was accustomed to do annually, there were few more welcome guests +at the balls of the Quirinal Palace than Count Fabio Romani. I began +to wonder stupidly who Fabio Romani was; the gay gallant known as +such seemed no longer to have any existence--a "white-haired +fisherman" usurped his place. But though I thought these things I +refrained from addressing the king. Some impulse, however, led me to +follow him at a respectful distance, as did also many others. His +majesty strolled through the most pestilential streets with as much +unconcern as though he wore taking his pleasure in a garden of +roses; he stepped quietly into the dirtiest hovels where lay both +dead and dying; he spoke words of kindly encouragement to the grief- +stricken and terrified mourners, who stared through their tears at +the monarch with astonishment and gratitude; silver and gold were +gently dropped into the hands of the suffering poor, and the very +pressing cases received the royal benefactor's personal attention +and immediate relief. Mothers with infants in their arms knelt to +implore the king's blessing--which to pacify them he gave with a +modest hesitation, as though he thought himself unworthy, and yet +with a parental tenderness that was infinitely touching. One wild- +eyed, black-haired girl flung herself down on the ground right in +the king's path; she kissed his feet, and then sprung erect with a +gesture of triumph. + +"I am saved!" she cried; "the plague cannot walk in the same road +with the king!" + +Humbert smiled, and regarded her somewhat as an indulgent father +might regard a spoiled daughter; but he said nothing, and passed on. +A cluster of men and women standing at the open door of one of the +poorest-looking houses in the street next attracted the monarch's +attention. There was some noisy argument going on; two or three +beccamorti were loudly discussing together and swearing profusely-- +some women were crying bitterly, and in the center of the excited +group a coffin stood on end as though waiting for an occupant. One +of the gentlemen in attendance on the king preceded him and +announced his approach, whereupon the loud clamor of tongues ceased, +the men bared their heads, and the women checked their sobs. + +"What is wrong here, my friends?" the monarch asked with exceeding +gentleness. + +There was silence for a moment; the beccamorti looked sullen and +ashamed. Then one of the women, with a fat good-natured face and +eyes rimmed redly round with weeping, elbowed her way through the +little throng to the front and spoke. + +"May the Holy Virgin and saints bless your majesty!" she cried, in +shrill accents. "And as for what is wrong, it would soon be right if +those shameless pigs," pointing to the beccamorti, "would let us +alone. They would kill a man rather than wait an hour--one little +hour! The girl is dead, your majesty--and Giovanni, poor lad! will +not leave her; he has his two arms round her tight--Holy Virgin!-- +think of it! and she a cholera corpse--and do what we can, he will +not be parted from her, and they seek her body for the burial. And +if we force him away, poverino, he will lose his head for certain. +One little hour, your majesty, just one, and the reverend father +will come and persuade Giovanni better than we can." + +The king raised his hand with a slight gesture of command--the +little crowd parted before him--and he entered the miserable +dwelling wherein lay the corpse that was the cause of all the +argument. His attendants followed; I, too, availed myself of a +corner in the doorway. The scene disclosed was so terribly pathetic +that few could look upon it without emotion--Humbert of Italy +himself uncovered his head and stood silent. On a poor pallet bed +lay the fair body of a girl in her first youth, her tender +loveliness as yet untouched even by the disfiguring marks of the +death that had overtaken her. One would have thought she slept, had +it not been for the rigidity of her stiffened limbs, and the wax- +like pallor of her face and hands. Right across her form, almost +covering it from view, a man lay prone, as though he had fallen +there lifeless--indeed he might have been dead also for any sign he +showed to the contrary. His arms were closed firmly round the girl's +corpse--his face was hidden from view on the cold breast that would +no more respond to the warmth of his caresses. A straight beam of +sunlight shot like a golden spear into the dark little room and +lighted up the whole scene--the prostrate figures on the bed--the +erect form of the compassionate king, and the grave and anxious +faces of the little crowd of people who stood around him. + +"See! that is the way he has been ever since last night when she +died," whispered the woman who had before spoken; "and his hands are +clinched round her like iron--one cannot move a finger!" + +The king advanced. He touched the shoulder of the unhappy lover. His +voice, modulated to an exquisite softness, struck on the ears of the +listeners like a note of cheerful music. + +"Figlio mio!" + +There was no answer. The women, touched by the simple endearing +words of the monarch, began to sob though gently, and even the men +brushed a few drops from their eyes. Again the king spoke. + +"Figlio mio! I am your king. Have you no greeting for me?" + +The man raised his head from its pillow on the breast of the beloved +corpse and stared vacantly at the royal speaker. His haggard face, +tangled hair, and wild eyes gave him the appearance of one who had +long wandered in a labyrinth of frightful visions from which there +was no escape but self-murder. + +"Your hand, my son!" resumed the king in a tone of soldier-like +authority. + +Very slowly--very reluctantly--as though he were forced to the +action by some strange magnetic influence which he had no power to +withstand, he loosened his right arm from the dead form it clasped +so pertinaciously, and stretched forth the hand as commanded. +Humbert caught it firmly within his own and held it fast--then +looking the poor fellow full in the face, he said with grave +steadiness and simplicity, + +"There is no death in love, my friend!" + +The young man's eyes met his--his set mouth softened--and wresting +his hand passionately from that of the king, he broke into a passion +of weeping. Humbert at once placed a protecting arm around him, and +with the assistance of one of his attendants raised him from the +bed, and led him unresistingly away, as passively obedient as a +child, though sobbing convulsively as he went. The rush of tears had +saved his reason, and most probably his life. A murmur of +enthusiastic applause greeted the good king as he passed through the +little throng of persons who had witnessed what had taken place. +Acknowledging it with a quiet unaffected bow, he left the house, and +signed to the beccamorti, who still waited outside, that they were +now free to perform their melancholy office. He then went on his way +attended by more heart-felt blessings and praises than ever fell to +the lot of the proudest conqueror returning with the spoils of a +hundred battles. I looked after his retreating figure till I could +see it no more--I felt that I had grown stronger for the mere +presence of a hero--a man who indeed was "every inch a king." I am a +royalist--yes. Governed by such a sovereign, few men of calm reason +would be otherwise. But royalist though I am, I would assist in +bringing about the dethronement and death of a mean tyrant, were he +crowned king a hundred times over! Few monarchs are like Humbert of +Italy--even now my heart warms when I think of him--in all the +distraction of my sufferings, his figure stands out like a supreme +embodied Beneficent Force surrounded by the clear light of unselfish +goodness--a light in which Italia suns her fair face and smiles +again with the old sweet smile of her happiest days of high +achievement--days in which he children were great, simply because +they were EARNEST. The fault of all modern labor lies in the fact +that there is no heart in anything we do--we seldom love our work +for work's sake--we perform it solely for what we can get by it. +Therein lies the secret of failure. Friends will scarcely serve each +other unless they can also serve their own interests--true, there +are exceptions to this rule, but they are deemed fools for their +pains. + +As soon as the king disappeared I also left the scene of the +foregoing incident. I had a fancy to visit the little restaurant +where I had been taken ill, and after some trouble I found it. The +door stood open. I saw the fat landlord, Pietro, polishing his +glasses as though he had never left off; and there in the same +corner was the very wooden bench on which I had lain--where I had-- +as was generally supposed--died. I stepped in. The landlord looked +up and bade me good-day. I returned his salutation, and ordered some +coffee and rolls of bread. Seating myself carelessly at one of the +little tables I turned over the newspaper, while he bustled about in +haste to serve me. As he dusted and rubbed up a cup and saucer for +my use, he said, briskly, + +"You have had a long voyage, amico? And successful fishing?" + +For a moment I was confused and knew not what to answer, but +gathering my wits together I smiled and answered readily in the +affirmative. + +"And you?" I said, gayly. "How goes the cholera?" + +The landlord shook his head dolefully. + +"Holy Joseph! do not speak of it. The people die like flies in a +honey-pot. Only yesterday--body of Bacchus!--who would have thought +it?" + +And he sighed deeply as he poured out the steaming coffee, and shook +his head more sorrowfully than before. + +"Why, what happened yesterday?" I asked, though I knew perfectly +well what he was going to say; "I am a stranger in Naples, and empty +of news." + +The perspiring Pietro laid a fat thumb on the marble top of the +table, and with it traced a pattern meditatively. + +"You never heard of the rich Count Romani?" he inquired. + +I made a sign in the negative, and bent my face over my coffee-cup. + +"Ah, well!" he went on with a half groan, "it does not matter--there +is no Count Romani any more. It is all gone--finished! But he was +rich--as rich as the king, they say--yet see how low the saints +brought him! Fra Cipriano of the Benedictines carried him in here +yesterday morning--he was struck by the plague--in five hours he was +dead," here the landlord caught a mosquito and killed it--"ah! as +dead as that zinzara! Yes, he lay dead on that very wooden bench +opposite to you. They buried him before sunset. It is like a bad +dream!" + +I affected to be deeply engrossed with the cutting and Spreading of +my roll and butter. + +"I see nothing particular about it," I said, indifferently. "That he +was rich is nothing--rich and poor must die alike." + +"And that is true, very true," assented Pietro, with another groan, +"for not all his property could save the blessed Cipriano." + +I started, but quickly controlled myself. + +"What do you mean?" I asked, as carelessly as I could. "Are you +talking of some saint?" + +"Well, if he were not canonized he deserves to be," replied the +landlord; "I speak of the holy Benedictine father who brought hither +the Count Romani in a dying condition. Ah I little he knew how soon +the good God would call him himself!" + +I felt a sickening sensation at my heart. + +"Is he dead?" I exclaimed. + +"Dead as the martyrs!" answered Pietro. "He caught the plague, I +suppose, from the count, for he was bending over him to the last. +Ay, and he sprinkled holy water over the corpse, and laid his own +crucifix upon it in the coffin. Then up he went to the Villa Romani, +taking with him the count's trinkets, his watch, ring, and cigar- +case--and nothing would satisfy him but that he should deliver them +himself to the young contessa, telling her how her husband died." + +My poor Nina!--I thought. "Was she much grieved?" I inquired, with a +vague curiosity. + +"How do I know?" said the landlord, shrugging his bulky shoulders. +"The reverend father said nothing, save that she swooned away. But +what of that? Women swoon at everything--from a mouse to a corpse. +As I said, the good Cipriano attended the count's burial--and he had +scarce returned from it when he was seized with the illness. And +this morning he died at the monastery--may his soul rest in peace! I +heard the news only an hour ago. Ah! he was a holy man! He has +promised me a warm corner in Paradise, and I know he will keep his +word as truly as St. Peter himself." + +I pushed away the rest of my meal untasted. The food choked me. I +could have shed tears for the noble, patient life thus self- +sacrificed. One hero the less in this world of unheroic, uninspired +persons! I sat silent, lost in sorrowful thought. The landlord +looked at me curiously. + +"The coffee does not please you?" he said at last. "You have no +appetite?" I forced a smile. + +"Nay--your words would take the edge off the keenest appetite ever +born of the breath of the sea. Truly Naples affords but sorry +entertainment to a stranger; is there naught to hear but stories of +the dying and the dead?" + +Pietro put on an air that was almost apologetic. + +"Well, truly!" he answered, resignedly--"very little else. But what +would you, amico? It is the plague and the will of God." + +As he said the last words my gaze was caught and riveted by the +figure of a man strolling leisurely past the door of the cafe. It +was Guido Ferrari--my friend! I would have rushed out to speak to +him--but something in his look and manner checked the impulse as it +rose in me. He was walking very slowly, smoking a cigar as he went; +there was a smile on his face, and in his coat he wore a freshly- +gathered rose La Gloire de France, similar to those that grew in +such profusion on the upper terrace of my villa. I stared at him as +he passed--my feelings underwent a kind of shock. He looked +perfectly happy and tranquil, happier indeed than ever I remembered +to have seen him, and yet--and yet, according to HIS knowledge, I, +his best friend, had died only yesterday! With this sorrow fresh +upon him, he could smile like a man going to a festa, and wear a +coral-pink rose, which surely was no sign of mourning! For one +moment I felt hurt, the next, I laughed at my own sensitiveness. +After all, what of the smile, what of the rose! A man could not +always be answerable for the expression of his countenance, and as +for the flower, he might have gathered it en passent, without +thinking, or what was still more likely, the child Stella might have +given it to him, in which case he would have worn it to please her. +He displayed no badge of mourning? True!--but then consider--I had +only died yesterday! There had been no time to procure all those +outward appurtenances of woe which social customs rendered +necessary, but which were no infallible sign of the heart's +sincerity. Satisfied with my own self-reasoning I made no attempt to +follow Guido in his walk--I let him go on his way unconscious of my +existence. I would wait, I thought, till the evening--then +everything would be explained. + +I turned to the landlord. "How much to pay?" I asked. + +"What you will, amico" he replied--"I am never hard on the fisher +folk--but times are bad, or you would be welcome to a breakfast for +nothing. Many and many a day have I done as much for men of your +craft, and the blessed Cipriano who is gone used to say that St. +Peter would remember me for it. It is true the Madonna gives a +special blessing if one looks after the fishers, because all the +holy apostles were of the trade; and I would be loth to lose her +protection--yet-" + +I laughed and tossed him a franc. He pocketed it at once and his +eyes twinkled. + +"Though you have not taken half a franc's worth," he admitted, with +an honesty very unusual in a Neapolitan--"but the saints will make +it up to you, never fear!" + +"I am sure of that!" I said, gayly. "Addio, my friend! Prosperity to +you and our Lady's favor!" + +This salutation, which I knew to be a common one with Sicilian +mariners, the good Pietro responded to with amiable heartiness, +wishing me luck on my next voyage. He then betook himself anew to +the polishing of his glasses--and I passed the rest of the day in +strolling about the least frequented streets of the city, and +longing impatiently for the crimson glory of the sunset, which, like +a wide flag of triumph, was to be the signal of my safe return to +love and happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +It came at last, the blessed, the longed-for evening. A soft breeze +sprung up, cooling the burning air after the heat of the day, and +bringing with it the odors of a thousand flowers. A regal glory of +shifting colors blazed on the breast of heaven--the bay, motionless +as a mirror, reflected all the splendid tints with a sheeny luster +that redoubled their magnificence. Pricked in every vein by the +stinging of my own desires, I yet restrained myself; I waited till +the sun sunk below the glassy waters--till the pomp and glow +attending its departure had paled into those dim, ethereal hues +which are like delicate draperies fallen from the flying forms of +angels--till the yellow rim of the round full moon rose languidly on +the edge of the horizon--and then keeping back my eagerness no +longer, I took the well-known road ascending to the Villa Romani, My +heart beat high--my limbs trembled with excitement--my steps were +impatient and precipitate--never had the way seemed so long. At last +I reached the great gate-way--it was locked fast--its sculptured +lions looked upon me frowningly. I heard the splash and tinkle of +the fountains within, the scents of the roses and myrtle were wafted +toward me with every breath I drew. Home at last! I smiled--my whole +frame quivered with expectancy and delight. It was not my intention +to seek admission by the principal entrance--I contented myself with +one long, loving look, and turned to the left, where there was a +small private gate leading into an avenue of ilex and pine, +interspersed with orange-trees. This was a favorite walk of mine, +partly on account of its pleasant shade even in the hottest noon-- +partly because it was seldom frequented by any member of the +household save myself. Guido occasionally took a turn with me there, +but I was more often alone, and I was fond of pacing up and down in +the shadow of the trees, reading some favorite book, or giving +myself up to the dolcefar niente of my own imaginings. The avenue +led round to the back of the villa, and as I now entered it, I +thought I would approach the house cautiously by this means and get +private speech with Assunta, the nurse who had charge of little +Stella, and who was moreover an old and tried family servant, in +whose arms my mother had breathed her last. + +The dark trees rustled solemnly as I stepped quickly yet softly +along the familiar moss-grown path. The place was very still-- +sometimes the nightingales broke into a bubbling torrent of melody, +and then were suddenly silent, as though overawed by the shadows of +the heavy interlacing boughs, through which the moonlight flickered, +casting strange and fantastic patterns on the ground. A cloud of +lucciole broke from a thicket of laurel, and sparkled in the air +like gems loosened from a queen's crown. Faint odors floated about +me, shaken from orange boughs and trailing branches of white +jasmine. I hastened on, my spirits rising higher the nearer I +approached my destination. I was full of sweet anticipation and +passionate longing--I yearned to clasp my beloved Nina in my arms-- +to see her lovely lustrous eyes looking fondly into mine--I was +eager to shake Guido by the hand--and as for Stella, I knew the +child would be in bed at that hour, but still, I thought, I must +have her wakened to see me. I felt that my happiness would not be +complete till I had kissed her little cherub face, and caressed +those clustering curls of hers that were like spun gold. Hush--hush! +What was that? I stopped in my rapid progress as though suddenly +checked by an invisible hand. I listened with strained ears. That +sound--was it not a rippling peal of gay sweet laughter? A shiver +shook me from head to foot. It was my wife's laugh--I knew the +silvery chime of it well! My heart sunk coldly--I paused irresolute. +She could laugh then like that, while she thought me lying dead-- +dead and out of her reach forever! All at once I perceived the +glimmer of a white robe through the trees; obeying my own impulse, I +stepped softly aside--I hid behind a dense screen of foliage through +which I could see without being seen. The clear laugh rang out once +again on the stillness--its brightness pierced my brain like a sharp +sword! She was happy--she was even merry--she wandered here in the +moonlight joyous-hearted, while I--I had expected to find her close +shut within her room, or else kneeling before the Mater Dolorosa in +the little chapel, praying for my soul's rest, and mingling her +prayers with her tears! Yes--I had expected this--we men are such +fools when we love women! Suddenly a terrible thought struck me. Had +she gone mad? Had the shock and grief of my so unexpected death +turned her delicate brain? Was she roaming about, poor child, like +Ophelia, knowing not whither she went, and was her apparent gayety +the fantastic mirth of a disordered brain? I shuddered at the idea-- +and bending slightly apart the boughs behind which I was secreted, I +looked out anxiously. Two figures were slowly approaching--my wife +and my friend, Guido Ferrari. Well--there was nothing in that--it +was as it should be--was not Guido as my brother? It was almost his +duty to console and cheer Nina as much as lay in his power. But +stay! stay! did I see aright--was she simply leaning on his arm for +support--or--a fierce oath, that was almost a cry of torture, broke +from my lips! Oh, would to God I had died! Would to God I had never +broken open the coffin in which I lay at peace! What was death--what +were the horrors of the vault--what was anything I had suffered to +the anguish that racked me now? The memory of it to this day burns +in my brain like inextinguishable fire, and my hand involuntarily +clinches itself in an effort to beat back the furious bitterness of +that moment! I know not how I restrained the murderous ferocity that +awoke within me--how I forced myself to remain motionless and silent +in my hiding-place. But I did. I watched the miserable comedy out to +its end. I looked dumbly on at my own betrayal! I saw my honor +stabbed to the death by those whom I most trusted, and yet I gave no +sign! They--Guido Ferrari and my wife--came so close to my hiding- +place that I could note every gesture and hear every word they +uttered. They paused within three steps of me--his arm encircled her +waist--hers was thrown carelessly around his neck--her head rested +on his shoulder. Even so had she walked with me a thousand times! +She was dressed in pure white save for one spot of deep color near +her heart--a red rose, as red as blood. It was pinned there with a +diamond pin that flashed in the moonlight. I thought wildly, that +instead of that rose, there should be blood indeed--instead of a +diamond pin there should be the good steel of a straight dagger! But +I had no weapon--I stared at her, dry-eyed and mute. She looked +lovely--exquisitely lovely! No trace of grief marred the fairness of +her face--her eyes were as languidly limpid and tender as ever--her +lips were parted in the child-like smile that was so sweet--so +innocently trustful! She spoke--ah, Heaven! the old bewitching music +of her low voice made my heart leap and my brain reel. + +"You foolish Guido!" she said, in dreamily amused accents. "What +would have happened, I wonder, if Fabio had not died so +opportunely." + +I waited eagerly for the answer. Guido laughed lightly. + +"He would never have discovered anything. You were too clever for +him, piccinina! Besides, his conceit saved him--he had so good an +opinion of himself that he would not have deemed it possible for you +to care for any other man." + +My wife--flawless diamond-pearl of pure womanhood!--sighed half +restlessly. + +"I am glad he is dead!" she murmured; "but, Guido mio, you are +imprudent. You cannot visit me now so often--the servants will talk! +Then I must go into mourning for at least six months--and there are +many other things to consider." + +Guide's hand played with the jeweled necklace she wore--he bent and +kissed the place where its central pendant rested. Again--again, +good sir, I pray you! Let no faint scruples interfere with your +rightful enjoyment! Cover the white flesh with caresses--it is +public property! a dozen kisses more or less will not signify! So I +madly thought as I crouched among the trees--the tigerish wrath +within me making the blood beat in my head like a hundred hammer- +strokes. + +"Nay then, my love," he replied to her, "it is almost a pity Fabio +is dead! While he lived he played an excellent part as a screen--he +was an unconscious, but veritable duenna of propriety for both of +us, as no one else could be!" + +The boughs that covered me creaked and rustled. My wife started, and +looked uneasily round her. + +"Hush!" she said, nervously. "He was buried only yesterday--and they +say there are ghosts sometimes. This avenue, too--I wish we had not +come here--it was his favorite walk. Besides," she added, with a +slight accent of regret, "after all he was the father of my child-- +you must think of that." + +"By Heaven!" exclaimed Guido, fiercely, "do I not think of it? Ay-- +and I curse him for every kiss he stole from your lips!" + +I listened half stupefied. Here was a new phase of the marriage law! +Husbands were thieves then--they "stole" kisses; only lovers were +honest in their embraces! Oh, my dear friend--my more than brother-- +how near you were to death at that moment! Had you but seen my face +peering pallidly through the dusky leaves--could you have known the +force of the fury pent up within me--you would not have valued your +life at one baiocco! + +"Why did you marry him?" he asked, after a little pause, during +which he toyed with the fair curls that floated against his breast. + +She looked up with a little mutinous pout, and shrugged her +shoulders. + +"Why? Because I was tired of the convent, and all the stupid, solemn +ways of the nuns; also because he was rich, and I was horribly poor. +I cannot bear to be poor! Then he loved me"--here her eyes glimmered +with malicious triumph--"yes--he was mad for me--and--" + +"You loved him?" demanded Guido, almost fiercely. + +"Ma che!" she answered, with an expressive gesture. "I suppose I +did--for a week or two. As much as one ever loves a husband! What +does one marry for at all? For convenience--money--position--he gave +me these things, as you know." + +"You will gain nothing by marrying me, then," he said, jealously. + +She laughed, and laid her little white hand, glittering with rings, +lightly against his lips. + +"Of course not! Besides--have I said I will marry you? You are very +agreeable as a lover--but otherwise--I am not sure! And I am free +now--I can do as I like; I want to enjoy my liberty, and--" + +She was not allowed to complete her sentence, for Ferrari snatched +her close to his breast and held her there as in a vise. His face +was aflame with passion. + +"Look you, Nina," he said, hoarsely, "you shall not fool me, by +Heaven! you shall not! I have endured enough at your hands, God +knows! When I saw you for the first time on the day of your marriage +with that poor fool, Fabio--I loved you, madly--ay, wickedly as I +then thought, but not for the sin of it did I repent. I knew you +were woman, not angel, and I waited my time. It came--I sought you-- +I told you my story of love ere three months of wedded life had +passed ever your head. I found you willing--ready--nay, eager to +hear me! You led me on; you know you did! You tempted me by touch, +word and look; you gave me all I sought! Why try to excuse it now? +You are as much my wife as ever you were Fabio's--nay--you are more +so, for you love me--at least you say so--and though you lied to +your husband, you dare not lie to me. I tell you, you DARE NOT! I +never pitied Fabio, never--he was too easily duped, and a married +man has no right to be otherwise than suspicious and ever on his +guard; if he relaxes in his vigilance he has only himself to blame +when his honor is flung like a ball from hand to hand, as one plays +with a child's toy. I repeat to you, Nina, you are mine, and I swear +you shall never escape me!" + +The impetuous words coursed rapidly from his lips, and his deep +musical voice had a defiant ring as it fell on the stillness of the +evening air. I smiled bitterly as I heard! She struggled in his arms +half angrily. + +"Let me go," she said. "You are rough, you hurt me!" + +He released her instantly. The violence of his embrace had crushed +the rose she wore, and its crimson leaves fluttered slowly down one +by one on the ground at her feet. Her eyes flashed resentfully, and +an impatient frown contracted her fair level brows. She looked away +from him in silence, the silence of a cold disdain. Something in her +attitude pained him, for he sprung forward and caught her hand, +covering it with kisses. + +"Forgive me, carina mia" he cried, repentantly. "I did not mean to +reproach you. You cannot help being beautiful--it is the fault of +God or the devil that you are so, and that your beauty maddens me! +You are the heart of my heart, the soul of my soul! Oh, Nina mia, +let us not waste words in useless anger. Think of it, we are free-- +free! Free to make life a long dream of delight--delight more +perfect than angels can know! The greatest blessing that could have +befallen us is the death of Fabio, and now that we are all in all to +each other, do not harden yourself against me! Nina, be gentle with +me--of all things in the world, surely love is best!" + +She smiled, with the pretty superior smile of a young empress +pardoning a recreant subject, and suffered him to draw her again, +but with more gentleness, into his embrace. She put up her lips to +meet his--I looked on like a man in a dream! I saw them cling +together--each kiss they exchanged was a fresh stab to my tortured +soul. + +"You are so foolish, Guido mio" she pouted, passing her little jeweled +fingers through his clustering hair with a light caress--"so +impetuous--so jealous! I have told you over and over again that I love +you! Do you not remember that night when Fabio sat out on the balcony +reading his Plato, poor fellow!"--here she laughed musically--"and we +were trying over some songs in the drawing--room--did I not say then +that I loved you best of any one in the world? You know I did! You +ought to be satisfied!" + +Guido smiled, and stroked her shining golden curls. + +"I AM satisfied," he said, without any trace of his former heated +impatience--"perfectly satisfied. But do not expect to find love +without jealousy. Fabio was never jealous--I know--he trusted you +too implicitly--he was nothing of a lover, believe me! He thought +more of himself than of you. A man who will go away for days at a +time on solitary yachting and rambling excursions, leaving his wife +to her own devices--a man who reads Plato in preference to looking +after HER, decides his own fate, and deserves to be ranked with +those so-called wise but most ignorant philosophers to whom Woman +has always remained an unguessed riddle. As for me--I am jealous of +the ground you tread upon--of the air that touches you--I was +jealous of Fabio while he lived--and--by heaven!"--his eyes darkened +with a somber wrath--"if any other man dared now to dispute your +love with me I would not rest till his body had served my sword as a +sheath!" + +Nina raised her head from his breast with an air of petulant +weariness. + +"Again!" she murmured, reproachfully, "you are going to be angry +AGAIN!" + +He kissed her. + +"Not I, sweet one! I will be as gentle as you wish, so long as you +love me and only me. Come--this avenue is damp and chilly for you-- +shall we go in?" + +My wife--nay, I should say OUR wife, as we had both shared her +impartial favors--assented. With arms interlaced and walking slowly, +they began to retrace their steps toward the house. Once they +paused. + +"Do you hear the nightingales?" asked Guido. + +Hear them! Who could not hear them? A shower of melody rained from +the trees on every side--the pure, sweet, passionate tones pierced +the ear like the repeated chime of little golden bells--the +beautiful, the tender, the God-inspired birds sung their love- +stories simply and with perfect rapture--love-stories untainted by +hypocrisy--unsullied by crime--different, ah! so very different from +the love-stones of selfish humanity! The exquisite poetic idyl of a +bird's life and love--is it not a thing to put us inferior creatures +to shame--for are we ever as true to our vows as the lark to his +mate?--are we as sincere in our thanksgivings for the sunlight as +the merry robin who sings as blithely in the winter snow as in the +flower-filled mornings of spring? Nay--not we! Our existence is but +one long impotent protest against God, combined with an insatiate +desire to get the better of one another in the struggle for base +coin! + +Nina listened--and shivered, drawing her light scarf more closely +about her shoulders. + +"I hate them" she said, pettishly; "their noise is enough to pierce +one's ears. And HE used to be so fond of them! he used to sing--what +was it? + + 'Ti salute, Rosignuolo, + Nel tuo duolo, il saluto! + Sei l'amante delta rosa + Che morendo si fa sposa!'" + +Her rich voice rippled out on the air, rivaling the songs of the +nightingales themselves. She broke off with a little laugh-- + +"Poor Fabio! there was always a false note somewhere when he sung. +Come, Guido!" + +And they paced on quietly, as though their consciences were clean-- +as though no just retribution dogged their steps--as though no +shadow of a terrible vengeance loomed in the heaven of their +pilfered happiness! I watched them steadily as they disappeared in +the distance--I stretched my head eagerly out from between the dark +boughs and gazed after their retreating figures till the last +glimmer of my wife's white robe had vanished behind the thick +foliage. They were gone--they would return no more that night. + +I sprung out from my hiding-place. I stood on the spot where they +had stood. I tried to bring home to myself the actual truth of what +I had witnessed. My brain whirled--circles of light swam giddily +before me in the air--the moon looked blood-red. The solid earth +seemed unsteady beneath my feet--almost I doubted whether I was +indeed alive, or whether I was not rather the wretched ghost of my +past self, doomed to return from the grave to look helplessly upon +the loss and ruin of all the fair, once precious things of by-gone +days. The splendid universe around me seemed no more upheld by the +hand of God--no more a majestic marvel; it was to me but an inflated +bubble of emptiness--a mere ball for devils to kick and spurn +through space! Of what avail these twinkling stars--these stately +leaf-laden trees--these cups of fragrance we know as flowers--this +round wonder of the eyes called Nature? of what avail was God +Himself, I widely mused, since even He could not keep one woman +true? She whom I loved--she as delicate of form, as angel-like in +face as the child-bride of Christ, St. Agnes--she, even she was-- +what? A thing lower than the beasts, a thing as vile as the vilest +wretch in female form that sells herself for a gold piece--a thing-- +great Heaven!--for all men to despise and make light of--for the +finger of Scorn to point out--for the foul hissing tongue of Scandal +to mock at! This creature was my wife--the mother of my child--she +had cast mud on her soul by her own free will and choice--she had +selected evil as her good--she had crowned herself with shame +willingly, nay--joyfully; she had preferred it to honor. What should +be done? I tortured myself occasionally with this question. I stared +blankly on the ground--would some demon spring from it and give me +the answer I sought? What should be done with HER--with HIM, my +treacherous friend, my smiling betrayer? Suddenly my eyes lighted on +the fallen rose-leaves--those that had dropped when Guido's embrace +had crushed the flower she wore. There they lay on the path, curled +softly at the edges like little crimson shells. I stooped and picked +them up--I placed them all in the hollow of my hand and looked at +them. They had a sweet odor--almost I kissed them--nay, nay, I could +not--they had too recently lain on the breast of an embodied Lie! +Yes; she was that, a Lie, a living, lovely, but accursed Lie! "Go +and kill her" Stay! where had I heard that? Painfully I considered, +and at last remembered--and then I thought moodily that the starved +and miserable rag-picker was more of a man than I. He had taken his +revenge at once; while I, like a fool, had let occasion slip. Yes, +but not forever! There were different ways of vengeance; one must +decide the best, the keenest way--and, above all, the way that shall +inflict the longest, the cruelest agony upon those by whom honor is +wronged. True--it would be sweet to slay sin in the act of sinning, +but then--must a Romani brand himself as a murderer in the sight of +men? Not so; there were other means--other roads, leading to the +same end if the tired brain could only plan them out. Slowly I +dragged my aching limbs to the fallen trunk of a tree and sat down, +still holding the dying rose-leaves in my clinched palm. There was a +surging noise in my ears--my mouth tasted of blood, my lips were +parched and burning as with fever. "A white-haired fisherman." That +was me! The king had said so. Mechanically I looked down at the +clothes I wore--the former property of a suicide. "He was a fool," +the vender of them had said, "he killed himself." + +Yes, there was no doubt of it--he was a fool. I would not follow his +example, or at least not yet. I had something to do first--something +that must be done if I could only see my way clear to it. Yes--if I +could only see my way and follow it straightly, resolutely, +remorselessly! My thoughts were confused, like the thoughts of a +fever-stricken man in delirium--the scent of the rose-leaves I held +sickened me strangely--yet I would not throw them from me; no, I +would keep them to remind me of the embraces I had witnessed! I felt +for my purse! I found and opened it, and placed the withering red +petals carefully within it. As I slipped it again in my pocket I +remembered the two leathern pouches I carried--the one filled with +gold, the other with the jewels I had intended for--HER. My +adventures in the vault recurred to me; I smiled as I recollected +the dire struggle I had made for life and liberty. Life and +liberty!--of what use were they to me now, save for one thing-- +revenge? I was not wanted; I was not expected back to refill my +former place on earth--the large fortune I had possessed was now my +wife's by the decree of my own last will and testament, which she +would have no difficulty in proving. But still, wealth was mine--the +hidden stores of the brigands were sufficient to make any man more +than rich for the term of his natural life. As I considered this, a +sort of dull pleasure throbbed in my veins. Money! Anything could be +done for money--gold would purchase even vengeance. But what sort of +vengeance? Such a one as I sought must be unique--refined, +relentless, and complete. I pondered deeply. The evening wind blew +freshly up from the sea; the leaves of the swaying trees whispered +mysteriously together; the nightingales warbled on with untired +sweetness; and the moon, like the round shield of an angel warrior, +shone brightly against the dense blue background of the sky. +Heedless of the passing of hours, I sat still, lost in a bewildered +reverie. "There was always a false note somewhere when he sung!" So +she had said, laughing that little laugh of hers as cold and sharp +as the clash of steel. True, true; by all the majesty of Heaven, +most true! There was indeed a false note--jarring, not so much the +voice as the music of life itself. There is stuff in all of us that +will weave, as we desire it, into a web of stately or simple +harmony; but let the meteor-like brilliancy of a woman's smile--a +woman's touch--a woman's LIE--intermingle itself with the strain, +and lo! the false note is struck, discord declares itself, and God +Himself, the great Composer, can do nothing in this life to restore +the old calm tune of peaceful, unspoiled days! So I have found; so +all of you must find, long before you and sorrow grow old together. + +"A white-haired fisherman!" + +The words of the king repeated themselves over and over again in my +tortured brain. Yes--I was greatly changed, I looked worn and old-- +no one would recognize me for my former self. All at once, with this +thought, an idea occurred to me--a plan of vengeance, so bold, so +new, and withal so terrible, that I started from my seat as though +stung by an adder. I paced up and down restlessly, with this lurid +light of fearful revenge pouring in on every nook and cranny of my +darkened mind. From whence had come this daring scheme? What devil, +or rather what angel of retribution, had whispered it to my soul? +Dimly I wondered--but amid all my wonder I began practically to +arrange the details of my plot. I calculated every small +circumstance that was likely to occur in the process of carrying it +out. My stupefied senses became aroused from the lethargy of +despair, and stood up like soldiers on the alert armed to the teeth. +Past love, pity, pardon, patience--pooh! what were all these +resources of the world's weakness to ME? What was it to me that the +bleeding Christ forgave His enemies in death? He never loved a +woman! Strength and resolution returned to me. Let common sailors +and rag-pickers resort to murder and suicide as fit outlets for +their unreasoning brute wrath when wronged; but as for me, why +should I blot my family scutcheon with a merely vulgar crime? Nay, +the vengeance of a Romani must be taken with assured calmness and +easy deliberation--no haste, no plebeian fury, no effeminate fuss, +no excitement. I walked up and down slowly, meditating on every +point of the bitter drama in which I had resolved to enact the chief +part, from the rise to the fall of the black curtain. The mists +cleared from my brain--I breathed more easily--my nerves steadied +themselves by degrees--the prospect of what I purposed doing +satisfied me and calmed the fever in my blood. I became perfectly +cool and collected. I indulged in no more futile regrets for the +past--why should I mourn the loss of a love I never possessed? It +was not as if they had waited till my supposed sudden death--no! +within three months of my marriage they had fooled me; for three +whole years they had indulged in their criminal amour, while I, +blind dreamer, had suspected nothing. NOW I knew the extent of my +injury; I was a man bitterly wronged, vilely duped. Justice, reason, +and self-respect demanded that I should punish to the utmost the +miserable tricksters who had played me false. The passionate +tenderness I had felt for my wife was gone--I plucked it from my +heart as I would have torn a thorn from my flesh--I flung it from me +with disgust as I had flung away the unseen reptile that had +fastened on my neck in the vault. The deep warm friendship of years +I had felt for Guido Ferrari froze to its very foundations--and in +its place there rose up, not hate, but pitiless, immeasurable +contempt. A stern disdain of myself also awoke in me, as I +remembered the unreasoning joy with which, I had hastened--as I +thought--home, full of eager anticipation and Romeo-like ardor. An +idiot leaping merrily to his death over a mountain chasm was not +more fool than I! But the dream was over--the delusion of my life +was passed. I was strong to avenge--I would be swift to accomplish. +So, darkly musing for an hour or more, I decided on the course I had +to pursue, and to make the decision final I drew from my breast the +crucifix that the dead monk Cipriano had laid with me in my coffin, +and kissing it, I raised it aloft, and swore by that sacred symbol +never to relent, never to relax, never to rest, till I had brought +my vow of just vengeance to its utmost fulfillment. The stars, calm +witnesses of my oath, eyed me earnestly from their judgment thrones +in the quiet sky--there was a brief pause in the singing of the +nightingales, as though they too listened--the wind sighed +plaintively, and scattered a shower of jasmine blossoms like snow at +my feet. Even so, I thought, fall the last leaves of my white days-- +days of pleasure, days of sweet illusion, days of dear remembrance; +even so let them wither and perish utterly forever! For from +henceforth my life must be something other than a mere garland of +flowers--it must be a chain of finely tempered steel, hard, cold, +and unbreakable--formed into links strong enough to wind round and +round two false lives and imprison them so closely as to leave no +means of escape. This was what must be done--and I resolved to do +it. With a firm, quiet step I turned to leave the avenue. I opened +the little private wicket, and passed into the dusty road. A +clanging noise caused me to look up as I went by the principal +entrance of the Villa Romani. A man servant--my own man-servant by +the by--was barring the great gates for the night. I listened as he +slid the bolts into their places, and turned the key. I remembered +that those gates had been thoroughly fastened before, when I came up +the road from Naples--why then had they been opened since? To let +out a visitor? Of course! I smiled grimly at my wife's cunning! She +evidently knew what she was about. Appearances must be kept up--the +Signor Ferrari must be decorously shown out by a servant at the +chief entrance of the house. Naturally!--all very unsuspicious-- +looking and quite in keeping with the proprieties! Guido had just +left her then? I walked steadily, without hurrying my pace, down the +hill toward the city, and on the way I overtook him. He was +strolling lazily along, smoking as usual, and he held a spray of +stephanotis in his hand--well I knew who had given it to him! I +passed him--he glanced up carelessly, his handsome face clearly +visible in the bright moonlight--but there was nothing about a +common fisherman to attract his attention--his look only rested upon +me for a second and was withdrawn immediately. An insane desire +possessed me to turn upon him--to spring at his throat--to wrestle +with him and throw him in the dust at my feet--to spit at him and +trample upon him--but I repressed those fierce and dangerous +emotions. I had a better game to play--I had an exquisite torture in +store for him, compared to which a hand-to-hand fight was mere +vulgar fooling. Vengeance ought to ripen slowly in the strong heat +of intense wrath, till of itself it falls--hastily snatched before +its time it is like unmellowed fruit, sour and ungrateful to the +palate. So I let my dear friend--my wife's consoler--saunter on his +heedless way without interference--I passed, leaving him to indulge +in amorous musings to his false heart's content. I entered Naples, +and found a night's lodging at one of the usual resorts for men of +my supposed craft, and, strange to say, I slept soundly and +dreamlessly. Recent illness, fatigue, fear, and sorrow, all aided to +throw me like an exhausted child upon the quiet bosom of slumber, +but perhaps the most powerfully soothing opiate to my brain was the +consciousness I had of a practical plan of retribution--more +terrible perhaps than any human creature had yet devised, so far as +I knew. Unchristian you call me? I tell you again, Christ never +loved a woman! Had He done so, He would have left us some special +code of justice. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +I rose very early the next morning--I was more than ever +strengthened in my resolutions of the past night--my projects were +entirely formed, and nothing remained now but for me to carry them +out. Unobserved of any one I took my way again to the vault. I +carried with me a small lantern, a hammer, and some strong nails. +Arrived at the cemetery I looked carefully everywhere about me, lest +some stray mourner or curious stranger might possibly be in the +neighborhood. Not a soul was in sight. Making use of the secret +passage, I soon found myself on the scene of my recent terrors and +sufferings, all of which seemed now so slight in comparison with, +the mental torture of my present condition. I went straight to the +spot where I had left the coffined treasure--I possessed myself of +all the rolls of paper money, and disposed them in various small +packages about my person and in the lining of my clothes till, as I +stood, I was worth many thousand of francs. Then with the help of +the tools I had brought, I mended the huge chest in the split places +where I had forced it open, and nailed it up fast so that it looked +as if it had never been touched. I lost no time over my task, for I +was in haste. It was my intention to leave Naples for a fortnight or +more, and I purposed taking my departure that very day. Before +leaving the vault I glanced at the coffin I myself had occupied. +Should I mend that and nail it up as though my body were still +inside? No--better leave it as it was--roughly broken open--it would +serve my purpose better so. As soon as I had finished all I had to +do, I clambered through the private passage, closing it after me +with extra care and caution, and then I betook myself directly to +the Molo. On making inquiries among the sailors who were gathered +there, I heard that a small coasting brig was on the point of +leaving for Palermo. Palermo would suit me as well as any other +place; I sought out the captain of the vessel. He was a brown-faced, +merry-eyed mariner--he showed his glittering white teeth in the most +amiable of smiles when I expressed my desire to take passage with +him, and consented to the arrangement at once for a sum which I +thought extremely moderate, but which I afterward discovered to be +about treble his rightful due. But the handsome rogue cheated me +with such grace and exquisite courtesy, that I would scarcely have +had him act otherwise than he did. I hear a good deal of the "plain +blunt honesty" of the English. I dare say there is some truth in it, +but for my own part I would rather be cheated by a friendly fellow +who gives you a cheery word and a bright look than receive exact +value for my money from the "plain blunt" boor who seldom has the +common politeness to wish you a good-day. + +We got under way at about nine o'clock--the morning was bright, and +the air, for Naples, was almost cool. The water rippling against the +sides of our little vessel had a gurgling, chatty murmur, as though +it were talking vivaciously of all the pleasant things it +experienced between the rising and the setting of the sun; of the +corals and trailing sea-weed that grew in its blue depths, of the +lithe glittering fish that darted hither and thither between its +little waves, of the delicate shells in which dwelt still more +delicate inhabitants, fantastic small creatures as fine as filmy +lace, that peeped from the white and pink doors of their transparent +habitations, and looked as enjoyingly on the shimmering blue-green +of their ever-moving element as we look on the vast dome of our sky, +bespangled thickly with stars. Of all these things, and many more as +strange and sweet, the gossiping water babbled unceasingly; it had +even something to say to me concerning woman and woman's love. It +told me gleefully how many fair female bodies it had seen sunk in +the cold embrace of the conquering sea, bodies, dainty and soft as +the sylphs of a poet's dream, yet which, despite their exquisite +beauty, had been flung to and fro in cruel sport by the raging +billows, and tossed among pebbles for the monsters of the deep to +feed upon. + +As I sat idly on the vessel's edge and looked down, down into the +clear Mediterranean, brilliantly blue as a lake of melted sapphires, I +fancied I could see her the Delilah of my life, lying prone on the +golden sand, her rich hair floating straightly around her like yellow +weed, her hands clinched in the death agony, her laughing lips blue +with the piercing chilliness of the washing tide--powerless to move or +smile again. She would look well so, I thought--better to my mind than +she looked in the arms of her lover last night. I fell into a train of +profound meditation--a touch on my shoulder startled me. I looked up, +the captain of the brig stood beside me. He smiled and held out a +cigarette. + +"The signor will smoke?" he said courteously. + +I accepted the little roll of fragrant Havanna half mechanically. + +"Why do you call me signor?" I inquired brusquely. "I am a coral- +fisher." + +The little man shrugged his shoulders and bowed deferentially, yet +with the smile still dancing gayly in his eyes and dimpling his +olive cheeks. + +"Oh, certainly! As the signor pleases--ma--" And he ended with +another expressive shrug and bow. + +I looked at him fixedly. "What do you mean?" I asked with some +sternness. + +With that birdlike lightness and swiftness which were part of his +manner, the Sicilian skipper bent forward and laid a brown finger on +my wrist. + +"Scusa, vi prego! But the hands are not those of a fisher of coral." + +I glanced down at them. True enough, their smoothness and pliant +shape betrayed my disguise--the gay little captain was sharp-witted +enough to note the contrast between them and the rough garb I wore, +though no one else with whom I had come in contact had been as keen +of observation as he. At first I was slightly embarrassed by his +remark--but after a moment's pause I met his gaze frankly, and +lighting my cigarette I said, carelessly: + +"Ebbene! And what then, my friend?" + +He made a deprecatory gesture with his hands. + +"Nay, nay, nothing--but only this. The signor must understand he is +perfectly safe with me. My tongue is discreet--I talk of things only +that concern myself. The signor has good reasons for what he does--of +that I am sure. He has suffered; it is enough to look in his face to +see that. Ah, Dio if there are so many sorrows in life; there is +love," he enumerated rapidly on his fingers--"there is revenge--there +are quarrels--there is loss of money; any of these will drive a man +from place to place at all hours and in all weathers. Yes; it is so, +indeed--I know it! The signor has trusted himself in my boat--I desire +to assure him of my best services." + +And he raised his red cap with so charming a candor that in my +lonely and morose condition I was touched to the heart. Silently I +extended my hand--he caught it with an air in which respect, +sympathy, and entire friendliness were mingled. And yet he +overcharged me for my passage, you exclaim! Ay--but he would not +have made me the object of impertinent curiosity for twenty times +the money! You cannot understand the existence of such conflicting +elements in the Italian character? No--I dare say not. The tendency +of the calculating northerner under the same circumstances would +have been to make as much out of me as possible by means of various +small and contemptible items, and then to go with broadly honest +countenance to the nearest police-station and describe my suspicious +appearance and manner, thus exposing me to fresh expense besides +personal annoyance. With the rare tact that distinguishes the +southern races the captain changed the conversation by a reference +to the tobacco we were both enjoying. + +"It is good, is it not?" he asked. + +"Excellent!" I answered, as indeed it was. + +His white teeth glittered in a smile of amusement. + +"It should be of the finest quality--for it is a present from one +who will smoke nothing but the choice brands. Ah, Dio! what a fine +gentleman spoiled is Carmelo Neri!" + +I could not repress a slight start of surprise. What caprice of Fate +associated me with this famous brigand? I was actually smoking his +tobacco, and I owed all my present wealth to his stolen treasures +secreted in my family vault! + +"You know the man, then?" I inquired with some curiosity. + +"Know him? As well as I know myself. Let me see, it is two months-- +yes--two months to-day since he was with me on board this very +vessel. It happened in this way--I was at Gaeta--he came to me and +told me the gendarmes were after him. He offered me more gold than I +ever had in my life to take him to Termini, from whence he could get +to one of his hiding-places in the Montemaggiore. He brought Teresa +with him; he found me alone on the brig, my men had gone ashore. He +said, 'Take us to Termini and I will give you so much; refuse and I +will slit your throat.' Ha! ha! ha! That was good. I laughed at him. +I put a chair for Teresa on deck, and gave her some big peaches. I +said, 'See, my Carmelo! what use is there in threats? You will not +kill me, and I shall not betray you. You are a thief, and a bad +thief--by all the saints you are--but I dare say you would not be +much worse than the hotel-keepers, if you could only keep your hand +off your knife.' (For you know, signor, if you once enter a hotel +you must pay almost a ransom before you can get out again!) Yes--and +I reasoned with Carmelo in this manner: I told him, 'I do not want a +large fortune for carrying you and Teresa across to Termini--pay me +the just passage and we shall part friends, if only for Teresa's +sake.' Well, he was surprised. He smiled that dark smile of his, +which may mean gratitude or murder. He looked at Teresa. She sprung +up from her seat, and let her peaches fall from her lap on the deck. +She put her little hands on mine--the tears were in her pretty blue +eyes. 'You are a good man,' she said. 'Some woman must love you very +much!' Yes--she said that. And she was right. Our Lady be praised +for it!" + +And his dark eyes glanced upward with a devout gesture of +thanksgiving. I looked at him with a sort of jealous hunger gnawing +at my heart. Here was another self deluded fool--a fond wretch +feasting on the unsubstantial food of a pleasant dream--a poor dupe +who believed in the truth of woman! + +"You are a happy man," I said with a forced smile; "you have a +guiding star for your life as well as for your boat--a woman that +loves you and is faithful? is it so?" + +He answered me directly and simply, raising his cap slightly as he +did so. + +"Yes, signor--my mother." + +I was deeply touched by his naive and unexpected reply--more deeply +than I cared to show. A bitter regret stirred in my soul--why, oh, +why had my mother died so young! Why had I never known the sacred +joy that seemed to vibrate through the frame, and sparkle in the +eyes of this common sailor! Why must I be forever alone, with a +curse of a woman's lie on my life, weighing me down to the dust and +ashes of a desolate despair! Something in my face must have spoken +my thoughts, for the captain said, gently: + +"The signor has no mother?" + +"She died when I was but a child," I answered, briefly. + +The Sicilian puffed lightly at his cigarette in silence--the silence +of an evident compassion. To relieve him of his friendly +embarrassment, I said: + +"You spoke of Teresa? Who is Teresa?" + +"Ah, you may well ask, signor! No one knows who she is; she loves +Carmelo Neri, and there all is said. Such a little thing she is--so +delicate! like a foam-bell on the waves; and Carmelo--You have seen +Carmelo, signor?" + +I shook my head in the negative. + +"Ebbene! Carmelo is big and rough and black like a wolf of the +forests, all hair and fangs; Teresa is, well! you have seen a little +cloud in the sky at night, wandering past the moon all flecked with +pale gold?--that is Teresa. She is, small and slight as a child; she +has rippling curls, and soft praying eyes, and tiny, weak, white +hands, not strong enough to snap a twig in two. Yet she can do +anything with Carmelo--she is the one soft spot in his life." + +"I wonder if she is true to him," I muttered, half to myself and +half aloud. + +The captain caught up my words with an accent of surprise. + +"True to him? Ah, Dio! but the signor does not know her. There was +one of Carmelo's own band, as bold and handsome a cut-throat as ever +lived--he was mad for Teresa--he followed her everywhere like a +beaten cur. One day he found her alone; he tried to embrace her--she +snatched a knife from his own girdle and stabbed him with it, like a +little fury! She did not kill him then, but Carmelo did afterward. +To think of a little woman like that with such a devil in her! It is +her boast that no man, save Carmelo, has ever touched so much as a +ringlet of her hair. Ay; she is true to him--more's the pity." + +"Why--you would not have her false?" I asked. + +"Nay, nay--for a false woman deserves death--but still it is a pity +Teresa should have fixed her love on Carmelo. Such a man! One day +the gendarmes will have him, then he will be in the galleys for +life, and she will die. Yes--you may be sure of that! If grief does +not kill her quickly enough, then she will kill herself, that is +certain! She is slight and frail to look at as a flower, but her +soul is strong as iron. She, will have her own way in death as well +as in love--some women are made so, and it is generally the weakest- +looking among them who have the most courage." + +Our conversation was here interrupted by one of the sailors who came +for his master's orders. The talkative skipper, with an apologetic +smile and bow, placed his box of cigarettes beside me where I sat, +and left me to my own reflections. + +I was not sorry to be alone. I needed a little breathing time--a +rest in which to think, though my thoughts, like a new solar system, +revolved round the red planet of one central idea, VENGEANCE. "A +false woman deserves death." Even this simple Sicilian mariner said +so. "Go and kill her, go and kill her!" These words reiterated +themselves over and over again in my ears, till I found myself +almost uttering them aloud. My soul sickened at the contemplation of +the woman Teresa--the mistress of a wretched brigand whose name was +fraught with horror--whose looks were terrific--she, even SHE could +keep herself sacred from the profaning touch of other men's +caresses--she was proud of being faithful to her wolf of the +mountains, whose temper was uncertain and treacherous--she could +make lawful boast of her fidelity to her blood-stained lover--while +Nina--the wedded wife of a noble whose descent was lofty and +unsullied, could tear off the fair crown of honorable marriage and +cast it in the dust--could take the dignity of an ancient family and +trample upon it--could make herself so low and vile that even this +common Teresa, knowing all, might and most probably would, refuse to +touch her hand, considering it polluted. Just God! what had Carmelo +Neri done to deserve the priceless jewel of a true woman's heart? +what had I done to merit such foul deception as that which I was now +called upon to avenge? Suddenly I thought of my child. Her memory +came upon me like a ray of light--I had almost forgotten her. Poor +little blossom!--the slow hot tears forced themselves between my +eyelids, as I called up before my fancy the picture of the soft baby +face--the young untroubled eyes--the little coaxing mouth always +budding into innocent kisses! What should I do with her? When the +plan of punishment I had matured in my brain was carried out to its +utmost, should I take her with me far, far away into some quiet +corner of the world, and devote my life to hers? Alas! alas! she, +too, would be a woman and beautiful--she was a flower born of a +poisoned tree, who could say that there might not be a canker-worm +hidden even in her heart, which waited but for the touch of maturity +to commence its work of destruction! Oh, men! you that have serpents +coiled round your lives in the shape of fair false women--if God has +given you children by them, the curse descends upon you doubly! Hide +it as you will under the society masks we are all forced to wear, +you know there is nothing more keenly torturing than to see innocent +babes look trustingly in the deceitful eyes of an unfaithful wife, +and call her by the sacred name of "Mother." Eat ashes and drink +wormwood, you shall find them sweet in comparison to that nauseating +bitterness! For the rest of the day I was very much alone. The +captain of the brig spoke cheerily to me now and then, but we were +met by light contrary winds that necessitated his giving most of his +attention to the management of his vessel, so that he could not +permit himself to yield to the love of gossip that was inherent in +him. The weather was perfect, and notwithstanding our constant +shifting and tacking about to catch the erratic breeze, the gay +little brig made merry and rapid way over the sparkling +Mediterranean, at a rate that promised our arrival at Palermo by the +sunset of the following day. As the evening came on the wind +freshened, and by the time the moon soared like a large blight bird +into the sky, we were scudding along sideways, the edge of our +vessel leaning over to kiss the waves that gleamed like silver and +gold, flecked here and there with phosphorescent flame. We skimmed +almost under the bows of a magnificent yacht--the English flag +floated from her mast--her sails glittered purely white in the +moonbeams, and she sprung over the water like a sea-gull. A man, +whose tall athletic figure was shown off to advantage by the +yachting costume he wore, stood on deck, his arm thrown round the +waist of a girl beside him. We were but a minute or two passing the +stately vessel, yet I saw plainly this loving group of two, and--I +pitied the man! Why? He was English undoubtedly--the son of a +country where the very soil is supposed to be odorous of virtue-- +therefore the woman beside him must be a perfect pearl of purity; an +Englishman never makes a mistake in these things! Never? Are you +sure? Ah, believe me, there is not much difference nowadays between +women of opposite nations. Once there was--I am willing to admit +that possibility. Once, from all accounts received, the English rose +was the fitting emblem of the English woman, but now, since the +world has grown so wise and made such progress in the art of running +rapidly downhill, is even the aristocratic British peer quite easy +in his mind regarding his fair peeress? Can he leave her to her own +devices with safety? Are there not men, boastful too of their "blue +blood," who are perhaps ready to stoop to the thief's trick of +entering his house during his absence by means of private keys, and +stealing away his wife's affections?--and is not she, though a +mother of three or four children, ready to receive with favor the +mean robber of her husband's rights and honor? Read the London +newspapers any day and you will find that once "moral" England is +running a neck and neck race with other less hypocritical nations in +pursuit of social vice. The barriers that once existed are broken +down; "professional beauties" are received in circles where their +presence formerly would have been the signal for all respectable +women instantly to retire; ladies of title are satisfied to caper on +the boards of the theatrical stage, in costumes that display their +shape as undisguisedly as possible to the eyes of the grinning +public, or they sing in concert halls for the pleasure of showing +themselves off, and actually accept the vulgar applause of unwashed +crowds with a smile and a bow of gratitude! Ye gods! what has become +of the superb pride of the old regime--the pride which disdained all +ostentation and clung to honor more closely than life! What a +striking sign of the times too, is this: let a woman taint her +virtue BEFORE marriage, she is never forgiven--her sin is never +forgotten; but let her do what she will when she has a husband's +name to screen her, and society winks its eyes at her crimes. Couple +this fact with the general spirit of mockery that prevails in +fashionable circles--mockery of religion, mockery of sentiment, +mockery of all that is best and noblest in the human heart--add to +it the general spread of "free-thought," and THEREFORE of +conflicting and unstable opinions--let all these things together go +on for a few years longer and England will stare at her sister +nations like a bold woman in a domino--her features partly concealed +from a pretense at shame, but her eyes glittering coldly through the +mask, betraying to all who look at her how she secretly revels in +her new code of lawlessness coupled with greed. For she will always +be avaricious--and the worst of it is, that her nature being +prosaic, there will be no redeeming grace to cast a glamour about +her. France is unvirtuous enough, God knows, yet there is a sunshiny +smile on her lips that cheers the heart. Italy is also unvirtuous, +yet her voice is full of bird-like melody, and her face is a dream +of perfect poetry! But England unvirtuous will be like a cautiously +calculating, somewhat shrewish matron, possessed of unnatural and +unbecoming friskiness, without either laugh, or song, or smile--her +one god, Gold, and her one commandment, the suggested eleventh, +"Thou shall not be found out!" + +I slept that night on deck. The captain offered me the use of his +little cabin, and was, in his kind-hearted manner, truly distressed +at my persistent refusal to occupy it. + +"It is bad to sleep in the moonlight, signor," he said, anxiously. +"It makes men mad, they say." + +I smiled. Had madness been my destiny, I should have gone mad last +night, I thought! + +"Have no fear!" I answered him, gently. "The moonlight is a joy to +me--it has no impression on my mind save that of peace. I shall rest +well here, my friend--do not trouble yourself about me." + +He hesitated and then abruptly left me, to return in the space of +two or three minutes with a thick rug of sheepskin. He insisted so +earnestly on my accepting this covering as a protection from the +night air, that, to please him, I yielded to his entreaties and lay +down, wrapped in its warm folds. The good-natured fellow then wished +me a "Buon riposo, signor!" and descended to his own resting-place, +humming a gay tune as he went. From my recumbent posture on the deck +I stared upward at the myraid stars that twinkled softly in the warm +violet skies--stared long and fixedly till it seemed to me that our +ship had also become a star, and was sailing through space with its +gliftering companions. What inhabitants peopled those fair planets, +I wondered? Mere men and women who lived and loved and lied to one +another as bravely as we do? or superior beings to whom the least +falsehood is unknown? Was there one world among them where no women +were born? Vague fancies--odd theories--flitted through my brain, I +lived over again the agony of my imprisonment in the vaults--again I +forced myself to contemplate the scene I had witnessed between my +wife and her lover--again I meditated on every small detail +requisite to the fulfillment of the terrible vengeance I had +designed. I have often wondered how, in countries where divorce is +allowed, a wronged husband can satisfy himself with so meager a +compensation for his injuries as the mere getting rid of the woman +who has deceived him. It is no punishment to her--it is what she +wishes. There is not even any very special disgrace in it according +to the present standard of social observances. Were public whipping +the recognized penalty for the crime of a married woman's +infidelity, there would be fewer of the like scandals--the divorce +might follow the scourging. A daintily brought-up feminine creature +would think twice, nay, fifty times, before she would run the risk +of allowing her delicate body to be lashed by whips wielded by the +merciless hands of a couple of her own sex--such a prospect of +degradation, pain, shame, and outraged vanity would be more +effectual to kill the brute in her than all the imposing ceremonials +of courts of law and special juries. Think of it, kings, lords, and +commons! Whipping at the cart's tail was once a legal punishment--if +you would stop the growing immorality and reckless vice of women you +had best revive it again--only apply it to rich as well as to poor, +for it is most probable that the gay duchesses and countesses of +your lands will need its sharp services more frequently than the +work-worn wives of your laboring men. Luxury, idleness, and love of +dress are hot-beds for sin--look for it, therefore, not so much in +the hovels of the starving and naked as in the rose-tinted, musk- +scented boudoirs of the aristocracy--look for it, as your brave +physicians would search out the seeds of a pestilence that threatens +to depopulate a great city, and trample it out if you CAN and WILL-- +if you desire to keep the name of your countries glorious in the +eyes of future history. Spare not the rod because "my lady" +forsooth! with her rich hair falling around her in beauteous +dishevelment and her eyes bathed in tears, implores your mercy--for +by very reason of her wealth and station she deserves less pity than +the painted outcast who knows not where to turn for bread. A high +post demands high duty! But I talk wildly. Whipping is done away +with, for women at least--we give a well-bred shudder of disgust at +the thought of it. When do we shudder with equal disgust at our own +social enormities? Seldom or never. Meanwhile, in cases of +infidelity, husbands and wives can separate and go on their +different ways in comparative peace. Yes--some can and some do; but +I am not one of these. No law in all the world can mend the torn +flag of MY honor; therefore I must be a law to myself--a counsel, a +jury, a judge, all in one and from my decision there can be no +appeal! Then I must act as executioner--and what torture was ever so +perfectly unique as the one I have devised? So I mused, lying +broadly awake, with face upturned to the heavens, watching the light +of the moon pouring itself out on the ocean like a shower of gold, +while the water rushed gurgling softly against the sides of the +brig, and broke into the laughter of white foam as we scudded along. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +All the next day the wind was in our favor, and we arrived at +Palermo an hour before sunset. We had scarcely run into harbor when +a small party of officers and gendarmes, heavily laden with pistols +and carbines, came on board and showed a document authorizing them +to search the brig for Carmelo Neri. I was somewhat anxious for the +safety of my good friend the captain--but he was in nowise dismayed; +he smiled and welcomed the armed emissaries of the government as +though they were his dearest friends. + +"To give you my opinion frankly," he said to them, as he opened a +flask of line Chianti for their behoof, "I believe the villain +Carmelo is somewhere about Gaeta. I would not tell you a lie--why +should I? Is there not a reward offered, and am not I poor? Look +you, I would do my best to assist you!" + +One of the men looked at him dubiously. + +"We received information," he said, in precise, business-like tones, +"that Neri escaped from Gaeta two months since, and was aided and +abetted in his escape by one Andrea Luziani, owner of the coasting +brig 'Laura,' journeying for purposes of trade between Naples and +Palermo. You are Andrea Luziani, and this is the brig 'Laura,'--we +are right in this; is it not so?" + +"As if you could ever be wrong, caro!" cried the captain with +undiminished gayety, clapping him on the shoulder. "Nay, if St. +Peter should have the bad taste to shut you out of heaven, you would +be cunning enough to find another and better entrance! Ah, Dio! I +believe it! Yes, you are right about my name and the name of my +brig, but in the other things,"--here he shook his fingers with an +expressive sign of denial--"you are wrong--wrong--all wrong!" He +broke into a gay laugh. "Yes, wrong--but we will not quarrel about +it! Have some more Chianti! Searching for brigands is thirsty work. +Fill your glasses, amici--spare not the flask--there are twenty more +below stairs!" + +The officers smiled in spite of themselves, as they drank the +proffered wine, and the youngest-looking of the party, a brisk, +handsome fellow, entered into the spirit of the captain with ardor, +though he evidently thought he should trap him into a confession +unawares, by the apparent carelessness and bonhomie of his manner. + +"Bravo, Andrea!" he cried, merrily. "So! let us all be friends +together! Besides, what harm is there in taking a brigand for a +passenger--no doubt he would pay you better than most cargoes!" + +But Andrea was not to be so caught. On the contrary; he raised his +hands and eyes with an admirably feigned expression of shocked +alarm. + +"Our Lady and the saints forgive you!" he exclaimed, piously, "for +thinking that I, an honest marinaro, would accept one baiocco from +an accursed brigand! Ill-luck would follow me ever after! Nay, nay-- +there has been a mistake; I know nothing of Carmelo Neri, and I hope +the saints will grant that I may never meet him!" + +He spoke with so much apparent sincerity that the officers in +command were evidently puzzled, though the fact of their being so +did not deter them from searching the brig thoroughly. Disappointed +in their expectations, they questioned all on board, including +myself, but were of course unable to obtain any satisfactory +replies. Fortunately they accepted my costume as a sign of my trade, +and though they glanced curiously at my white hair, they seemed to +think there was nothing suspicious about me. After a few more +effusive compliments and civilities on the part of the captain, they +took their departure, completely baffled, and quite convinced that +the information they had received had been somehow incorrect. As +soon as they were out of sight, the merry Andrea capered on his deck +like a child in a play-ground, and snapped his fingers defiantly. + +"Per Bacco!" he cried, ecstatically, "they should as soon make a +priest tell confessional secrets, as force me, honest Andrea +Luziani, to betray a man who has given me good cigars! Let them run +back to Gaeta and hunt in every hole and corner! Carmelo may rest +comfortably in the Montemaggiore without the shadow of a gendarme to +disturb him! Ah, signor!" for I had advanced to bid him farewell--"I +am truly sorry to part company with you! You do not blame me for +helping away a poor devil who trusts me?" + +"Not I!" I answered him heartily. "On the contrary, I would there +were more like you. Addio I and with this," here I gave him the +passage-money we had agreed upon, "accept my thanks. I shall not +forget your kindness; if you ever need a friend, send to me." + +"But," he said, with a naive mingling of curiosity and timidity, +"how can I do that if the signor does not tell me his name?" + +I had thought of this during the past night. I knew it would be +necessary to take a different name, and I had resolved on adopting +that of a school-friend, a boy to whom I had been profoundly +attached in my earliest youth, and who had been drowned before my +eyes while bathing in the Venetian Lido. So I answered Andrea's +question at once and without effort. + +"Ask for the Count Cesare Oliva," I said. "I shall return to Naples +shortly, and should you seek me, you will find me there." + +The Sicilian doffed his cap and saluted me profoundly. + +"I guessed well," he remarked, smilingly, "that the Signor Conte's +hands were not those of a coral-fisher. Oh, yes! I know a gentleman +when I see him--though we Sicilians say we are all gentlemen. It is +a good boast, but alas! not always true! A rivederci, signor! +Command me when you will--I am your servant!" + +Pressing his hand, I sprung lightly from the brig on to the quay. + +"A rivederci!" I called to him. "Again, and yet again, a thousand +thanks!" + +"Oh! tropp' onore, signor--tropp' onore!" and thus I left him, +standing still bareheaded on the deck of his little vessel, with a +kindly light on his brown face like the reflection of a fadeless +sunbeam. Good-hearted, merry rogue! His ideas of right and wrong +were oddly mixed--yet his lies were better than many truths told us +by our candid friends--and you may be certain the great Recording +Angel knows the difference between a lie that saves and a truth that +kills, and metes out Heaven's reward or punishment accordingly. + +My first care, when I found myself in the streets of Palermo, was to +purchase clothes of the best material and make adapted to a +gentleman's wear. I explained to the tailor whose shop I entered for +this purpose that I had joined a party of coral-fishers for mere +amusement, and had for the time adopted their costume. He believed my +story the more readily as I ordered him to make several more suits for +me immediately, giving him the name of Count Cesare Oliva, and the +address of the best hotel in the city. He served me with obsequious +humility, and allowed me the use of his private back-room, where I +discarded my fisher garb for the dress of a gentleman--a ready-made +suit that happened to fit me passably well. Thus arrayed as became my +station, I engaged rooms at the chief hotel of Palermo for some +weeks--weeks that were for me full of careful preparation for the task +of vengeful retribution that lay before me. One of my principal +objects was to place the money I had with me in safe hands. I sought +out the leading banker in Palermo, and introducing myself under my +adopted name, I stated that I had newly returned to Sicily after some +years' absence. He received me well, and though he appeared astonished +at the large amount of wealth I had brought, he was eager and willing +enough to make satisfactory arrangements with me for its safe keeping, +including the bag of jewels, some of which, from their unusual size +and luster, excited his genuine admiration. Seeing this, I pressed on +his acceptance a fine emerald and two large brilliants, all unset, and +requested him to have a ring made of them for his own wear. Surprised +at my generosity, he at first refused--but his natural wish to possess +such rare gems finally prevailed, and he took them, overpowering me +with thanks--while I was perfectly satisfied to see that I had secured +his services so thoroughly by my jeweled bribe, that he either forgot, +or else saw no necessity to ask me for personal references, which in +my position would have been exceeding difficult, if not impossible, to +obtain. When this business transaction was entirely completed, I +devoted myself to my next consideration--which was to disguise myself +so utterly that no one should possibly be able to recognize the +smallest resemblance in me to the late Fabio Romani, either by look, +voice, or trick of manner. I had always worn a mustache--it had turned +white in company with my hair. I now allowed my beard to grow--it came +out white also. But in contrast with these contemporary signs of age, +my face began to fill up and look young again; my eyes, always large +and dark, resumed their old flashing, half-defiant look--a look, which +it seemed to me, would make some familiar suggestion to those who had +once known me as I was before I died. Yes--they spoke of things that +must be forgotten and unuttered; what should I do with these tell-tale +eyes of mine? + +I thought, and soon decided. Nothing was easier than to feign weak +sight-sight that was dazzled by the heat and brilliancy of the +southern sunshine, I would wear smoke-colored glasses. I bought them +as soon as the idea occurred to me, and alone in my room before the +mirror I tried their effect. I was satisfied; they perfectly +completed the disguise of my face. With them and my white hair and +beard, I looked like a well-preserved man of fifty-five or so, whose +only physical ailment was a slight affection of the eyes. + +The next thing to alter was my voice. I had, naturally, a peculiarly +soft voice and a rapid, yet clear, enunciation, and it was my habit, +as it is the habit of almost every Italian, to accompany my words +with the expressive pantomime of gesture. I took myself in training +as an actor studies for a particular part. I cultivated a harsh +accent, and spoke with deliberation and coldness--occasionally with +a sort of sarcastic brusquerie, carefully avoiding the least +movement of hands or head during converse. This was exceedingly +difficult of attainment to me, and took me an infinite deal of time +and trouble; but I had for my model a middle-aged Englishman who was +staying in the same hotel as myself, and whose starched stolidity +never relaxed for a single instant. He was a human iceberg-- +perfectly respectable, with that air of decent gloom about him which +is generally worn by all the sons of Britain while sojourning in a +foreign clime. I copied his manners as closely as possible; I kept +my mouth shut with the same precise air of not-to-be-enlightened +obstinacy--I walked with the same upright drill demeanor--and I +surveyed the scenery with the same superior contempt. I knew I had +succeeded at last, for I overheard a waiter speaking of me to his +companion as "the white bear!" + +One other thing I did. I wrote a courteous note to the editor of the +principal newspaper published in Naples--a newspaper that I knew +always found its way to the Villa Romani--and inclosing fifty +francs, I requested him to insert a paragraph for me in his next +issue, This paragraph was worded somewhat as follows: + +"The Signor Conte Cesare Oliva, a nobleman who has been for many +years absent from his native country, has, we understand, just +returned, possessed of almost fabulous wealth, and is about to +arrive in Naples, where he purposes making his home for the future. +The leaders of society here will no doubt welcome with enthusiasm so +distinguished an addition to the brilliant circles commanded by +their influence." + +The editor obeyed my wishes, and inserted what I sent him, word for +word as it was written. He sent me the paper containing it "with a +million compliments," but was discreetly silent concerning the fifty +francs, though I am certain he pocketed them with unaffected joy. +Had I sent him double the money, he might have been induced to +announce me as a king or emperor in disguise. Editors of newspapers +lay claim to be honorable men; they may be so in England, but in +Italy most of them would do anything for money. Poor devils! who can +blame them, considering how little they get by their limited +dealings in pen and ink! In fact, I am not at all certain but that a +few English newspaper editors might be found capable of accepting a +bribe, if large enough, and if offered with due delicacy. There are +surely one or two magazines, for instance, in London, that would not +altogether refuse to insert an indifferently, even badly written +article, if paid a thousand pounds down for doing it! + +On the last day but one of my sojourn in Palermo I was reclining in +an easy-chair at the window of the hotel smoking-room, looking out +on the shimmering waters of the gulf. It was nearly eight o'clock, +and though the gorgeous colors of the sunset still lingered in the +sky, the breeze blew in from the sea somewhat coldly, giving warning +of an approaching chilly night. The character I had adopted, namely +that of a somewhat harsh and cynical man who had seen life and did +not like it, had by constant hourly practice become with me almost +second nature--indeed, I should have had some difficulty in +returning to the easy and thoughtless abandon of my former self. I +had studied the art of being churlish till I really WAS churlish; I +had to act the chief character in a drama, and I knew my part +thoroughly well. I sat quietly puffing at my cigar and thinking of +nothing in particular--for, as far as my plans went, I had done with +thought, and all my energies were strung up to action--when I was +startled by a loud and increasing clamor, as of the shouting of a +large crowd coming onward like an overflowing tide. I leaned out of +the window, but could see nothing, and I was wondering what the +noise could mean, when an excited waiter threw open the door of the +smoking-room and cried, breathlessly: + +"Carmelo Neri, signor! Carmelo Neri! They have him, poverino! they +have him at last!" + +Though almost as strongly interested in this news as the waiter +himself, I did not permit my interest to become manifest. I never +forgot for a second the character I had assumed, and drawing the +cigar slowly from my lips I merely said: + +"Then they have caught a great rascal. I congratulate the +Government! Where is the fellow?" + +"In the great square," returned the garcon, eagerly. "If the signor +would walk round the corner he would see Carmelo, bound and +fettered. The saints have mercy upon him! The crowds there are thick +as flies round a honeycomb! I must go thither myself--I would not +miss the sight for a thousand francs!" + +And he ran off, as full of the anticipated delight of looking at a +brigand as a child going to its first fair. I put on my hat and +strolled leisurely round to the scene of excitement. It was a +picturesque sight enough; the square was black with a sea of eager +heads, and restless, gesticulating figures, and the center of this +swaying, muttering crowd was occupied by a compact band of mounted +gendarmes with drawn swords flashing in the pale evening light--both +horses and men nearly as motionless as though castin bronze. They +were stationed opposite the head-quarters of the Carabinieri, where +the chief officer of the party had dismounted to make his formal +report respecting the details of the capture before proceeding +further. Between these armed and watchful guards, with his legs +strapped to a sturdy mule, his arms tied fast behind him, and his +hands heavily manacled, was the notorious Neri, as dark and fierce +as a mountain thunder-storm. His head was uncovered--his thick hair, +long and unkempt, hung in matted locks upon his shoulders--his heavy +mustachios and beard were so black and bushy that they almost +concealed his coarse and forbidding features--though I could see the +tiger-like glitter of his sharp white teeth as he bit and gnawed his +under lip in impotent fury and despair--and his eyes, like leaping +flames, blazed with a wrathful ferocity from under his shaggy brows. +He was a huge, heavy man, broad and muscular; his two hands +clinched, tied and manacled behind him, looked like formidable +hammers capable of striking a man down dead at one blow; his whole +aspect was repulsive and terrible--there was no redeeming point +about him--for even the apparent fortitude he assumed was mere +bravado--meretricious courage--which the first week of the galleys +would crush out of him as easily as one crushes the juice out of a +ripe grape. He wore a nondescript costume of vari-colored linen, +arranged in folds that would have been the admiration of an artist. +It was gathered about him by means of a brilliant scarlet sash +negligently tied. His brawny arms were bare to the shoulder--his +vest was open, and displayed his strong brown throat and chest +heaving with the pent-up anger and fear that raged within him. His +dark grim figure was set off by a curious effect of color in the +sky--a long wide band of crimson cloud, as though the sun-god had +thrown down a goblet of ruby wine and left it to trickle along the +smooth blue fairness of his palace floor--a deep after-glow, which +burned redly on the olive-tinted eager faces of the multitude that +were everywhere upturned in wonder and ill-judged admiration to the +brutal black face of the notorious murderer and thief, whose name +had for years been the terror of Sicily. I pressed through the crowd +to obtain a nearer view, and as I did so a sudden savage movement of +Neri's bound body caused the gendarmes to cross their swords in +front of his eyes with a warning clash. The brigand laughed +hoarsely. + +"Corpo di Cristo!" he muttered--"think you a man tied hand and foot +can run like a deer? I am trapped--I know it! But tell HIM," and he +indicated some person in the throng by a nod of his head "tell him +to come hither--I have a message for him." + +The gendarmes looked at one another, and then at the swaying crowd +about them in perplexity--they did not understand. + +Carmelo, without wasting more words upon them, raised himself as +uprightly as he could in his strained and bound position, and called +aloud: + +"Luigi Biscardi! Capitano! Oh he--you thought I could not see you! +Dio! I should know you in hell! Come near, I have a parting word for +you." + +At the sound of his strong harsh voice, a silence half of terror, +half of awe, fell upon the chattering multitude. There was a sudden +stir as the people made way for a young man to pass through their +ranks--a slight, tall, rather handsome fellow, with a pale face and +cold, sneering eyes. He was dressed with fastidious care and +neatness in the uniform of the Bersagliere--and he elbowed his way +along with the easy audacity of a privileged dandy. He came close up +to the brigand and spoke carelessly, with a slightly mocking smile +playing round the corners of his mouth. + +"Ebbene!" he said, "you are caught at last, Carmelo! You called me-- +here I am. What do you want with me, rascal?" + +Neri uttered a ferocious curse between his teeth, and looked for an +instant like a wild beast ready to spring. + +"You betrayed me," he said in fierce yet smothered accents--"you +followed me--you hunted me down! Teresa told me all. Yes--she +belongs to you now--you have got your wish. Go and take her--she +waits for you--make her speak and tell you how she loves you--IF YOU +CAN!" + +Something jeering and withal threatening in the ruffian's look, +evidently startled the young officer, for he exclaimed hastily: + +"What do you mean, wretch? You have not--my God! you have not KILLED +her?" + +Carmelo broke into a loud savage laugh. + +"She has killed herself!" he cried, exultingly. "Ha, ha, I thought +you would wince at that! She snatched my knife and stabbed herself +with it! Yes--rather than see your lying white face again--rather +than feel your accursed touch! Find her--she lies dead and smiling +up there in the mountains and her last kiss was for ME--for ME--you +understand! Now go! and may the devil curse you!" + +Again the gendarmes clashed their swords suggestively--and the +brigand resumed his sullen attitude of suppressed wrath and feigned +indifference. But the man to whom he had spoken staggered and seemed +about to fall--his pale face grew paler--he moved away through the +curious open-eyed by-standers with the mechanical air of one who +knows not whether he be alive or dead. He had evidently received an +unexpected shock--a wound that pierced deeply and would be a long +time healing. + +I approached the nearest gendarme and slipped a five-franc piece +into his hand. + +"May one speak?" I asked, carelessly. The man hesitated. + +"For one instant, signor. But be brief." + +I addressed the brigand in a low clear-tone. + +"Have you any message for one Andrea Luziani? I am a friend of his." + +He looked at me and a dark smile crossed his features. + +"Andrea is a good soul. Tell him if you will that Teresa is dead. I +am worse than dead. He will know that I did not kill Teresa. I could +not! She had the knife in her breast before I could prevent her. It +is better so." + +"She did that rather than become the property of another man?" I +queried. + +Carmelo Neri nodded in acquiescence. Either my sight deceived me, or +else this abandoned villain had tears glittering in the depth of his +wicked eyes. + +The gendarme made me a sign, and I withdrew. Almost at the same +moment the officer in command of the little detachment appeared, his +spurs clinking with measured metallic music on the hard stones of +the pavement--he sprung into his saddle and gave the word--the crowd +dispersed to the right and left--the horses were put to a quick +trot, and in a few moments the whole party with the bulky frowning +form of the brigand in their midst had disappeared. The people broke +up into little groups talking excitedly of what had occurred, and +scattered here and there, returning to their homes and occupations-- +and more swiftly than one could have imagined possible, the great +square was left almost empty. I paced up and down for awhile +thinking deeply; I had before my mind's eye the picture of the +slight fair Teresa as described by the Sicilian captain, lying dead +in the solitudes of the Montemaggiore with that self-inflicted wound +in her breast which had set her free of all men's love and +persecution. There WERE some women then who preferred death to +infidelity? Strange! very strange! common women of course they must +be--such as this brigand's mistress; your daintily fed, silk-robed +duchess would find a dagger somewhat a vulgar consoler--she would +rather choose a lover, or better still a score of lovers. It is only +brute ignorance that selects a grave instead of dishonor--modern +education instructs us more wisely, and teaches us not to be over- +squeamish about such a trifle as breaking a given word or promise. +Blessed age of progress! Age of steady advancement when the apple of +vice is so cunningly disguised and so prettily painted that we can +actually set it on a porcelain dish and hand it about among our +friends as a valuable and choice fruit of virtue--and no one finds +out the fraud we are practicing, nay, we scarcely perceive it +ourselves, it is such an excellent counterfeit! + +As I walked to and fro, I found myself continually passing the head +office of the Carabinieri, and, acting on a sudden impulse of +curiosity, I at last entered the building, determined to ask for a +few particulars concerning the brigand's capture. I was received by +a handsome and intelligent-looking man, who glanced at the card with +which I presented myself, and saluted me with courteous affability. + +"Oh, yes!" he said, in answer to my inquiries, "Neri has given us a +great deal of trouble. But we had our suspicions that he had left +Gaeta, where he was for a time in hiding. A few stray bits of +information gleaned here and there put us on the right track." + +"Was he caught easily, or did he show fight?" + +"He gave himself up like a lamb, signor! It happened in this way. +One of our men followed the woman who lived with Neri, one Teresa, +and traced her up to a certain point, the corner of a narrow +mountain pass--where she disappeared. He reported this, and +thereupon we sent out an armed party. These crept at midnight two by +two, till they were formed in a close ring round the place where +Neri was judged to be. With the first beam of morning they rushed in +upon him and took him prisoner. It appears that he showed no +surprise--he merely said, 'I expected you!' He was found sitting by +the dead body of his mistress; she was stabbed and newly bleeding. +No doubt he killed her, though he swears the contrary--lies are as +easy to him as breathing." + +"But where were his comrades? I thought he commanded a large band?" + +"So he did, signor; and we caught three of the principals only a +fortnight ago, but of the others no trace can be found. I suppose +Carmelo himself dismissed them and sent them far and wide through +the country. At any rate, they are disbanded, and with these sort of +fellows, where there is no union there is no danger." + +"And Neri's sentence?" I asked. + +"Oh, the galleys for life of course; there is no possible +alternative." + +I thanked my informant, and left the office. I was glad to have +learned these few particulars, for the treasure I had discovered in +my own family vault was now more mine than ever. There was not the +remotest chance of any one of the Neri band venturing so close to +Naples in search of it, and I thought with a grim smile that had the +brigand chief himself known the story of my wrongs, he would most +probably have rejoiced to think that his buried wealth was destined +to aid me in carrying out so elaborate a plan of vengeance. All +difficulties smoothed themselves before me--obstacles were taken out +of my path--my way was made perfectly clear--each trifling incident +was a new finger-post pointing out the direct road that led me to +the one desired end. God himself seemed on my side, as He is surely +ever on the side of justice! Let not the unfaithful think that +because they say long prayers or go regularly and devoutly to church +with meek faces and piously folded hands that the Eternal Wisdom is +deceived thereby. My wife could pray--she could kneel like a lovely +saint in the dim religious light of the sacred altars, her deep eyes +upturned to the blameless, infinitely reproachful Christ--and look +you! each word she uttered was a blasphemy, destined to come back +upon herself as a curse. Prayer is dangerous for liars--it is like +falling willfully on an upright naked sword. Used as an honorable +weapon the sword defends--snatched up as the last resource of a +coward it kills. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The third week of September was drawing to its close when I returned +to Naples. The weather had grown cooler, and favorable reports of +the gradual decrease of the cholera began to gain ground with the +suffering and terrified population. Business was resumed as usual, +pleasure had again her votaries, and society whirled round once more +in its giddy waltz as though it had never left off dancing. I +arrived in the city somewhat early in the day, and had time to make +some preliminary arrangements for my plan of action. I secured the +most splendid suite of apartments in the best hotel, impressing the +whole establishment with a vast idea of my wealth and importance. I +casually mentioned to the landlord that I desired to purchase a +carriage and horses--that I needed a first-class valet, and a few +other trifles of the like sort, and added that I relied on his good +advice and recommendation as to the places where I should best +obtain all that I sought. Needless to say, he became my slave--never +was monarch better served than I--the very waiters hustled each +other in a race to attend upon me, and reports of my princely +fortune, generosity, and lavish expenditure, began to flit from +mouth to month--which was the result I desired to obtain. + +And now the evening of my first day in Naples came, and I, the +supposed Conte Cesare Oliva, the envied and flattered noble, took +the first step toward my vengeance. It was one of the loveliest +evenings possible, even in that lovely land--a soft breeze blew in +from the sea--the sky was pearl-like and pure as an opal, yet bright +with delicate shifting clouds of crimson and pale mauve--small, +fleecy flecks of Radiance, that looked like a shower of blossoms +fallen from some far invisible flower-land. The waters of the bay +were slightly ruffled by the wind, and curled into tender little +dark-blue waves tipped with light forges of foam. After my dinner I +went out and took my way to a well-known and popular cafe which used +to be a favorite haunt of mine in the days when I was known as Fabio +Romani, Guido Ferrari was a constant habitue of the place, and I +felt that I should find him there. The brilliant rose-white and gold +saloons were crowded, and owing to the pleasant coolness of the air +there were hundreds of little tables pushed far out into the street, +at which groups of persons were seated, enjoying ices, wine, or +coffee, and congratulating each other on the agreeable news of the +steady decrease of the pestilence that had ravaged the city. I +glanced covertly yet quickly round. Yes! I was not mistaken--there +was my quondam friend, my traitorous foe, sitting at his ease, +leaning comfortably back in one chair, his feet put up on another. +He was smoking, and glancing now and then through the columns of the +Paris "Figaro." He was dressed entirely in black--a hypocritical +livery, the somber hue of which suited his fine complexion and +perfectly handsome features to admiration. On the little finger of +the shapely hand that every now and then was raised to adjust his +cigar, sparkled a diamond that gave out a myriad scintillations as +it flashed in the evening light--it was of exceptional size and +brilliancy, and even at a distance I recognized it as my own +property! + +So!--a love-gift, signor, or an in memoriam of the dear and valued +friend you have lost? I wondered--watching him in dark scorn the +while--then recollecting myself, I sauntered slowly toward him, and +perceiving a disengaged table next to his, I drew a chair to it and +sat down He looked at me in differently over the top of his +newspaper--but there was nothing specially attractive in the sight +of a white-haired man wearing smoke-colored spectacles, and he +resumed his perusal of the "Figaro" immediately. I rapped the end of +my walking-cane on the table and summoned a waiter from whom I +ordered coffee. I then lighted a cigar, and imitating Ferrari's easy +posture, smoked also. Something in my attitude then appeared to +strike him, for he laid down his paper and again looked at me, this +time with more interest and something of uneasiness. "Ca commence, +mon ami!" I thought, but I turned my head slightly aside and feigned +to be absorbed in the view. My coffee was brought--I paid for it and +tossed the waiter an unusually large gratuity--he naturally found it +incumbent upon him to polish my table with extra zeal, and to secure +all the newspapers, pictorial or otherwise, that were lying about, +for the purpose of obsequiously depositing them in a heap at my +right hand. I addressed this amiable garcon in the harsh and +deliberate accents of my carefully disguised voice. + +"By the way, I suppose you know Naples well?" + +"Oh, si, signor!" + +"Ebbene, can you tell me the way to the house of one Count Fabio +Romani, a wealthy nobleman of this city?" + +Ha! a good hit this time! Though apparently not looking at him I saw +Ferrari start as though he had been stung, and then compose himself +in his seat with an air of attention. The waiter meanwhile, in +answer to my question, raised his hands, eyes and shoulders all +together with a shrug expressive of resigned melancholy. + +"Ah, gran Dio! e morto!" + +"Dead!" I exclaimed, with a pretended start of shocked surprise. "So +young? Impossible!" + +"Eh! what will you, signor? It was la pesta; there was no remedy. La +pesta cares nothing for youth or age, and spares neither rich nor +poor." + +For a moment I leaned my head on my hand, affecting to be overcome +by the suddenness of the news. Then looking up, I said, regretfully: + +"Alas! I am too late! I was a friend of his father's. I have been +away for many years, and I had a great wish to meet the young Romani +whom I last saw as a child. Are there any relations of his living-- +was he married?" + +The waiter, whose countenance had assumed a fitting lugubriousness +in accordance with what he imagined were my feelings, brightened up +immediately as he replied eagerly: + +"Oh, si, signor! The Contessa Romani lives up at the villa, though I +believe she receives no one since her husband's death. She is young +and beautiful as an angel. There is a little child too." + +A hasty movement on the part of Ferrari caused me to turn my eyes, +or rather my spectacles, in his direction. He leaned forward, and +raising his hat with the old courteous grace I knew so well, said +politely: + +"Pardon me, signor, for interrupting you! I knew the late young +Count Romani well--perhaps better than any man in Naples. I shall be +delighted to afford you any information you may seek concerning +him." + +Oh, the old mellow music of his voice--how it struck on my heart and +pierced it like the refrain of a familiar song loved in the days of +our youth. For an instant I could not speak--wrath and sorrow choked +my utterance. Fortunately this feeling was but momentary--slowly I +raised my hat in response to his salutation, and answered stiffly: + +"I am your servant, signor. You will oblige me indeed if you can +place me in communication with the relatives of this unfortunate +young nobleman. The elder Count Romani was dearer to me than a +brother--men have such attachments occasionally. Permit me to +introduce myself," and I handed him my visiting-card with a slight +and formal bow. He accepted it, and as he read the name it bore he +gave me a quick glance of respect mingled with pleased surprise. + +"The Conte Cesare Oliva!" he exclaimed. "I esteem myself most +fortunate to have met you! Your arrival has already been notified to +us by the avant-courier of the fashionable intelligence, so that we +are well aware," here laughing lightly, "of the distinctive right +you have to a hearty welcome in Naples. I am only sorry that any +distressing news should have darkened the occasion of your return +here after so long an absence. Permit me to express the hope that it +may at least be the only cloud for you on our southern sunshine!" + +And he extended his hand with that ready frankness and bonhomie +which are always a part of the Italian temperament, and were +especially so of his. A cold shudder ran through my veins. God! +could I take his hand in mine? I must--if I would act my part +thoroughly--for should I refuse he would think it strange--even +rude--I should lose the game by one false move. With a forced smile +I hesitatingly held out my hand also--it was gloved, yet as he +clasped it heartily in his own the warm pressure burned through the +glove like fire. I could have cried out in agony, so excruciating +was the mental torture which I endured at that moment. But it +passed, the ordeal was over, and I knew that from henceforth I +should be able to shake hands with him as often and as indifferently +as with any other man. It was only this FIRST time that it galled me +to the quick. Ferrari noticed nothing of my emotion--he was in +excellent spirits, and turning to the waiter, who had lingered to +watch us make each other's acquaintance, he exclaimed: + +"More coffee, garcon, and a couple of glorias." Then looking toward +me, "You do not object to a gloria, conte? No? That is well. And +here is MY card," taking one from his pocket and laying it on the +table. "Guido Ferrari, at your service, an artist and a very poor +one. We shall celebrate our meeting by drinking each other's +health!" + +I bowed. The waiter vanished to execute his orders and Ferrari drew +his chair closer to mine. + +"I see you smoke," he said, gayly. "Can I offer you one of my +cigars? They are unusually choice. Permit me," and he proffered roe +a richly embossed and emblazoned silver cigar-case, with the Romani +arms and coronet and MY OWN INITIALS engraved thereon. It was mine, +of course--I took it with a sensation of grim amusement--I had not +seen it since the day I died! + +"A fine antique," I remarked, carelessly, turning it over and over +in my hand, "curious and valuable. A gift or an heirloom?" + +"It belonged to my late friend, Count Fabio," he answered, puffing a +light cloud of smoke in the air as he drew his cigar from his lips +to speak. "It was found in his pocket by the priest who saw him die. +That and other trifles which he wore on his person were delivered to +his wife, and--" + +"She naturally gave YOU the cigar-case as a memento of your friend," +I said, interrupting him. + +"Just so. You have guessed it exactly. Thanks," and he took the case +from me as I returned it to him with a frank smile. + +"Is the Countess Romani young?" I forced myself to inquire. + +"Young and beautiful as a midsummer morning!" replied Ferrari, with +enthusiasm. "I doubt if sunlight ever fell on a more enchanting +woman! If you were a young man, conte, I should be silent regarding +her charms--but your white hairs inspire one with confidence. I +assure you solemnly, though Fabio was my friend, and an excellent +fellow in his ways, he was never worthy of the woman he married!" + +"Indeed!" I said, coldly, as this dagger-thrust struck home to my +heart. "I only knew him when he was quite a boy. He seemed to me +then of a warm and loving temperament, generous to a fault, perhaps +over-credulous, yet he promised well. His father thought so, I +confess I thought so too. Reports have reached me from time to time +of the care with which he managed the immense fortune left to him. +He gave large sums away in charity, did he not? and was he not a +lover of books and simple pleasures?" + +"Oh, I grant you all that!" returned Ferrari, with some impatience. +"He was the most moral man in immoral Naples, if you care for that +sort of thing. Studious--philosophic--parfait gentilhomme--proud as +the devil, virtuous, unsuspecting, and--withal--a fool!" + +My temper rose dangerously--but I controlled it, and remembering my +part in the drama I had constructed, I broke into violent, harsh +laughter. + +"Bravo!" I exclaimed. "One can easily see what a first-rate young +fellow YOU are! You have no liking for moral men--ha, ha! excellent! +I agree with you. A virtuous man and a fool are synonyms nowadays. +Yes--I have lived long enough to know that! And here is our coffee-- +behold also the glorias! I drink your health with pleasure, Signor +Ferrari--you and I must be friends!" + +For one moment he seemed startled by my sudden outburst of mirth-- +the next, he laughed heartily himself, and as the waiter appeared +with the coffee and cognac, inspired by the occasion, he made an +equivocal, slightly indelicate joke concerning the personal charms +of a certain Antoinetta whom the garcon was supposed to favor with +an eye to matrimony. The fellow grinned, in nowise offended--and +pocketing fresh gratuities from both Ferrari and myself, departed on +new errands for other customers, apparently in high good humor with +himself, Antoinetta, and the world in general. Resuming the +interrupted conversation I said: + +"And this poor weak-minded Romani--was his death sudden?" + +"Remarkably so," answered Ferrari, leaning back in his chair, and +turning his handsome flushed face up to the sky where the stars were +beginning to twinkle out one by ones "it appears from all accounts +that he rose early and went out for a walk on one of those +insufferably hot August mornings, and at the furthest limit of the +villa grounds he came upon a fruit-seller dying of cholera. Of +course, with his quixotic ideas, he must needs stay and talk to the +boy, and then run like a madman through the heat into Naples, to +find a doctor for him. Instead of a physician he met a priest, and +he was taking this priest to the assistance of the fruit-seller (who +by the bye died in the meantime and was past all caring for) when he +himself was struck down by the plague. He was carried then and there +to a common inn, where in about five hours he died--all the time +shrieking curses on any one who should dare to take him alive or +dead inside his own house. He showed good sense in that at least-- +naturally he was anxious not to bring the contagion to his wife and +child." + +"Is the child a boy or a girl?" I asked, carelessly. + +"A girl. A mere baby--an uninteresting old-fashioned little thing, +very like her father." + +My poor little Stella. + +Every pulse of my being thrilled with indignation at the +indifferently chill way in which he, the man who had fondled her and +pretended to love her, now spoke of the child. She was, as far as he +knew, fatherless; he, no doubt, had good reason to suspect that her +mother cared little for her, and, I saw plainly that she was, or +soon would be, a slighted and friendless thing in the household. But +I made no remark--I sipped my cognac with an abstracted air for a +few seconds--then I asked: + +"How was the count buried? Your narrative interests me greatly." + +"Oh, the priest who was with him saw to his burial, and I believe, +was able to administer the last sacraments. At any rate, he had him +laid with all proper respect in his family vault--I myself was +present at the funeral." + +I started involuntarily, but quickly repressed myself. + +"YOU were present--YOU--YOU--" and my voice almost failed me. + +Ferrari raised his eyebrows with a look of surprised inquiry. + +"Of course! You are astonished at that? But perhaps you do not +understand. I was the count's very closest friend, closer than a +brother, I may say. It was natural, even necessary, that I should +attend his body to its last resting place." + +By this time I had recovered myself. + +"I see--I see!" I muttered, hastily. "Pray excuse me--my age renders +me nervous of disease in any form, and I should have thought the +fear of contagion might have weighed with you." + +"With ME!" and he laughed lightly. "I was never ill in my life, and +I have no dread whatever of cholera. I suppose I ran some risk, +though I never thought about it at the time--but the priest--one of +the Benedictine order--died the very next day." + +"Shocking!" I murmured over my coffee-cup. "Very shocking. And you +actually entertained no alarm for yourself?" + +"None in the least. To tell you the truth, I am armed against +contagious illnesses, by a conviction I have that I am not doomed to +die of any disease. A prophecy"--and here a cloud crossed his +features--"an odd prophecy was made about me when I was born, which, +whether it comes true or not, prevents me from panic in days of +plague." + +"Indeed!" I said, with interest, for this was news to me. "And may +one ask what this prophecy is?" + +"Oh, certainly. It is to the effect that I shall die a violent death +by the hand of a once familiar friend. It was always an absurd +statement--an old nurse's tale--but it is now more absurd than ever, +considering that the only friend of the kind I ever had or am likely +to have is dead and buried--namely, Fabio Romani." + +And he sighed slightly. I raised my head and looked at him steadily. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The sheltering darkness of the spectacles I wore prevented him from +noticing the searching scrutiny of my fixed gaze. His face was +shadowed by a faint tinge of melancholy; his eyes were thoughtful +and almost sad. + +"You loved him well then in spite of his foolishness?" I said. + +He roused himself from the pensive mood into which he had fallen, +and smiled. + +"Loved him? No! Certainly not--nothing so strong as that! I liked +him fairly--he bought several pictures of me--a poor artist has +always some sort of regard for the man who buys his work. Yes, I +liked him well enough--till he married." + +"Ha! I suppose his wife came between you?" He flushed slightly, and +drank off the remainder of his cognac in haste. + +"Yes," he replied, briefly, "she came between us. A man is never +quite the same after marriage. But we have been sitting a long time +here--shall we walk?" + +He was evidently anxious to change the subject I rose slowly as +though my joints were stiff with age, and drew out my watch, a +finely jeweled one, to see the time. It was past nine o'clock. + +"Perhaps," I said, addressing him, "you will accompany me as far as +my hotel. I am compelled to retire early as a rule--I suffer much +from a chronic complaint of the eyes as you perceive," here touching +my spectacles, "and I cannot endure much artificial light. We can +talk further on our way. Will you give me a chance of seeing your +pictures? I shall esteem myself happy to be one of your patrons." + +"A thousand thanks!" he answered, gayly. "I will show you my poor +attempts with pleasure. Should you find anything among them to +gratify your taste, I shall of course be honored. But, thank Heaven! +I am not as greedy of patronage as I used to be--in fact I intended +resigning the profession altogether in about six months or so." + +"Indeed! Are you coming into a fortune?" I asked, carelessly. + +"Well--not exactly," he answered, lightly. "I am going to marry +one--that is almost the same thing, is it not?" + +"Precisely! I congratulate you!" I said, in a studiously indifferent +and slightly bored tone, though my heart pulsed fiercely with the +torrent of wrath pent up within it. I understood his meaning well. +In six months he proposed marrying my wife. Six months was the +shortest possible interval that could be observed, according to +social etiquette, between the death of one husband and the wedding +of another, and even that was so short as to be barely decent. Six +months--yet in that space of time much might happen--things +undreamed of and undesired--slow tortures carefully measured out, +punishment sudden and heavy! Wrapped in these sombre musings I +walked beside him in profound silence. The moon shone brilliantly; +groups of girls danced on the shore with their lovers, to the sound +of a flute and mandoline--far off across the bay the sound of sweet +and plaintive singing floated from some boat in the distance, to our +ears--the evening breathed of beauty, peace and love. But I--my +fingers quivered with restrained longing to be at the throat of the +graceful liar who sauntered so easily and confidently beside me. Ah! +Heaven, if he only knew! If he could have realized the truth, would +his face have worn quite so careless a smile--would his manner have +been quite so free and dauntless? Stealthily I glanced at him; he +was humming a tune softly under his breath, but feeling +instinctively, I suppose, that my eyes were upon him, he interrupted +the melody and turned to me with the question: + +"You have traveled far and seen much, conte!" + +"I have." + +"And in what country have you found the most beautiful women!" + +"Pardon me, young sir," I answered, coldly, "the business of life +has separated me almost entirely from feminine society. I have +devoted myself exclusively to the amassing of wealth, understanding +thoroughly that gold is the key to all things, even to woman's love; +if I desired that latter commodity, which I do not. I fear that I +scarcely know a fair face from a plain one--I never was attracted by +women, and now at my age, with my settled habits, I am not likely to +alter my opinion concerning them--and I frankly confess those +opinions are the reverse of favorable." + +Ferrari laughed. "You remind me of Fabio!" he said. "He used to talk +in that strain before he was married--though he was young and had +none of the experiences which may have made you cynical, conte! But +he altered his ideas very rapidly--and no wonder!" + +"Is his wife so very lovely then?" I asked. + +"Very! Delicately, daintily beautiful. But no doubt you will see her +for yourself--as a friend of her late husband's father, you will +call upon her, will you not?" + +"Why should I?" I said, gruffly--"I have no wish to meet her! +Besides, an inconsolable widow seldom cares to receive visitors--I +shall not intrude upon her sorrows!" + +Never was there a better move than this show of utter indifference I +affected. The less I appeared to care about seeing the Countess +Romani, the more anxious Ferrari was to introduce me--(introduce +me!--to my wife!)--and he set to work preparing his own doom with +assiduous ardor. + +"Oh, but you must see her!" he exclaimed, eagerly. "She will receive +you, I am sure, as a special guest. Your age and your former +acquaintance with her late husband's family will win from her the +utmost courtesy, believe me! Besides, she is not really +inconsolable--" He paused suddenly. We had arrived at the entrance +of my hotel. I looked at him steadily. + +"Not really inconsolable?" I repeated, in a tone of inquiry ferrari +broke into a forced laugh, + +"Why no!" he said, "What would you? She is young and light-hearted-- +perfectly lovely and in the fullness of youth and health. One cannot +expect her to weep long, especially for a man she did not care for." + +I ascended the hotel steps. "Pray come in!" I said, with an inviting +movement of my hand. "You must take a glass of wine before you +leave. And so--she did not care for him, you say?" + +Encouraged by my friendly invitation and manner, Ferrari became more +at this ease than ever, and hooking his arm through mine as we +crossed the broad passage of the hotel together, he replied in a +confidential tone: + +"My dear conte, how CAN a woman love a man who is forced upon her by +her father for the sake of the money he gives her? As I told you +before, my late friend was utterly insensible to the beauty of his +wife--he was cold as a stone, and preferred his books. Then +naturally she had no love for him!" + +By this time we had reached my apartments, and as I threw open the +door, I saw that Ferrari was taking in with a critical eye the +costly fittings and luxurious furniture. In answer to this last +remark, I said with a chilly smile: + +"And as _I_ told YOU before, my dear Signor Ferarri, I know nothing +whatever about women, and care less than nothing for their loves or +hatreds! I have always thought of them more or less as playful +kittens, who purr when they are stroked the right way, and scream and +scratch when their tails are trodden on. Try this Montepulciano!" + +He accepted the glass I proffered him, and tasted the wine with the +air of a connoisseur. + +"Exquisite!" he murmured, sipping it lazily. "You are lodged en +prince here, conte! I envy you!" + +"You need not," I answered. "You have youth and health, and--as you +have hinted to me--love; all these things are better than wealth, so +people say. At any rate, youth and health are good things--love I +have no belief in. As for me, I am a mere luxurious animal, loving +comfort and ease beyond anything. I have had many trials--I now take +my rest in my own fashion." + +"A very excellent and sensible fashion!" smiled Ferrari, leaning his +head easily back on the satin cushions of the easy-chair into which +he had thrown himself. + +"Do you know, conte, now I look at you well, I think you must have +been very handsome when you were young! You have a superb figure.'" + +I bowed stiffly. "You flatter me, signor! I believe I never was +specially hideous--but looks in a man always rank second to +strength, and of strength I have plenty yet remaining." + +"I do not doubt it," he returned, still regarding me attentively +with an expression in which there was the faintest shadow of +uneasiness. + +"It is an odd coincidence, you will say, but I find a most +extraordinary resemblance in the height and carriage of your figure +to that of my late friend Romani." + +I poured some wine out for myself with a steady hand, and drank it. + +"Really?" I answered. "I am glad that I remind you of him--if the +reminder is agreeable! But all tall men are much alike so far as +figure goes, providing they are well made." + +Ferrari's brow was contracted in a musing frown and he answered not. +He still looked at me, and I returned his look without embarrassment. +Finally he roused himself, smiled, and finished drinking his glass of +Montepulciano. Then he rose to go. + +"You will permit me to mention your name to the Countess Romani, I +hope?" he said, cordially. "I am certain she will receive you, +should you desire it." + +I feigned a sort of vexation, and made an abrupt movement of +impatience. + +"The fact is," I said, at last, "I very much dislike talking to +women. They are always illogical, and their frivolity wearies me. +But you have been so friendly that I will give you a message for the +countess--if you have no objection to deliver it. I should be sorry +to trouble you unnecessarily--and you perhaps will not have an +opportunity of seeing her for some days?" + +He colored slightly and moved uneasily. Then with a kind of effort, +he replied: + +"On the contrary, I am going to see her this very evening. I assure +you it will be a pleasure to me to convey to her any greeting you +may desire to send." + +"Oh, it is no greeting," I continued, calmly, noting the various +signs of embarrassment in his manner with a careful eye. "It is a +mere message, which, however, may enable you to understand why I was +anxious to see the young man who is dead. In my very early manhood +the elder Count Romani did me an inestimable service. I never forgot +his kindness--my memory is extraordinarily tenacious of both +benefits and injuries--and I have always desired to repay it in some +suitable manner. I have with me a few jewels of almost priceless +value--I have myself collected them, and I reserved them as a +present to the son of my old friend, simply as a trifling souvenir +or expression of gratitude for past favors received from his family. +His sudden death has deprived me of the pleasure of fulfilling this +intention--but as the jewels are quite useless to me, I am perfectly +willing to hand them over to the Countess Romani, should she care to +have them. They would have been hers had her husband lived--they +should be hers now. If you, signor, will report these facts to her +and learn her wishes with respect to the matter, I shall be much +indebted to you." + +"I shall be delighted to obey you," replied Ferrari, courteously, +rising at the same time to take his leave. "I am proud to be the +bearer of so pleasing an errand. Beautiful women love jewels, and +who shall blame them? Bright eyes and diamonds go well together! A +rivederci, Signer Conte! I trust we shall meet often." + +"I have no doubt we shall," I answered, quietly. + +He shook hands cordially--I responded to his farewell salutations +with the brief coldness which was now my habitual manner, and we +parted. From the window of my saloon I could see him sauntering +easily down the hotel steps and from thence along the street. How I +cursed him as he stepped jauntily on--how I hated his debonair grace +and easy manner! I watched the even poise of his handsome head and +shoulders, I noted the assured tread, the air of conscious vanity-- +the whole demeanor of the man bespoke his perfect self-satisfaction +and his absolute confidence in the brightness of the future that +awaited him when that stipulated six months of pretended mourning +for my untimely death should have expired. Once, as he walked on his +way, he turned and paused--looking back--he raised his hat to enjoy +the coolness of the breeze on his forehead and hair. The light of +the moon fell full on his features and showed them in profile, like +a finely-cut cameo against the dense dark-blue background of the +evening sky. I gazed at him with a sort of grim fascination--the +fascination of a hunter for the stag when it stands at bay, just +before he draws his knife across its throat. He was in my power--he +had deliberately thrown himself in the trap I had set for him. He +lay at the mercy of one in whom there was no mercy. He had said and +done nothing to deter me from my settled plans. Had he shown the +least tenderness of recollection for me as Fabio Romani, his friend +and benefactor--had he hallowed my memory by one generous word--had +he expressed one regret for my loss--I might have hesitated, I might +have somewhat changed my course of action so that punishment should +have fallen more lightly on him than on her. For I knew well enough +that she, my wife, was the worst sinner of the two. Had SHE chosen +to respect herself, not all the forbidden love in the world could +have touched her honor. Therefore, the least sign of compunction or +affection from Ferrari for me, his supposed dead friend, would have +turned the scale in his favor, and in spite of his treachery, +remembering how SHE must have encouraged him, I would at least have +spared him torture. But no sign had been given, no word had been +spoken, there was no need for hesitation or pity, and I was glad of +it! All this I thought as I watched him standing bareheaded in the +moonlight, on his way to--whom? To my wife, of course. I knew that +well enough. He was going to console her widow's tears--to soothe +her aching heart--a good Samaritan in very earnest! He moved, he +passed slowly out of my sight. I waited till I had seen the last +glimpse of his retreating figure, and then I left the window +satisfied with my day's work. Vengeance had begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Quite early in the next day Ferrari called to see me. I was at +breakfast--he apologized for disturbing me at the meal. + +"But," he explained, frankly, "the Countess Romani laid such urgent +commands upon me that I was compelled to obey. We men are the slaves +of women!" + +"Not always," I said, dryly, as I motioned him to take a seat-- +"there are exceptions--myself for instance. Will you have some +coffee?" + +"Thanks, I have already breakfasted. Pray do not let me be in your +way, my errand is soon done. The countess wishes me to say--" + +"You saw her last night?" I interrupted him. + +He flushed slightly. "Yes--that is--for a few minutes only. I gave +her your message. She thanks you, and desires me to tell you that +she cannot think of receiving the jewels unless you will first honor +her by a visit. She is not at home to ordinary callers in +consequence of her recent bereavement--but to you, so old a friend +of her husband's family, a hearty welcome will be accorded." + +I bowed stiffly. "I am extremely flattered!" I said, in a somewhat +sarcastical tone, "it is seldom I receive so tempting an invitation! +I regret that I cannot accept it--at least, not at present. Make my +compliments to the lady, and tell her so in whatever sugared form of +words you may think best fitted to please her ears." + +He looked surprised and puzzled. + +"Do you really mean," he said, with a tinge of hauteur in his +accents, "that you will not visit her--that you refuse her request?" + +I smiled. "I really mean, my dear Signor Ferrari, that, being always +accustomed to have my own way, I can make no exception in favor of +ladies, however fascinating they may be. I have business in Naples-- +it claims my first and best attention. When it is transacted I may +possibly try a few frivolities for a change--at present I am unfit +for the society of the fair sex--an old battered traveler as you +see, brusque, and unaccustomed to polite lying. But I promise you I +will practice suave manners and a court bow for the countess when I +can spare time to call upon her. In the meanwhile I trust to you to +make her a suitable and graceful apology for my non-appearance." + +Ferrari's puzzled and vexed expression gave way to a smile--finally +he laughed aloud. "Upon my word!" he exclaimed, gayly, "you are +really a remarkable man, conte! You are extremely cynical! I am +almost inclined to believe that you positively hate women." + +"Oh, by no means! Nothing so strong as hatred," I said, coolly, as I +peeled and divided a fine peach as a finish to my morning's meal. +"Hatred is a strong passion--to hate well one must first have loved. +No, no--I do not find women worth hating--I am simply indifferent to +them. They seem to me merely one of the burdens imposed on man's +existence--graceful, neatly packed, light burdens in appearance, but +in truth, terribly heavy and soul-crushing." + +"Yet many accept such burdens gayly!" interrupted Ferrari, with a +smile. I glanced at him keenly. + +"Men seldom attain the mastery over their own passions," I replied; +"they are in haste to seize every apparent pleasure that comes in +their way, Led by a hot animal impulse which they call love, they +snatch at a woman's beauty as a greedy school-boy snatches ripe +fruit--and when possessed, what is it worth? Here is its emblem"-- +and I held up the stone of the peach I had just eaten--"the fruit is +devoured--what remains? A stone with a bitter kernel." + +Ferrari shrugged his shoulders. + +"I cannot agree with you, count," he said; "but I will not argue +with you. From your point of view you may be right--but when one is +young, and life stretches before you like a fair pleasure-ground, +love and the smile of woman are like sunlight falling on flowers! +You too must have felt this--in spite of what you say, there must +have been a time in your life when you also loved!" + +"Oh, I have had my fancies, of course!" I answered, with an +indifferent laugh. "The woman I fancied turned out to be a saint--I +was not worthy of her--at least, so I was told. At any rate, I was +so convinced of her virtue and my own unworthiness--that--I left +her." + +He looked surprised. "An odd reason, surely, for resigning her, was +it not?" + +"Very odd--very unusual--but a sufficient one for me. Pray let us +talk of something more interesting--your pictures, for instance. +When may I see them?" + +"When you please," he answered, readily--"though I fear they are +scarcely worth a visit. I have not worked much lately. I really +doubt whether I have any that will merit your notice." + +"You underrate your powers, signor," I said with formal politeness. +"Allow me to call at your studio this afternoon. I have a few minutes +to spare between three and four o'clock, if that time will suit you." + +"It will suit me admirably," he said, with a look of gratification; +"but I fear you will be disappointed. I assure you I am no artist." + +I smiled. I knew that well enough. But I made no reply to his +remark--I said, "Regarding the matter of the jewels for the Countess +Romani--would you care to see them?" + +"I should indeed," he answered; "they are unique specimens, I +think?" + +"I believe so," I answered, and going to an escritoire in the corner +of the room, I unlocked it and took out a massive carved oaken +jewel-chest of square shape, which I had had made in Palermo. It +contained a necklace of large rubies and diamonds, with bracelets to +match, and pins of their hair--also a sapphire ring--a cross of fine +rose-brilliants, and the pearl pendant I had first found in the +vault. All the gems, with the exception of this pendant, had been +reset by a skillful jeweler in Palermo, who had acted under my +superintendence--and Ferrari uttered an exclamation of astonishment +and admiration as he lifted the glittering toys out one by one and +noted the size and brilliancy of the precious stones. + +"They are trifles," I said, carelessly--"but they may please a +woman's taste--and they amount to a certain fixed value. You would +do me a great service if you consented to take them to the Contessa +Romani for me--tell her to accept them as heralds of my forthcoming +visit. I am sure you will know how to persuade her to take what +would unquestionably have been hers had her husband lived. They are +really her property--she must not refuse to receive what is her +own." + +Ferrari hesitated and looked at me earnestly. + +"You--WILL visit her--she may rely on your coming for a certainty, I +hope?" + +I smiled. "You seem very anxious about it. May I ask why?" + +"I think," he replied at once, "that it would embarrass the countess +very much if you gave her no opportunity to thank you for so +munificent and splendid a gift--and unless she knew she could do so, +I am certain she would not accept it." + +"Make yourself quite easy," I answered. "She shall thank me to her +heart's content. I give you my word that within a few days I will +call upon the lady--in fact you said you would introduce me--I +accept your offer!" + +He seemed delighted, and seizing my hand, shook it cordidially. + +"Then in that case I will gladly take the jewels to her," he +exclaimed. "And I may say, count, that had you searched the whole +world over, you could not have found one whose beauty was more +fitted to show them off to advantage. I assure you her loveliness is +of a most exquisite character!" + +"No doubt!" I said, dryly. "I take your word for it. I am no judge +of a fair face or form. And now, my good friend, do not think me +churlish if I request you leave me in solitude for the present. +Between three and four o'clock I shall be at your studio." + +He rose at once to take his leave. I placed the oaken box of jewels +in the leathern case which had been made to contain it, strapped and +locked it, and handed it to him together with its key. He was +profuse in his compliments and thanks--almost obsequious, in truth-- +and I discovered another defect in his character--a defect which, as +his friend in former days, I had guessed nothing of. I saw that very +little encouragement would make him a toady--a fawning servitor on +the wealthy--and in our old time of friendship I had believed him to +be far above all such meanness, but rather of a manly, independent +nature that scorned hypocrisy. Thus we are deluded even by our +nearest and dearest--and is it well or ill for us, I wonder, when we +are at last undeceived? Is not the destruction of illusion worse +than illusion itself? I thought so, as my quondam friend clasped my +hand in farewell that morning. What would I not have given to +believe in him as I once did! I held open the door of my room as he +passed out, carrying the box of jewels for my wife, and as I bade +him a brief adieu, the well-worn story of Tristram and Kind Mark +came to my mind. He, Guido, like Tristram, would in a short space +clasp the gemmed necklace round the throat of one as fair and false +as the fabled Iseulte, and I--should I figure as the wronged king? +How does the English laureate put it in his idyl on the subject? + +"'Mark's way,' said Mark, and clove him through the brain." + +Too sudden and sweet a death by far for such a traitor! The Cornish +king should have known how to torture his betrayer! I knew--and I +meditated deeply on every point of my design, as I sat alone for an +hour after Ferrari had left me. I had many things to do--I had +resolved on making myself a personage of importance in Naples, and I +wrote several letters and sent out visiting-cards to certain well- +established families of distinction as necessary preliminaries to +the result I had in view. That day, too, I engaged a valet--a silent +and discreet Tuscan named Vincenzo Flamma. He was an admirably +trained servant--he never asked questions--was too dignified to +gossip, and rendered me instant and implicit obedience--in fact he +was a gentleman in his way, with far better manners than many who +lay claim to that title. He entered upon his duties at once, and +never did I know him to neglect the most trifling thing that could +add to my satisfaction or comfort. In making arrangements with him, +and in attending to various little matters of business, the hours +slipped rapidly away, and in the afternoon, at the time appointed, I +made my way to Ferrari's studio. I knew it of old--I had no need to +consult the card he had left with me on which the address was +written. It was a queer, quaintly built little place, situated at +the top of an ascending road--its windows commanded an extensive +view of the bay and the surrounding scenery. Many and many a happy +hour had I passed there before my marriage reading some favorite +book or watching Ferrari as he painted his crude landscapes and +figures, most of which I good-naturedly purchased as soon as +completed. The little porch over-grown with star-jasmine looked +strangely and sorrowfully familiar to my eyes, and my heart +experienced a sickening pang of regret for the past, as I pulled the +bell and heard the little tinkling sound to which I was so well +accustomed. Ferrari himself opened the door to me with eager +rapidity--he looked excited and radiant. + +"Come in, come in!" he cried with effusive cordiality. "You will +find everything in confusion, but pray excuse it. It is some time +since I had any visitors. Mind the steps, conte!--the place is +rather dark just here--every one stumbles at this particular +corner." + +So talking, and laughing as he talked, he escorted me up the short +narrow flight of stairs to the light airy room where he usually +worked. Glancing round it, I saw at once the evidences of neglect +and disorder--he had certainly not been there for many days, though +he had made an attempt to arrange it tastefully for my reception. On +the table stood a large vase of flowers grouped with artistic +elegance--I felt instinctively that my wife had put them there. I +noticed that Ferrari had begun nothing new--all the finished and +unfinished studies I saw I recognized directly. I seated myself in +an easy-chair and looked at my betrayer with a calmly critical eye. +He was what the English would call "got up for effect." Though in +black, he had donned a velvet coat instead of the cloth one he had +worn in the morning--he had a single white japonica in his +buttonhole--his face was pale and his eyes unusually brilliant. He +looked his best--I admitted it, and could readily understand how an +idle, pleasure-seeking feminine animal might be easily attracted by +the purely physical beauty of his form and features. I spoke a part +of my thoughts aloud. + +"You are not only an artist by profession, Signer Ferrari--you are +one also in appearance." + +He flushed slightly and smiled. + +"You are very amiable to say so," he replied, his pleased vanity +displaying itself at once in the expression of his face. "But I am +well aware that you flatter me. By the way, before I forget it, I +must tell you that I fulfilled your commission." + +"To the Countess Romani?" + +"Exactly. I cannot describe to you her astonishment and delight at +the splendor and brilliancy of those jewels you sent her. It was +really pretty to watch her innocent satisfaction." + +I laughed. + +"Marguerite and the jewel song in 'Faust,' I suppose, with new +scenery and effects?" I asked, with a slight sneer. He bit his lip +and looked annoyed. But he answered, quietly: + +"I see you must have your joke, conte; but remember that if you +place the countess in the position of Marguerite, you, as the giver +of the jewels, naturally play the part of Mephistopheles." + +"And you will be Faust, of course!" I said, gayly. "Why, we might +mount the opera with a few supernumeraries and astonish Naples by +our performance! What say you? But let us come to business. I like +the picture you have on the easel there--may I see it more closely?" + +He drew it nearer; it was a showy landscape with the light of the +sunset upon it. It was badly done, but I praised it warmly, and +purchased it for five hundred francs. Four other sketches of a +similar nature were then produced. I bought these also. By the time +we got through these matters, Ferrari was in the best of humors. He +offered me some excellent wine and partook of it himself; he talked +incessantly, and diverted me extremely, though my inward amusement +was not caused by the witty brilliancy of his conversation. No, I +was only excited to a sense of savage humor by the novelty of the +position in which we two men stood. Therefore I listened to him +attentively, applauded his anecdotes--all of which I had heard +before--admired his jokes, and fooled his egotistical soul till he +had no shred of self-respect remaining. He laid his nature bare +before me--and I knew what it was at last--a mixture of selfishness, +avarice, sensuality, and heartlessness, tempered now and then by a +flash of good-nature and sympathetic attraction which were the mere +outcomes of youth and physical health--no more. This was the man I +had loved--this fellow who told coarse stories only worthy of a +common pot-house, and who reveled in a wit of a high and +questionable flavor; this conceited, empty-headed, muscular piece of +humanity was the same being for whom I had cherished so chivalrous +and loyal a tenderness! Our conversation was broken in upon at last +by the sound of approaching wheels. A carriage was heard ascending +the road--it came nearer--it stopped at the door. I set down the +glass of wine I had just raised to my lips, and looked at Ferrari +steadily. + +"You expect other visitors?" I inquired. + +He seemed embarrassed, smiled, and hesitated. + +"Well--I am not sure--but--" The bell rang. With a word of apology +Ferrari hurried away to answer it. I sprung from my chair--I knew--I +felt who was coming. I steadied my nerves by a strong effort. I +controlled the rapid beating of my heart; and fixing my dark glasses +more closely over my eyes, I drew myself up erect and waited calmly. +I heard Ferrari ascending the stairs--a light step accompanied his +heavier footfall--he spoke to his companion in whispers. Another +instant--and he flung the door of the studio wide open with the +haste and reverence due for the entrance of a queen. There was a +soft rustle of silk--a delicate breath of perfume on the air--and +then--I stood face to face with my wife! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +How dazzlingly lovely she was! I gazed at her with the same +bewildered fascination that had stupefied my reason and judgment +when I beheld her for the first time. The black robes she wore, the +long crape veil thrown back from her clustering hair and mignonne +face, all the somber shadows of her mourning garb only served to +heighten and display her beauty to greater advantage. A fair widow +truly! I, her lately deceased husband, freely admitted the magnetic +power of her charms! She paused for an instant on the threshold, a +winning smile on her lips; she looked at me, hesitated, and finally +spoke in courteous accents: + +"I think I cannot be mistaken! Do I address the noble Conte Cesare +Oliva?" + +I tried to speak, but could not. My mouth was dry and parched with +excitement, my throat swelled and ached with the pent-up wrath and +despair of my emotions. I answered her question silently by a formal +bow. She at once advanced, extending both her hands with the coaxing +grace of manner I had so often admired. + +"I am the Countess Romani," she said, still smiling. "I heard from +Signor Ferrari that you purposed visiting his studio this afternoon, +and I could not resist the temptation of coming to express my +personal acknowledgments for the almost regal gift you sent me. The +jewels are really magnificent. Permit me to offer you my sincere +thanks!" + +I caught her outstretched hands and wrung them hard--so hard that +the rings she wore must have dug into her flesh and hurt her, though +she was too well-bred to utter any exclamation. I had fully +recovered myself, and was prepared to act out my part. + +"On the contrary, madame," I said in a strong harsh voice, "the +thanks must come entirely from me for the honor you have conferred +upon me by accepting trifles so insignificant--especially at a time +when the cold brilliancy of mere diamonds must jar upon the +sensitive feelings of your recent widowhood. Believe me, I +sympathize deeply with your bereavement. Had your husband lived, the +jewels would have been his gift to you, and how much more acceptable +they would then have appeared in your eyes! I am proud to think you +have condescended so far as to receive them from so unworthy a hand +as mine." + +As I spoke her face paled--she seemed startled, and regarded me +earnestly. Sheltered behind my smoked spectacles, I met the gaze of +her large dark eyes without embarrassment. Slowly she withdrew her +slight fingers from my clasp. I placed an easy chair for her, she +sunk softly into it with her old air of indolent ease, the ease of a +spoiled empress or sultan's favorite, while she still continued to +look up at me thoughtfully Ferrari, meanwhile, busied himself in +bringing out more wine, he also produced a dish of fruit and some +sweet cakes, and while occupied in these duties as our host he began +to laugh. + +"Ha, ha! you are caught!" he exclaimed to me gayly. "You must know +we planned this together, madame and I, just to take you by +surprise. There was no knowing when you would be persuaded to visit +the contessa, and she could not rest till she had thanked you, so we +arranged this meeting. Could anything be better? Come, conte, +confess that you are charmed!" + +"Of course I am!" I answered with a slight touch of satire in my +tone. "Who would not be charmed in the presence of such youth and +beauty! And I am also flattered--for I know what exceptional favor +the Contessa Romani extends toward me in allowing me to make her +acquaintance at a time which must naturally be for her a secluded +season of sorrow." + +At these words my wife's face suddenly assumed an expression of +wistful sadness and appealing gentleness. + +"Ah, poor unfortunate Fabio," she sighed. "How terrible it seems +that he is not here to greet you! How gladly he would have welcomed +any friend of his father's--he adored his father, poor fellow! I +cannot realize that he is dead. It was too sudden, too dreadful! I +do not think I shall ever recover the shock of his loss!" + +And her eyes actually filled with tears; though the fact did not +surprise me in the least, for many women can weep at will. Very +little practice is necessary--and we men are such fools, we never +know how it is done; we take all the pretty feigned piteousness for +real grief, and torture ourselves to find methods of consolation for +the feminine sorrows which have no root save in vanity and +selfishness. I glanced quickly from my wife to Ferrari: he coughed, +and appeared embarrassed--he was not so good an actor as she was an +actress. Studying them both, I know not which feeling gained the +mastery in my mind--contempt or disgust. + +"Console yourself, madame," I said, coldly. "Time should be quick to +heal the wounds of one so young and beautiful as you are! Personally +speaking, I much regret your husband's death, but I would entreat +YOU not to give way to grief, which, however sincere, must unhappily +be useless. Your life lies before you--and may happy days and as +fair a future await you as you deserve!" + +She smiled, her tear-drops vanished like morning dew disappearing in +the heat. + +"I thank you for your good wishes, conte," she said "but it rests +with you to commence my happy days by honoring me with a visit. You +will come, will you not? My house and all that it contains are at +your service!" + +I hesitated. Ferrari looked amused. + +"Madame is not aware of your dislike to the society of ladies, +conte," he said, and there was a touch of mockery in his tone. I +glanced at him coldly, and addressed my answer to my wife. + +"Signor Ferrari is perfectly right," I said, bending over her, and +speaking in a low tone; "I am often ungallant enough to avoid the +society of mere women, but, alas! I have no armor of defense against +the smile of an angel." + +And I bowed with a deep and courtly reverence. Her face brightened-- +she adored her own loveliness, and the desire of conquest awoke in +her immediately. She took a glass of wine from my hand with a +languid grace, and fixed her glorious eyes full on me with a smile. + +"That is a very pretty speech," she said, sweetly, "and it means, of +course, that you will come to-morrow. Angels exact obedience! Gui--, +I mean Signor Ferrari, you will accompany the conte and show him the +way to the villa?" + +Ferrari bent his head with some stiffness. He looked slightly +sullen. + +"I am glad to see," he observed, with some petulance, "that your +persuasions have carried more conviction to the Conte Oliva than +mine. To me he was apparently inflexible." + +She laughed gayly. "Of course! It is only a woman who can always win +her own way--am I not right, conte?" And she glanced up at me with +an arch expression of mingled mirth and malice. What a love of +mischief she had! She saw that Guido was piqued, and she took +intense delight in teasing him still further. + +"I cannot tell, madame," I answered her. "I know so little of your +charming sex that I need to be instructed. But I instinctively feel +that YOU must be right, whatever you say. Your eyes would convert an +infidel!" + +Again she looked at me with one of those wonderfully brilliant, +seductive, arrowy glances--then she rose to take her leave. + +"An angel's visit truly," I said, lightly, "sweet, but brief!" + +"We shall meet to-morrow," she replied, smiling. "I consider I have +your promise; you must not fail me! Come as early as you like in the +afternoon, then you will see my little girl Stella. She is very like +poor Fabio. Till to-morrow, adieu!" + +She extended her hand. I raised it to my lips. She smiled as she +withdrew it, and looking at me, or rather at the glasses I wore, she +inquired: + +"You suffer with your eyes?" + +"Ah, madame, a terrible infirmity! I cannot endure the light. But I +should not complain--it is a weakness common to age." + +"You do not seem to be old," she said, thoughtfully. With a woman's +quick eye she had noted, I suppose, the unwrinkled smoothness of my +skin, which no disguise could alter. But I exclaimed with affected +surprise: + +"Not old! With these white hairs!" + +"Many young men have them," she said. "At any rate, they often +accompany middle age, or what is called the prime of life. And +really, in your case, they are very becoming!" + +And with a courteous gesture of farewell she moved to leave the +room. Both Ferrari and myself hastened to escort her downstairs to +her carriage, which stood in waiting at the door--the very carriage +and pair of chestnut ponies which I myself had given her as a +birthday present. Ferrari offered to assist her in mounting the step +of the vehicle; she put his arm aside with a light jesting word and +accepted mine instead. I helped her in, and arranged her embroidered +wraps about her feet, and she nodded gayly to us both as we stood +bareheaded in the afternoon sunlight watching her departure. The +horses started at a brisk canter, and in a couple of minutes the +dainty equipage was out of sight. When nothing more of it could be +seen than the cloud of dust stirred up by its rolling wheels, I +turned to look at my companion. His face was stern, and his brows +were drawn together in a frown. Stung already! I thought. Already +the little asp of jealousy commenced its bitter work! The trifling +favor HIS light-o'-love and MY wife had extended to me in choosing +MY arm instead of HIS as a momentary support had evidently been +sufficient to pique his pride. God! what blind bats men are! With +all their high capabilities and immortal destinies, with all the +world before them to conquer, they can sink unnerved and beaten down +to impotent weakness before the slighting word or insolent gesture +of a frivolous feminine creature, whose best devotions are paid to +the mirror that reflects her in the most becoming light! How easy +would be my vengeance, I mused, as I watched Ferrari. I touched him +on the shoulder; he started from his uncomfortable reverie and +forced a smile. I held out a cigar-case. + +"What are you dreaming of?" I asked him, laughingly. "Hebe as she +waited on the gods, or Venus as she rose in bare beauty from the +waves? Either, neither, or both? I assure you a comfortable smoke is +as pleasant in its way as the smile of a woman." + +He took a cigar and lighted it, but made no answer. + +"You are dull, my friend," I continued, gayly, hooking my arm +through his and pacing him up and down on the turf in front of his +studio. "Wit, they say, should be sharpened by the glance of a +bright eye; how comes it that the edge of your converse seems +blunted? Perhaps your feelings are too deep for words? If so, I do +not wonder at it, for the lady is extremely lovely." + +He glanced quickly at me. + +"Did I not say so?" he exclaimed. "Of all creatures under heaven she +is surely the most perfect! Even you, conte, with your cynical ideas +about women, even you were quite subdued and influenced by her; I +could see it!" + +I puffed slowly at my cigar and pretended to meditate. + +"Was I?" I said at last, with an air of well-acted surprise. "Really +subdued and influenced? I do not think so. But I admit I have never +seen a woman so entirely beautiful." + +He stopped in his walk, loosened his arm from mine, and regarded me +fixedly. + +"I told you so," he said, deliberately. "You must remember that I +told you so. And now perhaps I ought to warn you." + +"Warn me!" I exclaimed, in feigned alarm. "Of what? against whom? +Surely not the Contessa Romani, to whom you were so anxious to +introduce me? She has no illness, no infectious disorder? She is not +dangerous to life or limb, is she?" + +Ferrari laughed at the anxiety I displayed for my own bodily +safety--an anxiety which I managed to render almost comic--but he +looked somewhat relieved too. + +"Oh, no," he said, "I meant nothing of that kind. I only think it +fair to tell you that she has very seductive manners, and she may +pay you little attentions which would flatter any man who was not +aware that they are only a part of her childlike, pretty ways; in +short, they might lead him erroneously to suppose himself the object +of her particular preference, and--" + +I broke into a violent fit of laughter, and clapped him roughly on +the shoulder. + +"Your warning is quite unnecessary, my good young friend," I said. +"Come now, do I look a likely man to attract the attention of an +adored and capricious beauty? Besides, at my age the idea is +monstrous! I could figure as her father, as yours, if you like, but +in the capacity of a lover--impossible!" + +He eyed me attentively + +"She said you did not seem old," he murmured, half to himself and +half to me. + +"Oh, I grant you she made me that little compliment, certainly," I +answered, amused at the suspicions that evidently tortured his mind; +"and I accepted it as it was meant--in kindness. I am well aware +what a battered and unsightly wreck of a man I must appear in her +eyes when contrasted with YOU, Sir Antinous!" + +He flushed warmly. Then, with a half-apologetic air, he said: + +"Well, you must forgive me if I have seemed overscrupulous. The +contessa is like a--a sister to me; in fact, my late friend Fabio +encouraged a fraternal affection between us, and now he is gone I +feel it more than ever my duty to protect her, as it were, from +herself. She is so young and light-hearted and thoughtless that--but +you understand me, do you not?" + +I bowed. I understood him perfectly. He wanted no more poachers on +the land he himself had pilfered. Quite right, from his point of +view! But I was the rightful owner of the land after all, and I +naturally had a different opinion of the matter. However, I made no +remark, and feigned to be rather bored by the turn the conversation +was taking. Seeing this, Ferrari exerted himself to be agreeable; he +became a gay and entertaining companion once more, and after he had +fixed the hour for our visit to the Villa Romani the next afternoon, +our talk turned upon various matters connected with Naples and its +inhabitants and their mode of life. I hazarded a few remarks on the +general immorality and loose principles that prevailed among the +people, just to draw my companion out and sound his character more +thoroughly--though I thought I knew his opinions well. + +"Pooh, my dear conte," he exclaimed, with a light laugh, as he threw +away the end of his cigar, and watched it as it burned dully like a +little red lamp among the green grass where it had fallen, "what is +immorality after all? Merely a matter of opinion. Take the hackneyed +virtue of conjugal fidelity. When followed out to the better end +what is the good of it--where does it lead? Why should a man be tied +to one woman when he has love enough for twenty? The pretty slender +girl whom he chose as a partner in his impulsive youth may become a +fat, coarse, red-faced female horror by the time he has attained to +the full vigor of manhood--and yet, as long as she lives, the law +insists that the full tide of passion shall flow always in one +direction--always to the same dull, level, unprofitable shore! The +law is absurd, but it exists; and the natural consequence is that we +break it. Society pretends to be horrified when we do--yes, I know; +but it is all pretense. And the thing is no worse in Naples than it +is in London, the capital of the moral British race, only here we +are perfectly frank, and make no effort to hide our little sins, +while there, they cover them up carefully and make believe to be +virtuous. It is the veriest humbug--the parable of Pharisee and +Publican over again. + +"Not quite," I observed, "for the Publican was repentant, and Naples +is not." + +"Why should she be?" demanded Ferrari, gayly; "what, in the name of +Heaven, is the good of being penitent about anything? Will it mend +matters? Who is to be pacified or pleased by our contrition? God? My +dear conte, there are very few of us nowadays who believe in a +Deity. Creation is a mere caprice of the natural elements. The best +thing we can do is to enjoy ourselves while we live; we have a very +short time of it, and when we die there is an end of all things so +far as we are concerned." + +"That is your creed?" I asked. + +"That is my creed, certainly. It was Solomon's in his heart of +hearts. 'Eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die.' It is the +creed of Naples, and of nearly all Italy. Of course the vulgar still +cling to exploded theories of superstitious belief, but the educated +classes are far beyond the old-world notions." + +"I believe you," I answered, composedly. I had no wish to argue with +him; I only sought to read his shallow soul through and through that +I might be convinced of his utter worthlessness. "According to +modern civilization there is really no special need to be virtuous +unless it suits us. The only thing necessary for pleasant living is +to avoid public scandal." + +"Just so!" agreed Ferrari; "and that can always be easily managed. +Take a woman's reputation--nothing is so easily lost, we all know, +before she is actually married; but marry her well, and she is free. +She can have a dozen lovers if she likes, and if she is a good +manager her husband need never be the wiser. He has HIS amours, of +course--why should she not have hers also? Only some women are +clumsy, they are over-sensitive and betray themselves too easily; +then the injured husband (carefully concealing his little +peccadilloes) finds everything out and there is a devil of a row--a +moral row, which is the worst kind of row. But a really clever woman +can always steer clear of slander if she likes." + +Contemptible ruffian! I thought, glancing at his handsome face and +figure with scarcely veiled contempt. With all his advantages of +education and his well-bred air he was yet ruffian to the core--as +low in nature, if not lower, than the half-savage tramp for whom no +social law has ever existed or ever will exist. But I merely +observed: + +"It is easy to see that you have a thorough knowledge of the world +and its ways. I admire your perception! From your remarks I judge +that you have no sympathy with marital wrongs?" + +"Not the least," he replied, dryly; "they are too common and too +ludicrous. The 'wronged husband,' as he considers himself in such +cases, always cuts such an absurd figure." + +"Always?" I inquired, with apparent curiosity. + +"Well, generally speaking, he does. How can he remedy the matter? He +can only challenge his wife's lover. A duel is fought in which +neither of the opponents are killed, they wound each other slightly, +embrace, weep, have coffee together, and for the future consent to +share the lady's affections amicably." + +"Veramente!" I exclaimed, with a forced laugh, inwardly cursing his +detestable flippancy; "that is the fashionable mode of taking +vengeance?" + +"Absolutely the one respectable way of doing it," he replied; "it is +only the canaille who draw heart's blood in earnest." + +Only the canaille! I looked at him fixedly. His smiling eyes met +mine with a frank and fearless candor. Evidently he was not ashamed +of his opinions, he rather gloried in them. As he stood there with +the warm sunlight playing upon his features he seemed the very type +of youthful and splendid manhood; an Apollo in exterior--in mind a +Silenus. My soul sickened at the sight of him. I felt that the +sooner this strong treacherous life was crushed the better; there +would be one traitor less in the world at any rate. The thought of +my dread but just purpose passed over me like the breath of a bitter +wind--a tremor shook my nerves. My face must have betrayed some sign +of my inward emotion, for Ferrari exclaimed: + +"You are fatigued, conte? You are ill! Pray take my arm!" + +He extended it as he spoke. I put it gently but firmly aside. + +"It is nothing," I said, coldly; "a mere faintness which often +overcomes me, the remains of a recent illness." Here I glanced at my +watch; the afternoon was waning rapidly. + +"If you will excuse me," I continued, "I will now take leave of you. +Regarding the pictures you have permitted me to select, my servant +shall call for them this evening to save you the trouble of sending +them." + +"It is no trouble--" began Ferrari. + +"Pardon me," I interrupted him; "you must allow me to arrange the +matter in my own way. I am somewhat self-willed, as you know." + +He bowed and smiled--the smile of a courtier and sycophant--a smile +I hated. He eagerly proposed to accompany me back to my hotel, but I +declined this offer somewhat peremptorily, though at the same time +thanking him for his courtesy. The truth was I had had almost too +much of his society; the strain on my nerves began to tell; I craved +to be alone. I felt that if I were much longer with him I should be +tempted to spring at him and throttle the life out of him. As it +was, I bade him adieu with friendly though constrained politeness; +he was profuse in his acknowledgments of the favor I had done him by +purchasing his pictures. I waived all thanks aside, assuring him +that my satisfaction in the matter far exceeded his, and that I was +proud to be the possessor of such valuable proofs of his genius. He +swallowed my flattery as eagerly as a fish swallows bait, and we +parted on excellent terms. He watched me from his door as I walked +down the hilly road with the slow and careful step of an elderly +man; once out of his sight, however, I quickened my pace, for the +tempest of conflicting sensations within me made it difficult for me +to maintain even the appearance of composure. On entering my +apartment at the hotel the first thing that met my eyes was a large +gilt osier basket, filled with fine fruit and flowers, placed +conspicuously on the center-table. + +I summoned my valet. "Who sent this?" I demanded. + +"Madame the Contessa Romani," replied Vincenzo with discreet +gravity. "There is a card attached, if the eccelenza will be pleased +to look." + +I did look. It was my wife's visiting-card, and on it was written in +her own delicate penmanship-- + +"To remind the conte of his promised visit to-morrow." + +A sudden anger possessed me. I crumpled up the dainty glossy bit of +pasteboard and flung it aside. The mingled odors of the fruit and +flowers offended my senses. + +"I care nothing for these trifles," I said, addressing Vincenzo +almost impatiently. "Take them to the little daughter of the hotel- +keeper; she is a child, she will appreciate them. Take them away at +once." + +Obediently Vincenzo lifted the basket and bore it out of the room. I +was relieved when its fragrance and color had vanished. I, to +receive as a gift, the product of my own garden! Half vexed, half +sore at heart, I threw myself into an easychair--anon I laughed +aloud! So! Madame commences the game early, I thought. Already +paying these marked attentions to a man she knows nothing of beyond +that he is reported to be fabulously wealthy. Gold, gold forever! +What will it not do! It will bring the proud to their knees, it will +force the obstinate to servile compliance, it will conquer aversion +and prejudice. The world is a slave to its yellow glitter, and the +love of woman, that perishable article of commerce, is ever at its +command. Would you obtain a kiss from a pair of ripe-red lips that +seem the very abode of honeyed sweetness? Pay for it then with a +lustrous diamond; the larger the gem the longer the kiss! The more +diamonds you give, the more caresses you will get. The jeunesse +doree who ruin themselves and their ancestral homes for the sake of +the newest and prettiest female puppet on the stage know this well +enough. I smiled bitterly as I thought of the languid witching look +my wife had given me when she said, "You do not seem to be old!" I +knew the meaning of her eyes; I had not studied their liquid lights +and shadows so long for nothing. My road to revenge was a straight +and perfectly smooth line--almost too smooth. I could have wished +for some difficulty, some obstruction; but there was none-- +absolutely none. The traitors walked deliberately into the trap set +for them. Over and over again I asked myself quietly and in cold +blood--was there any reason why I should have pity on them? Had they +shown one redeeming point in their characters? Was there any +nobleness, any honesty, any real sterling good quality in either of +them to justify my consideration? And always the answer came, NO! +Hollow to the heart's core, hypocrites both, liars both--even the +guilty passion they cherished for one another had no real +earnestness in it save the pursuit of present pleasure; for she, +Nina, in that fatal interview in the avenue where I had been a +tortured listener, had hinted at the possibility of tiring of her +lover, and HE had frankly declared to me that very day that it was +absurd to suppose a man could be true to one woman all his life. In +brief, they deserved their approaching fate. Such men as Guido and +such women as my wife, are, I know, common enough in all classes of +society, but they are not the less pernicious animals, meriting +extermination as much, if not more, than the less harmful beasts of +prey. The poor beasts at any rate tell no lies, and after death +their skins are of some value; but who shall measure the mischief +done by a false tongue--and of what use is the corpse of a liar save +to infect the air with pestilence? I used to wonder at the +superiority of men over the rest of the animal creation, but I see +now that it is chiefly gained by excess of selfish cunning. The +bulky, good-natured, ignorant lion who has only one honest way of +defending himself, namely with tooth and claw, is no match for the +jumping two-legged little rascal who hides himself behind a bush and +fires a gun aimed direct at the bigger brute's heart. Yet the lion's +mode of battle is the braver of the two, and the cannons, torpedoes +and other implements of modern warfare are proofs of man's cowardice +and cruelty as much as they are of his diabolical ingenuity. Calmly +comparing the ordinary lives of men and beasts--judging them by +their abstract virtues merely--I am inclined to think the beasts the +more respectable of the two! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"Welcome to Villa Romani!" + +The words fell strangely on my ears. Was I dreaming, or was I +actually standing on the smooth green lawn of my own garden, +mechanically saluting my own wife, who, smiling sweetly, uttered +this cordial greeting? For a moment or two my brain became confused; +the familiar veranda with its clustering roses and jasmine swayed +unsteadily before my eyes; the stately house, the home of my +childhood, the scene of my past happiness, rocked in the air as +though it were about to fall. A choking sensation affected my +throat. Even the sternest men shed tears sometimes. Such tears too! +wrung like drops of blood from the heart. And I--I could have wept +thus. Oh, the dear old home! and how fair and yet how sad it seemed +to my anguished gaze! It should have been in ruins surely--broken +and cast down in the dust like its master's peace and honor. Its +master, did I say? Who was its master? Involuntarily I glanced at +Ferrari, who stood beside me. Not he--not he; by Heaven he should +never be master! But where was MY authority? I came to the place as +a stranger and an alien. The starving beggar who knows not where to +lay his head has no emptier or more desolate heart than I had as I +looked wistfully on the home which was mine before I died! I noticed +some slight changes here and there; for instance, my deep easy-chair +that had always occupied one particular corner of the veranda was +gone; a little tame bird that I had loved, whose cage used to hang +up among the white roses on the wall, was also gone. My old butler, +the servant who admitted Ferrari and myself within the gates, had an +expression of weariness and injury on his aged features which he had +not worn in my time, and which I was sorry to see. And my dog, the +noble black Scotch colly, what had become of him, I wondered? He had +been presented to me by a young Highlander who had passed one winter +with me in Rome, and who, on returning to his native mountains, had +sent me the dog, a perfect specimen of its kind, as a souvenir of +our friendly intercourse. Poor Wyvis! I thought. Had they made away +with him? Formerly he had always been visible about the house or +garden; his favorite place was on the lowest veranda step, where he +loved to bask in the heat of the sun. And now he was nowhere +visible. I was mutely indignant at his disappearance, but I kept +strict watch over my feelings, and remembered in time the part I had +to play. + +"Welcome to Villa Romani!" so said my wife. Then, remarking my +silence as I looked about me, she added with a pretty coaxing air, + +"I am afraid after all you are sorry you have come to see me!" + +I smiled. It served my purpose now to be as gallant and agreeable as +I could; therefore I answered: + +"Sorry, madame! If I were, then should I be the most ungrateful of +all men! Was Dante sorry, think you, when he was permitted to behold +Paradise?" + +She blushed; her eyes drooped softly under their long curling +lashes. Ferrari frowned impatiently--but was silent. She led the way +into the house--into the lofty cool drawing-room, whose wide windows +opened out to the garden. Here all was the same as ever with the +exception of one thing--a marble bust of myself as a boy had been +removed. The grand piano was open, the mandoline lay on a side- +table, looking as though it had been recently used; there were fresh +flowers and ferns in all the tall Venetian glass vases. I seated +myself and remarked on the beauty of the house and its surroundings. + +"I remember it very well," I added, quietly. + +"You remember it!" exclaimed Ferrari, quickly, as though surprised. + +"Certainly. I omitted to tell you, my friend, that I used to visit +this spot often when a boy. The elder Conte Romani and myself played +about these grounds together. The scene is quite familiar to me." + +Nina listened with an appearance of interest. + +"Did you ever see my late husband?" she asked. + +"Once," I answered her, gravely. "He was a mere child at the time, +and, as far as I could discern, a very promising one. His father +seemed greatly attached to him. I knew his mother also." + +"Indeed," she exclaimed, settling herself on a low ottoman and +fixing her eyes upon me; "what was she like?" + +I paused a moment before replying. Could I speak of that unstained +sacred life of wifehood and motherhood to this polluted though +lovely creature? + +"She was a beautiful woman unconscious of her beauty," I answered at +last. "There, all is said. Her sole aim seemed to be to forget +herself in making others happy, and to surround her home with an +atmosphere of goodness and virtue. She died young." + +Ferrari glanced at me with an evil sneer in his eyes. + +"That was fortunate," he said. "She had no time to tire of her +husband, else--who knows?" + +My blood rose rapidly to an astonishing heat, but I controlled +myself. + +"I do not understand you," I said, with marked frigidity. "The lady +I speak of lived and died under the old regime of noblesse oblige. I +am not so well versed in modern social forms of morality as +yourself." + +Nina hastily interposed. "Oh, my dear conte," she said, laughingly, +"pay no attention to Signor Ferrari! He is rash sometimes, and says +very foolish things, but he really does not mean them. It is only +his way! My poor dear husband used to be quite vexed with him +sometimes, though he WAS so fond of him. But, conte, as you know so +much about the family, I am sure you will like to see my little +Stella. Shall I send for her, or are you bored by children?" + +"On the contrary, madame, I am fond of them," I answered, with +forced composure, though my heart throbbed with mingled delight and +agony at the thought of seeing my little one again. "And the child +of my old friend's son must needs have a double interest for me." + +My wife rang the bell, and gave orders to the maid who answered it to +send her little girl to her at once. Ferrari meanwhile engaged me in +conversation, and strove, I could see, by entire deference to my +opinions, to make up for any offense his previous remark might have +given. A few moments passed--and then the handle of the drawing-room +door was timidly turned by an evidently faltering and unpracticed +hand. Nina called out impatiently--"Come in, baby! Do not be +afraid--come in!" With that the door slowly opened and my little +daughter entered. Though I had been so short a time absent from her it +was easy to see the child had changed very much. Her face looked +pinched and woe-begone, its expression was one of fear and distrust. +The laughter had faded out of her young eyes, and was replaced by a +serious look of pained resignation that was pitiful to see in one of +her tender years. Her mouth drooped plaintively at the corners--her +whole demeanor had an appealing anxiety in it that spoke plainly to my +soul and enlightened me as to the way she had evidently been forgotten +and neglected. She approached us hesitatingly, but stopped half-way +and looked doubtfully at Ferrari. He met her alarmed gaze with a +mocking smile. + +"Come along, Stella!" he said. "You need not be frightened! I will +not scold you unless you are naughty. Silly child! you look as if I +were the giant in the fairy tale, going to eat you up for dinner. +Come and speak to this gentleman--he knew your papa." + +At this word her eyes brightened, her small steps grew more assured +and steady--she advanced and put her tiny hand in mine. The touch of +the soft, uncertain little fingers almost unmanned me. I drew her +toward me and lifted her on my knee. Under pretense of kissing her I +hid my face for a second or two in her clustering fair curls, while +I forced back the womanish tears that involuntarily filled my eyes. +My poor little darling! I wonder now how I maintained my set +composure before the innocent thoughtfulness of her gravely +questioning gaze! I had fancied she might possibly be scared by the +black spectacles I wore--children are frightened by such things +sometimes--but she was not. No; she sat on my knee with an air of +perfect satisfaction, though she looked at me so earnestly as almost +to disturb my self-possession. Nina and Ferrari watched her with +some amusement, but she paid no heed to them--she persisted in +staring at me. Suddenly a slow sweet smile--the tranquil smile of a +contented baby, dawned all over her face; she extended her little +arms, and, of her own accord, put up her lips to kiss me! Half +startled at this manifestation of affection, I hurriedly caught her +to my heart and returned her caress, then I looked furtively at my +wife and Guido. Had they any suspicion? No! why should they have +any? Had not Ferrari himself seen me BURIED? Reassured by this +thought I addressed myself to Stella, making my voice as gratingly +harsh as I could, for I dreaded the child's quick instinct. + +"You are a very charming little lady!" I said, playfully. "And so +your name is Stella? That is because you are a little star, I +suppose?" + +She became meditative. "Papa said I was," she answered, softly and +shyly. + +"Papa spoiled you!" interposed Nina, pressing a filmy black-bordered +handkerchief to her eyes. "Poor papa! You were not so naughty to him +as you are to me." + +The child's lip quivered, but she was silent. + +"Oh, fy!" I murmured, half chidingly. "Are you ever naughty? Surely +not! All little stars are good--they never cry--they are always +bright and calm." + +Still she remained mute--a sigh, deep enough for an older sufferer, +heaved her tiny breast. She leaned her head against my arm and +raised her eyes appealingly. + +"Have you seen my papa?" she asked, timidly. "Will he come back +soon?" + +For a moment I did not answer her. Ferrari took it upon himself to +reply roughly. "Don't talk nonsense, baby! You know your papa has +gone away--you were too naughty for him, and he will never come back +again. He has gone to a place where there are no tiresome little +girls to tease him." + +Thoughtless and cruel words! I at once understood the secret grief +that weighed on the child's mind. Whenever she was fretful or +petulant, they evidently impressed it upon her that her father had +left her because of her naughtiness. She had taken this deeply to +heart; no doubt she had brooded upon it in her own vague childish +fashion, and had puzzled her little brain as to what she could +possibly have done to displease her father so greatly that he had +actually gone away never to return. Whatever her thoughts were, she +did not on this occasion give vent to them by tears or words. She +only turned her eyes on Ferrari with a look of intense pride and +scorn, strange to see in so little a creature--a true Romani look, +such as I had often noticed in my father's eyes, and such as I knew +must be frequently visible in my own. Ferrari saw it, and burst out +laughing loudly. + +"There!" he exclaimed. "Like that she exactly resembles her father! +It is positively ludicrous! Fabio, all over! She only wants one +thing to make the portrait perfect." And approaching her, he +snatched one of her long curls and endeavored to twist it over her +mouth in the form of a mustache. The child struggled angrily, and +hid her face against my coat. The more she tried to defend herself +the greater the malice with which Ferrari tormented her. Her mother +did not interfere--she only laughed. I held the little thing closely +sheltered in my embrace, and steadying down the quiver of +indignation in my voice, I said with quiet firmness: + +"Fair play, signor! Fair play! Strength becomes mere bullying when +it is employed against absolute weakness." + +Ferrari laughed again, but this time uneasily, and ceasing his +monkeyish pranks, walked to the window. Smoothing Stella's tumbled +hair, I added with a sarcastic smile: + +"This little donzella, will have her revenge when she grows up. +Recollecting how one man teased her in childhood, she, in return, +will consider herself justified in teasing all men. Do you not agree +with me, madame?" I said, turning to my wife, who gave me a sweetly +coquettish look as she answered: + +"Well, really, conte, I do not know! For with the remembrance of one +man who teased her, must come also the thought of another who was +kind to her--yourself--she will find it difficult to decide the +juste milieu." + +A subtle compliment was meant to be conveyed in these words. I +acknowledged it by a silent gesture of admiration, which she quickly +understood and accepted. Was ever a man in the position of being +delicately flattered by his own wife before? I think not! Generally +married persons are like candid friends--fond of telling each other +very unpleasant truths, and altogether avoiding the least soupcon of +flattery. Though I was not so much flattered as amused--considering +the position of affairs. Just then a servant threw open the door and +announced dinner. I set my child very gently down from my knee and +whisperingly told her that I would come and see her soon again. She +smiled trustfully, and then in obedience to her mother's imperative +gesture, slipped quietly out of the room. As soon as she had gone I +praised her beauty warmly, for she was really a lovely little +thing--but I could see my admiration of her was not very acceptable to +either my wife or her lover. We all went in to dinner--I, as guest, +having the privilege of escorting my fair and spotless spouse! On our +reaching the dining-room Nina said-- + +"You are such an old friend of the family, conte, that perhaps you +will not mind sitting at the head of the table?" + +"Tropp' onore, signora!" I answered, bowing gallantly, as I at once +resumed my rightful place at my own table, Ferrari placing himself +on my right hand, Nina on my left. The butler, my father's servant +and mine, stood as of old behind my chair, and I noticed that each +time he supplied me with wine he eyed me with a certain timid +curiosity--but I knew I had a singular and conspicuous appearance, +which easily accounted for his inquisitiveness. Opposite to where I +sat, hung my father's portrait--the character I personated permitted +me to look at it fixedly and give full vent to the deep sigh which +in very earnest broke from my heart. The eyes of the picture seemed +to gaze into mine with a sorrowful compassion--almost I fancied the +firm-set lips trembled and moved to echo my sigh. + +"Is that a good likeness?" Ferrari asked, suddenly. + +I started, and recollecting myself, answered: "Excellent! So true a +resemblance that it arouses along train of memories in my mind-- +memories both bitter and sweet. Ah! what a proud fellow he was!" + +"Fabio was also very proud," chimed in my wife's sweet voice. "Very +cold and haughty." + +Little liar! How dared she utter this libel on my memory! Haughty, I +might have been to others, but never to her--and coldness was no +part of my nature. Would that it were! Would that I had been a +pillar of ice, incapable of thawing in the sunlight of her witching +smile! Had she forgotten what a slave I was to her? what a poor, +adoring, passionate fool I became under the influence of her +hypocritical caresses! I thought this to myself, but I answered +aloud: + +"Indeed! I am surprised to hear that. The Romani hauteur had ever to +my mind something genial and yielding about it--I know my friend was +always most gentle to his dependents." + +The butler here coughed apologetically behind his hand--an old trick +of his, and one which signified his intense desire to speak. + +Ferrari laughed, as he held out his glass for more wine. + +"Here is old Giacomo," he said, nodding to him lightly. "He +remembers both the Romanis--ask him HIS opinion of Fabio--he +worshiped his master." + +I turned to my servant, and with a benignant air addressed him: + +"Your face is not familiar to me, my friend," I said. "Perhaps you +were not here when I visited the elder Count Romani?" + +"No, eccellenza," replied Giacomo, rubbing his withered hands +nervously together, and speaking with a sort of suppressed +eagerness, "I came into my lord's service only a year before the +countess died--I mean the mother of the young count." + +"Ah! then I missed making your acquaintance," I said, kindly, +pitying the poor old fellow, as I noticed how his lips trembled, and +how altogether broken he looked. "You knew the last count from +childhood, then?" + +"I did, eccellenza!" And his bleared eyes roved over me with a sort +of alarmed inquiry. + +"You loved him well?" I said, composedly, observing him with +embarrassment. + +"Eccellenza, I never wish to serve a better master. He was goodness +itself--a fine, handsome, generous lad--the saints have his soul in +their keeping! Though sometimes I cannot believe he is dead--my old +heart almost broke when I heard it. I have never been the same +since--my lady will tell you so--she is often displeased with me." + +And he looked wistfully at her; there was a note of pleading in his +hesitating accents. My wife's delicate brows drew together in a +frown, a frown that I had once thought came from mere petulance, but +which I was now inclined to accept as a sign of temper. "Yes, +indeed, Giacomo," she said, in hard tones, altogether unlike her +usual musical voice. "You are growing so forgetful that it is +positively annoying. You know I have often to tell you the same +thing several times. One command ought to be sufficient for you." + +Giacomo passed his hand over his forehead in a troubled way, sighed, +and was silent. Then, as if suddenly recollecting his duty, he +refilled my glass, and shrinking aside, resumed his former position +behind my chair. + +The conversation now turned on desultory and indifferent matters. I +knew my wife was an excellent talker, but on that particular evening +I think she surpassed herself. She had resolved to fascinate me, +THAT I saw at once, and she spared no pains to succeed in her +ambition. Graceful sallies, witty bon-mots tipped with the pungent +sparkle of satire, gay stories well and briskly told, all came +easily from her lips, so that though I knew her so well, she almost +surprised me by her variety and fluency. Yet this gift of good +conversation in a woman is apt to mislead the judgment of those who +listen, for it is seldom the result of thought, and still more +seldom is it a proof of intellectual capacity. A woman talks as a +brook babbles; pleasantly, but without depth. Her information is +generally of the most surface kind--she skims the cream off each +item of news, and serves it up to you in her own fashion, caring +little whether it be correct or the reverse. And the more +vivaciously she talks, the more likely she is to be dangerously +insincere and cold-hearted, for the very sharpness of her wit is apt +to spoil the more delicate perceptions of her nature. Show me a +brilliant woman noted for turning an epigram or pointing a satire, +and I will show you a creature whose life is a masquerade, full of +vanity, sensuality and pride. The man who marries such a one must be +content to take the second place in his household, and play the +character of the henpecked husband with what meekness he best may. +Answer me, ye long suffering spouses of "society women" how much +would you give to win back your freedom and self-respect? to be able +to hold your head up unabashed before your own servants? to feel +that you can actually give an order without its being instantly +countermanded? Ah, my poor friends! millions will not purchase you +such joy; as long as your fascinating fair ones are like Caesar's +wife, "above suspicion" (and they are generally prudent managers), +so long must you dance in their chains like the good-natured clumsy +bears that you are, only giving vent to a growl now and then; a +growl which at best only excites ridicule. My wife was of the true +world worldly; never had I seen her real character so plainly as +now, when she exerted herself to entertain and charm me. I had +thought her spirituelle, ethereal, angelic! never was there less of +an angel than she! While she talked, I was quick to observe the +changes on Ferrari's countenance. He became more silent and sullen +as her brightness and cordiality increased. I would not appear aware +of the growing stiffness in his demeanor; I continued to draw him +into the conversation, forcing him to give opinions on various +subjects connected with the art of which he was professedly a +follower. He was very reluctant to speak at all; and when compelled +to do so, his remarks were curt and almost snappish, so much so that +my wife made a laughing comment on his behavior. + +"You are positively ill-tempered, Guido!" she exclaimed, then +remembering she had addressed him by his Christian name, she turned +to me and added--"I always call him Guido, en famille; you know he +is just like a brother to me." + +He looked at her and his eyes flashed dangerously, but he was mute. +Nina was evidently pleased to see him in such a vexed mood; she +delighted to pique his pride, and as he steadily gazed at her in a +sort of reproachful wonder, she laughed joyously. Then rising from +the table, she made us a coquettish courtesy. + +"I will leave you two gentlemen to finish your wine together," she +said, "I know all men love to talk a little scandal, and they must +be alone to enjoy it. Afterward, will you join me in the veranda? +You will find coffee ready." + +I hastened to open the door for her as she passed out smiling; then, +returning to the table, I poured out more wine for myself and +Ferrari, who sat gloomily eying his own reflection in the broad +polished rim of a silver fruit-dish that stood near him. Giacomo, +the butler, had long ago left the room; we were entirely alone. I +thought over my plans for a moment or two; the game was as +interesting as a problem in chess. With the deliberation of a +prudent player I made my next move. + +"A lovely woman!" I murmured, meditatively, sipping my wine, "and +intelligent also. I admire your taste, signor!" + +He started violently. "What--what do you mean?" he demanded, half +fiercely. I stroked my mustache and smiled at him benevolently. + +"Ah, young blood! young blood!" I sighed, shaking my head, "it will +have its way! My good sir, why be ashamed of your feelings? I +heartily sympathize with you; if the lady does not appreciate the +affection of so ardent and gallant an admirer, then she is foolish +indeed! It is not every woman who has such a chance of happiness." + +"You think--you imagine that--that--I--" + +"That you are in love with her?" I said, composedly. "Ma-- +certamente! And why not? It is as it should be. Even the late conte +could wish no fairer fate for his beautiful widow than that she +should become the wife of his chosen friend. Permit me to drink your +health! Success to your love!" And I drained my glass as I finished +speaking, Unfortunate fool! He was completely disarmed; his +suspicions of me melted away like mist before the morning light. His +face cleared--he seized my hand and pressed it warmly. + +"Forgive me, conte," he said, with remorseful fervor; "I fear I have +been rude and unsociable. Your kind words have put me right again. You +will think me a jealous madman, but I really fancied that you were +beginning to feel an attraction for her yourself, and +actually--(pardon me, I entreat of you!) actually I was making up my +mind to--to kill you!" + +I laughed quietly. "Veramente! How very amiable of you! It was a +good intention, but you know what place is paved with similar +designs?" + +"Ah, conte, it is like your generosity to take my confession so +lightly; but I assure you, for the last hour I have been absolutely +wretched!" + +"After the fashion of all lovers, I suppose," I answered "torturing +yourself without necessity! Well, well, it is very amusing! My young +friend, when you come to my time of life, you will prefer the chink +of gold to the laughter and kisses of women. How often must I repeat +to you that I am a man absolutely indifferent to the tender passion? +Believe it or not, it is true." + +He drank off his wine at one gulp and spoke with some excitement. + +"Then I will frankly confide in you. I DO love the contessa. Love! +it is too weak a word to describe what I feel. The touch of her hand +thrills me, her very voice seems to shake my soul, her eyes burn +through me! Ah! YOU cannot know--YOU could not understand the joy, +the pain--" + +"Calm yourself," I said, in a cold tone, watching my victim as his +pent-up emotion betrayed itself, "The great thing is to keep the +head cool when the blood burns. You think she loves you?" + +"Think! Gran Dio! She has--" here he paused and his face flushed +deeply--"nay! I have no right to say anything on that score. I know +she never cared for her husband." + +"I know that too!" I answered, steadily. "The most casual observer +cannot fail to notice it." + +"Well, and no wonder!" he exclaimed, warmly. "He was such an +undemonstrative fool! What business had such a fellow as that to +marry so exquisite a creature!" + +My heart leaped with a sudden impulse of fury, but I controlled my +voice and answered calmly: + +"Requiescat in pace! He is dead--let him rest. Whatever his faults, +his wife of course was true to him while he lived; she considered +him worthy of fidelity--is it not so?" + +He lowered his eyes as he replied in an indistinct tone: + +"Oh, certainly!" + +"And you--you were a most loyal and faithful friend to him, in spite +of the tempting bright eyes of his lady?" + +Again he answered huskily, "Why, of course!" But the shapely hand +that rested on the table so near to mine trembled. + +"Well, then," I continued, quietly, "the love you bear now to his +fair widow is, I imagine, precisely what he would approve. Being, as +you say, perfectly pure and blameless, what can I wish otherwise +than this--may it meet with the reward it deserves!" + +While I spoke he moved uneasily in his chair, and his eyes roved to +my father's picture with restless annoyance. I suppose he saw in it +the likeness to his dead friend. After a moment or two of silence he +turned to me with a forced smile-- + +"And so you really entertain no admiration for the contessa?" + +"Oh, pardon me, I DO entertain a very strong admiration for her, but +not of the kind you seem to suspect. If it will please you, I can +guarantee that I shall never make love to the lady unless--" + +"Unless what?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Unless she happens to make love to me, In which case it would be +ungallant not to reciprocate!" + +And I laughed harshly. He stared at me in blank surprise. "SHE make +love to YOU!" he exclaimed, "You jest. She would never do such a +thing." + +"Of course not!" I answered, rising and clapping him heavily on the +shoulder. "Women never court men, it is quite unheard of; a reverse +of the order of nature! You are perfectly safe, my friend; you will +certainly win the recompense you so richly merit. Come, let us go +and drink coffee with the fair one." + +And arm-in-arm we sauntered out to the veranda in the most friendly +way possible. Ferrari was completely restored to good humor, and +Nina, I thought, was rather relieved to see it. She was evidently +afraid of Ferrari--a good point for me to remember. She smiled a +welcome to us as we approached, and began to pour out the fragrant +coffee. It was a glorious evening; the moon was already high in the +heavens, and the nightingales' voices echoed softly from the distant +woods. As I seated myself in a low chair that was placed invitingly +near that of my hostess, my ears were startled by a long melancholy +howl, which changed every now and then to an impatient whine. + +"What is that?" I asked, though the question was needless, for I +knew the sound. + +"Oh, it is that tiresome dog Wyvis," answered Nina, in a vexed tone. +"He belonged to Fabio. He makes the evening quite miserable with his +moaning." + +"Where is he?" + +"Well, after my husband's death he became so troublesome, roaming +all over the house and wailing; and then he would insist on sleeping +in Stella's room close to her bedside. He really worried me both day +and night, so I was compelled to chain him up." + +Poor Wyvis! He was sorely punished for his fidelity. + +"I am very fond of dogs," I said, slowly, "and they generally take +to me with extraordinary devotion. May I see this one of yours?" + +"Oh, certainly! Guido, will you go and unfasten him?" + +Guido did not move; he leaned easily back in his chair sipping his +coffee. + +"Many thanks," he answered, with a half laugh; "perhaps you forget +that last time I did so he nearly tore me to pieces. If you do not +object, I would rather Giacomo undertook the task." + +"After such an account of the animal's conduct, perhaps the conte +will not care to see him. It is true enough," turning to me as she +spoke, "Wyvis has taken a great dislike to Signor Ferrari--and yet +he is a good-natured dog, and plays with my little girl all day if +she goes to him. Do you feel inclined to see him? Yes?" And, as I +bowed in the affirmative, she rang a little bell twice, and the +butler appeared. + +"Giacomo," she continued, "unloose Wyvis and send him here." + +Giacomo gave me another of those timid questioning glances, and +departed to execute his order. In another five minutes, the howling +had suddenly ceased, a long, lithe, black, shadowy creature came +leaping wildly across the moonlighted lawn--Wyvis was racing at full +speed. He paid no heed to his mistress or Ferrari; he rushed +straight to me with a yelp of joy. His huge tail wagged incessantly, +he panted thirstily with excitement, he frisked round and round my +chair, he abased himself and kissed my feet and hands, he rubbed his +stately head fondly against my knee. His frantic demonstrations of +delight were watched by my wife and Ferrari with utter astonishment. +I observed their surprise, and said lightly: + +"I told you how it would be! It is nothing remarkable, I assure you. +All dogs treat me in the same way." + +And I laid my hand on the animal's neck with a commanding pressure; +he lay down at once, only now and then raising his large wistful +brown eyes to my face as though he wondered what had changed it so +greatly. But no disguise could deceive his intelligence--the +faithful creature knew his master. Meantime I thought Nina looked +pale; certainly the little jeweled white hand nearest to me shook +slightly. + +"Are you afraid of this noble animal, madame?" I asked, watching her +closely. She laughed, a little forcedly. + +"Oh, no! But Wyvis is usually so shy with strangers, and I never saw +him greet any one so rapturously except my late husband. It is +really very odd!" + +Ferrari, by his looks, agreed with her, and appeared to be uneasily +considering the circumstance. + +"Strange to say," he remarked, "Wyvis has for once forgotten me. He +never fails to give me a passing snarl." + +Hearing his voice, the dog did indeed commence growling +discontentedly; but a touch from me silenced him. The animal's +declared enmity toward Ferrari surprised me--it was quite a new +thing, as before my burial his behavior to him had been perfectly +friendly. + +"I have had a great deal to do with dogs in my time," I said, +speaking in a deliberately composed voice. "I have found their +instinct marvelous; they generally seem to recognize at once the +persons who are fond of their society. This Wyvis of yours, +contessa, has no doubt discovered that I have had many friends among +his brethren, so that there is nothing strange in his making so much +of me." + +The air of studied indifference with which I spoke, and the fact of +my taking the exuberant delight of Wyvis as a matter of course, +gradually reassured the plainly disturbed feelings of my two +betrayers, for after a little pause the incident was passed over, +and our conversation went on with pleasant and satisfactory +smoothness. Before my departure that evening, however, I offered to +chain up the dog--"as, if I do this," I added, "I guarantee he will +not disturb your night's rest by his howling." + +This suggestion met with approval, and Ferrari walked with me to +show me where the kennel stood. I chained Wyvis, and stroked him +tenderly; he appeared to understand, and he accepted his fate with +perfect resignation, lying down upon his bed of straw without a sign +of opposition, save for one imploring look out of his intelligent +eyes as I turned away and left him. + +On making my adieus to Nina, I firmly refused Ferrari's offered +companionship in the walk back to my hotel. + +"I am fond of a solitary moonlight stroll," I said. "Permit me to +have my own way in the matter." + +After some friendly argument they yielded to my wishes. I bade them +both a civil "good-night," bending low over my wife's hand and +kissing it, coldly enough, God knows, and yet the action was +sufficient to make her flush and sparkle with pleasure. Then I left +them, Ferrari himself escorting me to the villa gates, and watching +me pass out on the open road. As long as he stood there, I walked +with a slow and meditative pace toward the city, but the instant I +heard the gate clang heavily as it closed, I hurried back with a +cautious and noiseless step. Avoiding the great entrance, I slipped +round to the western side of the grounds, where there was a close +thicket of laurel that extended almost up to the veranda I had just +left. Entering this and bending the boughs softly aside as I pushed +my way through, I gradually reached a position from whence I could +see the veranda plainly, and also hear anything that passed. Guido +was sitting on the low chair I had just vacated, leaning his head +back against my wife's breast; he had reached up one arm so that it +encircled her neck, and drew her head down toward his. In this half +embrace they rested absolutely silent for some moments. Suddenly +Ferrari spoke: + +"You are very cruel, Nina! You actually made me think you admired +that rich old conte." + +She laughed. "So I do! He would be really handsome if he did not +wear those ugly spectacles. And his jewels are lovely. I wish he +would give me some more!" + +"And supposing he were to do so, would you care for him, Nina?" he +demanded, jealously. "Surely not. Besides, you have no idea how +conceited he is. He says he will never make love to a woman unless +she first makes love to him; what do you think of that?" + +She laughed again, more merrily than before. + +"Think! Why, that he is very original--charmingly so! Are you coming +in, Guido?" + +He rose, and standing erect, almost lifted her from her chair and +folded her in his arms. + +"Yes, I AM coming in," he answered; "and I will have a hundred +kisses for every look and smile you bestowed on the conte! You +little coquette! You would flirt with your grandfather!" + +She rested against him with apparent tenderness, one hand playing +with the flower in his buttonhole, and then she said, with a slight +accent of fear in her voice-- + +"Tell me, Guido, do you not think he is a little like--like FABIO? +Is there not a something in his manner that seems familiar?" + +"I confess I have fancied so once or twice," he returned, musingly; +"there is rather a disagreeable resemblance. But what of that? many +men are almost counterparts of each other. But I tell you what I +think. I am almost positive he is some long-lost relation of the +family--Fabio's uncle for all we know, who does not wish to declare +his actual relationship. He is a good old fellow enough, I believe, +and is certainly rich as Croesus; he will be a valuable friend to us +both. Come, sposina mia, it is time to go to rest." + +And they disappeared within the house, and shut the windows after +them. I immediately left my hiding-place, and resumed my way toward +Naples. I was satisfied they had no suspicion of the truth. After +all, it was absurd of me to fancy they might have, for people in +general do not imagine it possible for a buried man to come back to +life again. The game was in my own hands, and I now resolved to play +it out with as little delay as possible. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Time flew swiftly on--a month, six weeks, passed, and during that +short space I had established myself in Naples as a great +personage--great, because of my wealth and the style in which I lived. +No one in all the numerous families of distinction that eagerly sought +my acquaintance cared whether I had intellect or intrinsic personal +worth; it sufficed to them that I kept a carriage and pair, an elegant +and costly equipage, softly lined with satin and drawn by two Arabian +mares as black as polished ebony. The value of my friendship was +measured by the luxuriousness of my box at the opera, and by the +dainty fittings of my yacht, a swift trim vessel furnished with every +luxury, and having on board a band of stringed instruments which +discoursed sweet music when the moon emptied her horn of silver +radiance on the rippling water. In a little while I knew everybody who +was worth knowing in Naples; everywhere my name was talked of, my +doings were chronicled in the fashionable newspapers; stories of my +lavish generosity were repeated from mouth to mouth, and the most +highly colored reports of my immense revenues were whispered with a +kind of breathless awe at every cafe and street corner. Tradesmen +waylaid my reticent valet, Vincenzo, and gave him douceurs in the hope +he would obtain my custom for them--"tips" which he pocketed in his +usual reserved and discreet manner, but which he was always honest +enough to tell me of afterward. He would most faithfully give me the +name and address of this or that particular tempter of his fidelity, +always adding--"As to whether the rascal sells good things or bad our +Lady only knows, but truly he gave me thirty francs to secure your +excellency's good-will. Though for all that I would not recommend him +if your excellency knows of an honester man!" + +Among other distinctions which my wealth forced upon me, were the +lavish attentions of match-making mothers. The black spectacles which +I always wore, were not repulsive to these diplomatic dames--on the +contrary, some of them assured me they were most becoming, so anxious +were they to secure me as a son-in-law. Fair girls in their teens, +blushing and ingenuous, were artfully introduced to me--or, I SHOULD +say, thrust forward like slaves in a market for my inspection--though, +to do them justice, they were remarkably shrewd and sharp-witted for +their tender years. Young as they were, they were keenly alive to the +importance of making a good match--and no doubt the pretty innocents +laid many dainty schemes in their own minds for liberty and enjoyment +when one or the other of them should become the Countess Oliva and +fool the old black-spectacled husband to her heart's content. Needless +to say their plans were not destined to be fulfilled, though I rather +enjoyed studying the many devices they employed to fascinate me. What +pretty ogling glances I received!--what whispered admiration of my +"beautiful white hair! so distingue"--what tricks of manner, +alternating from grave to gay, from rippling mirth to witching +languor! Many an evening I sat at ease on board my yacht, watching +with a satirical inward amusement, one, perhaps two or three of these +fair schemers ransacking their youthful brains for new methods to +entrap the old millionaire, as they thought me, into the matrimonial +net. I used to see their eyes--sparkling with light in the +sunshine--grow liquid and dreamy in the mellow radiance of the October +moon, and turn upon me with a vague wistfulness most lovely to behold, +and--most admirably feigned! I could lay my hand on a bare round white +arm and not be repulsed--I could hold little clinging fingers in my +own as long as I liked without giving offense such are some of the +privileges of wealth! + +In all the parties of pleasure I formed, and these were many--my +wife and Ferrari were included as a matter of course. At first Nina +demurred, with some plaintive excuse concerning her "recent terrible +bereavement," but I easily persuaded her out of this. I even told +some ladies I knew to visit her and add their entreaties to mine, as +I said, with the benignant air of an elderly man, that it was not +good for one so young to waste her time and injure her health by +useless grieving. She saw the force of this, I must admit, with +admirable readiness, and speedily yielded to the united invitations +she received, though always with a well-acted reluctance, and saying +that she did so merely "because the Count Oliva was such an old +friend of the family and knew my poor dear husband as a child." + +On Ferrari I heaped all manner of benefits. Certain debts of his +contracted at play I paid privately to surprise him--his gratitude +was extreme. I humored him in many of his small extravagances--I +played with his follies as an angler plays the fish at the end of +his line, and I succeeded in winning his confidence. Not that I ever +could surprise him into a confession of his guilty amour--but he +kept me well informed as to what he was pleased to call "the +progress of his attachment," and supplied me with many small details +which, while they fired my blood and brain to wrath, steadied me +more surely in my plan of vengeance. Little did he dream in whom he +was trusting!--little did he know into whose hands he was playing! +Sometimes a kind of awful astonishment would come over me as I +listened to his trivial talk, and heard him make plans for a future +that was never to be. He seemed so certain of his happiness--so +absolutely sure that nothing could or would intervene to mar it. +Traitor as he was he was unable to foresee punishment--materialist +to the heart's core, he had no knowledge of the divine law of +compensation. Now and then a dangerous impulse stirred me--a desire +to say to him point-blank: + +"You are a condemned criminal--a doomed man on the brink of the +grave. Leave this light converse and frivolous jesting--and, while +there is time, prepare for death!" + +But I bit my lips and kept stern silence. Often, too, I felt +disposed to seize him by the throat, and, declaring my identity, +accuse him of his treachery to his face, but I always remembered and +controlled myself. One point in his character I knew well--I had +known it of old--this was his excessive love of good wine. I aided +and abetted him in this weakness, and whenever he visited me I took +care that he should have his choice of the finest vintages. Often +after a convivial evening spent in my apartments with a few other +young men of his class and caliber, he reeled out of my presence, +his deeply flushed face and thick voice bearing plain testimony as +to his condition. On these occasions I used to consider with a sort +of fierce humor how Nina would receive him--for though she saw no +offense in the one kind of vice she herself practiced, she had a +particular horror of vulgarity in any form, and drunkenness was one +of those low failings she specially abhorred. + +"Go to your lady-love, mon beau Silenus!" I would think, as I +watched him leaving my hotel with a couple of his boon companions, +staggering and laughing loudly as he went, or singing the last +questionable street-song of the Neapolitan bas-peuple. "You are in a +would-be riotous and savage mood--her finer animal instincts will +revolt from you, as a lithe gazelle would fly from the hideous +gambols of a rhinoceros. She is already afraid of you--in a little +while she will look upon you with loathing and disgust--tant pis +pour vous, tant mieux pour moi!" + +I had of course attained the position of ami intime at the Villa +Romani. I was welcome there at any hour--I could examine and read my +own books in my own library at leisure (what a privilege was mine); +I could saunter freely through the beautiful gardens accompanied by +Wyvis, who attended me as a matter of course; in short, the house +was almost at my disposal, though I never passed a night under its +roof. I carefully kept up my character as a prematurely elderly man, +slightly invalided by a long and ardous career in far-off foreign +lands, and I was particularly prudent in my behavior toward my wife +before Ferrari. Never did I permit the least word or action on my +part that could arouse his jealousy or suspicion. I treated her with +a sort of parental kindness and reserve, but she--trust a woman for +intrigue!--she was quick to perceive my reasons for so doing. +Directly Ferrari's back was turned she would look at me with a +glance of coquettish intelligence, and smile--a little mocking, +half-petulant smile--or she would utter some disparaging remark +about him, combining with it a covert compliment to me. It was not +for me to betray her secrets--I saw no occasion to tell Ferrari that +nearly every morning she sent her maid to my hotel with fruit and +flowers and inquiries after my health--nor was my valet Vincenzo the +man to say that he carried gifts and similar messages from me to +her. But at the commencement of November things were so far advanced +that I was in the unusual position of being secretly courted by my +own wife!--I reciprocating her attentions with equal secrecy! The +fact of my being often in the company of other ladies piqued her +vanity--she knew that I was considered a desirable parti--and--she +resolved to win me. In this case I also resolved--to be won! A grim +courtship truly--between a dead man and his own widow! Ferrari never +suspected what was going on; he had spoken of me as "that poor fool +Fabio, he was too easily duped;" yet never was there one more "easily +duped" than himself, or to whom the epithet "poor fool" more +thoroughly applied. As I said before, he was SURE--too sure of his +own good fortune. I wished to excite his distrust and enmity +sometimes, but this I found I could not do. He trusted me--yes! as +much as in the old days I had trusted HIM. Therefore, the +catastrophe for him must be sudden as well as fatal--perhaps, after +all, it was better so. + +During my frequent visits to the villa I saw much of my child +Stella. She became passionately attached to me--poor little thing!-- +her love was a mere natural instinct, had she but known it. Often, +too, her nurse, Assunta, would bring her to my hotel to pass an hour +or so with me. This was a great treat to her, and her delight +reached its climax when I took her on my knee and told her a fairy +story--her favorite one being that of a good little girl whose papa +suddenly went away, and how the little girl grieved for him till at +last some kind fairies helped her to find him again. I was at first +somewhat afraid of old Assunta--she had been MY nurse--was it +possible that she would not recognize me? The first time I met her +in my new character I almost held my breath in a sort of suspense-- +but the good old woman was nearly blind, and I think she could +scarce make out my lineaments. She was of an entirely different +nature to Giacomo the butler--she thoroughly believed her master to +be dead, as indeed she had every reason to do, but strange to say, +Giacomo did not. The old man had a fanatical notion that his "young +lord" could not have died so suddenly, and he grew so obstinate on +the point that my wife declared he must be going crazy. Assunta, on +the other hand, would talk volubly of my death and tell me with +assured earnestness: + +"It was to be expected, eccellenza--he was too good for us, and the +saints took him. Of course our Lady wanted him--she always picks out +the best among us. The poor Giacomo will not listen to me, he grows +weak and childish, and he loved the master too well--better," and +here her voice would deepen into reproachful solemnity, "yes, better +actually than St. Joseph himself! And of course one is punished for +such a thing. I always knew my master would die young--he was too +gentle as a baby, and too kind-hearted as a man to stay here long." + +And she would shake her gray head and feel for the beads of her +rosary, and mutter many an Ave for the repose of my soul. Much as I +wished it, I could never get her to talk about her mistress--it was +the one subject on which she was invariably silent. On one occasion +when I spoke with apparent enthusiasm of the beauty and +accomplishments of the young countess, she glanced at me with sudden +and earnest scrutiny--sighed--but said nothing. I was glad to see +how thoroughly devoted she was to Stella, and the child returned her +affection with interest--though as the November days came on apaces +my little one looked far from strong. She paled and grew thin, her +eyes looked preternaturally large and solemn, and she was very +easily wearied. I called Assunta's attention to these signs of ill- +health; she replied that she had spoken to the countess, but that +"madam" had taken no notice of the child's weakly condition. +Afterward I mentioned the matter myself to Nina, who merely smiled +gratefully up in my face and answered: + +"Really, my dear conte, you are too good! There is nothing the +matter with Stella, her health is excellent; she eats too many +bonbons, perhaps, and is growing rather fast, that is all. How kind +you are to think of her! But, I assure you, she is quite well." + +I did not feel so sure of this, yet I was obliged to conceal my +anxiety, as overmuch concern about the child would not have been in +keeping with my assumed character. + +It was a little past the middle of November, when a circumstance +occurred that gave impetus to my plans, and hurried them to full +fruition. The days were growing chilly and sad even in Naples-- +yachting excursions were over, and I was beginning to organize a few +dinners and balls for the approaching winter season, when one +afternoon Ferrari entered my room unannounced and threw himself into +the nearest chair with an impatient exclamation, and a vexed +expression of countenance. + +"What is the matter?" I asked, carelessly, as I caught a furtive +glance of his eyes. "Anything financial? Pray draw upon me! I will +be a most accommodating banker!" + +He smiled uneasily though gratefully. + +"Thanks, conte--but it is nothing of that sort--it is--gran Dio! +what an unlucky wretch I am!" + +"I hope," and here I put on an expression of the deepest anxiety, "I +hope the pretty contessa has not played you false? she has refused +to marry you?" + +He laughed with a disdainful triumph in his laughter. + +"Oh, as far as that goes there is no danger! She dares not play me +false." + +"DARES not! That is rather a strong expression, my friend!" And I +stroked my beard and looked at him steadily. He himself seemed to +think he had spoken too openly and hastily--for he reddened as he +said with a little embarrassment: + +"Well, I did not mean that exactly--of course she is perfectly free +to do as she likes--but she cannot, I think, refuse me after showing +me so much encouragement." + +I waved my hand with an airy gesture of amicable agreement. + +"Certainly not," I said, "unless she be an arrant coquette and +therefore a worthless woman, and you, who know so well her intrinsic +goodness and purity, have no reason to fear. But, if not love or +money, what is it that troubles you? It must be serious, to judge +from your face." + +He played absently with a ring I had given him, turning it round and +round upon his finger many times before replying. + +"Well, the fact is," he said at last, "I am compelled to go away--to +leave Naples for a time." + +My heart gave an expectant throb of satisfaction. Going away!-- +leaving Naples!--turning away from the field of battle and allowing +me to gain the victory! Fortune surely favored me. But I answered +with feigned concern: + +"Going away! Surely you cannot mean it. Why?--what for? and where?" + +"An uncle of mine is dying in Rome," he answered, crossly. "He has +made me his heir, and I am bound for the sake of decency to attend +his last moments. Rather protracted last moments they threaten to be +too, but the lawyers say I had better be present, as the old man may +take it into his head to disinherit me at the final gasp. I suppose +I shall not be absent long--a fortnight at most--and in the +meanwhile--" + +Here he hesitated and looked at me anxiously. + +"Continue, caro mio, continue!" I said with some impatience. "If I +can do anything in your absence, you have only to command me." + +He rose from his chair, and approaching the window where I sat in a +half-reclining posifion, he drew a small chair opposite mine, and +sitting down, laid one hand confidingly on my wrist. + +"You can do much!" he replied, earnestly, "and I feel that I can +thoroughly depend upon you. Watch over HER! She will have no other +protector, and she is so beautiful and careless! You can guard her-- +your age, your rank and position, the fact of your being an old +friend of the family--all these things warrant your censorship and +vigilance over her, and you can prevent any other man from intruding +himself upon her notice--" + +"If he does," I exclaimed, starting up from my seat with a mock +tragic air, "I will not rest till his body serves my sword as a +sheath!" + +And I laughed loudly, clapping him on the shoulder as I spoke. The +words were the very same he had himself uttered when I had witnessed +his interview with my wife in the avenue. He seemed to find +something familiar in the phrase, for he looked confused and +puzzled. Seeing this, I hastened to turn the current of his +reflections. Stopping abruptly in my mirth, I assumed a serious +gravity of demeanor, and said: + +"Nay, nay! I see the subject is too sacred to be jested with--pardon +my levity! I assure you, my good Ferrari, I will watch over the lady +with the jealous scrutiny of a BROTHER--an elderly brother too, and +therefore one more likely to be a model of propriety. Though I +frankly admit it is a task I am not specially fitted for, and one +that is rather distasteful to me, still, I would do much to please +you, and enable you to leave Naples with an easy mind I promise +you"--here I took his hand and shook it warmly--"that I will be +worthy of your trust and true to it, with exactly the same fine +loyalty and fidelity you yourself so nobly showed to your dead +friend Fabio! History cannot furnish me with a better example!" + +He started as if he had been stung, and every drop of blood receded +from his face, leaving it almost livid. He turned his eyes in a kind +of wondering doubt upon me, but I counterfeited an air of such good +faith and frankness, that he checked some hasty utterance that rose +to his lips, and mastering himself by a strong effort, said, +briefly: + +"I thank you! I know I can rely upon your honor." + +"You can!" I answered, decisively--"as positively as you rely upon +your own!" Again he winced, as though whipped smartly by an +invisible lash. Releasing his hand, I asked, in a tone of affected +regret, + +"And when must you leave us, carino?" + +"Most unhappily, at once," he answered "I start by the early train +to-morrow morning." + +"Well, I am glad I knew of this in time," I said, glancing at my +writing-table, which was strewn with unsent invitation cards, and +estimates from decorators and ball furnishers. "I shall not think of +starting any more gayeties till you return." + +He looked gratefully at me "Really? It is very kind of you, but I +should be sorry to interfere with any of your plans--" + +"Say no more about it, amico" I interrupted him lightly "Everything +can wait till you come back. Besides, I am sure you will prefer to +think of madama as living in some sort of seclusion during your +enforced absence--" + +"I should not like her to be dull!" he eagerly exclaimed. + +"Oh, no!" I said, with a slight smile at his folly, as if +she--Nina--would permit herself to be dull! "I will take care of that. +Little distractions, such as a drive now and then, or a very quiet, +select musical evening! I understand--leave it all to me! But the +dances, dinners, and other diversions shall wait till your return." + +A delighted look flashed into his eyes. He was greatly flattered and +pleased. + +"You are uncommonly good to me, conte!" he said, earnestly. "I can +never thank you sufficiently." + +"I shall demand a proof of your gratitude some day," I answered. +"And now, had you not better be packing your portmanteau? To-morrow +will soon be here. I will come and see you off in the morning." + +Receiving this assurance as another testimony of my friendship, he +left me. I saw him no more that day; it was easy to guess where he +was! With my wife, of course!--no doubt binding her, by all the most +sacred vows he could think of or invent, to be true to him--as true +as she had been false to me. In fancy I could see him clasping her +in his arms, and kissing her many times in his passionate fervor, +imploring her to think of him faithfully, night and day, till he +should again return to the joy of her caresses! I smiled coldly, as +this glowing picture came before my imagination. Ay, Guido! kiss her +and fondle her now to your heart's content--it is for the last time! +Never again will that witching glance be turned to you in either +fear or favor--never again will that fair body nestle in your +jealous embrace--never again will your kisses burn on that curved +sweet mouth; never, never again! Your day is done--the last brief +moments of your sin's enjoyment have come--make the most of them!-- +no one shall interfere! Drink the last drop of sweet wine--MY hand +shall not dash the cup from your lips on this, the final night of +your amour! Traitor, liar, and hypocrite! make haste to be happy for +the short time that yet remains to you--shut the door close, lest +the pure pale stars behold your love ecstasies! but let the perfumed +lamps shed their softest artificial luster on all that radiant +beauty which tempted your sensual soul to ruin, and of which you are +now permitted to take your last look! Let there be music too--the +music of her voice, which murmurs in your ear such entrancing +falsehoods! "She will be true," she says. You must believe her, +Guido, as I did--and, believing her thus, part from her as +lingeringly and tenderly as you will--part from her--FOREVER! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +Next morning I kept my appointment and met Ferrari at the railway +station. He looked pale and haggard, though he brightened a little +on seeing me. He was curiously irritable and fussy with the porters +concerning his luggage, and argued with them about some petty +trifles as obstinately and pertinaciously as a deaf old woman. His +nerves were evidently jarred and unstrung, and it was a relief when +he at last got into his coupe. He carried a yellow paper-covered +volume in his hand. I asked him if it contained any amusing reading. + +"I really do not know," he answered, indifferently, "I have only +just bought it. It is by Victor Hugo." + +And he held up the title-page for me to see. + +"Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamne," I read aloud with careful slowness. +"Ah, indeed! You do well to read that. It is a very fine study!" + +The train was on the point of starting, when he leaned out of the +carriage window and beckoned me to approach more closely. + +"Remember!" he whispered, "I trust you to take care of her!" + +"Never fear!" I answered, "I will do my best to replace YOU!" + +He smiled a pale uneasy smile, and pressed my hand. These were our +last words, for with a warning shriek the train moved off, and in +another minute had rushed out of sight. I was alone--alone with +perfect freedom of action--I could do as I pleased with my wife now! +I could even kill her if I chose--no one would interfere. I could +visit her that evening and declare myself to her--could accuse her +of her infidelity and stab her to the heart! Any Italian jury would +find "extenuating circumstances" for me. But why? Why should I lay +myself open to a charge of murder, even for a just cause? No! my +original design was perfect, and I must keep to it and work it out +with patience, though patience was difficult. While I thus +meditated, walking from the station homeward, I was startled by the +unexpected appearance of my valet, who came upon me quite suddenly. +He was out of breath with running, and he carried a note for me +marked "Immediate." It was from my wife, and ran briefly thus: + +"Please come at once. Stella is very ill, and asks for you." + +"Who brought this?" I demanded, quickening my pace, and signing to +Vincenzo to keep beside me. + +"The old man, eccellenza--Giacomo. He was weeping and in great +trouble--he said the little donzella had the fever in her throat--it +is the diphtheria he means, I think. She was taken ill in the middle +of the night, but the nurse thought it was nothing serious. This +morning she has been getting worse, and is in danger." + +"A doctor has been sent for, of course?" + +"Yes, eccellenza. So Giacomo said. But--" + +"But WHAT?" I asked, quickly. + +"Nothing, eccellenza! Only the old man said the doctor had come too +late." + +My heart sunk heavily, and a sob rose in my throat. I stopped in my +rapid walk and bade Vincenzo call a carriage, one of the ordinary +vehicles that are everywhere standing about for hire in the +principal thoroughfares of Naples. I sprung into this and told the +driver to take me as quickly as possible to the Villa Romani, and +adding to Vincenzo that I should not return to the hotel all day, I +was soon rattling along the uphill road. On my arrival at the villa +I found the gates open, as though in expectation of my visit, and as +I approached the entrance door of the house, Giacomo himself met me. + +"How is the child?" I asked him eagerly. + +He made no reply, but shook his head gravely, and pointed to a +kindly looking man who was at that moment descending the stairs--a +man whom I instantly recognized as a celebrated English doctor +resident in the neighborhood. To him I repeated my inquiry--he +beckoned me into a side room and closed the door. + +"The fact is," he said, simply, "it is a case of gross neglect. The +child has evidently been in a weakly condition for some time past, +and therefore is an easy prey to any disease that may be lurking +about. She was naturally strong--I can see that--and had I been +called in when the symptoms first developed themselves, I could have +cured her. The nurse tells me she dared not enter the mother's room +to disturb her after midnight, otherwise she would have called her +to see the child--it is unfortunate, for now I can do nothing." + +I listened like one in a dream. Not even old Assunta dared to enter +her mistress's room after midnight--no! not though the child might +be seriously ill and suffering. I knew the reason well--too well! +And so while Ferrari had taken his fill of rapturous embraces and +lingering farewells, my little one had been allowed to struggle in +pain and fever without her mother's care or comfort. Not that such +consolation would have been much at its best, but I was fool enough +to wish there had been this one faint spark of womanhood left in her +upon whom I had wasted all the first and only love of my life. The +doctor watched me as I remained silent, and after a pause he spoke +again. + +"The child has earnestly asked to see you," he said, "and I +persuaded the countess to send for you, though she was very +reluctant to do so, as she said you might catch the disease. Of +course there is always a risk--" + +"I am no coward, monsieur," I interrupted him, "though many of us +Italians prove but miserable panic-stricken wretches in time of +plague--the more especially when compared with the intrepidity and +pluck of Englishmen. Still there are exceptions--" + +The doctor smiled courteously and bowed. "Then I have no more to +say, except that it would be well for you to see my little patient +at once. I am compelled to be absent for half an hour, but at the +expiration of that time I will return." + +"Stay!" I said, laying a detaining hand on his arm. "Is there any +hope?" + +He eyed me gravely. "I fear not." + +"Can nothing be done?" + +"Nothing--except to keep her as quiet and warm as possible. I have +left some medicine with the nurse which will alleviate the pain. I +shall be able to judge of her better when I return; the illness will +have then reached its crisis." In a couple of minutes more he had +left the house, and a young maid-servant showed me to the nursery. + +"Where is the contessa?" I asked in a whisper, as I trod softly up +the stairs. + +"The contessa?" said the girl, opening her eyes in astonishment. "In +her own bedroom, eccellenza--madama would not think of leaving it; +because of the danger of infection." I smothered a rough oath that +roses involuntarily to my lips. Another proof of the woman's utter +heartlessness, I thought! + +"Has she not seen her child?" + +"Since the illness? Oh, no, eccellenza!" + +Very gently and on tiptoe I entered the nursery. The blinds were +partially drawn as the strong light worried the child, and by the +little white bed sat Assunta, her brown face pale and almost rigid +with anxiety. At my approach she raised her eyes to mine, muttering +softly: + +"It is always so. Our Lady will have the best of all, first the +father, then the child; it is right and just--only the bad are +left." + +"Papa!" moaned a little voice feebly, and Stella sat up among her +tumbled pillows, with wide-opened wild eyes, feverish cheeks, and +parted lips through which the breath came in quick, uneasy gasps. +Shocked at the marks of intense suffering in her face, I put my arms +tenderly round her--she smiled faintly and tried to kiss me. I +pressed the poor parched little mouth and murmured, soothingly: + +"Stella must be patient and quiet--Stella must lie down, the pain +will be better so; there! that is right!" as the child sunk back on +her bed obediently, still keeping her gaze fixed upon me. I knelt at +the bedside, and watched her yearningly--while Assunta moistened her +lips, and did all she could to ease the pain endured so meekly by +the poor little thing whose breathing grew quicker and fainter with +every tick of the clock. "You are my papa, are you not?" she asked, +a deeper flush crossing her forehead and cheeks. I made no answer--I +only kissed the small hot hand I held. Assunta shook her head. + +"Ah, poverinetta! The time is near--she sees her father. And why +not? He loved her well--he would come to fetch her for certain if +the saints would let him." + +And she fell on her knees and began to tell over her rosary with great +devotion. Meanwhile Stella threw one little arm round my neck--her +eyes were half shut--she spoke and breathed with increasing +difficulty. + +"My throat aches so, papa!" she said, pitifully. "Can you not make +it better?" + +"I wish I could, my darling!" I murmured. "I would bear all the pain +for you if it were possible!" + +She was silent a minute. Then she said: + +"What a long time you have been away! And now I am too ill to play +with you!" Then a faint smile crossed her features. "See poor To- +to!" she exclaimed, feebly, as her eyes fell on a battered old doll +in the spangled dress of a carnival clown that lay at the foot of +her bed. "Poor dear old To-to! He will think I do not love him any +more, because my throat hurts me. Give him to me, papa!" + +And as I obeyed her request she encircled the doll with one arm, +while she still clung to me with the other, and added: + +"To-to remembers you, papa; you know you brought him from Rome, and +he is fond of you, too--but not as fond as I am!" And her dark eyes +glittered feverishly. Suddenly her glance fell on Assunta, whose +gray head was buried in her hands as she knelt. + +"Assunta!" + +The old woman looked up. + +"Bambinetta!" she answered, and her aged voice trembled. + +"Why are you crying?" inquired Stella with an air of plaintive +surprise. "Are you not glad to see papa?" + +Her words were interrupted by a sharp spasm of pain which convulsed +her whole body--she gasped for breath--she was nearly suffocated. +Assunta and I raised her up gently and supported her against her +pillows; the agony passed slowly, but left her little face white and +rigid, while large drops of sweat gathered on her brow. I endeavored +to soothe her. + +"Darling, you must not talk," I whispered, imploringly; "try to be +very still--then the poor throat will not ache so much." + +She looked at me wistfully. After a minute or two she said, gently: + +"Kiss me, then, and I will be quite good." + +I kissed her fondly, and she closed her eyes. Ten, twenty, thirty +minutes passed and she did not stir. At the end of that time the +doctor entered. He glanced at her, gave me a warning look, and +remained standing quietly at the foot of the bed. Suddenly the child +woke, and smiled divinely on all three of us. + +"Are you in pain, my dear?" I softly asked. + +"No!" she answered in a tiny voice, so faint and far away that we +held our breath to listen to it; "I am quite well now. Assunta must +dress me in my white frock again now papa is here. I knew he would +come back!" + +And she turned her eyes upon me with a look of bright intelligence. + +"Her brain wanders," said the doctor, in a low, pitying voice; "it +will soon be over." + +Stella did not hear him; she turned and nestled in my arms, asking +in a sort of babbling whisper: + +"You did not go away because I was naughty, did you, papa?" + +"No darling!" I answered, hiding my face in her curls. + +"Why do you have those ugly black things on?" she asked, in the +feeblest and most plaintive tone imaginable, so weak that I myself +could scarcely hear it; "has somebody hurt your eyes? Let me see +your eyes!" I hesitated. Dare I humor her in her fancy? I glanced +up. The doctor's head again was turned away, Assunta was on her +knees, her face buried in the bed-clothes, praying to her saints; +quick as thought I slipped my spectacles slightly down, and looked +over them full at my little one. She uttered a soft cry of delight-- +"Papa! papa!" and stretched out her arms, then a strong and terrible +shudder shook her little frame. The doctor came closer--I replaced +my glasses without my action being noticed, and we both bent +anxiously over the suffering child. Her face paled and grew livid-- +she made another effort to speak--her beautiful eyes rolled upward +and became fixed--she sighed--and sunk back on my shoulder--dying-- +dead! My poor little one! A hard sob stifled itself in my throat--I +clasped the small lifeless body close in my embrace, and my tears +fell hot and fast. There was a long silence in the room--a deep, an +awe-struck, reverent silence, while the Angel of Death, noiselessly +entering and departing, gathered my little white rose for his +Immortal garden of flowers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +After some little time the doctor's genial voice, slightly tremulous +from kindly emotion, roused me from my grief-stricken attitude. + +"Monsieur, permit me to persuade you to come away. Poor little +child! she is free from pain now. Her fancy that you were her father +was a fortunate delusion for her. It made her last moments happy. +Pray come with me--I can see this has been a shock to your +feelings." + +Reverently I laid the fragile corpse back on the yet warm pillows. +With a fond touch I stroked the flaxen head; I closed the dark, +upturned, and glazing eyes--I kissed the waxen cheeks and lips, and +folded the tiny hands in an attitude of prayer. There was a grave +smile on the young dead face--a smile of superior wisdom and +sweetness, majestic in its simplicity. Assunta rose from her knees +and laid her crucifix on the little breast--the tears were running +down her worn and withered countenance. As she strove to wipe them +away with her apron, she said tremblingly:-- + +"It must be told to madama." A frown came on the doctor's face. He +was evidently a true Britisher, decisive in his opinions, and frank +enough to declare them openly. "Yes," he said, curtly, "Madama, as +you call her, should have been here." + +"The little angel did not once ask for her," murmured Assunta. + +"True!" he answered. And again there was silence. We stood round the +small bed, looking at the empty casket that had held the lost +jewel--the flawless pearl of innocent childhood that had gone, +according to a graceful superstition, to ornament the festal robes of +the Madonna as she walked in all her majesty through heaven. A +profound grief was at my heart--mingled with a sense of mysterious and +awful satisfaction. I felt, not as though I had lost my child, but had +rather gained her to be more entirely mine than ever. She seemed +nearer to me dead than she had been when living. Who could say what +her future might have been? She would have grown to womanhood--what +then? What is the usual fate that falls to even the best woman? +Sorrow, pain, and petty worry, unsatisfied longings, incompleted aims, +the disappointment of an imperfect and fettered life--for say what you +will to the contrary, woman's inferiority to man, her physical +weakness, her inability to accomplish any great thing for the welfare +of the world in which she lives, will always make her more or less an +object of pity. If good, she needs all the tenderness, support, and +chivalrous guidance of her master, man--if bad, she merits what she +receives, his pitiless disdain and measureless contempt. From all +dangers and griefs of the kind my Stella had escaped--for her, sorrow +no longer existed. I was glad of it, I thought, as I watched Assunta +shutting the blinds close, as a signal to outsiders that death was in +the house. At a sign from the doctor I followed him out of the +room--on the stairs he turned round abruptly, and asked: + +"Will YOU tell the countess?" + +"I would rather be excused," I replied, decisively. "I am not at all +in the humor for a SCENE." + +"You think she will make a scene?" he said with an astonished +uplifting of his eyebrows. "I dare say you are right though! She is +an excellent actress." + +By this time we had reached the foot of the stairs. + +"She is very beautiful," I answered evasively. + +"Oh, very! No doubt of that!" And here a strange frown contracted +the doctor's brow. "For my own taste, I prefer an ugly woman to SUCH +beauty." + +And with these words he left me, disappearing down the passage which +led to "madama's" boudoir. Left alone, I paced up and down the +drawing-room, gazing abstractedly on its costly fittings, its many +luxurious knickknacks and elegancies--most of which I had given to +my wife during the first few months of our marriage. By and by I +heard the sound of violent hysterical sobbing, accompanied by the +noise of hurrying footsteps and the rapid whisking about of female +garments. In a few moments the doctor entered with an expression of +sardonic amusement on his face. "Yes!" he said in reply to my look +of inquiry, "hysterics, lace handkerchiefs, eau-de-Cologne, and +attempts at fainting. All very well done! I have assured the lady +there is no fear of contagion, as under my orders everything will be +thoroughly disinfected. I shall go now. Oh, by the way, the countess +requests that you will wait here a few minutes--she has a message +for you--she will not detain you long. I should recommend you to get +back to your hotel as soon as you can, and take some good wine. A +rivederci! Anything I can do for you pray command me!" + +And with a cordial shake of the hand he left me, and I heard the +street door close behind him. Again I paced wearily up and down, +wrapped in sorrowful musings. I did not hear a stealthy tread on the +carpet behind me, so that when I turned round abruptly, I was +startled to find myself face to face with old Giacomo, who held out +a note to me on a silver salver, and who meanwhile peered at me with +his eager eyes in so inquisitive a manner that I felt almost uneasy. + +"And so the little angel is dead!" he murmured in a thin, quavering +voice. "Dead! Ay, that is a pity, a pity! But MY master is not +dead--no, no! I am not such an old fool as to believe that." + +I paid no heed to his rambling talk, but read the message Nina had +sent to me through him. + +"I am BROKEN-HEARTED!" so ran the delicately penciled lines. "Will +you kindly telegraph my DREADFUL loss to Signor Ferrari? I shall be +much obliged to you." I looked up from the perfumed missive and down +at the old butler's wrinkled visage; he was a short man and much +bent, and something in the downward glance I gave him evidently +caught and riveted his attention, for Tie clasped his hands together +and muttered something I could not hear. + +"Tell your mistress," I said, speaking slowly and harshly, "that I +will do as she wishes. That I am entirely at her service. Do you +understand?" + +"Yes, yes! I understand!" faltered Giacomo, nervously, "My master +never thought me foolish--I could always understand him--" + +"Do you know, my friend," I observed, in a purposely cold and +cutting tone, "that I have heard somewhat too much about your +master? The subject is tiresome to me! Were your master alive, he +would say you were in your dotage! Take my message to the countess +at once." + +The old man's face paled and his lips quivered--he made an attempt +to draw up his shrunken figure with a sort of dignity as he answered +"Eccellenza, my master would never speak to me so--never, never!" +Then his countenance fell, and he muttered, softly--"Though it is +just--I am a fool--I am mistaken--quite mistaken--there is no +resemblance!" After a little pause he added, humbly, "I will take +your message, eccellenza." And stooping more than ever, he shambled +out of the room. My heart smote me as he disappeared; I had spoken +very harshly to the poor old fellow--but I instinctively felt that +it was necessary to do so. His close and ceaseless examination of +me--his timidity when he approached me--the strange tremors he +experienced when I addressed him, were so many warnings to me to be +on my guard with this devoted domestic. Were he, by some unforeseen +chance, to recognize me, my plans would all be spoiled. I took my +hat and left the house. As I crossed the upper terrace, I saw a +small round object lying in the grass--it was Stella's ball that she +used to throw for Wyvis to catch and bring to her. I picked up the +poor plaything tenderly and put it in my pocket--and glancing up +once more at the darkened nursery windows, I waved a kiss of +farewell to my little one lying there in her last sleep. Then +fiercely controlling all the weaker and softer emotions that +threatened to overwhelm me, I hurried away. On my road to the hotel +I stopped at the telegraph-office and dispatched the news of +Stella's death to Guido Ferrari in Rome. He would be surprised, I +thought, but certainly not grieved--the poor child had always been +in his way. Would he come back to Naples to console the now +childless widow? Not he!--he would know well that she stood in very +small need of consolation--and that she took Stella's death as she +had taken mine--as a blessing, and not a bereavement. On reaching my +own rooms, I gave orders to Vincenzo that I was not at home to any +one who might call--and I passed the rest of the day in absolute +solitude. I had much to think of. The last frail tie between my wife +and myself had been snapped asunder--the child, the one innocent +link in the long chain of falsehood and deception, no longer +existed. Was I glad or sorry for this? I asked myself the question a +hundred times, and I admitted the truth, though I trembled to +realize it. I was GLAD--yes--GLAD! Glad that my own child was dead! +You call this inhuman perhaps? Why? She was bound to have been +miserable; she was now happy! + +The tragedy of her parents' lives could be enacted without +imbittering and darkening her young days, she was out of it all, and +I rejoiced to know it. For I was absolutely relentless; had my +little Stella lived, not even for her sake would I have relaxed in +one detail of my vengeance--nothing seemed to me so paramount as the +necessity for restoring my own self-respect and damaged honor. In +England I know these things are managed by the Divorce Court. +Lawyers are paid exorbitant fees, and the names of the guilty and +innocent are dragged through the revolting slums of the low London +press. It may be an excellent method--but it does not tend to +elevate a man in his own eyes, and it certainly does not do much to +restore his lost dignity. It has one advantage--it enables the +criminal parties to have their way without further interference--the +wronged husband is set free--left out in the cold--and laughed at by +those who wronged him. An admirable arrangement no doubt--but one +that would not suit me. Chacun a son gout! It would be curious to +know in matters of this kind whether divorced persons are really +satisfied when they have got their divorce--whether the amount of +red tape and parchment expended in their interest has done them good +and really relieved their feelings. Whether, for instance, the +betrayed husband is glad to have got rid of his unfaithful wife by +throwing her (with the full authority and permission of the law) +into his rival's arms? I almost doubt it! I heard of a strange case +in England once. A man, moving in good society, having more than +suspicions of his wife's fidelity, divorced her--the law pronounced +her guilty. Some years afterward, he being free, met her again, fell +in love with her for the second time and remarried her. She was +(naturally!) delighted at his making such a fool of himself--for +henceforth, whatever she chose to do, he could not reasonably +complain without running the risk of being laughed at. So now the +number and variety of her lovers is notorious in the particular +social circle where she moves--while he, poor wretch, is perforce +tongue-tied, and dare not consider himself wronged. There is no more +pitiable object in the world than such a man--secretly derided and +jeered at by his fellows, he occupies an almost worse position than +that of a galley slave, while in his own esteem he has sunk so low +that he dare not, even in secret, try to fathom the depth to which +he has fallen. Some may assert that to be divorced is a social +stigma. It used to be so perhaps, but society has grown very lenient +nowadays. Divorced women hold their own in the best and most +brilliant circles, and what is strange is that they are very +generally petted and pitied. + +"Poor thing!" says society, putting up its eyeglass to scan admiringly +the beautiful heroine of the latest aristocratic scandal--"she had +such a brute of a husband! No wonder she liked that DEAR Lord +So-and-So! Very wrong of her, of course, but she is so young! She was +married at sixteen--quite a child!--could not have known her own +mind!" + +The husband alluded to might have been the best and most chivalrous +of men--anything but a "brute"--yet he always figures as such +somehow, and gets no sympathy. And, by the way, it is rather a +notable fact that all the beautiful, famous, or notorious women were +"married at sixteen." How is this managed? I can account for it in +southern climates, where girls are full-grown at sixteen and old at +thirty--but I cannot understand its being the case in England, where +a "miss" of sixteen is a most objectionable and awkward ingenue, +without any of the "charms wherewith to charm," and whose +conversation is always vapid and silly to the point of absolute +exhaustion on the part of those who are forced to listen to it. +These sixteen-year-old marriages are, however, the only explanation +frisky English matrons can give for having such alarmingly prolific +families of tall sons and daughters, and it is a happy and +convenient excuse--one that provides a satisfactory reason for the +excessive painting of their faces and dyeing of their hair. Being +young (as they so nobly assert), they wish to look even younger. A +la bonne heure! If men cannot see through the delicate fiction, they +have only themselves to blame. As for me, I believe in the old, old, +apparently foolish legend of Adam and Eve's sin and the curse which +followed it--the curse on man is inevitably carried out to this day. +God said: + +"BECAUSE" (mark that BECAUSE!) "thou hast hearkened unto the voice +of thy wife" (or thy WOMAN, whoever she be), "and hast eaten of the +tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it" +(the tree or fruit being the evil suggested FIRST to man by woman), +"cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it +all the days of thy life!" + +True enough! The curse is upon all who trust woman too far--the +sorrow upon all who are beguiled by her witching flatteries. Of what +avail her poor excuse in the ancient story--"The serpent beguiled me +and I did eat!" Had she never listened she could not have been +beguiled. The weakness, the treachery, was in herself, and is there +still. Through everything the bitterness of it runs. The woman +tempts--the man yields--and the gate of Eden--the Eden of a clear +conscience and an untrammeled soul, is shut upon them. Forever and +ever the Divine denunciation re-echoes like muttering thunder +through the clouds of passing generations; forever and ever we +unconsciously carry it out in our own lives to its full extent till +the heart grows sick and the brain weary, and we long for the end of +it all, which is death--death, that mysterious silence and darkness +at which we sometimes shudder, wondering vaguely--Can it be worse +than life? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +More than ten days had passed since Stella's death. Her mother had +asked me to see to the arrangements for the child's funeral, +declaring herself too ill to attend to anything. I was glad enough +to accede to her request, for I was thus able to avoid the Romani +vault as a place of interment. I could not bear to think of the +little cherished body being laid to molder in that terrific place +where I had endured such frantic horrors. Therefore, informing all +whom it concerned that I acted under the countess's orders, I chose +a pretty spot in the open ground of the cemetery, close to the tree +where I had heard the nightingale singing in my hour of supreme +misery and suffering. Here my little one was laid tenderly to rest +in warm mother-earth, and I had sweet violets and primroses planted +thickly all about the place, while on the simple white marble cross +that marked the spot I had the words engraved-- + + "Una Stella svanita," + +[Footnote: A vanished star] + +adding the names of her parents and the date of her birth and death. +Since all this had been done I had visited my wife several times. +She was always at home to me, though of course, for decency's sake, +in consequence of the child's death, she denied herself to everybody +else. She looked lovelier than ever; the air of delicate languor she +assumed suited her as perfectly as its fragile whiteness suits a +hot-house lily. She knew the power of her own beauty most +thoroughly, and employed it in arduous efforts to fascinate me. But +I had changed my tactics; I paid very little heed to her, and never +went to see her unless she asked me very pressingly to do so. All +compliments and attentions from me to her had ceased. SHE courted +me, and I accepted her courtship in unresponsive silence. I played +the part of a taciturn and reserved man, who preferred reading some +ancient and abstruse treatise on metaphysics to even the charms of +her society--and often, when she urgently desired my company, I +would sit in her drawing-room, turning over the leaves of a book and +feigning to be absorbed in it, while she, from her velvet fauteuil, +would look at me with a pretty pensiveness made up half of respect, +half of gentle admiration--a capitally acted facial expression, by +the bye, and one that would do credit to Sarah Bernhardt. We had +both heard from Guido Ferrari; his letter to my wife I of course did +not see; she had, however, told me he was "much shocked and +distressed to hear of Stella's death." The epistle he addressed to +me had a different tale to tell. In it he wrote--"YOU can +understand, my dear conte, that I am not much grieved to hear of the +death of Fabio's child. Had she lived, I confess her presence would +have been a perpetual reminder to me of things I prefer to forget. +She never liked me--she might have been a great source of trouble +and inconvenience; so, on the whole, I am glad she is out of the +way." + +Further on in the letter he informed me: + +"My uncle is at death's door, but though that door stands wide open +for him, he cannot make up his mind to go in. His hesitation will +not be allowed to last, so the doctors tell me--at any rate I +fervently hope I shall not be kept waiting too long, otherwise I +shall return to Naples and sacrifice my heritage, for I am restless +and unhappy away from Nina, though I know she is safely guarded by +your protecting care." + +I read this particular paragraph to my wife, watching her closely as +I slowly enunciated the words contained in it. She listened, and a +vivid blush crimsoned her cheeks--a blush of indignation--and her +brows contracted in the vexed frown I knew so well. Her lips parted +in a half-sweet, half-chilly smile as she said, quietly: + +"I owe you my thanks, conte, for showing me to what extent Signor +Ferrari's impertinence may reach. I am surprised at his writing to +you in such a manner! The fact is, my late husband's attachment for +him was so extreme that he now presumes upon a supposed right that +he has over me--he fancies I am really his sister, and that he can +tyrannize, as brothers sometimes do! I really regret I have been so +patient with him--I have allowed him too much liberty." + +True enough! I thought and smiled bitterly. I was now in the heat of +the game--the moves must be played quickly--there was no more time +for hesitation or reflection. + +"I think, madam," I said, deliberately, as I folded Guido's letter +and replaced it in my pocket-book, "Signor Ferrari ardently aspires +to be something more than a brother to you at no very distant date." + +Oh, the splendid hypocrisy of women! No wonder they make such +excellent puppets on the theatrical stage--acting is their natural +existence, sham their breath of life! This creature showed no sign +of embarrassment--she raised her eyes frankly to mine in apparent +surprise--then she gave a little low laugh of disdain. + +"Indeed!" she said. "Then I fear Signor Ferrari is doomed to have +his aspirations disappointed! My dear conte," and here she rose and +swept softly across the room toward me with that graceful gliding +step that somehow always reminded me of the approach of a panther, +"do you really mean to tell me that his audacity has reached such a +height that--really it is TOO absurd!--that he hopes to marry me?" +And sinking into a chair near mine she looked at me in calm +inquiry. Lost in amazement at the duplicity of the Vroman, I +answered, briefly: + +"I believe so! He intimated as much to me." She smiled scornfully. + +"I am too much honored! And did you, conte, think for a moment that +such an arrangement would meet with my approval?" + +I was silent. My brain was confused--I found it difficult to meet +with and confront such treachery as this. What! Had she no +conscience? Were all the passionate embraces, the lingering kisses, +the vows of fidelity, and words of caressing endearment as naught? +Were they all blotted from her memory as the writing on a slate is +wiped out by a sponge! Almost I pitied Guido! His fate, in her +hands, was evidently to be the same as mine had been; yet after all, +why should I be surprised? why should I pity? Had I not calculated +it all? and was it not part of my vengeance? + +"Tell me!" pursued my wife's dulcet voice, breaking in upon my +reflections, "did you really imagine Signer Ferrari's suit might +meet with favor at my hands?" + +I must speak--the comedy had to be played out. So I answered, +bluntly: + +"Madam, I certainly did think so. It seemed a natural conclusion to +draw from the course of events. He is young, undeniably handsome, +and on his uncle's death will be fairly wealthy--what more could you +desire? besides, he was your husband's friend--" + +"And for that reason I would never marry him!" she interrupted me +with a decided gesture. "Even if I liked him sufficiently, which I +do not" (oh, miserable traitress), "I would not run the risk of what +the world would say of such a marriage." + +"How, madam? Pardon me if I fail to comprehend you." + +"Do you not see, conte?" she went on in a coaxing voice, as of one +that begged to be believed, "if I were to marry one that was known +to have been my husband's most intimate friend, society is so +wicked--people would be sure to say that there had been something +between us before my husband's death--I KNOW they would, and I could +not endure such slander!" + +"Murder will out" they say! Here was guilt partially declaring +itself. A perfectly innocent woman could not foresee so readily the +condemnation of society. Not having the knowledge of evil she would +be unable to calculate the consequences. The overprudish woman +betrays herself; the fine lady who virtuously shudders at the sight +of a nude statue or picture, announces at once to all whom it may +concern that there is something far coarser in the suggestions of +her own mind than the work of art she condemns. Absolute purity has +no fear of social slander; it knows its own value, and that it must +conquer in the end. My wife--alas! that I should call her so--was +innately vicious and false; yet how particular she was in her +efforts to secure the blind world's good opinion! Poor old world! +how exquisitely it is fooled, and how good-naturedly it accepts its +fooling! But I had to answer the fair liar, whose net of graceful +deceptions was now spread to entrap me, therefore I said with an +effort of courtesy: + +"No one would dare to slander you, contessa, in my presence." She +bowed and smiled prettily. "But," I went on, "if it is true that you +have no liking for Signer Ferrari--" + +"It is true!" she exclaimed with sudden emphasis. "He is rough and +ill-mannered; I have seen him the worse for wine, sometimes he is +insufferable! I am afraid of him!" + +I glanced at her quietly. Her face had paled, and her hands, which +were busied with some silken embroidery, trembled a little. + +"In that case," I continued, slowly, "though I am sorry for Ferrari, +poor fellow! he will be immensely disappointed! I confess I am glad +in other respects, because--" + +"Because what?" she demanded, eagerly. "Why," I answered, feigning a +little embarrassment, "because there will be more chance for other +men who may seek to possess the hand of the accomplished and +beautiful Contessa Romani." + +She shook her fair head slightly. A transient expression of +disappointment passed over her features. + +"The 'other men' you speak of, conte, are not likely to indulge in +such an ambition," she said, with a faint sigh; "more especially," +and her eyes flashed indignantly, "since Signor Ferrari thinks it +his duty to mount guard over me. I suppose he wishes to keep me for +himself--a most impertinent and foolish notion! There is only one +thing to do--I shall leave Naples before he returns." + +"Why?" I asked. + +She flushed deeply. "I wish to avoid him," she said, after a little +pause; "I tell you frankly, he has lately given me much cause for +annoyance. I will not be persecuted by his attentions; and as I +before said to you, I am often afraid of him. Under YOUR protection +I know I am quite safe, but I cannot always enjoy that--" + +The moment had come. I advanced a step or two. + +"Why not?" I said. "It rests entirely with yourself." + +She started and half rose from her chair--her work dropped from her +hands. + +"What do you mean, conte?" she faltered, half timidly, yet +anxiously; "I do not understand!" + +"I mean what I say," I continued in cool hard tones, and stooping, I +picked up her work and restored it to her; "but pray do not excite +yourself! You say you cannot always enjoy my protection; it seems to +me that you can--by becoming my wife." + +"Conte!" she stammered. I held up my hand as a sign to her to be +silent. + +"I am perfectly aware," I went on in business-like accents--"of the +disparity in years that exists between us. I have neither youth, +health, or good looks to recommend me to you. Trouble and bitter +disappointment have made me what I am. But I have wealth which is +almost inexhaustible--I have position and influence--and beside these +things"--and here I looked at her steadily, "I have an ardent desire +to do justice to your admirable qualities, and to give you all you +deserve. If you think you could be happy with me, speak frankly--I +cannot offer you the passionate adoration of a young man--my blood is +cold and my pulse is slow--but what I CAN do, I will!" + +Having spoken thus, I was silent--gazing at her intently. She paled +and flushed alternately, and seemed for a moment lost in thought-- +then a sudden smile of triumph curved her mouth--she raised her +large lovely eyes to mine, with a look of melting and wistful +tenderness. She laid her needle-work gently down, and came close up +to me--her fragrant breath fell warm on my cheek--her strange gaze +fascinated me, and a sort of tremor shook my nerves. + +"You mean," she said, with a tender pathos in her voice--"that you +are willing to marry me, but that you do not really LOVE me?" + +And almost appealingly she laid her white hand on my shoulder--her +musical accents were low and thrilling--she sighed faintly. I was +silent--battling violently with the foolish desire that had sprung +up within me, the desire to draw this witching fragile thing to my +heart, to cover her lips with kisses--to startle her with the +passion of my embraces! But I forced the mad impulse down and stood +mute. She watched me--slowly she lifted her hand from where it had +rested, and passed it with a caressing touch through my hair. + +"No--you do not really LOVE me," she whispered--"but I will tell you +the truth--_I_ LOVE YOU!" + +And she drew herself up to her full height and smiled again as she +uttered the lie. I knew it was a lie--but I seized the hand whose +caresses stung me, and held it hard, as I answered: + +"YOU love ME? No, no--I cannot believe it--it is impossible!" + +She laughed softly. "It is true though," she said, emphatically, +"the very first time I saw you I knew I should love you! I never +even liked my husband, and though in some things you resemble him, +you are quite different in others--and superior to him in every way. +Believe it or not as you like, you are the only man in all the world +I have ever loved!" + +And she made the assertion unblushingly, with an air of conscious +pride and virtue. Half stupefied at her manner, I asked: + +"Then you will be my wife?" + +"I will!" she answered--"and tell me--your name is Cesare, is it +not?" + +"Yes," I said, mechanically. + +"Then, CESARE" she murmured, tenderly, "I will MAKE you love me very +much!" + +And with a quick lithe movement of her supple figure, she nestled +softly against me, and turned up her radiant glowing face. + +"Kiss me!" she said, and waited. As one in a whirling dream, I +stooped and kissed those false sweet lips! I would have more readily +placed my mouth upon that of a poisonous serpent! Yet that kiss +roused a sort of fury in me. I slipped my arms round her half- +reclining figure, drew her gently backward to the couch she had +left, and sat down beside her, still embracing her. "You really love +me?" I asked almost fiercely. + +"Yes!" + +"And I am the first man whom you have really cared for? + +"You are!" + +"You never liked Ferrari?" + +"Never!" + +"Did he ever kiss you as I have done?" + +"Not once!" + +God! how the lies poured forth! a very cascade of them! and they +were all told with such an air of truth! I marveled at the ease and +rapidity with which they glided off this fair woman's tongue, +feeling somewhat the same sense of stupid astonishment a rustic +exhibits when he sees for the first time a conjurer drawing yards +and yards of many-colored ribbon out of his mouth. I took up the +little hand on which the wedding-ring _I_ had placed there was still +worn, and quietly slipped upon the slim finger a circlet of +magnificent rose-brilliants. I had long carried this trinket about +with me in expectation of the moment that had now come. She started +from my arms with an exclamation of delight. + +"Oh, Cesare! how lovely! How good you are to me!" + +And leaning toward me, she kissed me, then resting against my +shoulder, she held up her hand to admire the flash of the diamonds +in the light. Suddenly she said, with some anxiety in her tone: + +"You will not tell Guido? not yet?" + +"No," I answered; "I certainly will not tell him till he returns. +Otherwise he would leave Rome at once, and we do not want him back +just immediately, do we?" And I toyed with her rippling gold tresses +half mechanically, while I wondered within myself at the rapid +success of my scheme. She, in the meantime grew pensive and +abstracted, and for a few moments we were both silent. If she had +known! I thought, if she could have imagined that she was encircled +by the arm of HER OWN HUSBAND, the man whom she had duped and +wronged, the poor fool she had mocked at and despised, whose life +had been an obstruction in her path, whose death she had been glad +of! Would she have smiled so sweetly? Would she have kissed me then? + +******* + +She remained leaning against me in a resposeful attitude for some +moments, ever and anon turning the ring I had given her round and +round upon her finger. By and by she looked up. + +"Will you do me one favor?" she asked, coaxingly; "such a little +thing--a trifle! but it would give me such pleasure!" + +"What is it?" I asked; "it is you to command and I to obey!" + +"Well, to take off those dark glasses just for a minute! I want to +see your eyes." + +I rose from the sofa quickly, and answered her with some coldness. + +"Ask anything you like but that, mia bella. The least light on my +eyes gives me the most acute pain--pain that irritates my nerves for +hours afterward. Be satisfied with me as I am for the present, +though I promise you your wish shall be gratified--" + +"When?" she interrupted me eagerly. I stooped and kissed her hand. + +"On the evening of our marriage day," I answered. + +She blushed and turned away her head coquettishly. + +"Ah! that is so long to wait!" she said, half pettishly. + +"Not very long, I HOPE," I observed, with meaning emphasis. "We are +now in November. May I ask you to make my suspense brief? to allow +me to fix our wedding for the second month of the new year?" + +"But my recent widowhood!--Stella's death!"--she objected faintly, +pressing a perfumed handkerchief gently to her eyes. + +"In February your husband will have been dead nearly six months," I +said, decisively; "it is quite a sufficient period of mourning for +one so young as yourself. And the loss of your child so increases +the loneliness of your situation, that it is natural, even +necessary, that you should secure a protector as soon as possible. +Society will not censure you, you may be sure--besides, _I_ shall +know how to silence any gossip that savors of impertinence." + +A smile of conscious triumph parted her lips. + +"It shall be as you wish," she said, demurely; "if you, who are +known in Naples as one who is perfectly indifferent to women like +now to figure as an impatient lover. I shall not object!" + +And she gave me a quick glance of mischievous amusement from under +the languid lids of her dreamy dark eyes. I saw it, but answered, +stiffly: + +"YOU are aware, cqntessa, and I am also aware that I am not a +'lover' according to the accepted type, but that I am impatient I +readily admit." + +"And why?" she asked. + +"Because," I replied, speaking slowly and emphatically; "I desire +you to be mine and mine only, to have you absolutely in my +possession, and to feel that no one can come between us, or +interfere with my wishes concerning you." + +She laughed gayly. "A la bonne heure! You ARE a lover without +knowing it! Your dignity will not allow you to believe that you are +actually in love with me, but in spite of yourself you ARE--you know +you are!" + +I stood before her in almost somber silence. At last I said: "If YOU +say so, contessa, then it must be so. I have had no experience in +affairs of the heart, as they are called, and I find it difficult to +give a name to the feelings which possess me; I am only conscious of +a very strong wish to become the absolute master of your destiny." +And involuntarily I clinched my hand as I spoke. She did not observe +the action, but she answered the words with a graceful bend of the +head and a smile. + +"I could not have a better fortune," she said, "for I am sure my +destiny will be all brightness and beauty with YOU to control and +guide it!" + +"It will be what you desire," I half muttered; then with an abrupt +change of manner I said: "I will wish you goodnight, contessa. It +grows late, and my state of health compels me to retire to rest +early." + +She rose from her seat and gave me a compassionate look. + +"You are really a great sufferer then?" she inquired tenderly. "I am +sorry! But perhaps careful nursing will quite restore you. I shall +be so proud if I can help you to secure better health." + +"Rest and happiness will no doubt do much for me," I answered, +"still I warn you, cara mia, that in accepting me as your husband +you take a broken-down man, one whose whims are legion and whose +chronic state of invalidism may in time prove to be a burden on your +young life. Are you sure your decision is a wise one?" + +"Quite sure!" she replied firmly. "Do I not LOVE you! And you will +not always be ailing--you look so strong." + +"I am strong to a certain extent," I said, unconsciously +straightening myself as I stood. "I have plenty of muscle as far as +that goes, but my nervous system is completely disorganized. I--why, +what is the matter? Are you ill?" + +For she had turned deathly pale, and her eyes look startled and +terrified. Thinking she would faint, I extended my arms to save her +from falling, but she put them aside with an alarmed yet appealing +gesture. + +"It is nothing," she murmured feebly, "a sudden giddiness--I +thought--no matter what! Tell me, are you not related to the Romani +family? When you drew yourself up just now you were so like--like +FABIO! I fancied," and she shuddered, "that I saw his ghost!" + +I supported her to a chair near the window, which I threw open for +air, though the evening was cold. + +"You are fatigued and overexcited," I said calmly, "your nature is +too imaginative. No; I am not related to the Romanis, though +possibly I may have some of their mannerisms. Many men are alike in +these things. But you must not give way to such fancies. Rest +perfectly quiet, you will soon recover." + +And pouring out a glass of water I handed it to her. She sipped it +slowly, leaning back in the fauteuil where I had placed her, and in +silence we both looked out on the November night. There was a moon, +but she was veiled by driving clouds, which ever and anon swept +asunder to show her gleaming pallidly white, like the restless +spirit of a deceived and murdered lady. A rising wind moaned +dismally among the fading creepers and rustled the heavy branches of +a giant cypress that stood on the lawn like a huge spectral mourner +draped in black, apparently waiting for a forest funeral. Now and +then a few big drops of rain fell-sudden tears wrung as though by +force from the black heart of the sky. My wife shivered. + +"Shut the window!" she said, glancing back at me where I stood +behind her chair. "I am much better now. I was very silly. I do not +know what came over me, but for the moment I felt afraid--horribly +afraid!--of YOU!" + +"That was not complimentary to your future husband," I remarked, +quietly, as I closed and fastened the window in obedience to her +request. "Should I not insist upon an apology?" + +She laughed nervously, and played with her ring of rose-brilliants. + +"It is not yet too late," I resumed, "if on second thoughts you +would rather not marry me, you have only to say so. I shall accept +my fate with equanimity, and shall not blame you." + +At this she seemed quite alarmed, and rising, laid her hand +pleadingly on my arm. + +"Surely you are not offended?" she said. "I was not really afraid of +you, you know--it was a stupid fancy--I cannot explain it. But I am +quite well now, and I am only TOO happy. Why, I would not lose your +love for all the world--you MUST believe me!" + +And she touched my hand caressingly with her lips. I withdrew it +gently, and stroked her hair with an almost parental tenderness; +then I said quietly: + +"If so, we are agreed, and all is well. Let me advise you to take a +long night's rest: your nerves are weak and somewhat shaken. You +wish me to keep our engagement secret?" + +She thought for a moment, then answered musingly: + +"For the present perhaps it would be best. Though," and she laughed, +"it would be delightful to see all the other women jealous and +envious of my good fortune! Still, if the news were told to any of +our friends--who knows?--it might accidentally reach Guido, and--" + +"I understand! You may rely upon my discretion. Good-night, +contessa!" + +"You may call me Nina," she murmured, softly. + +"NINA, then," I said, with some effort, as I lightly kissed her. +"Good-night!--may your dreams be of me!" She responded to this with +a gratified smile, and as I left the room she waved her hand in a +parting salute. My diamonds flashed on it like a small circlet of +fire; the light shed through the rose-colored lamps that hung from +the painted ceiling fell full on her exquisite loveliness, softening +it into ethereal radiance and delicacy, and when I strode forth from +the house into the night air heavy with the threatening gloom of +coming tempest, the picture of that fair face and form flitted +before me like a mirage--the glitter of her hair flashed on my +vision like little snakes of fire--her lithe hands seemed to beckon +me--her lips had left a scorching heat on mine. Distracted with the +thoughts that tortured me, I walked on and on for hours. The storm +broke at last; the rain poured in torrents, but heedless of wind and +weather, I wandered on like a forsaken fugitive. I seemed to be the +only human being left alive in a world of wrath and darkness. The +rush and roar of the blast, the angry noise of waves breaking +hurriedly on the shore, the swirling showers that fell on my +defenseless head--all these things were unfelt, unheard by me. There +are times in a man's life when mere physical feeling grows numb +under the pressure of intense mental agony-when the indignant soul, +smarting with the experience of some vile injustice, forgets for a +little its narrow and poor house of clay. Some such mood was upon me +then, I suppose, for in the very act of walking I was almost +unconscious of movement. An awful solitude seemed to encompass me--a +silence of my own creating. I fancied that even the angry elements +avoided me as I passed; that there was nothing, nothing in all the +wide universe but myself and a dark brooding horror called +Vengeance. All suddenly, the mists of my mind cleared; I moved no +longer in a deaf, blind stupor. A flash of lightning danced vividly +before my eyes, followed by a crashing peal of thunder, I saw to +what end of a wild journey I had come! Those heavy gates--that +undefined stretch of land--those ghostly glimmers of motionless +white like spectral mile-stones emerging from the gloom--I knew it +all too well--it was the cemetery! I looked through the iron +palisades with the feverish interest of one who watches the stage +curtain rise on the last scene of a tragedy. The lightning sprung +once more across the sky, and showed me for a brief second the +distant marble outline of the Romani vault. There the drama began-- +where would it end? Slowly, slowly there flitted into my thoughts +the face of my lost child--the young, serious face as it had looked +when the calm, preternaturally wise smile of Death had rested upon +it; and then a curious feeling of pity possessed me--pity that her +little body should be lying stiffly out there, not in the vault, but +under the wet sod, in such a relentless storm of rain. I wanted to +take her up from that cold couch--to carry her to some home where +there should be light and heat and laughter--to warm her to life +again within my arms; and as my brain played with these foolish +fancies, slow hot tears forced themselves into my eyes and scalded +my cheeks as they fell. These tears relieved me--gradually the +tightly strung tension of my nerves relaxed, and I recovered my +usual composure by degrees. Turning deliberately away from the +beckoning grave-stones, I walked back to the city through the thick +of the storm, this time with an assured step and a knowledge of +where I was going. I did not reach my hotel till past midnight, but +this was not late for Naples, and the curiosity of the fat French +hall-porter was not so much excited by the lateness of my arrival as +by the disorder of my apparel. + +"Ah, Heaven!" he cried; "that monsieur the distinguished should have +been in such a storm all unprotected! Why did not monsieur send for +his carriage?" I cut short his exclamations by dropping five francs +into his ever-ready hand, assuring him that I had thoroughly enjoyed +the novelty of a walk in bad weather, whereat he smiled and +congratulated me as much as he had just commiserated me. On reaching +my own rooms, my valet Vincenzo stared at my dripping and disheveled +condition, but was discreetly mute. He quickly assisted me to change +my wet clothes for a warm dressing-gown, and then brought a glass of +mulled port wine, but performed these duties with such an air of +unbroken gravity that I was inwardly amused while I admired the +fellow's reticence. When I was about to retire for the night, I +tossed him a napoleon. He eyed it musingly and inquiringly; then he +asked: + +"Your excellency desires to purchase something?" + +"Your silence, my friend, that is all!" I replied, with a laugh. +"Understand me, Vincenzo, you will serve yourself and me best by +obeying implicitly, and asking no questions. Fortunate is the +servant who, accustomed to see his master drunk every night, swears +to all outsiders that he has never served so sober and discreet a +gentleman! That is your character, Vincenzo--keep to it, and we +shall not quarrel." He smiled gravely, and pocketed my piece of gold +without a word--like a true Tuscan as he was. The sentimental +servant, whose fine feelings will not allow him to accept an extra +"tip," is, you may be sure, a humbug. I never believed in such a +one. Labor can always command its price, and what so laborious in +this age as to be honest? What so difficult as to keep silence on +other people's affairs? Such herculean tasks deserve payment! A +valet who is generously bribed, in addition to his wages, can be +relied on; if underpaid, all heaven and earth will not persuade him +to hold his tongue. Left alone at last in my sleeping chamber, I +remained for some time before actually going to bed. I took off the +black spectacles which served me so well, and looked at myself in +the mirror with some curiosity. I never permitted Vincenzo to enter +my bedroom at night, or before I was dressed in the morning, lest he +should surprise me without these appendages which were my chief +disguise, for in such a case I fancy even his studied composure +would have given way. For, disburdened of my smoke-colored glasses, +I appeared what I was, young and vigorous in spite of my white beard +and hair. My face, which had been worn and haggard at first, had +filled up and was healthily colored; while my eyes, the spokesmen of +my thoughts, were bright with the clearness and fire of +constitutional strength and physical well-being. I wondered, as I +stared moodily at my own reflection, how it was that I did not look +ill. The mental suffering I continually underwent, mingled though it +was with a certain gloomy satisfaction, should surely have left more +indelible traces on my countenance. Yet it has been proved that it +is not always the hollow-eyed, sallow and despairing-looking persons +who are really in sharp trouble--these are more often bilious or +dyspeptic, and know no more serious grief than the incapacity to +gratify their appetites for the high-flavored delicacies of the +table. A man may be endowed with superb physique, and a constitution +that is in perfect working order--his face and outward appearance +may denote the most harmonious action of the life principle within +him--and yet his nerves may be so finely strung that he may be +capable of suffering acuter agony in his mind than if his body were +to be hacked slowly to pieces by jagged knives, and it will leave no +mark on his features while YOUTH still has hold on his flesh and +blood. + +So it was with me; and I wondered what SHE--Nina--would say, could +she behold me, unmasked as it were, in the solitude of my own room. +This thought roused another in my mind--another at which I smiled +grimly. I was an engaged man! Engaged to marry my own wife; +betrothed for the second time to the same woman! What a difference +between this and my first courtship of her! THEN, who so great a +fool as I--who so adoring, passionate and devoted! NOW, who so +darkly instructed, who so cold, so absolutely pitiless! The climax +to my revenge was nearly reached. I looked through the coming days +as one looks through a telescope out to sea, and I could watch the +end approaching like a phantom ship--neither slow nor fast, but +steadily and silently. I was able to calculate each event in its due +order, and I knew there was no fear of failure in the final result. +Nature itself--the sun, moon and stars, the sweeping circle of the +seasons--all seem to aid in the cause of rightful justice. Man's +duplicity may succeed in withholding a truth for a time, but in the +end it must win its way. Once resolve, and then determine to carry +out that resolve, and it is astonishing to note with what marvelous +ease everything makes way for you, provided there be no innate +weakness in yourself which causes you to hesitate. I had formerly +been weak, I knew, very weak--else I had never been fooled by wife +and friend; but now, now my strength was as the strength of a demon +working within me. My hand had already closed with an iron grip on +two false unworthy lives, and had I not sworn "never to relax, never +to relent" till my vengeance was accomplished? I had! Heaven and +earth had borne witness to my vow, and now held me to its stern +fulfillment. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Winter, or what the Neapolitans accept as winter, came on apace. For +some time past the air had been full of that mild chill and vaporous +murkiness, which, not cold enough to be bracing, sensibly lowered +the system and depressed the spirits. The careless and jovial +temperament of the people, however, was never much affected by the +change of seasons--they drank more hot coffee than usual, and kept +their feet warm by dancing from midnight up to the small hours of +the morning. The cholera was a thing of the past--the cleansing of +the city, the sanitary precautions, which had been so much talked +about and recommended in order to prevent another outbreak in the +coming year, were all forgotten and neglected, and the laughing +populace tripped lightly over the graves of its dead hundreds as +though they were odorous banks of flowers. "Oggi! Oggi!" is their +cry--to-day, to-day! Never mind what happened yesterday, or what +will happen to-morrow--leave that to i signori Santi and la Signora +Madonna! And after all there is a grain of reason in their folly, +for many of the bitterest miseries of man grow out of a fatal habit +of looking back or looking forward, and of never living actually in +the full-faced present. Then, too, Carnival was approaching; +Carnival, which, though denuded of many of its best and brightest +features, still reels through the streets of Naples with something +of the picturesque madness that in old times used to accompany its +prototype, the Feast of Bacchus. I was reminded of this coming +festivity on the morning of the 21st of December, when I noted some +unusual attempts on the part of Vincenzo to control his countenance, +that often, in spite of his efforts, broadened into a sunny smile as +though some humorous thought had flitted across his mind. He +betrayed himself at last by asking me demurely whether I purposed +taking any part in the carnival? I smiled and shook my head. +Vincenzo looked dubious, but finally summoned up courage to say: + +"Will the eccellenza permit--" + +"You to make a fool of yourself?" I interrupted, "by all means! Take +your own time, enjoy the fun as much as you please; I promise you I +will ask no account of your actions." + +He was much gratified, and attended to me with even more +punctiliousness than usual. As he prepared my breakfast I asked him: + +"By the way, when does the carnival begin?" + +"On the 26th," he answered, with a slight air of surprise. "Surely +the eccellenza knows." + +"Yes, yes," I said, impatiently. "I know, but I had forgotten. I am +not young enough to keep the dates of these follies in my memory. +What letters have you there?" + +He handed me a small tray full of different shaped missives, some +from fair ladies who "desired the honor of my company," others from +tradesmen, "praying the honor of my custom," all from male and +female toadies as usual, I thought contemptuously, as I turned them +over, when my glance was suddenly arrested by one special envelope, +square in form and heavily bordered with black, on which the +postmark "Roma" stood out distinctly. "At last!" I thought, and +breathed heavily. I turned to my valet, who was giving the final +polish to my breakfast cup and saucer: + +"You may leave the room, Vincenzo," I said, briefly. He bowed, the +door opened and shut noiselessly--he was gone. + +Slowly I broke the seal of that fateful letter; a letter from Guido +Ferrari, a warrant self-signed, for his own execution! + +"My best friend," so it ran, "you will guess by the 'black flag' on +my envelope the good news I have to give you. My uncle is dead AT +LAST, thank God! and I am left his sole heir unconditionally. I am +free, and shall of course return to Naples immediately, that is, as +soon as some trifling law business has been got through with the +executors. I believe I can arrange my return for the 23d or 24th +instant, but will telegraph to you the exact day, and, if possible, +the exact hour. Will you oblige me by NOT announcing this to the +countess, as I wish to take her by surprise. Poor girl! she will +have often felt lonely, I am sure, and I want to see the first +beautiful look of rapture and astonishment in her eyes! You can +understand this, can you not, amico, or does it seem to you a folly? +At any rate, I should consider it very churlish were I to keep YOU +in ignorance of my coming home, and I know you will humor me in my +desire that the news should be withheld from Nina, How delighted she +will be, and what a joyous carnival we will have this winter! I do +not think I ever felt more light of heart; perhaps it is because I +am so much heavier in pocket. I am glad of the money, as it places +me on a more equal footing with HER, and though all her letters to +me have been full of the utmost tenderness, still I feel she will +think even better of me, now I am in a position somewhat nearer to +her own. As for you, my good conte, on my return I shall make it my +first duty to pay back with interest the rather large debt I owe to +you--thus my honor will be satisfied, and you, I am sure, will have +a better opinion of + +"Yours to command, + +"GUIDO FERRARI." + +This was the letter, and I read it over and over again. Some of the +words burned themselves into my memory as though they were living +flame. "All her letters to me have been full of the utmost +tenderness!" Oh, miserable-dupe! fooled, fooled to the acme of folly +even as I had been! SHE, the arch-traitress, to prevent his +entertaining the slightest possible suspicion or jealousy of her +actions during his absence, had written him, no doubt, epistles +sweet as honey brimming over with endearing epithets and vows of +constancy, even while she knew she had accepted me as her husband-- +me--good God! What a devil's dance of death it was! + +"On my return I shall make it my first duty to pay back with +interest the rather large debt I owe you" (rather large indeed, +Guido, so large that you have no idea of its extent!), "thus my +honor will be satisfied" (and so will mine in part), "and you, I am +sure, will have a better opinion of yours to command." Perhaps I +shall, Guido--mine to command as you are--perhaps when all my +commands are fulfilled to the bitter end, I may think more kindly of +you. But not till then! In the meantime--I thought earnestly for a +few minutes, and then sitting down, I penned the following note. + +"Caro amico! Delighted to hear of your good fortune, and still more +enchanted to know you will soon enliven us all with your presence! I +admire your little plan of surprising the countess, and will respect +your wishes in the matter. But you, on your part, must do me a +trifling favor: we have been very dull since you left, and I purpose +to start the gayeties afresh by giving a dinner on the 24th +(Christmas Eve), in honor of your return--an epicurean repast for +gentlemen only. Therefore, I ask you to oblige me by fixing your +return for that day, and on arrival at Naples, come straight to me +at this hotel, that I may have the satisfaction of being the first +to welcome you as you deserve. Telegraph your answer and the hour of +your train; and my carriage shall meet you at the station. The +dinner-hour can be fixed to suit your convenience of course; what +say you to eight o'clock? After dinner you can betake yourself to +the Villa Romani when you please--your enjoyment of the lady's +surprise and rapture will be the more keen for having been slightly +delayed. Trusting you will not refuse to gratify an old man's whim, +I am, + +"Yours for the time being, + +"CESARE OLIVA." + +This epistle finished and written in the crabbed disguised +penmanship it was part of my business to effect, I folded, sealed +and addressed it, and summoning Vincenzo, bade him post it +immediately. As soon as he had gone on this errand, I sat down to my +as yet untasted breakfast and made some effort to eat as usual. But +my thoughts were too active for appetite--I counted on my fingers +the days--there were four, only four, between me and--what? One +thing was certain--I must see my wife, or rather I should say my +BETROTHED--I must see her that very day. I then began to consider +how my courtship had progressed since that evening when she had +declared she loved me. I had seen her frequently, though not daily-- +her behavior had been by turns affectionate, adoring, timid, +gracious and once or twice passionately loving, though the latter +impulse in her I had always coldly checked. For though I could bear +a great deal, any outburst of sham sentiment on her part sickened +and filled me with such utter loathing that often when she was more +than usually tender I dreaded lest my pent-up wrath should break +loose and impel me to kill her swiftly and suddenly as one crushes +the head of a poisonous adder--an all-too-merciful death for such as +she. I preferred to woo her by gifts alone--and her hands were +always ready to take whatever I or others chose to offer her. From a +rare jewel to a common flower she never refused anything--her +strongest passions were vanity and avarice. Sparkling gems from the +pilfered store of Carmelo Neri-trinkets which I had especially +designed for her--lace, rich embroideries, bouquets of hot-house +blossoms, gilded boxes of costly sweets--nothing came amiss to her-- +she accepted all with a certain covetous glee which she was at no +pains to hide from me--nay, she made it rather evident that she +expected such things as her right. + +And after all, what did it matter to me--I thought--of what value +was anything I possessed save to assist me in carrying out the +punishment I had destined for her? I studied her nature with +critical coldness--I saw its inbred vice artfully concealed beneath +the affectation of virtue--every day she sunk lower in my eyes, and +I wondered vaguely how I could ever have loved so coarse and common +a thing! Lovely she certainly was--lovely too are many of the +wretched outcasts who sell themselves in the streets for gold, and +who in spite of their criminal trade are less vile than such a woman +as the one I had wedded. Mere beauty of face and form can be bought +as easily as one buys a flower--but the loyal heart, the pure soul, +the lofty intelligence which can make of woman an angel--these are +unpurchasable ware, and seldom fall to the lot of man. For beauty, +though so perishable, is a snare to us all--it maddens our blood in +spite of ourselves--we men are made so. How was it that I--even I, +who now loathed the creature I had once loved--could not look upon +her physical loveliness without a foolish thrill of passion awaking +within me--passion that had something of the murderous in it-- +admiration that was almost brutal--feelings which I could not +control though I despised myself for them while they lasted! There +is a weak point in the strongest of us, and wicked women know well +where we are most vulnerable. One dainty pin-prick well-aimed--and +all the barriers of caution and reserve are broken down--we are +ready to fling away our souls for a smile or a kiss. Surely at the +last day when we are judged--and may be condemned--we can make our +last excuse to the Creator in the word? of the first misguided man: + +"The woman whom thou gavest to be with me--she tempted me, and I did +eat!" + +I lost no time that day in going to the Villa Romani. I drove there in +my carriage, taking with me the usual love-offering in the shape of a +large gilded osier-basket full of white violets. Their delicious odor +reminded me of that May morning when Stella was born--and then quickly +there flashed into my mind the words spoken by Guido Ferrari at the +time. How mysterious they had seemed to me then--how clear their +meaning now! On arriving at the villa I found my fiance in her own +boudoir, attired in morning deshabille, if a trailing robe of white +cashmere trimmed with Mechlin lace and swan's-down can be considered +deshabille. Her rich hair hung loosely on her shoulders, and she was +seated in a velvet easy-chair before a small sparkling wood fire, +reading. Her attitude was one of luxurious ease and grace, but she +sprung up as soon as her maid announced me, and came forward with her +usual charming air of welcome, in which there was something imperial, +as of a sovereign who receives a subject. I presented the flowers I +had brought, with a few words of studied and formal compliment, +uttered for the benefit of the servant who lingered in the room--then +I added in a lower tone: + +"I have news of importance--can I speak to you privately?" + +She smiled assent, and motioning me by a graceful gesture of her +hand to take a seat, she at once dismissed her maid. As soon as the +door had closed behind the girl I spoke at once and to the point, +scarcely waiting till my wife resumed her easy-chair before the +fire. + +"I have had a letter from Signor Ferrari." + +She started slightly, but said nothing, she merely bowed her head +and raised her delicately arched eyebrows with a look of inquiry as +of one who should say, "Indeed! in what way does this concern me?" I +watched her narrowly, and then continued, "He is coming back in two +or three days--he says he is sure," and here I smiled, "that you +will be delighted to see him." + +This time she half rose from her seat, her lips moved as though she +would speak, but she remained silent, and sinking back again among +her violet velvet cushions, she grew very pale. + +"If," I went on, "you have any reason to think that he may make +himself disagreeable to you when he knows of your engagement to me, +out of disappointed ambition, conceit, or self-interest (for of +course YOU never encouraged him), I should advise you to go on a +visit to some friends for a few days, till his irritation shall have +somewhat passed. What say you to such a plan?" + +She appeared to meditate for a few moments--then raising her lovely +eyes with a wistful and submissive look, she replied: + +"It shall be as you wish, Cesare! Signor Ferrari is certainly rash +and hot-tempered, he might be presumptuous enough to--But you do not +think of yourself in the matter! Surely YOU also are in danger of +being insulted by him when he knows all?" + +"I shall be on my guard!" I said, quietly. "Besides, I can easily +pardon any outburst of temper on his part--it will be perfectly +natural, I think! To lose all hope of ever winning such a love as +yours must needs be a sore trial to one of his hot blood and fiery +impulses. Poor fellow!" and I sighed and shook my head with +benevolent gentleness. "By the way, he tells me he has had letters +from you?" + +I put this question carelessly, but it took her by surprise. She +caught her breath hard and looked at me sharply, with an alarmed +expression. Seeing that my face was perfectly impassive, she +recovered her composure instantly, and answered: + +"Oh, yes! I have been compelled to write to him once or twice on +matters of business connected with my late husband's affairs. Most +unfortunately, Fabio made him one of the trustees of his fortune in +case of his death--it is exceedingly awkward for me that he should +occupy that position--it appears to give him some authority over my +actions. In reality he has none. He has no doubt exaggerated the +number of times I have written to him? it would be like his +impertinence to do so." + +Though this last remark was addressed to me almost as a question, I +let it pass without response. I reverted to my original theme. + +"What think you, then?" I said. "Will you remain here or will you +absent yourself for a few days?" + +She rose from her chair and approaching me, knelt down at my side, +clasping her two little hands round my arm. "With your permission," +she returned, softly, "I will go to the convent where I was +educated. It is some eight or ten miles distant from here, and I +think" (here she counterfeited the most wonderful expression of +ingenuous sweetness and piety)--"I think I should like to make a +'RETREAT'--that is, devote some time solely to the duties of +religion before I enter upon a second marriage. The dear nuns would +be so glad to see me--and I am sure you will not object? It will be +a good preparation for my future." + +I seized her caressing hands and held them hard, while I looked upon +her kneeling there like the white-robed figure of a praying saint. + +"It will indeed!" I said in a harsh voice. "The best of all possible +preparations! We none of us know what may happen--we cannot tell +whether life or death awaits us--it is wise to prepare for either by +words of penitence and devotion! I admire this beautiful spirit in +you, carina! Go to the convent by all means! I shall find you there +and will visit you when the wrath and bitterness of our friend +Ferrari have been smoothed into silence and resignation. Yes--go to +the convent, among the good and pious nuns--and when you pray for +yourself, pray for the peace of your dead husband's soul--and--for +me! Such prayers, unselfish and earnest, uttered by pure lips like +yours, fly swiftly to heaven! And as for young Guido--have no fear-- +I promise you he shall offend you no more!" + +"Ah, you do not know him!" she murmured, lightly kissing my hands +that still held hers; "I fear he will give you a great deal of +trouble." + +"I shall at any rate know how to silence him," I said, releasing her +as I spoke, and watching her as she rose from her kneeling position +and stood before me, supple and delicate as a white iris swaying in +the wind. "You never gave him reason to hope--therefore he has no +cause of complaint." + +"True!" she replied, readily, with an untroubled smile. "But I am +such a nervous creature! I am always imagining evils that never +happen. And now, Cesare, when do you wish me to go to the convent?" + +I shrugged my shoulders with an air of indifference. + +"Your submission to my will, mia bella" I said, coldly, "is altogether +charming, and flatters me much, but I am not your master--not yet! +Pray choose your own time, and suit your departure to your own +pleasure." + +"Then," she replied, with an air of decision, "I will go today. The +sooner the better--for some instinct tells me that Guido will play +us a trick and return before we expect him. Yes--I will go to-day." + +I rose to take my leave. "Then you will require leisure to make your +preparations," I said, with ceremonious politeness. "I assure you I +approve your resolve. If you inform the superioress of the convent +that I am your betrothed husband, I suppose I shall be permitted to +see you when I call?" + +"Oh, certainly!" she replied. "The dear nuns will do anything for +me. Their order is one of perpetual adoration, and their rules are +very strict, but they do not apply them to their old pupils, and I +am one of their great favorites." + +"Naturally!" I observed. "And will you also join in the service of +perpetual adoration?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"It needs an untainted soul like yours," I said, with a satirical +smile, which she did not see, "to pray before the unveiled Host +without being conscience-smitten! I envy you your privilege. _I_ +could not do it--but YOU are probably nearer to the angels than we +know. And so you will pray for me?" + +She raised her eyes with devout gentleness. "I will indeed!" + +"I thank you!"--and I choked back the bitter contempt and disgust I +had for her hypocrisy as I spoke--"I thank you heartily--most +heartily! Addio!" + +She came or rather floated to my side, her white garments trailing +about her and the gold of her hair glittering in the mingled glow of +the firelight and the wintery sunbeams that shone through the +window. She looked up--a witch-like languor lay in her eyes--her red +lips pouted. + +"Not one kiss before you go?" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +FOR a moment I lost my self-possession. I scarcely remember now what +I did. I know I clasped her almost roughly in my arms--I know that I +kissed her passionately on lips, throat and brow--and that in the +fervor of my embraces, the thought of what manner of vile thing she +was came swiftly upon me, causing me to release her with such +suddenness that she caught at the back of a chair to save herself +from falling. Her breath came and went in little quick gasps of +excitement, her face was flushed--she looked astonished, yet +certainly not displeased. No, SHE was not angry, but I was-- +thoroughly annoyed--bitterly vexed with myself, for being such a +fool. + +"Forgive me," I muttered. "I forgot--I--" + +A little smile stole round the corners of her mouth. + +"You are fully pardoned!" she said, in a low voice, "you need not +apologize." + +Her smile deepened; suddenly she broke into a rippling laugh, sweet +and silvery as a bell--a laugh that went through me like a knife. +Was it not the self-same laughter that had pierced my brain the +night I witnessed her amorous interview with Guido in the avenue? +Had not the cruel mockery of it nearly driven me mad? I could not +endure it--I sprung to her side--she ceased laughing and looked at +me in wide-eyed wonderment. + +"Listen!" I said, in an impatient, almost fierce tone. "Do not laugh +like that! It jars my nerves--it--hurts me! I will tell you why. +Once--long ago--in my youth--I loved a woman. She was NOT like +you--no--for she was false! False to the very heart's core--false in +every word she uttered. You understand me? she resembled you in +nothing--nothing! But she used to laugh at me--she trampled on my life +and spoiled it--she broke my heart! It is all past now, I never think +of her, only your laughter reminded me--there!" And I took her hands +and kissed them. "I have told you the story of my early folly--forget +it and forgive me! It is time you prepared for your journey, is it +not? If I can be of service to you, command me--you know where to send +for me. Good-bye! and the peace of a pure conscience be with you!" + +And I laid my burning hand on her head weighted with its clustering +curls of gold. SHE thought this gesture was one of blessing. _I_ +thought--God only knows what I thought--yet surely if curses can be +so bestowed, my curse crowned her at that moment! I dared not trust +myself longer in her presence, and without another word or look I +left her and hurried from the house. I knew she was startled and at +the same time gratified to think she could thus have moved me to any +display of emotion--but I would not even turn my head to catch her +parting glance. I could not--I was sick of myself and of her. I was +literally torn asunder between love and hatred--love born basely of +material feeling alone--hatred, the offspring of a deeply injured +spirit for whose wrong there could scarce be found sufficient +remedy. Once out of the influence of her bewildering beauty, my mind +grew calmer--and the drive back to the hotel in my carriage through +the sweet dullness of the December air quieted the feverish +excitement of my blood and restored me to myself. It was a most +lovely day--bright and fresh, with the savor of the sea in the wind. +The waters of the bay were of a steel-like blue shading into deep +olive-green, and a soft haze lingered about the shores of Amalfi +like a veil of gray, shot through with silver and gold. Down the +streets went women in picturesque garb carrying on their heads +baskets full to the brim of purple violets that scented the air as +they passed--children ragged and dirty ran along, pushing the +luxuriant tangle of their dark locks away from their beautiful wild +antelope eyes, and, holding up bunches of roses and narcissi with +smiles as brilliant as the very sunshine, implored the passengers to +buy "for the sake of the little Gesu who was soon coming!" + +Bells clashed and clanged from the churches in honor of San Tommaso, +whose festival it was, and the city had that aspect of gala gayety +about it, which is in truth common enough to all continental towns, +but which seems strange to the solemn Londoner who sees so much +apparently reasonless merriment for the first time. He, accustomed +to have his reluctant laughter pumped out of him by an occasional +visit to the theater where he can witness the "original," English +translation of a French farce, cannot understand WHY these foolish +Neapolitans should laugh and sing and shout in the manner they do, +merely because they are glad to be alive. And after much dubious +consideration, he decides within himself that they are all rascals-- +the scum of the earth--and that he and he only is the true +representative of man at his best--the model of civilized +respectability. And a mournful spectacle he thus seems to the eyes +of us "base" foreigners--in our hearts we are sorry for him and +believe that if he could manage to shake off the fetters of his +insular customs and prejudices, he might almost succeed in enjoying +life as much as we do! + +As I drove along I saw a small crowd at one of the street corners--a +gesticulating, laughing crowd, listening to an "improvisatore" or +wandering poet--a plump-looking fellow who had all the rhymes of +Italy at his fingers' ends, and who could make a poem on any subject +or an acrostic on any name, with perfect facility. I stopped my +carriage to listen to his extemporized verses, many of which were +really admirable, and tossed him three francs. He threw them up in +the air, one after the other, and caught them, as they fell, in his +mouth, appearing to have swallowed them all--then with an inimitable +grimace, he pulled off his tattered cap and said: + +"Ancora affamato, excellenza!" (I am still hungry!) amid the renewed +laughter of his easily amused audience. A merry poet he was and +without conceit--and his good humor merited the extra silver pieces +I gave him, which caused him, to wish me--"Buon appetito e un +sorriso della Madonna!"--(a good appetite to you and a smile of the +Madonna!) Imagine the Lord Laureate of England standing at the +corner of Regent Street swallowing half-pence for his rhymes! Yet +some of the quaint conceits strung together by such a fellow as this +improvisatore might furnish material for many of the so called +"poets" whose names are mysteriously honored in Britain. + +Further on I came upon a group of red-capped coral fishers assembled +round a portable stove whereon roasting chestnuts cracked their +glossy sides and emitted savory odors. The men were singing gayly to +the thrumming of an old guitar, and the song they sung was familiar +to me. Stay! where had I heard it?--let me listen! + + "Sciore limone + Le voglio far mori de passione + Zompa llari llira!" + [Footnote: Neapolitan dialect.] + +Ha! I remembered now. When I had crawled out of the vault through +the brigand's hole of entrance--when my heart had bounded with glad +anticipations never to be realized--when I had believed in the worth +of love and friendship--when I had seen the morning sun glittering +on the sea, and had thought--poor fool!--that his long beams were +like so many golden flags of joy hung up in heaven to symbolize the +happiness of my release from death and my restoration to liberty-- +then--then I had heard a sailor's voice in the distance singing that +"ritornello," and I had fondly imagined its impassioned lines were +all for me! Hateful music--most bitter sweetness! I could have put +my hands up to my ears to shut out the sound of it now that I +thought of the time when I had heard it last! For then I had +possessed a heart--a throbbing, passionate, sensitive thing--alive +to every emotion of tenderness and affection--now that heart was +dead and cold as a stone. Only its corpse went with me everywhere, +weighing me down with itself to the strange grave it occupied, a +grave wherein were also buried so many dear delusions--such +plaintive regrets, such pleading memories, that surely it was no +wonder their small ghosts arose and haunted me, saying, "Wilt thou +not weep for this lost sweetness?" "Wilt thou not relent before such +a remembrance?" or "Hast thou no desire for that past delight?" But +to all such inward temptations my soul was deaf and inexorable; +justice--stern, immutable justice was what I sought and what I meant +to have. + +May be you find it hard to understand the possibility of Scheming +and carrying out so prolonged a vengeance as mine? If you that read +these pages are English, I know it will seem to you well-nigh +incomprehensible. The temperate blood of the northerner, combined +with his open, unsuspicious nature, has, I admit, the advantage over +us in matters of personal injury. An Englishman, so I hear, is +incapable of nourishing a long and deadly resentment, even against +an unfaithful wife--he is too indifferent, he thinks it not worth +his while. But we Neapolitans, we can carry a "vendetta" through a +life-time--ay, through generation after generation! This is bad, you +say--immoral, unchristian. No doubt! We are more than half pagans at +heart; we are as our country and our traditions have made us. It +will need another visitation of Christ before we shall learn how to +forgive those that despitefully use us. Such a doctrine seems to us +a mere play upon words--a weak maxim only fit for children and +priests. Besides, did Christ himself forgive Judas? The gospel does +not say so! + +When I reached my own apartments at the hotel I felt worn out and +fagged. I resolved to rest and receive no visitors that day. While +giving my orders to Vincenzo a thought occurred to me. I went to a +cabinet in the room and unlocked a secret drawer. In it lay a strong +leather case. I lifted this, and bade Vincenzo unstrap and open it. +He did so, nor showed the least sign of surprise when a pair of +richly ornamented pistols was displayed to his view. + +"Good weapons?" I remarked, in a casual manner. + +My vallet took each one out of the case, and examined them both +critically. + +"They need cleaning, eccellenza." + +"Good!" I said, briefly. "Then clean them and put them in good +order. I may require to use them." + +The imperturbable Vincenzo bowed, and taking the weapons, prepared +to leave the room. + +"Stay!" + +He turned. I looked at him steadily. + +"I believe you are a faithful fellow, Vincenzo," I said. + +He met my glance frankly. + +"The day may come," I went on, quietly, "when I shall perhaps put +your fidelity to the proof." + +The dark Tuscan eyes, keen and clear the moment before, flashed +brightly and then grew humid. + +"Eccellenza, you have only to command! I was a soldier once--I know +what duty means. But there is a better service--gratitude. I am your +poor servant, but you have won my heart. I would give my life for +you should you desire it!" + +He paused, half ashamed of the emotion that threatened to break +through his mask of impassibility, bowed again and would have left +me, but that I called him back and held out my hand. + +"Shake hands, amico" I said, simply. + +He caught it with an astonished yet pleased look--and stooping, +kissed it before I could prevent him, and this time literally +scrambled out of my presence with an entire oblivion of his usual +dignity. Left alone, I considered this behavior of his with half- +pained surprise. This poor fellow loved me it was evident--why, I +knew not. I had done no more for him than any other master might +have done for a good servant. I had often spoken to him with +impatience, even harshness; and yet I had "won his heart"--so he +said. Why should he care for me? why should my poor old butler +Giacoma cherish me so devotedly in his memory; why should my very +dog still love and obey me, when my nearest and dearest, my wife and +my friend, had so gladly forsaken me, and were so eager to forget +me! Perhaps fidelity was not the fashion now among educated persons? +Perhaps it was a worn-out virtue, left to the bas-peuple--to the +vulgar--and to animals? Progress might have attained this result--no +doubt it had. + +I sighed wearily, and threw myself clown in an arm-chair near the +window, and watched the white-sailed boats skimming like flecks of +silver across the blue-green water. The tinkling of a tambourine by +and by attracted my wandering attention, and looking into the street +just below my balcony I saw a young girl dancing. She was lovely to +look at, and she danced with exquisite grace as well as modesty, but +the beauty of her face was not so much caused by perfection of +feature or outline as by a certain wistful expression that had in it +something of nobility and pride. I watched her; at the conclusion of +her dance she held up her tambourine with a bright but appealing +smile. Silver and copper were freely flung to her, I contributing my +quota to the amount; but all she received she at once emptied into a +leathern bag which was carried by a young and handsome man who +accompanied her, and who, alas! was totally blind. I knew the couple +well, and had often seen them; their history was pathetic enough. +The girl had been betrothed to the young fellow when he had occupied +a fairly good position as a worker in silver filigree jewelry. His +eyesight, long painfully strained over his delicate labors, suddenly +failed him--he lost his place, of course, and was utterly without +resources. He offered to release his fiance from her engagement, but +she would not take her freedom--she insisted on marrying him at +once. She had her way, and devoted herself to him soul and body-- +danced in the streets and sung to gain a living for herself and him; +taught him to weave baskets so that he might not feel himself +entirely dependent on her, and she sold these baskets for him so +successfully that he was gradually making quite a little trade of +them. Poor child! for she was not much more than a child--what a +bright face she had!--glorified by the self-denial and courage of +her everyday life. No wonder she had won the sympathy of the +warmhearted and impulsive Neapolitans--they looked upon her as a +heroine of romance; and as she passed through the streets, leading +her blind husband tenderly by the hand, there was not a creature in +the city, even among the most abandoned and vile characters, who +would have dared to offer her the least insult, or who would have +ventured to address her otherwise than respectfully. She was good, +innocent, and true; how was it, I wondered dreamily, that I could +not have won a woman's heart like hers? Were the poor alone to +possess all the old world virtues--honor and faith, love and +loyalty? Was there something in a life of luxury that sapped virtue +at its root? Evidently early training had little to do with after +results, for had not my wife been brought up among an order of nuns +renowned for simplicity and sanctity; had not her own father +declared her to be "as pure as a flower on the altar of the +Madonna;" and yet the evil had been in her, and nothing had +eradicated it; for even religion, with her, was a mere graceful +sham, a kind of theatrical effect used to tone down her natural +hypocrisy. My own thoughts began to harass and weary me. I took up a +volume of philosophic essays and began to read, in an endeavor to +distract my mind from dwelling on the one perpetual theme. The day +wore on slowly enough; and I was glad when the evening closed in, +and when Vincenzo, remarking that the night was chilly, kindled a +pleasant wood-fire in my room, and lighted the lamps. A little while +before my dinner was served he handed me a letter stating that it +had just been brought by the Countess Romani's coachman. It bore my +own seal and motto. I opened it; it was dated, "La Santissima +Annunziata," and ran as follows: + +"Beloved! I arrived here safely; the nuns are delighted to see me, +and you will be made heartily welcome when you come. I think of you +constantly--how happy I felt this morning! You seemed to love me so +much; why are you not always so fond of your faithful + +"NINA?" + +I crumpled this note fiercely in my hand and flung it into the +leaping flames of the newly lighted fire. There was a faint perfume +about it that sickened me--a subtle odor like that of a civet cat +when it moves stealthily after its prey through a tangle of tropical +herbage. I always detested scented note-paper--I am not the only man +who does so. One is led to fancy that the fingers of the woman who +writes upon it must have some poisonous or offensive taint about +them, which she endeavors to cover by the aid of a chemical +concoction. I would not permit myself to think of this so "faithful +Nina," as she styled herself. I resumed my reading, and continued it +even at dinner, during which meal Vincenzo waited upon me with his +usual silent gravity and decorum, though I could feel that he +watched me with a certain solicitude. I suppose I looked weary--I +certainly felt so, and retired to rest unusually early. The time +seemed to me so long--would the end NEVER come? The next day dawned +and trailed its tiresome hours after it, as a prisoner might trail +his chain of iron fetters, until sunset, and then--then, when the +gray of the wintry sky flashed for a brief space into glowing red-- +then, while the water looked like blood and the clouds like flame-- +then a few words sped along the telegraph wires that stilled my +impatience, roused my soul, and braced every nerve and muscle in my +body to instant action. They were plain, clear, and concise: + +"From Guido Ferrari, Rome, to Il Conte Cesare Olfva, Naples.--Shall +be with you on the 24th inst. Train arrives at 6:30 P.M. Will come +to you as you desire without fail." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Christmas Eve! The day had been extra chilly, with frequent showers +of stinging rain, but toward five o'clock in the afternoon the +weather cleared. The clouds, which had been of a dull uniform gray, +began to break asunder and disclose little shining rifts of pale +blue and bright gold; the sea looked like a wide satin ribbon shaken +out and shimmering with opaline tints. Flower girls trooped forth +making the air musical with their mellow cries of "Fiori! chi vuol +fiori" and holding up their tempting wares--not bunches of holly and +mistletoe such as are known in England, but roses, lilies, jonquils, +and sweet daffodils. The shops were brilliant with bouquets and +baskets of fruits and flowers; a glittering show of etrennes, or +gifts to suit all ages and conditions, were set forth in tempting +array, from a box of bonbons costing one franc to a jeweled tiara +worth a million, while in many of the windows were displayed models +of the "Bethlehem," with babe Jesus lying in his manger, for the +benefit of the round-eyed children--who, after staring fondly at His +waxen image for some time, would run off hand in hand to the nearest +church where the usual Christmas creche was arranged, and there +kneeling down, would begin to implore their "dear little Jesus," +their "own little brother," not to forget them, with a simplicity of +belief that was as touching as it was unaffected. + +I am told that in England the principle sight on Christmas-eve are +the shops of the butchers and poulterers hung with the dead carcases +of animals newly slaughtered, in whose mouths are thrust bunches of +prickly holly, at which agreeable spectacle the passers-by gape with +gluttonous approval. Surely there is nothing graceful about such a +commemoration of the birth of Christ as this? nothing picturesque, +nothing poetic?--nothing even orthodox, for Christ was born in the +East, and the Orientals are very small eaters, and are particularly +sparing in the use of meat. One wonders what such an unusual display +of vulgar victuals has to do with the coming of the Saviour, who +arrived among us in such poor estate that even a decent roof was +denied to Him. Perhaps, though, the English people read their +gospels in a way of their own, and understood that the wise men of +the East, who are supposed to have brought the Divine Child symbolic +gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, really brought joints of +beef, turkeys, and "plum-pudding," that vile and indigestible +mixture at which an Italian shrugs his shoulders in visible disgust. +There is something barbaric, I suppose, in the British customs +still--something that reminds one of their ancient condition when +the Romans conquered them--when their supreme idea of enjoyment was +to have an ox roasted whole before them while they drank "wassail" +till they groveled under their own tables in a worse condition than +overfed swine. Coarse and vulgar plenty is still the leading +characteristic at the dinners of English or American parvenus; they +have scarcely any idea of the refinements that can be imparted to +the prosaic necessity of eating--of the many little graces of the +table that are understood in part by the French, but that perhaps +never reach such absolute perfection of taste and skill as at the +banquets of a cultured and clever Italian noble. Some of these are +veritable "feasts of the gods," and would do honor to the fabled +Olympus, and such a one I had prepared for Guido Ferrari as a +greeting to him on his return from Rome--a feast of welcome and-- +farewell! + +All the resources of the hotel at which I stayed had been brought +into requisition. The chef, a famous cordon bleu, had transferred +the work of the usual table d'hote to his underlings, and had bent +the powers of his culinary intelligence solely on the production of +the magnificent dinner I had ordered. The landlord, in spite of +himself, broke into exclamations of wonder and awe as he listened to +and wrote down my commands for different wines of the rarest kinds +and choicest vintages. The servants rushed hither and thither to +obey my various behests, with looks of immense importance; the head +waiter, a superb official who prided himself on his artistic taste, +took the laying-out of the table under his entire superintendence, +and nothing was talked of or thought of for the time but the +grandeur of my proposed entertainment. + +About six o'clock I sent my carriage down to the railway station to +meet Ferrari as I had arranged; and then, at my landlord's +invitation, I went to survey the stage that was prepared for one +important scene of my drama--to see if the scenery, side-lights, and +general effects were all in working order. To avoid disarranging my +own apartments, I had chosen for my dinner-party a room on the +ground-floor of the hotel, which was often let out for marriage- +breakfasts and other purposes of the like kind; it was octagonal in +shape, not too large, and I had had it most exquisitely decorated +for the occasion. The walls were hung with draperies of gold-colored +silk and crimson velvet, interspersed here and therewith long +mirrors, which were ornamented with crystal candelabra, in which +twinkled hundreds of lights under rose-tinted glass shades. At the +back of the room, a miniature conservatory was displayed to view, +full of rare ferns and subtly perfumed exotics, in the center of +which a fountain rose and fell with regular and melodious murmur. +Here, later on, a band of stringed instruments and a choir of boys' +voices were to be stationed, so that sweet music might be heard and +felt without the performers being visible. One, and one only, of the +long French windows of the room was left uncurtained, it was simply +draped with velvet as one drapes a choice picture, and through it +the eyes rested on a perfect view of the Bay of Naples, white with +the wintery moonlight. + +The dinner-table, laid for fifteen persons, glittered with sumptuous +appointments of silver, Venetian glass, and the rarest flowers; the +floor was carpeted with velvet pile, in which some grains of +ambergris had been scattered, so that in walking the feet sunk, as +it were, into a bed of moss rich with the odors of a thousand spring +blossoms. The very chairs wherein my guests were to seat themselves +were of a luxurious shape and softly stuffed, so that one could lean +back in them or recline at ease--in short, everything was arranged +with a lavish splendor almost befitting the banquet of an eastern +monarch, and yet with such accurate taste that there was no detail +one could have wished omitted. + +I was thoroughly satisfied, but as I know what an unwise plan it is +to praise servants too highly for doing well what they are expressly +paid to do, I intimated my satisfaction to my landlord by a mere +careless nod and smile of approval. He, who waited on my every +gesture with abject humility, received this sign of condescension +with as much delight as though it had come from the king himself, +and I could easily see that the very fact of my showing no +enthusiasm at the result of his labors, made him consider me a +greater man than ever. I now went to my own apartments to don my +evening attire; I found Vincenzo brushing every speck of dust from +my dresscoat with careful nicety--he had already arranged the other +articles of costume neatly on my bed ready for wear. I unlocked a +dressing-case and took from thence three studs, each one formed of a +single brilliant of rare clearness and lusters and handed them to +him to fix in my shirt-front. While he was polishing these +admiringly on his coat-sleeve I watched him earnestly--then I +suddenly addressed him. + +"Vincenzo!" He started. + +"Eccellenza?" + +"To-night you will stand behind my chair and assist in serving the +wine." + +"Yes, eccellenza." + +"You will," I continued, "attend particularly to Sigor Ferrari, who +will sit at my right hand. Take care that his glass is never empty." + +"Yes, eccellenza." + +"Whatever may be said or done," I went on, quietly, "you will show +no sign of alarm or surprise. From the commencement of dinner till I +tell you to move, remember your place is fixed by me." + +The honest fellow looked a little puzzled, but replied as before: + +"Yes, eccellenza." + +I smiled, and advancing, laid my hand on his arm. + +"How about the pistols, Vincenzo?" + +"They are cleaned and ready for use, eccellenza," he replied. "I +have placed them in your cabinet." + +"That is well!" I said with a satisfied gesture. "You can leave me +and arrange the salon for the reception of my friends." + +He disappeared, and I busied myself with my toilet, about which I +was for once unusually particular. The conventional dress-suit is +not very becoming, yet there are a few men here and there who look +well in it, and who, in spite of similarity in attire, will never be +mistaken for waiters. Others there are who, passable in appearance +when clad in their ordinary garments, reach the very acme of +plebeianism when they clothe themselves in the unaccommodating +evening-dress. Fortunately, I happened to be one of the former +class--the sober black, the broad white display of starched shirt- +front and neat tie became me, almost too well I thought. It would +have been better for my purposes if I could have feigned an aspect +of greater age and weightier gravity. I had scarcely finished my +toilet when the rumbling of wheels in the court-yard outside made +the hot blood rush to my face, and my heart beat with feverish +excitement. I left my dressing-room, however, with a composed +countenance and calm step, and entered my private salon just as its +doors were flung open and "Signor Ferrari" was announced. He entered +smiling--his face was alight with good humor and glad anticipation-- +he looked handsomer than usual. + +"Eccomi qua!" he cried, seizing my hands enthusiastically in his +own. "My dear conte, I am delighted to see you! What an excellent +fellow you are! A kind of amiable Arabian Nights genius, who +occupies himself in making mortals happy. And how are you? You look +remarkably well!" + +"I can return the compliment," I said, gayly. "You are more of an +Antinous than ever." + +He laughed, well pleased, and sat down, drawing off his gloves and +loosening his traveling overcoat. + +"Well, I suppose plenty of cash puts a man in good humor, and +therefore in good condition," he replied. "But my dear fellow, you +are dressed for dinner--quel preux chevalier! I am positively unfit +to be in your company! You insisted that I should come to you +directly, on my arrival, but I really must change my apparel. Your +man took my valise; in it are my dress-clothes--I shall not be ten +minutes putting them on." + +"Take a glass of wine first," I said, pouring out some of his +favorite Montepulciano. "There is plenty of time. It is barely +seven, and we do not dine till eight." He took the wine from my hand +and smiled. I returned the smile, adding, "It gives me great +pleasure to receive you, Ferrari! I have been impatient for your +return--almost as impatient as--" He paused in the act of drinking, +and his eyes flashed delightedly. + +"As SHE has? Piccinina! How I long to see her again! I swear to you, +amico, I should have gone straight to the Villa Romani had I obeyed +my own impulse--but I had promised you to come here, and, on the +whole, the evening will do as well"--and he laughed with a covert +meaning in his laughter--"perhaps better!" + +My hands clinched, but I said with forced gayety: + +"Ma certamente! The evening will be much better! Is it not Byron who +says that women, like stars, look best at night? You will find her +the same as ever, perfectly well and perfectly charming. It must be +her pure and candid soul that makes her face so fair! It may be a +relief to your mind to know that I am the only man she has allowed +to visit her during your absence!" + +"Thank God for that!" cried Ferrari, devoutly, as he tossed off his +wine. "And now tell me, my dear conte, what bacchanalians are coming +to-night? Per Dio, after all I am more in the humor for dinner than +love-making!" + +I burst out laughing harshly. "Of course! Every sensible man prefers +good eating even to good women! Who are my guests you ask? I believe +you know them all. First, there is the Duca Filippo Marina." + +"By Heaven!" interrupted Guido. "An absolute gentleman, who by his +manner seems to challenge the universe to disprove his dignity! Can +he unbend so far as to partake of food in public? My dear conte, you +should have asked him that question!" + +"Then," I went on, not heeding this interruption, "Signor Fraschetti +and the Marchese Giulano." + +"Giulano drinks deep'." laughed Ferrari, "and should he mix his +wines, you will find him ready to stab all the waiters before the +dinner is half over." + +"In mixing wines," I returned, coolly, "he will but imitate your +example, caro mio." + +"Ah, but I can stand it!" he said. "He cannot! Few Neapolitans are +like me!" + +I watched him narrowly, and went on with the list of my invited +guests. + +"After these, comes the Capitano Luigi Freccia." + +"What! the raging fire-eater?" exclaimed Guido. "He who at every +second word raps out a pagan or Christian oath, and cannot for his +life tell any difference between the two!" + +"And the illustrious gentleman Crispiano Dulci and Antonio Biscardi, +artists like yourself," I continued. + +He frowned slightly--then smiled. + +"I wish them good appetites! Time was when I envied their skill--now +I can afford to be generous. They are welcome to the whole field of +art as far as I am concerned. I have said farewell to the brush and +palette--I shall never paint again." + +True enough! I thought, eying the shapely white hand with which he +just then stroked his dark mustache; the same hand on which my +family diamond ring glittered like a star. He looked up suddenly. + +"Go on, conte I am all impatience. Who comes next?" + +"More fire-eaters, I suppose you will call them," I answered, "and +French fire-eaters, too. Monsieur le Marquis D'Avencourt, and le +beau Capitaine Eugene de Hamal." + +Ferrari looked astonished. "Per Bacco!" he exclaimed. "Two noted +Paris duelists! Why--what need have you of such valorous associates? +I confess your choice surprises me." + +"I understood them to be YOUR friends," I said, composedly. "If you +remember, YOU introduced me to them. I know nothing of the gentlemen +beyond that they appear to be pleasant fellows and good talkers. As +for their reputed skill I am inclined to set that down to a mere +rumor, at any rate, my dinner-table will scarcely provide a field +for the display of swordsmanship." + +Guido laughed. "Well, no! but these fellows would like to make it +one--why, they will pick a quarrel for the mere lifting of an +eyebrow. And the rest of your company?" + +"Are the inseparable brother sculptors Carlo and Francesco Respetti, +Chevalier Mancini, scientist and man of letters, Luziano Salustri, +poet and musician, and the fascinating Marchese Ippolito Gualdro, +whose conversation, as you know, is more entrancing than the voice +of Adelina Patti. I have only to add," and I smiled half mockingly, +"the name of Signor Guido Ferrari, true friend and loyal lover--and +the party is complete." + +"Altro! Fifteen in all including yourself," said Ferrari, gayly, +enumerating them on his fingers. "Per la madre di Dio! With such a +goodly company and a host who entertains en roi we shall pass a +merry time of it. And did you, amico, actually organize this +banquet, merely to welcome back so unworthy a person as myself?" + +"Solely and entirely for that reason," I replied. + +He jumped up from his chair and clapped his two hands on my +shoulders. + +"A la bonne heure! But why, In the name of the saints or the devil, +have you taken such a fancy to me?" + +"Why have I taken such a fancy to you?" I repeated, slowly. "My dear +Ferrari, I am surely not alone in my admiration for your high +qualities! Does not every one like you? Are you not a universal +favorite? Do you not tell me that your late friend the Count Romani +held you as the dearest to him in the world after his wife? Ebbene! +Why underrate yourself?" + +He let his hands fall slowly from my shoulders and a look of pain +contracted his features. After a little silence he said: + +"Fabio again! How his name and memory haunt me! I told you he was a +fool--it was part of his folly that he loved me too well--perhaps. +Do you know I have thought of him very much lately?" + +"Indeed?" and I feigned to be absorbed in fixing a star-like +japonica in my button-hole. "How is that?" + +A grave and meditative look softened the usually defiant brilliancy +of his eyes. + +"I saw my uncle die," he continued, speaking in a low tone. "He was +an old man and had very little strength left,--yet his battle with +death was horrible--horrible! I see him yet--his yellow convulsed +face--his twisted limbs--his claw-like hands tearing at the empty +air--then the ghastly grim and dropped jaw--the wide-open glazed +eyes--pshaw! it sickened me!" + +"Well, well!" I said in a soothing way, still busying myself with +the arrangement of my button-hole, and secretly wondering what new +emotion was at work in the volatile mind of my victim. "No doubt it +was distressing to witness--but you could not have been very sorry-- +he was an old man, and, though it is a platitude not worth +repeating--we must all die." + +"Sorry!" exclaimed Ferrari, talking almost more to himself than to +me. "I was glad! He was an old scoundrel, deeply dyed in every sort +of social villainy. No--I was not sorry, only as I watched him in +his frantic struggle, fighting furiously for each fresh gasp of +breath--I thought--I know not why--of Fabio." + +Profoundly astonished, but concealing my astonishment under an air +of indifference, I began to laugh. + +"Upon my word, Ferrari--pardon me for saying so, but the air of Rome +seems to have somewhat obscured your mind! I confess I cannot follow +your meaning." + +He sighed uneasily. "I dare say not! I scarce can follow it myself. +But if it was so hard for an old man to writhe himself out of life, +what must it have been for Fabio! We were students together; we used +to walk with our arms round each other's necks like school-girls, +and he was young and full of vitality--physically stronger, too, +than I am. He must have battled for life with every nerve and sinew +stretched to almost breaking." He stopped and shuddered. "By Heaven! +death should be made easier for us! It is a frightful thing!" + +A contemptuous pity arose in me. Was he coward as well as traitor? I +touched him lightly on the arm. + +"Excuse me, my young friend, if I say frankly that your dismal +conversation is slightly fatiguing. I cannot accept it as a suitable +preparation for dinner! And permit me to remind you that you have +still to dress." + +The gentle satire of my tone made him look up and smile. His face +cleared, and he passed his hand over his forehead, as though he +swept it free of some unpleasant thought. + +"I believe I am nervous," he said with a half laugh. "For the last +few hours I have had all sorts of uncomfortable presentiments and +forebodings." + +"No wonder!" I returned carelessly, "with such a spectacle as you +have described before the eyes of your memory. The Eternal City +savors somewhat disagreeably of graves. Shake the dust of the +Caesars from your feet, and enjoy your life, while it lasts!" + +"Excellent advice!" he said, smiling, "and not difficult to follow. +Now to attire for the festival. Have I your permission?" + +I touched the bell which summoned Vincenzo, and bade him wait on +Signer Ferrari's orders. Guido disappeared under his escort, giving +me a laughing nod of salutation as he left the room. I watched his +retiring figure with a strange pitifulness--the first emotion of the +kind that had awakened in me for him since I learned his treachery. +His allusion to that time when we had been students together--when +we had walked with arms round each other's necks "like school- +girls," as he said, had touched me more closely than I cared to +realize. It was true, we had been happy then--two careless youths +with all the world like an untrodden race-course before us. SHE had +not then darkened the heaven of our confidence; she had not come +with her false fair face to make of ME a blind, doting madman, and +to transform him into a liar and hypocrite. It was all her fault, +all the misery and horror; she was the blight on our lives; she +merited the heaviest punishment, and she would receive it. Yet, +would to God we had neither of us ever seen her! Her beauty, like a +sword, had severed the bonds of friendship that after all, when it +DOES exist between two men, is better and braver than the love of +woman. However, all regrets were unavailing now; the evil was done, +and there was no undoing it. I had little time left me for +reflection; each moment that passed brought me nearer to the end I +had planned and foreseen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +At about a quarter to eight my guests began to arrive, and one by +one they all came in save two--the brothers Respetti. While we were +awaiting them, Ferrari entered in evening-dress, with the conscious +air of a handsome man who knows he is looking his best. I readily +admitted his charm of manner; had I not myself been subjugated and +fascinated by it in the old happy, foolish days? He was +enthusiastically greeted and welcomed back to Naples by all the +gentlemen assembled, many of whom were his own particular friends. +They embraced him in the impressionable style common to Italians, +with the exception of the stately Duca di Marina, who merely bowed +courteously, and inquired if certain families of distinction whom he +named had yet arrived in Rome for the winter season. Ferrari was +engaged in replying to these questions with his usual grace and ease +and fluency, when a note was brought to me marked "Immediate." It +contained a profuse and elegantly worded apology from Carlo +Respetti, who regretted deeply that an unforeseen matter of business +would prevent himself and his brother from having the inestimable +honor and delight of dining with me that evening. I thereupon rang +my bell as a sign that the dinner need no longer be delayed; and, +turning to those assembled, I announced to them the unavoidable +absence of two of the party. + +"A pity Francesco could not have come," said Captain Freccia, +twirling the ends of his long mustachios. "He loves good wine, and, +better still, good company." + +"Caro Capitano!" broke in the musical voice of the Marchese Gualdro, +"you know that our Francesco goes nowhere without his beloved Carlo. +Carlo CANNOT come--altro! Francesco WILL NOT. Would that all men +were such brothers!" + +"If they were," laughed Luziano Salustri, rising from the piano +where he had been playing softly to himself, "half the world would +be thrown out of employment. You, for instance," turning to the +Marquis D'Avencourt, "would scarce know what to do with your time." + +The marquis smiled and waved his hand with a deprecatory gesture-- +that hand, by the by, was remarkably small and delicately formed--it +looked almost fragile. Yet the strength and suppleness of +D'Avencourt's wrist was reputed to be prodigious by those who had +seen him handle the sword, whether in play or grim earnest. + +"It is an impossible dream," he said, in reply to the remarks of +Gualdro and Salustri, "that idea of all men fraternizing together in +one common pig-sty of equality. Look at the differences of caste! +Birth, breeding and education make of man that high-mettled, +sensitive animal known as gentleman, and not all the socialistic +theories in the world can force him down on the same level with the +rough boor, whose flat nose and coarse features announce him as +plebeian even before one hears the tone of his voice. We cannot help +these things. I do not think we WOULD help them even if we could." + +"You are quite right," said Ferrari. "You cannot put race-horses to +draw the plow. I have always imagined that the first quarrel--the +Cain and Abel affair--must have occurred through some difference of +caste as well as jealousy--for instance, perhaps Abel was a negro +and Cain a white man, or vice versa; which would account for the +antipathy existing between the races to this day." + +The Duke di Marina coughed a stately cough, and shrugged his +shoulders. + +"That first quarrel," he said, "as related in the Bible, was +exceedingly vulgar. It must have been a kind of prize-fight. Ce +n'etait pas fin." + +Gualdro laughed delightedly. + +"So like you, Marina!" he exclaimed, "to say that! I sympathize with +your sentiments! Fancy the butcher Abel piling up his reeking +carcasses and setting them on fire, while on the other side stood +Cain the green-grocer frizzling his cabbages, turnips, carrots, and +other vegetable matter! What a spectacle! The gods of Olympus would +have sickened at it! However, the Jewish Deity, or rather, the well- +fed priest who represented him, showed his good taste in the matter; +I myself prefer the smell of roast meat to the rather disagreeable +odor of scorching vegetables!" + +We laughed--and at that moment the door was thrown open, and the +head-waiter announced in solemn tones befitting his dignity-- + +"Le diner de Monsieur le Conte est servi!" + +I at once led the way to the banqueting-room--my guests followed +gayly, talking and jesting among themselves. They were all in high +good humor, none of them had as yet noticed the fatal blank caused +by the absence of the brothers Respetti. I had--for the number of my +guests was now thirteen instead of fifteen. Thirteen at table! I +wondered if any of the company were superstitious? Ferrari was not, +I knew--unless his nerves had been latterly shaken by witnessing the +death of his uncle. At any rate, I resolved to say nothing that +could attract the attention of my guests to the ill-omened +circumstance; if any one should notice it, it would be easy to make +light of it and of all similar superstitions. I myself was the one +most affected by it--it had for me a curious and fatal significance. +I was so occupied with the consideration of it that I scarcely +attended to the words addressed to me by the Duke di Marina, who, +walking beside me, seemed disposed to converse with more familiarity +than was his usual custom. We reached the door of the dining-room; +which at our approach was thrown wide open, and delicious strains of +music met our ears as we entered. Low murmurs of astonishment and +admiration broke from all the gentlemen as they viewed the sumptuous +scene before them. I pretended not to hear their eulogies, as I took +my seat at the head of the table, with Guido Ferrari on my right and +the Duke di Manna on my left. The music sounded louder and more +triumphant, and while all the company were seating themselves in the +places assigned to them, a choir of young fresh voices broke forth +into a Neapolitan "madrigale"--which as far as I can translate it +ran as follows: + + "Welcome the festal hour! + Pour the red wine into cups of gold! + Health to the men who are strong and bold! + Welcome the festal hour! + Waken the echoes with riotous mirth-- + Cease to remember the sorrows of earth + In the joys of the festal hour! + Wine is the monarch of laughter and light, + Death himself shall be merry to-night! + Hail to the festal hour!" + +An enthusiastic clapping of hands rewarded this effort on the part +of the unseen vocalists, and the music having ceased, conversation +became general. + +"By heaven!" exclaimed Ferrari, "if this Olympian carouse is meant +as a welcome to me, amico, all I can say is that I do not deserve +it. Why, it is more fit for the welcome of one king to his neighbor +sovereign!" + +"Ebbene!" I said. "Are there any better kings than honest men? Let +us hope we are thus far worthy of each other's esteem." + +He flashed a bright look of gratitude upon me and was silent, +listening to the choice and complimentary phrases uttered by the +Duke di Manna concerning the exquisite taste displayed in the +arrangement of the table. + +"You have no doubt traveled much in the East, conte," said this +nobleman. "Your banquet reminds me of an Oriental romance I once +read, called 'Vathek.'" + +"Exactly '" exclaimed Guido "I think Oliva must be Vathek himself'" + +"Scarcely!" I said, smiling coldly. "I lay no claim to supernatural +experiences. The realities of life are sufficiently wonderful for +me." + +Antonio Biscardi the painter, a refined, gentle-featured man, looked +toward us and said modestly: + +"I think you are right, conte. The beauties of nature and of +humanity are so varied and profound that were it not for the +inextinguishable longing after immortality which has been placed in +every one of us, I think we should be perfectly satisfied with this +world as it is." + +"You speak like an artist and a man of even temperament," broke in +the Marchese Gualdro, who had finished his soup quickly in order to +be able to talk--talking being his chief delight. "For me, I am +never contented. I never have enough of anything! That is my nature. +When I see lovely flowers, I wish more of them--when I behold a fine +sunset, I desire many more such sunsets--when I look upon a lovely +woman--" + +"You would have lovely women ad infinitum!" laughed the French +Capitaine de Hamal. "En verite, Gualdro, you should have been a +Turk!" + +"And why not?" demanded Gualdro. "The Turks are very sensible +people--they know how to make coffee better than we do. And what +more fascinating than a harem? It must be like a fragrant hot-house, +where one is free to wander every day, sometimes gathering a +gorgeous lily, sometimes a simple violet--sometimes--" "A thorn?" +suggested Salustri. + +"Well, perhaps!" laughed the Marchese. "Yet one would run the risk +of that for the sake of a perfect rose." + +Chevalier Mancini, who wore in his button-hole the decoration of the +Legion d'Honneur, looked up--he was a thin man with keen eyes and a +shrewd face which, though at a first glance appeared stern, could at +the least provocation break up into a thousand little wrinkles of +laughter. + +"There is undoubtedly something entrainant about the idea," he +observed, in his methodical way. "I have always fancied that +marriage as we arrange it is a great mistake." + +"And that is why you have never tried it?" queried Ferrari, looking +amused. + +"Certissimamente!" and the chevalier's grim countenance began to +work with satirical humor. "I have resolved that I will never be +bound over by the law to kiss only one woman. As matters stand, I +can kiss them all if I like." + +A shout of merriment and cries of "Oh! oh!" greeted this remark, +which Ferrari, however, did not seem inclined to take in good part. + +"All?" he said, with a dubious air. "You mean all except the married +ones?" + +The chevalier put on his spectacles, and surveyed him with a sort of +comic severity. + +"When I said ALL, I meant all," he returned--"the married ones in +particular. They, poor things, need such attentions--and often +invite them--why not? Their husbands have most likely ceased to be +amorous after the first months of marriage." + +I burst out laughing. "You are right, Mancini," I said; "and even if +the husbands are fools enough to continue their gallantries they +deserve to be duped--and they generally are! Come, amico.'" I added, +turning to Ferrari, "those are your own sentiments--you have often +declared them to me." + +He smiled uncomfortably, and his brows contracted. I could easily +perceive that he was annoyed. To change the tone of the conversation +I gave a signal for the music to recommence, and instantly the +melody of a slow, voluptuous Hungarian waltz-measure floated through +the room. The dinner was now fairly on its way; the appetites of my +guests were stimulated and tempted by the choicest and most savory +viands, prepared with all the taste and intelligence a first rate +chef can bestow on his work, and good wine flowed freely. + +Vincenzo obediently following my instructions, stood behind my +chair, and seldom moved except to refill Ferrari's glass, and +occasionally to proffer some fresh vintage to the Duke di Marina. +He, however, was an abstemious and careful man, and followed the +good example shown by the wisest Italians, who never mix their +wines. He remained faithful to the first beverage he had selected--a +specially fine Chianti, of which he partook freely without its +causing the slightest flush to appear on his pale aristocratic +features. Its warm and mellow flavor did but brighten his eyes and +loosen his tongue, inasmuch that he became almost as elegant a +talker as the Marchese Gualdro. This latter, who scarce had a scudo +to call his own, and who dined sumptuously every day at other +people's expense for the sake of the pleasure his company afforded, +was by this time entertaining every one near him by the most +sparkling stories and witty pleasantries. + +The merriment increased as the various courses were served; shouts +of laughter frequently interrupted the loud buzz of conversation, +mingling with the clinking of glasses and clattering of porcelain. +Every now and then might be heard the smooth voice of Captain +Freccia rolling out his favorite oaths with the sonority and +expression of a primo tenore; sometimes the elegant French of the +Marquis D'Avencourt, with his high, sing-song Parisian accent, rang +out above the voices of the others; and again, the choice Tuscan of +the poet Luziano Salustri rolled forth in melodious cadence as +though he were chanting lines from Dante or Ariosto, instead of +talking lightly on indifferent matters. I accepted my share in the +universal hilarity, though I principally divided my conversation +between Ferrari and the duke, paying to both, but specially to +Ferrari, that absolute attention which is the greatest compliment a +host can bestow on those whom he undertakes to entertain. + +We had reached that stage of the banquet when the game was about to +be served--the invisible choir of boys' voices had just completed an +enchanting stornello with an accompaniment of mandolines--when a +stillness, strange and unaccountable, fell upon the company--a +pause--an ominous hush, as though some person supreme in authority +had suddenly entered the room and commanded "Silence!" No one seemed +disposed to speak or to move, the very footsteps of the waiters were +muffled in the velvet pile of the carpets--no sound was heard but +the measured plash of the fountain that played among the ferns and +flowers. The moon, shining frostily white through the one +uncurtained window, cast a long pale green ray, like the extended +arm of an appealing ghost, against one side of the velvet hangings-- +a spectral effect which was heightened by the contrast of the garish +glitter of the waxen tapers. Each man looked at the other with a +sort of uncomfortable embarrassment, and somehow, though I moved my +lips in an endeavor to speak and thus break the spell, I was at a +loss, and could find no language suitable to the moment. Ferrari +toyed with his wine-glass mechanically--the duke appeared absorbed +in arranging the crumbs beside his plate into little methodical +patterns; the stillness seemed to last so long that it was like a +suffocating heaviness in the air. Suddenly Vincenzo, in his office +of chief butler, drew the cork of a champagne-bottle with a loud- +sounding pop! We all started as though a pistol had been fired in +our ears, and the Marchese Gualdro burst out laughing. + +"Corpo di Baceo!" he cried. "At last you have awakened from sleep! +Were you all struck dumb, amici, that you stared at the table-cloth +so persistently and with such admirable gravity? May Saint Anthony +and his pig preserve me, but for the time I fancied I was attending +a banquet on the wrong side of the Styx, and that you, my present +companions, were all dead men!" + +"And that idea made YOU also hold your tongue, which is quite an +unaccountable miracle in its way," laughed Luziano Salustri. "Have +you never heard the pretty legend that attaches to such an +occurrence as a sudden silence in the midst of high festivity? An +angel enters, bestowing his benediction as he passes through." + +"That story is more ancient than the church," said Chevalier +Mancini. "It is an exploded theory--for we have ceased to believe in +angels--we call them women instead." + +"Bravo, mon vieux gaillard!" cried Captain de Hamal. "Your +sentiments are the same as mine, with a very trifling difference. +You believe women to be angels--I know them to be devils--mas il n'y +agu'un pas entre es deux? We will not quarrel over a word--a votre +sante, mon cher!" + +And he drained his glass, nodding to Mancini, who followed his +example. + +"Perhaps," said the smooth, slow voice of Captain Freccia, "our +silence was caused by the instinctive consciousness of something +wrong with our party--a little inequality--which I dare say our +noble host has not thought it worth while to mention." + +Every head was turned in his direction. "What do you mean?" "What +inequality?" "Explain yourself!" chorused several voices. + +"Really it is a mere nothing," answered Freccia, lazily, as he +surveyed with the admiring air of a gourmet the dainty portion of +pheasant just placed before him. "I assure you, only the uneducated +would care two scudi about such a circumstance. The excellent +brothers Respetti are to blame--their absence to-night has caused-- +but why should I disturb your equanimity? I am not superstitious-- +ma, chi sa?--some of you may be." + +"I see what you mean!" interrupted Salustri, quickly. "We are +thirteen at table!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +At this announcement my guests looked furtively at each other, and I +could see they were counting up the fatal number for themselves. +They were undeniably clever, cultivated men of the world, but the +superstitious element was in their blood, and all, with the +exception perhaps of Freccia and the ever-cool Marquis D'Avencourt, +were evidently rendered uneasy by the fact now discovered. On +Ferrari it had a curious effect--he started violently and his face +flushed. "Diabolo!" he muttered, under his breath, and seizing his +never-empty glass, he swallowed its contents thirstily and quickly +at one gulp as though attacked by fever, and pushed away his plate +with a hand that trembled nervously. I, meanwhile, raised my voice +and addressed my guests cheerfully! + +"Our distinguished friend Salustri is perfectly right, gentlemen. I +myself noticed the discrepancy in our number some time ago--but I +knew that you were all advanced thinkers, who had long since +liberated yourselves from the trammels of superstitious observances, +which are the result of priestcraft, and are now left solely to the +vulgar. Therefore I said nothing. The silly notion of any misfortune +attending the number thirteen arose, as you are aware, out of the +story of the Last Supper, and children and women may possibly still +give credence to the fancy that one out of thirteen at table must be +a traitor and doomed to die. But we men know better. None of us here +to-night have reason to put ourselves in the position of a Christ or +a Judas--we are all good friends and boon companions, and I cannot +suppose for a moment that this little cloud can possibly affect you +seriously. Remember also that this is Christmas-eve, and that +according to the world's greatest poet, Shakespeare, + + "'Then no planet strikes, + No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, + So hallowed and so gracious is the time.'" + +A murmur of applause and a hearty clapping of hands rewarded this +little speech, and the Marchese Gualdro sprung to his feet-- + +"By Heaven!" he exclaimed, "we are not a party of terrified old +women to shiver on the edge of a worn-out omen! Fill your glasses, +signori! More wine, garcon! Per bacco! if Judas Iscariot himself had +such a feast as ours before he hanged himself, he was not much to be +pitied! Hola amici! To the health of our noble host, Conte Cesare +Oliva!" + +He waved his glass in the air three times--every one followed his +example and drank the toast with enthusiasm. I bowed my thanks and +acknowledgments--and the superstitious dread which at first bad +undoubtedly seized the company passed away quickly--the talking, the +merriment, and laughter were resumed, and soon it seemed as though +the untoward circumstance were entirely forgotten. Only Guido +Ferrari seemed still somewhat disturbed in his mind--but even his +uneasiness dissipated itself by degrees, and heated by the quantity +of wine he had taken, he began to talk with boastful braggartism of +his many successful gallantries, and related his most questionable +anecdotes in such a manner as to cause some haughty astonishment in +the mind of the Duke di Marina, who eyed him from time to time with +ill-disguised impatience that bordered on contempt. I, on the +contrary, listened to everything he said with urbane courtesy--I +humored him and drew him out as much as possible--I smiled +complacently at his poor jokes and vulgar witticisms--and when he +said something that was more than usually outrageous, I contented +myself with a benevolent shake of my head, and the mild remark: + +"Ah! young blood! young blood!" uttered in a bland sotto-voce. + +The dessert was now served, and with it came the costly wines which +I had ordered to be kept back till then. Priceless "Chateau Yquem," +"Clos Vougeot," of the rarest vintages, choice "Valpulcello" and an +exceedingly superb "Lacrima Cristi"--one after the other, these were +tasted, criticised, and heartily appreciated. There was also a very +unique brand of champagne costing nearly forty francs a bottle, +which was sparkling and mellow to the palate, but fiery in quality. +This particular beverage was so seductive in flavor that every one +partook of it freely, with the result that the most discreet among +the party now became the most uproarious. Antonio Biscardi, the +quiet and unobtrusive painter, together with his fellow-student, +Crispiano Dulci, usually the shyest of young men, suddenly grew +excited, and uttered blatant nothings concerning their art. Captain +Freccia argued the niceties of sword-play with the Marquis +D'Avencourt, both speakers illustrating their various points by +thrusting their dessert-knives skillfully into the pulpy bodies of +the peaches they had on their plates. Luziano Salustri lay back at +ease in his chair, his classic head reclining on the velvet +cushions, and recited in low and measured tones one of his own +poems, caring little or nothing whether his neighbors attended to +him or not. The glib tongue of the Marchese Gualdro ran on smoothly +and incessantly, though he frequently lost the thread of his +anecdotes and became involved in a maze of contradictory assertions. +The rather large nose of the Chevalier Mancini reddened visibly as +he laughed joyously to himself at nothing in particular--in short, +the table had become a glittering whirlpool of excitement and +feverish folly, which at a mere touch, or word out of season, might +rise to a raging storm of frothy dissension. The Duke di Marina and +myself alone of all the company were composed as usual--he had +resisted the champagne, and as for me, I had let all the splendid +wines go past me, and had not taken more than two glasses of a mild +Chianti. + +I glanced keenly round the riotous board--I noted the flushed faces +and rapid gesticulations of my guests, and listened to the Babel of +conflicting tongues. I drew a long breath as I looked--I calculated +that in two or three minutes at the very least I might throw down +the trump card I had held so patiently in my hand all the evening. + +I took a close observation of Ferrari. He had edged his chair a +little away from mine, and was talking confidentially to his +neighbor, Captain de Hamal--his utterance was low and thick, but yet +I distinctly heard him enumerating in somewhat coarse language the +exterior charms of a woman--what woman I did not stop to consider-- +the burning idea struck me that he was describing the physical +perfections of my wife to this De Hamal, a mere spadaccino, for whom +there was nothing sacred in heaven or earth. My blood rapidly heated +itself to boiling point--to this day I remember how it throbbed in +my temples, leaving my hands and feet icy cold. I rose in my seat, +and tapped on the table to call for silence and attention--but for +some time the noise of argument and the clatter of tongues were so +great that I could not make myself heard. The duke endeavored to +second my efforts, but in vain. At last Ferrari's notice was +attracted--he turned round, and seizing a dessert knife beat with it +on the table and on his own plate so noisily and persistently that +the loud laughter and conversation ceased suddenly. The moment had +come--I raised my head, fixed my spectacles more firmly over my +eyes, and spoke in distinct and steady tones, first of all stealing +a covert glance toward Ferrari. He had sunk back again lazily in his +chair and was lighting a cigarette. + +"My friends," I said, meeting with a smile the inquiring looks that +were directed toward me, "I have presumed to interrupt your mirth +for a moment, not to restrain it, but rather to give it a fresh +impetus. I asked you all here to-night, as you know, to honor me by +your presence and to give a welcome to our mutual friend, Signor +Guido Ferrari." Here I was interrupted by a loud clapping of hands +and ejaculations of approval, while Ferrari himself murmured affably +between two puffs of his cigarette. "Tropp' onore, amico, tropp' +onore!" I resumed, "This young and accomplished gentleman, who is, I +believe, a favorite with you all, has been compelled through +domestic affairs to absent himself from our circle for the past few +weeks, and I think he must himself be aware how much we have missed +his pleasant company. It will, however, be agreeable to you, as it +has been for me, to know that he has returned to Naples a richer man +than when he left it--that fortune has done him justice, and that +with the possession of abundant wealth he is at last called upon to +enjoy the reward due to his merits!" + +Here there was more clapping of hands and exclamations of pleasure, +while those who were seated near Ferrari raised their glasses and +drank to his health with congratulations, all of which courtesies he +acknowledged by a nonchalant, self-satisfied bow. I glanced at him +again--how tranquil he looked!--reclining among the crimson cushions +of his chair, a brimming glass of champagne beside him, the +cigarette between his lips, and his handsome face slightly upturned, +though his eyes rested half drowsily on the uncurtained window +through which the Bay of Naples was seen glittering in the +moonlight. + +I continued: "It was, gentlemen, that you might welcome and +congratulate Signor Ferrari as you have done, that I assembled you +here to-night--or rather, let me say it was PARTLY the object of our +present festivity--but there is yet another reason which I shall now +have the pleasure of explaining to you--a reason which, as it +concerns myself and my immediate happiness, will, I feel confident, +secure your sympathy and good wishes." + +This time every one was silent, intently following my words. + +"What I am about to say," I went on, calmly, "may very possibly +surprise you. I have been known to you as a man of few words, and, I +fear, of abrupt and brusque manners"--cries of "No, no!" mingled +with various complimentary assurances reached my ears from all sides +of the table. I bowed with a gratified air, and when silence was +restored--"At any rate you would not think me precisely the sort of +man to take a lady's fancy." A look of wonder and curiosity was now +exchanged among my guests. Ferrari took his cigarette out of his +mouth and stared at me in blank astonishment. + +"No," I went on, meditatively, "old as I am, and a half-blind +invalid besides, it seems incredible that any woman should care to +look at me more than twice en passant. But I have met--let me say +with the Chevalier Mancini--an angel--who has found me not +displeasing to her, and--in short--I am going to marry!" + +There was a pause. Ferrari raised himself slightly from his +reclining position and seemed about to speak, but apparently +changing his mind he remained silent--his face had somewhat paled. +The momentary hesitation among my guests passed quickly. All +present, except Guido, broke out into a chorus of congratulations, +mingled with good-humored jesting and laughter. + +"Say farewell to jollity, conte!" cried Chevalier Mancini; "once +drawn along by the rustling music of a woman's gown, no more such +feasts as we have had to-night!" + +And he shook his head with tipsy melancholy. + +"By all the gods!" exclaimed Gualdro, "your news has surprised me! I +should have thought you were the last man to give up liberty for the +sake of a woman. ONE woman, too! Why, man, freedom could give you +twenty!" + +"Ah!" murmured Salustri, softly and sentimentally, "but the one +perfect pearl--the one flawless diamond--" + +"Bah! Salustri, caro mio, you are half asleep!" returned Gualdro. +"'Tis the wine talks, not you. Thou art conquered by the bottle, +amico. You, the darling of all the women in Naples, to talk of one! +Buona notte, bambino!" + +I still maintained my standing position, leaning my two hands on the +table before me. + +"What our worthy Gualdro says," I went on, "is perfectly true. I +have been noted for my antipathy to the fair sex. I know it. But +when one of the loveliest among women comes out of her way to tempt +me--when she herself displays the matchless store of her countless +fascinations for my attraction--when she honors me by special favors +and makes me plainly aware that I am not too presumptuous in +venturing to aspire to her hand in marriage--what can I do but +accept with a good grace the fortune thrown to me by Providence? I +should be the most ungrateful of men were I to refuse so precious a +gift from Heaven, and I confess I feel no inclination to reject what +I consider to be the certainty of happiness. I therefore ask you all +to fill your glasses, and do me the favor to drink to the health and +happiness of my future bride." + +Gualdro sprung erect, his glass held high in the air; every man +followed his example, Ferrari rose to his feet with some +unsteadiness, while the hand that held his full champagne glass +trembled. + +The Duke di Marina, with a courteous gesture, addressed me: "You +will, of course, honor us by disclosing the name of the fair lady +whom we are prepared to toast with all befitting reverence?" + +"I was about to ask the same question," said Ferrari, in hoarse +accents--his lips were dry, and he appeared to have some difficulty +in speaking. "Possibly we are not acquainted with her?" + +"On the contrary," I returned, eying him steadily with a cool smile. +"You all know her name well! Illustrissimi Signori!" and my voice +rang out clearly--"to the health of my betrothed wife, the Contessa +Romani!" + +"Liar!" shouted Ferrari--and with all a madman's fury he dashed his +brimming glass of champagne full in my face! In a second the wildest +scene of confusion ensued. Every man left his place at table and +surrounded us. I stood erect and perfectly calm--wiping with my +handkerchief the little runlets of wine that dripped from my +clothing--the glass had fallen at my feet, striking the table as it +fell and splitting itself to atoms. + +"Are you drunk or mad, Ferrari?" cried Captain de Hamal, seizing him +by the arm--"do you know what you have done?" + +Ferrari glared about him like a tiger at bay--his face was flushed +and swollen like that of a man in apoplexy--the veins in his +forehead stood out like knotted cords--his breath came and went hard +as though he had been running. He turned his rolling eyes upon me. +"Damn you!" he muttered through his clinched teeth--then suddenly +raising his voice to a positive shriek, he cried, "I will have your +blood if I have to tear your heart for it!"--and he made an effort +to spring upon me. The Marquis D'Avencourt quietly caught his other +arm and held it as in a vise. + +"Not so fast, not so fast, mon cher" he said, coolly. "We are not +murderers, we! What devil possesses you, that you offer such +unwarrantable insult to our host?" + +"Ask HIM!" replied Ferrari, fiercely, struggling to release himself +from the grasp of the two Frenchmen--"he knows well enough! Ask +HIM!" + +All eyes were turned inquiringly upon me. I was silent. + +"The noble conte is really not bound to give any explanation," +remarked Captain Freccia--"even admitting he were able to do so." + +"I assure you, my friends," I said, "I am ignorant of the cause of +this fracas, except that this young gentleman had pretensions +himself to the hand of the lady whose name affects him so +seriously!" + +For a moment I thought Ferrari would have choked. + +"Pretensions--pretensions!" he gasped. "Gran Dio! Hear him!--hear +the miserable scoundrel!" + +"Ah, basta!" exclaimed Chevalier Mancini, scornfully--"Is that all? +A mere bagatelle! Ferrari, you were wont to be more sensible! What! +quarrel with an excellent friend for the sake of a woman who happens +to prefer him to you! Ma che! Women are plentiful--friends are few." + +"If," I resumed, still methodically wiping the stains of wine from +my coat and vest--"if Signor Ferrari's extraordinary display of +temper is a mere outcome of natural disappointment, I am willing to +excuse it. He is young and hotblooded--let him apologize, and I +shall freely pardon him." + +"By my faith!" said the Duke di Marina with indignation, "such +generosity is unheard of, conte! Permit me to remark that it is +altogether exceptional, after such ungentlemanly conduct." + +Ferrari looked from one to the other in silent fury. His face had +grown pale as death. He wrenched himself from the grasp of +D'Avencourt and De Hamal. + +"Fools! let me go!" he said, savagely. "None of you are on my side-- +I see that!" He stepped to the table, poured out a glass of water +and drank it off. He then turned and faced me--his head thrown back, +his eyes blazing with wrath and pain. + +"Liar!" he cried again, "double-faced accursed liar! You have stolen +HER--you have fooled ME--but, by G-d, you shall pay for it with your +life!" + +"Willingly!" I said, with a mocking smile, restraining by a gesture +the hasty exclamations of those around me who resented this fresh +attack--"most willingly, caro signor! But excuse me if I fail to see +wherein you consider yourself wronged. The lady who is now my +fiancee has not the slightest affection for you--she told me so +herself. Had she entertained any such feelings I might have +withdrawn my proposals--but as matters stand, what harm have I done +you?" + +A chorus of indignant voices interrupted me. "Shame on you, +Ferrari!" cried Gualdro. "The count speaks like a gentleman and a +man of honor. Were I in his place you should have had no word of +explanation whatever. I would not have condescended to parley with +you--by Heaven I would not!" + +"Nor I!" said the duke, stiffly. + +"Nor I!" said Mancini. + +"Surely," said Luziana Salustri, "Ferrari will make the amende +honorable." + +There was a pause. Each man looked at Ferrari with some anxiety. The +suddenness of the quarrel had sobered the whole party more +effectually than a cold douche. Ferrari's face grew more and more +livid till his very lips turned a ghastly blue--he laughed aloud in +bitter scorn. Then, walking steadily up to me, with his eyes full of +baffled vindictiveness, he said, in a low clear tone: + +"You say that--you say she never cared for me--YOU! and I am to +apologize to you! Thief, coward, traitor--take that for my apology!" +And he struck me across the mouth with his bare hand so fiercely +that the diamond ring he wore (my diamond ring) cut my flesh and +slightly drew blood. A shout of anger broke from all present! I +turned to the Marquis D'Avencourt. + +"There can be but one answer to this," I said, with indifferent +coldness. "Signor Ferrari has brought it on himself. Marquis, will +you do me the honor to arrange the affair?" + +The marquis bowed, "I shall be most happy!" + +Ferrari glared about him for a moment and then said, "Freccia, you +will second me?" + +Captain Freccia shrugged his shoulders. "You must positively excuse +me," he said. "My conscience will not permit me to take up such a +remarkably wrong cause as yours, cara mio! I shall be pleased to act +with D'Avencourt for the count, if he will permit me." The marquis +received him with cordiality, and the two engaged in earnest +conversation. Ferrari next proffered his request to his quondam +friend De Hamal, who also declined to second him, as did every one +among the company. He bit his lips in mortification and wounded +vanity, and seemed hesitating what to do next, when the marquis +approached him with frigid courtesy and appeared to offer him some +suggestions in a low tone of voice--for after a few minutes' +converse, Ferrari suddenly turned on his heel and abruptly left the +room without another word or look. At the same instant I touched +Vincenzo, who, obedient to his orders, had remained an impassive but +evidently astonished spectator of all that had passed, and +whispered--"Follow that man and do not let him see you." He obeyed +so instantly that the door had scarcely closed upon Ferrari when +Vincenzo had also disappeared. The Marquis D'Avencourt now came up +to me. + +"Your opponent has gone to find two seconds," he said. "As you +perceived, no one here would or could support him. It is a most +unfortunate affair." + +"Most unfortunate," chorused De Hamal, who, though not in it, +appeared thoroughly to enjoy it. + +"For my part," said the Duke di Marina, "I wonder how our noble +friend could be so lenient with such a young puppy. His conceit is +insufferable!" + +Others around me made similar remarks, and were evidently anxious to +show how entirely they were on my side. I however remained silent, +lest they should see how gratified I was at the success of my +scheme. The marquis addressed me again: + +"While awaiting the other seconds, who are to find us here," he +said, with a glance at his watch, "Freccia and I have arranged a few +preliminaries. It is now nearly midnight. We propose that the affair +should come off in the morning at six precisely. Will that suit +you?" + +I bowed. + +"As the insulted party you have the choice of weapons. Shall we say--" + +"Pistols," I replied briefly. + +"A la bonne heure! Then, suppose we fix upon the plot of open ground +just behind the hill to the left of the Casa Ghirlande--between that +and the Villa Romani--it is quiet and secluded, and there will be no +fear of interruption." + +I bowed again. + +"Thus it stands," continued the marquis, affably--"the hour of six-- +the weapons pistols--the paces to be decided hereafter when the +other seconds arrive." + +I professed myself entirely satisfied with these arrangements, and +shook hands with my amiable coadjutor. I then looked round at the +rest of the assembled company with a smile at their troubled faces. + +"Gentlemen," I said, "our feast has broken up in a rather +disagreeable manner--and I am sorry for it, the more especially as +it compels me to part from you. Receive my thanks for your company, +and for the friendship you have displayed toward me! I do not +believe that this is the last time I shall have the honor of +entertaining you--but if it should be so, I shall at any rate carry +a pleasant remembrance of you into the next world! If on the +contrary I should survive the combat of the morning, I hope to see +you all again on my marriage-day, when nothing shall occur to mar +our merriment. In the meantime--good-night!" + +They closed round me, pressing my hands warmly and assuring me of +their entire sympathy with me in the quarrel that had occurred. The +duke was especially cordial, giving me to understand that had the +others failed in their services, he himself, in spite of his dignity +and peace-loving disposition, would have volunteered as my second. I +escaped from them all at last and reached the quiet of my own +apartments. There I sat alone for more than an hour, waiting for the +return of Vincenzo, whom I had sent to track Ferrari. I heard the +departing footsteps of my guests as they left the hotel by twos and +threes--I heard the equable voices of the marquis and Captain +Freccia ordering hot coffee to be served to them in a private room +where they were to await the other seconds--now and then I caught a +few words of the excited language of the waiters who were volubly +discussing the affair as they cleared away the remains of the superb +feast at which, though none knew it save myself, death had been +seated. Thirteen at table! One was a traitor and one must die. I +knew which one. No presentiment lurked in my mind as to the doubtful +result of the coming combat. It was not my lot to fall--my time had +not come yet--I felt certain of that! No! All the fateful forces of +the universe would help me to keep alive till my vengeance was +fulfilled. Oh, what bitter shafts of agony Ferrari carried in his +heart at that moment, I thought. HOW he had looked when I said she +never cared for him! Poor wretch! I pitied him even while I rejoiced +at his torture. He suffered now as I had suffered--he was duped as I +had been duped--and each quiver of his convulsed face and tormented +frame had been fraught with satisfaction to me! Each moment of his +life was now a pang to him. Well! it would soon be over--thus far at +least I was merciful. I drew out pens and paper and commenced to +write a few last instructions, in case the result of the fight +should be fatal to me. I made them very concise and brief--I knew, +while writing, that they would not be needed. Still--for the sake of +form I wrote--and sealing the document, I directed it to the Duke di +Marina. I looked at my watch--it was past one o'clock and Vincenzo +had not yet returned. I went to the window, and drawing back the +curtains, surveyed the exquisitely peaceful scene that lay before +me. The moon was still high and bright--and her reflection made the +waters of the bay appear like a warrior's coat of mail woven from a +thousand glittering links of polished steel. Here and there, from +the masts of anchored brigs and fishing-boats gleamed a few red and +green lights burning dimly like fallen and expiring stars. There was +a heavy unnatural silence everywhere--it oppressed me, and I threw +the window wide open for air. Then came the sound of bells chiming +softly. People passed to and fro with quiet footsteps--some paused +to exchange friendly greetings. I remembered the day with a sort of +pang at my heart. The night was over, though as yet there was no +sign of dawn--and--it was Christmas morning! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The opening of the room door aroused me from my meditations. I +turned--to find Vincenzo standing near me, hat in hand--he had just +entered. + +"Ebbene!" I said, with a cheerful air--"what news?" + +"Eccellenza, you have been obeyed. The young Signor Ferrari is now +at his studio." + +"You left him there?" + +"Yes, eccellenza"--and Vincenzo proceeded to give me a graphic +account of his adventures. On leaving the banqueting-room, Ferrari +had taken a carriage and driven straight to the Villa Romani-- +Vincenzo, unperceived, had swung himself on to the back of the +vehicle and had gone also. + +"Arriving there," continued my valet, "he dismissed the fiacre--and +rang the gate-bell furiously six or seven times. No one answered. I +hid myself among the trees and watched. There were no lights in the +villa windows--all was darkness. He rang it again--he even shook the +gate as though he would break it open. At last the poor Giacomo +came, half undressed and holding a lantern in his hand--he seemed +terrified, and trembled so much that the lantern jogged up and down +like a corpse-candle on a tomb. + +"'I must see the contessa,' said the young signor, Giacomo blinked +like an owl, and coughed as though the devil scratched in his +throat. + +"'The contessa!' he said. 'She is gone!' + +"The signor then threw himself upon Giacomo and shook him to and fro +as though he were a bag of loose wheat. + +"'Gone!' and he screamed like a madman! 'WHERE? Tell me WHERE, dolt! +idiot! driveler! before I twist your neck for you!' + +"Truly, eccellenza, I would have gone to the rescue of the poor +Giacomo, but respect for your commands kept me silent. 'A thousand +pardons, signor!' he whispered, out of breath with his shaking.' I +will tell you instantly--most instantly. She is at the Convento +dell' Annunziata--ten miles from here--the saints know I speak the +truth--she left two days since.' + +"The Signor Ferrari then flung away the unfortunate Giacomo with so +much force that he fell in a heap on the pavement and broke his +lantern to pieces. The old man set up a most pitiful groaning, but +the signor cared nothing for that. He was mad, I think. 'Get to +bed!' he cried, 'and sleep--sleep till you die! Tell your mistress +when you see her that I came to kill her! My curse upon this house +and all who dwell in it!' And with that he ran so quickly through +the garden into the high-road that I had some trouble to follow him. +There after walking unsteadily for a few paces, he suddenly fell +down, senseless." + +Vincenzo paused. "Well," I said, "what happened next?" + +"Eccellenza, I could not leave him there without aid. I drew my +cloak well up to my mouth and pulled my hat down over my eyes so +that he could not recognize me. Then I took water from the fountain +close by and dashed it on his face. He soon came to himself, and, +taking me for a stranger, thanked me for my assistance, saying that +he had a sudden shock. He then drank greedily from the fountain and +went on his way." + +"You followed?" + +"Yes, eccellenza--at a little distance. He next visited a common +tavern in one of the back streets of the city and came out with two +men. They were well dressed--they had the air of gentlemen spoiled +by bad fortune. The signor talked with them for some time--he seemed +much excited. I could not hear what they said except at the end, +when these two strangers consented to appear as seconds for Signor +Ferrari, and they at once left him, to come straight to this hotel. +And they are arrived, for I saw them through a half-opened door as I +came in, talking with the Marquis D'Avencourt." + +"Well!" I said, "and what of Signor Ferrari when he was left alone +by his two friends?" + +"There is not much more to tell, eccellenza. He went up the little +hill to his own studio, and I noticed that he walked like a very old +man with his head bent. Once he stopped and shook his fist in the +air as though threatening some one. He let himself in at his door +with a private key--and I saw him no more. I felt that he would not +come out again for some time. And as I moved away to return here, I +heard a sound as of terrible weeping." + +"And that is all, Vincenzo?" + +"That is all, eccellenza." + +I was silent. There was something in the simple narration that +touched me, though I remained as determinately relentless as ever. +After a few moments I said: + +"You have done well, Vincenzo. You are aware how grossly this young +man has insulted me--and that his injurious treatment can only be +wiped out in one way. That way is already arranged. You can set out +those pistols you cleaned." + +Vincenzo obeyed--but as he lifted the heavy case of weapons and set +them on the table, he ventured to remark, timidly: + +"The eccellenza knows it is now Christmas-day?" + +"I am quite aware of the fact," I said somewhat frigidly. + +In nowise daunted he went on, "Coming back just now I saw the big +Nicolo--the eccellenza has doubtless seen him often?--he is a vine- +grower, and they say he is the largest man in Naples--three months +since he nearly killed his brother--ebbene! To-night that same big +Nicolo is drinking Chianti with that same brother, and both shouted +after me as I passed, 'Hola! Vincenzo Flamma! all is well between us +because it is the blessed Christ's birthday.'" Vincenzo stopped and +regarded me wistfully. + +"Well!" I said, calmly, "what has the big Nicolo or his brother to +do with me?" + +My valet hesitated--looked up--then down--finally he said, simply, +"May the saints preserve the eccellenza from all harm!" + +I smiled gravely. "Thank you, my friend! I understand what you mean. +Have no fear for me. I am now going to lie down and rest till five +o'clock or thereabouts--and I advise you to do the same. At that +time you can bring me some coffee." + +And I nodded kindly to him as I left him and entered my sleeping +apartment, where I threw myself on the bed, dressed as I was. I had +no intention of sleeping--my mind was too deeply engrossed by all I +had gone through. I could enter into Guido's feelings--had I not +suffered as he was now suffering?--nay! more than he--for HE, at any +rate, would not be buried alive! I should take care of that! HE +would not have to endure the agony of breaking loose from the cold +grasp of the grave to come back to life and find his name slandered, +and his vacant place filled up by a usurper. Do what I would, I +could not torture him as much as I myself had been tortured. That +was a pity--death, sudden and almost painless, seemed too good for +him. I held up my hand in the half light and watched it closely to +see if it trembled ever so slightly. No! it was steady as a rock--I +felt I was sure of my aim. I would not fire at his heart, I thought +but just above it--for I had to remember one thing--he must live +long enough to recognize me before he died. THAT was the sting I +reserved for his last moments! The sick dreams that had bewildered +my brain when I was taken ill at the auberge recurred to me. I +remembered the lithe figure, so like Guido, that had glided in the +Indian canoe toward me and had plunged a dagger three times in my +heart? Had it not been realized? Had not Guido stabbed me thrice?-- +in his theft of my wife's affections--in his contempt for my little +dead child--in his slanders on my name? Then why such foolish +notions of pity--of forgiveness, that were beginning to steal into +my mind? It was too late now for forgiveness--the very idea of it +only rose out of a silly sentimentalism awakened by Ferrari's +allusion to our young days--days for which, after all, he really +cared nothing. Meditating on all these things, I suppose I must have +fallen by imperceptible degrees into a doze which gradually deepened +till it became a profound and refreshing sleep. From this I was +awakened by a knocking at the door. I arose and admitted Vincenzo, +who entered bearing a tray of steaming coffee. + +"Is it already so late?" I asked him. + +"It wants a quarter to five," replied Vincenzo--then looking at me +in some surprise, he added, "Will not the eccellenza change his +evening-dress?" + +I nodded in the affirmative--and while I drank my coffee my valet +set out a suit of rough tweed, such as I was accustomed to wear +every day. He then left me, and I quickly changed my attire, and +while I did so I considered carefully the position of affairs. +Neither the Marquis D'Avencourt nor Captain Freccia had ever known +me personally when I was Fabio Romani--nor was it at all probable +that the two tavern companions of Ferrari had ever seen me. A +surgeon would be on the field--most probably a stranger. Thinking +over these points, I resolved on a bold stroke--it was this--that +when I turned to face Ferrari in the combat, I would do so with +uncovered eyes--I would abjure my spectacles altogether for the +occasion. Vaguely I wondered what the effect would be upon him. I +was very much changed even without these disguising glasses--my +white beard and hair had seemingly altered my aspect--yet I knew +there was something familiar in the expression of my eyes that could +not fail to startle one who had known me well. My seconds would +consider it very natural that I should remove the smoke-colored +spectacles in order to see my aim unencumbered--the only person +likely to be disconcerted by my action was Ferrari himself. The more +I thought of it the more determined I was to do it. I had scarcely +finished dressing when Vincenzo entered with my overcoat, and +informed me that the marquis waited for me, and that a close +carriage was in attendance at the private door of the hotel. + +"Permit me to accompany you, eccellenza!" pleaded the faithful +fellow, with anxiety in the tone of his voice. + +"Come then, amico!" I said, cheerily. "If the marquis makes no +objection I shall not. But you must promise not to interrupt any of +the proceedings by so much as an exclamation." + +He promised readily, and when I joined the marquis he followed, +carrying my case of pistols. + +"He can be trusted, I suppose?" asked D'Avencourt, glancing keenly +at him while shaking hands cordially with me. + +"To the death!" I replied, laughingly. "He will break his heart if +he is not allowed to bind up my wounds!" + +"I see you are in good spirits, conte," remarked Captain Freccia, as +we took our seats in the carriage. "It is always the way with the +man who is in the right. Ferrari, I fear, is not quite so +comfortable." + +And he proffered me a cigar, which I accepted. Just as we were about +to start, the fat landlord of the hotel rushed toward us, and laying +hold of the carriage door--"Eccellenza," he observed in a +confidential whisper, "of course this is only a matter of coffee and +glorias? They will be ready for you all on your return. I know--I +understand!" And he smiled and nodded a great many times, and laid +his finger knowingly on the side of his nose. We laughed heartily, +assuring him that his perspicuity was wonderful, and he stood on the +broad steps in high good humor, watching us as our vehicle rumbled +heavily away. + +"Evidently," I remarked, "he does not consider a duel as a serious +affair." + +"Not he!" replied Freccia. "He has known of too many sham fights to +be able to understand a real one. D'Avencourt knows something about +that too, though he always kills his man. But very often it is +sufficient to scratch one another with the sword-point so as to draw +a quarter of a drop of blood, and honor is satisfied! Then the +coffee and glorias are brought, as suggested by our friend the +landlord." + +"It is a ridiculous age," said the marquis, taking his cigar from +his mouth, and complacently surveying his small, supple white hand, +"thoroughly ridiculous, but I determined it should never make a fool +of ME. You see, my dear conte, nowadays a duel is very frequently +decided with swords rather than pistols, and why? Because cowards +fancy it is much more difficult to kill with the sword. But not at +all. Long ago I made up my mind that no man should continue to live +who dared to insult me. I therefore studied swordplay as an art. And +I assure you it is a simple matter to kill with the sword-- +remarkably simple. My opponents are astonished at the ease with +which I dispatch them!" + +Freccia laughed. "De Hamal is a pupil of yours, marquis, is he not?" + +"I regret to say yes! He is marvelously clumsy. I have often +earnestly requested him to eat his sword rather than handle it so +boorishly. Yet he kills his men, too, but in a butcher-like manner-- +totally without grace or refinement. I should say he was about on a +par with our two associates, Ferrari's seconds." + +I roused myself from a reverie into which I had fallen. + +"What men are they?" I inquired. + +"One calls himself the Capitano Ciabatti, the other Cavaliere Dursi, +at your service," answered Freccia, indifferently. "Good swearers +both and hard drinkers--filled with stock phrases, such as 'our +distinguished dear friend, Ferrari, 'wrongs which can only be wiped +out by blood'--all bombast and braggadocio! These fellows would as +soon be on one side as the other." + +He resumed his smoking, and we all three lapsed into silence. The +drive seemed very long, though in reality the distance was not +great. At last we passed the Casa Ghirlande, a superb chateau +belonging to a distinguished nobleman who in former days had been a +friendly neighbor to me, and then our vehicle jolted down a gentle +declivity which sloped into a small valley, where there was a good- +sized piece of smooth flat greensward. From this spot could be +faintly discerned the castellated turrets of my own house, the Villa +Romani. Here we came to a standstill. Vincenzo jumped briskly down +from his seat beside the coachman, and assisted us to alight. The +carriage then drove off to a retired corner behind some trees. We +surveyed the ground, and saw that as yet only one person beside +ourselves had arrived. This was the surgeon, a dapper good-humored +little German who spoke bad French and worse Italian, and who shook +hands cordially with us all. On learning who I was he bowed low and +smiled very amiably. "The best wish I can offer to you, signor," he +said, "is that you may have no occasion for my services. You have +reposed yourself? That is well--sleep steadies the nerves. Ach! you +shiver! True it is, the morning is cold." + +I did indeed experience a passing shudder, but not because the air +was chilly. It was because I felt certain--so terribly certain, of +killing the man I had once loved well. Almost I wished I could also +feel that there was the slightest possibility of his killing me; but +no!--all my instincts told me there was no chance of this. I had a +sort of sick pain at my heart, and as I thought of HER, the jewel- +eyed snake who had wrought all the evil, my wrath against her +increased tenfold. I wondered scornfully what she was doing away in +the quiet convent where the sacred Host, unveiled, glittered on the +altar like a star of the morning. No doubt she slept; it was yet too +early for her to practice her sham sanctity. She slept, in all +probability most peacefully, while her husband and her lover called +upon death to come and decide between them. The slow clear strokes +of a bell chiming from the city tolled six, and as its last echo +trembled mournfully on the wind there was a slight stir among my +companions. I looked and saw Ferrari approaching with his two +associates. He walked slowly, and was muffled in a thick cloak; his +hat was pulled over his brows, and I could not see the expression of +his face, as he did not turn his head once in my direction, but +stood apart leaning against the trunk of a leafless tree. The +seconds on both sides now commenced measuring the ground. + +"We are agreed as to the distance, gentlemen," said the marquis. +"Twenty paces, I think?" + +"Twenty paces," stiffly returned one of Ferrari's friends--a +battered-looking middle-aged roue with ferocious mustachios, whom I +presumed was Captain Ciabatti. + +They went on measuring carefully and in silence. During the pause I +turned my back on the whole party, slipped off my spectacles and put +them in my pocket. Then I lowered the brim of my hat slightly so +that the change might not be observed too suddenly--and resuming my +first position, I waited. It was daylight though not full morning-- +the sun had not yet risen, but there was an opaline luster in the +sky, and one pale pink streak in the east like the floating pennon +from the lance of a hero, which heralded his approach. There was a +gentle twittering of awakening birds--the grass sparkled with a +million tiny drops of frosty dew. A curious calmness possessed me. I +felt for the time as though I were a mechanical automaton moved by +some other will than my own. I had no passion left. + +The weapons were now loaded--and the marquis, looking about him with +a cheerful business-like air, remarked: + +"I think we may now place our men?" + +This suggestion agreed to, Ferrari left his place near the tree +against which he had in part inclined as though fatigued, and +advanced to the spot his seconds pointed out to him. He threw off +his hat and overcoat, thereby showing that he was still in his +evening-dress. His face was haggard and of a sickly paleness--his +eyes had dark rings of pain round them, and were full of a keen and +bitter anguish. He eagerly grasped the pistol they handed to him, +and examined it closely with vengeful interest. I meanwhile also +threw off my hat and coat--the marquis glanced at me with careless +approval. + +"You look a much younger man without your spectacles, conte," he +remarked as he handed me my weapon. I smiled indifferently, and took +up my position at the distance indicated, exactly opposite Ferrari. +He was still occupied in the examination of his pistol, and did not +at once look up. + +"Are we ready, gentlemen?" demanded Freccia, with courteous +coldness. + +"Quite ready," was the response. The Marquis D'Avencourt took out +his handkerchief. Then Ferrari raised his head and faced me fully +for the first time. Great Heaven! shall I ever forget the awful +change that came over his pallid countenance--the confused mad look +of his eyes--the startled horror of his expression! His lips moved +as though he were about to utter an exclamation--he staggered. + +"One!" cried D'Avencourt. + +We raised our weapons. + +"Two!" + +The scared and bewildered expression of Ferrari's face deepened +visibly as he eyed me steadily in taking aim. I smiled proudly--I +gave him back glance for glance--I saw him waver--his hand shook. + +"Three!" and the white handkerchief fluttered to the ground. +Instantly, and together, we fired. Ferrari's bullet whizzed past me, +merely tearing my coat and grazing my shoulder. The smoke cleared-- +Ferrari still stood erect, opposite to me, staring straight forward +with the same frantic faroff look--the pistol had dropped from his +hand. Suddenly he threw up his arms--shuddered--and with a smothered +groan fell, face forward, prone on the sward. The surgeon hurried to +his side and turned him so that he lay on his back. He was +unconscious--though his dark eyes were wide open, and turned blindly +upward to the sky. The front of his shirt was already soaked with +blood. We all gathered round him. + +"A good shot?" inquired the marquis, with the indifference of a +practiced duelist. + +"Ach! a good shot indeed!" replied the little German doctor, shaking +his head as he rose from his examination of the wound. "Excellent! +He will be dead in ten minutes. The bullet has passed through the +lungs close to the heart. Honor is satisfied certainly!" + +At that moment a deep anguished sigh parted the lips of the dying +man. Sense and speculation returned to those glaring eyes so awfully +upturned. He looked upon us all doubtfully one after the other--till +finally his gaze rested upon me. Then he grew strangely excited--his +lips moved--he eagerly tried to speak. The doctor, watchful of his +movements, poured brandy between his teeth. The cordial gave him +momentary strength--he raised himself by a supreme effort. + +"Let me speak," he gasped faintly, "to HIM!" And he pointed to me-- +then he continued to mutter like a man in a dream--"to him--alone-- +alone!--to him alone!" + +The others, slightly awed by his manner, drew aside out of ear-shot, +and I advanced and knelt beside him, stooping my face between his +and the morning sky. His wild eyes met mine with a piteous +beseeching terror. + +"In God's name," he whispered, thickly, "WHO ARE YOU?" + +"You know me, Guido!" I answered, steadily. "I am Fabio Romani, whom +you once called friend! I am he whose wife you stole!--whose name +you slandered!--whose honor you despised! Ah! look at me well! your +own heart tells you who I am!" + +He uttered a low moan and raised his hand with a feeble gesture. + +"Fabio? Fabio?" he gasped. "He died--I saw him in his coffin--" + +I leaned more closely over him. "I was BURIED ALIVE," I said with +thrilling distinctness. "Understand me, Guido--buried alive! I +escaped--no matter how. I came home--to learn your treachery and my +own dishonor! Shall I tell you more?" + +A terrible shudder shook his frame--his head moved restlessly to and +fro, the sweat stood in large drops upon his forehead. With my own +handkerchief I wiped his lips and brow tenderly--my nerves were +strung up to an almost brittle tension--I smiled as a woman smiles +when on the verge of hysterical weeping. + +"You know the avenue," I said, "the dear old avenue, where the +nightingales sing? I saw you there, Guido--with HER!--on the very +night of my return from death--SHE was in your arms--you kissed +her--you spoke of me--you toyed with the necklace on her white +breast!" + +He writhed under my gaze with a strong convulsive movement. + +"Tell me--quick!" he gasped. "Does--SHE--know you?" + +"Not yet!" I answered, slowly. "But soon she will--when I have +married her!" + +A look of bitter anguish filled his straining eyes. "Oh, God, God!" +he exclaimed with a groan like that of a wild beast in pain. "This +is horrible, too horrible! Spare me--spare--" A rush of blood +choked his utterance. His breathing grew fainter and fainter; the +livid hue of approaching dissolution spread itself gradually over +his countenance. Staring wildly at me, he groped with his hands as +though he searched for some lost thing. I took one of those feebly +wandering hands within my own, and held it closely clasped. + +"You know the rest," I said gently; "you understand my vengeance! +But it is all over, Guido--all over, now! She has played us both +false. May God forgive you as I do!" + +He smiled--a soft look brightened his fast-glazing eyes--the old +boyish look that had won my love in former days. + +"All over!" he repeated in a sort of plaintive babble. "All over +now! God--Fabio--forgive!--" A terrible convulsion wrenched and +contorted his limbs and features, his throat rattled, and stretching +himself out with a long shivering sigh--he died! The first beams of +the rising sun, piercing through the dark, moss-covered branches of +the pine-trees, fell on his clustering hair, and lent a mocking +brilliancy to his wide-open sightless eyes: there was a smile on the +closed lips! A burning, suffocating sensation rose in my throat, as +of rebellious tears trying to force a passage. I still held the hand +of my friend and enemy--it had grown cold in my clasp. Upon it +sparkled my family diamond--the ring SHE had given him. I drew the +jewel off: then I kissed that poor passive hand as I laid it gently +down--kissed it tenderly, reverently. Hearing footsteps approaching, +I rose from my kneeling posture and stood erect with folded arms, +looking tearlessly down on the stiffening clay before me. The rest +of the party came up; no one spoke for a minute, all surveyed the +dead body in silence. At last Captain Freccia said, softly in half- +inquiring accents: + +"He is gone, I suppose?" + +I bowed. I could not trust myself to speak. + +"He made you his apology?" asked the marquis. + +I bowed again. There was another pause of heavy silence. The rigid +smiling face of the corpse seemed to mock all speech. The doctor +stooped and skillfully closed those glazed appealing eyes--and then +it seemed to me as though Guido merely slept and that a touch would +waken him. The Marquis D'Avencourt took me by the arm and whispered, +"Get back to the city, amico, and take some wine--you look +positively ill! Your evident regret does you credit, considering the +circumstances--but what would you?--it was a fair fight. Consider +the provocation you had! I should advise you to leave Naples for a +couple of weeks--by that time the affair will be forgotten. I know +how these things are managed--leave it all to me." + +I thanked him and shook his hand cordially and turned to depart. +Vincenzo was in waiting with the carriage. Once I looked back, as +with slow steps I left the field; a golden radiance illumined the +sky just above the stark figure stretched so straightly on the +sward; while almost from the very side of that pulseless heart a +little bird rose from its nest among the grasses and soared into the +heavens, singing rapturously as it flew into the warmth and glory of +the living, breathing day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +Entering the fiacre, I drove in it a very little way toward the +city. I bade the driver stop at the corner of the winding road that +led to the Villa Romani, and there I alighted. I ordered Vincenzo to +go on to the hotel and send from thence my own carriage and horses +up to the villa gates, where I would wait for it. I also bade him +pack my portmanteau in readiness for my departure that evening, as I +proposed going to Avellino, among the mountains, for a few days. He +heard my commands in silence and evident embarrassment. Finally he +said: + +"Do I also travel with the eccellenza?" + +"Why, no!" I answered with a forced sad smile. "Do you not see, +amico, that I am heavy-hearted, and melancholy men are best left to +themselves. Besides--remember the carnival--I told you you were free +to indulge in its merriment, and shall I not deprive you of your +pleasure? No, Vincenzo; stay and enjoy yourself, and take no concern +for me." + +Vincenzo saluted me with his usual respectful bow, but his features +wore an expression of obstinacy. + +"The eccellenza must pardon me," he said, "but I have just looked at +death, and my taste is spoiled for carnival. Again--the eccellenza +is sad--it is necessary that I should accompany him to Avellino." + +I saw that his mind was made up, and I was in no humor for argument. + +"As you will," I answered, wearily, "only believe me, you make a +foolish decision. But do what you like; only arrange all so that we +leave to-night. And now get back quickly--give no explanation at the +hotel of what has occurred, and lose no time in sending on my +carriage. I will wait alone at the Villa Romani till it comes." + +The vehicle rumbled off, bearing Vincenzo seated on the box beside +the driver. I watched it disappear, and then turned into the road +that led me to my own dishonored home. The place looked silent and +deserted--not a soul was stirring. The silken blinds of the +reception-rooms were all closely drawn, showing that the mistress of +the house was absent; it was as if some one lay dead within. A vague +wonderment arose in my mind. WHO was dead? Surely it must be I--I +the master of the household, who lay stiff and cold in one of those +curtained rooms! This terrible white-haired man who roamed +feverishly up and down outside the walls was not me--it was some +angry demon risen from the grave to wreak punishment on the guilty. +_I_ was dead--_I_ could never have killed the man who had once been +my friend. And he also was dead--the same murderess had slain us +both--and SHE lived! Ha! that was wrong--she must now die--but in +such torture that her very soul shall shrink and shrivel under it +into a devil's flame for the furnace of hell! + +With my brain full of hot whirling thoughts like these I looked +through the carved heraldic work of the villa gates. Here had Guido +stood, poor wretch, last night, shaking these twisted wreaths of +iron in impotent fury. There on the mosaic pavement he had flung the +trembling old servant who had told him of the absence of his +traitress. On this very spot he had launched his curse, which, +though he knew it not, was the curse of a dying man. I was glad he +had uttered it--such maledictions cling! There was nothing but +compassion for him in my heart now that he was dead. He had been +duped and wronged even as I; and I felt that his spirit, released +from its grosser clay, would work with mine and aid in her +punishment. + +I paced round the silent house till I came to the private wicket +that led into the avenue; I opened it and entered the familiar path. +I had not been there since the fatal night on which I had learned my +own betrayal. How intensely still were those solemn pines--how gaunt +and dark and grim! Not a branch quivered--not a leaf stirred. A cold +dew that was scarcely a frost glittered on the moss at my feet, No +bird's voice broke the impressive hush of the wood-lands morning +dream. No bright-hued flower unbuttoned its fairy cloak to the +breeze; yet there was a subtle perfume everywhere--the fragrance of +unseen violets whose purple eyes were still closed in slumber. + +I gazed on the scene as a man may behold in a vision the spot where +he once was happy. I walked a few paces, then paused with a strange +beating at my heart. A shadow fell across my path--it flitted before +me, it stopped--it lay still. I saw it resolve itself into the +figure of a man stretched out in rigid silence, with the light +beating full on its smiling, dead face, and also on a deep wound +just above his heart, from which the blood oozed redly, staining the +grass on which he lay. Mastering the sick horror which seized me at +this sight, I sprung forward--the shadow vanished instantly--it was +a mere optical delusion, the result of my overwrought and excited +condition. I shuddered involuntarily at the image my own heated +fancy had conjured up; should I always see Guido thus, I thought, +even in my dreams? + +Suddenly a ringing, swaying rush of sound burst joyously on the +silence--the slumbering trees awoke, their leaves moved, their dark +branches quivered, and the grasses lifted up their green lilliputian +sword-blades. Bells!--and SUCH bells!--tongues of melody that +stormed the air with sweetest eloquence--round, rainbow bubbles of +music that burst upon the wind, and dispersed in delicate broken +echoes. + +"Peace on earth, good will to men! +Peace--on--earth--good--will--to--men!" they seemed to say over and +over again, till my ears ached with the repetition. Peace! What had I +to do with peace or good-will? The Christ Mass could teach me nothing. +I was as one apart from human life-an alien from its customs and +affections--for me no love, no brotherhood remained. The swinging song +of the chimes jarred my nerves. Why, I thought, should the wild erring +world, with all its wicked men and women, presume to rejoice at the +birth of the Saviour?--they, who were not worthy to be saved! I turned +swiftly away; I strode fiercely past the kingly pines that, now +thoroughly awakened, seemed to note me with a stern disdain as though +they said among themselves: "What manner of small creature is this +that torments himself with passions unknown to US in our calm converse +with the stars?" + +I was glad when I stood again on the high-road, and infinitely +relieved when I heard the rapid trot of horses rumbling of wheels, +and saw my closed brougham, drawn by its prancing black Arabians, +approaching. I walked to meet it; the coachman seeing me drew up +instantly, I bade him take me to the Convento dell'Annunziata, and +entering the carriage, I was driven rapidly away. + +The convent was situated, I knew, somewhere between Naples and +Sorrento. I guessed it to be near Castellamare, but it was fully +three miles beyond that, and was a somewhat long drive of more than +two hours. It lay a good distance out of the direct route, and was +only attained by a by-road, which from its rough and broken +condition was evidently not much frequented. The building stood +apart from all other habitations in a large open piece of ground, +fenced in by a high stone wall spiked at the top. Roses climbed +thickly among the spikes, and almost hid their sharp points from +view, and from a perfect nest of green foliage, the slender spire of +the convent chapel rose into the sky like a white finger pointing to +heaven. My coachman drew up before the heavily barred gates. I +alighted, and bade him take the carriage to the principal hostelry +at Castellamare, and wait for me there. As soon as he had driven +off, I rang the convent bell. A little wicket fixed in the gate +opened immediately, and the wrinkled visage of a very old and ugly +nun looked out. She demanded in low tones what I sought. I handed +her my card, and stated my desire to see the Countess Romani, if +agreeable to the superioress. While I spoke she looked at me +curiously--my spectacles, I suppose, excited her wonder--for I had +replaced these disguising glasses immediately on leaving the scene +of the duel--I needed them yet a little while longer. After peering +at me a minute or two with her bleared and aged eyes, she shut the +wicket in my face with a smart click and disappeared. While I +awaited her return I heard the sound of children's laughter and +light footsteps running trippingly on the stone passage within. + +"Fi donc, Rosie!" said the girl's voice in French; "la bonne Mere +Marguerite sera tres tres fachee avec toi." + +"Tais-toi, petite sainte!" cried another voice more piercing and +silvery in tone. "Je veux voir qui est la! C'est un homme je sais +bien--parceque la vieille Mere Laura a rougi!" and both young voices +broke into a chorus of renewed laughter. + +Then came the shuffling noise of the old nun's footsteps returning; +she evidently caught the two truants, whoever they were, for I heard +her expostulating, scolding and apostropnizing the saints all in a +breath, as she bade them go inside the house and ask the good little +Jesus to forgive their naughtiness. A silence ensued, then the bolts +and bars of the huge gate were undone slowly--it opened, and I was +admitted. I raised my hat as I entered, and walked bareheaded +through a long, cold corridor, guided by the venerable nun, who +looked at me no more, but told her beads as she walked, and never +spoke till she had led me into the building, through a lofty hall +glorious with sacred paintings and statues, and from thence into a +large, elegantly furnished room, whose windows commanded a fine view +of the grounds. Here she motioned me to take a seat, and without +lifting her eyelids, said: + +"Mother Marguerite will wait upon you instantly, signor." + +I bowed, and she glided from the room so noiselessly that I did not +even hear the door close behind her. Left alone in what I rightly +concluded was the reception-room for visitors, I looked about me +with some faint interest and curiosity. I had never before seen the +interior of what is known as an educational convent. There were many +photographs on the walls and mantelpiece--portraits of girls, some +plain of face and form, others beautiful--no doubt they had all been +sent to the nuns as souvenirs of former pupils. Rising from my chair +I examined a few of them carelessly, and was about to inspect a fine +copy of Murillo's Virgin, when my attention was caught by an upright +velvet frame surmounted with my own crest and coronet. In it was the +portrait of my wife, taken in her bridal dress, as she looked when +she married me. I took it to the light and stared at the features +dubiously. This was she--this slim, fairy-like creature clad in +gossamer white, with the marriage veil thrown back from her +clustering hair and child-like face--this was the THING for which +two men's lives had been sacrificed! With a movement of disgust I +replaced the frame in its former position; I had scarcely done so +when the door opened quietly and a tall woman, clad in trailing +robes of pale blue with a nun's band and veil of fine white +cashmere, stood before me. I saluted her with a deep reverence; she +responded by the slightest possible bend of her head. Her outward +manner was so very still and composed that when she spoke her +colorless lips scarcely moved, her very breathing never stirred the +silver crucifix that lay like a glittering sign-manual on her quiet +breast. Her voice, though low, was singularly clear and penetrating. + +"I address the Count Oliva?" she inquired. + +I bowed in the affirmative. She looked at me keenly: she had dark, +brilliant eyes, in which the smoldering fires of many a conquered +passion still gleamed. + +"You would see the Countess Romani, who is in retreat here?" + +"If not inconvenient or out of rule--" I began. + +The shadow of a smile flitted across the nun's pale, intellectual +face; it was gone almost as soon as it appeared. + +"Not at all," she replied, in the same even monotone. "The Countess +Nina is, by her own desire, following a strict regime, but to-day +being a universal feast-day all rules are somewhat relaxed. The +reverend mother desires me to inform you that it is now the hour for +mass--she has herself already entered the chapel. If you will share +in our devotions, the countess shall afterward be informed of your +presence here." + +I could do no less than accede to this proposition, though in truth +it was unwelcome to me. I was in no humor for either prayers or +praise; I thought moodily how startled even this impassive nun might +have been, could she have known what manner of man it was that she +thus invited to kneel in the sanctuary. However, I said no word of +objection, and she bade me follow her. As we left the room I asked: + +"Is the countess well?" + +"She seems so," returned Mere Marguerite; "she follows her religious +duties with exactitude, and makes no complaint of fatigue." + +We were now crossing the hall. I ventured on another inquiry. + +"She was a favorite pupil of yours, I believe?" + +The nun turned her passionless face toward me with an air of mild +surprise and reproof. + +"I have no favorites," she answered, coldly. "All the children +educated here share my attention and regard equally." + +I murmured an apology, and added with a forced smile: + +"You must pardon my apparent inquisitiveness, but as the future +husband of the lady who was brought up under your care, I am +naturally interested in all that concerns her." + +Again the searching eyes of the religieuse surveyed me; she sighed +slightly. + +"I am aware of the connection between you," she said, in rather a +pained tone. "Nina Romani belongs to the world, and follows the ways +of the world. Of course, marriage is the natural fulfillment of most +young girls' destinies, there are comparatively few who are called +out of the ranks to serve Christ. Therefore, when Nina married the +estimable Count Romani, of whom report spoke ever favorably, we +rejoiced greatly, feeling that her future was safe in the hands of a +gentle and wise protector. May his soul rest in peace! But a second +marriage for her is what I did not expect, and what I cannot in my +conscience approve. You see I speak frankly." + +"I am honored that you do so, madame!" I said, earnestly, feeling a +certain respect for this sternly composed yet patient-featured +woman; "yet, though in general you may find many reasonable +objections to it, a second marriage is I think, in the Countess +Romani's case almost necessary. She is utterly without a protector-- +she is very young and how beautiful!" + +The nun's eyes grew solemn and almost mournful. + +"Such beauty is a curse," she answered, with emphasis; "a fatal--a +fearful curse! As a child it made her wayward. As a woman it keeps +her wayward still. Enough of this, signor!" and she bowed her head; +"excuse my plain speaking. Rest assured that I wish you both +happiness." + +We had by this time reached the door of the chapel, through which +the sound of the pealing organ poured forth in triumphal surges of +melody. Mere Marguerite dipped her fingers in the holy water, and +signing herself with the cross, pointed out a bench at the back of +the church as one that strangers were allowed to occupy. I seated +myself, and looked with a certain soothed admiration at the +picturesque scene before me. There was the sparkle of twinkling +lights--the bloom and fragrance of flowers. There were silent rows +of nuns blue-robed and white-veiled, kneeling and absorbed in +prayer. Behind these a little cluster of youthful figures in black, +whose drooped heads were entirely hidden in veils of flowing white +muslin. Behind these again, one woman's slight form arrayed in heavy +mourning garments; her veil was black, yet not so thick but that I +could perceive the sheeny glitter of golden hair--that was my wife, +I knew. Pious angel! how devout she looked! I smiled in dreary scorn +as I watched her; I cursed her afresh in the name of the man I had +killed. And above all, surrounded with the luster of golden rays and +incrusted jewels, the uncovered Host shone serenely like the gleam +of the morning star. The stately service went on--the organ music +swept through and through the church as though it were a strong wind +striving to set itself free--but amid it all I sat as one in a dark +dream, scarcely seeing, scarcely hearing--inflexible and cold as +marble. The rich plaintive voice of one of the nuns in the choir, +singing the Agnus Dei, moved me to a chill sort of wonder. "Qui +tollis peccata mundi--Who takest away the sin of the world." No, +no! there are some sins that cannot be taken away--the sins of +faithless women, the "LITTLE" sins as they are called nowadays--for +we have grown very lenient in some things, and very severe in +others. We will imprison the miserable wretch who steals five francs +from our pockets, but the cunning feminine thief who robs us of our +prestige, our name and honorable standing among our fellow-men, +escapes almost scot-free; she cannot be put in prison, or sentenced +to hard labor--not she! A pity it is that Christ did not leave us +some injunction as to what was to be done with such women--not the +penitent Magdalenes, but the creatures whose mouths are full of lies +even when they pretend to pray--they who would be capable of trying +to tempt the priest who comes to receive their last confessions-- +they who would even act out a sham repentance on their deathbeds in +order to look well. What can be done with devils such as these? Much +has been said latterly of the wrongs perpetrated on women by men; +will no one take up the other side of the question? We, the stronger +sex, are weak in this--we are too chivalrous. When a woman flings +herself on our mercy we spare her and are silent. Tortures will not +wring her secrets out of us; something holds us back from betraying +her. I know not what it can be--perhaps it is the memory of our +mothers. Whatever it is, it is certain that many a man allows +himself to be disgraced rather than he will disgrace a woman. But a +time is at hand when this foolish chivalry of ours will die out. On +changera tout cela! When once our heavy masculine brains shall have +grasped the novel idea that woman has by her own wish and choice +resigned all claim on our respect or forbearance, we shall have our +revenge. We are slow to change the traditions of our forefathers, +but no doubt we shall soon manage to quench the last spark of +knightly reverence left in us for the female sex, as this is +evidently the point the women desire to bring us to. We shall meet +them on that low platform of the "equality" they seek for, and we +shall treat them with the unhesitating and regardless familiarity +they so earnestly invite! + +Absorbed in thought, I knew not when the service ended. A hand +touched me, and looking up I saw Mere Marguerite, who whispered: + +"Follow me, if you please." + +I rose and obeyed her mechanically. Outside the chapel door she +said: + +"Pray excuse me for hurrying you, but strangers are not permitted to +see the nuns and boarders passing out." + +I bowed, and walked on beside her. Feeling forced to say something, +I asked: + +"Have you many boarders at this holiday season?" + +"Only fourteen," she replied, "and they are children whose parents +live far away. Poor little ones!" and the set lines of the nun's +stern face softened into tenderness as she spoke. "We do our best to +make them happy, but naturally they feel lonely. We have generally +fifty or sixty young girls here, besides the day scholars." + +"A great responsibility," I remarked. + +"Very great indeed!" and she sighed; "almost terrible. So much of a +woman's after life depends on the early training she receives. We do +all we can, and yet in some cases our utmost efforts are in vain; +evil creeps in, we know not how--some unsuspected fault spoils a +character that we judged to be admirable, and we are often +disappointed in our most promising pupils. Alas! there is nothing +entirely without blemish in this world." + +Thus talking, she showed me into a small, comfortable-looking room, +lined with books and softly carpeted. + +"This is one of our libraries," she explained. "The countess will +receive you here, as other visitors might disturb you in the +drawing-room. Pardon me," and her steady gaze had something of +compassion in it, "but you do not look well. Can I send you some +wine?" + +I declined this offer with many expressions of gratitude, and +assured her I was perfectly well. She hesitated, and at last said, +anxiously: + +"I trust you were not offended at my remark concerning Nina Romani's +marriage with you? I fear I was too hasty?" + +"Not so, madame," I answered, with all the earnestness I felt. +"Nothing is more pleasant to me than a frank opinion frankly spoken. +I have been so accustomed to deception--" Here I broke off and +added hastily, "Pray do not think me capable of judging you +wrongly." + +She seemed relieved, and smiling that shadowy, flitting smile of +hers, she said: + +"No doubt you are impatient, signor; Nina shall come to you +directly," and with a slight salutation she left me. + +Surely she was a good woman, I thought, and vaguely wondered about +her past history--that past which she had buried forever under a +mountain of prayers. What had she been like when young--before she +had shut herself within the convent walls--before she had set the +crucifix like a seal on her heart? Had she ever trapped a man's soul +and strangled it with lies? I fancied not--her look was too pure and +candid; yet who could tell? Were not Nina's eyes trained to appear +as though they held the very soul of truth? A few minutes passed. I +heard the fresh voices of children singing in the next room: + + "D'ou vient le petit Gesu? + Ce joli bouton de rose + Qui fleurit, enfant cheri + Sur le coeur de notre mere Marie." + +Then came a soft rustle of silken garments, the door opened, and my +wife entered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +She approached with her usual panther-like grace and supple +movement, her red lips parted in a charming smile. + +"So good of you to come!" she began, holding out her two hands as +though she invited an embrace; "and on Christmas morning too!" She +paused, and seeing that I did not move or speak, she regarded me +with some alarm. "What is the matter?" she asked, in fainter tones; +"has anything happened?" + +I looked at her. I saw that she was full of sudden fear, I made no +attempt to soothe her, I merely placed a chair. + +"Sit down," I said, gravely. "I am the bearer of bad news." + +She sunk into the chair as though unnerved, and gazed at me with +terrified eyes. She trembled. Watching her keenly, I observed all +these outward signs of trepidation with deep satisfaction. I saw +plainly what was passing in her mind. A great dread had seized her-- +the dread that I had found out her treachery. So indeed I had, but +the time had not yet come for her to know it. Meanwhile she +suffered--suffered acutely with that gnawing terror and suspense +eating into her soul. I said nothing, I waited for her to speak. +After a pause, during which her cheeks had lost their delicate +bloom, she said, forcing a smile as she spoke-- + +"Bad news? You surprise me! What can it be? Some unpleasantness with +Guido? Have you seen him?" + +"I have seen him," I answered in the same formal and serious tone; +"I have just left him. He sends you THIS," and I held out my diamond +ring that I had drawn off the dead man's finger. + +If she had been pale before, she grew paler now. All the brilliancy +of her complexion faded for the moment into an awful haggardness. +She took the ring with fingers that shook visibly and were icy cold. +There was no attempt at smiling now. She drew a sharp quick breath; +she thought I knew all. I was again silent. She looked at the +diamond signet with a bewildered air. + +"I do not understand," she murmured, petulantly. "I gave him this as +a remembrance of his friend, my husband, why does he return it?" + +Self-tortured criminal! I studied her with a dark amusement, but +answered nothing. Suddenly she looked up at me and her eyes filled +with tears. + +"Why are you so cold and strange, Cesare?" she pleaded, in a sort of +plaintive whimper. "Do not stand there like a gloomy sentinel; kiss +me and tell me at once what has happened." + +Kiss her! So soon after kissing the dead hand of her lover! No, I +could not and would not. I remained standing where I was, inflexibly +silent. She glanced at me again, very timidly, and whimpered afresh. + +"Ah, you do not love me!" she murmured. "You could not be so stern +and silent if you loved me! If there is indeed any bad news, you +ought to break it to me gently and kindly. I thought you would +always make everything easy for me--" + +"Such has been my endeavor, madame," I said interrupting her +complaint. "From your own statement, I judged that your adopted +brother Guido Ferrari had rendered himself obnoxious to you. I +promised that I would silence him--you remember! I have kept my +word. He IS silenced--forever!" + +She started. + +"Silenced? How? You mean--" + +I moved away from my place behind her chair, and stood so that I +faced her as I spoke. + +"I mean that he is dead." + +She uttered a slight cry, not of sorrow but of wonderment. + +"DEAD!" she exclaimed. "Not possible! Dead! You have killed him?" + +I bent my head gravely. "I killed him--yes! But in open combat, +openly witnessed. Last night he insulted me grossly; we fought this +morning. We forgave each other before he died." + +She listened attentively. A little color came back into her cheeks. + +"In what way did he insult you?" she asked, in a low voice. + +I told her all, briefly. She still looked anxious. + +"Did he mention my name?" she said. + +I glanced at her troubled features in profound contempt. She feared +the dying man might have made some confession to me! I answered: + +"No; not after our quarrel. But I hear he went to your house to kill +you! Not finding you there, he only cursed you." + +She heaved a sigh of relief. She was safe now, she thought! + +Her red lips widened into a cruel smile. + +"What bad taste!" she said, coldly. "Why he should curse me I cannot +imagine! I have always been kind to him--TOO kind." + +Too kind indeed! kind enough to be glad when the object of all her +kindness was dead! For she WAS glad! I could see that in the +murderous glitter of her eyes. + +"You are not sorry?" I inquired, with an air of pretended surprise. + +"Sorry? Not at all! Why should I be? He was a very agreeable friend +while my husband was alive to keep him in order, but after my poor +Fabio's death, his treatment of me was quite unbearable." + +Take care, beautiful hypocrite! take care! Take care lest your "poor +Fabio's" fingers should suddenly nip your slim throat with a +convulsive twitch that means death! Heaven only knows how I managed +to keep my hands off her at that moment! Why, any groveling beast of +the field had more feeling than this wretch whom I had made my wife! +Even for Guido's sake--such are the strange inconsistencies of the +human heart--I could have slain her then. But I restrained my fury; +I steadied my voice and said calmly: "Then I was mistaken? I thought +you would be deeply grieved, that my news would shock and annoy you +greatly, hence my gravity and apparent coldness. But it seems I have +done well?" + +She sprung up from her chair like a pleased child and flung her arms +round my neck. + +"You are brave, you are brave!" she exclaimed, in a sort of +exultation. "You could not have done otherwise! He insulted you and +you killed him. That was right! I love you all the more for being +such a man of honor!" + +I looked down upon her in loathing and disgust. Honor! Its very name +was libeled coming from HER lips. She did not notice the expression +of my face--she was absorbed, excellent actress as she was, in the +part she had chosen to play. + +"And so you were dull and sad because you feared to grieve me! Poor +Cesare!" she said, in child-like caressing accents, such as she +could assume when she chose. "But now that you see I am not unhappy, +you will be cheerful again? Yes? Think how much I love you, and how +happy we will be! And see, you have given me such lovely jewels, so +many of them too, that I scarcely dare offer you such a trifle as +this; but as it really belonged to Fabio, and to Fabio's father, +whom you knew, I think you ought to have it. Will you take it and +wear it to please me?" and she slipped on my finger the diamond +signet--my own ring! + +I could have laughed aloud! but I bent my head gravely as I accepted +it. + +"Only as a proof of your affection, cara mia," I said, "though it +has a terrible association for me. I took it from Ferrari's hand +when--" + +"Oh, yes, I know!" she interrupted me with a little shiver; "it must +have been trying for you to have seen him dead. I think dead people +look so horrid--the sight upsets the nerves! I remember when I was +at school here, they WOULD take me to see a nun who died; it +sickened me and made me ill for days. I can quite understand your +feelings. But you must try and forget the matter. Duels are very +common occurrences, after all!" + +"Very common," I answered, mechanically, still regarding the fair +upturned face, the lustrous eyes, the rippling hair; "but they do +not often end so fatally. The result of this one compels me to leave +Naples for some days. I go to Avellino to-night." + +"To Avellino?" she exclaimed, with interest. "Oh, I know it very +well. I went there once with Fabio when I was first married." + +"And were you happy there?" I inquired, coldly. + +I remembered the time she spoke of--a time of such unreasoning, +foolish joy! + +"Happy? Oh, yes; everything was so new to me then. It was delightful +to be my own mistress, and I was so glad to be out of the convent." + +"I thought you liked the nuns?" I said. + +"Some of them--yes. The reverend mother is a dear old thing. But +Mere Marguerite, the Vicaire as she is called--the one that received +you--oh, I do detest her!" + +"Indeed! and why?" + +The red lips curled mutinously. + +"Because she is so sly and silent. Some of the children here adore +her; but they MUST have something to love, you know," and she +laughed merrily. + +"Must they?" + +I asked the question automatically, merely for the sake of saying +something. + +"Of course they must," she answered, gayly. "You foolish Cesare! The +girls often play at being one another's lovers, only they are +careful not to let the nuns know their game. It is very amusing. +Since I have been here they have what is called a 'CRAZE' for me. +They give me flowers, run after me in the garden, and sometimes kiss +my dress, and call me by all manner of loving names. I let them do +it because it vexes Madame la Vicaire; but of course it is very +foolish." + +I was silent. I thought what a curse it was--this necessity of +loving. Even the poison of it must find its way into the hearts of +children--young things shut within the walls of a secluded convent, +and guarded by the conscientious care of holy women. + +"And the nuns?" I said, uttering half my thoughts aloud. "How do +they manage without love or romance?" + +A wicked little smile, brilliant and disdainful, glittered in her +eyes. + +"DO they always manage without love or romance?" she asked, half +indolently. "What of Abelard and Heloise, or Fra Lippi?" + +Roused by something in her tone, I caught her round the waist, and +held her firmly while I said, with some sternness: + +"And you--is it possible that YOU have sympathy with, or find +amusement in, the contemplation of illicit and dishonorable +passion--tell me?" + +She recollected herself in time; her white eyelids drooped demurely. + +"Not I!" she answered, with a grave and virtuous air; "how can you +think so? There is nothing to my mind so horrible as deceit; no good +ever comes of it." + +I loosened her from my embrace. + +"You are right," I said, calmly; "I am glad your instincts are so +correct! I have always hated lies." + +"So have I!" she declared, earnestly, with a frank and open look; "I +have often wondered why people tell them. They are so sure to be +found out!" + +I bit my lips hard to shut in the burning accusations that my tongue +longed to utter. Why should I damn the actress or the play before +the curtain was ready to fall on both? I changed the subject of +converse. + +"How long do you propose remaining here in retreat?" I asked. "There +is nothing now to prevent your returning to Naples." + +She pondered for some minutes before replying, then she said: + +"I told the superioress I came here for a week. I had better stay +till that time is expired. Not longer, because as Guido is really +dead, my presence is actually necessary in the city." + +"Indeed! May I ask why?" + +She laughed a little consciously. + +"Simply to prove his last will and testament," she replied. "Before +he left for Rome, he gave it into my keeping." + +A light flashed on my mind. + +"And its contents?" I inquired. + +"Its contents make ME the owner of everything he died possessed of!" +she said, with an air of quiet yet malicious triumph. + +Unhappy Guido! What trust he had reposed in this vile, self- +interested, heartless woman! He had loved her, even as I had loved +her--she who was unworthy of any love! I controlled my rising +emotion, and merely said with gravity: + +"I congratulate you! May I be permitted to see this document?" + +"Certainly; I can show it to you now. I have it here," and she drew +a Russia-leather letter-case from her pocket, and opening it, handed +me a sealed envelope. "Break the seal!" she added, with childish +eagerness. "He closed it up like that after I had read it." + +With reluctant hand, and a pained piteousness at my heart, I opened +the packet. It was as she had said, a will drawn up in perfectly +legal form, signed and witnessed, leaving everything UNCONDITIONALLY +to "Nina, Countess Romani, of the Villa Romani, Naples." I read it +through and returned it to her. + +"He must have loved you!" I said. + +She laughed. + +"Of course," she said, airily. "But many people love me--that is +nothing new; I am accustomed to be loved. But you see," she went on, +reverting to the will again, "it specifies, 'EVERYTHING HE DIES +POSSESSED OF;' that means all the money left to him by his uncle in +Rome, does it not?" + +I bowed. I could not trust myself to speak. + +"I thought so," she murmured, gleefully, more to herself than to me; +"and I have a right to all his papers and letters." There she paused +abruptly and checked herself. + +I understood her. She wanted to get back her own letters to the dead +man, lest her intimacy with him should leak out in some chance way +for which she was unprepared. Cunning devil! I was almost glad she +showed me to what a depth of vulgar vice she had fallen. There was +no question of pity or forbearance in HER case. If all the tortures +invented by savages or stern inquisitors could be heaped upon her at +once, such punishment would be light in comparison with her crimes-- +crimes for which, mark you, the law gives you no remedy but divorce. +Tired of the wretched comedy, I looked at my watch. + +"It is time for me to take my leave of you," I said, in the stiff, +courtly manner I affected. "Moments fly fast in your enchanting +company! But I have still to walk to Castellamare, there to rejoin +my carriage, and I have many things to attend to before my departure +this evening. On my return from Avellino shall I be welcome?" + +"You know it," she returned, nestling her head against my shoulder, +while for mere form's sake I was forced to hold her in a partial +embrace. "I only wish you were not going at all. Dearest, do not +stay long away--I shall be so unhappy till you come back!" + +"Absence strengthens love, they say," I observed, with a forced +smile. "May it do so in our case. Farewell, cara mia! Pray for me; I +suppose you DO pray a great deal here?" + +"Oh, yes," she replied, naively; "there is nothing else to do." + +I held her hands closely in my grasp. The engagement ring on her +finger, and the diamond signet on my own, flashed in the light like +the crossing of swords. + +"Pray then," I said, "storm the gates of heaven with sweet-voiced +pleadings for the repose of poor Ferrari's soul! Remember he loved +you, though YOU never loved him. For YOUR sake he quarreled with me, +his best friend--for YOUR sake he died! Pray for him--who knows," +and I spoke in thrilling tones of earnestness--"who knows but that +his too-hastily departed spirit may not be near us now--hearing our +voices, watching our looks?" + +She shivered slightly, and her hands in mine grew cold. + +"Yes, yes," I continued, more calmly; "you must not forget to pray +for him--he was young and not prepared to die." + +My words had some of the desired effect upon her--for once her ready +speech failed--she seemed as though she sought for some reply and +found none. I still held her hands. + +"Promise me!" I continued; "and at the same time pray for your dead +husband! He and poor Ferrari were close friends, you know; it will +be pious and kind of you to join their names in one petition +addressed to Him 'from whom no secrets are hid,' and who reads with +unerring eyes the purity of your intentions. Will you do it?" + +She smiled, a forced, faint smile. + +"I certainly will," she replied, in a low voice; "I promise you." + +I released her hands--I was satisfied. If she dared to pray thus I +felt--I KNEW that she would draw down upon her soul the redoubled +wrath of Heaven; for I looked beyond the grave! The mere death of +her body would be but a slight satisfaction to me; it was the utter +destruction of her wicked soul that I sought. She should never +repent, I swore; she should never have the chance of casting off her +vileness as a serpent casts its skin, and, reclothing herself in +innocence, presume to ask admittance into that Eternal Gloryland +whither my little child had gone--never, never! No church should +save her, no priest should absolve her--not while _I_ lived! + +She watched me as I fastened my coat and began to draw on my gloves. + +"Are you going now?" she asked, somewhat timidly. + +"Yes, I am going now, cara mia," I said. "Why! what makes you look +so pale?" + +For she had suddenly turned very white. + +"Let me see your hand again," she demanded, with feverish eagerness, +"the hand on which I placed the ring!" + +Smilingly and with readiness I took off the glove I had just put on. + +"What odd fancy possesses you now, little one?" I asked, with an air +of playfulness. + +She made no answer, but took my hand and examined it closely and +curiously. Then she looked up, her lips twitched nervously, and she +laughed a little hard mirthless laugh. + +"Your hand," she murmured, incoherently, "with--that--signet--on +it--is exactly like--like Fabio's!" + +And before I had time to say a word she went off into a violent fit +of hysterics--sobs, little cries, and laughter all intermingled in +that wild and reasonless distraction that generally unnerves the +strongest man who is not accustomed to it. I rang the bell to summon +assistance; a lay-sister answered it, and seeing Nina's condition, +rushed for a glass of water and summoned Madame la Vicaire. This +latter, entering with her quiet step and inflexible demeanor, took +in the situation at a glance, dismissed the lay-sister, and +possessing herself of the tumbler of water, sprinkled the forehead +of the interesting patient, and forced some drops between her +clinched teeth. Then turning to me she inquired, with some +stateliness of manner, what had caused the attack? + +"I really cannot tell you, madame," I said, with an air of affected +concern and vexation. "I certainly told the countess of the +unexpected death of a friend, but she bore the news with exemplary +resignation. The circumstance that appears to have so greatly +distressed her is that she finds, or says she finds, a resemblance +between my hand and the hand of her deceased husband. This seems to +me absurd, but there is no accounting for ladies' caprices." + +And I shrugged my shoulders as though I were annoyed and impatient. + +Over the pale, serious face of the nun there flitted a smile in +which there was certainly the ghost of sarcasm. + +"All sensitiveness and tenderness of heart, you see!" she said, in +her chill, passionless tones, which, icy as they were, somehow +conveyed to my ear another meaning than that implied by the words +she uttered. "We cannot perhaps understand the extreme delicacy of +her feelings, and we fail to do justice to them." + +Here Nina opened her eyes, and looked at us with piteous +plaintiveness, while her bosom heaved with those long, deep sighs +which are the finishing chords of the Sonata Hysteria. + +"You are better, I trust?" continued the nun, without any sympathy +in her monotonous accents, and addressing her with some reserve. +"You have greatly alarmed the Count Oliva." + +"I am sorry--" began Nina, feebly. + +I hastened to her side. + +"Pray do not speak of it!" I urged, forcing something like a lover's +ardor into my voice. "I regret beyond measure that it is my +misfortune to have hands like those of your late husband! I assure +you I am quite miserable about it. Can you forgive me?" + +She was recovering quickly, and she was evidently conscious that she +had behaved somewhat foolishly. She smiled a weak pale smile; but +she looked very scared, worn and ill. She rose from her chair slowly +and languidly. + +"I think I will go to my room," she said, not regarding Mere +Marguerite, who had withdrawn to a little distance, and who stood +rigidly erect, immovably featured, with her silver crucifix +glittering coldly on her still breast. + +"Good-bye, Cesare! Please forget my stupidity, and write to me from +Avellino." + +I took her outstretched hand, and bowing over it, touched it gently +with my lips. She turned toward the door, when suddenly a +mischievous idea seemed to enter her mind. She looked at Madame la +Vicaire and then came back to me. + +"Addio, amor mio!" she said, with a sort of rapturous emphasis, and +throwing her arms round my neck she kissed me almost passionately. + +Then she glanced maliciously at the nun, who had lowered her eyes +till they appeared fast shut, and breaking into a low peal of +indolently amused laughter, waved her hand to me, and left the room. + +I was somewhat confused. The suddenness and warmth of her caress had +been, I knew, a mere monkeyish trick, designed to vex the religious +scruples of Mere Marguerite. I knew not what to say to the stately +woman who remained confronting me with downcast eyes and lips that +moved dumbly as though in prayer. As the door closed after my wife's +retreating figure, the nun looked up; there was a slight flush on +her pallid cheeks, and to my astonishment, tears glittered on her +dark lashes. + +"Madame," I began, earnestly, "I assure you--" + +"Say nothing, signor," she interrupted me with a slight deprecatory +gesture; "it is quite unnecessary. To mock a religieuse is a common +amusement with young girls and women of the world. I am accustomed +to it, though I feel its cruelty more than I ought to do. Ladies +like the Countess Romani think that we--we, the sepulchers of +womanhood--sepulchers that we have emptied and cleansed to the best +of our ability, so that they may more fittingly hold the body of the +crucified Christ; these grandes dames, I say, fancy that WE are +ignorant of all they know--that we cannot understand love, +tenderness or passion. They never reflect--how should they?--that we +also have had our histories--histories, perhaps, that would make +angels weep for pity! I, even I--" and she struck her breast +fiercely, then suddenly recollecting herself, she continued coldly: +"The rule of our convent, signer, permits no visitor to remain +longer than one hour--that hour has expired. I will summon a sister +to show you the way out." + +"Wait one instant, madame," I said, feeling that to enact my part +thoroughly I ought to attempt to make some defense of Nina's +conduct; "permit me to say a word! My fiancee is very young and +thoughtless. I really cannot think that her very innocent parting +caress to me had anything in it that was meant to purposely annoy +you." + +The nun glanced at me--her eyes flashed disdainfully. + +"You think it was all affection for you, no doubt, signor? very +natural supposition, and--I should be sorry to undeceive you." + +She paused a moment and then resumed: + +"You seem an earnest man--may be you are destined to be the means of +saving Nina; I could say much--yet it is wise to be silent. If you +love her do not flatter her; her overweening vanity is her ruin. A +firm, wise, ruling master-hand may perhaps--who knows?" She +hesitated and sighed, then added, gently, "Farewell, signor! +Benedicite!" and making the sign of the cross as I respectfully bent +my head to receive her blessing, she passed noiselessly from the +room. + +One moment later, and a lame and aged lay-sister came to escort me +to the gate. As I passed down the stone corridor a side door opened +a very little way, and two fair young faces peeped out at me. For an +instant I saw four laughing bright eyes; I heard a smothered voice +say, "Oh! c'est un vieux papa!" and then my guide, who though lame +was not blind, perceived the opened door and shut it with an angry +bang, which, however, did not drown the ringing merriment that +echoed from within. On reaching the outer gates I turned to my +venerable companion, and laying four twenty-franc pieces in her +shriveled palm, I said: + +"Take these to the reverend mother for me, and ask that mass may be +said in the chapel to-morrow for the repose of the soul of him whose +name is written here." + +And I gave her Guido Ferrari's visiting-card, adding in lower and +more solemn tones: + +"He met with a sudden and unprepared death. Of your charity, pray +also for the man who killed him!" + +The old woman looked startled, and crossed herself devoutly; but she +promised that my wishes should be fulfilled, and I bade her farewell +and passed out, the convent gates closing with a dull clang behind +me. I walked on a few yards, and then paused, looking back. What a +peaceful home it seemed; how calm and sure a retreat, with the white +Noisette roses crowning its ancient gray walls! Yet what embodied +curses were pent up in there in the shape of girls growing to be +women; women for whom all the care, stern training and anxious +solicitude of the nuns would be unavailing; women who would come +forth from even that abode of sanctity with vile natures and animal +impulses, and who would hereafter, while leading a life of vice and +hypocrisy, hold up this very strictness of their early education as +proof of their unimpeachable innocence and virtue! To such, what +lesson is learned by the daily example of the nuns who mortify their +flesh, fast, pray and weep? No lesson at all--nothing save mockery +and contempt. To a girl in the heyday of youth and beauty the life +of a religieuse seems ridiculous. "The poor nuns!" she says, with a +laugh; "they are so ignorant. Their time is over--mine has not yet +begun." Few, very few, among the thousands of young women who leave +the scene of their quiet schooldays for the social whirligig of the +world, ever learn to take life in earnest, love in earnest, sorrow +in earnest. To most of them life is a large dressmaking and +millinery establishment; love a question of money and diamonds; +sorrow a solemn calculacalculation as to how much or how little +mourning is considered becoming or fashionable. And for creatures +such as these we men work--work till our hairs are gray and our +backs bent with toil--work till all the joy and zest of living has +gone from us, and our reward is--what? Happiness?--seldom. +Infidelity?--often. Ridicule? Truly we ought to be glad if we are +only ridiculed and thrust back to occupy the second place in our own +houses; our lady-wives call that "kind treatment." Is there a +married woman living who does not now and then throw a small stone +of insolent satire at her husband when his back is turned? What, +madame? You, who read these words--you say with indignation: +"Certainly there is, and _I_ am that woman!" Ah, truly? I salute you +profoundly!--you are, no doubt, the one exception! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +Avellino is one of those dreamy, quiet and picturesque towns which +have not as yet been desecrated by the Vandal tourist. Persons +holding "through tickets" from Messrs. Cook or Gaze do not stop +there--there are no "sights" save the old sanctuary called Monte +Virgine standing aloft on its rugged hill, with all the memories of +its ancient days clinging to it like a wizard's cloak, and wrapping +it in a sort of mysterious meditative silence. It can look back +through a vista of eventful years to the eleventh century, when it +was erected, so the people say, on the ruins of a temple of Cybele. +But what do the sheep and geese that are whipped abroad in herds by +the drovers Cook and Gaze know of Monte Virgine or Cybele? Nothing-- +and they care less; and quiet Avellino escapes from their +depredations, thankful that it is not marked on the business map of +the drovers' "RUNS." Shut in by the lofty Apennines, built on the +slope of the hill that winds gently down into a green and fruitful +valley through which the river Sabato rushes and gleams white +against cleft rocks that look like war-worn and deserted castles, a +drowsy peace encircles it, and a sort of stateliness, which, +compared with the riotous fun and folly of Naples only thirty miles +away, is as though the statue of a nude Egeria were placed in +rivalry with the painted waxen image of a half-dressed ballet- +dancer. Few lovelier sights are to be seen in nature than a sunset +from one of the smaller hills round Avellino--when the peaks of the +Apennines seem to catch fire from the flaming clouds, and below +them, the valleys are full of those tender purple and gray shadows +that one sees on the canvases of Salvator Rosa, while the town +itself looks like a bronzed carving on an old shield, outlined +clearly against the dazzling luster of the sky. To this retired spot +I came--glad to rest for a time from my work of vengeance--glad to +lay down my burden of bitterness for a brief space, and become, as +it were, human again, in the sight of the near mountains. For within +their close proximity, things common, things mean seem to slip from +the soul--a sort of largeness pervades the thoughts, the cramping +prosiness of daily life has no room to assert its sway--a grand hush +falls on the stormy waters of passion, and like a chidden babe the +strong man stands, dwarfed to an infinite littleness in his own +sight, before those majestic monarchs of the landscape whose large +brows are crowned with the blue circlet of heaven. + +I took up my abode in a quiet, almost humble lodging, living simply, +and attended only by Vincenzo. I was tired of the ostentation I had +been forced to practice in Naples in order to attain my ends--and it +was a relief to me to be for a time as though I were a poor man. The +house in which I found rooms that suited me was a ramblingly built, +picturesque little place, situated on the outskirts of the town, and +the woman who owned it, was, in her way, a character. She was a +Roman, she told me, with pride flashing in her black eyes--I could +guess that at once by her strongly marked features, her +magnificently molded figure, and her free, firm tread--that step +which is swift without being hasty, which is the manner born of +Rome. She told me her history in a few words, with such eloquent +gestures that she seemed to live through it again as she spoke: her +husband had been a worker in a marble quarry--one of his fellows had +let a huge piece of the rock fall on him, and he was crushed to +death. + +"And well do I know," she said, "that he killed my Toni purposely, +for he would have loved me had he dared. But I am a common woman, +see you--and it seems to me one cannot lie. And when my love's poor +body was scarce covered in the earth, that miserable one--the +murderer--came to me--he offered marriage. I accused him of his +crime--he denied it--he said the rock slipped from his hands, he +knew not how. I struck him on the mouth, and bade him leave my sight +and take my curse with him! He is dead now--and surely if the saints +have heard me, his soul is not in heaven!" + +Thus she spoke with flashing eyes and purposeful energy, while with +her strong brown arms she threw open the wide casement of the +sitting-room I had taken, and bade me view her orchard. It was a +fresh green strip of verdure and foliage--about eight acres of good +land, planted entirely with apple-trees. + +"Yes, truly!" she said, showing her white teeth in a pleased smile +as I made the admiring remark she expected. "Avellino has long had a +name for its apples--but, thanks to the Holy Mother, I think in the +season there is no fruit in all the neighborhood finer than mine. +The produce of it brings me almost enough to live upon--that and the +house, when I can find signori willing to dwell with me. But few +strangers come hither; sometimes an artist, sometimes a poet--such +as these are soon tired of gayety, and are glad to rest. To common +persons I would not open my door--not for pride, ah, no! but when +one has a girl, one cannot be too careful." + +"You have a daughter, then?" + +Her fierce eyes softened. + +"One--my Lilla. I call her my blessing, and too good for me. Often I +fancy that it is because she tends them that the trees bear so well, +and the apples are so sound and sweet! And when she drives the load +of fruit to market, and sits so smilingly behind the team, it seems +to me that her very face brings luck to the sale." + +I smiled at the mother's enthusiasm, and sighed. I had no fair +faiths left--I could not even believe in Lilla. My landlady, Signora +Monti as she was called, saw that I looked fatigued, and left me to +myself--and during my stay I saw very little of her, Vincenzo +constituting himself my majordomo, or rather becoming for my sake a +sort of amiable slave, always looking to the smallest details of my +comfort, and studying my wishes with an anxious solicitude that +touched while it gratified me. I had been fully three days in my +retreat before he ventured to enter upon any conversation with me, +for he had observed that I always sought to be alone, that I took +long, solitary rambles through the woods and, across the hills--and, +not daring to break through my taciturnity, he had contented himself +by merely attending to my material comforts in silence. One +afternoon, however, after clearing away the remains of my light +luncheon, he lingered in the room. + +"The eccellenza has not yet seen Lilla Monti?" he asked, +hesitatingly. + +I looked at him in some surprise. There was a blush on his olive- +tinted cheeks and an unusual sparkle in his eyes. For the first time +I realized that this valet of mine was a handsome young fellow. + +"Seen Lilla Monti!" I repeated, half absently; "oh, you mean the +child of the landlady? No, I have not seen her. Why do you ask?" + +Vincenzo smiled. "Pardon, eccellenza! but she is beautiful, and +there is a saying in my province: Be the heart heavy as stone, the +sight of a fair face will lighten it!" + +I gave an impatient gesture. "All folly, Vincenzo! Beauty is the +curse of the world. Read history, and you shall find the greatest +conquerors and sages ruined and disgraced by its snares." + +He nodded gravely. He probably thought of the announcement I had +made at the banquet of my own approaching marriage, and strove to +reconcile it with the apparent inconsistency of my present +observation. But he was too discreet to utter his mind aloud--he +merely said: + +"No doubt you are right, eccellenza. Still one is glad to see the +roses bloom, and the stars shine, and the foam-bells sparkle on the +waves--so one is glad to see Lilla Monti." + +I turned round in my chair to observe him more closely--the flush +deepened on his cheek as I regarded him. I laughed with a bitter +sadness. + +"In love, amico, art thou? So soon!--three days--and thou hast +fallen a prey to the smile of Lilla! I am sorry for thee!" + +He interrupted me eagerly. + +"The eccellenza is in error! I would not dare--she is too innocent-- +she knows nothing! She is like a little bird in the nest, so soft +and tender--a word of love would frighten her; I should be a coward +to utter it." + +Well, well! I thought, what was the use of sneering at the poor +fellow! Why, because my own love had turned to ashes in my grasp, +should I mock at those who fancied they had found the golden fruit +of the Hesperides? Vincenzo, once a soldier, now half courier, half +valet, was something of a poet at heart; he had the grave meditative +turn of mind common to Tuscans, together with that amorous fire that +ever burns under their lightly worn mask of seeming reserve. + +I roused myself to appear interested. + +"I see, Vincenzo," I said, with a kindly air of banter, "that the +sight of Lilla Monti more than compensates you for that portion of +the Neapolitan carnival which you lose by being here. But why you +should wish me to behold this paragon of maidens I know not, unless +you would have me regret my own lost youth." + +A curious and perplexed expression flitted over his face, At last he +said firmly, as though his mind were made up: + +"The eccellenza must pardon me for seeing what perhaps I ought not +to have seen, but--" + +"But what?" I asked. + +"Eccellenza, you have not lost your youth." + +I turned my head toward him again--he was looking at me in some +alarm--he feared some outburst of anger. + +"Well!" I said, calmly. "That is your idea, is it? and why?" + +"Eccellenza, I saw you without your spectacles that day when you +fought with the unfortunate Signor Ferrari. I watched you when you +fired. Your eyes are beautiful and terrible--the eyes of a young +man, though your hair is white." + +Quietly I took off my glasses and laid them on the table beside me. + +"As you have seen me once without them, you can see me again," I +observed, gently. "I wear them for a special purpose. Here in +Avellino the purpose does not hold. Thus far I confide in you. But +beware how you betray my confidence." + +"Eccellenza!" cried Vincenzo, in truly pained accents, and with a +grieved look. + +I rose and laid my hand on his arm. + +"There! I was wrong--forgive me. You are honest; you have served +your country well enough to know the value of fidelity and duty. But +when you say I have not lost my youth, you are wrong, Vincenzo! I +HAVE lost it--it has been killed within me by a great sorrow. The +strength, the suppleness of limb, the brightness of eye these are +mere outward things: but in the heart and soul are the chill and +drear bitterness of deserted age. Nay, do not smile; I am in truth +very old--so old that I tire of my length of days; yet again, not +too old to appreciate your affection, amico, and"--here I forced a +faint smile--"when I see the maiden Lilla, I will tell you frankly +what I think of her." + +Vincenzo stooped his head, caught my hand within his own, and kissed +it, then left the room abruptly, to hide the tears that my words had +brought to his eyes. He was sorry for me, I could see, and I judged +him rightly when I thought that the very mystery surrounding me +increased his attachment. On the whole, I was glad he had seen me +undisguised, as it was a relief to me to be without my smoked +glasses for a time, and during all the rest of my stay at Avellino I +never wore them once. + +One day I saw Lilla. I had strolled up to a quaint church situated +on a rugged hill and surrounded by fine old chestnut-trees, where +there was a picture of the Scourging of Christ, said to have been +the work of Fra Angelico. The little sanctuary was quite deserted +when I entered it, and I paused on the threshold, touched by the +simplicity of the place and soothed by the intense silence. I walked +on my tiptoe up to the corner where hung the picture I had come to +see, and as I did so a girl passed me with a light step, carrying a +basket of fragrant winter narcissi and maiden-hair fern. Something +in her graceful, noiseless movements caused me to look after her; +but she had turned her back to me and was kneeling at the shrine +consecrated to the Virgin, having placed her flowers on the lowest +step of the altar. She was dressed in peasant costume--a simple, +short blue skirt and scarlet bodice, relieved by the white kerchief +that was knotted about her shoulders; and round her small well- +shaped head the rich chestnut hair was coiled in thick shining +braids. + +I felt that I must see her face, and for that reason went back to +the church door and waited till she should pass out. Very soon she +came toward me, with the same light timid step that I had often +before noticed, and her fair young features were turned fully upon +me. What was there in those clear candid eyes that made me +involuntarily bow my head in a reverential salutation as she passed? +I know not. It was not beauty--for though the child was lovely I had +seen lovelier; it was something inexplicable and rare--something of +a maidenly composure and sweet dignity that I had never beheld on +any woman's face before. Her cheeks flushed softly as she modestly +returned my salute, and when she was once outside the church door +she paused, her small white fingers still clasping the carven brown +beads of her rosary. She hesitated a moment, and then spoke shyly +yet brightly: + +"If the eccellenza will walk yet a little further up the hill he +will see a finer view of the mountains." + +Something familiar in her look--a sort of reflection of her mother's +likeness--made me sure of her identity. I smiled. + +"Ah! you are Lilla Monti?" + +She blushed again. + +"Si, signor. I am Lilla." + +I let my eyes dwell on her searchingly and almost sadly. Vincenzo +was right: the girl was beautiful, not with the forced hot-house +beauty of the social world and its artificial constraint, but with +the loveliness and fresh radiance which nature gives to those of her +cherished ones who dwell with her in peace. I had seen many +exquisite women--women of Juno-like form and face--women whose eyes +were basilisks to draw and compel the souls of men--but I had never +seen any so spiritually fair as this little peasant maiden, who +stood fearlessly yet modestly regarding me with the innocent inquiry +of a child who suddenly sees something new, to which it is +unaccustomed. She was a little fluttered by my earnest gaze, and +with a pretty courtesy turned to descend the hill. I said gently: + +"You are going home, fauciulla mia?" + +The kind protecting tone in which I spoke reassured her. She +answered readily: + +"Si signor. My mother waits for me to help her with the eccellenza's +dinner." + +I advanced and took the little hand that held the rosary. + +"What!" I exclaimed, playfully, "do you still work hard, little +Lilla, even when the apple season is over?" + +She laughed musically. + +"Oh! I love work. It is good for the temper. People are so cross +when their hands are idle. And many are ill for the same reason. +Yes, truly!" and she nodded her head with grave importance, "it is +often so. Old Pietro, the cobbler, took to his bed when he had no +shoes to mend--yes; he sent for the priest and said he would die, +not for want of money--oh no! he has plenty, he is quite rich--but +because he had nothing to do. So my mother and I found some shoes +with holes, and took them to him; he sat up in bed to mend them, and +now he is as well as ever! And we are careful to give him something +always." + +She laughed again, and again looked grave. + +"Yes, yes!" she said, with a wise shake of her little glossy head, +"one cannot live without work. My mother says that good women are +never tired, it is only wicked persons who are lazy. And that +reminds me I must make haste to return and prepare the eccellenza's +coffee." + +"Do you make my coffee, little one?" I asked, "and does not Vincenzo +help you?" + +The faintest suspicion of a blush tinged her pretty cheeks. + +"Oh, he is very good, Vincenzo," she said, demurely, with downcast +eyes; "he is what we call buon' amico, yes, indeed! But he is often +glad when I make coffee for him also; he likes it so much! He says I +do it so well! But perhaps the eccellenza will prefer Vincenzo?" + +I laughed. She was so naive, so absorbed in her little duties--such +a child altogether. + +"Nay, Lilla, I am proud to think you make anything for me. I shall +enjoy it more now that I know what kind hands have been at work. But +you must not spoil Vincenzo--you will turn his head if you make his +coffee too often." + +She looked surprised. She did not understand. Evidently to her mind +Vincenzo was nothing but a good-natured young fellow, whose palate +could be pleased by her culinary skill; she treated him, I dare say, +exactly as she would have treated one of her own sex. She seemed to +think over my words, as one who considers a conundrum, then she +apparently gave it up as hopeless, and shook her head lightly as +though dismissing the subject. + +"Will the eccellenza visit the Punto d'Angelo?" she said brightly, +as she turned to go. + +I had never heard of this place, and asked her to what she alluded. + +"It is not far from here," she explained, "it is the view I spoke of +before. Just a little further up the hill you will see a flat gray +rock, covered with blue gentians. No one knows how they grow--they +are always there, blooming in summer and winter. But it said that +one of God's own great angels comes once in every month at midnight +to bless the Monte Vergine, and that he stands on that rock. And of +course wherever the angels tread there are flowers, and no storm can +destroy them--not even an avalanche. That is why the people call it +the Punto d'Angelo. It will please you to see it, eccellenza--it is +but a walk of a little ten minutes." + +And with a smile, and a courtesy as pretty and as light as a flower +might make to the wind, she left me, half running, half dancing down +the hill, and singing aloud for sheer happiness and innocence of +heart. Her pure lark-like notes floated upward toward me where I +stood, wistfully watching her as she disappeared. The warm afternoon +sunshine caught lovingly at her chestnut hair, turning it to a +golden bronze, and touched up the whiteness of her throat and arms, +and brightened the scarlet of her bodice, as she descended the +grassy slope, and was at last lost to my view amid the foliage of +the surrounding trees. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +I sighed heavily as I resumed my walk. I realized all that I had +lost. This lovely child with her simple fresh nature, why had I not +met such a one and wedded HER instead of the vile creature who had +been my soul's undoing? The answer came swiftly. Even if I HAD seen +her when I was free, I doubt if I should have known her value. We +men of the world who have social positions to support, we see little +or nothing in the peasant type of womanhood; we must marry "ladies," +so-called--educated girls who are as well versed in the world's ways +as ourselves, if not more so. And so we get the Cleopatras, the Du +Barrys, the Pompadours, while unspoiled maidens such as Lilla too +often become the household drudges of common mechanics or day- +laborers, living and dying in the one routine of hard work, and +often knowing and caring for nothing better than the mountain-hut, +the farm-kitchen, or the covered stall in the market-place. Surely +it is an ill-balanced world--so many mistakes are made; Fate plays +us so many apparently unnecessary tricks, and we are all of us such +blind madmen, knowing not whither we are going from one day to +another! I am told that it is no longer fashionable to believe in a +devil--but I care nothing for fashion! A devil there is I am sure, +who for some inscrutable reason has a share in the ruling of this +planet--a devil who delights in mocking us from the cradle to the +grave. And perhaps we are never so hopelessly, utterly fooled as in +our marriages! + +Occupied in various thoughts, I scarcely saw where I wandered, till +a flashing glimmer of blue blossoms recalled me to the object of my +walk. I had reached the Punto d'Angelo. It was, as Lilla had said, a +flat rock bare in every place save at the summit, where it was +thickly covered with the lovely gentians, flowers that are rare in +this part of Italy. Here then the fabled angel paused in his flight +to bless the venerable sanctuary of Monte Vergine. I stopped and +looked around me. The view was indeed superb--from the leafy bosom +of the valley, the green hills like smooth, undulating billows +rolled upward, till their emerald verdure was lost in the dense +purple shadows and tall peaks of the Apennines; the town of Avellino +lay at my feet, small yet clearly defined as a miniature painting on +porcelain; and a little further beyond and above me rose the gray +tower of the Monte Vergine itself, the one sad and solitary-looking +object in all the luxuriant riante landscape. + +I sat down to rest, not as an intruder on the angel's flower- +embroidered throne, but on a grassy knoll close by. And then I +bethought me of a packet I had received from Naples that morning--a +packet that I desired yet hesitated to open. It had been sent by the +Marquis D'Avencourt, accompanied by a courteous letter, which +informed me that Ferrari's body had been privately buried with all +the last religious rites in the cemetery, "close to the funeral +vault of the Romani family," wrote D'Avencourt, "as, from all we can +hear or discover, such seems to have been his own desire. He was, it +appears, a sort of adopted brother of the lately deceased count, and +on being informed of this circumstance, we buried him in accordance +with the sentiments he would no doubt have expressed had he +considered the possible nearness of his own end at the time of the +combat." + +With regard to the packet inclosed, D'Avencourt continued--"The +accompanying letters were found in Ferrari's breast-pocket, and on +opening the first one, in the expectation of finding some clew as to +his last wishes, we came to the conclusion that you, as the future +husband of the lady whose signature and handwriting you will here +recognize, should be made aware of the contents, not only for your +own sake, but in justice to the deceased. If all the letters are of +the same tone as the one I unknowingly opened, I have no doubt +Ferrari considered himself a sufficiently injured man. But of that +you will judge for yourself, though, if I might venture so far in +the way of friendship, I should recommend you to give careful +consideration to the inclosed correspondence before tying the +matrimonial knot to which you alluded the other evening. It is not +wise to walk on the edge of a precipice with one's eyes shut! +Captain Ciabatti was the first to inform me of what I now know for a +fact--namely, that Ferrari left a will in which everything he +possessed is made over unconditionally to the Countess Romani. You +will of course draw your own conclusions, and pardon me if I am +guilty of trop de zele in your service. I have now only to tell you +that all the unpleasantness of this affair is passing over very +smoothly and without scandal--I have taken care of that. You need +not prolong your absence further than you feel inclined, and I, for +one, shall be charmed to welcome you back to Naples. With every +sentiment of the highest consideration and regard, I am, my dear +conte, + + "Your very true friend and servitor, + "PHILIPPE D'AVENCOURT." + +I folded this letter carefully and put it aside. The little package +he had sent me lay in my hand--a bundle of neatly folded letters +tied together with a narrow ribbon, and strongly perfumed with the +faint sickly perfume I knew and abhorred. I turned them over and +over; the edges of the note-paper were stained with blood--Guido's +blood--as though in its last sluggish flowing it had endeavored to +obliterate all traces of the daintily penned lines that now awaited +my perusal. Slowly I untied the ribbon. With methodical deliberation +I read one letter after the other. They were all from Nina--all +written to Guido while he was in Rome, some of them bearing the +dates of the very days when she had feigned to love ME--me, her +newly accepted husband. One very amorous epistle had been written on +the self-same evening she had plighted her troth to me! Letters +burning and tender, full of the most passionate protestations of +fidelity, overflowing with the sweetest terms of endearment; with +such a ring of truth and love throughout them that surely it was no +wonder that Guido's suspicions were all unawakened, and that he had +reason to believe himself safe in his fool's paradise. One passage +in this poetical and romantic correspondence fixed my attention: it +ran thus: + +"Why do you write so much of marriage to me, Guido mio? it seems to +my mind that all the joy of loving will be taken from us when once +the hard world knows of our passion. If you become my husband you +will assuredly cease to be my lover, and that would break my heart. +Ah, my best beloved! I desire you to be my lover always, as you were +when Fabio lived--why bring commonplace matrimony into the heaven of +such a passion as ours?" + +I studied these words attentively. Of course I understood their +drift. She had tried to feel her way with the dead man. She had +wanted to marry me, and yet retain Guido for her lonely hours, as +"her lover always!" Such a pretty, ingenious plan it was! No thief, +no murderer ever laid more cunning schemes than she, but the law +looks after thieves and murderers. For such a woman as this, law +says, "Divorce her--that is your best remedy." Divorce her! Let the +criminal go scot-free! Others may do it that choose--I have +different ideas of justice! + +Tying up the packet of letters again, with their sickening perfume +and their blood-stained edges, I drew out the last graciously worded +missive I had received from Nina. Of course I heard from her every +day--she was a most faithful correspondent! The same affectionate +expressions characterized her letters to me as those that had +deluded her dead lover--with this difference, that whereas she +inveighed much against the prosiness of marriage to Guido, to me she +drew the much touching pictures of her desolate condition: how +lonely she had felt since her "dear husband's" death, how rejoiced +she was to think that she was soon again to be a happy wife--the +wife of one so noble, so true, so devoted as I was! She had left the +convent and was now at home--when should she have the happiness of +welcoming me, her best beloved Cesare, back to Naples? She certainly +deserved some credit for artistic lying; I could not understand how +she managed it so well. Almost I admired her skill, as one sometimes +admires a cool-headed burglar, who has more skill, cunning, and +pluck than his comrades. I thought with triumph that though the +wording of Ferrari's will enabled her to secure all other letters +she might have written to him, this one little packet of documentary +evidence was more than sufficient for MY purposes. And I resolved to +retain it in my own keeping till the time came for me to use it +against her. + +And how about D'Avencourt's friendly advice concerning the +matrimonial knot? "A man should not walk on the edge of a precipice +with his eyes shut." Very true. But if his eyes are open, and he has +his enemy by the throat, the edge of a precipice is a convenient +position for hurling that enemy down to death in a quiet way, that +the world need know nothing of! So for the present I preferred the +precipice to walking on level ground. + +I rose from my seat near the Punto d'Angelo. It was growing late in +the afternoon. From the little church below me soft bells rang out +the Angelus, and with them chimed in a solemn and harsher sound from +the turret of the Monte Vergine. I lifted my hat with the customary +reverence, and stood listening, with my feet deep in the grass and +scented thyme, and more than once glanced up at the height whereon +the venerable sanctuary held its post, like some lonely old god of +memory brooding over vanished years. There, according to tradition, +was once celebrated the worship of the many-breasted Cybele; down +that very slope of grass dotted with violets had rushed the howling, +naked priests beating their discordant drums and shrinking their +laments for the loss of Atys, the beautiful youth, their goddess's +paramour. Infidelity again!--even in this ancient legend, what did +Cybele care for old Saturn, whose wife she was? Nothing, less than +nothing!--and her adorers worshiped not her chastity, but her +faithlessness; it is the way of the world to this day! + +The bells ceased ringing; I descended the hill and returned homeward +through a shady valley, full of the odor of pines and bog-myrtle. On +reaching the gate of the Signora Monti's humble yet picturesque +dwelling, I heard the sound of laughter and clapping of hands, and +looking in the direction of the orchard, I saw Vincenzo hard at +work, his shirt-sleeves rolled up to the shoulder, splitting some +goodly logs of wood, while Lilla stood beside him, merrily +applauding and encouraging his efforts. He seemed quite in his +element, and wielded his ax with a regularity and vigor I should +scarcely have expected from a man whom I was accustomed to see +performing the somewhat effeminate duties of a valet-de-chambre. I +watched him and the fair girl beside him for a few moments, myself +unperceived. + +If this little budding romance were left alone it would ripen into a +flower, and Vincenzo would be a happier man than his master. He was +a true Tuscan, from the very way he handled his wood-ax; I could see +that he loved the life of the hills and fields--the life of a simple +farmer and fruit-grower, full of innocent enjoyments, as sweet as +the ripe apples in his orchard. I could foresee his future with +Lilla beside him. He would have days of unwearying contentment, +rendered beautiful by the free fresh air and the fragrance of +flowers--his evenings would slip softly by to the tinkle of the +mandolin, and the sound of his wife and children's singing. + +What fairer fate could a man desire?--what life more certain to keep +health in the body and peace in the mind? Could I not help him to +his happiness, I wondered? I, who had grown stern with long brooding +upon my vengeance--could I not aid in bringing joy to others! If I +could, my mind would be somewhat lightened of its burden--a burden +grown heavier since Guide's death, for from his blood had sprung +forth a new group of Furies, that lashed me on to my task with +scorpion whips of redoubled wrath and passionate ferocity. Yet if I +could do one good action now--would it not be as a star shining in +the midst of my soul's storm and darkness? Just then Lilla laughed-- +how sweetly!--the laugh of a very young child. What amused her now? +I looked, and saw that she had taken the ax from Vincenzo, and +lifting it in her little hands, was endeavoring bravely to imitate +his strong and telling stroke; he meanwhile stood aside with an air +of smiling superiority, mingled with a good deal of admiration for +the slight active figure arrayed in the blue kirtle and scarlet +bodice, on which the warm rays of the late sun fell with so much +amorous tenderness. Poor little Lilla! A penknife would have made as +much impression as her valorous blows produced on the inflexible, +gnarled, knotty old stump she essayed to split in twain. Flushed and +breathless with her efforts, she looked prettier than ever, and at +last, baffled, she resigned her ax to Vincenzo, laughing gayiy at +her incapacity for wood-cutting, and daintily shaking her apron free +from the chips and dust, till a call from her mother caused her to +run swiftly into the house, leaving Vincenzo working away as +arduously as ever. I went up to him; he saw me approaching, and +paused in his labors with an air of slight embarrassment. + +"You like this sort of work, amico?" I said, gently. + +"An old habit, eccellenza--nothing more. It reminds me of the days +of my youth, when I worked for my mother. Ah! a pleasant place it +was--the old home just above Fiesole." His eyes grew pensive and +sad. "It is all gone now--finished. That was before I became a +soldier. But one thinks of it sometimes." + +"I understand. And no doubt you would be glad to return to the life +of your boyhood?" + +He looked a little startled. + +"Not to leave YOU, eccellenza!" + +I smiled rather sadly. "Not to leave ME? Not if you wedded Lilla +Monti?" + +His olive cheek flushed, but he shook his head. + +"Impossible! She would not listen to me. She is a child." + +"She will soon be a woman, believe me! A little more of your company +will make her so. But there is plenty of time. She is beautiful, as +you said: and something better than that, she is innocent--think of +that, Vincenzo! Do you know how rare a thing innocence is--in a +woman? Respect it as you respect God; let her young life be sacred +to you." + +He glanced upward reverently. + +"Eccellenza, I would as soon tear the Madonna from her altars as vex +or frighten Lilla!" + +I smiled and said no more, but turned into the house. From that +moment I resolved to let this little love-idye have a fair chance of +success. Therefore I remained at Avellino much longer than I had at +first intended, not for my own sake, but for Vincenzo's. He served +me faithfully; he should have his reward. I took a pleasure in +noticing that my efforts to promote his cause were not altogether +wasted. I spoke with Lilla often on indifferent matters that +interested her, and watched her constantly when she was all unaware +of my observant gaze. With me she was as frank and fearless as a +tame robin; but after some days I found that she grew shy of +mentioning the name of Vincenzo, that she blushed when he approached +her, that she was timid of asking him to do anything for her; and +from all these little signs I knew her mind, as one knows by the +rosy streaks in the sky that the sunrise is near. + +One afternoon I called the Signora Monti to my room. She came, +surprised, and a little anxious. Was anything wrong with the +service? I reassured her housewifely scruples, and came to the point +at once. + +"I would speak to you of your child, the little Lilla," I said, +kindly. "Have you ever thought that she may marry?" + +Her dark bold eyes filled with tears and her lips quivered. + +"Truly I have," she replied with a wistful sadness; "but I have +prayed, perhaps foolishly, that she would not leave me yet. I love +her so well; she is always a babe to me, so small and sweet! I put +the thought of her marriage from me as a sorrowful thing." + +"I understand your feeling," I said. "Still, suppose your daughter +wedded a man who would be to you as a son, and who would not part +her from you?--for instance, let us say Vincenzo?" + +Signora Monti smiled through her tears. + +"Vincenzo! He is a good lad, a very good lad, and I love him; but he +does not think of Lilla--he is devoted to the eccellenza." + +"I am aware of his devotion," I answered. "Still I believe you will +find out soon that he loves your Lilla. At present he says nothing-- +he fears to offend you and alarm her; but his eyes speak--so do +hers. You are a good woman, a good mother; watch them both, you will +soon tell whether love is between them or no. And see," here I +handed her a sealed envelope, "in this you will find notes to the +amount of four thousand francs." She uttered a little cry of +amazement. "It is Lilla's dowry, whoever she marries, though I think +she will marry Vincenzo. Nay--no thanks, money is of no value to me; +and this is the one pleasure I have had for many weary months. Think +well of Vincenzo--he is an excellent fellow. And all I ask of you +is, that you keep this little dowry a secret till the day of your +fair child's espousals." + +Before I could prevent her the enthusiastic woman had seized my hand +and kissed it. Then she lifted her head with the proud free-born +dignity of a Roman matron; her broad bosom heaved, and her strong +voice quivered with suppressed emotion. + +"I thank you, signor," she said, simply, "for Lilla's sake! Not that +my little one needs more than her mother's hands have toiled for, +thanks be to the blessed saints who have had us both in their +keeping! But this is a special blessing of God sent through your +hands, and I should be unworthy of all prosperity were I not +grateful. Eccellenza, pardon me, but my eyes are quick to see that +you have suffered sorrow. Good actions lighten grief! We will pray +for your happiness, Lilla and I, till the last breath leaves our +lips. Believe it--the name of our benefactor shall be lifted to the +saints night and morning, and who knows but good may come of it!" + +I smiled faintly. + +"Good will come of it, my excellent signora, though I am all +unworthy of your prayers. Rather pray," and I sighed heavily, "for +the dead, 'that they may be loosed from their sins.'" + +The good woman looked at me with a sort of kindly pity mingled with +awe, then murmuring once more her thanks and blessing, she left the +room. A few minutes afterward Vincenzo entered. I addressed him +cheerfully. + +"Absence is the best test of love, Vincenzo; prepare all for our +departure! We shall leave Avellino the day after to-morrow." + +And so we did. Lilla looked slightly downcast, but Vincenzo seemed +satisfied, and I augured from their faces, and from the mysterious +smile of Signor Monti, that all was going well. I left the beautiful +mountain town with regret, knowing I should see it no more. I +touched Lilla's fair cheek lightly at parting, and took what I knew +was my last look into the sweet candid young face. Yet the +consciousness that I had done some little good gave my tired heart a +sense of satisfaction and repose--a feeling I had not experienced +since I died and rose again from the dead. + +On the last day of January I returned to Naples, after an absence of +more than a month, and was welcomed back by all my numerous +acquaintance with enthusiasm. The Marquis D'Avencourt had informed +me rightly--the affair of the duel was a thing of the past--an +almost forgotten circumstance. The carnival was in full riot, the +streets were scenes of fantastic mirth and revelry; there was music +and song, dancing and masquerading, and feasting. But I withdrew +from the tumult of merriment, and absorbed myself in the necessary +preparations for--my marriage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Looking back on the incidents of those strange feverish weeks that +preceded my wedding-day, they seemed to me like the dreams of a +dying man. Shifting colors, confused images, moments of clear light, +hours of long darkness--all things gross, refined, material, and +spiritual were shaken up in my life like the fragments in a +kaleidoscope, ever changing into new forms and bewildering patterns. +My brain was clear; yet I often questioned myself whether I was not +going mad--whether all the careful methodical plans I formed were +but the hazy fancies of a hopelessly disordered mind? Yet no; each +detail of my scheme was too complete, too consistent, too business- +like for that. A madman may have a method of action to a certain +extent, but there is always some slight slip, some omission, some +mistake which helps to discover his condition. Now, _I_ forgot +nothing--I had the composed exactitude of a careful banker who +balances his accounts with the most elaborate regularity. I can +laugh to think of it all now; but THEN--then I moved, spoke, and +acted like a human machine impelled by stronger forces than my own-- +in all things precise, in all things inflexible. + +Within the week of my return from Avellino my coming marriage with +the Countess Romani was announced. Two days after it had been made +public, while sauntering across the Largo del Castello, I met the +Marquis D'Avencourt. I had not seen him since the morning of the +duel, and his presence gave me a sort of nervous shock. He was +exceedingly cordial, though I fancied he was also slightly +embarrassed After a few commonplace remarks he said, abruptly: + +"So your marriage will positively take place?" + +I forced a laugh. + +"Ma! certamente! Do you doubt it?" + +His handsome face clouded and his manner grew still more +constrained. + +"No; but I thought--I had hoped--" + +"Mon cher," I said, airily, "I perfectly understand to what you +allude. But we men of the world are not fastidious--we know better +than to pay any heed to the foolish love-fancies of a woman before +her marriage, so long as she does not trick us afterward. The +letters you sent me were trifles, mere trifles! In wedding the +Contessa Romani I assure you I believe I secure the most virtuous as +well as the most lovely woman in Europe!" And I laughed again +heartily. + +D'Avencourt looked puzzled; but he was a punctilious man, and knew +how to steer clear of a delicate subject. He smiled. + +"A la bonne heure," he said--"I wish you joy with all my heart! You +are the best judge of your own happiness; as for me--vive la +liberte!" + +And with a gay parting salute he left me. No one else in the city +appeared to share his foreboding scruples, if he had any, about my +forthcoming marriage. It was everywhere talked of with as much +interest and expectation as though it were some new amusement +invented to heighten the merriment of carnival. Among other things, +I earned the reputation of being a most impatient lover, for now I +would consent to no delays. I hurried all the preparations on with +feverish precipitation. I had very little difficulty in persuading +Nina that the sooner our wedding took place the better; she was to +the full as eager as myself, as ready to rush on her own destruction +as Guido had been. Her chief passion was avarice, and the repeated +rumors of my supposed fabulous wealth had aroused her greed from the +very moment she had first met me in my assumed character of the +Count Oliva. As soon as her engagement to me became known in Naples, +she was an object of envy to all those of her own sex who, during +the previous autumn, had laid out their store of fascinations to +entrap me in vain--and this made her perfectly happy. Perhaps the +supremest satisfaction a woman of this sort can attain to is the +fact of making her less fortunate sisters discontented and +miserable! I loaded her, of course, with the costliest gifts, and +she, being the sole mistress of the fortune left her by her "late +husband," as well as of the unfortunate Guido's money, set no limits +to her extravagance. She ordered the most expensive and elaborate +costumes; she was engaged morning after morning with dressmakers, +tailors, and milliners, and she was surrounded by a certain favored +"set" of female friends, for whose benefit she displayed the +incoming treasures of her wardrobe till they were ready to cry for +spite and vexation, though they had to smile and hold in their wrath +and outraged vanity beneath the social mask of complacent composure. +And Nina loved nothing better than to torture the poor women who +were stinted of pocket-money with the sight of shimmering satins, +soft radiating plushes, rich velvets, embroidery studded with real +gems, pieces of costly old lace, priceless scents, and articles of +bijouterie; she loved also to dazzle the eyes and bewilder the +brains of young girls, whose finest toilet was a garb of simplest +white stuff unadorned save by a cluster of natural blossoms, and to +send them away sick at heart, pining for they knew not what, +dissatisfied with everything, and grumbling at fate for not +permitting them to deck themselves in such marvelous "arrangements" +of costume as those possessed by the happy, the fortunate future +Countess Oliva. + +Poor maidens! had they but known all they would not have envied her! +Women are too fond of measuring happiness by the amount of fine +clothes they obtain, and I truly believe dress is the one thing that +never fails to console them. How often a fit of hysterics can be cut +short by the opportune arrival of a new gown! + +My wife, in consideration of her approaching second nuptial, had +thrown off her widow's crape, and now appeared clad in those soft +subdued half-tints of color that suited her fragile, fairy-like +beauty to perfection. All her old witcheries and her graceful tricks +of manner and speech were put forth again for my benefit. I knew +them all so well! I understood the value of her light caresses and +languishing looks so thoroughly! She was very anxious to attain the +full dignity of her position as the wife of so rich a nobleman as I +was reputed to be, therefore she raised no objection when I fixed +the day of our marriage for Giovedi Grasso. Then the fooling and +mumming, the dancing, shrieking, and screaming would be at its +height; it pleased my whim to have this other piece of excellent +masquerading take place at the same time. + +The wedding was to be as private as possible, owing to my wife's +"recent sad bereavements," as she herself said with a pretty sigh +and tearful, pleading glance. It would take place in the chapel of +San Gennaro, adjoining the cathedral. We were married there before! +During the time that intervened, Nina's manner was somewhat +singular. To me she was often timid, and sometimes half +conciliatory. Now and then I caught her large dark eyes fixed on me +with a startled, anxious look, but this expression soon passed away. +She was subject, too, to wild fits of merriment, and anon to moods +of absorbed and gloomy silence. I could plainly see that she was +strung up to an extreme pitch of nervous excitement and +irritability, but I asked her no questions. If--I thought--if she +tortured herself with memories, all the better--if she saw, or +fancied she saw, the resemblance between me and her "dear dead +Fabio," it suited me that she should be so racked and bewildered. + +I came and went to and fro from the villa as I pleased. I wore my +dark glasses as usual, and not even Giacomo could follow me with his +peering, inquisitive gaze; for since the night he had been hurled so +fiercely to the ground by Guido's reckless and impatient hand, the +poor old man had been paralyzed, and had spoken no word. He lay in +an upper chamber, tended by Assunta, and my wife had already written +to his relatives in Lombardy, asking them to send for him home. + +"Of what use to keep him?" she had asked me. + +True! Of what use to give even roof-shelter to a poor old human +creature, maimed, broken, and useless for evermore? After long years +of faithful service, turn him out, cast him forth! If he die of +neglect, starvation, and ill-usage, what matter?--he is a worn-out +tool, his day is done--let him perish. I would not plead for him-- +why should I? I had made my own plans for his comfort--plans shortly +to be carried out; and in the mean time Assunta nursed him tenderly +as he lay speechless, with no more strength than a year-old baby, +and only a bewildered pain in his upturned, lack-luster eyes. One +incident occurred during these last days of my vengeance that struck +a sharp pain to my heart, together with a sense of the bitterest +anger. I had gone up to the villa somewhat early in the morning, and +on crossing the lawn I saw a dark form stretched motionless on one +of the paths that led directly up to the house. I went to examine +it, and started back in horror--it was my dog Wyvis shot dead. His +silky black head and forepaws were dabbled in blood--his honest +brown eyes were glazed with the film of his dying agonies. Sickened +and infuriated at the sight, I called to a gardener who was trimming +the shrubbery. + +"Who has done this?" I demanded. + +The man looked pityingly at the poor bleeding remains, and said, in +a low voice: + +"It was madama's order, signor. The dog bit her yesterday; we shot +him at daybreak." + +I stooped to caress the faithful animal's body, and as I stroked the +silky coat my eyes were dim with tears. + +"How did it happen?" I asked in smothered accents. "Was your lady +hurt?" + +The gardener shrugged his shoulders and sighed. + +"Ma!--no! But he tore the lace on her dress with his teeth and +grazed her hand. It was little, but enough. He will bite no more-- +povera bestia!" + +I gave the fellow five francs. + +"I liked the dog," I said briefly, "he was a faithful creature. Bury +him decently under that tree," and I pointed to the giant cypress on +the lawn, "and take this money for your trouble." + +He looked surprised but grateful, and promised to do my bidding. +Once more sorrowfully caressing the fallen head of perhaps the +truest friend I ever possessed, I strode hastily into the house, and +met Nina coming out of her morning-room, clad in one of her graceful +trailing garments, in which soft lavender hues were blended like the +shaded colors of late and early violets. + +"So Wyvis has been shot?" I said, abruptly. + +She gave a slight shudder. + +"Oh, yes; is it not sad? But I was compelled to have it done. +Yesterday I went past his kennel within reach of his chain, and he +sprung furiously at me for no reason at all. See!" And holding up +her small hand she showed me three trifling marks in the delicate +flesh. "I felt that you would be so unhappy if you thought I kept a +dog that was at all dangerous, so I determined to get rid of him. It +is always painful to have a favorite animal killed; but really Wyvis +belonged to my poor husband, and I think he has never been quite +safe since his master's death, and now Giacomo is ill--" + +"I see!" I said, curtly, cutting her explanations short. + +Within myself I thought how much more sweet and valuable was the dog's +life than hers. Brave Wyvis--good Wyvis! He had done his best--he had +tried to tear her dainty flesh; his honest instincts had led him to +attempt rough vengeance on the woman he had felt was his master's foe. +And he had met his fate, and died in the performance of duty. But I +said no more on the subject. The dog's death was not alluded to again +by either Nina or myself. He lay in his mossy grave under the cypress +boughs--his memory untainted by any lie, and his fidelity enshrined in +my heart as a thing good and gracious, far exceeding the +self-interested friendship of so-called Christian humanity. + +The days passed slowly on. To the revelers who chased the flying +steps of carnival with shouting and laughter, no doubt the hours +were brief, being so brimful of merriment; but to me, who heard +nothing save the measured ticking of my own timepiece of revenge, +and who saw naught save its hands, that every second drew nearer to +the last and fatal figure on the dial, the very moments seemed long +and laden with weariness. I roamed the streets of the city +aimlessly, feeling more like a deserted stranger than a well-known +envied nobleman, whose wealth made him the cynosure of all eyes. The +riotous glee, the music, the color that whirled and reeled through +the great street of Toledo at this season bewildered and pained me. +Though I knew and was accustomed to the wild vagaries of carnival, +yet this year they seemed to be out of place, distracting, +senseless, and all unfamiliar. + +Sometimes I escaped from the city tumult and wandered out to the +cemetery. There I would stand, dreamily looking at the freshly +turned sods above Guido Ferrari's grave. No stone marked the spot as +yet, but it was close to the Romani vault--not more than a couple of +yards away from the iron grating that barred the entrance to that +dim and fatal charnel-house. I had a drear fascination for the +place, and more than once I went to the opening of that secret +passage made by the brigands to ascertain if all was safe and +undisturbed. Everything was as I had left it, save that the tangle +of brush-wood had become thicker, and weeds and brambles had sprung +up, making it less visible than before, and probably rendering it +more impassable. By a fortunate accident I had secured the key of +the vault. I knew that for family burial-places of this kind there +are always two keys--one left in charge of the keeper of the +cemetery, the other possessed by the person or persons to whom the +mausoleum belongs, and this other I managed to obtain. + +On one occasion, being left for some time alone in my own library at +the villa, I remembered that in an upper drawer of an old oaken +escritoire that stood there, had always been a few keys belonging to +the doors of cellars and rooms in the house. I looked, and found +them lying there as usual; they all had labels attached to them, +signifying their use, and I turned them over impatiently, not +finding what I sought. I was about to give up the search, when I +perceived a large rusty iron key that had slipped to the back of the +drawer; I pulled it out, and to my satisfaction it was labeled +"Mausoleum." I immediately took possession of it, glad to have +obtained so useful and necessary an implement; I knew that I should +soon need it. The cemetery was quite deserted at this festive +season--no one visited it to lay wreaths of flowers or sacred +mementoes on the last resting-places of their friends. In the joys +of the carnival who thinks of the dead? In my frequent walks there I +was always alone; I might have opened my own vault and gone down +into it without being observed, but I did not; I contented myself +with occasionally trying the key in the lock, and assuring myself +that it worked without difficulty. + +Returning from one of these excursions late on a mild afternoon +toward the end of the week preceding my marriage, I bent my steps +toward the Molo, where I saw a picturesque group of sailors and +girls dancing one of those fantastic, graceful dances of the +country, in which impassioned movement and expressive gesticulation +are everything. Their steps were guided and accompanied by the +sonorous twanging of a full-toned guitar and the tinkling beat of a +tambourine. Their handsome, animated faces, their flashing eyes and +laughing lips, their gay, many-colored costumes, the glitter of +beads on the brown necks of the maidens, the red caps jauntily +perched on the thick black curls of the fishermen--all made up a +picture full of light and life thrown up into strong relief against +the pale gray and amber tints of the February sky and sea; while +shadowing overhead frowned the stern dark walls of the Castel Nuovo. + +It was such a scene as the English painter Luke Fildes might love to +depict on his canvas--the one man of to-day who, though born of the +land of opaque mists and rain-burdened clouds, has, notwithstanding +these disadvantages, managed to partly endow his brush with the +exhaustless wealth and glow of the radiant Italian color. I watched +the dance with a faint sense of pleasure--it was full of so much +harmony and delicacy of rhythm. The lad who thrummed the guitar +broke out now and then into song--a song in dialect that fitted into +the music of the dance as accurately as a rosebud into its calyx. I +could not distinguish all the words he sung, but the refrain was +always the same, and he gave it in every possible inflection and +variety of tone, from grave to gay, from pleading to pathetic. + + "Che bella cosa e de morire acciso, + Nnanze a la porta de la nnamorata!" + [Footnote: Neapolitan dialect.] + +meaning literally--"How beautiful a thing to die, suddenly slain at +the door of one's beloved!" + +There was no sense in the thing, I thought half angrily--it was a +stupid sentiment altogether. Yet I could not help smiling at the +ragged, barefooted rascal who sung it: he seemed to feel such a +gratification in repeating it, and he rolled his black eyes with +lovelorn intensity, and breathed forth sighs that sounded through +his music with quite a touching earnestness. Of course he was only +following the manner of all Neapolitans, namely, acting his song; +they all do it, and cannot help themselves. But this boy had a +peculiarly roguish way of pausing and crying forth a plaintive "Ah!" +before he added "Che bella cosa," etc., which gave point and +piquancy to his absurd ditty. He was evidently brimful of mischief-- +his expression betokened it; no doubt he was one of the most +thorough little scamps that ever played at "morra," but there was a +charm about his handsome dirty face and unkempt hair, and I watched +him amusedly, glad to be distracted for a few minutes from the tired +inner workings of my own unhappy thoughts. In time to come, so I +mused, this very boy might learn to set his song about the "beloved" +to a sterner key, and might find it meet, not to be slain himself, +but to slay HER! Such a thing--in Naples--was more than probable. By +and by the dance ceased, and I recognized in one of the breathless, +laughing sailors my old acquaintance Andrea Luziani, with whom I had +sailed to Palermo. The sight of him relieved me from a difficulty +which had puzzled me for some days, and as soon as the little groups +of men and women had partially dispersed, I walked up to him and +touched him on the shoulder. He started, looked round surprised, and +did not appear to recognize me. I remembered that when he had seen +me I had not grown a beard, neither had I worn dark spectacles. I +recalled my name to him; his face cleared and he smiled. + +"Ah! buon giorno, eccellenza!" he cried. "A thousand pardons that I +did not at first know you! Often have I thought of you! often have I +heard your name--ah! what a name! Rich, great, generous!--ah! what a +glad life! And on the point of marrying--ah, Dio! love makes all the +troubles go--so!" and taking his cigar from his mouth, he puffed a +ring of pale smoke into the air and laughed gayly. Then suddenly +lifting his cap from his clustering black hair, he added, "All joy +be with you, eccellenza!" + +I smiled and thanked him. I noticed he looked at me curiously. + +"You think I have changed in appearance, my friend?" I said. + +The Sicilian looked embarrassed. + +"Ebbene! we must all change," he answered, lightly, evading my +glance. "The days pass on--each day takes a little bit of youth away +with it. One grows old without knowing it!" + +I laughed. + +"I see," I observed. "You think I have aged somewhat since you saw +me?" + +"A little, eccellenza," he frankly confessed. + +"I have suffered severe illness," I said, quietly, "and my eyes are +still weak, as you perceive," and I touched my glasses. "But I shall +get stronger in time. Can you come with me for a few moments? I want +your help in a matter of importance." + +He nodded a ready assent and followed me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +We left the Molo, and paused at a retired street corner leading from +the Chiaja. + +"You remember Carmelo Neri?" I asked. + +Andrea shrugged his shoulders with an air of infinite commiseration. + +"Ah! povero diavolo! Well do I remember him! A bold fellow and +brave, with a heart in him, too, if one did but know where to find +it. And now he drags the chain! Well, well, no doubt it is what he +deserves; but I say, and always will maintain, there are many worse +men than Carmelo." + +I briefly related how I had seen the captured brigand in the square +at Palermo and had spoken with him. "I mentioned you," I added, "and +he bade me tell you Teresa had killed herself." + +"Ah! that I well know," said the little captain, who had listened to +me intently, and over whose mobile face flitted a shadow of tender +pity, as he sighed. "Poverinetta! So fragile and small! To think she +had the force to plunge the knife in her breast! As well imagine a +little bird flying down to pierce itself on an uplifted bayonet. Ay, +ay! women will do strange things--and it is certain she loved +Carmelo." + +"You would help him to escape again if you could, no doubt?" I +inquired with a half smile. + +The ready wit of the Sicilian instantly asserted itself. + +"Not I, eccellenza," he replied, with an air of dignity and most +virtuous honesty. "No, no, not now. The law is the law, and I, +Andrea Luziani, am not one to break it. No, Carmelo must take his +punishment; it is for life they say--and hard as it seems, it is but +just. When the little Teresa was in the question, look you, what +could I do? but now--let the saints that choose help Carmelo, for I +will not." + +I laughed as I met the audacious flash of his eyes; I knew, despite +his protestations, that if Carmelo Neri ever did get clear of the +galleys, it would be an excellent thing for him if Luziani's vessel +chanced to be within reach. + +"You have your brig the 'Laura' still?" I asked him. + +"Yes, eccellenza, the Madonna be praised! And she has been newly +rigged and painted, and she is as trig and trim a craft as you can +meet with in all the wide blue waters of the Mediterranean." + +"Now you see," I sad, impressively, "I have a friend, a relative, +who is in trouble: he wishes to get away from Naples quietly and in +secret. Will you help him? You shall be paid whatever you think +proper to demand." + +The Sicilian looked puzzled. He puffed meditatively at his cigar and +remained silent. + +"He is not pursued by the law," I continued, noting his hesitation. +"He is simply involved in a cruel difficulty brought upon him by his +own family--he seeks to escape from unjust persecution." + +Andrea's brow cleared. + +"Oh, if that is the case, eccellenza, I am at your service. But +where does your friend desire to go?" + +I paused for a moment and considered. + +"To Civita Vecchia," I said at last, "from that port he can obtain a +ship to take him to his further destination." + +The captain's expressive face fell--he looked very dubious. + +"To Civita Vecchia is a long way, a very long way," he said, +regretfully; "and it is the bad season, and there are cross currents +and contrary winds. With all the wish in the world to please you, +eccellenza, I dare not run the 'Laura' so far; but there is another +means--" + +And interrupting himself he considered awhile in silence. I waited +patiently for him to speak. + +"Whether it would suit your friend I know not," he said at last, +laying his hand confidentially on my arm, "but there is a stout brig +leaving here for Civita Vecchia on Friday morning next--" + +"The day after Giovedi Grasso?" I queried, with a smile he did not +understand. He nodded. + +"Exactly so. She carries a cargo of Lacrima Cristi, and she is a +swift sailer. I know her captain--he is a good soul; but," and +Andrea laughed lightly, "he is like the rest of us--he loves money. +You do not count the francs--no, they are nothing to you--but we +look to the soldi. Now, if it please you I will make him a certain +offer of passage money, as large as you shall choose, also I will +tell him when to expect his one passenger, and I can almost promise +you that he will not say no!" + +This proposal fitted in so excellently with my plans that I accepted +it, and at once named an exceptionally munificent sum for the +passage required. Andrea's eyes glistened as he heard. + +"It is a little fortune!" he cried, enthusiastically. "Would that I +could earn as much in twenty voyages! But one should not be +churlish--such luck cannot fall in all men's way." + +I smiled. + +"And do you think, amico, I will suffer you to go unrewarded?" I +said. And placing two twenty-franc pieces in his brown palm I added, +"As you rightly said, francs are nothing to me. Arrange this little +matter without difficulty, and you shall not be forgotten. You can +call at my hotel to-morrow or the next day, when you have settled +everything--here is the address," and I penciled it on my card and +gave it to him; "but remember, this is a secret matter, and I rely +upon you to explain it as such to your friend who commands the brig +going to Civita Vecchia. He must ask no questions of his passenger-- +the more silence the more discretion--and when once he has landed +him at his destination he will do well to straightway forget all +about him. You understand?" + +Andrea nodded briskly. + +"Si, si, signer. He has a bad memory as it is--it shall grow worse +at your command! Believe it!" + +I laughed, shook hands, and parted with the friendly little fellow, +he returning to the Molo, and I slowly walking homeward by way of +the Villa Reale. An open carriage coming swiftly toward me attracted +my attention; as it drew nearer I recognized the prancing steeds and +the familiar liveries. A fair woman clad in olive velvets and +Russian sables looked out smiling, and waved her hand. + +It was my wife--my betrothed bride, and beside her sat the Duchess +di Marina, the most irreproachable of matrons, famous for her piety +not only in Naples but throughout Italy. So immaculate was she that +it was difficult to imagine her husband daring to caress that +upright, well-dressed form, or venturing to kiss those prim lips, +colder than the carven beads of her jeweled rosary. Yet there was a +story about her too--an old story that came from Padua--of how a +young and handsome nobleman had been found dead at her palace doors, +stabbed to the heart. Perhaps--who knows--he also might have +thought-- + + "Che bella cosa e de morire accisa, + Nnanze a la porta de la nnamorata!" + +Some said the duke had killed him; but nothing could be proved, +nothing was certain. The duke was silent, so was is duchess; and +Scandal herself sat meekly with closed lips in the presence of this +stately and august couple, whose bearing toward each other in +society was a lesson of complete etiquette to the world. What went +on behind the scenes no one could tell. I raised my hat with the +profoundest deference as the carriage containing the two ladies +dashed by; I knew not which was the cleverest hypocrite of the two, +therefore I did equal honor to both. I was in a meditative and +retrospective mood, and when I reached the Toledo the distracting +noises, the cries of the flower-girls, and venders of chestnuts and +confetti, the nasal singing of the street-rhymers, the yells of +punchinello, and the answering laughter of the populace, were all +beyond my endurance. To gratify a sudden whim that seized me, I made +my way into the lowest and dirtiest quarters of the city, and roamed +through wretched courts and crowded alleys, trying to discover that +one miserable street which until now I had always avoided even the +thought of, where I had purchased the coral-fisher's clothes on the +day of my return from the grave. I went in many wrong directions, +but at last I found it, and saw at a glance that the old rag- +dealer's shop was still there, in its former condition of +heterogeneous filth and disorder. A man sat at the door smoking, but +not the crabbed and bent figure I had before seen--this was a +younger and stouter individual, with a Jewish cast of countenance, +and dark, ferocious eyes. I approached him, and seeing by my dress +and manner that I was some person of consequence, he rose, drew his +pipe from his mouth, and raised his greasy cap with a respectful yet +suspicious air. + +"Are you the owner of this place?" I asked. + +"Si, signor!" + +"What has become of the old man who used to live here?" + +He laughed, shrugged his shoulders, and drew his pipe-stem across +his throat with a significant gesture. + +"So, signor!--with a sharp knife! He had a good deal of blood, too, +for so withered a body. To kill himself in that fashion was stupid: +he spoiled an Indian shawl that was on his bed, worth more than a +thousand francs. One would not have thought he had so much blood." + +And the fellow put back his pipe in his mouth and smoked +complacently. I heard in sickened silence. + +"He was mad, I suppose?" I said at last. + +The long pipe was again withdrawn. + +"Mad? Well, the people say so. I for one think he was very +reasonable--all except that matter of the shawl--he should have +taken that off his bed first. But he was wise enough to know that he +was of no use to anybody--he did the best he could! Did you know +him, signor?" + +"I gave him money once," I replied, evasively; then taking out a few +francs I handed them to this evil-eyed, furtive-looking son of +Israel, who received the gift with effusive gratitude. + +"Thank you for your information," I said coldly. "Good-day." + +"Good-day to you, signor," he replied, resuming his seat and +watching me curiously as I turned away. + +I passed out of the wretched street feeling faint and giddy. The end +of the miserable rag-dealer been told to me briefly and brutally +enough--yet somehow I was moved to a sense of regret and pity. +Abjectly poor, half crazy, and utterly friendless, he had been a +brother of mine in the same bitterness and irrevocable sorrow. I +wondered with a half shudder--would my end be like his? When my +vengeance was completed should I grow shrunken, and old, and mad, +and one lurid day draw a sharp knife across my throat as a finish to +my life's history? I walked more rapidly to shake off the morbid +fancies that thus insidiously crept in on my brain; and as before, +the noise and glitter of the Toledo had been unbearable, so now I +found it a relief and a distraction. Two maskers bedizened in violet +and gold whizzed past me like a flash, one of them yelling a stale +jest concerning la nnamorata--a jest I scarcely heard, and certainly +had no heart or wit to reply to. A fair woman I knew leaned out of a +gayly draped balcony and dropped a bunch of roses at my feet; out of +courtesy I stooped to pick them up, and then raising my hat I +saluted the dark-eyed donor, but a few paces on I gave them away to +a ragged child. Of all flowers that bloom, they were, and still are, +the most insupportable to me. What is it the English poet Swinburne +says-- + + "I shall never be friends again with roses!" + +My wife wore them always: even on that night when I had seen her +clasped in Guido's arms, a red rose on her breast had been crushed +in that embrace--a rose whose withered leaves I still possess. In +the forest solitude where I now dwell there are no roses--and I am +glad! The trees are too high, the tangle of bramble and coarse +brushwood too dense--nothing grows here but a few herbs and field +flowers--weeds unfit for wearing by fine ladies, yet to my taste +infinitely sweeter than all the tenderly tinted cups of fragrance, +whose colors and odors are spoiled to me forever. I am unjust, say +you? the roses are innocent of evil? True enough, but their perfume +awakens memory, and--I strive always to forget! + +I reached my hotel that evening to find that I was an hour late for +dinner, an unusual circumstance, which had caused Vincenzo some +disquietude, as was evident from the relieved expression of his face +when I entered. For some days the honest fellow had watched me with +anxiety; my abstracted moods, the long solitary walks I was in the +habit of taking, the evenings I passed in my room writing, with the +doors locked--all this behavior on my part exercised his patience, I +have no doubt, to the utmost limit, and I could see he had much ado +to observe his usual discretion and tact, and refrain from asking +questions. On this particular occasion I dined very hastily, for I +had promised to join my wife and two of her lady friends at the +theater that night. + +When I arrived there, she was already seated in her box, looking +radiantly beautiful. She was attired in some soft, sheeny, clinging +primrose stuff, and the brigand's jewels I had given her through +Guido's hands, flashed brilliantly on her uncovered neck and arms. +She greeted me with her usual child-like enthusiasm as I entered, +bearing the customary offering--a costly bouquet, set in a holder of +mother-of-pearl studded with turquois, for her acceptance. I bowed +to her lady friends, both of whom I knew, and then stood beside her +watching the stage. The comedietta played there was the airiest +trifle--it turned on the old worn-out story--a young wife, an aged, +doting husband, and a lover whose principles were, of course, of the +"noblest" type. The husband was fooled (naturally), and the chief +amusement of the piece appeared to consist in his being shut out of +his own house in dressing-gown and slippers during a pelting storm +of rain, while his spouse (who was particularly specified as "pure") +enjoyed a luxurious supper with her highly moral and virtuous +admirer. My wife laughed delightedly at the poor jokes and the stale +epigrams, and specially applauded the actress who successfully +supported the chief role. This actress, by the way, was a saucy, +brazen-faced jade, who had a trick of flashing her black eyes, +tossing her head, and heaving her ample bosom tumultuously whenever +she hissed out the words Vecchiaccio maladetto [Footnote: Accursed, +villainous old monster.] at her discomfited husband, which had an +immense effect on the audience--an audience which entirely +sympathized with her, though she was indubitably in the wrong. I +watched Nina in some derision as she nodded her fair head and beat +time to the music with her painted fan. I bent over her. + +"The play pleases you?" I asked, in a low tone. + +"Yes, indeed!" she answered, with a laughing light in her eyes. "The +husband is so droll! It is all very amusing." + +"The husband is always droll!" I remarked, smiling coldly. "It is +not a temptation to marry when one knows that as a husband one must +always look ridiculous." + +She glanced up at me. + +"Cesare! You surely are not vexed? Of course it is only in plays +that it happens so!" + +"Plays, cara mia, are often nothing but the reflex of real life," I +said. "But let us hope there are exceptions, and that all husbands +are not fools." + +She smiled expressively and sweetly, toyed with the flowers I had +given her, and turned her eyes again to the stage. I said no more, +and was a somewhat moody companion for the rest of the evening. As +we all left the theater one of the ladies who had accompanied Nina +said lightly: + +"You seem dull and out of spirits, conte?" + +I forced a smile. + +"Not I, signora! Surely you do not find me guilty of such +ungallantry? Were I dull in YOUR company I should prove myself the +most ungrateful of my sex." + +She sighed somewhat impatiently. She was very young and very lovely, +and, as far as I knew, innocent, and of a more thoughtful and +poetical temperament than most women. + +"That is the mere language of compliment," she said, looking +straightly at me with her clear, candid eyes. "You are a true +courtier! Yet often I think your courtesy is reluctant." + +I looked at her in some surprise. + +"Reluctant? Signora, pardon me if I do not understand!" + +"I mean," she continued, still regarding me steadily, though a faint +blush warmed the clear pallor of her delicate complexion, "that you +do not really like us women; you say pretty things to us, and you +try to be amiable in our company, but you are in truth averse to our +ways--you are sceptical--you think we are all hypocrites." + +I laughed a little coldly. + +"Really, signora, your words place me in a very awkward position. +Were I to tell you my real sentiments--" + +She interrupted me with a touch of her fan on my arm, and smiled +gravely. + +"You would say, 'Yes, you are right, signora. I never see one of +your sex without suspecting treachery.' Ah, Signor Conte, we women +are indeed full of faults, but nothing can blind our instinct!" She +paused, and her brilliant eyes softened as she added gently, "I pray +your marriage may be a very happy one." + +I was silent. I was not even courteous enough to thank her for the +wish. I was half angered that this girl should have been able to +probe my thoughts so quickly and unerringly. Was I so bad an actor +after all? I glanced down at her as she leaned lightly on my arm, + +"Marriage is a mere comedietta," I said, abruptly and harshly. "We +have seen it acted to-night. In a few days I shall play the part of +the chief buffoon--in other words, the husband." + +And I laughed. My young companion looked startled, almost +frightened, and over her fair face there flitted an expression of +something like aversion. I did not care--why should I?--and there +was no time for more words between us, for we had reached the outer +vestibule of the theater. + +My wife's carriage was drawn up at the entrance--my wife herself was +stepping into it. I assisted her, and also her two friends, and then +stood with uncovered head at the door wishing them all the +"felicissima notte." Nina put her tiny jeweled hand through the +carriage window--I stooped and kissed it lightly. Drawing it back +quickly, she selected a white gardenia from her bouquet and gave it +to me with a bewitching smile. + +Then the glittering equipage dashed away with a whirl and clatter of +prancing hoofs and rapid wheels, and I stood alone under the wide +portico of the theater--alone, amid the pressing throngs of the +people who were still coming out of the house--holding the strongly +scented gardenia in my hand as vaguely as a fevered man who finds a +strange flower in one of his sick dreams. + +After a minute or two I suddenly recollected myself, and throwing +the blossom on the ground, I crushed it savagely beneath my heel-- +the penetrating odor rose from its slain petals as though a vessel +of incense had been emptied at my feet. There was a nauseating +influence in it; where had I inhaled that subtle perfume last? I +remembered--Guido Ferrari had worn one of those flowers in his coat +at my banquet--it had been still in his buttonhole when I killed +him! + +I strode onward and homeward; the streets were full of mirth and +music, but I heeded none of it. I felt, rather than saw, the quiet +sky bending above me dotted with its countless millions of luminous +worlds; I was faintly conscious of the soft plash of murmuring waves +mingling with the dulcet chords of deftly played mandolins echoing +from somewhere down by the shore; but my soul was, as it were, +benumbed--my mind, always on the alert, was for once utterly tired +out--my very limbs ached, and when I at last flung myself on my bed, +exhausted, my eyes closed instantly, and I slept the heavy, +motionless sleep of a man weary unto death. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +"Tout le monde vient a celui qui sait attendre." So wrote the great +Napoleon. The virtue of the aphorism consists in the little words +'qui sait'. All the world comes to him who KNOWS HOW to wait, _I_ +knew this, and I had waited, and my world--a world of vengeance-- +came to me at last. + +The slow-revolving wheel of Time brought me to the day before my +strange wedding--the eve of my remarriage with my own wife! All the +preparations were made--nothing was left undone that could add to +the splendor of the occasion. For though the nuptial ceremony was to +be somewhat quiet and private in character, and the marriage +breakfast was to include only a few of our more intimate +acquaintances, the proceedings were by no means to terminate tamely. +The romance of these remarkable espousals was not to find its +conclusion in bathos. No; the bloom and aroma of the interesting +event were to be enjoyed in the evening, when a grand supper and +ball, given by me, the happy and much-to-be-envied bridegroom, was +to take place in the hotel which I had made my residence for so +long. No expense was spared for this, the last entertainment offered +by me in my brilliant career as a successful Count Cesare Oliva. +After it, the dark curtain would fall on the played-out drama, never +to rise again. + +Everything that art, taste, and royal luxury could suggest was +included in the arrangements for this brilliant ball, to which a +hundred and fifty guests had been invited, not one of whom had +refused to attend. + +And now--now, in the afternoon of this, the last of my self-imposed +probation--I sat alone with my fair wife in the drawing-room of the +Villa Romani, conversing lightly on various subjects connected with +the festivities of the coming morrow. The long windows were open-- +the warm spring sunlight lay like a filmy veil of woven gold on the +tender green of the young grass, birds sung for joy and flitted from +branch to branch, now poising hoveringly above their nests, now +soaring with all the luxury of perfect liberty into the high heaven +of cloudless blue--the great creamy buds of the magnolia looked +ready to burst into wide and splendid flower between their large, +darkly shining leaves, the odor of violets and primroses floated on +every delicious breath of air, and round the wide veranda the +climbing white china roses had already unfurled their little +crumpled rosette-like blossoms to the balmy wind. It was spring in +Southern Italy--spring in the land where, above all other lands, +spring is lovely--sudden and brilliant in its beauty as might be the +smile of a happy angel. Gran Dio!--talk of angels! Had I not a +veritable angel for my companion at that moment? What fair being, +even in Mohammed's Paradise of Houris, could outshine such charms as +those which it was my proud privilege to gaze upon without rebuke-- +dark eyes, rippling golden hair, a dazzling and perfect face, a form +to tempt the virtue of a Galahad, and lips that an emperor might +long to touch--in vain? Well, no!--not altogether in vain: if his +imperial majesty could offer a bribe large enough--let us say a +diamond the size of a pigeon's egg--he might possibly purchase one, +nay!--perhaps two kisses from that seductive red mouth, sweeter than +the ripest strawberry. I glanced at her furtively from time to time +when she was not aware of my gaze; and glad was I of the sheltering +protection of the dark glasses I wore, for I knew and felt that +there was a terrible look in my eyes--the look of a half-famished +tiger ready to spring on some long-desired piece of prey. She +herself was exceptionally bright and cheerful; with her riante +features and agile movements, she reminded me of some tropical bird +of gorgeous plumage swaying to and fro on a branch of equally +gorgeous blossom. + +"You are like a prince in a fairy tale, Cesare," she said, with a +little delighted laugh; "everything you do is superbly done! How +pleasant it is to be so rich--there is nothing better in all the +world." + +"Except love!" I returned, with a grim attempt to be sentimental. + +Her large eyes softened like the pleading eyes of a tame fawn. + +"Ay, yes!" and she smiled with expressive tenderness, "except love. +But when one has both love and wealth, what a paradise life can be!" + +"So great a paradise," I assented, "that it is hardly worth while +trying to get into heaven at all! Will you make earth a heaven for +me, Nina mia, or will you only love me as much--or as little--as you +loved your late husband?" + +She shrugged her shoulders and pouted like a spoilt child. + +"Why are you so fond of talking about my late husband, Cesare?" she +asked, peevishly; "I am so tired of his name! Besides, one does not +always care to be reminded of dead people--and he died so horribly +too! I have often told you that I did not love him at all. I liked +him a little, and I was quite ill when that dreadful monk, who +looked like a ghost himself, came and told me he was dead. Fancy +hearing such a piece of news suddenly, while I was actually at +luncheon with Gui--Signore Ferrari! We were both shocked, of course, +but I did not break my heart over it. Now I really DO love YOU--" + +I drew nearer to her on the couch where she sat, and put one arm +round her. + +"You really DO?" I asked, in a half-incredulous tone; "you are quite +sure?" + +She laughed and nestled her head on my shoulder. + +"I am quite sure! How many times have you asked me that absurd +question? What can I say, what can I do--to make you believe me?" + +"Nothing," I answered, and answered truly, for certainly nothing she +could say or do would make me believe her for a moment. "But HOW do +you love me--for myself or for my wealth?" + +She raised her head with a proud, graceful gesture. + +"For yourself, of course! Do you think mere wealth could ever win MY +affection? No, Cesare! I love you for your own sake--your own merits +have made you dear to me." + +I smiled bitterly. She did not see the smile. I slowly caressed her +silky hair. + +"For that sweet answer, carissima mia, you shall have your reward. +You called me a fairy prince just now--perhaps I merit that title +more than you know. You remember the jewels I sent you before we +ever met?" + +"Remember them!" she exclaimed. "They are my choicest ornaments. +Such a parure is fit for an empress." + +"And an empress of beauty wears them!" I said, lightly. "But they +are mere trifles compared to other gems which I possess, and which I +intend to offer for your acceptance." + +Her eyes glistened with avarice and expectancy. + +"Oh, let me see them!" she cried. "If they are lovelier than those I +already have, they must be indeed magnificent! And are they all for +me?" + +"All for you!" I replied, drawing her closer, and playing with the +small white hand on which the engagement-ring I had placed there +sparkled so bravely. "All for my bride. A little hoard of bright +treasures; red rubies, ay--as red as blood-diamonds as brilliant as +the glittering of crossed daggers--sapphires as blue as the +lightning--pearls as pure as the little folded hands of a dead +child--opals as dazzlingly changeful as woman's love! Why do you +start?" for she had moved restlessly in my embrace. "Do I use bad +similes? Ah, cara mia, I am no poet! I can but speak of things as +they seem to my poor judgment. Yes, these precious things are for +you, bellissima; you have nothing to do but to take them, and may +they bring you much joy!" + +A momentary pallor had stolen over her face while I was speaking-- +speaking in my customary hard, harsh voice, which I strove to render +even harder and harsher than usual--but she soon recovered from +whatever passing emotion she may have felt, and gave herself up to +the joys of vanity and greed, the paramount passions of her nature. + +"I shall have the finest jewels in all Naples!" she laughed, +delightedly. "How the women will envy me! But where are these +treasures? May I see them now--immediately?" + +"No, not quite immediately," I replied, with a gentle derision that +escaped her observation. "To-morrow night--our marriage night--you +shall have them. And I must also fulfill a promise I made to you. +You wish to see me for once without these," and I touched my dark +glasses--"is it not so?" + +She raised her eyes, conveying into their lustrous depths an +expression of melting tenderness. + +"Yes," she murmured; "I want to see you as you ARE!" + +"I fear you will be disappointed," I said, with some irony, "for my +eyes are not pleasant to look at." + +"Never mind," she returned, gayly. "I shall be satisfied if I see +them just once, and we need not have much light in the room, as the +light gives you pain. I would not be the cause of suffering to you-- +no, not for all the world!" + +"You are very amiable," I answered, "more so than I deserve. I hope +I may prove worthy of your tenderness! But to return to the subject +of the jewels. I wish you to see them for yourself and choose the +best among them. Will you come with me to-morrow night? and I will +show you where they are." + +She laughed sweetly. + +"Are you a miser, Cesare?--and have you some secret hiding-place +full of treasure like Aladdin?" + +I smiled. + +"Perhaps I have," I said. "There are exceptional cases in which one +fears to trust even to a bank. Gems such as those I have to offer +you are almost priceless, and it would be unwise, almost cruel to +place such tempting toys within the reach of even an honest man. At +any rate, if I have been something of a miser, it is for your sake, +for your sake I have personally guarded the treasure that is to be +your bridal gift. You cannot blame me for this?" + +In answer she threw her fair arms round my neck and kissed me. +Strive against it as I would, I always shuddered at the touch of her +lips--a mingled sensation of loathing and longing possessed me that +sickened while it stung my soul. + +"Amor mio!" she murmured. "As if _I_ could blame you! You have no +faults in my estimation of you. You are good, brave and generous-- +the best of men; there is only one thing I wish sometimes--" Here +she paused, and her brow knitted itself frowningly, while a puzzled, +pained expression came into her eyes. + +"And that one thing is?" I inquired. + +"That you did not remind me so often of Fabio," she said, abruptly +and half angrily. "Not when you speak of him, I do not mean that. +What I mean is, that you have ways like his. Of course I know there +is no actual resemblance, and yet--" She paused again, and again +looked troubled. + +"Really, carina mia," I remarked, lightly and jestingly, "you +embarrass me profoundly! This fancy of yours is a most awkward one +for me. At the convent where I visited you, you became quite ill at +the contemplation of my hand, which you declared was like the hand +of your deceased husband; and now--this same foolish idea is +returning, when I hoped it had gone, with other morbid notions of an +oversensitive brain, forever. Perhaps you think I am your late +husband?" + +And I laughed aloud! She trembled a little, but soon laughed also. + +"I know I am very absurd," she said, "perhaps I am a little nervous +and unstrung: I have had too much excitement lately. Tell me more +about the jewels. When will you take me to see them?" + +"To-morrow night," I answered, "while the ball is going on, you and +I will slip away together--we shall return again before any of our +friends can miss us. You will come with me?" + +"Of course I will," she replied, readily, "only we must not be long +absent, because my maid will have to pack my wedding-dress, and then +there will be the jewels also to put in my strong box. Let me see! +We stay the night at the hotel, and leave for Rome and Paris the +first thing in the morning, do we not?" + +"That is the arrangement, certainly," I said, with a cold smile. + +"The little place where you have hidden your jewels, you droll +Cesare, is quite near then?" she asked. + +"Quite near," I assented, watching her closely. + +She laughed and clapped her hands. + +"Oh, I must have them," she exclaimed. "It would be ridiculous to go +to Paris without them. But why will you not get them yourself, +Cesare, and bring them here to me?" + +"There are so many," I returned, quietly, "and I do not know which +you would prefer. Some are more valuable than others. And it will +give me a special satisfaction--one that I have long waited for--to +see you making your own choice." + +She smiled half shyly, half cunningly. + +"Perhaps I will make no choice," she whispered, "perhaps I will take +them ALL, Cesare. What will you say then?" + +"That you are perfectly welcome to them," I replied. + +She looked slightly surprised. + +"You are really too good to me, caro mio," she said; "you spoil me." + +"CAN you be spoiled?" I asked, half jestingly. "Good women are like +fine brilliants--the more richly they are set the more they shine." + +She stroked my hand caressingly. + +"No one ever made such pretty speeches to me as you do!" she +murmured. + +"Not even Guido Ferrari?" I suggested, ironically. + +She drew herself up with an inimitably well-acted gesture of lofty +disdain. + +"Guido Ferrari!" she exclaimed. "He dared not address me save with +the greatest respect! I was as a queen to him! It was only lately +that he began to presume on the trust left him by my husband, and +then he became too familiar--a mistake on his part, for which YOU +punished him--as he deserved!" + +I rose from my seat beside her. I could not answer for my own +composure while sitting so close to the actual murderess of MY +friend and HER lover. Had she forgotten her own "familiar" treatment +of the dead man--the thousand nameless wiles and witcheries and +tricks of her trade, by which she had beguiled his soul and ruined +his honor? + +"I am glad you are satisfied with my action in that affair," I said, +coldly and steadily. "I myself regret the death of the unfortunate +young man, and shall continue to do so. My nature, unhappily, is an +oversensitive one, and is apt to be affected by trifles. But now, +mia bella, farewell until to-morrow--happy to-morrow!--when I shall +call you mine indeed!" + +A warm flush tinted her cheeks; she came to me where I stood, and +leaned against me. + +"Shall I not see you again till we meet in the church?" she +inquired, with a becoming bashfulness. + +"No. I will leave you this last day of your brief widowhood alone. +It is not well that I should obtrude myself upon your thoughts or +prayers. Stay!" and I caught her hand which toyed with the flower in +my buttonhole. "I see you still wear your former wedding-ring. May I +take it off?" + +"Certainly." And she smiled while I deftly drew off the plain gold +circlet I had placed there nearly four years since. + +"Will you let me keep it?" + +"If you like. _I_ would rather not see it again." + +"You shall not," I answered, as I slipped it into my pocket. "It +will be replaced by a new one to-morrow--one that I hope may be the +symbol of more joy to you than this has been." + +And as her eyes turned to my face in all their melting, perfidious +languor, I conquered my hatred of her by a strong effort, and +stooped and kissed her. Had I yielded to my real impulses, I would +have crushed her cruelly in my arms, and bruised her delicate flesh +with the brutal ferocity of caresses born of bitterest loathing, not +love. But no sign of my aversion escaped me--all she saw was her +elderly looking admirer, with his calmly courteous demeanor, chill +smile, and almost parental tenderness; and she judged him merely as +an influential gentleman of good position and unlimited income, who +was about to make her one of the most envied women in all Italy. + +The fugitive resemblance she traced in me to her "dead" husband was +certainly attributed by her to a purely accidental likeness common +to many persons in this world, where every man, they say, has his +double, and for that matter every woman also. Who does not remember +the touching surprise of Heinrich Heine when, on visiting the +picture-gallery of the Palazzo Durazzo in Genoa, he was brought face +to face with the portrait, as he thought, of a dead woman he had +loved--"Maria la morte." It mattered not to him that the picture was +very old, that it had been painted by Giorgio Barbarelli centuries +before his "Maria" could have lived; he simply declares: "Il est +vraiment d une ressemblance admirable, ressemblant jusqu'au silence +de la mort!" + +Such likenesses are common enough, and my wife, though my +resemblance to myself (!) troubled her a little, was very far from +imagining the real truth of the matter, as indeed how should she? +What woman, believing and knowing, as far as anything can be known, +her husband to be dead and fast buried, is likely to accept even the +idea of his possible escape from the tomb! Not one!--else the +disconsolate widows would indeed have reason to be more inconsolable +than they appear! + +When I left her that morning I found Andrea Luziani waiting for me +at my hotel. He was seated in the outer entrance hall; I bade him +follow me into my private salon. He did so. Abashed at the +magnificence of the apartment, he paused at the doorway, and stood, +red cap in hand, hesitating, though with an amiable smile on his +sunburned merry countenance. + +"Come in, amico," I said, with an inviting gesture, "and sit down. +All this tawdry show of velvet and gilding must seem common to your +eyes, that have rested so long on the sparkling pomp of the foaming +waves, the glorious blue curtain of the sky, and the sheeny white of +the sails of the 'Laura' gleaming in the gold of the sun. Would I +could live such a life as yours, Andrea!--there is nothing better +under the width of heaven." + +The poetical temperament of the Sicilian was caught and fired by my +words. He at once forgot the splendid appurtenances of wealth and +the costly luxuries that surrounded him; he advanced without +embarrassment, and seated himself on a velvet and gold chair with as +much ease as though it were a coil of rough rope on board the +"Laura." + +"You say truly, eccellenza," he said, with a gleam of his white +teeth through his jet-black mustache, while his warm southern eyes +flashed fire, "there is nothing sweeter than the life of the +marinaro. And truly there are many who say to me, 'Ah, ah! Andrea! +buon amico, the time comes when you will wed, and the home where the +wife and children sit will seem a better thing to you than the +caprice of the wind and waves.' But I--see you!--I know otherwise. +The woman I wed must love the sea; she must have the fearless eyes +that can look God's storms in the face--her tender words must ring +out all the more clearly for the sound of the bubbling waves leaping +against the 'Laura' when the wind is high! And as for our children," +he paused and laughed, "per la Santissima Madonna! if the salt and +iron of the ocean be not in their blood, they will be no children of +mine!" + +I smiled at his enthusiasm, and pouring out some choice +Montepulciano, bade him taste it. He did so with a keen appreciation +of its flavor, such as many a so-called connoisseur of wines does +not possess. + +"To your health, eccellenza!" he said, "and may you long enjoy your +life!" + +I thanked him; but in my heart I was far from echoing the kindly +wish. + +"And are you going to fulfill the prophecy of your friends, Andrea?" +I asked. "Are you about to marry?" + +He set down his glass only partly emptied, and smiled with an air of +mystery. + +"Ebbene! chi sa!" he replied, with a gay little shrug of his +shoulders, yet with a sudden tenderness in his keen eyes that did +not escape me. "There is a maiden--my mother loves her well--she is +little and fair as Carmelo Neri's Teresa--so high," and he laid his +brown hand lightly on his breast, "her head touches just here," and +he laughed. "She looks as frail as a lily, but she is hardy as a +sea-gull, and no one loves the wild waves more than she. Perhaps, in +the month of the Madonna, when the white lilies bloom--perhaps!--one +can never tell--the old song may be sung for us-- + + "Chi sa fervente amar + Solo e felice!" + +And humming the tune of the well-known love-ditty under his breath, +he raised his glass of wine to his lips and drained it off with a +relish, while his honest face beamed with gayety and pleasure. +Always the same story, I thought, moodily. Love, the tempter--Love, +the destroyer--Love, the curse! Was there NO escape possible from +this bewildering snare that thus caught and slew the souls of men? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +He soon roused himself from his pleasant reverie, and drawing his +chair closer to mine, assumed an air of mystery. + +"And for your friend who is in trouble," he said, in a confidential +tone, then paused and looked at me as though waiting permission to +proceed. + +I nodded. + +"Go on, amico. What have you arranged?" + +"Everything!" he announced, with an air of triumph. "All is smooth +sailing. At six o'clock on Friday morning the 'Rondinella,' that is +the brig I told you of, eccellenza, will weigh anchor for Civita +Vecchia. Her captain, old Antonio Bardi, will wait ten minutes or +even a quarter of an hour if necessary for the--the--" + +"Passenger," I supplemented. "Very amiable of him, but he will not +need to delay his departure for a single instant beyond the +appointed hour. Is he satisfied with the passage money?" + +"Satisfied!" and Andrea swore a good-natured oath and laughed aloud. +"By San Pietro! if he were not, he would deserve to drown like a dog +on the voyage! Though truly, it is always difficult to please him, +he being old and cross and crusty. Yes; he is one of those men who +have seen so much of life that they are tired of it. Believe it! +even the stormiest sea is a tame fish-pond to old Bardi. But he is +satisfied this time, eccellenza, and his tongue and eyes are so tied +up that I should not wonder if your friend found him to be both dumb +and blind when he steps on board." + +"That is well," I said, smiling. "I owe you many thanks, Andrea. And +yet there is one more favor I would ask of you." + +He saluted me with a light yet graceful gesture. + +"Eccellenza, anything I can do--command me." + +"It is a mere trifle," I returned. "It is merely to take a small +valise belonging to my friend, and to place it on board the +'Rondmella' under the care of the captain. Will you do this?" + +"Most willingly. I will take it now if it so please you." + +"That is what I desire. Wait here and I will bring it to you." + +And leaving him for a minute or two, I went into my bedroom and took +from a cupboard I always kept locked a common rough leather bag, +which I had secretly packed myself, unknown to Vincenzo, with such +things as I judged to be useful and necessary. Chief among them was +a bulky roll of bank-notes. These amounted to nearly the whole of +the remainder of the money I had placed in the bank at Palermo. I +had withdrawn it by gradual degrees, leaving behind only a couple of +thousand francs, for which I had no special need. I locked and +strapped the valise; there was no name on it and it was scarcely any +weight to carry. I took it to Andrea, who swung it easily in his +right hand and said, smilingly: + +"Your friend is not wealthy, eccellenza, if this is all his +luggage!" + +"You are right," I answered, with a slight sigh; "he is truly very +poor--beggared of everything that should be his through the +treachery of those whom he has benefited." I paused; Andrea was +listening sympathetically. "That is why I have paid his passage- +money, and have done my best to aid him." + +"Ah! you have the good heart, eccellenza," murmured the Sicilian, +thoughtfully. "Would there were more like you! Often when fortune +gives a kick to a man, nothing will suit but that all who see him +must kick him also. And thus the povero diavolo dies of so many +kicks, often! This friend of yours is young, senza dubbio?" + +"Yes, quite young, not yet thirty." + +"It is as if you were a father to him!" exclaimed Andrea, +enthusiastically. "I hope he may be truly grateful to you, +eccellenza." + +"I hope so too," I said, unable to resist a smile. "And now, amico, +take this," and I pressed a small sealed packet into his hand. "It +is for yourself. Do not open it till you are at home with the mother +you love so well, and the little maiden you spoke of by your side. +If its contents please you, as I believe they will, think that _I_ +am also rendered happier by your happiness." + +His dark eyes sparkled with gratitude as I spoke, and setting the +valise he held down on the ground, he stretched out his hand half +timidly, half frankly. I shook it warmly and bade him farewell. + +"Per Bacco!" he said, with a sort of shamefaced eagerness, "the very +devil must have caught my tongue in his fingers! There is something +I ought to say to you, eccellenza, but for my life I cannot find the +right words. I must thank you better when I see you next." + +"Yes," I answered, dreamily and somewhat wearily, "when you see me +next, Andrea, you shall thank me if you will; but believe me, I need +no thanks." + +And thus we parted, never to meet again--he to the strong glad life +that is born of the wind and sea, and I to--. But let me not +anticipate. Step by step through the labyrinths of memory let me go +over the old ground watered with blood and tears, not missing one +sharp stone of detail on the drear pathway leading to the bitter +end. + +That same evening I had an interview with Vincenzo. He was +melancholy and taciturn--a mood which was the result of an +announcement I had previously made to him--namely, that his services +would not be required during my wedding-trip. He had hoped to +accompany me and to occupy the position of courier, valet, major- +domo, and generally confidential attendant--a hope which had +partially soothed the vexation he had evidently felt at the notion +of my marrying at all. + +His plans were now frustrated, and if ever the good-natured fellow +could be ill-tempered, he was assuredly so on this occasion. He +stood before me with his usual respectful air, but he avoided my +glance, and kept his eyes studiously fixed on the pattern of the +carpet. I addressed him with an air of gayety. + +"Ebbene, Vincenzo! Joy comes at last, you see, even to me! To-morrow +I shall wed the Countess Romani--the loveliest and perhaps the +richest woman in Naples!" + +"I know it, eccellenza." + +This with the same obstinately fixed countenance and downward look. + +"You are not very pleased, I think, at the prospect of my +happiness?" I asked, banteringly. + +He glanced up for an instant, then as quickly down again. + +"If one could be sure that the illustrissimo eccellenza was indeed +happy, that would be a good thing," he answered, dubiously. + +"And are you not sure?" + +He paused, then replied firmly: + +"No; the eccellenza does not look happy. No, no, davvero! He has the +air of being sorrowful and ill, both together." + +I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. + +"You mistake me, Vincenzo. I am well--very well--and happy! Gran +Dio! who could be happier? But what of my health or happiness?--they +are nothing to me, and should be less to you. Listen; I have +something I wish you to do for me." + +He gave me a sidelong and half-expectant glance. I went on: + +"To-morrow evening I want you to go to Avellino." + +He was utterly astonished. + +"To Avellino!" he murmured under his breath, "to Avellino!" + +"Yes, to Avellino," I repeated, somewhat impatiently. "Is there +anything so surprising in that? You will take a letter from me to +the Signora Monti. Look you, Vincenzo, you have been faithful and +obedient so far, I expect implicit fidelity and obedience still. You +will not be needed here to-morrow after the marriage ball has once +begun; you can take the nine o'clock train to Avellino, and-- +understand me--you will remain there till you receive further news +from me. You will not have to wait long, and in the mean time," here +I smiled, "you can make love to Lilla." + +Vincenzo did not return the smile. + +"But--but," he stammered, sorely perplexed--"if I go to Avellino I +cannot wait upon the eccellenza. There is the portmanteau to pack-- +and who will see to the luggage when you leave on Friday morning for +Rome? And--and--I had thought to see you to the station--" He +stopped, his vexation was too great to allow him to proceed. + +I laughed gently. + +"How many more trifles can you think of, my friend, in opposition to +my wishes? As for the portmanteau, you can pack it this very day if +you so please--then it will be in readiness. The rest of your duties +can for once be performed by others. It is not only important, but +imperative that you should go to Avellino on my errand. I want you +to take this with you," and I tapped a small square iron box, +heavily made and strongly padlocked, which stood an the table near +me. + +He glanced at the box, but still hesitated, and the gloom on his +countenance deepened. I grew a little annoyed. + +"What is the matter with you?" I said at last with some sternness. +"You have something on your mind--speak out!" + +The fear of my wrath startled him. He looked up with a bewildered +pain in his eyes, and spoke, his mellow Tuscan voice vibrating with +his own eloquent entreaty. + +"Eccellenza!" he exclaimed, eagerly, "you must forgive me--yes, +forgive your poor servant who seems too bold, and who yet is true to +you--yes, indeed, so true!--and who would go with you to death if +there were need! I am not blind, I can see your sufferings, for you +do suffer, 'lustrissimo, though you hide it well. Often have I +watched you when you have not known it. I feel that you have what we +call a wound in the heart, bleeding, bleeding always. Such a thing +means death often, as much as a straight shot in battle. Let me +watch over you, eccellenza; let me stay with you! I have learned to +love you! Ah, mio signor," and he drew nearer and caught my hand +timidly, "you do not know--how should you?--the look that is in your +face sometimes, the look of one who is stunned by a hard blow. I +have said to myself 'That look will kill me if I see it often.' And +your love for this great lady, whom you will wed to-morrow, has not +lightened your soul as love should lighten it. No! you are even +sadder than before, and the look I speak of comes ever again and +again. Yes, I have watched you, and lately I have seen you writing, +writing far into the night, when you should have slept. Ah, signor! +you are angry, and I know I should not have spoken; but tell me, how +can I look at Lilla and be happy when I feel that you are alone and +sad?" + +I stopped the flood of his eloquence by a mute gesture and withdrew +my hand from his clasp. + +"I am not angry," I said, with quiet steadiness, and yet with +something of coldness, though my whole nature, always highly +sensitive, was deeply stirred by the rapid, unstudied expressions of +affection that melted so warmly from his lips in the liquid music of +the mellow Tuscan tongue. "No, I am not angry, but I am sorry to +have been the object of so much solicitude on your part. Your pity +is misplaced, Vincenzo, it is indeed! Pity an emperor clad in +purples and seated on a throne of pure gold, but do not pity ME! I +tell you that, to-morrow, yes, to-morrow, I shall obtain all that I +have ever sought--my greatest desire will be fulfilled. Believe it. +No man has ever been so thoroughly satiated with--satisfaction--as I +shall be!" + +Then seeing him look still sad and incredulous, I clapped my hand on +his shoulder and smiled. + +"Come, come, amico, wear a merrier face for my bridal day, or you +will not deserve to wed Lilla. I thank you from my heart," and I +spoke more gravely, "for your well meant care and kindness, but I +assure you there is nothing wrong with me. I am well--perfectly +well--and happy. It is understood that you go to Avellino to-morrow +evening?" + +Vincenzo sighed, but was passive. + +"It must be as the eccellenza pleases," he murmured, resignedly. + +"That is well," I answered, good-humoredly; "and as you know my +pleasure, take care that nothing interferes with your departure. +And--one word more--you must cease to watch me. Plainly speaking, I +do not choose to be under your surveillance. Nay--I am not offended, +far from it, fidelity and devotion are excellent virtues, but in the +present case I prefer obedience--strict, implicit obedience. +Whatever I may do, whether I sleep or wake, walk or sit still-- +attend to YOUR duties and pay no heed to MY actions. So will you +best serve me--you understand?" + +"Si, signor!" and the poor fellow sighed again, and reddened with +his own inward confusion. "You will pardon me, eccellenza, for my +freedom of speech? I feel I have done wrong--" + +"I pardon you for what in this world is never pardoned--excess of +love," I answered, gently. "Knowing you love me, I ask you to obey +me in my present wishes, and thus we shall always be friends." + +His face brightened at these last words, and his thoughts turned in +a new direction. He glanced at the iron box I had before pointed out +to him. + +"That is to go to Avellino, eccellenza?" he asked, with more +alacrity than he had yet shown. + +"Yes," I answered. "You will place it in the hands of the good +Signora Monti, for whom I have a great respect. She will take care +of it till--I return." + +"Your commands shall be obeyed, signor," he said, rapidly, as though +eager to atone for his past hesitation. "After all," and he smiled, +"it will be pleasant to see Lilla; she will be interested, too, to +hear the account of the eccellenza's marriage." + +And somewhat consoled by the prospect of the entertainment his +unlooked-for visit would give to the charming little maiden of his +choice, he left me, and shortly afterward I heard him humming a +popular love-song softly under his breath, while he busied himself +in packing my portmanteau for the honeymoon trip--a portmanteau +destined never to be used or opened by its owner. + +That night, contrary to my usual habit, I lingered long over my +dinner; at its close I poured out a full glass of fine Lacrima +Cristi, and secretly mixing with it a dose of a tasteless but +powerful opiate, I called my valet and bade him drink it and wish me +joy. He did so readily, draining the contents to the last drop. It +was a tempestuous night; there was a high wind, broken through by +heavy sweeping gusts of rain. Vincenzo cleared the dinner-table, +yawning visibly as he did so, then taking my out-door paletot on his +arm, he went to his bedroom, a small one adjoining mine, for the +purpose of brushing it, according to his customary method. I opened +a book, and pretending to be absorbed in its contents, I waited +patiently for about half an hour. + +At the expiration of that time I stole softly to his door and looked +in. It was as I had expected; overcome by the sudden and heavy +action of the opiate, he had thrown himself on his bed, and was +slumbering profoundly, the unbrushed overcoat by his side. Poor +fellow! I smiled as I watched him; the faithful dog was chained, and +could not follow my steps for that night at least. + +I left him thus, and wrapping myself in a thick Almaviva that +muffled me almost to the eyes, I hurried out, fortunately meeting no +one on my way--out into the storm and darkness, toward the Campo +Santo, the abode of the all-wise though speechless dead. I had work +to do there--work that must be done. I knew that if I had not taken +the precaution of drugging my too devoted servitor, he might, +despite his protestations, have been tempted to track me whither I +went. As it was, I felt myself safe, for four hours must pass, I +knew, before Vincenzo could awake from his lethargy. And I was +absent for some time. + +Though I performed my task as quickly as might be, it took me longer +than I thought, and filled me with more loathing and reluctance than +I had deemed possible. It was a grewsome, ghastly piece of work--a +work of preparation--and when I had finished it entirely to my +satisfaction, I felt as though the bony fingers of death itself had +been plunged into my very marrow. I shivered with cold, my limbs +would scarce bear me upright, and my teeth chattered as though I +were seized by strong ague. But the fixity of my purpose +strengthened me till all was done--till the stage was set for the +last scene of the tragedy. Or comedy? What you will! I know that in +the world nowadays you make a husband's dishonor more of a whispered +jest than anything else--you and your heavy machinery of the law. +But to me--I am so strangely constituted--dishonor is a bitterer +evil than death. If all those who are deceived and betrayed felt +thus, then justice would need to become more just. It is fortunate-- +for the lawyers--that we are not all honorable men! + +When I returned from my dreary walk in the driving storm I found +Vincenzo still fast asleep. I was glad of this, for had he seen me +in the plight I was, he would have had good reason to be alarmed +concerning both my physical and mental condition. Perceiving myself +in the glass, I recoiled as from an image of horror. I saw a man +with haunted, hungry eyes gleaming out from under a mass of +disordered white hair, his pale, haggard face set and stern as the +face of a merciless inquisitor of old Spain, his dark cloak dripping +with glittering raindrops, his hands and nails stained as though he +had dug them into the black earth, his boots heavy with mire and +clay, his whole aspect that of one who had been engaged in some +abhorrent deed, too repulsive to be named. I stared at my own +reflection thus and shuddered; then I laughed softly with a sort of +fierce enjoyment. Quickly I threw off all my soiled habiliments, and +locked them out of sight, and arraying myself in dressing-gown and +slippers, I glanced at the time. It was half-past one--already the +morning of my bridal. I had been absent three hours and a half. I +went into my salon and remained there writing. A few minutes after +two o'clock had struck the door opened noiselessly, and Vincenzo, +looking still very sleepy, appeared with an expression of inquiring +anxiety. He smiled drowsily, and seemed relieved to see me sitting +quietly in my accustomed place at the writing-table. I surveyed him +with an air of affected surprise. + +"Ebbene, Vincenzo! What has become of you all this while?" + +"Eccellenza," he stammered, "it was the Lacrima; I am not used to +wine! I have been asleep." + +I laughed, pretended to stifle a yawn on my own account, and rose +from my easy-chair. + +"Veramente," I said, lightly, "so have I, very nearly! And if I +would appear as a gay bridegroom, it is time I went to bed. Buona +notte." + +"Buona notte, signor." + +And we severally retired to rest, he satisfied that I had been in my +own room all the evening, and I, thinking with a savage joy at my +heart of what I had prepared out there in the darkness, with no +witnesses of my work save the whirling wind and rain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +My marriage morning dawned bright and clear, though the high wind of +the past night still prevailed and sent the white clouds scudding +rapidly, like ships running a race, across the blue fairness of the +sky. The air was strong, fresh, and exhilarating, and the crowds +that swarmed into the Piazza del Popolo, and the Toledo, eager to +begin the riot and fun of Giovedi Grasso, were one and all in the +highest good humor. As the hours advanced, many little knots of +people hurried toward the cathedral, anxious, if possible, to secure +places in or near the Chapel of San Gennaro, in order to see to +advantage the brilliant costumes of the few distinguished persons +who had been invited to witness my wedding. The ceremony was fixed +to take place at eleven, and at a little before half past ten I +entered my carriage, in company with the Duke di Marina as best man, +and drove to the scene of action. Clad in garments of admirable cut +and fit, with well-brushed hair and beard, and wearing a demeanor of +skillfully mingled gravity and gayety, I bore but little resemblance +to the haggard, ferocious creature who had faced me in the mirror a +few hours previously. + +A strange and secret mirth too possessed me, a sort of half-frenzied +merriment that threatened every now and then to break through the +mask of dignified composure it was necessary for me to wear. There +were moments when I could have laughed, shrieked, and sung with the +fury of a drunken madman. As it was, I talked incessantly; my +conversation was flavored with bitter wit and pungent sarcasm, and +once or twice my friend the duke surveyed me with an air of +wondering inquiry, as though he thought my manner forced or +unnatural. My coachman was compelled to drive rather slowly, owing +to the pressing throngs that swarmed at every corner and through +every thoroughfare, while the yells of the masqueraders, the gambols +of street clowns, the firing of toy guns, and the sharp explosion of +colored bladders, that were swung to and fro and tossed in the air +by the merry populace, startled my spirited horses frequently, and +caused them to leap and prance to a somewhat dangerous extent, thus +attracting more than the customary attention to my equipage. As it +drew up at last at the door of the chapel, I was surprised to see +what a number of spectators had collected there. There was a +positive crowd of loungers, beggars, children, and middle-class +persons of all sorts, who beheld my arrival with the utmost interest +and excitement. + +In accordance with my instructions a rich crimson carpet had been +laid down from the very edge of the pavement right into the church +as far as the altar; a silken awning had also been erected, under +which bloomed a miniature avenue of palms and tropical flowers. All +eyes were turned upon me curiously as I stepped from my carriage and +entered the chapel, side by side with the duke, and murmurs of my +vast wealth and generosity were audibly whispered as I passed along. +One old crone, hideously ugly, but with large, dark piercing eyes, +the fading lamps of a lost beauty, chuckled and mumbled as she +craned her skinny throat forward to observe me more closely. "Ay, +ay! The saints know he need be rich and generous--pover'uomo to fill +HER mouth. A little red cruel mouth always open, that swallows money +like macaroni, and laughs at the suffering poor! Ah! that is bad, +bad! He need be rich to satisfy HER!" + +The Duke di Marina caught these words and glanced quickly at me, but +I affected not to have heard. Inside the chapel there were a great +number of people, but my own invited guests, not numbering more than +twenty or thirty, were seated in the space apportioned to them near +the altar, which was divided from the mere sight-seers by means of a +silken rope that crossed the aisle. I exchanged greetings with most +of these persons, and in return received their congratulations; then +I walked with a firm deliberate step up to the high altar and there +waited. The magnificent paintings on the wall round me seemed +endowed with mysterious life--the grand heads of saints and martyrs +were turned upon me as though they demanded--"MUST thou do this +thing? Hast thou no forgiveness?" + +And ever my stern answer, "Nay; if hereafter I am tortured in +eternal flame for all ages, yet now--now while I live, I will be +avenged!" + +A bleeding Christ suspended on His cross gazed at me reproachfully +with long-enduring eyes of dreadful anguish--eyes that seemed to +say, "Oh, erring man, that tormentest thyself with passing passions, +shall not thine own end approach speedily?--and what comfort wilt +thou have in thy last hour?" + +And inwardly I answered, "None! No shred of consolation can ever +again be mine--no joy, save fulfilled revenge! And this I will +possess though the heavens should crack and the earth split asunder! +For once a woman's treachery shall meet with punishment--for once +such strange uncommon justice shall be done!" + +And my spirit wrapped itself again in somber meditative silence. The +sunlight fell gloriously through the stained windows--blue, gold, +crimson, and violet shafts of dazzling radiance glittered in +lustrous flickering patterns on the snowy whiteness of the marble +altar, and slowly, softly, majestically, as though an angel stepped +forward, the sound of music stole on the incense-laden air. The +unseen organist played a sublime voluntary of Palestrina's, and the +round harmonious notes came falling gently on one another like drops +from a fountain trickling on flowers. + +I thought of my last wedding-day, when I had stood in this very +place, full of hope, intoxicated with love and joy, when Guido +Ferrari had been by my side, and had drunk in for the first time the +poisoned draught of temptation from the loveliness of my wife's face +and form; when I, poor fool! would us soon have thought that God +could lie, as that either of these whom I adored could play me +false. I drew the wedding-ring from my pocket and looked at it--it +was sparklingly bright and appeared new. Yet it was old--it was the +very same ring I had drawn off my wife's finger the day before; it +had only been burnished afresh by a skilled jeweler, and showed no +more marks of wear than if it had been bought that morning. + +The great bell of the cathedral boomed out eleven, and as the last +stroke swung from the tower, the chapel doors were flung more widely +open: then came the gentle rustle of trailing robes, and turning, I +beheld my wife. She approached, leaning lightly on the arm of the +old Chevalier Mancini, who, true to his creeds of gallantry, had +accepted with alacrity the post of paternal protector to the bride +on this occasion; and I could not well wonder at the universal +admiration that broke in suppressed murmurs from all assembled, as +this most fair masterpiece of the devil's creation paced slowly and +gracefully up the aisle. She wore a dress of clinging white velvet +made with the greatest simplicity--a lace veil, priceless in value +and fine as gossamer, draped her from head to foot--the jewels I had +given her flashed about her like scintillating points of light, in +her hair, at her waist, on her breast and uncovered arms. + +Being as she deemed herself, a widow, she had no bride-maids; her +train was held up by a handsome boy clad in the purple and gold +costume of a sixteenth century page--he was the youngest son of the +Duke di Marina. Two tiny girls of five and six years of age went +before, strewing white roses and lilies, and stepping daintily +backward as though in attendance on a queen; they looked like two +fairies who had slipped out of a midnight dream, in their little +loose gowns of gold-colored plush, with wreaths of meadow daffodils +on their tumbled curly hair. They had been well trained by Nina +herself, for on arrival at the altar they stood demurely, one on +each side of her, the pretty page occupying his place behind, and +still holding up the end of the velvet train with a charming air of +hauteur and self-complacency. + +The whole cortege was a picture in its way, as Nina had meant it to +be: she was fond of artistic effects. She smiled languishingly upon +me as she reached the altar, and sunk on her knees beside me in +prayer. The music swelled forth with redoubled grandeur, the priests +and acolytes appeared, the marriage service commenced. As I placed +the ring on the book I glanced furtively at the bride; her fair head +was bent demurely--she seemed absorbed in holy meditations. The +priest having performed the ceremony of sprinkling it with holy +water, I took it back, and set it for the second time on my wife's +soft white little hand--set it in accordance with the Catholic +ritual, first on the thumb, then on the second finger, then on the +third, and lastly on the fourth, where I left it in its old place, +wondering as I did so, and murmured, "In Nomine Patris et Filii et +Spiritus Sancti, Amen!" whether she recognized it as the one she had +worn so long! But it was evident she did not; her calm was unbroken +by even so much as a start or tremor; she had the self-possession of +a perfectly satisfied, beautiful, vain, and utterly heartless woman. + +The actual ceremony of marriage was soon over; then followed the Mass, +in which we, the newly-wedded pair, were compelled, in submission to +the rule of the Church, to receive the Sacrament. I shuddered as the +venerable priest gave me the Sacred Host. What had I to do with the +inward purity and peace this memento of Christ is supposed to leave in +our souls? Methought the Crucified Image in the chapel regarded me +afresh with those pained eyes, and said, "Even so dost thou seal thine +own damnation!" Yet SHE, the true murderess, the arch liar, received +the Sacrament with the face of a rapt angel--the very priest himself +seemed touched by those upraised, candid, glorious eyes, the sweet +lips so reverently parted, the absolute, reliable peace that rested on +that white brow, like an aureole round the head of a saint! + +"If _I_ am damned, then is SHE thrice damned!" I said to myself, +recklessly. "I dare say hell is wide enough for us to live apart +when we get there." + +Thus I consoled my conscience, and turned resolutely away from the +painted appealing faces on the wall--the faces that in their various +expressions of sorrow, resignation, pain, and death seemed now to be +all pervaded by another look, that of astonishment--astonishment, so +I fancied, that such a man as I, and such a woman as she, should be +found in the width of the whole world, and should be permitted to +kneel at God's altar without being struck dead for their blasphemy! + +Ah, good saints, well may you be astonished! Had you lived in our +day you must have endured worse martyrdoms than the boiling oil or +the wrenching rack! What you suffered was the mere physical pain of +torn muscles and scorching flesh, pain that at its utmost could not +last long; but your souls were clothed with majesty and power, and +were glorious in the light of love, faith, hope, and charity with +all men. WE have reversed the position YOU occupied! We have partly +learned, and are still learning, how to take care of our dearly +beloved bodies, how to nourish and clothe them and guard them from +cold and disease; but our souls, good saints, the souls that with +you were everything--THESE we smirch, burn, and rack, torture and +destroy--these we stamp upon till we crush out God's image +therefrom--these we spit and jeer at, crucify and drown! THERE is +the difference between you, the strong and wise of a fruitful olden +time, and we, the miserable, puny weaklings of a sterile modern age. + +Had you, sweet St. Dorothy, or fair child-saint Agnes, lived in this +day, you would have felt something sharper than the executioner's +sword; for being pure, you would have been dubbed the worst of +women--being prayerful, you would have been called hypocrites--being +faithful, you would have been suspected of all vileness--being +loving, you would have been mocked at more bitterly than the +soldiers of Pontius Pilate mocked Christ; but you would have been +FREE--free to indulge your own opinions, for ours is the age of +liberty. Yet how much better for you to have died than have lived +till now! + +Absorbed in strange, half-morose, half-speculative fancies, I +scarcely heard the close of the solemn service. I was roused by a +delicate touch from my wife, and I woke, as it were, with a start, +to hear the sonorous, crashing chords of the wedding-march in +"Lohengrin" thundering through the air. All was over: my wife was +MINE indeed--mine most thoroughly--mine by the exceptionally close- +tied knot of a double marriage--mine to do as I would with "TILL +DEATH SHOULD US PART." How long, I gravely mused, how long before +death could come to do us this great service? And straightway I +began counting, counting certain spaces of time that must elapse +before--I was still absorbed in this mental arithmetic, even while +I mechanically offered my arm to my wife as we entered the vestry to +sign our names in the marriage register. So occupied was I in my +calculations that I nearly caught myself murmuring certain numbers +aloud. I checked this, and recalling my thoughts by a strong effort, +I strove to appear interested and delighted, as I walked down the +aisle with my beautiful bride, through the ranks of admiring and +eager spectators. + +On reaching the outer doors of the chapel several flower-girls +emptied their full and fragrant baskets at our feet; and in return, +I bade one of my servants distribute a bag of coins I had brought +for the purpose, knowing from former experience that it would be +needed. To tread across such a heap of flowers required some care, +many of the blossoms clinging to Nina's velvet train--we therefore +moved forward slowly. + +Just as we had almost reached the carriage, a young girl, with large +laughing eyes set like flashing jewels in her soft oval face, threw +down in my path a cluster of red roses. A sudden fury of impotent +passion possessed me, and I crushed my heel instantly and savagely +upon the crimson blossoms, stamping upon them again and again so +violently that my wife raised her delicate eyebrows in amazement, +and the pressing people who stood round us, shrugged their +shoulders, and gazed at one another with looks of utter +bewilderment--while the girl who had thrown them shrunk back in +terror, her face paling as she murmured, "Santissima Madonna! mi fa +paura!" I bit my lip with vexation, inwardly cursing the weakness of +my own behavior. I laughed lightly in answer to Nina's unspoken, +half-alarmed inquiry. + +"It is nothing--a mere fancy of mine. I hate red roses! They look to +me like human blood in flower!" + +She shuddered slightly. + +"What a horrible idea! How can you think of such a thing?" + +I made no response, but assisted her into the carriage with +elaborate care and courtesy; then entering it myself, we drove +together back to the hotel, where the wedding breakfast awaited us. + +This is always a feast of general uneasiness and embarrassment +everywhere, even in the sunny, pleasure-loving south; every one is +glad when it is over, and when the flowery, unmeaning speeches and +exaggerated compliments are brought to a fitting and happy +conclusion. Among my assembled guests, all of whom belonged to the +best and most distinguished families in Naples, there was a +pervading atmosphere of undoubted chilliness: the women were dull, +being rendered jealous of the bride's beauty and the richness of her +white velvets and jewels; the men were constrained, and could +scarcely force themselves into even the appearance of cordiality-- +they evidently thought that, with such wealth as mine, I would have +done much better to remain a bachelor. In truth, Italians, and +especially Neapolitans, are by no means enthusiastic concerning the +supposititious joys of marriage. They are apt to shake their heads, +and to look upon it as a misfortune rather than a blessing. +"L'altare e la tomba dell' amore," is a very common saying with us, +and very commonly believed. + +It was a relief to us all when we rose from the splendidly appointed +table, and separated for a few hours. We were to meet again at the +ball, which was fixed to commence at nine o'clock in the evening. +The cream of the event was to be tasted THEN--the final toasting of +the bride was to take place THEN--THEN there would be music, mirth +and dancing, and all the splendor of almost royal revelry. I +escorted my wife with formal courtesy to a splendid apartment which +had been prepared for her, for she had, as she told me, many things +to do--as, for instance, to take off her bridal robes, to study +every detail of her wondrous ball costume for the night, and to +superintend her maid in the packing of her trunks for the next day's +journey. THE NEXT DAY! I smiled grimly--I wondered how she would +enjoy her trip! Then I kissed her hand with the most profound +respect and left her to repose--to refresh and prepare herself for +the brilliant festivity of the evening. + +Our marriage customs are not as coarse as those of some countries; a +bridegroom in Italy thinks it scarcely decent to persecute his bride +with either his presence or his caresses as soon as the Church has +made her his. On the contrary, if ardent, he restrains his ardor--he +forbears to intrude, he strives to keep up the illusion, the rose- +colored light, or rather mist, of love as long as possible, and he +has a wise, instinctive dread of becoming overfamiliar; well knowing +that nothing kills romance so swiftly and surely as the bare blunt +prose of close and constant proximity. And I, like other gentlemen +of my rank and class, gave my twice-wedded wife her liberty--the +last hours of liberty she would ever know. I left her to busy +herself with the trifles she best loved--trifles of dress and +personal adornment, for which many women barter away their soul's +peace and honor, and divest themselves of the last shred of right +and honest principle merely to outshine others of their own sex, and +sow broadcast heart-burnings, petty envies, mean hatreds and +contemptible spites, where, if they did but choose, there might be a +widely different harvest. + +It is easy to understand the feelings of Marie Stuart when she +arrayed herself in her best garments for her execution: it was +simply the heroism of supreme vanity, the desire to fascinate if +possible the very headsman. One can understand any beautiful woman +being as brave as she. Harder than death itself would it have seemed +to her had she been compelled to appear on the scaffold looking +hideous. She was resolved to make the most of her charms so long as +life lasted. I thought of that sweet-lipped, luscious-smiling queen +as I parted from my wife for a few brief hours: royal and deeply +injured lady though she was, she merited her fate, for she was +treacherous--there can be no doubt of that. Yet most people reading +her her story pity her--I know not why. It is strange that so much +of the world's sympathy is wasted on false women! + +I strolled into one of the broad loggie of the hotel, from whence I +could see a portion of the Piazza del Popolo, and lighting a cigar, +I leisurely watched the frolics of the crowd. The customary fooling +proper to the day was going on, and no detail of it seemed to pall +on the good-natured, easily amused folks who must have seen it all +so often before. Much laughter was being excited by the remarks of a +vender of quack medicines, who was talking with extreme volubility +to a number of gayly dressed girls and fishermen. I could not +distinguish his words, but I judged he was selling the "elixir of +love," from his absurd amatory gestures--an elixir compounded, no +doubt, of a little harmless eau sucre. + +Flags tossed on the breeze, trumpets brayed, drums beat; +improvisatores twanged their guitars and mandolins loudly to attract +attention, and failing in their efforts, swore at each other with +the utmost joviality and heartiness; flower-girls and lemonade- +sellers made the air ring with their conflicting cries: now and then +a shower of chalky confetti flew out from adjacent windows, dusting +with white powder the coats of the passers-by; clusters of flowers +tied with favors of gay-colored ribbon were lavishly flung at the +feet of bright-eyed peasant girls, who rejected or accepted them at +pleasure, with light words of badinage or playful repartee; clowns +danced and tumbled, dogs barked, church bells clanged, and through +all the waving width of color and movement crept the miserable, +shrinking forms of diseased and loathly beggars whining for a soldo, +and clad in rags that barely covered their halting, withered limbs. + +It was a scene to bewilder the brain and dazzle the eyes, and I was +just turning away from it out of sheer fatigue, when a sudden +cessation of movement in the swaying, whirling crowd, and a slight +hush, caused me to look out once more. I perceived the cause of the +momentary stillness--a funeral cortege appeared, moving at a slow +and solemn pace; as it passed across the square, heads were +uncovered, and women crossed themselves devoutly. Like a black +shadowy snake it coiled through the mass of shifting color and +brilliance--another moment, and it was gone. The depressing effect +of its appearance was soon effaced--the merry crowds resumed their +thousand and one freaks of folly, their shrieking, laughing and +dancing, and all was as before. Why not? + +The dead are soon forgotten; none knew that better than I! Leaning +my arms lazily on the edge of the balcony, I finished smoking my +cigar. That glimpse of death in the midst of life had filled me with +a certain satisfaction. Strangely enough, my thoughts began to busy +themselves with the old modes of torture that used to be legal, and +that, after all, were not so unjust when practiced upon persons +professedly vile. For instance, the iron coffin of Lissa--that +ingeniously contrived box in which the criminal was bound fast hand +and foot, and then was forced to watch the huge lid descending +slowly, slowly, slowly, half an inch at a time, till at last its +ponderous weight crushed into a flat and mangled mass the writhing +wretch within, who had for long agonized hours watched death +steadily approaching. Suppose that _I_ had such a coffin now! I +stopped my train of reflection with a slight shudder. No, no; she +whom I sought to punish was so lovely, such a softly colored, +witching, gracious body, though tenanted by a wicked soul--she +should keep her beauty! I would not destroy that--I would be +satisfied with my plan as already devised. + +I threw away the end of my smoked-out cigar and entered my own +rooms. Calling Vincenzo, who was now resigned and even eager to go +to Avellino, I gave him his final instructions, and placed in his +charge the iron cash-box, which, unknown to him, contained 12,000 +francs in notes and gold. This was the last good action I could do: +it was a sufficient sum to set him up as a well-to-do farmer and +fruit-grower in Avellino with Lilla and her little dowry combined. +He also carried a sealed letter to Signora Monti, which I told him +she was not to open till a week had elapsed; this letter explained +the contents of the box and my wishes concerning it; it also asked +the good woman to send to the Villa Romani for Assunta and her +helpless charge, poor old paralyzed Giacomo, and to tend the latter +as well as she could till his death, which I knew could not be far +off. + +I had thought of everything as far as possible, and I could already +foresee what a happy, peaceful home there would be in the little +mountain town guarded by the Monte Vergine. Lilla and Vincenzo would +wed, I knew; Signora Monti and Assunta would console each other with +their past memories and in the tending of Lilla's children; for some +little time, perhaps, they would talk of me and wonder sorrowfully +where I had gone; then gradually they would forget me, even as I +desired to be forgotten. + +Yes; I had done all I could for those who had never wronged me. I had +acquitted myself of my debt to Vincenzo for his affection and +fidelity; the rest of my way was clear. I had no more to do save the +ONE THING, the one deed which had clamored so long for accomplishment. +Revenge, like a beckoning ghost, had led me on step by step for many +weary days and months, which to me had seemed cycles of suffering; but +now it paused--it faced me--and turning its blood-red eyes upon my +soul said, "Strike!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +The ball opened brilliantly. The rooms were magnificently decorated, +and the soft luster of a thousand lamps shone on a scene of splendor +almost befitting the court of a king. Some of the stateliest nobles +in all Italy were present, their breasts glittering with jeweled +orders and ribbons of honor; some of the loveliest women to be seen +anywhere in the world flitted across the polished floors, like +poets' dreams of the gliding sylphs that haunt rivers and fountains +by moonlight. + +But fairest where all were fair, peerless in the exuberance of her +triumphant vanity, and in the absolute faultlessness of her delicate +charms, was my wife--the bride of the day, the heroine of the night. +Never had she looked so surpassingly beautiful, and I, even I, felt +my pulse beat quicker, and the blood course more hotly through my +veins, as I beheld her, radiant, victorious, and smiling--a +veritable queen of the fairies, as dainty as a drop of dew, as +piercing to the eye as a flash of light. Her dress was some +wonderful mingling of misty lace, with the sheen of satin and +glimmering showers of pearl; diamonds glittered on her bodice like +sunlight on white foam; the brigand's jewels flashed gloriously on +her round white throat and in her tiny shell-like ears, while the +masses of her gold hair were coiled to the top of her small head and +there caught by a priceless circlet of rose-brilliants--brilliants +that I well remembered--they had belonged to my mother. Yet more +lustrous than the light of the gems she wore was the deep, ardent +glory of her eyes, dark as night and luminous as stars; more +delicate than the filmy robes that draped her was the pure, pearl- +like whiteness of her neck, which was just sufficiently displayed to +be graceful without suggesting immodesty. + +For Italian women do not uncover their bosoms for the casual +inspection of strangers, as is the custom of their English and +German sisters; they know well enough that any lady venturing to +wear a decollete dress would find it impossible to obtain admittance +to a court ball at the Palazzo Quirinale. She would be looked upon +as one of a questionable class, and no matter how high her rank and +station, would run the risk of ejection from the doors, as on one +occasion did unfortunately happen to an English peeress, who, +ignorant of Italian customs, went to an evening reception in Rome +arrayed in a very low bodice with straps instead of sleeves. Her +remonstrances were vain; she was politely but firmly refused +admittance, though told she might gain her point by changing her +costume, which I believe she wisely did. + +Some of the grandes dames present at the ball that night wore +dresses the like of which are seldom or never seen out of Italy-- +robes sown with jewels, and thick with wondrous embroidery, such as +have been handed down from generation to generation through hundreds +of years. As an example of this, the Duchess of Marina's cloth of +gold train, stitched with small rubies and seed-pearls, had formerly +belonged to the family of Lorenzo de Medici. Such garments as these, +when they are part of the property of a great house, are worn only +on particular occasions, perhaps once in a year; and then they are +laid carefully by and sedulously protected from dust and moths and +damp, receiving as much attention as the priceless pictures and +books of a famous historical mansion. Nothing ever designed by any +great modern tailor or milliner can hope to compete with the +magnificent workmanship and durable material of the festa dresses +that are locked preciously away in the old oaken coffers of the +greatest Italian families--dresses that are beyond valuation, +because of the romances and tragedies attached to them, and which, +when worn, make all the costliest fripperies of to-day look flimsy +and paltry beside them, like the attempts of a servant to dress as +tastefully as her mistress. + +Such glitter of gold and silver, such scintillations from the +burning eyes of jewels, such cloud-like wreaths of floating laces, +such subtle odors of rare and exquisite perfume, all things that +most keenly prick and stimulate the senses were round me in fullest +force this night--this one dazzling, supreme and terrible night, +that was destined to burn into my brain like a seal of scorching +fire. Yes; till I die, that night will remain with me as though it +were a breathing, sentient thing; and after death, who knows whether +it may not uplift itself in some tangible, awful shape, and confront +me with its flashing mock-luster, and the black heart of its true +meaning in its menacing eyes, to take its drear place by the side of +my abandoned soul through all eternity! I remember now how I +shivered and started out of the bitter reverie into which I had +fallen at the sound of my wife's low, laughing voice. + +"You must dance, Cesare," she said, with a mischievous smile. "You +are forgetting your duties. You should open the ball with me!" + +I rose at once mechanically. + +"What dance is it?" I asked, forcing a smile. "I fear you will find +me but a clumsy partner." + +She pouted. + +"Oh, surely not! You are not going to disgrace me--you really must +try and dance properly just this once. It will look so stupid if you +make any mistake. The band was going to play a quadrille; I would +not have it, and told them to strike up the Hungarian waltz instead. +But I assure you I shall never forgive you if you waltz badly-- +nothing looks so awkward and absurd." + +I made no answer, but placed my arm round her waist and stood ready +to begin. I avoided looking at her as much as possible, for it was +growing more and more difficult with each moment that passed to hold +the mastery over myself. I was consumed between hate and love. Yes, +love!--of an evil kind, I own, and in which there was no shred of +reverence--filled me with a sort of foolish fury, which mingled +itself with another and manlier craving, namely, to proclaim her +vileness then and there before all her titled and admiring friends, +and to leave her shamed in the dust of scorn, despised and +abandoned. Yet I knew well that were I to speak out--to declare my +history and hers before that brilliant crowd--I should be accounted +mad, and that for a woman such as she there existed no shame. + +The swinging measure of the slow Hungarian waltz, that most witching +of dances, danced perfectly only by those of the warm-blooded +southern temperament, now commenced. It was played pianissimo, and +stole through the room like the fluttering breath of a soft sea +wind. I had always been an excellent waltzer, and my step had fitted +in with that of Nina as harmoniously as the two notes of a perfect +chord. She found it so on this occasion, and glanced up with a look +of gratified surprise as I bore her lightly with languorous, +dreamlike ease of movement through the glittering ranks of our +guests, who watched us admiringly as we circled the room two or +three times. + +Then--all present followed our lead, and in a couple of minutes the +ball-room was like a moving flower-garden in full bloom, rich with +swaying colors and rainbow-like radiance; while the music, growing +stronger, and swelling out in marked and even time, echoed forth +like the sound of clear-toned bells broken through by the singing of +birds. My heart beat furiously, my brain reeled, my senses swam as I +felt my wife's warm breath on my cheek; I clasped her waist more +closely, I held her little gloved hand more firmly. She felt the +double pressure, and, lifting her white eyelids fringed with those +long dark lashes that gave such a sleepy witchery to her eyes, her +lips parted in a little smile. + +"At last you love me!" she whispered. + +"At last, at last," I muttered, scarce knowing what I said. "Had I +not loved you at first, bellissima, I should not have been to you +what I am to-night." + +A low ripple of laughter was her response. + +"I knew it," she murmured again, half breathlessly, as I drew her with +swifter and more voluptuous motion into the vortex of the dancers. +"You tried to be cold, but I knew I could make you love me--yes, love +me passionately--and I was right." Then with an outburst of triumphant +vanity she added, "I believe you would die for me!" + +I bent over her more closely. My hot quick breath moved the feathery +gold of her hair. + +"I HAVE died for you," I said; "I have killed my old self for your +sake." + +Dancing still, encircled by my arms, and gliding along like a sea- +nymph on moonlighted foam, she sighed restlessly. + +"Tell me what you mean, amor mio," she asked, in the tenderest tone +in the world. + +Ah, God! that tender seductive cadence of her voice, how well I knew +it!--how often had it lured away my strength, as the fabled siren's +song had been wont to wreck the listening mariner. + +"I mean that you have changed me, sweetest!" I whispered, in fierce, +hurried accents. "I have seemed old--for you to-night I will be +young again--for you my chilled slow blood shall again be hot and +quick as lava--for you my long-buried past shall rise in all its +pristine vigor; for you I will be a lover, such as perhaps no woman +ever had or ever will have again!" + +She heard, and nestled closer to me in the dance. My words pleased +her. Next to her worship of wealth her delight was to arouse the +passions of men. She was very panther-like in her nature--her first +tendency was to devour, her next to gambol with any animal she met, +though her sleek, swift playfulness might mean death. She was by no +means exceptional in this; there are many women like her. + +As the music of the waltz grew slower and slower, dropping down to a +sweet and persuasive conclusion, I led my wife to her fauteuil, and +resigned her to the care of a distinguished Roman prince who was her +next partner. Then, unobserved, I slipped out to make inquiries +concerning Vincenzo. He had gone; one of the waiters at the hotel, a +friend of his, had accompanied him and seen him into the train for +Avellino. He had looked in at the ball-room before leaving, and had +watched me stand up to dance with my wife, then "with tears in his +eyes"--so said the vivacious little waiter who had just returned +from the station--he had started without daring to wish me good-bye. + +I heard this information of course with an apparent kindly +indifference, but in my heart I felt a sudden vacancy, a drear, +strange loneliness. With my faithful servant near me I had felt +conscious of the presence of a friend, for friend he was in his own +humble, unobtrusive fashion; but now I was alone--alone in a +loneliness beyond all conceivable comparison--alone to do my work, +without prevention or detection. I felt, as it were, isolated from +humanity, set apart with my victim on some dim point of time, from +which the rest of the world receded, where the searching eye of the +Creator alone could behold me. Only she and I and God--these three +were all that existed for me in the universe; between these three +must justice be fulfilled. + +Musingly, with downcast eyes, I returned to the ball-room. At the +door a young girl faced me--she was the only daughter of a great +Neapolitan house. Dressed in pure white, as all such maidens are, +with a crown of snow-drops on her dusky hair, and her dimpled face +lighted with laughter, she looked the very embodiment of early +spring. She addressed me somewhat timidly, yet with all a child's +frankness. + +"Is not this delightful? I feel as if I were in fairy-land! Do you +know this is my first ball?" + +I smiled wearily. + +"Ay, truly? And you are happy?" + +"Oh, happiness is not the word--it is ecstasy! How I wish it could +last forever! And--is it not strange?--I did not know I was +beautiful till to-night." + +She said this with perfect simplicity, and a pleased smile radiated +her fair features. I glanced at her with cold scrutiny. + +"Ah! and some one has told you so." + +She blushed and laughed a little consciously. + +"Yes; the great Prince de Majano. And he is too noble to say what is +not true, so I MUST be 'la piu bella donzella,' as he said, must I +not?" + +I touched the snow-drops that she wore in a white cluster at her +breast. + +"Look at your flowers, child," I said, earnestly. "See how they +begin to droop in this heated air. The poor things! How glad they +would feel could they again grow in the cool wet moss of the +woodlands, waving their little bells to the wholesome, fresh wind! +Would they revive now, think you, for your great Prince de Majano if +he told them they were fair? So with your life and heart, little +one--pass them through the scorching fire of flattery, and their +purity must wither even as these fragile blossoms. And as for +beauty--are you more beautiful than SHE?" + +And I pointed slightly to my wife, who was at that moment +courtesying to her partner in the stately formality of the first +quadrille. + +My young companion looked, and her clear eyes darkened enviously. + +"Ah, no, no! But if I wore such lace and satin and pearls, and had +such jewels, I might perhaps be more like her!" + +I sighed bitterly. The poison had already entered this child's soul. +I spoke brusquely. + +"Pray that you may never be like her," I said, with somber sternness, +and not heeding her look of astonishment. "You are young--you cannot +yet have thrown off religion. Well, when you go home to-night, and +kneel beside your little bed, made holy by the cross above it and your +mother's blessing--pray--pray with all your strength that you may +never resemble in the smallest degree that exquisite woman yonder! So +may you be spared her fate." + +I paused, for the girl's eyes were dilated in extreme wonder and +fear. I looked at her, and laughed abruptly and harshly. + +"I forgot," I said; "the lady is my wife--I should have thought of +that! I was speaking of--another whom you do not know. Pardon me! +when I am fatigued my memory wanders. Pay no attention to my foolish +remarks. Enjoy yourself, my child, but do not believe all the pretty +speeches of the Prince de Majano. A rivederci!" + +And smiling a forced smile I left her, and mingled with the crowd of +my guests, greeting one here, another there, jesting lightly, paying +unmeaning compliments to the women who expected them, and striving +to distract my thoughts with the senseless laughter and foolish +chatter of the glittering cluster of society butterflies, all the +while desperately counting the tedious minutes, and wondering +whether my patience, so long on the rack, would last out its +destined time. As I made my way through the brilliant assemblage, +Luziano Salustri, the poet, greeted me with a grave smile. + +"I have had little time to congratulate you, conte," he said, in +those mellifluous accents of his which were like his own improvised +music, "but I assure you I do so with all my heart. Even in my most +fantastic dreams I have never pictured a fairer heroine of a life's +romance than the lady who is now the Countess Oliva." + +I silently bowed my thanks. + +"I am of a strange temperament, I suppose," he resumed. "To-night +this ravishing scene of beauty and splendor makes me sad at heart, I +know not why. It seems too brilliant, too dazzling. I would as soon +go home and compose a dirge as anything." + +I laughed satirically. + +"Why not do it?" I said. "You are not the first person who, being +present at a marriage, has, with perverse incongruity, meditated on +a funeral!" + +A wistful look came into his brilliant poetic eyes. + +"I have thought once or twice," he remarked in a low tone, "of that +misguided young man Ferrari. A pity, was it not, that the quarrel +occurred between you?" + +"A pity indeed!" I replied, brusquely. Then taking him by the arm I +turned him round so that he faced my wife, who was standing not far +off. "But look at the--the--ANGEL I have married! Is she not a fair +cause for a dispute even unto death? Fy on thee, Luziano!--why think +of Ferrari? He is not the first man who has been killed for the sake +of a woman, nor will he be the last!" + +Salustri shrugged his shoulders, and was silent for a minute or two. +Then he added with his own bright smile: + +"Still, amico, it would have been much better if it had ended in +coffee and cognac. Myself, I would rather shoot a man with an +epigram than a leaden bullet! By the do you remember our talking of +Cain and Abel that night?" + +"Perfectly." + +"I have wondered since," he continued half merrily, half seriously, +"whether the real cause of their quarrel has ever been rightly told. +I should not be at all surprised if one of these days some savant +does not discover a papyrus containing a missing page of Holy Writ, +which will ascribe the reason of the first bloodshed to a love +affair. Perhaps there were wood nymphs in those days, as we are +assured there were giants, and some dainty Dryad might have driven +the first pair of human brothers to desperation by her charms! What +say you?" + +"It is more than probable," I answered, lightly. "Make a poem of it, +Salustri; people will say you have improved on the Bible!" + +And I left him with a gay gesture to join other groups, and to take +my part in the various dances which were now following quickly on +one another. The supper was fixed to take place at midnight. At the +first opportunity I had, I looked at the time. Quarter to eleven!-- +my heart beat quickly, the blood rushed to my temples and surged +noisily in my ears. The hour I had waited for so long and so eagerly +had come! At last! at last! + +******* + +Slowly and with a hesitating step I approached my wife. She was +resting after her exertions in the dance, and reclined languidly in +a low velvet chair, chatting gayly with that very Prince de Majano +whose honeyed compliments had partly spoiled the budding sweet +nature of the youngest girl in the room. Apologizing for +interrupting the conversation, I lowered my voice to a persuasive +tenderness as I addressed her. + +"Cara, sposina mia! permit me to remind you of your promise." + +What a radiant look she gave me! + +"I am all impatience to fulfill it! Tell me when--and how?" + +"Almost immediately. You know the private passage through which we +entered the hotel this morning on our return from church?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Well, meet me there in twenty minutes. We must avoid being observed +as we pass out. But," and I touched her delicate dress, "you will +wear something warmer than this?" + +"I have a long sable cloak that will do," she replied, brightly. "We +are not going far?" + +"No, not far." + +"We shall return in time for supper, of course?" + +I bent my head. + +"Naturally!" + +Her eyes danced mirthfully. + +"How romantic it seems! A moonlight stroll with you will be +charming! Who shall say you are not a sentimental bridegroom? Is +there a bright moon?" + +"I believe so." + +"Cosa bellissima!" and she laughed sweetly. "I look forward to the +trip! In twenty minutes then I shall be with you at the place you +name, Cesare; in the meanwhile the Marchese Gualdro claims me for +this mazurka." + +And she turned with her bewitching grace of manner to the marchese, +who at that moment advanced with his courteous bow and fascinating +smile, and I watched them as they glided forward together in the +first figure of the elegant Polish dance, in which all lovely women +look their loveliest. + +Then, checking the curse that rose to my lips, I hurried away. Up to +my own room I rushed with feverish haste, full of impatience to be +rid of the disguise I had worn so long. + +Within a few minutes I stood before my mirror, transformed into my +old self as nearly as it was possible to be. I could not alter the +snowy whiteness of my hair, but a few deft quick strokes of the +razor soon divested me of the beard that had given me so elderly an +aspect, and nothing remained but the mustache curling slightly up at +the corners of the lip, as I had worn it in past days. I threw aside +the dark glasses, and my eyes, densely brilliant, and fringed with +the long lashes that had always been their distinguishing feature, +shone with all the luster of strong and vigorous youth. I +straightened myself up to my full height, I doubled my fist and felt +it hard as iron; I laughed aloud in the triumphant power of my +strong manhood. I thought of the old rag-dealing Jew--"You could +kill anything easily." Ay, so I could!--even without the aid of the +straight swift steel of the Milanese dagger which I now drew from +its sheath and regarded steadfastly, while I carefully felt the edge +of the blade from hilt to point. Should I take it with me? I +hesitated. Yes! it might be needed. I slipped it safely and secretly +into my vest. + +And now the proofs--the proofs! I had them all ready to my hand, and +gathered them quickly together; first the things that had been +buried with me--the gold chain on which hung the locket containing +the portraits of my wife and child, the purse and card-case which +Nina herself had given me, the crucifix the monk had laid on my +breast in the coffin. The thought of that coffin moved me to a stern +smile--that splintered, damp, and moldering wood must speak for +itself by and by. Lastly I look the letters sent me by the Marquis +D'Avencourt--the beautiful, passionate love epistles she had written +to Guido Ferrari in Rome. + +Now, was that all? I thoroughly searched both my rooms, ransacking +every corner. I had destroyed everything that could give the +smallest clew to my actions; I left nothing save furniture and small +valuables, a respectable present enough in their way, to the +landlord of the hotel. + +I glanced again at myself in the mirror. Yes; I was once more Fabio +Romani, in spite of my white hair; no one that had ever known me +intimately could doubt my identity. I had changed my evening dress +for a rough, every-day suit, and now over this I threw my long +Almaviva cloak, which draped me from head to foot. I kept its folds +well up about my mouth and chin, and pulled on a soft slouched hat, +with the brim far down over my eyes. There was nothing unusual in +such a costume; it was common enough to many Neapolitans who have +learned to dread the chill night winds that blow down from the lofty +Apennines in early spring. Thus attired, too, I knew my features +would be almost invisible to HER more especially as the place of our +rendezvous was a long dim entresol lighted only by a single oil- +lamp, a passage that led into the garden, one that was only used for +private purposes, having nothing to do with the ordinary modes of +exit and entrance to and from the hotel. + +Into this hall I now hurried with an eager step; it was deserted; +she was not there. Impatiently I waited--the minutes seemed hours! +Sounds of music floated toward me from the distant ball-room--the +dreamy, swinging measure of a Viennese waltz. I could almost hear +the flying feet of the dancers. I was safe from all observation +where I stood--the servants were busy preparing the grand marriage +supper, and all the inhabitants of the hotel were absorbed in +watching the progress of the brilliant and exceptional festivities +of the night. + +Would she never come? Suppose, after all, she should escape me! I +trembled at the idea, then put it from me with a smile at my own +folly. No, her punishment was just, and in her case the Fates were +inflexible. So I thought and felt. I paced up and down feverishly; I +could count the thick, heavy throbs of my own heart. How long the +moments seemed! Would she never come? Ah! at last! I caught the +sound of a rustling robe and a light step--a breath of delicate +fragrance was wafted on the air like the odor of falling orange- +blossoms. I turned, and saw her approaching. With swift grace she +ran up to me as eagerly as a child, her heavy cloak of rich Russian +sable falling back from her shoulders and displaying her glittering +dress, the dark fur of the hood heightening by contrast the fairness +of her lovely flushed face, so that it looked like the face of one +of Correggio's angels framed in ebony and velvet. She laughed, and +her eyes flashed saucily. + +"Did I keep you waiting, caro mio?" she whispered; and standing on +tiptoe she kissed the hand with which I held my cloak muffled about +me. "How tall you look in that Almaviva! I am so sorry I am a little +late, but that last waltz was so exquisite I could not resist it; +only I wish YOU had danced it with me." + +"You honor me by the wish," I said, keeping one arm about her waist +and drawing her toward the door that opened into the garden. "Tell +me, how did you manage to leave the ball-room?" + +"Oh, easily. I slipped away from my partner at the end of the waltz, +and told him I should return immediately. Then I ran upstairs to my +room, got my cloak--and here I am." + +And she laughed again. She was evidently in the highest spirits. + +"You are very good to come with me at all, mia bella," I murmured as +gently as I could; "it is kind of you to thus humor my fancy. Did +you see your maid? does she know where you are going?" + +"She? Oh, no, she was not in my room at all. She is a great +coquette, you know; I dare say she is amusing herself with the +waiters in the kitchen. Poor thing! I hope she enjoys it." + +I breathed freely; we were so far undiscovered. No one had as yet +noticed our departure--no one had the least clew to my intentions, I +opened the door of the passage noiselessly, and we passed out. +Wrapping my wife's cloak more closely about her with much apparent +tenderness, I led her quickly across the garden. There was no one in +sight--we were entirely unobserved. On reaching the exterior gate of +the inclosure I left her for a moment, while I summoned a carriage, +a common fiacre. She expressed some surprise on seeing the vehicle. + +"I thought we were not going far?" she said. + +I reassured her on this point, telling her that I only desired to +spare her all possible fatigue. Satisfied with this explanation, she +suffered me to assist her into the carriage. I followed her, and +calling to the driver, "A la Villa Guarda," we rattled away over the +rough uneven stones of the back streets of the city. + +"La Villa Guarda!" exclaimed Nina. "Where is that?" + +"It is an old house," I replied, "situated near the place I spoke to +you of, where the jewels are." + +"Oh!" + +And apparently contented, she nestled back in the carriage, +permitting her head to rest lightly on my shoulder. I drew her +closer to me, my heart beating with a fierce, terrible joy. + +"Mine--mine at last!" I whispered in her ear. "Mine forever!" + +She turned her face upward and smiled victoriously; her cool +fragrant lips met my burning, eager ones in a close, passionate +kiss. Yes, I kissed her now--why should I not? She was as much mine +as any purchased slave, and merited less respect than a sultan's +occasional female toy. And as she chose to caress me, I let her do +so: I allowed her to think me utterly vanquished by the battery of +her charms. Yet whenever I caught an occasional glimpse of her face +as we drove along in the semi-darkness, I could not help wondering +at the supreme vanity of the woman! Her self-satisfaction was so +complete, and, considering her approaching fate, so tragically +absurd! + +She was entirely delighted with herself, her dress, and her +conquest--as she thought--of me. Who could measure the height of the +dazzling visions she indulged in; who could fathom the depths of her +utter selfishness! + +Seeing one like her, beautiful, wealthy, and above all--society +knows I speak the truth--WELL DRESSED, for by the latter virtue +alone is a woman allowed any precedence nowadays--would not all the +less fortunate and lovely of her sex feel somewhat envious? Ah, yes; +they would and they do; but believe me, the selfish feminine thing, +whose only sincere worship is offered at the shrines of Fashion and +Folly, is of all creatures the one whose life is to be despised and +never desired, and whose death makes no blank even in the circles of +her so-called best friends. + +I knew well enough that there was not a soul in Naples who was +really attached to my wife--not one who would miss her, no, not even +a servant--though she, in her superb self-conceit, imagined herself +to be the adored beauty of the city. Those who had indeed loved her +she had despised, neglected, and betrayed. Musingly I looked down +upon her as she rested back in the carriage, encircled by my arm, +while now and then a little sigh of absolute delight in herself +broke from her lips--but we spoke scarcely at all. Hate has almost +as little to say as love! + +The night was persistently stormy, though no rain fell--the gale had +increased in strength, and the white moon only occasionally glared +out from the masses of white and gray cloud that rushed like flying +armies across the sky, and her fitful light shone dimly, as though +she were a spectral torch glimmering through a forest of shadow. Now +and again bursts of music, or the blare of discordant trumpets, +reached our ears from the more distant thoroughfares where the +people were still celebrating the feast of Giovedi Grasso, or the +tinkle of passing mandolins chimed in with the rolling wheels of our +carriage; but in a few moments we were out of reach of even such +sounds as these. + +We passed the outer suburbs of the city and were soon on the open +road. The man I had hired drove fast; he knew nothing of us, he was +probably anxious to get back quickly to the crowded squares and +illuminated quarters where the principal merriment of the evening +was going on, and no doubt thought I showed but a poor taste in +requiring to be driven away, even for a short distance, out of +Naples on such a night of feasting and folly. He stopped at last; +the castellated turrets of the villa I had named were faintly +visible among the trees; he jumped down from his box and came to us. + +"Shall I drive up to the house?" he asked, looking as though he +would rather be spared this trouble. + +"No," I answered, indifferently, "you need not. The distance is +short, we will walk." + +And I stepped out into the road and paid him his money. + +"You seem anxious to get back to the city, my friend," I said, half +jocosely. + +"Si, davvero!" he replied, with decision, "I hope to get many a good +fare from the Count Oliva's marriage-ball to-night." + +"Ah! he is a rich fellow, that count," I said, as I assisted my wife +to alight, keeping her cloak well muffled round her so that this +common fellow should not perceive the glitter of her costly costume; +"I wish I were he!" + +The man grinned and nodded emphatically. He had no suspicion of my +identity. He took me, in all probability, for one of those "gay +gallants" so common in Naples, who, on finding at some public +entertainment a "dama" to their taste, hurry her off, carefully +cloaked and hooded, to a mysterious nook known only to themselves, +where they can complete the romance of the evening entirely to their +own satisfaction. Bidding me a lively buona notte, he sprung on his +box again, jerked his horse's head violently round with a volley of +oaths, and drove away at a rattling pace. Nina, standing on the road +beside me, looked after him with a bewildered air. + +"Could he not have waited to take us back?" she asked. + +"No," I answered, brusquely; "we shall return by a different route. +Come." + +And passing my arm round her, I led her onward. She shivered +slightly, and there was a sound of querulous complaint in her voice +as she said: + +"Have we to go much further, Cesare?" + +"Three minutes, walk will bring us to our destination," I replied, +briefly, adding in a softer tone, "Are you cold?" + +"A little," and she gathered her sables more closely about her and +pressed nearer to my side. The capricious moon here suddenly leaped +forth like the pale ghost of a frenzied dancer, standing tiptoe on +the edge of a precipitous chasm of black clouds. Her rays, pallidly +green and cold, fell full on the dreary stretch of land before us, +touching up with luminous distinctness those white mysterious +milestones of the Campo Santo which mark where the journeys of men, +women, and children began and where they left off, but never explain +in what new direction they are now traveling. My wife saw and +stopped, trembling violently. + +"What place is this?" she asked, nervously. + +In all her life she had never visited a cemetery--she had too great +a horror of death. + +"It is where I keep all my treasures," I answered, and my voice +sounded strange and harsh in my own ears, while I tightened my grasp +of her full, warm waist. "Come with me, my beloved!" and in spite of +my efforts, my tone was one of bitter mockery. "With me you need +have no fear! Come." + +And I led her on, too powerless to resist my force, too startled to +speak--on, on, on, over the rank dewy grass and unmarked ancient +graves--on, till the low frowning gate of the house of my dead +ancestors faced me--on, on, on, with the strength of ten devils in +my arm as I held her--on, on, on, to her just doom! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +The moon had retreated behind a dense wall of cloud, and the +landscape was enveloped in semi-darkness. Reaching the door of the +vault, I unlocked it; it opened instantly, and fell back with a +sudden clang. She whom I held fast with my iron grip shrunk back, +and strove to release herself from my grasp. + +"Where are you going?" she demanded, in a faint tone. "I--I am +afraid!" + +"Of what?"--I asked, endeavoring to control the passionate +vibrations of my voice and to speak unconcernedly. "Because it is +dark? We shall have a light directly--you will see--you--you," and +to my own surprise I broke into a loud and violent laugh. "You have +no cause to be frightened! Come!" + +And I lifted her swiftly and easily over the stone step of the +entrance and set her safely inside. INSIDE at last, thank Heaven! I +shut the great gate upon us both and locked it! Again that strange +undesired laugh broke from my lips involuntarily, and the echoes of +the charnel house responded to it with unearthly and ghastly +distinctness. Nina clung to me in the dense gloom. + +"Why do you laugh like that?" she cried, loudly and impatiently. "It +sounds horrible." + +I checked myself by a strong effort. + +"Does it? I am sorry--very sorry! I laugh because--because, cara +mia, our moonlight ramble is so pleasant--and amusing--is it not?" + +And I caught her to my heart and kissed her roughly. "Now," I +whispered, "I will carry you--the steps are too rough for your +little feet--dear, dainty, white little feet! I will carry you, you +armful of sweetness!--yes, carry you safely down into the fairy +grotto where the jewels are--SUCH jewels, and all for you--my love, +my wife!" + +And I raised her from the ground as though she were a young, frail +child. Whether she tried to resist me or not I cannot now remember. +I bore her down the moldering stairway, setting my foot on each +crooked step with the firmness of one long familiar with the place. +But my brain reeled--rings of red fire circled in the darkness +before my eyes; every artery in my body seemed strained to bursting; +the pent-up agony and fury of my soul were such that I thought I +should go mad or drop down dead ere I gained the end of my long +desire. As I descended I felt her clinging to me; her hands were +cold and clammy on my neck, as though she were chilled to the blood +with terror. At last I reached the lowest step--I touched the floor +of the vault. I set my precious burden down. Releasing my clasp of +her, I remained for a moment inactive, breathing heavily. She caught +my arm--she spoke in a hoarse whisper. + +"What place is this? Where is the light you spoke of?" + +I made no answer. I moved from her side, and taking matches from my +pocket, I lighted up six large candles which I had fixed in various +corners of the vault the night previously. Dazzled by the glare +after the intense darkness, she did not at once perceive the nature +of the place in which she stood. I watched her, myself still wrapped +in the heavy cloak and hat that so effectually disguised my +features. What a sight she was in that abode of corruption! Lovely, +delicate, and full of life, with the shine of her diamonds gleaming +from under the folds of rich fur that shrouded her, and the dark +hood falling back as though to display the sparkling wonder of her +gold hair. + +Suddenly, and with a violent shock, she realized the gloom of her +surroundings--the yellow flare of the waxen torches showed her the +stone niches, the tattered palls, the decaying trophies of armor, +the drear shapes of worm-eaten coffins, and with a shriek of horror +she rushed to me where I stood, as immovable as a statue clad in +coat of mail, and throwing her arms about me clung to me in a frenzy +of fear. + +"Take me away, take me away!" she moaned, hiding her face against my +breast. "'Tis a vault--oh, Santissima Madonna!--a place for the +dead! Quick--quick! take me out to the air--let us go home--home--" + +She broke off abruptly, her alarm increasing at my utter silence. +She gazed up at me with wild wet eyes. + +"Cesare! Cesare! speak! What ails you? Why have you brought me here? +Touch me--kiss me! say something--anything--only speak!" + +And her bosom heaved convulsively; she sobbed with terror. + +I put her from me with a firm hand. I spoke in measured accents, +tinged with some contempt. + +"Hush, I pray you! This is no place for an hysterical scena. +Consider where you are! You have guessed aright--this is a vault-- +your own mausoleum, fair lady!--if I mistake not--the burial-place +of the Romani family." + +At these words her sobs ceased, as though they had been frozen in +her throat; she stared at me in speechless fear and wonder. + +"Here," I went on with methodical deliberation, "here lie all the +great ancestors of your husband's family, heroes and martyrs in +their day. Here will your own fair flesh molder. Here," and my voice +grew deeper and more resolute, "here, six months ago, your husband +himself, Fabio Romani, was buried." + +She uttered no sound, but gazed at me like some beautiful pagan +goddess turned to stone by the Furies. Having spoken thus far I was +silent, watching the effect of what I had said, for I sought to +torture the very nerves of her base soul. At last her dry lips +parted--her voice was hoarse and indistinct. + +"You must be mad!" she said, with smothered anger and horror in her +tone. + +Then seeing me still immovable, she advanced and caught my hand half +commandingly, half coaxingly. I did not resist her. + +"Come," she implored, "come away at once!" and she glanced about her +with a shudder. "Let us leave this horrible place; as for the +jewels, if you keep them here, they may stay here; I would not wear +them for the world! Come." + +I interrupted her, holding her hand in a fierce grasp; I turned her +abruptly toward a dark object lying on the ground near us--my own +coffin broken asunder. I drew her close to it. + +"Look!" I said in a thrilling whisper, "what is this? Examine it +well: it is a coffin of flimsiest wood, a cholera coffin! What says +this painted inscription? Nay, do not start! It bears your husband's +name; he was buried in it. Then how comes it to be open? WHERE IS +HE?" + +I felt her sway under me; a new and overwhelming terror had taken +instant possession of her, her limbs refused to support her, she +sunk on her knees. Mechanically and feebly she repeated the words +after me-- + +"WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS HE?" + +"Ay!" and my voice rang out through the hollow vault, its passion +restrained no more. "WHERE IS HE?--the poor fool, the miserable, +credulous dupe, whose treacherous wife played the courtesan under +his very roof, while he loved and blindly trusted her? WHERE IS HE? +Here, here!" and I seized her hands and forced her up from her +kneeling posture. "I promised you should see me as I am! I swore to +grow young to-night for your sake!--Now I keep my word! Look at me, +Nina!--look at me, my twice-wedded wife!--Look at me!--do you not +know your HUSBAND?" + +And throwing my dark habiliments from me, I stood before her +undisguised! As though some defacing disease had swept over her at +my words and look, so her beauty suddenly vanished. Her face became +drawn and pinched and almost old--her lips turned blue, her eyes +grew glazed, and strained themselves from their sockets to stare at +me; her very hands looked thin and ghost-like as she raised them +upward with a frantic appealing gesture; there was a sort of gasping +rattle in her throat as she drew herself away from me with a +convulsive gesture of aversion, and crouched on the floor as though +she sought to sink through it and thus avoid my gaze. + +"Oh, no, no, no!" she moaned, wildly, "not Fabio!--no, it cannot +be=-Fabio is dead--dead! And you!--you are mad!--this is some cruel +jest of yours--some trick to frighten me!" + +She broke off breathlessly, and her large, terrified eyes wandered +to mine again with a reluctant and awful wonder. She attempted to +arise from her crouching position; I approached, and assisted her to +do so with ceremonious politeness. She trembled violently at my +touch, and slowly staggering to her feet, she pushed back her hair +from her forehead and regarded me fixedly with a searching, +anguished look, first of doubt, then of dread, and lastly of +convinced and hopeless certainty, for she suddenly covered her eyes +with her hands as though to shut out some repulsive object and +broke into a low wailing sound like that of one in bitter physical +pain. I laughed scornfully. + +"Well, do you know me at last?" I cried. "'Tis true I have somewhat +altered. This hair of mine was black, if you remember--it is white +enough now, blanched by the horrors of a living death such as you +cannot imagine, but which," and I spoke more slowly and +impressively, "you may possibly experience ere long. Yet in spite of +this change I think you know me! That is well. I am glad your memory +serves you thus far!" + +A low sound that was half a sob and half a cry broke from her. + +"Oh, no, no!" she muttered, again, incoherently--"it cannot be! It +must be false--it is some vile plot--it cannot be true! True! Oh, +Heaven! it would be too cruel, too horrible!" + +I strode up to her. I drew her hands away from her eyes and grasped +them tightly in my own. + +"Hear me!" I said, in clear, decisive tones. "I have kept silence, +God knows, with a long patience, but now--now I can speak. Yes! you +thought me dead--you had every reason to think so, you had every +proof to believe so. How happy my supposed death made you! What a +relief it was to you!--what an obstruction removed from your path! +But--I was buried alive!" She uttered a faint shriek of terror, and +looking wildly about her, strove to wrench her hands from my clasp. +I held them more closely. "Ay, think of it, wife of mine!--you to +whom luxury has been second nature, think of this poor body +straightened in a helpless swoon, packed and pressed into yonder +coffin and nailed up fast, shut out from the blessed light and air, +as one would have thought, forever! Who could have dreamed that life +still lingered in me--life still strong enough to split asunder the +boards that inclosed me, and leave them shattered, as you see them +now!" + +She shuddered and glanced with aversion toward the broken coffin, +and again tried to loosen her hands from mine. She looked at me with +a burning anger in her face. + +"Let me go!" she panted. "Madman! liar!--let me go!" + +I released her instantly and stood erect, regarding her fixedly. + +"I am no madman," I said, composedly; "and you know as well as I do +that I speak the truth. When I escaped from that coffin I found +myself a prisoner in this very vault--this house of my perished +ancestry, where, if old legends could be believed, the very bones +that are stored up here would start and recoil from YOUR presence as +pollution to the dead, whose creed was HONOR." + +The sound of her sobbing breath ceased suddenly; she fixed her eyes +on mine; they glittered defiantly. + +"For one long awful night," I resumed, "I suffered here. I might +have starved--or perished of thirst. I thought no agony could +surpass what I endured! But I was mistaken: there was a sharper +torment in store for me. I discovered a way of escape; with grateful +tears I thanked God for my rescue, for liberty, for life! Oh, what a +fool was I! How could I dream that my death was so desired!--how +could I know that I had better far have died than have returned to +SUCH a home!" + +Her lips moved, but she uttered no word; she shivered as though with +intense cold. I drew nearer to her. + +"Perhaps you doubt my story?" + +She made no answer. A rapid impulse of fury possessed me. + +"Speak!" I cried, fiercely, "or by the God above us I will MAKE you! +Speak!" and I drew the dagger I carried from my vest. "Speak the +truth for once--'twill be difficult to you who love lies--but this +time I must be answered! Tell me, do you know me? DO you or do you +NOT believe that I am indeed your husband--your living husband, +Fabio Romani?" + +She gasped for breath. The sight of my infuriated figure--the +glitter of the naked steel before her eyes--the suddenness of my +action, the horror of her position, all terrified her into speech. +She flung herself down before me in an attitude of abject entreaty. +She found her voice at last. + +"Mercy! mercy!" she cried. "Oh, God! you will not kill me? +Anything--anything but death; I am too young to die! Yes, yes; I know +you are Fabio--Fabio, my husband, Fabio, whom I thought +dead--Fabio--oh!" and she sobbed convulsively. "You said you loved me +to-day--when you married me! Why did you marry me? I was your wife +already--why--why? Oh, horrible, horrible! I see--I understand it all +now! But do not, do not kill me, Fabio--I am afraid to die!" + +And she hid her face at my feet and groveled there. As quickly +calmed as I had been suddenly furious, I put back the dagger. I +smoothed my voice and spoke with mocking courtesy. + +"Pray do not alarm yourself," I said, coolly. "I have not the +slightest intention of killing you! I am no vulgar murderer, +yielding to mere brute instincts. You forget: a Neapolitan has hot +passions, but he also has finesse, especially in matters of +vengeance. I brought you here to tell you of my existence, and to +confront you with the proofs of it. Rise, I beg of you, we have +plenty of time to talk; with a little patience I shall make things +clear to you--rise!" + +She obeyed me, lifting herself up reluctantly with a long, +shuddering sigh. As she stood upright I laughed contemptuously. + +"What! no love words for me?" I cried, "not one kiss, not one smile, +not one word of welcome? You say you know me--well!--are you not +glad to see your husband?--you, who were such an inconsolable +widow?" + +A strange quiver passed over her face--she wrung her hands together +hard, but she said no word. + +"Listen!" I said, "there is more to tell. When I broke loose from +the grasp of death, when I came HOME--I found my vacant post already +occupied. I arrived in time to witness a very pretty pastoral play. +The scene was the ilex avenue--the actors, you, my wife, and Guido, +my friend!" + +She raised her head and uttered a low exclamation of fear. I +advanced a step or two and spoke more rapidly. + +"You hear? There was moonlight, and the song of nightingales--yes; the +stage effects were perfect! _I_ watched the progress of the +comedy--with what emotions you may imagine. I learned much that was +news to me. I became aware that for a lady of your large heart and +sensitive feelings ONE husband was not sufficient"--here I laid my +hand on her shoulder and gazed into her face, while her eyes, dilated +with terror, stared hopelessly up to mine--"and that within three +little months of your marriage to me you provided yourself with +another. Nay, no denial can serve you! Guido Ferrari was husband to +you in all things but the name. I mastered the situation--I rose to +the emergency. Trick for trick, comedy for comedy! You know the rest. +As the Count Oliva you can not deny that I acted well! For the second +time I courted you, but not half so eagerly as YOU courted ME! For the +second time I have married you! Who shall deny that you are most +thoroughly mine--mine, body and soul, till death do us part!" + +And I loosened my grasp of her: she writhed from me like some +glittering wounded serpent. The tears had dried on her cheeks, her +features were rigid and wax-like as the features of a corpse; only +her dark eyes shone, and these seemed preternaturally large, and +gleamed with an evil luster. I moved a little away, and turning my +own coffin on its side, I sat down upon it as indifferently as +though it were an easy-chair in a drawing-room. Glancing at her +then, I saw a wavering light upon her face. Some idea had entered +into her mind. She moved gradually from the wall where she leaned, +watching me fearfully as she did so. I made no attempt to stir from +the seat I occupied. + +Slowly, slowly, still keeping her eyes on me, she glided step by +step onward and passed me--then with a sudden rush she reached the +stairway and bounded up it with the startled haste of a hunted deer. +I smiled to myself. I heard her shaking the iron gateway to and fro +with all her feeble strength; she called aloud for help several +times. Only the sullen echoes of the vault answered her, and the +wild whistle of the wind as it surged through the trees of the +cemetery. At last she screamed furiously, as a savage cat might +scream--the rustle of her silken robes came swiftly sweeping down +the steps, and with a spring like that of a young tigress she +confronted me, the blood now burning wrathfully in her face, and +transforming it back to something of its old beauty. + +"Unlock that door!" she cried, with a furious stamp of her foot. +"Assassin! traitor! I hate you! I always hated you! Unlock the door, +I tell you! You dare not disobey me; you have no right to murder +me!" + +I looked at her coldly; the torrent of her words was suddenly +checked, something in my expression daunted her; she trembled and +shrunk back. + +"No right!" I said, mockingly. "I differ from you! A man ONCE +married has SOME right over his wife, but a man TWICE married to the +same woman has surely gained a double authority! And as for 'DARE +NOT!' there is nothing I 'dare not' do to-night." + +And with that I rose and approached her. A torrent of passionate +indignation boiled in my veins; I seized her two white arms and held +her fast. + +"You talk of murder!" I muttered, fiercely. "YOU--you who have +remorselessly murdered two men! Their blood be on your head! For +though I live, I am but the moving corpse of the man I was--hope, +faith, happiness, peace--all things good and great in me have been +slain by YOU. And as for Guido--" + +She interrupted me with a wild sobbing cry. + +"He loved me! Guido loved me!" + +"Ay, he loved you, oh, devil in the shape of a woman! he loved you! +Come here, here!" and in a fury I could not restrain I dragged her, +almost lifted her along to one corner of the vault, where the light +of the torches scarcely illumined the darkness, and there I pointed +upward. "Above our very heads--to the left of where we stand--the +brave strong body of your lover lies, festering slowly in the wet +mould, thanks to you!--the fair, gallant beauty of it all marred by +the red-mouthed worms--the thick curls of hair combed through by the +crawling feet of vile insects--the poor frail heart pierced by a +gaping wound--" + +"You killed him; you--you are to blame," she moaned, restlessly, +striving to turn her face away from me. + +"_I_ killed him? No, no, not I, but YOU! He died when he learned +your treachery--when he knew you were false to him for the sake of +wedding a supposed wealthy stranger--my pistol-shot but put him out +of torment. You! you were glad of his death--as glad as when you +thought of mine! YOU talk of murder! Oh, vilest among women! if I +could murder you twenty times over, what then? Your sins outweigh +all punishment!" + +And I flung her from me with a gesture of contempt and loathing. This +time my words had struck home. She cowered before me in horror--her +sables were loosened and scarcely protected her, the richness of her +ball costume was fully displayed, and the diamonds on her bosom heaved +restlessly up and down as she panted with excitement, rage and fear. + +"I do not see," she muttered, sullenly, "why you should blame ME! I +am no worse than other women!" + +"No worse! no worse!" I cried. "Shame, shame upon you that thus +outrage your sex! Learn for once what MEN think of unfaithful +wives--for may be you are ignorant. The novels you have read in your +luxurious, idle hours have perhaps told you that infidelity is no +sin--merely a little social error easily condoned, or set right by the +divorce court. Yes! modern books and modern plays teach you so: in +them the world swerves upside down, and vice looks like virtue. But +_I_ will tell you what may seem to you a strange and wonderful thing! +There is no mean animal, no loathsome object, no horrible deformity of +nature so utterly repulsive to a true man as a faithless wife! The +cowardly murderer who lies in wait for his victim behind some dark +door, and stabs him in the back as he passes by unarmed--he, I say, is +more to be pardoned than the woman who takes a husband's name, honor, +position, and reputation among his fellows, and sheltering herself +with these, passes her beauty promiscuously about like some coarse +article of commerce, that goes to the highest bidder! Ay, let your +French novels and books of their type say what they will--infidelity +is a crime, a low, brutal crime, as bad if not worse than murder, and +deserves as stern a sentence!" + +A sudden spirit of defiant insolence possessed her. She drew herself +erect, and her level brows knitted in a dark frown. + +"Sentence!" she exclaimed, imperiously. "How dare you judge me! What +harm have I done? If I am beautiful, is that my fault? If men are +fools, can _I_ help it? You loved me--Guido loved me--could _I_ +prevent it? I cared nothing for him, and less for you!" + +"I know it," I said, bitterly. "Love was never part of YOUR nature! +Our lives were but cups of wine for your false lips to drain; once +the flavor pleased you, but now--now, think you not the dregs taste +somewhat cold?" + +She shrunk at my glance--her head drooped, and drawing near a +projecting stone in the wall, she sat down upon it, pressing one +hand to her heart. + +"No heart, no conscience, no memory!" I cried. "Great Heaven! that +such a thing should live and call itself woman! The lowest beast of +the field has more compassion for its kind! Listen: before Guido died +he knew me, even as my child, neglected by you, in her last agony knew +her father. She being innocent, passed in peace; but he!--imagine if +you can, the wrenching torture in which he perished, knowing all! How +his parted spirit must curse you!" + +She raised her hands to her head and pushed away the light curls +from her brow. There was a starving, hunted, almost furious look in +her eyes, but she fixed them steadily on me. + +"See," I went on--"here are more proofs of the truth of my story. +These things were buried with me," and I threw into her lap as she +sat before me the locket and chain, the card-case and purse she +herself had given me. "You will no doubt recognize them. This--" and I +showed her the monk's crucifix--"this was laid on my breast in the +coffin. It may be useful to you--you can pray to it presently!" + +She interrupted me with a gesture of her hand; she spoke as though +in a dream. + +"You escaped from this vault?" she said, in a low tone, looking from +right to left with searching eagerness. "Tell me how--and--where?" + +I laughed scornfully, guessing her thoughts. + +"It matters little," I replied. "The passage I discovered is now +closed and fast cemented. I have seen to that myself! No other +living creature left here can escape as I did. Escape is +impossible." + +A stifled cry broke from her; she threw herself at my feet, letting +the things I had given her as proofs of my existence fall heedlessly +on the floor. + +"Fabio! Fabio!" she cried, "save me, pity me! Take me out to the +light--the air--let me live! Drag me through Naples--let all the +crowd see me dishonored, brand me with the worst of names, make of +me a common outcast--only let me feel the warm life throbbing in my +veins! I will do anything, say anything, be anything--only let me +live! I loath the cold and darkness--the horrible--horrible ways of +death!" She shuddered violently and clung to me afresh. "I am so +young! and after all, am I so vile? There are women who count their +lovers by the score, and yet they are not blamed; why should I +suffer more than they?" + +"Why, why?" I echoed, fiercely. "Because for once a husband takes +the law into his own hands--for once a wronged man insists on +justice--for once he dares to punish the treachery that blackens his +honor! Were there more like me there would be fewer like you! A +score of lovers! 'Tis not your fault that you had but one! I have +something else to say which concerns you. Not content with fooling +two men, you tried the same amusement on a supposed third. Ay, you +wince at that! While you thought me to be the Count Oliva--while you +were betrothed to me in that character, you wrote to Guido Ferrari +in Rome. Very charming letters! here they are," and I flung them +down to her. "I have no further use for them--I have read them all!" + +She let them lie where they fell; she still crouched at my feet, and +her restless movements loosened her cloak so far that it hung back +from her shoulders, showing the jewels that flashed on her white +neck and arms like points of living light. I touched the circlet of +diamonds in her hair--I snatched it from her. + +"These are mine!" I cried, "as much as this signet I wear, which was +your love-gift to Guido Ferrari, and which you afterward returned to +me, its rightful owner. These are my mother's gems--how dared you +wear them? The stones _I_ gave you are your only fitting ornaments-- +they are stolen goods, filched by the blood-stained hands of the +blackest brigand in Sicily! I promised you more like them; behold +them!"--and I threw open the coffin-shaped chest containing the +remainder of Carmelo Neri's spoils. It occupied a conspicuous +position near where I stood, and I had myself arranged its interior +so that the gold ornaments and precious stones should be the first +things to meet her eyes. "You see now," I went on, "where the wealth +of the supposed Count Oliva came from. I found this treasure hidden +here on the night of my burial--little did I think then what dire +need I should have for its usage! It has served me well; it is not +yet exhausted; the remainder is at your service!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +At these words she rose from her knees and stood upright. Making an +effort to fasten her cloak with her trembling hands, she moved +hesitatingly toward the brigand's coffin and leaned over it, looking +in with a faint light of hope as well as curiosity in her haggard +face. I watched her in vague wonderment--she had grown old so +suddenly. The peach-like bloom and delicacy of her flesh had +altogether disappeared--her skin appeared drawn and dry as though +parched in tropical heat. Her hair was disordered, and fell about +her in clustering showers of gold--that, and her eyes, were the only +signs of youth about her. A sudden wave of compassion swept over my +soul. + +"Oh wife!" I exclaimed--"wife that I so ardently loved--wife that I +would have died for indeed, had you bade me!--why did you betray me? +I thought you truth itself--ay! and if you had but waited for one +day after you thought me dead, and THEN chosen Guido for your lover, +I tell you, so large was my tenderness, I would have pardoned you! +Though risen from the grave, I would have gone away and made no +sign--yes if you had waited--if you had wept for me ever so little! +But when your own lips confessed your crime--when I knew that within +three months of our marriage-day you had fooled me--when I learned +that my love, my name, my position, my honor, were used as mere +screens to shelter your intrigue with the man I called friend!--God! +what creature of mortal flesh and blood could forgive such +treachery? I am no more than others--but I loved you--and in +proportion to my love, so is the greatness of my wrongs!" + +She listened--she advanced a little toward me--a faint smile dawned +on her pallid lips--she whispered: + +"Fabio! Fabio!" + +I looked at her--unconsciously my voice dropped into a cadence of +intense melancholy softened by tenderness. + +"Ay--Fabio! What wouldst thou with a ghost of him? Does it not seem +strange to thee--that hated name?--thou, Nina, whom I loved as few +men love women--thou who gavest me no love at all--thou, who hast +broken my heart and made me what I am!" + +A hard, heavy sob rose in my throat and choked my utterance. I was +young; and the cruel waste and destruction of my life seemed at that +moment more than I could bear. She heard me, and the smile +brightened more warmly on her countenance. She came close to me-- +half timidly yet coaxingly she threw one arm about my neck--her +bosom heaved quickly. + +"Fabio," she murmured--"Fabio, forgive me! I spoke in haste--I do +not hate thee! Come! I will make amends for all thy suffering--I +will love thee--I will be true to thee, I will be all thine! See! +thou knowest I have not lost my beauty!" + +And she clung to me with passion, raising her lips to mine, while +with her large inquiring eyes she searched my face for the reply to +her words. I gazed down upon her with sorrowful sternness. + +"Beauty? Mere food for worms--I care not for it! Of what avail is a +fair body tenanted by a fiendish soul? Forgiveness?--you ask too +late! A wrong like mine can never be forgiven." + +There ensued a silence. She still embraced me, but her eyes roved +over me as though she searched for some lost thing. The wind tore +furiously among the branches of the cypresses outside, and screamed +through the small holes and crannies of the stone-work, rattling the +iron gate at the summit of the stairway with a clanking sound, as +though the famous brigand chief had escaped with all his chains upon +him, and were clamoring for admittance to recover his buried +property. Suddenly her face lightened with an expression of cunning +intensity--and before I could preceive her intent--with swift +agility she snatched from my vest the dagger I carried! + +"Too late!" she cried, with a wild laugh. "No; not too late! Die-- +wretch!" + +For one second the bright steel flashed in the wavering light as she +poised it in act to strike--the next, I had caught her murderous +hand and forced it down, and was struggling with her for the mastery +of the weapon. She held it with a desperate grip--she fought with me +breathlessly, clinging to me with all her force--she reminded me of +that ravenous unclean bird with which I had had so fierce a combat +on the night of my living burial. For some brief moments she was +possessed of supernatural strength--she sprung and tore at my +clothes, keeping the poniard fast in her clutch. At last I thrust +her down, panting and exhausted, with fury flashing in her eyes--I +wrenched the steel from her hand and brandished it above her. + +"Who talks of murder NOW?" I cried, in bitter derision. "Oh, what a +joy you have lost! What triumph for you, could you have stabbed me +to the heart and left me here dead indeed! What a new career of lies +would have been yours! How sweetly you would have said your prayers +with the stain of my blood upon your soul! Ay! you would have fooled +the world to the end, and died in the odor of sanctity. And you +dared to ask my forgiveness--" + +I stopped short--a strange, bewildered expression suddenly passed +over her face--she looked about her in a dazed, vague way--then her +gaze became suddenly fixed, and she pointed toward a dark corner and +shuddered. + +"Hush--hush!" she said, in a low, terrified whisper. "Look! how still +he stands! how pale he seems! Do not speak--do not move--hush! he must +not hear your voice--I will go to him and tell him all--all--" She +rose and stretched out her arms with a gesture of entreaty: + +"Guido! Guido!" + +With a sudden chilled awe at my heart I looked toward the spot that +thus riveted her attention--all was shrouded in deep gloom. She +caught my arm. + +"Kill him!" she whispered, fiercely--"kill him, and then I will love +you! Ah!" and with an exclamation of fear she began to retire +swiftly backward as though confronted by some threatening figure. +"He is coming--nearer! No, no, Guido! You shall not touch me--you +dare not--Fabio is dead and I am free--free!" She paused--her wild +eyes gazed upward--did she see some horror there? She put up both +hands as though to shield herself from some impending blow, and +uttering a loud cry she fell prone on the stone floor insensible. Or +dead? I balanced this question indifferently, as I looked down upon +her inanimate form. The flavor of vengeance was hot in my mouth, and +filled me with delirious satisfaction. True, I had been glad, when +my bullet whizzing sharply through the air had carried death to +Guido, but my gladness had been mingled with ruthfulness and regret. +NOW, not one throb of pity stirred me--not the faintest emotion of +tenderness, Ferrari's sin was great, but SHE tempted him--her crime +outweighed his. And now--there she lay white and silent--in a swoon +that was like death--that might be death for aught I knew--or cared! +Had her lover's ghost indeed appeared before the eyes of her guilty +conscience? I did not doubt it--I should scarcely have been startled +had I seen the poor pale shadow of him by my side, as I musingly +gazed upon the fair fallen body of the traitress who had wantonly +wrecked both our lives. + +"Ay, Guido," I muttered, half aloud--"dost see the work? Thou art +avenged, frail spirit--avenged as well as I--part thou in peace from +earth and its inhabitants!--haply thou shalt cleanse in pure fire +the sins of thy lower nature, and win a final pardon; but for her-- +is hell itself black enough to match HER soul?" + +And I slowly moved toward the stairway; it was time, I thought, with +a grim resolve--TO LEAVE HER! Possibly she was dead--if not--why +then she soon would be! I paused irresolute--the wild wind battered +ceaselessly at the iron gateway, and wailed as though with a hundred +voices of aerial creatures, lamenting. The torches were burning low, +the darkness of the vault deepened. Its gloom concerned me little--I +had grown familiar with its unsightly things, its crawling spiders, +its strange uncouth beetles, the clusters of blue fungi on its damp +walls. The scurrying noises made by bats and owls, who, scared by +the lighted candles, were hiding themselves in holes and corners of +refuge, startled me not at all--I was well accustomed to such +sounds. In my then state of mind, an emperor's palace were less fair +to me than this brave charnel house--this stone-mouthed witness of +my struggle back to life and all life's misery. The deep-toned bell +outside the cemetery struck ONE! We had been absent nearly two hours +from the brilliant assemblage left at the hotel. No doubt we were +being searched for everywhere--it mattered not! they would not come +to seek us HERE. I went on resolutely toward the stair--as I placed +my foot on the firm step of the ascent, my wife stirred from her +recumbent position--her swoon had passed. She did not perceive me +where I stood, ready to depart--she murmured something to herself in +a low voice, and taking in her hand the falling tresses of her own +hair she seemed to admire its color and texture, for she stroked it +and restroked it and finally broke into a gay laugh--a laugh so out +of all keeping with her surroundings, that it startled me more than +her attempt to murder me. + +She presently stood up with all her own lily-like grace and fairy +majesty; and smiling as though she were a pleased child, she began +to arrange her disordered dress with elaborate care. I paused +wonderingly and watched her. She went to the brigand's chest of +treasure and proceeded to examine its contents--laces, silver and +gold embroideries, antique ornaments, she took carefully in her +hands, seeming mentally to calculate their cost and value. Jewels +that were set as necklaces, bracelets and other trinkets of feminine +wear she put on, one after the other, till her neck and arms were +loaded--and literally blazed with the myriad scintillations of +different-colored gems. I marveled at her strange conduct, but did +not as yet guess its meaning. I moved away from the staircase and +drew imperceptibly nearer to her--Hark! what was that? A strange, +low rumbling like a distant earthquake, followed by a sharp cracking +sound; I stopped to listen attentively. A furious gust of wind +rushed round the mausoleum shrieking wildly like some devil in +anger, and the strong draught flying through the gateway +extinguished two of the flaring candles. My wife, entirely absorbed +in counting over Carmelo Neri's treasures, apparently saw and heard +nothing. Suddenly she broke into another laugh--a chuckling, +mirthless laugh such as might come from the lips of the aged and +senile. The sound curdled the blood in my veins--it was the laugh of +a mad-woman! With an earnest, distinct voice I called to her: + +"Nina! Nina!" + +She turned toward me still smiling--her eyes were bright, her face +had regained its habitual color, and as she stood in the dim light, +with her rich tresses falling about her, and the clustering gems +massed together in a glittering fire against her white skin, she +looked unnaturally, wildly beautiful. She nodded to me, half +graciously, half haughtily, but gave me no answer. Moved with quick +pity I called again: + +"Nina!" + +She laughed again--the same terrible laugh. + +"Si, si! Son' bella, son' bellissima!" she murmured. "E tu, Guido +mio? Tu m'ami?" + +Then raising one hand as though commanding attention she cried: + +"Ascolta!" and began to sing clearly though feebly: + + "Ti saluto, Rosignuolo! + Nel tuo duolo--ti saluto! + Sei l'amante della rosa + Che morendo si fa sposa!" + +As the old familiar melody echoed through the dreary vault, my +bitter wrath against her partially lessened; with the swiftness of +my southern temperament a certain compassion stirred my soul. She +was no longer quite the same woman who had wronged and betrayed me-- +she had the helplessness and fearful innocence of madness--in that +condition I could not have hurt a hair of her head. I stepped +hastily forward--I resolved to take her out of the vault--after all +I would not leave her thus--but as I approached, she withdrew from +me, and with an angry stamp of her foot motioned me backward, while +a dark frown knitted her fair brows. + +"Who are you?" she cried, imperiously. "You are dead, quite dead! +How dare you come out of your grave!" + +And she stared at me defiantly--then suddenly clasping her hands as +though in ecstasy, and seeming to address some invisible being at +her side, she said, in low, delighted tones: + +"He is dead, Guido! Are you not glad?" She paused, apparently +expecting some reply, for she looked about her wonderingly, and +continued--"You did not answer me--are you afraid? Why are you so +pale and stern? Have you just come back from Rome? What have you +heard? That I am false?--oh, no! I will love you still--Ah! I +forgot! you also are dead, Guido! I remember now--you cannot hurt me +any more--I am free--and quite happy!" + +Smiling, she continued her song: + + "Ti saluto, Sol di Maggio + Col two raggio ti saluto! + Sei l'Apollo del passato + Sei l'amore incoronato!" + +Again--again!--that hollow rumbling and crackling sound overhead. +What could it be? + +"L'amore incoronato!" hummed Nina fitfully, as she plunged her +round, jeweled arm down again into the chest of treasure. "Si, si! +Che morendo si fa sposa--che morendo si fa sposa--ah!" + +This last was an exclamation of pleasure; she had found some toy +that charmed her--it was the old mirror set in its frame of pearls. +The possession of this object seemed to fill her with extraordinary +joy, and she evidently retained no consciousness of where she was, +for she sat down on the upturned coffin, which had held my living +body, with absolute indifference. Still singing softly to herself, +she gazed lovingly at her own reflection, and fingered the jewels +she wore, arranging and rearranging them in various patterns with +one hand, while in the other she raised the looking-glass in the +flare of the candles which lighted up its quaint setting. A strange +and awful picture she made there--gazing with such lingering +tenderness on the portrait of her own beauty--while surrounded by +the moldering coffins that silently announced how little such beauty +was worth--playing with jewels, the foolish trinkets of life, in the +abode of skeletons, where the password is death! Thinking thus, I +gazed at her, as one might gaze at a dead body--not loathingly any +more, but only mournfully. My vengeance was satiated. I could not +wage war against this vacantly smiling mad creature, out of whom the +spirit of a devilish intelligence and cunning had been torn, and who +therefore was no longer the same woman. Her loss of wit should +compensate for my loss of love. I determined to try and attract her +attention again. I opened my lips to speak--but before the words +could form themselves, that odd rumbling noise again broke on my +ears--this time with a loud reverberation that rolled overhead like +the thunder of artillery. Before I could imagine the reason of it-- +before I could advance one step toward my wife, who still sat on the +upturned coffin, smiling at herself in the mirror--before I could +utter a word or move an inch, a tremendous crash resounded through +the vault, followed by a stinging shower of stones, dust, and +pulverized mortar! I stepped backward amazed, bewildered-- +speechless--instinctively shutting my eyes--when I opened them again +all was darkness--all was silence! Only the wind howled outside more +frantically than ever--a sweeping gust whirled through the vault, +blowing some dead leaves against my face, and I heard the boughs of +trees creaking noisily in the fury of the storm. Hush!--was that a +faint moan? Quivering in every limb, and sick with a nameless dread, +I sought in my pocket for matches--I found them. Then with an +effort, mastering the shuddering revulsion of my nerves, I struck a +light. The flame was so dim that for an instant I could see nothing. +I called loudly: + +"Nina!" There was no answer. + +One of the extinguished candles was near me; I lighted it with +trembling hands and held it aloft--then I uttered a wild shriek of +horror! Oh, God of inexorable justice, surely Thy vengeance was +greater than mine! An enormous block of stone, dislodged by the +violence of the storm, had fallen from the roof of the vault; fallen +sheer down over the very place where SHE had sat a minute or two +before, fantastically smiling! Crushed under the huge mass--crushed +into the very splinters of my own empty coffin, she lay--and yet-- +and yet--I could see nothing, save one white hand protruding--the +hand on which the marriage-ring glittered mockingly! Even as I +looked, that hand quivered violently--beat the ground--and then--was +still! It was horrible. In dreams I see that quivering white hand +now, the jewels on it sparkling with derisive luster. It appeals, it +calls, it threatens, it prays! and when my time comes to die, it +will beckon me to my grave! A portion of her costly dress was +visible--my eyes lighted on this--and I saw a slow stream of blood +oozing thickly from beneath the stone--the ponderous stone that no +man could have moved an inch--the stone that sealed her awful +sepulcher! Great Heaven! how fast the crimson stream of life +trickled!--staining the snowy lace of her garment with a dark and +dreadful hue! Staggering feebly like a drunken man--half delirious +with anguish--I approached and touched that small white hand that +lay stiffly on the ground--I bent my head--I almost kissed it, but +some strange revulsion rose in my soul and forbade the act! + +In a stupor of dull agony I sought and found the crucifix of the +monk Cipriano that had fallen to the floor--I closed the yet warm +finger-tips around it and left it thus; an unnatural, terrible +calmness froze the excitement of my strained nerves. + +"'Tis all I can do for thee!" I muttered, incoherently. "May Christ +forgive thee, though I cannot!" + +And covering my eyes to shut out the sight before me I turned away. +I hurried in a sort of frenzy toward the stairway--on reaching the +lowest step I extinguished the torch I carried. Some impulse made me +glance back--and I saw what I see now--what I shall always see till +I die! An aperture had been made through the roof of the vault by +the fall of the great stone, and through this the fitful moon poured +down a long ghostly ray. The green glimmer, like a spectral lamp, +deepened the surrounding darkness, only showing up with fell +distinctness one object--that slender protruding wrist and hand, +whiter than Alpine snow! I gazed at it wildly--the gleam of the +jewels down there hurt my eyes--the shine of the silver crucifix +clasped in those little waxen fingers dazzled my brain-and with a +frantic cry of unreasoning terror, I rushed up the steps with a +maniac speed--opened the iron gate through which SHE would pass no +more, and stood at liberty in the free air, face to face with a wind +as tempestuous as my own passions. With what furious haste I shut +the entrance to the vault! with what fierce precaution I locked and +doubled-locked it! Nay, so little did I realize that she was +actually dead, that I caught myself saying aloud--"Safe--safe at +last! She cannot escape--I have closed the secret passage--no one +will hear her cries--she will struggle a little, but it will soon be +over--she will never laugh any more--never kiss--never love--never +tell lies for the fooling of men!--she is buried as I was--buried +alive!" + +Muttering thus to myself with a sort of sobbing incoherence, I +turned to meet the snarl of the savage blast of the night, with my +brain reeling, my limbs weak and trembling--with the heavens and +earth rocking before me like a wild sea--with the flying moon +staring aghast through the driving clouds--with all the universe, as +it were, in a broken and shapeless chaos about me; even so I went +forth to meet my fate--and left her! + +******* + +Unrecognized, untracked, I departed from Naples. Wrapped in my +cloak, and stretched in a sort of heavy stupor on the deck of the +"Rondinella," my appearance apparently excited no suspicion in the +mind of the skipper, old Antonio Bardi, with whom my friend Andrea +had made terms for my voyage, little aware of the real identity of +the passenger he recommended. + +The morning was radiantly beautiful--the sparkling waves rose high +on tiptoe to kiss the still boisterous wind--the sunlight broke in a +wide smile of springtide glory over the world! With the burden of my +agony upon me--with the utter exhaustion of my overwrought nerves, I +beheld all things as in a feverish dream--the laughing light, the +azure ripple of waters--the receding line of my native shores-- +everything was blurred, indistinct, and unreal to me, though my +soul, Argus-eyed, incessantly peered down, down into those darksome +depths where SHE lay, silent forever. For now I knew she was dead. +Fate had killed her--not I. All unrepentant as she was, triumphing +in her treachery to the last, even in her madness, still I would +have saved her, though she strove to murder me. + +Yet it was well the stone had fallen--who knows!--if she had lived-- +I strove not to think of her, and drawing the key of the vault from +my pocket, I let it drop with a sudden splash into the waves. All +was over--no one pursued me--no one inquired whither I went. I +arrived at Civita Vecchia unquestioned; from thence I travelled to +Leghorn, where I embarked on board a merchant trading vessel bound +for South America. Thus I lost myself to the world; thus I became, +as it were, buried alive for the second time. I am safely +sepulchered in these wild woods, and I seek no escape. + +Wearing the guise of a rough settler, one who works in common with +others, hewing down tough parasites and poisonous undergrowths in +order to effect a clearing through these pathless solitudes, none +can trace in the strong stern man, with the care-worn face and white +hair, any resemblance to the once popular and wealthy Count Oliva, +whose disappearance, so strange and sudden, was for a time the talk +of all Italy. For, on one occasion when visiting the nearest town, I +saw an article in a newspaper, headed "Mysterious Occurrence in +Naples," and I read every word of it with a sensation of dull +amusement. + +From it I learned that the Count Oliva was advertised for. His +abrupt departure, together with that of his newly married wife, +formerly Contessa Romani, on the very night of their wedding, had +created the utmost excitement in the city. The landlord of the hotel +where he stayed was prosecuting inquiries--so was the count's former +valet, one Vincenzo Flamma. Any information would be gratefully +received by the police authorities. If within twelve months no news +were obtained, the immense properties of the Romani family, in +default of existing kindred, would be handed over to the crown. + +There was much more to the same effect, and I read it with the utmost +indifference. Why do they not search the Romani vault?--I thought +gloomily--they would find some authentic information there! But I know +the Neapolitans well; they are timorous and superstitious; they would +as soon hug a pestilence as explore a charnel house. One thing +gladdened me; it was the projected disposal of my fortune. The crown, +the Kingdom of Italy, was surely as noble an heir as a man could have! +I returned to my woodland hut with a strange peace on my soul. + +As I told you at first, I am a dead man--the world, with its busy +life and aims, has naught to do with me. The tall trees, the birds, +the whispering grasses are my friends and my companions--they, and +they only, are sometimes the silent witnesses of the torturing fits +of agony that every now and then overwhelm me with bitterness. For I +suffer always. That is natural. Revenge is sweet!--but who shall +paint the horrors of memory? My vengeance now recoils upon my own +head. I do not complain of this--it is the law of compensation--it +is just. I blame no one--save Her, the woman who wrought my wrong. +Dead as she is I do not forgive her; I have tried to, but I cannot! +Do men ever truly forgive the women who ruin their lives? I doubt +it. As for me, I feel that the end is not yet--that when my soul is +released from its earthly prison, I shall still be doomed in some +drear dim way to pursue her treacherous flitting spirit over the +black chasms of a hell darker than Dante's--she in the likeness of a +wandering flame--I as her haunting shadow; she, flying before me in +coward fear--I, hasting after her in relentless wrath--and this +forever and ever! + +But I ask no pity--I need none. I punished the guilty, and in doing so +suffered more than they--that is as it must always be. I have no +regret and no remorse; only one thing troubles me--one little thing--a +mere foolish fancy! It conies upon me in the night, when the +large-faced moon looks at me from heaven. For the moon is grand in +this climate; she is like a golden-robed empress of all the worlds as +she sweeps in lustrous magnificence through the dense violet skies. I +shut out her radiance as much as I can; I close the blind at the +narrow window of my solitary forest cabin; and yet do what I will, one +wide ray creeps in always--one ray that eludes all my efforts to expel +it. Under the door it comes, or through some unguessed cranny in the +wood-work. I have in vain tried to find the place of its entrance. + +The color of the moonlight in this climate is of a mellow amber--so +I cannot understand why that pallid ray that visits me so often, +should be green--a livid, cold, watery green; and in it, like a lily +in an emerald pool, I see a little white hand on which the jewels +cluster thick like drops of dew! The hand moves--it lifts itself-- +the small fingers point at me threateningly--they quiver--and then-- +they beckon me slowly, solemnly, commandingly onward!--onward!--to +some infinite land of awful mysteries where Light and Love shall +dawn for me no more. + +The End + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Vendetta +by Marie Corelli + |