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An Italian +audience cannot but be critical in their first glance at a prima donna, +for they are asked to do homage to a queen who is to be taken on her +merits: all that they have heard and have been taught to expect of her is +compared swiftly with the observation of her appearance and her manner. +She is crucially examined to discover defects. There is no boisterous +loyalty at the outset. And as it was now evident that Vittoria had +chosen to impersonate a significant character, her indications of method +were jealously watched for a sign of inequality, either in her, motion, +or the force of her eyes. So silent a reception might have seemed cruel +in any other case; though in all cases the candidate for laurels must, in +common with the criminal, go through the ordeal of justification. Men do +not heartily bow their heads until they have subjected the aspirant to +some personal contest, and find themselves overmatched. The senses, +ready to become so slavish in adulation and delight, are at the beginning +more exacting than the judgement, more imperious than the will. A figure +in amber and pale blue silk was seen, such as the great Venetian might +have sketched from his windows on a day when the Doge went forth to wed +the Adriatic a superb Italian head, with dark banded hair-braid, and dark +strong eyes under unabashed soft eyelids! She moved as, after long +gazing at a painting of a fair woman, we may have the vision of her +moving from the frame. It was an animated picture of ideal Italia. +The sea of heads right up to the highest walls fronted her glistening, +and she was mute as moonrise. A virgin who loosens a dove from her bosom +does it with no greater effort than Vittoria gave out her voice. The +white bird flutters rapidly; it circles and takes its flight. The voice +seemed to be as little the singer's own. + +The theme was as follows:--Camilla has dreamed overnight that her lost +mother came to her bedside to bless her nuptials. Her mother was folded +in a black shroud, looking formless as death, like very death, save that +death sheds no tears. She wept, without change of voice, or mortal +shuddering, like one whose nature weeps: 'And with the forth-flowing of +her tears the knowledge of her features was revealed to me.' Behold the +Adige, the Mincio, Tiber, and the Po!--such great rivers were the tears +pouring from her eyes. She threw apart the shroud: her breasts and her +limbs were smooth and firm as those of an immortal Goddess: but breasts +and limbs showed the cruel handwriting of base men upon the body of a +martyred saint. The blood from those deep gashes sprang out at +intervals, mingling with her tears. She said: + +'My child! were I a Goddess, my wounds would heal. Were I a Saint, I +should be in Paradise. I am no Goddess, and no Saint: yet I cannot die. +My wounds flow and my tears. My tears flow because of no fleshly +anguish: I pardon my enemies. My blood flows from my body, my tears from +my soul. They flow to wash out my shame. I have to expiate my soul's +shame by my body's shame. Oh! how shall I tell you what it is to walk +among my children unknown of them, though each day I bear the sun abroad +like my beating heart; each night the moon, like a heart with no blood in +it. Sun and moon they see, but not me! They know not their mother. I +cry to God. The answer of our God is this:--"Give to thy children one by +one to drink of thy mingled tears and blood:--then, if there is virtue in +them, they shall revive, thou shaft revive. If virtue is not in them, +they and thou shall continue prostrate, and the ox shall walk over you." +From heaven's high altar, O Camilla, my child, this silver sacramental +cup was reached to me. Gather my tears in it, fill it with my blood, and +drink.' + +The song had been massive in monotones, almost Gregorian in its severity +up to this point. + +'I took the cup. I looked my mother in the face. I filled the cup from +the flowing of her tears, the flowing of her blood; and I drank!' + +Vittoria sent this last phrase ringing out forcefully. From the +inveterate contralto of the interview, she rose to pure soprano in +describing her own action. 'And I drank,' was given on a descent of the +voice: the last note was in the minor key--it held the ear as if more +must follow: like a wail after a triumph of resolve. It was a +masterpiece of audacious dramatic musical genius addressed with sagacious +cunning and courage to the sympathizing audience present. The supposed +incompleteness kept them listening; the intentness sent that last falling +(as it were, broken) note travelling awakeningly through their minds. +It is the effect of the minor key to stir the hearts of men with this +particular suggestiveness. The house rose, Italians--and Germans +together. Genius, music, and enthusiasm break the line of nationalities. +A rain of nosegays fell about Vittoria; evvivas, bravas, shouts--all the +outcries of delirious men surrounded her. Men and women, even among the +hardened chorus, shook together and sobbed. 'Agostino!' and 'Rocco!' +were called; 'Vittoria!' 'Vittoria!' above all, with increasing thunder, +like a storm rushing down a valley, striking in broad volume from rock to +rock, humming remote, and bursting up again in the face of the vale. Her +name was sung over and over--'Vittoria! Vittoria!' as if the mouths were +enamoured of it. + +'Evviva la Vittoria a d' Italia!' was sung out from the body of the +house. + +An echo replied-- + +'"Italia a il premio della VITTORIA!"' a well-known saying gloriously +adapted, gloriously rescued from disgrace. + +But the object and source of the tremendous frenzy stood like one frozen +by the revelation of the magic the secret of which she has studiously +mastered. A nosegay, the last of the tributary shower, discharged from a +distance, fell at her feet. She gave it unconsciously preference over +the rest, and picked it up. A little paper was fixed in the centre. She +opened it with a mechanical hand, thinking there might be patriotic +orders enclosed for her. It was a cheque for one thousand guineas, drawn +upon an English banker by the hand of Antonio-Pericles Agriolopoulos; +freshly drawn; the ink was only half dried, showing signs of the dictates +of a furious impulse. This dash of solid prose, and its convincing proof +that her Art had been successful, restored Vittoria's composure, though +not her early statuesque simplicity. Rocco gave an inquiring look to see +if she would repeat the song. She shook her head resolutely. Her +opening of the paper in the bouquet had quieted the general ebullition, +and the expression of her wish being seen, the chorus was permitted to +usurp her place. Agostino paced up and down the lobby, fearful that he +had been guilty of leading her to anticlimax. + +He met Antonio-Pericles, and told him so; adding (for now the mask had +been seen through, and was useless any further) that he had not had the +heart to put back that vision of Camilla's mother to a later scene, lest +an interruption should come which would altogether preclude its being +heard. Pericles affected disdain of any success which Vittoria had yet +achieved. 'Wait for Act the Third,' he said; but his irritable +anxiousness to hold intercourse with every one, patriot or critic, +German, English, or Italian, betrayed what agitation of exultation +coursed in his veins. 'Aha!' was his commencement of a greeting; 'was +Antonio-Pericles wrong when he told you that he had a prima donna for you +to amaze all Christendom, and whose notes were safe and firm as the +footing of the angels up and down Jacob's ladder, my friends? Aha!' + +'Do you see that your uncle is signalling to you?' Countess Lena said to +Wilfrid. He answered like a man in a mist, and looked neither at her nor +at the General, who, in default of his obedience to gestures, came good- +humouredly to the box, bringing Captain Weisspriess with him. + +'We 're assisting at a pretty show,' he said. + +'I am in love with her voice,' said Countess Anna. + +'Ay; if it were only a matter of voices, countess.' + +'I think that these good people require a trouncing,' said Captain +Weisspriess. + +'Lieutenant Pierson is not of your opinion,' Countess Anna remarked. +Hearing his own name, Wilfrid turned to them with a weariness well acted, +but insufficiently to a jealous observation, for his eyes were quick +under the carelessly-dropped eyelids, and ranged keenly over the stage +while they were affecting to assist his fluent tongue. + +Countess Lena levelled her opera-glass at Carlo Ammiani, and then placed +the glass in her sister's hand. Wilfrid drank deep of bitterness. 'That +is Vittoria's lover,' he thought; 'the lover of the Emilia who once loved +me!' + +General Pierson may have noticed this by-play: he said to his nephew in +the brief military tone: 'Go out; see that the whole regiment is handy +about the house; station a dozen men, with a serjeant, at each of the +backdoors, and remain below. I very much mistake, or we shall have to +make a capture of this little woman to-night.' + +'How on earth,' he resumed, while Wilfrid rose savagely and went out with +his stiffest bow, 'this opera was permitted to appear, I can't guess! A +child could see through it. The stupidity of our civil authorities +passes my understanding--it's a miracle! We have stringent orders not to +take any initiative, or I would stop the Fraulein Camilla from uttering +another note.' + +'If you did that, I should be angry with you, General,' said Countess +Anna. + +'And I also think the Government cannot do wrong,' Countess Lena joined +in. + +The General contented himself by saying: 'Well, we shall see.' + +Countess Lena talked to Captain Weisspriess in an undertone, referring to +what she called his dispute with Carlo Ammiani. The captain was +extremely playful in rejoinders. + +'You iron man!' she exclaimed. + +'Man of steel would be the better phrase,' her sister whispered. + +'It will be an assassination, if it happens.' + +'No officer can bear with an open insult, Lena.' + +'I shall not sit and see harm done to my old playmate, Anna.' + +'Beware of betraying yourself for one who detests you.' + +A grand duo between Montini and Vittoria silenced all converse. Camilla +tells Camillo of her dream. He pledges his oath to discover her mother, +if alive; if dead, to avenge her. Camilla says she believes her mother +is in the dungeons of Count Orso's castle. The duo tasked Vittoria's +execution of florid passages; it gave evidence of her sound artistic +powers. + +'I was a fool,' thought Antonio-Pericles; 'I flung my bouquet with the +herd. I was a fool! I lost my head!' + +He tapped angrily at the little ink-flask in his coat-pocket. The first +act, after scenes between false Camillo and Michiella, ends with the +marriage of Camillo and Camilla;--a quatuor composed of Montini, +Vittoria, Irma, and Lebruno. Michiella is in despair; Count Orso is +profoundly sonorous with paternity and devotion to the law. He has +restored to Camilla a portion of her mother's sequestrated estates. +A portion of the remainder will be handed over to her when he has had +experience of her husband's good behaviour. The rest he considers +legally his own by right of (Treaties), and by right of possession and +documents his sword. Yonder castle he must keep. It is the key of all +his other territories. Without it, his position will be insecure. +(Allusion to the Austrian argument that the plains of Lombardy are the +strategic defensive lines of the Alps.) + +Agostino, pursued by his terror of anticlimax, ran from the sight of +Vittoria when she was called, after the fall of the curtain. He made his +way to Rocco Ricci (who had given his bow to the public from his perch), +and found the maestro drinking Asti to counteract his natural excitement. +Rocco told Agostino, that up to the last moment, neither he nor any soul +behind the scenes knew Vittoria would be able to appear, except that she +had sent a note to him with a pledge to be in readiness for the call. +Irma had come flying in late, enraged, and in disorder, praying to take +Camilla's part; but Montini refused to act with the seconda donna as +prima donna. They had commenced the opera in uncertainty whether it +could go on beyond the situation where Camilla presents herself. 'I was +prepared to throw up my baton,' said Rocco, 'and publicly to charge the +Government with the rape of our prima donna. Irma I was ready to +replace. I could have filled that gap.' He spoke of Vittoria's triumph. +Agostino's face darkened. 'Ha!' said he, 'provided we don't fall flat, +like your Asti with the cork out. I should have preferred an enthusiasm +a trifle more progressive. The notion of travelling backwards is upon me +forcibly, after that tempest of acclamation.' + +'Or do you think that you have put your best poetry in the first Act?' +Rocco suggested with malice. + +'Not a bit of it!' Agostino repudiated the idea very angrily, and puffed +and puffed. Yet he said, 'I should not be lamenting if the opera were +stopped at once.' + +'No!' cried Rocco; 'let us have our one night. I bargain for that. +Medole has played us false, but we go on. We are victims already, my +Agostino.' + +'But I do stipulate,' said Agostino, 'that my jewel is not to melt +herself in the cup to-night. I must see her. As it is, she is +inevitably down in the list for a week's or a month's incarceration.' + +Antonio-Pericles had this, in his case, singular piece of delicacy, that +he refrained from the attempt to see Vittoria immediately after he had +flung his magnificent bouquet of treasure at her feet. In his +intoxication with the success which he had foreseen and cradled to its +apogee, he was now reckless of any consequences. He felt ready to take +patriotic Italy in his arms, provided that it would succeed as Vittoria +had done, and on the spot. Her singing of the severe phrases of the +opening chant, or hymn, had turned the man, and for a time had put a new +heart in him. The consolation was his also, that he had rewarded it the +most splendidly--as it were, in golden italics of praise; so that her +forgiveness of his disinterested endeavour to transplant her was certain, +and perhaps her future implicit obedience or allegiance bought. Meeting +General Pierson, the latter rallied him. + +'Why, my fine Pericles, your scheme to get this girl out of the way was +capitally concerted. My only fear is that on another occasion the +Government will take another view of it and you.' + +Pericles shrugged. 'The Gods, my dear General, decree. I did my best to +lay a case before them; that is all.' + +'Ah, well! I am of opinion you will not lay many other cases before the +Gods who rule in Milan.' + +'I have helped them to a good opera.' + +'Are you aware that this opera consists entirely of political allusions?' + +General Pierson spoke offensively, as the urbane Austrian military +permitted themselves to do upon occasion when addressing the conquered or +civilians. + +'To me,' returned Pericles, 'an opera--it is music. I know no more.' + +'You are responsible for it,' said the General, harshly. 'It was taken +upon trust from you.' + +'Brutal Austrians!' Pericles murmured. 'And you do not think much of her +voice, General?' + +'Pretty fair, sir.' + +'What wonder she does not care to open her throat to these swine!' +thought the changed Greek. + +Vittoria's door was shut to Agostino. No voice within gave answer. He +tried the lock of the door, and departed. She sat in a stupor. It was +harder for her to make a second appearance than it was to make the first, +when the shameful suspicion cruelly attached to her had helped to balance +her steps with rebellious pride; and more, the great collected wave of +her ambitious years of girlhood had cast her forward to the spot, as in a +last effort for consummation. Now that she had won the public voice +(love, her heart called it) her eyes looked inward; she meditated upon +what she had to do, and coughed nervously. She frightened herself with +her coughing, and shivered at the prospect of again going forward in the +great nakedness of stagelights and thirsting eyes. And, moreover, she +was not strengthened by the character of the music and the poetry of the +second Act:--a knowledge of its somewhat inferior quality may possibly +have been at the root of Agostino's dread of an anticlimax. The seconda +donna had the chief part in it--notably an aria (Rocco had given it to +her in compassion) that suited Irma's pure shrieks and the tragic +skeleton she could be. Vittoria knew how low she was sinking when she +found her soul in the shallows of a sort of jealousy of Irma. For a +little space she lost all intimacy with herself; she looked at her face +in the glass and swallowed water, thinking that she had strained a dream +and confused her brain with it. The silence of her solitary room coming +upon the blaze of light the colour and clamour of the house, and the +strange remembrance of the recent impersonation of an ideal character, +smote her with the sense of her having fallen from a mighty eminence, +and that she lay in the dust. All those incense-breathing flowers heaped +on her table seemed poisonous, and reproached her as a delusion. She sat +crouching alone till her tirewomen called; horrible talkative things! +her own familiar maid Giacinta being the worst to bear with. + +Now, Michiella, by making love to Leonardo, Camillo's associate, +discovers that Camillo is conspiring against her father. She utters to +Leonardo very pleasant promises indeed, if he will betray his friend. +Leonardo, a wavering baritono, complains that love should ask for any +return save in the coin of the empire of love. He is seduced, and +invokes a malediction upon his head should he accomplish what he has +sworn to perform. Camilla reposes perfect confidence in this wretch, and +brings her more doubtful husband to be of her mind. + +Camillo and Camilla agree to wear the mask of a dissipated couple. +They throw their mansion open; dicing, betting, intriguing, revellings, +maskings, commence. Michiella is courted ardently by Camillo; Camilla +trifles with Leonardo and with Count Orso alternately. Jealous again +of Camilla, Michiella warns and threatens Leonardo; but she becomes +Camillo's dupe, partly from returning love, partly from desire for +vengeance on her rival. Camilla persuades Orso to discard Michiella. +The infatuated count waxes as the personification of portentous +burlesque; he is having everything his own way. The acting throughout-- +owing to the real gravity of the vast basso Lebruno's burlesque, and +Vittoria's archness--was that of high comedy with a lurid background. +Vittoria showed an enchanting spirit of humour. She sang one bewitching +barcarole that set the house in rocking motion. There was such +melancholy in her heart that she cast herself into all the flippancy with +abandonment. The Act was weak in too distinctly revealing the finger of +the poetic political squib at a point here and there. The temptation to +do it of an Agostino, who had no other outlet, had been irresistible, and +he sat moaning over his artistic depravity, now that it stared him in the +face. Applause scarcely consoled him, and it was with humiliation of +mind that he acknowledged his debt to the music and the singers, and how +little they owed to him. + +Now Camillo is pleased to receive the ardent passion of his wife, and the +masking suits his taste, but it is the vice of his character that he +cannot act to any degree subordinately in concert; he insists upon +positive headship!--(allusion to an Italian weakness for sovereignties; +it passed unobserved, and chuckled bitterly over his excess of subtlety). +Camillo cannot leave the scheming to her. He pursues Michiella to subdue +her with blandishments. Reproaches cease upon her part. There is a duo +between them. They exchange the silver keys, which express absolute +intimacy, and give mutual freedom of access. Camillo can now secrete his +followers in the castle; Michiella can enter Camilla's blue-room, and +ravage her caskets for treasonable correspondence. Artfully she bids him +reflect on what she is forfeiting for him; and so helps him to put aside +the thought of that which he also may be imperilling. + +Irma's shrill crescendos and octave-leaps, assisted by her peculiar +attitudes of strangulation, came out well in this scene. The murmurs +concerning the sour privileges to be granted by a Lazzeruola were +inaudible. But there has been a witness to the stipulation. The ever- +shifting baritono, from behind a pillar, has joined in with an aside +phrase here and there. Leonardo discovers that his fealty to Camilla is +reviving. He determines to watch over her. Camillo now tosses a +perfumed handkerchief under his nose, and inhales the coxcombical incense +of the idea that he will do all without Camilla's aid, to surprise her; +thereby teaching her to know him to be somewhat a hero. She has played +her part so thoroughly that he can choose to fancy her a giddy person; +he remarks upon the frequent instances of girls who in their girlhood +were wild dreamers becoming after marriage wild wives. His followers +assemble, that he may take advantage of the exchanged key of silver. +He is moved to seek one embrace of Camilla before the conflict:--she is +beautiful! There was never such beauty as hers! He goes to her in the +fittest preparation for the pangs of jealousy. But he has not been +foremost in practising the uses of silver keys. Michiella, having first +arranged with her father to be before Camillo's doors at a certain hour +with men-at-arms, is in Camilla's private chamber, with her hand upon a +pregnant box of ebony wood, when she is startled by a noise, and slips +into concealment. Leonardo bursts through the casement window. Camilla +then appears. Leonardo stretches the tips of his fingers out to her; on +his knees confesses his guilt and warns her. Camillo comes in. +Thrusting herself before him, Michiella points to the stricken couple +'See! it is to show you this that I am here.' Behold occasion for a +grand quatuor! + +While confessing his guilt to Camilla, Leonardo has excused it by an +emphatic delineation of Michiella's magic sway over him. (Leonardo, in +fact, is your small modern Italian Machiavelli, overmatched in cunning, +for the reason that he is always at a last moment the victim of his poor +bit of heart or honesty: he is devoid of the inspiration of great +patriotic aims.) If Michiella (Austrian intrigue) has any love, it is for +such a tool. She cannot afford to lose him. She pleads for him; and, as +Camilla is silent on his account, the cynical magnanimity of Camillo is +predisposed to spare a fangless snake. Michiella withdraws him from the +naked sword to the back of the stage. The terrible repudiation scene +ensues, in which Camillo casts off his wife. If it was a puzzle to one +Italian half of the audience, the other comprehended it perfectly, and +with rapture. It was thus that YOUNG ITALY had too often been treated by +the compromising, merely discontented, dallying aristocracy. Camilla +cries to him, 'Have faith in me! have faith in me! have faith in me!' +That is the sole answer to his accusations, his threats of eternal +loathing, and generally blustering sublimities. She cannot defend +herself; she only knows her innocence. He is inexorable, being the +guilty one of the two. Turning from him with crossed arms, Camilla +sings: + +'Mother! it is my fate that I should know +Thy miseries, and in thy footprints go. +Grief treads the starry places of the earth: +In thy long track I feel who gave me birth. +I am alone; a wife without a lord; +My home is with the stranger--home abhorr'd!-- +But that I trust to meet thy spirit there. +Mother of Sorrows! joy thou canst not share: +So let me wander in among the tombs, +Among the cypresses and the withered blooms. +Thy soul is with dead suns: there let me be; +A silent thing that shares thy veil with thee.' + +The wonderful viol-like trembling of the contralto tones thrilled through +the house. It was the highest homage to Vittoria that no longer any +shouts arose nothing but a prolonged murmur, as when one tells another a +tale of deep emotion, and all exclamations, all ulterior thoughts, all +gathered tenderness of sensibility, are reserved for the close, are seen +heaping for the close, like waters above a dam. The flattery of +beholding a great assembly of human creatures bound glittering in wizard +subservience to the voice of one soul, belongs to the artist, and is the +cantatrice's glory, pre-eminent over whatever poor glory this world +gives. She felt it, but she felt it as something apart. Within her was +the struggle of Italy calling to Italy: Italy's shame, her sadness, her +tortures, her quenchless hope, and the view of Freedom. It sent her +blood about her body in rebellious volumes. Once it completely strangled +her notes. She dropped the ball of her chin in her throat; paused +without ceremony; and recovered herself. Vittoria had too severe an +artistic instinct to court reality; and as much as she could she from +that moment corrected the underlinings of Agostino's libretto. + +On the other hand, Irma fell into all his traps, and painted her Austrian +heart with a prodigal waste of colour and frank energy: + + 'Now Leonardo is my tool: + Camilla is my slave: + And she I hate goes forth to cool + Her rage beyond the wave. + Joy! joy! + Paid am I in full coin for my caressing; + I take, but give nought, ere the priestly blessing.' + +A subtle distinction. She insists upon her reverence for the priestly +(papistical) blessing, while she confides her determination to have it +dispensed with in Camilla's case. Irma's known sympathies with the +Austrian uniform seasoned the ludicrousness of many of the double-edged +verses which she sang or declaimed in recitative. The irony of +applauding her vehemently was irresistible. + +Camilla is charged with conspiracy, and proved guilty by her own +admission. + +The Act ends with the entry of Count Orso and his force; conspirators +overawed; Camilla repudiated; Count Orso imperially just; Leonardo +chagrined; Camillo pardoned; Michiella triumphant. Camillo sacrifices +his wife for safety. He holds her estates; and therefore Count Orso, +whose respect for law causes him to have a keen eye for matrimonial +alliances, is now paternally willing, and even anxious to bestow +Michiella upon him when the Pontifical divorce can be obtained; so that +the long-coveted fruitful acres may be in the family. The chorus sings a +song of praise to Hymen, the 'builder of great Houses.' Camilla goes +forth into exile. The word was not spoken, but the mention of 'bread of +strangers, strange faces, cold climes,' said sufficient. + +'It is a question whether we ought to sit still and see a firebrand +flashed in our faces,' General Pierson remarked as the curtain fell. He +was talking to Major de Pyrmont outside the Duchess of Graatli's box. +Two General officers joined them, and presently Count Serabiglione, with +his courtly semi-ironical smile, on whom they straightway turned their +backs. The insult was happily unseen, and the count caressed his shaven +chin and smiled himself onward. The point for the officers to decide +was, whether they dared offend an enthusiastic house--the fiery core of +the population of Milan--by putting a stop to the opera before worse +should come. + +Their own views were entirely military; but they were paralyzed by the +recent pseudo-liberalistic despatches from Vienna; and agreed, with some +malice in their shrugs, that the odium might as well be left on the +shoulders of the bureau which had examined the libretto. In fact, they +saw that there would be rank peril in attempting to arrest the course of +things within the walls of the house. + +'The temper this people is changeing oddly,' said General Pierson. Major +de Pyrmont listened awhile to what they had to say, and returned to the +duchess. Amalia wrote these lines to Laura:-- + +'If she sings that song she is to be seized on the wings of the stage. +I order my carriage to be in readiness to take her whither she should +have gone last night. Do you contrive only her escape from the house. +Georges de P. will aid you. I adore the naughty rebel!' + +Major de Pyrmont delivered the missive at Laura's box. He went down to +the duchess's chasseur, and gave him certain commands and money for a +journey. Looking about, he beheld Wilfrid, who implored him to take his +place for two minutes. De Pyrmont laughed. 'She is superb, my friend. +Come up with me. I am going behind the scenes. The unfortunate +impresario is a ruined man; let us both condole with him. It is possible +that he has children, and children like bread.' + +Wilfrid was linking his arm to De Pyrmont's, when, with a vivid +recollection of old times, he glanced at his uniform with Vittoria's +eyes. 'She would spit at me!' he muttered, and dropped behind. + +Up in her room Vittoria held council with Rocco, Agostino, and the +impresario, Salvolo, who was partly their dupe. Salvolo had laid a +freshly-written injunction from General Pierson before her, bidding him +to exclude the chief solo parts from the Third Act, and to bring it +speedily to a termination. His case was, that he had been ready to +forfeit much if a rising followed; but that simply to beard the +authorities was madness. He stated his case by no means as a pleader, +although the impression made on him by the prima donna's success caused +his urgency to be civil. + +'Strike out what you please,' said Vittoria. + +Agostino smote her with a forefinger. 'Rogue! you deserve an imperial +crown. You have been educated for monarchy. You are ready enough to +dispense with what you don't care for, and what is not your own.' + +Much of the time was lost by Agostino's dispute with Salvolo. They +haggled and wrangled laughingly over this and that printed aria, but it +was a deplorable deception of the unhappy man; and with Vittoria's +stronger resolve to sing the incendiary song, the more necessary it was +for her to have her soul clear of deceit. She said, 'Signor Salvolo, you +have been very kind to me, and I would do nothing to hurt your interests. +I suppose you must suffer for being an Italian, like the rest of us. +The song I mean to sing is not written or printed. What is in the book +cannot harm you, for the censorship has passed it; and surely I alone am +responsible for singing what is not in the book--I and the maestro. He +supports me. We have both taken precautions' (she smiled) 'to secure our +property. If you are despoiled, we will share with you. And believe, +oh! in God's name, believe that you will not suffer to no purpose!' + +Salvolo started from her in a horror of amazement. He declared that he +had been miserably deceived and entrapped. He threatened to send the +company to their homes forthwith. 'Dare to!' said Agostino; and to judge +by the temper of the house, it was only too certain, that if he did so, +La Scala would be a wrecked tenement in the eye of morning. But Agostino +backed his entreaty to her to abjure that song; Rocco gave way, and half +shyly requested her to think of prudence. She remembered Laura, and +Carlo, and her poor little frightened foreign mother. Her intense ideal +conception of her duty sank and danced within her brain as the pilot-star +dances on the bows of a tossing vessel. All were against her, as the +tempest is against the ship. Even light above (by which I would image +that which she could appeal to pleading in behalf of the wisdom of her +obstinate will) was dyed black in the sweeping obscuration; she failed to +recollect a sentence that was to be said to vindicate her settled course. +Her sole idea was her holding her country by an unseen thread, and of the +everlasting welfare of Italy being jeopardized if she relaxed her hold. +Simple obstinacy of will sustained her. + +You mariners batten down the hatchways when the heavens are dark and seas +are angry. Vittoria, with the same faith in her instinct, shut the +avenues to her senses--would see nothing, hear nothing. The impresario's +figure of despair touched her later. Giacinta drove him forth in the act +of smiting his forehead with both hands. She did the same for Agostino +and Rocco, who were not demonstrative. + +They knew that by this time the agents of the Government were in all +probability ransacking their rooms, and confiscating their goods. + +'Is your piano hired?' quoth the former. + +'No,' said the latter, 'are your slippers?' + +They went their separate ways, laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE THIRD ACT + +The libretto of the Third Act was steeped in the sentiment of Young +Italy. I wish that I could pipe to your mind's hearing any notion of the +fine music of Rocco Ricci, and touch you to feel the revelations which +were in this new voice. Rocco and Vittoria gave the verses a life that +cannot belong to them now; yet, as they contain much of the vital spirit +of the revolt, they may assist you to some idea of the faith animating +its heads, and may serve to justify this history. + +Rocco's music in the opera of Camilla had been sprung from a fresh +Italian well; neither the elegiac-melodious, nor the sensuous-lyrical, +nor the joyous buffo; it was severe as an old masterpiece, with veins +of buoyant liveliness threading it, and with sufficient distinctness +of melody to enrapture those who like to suck the sugarplums of sound. +He would indeed have favoured the public with more sweet things, but +Vittoria, for whom the opera was composed, and who had been at his elbow, +was young, and stern in her devotion to an ideal of classical music that +should elevate and never stoop to seduce or to flatter thoughtless +hearers. Her taste had directed as her voice had inspired the opera. +Her voice belonged to the order of the simply great voices, and was a +royal voice among them. Pure without attenuation, passionate without +contortion, when once heard it exacted absolute confidence. On this +night her theme and her impersonation were adventitious introductions, +but there were passages when her artistic pre-eminence and the sovereign +fulness and fire of her singing struck a note of grateful remembered +delight. This is what the great voice does for us. It rarely astonishes +our ears. It illumines our souls, as you see the lightning make the +unintelligible craving darkness leap into long mountain ridges, and +twisting vales, and spires of cities, and inner recesses of light within +light, rose-like, toward a central core of violet heat. + +At the rising of the curtain the knights of the plains, Rudolfo, +Romualdo, Arnoldo, and others, who were conspiring to overthrow Count +Orso at the time when Camillo's folly ruined all, assemble to deplore +Camilla's banishment, and show, bereft of her, their helplessness and +indecision. They utter contempt of Camillo, who is this day to be +Pontifically divorced from his wife to espouse the detested Michiella. +His taste is not admired. + +They pass off. Camillo appears. He is, as he knows, little better than +a pensioner in Count Orso's household. He holds his lands on sufferance. +His faculties are paralyzed. He is on the first smooth shoulder-slope of +the cataract. He knows that not only was his jealousy of his wife +groundless, but it was forced by a spleenful pride. What is there to do? +Nothing, save resignedly to prepare for his divorce from the conspiratrix +Camilla and espousals with Michiella. The cup is bitter, and his song is +mournful. He does the rarest thing a man will do in such a predicament-- +he acknowledges that he is going to get his deserts. The faithfulness +and purity of Camilla have struck his inner consciousness. He knows not +where she may be. He has secretly sent messengers in all directions to +seek her, and recover her, and obtain her pardon: in vain. It is as +well, perhaps, that he should never see her more. Accursed, he has cast +off his sweetest friend. The craven heart could never beat in unison +with hers. + +'She is in the darkness: I am in the light. I am a blot upon the light; +she is light in the darkness.' + +Montini poured this out with so fine a sentiment that the impatience of +the house for sight of its heroine was quieted. But Irma and Lebruno +came forward barely under tolerance. + +'We might as well be thumping a tambourine,' said Lebruno, during a +caress. Irma bit her underlip with mortification. Their notes fell flat +as bullets against a wall. + +This circumstance aroused the ire of Antonio-Pericles against the +libretto and revolutionists. 'I perceive,' he said, grinning savagely, +'it has come to be a concert, not an opera; it is a musical harangue in +the marketplace. Illusion goes: it is politics here!' + +Carlo Ammiani was sitting with his mother and Luciano breathlessly +awaiting the entrance of Vittoria. The inner box-door was rudely shaken: +beneath it a slip of paper had been thrust. He read a warning to him to +quit the house instantly. Luciano and his mother both counselled his +departure. The detestable initials 'B. R.,' and the one word 'Sbirri,' +revealed who had warned, and what was the danger. His friend's advice +and the commands of his mother failed to move him. 'When I have seen her +safe; not before,' he said. + +Countess Ammiani addressed Luciano: 'This is a young man's love for a +woman.' + +'The woman is worth it,' Luciano replied. + +'No woman is worth the sacrifice of a mother and of a relative.' + +'Dearest countess,' said Luciano, 'look at the pit; it's a cauldron. We +shall get him out presently, have no fear: there will soon be hubbub +enough to let Lucifer escape unseen. If nothing is done to-night, he and +I will be off to the Lago di Garda to-morrow morning, and fish and shoot, +and talk with Catullus.' + +The countess gazed on her son with sorrowful sternness. His eyes had +taken that bright glazed look which is an indication of frozen brain and +turbulent heart--madness that sane men enamoured can be struck by. She +knew there was no appeal to it. + +A very dull continuous sound, like that of an angry swarm, or more like a +rapid mufed thrumming of wires, was heard. The audience had caught view +of a brown-coated soldier at one of the wings. The curious Croat had +merely gratified a desire to have a glance at the semicircle of crowded +heads; he withdrew his own, but not before he had awakened the wild beast +in the throng. Yet a little while and the roar of the beasts would have +burst out. It was thought that Vittoria had been seized or interdicted +from appearing. Conspirators--the knights of the plains--meet: Rudolfos, +Romualdos, Arnoldos, and others,--so that you know Camilla is not idle. +She comes on in the great scene which closes the opera. + +It is the banqueting hall of the castle. The Pontifical divorce is +spread upon the table. Courtly friends, guards, and a choric bridal +company, form a circle. + +'I have obtained it,' says Count Orso: 'but at a cost.' + +Leonardo, wavering eternally, lets us know that it is weighted with a +proviso: IF Camilla shall not present herself within a certain term, this +being the last day of it. Camillo comes forward. Too late, he has +perceived his faults and weakness. He has cast his beloved from his arms +to clasp them on despair. The choric bridal company gives intervening +strophes. Cavaliers enter. 'Look at them well,' says Leonardo. They +are the knights of the plains. 'They have come to mock me,' Camillo +exclaims, and avoids them. + +Leonardo, Michiella, and Camillo now sing a trio that is tricuspidato, +or a three-pointed manner of declaring their divergent sentiments in +harmony. The fast-gathering cavaliers lend masculine character to the +choric refrains at every interval. Leonardo plucks Michiella +entreatingly by the arm. She spurns him. He has served her; she needs +him no more; but she will recommend him in other quarters, and bids him +to seek them. 'I will give thee a collar for thy neck, marked +"Faithful." It is the utmost I can do for thy species.' Leonardo thinks +that he is insulted, but there is a vestige of doubt in him still. 'She +is so fair! she dissembles so magnificently ever!' She has previously +told him that she is acting a part, as Camilla did. Irma had shed all +her hair from a golden circlet about her temples, barbarian-wise. Some +Hunnish grandeur pertained to her appearance, and partly excused the +infatuated wretch who shivered at her disdain and exulted over her beauty +and artfulness. + +In the midst of the chorus there is one veiled figure and one voice +distinguishable. This voice outlives the rest at every strophe, and +contrives to add a supplemental antiphonic phrase that recalls in turn +the favourite melodies of the opera. Camillo hears it, but takes it as a +delusion of impassioned memory and a mere theme for the recurring +melodious utterance of his regrets. Michiella hears it. She chimes with +the third notes of Camillo's solo to inform us of her suspicions that +they have a serpent among them. Leonardo hears it. The trio is formed. +Count Orso, without hearing it, makes a quatuor by inviting the bridal +couple to go through the necessary formalities. The chorus changes its +measure to one of hymeneals. The unknown voice closes it ominously with +three bars in the minor key. Michiella stalks close around the rank +singers like an enraged daughter of Attila. Stopping in front of the +veiled figure, she says: 'Why is it thou wearest the black veil at my +nuptials?' + +'Because my time of mourning is not yet ended.' + +'Thou standest the shadow in my happiness.' + +'The bright sun will have its shadow.' + +'I desire that all rejoice this day.' + +'My hour of rejoicing approaches.' + +'Wilt thou unveil?' + +'Dost thou ask to look the storm in the face?' + +'Wilt thou unveil?' + +'Art thou hungry for the lightning?' + +'I bid thee unveil, woman!' + +Michiella's ringing shriek of command produces no response. + +'It is she!' cries Michiella, from a contracted bosom; smiting it with +clenched hands. + +'Swift to the signatures. O rival! what bitterness hast thou come hither +to taste.' + +Camilla sings aside: 'If yet my husband loves me and is true.' + +Count Orso exclaims: 'Let trumpets sound for the commencement of the +festivities. The lord of his country may slumber while his people dance +and drink!' + +Trumpets flourish. Witnesses are called about the table. Camillo, pen +in hand, prepares for the supreme act. Leonardo at one wing watches the +eagerness of Michiella. The chorus chants to a muted measure of +suspense, while Camillo dips pen in ink. + +'She is away from me: she scorns me: she is lost to me. Life without +honour is the life of swine. Union without love is the yoke of savage +beasts. O me miserable! Can the heavens themselves plumb the depth of +my degradation?' + +Count Orso permits a half-tone of paternal severity to point his kindly +hint that time is passing. When he was young, he says, in the broad and +benevolently frisky manner, he would have signed ere the eye of the +maiden twinkled her affirmative, or the goose had shed its quill. + +Camillo still trifles. Then he dashes the pen to earth. + +'Never! I have but one wife. Our marriage is irrevocable. The +dishonoured man is the everlasting outcast. What are earthly possessions +to me, if within myself shame faces me? Let all go. Though I have lost +Camilla, I will be worthy of her. Not a pen no pen; it is the sword that +I must write with. Strike, O count! I am here: I stand alone. By the +edge of this sword, I swear that never deed of mine shall rob Camilla of +her heritage; though I die the death, she shall not weep for a craven!' + +The multitude break away from Camilla--veiled no more, but radiant; fresh +as a star that issues through corrupting vapours, and with her voice at a +starry pitch in its clear ascendency: + + 'Tear up the insufferable scroll!-- + O thou, my lover and my soul! + It is the Sword that reunites; + The Pen that our perdition writes.' + +She is folded in her husband's arms. + +Michiella fronts them, horrid of aspect:-- + + 'Accurst divorced one! dost thou dare + To lie in shameless fondness there? + Abandoned! on thy lying brow + Thy name shall be imprinted now.' + +Camilla parts from her husband's embrace: + + 'My name is one I do not fear; + 'Tis one that thou wouldst shrink to hear. + Go, cool thy penitential fires, + Thou creature, foul with base desires!' + + CAMILLO (facing Count Orso). + + 'The choice is thine!' + + COUNT ORSO (draws). + + 'The choice is made!' + + CHORUS (narrowing its circle). + + 'Familiar is that naked blade. + Of others, of himself, the fate + How swift 'tis Provocation's mate!' + + MICHIELLA (torn with jealous rage). + + 'Yea; I could smite her on the face. + Father, first read the thing's disgrace. + I grudge them, honourable death. + Put poison in their latest breath!' + + ORSO (his left arm extended). + + 'You twain are sundered: hear with awe + The judgement of the Source of Law.' + + CAMILLA (smiling confidently). + + 'Not such, when I was at the Source, + It said to me;--but take thy course.' + + ORSO (astounded). + + 'Thither thy steps were bent?' + + MICHIELLA (spurning verbal controversy). + + 'She feigns! + A thousand swords are in my veins. + Friends! soldiers I strike them down, the pair!' + + CAMILLO (on guard, clasping his wife). + + ''Tis well! I cry, to all we share. + Yea, life or death, 'tis well! 'tis well!' + + MICHIELLA (stamps her foot). + + 'My heart 's a vessel tossed on hell!' + + LEONARDO (aside). + + 'Not in glad nuptials ends the day.' + + ORSO (to Camilla). + + 'What is thy purpose with us?--say !' + + CAMILLA (lowly). + 'Unto my Father I have crossed + For tidings of my Mother lost.' + + ORSO. + 'Thy mother dead!' + + CAMILLA. + 'She lives!' + + MICHIELLA. + 'Thou liest! + The tablets of the tomb defiest! + The Fates denounce, the Furies chase + The wretch who lies in Reason's face.' + + CAMILLA. + 'Fly, then; for we are match'd to try + Which is the idiot, thou or I' + + MICHIELLA. + Graceless Camilla!' + + ORSO + 'Senseless girl! + I cherished thee a precious pearl, + And almost owned thee child of mine.' + + CAMILLA. + 'Thou kept'st me like a gem, to shine, + Careless that I of blood am made; + No longer be the end delay'd. + 'Tis time to prove I have a heart-- + Forth from these walls of mine depart! + The ghosts within them are disturb'd + Go forth, and let thy wrath be curb'd, + For I am strong: Camillo's truth + Has arm'd the visions of our youth. + Our union by the Head Supreme + Is blest: our severance was the dream. + We who have drunk of blood and tears, + Knew nothing of a mortal's fears. + Life is as Death until the strife + In our just cause makes Death as Life.' + + ORSO + ''Tis madness?' + + LEONARDO. + 'Is it madness?' + + CAMILLA. + 'Men! + 'Tis Reason, but beyond your ken. + There lives a light that none can view + Whose thoughts are brutish:--seen by few, + The few have therefore light divine + Their visions are God's legions!--sign, + I give you; for we stand alone, + And you are frozen to the bone. + Your palsied hands refuse their swords. + A sharper edge is in my words, + A deadlier wound is in my cry. + Yea, tho' you slay us, do we die? + In forcing us to bear the worst, + You made of us Immortals first. + Away! and trouble not my sight.' + + Chorus of Cavaliers: RUDOLFO, ROMUALDO, ARNOLDO, and others. + + 'She moves us with an angel's might. + What if his host outnumber ours! + 'Tis heaven that gives victorious powers.' + + [They draw their steel. ORSO, simulating gratitude for their + devotion to him, addresses them as to pacify their friendly ardour.] + + MICHIELLA to LEONARDO (supplicating). + 'Ever my friend I shall I appeal + In vain to see thy flashing steel?' + + LEONARDO (finally resolved). + 'Traitress! pray, rather, it may rest, + Or its first home will be thy breast.' + + Chorus of Bridal Company. + 'The flowers from bright Aurora's head + We pluck'd to strew a happy bed, + Shall they be dipp'd in blood ere night? + Woe to the nuptials! woe the sight!' + +Rudolfo, Romualdo, Arnoldo, and the others, advance toward Camillo. +Michiella calls to them encouragingly that it were well for the deed to +be done by their hands. They bid Camillo to direct their lifted swords +upon his enemies. Leonardo joins them. Count Orso, after a burst of +upbraidings, accepts Camillo's offer of peace, and gives his bond to quit +the castle. Michiella, gazing savagely at Camilla, entreats her for an +utterance of her triumphant scorn. She assures Camilla that she knows +her feelings accurately. + +'Now you think that I am overwhelmed; that I shall have a restless night, +and lie, after all my crying's over, with my hair spread out on my +pillow, on either side my face, like green moss of a withered waterfall: +you think you will bestow a little serpent of a gift from my stolen +treasures to comfort me. You will comfort me with a lock of Camillo's +hair, that I may have it on my breast to-night, and dream, and wail, and +writhe, and curse the air I breathe, and clasp the abominable emptiness +like a thousand Camillos. Speak!' + +The dagger is seen gleaming up Michiella's wrist; she steps on in a bony +triangle, faced for mischief: a savage Hunnish woman, with the hair of a +Goddess--the figure of a cat taking to its forepaws. Close upon Camilla +she towers in her whole height, and crying thrice, swift as the assassin +trebles his blow, 'Speak,' to Camilla, who is fronting her mildly, she +raises her arm, and the stilet flashes into Camilla's bosom. + + 'Die then, and outrage me no more.' + +Camilla staggers to her husband. Camillo receives her falling. +Michiella, seized by Leonardo, presents a stiffened shape of vengeance +with fierce white eyes and dagger aloft. There are many shouts, and +there is silence. + + CAMILLA, supported by CAMILLO. + 'If this is death, it is not hard to bear. + Your handkerchief drinks up my blood so fast + It seems to love it. Threads of my own hair + Are woven in it. 'Tis the one I cast + That midnight from my window, when you stood + Alone, and heaven seemed to love you so! + I did not think to wet it with my blood + When next I tossed it to my love below.' + + CAMILLO (cherishing her). + 'Camilla, pity! say you will not die. + Your voice is like a soul lost in the sky.' + + CAMILLA. + + 'I know not if my soul has flown; I know + My body is a weight I cannot raise: + My voice between them issues, and + I go Upon a journey of uncounted days. + Forgetfulness is like a closing sea; + But you are very bright above me still. + My life I give as it was given to me + I enter on a darkness wide and chill.' + + CAMILLO. + 'O noble heart! a million fires consume + The hateful hand that sends you to your doom.' + + CAMILLA. + 'There is an end to joy: there is no end + To striving; therefore ever let us strive + In purity that shall the toil befriend, + And keep our poor mortality alive. + I hang upon the boundaries like light + Along the hills when downward goes the day + I feel the silent creeping up of night. + For you, my husband, lies a flaming way.' + + CAMILLO. + 'I lose your eyes: I lose your voice: 'tis faint. + Ah, Christ! see the fallen eyelids of a saint.' + + CAMILLA. + 'Our life is but a little holding, lent + To do a mighty labour: we are one + With heaven and the stars when it is spent + To serve God's aim: else die we with the sun.' + +She sinks. Camillo droops his head above her. + +The house was hushed as at a veritable death-scene. It was more like a +cathedral service than an operatic pageant. Agostino had done his best +to put the heart of the creed of his Chief into these last verses. +Rocco's music floated them in solemn measures, and Vittoria had been +careful to articulate throughout the sacred monotony so that their full +meaning should be taken. + +In the printed book of the libretto a chorus of cavaliers, followed by +one harmless verse of Camilla's adieux to them, and to her husband and +life, concluded the opera. + +'Let her stop at that--it's enough!--and she shall be untouched,' said +General Pierson to Antonio-Pericles. + +'I have information, as you know, that an extremely impudent song is +coming.' + +The General saw Wilfrid hanging about the lobby, in flagrant disobedience +to orders. Rebuking his nephew with a frown, he commanded the lieutenant +to make his way round to the stage and see that the curtain was dropped +according to the printed book. + +'Off, mon Dieu! off!' Pericles speeded him; adding in English, 'Shall she +taste prison-damp, zat voice is killed.' + +The chorus of cavaliers was a lamentation: the keynote being despair: +ordinary libretto verses. + +Camilla's eyes unclose. She struggles to be lifted, and, raised on +Camillo's arm, she sings as if with the last pulsation of her voice, +softly resonant in its rich contralto. She pardons Michiella. She tells +Count Orso that when he has extinguished his appetite for dominion, he +will enjoy an unknown pleasure in the friendship of his neighbours. +Repeating that her mother lives, and will some day kneel by her +daughter's grave--not mournfully, but in beatitude--she utters her adieu +to all. + +At the moment of her doing so, Montini whispered in Vittoria's ear. She +looked up and beheld the downward curl of the curtain. There was +confusion at the wings: Croats were visible to the audience. Carlo +Ammiani and Luciano Romara jumped on the stage; a dozen of the noble +youths of Milan streamed across the boards to either wing, and caught the +curtain descending. The whole house had risen insurgent with cries of +'Vittoria.' The curtain-ropes were in the hands of the Croats, but Carlo, +Luciano, and their fellows held the curtain aloft at arm's length at each +side of her. She was seen, and she sang, and the house listened. + +The Italians present, one and all, rose up reverently and murmured the +refrain. Many of the aristocracy would, doubtless, have preferred that +this public declaration of the plain enigma should not have rung forth to +carry them on the popular current; and some might have sympathized with +the insane grin which distorted the features of Antonio-Pericles, when he +beheld illusion wantonly destroyed, and the opera reduced to be a mere +vehicle for a fulmination of politics. But the general enthusiasm was +too tremendous to permit of individual protestations. To sit, when the +nation was standing, was to be a German. Nor, indeed, was there an +Italian in the house who would willingly have consented to see Vittoria +silenced, now that she had chosen to defy the Tedeschi from the boards of +La Scala. The fascination of her voice extended even over the German +division of the audience. They, with the Italians, said: 'Hear her! +hear her!' The curtain was agitated at the wings, but in the centre it +was kept above Vittoria's head by the uplifted arms of the twelve young +men:-- + + 'I cannot count the years, + That you will drink, like me, + The cup of blood and tears, + Ere she to you appears:-- + Italia, Italia shall be free!' + +So the great name was out, and its enemies had heard it. + + 'You dedicate your lives + To her, and you will be + The food on which she thrives, + Till her great day arrives + Italia, Italia shall be free! + + 'She asks you but for faith! + Your faith in her takes she + As draughts of heaven's breath, + Amid defeat and death:-- + Italia, Italia shall be free!' + +The prima donna was not acting exhaustion when sinking lower in Montini's +arms. Her bosom rose and sank quickly, and she gave the terminating +verse:-- + + 'I enter the black boat + Upon the wide grey sea, + Where all her set suns float; + Thence hear my voice remote + Italia, Italia shall be free!' + +The curtain dropped. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WILFRID COMES FORWARD + +An order for the immediate arrest of Vittoria was brought round to the +stage at the fall of the curtain by Captain Weisspriess, and delivered by +him on the stage to the officer commanding, a pothered lieutenant of +Croats, whose first proceeding was dictated by the military instinct to +get his men in line, and who was utterly devoid of any subsequent idea. +The thunder of the house on the other side of the curtain was enough to +disconcert a youngster such as he was; nor have the subalterns of Croat +regiments a very signal reputation for efficiency in the Austrian +Service. Vittoria stood among her supporters apart; pale, and 'only very +thirsty,' as she told the enthusiastic youths who pressed near her, and +implored her to have no fear. Carlo was on her right hand; Luciano on +her left. They kept her from going off to her room. Montini was +despatched to fetch her maid Giacinta with cloak and hood for her +mistress. The young lieutenant of Croats drew his sword, but hesitated. +Weisspriess, Wilfrid, and Major de Pyrmont were at one wing, between the +Italian gentlemen and the soldiery. The operatic company had fallen into +the background, or stood crowding the side places of exit. Vittoria's +name was being shouted with that angry, sea-like, horrid monotony of +iteration which is more suggestive of menacing impatience and the +positive will of the people, than varied, sharp, imperative calls. +The people had got the lion in their throats. One shriek from her would +bring them, like a torrent, on the boards, as the officers well knew; and +every second's delay in executing the orders of the General added to the +difficulty of their position. The lieutenant of Croats strode up to +Weisspriess and Wilfrid, who were discussing a plan of action vehemently; +while, amid hubbub and argument, De Pyrmont studied Vittoria's features +through his opera-glass, with an admirable simple languor. + +Wilfrid turned back to him, and De Pyrmont, without altering the level of +his glass, said, 'She's as cool as a lemon-ice. That girl will be a +mother of heroes. To have volcanic fire and the mastery of her nerves at +the same time, is something prodigious. She is magnificent. Take a peep +at her. I suspect that the rascal at her right is seizing his occasion +to plant a trifle or so in her memory--the animal! It's just the moment, +and he knows it.' + +De Pyrmont looked at Wilfrid's face. + +'Have I hit you anywhere accidentally?' he asked, for the face had grown +dead-white. + +'Be my friend, for heaven's sake!' was the choking answer. 'Save her! +Get her away ! She is an old acquaintance of mine--of mine, in England. +Do; or I shall have to break my sword.' + +'You know her? and you don't go over to her?' said De Pyrmont. + +'I--yes, she knows me.' + +'Then, why not present yourself?' + +'Get her away. Talk Weisspriess down. He is for seizing her at all +hazards. It 's madness to provoke a conflict. Just listen to the house! +I may be broken, but save her I will. De Pyrmont, on my honour, I will +stand by you for ever if you will help me to get her away.' + +'To suggest my need in the hour of your own is not a bad notion,' said +the cool Frenchman. 'What plan have you?' + +Wilfrid struck his forehead miserably. + +'Stop Lieutenant Zettlisch. Don't let him go up to her. Don't--' + +De Pyrmont beheld in astonishment that a speechlessness such as affects +condemned wretches in the supreme last minutes of existence had come upon +the Englishman. + +'I'm afraid yours is a bad case,' he said; 'and the worst of it is, it's +just the case women have no compassion for. Here comes a parlementaire +from the opposite camp. Let's hear him.' + +It was Luciano Romara. He stood before them to request that the curtain +should be raised. The officers debated together, and deemed it prudent +to yield consent. + +Luciano stipulated further that the soldiers were to be withdrawn. + +'On one wing, or on both wings?' said Captain Weisspriess, twinkling eyes +oblique. + +'Out of the house,' said Luciano. + +The officers laughed. + +'You must confess,' said De Pyrmont, affably, 'that though the drum does +issue command to the horse, it scarcely thinks of doing so after a rent +in the skin has shown its emptiness. Can you suppose that we are likely +to run when we see you empty-handed? These things are matters of +calculation.' + +'It is for you to calculate correctly,' said Luciano. + +As he spoke, a first surge of the exasperated house broke upon the stage +and smote the curtain, which burst into white zigzags, as it were a +breast stricken with panic. + +Giacinta came running in to her mistress, and cloaked and hooded her +hurriedly. + +Enamoured; impassioned, Ammiani murmured in Vittoria's ear: +'My own soul!' + +She replied: 'My lover!' + +So their first love-speech was interchanged with Italian simplicity, and +made a divine circle about them in the storm. + +Luciano returned to his party to inform them that they held the key of +the emergency. + +'Stick fast,' he said. 'None of you move. Whoever takes the first step +takes the false step; I see that.' + +'We have no arms, Luciano.' + +'We have the people behind us.' + +There was a fiercer tempest in the body of the house, and, on a sudden, +silence. Men who had invaded the stage joined the Italian guard +surrounding Vittoria, telling that the lights had been extinguished; and +then came the muffled uproar of universal confusion. Some were for +handing her down into the orchestra, and getting her out through the +general vomitorium, but Carlo and Luciano held her firmly by them. The +theatre was a rageing darkness; and there was barely a light on the +stage. 'Santa Maria!' cried Giacinta, 'how dreadful that steel does look +in the dark! I wish our sweet boys would cry louder.' Her mistress, +almost laughing, bade her keep close, and be still. 'Oh! this must be +like being at sea,' the poor creature whined, stopping her ears and +shutting her eyes. Vittoria was in a thick gathering of her defenders; +she could just hear that a parley was going on between Luciano and the +Austrians. Luciano made his way back to her. 'Quick!' he said; 'nothing +cows a mob like darkness. One of these officers tells me he knows you, +and gives his word of honour--he's an Englishman--to conduct you out: +come.' + +Vittoria placed her hands in Carlo's one instant. Luciano cleared a +space for them. She heard a low English voice. + +'You do not recognize me? There is no time to lose. You had another +name once, and I have had the honour to call you by it.' + +'Are you an Austrian?' she exclaimed, and Carlo felt that she was +shrinking back. + +'I am the Wilfrid Pole whom you knew. You are entrusted to my charge; +I have sworn to conduct you to the doors in safety, whatever it may cost +me.' + +Vittoria looked at him mournfully. Her eyes filled with tears. 'The +night is spoiled for me!' she murmured. + +'Emilia!' + +'That is not my name.' + +'I know you by no other. Have mercy on me. I would do anything in the +world to serve you.' + +Major de Pyrmont came up to him and touched his arm. He said briefly: +'We shall have a collision, to a certainty, unless the people hear from +one of her set that she is out of the house.' + +Wilfrid requested her to confide her hand to him. + +'My hand is engaged,' she said. + +Bowing ceremoniously, Wilfrid passed on, and Vittoria, with Carlo and +Luciano and her maid Giacinta, followed between files of bayonets through +the dusky passages, and downstairs into the night air. + +Vittoria spoke in Carlo's ear: 'I have been unkind to him. I had a great +affection for him in England.' + +'Thank him; thank him,' said Carlo. + +She quitted her lover's side and went up to Wilfrid with a shyly extended +hand. A carriage was drawn up by the kerbstone; the doors of it were +open. She had barely made a word intelligible; when Major de Pyrmont +pointed to some officers approaching. 'Get her out of the way while +there's time,' he said in French to Luciano. 'This is her carriage. +Swiftly, gentlemen, or she's lost.' + +Giacinta read his meaning by signs, and caught her mistress by the +sleeve, using force. She and Major de Pyrmont placed Vittoria, +bewildered, in the carriage; De Pyrmont shut the door, and signalled to +the coachman. Vittoria thrust her head out for a last look at her lover, +and beheld him with the arms of dark-clothed men upon him. La Scala was +pouring forth its occupants in struggling roaring shoals from every door. +Her outcry returned to her deadened in the rapid rolling of the carriage +across the lighted Piazza. Giacinta had to hold her down with all her +might. Great clamour was for one moment heard by them, and then a +rushing voicelessness. Giacinta screamed to the coachman till she was +exhausted. Vittoria sank shuddering on the lap of her maid, hiding her +face that she might plunge out of recollection. + +The lightnings shot across her brain, but wrote no legible thing; the +scenes of the opera lost their outlines as in a white heat of fire. She +tried to weep, and vainly asked her heart for tears, that this dry +dreadful blind misery of mere sensation might be washed out of her, and +leave her mind clear to grapple with evil; and then, as the lurid breaks +come in a storm-driven night sky, she had the picture of her lover in the +hands of enemies, and of Wilfrid in the white uniform; the torment of her +living passion, the mockery of her passion by-gone. Recollection, when +it came back, overwhelmed her; she swayed from recollection to oblivion, +and was like a caged wild thing. Giacinta had to be as a mother with +her. The poor trembling girl, who had begun to perceive that the +carriage was bearing them to some unknown destination, tore open the +bands of her corset and drew her mistress's head against the full warmth +of her bosom, rocked her, and moaned over her, mixing comfort and +lamentation in one offering, and so contrived to draw the tears out from +her, a storm of tears; not fitfully hysterical, but tears that poured a +black veil over the eyeballs, and fell steadily streaming. Once subdued +by the weakness, Vittoria's nature melted; she shook piteously with +weeping; she remembered Laura's words, and thought of what she had done, +in terror and remorse, and tried to ask if the people would be fighting +now, but could not. Laura seemed to stand before her like a Fury +stretching her finger at the dear brave men whom she had hurled upon the +bayonets and the guns. It was an unendurable anguish. Giacinta was +compelled to let her cry, and had to reflect upon their present situation +unaided. They had passed the city gates. Voices on the coachman's box +had given German pass-words. She would have screamed then had not the +carriage seemed to her a sanctuary from such creatures as foreign +soldiers, whitecoats; so she cowered on. They were in the starry open +country, on the high-road between the vine-hung mulberry trees. She held +the precious head of her mistress, praying the Saints that strength +would soon come to her to talk of their plight, or chatter a little +comfortingly at least; and but for the singular sweetness which it +shot thrilling to her woman's heart, she would have been fretted when +Vittoria, after one long-drawn wavering sob, turned her lips to the bared +warm breast, and put a little kiss upon it, and slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FIRST HOURS OF THE FLIGHT + +Vittoria slept on like an outworn child, while Giacinta nodded over her, +and started, and wondered what embowelled mountain they might be passing +through, so cold was the air and thick the darkness; and wondered more at +the old face of dawn, which appeared to know nothing of her agitation. +But morning was better than night, and she ceased counting over her sins +forward and backward; adding comments on them, excusing some and +admitting the turpitude of others, with 'Oh! I was naughty, padre mio! +I was naughty--she huddled them all into one of memory's spare sacks, and +tied the neck of it, that they should keep safe for her father-confessor. +At such times, after a tumult of the blood, women have tender delight in +one another's beauty. Giacinta doted on the marble cheek, upturned on +her lap, with the black unbound locks slipping across it; the braid of +the coronal of hair loosening; the chance flitting movement of the pearly +little dimple that lay at the edge of the bow of the joined lips, like +the cradling hollow of a dream. At whiles it would twitch; yet the dear +eyelids continued sealed. + +Looking at shut eyelids when you love the eyes beneath, is more or less a +teazing mystery that draws down your mouth to kiss them. Their lashes +seem to answer you in some way with infantine provocation; and fine +eyelashes upon a face bent sideways, suggest a kind of internal smiling. +Giacinta looked till she could bear it no longer; she kissed the cheek, +and crooned over it, gladdened by a sense of jealous possession when she +thought of the adored thing her mistress had been overnight. One of her +hugs awoke Vittoria, who said, 'Shut my window, mother,' and slept again +fast. Giacinta saw that they were nearer to the mountains. Mountain- +shadows were thrown out, and long lank shadows of cypresses that climbed +up reddish-yellow undulations, told of the sun coming. The sun threw a +blaze of light into the carriage. He shone like a good friend, and +helped Giacinta think, as she had already been disposed to imagine, that +the machinery by which they had been caught out of Milan was amicable +magic after all, and not to be screamed at. The sound medicine of sleep +and sunlight was restoring livelier colour to her mistress. Giacinta +hushed her now, but Vittoria's eyes opened, and settled on her, full of +repose. + +'What are you thinking about?' she asked. + +'Signorina, my own, I was thinking whether those people I see on the +hill-sides are as fond of coffee as I am.' + +Vittoria sat up and tumbled questions out headlong, pressing her eyes and +gathering her senses; she shook with a few convulsions, but shed no +tears. It was rather the discomfort of their position than any vestige +of alarm which prompted Giacinta to project her head and interrogate the +coachman and chasseur. She drew back, saying, 'Holy Virgin! they are +Germans. We are to stop in half-an-hour.' With that she put her hands +to use in arranging and smoothing Vittoria's hair and dress--the dress of +Camilla--of which triumphant heroine Vittoria felt herself an odd little +ghost now. She changed her seat that she might look back on Milan. A +letter was spied fastened with a pin to one of the cushions. She opened +it, and read in pencil writing: + +'Go quietly. You have done all that you could do for good or for ill. +The carriage will take you to a safe place, where you will soon see your +friends and hear the news. Wait till you reach Meran. You will see a +friend from England. Avoid the lion's jaw a second time. Here you +compromise everybody. Submit, or your friends will take you for a mad +girl. Be satisfied. It is an Austrian who rescues you. Think yourself +no longer appointed to put match to powder. Drown yourself if a second +frenzy comes. I feel I could still love your body if the obstinate soul +were out of it. You know who it is that writes. I might sign +"Michiella" to this: I have a sympathy with her anger at the provoking +Camilla. Addio! From La Scala.' + +The lines read as if Laura were uttering them. Wrapping her cloak across +the silken opera garb, Vittoria leaned back passively until the carriage +stopped at a village inn, where Giacinta made speedy arrangements to +satisfy as far as possible her mistress's queer predilection for bathing +her whole person daily in cold water. The household service of the inn +recovered from the effort to assist her sufficiently to produce hot +coffee and sweet bread, and new green-streaked stracchino, the cheese of +the district, which was the morning meal of the fugitives. Giacinta, who +had never been so thirsty in her life, became intemperately refreshed, +and was seized by the fatal desire to do something: to do what she could +not tell; but chancing to see that her mistress had silken slippers on +her feet, she protested loudly that stouter foot-gear should be obtained +for her, and ran out to circulate inquiries concerning a shoemaker who +might have a pair of country overshoes for sale. She returned to say +that the coachman and his comrade, the German chasseur, were drinking and +watering their horses, and were not going to start until after a rest of +two hours, and that she proposed to walk to a small Bergamasc town within +a couple of miles of the village, where the shoes could be obtained, and +perhaps a stuff to replace the silken dress. Receiving consent, Giacinta +whispered, 'A man outside wishes to speak to you, signorina. Don't be +frightened. He pounced on me at the end of the village, and had as +little breath to speak as a boy in love. He was behind us all last night +on the carriage. He mentioned you by name. He is quite commonly +dressed, but he's a gallant gentleman, and exactly like our Signor Carlo. +My dearest lady, he'll be company for you while I am absent. May I +beckon him to come into the room?' + +Vittoria supposed at once that this was a smoothing of the way for the +entrance of her lover and her joy. She stood up, letting all her +strength go that he might the more justly take her and cherish her. But +it was not Carlo who entered. So dead fell her broken hope that her face +was repellent with the effort she made to support herself. He said, 'I +address the Signorina Vittoria. I am a relative of Countess Ammiani. My +name is Angelo Guidascarpi. Last night I was evading the sbirri in this +disguise by the private door of La Scala, from which I expected Carlo to +come forth. I saw him seized in mistake for me. I jumped up on the +empty box-seat behind your carriage. Before we entered the village I let +myself down. If I am seen and recognized, I am lost, and great evil will +befall Countess Ammiani and her son; but if they are unable to confront +Carlo and me, my escape ensures his safety! + +'What can I do?' said Vittoria. + +He replied, 'Shall I answer you by telling you what I have done?' + +'You need not, signore! + +'Enough that I want to keep a sword fresh for my country. I am at your +mercy, signorina; and I am without anxiety. I heard the chasseur saying +at the door of La Scala that he had the night-pass for the city gates and +orders for the Tyrol. Once in Tyrol I leap into Switzerland. I should +have remained in Milan, but nothing will be done there yet, and quiet +cities are not homes for me.' + +Vittoria began to admit the existence of his likeness to her lover, +though it seemed to her a guilty weakness that she should see it. + +'Will nothing be done in Milan?' was her first eager question. + +'Nothing, signorina, or I should be there, and safe!' + +'What, signore, do you require me to help you in?' + +'Say that I am your servant.' + +'And take you with me?' + +'Such is my petition.' + +'Is the case very urgent?' + +'Hardly more, as regards myself, than a sword lost to Italy if I am +discovered. But, signorina, from what Countess Ammiani has told me, +I believe that you will some day be my relative likewise. Therefore I +appeal not only to a charitable lady, but to one of my own family.' + +Vittoria reddened. 'All that I can do I will do.' + +Angelo had to assure her that Carlo's release was certain the moment his +identity was established. She breathed gladly, saying, 'I wonder at it +all very much. I do not know where they are carrying me, but I think I +am in friendly hands. I owe you a duty. You will permit me to call you +Beppo till our journey ends.' + +They were attracted to the windows by a noise of a horseman drawing rein +under it, whose imperious shout for the innkeeper betrayed the soldier's +habit of exacting prompt obedience from civilians, though there was no +military character in his attire. The innkeeper and his wife came out to +the summons, and then both made way for the chasseur in attendance on +Vittoria. With this man the cavalier conversed. + +'Have you had food?' said Vittoria. 'I have some money that will serve +for both of us three days. Go, and eat and drink. Pay for us both.' + +She gave him her purse. He received it with a grave servitorial bow, and +retired. + +Soon after the chasseur brought up a message. Herr Johannes requested +that he might have the honour of presenting his homage to her: it was +imperative that he should see her. She nodded. Her first glance at Herr +Johannes assured her of his being one of the officers whom she had seen +on the stage last night, and she prepared to act her part. Herr Johannes +desired her to recall to mind his introduction to her by the Signor +Antonio-Pericles at the house of the maestro Rocco Ricci. 'It is true; +pardon me,' said Vittoria. + +He informed her that she had surpassed herself at the opera; so much so +that he and many other Germans had been completely conquered by her. +Hearing, he said, that she was to be pursued, he took horse and galloped +all night on the road toward Schloss Sonnenberg, whither, as it had been +whispered to him, she was flying, in order to counsel her to lie 'perdu' +for a short space, and subsequently to conduct her to the schloss of the +amiable duchess. Vittoria thanked him, but stated humbly that she +preferred to travel alone. He declared that it was impossible: that she +was precious to the world of Art, and must on no account be allowed to +run into peril. Vittoria tried to assert her will; she found it +unstrung. She thought besides that this disguised officer, with the ill- +looking eyes running into one, might easily, since he had heard her, be a +devotee of her voice; and it flattered her yet more to imagine him as a +capture from the enemy--a vanquished subservient Austrian. She had seen +him come on horseback; he had evidently followed her; and he knew what +she now understood must be her destination. + +Moreover, Laura had underlined 'it is an Austrian who rescues you.' This +man perchance was the Austrian. His precise manner of speech demanded an +extreme repugnance, if it was to be resisted; Vittoria's reliance upon +her own natural fortitude was much too secure for her to encourage the +physical revulsions which certain hard faces of men create in the hearts +of young women. + +'Was all quiet in Milan?' she asked. + +'Quiet as a pillow,' he said. + +'And will continue to be?' + +'Not a doubt of it.' + +'Why is there not a doubt of it, signore?' + +'You beat us Germans on one field. On the other you have no chance. But +you must lose no time. The Croats are on your track. I have ordered out +the carriage.' + +The mention of the Croats struck her fugitive senses with a panic. + +'I must wait for my maid,' she said, attempting to deliberate. + +'Ha! you have a maid: of course you have! Where is your maid?' + +'She ought to have returned by this time. If not, she is on the road.' + +'On the road? Good; we will pick up the maid on the road. We have not a +minute to spare. Lady, I am your obsequious servant. Hasten out, I beg +of you. I was taught at my school that minutes are not to be wasted. +Those Croats have been drinking and what not on the way, or they would +have been here before this. You can't rely on Italian innkeepers to +conceal you.' + +'Signore, are you a man of honour?' + +'Illustrious lady, I am.' + +She listened simply to the response without giving heed to the +prodigality of gesture. The necessity for flight now that Milan was +announced as lying quiet, had become her sole thought. Angelo was +standing by the carriage. + +'What man is this?' said Herr Johannes, frowning. + +'He is my servant,' said Vittoria. + +'My dear good lady, you told me your servant was a maid. This will never +do. We can't have him.' + +'Excuse me, signore, I never travel without him.' + +'Travel! This is not a case of travelling, but running; and when you +run, if you are in earnest about it, you must fling away your baggage and +arms.' + +Herr Johannes tossed out his moustache to right and left, and stamped his +foot. He insisted that the man should be left behind. + +'Off, sir! back to Milan, or elsewhere,' he cried. + +'Beppo, mount on the box,' said Vittoria. + +Her command was instantly obeyed. Herr Johannes looked her in the face. +'You are very decided, my dear lady.' He seemed to have lost his own +decision, but handing Vittoria in, he drew a long cigar from his +breastpocket, lit it, and mounted beside the coachman. The chasseur had +disappeared. + +Vittoria entreated that a general look-out should be kept for Giacinta. +The road was straight up an ascent, and she had no fear that her maid +would not be seen. Presently there was a view of the violet domes of a +city. 'Is it Bergamo?--is it Brescia?' she longed to ask, thinking of +her Bergamasc and Brescian friends, and of those two places famous for +the bravery of their sons: one being especially dear to her, as the +birthplace of a genius of melody, whose blood was in her veins. 'Did he +look on these mulberry trees?--did he look on these green-grassed +valleys?--did he hear these falling waters?' she asked herself, and +closed her spirit with reverential thoughts of him and with his music. +She saw sadly that they were turning from the city. A little ball of +paper was shot into her lap. She opened it and read: 'An officer of the +cavalry.--Beppo.' She put her hand out of the window to signify that she +was awake to the situation. Her anxiety, however, began to fret. No +sight of Giacinta was to be had in any direction. Her mistress commenced +chiding the absent garrulous creature, and did so until she pitied her, +when she accused herself of cowardice, for she was incapable of calling +out to the coachman to stop. The rapid motion subdued such energy as +remained to her, and she willingly allowed her hurried feelings to rest +on the faces of rocks impending over long ravines, and of perched old +castles and white villas and sub-Alpine herds. She burst from the +fascination as from a dream, but only to fall into it again, reproaching +her weakness, and saying, 'What a thing am I!' When she did make her +voice heard by Herr Johannes and the coachman, she was nervous and +ashamed, and met the equivocating pacification of the reply with an +assent half-way, though she was far from comprehending the consolation +she supposed that it was meant to convey. She put out her hand to +communicate with Beppo. Another ball of pencilled writing answered to +it. She read: 'Keep watch on this Austrian. Your maid is two hours in +the rear. Refuse to be separated from me. My life is at your service. +--Beppo.' + +Vittoria made her final effort to get a resolve of some sort; ending it +with a compassionate exclamation over poor Giacinta. The girl could soon +find her way back to Milan. On the other hand, the farther from Milan, +the less the danger to Carlo's relative, in whom she now perceived a +stronger likeness to her lover. She sank back in the carriage and closed +her eyes. Though she smiled at the vanity of forcing sleep in this way, +sleep came. Her healthy frame seized its natural medicine to rebuild her +after the fever of recent days. + +She slept till the rocks were purple, and rose-purple mists were in the +valleys. The stopping of the carriage aroused her. They were at the +threshold of a large wayside hostelry, fronting a slope of forest and a +plunging brook. Whitecoats in all attitudes leaned about the door; she +beheld the inner court full of them. Herr Johannes was ready to hand her +to the ground. He said: 'You have nothing to fear. These fellows are on +the march to Cremona. Perhaps it will be better if you are served up in +your chamber. You will be called early in the morning.' + +She thanked him, and felt grateful. 'Beppo, look to yourself,' she said, +and ran to her retirement. + +'I fancy that 's about all that you are fit for,' Herr Johannes remarked, +with his eyes on the impersonator of Beppo, who bore the scrutiny +carelessly, and after seeing that Vittoria had left nothing on the +carriage-seats, directed his steps to the kitchen, as became his +functions. Herr Johannes beckoned to a Tyrolese maid-servant, of whom +Beppo had asked his way. She gave her name as Katchen. + +'Katchen, Katchen, my sweet chuck,' said Herr Johannes, 'here are ten +florins for you, in silver, if you will get me the handkerchief of that +man: you have just stretched your finger out for him.' + +According to the common Austrian reckoning of them, Herr Johannes had +adopted the right method for ensuring the devotion of the maidens of +Tyrol. She responded with an amazed gulp of her mouth and a grimace of +acquiescence. Ten florins in silver shortened the migratory term of the +mountain girl by full three months. Herr Johannes asked her the hour +when the officers in command had supper, and deferred his own meal till +that time. Katchen set about earning her money. With any common Beppo +it would have been easy enough--simple barter for a harmless kiss. But +this Beppo appeared inaccessible; he was so courtly and so reserved; nor +is a maiden of Tyrol a particularly skilled seductress. The supper of +the officers was smoking on the table when Herr Johannes presented +himself among them, and very soon the inn was shaken with an uproar of +greeting. Katchen found Beppo listening at the door of the salle. She +clapped her hands upon him to drag him away. + +'What right have you to be leaning your head there?' she said, and +threatened to make his proceedings known. Beppo had no jewel to give, +little money to spare. He had just heard Herr Johannes welcomed among +the officers by a name that half paralyzed him. 'You shall have anything +you ask of me if you will find me out in a couple of hours,' he said. +Katchen nodded truce for that period, and saw her home in the Oberinnthal +still nearer--twelve mountain goats and a cow her undisputed property. +She found him out, though he had strayed through the court of the inn, +and down a hanging garden to the borders of a torrent that drenched the +air and sounded awfully in the dark ravine below. He embraced her very +mildly. 'One scream and you go,' he said; she felt the saving hold of +her feet plucked from her, with all the sinking horror, and bit her under +lip, as if keeping in the scream with bare stitches. When he released +her she was perfectly mastered. 'You do play tricks,' she said, and +quaked. + +'I play no tricks. Tell me at what hour these soldiers march.' + +'At two in the morning.' + +'Don't be afraid, silly child: you're safe if you obey me. At what time +has our carriage been ordered?' + +'At four.' + +'Now swear to do this:--rouse my mistress at a quarter past two: bring +her down to me.' + +'Yes, yes,' said Kitchen, eagerly: 'give me your handkerchief, and she +will follow me. I do swear; that I do; by big St. Christopher! who's +painted on the walls of our house at home.' + +Beppo handed her sweet silver, which played a lively tune for her +temporarily--vanished cow and goats. Peering at her features in the +starlight, he let her take the handkerchief from his pocket. + +'Oh! what have you got in there?' she said. + +He laid his finger across her mouth, bidding her return to the house. + +'Dear heaven!' Katchen went in murmuring; 'would I have gone out to that +soft-looking young man if I had known he was a devil.' + +Angelo Guidascarpi was aware that an officer without responsibility never +sleeps faster than when his brothers-in-arms have to be obedient to the +reveillee. At two in the morning the bugle rang out: many lighted cigars +were flashing among the dark passages of the inn; the whitecoats were +disposed in marching order; hot coffee was hastily swallowed; the last +stragglers from the stables, the outhouses, the court, and the straw beds +under roofs of rock, had gathered to the main body. The march set +forward. A pair of officers sent a shout up to the drowsy windows, 'Good +luck to you, Weisspriess!' Angelo descended from the concealment of the +opposite trees, where he had stationed himself to watch the departure. +The inn was like a sleeper who has turned over. He made Katchen bring +him bread and slices of meat and a flask of wine, which things found a +place in his pockets: and paying for his mistress and himself, he awaited +Vittoria's foot on the stairs. When Vittoria came she asked no +questions, but said to Katchen, 'You may kiss me'; and Kitchen began +crying; she believed that they were lovers daring everything for love. + +'You have a clear start of an hour and a half. Leave the high-road then, +and turn left through the forest and ask for Bormio. If you reach Tyrol, +and come to Silz, tell people that you know Katchen Giesslinger, and they +will be kind to you.' + +So saying, she let them out into the black-eyed starlight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ADVENTURES OF VITTORIA AND ANGELO + +Nothing was distinguishable for the flying couple save the high-road +winding under rock and forest, and here and there a coursing water in the +depths of the ravines, that showed like a vein in black marble. They +walked swiftly, keeping brisk ears for sound of hoof or foot behind them. +Angelo promised her that she should rest after the morning light had +come; but she assured him that she could bear fatigue, and her firm +cheerfulness lent his heart vigour. At times they were hooded with the +darkness, which came on them as if, as benighted children fancy, their +faces were about to meet the shaggy breast of the forest. Rising up to +lighter air, they had sight of distant twinklings: it might be city, or +autumn weed, or fires of the woodmen, or beacon fires: they glimmered +like eyelets to the mystery of the vast unseen land. Innumerable brooks +went talking to the night: torrents in seasons of rain, childish voices +now, with endless involutions of a song of three notes and a sort of +unnoted clanging chorus, as if a little one sang and would sing on +through the thumping of a tambourine and bells. Vittoria had these +fancies: Angelo had none. He walked like a hunted man whose life is at +stake. + +'If we reach a village soon we may get some conveyance,' he said. + +'I would rather walk than drive,' said Vittoria; 'it keeps me from +thinking! + +'There is the dawn, signorina! + +Vittoria frightened him by taking a seat upon a bench of rock; while it +was still dark about them, she drew off Camilla's silken shoes and +stockings, and stood on bare feet. + +'You fancied I was tired,' she said. 'No, I am thrifty; and I want to +save as much of my finery as I can. I can go very well on naked feet. +These shoes are no protection; they would be worn out in half-a-day, and +spoilt for decent wearing in another hour.' + +The sight of fair feet upon hard earth troubled Angelo; he excused +himself for calling her out to endure hardship; but she said, 'I trust +you entirely.' She looked up at the first thin wave of colour while +walking. + +'You do not know me,' said he. + +'You are the Countess Ammiani's nephew.' + +'I have, as I had the honour to tell you yesterday, the blood of your +lover in my veins.' + +'Do not speak of him now, I pray,' said Vittoria; 'I want my strength! + +'Signorina, the man we have left behind us is his enemy;--mine. I would +rather see you dead than alive in his hands. Do you fear death?' + +'Sometimes; when I am half awake,' she confessed. 'I dislike thinking of +it.' + +He asked her curiously: 'Have you never seen it?' + +'Death?' said she, and changed a shudder to a smile; 'I died last night.' + +Angelo smiled with her. 'I saw you die! + +'It seems a hundred years ago.' + +'Or half-a-dozen minutes. The heart counts everything' + +'Was I very much liked by the people, Signor Angelo?' + +'They love you.' + +'I have done them no good.' + +'Every possible good. And now, mine is the duty to protect you.' + +'And yesterday we were strangers! Signor Angelo, you spoke of sbirri. +There is no rising in Bologna. Why are they after you? You look too +gentle to give them cause.' + +'Do I look gentle? But what I carry is no burden. Who that saw you last +night would know you for Camilla? You will hear of my deeds, and judge. +We shall soon have men upon the road; you must be hidden. See, there: +there are our colours in the sky. Austria cannot wipe them out. Since I +was a boy I have always slept in a bed facing East, to keep that truth +before my eyes. Black and yellow drop to the earth: green, white, and +red mount to heaven. If more of my countrymen saw these meanings!--but +they are learning to. My tutor called them Germanisms. If so, I have +stolen a jewel from my enemy.' + +Vittoria mentioned the Chief. + +'Yes,' said Angelo; 'he has taught us to read God's handwriting. I +revere him. It's odd; I always fancy I hear his voice from a dungeon, +and seeing him looking at one light. He has a fault: he does not +comprehend the feelings of a nobleman. Do you think he has made a +convert of our Carlo in that? Never! High blood is ineradicable.' + +'I am not of high blood,' said Vittoria. + +'Countess Ammiani overlooks it. And besides, low blood may be elevated +without the intervention of a miracle. You have a noble heart, +signorina. It may be the will of God that you should perpetuate our +race. All of us save Carlo Ammiani seem to be falling.' + +Vittoria bent her head, distressed by a broad beam of sunlight. The +country undulating to the plain lay under them, the great Alps above, and +much covert on all sides. They entered a forest pathway, following +chance for safety. The dark leafage and low green roofing tasted sweeter +to their senses than clear air and sky. Dark woods are home to +fugitives, and here there was soft footing, a surrounding gentleness,-- +grass, and moss with dead leaves peacefully flat on it. The birds were +not timorous, and when a lizard or a snake slipped away from her feet, it +was amusing to Vittoria and did not hurt her tenderness to see that they +were feared. Threading on beneath the trees, they wound by a valley's +incline, where tumbled stones blocked the course of a green water, and +filled the lonely place with one onward voice. When the sun stood over +the valley they sat beneath a chestnut tree in a semicircle of orange +rock to eat the food which Angelo had procured at the inn. He poured out +wine for her in the hollow of a stone, deep as an egg-shell, whereat she +sipped, smiling at simple contrivances; but no smile crossed the face of +Angelo. He ate and drank to sustain his strength, as a weapon is +sharpened; and having done, he gathered up what was left, and lay at her +feet with his eyes fixed upon an old grey stone. She, too, sat brooding. +The endless babble and noise of the water had hardened the sense of its +being a life in that solitude. The floating of a hawk overhead scarce +had the character of an animated thing. Angelo turned round to look at +her, and looking upward as he lay, his sight was smitten by spots of +blood upon one of her torn white feet, that was but half-nestled in the +folds of her dress. Bending his head down, like a bird beaking at prey, +he kissed the foot passionately. Vittoria's eyelids ran up; a chord +seemed to snap within her ears: she stole the shamed foot into +concealment, and throbbed, but not fearfully, for Angelo's forehead was +on the earth. Clumps of grass, and sharp flint-dust stuck between his +fists, which were thrust out stiff on either side of him. She heard him +groan heavily. When he raised his face, it was white as madness. Her +womanly nature did not shrink from caressing it with a touch of soothing +hands. + +She chanced to say, 'I am your sister.' + +'No, by God! you are not my sister,' cried the young man. 'She died +without a stain of blood; a lily from head to foot, and went into the +vault so. Our mother will see that. She will kiss the girl in heaven +and see that.' He rose, crying louder: 'Are there echoes here?' But his +voice beat against the rocks undoubted. + +She saw that a frenzy had seized him. He looked with eyes drained of +human objects; standing square, with stiff half-dropped arms, and an +intense melody of wretchedness in his voice. + +'Rinaldo, Rinaldo!' he shouted: 'Clelia!--no answer from man or ghost. +She is dead. We two said to her die! and she died. Therefore she is +silent, for the dead have not a word. Oh! Milan, Milan! accursed +betraying city! I should have found my work in you if you had kept +faith. Now here am I, talking to the strangled throat of this place, and +can get no answer. Where am I? The world is hollow: the miserable +shell! They lied. Battle and slaughter they promised me, and enemies +like ripe maize for the reaping-hook. I would have had them in thick to +my hands. I would have washed my hands at night, and eaten and drunk and +slept, and sung again to work in the morning. They promised me a sword +and a sea to plunge it in, and our mother Italy to bless me. I would +have toiled: I would have done good in my life. I would have bathed my +soul in our colours. I would have had our flag about my body for a +winding-sheet, and the fighting angels of God to unroll me. Now here am +I, and my own pale mother trying at every turn to get in front of me. +Have her away! It's a ghost, I know. She will be touching the strength +out of me. She is not the mother I love and I serve. Go: cherish your +daughter, you dead woman!' + +Angelo reeled. 'A spot of blood has sent me mad,' he said, and caught +for a darkness to cross his sight, and fell and lay flat. + +Vittoria looked around her; her courage was needed in that long silence. + +She adopted his language: 'Our mother Italy is waiting for us. We must +travel on, and not be weary. Angelo, my friend, lend me your help over +these stones.' + +He rose quietly. She laid her elbow on his hand; thus supported she left +a place that seemed to shudder. All the heavy day they walked almost +silently; she not daring to probe his anguish with a question; and he +calm and vacant as the hour following thunder. But, of her safety by his +side she had no longer a doubt. She let him gather weeds and grasses, +and bind them across her feet, and perform friendly services, sure that +nothing earthly could cause such a mental tempest to recur. The +considerate observation which at all seasons belongs to true courage +told her that it was not madness afflicting Angelo. + +Near nightfall they came upon a forester's hut, where they were welcomed +by an old man and a little girl, who gave them milk and black bread, and +straw to rest on. Angelo slept in the outer air. When Vittoria awoke +she had the fancy that she had taken one long dive downward in a well; +and on touching the bottom found her head above the surface. While her +surprise was wearing off, she beheld the woodman's little girl at her +feet holding up one end of her cloak, and peeping underneath, overcome by +amazement at the flashing richness of the dress of the heroine Camilla. +Entering into the state of her mind spontaneously, Vittoria sought to +induce the child to kiss her; but quite vainly. The child's reverence +for the dress allowed her only to be within reach of the hem of it, so as +to delight her curiosity. Vittoria smiled when, as she sat up, the child +fell back against the wall; and as she rose to her feet, the child +scampered from the room. 'My poor Camilla! you can charm somebody, +yet,' she said, limping; her visage like a broken water with the pain of +her feet. 'If the bell rings for Camilla now, what sort of an entry will +she make?' Vittoria treated her physical weakness and ailments with this +spirit of humour. 'They may say that Michiella has bewitched you, my +Camilla. I think your voice would sound as if it were dragging its feet +after it just as a stork flies. O my Camilla! don't I wish I could do +the same, and be ungraceful and at ease! A moan is married to every note +of your treble, my Camilla, like December and May. Keep me from +shrieking!' + +The pangs shooting from her feet were scarce bearable, but the repression +of them helped her to meet Angelo with a freer mind than, after the +interval of separation, she would have had. The old woodman was cooking +a queer composition of flour and milk sprinkled with salt for them. +Angelo cut a stout cloth to encase each of her feet, and bound them in +it. He was more cheerful than she had ever seen him, and now first spoke +of their destination. His design was to conduct her near to Bormio, +there to engage a couple of men in her service who would accompany her +to Meran, by the Val di Sole, while he crossed the Stelvio alone, and +turning leftward in the Tyrolese valley, tried the passage into +Switzerland. + +Bormio, if, when they quitted the forest, a conveyance could be obtained, +was no more than a short day's distance, according to the old woodman's +directions. Vittoria induced the little girl to sit upon her knee, and +sang to her, but greatly unspirited the charm of her dress. The sun was +rising as they bade adieu to the hut. + +About mid-day they quitted the shelter of forest trees and stood on +broken ground, without a path to guide them. Vittoria did her best to +laugh at her mishaps in walking, and compared herself to a Capuchin +pilgrim; but she was unused to going bareheaded and shoeless, and though +she held on bravely, the strong beams of the sun and the stony ways +warped her strength. She had to check fancies drawn from Arabian tales, +concerning the help sometimes given by genii of the air and enchanted +birds, that were so incessant and vivid that she found herself sulking at +the loneliness and helplessness of the visible sky, and feared that her +brain was losing its hold of things. Angelo led her to a half-shaded +hollow, where they finished the remainder of yesterday's meat and wine. +She set her eyes upon a gold-green lizard by a stone and slept. + +'The quantity of sleep I require is unmeasured,' she said, a minute +afterwards, according to her reckoning of time, and expected to see the +lizard still by the stone. Angelo was near her; the sky was full of +colours, and the earth of shadows. + +'Another day gone!' she exclaimed in wonderment, thinking that the days +of human creatures had grown to be as rapid and (save toward the one end) +as meaningless as the gaspings of a fish on dry land. He told her that +he had explored the country as far as he had dared to stray from her. He +had seen no habitation along the heights. The vale was too distant for +strangers to reach it before nightfall. 'We can make a little way on,' +said Vittoria, and the trouble of walking began again. He entreated her +more than once to have no fear. 'What can I fear?' she asked. His voice +sank penitently: 'You can rely on me fully when there is anything to do +for you.' + +'I am sure of that,' she replied, knowing his allusion to be to his +frenzy of yesterday. In truth, no woman could have had a gentler +companion. + +On the topmost ridge of the heights, looking over an interminable gulf of +darkness they saw the lights of the vale. 'A bird might find his perch +there, but I think there is no chance for us,' said Vittoria. 'The +moment we move forward to them the lights will fly back. It is their way +of behaving.' + +Angelo glanced round desperately. Farther on along the ridge his eye +caught sight of a low smouldering fire. When he reached it he had a +great disappointment. A fire in the darkness gives hopes that men will +be at hand. Here there was not any human society. The fire crouched on +its ashes. It was on a little circular eminence of mossed rock; black +sticks, and brushwood, and dry fern, and split logs, pitchy to the touch, +lay about; in the centre of them the fire coiled sullenly among its +ashes, with a long eye like a serpent's. + +'Could you sleep here?' said Angelo. + +'Anywhere!' Vittoria sighed with droll dolefulness. + +'I can promise to keep you warm, signorina.' + +'I will not ask for more till to-morrow, my friend.' + +She laid herself down sideways, curling up her feet, with her cheek on +the palm of her hand. + +Angelo knelt and coaxed the fire, whose appetite, like that which is said +to be ours, was fed by eating, for after the red jaws had taken half-a- +dozen sticks, it sang out for more, and sent up flame leaping after flame +and thick smoke. Vittoria watched the scene through a thin division of +her eyelids; the fire, the black abyss of country, the stars, and the +sentinel figure. She dozed on the edge of sleep, unable to yield herself +to it wholly. She believed that she was dreaming when by-and-by many +voices filled her ears. The fire was sounding like an angry sea, and the +voices were like the shore, more intelligible, but confused in shriller +clamour. She was awakened by Angelo, who knelt on one knee and took her +outlying hand; then she saw that men surrounded them, some of whom were +hurling the lighted logs about, some trampling down the outer rim of +flames. They looked devilish to a first awakening glance. He told her +that the men were friendly; they were good Italians. This had been the +beacon arranged for the night of the Fifteenth, when no run of signals +was seen from Milan; and yesterday afternoon it had been in mockery +partially consumed. 'We have aroused the country, signorina, and brought +these poor fellows out of their beds. They supposed that Milan must be +up and at work. I have explained everything to them.' + +Vittoria had rather to receive their excuses than to proffer her own. +They were mostly youths dressed like the better class of peasantry. They +laughed at the incident, stating how glad they would have been to behold +the heights all across the lakes ablaze and promising action for the +morrow. One square-shouldered fellow raised her lightly from the ground. +She felt herself to be a creature for whom circumstance was busily +plotting, so that it was useless to exert her mind in thought. The long +procession sank down the darkness, leaving the low red fire to die out +behind them. + +Next morning she awoke in a warm bed, possessed by odd images of flames +that stood up like crowing cocks, and cowered like hens above the brood. +She was in the house of one of their new friends, and she could hear +Angelo talking in the adjoining room. A conveyance was ready to take her +on to Bormio. A woman came to her to tell her this, appearing to have a +dull desire to get her gone. She was a draggled woman, with a face of +slothful anguish, like one of the inner spectres of a guilty man. She +said that her husband was willing to drive the lady to Bormio for a sum +that was to be paid at once into his wife's hand; and little enough it +was which poor persons could ever look for from your patriots and +disturbers who seduced orderly men from their labour, and made widows and +ruined households. This was a new Italian language to Vittoria, and when +the woman went on giving instances of households ruined by a husband's +vile infatuation about his country, she did not attempt to defend the +reckless lord, but dressed quickly that she might leave the house as soon +as she could. Her stock of money barely satisfied the woman's demand. +The woman seized it, and secreted it in her girdle. When they had passed +into the sitting-room, her husband, who was sitting conversing with +Angelo, stretched out his hand and knocked the girdle. + +'That's our trick,' he said. 'I guessed so. Fund up, our little Maria +of the dirty fingers'-ends! We accept no money from true patriots. Grub +in other ground, my dear!' + +The woman stretched her throat awry, and set up a howl like a dog; but +her claws came out when he seized her. + +'Would you disgrace me, old fowl?' + +'Lorenzo, may you rot like a pumpkin!' + +The connubial reciprocities were sharp until the money lay on the table, +when the woman began whining so miserably that Vittoria's sensitive +nerves danced on her face, and at her authoritative interposition, +Lorenzo very reluctantly permitted his wife to take what he chose to +reckon a fair portion of the money, and also of his contempt. She seemed +to be licking the money up, she bent over it so greedily. + +'Poor wretch!' he observed; 'she was born on a hired bed.' + +Vittoria felt that the recollection of this woman would haunt her. It +was inconceivable to her that a handsome young man like Lorenzo should +ever have wedded the unsweet creature, who was like a crawling image of +decay; but he, as if to account for his taste, said that they had been of +a common age once, when he married her; now she had grown old. He +repeated that she 'was born on a hired bed.' They saw nothing further of +her. + +Vittoria's desire was to get to Meran speedily, that she might see her +friends, and have tidings of her lover and the city. Those baffled +beacon-flames on the heights had become an irritating indicative vision: +she thirsted for the history. Lorenzo offered to conduct her over the +Tonale Pass into the Val di Sole, or up the Val Furva, by the pass of the +Corno dei Tre Signori, into the Val del Monte to Pejo, thence by Cles, or +by Bolzano, to Meran. But she required shoeing and refitting; and for +other reasons also, she determined to go on to Bormio. She supposed that +Angelo had little money, and that in a place such as Bormio sounded to +her ears she might possibly obtain the change for the great money-order +which the triumph of her singing had won from Antonio-Pericles. In spite +of Angelo's appeals to her to hurry on to the end of her journey without +tempting chance by a single pause, she resolved to go to Bormio. Lorenzo +privately assured her that there were bankers in Bormio. Many bankers, +he said, came there from Milan, and that fact she thought sufficient for +her purpose. The wanderers parted regretfully. A little chapel, on a +hillock off the road, shaded by chestnuts, was pointed out to Lorenzo +where to bring a letter for Angelo. Vittoria begged Angelo to wait till +he heard from her; and then, with mutual wavings of hands, she was driven +out of his sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS + +After parting from Vittoria, Angelo made his way to an inn, where he ate +and drank like a man of the fields, and slept with the power of one from +noon till after morning. The innkeeper came up to his room, and, finding +him awake, asked him if he was disposed to take a second holiday in bed. +Angelo jumped up; as he did so, his stiletto slipped from under his +pillow and flashed. + +'That's a pretty bit of steel,' said the innkeeper, but could not get a +word out of him. It was plain to Angelo that this fellow had suspicions. +Angelo had been careful to tie up his clothes in a bundle; there was +nothing for the innkeeper to see, save a young man in bed, who had a +terrible weapon near his hand, and a look in his eyes of wary indolence +that counselled prudent dealings. He went out, and returned a second and +a third time, talking more and more confusedly and fretfully; but as he +was again going to leave, 'No, no,' said Angelo, determined to give him a +lesson, 'I have taken a liking to your company. Here, come here; I will +show you a trick. I learnt it from the Servians when I was three feet +high. Look; I lie quite still, you observe. Try to get on the other +side of that door and the point of this blade shall scratch you through +it.' + +Angelo laid the blue stilet up his wrist, and slightly curled his arm. +'Try,' he repeated, but the innkeeper had stopped short in his movement +to the door. 'Well, then, stay where you are,' said Angelo, 'and look; +I'll be as good as my word. There's the point I shall strike.' With that +he gave the peculiar Servian jerk of the muscles, from the wrist up to +the arm, and the blade quivered on the mark. The innkeeper fell back in +admiring horror. 'Now fetch it to me,' said Angelo, putting both hands +carelessly under his head. The innkeeper tugged at the blade. +'Illustrious signore, I am afraid of breaking it,' he almost whimpered; +'it seems alive, does it not?' + +'Like a hawk on a small bird,' said Angelo; 'that's the beauty of those +blades. They kill, and put you to as little pain as a shot; and it 's +better than a shot in your breast--there's something to show for it. +Send up your wife or your daughter to take orders about my breakfast. +It 's the breakfast of five mountaineers; and don't "Illustrious signore" +me, sir, either in my hearing or out of it. Leave the knife sticking.' + +The innkeeper sidled out with a dumb salute. 'I can count on his +discretion for a couple of hours,' Angelo said to himself. He knew the +effect of an exhibition of physical dexterity and strength upon a coward. +The landlord's daughter came and received his orders for breakfast. +Angelo inquired whether they had been visited by Germans of late. The +girl told him that a German chasseur with a couple of soldiers had called +them up last night. + +'Wouldn't it have been a pity if they had dragged me out and shot me?' +said Angelo. + +'But they were after a lady,' she explained; 'they have gone on to +Bormio, and expect to catch her there or in the mountains.' + +'Better there than in the mountains, my dear; don't you think so?' + +The girl said that she would not like to meet those fellows among the +mountains. + +'Suppose you were among the mountains, and those fellows came up with +you; wouldn't you clap your hands to see me jumping down right in front +of you all?' said Angelo. + +'Yes, I should,' she admitted. 'What is one man, though!' + +'Something, if he feeds like five. Quick! I must eat. Have you a +lover?' + +'Yes.' + +'Fancy you are waiting on him.' + +'He's only a middling lover, signore. He lives at Cles, over Val Pejo, +in Val di Non, a long way, and courts me twice a year, when he comes over +to do carpentering. He cuts very pretty Madonnas. He is a German.' + +'Ha! you kneel to the Madonna, and give your lips to a German? Go.' + +'But I don't like him much, signore; it's my father who wishes me to have +him; he can make money.' + +Angelo motioned to her to be gone, saying to himself, 'That father of +hers would betray the Saints for a handful of florins.' + +He dressed, and wrenched his knife from the door. Hearing the clatter of +a horse at the porch, he stopped as he was descending the stairs. A +German voice said, 'Sure enough, my jolly landlord, she's there, in Worms +--your Bormio. Found her at the big hotel: spoke not a syllable; stole +away, stole away. One chopin of wine! I'm off on four legs to the +captain. Those lads who are after her by Roveredo and Trent have bad +noses. "Poor nose--empty belly." Says the captain, "I stick at the +point of the cross-roads." Says I, "Herr Captain, I'm back to you first +of the lot." My business is to find the runaway lady-pretty Fraulein! +pretty Fraulein! lai-ai! There's money on her servant, too; he's a +disguised Excellency--a handsome boy; but he has cut himself loose, and +he go hang. Two birds for the pride of the thing; one for satisfaction-- +I 'm satisfied. I've killed chamois in my time. Jacob, I am; +Baumwalder, I am; Feckelwitz, likewise; and the very devil for following +a track. Ach! the wine is good. You know the song? + + "He who drinks wine, he may cry with a will, + Fortune is mine, may she stick to me still." + +'I give it you in German--the language of song! my own, my native 'lai-ai- +lai-ai-la-la-lai-ai-i-ie! + + "While stars still sit + On mountain tops, + I take my gun, + Kiss little one + On mother's breast. + Ai-iu-e! + + My pipe is lit, + I climb the slopes, + I meet the dawn + A little one + On mother's breast. + Ai-aie: ta-ta-tai: iu-iu-iu-e!" + +'Another chopin, my jolly landlord. What's that you're mumbling? About +the servant of my runaway young lady? He go hang! What----?' + +Angelo struck his foot heavily on the stairs; the innkeeper coughed and +ran back, bowing to his guest. The chasseur cried, 'I 'll drink farther +on-wine between gaps!' A coin chinked on the steps in accompaniment to +the chasseur's departing gallop. 'Beast of a Tedesco,' the landlord +exclaimed as he picked up the money; 'they do the reckoning--not we. +If I had served him with the worth of this, I should have had the bottle +at my head. What a country ours is! We're ridden over, ridden over!' +Angelo compelled the landlord to sit with him while he ate like five +mountaineers. He left mere bones on the table. 'It's wonderful,' said +the innkeeper; 'you can't know what fear is.' + +'I think I don't,' Angelo replied; 'you do; cowards have to serve every +party in turn. Up, and follow at my heels till I dismiss you. You know +the pass into the Val Pejo and the Val di Sole.' The innkeeper stood +entrenched behind a sturdy negative. Angelo eased him to submission by +telling him that he only wanted the way to be pointed out. 'Bring +tobacco; you're going to have an idle day,' said Angelo: 'I pay you when +we separate.' He was deaf to entreaties and refusals, and began to look +mad about the eyes; his poor coward plied him with expostulations, +offered his wife, his daughter, half the village, for the service: he had +to follow, but would take no cigars. Angelo made his daughter fetch +bread and cigars, and put a handful in his pocket, upon which, after two +hours of inactivity at the foot of the little chapel, where Angelo waited +for the coming of Vittoria's messenger, the innkeeper was glad to close +his fist. About noon Lorenzo came, and at once acted a play of eyes for +Angelo to perceive his distrust of the man and a multitude of bad things +about him he was reluctant, notwithstanding Angelo's ready nod, to bring +out a letter; and frowned again, for emphasis to the expressive comedy. +The letter said: + +'I have fallen upon English friends. They lend me money. Fly to Lugano +by the help of these notes: I inclose them, and will not ask pardon for +it. The Valtellina is dangerous; the Stelvio we know to be watched. +Retrace your way, and then try the Engadine. I should stop on a breaking +bridge if I thought my companion, my Carlo's cousin, was near capture. +I am well taken care of: one of my dearest friends, a captain in the +English army, bears me company across. I have a maid from one of the +villages, a willing girl. We ride up to the mountains; to-morrow we +cross the pass; there is a glacier. Val di Non sounds Italian, but I am +going into the enemy's land. You see I am well guarded. My immediate +anxiety concerns you; for what will our Carlo ask of me? Lose not one +moment. Away, and do not detain Lorenzo. He has orders to meet us up +high in the mountain this evening. He is the best of servants but +I always meet the best everywhere--that is, in Italy. Leaving it, +I grieve. No news from Milan, except of great confusion there. I judge +by the quiet of my sleep that we have come to no harm there. + + 'Your faithfullest + + 'VITTORIA.' + +Lorenzo and the innkeeper had arrived at an altercation before Angelo +finished reading. Angelo checked it, and told Lorenzo to make speed: he +sent no message. + +'My humanity,' Angelo then addressed his craven associate, 'counsels me +that it's better to drag you some distance on than to kill you. You 're +a man of intelligence, and you know why I have to consider the matter. +I give you guide's pay up to the glacier, and ten florins buon'mano. +Would you rather earn it with the blood of a countryman? I can't let +that tongue of yours be on the high-road of running Tedeschi: you know +it. + +'Illustrious signore, obedience oils necessity,' quoth the innkeeper. +'If we had but a few more of my cigars!' + +'Step on,' said Angelo sternly. + +They walked till dark and they were in keen air. A hut full of recent +grass-cuttings, on the border of a sloping wood, sheltered them. The +innkeeper moaned for food at night and in the morning, and Angelo tossed +him pieces of bread. Beyond the wood they came upon bare crag and +commenced a sharper ascent, reached the height, and roused an eagle. +The great bird went up with a sharp yelp, hanging over them with knotted +claws. Its shadow stretched across sweeps of fresh snow. The innkeeper +sent a mocking yelp after the eagle. + +'Up here, one forgets one is a father--what's more, a husband,' he said, +striking a finger on the side of his nose. + +'And a cur, a traitor, carrion,' said Angelo. + +'Ah, signore, one might know you were a noble. You can't understand our +troubles, who carry a house on our heads, and have to fill mouths agape.' + +'Speak when you have better to say,' Angelo replied. + +'Padrone, one would really like to have your good opinion; and I'm lean +as a wolf for a morsel of flesh. I could part with my buon'mano for a +sight of red meat--oh! red meat dripping.' + +'If,' cried Angelo, bringing his eyebrows down black on the man, 'if I +knew that you had ever in your life betrayed one of us look below; there +you should lie to be pecked and gnawed at.' + +'Ah, Jacopo Cruchi, what an end for you when you are full of good +meanings!' the innkeeper moaned. 'I see your ribs, my poor soul!' + +Angelo quitted him. The tremendous excitement of the Alpine solitudes +was like a stringent wine to his surcharged spirit. He was one to whom +life and death had become as the yes and no of ordinary men: not more +than a turning to the right or to the left. It surprised him that this +fellow, knowing his own cowardice and his conscience, should consent to +live, and care to eat to live. + +When he returned to his companion, he found the fellow drinking from the +flask of an Austrian soldier. Another whitecoat was lying near. They +pressed Angelo to drink, and began to play lubberly pranks. One clapped +hands, while another rammed the flask at the reluctant mouth, till Angelo +tripped him and made him a subject for derision; whereupon they were all +good friends. Musket on shoulder, the soldiers descended, blowing at +their finger-nails and puffing at their tobacco--lauter kaiserlicher +(rank Imperial), as with a sad enforcement of resignation they had, while +lighting, characterized the universally detested Government issue of the +leaf. + +'They are after her,' said Jacopo, and he shot out his thumb and twisted +an eyelid. His looks became insolent, and he added: 'I let them go on; +but now, for my part, I must tell you, my worthy gentleman, I've had +enough of it. You go your way, I go mine. Pay me, and we part. With +the utmost reverence, I quit you. Climbing mountains at my time of life +is out of all reason. If you want companions, I 'll signal to that pair +of Tedeschi; they're within hail. Would you like it? Say the word, if +you would--hey!' + +Angelo smiled at the visible effect of the liquor. + +'Barto Rizzo would be the man to take you in hand,' he remarked. + +The innkeeper flung his head back to ejaculate, and murmured, 'Barto +Rizzo! defend me from him! Why, he levies contribution upon us in the +Valtellina for the good of Milan; and if we don't pay, we're all of us +down in a black book. Disobey, and it's worse than swearing you won't +pay taxes to the legitimate--perdition to it!--Government. Do you know +Barto Rizzo, padrone? You don't know him, I hope? I'm sure you wouldn't +know such a fellow.' + +'I am his favourite pupil,' said Angelo. + +'I'd have sworn it,' groaned the innkeeper, and cursed the day and hour +when Angelo crossed his threshold. That done, he begged permission to be +allowed to return, crying with tears of entreaty for mercy: 'Barto +Rizzo's pupils are always out upon bloody business!' Angelo told him +that he had now an opportunity of earning the approval of Barto Rizzo, +and then said, 'On,' and they went in the track of the two whitecoats; +the innkeeper murmuring all the while that he wanted the approval of +Barto Rizzo as little as his enmity; he wanted neither frost nor fire. +The glacier being traversed, they skirted a young stream, and arrived at +an inn, where they found the soldiers regaling. Jacopo was informed by +them that the lady whom they were pursuing had not passed. They pushed +their wine for Angelo to drink: he declined, saying that he had sworn not +to drink before he had shot the chamois with the white cross on his back. + +'Come: we're two to one,' they said, 'and drink you shall this time!' + +'Two to two,' returned Angelo: 'here is my Jacopo, and if he doesn't +count for one, I won't call him father-in-law, and the fellow living at +Cles may have his daughter without fighting for her.' + +'Right so,' said one of the soldiers, 'and you don't speak bad German +already.' + +'Haven't I served in the ranks?' said Angelo, giving a bugle-call of the +reveille of the cavalry. + +He got on with them so well that they related the object of their +expedition, which was, to catch a runaway young rebel lady and hold her +fast down at Cles for the great captain--'unser tuchtiger Hauptmann.' + +'Hadn't she a servant, a sort of rascal?' Angelo inquired. + +'Right so; she had: but the doe's the buck in this chase.' + +Angelo tossed them cigars. The valley was like a tumbled mountain, thick +with crags and eminences, through which the river worked strenuously, +sinuous in foam, hurrying at the turns. Angelo watched all the ways from +a distant height till set of sun. He saw another couple of soldiers meet +those two at the inn, and then one pair went up toward the vale-head. It +seemed as if Vittoria had disconcerted them by having chosen another +route. + +'Padrone,' said Jacopo to him abruptly, when they descended to find a +resting-place, 'you are, I speak humbly, so like the devil that I must +enter into a stipulation with you, before I continue in your company, and +take the worst at once. This is going to be the second night of my +sleeping away from my wife: I merely mention it. I pinch her, and she +beats me, and we are equal. But if you think of making me fight, I tell +you I won't. If there was a furnace behind me, I should fall into it +rather than run against a bayonet. I 've heard say that the nerves are +in the front part of us, and that's where I feel the shock. Now we're on +a plain footing. Say that I'm not to fight. I'll be your servant till +you release me, but say I 'm not to fight; padrone, say that.' + +'I can't say that: I'll say I won't make you fight,' Angelo pacified him +by replying. From this moment Jacopo followed him less like a graceless +dog pulled by his chain. In fact, with the sense of prospective +security, he tasted a luxurious amazement in being moved about by a +superior will, wafted from his inn, and paid for witnessing strange +incidents. Angelo took care that he was fed well at the place where +they slept, but himself ate nothing. Early after dawn they mounted the +heights above the road. It was about noon that Angelo discerned a party +coming from the pass on foot, consisting of two women and three men. +They rested an hour at the village where he had slept overnight; the +muskets were a quarter of a mile to the rear of them. When they started +afresh, one of the muskets was discharged, and while the echoes were +rolling away, a reply to it sounded in the front. Angelo, from his post +of observation, could see that Vittoria and her party were marching +between two guards, and that she herself must have perceived both the +front and rearward couple. Yet she and her party held on their course at +an even pace. For a time he kept them clearly in view; but it was tough +work along the slopes of crag: presently Jacopo slipped and went down. +'Ah, padrone,' he said: 'I'm done for; leave me.' + +'Not though I should have to haul you on my back,' replied Angelo. 'If I +do leave you, I must cut out your tongue.' + +'Rather than that, I'd go on a sprained ankle,' said Jacopo, and he +strove manfully to conquer pain; limping and exclaiming, 'Oh, my little +village! Oh, my little inn! When can a man say that he has finished +running about the world! The moment he sits, in comes the devil.' + +Angelo was obliged to lead him down to the open way, upon which they made +slow progress. + +'The noble gentleman might let me return--he might trust me now,' Jacopo +whimpered. + +'The devil trusts nobody,' said Angelo. + +'Ah, padrone! there's a crucifix. Let me kneel by that.' + +Angelo indulged him. Jacopo knelt by the wayside and prayed for an easy +ankle and a snoring pillow and no wakeners. After this he was refreshed. +The sun sank; the darkness spread around; the air grew icy. 'Does the +Blessed Virgin ever consider what patriots have to endure?' Jacopo +muttered to himself, and aroused a rare laugh from Angelo, who seized him +under the arm, half-lifting him on. At the inn where they rested, he +bathed and bandaged the foot. + +'I can't help feeling a kindness to you for it,' said Jacopo. + +'I can't afford to leave you behind,' Angelo accounted for his attention. + +'Padrone, we've been understanding one another all along by our thumbs. +It's that old inn of mine--the taxes! we have to sell our souls to pay +the taxes. There's the tongue of the thing. I wouldn't betray you; I +wouldn't.' + +'I'll try you,' said Angelo, and put him to proof next day, when the +soldiers stopped them as they were driving in a cart, and Jacopo swore to +them that Angelo was his intended son-in-law. + +There was evidently an unusual activity among the gendarmerie of the +lower valley, the Val di Non; for Jacopo had to repeat his fable more +than once, and Angelo thought it prudent not to make inquiries about +travellers. In this valley they were again in summer heat. Summer +splendours robed the broken ground. The Val di Non lies toward the sun, +banked by the Val di Sole, like the southern lizard under a stone. +Chestnut forest and shoulder over shoulder of vineyard, and meadows of +marvellous emerald, with here and there central partly-wooded crags, +peaked with castle-ruins, and ancestral castles that are still warm +homes, and villages dropped among them, and a river bounding and rushing +eagerly through the rich enclosure, form the scene, beneath that Italian +sun which turns everything to gold. There is a fair breadth to the vale: +it enjoys a great oval of sky: the falls of shade are dispersed, dot the +hollow range, and are not at noontide a broad curtain passing over from +right to left. The sun reigns and also governs in the Val di Non. + +'The, grape has his full benefit here, padrone,' said Jacopo. + +But the place was too populous, and too much subjected to the general +eye, to please Angelo. At Cles they were compelled to bear an +inspection, and a little comedy occurred. Jacopo, after exhibiting +Angelo as his son-in-law, seeing doubts on the soldiers' faces, mentioned +the name of the German suitor for his daughter's hand--the carpenter, +Johann Spellmann, to whose workshop he requested to be taken. Johann, +being one of the odd Germans in the valley, was well known: he was +carving wood astride a stool, and stopped his whistling to listen to +the soldiers, who took the first word out of Jacopo's mouth, and were +convinced, by Johann's droop of the chin, that the tale had some truth in +it; and more when Johann yelled at the Valtelline innkeeper to know why, +then, he had come to him, if he was prepared to play him false. One of +the soldiers said bluntly, that as Angelo's appearance answered to the +portrait of a man for whom they were on the lookout, they would, if their +countryman liked, take him and give him a dose of marching and +imprisonment. + +'Ach! that won't make my little Rosetta love me better,' cried Johann, +who commenced taking up a string of reproaches against women, and pitched +his carving-blade and tools abroad in the wood-dust. + +'Well, now, it 's queer you don't want to fight this lad,' said Jacopo; +'he's come to square it with you that way, if you think best.' + +Johann spared a remark between his vehement imprecations against the sex +to say that he was ready to fight; but his idea of vengeance was directed +upon the abstract conception of a faithless womankind. Angelo, by reason +of his detestation of Germans, temporarily threw himself into the part he +was playing to the extent of despising him. Johann admitted to Jacopo +that intervals of six months' duration in a courtship were wide jumps for +Love to take. + +'Yes; amor! amor!' he exclaimed with extreme dejection; 'I could wait. +Well! since you've brought the young man, we'll have it out.' + +He stepped before Angelo with bare fists. Jacopo had to interpose. The +soldiers backed Johann, who now said to Angelo, 'Since you've come for +it, we'll have it out.' + +Jacopo had great difficulty in bringing him to see that it was a matter +to talk over. Johann swore he would not talk about it, and was ready to +fight a dozen Italians, man up man down. + +'Bare-fisted?' screamed Jacopo. + +'Hey! the old way! Give him knuckles, and break his back, my boy!' cried +the soldiers; 'none of their steel this side of the mountain.' + +Johann waited for Angelo to lift his hands; and to instigate his +reluctant adversary, thumped his chest; but Angelo did not move. The +soldiers roared. + +'If she has you, she shall have a dolly,' said Johann, now heated with +the prospect of presenting that sort of husband to his little Rosetta. +At this juncture Jacopo threw himself between them. + +'It shall be a real fight,' he said; 'my daughter can't make up her mind, +and she shall have the best man. Leave me to arrange it all fairly; and +you come here in a couple of hours, my children,' he addressed the +soldiers, who unwillingly quitted the scene where there was a certainty +of fun, on the assurance of there being a livelier scene to come. + +When they had turned their heels on the shop, Jacopo made a face at +Johann; Johann swung round upon Angelo, and met a smile. Then followed +explanations. + +'What's that you say? She's true--she's true?' exclaimed the astounded +lover. + +'True enough, but a girl at an inn wants hotter courting,' said Jacopo. +'His Excellency here is after his own sweetheart.' + +Johann huzzaed, hugged at Angelo's hands, and gave a lusty filial tap to +Jacopo on the shoulder. Bread and grapes and Tyrolese wine were placed +for them, and Johann's mother soon produced a salad, eggs, and fowl; and +then and there declared her willingness to receive Rosetta into the +household, 'if she would swear at the outset never to have 'heimweh' +(home-longing); as people--men and women, both--always did when they took +a new home across a mountain.' + +'She won't--will she?' Johann inquired with a dubious sparkle. + +'Not she,' said Jacopo. + +After the meal he drew Johann aside. They returned to Angelo, and Johann +beckoned him to leave the house by a back way, leading up a slope of +garden into high vine-poles. He said that he had seen a party pass out +of Cles from the inn early, in a light car, on for Meran. The +gendarmerie were busy on the road: a mounted officer had dashed up to the +inn an hour later, and had followed them: it was the talk of the village. + +'Padrone, you dismiss me now,' said Jacopo. + +'I pay you, but don't dismiss you,' said Angelo, and handed him a bank- +note. + +'I stick to you, padrone, till you do dismiss me,' Jacopo sighed. + +Johann offered to conduct them as far as the Monte Pallade pass, and they +started, avoiding the high road, which was enviably broad and solid. +Within view of a village under climbing woods, they discerned an open +car, flanked by bayonets, returning to Cles. Angelo rushed ahead of them +down the declivity, and stood full in the road to meet the procession. +A girl sat in the car, who hung her head, weeping; Lorenzo was beside +her; an Englishman on foot gave employment to a pair of soldiers to get +him along. As they came near at marching pace, Lorenzo yawned and raised +his hand to his cheek, keeping the thumb pointed behind him. Including +the girl, there were four prisoners: Vittoria was absent. The +Englishman, as he was being propelled forward, addressed Angelo in +French, asking him whether he could bear to see an unoffending foreigner +treated with wanton violation of law. The soldiers bellowed at their +captive, and Angelo sent a stupid shrug after him. They rounded a bend +of the road. Angelo tightened the buckle at his waist. + +'Now I trust you,' he said to Jacopo. 'Follow the length of five miles +over the pass: if you don't see me then, you have your liberty, tongue +and all.' + +With that he doubled his arms and set forth at a steady run, leaving his +companions to speculate on his powers of endurance. They did so +complacently enough, until Jacopo backed him for a distance and Johann +betted against him, when behold them at intervals taking a sharp trot to +keep him in view. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A common age once, when he married her; now she had grown old +Critical in their first glance at a prima donna +Forgetfulness is like a closing sea +He is inexorable, being the guilty one of the two +Her singing struck a note of grateful remembered delight +It rarely astonishes our ears. It illumines our souls +Madness that sane men enamoured can be struck by +Obedience oils necessity +Our life is but a little holding, lent To do a mighty labour +Simple obstinacy of will sustained her +The devil trusts nobody +Was born on a hired bed + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Vittoria, v4 +by George Meredith + diff --git a/4438.zip b/4438.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..085f974 --- /dev/null +++ b/4438.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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