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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5179-h.zip b/5179-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bd026d --- /dev/null +++ b/5179-h.zip diff --git a/5179-h/5179-h.htm b/5179-h/5179-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..475d7e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/5179-h/5179-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17759 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Siren, by Thomas Adolphus Trollope. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + + h1,h2,h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;} + + hr.full {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;text-align:left;} + + body{margin-left:2%;margin-right:2%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Siren, by Thomas Adolphus Trollope + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Siren + +Author: Thomas Adolphus Trollope + +Posting Date: February 21, 2011 [EBook #5179] +Release Date: February, 2004 +[This file was first posted on May 31, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SIREN *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen, tapri@kolumbus.fi + +HTML version by Chuck Greif + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h1>A SIREN</h1> + +<p class="c">By Thomas Adolphus Trollope</p> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_I">BOOK I<br /> +Ash Wednesday Morning</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-1">I</a></td><td>The Last Night of Carnival</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-1">II</a></td><td>Apollo Vindex</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-1">III</a></td><td>St. Apollinare in Classe</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-1">IV</a></td><td>Father Fabiano</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-1">V</a></td><td>"The Hours passed, and still she came not"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-1">VI</a></td><td>Gigia's Opinion</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-1">VII</a></td><td>An Attorney-at-Law in the Papal States</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-1">VIII</a></td><td>Lost in the Forest</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-1">IX</a></td><td>"Passa la bella Donna e par che dorma"</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_II">BOOK II<br /> +Four Months Before That Ash Wednesday Morning</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-2">I</a></td><td>How the Good News came to Ravenna</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-2">II</a></td><td>The Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-2">III</a></td><td>The Impresario's Report</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-2">IV</a></td><td>Paolina Foscarelli</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-2">V</a></td><td>Rivalry</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-2">VI</a></td><td>The Beginning of Trouble</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-2">VII</a></td><td>The Teaching of a Great Love</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-2">VIII</a></td><td>A Change in the Situation</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-2">IX</a></td><td>Uncle and Nephew</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-2">X</a></td><td>The Coutessa Violante</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-2">XI</a></td><td>The Cardinal's Reception, and the Marchese's Ball</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-2">XII</a></td><td>The Arrival of the "Diva"</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_III">BOOK III<br /> +"Sirenum Pocula"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-3">I</a></td><td>"Diva Potens"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-3">II</a></td><td>An Adopted Father and an Adopted Daughter</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-3">III</a></td><td>"Armed at All Points"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-3">IV</a></td><td>Throwing the Line</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-3">V</a></td><td>After-thoughts</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-3">VI</a></td><td>At the Circolo</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-3">VII</a></td><td>Extremes Meet</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-3">VIII</a></td><td>The Diva shows her Cards</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-3">IX</a></td><td>One Struggle more</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_IV">BOOK IV<br /> +The Last Days of the Carnival</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-4">I</a></td><td>In the Cardinal's Chapel</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-4">II</a></td><td>The Corso</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-4">III</a></td><td>"La Sonnambula"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-4">IV</a></td><td>The Marchese Lamberto's Correspondence</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-4">V</a></td><td>Bianca at Home</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-4">VI</a></td><td>Paolina at Home</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-4">VII</a></td><td>Two Interviews</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-4">VIII</a></td><td>A Carnival Reception</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-4">IX</a></td><td>Paolina's Return to the City</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_V">BOOK V<br /> +Who Did The Deed?</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-5">I</a></td><td>At the City Gate</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-5">II</a></td><td>Suspicion</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-5">III</a></td><td>Guilty or Not Guilty?</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-5">IV</a></td><td>The Marchese hears the Ill News</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-5">V</a></td><td>Doubts and Possibilities</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-5">VI</a></td><td>At the Circolo again</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-5">VII</a></td><td>A Prison Visit</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-5">VIII</a></td><td>Signor Giovacchino Fortini at Home</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-5">IX</a></td><td>The Post-Mortem Examination</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X-5">X</a></td><td>Public Opinion</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI-5">XI</a></td><td>In Father Fabiano's Cell</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII-5">XII</a></td><td>The Case against Paolina</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><br /> +<a href="#BOOK_VI">BOOK VI<br /> +Poena Pede Claudo</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I-6">I</a></td><td>Signor Fortini receives the Signora Steno in his Studio</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II-6">II</a></td><td>Was it Paolina after all?</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III-6">III</a></td><td>Could it have been the Aged Friar?</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV-6">IV</a></td><td>What Ravenna thought of it</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V-6">V</a></td><td>"Miserrimus"</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI-6">VI</a></td><td>The Trial</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII-6">VII</a></td><td>The Friar's Testimony</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII-6">VIII</a></td><td>The Truth!</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX-6">IX</a></td><td>Conclusion</td></tr> +</table> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a>BOOK I<br /><br /> +Ash Wednesday Morning</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-1" id="CHAPTER_I-1"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +The Last Night of Carnival</h3> + +<p>It was Carnival time in the ancient and once imperial, but now +provincial and remote, city of Ravenna. It was Carnival time, and the +very acme and high-tide of that season of mirth and revel. For the +theory of Carnival observance is, that the life of it, unlike that of +most other things and beings, is intensified with a constantly crescendo +movement up to the last minutes of its existence. And there now remained +but an hour before midnight on the Tuesday preceding the first day of +Lent, Ash Wednesday—Dies Cinerum!—that sad and sober morrow which has +brought with it "sermons and soda-water" to so many generations of +revellers.</p> + +<p>Of course Carnival, according to the Calendar and Time's hour-glass, is +over at twelve o'clock on the night of Shrove Tuesday. Generally, +however, in the pleasure-loving cities of Italy, a few hours' law are +allowed or winked at. The revellers are not supposed to become aware +that it is past midnight till about three or four in the morning.</p> + +<p>Very generally the wind-up of the season of fun and frolic consists of +what is called a "Veglione," or "great making a night of it," which +means a masked ball at the theatre. And the great central chandelier +does not begin to descend into the body of the house, to have its lights +flapped out by the handkerchiefs of the revellers amid a last frantic +rondo, till some four hours after midnight. But in provincial Ravenna, a +Pope's city under the rule of a Cardinal Legate, there is—or was in the +days when the Pope held sway there—no Veglione. Its place was supplied, +as far as "the society" of the city was concerned, by a ball at the +"Circolo dei Nobili."</p> + +<p>It was not, therefore, till four o'clock in the morning, or perhaps even +a little later, that the lights would be extinguished on the night in +question at the "Circolo dei Nobili," and Carnival would, in truth, be +over, and the tired holiday-makers would go home to their beds.</p> + +<p>A few hours more remained, and the revelry was at its height, and the +dancers danced as knowing that their minutes were numbered.</p> + +<p>There had been a ball on the previous night at the Palazzo of the +Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. But the scene at the Circolo was a much +more brilliant, animated, and varied one than that of the night before +at the Castelmare palace. The Marchese Lamberto was the wealthiest noble +in Ravenna, and—putting aside his friend the Cardinal Legate—was, in +many other respects, the first and foremost man of the city. He was a +bachelor of some fifty years old. And bachelors' houses and bachelors' +balls have the reputation of enjoying the privilege of a somewhat freer +and more unreserved gaiety and jollity than those of their neighbours +more heavily weighted with the cares and responsibilities of life. But +such was not the case at the Palazzo Castelmare. Presided over on such +occasions as that of the great annual Carnival ball by a widowed +sister-in-law of the Marchese, the Castelmare palace was the most +decorous and respectable house, as its master was the most decorous and +respectable man, in Ravenna.</p> + +<p>Not that it was a dull house. The Marchese Lamberto, though a grave and +dignified personage in the eyes of the "jeunesse doree" of Ravenna, was +looked up to as one of the best loved, as well as most respected, men in +the city. And there was not a member of the "society" who would not have +been sadly hurt at not being invited to the great annual Carnival ball +at the Castelmare palace. But the same degree of laissez aller jollity +would not have been "de mise" there as was permissible at the Circolo. +The fun was not so fast and furious as it was wont to be at the club of +the nobles on the last night of Carnival.</p> + +<p>The whole society were at the latter gathering. All the nobles of +Ravenna were the hosts, and everybody was there solely and entirely to +amuse and enjoy themselves. Host and guests, indeed, were almost +identical. There were but few persons present, and those strangers to +the town, who did not belong to their own class.</p> + +<p>To the Marchese, on the previous night, most of the company had +contented themselves with going in "domino." At the Circolo ball a very +large proportion of the dancers were in costume. The Conte Leandro +Lombardoni,—lady-killer, Don Juan, and poet, whose fortunes and +misfortunes in these characters had made him the butt of the entire +society, and had perhaps contributed, together with his well-known +extraordinarily pronounced propensity for cramming himself with pastry, +to give him the pale, puffed, pasty face, swelling around a pair of pale +fish-like eyes, that distinguished him,—the Conte Leandro Lombardoni; +indeed, had gone to the Castelmare palace as "Apollo," in a costume +which young Ludovico Castelmare, the Marchese Lamberto's nephew, would +insist on mistaking for that of Aesop; and had now, according to a +programme perfectly well known previously throughout the city, come to +the Circolo as "Dante." The Tuscan "lucco," or long flowing gown, had at +least the advantage of concealing from the public eye much that the +Apollo costume had injudiciously exhibited.</p> + +<p>Ludovico Castelmare had adopted the costume of a Venetian noble of the +sixteenth century; and very strikingly handsome he looked in that most +picturesque of all dresses. The Marchese Lamberto was at the ball, of +course, but not in costume. Perhaps the most striking figure in the +rooms, however, was one of those few persons who have been mentioned as +present, but not belonging to Ravenna, or to the class of its nobles. +This was a lady, well known at that day throughout Italy as Bianca +Lalli—"La Lalli," or "La Bianca," in theatrical parlance—for she was +one of the first singers of the day. Special circumstances—to be +explained at a future page—had rendered it possible for remote little +Ravenna to secure the celebrated artist for the Carnival, which was now +expiring. The Marchese Lamberto, who, among many other avocations and +occupations, all of them contributing in some way or other to the +welfare and advantage of his native city, was a great lover and +connoisseur of music, and patron of the theatre, had been mainly +instrumental in bringing La Lalli to Ravenna. The engagement had been a +most successful one. The "Diva Bianca" had sung through the Carnival, +charming all ears and hearts in Ravenna with her voice, and all eyes +with her very remarkable and fascinating beauty. And now, on this last +night of the festive season, she was the cynosure of all eyes at the +ball.</p> + +<p>Bianca had, as it so happened, also chosen a Venetian costume of the +same period as that of Ludovico—about the middle of the sixteenth +century. In truth, it was mere chance that had led to this similarity. +And neither of them, as it happened, had mentioned to the other the +dress they intended to wear. Bianca, in fact, used as she was to wear +costumes of all sorts, and to outshine all beauties near her in all or +any of them, had thought nothing about her dress, till the evening +before; and then had consulted the Marchese Lamberto on the subject: but +had been so much occupied with him during nearly the whole of that +evening at his ball, that she had not said a word about it to any one +else.</p> + +<p>It could not but seem, however, to everybody that the Marchese Ludovico +and La Lalli had agreed together to represent a pair belonging to the +most gorgeous and picturesque days of Venetian history. And a most +magnificently handsome pair they made. Bianca's dress, or at least the +general appearance and effect of it, will readily be imagined by those +acquainted with the full-length portraits of Titian or Tintoretto. A +more strictly "proper" costume no lady could wish to wear. And the +jeunesse doree of Ravenna, who had thought it likely that the Diva would +appear as some light-skirted Flora, or high-kirtled Diana, were +altogether disappointed.</p> + +<p>But there was much joking and raillery about the evident and notable +pair-ship of Ludovico and Bianca; and it came to pass that, almost +without any special intention on their own part, they were thrown much +together, and danced together frequently. And this, under the +circumstances, was still more the case than it would have otherwise +been, in consequence of the Marchese Lamberto not dancing. It was a long +time since he had done so. There were many men dancing less fitted than +he, as far as appearance and capability, and even as far as years went, +to join in such amusements. Nevertheless, all Ravenna would have been +almost as much surprised to see the Marchese Lamberto dressed in mumming +costume, and making one among Carnival revellers, as to see the Cardinal +himself doing the same things. He had made for himself a social +position, and a life so much apart from any such levities, that his +participation in them would have seemed a monstrosity.</p> + +<p>It may be doubted, however, whether on this occasion, at least, the +dignified Marchese was satisfied with the position he had thus made for +himself. It would have been too absurd and remarkable for La Bianca to +have abstained from dancing and attached herself to him in the +ball-room, instead of consorting with the younger folks. Of course that +was entirely out of the question. But none the less for that was the +evening a time of cruel suffering and martyrdom to the Marchese. Of +course he believed that the adoption of so singularly similar a costume +by Bianca and his nephew was the result of pre-arranged agreement. And +the thought, and all that his embittered fancy built upon the thought, +were making everything around him, and all the prospect of his life +before him, utterly intolerable to him.</p> + +<p>Ludovico and Bianca had been dancing together for the third time—a +waltz fast and furious, which they had kept up almost incessantly till +the music had ceased. Heated and breathless, he led her out of the +ball-room to get some refreshment. There was a large supper-room which, +on the cessation of the waltz, immediately became crowded by other +couples bent on a similar errand. But there had also been established a +little subsidiary buffet in a small cabinet at the furthest end of the +suite of rooms, for the purpose of drawing off some of the crowd from +the main supper-room. And thither Ludovico led Bianca, thinking to avoid +the crush of people rushing in to the larger room.</p> + +<p>The young Marchese—the "Marchesino," as he was often called, to +distinguish him from his uncle, the Marchese Lamberto—was one of the +small committee of the Circolo, who had had the management of all the +arrangements for the ball; and was, accordingly, well aware of the +whereabouts of this little "succursale" to the supper-room. But it is +probable that the existence of it was unknown to the great majority of +the company. At all events, so it happened, that when Ludovico and +Bianca reached it, it was wholly untenanted, save by Dante, in his long +red gown, solitarily occupied in cramming himself with pastry.</p> + +<p>"What, Dante in exile!" cried Ludovico. "Pray, Sir Poet, which bolgia +was set apart for those who are lost by the 'peccato della gola?' or is +a bilious fit in the more immediate future bolgia fearful enough?"</p> + +<p>"It is not so bad a bolgia as that appointed some other sins," said the +Conte Leandro, with mouth stuffed with cake, as he moved out of room.</p> + +<p>"What an animal it is!" said Ludovico, laughing, as he gave Bianca a +glass of champagne, and filled another for himself.</p> + +<p>"Take some of this woodcock pie, Signora Bianca? You must be starved by +this time; and I can recommend it."</p> + +<p>"How so? You have not tasted it yourself yet."</p> + +<p>"No; but I am going to do so. And my recommendation is based on my +knowledge of the qualities of our woodcocks. They are the finest in the +world. The marshes in the neighbourhood of the Pineta breed them in +immense quantities."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have heard so much of the Pineta. They say it is so lovely."</p> + +<p>"The most beautiful forest in the world. And this is just the time when +it is in its greatest beauty,—the early spring, when the wild flowers +are all beginning to blossom, and the birds are all singing. There is +nothing like our Pineta!"</p> + +<p>"I should so like to see it. It does seem really a shame to leave +Ravenna without ever having seen the Pineta."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must not dream of doing so. You must make a little excursion +one of these fine spring days. It is just the time for it. Some morning, +the earlier the better. But I dare say your habits are not very +matutinal, Signora?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not very, for the most part. But I would willingly make them +matutinal for such a purpose at any time. How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a mere nothing—at the city gates almost a couple of miles, +perhaps. You may go out by the Porta Nuova, at the end of the Corso, and +so to that part of the forest which lies to the southward of the city; +or by the northern road, which very soon enters the wood on that side. +Perhaps the finest part of the Pineta is that to the southwards. Of all +places in the world it is the spot for a colazione al fresco."</p> + +<p>"I should so like it. I have heard of the Pineta di Ravenna all my +life."</p> + +<p>"What do you say to going this very morning?" said Ludovico, after +thinking for a minute. "There is no time like the present. It will be a +charming finish to our Carnival—new and original, too! Do you feel as +if you had go enough left for it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, as for that," said Bianca, laughing with lips and eyes, "I am up to +anything. I should like it of all things. But—"</p> + +<p>"Ah! what a terrible word that 'but' is. But what?" said Ludovico, who +had no sooner conceived the idea than he became eager to put it into +execution. "But what?"</p> + +<p>"But—a great many things. Unhappily, there is no word comes oftener +into one's life than that odious 'but.' But who is to go with me? I +cannot go all alone by myself?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's no but at all. Of course, Signora, I did not propose such an +expedition to you without proposing to myself the honour of accompanying +you," said Ludovico with a profound bow.</p> + +<p>"What a scappata! I should like it of all things. But—there it comes +again! 'But' the second; will not the good people say all sorts of +ill-natured and absurd things?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it—in my case, Signora. Everybody knows that we have been +very good friends; and that I have not been coxcomb enough to have ever +hoped to be aught more to you, having been protected, as they all know, +from such danger in the only way in which a man could possibly be +protected from it," said Ludovico, bowing again.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! What way is that? It might be so useful to know. Would it be +equally applicable to a lady, I wonder?" said Bianca, looking at him +half laughingly, half-poutingly, with her head on one side. "Oh yes! +perfectly applicable in all cases, Signora. It is only to have no heart +to lose, having lost it already," returned he.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come! This is a confidence dans les regles! And in return for it, +Signor Ludovico, do you know—speaking in all seriousness—that—if we +really do put this wild scheme into execution—I have a confidence to +give you, and may take that opportunity of making it—a confidence, not +which may or may not be made, like yours, but which I ought to make to +you, the necessity of making which furnishes, to say the truth, a very +plausible reason for our projected tete-a-tete."</p> + +<p>"Davvero, Signora! Better and better; I shall be charmed to receive such +a mark of your friendship," said Ludovico, thinking and caring little on +what subject it might be that the Diva purposed speaking to him: "and +then, the fact is," he continued, "that to-morrow morning will be the +best morning for the purpose of all the days of the year. For we shall +be quite sure that every soul here will be in bed and asleep. On the +first morning in Lent one is tolerably safe not to fall in with early +risers. Our little trip, you may be very sure, will never be heard of by +anybody, unless we choose to tell of it ourselves."</p> + +<p>"And I am sure that I do not see why we should not," said Bianca.</p> + +<p>"I see no reason against telling all the town, for my part," rejoined +Ludovico; "afterwards though—you understand; and not beforehand, or our +little escapade would be spoilt by some blockhead or other insisting on +joining us. Our friend Leandro there, for instance; think of it!"</p> + +<p>"The idea is a nightmare! No; we will not say a word till afterwards. +'Tis the most charming notion for a finale to a Carnival that ever was +conceived. I make you my compliments on it, Signor Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"So, then, all the 'buts' have been butted and rebutted?" said he.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose so,"—by the help of a strong desire to yield to the +temptation of so pleasant a scheme, the way 'buts' generally are +answered. "But we cannot go on the expedition as we are, I suppose?" +said she.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why not. I dare say the old pines have seen similar figures +beneath them before now. But you would not be comfortable without +changing your dress, and the mornings are still sharp. This is how it +must be. I will slip away before long, and make all preparation +necessary. I will get a bagarino and a pony—not from the Castelmare +stables, you understand, but from a man I know and can trust—and I will +come with it to the door of your lodging at six o'clock. You will stay +at the ball till the end. Everybody will go by four o'clock, or soon +after. That will give you plenty of time to change your dress. By six +o'clock every soul in Ravenna will be fast asleep. We shall drive to a +little farm-house I know on the border of the forest, leave our bagarino +there, and have our stroll under the trees just as long and as far as is +agreeable to you. Won't that do?"</p> + +<p>"Perfect! I shall enjoy it amazingly. I will be sure to be ready when +you come at six o'clock."</p> + +<p>"I will be there at six or thereabouts. Now we will go back to the +ball-room; but don't dance till you have not a leg left to stand on. We +must have a good long stroll in the Pineta."</p> + +<p>"Lascia fare a me! I dare say I shan't dance another dance—unless, +indeed, we have one more turn together before you go. Is there time?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, for that plenty of time. If you are not afraid of tiring +yourself, one more last dance by all means."</p> + +<p>So giving her his arm, the Marchesino led his beautiful and fascinating +companion back to the ballroom, where the music was again making the +most of the time with another waltz.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-1" id="CHAPTER_II-1"></a>CHAPTER II</h3> + +<p>Apollo Vindex</p> + +<p>The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had not passed a pleasant Carnival. +Reconciled, as he had recently professed himself to be—after some one +of the frequent misfortunes that happened to his intercourse with +them—with the fair sex, he had begun his Carnival by attempting to make +his merit acceptable in the eyes of La Lalli; and had failed to obtain +any recognition from her, even as a poet, to say nothing of his +pretensions as a Don Juan. To a certain limited degree, it had been +forced upon his perception, that he had been making an ass of himself; +and the appreciation of that fact by the other young men among whom he +lived had been indicated with that coarse brutality, as the poet said to +himself, which was the outcome of minds not "softened by the study of +the ingenuous arts," as his own was. He had been consistently snubbed +and flouted, he and his poetry, and his love-making, and his carefully +prepared Carnival costumes.</p> + +<p>The result was, that at the ball on that last night of the Carnival, the +Conte Leandro was not in charity with all men, and, indeed, hardly with +any man. He was feeling very sore, and would fain have avenged his pain +by making any one else feel equally sore, if he had it in his power to +do so.</p> + +<p>He was especially angry with Ludovico di Castelmare. Had he not chaffed +him unmercifully about the verses he had sent to La Bianca? Was it not, +to all appearance, due to him that the Diva had never condescended to +cast a glance on either him or his poetry? Had he not called him Aesop, +when it was plain to all the world that he represented Apollo? And now +this night, again, he had taken the opportunity of turning him into +ridicule in the presence of La Bianca; and he and she had spoken of the +possibility of their being troubled with his company as of a nightmare. +For the painful fact was that their uncomplimentary expressions had been +heard by the poet; who, when he had left Ludovico and Bianca in the +little supper-room together, had retreated no further than just to the +other side of a curtain, which hung, Italian fashion, by the side of the +open door. Finding that there was nobody there—for the little buffet +was at the end of the entire suite of rooms, and all those who were not +either in the ball-room, or in the card-room, were at that moment in the +principal supper-room—it had seemed well to the Conte Leandro, in his +dudgeon and spite against all the world, to ensconce himself quietly +behind the curtain, and hear what use Ludovico and Bianca would make of +their tete-a-tete.</p> + +<p>The first advantage he obtained was to hear himself spoken of as a +nightmare; and that naturally: prompted him to prick up his ears to hear +more. But when he had thus learned the whole secret of the projected +expedition, it struck him, as well worth considering, whether there +might not be found in this the means of making his tormentor pay him for +some of the annoyances he had suffered at his hands.</p> + +<p>So! the Marchese Ludovico, who ought to be paying his addresses to the +Contessa Violante in the sight of all Ravenna—the Contessa Violante +Marliani was great niece of the Cardinal Legate, between whom and the +Marchese Ludovico their respective families had projected an +alliance—was, instead of that, going off on a partie fine with the +notorious Bianca Lalli! A tete-a-tete in the Pineta! Mighty fine, +indeed! So sure, too, that nobody in the world would find them out on +Ash Wednesday morning! And he is to be at her door at six o'clock in the +morning! Very good! Capitally well arranged—were it not that Leandro +Lombardoni may perhaps think fit to put a spoke in the wheel.</p> + +<p>A little further consideration of the manner in which such spoke might +be most effectually supplied, decided the angry and malicious +poet—(poets, like women, will become malicious when scorned)—to seek +out the Marchese Lamberto, whom he thought he should probably find in +the card-room. For though the Marchese was no great card-player, and +never touched a card in his own house, he was wont, at the Circolo, on +such occasions as the present, to cast in his lot with those who so +consoled themselves for the years that made the ball-room no longer +their proper territory.</p> + +<p>But the Conte Leandro did not find the Marchese among the card-players.</p> + +<p>The events of the evening had already thrown him back again into a very +miserable state of mind, from which the Marchese had been suffering such +torments as the jealous only know, during all the latter half of the +Carnival. It was strange that such a man as the Marchese Lamberto—it +would have seemed passing strange to any of those his fellow-citizens +who had known him, thoroughly as they supposed, all his life; very +strange that such a man, so calm, so judicious, so little liable to the +gusts of passion of any sort; a man, the even tenor of whose +well-regulated life had ever been such as to expose him rather to the +charge of almost apathetic placidity of temper, should thus suddenly, in +the full meridian time of his mature years, become subject to such +violent oscillations of passion; to such buffetings by storms, blowing +now from one and now from the opposite quarter of the sky. But no length +of prosperous navigation in the quiet waters of a land-locked harbour +will give evidence of the vessel's fitness to encounter the storms and +the waves of the open sea. The storm-wind of a strong passion had, all +at once for the first time, blown in upon the sheltered harbour in which +that placid life had been led.</p> + +<p>And yet that storm-wind did not produce the same effect, as it would +have produced, and is seen to produce every day on the strong, +wide-spread canvas of some young navigator on the ocean of life, putting +out into the open waters at the time when such storms are frequent. +Every day we see such craft scudding with all sails spread before the +blast without attempt at reefing or tacking. Right ahead they drive +before the wind with no doubtful course. But it was not and could not be +so in the case of the Marchese Lamberto. The whole habits of a life—the +ways, notions, hopes, desires, ambitions, that time had made into a part +of the nature of the man; the passions, which though calm and unviolent +in their nature, had become strong, not by forcible energy, but by the +deep and unconscious sinking of their roots into the depths of his +character—all these things opposed a resistance to the new and +suddenly-loosed passion-wind, such as that which the deep-rooted oak +opposes to the tempest with no result of conquering it, only with the +result of causing its own leaves and branches to be buffeted to and fro, +torn, broken, and wrecked.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the unhappy Marchese was violently driven to and fro +from hour to hour between the extremities of love and hate, till his +brain reeled in the terrible conflict; and alternate attraction and +repulsion bandied his soul backwards and forwards between them.</p> + +<p>A ball-room is not a pleasant exercise-ground for a jealous man who does +not dance. No "bolgia" of the hell invented by the sombre imagination of +the great poet could have surpassed, in torment, the Circolo ball-room +on that last Carnival night to the Marchese Lamberto.</p> + +<p>The sight of the sorceress who had bewitched him, as he watched her in +the dance, had once again scattered to the winds all resolution, all +hope of the possibility of escaping from the toils. What was all else +that he desired to be put in comparison with that raging, craving desire +that he felt and sickened with for her? That was what he really +wanted—what he must have or die. It was madness to see her, as he saw +her then, in the arms of other men, laughing, sparkling, brilliant with +animation and enjoyment. Worst hell of all to see her thus with his +nephew, her admiration for whom she had frankly confessed; whose ways +with women he knew, and whose intimacy with Bianca had already become +suspicious to him.</p> + +<p>Yet not the less did he stand and gaze, as they danced together, clearly +the handsomest and best-matched couple in the room—matched so admirably +evidently by design and forethought.</p> + +<p>He had seen Ludovico and Bianca leave the ball-room, after the last +dance, together with the crowd of most of those who had been joining in +it, and had begun fluttering, poor moth, after the irresistible +attraction, to follow them towards the supper-room. Missing sight of +them in the throng for a minute, he had followed on to the principal +supper-room, and not finding them there (for the reason the reader wots +of) had returned on his steps, and was sitting on the end of a divan, by +the door of the next room to the ball-room, through which all had to +pass who wished to go thence to the supper-room. There were people +passing through the centre of the room from door to door; but there was +no other, save the Marchese, sitting down in it.</p> + +<p>There the Conte Leandro found him, and came and sat down by his side; +much, at first, to the Marchese's annoyance.</p> + +<p>"What! you not in the supper-room, Signor Leandro. I thought your place +was always there?" said the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"I'm no greater a supper-eater than another; let them say what they +please. But I have just been getting a glass of wine and a biscuit in +the little supper-room at the further end there."</p> + +<p>"What, are there two supper-rooms? I did not know that!"</p> + +<p>"Only a buffet in the little room at the end, where the papers generally +are. It was mainly Ludovico's doing,—in order to have less crowd in the +supper-room,—and perhaps to have a quiet place for a tete-a-tete supper +himself. Oh! I knew better than not to clear out, when he and La Diva +Bianca came in; specially as there was nobody else there. Faith! I left +them there alone together."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that's where he is supping, then?" said the Marchese, in the most +unconcerned tone he could manage.</p> + +<p>"Yes; supping,—or enjoying himself in some other way, quite as +delightful. The fact is, Signor Marchese," continued the poet, in a +lowered voice, and rapidly glancing around to see that there were no +ears within such a distance as to overhear his words,—"the fact is, +that I am afraid Signor Ludovico is less cautious than it would be well +for him to be, circumstanced as he is! I am sure I did not want to +listen to what he and the Lalli were saying to each other. It is nothing +to me. But they spoke with such little precaution, that I could not help +overhearing what they said; and what do you think Ludovico is up to +now?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know!" said the Marchese, with the tips of his pale lips; +for he was grinding his teeth together to prevent them from chattering +in his head.</p> + +<p>"He is off at six o'clock to-morrow morning tete-a-tete with La Bianca, +on an excursion to the Pineta. Coming it strong, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning!" said the Marchese under his breath, and with +difficulty; for his blood seemed suddenly to rush back cold to his +heart, and he was shivering all over.</p> + +<p>"Niente meno! I heard them arrange it all. He is to slip away from the +ball presently, in order to make all needful preparations, and to be at +her door with a bagarino at six o'clock in the morning. Doing the thing +nicely, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>For a minute or two the Marchese was utterly unable to answer him a +word. His head swam round. He felt sick. A cold perspiration broke out +all over him; and he feared that he should have fallen from his seat.</p> + +<p>"He is a great fool for his pains," he said at last, mastering himself +by a great effort, sufficiently to enable himself to utter the words in +an ordinary voice and manner.</p> + +<p>"Well, it seemed to me a mad scheme, considering all things. And the +truth is, that I thought your lordship would very likely think it well +to put a stop to it. And that is why I have bored your lordship by +mentioning it to you."</p> + +<p>"At six o'clock, you say?" asked the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"Yes; that was the hour they fixed. Then he is to drive her to a +farm-house on the border of the forest, leave the bagarino there, and go +into the wood for a stroll. Not a bad idea for a wind-up of the +Carnival, upon my word!"</p> + +<p>"I think you have done very wisely and kindly in telling me this, Signor +Conte," said the Marchese, in as quiet tones as he could command; "and +if you will complete your kindness by saying no word of it to anybody +else, I shall esteem myself much obliged to you."</p> + +<p>"Oh! for that you may depend on me, Signor Marchese. I should never have +thought of mentioning it to you, but for thinking that it would be a +real kindness to Ludovico to put a stop to it."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Signor Conte. A rivederla!" said the Marchese, rising.</p> + +<p>"Felicissima notte, Signor Marchese," returned Leandro, rising also, and +bowing to his companion.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-1" id="CHAPTER_III-1"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +St. Apollinare in Classe</h3> + +<p>The Marchese remained at the ball to see one more dance between Ludovico +and Bianca after their supper; and then left the rooms. There was +nothing at all to cause remark in his thus retiring before the evening. +He never danced;—he happened not to be playing cards on that evening. +It was quite natural that such a man should prefer going home to bed to +remaining with the jeunes gens till the break-up of the ball.</p> + +<p>How he enjoyed that last dance, which he stayed to see, the reader may +perhaps imagine. Standing by a chimney-piece, on one corner of which he +rested his elbow, he in great measure shaded his face with his hand, yet +not so as to prevent him from seeing every movement of the persons, and +every expression of the faces of the couple he was watching. There was a +raging hell in his heart. And yet he stood there, and gazed eagerly, +greedily one would have said. And every minute, and every movement +blasted his eyes and stabbed his heart, and poured poison into his +veins.</p> + +<p>When the dance was over he did not move for some time; for he doubted +his power to hold himself upright and walk steadily. Presently, however, +when Ludovico and Bianca had again quitted the ball-room together, he +gathered himself up, and moved slowly away, shaking in every limb, pale, +fever-lipped, and haggard.</p> + +<p>The man who gave him his cloak in the ante-room remarked to another +servant, as soon as he was gone, that he would bet that the Marchese +Lamberto would not be at the next Carnival ball.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock, with wonderful punctuality for an Italian, Ludovico, +with a neat little bagarino and fast-trotting pony, was at the door of +the Diva's lodging. But Bianca was not ready. Her maid came down to the +door with all sorts of apologies, and assurances that her mistress would +be ready in a few minutes. The few minutes, however, became half an +hour, as minutes will under such circumstances. And the result of this +delay was that Ludovico and his companion were not the first travellers +out of the Porta Nuova that morning.</p> + +<p>During the whole of the past Carnival and the latter months of the +previous year there had been living in Ravenna a young girl,—an artist +from Venice, who had come to Ravenna with a commission given her by a +travelling Englishman to make copies of some of the more remarkable of +the very extraordinary and unique series of mosaics which exist in the +old imperial city. She had brought with her a letter of introduction +from her employer to the Marchese Lamberto,—a circumstance which had +led to a degree of intimacy between the Marchesino Ludovico and the +extremely attractive young artist, which threatened to stand more or +less in the way of the match which had been arranged by the +high-contracting parties between Ludovico and the Lady Violante, the +great niece of the Cardinal. The girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli.</p> + +<p>It is probable that in due time and season the reader may become better +acquainted with Paolina. But at present there is no need of troubling +him with more particulars respecting her than the above, save to mention +that, having industriously and successfully completed the greater +portion of her task in the churches within the city, she had determined +to make her first visit to the strange old Basilica of St. Apollinare in +Classe, on that same Ash Wednesday morning. She did not purpose +beginning her task there on that day; but intended merely to reconnoitre +the ground, look to the needful preparations that had been made for her +work, and ascertain how far the spot was within her powers of walking.</p> + +<p>Paolina, too, had felt that the morning of Ash Wednesday was a +favourable time for the first experiment of an undertaking that a little +alarmed her. For she also had calculated that on such a morning she +should be little likely to meet anybody. It was just about six o'clock +when Paolina started on her proposed walk; and she passed through the +Porta Nuova, therefore, a little more than half-an-hour before Ludovico +and his companion passed, travelling in the same direction.</p> + +<p>The road, which it was necessary for her to follow in order to reach St. +Apollinare in Classe, is the same for the whole of the distance between +the city and the ancient church as that which Ludovico and Bianca would +follow to reach the celebrated pine forest. The soil on which the forest +stands is composed of the accumulation of sand which the rivers—mainly +the Po—have brought from distant mountains, and deposited in the bed of +the Adriatic since the old church was built "in Classe,"—where the +fleet once used to be moored. The building thus stands nearly at the +edge of the forest, hardly more than a stone's throw from the furthest +advanced sentinels of the wood. The road coming out from the city by the +Porta Nuova, on its way to the little town of Cervia, a few miles to the +southward, traverses ground once thickly covered with palaces, streets, +and churches, now open fields,—and passes by the western front and +doorway of the almost deserted old Basilica, a little before it reaches +the turning off towards the left, which enters the forest.</p> + +<p>The walk before Paolina, when she had passed the city gate, was about +two miles or rather more. So that had La Bianca taken a few less minutes +to put the finishing touches to the charming morning toilette which +replaced the gorgeous Venetian costume she had taken off, the bagarino +which carried her and Ludovico would infallibly have overtaken the young +artist. As it was, however, having more than half-an-hour's start of it, +she reached the church before they came within sight of it.</p> + +<p>Little Paolina had felt rather nervous when first stepping into the cool +fresh morning air from the door of the lodging she occupied. But the +street was utterly empty, and she took courage. The first human beings +she saw on her way were the octroi officers at the gate. They sat +apparently half asleep at the doorway of their den, by the side of the +city gate, wrapped in huge cloaks; and took not even so much heed of her +as to say "Good morning."</p> + +<p>The long bit of straight flat road outside the gate was equally +deserted; and Paolina, braced by the morning air, stepped out +vigorously, and began to enjoy her walk.</p> + +<p>There is little enough, however, in the country through which she was +passing to delight the eye. The fields in the immediate neighbourhood of +the city are cultivated, and not devoid of trees. But the cheerfulness +thence arising does not last long. Very soon the trees cease, and there +are no more hedge-rows. Large flat fields, imperfectly covered with +coarse rank grass, and divided by the numerous branches of streams, all +more or less diked to save the land from complete inundation, succeed. +The road is a causeway raised above the level of the surrounding +district; and presently a huge lofty bank is seen traversing the +desolate scene for miles, and stretching away towards the shore of the +neighbouring Adriatic. This is the dike which contains the sulkily +torpid but yet dangerous Montone.</p> + +<p>Gradually, as the traveller proceeds, the scene grows worse and worse. +Soon the only kind of cultivation to be seen from the road consists of +rice-grounds, looking like—what in truth they are—poisonous swamps. +Then come swamps pure and simple, too bad even to be turned into rice +grounds,—or rather simply swamps impure; for a stench at most times of +the year comes from them, like a warning of their pestilential nature, +and their unfitness for the sojourn of man. A few shaggy, wild-looking +cattle may be seen wandering over the flat waste, muddy to the shoulders +from wading in the soft swamps. A scene of more utter desolation it is +hardly possible to meet with in such close neighbourhood to a living +city.</p> + +<p>Paolina shivered, and drew her little grey cloak more closely around her +shoulders; not from cold, though a bleak wind was blowing across the +marshes. She was warmed by walking; but the aspect of the scene before +her almost frightened the Venetian girl by the savagery of its +desolation.</p> + +<p>The raised causeway, however, keeps on its course amid the low-lying +marshes on either side of it; and presently the peculiar form of outline +belonging to a forest composed entirely of the maritime pine is +distinguishable on the horizon to the left. The road quickly draws +nearer to it; and the large, heavy, velvet-like masses of dark verdure +become visible. In a forest such as the famous Pineta, consisting of the +maritime pine only, the lines, especially when seen at a distance, have +more of horizontal and less of perpendicular direction than in any other +assemblage of trees. And the effect produced by the continuity of +spreading umbrella-like tops is peculiar.</p> + +<p>Then, soon after the forest has become visible, the road brings the +wayfarer within sight of a vast lonely structure heaving its huge long +back against the low horizon, like some monster antidiluvian saurian, +the fit denizen of this marsh world. It is the venerable Basilica of St. +Apollinare in Classe.</p> + +<p>Through all this dismal scene Paolina tripped lightly along with a quick +step through the crisp morning air, no little awed by the dreary, +voiceless desolation of it, but yet encouraged and not unpleased by the +solitude of it.</p> + +<p>The walk she found to be quite within her powers, at all events at that +hour of the morning and in that season of the year; and when she stood +before the western door of the ancient church, in front of which the +road passes, Ludovico and Bianca were only then on the point of starting +from the quarters of the latter, in the Strada di Porta Sisi.</p> + +<p>Though knowing but little of the long and strangely diversified story +which presses on the mind of a stranger read in history as he stands +before the door of that desolate old church, Paolina could not but be +much struck by the appearance of the building and of the scene around +it. If ever a spot was expressive in every way by which a locality can +speak to the imagination of the abomination of desolation, the view +which spreads before the eye at the huge doorway of the Basilica of St. +Apollinare in Classe is so. The general character of the country around +it has been described. But the church itself is the most dreary and +melancholy feature in the landscape. No desolation resulting solely from +the operations of Nature, even in her least kindly mood, can ever +suffice to speak to the imagination as the change and decay of the works +of man's hand speak. To produce the effect of desolation in its highest +degree man must have at some former period been present on the scene, +and the remains of his work must be there to show that activity, life, +energy, has once existed where it exists no more. Nature is always and +everywhere progressive, and no sentiment of sadness belongs to progress. +Man's ruined work alone imparts the suggestion—(a delusive one, indeed, +but most forcible)—of falling back from the better to the worse.</p> + +<p>Wonderfully eloquent after this fashion are the temples of Paestum, far +away there to the south beyond Naples, on the flat strip of miserably +cultivated soil between the Apennines and the Mediterranean. But they +are too far gone in ruin and decay to speak with so living a voice of +sadness as does this old Byzantine church. The human element is at +Paestum too far away,—too utterly dead and forgotten. In St. Apollinare +life still lingers. Life, flickering in its last spark, like the +twinkling of a lamp which the next moment will extinguish, is still +there. Life more suggestive of death, than any utter absence of life +could be.</p> + +<p>There are some dilapidated remains of conventual buildings on the +southern side of the church, mean, and of a date some thousand years +subsequent to that of the Basilica. They are nearly ruinous, but are +still—or were till within a few years—inhabited by one Capucin friar, +and one lay brother of the order, whose duty it was to mutter a mass, +with ague-chattering jaws, at the high altar, and act as guardians of +the building.</p> + +<p>Small guardianship is needed. The huge ancient doors—made of planks +from vine trunks which grew fifteen hundred years ago on the +Bosphorus—are never closed; probably because their weight would defy +the efforts of the two poor old friars, to whom the keeping of the +building is committed, to move them. But a poor and mean low gate of +iron rails has been fitted to the colossal marble door-posts, which +suffices to prevent the wandering cattle of the waste from straying into +the church, but does not prevent the fever-laden mists from the marshes +from drifting into the huge nave, and depositing their unwholesome +moisture in great trickling drops upon the green-stained walls.</p> + +<p>But not even the low iron gateway was closed when Paolina reached the +church. It stood partially open. After having stood a minute or two +before the building to look round upon the scene, Paolina stepped up to +the gate and looked into the church, but could see no human being. +Within, as without, all was utter death-like silence. She shivered, and +drew her cloak more closely round her, as she stood at the gate; for the +healthy blood was running rapidly through her veins after her brisk +walk, and the deadly cold damp air from the church struck her with a +shudder, which was but the physical complement of the moral impression +produced by the aspect of the place.</p> + +<p>After a minute, however, wondering at the stillness, half frightened at +the utter solitude, and awed by the vast gloomy grandeur of the naked +but venerable building, she pushed the gate, and entered.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-1" id="CHAPTER_IV-1"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +Father Fabiano</h3> + +<p>Paolina entered hesitatingly, and starting at the echoes of her +footsteps on the flagstones, wet and green, and slimy from the water, +which often in every year lies many inches deep on the floor of the +church. She advanced towards a small marble altar which stands quite +isolated in the middle of the huge nave. And as she neared it she +perceived, with a violent start, that there was a living figure kneeling +at it. So still, so utterly motionless had this solitary worshipper +been, so little visible in the dim light was the hue of the Franciscan's +frock that entirely covered him, that Paolina had not imagined that +there had been any living creature in the church. She saw, however, in +the same instant that she became aware of his presence, that the figure +was that of a Capucin friar, and doubted not that he must be the +guardian of the church, whom she had been told she would find there.</p> + +<p>The little low altar, of an antiquity coeval with that of the church, +which stands in the centre of the nave, is the sole exception to the +entire and utter emptiness of the place. There are, indeed, ranged along +the walls of the side aisles, several ancient marble coffins, curiously +carved, and with semi-circular covers, which contain the bodies of the +earliest Bishops of the See. But the little altar is the sole object +that breaks the continuity of the open floor. The body of St. Apollinare +was originally laid beneath it, but was in a subsequent age removed to a +more specially honourable position under the high altar at the eastern +end of the church. There is still, however, the slab deeply carved with +letters of ancient form, which tells how St. Romauld, the founder of the +order of Camaldoli, praying by night at that altar, saw in a vision St. +Apollinare, who bade him leave the world, and become the founder of an +order of hermits.</p> + +<p>It was on the same stones that the knees of St. Romauld had pressed, +that the Capucin was kneeling, as Paolina walked up the nave of the +church. The peaked hood of his brown frock was drawn over his head, for +the air of the church was deadly cold, and the fever and ague of many a +successive autumn had done their work upon him. He was called Padre +Fabiano, and was said to be, and looked to be, upwards of eighty years +old. Probably, however, his age was much short of that. For the nature +of his dwelling-place was such as to stand in the place of time, in its +power to do worse than time's work on the human frame.</p> + +<p>Of course, it can be no matter of question, why a monk is here or is +there, does this or does that. Obedience to the will of his superiors is +the only reason for all that, in the case of other human beings, depends +on their own volition. The monk has no volition.</p> + +<p>No human being who had, it might be supposed, would consent to live at +St. Apollinare in Classe, with one lay brother for a companion, and +discharge the duties assigned to the Padre Fabiano. But the question why +his superiors sent him there, was still one that might suggest itself, +though it was little likely ever to be answered. And the absence of all +answer to such question was supplied by the gossips of Ravenna, by tales +of some terrible crime against ecclesiastical discipline of which the +Padre Fabiano had been guilty some sixty years or so ago. Certain it was +that he had occupied his dreary position for many years; and it was +wonderful that fever and ague and the marsh pestilence had not long +since dismissed him to the reward of his long penitence on earth.</p> + +<p>He rose from his knees as Paolina approached him, and gravely bent his +cowled head to her in salutation.</p> + +<p>"You are early, Signora," he said. "I suppose you are the person for +whom yonder scaffold has been prepared."</p> + +<p>"Yes, father, I am the artist for whom leave has been obtained to copy +some of your mosaics."</p> + +<p>"You will find it cold work, daughter. The church is damp somewhat. You +would do better, methinks, not to begin your day's work till the sun has +had time to warm the air a little."</p> + +<p>"I had no thought, father, of beginning to-day. I have brought nothing +with me. I only thought that I would walk out and have a look at the job +before me. It is not so far from the city as I thought."</p> + +<p>"It is far enough to be as lonely and as deserted as if it were a +thousand miles from a human habitation," said the monk, looking into the +girl's face with a grave smile.</p> + +<p>"Yet you live here, from year's end to year's end all alone, Padre mio," +said Paolina, timidly.</p> + +<p>"Not quite so, daughter," replied he. "Brother Barnaba, a lay brother of +our order, is my companion. But he is ill with a touch of ague at +present."</p> + +<p>"And how early would it be not inconvenient to you, Padre mio, to open +the church for me?" asked Paolina.</p> + +<p>"I spoke not of your being early on my account, daughter. If you come +here at sunrise, you will find the gate open, and me where you found me +this morning; and if you come at midnight you will find the same."</p> + +<p>"At midnight, father!" said Paolina, with a glance of surprise and pity.</p> + +<p>"Last October I was down with the fever," returned the monk; "but since +that time I have not failed one night to be on my knees where the +blessed St. Romauld knelt at the stroke of midnight. But I have not had +his reward;—doubtless because I am not worthy of it."</p> + +<p>"What was the reward of St. Romauld, father?" demanded Paolina.</p> + +<p>"His midnight prayers were rewarded by the vision of St. Apollinare in +glory, who spoke to him, and gave him the counsel he sought. Night after +night, and hour after hour, have I knelt and prayed. And I have heard +the moaning of the wind from the Adriatic among the pines of the forest +yonder, and I have seen the great crucifix above the high altar sway and +move in the moonlight when it comes streaming through the southern +windows; and sometimes I have hoped—and prayed—and hoped—but no +vision came!"</p> + +<p>The old monk sighed, and dropped his head upon his bosom; and Paolina +gazed at him with a feeling of awe, mingled with a suddenly rising fear, +that the tall and emaciated old man, whose light-blue eyes gleamed out +from beneath his cowl, was not wholly right in his mind. She would have +been more alarmed had she been aware that the old Padre Fabiano of St. +Apollinare was generally considered in Ravenna to be crazed by all those +who did not, instead of that, deem him a saint.</p> + +<p>Before she had gained courage to answer him, however, he lifted his +head, with another deep sigh, and said, in a very quiet and ordinary +tone and manner,</p> + +<p>"Your scaffold is all prepared for you there, Signora, according to the +directions of the Signor Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare, who brought +with him an order from the Archbishop's Chancellor. Will you look at it, +and see if it is as you wish, and say where you wish to have it placed."</p> + +<p>The mosaics in the apse of the centre nave are the most remarkable of +those that remain at St. Apollinare, though many of the series of +medallion portraits of the Bishops of the See from the foundation of it, +which circle the entire nave, are very curious. Paolina had engaged to +copy two or three of the most remarkable of these; but she intended to +begin her work by attacking the larger figures in the apse. And the +scaffolding had been placed there on the southern side.</p> + +<p>"I think that is just where I should wish to have it," said Paolina, +looking up at the vault. "If I may, I will go up and see whether it is +near enough to the figure I have to copy."</p> + +<p>"Do so, my daughter. It looks a great height, but I have no doubt that +it is quite safe. The Signor Marchese was very particular in seeing to +it himself. See, I will go up first to give you courage."</p> + +<p>And so saying, the old man with a slow but firm step began to ascend the +ladder of the scaffolding. And when he had reached the platform at the +top, Paolina, more used to such climbing than he, and who in truth had +felt no alarm whatever, followed him with a lighter step.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this will do nicely, Padre mio!" she said, when she had reached +the top; "it is placed just where it should be, and this large window +gives just all the light I want. It is a much better light than I had to +work by in San Vitale."</p> + +<p>"I never was in San Vitale," replied the monk. "I have been here +fourteen years next Easter, and I have never once been in Ravenna in all +that time, nor, indeed, further away from this church than just a stroll +within the edge of the Pineta."</p> + +<p>"That is the Pineta we see from this window, of course, Padre mio. What +a lovely view of it! And how beautiful it is! Where does that road go +to, Padre? To Venice?"</p> + +<p>"No, figliuola mia. It goes in exactly the opposite direction, +southwards, to Cervia. The Venice road lies away to the northward, +through the wood that you can see on the furthest horizon. It was by +that road I came to Ravenna. I shall never travel it again."</p> + +<p>"From Venice, father? Did you come from Venice?" asked Paolina, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"From La bella Venezia I came, daughter—fourteen years ago. And once in +every month I indulge myself by going to the top of our tower—you can't +see it from this window, it is on the northern side of the church—and +looking out over the north Pineta as far as I can see towards it. May +God and St. Mark grant that no tempter ever offer me the sight of Venice +again at the price of my soul's salvation! I shall never, never see +Venice more!"</p> + +<p>"You must be a Venetian, father, surely, to love it so well?" said +Paolina, after a minute or two of silence.</p> + +<p>"A Venetian I am—or was, daughter; as I well knew you were when you +first spoke. Might I ask your name?"</p> + +<p>"Paolina Foscarelli, father. I am an orphan," said she, softly.</p> + +<p>"No!" said the monk, shaking his head, with a deep sigh, and looking +earnestly into the girl's face, but without any appearance of +surprise,—"No; you are not Paolina Foscarelli."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, father, that is my name," said Paolina, again recurring to her +doubt whether the monk was altogether of sound mind, and speaking very +quietly and gently; "my father's name was Foscarelli, and the baptismal +name of my mother was the same as mine—Paolina."</p> + +<p>"Jacopo and Paolina Foscarelli, who lived in the little house at the +corner of the Campo di San Pietro and Paolo," rejoined the monk, +speaking in a dreamy far-away kind of manner.</p> + +<p>"I have truly heard that they lived there," said she; "but I was only +four years old when they died, one very soon after the other, and since +that I have lived with a friend of my mother's, Signora Steno."</p> + +<p>"The child of Jacopo and Paolina Foscarelli," said the monk, in the same +dreamy tone, and pressing his thin emaciated hands before his eyes as he +spoke; "and you have come here to find me?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, father, not to find you. I knew not that the padre guardiano of +St. Apollinare was a Venetian. I came only to copy these pictures for my +employer."</p> + +<p>"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful are the ways of God! Paolina +Foscarelli, daughter of Jacopo and Paolina, I Fabiano—-"</p> + +<p>"Look, padre min!" cried Paolina, suddenly and sharply, turning very +pale, and grasping the parapet rung of the scaffolding as she spoke, +"look! in the bagarino there on the road, just passing the church; +certainly that must be the Signor Marchese Ludovico!—And with him—that +lady?—yes, it is—it certainly is La Lalli—the prima donna, who has +been singing at the theatre this Carnival."</p> + +<p>She pointed as she spoke to a bagarino that had just passed the western +front of the church, and was now moving along the bit of road visible +from the high window at which the monk and Paolina were standing.</p> + +<p>The tone in which she spoke caused the friar to look at her first, +before turning his glance in the direction to which she pointed. She was +pale, and evidently much moved, after a fashion that, taken together +with the nature of the objects to which she drew his attention, and the +fact that it was the Marchese Ludovico who had come to St. Apollinare to +make the arrangements needed for the artist's work there, left but +little doubt in the old man's mind as to the nature of her emotion.</p> + +<p>He looked shrewdly and earnestly into her face for a moment; and then +turning his eyes to the stretch of road below, answered her:</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my daughter, that is the Marchese Ludovico. The lady I never +saw before as far as I am aware. They are going towards Cervia."</p> + +<p>"No! See, father! They are turning off from the road to the left. Where +does that turning to the left go?"</p> + +<p>"Only into the forest, daughter,—or to that little farm-house you see +there just at the edge of it. You may get as far as the sea-shore +through the Pineta; but the road is very bad for a carriage."</p> + +<p>"To the sea-shorn!" said Paolina, dreamily.</p> + +<p>"Yes, by keeping the track due east. The shore is not above a couple of +miles away. But there is no port, or even landing-place there. And there +are many tracks through the forest. You may get to Cervia, too, that +way. But it is hardly likely that any one would leave the road to find a +longer way by worse ways through the forest. More likely the object of +the Signor Marchese is only to show the lady the famous Pineta."</p> + +<p>Paolina, while the monk was thus speaking, had kept her eyes fixed upon +the little carriage, which was making its way along a by-road +constructed on the top of a dike by the side of one of the numerous +streams that intersect all the district; and she continued to watch it +till she saw it stop at the entrance to the yard of the little +farmhouse, to which the monk had called her attention. She then saw +Ludovico and his companion descend from the carriage, and leave it +apparently in the charge of a man, who came out from the farm-yard. And +they then left the spot where they had alighted on foot, and in another +minute were no longer visible from the window at which Paolina and the +monk stood.</p> + +<p>"How long a walk is it, father, from here into the wood?" asked Paolina, +musingly.</p> + +<p>"It is a very short distance, daughter. There is a footpath practicable +in dry weather like this, a good deal nearer than the road we saw the +bagarino follow. You might get to the edge of the Pineta in that way in +less than ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"And would it be possible to return to the city that way, instead of +coming back to the road?" enquired Paolina.</p> + +<p>"Yes; for a part of the way there is a path along the border of the +wood. Then you must fall back into the road. The way lies by the gate of +the farm-house."</p> + +<p>"I think I will go back to the city now, father. This scaffold is just +where it will suit me. And to-morrow, a little later perhaps than this, I +hope to come and begin my work. I shall have to come in a carriage, at +all events, the first time, because of bringing my things. I am so much +obliged to you, father, for your kindness. And I am so glad that you are +a Venetian. I little thought to find a fellow-countryman here."</p> + +<p>"Or I to see this morning a Venetian—much less—but we will speak more +of that another time—if you will permit an old man sometimes to speak +to you when you are at your work?"</p> + +<p>"Ma come—I can talk while I work. It will be a real pleasure to me to +hear the dear home tongue. I will go down the ladder first. I am not the +least afraid."</p> + +<p>So Paolina left the church, and the monk stood at the yawning ever-open +western door, looking after her as she took the path he had indicated to +her towards the forest.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-1" id="CHAPTER_V-1"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +"The Hours passed, and still she came not"</h3> + +<p>There was misgiving in the heart of the old man as he stood at the door +of the Basilica looking after the light little form of Paolina as she +moved along the path, raised above the swamp on either side, that led +towards the edge of the forest.</p> + +<p>The rays of the sun slanting from the eastward lighted up all the path +on which she was walking; and though the western front of the church was +still in shade, had begun to suck up the mists, and to make the air feel +at least somewhat more genial and wholesome. The monk pushed back the +cowl of his frock, which had hitherto been drawn over his head, the +better to watch the receding figure of the girl as she moved slowly +along the path; and still, as he gazed after her, he shook his head from +time to time with an uneasy sense of misgiving.</p> + +<p>It was not that the mere fact of the girl's entering the Pineta alone +seemed to him, accustomed as he was to the place and its surroundings, +to involve any danger to her of any sort, beyond, indeed, the +possibility of losing herself for a few hours in the forest. The whole +extent of it is very frequently traversed by the men in the employment +of the farmers to whom the Papal government was in the practice of +letting out the right of pasturage and management of the wood. And these +people were all known. There were, it is true, encroachers on these +rights, who might well be less known, and less responsible persons; and +possibly the forest paths might sometimes be traversed by people bound +on some errand of smuggling. But nothing had ever happened of late years +in the forest to suggest the probability of any danger.</p> + +<p>It was rather the nature of Paolina's own motives for her expedition, as +they were patent to the old monk, that disquieted him on her behalf. He +had marked the expression of her face when she had seen the bagarino +with Ludovico and his companion pass along the road towards the forest, +and the change in her whole manner after that. And monk, and +octogenarian as he was, he had been at no loss to comprehend the nature +of the emotions which had been aroused in her mind by the sight. And he +feared that evil might arise from the collision of passions, which it +seemed likely were about to be brought into the presence of each other.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, monk and aged as he was, the apprehensions with which his mind +was busy seemed more big with possible evil than they might to another. +Perhaps it was so long since he had had aught to do with stormy passions +that the contemplation of them affrighted his stagnant mind all the more +by reason of the long years of passionless placidity to which it was +accustomed. Perhaps he had known passions stormy enough in the long long +past, and had experience of the harvest of evils which might be expected +to be produced by them.</p> + +<p>Report said, that when Father Fabiano had been sent by his superiors to +occupy the miserable and forlorn sentinel's post at the church-door of +St. Apollinare, amid inundations in winter, and fever and ague in +summer, his appointment to the dreary office had been of the nature of a +penance and an exile. It was said, too, that the sentence of exile, +which placed him in his present position, had been an alleviation of a +more rigorous punishment; that he had been allowed, after a period of +many years of imprisonment in a monastery of his order at Venice, to +change that punishment for the duty to which he had been appointed, and +which would scarcely have seemed an amelioration of destiny to any one +save a man who had for years been deprived of the light of the sun and +the scent of the free air. Some deed there had been in that life which +had called for such monastic discipline; some outcome of human passion +when the blood, that now crept slowly, while the aged monk passed the +hours in waiting for visions before the altar of St. Apollinare, was +running in his veins too rapidly for monastic requirements.</p> + +<p>It was evident from the few words that he had let drop, when he became +aware who the young Venetian visitor to the church under his care was, +that some special circumstances caused him to feel a more than ordinary +interest in her. Some connection there must have been between some +portion of his life and that of some member or members of her family. Of +what nature was it? Monkish tribunals, however else they may treat those +subjected to them, at least keep their secrets. Frailties must be +expiated; but they need not be exposed. And the true story of the fault +which condemned Father Fabiano to end his days amid the swamps of St. +Apollinare, as well as the precise nature of the connection which had +existed between him and Paolina's parents, can be only matter of +conjecture.</p> + +<p>Paolina, as has been said, pursued her path slowly. She had tripped +along much more lightly on her way from the city to St. Apollinare. And +yet she was urged on by a burning anxiety to know whither Ludovico and +Bianca had gone, and for what purpose they had come thither. But, +despite this nervous anxiety, she stepped slowly, because her heart +disapproved of the course she was taking. It seemed as if she was drawn +on towards the forest by some mysterious mechanical force, which she had +not the strength to resist. Again and again she had well nigh made up +her mind to turn aside from the path she was following. She would go +only a few steps further towards the edge of the forest. She looked out +eagerly before her, standing on tip-toe on every little bit of vantage +ground which the path afforded. She would only go as far as that next +bend in the path. But the bend in the path disclosed a stile a little +further on, from which surely a view of all the ground between the path +she was on and the farmhouse at which Ludovico and his companion had +descended, might be had. She would go so far and no further. And thus, +poor child, she went on and on, long and long after the monk had lost +sight of her, and with a deep sigh, had turned to go back again into the +church.</p> + +<p>It had been six o'clock when Paolina started on her walk to the church, +and nothing had been settled with any accuracy between her and the old +friend and protectress, with whom she had come to Ravenna, and lived +during her stay there, as to the exact time at which she might be +expected to return. The name of the protectress in question was Signora +Orsola Steno, an old friend of her mother's, who, when Paolina +Foscarelli had been left an orphan, had, for pure charity and +friendship's sake, taken the child, and brought her up. Latterly, by the +exercise of the talent inherited from her father, Paolina had been able +to do something, not only towards meeting her own expenses, but towards +making some return for all that the good Orsola had done for her out of +her own poverty. And now this commission of the Englishman who had sent +her to Ravenna would go far towards improving the prospects of both +Paolina and her old friend.</p> + +<p>Old Orsola did not know exactly at what time to expect Paolina back; but +she knew that Paolina's purpose on that Ash Wednesday morning was merely +to walk to the church, and, having seen the preparations that had been +made for her work, to return, without on that occasion remaining to +begin her task. So that when the hour of the midday meal arrived, and +her young friend had not returned, old Orsola began to be a little +uneasy about her.</p> + +<p>Nor was her uneasiness lessened by her entire ignorance as to there +being little or much, or no cause at all for it. Never having left +Venice before in her life, old Orsola was as much a stranger in Ravenna, +and felt herself to be in an unknown world, as completely as an +Englishman would in Japan. Since she had been in Ravenna she had +frequently heard the Pineta spoken of, and the old church out there in +which her young friend was to do a portion of her task. But she had +heard them both mentioned as strange and wild places, not exactly like +all the rest of the world. And the old woman felt, that, for aught she +knew, this Pineta, and the old church in the wilderness on the borders +of it, might be a place full of dangers for a young girl all by herself.</p> + +<p>And as the hours crept on, and no Paolina came, her uneasiness increased +till she felt it impossible to sit quietly at home waiting for her any +longer. She must go out, and—do what? The poor old woman did not in the +least know what to do; or of whom to make any inquiry. The only person +with whom the two Venetian strangers had become at all intimate in +Ravenna was the Marchese Ludovico. And the only step in her difficulty +which old Orsola could think of taking, after much doubt and hesitation, +was to go to the Palazzo Castelmare, and endeavour to speak with the +Marchesino. The letter of introduction, which they had brought from the +English patron, was addressed to the Marchese Lamberto. But the +acquaintance of the Venetians with him had remained very slight; and +Orsola felt so much awe of so grand and reverend a Signor, that it was +to the nephew only that she thought of applying.</p> + +<p>So, not without much doubt and misgiving, the old woman put on her +bonnet and cloak and made the best of her way to the Castelmare palace. +There she found a porter lounging before the door, to whom she made her +petition to be allowed to speak to the Signor Marchese Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"My name is Orsola Steno," said the old woman humbly, a little in awe of +the majestic porter, chosen for that situation for his size; "and the +Signor Marchesino knows me very well. I am sure he would not refuse to +see me."</p> + +<p>Insolent servants in a great house are generally a sure symptom of +something amiss in the moral nature of their masters. Good and kindly +masters have and make civil and kindly servants; and the big porter of +the palazzo Castelmare was accordingly by no means a terrible personage.</p> + +<p>"Signora Orsola Steno! To be sure. I remember you very well, Signora, +when you called on the padrone last summer. I am sure the Signor +Marchesino would have pleasure in seeing you, if he were at home. But he +is not here. And to tell you the truth, we have no idea where he is. He +came home early this morning after the ball, and instead of going to +bed, changed his dress, and went out again at once; and has not been +back since. Some devilry or other! Che vuole! We were all young once +upon a time, eh, Signora Orsola? And as for the Marchesino, he is as +good a gentleman as any in Ravenna or out of it, for that matter. But he +is young, Signora, he is young! And that's all the fault he has. Can I +give him any message for you, Signora?"</p> + +<p>"The fact is," said old Orsola, after a few moments of rapid reflection +as to the expediency of telling her trouble to the porter, and a +decision prompted by the good-natured manner of the man, and by the poor +woman's extreme need of some one to tell her trouble to,—"the fact is, +that I wanted to ask the advice of the Signor Marchesino about a young +friend of mine, the Signora Paolina Foscarelli, who went out of the city +early this morning to go to St. Apollinare in Classe, and ought to have +been back hours ago. And I am quite uneasy about her."</p> + +<p>"Why, your trouble, Signora, is of a piece with our own," said the +porter, with a burly laugh; "and it seems to me like enough we can help +each other. You miss a young lady; and we miss a young gentleman. When I +used to go out into the marshes a-shooting with the Marchese, we used to +be sure, when we had put up the cock bird, that the hen was not far off; +or, if we got the hen, we knew we had not far to look for the cock. Do +you see, Signora? Two to one the pair of runaways are together; and +they'll come home safe enough when they've had their fun out. I dare say +the Signor Marchesino and the Signorina you speak of are old friends?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, Signore. For that matter they are old friends!" replied +Orsola, adopting the porter's phrase for want of one which could express +the meaning she had in her mind more desirably.</p> + +<p>"To be sure—to be sure. And if you will take my advice, Signora, you +will go home, and give yourself no trouble at all about the young lady. +Lord bless us! what though 'tis Lenten-tide? Young folks will be young, +Signora Orsola. They'll come home safe enough. And maybe I might as well +say nothing to the Signor Marchesino about your coming here, you know. +When folks have come to that time of life, Signora, as brings sense with +it, they mostly learn that least said is soonest mended," said the old +porter, with a nod of deep meaning.</p> + +<p>And Signora Orsola was fain to take the porter's advice, so far as +returning to her home went. But it was not equally easy to give herself +no further trouble about Paolina. It might be as the porter said; and if +she could have been sure that it was so the old lady would have been +perfectly easy. But it was not at all like Paolina to have planned such +an escapade without telling her old friend anything about it. She felt +sure that when Paolina said she was going to St. Apollinare to look +after the preparations for her copying there, she had no other or +further intention in her thoughts. To be sure there was the possibility +that Ludovico might have known her purpose of going thither, and might +have planned to accompany her on her expedition, without having apprized +her of any such scheme. And it might not be unlikely that in such a case +they had been tempted to spend a few hours in the Pineta. And with these +possibilities Signora Steno was obliged to tranquillize herself as she +best might.</p> + +<p>She returned home not without some hope that she might find that Paolina +had returned during her absence; but such was not the case—Paolina was +still absent. And though it was now some eight or nine hours from the +time she had left home, old Orsola had nothing for it but to wait for +tidings of her as patiently as she could.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-1" id="CHAPTER_VI-1"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +Gigia's Opinion</h3> + +<p>The aged monk of St. Apollinare, after watching Paolina as she departed +from the Basilica, and took the path towards the forest, returned into +the church to his devotions at the altar of the saint, as has been said. +But he found himself unable to concentrate his attention as usual, not +on the meaning of the words of the litanies he uttered,—that, it may be +imagined, few such worshippers do, or even attempt to do,—but on such +devotional thoughts as, on other occasions, constituted his mental +attitude during the hours he spent before the altar.</p> + +<p>He could not prevent his mind from straying to thoughts of the girl who +had just left him; of certain long-sleeping recollections of his own +past, which her name had recalled to him; of her very manifest emotion +at the sight of the couple in the bagarino, and the too easy +interpretation of the meaning of that emotion; and specially of her +implied intention of taking the same route that they had taken.</p> + +<p>He thought of these things, and a certain sense of uneasiness and +misgiving came over him. The young artist had spoken kindly and sweetly +to him. She had seemed to him wonderfully pretty,—and that is not +without its influence even on eyes over which the cowl had been drawn +for more than three-score years; she was a fellow-Venetian too,—and +that with Italians, who find themselves in a stranger city, is a +stronger tie of fellowship than the people of less divided nations can +readily appreciate; and, above all, there were motives connected with +those awakened remembrances of the old man which made her an object of +interest to him. And the result of all this was, that he was uneasy at +seeing her depart on the errand on which he suspected that she had gone.</p> + +<p>After awhile he arose from his knees, and, returning to the great open +door of the church, stood awhile irresolutely gazing out towards the +forest to the southward. He could not see the farmhouse, which has been +so frequently mentioned, from where he stood, because it is to the +eastward of the church. After awhile he strolled out and along the road, +till he came in sight of the house on the border of the forest. But +there was no human being to be seen. Then, apparently having taken a +resolution, he went into the dilapidated remains of the old convent, and +ascended a stair to the room where his sole companion, the lay brother, +was ill in bed. He gave the sick man a potion, placed a cup with drink +by his side, smoothed his pillow, and replaced a crucifix at the +bed-foot before the patient's eyes; and then, with a word of +consolation, descended again to the road, and after a long look towards +the forest, slowly moved off the nearest border of it.</p> + +<p>It was between eight and nine when Father Fabiano, moving slowly and +irresolutely, thus sauntered off in the direction of the forest; but it +was nearly time for him to sound the "Angelus" at midday before he +returned.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was the fear that he might be late for this duty,—a task +which devolved on him, the lay brother being ill,—that made his steps, +as he returned, very different from those with which he had set forth. +He came back hurrying, with a haggard, wild terror in his eyes, shaking +in every limb, and with great drops of perspiration standing on his +brow. One would have said that all this evident perturbation could not +be caused only by the fear of being late to ring the "Angelus." His +first care, however, was to pay another visit to his patient.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Padre, you are going to have your turn again. It is early this +year. All this wet weather. Why, your hand is shaking worse than mine!" +said the sick man, as the old monk handed him his draught. And it was +true enough that not only Father Fabiano's hands were shaking, but he +was, indeed, trembling all over; and any one but a sick man, lying as +the fevered lay-brother was lying, could not have failed to see that it +was from mental agitation, rather than from the shivering of incipient +ague, that he was suffering.</p> + +<p>"You think of getting well yourself, brother Simone. I have not got the +fever yet," said the monk, making an effort to control himself and speak +in his ordinary manner.</p> + +<p>"May the saints grant that your reverence do not fall ill before I am +able to get up, or I don't know what we should do."</p> + +<p>"It is years, brother Simone, that make my hand shake, more than ague +this time, years, and many a former touch of the fever. I am not ill +this time yet. And now I must go and ring the 'Angelus.'"</p> + +<p>And the old monk did go, and the "Angelus" was duly rung. But Brother +Simone, as he lay upon his fevered bed, was very well able to tell that +the rope was pulled by a very uncertain and unsteady hand. "Poor old +fellow! he's going fast! I wonder whether there's any chance of their +moving me when he's gone?" thought Brother Simone to himself.</p> + +<p>But Father Fabiano, for his own part, judged that prayer and penance +were more needed for the healing of his present disorder, than either +bark or quinine. And when he had rung the bell, he betook himself again +to the altar of St. Apollinare, and with cowl drawn over his head, and +frequent prostrations till his forehead touched the marble flags of the +altar-step, spent before it most of the remaining hours of that day. +Nevertheless, it was true that, be the cause what it might, the aged +friar was ill, not in mind only, but also in the body. And before the +hour of evensong came,—his coadjutor, Fra Simone, the lay-brother, +being by that time so much better as to be able to crawl out,—Father +Fabiano was fain to stretch himself on the pallet in his cell. And Fra +Simone took it quite as a matter of course in the ordinary order of +things, that the father was laid up in his turn with an attack of fever +and ague.</p> + +<p>It was much about the same time that Father Fabiano had set out on that +walk to the forest, from which he had returned in such a state of +agitation, that old Quinto Lalli, the prima donna's travelling +companion, was made acquainted with the escapade of his adopted +daughter. Though she bore his name, the fact was that the old man was in +no way related to the famous singer. But they had lived together in the +relationship first of teacher and pupil, and then of father and +daughter, by mutual adoption ever since the first beginning of the +singer's public career; and they mutually represented to each other the +only family ties which either of them knew or recognized in the world. +The old man had been several hours in bed, when Bianca had returned from +the ball, at about five in the morning of that Ash Wednesday. And it was +not till he came from his room, between eight and nine, that he heard +from Gigia, Bianca's maid, that her mistress had not gone to bed, but +had only changed her dress, and taken a cup of coffee before going out +with the Marchese Ludovico more than an hour ago in a bagarino.</p> + +<p>There was nothing sufficiently strange to the former habits of his +adopted daughter in such an escapade, or so unlike to many another +frolic of the brilliant Diva in former days, as to cause any very great +surprise to the old singing-master—for such had been the original +vocation of Signor Lalli. Yet he seemed on this occasion to be not a +little annoyed at what she had done.</p> + +<p>"And a very great fool she is for her pains," cried the old man, with an +oath; "it is just the last thing she ought to have done—the very last. +I really thought she had more sense!"</p> + +<p>"I am sure, Signor Quinto, she has not had one bit of pleasure all this +Carnival. A nun couldn't have lived a quieter life, nor more shut up +than she has. With the exception of the old gentleman and the Marchese +Ludovico, she has never seen a soul!"</p> + +<p>The old gentleman thus alluded to, it may be necessary to explain, was +the Marchese Lamberto. "And where's the use of never seeing a single +soul, if she throws all that she has gained by it away in this manner?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Santa Virgine, Signor Quinto! Where's the harm? Isn't the Signor +Ludovico the old one's own nephew?" expostulated Gigia shrilly.</p> + +<p>"The old one, as you call him, is not a bit the more likely to like it +for that. It is just the very last thing she should have done. I do +wonder she should not have more sense," grumbled Quinto.</p> + +<p>"Misericordia! why what a piece of work about nothing! The old gentleman +will never know anything about it, you may be very sure. He is safe +enough in bed and asleep after his late hours, you may swear. Besides, +it's both best and honestest to begin as you mean to go on, and accustom +him to what he's got to expect," said Gigia, fighting loyally for her +side.</p> + +<p>"All very well in good time. But it would be as well for Bianca to make +sure first what she has got to expect."</p> + +<p>"Why, you don't suppose, Signor Quinto, nor yet that old Marchese don't +suppose, I should think, that he's going to marry a woman like my +mistress, to keep her caged up like a bird that's never to sing, except +for him?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Gigia, and you would do well to tell her, and make her +understand, that she is not Marchesa di Castelmare yet, and is not +likely to be, if this morning's work were to come to the ears of the +Marchese. It is just the very worst thing she could have done; and I +should have thought she must know that. I had rather that she should +have gone with any other man in the town."</p> + +<p>"I am sure," said Gigia, with a virtuous toss of the head, "she would +not wish to go with any one of them."</p> + +<p>"And she would wish to go with the Marchese Ludovico! There's all the +mischief. Just what I am afraid of. I tell you, Gigia, that if the +Marchese Lamberto hears of her going off in this manner with his nephew, +the game is all up. He would never forgive it."</p> + +<p>"You will excuse me, Signor Quinto," said Gigia, with a demure air of +speaking modestly on a subject which she perfectly well understood—"You +will excuse me, if I tell you that I know a great deal better than that. +There's men, Signor Quinto, who are in love because they like it; and +there's others who are in love whether they like it or no, because they +can't help themselves!"</p> + +<p>"And you fancy the Marchese Lamberto is one of those who can't help +himself, eh?" grumbled Quinto discontentedly.</p> + +<p>"If I ever saw a man who was so limed that he couldn't help himself, +it's that poor creature of a Marchese! He's caught safe enough, you may +take my word for that, Signor Quinto. He's caught, and can't budge, I +tell you—hand nor foot, body nor soul! Lord bless you, I know 'em. Why, +do you think he'd ever have come near my mistress a second time if he +could have helped himself? He's not like your young 'uns, who come to +amuse themselves. Likely enough, he'd give half of all he's worth this +day never to have set eyes on her; but, as for giving her up, he could +as soon give himself up!"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" grunted the old singer, with a shrug, and a sound that was half +a sneer and half a chuckle. "I suppose he don't above half like the +price he has to pay for his plaything! But that don't make it wise in +Bianca to drive him to the wall more than need be. Limed and caught as +he is, he's one that may give her some trouble yet. For my part, I wish +she had not gone on this fool's errand this morning. Now, I will go and +get my breakfast. I shall be back in half-an-hour. I expect Signor +Ercole Stadione here this morning."</p> + +<p>Signor Ercole Stadione was the impresario of the Ravenna theatre.</p> + +<p>"And if he comes before you are back, Signor Quinto?" asked Gigia.</p> + +<p>"If he should come before I am back, let the boy call me from the cafe. +And, Gigia, whenever he comes, you can let him understand, you know, +that your mistress is in her own room,—resting after the ball, you +know. He's hand and glove with the Marchese."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't born yesterday, Signor Quinto, though you seem to think so," +returned Gigia, as the old man began to descend the stairs.</p> + +<p>Signor Quinto went to the cafe, and consumed his little cup of black +coffee, with its abominable potion of so-called "rhum" in it, and the +morsel of dry bread, which constituted his accustomed breakfast; and +then, as he was returning to his lodging, encountered the "impresario" +in the street.</p> + +<p>"Well met, Signor Lalli!" cried little Signor Ercole, cheerily. "I was +on my way to your house to settle our little matters. I have not seen +you, I think, since Sunday night. The bustle of these last days of the +Carnival! How divinely she sang that night! If Bellini could have heard +her, it would have been the happiest day of his life."</p> + +<p>"I am glad that you were contented, Signor Ercole."</p> + +<p>"Contented! The whole city was enraptured. There never was such a +success. You have got that little memorandum of articles—?"</p> + +<p>"No. I've got the paper signed at Milan; but not—"</p> + +<p>"Stay, let me see. True, true. I remember now. It remained with the +Marchese. We shall want it, you know, just to put all in order. We can +call at the Palazzo Castelmare on our way, and ask the Marchese for it?"</p> + +<p>"Will he be up at this hour, after last night's ball?" asked Quinto.</p> + +<p>"He? The Marchese? One sees you are a stranger in Ravenna, my dear sir. +I don't suppose the Marchese has ever been in bed after eight o'clock +the last quarter of a century. He is an early man, the Marchese,—an +example to us all in that, as in all else."</p> + +<p>"Very well; then we can call for the paper on our way to my lodging; it +is not much out of the way."</p> + +<p>So they walked together to the Palazzo Castelmare, talking of the +brilliant success of the past theatrical season, and of the eminent +qualities and virtues of the Marchese Lamberto; and when they reached +the door the impresario desired the servant who answered the bell to +tell the Marchese that he, Signor Ercole, wished to speak with him, but +would not detain him a moment.</p> + +<p>The Marchese, the man said, was not up yet. He, the servant, had been to +his door at the usual hour, but had received no answer to his knock; so +that it was evident that his master was still sleeping. He had been very +late the night before,—far later than was usual with him,—and no doubt +he would ring his bell as soon as he waked.</p> + +<p>"The fact is," said Signor Ercole, as he and Quinto Lalli turned away +from the door, "that the Marchese has not been well of late. He very +often does me the honour of conversing with me,—I may say indeed of +consulting me on subjects of art;—and I grieve to say that I have of +late observed a change in him. He is not like the same man."</p> + +<p>"Getting old, I suppose, like the rest of us," said Quinto.</p> + +<p>"Like some of us," corrected Signor Ercole; "but, Lord bless you! the +Marchese is a young man—a young man, so to speak,—he's not above +fifty, and a very young man of his years; at least he was so a month or +two ago. But changed he is. Everybody has seen it. Let us hope that it +is merely some temporary indisposition. Ravenna can't afford to lose the +Marchese."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we had better put off settling our little bit of business +till another time?" said Quinto. "Shall we say to-morrow, at the same +hour? And I will get that paper from the Marchese in the meantime," +returned Signor Ercole.</p> + +<p>"That will suit me perfectly well; to-morrow, then, at my lodgings at +ten, shall we say?"</p> + +<p>"At ten; I will not fail to wait upon you, Signor Lalli, at that hour. +In the meantime I beg you to present my most distinguished homage to the +divina Cantatrice," said the little impresario, taking off his hat and +holding it at arm's length above his head, as he made a very magnificent +bow.</p> + +<p>"Servitore suo, stimatissimo Signor Ercole! A dimane!" replied old +Quinto, as he returned the impresario's salutation, with a slighter and +less provincial bow.</p> + +<p>"A dimane alle dieci!" rejoined the impresario; and so the two men +parted.</p> + +<p>"Not a bad bit of luck," thought the old singing master to himself, as +he sauntered towards his lodging, "that the Marchese should be in bed +this morning. It gives a chance that he may never hear of this mad +scappata with the Signor Ludovico. Lose the Marchese Lamberto! No, per +Bacco! there are other people, beside the good folks of the city of +Ravenna, who can't afford to lose the Marchese Lamberto just yet!"</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-1" id="CHAPTER_VII-1"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +An Attorney-at-law in the Papal States</h3> + +<p>At a little after twelve o'clock on that same Ash Wednesday morning, a +servant in the Castelmare livery brought a verbal message to the +"studio" of Signor Giovacchino Fortini, "procurators,"—attorney-at-law, +as we should say,—requesting that gentleman to step as far as the +Palazzo Castelmare, as the Marchese would be glad to speak with him.</p> + +<p>The message was not one calculated to excite any surprise either in the +servant who carried it, or in Signor Fortini himself. Signor Giovacchino +was, and had been for many years, the confidential lawyer of the +Castelmare family. And the various business connected with large landed +possessions made frequent conferences necessary between the lawyer and +such a client as the Marchese, who, among his other activities, had +always been active in the management and care of his estates.</p> + +<p>Signor Giovacchino Fortini was very decidedly the first man of his +profession in Ravenna, as indeed might be expected of the person who had +been honoured for more than one generation by the confidence of the +Castelmare family. For the lawyer was a much older man than the +Marchese, and had been the confidential adviser of his father. And old +Giovacchino Fortini's father and grandfather had sat in the same +"studio" before him, and had held the same position towards previous +generations of the Castelmare family.</p> + +<p>For three generations also the Fortini, grandfather, father, and son, +had been lawyers to the Chapter of Ravenna; a fact which vouched the +very high standing and consideration they held in the city, and at the +same time explained the circumstances under which it had come to pass +that the "studio" they had occupied for so many years, seemed more like +some public building than the private offices of a provincial attorney.</p> + +<p>In fact the "Studio Fortini" was a portion of an ancient building +attached to the Cathedral, in which some of the less dignified members +of the Chapter had their residences. The building in question encircled +a small cloistered court, the soil of which was on a lower level than +that of the street outside it; and the residences, to which a series of +little doors around this cloister gave access, looked as if they must +have been miserably damp and unwholesome. But the "Studio Fortini" was +not situated in any part of this damp lower floor. In the corner of the +cloister nearest to the Cathedral, there was a wide and picturesque old +stone staircase, which led to an upper cloister, as sunny and pleasant +looking as the lower one was the reverse. There, near the head of the +stair, was a round arched deeply sunk stone doorway, closed by a black +door, bearing a bright brass plate on it, conveying the information, +altogether superfluous to every man, woman, and child in Ravenna, that +there was situated the "Studio Fortini."</p> + +<p>This black door was never quite closed during the day. It admitted +anybody who chose to push it into a small ante-room, on one side of +which might be seen through a glass door a long low vaulted room, or +gallery rather, running over some half dozen of the inhabited cells +below. And along the whole length of it on either side, up to the height +of the small round arched windows placed high up in the wall, were +ranges of shelves occupied by many hundreds of volumes, all of the same +size, and all bound alike in parchment, with two red bands of Russian +leather running across the backs of them, and all lettered and dated in +black ink, of gradually shaded degrees of fadedness. The place looked +like the archive-room of some public establishment, which kept its +archives in very unusually good order.</p> + +<p>All these were the documents and pleadings in all the lawsuits and other +legal transactions of all the clients of the three generations of the +Fortini. And it would not have been too much to say, that Signor +Giovacchino Fortini would have deemed the destruction of this mass of +papers as a misfortune to be paralleled only by that of the Alexandrian +library.</p> + +<p>On the opposite side to the long gallery the anteroom gave access to a +large and lofty vaulted chamber, about one-sixth part of the space of +which—that is, a third of the floor and a half of the height—was +partitioned off by a slight modern wall and ceiling. Two young clerks +occupied the larger unenclosed portion of the large hall,—for such its +size entitled it to be called,—and Signor Fortini's senior and +confidential clerk sat on the top of the ceiling, which enclosed the +smaller portion. A small wooden stair gave access to this lofty +position, which was admirably adapted for keeping an eye on the +youngsters on the floor below. Under the same ceiling, in the snug +little room thus divided off, sat Signor Fortini himself. And a very +snug and bright-looking little room it was, with a pretty +stone-mullioned three-lighted casement window opening to the south; and +in the wall at right angles to it another window, offering accommodation +of a much more unusual and peculiar kind. It opened, in fact, into the +transept of the cathedral, and had been intended to enable the occupier +or occupiers of the apartment, now inhabited by the lawyer, to enjoy the +benefit of attending mass without the trouble of descending into the +church for that purpose. If Signor Giovacchino Fortini did not often use +it for that purpose, it, at all events, had the effect of imparting an +ecclesiastical air to his habitat, which seemed to have a certain +propriety in the case of a gentleman whose business connections with the +hierarchy were so close, and unquestionably added to the savour of +unimpeachable respectability which appertained to Signor Fortini and all +belonging to him.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini was a tall, thin, adust old man, with a large, +well-developed forehead, a keen, bright hazel eye, and bristling, +iron-grey hair, which had once been black, and a beard to match, which +seemed as if the barber entrusted with the care of it were always two or +three days in arrear with his work. By some incomprehensible combination +of circumstances it seemed as if Signor Fortini's face were never seen +fresh shaven. His sharp chin and lanthorn jaws appeared to be +perennially clothed with a two days' old crop of grisly stubble,—two +days' growth,—neither more nor less!</p> + +<p>Long years ago he had buried a childless wife, who was said to have been +a wonderful beauty, and to have been in many ways a trouble greater than +Signor Fortini knew how to manage, and a trial that made his life a +burthen to him. Those old troubles were now, however, long since past +and gone; and Signor Fortini lived only for his law and his artistic and +antiquarian collections. He was like many of his peers in the provincial +cities of the Papal dominions—a great antiquary and virtuoso. +Antiquarianism is a "safe" pursuit under a government the nature of +which makes and finds very many intellectual occupations unsafe. And +this may account for the fact, that very many competent historical +antiquaries and collectors are found in the Pope's territories among +such men as Signor Fortini.</p> + +<p>The son and grandson of thriving lawyers, who had for nearly an hundred +years managed the affairs of the Chapter and the estates of the +principal landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, was not likely to be +otherwise than well off; and it was generally understood that Signor +Fortini was a wealthy man. He loudly protested on all occasions that +this was a most mistaken notion; but there never occurred an opportunity +of adding to his very remarkable collection of drawings of the old +masters, or his unrivalled series of mediaeval seals, or his all but +perfect library of the Municipal Statutes of the mediaeval Communes of +Italy, which found Signor Fortini unprepared to outbid most competitors.</p> + +<p>There were very few among his clients whom Signor Fortini would not have +expected to call on him at his "studio," instead of summoning him to +wait on them. But the Marchese di Castelmare was one of these +few,—perhaps as much, or more, on the score of old friendship as on +that of rank and social importance.</p> + +<p>The old lawyer was not more importantly occupied when he received the +Marchese's message, than by intently examining a bronze medal through a +magnifying-glass; and he sent back word that he would be with the +Marchese immediately. The fact was he did not like the look of this +summons at all. He, too, had observed the unmistakable change in his old +friend; and jumped to the conclusion that what he was wanted for was to +make, or to be consulted about making, the Marchese's will.</p> + +<p>"To think of his breaking up so suddenly, in such a way as this. No +stamina! Why, he must be twenty years my junior; and I don't feel a day +older than I did ten years ago, not a day. He has led a steady life too; +and seemed as likely a man to last as one would wish to look at. I +suppose everything will go to the nephew,—legacies to servants, and +something, I should not wonder, to the town hospital,—not that I think +he can have saved much, if any thing. I should like that little cabinet +Guido and I don't suppose Signor Ludovico would care a rush about it."</p> + +<p>With these thoughts in his mind Signor Fortini presented himself at the +door of the Castelmare palace within ten minutes of the time when he had +received the summons of the Marchese, and was immediately ushered into +the library.</p> + +<p>A bright ray of sunshine was streaming in at the large window, and +flooding half the room with its comfortable warmth and cheerful light. +But the Marchese, though he held a scaldino (a little earthenware pot +filled with burning braise) in his hand, and was apparently shivering +with cold, sat in his large library-chair, drawn into the darkest corner +of the room, cowering over this scaldino, which he held between his +knees. He jumped up from his seat, however, to receive his visitor with +an air, one would have said, of having been startled by his entrance.</p> + +<p>"It is kind of you to come to me so quickly, Signor Giovacchino," he +said; and then turning angrily to the servant, who was leaving the room, +added in a cross and irritable voice, very unlike his usual manner, "Why +are not those persiane shut? Close them directly, and then +begone—quick!"</p> + +<p>The man, with a startled look, did as he was bid; and the heavy wooden +jalousies thus shut reduced the room to comparative darkness.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I find you very far from well, Signor Marchese. Would not a +little sun be pleasant this bright morning? the air is quite fresh +despite the sunshine."</p> + +<p>"I don't like the sun indoors! I don't know how my rascals came to leave +the persiane open."</p> + +<p>"I thought you seemed cold, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, kindly.</p> + +<p>"So I am cold—very cold," he said, and his teeth chattered as he said +it; "but the light hurts my eyes."</p> + +<p>"It very often does so when one is not well."</p> + +<p>"Not well! I'm well enough, man alive. But I think I must have caught a +little cold at the ball last night," rejoined the Marchese, striving +hard to speak in his usual manner.</p> + +<p>The lawyer, whose eyes had by this time become accustomed to the +diminished light, looked hard at his old friend from beneath his great +shaggy black eye-brows, with a shrewdly examining glance, and then +slightly shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Well, I daresay you'll be all right again in a day or two. But any way, +I am glad you sent for me all the same. These things have to be done, +you know. And a man does not die a bit the sooner for doing them. For my +part, I always advise my friends to have all such matters settled while +they are in health."</p> + +<p>"What, in Heaven's name, are you talking about? I don't know what you +mean," said the Marchese, with an angry irritability that was totally +unlike his usual manner. "I sent for the lawyer; and you come and talk to +me as if you wanted to play the doctor."</p> + +<p>"I assure you, Signor Marchese, I have not the slightest desire to play +any part but my own. And that I am perfectly ready to enter on. I am +ready to take your instructions, and will draw up the instrument +to-morrow or the next day. Thank God there is no cause for hurry. And +that is one of the advantages of arranging all testamentary dispositions +while we are in health. My own will, Signor Marchese, has been made +these ten years."</p> + +<p>"What is that to me? I may make my will ten years hence, and yet get it +done in quite as good time as you have, Signor Fortini. Pray allow me to +judge for myself, when I think it right to make my will. I have usually +been able to manage my own affairs." He spoke with a degree of anger and +petulance, jumping up from his chair, and taking a turn to the window +and back again, which seemed to conquer the shivering fit from which he +had been suffering.</p> + +<p>"Manage your own affairs, Signor Marchese! Who would dream of +interfering with your management of them? But did you not send for me to +make your will?" said the lawyer, standing also.</p> + +<p>"Send for you to make my will! No devil told you I wanted to make my +will? I said nothing about making my will."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Signor Marchese. Perhaps I jumped at a conclusion +over hastily. I thought it a wise thing to do, and so imagined that you +were going to do it;—that's all. Let us say no more about it. What +commands have you then to give me?"</p> + +<p>The Marchese took another turn across the room before replying; and the +observant lawyer saw him, when his back was turned, pass his hand across +his brow, with the action of one ill at ease. Then resuming his seat, +and motioning the lawyer to take a chair, he said—"If you will take a +chair, Signor Giovacchino, I will tell you the business for which I have +sent for you. I have thought it my duty—family considerations—in fact, +I've been thinking on the subject for a long time—in short, Signor +Fortini, I am about to be married."</p> + +<p>"Whew—w—w!" whistled the lawyer, without the least attempt at +concealing the extremity of his astonishment; and pushing back his chair +a couple of feet, as he raised his head to stare into his companion's +face.</p> + +<p>"And pray, Signor, what is there to be astonished at in such an +intention?" said the Marchese, evidently wincing under the lawyer's +look.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Signor Marchese, but—the fact is—one is always +astonished at what one does not expect, you know. You may depend on it, +I am not one bit more astonished than every human being in Ravenna will +be," said the lawyer, looking hard at him.</p> + +<p>"I am not aware, Signor Fortini, that I have to answer to any one save +myself for the wisdom of my resolution," said the Marchese, with a +dignity more like his usual manner than he had yet spoken.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, Signor Marchese. Certainly not. But the exception is an +important one. You will have to answer for the wisdom of your resolution +to yourself," rejoined Fortini, drily.</p> + +<p>"That, Signor Fortini, is my affair. As I told you, I have considered +the matter well; and I have made up my mind."</p> + +<p>"May I ask, Signor Marchese, whether your intention has been +communicated to your nephew?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"As yet I have announced it to no one save yourself. As soon as the +necessary arrangements with regard to matters of property have been +determined on, it will be the fitting time to do so."</p> + +<p>"Before any word can be said on that head, of course, it is necessary +that your lordship should mention, what you have not yet confided to +me,—the name of the lady with whom you are about to ally yourself."</p> + +<p>"Of course; and it is for the purpose of doing so that I have requested +your presence here this morning, Signor Fortini. Before naming the lady, +I will merely remark to you, that a man at my time of life may be +expected to know his own mind, and has a right to please himself. And +bearing these remarks in mind, you will understand that I do not wish to +hear any observations on the subject of the choice I have made. My +choice is made; and that is sufficient."</p> + +<p>The Marchese looked up into the lawyer's face, and paused for some reply +to these preliminary observations before proceeding to tell his secret; +but the lawyer maintained a look and attitude of silent expectation.</p> + +<p>"It is my intention," proceeded the Marchese, "to marry the Signora +Bianca Lalli;—the lady whose conduct, as well as her talent, has won +the good opinion of the entire city."</p> + +<p>The old lawyer flung down on the table, with a clatter, a paper-knife +which he had taken into his hand while speaking, and rising abruptly +from his chair, took one or two turns across the room before he answered +a word. Then coming in front of the Marchese, and still continuing to +stand, he said,</p> + +<p>"You have warned me, Signor Marchese, not to make any remarks on the +communication you have just made to me. There is one, however, which +perforce I must make. It is that I must decline to take any +instructions, or to act in any way, for the forwarding of such a +purpose."</p> + +<p>"There are other attorneys in Ravenna, Signor Fortini."</p> + +<p>"Plenty, Signor Marchese; plenty who will be abundantly ready to do your +bidding. But Giovacchino Fortini will not. Good heaven! I should expect +to have my dear and honoured old friend and patron, your father, coming +out of his grave to upbraid me. Signor Marchese, you know right well—as +well as I do myself—that at this time of day, I don't care two straws, +as a mere matter of gain, whether I continue to be honoured with the +transaction of your legal affairs or not. But I do care on other +grounds. And I do implore you to believe that I am speaking to you more +as a friend than as a lawyer;—that I am speaking to you as the whole +city would speak, and will speak when it hears of this—this +incredible—this monstrous notion,—when I entreat you to think yet +further on this most disastrous purpose."</p> + +<p>Of course when a man speaks as Signor Fortini spoke to the Marchese, he +does it not without some hope that his words may produce an effect on +the person he addresses. But the lawyer had not much expectation that in +the present case what he said would be listened to. He spoke more for +the discharge of his own conscience, and because the feelings he +expressed were strong within him, than for any other reason. And he +fully expected that he should be answered with words of anger and +uncompromising rejection of his interference.</p> + +<p>It was not without considerable surprise, therefore, that he heard the +Marchese's moderate answer to the strong opposition he had offered to +his intention. "Well, Signor Fortini, I cannot doubt that what you have +said has been, at all events, dictated by a strong regard for my +welfare, as you understand it. I have, as I told you, made up my mind +upon the subject. Nevertheless, counsel cannot but be useful, and it is +well not to be precipitate. I will, therefore, so far accept your advice +as to promise you that I will give myself time to deliberate yet further +on the step. In the meantime you will note that my first communication +to you on the subject was made on this first day of Lent; so that when I +again seek your assistance in the matter, you will know that I have at +least not acted in a hurry, but have given myself due time for mature +reflection."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted, Signor Marchese, to have obtained from you at least +thus much. It is at all events something gained. And I shall still hope, +that further reflection may lead you to change your purpose. Hoping +that, I shall, you may depend upon it, breathe no word of what you have +said to me to any living soul. But you must understand that, without +such hope, I should have deemed it my duty to speak on the subject with +the Marchese Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"How so, Signor Fortini? A lawyer—"</p> + +<p>"Very true, Signor Marchese. A lawyer, as you would observe, is +addressed by his client in confidence, and the confidence should be +sacred. But you must remember that I have the honour to act in this, as +I and my father have done on all other occasions for now three +generations, not only for your lordship, but for the whole of the +family. I am the legal adviser of the Marchese Ludovico, as I was his +father's, and as I am yours. It is my duty, therefore, as I understand +it, to look upon myself as bound to consider the welfare and interests +of the entire family; and I need not remark to you how cruelly those of +the Marchese Ludovico would be compromised by such an event as we were +contemplating just now."</p> + +<p>"With regard to speaking to my nephew on the subject, Signor Fortini, I +can have no objection to your doing so, if you think it your duty. He +will, of course, be informed of my intention by myself. Do not forget, +however, that my first communication to you on this subject was on the +first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"Forget it, Signor Marchese! I am not likely to forget it for a long +time to come, I assure you," said the lawyer, not a little surprised.</p> + +<p>"I mention it because I am anxious that you should not accuse me of +acting with precipitancy in this matter; that when I shall renew my +application to you, you may remember that I have had due and sufficient +time for reflection. Addio, Signor Giovacchino," said the Marchese, +reverting to the more friendly form of address; "addio, ed a rivederci +fra poco!"</p> + +<p>"Servo suo, Lustrissimo Signor Marchese, a rivederci!"</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-1" id="CHAPTER_VIII-1"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +Lost in the Forest</h3> + +<p>Signor Fortini went straight home to his pleasant little snuggery under +the wing,—it might almost be said, under the roof,—of the Cathedral, +and sat down in his easy chair to resume the occupation that had been +interrupted by the summons from the Marchese. He took up the medal he +had been examining, and the magnifying glass, in a manner that implied a +sort of ostentatious protest to himself that the calm and even tenour of +his own life and occupations was not to be disturbed from its course by +all the follies and extravagances of the world around him.</p> + +<p>But "mentem mortalia tangunt!" The glass was soon laid aside: the medal +remained idly in his hand, and his mind would recur to the things he had +just seen and heard.</p> + +<p>That an old bachelor should be caught at last by a pretty face, and make +a fool of himself in his mature age, was no unprecedented phenomenon. +That a man, who had never in any way made a fool of himself at the +proper age for such an operation, should, after all, do so when those +who did so in their salad days have become wise, was not unheard of. +Nevertheless, Signor Fortini, who, in the course of his seventy years, +had had a tolerably wide experience of mankind, was astonished that the +Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare should have been tempted to act as he +proposed to act.</p> + +<p>"The very last man," said Signor Fortini musingly to himself, "that I +could have suspected of such a thing! The man who has the highest +reputation in the city for sound judgment and unexceptionable conduct, +to turn out the greatest fool! An old ass! How little be dreams of what +he is bringing upon himself. Let alone the terrible fall, the +disgrace,—in every way, disgrace and contempt and ridicule! It seems +impossible, even now, that he should be in earnest. He must be mad! And, +davvero, his manner was at times so strange, that I could almost believe +he really is not quite in his right mind. Very strange his manner +was,—very! And very ill he looked, too. Everybody has been saying that +he looked ill,—that he looked old,—that there must be something wrong +with him. Wrong with a vengeance! So this was the cause of it all: the +Marchese Lamberto is in love! Bah!—Bah!!—Bah!!!—(with crescendo +expression of disgust). Poor devil! Well, I was in love once, or fancied +myself so. But then. I was twenty-five years old. Un altro paio di +maniche! And I very soon found out my mistake. But he, at his time of +life! And such a woman! Well, the Emperor Justinian married Theodora. +So, I suppose we Ravennati have authority for madness in that kind. And +that poor good fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, too! It is too bad. And +all because such a creature as that is cunning enough to know how to +drive a hard bargain for the painted face she has to sell. But that is +the sort of woman who can make that sort of conquest. A good woman now, +who would have made him an honoured and good wife, would never have made +such a blind, abject slave of him. He is bewitched! He is mad! and ought +not to be allowed to carry out so insane a project! Perhaps it may still +be possible to induce him to hear reason. It was very odd, that way, +that just at last he promised me he would think of it again before he +finally decided. Very odd. Just as if a man has not finally decided in +such a matter before he sends to his lawyer! It is all very—very +strange. And I have a good mind to speak to Signor Ludovico at once. I +think it would be the right thing to do,—I do think that would be the +most proper thing to do. The old fool ought to be treated as one non +compos!"</p> + +<p>And then the old lawyer, after spending nearly an hour in such musings, +got up and went to his house,—not two minutes' walk from his +"studio"—to his solitary but comfortable two-o'clock dinner.</p> + +<p>By the time he had finished his repast, he had made up his mind that he +would at once confer with the Marchese Ludovico on the subject of his +uncle's disastrous project. It was by that time nearly half-past three; +and Signor Fortini walked out towards the Circolo, having little doubt +that he should find Ludovico there at that hour.</p> + +<p>But on his way thither he met the man he was in search of in the street. +The young Marchese was walking at a hurried pace, and appeared to be +scared, troubled, and heated. Nothing could be more unlike his usual +easy, lounging, poco-curante bearing. The lawyer saw at once that +something was the matter; and thought that, in all probability, the +Marchese Lamberto had been already forestalling him, by speaking to his +nephew himself on the subject of his projected marriage.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signor Ludovico," said Fortini, as he met him, "I was on my way, to +the Circolo, on purpose to see if I could meet with you there."</p> + +<p>"Why, what is it? Have you any news to tell me?" said the young man in a +hurried manner, that the lawyer thought odd.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I wished to speak to you on rather an important matter. Have you +seen the Marchese Lamberto this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No. I have been out of the town. I am but this moment come back," +replied Ludovico, evidently anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to speak to you for a few minutes before you go to the +Palazzo Castelmare. If you are going to the Circolo, I would walk with +you, and we could speak there," said Fortini.</p> + +<p>"I'll be there in less than ten minutes. But I want first to run just as +far as La Lalli's lodging in the Strada di Porta Sisi, only to ask a +question," said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"La Lalli again! The devil fly away with her! It was about her that I +wanted to speak to you," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"What about her? Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?" asked +Ludovico, hurriedly and anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I seen her! No. Where she is? In her bed most likely, after dancing all +last night, I should think!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I must run and just ascertain whether she is at home!" said +Ludovico, again trying to escape. But the old lawyer, partly put a +little bit out of temper by the young man's evident wish to get rid of +him, partly angered by finding the nephew thus running after the same +mischief that was threatening to ruin his uncle, and partly thinking +that it was desirable that the news he had to tell should be told before +Ludovico should come to speech with his uncle, was determined not to let +him escape till he had said what he had to say.</p> + +<p>"Very well, Signor. I can say what I have to say in the street as well +as anywhere else. Though I confess I expected a somewhat more ready +reception of information which concerns you nearly, Signor Marchese, and +which I am prompted to tell you by my interest in your welfare. Listen! +Your uncle sent for me this morning for the purpose of announcing to me +his intention of marrying this Bianca Lalli!"</p> + +<p>"So I have been told this very morning," said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"I thought you said that you had not seen your uncle this morning!" +returned the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"No more I have; but are there not two persons from whom such an +intention may be learned?" said Ludovico, with a slight approach to a +sneer.</p> + +<p>"The lady, you mean?" said Fortini.</p> + +<p>"Exactly so—the lady!" rejoined Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"The lady herself told you that the Marchese Lamberto had proposed +marriage to her?" persisted the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"The lady herself told me so," replied the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"But I thought you said that you had only just now returned to the +city?" objected the lawyer again.</p> + +<p>"Really, Signor Fortini, one would think that I was being examined +before a police-magistrate! However, since my tongue has let the cat out +of the bag, you may take the creature, and make the most of her! I did +receive the intelligence in question from the lady concerned, and I have +just returned to the city. She communicated the fact to me during a +little excursion we made together to the Pineta this morning, after the +ball. Now you know all about it," said Ludovico, still in a hurry to get +away.</p> + +<p>"Not quite!" rejoined Fortini, quite imperturbably. "If you went to the +Pineta with her—(did anybody ever hear of such a mad thing?)—and +returned this morning, how can you want to go now to her house to ask +whether she is there?"</p> + +<p>"Because, you very clever inquisitor, though I went to the Pineta with +her, I did not say that I had come back with her."</p> + +<p>"The deuce you did not! Did another gentleman undertake the duty of +escorting the lady back to town? It is all exceedingly pleasant for the +Marchese Lamberto, upon my word!—oh, exceedingly!—and really a +foretaste to him of the joys to come, quite frankly offered to him on +the part of the lady!" sneered the old lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! how she may have come back, or with whom, I don't know, and +can't guess; and that is just what I am anxious to find out," said +Ludovico, in provoked impatience.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand. Where did you part with the lady?" persisted the +lawyer, interested rather by the evident uneasiness of the Marchese +Ludovico, than by any care how and in what company Bianca might have +found her way back to the city.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's just the curious part of the matter. If you want to know +how the thing happened, since you know so much already, walk with me to +the Strada di Porta Sisi, and I will tell you how it happened. At the +ball we spoke of the Pineta,—she had never seen it,—asked me to show +it to her. In short, we agreed to start on leaving the ball, instead of +going to bed. I got a bagarino, and drove her to the farmhouse by the +edge of the wood, just behind St. Apollinare; left the bagarino there, +and strolled into the wood. It was there that she told me of my uncle's +purpose. And I was not a little taken aback, as you may suppose. +However, that is matter for talk by-and-by. We strolled about a good +while, then sat down. She told me a good deal of the history of her +life. We must have been talking—I don't know how long; but a long time. +Then she said she was so sleepy, she must have a little sleep; she could +keep her eyes open no longer. Natural enough! She had been dancing all +night—had never closed her eyes for a minute since. The bank we were +sitting on was the most delicious place for a siesta that can be +conceived. In two minutes she was fast asleep. She slept on and on till +I was tired of waiting. No doubt I should have slept too, had not the +intelligence she had given me been of a sort to keep me waking, for one +while at least. Having my mind full of this, and not being able to +sleep, I strayed away from her, and returned in a few minutes, as I +think, to the place where I had left her, but could not find her. I +could not be sure about the place. One bit of the forest is so much like +another,—just the same thing over and over again,—that I could not +feel quite sure of the spot. I still think I went back to the right +place; but there she was not. Then I searched the wood all round, far +and near, for, I should think, a couple of hours or more. I called +aloud, again and again, all to no purpose. And what on earth has become +of her I cannot imagine."</p> + +<p>"And why you need trouble your head about it, I don't see. I wished the +devil might fly away with her just now! And if the devil has taken the +hint and done so, I confess it seems to me about the best thing that +could happen! Why on earth you, of all people in the world, Signor +Ludovico, should be so anxious to recover the lady, I confess I cannot +understand. Would it not be the best thing in the world for you if she +were never heard of again?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, per amore di Dio, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that way. Never +heard of again! I shall be really uneasy if I don't hear of her again in +a very few minutes. It is so extraordinary. What can have become of +her?"</p> + +<p>"Become of her! Why, she waited, of course: got tired of waiting for +you, and so strolled back to the town. That sort of lady does not much +like waiting, I fancy."</p> + +<p>"That sort of lady does not much like walking so far as from the Pineta +here, I fancy. Besides, I should have overtaken her on the road."</p> + +<p>"In any case what is there to be uneasy about. No harm can have happened +to her. No such luck, per Bacco!"</p> + +<p>"Harm! No; no harm can have happened to her, beyond losing herself in +the forest. What I am afraid of is that she has strayed and not been +able to find her way. And God knows how far she may wander. When I tell +you that in wandering away from the place where I left her, for not +above a quarter of an hour, I lost my way, and that when I found, as I +supposed, the place where we had been, I could not be sure whether it +was the same spot or not; you may suppose how easy it is to lose +oneself. And I don't suppose the poor girl would be able to walk very +far. If she has not returned, I must get help and go back to the forest +and search till I find her."</p> + +<p>"It's far more likely that you will find that she has returned home. I +wish, for my part, that she had never set foot within a dozen miles of +Ravenna. Just think what it would be! But I trust—I trust we may yet be +able to induce your uncle to listen to reason."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, Signor Fortini. I should not be surprised if it +should be found more possible to make the other party hear reason."</p> + +<p>"What, the lady!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the lady—if we set about the matter in the right way."</p> + +<p>"Well, Signor Ludovico, it may be that you may understand such matters +and such people better than I can pretend to do. It is not improbable. +But my conceptions of the power of persuasion have never risen yet to a +belief in the possibility of persuading a dog who has got a lump of +butter in his mouth to relinquish it."</p> + +<p>"Umph! you are not particularly gallant, Signor Giovacchino. We shall +see. But all that must be matter for future conversation. Here we are at +her door. Let us see if anything has been heard of her." Ludovico, +leaving his companion for an instant in the street, sprang up the stairs +to make inquiry; and in the next minute returned looking very much vexed +and annoyed, with the information that nothing had been seen or heard of +the Diva since she left the house in his company at an early hour that +morning.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-1" id="CHAPTER_IX-1"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +"Passa la Bella Donna e par che dorma"—Tasso</h3> + +<p>"What's to be done now? I absolutely must find her," said Ludovico, +looking, as he felt, exceedingly puzzled and annoyed.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes. Considering the nature of the information she gave you this +morning, and bearing in mind that her existence in the flesh promises to +be the means of leaving you without the price of a crust of bread in the +world, and the further fact she was last seen starting on a tete-a-tete +expedition with you at six o'clock in the morning, I admit that it is +desirable that you should find her," said the lawyer, with somewhat grim +pleasantry.</p> + +<p>"For heaven's sake, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that sort of way, +even in jest," replied the young man, looking round at the lawyer with +an uneasy eye. "After all, nothing can have happened to her, you know, +worse than losing herself in the Pineta."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! happen to her. What should happen to her? Either you did not go +back to the place where you left her; or, likely enough, after strolling +a little away from it, and not finding you, she sat down, and two to +one, fell asleep again. I would wager that she is, at this moment, fast +asleep under the shadow of a pine-tree, making up for last night."</p> + +<p>"But what had I better do? If she is still either sleeping or waking in +the forest, I must find her."</p> + +<p>"Let us just step as far as the gate, and make some inquiry there. If +she returned to the city she must have come to the Porta Nuova. And she +could hardly have entered the town without drawing the attention of the +men at the gate. Just let us make inquiry there in the first place."</p> + +<p>So they went together to the Porta Nuova, and nothing more was said +between them during the short walk. But it seemed as if the manifest +uneasiness of Ludovico had infected his companion. Yet it was evident +that thoughts of a different nature were busy in their minds. The +Marchese Ludovico pressed on faster than the old lawyer could keep up +with him, and was very unmistakably anxious about the object of his +quest, and the tidings which he should be able to hear at the gate.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini had apparently got some other and newly-conceived thought +in his mind. He looked two or three times shrewdly and furtively into +the face of the young Marchese; and closely compressed his thin lips +together, and drew into a knot the shaggy eye-brows over his clear and +thoughtful eyes. Some notion had been suggested to his mind which very +plainly he did not like.</p> + +<p>At the gate nothing had been seen of the object of their search. The +octroi officers perfectly well remembered seeing the Marchese Ludovico, +who was well known to them by sight, drive through the gate very early +that morning in a bagarino with a lady. One man had recognised the lady +as the prima donna at the opera. And they were very sure that she had +not returned to the city since, at least by that gate.</p> + +<p>But one of the officers volunteered the information that another young +lady had that morning passed out of the city on foot a little before the +time at which the bagarino had passed with the Marchese and the prima +donna. And the men, after some consultation together, were sure that +neither had that young lady returned by the gate they guarded.</p> + +<p>Ludovico looked at the lawyer, and the lawyer looked at Ludovico; but +neither of them could suggest anything in explanation of so strange a +circumstance.</p> + +<p>"I saw nothing of any such person either in the Pineta or on the road," +said Ludovico. "Who could it have been?"</p> + +<p>The old lawyer only shrugged his shoulders in reply</p> + +<p>"There is a young lady," resumed Ludovico, after some minutes of +thought, "a friend of mine—a young artist engaged in making copies from +the mosaics in our churches. I know that it was her purpose shortly to +begin some work of this kind at St. Apollinare in Classe. It may be that +she had selected this morning for the purpose of going out to look at +her task,—though I almost think that I should have been informed of her +intention."</p> + +<p>"The plot seems to thicken with a vengeance," said the lawyer, with an +impatient shrug, and a slight sneer of ill-humour, provoked by the +multiplicity of his young client's lady friends. "I daresay," he added, +"the young ladies are not playing hide-and-seek in the Pineta all by +themselves."</p> + +<p>"But what had I better do?" said the young Marchese, looking with +increased anxiety into the lawyer's face; "the fact is—you see, Signor +Giovacchino, this new idea, this possibility that Paolina—that is the +young artist's name—may be—may have been in the forest—in short, I +feel more uneasy than before till I can learn what has become of both of +them."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," said the lawyer, with a sneer in his voice, but at the +same time looking into his companion's face with a shrewd expression of +investigation in his eye,—"do you mean that the two ladies may possibly +have fallen in with each other, and may in such case not improbably have +fallen out with each other? You know best, Signor Marchese, the +likelihood of any trouble arising out of such a meeting."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake don't speak in such a tone, Signor Giovacchino. I tell +you I am seriously uneasy. Should they have met under such +circumstances—God only knows—What would you advise me to do, Signor +Giovacchino?" said the Marchese, looking into the lawyer's face with +increasing and now evidently painful anxiety.</p> + +<p>"It is ill giving advice without knowing all the circumstances of a +case, Signor Marchese," returned Fortini, somewhat drily, looking hard +at the young man as he spoke, and putting a meaning emphasis on the word +"all."</p> + +<p>"You do know all the circumstances as far as I know them myself. The +thing happened exactly as I told you," replied Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"You left her sleeping on a bank in the forest, and have never seen her +since?" said the lawyer, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Exactly so! I returned to the spot where I had left her—at least as +far as I could tell it was the same spot—and she was no longer there," +replied Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"But you were not sure that you did return to the same spot? You could +not recognise it again with certainty?"</p> + +<p>"So it seemed to me when I was there. I think it must have been the same +place. But when I did not find her, I could not feel sure of it. Every +spot in the Pineta is so like all other spots. One pine-tree is just +like another; and the grassy openings, and the little thickets of +underwood, are all the same over and over again. I felt that I could not +be sure that the place was the same."</p> + +<p>"Was there no fallen tree, no track of road, no specialty of weed or +flower, that the spot might be identified by?"</p> + +<p>"None I think—none that I am aware of or can remember. There was a +little rising of the ground,—a sort of bank, and the grass was +sprinkled all over with wild flowers. There were violets close at hand, +I know, because I remember the scent of them! But when I came to try, it +seem'd to me that I found all these things in a dozen other places."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, you know at what point you entered the Pineta; it cannot +be very difficult to have the whole wood, within such a distance as it +is at all likely that she should have strayed to, thoroughly searched. +But the best men for the purpose would be some of the foresters in the +employ of the farmers of the forest. I dare say that we might find—what +is that coming along the road yonder?" said the lawyer interrupting +himself.</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen had been standing during the above short conversation +just on the outside of the gate, and looking down the stretch of long +straight road towards St. Apollinare and the pine forest.</p> + +<p>"It is a knot of men coming along the road. They are likely enough some +of the very fellows we want. In that case we might get them to go back +with us without loss of time."</p> + +<p>"With us?" said the lawyer, who had not bargained when he left his home, +for any such expedition. "Well, I don't mind helping you, Signor +Marchese, in your search," he added, after a moment's consideration; +"but I am not going to walk to the Pineta this afternoon; and I should +think you must have had enough of it for to-day. But I will tell you +what I can do. We will send one of these fellows to my house to order my +servant to come here with my calessino as quick as he can; and if these +men are the people we want—What are they doing? They are carrying +something! Why surely—Signor Marchese!" said the old lawyer, looking +into his companion's face, while a strange expression of understanding, +mixed with a blank look of dismay and alarm, stole over his own +features.</p> + +<p>"What is it?—What have they got?—Why, heavens and earth! it is—Signor +Fortini, is it not a dead body they are carrying? My God!"</p> + +<p>The young man griped his companion's arm hard, as he spoke, and the +action enabled the lawyer to remark that he was shaking all over.</p> + +<p>In another minute the men whom they had seen coming along the road were +close to the gate. They were six in number; and they were +bearing—somewhat, between them. They advanced beneath the covered +gateway, and there, as it is necessary to do in the case of everything +brought into the town, they set their burthen down on the flag-stones, +at the feet of the officers of the gate, and of the Marchese and the +lawyer.</p> + +<p>Their burthen was a door lifted from its hinges, and supported by three +slender stakes drawn green from a hedgerow. And on the door there lay, +covered with a sheet, what was evidently a dead body.</p> + +<p>Ludovico, with his eyes starting from his head, and horror in every +feature of his face, still clutching one hand of the old lawyer in his, +stretched forward with one advanced stride towards the extemporized +bier, and with his other hand lifted the sheet.</p> + +<p>A shriek of horror burst from him. "Ah! Paolina mia!" he cried aloud; +and then with a deep groan, as of one in physical pain, he fell into +Signor Fortini's arms, and sunk in an insensible state of sick faintness +on the flag-stone pavement beneath the old gateway.</p> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a>BOOK II<br /><br /> +Four Months before that Ash Wednesday Morning</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-2" id="CHAPTER_I-2"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +How the good News came to Ravenna</h3> + +<p>Such were the events of that last night of carnival, and of the Ash +Wednesday that followed it;—an Ash Wednesday remembered many a year +afterwards in Ravenna.</p> + +<p>The old lawyer, Fortini, standing a pace behind the Marchese Ludovico, +when the latter lifted up the sheet from the face of the dead, saw only +that it was the face of a woman. Paolina Foscarelli he had never seen; +and Bianca Lalli he had seen only once or twice on the stage; the lawyer +not being much of a frequenter of the theatre. There could be little +doubt that the body lying there beneath the gateway, with the officials +standing with awe-stricken faces around it, together with the six +peasants who had brought it thither, was that of one or other of those +two young women.</p> + +<p>Of course there were plenty of persons at hand who were able to set at +rest all doubt as to the identity of the murdered woman,—for such it +was pretty clear she must be considered to be. And of course all +interests in the little provincial city were for many days to come +absorbed in the terrible interest belonging to the investigation of the +foul deed which had been done.</p> + +<p>But in order to set before the reader the whole of this strange story +intelligibly, and to give him the same means of estimating the +probabilities of the questions involved in it, and of reaching a +solution of the mysterious circumstances which the authorities, who were +called upon to investigate them, were in possession of, it will be +expedient to go back to a period some four months previous to that +memorable Ash Wednesday.</p> + +<p>It was a bitterly cold night in Ravenna, towards the latter end of +November, some four months before that Ash Wednesday on which the events +that have been narrated occurred. Untravelled English people, who have +heard much of "the sweet south," of the sunny skies of Italy, and of its +balmy atmosphere, do not readily imagine that such cold is ever to be +found in that favoured clime. But the fact is that cold several degrees +below the freezing point is by no means rare in the sub-Alpine and +sub-Apennine districts of northern Italy.</p> + +<p>And Ravenna is a specially cold place. At Florence, the winter, though +short, is often sharp enough; and the climate of the old Tuscan city is +considered a somewhat severe one for Italy. But the district which lies +to the north-eastward, on the low coast of the upper part of the stormy +Adriatic, is much colder. There is nothing, neither hill nor forest, +between the Friulian Alps and Ravenna, to prevent the north-eastern +winds, bringing with them a Siberian temperature, from sweeping the low +shelterless plain on which the ancient capital of the Exarchs is +situated.</p> + +<p>They were so sweeping that plain, and howling fiercely through the +deserted streets of the old city, on the November evening in question.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless there were several persons loitering around the door of +that ancient hostelry, the "Albergo della Spada," in the Via del Monte, +then as now, and for many a generation past, the principal inn of +Ravenna. They were wrapped in huge cloaks, most of them with hoods to +them, which gave the wearers a strange sort of monkish appearance. And +they from time to time blew upon their fingers, in the intervals of +using their mouths for the purpose of grumbling at the cold. But they +none of them resorted to tramping up and down, or stamping with their +feet, or threshing themselves with their arms, or had recourse to +movement of any kind to get a little warmth into their bodies, as +Englishmen may be seen to do under similar circumstances. However cold +it may be an Italian never does anything of this sort. It must be +supposed, that to him cold is a less detestable evil than muscular +exertion of any kind.</p> + +<p>There were some half-dozen men standing about the door; and though they +were doing nothing, it was not to be supposed that they stood there in +the bitter cold for their own amusement. The fact was, they were waiting +for one of the great events of the day at Ravenna,—the arrival of the +diligenza from Bologna. It was past six o'clock in the evening; and it +could not now be long before the expected vehicle would arrive.</p> + +<p>It is a distance of some sixty miles from Bologna to Ravenna; the +diligence started at five in the morning, and was due at the latter city +at five in the evening. But nobody expected that it would reach its +destination at that hour. It had never done so within the memory of man, +even in the fine days of summer, and now, when the roads were rough with +ridges of frozen mud! It was now, however, nearly half-past six—yes, +there went the half-hour clanging from the cracked-voiced old bell in +the top of the round brick tower, which stands on one side of the +cathedral, and by its likeness to a minaret reminds one of the Byzantine +parentage of its builders.</p> + +<p>Half-past six! The loiterers about the inn door remark to each other, +that unless "something" has happened old Cecco Zoppo can't be far off +now.</p> + +<p>The arrival of the Bologna diligence, the main means of communication +between remote out-of-the-way Ravenna and the rest of the world, was +always a matter of interest in the old-world little city, where matters +of interest were so few. And on a pleasant evening in spring or summer +the attendance of expectant loungers was wont to be far larger than it +was on that bitter November night, and to include a large number of +amateurs; whereas the half-dozen now waiting were all either officially +or otherwise directly interested in the arrival. Indeed, there was a +very special interest attached to the coming of the expected vehicle on +that November night; and nothing but the extreme severity of the weather +would have prevented a very distinguished assemblage from being on the +spot to hear the first news that was expected to be brought by one of +the travellers.</p> + +<p>"Eccolo! I heard the bells, underneath the gate-way. Per Bacco, it is +time! I'm well-nigh frozen alive," said Pippo, the ostler.</p> + +<p>"If they don't keep him an hour at the gate," rejoined a decidedly more +ragged and poverty-stricken individual, who held recognized office as +the ostler's assistant.</p> + +<p>"Not such a night as this! Those gentlemen there at the gate can feel +the cold for themselves, if they can't feel nothing else," rejoined the +ostler, who was a frondeur and disaffected to the government, in +consequence of a drunken grandson having been turned out of the place of +third assistant scullion in the kitchen of the Cardinal Legate. "There's +the bells again! They've let him off pretty quick. I thought as much," +added the old man, with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't Signor Ercole's woman here with a lanthorn just now?" said +another of the bystanders, a young man, who, though wrapped to the eyes +in the universal all-levelling cloak, belonged evidently to a superior +class of society to the previous speakers.</p> + +<p>"Si, Signor Conte, she is there in the kitchen. Per Dio! she would have +had no fingers to hold the light for her master, if she had stayed out +here," replied the ostler. And then the rattle of wheels became +distinct, and in the next instant the feeble light of a couple of lamps +became visible at the far end of the street, as the coach turned out of +the Piazza Maggiore into the Via del Monte, and struggled forwards +towards the knot at the inn door; it came at a miserable little trot, +but with an accompaniment of tremendous whip-cracking, that awoke echoes +in the silent streets far and near, and imparted an impression of +breathless speed to the imagination of the bystanders, who, being +Italians, accepted the symbol in despite of their certain knowledge that +the reality of the thing symbolised was not there. Like the immortal +Marchioness, Dick Swiveller's friend, in the Old Curiosity Shop, the +Italians, when the realities of circumstances are unfavourable, can +always manage to gild them a little by "making believe very strong."</p> + +<p>"Now then, Signora Marta, bring out your light," called the deputy +ostler in at the inn door.</p> + +<p>The individual addressed as Signor Conte became evidently excited, and +prepared himself to be the first to present himself at the door of the +coach as it drew up opposite the inn. The ostler stepped out into the +street with his stable lanthorn. Signora Marta, shivering, with a huge +shawl over her head, took up her position, lanthorn in hand, behind the +Signor Conte, and the ramshackle old coach, rattling over the uneven +round cobble-stones of the execrable pavement with a crash of noise that +seemed to threaten that every jolt would be its last, came to a +standstill at the inn door.</p> + +<p>The Signor Conte Leandro Lombardoni—that was the name of the young man +hitherto called Il Signor Conte—opened the door with his own hand, and, +putting his head eagerly into the interior, cried,</p> + +<p>"Are you there, Signor Ercole? Well! What news? Have you succeeded? Let +me give you a hand."</p> + +<p>"Grazie, Signor Leandro, grazie," replied a high-pitched voice of +singularly shrill quality from within the vehicle, "I don't know whether +I can move. Misericordia! che viaggio! What a journey I have had. I am +nearly dead. My blood is frozen in my veins. I have no use of my limbs. +I shall never recover it; never!"</p> + +<p>And then very slowly a huge bundle of cloaks and rags and furs, nearly +circular in form and about five feet in diameter, began to move towards +the door of the carriage, and gradually, by the help of Signor Leandro +and Signora Marta, to struggle through it and get itself down on the +pavement.</p> + +<p>"And this I do and suffer for thee, Ravenna!" said the bundle in the +same shrill tenor, making an attempt, as it spoke, to raise two little +projecting fins towards the cold, unsympathising stars.</p> + +<p>"But have you succeeded, Signor Ercole?" asked the other again, +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I have succeeded in sacrificing myself for my country," replied the +shrill voice with chattering teeth; "for I know I shall never get over +it. I am frozen. It is a very painful form of martyrdom."</p> + +<p>"But you can at least say one word, Signor Ercole? You can say yes or no +to the question, whether you have succeeded in our object?" urged the +Conte Leandro.</p> + +<p>Signor Ercole Stadione, however, who was, as the reader is aware, no +less important a personage than the impresario of the principal theatre +of Ravenna, knew too well all the importance that belonged to the news +he had to tell to part with his secret so easily. "Signor Conte," he +quavered out, "I tell you I am frozen! A man cannot speak on any subject +in such a condition. I know nothing. My intellectual faculties have not +their ordinary lucidity. I must endeavour to reach my home. Marta, hold +the lamp here."</p> + +<p>"And I who have waited here for your arrival ever since the +venti-quattro! Per Dio! Do you think I ain't cold too? And the Marchese +is expecting you. Of course, you will go to him at once?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I shall ever recover myself sufficiently to do so. It +is useless for the city to expect more from a man than he can +accomplish. When I have got thawed, I will endeavour to do my duty. Good +night, Signor Conte!" said the little impresario, preparing to follow +his servant with the lanthorn, as well as the enormous quantity of wraps +around him would allow him to do so.</p> + +<p>"Come now, Signor Ercole, you won't be so ill-natured. You know how much +interest I take in the matter. Think how long I have waited here for +you, and nobody else has cared enough to do that. Come now, be +good-natured, and tell a fellow. Just one word. Look here now," added +the Conte Leandro, seeing that he was on the point of losing the +gratification for the sake of which he had undergone the penance of +standing sentinel in the cold for the last hour, and that his only hope +was to bring forward les grands moyens,—"see now, the only thing to +bring you round is a glass of hot punch. Now, while you go home and get +your things off, I will go to the cafe and get you a good glass of +punch, hot and strong—smoking hot! and have it brought to your house, +all hot, you know, in a covered jug. But before I go; you will just say +the one word: Have you been successful? Come now. Just one word."</p> + +<p>Signor Ercole Stadione, the impresario, would much have preferred not +saying that one word just then. He knew perfectly well that the grand +object of his questioner was to be the first to carry the great news to +the Circolo—the club where all the young nobles of the town were in the +habit of congregating; and to make the most of the sort of reputation to +be gained by being the first in Ravenna to have accurate information on +the matter in question. He knew also that within a quarter-of-an-hour +after the news should be told to Signor Leandro Lombardoni it would be +known to all Ravenna. Further, he was perfectly aware that, frozen or +not frozen, he must wait that evening on the Marchese, of whom Signor +Leandro had spoken—the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare, in order to +communicate to him the news which Signor Leandro was so anxious to hear; +that not to do so would be as much as his standing and position in +Ravenna were worth. And he would have preferred that the Marchese should +not have heard what he had to tell before telling it to him himself; +which he thought likely enough to happen, if he let the cat out of the +bag to Signor Leandro. But the offer of the punch was irresistible. The +poor little impresario knew how little possibility there was of finding +any such pleasant stimulant in the cold, cheerless, wifeless little +quartiere which he and Marta called their home. His teeth were +chattering with cold; and the hot punch carried the day.</p> + +<p>"Troppo buono, Signor Conte! Truly a good glass of hot ponche would be +the saving of me! It is very kindly thought of. Well, then; listen in +your ear. But you won't say a word about it till to-morrow morning. It +is all right. The thing is done. The writings signed. Have I done well, +eh? Have I deserved well of the city, eh? But you won't say a word!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Signor Ercole! Bravo, bravissimo! Not a word. Not a word. I run +to order the punch. Good night. Not a word to a living soul!"</p> + +<p>And the Conte Leandro ran off to give a hasty order at the cafe in the +Piazza, on his way to the Circolo to spread his important news all over +the town.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-2" id="CHAPTER_II-2"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> +The Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare</h3> + +<p>Signor Leandro Lombardoni felt himself to be abundantly repaid for his +hour of waiting in the cold street, and for the bajocchi expended on the +glass of punch, by the position he occupied at the Circolo all that +evening. He was the centre of every group anxious to gain the earliest +information respecting a matter of the highest interest to all the +society of Ravenna. And the matter belonged to a class of subjects +respecting which the Conte Leandro was especially desirous of being +thought to be thoroughly well-informed, and to have interest in the +highest quarters.</p> + +<p>The fact was, that Signor Ercole Stadione, the Ravenna impresario, had +undertaken a journey to Milan, in the hope of accomplishing a +negotiation in which the whole of the smaller provincial city had felt +itself deeply interested. He had gone thither for the purpose of +engaging the celebrated prima donna, Bianca Lalli, to sing at Ravenna +during the coming Carnival. The pretension was a very ambitious one on +the part of the impresario—or, as it may be more properly said, on the +part of the city—for the step was by no means the result of his own +independent and unaided enterprise. Such matters were not done in that +way in the good old times in the smaller cities of Italy. The matter had +been much debated among the leading patrons of the musical drama in the +little town. The chances of success had been canvassed. The financial +question had been considered. Certain sacrifices had been determined on. +And it had been settled what terms the impresario should be empowered to +offer.</p> + +<p>It had been fully felt and recognised that the hope of engaging the +famous Bianca Lalli to sing at remote little Ravenna, during a carnival, +was a singularly ambitious one. But there had been circumstances which +had led those who had conceived the bold idea to hope that it would not +prove to be so impossible as it might at first sight appear. There had +been whispers of certain difficulties—untoward circumstances at Milan. +Ill-natured things had been said of the "divina Lalli." Doubtless she +had been more sinned against than sinning. But to put the matter +crudely—which, of course, no Italian who had to speak of it, was ever +so ill-bred as to do—it would seem that the great singer had placed +herself, or had been placed, in such relations with somebody or other +bearing a great name in the Lombard capital, that the paternal Austrian +government, at the instance of that somebody's family, had seen good to +hint, in some gentle, but unmistakable manner, that it might, on the +whole, be better that the divine Lalli should bless some other city with +her presence during the ensuing season. And then came the consideration, +that in all probability most of the great cities of the peninsula had, +by that time, made their arrangements for the coming Carnival. Not +impossible, too, that the "diva" herself might be not disinclined to +allow a certain period of such comparative obscurity as an engagement at +Ravenna would bring with it, to pass after her exit from Milan under +such circumstances, before re-appearing on other boards where she would +be equally in the eyes of all Europe. But this ground of hope, though it +may have been felt, was never so much as alluded to in words, in +Ravenna. In short, Ravenna had determined to make the bold attempt. And +Don Signor Ercole Stadione had returned from the arduous enterprise to +announce that it had been crowned with complete success.</p> + +<p>None but those who have had some opportunity of becoming acquainted with +the social habits and manners of the smaller cities of Italy—and that +as they were some twenty years ago, and not as they are now—can imagine +the degree in which a matter of the kind in question could be felt there +to be a subject of general public interest. From the Cardinal Legate, +who governed the province, down to the little boys who hung about the +cafe doors, in the hope of picking up a half-eaten roll, there was not a +human being in the city who did not feel that he had some part of the +glory resulting from the fact that "La Lalli" was to sing at Ravenna +during the Carnival. The contadini—the peasants outside the gates—even +though they were only just outside it, cared nothing at all about the +matter: another specialty of the social peculiarities of the peninsula.</p> + +<p>The Cardinal Legate, restrained by the professional decorum of his +cloth, said nothing save among his quite safe intimates; but, perhaps, +like the sailor's parrot, he only thought the more.</p> + +<p>As for the jeunesse doree of the Circolo, to whom Signor Leandro +recounted his great tidings with all the self-importance to which the +exclusive possession of news of such interest so well entitled him, it +is impossible to do justice to the enthusiasm which the news excited +among them.</p> + +<p>All sorts of pleasing anticipations were indulged in. They were all +jealous of each other by anticipation. Already, in the gravest spirit of +business, a scheme for taking off her horses at the city gates and +harnessing their noble selves to the carriage of the expected guest was +discussed.</p> + +<p>The reputation enjoyed by the great singer Bianca Lalli at that time was +very high throughout Italy. But, perhaps,—any one of her rival +goddesses would have said undoubtedly,—it was a reputation not wholly +and exclusively due to her strictly vocal charms. She was, in truth, a +woman of more than ordinary beauty; and was universally declared to +exercise a charm on all who came within reach of her influence beyond +that which even extraordinary beauty has always the privilege of +exercising. All kinds of stories were told of her boundless power of +fascination. In crude language, again,—such as her own countrymen never +used concerning her,—the reputation of "la diva Lalli" was tout soit +peu, a reputation de scandale. And it will be readily imagined that the +enthusiasm in her favour of the young frequenters of the Circolo at +Ravenna was none the less vehement on this account.</p> + +<p>It must, however, be added that she undoubtedly was a very admirable +singer. Had this not been the case, the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare +would not have interested himself so much as he had done in the plans +and negotiations for bringing her to Ravenna. The Marchese was not a man +to be much influenced by the prima donna's reputation for beauty and +fascination. But he was "fanatico per la musica." He was the +acknowledged leader in all matters musical in Ravenna; the most +influential patron of the opera in the city; and all-powerful in the +regulation of all theatrical affairs.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto held a rather special position in the social world +in Ravenna. His fortune was large; and the nobility of his family +ancient. But it was not these circumstances only, or even mainly, that +caused him to hold the place he did in the estimation of his +fellow-citizens. He was a bachelor, now about fifty years old; and +during some thirty of those years he had always been before the public +in one manner or another, and always had in every capacity won golden +opinions from all men. Though abundantly rich enough to have gone +occasionally to Rome, or even to have resided there entirely, if he had +chosen to do so, he had, on the contrary, preferred to pass his whole +life in his native city. And Ravenna was flattered by this, to begin +with. Then his residence in the provincial city had been in many +respects a really useful one, not only to that section of the body +politic which is called, par excellence, society, but to the public in +general. He had held various municipal offices, and had discharged the +functions belonging to them with credit and applause. He was treasurer +to a hospital, and a generous contributor to its funds. He was the +founder of an artistic society for the education of young artists and +the encouragement of their seniors. He was the principal director of a +board of "publica beneficenza." He was the manager, and what we should +call the trustee for the property of more than one nunnery. He was +intimate with the Cardinal Legate, and a frequent and honoured guest at +the palace. Of course in matters of orthodoxy and well-affected +sentiments towards the Church and its government he was all that the +agents of that government could desire. It has already been said that he +was at the head of all matters musical and theatrical in Ravenna. And +besides all this, he gave every year three grand balls in Carnival; and +his house was at all times open every Sunday and Wednesday evening to +the elite of the society of the city.</p> + +<p>Gradually it had come to be understood, rather by tacit agreement among +the society which frequented these reunions than in obedience to any +desire expressed by the Marchese on the subject, that on the Sunday +evening ladies were expected; and on those days a sister-in-law of the +Marchese, the widow of a younger brother, was always there to do the +honours of the Palazzo Castelmare. The Wednesday evening parties had +come to be meetings of gentlemen only. And on these occasions one marked +element of the society consisted of all that the city possessed in the +way of professors of natural science. For the Marchese was, in a mild +way, fond of such pursuits, and had a special liking for anatomical +inquiries and experiments.</p> + +<p>In one respect only could the world fail to be wholly and perfectly +contented with the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. At the age of fifty +he was still a bachelor! Not that the continuance of the noble line of +Castelmare was thereby compromised. The sister-in-law already mentioned +had a son, a young man of two-and-twenty, at the time in question, who +was the heir to the wealth and honours of the house, and who, it was to +be hoped, would also inherit all that accumulated treasure of public +esteem and respect which his uncle had been so uninterruptedly laying +up. Neither could a social objection to the Marchese's bachelorhood be +raised on the score of any such laxity of moral conduct as the world is +wont to expect, and to tolerate with more or less of indulgence, in +persons so free from special ties. Had the Marchese been an archbishop +himself, instead of being merely the intimate friend of one, it could +not have seemed in Ravenna more out of the question to mention his +respected name in connection with any scandal or inuendo of the kind. +There was not a mother in Ravenna who would not have been proud to see +her daughter honoured by any such intercourse with the Marchese as might +be natural between a father and his child. Proud indeed the most noble +of those matrons would have been could she have supposed that any such +intercourse tended towards sentiments of a more tender nature. But all +hopes of this kind had been long given up in Ravenna. It was quite +understood that the Marchese was not a marrying man.</p> + +<p>Not that even now, in his fiftieth year, he might not well have entered +the lists with many a younger man as a candidate for the favour of the +sex. He was a man of a remarkably fine presence, tall, well made, and +with a natural dignity and graceful bearing in all his movements, which +were very impressive. He had never given in to the modern fashion of +wearing either beard or moustache. And the contours of his face were too +good and even noble to have gained anything by being so hidden. The +large, strong, rather square jaw and chin, and smooth placid cheeks were +strongly expressive of quiet decision and dignified force of will. The +mouth, almost always the tell-tale feature of the face, seemed in his +case rather calculated to puzzle any one who would have speculated on +the meanings shadowed forth by the lines of it. It was certainly, with +its large rows of unexceptionably brilliant teeth, a very handsome +mouth. And it was often not devoid of much sweetness. Nobody had ever +imagined that they detected any evil expression among its meanings. But +whereas a physiognomist looking at that generally faithful expositor of +the moral man, when it was at rest, would have been inclined to say, +that it was a mouth indicative of much capacity for deep and strong +passion, a further study of it in its varied movements would have led +him to the conclusion that no strong or violent passions had ever been +there to leave their traces among its lines. The whole face was so +essentially calm, unruffled, and placidly dignified.</p> + +<p>The loftly noble forehead, the strongly marked brow, the well-opened +calm grey eye, all told the same tale of a mind within well-balanced, +thoroughly at peace with itself, and thoroughly contented with its +outward manifestations, and with every particular of its position.</p> + +<p>Clearly the Marchese di Castelmare was a remarkably handsome man. And +yet there was something about him,—and always had been even as a young +man, which seemed to be in natural accordance with the fact that he had +never seemed to seek female society, save as an amphytrion receiving all +Ravenna within his hospitable doors. There was a kind of austerity about +his bearing;—a something difficult to define, which would have +prevented any girl from fancying that he was at all likely to want to +make love to her; a something which made it as impossible that the +refined courtesy of his address should have called a pleased blush to +any girl's cheek, or made her pulse move one beat the faster, as that +she should have been so affected by the imposition of the hands of the +bishop who confirmed her!</p> + +<p>Such as the Marchese was, any committee in the world would have chosen +him its president, any jury in the world would have named him its +foreman, any board in the world have selected him as its chairman, any +deputation in the world would have put him forward as its spokesman; any +sovereign in the world might have appointed him grand master of the +ceremonies; but never at any period of his life would the suffrages of +the ball-room have pitched upon him to be the leader of the cotillon.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was that his life had been always too full to spare any space +for such lighter matters. He had been left the head of his family when +quite a young man, and had at once, in a great degree, stepped into the +place he had ever since occupied in the social world of his native city. +And what with his music, which was with him really a passion, and what +with his dabblings in science, and what with the multifarious business +he had always made for himself by real and useful attention to the +affairs pertaining to all the functions he had filled, his life had +really been a fully occupied one.</p> + +<p>Any man, woman, or child in Ravenna would have said, if such an +unpleasant idea had crossed their minds, that what Ravenna would do +without him it was frightful to think. He was very popular, as well as +profoundly respected by all classes of his fellow-citizens. Though +certainly a very proud man, his pride was of a nature that gave offence +to nobody. He was not only proud of being Marchese di Castelmare; he was +very proud of the esteem, the affection and respect of his +fellow-citizens. And perhaps this was, next to his love of music, what +most resembled a passion in his nature, and what most ministered to his +enjoyment of life.</p> + +<p>It was to this phoenix of a Marchese that Signor Ercole Stadione, the +impresario, having comforted himself with the Conte Leandro's punch, and +got somewhat thawed, and having changed his mountain of travelling wraps +for a costume proper for presenting himself in such a presence, repaired +to report the result of his journey to Milan.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-2" id="CHAPTER_III-2"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +The Impresario's Report</h3> + +<p>It has been said that Signor Ercole Stadione, when he was first +introduced to the reader under circumstances somewhat unfavourable to +that dignity of appearance and deportment on which he specially prided +himself, presented the appearance of a round mass some five feet in +diameter. And it may be thence concluded, that when reduced to the +proportions familiar to the citizens of Ravenna, his utmost longitudinal +dimensions did not exceed that measure. The impresario was in truth a +very small man, weighing perhaps seven stone with his boots. But Signor +Ercole held, and very frequently expressed, an opinion that dignity and +nobility of appearance depended wholly on bearing, and in no wise on +mere corporeal altitude. Men were measured in his country (Rome), he +said, from the eyebrow upwards. And though Rome is not exactly the +place, of all others, where one might expect to find such an estimate of +human value prevailing,—unless, indeed, smallness of that which a man +has above his brow be deemed the desirable thing,—it was undeniable +that little Signor Ercole carried a mass of forehead which might have +been the share of a much taller man.</p> + +<p>Nor were the pretensions put forward by the impresario on this score +altogether vain. He was no fool;—a shrewd as well as a dapper little +man, active and clever at his business, and well liked both by the +artists and by the public, for which he catered, despite of being one of +the vainest of mortals. Vanity makes some men very odious to their +fellows;—in others it is perfectly inoffensive; and though damaging to +a claim to respect, is perfectly compatible with a considerable amount +of liking for the victim of it.</p> + +<p>A very dapper little man was Signor Ercole, as he stepped forth, about +eight o'clock, entirely refitted, to wait upon the Marchese at the +Palazzo Castelmare. He was dressed in complete black, somewhat +threadbare, but scrupulously brushed. He had a large frill at the bosom +of his shirt, and more frills around the wristbands of it; one or two +rings of immense size and weight on his small fingers; boots with heels +two inches high, and a rather long frock-coat buttoned closely round his +little body. Signor Ercole had never been known to wear a swallow-tailed +coat on any occasion. And spiteful people told each other, that his +motive for never quitting the greater shelter of the frock was to be +found in his fear of exhibiting to the unkindly glances of the world a +pair of knock-knees of rare perfection.</p> + +<p>When his toilet was completed, he threw over all a handsome black cloth +cloak turned up with a broad border of velvet, which he draped around +his person with the air of an Apollo, throwing the corner of the garment +round the lower part of his face and over his shoulder, in a manner +wholly unattainable by any man born on the northern side of the Alps; +and kindly telling Marta that he would take the key, and that she had +better not sit up for him in the cold, stepped forth on his errand.</p> + +<p>"Ben tornato, Signor Ercole! I thank you for coming to me," said the +Marchese, rising from his seat at his library-table, which was covered +with papers and books, to receive the impresario.</p> + +<p>Despite the extreme cold, this owner of a large fortune, and of one of +the finest palaces in Ravenna, was not sitting in an easy-chair by the +fire, as an Englishman might be expected to be found at such an hour. +The Italian's day is not divided into two portions as clearly as an +Englishman's day is divided by his dinner hour into the time for +business or out-door exercise, and the time for relaxation, for a book +or other amusement. He is quite as likely to apply himself to any +business or work of any kind after dinner as before. Still less has he +the Englishman's notion of making himself comfortable in his home.</p> + +<p>There was a miserable morsel of wood fire in the room in which the +Marchese sat; but it was at the far end of it. And in many a well-to-do +Italian home there would have been none at all. In order not to be +absolutely frozen, he sat in a large cloak, and had beside him, or in +his hands, a little earthen-ware pot filled with burning braize—a +scaldino, as it is called,—the use of which is common to the noble in +his palace, and the beggar in the street.</p> + +<p>He pointed to a chair near the table, and as he spoke, paid his visitor +the ordinary courtesy of offering him his scaldino.</p> + +<p>"My duty, my mere duty, Eccellenza," said Signor Ercole, letting his +cloak fall gracefully from his shoulders, and declining the proffered +pot of braize with an action that might have suited an Emperor. "Of +course my first care and object on arriving was to wait on your +Excellency. I arrived with barely a breath of life remaining in my body. +What a journey! What a journey! But if I had been frozen quite I could +not have forgotten that my first duty was to report what I have +accomplished to your Excellency."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, good Signor Ercole, thanks; you know the interest I take in all +that concerns the honour of our theatre, and the pleasures of our +citizens; and I may truly add, in all that touches your interest, my +good Signor Ercole."</p> + +<p>"Troppo buono! Eccellenza! Troppo buono davvero!" said the little man, +half rising from his chair, to execute a bow in return for the +Marchese's speech, while his cloak fell around his legs.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that in such weather as this the diligence was behind its +time—E naturale—but I have already heard, in a general way, that you +have been successful. I congratulate you on it, Signor Ercole, with all +my heart!"</p> + +<p>"I trusted that I should have been the first to tell your Excellency the +news. I am conscious that it was due to you, Signor Marchese, to be the +first to hear the result of my negotiation. But che vuole? There was the +Conte Leandro waiting for the coach, and standing at the door as I got +out of it, more dead than alive! And there was no way of getting rid of +him. I was forced to tell him, in a word, that our hopes were crowned +with success. He faithfully promised to keep the fact secret. But, +doubtless, all the town knows it by this time! Che vuole?"</p> + +<p>"E naturale! e naturale!" returned the Marchese, with a graceful wave of +his hand; "naturally they are all anxious to know the result of our +impresario's labours. And I was not left in ignorance. My nephew ran in +from the Circolo to tell me; he had just heard it from Signor Leandro. +But I thought that I should have a visit from yourself, Signor Ercole, +before long."</p> + +<p>"E come, e come, Signor Marchese; could your Excellency imagine that I +could so fail in my duty as to have omitted waiting on your lordship! +Had it not been that I was half killed by this awful weather, I should +have placed myself at your Excellency's orders an hour ago. Oh, Signor +Marchese, such a journey from Bologna hither! I know what is my duty to +the city; I know what is expected of me. But—Eccellenza, there are +benefactors to their country, who have statues raised to them, that have +suffered less in the gaining of them, than I have this day."</p> + +<p>"Povero, Signor Ercole! But who knows? Perhaps we may see the day when +Ravenna will reward your exertions with a monument. Why not? It must be +a statue, life size, nothing less, with 'Ercole Stadione, La Patria +riconoscente,' on the base," said the Marchese, with an irony, the fine +flavour of which did not in the least pierce, as it was not intended to +pierce, the plate armour of the little impresario's vanity.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Eccellenza!" said the poor little man, with the most perfect good +faith in the propriety, as well as the seriousness, of his patron's +proposition.</p> + +<p>"And now, then," said the Marchese, "let us hear all about it. She +accepts our terms?"</p> + +<p>"The scrittura has been signed before a notary, Eccellenza."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! she sings—?"</p> + +<p>"The whole repertorio, Signor Marchese! What is there she could not +sing?"</p> + +<p>"And three representations a week?"</p> + +<p>"Three representations a week. My instructions were formal on that +point, as your Excellency knows."</p> + +<p>"Good! quite right! And now what is she, this diva? What is she like? We +know that Signor Ercole Stadione is as good a judge of the merits of the +lady as of the singer?" said the Marchese, with a smile. "I don't ask +you about her singing," he added. "We have all heard all that can be +said about that."</p> + +<p>"Well, Signor Marchese, if I am to speak my own poor opinion, I take the +Signora Lalli to be decidedly the most beautiful woman it was ever my +good fortune to see," said Signor Ercole, with a voice and manner of +profound conviction.</p> + +<p>"Paris himself, if called on to be umpire once again, could require no +more conclusive testimony, my good Signor Ercole. But that is not +exactly what I mean. Her mere beauty is a matter that does not interest +me very keenly. What I want to know, is what sort of a scenic presence +has she? Can she take the stage? I do not ask if she is captivating in a +drawing-room; but has she the face and figure needed to be effective in +the theatre? I need not tell you, my friend, that these are two +different things, and do not always go together," said the Marchese, +whose interest in the matter was, as he said, wholly theatrical; first, +that he and the society of Ravenna should enjoy some fine singing during +the coming Carnival; and, secondly that the Lalli should produce such an +enthusiasm as should lead all the theatrical world to think and say that +a great stroke had been achieved, and a very public-spirited thing done +in bringing about the engagement. He was anxious that the step, which he +had had a large share in taking, should result in a great and +universally admitted success.</p> + +<p>"Eccellenza! I have no doubt that your lordship will be satisfied in +these respects. Most true it is, as your Excellency so judiciously +remarks, that we require something more than merely a beautiful face, or +even than a fine figure. And I have never had the good fortune to see +'La Lalli' on the boards. But as far as my poor judgment goes, she is +admirably gifted with all the requisites for achieving the result we +desire. Then there is the testimony of all Milan! And I succeeded in +speaking with an old friend who had seen her the year before last at +Naples, and whose report I can trust. The opinion seems to be universal +that few artists have ever possessed the gift of fascinating an audience +to the degree that she does. Your Excellency may take my word for it, +she is a very clever woman. My own interviews with her sufficed to +convince me of that fact. And I need not tell your Excellency, that +little as some of the empty-headed young gentlemen in the stalls may +suspect it, talent,—not only the special talent of song but general +talent,—has much to do with the power of fascination that a gifted +actress exercises."</p> + +<p>"Most true, mio bravo Signor Ercole; you speak like an oracle; and if +she left on you the impression that she is a clever woman, I have no +doubt in the world that she is so."</p> + +<p>There was no irony in the Marchese's mind when he said this; and the +little impresario, highly gratified again, half rose from his chair to +bow in return for the compliment.</p> + +<p>"As for the specialties of her face and person," continued the +impresario, "they appeared to me highly favourable. Very tall,—perhaps +your lordship or I might say too tall. But—on the stage the prejudice +is in favour of a degree of tallness that we might not admire off it. +Gestures, bearing, and the movement of the person equally capable of +expressing majestic dignity, or heart-subduing pathos. A most graceful +walk. In short, a persona tutta simpatica. As for the head—magnificent +hair,—blonde, which for choice I would always prefer—the true Titian +sun-tinged auburn,—a telling eye, finely formed nose, and mouth of +inexpressible sweetness!"</p> + +<p>"Per Bacco, Signor Ercole, a Phoenix indeed! A Diva davvero!" said the +Marchese.</p> + +<p>"Eccellenza, she'll do," said the little man nodding his head with its +top-heavy forehead three or four times emphatically. "If she do not make +such a sensation in Ravenna as we have not known here for a long time, +say that Ercole Stadione knows nothing of his profession."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! bravo!" cried the Marchese, gleefully rubbing his hands. "And +now, my good friend, I won't keep you from the bed and the rest you so +well deserve any longer. You may depend on it that your zeal in this +matter won't be overlooked or forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Troppo buono, Eccellenza! But there was one word I wished to say to +your lordship," continued little Signor Ercole, dropping his voice to a +lower key, and speaking with some hesitation,—one little word that I +thought it might be useful, or—or—desirable to mention—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, speak on, my dear Signor Ercole, I am all attention. What is it? +No drawback I hope!"</p> + +<p>"Only this, Signor Marchese," said the little man casting a glance round +the room, dropping his voice still more, and bringing his head nearer to +the ear of the Marchese; "only this:—you see if there had been +nothing-disagreeable,—nothing untoward, as I may say—your lordship +understands, we should never have had La Lalli at Ravenna. There has +been a—sort of difficulty—your lordship understands—spiteful things +have been said—calumny—all calumny no doubt-the constant attendant of +merit, alas! we all know. But—in short—here in Ravenna—it would not +be—desirable,—your Excellency understands and appreciates what I would +say a thousand times better than I can say it. It would be in every +point of view better, as your Excellency sees, that no idle chatter of +this kind should be set about here. It would be inexpedient for more +reasons than one."</p> + +<p>"Quite so; quite so. Your ideas on the subject are happily judicious, +Signor Ercole. What have we to do with misunderstandings that may have +arisen at Milan? Of course, it is not our business to have ever heard +anything of the kind. And I'll tell you what I'll do, and that at once, +before there is time for any mischief to be done. I will just give my +nephew a hint. He can be trusted. He is discreet. And it will be easy +for him to put down at once and discountenance any talk of the kind, or +any rumour that might find its way among our youngsters."</p> + +<p>"The very thing, Eccellenza! The Marchese Ludovico will understand the +thing at once. And half a word from him would give the key-note, as I +may say, to the tone of talk about the lady. Ravenna must not be thought +to be contenting herself with that which Milan rejects," said Signor +Ercole, with the air of a patriot.</p> + +<p>"I should think not, indeed! And, doubtless, Milan would have been but +too glad to retain La Lalli, had it not been for some unimportant +contretemps. Ludovico shall put the matter in its right light."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the Marchese rang a little hand-bell which stood on his +library table; and on a servant entering from the anteroom, he told him +just to step across to the Circolo, and request the Marchese Ludovico to +be so good as to come to him for five minutes.</p> + +<p>In very little more than that time the man returned, saying that the +Marchese Ludovico was not at the Circolo. He had been there for a few +minutes at the beginning of the evening, but had gone away without +saying whither he was going.</p> + +<p>The Marchese knitted his brows when this message was given to him; and +after a minute's thoughtful silence, shook his head in a manner that +showed him to be not a little displeased. From a look of intelligence +that might have been observed in Signor Ercole's eyes, it might have +been judged that he understood that the Marchese was more annoyed than +on account of the momentary frustration of his immediate purpose, and +that he was aware of the nature of his annoyance. But he did not venture +to say any word on the subject; and the Marchese took leave of him, +merely saying that he would not forget to act on Signor Ercole's caution +when he should see his nephew the next morning.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-2" id="CHAPTER_IV-2"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +Paolina Foscarelli</h3> + +<p>The young Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had in the early part of the +evening lounged into the Circolo, as was the habit of most of those of +his class, seniors as well as juniors; but he had, as had been correctly +reported to his uncle, very shortly left it without saying a word to any +one as to how he intended to dispose of his evening. The Marchese +Ludovico flattered himself, as people are apt to flatter themselves in +similar cases, that his absence would be little noted, and that his +reticence would suffice to leave all Ravenna in ignorance as to the +errand on which he was bound when he left the Circolo. So far was this +from being the case, however, that there was not one, at all events +among the younger men, whom he left behind him, who did not know +perfectly well where he was gone; and that his uncle, when by the +unforeseen accident that has been related he was made aware of his +absence from the club, was at no loss to guess what he had done with +himself.</p> + +<p>But in order that the reader may have a like advantage, it will be +necessary to mention very briefly, some circumstances which occurred +previously to the period referred to in the former chapters.</p> + +<p>Some months before the time of Signor Ercole Stadione's journey to +Milan, a wandering Englishman had arrived at Ravenna, and having spent +three or four days in examining with much interest the wonderful wealth +of Mosaics of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, still preserved in +the churches of the ancient capital of the Exarchs, had continued his +route to Venice.</p> + +<p>There, in the gallery of the Academia, his attention had been attracted +by a female student, who was engaged in copying a canvas of Tintoretto. +As it so happened that the traveller was a competent judge of such +matters, he was struck by the goodness of the work, especially when +considered in connection with the appearance of the artist. She was +evidently very young,—a slim, slender girl, whose girlish figure looked +all the more willow-like from the simple plainness, and what seemed to +the Englishman the insufficiency, of her clothing. For the weather, +though not so severe as when it had half frozen Signor Ercole Stadione, +was already very cold,—cold enough to have depopulated the gallery of +its usual crowd of copying artists. At some distance from the young +girl's easel, sitting in a corner lighted up by a stray ray of sunshine, +there was an old woman busily knitting,—probably the girl's mother, or +protectress. And besides those two, and the Englishman, and a lounging +attendant wrapped in his cloak, there was no other soul in the gallery.</p> + +<p>Yet the young student busily plied her task; nor was she surprised into +looking up by the stopping of the stranger behind her chair. He did not +see her face, therefore; and it would be consequently unfair to imagine +that any portion of the interest he could not help feeling in her was to +be attributed to the ordinary charm of a pretty face, whereas it was +really due partly to the artistic merit of her copy, partly to her +bravery in sticking to her work despite the severity of the season, and +partly to her youth and very apparent poverty.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as he watched the progress of her work slowly growing beneath +the rapid movements of her slender, blue-cold fingers, the idea came +into his mind that here might be a favourable opportunity of obtaining +what he had much wished to procure when he had been at Ravenna,—some +drawings of several of the most remarkable of the Mosaics in the +churches of San Vitale and St. Apollinare in Classe. He was quite +satisfied from what he saw that the young artist was competent to +execute the drawings he required. The conscientious determination, which +alone could have made her continue her work under such circumstances, +was a guarantee to him that she would do her best. It was not probable +that the expectations of the girl before him as to remuneration would go +beyond such sum as he was willing to pay. And lastly—though truly not +least in that Englishman's mind—it might be that such a proposal would +be a very acceptable boon to a poor and meritorious artist. So managing +to speak to the attendant, when he was at a far part of the gallery, he +learned from him that the girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli; that the +old woman was, the officer believed, her aunt; that her name was Orsola +Steno; and that they lived together at No. 8 in the Campo San Donato.</p> + +<p>That same evening the stranger desired his servitore di piazza to make +inquiries about Signora Orsola Steno, and her niece, who copied in the +gallery; and the next morning he was told that, if he would call upon +the Director of the Gallery, that gentleman would be happy to reply to +any inquiries about the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli.</p> + +<p>The Englishman waited on the Director forthwith, and from him learned +that such a commission as he had thought of giving to the young copyist +could not be better bestowed in any point of view. The Director spoke +highly of her artistic capabilities, and more highly still of her +character and worth. She had been left an orphan, wholly unprovided for, +several years ago. Her father had gained his living by copying in the +gallery. The old woman, Orsola Steno, with whom she lived, was no +relation to her, but had been the dear friend of her mother, and had +taken the orphan to live with her out of pure charity. They were very +poor,—very poor, indeed. But Paolina was beginning to do something. She +had already sold one or two copies of small pictures. The larger work, +on which she was engaged, she had undertaken by the advice of the +Director, in the hope of disposing of it when the following summer +should bring with it the usual incoming tide of travellers.</p> + +<p>The result was that the stranger, taking with him a little note from the +Director, went again to the gallery the next day, and finding Signorina +Paolina at her post as usual, then and there made his proposition to +her.</p> + +<p>He was glad, when in doing so he spoke face to face with the girl, that +the matter had been settled in his mind before he had seen her. For he +was pleased to be sure that his judgment had not been warped in the +matter by the irresistible prejudice in favour of a beautiful girl. And +had he seen Paolina first, he could have had no such assurance. In +truth, the poor Venetian painter's orphan child was very beautiful. It +is little to the purpose to attempt a detailed description of her +beauty; for such descriptions rarely, if ever, succeed in conveying to +the imagination of a reader any accurate presentation of the picture, +which the writer has in his mind's eye. She was dark. Hair, brows, eyes, +and complexion, were all dark; and the contour of the face was of the +long or oval type of conformation—very delicate—transparently +delicate—more so, the Englishman thought, not without a pull at his +heart-strings, than was quite compatible with a due daily supply of +nourishment. Still she did not look unhealthy. At seventeen a good deal +of pinching may be undergone without destroying the elastic vigour of +youth.</p> + +<p>But the chief and most striking charm of the beautiful face was +unquestionably imparted to it from the moral and intellectual nature +within. There was a calm and quiet dignity in the expression of the pure +and noble brow, which may often have been seen in women of similar +character, and of some twenty-five years of age. But it is rare to find +such at seventeen. Doubtless the having been left alone in the world at +so tender an age, had done much towards producing the expression in +question. It was added to, moreover, by the singular grace of the girl's +figure and mode of standing there before the stranger, as she had risen +from her easel on his presenting her with the Director's note.</p> + +<p>She was rather above the middle height, and very slender;—more so, the +Englishman thought again, than she ought to have been. She was very +poorly and even insufficiently clad. But the little bit of quite plain +linen around her slim throat was spotlessly clean; and her poor and +totally unornamented chocolate-coloured stuff dress was in decently tidy +condition, and was worn with that nameless and inexplicable grace which +causes it to be said of similarly gifted women that they may wear +anything.</p> + +<p>And the stranger was delighted, too, with her manner in accepting his +proposition. Though she made no attempt to conceal, and, indeed, eagerly +expressed her sense of the value to her of the proposal that was made to +her, there was a modest, and at the same time self-respecting, dignity +about her acceptance of it, which was to his mind an earnest of the +highly conscientious manner in which the task would be carried out.</p> + +<p>It was therefore settled at once that Paolina, together with her friend +and protectress, the Signora Orsola Steno, should proceed to Ravenna as +soon as she could conveniently do so. A list of the works of which she +was required to make copies was given to her. It included, besides the +whole of the very interesting Mosaics in San Vitale, and several of the +curious Mosaic portraits of the early bishops of the city in the church +of St. Apollinare in Classe, two remarkable full-length figures from the +ancient baptistery, the representation of the Saviour as the "Good +Shepherd" in the celebrated mausoleum of the Empress Galla Placidia, and +the portraits of the Apostles in the private chapel of the Cardinal. Of +all these works, exact copies were to be executed on a scale of one +sixth the size of the originals; and it was calculated that the work +would require at least fifteen months to do it in. A sufficient sum of +money was paid in advance to enable Signora Orsola Steno and her ward to +move to Ravenna, and to begin their residence there; and satisfactory +arrangements were made for subsequent quarterly payments of two-thirds +of the price to be paid for the completed copies.</p> + +<p>Besides all this, the English patron provided the young artist with a +letter of introduction, which he doubted not would make smooth all +difficulties which might lie in the way of her obtaining the permissions +and facilities necessary for the execution of her task. This letter was +addressed to the "Illustrissimo Signor il Signor Marchese Lamberto di +Castelmare." The English traveller had brought from Rome a letter of +introduction to the Marchese, and had received from him, during his +short stay at Ravenna, all that courteous attention and friendly +interest in his artistic researches which Englishmen are always sure to +meet with in the smaller cities of Italy, even in yet larger measure +than in the larger capitals, where strangers of all sorts are more +abundant.</p> + +<p>Thus equipped and provided, Paolina Foscarelli, accompanied by Signora +Orsola Steno, had arrived in Ravenna in the March of the same year, in +the November of which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to +Milan.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-2" id="CHAPTER_V-2"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +Rivalry</h3> + +<p>The first care of the two Venetian women, on arriving in their new place +of abode, which seemed to them almost as much a foreign country as Pekin +might seem to an Englishman, was, of course, to present their letter of +introduction to the powerful and illustrious protector to whom they were +recommended. But there had, thereupon, arisen a difference of opinion +between the older and the younger lady. Old Orsola Steno, acting on the +wisdom which certain observations of life picked up in her sixty years +of passage through it had probably taught her, was strongly of opinion +that the important letter should be presented to the Marchese by Paolina +in person,—or if not that, by both of them together. But Paolina +strongly objected to this mode of proceeding; and urged her friend to +take upon herself the duty of waiting on the Marchese. Orsola contested +the point as strongly as she could. But as it was very rarely that +Paolina had ever opposed her in any thing, she was the less prepared to +resist opposition on the present occasion. And as Paolina was in this +matter obstinate, old Orsola yielded; and set forth by herself to walk +to the Palazzo Castelmare. Nobody had ever any difficulty in obtaining +access to the popular Marchese; and the Signora Orsola Steno was at once +ushered into his library,—presented her letter, and was received with +all courtesy and kindness.</p> + +<p>To receive recommendations of all sorts, to be asked to render all kinds +of services, was nothing new or uncommon to the Marchese. He ran over +the Englishman's letter rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Va bene! va bene! At your service, Signora! I shall be most happy to +give you all the assistance in my power. I remember very well that +Signor Vilobe (Willoughby was the Englishman's name) was desirous of +procuring copies of some of our mosaics. I am very happy he has found so +competent a person to execute them."</p> + +<p>Signora Orsola made a feeble attempt to point out that she was not +herself the artist who was to make the copies in question; but what with +her awe of the grand seigneur to whom she was speaking, and what with +the strangeness of her Venetian tones to her hearer's ear, and what with +the Marchese's hurry, her explanation failed to reach his comprehension.</p> + +<p>"Yes! You and your companion will need to find a suitable lodging, the +first thing. We must see to it for you. But the fact is, Signora +Foscarelli, that I am more than usually busy this morning. I am +expecting some gentlemen here on business every minute. If you will +excuse me, therefore, I will entrust the commission of finding a proper +quartiere for you to my nephew. He will be more likely than I am to know +where what you require is likely to be found. He shall call upon you +this morning. Where are you? At the locanda de' Tre Re! Very good. Of +course you don't want to remain in an inn longer than can be helped. I +will tell my nephew to go to you this morning."</p> + +<p>So Signora Steno returned to the "Tre Re;" a little alarmed at the +thought that she had passed herself off for another person and a +somewhat different one, but charmed with the courtesy and kindness of +the Marchese. And in less than an hour the strangers from Venice heard +two voices below in the entrance of the locanda inquiring for two +Venetian ladies who had recently arrived in Ravenna.</p> + +<p>Two voices!—for it had so happened that when the servant, whom the +Marchese Lamberto had sent to his nephew to request him to undertake +this little commission for him, found the Marchese Ludovico at the door +of the Circolo, the Signore Conte Leandro Lombardoni was lounging there +with him.</p> + +<p>"Bah! what a bore? My uncle is always making himself the maestro di +casa, the manager, the protector, the servant of all the world. Tell the +Marchese I'll go directly," he said to the servant; then added to his +companion, "Come, Leandro, don't desert me! Let's go together and see +what these Venetian women want."</p> + +<p>"I ought to go to the Contessa Giulia at two. She'll be waiting for me, +and will be furious if I disappoint her. Never mind, what must be, must +be! I Tre Re! Ugh, what a distance; why, it is at the other end of the +town?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, come along; it will do you good to walk half a mile for +once and away," returned Ludovico, who knew perfectly well how much to +believe about the Contessa Giulia's despair at his friend's +non-appearance.</p> + +<p>Thus the two young men went together to the locanda de' Tre Re to +execute the commission entrusted to his nephew by the Marchese Lamberto.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said a slatternly girl, who came forth from some back region at +the call of the two young men, and who stared at them with an offensive +mixture of surprise and understanding interest, when they inquired for +the ladies recently arrived from Venice. "Yes, they were upstairs, on +the right hand, in No. 13." So they climbed the stairs, knocked at No. +13, were told to passare by the voice of Signora Orsola, and in the next +instant were in the room with the two strangers.</p> + +<p>The first glance at the occupants of the chamber produced a shock of +surprise, which manifested itself in so sudden a change of manner and +bearing in the two young men, that it would have been ludicrous to any +looker-on. The two hats came down from the two heads with a spring-like +suddenness and quickness; and both the young men bowed lowly.</p> + +<p>"Ladies," said Ludovico, addressing himself mainly to the elder, but +turning also towards the younger as he spoke, while the Conte Leandro +stared unmitigatedly at Paolina; "we come to you, sent by my uncle the +Marchese di Castelmare, and charged by him to assist you in finding a +convenient quartiere for your residence in Ravenna. Permit me to say on +my own behalf," he added, turning more entirely towards Paolina, "that I +hope it may not be a short one!"</p> + +<p>"If the Signorina would make her stay among us as long as we would wish +it, she would never leave Ravenna any more," said the Conte Leandro, +with a glance from his sharp little eyes, and a bow of his fat person, +that were meant to be quite killing.</p> + +<p>"It is this young lady, I conclude, who has undertaken to copy some of +our mosaics for the Englishman, who writes to my uncle, then?" said +Ludovico with a good-humoured and bright smile.</p> + +<p>"That is it, Signor—though she is but such a slip of a thing to look +at. I was afraid the Signor Marchese had taken it into his head that I +was Paolina Foscarelli. Lord love you! I could not make, nor yet copy a +picture, if it were to save my life!"</p> + +<p>"My uncle will be equally happy to have it in his power to oblige either +lady," rejoined Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"I am sure the Marchese is too good," said Signora Steno; "we remain +here till the Signorina Foscarelli has finished the job she has +undertaken, and no longer, nor no shorter. And some place we must find +to live in the while. And if your lordship could tell us where we would +be likely to find a couple of bedrooms, a bit of a sitting-room, and the +use of a kitchen, it would be very kind."</p> + +<p>"There will be no difficulty about that, I think, Signora," said the +Marchese Ludovico; "I will go at once and inquire! I think I know where +what we want may be had. If you will permit me, I will return to you +here in less than half an hour."</p> + +<p>"Troppo garbato, Signor Marchese!" said Orsola.</p> + +<p>"If the Signorina will permit me," said Leandro, "I think I know of just +such a little quartierino as would suit her, snug, quiet, and +parfettamente libero."</p> + +<p>To this offer, Paolina felt herself constrained to reply by a silent +little bow. His former speech had received no reply whatsoever.</p> + +<p>"I think I had better do what my uncle has told me to do, Leandro," said +the Marchese Ludovico, drily.</p> + +<p>And Paolina felt sufficiently grateful to him for the amount of snubbing +contained in his accent to say the first words she had spoken since they +entered the room. "We shall be exceedingly obliged to you, Signore, if +you will do so. Any quartiere which the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare +could recommend to us," she added, with a significant emphasis on the +words, "would be sure to suit us."</p> + +<p>"But perhaps the Marchese Lamberto may not know half as much about such +matters as I do, bella Signorina. People forget so many things by the +time they come to the age of the Marchese," said the Conte Leandro, with +a leering smile, which was meant to establish a confidential +understanding between him and Paolina. But the young girl's only answer +was to turn in her chair a little more away from him towards the window.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better leave the ladies, and see if we can find for them +what they require. I should prefer doing myself what my uncle has +entrusted to me," said Ludovico, with a frown on his brow.</p> + +<p>"Very good—do so. You say you shall be back here in half an hour; if +these ladies will permit me I will remain with them till you come back, +and then we can all go and look at the quartiere you have found +together," said the Conte Leandro.</p> + +<p>Poor Paolina, though perfectly determined not to acquiesce in this +arrangement, was quite at a loss what to say or do to prevent it from +being carried out.</p> + +<p>"But you forget your engagement to the Contessa Giulia," said Ludovico; +"surely you had better make haste to keep it."</p> + +<p>He had no belief whatever in any such engagement, and had a very faint +hope that any care for consistency would avail to induce his friend the +Conte Leandro to affect the necessity of keeping it. But he also was +perfectly determined not to leave him in the room with the strangers, +though almost as much at a loss as Paolina how to prevent it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hang the Contessa Giulia! In any case, it is too late to go to her +now, and I am sure I shall like much better to stay here," said Leandro.</p> + +<p>"Very likely. But you forget that it may not be equally agreeable to +these ladies that you should remain here, and they just arrived from a +journey too," said the Marchese Ludovico, who was inwardly cursing his +folly in having brought his friend with him on this errand, which he +unquestionably would not have done had he had the remotest idea what +manner of ladies they were that his uncle had deputed him to attend on.</p> + +<p>"By-the-by, Leandro," he said, suddenly, as he was moving towards the +door, "you must come with me—after all; for now I remember that the +rooms I had in my mind were let a short time since, and the best thing +we can do will be to go and look at those you spoke of."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I will tell you where they are—" said Leandro.</p> + +<p>"No, no! that won't do at all; come—come along. I won't go there +without you. Come!" said the Marchese.</p> + +<p>And this was said in a manner that had the effect of making Leandro take +leave of the ladies, with many hopes that they might meet again ere +long.</p> + +<p>Very soon after the two young men were in the street together, Ludovico +protested that he must call at the Circolo before attending to the +business they were on; and when he got there he pretended to be obliged +to run home for a minute to the Palazzo Castelmare, which was hard by, +saying that he would return and rejoin the Conte Leandro in less than +five minutes. And very heartily did that deceived gentleman abuse his +friend, when he had waited an hour, and found that he did not return at +all. Then, poor gentleman! he knew that he had been bamboozled,—cruelly +treated, as he said himself. And he perfectly well understood his dear +friend's object, too!</p> + +<p>"Such an intolerable, abominable coxcomb as that Ludovico is! As if he +fancied that nobody was to have a chance of speaking to that pretty girl +but himself. As if he thought that he had the ghost of a chance with a +woman, if I thought it worth while to cut him out!" grumbled the +gallant, gay Leandro to himself.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Ludovico, meanwhile, the instant he had succeeded in +freeing himself from his companion, darted off in search of an +apartment, which he thought would just suit his fair clients; hurried +back to them, at the inn; and had them installed in their new quarters +by that evening.</p> + +<p>"I am sure I do not know how to thank you enough for all your kindness, +Signor Marchese. I do not know what we should have done without it," +said the Signora Orsola.</p> + +<p>"For all your kindness!" repeated Paolina, with a look and an emphasis +which, while it expressed her gratitude, left him at no loss to +understand what part of all he had done for them had chiefly seemed to +the pretty Paolina to merit her special thanks.</p> + +<p>And these were the facts and the circumstances that had brought about a +state of matters which left the Marchese Lamberto and the gossips of the +Circolo in no doubt where the young Marchese Ludovico had gone to pass +his evening, when his uncle sent for him to the club for the purpose +which the reader wots of, and failed to find him there.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-2" id="CHAPTER_VI-2"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +The Beginning of Trouble</h3> + +<p>Nearly eight months had elapsed between that day when the Signora Orsola +and the Signorina Paolina were installed in their new lodging and the +day when the Marchese Ludovico was sitting in the more than modest +little room over a miserable morsel of fire, with the two Venetians, +when his uncle sent for him to give him the hint about any inconvenient +gossip that might be whispered concerning the Signora Bianca Lalli, in +accordance with the suggestion of the impresario.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto had made the personal acquaintance of the young +artist, who had been recommended to his protection very shortly after +the day on which he had deputed his nephew to find a lodging for her; +and he had instantly become aware that he had made a mistake in so +doing;—that he would certainly have deemed it better to take that care +upon himself rather than have confided it to the young Marchese, if he +had had the least idea what sort of person the Venetian artist was. +Nevertheless, he had been very strongly impressed with the propriety of +Paolina's manner and bearing, and after one or two more interviews, with +the thorough modesty of her mind, and purity and dignity of her +character. And the Marchese was a man well competent to form a sound +judgment of such matters.</p> + +<p>He had no reason to think that the young man, his nephew, was as +prudent, as steady, as little liable to the influence of female beauty, +as cold, if you will, as he himself had been at the same age. On the +contrary, the character, which the Marchese Ludovico had made for +himself in Ravenna, was a rather diametrically opposite one. But he was +strongly of opinion that in any enterprise of an illegitimate nature +which his nephew might attempt with the young artist, he would have his +trouble only for his pains. And, of course, any enterprise of any other +nature was wholly out of the question.</p> + +<p>Still, as the months went on he would have been far better contented +that his nephew should have been less often at the home of the two +Venetians. There were circumstances which made such visits especially +inexpedient at the present time. He knew that the young man was there +much oftener than he judged to be in any way desirable; and the young +man was there much oftener than his uncle knew. The Marchese Lamberto +was still very much persuaded that Paolina had not been led by his +nephew into any false step of a seriously blamable nature. But this was +by no means any reason with the Marchese for approving of his nephew's +conduct. The intercourse was altogether objectionable. Talk was +engendered,—talk of an undesirable description; and this was +excessively disagreeable to the Marchese, who had views for his nephew +which might be seriously compromised by it. A liaison of the kind, let +the real nature of it be what it would, was in any case discreditable to +his nephew and heir, and damaging more or less to the position which he +wished to see the young man occupy in the town. It was especially so, as +has been said, at the present conjuncture.</p> + +<p>Then, of course, it could not be otherwise than injurious to the girl. +She had, in some sort, been recommended to his care. And it disturbed +him much, that the conduct of his nephew should be the means of damaging +her reputation.</p> + +<p>Yet the Marchese, being a man of sense, knew very well that it would not +have done any good to attempt to exercise any such authority over the +young man as to forbid him to visit the lodging of the Venetians. In the +first place, such a step would, according to the notions and ways of +looking at things of the society in which he lived, have placed him +himself in a very ridiculous light;—a danger which was not to be +contemplated for an instant! And, besides, the Marchese was very well +aware that even if such an attempt did not cause his nephew to assume a +position of open rebellion, it would only have the effect of making him +do secretly and still more objectionably what he did, as it was, +comparatively openly.</p> + +<p>Comparatively, it must be said; for Ludovico was very much more +frequently at the little house in the Strada di S. Eufemia than his +uncle wotted of.</p> + +<p>Not much more frequently, however, than was very well known by most of +his contemporaries and fellow-habitues of the Circolo,—by pretty well +the whole of the "society" of Ravenna, that is to say. And in the +earlier part of the time in question,—of the eight months, that is, +from the March in which the young artist came to Ravenna, to the +November in which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to Milan +there had been plenty of joking and raillery about Ludovico's +enthralment by the "bella Veneziana," and many attempts to compete with +him for so very attractive and desirable a "buona fortuna." But all this +had only been at the beginning of the time. Ludovico had taken the +matter in a tone and in a humour, that had soon put an end to all such +joking and to all such attempts. It was in all ways easy for him to do +this. He was popular, and much liked among the young men, in the first +place. His social position, as the heir of one of the first families of +the province whether for wealth or nobility of race, and of a man of +such social standing as his uncle, made it a very undesirable thing to +quarrel with him. And even without any of such vantage-ground of +position, Ludovico di Castelmare was a man, whose path it would have +been dangerous to cross in such a matter as this, and who was very well +capable of affording to any woman, in whom he was interested, a very +efficient protection against any such offence as the most enterprising +of the jeunesse doree of Ravenna might have been disposed to offer her.</p> + +<p>The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had made the utmost of the chance that had +rendered him the earliest acquaintance of the beautiful Venetian in +Ravenna, with the exception of Ludovico himself. He had chattered, and +boasted after the manner of his kind. He had succeeded in finding out +the lodging, which Ludovico had taken so much pains to conceal from him, +and had endeavoured to establish himself on the footing of a visiting +acquaintance in the Strada Sta. Eufemia. But it had come to pass, that a +degree of intimacy had very quickly grown up between Paolina and +Ludovico, which permitted her to let him understand that, he would +render her an acceptable service by once again ridding her of the Conte +Leandro, as he had done on that first day of their acquaintance. And the +result was that, one evening, the gallant Conte, on knocking at the door +of the house in the Strada di S. Eufemia, had it opened to him by his +friend Ludovico,—and further, that he never came back there any more, +or was heard again to make any allusion whatever to his Venetian +acquaintances.</p> + +<p>But what was no longer said jestingly before Ludovico's face was none +the less said enviously, sneeringly, or knowingly behind his back. It +was perfectly well understood by all the young men in Ravenna that he +was desperately in love with the beautiful Venetian artist. As to the +terms on which he stood with her there were differences of opinion. But +by far the more accredited notion was that the affair was quite a normal +and ordinary one; and that the charming Paolina was the young Marchese's +mistress.</p> + +<p>Would he give her up, when the marriage, which, as was well known to all +Ravenna, his uncle had been arranging for him with the young Contessa +Violante di Marliani, and which was expected to come off shortly, should +be consummated? That was the more interesting point for speculation. +Would he, as really seemed not impossible, be mad enough to carry on +with the Venetian girl to such an extent as to give umbrage to the +family of the Contessa, and perhaps even endanger the match? This also +was debated among his young peers of the Circolo, while he was passing +the hour in the Strada di Sta. Eufemia.</p> + +<p>His uncle was far from being aware how far matters had gone with his +nephew in this matter. But he knew enough to make him uneasy about it, +and to lead him to endeavour to push on the match with the Contessa +Violante by every means in his power: for the marriage with the Lady +Violante was, in every point of view, a desirable one. The Cardinal +Legate of Ravenna was a Marliani, and the young lady in question was his +great-niece—the granddaughter of his only brother. She had lost both +her parents at an early age, and now lived at Ravenna with a +great-aunt,—the younger sister of the Cardinal, under his protection +and wing, as it were. The family was not a rich one, but the Cardinal +had worn the purple many years. He had held very lucrative offices in +the Apostolic Court previously, and had doubtless amassed very +considerable wealth, and the Lady Violante was his only heiress. Besides +that, of course the position of her great-uncle as Legate rendered her +all that was desirable as a match for the noblest of the province—not +to mention other grander possibilities in the background. The reigning +Pontiff was a very aged man. The Cardinal di Marliani was thought to +stand very well at Rome. Who knew what might happen? It would have been +too monstrous if the hope of such a marriage as this were to be +endangered by a silly fancy for the pretty face and slim figure of a +little artist.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto had felt his position to be a difficult one. He +really did not know what line it would be wisest to take. Ludovico had +spoken among his associates at the Circolo in a manner which had +effectually silenced all light allusion to the ladies in the Strada di +Santa Eufemia. He could not speak exactly in the same tone to his uncle; +but the hints that the Marchese Lamberto had from time to time thrown +out to the effect that, under the circumstances of the case, he did not +approve of his nephew's intimacy with the Signorina, Paolina Foscarelli, +had been received in a manner by the younger man which had warned the +elder that some caution was required in the task of guiding his nephew +in this matter. He had never had much cause to be dissatisfied with his +nephew's conduct, or with his behaviour towards himself: but some years +before the present time, he had been made aware that the Marchese +Ludovico was one of those whom it is easier to lead than to drive; and +that any attempt at a little too much driving would be likely to lead to +kicking, and perhaps to an entire breaking of reins and traces.</p> + +<p>And, being a man of sense, he had acted on the hints thus given him with +considerable success. The Marchese Ludovico had submitted on most +occasions to be led with all desirable docility. But now, in this +matter, wherein judicious leading was more than ever before in his life +necessary to him, he seemed to decline to be led at all.</p> + +<p>How could the perplexed Marchese do otherwise than frown when he was +told that his nephew was not at the Circolo at that hour of the evening, +knowing very well where such absence showed him to be? Yet he probably +would have done, or attempted to do, some thing else,—or, at all +events, the frown would have been a yet heavier and blacker one,—could +he not only have guessed where his nephew was at that moment, but have +also heard what was passing in the little salottino of the Strada di S. +Eufemia.</p> + +<p>Some account of the conversation there may perhaps serve the purpose of +saving all necessity for a detailed account of the intercourse which had +taken place between Ludovico and Paolina during the last eight months. +The story of it will be sufficiently understood from a peep at its +result.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-2" id="CHAPTER_VII-2"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +The Teaching of a Great Love</h3> + +<p>Paolina had been working all day in the church of San Vitale. She had +very nearly completed the copies she was to make there; and they were +the most important in extent of all she had engaged to execute. It had +been necessary to erect a scaffolding for the purpose of bringing the +artist sufficiently near to her subject; and the permission to have this +done had been obtained by the all-powerful interest of the Marchese +Lamberto. Many an hour had Ludovico passed on that scaffolding by the +artist's side as she plied her slow and laborious task; and many a +"Paul" had the old sacristan pocketed with a grin of understanding, as +he had opened the door of the church to the young Marchese, the object +of whose visit he had long since learned to understand.</p> + +<p>And Paolina herself? Did she approve of these visits made thus in the +perfect seclusion of that old church at the hours when its doors were +shut to the public? Did she like the hours so spent in tete-a-tete +conversation with the handsome young Marchese? She, who had so readily +found the means to make the entreprenant Conte Leandro keep his +distance, and had succeeded in disembarrassing herself of him +altogether,—could she find no possible means for avoiding the +assiduities of the Marchese Ludovico; could she not at least have +induced old Orsola to accompany her in the church of San Vitale, as she +had accompanied her in the gallery at Venice?</p> + +<p>Perhaps old Orsola did not like climbing up a ladder to a scaffolding. +Perhaps she had the superstitious dislike to an empty, and lonely church +not uncommon to uneducated Italians. The fact was at all events that, +even after Ludovico had, upon more than one occasion, brought the +rushing blood into the dark face of Paolina by surprising her at her +work on the scaffolding near the vaults of the church, old Orsola never +made her appearance there. She was always at her place on one side of +the fire during the visits of the Marchese to the quartiere in the +Strada di Santa Eufemia in the evening; but it was equally true that she +almost always went to sleep.</p> + +<p>It is so natural and so desirable that the old should sleep under such +circumstances and on such occasions! It is so evidently for the benefit +of all the parties concerned, that the tendency may be reckoned among +the instances of beneficent adaptation with which the whole order of +Nature is filled!</p> + +<p>It can hardly be doubted,—Ludovico could hardly be blamed for the +persuasion—that Paolina did like his visits. It may be pretty safely +assumed that those blushes, which greeted the appearance of his head +above the planks as he climbed to the scaffolding, were not painful +blushes. How early in those eight months it came to pass that her heart +leaped at the click of the huge old key in the lock, as the sacristan +admitted Ludovico by a turn of it which, as she had well learned, +heralded his coming, it might be hard to say. Paolina herself could not +probably have told this to her own heart. But that such had come to be +the case long before the evening when the Marchese Lamberto sought his +nephew at the Circolo, and could not find him, can hardly be doubted.</p> + +<p>Thus much having been admitted, it seems as if there might be reason to +fear that Paolina may appear worthy of censure to those of her own sex, +to whom her story is here commended, to a degree which truth, and an +acquaintance with times, places, and national manners, would not quite +justify. But in these matters of national appreciation, of fitness and +unfitness, and of propriety and impropriety, the nuances are so fine and +subtle, that it is somewhat difficult, in trying to explain them, to say +just what one means without seeming to say more than one means.</p> + +<p>One thing is clear. Paolina was as thoroughly and essentially modest and +innocent a girl as ever breathed; but she was so "by the grace of +God,"—from natural idiosyncrasy and instinctive purity of heart, that +is to say, rather than from teaching of any kind, or from any knowledge +of good or evil. She was an orphan, the child of parents who were +"nobody," and she was left in the world to find her own way in it as she +could. So much the more, replies the prudent English matron, ought she +to have been extra careful lest the breath of misconception should even +for a passing moment sully her. It is the sentiment of a people, who, +"aristocratic" as they may be, do really feel that that which is best +and purest in the highest lady of the land may be, and should be, also +the heritage of lowliest. But such is not practically the feeling in +those social latitudes where Paolina was born and bred.</p> + +<p>The breath that tarnishes the clear mirror of a noble damsel's name, +says and teaches that social feeling, brings dishonour to a noble race; +and she has failed in her duty to her race. But who could be injured by +any light word spoken or light thought of such an one as poor Paolina? +She was an "artist." What treason to art, what lese-majeste against the +beautiful in every one of its manifestations, to conceive that in that +fact any reason was to be found why a less nice conduct in such matters +should be expected of her! And yet, for reasons which it would take a +volume to elucidate, so it is, that in the countries where art is deemed +to be most at home, and where it is in the largest degree the occupation +of large sections of the people, it is deemed that a less strict rule +with reference to the matters under consideration is laid on them than +on others. What if a young female artist "perfectly free from ties," as +would be urged, and whose conduct in such a matter could hurt +nobody,—what if such an one chose to form a tie not recognized by the +Church? The Church herself would look very leniently on the venial +fault. And though Paolina was such as she has been described, it was +impossible but that such notions, not specially set forth or taught, but +pervading all the unconscious teaching of the world around her, should +have rendered her less sensitively anxious as to the possibility of +misconception lighting on her, than an equally good English girl would +have been. Could she have been indifferent to the danger that slander +should tarnish her good name? asks an Englishwoman. But the whole world +in which she lived would not have felt it to be slander. It would have +been too much in the ordinary course of things.</p> + +<p>How Paolina felt in the matter, Ludovico was made to understand on that +evening which has been so often referred to; and the reader may gather +from the conversation that passed between them.</p> + +<p>Paolina had worked hard all day. The mosaics in San Vitale were nearly +finished. Ludovico had been with her on her scaffolding during the few +hours of light of the short afternoon. He had become sensible that the +intercourse between him and Paolina had latterly been growing to be less +frank, unreserved, and easy than it had been. He had once been quite +sure that Paolina loved him with the whole force of a thoroughly virgin +heart. He had latterly begun almost to think that he had been mistaken +in her. She would turn from him. She would fall into long silences. She +was embarrassed in speaking to him; and it had often happened lately +that talk had passed between them, which had seemed as if they were +speaking at cross-purposes—as if there were something not understood or +misunderstood between them.</p> + +<p>And Ludovico had come to the house in the Strada di Sta. Eufemia that +evening, safely relying on the expectation that the Signora Orsola would +go fast asleep, and determined to bring matters to an understanding +between him and Paolina.</p> + +<p>"You can hardly, I think, doubt, Paolina mia, that I love you dearly, +far more dearly than anything else on the face of the earth. Do you not +see and know that all my life is devoted to you? You do not doubt, +darling, do you?" said Ludovico, as he sat holding one of her hands in +his.</p> + +<p>She sat silent for awhile, and with her face turned away from him, +though she made no attempt to take her hand from his.</p> + +<p>"You do not doubt it, Paolina?" he asked again.</p> + +<p>"If I did doubt it,—if I had doubted it, Ludovico, you could not have +taught me the lesson which you have taught me—the lesson which you well +know you have so thoroughly taught me, to love you. We neither of us +doubt of the love of the other. But—."</p> + +<p>She still continued to sit with her face averted from him; and, after +another pause, finished her speech only by a little sad shake of her +head.</p> + +<p>Now the truth was that Ludovico often did doubt very much whether +Paolina really loved him. He did not understand the position in which +they stood towards each other at all. Here was a little utterly +unpretending artist, dependent on no one but herself, owing no duty to +any one, to whom he had been making love for the last eight months, as +he had never in his life made love before, who assured him that she +loved him; how was it that she had not been his mistress months and +months ago? How to account for so strange a phenomenon? He knew very +well, that if the exact truth of his position with regard to the little +Venetian artist were known or guessed at by any of the men with whom he +lived, he would have appeared to them an object of the utmost +ridicule,—a dupe,—a fool of the very first water. What on earth could +he have been about all the time?</p> + +<p>And there were moments in which he was tempted to think the same of +himself; bitter moments of cynical world-wisdom, in which he scoffed at +himself for having been led to play the part he had played for these +last eight months. He would resolve at such moments to "speak plainly" +to Paolina; and, if such plain-speaking failed of the effect it was +intended to produce, to put her out of his mind and never waste a minute +or a thought upon her again.</p> + +<p>But such plain-speaking had never got itself spoken,—had seemed, when +he was in presence of the intended object of it, utterly impossible to +be spoken. And as for the other alternative, he knew at the bottom of +his heart, that it was as much out of his power to put it in practice, +as it was to forget his own identity.</p> + +<p>Something there was in the girl different from anything he had ever +known in any other specimen of the sex he had ever become acquainted +with. Something too there unmistakably was in his feeling towards her +very different from aught that he had ever felt before. What spell had +come over him? And what the deuce was the nature of her power over him? +And what the deuce was her own meaning, and feeling, and the motives of +her conduct?</p> + +<p>It really was necessary, however, that they should in some way come to +understand each other. If he had been becoming for some time past +discontented with the state of matters between them, it was evident that +Paolina had been becoming ill at ease and unhappy also. In some fashion +or other some more or less plain speaking was evidently needed.</p> + +<p>And Paolina herself? What was her feeling on the subject? Whence did her +unmistakable malaise, distraught behaviour in Ludovico's presence, +paling cheeks, hours of reverie, when she should have been busily at +work—whence did all this come? What was really in her mind when she +told him that doubtless they both loved each other, and then ended her +words with a "but," and a sad shake of her drooping little head?</p> + +<p>She had found this man, her first acquaintance, in a strange land, +good-natured, pleasant, kind, useful, handsome, protecting and, at the +same time, deferential in his manner; and she had liked him. He had +delivered her from the Conte Leandro, and there had come into her mind +comparisons between the two men. He had been on her side in that matter; +they had wished the same thing, and had accomplished it against a third +person; there had been, as it were, a secret between them on the +subject; and hence had grown a bond of union. She had advanced from +liking to admiring. Thence to the consciousness that she was admired. +She had gone onwards through the usual phases of surprising herself in +the act of thinking of him at all sorts of hours, and gradually +discovering that he filled an immense portion of her lonely life there +in the strange city, till she came to the stage of mingling the avowal +"Gli voglio tanto bene" with her last prayers to Mary Mother by her +bedside at night, and meditating on the words he had said and the looks +be had looked, after she had laid her head upon the pillow.</p> + +<p>She had thus quietly walked onwards into the deep waters of a great +love, before any question had ever suggested itself to her as to whither +she was going, and whether there might not be danger of perishing in +those deep waters.</p> + +<p>Now nothing is clearer or more undoubted by every good and +well-conditioned girl among ourselves, than the certainty that any man +who unmistakably seeks to win her love either means and hopes to make +her his wife, or is merely fooling her for his own abominably selfish +amusement, or is insulting her and endeavouring to injure her in a +manner that makes it at once her duty and her inclination to spurn him +from her with horror and loathing.</p> + +<p>But here, again, as the lawyers say, "locus regit actum." That which the +English girl feels, under such circumstances, so naturally, that she +deems it an inseparable part of her nature that she should so feel, she +feels because of the teaching of the whole social atmosphere in which +she has lived. The Italian girl, in the position of Paolina, does not +feel it, because she has lived in a very different social atmosphere.</p> + +<p>It is quite certain that Paolina,—if the question, whether it was in +anywise on the cards that the Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had +conceived, or was likely to conceive, any project of marrying her, +Paolina Foscarelli, had suggested itself, or had been suggested, to her +at any time during those eight months,—would at once have replied to +her own heart or to any other person, that such an idea was utterly +preposterous and out of the question.</p> + +<p>But he had been striving to convince her that he loved her by every +means in his power for months past, and had succeeded in so convincing +her. Was he merely playing with her? That idea never entered into her +head. As she, with sad and transparent frankness, had told him, neither +of them could doubt the love of the other. What doubt could remain, +then, as to the alternative? What doubt of the atrocious nature of his +designs and intentions towards her? No doubt at all. Ought she not, +therefore, with the intensest scorn of what-do-you-take-me-for-sir +indignation to have repelled the insult offered to her?</p> + +<p>Poor Paolina had no conception that any insult at all was offered to her +or intended. Ludovico was minded to offer to her that which it was in +his power to offer, for her to accept if it suited her, or to decline if +it suited her not. The species of tie that he offered her was all he +could offer her. It was one very frequently offered and very frequently +accepted in similar cases. Had the possibility that she might one day +accept such been suggested to her, it would have produced no horror in +her mind. She had no conviction during all these eight months that she +never could or would accept such a position from any man. Why, then, did +not matters proceed harmoniously and smoothly between them? Why had not +Paolina become Ludovico's mistress before this time? What was the +meaning of the averted face, and of that broken off "but—" which she +had found it so difficult to follow with a completed sentence?</p> + +<p>The meaning was, that Paolina's own heart, during those hours of reverie +filled with the meditation of her love,—during those pourings forth of +her confessions of love to her heavenly confidant in her bedside +prayers;—during her nightly review of the love-passages of the +day,—her own heart, as it became clearer to her, had revealed to her, +that she could not accede to any such proposal as that which, she was +well persuaded, the Marchese could alone offer to her;—had revealed it +to her, not in obedience to any moral principle; not by any +what-do-you-take-me-for process of indignant virtue; but by an +instinctive feeling irresistible and not to be gainsayed, that the love +she had to bestow must possess its object wholly and entirely, or not at +all. It was quite a matter of course that Ludovico would marry some lady +in his rank of life. She was not ignorant of the position in which he +stood with regard to the Contessa Violante. And his openness to her on +this subject is a curious indication of the very wide difference between +the mode in which the whole subject would be looked at by both parties +in the world in which they lived, and in our own.</p> + +<p>Philosophers, as the result of much learned observation and long +reasonings, come to the conclusion that monogamy is best suited, on the +whole, to the nature, the requirements, and progressive improvement of +mankind. A pure-hearted woman, who loves with a true and great love, +finds a shorter cut to the same conviction.</p> + +<p>And the growing depth and earnestness of Paolina's love had arrived at +teaching her this with unmistakable clearness. She might pine, might +die—might compel her heart to turn to stone;—might seek the refuge of +a cloister, which is the southern equivalent for suicide;—but she could +not—she felt she could not live and be content to share her lover's +love with another. It was not any sensation of the nature of jealousy so +much as an unconquerable feeling that not to have all was to have +nothing;—that she must have all and for ever; that she and he must be +one;—one flesh and one spirit.</p> + +<p>Of course all this ought to be taught, and is taught to all respectably +educated young persons in more regular and didactic fashion. But to poor +little unschooled Paolina it was taught not less authoritatively by the +greatness and the purity of her own love.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-2" id="CHAPTER_VIII-2"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +A Change in the Situation</h3> + +<p>"Neither of us can any more doubt the love of the other, Ludovico mio!" +Paolina had said in reply, to his pleading, "but—"</p> + +<p>But what, tesoro mio? What 'but' can come between us, if there is no +such doubt to come between us?" urged Ludovico, gently drawing her +towards him by the hand he still held locked in his own.</p> + +<p>Again Paolina paused some minutes before replying, less apparently from +hesitation to speak what was in her mind, than because she was applying +her whole mind to the better understanding of her own meaning.</p> + +<p>"It is not, that I doubt whether you love me, Ludovico mio!" she said at +length, but still without turning towards him; "I know you love me truly +and well. But I sometimes think, that you do not love me in the same way +that I love you. I never knew before that there could be different ways +of loving. But now it seems to me,—and I have thought so much, oh, so +much of it,—that somehow you look less to the whole, of +everything,—how can I say what I mean?—less to all our lives, and all +our selves, in your love, than I do."</p> + +<p>"What can you mean, Paolina? A different way of loving! I know but of +one way!" said Ludovico with a somewhat banal flourish.</p> + +<p>"What would become of me, Ludovico mio," she said, now looking round +into his face, with a look in her deep true eyes, that made him feel for +the moment as though all the world were truly as nothing to him, in +comparison with her love;—"what would become of me, if you were to +cease to love me? I should wither away, and die. It is probably what +will happen to me!"</p> + +<p>"Paolina!" he exclaimed, in a voice of strong reproach.</p> + +<p>She put her hand upon his shoulder, as if to beg him to let her complete +what she wished to say, and continued,—"But what would happen to you, +if I were—it is impossible, but if I were—to cease to love you? would +not that show you, that there is a difference between ways of loving?"</p> + +<p>"No, cara mia, it would shew no such thing. Look now, Paolina! They tell +of lovers' perjuries. But I never said one word to you that I did not +believe to be true. Nor will I ever do so. Were you to be taken from me, +by your own heart, and your own act, or in any other way, I do not +believe that I should wither and die. But it does not follow, that I +should suffer less. I should live on, not because my love is weaker, but +because my body is stronger than yours. God grant that such a lot may +never befall me."</p> + +<p>"It never can befall you, amor mio! but, Ludovico, you could not only +live, but you could love—some other woman;" she uttered the words with +a little gulp of emotion, and continued: "Do you imagine, that if I +lived to a thousand years, I could ever love any other than you?"</p> + +<p>"What right have you to say, Paolina, that I should ever, or could ever +love another but you?" said Ludovico, indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Nay, Ludovico, must you not do so always? Are you not professing to do +so even now? Are you not promising your love to the Contessa Violante? +will she not have a better right to your love than I?"</p> + +<p>Ludovico started, and drawing himself a little back from Paolina, looked +at her with reproachful surprise. It was not that he was surprised at +learning that she was aware of his engagement to the Contessa. He had, +as has been said, concealed nothing from her in that respect. But he was +vexed, and surprised at the feeling she manifested on the subject.</p> + +<p>"You surprise me, Paolina!" he said. "Would it have been better if I had +concealed all this from you? Many men,—most men perhaps, in similar +circumstances would have done so. But I cannot treat you in that way. I +have been, and would always be open and sincere to you in all things. +You know all about this match. You know that it is a family arrangement +managed by my uncle. You know, that if I wished it ever so much, I can't +avoid it. You know, or ought to know, that it is not, and cannot be a +matter of affection in any way. You know that in the world such +marriages are arranged and are known and understood to be arranged, for +reasons, and on ground with which love has nothing to do. Does not all +Ravenna know, including the lady herself doubtless, that I am to marry +her because she is the great-niece of the Cardinal Legate? Can I be +expected to love her, because she is the Cardinal's niece? Surely, my +Paolina, you are not speaking or thinking of this matter, with your +usual good sense!"</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, Ludovico; I am, at all events speaking with my whole +heart!" she said in a tone of profound sadness. "If what you say is +true,—and do not imagine, dearest, that I have the smallest doubt that +all you say to me is entirely and perfectly true,—just think of the lot +of that povera Contessa Violante! Poverina! I dare say she,—think of +the wrong I should be doing her! Think how she would hate me!" She +shuddered as she spoke. "Nobody, I think, ever hated me yet," she +continued; "and it seems to me so horrible to be hated. And more +horrible still to know that I should be justly hated! And then, tesoro +mio!—Mio!—How could I ever say mio? Never, never, never, mio!" she +cried, bursting into passionate tears. "No, never mine! The very word +itself, which comes so naturally to my lips, tells me, like a knell in +my heart, that it can never be!"</p> + +<p>"But, Paolina, angiola mia," said Ludovico, who had heard her with a +look of consternation, "what has thus changed you? For it is a change. +You knew all these things before. What has occurred to put such notions +into your mind all of a sudden?"</p> + +<p>"Not all of a sudden, Ludovico! The blessed Virgin knows for how many +sad and solitary hours I have been thinking, and thinking, and thinking +of all this! She knows how many nights I have passed in tears to think +of it. What has put it into my head, you say? Ludovico, it is my love +for you that has put it into my head! It is my strong love that has +opened my eyes, and made me see that I cannot—cannot—I mean—that I +cannot share your love with another!"</p> + +<p>The words came forced from her with a great effort, and with a sob that +seemed as if it would choke her.</p> + +<p>"Oh my Paolina, what words are these?" said he, his own voice trembling +with trouble and emotion.</p> + +<p>"It is true, Ludovico! It is my true love that has opened my eyes. I +fear that I have done very wrong; and the blessed Saints know that I +shall have my punishment! I have done wrong in loving you, and letting +you love me! But I did not know it, I did not think, I did not see where +I was going! I ought to have known that love was not for a poor girl +like me! I ought to have known that evil and misery would come. But till +I loved you with my whole, whole heart, Ludovico; and till I found out +that I did, I did not know that—that it would be so,—that I should +feel as I feel now."</p> + +<p>Ludovico got up from his seat, and began walking up and down the floor +of the little room, sighing deeply, and passing his hand again and again +across his forehead. Presently he sat down again, bringing his chair so +as to front her fully as he sat.</p> + +<p>"Paolina," he said, looking sadly into her eyes with a deeper meaning in +his own than she had ever seen there; "your words have made me very, +very miserable! I never in all my life was so unhappy as I am now. You +must listen now, my Paolina, to what I am going to say; and you must +think well before you answer me. You see, dearest, that it is necessary +that we should quite understand this matter, and understand each other. +Many men, if they had been told what you have now told me, would begin +to reproach a girl with not loving them,—to say that it was clear she +did not care for them. I will not do so. I will not pretend to think +that you do not love me. I know that you do, as well as you know that I +love you with my whole heart. And with this knowledge in both our +hearts, think what is the meaning and the end of what you have been +saying. You know that this marriage is inevitable! And the consequence +of it is to be that we two are both to be broken-hearted,—to condemn +ourselves to pass loveless lives,—to give each other up,—see each +other no more,—make all the future a blank to both of us. Good God, +Paolina! You cannot mean that!"</p> + +<p>"When you have married, Ludovico mio,—when I have said those dear words +for the last, last time, you will have plenty of things to make you +forget your poor Paolina! And for me, I shall be heart-broken doing no +wrong to any other, instead of heart-broken and doing terrible wrong all +the time! And, dearest, it would be worse than heart-break. I could +not—it is stronger than I am! It seems like a new horrible thing shown +to me, which I never saw or thought of before! When it comes close to me +I shudder at the thought—."</p> + +<p>"At what thought, Paolina? At the thought of my being married to the +Contessa Violante?" asked Ludovico, looking steadfastly into her eyes.</p> + +<p>She bore his gaze without withdrawing her sad, still eyes for awhile, +thinking deeply before she answered.</p> + +<p>"No, Ludovico; not at the thought of your being married to the Contessa +Violante! That is a thought which may break my heart. But it does not +make me shudder, as that other thought does;—the thought of—of—- of +loving one, who—who—who owes his love to another; the thought of +taking by stealth whatever share of love may be given to me stolen from +the rightful owner. Never! never! never! Would you then be mine,—all +mine, for ever, and ever, and ever! Oh, my love, my love! If you don't +understand this, love has not opened your eyes as it has mine. Do you +think that I could endure the thought of being married to another man? +The bare notion is horror—horror—HORROR! Would I not rather die this +minute; ay, or die a thousand times!"</p> + +<p>Again Ludovico got up from his chair and paced the room, sometimes +stopping abruptly in apparently deep thought, and sometimes resuming his +walk with every appearance of despair in his face and gestures. It is +needless to say that Paolina had spoken the very inmost truth that was +in her heart in all its entirety; but she had also succeeded in making +him feel that it was so.</p> + +<p>There is often a feeling in a man's mind on such occasions—a feeling +too closely allied to selfishness—which leads him to be dissatisfied +with what seems to him the unwillingness of a woman to make sacrifices +to her love. And often a woman, knowing this, and calculating mostly +falsely, is urged to yield by a desire of proving that she does not +deserve such a suspicion. But Ludovico had no such thought in his mind. +He knew that Paolina had not only spoken truly, but had represented her +mind accurately. It was not that she "respected herself." The poor child +had never received any lessons which could teach her such respect. She +had been perfectly ready to accept the social position of Ludovico's +mistress, until the power of a great, true, and pure love had unsealed +the eyes of her understanding, of her imagination, and of her heart to +the nature—not of the social position of such a tie as that proposed to +her—but of the absolute imperious necessity of sharing such a love with +none. Putting all notion of principle, of duty, of the understood +expediency of conforming to laws divine, and human, out of the question, +such a love as Paolina felt demands this with a cogency of insistence +that cannot be set aside. And the man who hopes, or flatters himself, or +suffers himself to be persuaded that such a love has been given to him +upon any other terms, is—he may rely upon it with the certainty due to +an eternal law of nature—deceived. The quality of the love which may +have so been given to him is of a different kind.</p> + +<p>After awhile Ludovico came again and stopped directly in front of the +chair in which Paolina was sitting; but he remained standing, and +placing his two hands, one on either of her shoulders, and looking down +into her face with moist eyes, he said,—"My love, my true and best—my +only love! I cannot lose you, Paolina; I cannot give you up. +Truly—truly I had rather that any other thing—any other evil that +could happen, should happen to me. We are, and we must be, all in all to +each other, my Paolina, now and ever. There is no alternative +possibility to this. Love has opened my eyes, too, my darling angel! +Your love has opened my eyes; I will know no other love,—no other +woman—call none other wife but you! Paolina, you will be mine?—my all? +my only one?"</p> + +<p>"Ludovico!" she exclaimed, looking up at him with an ecstasy of joy, and +yet with a great terror upon her face; "but what will happen—what will +happen to you? What will be done to me?"</p> + +<p>"We must see, my heart's treasure! We must have patience; you must trust +to me. You do trust me, non e vero? I must put off this marriage; then +find means to break it. And, after all, what can my uncle do? I am +dependent on him while he lives; but I must succeed to all he has when +he dies. My promised wife! Are you mine—mine for ever? Will you now put +your dear little hand in mine, and promise me, and have faith in me, and +wait for me, and have patience till I can see my way, and love me all +the time, my own—my darling?"</p> + +<p>"I am your own, Ludovico;—yours, any way: to live for you, if such a +lot may be mine; to die still yours, if it may not! Wait! Patience! What +shall tire my patience? So I know that you are loving me—me only—all +the time, I shall ask nothing more! But, oh, I am so frightened! And +then I shall be a cause of such mischief and trouble to you. Would it +not have been better for you if you had never seen poor Paolina?"</p> + +<p>"No, no, no, no! It would have been a thousand million times worse for +me! Be of good heart, my treasure; nothing can hurt you. We must keep +our secret for a while; and nothing will hurt me, if we manage well. But +I must think; my mind is in a confusion;—a joyful confusion, dearest! +But I must think it all over. If you see me less often, be sure that it +is because I am planning for our happiness. And now, darling,—my own, +my own, now really and for ever, my own—one kiss to seal our contract! +You won't refuse me that. I take you thus in my arms, my Paolina; for +the first time as your promised husband. Good-night—good-night—my own! +I trust I may be able to think of what I am doing at the Palazzo +tonight. Good-night, my own!"</p> + +<p>And thus the Marchese Ludovico returned that evening to the Palazzo +Castelmare, about an hour after Signor Ercole Stadione had quitted it; +pledged to find some means of breaking off the match with the Contessa +Violante Marliani, to which all Ravenna was looking forward, and engaged +to be married to the little obscure Venetian orphan artist.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-2" id="CHAPTER_IX-2"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +Uncle and Nephew</h3> + +<p>Ludovico di Castelmare did not see his uncle that evening. He returned +to the Palazzo, thoughtful enough, direct from the house in the Strada +di Santa Eufemia, and there learned that the Impresario had been with +the Marchese; that he had brought the good news of his success in having +engaged "La Lalli" to sing at Ravenna during the coming Carnival; and +that he, Ludovico, had been sent for by his uncle from the Circolo. What +for, the servant could not tell him. He could only say that the Marchese +had seemed much put out at the Signor Marchese Ludovico's absence, and +that he had shortly afterwards gone out to pass the remainder of the +evening at the palace of the Cardinal Legate.</p> + +<p>Ludovico was by no means so anxious to see his uncle as to wait to do so +till he should return at night. He betook himself to his own +quartierino, locked the door, and sat down to think.</p> + +<p>He had said no more than the truth to Paolina when he professed that he +had never spoken a word with the intention of deceiving her. Nor had he +been otherwise than entirely sincere in all that he had just been saying +to her. Nevertheless he felt, somewhat more strongly and clearly, +perhaps, than while he had been looking into Paolina's eyes, that he had +undertaken rather a tremendous task in declaring that he would break off +the projected marriage with the Lady Violante, the great-niece of the +Cardinal,—a match which both families considered to be definitively +arranged, and which was expected and looked forward to by all Ravenna, +and that for the purpose and with the view of making so terrible a +mesalliance as that he contemplated. The Marchese Ludovico felt all the +weight of the inheritance of a great name and a still greater social +position, which devolved upon him from his uncle. It was bad enough to +contemplate the effect which would be produced, as regarded himself, by +the step he contemplated. But it was perfectly terrible to think of the +effect it would produce on the Marchese Lamberto. Ludovico was proud, in +his more easy-going way, of the position he occupied as his uncle's +nephew in the society of the city; but it was not to him the breath of +his nostrils as it was to his uncle.</p> + +<p>He felt, as a weak man is apt to feel in similar positions of +difficulty, that the best and quickest, and, above all, the easiest, way +out of all embarrassment would be to run away from it—to quit Ravenna, +and give it up—it, and all its inhabitants for ever. He could do this. +He felt that Paolina would be worth such a sacrifice. But how to +accomplish such a step while his uncle lived?</p> + +<p>As it was all he could do was to procrastinate, he thought of the old +Italian proverb, "Gain time, and you will pull through," and he +determined to profit by the wisdom of it. Even procrastination would not +be without difficulty. But something might be done in that way,—some +time might be gained. And then there was always that never-failing +resource and consolation of those who, in the words of Horace, limit +their ambition to adapting themselves to circumstances instead of +adapting circumstances to them, something might turn up; though, for the +present, it was difficult to see what that something could possibly be, +unless it were the death of his uncle, a perfectly robust and healthy +man in the fiftieth year of his life.</p> + +<p>Might possibly the something take the shape of a change or mitigation of +Paolina's resolve? No sooner did the idea cross his mind than he felt +ashamed of it, and his heart smote him for having for a moment harboured +a thought that involved falseness to his promise to her. Nevertheless, +it was not the last time that the thought recurred.</p> + +<p>The next morning he met his uncle.</p> + +<p>"I had Stadione with me yesterday evening," said the Marchese, "and I +wanted to speak to you about something he said. I was sorry to be told +that you were not at the Circolo."</p> + +<p>"I was sorry that Beppo did not find me. What was it? Signor Ercole has +succeeded in his mission, I hear."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and it was on that matter I wanted to speak to you; but this +morning will do as well for that. It was not that that vexed me, +Ludovico. I won't ask you to tell me where you were, and I don't want to +play the inquisitor; but the fact is, I know very well without asking. +And, my dear nephew, I cannot but tell you that you are acting +unwisely,—imprudently even."</p> + +<p>"What have I done that is wrong, sir? Is it not fitting that I should +show some attention to people, who came here recommended to you, and +whom you yourself first commissioned me to assist?" said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"What is the good of answering in that way, Ludovico. Just as if we both +did not know better than that, and know too what we both mean? Pay some +attention! Pshaw! Do you think that I am quite a fool? As if I did not +know what you go there for, and what you have been going there for these +eight months past, since first I was blockhead enough to throw that +pretty girl in your way. Now, figliuolo mio, it is my duty to tell you +that that sort of thing won't do—just at present. I don't want, as I +said, to play the inquisitor, nor do I wish to play the preacher. When +you are married you must guide your own conduct as you may think fit; +but now every consideration of propriety and prudence should teach you +that you must not continue to run after that young person in the sight +of all the town in the way you do. Here you are on the point of +contracting a marriage, which—"</p> + +<p>"On the point, uncle? We are surely a long way from that yet?" said +Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"A long way! I don't know what you mean by a long way; if we are not +further advanced, it is your own fault. We might bring the negotiation +to a conclusion at once. It might all be settled this Carnival.</p> + +<p>"This Carnival, uncle? Impossible! I must have a little time. There are +so many things to be thought of."</p> + +<p>"What is there to be thought of, that has not been thought of already? +They are in no hurry; they look upon the matter as arranged. But in +decency, we cannot show any backwardness; it does not look well.</p> + +<p>"Well, uncle: at all events, let this Carnival pass over. Let me have +this last Carnival; then Lent is of no use: after that we will see about +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, be it so. But, my dear boy, you know all the importance of this +marriage! You know how desirable it is in every point of view; family, +rank, station, influence, money,—though that happily we have no need to +seek; why, it was only last week,—this is a secret, and must go no +further, but I know I can trust to your discretion;—only last week, +that I got a letter from my old friend, Monsignore Paterini at Rome, in +which he speaks in almost open terms of the chance, and even +probability, that our Cardinal might—ahem!—find the next conclave a +particularly interesting one. You know how Paterini stands at Rome, and +that a hint from him is as good as a volume from another; and just think +of the possibilities that such a contingency might open before you! I +won't say any more; but do now during this Carnival, show yourself a +little more at the palace, and pay a little attention, and let the world +see that you occupy the place with regard to the Contessa Violante, that +you really do occupy. Basta!"</p> + +<p>"I will do the best I can, sir, to merit your approbation," said +Ludovico, feeling that he was expected to say something, and not well +knowing how to do it.</p> + +<p>"And now about the matter I wanted to speak of last night. La Lalli +comes to us, you see, for the Carnival: it is a great triumph for +Ravenna. She is certainly the first singer in Italy, since England with +its brute power of money, robbed us of poor Sparderini. But between you +and me, figliuolo mio, we should never have got her, if there had not +been certain difficulties—certain scandals,—che so io?—at Milan. All +that is no business of ours, you know, tutt' altro! But there has been +talk;—stories have got about!—mere calumny probably, as Signor Ercole +very justly remarked,—but it is very desirable that such things should +not be the talk of the town here. It is mauvais genre to chatter about +such matters. You can make it mauvais genre among the youngsters at +Ravenna, if you choose. Do so; you understand! That's all."</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, uncle! Lasci fare a me! I'll see to it; though I confess I +do not quite understand why we need trouble ourselves about any such +gossip," said Ludovico, delighted to be able to fall in with his uncle's +wishes in something.</p> + +<p>"Well, I should have thought that you might understand. In the first +place I don't want it to be said or imagined, either here or elsewhere, +that Ravenna has taken up with a singer, who could not get an engagement +elsewhere. Not that that is the case by any means. But don't you see, if +it is said that she was obliged to leave Milan, it puts us in the +position of a pis aller! And I don't like that. In the next place, I +don't want to have light talk about a person whom I have had so large a +share in bringing to the city. These are things you ought to learn to +think of, caro mio!" replied the Marchese, a little annoyed at having to +put his feelings on the subject into such plain words.</p> + +<p>"I'll take care that things shall be as you wish. When is she to +arrive?" asked Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"About the end of the year—in a month's time or thereabouts. Stadione +did not mention whether the day of her coming had been fixed. Her first +appearance will be on the night of the Beffana, the 6th of January."</p> + +<p>"Because they were talking at the Circolo of getting up some little +matter of welcome,—taking the horses from her carriage, and drawing her +in, or some thing of that kind, and a serenata of course. Leandro is +busy already with a poem for the occasion, you may swear!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo! bene! If only our good friend the Conte keeps his muse within +tolerable limits! It would not do to quite smother her in verse on her +first arrival; and, you know, our good Leandro has rather a special gift +that way. Well, get up any kind of dimostrasione you like for the +occasion,—it will all help to give eclat to our opening. You can +arrange all about the when, and the where, etc., with Stadione. We are +going to have a meeting of the Belle Arte Committee here this morning. +They'll be here directly!" said the Marchese Lamberto, pulling out his +watch.</p> + +<p>"One word more, uncle, before I'm off," said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"What is it?—money, I suppose?" said the Marchese, again taking out his +watch.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; not money this time,—unless, indeed, you insist on it," said +the nephew, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Not at all, not at all! I won't press it on you by any means!" said the +uncle in a similar tone; "but what were you going to say?"</p> + +<p>"Why, with reference to what you were saying just now, about the +Signorina Foscarelli," replied Ludovico, in quite a different tone. "I +am always anxious to shape my conduct in accordance with your advice, +uncle. You see La Foscarelli has all but finished her work at St. +Vitale, you know: she is to do her copying in the Cardinal's Palace +next, for you have kindly arranged for her permission to do so. Now, she +can't very well go to the palace, for the first time, alone, you know! +If you had not expressed the opinions you have on the subject, I should +have gone with her, thinking no harm. But perhaps—to the palace, you +know;—it would be better, if you would not mind it, to accompany her, +for the first time, yourself."</p> + +<p>"Very right, very properly thought of, my dear boy! Yes; I can go with +her—or I can send Burini, which will come to the same thing."</p> + +<p>"No, uncle; not the same thing—to send a mere maestro di casa,—a +servant! It would not be nice for the poor girl; it would make all the +difference with the servants and people at the palace: if I avoid going +with her to please you, you will go with her yourself, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, very well; I'll go with her. If any man has more to do of +his own than all the rest of the city put together, there are sure to be +other folk's affairs thrust on him also; it has been sowith me all my +life. Well, I will find half an hour somehow."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, uncle! Good-by, I wish you well through your meeting."</p> + +<p>"We shall see each other at dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. A rivederla!"</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X-2" id="CHAPTER_X-2"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> +The Contessa Violante</h3> + +<p>The Contessa Violante Marliani lived, as has been said, with her +great-aunt, a sister of the Cardinal. They occupied a small house nearly +contiguous to the palace, which was almost more their home than their +own dwelling. The Marchesa Lanfredi, the Cardinal's sister, though a +great-aunt, was not yet sixty years old. She had been left a childless +widow, very scantily provided for, early in life, and had retired from +Bologna, her husband's native place, to live first at Foligno, of which +city her brother had been bishop, and afterwards at Ravenna, to which he +had been subsequently promoted. The Cardinal was six or seven years her +senior. His elder brother, the grandfather of the Lady Violante, had +inherited the family estates in the neighbourhood of Pesaro, and had +died, leaving them to his only son, Violante's father, when the latter +was a very young man.</p> + +<p>This Conte Alberto Marliani had married for love, as it is called. That +is to say, that he had not married for any of the reasons for which +marriages among people of his rank and his country are usually made; but +had been attracted by a pretty gentle face seen in a Roman ball-room. +The pretty gentle face had remained always gentle; but had soon ceased +to be pretty.</p> + +<p>The Contessa Marliani was inclined to devotion. The Conte was very much +disinclined to anything of the sort. He soon got tired of his wife, +repented of his marriage, and commenced an active system of breaking her +heart. It was not a very difficult task, for she was as gentle in spirit +as in face. He completed it when his only child Violante was about nine +years old. But he had also completed, much about the same time, the +entire dissipation of the never very large Marliani property. And it so +happened that, very shortly afterwards, his own career was brought to a +conclusion, which his relatives felt to have overtaken him a few years +too late! He was travelling from Rome down to Pesaro to complete the +sale of the last portion of the estates, the proceeds of which had been +anticipated, when he was very opportunely drowned in attempting to cross +the Tiber swollen by flood.</p> + +<p>The little Violante, thus left an almost destitute orphan, was +nevertheless a personage of some importance. She was the only remaining +scion of the family; and the position of her great-uncle seemed to +promise a renewed period of prosperity and fortune to the old name. +Violante was the Cardinal Legate's natural and sole heir. The Cardinal +was a very rich man; and in amassing wealth and attaining honours, he +had, like a true Italian, never thought the less of the additions to, +and provisions for, the fortunes and splendour of the family name, which +he was winning, because he was himself a priest, and would leave no +heirs of his name. The peculiarities in the position of a sacerdotal +aristocracy have engrafted the passion of nepotism in the hearts, as +well as the practice of it in the manners, of the members of Rome's +hierarchy.</p> + +<p>Generally the family tie is a stronger one among the Italians than among +ourselves. In the upper classes, it is certainly so; and, probably, +among all classes. It may be thought strange, perhaps, that this should +be the case with a people whose lives are supposed to be less pervaded +by the sentiment of domesticity than our own. The explanation may, +however, perhaps be found in the greater and more frequent disruption of +family ties, which is caused by that more active social movement, which +pushes our younger sons away from the parental stock in search of the +means of founding families of their own.</p> + +<p>And one of the results of the Italian mode of living and feeling is seen +in the very common family ambition of Churchmen.</p> + +<p>The little Violante then, as has been said, was a personage of some +importance, at least in the eyes of the Cardinal and his sister; and +when she was left an orphan, was at once taken to live with her +great-aunt, under the auspices of her Cardinal great-uncle. Both of +those remaining members of the family would have preferred that the one +remaining scion of the race should have been a boy; but—when the young +Contessa should be married, of course her name should be thenceforward +borne as part of that of the family; into which she should marry,—as is +so commonly the case in Italy, (many of the oldest and most illustrious +names in the peninsula having survived to the present day solely by +virtue of such arrangements); and the Marliani be thus saved from +extinction.</p> + +<p>The young Contessa Violante, when she reached the age of young-ladyhood, +had not the "fatal gift of beauty." Some people think that such a +deprivation is the most unfortunate from which a woman can suffer. +Others maintain that the absence of beauty is, upon the whole, no real +misfortune. But however philosophers may settle this question, it can +hardly be doubted that no young girl devoid of beauty, was ever yet +persuaded that to be unattractive in appearance, was otherwise than a +very, very sore affliction and misfortune. Nature often kindly mitigates +the blow by making the unlovely girl unconscious of her want of beauty. +But this was not the case with the young Contessa Violante Marliani.</p> + +<p>Violante knew that she was not beautiful, or even pretty. Probably in +her own estimate of herself she exaggerated her plainness. She was one +of those persons who have not the gift of self-deception. Neither was +she elegant in person. And yet there was something about her bearing, +which would have prevented any one from imagining that she was other +than a high-born lady. There was strong evidence of intellect in her +face; and it was doubtless from within that came that quiet dignity of +bearing that marked her.</p> + +<p>And it was a dignity compatible and combined with the most perfect +gentleness and almost humility of manner;—a dignity arising not from +the consciousness of any high position or high qualities, but from the +consciousness of that sort of gentle passive strength, which knows that +no external circumstance, or difficulty, or pressure will avail to make +its owner step but a hair's breadth aside from the path which conscience +has marked as that of right and duty.</p> + +<p>Violante was tall and slender, but her figure was not graceful. People +did not say of her that she was slender; they said she was thin. And +that was incontestably true. She was very thin. But her shoulders were +high and square, and there was a sort of angularity and harshness about +all the lines of her person. Her head seemed somewhat too large for her +body; and the upper part of it seemed too large for the lower portion. +She had a large, square forehead, white enough, but strongly marked with +inequalities of surface, which, however much they might have delighted a +phrenologist, were not conducive to girlish comeliness. Her hair was of +the very light reddish quality, which has not a single touch in it of +that rich sunny auburn, which makes so many heads charming, red though +they be. Her face was perfectly white, yet not clear of complexion. And +the pale grey eyes beneath their all but colourless brows completed the +impression of a general want of vigour and vitality.</p> + +<p>A little before the end of that year in which the Ravenna impresario +performed his memorable journey to Milan with the results that have been +recorded, Violante di Marliani reached her twenty-third birthday; a few +months before that day the Marchese Ludovico had reached his +twenty-second. It was a difference on the wrong side, but not so great +as to form any serious objection to the proposed match. But twenty-three +is a rather mature age for an Italian noble lady to reach unmarried. +That such should have been the case with the Signora Violante was by no +means because no suitor for her hand had ever presented himself. Several +such aspirants had entered the lists. For the Contessa Violante was the +great-niece of her great uncle. But some of these had appeared +objectionable to the Cardinal and his sister;—who also were not at all +likely to forget all that was due to the prospects arising from such a +relationship, and all that it implied; and all of them had been +objectionable to the young Contessa herself.</p> + +<p>Violante's expectations, indeed, in that line, or in any other of all +the different ways in which happiness may come to mortals in this world, +was very small. For the first nine years of her life she had lived the +only companion of a very miserable mother. And all that mother's misery +had apparently come from the fact of her having a husband. Those first +years of the child's life had been very sad; very monotonous, very +depressing. Perhaps the effect of them did but confirm the speciality of +an idiosyncrasy, which would have been much the same without them. But, +at all events, when the child was brought to the house of her +great-aunt, it seemed as if her mind and character had been too long and +too uniformly toned to accord with sadness, for happiness to have any +power of taking hold of her.</p> + +<p>The old Marchesa Lanfredi, who took the young Contessa under her roof, +and under her care, was not a bad sort of woman in the main; but she was +thoroughly and consistently worldly, and judged everything from a +worldly point of view. The Contessa Marliani was an important little +lady in her eyes; and was treated, by her with an indulgence and +consideration which she would have considered out of place in the case +of a child not born to such expectations and such a destiny. She was not +contented with her young relative; but was more perplexed and puzzled by +her than angered. And as Violante grew towards womanhood, her great-aunt +understood her less and less.</p> + +<p>In the first place, she had a much stronger tendency towards devotion +than the Marchese Lanfredi thought either natural or becoming in a young +woman. Of course it was right and proper to pay due attention to one's +religious duties; there was no necessity to tell her, a Cardinal +Archbishop's sister, that, it was to be supposed. But she had a strong +objection to excess in such matters. And to her mind Violante carried +her devotional practices, and yet more her devotional ideas, to excess. +Of the latter, indeed, the old Marchesa Lanfredi disapproved altogether. +Young people had no ideas upon the subject in her time;—and the world +was certainly a better world then than it had been since.</p> + +<p>And then, worst of all, it gradually became evident to the Marchesa's +mind that there was a more or less direct connection in the way of cause +and effect between her niece's religious notions and feelings and the +strange readiness she had shown to find objections to both of the two +persons who had been judged by her family to be admissible suitors for +her hand. The Marchesa began to entertain a strong apprehension that her +niece had conceived the idea of "entering into religion;" i.e. of +becoming a nun.</p> + +<p>It had been necessary at the time of Violante's first coming to live +with her aunt, to select a governess for her; and a lady had been found +fitted to teach her all that it was proper for a noble young Italian +lady to know. But when she became seventeen it was judged expedient to +change this lady for another. A different sort of person was required. +Custom and the habits of life and convenience of the Marchesa made it +expedient that a duenna should be provided to attend on the young +Contessa; but she was supposed no longer to need an instructress.</p> + +<p>The person selected for this trust was not perhaps altogether such as +might have been desired. By some fatality, arising probably from some +latent incompatibility between the institution itself and the eternal +order of things, it would seem as if the persons entrusted with that +responsible situation rarely did turn out to be exactly the right people +in the right place. Perhaps in the case of the young Contessa Violante +her great-aunt had sought to find some attendant and companion for her +who should have a tendency to correct that too great proclivity to +retirement from the world—to a life in which religion was the chief +interest and occupation, and to a sad and unhopeful view of the world +around and before her—which she lamented in her niece. If so, the +choice she made was not followed by the results she hoped from it; and +was attended by other inconveniences.</p> + +<p>The Signora Assunta Fagiani, the widow of a distinguished Bolognese +professor of jurisprudence, was certainly quite free from all those +dispositions which the Marchesa regretted in her niece. But she was not +altogether discreet or judicious in the method she adopted for +reconciling the young girl to the world, and to worldly views and hopes +and objects.</p> + +<p>She very soon perceived that to Violante the consciousness of her own +want of personal attractions was, despite her yearning for a life to be +filled with thoughts and objects to which beauty could contribute +nothing, a source of bitter and ever-present mortification. There was +inconsistency, doubtless, in regret for the deficiency of personal +attraction in persons who, with perfect sincerity, declared to +themselves that to enter a convent was their greatest object in life. +But Violante was not aware that if the beauty had been there the +devotional aspirations would not have been there! That, which causes +more deeply implanted in her nature than she knew of were impelling her +to desire and to yearn for, the imperfect teaching of the world around +her had led her to imagine to be unattainable save by the gifts of +personal beauty. And, knowing that if that were so there was no hope for +her, her bruised heart had sought the only refuge which seemed to be +open to such misfortune.</p> + +<p>The Signora Fagiani's first attempt at finding a remedy for this state +of things consisted of a vigorous endeavour to persuade her pupil that +her own estimate of her personal appearance was altogether a mistaken +one. All the former experience of the old lady led her to consider this +an easy task. And she was much surprised to find that her insinuations, +assertions, and persuasions on this subject were totally thrown away on +her pupil. The precious gift of personal vanity had been denied to poor +Violante; and she saw herself somewhat more unfavourably than others saw +her.</p> + +<p>Then the duenna changed her tactics; and strove to point out how very +little a pretty face signified to any girl in the position of the +Contessa di Marliani. To a poor girl, indeed, whose face was her +fortune, it was another matter. But the niece of the Cardinal Legate! +Bah! Did she imagine that she would lack suitors? She had nothing to do +but to make the most of the advantages in her hand, and she would see +herself surrounded by all the beaux, while the prettiest girls in the +room might go whistle for the smallest scrap of attention, And then, +when married, with rank, station, wealth at her command, what would it +signify?</p> + +<p>And in urging all these considerations, the Signora Assunta Fagiani +spoke at least sincerely, and expended for the benefit of her pupil the +best wisdom that was in her.</p> + +<p>Partly, however, she was working for her own purposes, as well as for +the advantage, as she understood it, of her charge. Of course, as she +judiciously considered, her position gave her, in a great degree, the +valuable patronage of the disposal of the Lady Violante's hand in +marriage. And, of course, this advantage of her position was equally +well understood by others; and among these by a certain Duca di San +Sisto, a Bolognese noble, whose sadly-dilapidated fortunes much needed +the aid that might be derived from the coffers of the wealthy Cardinal +Legate. The Duca di San Sisto had interests at Rome also, which might be +most importantly served by the influence of the Cardinal Marliani. So +that a marriage with the Lady Violante seemed to be exactly the very +thing for him. But the cautious, and carefully-masked inquiries which +the Duke had set on foot, after the fashion in which such things are +done in Italy, had brought him the information that a marriage was +almost as good as arranged between the lady in question and the Marchese +Ludovico di Castelmare, an old acquaintance of the family. Were it not +for that impediment, the Duke thought that he might have good reason to +hope that his plan might succeed.</p> + +<p>Now it so happened that the Signora Assunta Fagiani was an old friend of +the Duca di San Sisto; and when the widow of the professor of +jurisprudence was promoted to the important post she held in the +household of the Marchesa Lanfredi, that nobleman did not fail to find +means for securing the continuance of her friendship. It was the object +and purpose, therefore, of Signora Assunta Fagiani that the Lady +Violante should become in due time Duchessa di San Sisto, and not +Marchesa di Castelmare. But she understood her position quite well +enough to be aware that the end she had in view must be approached +cautiously and patiently.</p> + +<p>Violante had, of course, been informed at the proper time that her +family destined her to become the wife of the young Marchese Ludovico di +Castelmare. Now, if Violante's temper and disposition had been other +than it was; had she been able to think of herself differently from what +she did; had it been possible for her, in a word, to have supposed that +the Marchese Ludovico loved her, he was the man whom she could most +readily have taught herself to love. They had been, to a certain degree, +acquaintances from an early period of their childhood. He was the only +young man she had ever known with anything like the same degree of +intimacy; and Ludovico, as we know, was not devoid of qualities +calculated to win a lady's love.</p> + +<p>But Violante knew right well that Ludovico did not love her, and that +there had never been any probability that he should do so; and, had she +any lingering doubt on the subject, the good Assunta took very good care +to dispel it. And there was a bitterness in this knowledge which did +much towards producing in Violante the state of mind that has been +described. She was not in love with Ludovico, but she had liked him—he +was the only man she had ever liked at all. She knew that she was to be +married to him if he could be persuaded to marry her, and if she were +sufficiently obedient to marry him. She thought that no man could ever +love her, and she knew very certainly that this man did not. Her own +hope and firmest purpose, therefore, was, if such resistance to the +higher authorities might in any way be possible to her, to avoid a +marriage with Ludovico di Castelmare: if possible to her, she would fain +escape from any marriage at all. If this should be altogether +impossible, then the Duca di San Sisto, as well as anybody else. It was +not that she had any hope that the Duca di San Sisto would love her: +but, at least, it had not been proposed to him to love her, and found +impossible by him to do so. At least the unloving husband would not be +the one man whom she felt she might have loved had he deemed it worth +his while to ask her love.</p> + +<p>Yet, with all this, Violante had not learned, as perhaps most women in +her place would have done, to hate Ludovico for having found it +impossible to love her,—for having condemned her to feel the spreta +injuria forma, which so few of the sex can ever forgive. Had she ever +reached the point of loving him it might, perhaps, have been otherwise. +As it was, she was too gentle, too humble, in her estimate of her own +worth and power of attraction to be angry with him: and yet she was +sufficiently interested in the matter to listen not unwillingly to all +the gossip that the Signora Assunta poured into her ear about Ludovico, +tending to show that he was unworthy of pretending to her hand.</p> + +<p>Assunta's object, of course, was to break the match with the Marchese di +Castelmare for the sake of bringing on one with the Duca di San Sisto.</p> + +<p>Violante's object, it has been said, was to avoid any marriage at +all—specially that immediately proposed to her; and the stories, which +from time to time Assunta brought her of the goings on of Ludovico, had +a double interest for Violante. In some sort, all such intelligence was +acceptable to her, as tending to make it unlikely that her only escape +from a loveless marriage with him would be by her own resistance to the +wishes of her family. Yet, at the same time, it was bitter to her, and +ministered an unwholesome aliment to her morbid self-depreciation.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI-2" id="CHAPTER_XI-2"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br /> +The Cardinal's Reception, and the Marchese's Ball</h3> + +<p>On the first day of the New Year, according to long-established custom, +there was a grand reception in the evening at the palace of the Cardinal +Legate. It was to be, as always on that occasion, a very grand affair. +All the diamonds, and all the old state carriages, and all the liveries +in Ravenna were put in requisition. Old coats, gorgeously bedizened with +broad worsted lace of brilliant colours, and preserved for many a year +carefully, but not wholly successfully, against time and moth, were +taken by fours and fives from the cypress-wood chests in old family +mansions, where they lay in peace from year's end to year's end if no +marriage or other great family solemnity intervened to give them an +extra turn of service, and were used to turn dependants of all sorts +into liveried servants for the nonce; and nobody imagined or hoped that +anybody else would look upon this display as anything else than absolute +and frank ostentation. Nobody supposed that any human being would be led +into believing that this state indicated the ordinary mode of life of +the persons who exhibited it. Everybody in Italy has been for so many +generations so very much poorer than his forefathers were, that such a +state of things has long since been accepted by universal consent as a +normal one; and it is understood on all hands that these fitful displays +of the remnants of former grandeur, this vain revisiting of the glimpses +of the moon by the ghosts of long-departed glories, shall be taken and +allowed as protests on behalf of the bearers of old noble names to the +effect that their ancestors did really once live in a style conformable +to their ideas—that they perfectly know how these things should be +done, and would be found quite prepared to resume their proper state, if +only the good old days of prosperity should come again.</p> + +<p>And there is the good as well as the seamy side (not, alas, to the old +liveries! for they had been mostly turned and turned again too often); +but to the feelings and social manners which prompted such a +manifestation of them. At least, in such a condition of social manners +and feelings mere wealth was not installed on the throne of Mammon in +the eyes of all men. If one of the old coaches was more pitiably rickety +than the rest; if the ancient-fashioned coat of some long-descended +marchese was itself as threadbare as the old family liveries; if some +widowed contessa had crept out from the last habitable corner of her +dilapidated palazzo, where she was known to live on a modicum of +chicory-water, brought in a tumbler from the nearest cafe, and a crust; +not on any such account was there the smallest tendency towards a +derisive smile on the lip, or in the mind of any man, at these pitiable +attempts to keep up appearances, which everybody considered it right to +keep up. Not on any such account was the stately courtesy of the +Legate's reception in the smallest degree modified. It was subject, +indeed, to many modifications; but these were wholly irrespective of any +such circumstances.</p> + +<p>There is a peculiar sort of naivete about Italian ostentation, which +robs it of all its offensiveness. Nobody exhibits their finery or +grandeur for the sake of crushing another; nobody feels themselves +crushed by the exhibition of it. The old noble who turns out his gala +liveries and other bedizenments on a festal day, does it to make up his +part of the general show, which is for the gratification of all classes, +and is a gratification to them. But it is a curious commentary of the +past history of Italy that, as between city and city, there is the +feeling, the wish, and the ambition, to crush and humble a rival +community by superior magnificence.</p> + +<p>Nobody expected much immediate gratification from attending the +Cardinal's reception. There was little to be done save to bow to the +host and to each other. Ices were handed round—none the less because it +was bitterly cold—and cakes and comfits. Old Contessa Carini, who had a +grandchild at home, and no money to buy bonbons with, emptied half a +plateful of them into her handkerchief, the old servant who handed them +helping her; and the Cardinal, who happened to be standing by, smilingly +telling her to give the little one his benediction with them. The brave +old Contessa still kept her carriage, as it became a Carini to do; +though she starved her poor old shrivelled body to enable her to keep +her half-starved horses. And "society" gave her its applause for +struggling so hard to do that which it became her to do in the state of +life to which it had pleased God to call her; and no soul in the room +dreamed of thinking the less of her because of the sharp poverty that +confessed itself in her eagerness to make the most of the opportunity of +the Legate's hospitality.</p> + +<p>The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had a bilious headache the following +morning in consequence of overcramming himself with cakes and +sweetmeats. One active-minded old gentleman originated the remark that +the cold was greater than had been known in Ravenna for the last seven +years; and this fact, repeated again and again by most of the company to +each other, supplied the material of conversation for the first +half-hour. Then somebody, alluded to the circumstance that, whereas it +had been said that La Lalli was to have arrived before the end of the +year, the fact was, that she had not yet come: and thereupon the +Marchese Lamberto had authoritatively declared that the lady had been +detained by an unforeseen circumstance of no importance, and would +infallibly reach Ravenna on the evening of the 3rd.</p> + +<p>And thenceforward this interesting news formed the sole topic of +conversation till the carriages were ordered; and all the finery was +taken home again to be laid up in lavender till that day twelvemonth.</p> + +<p>There was to be, also according to annual custom, the first ball of the +Carnival at the Palazzo Castelmare on the following evening; but for +this the state trappings reserved for the Legate's reception on the Capo +d'Anno, were not required.</p> + +<p>The balls given by the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare every Carnival +were the grand and principal gaieties of Ravenna. The whole of the +"society" were invited, and to be prevented from going by illness or any +other contretemps was a misfortune to be lamented during all the rest of +the year. At the Palazzo Castelmare people really did expect to enjoy +themselves. There was dancing for the young, cards for the old, and +eating and drinking for all. For the Palazzo Castelmare was the only +house in Ravenna at which suppers were ever given. There three balls and +three handsome suppers were provided for all the society of Ravenna +every year! And the first of these always took place on the 2nd of +January; the Capo d'Anno being left for the state reception at the +Legate's palace.</p> + +<p>Well might little Signor Ercole Stadione say, what would become of +Ravenna if anything were to happen to the Marchese Lamberto!</p> + +<p>All the people came much about the same time; and there was then half an +hour or so, before the dancing commenced, during which the main object +and amusement of the assemblage was to escape from misfortune, which it +was well known the Conte Leandro meditated inflicting on the society. He +was known to have written a poem for the opening of the new year, which +was then in his pocket, and which he purposed reading aloud to the +company, if he only could get a chance! He was looking very pale, and +more sodden and pasty about the face than usual, from the effects of his +excesses at the Legate's the night before. But his friends had no hope +that this would save them from the poem, if he could in anywise obtain a +hearing.</p> + +<p>"Take care, he is putting his hand in his coat-pocket! That's where it +is, you know; he'll have it out in half an instant, if we stop talking! +Oh, Contessina, you are always so ready! Do invent something to stop +him, for the love of heaven!" said a young man to a bright-looking girl +next him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signor Leandro, since you are riconciliato con bel sesso," said the +Contessina, alluding to words which, to the great amusement of all +Ravenna, Leandro had written in the album of a lady who asked the poet +for his autograph,—"since you are reconciled to the fair sex, will you +be very kind and see if I have left my fan where I put off my shawl in +the ante-room?"</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Contessina; now let us get to another part of the room, before +he gets back. Oh, Ludovico," he continued, addressing the young Marchese +Castelmare, whom they encountered as they were crossing the room, "for +the love of heaven, let us begin! Make the musicians strike up, or we +shall have Leandro in full swing in another minute!"</p> + +<p>"I assure you, Signor Ludovico, the danger is imminent!" said the +Contessina.</p> + +<p>"When I saw him at work last night at the Cardinal's pastry, I thought +he must have made himself too ill to come here to-night," said the +former speaker; "but I suppose poets can digest what would kill you or +me!"</p> + +<p>"If Leandro begins to read, I vote we all are seized with an invincible +fit of sneezing," said another of the grown-up children.</p> + +<p>"Well, we may as well begin at once; I will go and tell the Contessa +Violante that we are ready," said Ludovico, moving off.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of course, that he should open the ball with the +Contessa Violante,—not only by reason of her social standing in the +city, but because of the position in which he was understood to stand +towards her.</p> + +<p>Violante was sitting at the upper end of the room between her great-aunt +and the sister of the Marchese Lamberto, Ludovico's mother. She was very +handsomely dressed in plain white silk, but was looking pale and +dispirited. When Ludovico came up and offered his arm, bowing low as he +did so, she rose and accepted it without speaking.</p> + +<p>"I had almost made up my mind," she said as soon as they had moved a +pace or two towards the middle of the large ball-room, "not to dance at +all to-night: I am not well."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signorina, how unfortunate! What a disappointment! But it would be +cruel to force you to dance, when it is against your inclination," said +Ludovico, with a very unsuccessful attempt to put a tone of tenderness +into his voice.</p> + +<p>"I will not do so, after this dance," said Violante; "but I suppose we +must dance the first dance together!"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry it should be a matter of such disagreeable duty to you, +Signora Violante," said Ludovico in a tone of pretended pique.</p> + +<p>"It is equally disagreeable to me to dance with any other partner; I am +not well, as I have told you, Signor Ludovico; I have no business to be +here; I think my health becomes weaker from day to day. And the blessed +Saints only know when it may be possible to think of carrying into +effect the arrangements desired by our parents!"</p> + +<p>"I am sure that mine would not wish to urge you on the subject to—to +decide more quickly than you would wish to. I can assure you, Signora, +nothing would be more contrary to my own feelings than to do any such +violence to yours. Indeed I may say—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! I think I understand all about it, Signor Ludovico. Might it +not be possible to find means of pleasing all parties in this matter, if +only all parties understood each other, Signor Ludovico?"</p> + +<p>She dropped her voice almost to a whisper as she said these last words, +with a rapid furtive glance at his face.</p> + +<p>"And now," she added, speaking in a louder tone, "we had better give our +minds to the present scene of the farce, and perform the opening +quadrille, as is expected of us!"</p> + +<p>"I am truly sorry, Signora, that you should be called upon to do this +sort of thing, when you are so unwell, as to make it even more +disagreeable than it might be to you otherwise. But believe me," +continued he, speaking in a low voice, and with an emphasis that +indicated that his words had reference rather to what she had spoken to +him in a similar tone than to the words of his own which had immediately +preceded them,—"believe me that it is my wish to meet your wishes in +all respects."</p> + +<p>There was a jesuitism in this speech, which did not recommend it or its +speaker to the Contessa Violante. She would have been far better pleased +by a more open reply to the confidence which she had half offered. She +only said in reply:</p> + +<p>"I am disposed to think, that such is the case in the matter which more +nearly concerns us both, Signor Ludovico, than anything else. +But—although we knew just now that we had to dance together, it was you +who had to ask me, you know, and not I you. Very little active power of +influencing her own destiny is allowed to a girl; come, we had better +attend now to the business in hand!"</p> + +<p>There was nothing more, except such ordinary words between each other or +the others dancing in the same set, as the dance itself led to, spoken +by the Contessa and Ludovico. The former declined all other invitations +to dance, and went home at the earliest moment she could induce her aunt +to do so.</p> + +<p>There was much talk going on in all parts of the room as to the +announced coming of the great singer on the morrow. The young men +settled together the last details of their plans for the triumphal entry +of the "Diva;" and the ladies were by no means uninterested in hearing +all that their cavaliers had to tell them on this subject. Much was +said, too, about the qualities of La Lalli both as a singer and as a +woman. Everybody agreed that she was admirable in the first respect; and +there was not a man there, who had not some anecdote to tell, which he +had heard from the very best authority, tending to set forth the rare +perfection of her beauty, and the wonderful power of fascination she +exercised on all who came near her.</p> + +<p>She was to arrive quite early on the morrow. It was understood that she +purposed passing the previous night,—that night in short, which those +who were discussing her were spending at the Castelmare ball, at the +little town of Bagnacavallo, a few miles only from Ravenna. Such a +scheme looked,—or would have looked in the eyes of any other people +than Italians,—rather ridiculously like the ways and fashions of royal +progresses, and state entries into cities. But the Ravenna admirers of +the coming "Diva" neither saw nor suspected the slightest absurdity; and +it is to be supposed that La Lalli knew all the importance of first +impressions, and that she did not choose to show herself to her new +worshippers for the first time under all the disadvantages of arriving +tired and dusty from a long journey.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII-2" id="CHAPTER_XII-2"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br /> +The Arrival of the "Diva"</h3> + +<p>On the morrow of the Marchese's ball was the great day of the arrival of +the divine songstress. And it was as lovely a day for the gala doings, +which had been arranged in honour of the occasion, as could be desired. +A brilliant sun in a cloudless sky made the afternoon quite warm and +genial, despite the general cold. An Italian sun can do this. Where he +shines not it may be freezing. As soon as he has made his somewhat +precipitous exit from the hard blue sky, the temperature will suddenly +fall some ten degrees or more. But as long as he is in glory overhead, +it is summer in the midst of winter.</p> + +<p>Three o'clock had been named as the hour at which the coming "Diva" +would reach the city gates. But the plans which the young habitues of +the Circolo had arranged for receiving her, had been in some degree +modified. The scheme of harnessing their noble selves to her +chariot-wheels had been abandoned; and instead of that it had been +understood that the Marchese Lamberto would himself go in his carriage +to meet her a few miles out of the city and bring her in. The Marchese +Ludovico and the young Barone Manutoli were to accompany the Marchese +Lamberto, and to assist in receiving the lady; but were to return to the +city in the carriage which she would leave, on getting into that of the +Marchese, or in any other way that might seem good to them. The Marchese +Lamberto and the lady alone were to occupy his handsome family equipage. +There was to be a band of music in attendance, which would precede the +carriage as it entered the city; and some half-dozen young officers of a +regiment of Papal cavalry, which chanced to be then stationed at +Ravenna, intended to ride at each door of the carriage as it returned to +the city. Altogether it was to be a very brilliant affair. And all the +gay world of Ravenna was on the tiptoe of expectation and delight.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto, indeed, looked upon his share in the pageant as a +great bore. He had had put off one or two more congenial occupations for +the purpose of doing on the occasion his part of that which he deemed +his duty to the city. Professor Tomosarchi the great anatomist, who was +at the head of the hospital, and curator of the museum, was to have come +to the Palazzo Castelmare that morning to show the Marchese an +interesting experiment connected with the action of a new anodyne; and +Signor Folchi, the pianist, was to have been with him at one, to try +over a little piece of the Marchese's own composition. And both these +appointments, either of which was far more interesting to the Marchese +Lamberto than driving out in the cold to meet the stage goddess, had to +be set aside.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he had deemed it due to his own position, and to the +occasion, to grace this little triumphal entry with his presence. If he +had left it wholly in the hands of his nephew, and the other young men, +it might have been the means of starting the Signora Lalli amiss on her +Ravenna career in a manner he particularly wished to avoid. After that +little hint on the subject, which the impresario had given him, he was +specially desirous that anything like an occasion for scandal should be +avoided in all that concerned the sojourn of the Signora Lalli in +Ravenna. He, the Marchese Lamberto, the intimate friend of the Cardinal, +and the most pre-eminently respectable man in Ravenna, had had a very +large—certainly the largest—share in bringing this woman to the city; +and he was anxious that the engagement should lead to no unpleasant +results of any kind.</p> + +<p>It might be very possibly that the little matters at which the +impresario had hinted, were not altogether calumnious;—that the lady +might be one of those members of her profession who seek other triumphs +besides those of her own scenic kingdom, and the story of whose lives in +the different cities they visit is not confined to the walls and to the +records of the theatre. It might very well be that a little caution and +looking after was needed in the matter, It would be as well, therefore, +to take the thing in hand at once in a manner that should put the lady +on a right course from the beginning;—all which could be excellently +well accomplished by at once taking her, as it were, into his own hands; +and would, on the other hand, be endangered by throwing her from the +first into those of the youngsters who purposed going out to meet her.</p> + +<p>So the Marchese sacrificed himself; put off the anatomist and the +musician; spent the morning in arranging all the details of the proposed +cavalcade with the young men who were to compose it; and at two o'clock +got into his open carriage to drive out towards Bagnacavallo. The young +Barone Manutoli and Ludovico were in the carriage with him. But it was +understood, as has been said, that they were to leave it when they met +the heroine of the day, who was to enter Ravenna with the perfectly safe +and unattackable Marchese alone in the carriage with her.</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether she is as lovely as she is said to be?" said Manutoli, +as they drove out beyond the crumbling and ivy-grown brick wall, which +had helped to repel the attack of Odoacer the Goth; but which had, some +thirteen hundred years ago, failed to keep out the mischief brought into +the city by the comedian Empress Theodora, whose beauty had promoted her +from the stage to the throne.</p> + +<p>Absit omen! And what, indeed, can there be common between Goths and +Greeks of the Lower Empire, who lived thirteen hundred years ago, with +the good Catholic subjects, and the quiet Catholic city of our Holy +Father the Pope, in the nineteenth century!</p> + +<p>At all events, it may be taken as very certain that no omen of the sort +and no such thoughts were present to the minds or fancies of any of +those who were about to form the escort of the modern actress.</p> + +<p>"All who have ever seen her, speak in the most rapturous terms of her +great beauty," said Ludovico, in reply to his friend's remark.</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure about it, figliuoli mio, or it is likely enough you +may be disappointed," said the Marchese Lamberto. "People repeat such +things one after the other; there is a fashion in it. I have always +found that your stage beauty is as often as not no beauty, at all off +it; and then you know stage work and the foot-lights are terribly quick +users-up of beauty. And La Lalli is not at the beginning of her career. +But what have we to do with all that! che diavolo! She is a great +singer; she comes here to delight our ears, not our eyes!"</p> + +<p>"But time and work make havoc with the voice as well as with the face +and figure, Signor Marchese!" said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"Not to the same degree, Signor Barone, and not quite so rapidly," +replied the Marchese, with the manner of one laying down the law on a +subject of which he is an acknowledged master. "Of course a voice which +has done much work, is not the same thing as a perfectly fresh one? A +chi lo dite? though, observe, you very often gain more in knowledge, and +in perfection of art, than you lose in freshness of organ. But with +proper care, voice, though a perishable thing, is not so rapidly and +fatally so, as mere beauty of face; that is sure to go very soon. I have +not troubled myself to inquire, as you may imagine, much about the state +of La Lalli's good looks. But I have informed myself of the condition of +her voice, as it was my duty to do. And I think that in that respect, +which is the only one we need care about, the city will find that we +have not done badly."</p> + +<p>"For my part, I confess a romanzo comes very specially recommended to my +ears from a lovely mouth!" said Ludovico; "and I fully expect to find La +Lalli quite up to the mark in this respect. I shall be disappointed if +she is not."</p> + +<p>"From all I have heard, we shall none of us be disappointed!" said +Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"We shall see in a few minutes!" returned Ludovico, looking at his +watch.</p> + +<p>"There's something in the road now, I think, as far as I can see!" said +Manutoli, who had stood up in the carriage, holding the rail of the +driver's seat with one hand. The road stretched long and flat, in a +perfectly straight line before them for a great distance. "Yes," +continued he, "there is certainly something coming along the road;—a +carriage by the quickness with which it nears us: now for it!"</p> + +<p>"Tell him to draw up, Ludovico; and he might as well turn round so as to +be ready to drive back. We will wait here till she comes; and our +friends on horseback may as well remain here too," said the Marchese.</p> + +<p>So the little party drew up, and all eyes were turned to the small cloud +of dust rapidly approaching them.</p> + +<p>"Yes: it is a carriage, and no mistake; and coming along at a good pace +too!" said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"It is she, no doubt; she was to sleep at Bagnacavallo," returned +Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"Signori!" said the Marchese, addressing the four, or five mounted +officers, "will you kindly put your horses across the road, so that the +lady's driver may see that he is to stop, and that there may be no +mistake."</p> + +<p>And then an open carriage became clearly visible, and in the next +minute, it could be seen that it was occupied by two persons;—a lady +and another figure—an old man apparently—muffled in a huge blue +travelling-cloak.</p> + +<p>Then in another instant the travelling-carriage, finding the road +blocked before it, had stopped, and in the next, the Marchese Lamberto, +hat in hand, was standing at the door of it, on the lady's side;—the +two young men standing immediately behind him, and the horsemen crowded +round, craning over the necks of their horses.</p> + +<p>Oh! per Bacco! There is no mistake about it; she is startlingly +beautiful. Report had not said half enough. And, somehow or other, it +appeared as if a travelling-costume was specially becoming to her. At +least, it seemed so to the innocent youths who so first saw her. Had +there been any women present their minds would have at once gone back +from the splendid effect produced to all the details of the artfully +combined causes which had gone to the producing of it. But there were no +ladies present, save the "Diva" alone.</p> + +<p>Such a Diva! She wore a little blue velvet hat, with a white feather in +it very coquettishly placed on a superb wealth of hair of the richest +auburn tint. She was very delicately fair, with just such an amount of +the loveliest carnation on her cheeks as might be produced by the +perfection of health and joyousness and youth; or might be, a lady +critic would have whispered, by some other equally effectual means. She +had large—very large—wide-opened, clear, and limpid light-blue eyes, +with that trick of an appealing look in them which always seems to say +to every manly heart, "You, alone of all the harsh, cold, indifferent +crowd around us, are he to whom I can look for sympathy, comprehension, +and fellow-feeling." And now these eyes looked round from one to another +of those around her with a look of smiling, innocent surprise and +inquiry that demanded an explanation of the unprecedented circumstances +with a childish freshness the most engaging.</p> + +<p>She wore a bright blue velvet pelisse, trimmed with ermine, which +admirably showed to the greatest advantage her magnificently shaped +bust, and round slender waist; and bent forward towards the Marchese, as +he stood at the carriage-door, with inimitable grace of gesture, and a +smile on her sweet lips that would have utterly defeated and put to +shame any St. Antony exposed to such temptation.</p> + +<p>"Signora," said the Marchese, who looked very handsome, as he stood with +his hat in his hand, and bowed with stately courtesy, "Ravenna welcomes +you, and places itself at your feet in our persons. Permit me to present +to you these gentlemen, who have had the good fortune to be selected +among many aspirants to that honour, to assist me in welcoming you to +our city: the Barone Adolfo Manutoli; my nephew, the Marchese Ludovico +di Castelmare."</p> + +<p>"E Lei dunque e il Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare?" said the lady, in +the sweetest possible of silvery tones, and with an air of humble wonder +at the greatness of the honour done her, mingled with grateful +appreciation of it, that was inimitably well done; and held up two +exquisitely-gloved slender little hands, as she spoke, half joining them +together in thankful astonishment, and half extending them towards him +with an almost caressing movement of appeal.</p> + +<p>"Si, Signora; I am the man you have named; I am fortunate that my name +should have reached your ears; more fortunate still in having had a part +in making the arrangements that have brought you here;—and most +fortunate of all if I shall be so happy as to make your sojourn among us +agreeable."</p> + +<p>"Signor Marehese! Lei e troppo garbato,—troppo buono; ma troppo buono, +davvero!" said the pretty creature; and the appealing eyes looked into +his with the semblance of a tear of emotion in them.</p> + +<p>"Will you allow me the pleasure, Signora, of conducting you to the city +in my carriage?" said the Marchese, with a graceful wave of his hand +towards his handsome equipage. "I have thought it might possibly be +agreeable to you to place it and myself at your disposition on this +occasion."</p> + +<p>"Ma come? It is too great an honour, davvero. But to make my first +appearance in your city under such auspices will go far towards assuring +me such a success at Ravenna, as it is my most earnest wish to attain."</p> + +<p>The Marchese put out his hand to assist her to alight, as he +added,—"Perhaps you will allow these gentlemen to return in your +carriage, Signora? They have no other here. I did not think it necessary +to bring a second carriage."</p> + +<p>"Come loro commandano!—as their lordships please," said La Lalli with a +graceful bow; though the young men were of opinion, that her eyes very +plainly said, as she glanced towards them, that she would have preferred +that they should have returned in the same carriage together.</p> + +<p>She rose, as she spoke, and giving her hand to the Marchese, put one +foot on the carriage-step in the act of descending, and then paused to +say, as if she had forgotten it till that moment:</p> + +<p>"Will you permit me, Signor Marchese, to present my father to you, +Signor Quinto Lalli? I never travel without his protection!"</p> + +<p>The old man in the corner moved slightly, and made a sort of bow with +his head. He had remained quite still and passive in his cloak and his +corner all through the rest of the scene, taking it all apparently as +something very much in the common order of things. Perhaps the piece +that was being played had been played too often in his presence to have +any further interest for him.</p> + +<p>While thus presenting her father, as she called him, to the Marchese, +the beautiful actress had remained for the moments necessary for that +purpose, with her matchless figure poised on the one dainty foot, which +she had stretched down to the step of the carriage. The attitude +certainly showed the svelte perfection of her form to advantage; and +from the unavoidable circumstances of the position, it also showed one +of the most beautifully formed feet that ever was seen, together with +the whole of the exquisite little bottine that clothed it, a beautifully +turned ankle, and perhaps as much as two inches of the silk stocking +above the boot.</p> + +<p>The mere chance that caused the lady to bethink herself of presenting +her father just at that moment, was thus quite a piece of good fortune +for the young men on foot and on horseback, who were standing around, +which no other combination of circumstances could have procured for +them.</p> + +<p>Then the Marchese handed her with graceful gallantry to his carriage, +took the place in the back of it by the side of her; and the little +cavalcade began its return to the city. At a small distance from the +walls, they found the band stationed, and thus preceded by music, and +passing through all the elite of the population in the streets, the +Marchese conducted her to the Palazzo Castelmare, and handed her up the +grand staircase to the great saloon, where all the theatrical world of +Ravenna, and many of the more notable patrons of the theatre, were +assembled to receive her.</p> + +<p>Signor Ercole Stadione, the little impresario, was there of course, and +in high enjoyment of the triumph of the occasion, and of the importance +which his share in it reflected on him. He buzzed about the large saloon +from one group to another, raising himself on tiptoe as he looked up +into the faces of his noble friends and patrons, and rubbing his hands +together cheerily in the exuberance of his satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You had the happiness of accompanying the illustrissimo Signor Marchese +to receive our honoured guest to-day, Signor Barone!" said he to +Manutoli, who was giving an account of his expedition, and of the first +appearance of the new "Diva," to a knot of young men grouped around him; +"mi rallegro! Mi rallegro! Ravenna could not have had a more worthy +representative than yourself, Signor Barone! But is she not divine! What +beauty! What a grace!"</p> + +<p>"Why, Signor Ercole, one would think you had begotten her yourself. She +is a pretty creature certainly. What a smile she has!"</p> + +<p>"Eh bene, Signori miei! Are you satisfied? Are you content? Have we done +well?" said the little man, buzzing off to another group. "Che vi pare? +Is she up to the mark, or is she not?"</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Signor Ercole! We are all delighted with her!" said one.</p> + +<p>"If she sings as she looks," cried another, "Ravenna has a prima donna +such as no other city in Italy has."</p> + +<p>"Or in Europe, per Bacco!" added a third.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of her, Signor Leandro? Did I say too much?" asked +the happy impresario, moving off to a console, against which the poet +was leaning in an abstracted attitude, while his eye, in a fine frenzy +rolling, managed nevertheless to look out for the manifestation on the +Diva's face of that impression which he doubted not his figure and pose +must make on her.</p> + +<p>"What a bore she must find it having to talk to all those empty-brained +fellows that have got round her there, just like buzzing blue-bottle +flies round sugar-barrel! I wonder it does not occur to the Marchese +that it would be more to the purpose to present to her some of the +brighter intelligences of the city. She must think Ravenna is a city of +blockheads! And one can see, with half an eye, that is the sort of woman +who can appreciate intellect!"</p> + +<p>"It will be for you, Signor Conte, to prove to her that our city is not +deficient in that respect. Sapristi? Would you desire a better subject? +What do you say to an ode, now, on the rising of a new constellation on +the shores of the Adriatic? Hein! Or an inpromptu on seeing the divine +Lalli enter Ravenna through the same arch under which the Empress +Theodora must have passed?"</p> + +<p>"I had already thought of that," snapped the poet, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Of course you had," said the obsequious little man. "An impromptu, by +all means! You could have it ready to present to her at the theatre +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Unless the Marchese thinks fit to present me to the lady presently, I +shall decline to write anything at all," rejoined Signor Leandro, thus +unjustly determining, in his ill-humour, to punish all Ravenna for the +fault of one single individual.</p> + +<p>The Diva was, in the meantime, winning golden opinions on all sides. She +had bright smiles, and pretty captivating looks, and courteous, +prettily-turned phrases for all. But amid all this she contrived +unfailingly all the time, by means of some exquisitely subtle nuance of +manner, to impress every person present with the unconsciously-conceived +feeling that there was something more between her and the Marchese and +his nephew than between her and anybody else in the room; that she in +some sort belonged to them, and was being presented to the society under +their auspices. She remained close by the side of the Marchese. She +would look with an appealing and inquiring glance into his face at each +fresh introduction that was made to her, as if to ask his sanction and +approval. She had some little word from time to time either for his ear, +or that of his nephew, spoken in such a manner as to reach those of +nobody else; while, gracious to all, she delicately but markedly +graduated the scale of her graciousness towards those who were +introduced to her, according to the degree of intimacy which seemed to +exist between them and the Marchese. The result was that the Marchese, +without having been in the least conscious by what means and steps it +had been brought about, felt, by the time the gathering was at an end, a +sort of sense of proprietorship in the brilliant and lovely artiste;—it +was so evidently he who was presenting her to the city! She herself so +evidently felt that it would become her to rule her conduct in all +respects at Ravenna according to the Marchese's wishes and ideas, and +there was so sweet and so subtle a flattery in the way in which she made +this felt, that when, after all the crowd had retired, and she was about +to take leave of the Marchese to go to the lodging that had been +prepared for her, she ventured to take his hand between both hers, while +looking up into his face to thank him, in a voice quivering with +emotion, for his kindness to her, there passed a something into the +system of the Marchese from that contact of the palms that he found it +very difficult to rid himself of.</p> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_III" id="BOOK_III"></a>BOOK III<br /><br /> +"Sirenum Pocula"</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-3" id="CHAPTER_I-3"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +"Diva Potens"</h3> + +<p>Quinto Lalli was the name by which the prima donna had presented the old +gentleman who had shared her travelling-carriage to the Marchese +Lamberto as her father. And Quinto Lalli was his real name; but he was +not really her father. Nor had she any legitimate claim to the name of +Lalli. She had never been known by any other, however, during the whole +of her theatrical career; and there were very few persons in any of the +many cities where the Lalli was famous, who had any idea that the old +man who always accompanied her was not her father. Indeed, Bianca had so +long been accustomed to call and to consider him as such, that she often +well nigh forgot herself that he held no such relationship to her.</p> + +<p>The real facts of the case were very simple, and had nothing romantic +about them. Old Lalli was a man of great musical gifts and knowledge. He +had been a singing-master in his day; an impresario too for a short +time; and sometimes a kind of broker, or middle-man between singers in +want of an engagement and managers seeking for "available talent;" and a +hunter-up of talent not yet available, but which, it might be hoped, +would one day become such.</p> + +<p>It was in the pursuit of his avocations of this latter sort, that he had +one day, about fifteen years before the date of the circumstances +narrated in the last chapter, chanced to meet with a little girl, then +some twelve years old, on the hopes of whose future success he had +resolved to build his own fortunes. It was time that he should find some +foundation for them, if they were ever to be built at all, which most of +those who knew Signor Quinto Lalli deemed not a little improbable; for +he was of the sort of men who never do make fortunes.</p> + +<p>He was fifty years old when he had met with the little girl in question, +and had done nothing yet towards laying the foundations of any sort of +fortune. Unstable, improvident, unthrifty, fond of pleasure, and not +fond of work, nothing had succeeded with him. Nevertheless, a cleverer +man in his own line, or a shrewder judge of the article he dealt in, +than Quinto Lalli did not exist in all Italy. And his judgment did not +fail him when he fell in with little Bianca degli Innocenti.</p> + +<p>Persons unacquainted with Italian things and ways might suppose that the +above modification of the "particle noble" in Bianca's family name was +indicative of a very aristocratic origin. Italians, however—and +specially Tuscans—would draw a different conclusion from the premises. +The family "Degli Innocenti" is very frequently met with in Tuscany; but +the bearers of the name do not, for the most part, take great heed of +their family ties. The "Innocenti," in a word, is the name of the +foundling-hospital in Florence; and those of whose origin nothing is +known save that they have been brought up by that charity, are often +called after it, and known by no other name. Little Bianca's father, or +possibly her grandfather, must have been some such Jem, Jack, or Bob "of +the Foundlings," and left no other patronymic to his race.</p> + +<p>Quinto Lalli fell in with the child one day in the dirty and miserable +little town of Acquapendente, just on the Roman side of the frontier +line dividing the Papal territory from Tuscany, as he was travelling +from Florence to Rome. He was travelling by the diligence, which always +used to remain a good hour or more at Acquapendente, for the transaction +of passport and dogana work. There, strolling, for want of something +better to do, through the dilapidated streets of the poverty-stricken +little town,—which in those days told the traveller most unmistakably +how great was the difference between prosperous Tuscany, which he had +just left, and the wretched Pope's-land which he was entering—Quinto +Lalli heard a child's voice, and instantly stopped and pricked up his +ears.</p> + +<p>Looking round, he saw a little creature, barely clad, happy amid the +surrounding squalor, sitting with its little bare feet and legs dabbling +in the sparkling water in the broken marble tank of a once magnificent +fountain. There she sate alone in the sunshine, and carolled, with +wide-opened throat, like any other nature-made songster.</p> + +<p>Quinto Lalli, with startled ear, listened attentively; got round to +where he could see the child's face; marked well, with knowing eye, the +little brown feet and legs bare to the knee; and then determined to +abandon the fare paid for the remainder of his diligence journey to +Rome.</p> + +<p>The business for the sake of which he made that sacrifice was easily and +quickly done. A bargain is not difficult when that which is coveted by +one party is deemed a burden and encumbrance by the other. And Quinto +Lalli became the fortunate purchaser of the article of which he had so +judiciously appreciated the value.</p> + +<p>Quinto had his little purchase well and carefully educated—educated her +himself in a great measure, as far as her voice was concerned—and took +care that every attention was paid, not only to her musical culture, and +to the preservation and enhancement of her beauty—which, with great +comfort as regarded the ultimate issue of his speculation, he saw every +year that passed over her develop more and more—but also to her +intellectual cultivation. For Lalli was a clever man enough to know, +that if a stupid singer with a fine voice can charm so as to be worth a +hundred, an intelligent singer with an equally fine voice, can charm so +as to be worth two hundred.</p> + +<p>And the old singing-master was good and kind to his pupil: firstly, +because he had no unkindness in his nature, and secondly, because it was +in every way his interest to conciliate the girl. She had been brought +out at eighteen, and had now been nine years on the stage—nine years of +success, which ought to have enriched both teacher and pupil.</p> + +<p>They had very soon come to understand each other in matters of interest. +Lalli had begun by taking all her large earnings. But Bianca very +quickly let her protector understand that such an arrangement did not +meet her views at all. The ingratitude, when she owed everything to him +alone! No, Bianca had no intention to be ungrateful—anzi! she looked +upon Lalli as her father, and hoped she always should do so; but she had +no intention of being treated like a child. So long as she could earn +anything, her adopted father should want for nothing. She asked nothing +better than to continue to live with him, and work for both of them.</p> + +<p>And, in truth, her grateful kindness and fondness for the old man whom +she had so long looked on as a father was Bianca's strongest point in +the way of moral excellence. In all their nine years of partnership she +had worked for him as much as for herself. But her nine years of success +ought to have made both the old man and his adopted daughter comfortably +well off. And it had done nothing of the kind.</p> + +<p>They had laid by nothing. Old Quinto had all his life been recklessly +extravagant and thriftless; and his mode of education had not made +Bianca less so. If he was fond of dissipation and pleasure, she was not +less fond of them on her side. Careful as her education had been, it was +hardly to be expected that it should have been eminently successful in +forming a high standard of moral character. The demands made by society +upon its members in general in the clime and time in question were not +of a very exacting nature; and the expectations of society in this +respect from a person in Bianca's position were more moderate still. Nor +were the precepts, counsels, example, or wisdom of her protector at all +calculated to guide the beautiful singer scatheless through the dangers +and difficulties incidental to her position.</p> + +<p>In short, for nine years Bianca had worked hard—had earned a great deal +of money, and had spent it all (except what Lalli had spent for her) in +dissipation, the sharers in which had been chosen by the beautiful +actress—as kissing goes—by favour, and not with any view to their +ability to pay the cost.</p> + +<p>And now La Lalli had reached her twenty-seventh year; and was very +nearly as poor as when she began her career. And certain small warnings, +unimportant as yet, and wholly unsuspected, save by herself and old +Quinto, had begun to suggest to her the expediency of thinking a little +for the future. She and Quinto Lalli had had a very serious conversation +on the subject just before the commencement of that season at Milan, +which, as has been hinted, had ended somewhat disagreeably for the +charming singer.</p> + +<p>The real truth of the matter was that the difficulty in question had +arisen not from any tendency in the lady to behave in the Lombard +capital with more reprehensible levity than, it must unfortunately be +admitted, she had been very well known to have behaved in other places +and on other occasions; but from a change in her manners in a +diametrically opposite direction. It was a change of tactics, which the +strictest moralist must have admitted to involve an improvement in moral +conduct, that got the hardly treated Diva into trouble.</p> + +<p>The Austrian Government, as we all know, is, or was, a paternal +government-a very paternal government. And the governor who ruled in the +Lombard capital was quite as much intent on playing the "governor," in +the modern young gentleman's sense of the word, as good old paternal +Franz himself in his own Vienna. But this paternal government was not of +the sort which ignores the well-authenticated fact that "young men will +be young men." On the contrary, it proceeded always, especially as +regarded its more distinguished sons, on the largest recognition of this +truth. Wild-oats must be sown; the "governor" knew it, and the law +allowed it. But they should be so sown as to involve as little +prejudicial an after-crop, as may be—as little prejudicial especially +to those distinguished sons who cannot be expected to refrain from such +natural sowing.</p> + +<p>And enchanting Divas may assist in such sowing, and be tolerated in so +doing by a not too rigidly exacting paternal government—may be held in +so assisting not to step beyond the sphere of social functions assigned +to them by the natural order of things in a manner too offensive to the +mild morality of a paternal government, as long as such joint wild-oat +cultivation shall in nowise threaten to interfere with the future +tillage of less wild and more profitable crops by those distinguished +young scions of noble races, to whose youthful aberrations a paternal +government is thus wisely indulgent.</p> + +<p>So long, and no longer. Mark it well, enchanting Divas. Enchant if you +will; 'tis your function. But do not think to enchain? Enmesh a young +Marchese in the tangles of Neaera's hair. A paternal governor puts his +fingers before his eyes; and lets a smile be seen on his lips beneath +them. But do not seek to bind him by less easily broken ties. A vigilant +and moral governor frowns on the instant; and a paternal government well +knows how to protect its distinguished sons by very summary and +effectual process.</p> + +<p>But when for a poor Diva there comes also the time when that pleasant +wild-oat sowing seems no longer a promising pursuit, what does the +paternal wisdom decree as to her future? Why, she must reap as she has +sown—or helped to sow. See ye to it, Divas. Such providence is beyond +our function.</p> + +<p>And thus it had come to pass that the trouble had arisen which had +resulted in inducing the Diva Bianca to turn her back on ungrateful +Milan, and her face towards welcoming Ravenna. In that conference +between Bianca and her old friend and counsellor, which has been +mentioned, it had been fully brought home to the Diva's conviction that +for her the pleasant time of wild-oat sowing had come to an end. "Would +that the year were always May." But old Quinto Lalli knew that it +wasn't. And it had been concluded between him and his adopted daughter +that it was high time for Bianca to take life au serieux;—to understand +thoroughly that noctes coenaeque deum, with champagne suppers and love +among the roses, must be, if not necessarily abandoned, yet steadily +contemplated as a means and not an end.</p> + +<p>What if—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">Love, free as air, at sight of human ties,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Shakes his light wings, and in a moment flies?</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The warning of the verse teaches that the skittish god must not be +scared by a premature exhibition of the noose hid beneath the sieve of +corn. Champagne suppers and love among the roses—yes. But there should +be, also, cunningly hidden, the noose among the roses.</p> + +<p>And to this wisdom the Diva her well-trained mind did seriously incline, +during that last Milan campaign. Nor did her moral aim seem to be +without good promise of success. The sleek young colts with their shiny +coats, glossy, with the rich pastures of the Lombard plains, pranced up +and nibbled, all unconscious of the hidden noose. One fine young +unsuspecting animal, the noblest of the herd, came so close to the noose +that Bianca thought her work was done, and was on the point of casting +it over his lordly head—and he all but enchanted into such docility as +to submit to it, even seeing it.</p> + +<p>When lo! with sudden swoop of hand, sharp vibrating police decrees, an +unsleeping paternal government darts down the fabric of our hopes, sends +off the nearly captured prey, loud neighing and with heels kicked high +in air, but safe, to his ancestral Lombard pastures, and whirls away the +too dangerous enchantress into outer space.</p> + +<p>Sorrowfully the baffled fair goes forth (a graceful picture somewhere +seen of paradise-banished Peri with pretty stooping head, recalls itself +to my mind as I write the words); sorrowfully but not despairing,—and +wiser than before.</p> + +<p>And yet before she goes seeking fresh fields and pastures new, and +meditating new emprise, wealthy Milan shall itself equip her for the +next campaign. For much of such expedient outfit Milan can supply, +which, in remote Ravenna, might in vain be sought. There, beneath the +shadow of those marble walls, where once the sainted Borromeo preached, +the cunningest Parisian artists may be found—so rich in corn and wine +and silk are Lombard plains-modists and mercers, corset-makers, lacemen, +skilled so to clothe the limbs of beauty, that every fold shall but +display the perfect handiwork of nature, yet add to it the further grace +of art. Makers of tiny slippers and such dainty bootlets as show forth +and enhance the separate beauty of each inch of outline of rounded +ankle, arched instep, and slender length of foot, shall lend their help. +And if envious Time have something done to blur the bloom upon the +cheek, or blot the clear transparent purity of skin,—sunt certa +piacula,—there are not wanting means for helping a mortal Diva to some +of the prerogatives of immortality in these respects.</p> + +<p>And thus equipped, everything is ready, Quinto mio; we turn our backs on +haughty Milan, and nova regna petentes cras ingens iterabimus aequor, +that is to say, the wide plains of Lombardy.</p> + +<p>So Bianca and her faithful Quinto journeyed forth on that interminably +long flat monotonous Emilian road, with no accompanying sound of music +on their departure, but with the much-improved prospects, which have +been described, on their arrival.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-3" id="CHAPTER_II-3"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> +An Adopted Father and an Adopted Daughter</h3> + +<p>When Bianca, on the evening of her arrival at Ravenna, rejoined Quinto +Lalli at the handsome and convenient lodging which had been provided +her, after having passed an hour or two, as has been related, in being +presented to the notabilities of the city, and receiving a great deal of +homage at the Palazzo Castelmare, she had already learned many useful +things.</p> + +<p>Imprimis, she had learned that the Marchese Lamberto was a bachelor; +that he was—though what young girls call an old man—still almost in +the prime of life, for a man so healthy and well preserved; that he was +a remarkably handsome and dignified gentleman; that he evidently +occupied the very foremost place in the esteem and respect of his +fellow-citizens; that he was rich; and that he appeared from all those +little signs and tokens of manner, which such a woman as La Diva Bianca +can interpret so readily, the last man in the world likely to fall in +love with such a travelling Diva as herself. She had learned, further, +that the Marchese Ludovico was his heir; that the said Ludovico might be +judged, by all those same signs and tokens, to be very much such a man +as might be likely to fall over head and ears in love with a beautiful +woman, who should make it her business to cause him to do so; and yet +further, that this Marchese Ludovico was just the sort of man, whom, if +she might permit herself to join pleasure with business, she would very +well like so to operate on. She had heard a poem read to her by the +Conte Leandro, and had decided that, if he were the wealthiest man in +all Ravenna, no sense of her duty to herself could prevail to make her +do anything but run away from him at the first warning of his approach. +Nevertheless, from him, even, she had learned something. She had become +acquainted with the fact, whispered in his own exquisitely felicitous +manner, and with the tact and judicious appreciation of opportunity +peculiar to him, that Ludovico di Castelmare was, to the great sorrow of +his friends and family, enslaved by a certain Venetian artist, then +resident in Ravenna,—a girl really of no attractions whatever.</p> + +<p>Thus much of the carte du pays of that new country, in which her own +campaign was to be made, and of which it so much imported her to have +the social map, she had learned, when she found Quinto Lalli waiting for +her to take possession of their new home.</p> + +<p>"Well, bambina mia,—my baby," for so the old man often called her, +"what sort of folk have we come among? How do you like the appearance of +the country?"</p> + +<p>"Eh, papa mio, che volete? I have seen only a bit of it. It is rather +early to judge yet," said Bianca.</p> + +<p>"Not too early for your quickness, bambina mia. Besides, you may be sure +you have seen most of what you are likely to see, and what it most +concerns you to see. The Cardinal Legate was not likely to come out to +meet you, I suppose; nor does it much matter to you to see his +Eminence."</p> + +<p>"Well, what I have seen, I like. As for the theatre, that Marchese +Lamberto, whom you saw, knows what singing is as well as you do. I shall +please him on the stage; and, if so, as I see very well, I shall please +all the rest of Ravenna. But—"</p> + +<p>"But what? There is always a 'but.' What is it this time?" said the old +man.</p> + +<p>"As if you did not know as well as I!" said Bianca, with a little toss. +"Is what I can do on the theatre of Ravenna the thing that is most in my +thoughts?"</p> + +<p>"'Twas you who mentioned it first," said Quinto. "I spoke of it merely +with reference to that man, the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. He is +one of the first, if not the very first, man in the city; and everybody +is cap in hand before him. Evidently a rich man."</p> + +<p>"And he is a musician, you say?" rejoined Quinto.</p> + +<p>"Fanatico! But what matters that; except, indeed, as a stepping-stone? +What has music done for me? The Marchese Lamberto is a bachelor, +Quinto."</p> + +<p>"Ha! what, the old man?" said Quinto, looking sharply at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the old man, as you call him. Not so old but he might be your son, +friend Quinto. But there is the young man, the Marchese Ludovico, whom +you also saw, when they met us on the road. He is the nephew and heir to +the other—a bachelor too—and as pretty a fellow as one would wish to +see into the bargain; a charming fellow."</p> + +<p>"So was the Duca di Lodi at Milan," said the old man, quietly; "a very +charming fellow—charming and charmed into the bargain. But—"</p> + +<p>"Yes! I don't need to ask the meaning of your 'but.' We know all about +that; but what is the good of going back upon it?" said Bianca, throwing +herself at full length upon a sofa, and tossing her hat on to the +ground, with some little display of ill-temper, as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Only for the sake of the light past mistakes may throw on future +hopes," replied Quinto, with philosophic calmness.</p> + +<p>"Bah-mistakes—what mistake? There was no mistake, but for that infamous +old wretch of a governor," said Bianca, with an expression which the +individual referred to would hardly have recognized as beautiful, if he +could have seen it.</p> + +<p>"Yes! I know. May the devil give him his due! But, bambina mia, there +are wretches of governors here too, it is to be feared, no less +infamous."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? What did we come here then for?" cried Bianca, +rearing herself on her elbow on the sofa, and looking at her old friend +with wide-opened eyes of angry surprise.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, cara mia, because it was necessary to go somewhere; +and, in the second place, because I should be very much at a loss to +name any place where the governors are not infamous wretches, every whit +as bad as at Milan. 'Tis the way of them, my poor child. But you see, +Bianca dear, to return to what we were saying, there was a little +mistake at Milan. The Duca di Lodi did not go off into the country, and +leave you plantee la, to please himself."</p> + +<p>"Who ever thought he did? No, poor fellow, he was right enough. But what +was the mistake, I want to know?"</p> + +<p>"You could bring no influence to bear, except upon himself, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. How should I? E poi?"</p> + +<p>"And he could not do as he pleased," said Quinto, with a slight shrug of +his shoulders. "That was the mistake, cara mia, to endeavour to bring +about an object, by influencing some one who had no power to act for +themselves in the matter."</p> + +<p>"A very pleasant Job's comforter you are to-night, Quinto. I don't know +what you are driving at?" said Bianca, staring at him.</p> + +<p>"Only this, my precious child. I was set thinking of the mistake at +Milan by what you said of these two men, the uncle and nephew. Has it +not come into your clever head, mia bella, that we might find here the +means of avoiding a repetition of that error?"</p> + +<p>"Ah—h! Now I see what you are at. The uncle—hum—m—m," said Bianca, +meditatively; and then shaking her head with closely shut lips.</p> + +<p>"And why not the uncle, bambina mia? I am sure the few words you have +said about him are sufficient to point out that an alliance with the +Marchese di Castelmare would be an advantageous one for any lady in the +land," said old Quinto, with a demure air, that concealed under it just +the least flavour in the world of quiet irony.</p> + +<p>"I won't deny, papa mio, that, being humble as becomes my station," +replied Bianca, in the same tone, "I should be perfectly contented with +the style and title of Marchesa di Castelmare. But what reason have we +for thinking that there would be any less difficulty in becoming such +than in becoming Duchessa di Lodi? That, between ourselves, is the +question."</p> + +<p>"And what difficulty lay in the way of becoming Duchessa di Lodi? +Certainly none that arose from the Signor Duca. Governors and fathers, +and uncles and aunts, and police commissaries, and the devil knows what, +all interfered to keep two young hearts asunder, and spoil the game. And +why did they interfere?—the devil have them all in his keeping! Because +all the world agrees to believe that such springalds as the Duca di Lodi +can't take care of themselves. Because it is considered that the titles +and acres of such, if not their persons, should be protected +against—against the impulses of their warm hearts, shall we say? Now, +do you think that the world would consider any such protection necessary +in the case of the Marchese Lamberto? Would any governors, or fathers, +or uncles, or aunts, or commissaries, interfere to prevent him from +doing as he pleased in such a matter?"</p> + +<p>"No, I suppose not!" replied Bianca, thoughtfully; "but if no father or +uncle did, a nephew might. It is always the way; people get out of the +leading-strings put on them by their elders, only to be entangled in +others wound round them by their sons and daughters and nephews and +nieces! The poor old man is beguiled. We must prevent him from making +such a fool of himself! And the interference is all the worse, and the +more fatal, because the poor old man would not only make a fool of +himself, but beggars of his protectors."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed old Quinto Lalli with a quiet, almost noiseless +laugh; "it is very well and shrewdly said, bambina mia. But between the +two times of interference, my Bianca, there is a happy medium; an +intervening space, a high table-land, we may say, after the dominion of +fathers and uncles has been escaped from, and before that of sons and +nephews begins—a short time, during which a man may and can please +himself. Now, it seems to me, that your Marchese—pardon me for the +anticipation, it is a mere figure of speech, your Marchese di +Castelmare, I say, seems to me to be just in that happy position!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that, I have not seen enough to be sure about that yet. +That young fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, does not look to me a likely +sort of man to stand by quietly and see himself cut out of houses and +lands! And besides,—it strikes me—"</p> + +<p>"Speak out your thought, bambina mia; I am sure it is one worth hearing. +And between us, you know—"</p> + +<p>"Well, between ourselves then," continued Bianca; while a smile, half of +mockery and half of pleasure, writhed her lips into changing outlines, +each more bewitchingly pretty than the other, and her eyes were turned +away from Quinto to a contemplation of the slender dainty foot peeping +out from beneath her dress, as she lay on the sofa; "between ourselves, +papa mio, from one or two small observations, which I chanced to make +to-day, it strikes me that the Marchese Ludovico might possibly feel +other additional objections to the establishment of any such relations, +as you are contemplating between me and his uncle, besides the +likelihood that they might be the means of cutting him out of his +heirship."</p> + +<p>"Ha, I see, I see; nothing more likely! Per Dio, bambina mia, you lose +no time! Brava la Bianca! And perhaps I may conclude, from one or two +small observations that I have been able to make myself, you would +prefer to win on the nephew! Eh, cara mia" said the old man, looking at +her with a sly smile.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" cried Bianca, with a toss of her auburn ringlets, and a shrug +of her beautiful shoulders; "I must do my duty in that state of life to +which it has pleased God to call me,—as the nuns at St. Agata taught +me. But between uncles and nephews, I suppose any girl would say, +nephews for choice!"</p> + +<p>"But you see, my child, the devil of it is that it would be the Milan +story over again. You would have all the family to fight against. A +Cardinal Legate can be quite as despotic, and disagreeable, and +tyrannical as an Austrian governor. You may be very sure that these +people have some marriage in view for this young Marchese, the hope of +the family! We know that the Marchese Lamberto is hand and glove with +the Cardinal. And there would be an exit from Ravenna after the same +fashion as our last!"</p> + +<p>"I know for certain already, that there is a marriage arranged between +the young Marchese and no less a personage than the niece of the +Cardinal Legate himself," said Bianca.</p> + +<p>"Well then; that is not very promising ground to build on, is it, +bambina mia!" replied Quinto.</p> + +<p>"It may be, that as far as the man himself is concerned, the match that +has been made for him would be rather the reverse of a difficulty in the +way," rejoined Bianca.</p> + +<p>"But the difficulty will not come from the man himself, cara mia! It +would be doing you wrong to suppose that to be at all likely. I don't +suppose it; but—do you imagine that the Cardinal Legate will permit you +to snatch his niece's proposed husband from out of her mouth! It would +be a worse job than the other," said Quinto, shaking his head +emphatically.</p> + +<p>"So that you are all for the uncle, papa mio?" rejoined Bianca; yawning, +as if she were tired of discussing the subject.</p> + +<p>"Well, I confess it seems to my poor judgment the better scheme, and +indeed a very promising scheme. Depend upon it, my child, an old man, +who is his own master, is the better and safer game," replied Quinto.</p> + +<p>"Very well! Have at the old man then, as you call him; though, as I have +told you, Quinto, he is not an old man—not over forty-five I should +say; at all events the right side of fifty, I'd wager anything! But I +tell you fairly, that a less promising subject I never saw. A man, who +has lived till that age a bachelor, though the head of his family,—and +a bachelor of the out-and-out moral and respectable sort, mind you,—the +great friend of the Cardinal; trustee to nunneries, and all that sort of +thing!—a man who looks at you and speaks to you as if he was a master +of ceremonies presenting a Duchess to a Queen,—a man, I should say, who +had never cared for a woman in his life, and was very unlikely to begin +to do so now," said Bianca, yawning again as she finished speaking.</p> + +<p>"Bambina mia," replied Quinto, "you are a very clever child, and you +know a great many things. But you have not yet sufficiently studied the +elderly gentleman department of human nature. If the Marchese Lamberto +is as you describe him, it may be, it is true, that he is one of those +men for whom female beauty has no charm, and on whom any kind of attack +would be thrown away and mere lost labour. But it is far more likely +that the exact reverse may be found to be the case! A thousand +circumstances of his social position, or even of his temper and turn of +mind, may have kept him a bachelor,—may have kept him out of the way of +women altogether. He may be found cautious, haughty, backward to woo, +requiring to be wooed, in love with the respectabilities of his social +standing; but depend upon it, bambina mia, if you can once awaken the +dormant passion of such a man, you may produce effects wholly +irresistible,—you may do anything with him! His love would be like a +frozen torrent when the thaw comes! It would dash aside every opposition +that could be offered it. The calculated and calculating tentatives, and +coquettings and nibblings of your practised lovers, who have been in +love a dozen times, would be as a trickling rill to an ocean wave, +compared to what might be expected from the passion of a heart first +strongly moved at the time of life the Marchese has reached. Fascinate +such a man as that, and in such a position, bambina mia, and all the +governors, and all the Cardinals that ever mumbled a mass, won't avail +to prevent him from being your own!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose you are right, Quinto. And I suppose that that is what +it must be!—But—well! it is time to be going to bed, I suppose; I am +tired and sleepy!" said Bianca, rousing herself after a pause from a +reverie into which she seemed to have fallen, and yawning as she got up +from the sofa.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-3" id="CHAPTER_III-3"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +"Armed at All Points"</h3> + +<p>The quartiere which La Lalli found prepared at Ravenna for her and her +travelling companion was a very eligible one. It consisted of a very +nicely-furnished sitting-room, with a bed-room opening off on one side +for herself, and another similarly situated on the other side for her +father. There was also, behind, one little closet for a servant to sleep +in, and another, still smaller, intended to serve as a kitchen.</p> + +<p>On the morning following the conversation related in the last chapter +Bianca, hearing Quinto coming out of his bed-room into the sitting-room +about nine o'clock, called out to him from her bed:</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa! I forgot to tell you last night that the Marchese and Signor +Stadione are to be here at one o'clock to-day to hear me, and settle +about the night of the 6th, you know."</p> + +<p>"All right, bambina mia! I will be back in time. I'm going to the cafe +to get some breakfast," called out Quinto through the door.</p> + +<p>"Yes. But, papa, be here at one o'clock, and do not come back before +that. E inteso? And send me a cup of chocolate from the cafe."</p> + +<p>"Inteso! I'll be here at one, and not before," said the old man through +the door, with special emphasis on the last words.</p> + +<p>Then Bianca called her maid, told her to bring the chocolate to her as +soon as it came from the cafe, and then to come and dress her at ten. +Whether the intervening time was spent in sleep or meditation may be +doubted; but, at all events, when the hour for action came Bianca was +ready for it.</p> + +<p>By means of the skilled and practised assistance of Gigia Daddi, the +maid who had been with her ever since the first beginning of her stage +career, the Diva had completed her toilette by half-past eleven. But she +had had, to a certain degree, a double toilette to perform. All the +component parts of a rich and very becoming morning-costume had been +selected and assorted with due care, and minute attention to the effect +each portion of it was calculated to produce in combination with the +rest; and then they had been not put on, but laid out in order on the +bed. The more immediate purpose of the Diva was to array herself +differently—differently, but by no means with a less careful and +well-considered attention to the result which was intended to be +produced.</p> + +<p>The magnificent hair was brushed till it gleamed like burnished gold as +the sun-rays played upon it. But when ready to be coiled in the artistic +masses, which Gigia knew well how to arrange, variously, according to +the style and nature of the effect designed to be produced, it was left +uncoiled, streaming in great ripples over back and shoulders in its +profuse abundance. An exquisite little pair of boots, of black satin, +clasping ankle and instep like a glove, were chosen to match the black +satin dress laid out on the bed: but, like the dress, were not put on. +The place of the black satin dress was supplied by a wrapper of very +fine white muslin, edged with delicate lace, so shaped with consummate +skill that, though the snowy folds seemed to lie loosely within the +girdle that confined them at the waist, no part of the effect of the +round elastic slimness of the waist was lost; open at the neck, from a +point about a span beneath the collar-bone, it allowed the whole of the +noble white column of the grandly-formed throat to be visible from its +base above the bosom to the opening out of the exquisite lines about the +nape of the neck into the tapering swelling of the classically-shaped +head. The exact arrangement of the shape of this opening of the dress, +from the throat down to about a hand's-breadth above the girdle, was +very carefully attended to; the lace-edged folds of the muslin being +three or four times drawn a little more forward so as to conceal, or a +little back so as to show, a more liberal glimpse of the swelling bosom +on either side, by the doubting Diva, as she stood before the glass.</p> + +<p>"E troppo, cosi." she said to her attendant at last. "Is that too much +so?"</p> + +<p>Gigia looked critically before she answered, "To receive, yes,—a +little, perhaps. But to be caught unawares, no; and then with a +handkerchief, you know—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! One knows the exercise," said Bianca, with a laugh; "blush and +call attention to it by covering it with one's handkerchief, which falls +down as often as one chooses to repeat the manoeuvre. A chi lo dite?"</p> + +<p>"Style?" said Gigia.</p> + +<p>"Sentimental,—eyes soft and dreamy; therefore the very faintest blush +of rouge. Yes; not a shade more."</p> + +<p>"You won't put your bottines on?"</p> + +<p>"No; there'll be time afterwards. Give me a pair of bronze kid slippers. +After all, there is nothing that shows a foot so well: and look here, +Gigia, draw this stocking a little better; I'd almost as soon have a +wrinkle in my face as in the silk on my instep. That's better! The +narrow black velvet with the jet cross for my neck, nothing else. Now, +you understand? Anybody who comes after one o'clock may be admitted; +before that you will let in no soul save the Marchese Lamberto, in case +he should come. I don't at all know that he will. And, Gigia," continued +her mistress, as she passed into the sitting-room, "draw this sofa over +to the other side of the fireplace, so as to face the window; ten years +hence, when you have to place a sofa for me, you may put it just +contrariwise—so, with the head at the side of the fireplace, and push +the table a little further back so as to leave room for the easy-chair +there to stand near the foot of the sofa facing the fire. That will do. +Now, be sure of your man before you let him in. The Marchese Lamberto, +mind, an elderly gentleman—not the Marchese Ludovico, who is a young +man. If he or anybody else should come before one o'clock tell them that +I can see nobody till that time. Now, don't bring me the wrong man; and, +Gigia, if he comes, don't announce him, you know. Just open the door +quietly, and let him walk into the room without disturbing me—you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"A chi lo dite, Signora mia! Lasciate fare a me! Is it the first time?" +said Gigia.</p> + +<p>"If only one could hope that it would be the last," returned her +mistress with a half laugh, half sigh.</p> + +<p>By the time all these arrangements were made it was nearly twelve +o'clock; and Bianca, dismissing her maid, placed herself, not without +some care in the arrangement of her delicate draperies, on the sofa.</p> + +<p>The judicious Gigia had said that the extent of snowy bosom exposed was +not too liberal, due consideration being had to the circumstance that +the Diva was to be caught by an unexpected surprise in an undress. So, +as Bianca meant to be very much surprised, she carefully, and with +dainty fingers, drew back the muslin on either side just a thought, so +as to permit to an exploring eye merely such a suggestive peep of the +swelling curves on either side as might furnish an estimate of the +outline of the veiled heights beyond. She smiled, half with pleased +consciousness and half with self-mockery, as she did so: then carefully +arranged her drapery so as to allow two slim ankles to be visible just +at the point where they crossed each other in a position which exhibited +the curved instep of one slender foot in a full front view, and the side +of the other negligently thrown across it. The pose was artistically +perfect. Lastly, with one or two dexterous touches and shakes, she so +arranged her wealth of hair as to combine an appearance of the most +perfect negligee with a thoroughly artistic disposition of it, which, +while it displayed to the best advantage the tresses themselves, served +also to heighten the effect of the contours of neck and bust, which they +partly showed and partly concealed.</p> + +<p>And then the Diva waited patiently.</p> + +<p>She had, as she had said to Gigia, no certain knowledge that he would +come, nor even any very clear reason to believe that he would do +so—that he would come, that is to say, earlier than one o'clock, at +which hour it had been arranged that he should meet Stadione there. +Nevertheless, Bianca had a strong persuasion that he would come earlier. +Despite what she had said to Quinto Lalli of the circumstances and signs +which seemed to indicate that the Marchese was not a man likely to be +exposed to danger from such attacks as the Diva meditated making on +him,—despite the fact that she had said to herself also all that she +had said to her old friend, there had been something about the +Marchese's manner—something in that last pressure of palm to palm that +had set Bianca speculating as to the meaning of it. It was not a mere +manifestation of admiration; the Diva was used enough to that in all its +forms, and could read every tone of its language. It was more like +wonder and curiosity,—at all events, it was not indifference. She had +seen with half an eye, and without the slightest appearance of seeing +it, that the Marchese could not keep his eyes away from her. During the +drive to the city, and afterwards at the Palazzo Castelmare, while she +was making the acquaintance of the principal people of the city, it had +been the same thing. And nothing could be further than was the +Marchese's manner, from the bold, unabashed staring, which such +beautiful Divas as Bianca have often to endure. He evidently was +devouring her with his eyes on the sly. Evidently he did not wish to be +observed looking at her as he did look. Whenever her own eyes caught him +in the fact, his were on the instant withdrawn: to return, as Bianca +well marked, on the next instant.</p> + +<p>Then, after those first words, which he had addressed to her at their +meeting in the road, she had noted that he did not speak to her, as she +sat by his side in the carriage, with the simple ease and freedom of +indifference. There was almost something approaching to a manifestation +of emotion in his manner of addressing her. It could not be that this +elderly gentleman,—this very mature Marchese, had fallen in love with +her already. Such an idea would have been too absurd! Yet his whole +bearing was odd and ill at ease.</p> + +<p>It had seemed to himself as if some subtle material influence affected +him, as he sat by her side,—as if a magnetic emanation came forth from +her that mounted to his brain, and disordered his pulses, and the flow +of his blood. He had sat by the side of women as beautiful before now, +and never been conscious of being affected in any similar manner. What +it was that produced such an effect upon his nervous system,—what was +the matter with him, he could not for the life of him imagine. It was +unpleasant; he did not like it at all. And yet some irresistible +stimulus and curiosity drove him to prolong rather than to avoid the +sorcery.</p> + +<p>Bianca was by no means fully aware of the power and of the strength of +the sorcery which she was exercising on the Marchese. But she understood +a great deal more about it than he did. And when, in making the +appointment for him and the impresario to call on her at one o'clock, he +had asked her if that was too early for her habits, and she had replied, +that she was always afoot much earlier than that, Bianca had felt +persuaded that he would be at the door at an earlier hour.</p> + +<p>And her experience, or her instinct, with reference to such matters had +not deceived her.</p> + +<p>The quarter-past twelve had not struck, when the Diva heard a knock at +the door of her apartment.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-3" id="CHAPTER_IV-3"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +Throwing the Line</h3> + +<p>In the next instant Bianca heard the door of the room in which she was +sitting opened very gently; it was Gigia who opened it, so gently as to +enable her mistress to keep her eyes on a book she held in her hand, +apparently unconscious that she was not alone. The Marchese Lamberto +advanced two paces within the room, and then stopped gazing at the +exquisite picture before his eyes. Bianca knew that all her preparatory +cares were doing the work they were intended to do. But no sound had yet +been made to compel her to recognize her visitor's presence; and she +remained as motionless as a recumbent statue.</p> + +<p>"I fear, Signora—," said the Marchese, after a few instants given to +profiting by the rare opportunity a singular chance had given him,—"I +fear, Signora—"</p> + +<p>"Santa Maria, who is there!" cried Bianca in a voice of alarm, starting +to her feet as she spoke with a bound, that none but so skilled an +artist and so perfect a figure could have executed with the faultless +elegance with which she accomplished it.</p> + +<p>"A thousand pardons, Signora; your servant—"</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Lamberto! It is unpardonable in the woman—to have so +failed in her duty-towards your Excellency! It is I who have to beg your +indulgence, Signor Marchese. Can it be one o'clock already? In truth I +had no idea it was so late; and I have still to dress! How can I +apologize to your Excellency sufficiently for appearing before you in +this dishabille?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Signora, it is in truth I who have to apologize; it is not yet one +o'clock, it is not much past twelve! And I feel that I am guilty of an +unwarrantable intrusion. But I hoped for the opportunity of having a few +words of conversation before the hour named for our little business with +our good Signor Ercole. Permit me to assure you, Signora, that if your +servant had given me the least hint that you were not yet—ready to see +any visitor—"</p> + +<p>"If only your Excellency will excuse—the fact is, I have so rarely any +visitors that the poor woman does not understand her duty in such +matters. Really I am so covered with confusion,"—she continued, putting +up her delicate little hand with a feeble sort of little attempt to draw +her dress a little more together across her throat. "I cannot forgive +her! She has exposed me to seem wanting in respect towards your +Excellency; I will dismiss her from my service!"</p> + +<p>"Let me intercede for her, poor woman!" said the Marchese, advancing +into the room; "indeed it was mainly my fault, I ought to have asked if +you were visible."</p> + +<p>"One word from la sua Signoria is enough. If you can forgive me, I must +forgive her! But you will own, Signor Marchese, that it is—what shall I +say—?" She hesitated and cast her eyes down with a bewitching smile and +a little movement of her head to one side, "that it really +is—embarrassing! Such a thing never happened to me before!"</p> + +<p>"But now it has happened, Signora," said the Marchese, emboldened by the +smile, and by a shy sidelong glance, which she shot from under her +eye-lashes with a laugh in her eyes, as she spoke; "now it has happened +that I have been permitted to see you in a toilet all the more +exquisitely charming in that it wants the formality of the costume in +which the world is wont to see you,—may I not say what I came for the +purpose of saying?"</p> + +<p>"Will you be very discreet, Signor?" she said, putting a slender rosy +finger up to her smiling lips; "and never, never let it be known to any +human being, that I ever received you save in the fullest of full dress, +as would become me in receiving the honour of a visit from your +Excellency!"</p> + +<p>"Not a syllable, not a whisper!" replied the Marchese, taking her tone, +and putting his own finger on his lips. "And then, I may say, Signora, +that in Ravenna a visit at any hour from old Lamberto di Castelmare +would do your fair name no harm!" he added, taking the arm-chair by the +side of the sofa to which she pointed, as she resumed her former place +and attitude on the couch.</p> + +<p>"I dare say it might not, if I am to judge of his position in the +society from your own, Signor Marchese. But I did not know, that there +was any old Signor Lamberto di Castelmare. I supposed you were the head +of the family, your uncle, perhaps?" said Bianca, very innocently.</p> + +<p>"I have no uncle, Signora! I am the oldest Castelmare extant," said the +Marchese.</p> + +<p>"And you call yourself old Lamberto, Marchese! Why I would wager my +pearl necklace,—and that is the most valuable possession I +have—against a daisy chain, that you are not ten years older than I am. +I shall be called old Bianca Lalli next, at that rate!"</p> + +<p>"And how many years, since you are ready to wager on it,—have gone to +the bringing the face and form I see before me to their matchless +perfection?" said the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"Who was ever before so prettily asked how old she was?" said Bianca, +suffering her large blue eyes to rest fully on the Marchese's face for +an instant, and then dropping them with an air of conscious +embarrassment. "Well, a frank question deserves—or at least shall +have—a frank answer! I shall never see my twenty-fourth birthday +again?"</p> + +<p>"And you judge me then to be thirty-four!" said the Marchese, looking at +her laughingly.</p> + +<p>"Certainly I don't think any room full of strangers would judge you to +be more than that," replied Bianca, looking at him seriously.</p> + +<p>"Ta!—ta!—ta! Add fifteen years to that; and you will be nearer the +mark. So you see, bella Signora, that you may safely trust yourself to a +tete-a-tete with me under any circumstances."</p> + +<p>"Ta!—ta!—ta!" said Bianca, repeating his own phrase, with a merry +laugh in her eyes, and shaking her rich auburn curls at him. "It seems +impossible, utterly incredible! But I am very glad if it is so,—very +glad. There is nothing so intolerable to me as the young lads who come +buzzing about one circumstanced as I am, and whom it is as difficult to +drive away as it is to drive away flies in summer. There is no trusting +to them; they would compromise a poor girl as soon as look at her, if +she was fool enough to let them. And I have had lessons in the necessity +of caution, Signor Marchese. I have been cruelly treated,—very cruelly +calumniated!" And Bianca, knowing, it is to be supposed, that, if it is +not always the case that "Beauty's tear is lovelier than her smile," as +the poet says, yet that it is a phase of beauty often more potent over a +male heart than the sunniest smile, raised a corner of her +daintily-embroidered handkerchief to her eyes.</p> + +<p>The Marchese was an old man of the world,—as the cynical phrase +goes,—and of what a world?—an old Italian Marchese of the beginning of +the nineteenth century,—a period when, if crime was less rife than in +former and stronger ages, morality was never at a lower ebb. He was a +man whose musical tastes had made him conversant with the Divas of the +stage, and familiar with the interior aspects of Italian theatrical +life;—one, too, whom circumstances had caused to become specially well +acquainted with the antecedent history of this particular Diva now +stretched on the sofa before him. Yet none the less for all this did +"beauty's tear," enhanced by beauty's laced pocket-handkerchief, +exercise on him its usual glamour.</p> + +<p>Calumniated!—that lovely creature of matchless purity before +him,—matchless purity! so white was her throat; so round and slender +her waist; so daintily snowy her muslin drapery. Calumny! Of course it +was calumny. And how he could have poignarded the calumniators, and +taken the poor, fluttering, persecuted Diva to his bosom. The desire to +execute that latter portion of retributive and poetical justice was +making itself felt stronger and stronger within him every minute, as he +sat beside the sofa exposed to the full force of the magnetic +poison-current which was intoxicating him.</p> + +<p>"Signora—" he said, putting his hand out to take hers, which she +readily gave him. His own hand shook, and he paused in his speech, +overcome for a moment by a sort of dizziness and a sudden rush of the +blood to his brow and eyes,—a veritable electric shock caused by the +contact of her hand with his.</p> + +<p>"Signora," he continued, recovering himself, "no such slander—no such +insults will follow you here; none such shall follow you here. Lamberto +di Castelmare can, at least in Ravenna, promise you that much. Nor if +they did follow you, would such stories here be believed."</p> + +<p>"Generous! Just!" murmured Bianca behind the laced pocket-handkerchief +in a broken voice, just loud enough to reach the neighbouring ear of the +Marchese, while she suffered her slender fingers to press the hand which +held hers just perceptibly before withdrawing it from him;—"just," she +continued in a louder tone, taking her handkerchief from her face, and +raising her shoulders a little from the sofa, so as to turn more fully +towards him, while her eyes fired point blank into his a broadside of +uncontrollable gratitude and admiration;—"just, because generous and +noble. Oh, Signor Marchese, those who have never known what it is to +suffer from a slanderous tongue can never know the delight—the sweet +consolation of meeting with such generous appreciation."</p> + +<p>The poor Diva was quite overcome by her own emotion; and, sinking back +on the cushions of the sofa, again lifted her handkerchief to her face, +while one or two half-stifled sobs showed how deeply she had been +moved;—and how perfect was the form and hue of the beautiful +half-covered bosom which this emotion caused to heave beneath its gauzy +veil.</p> + +<p>Just at that minute there came, to the infinite disgust of the Marchese, +a discreet tap at the door.</p> + +<p>Bianca rapidly passed her fingers over the tresses above her forehead, +resettled her pose on the sofa, and gave the Marchese a meaning look of +common intelligence and mutual confidence, which set forth, as well as a +volume could have done, and established the fact that there existed +thenceforward a bond of union and a fellowship between her and him, such +as shut them in together, and shut out in the cold all the rest of +Ravenna, and then said "Passi," and admitted, as she knew very well, no +more startling an interrupter than Gigia.</p> + +<p>The well-trained servant said nothing and looked at nothing; but +silently handed to her mistress two cards.</p> + +<p>"Of course you told these gentlemen that I was not visible, Gigia?"</p> + +<p>"Diamine! Signora; of course I should not have let any gentleman pass +this morning more than any other morning of the year if you had not +specially told me to admit the Marchese Lamberto at any hour he might +come," said Gigia with a niaise simplicity, as she left the room.</p> + +<p>Bianca covered her face with her pretty hands and shook a gale of +perfume from her sunny locks, as she exclaimed, sotto voce,—"Oh, the +stupidity of these servants! Signor Marchese," she continued, looking up +shyly, but with a gay laugh in her eyes, "what must you not +imagine?—not, at all events, I hope, that I contemplated the +possibility of receiving you in this dishabille? But I will do as other +criminals do;—confess when they are found out. I did think," she +continued, casting down her eyes, and hesitating with the most +charmingly becoming and naive confusion; "I had some little hope—no; I +don't mean that;—I did not mean to put that into my confession;—it did +occur to me as possible," she went on, hanging her pretty head, and +playing nervously with the folds of her dress in a manner which had the +accidental effect of causing it to leave uncovered an additional inch of +silk stocking—"it did occur to me as possible that the Marchese +Lamberto might come to me sooner than the time named for the meeting +with the impresario;—for the sake of giving me any hints that his +perfect knowledge of the subject might suggest; and I fully intended to +be dressed and ready to receive him if he should show me any such +condescending kindness—and so told my maid to make an exception in his +case to my invariable rule! And then the minutes slipped away; and I +fell into a reverie, thinking—thinking—thinking; and then, all of a +sudden, before I knew that there was any one in the room—if you think +of the devil—and I suppose it is equally true if you think of an +angel;—but there, again, that was not intended to be any part of my +confession. I think I shall give up confession, at all events to you, +Signor Marchese, for the future. But now I have confessed myself this +time, and told the whole, whole truth—may I hope for absolution?"</p> + +<p>There was an adorable mixture of candour, and gaiety of heart, and +child-like simplicity in the beautiful features as she looked up into +his face when she finished speaking, together with an expression of +appealing confidence and almost tenderness in the eyes that achieved the +final and complete subjugation of the Marchese.</p> + +<p>Again he took her hand, and again his head swam round with the violence +of the emotion caused by the contact of palm with palm, as he said,</p> + +<p>"Ah, Signora, if I were equally candid perhaps it would turn out that it +was for me to confess, and for you to grant absolution—if you could. Do +you think you could?" he said, raising her hand to his lips as he said +the words.</p> + +<p>"Ha! Signor Marchese, that would quite depend upon the nature of the +confession. When I have heard it I will do my best to be an indulgent +confessor. But, however curious I may be to hear you in the +confessional, it must not be now; or I shall really not be ready to +receive Signor Stadione. Heavens! It wants only ten minutes to one now. +I must run and dress as quickly as I possibly can. To think that almost +an hour should have run away since you came here; and it seems like ten +minutes. May I beg your indulgence, Signor Marchese, if I ask you to +wait for me while I dress? I will be as quick as I possibly can."</p> + +<p>"On no account hurry yourself, Signora. It is my fault for having +detained you. And if I had to wait ten hours instead of one, would not +the one I have passed be cheaply purchased? Never mind Stadione; I will +explain to him that you are dressing—"</p> + +<p>"And that you have been made to wait some time already by my abominable +unpunctuality," said Bianca, holding up one fore-finger and giving him a +look of mutual intelligence.</p> + +<p>"Of course—of course. A chi lo dite!" returned the Marchese, giving her +once more his hand to help her to rise from the sofa.</p> + +<p>As she did so she put into his hand, without any word of comment, but +with a slight smile and a little momentary raising of her eyebrows, the +two cards that Gigia had, a little while before, handed to her. They +bore the names of the Barone Manutoli and the Marchese Ludovico +Castelmare; and Bianca handed them to the Marchese with a +matter-of-course air that seemed to say that, in the position which the +Marchese Lamberto and she had assumed towards each other, it was natural +and proper that he should see who had called on her.</p> + +<p>He merely nodded as he looked at them; and then, for the second time, +kissing the tips of the fingers he still held, as she got up from her +couch, he bowed low as she passed him to go towards the bedroom; and +she, before quitting the room, made a sweeping curtsey, half playfully, +and then kissed the tops of her fingers to him as she vanished into the +inner room.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-3" id="CHAPTER_V-3"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +After-thoughts</h3> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto and Signor Ercole Stadione quitted the house in +which the prima donna had her lodging, together, when the business +matters, which they had come thither to arrange, had been settled.</p> + +<p>"A wonderful woman, Signor Marchese," said the little impresario, +trotting along with short steps by the side of the Marchese, and rising +on his toes in a springy manner, that made his walk resemble that of a +cock-sparrow. "Truly a wonderful woman. I have seen and known a many in +my day, Signor Marchese, as you are well aware, sir; but such an one as +that, such an out-and-outer, I never saw before."</p> + +<p>"She is evidently a lady, whose education and manners entitle her to be +treated with all respect," replied the Marchese, more drily, the little +man thought, than his great patron was usually in the habit of +addressing him, and somewhat quickening his stride at the same time, as +if he wanted to walk away from the impresario.</p> + +<p>"Most undoubtedly, Signor Marchese, and every sort of respectful +treatment she shall have. There shall be a stove and a new looking-glass +put into her dressing-room this very day. If she don't draw, say Ercole +Stadione knows nothing about it. A very singular thing it is, Signor +Marchese,—and you must have observed it, Signor, as well as I,—there's +some women whose singing, let 'em sing as well as they will, is the +smallest part of their value in filling a theatre. There's no saying +what it is, but they draw—Lord bless you, as a bit of salt will draw +the cattle after it! And this Lalli is one of that sort. I know 'em, +when I see 'em. Won't she draw, that's all!" said the little man again, +rubbing his hands together, and chuckling with infinite glee.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto would have been at a loss probably if he had been +required to state clearly why he felt angry and annoyed with the +impresario that morning, and thought him a bore, and wished to be quit +of him. But such was the case. And presently, when the well-skilled and +business-like little man began to canvass the capabilities of certain +parts in his repertorio, for the most advantageous showing off of the +personal advantages of the new acquisition, the Marchese could stand it +no longer, but replied hastily:</p> + +<p>"Well, well. All these matters had better be submitted to the lady +herself. I think, Signor Ercole, that I will say good-morning now. You +are going to the theatre, and I am waited for at the palazzo."</p> + +<p>And the Marchese did return to the palazzo, though nobody was specially +waiting for him there. On the contrary, he told the servant in the hall +to admit nobody, and when he reached his library, he shut the door and +bolted it. And then he threw himself into an easy chair to think.</p> + +<p>The first thing that his thinking made clear and certain to him was that +something had happened, or was happening to him, which had never +happened to him before,—something respecting the exact nature of which +all his previous experience afforded him no light.</p> + +<p>In love! He had never been in love; but he knew, with some tolerable +accuracy, what was generally understood by the phrase. He had read the +poets, who describe the passion under sufficiently various phases; and +he had heard plenty of lovers' talk among a people who are not wont to +suffer, or to exult, or to be happy in silence. Was he in love with this +woman? Did he, in his heart, love her—in his heart, as he was there in +the solitude of his own room, at liberty and at leisure to examine his +heart upon the subject. A heavy frown settled on the Marchese Lamberto's +brow, and an unpleasant change came over his face, as he proceeded with +the task of asking his heart this question. There rose up feelings and +promptings within him, which almost drove him to the fierce assertion to +himself that he hated this woman, who was thus occupying his thoughts +against his will.</p> + +<p>What had become of all that warm chivalry of feeling that had urged him, +with all perfect earnestness of sincerity, to declare that no breath of +calumny or insult should come near her, beneath the aegis that he could +and would throw over her? Where was it gone? All clean gone. He knew, +with tolerable accuracy, the story of the former life of this woman. +They were facts which he knew,—certainly knew. But they had all +vanished from his mind,—had been as though they were not,—while he had +sat there by her sofa, looking at her and listening to her,—had all +vanished, even as the ardent chivalry, which had then been caused by +some sorcery to spring up in his mind, had vanished now.</p> + +<p>It was passing strange.</p> + +<p>That he was very sorely tempted—as he had never before in his life +been, tempted—to make love to this actress,—as it is called,—to make +love to her after the fashion, not so much of those poetical +descriptions which have been referred to, as after the fashion of those +prosaic settings-forth of the passion, which were familiar enough to his +ears, was clearly recognizable by him. He knew very certainly that he +desired that.</p> + +<p>And was what he desired so much out of his reach? Surely all that had +happened, all that he had seen, all that he had heard at the interview +with Bianca that morning, was not calculated to lead him to think so. +And why should it be? It would be all very much according to the +ordinary current of events in such matters. He was a bachelor. He was +wealthy. He was the most prominent noble of the city. He was brought +specially into contact with the lady by his theatrical connection and +habitudes. His patronage and protection were by far the most valuable +that could be offered to her in Ravenna. The Diva herself was—such as +Divas of her sort and time were wont to be. It would seem to be all very +easy and straight-forward. What was the worst penalty wont to follow +from such peccadilloes to persons in his position? The loss of a little +money,—of a good deal of money perhaps. But he had plenty and to spare.</p> + +<p>But none of these considerations availed to smooth the frown from the +Marchese's brow, or to make the future at all seem clear before him.</p> + +<p>In the first place to make this singer his mistress, simple and little +objectionable as such a step might seem to most men of his country, and +rank, and period, and freedom from ties, was not an easy matter, or an +agreeable prospect to the Marchese, on purely social considerations. He +had placed himself on a special pedestal, from which such a liaison +would involve a fall. And such a fall, or the danger of such a fall, was +very dreadful to the Marchese. There was the Cardinal; there were the +good nuns, whose affairs he managed, and who looked on him as a saint on +earth. Worst of all there was his nephew. How preach to him (terribly +necessary as such preaching might be) under such circumstances?</p> + +<p>To be sure, there was no need of doing whatever he might do in such sort +that the whole town should be his confidant. He had as good +opportunities for secrecy as could be desired. Theatrical business and +his recognized connection with it was an abundant and unsuspected excuse +for as much conversation with the lady,—as many interviews as he might +wish. It seemed safe enough upon the whole.</p> + +<p>And yet these considerations did not avail to take the frown from the +Marchese's brow, or bring his perplexed self-examination to an end. The +very evident disposition of the lady to be kind did not avail to please +him. Instead of being pleased and triumphant at the probable prospect of +so enviable a bonne fortune, he was displeased, unhappy, irritated, +angry—angry with himself and with the sorceress who had thrown this +spell on him. How was it? By what charm had she bewitched him so? +Already he was impatient, longing to be back again in her presence. And +yet he was angry with her,—doubted whether he did not rather hate her +than love her.</p> + +<p>At last he started from his chair and swore that he would retain the +mastery over his own self; that he would think no more of the abominable +woman,—see her no more!</p> + +<p>Taking his hat he rushed out of the house, with an instinctive desire +for bodily movement as a means of stilling the tossing fever that was +raging within him; walked through the streets at such an unusual pace, +that the people turned round to look after him as he passed; walked by +the door of the house in the Via di Santa Eufemia in which Paolina +lived,—saw Ludovico coming from it, who was surprised indeed at thus +seeing his uncle; and more surprised still to find, that the Marchese +passed him without seeming to notice him,—walked out into the country, +and returned only at supper-time, tired and worn out; and then, when the +supper was over, and Ludovico had gone out to the Circolo as usual, +after pacing his room, and swearing to himself at every turn, that he +would see the creature no more,—slunk out of his own palazzo, feeling +afraid of being seen by his own servants, and wandered to her lodging!</p> + +<p>And what were Bianca's meditations, when the business visit of the +impresario was over, and he and the Marchese left her room together?</p> + +<p>First and foremost, the Marchese Lamberto was in love with her; and that +not as dozens of youngsters in many a city had been; but madly, +desperately, in love with her. That fact admitted of no doubt whatever! +It was strange, curious enough, that she should have succeeded so +brilliantly, so entirely, and so immediately in spite of all the signs +and tokens which had led her not small experience to expect so entirely +different a result. Clearly the still larger experience of old Quinto +Lalli had been more far-sighted. His view of the matter had been the +true one!</p> + +<p>But still, how far was his view of the question a correct one? What was +the success, which had been very unmistakably so far achieved, in +reality worth? It was very plain that this Marchese Lamberto had been +caught, captivated, fascinated! But what then? There was no doubt at all +that he would very willingly suffer her to add him to the list of her +previous admirers and lovers. It never entered into the Diva's head to +conceive, after the very unmistakable testimony she had received of the +evident admiration of the Marchese, that very grave difficulties, +objections, and hesitations would, on his side, stand in the way of his +accepting any such position. She doubted not that this conquest was +perfectly within her reach; and that there would be no difficulty at all +in drawing large supplies from the Castelmare wealth towards recruiting +the needs of the Lalli exchequer.</p> + +<p>But this, as has been explained, was not what Bianca wanted. "Major +rerum sibi nascitur ordo!" She was intent on playing a higher and +greater game. Was it likely she would be able so to fix the harpoon she +had successfully thrown in the very vitals of the prey, so to make this +man feel that she was absolutely essential to his happiness, as to +induce him to marry her? That was the question! And Bianca did not +delude herself into imagining that anything that had passed between +herself and the Marchese that morning entitled her to consider the +battle which should lead to that victory as even begun.</p> + +<p>The Diva did not conceal from herself the greatness and arduous nature +of the task before her. She knew what a Marchese of mature age, of noble +lineage, and of unblemished reputation, was; and she knew what she was. +But she did not appreciate those extra difficulties in the case, which +arose from the special social position, and still more from the special +character and temperament of the man,—and these were the greatest +difficulties of all!</p> + +<p>On the whole, she was sanguine; and what was perhaps more to the +purpose, old Quinto, when they talked the matter over together, and the +general result of the morning interview had been reported to him, was +sanguine too.</p> + +<p>"Depend upon it, bambina mia," he said, "it is the best game—the real +game. Young fry will rise to the bait more readily; but they also +wriggle off the hook much more easily. It is the old fish who, when he +has it once fixed in his gills, cannot get rid of it, struggle as he +may. You play your game well,—neither relaxing, nor yet too much in a +hurry, and I prophesy that I shall live to see you Marchesa di +Castelmare."</p> + +<p>"And many a year afterwards, I hope, papa mio. And you may depend on my +teaching my husband to behave like a good son-in-law," said Bianca, with +a bright laugh.</p> + +<p>"As for the nephew," continued Quinto, "I can understand that it would +be more agreeable to make your attack on him—"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that at all, papa mio," interrupted Bianca. "You may +laugh, if you will, and think that I am making a virtue of +necessity—and small blame to me if I were—but the truth is, I do like +the Marchese. I like him better, as far as I can yet tell, than any man +I ever knew. Yes! you may make grimaces, and look as wicked as you +please! But it is true. And, if you ever do see me Marchesa di +Castelmare, you will see that I shall make him a very good, ay, and a +very fond, wife."</p> + +<p>"Who could doubt it, Signora, that has the advantage of knowing you as +well as I do?" said the old man, with a mocking bow.</p> + +<p>"You may sneer as much as you like, Quinto; but you understand nothing +about it. The Marchese is a man any woman might love. You call him an +old man? I tell you he is younger for a man than I am for a woman, God +help me! It isn't only years that make people old."</p> + +<p>"That's true, bambina mia, poveretta. And I am sure I have nothing to +say against it if you can fancy this Marchese a gay and handsome young +cavalier."</p> + +<p>"Handsome he is, as far as that goes. I swear he is the handsomest man I +have seen here! His nephew is good-looking enough, but he is not to be +compared to his uncle either in face or person."</p> + +<p>"Well, whether you have succeeded or not in making the Marchese in love +with you, cara mia, I begin to think that you have succeeded already in +falling in love with him," said Quinto, looking at her with raised +eyebrows.</p> + +<p>Bianca remained silent awhile, nodding her head up and down in a sort of +reverie, and then said, rousing herself with a shake of her flowing +curls as she looked up, "No; not quite that. But I won't say that it is +impossible that if I am to make him love me, I may come to love him in +the doing of it. You see, amico mio, it is something new. It is not the +old weary mill-round. He did not come to me with the set purpose of +making love to me, as all those young fellows have done, and do, just +because they have nothing else to amuse them; because it's the fashion; +because it's a feather in their caps; because it's the thing to have a +prima donna for their mistress! If the Marchese has fallen, or falls, in +love with me, he does so because he cannot help himself, he does it in +despite of himself; and that flatters a woman, Quinto. Well, we shall +see," she added, after another pause: "one thing, at all events. I swear +that there shall be nothing between me and the Marchese—of—the old +sort."</p> + +<p>"It is wisely said, bambina mia. That is the road which must lead, if +any can, to the winning of your game."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-3" id="CHAPTER_VI-3"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +At the Circolo</h3> + +<p>There was, at all events, one man at Ravenna who was entirely pleased +and satisfied with the famous prima donna in all respects: and this was +Signor Ercole Stadione.</p> + +<p>The Carnival campaign of La Lalli had been thus far brilliantly +successful, and the Carnival was now about half over. She "drew," as the +little impresario had prophesied she would, to his heart's content. It +was many a year since there had been so successful a season at the +theatre. Each part she sang in was a more brilliant success than the +last; and the public enthusiasm was such as enthusiasm on such subjects +never is save in Italy.</p> + +<p>In every respect, too, her ways and behaviour had been unexceptional. +Her attention was never distracted from her business by the visits of +young men behind the scenes—a torment which, during the reigns of other +Divas, had often driven the poor little impresario, who dared not get +rid of such intruders as he would have liked to do, almost wild. Bianca +would permit no visits of the kind. She had never behaved herself to any +of the young men in such sort as to cause any of those rivalries and +jealousies which are sometimes apt to manifest themselves in hostile +partisanship, when the Diva is on the boards—another fruitful source of +trouble to much-tried impresarios.</p> + +<p>She had walked circumspectly and prudently in all respects—a most moral +and highly satisfactory Diva.</p> + +<p>She was understood to receive no visitors at home—at least, none of a +compromising kind. The Marchese Lamberto was often with her: of course, +naturally! He was well known to be always a sort of second amateur +manager: neither the theatre nor little Ercole Stadione could go on +without him. And then the Marchese Lamberto was—the Marchese Lamberto! +If he had chosen to sit by the bedside of any prima donna in Italy night +after night, it would only have been supposed that he was giving her +possets for the improvement of her voice.</p> + +<p>Occasionally, also, she would receive the visits of the Marchese +Ludovico; evidently by reason of the unavoidable intimacy of his uncle +in the house. And Ludovico reported to them all at the Circolo that she +was a most charming woman indeed—full of talent, merry as a young girl, +companionable, and fond of society, but wholly devoted to her art, and +quite inaccessible in the way of love-making. He assured the jeunesse +doree of Ravenna that they lost nothing in any such point of view by +their exclusion from her intimacy, for that all their enterprises in +that line would be quite thrown away.</p> + +<p>The Conte Leandro Lombardoni, indeed, always carried about with him in +his breast-pocket, a carefully preserved little letter on pink +notepaper, which he gave the world to understand was part of a +correspondence carried on between him (reconciled as he was to the bel +sesso) and the Diva; and had more than once contrived to be seen hanging +about the door of her house at hours when honest Divas, as well as +mortals, ought to be in bed and asleep. But nobody believed him, or +imagined that anything save a bad cold was at all likely to result from +his vigils beneath the cold stars. He showed, indeed, with many +mysterious precautions against the remainder of the letter being seen, +that the little pink sheet of notepaper did indeed bear the signature of +"Bianca Lalli." But when one of the ingenuous youth picked his pocket of +it, it was found to be a very coldly courteous acknowledgment of a copy +of verses, which the Diva promised to read as soon as her avocations +would permit her to do so!</p> + +<p>"Any way," said the discomfited poet, "that is more than any of you +others have got. And it's not so small a matter, when you come to think +of it!"</p> + +<p>"Per Bacco, no! Leandro is in the right of it!" said the young Conte +Beppo Farini; "a small matter to find somebody who promises even to read +his verses! I should think not, indeed! Where will you find another to +do as much?"</p> + +<p>"Riconciliato col bel sesso! I should think you were, indeed!" cried +another; "she absolutely thanks you for sending her your rhymes! Nobody +ever did as much as that before, Leandro mio! No wonder you haunt the +street before her door!"</p> + +<p>"I don't haunt the street before her door. Envy, Jealousy, ye green-eyed +and loathsome monsters, how miserably small and mean can ye make the +hearts of men!" said Leandro, lifting up hands and eyes.</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Leandro, bravo! get upon the table, man!" cried Farini.</p> + +<p>"Get home to bed, rather. It is too bad, because no human being will +read his poetry, he takes to spouting it!" said the other.</p> + +<p>"Let us look what she says," cried Ludovico di Castelmare; putting out +his hand to take the little note. "Upon my word she writes a pretty +hand. It is a very neatly expressed note."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can see that much, can you?" returned Leandro. "I should think +it was too! Is there any one of you here can show such a note from any +woman, let her be who she may? She says she will read the poem I have +been good enough to send her—good enough to send her, mark that!—as +soon as she can find time to do so! What could she say more, I should +like to know? Of course she is occupied. It stands to reason. But she +will read my poem; and then you will see!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, then we shall see our little Leandro duly appreciated at last!" +said the Barone Manutoli. "As soon as the Diva has found time to read +the poem there will come another little pink note, adorably perfumed: he +will be summoned to her august presence, and installed as her poet in +ordinary, and who knows what else besides,—her Magnus Apollo? It is a +pity there are not eight other prime donne to make up the sacred number. +Then we should see our Leandro in his true position and vocation. Give +me a sheet of paper, and I will show you a new presentation of Apollo +and the Muses. They are all presenting him with pasticcerie and bonbons. +He has one hand on the lyre, and the other on his stomach, for the +homage of the goddesses has made him somewhat sick; his eyes, you +observe, are cast heavenwards, partly by reason of poetic inspiration, +and partly by reason of nausea!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo! bravo, Manutoli!" cried a chorus of voices.</p> + +<p>"Envy and jealousy, envy and jealousy, all envy and jealousy. It is +pitiable to see what they can reduce men to," cried the poet, foaming at +the mouth.</p> + +<p>"Never mind them, Leandro mio—never mind them. It is the universal +penalty of true merit, you know; the same thing all the world over," +said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"But, I say, Ludovico," rejoined Manutoli, "in the meantime, till our +Leandro's poem shall have been read and duly appreciated, you are the +only one who has been admitted to the privacy of La Lalli. What is your +report to us Gentiles of the outer court? Is she really so +unapproachable? And is she as adorable behind the scenes as before +them?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you ought to be able to answer that question yourself, Manutoli," +replied Ludovico; "you were with lo zio and me that day when we went out +to meet her; I am sure you had a fair look at her then."</p> + +<p>"A look? Yes; and I looked all I could look. I saw a charming face, +younger and fresher looking than might have been expected from the +length of time she has been on the boards,—a very pretty figure, as far +as her travelling-dress would show it one; and the loveliest foot and +ankle I ever saw in my life. I could swear to that again at any time. +Don't you remember how she stood with her foot down on the step, when +she was getting out of the carriage. I thought at the time that she knew +what she was about very well."</p> + +<p>"Of course she did. Do you think they don't always know very well, every +one of them, off the stage or on the stage?" said Farini.</p> + +<p>"But I want to know what sort of body, she is?" returned Manutoli; "I +don't need to be told that she is a very lovely woman; but of what sort +is she? Why does she keep us all at a distance? What is her game?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my life I don't know," answered Ludovico, "unless it's a devouring +passion for Leandro. I protest I have no reason to think she cares a +button for anything but her own art. I never tried; but it's my +impression that if I had ever whispered a word in her ear I should have +got a flea in my own for my pains."</p> + +<p>"You don't want to make us believe that you have been seeing her +frequently all this time,—passing hours with her a quattro occhi, and +have never made love to her, Ludovico?" said Farini.</p> + +<p>"No; I don't want to make you believe don't care a straw whether you +have it or not; but it is the the fact, for all that," returned +Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"Ludovico has enough on his hands in quarter. What would they say about +it in the Via Santa Eufemia if he were to bow down to new and strange +goddesses?" said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"That, if you please, Manutoli, we will not discuss either now or at any +other time," said Ludovico, with a look that showed he was in earnest. +"But, as for La Diva Bianca, I have no objection to tell all I know to +anybody. My belief is that she is as correct and proper, and all that +sort of thing, as a Vestal."</p> + +<p>"Che!"</p> + +<p>"Che!"</p> + +<p>"Che!"</p> + +<p>A chorus of protestations of incredulity in every tone of the gamut met +the monstrous assertion.</p> + +<p>"What, after all we heard of her doings at Milan—after all the +histories of her goddess-ship in every city of Italy?" said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"Well, what did we hear of her doings at Milan? The fact is, we know +nothing about the matter; and as to her previous history—of course I +don't suppose that she is, and always has been, a Diana; but it may be +that she has come to the time when she has thought it well to turn over +a new leaf. Such times do come to such women; but all I know is, that I +firmly believe that since she has been here she has lived the life of a +nun," said Ludovico, in the simple tone of a man who is stating a truth +which he has no interest in causing his hearers to credit or discredit.</p> + +<p>"Per Bacco, it's queer!" said Farini, slapping his hand against his +thigh. "I have heard," he continued in the tone of one speaking of some +strange and almost incredible monstrosity,—"I have heard of such women +taking a turn to devozione. It's not that with La Lalli, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Che! Nothing of the sort; she is as full of frolic as a kitten—up to +any fun. And she is a very clever woman, too, let me tell you—a good +deal of education. If you will put making love to her out of your head, +I never knew a woman who was pleasanter company," said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"And you really mean that you have never tried to make love to her in +any way?" reiterated Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"I do mean it, upon my soul; but I don't care a rap whether you believe +it or not," rejoined Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"And you are with her very frequently?" persisted Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have seen a good deal of her altogether. I like her; and I fancy +she likes me to go there; she seems to wish me to come. Perhaps it is a +novelty to her to have a man about her who doesn't try to make love to +her."</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Lamberto sees her a good deal?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; naturally. If it had not been for that I should probably never +have made acquaintance with her at all. Lo zio is continually there. He +ought to have been an impresario. In fact, he is the real impresario. +Little Ercole only does what my uncle tells him. I don't believe she +ever sings a note on the stage that he has not heard and approved +beforehand."</p> + +<p>"Suppose he is the dark horse; suppose she is his mistress all this +time; and he takes care to keep her all to himself," said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"What, lo zio. Bah! I should have thought that you knew him better than +that, Manutoli. To him a woman is a voice, and nothing else. If the same +sounds could be got out of a flute or a fiddle he would like it much +better, and think it far more convenient. I don't think my uncle +Lamberto ever knew whether a woman was pretty or plain. I wish to heaven +he would get caught for once in his life; it would suit my book very +well. He would have less leisure to think of other things."</p> + +<p>The fact was that the Marchese had, in truth, had less leisure to think +of those other things from which Ludovico desired that his attention +should be drawn away. His visits to the Via Santa Eufemia had been more +frequent than ever; his visits to the Marchesa Anna Lanfredi and her +niece rarer than ever. And he had received neither lectures nor +remonstrances for a long time past. In truth, the Marchese had his mind +too full of other matters to think much of his nephew's affairs or +doings. And, besides that, there was a quite new and hitherto unknown +feeling in the heart of the Marchese Lamberto which made him shrink from +any such encounter with his nephew, as remonstrances respecting his +conduct with regard to Paolina would have occasioned;—a feeling which +made it seem to him that he was the watched instead of the watcher; that +suggested to him the fear that the first word he might utter upon the +subject would be met by references to doings of his own.</p> + +<p>An utterly unfounded fear. But so it is that conscience doth make +cowards of us all.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-3" id="CHAPTER_VII-3"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +Extremes Meet</h3> + +<p>The Marchese was uneasy in the presence of his nephew. But the fact was +that he was uneasy and unhappy altogether, and at all times. From being +one of the most placidly cheerful and contented of men, he was becoming +nervous, anxious, and restless. People began to remark that the Marchese +was beginning to look older. They had said for years past that he had +not grown a day older in the last ten years. But this winter there was a +change in him!</p> + +<p>It did not occur to anybody to connect any change that was observable +either in the Marchese's manner or in his appearance, with the frequency +of his visits to the quartiere inhabited by the prima donna and Signor +Quinto Lalli, in the Strada di Porta Sisi. The ordinary habits of the +Marchese, and his functions as a patron of the theatre and amateur +impresario were so well known and understood, that it seemed perfectly +natural to all Ravenna that he should be very frequently with the prima +donna. And on the other hand, the almost monastic regularity of his +life, and his character of long standing in such respects, would have +made the notion that he had any idea of flirting with the singer appear +utterly absurd and inadmissible to every man, woman, or child in the +city, if it had ever come into anybody's head.</p> + +<p>The fact was, however, that the Marchese was much oftener in the Strada +di Porta Sisi than anybody guessed. Besides the morning visits, which +were patent to all the world, who chose to take heed of them, the +Marchese very frequently spent those evenings there, when the "Diva" did +not sing; slinking out of the Palazzo Castelmare, and taking all sorts +of precautions to prevent any human being—nephew, servants, friends, or +strangers—from guessing the secret of these nocturnal walks.</p> + +<p>Such precautions were very needless; if anybody had noticed the Marchese +Lamberto passing under the shadow of the eaves in any part of the city +after nightfall, it would only have been supposed that he was bound on +some mission of beneficence, or good work of some sort! And if even it +had become known to a few persons given to prying into what did not +concern them, that the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare was not more +immaculate in his conduct than his neighbours, the only result would +have been a few jests which he would have never heard, and a few sly +smiles which he would have never seen.</p> + +<p>But the Marchese could not look at the matter in this light. He felt as +if his fall from the social eminence on which he stood would have been +as a moral earthquake in Ravenna. The idea that such jests and such +smiles could exist, however unseen and unheard, would have been +intolerable to him. And the Marchese was, accordingly, a miserable man.</p> + +<p>A miserable man, and he could not help himself! Each time that he +quitted the siren, the chain that bound him was drawn more tightly +around him. At each visit he drank deep draughts of the philtre, that +was poisoning the fountains of his life. Again and again he had made a +violent struggle to throw off the enchantment and be free. And again and +again the effort had been too great for his strength, and he had +returned like the scorched moth, which comes back again and again to the +fatal brightness, till it perishes in it.</p> + +<p>In his hours of solitary self-examination he loathed and mocked himself +to scorn! He, Lamberto di Castelmare, to risk and to feel humiliation, +and to suffer for the love of a woman, whose light affections had been +given to so many! He, who had been smiled on by many a high-born beauty +in vain! Love! did he love her? Again and again he told himself that +what he felt for her was far more akin to hate. He marvelled; he could +not comprehend himself! He was often inclined to believe that the old +tales of philtres and of witchery were not all false, and that he was in +truth bewitched; and he struggled angrily against the spell, and at such +times hated the beauty that had tangled him in it!</p> + +<p>And in all this time Bianca had not yet ventured to show clearly her +real game. Nor had it yet occurred to the Marchese that such a +preposterous thought as that he could marry her could have entered into +her mind. Yet it was clear to him that he made no progress towards +making her his own upon any other terms. The alternations between +beckoning him on and warding him off had been managed with such skill, +that they appeared to be the result of the Diva's internal struggle with +her own inclinations. What was he to understand by it? If she had +been,—had always been—of unblemished character! But it was not so; he +knew better!</p> + +<p>That her conduct at Ravenna had been correct was undeniable. Still, even +with regard to that, the Marchese was not spared the pangs of jealousy, +in addition to all the rest. Ludovico continued to frequent the house in +the Strada di Porta Sisi. It seemed, as he had said at the Circolo, as +if Bianca wished him to come there. In fact he had spoken to the young +men at the Circolo with perfect truth in all respects as to his +relations with the Diva. There had never been any word of love-making or +even flirting between them. Yet, in a sort of way, she seemed to wish to +be agreeable to him and to attract him. But she never made any secret of +his visits from the Marchese, although it was unmistakable enough that +it was disagreeable to him to hear of them.</p> + +<p>Had he been free from the spell himself he would have rather rejoiced +that his nephew had met with an attraction, which would be likely to +have the effect of making him faithless to Paolina. As it was, it was an +additional source of irritation to the Marchese,—another drop of gall +in his cup, to hear it constantly mentioned by Bianca in the most +innocent way in the world, that Ludovico had been here with her, or +there with her, or passing the morning with her!</p> + +<p>It was drawing towards the end of the Carnival, which the late fall of +Easter had made rather a long one that year, when, on one Saturday +night, Bianca sat by her own fireside, expecting a visit from the +Marchese. She doubted not that he would come, though no special +appointment on the subject had been made between them. There were few +"off evenings" now, that he did not spend with her. Saturday in most of +the cities of Italy is, or was, an off night at the theatre, being the +vigil of the Sunday feast-day. The ecclesiastical proprieties are less +attended to now in matters theatrical, as in other matters in Italy. But +Saturday used, in ante-revolutionary times, to be an evening on which +actors and actresses and their friends could always reckon for a +holiday.</p> + +<p>Bianca was sitting, exquisitely dressed, it need hardly be said, in a +style which combined with inimitable skill all the requirements of the +most strict propriety with perfect adaptation to the objects of showing +off every beauty of face, hair, hand, figure, foot to the utmost, and +attracting her expected visitor as irresistibly as possible.</p> + +<p>Quinto Lalli had been sent to enjoy himself at the Cafe, with stringent +directions not to return before he should have ascertained that the +Marchese had left the house, let the hour be as late as it might.</p> + +<p>Bianca meditated deeply, while she waited her lover's coming.</p> + +<p>Her lover! yes, there was no doubt about that. Bianca had felt perfectly +assured that she was justified in considering the Marchese as such on +that first morning, when he had come to her an hour in advance of the +time appointed for his visit in company with the impresario. But it was +high time that some better understanding of the footing on which they +stood as regarded each other should be arrived at.</p> + +<p>Hitherto no direct proposals of any kind had been made to her by the +Marchese. He was not good at any such work. Any one of those +distinguished sons of paternal governments, who had constituted the +material of Bianca's experiences of that division of mankind, would have +long since said what he wanted, and have very clearly indicated the +terms on which he was willing to become the fortunate possessor of the +coveted article. And Bianca would have perfectly well known how, under +the present circumstances, to answer any such proposals, as she had +known under the other circumstances of past days. But the Marchese made +no proposals. What he wished, indeed, was abundantly clear to her. But +his mode of making it clear rendered the task of dealing with him a +somewhat difficult one.</p> + +<p>Partially, Bianca understood the nature of the case. She was partly +aware why the Marchese was slow to say that which so many, whom she had +known, had made so little difficulty of saying. She understood that, +whatever his years might be, he was a novice at that business. She +comprehended that he was, in many respects, a younger man than many a +coulisse-frequenting youth whom she had known. But she was far from +conceiving any true notion of the Marchese's state of mind on the +subject. She was very far from imagining that he looked with disgust and +with terror at the position which she conceived him to be but too ready +to accept to-morrow, if only he knew how to ask for it, or if it could +be offered to him without his asking. She little guessed that his +feeling towards her oscillated between the maddest desire and the +fiercest hatred; that reveries, filled with pictured imaginings and +fevered recollections of her beauty, alternated with the most violent +efforts to cleanse his mind and imagination of the thought of her.</p> + +<p>She understood nothing of all this, and it was impossible that she +should understand it. In truth, she was innocent of any conduct which +could have justified such sentiments. Why should he hate her? It was +true that she sought to attract him,—true that she was scheming to lead +him to a point at which he might find it so impossible to give her up, +that, being well convinced that he could have her on no other terms, he +might offer her marriage. But was there anything worse in that than men +had been treated "since summer first was leafy?" How many men had +married women in her position—women less capable of doing credit to the +position to which they were raised than she was? How many men had been +treated in such matters very much worse than she had any thought of +treating him? She fully proposed to make him a good and true wife, and +fully thought that she should do so. She was not deceiving him in any +way. She made the best of her past life—naturally; but was it to be for +a moment supposed that such a man as the Marchese could, or did, imagine +that she, Bianca Lalli, whose career, for the last eight years, was +known to all Italy, was in the position of a young contessa just taken +from her convent?</p> + +<p>It is abundantly clear that there were difficulties in the way of the +desirable understanding being arrived at, greater than either the lady +was aware of, or than might usually be expected to attend similar +negotiations.</p> + +<p>Bianca waited without impatience the coming of the Marchese. She was a +study for an artist as she lay perfectly still on her sofa, turning the +minutes of expectation to profit by arranging in her mind her plan of +attack in the coming battle; for she was thoroughly determined that that +evening should not pass without some progress towards the understanding +having been accomplished.</p> + +<p>One lamp on the table alone lighted the small but comfortable-looking +room; but the flame was leaping cheerfully among the logs on the hearth, +and the sofa was so placed that the fitful light from the fire glanced +in a thousand capricious reflections on the Diva's auburn hair and rich +satin dress. It was black of the most lustrous quality, and fitted her +person with a perfection that showed the shape of the bust, and the +lithe suppleness of the slender waist to the utmost advantage. The dress +was made low on the superb shoulders—the dazzling whiteness of which, +as seen contrasted with the black satin, was now covered with a slight +silk scarlet shawl,—a most artistic completion of the harmonious +colouring of the picture, which yet was not so fixed in its position as +to be prevented from falling from the snowy slopes, it veiled at the +smallest movement of them.</p> + +<p>Presently the now well-known step and well-known tap at the door were +heard, and the Diva, without stirring a hair's-breadth from her +charmingly-chosen attitude, spoke, in a silver voice, the "Passi" which +admitted her visitor.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-3" id="CHAPTER_VIII-3"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +The Diva shows her Cards</h3> + +<p>"Ah, Signor Marchese," she said, with a sweet, but somewhat sad, smile, +extending to him a long, white, slender, nervous-looking, ungloved hand, +but not otherwise moving from her position. "Ah, Signor Marchese, then I +am not to be disappointed this evening? I was beginning almost to fear +that the fates were against me."</p> + +<p>He advanced to the head of the sofa and took her hand, and held it +awhile, while he continued to stand there looking down from behind her +shoulder on the beautiful form as it lay there beneath his gaze—on the +parting of the rich golden hair; on the snowy forehead; on the still +whiter neck; on the gentle heaving of the bosom beneath its light veil +of scarlet silk; on the tapering waist; on the exquisitely-formed feet +peeping in their black satin bottines from beneath the extremity of her +dress! It was all perfect: and the Marchese held the soft warm hand that +served as a conductor to the stream of magnetic poison that seemed to +flood his whole being as he gazed.</p> + +<p>For an instant all the room seemed to swim round with him. The blood +rushed to his brow. He shut his eyes, and a nervous crispation caused +the fingers of his hands to close themselves with such force, that the +grasp of that which held her little palm hurt her.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my hand! you hurt my hand!" she said. "You don't know how you +squeezed it, you are so strong. You don't know the quantity of force you +put out!"</p> + +<p>"Pardon—a thousand pardons, Signora! I am such a clumsy clown! Have I +really hurt you, Bianca?"</p> + +<p>"Not to the death, Signor," she said, with a charming smile, and holding +up to him the injured member, shaking it as she let it dangle from the +slender wrist. "But see! it is really all blushing red from the ardour +of your hand's embrace!"</p> + +<p>"Poor little hand!—indeed, it is!" said the Marchese, taking it gently +and tenderly between both of his; then, suddenly throwing himself on his +knees by the side of the sofa, while he still held it, he said, "And how +can the great cruel hand that did the harm make fit amends?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Signor Marchese, it might find the way to do that, if it were so +disposed. It would not be so far to seek. But you are seeking in the +wrong direction," she continued, drawing herself back from him on the +sofa, as he, leaning forward against it, had brought himself so near to +her, that the back of the hand in which he held hers touched her waist. +"You are seeking amiss. It is not so that any remedy can be found; +and—pray rise, Signor, and take your usual chair. This must not be,—I +am sure you would not willingly give me pain, Marchese, and you are +paining me. Pray leave the sofa."</p> + +<p>She had drawn herself back away from him as far as the breadth of the +sofa would allow, yet without withdrawing her hand from him; and she +looked at him certainly more in sorrow than in anger,—looked into his +face earnestly with grave, sad eyes, and heaved a long sigh as he, after +pressing the hurt hand to his lips, rose from his knees and took the +chair she had pointed to.</p> + +<p>"Pain you, Bianca?" he said, as he sat down; "why should I pain you? You +do me no more than justice when you say that I would not do so +willingly; but have you thought how much pain you inflict on me by thus +keeping me at a distance from you? I think you must know that. Is there +aught to offend you in anything that I have done, or said, or hoped, or +wished?"</p> + +<p>"I think, Signor Marchese," she said, dropping her large eyes beneath +their long fringes, and looking adorably lovely as she did so, "I am +afraid that what you have wished is—what some might deem offensive to a +lady."</p> + +<p>And as she spoke she looked out furtively from behind her eyelashes.</p> + +<p>"Bianca, is that reasonable?" he said, in a tone of remonstrance. +"Diamine, let us talk common sense; we are not children. Have you always +found such wishes as mine offensive in others?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, always—always offensive, always cruel," she said, with extreme +energy; "but—can you not understand, Signor Marchese,—can you not +conceive that what from one man passes and makes no mark, and leaves no +sting, may from another—What cared I what all the empty-headed young +fops who came in my way could say or do; they were nothing to me. But—I +did not expect pain from the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. I—I +thought—I hoped—I—I flattered myself—fool, idiot fool that I have +been!" she exclaimed, bursting into violent sobs, and hiding her face +with her hands.</p> + +<p>The Marchese was startled and utterly taken aback for a minute or two. +He was genuinely at a loss to interpret the cause or the meaning of the +lady's emotion. His puzzled embarrassment did not, however, prevent him +from seeing that she looked, if possible, more fascinatingly beautiful +in her grief and her tears than he had ever before seen her. And, again, +despite what she had said, he knelt down by the side of the sofa, and +gently removing her hands from before her face, murmured in her +ear,—"Bianca, what is it—what is moving you so? Don't you know that +you are dear to me;—that I would—Don't you know that I would do +anything to be agreeable to you rather than give you any sorrow or pain? +What is there within my power that I would not do? Bianca,—let me tell +you—let me speak the truth—I cannot keep it in my own heart any +longer—I love you! You have come to be all that I care for in the +world. Bianca, do you hear me? For your love I would sacrifice +all,—everything in the world; I die without it; I must have it—I must! +You have been loved before; but never as I love you—never, never! And, +Bianca, I—I—Bianca, you are my first love—my only love. Never, till I +saw you, did I care to look on a woman for a second time; I never felt +love. But, when I saw you—the first time—the first hour—Bianca, I +must have your love or die; I thirst—I hunger for it. Since I have +known you all my nature is changed; all my old life is flat and +unmeaning, and without interest to me. I care for none of the things I +used to care for; all—all has melted and slipped away from me, and +nothing remains but one great devouring rage and passion—my love for +you!"</p> + +<p>He had spoken like a torrent, which, for a long time dammed up, at last +becomes too powerful for restraint, and bursts forth, overthrowing all +obstacles with its headlong flood.</p> + +<p>Bianca turned her face away from him towards the back of the sofa; but +she slowly, and with an uncertain intermittent movement, drew his hand +over to her lips, and pressed it against them.</p> + +<p>A light came into the Marchese Lamberto's eyes;—a gleam almost, one +would have said, rather fierce than fond, as he felt the pressure of her +lips; and a shock as from an electric spark ran through all his body, +making him quiver from head to heel.</p> + +<p>"Bianca, Bianca! You are mine—you are mine!" he cried, pantingly, with +his mouth close to her ear, and encircling her waist, as he spoke, with +the hand which she had relinquished after she had kissed it in the +manner that had been described.</p> + +<p>But she sprang away from him, pushing him from her, by putting her flat +hand against his forehead, with her face still turned towards the back +of the sofa, away from him.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" she cried, violently; "it cannot be, not so—not so! I +cannot—I cannot!"</p> + +<p>"Bianca," he cried, starting to his feet as if he had been stung; "what +does this mean? What am I to understand? What is it you wish? You know +my position. I tell you that there is no sacrifice that I am not willing +to make. I am rich; name what you would wish."</p> + +<p>"Spare me—spare me, I deserve all; but spare me! I deserve to suffer, +but not at your band," she cried, in words interrupted by her sobs.</p> + +<p>"Spare you what, Bianca? In truth, I do not understand you," said the +Marchese, genuinely mystified.</p> + +<p>"Do you not understand?" she said, turning round on the sofa, so as to +face him, and looking into his face with those great appealing eyes +suffused with tears; "do you not understand? Can you not comprehend? A +woman would understand, I think; but I suppose men feel these things +differently."</p> + +<p>"Upon my honour, Bianca, I do not know what you mean. Every word I have +spoken to you has been spoken from the very depth of my heart. I am +ready to—"</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush, Marchese! No more of that; I could not bear it," she said, +with a great sigh that seemed as if it would burst her bosom; "it is +very—very painful to me; but I must endeavour to bring your heart to +understand me,—it must be your heart, Lamber—your heart, Signor +Marchese; for one does not arrive at the understanding of such things +with the head. See, now, I will put myself in the place I deserve to +occupy—in the dust at your feet! You may trample on me, if you will. I +say I have deserved the shame and the misery I am now suffering. I +deserve them because I have no right to resent the—the—the proposals +which you—wish to make to me. I have suffered much from calumny and +evil tongues—much from unhappy circumstances and evil surroundings. Yet +it may be that I-have—more right to—resent—what—I have heard from +you than you imagine. But let that pass. You know—or think you +know—that I have accepted from others that which I have said I cannot +accept from you; and you cannot imagine why this should be so. Oh, +Marchese, does your heart lend you no aid to the understanding of it? +What were those men,—those empty creatures whose gold could not repay +the disgust occasioned by their presence, what were they to me? Did they +love—pretend even to love—me? Did I love them? Love! Alas, alas, alas! +Ah, Marchese, a poor girl exposed to the world, as I have been from my +cradle upwards, has to suffer much that might well move the pity of a +generous heart; but it is nothing—nothing—nothing to the tragedy of +the misery, the shame, the remorse that comes upon her when at last the +day shall come that her heart speaks and shows to her the awful +chasm—the immeasurable gulf that separates such—I cannot, +Lamber—pardon, I don't know what I am saying; I cannot go on—I cannot +put it into words! Do not you—cannot you understand the difference?"</p> + +<p>"I do understand, Bianca mia; povera anima sofferente—I do understand. +Do you imagine that I would judge you harshly—severely? I know too well +all that you would say; I know the difficulties, the impossibilities of +your position. Do you think that I cannot make allowances for all the +fatalities attending on such a combination of circumstances? And, trust +me, the difference between what has been, and what I so earnestly hope +may be now, is greater,—I feel it to be greater, not less than you can +feel it to be. Truly there is nothing in common between the +all-devouring passion which consumes me, and—such love-vows as you have +spoken of. Do I not understand the difference. And remember, Bianca, +dearest, that the protection I offer you would be the means of placing +you out of the reach,—far out of the reach of any such disgusts,—such +suffering for the future."</p> + +<p>Bianca let her head fall on her bosom, and covered her face with her +hands, and remained silent for some moments. Then, lifting her face +slowly, and shaking her head, she sighed deeply as she looked with a +wistful earnest glance into his eyes; she said,—"You are good,—you +are,—very good and kind to me; perhaps it might have been better for my +happiness if you had been less so. But bear with me yet a little, Signor +Marchese. Sit down there,—there where I can see your face,"—pointing, +as she spoke, to a spot exactly in face of the sofa,—"and let me see if +I can explain myself to you. It is difficult; it is very difficult. A +woman, as I said, would understand it at once; but men—are so +different. You have told me, Signor Marchese, that you love me; that you +never loved before; that I am the first woman who has ever moved your +heart. Eh, bene, Signor Marchese! If I, having heard those +protestations, were to confess that—that it was with me even as with +you,"—she dropped her eyes and sighed as she made the +confession;—"that I, too—that you have taught me now for the first +time what it is to love,—though I might speak it less eloquently than +you have done, the words would be equally true,—equally true, Signor," +she repeated, slowly nodding her head. "And when I have confessed that +it is so," she continued, speaking more rapidly, "can you wonder—can +you not understand that it is impossible to me—that it would be a +horror unspeakable to—to renew with the object of a true love—the +first—the first, as God sees my heart—the degradation that has left +nothing but bitterness and humiliation behind it? Shall the name of +Lamberto di Castelmare be written in my memory in the hateful list of +those who have been to me the occasion of remorse, of self-condemnation, +of bitterness immeasurable? Never, never, never! Come what may there +shall be one pure place in my heart; one unsoiled spot in my life; one +ever-dear remembrance unlinked with sorrow and with shame; one memory +which, however sad, shall not be humiliating."</p> + +<p>She put her handkerchief to her eyes as she ceased speaking, and +appeared to be entirely overcome by her emotion.</p> + +<p>The Marchese rose from his chair in a state of hardly less agitation. He +walked across the room;—returned to the sofa, and seemed for a moment +as if he were going to take her hand; then turned away, and stood on the +hearth-rug with his back to the fire. He was much moved, puzzled, +pained, disappointed,—goaded and lashed more violently than ever by the +furies of passion; more than ever wishing that he had never seen the +beautiful creature lying there before him, and more than ever writhing +in mind under the consciousness that to give her up was beyond his +power.</p> + +<p>At length he again stepped up to the side of the sofa and took her hand.</p> + +<p>She started; and plucked it from him.</p> + +<p>"Go, Signor Marchese—go, and leave me. It would perhaps be better so +for both of us. I am not used to show to anybody the very inmost secrets +of my heart, as I have been doing to you,—I know not why. Forget what I +have said. Go, and forget me;—forget the poor comedian to whom your +goodness, your nobleness, and—your love—seemed for a passing minute to +open a blessed glimpse of a heaven upon earth; but never—never again +propose to me to associate the name of Lamberto di Castelmare with names +that I would—oh, so fain—forget!"</p> + +<p>Still the Marchese had not realized the nature of the position or seen +the only outlet from the cul-de-sac into which he had been driven. It +involved too monstrous an impossibility to seem to him to be an outlet +at all. What was the real meaning of all this? Then suddenly an +in-rushing suspicion flashed across his mind like a blasting lightning +brand, bringing with it a sharp pang, as of a dagger stab in the heart. +What was the meaning of all these protestations of admiration and +affection, coupled with a denial of all that his passion drove him there +in search of? Did it perchance mean that this woman, so terrible in the +power of her beauty, so dangerously irresistible, would fain have the +protection which his position could give her, the supplies which might +be drawn from his purse, while her love—such love as he wanted from +her—would be given to a younger rival?</p> + +<p>Suddenly he asked her, "When was the Marchese Ludovico here last?"</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Ludovico?" said Bianca, carelessly; "oh, he is often here. +When last? Let me see: he was here this morning. As good and noble a +gentleman as any in Italy he is, too. He is worthy to bear your name, +Marchese, though it is only a poor girl like me that says it."</p> + +<p>"He seems to have won your good will, anyhow," said the Marchese, +frowning heavily. "What answer, I wonder, would he get if he were to +speak to you as I spoke just now?"</p> + +<p>"He would never speak so, Signor Marchese; he would know that, whatever +might have been the case in past years, alas! it would be useless or +worse to speak so now. I do not say, indeed, that—I have a sincere +regard for the Marchese Ludovico. This much you may be very sure of, +Marchese, that the feelings which you have surprised me into confessing +would make it quite impossible for me to listen to any such words from +the Marchese Ludovico. But, if ever the Marchese Ludovico were to say +any word in my ear,—it would not be," continued Bianca, dropping her +voice and speaking as if more to herself than to him—"it would not be +to offer me what his uncle was offering me just now."</p> + +<p>And now it flashed upon the Marchese for the first time what the real +drift of Bianca's words and conduct had been. She wanted to be Marchesa +di Castelmare. And the meaning of her last words, with their reticences +and their half-uttered expressions spoken out at length might, he +thought, be read thus: If you, Marchese Lamberto, do not make me +Marchesa di Castelmare, your nephew will be ready enough to do so. The +scandal, the wrong done to the family name, the chatter of all the +tongues in Ravenna will be none the less. The matter would be, indeed, +worse instead of better. For it would involve the grave injury that +would be done to the Lady Violante, and the destruction of all the hopes +built upon that alliance. All this seemed to be revealed to him as by a +lightning flash. But the pang of jealousy, which had stung his heart, +still remained the foremost and most prominent occupation of his mind.</p> + +<p>"If you imagine, Bianca," he said after a while, "that my nephew would, +or could, however much he might wish to do so, make any other kind of +proposal to you, you are labouring under a delusion. I speak in all +sincerity of heart."</p> + +<p>"And I have spoken to you, God knows, with all sincerity, Signor +Marchese. I have spoken as I have never before spoken to any human +being. I have opened my heart to you to the very bottom of it. But the +effort of doing so has been a painful one. It has terribly overset me; I +feel like a wrung-out rag; and would fain rest. You will not be offended +if I ask you to leave me now. It is getting late, too; and I expect my +father home every instant. Good-night, Signor Marchese. Forgive me if I +have said aught that I should not have said; if I have in any way +offended you. I think you know how far the wish to do so is from my +heart. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Bianca," said the Marchese, taking the hand she held out to +him, and retaining it in his own for some instants, despite his +intention of specially abstaining from any demonstration of the +kind—"Good-night, Bianca. We shall meet to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"Yes, on business," said Bianca, looking up into his face with a sad +smile. "Signor Ercole said he should be here at midday."</p> + +<p>And then the Marchese left her, and, carefully shunning the more +frequented parts of the city, returned to his own home.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-3" id="CHAPTER_IX-3"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +One Struggle more</h3> + +<p>The Marchese reached the Palazzo Castelmare unobserved by any one, save +old Quinto Lalli, who had been for some time past watching the door of +his adopted daughter from a neighbouring corner, in order to ascertain +when he might go home to his bed without infringing the order that had +been given him.</p> + +<p>"And what do you think of it now, papa mio?" said the Diva, when she had +very faithfully, though summarily, recounted the scene which had just +passed, to her old friend and counsellor.</p> + +<p>"Well, I see no reason to despair of the result," said Quinto. "You did +not expect him to jump at the idea of making you Marchesa di Castelmare, +I suppose? Of course he was a little staggered; and, probably, his own +notion at this moment is, that he would rather never see your face +again, than dream of such a thing. Ma, ci vuol pazienza! My notion is, +that you will have him nibbling at the hook again before long. That +little hint about the nephew was masterly. Depend upon it that will do +its work."</p> + +<p>"But, Quinto, I did not say a word to him that was not true—hardly a +word. I do like him better, by an hundred times, than any other man I +ever knew; and if I succeed, you see if I do not make him a good wife; I +swear I will! As for Signor Ludovico, that is all trash and nonsense. He +belongs to his Venetian, body and soul: and he has enough to think of, +poor boy, in scheming to get out of the marriage they have planned for +him."</p> + +<p>"What! he wants to marry the Venetian, does he?" asked Quinto.</p> + +<p>"Yes; they have engaged themselves to each other; she would not hear of +anything else."</p> + +<p>"Lord bless me! how moral and respectable the world is growing. I +suppose Cupid himself will be attended by a gentleman in cassock and +bands before long, and Mars will make Venus an honest woman, as the +phrase goes. Well, I am not sorry I had my day in the old time. It would +be rare fun, though, if these grand Signori, the uncle and the nephew, +were both to be hooked in the same fashion at the same time."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing against the character of the Venetian of any sort," +said Bianca, with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Ta, ta, ta! I'd back your chance of the uncle against her chance of the +nephew, any day of the week."</p> + +<p>"Ludovico is solemnly engaged to her."</p> + +<p>"I'd hold to my bet, all the same for that; and now let's get to bed, +you have to sing to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I'm regularly tired out; good-night."</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto was probably hardly less in need of rest, when he +reached the Palazzo Castelmare. But he did not equally feel that it was +within his reach. He shut himself into his room; and throwing himself +into an easy chair, with one hand pressed to his fevered brow, strove to +think; set himself to think out the possibilities of the present, and +the prospects of the future, as far as the blinding volcano bursts of +passion, which ever and anon threatened to sweep all power of thought +away, would permit him to do so.</p> + +<p>So this was the meaning of all the difficulties, which Bianca had made. +She had absolutely conceived the idea of his marrying her. Heavens and +earth! Was she mad? But, at all events, if this notion had been the +cause of all her fighting off of his advances for the last month past, +it was not necessary to attribute her conduct to any preference for some +more favoured lover; she had assured him that she loved him—loved him +as she had never loved another. And, gracious heaven, how lovely she +looked as she said it!</p> + +<p>He pressed his hands before his eyes, and saw again in fancy the +beautiful vision; gloated on the eloquent movement of her person in the +earnestness of her confession; looked again into those large appealing +honest eyes, which seemed to be so incapable of lending their voucher to +a lie. Surely it could not be that all those protestations and +assurances were false,—mere comedy got up for the purpose of deluding +him. That she was worldlily anxious to secure so great a prize as that +which she was trying for was natural enough—was matter of course. But +surely, surely there was genuine affection in that glance. Was it not +likely to be genuine,—that feeling that she could not be to him what +she had been to others? It must have been abundantly clear to her that +had she chosen to accept from him what he had offered her, she might +have amply satisfied any mercenary views, the most exorbitant. Therefore +her views and her feelings were of a different order.</p> + +<p>And then the thought of being so loved by such a creature—of being +really loved for himself—loved as she had never loved before, made for +the moment all other thought impossible to him: he started from his +chair, and paced the room with rapid disordered strides. What was all +the world to the ecstasy of such a love? All—all that he had hitherto +lived for, was it not flat, stale, poor, puerile, in comparison to it? +Why not leave all, and seize a happiness so infinitely greater than any +he had ever known or imagined? Why not marry her, and be hers for ever, +as she was anxious to be his? Nobles of higher rank than his had done as +much before. Why not?</p> + +<p>What would they all say and think? All his world, that he had lived +among, and lived for, from his cradle upwards: the Cardinal, his sister, +his nephew, Violante? The whole society which had looked up to him as +some one altogether above the sphere of human frailties and follies: how +could he face them? What say to them? Why face them at all? Why not +leave all, and make a new world for himself and the one dear companion +of it? Marry her, and take her safe away from all her past, and from all +his. Why not?</p> + +<p>But would she consent to that? Would that be her idea of a marriage with +the Marchese di Castelmare? Was it not likely that she would prefer to +be Marchesa di Castelmare in the Palazzo Castelmare,—in Ravenna, +where—ha!—where Ludovico was, for whom she had so much regard? who was +so frequently with her. That poor Violante! Of course he knew that there +could be no love between her and his nephew. Ludovico had promised that +that marriage should be made. Ay, marry the uncle, to be the nephew's +mistress with all convenience! Such things had often been; there was +nothing new in the arrangement—nothing original in the idea—why, the +very stage was full of such examples: he to be the old duped husband of +the farce; he saw it all.</p> + +<p>And as these thoughts also suggested themselves to his mind, his heart +seemed as though it were clutched by a hand of ice, while his brow +throbbed and his head burned with the pulsing blood.</p> + +<p>He threw himself on to his chair again, and tore his hair with rage and +anguish; and all those vivid and palpitating love-representations which +passion had but now painted on the retina of his eye, were reproduced by +jealousy with the difference that Ludovico instead of himself was the +actor in them.</p> + +<p>It was maddening; his brain seemed to reel; a cold sweat broke out all +over him. The fear dashed across his mind that he should really lose his +reason.</p> + +<p>Was there, he thought to himself, as the terror of this made him +shudder—was there that night in all Ravenna so miserable a being as +himself? And that miserable man, cowering there in the restlessness of +his agony, was the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare; he whose whole life +had been one placid scene of happiness, prosperity, and content. Never +had he known a passion strong enough and forbidden enough to cause him a +pang or a sleepless hour till now. Had not his life been happy? What did +he want with more? Ah, if he could but blot out for ever all that the +last month had brought with it. If he could but be again as he had been +before this woman had cast her sorcery on him. Ah, would to God that his +eyes had never seen her!</p> + +<p>Was it yet too late? Could he not even now tear her from his mind, shut +his eyes to the recollection of her, so command his imagination that it +should never again present the image of her to his fancy?</p> + +<p>And thereupon forthwith uncommanded fancy was busy with every detail of +the beauties that had so made him their slave. The line of the neck and +shoulder which he had looked down on as he stood at the sofa head; all +the white ivory from the fresh innocent rosy little ear to the swell of +the curves about the bosom; the intoxicating perfume from the heavy +tresses of the hair; the lithe slender waist, round and yielding; the +slight nervous hands, the touch of whose fingers fired the blood, as a +match fires gunpowder; the exquisite feet; and, oh God! that face, whose +every feature, as he last looked on it, was harmonized in an expression +of love.</p> + +<p>Quite still he sate for some minutes, conscious of nothing save the +pictures which memory was passing before his eye. Then suddenly, with a +bound, he sprang from his chair, and away from it, and beat his head +against the opposite wall of the large room.</p> + +<p>"Fool, fool; enslaved, besotted idiot! I am lost, spelled; the victim of +sorcery I cannot fight against. What am I to do, what am I to do? Surely +I can keep my steps from going near her. If I were to swear now that I +will never set eyes on her more?"</p> + +<p>And then he recollected that it was impossible for him even to seek that +means of safety without giving rise to all kinds of observations, and +wonder, and speculation in the city. He was to see the prima donna on +the following day. His habits in such matters, well known to all the +town, brought him into frequent contact with Bianca, as with other +ladies who had been similarly engaged in Ravenna. What would be thought, +or guessed, or said, if he were suddenly to refuse to hold any further +communication with her?</p> + +<p>And would he not thus be simply leaving the coast all free to his +nephew? To be sure. There, there, he could see it all. And that was the +worst hell of all. Anything, anything was preferable to that. Come what +would that should never, never, never be. Rather—rather anything. He +gnashed his teeth, and clenched his hand; and a sudden agony of hatred +for both Bianca and his nephew seemed to steal like a snake into his +heart, and maddened him.</p> + +<p>And thus the miserable man passed the greater part of the night in +useless strugglings with the bonds that bound him.</p> + +<p>It was near morning before he crept, still sleepless, but utterly worn +out, to his bed.</p> + +<p>He did sleep, exhausted as he was, after awhile; but it was only to see +again in dreams all that he had so bitterly wished that he had never +seen at all. Sometimes he was himself by Bianca's side, licensed to +revel to the full in her every charm. And then the dream would change. +It was Ludovico he saw in her white arms; and he started from his +fevered sleep bathed in perspiration and quivering in every limb.</p> + +<p>The next morning he was, in truth, quite ill enough to have furnished a +very sufficient and unsuspected excuse for not going to meet the +impresario at Bianca's house according to appointment. He thought at +first that he would do so. But as the time drew near, he dragged himself +from his bed, haggard, fevered, and looking very ill, and crawled to the +appointed meeting.</p> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_IV" id="BOOK_IV"></a>BOOK IV<br /><br /> +The last Days of the Carnival</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-4" id="CHAPTER_I-4"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +In the Cardinal's Chapel</h3> + +<p>Paolina was industriously pursuing her task in the chapel of the +Cardinal's palace. Ludovico was not so frequently with her there as he +had been while she was at work in San Vitale. But there were evident +reasons why this was necessarily the case. The chapel in question is a +private one, and is accessible only by passing through a portion of the +Cardinal's residence. At San Vitale Ludovico needed to take nobody into +his confidence, when he climbed to Paolina's scaffolding to be by her +side while she worked, save the old sacristan. But to have joined her at +her work in the Cardinal's palace, he must have knocked at the door of +the residence, and told the servants what he wanted.</p> + +<p>And that would have been obviously inconvenient, even without mentioning +the fact that the Lady Violante, to whom the gentleman ought to have +been addressing himself, passed much of her time at the palace, and +might very possibly have been met by him there.</p> + +<p>It was true that, ever since the ball at the Castelmare palazzo, on the +second day of the year, Ludovico had felt pretty nearly sure that +Violante was as desirous of escaping from the marriage which had been +arranged as he was himself. But it did not at all follow that it would +be an easy matter to break it off. Of course it was not to be expected +that Violante herself could take any active step towards refusing to +fulfil the promise that her family had made for her. That would be for +him to do. And except as regarded his intercourse with the lady, and her +personal feelings, the task of doing so was hardly rendered any the +easier by the knowledge that he would be consulting her wishes as well +as his own.</p> + +<p>It would hardly, therefore, have done in any way for him to have been +visiting the young artist in the Cardinal Legate's chapel.</p> + +<p>The intercourse, however, between Ludovico and Paolina was much +pleasanter and more unrestrained than it had been before that +explanation, which had ensued between them. He was a frequent visitor at +the house in the Via di Sta. Eufemia in the evening; and the happy hours +were passed by them on the perfectly understood footing of mutual +betrothal.</p> + +<p>And Ludovico was perfectly honest and sincere in all that he said to +Paolina. He said nothing to her that he did not equally say to himself. +And if his conduct under the circumstances was not exactly what a father +or brother of Paolina might have desired it to be, the fault arose from +the indecision of character, which belonged to a weak man accustomed to +self-indulgence. There was difficulty and annoyance before him; and +instead of meeting it, as a strong man would have done, he turned from +it, and was content to put off the evil day, contenting himself with the +enjoyment of that which was passing. He marvelled somewhat at the ease, +with which he was permitted to pass evening after evening with his +mistress,—at the absence of surveillance, of which he was +conscious,—and at the silence of his uncle as to both his visits to Via +di Sta. Eufemia, and his no visits to the Lady Violante. But he troubled +himself little to account for this, or to question the reason of the +goods the gods provided him. It was not in his character to do so. +Paolina, on her side, was, upon the whole, trustful and contented. Yet +there had been moments at which she had suffered a passing pang from +little gossipings which had been, perhaps injudiciously, repeated to her +by Orsola Steno. Of course the great prima donna, the celebrated Lalli, +who was blessing Ravenna by her presence, was often talked of in the Via +di Sta. Eufemia, as she was in every other house in the city. That was +quite a matter of course. And then Orsola would speak of the strict +conduct of the lady; of the fact that no one of the young nobles of the +place was permitted to visit her—except, indeed, the young Marchese +Ludovico; and how people did say that half-a-dozen would be safer +company than one; and that the young Marchese was finishing the sowing +of his wild oats before becoming a married man by a flirtation with one +of the most celebrated beauties of Italy.</p> + +<p>There was very little cause for this gossip beyond what the reader is +aware of. Still, upon the whole, it might have been better if Ludovico +had seen less of the fascinating singer. He had given cause enough for +spiteful tongues to make mischief if they could do so; and it may +probably be supposed that he was not insensible to the fascinations of +Bianca—perhaps not to the glory of the fact that he was the only young +man admitted to her society, and that he had occasionally done that +which, being repeated, might not unnaturally give umbrage to Paolina.</p> + +<p>It was now within ten days or so of the end of Carnival; and, while +almost everybody else was amusing themselves in some way or other, +Paolina stuck close to her work in the chapel, intent on her silent and +solitary task, while, from time to time, the voices of revellers in the +streets would reach her in her seclusion.</p> + +<p>But all her hours of work there had not passed in utter solitude.</p> + +<p>The Contessa Violante was in the habit of spending much of her time in +the palace of her great-uncle the Cardinal Legate. It presented, among +other advantages, that of being pretty well the only place in which she +could escape for awhile from the companionship of the Signora Assunta +Fagiani, her duenna. Certainly, it would not have been consistent with +that lady's conception of her duty to allow her charge to visit any +other house whatever in the city, without the protection of her +companionship, but the palace of a Cardinal Legate—and that Legate her +great-uncle. Besides that, her great-aunt, the Cardinal's sister, was +also often at her brother's residence; and, having this facility close +at hand, Violante was wont very frequently to avail herself of the +privacy, comfort, and warmth of her uncle's chapel for the morning's +devotions, which she never missed.</p> + +<p>One morning she found a small portable scaffold or estrade of deals +standing in one corner of the chapel; and, on inquiring for what purpose +it had been placed there, she was told that it was to enable an artist +to make a copy of some of the mosaics on the vault of the little +apartment. She learned further that the artist in question was a young +Venetian lady: that she was a protegee of the Marchese Lamberto; and +that the permission to execute the copies in question, and to have that +scaffolding placed there, had been obtained by him.</p> + +<p>Then Violante knew right well who the Venetian artist was. The worthy +Assunta Fagiani had taken care that all the gossip of Ravenna which +connected this girl's name with that of Ludovico di Castelmare should +reach her ears. And she was glad of the easy opportunity which thus +offered itself to her of gratifying her natural curiosity respecting the +stranger—the girl who could win that love which had been promised to +her; but which she had been unable to inspire.</p> + +<p>This Paolina Foscarelli—she well knew her name—was, in some sense, her +rival. Ludovico di Castelmare was bidden to love her, the Contessa +Violante, and instead of doing so, had given his love, as she had been +assured, to this Venetian. She knew, indeed, quite well that had the +stranger never come near Ravenna, Ludovico would not have loved her the +more. She did not love Ludovico. She was anxious to be quit of the +engagement it had been proposed to make between them; and it might be +very likely that this girl might be serviceable to her, rather than +otherwise, in helping to bring about such a consummation.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, there was a certain amount of bitterness—such bitterness, +more akin to self-depreciation, as could find place in the gentle heart +of Violante—in the thought of what might have been; in the thought that +she was irrevocably excluded from that which it had been so easy for +this poor stranger artist to attain; and, above all, there was a strong +curiosity to see the beauty which had accomplished this; to hear the +voice which had been able to charm; and, further, in her own interest, +to ascertain, if that should be possible, whether the tie which she had +been told existed between this girl and the man who had been assigned to +her for a husband, was, or was not, of a nature likely to lead to a +marriage between them.</p> + +<p>At first sight this would have seemed impossible to the aristocratic +notions of the Cardinal Legate's niece. But Assunta Fagiani, whose +object had been simply to convince Violante that no union between +herself and Ludovico would ever take place, despite all appearances to +the contrary, had given her to understand that it was whispered as a +thing not impossible—such was Ludovico's infatuation—that he might +even go the length of making such an alliance.</p> + +<p>One morning, soon after the commencement of her work in the chapel, +whither she had been escorted on her first going thither by the Marchese +Lamberto himself in person, in accordance with his promise, Violante, on +entering the chapel, saw that the little scaffold had been pulled out +from its corner and placed immediately under one of the medallion +portraits of the Apostles, on the vault of the building. She looked up, +and perceiving the artist above her at her work, paused, hesitating +before kneeling at the footstool in front of the altar.</p> + +<p>In an instant a light step tripped down the steps of the wooden +erection, and a little figure, clad in a brown holland frock, which +wrapped it from head to foot, stood by her side.</p> + +<p>Paolina knew very well who the lady that had entered the chapel was: +and, as may be easily imagined, she too was not without her share of +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Do I disturb you, Signorina?" said Paolina, in a sweet, gentle voice. +"If you would prefer it, I will wait till you have finished your prayer. +I can kneel here too the while."</p> + +<p>Violante looked at the girlish face, bright not only with the elements +of material beauty, but with the animation of intelligence and the +informing expression of talent. One would have said that nothing could +well be less becoming than such a long shapeless wrapper as that which +the artist wore. There was the band at the waist, which showed that the +figure was slight and slender; but, for the rest, a less ornamental +costume could not well be imagined. Nevertheless, Violante perfectly +well perceived and understood at a glance that this girl had what she +had not—a something by virtue of which it was possible for her to win a +man's love, while for herself it was, or seemed to her appreciation of +herself, impossible.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Signorina," answered Violante, gently, "the knowledge that you +were painting up there would not suffice to distract my thoughts. But +will you not let me look at your work? It must be very difficult to copy +these strange old wall-paintings. May I climb up? I know your friend the +Marchese Lamberto well. Do you know who I am?"</p> + +<p>"Pray, come up, Signorina, if you have any curiosity. Oh, yes, I know +your ladyship. I saw you once in the Cardinal's carriage. You are his +niece, the Contessa Violante," replied Paolina, blushing a little at the +name of the Marchese Lamberto, only because, though assuredly not the +rose, he lived close to it.</p> + +<p>So the two girls climbed the steps of the estrade together.</p> + +<p>"How came you to know the Marchese Lamberto?" asked Violante, after they +had matured their acquaintanceship by a little talk about the subject of +Paolina's work.</p> + +<p>"Only because the Englishman, who employed me to copy these mosaics, +gave me a letter to him. He seems to be very highly esteemed."</p> + +<p>"More so than any other man in all Ravenna,—except my uncle the +Cardinal, I suppose I ought to say; he is a most excellent man in all +ways. But you know his nephew also, the Marchese Ludovico? non e vero?" +said Violante, looking down on the ground, while a pale blush came over +her white cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Paolina, flushing crimson, and similarly looking down, +but stealing a side-glance under her eyelashes at her companion,—"yes; +I became acquainted with him also in the same manner—at least, on the +same occasion; and, in truth, I have seen more of him than of his uncle, +for the Marchese Lamberto is always so busy, and he commissioned his +nephew to do all that he could to assist us, when we were first settling +ourselves here."</p> + +<p>"And you found him kind, too; as kind as his uncle?" said Violante, +stealing a sidelong glance at Paolina.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, Signorina," said she, feeling not a little embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Paolina—you see I know your name, and I think it such a pretty +one—Paolina," said the Contessa Violante, yielding to a sudden impulse, +and taking the hand of the blushing girl, who kept her eyes fixed on the +ground, "shall we be friends, and speak openly to each other? I should +like to."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signorina! so should I, so much. There is nothing I should like so +much—almost nothing," replied Paolina, looking up into her face, with +her own still crimson.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, then, if you ever heard my name mentioned in connection with +that of the Marchese Ludovico?" said Violante, looking with a rather sad +and subdued, but yet arch, smile into Paolina's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Signorina, I have so heard," said Paolina, raising her head with a +proud movement, and looking, with well-opened eyes and clear brow, into +Violante's face as she spoke. "I have heard that it was intended by both +your families that you and the Marchese Ludovico should be married."</p> + +<p>"Yes; everybody in Ravenna, I believe, expects to see such a marriage +before long; do you? We are to be friends, you know, and speak frankly +to each other; do you expect it, Paolina?" asked Violante, still holding +her hand, and looking with a smile, half shrewd, half sad, into her +face.</p> + +<p>Paolina remained silent a minute or two, again dropping her clear honest +eyes to the ground. Then raising them again, she said in an almost +whispered voice, but looking straight at her companion,</p> + +<p>"No, Signorina, I do not expect that; for he has promised to marry me."</p> + +<p>"Ah—h! it is a relief to hear you say so. My dear Paolina, I am so +glad," said the elder girl, putting a hand on each of Paolina's +shoulders, and kissing her on the forehead—"I am so glad; much for your +own sake, somewhat, too, for his, and much for my own sake. For, +Paolina, I could not marry Ludovico. If he asked me to do so, it would +be only done in obedience to the will of his uncle. He does not—no, +'tis no fault of yours, my child—never has loved me."</p> + +<p>"Signora, when first I—allowed him to teach me to love him, I knew +nothing of any duty that he owed elsewhere. And when I did know it I +determined, even if it should break my heart, to refuse any such love as +should have been stolen from a wife," said Paolina.</p> + +<p>"That was the part of a good and honest girl. And for me, I have to +thank you for it. Paolina, I hope you may be happy. We shall often meet +here, shall we not?"</p> + +<p>"Not often here, Signora. My task here is not a long one; and I hope by +the end of Carnival to have finished it, so that I may go to St. +Apollinare, outside the town, where I have to make several copies. It is +very desirable not to go there later; because when the warm weather +comes it becomes so unhealthy there."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but we have some days yet before the end of the Carnival; and till +then you will be at work every day here?"</p> + +<p>"Si, Signora; I hope so."</p> + +<p>"Then I hope we shall have several more opportunities of seeing each +other. And now I must not keep you from your work any longer. Shall we +be friends?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signorina; it is too good of you to ask me, a poor artist. And +when—it would be my greatest pride to have such a friend."</p> + +<p>And then the girls kissed and parted: Violante to kneel for her daily +devotions, at the footstool before the altar; and Paolina to continue +her copying. And after that they had frequent meetings in the little +chapel, and learned to become fast friends.</p> + +<p>The Carnival was now drawing near its end; and the city had been +promised that before the time of cakes and ale should be over, and that +of sackcloth and ashes should begin, the divine prima donna should +appear in one more new part. And, after much deliberation and debate, it +had been decided that this should be Bellini's masterpiece, La +Sonnambula. She was to sing it on one night only—the last Sunday of the +Carnival; and the attraction on that night was proportionably great. The +Sonnambula, then in the first blush of its immense popularity, had never +yet been heard in Ravenna. It was one of the favourite parts of the +Diva; and all the city was on the tiptoe of expectation.</p> + +<p>It was a matter of course that all the "society" would be there. The +entire first row of the boxes,—the "piano nobile," as it is called in +Italian theatres,—was the private property of the various noble +families of the city, which each had its box, with its coat of arms duly +emblazoned on the door thereof, in that tier. Nobody who did not belong +to "the society" of the town could in any way show his intruding face in +the "piano nobile." But above this sacred hemicycle there was another +range of boxes; equally private boxes; as all the boxes of an Italian +theatre are;—and the key of one of these upper "loggie" had been +secured by Ludovico, and presented to Signora Orsola and Paolina for the +great evening.</p> + +<p>Of course he himself would be obliged to be in his proper place in the +Castelmare box, which was the stage box on the left hand of the stage.</p> + +<p>"Whether I may be able to run up and pay you a little visit in the +course of the evening, I don't know. You may be very sure I shall if I +can; but there will be all the world there, of course, and lo zio in the +box—unless, indeed, he should choose to go behind the scenes. Talking +of that," he added, as he was on the point of leaving the room, "I don't +know what to make of lo zio of late."</p> + +<p>"Has he said anything?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word; but I don't like the look of him. He never was more amiable +as far as I am concerned; but he is not well; I never saw him as he is +now. He is haggard, feverish, restless; an older man in appearance by a +dozen years than he was at the beginning of Carnival."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he has been raking too much, and wants a little rest. Lent +will be good for him."</p> + +<p>"What, he! The Marchese Lamberto raking! You don't know him. But he +seems quite broken down; I should say, that he had got something on his +mind, if it was not impossible. He never had any trouble in his life; +and never did anything he ought not to do, I believe. But I confess he +puzzles me now. Good-night. God bless you, Paolina mia!"</p> + +<p>That was on the Friday; and the Diva's last appearance was to take place +on the following Sunday.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-4" id="CHAPTER_II-4"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> +The Corso</h3> + +<p>The institution of Carnival and Lent in Italy seems very much as if it +arose from a practical conviction in the minds of the Italians that they +cannot serve two masters,—at least at the same time,—Mammon in all his +forms is to be the acknowledged and exclusive lord of the hour during +the first period, on condition that higher and holier claims to service +shall be as unreservedly recognized when the second shall have set in.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">"Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sermons and soda water the day after."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Byron has given us the rule with the most orthodox accuracy. Whether the +second portion of the prescription is observed as heartily, punctually, +and universally as the first, may be doubted. But in all outward form +and ceremony the violence of the contrast between the two seasons is +acted out to the letter; is, or was, as may be perhaps more correctly +said now-a-days; for both Carnival jollity and licence, and Lent +strictness, are from year to year less observed than used to be the +case. At Rome, Mother Church exhorts her subjects to feast and laugh in +Carnival, in nowise less earnestly or imperatively than she enjoins on +them fasting and penances for having laughed in Lent. But her subjects +will do neither the one nor the other. And when one hears reiterated +complaints in Roman pulpits of pipings to which no dancers have +responded, and the vain exhortations of the ecclesiastical authorities +to the people to Carnival frolic and festivity, one is reminded of our +own Archbishop's "Book of Sports," and led to make comparisons, by which +hangs a very long tale.</p> + +<p>Great Pan died once upon a time. And Carnival, as it used to be, is with +much else dying now in Italy. But in the days to which the incidents +here narrated belong, the difference between Carnival and Lent was as +marked as that between day and night.</p> + +<p>More marked indeed. For between day and night there is twilight, but the +transition from Carnival to Lent is as sudden as a plunge from sunshine +into cold water. Carnival ends at twelve o'clock on the night of Shrove +Tuesday. And the theory of its observance is, or was, that the fun and +revelry should grow ever more fast and furious up to the last permitted +moment. Then, the clock strikes; the lights are put out, Carnival dies +amid one last hurrah. And maskers and revellers go home to rise the next +morning with grave and perhaps yellow faces.</p> + +<p>In Ravenna, as has been said, a great reception of all the society at +the Palazzo Castelmare on the Sunday evening was as much an institution +as the High Mass on a Sunday morning. And this was the course of things +during all the year, except in Carnival time. Then, in order to leave +Sunday evening—the great time for balls and theatres, and pleasure of +all sorts free, the reception at the Palazzo Castelmare was changed to +the Monday. The programme, therefore, for the three last grand days of +the Carnival in Ravenna, on that occasion, stood thus:—On the Sunday, a +grand gala Corso from four to six in the afternoon. (That is to say, +that every available carriage of every sort in Ravenna would be put in +requisition, and would be driven in procession, at a slow foot pace, up +and down the long street called the Corso; and those who had servants +and liveries and fine horses would display them and rejoice; and those +who had none of these things would mingle with the grand carriages in +broken-down shandridans, and rejoice also at the sight of the finery, +without the smallest feeling of shame at their own poverty. This is a +Corso.) On the Sunday evening, the grand representation of the +Sonnambula, with the theatre lighted (according to advertisement) "with +wax-candles, till it was as light as day!"</p> + +<p>Secondly, on the Monday, another Corso, with throwing of flowers and +"coriandoli" (i. e. what was supposed to be comfits, but in reality +little pills of flour made and sold by the hundredweight for the +purpose) from the carriages to each other, and from the windows and the +balconies of the houses. Then in the evening, a grand gala reception at +the Palazzo Castelmare, at which it was understood masks would be gladly +welcomed by the host.</p> + +<p>On the night of the Tuesday, thirdly, the last great day of all, there +was to be a grand masked ball at the Circolo dei Nobili; that ball of +which and of its consequences on the Ash Wednesday morning, the reader +already wots. And this was to be the wind-up of the Carnival.</p> + +<p>The Corso on the Sunday was a most successful one. The weather was all +that was most desirable; bright, not too cold, and free from wind and +dust. The Marchese Lamberto turned out with two handsomely appointed +equipages. He and his sister-in-law occupied one carriage, and the +Marchese Ludovico and the Conte Leandro Lombardone, who was not a rich +man, and had no carriage of his own, sat in the second.</p> + +<p>It could not be said that the Marchese Lamberto "looked like the time!" +And, in truth, he would have given much to escape the ordeal he was +called upon to go through. But that was out of the question; unless he +had been confined to his bed—in which case the whole town would have +been at the palazzo door with inquiries, and all the doctors at his +bedside in consultation—it could not be that he should not show himself +at the Corso.</p> + +<p>Both the Castelmare carriages had the front seats laden with huge +baskets of bouquets prepared for throwing at friends and acquaintances +in other carriages, and at windows and balconies. The occupants of the +carriages seemed to be embedded in a bank of flowers. And there sat the +Marchese amid this wealth of rainbow-colours, looking positively +ghastly,—so changed, so drawn, so aged was he. And his painful attempts +to enter into the spirit of the scene, and act the part which he was +expected to act, would have been pitiable to any eye which had observed +them closely.</p> + +<p>He had left Bianca only just before it had been necessary to return to +the palazzo to get into his carriage for the Corso: and the interview +between them had been an important one. He had gone thither fully +purposed to explain to her, finally, the utter impossibility of his +doing as she would have him do. He meant to point out to her how +exceptionally difficult it would be for him, in the peculiar position he +occupied, to make her his wife. He intended to show her that such a step +would have the effect of pulling him down rather than that of pulling +her up. He had purposed endeavouring to induce her to accede to such +proposals as he could make to her by the exhibition of the most +unstinting generosity. And he had determined,—fully, finally, and +irrevocably determined, that if all that he could say to her on these +points should fail to persuade her to accede to such an arrangement, as +he had it in his power to propose to her, he would that day, and from +that hour, give her up, and swear to himself never to let the image of +her cross his memory again.</p> + +<p>The visit had been long, and occasionally even somewhat tempestuous. The +Marchese had been eloquent; and now driven to bay, had been unequivocal +enough in his declarations, his determinations, and his promises. The +Diva had shown herself a Diva at every point. She had wept, she had +smiled, she had been scornful, she had been suppliant, she had been +repellent, she had been loving! And in every mood she had seemed to the +fascinated eyes of the Marchese more lovely than in that which preceded +it. Finally, she had conquered. Instead of coming away from her, never +to see her again, he came away leaving her with the offer of his hand.</p> + +<p>And there had been a moment of supreme triumph and ecstasy when +permitted, for the first time, to take her in his arms, and press that +lovely bosom to his own, and glue his own to those heavenly lips; it had +seemed to him as if the prize that was his was worth a thousand times +all that he was paying for it. It was all for love, and the world well +lost. For not for an instant did the Marchese blind himself to the fact +that his world must be lost by such a marriage as he was contemplating. +But what did he care for all that had been hitherto to him as the breath +of his nostrils? He now felt, for the first time, what of joy and real +happiness life had in truth to offer. He would go away,—far away with +his Bianca and live only for her, and for the delights of her love! Fool +that he had been to hesitate. And blessed a thousand times was her +sweet, her dear insistence, that had led him to better things!</p> + +<p>Such was the state of the mind of the Marchese, while he held his Diva +in his arms; and it lasted in full force, almost till he had left the +door of her house behind him as he hastened to the palazzo to discharge +the Corso duty, which was one of the most prominent functions of his +present social position.</p> + +<p>And then it seemed as if suddenly,—with a suddenness equal to that of a +tropical sunset,—the scales had fallen from his eyes, and he was +another man.</p> + +<p>Great God! What had he done? Had he been smitten with sudden madness? +What—what was the fatal power this fearful woman had over him? Were +then the old witchcraft and philtre tales really true? Surely he must be +the victim of some spell, some horrible enchantment. Marry her! Heavens +and earth! He hated her. He felt as if he could with pleasure take her +by that beautiful throat and squeeze the noxious life out of her.</p> + +<p>He pressed his burning hand to his yet hotter forehead, as soon as he +found himself in the quiet and solitude of his own room, swallowed a +large glass of water, and strove to obtain such little command over +himself, for the moment at least, as might suffice to enable him to go +through the task before him.</p> + +<p>A servant knocked at the door and put his head in to announce that the +carriages were at the door. The miserable man started from his chair as +if he had been caught in some crime, and answered that he would be down +directly. A second time he swallowed, hastily, a large glass of water, +for his throat felt parched with thirst; and then, with a vigorous +effort to appear gay and at his ease, which produced only the semblance +of a fixed unnatural grin on his face, he went down to the carriage.</p> + +<p>It was painful to him to pass between the servants who stood in the +hall, painful to have to take his seat by the side of his +sister-in-law,—and most painful of all to meet the gaze of all the town +assembled for the Corso. He could not help thinking that all eyes were +turned on him, with glances of surprise and suspicion. He felt ashamed +to meet and be seen by his acquaintances. He, the Marchese Lamberto di +Castelmare, who had never, till that hour, known what it was to shun the +eye of any man,—who had been accustomed to be the cynosure of all eyes, +and to feel that they were all turned on him with respect and regard.</p> + +<p>The occasion, and the part he was expected to fulfil in it, made it +necessary for him to recognize and return every minute the salutations +and greetings of his friends and those who knew him. And who in Ravenna +did not know the Marchese Lamberto? There was a good-natured word wanted +here, a gallant little phrase there, a salutation with the speaking +fingers to this carriage, a more formal bow to the occupants of another, +a gracious nod to one person, and a smile to a second.</p> + +<p>And all this the unhappy man essayed to perform, as he had so often +performed it happily, easily, and successfully in other days.</p> + +<p>It was impossible for anybody, whose eye rested on the Marchese for an +instant, as he sat amid the flowers in his carriage, to avoid seeing +that there was something wrong with him—that he was very unlike his +usual self. And every eye, as the carriages passed each other in the +long procession, forming two lines as one passed down the street while +the other moved in the contrary direction, did rest on him. But it never +for an instant entered into the head of a single human being there, to +guess at anything like the real cause of the change in the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"Time begins to tell on the Marchese; he takes too much out of himself; +always busy—no rest—a bad thing!" said one.</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Lamberto looks knocked up with this carnival. Quite time +for him that Lent was come," said another.</p> + +<p>"The fact is that the Marchese is growing old, and he wants more rest. +He has not a minute to himself,—too many irons in the fire at once, +said a third.</p> + +<p>"I dare say he has been worried out of his life in getting this new +Opera put upon the stage. You'll see he'll be all right enough at the +ball to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Is she in the Corso—La Lalli?"</p> + +<p>"Altro. I should think so—and looking so lovely. What a woman she is!"</p> + +<p>"Whereabouts is she?"</p> + +<p>"About twenty carriages further ahead. You'll see her presently, when we +are near the turn, sitting buried up to her waist nearly in flowers—a +regular Flora, and such a representative as the Goddess never had +before."</p> + +<p>"Who has she got with her in her carriage?" asked the first speaker. "I +expected to have seen the Marchesino Ludovico there, but he is with the +Conte Leandro, in one of the Castelmare carriages."</p> + +<p>"Che! catch her compromising herself in any such manner. I wonder how +much some of our friends would have given to have the place beside her +to-day? But not a bit of it: she has got the old man she calls her +father with her."</p> + +<p>"Funny, isn't it? I wonder what her game is?"</p> + +<p>"Simply to work hard at her vocation, and make as much money as she can, +I take it. Probably you would find, if you got at the truth, some animal +of a baritono robuato, who owns the Diva's heart, and for whom she works +and slaves."</p> + +<p>"Poverina! there are the Castelmare carriages coming round again."</p> + +<p>The manner of an Italian "Corso" is this: A certain street, or +streets—the most adapted to the exigencies of the case that the city +can supply—is selected for the purpose; and when the line of carriages +reaches the end of this, it turns and proceeds back again to the other +end; turns again, and so on. Thus, at each turn, every carriage in the +line meets every other once in each circuit.</p> + +<p>The second Castelmare carriage, in which the Marchese Ludovico and +Leandro Lombardoni were sitting, was following next after that occupied +by the Marchese Lamberto and his sister-in-law; and thus each carriage +in the line proceeding in a contrary direction to them, passed first the +Marchese Lamberto and then his nephew. The carriage occupied by the +latter was a wholly open one with a low back. But that in which the +Marchese Lamberto sat, though also an open carriage, and entirely so in +front, had a half roof at the back, so that it was not so conveniently +adapted as the other for seeing those following it as well as those +preceding it.</p> + +<p>The Marchese and his sister-in-law threw bouquets into almost every +carriage that passed them; and the stock with which they had started was +soon very much diminished. But one specially magnificent and large +bouquet, which conspicuously occupied the centre of the front seat of +the carriage, was evidently reserved. Everybody who saw it knew very +well for whom that was intended. Of course it was for none other than +the Diva of the theatre. And the known interest which the Marchese took +in such matters, his musical fanaticism, and the large share he had had +in bringing La Lalli to Ravenna, made it quite natural, and a matter of +course, that he should pay her such a compliment.</p> + +<p>Presently he descried her in the opposite string of carriages, coming +towards him. Her carriage was an entirely open one, and she sate in it, +with old Quinto Lalli by her side, literally, as one observer had said, +half buried in flowers. And most assuredly neither the labours nor the +dissipations of the carnival, nor time, nor care, nor any other +circumstance, had dimmed the lustre of her beauty, or lessened the verve +and spirit of enjoyment with which she took her part in the pageant. She +was brilliant with vivacity, beauty, and happiness.</p> + +<p>The Marchese might have been seen, had anybody been observing him +closely at the moment, to turn visibly paler as her carriage approached +his. As far as any clear thought had been in his mind, or any power of +thinking possible to him, his latest idea in reference to her had been a +desperate resolve that he would never speak to her again. And now, +again, as he saw her, in a new avatar of loveliness, he once again knew +that to keep such a resolution was above his power.</p> + +<p>What he had to do at the moment was to be done, in any case, with the +best grace he might. Taking the huge mass of skilfully-arranged flowers +in both hands, as her carriage came opposite to his, he leaned out as +far as he could, and Quinto Lalli, who sat on the side nearest to him, +stretched out to meet him, and then handed the offering to the Goddess. +She smiled brilliantly and bowed low, sending a coquettish, sidelong +glance of private thanks under eyelashes as she bent her graceful neck.</p> + +<p>The carriages rolled on, and passed each other; and there rushed into +the Marchese's head a sudden pulse of blood, which turned his previous +pallor into a dusky crimson, and seemed to make all the scene swim +before his eyes. Partly to hide the evidences of the emotion of which he +was conscious, and partly because he felt as if he needed the support, +he threw himself back into the corner of the carriage, turning himself +away from the scene in front of it as though to shelter his face from +the sun that was then so low in the sky as to begin to throw its +slanting rays under the hoods of the carriages. This position, as it +chanced, brought the Marchese's eye to bear on the little glass window +made in the back of the hood of the carriage, after the old-fashioned +manner of coach-building.</p> + +<p>And what he saw through the little window was this.</p> + +<p>A something—a white paper packet, it looked like—was in the act of +being thrown to the Diva's carriage from that immediately behind his +own, in which, it will be remembered, were his nephew and the Conte +Leandro; and the Goddess herself was leaning far out of her carriage in +the act of throwing a bouquet to the Marchese Ludovico: The Marchese +Lamberto also saw the magnificent flowers he had himself just given to +Bianca roll from her carriage on to the pavement,—an accident caused by +the movement of her person as she leaned forward to throw her flowers to +the other carriage.</p> + +<p>With what an added torment to the hell that raged within him the +unfortunate Marchese returned from that miserable Corso to his palazzo, +may be well imagined.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, there had been as little meaning in what he had seen as +there often is in many things that make the madness of a jealous man's +jealousy.</p> + +<p>With the white paper packet—for such it in truth was—the Marchese +Ludovico had nothing whatever to do. It had been thrown by the poet +Leandro, and contained an attempt to improve the occasion after a +fashion, such as he hoped must draw some reply from the Diva. Bianca had +taken the opportunity—somewhat coquettishly, but according to the laws +and customs of such occasions, quite permissibly—to pay Ludovico the +compliment in the eye of all Ravenna of throwing some flowers because +she liked him, and because she chose to mark the fact that she threw +none during all the Corso to anybody else. She would have done the same +if it had so happened that it had been in front of the Marchese +Lamberto's carriage instead of behind it; but, of course, to the +passion-blinded brain of the latter, this circumstance made all the +difference.</p> + +<p>As to the rolling of his own superb bouquet on the pavement, it had been +quite accidental, and much regretted by Bianca. To recover anything of +the kind on such an occasion is, it must be understood, quite out of the +question. Any such fallen treasure—and half the things thrown do fall +short of the hands for which they are meant—becomes the instant prey of +the small boys who throng the streets, and are constantly on the +look-out for such windfalls around the carriages.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-4" id="CHAPTER_III-4"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +"La Sonnambula"</h3> + +<p>It may be easily imagined that the Marchese returned from the Corso very +little disposed to take any pleasure in the treat to which all Ravenna +was looking forward, and which he would have enjoyed more than any one +else under other circumstances—the performance at the theatre on that +Sunday evening. Nevertheless, the duty of attending it had to be done. +All Ravenna would have been astonished, and have wanted to "know the +reason why," if the Marchese had been absent from his box on such an +evening. "Society" expected it of him that he should be there, and he +had been all his life doing everything that "society" expected of him; +besides, his presence there really was needed, and poor little Ercole +Stadione would have despaired inconsolably if he had been deprived, on +such an occasion, of the support of his great friend and patron.</p> + +<p>But if none of these reasons had existed—if the Marchese, when he +reached the shelter of his own roof after that horrible Corso, had been +entirely free to go to bed and escape the necessity of facing the eyes +of all the world of Ravenna, which seemed to him to be from hour to hour +growing into a more terrible ordeal, would he have gone to bed and +abstained from attending the theatre?</p> + +<p>It might have been very confidently predicted that he would not have +done so. He began, in an unreasoning animal-like sort of way, to +recognize the fact that every hour that he spent away from this woman +was bare, barren, and of no value to him at all. He was conscious that +he could be said to live only in her presence. He was beginning to give +himself up as a lost man, and to acquiesce, half-stunned and stupid, in +a fatality which he could not struggle against.</p> + +<p>And now he was longing—burning not only to have his eyes on her again, +but to speak to her. He would have plenty, of opportunities of doing so +at the theatre in the green-room, or in her dressing-room, and every +minute seemed to him an age till he could find such an opportunity.</p> + +<p>If he had been asked at that minute—if he had himself asked of his own +mind—what he meant to do—to what future he was looking, whether he +meant to marry La Lalli or to give her up, he would probably have +repudiated either alternative with equal violence. His mind was in a +state of chaos; and what was to come in any future, except the most +immediate one, he had become incapable of considering. Now he was going +to see, to hear, to breathe the same atmosphere with her again, and to +go through the wretched task of striving to behave as usual, and look as +usual in the eyes of all Ravenna.</p> + +<p>The performance was to commence at half-past eight o'clock, and the +Marchese, reaching the theatre nearly half-an-boar before that time, +found Bianca sufficiently nearly dressed for him to be admitted to her +dressing-room. She was putting the finishing touches to the platting of +her magnificent hair, after the fashion of a Swiss village-girl, for the +completion of her toilette as Amina. He thought that, in this new +costume, she looked more irresistibly attractive than he had yet seen +her.</p> + +<p>"Bianca," he said, as soon as her dresser had left her, and shut the +door, "you have made me so miserable to-day. I must tell you openly at +once what is in my heart. I saw, to-day, at the Corso—by no means +intending to look at all at your carriage after it had passed mine—I +saw my poor flowers thrown away by you, while you were throwing a +bouquet to my nephew and receiving from him something thrown in return. +Bianca, is that the conduct of a woman who has the very same morning +accepted the hand of another man? Bianca, I warn you to beware; you do +not know what such a love as mine, if it should discover itself to be +betrayed, might be capable of."</p> + +<p>"Marchese, do not look at me in that way; you frighten me, and what have +I done? It is all a mistake, entirely a mistake!" said the poor Diva, +really frightened at the manner of the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"Did I not see you throw the flowers I had given you from your carriage; +evidently for the purpose of gratifying another person?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Marchese! how is it possible that such a thought should enter into +your head? Ah, how little you know. If you knew how I had grieved over +the loss of the beautiful bouquet that had come from your hand! It fell +from the carriage by accident; and it was snatched up, and a boy ran off +with it, all in a moment; I would have given anything to get it back +again."</p> + +<p>"But how came the accident? It was caused by your leaning out of your +carriage to throw a bouquet yourself."</p> + +<p>"Yes, exactly so; to the Marchese Ludovico. He was the only person to +whom I threw a bouquet in all the Corso."</p> + +<p>"And why should you throw one to him?"</p> + +<p>"To him,—to your nephew? Why not, I should not have thought of doing so +to another. But to him—"</p> + +<p>"And what was it, pray, that he threw to you? I wonder whether he +thought, too, that he should not dream of throwing anything to anybody +except you."</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Ludovico threw nothing to me. Just at the same moment that +troublesome idiot, the Conte Leandro, threw a packet into the carriage. +I have not even opened it; you may have it unopened the next time you +are in the Strada di Porta Sisi, if you like. No doubt it contains some +of his charming verses. It is not kind of you, Signor Marchese, to say +such things, or to have such thoughts in your head!" said Bianca, +turning away her face and putting her handkerchief to her eyes. "And +now," she added, "you have made my eyes all red just before I have to go +on the stage!"</p> + +<p>Of course once again the unhappy Marchese was entirely routed, and the +Diva was victorious. "Forgive me, Bianca,", he whispered; "I think only +of you from the morning to the evening, and from the evening to the +morning again. And it would be impossible for any man to love, as I love +you, without a liability to jealousy. I am jealous of your love, +Bianca!"</p> + +<p>"But it is wonderful that you should not perceive how little cause you +have for any such feeling. Oh, Marchese, how can you doubt me? Surely +you must have seen and known how entirely my love is yours. You must not +wring your poor Bianca's heart by such cruel suspicions."</p> + +<p>And then the three knocks, which announced the raising of the curtain, +were heard; and the Marchese again murmuring a request to be forgiven, +as he kissed her hand, hurried away to take his place in his box.</p> + +<p>The house was already nearly full, for the occasion was a notable one; +and the opera was new to Ravenna; and everybody wished to hear every +note of it. The Marchese Ludovico was not, however, in the Castelmare +box, when his uncle reached it, but he came in a minute afterwards. He +had been up to the upper tier of boxes to say a word to Paolina and her +old friend, who were in the box he had provided for them, which was on +the opposite side of the house to the Castelmare box; and exactly over +that in the "piano nobile" in which were the Marchesa Anna Lanfredi, and +her niece the Contessa Violante.</p> + +<p>There was a little noise in the house of people not yet seated during +the opening chorus of villagers; but when the prima donna came on the +stage as Amina, after the prolonged and repeated rounds of applause, +which greeted her appearance, had subsided, a pin's fall might have been +heard in the theatre.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Ludovico had joined cordially and boisterously, and the +Marchese Lamberto more moderately, in the applause which had saluted the +entrance of the Diva; and after that the latter had placed himself in +the corner of the box, with his back to the audience, and his face +towards the stage, and with an opera-glass at his eyes, he sat perfectly +still, feeding his passion with every glance, every change of feature, +and every movement of the woman who had enthralled him.</p> + +<p>Then came the famous song of Amina, the happy village-bride about to be +married on the morrow to her lover—the tenor of course. The Diva sang +it admirably, and acted it equally well. The purest girlish innocence +was expressed in every trait of her features and manifested itself in +every gesture and every movement. The perfect, trusting, happy love of a +fresh and innocent heart could have had no better representative.</p> + +<p>The recitative, "Care compagne," etc, addressed to the assembled +villagers, fell from her lips with a purity of enunciation that made +each syllable seem like a note from a silver bell. And then the air, +"Come per me sereno," held the house entranced till the final note of +it. And then burst forth such a frantic shout of applause and delight as +can be heard only in an Italian theatre.</p> + +<p>Ludovico leant far out of the stage-box in which he sat, and joined +vociferously in the plaudits with both hand and voice. But the Marchese +remained quiet in his corner, with his face half-shaded by his hand, +conscious as he was that the expression of it might need hiding from the +others in the box. He need not have heeded them; for their attention was +too exclusively occupied with the stage for them to expend any of it on +him. Had it been otherwise his hand, covering the lower half of his +face, would not have sufficed to conceal his emotion.</p> + +<p>Now again the hot fit of his love was in the ascendant. Never had Bianca +more thoroughly captivated him. Never had it seemed to him less possible +to live without her. What to him were all these dull and empty +blockheads for whom he had hitherto lived, and who were now—the foul +fiend seize them!—sharing with him the delight of seeing and hearing +her for the last time. Yes, it should be for the last time. He would +make her his, all his own; and carry her far away from all that could +remind either her or himself of their past lives. And then a scowl of +displeasure came over his face as his glance lighted on his nephew's +noisy and unrestrained manifestations of enthusiastic admiration.</p> + +<p>Presently, towards the end of the first act, came the duet between Amina +and her lover, who has been made causelessly jealous, and Bianca sang +the pretty lines—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td>"Son, mio bene, del zeffiro amante,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Perche ad esso il tuo nome confido.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Amo il sol, perche teco il divido,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Amo il rio, perche l'onda ti da,"</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="nind">with a sweetness of expression perfectly irresistible. The Marchese in +his corner, half-shrouded from the observation of the house by the +curtain, which, though undrawn, hung down by the side of the box, but +fully facing the stage, was perfectly aware that the singer had +specially addressed herself to him; and he felt the full force of the +loving rebuke for the unreasonable displeasure he had so recently +manifested in her dressing-room. His heart went out towards her; and he +felt that if it were to be done that moment, he could have led her to +the altar in the face of all Christendom.</p> + +<p>At the end of the act the plaudits were again vociferous, and four times +was the smiling and triumphant Diva compelled by the calls and clamour +of her worshippers to return before the curtain to receive their +applause and salute them in return for it. The Marchese Ludovico again +loudly and enthusiastically joined in these manifestations; and then, +when they were over, and the noise in the house had subsided, he quietly +slipped out of the box, and springing up the stairs which communicated +with the upper tier of boxes, entered that occupied by Paolina and the +Signora Orsola Steno.</p> + +<p>"What did you think of that, Paolina mia?" he said, sitting down by her +side, and making the action of applauding with his hands, as he spoke. +"Did you ever hear a thing more charmingly sung? Is she not divine?"</p> + +<p>"There is no mistaking your opinion on the point, at all events, amico +mio. I never saw anybody manifest such unbounded admiration as you did +just now. But the Diva was not thinking of you, I can tell you," said +Paolina, with just the slightest possible flavour of pique in her tone.</p> + +<p>"Thinking of me; I should imagine not indeed. But what upon earth have +you got into that dear little head of yours, my Paolina? Did not you +think both singing and acting very fine?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I think her voice is perhaps the finest I ever heard in my +life; and she is no doubt a great actress—a very great actress; +but—she is not simpatica to me. I don't know why, but—somehow or +other—I don't like her."</p> + +<p>"What can you have got into your head, tesoro mio? You know nothing of +her; you have nothing to do with her except to see and hear her on the +stage."</p> + +<p>"No; thank heaven! I should not like that she should come any nearer to +my life than that," replied Paolina, with a little shudder.</p> + +<p>"Come, Paolina, you must admit that that is being prejudiced and +unreasonable," said Ludovico smiling at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I suppose it is. But—Ludovico mio, just ask any other woman—any +other good woman—in the house; and see if they have not the same +feeling. The Contessa Violante, for example—ask her," said Paolina.</p> + +<p>"Just because she is splendidly handsome: women cannot be just to each +other when that comes in the way. But you might afford to be charitable +even to so beautiful a creature as the Lalli, my Paolina."</p> + +<p>"No, Signor, I won't be bribed by compliments, even from you," she +whispered, with a look that showed that the value of the bribe was not +unappreciated; "and I think that what you say is unjust to women in +general."</p> + +<p>"But I wonder what it is then that has prejudiced you against the +Lalli?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Really nothing that I can tell. One feels sometimes what +one cannot explain. She is not simpatica to me, that is all."</p> + +<p>"But what on earth put it into your head, Paolina mia, to say that she +was not thinking of me when she was singing her part? Why should she +think of me—or of anybody else, except the primo tenore, who was +singing with her? What is it you mean?" said Ludovico, much puzzled.</p> + +<p>"You said she was a very good actress as well as a fine singer," +returned Paolina; "and I think she is. This is a capital box for seeing +all that goes on the opposite side of the theatre. And I can tell you +who the Lalli was thinking of, and who she was singing at during her +duet at the end of the act—your uncle, the Marchese Lamberto; and he +knew it very well, too."</p> + +<p>"What parcel of nonsense have you got into your little brains, Paolina? +Sing at the Marchese? Of course they all do; of course they all know +that his suffrage is of more importance to them than all the rest of the +theatre put together. But as for my idea of—lo zio—of all men in the +world. Ha, ha, ha! If you had lived in Ravenna instead of Venice all +your life, carina mia, you would know how infinitely absurd the idea +seems of there being anything between the Marchese Lamberto and a stage +singer, or of its being possible for him to regard her in any other +light than that of a singing machine."</p> + +<p>"I dare say you are right, caro mio. Still I can't quite think that the +Marchese would look at any one of the fiddles quite as I saw him look at +her," said Paolina.</p> + +<p>And then the immense interval, which occurs between one act and another +in Italian theatres, and which is tolerated with perfect contentment by +Italian audiences, came to an end; and Ludovico hurried down to take his +place again in the Castelmare box.</p> + +<p>The next point in the opera which excited the special enthusiasm of the +house was the impassioned finale to the second act, in which Amina on +her knees strives to convince her lover of her innocence of having ever +harboured a thought inconsistent with entire devotion to him. She sang +as if her whole soul were in her words; and the entire theatre was +electrified by the power of her acting; the entire theatre, with the +exception of one intelligent and observant little face in a box on the +upper tier, exactly opposite to that of the Marchese Lamberto.</p> + +<p>From that vantage-ground of observation Paolina saw perfectly well both +the singer on the stage and the Marchese in the box; and again felt sure +that the actress was specially addressing herself with an implied +meaning to the latter; and that he was aware that she was doing so. She +felt no doubt that the motive for this was exactly that to which +Ludovico had attributed it. It was important to the Diva to flatter and +make a friend of so powerful a theatrical patron as the Marchese; and +she took this very objectionable method, Paolina thought, of attaining +that end. Paolina thought nothing more than this; but, nevertheless, it +made her conceive a dislike for the Diva greater, perhaps, than the +cause would seem to justify.</p> + +<p>The interval between the second and the third act Ludovico thought +himself obliged to pass in the box of the Marchese Anna Lanfredi, in +which Violante was sitting with her aunt. There, too, he found the +ladies not quite disposed to be as frantically enthusiastic in their +praises of the singer as the whole male part of the audience. The +Marchesa Lanfredi thought that La Lalli was nothing at all in comparison +with some singer who had charmed all Bologna some forty years before. +And Violante, admitting that she had an exquisite voice and perfect +method, confessed much as Paolina had done, that she did not quite like +her, she hardly knew why.</p> + +<p>In the third act, the song sung by the sleep-walker in her state of +unconsciousness—"Ah non credea mirarti,"—was a great success. And most +fascinatingly lovely the Diva looked in her white night-dress, with her +wreath of rich auburn tresses hanging in luxuriant curls around her +shoulders.</p> + +<p>Shortly after this had been sung a liveried servant entered the +Castelmare box, bearing a most superb bouquet of choice flowers, tied +with a long streamer of broad rose-coloured ribbon, and deposited it on +the front of the box.</p> + +<p>And then came the joyful finale "Ah non giunge." And in that the Diva +seemed to surpass herself. It was a passionate carol of love, and joy, +and triumph in which she seemed to pour the whole force and energy of +her soul into the words and sounds that told the truth, the entirety, +the perfection of her love, and the overwhelming happiness the +recognition of it by its object gave her.</p> + +<p>For many minutes the vociferous applause continued. The stage was +covered with flowers flung from all sides of the house. The Marchese +Lamberto whispered a word or two to Ludovico; and then the latter, +leaning far out of the box, presented the magnificent bouquet to Bianca, +who was smiling and thanking the public for their plaudits by repeated +curtsies, and who came for it to the side of the stage. She made a very +low and graceful curtsey to Ludovico, as she took it from his hand; but +her eyes thanked the Marchese Lamberto, who still remained close in his +corner, for the gift.</p> + +<p>The fact was that he was too much moved by violent and contending +emotions to dare to trust himself to hand the flowers himself. He knew +that he was shaking in every limb; and, therefore, had told his nephew +to give the bouquet; which, indeed, it was quite a matter of course that +a successful prima donna should receive from that box on such an +occasion.</p> + +<p>Again and again the curtain had to be raised after it had descended in +obedience to the cries of the spectators, who were determined to make +the Diva's triumph complete. Again and again she had to step back on the +stage and make yet one more bow and smile—yet one more gracious smile.</p> + +<p>During this delay the Marchese Lamberto slipped from his box and made +his way behind the scenes. "Can you feel as Bianca what you can so +divinely express as Amina?" he whispered in her ear as he gave her his +arm to lead her to her carriage at the stage-door.</p> + +<p>"Try me as Amina was tried; and reward me as Amina was rewarded, and +then see," she replied in the same tone.</p> + +<p>And so ended Bianca Lalli's Carnival engagement at Ravenna.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-4" id="CHAPTER_IV-4"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +The Marchese Lamberto's Correspondence</h3> + +<p>The next morning—the morning of the Monday after the gala performance +at the theatre—the post brought to the Palazzo Castelmare a letter from +Rome, before the Marchese had left his chamber. The servant took it to +his master's room, found him still in bed, though awake, and left it on +the table by his bedside.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Lamberto was, and had been all his life, far too busy a man +to be a late riser. Italians, indeed, who do nothing all day long, are +often very early risers. Their, climate leads them to be so. They sleep +during hours which are less available for being out of doors—for your +Italian idler passes very little of his day in his own home—and they +are up and out during the delicious hours of the early morning. But the +Marchese Lamberto, whose days were filled with the multiplicity of +occupations and affairs that have been described in a previous chapter, +was wont, at all times of the year, to rise early.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, a sleepless night—and such nights, also, were +a new phenomenon in the Marchese's life—might have been a reason for +his being late. But he was not sleeping when his servant took the letter +in to him. The frame of mind in which he returned from the theatre has +been described. It lasted till he fell into a feverish sleep, soon after +going to his bed.</p> + +<p>The dreams that made such sleep anything but rest may be easily guessed. +He was startled from them by the fancy that the kisses of Bianca burned +his lips; that it was a scorching flame, that he was pressing in his +arms, the contact of which turned all his blood to liquid fire.</p> + +<p>He slept no more during the night. And the good that had seemed to him, +as he sate in his box at the opera, more desirable than all the other +goods the world could give, seemed good no longer; seemed, in the dark +stillness of his night-thoughts, like a painted bait, with which the +arch-tempter was luring him to his ruin and destruction.</p> + +<p>Restlessly turning on his bed with a deep sigh, and pressing his hot +hand to his yet hotter brow, he took the letter that had been brought +him, and saw that it was from his Roman friend and correspondent, +Monsignore Paterini:</p> + +<p>"Illusmo Signor Marchese E Mio Buono E Colendmo Amico," the letter +ran—"Seeing that the subject of my letter is matter adapted rather to +Carnival than to Lenten tide, I hasten to write so that it may reach +your lordship before the festive season is over. That your friends in +Rome are never forgetful of one, who so eminently deserves all their +best thoughts and good wishes, I trust I need not tell you. But in this +our Rome, where so many interests are the unceasing care of so many +powerful friends and backers, it needs such merit as that of your +lordship to make the efforts of friends successful."</p> + +<p>"Understand, then, that his Holiness has been kept constantly aware of +all that Ravenna—the welfare of which ancient and noble city is +especially dear to him—owes to your constant and intelligent efforts +for the advancement of true civilization and improvement, as +distinguished from all that innovators, uninfluenced by the spirit of +religion, vainly, boast as such. Specially, our Holy Father has been +pleased by the energy, tact, and truly well-directed zeal, with which +you have succeeded in bringing to a satisfactory conclusion the thorny +and difficult business of the Spighi property, on which all the welfare +of our well-beloved Sisters in Christ the Augustines of St. Barnaba so +greatly depends. The lady superior of that well-deserving house is, as +you are aware, the sister of his Eminence the Cardinal Lattoli; and so +signal a service rendered in that direction is, as I need hardly tell +your lordship, not likely to be forgotten."</p> + +<p>"It is under these circumstances that I have the great satisfaction of +having it in my power to inform your lordship, that it is the gracious +purpose of our Holy Father to mark his approbation and satisfaction at +the conduct of your illustrious lordship in this matter, in a manner +that, while it manifests to the whole world the care of his Holiness for +every portion of the dominions of the Holy Church, will, I doubt not, be +highly gratifying to yourself at the present time, and will redound to +the future glory and distinction of your noble family. It is, in a word, +the intention of the Holy Father to confer on your lordship the Grand +Cross of the Most Noble Order of the Santo Spirito. And it is further +the benignant purpose and wish of his Holiness to present you with this +most honourable mark of his approbation with his own sovereign hand."</p> + +<p>"We may therefore hope—myself and your numerous other friends in this +city—to see you here before long. Doubtless the tidings, which I have +been anxious to be the first to give you, will be very shortly +communicated to you in a more official manner. I fancy, indeed, that I +shall not have been able to be much beforehand with the official +announcement. Make your arrangements, then, I beseech you, to give us as +long a visit as you can steal from the grave cares of watching over the +interests of your beloved Ravenna. There are many here who are anxious +to renew their acquaintance, and, if he will permit them to say so, +their friendship with the Marchese di Castelmare. And, if I may venture +to do so, my dear friend, I would, before closing my letter, whisper +that, with due care and a little activity, the present favour of our +Holy Father may be but the earnest of other things."</p> + +<p>"The future, however, is in God's hands, and man is but as grass. +Nevertheless, as far as it is permissible to judge of the human agencies +by which the Heavenly Providence brings about its ends, I should say +that your Legate, his Eminence the Cardinal Marliani, was, of all the +present Fathers of the Church, one of the most deserving of our regards +and respect. Should you have a fitting opportunity of allowing his +Eminence to become aware how strongly such have always been my +sentiments, and how unceasingly I endeavour to impress them on others, I +should esteem it as a favour. It is well that merit even so exalted as +his should know that it is appreciated."</p> + +<p>"Omit not, my friend, to offer to the Marchese Ludovico, your nephew, +the expression of my most distinguished regard and respect; and believe +me, Illusmo Signor Marchese, of your Excellency the devoted friend and +most obedient servant,"</p> + +<p>"Giuseppe Paterini"</p> + +<p>Before the Marchese had read the wordy epistle of his correspondent half +through, he raised himself briskly to an upright sitting posture in his +bed, his head was lifted with a proud movement from its drooping +attitude, and an expression of gratified pride and pleasure came into +his eyes. The much-coveted distinction which was now, he was told, to be +his, had long been the object of his eager ambition. And the manner in +which it was to be conferred on him—the attitude he should stand in +with reference to his friend the Cardinal Legate—all contributed to +make the occasion gratifying to him.</p> + +<p>He rang his bell sharply for his servant, and said he would get up at +once.</p> + +<p>The valet said that there was a servant from the Legate's palace below, +with a letter for the Marchese from the Cardinal—that, fearing his +master was not well, and might be getting a little sleep, he, the valet, +had been unwilling to bring the letter up; but that the man was waiting +his Excellency's pleasure, as he had been ordered to ask for an answer.</p> + +<p>Doubtless this was the official communication of which Paterini spoke, +or the forerunner of it. The Marchese desired his man to bring him the +Cardinal's letter directly.</p> + +<p>Yes; the pleasant duty having fallen to the lot of the Cardinal of +making a communication to the Marchese, which would doubtless be highly +gratifying to him, his Eminence was anxious to seize the earliest +opportunity of performing so agreeable a task; and would be happy to see +the Marchese at one o'clock that day, if that hour suited his lordship's +convenience.</p> + +<p>"Delighted to have the honour of waiting on his Eminence at the hour +named."</p> + +<p>The Marchese put the two letters on his toilet-table, and proceeded to +dress. They were large letters. That from Monsieur Paterini was written +on a sheet of foolscap paper, and addressed in a large strong hand, with +the word RAVENNA in letters half an inch high. That from the Cardinal +was contained in a large square envelope, sealed with a huge seal +bearing his Eminence's arms under a Cardinal's hat, with its long +many-tailed tassels hanging down on either side.</p> + +<p>What a triumph would be this journey to Rome. What a yet greater triumph +the return from it. The Legate would certainly hold a special state +reception to welcome him back, and give him an opportunity of showing +the new order to all his fellow-citizens. What a proud hour it would be.</p> + +<p>The Marchese was indulging in these thoughts; dressing himself the +while, and looking every now and then at the two letters lying on his +table, when a footman tapped at the door and handed to the valet, who +was attending on his master, yet a third epistle. Unlike the Cardinal's +servant, the man who had brought it had simply left it, and gone away +without saying anything about an answer.</p> + +<p>This third letter did not resemble its two predecessors—at least on the +outside—at all. It was a very little letter; not a quarter of the size +of either of the others; and the seal wherewith it was sealed was not a +tenth of the size of that of his Eminence; also, instead of being white +like the Cardinal's, or whity-yellow like the Prelate's, it was +rose-coloured, and delicately perfumed. And the superscription, "All' +Illmmo Sigr il Sigr Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare," was written in +very daintily pretty and delicate small characters; as unmistakably +feminine a letter as ever a gentleman received.</p> + +<p>The Marchese's face changed visibly as the little missive was put into +his hands. Yet he opened it eagerly, and opened his nostrils to the +perfume, which exhaled from it, with a greedily sensuous seeming of +pleasure.</p> + +<p>This letter ran as follows:—"Dearest And Best,—If you were not indeed +and indeed so to me, could I have ever suffered the vow that binds us +mutually to each other to have been uttered?—Dearest and best, I write +mainly, I think, for the mere pleasure of addressing you. For I am sure +that it is not necessary to ask you to come to me. You can guess how +eagerly I wish to speak to you; to hear from you that you have dismissed +for ever those horrid thoughts that you vexed me with at the theatre +last night. I longed so to have sung the words I had to utter for your +ears—to your ears only: 'Amo il zeffiro, perche ad esso il tuo nome +confido.' Ah, Lamberto, if you knew how true that is. It is often—how +often—the singer's duty to utter on the stage the words of passion. But +what a thing it is—a thing I never dreamed before—to feel them as I +utter them. The opera did not go badly, did it? I think the success was +a legitimate one. But what is any success or any applause now to me, +save yours? I felt that I was singing to one only, as one only was in my +heart and in my thoughts. Do not let many hours pass before you come to +me, my love, my lord! For they go very slowly and heavily, these hours; +and as I trace the movement of the tardy hour-hand on the clock, I grow +sick with longing, and with hope deferred. Come to me, my dearest and my +best. Your own,"</p> + +<p>"Bianca"</p> + +<p>"P. S.—I have mentioned our engagement to no soul save my father; of +course you did not wish me to exclude him from our confidence. He is +fully worthy of it."</p> + +<p>The Marchese sunk down into the chair that stood before his +toilet-table, with the little letter in his hand; and his hand shook, +and his eyes were dizzy, and there was a buzzy ringing in his ears. And +still the perfume from the pink paper rose to his nostrils, and seemed +to his fancy as though it were a poison that he had neither the power +nor the will to defend himself from.</p> + +<p>He had put the little pink note down on the table where the two other +letters were, and sat looking at the three. They were manifestly, +fatally incompatible. Either the two big letters must be thrown to the +winds—they and their contents for ever—together with all thought of +honours, high social standing, and admiring respect of the world; or the +little pink note must be crushed at once and for ever, and its +writer—ah!—made to understand, to begin with, that the Marchese di +Castelmare did not know his own mind; that his offer and his plighted +word were not to be trusted.</p> + +<p>The letters lying there on the table before him, as he sat gazing at +them almost without the power of anything that merited to be called +thought, represented themselves to his fancy as living agencies of +contrasted qualities and powers. The two large missives from his +ecclesiastical friends were creditable and useful steeds; harmless, +wholesome in blood and nature, big and pacific, apt for service, and +good for drawing him on to honour, success, and prosperity. The little +pink note was a scorpion with a power a thousand-fold greater, for its +size—a sharp, venomous, noxious power, stinging to the death, yet +imparting with its sting a terrible, a fatal delight, an acrid fierce +pleasure, which once tasted could not by any mortal strength of +resolution be dashed away from the lips.</p> + +<p>He took the sweet-scented little paper in his hand and read it through +again. And his veins seemed to run with fire as he read. Then for the +first time he saw the postscript. It had escaped his notice before. That +old man had been informed that he had offered marriage to the girl he +called his daughter and had been accepted.</p> + +<p>It might not be so easy to crush the little pink scorpion note, and +liberate himself from the writer of it. Proof? There might be no legal +evidence to show that he had ever made such a promise. Yet, to have such +an assertion made by Bianca and her father,—to have to deny the fact, +knowing it to be true!—he, Lamberto di Castelmare! Great God! what was +before him?</p> + +<p>Then there was that woman, the servant, too. Might it not well be that +she, too, knew the promise he had made; overheard him possibly; set to +do so—likely enough! What was he to do?—what was he to do?</p> + +<p>Something he must do quickly. The Cardinal Legate was expecting him at +one o'clock, and—would it be best to drive Bianca from his mind till +afterwards? Go to her he must in the course of the day!</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly as a lightning-flash, he saw her before him as he had +gazed on her at the theatre overnight in her white night-dress, uttering +those words of passionate love—love which she told him was all +addressed to him,—which she was pining to speak to him again.</p> + +<p>That, then, it was in his power to have, and to have now,—now at once. +"Ahi, ahi!" he gnashed, through his ground teeth, closing his eyes as +the besieging vision postured itself in every seductive guise before the +suggestions of his fancy. Ah, God! what were Cardinals, and Crosses, and +place and station, or all the world beside, to one half-hour in those +arms?</p> + +<p>Come what come might, he would see her first before going to the +Cardinal.</p> + +<p>Snatching his hat, cane, and gloves, breakfastless as he was, he hurried +out of the house half mad with the passion that was consuming him, yet +with enough of the old thoughts about him to turn away, on quitting his +own door, from the direction of the Porta Sisi, and to seek the goal of +his thoughts by the most unfrequented route he could find.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-4" id="CHAPTER_V-4"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +Bianca at Home</h3> + +<p>Quinto Lalli and Bianca were sitting together in the parlour of their +apartments in the Strada di Porta Sisi, that same Monday morning just +after the little pink note had been despatched to the Marchese. Bianca +was having her breakfast—a small quantity of black coffee in a +drinking-glass, brought, together with a roll of dry bread, from the +cafe. Old Lalli was not partaking of her repast, having previously +enjoyed a similar meal, with the addition of a modicum of some horrible +alcoholic mixture, called "rhume," poured into the coffee at the cafe in +the next street.</p> + +<p>"That will bring him fast enough," said the old man, alluding to the +note which had been just despatched. "The game is quite in your own +hands, as I told you from the beginning it would be. That postscript was +a capital thought."</p> + +<p>The postscript in question, which, it may be remembered, had not added +to the pleasure the billet had given the Marchese, had been added at the +suggestion of old Lalli himself.</p> + +<p>"I would rather not have written it," replied Bianca, peevishly. "It +looked too much like putting the screw on—I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"Be reasonable, bambina mia, whatever you are. How, in the name of all +the Saints, do you imagine that you are to become Marchesa di Castelmare +without putting the screw on—and that pretty sharply too? The man is as +thoroughly caught as ever man was caught by a woman; and I tell you, +therefore, that the game is in your own hands. But you don't suppose +that he is burningly eager to solicit the honour of your alliance, che +diamine?"</p> + +<p>"Don't, Quinto; don't go on in that way. I tell you I hate it all," +returned Bianca.</p> + +<p>"Cars mia, you are in an irrational humour this morning. Do you like the +old game better? It don't pay, bambina mia, as you have found out; and, +above all, it won't last. But I am sure you have reason to be satisfied +with your success this season in any way. I never heard you sing better +in my life than you did last night; and, to say the truth, these people +seemed to appreciate it."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, I hate it all—all—all!" said Bianca, as she swallowed the +last drop of her coffee, and threw herself on the sofa in an attitude of +languor and ennui.</p> + +<p>"You are unreasonable, Bianca, you are not like yourself this morning; I +don't know what is come to you. What in the world do you like, or what +do you want?" said the old man, looking at her with a puzzled air.</p> + +<p>"Did you see the Marchese Ludovico in a box on the right-hand side on +the second tier with that Venetian girl, the artist?"</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Ludovico was in the left-hand stage-box with his uncle."</p> + +<p>"Of course he was; but I mean between the acts. I saw him from the wing +by the side of that girl with her face the colour of mahogany, and her +half-alive look. I hate the look of her, and I know she hates me!"</p> + +<p>Old Quinto looked at his pupil curiously for a minute before he replied +to her.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Bianca mia?" he said, at last; "and what, in the name +of all the Saints, is the Venetian girl to you, or you to her? Did you +ever speak to her? Why should she hate you?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you, she does. We women can always see those things without +needing to be told them; and she knows, you may be very sure, that I +hate her."</p> + +<p>"But why? What is she to you?" reiterated the old man.</p> + +<p>"You asked me, just now, what I wanted. I want, if you must know, what I +can never have—what the Venetian girl last night was getting."</p> + +<p>"And what was she getting? I don't understand you, upon my soul!" said +Quinto, staring at her, and utterly puzzled.</p> + +<p>"What was she getting? Love!—that was what she was getting! Ludovico +loves her," said Bianca, raising herself on her elbow, and speaking with +fierce bitterness.</p> + +<p>"Tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu!" whistled Quinto, between his pursed-up lips. +"But I thought, bambina mia, that you were going to love the Marchese +Lamberto, and be a good wife to him, and all the rest of it, according +to the rules and practices of the best-regulated domestic family +circles; and I—I was so rejoiced to hear it," said the old reprobate, +casting up his eyes and hands.</p> + +<p>"Don't, Quinto; don't talk in that manner, or you'll drive me beyond +myself. I can't bear it."</p> + +<p>"But did you not say that you loved the Marchese Lamberto?" persisted +Quinto, dropping his mocking tone, however.</p> + +<p>"I said that I liked him better than any of the men I have known; that I +admired him as a fine and noble gentleman; that I would be a good and +true wife to him,—and should love him," she added, with a burst of +bitterness, "better than he ever will, or can, love me."</p> + +<p>"Well, come now, bambina mia. If you think that the Marchese is not +enough in love with you, you must have a strong appetite, indeed, and be +very hard to content. Why, if there ever was a man thoroughly caught, +fascinated—"</p> + +<p>"Bah! Love! Ludovico loves the Venetian," said Bianca, with an +expressive emphasis on the verb.</p> + +<p>"Ludovico, again! I protest I don't understand you, Bianca. But there, +when a man has come to my age he don't expect ever to understand a +woman. You did not want Ludovico, as you call him, to love you, did +you?"</p> + +<p>"No: but—"</p> + +<p>And Bianca stopped short, and seemed to fall into a sort of reverie.</p> + +<p>"But what? If you mean that you wanted to have the uncle for a husband, +and the nephew for a lover, that is intelligible enough. The game would +have been a dangerous one. But there is no reason why you should not say +it plainly between friends."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Quinto, I won't hear you speak to me in that tone," said +Bianca, turning on him fiercely, and with flashing eyes. "Did I ever do +anything to attract him?" she added,—"did I try to make him love me? Do +you think that the Venetian would have stood in the way if I had chosen +to do so? I never did! I meant, if the Marchese would make me his wife, +to be true and loyal to him; though he himself seems to think it +impossible that I should be so. You know that I have never attempted to +attract Ludovico in any way."</p> + +<p>"Very well then; let his Venetian have him in peace," said Quinto, +shrugging his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Why, then, does that girl hate me as she does? What harm have I ever +done her?" returned Bianca.</p> + +<p>"Why should you think she does hate you?" expostulated Quinto.</p> + +<p>"I have told you that I saw it. I saw it in her eyes when Ludovico was +handing me the bouquet;—which he only did because his uncle told him to +do it. She would have blasted me to death with her look at that moment +if she could have done it;—I have a good mind—a very good mind—"</p> + +<p>"Be guided by me this once for the last time, as you have so often been +before; bambina mia," said Quinto, who thought that he now understood +the real state of the case; "make sure of your own game first. Make all +safe with the Marchese Lamberto. When you are the Marchesa di Castelmare +it will be time to take any revenge on the Venetian you please."</p> + +<p>"Ah—h—h—h!" sighed Bianca, shaking her head with an expression of +disgust; "you understand nothing about it, Quinto; you can't—of course +you can't. Gia," she continued, after a pause of thought; "yes, I could +take from her, poor fool, what she has; but could I, Bianca Lalli, take +it and keep it for myself? Ah me, it is weary work! You might as well go +and flaner, Quinto; for I must dress ready for the Marchese, in case he +comes this morning."</p> + +<p>"He'll come sure enough," said Quinto; as he prepared to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"It's quite time, then, that I made myself ready to receive him," +returned Bianca, getting up from the sofa.</p> + +<p>"Amo il zeffiro, perche a lui suo nome confido," she sang, as she turned +listlessly to go to her chamber; and despite what she had said—and said +with perfect sincerity to her adopted father—it may be feared that the +suo did not refer in the singer's mind to the Marchese Lamberto.</p> + +<p>Quinto Lalli was in the act of shutting the sitting-room door behind +him, when the outer door of the apartment opened and Ludovico appeared +in the doorway. He was the very last man whom Quinto, with the ideas in +his head which the above conversation with Bianca had put into it, would +have wished to see there. And perhaps there was something in his manner +of meeting the visitor that enabled the Marchesino to perceive that he +was not just then welcome.</p> + +<p>"A thousand pardons," he said, in an easy, careless manner, "for coming +at so indiscreetly early an hour; but I could not refrain from just +saying one word to the Signorina Bianca on her last night's triumph, and +I shall have no opportunity of seeing her later in the day."</p> + +<p>"Bianca," called out Quinto, re-opening the door he was closing, and +putting his head back into the room, "here's the Marchese Ludovico +wishes to speak to you." If the old man had not been a little bit out of +humour with his adopted daughter he would probably have found some +excuse for getting rid of the inopportune visitor.</p> + +<p>"Pray let the Signor Marchese come in," returned Bianca, turning back +from the door of her bed-room, rather to the surprise of Signor +Quinto;—and Ludovico passed on into the sitting-room as the old man +went out and shut the outer door behind him.</p> + +<p>Bianca, as she had said, had been about to dress to receive the Marchese +Lamberto; and Ludovico thus caught her (really surprised this time) in +her morning toilette. But there was nothing in her dress to prevent her +from being with propriety presentable, or, indeed, to prevent her from +looking very charming in her dishabille. Nevertheless, she did not +intend, as we have seen, to present herself without further adornment to +the Marchese Lamberto; and it was not without a certain feeling of +bitterness at her heart that she said to herself, "What does it +signify?" as she cast a glance at her looking-glass before stepping back +into the sitting-room to receive her visitor.</p> + +<p>"Really, Signora, I don't know how to apologize sufficiently for thus +breaking in upon you," said Ludovico, coming forward to meet her; "but I +could not refrain from calling to say one word of congratulation. Can +you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know whether I can," said Bianca, half pouting and half +laughing, and looking wholly beautiful; "to be seen when they are not +fit to be seen is an offence which we others, women, find it difficult +to forgive, you know."</p> + +<p>"But that is an offence which, in the nature of things, cannot be +committed against the Signora Bianca Lalli," retorted Ludovico, with a +low bow, half earnest and half in fun, and a look of admiration that was +entirely sincere. "But the fact is," he continued, "that I really was +impatient to be the first to make you my compliments on last night's +immense success. To tell you that I never heard a part sung as you sang +that of Amina last night would, perhaps, appear to you to be saying +little. But I do assure you the whole city is saying that there never +was anything like it. It was superb! Perfect! Perhaps the praise of all +Ravenna is not worth very much to one who has had that of all Italy. +But, at all events, my uncle is a competent judge—and he is not an easy +one. And I do assure you he was moved as I never saw him moved by music +before."</p> + +<p>"He is very good—too kind to me. He was good enough to see me to my +carriage at the theatre last night; and he said some word that makes me +think he purposes doing me the honour of coming here to give me the +advantage of his criticism on last night's performance," said Bianca, +who was anxious to let her visitor understand the desirability of +avoiding being caught there by his uncle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am sure he would not fail to bring his tribute of admiration +this morning," returned Ludovico, carelessly; "but he will not be here +yet awhile. He is an early man in general, lo zio; but he has not been +well latterly. You must have seen yourself, Signorina, how changed he is +since you have known him. I really begin to be uneasy about him. You +must surely have observed how ill he is looking."</p> + +<p>"I am so grieved to hear you say so. Of course any change must be far +more evident to those who have known him all his life. But I should have +said that I had rarely or never seen so remarkably young-looking a man +for his years. The Marchese happened to tell me once that he is fifty or +not far from it. It seemed to me impossible to believe it," said Bianca, +who understood perfectly well how and why it came to pass that the +Marchese should latterly be a changed man.</p> + +<p>"Three months ago he might have well passed for five-and-thirty; but, +per Bacco, he looks his years now every day of them—and more, too, il +povero zio."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Signor Ludovico, I think your regard for your uncle makes you +think him worse than he is. I thought he was looking very well at the +theatre last night," replied Bianca, knowing nothing more to the purpose +to say.</p> + +<p>"At the theatre. Ah! perhaps. He was pleased and excited. I did not +specially remark him last night. But, the truth is, I am not easy about +him."</p> + +<p>"I feel very much persuaded, Signor Ludovico, that you are alarming +yourself unnecessarily. Your fears are excited by your affection for +your uncle. I doubt whether many nephews in your position, Signor +Marchese, would feel as much anxiety about the health of an uncle whose +heirs they were; not that I mean, of course, Signor, to insinuate that +you are dependent on your uncle," added Bianca, who felt considerable +curiosity to know how matters stood in the Castelmare family in this +respect.</p> + +<p>"Faith, though, I am dependent on him," returned Ludovico, with the most +careless frankness. "I have not a bajocco in the world but what comes to +me from him. But lo zio is more generous than uncles often are to their +nephews who are to be their heirs. And I am in no hurry to succeed to +him, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"I am sure that would not be in your nature in any case, Signor +Ludovico," returned Bianca; "but there is some excuse for those being in +a hurry whose future depends on the caprice of old people," she added, +fishing for further information.</p> + +<p>"But my future does depend upon his caprice—in one way, at all events. +Suppose my uncle should take it into his head to marry, and have a +family. There is nothing to prevent him. Many an older man than he by a +great deal has done so. And if that were to happen, there is not a +beggar in all Ravenna who is a poorer man than I should be. Only that lo +zio is about the most unlikely man to marry in all Italy, it is a thing +that might happen any day."</p> + +<p>"Why should the Signor Marchese be so unlikely to marry? One would say, +to look at him, that it was not such an unlikely thing. Suppose some +designing woman were to make the attempt?"</p> + +<p>"There does not exist the woman who could have the faintest shadow of +success in such an enterprise, Signora. If you could tell how often the +thing has been tried! He is seasoned, lo zio is. Besides, he never was a +man given much to falling in love at any time of his life. I don't think +he is much an admirer of the sex, to tell you the truth. No; there is no +fear of that."</p> + +<p>There was a silence of some minutes, and Bianca seemed to have fallen +into a reverie; till, suddenly, raising her eyes, which had fallen +beneath their lashes, while she had been busy with her thoughts, she +said, looking up archly into Ludovico's face:</p> + +<p>"Your attention, at all events, was not so fully occupied by the +performance last night, Signor, but that you had plenty of thoughts and +eyes at command for other matters."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Signora? I am sure I was not only an attentive but a +delighted listener," said he, while the tell-tale blood flushed his +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I saw which way your glances and thoughts were wandering. We +artists see more things in the salle than you of the world before the +foot-lights think for. A very pretty little brunette, in No. 10 on the +upper tier, was quite equally aware of the direction of the Marchese +Ludovico's thoughts and looks."</p> + +<p>"You might have seen not only my thoughts but me myself in the same box, +Signora, if you could have continued your observations after the curtain +was down. The lady you saw there is one for whom I have the highest +possible regard," said Ludovico, with a very slight shade of hauteur +quite foreign to his usual manner, in his tone.</p> + +<p>It was very slightly marked, but not so slightly as to escape the notice +of Bianca, who perfectly well understood it and the meaning of it.</p> + +<p>"I dare say she well deserves it; she looks as if she did," said the +Diva, with a pensive air, and a dash of melancholy in her voice. "I have +often wondered," she continued, after a moment's pause, "whether you +others, grand signori, ever ask yourselves, when you bestow such regards +as you speak of on a poor artist—I know who she is, merely an artist +like myself—what the result to the woman so loved is likely to be?"</p> + +<p>"Signora!" cried Ludovico, provoked, exactly as Bianca had intended he +should be, into saying what he would not otherwise have allowed to +escape him, "permit me to assure you that, however pertinent such +speculations may be in other cases, which have doubtless fallen under +your observation, they are altogether the reverse of pertinent in the +present instance. The lady in question is, as you say, a poor artist; +not, perhaps, as you were also kind enough to say, one quite of the same +kind as yourself, neither so successful nor so celebrated"—he hastened +to add as he saw a sudden paleness come over the face of the singer, and +an expression sudden and rapidly repressed and effaced, of such a +concentration of wrath and hatred in her eyes, that momentary as it was, +pulled him up short with something very much akin to a feeling +resembling fear—"an artist neither so successful nor so celebrated as +the Signora Lalli, but, nevertheless, a lady whom it is the dearest wish +of my heart to call my wife."</p> + +<p>"She is indeed, then, a most fortunate and happy woman," said Bianca, +who had perfectly recovered herself, with grave gentleness; "and I am +sure that neither I nor any sister artist have any right to envy her her +happiness. Would it seem presumption in a poor comedian to express her +earnest wish that you, too, Signor Ludovico, may find your happiness in +such a marriage?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, don't speak in that tone!" said Ludovico, putting out his hand and +taking hers, which she readily gave him. "I accept your good wishes, +Signora, most thankfully. I do hope and think that I—that we shall find +happiness in our mutual choice. But, pray observe, Signora, that our +talk has led me into confiding a secret to you, that I have, as yet, +told to no living soul, and that it is important to me it should be kept +secret yet awhile longer. I know I may trust you; may I not?"</p> + +<p>"Depend on it, Signor Marchese, your secret shall be quite safe with me. +But are you sure it is a secret? And then, do you know," continued the +Diva, resuming her air of pensive thought, "when I hear a man in your +position speaking with such noble truthfulness, the converse of the +thought that I angered you—very innocently, believe me—by expressing +just now, comes into my head. And I ask myself, if women in such a +position as the lady we speak of, are apt to take themselves to task +with sufficient strictness, as to what they are giving in return for all +that is offered to them."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand your meaning, Signora," said Ludovico, who +really did not perceive the drift of his companion's words.</p> + +<p>"I mean that a woman, so circumstanced, ought to be very sure that she +is giving her heart to the man who asks for it, and not to his position, +not to the advantages, to the wealth he offers her. She ought to feel +certain that, if all this—the advantages—the wealth were to vanish and +fly away, her love would remain the same. Suppose now—it is out of the +question, you tell me, but the case may be imagined all the +same—suppose your uncle, the Marchese, were to marry, would the +Venetian lady's love suffer no tittle of falling off?"</p> + +<p>The red blood rushed to Ludovico's cheeks and brow, and then came an +angry gleam into his eyes. It was not that he resented the liberty which +his companion took in thus speaking to him. It was not, either, that he +felt indignant at the doubt cast, even hypothetically, on the purity of +his Paolina's love. It was rather the unreasoning animal anger against +the person who had given him pain. It was a stab to his heart, this germ +of a doubt thus placed there for the first time. He was conscious of the +pang, and resented it. In the next minute the hot flush passed from his +face, and he became very pale.</p> + +<p>Bianca saw, and understood it all, as perfectly as if she could have +seen into his heart and brain.</p> + +<p>"The doubt, you put before me, is so horrible an one that I could almost +wish it might be put to the test you speak of. But I have no such doubt. +However much your questioning may be justified by other examples, it is +not justified in the case of Paolina. I know her; I know her heart, and +the perfect truthfulness that wells up from the depths of her honest +eyes."</p> + +<p>No amount of ready histrionism was sufficient to prevent a very meaning, +though momentary, sneer from passing over the beautiful face of the +singer as Ludovico spoke thus. But he was too much excited by his own +thoughts and words to perceive it.</p> + +<p>"I trust that you may be right, Signor Marchese. I have no doubt that +you are right. Believe me that I have ventured to speak as I have +spoken, solely from interest in the welfare of one who has been so +uniformly good and kind to me as you have. Will you believe me, Signor +Ludovico, that I would do a good deal and bear a good deal to be able to +conduce to your happiness in any way?"</p> + +<p>She put out her hand to him, as she spoke the last words, with her eyes +dropped to the ground, and with a feeling of genuine shyness, that was +quite surprising and puzzling to herself.</p> + +<p>"Dear Signora, I will and do believe it with all my heart; and, in +truth, I am deeply grateful to you for your good will," said Ludovico, +really touched by the evident and genuine sincerity of her words.</p> + +<p>"And now, I must ask you to leave me. I must dress myself and lose no +time about it. The Marchese will be here in a minute or two. And I could +not, you know, venture to receive him in the unceremonious manner which +you have been good enough to excuse."</p> + +<p>She gave him a little sidelong look with half a laugh in her eyes, as +she said the latter words; and Ludovico, putting the tips of her fingers +to his lips before relinquishing her hand, bowed, and left her without +saying anything further.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-4" id="CHAPTER_VI-4"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +Paolina at Home</h3> + +<p>Ludovico had run up in a hurry to Bianca's lodging, as has been seen, +merely because it happened to be in his way, and because he had been +desirous, as he told her, of paying her his compliments on the success +of the preceding evening. He was hastening to pay another visit, in +which his heart was far more interested, and had not intended to remain +with La Lalli above five minutes. The conversation between them had +extended to a greater length; and the Marchesino, eager as he was to get +to the dear little room in the Via di Sta. Eufemia, would have made it +still longer, had not the Diva dismissed him.</p> + +<p>The talk between them had become far more interesting than any which he +had thought likely to pass between him and the famous singer. This +horrible doubt—no, not a doubt—he had not, would not, could not doubt; +but this germ of a doubt deposited in his mind by the words she had +spoken? Could she have had any second motive for speaking as she had +done? Surely not; surely all her manner and her words showed +sufficiently clearly that she was actuated by kindly feelings towards +him and by no unkindly feeling towards Paolina. Yet unquestionably +Paolina's instinctive prejudice against her would not have been +diminished by a knowledge of what the Diva had said. Ludovico thought of +the bitter and burning indignation with which his darling would have +heard the expression of the possibility of a doubt of the uncalculating +purity and earnestness of her love.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he felt that he should have liked to talk further with +Bianca on the subject; of course only to convince her of the absolute +injustice of her suspicions. Still she was a woman, a fellow artist; +placed in some respects in the same position in relation to the world to +which he belonged, as his Paolina—in some respects similar; but oh, +thank God, how different! Yet women understood each other in a way a man +could never hope to understand them. What immediately struck Bianca, +struck her naturally and instinctively in this matter of a marriage +between him and the Venetian artist, was the idea that Paolina, almost +as a matter of course, was at least biassed in her acceptance of his +love by a consideration of the material advantages she would gain by it. +It was the natural thing then, the thing a priori to be expected, that a +girl in Paolina's position should be so influenced. Ludovico would fain +have questioned and cross-questioned La Bianca, his experienced +monitress, a little more on this point.</p> + +<p>Yes, to be expected a priori. But when one knew Paolina; when one knew +her as he knew her, was it not impossible? Could it be that Paolina, +being such as he knew her in his inmost heart to be, should even +adulterate her love with interested calculations? He knew it was not so; +and yet—and yet other men had been as certain as he, and had been +deceived. In short the germ of doubt had been planted in his mind. And +Bianca well knew what she had been about when she planted it there.</p> + +<p>Why had she done so? She spoke with perfect sincerity when she had told +him that she would do much and suffer much for his happiness. And yet +she had knowingly placed this thorn in his heart. Why could she not let +him, as Quinto Lalli had expressed it, have his Venetian in peace? She +spoke truly, moreover, when she said that, married to the Marchese +Lamberto, she fully purposed to make him a good and true wife; truly, +when she declared to old Lalli, and also to her own heart, that she +really did like and admire him much. And yet there was something in the +sight of the love of Ludovico and Paolina that was bitter, odious, +intolerable to her.</p> + +<p>Ludovico hastened to the house in the Via di Santa Eufemia on quitting +that in the Via di Porta Sisi, not unhappy, not even uneasy; with no +recognized doubt, but with a germ of doubt in his mind.</p> + +<p>Signora Orsola had gone out per fare le spese, to make the marketings +for the day; and he found Paolina alone. Such a tete-a-tete would have +been altogether contrary to all rules in the more strictly regulated +circles of Italian society. And it would have been all the more, and by +no means the less contrary to rule in consequence of the position in +which Ludovico and Paolina stood towards each other. But the world to +which Paolina belonged lives under a different code in these matters. +And ever since the day in which the memorable conversation between her +and her lover, which has been recorded in a former chapter, had taken +place, Paolina had never felt the smallest embarrassment or even shyness +in her intercourse with him. And she received him now with openly +expressed rejoicing, that the chance of Orsola's absence gave them the +opportunity of being for a little while alone together.</p> + +<p>"I called at this early hour, tesoro mio," said Ludovico, "mainly to +tell you that I have made all the necessary arrangements at St. +Apollinare in Classe, and you can begin your work there as soon as you +like. What a dreary place it is. To think of my little Paolina working, +working away all by herself in that dismal old barn of a church out +there amid the swamps!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shan't be a bit afraid. I am so accustomed to work all by +myself."</p> + +<p>"No, there is nothing to be afraid of! Do you think I should let you go +there alone, if there were? You will find the scaffolding all ready for +you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, dearest, I am so much obliged to you; I should never have been +able to get my task done without your help. Ah, how strange things are! +To think, that that Englishman, in sending me here, should have been—"</p> + +<p>"Should have been sending me my destined wife. Who ever in the world did +me so great a service as this Signor Vilobe, who never had a thought of +me in his mind."</p> + +<p>"And if I had chanced not to be in the gallery at the Belle Arti that +day," rejoined Paolina, with a shudder at the thought of what the +consequences of such an absence would have been.</p> + +<p>"You will have the great church entirely to yourself, anima mia," said +Ludovico; "there is not a soul near the place, save the old monk, who +keeps the keys, and a lay-brother, who was ill, the poor old frate said, +when I was there. It is a dreary place, my Paolina, and I am afraid you +will find your task a weary one. I fear it will be cold too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mind that much! What is more important, is to get the job +done before the hot weather comes on. They say it is so unhealthy out +there, when the heat comes. What is the old frate like?"</p> + +<p>"He is a very old, old man, and he looks as if fever and ague every +summer and autumn had pretty nearly made an end of him. He seemed quite +inclined to be civil and obliging. If he were not, you could knock him +down with a tap of your maulstick, I should think, though it be wielded +by such a tiny, dainty little bit of a hand," said Ludovico, lifting it +to his lips between both his as he spoke. "And now tell me," he +continued; "what did you think of the third act last night? Did she not +sing that finale superbly?"</p> + +<p>"Superbly,—certainly the finest singing I heard. But—"</p> + +<p>"What is the 'but,' anima mia? I confess I thought it perfect."</p> + +<p>"So I suppose it was. But I think that perhaps I should have had more +pleasure in hearing a less magnificent singer, who was more simpatica to +me. I can't help it, but I do not like her; and I am sure I can't tell +why. I have no reason; but do you know, Ludovico mio, there was one +moment when, strange as it may seem, our eyes met—hers and mine—in the +theatre last night. It was just as she turned away from your box, when +you had put the bouquet into her hand. She looked up, and our eyes met; +and I can't tell you the strange feeling and impression that her look +made upon me. And I am quite sure that, for some unaccountable reason or +other, she does not like me. She looked at me—it was only half a moment +with a sort of mocking triumph and hatred in her eyes, that quite made +me shudder and turn cold.</p> + +<p>"If it were not so entirely impossible, I should think you were jealous, +my little Paolina. If I were to—what shall we say?—if I were to set +out on a journey with la Diva, tete-a-tete, to travel from here to Rome, +should you be jealous?"</p> + +<p>"With La Bianca?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! with La Bianca."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I don't think that I should in earnest. I know in my +inmost heart, my own love, that you love me truly and entirely; I feel +it, I am sure of it. But all the same, I should rather that you did not +travel from here to Rome alone with La Lalli."</p> + +<p>"That means that, to a certain degree, you are jealous, little one. Do +you think I should be uneasy if you were called on to travel under the +escort, for example, of our friend the Conte Leandro?"</p> + +<p>"The Conte Leandro!" cried Paolina, laughing, "I am sure you ought to be +uneasy at the bare thought of such a thing, for you know how terrible it +would be to me. But is it quite the same thing, amico mio? La Lalli is +indisputably a very beautiful woman; and the Conte Leandro is—the Conte +Leandro. But it is not that she is beautiful. I don't know what it is. +There is something about her—ecco, I should not the least mind now your +travelling to the world's end, or being occupied in any other way, with +the Contessa Violante."</p> + +<p>"She is not a beautiful woman, certainly."</p> + +<p>"She is, at all events, fifty times more pleasing-looking, as well as +more attractive in every way, than the Conte Leandro. But that is not +what makes the difference. I take it, the difference is, that one feels +that the Contessa Violante is good, and that nobody would get anything +but good from her. I have got quite to love her myself."</p> + +<p>"And yet you see, Paolina mia, somehow or other it came to pass that I +could not love her, when I was bid to do so; and, in the place of doing +that, I went and loved somebody else instead. How is that to be +accounted for, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure that is more than I can guess, Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"One thing is clear—and a very good thing it is—that Violante has no +more desire to marry me than I have to marry her. As soon as ever +Carnival is over, my own darling, I mean to speak definitively to my +uncle, and tell him, in the first place, that he must give up all notion +of a marriage between Violante and me."</p> + +<p>"As soon as Carnival is over. Why, that will be the day after +to-morrow,"—said Paolina, flushing all over.</p> + +<p>"Exactly so; the day after to-morrow. But I mean only to tell him, in +the first instance, that I cannot make the marriage he would have me. +Then, when that is settled—and some little time allowed for him to get +over his mortification, il povero zio—will come the announcement of the +marriage I can make. I have quite fixed with myself to do it the day +after to-morrow. But—I don't know what to make of my uncle. He is not +in the least like himself. I am afraid he must be ill. I fully expected +that I should have to fight all through Carnival against constant +exhortations to pay my court to the Contessa. But he has never spoken to +me a word on the subject."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he has discovered that the lady likes the proposal no better +than you do," suggested Paolina, with a wise look of child-like gravity +up at her lover's face.</p> + +<p>"No; it's not that. He never dreams of her having any will in the matter +apart from that of her family. I can't make him out. There's something +wrong with him. He looks a dozen years older than he did; and his habits +are changed too."</p> + +<p>"Do you think—that is—it has just come into my head—do you remember, +Ludovico, what I said to you last night at the theatre about the way La +Lalli sung her love verses at him?"</p> + +<p>"La Lalli again. Why, she has fascinated you at all events. You can +think of nothing else. La Lalli and lo zio. Dio mio! If you only knew +him. All the prime donne in Europe might sing at him, or make eyes at +him, or make love to him, in any manner they liked from morning till +night without making any more impression on him than a hundred years, +more or less, on the tomb of the Emperor Theodoric out there. No, anima +mia, that's not it. No, il povero zio, I am more inclined to think that +he is breaking up. It does happen, sometimes, that your men, who have +never known a day's illness in their lives, break down all of a sudden +in that way. Everybody in the city has been saying that he is changed +and ill. But I must be off, my darling. I only came to tell you that all +was in readiness for you at St. Apollinare. At least that was my excuse +for coming. But now I must go and see about all sorts of things for the +reception to-night. We shall have all the world at the Palazzo to-night. +And lo zio asked me to see to everything. Addio, Paolina mia. You know +where my heart will be all the time. Addio, anima mia."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-4" id="CHAPTER_VII-4"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +Two Interviews</h3> + +<p>After Ludovico had passed into the sitting-room in the Via di Porta Sisi +to pay his visit to Bianca, Quinto Lalli prepared to leave the house in +accordance with her suggestion that he should dispose of himself +out-of-doors for the present. But before going he called Gigia the maid, +and said, as he stood with the door in his hand:</p> + +<p>"Gigia, cara mia, the Marchese Lamberto is coming here presently; just +make use of your sharp ears to hear what passes between him and Bianca; +and take heed to it, you understand, so as to be able to give an account +of it afterwards if it should be needed. You need not say anything about +it to la bambina till afterwards; I have no secrets from her, you know, +and, as soon as the Marchese is gone, you may tell her that you have +heard everything, and that I directed you to do so; but better to say +nothing about it beforehand. Inteso?"</p> + +<p>"Si, si, Signor Quinto! Lasci fare a me!"</p> + +<p>And, with that, the careful old man went out for his walk, and it was +not half-an-hour after Ludovico left the house before the Marchese made +his appearance.</p> + +<p>Bianca, now having completed her toilette, started from her sofa, and +went forward to meet him with both hands extended, and with one of her +sunniest smiles.</p> + +<p>"This is kind of you, Signor Marchese. I hoped, ah! how I hoped, that +you would come. If you had not, I don't know what would have become of +me. My heart was already sinking with the dreadful fear that my little +note might have displeased you. But, thank God, you are here: and that +is enough."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Bianca, I came when you begged me to do so," said the +Marchese, looking at her with a sort of sad wistfulness, and retaining +both her hands in his. He advanced his face to kiss her, and she stooped +her head so as to permit him to press his lips to her forehead.</p> + +<p>"Was it of course, amore mio?" she said, with a gushing look of +exquisite happiness, and a little movement towards clasping his hand, +which still held hers, to her heart. "Was it of course that you should +come to your own, own Bianca when she begged it? But you are looking +fagged, harassed, troubled, mio bene: have you had anything to vex you? +Henceforward, you know, all that is trouble to you is trouble to me. I +shall insist on sharing your sorrows as well as your joys, Lamberto. +What is it that has annoyed you, amore mio?"</p> + +<p>"I have much on my mind—necessarily, Bianca mia; many things that are +not pleasant to think of. Can you not guess as much?"</p> + +<p>"I have had but one thought, amico mio, since I heard from your lips the +dear words that told me that henceforward we should be but one; that our +lives, our hopes, our fears, would be the same; that, in the sight of +God and man, you would be my husband, and I your wife. Since then, I +have had but one thought, and it is one which would avail to gild all +others, let them be what they might, with its brightness. Is the same +thought as sweet a source of happiness to you, my promised husband?"</p> + +<p>"That's clear enough, I hope," thought Gigia, outside the door, to +herself. "Che! If nothing had been said the other day, that would be +enough; and I think Quinto might trust nostra bambina to manage her own +affairs. She knows what she is about, the dear child: not but that it is +a good plan to be able to remind a gentleman in case he should forget. +Gentlemen will forget such things sometimes."</p> + +<p>"You cannot doubt my love," said the Marchese, in reply to her appeal.</p> + +<p>Those five words may possibly, in the course of the world's history, +have occurred before in the same combination. But the phrase served the +occasion as well as if it had been entirely new and original.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I do not, Lamberto; nor will you again, I trust, ever doubt +mine as you seemed to do last night. Ah, Lamberto! you do not know how +bitterly I wept over the remembrance of those cruel words when I had +parted from you. You will never, never say such again. Tell me you never +will."</p> + +<p>"Doubts and fears, my Bianca, are the inevitable companions of such a +love as mine," said the Marchese, with a somewhat sickly smile; "but the +few words you said last night sufficed to dissipate them, as I assured +you."</p> + +<p>"But there is still something troubling your mind, Lamberto. See, I +already take the wifely privilege you have given me to wish to share all +that annoys you. What is it? Come and sit by me here on the sofa, and +tell me all about it."</p> + +<p>And then the Marchese sat himself in the seat of danger that had been +proposed to him, and, in a certain degree, explained to Bianca the +difficulties attending a marriage with her. He tried hard to recommend +to her favourable consideration the plan of a secret marriage—of a +marriage to be kept secret, at all events, for awhile for the present; +but such an arrangement, as may easily be understood, did not, in +Bianca's view, meet the requirements of the case. That was not what she +wanted. It may also be easily understood that the Marchese, occupying +the position which the enemy had assigned to him, carried on the contest +at an overpowering disadvantage, and was finally routed, utterly +conquered, and yielded at discretion.</p> + +<p>On her side the advantages of the situation were made the most of with +the most consummate generalship. The limit between that which was +permitted to him, and that which was denied to him, was drawn with a +firmness and judgment admirably conducive to the attainment of the end +in view. He was permitted to encircle the slender, yielding waist with +one arm as he sat by her side on the sofa, and to retain possession of +her hand with the other; but any advanced movement from this base of +operations was firmly and unhesitatingly repressed. At one moment, when +the attacking party seemed to be on the point of pressing his advances +with more vigour than before, it chanced that the Diva coughed; and it +so happened that, in the next instant, Gigia entered the room, bringing +wood for the fire in her arms—a diversion which, of course, involved +the execution of a hurried movement of retreat on the part of the enemy.</p> + +<p>The whole of Bianca's tactics, indeed, were admirable. And the result +was, as usual, victory. Once again, as long as he was in her presence +and by her side, the unfortunate Marchese felt that the spell was +irresistible—absolutely irresistible by any force of volition that he +was able to oppose to it. Once again it seemed to him that the only +thing in the world that it was utterly impossible to him to relinquish +was the possession of Bianca. The hot fit of his fever was on him in all +its intensity; and there was nothing that he could do, or suffer, or +undergo that he would not rather do, or suffer, or undergo than admit +the thought of giving her up. It really seemed as if there were some +physical emanation from her person—some magnetic stream—some +distillation from the nervous system of one organization mysteriously +potent over the nervous system of another, which mounted to his brain, +mastered the sources of his volition, and drew him helpless after her, +as helplessly as the magnetized patient obeys the will of his +magnetizer.</p> + +<p>Suddenly both of them heard one o'clock strike from the neighbouring +church. To the Marchese it was a knell which, with horrid warning-note, +dragged him forcibly back from his Circean dalliance to the thoughts, +the things, and the people whose incompatibility with the possibility of +such dalliance was driving him mad. It was the hour at which he had +promised to wait upon the Cardinal. It was absolutely necessary that he +should go at once; and he tore himself away from that fatal sofa-seat +with a wrench, and a reflection on the purpose of his visit to the +Legate, which seemed to him really to threaten to disturb his reason.</p> + +<p>Slinkingly he stole from the house in the Strada di Porta Sisi, and +hurried to the Cardinal's palace. His mind seemed to reel, and a cold +sweat broke out all over him as he rang the bell at the top of the great +stone stair of the Legate's dwelling.</p> + +<p>This business that he was now here for—those high honours which were +about to be lavished upon him—would they not all make his position so +much the worse? The higher he stood, would not his fall be the more +terrible? What would be said or thought of him? At Rome, immediately +after the high distinction shown him, what would they not say? Here, in +Ravenna, how should he look his fellow-citizens in the face? Impossible, +impossible. Could he venture even to accept the high distinction offered +to him? Would there not be something dishonourable—a sort of treachery +in suffering this mark of the Holy Father's special favour to be +bestowed upon him, while he was meditating to do that which, if his +intention were known, would make it quite impossible that any such +honour should be conferred on him?</p> + +<p>And how fair was life before him, as it would be if only this fatal +woman had never crossed his path? And was it not even yet in his own +power to make it equally fair again? Was it not sufficient for him to +will that it should be so?</p> + +<p>What if he never saw Bianca again? What could avail any nonsense she or +her pretended father might talk of him? If they were to declare on the +house-tops that he had promised marriage to La Lalli, what human being +in all the city would believe them? The very notion that such a thing +could be possible would be treated as the impudent invention of people +who clearly had not the smallest knowledge of the man they were +attempting to practise on. No, he had but to will it to be free. If only +he could will it.</p> + +<p>And with these thoughts passing through his mind he entered the +receiving-room of the Legate.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to be received more cordially than he was by that high +dignitary. His Eminence felt sure that his old acquaintance and +highly-valued good friend the Marchese was aware how great his (the +Cardinal's) pleasure had been in discharging the duty that had devolved +upon him. The letter he had that morning received from the Cardinal +Secretary was a most flattering one. Perhaps he (the Cardinal) might +take some credit to himself for having performed a friend's part, as was +natural, in keeping them at Rome well acquainted with the singular +merits of the Marchese. He would, indeed, have been neglecting his duty +if he had done otherwise.</p> + +<p>Then, after alluding lightly and gracefully to the special interest he +could not but feel, in his private capacity, in any honour which tended +yet more highly to distinguish a family with which he trusted his own +might at no distant day be allied, he told the Marchese that it was +probable that nothing would be done in the matter till after Easter.</p> + +<p>It was the gracious wish of the Holy Father to enhance the honour +bestowed by conferring it with his own apostolic hand; and, doubtless, +as soon as Lent should be over, it would be intimated to the Marchese +that the Holy Father was desirous of seeing him at Rome. When he came +back thence his fellow-citizens would, in all probability, wish to mark, +by some little festivity or otherwise, with which he, on the part of the +government, should have great pleasure in associating himself, their +sense of the honour done to their city in the person of its most +distinguished citizen.</p> + +<p>The Marchese, while the Cardinal Legate was making all these gracious +communications, strove to look as "like the time" and the occasion as he +could. At first it was very difficult to him to do so at all +satisfactorily. The influence of that other interview, from which he had +so recently come, was too strong upon him. All the images and ideas +called up by the Cardinal's words were too violently at variance, and +too incompatible with those other desires and thoughts to affect him +otherwise than as raising additional obstacles and piling up more and +more difficulties in the path before him. But, as the interview with the +courteous and dignified churchman proceeded,—as the genius loci of the +Cardinal's library began to exert its influence—as all the hopes and +ambitions and prospects which were opened before his eyes, falling into +their natural and proper connection of continuity with all his former +life, so linked the present moment with that past life as to make all +that had filled the last few weeks seem like a fevered dream,—gradually +the Marchese entered more and more into the spirit of the Cardinal's +conversation. Gradually all that he had hitherto lived for came to seem +to him again to be all that was worth living for. Old habitual thoughts +and ideas, the growth and outcome of a whole life, once again asserted +their wonted supremacy; and the Marchese Lamberto marvelled that it +should be possible for that to happen to him which had happened to him.</p> + +<p>Ah! if only weak men were as prone to run away from temptation as they +are to run away from the difficulties that are created by yielding to +it. But they are ever as brave to run the risks of confronting the +tempter, as cowardly to face the results of having done so.</p> + +<p>The Cardinal had not failed to mark the air of constraint and dispirited +lassitude which had characterized the Marchese during the commencement +of their conversation. And he, as others had done, attributed it to the +supposition that the Marchese was very rapidly growing old—likely +enough, was breaking up. Nor did he less observe the very notable change +in him as their interview proceeded—the result, as the churchman +flattered himself, of the charms of his own eloquence and felicitous +manner. He was himself a good twenty years older than the Marchese; but +he had been put into great good humour that morning by private letters +accompanying the official despatch that has been mentioned, which had +hinted at favourable possibilities in the future as to certain ambitious +hopes that had rarely failed to busy his brain every night as he laid it +on the pillow for many a year. So he smiled inwardly a gentle moralizing +smile as he thought how gratified ambition had power to stir up the +flagging passions and stimulate the sinking energies even as the golden +bowl is on the eve of being broken.</p> + +<p>The Marchese, however, left the Cardinal's presence a much happier man +for the nonce than he had entered it, his mental vision filled with +pictures of ribbons, stars and crosses, with, perhaps, a statue—between +the two ancient columns in the Piazza Maggiore would be an excellent +site—in the background.</p> + +<p>Ah! if only he could have had the courage to run away from temptation.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-4" id="CHAPTER_VIII-4"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +A Carnival Reception</h3> + +<p>On that Monday night all the world of Ravenna were assembled in the +suite of state-rooms on the piano noble of the Palazzo di Castelmare. +The cards of invitation had announced that masks would be welcomed by +the noble host; and a large number of the younger portion of the society +accordingly presented themselves in dominoes and the silk half-masks +which are usually worn in conjunction with them. But very few of either +ladies or gentlemen came in character. Such costumes were mostly +reserved for the ball, which was to take place at the Circolo dei Nobili +on the following evening. That was of course the wind-up of the +Carnival; and besides it was felt, that a shade or two more of licence +and of the ascendancy of the Lord of Misrule might fitly be permissible +at the Circolo, than was quite de mise in the rooms of so grave and +reverend a Signor as the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare.</p> + +<p>A few determined revellers would lose no opportunity of enjoying the +delight of dressing themselves up in costumes, which they deemed +specially adapted to show off to advantage either their physical +perfections or their intellectual and social pretensions. Sometimes, as +may have been observed by those who have witnessed such revelries, it +unfortunately happens that both the above desirable results are not +quite compatible. Our friend the Conte Leandro, for instance, having +determined to appear at the Circolo ball in the character of +Dante—which, for a poet at Ravenna, was a very proper and natural +selection—presented himself at the Palazzo Castelmare in that of +Apollo—an equally well-imagined presentation; had it not been that the +happy intellectual analogy was less striking to the vulgar eye, than the +remarkable exhibition of knock-knees and bow-legs resulting from the use +of the "fleshings;" which constituted an indispensable portion of the +god's attire.</p> + +<p>He carried in one hand what had very much the appearance of a gilt +gridiron; but was intended to represent a lyre; and in the other a +paper, which was soon known to contain a poem of congratulation +addressed to the host, on the announcement which, all the city well knew +by this time, had been made to him that morning.</p> + +<p>The rooms were thronged with black dominoes, and white dominoes, and +pink, and scarlet, and blue, and parti-coloured dominoes. Violante was +there in a black domino, and Bianca in a white one. There was very +little dancing, but plenty of chattering and laughing. One main thing to +be done by every person there was to congratulate the host on his new +honours. Our Conte Apollo, among the rest, would fain have read his poem +on the occasion. But as he approached the Marchese for the purpose, a +white silk domino, that was standing by the Marchese's side, burst into +such an uncontrollable fit of silvery and most musical, but too +evidently uncomplimentary laughter, that the poor god of song was too +abashed by it to make head against it.</p> + +<p>"Surely never had Apollo such a representative before," said the +Marchese to his companion, as the mortified god turned away.</p> + +<p>"The voice, the face, the lyre, and the legs; oh, the legs!" said the +silvery voice of the white domino in return.</p> + +<p>The words of both speakers had been uttered sotto voce; but the Conte +Leandro had unfortunately sharp ears; and not only heard what was said, +but was at no loss to recognize the voice of the second speaker.</p> + +<p>The poor poet was destined not to find the evening an agreeable one. A +little later he was passing by an ottoman in one of the less crowded +rooms, on which the Marchese Ludovico was sitting with the Contessa +Violante. She had, at an early period of the evening, abandoned all +pretence of keeping up her incognito, and was dangling her black mask +from her finger by its string as she sat talking to Ludovico. Leandro +turned towards them to pay his compliments to the Contessa, and possibly +in the hope of being allowed to read his copy of verses. But here again +mortification awaited him.</p> + +<p>"What, Aesop, Leandro! What put it into your head to choose the old +story-teller for a model? You look the part to perfection, it is true; +but what is that thing you have got in your hand?"</p> + +<p>Again his lordship was fain to retreat.</p> + +<p>"What a shame to torment the poor man so, in your own house too, Signor +Ludovico," said Violante, who, nevertheless, could not help laughing.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit, he's used to it. He is too absurd for anything; an egregious +vain ass," returned Ludovico; with very little precaution to prevent the +object of his animadversions from hearing them. And again Leandro's +acute ears did him the ill service of carrying every word that had been +said to his understanding.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I think her perfectly charming," said Violante, in continuation +of the conversation, which had been interrupted by the bow-legged vision +of Apollo; "extremely pretty of course,—but a great deal more than +that. She is fresh, ingenuous, modest, full of sensibility, and as +honest-hearted as the day. You are a very fortunate man, Signor +Ludovico, to have succeeded in winning such a heart."</p> + +<p>"How came it about at first, that you spoke to her?" asked Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I went into the chapel in the morning, as I very often do, to +recite the litany of the Virgin, and if she had remained on her +scaffolding I should probably not have noticed her. But she ran down in +the most obliging manner, fearing that she might disturb me, and +offering to suspend her work, as long as I should remain at my +devotions. It was so pretty of her, and so prettily said!"</p> + +<p>"And then you answered her as prettily, I suppose, Signora?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, it is not in my power to do that," said Violante, with a touch of +bitterness; "but I told her, that she did not disturb me in the least; +and I spoke to her of the work she was engaged on; and she asked me to +come up and look at it; and so we talked on till we became very good +friends."</p> + +<p>"And then you were kind enough to converse with her on several +subsequent occasions?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we had several long talks; and I liked her so much. I am sure +she is thoroughly good. I rejoice with all my heart that a destiny, so +much more brilliant than anything that could have been expected for her, +is likely to be hers."</p> + +<p>"I wish, Signora Contessa, that it was more than likely to be hers; I +wish that our path lay clearer before us!" said Ludovico, with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"Including me in the 'us'? I wish it were with all my heart. But +remember, Signor Marchese, how much is possible to a man, and how little +to a woman. All, that the strong expression of my own wishes and +feelings can do, shall be done when the proper time comes for the doing +of it. But you must not trust to that, or to me. You ought to save me +from being compelled to act at all in the matter. You are free to speak. +And now that another besides me is so vitally concerned, I think you +ought to do so without further delay."</p> + +<p>"And I have fully made up my mind to do it, Signora Contessa. I have +told Paolina, this very day, that I purpose speaking very seriously to +my uncle on the subject on the day after to-morrow—the first day in +Lent. I thought I would let this Carnival time pass by first without +breaking in upon it, with business that cannot, I fear, be otherwise +than painful. I have promised Paolina, and am fully determined to speak +to my uncle on Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"And what do you purpose saying to him?" asked Violante, looking into +his face with quiet eyes.</p> + +<p>"In the first instance I have no intention of speaking to him on the +subject of Paolina—"</p> + +<p>"No!" interrupted the Contessa, changing her look to one of surprise.</p> + +<p>"Not to begin with, I think. To speak of my intention to make a +marriage, which I cannot hope will meet his approbation, would only make +my rejection of the alliance, which he hopes to see me form, the more +difficult."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that seems true; but I doubt whether you are right there. You will +begin, then, by telling him—?"</p> + +<p>"I shall begin by saying that it seems clear to me, that I have little +hope of any success in the quarter in which he has wished me to—"</p> + +<p>"Nay, that will not be quite fair, Signor Marchese," interrupted +Violante, speaking very quietly. "Can you honestly tell your uncle that +you have made any very strenuous efforts in that direction?"</p> + +<p>"But I thought, Signorina," said Ludovico, hastily; I surely had reason +to suppose that I should be speaking in support of your +sentiments—quite as much as—"Stay, Signor Marchese; excuse my +interrupting you, but it is exactly on this point that I wished to talk +with you. Let us clearly understand each other. It is, no doubt, quite +true that if you and I had been left to ourselves, if no +family-considerations had intervened to suggest other views, neither of +us would have been led by our own inclinations,—it is best to speak +openly and frankly,—neither of us, I say, would have been led by our +own inclinations to think more of the other than as an old and valued +acquaintance. This is the truth, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Signorina, can I say—"</p> + +<p>"It is not fair, you would say," interrupted Violante again, "that I +should force your gallantry to make so painful an avowal. Nonsense! Let +us put aside all such trash: the question is, not—how we shall mutually +make what the circumstances require us to say to each other agreeable to +the self-love of either of us, and to silly rules of conventional +gallantry, but there is a real question of fairness between us; and it +is this: how much should each of us expect that the other will +contribute towards the difficult task of liberating both of us from +engagements we neither of us wish to undertake. You see, Signor +Marchese, I have made up my mind to speak clearly; more clearly than I +could, I think, have ventured to do, had I not the advantage of having +had those conversations with my friend Paolina in the Cardinal's +chapel."</p> + +<p>"In what respect did it seem to you, that what I proposed saying to my +uncle in the first instance, was unfair, Signorina?"</p> + +<p>"In this it would be unfair. To talk of your want of success in +obtaining what you never sought to obtain, is simply to throw on me the +burden and the blame of disappointing the wishes and plans of both our +families. I am ready to do my part; but it would be unreasonable to +expect that it can be so active or so large a part as your own. It will +not be for you to let it be supposed that you are ready and willing to +offer your hand to the Contessa Violante Marliani, trusting to my +refusal to accept it in the teeth of the wishes of my family. It is your +duty to say openly and plainly that you cannot make the marriage +proposed to you. If I were in your place—if I might venture to suggest, +what I would myself counsel—I should add, as a reason—an additional +reason—that I had given my heart elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"But, Signora, you forget that the marriage between us was proposed +before I ever saw or heard of Paolina," said Ludovico, with a naivete +that should certainly have satisfied his companion that he was no longer +attempting to shape his discourse according to the rules of conventional +gallantry.</p> + +<p>Violante, despite her gravity, could not forbear smiling, as she said in +reply:</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Signor. I do not in the least forget that before Paolina +ever came to Ravenna, you were no whit better disposed to second the +wishes of our families."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Signorina. I declare—"</p> + +<p>"What, again! Do let us leave all such talk. Don't you see that we may +frankly shake hands on it. Don't you see that any pain that your +indifference might have occasioned is entirely salved by the +consciousness that I have been as bad as you. We are equally rebels +against the destiny arranged for us. Let us fight the battle together +then. I think that you would act wisely in telling your uncle at once +that it is impossible you should make any other woman your wife than her +who has your entire heart and affection. I think that this course is due +to Paolina also."</p> + +<p>"I only wished to spare my uncle, as much as possible, in breaking to +him what I know will give him pain."</p> + +<p>"People, who will wish what they ought not to wish, must endure the pain +that the frustration of such wishes entails. It is certainly your right +to marry according to your own inclinations."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and in truth, as far as real power goes, there is nothing to +prevent my doing so. It is truly a desire to break to my uncle, as +gently as I can, that which will certainly be a blow to him. He is not +well, my uncle. He is deplorably changed since the beginning of this +year. Look at him, as he passes us," he added, as he observed the +Marchese Lamberto approaching the place where they were sitting, with +the white satin domino on his arm.</p> + +<p>"He is looking changed and ill, certainly," said Violante, when the +Marchese had passed, apparently without noticing them; "he looks thin +and worn, and yet feverish and excited. Who is the lady on his arm? She +must be very tall."</p> + +<p>Many of the assembled company had by this time, like the Contessa +Violante, discarded their masks, finding the heat, which always results +from the use of them, oppressive, and not perceiving that any further +amusement was to be got by retaining them. But the white domino, leaning +on the Marchese's arm, still retained hers. It is not likely that Bianca +herself could have had any objection to its being seen by all Ravenna +that she monopolized the attention of the Marchese during the entire +evening. And it is therefore probable that she had retained her disguise +in compliance with some hint given to that effect by the Marchese +Lamberto.</p> + +<p>"I take it it must be La Lalli, the prima donna. I know she is here +to-night and in a white domino, though I have not yet spoken to her. I +am afraid my uncle must be tired and bored with her. He always makes a +point of showing those people attention; and besides he had so much to +do with bringing her here. I dare say we shall hear her once or twice +again in this house before she leaves Ravenna. My uncle is fond of +getting up some good music in Lent, when he can."</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Lamberto did not look to me as if he was tired or bored," +said Violante, thoughtfully. "I hope he is not. Here comes that absurd +animal Leandro again. Did you ever see anything so outrageously +ridiculous?"</p> + +<p>Ludovico and the Contessa then rose from their seats, and Violante +taking his arm drew him in the direction in which the Marchese Lamberto +had led the white satin domino.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-4" id="CHAPTER_IX-4"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +Paolina's Return to the City</h3> + +<p>There remained now but one day more of that Carnival, which remained +memorable for many years afterwards in Ravenna, for the terrible +catastrophe that marked its conclusion.</p> + +<p>All that these people, whose passions, and hopes, and fears have been +laid open to the reader, were doing during those Carnival weeks was +gradually leading up, after the manner of human acts, to the terrible +event which rounded off the action with such fatal completeness. And the +catastrophe was now at hand.</p> + +<p>During the reception at the Castelmare palace on that night of the last +day of Carnival but one, the white domino, whom Ludovico had rightly +supposed to be Bianca—a guess which had been shared by many other +persons in the room—had pretty exclusively occupied the attention of +the Marchese Lamberto. And it must be supposed that the resolution was +then taken between them which led to the summons of Signor Fortini, the +family lawyer, to the palazzo on the first day of Lent, as was related +in the first book of this narrative. It was on the morning of Ash +Wednesday, it will be remembered, that the lawyer had received from the +Marchese the formal communication of his intention to marry the +Signorina Bianca Lalli.</p> + +<p>The reader knows, also, that what took place in the interval between the +night of the reception at the Palazzo Castelmare and the morning of the +first day in Lent was not calculated, as might have been supposed, to +assist in bringing the mind of the Marchese to a final determination to +that effect. The terrible degree to which his jealousy and anger had +been excited on the night of the ball at the Circolo by Ludovico and +Bianca will also not have been forgotten. The conduct which had awakened +that jealousy was, in a great measure, if not entirely, innocent on the +part of both the offenders, as the reader will also, no doubt, remember. +The similarity of the costume adopted by the Marchesino and Bianca was +entirely accidental. And this, trifling as the circumstance may seem, +had contributed very materially to arouse the Marchese's wrath and +jealous agony. Bianca, perhaps, under the circumstances, ought not to +have danced as frequently as she did with the Marchesino. She at least +knew that the Marchese Lamberto had already conceived the most torturing +jealousy of his nephew. Ludovico, on his part, was of course utterly +unconscious that he was giving his uncle the remotest cause for umbrage +by his attentions to the successful Diva.</p> + +<p>Then came the little tete-a-tete supper—tete-a-tete by accident rather +than by design, as the reader may remember; and the officious and +spiteful eavesdropping and tell-tale denunciation by the angry poet.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, and despite of all these circumstances and of the temper +of mind in which he quitted the ball-room that night, it is certain that +the Marchese did, on the morning of the following Ash Wednesday, send +for his lawyer and announce to him formally his intention to make the +Signorina Bianca Lalli his wife.</p> + +<p>We have seen all the agonies of irresolution and indecision—all the +alternating swayings of his mind, as passion or prudence predominated at +the moment. He seemed utterly unable to bring himself, save fitfully, to +the final adoption of either line of conduct. And yet, at the moment +when his jealousy most furiously boiled over, he decided on taking the +first overt step towards the accomplishment of the deed.</p> + +<p>Was it possibly that he was urged irresistibly forwards by the fear that +if he did not at once make the prize he so eagerly coveted irrevocably +his own, the power to make it so might pass away from him? that, after +all, his nephew might have found the goddess as irresistible as he had +found her himself; and that she might prefer the younger to the older +Marchese di Castelmare?</p> + +<p>Whatever the reflections might have been that at last drove him to take +the definitive step of applying to his lawyer, we know that they were +not of a pleasant kind—that the state of the Marchese's mind was +anything but a happy or peaceful one during the hours that preceded his +sending the message to Signor Fortini.</p> + +<p>The manner in which the lawyer received the communication made to him, +and his determination, on further consideration, to make the Marchese +Ludovico at once aware of the step contemplated by his uncle, will not +have been forgotten. The reader will, it is hoped, remember also how, +sallying forth after his early dinner for this purpose, Signor Fortini +encountered the Marchese Ludovico in the street; how the latter +communicated to the old lawyer the state of anxiety he was in about the +Signorina Bianca Lalli, whom he had lost in the Pineta; and finally how +the lawyer and the Marchese together had gone to the Porta Nuova, by +which the road leading to St. Apollinare and to the Pineta quits the +city, in order there to make inquiries,—and the terrible reply to their +inquiries that there met him.</p> + +<p>What that reply was had not been immediately clear to the lawyer. For, +as far as the circumstances of the previous events were then known to +him, there were two persons, Bianca Lalli, the singer, and Paolina +Foscarelli, the Venetian artist—two young girls missing, who were both +known to have been out of the city in that direction that morning; two +young girls of whom he knew little more than this, that they had +apparently reason to feel a deadly jealousy of each other. Which of +these two was the one whose dead body lay there under the city gateway +before him, he had no immediate means of knowing. For Ludovico, who had +raised the sheet that covered the features of the dead, and had, of +course, become on the instant aware of the truth, had fallen into +unconsciousness, without uttering a word beyond the one agonized outcry +that, for the moment, had left little doubt on the mind of the lawyer +that the victim at their feet was the girl Paolina.</p> + +<p>But, of course, the means of setting at rest the doubt on the lawyer's +mind were very soon at hand; at hand even before Ludovico recovered from +his short fainting fit. For the same man among the Octroi officers, who +had recognized La Lalli when she had passed with Ludovico in the +morning, was now able to say that the woman who now lay dead in the +gateway was in truth no other than the poor Diva.</p> + +<p>Paolina, in fact, was by that time safe at home, and had been well +scolded by Signora Orsola for having given her such a fright by playing +the truant for so long.</p> + +<p>Of course her old friend called upon her for an account of the hours +which had elapsed during her prolonged absence. And Paolina, in reply to +this demand, gave a very intelligible account of the time. But +unfortunately, most unfortunately, as the sequel showed it to be, this +account rested solely on her own statement. Of course old Orsola saw not +the smallest reason for doubting any part of it. And the explanations +which she gave of her movements, and of the motives which led to them, +embodied in the following statement of what happened from the time when +she left the church to the time when she re-entered the city, are the +result of her subsequent declarations, when called upon to account for +her occupation of those hours.</p> + +<p>The aged Capucine friar had, as we know, watched her take the path that +led to the farmhouse on the border of the wood. And having looked after +her as long as she was in his sight, he sighed heavily, and, turning +away, went back to his prayers in the church. But had he been able to +watch her on her way a few minutes longer, he would, if the girl's own +account of her movements were correct, have seen her change the +direction of her walk.</p> + +<p>About half-way between the eastern end of the church, by which the path +the friar had indicated to Paolina passed, and the farmhouse on the +border of the forest, another path, skirting what had once apparently +been the cemetery attached to the church, turned off at right angles to +the left, so as, after some distance, to rejoin the road on its way +towards the city. And this path, according to her own account, Paolina +took; thus abandoning her intention of reaching the forest at the spot +where the farmhouse stood. Why had she thus changed her purpose?</p> + +<p>Various thoughts and feelings, which had presented themselves to her in +the space of the minute or two she had occupied in walking round to the +eastern end of the church, had contributed to produce this change in her +purpose.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably the first feeling which arose in her mind, on seeing what +she had seen from the window of the church, was one of jealousy. But she +combated it vigorously; and if she did not succeed in altogether +conquering it,—that fiend being, by the nature of not to be vanquished +so by one single effort, however valorous—at least put it to the rout +for the present. She had known all along that Ludovico frequently saw La +Bianca. She knew that he would meet her at the ball; and, doubtless, the +object of their expedition this morning was, as the friar had suggested, +to show the stranger the celebrated Pineta. Having thus, in some +measure, tranquillized her heart, she began to think how lovely the +forest must be on that fine spring morning; how much she, too, should +like to see it; how good an opportunity the present was of doing so. +Perhaps, too, there was some little anticipation of the slight +punishment to be inflicted on her lover, when he should be told that she +had visited the Pineta alone at the very time when he had been in her +immediate vicinity engaged in showing it to another.</p> + +<p>And with these thoughts in her head, she made her inquiries, and started +on her way. But before she had walked many steps, other thoughts began +to present themselves to her mind. How did she know how far they had +gone from the farmhouse? Might they not still be in the immediate +neighbourhood of it? Might she not, very probably, fall in with them? +And would not that be exceedingly disagreeable? Would she not have all +the appearance of having followed them purposely from motives of +jealousy? Would not her presence be unwelcome? Would there not be +something of indelicacy even in thus following one who evidently +preferred being with another?</p> + +<p>These considerations sufficed to produce the change in her purpose, and +in the direction towards which she turned her steps, that has been +mentioned. So she returned by the path, which has been described, into +the road, and proceeded along it on her return to the city. She did not +trip along as briskly and alertly as she had done in coming thither; but +walked slowly and pensively with her eyes on the ground. She was thus a +good deal longer in returning than in going. And when she had reached +the immediate neighbourhood of the city, she turned aside before +entering the gate, into a sort of promenade under some trees near the +city wall, and sat down on one of the stone benches there to think a +little.</p> + +<p>And presently; as she was busy thinking, she was startled into much +displeasure against herself by discovering that two large utterly +unauthorised tears were running down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>What was the meaning of that? Surely she was not jealous still, after +all the good reasons for not being so, that she had so conclusively +pointed out to herself?</p> + +<p>No, she was not jealous. She would not be jealous. But it would have +been so nice in the Pineta. The sun was now high in the heavens. The +birds were singing on every tree; and Ludovico was enjoying it with that +woman, whom, when she had seen her at the theatre, she had found it so +impossible to like or to tolerate. Yet she would not, could not, doubt +that Ludovico loved herself, and her only.</p> + +<p>She dried her tears, and determined that she would not let doubts of +what she really did not doubt torment her. But still she sat on and on +upon the bench in the shade musing on many things—on the Contessa +Violante, on the steps Ludovico had said that he would take this very +first day of Lent towards the open breaking off of all engagement with +that lady, and on the amount of scandal and difficulty that would thence +arise.</p> + +<p>Then her fancy, despite all her endeavours and determinations to the +contrary, would go back to paint pictures of the beauty of La Bianca, as +she sat by the side of Ludovico in the little carriage. How lovely she +had looked, and how happy,—so evidently pleased with herself, with her +companion, and with all about her. And Ludovico had seemed in such good +spirits—so happy, so thoroughly contented. He did not want any one else +to be with him. He was far enough from thinking of the fond and faithful +heart that would have been made so happy—oh, so happy—if it had been +given to her to sit there by his side.</p> + +<p>She sat thinking of all these things till she was roused from her +reverie by the city clocks striking noon. It was three good hours later +than she had supposed it to be; and she jumped up from her seat, +intending to hasten home to Signora Orsola Steno.</p> + +<p>All this Paolina stated partly to Signora Orsola on her return home, and +partly in reply to inquiries subsequently made of her by inquirers far +less easily satisfied.</p> + +<p>But chance—or, what for want of a better designation, we are in the +habit of so calling—had decreed that Signora Orsola should not be +delivered from her suspense so quickly.</p> + +<p>On turning into the shady promenade under the city walls, a little +before reaching the Porta Nuova, Paolina had strolled onwards, before +sitting down on one of the benches that tempted her after her walk, till +she fancied that it would be shorter for her to reach the Via di Santa +Eufemia by another gate, which gave admission to the city at the other +end of the promenade, instead of by turning back to the Porta Nuova. And +thus, though she had in truth returned to the city, the men at that gate +were quite right in their statement that she had not returned by the way +they guarded.</p> + +<p>The road, however, by which Paolina proposed to return to her home led +her past the residence of the Cardinal, and, as she passed, it occurred +to her that it would be well, and save another walk, to look in at the +chapel and put together the things she had left in it on finishing her +task there, so that they might be ready for a porter to bring away when +she should send for them.</p> + +<p>For this purpose she ascended the great staircase of the Cardinal's +palace, and was at once admitted to pass on into the chapel, as a matter +of course, by the servants, who had become quite used to her visits +there; and, from this point forwards, the accuracy of her statements was +easily proved by other testimony besides her own.</p> + +<p>It would not have taken her long, as she had said to herself, to get her +things together and make them ready for being fetched away. But in the +chapel she found the Lady Violante on her knees on the fald-stool before +the altar. It was the first day in Lent, and, accordingly, a period of +extra devotion. The sins, the excesses, the frivolities, of the Carnival +had to be atoned for by extra prayers and religious exercises; and if +Violante had herself been guilty of no sins, excesses, or frivolities, +during the festive season, yet there was abundant need of her prayers +for those who had.</p> + +<p>On hearing a light footfall behind her she looked round; and, on seeing +Paolina, rose from her knees, and advanced a step to meet her.</p> + +<p>"You are come to take away your things, cara mia. The scaffolding has +already been removed. I suppose you are very glad that your task here is +done; and it would be selfish, therefore, to say that I am sorry. How +often it happens, Paolina, that we are tempted to wish what we ought not +to wish."</p> + +<p>"I don't think, Signorina, that I often wish what my conscience tells me +I ought not to desire; and I should have thought that such a thing had +never occurred to you. I wished very much to do something this morning, +and I began to do it; but then I thought that I ought not to do it, and +I did not."</p> + +<p>"Then, my child, you are all the happier. It is a happy day for you."</p> + +<p>Paolina sighed a great sigh, and dropped her eyes to the ground.</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose the evil wish was not wholly conquered," said Violante, +looking into her companion's eyes with a grave smile.</p> + +<p>"It was this, Signora: I walked out very early this morning to St. +Apollinare in Classe, where I am to make some copies of the Mosaics, +which I hope to begin to-morrow. A scaffolding has been prepared for me; +and I went to see that all was ready."</p> + +<p>And then poor little Paolina was tempted to pour out all her heart and +its troubles to her gravely kind and gentle friend. And Violante spoke +such words of comfort as her conscience would allow her to speak in the +matter. And the talk between the two girls ran on; and the minutes ran +on, too. And poor old Orsola Steno, at the end of her stock of patience +at last, had taken the step that has been narrated.</p> + +<p>And thus it had come to pass that Paolina had played the truant, and +that her protracted absence had led to Signor Fortini's momentary doubt +as to the identity of the corpse he had seen brought into the city.</p> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_V" id="BOOK_V"></a>BOOK V<br /><br /> +Who Did the Deed?</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-5" id="CHAPTER_I-5"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +At the City Gate</h3> + +<p>Bianca Lalli lay dead at the city gate. Fresh from her triumphs, her +successes, her schemes, her hopes, her frolic, at the full tide of her +fame, and her matchless beauty, the poor Diva was—dead!</p> + +<p>How she came by such sudden death there was nothing whatever in her +appearance to tell—scarcely anything to tell that she was dead. In a +quiet composed attitude stretched on her back, she lay in the light +white dress she had put on for her excursion with Ludovico. With the +exception of a broad blue ribbon round the waist, and another which +bound her wealth of auburn hair, her entire dress was white. It was now +scarcely whiter than her face. But there was on the features neither +disorder nor sign of pain.</p> + +<p>From a feeling of natural respect for death, and perhaps, also, for the +extreme beauty of the young face in death, the bearers of the body had +covered it with a coarse linen sheet, such as they had chanced to find +to hand. But the duty of the officers of the gate would have required +them to uncover the face, even if Ludovico in the first agony of his +doubt had not already done so. There, amid the pitying throng of rough +men, she lay beneath the sombre old gateway vault. The extraordinary +abundance of her hair fell in great loose tresses, some making rich +contrast with the white dress that covered her shoulders, and some of it +thrown back behind over the door on which the body lay.</p> + +<p>A terrible and deadly sickness came over Ludovico, and his face became +almost as white as that of the corpse. His head swam round; and, reeling +back from the sight that met his eyes, he swooned, and would have fallen +to the ground had the lawyer not caught him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Fortini, to the men who crowded round the body, while +he paid attention to the Marchesino,—"I suppose that there can be no +doubt that she is dead?"</p> + +<p>"She's as dead as the door she lies on," said one of the men who had +helped to carry the body, shaking his head gravely, as he looked +pitifully down on her; "as dead as the door she lies on, more's the +pity, for she looks like one of them that find it good to live,—more's +the pity,—more's the pity."</p> + +<p>"Che bella donna! E proprio un viso d'angiolo," said another; "and so +young too. There's some heart somewhere that'll be sore for this."</p> + +<p>"Pretty creature; it is enough to break one's own heart to look at her +as she lies there," said a third. While a fourth of the rough fellows +stood and sobbed aloud, and let the tears run down his furrowed cheeks, +without the smallest effort to control or hide his emotion. For an +Italian, especially an Italian man of the people, unlike the men of the +Teuton races, is never ashamed of emotion. He very often manifests a +great deal which he does not genuinely feel; but he never seeks to hide +any that he does feel.</p> + +<p>All this while the officials at the gate, some six or eight of them, +standing thus round the extemporized bier, were closely questioning the +men, who had been the bearers; Ludovico and the old lawyer were thus +shut out from the circle which had formed itself around the body, and +were on the outside of it. A boy, belonging to one of the gate +officials, brought, at the lawyer's bidding, a glass of cold water, by +the help of which the young Marchese was quickly restored to +consciousness. He was able to rise to his feet again before the officers +had concluded their official questioning of those who had brought in the +body. And the lawyer looked anxiously into his face to ascertain that he +was capable of understanding what was said to him, as he stood, still +apparently half-stunned by the shock of the event, against the doorway +of the little dwelling of the gatekeepers.</p> + +<p>"Stand where you are and say nothing; we will go away together +presently," whispered the lawyer in his ear, griping him hard at the +same time by the arm, and giving him a little shake, as if to rouse him +to comprehension; a mode of speaking and acting on the part of Signor +Fortini, which would have seemed very extraordinary to the young +Marchese at any other time, but which he was now too much overpowered by +what had happened to notice.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini had no official character or function, which in any way +gave him the right, or made it his duty to meddle with the +circumstances, that had occurred by chance in his presence. But he was +so well known to all the city, was mixed in one way or another with so +many matters of business, and was so much and so generally looked up to, +that the people at the gate, hardly knowing what their own duty required +of them under circumstances so unusual, turned to him for directions as +to what they ought to do.</p> + +<p>"What you have to do, my good friend, is simple enough," said the +lawyer, addressing the superior official at the gate; "you must, in the +first place, receive and take charge of the body. You must inquire of +these good folks all they have to tell you, together with their names +and addresses. You must draw up a processo verbale, embodying all such +information; and then you must have the body conveyed to the mortuary at +the hospital, at the same time making your report to the police, and +delivering up the body into their custody. In such a case as this, it +will be well, too, that these worthy men, who have brought the body +here, should go with you to the police, the more so," he added, as his +quick eye marked a certain blank look in the faces of the men,—"the +more so, as they must be recompensed for their trouble and labour, and +it is by the police that the payment for it must be made."</p> + +<p>"Un processo verbale! Yes, one knows that; but under circumstances so +strange—grazie a Dio so unheard of—if your worship would have the +kindness to put one in the way of it. Your worship is familiar with +affairs of all sorts. Just an instant."</p> + +<p>"We must hear first what these men have to say. First take down their +names and addresses."</p> + +<p>The men gave them, as the lawyer remarked to himself, with perfect +willingness and alacrity.</p> + +<p>They then related that having been at work in the forest, cutting up the +branches and trunk of a tree, which had fallen from old age and natural +decay, they were going to another part of the Pineta, a short distance +off, where another fallen tree awaited their axes and saws, when they +saw a lady asleep as they thought on a bank. They were about to pass on +without interfering with her in any way, when one of their party +remarked that it was odd that all the noise they had made had not +wakened her, for they had come along laughing, singing, and talking +loudly. This had led them to approach closely to her; and then,—as they +looked at her, a suspicion of the truth began to come to their minds. +They touched her, and found that she was dead. She was not quite cold, +they said, and were quite sure of that fact. They looked at her, and +looked all around to see if they could perceive any sign of the cause of +her death. But they could see nothing. There was, as far as they could +see, no trace of blood, either on her dress or anywhere around the spot +where she lay. And then they had borrowed a door from the farm near St. +Apollinare, and had brought the body here, and that was all they knew +about it.</p> + +<p>"Had they seen any other person in the forest that morning?"</p> + +<p>"Not a soul; and they had been in that part of the Pineta, or at least +at no great distance, all the morning from sunrise."</p> + +<p>"Would they be able to find again and to know the spot on which they had +found the body?" the lawyer asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," they said, "easily. It was not by the side of any of the +ordinary tracks through the forest—but not very far from one of them; +as if the lady had turned aside from the path, and sought out a quiet +spot to enjoy a siesta without being disturbed."</p> + +<p>"It is pretty clear," said the lawyer, "that it has been a case of +sudden death during sleep—probably from disease of the heart. Now, my +friend," he said, turning to the senior of the officials, "you have only +simply to state what we have heard in writing and carry it to the +police. Meantime, it will be as well to remove the body at once. Let a +couple of your people accompany the men who brought it here—they may as +well carry it to the mortuary."</p> + +<p>So a sheet was obtained from a neighbouring house, the more perfectly +and decently to cover the body, preparatory to its being carried through +the streets. Ludovico stepped hurriedly forward from the doorpost, +against which he had been leaning, and looked eagerly once again at the +calmly-tranquil and still beautiful face before they covered it with the +sheet. And then the six men took up their burden, and, with two of the +gate-officers marching at their head, moved off towards the hospital.</p> + +<p>Then the lawyer put his hand on Ludovico's shoulder in a manner that was +strange, and that would at once have seemed so to the Marchese had he at +the time had any attention to give to such a circumstance, and said in a +peremptory and authoritative sort of voice, very unlike his usual manner +when speaking to a person in the social position of the Marchese,</p> + +<p>"Now, come with me, Signor Marchese. Let us go. We can do no more good +here." And he put his arm within that of Ludovico, as if to lead him +away, as he spoke.</p> + +<p>The Marchese suffered the old man thus to lead him from the gate without +speaking a word.</p> + +<p>"Now, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, as soon as they had turned the +corner of a street, which took them out of sight of the city gate, "now, +lose no time. Make for the Porta Adriana, and quit the city by that. +There is an osteria in the borgo outside the gate, where you can get a +bagarino with a quick horse for Faenza; thence cross the mountains into +Tuscany. You may easily be over the frontier this night; you have plenty +of time, only none to lose. It will be at least two hours before any +steps can be taken; you may be beyond Faenza by that time. Have you +money about you? If not I can supply you. I have a considerable sum +about me—One word more: Do not venture to remain in Florence. The grand +Ducal Government would not refuse the demand of the Nuncio in such a +case; and the demand would surely be made. Better get on to Leghorn; and +make for Marseilles."</p> + +<p>"Good God, Signor Fortini! What are you talking of; and what are you +dreaming of? What is it that you have got into your head?" said +Ludovico, rousing himself, and stopping short in his walk to turn round +and face the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Signor Marchese, your father was my friend and patron; your +grandfather was my father's friend and patron; and, therefore, bad as +this business is, I think, and will think, more of old times and old +kindnesses than of what I suppose is my duty now. But don't lose time by +trying to throw dust in my eyes. What is the use of it? What I have got +in my head is what every man, woman and child in Ravenna will have in +their head before this day is over. Have you sufficient money about +you?"</p> + +<p>"Signor Fortini, once again I don't know what you are driving at. I +insist upon your speaking out your entire meaning. What is it you +imagine?" said Ludovico, speaking angrily, but now very pale.</p> + +<p>"Imagine! What can I imagine? The matter is, unhappily, but too clear. +Why of course I imagine that you have by some means,—which the medical +people will find out fast enough, doubt it not,—killed that unfortunate +woman in the Pineta."</p> + +<p>"Signor Fortini!" exclaimed Ludovico, in a voice in which horror, +indignation and dismay had equal shares.</p> + +<p>"Marchese, how can anybody have any doubt on the matter. Alas, that I +should have to say so, it is too self-evident. You persuade this poor +creature to go out alone with you into the Pineta at an extraordinary +hour of the morning, knowing then,—or according to your own showing, +becoming aware soon after you started—that it was your uncle's +intention by a marriage with this woman to destroy utterly every +prospect you have in the world. What other human being can have had any +ill-will against this woman, or any interest in destroying her? Your +interest in doing so is of the very strongest possible kind. It was no +case of robbery. The girl was put to death by some one, who had an +interest in doing so. She is last seen alive with you; I find you with a +singularly scared and troubled manner pretending to make inquiry +respecting her, your real object evidently being to ascertain whether +the fact of the murder were yet known, and to give rise to the +impression that you knew nothing of the poor woman's fate. Then, when +confronted with the corpse you are seen to be absolutely overcome by +your emotion. Now, as I have simply stated the facts, do you imagine +that a moment's doubt will be felt as to who has done this deed?"</p> + +<p>Ludovico felt the cold sweat break out on his forehead, as he listened +to the lawyer's words. The logic of the facts did most unquestionably +seem to make out a fatally strong case against him. And it was difficult +to judge—very difficult even for the shrewd and practised lawyer to +judge—whether the consciousness of crime, or the horror of seeing by +how terribly strong evidence the suspicion of crime was brought home to +him, were the cause of the emotion he manifested.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini, again, with rapid and practised acuteness, ran over all +the circumstances in his mind; and his conclusion, unavoidable, as he +felt it, was that the Marchese must have done the deed. That the +criminal authorities would come to the same conclusion he could not feel +the smallest doubt.</p> + +<p>"Good God! Signor Fortini, this is very dreadful! it is as new to my +mind—it comes upon me now for the first time, as much as if I had not +known the fact of her death. But I see it—I see it all; as you put the +matter now before me. What am I to do?—gracious heaven, what am I to +do?"</p> + +<p>"I have already told you, what you have to do; the only thing that you +can do. You have time enough to make it quite safe, that you may be +across the frontier before any pursuit can overtake you. As for pursuing +you across the frontier, that can only be done diplomatically, and of +course by means which would leave you ample time to quit Tuscany."</p> + +<p>"Signor Fortini, I am innocent of this crime. It is a crime which +sickens me with horror to think of. What passed in the Pineta passed +exactly as I told you. I left that unhappy girl sleeping, intending to +be absent from her but a few minutes. And as there is a God in heaven I +never again saw her till I saw her dead at the gate," said Ludovico, +speaking with intense earnestness.</p> + +<p>"But even if you should convince me, Signor Marchese, that such were in +truth the case, whom else do you think you would be able to convince? +Not one, not a single soul; above all, certainly not one of those who +are used to the investigation of crime, or of those who would have to +pronounce judgment on it. If I were perfectly and entirely persuaded of +your innocence I should still urge you to fly. The facts of the case are +too strong against you."</p> + +<p>"But is that the advice you would give to an innocent man, Signor +Fortini? Is that the course which an innocent man would take? Should I +not by flying add such an additional damning circumstance to the other +grounds of suspicion, as to render all possible hope of clearing myself +vain?" remonstrated Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"It is true, it would do so; and the argument is, I am bound to say, the +argument of an innocent man. In any other case, in any other case, I +should say face inquiry and prove your innocence. But, Signor Marchese, +I dare not recommend you to do so. The facts, as I said, are too strong +for you. Remember, too, that you do not throw away any chance by flight. +For the only possible circumstance that could exonerate you would be the +discovery that the deed was done by some other; and should that ever be +proved or provable, you would at once return, plainly stating that you +fled, not from guilt, but from a due appreciation of the fatal weight of +suspicion that the circumstances and the facts cast on you. In such a +case, in such a very improbable case, I should not hesitate to testify +that, being by accident made aware of the circumstances, I had +recommended and urged you to fly. No innocent man is bound to suffer for +the misfortune of lying under a false suspicion if he can help it. You +cannot face the suspicion that will rest upon you; instant flight is the +only course open to you."</p> + +<p>"Did you not say yourself at the gate just now, Signor Fortini," said +Ludovico, making a strong effort to recover the use of his almost +stunned faculties"—did you not yourself say that it was evidently a +case of sudden death, probably from heart disease?"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! to the people there; to those blockheads at the gate, I said so, +of course I did; but the medical folks will soon find out all about +that."</p> + +<p>"But again, as you remarked very truly, the only possible motive that I +could be suspected of having for wishing the death of this unfortunate +woman must be supposed to arise from my knowledge of the fact that my +uncle had proposed marriage to her."</p> + +<p>"And is not that motive enough, per Dio?" interrupted the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Doubtless it might, at all events, seem so to some people. But you +spoke of my persuading her to go on this unhappy excursion with a view, +as your words imply, of committing the crime you suspect me of. Now I +knew nothing of any such intention on the part of my uncle till she +communicated it to me when we were in the forest."</p> + +<p>"That is your statement—"</p> + +<p>"And you must remember, Signor Fortini, that I made that statement to +you before I knew anything of her death."</p> + +<p>"Before you knew anything of her death. Pshaw! You are assuming your +innocence of the deed. Yes, I remember what you said. I remember only +too well. Had you not spoken to me, there might have been no proof that +you knew anything at all of your uncle's purpose. I wish to heaven you +had not said a word to me on the subject. I shall have to testify that +you declared to me, that your uncle's offer to her had been communicated +to you by her. It will be impossible to avoid that. And it will be +impossible to persuade the magistrate that you had not previous +knowledge of such a purpose from other sources."</p> + +<p>"But why should any such intended offer on the part of my uncle be ever +heard of at all?" urged Ludovico. "He will most assuredly never be +willing to speak of it, and—"</p> + +<p>"Che! As if that old man, her so-called father, will not be open-mouthed +as to that—as if he would not proclaim it to the whole city. Ah—h—h! +it is a bad business, Signor Marchese, a bad business.</p> + +<p>"And is it possible, Signor Fortini, that you do really in your own +heart believe me to be guilty of this deed?" said Ludovico, with a sigh +that was almost a groan, and looking steadily and wistfully into the +eyes of his companion.</p> + +<p>"What is more to the purpose, unfortunately, is that it does not signify +a straw whether I believe it or not. You will not be judged, Signor +Marchese, by my belief; and I am very sure what those who have to judge +you will believe. I have some experience of these matters. I know the +courts. I see the exceeding difficulty of believing anything else as to +this death than that it was done by your hands; by you, who had the +opportunity and the motive, whereas, it is impossible to suggest any +semblance of such motive on the part of any other human being; by you, +in whose company she was last seen alive. She had valuable ornaments +about her person. If you had removed them it would, at least, have left +it open to the magistrates to attribute the deed to another motive, and +to other hands. I see all this. I see the whole case before me; and, I +tell you, that your only chance is to escape while it is yet time."</p> + +<p>"My solemn assertion, then, produces no effect on your mind, Signor +Fortini?" said Ludovico, looking at him steadily.</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, with an impatient shake of the head, +"let us look at the matter from the opposite point of view. If you had +killed this woman, let us say, what would your conduct be? Would you +not, in that case, make exactly the assertions that you now make? That +is the terrible consideration that makes all assertion valueless in the +case of such suspicion. But, once again, why dwell on my belief in the +matter, which is nothing to the purpose? I have put your position, +whether you are guilty or not guilty, clearly before your eyes. I +counsel you, and strongly urge you, while yet unaccused, to escape from +the accusation, which will be made against you within an hour. I am +ready to assist you with the means of escaping—"</p> + +<p>"Signor Fortini, I cannot avail myself of them. I have made up my mind I +will not add another such damning ground of suspicion against me. Here I +will remain to answer, as best I can, all the accusations that may be +brought against me. I will not fly."</p> + +<p>The old lawyer shook his head and sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>"A bad business," he said, "a very bad business. It will kill the +Marchese Lamberto; and I won't say what I would not have given to have +escaped seeing your father's son, Signor Marchese, in the position in +which you stand."</p> + +<p>"Will you carry your kindness yet one step further, Signor Fortini, and, +despite my rejection of your first advice, tell me what you think I had +better first do now immediately, I mean—on the supposition that I am +determined to remain in the city?"</p> + +<p>"I think," said the lawyer, after a pause for consideration, "that the +best course for you to take in the case would be to go at once to the +magistrates and make your statement to them of the circumstances +according to your own version of the story,—stating that you hastened +to do so on seeing the dead body at the city gate; I think that is the +best thing you can do. Observe, I cannot say that I think it likely +that, if you do so, you will pass this night under the roof of the +Palazzo Castelmare; but, if you are determined to remain in the city, I +think that is the best thing you can do."</p> + +<p>"That, then, I will do," returned the Marchese. "I thank you, Signor +Fortini, for the advice which I can follow, and not less for that which +I cannot follow. Good-evening."</p> + +<p>"Good-evening, Signor Marchese. I hope it may be better with you than I +fear. And, of course, if you need me, as you will, you will summon me, +and I will not fail to be with you within a few minutes of your call."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Signor Fortini. Addio."</p> + +<p>"One word more, Signor Marchese, before you go. When you uncovered the +face of the woman lying dead yonder you exclaimed, 'Paolina!' What was +the thought that led you to do so? You could not have mistaken the +identity? Of course, you know that I question you only in your own +interest?"</p> + +<p>"Did I say 'Paolina?' replied the Marchese, with an apparent effort at +recollecting himself.</p> + +<p>"You did. On seeing the face you exclaimed, 'Paolina mia!'—so much so, +that I felt no doubt that it was this Paolina who lay dead there. What +was it moved you to that exclamation?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I can't tell. I was very anxious about Paolina. The +thought of her was uppermost in my mind, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said the lawyer, thoughtfully and doubtingly.</p> + +<p>All this conversation had passed hurriedly in the small deserted street +into which Ludovico and the lawyer had turned on leaving the city gate; +and, when they parted, the two men took different directions,—the +lawyer returning to the gate with the germ of an idea in his mind, which +the last portion of his conversation with the Marchese had generated +there, and which subsequent circumstances tended to develop, and the +Marchese Ludovico going in the direction of the Palazzo del Governo.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-5" id="CHAPTER_II-5"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> +Suspicion</h3> + +<p>The Marchese Ludovico told the lawyer that he would go immediately to +the magistrates and make a voluntary statement of all that he knew of +the circumstances connected with Bianca's death; and he fully purposed +doing so. But he did not do it immediately. There was another visit +which he was more anxious to pay; and which the hint that had dropped +from the old lawyer to the effect that it was very probable he might not +pass that night in his own home, determined him to pay first at all +hazards.</p> + +<p>This visit, as may readily be imagined, was to Paolina. And to the +modest little home in the Strada di Santa Eufemia he hurried as fast as +his legs would carry him, as soon as he quitted Signor Fortini. Paolina, +on returning home after her conversation with the Contessa Violante in +the Cardinal's chapel, had remained there busy with the preparation of +her materials for beginning her work at Saint Apollinare on the +following day.</p> + +<p>She looked up as he entered the room with an arch smile on her lips and +in her eyes which, perhaps, did not reflect altogether faithfully the +feeling in her heart.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw you, you naughty, inconstant boy, when you little thought my +eye was upon you. I saw you with—Ludovico, there is something wrong," +she said, suddenly changing her laughing tone for one of alarm as her +eye marked the expression of his face. "I am sure from the way you look +at me there is something amiss. What is it, Ludovico mio? What has +happened to vex you?"</p> + +<p>"A great and terrible misfortune has happened, my Paolina; and I have +run to you in all haste that you might not hear it from any lips but my +own. You were going to say just now that you saw me with Bianca Lalli, +were you not? Where and when did you see us?"</p> + +<p>"In a bagarino, driving towards the Pineta. I was up at a high window in +the church on the scaffolding prepared for my work," said Paolina, +deadly pale, and breathless with apprehension.</p> + +<p>"Ah! you saw us from the window. I took her there at her request to see +the Pineta. We started on leaving the ball-room. In the forest she +became sleepy: I left her sleeping on a bank, and meaning to return to +her in a few minutes. I could not find the spot again for some time; and +when I did find it she was gone. After searching the wood in vain for +hours I returned to the city, and—at the gate—not an hour ago—I saw +her brought in—dead!"</p> + +<p>"Dead! La Bianca dead!" cried Paolina, much shocked; and with every +vestige of the half-formed suspicions which had been tormenting her +suddenly erased from her mind by the terrible tidings and the sadness of +the end of the unfortunate Diva.</p> + +<p>"Dead, my Paolina; and I am suspected of having murdered her," he said +slowly, and with an accent of profound despair.</p> + +<p>"What—what! You suspected! By whom? What does it mean? La Bianca +murdered—and by you. What does it mean, Ludovico mio? For pity's sake, +tell me, what does it mean?"</p> + +<p>And the pale features began to work, and the large deep eyes filled with +tears, and the neat moment she fell back into a chair sobbing +hysterically.</p> + +<p>"I was the last person with whom she was seen alive; and—there was, it +seems, strong reason why it may be supposed that I should wish her +dead—God help me! I learned this morning—the poor girl told me +herself, to my extreme surprise—that my uncle, the Marchese Lamberto, +had proposed marriage to her. You can understand, my darling, that such +a marriage would be a very dreadful misfortune to me: therefore, people +think that I put the unhappy girl to death."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my love, my love; come to me, come to me, and let me hold you!" +said the poor girl, struggling to speak amid her convulsive sobbing, and +holding out her hands towards him. "Oh, my Ludovico, this is very +dreadful. But it is impossible—impossible! They will know that it is +impossible that you could have done such a thing. Murder! You—murder a +defenceless girl! Oh, it is nonsense. Nobody will believe anything so +monstrous."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, my Paolina—thanks, my own darling. At least there is one heart +that knows me. And, my Paolina, it is an immense comfort to me—not that +I doubted it for an instant—but it is an infinite comfort to me to know +that you, at least in your heart of hearts, are certain that I did +not—that it never could have entered into my mind to do this thing."</p> + +<p>"I believe it! I could just as soon imagine that I myself had done it. +But, Ludovico, my beloved, it will not be believed; it is too monstrous. +You are known here; it cannot be believed."</p> + +<p>"And yet, my Paolina, one who has known me all my life, who was my +father's friend—one who knows me well, and who looks at things as the +magistrates will look at them—he believes it; believes it so much, and +is so certain that others will believe it, that he strongly urged me to +escape from the city, and from the country. That, Paolina, knowing my +innocence, I would not do. To save myself from the stake I would not +have gone away without telling you, my own one, that I had not done this +deed. I could not go, and so leave you—"</p> + +<p>"My own—my own! How I love you, my Ludovico, now in the time of this +great trouble better than ever I did before. There was no need to tell +me, my love, that your hands are innocent of murder. But surely—surely +you did well not to fly, leaving the hideous accusation behind you."</p> + +<p>"So I thought, my own love—my own high-minded right-thinking +darling—so I thought; and here I stay to answer my accusers. But the +fatality of the circumstances is such that—in truth, I see little hope +of clearing myself, save by the possible discovery of the causes that +led to this terrible death."</p> + +<p>"Was there anything to show how she—that is, I mean, whether she—died +by violence?" asked Paolina.</p> + +<p>"Nothing—nothing whatever. As we saw the body under the city gateway, +when the men who found it brought it in, there was not the smallest +trace of violence visible. She lay as if, save for the deadly pallor of +her face, she might have been still sleeping. And I am most anxious for +the medical examination of the body. It may be that they will be able to +discover that death was produced by some natural cause."</p> + +<p>"Surely that is the most likely. Had any robbery been committed?" asked +Paolina thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"None—none whatever; and she had valuables exposed on her person which +were untouched. This is one of the worst circumstances against me; as it +excludes the idea of the dead having been done by common malefactors for +the sake of plunder."</p> + +<p>"And no marks of violence? It must have been a natural death; such +things do happen. I remember hearing of a case-"</p> + +<p>"I must go, darling; I must leave you. I must hasten to the Palazzo del +Governo to make my statement of what has occurred. It is hard to leave +you, my Paolina—very hard to leave you, not knowing when or under what +circumstances I am likely to see you again."</p> + +<p>"Ludovico, see me again!" shrieked the girl, as a new and dreadful idea +presented itself for the first time to her mind; "why—you will come to +me when you have spoken to the magistrates; you will tell me what they +say."</p> + +<p>"I fear me, Paolina, that it will not be in my power to do that," +returned Ludovico, with a melancholy smile. "Should they leave me at +liberty, of course I shall fly to you on the instant they dismiss me. +But, you must not expect that, my love. I shall be detained doubtless, +until—until the truth has been discovered respecting this horrible +tragedy. One kiss my own, own darling before we part."</p> + +<p>She sprang into his opened arms with a bound; almost before the words +had quitted his lips, and clasped him to her heart with all the strength +she could exert. Then drawing herself a little back, and placing her two +little hands on the front of his shoulders; she said, speaking with +breathless hurry,—"See now, my love, my only love. You must remember +all the time, that there is no hour of the day or night that I shall not +be thinking of you, and loving you all the time, always, always. And +remember, that if all the whole world says that you did this thing, I +shall still know that it was as impossible as that I did it myself. +Remember that always, my best beloved."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, my Paolina; it will be very sweet to me to remember it. And +dearest, one thing more. It will hardly be likely that in the present +circumstances, under all this weight of misfortune, my poor uncle will +be likely to have time or attention to give to you, But if you have need +of anything—of advice, of assistance, of protection—speak to the +Contessa Violante, and—stay, you shall take a message to her from me. +Tell her that I begged you to say, as from me to her, that in the teeth +of all appearances I am innocent in thought, word, and deed in this +matter. I think she will believe it; I must go, my love, my own!"</p> + +<p>"Pray God, it be not for long, tesoro mio. I shall pray to the Holy +Virgin for you morning and night."</p> + +<p>"Addio, Paolina mia. Yet one kiss, anima mia, addio,"</p> + +<p>From the Strada di Santa Eufemia Ludovico hurried as quickly as he could +to the Palazzo del Governo; but found that he was not in time to be the +first bearer to the police magistrate of the tidings of what had +happened. The report of the officials at the gate had already been given +in, and the police had already taken possession of the body.</p> + +<p>The magistrate received him with grave courtesy, saying that he was glad +the Signor Marchese had presented himself in order to throw what light +he could on this sad affair, as rumour had already reached his (the +magistrate's) ears mixing the name of the Marchese Ludovico with the +subject in a manner that would have made it his duty to call the +Marchese, had he not of himself judged it right to anticipate the action +of justice in the matter.</p> + +<p>Then Ludovico related clearly and shortly how the excursion to the +Pineta had been imagined and planned between him and Bianca at the ball; +how they had put their plan into execution; how he had left her sleeping +in the forest; and had been unable to find her again; how he had +returned, after spending much time in fruitless seeking, and had shortly +afterwards, being then in the company of Signor Giovacchino Fortini, +seen the dead body of the unfortunate lady brought into the city by men +who had discovered it in the forest.</p> + +<p>The magistrate listened attentively to this history in silence, save +that he once or twice interrupted Ludovico to ask at what o'clock it had +been that the different incidents happened. Then he reduced the whole +statement to writing, and read it over to the Marchesino.</p> + +<p>"Your lordship parted then from Signor Fortini, after witnessing in his +company the arrival of the corpse at the gate, nearly an hour ago. You +did not come to make your report to us here at once? I must ask you how +you have employed the interval?" said the magistrate shooting a sharp +glance from under his black eyebrows at Ludovico, who was sitting +opposite to him, with a little table between them, on which there were +writing-materials.</p> + +<p>"In visiting a lady, to whom I was very anxious to tell these +unfortunate circumstances myself, instead of allowing them to come to +her ears in any other manner," answered Ludovico simply.</p> + +<p>"The lady's name? I ask in confidence, you know; unless of course the +fact should turn out to have any bearing on the discovery of the truth +as to this most unhappy business."</p> + +<p>"The lady is the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli, a Venetian artist sent +here to make copies of some of our mosaics, and recommended to my uncle +the Marchese Lamberto."</p> + +<p>"With whom you had no acquaintance previous to her bringing that +recommendation?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever."</p> + +<p>"But since that time you have become intimate with her?"</p> + +<p>"It is true."</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese, this is a most lamentable and unhappy affair. It is my +duty to point out to you, what doubtless your own good sense has already +suggested to you—that the mere facts, as you have related them to me, +place you in a very unfortunate position. But most unhappily—it is +exceedingly painful to me to have to say it—there is, if what has +already reached my ears be true, worse, much worse behind. I am obliged +to ask you what conversation, of a special nature, passed between you +and Bianca Lalli during your excursion?"</p> + +<p>"I will make no pretence at not understanding your question, Signor, nor +any attempt to conceal the truth. I have already stated the facts; or +that, which you have evidently heard, could not have reached your ears. +The Signorina Bianca Lalli confided to me the fact, that my uncle the +Marchese Lamberto had offered marriage to her."</p> + +<p>"Most lamentable, and to be regretted in every way," said the +magistrate, gravely shaking his head. "You perceive, Signor Marchese, +the terrible, but inevitable suggestion, that arises from the fact of +your having been made aware of a purpose so disastrous to your +interests?"</p> + +<p>"I call your attention, Signor, again to the fact, that nothing would +have been known of any such communication having been made to me, had I +not spontaneously mentioned the circumstance myself."</p> + +<p>"It is true, Signor Marchese, and it will not be forgotten that this +circumstance was spontaneously mentioned by you. But you must observe, +that the fact of the proposal made by the Marchese Lamberto would have +become known in more ways than one. And unhappily the fact that such a +proposal had been made, would throw a very disagreeable light on the +extraordinary circumstances of this death. To whom would the death of +this unfortunate woman be profitable? That is the fatal question, Signor +Marchese, which it is impossible to avoid asking."</p> + +<p>"I am aware of the cruelty of the inference suggested by the +circumstance, Signor Commissario," said Ludovico sadly.</p> + +<p>"Have you any suggestion to offer yourself as to the possible means by +which this woman may have met with her death?" asked the Commissary of +Police.</p> + +<p>"As far as I could see at the city gate, and according to the statement +of the men who found the body, there was no indication of violence +whatever to be found on it. My suggestion therefore, and my trust is, +that the cause of her death was a natural one:"</p> + +<p>"That will be a question for the medical authorities to decide," said +the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"I was about to ask you whether they had proceeded to any examination +yet?" said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"Not yet; we shall have the report immediately; and it shall be at once +communicated to you."</p> + +<p>"At the Palazzo Castelmare?" said Ludovico, though he had but very +little hope that he should be allowed to remain at large.</p> + +<p>The Commissary shook his head very gravely.</p> + +<p>"I need hardly tell you, Signor Marchese, how painful it is to me to be +compelled to announce to you that we cannot find it consistent with our +duty to allow you under the circumstances to quit this building. The +utmost that can be done to make your detention as little uncomfortable +to you as possible, shall be done. And I can only say that I trust it +may be but for a short time."</p> + +<p>"Permit me to observe, Signor Commissario, that after seeing the dead +body at the gate, to say nothing of all the hours previously, if I had +been guilty,—I had abundance of time to escape, and to place myself +beyond the reach of the Papal authorities, before I could have been +overtaken. I might have done so, but did not. Might not that be held to +justify you in allowing me to retain my liberty until the course of your +inquiries may again require my presence?"</p> + +<p>"I fear not, Signor Marchese, I fear not. The fact that such a crime has +been committed throws a terrible responsibility upon us. As to your not +having availed yourself of opportunity to escape, I may remark that you +may have been detained, not so much by your desire of meeting inquiry, +as of having the interview, of which you told me just now. You say that +you came directly from the Signorina Foscarelli's dwelling hither. At +that time it was too late for hope of escape. I fear, Signor Marchese, +it will not be consistent with my duty to allow you to depart."</p> + +<p>So Ludovico was conducted to a very sufficiently comfortable chamber +reserved for similar occasions, and found himself a prisoner, waiting +trial on suspicion of murder.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-5" id="CHAPTER_III-5"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +Guilty or not Guilty?</h3> + +<p>Signor Fortini hurried home, when he quitted the Marchese Ludovico in +the little quiet street, in which they had talked together after the +terrible sight they had together witnessed at the city gate, and shut +himself up in his private room to think. He was much moved and +distressed, more moved than the practised calm of the manner natural to +him, and the slow movements of old age, allowed to be visible.</p> + +<p>What a dreadful, what a miserable misfortune was this. A tragedy, if +ever there was one, which would for ever strike down from their place an +ancient and noble family, whose merit and worth had from generation to +generation been the pride and the admiration of the entire city—a +tragedy which would come home as such to the heart of every human being +in Ravenna. Great heaven, what a fall!</p> + +<p>And this was the first outcome of the disastrous purpose of his old +friend the Marchese. Truly he had felt that nought but evil—evils +manifold and wide-spreading—could arise from so insane a line of +conduct. But he had been far from anticipating so overwhelming a +calamity as the first result of it.</p> + +<p>Then, the deed itself! It would cause an outcry from one end of Italy to +the other. It would be a disgrace, and an opprobrium to the city for +many a year. What! Ravenna invites, entices this hapless girl, who had +been the admiration of so many cities, to come within her walls; and in +return for the delight which she had given them—murders her. Other +cities vie with each other in doing honour to the gifted artist. She +ventures to Ravenna, and—is murdered.</p> + +<p>There was a bitterness in Signor Fortini's consideration of the matter +from this point of view, which was more poignant than any other man than +an Italian would quite understand. For nowhere else do municipal pride, +jealousy, and patriotism run so high.</p> + +<p>A foul and cruel murder had been done: so much was certain. Signor +Fortini had not the smallest hope that the death would be found to have +resulted from natural causes. And then came the consideration whether +there could be any hope that, after all, the deed had been done by some +other hand than that of the young Marchese di Castelmare.</p> + +<p>After thinking deeply for several minutes, the lawyer shook his head. +That such a deed might have been done in the forest on the person of one +found sleeping there, whose appearance was such as to hold out the +expectation of booty to a plunderer, was possible—not very likely, but +possible. Possible enough to suppose that lawless and evil-disposed +persons might have been wandering there-depredators on the forest, who +exist in great numbers—smugglers making their way across the country by +hidden paths, or what not? Possible enough that such a deed might have +been done, and the perpetrators of it far away before the discovery of +the body, away to the southward, and across the Apennine into Tuscany in +the space of a few hours. But all such possibilities were conclusively +negatived by the certain fact that no plunder had been attempted, that +plunder could not have been the object of the murderer.</p> + +<p>Alarmed before they could carry their object into execution by the +approach of footsteps? Was this a plausible or a possible theory?</p> + +<p>No; for the poor Diva had valuable ornaments visible on her person, an +enamelled gold watch at her girdle, a diamond pin or brooch at the +fastening of her dress on her chest, to possess themselves of which +would have needed less time than was required for the perpetration of +the murder. It was wholly impossible to suppose, on any hypothesis, that +the murder could have been committed for the sake of plunder, and that +these ornaments could have been left untouched.</p> + +<p>It had been observed, and was noted—not in the report drawn up by the +officials at the gate, but in the more exact and detailed report +furnished by the police on their taking of the body into their +charge—that the brooch, which has been mentioned, was unfastened, so as +to be left hanging in the dress by its pin. But this circumstance did +not seem to be of much moment, as it might well have been that Bianca +herself had unfastened it before falling asleep.</p> + +<p>No; it was but too clear, as the lawyer said to himself, that murder and +not robbery had been the object of the perpetrator of the crime.</p> + +<p>There was, it was true, nothing improbable in the story told by the +Marchese Ludovico. That the girl should have been overpowered by sleep, +after having passed the night at the ball, and then started on an +expedition so foreign to her usual habits, was abundantly likely. That +he might have become tired of sitting still while she slept, and might +have strayed away from her, not intending to quit her for more than a +few minutes and a few yards, was also perfectly probable. That having so +strayed he might have been unable to find his way back again to the spot +where he had left her, or to be certain whether he had found the same +spot or not, would not seem at all unlikely to any one acquainted with +the Pineta. All this story was likely and natural enough.</p> + +<p>But—the motive—the inevitable inference from that terrible cui bono +question. For whom was it profitable, that this poor girl should be put +to death? According to the fatal information, which, by his own account, +he had received but a short time previously from the victim herself, +information, the truth and accuracy of which were well known to the +lawyer from the Marchese Lamberto himself, the whole future prospects in +life of the Marchese Ludovico depended on the life or death of this +unhappy woman.</p> + +<p>If the Marchese Lamberto carried out his insane intention of marrying La +Bianca Lalli his nephew would become simply destitute. After having been +accustomed, from the cradle to the age of four-and-twenty, to all that +riches could procure—after having lived in the sure expectation of +wealth up to an age when it was too late to think of making himself +capable of earning a competence for himself in any conceivable manner, +this marriage would take from him suddenly, and for ever, all such +prospect; and the death of the woman who had bewitched his uncle thus +fatally would make all safe, for the Marchese Lamberto was not a +marrying man—was, as all the town knew, the last man in the world to +have dreamed of taking a wife now at this time of his life.</p> + +<p>No; it was the fatal fascination, the witchery, the lures of this one +woman. Remove her, and all would be right.</p> + +<p>Ah! The mischief, the woe, the scandal, the disgrace, the irretrievable +calamity, and the misery, that this accursed folly of the Marchese +Lamberto had caused. Ah! to think of all the sorrow and trouble this +woman brought with her into the city when she was so triumphantly +welcomed within the walls by these two unhappy men—the uncle and the +nephew.</p> + +<p>It was strongly and curiously characteristic of the Italian mind that +Signor Fortini, in coming to the conclusion that this deed must, beyond +the possibility of doubt, have been committed by the Marchese Ludovico +and none other, was mainly and specially moved by compassion for the +perpetrator of the crime. There is something in this Italian mode of +viewing human events and human conduct curiously analogous to that +conception of mortal destinies on which the pathos of the old Greek +tragedy mainly rests.</p> + +<p>How cruel was the fate which had thus compelled the young man to +perceive that the life of this girl and his own welfare were +incompatible!</p> + +<p>How dreadful the pitiless working of the great, blind, automatic, +destiny-machine!</p> + +<p>To raise a murderous hand against the life of a sleeping girl—how +dreadful! How great, therefore, must have been the suffering which +impelled a man to do so!</p> + +<p>He had evidently been driven to desperation by the prospect of the utter +and tremendous ruin that threatened him; and "desperation;" the absence +of all hope, is recognised, both by the popular mind of Italy and by its +theoretic theology, as a sufficient cause for any course of action. It +is especially taught by Roman Catholic theology that it is, above all +things, wicked so to act towards a man as to drive him to desperation; +and the popular ethics invariably visit with deeper reprobation any +cause of conduct which had tempted another man to make himself guilty of +a violent crime than it does the criminal himself.</p> + +<p>Thus, lawyer and law-abiding man as he was, with all the habits of a +long life between him and the possibility of his raising his own band +against the life of any man, Signor Fortini, as he mused on the tragedy +which had fallen out, felt more of compassion for the Marchese Ludovico, +and more of anger against the folly of his uncle.</p> + +<p>This thing, too, which the Marchese Lamberto had announced his intention +of doing, sinned against all those virtues which, let the professions of +the moral code say what they may, stand really highest in an Italian +estimation. It was eminently unwise; it was imprudent; it was +indecorous; it was calculated to produce scandal; it would bring +disgrace upon a noble name; it was ridiculous; and, besides all this, it +necessarily drove another to "desperation."</p> + +<p>"A fool! An insane idiot! Worst of all fools—an old fool! To think that +a man, who had stood so many years in the eyes of all men as he had +stood, should come to such a downfall. It would serve him no more than +right, if it were possible, that all the consequences of what had been +done should fall on his own head."</p> + +<p>Still, during all the musings which seemed to force him to the +conclusion that the crime which had been committed was the deed of the +Marchese Ludovico, the old lawyer did not lose sight of the idea which +had been suggested to his mind by that exclamation of Ludovico on the +first sight of the murdered woman. He did not, in truth, as yet think +that it was worth much; but he kept it safe at the bottom of his mind, +ready for being produced if subsequent circumstances should seem to give +any value to it.</p> + +<p>After musing an hour while these thoughts passed through his mind, the +old lawyer thought he would go as far as the Palazzo del Governo to +learn what steps had been taken, and whether—though he had very little +doubt on that point—his unfortunate young friend had been detained in +custody.</p> + +<p>Signor Pietro Logarini, the head of the police, was an old acquaintance +of Signor Fortini,—as, indeed was pretty well everybody in any sort of +position of authority in the city.</p> + +<p>"A bad business this, Signor Pietro," said Fortini, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"The worst business, Signor Giovacchino, that has happened in Ravenna as +long as I can remember. It is very terrible."</p> + +<p>"Is the poor young fellow—?" Signor Fortini completed his question by a +movement of his eyes, of one shoulder, and one thumb, quite as +intelligible to the person he addressed as any words would have been.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course. There was no help for it, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course not. I suppose he came here as soon as he parted from me. It +so happened that we were together at the gate when the body was brought +there," said Signor Fortini.</p> + +<p>"So I understand. You will be called on for your evidence as to his +manner on being confronted with it."</p> + +<p>"Of course; fortunately I have nothing to say on that point that can do +any damage. He was much moved, naturally; we both were; but nothing more +than any man in his place would have been."</p> + +<p>"But the worst, the only fatal point in that confession of his, is that +the girl told him of the Marchese Lamberto's intention of marrying her. +Why in heaven's name did he let that slip out?"</p> + +<p>"My notion is that it just did slip out, as you say. An old hand, a man +accustomed to be at odds with the laws and the police, would have known +better. Did he make the same statement here?" asked Fortini, rather +surprised.</p> + +<p>"On my asking him, as I felt compelled to do, what special conversation +had passed between him and the girl that morning, he told me the fact," +replied the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"But what led you to ask him such a question?" said Fortini.</p> + +<p>"Ah!—something that had reached my ears. We are forced, you know, +Signor Giovacchino, to have very long ears in our business. His +conversation with you to-day was held in the street,—a bad place for +such talk, Signor Giovacchino."</p> + +<p>"And not chosen by me for such a purpose, as you may imagine. Little +could I guess what sort of confidence I was about to hear."</p> + +<p>"Not that it makes any difference. All that would have had to come out, +you know, Signor Giovacchino."</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite so, quite so; no, no difference in the world. Did he come to +you immediately on leaving me?"</p> + +<p>"No; it would have been better upon the whole if he had done so. He went +first, it seems, to the residence of a lady, one Signorina Paolina +Foscarelli, being very desirous, he said, of not leaving her to hear of +the business from other lips than his own. It is a pity, because his +abstaining from flight might have been something in his favour, if he +had not made it appear, that his remaining in the city might have been +caused by his desire to see again this Paolina. Do you know anything +about her? I see by our books that she came here last autumn from +Venice. What is she like?"</p> + +<p>"It so happens that I never saw her. But I am told that she is +pretty—very pretty—remarkably so." "Ah—h—h! that's what kept the +poor young fellow from running till it was too late to run. And yet," +continued the Commissary, pausing on his words, and tapping his forehead +with his finger as if a new idea had just occurred to him—"and yet the +young Don Juan goes out tete-a-tete into the forest with this other +girl."</p> + +<p>"Che volete?" returned the lawyer with a shrug. "Boys will be boys, and +women—are women."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but the women sometimes don't quite like—" and the Commissary +allowed the remainder of his sentence to remain unspoken, being +apparently too much occupied with his thoughts to speak it.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the medical report can hardly have been made yet?" asked the +lawyer, on whom the suppressed meaning of the Police Commissary's broken +sentence was not lost.</p> + +<p>"No; there has not been time. It was too late in the afternoon. +Professor Tomosarchi will make a post-mortem examination the first thing +to-morrow morning; and I daresay we shall have his report in the course +of the day, if, as is most likely, there is nothing to call for more +than a superficial examination."</p> + +<p>"I shall be very anxious to hear the result of his investigation—very. +I will look in, if you will allow me, to-morrow morning. And now I think +I will go to that unfortunate man, the Marchese Lamberto. I should not +be at all surprised if I were to find that he had heard nothing about +all this. Only think what it is I shall have to tell him—the woman +about whom he has been so mad as to have determined on sacrificing to +her everything, fame, position, friends, respect,—everything—is dead! +It is his monstrous proposal that has caused her death; and the same +folly has made the representative of his house a murderer and a felon. +Think, Signor Pietro, what that man's feelings must be when these +tidings are told him."</p> + +<p>"Depend upon it, the whole city knows all about it by this time," said +the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"But I think it exceedingly likely that he has not been out of his +library, all day," returned the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"But the servants will have heard the news. Ill news travels fast," said +the Commissary, with a shrug.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but the servants will hardly have ventured to repeat such tidings +to him. Two to one it will fall to my lot to tell him. A pleasant +office, isn't it, Signor Pietro?"</p> + +<p>"Not one I should like to undertake. Good-evening, Signor Giovacchino. +If I don't see you to-morrow morning I will send you a couple of lines +with the result of the medical examination."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Signor Pietro; but I will look in about the beginning of your +office hours to-morrow morning. I feel as if I should be able to think +of nothing else but this terrible business for some time to come. Felice +sera."</p> + +<p>And so the old lawyer went off to call upon his client, the Marchese +Lamberto, truly dreading the interview, and yet not without a certain +degree of satisfaction, and a kind of I-told-you-so feeling in the +prospect of announcing to the unhappy Marchese those terrible +first-fruits of the disastrous purpose, in condemnation of which the +lawyer had spoken so strongly a few hours ago.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-5" id="CHAPTER_IV-5"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +The Marchese hears the Ill News</h3> + +<p>Signor Fortini judged rightly, when he said that he thought it probable +that the Marchese Lamberto had not quitted his library, from the time +when he had left him there, after the conversation, in which the +Marchese had avowed his purpose with regard to La Bianca.</p> + +<p>The shrewd lawyer had well understood, that the final decision with +regard to such a purpose, and the definite announcement of it, which the +Marchese had made to him, his lawyer, were not likely to dispose such a +man to meet the eyes of his fellow-citizens. Had Fortini known that the +Marchese had been made aware of the purposed excursion of his nephew +with the singer—as the reader knows that he had been by the officious +meddling of the Conte Leandro,—it might have seemed strange that he +should have chosen just that day and hour for the declaration of his +intention. Was it that he hastened to acquire such an authority over +Bianca, as might enable him to put an end to any such escapades for the +future? Was it that he was infatuated to that degree, that he feared, +that if he did not make haste to secure the prize, it might be taken +from him by his nephew?</p> + +<p>However this might have been, the overt step he had taken had certainly +not had the effect of tranquillizing his mind. The hours of that day, +since the lawyer left him, had been passed in the most miserable manner +by him.</p> + +<p>The servants had all learned, that there was something very decidedly +wrong with their master. The man who usually attended on him personally, +surprised at his master spending the day in a manner so unusual with +him, had made various excuses to enter the library two or three times in +the course of the day. Each time he had found the Marchese, instead of +being busily employed, as was usual with him, when in his library, +either sitting in his easy-chair with his hands before him, and his head +hanging on his breast, doing absolutely nothing; or else pacing up and +down the room.</p> + +<p>As the afternoon went on, and the Marchese still did not go out, his +valet, really uneasy about him, found the means of watching him without +entering the room. Again and again he saw him rise from his chair and, +after two or three turns across the room, return to it. Often he went to +the window, and looked out, as if expecting something. Three or four +times he observed him start violently at the sound of a door banging in +some other part of the palace.</p> + +<p>Once in the course of the afternoon the servant had had a genuine excuse +for entering the room. The Conte Leandro had called, and asked if the +Marchese was at home. He had not seen the Marchese Ludovico in the +course of the day, and was curious to find out what had been the result +of the eavesdropping that he had retailed to the Marchese Lamberto. That +it had not availed to induce the Marchese to interfere in any way to put +a stop to the excursion, the Conte Leandro had the means of knowing, as +will presently appear. But his curiosity was doomed to remain +unsatisfied. The Marchese had replied with a savage ill-humour, that the +old servant had never seen in his master before, that he did not want to +see the Conte, leaving the domestic to modify the harshness of the reply +as he might.</p> + +<p>When, however, some hours later, Signor Fortini came to the door, and +despite what the servants told him of the state their master was in, and +of his refusal to see the Conte Leandro, insisted on being announced, +the Marchese admitted him.</p> + +<p>The first thought that flashed through the lawyer's brain, when he came +into the presence of his old friend and client, was a profound sense of +self-congratulation at his own freedom from all connection with +womankind.</p> + +<p>His own experience of married life, essayed in early years and happily +brought to a conclusion after a probation of a very short time, had, as +has been hinted, not been a happy one. He had very deeply felt; some +five-and-forty years ago, that nothing in the Signora Fortini's life had +become her like the leaving of it. And during all those years of +widowhood, the remembrance of that first burning of his fingers had +sufficed to make the old gentleman a consistent misogynist.</p> + +<p>"Ah, here is another specimen of women's work," he thought to himself, +as he observed the utter wretchedness of the Marchese's appearance, and +the traces in him of a day spent in misery. "And he, too, who had +escaped for fifty years! If I had avoided the springes for fifty years, +I don't think I should have been caught at last. Maybe, it is all the +worse for coming to a man so late. Now here is this man, who had +everything the world could give to make his happiness, wrecked, ruined, +destroyed, blasted by the sight of a painted piece of woman's flesh, and +the lure of a pair of devil-instructed eyes. And he knows that it is +ruin. He knows which is the evil, and which the good, and yet is so +besotted, that he has not the power to take the one and leave the other. +Is not the sight of the unhappy wretch, as he sits cowering there, +afraid, evidently afraid to meet my eye, a warning and a caution?"</p> + +<p>And, in truth, the appearance of the Marchese might have been held, to +justify these reflections of the lawyer, who was right in supposing that +no tidings of what had happened had reached the Marchese since he had +parted from him after their interview that morning. Attributing, +therefore, the state of utter moral prostration, mixed with a kind of +restless nervous agitation, in which he found him, to the consciousness +of the terrible results he was about to bring upon himself by the folly +he had decided on committing, the lawyer could not prevent the thought +occurring to him that were it not for the dreadful circumstances that +seemed to bring home the suspicion of murder to the Marchese Ludovico, +the tidings he brought of the death of the unfortunate woman would be, +if not a relief at the moment, yet the most fortunate exit for the +Marchese from the position he had made for himself.</p> + +<p>"Good-evening, Signor Giovacchino. You have come, of course, to ask +whether the representations you made to me this morning have availed to +induce me to waver in the purpose I announced to you," said the +Marchese, scarcely looking up so as to meet the eye of the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese," returned Fortini, "it is my turn this time to +communicate to you intelligence which will strike you, I fear, to the +full as painfully as I was struck by what you told me this morning." The +Marchese started; and the lawyer observed that the start seemed to +continue and propagate itself, as it were, into a tremor, that ran +through all his person, as he said, with chattering teeth: "What do you +mean? Has anything happened?—anything—out of the common way, +eh?—eh?—what—what is it?"</p> + +<p>"That has happened, Signor Marchese, which makes all further +consideration of the step you confided to me your intention of taking +this morning unnecessary. The lady, whom you purposed to make your wife, +is no more."</p> + +<p>"No more—how no more?—what—what is it you mean?" said the Marchese, +evidently terribly shocked, as was manifested by the tremor and +shivering which seized him yet more violently than before; yet still +without looking up so as to meet the lawyer's eye.</p> + +<p>"She is dead, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, looking at him +curiously.</p> + +<p>"Dead—La Bianca dead! I don't believe it. It is some scheme for +frustrating the purpose you disapproved of—some plan managed between +you and my nephew. You have sent her away, and want to persuade me that +she is dead."</p> + +<p>"Your mind is unhinged by the shock of my intelligence, Signor +Marchese—naturally enough—or such an absurd notion would not have +occurred to you. I have seen the dead body of Bianca Lalli. It is now in +the custody of the police," said the lawyer, with slow gravity.</p> + +<p>"The police!" cried the Marchese, shooting a momentary glance up into +the lawyer's face.</p> + +<p>"Necessarily so; for, Signor Marchese, the unhappy—the miserable truth +is that a foul murder has been committed. The girl was murdered in the +Pineta this morning."</p> + +<p>"Murdered! Gracious heaven! Murdered—but why murdered? Why may she not +have died by a natural death?—that is—I mean—of course I mean, if +there were no evident marks of violence on the body."</p> + +<p>The lawyer paused a minute, as if some cause of perplexity had been +suggested to him by the words of the Marchese, before he +replied,—"There were, in truth, no marks of evident violence on the +body, or, at least, none such as an unskilled eye would observe on a +very superficial examination. But all that will be ascertained at the +medical examination, which will take place to-morrow morning. But I +think it can hardly be doubted that the death was not a natural one," +said the lawyer, shaking his head gravely.</p> + +<p>"And the Marchese Ludovico?" asked the Marchese, rather strangely, as it +struck the lawyer, seeing that nothing had as yet been said to connect +the young Marchese with the catastrophe, and he was not aware of the +fact that the Marchese knew of his nephew's excursion to the Pineta.</p> + +<p>"That, alas! is the worst part of the bad story—we, at least, here in +Ravenna are perhaps excusable in thinking it the worst. The fact is, +Signor Marchese, that this death took place under circumstances which +seem to leave no doubt that the deed was done by the hand of the +Marchese Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"The hand of the Marchese Ludovico! Gracious heaven! But that is +nonsense, Signor Fortini. No doubt? How can there be no doubt, merely +because he was with her in the forest?"</p> + +<p>There was something in the Marchese's manner which made it seem to the +lawyer as if he must have already heard of the tragedy that had +happened, and of the suspicion that had been thrown on his nephew. "Were +you aware, then, Signor Marchese," he asked, "that the Marchese Ludovico +had gone to the Pineta with this unhappy woman?"</p> + +<p>The Marchese dropped his head upon his chest and paused a minute, +passing his hand slowly across his brow and before his eyes, before he +replied,—"Yes, I knew that," he said, at length; "the Conte Leandro +told me of it."</p> + +<p>"Your people told me, just now, that you had refused to see the Conte +Leandro, when he called," remarked the lawyer, again looking puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I refused to see him because my mind was full of the conversation +we had this morning. You know I promised you, Signor Fortini, that I +would think over the matter again; and I was engaged in doing so. I have +been thinking of it all day; I was thinking of it still when you came +in."</p> + +<p>"Thinking still of your purpose of making the woman, La Bianca, your +wife. Then you could not have heard of her miserable end when I came +in,—as I supposed, indeed, you could not have heard," remarked the +lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Heard of it? Why of course not. That is clear—that proves that I could +not have heard of it, you know," said the Marchese, with a strange sort +of eagerness.</p> + +<p>"When was it, then, that you heard from the Conte Leandro, that the +Marchese Ludovico was in the Pineta with La Bianca?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"At the ball," replied the Marchese, after a minute's thought, "at the +ball. He came to me and told me that they had planned an excursion to +the forest, as soon as they left the ball-room. The Conte Leandro told +me of it, because, he said, he thought it an imprudent thing, and I +should disapprove it. But why should I, you know? I said nothing to +either of them about it. Why not let them have such an innocent +enjoyment? Young people must be young, you know, Signor Fortini. For my +part, I preferred making the best of my way to my bed, after being up +all night." There was a strange kind of nervous eagerness and hurry in +the Marchese's manner of saying this, which struck the lawyer as +affording yet further evidence of the degree to which his mind had been +utterly unhinged by the struggle which had been going on in it, +doubtless for a longer time than he, the lawyer, was aware of, between +the influence over him which the singer had acquired, and his sense of +the terrible nature of the step she was inducing him to take. It seemed +necessary to recall his attention to that view of the matter which was +now of the most urgent interest, the suspicions which rested on the +Marchese Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"As you say, Signor Marchese," he resumed, "that Signor Ludovico should +have been with La Bianca in the forest, affords no proof sufficient to +convict him of being the author of this crime; although the fact of his +being the last person in whose company she was ever seen alive, does +suffice, in a certain degree, to throw on him the onus of showing that +he is innocent of it. But the worst is—the damning feature of the +matter is, that he had a very strong and intelligible reason for wishing +this Bianca out of the way. Remember that your marriage with her would +have the effect of reducing him to beggary. Put that fact side by side +with the facts that he takes her to a solitary place in the Pineta, and +that she is shortly afterwards found there murdered; and I am afraid—I +am dreadfully afraid that the judges will not resist the conclusion +that, in truth, seems forced upon them. It is a bad business, Signor +Marchese; a very bad and ugly business."</p> + +<p>"But I had not mentioned to the Marchese Ludovico my intention with +regard to the girl. How could he have been led to do such an act by such +a motive, when he knew nothing of it?" said the Marchese, after several +minutes of consideration.</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately he did know it, and has himself stated that he knew it. +It seems that the girl herself took the opportunity of their drive +together to tell him of the fact. Would to heaven that she had never +done so," said Fortini, with a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>"But anybody must see that it is a thousand times more probable that she +should have been killed by robbers—vagabonds tramping through the +country. The Pineta is always full of them. I am sure I would no more +lie—I would no more wander there alone!—Of course the unfortunate girl +must have been murdered by brigands."</p> + +<p>"If any robbery had been committed, there might be reason to hope so, or +at least ground for such theory. But, unfortunately, she had exposed on +her person valuables exceedingly tempting to a thief; but they remained +untouched."</p> + +<p>At that moment there came a loud and hurried rapping at the door. The +Marchese started violently in his chair, and turned deadly pale; another +proof, if more were needed, of the degree in which his nervous system +had been shaken by the intelligence he had received, coming, as it did, +on the back of all that had previously contributed to unhinge his mind. +In the next instant, a servant put his head into the room, saying that +the Conte Leandro had returned, and was urgent to be admitted to see the +Marchese, declaring that he had a very important communication to make +to him.</p> + +<p>"I cannot see him. I will not see him. I will see nobody. Signor +Fortini, would you have the kindness to let him understand that I am not +in a condition to see anybody?" said the Marchese, apparently much +agitated.</p> + +<p>The lawyer stepped rapidly to the door, and at the stair-head found the +Conte Leandro, bursting with the news, which he had hoped to be the +first to communicate to the Marchese, and which, of course, showed how +wise and timely had been his own interference in telling the Marchese of +the proposed excursion of Ludovico, and how disastrous had been the +results of his not having paid due attention to it.</p> + +<p>"My dear Conte," said Fortini, "I have just done the painful task which +you, doubtless, have kindly come to undertake. You must excuse the +Marchese if he declines, for the present, to see you. You will readily +understand how terrible the shock has been to him. He is, as might be +expected, quite broken down by it. In truth, I wish you had had the +telling him instead of me. It was most painful."</p> + +<p>"But, Signor Fortini," urged the poet, eagerly, as the lawyer was +turning away to return to the Marchese, "are you aware—have you heard +what is said in the town?—that the Marchese had offered marriage to La +Bianca, and that this was the cause—of course I do not believe anything +of the kind myself—but I assure you it is what people are saying. And I +think the Marchese ought to be told, you know, for—"</p> + +<p>"I will tell the Marchese of your kind intention, Signor Conte," said +the lawyer; "I think it would be better for you not to attempt seeing +him now. And, in the meantime, you cannot do better than to contradict, +most emphatically, any such monstrously absurd reports, as those you +have mentioned."</p> + +<p>"You know, of course, that Ludovico is arrested; and I am shocked to +say, that the general opinion in the city is very much against him. Of +course I need not tell you that I am perfectly convinced of his entire +innocence. But who, except a really attached friend, would you get to +believe it, under the circumstances? Ah! I am afraid it will go hard +with him," said the Conte; speaking with eager volubility,—"I am sadly. +afraid it will go hard with him."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Signor Conte, that any such speculations are a little +premature. The Marchese Ludovico has not been even officially accused as +yet. At any rate you can console yourself, Signor Conte, with the +consideration that you have a magnificent subject for a tragedy in your +hands. To such a genuine poet as yourself, that is enough to +counterbalance any misfortune that only touches our friends."</p> + +<p>And with that the old lawyer turned away to go back to the library; +while the poet, though not altogether without a somewhat annoying notion +that he was laughed at, was nevertheless delighted with the excellent +idea that had been suggested to him.</p> + +<p>"I made him understand that you could not see him. All he wanted was to +tell you just what I have already communicated to you," said the lawyer, +as he came back into the room. "He said too, by-the-by, that all the +town was talking of the offer of marriage made by the Marchese Lamberto +to Signora Bianca Lalli—"</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course," groaned the Marchese, tossing himself restlessly +from one side to the other of his chair. "And to think that at the very +time,—at the hour when I was communicating to you the decision I had +arrived at with regard to—to that unfortunate—to poor Bianca, she was +even then, as it would seem, lying dead in the forest. It is very, very +terrible."</p> + +<p>"And I told the Signor Conte that he could not do better than contradict +such a report wherever he heard it," added the lawyer, who began almost +to fancy, from a something that seemed strange to him in the Marchese's +manner, that the catastrophe which had come to relieve him in such a +terrible manner from the scrape he had got himself into with the singer, +was not altogether unwelcome to him.</p> + +<p>"It is of no use, Fortini," returned the Marchese, with a groan; "it is +of no use. That old man, her reputed father, knows it; their servant +knows it; Ludovico knows it: and, of course, his knowledge of it will +have to be made public."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, the denial of it by such a tongue as that of the Conte +Leandro Lombardoni can do no harm in the meantime," said the lawyer, +quietly. "It may be," he added, "it may be that something may turn up to +prevent any public accusation of the Marchese. It may be that he is not +guilty. It may be that the deed may yet be brought home to some other +hand."</p> + +<p>"Do you think that, Fortini? do you think that likely?" said the +Marchese, with a quickly withdrawn anxious look into the lawyer's face.</p> + +<p>"No, frankly, I do not think it likely. I fear that it is very certain +that his hand is the guilty one. Nevertheless, it may be—it is +difficult to say—it may be. At all events, it is always time enough to +abandon hope. I must leave you now, Signor Marchese; I will see you +again to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"Many, many thanks, my good Signor Giovacchino. Do not forget to come. +Remember how dreadfully anxious I must be to hear what passes: above +all, the result of the medical examination—specially the result of the +medical examination."</p> + +<p>"I will not fail to come. I miei saluti, Signor Marchese."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-5" id="CHAPTER_V-5"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +Doubts and Possibilities</h3> + +<p>In passing through the hall of the Palazzo the lawyer, who was well +acquainted with every servant in the house, took an opportunity of +speaking a few words to the Marchese's old valet, Nanni.</p> + +<p>"The Marchese seems to have been a little overtired when he came back +from the ball this morning, Nanni; and then this is a sad affair about +the Marchese Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"Ahi, misericordia! To think that I should live to hear of a Castelmare +arrested in Ravenna. The world is coming to an end, I think, Signor +Giovacchino."</p> + +<p>"Vexing enough; but not so bad as all that, I hope. No doubt Signor +Ludovico will be able to clear himself before long."</p> + +<p>"Clear himself!" re-echoed the old servant, very indignantly; "that's +just what they say when some poor devil of the popolaccio is at odds +with the police. The Marchese di Castelmare clear himself! Well, I've +lived to see a many things, but I never thought to see the day that such +people should dare to meddle with a Castelmare."</p> + +<p>"The Marchese Ludovico himself thought fit to go to them to give +explanations."</p> + +<p>"Ah! He'd have done better to take no notice of 'em, to my thinking," +said the old man, shaking his head. "But is it true, Signor Giovacchino, +what people say, that—?"</p> + +<p>"There is mostly very little truth in what people say, Nanni," +interrupted the lawyer. "But I'll tell you what: a good servant should +hear all and repeat nothing. It's natural that such an old friend as you +should want to know all about it, and to you I shan't mind telling the +whole story as soon as I know the rights of it myself. But it vexes me +to see the Marchese so put out about it; and then I don't think he has +been quite well latterly."</p> + +<p>"Nothing like well, these days past, Signor Giovacchino. The Marchese +has not been like himself noways. I think he is far from well."</p> + +<p>"Does he get his rest at night? That is a great thing at his time of +life. He seems to me like a man who has not had his natural sleep. I +suppose he went to bed when he came home from the ball?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, directly. He seemed in a hurry like to get to bed. When he was +about half undressed he said it was time I was in bed myself, and sent +me away, and I heard him lock the door."</p> + +<p>"Does he generally lock the door at night?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"No; and I knew by that that he meant to have a good sleep, and not be +disturbed this morning. So I never went near him till I heard his bell, +between ten and eleven o'clock; and when I went he was just getting out +of bed, so that he had a matter of six hours' sleep."</p> + +<p>"It don't seem to have done him much good any way," rejoined the lawyer, +thinking to himself that the hours during which Nanni supposed his +master to have been sleeping, had more probably been spent in restless +agitation, the result of bringing his mind to the determination which he +had definitely announced to the lawyer, when he had summoned him about +an hour after he had risen from his sleepless bed. "I shall come and see +how he is to-morrow morning," the lawyer added; "and I hope I may bring +some good news about Signor Ludovico."</p> + +<p>Behind the Palazzo Castelmare there was an extensive range of stabling +and coach-houses, with a large stable-yard opening on to a back street, +which was the nearest way to the house of the Signor Professore +Tomosarchi, on whom Signor Fortini thought he would call, just to ask +whether he had yet seen the body, or at what hour in the morning he +thought of making his post-mortem examination. Crossing the stable-yard +for this purpose, the lawyer was accosted by Niccolo the groom, who was +engaged in doing his office on a handsome bay mare at the stable-door.</p> + +<p>Niccolo was the oldest servant in the establishment, having filled the +same place he now held under the Marchese's father. He was an older man +by several years than the Marchese Lamberto; and he it had been, who, +when the present Marchese was a child of ten years old, had put him on +his first pony, and been his riding-master. Old Niccolo, like every +other old Italian servant of the old school, held, as the first and most +important article of his creed, the unquestioning belief that the +Castelmare family was the most noble, the most ancient, and in every +respect the grandest in the world, and the Marchese Lamberto the +greatest and most powerful man in it. He was a good sort of man in his +way, was old Niccolo; went to confession regularly; and did his duty in +that state of life to which it had pleased Providence to call him +according to his lights; was honest in his dealings; knew in a rough +sort of way that veracity was good, and unveracity bad, to such an +extent as to understand that truth-telling should be the rule and lying +the exception; and was faithful to the death to his employer.</p> + +<p>Old Niccolo was also a very perfect specimen of the product of a +peculiar way of thinking, which was a speciality of the rapidly +disappearing class to which he belonged. He did not imagine for a +moment, that the laws and rules of morality and duty, by which he had +been taught, that he ought to regulate his own conduct, were at all +applicable to his master. Even if he had ever troubled his mind by +plunging so far into the depths of speculation, as to consider, that in +truth the various matters forbidden in the commandments were in the +sight of God, or, what was more within his ken, in the sight of the +Church, equally forbidden to all men, still it would have been clear to +him that there was no reason why such great people as the Marchese di +Castelmare, with Cardinals for his friends, and wealth enough to pay for +any quantity of indulgences and masses he might require, should not +indulge in peccadilloes and vices which poorer folks cannot afford. +Probably, however, he had never reached any such profundity of +speculation. He saw that the Church and its ministers treated his +superiors very differently from their treatment of him, and expected +from him quite different conduct from that which they expected from +them. And the result was an habitual and practical belief, that the +great folks of the world, of whom he considered that his own master was +unquestionably the greatest, were far above the laws in every sort which +were binding on himself and the like of him.</p> + +<p>Nor of all the many acts which honest Niccolo would have scrupled to do +on his own account, would he have hesitated a moment to become guilty at +the command, or on the behoof of, his master. As for his own soul's +weal, it probably was sufficiently safeguarded by the paramount nature +of the duty which required him to do the will of his employer; or, in +any case, what was his soul that any care for it should come into +competition with the will of the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare? +Niccolo would have been profoundly ashamed at admitting to any one of +his own class that the family he served were not so great and so +masterful as to render it a matter of course that their will must +override all other considerations whatsoever.</p> + +<p>To old Niccolo it was indeed as a symptom of the end of all things—as a +rising of the powers of darkness against the established order of God's +world that a Marchese di Castelmare should be arrested. It was +incomprehensible to him. There was but one power great enough, as he +understood matters, to accomplish so dread a catastrophe; and that was +the power of the Marchese Lamberto himself. And he inclined accordingly +to the belief, that if indeed the Marchese Ludovico were in prison, the +truth was that for some inscrutable reason the Marchese Lamberto chose +that so it should be.</p> + +<p>"Is it really true, Signor Giovacchino," whispered the old man, coming +close up to the lawyer, as the latter was crossing the stable-yard; "is +it really true that the Marchese Ludovico has been put in prison?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that much is true, I am afraid, Niccolo; but I hope it may not be +for long," said Fortini, pausing in his walk, as though he were not +unwilling to talk to the old man.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't ye say a word to the Marchese, to take him out?" said the old +groom coaxingly; "if so be as the woman is dead, what is the use of any +more ado about it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope there may not be much more ado about it. She was probably +killed, poor woman, by some strolling vagabonds. But I wish it had not +happened to vex the Marchese just now. He is not well, the Marchese. Has +he ridden much lately?"</p> + +<p>"Hasn't backed a horse since the first week in Carnival," said the old +groom emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I hope he will take to his riding again, now Carnival is over. I think +it helps to keep him in health," remarked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I wish he would, for my part," returned the groom; "and I +wished it this morning, I can tell you. I was a-taking his own mare out +this morning—it's a week since she has been out of the stable—and she +was that fresh it was pretty well more than I could do to hold her. I +brought her in all of a lather, and splashed with mud to her +saddle-girths. People; must ha' thought I had been riding a race,—that +is, if any of them had seen me when I came into the yard; but there +wasn't a soul of 'em stirring. Catch any of the lot up at that time the +first morning in Lent."</p> + +<p>"He is getting old, too. It would have been a mighty hard horse to ride +that my friend Niccolo would not have been able to hold a year or two +ago," thought the lawyer to himself, as he walked out of the stable-yard +into the little back street that runs behind the palazzo, and pursued +his way thoughtfully towards the residence of the celebrated anatomist.</p> + +<p>And again, as he walked, the lawyer turned his mind, with all the +analytical power of which he was master, to the question whether or no +there were any possibility of hope that the Marchese Ludovico were +innocent of the crime imputed to him,—whether there were any other +theory possible by virtue of which any other person might be suspected +of the deed.</p> + +<p>His anxiety to speak with Professor Tomosarchi indicated, indeed, that +he had not wholly abandoned, despite what he had said on that point both +to the Marchese Ludovico and his uncle, the hope that the death might be +pronounced to have resulted from natural causes. Possibly, had the +lawyer possessed more medical knowledge, this chance might have seemed +to him a somewhat better one; but, to his thinking, it was altogether +incredible that a healthy girl of Bianca's age should lie down to sleep, +and, without any such change of position as would disorder her +attire—without any evidence of a death-struggle—should simply never +wake again. Again the lawyer's meditations told him that small hope was +to be found in this direction.</p> + +<p>Were there any persons in the city who might be supposed to feel enmity +or ill-will towards the singer? Many a one of the young nobles had, +doubtless, been kept at arms' length by Bianca in a manner that might +easily be supposed to breed hatred in a vain and ill-conditioned heart. +But murder—and such a murder! It was difficult to suppose that such a +cause should be sufficient to produce such an effect; yet vanity is a +very strong and a very evil-counselling passion.</p> + +<p>Vanity? Ha! could it be? Surely there never was so absurdly, so grossly, +vain a creature, as that Conte Leandro? And the poor murdered Diva had +quizzed, and snubbed, and mortified him again and again. The lawyer had +heard that much; and Leandro was aware of the fact that Bianca was to be +in the Pineta at that time. So much was clear from what the Marchese had +said. But she was to be there with Ludovico—how could the poet expect +to find her alone? Could it be that he had followed them merely for the +sake of making mischief and rendering himself disagreeable, and had +chanced to come upon her asleep and alone? Could this be the clue?</p> + +<p>But it would surely be easy to ascertain to a certainty whether the +Conte Leandro had left the city that morning or not. If only it could be +shown that he had done so? The amount of probability that he had really +been the perpetrator of the crime, or the possibility of convicting him +of it, would signify comparatively little. It would be sufficient if +only a competing theory, based on a possibility, could be set up; if +only such an alternative possibility could be presented to the minds of +the judges as should justify them in feeling that the matter was too +doubtful to warrant a conviction.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, as he thought on all the causes of hatred that Bianca +might be supposed to have inspired, his mind reverted to those words +which Signor Pietro Logarini, the head of the police, had let drop when +speaking of the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli:—"Women, who are fond of a +man, don't like to see him with another woman, and a beautiful one, +under the circumstances in which the Marchese might have been seen with +Bianca."</p> + +<p>That was the sense of the remark to which the Commissary had partially +given utterance; and now the lawyer thought of it. He was tempted to +believe that Logarini had been struck by the same idea that had before +flashed into his mind almost with the force of a revelation.</p> + +<p>Might it not have been the hand of the Venetian girl, maddened by +jealousy, which had taken the life of her rival, while she slept?</p> + +<p>Such a story would by no means be now told for the first time. Very far +from it. Men had not now to learn furens quid foemina possit.</p> + +<p>Paolina was known to have left the city at that suspiciously strange +hour of the morning. She was known to have been, at all events, at no +very great distance from the spot where the crime was committed.</p> + +<p>And was it not possible that, on the theory of Ludovico's innocence, the +true explanation of the exclamation, which had escaped from him at the +city gate, was to be found in supposing that he, too, had been struck by +a similar thought? Might not that outcry on Paolina, uttered when the +speaker knew well that it was Bianca and not Paolina that lay dead +before him, have been forced from him by the sudden thought that she had +done the deed then revealed to him?</p> + +<p>For the first time the shrewd lawyer began to feel a real doubt as to +the author of the crime, It might be that the Marchesino was innocent +after all, that his account of the events of that morning, as far as he +was concerned, was simply true. As his mind dwelt on the matter the case +against Paolina seemed to acquire additional force. It could be proved +that this girl had been deeply and seriously attached to the Marchese +Ludovico. It could be proved that she had seen her lover tete-a-tete +with so dangerous a rival as the singer in circumstances that she had +every right to consider very suspicious. It could be proved that she had +been not far from the spot where the murder was committed much about the +time when the deed must have been done.</p> + +<p>It is an essentially and curiously Italian characteristic that the +lawyer's rapidly growing conviction that Paolina had indeed been the +criminal was strengthened and made easier of acceptance to his mind by +the fact that the suspected criminal was not; a townswoman but a +Venetian. It would have seemed less possible to him that a young Ravenna +girl should have done such a deed. But one of those terrible Venetian +women of whom so many blood-stained tale of passion and crime were on +record!</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini really began to think that his mind had strayed into the +true path towards the solution of the mystery at last. And he was very +much inclined to think that the germ of such a notion had already been +deposited in the mind of the Police Commissioner.</p> + +<p>In any case here was wherewithal to establish such a case of suspicion +as should make it difficult for the tribunal to condemn the Marchesino +on such evidence as could be brought against him, supposing no new +circumstances to be brought to light.</p> + +<p>Not for that reason, however, was the lawyer disposed to relinquish the +idea which had occurred to him as to the possibility of incriminating +the Conte Leandro. The more circumstances of doubt it was possible to +accumulate around the facts, so much the better.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini thought that he saw his way clearly enough to the means +to showing that it was very presumable that the Conte Leandro had +conceived a violent and bitter hatred of the murdered woman, It was +enough to base a case for suspicion on. The lawyer had no idea that the +poet had been the murderer. He did not dream of the possibility that he +should be convicted of the crime. He had, doubtless, been quietly in bed +in Ravenna at the hour it had been committed. But he might find it +difficult to prove that he had not quitted the city on that Wednesday +morning. And the suggestion of the possibility of his guilt would, at +all events, be an element of doubt and difficulty the more.</p> + +<p>With these thoughts in his mind Signor Fortini suddenly changed his +immediate purpose of going to the Professore Tomosarchi; and determined +to walk as far as the Porta Nuova and make inquiry himself of the people +at the gate as to the testimony they might be able to give respecting +Paolina's exit from the city at a very early hour on that morning. At +the same time, it might be possible to lead them into imagining that +they had seen some other passenger, who might have been the Conte +Leandro. It was very desirable that this inquiry should be made without +delay. For it was no part of the duty of the gate officers to make any +written note of such a circumstance; and it would entirely depend on +their recollection to say whether such or such a person had passed the +gate. At the same time, that such a person as this Paolina Foscarelli +should pass out of the city at such an hour in the morning, was +sufficiently out of the ordinary course of things to make it very +unlikely that it should not be remembered by the officials.</p> + +<p>As the lawyer pursued his way towards the gate in deep thought he was +comforted as to the complexion of his client's case by the consideration +of his own state of mind. He found it impossible to come to any +definitive conclusion as to the balance of the probabilities. At one +moment his mind swung back to his original conviction that the Marchese +Ludovico had yielded to the temptation of making himself safe from the +destitution that awaited him if his uncle's purpose were carried out. +The persuasion that it was so seemed to come like a flash of light upon +him. Then, again, thinking of all the stories of what women have done +under the influence of a maddening jealousy, he reverted to the superior +probability of the other hypothesis.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the gate the lawyer's success was greater than he had +ventured to anticipate. Both the persons respecting whom he made inquiry +had been seen to pass out of the city at a very early hour that morning.</p> + +<p>To his great surprise he heard that the Conte Leandro had passed the +gate before it was daylight; and the officer had been struck by the +strangeness of the circumstance. He was much muffled up in a large +cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat drawn down over his eyes and face. But +his person was perfectly well known to the official; and he had +recognized him without difficulty.</p> + +<p>He also perfectly well remembered seeing the girl—a remarkably pretty +girl—pass through about an hour or a little more afterwards. And, +imagining that the one circumstance explained the other—that it was an +affair of some assignation outside the city in the interest of some +amourette that was attended by difficulties within the walls—he had +thought no more about it.</p> + +<p>But Signor Fortini knew enough to feel very sure, that the exceedingly +singular facts, as they seemed to him, of both these persons having gone +out of the city in the direction of the Pineta at such an unusual hour, +was not to be accounted for by any such explanation. But neither did it +seem in any degree likely or credible, that these two facts, the passing +out of the Conte Leandro, and the passing out of Paolina, should have +had any connection with each other in reference to the murder in the +Pineta.</p> + +<p>It was strange, very strange!</p> + +<p>It was so strange and unaccountable that Signor Fortini felt that, +unless some fresh circumstances should be brought to light beyond those +which had as yet become known either to him, or to the police, it was +safe to predict that the tribunal would not have the means of coming to +any conclusion concerning the author of the murder.</p> + +<p>The lawyer turned away from the gate, and strolled through the streets +without any intention as to the direction in which he walked, so deeply +was he pondering upon the possibilities that were brought within his +mental vision by the extraordinary facts he had ascertained.</p> + +<p>He would almost have preferred, he thought, as he pursued his way +profoundly musing, that it should have been shown that one only, instead +of both the persons towards whom the possibilities he had imagined, +pointed, had gone at that strange hour towards the locality of the +crime.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as he said to himself, the more doubt, the more elements +of difficulty, the better. In truth the chance seemed to be a very good +one, that it might never be known who gave that wretched girl her death.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-5" id="CHAPTER_VI-5"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +At the Circolo again</h3> + +<p>At the Circolo that evening there was no lack of subject for +conversation, as may be easily imagined. The rooms were very full, and +every tongue was busy with the same topic.</p> + +<p>"For my part I don't believe that La Bianca is dead at all. What proof +have we of the fact? Somebody has been told that somebody else heard +some other pumpkin-head say so. Report, signori miei, is an habitual +liar, and I for one never believe a word she says without evidence of +the truth of it," said the Conte Luigi Spadoni, a man who was known to +make a practice of reading French novels, and was therefore held to be +an esprit fort and a philosopher, in accordance with which character he +always professed indiscriminate disbelief in everything.</p> + +<p>"Oh come, Spadoni, that won't do this time. Bah, you are the only living +soul in the town that don't believe it then. Evidence, per Dio! Go and +ask the men at the Porta Nuova, who received the body, when the +contadini brought it in," cried a dozen voices at once.</p> + +<p>"But Spadoni has the weakness of being so excessively credulous," said a +bald young man with gold spectacles, looking up from a game of chess he +was playing in a corner.</p> + +<p>"Who, I? I credulous? That is a good one! Why I said, man alive, that I +disbelieved it," cried Spadoni, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I know it, and very credulous indeed it seems to me, to believe that +all the people, who say they have seen the prima donna's dead body, +should be mistaken in such a fact, or conspiring without motive to +declare it falsely. I call that very credulous," said the chess-player, +quietly.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see such an addle-pate. He can't understand the difference +between believing and disbelieving," rejoined Spadoni triumphantly, and +carrying the great bulk of the bystanders with him.</p> + +<p>"But as to the poor girl being dead, there is unhappily no shadow of +doubt at all," said the Baron Manutoli; "I saw old Signor Fortini the +lawyer just now, who told me that he was at the Porta Nuova when the +body was brought in."</p> + +<p>"And is it true that the Marchese Ludovico was with him, and fainted +dead away at the sight of the body?" said a very young man.</p> + +<p>"It is true that Ludovico was there with Fortini at the gate, but I +heard nothing about his fainting; and should not think it very likely."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know about that, I should have thought it likely enough +by all accounts," said the Conte Leandro Lombardoni, whose face was +looking more pasty and his eyes more fishy than usual.</p> + +<p>"Much you know about it. Why, in the name of all the saints, should it +be likely? What should Ludovico faint for?" rejoined Manutoli, fiercely.</p> + +<p>"What for? Well, one has heard of such things. And as for what I know +about it, Signor Barone, maybe I have the means of knowing more about it +than anybody here," said the poet.</p> + +<p>"Here is Lombardoni confesses he knows all about it," cried one.</p> + +<p>"That ought to be told to the Commissary of Police" said another</p> + +<p>"I say, my notion is that Lombardoni did it himself," exclaimed a third.</p> + +<p>"Ah, to be sure. What is more likely? We all know how the poor Diva +snubbed him. Remember the fate of his verses. If that is not enough to +drive a man and a poet to do murder I don't know what is. To be sure, +'twas Leandro did it," rejoined the first.</p> + +<p>"I can believe that, if I never believe anything else," said Spadoni.</p> + +<p>"Let's send to the Commissary and tell him that the Conte Leandro +confesses that it was he that murdered La Bianca, cried one of the +previous speakers.</p> + +<p>"What on earth are you dreaming of," cried the persecuted poet, turning +ghastly livid with affright; "I know nothing about the matter, nothing! +How in the world should I know anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I thought you knew more about it than anybody else just now," +sneered one of his persecutors.</p> + +<p>"He looks to me very much as if he did know something about it in sober +earnest," said the bald-headed chess-player; who had been looking hard +at the evidences of terror on the poet's face.</p> + +<p>"But where is the Marchese Ludovico?" asked the same young man, who had +heard that the Marchese had fainted at the sight of the body.</p> + +<p>A general silence fell on the chattering group at this question: till +Manutoli answered with a very grave face "Ah, you must ask the +Commissary of Police that question, Signor Marco."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that he is arrested," returned the youngster thus +addressed.</p> + +<p>Manutoli nodded his head two or three times gravely, as he said, "That +is the worst of the bad business; and a very bad business it is in every +way."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that you think Ludovico can have done it, Manutoli?" +said one of the others.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't say I think so. I don't know what to think. I should have +said, that I was just as likely to do such a thing myself, as Ludovico +di Castelmare. But if there is any truth in what is said, that the +Marchese Lamberto was going to marry the girl, it looks very ugly. God +knows what a man might be driven to do in such a case."</p> + +<p>"I suppose if the old Marchese were to marry and have children, Ludovico +would have about the same fortune as the old blind man that sits at the +door of the Cathedral?" asked the previous speaker.</p> + +<p>"Just about as much. He would be absolutely a beggar," said the Conte +Leandro, who appeared to find considerable pleasure in the announcement.</p> + +<p>"I think, that if that was the case, and Ludovico had put the unlucky +girl out of the way, it would be the Marchese Lamberto who ought to bear +the blame of it. An old fellow has no right to behave in that sort of +way," said one of the group.</p> + +<p>"Of course he has not. To bring a fellow up to the age of Ludovico in +the expectation that he is to have the family property; and then to take +it into his head to marry when he is past fifty. If Ludovico had put a +knife into him instead of into the girl, I should have said that it +served him right," said another.</p> + +<p>"And what was the good of murdering the girl? If the old fellow wants to +be married, he will marry some other girl if not this one. Girls are +plenty enough," said a third.</p> + +<p>"Ay, but not such girls as La Bianca—what a lovely creature she was! I +don't wonder at the Marchese being caught by her, for my part, seeing +her every day as he did," remarked a fourth.</p> + +<p>"Bah, girls are plenty enough, as Gino said, and pretty girls too. And +if the Marchese was minded to marry, it wasn't the murder of this poor +girl that would stop him," said one of the others.</p> + +<p>"And that is a strong reason, as it strikes me, for thinking that +Ludovico had nothing to do with it. He must have known, as well as we, +that it was likely enough his uncle would find somebody else," remarked +Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall see. But I would wager a good round sum that Ludovico +did it," said the Conte Leandro; who had by that time recovered his +tranquillity.</p> + +<p>"Oh, now here's Leandro, who begins to think again that he does know +something about it," said the Barone Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"I said nothing of the sort, Signor Barone. How should I know? But +everybody may have his opinion, and that is mine. We shall see +by-and-by," returned Leandro, waspishly.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, signori miei," said Manutoli; "let it turn out as +it may, it is the saddest and worst affair that has been seen in Ravenna +for many a day. I won't admit the thought, for my part, that the +Marchese Ludovico has really committed this murder. I should prefer to +suppose, that some vagabonds had done it for the sake of robbery, and +had been disturbed before they could carry out their purpose, or +anything. But it is a very sad affair. I would have done I don't know +what, rather than that it should have happened. Think what will be said. +That's what an artist gets by venturing to Ravenna. You will see the +noise that will be made all over Italy."</p> + +<p>"But why does it follow that anybody is to blame, at all? Why may she +not have put herself to death?" said one of the previous speakers.</p> + +<p>"A suicide! that is a new idea. But it does not seem a very promising +one. Why should she kill herself? She was in the full tide of success, +and had just received an offer of marriage, if what we hear is true, +from the richest man in Ravenna. Is it likely that she should choose +just that moment to make away with herself?" replied another.</p> + +<p>"In any case the doctors will know what to tell us about that. They can +always tell whether anybody has killed themselves or been murdered by +somebody else."</p> + +<p>"By the way, Signor Barone, have you heard whether the medical report +has been made yet? But I suppose the police would not let us know what +the doctor's opinion was, if it had been made. Who knows who has been +employed to examine the body?"</p> + +<p>"I know!" answered the Baron Manutoli, "the Professore Tomosarchi. And +whatever can be found out by examining the body, he will find out, +depend upon it. I was asking about it just now. The examination will +take place to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"But who ever heard of such a thing as going off to the Pineta at that +time in the morning, and after being up all night at a ball too?" said +Lombardoni, spitefully. "Why, it looks as if a man must have had some +scheme, some out-of-the-way motive of some kind to do such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," returned Manutoli angrily, "I don't see that at all. A +charmingly imagined frolic, I should say, a capital wind-up for a last +night of carnival. I should have liked it myself."</p> + +<p>"And then," said one of the others, "one can't refuse such a girl as La +Bianca. And it's two to one that she asked Ludovico to take her, for a +lark."</p> + +<p>"But I happen to know," said Leandro, quickly, "that it was he who +proposed it to her. He persuaded her to go."</p> + +<p>"And how in the world do you know that, pray?" asked Manutoli, turning +sharply upon him.</p> + +<p>"I—I heard it said. I was told so. I am sure I don't know who it was +said so. Nobody has been talking about anything else. Some fellow or +other said that Ludovico had proposed the trip to her."</p> + +<p>"The fact is, in short, that you know just nothing at all about it. You +happen to know, forsooth! It seems to me, Signor Conte, that you are +strangely ready to fancy you know anything that might seem to go against +Ludovico," rejoined Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"And what would be the result if it should turn out that he was +guilty—if he were condemned?" asked one of the younger men, looking +afraid of his words, as he spoke them.</p> + +<p>"God knows,—the galleys, I suppose. But one must not imagine such a +thing. It is too frightful," said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"Horrible! Shocking! Impossible!" cried a chorus of voices.</p> + +<p>"Good God! Result! The disgrace and destruction of the noblest family in +the province. The ending of a fine old name in infamy. Gracious heaven, +it is too horrible to think of," exclaimed Manutoli, with much emotion.</p> + +<p>"It would kill the old Marchese as dead as a door-nail, for one thing," +said another of the group of young men.</p> + +<p>"And serve him right too. If it is really true that he has contemplated +being guilty of such a monstrous piece of injustice and folly," said the +same man, who had before expressed a similar opinion.</p> + +<p>Just then a servant of the Circolo came into the room and put a note +into the hands of the Baron Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"It is from Ludovico, asking me to go to him. So there's an end to our +game of billiards, Signor Conte," said Manutoli to one of the group; "I +must go at once."</p> + +<p>"But you'll come back here after you've seen him, won't you? You'll come +back and tell us all about it, Manutoli?" said two or three of the group +which had been discussing the topic.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I shall see. I will, if I can—if it's not too late. It +may be that I shall be detained with him. I suppose that he has had no +means of communicating with any of his people since the police folk +clapped their hands on him."</p> + +<p>"Do look in here for a moment, Manutoli. We shall all be anxious to hear +about him, poor fellow,", said another of the young men, who had pressed +around Signor Manutoli as soon as it was known from whom his note had +come.</p> + +<p>"If I can I will. It is likely enough he may want me to go somewhere +else for him. We shall see. A rivederci, Signori."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-5" id="CHAPTER_VII-5"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +A Prison Visit</h3> + +<p>The note which had been given to the Baron Manutoli begged him to come +with as little delay as possible to the Palazzo del Governo.</p> + +<p>Adolfo Manutoli was a somewhat older man than the majority of those who +had formed the group which had been discussing the all-absorbing topic +of the day at the Circolo; and he was Ludovico di Castelmare's most +intimate friend among the younger members of the society in which he +lived. It was a friendship strongly approved by the Marchese Lamberto, +as might have been perceived by his selection of Manutoli to accompany +him on the occasion of meeting La Lalli on her first arrival in Ravenna, +as the reader may possibly remember. And the special ground of this +approval was Manutoli's strong advocacy of the projected marriage +between Ludovico and the Contessa Violante, and his consequent +disapproval and discouragement of his friend's friendship and admiration +for Paolina. He was not a man who would have counselled or desired his +friend to behave badly or unworthily to Paolina or to any woman; for he +was a man of honour and a gentleman. But, short of any conduct which +could be so characterized, he would have been very glad to see the +Marchese quit of an entanglement which alone stood in the way, as he +conceived, of his forming an alliance so desirable in every point of +view as the marriage with the great-niece of the Cardinal Legate.</p> + +<p>"Can I be permitted to see the Marchese Ludovico, Signor Commissario? He +has requested me to come to him," said the Baron, on arriving at the +police-office.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Signor Barone. I myself sent his note to you. Though, on his +own statement of the very unfortunate circumstances connected with this +unhappy affair, I was compelled to detain him, still there is at present +no definite accusation against him which should justify me in preventing +him from having free communication with his friends. You shall be taken +to his room immediately. You will see, Signor Barone, that we have +endeavoured to make him as comfortable as the circumstances would +allow."</p> + +<p>"Manutoli," said Ludovico, after the first expressions of astonishment +and condolence had been spoken between the young men, "of course I knew +I should see you here before long; and my note was to call you at once, +instead of waiting to see you in the morning; because I want you to do +something for me before you sleep this night—something that I don't +want to wait for till to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"To be sure, my dear fellow, anything; I am ready for anything, if it +takes all night."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. Well, now, look here: I am innocent of this deed—"</p> + +<p>"S' intende; of course you are."</p> + +<p>"S' intende, of course; that's just the worst of it. It is so much a +matter of course that I should say I had not done it if I had, that my +saying so is of no use at all. Nevertheless, to you I must say that I +neither did it nor have I the slightest conception or suspicion who did. +And you may guess that the fact itself is a horror and a grief to me +that I shall never get over, putting this dreadful suspicion of my own +guilt out of the question. A horror and a grief, and a remorse, too; for +if I had not moved away from her the tragedy could not have happened."</p> + +<p>"I really do not see that you need blame yourself for—"</p> + +<p>"I ought not to have left her side. Yet, God knows, it never entered my +head to dream of the possibility of any harm; all seemed so still, so +peaceful, so utterly quiet; yet, at that moment, the hand that did the +deed could not have been far off."</p> + +<p>"Let the circumstances have been what they might," resumed Manutoli, +after a moment's pause, "nobody would have dreamed of connecting you +with the deed had it not been for the strong motive which seems so clear +and intelligible to every fool who sets his brains to work on the +matter. I suppose it is true that you had been informed of your uncle's +intention to offer the poor girl marriage?"</p> + +<p>"True that I had been told of it, for the first time, by herself during +our drive, poor girl."</p> + +<p>"Ah—h—h! To think of such a man being guilty of such insane folly—and +of all the misery that is likely to grow out of it. How on earth did she +ever contrive to get such a fatal influence over him?"</p> + +<p>"She schemed for it from her first arrival here—aimed avowedly to +herself at nothing less than inducing the Marchese di Castelmare to +marry her—and succeeded. For all that, I'll tell you what, +Adolfo—there was a great deal more good in that poor girl than you +would have thought."</p> + +<p>"Bah! Good in her—Well, she's gone. She has had her reward, poor soul; +and I pity her with all my heart. But as for the good in her—"</p> + +<p>"There was good in her, and not a little. I tell you that if you or any +one else could have heard all that passed between us, I should hardly be +suspected of having murdered her, poor girl."</p> + +<p>"That is likely enough; but—"</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Manutoli, I have a very strong idea that if this had not +happened, the marriage with the Marchese would never have come off?"</p> + +<p>"You think that, between us all, we should have induced him to listen to +reason?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that; I was not thinking of that; I think that +Bianca would have been induced to listen to reason; I think that the +scheme would have come to nothing through her renunciation of it."</p> + +<p>"When, according to your own account, she had been scheming all the time +she has been here to bring it about?" said Manutoli, with arched +eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"Yes, even so. She had never known—how should she?—that such a +marriage would turn me out on the world a beggar; she had never known +what sort and what degree of misery and ruin it would bring about to all +parties."</p> + +<p>"And you told her this?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in some degree I told her. As to the effect of such a marriage on +myself, I told her simply the entire truth."</p> + +<p>"And you are disposed to think that the Diva—No, poor girl! I didn't +mean to speak sneeringly of her. She has paid for her fault a heavier +penalty than it deserved, any way. You are disposed to think, then, that +she would have given up the prize of all her scheming—this marriage, +which was to have given her everything in the world that she could +desire, and more than she could have ever dreamed of attaining; she +would have voluntarily relinquished all this, you think, for your sake?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what it is, Manutoli. A man can never appreciate,—can +never fathom, the depth of woman's generosity till he has tried it."</p> + +<p>"But, caro mio,—after all I don't want to be hard upon her, poor soul, +God knows!—but to expect generosity on such a point from such a +woman—"</p> + +<p>"You may say what you will, Manutoli, I know what she was, poor girl, as +well as you do—better, a great deal; for, I tell you, that there was a +real generosity in her nature. Look here," continued Ludovico; after a +pause of a minute or two, "I would not say it to anybody else than you, +or to you either, except under circumstances that make one wish to state +the whole truth exactly as it was. It seems so coxcomblike,—so like +what our friend Leandro would say; but I may say it to you. The fact is, +I have a kind of idea that that poor Bianca was inclined to like me. She +cried when I told her—"</p> + +<p>"Aha, j'y suis! Now I begin to be able to fathom the depth of a woman's +generosity. Given the fact of becoming Marchesa di Castelmare, the lady +was not disinclined to become so by catching the nephew instead of the +uncle; and small blame to her."</p> + +<p>"You do not do the poor woman justice, Manutoli."</p> + +<p>"Any way, I do you justice; and I know you well enough, Ludovico mio, to +understand that the generosity of such a girl as this poor Lalli was, +taking that special form, must have been very touching to you."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Manutoli, how little accessible I was to the flattery of +any such preference, with my whole heart full of a very different +person."</p> + +<p>"And I was just thinking, to tell you the truth, how the little scene in +the bagarino would have struck that other person if she could have seen +La Bianca giving you to understand, amid her tears, upon what terms she +would consent not to come between you and your natural inheritance."</p> + +<p>"That other person did see us in the bagarino; and that brings me to the +motive which led me to beg you to come to me this evening. Somehow or +other, it has become known to these people here that Paolina went out of +the Porta Nuova at a very early hour this morning. The fact is, that she +simply went to see whether the scaffolding, which I had had prepared for +her copying work there, was all right, and ready for her to begin her +task there; and all that can be proved, of course. But the same idea +that occurred to you just now, that Paolina might not have liked to see +me driving with La Bianca, has suggested itself to some other +wiseacre,—I beg your pardon, Manutoli,—and it seems that an absurd +notion—a notion the monstrous absurdity of which is a matter of +amazement to me—has been engendered that my poor Paolina may have been +the perpetrator of the crime. The idea! If they only knew her! But the +Commissary here has been cross-questioning me in a way that shows that +is the notion he has in his head. Whether they know that Paolina really +did see us in the bagarino together—she did so from the window in the +Church of St. Apollinare—or whether they only know that she left the +city by that gate early in the morning, I can't tell; but it is sure to +be found out that she did really see us,—the more so, that she will say +so to the first person who asks her" the poor innocent darling. And what +I want you do is to see her, and prepare her, poor child, for the +possibility of being arrested, and make her understand that no harm can +possibly come to her. Try to save her from being frightened. She knows +well enough, just as well as I know myself, that I have not done this +thing. Try to make her understand that a little time only is necessary +for the finding out of the real culprit; that it is sure to be +discovered, and that, as far as we are concerned, it is all sure to come +right."</p> + +<p>"You wish me to go to her at once?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you would be so kind. What I am anxious for is that you should +see her before any order for her arrest shall have been issued. But that +is not all. I want you to see Fortini also. I want you to ascertain from +him how far it is possible or probable that any suspicion may rest on +Paolina in consequence of the facts which are known; how far it is +likely that any attempt may be made to set up a case against her. And I +want you to tell him that it will be wholly and utterly vain to make any +such attempt, that the result would only be entirely to cripple my own +defence. For you must understand once for all, and make him understand +once for all, that rather than allow her to be convicted of a deed of +which she is as innocent as you are, I would confess myself to be the +guilty party. It shall not be, Manutoli, mark what I say, it shall not +be, that she shall be dragged to ruin and destruction by my misfortune, +or imprudence, call it what you will. Of this, of course, you will say +no word to her. But I beg you to leave no shade of a doubt as to my +settled purpose in this matter on the mind of Signor Fortini. It is he, +of course, who will have the duty of preparing and conducting my +defence; and it is essential that he should understand this rightly. +Will you do this for me?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I will—this or anything else that I can do for you. But I +can't undertake to say what Signor Giovacchino Fortini may think, or +say, or do in the matter, you know. I will take your message, and then, +of course, you will see him yourself in the course of to-morrow morning. +Of course, old fellow, I need not tell you that I am sure you did not +murder the girl; but it is altogether one of the most mysterious things +I ever heard of. Nevertheless my notion is that we shall find out the +culprit yet. And you may depend on it that two-thirds of the whole +population of the town will be moving heaven and earth to get some clue +to the mystery for your sake."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, too, that such a deed cannot but be found out. I should +be more uneasy than I am, did I not console myself with thinking so. Now +go to Paolina, there is a dear good fellow."</p> + +<p>"One word more—shall I see the Marchese?"</p> + +<p>"I think, perhaps, it is best not to do so. Of course Fortini has been +with him, and told him everything. I almost thought that I should have +seen him here this evening; but, under the circumstances, I am better +pleased that he should stay away. Better leave him to Fortini."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, then."</p> + +<p>"Good-night. You will let me see you to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"I won't fail. Good-night."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-5" id="CHAPTER_VIII-5"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +Signor Giovacchino Fortini at Home</h3> + +<p>The Baron Manutoli was Ludovico di Castelmare's very good friend. But +there are two sorts of friends—friends who show their friendship by +wishing, and endeavouring to obtain for us, what we wish for ourselves; +and friends, whose friendship consists in wishing for us things +analogous to what they wish for themselves;—who endeavour to procure +for us, not what we wish, but what they consider to be good for us.</p> + +<p>Now the Baron Manutoli belonged to the latter of these two categories. +He was some years older than Ludovico; had been a married man, and was +now a widower with one little boy,—the future Baron Manutoli; and +considered himself as having been blessed with a supreme and exceptional +degree of good fortune, with regard to all that appertained to that +difficult and often disastrous chapter of human destinies which concerns +the relations of mankind with the other sex. Happiness and advantages, +ordinarily incompatible and exclusive of each other, had in his case by +a kind destiny been made compatible. For the representative of an old +noble family to remain single, was bad in many points of view. But on +the other hand—when one's ancestral acres are not so extensive as they +once were, and in nowise more productive—when one likes a quiet life +enlivened by a moderate degree of bachelor's liberty,—when one sees the +interiors of divers of one's contemporaries and friends,—when one +thinks of mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law, and a whole ramified +family-in-law!—the Baron Manutoli, though he had grieved over the loss +of his young wife when the loss was recent, was now, after some ten +years of widower's life, inclined to think that of the man, who had a +legitimately born son to inherit his name and estate, who had done his +duty towards society by taking a wife, and who was yet enabled to enjoy +all the ease and freedom from care of a bachelor's life, it might be +said, "Omne tulit punctum."</p> + +<p>Far as he was from undervaluing the importance of the social duties of a +man and a nobleman in respect to these matters, he had always been an +earnest advocate of the marriage which Ludovico was expected to make +with the Contessa Violante; and had regarded poor Paolina, from the +first, as an intruder and disastrous mischief-maker; and Ludovico's love +for her as the unlucky caprice of a boy, respecting which, the evident +duty of all friends was to do all they could to discourage it, put it +down, and get rid of it.</p> + +<p>So that in the matter of the commission which Ludovico had entrusted to +him, the Baron was likely enough to have somewhat different views from +those of his friend.</p> + +<p>What a happy turning of misfortune into a blessing it would be, if this +shocking affair should be the means of getting rid of this unlucky +Paolina altogether! Not, of course, that the Baron was capable of +wishing that such getting rid of should be accomplished by the unjust +condemnation of the poor girl for such a crime. God forbid! But, if +there should be found to be a sufficient degree of suspicion—of +unexplainable mystery—to cause the exoneration of Ludovico, and at the +same time, an intimation to the Venetian stranger that she would do well +to remove herself from the happy territory of the Holy Father, what a +Godsend it would be!</p> + +<p>Then, again, as to the real fact of Paolina's innocence, Manutoli was +seriously disposed to think that there might be grounds for considerable +doubt. Ludovico's assertions to that effect were of course unworthy of +the slightest attention; the mere ravings of a man in love. Of course, +also, the menace he held out, that if any attempt were made to throw the +onus of the crime on Paolina, he would meet it by avowing himself +guilty, was as entirely to be disregarded. The paramount business in +hand was to clear his friend of this untoward complication in the matter +of the crime which had so mysteriously been committed. The next +consideration was to set him equally free from his entanglement with +Paolina. And with these thoughts in his mind, the Baron decided that, +upon the whole, it would be better that he should have an interview with +lawyer Fortini, before making his visit to the lady.</p> + +<p>He knew that it was too late to look for the lawyer at his "studio;" and +therefore went directly to his residence, where he found the old +gentleman just concluding his solitary supper. Being the evening of Ash +Wednesday, the meal had consisted of a couple of eggs, and a morsel of +tunny fish preserved in oil, very far from a bad relish for a flask of +good wine. And the lawyer was, when Manutoli came in, aiding his +meditations by discussing the remaining half of a small cobwebbed bottle +of the very choicest growth of the Piedmontese hills.</p> + +<p>"I owe you a thousand apologies, Signor Fortini, for coming to trouble +you with business, and very disagreeable business too, here and at such +an hour," began the Baron; "but the interest we all feel—"</p> + +<p>"Not a word of apology is needed, Signor Barone. About this shocking +affair in the Pineta, of course, of course? Pur troppo, we are all +interested, as you say. Will you honour my poor house, Signor Barone, by +tasting what there is in the cellar? I ought to be ashamed to offer this +wine, my ordinary drink at supper, to the Barone Manutoli"—(the old +fellow knew right well that there was not such another glass of wine in +all the city, and that it was rarely enough that his noble guest drank +such)—"but it is drinkable." And so saying, he called to his old +housekeeper to bring another bottle and a fresh glass before he would +allow Manutoli to say a word on the business that brought him there.</p> + +<p>"And now, Signor Barone," said the old lawyer, as soon as the wine and +the praise it merited, had been both duly savoured, "about this bad +business? Do you bring me any information? Information is all we want. I +hope and trust information is all we want," he repeated, looking hard at +the Baron.</p> + +<p>"Of course, that is all we want; information which should put us on some +clue to the real perpetrator of this crime."</p> + +<p>"That is what we want; that is the one thing needful; and it is +absolutely needful," said the lawyer, again looking meaningly in his +companion's face.</p> + +<p>"Of course that is what we want. But even supposing no light upon the +matter can be got at all, it is not to be supposed that—that any judge +would consider there was sufficient ground for assuming our friend to be +guilty?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's just the point; just the point of the difficulty. We must +not expect, Signor Barone, that the judges will look at the question +quite with the same eyes that we do. They will have none of the strong +persuasion that we—ahem!—that the Marchese Ludovico's friends +have—that he is wholly incapable of committing such a crime. On the +other hand, they are men used to suspicion, and to the habit of +considering a certain amount of suspicion as equivalent to moral +certainty. And I confess—I must confess, my dear sir, that I am very +far from easy as to the result, if we should be unable to find at least +some counterbalancing possibilities, you understand?"</p> + +<p>"But it seems to me, Signor, that such are already found; and it was +just upon this point that I was anxious to speak with you to-night. I +have just seen Ludovico. He sent for me to the Circolo. And what he +mainly wanted was to bid me go to the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli, in +order to prepare her for the probability of her own arrest, and to +comfort her with the assurance that no evil could come to her. Also I +was directed by him to tell you, that any attempt to fix the guilt of +this deed on the girl, would be met by an avowal—a false avowal, of +course—that he is himself the guilty person."</p> + +<p>"Ta, ta, ta, ta! Mere stuff, chatter, the talk of a boy in love with a +pretty girl," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Just so, just so. Of course we pay no attention to all that. I promised +to go to the girl as he told me; and I shall do so presently. But I +thought it best to see you first. The fact is, Signor Fortini, that I do +not feel any one bit of the certainty that he professes to feel, that +this Venetian girl may not have been the real assassin."</p> + +<p>The lawyer looked shrewdly into Manutoli's face, and nodded his head +slowly three or four times. "What would there be so unlikely in it," +pursued Manutoli; "girls, and Venetian girls too, have done as much and +more before now? We know that she is in love with him. She sees him +going on such an expedition as that with such a girl as La Bianca. She +has already, no doubt, had cause to be jealous of her. Ludovico used to +see the Lalli frequently. What is more likely?"</p> + +<p>"Stay, Signor Barone, one minute. This is an important point; you say +that this Paolina saw her lover with La Bianca. How do you know that? +and how did it come about?"</p> + +<p>"Ludovico just told me so; and the girl, it seems, herself told him. Her +story is that she went out to St. Apollinare at an early hour this +morning to look after a scaffolding or some preparation of some kind +that had been made for her to copy some of the mosaics in the church; +and that from a window of the church, being on the scaffolding, she saw +Ludovico and La Bianca driving by in a bagarino. Now all this probably +is true enough. The question is, What did she do then, when she saw what +was so well calculated to throw her into a frenzy of jealousy? My theory +is, that she followed them into the forest, dogged their steps, and +finding her opportunity at the unlucky moment when Ludovico left Bianca +sleeping, did the murder there and then."</p> + +<p>The old lawyer started up from his seat, and thrusting his hands into +the pockets of his trousers took a hasty turn across the room; and then +resuming his seat, tossed off a glass of wine before making any reply.</p> + +<p>"And a very good theory too, Signor Barone. I make you my compliment on +it," he said at last. "I was not aware of all the facts, the very, +important facts, you mention. I had ascertained that this Venetian girl +left the city by the Porta Nuova at a strangely early hour this morning; +and that was enough already, to fix my eye upon her. But what you now +tell me is much more important; advances the case against her to a far +more serious point. Upon my word," continued the lawyer, after a pause +for further meditation; "upon my word I begin to think that it is the +most likely view of the case that this Signorina Paolina Foscarelli has +been the assassin. At all events it seems quite as likely a theory as +that the Marchese should have done it. Fully as likely," added the +lawyer, rubbing his hands cheerily; "the motive, as motives to such +deeds go, is quite as great in her case as in his. Greater, or at least +more probable! Jealousy has moved to such acts more frequently than mere +considerations of interest."</p> + +<p>"To be sure it has," cried Manutoli; "I think that the circumstances +bear more conclusively against her than against him; I do, upon my +life."</p> + +<p>"If only something do not turn up to show that it could not have been +done by her, I think—I do think that we have got all that is absolutely +necessary for us. For observe, Signor Barone, it is not necessary that +she should be convicted. If there is such a probability that she may +have been the criminal as to make it impossible to say that it is far +more likely that one of the parties suspected should be guilty than the +other, there can be no conviction, and our friend is safe."</p> + +<p>"But I say that all the probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis +that she did the deed," cried Manutoli, warmly.</p> + +<p>"Much will depend on the report of Tomosarchi," said the lawyer. "The +inquiry arises, how far it was possible for a young girl to do that +which was done."</p> + +<p>"It is evident that she was murdered in her sleep," observed the Baron.</p> + +<p>"It looks like it; it seems clear that there could have been no struggle +of any sort. Still, we must hear how the murder was done; we must know +whether the means were such as might have been in the power of this +girl," rejoined Fortini.</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall know all that to-morrow. God grant that the Professor's +report may be a favourable one," said Manutoli, thinking little of the +savageness of his wish as regarded the poor artist. But, to the mind of +the Baron, it was a question between one who was a fellow-creature of +his own, and one who could hardly be considered such. How was it +possible to put in comparison for a moment the consideration of a +fellow-noble of his own city and that of a poor unknown foreign artist?</p> + +<p>"I trust it may; I build much on the fact that there was no struggle. +She was put to death by some means which scarcely allowed her time to +wake from the sleep," returned the lawyer. "You are going, then, now, +Signor Barone, to see this Paolina?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; if I find her still up, which I suppose I shall, for it is not +late," said Manutoli, looking at his watch.</p> + +<p>"Better be a little cautious in speaking to her, you know; best to avoid +alarming her," said Fortini.</p> + +<p>"The express object of my visit to her is to prevent her from being +alarmed," rejoined the Baron.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but—what I mean is that—it would be desirable, you see, to lead +her to speak. What we want now is to know exactly what she did and where +she went after seeing the Marchesino and La Bianca in the bagarino +together. Also to ascertain whether she was seen by anybody to do +whatever she did or to go wherever it was she went. And, I think, that +you might very probably learn this from her more effectually than I +should. She would be more likely to be on her guard with me, you see."</p> + +<p>"I'll try what I can do; my real belief is that she is the guilty +person," said Manutoli.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow I will see what I can do at St. Apollinare. She cannot have +been in the church without seeing and speaking to somebody. There are a +Capucin and a lay-brother always there, I take it; we shall see what +they can tell us. But I can't go out there till after the medical +examination. I have arranged with my old friend Tomosarchi to be present +at it," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"I shall be most anxious to hear the result," said the Baron.</p> + +<p>"If you will be here about ten o'clock—my breakfast hour—I shall be +able to tell you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. A rivederci dunque—"</p> + +<p>"Stay; one more word before you go, Signor Barone. As we are both +engaged in this inquiry, and both interested on the same side, I may as +well tell you, perhaps, that there is one other person to whom my +attention has been drawn as being open to suspicion in this matter—the +Conte Leandro Lombardoni."</p> + +<p>"The Conte Leandro! You don't say so! Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Just listen one moment, Signor Barone. It is certain that the Conte +Leandro passed out of the city by the Porta Nuova at a very early hour +this morning—at an earlier hour than either the girl Paolina or the +Marchesino and La Bianca."</p> + +<p>"The Conte Leandro—out of the Porta Nuova—at such an hour in the +morning. For what possible purpose?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, that is the question. For what possible purpose? But the fact is +certain. Though endeavouring to conceal himself by means of his cloak, +he was perfectly well recognized by the men at the gate. For what +possible purpose? No doubt you know, Signor Barone, much better than I, +who am not much in the way of hearing of such things—unless in cases +where I make it my business to hear of them, you understand, Signor +Barone,—you, no doubt, know that the Signor Conte has been besieging, +as I may say, this poor Lalli woman with his attentions and verses ever +since she came here; also, that the lady would have nothing to say to +him or to his verses—that she has, in short, snubbed him and mortified +his vanity in the sight of all the town during the whole of the past +Carnival."</p> + +<p>"That is true—it is all true," cried Manutoli, eagerly, and looking +almost scared by the ideas the lawyer was presenting to his mind. "It is +even truer, than you, perhaps, are aware of. She said sneering and +cutting things of him in his hearing both at the Marchese Lamberto's +ball and at the Circolo ball; I happen to know it."</p> + +<p>"Hey—y—y—y?" said the lawyer, uttering a sound like a long sigh, with +a question stop at the end of it; and then thrusting out his lips and +nodding his head up and down slowly while he plunged his hands into the +pockets of his trowsers. "I'll tell you what it is Signor Barone," the +old man added, after a pause of deep thought, "I was anxious to find +such plausible grounds of suspicion against other parties, such element +of doubt, such possibilities as might make it difficult for the judges +to condemn our friend. I wanted to puzzle the court; but, per Bacco! I +have puzzled myself. This afternoon, I confess to you, I had little +doubt but that the Marchesino had, in a fatal moment of anger and +desperation, committed the crime. But, upon my word now, I know not what +to think. Here we have three parties, each of whom we know to have been +acted on by one of three strong passions. We have jealousy, and wounded +vanity. Which of the three has done the deed?"</p> + +<p>"It is an extraordinary circumstance," said the Baron Manutoli, "that +they were jeering at the Conte Leandro at the Circolo just now, about +the way the Diva had snubbed him and his verses, and accusing him in +joke of having been her murderer. And, as sure as I am now speaking to +you, Signor Fortini, he looked in a way then that I—a—a—in short that +I thought very odd—turned all sorts of colours. But then, you know, he +is always such an unwholesome-looking animal."</p> + +<p>"One of the vainest men I ever met with," said the lawyer, musing.</p> + +<p>"Oh—for vanity—I believe you. Leandro has not his equal for vanity."</p> + +<p>"And strong vanity, deeply wounded, by a woman too, will breed a hate as +violent and vicious, perhaps, as any passion that ever prompted a +crime," rejoined the lawyer, still meditating deeply. "Per Dio Santo!" +he exclaimed, after a pause of silence, striking his open palm strongly +on the table, as he spoke, and speaking with a sort of solemn +earnestness, "I am inclined to think, after all, that he is the man. The +Marchesino," he went on again, thoughtfully, "went out for a +frolic—intelligible enough; The girl went out to look after the +preparations for her work—again quite plausible. But in the name of all +the saints what took the Conte Leandro out of the Porta Nuova at that +hour of the morning, after passing the night at a ball?"</p> + +<p>"I still think that the Venetian girl has done the deed," said Manutoli, +whose opinion was no doubt in some degree warped by his desire that the +criminal should turn out to be a foreign plebeian rather than a Ravenna +noble. "After all Leandro is not the man to do such a deed. He is such a +poor creature. Besides, it seems to me that the girl's motive for hate +was the stronger. I don't know that wounded vanity has had many such +crimes to answer for, whereas jealousy—and such a jealousy—why, it is +an old story you know."</p> + +<p>"Well, we shall see. Any way, I am very much more easy as to the result. +Short of such evidence as it seems very highly unlikely should be +forthcoming, I do not think that there can be any conviction at all. It +is most extraordinary that in the case of such deed, done in such a +place, at such a time, there should be so many persons so fairly liable +to strong suspicion."</p> + +<p>"Of course, to produce the result we wish, a case must be set up against +Leandro?" said the Baron.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Leave that to me, or rather to the police. No doubt their +inquiries have already put them on his track. The fact of his having +gone out of the city by that gate, at that hour, is quite enough."</p> + +<p>"And now I must be off to see this Signorina Foscarelli. I don't half +like the job."</p> + +<p>"I daresay you will find her easy enough," said the lawyer, not quite +understanding the nature of Manutoli's distaste for his errand. +"Good-night, Signor Barone."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-5" id="CHAPTER_IX-5"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +The Post-Mortem Examination</h3> + +<p>The Baron Manutoli found Paolina quite as "easy" as the lawyer had +imagined that he would find her; but his task was not altogether an easy +one in the sense he had himself intended. She made not the slightest +difficulty of telling him, that when she had seen Ludovico and Bianca +drive past the church towards the forest she had felt a strong +temptation to follow them thither; she told him all about the +conversation she had had with the old monk, and repeated the directions +she had received from him as to the path by which she might reach the +Pineta, and return that way towards the city, without coming back into +the high-road, till she got near the walls. She confessed that, when she +had followed the path behind the church leading to the Pineta, for some +little distance, she had changed her mind, and had turned off by another +path, which had brought her back into the high-road not far from the +church; and she said that she had then walked on till she came near the +walls, where she turned aside to sit down on one of the benches under +the trees of the little promenade; that she had sat there for some +time—she did not know how long; had then gone in to the Cardinal +Legate's chapel, where she had conversed with the Contessa Violante, +whom she knew from having often met her there before; and had at last +returned home at a very much later hour than she had expected, and had +found her friend Signora Orsola Steno uneasy at her prolonged absence.</p> + +<p>"And did you mention to the Contessa the shocking fact of the prima +donna's death?" asked Manutoli, suddenly, thinking that he was doing a +very sharp bit of lawyerly business in laying this trap for Paolina.</p> + +<p>"How was it possible that I should do so, when I knew nothing about it +till Ludovico told me several hours later?" answered the girl, with an +unembarrassed easiness and readiness that almost changed Manutoli's +opinion as to the probability of her guilt.</p> + +<p>He reminded himself, however, that the same woman, who could be capable +of such a deed might also be expected to have the presence of mind and +readiness necessary for avoiding any such trap as that which he had laid +for her.</p> + +<p>He was, at the same time, strongly, but perhaps not altogether +consistently, impressed with the fact; that during the whole of his +interview with her, she did not once distinctly and directly deny that +she had had anything to do with the crime. When warning her, as he had +been charged by Ludovico to do, of the probability that she might be +arrested, he had allowed her to understand that the circumstances of +this case were such, that the question of who was the guilty person +became nearly an alternative one between herself and the Marchese. On +which, instead of protesting her own innocence, she had strongly +insisted on that of Ludovico, which seemed a very suspicious +circumstance to the Baron Manutoli.</p> + +<p>He had tried to lead her to express some feeling, or, rather, some +remembrance of what had been her feeling when she saw Ludovico and La +Bianca in the bagarino together; but there she became reticent, and +would say little or nothing—another suspicious circumstance in the eyes +of the Baron, so that, when he quitted her, he was, upon the whole, +rather confirmed than otherwise in his previous opinion as to her guilt.</p> + +<p>"Well, Signorina," he had said, in rising to leave her, "I came here, in +compliance with my friend's request, to re-assure you on the subject of +the warrant which will, in all probability, be issued to-morrow morning +for your arrest. You best know whether you have any reason for alarm. My +own opinion is, that if you have nothing to reproach yourself with, you +have nothing to fear. I trust it may be so."</p> + +<p>"I am grateful to you for coming, Signor," Paolina said. "You will see +Ludovico again. Tell him that I am as sure of his innocence of this +horrid thing as if he had never quitted my side."</p> + +<p>How Paolina passed that miserable night it is useless to attempt to +tell. How happy all, ay, even all, the days of her previous life seemed +to her in comparison with the misery of the minutes that were then so +slowly passing.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning Signor Fortini called at the house of his friend +Dr. Buonaventura Tomosarchi, the great anatomist, for the purpose of +accompanying the Professor to the room at the hospital, where the body +of Bianca was awaiting the post-mortem examination which had been +ordered by the police.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Fortini, as they walked together, "that there is no +possibility, in such a case as this, that the death may have been a +natural one?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I would not say that at all. Such things occur at all ages. I do +not think it is likely,—specially in the case of such a magnificent +organization as that of yonder poor girl; but there is no saying, and, +above all, no use in attempting to guess when we shall so soon know all +about it," said the Professor, a man some ten or fifteen years younger +than the old lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible that death may have been caused by foul means, yet by +such as may elude your investigation?" asked Fortini.</p> + +<p>"I think not—I should say almost certainly not in such a case as the +present. There are poisons that act subtly and instantaneously, but +there is the odour in most cases,—in almost all some indication of +their operation on the organization."</p> + +<p>Arrived at the hospital they found a couple of assistants, pupils of the +Professor, awaiting his arrival. There was also an official on the part +of the police, and there were two or three persons waiting in the hope +of being allowed to be present at the examination. The police officer, +however, very summarily declared that this could not be permitted. +Fortini was so well known, and held such a kind of half-official +position and character in the city, that he passed on unquestioned on +the arm of the Professor.</p> + +<p>The body lay exactly as it had been brought in by the labouring-men who +had found it in the Pineta. The beautiful face was perfectly calm, and +in the lineaments of it the difference that there is between death and +sleep was scarcely perceptible. The white dress was almost as unruffled +and as spotless as when she had put it on. It had been fastened about +midway between the neck and the waist by a diamond pin or brooch; but +this fastening was now undone, and the brooch was hanging loosely on one +side of the bosom of the dress. It was impossible to suppose that this +jewel should have been so left by anybody who had had the opportunity +and the desire of plunder. It might have been unfastened by the wearer +before she slept for the sake of more full enjoyment of the balmy +breezes of the pine-forest: and the result of this loosening of the +dress was that the light folds of it opened freely as far down as the +waist, so that the slightest drawing aside of them, such as even the +breeze might effect, was sufficient to leave bare the entire bosom.</p> + +<p>On either shoulder and on the bosom lay the large heavy waves of the +rich auburn hair. In death, as she had been in life, she was still a +wonder of beauty; and the two men, the old lawyer and the Professor, +little as, from years, character, and habits of mind, their imaginations +were susceptible of being deeply touched by such a sight, stood for +awhile by the side of the table on which the body had been laid, and +gazed in sad silence on the sight before them.</p> + +<p>"One might think she was still sleeping, poor creature," said the +lawyer, after a silence of a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Ay, almost. It is a wonderfully lovely face. Seems difficult to +believe, doesn't it, that any man—. Much less such a man as the +Marchese—should have stood over that figure, and so looking down on it, +have decided on destroying it?" said the Professor.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps no man did so," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Case of death from natural causes, you mean? I am afraid not, I am +afraid not. Can't say for certain yet; but, judging from appearances, I +fear there is no likelihood that such was the case," rejoined the +Professor.</p> + +<p>"I was not thinking of that," replied Fortini. "I meant that what a man +could hardly have had the heart to do might, perhaps, have been done by +a woman. Beauty is not, I fancy, always found to produce quite the same +sort of effect on another female as it is wont to produce on the other +sex."</p> + +<p>"Might have been done by a woman? That seems hardly likely, I think, +caro mio. In the Pineta at that hour of the morning? Che! What woman is +likely to have been there?"</p> + +<p>"Well, we happen to know that there was a woman very near the spot where +the crime was committed at the time that it was committed."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so?" interrupted the anatomist. "Good heavens! This is +quite new to me, and, of course, most important. I am delighted to hear +what seems to cast so strong a doubt on the guilt of the Marchesino."</p> + +<p>"And that is not all. We know further," continued the lawyer, eagerly, +"that the woman in question had the strongest of all the possible +motives that ever influence a female mind to hate—to desire the death +of this poor girl that now lies here. The question is, whether this +death was caused by any means which a woman—a young girl—may be +supposed to have used," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Ha! a case of jealousy, I suppose? You don't mean it. God knows, I +should be more glad than I will say if there were any means of showing +that the Marchese Ludovico had no hand in the matter. If it were brought +home to him it would kill my old friend the Marchese Lamberto outright; +I do believe it would kill him."</p> + +<p>"I thought at first, to tell you the truth, Signor Professore, that it +must have been the Marchesino who did the deed; the circumstances seemed +so terribly strong against him. But—certain facts have come to my +knowledge—in short, I begin to have very great hopes that he was in +reality wholly innocent of it; and still greater hopes that if we cannot +succeed in bringing the crime home to any other party, yet that the +difficulty and doubt hanging about the case will be so great that all +conviction will be impossible."</p> + +<p>"A woman, you tell me? A young woman, I suppose, from what you say?" +said the Professor, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; a young woman, and, as I am told, a very pretty one—a certain +young girl—a Venetian artist, of the name of Foscarelli—Paolina +Foscarelli, with whom it seems the Marchesino was foolish enough to fall +in love. Well, this girl sees the Marchese and Bianca driving out alone +together at that time in the morning to the Pineta—that much we +know—sees them cheek by jowl together in a little bagarino, doing +heaven only knows what—billing and cooing. Now it seems to me that she +would, under these circumstances, be likely to feel not altogether +kindly towards the lady in possession, eh, Signor Professore? You know +the nature of the creatures better than I do; what do you think about +it?"</p> + +<p>"Similar little accidents have produced as terrible results before +now—ay, many a time, there is no denying that. If we can ascertain how +the deed was done it will be likely enough to throw some light on the +probabilities of the case," returned the Professor, proceeding to +scrutinize carefully the body as it lay before in any way disturbing the +position or the garments.</p> + +<p>"Ha! what have we here?" he cried, as he perceived, and, at the same +time, pointed out the existence of a very small red spot upon the white +dress just above the waistband. In an instant, as he spoke, he whipped +out a powerful magnifying-glass, and carefully examined the tell-tale +spot by its aid.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is a spot of blood—blood sure enough! but it is very +singular that there should be such a minute spot, and no more; no, I can +find no further trace," he added, after a careful and minute examination +of every part of the dress.</p> + +<p>"Might not any trifling accident—the most insignificant thing in the +world—produce such a mere spot as that—a scratched finger—either her +own or another person's?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Well, hardly so; a slight stain might easily be so caused; but hardly a +round spot like that. That spot must have been caused by a small drop +falling on that place—not by the muslin having been brought into +contact with any portion of blood, however small. How could that one +little round drop of blood have come there?" said the anatomist, +thoughtfully. "It is singular enough."</p> + +<p>Then, when the dress had been removed preparatory to the examination of +the body, the Professor himself and his assistants minutely searched +every part of it—in vain. There was no other, even the smallest, mark +of blood to be found.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that that spot is blood?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure whether a deed is signed or is not signed when you see +it?" retorted the anatomist. "Yes; that spot has been caused by a drop +of blood falling there—a very minute drop. Of that there can be no +doubt. And now we must proceed to examine the body externally. If there +should be nothing to be learned from that, we must see what revelations +the knife may bring to light."</p> + +<p>And then the Professor, aided by his pupils, proceeded to institute a +minute and careful examination of the body.</p> + +<p>At the first sight it appeared to be as unblemished in every part of it +as Nature's choicest and most perfect handiwork could be. So little did +a mere cursory view suggest the possibility that life would have been +destroyed by any external violence, that the Professor was about to take +the necessary steps for ascertaining what light could be thrown on the +manner of her death by the internal condition of the different portions +of the organism, when the sharper eyes of one of the young assistants +were drawn to a very slight indication, which he immediately pointed out +to his superior.</p> + +<p>The appearance in question consisted of a very small round white spot, +around which there was a slight equally circular redness. It was +situated nearly in the middle of the body, just below the meeting of the +ribs on the chest, about a broad hand's breadth above the waistband—in +such a position, in short, as to be very nearly at the point where the +neck-opening of the dress ceased.</p> + +<p>No second glance was needed, as soon as the Professor's attention had +been called to this appearance, to ensure the riveting of his attention +on it. Nor was much examination necessary to convince him that he had +now, in truth, discovered the cause and the means of death.</p> + +<p>The slight mark in question was, in fact, the trace of a wound inflicted +by a very fine needle, which had pierced the heart, and, having caused +immediate death, had been left in the wound, ingeniously hidden by means +which it needed a second look to discover. The effect of this discovery +on the Professor was singular. He seemed taken aback by it, and, one +would have said, alarmed at it, in a manner which it seemed difficult +for Signor Fortini to account for. "What is it astonishes you so, Signor +Professore," said he; "surely you were prepared to find that a murder +had been done? I never had any doubt of it; and why not in that way as +well as another? And a very ingenious mode of inflicting death in a +quiet way it seems to be."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. The fact is that I was struck by—"</p> + +<p>The Professor broke off speaking suddenly with a start; and darted a +quick alarmed glance at the face of Signor Fortini, who did not fail to +remark it, and to be much puzzled by the Professor's manner.</p> + +<p>The latter, while he had been speaking, had stooped to examine the +minute trace of the wound closely, and had put his finger on the spot; +and it was on doing so that he had interrupted himself, and shown +renewed symptoms of surprise and dismay. What this closer examination +had shown him was the fact that an infinitesimally small portion of +white wax had been very neatly and carefully introduced into the orifice +of the wound, in such a manner as to prevent all effusion of blood, and +almost to escape the observation of the naked eye.</p> + +<p>"Why, one would say you were a novice at this sort of thing, Tomosarchi, +you seem so much affected by it," said the lawyer; "what is it that +moves you so? Why, you are as pale, man, as if you were bringing to +light a crime of your own instead of somebody else's."</p> + +<p>"Ah! not that exactly. No, but it is a very singular thing. One would +say that this death must have been caused by some one who had some +little knowledge of anatomy, or, at least, had been put up to the trick +by some one else who possessed such knowledge," said the Professor, +recovering himself with an effort.</p> + +<p>"And that is what our friend the Marchesino Ludovico is most assuredly +innocent of. I take note of your remark, Signor Professore," said the +lawyer.</p> + +<p>"But one would think, that all the other persons on whom it is possible +that suspicion might rest, must be equally void of any such knowledge," +returned Tomosarchi.</p> + +<p>"How do we know that? How can I tell what strange odds and ends of +knowledge this Venetian artist may have picked up. Artists,—they have +constantly more or less acquaintance with medical students, and such +like. Some knowledge of anatomy is needful to them in their business. +For my part, it seems to me very likely that this girl might have such +knowledge as would teach her so easy a way of getting rid of her rival. +Then you will observe that very little physical strength was needed for +the infliction of such a wound. It might have been done perfectly easily +by the hand of a young girl. I declare it seems to me that the result of +your examinations tends to make it more probable than ever that the +Venetian is the criminal."</p> + +<p>"Well, it may be so. Certain it is, that no degree of strength beyond +what she, or any other such person could have exerted, was needed for +giving that death to a sleepy person. But it is equally clear that a +certain amount of special knowledge was required for the purpose," +rejoined the anatomist. "And now," added he; "I must draw up my report. +A rivederci, Signor Fortini! A rivederci, Signori!"</p> + +<p>"One word more, Signor Professore, before I leave you," said the lawyer; +"is the special knowledge you speak of, such as—any member of your +profession we will say—would be possessed of."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should not say that it was likely such a method of concealing a +crime would have suggested itself to such an one, more than to another. +It is the clever invention of one who meditated murder. But, I may say +at once to you, what I shall have to say in due season to the +magistrates, that the trick is not a new one. I have heard of such a +thing before now."</p> + +<p>"But not as a common thing," pursued the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Quite the reverse—as a very strange and peculiar thing," replied the +Professor.</p> + +<p>"And when did you hear of a case of murder committed in this strange and +peculiar manner?" persisted the lawyer.</p> + +<p>The Professor shot a sharp quick glance at the lawyer's face; and his +own flushed red as he replied, "Ay—if I could remember that—but it is +a reported case; anybody may have read it. A murder was committed by +similar means in the Island of Sardinia, not very long ago!"</p> + +<p>"Not very long ago," reiterated the lawyer, musingly.</p> + +<p>"No, not very long ago; but the case has been reported, I tell you. +Anybody may have read it."</p> + +<p>"Humph," said the lawyer, as he turned to go, with his mind evidently +busily at work both on the strange sort of confusion that had been +visible in the Professor's manner, and on the circumstances he had +elicited from him.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what," said one of the young students to the other, while +they were engaged in preparing to consign the body of the murdered woman +to the police. "I'll tell you what: I'll be blessed if I don't think the +governor knows, or has a shrewd guess, who it is has done this job. Did +you mark the way he looked, and went as pale as death, when I showed him +the place?"</p> + +<p>"Bah, nonsense! He was vexed that he had not seen it himself. How should +he know anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how; but I know him, and his ways," said the first +speaker.</p> + +<p>"But if he thinks he has any guess at the murderer, why don't he say it +at once?" asked the younger lad.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, I think so; I should like to see him at it. That's not his +business, that's the lawyer's business. You may depend on his keeping +his own secret, if he has got one. The governor likes quiet sailing in +still water, he does. But if he did not see something more in this +little bit of steel and atom of wax, that have stopped a life so +cleverly, than the mere things themselves and the effect of them,—why, +then, I know nothing about old Buonaventura Tomosarchi, that's all."</p> + +<p>"How see something more?" said the younger lad, open-eyed.</p> + +<p>"Saw who put 'em there, Ninny. It is not everybody who could be up to +such a dodge; and I feel sure the governor could make a shrewd guess who +did that clever trick."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X-5" id="CHAPTER_X-5"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> +Public Opinion</h3> + +<p>The post-mortem examination had taken place at an early hour, before the +members of the idler portion of the society of the city had come forth +from their homes. An Italian idler—one of the class who, in common +Italian phrase, are able to "fare vita beata," to lead a happy life, i. +e. to do nothing whatever from morning till night—an Italian of that +favoured class never passes his hours in his own house, or dwelling of +whatever kind it may be. As soon as he is up and dressed he goes out +into the city to enjoy the air and sunshine if it be fine weather, to +saunter in cafes or at the Circolo, if it rain.</p> + +<p>Professor Tomosarchi and lawyer Fortini had been earlier afoot, and the +scene described in the last chapter had passed, and the general results +of the examination were beginning to be known in the city, when the +jeunesse doree of Ravenna began to assemble at the Circolo. It was known +also by that time that the young Venetian artist, with whom Ludovico was +well known to be on intimate terms of some kind or other, had been +arrested at her lodging at an early hour that morning, on suspicion of +having been concerned in the murder of La Bianca.</p> + +<p>Of course that terrible event continued more than ever to occupy the +attention of all Ravenna, almost to the exclusion of every other topic +of conversation. It was very easy to understand the nature of the +motive, which might be supposed to have led Paolina to do the deed. And +when it became known farther, that the means by which the death of the +victim had been brought about were such as might easily have been +accomplished by the weakest woman's hand; and that it had been +discovered that Paolina had been in the Pineta—for such was the not +quite accurate form which the report assumed just about the time when +the crime must have been committed, the general opinion inclined very +much to the notion that she, the stranger from Venice, was, indeed, the +assassin.</p> + +<p>Precedents were hunted up, and many a story told of women who had done +equally desperate deeds under similar provocation.</p> + +<p>"I feel very little doubt of it, myself," said Manutoli; "there is +nothing improbable in such a solution, while it is in the highest degree +improbable that Ludovico should have raised his hand against a sleeping +woman, enticed by him in the forest for the purpose. Bah! It is +monstrous."</p> + +<p>"He would have been more to be pitied than blamed if he had done it," +said another of the young men, who did not bear himself a reputation of +the most brilliant sort; "if I had a rich uncle I swear by all the +saints, that I would not let the prettiest woman that ever made a fool +of a man, come between me and my inheritance."</p> + +<p>"Ludovico was not the man to have done it any way. Besides, the mischief +had not been done; it was only a project talked of. There might have +been a hundred ways of breaking off so absurd a match. It would have +been time to have recourse to les grands moyens, when the thing had been +done, and all else had failed. To my notion jealousy has done it."</p> + +<p>"So say I. Two to one I bet that it turns out that the Venetian girl has +done the trick."</p> + +<p>"But have you heard, all of you, that there is a third horse in the +field?" said the Marchese Faraoni whose palazzo was close to the house +in which the Conte Leandro lived; "there is another candidate for the +galleys. Has nobody heard that our poet was arrested before he was out +of bed this morning?"</p> + +<p>"What! Leandro?"</p> + +<p>"The Conte Lombardoni?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that?"</p> + +<p>"What, arrested for this murder of La Bianca?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"But quite true, nevertheless. Anybody can easily assure themselves of +the fact by walking as far as the Palazzo del Governo."</p> + +<p>"Leandro arrested on suspicion of murder? Well, I think the tragedy is +passing into a farce."</p> + +<p>"It will be fatal to Leandro. He will die of fright, if no other evil +happens to him."</p> + +<p>"Think of the cantos of verse he will make on it."</p> + +<p>"He will die singing, like a swan."</p> + +<p>"But do you know anything about it, Faraoni? Have you any idea how he +has come to be implicated in the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I learnt at his own lodging that he did not come home to bed the night +of the ball, but was absent from home at the time the murder must have +been committed. And then I was told that the men at the Porta Nuova had +declared that they had seen him pass out of the city going in the +direction of the Pineta at a very early hour that morning."</p> + +<p>"Per Bacco! it is very strange. What, in the name of all the saints, +could he be doing out there at that time, when all honest folks were in +their beds?"</p> + +<p>"Remember all the snubbing he has had from the poor Diva all through +carnival. By Jove! it looks very queer."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember how he turned all sorts of colours here last night, +when we were talking of it?"</p> + +<p>"And how anxious he seemed to say everything that appeared to make it +bear hard upon Ludovico?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and contradicted himself. First, he knew about it, and then he +knew nothing."</p> + +<p>"Per Dio! I don't know what to think of it."</p> + +<p>"So, then, there are now three persons suspected—Ludovico; and the +Venetian girl, and the Conte Leandro?"</p> + +<p>"And all three were not far from the spot where the deed was done, and +all three had motives, more or less credible, for doing it."</p> + +<p>"Ludovico, because his uncle was going to marry the woman, which would +have cut him out of his inheritance; the Venetian girl, because she +loved Ludovico, and saw him making love to the poor Diva; and Leandro, +because she snubbed him, and laughed at him, and would have nothing to +say to either him or his verses."</p> + +<p>"And the one certain thing is, that the unlucky Diva lies dead, and was +murdered by somebody. Upon my life, it is the queerest thing I ever +heard of."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it, Manutoli?" said one of the speakers in the +foregoing dialogue to the Baron, who was an older man than most of the +others there.</p> + +<p>"My notion is that the girl is the guilty party," said Manutoli. "As for +Leandro, it seems too absurd. I don't think he has courage enough to +kill a cat: Besides, I daresay he hated La Bianca quite enough to +slander her, and backbite, and that sort of thing; but murder—"</p> + +<p>"She made fun of him. Leandro don't like to be laughed at,—specially by +the women, and, more specially still, when other fellows are by to hear +it and then those poets are always such desperate fellows I should not +wonder—" said one of the young men.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, while talk of this sort was going on at the Circolo, +Signor Fortini was on his way out to St. Apollinare in Classe, according +to the intention he had expressed on the preceding evening; but he was +not making the expedition alone. Signor Pietro Logarini, the Papal +Commissioner of Police, was bound on the same errand. The old lawyer, as +he passed under the gateway of the Porta Nuova in his comfortable +caleche, overtook Signor Logarini, who was about to proceed to St. +Apollinare on foot, and who had paused at the gate for the purpose of +making some inquiries of the officials there.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Signor Pietro. I suppose we are bound for the same place; +will you permit me to offer you a seat in my carriage?" said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Signor Giovacchino, I shall be glad of the lift. Yes, I suppose +we are about the same business, and a bad one it is. I was making a few +inquiries at the gate; but I don't see that there is much to be gleaned +there," said the Commissary, as he got into the lawyer's carriage.</p> + +<p>"Well, it seems to me that we have reaped a pretty good harvest there +already," returned the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Enough to make the matter one of the most puzzling I ever had to do +with," returned the Commissary. "You have heard, I suppose, that we have +arrested the girl Paolina Foscarelli, and the Conte Leandro Lombardoni?"</p> + +<p>"No; but it was a matter of course that you would do so—specially the +girl," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"We could not avoid arresting the Conte also; it is so unaccountable +that he should have been going out of the city, and so near the place of +the crime."</p> + +<p>"What account does he give of the matter himself?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"No very clear one; and he seems to be frightened out of his senses; but +that proves nothing. One man takes a thing coolly, another is so flushed +that you would think he was guilty only to look at him; but there is +little to be judged from such appearances. I don't much think the Conte +had anything to do with it, for my part."</p> + +<p>"What were you asking about at the gate?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought I would just ascertain if any other parties had passed +the gate that same morning," said the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"Others! Have we not enough to make a sufficient puzzle already?" said +Fortini.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; but information is always useful. The men say that they +are quite sure that no other person of any kind whatever passed the gate +either outwards or inwards, during the night till the Conte Leandro +passed in the morning; and then the girl not long afterwards; and then +the Marchesino with the prima donna."</p> + +<p>The lawyer remained plunged in thought for some minutes, as the carriage +rolled over the flat dismal-looking road towards the old church; and +then he said, shaking his head, and pouting out his lips,—"I think we +shall find, Signor Pietro, that that girl has done it. There's nothing a +jealous woman will not do. We shall find, I think, that to have been the +case; that is, if we succeed in finding out anything at all. Perhaps the +most likely thing is that we may never know what hand did the deed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, I hope better things than that. That would not suit our book +at all. We must find it out if we can; and it is early days yet to talk +of being beat. We are not half at the end of our means of investigation +yet, Signor Giovacchino," said the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"It may be that something may be to be picked up at the church here."</p> + +<p>"And then I must go on to the farm-house, where the Marchesino and the +prima donna left their carriage."</p> + +<p>"We'll have a talk with the friars first."</p> + +<p>As Fortini spoke the carriage drew up at the west front of the desolate +old basilica. It was a fine spring morning, and by the time the lawyer +and the Commissary reached the church, the sun had dissipated the mist, +and it was warm and pleasant.</p> + +<p>The great doors of the church stood yawningly open as usual, and the +gate of iron rail was ajar. And at the south-western corner of the +building, just where the sun-ray from the south-west made a sharp line +against the black shadow cast by the western front of the building, an +old Franciscan was sitting; not Father Fabiano, but his sole companion, +Friar Simone, the lay-brother.</p> + +<p>Neither Signor Fortini nor the police Commissary had ever seen the old +guardian of the Basilica; but they were sufficiently instructed in the +details of Franciscan costume to perceive at once that the figure before +them was not a priest, but only a lay-brother.</p> + +<p>"Is there any place, frate, where I can put my horse and carriage under +shelter for half an hour or so?" said the lawyer, as the old friar, +having risen from his seat in the sunshine, came forward towards the +carriage.</p> + +<p>"There is place enough and to spare, Signori," said the old man, +pointing with a languid and wearylike gesture to the huge pile of +half-dilapidated conventual buildings on the southern side of the +church; "you can put horse and carriage as they stand into the old barn +there, without undoing a buckle. I will open the door for your +lordships, if it will hang together so that it can be opened."</p> + +<p>The lawyer and the Commissary dismounted from the carriage, and the +former proceeded to lead his horse into the huge barn of the convent; +while the latter employed himself in observing every detail of the +surrounding localities with those rapid all-seeing and all-remembering +glances that the habits and education of his profession had rendered a +part of his nature, preparatory to the investigations they had both come +to make.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI-5" id="CHAPTER_XI-5"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br /> +In Father Fabiano's Cell</h3> + +<p>"You can enter the Basilica at your pleasure, Signori; the gate is +unlocked," said the lay-brother, indicating the entrance to the church +with a half-formed gesture of his hand, which fell to his side again +when he had half raised it, as if the effort of extending his arm +horizontally had been too much for him. It was a matter of course to him +that any human beings who came to St. Apollinare could have no business +there but to see the old walls, which he, the friar, would have given so +much never to see again.</p> + +<p>"We will do so presently," said Signor Logarini, in reply; "but, in the +first place, we wish to speak with Father Fabiano—he is the custode of +the church, is he not?"</p> + +<p>"Father Fabiano is ill a-bed, Signor; I am only out of my bed since +yesterday, and it is as much as I can do to crawl. There's not many days +in the year, I think, that we are both well; and if we should be both +down together, God help us. It is not just the healthiest place in the +world, this."</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with the padre? Has he been ill long?" asked the +lawyer, with a glance at the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"Since yesterday afternoon. Why, I tell you I was in bed yesterday; he +down, I must turn out. Ah—h—h! it 'll all be over one of these days."</p> + +<p>"But what ails the custode?" asked Signor Logarini again.</p> + +<p>"Fever and ague, I suppose; that is what is always killing both of us +more or less. Pity it is so slow about it!" muttered the lay-brother, +returning to his seat in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>"But I suppose that Father Fabiano is not so ill but that we can speak +with him? It is important that we should do so," said the Commissary, +eyeing the friar with a suspicious glance.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to prevent you or anybody else going to him that +choose to do so—nothing to prevent any one of those cattle doing so, +for that matter. There is neither bolt nor latch; you can go into his +chamber, if you are so minded," returned the lay-brother, rather +surlily.</p> + +<p>"Will you go and tell him that—Signor Fortini from Ravenna wishes to +speak with him, and would be obliged by his permission to come into his +room for a few minutes. We don't wish to disturb him more than is +necessary."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell him—though you might as well go to him yourselves at once +for that matter; it is weary work going up the stairs so often—and I +can hardly crawl."</p> + +<p>And, so saying, the poor old lay-brother tottered off to one of the +numerous doorless entrances of the half-ruined mass of building, and set +himself wearily to climb a small stair, the foot of which was just +within it.</p> + +<p>The lawyer and the Commissary looked at each other; and the latter said, +with a wink at his companion,—"I thought it better, you see, to say +nothing about the Commissary of Police; it would have frightened the old +fellow out of his wits; and it is always time enough to let him know who +we are if he won't speak without. But I know these animals of friars, +Signor Giovacchino, I know them well; and there isn't a man or woman, +townsman or countryman, noble or peasant that I wouldn't rather have to +deal with than a monk or a friar. Let 'em so much as smell the scent of +layman in any position of authority, and it makes 'em as obstinate and +contradictious and contrary as mules, and worse. If this old fellow here +has got anything to hide, you'll see that we shall not be able to get it +out of him."</p> + +<p>"But I don't see what interest or wish he can have to hide anything from +us," said Fortini.</p> + +<p>"N—n—no; one don't see that he should have but one can't be too +suspicious, mio buono Signor Giovacchino," said the police authority; +"and then, what does he mean by being ill?" he added, after a little +thought; "he was well yesterday. It looks me very much as if he did not +want to be questioned."</p> + +<p>"I should not think that he can have much to tell. We shall see whether +his account confirms the story of the girl as to what took place in the +church. But the probability is that that part of her tale is all true +enough. The question is what did she do with herself during all those +hours that elapsed between the time she quitted the church and the time +when she reached her home? And I have little hope that the friar should +be able to throw any light upon that," said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"We shall see; here comes the lay-brother. Ugh! what a life it must be +to live in such a place as this from one year's end to the other; +nothing but a frate could stand it," said the Commissary, looking upon +the desolation around him with infinite disgust.</p> + +<p>"Father Fabiano is not much fit to speak to anybody; the cold fit of the +ague is very strong upon him. But if you choose to go up to him you +can—specially as there is nothing to stop you. He is in the right-hand +cell on the first landing-place up that staircase," said the +lay-brother, feebly pointing to the entrance, from which he had come +out.</p> + +<p>The lawyer and the police official followed the indications thus given +them, and found, as old Simone had said, that there was neither bolt, +lock, nor latch to prevent any creature that could push a door on its +hinges, from entering the little bare-walled room in which the friar lay +beneath a heavy quilted coverlet on a little narrow pallet.</p> + +<p>There was not so much as a single chair in the room. The walls were +clean, and freshly whitewashed; and the brick floor was also clean. +There were a few pegs of deal in the wall on the side of the cell +opposite to the doorway, on which some garments were hanging; and on the +wall facing the bed there was a large, rudely carved, and yet more +rudely painted crucifix. By the side of the bed nearest the door there +hung, on a nail driven into the wall, a copper receptacle for holy +water, the upper part of which was ornamented with a figure of St. +Francis in the act of receiving the "Stigmata," in repousse work, by no +means badly executed. And pasted on the bare wall, immediately above the +pillow of the little bed, was a coloured print of the cheapest and +vilest description, representing the Madonna with the seven legendary +poignards sticking in her bosom, and St. Francis, supported on either +side by a friar of his order, kneeling at her feet.</p> + +<p>These objects formed absolutely the entire furniture of the cell. There +was nothing else whatsoever in the room; neither the smallest fragment +of a looking-glass, nor any means or preparation for ablution +whatsoever.</p> + +<p>The old monk lay on his back in the bed, wit his head propped rather +highly on a hard straw bolster; and the extreme attenuation of his body +was indicated by the very slight degree in which the clothes that +covered him were raised above the level of the bedstead. On the coverlet +upon his chest, there was a rosary of large beads turned out of +box-wood. The parts of each bead nearest to the string and in contact +with each other were black with the undisturbed dirt and dust of many +years. But the protuberant circumference of each wooden ball was +polished to a rich shining orange-colour by the constant handling of the +fingers.</p> + +<p>It seemed both to Signor Fortini and to the Commissary, that there could +be no doubt about it, that the old man was really ill. He was lying in +his frock of thick brown woollen, and the cowl of it was drawn over his +head. He seemed to be suffering from cold, and his teeth were audibly +chattering in his head; and his thin, thin claw-like hands shook as they +clutched his crucifix. His face was lividly pale, and his eyes gleamed +out from under the cowl with a restless feverish brightness.</p> + +<p>That he was ill could hardly be doubted. And it seemed to the lawyer and +the Commissary as well as to the old lay-brother, natural enough to +suppose that a man who fell ill at St. Apollinare was ill with fever and +ague. But whether that were really the nature of his malady, his +visitors had not sufficient medical knowledge to judge; but it was +probable enough that the aged monk had had quite sufficient experience +of fever and ague, to know pretty well himself, whether he were +suffering from that cause or not.</p> + +<p>"We are sorry to find you ill, father," said Fortini; "and though we +have come from Ravenna on purpose to speak with you, we would not have +disturbed you if our business had not been important. Are you suffering +much now?"</p> + +<p>"Not much more than usual," said the sick man, shutting his eyes, while +his pallid lips continued to move, as he muttered to himself an "Ave +Maria."</p> + +<p>"And can you give us your attention for a few minutes?" rejoined the +lawyer.</p> + +<p>"I will answer to your asking as far as I can; but my head is confused, +and I don't remember much clearly about anything. It seems to me as if I +had been lying on this bed for months and months," replied the old +friar.</p> + +<p>"And yet, you know, you were up and well yesterday morning, when you +were with the young girl who came to copy the mosaics, you know, on the +scaffolding in the church?" said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I was with the girl—Paolina Foscarelli, a Venetian—on the +scaffolding. Was it yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday it was that she was here. Yesterday morning. And it is hardly +necessary to ask you if you know what happened here in the Pineta much +about that time, or shortly afterwards. You have heard of the murder, of +course?"</p> + +<p>So violent a trembling seized on the aged man as the lawyer spoke thus, +that he was unable to answer a word. His old hands shook so that he +could hardly hold the beads in his fingers, while his chattering teeth +and trembling lips tried to formulate the words of a prayer.</p> + +<p>"Did you, or did you not hear that a dreadful murder was committed +yesterday morning in the Pineta not far from this place?" said the +Commissary, speaking for the first time, and in a less kindly manner +than the old lawyer had used.</p> + +<p>A redoubled access of teeth-chattering and shivering was for some time +the only result elicited by this question. The old friar shook in every +limb; and the beads of the rosary rattled in his trembling fingers, as +he attempted to pass them on their string in mechanically habitual +accompaniment to the invocations his lips essayed to mutter.</p> + +<p>"It is a terrible thing to speak of truly, father; and we are sorry to +be obliged to distress you by forcing such a subject on your thoughts; +but it is our duty to make these inquiries; and you can tell us the few +facts—they cannot be many or of much importance—which have come to +your knowledge on the subject," said the lawyer, speaking in more gentle +accents.</p> + +<p>"I heard nothing; but I saw," said the aged man, closing his eyes, as if +to shut out the vision which was forced back upon his imagination; and +fumbling nervously with his beads, while his pale blue lips trembled +with mutterings of mechanically repeated ejaculations.</p> + +<p>"Take your time, padre mio," said the lawyer gently, making a gesture +with his raised band, at the same time, to repress the less patient +eagerness of the Commissary of Police; "we do not want to hurry you. +Tell us what it was that you saw."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII-5" id="CHAPTER_XII-5"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br /> +The Case against Paolina</h3> + +<p>The old friar opened his haggard eyes, which gleamed out with a feverish +light from the bottom of their sockets, and from under the shadow of his +cowl, and looked piteously up into the lawyer's face. "A little time—a +moment to collect my thoughts," he said, passing his parched tongue over +the still dryer parchment-like skin of his drawn lips, and painfully +swaying his cowled head from one side of the hard pillow to the other, +while large drops of perspiration gathered on his brow.</p> + +<p>The Commissary shot a meaning glance across the pallet on which the old +man lay, to the lawyer, in evident anticipation of the importance of the +revelation, heralded by so much of painful emotion.</p> + +<p>"By all means, padre mio; collect your thoughts. We are sorry for the +necessity which obliges us to force your mind back on such painful +ones," said the lawyer, laying his hand on that of the friar, which was +still fumbling with the shining bog-wood beads, scarcely more yellow +than the claw-like fingers which held them. "You saw—?"</p> + +<p>Still no reply came from the old friar's lips. He writhed his body in +the bed, and the manifestation of his agony became more and more +intense. The eager impatient air of the Commissary changed itself into +one of persistent dogged determination; and he quietly drew from his +pocket a note-book and the means of writing in it.</p> + +<p>"Now, father, you will be able to tell us what you saw?" said the lawyer +in a soothing coaxing voice.</p> + +<p>"I saw," said the old friar at length, speaking with his eyes again +closed—"I saw the dead body of the woman who had passed the church +towards the Pineta in the morning, brought back by six men from the +forest. They passed by the western front of the church, and I saw that +the body was the body of the woman I speak of."</p> + +<p>The Commissary shut up his note-book with a gesture of provoked +disappointment, and shrugged his shoulders impatiently.</p> + +<p>"If that is all you have to tell us, frate, you need not have made so +much difficulty about it," he said; "we knew all that before, and need +not have come here to be told it. Plenty of people saw the bringing in +from the forest of the body of the murdered woman, and would give +evidence to the fact without making so much ado about it. Is that all +you saw?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not see," said the lawyer, again motioning his companion to be +patient; "did you not see another young woman in the forest yesterday +morning?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the forest," replied the friar without any difficulty. "Not in +the forest; I saw another young woman here yesterday, but it was in the +church. She came here to make copies of some of the mosaics. I had been +previously told to expect such an one."</p> + +<p>"Did she come to the church before the time when you saw the other lady +pass towards the forest?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Yes; about half an hour or more before," answered the friar.</p> + +<p>"And where was she when the second lady passed, going towards the +Pineta?" asked the lawyer again.</p> + +<p>"She was on the scaffolding in the church, which had been prepared for +her to make her copies of the mosaics."</p> + +<p>"Do you know whether she saw, or was aware that the second lady had +passed the church to go towards the Pineta?"</p> + +<p>"I know that she was aware of it; I was with her on the scaffolding. We +both together saw the woman who was afterwards brought back dead pass in +a bagarino with the Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare, towards the +Pineta."</p> + +<p>The lawyer looked hard at the Commissary; and the latter in obedience, +as it seemed, to the look, took out his note-book again, and made a note +of the declaration.</p> + +<p>"And what did the young lady who came to copy the mosaics do afterwards? +Where did you part with her?" resumed the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"She left the church, and walked in the direction of the forest. I +parted from her at the door of the church."</p> + +<p>"And did you see her any more in the course of that morning?" asked the +lawyer again.</p> + +<p>"I did not: I saw her no more from that time to this," replied the +friar. During the whole of this interrogation, he had appeared far less +distressed and disturbed than he had been before speaking of his having +seen the body of La Bianca carried past the church towards the city. He +had answered all the questions concerning Paolina readily and without +hesitation.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we need trouble you any further, frate," said the +Commissary. "I hope that you will soon get over your touch of fever; and +then, if we need you, there will be no difficulty in your attending, +when wanted, in the city. I don't see, that there is anything more to be +got at present," he added, addressing the lawyer.</p> + +<p>So the two visitors bade the friar adieu, and went down the stairs on to +the open piazza in front of the church.</p> + +<p>"Does that fellow know anything more than he tells us?" said the +Commissary, as they stepped out of the narrow entry on to the green +sward of the piazza.</p> + +<p>"I fancy not; I don't see much what he is at all likely to know," +replied the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Nor I; but his manner was so remarkable. One would have said that he +was conscious of having committed the murder himself. In all my +experience I never saw a man so hard put to it to tell a plain and +simple fact."</p> + +<p>"Well, the poor old fellow is ill, you see. And then, no doubt, the +sight of the body brought back out of the forest made a terrible +impression on him. The extreme seclusion, tranquillity, and monotony of +his life here, the absence from year's end to year's end of any sort of +emotion of any kind, would naturally have the result of increasing the +painful effect which such an event and such a sight would have upon him. +My own notion is that there is nothing further to be got out of him."</p> + +<p>"There is our friend the lay-brother sitting in the sunshine just where +we left him. We might as well just see what he can tell us before going +back to the city."</p> + +<p>"He seems very ill, the padre," pursued the Commissary, addressing +himself to brother Simone, as he and the lawyer lounged up to the spot +where he was sitting; "the fever must have laid hold of him very +suddenly; for it seems he was well enough yesterday morning."</p> + +<p>"That is the way with the maledetto morbo," returned the lay-brother; +"one hour you are well—as well, that is to say, as one can ever be in +such a place as this—and the next you are down on your back shivering +and burning like—like the poor souls in purgatory. Doubtless the more +of it one has had, the less there is to come. That's the only comfort."</p> + +<p>"The padre's mind seems to have been very painfully affected by the +sight of the body of the woman, who was murdered in the forest, as it +was being carried back to the city. Did you see it too?" asked the +lawyer, observing the friar narrowly, as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Si, Signor, I saw it too, and a piteous sight it was. Father Fabiano +and I were both out here on the piazza when the body was carried past. +For I was just coming from the belfry yonder, where I had been to ring +Compline; and the padre was at the same time coming out of the church, +where he had been as usual with him at that hour, at his devotions +before the altar of the Saint."</p> + +<p>"Then at the hour of Compline the father had not yet been taken ill?" +observed the Commissary. "Scusi, Signor; I think he had been struck by +the fever at that time. He fell a-shivering and a-shaking so that he +could hardly stand, when the body was carried past. But that is the way +the mischief always begins. Ah, there's never a doctor knows it better +than I do, and no wonder."</p> + +<p>"You don't think then," said the lawyer, "that it was the sight of the +dead body that moved him so?"</p> + +<p>"Why should it?" said the lay-brother, in the true spirit of monastic +philosophy; "why should it? all flesh is grass; there is nothing so +strange in death. He sighed and groaned a deal, but that is often Father +Fabiano's way when he comes out from his exercises in the church. He +seemed as if he could hardly stand on his legs: but, bless you, that was +the fever. He took to his bed as soon as ever the men carrying the body +were out of sight. He's an old man is Father Fabiano."</p> + +<p>"Where had he been all the time between the time when the painter lady +left the church, and the hour of Compline?" asked the Commissary, who +had been busily thinking during the lay-brother's moralizings.</p> + +<p>"Ever since a little after the Angelus he had been on his knees at the +altar of St. Apollinare, according to his custom. He told me so, when he +came to give me my potion; for I was down with the fever yesterday +morning."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where he was before the Angelus?" returned the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"He had to ring the Angelus himself, seeing that I was down with the +fever. And he came back to the convent in a hurry, fearing that he was +too late. There's very little doubt that it was heating himself that way +that made the fever take hold of him."</p> + +<p>"Where was he hurrying back from, then? Where had he been?" asked the +Commissary, endeavouring to hide his eagerness for the reply to this +question under a semblance of carelessness.</p> + +<p>"He told me, when he came to my cell, that he had been into the forest; +and it was plain to see that the walk had been too much for him; he's +too old for moving much now, is Father Fabiano."</p> + +<p>"He had been into the forest; and when he came back at the hour of the +Angelus, he seemed quite overcome by his walk?" said the Commissary, +recapitulating, and taking out his note-book as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he did; so much so, that as I lay on my bed and listened to the +Angelus bell a-going, I thought to myself that the old man had hardly +the strength to pull the rope," said the lay-brother.</p> + +<p>"Hardly strength to pull the rope," repeated the Commissary, as he +completed the note he was scribbling in his note-book. "Well, I hope he +will soon get over his attack of fever. I think we need not trouble you +any further at present, frate—what is your name, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Simone, by the mercy of God, lay-brother of the terz' ordine—"</p> + +<p>"That will do, frate Simone," interrupted the Commissary, adding a word +to the entry in his note-book. "Now, Signor Giovacchino, if you are +ready, I think we may get your carriage out of the barn and go back to +Ravenna."</p> + +<p>"We have not got much for our pains, I am afraid," said the lawyer to +the Commissary of police as they began to leave the Basilica behind them +on their way back to the city.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said the Commissary, who was apparently too much absorbed in +his own meditations to be in a mood for conversation.</p> + +<p>"Signor Giovacchino," he said, suddenly, after they had traversed nearly +half their short journey in silence, "my belief is that your young +friend the Marchese has no hand in this matter."</p> + +<p>"I am convinced he had not," said the lawyer, who was, however, very far +from having reached any conviction of the kind; "but what we want is +some such probable theory on the subject as shall compete successfully +with the theory of his guilt in the matter."</p> + +<p>"That theory—shall I give it you? It is not only a theory; it is my +firm belief as to the facts of the case."</p> + +<p>"You suspect—"</p> + +<p>"I more than suspect—I am very strongly persuaded that this murder has +been committed by the girl Paolina Foscarelli."</p> + +<p>"My own notion—"</p> + +<p>"Look here, this is how it has been. The Marchese Ludovico has made love +to this girl—has made her in love with him—taking the matter au grand +serieux, in the way girls will—specially, I am told, it is the way, +with those Venetian women. Well, by ill chance, as the devil would have +it, she sees her lover starting on a tete-a-tete expedition into the +Pineta with this other girl—just the woman of all others in the world, +as I am given to understand, to be a dangerous rival, and to excite a +deadly jealousy. This much we have in evidence. Further, we know that +the girl Paolina was expected to return from her expedition to St. +Apollinare early in the morning—say at nine o'clock, or +thereabouts—whereas she did not return till several hours afterwards. +In addition to all this, we have now ascertained that when she left the +church she did not set out on her return towards the city, as she might +naturally be expected to have done; but, on the contrary, went in the +direction of the Pineta. Then, assuming the story, told by the Marchese +to be true, we know that, about the very time that this Paolina was +entering the forest, her rival was lying asleep and alone there in the +immediate neighbourhood. We know that the means adopted for the +perpetration of the crime were such as to be quite within a woman's +physical power, and that the weapon used for the purpose such as a woman +may much more readily be supposed to have about her than a man; what do +you say to that as a theory of the facts? Is not the evidence +overpoweringly strong against this Venetian?"</p> + +<p>"Of course my own attention had been called to the case of suspicion +against her. But I confess I had not been struck by the last +circumstance you mention; and it seems to me a very strong one. How can +it be supposed that a man—a man like the Marchese Ludovico—should +chance to have a needle about him? The case of suspicion against him, +mark, altogether excludes the notion that he went out prepared to take +the life of this unfortunate woman. It is suggested that he put her to +death in order to escape from the ruin that would have ensued from his +uncle's marriage with her. No other possible motive for such a deed can +be conceived. But he knew nothing of any such purpose on the part of the +Marchese till the girl herself told him of it as they were driving +together to the forest. Therefore, he had not come out prepared with a +needle for the purpose of committing murder. Neither, it is true, does +the theory we are considering suppose that Paolina came out prepared to +do such a deed. But the weapon used is a needle. Is it more likely that +a man or that a woman should have by chance such an article about them? +I confess it seems to me that this circumstance alone is sufficient to +turn the scale of the probabilities unmistakably."</p> + +<p>"But that is not all," said the Commissary, laying his finger +impressively on the lawyer's sleeve; "my belief is that that old friar, +padre Fabiano, is aware of the fact that the murder was committed by +Paolina Foscarelli. I am not disposed to think that he had any hand in +the doing of the deed; but I think the he has a knowledge of her guilt. +He is ill now, doubtless; but I do not believe that he is suffering from +fever and ague. He is suffering from the emotions of horror and terror. +We know that he was in the Pineta much about the time at which the +murder must have been committed, and very near the spot where it must +have been committed. And he comes back in a state of terrible emotion +and consternation. His manner in speaking to us to-day you must have +observed. I have no belief in an old friar being so terribly impressed +by the mere sight of a dead body."</p> + +<p>"That is all true," said the lawyer, nodding his head up and down +several times; "and the circumstances do seem to point to the +probability of your conclusion; but—"</p> + +<p>"But why, you will say, should the old man, if he has a merely innocent +knowledge of that which I suspect him to know, refuse to tell the whole +truth simply as he knows it? I will tell you why not. In the first +place, if you had had as much experience of monks, and friars, and nuns, +as I have, you would know that it is next to impossible to induce them +ever to give information to justice of any facts which it is possible +for them to conceal. It seems to them, I fancy, like recognizing a lay +authority in a manner they don't like. They will communicate nothing to +you if they can help it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's true. I know that is the nature of them," assented the +lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Then, observe, this Father Fabiano is a Venetian, a fellow-citizen of +the girl. You know how the Venetians hold together. You may feel quite +sure that if he did know her to be guilty of a crime, he would screen +her to the utmost of his power. Of course I have not done with him yet. +Tutt' altro. We must have an account of that morning stroll in the +Pineta from the old gentleman's own lips. Meantime, I do not think that +we need consider our trip to-day to have been altogether thrown away."</p> + +<p>"Very far from it. Very far from it, indeed. Honestly, I think that you +have hit the nail on the head, Signor Pietro. There is nothing like the +practical experience of you gentlemen of the police, who pass your lives +in playing at who-is-the-sharpest with the most astute of human beings."</p> + +<p>"And beating them at their own game," said the Commissary, +self-complacently. "If that murder was not committed by Paolina +Foscarelli, I will give you or anybody else leave to call me a +blockhead."</p> + +<p>And therewith Signor Fortini and his companion drove under the old +archway of the Porta Nuova and entered the city.</p> + +<h2><a name="BOOK_VI" id="BOOK_VI"></a>BOOK VI<br /><br /> +Poena Pede Claudo</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I-6" id="CHAPTER_I-6"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> +Signor Fortini receives the Signora Steno in his Studio</h3> + +<p>It was the end of the first week in Lent; and all Ravenna was still +busily engaged in talking, thinking, and speculating on the mysterious +crime that had been committed on Ash Wednesday morning in the Pineta. +The excitement on the subject, indeed, was greater now than it had been +immediately after the event. For, by this time, everybody in Ravenna +knew all that anybody knew on the subject; the manner, time, and place +of the murder, and the different competing theories which had been +started to account for it, and with the conflicting probabilities of +which the judicial authorities were known to be occupying themselves.</p> + +<p>These, as the reader knows, were three; based, in each case, on the fact +that the suspected person was known, or was supposed to be known, to +have been at, or near, to the spot where the crime was committed at the +time when it had been committed.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Ludovico was indisputably known; on his own confession, to +have been in the immediate neighbourhood of the spot at the time when +the murder must have been done.</p> + +<p>Paolina Foscarelli was equally indubitably, and by her own confession, +not far off from the neighbourhood of the spot at the same time.</p> + +<p>Of the Conte Leandro Lombardoni it was known only that he had passed out +of the city gate leading in the same direction, at a time which might +have enabled him to be present where the deed was done, at the hour when +it must have been done. The evidence as to propinquity to the place was +less strong in his case than in that of either of the others; but it was +supplemented by the unaccountable strangeness of his passing out of the +Porta Nuova towards the Pineta at such an hour, and on that particular +morning.</p> + +<p>The Marchese Ludovico stated that he went thither for the purpose of +showing the Pineta to the prima donna, who had never seen it. And there +was nothing incredible or greatly improbable in the statement.</p> + +<p>Paolina declared that she had gone to St. Apollinare in pursuit of her +professional business. And the declaration was not only very probable in +itself, but could be shown by evidence to be true. Only, while it +accounted for her presence in the church of St. Apollinare, it left her +departure from the church with her face turned, not towards the city, +but towards the Pineta, unaccounted for.</p> + +<p>In the case of the Conte Leandro, it was difficult to imagine the motive +that could have induced him to leave the city at that hour, in the +manner in which he was proved, by the testimony of the men at the gate, +to have done. And he gave no assistance himself towards arriving at any +satisfactory explanation of so strange a circumstance. He was unable, or +unwilling, to account in any way for his conduct on that Ash Wednesday +morning.</p> + +<p>"He had thought it pleasanter to take a walk that fine morning, than to +go to bed after the ball."</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more unlike the usual known habits and tastes of the +Conte Leandro, than such a freak. But supposing such a whim to have +occurred to him, would he have set out on his walk evidently intending +to be disguised—with a cloak wrapped round the fantastic costume in +which he had been at the ball? Was such a supposition in any wise +credible, or admissible?</p> + +<p>In each of the three cases there seemed also to be a motive for the deed +that might be deemed sufficient to have led to it; and from which +neither of the parties suspected could show that they were free.</p> + +<p>In the case of the Marchese Ludovico, it was the terrible temptation of +delivering his family name from ridicule and disgrace, and himself from +the prospect of absolute beggary.</p> + +<p>In the case of Paolina, it was the madness of woman's jealousy, wrought +to a pitch of desperation by circumstances similar to such as had ere +now produced many a similar tragedy.</p> + +<p>In the case of the Conte Leandro, it was the cruel mortification of a +man whose monstrous vanity was notorious to the whole city.</p> + +<p>These were the three hypotheses between which the possibilities of the +case seemed to lie to those whose position or means of information gave +them any real knowledge of the facts. But there was a section of the +outside public which had set up for itself and preferred yet a fourth +theory—namely, that the prima donna had committed suicide. The holders +of this opinion were mainly women; and at the head of them; was the +Signora Orsola Steno. In an agony of grief, indignation, and despair at +the accusation brought against her adopted child, and the arrest by +which it had been followed up, she loudly maintained her own conviction +that the evil and wicked woman had brought her career to a fitting close +by putting herself to death.</p> + +<p>"Likely enough she may have endeavoured to entrap the Marchese Lamberto; +but not very likely," old Orsola thought, "that that exemplary nobleman +should have been caught by her wiles. Likely enough she may have plotted +to play her last card, by giving the Marchese Ludovico to understand, +that the only way to avoid the ruin which would fall upon him by her +becoming his uncle's wife, was to take her himself. How any such +overtures would be received by the noble Marchese Ludovico, all Ravenna +ought to know; and at all events she, Orsola Steno, knew surely enough. +And upon that rebuff, and utter failure of her last hope despair had +come upon the wretched creature, as well it might, and she had put an +end to herself."</p> + +<p>To her, Orsola Steno, the case was clear: and she only wondered that +anybody could be so blind as not to see it.</p> + +<p>But what if such a supposition were simply inconsistent with the known +facts? What if it were simply impossible that any person should inflict +on themselves such an injury as that which it was evident the murdered +woman had sustained; and more impossible still that they should have +been able to adopt the means for concealing the wound which the assassin +had adopted? What if such was the perfectly unhesitating judgment and +declaration of the medical authorities? Such people as Orsola Steno, and +those who shared her opinion, are ordinarily impervious to any such +reasoning. It is remarkable that, in any case of doubt or circumstances +of suspicion, the popular mind—or, at all events, the Italian popular +mind—is specially disposed to mistrust the medical profession. They +suspect error exactly where scientific certainty is the most perfect, +and deception precisely in those who have the least possible imaginable +motive for deceiving. Probably it may be because the grounds and means +of the knowledge they mistrust are more wholly, than in any other case, +beyond the sphere of their own conceptions.</p> + +<p>When old Orsola Steno was told that the doctors declared that it was not +within the bounds of possibility that La Bianca should have put herself +to death in the manner in which she had been put to death, nothing could +exceed the profundity of the contempt with which she sneered in reply:</p> + +<p>"Ah! they'll say anything to make out that they know more than other +folks, and, maybe, they often know a deal less. Don't tell me. How +should they know what a woman will do when she is driven? I know what +women are, and I know what them doctors are; and you may believe that an +old woman, who has been a young one, knows more what such an one as that +Bianca can do, when she has no hope before her, than all the doctors."</p> + +<p>"But it is impossible—physically impossible that she could have done +it."</p> + +<p>"Ta, ta, ta, ta! Physic, indeed; what's physic got to do with it? I +should like to physic them that try to throw suspicion on a poor +innocent girl all to make out their own cleverness."</p> + +<p>So Signora Orsola victoriously, and to the great increase of her +confidence in her own powers of insight, continued to hold her own +opinion, and it was shared by many other similarly-constituted minds.</p> + +<p>The old Venetian woman had lived a very quiet life in the strange city +to which fate had brought her, making but few acquaintances, and holding +but little intercourse with those few; but now, under the terrible +misfortune which had happened, she was stirred up to activity in every +way in which activity was possible to her. She went to the Palazzo +Castelmare and endeavoured to see the Marchese Lamberto in vain. She was +told that the Marchese was ill, and could not see any one.</p> + +<p>She went to the Contessa Violante, of whose acquaintanceship with +Paolina she was aware, though she had never before seen her, and, oddly +enough, the Contessa Violante was disposed to share, or to become a +convert to, her own opinion respecting the mode of Bianca's death. The +young Contessa was, doubtless as ignorant of all such matters as old +Orsola could be. Her education had been entirely conventual, and those +who dwell in the inner sanctums and fortresses of the Church have a +curiously instinctive aversion to the certainties and investigations of +medical—especially of surgical—science; and the Contessa Violante was, +perhaps, hence prepared to vilipend and set at naught the dicta of the +scientific authorities.</p> + +<p>It was likely that her mind was also warped by the conceptions of what +were probable, likely to be providential, and even suitable, in the case +of such a person as the deceased singer. Of course, the whole life of +such an one was, to the Contessa Violante, a thing abominable and +accursed in the eyes of Heaven. It was more strange that all others, who +led similar lives, and were engaged in such a profession, should not +make an evil end of themselves than that one such should do so.</p> + +<p>The Contessa Violante, therefore, was disposed to share the conviction +of her visitor, as she most sincerely and cordially sympathised with her +in her affliction. To her, also, it was wholly impossible to believe +that Paolina had done this thing; nor was it credible to her that +Ludovico should be guilty of such a deed. Of the three persons accused +she would have found it more possible to believe in the guilt of the +Conte Leandro; but, on the whole, she preferred to avoid the necessity +of assuming that either of the accused were guilty by admitting the +hypothesis of Signora Orsola.</p> + +<p>"And if you will take my advice, Signora, I think that the best thing +you could do would be to go to Signor Fortini, the lawyer, who is +interested in the matter on account of being the lawyer of the +Castelmare family. I have always heard him spoken of as an upright and +respectable man. I have heard my uncle speak well of him. If I were you +I would go and talk to him; you will very easily find out where his +studio is. Go and tell him who you are, and what your interest in the +matter is, and I have no doubt but that he will receive you kindly and +listen to what you have to say."</p> + +<p>And Signora Orsola took the Contessa Violante's advice, and went +directly to the lawyer's studio in the little cloister under the walls +of the cathedral, on leaving her adviser. As Violante had said, she had +no difficulty whatever in finding it.</p> + +<p>The lawyer was at home, and Signora Orsola was at once ushered into the +inner studio, which has been described in a former chapter.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini was, to all appearances, entirely unoccupied; but it is +probable that his mind was fully employed in striving to see his way +through some portion of the difficulties that hedged about on all sides +the subject on which, more or less, all Ravenna was intent. He was +sitting before his table, thickly covered with papers; but had thrown +himself back in his leather-covered arm-chair, and was grasping his +stubbly chin with one hand, the elbow belonging to which rested on the +arm of his chair, while the dark eyes, shining out beneath his +contracted forehead, were fixed on the ceiling of the little room.</p> + +<p>"Signora Orsola Steno," he said, as he half rose, and courteously +offered his visitor a seat by the side of the table, so placed as to be +fronting his own, while the sitter in it was exactly in a line between +him and the window.</p> + +<p>"Sua Signoria mi conosce. Your lordship knows me, then," said the old +woman, whose surprise at finding herself thus recognized sufficed to put +altogether out of her head all the carefully arranged opening of her +interview with the lawyer which she had taken much pains to prepare.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini had, in truth, never seen the old woman, and had scarcely +ever heard of her before the terrible event, which was now bringing her +into his presence. But her name, the nature of her connection with +Paolina, and very many other particulars concerning her had become known +to the lawyer in the course of the investigations which that event had +imposed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Sufficiently, Signora, though I never had the pleasure of speaking to +you before, to be aware of the nature of the business which has induced +you to favour me with this visit," replied the lawyer, with grave +courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, Signor Dottore, I hope you will excuse—"</p> + +<p>"There is not the smallest need for any apology, Signora. Anzi—I am +very glad that you should have thought it well to call on me; I shall be +most happy to hear anything that you may wish to say to me."</p> + +<p>"You are very polite, Signor Dottore, I am sure," said the old woman, +hesitatingly; for she was alarmed at the idea, which the lawyer's +courtesy had suggested to her cautious mind, that she might be supposed +to be engaging his professional services, and might thus find herself, +before she was aware of it, involved in expenses which she had no means +of meeting, and no intention of incurring; "you are extremely polite, +but—you see, Signor, it is best to speak plainly—I am a very poor +woman; and I have not the means—and I am sure—perhaps I ought not to +have troubled sua Signoria; but it was the Contessa Violante who advised +me to come to you."</p> + +<p>"Indeed; I am beholden to the Signora Contessa Violante. As you say most +judiciously, Signora, it is best to speak quite plainly. With regard to +any professional services, which it might be otherwise in my power to +render you, it is necessary to say at once that I am engaged in this +most unhappy business on the behalf of my old client and friend the +Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare. There can be no question, therefore, of +any professional remuneration to me in the matter from any other +quarter. Anything that may pass between us," he continued, perceiving +that his visitor had not fully comprehended what he sought to convey to +her, "must be of the nature of private conversation, and will not entail +on you," he added, yet more plainly with a good-humoured smile, and +putting his hand on her sleeve as he spoke, "any possible expense +whatever."</p> + +<p>"Thank you kindly, sir; and, truth to say, it is not so much that I +wanted to ask you to say or to do anything, as only just not to say what +a many people in this city are wicked enough to say and to think," said +old Orsola, much re-assured, and persuaded that she was approaching the +business in hand in the most cautious and clever manner imaginable.</p> + +<p>"I hope, Signora, that I shall not say anything which it is wicked to +say; but what is it that people are wicked enough to say?" rejoined the +lawyer, who knew now perfectly well what the wicked saying was.</p> + +<p>"Why they say, Signor Dottore—some of them—some of them are wicked +enough to say that that dear blessed child has—it is enough to blister +one's tongue to say it—has done that dreadful thing; Santa Maria abbia +misericordia—that murder in the forest. O Dio mio! Why—"</p> + +<p>"Is she any relative of yours, Signora, the Signorina Paolina +Foscarelli?" asked the lawyer, quietly.</p> + +<p>"No relative by blood, Signor; but she is the same to me as a daughter. +I took her when she was left an orphan—"</p> + +<p>"And she has lived with you ever since?"</p> + +<p>"Ever since she has lived with me as if she was my own, Signor; and if +anybody in the world ever knew another, I know her; and, bless your +heart, she isn't capable of lifting her hand against a fly, let alone a +Christian. There never was such wicked nonsense talked in this world +since world it was; and I'm told, Signor Dottore, that you have said +that she had been the one as did this deed; and—"</p> + +<p>"Stop, stop, my good Signora Orsola! Are you aware that you are accusing +me of being guilty of punishable defamation and slander? I say that the +Signorina Paolina Foscarelli committed murder? Who on earth could ever +have told you so monstrous an untruth? Allow me to assure you that I +never said anything of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Signor Dottore, I am so glad to hear you say so. What lies people +do tell, to be sure; I am sure it was a very good thought of the +Contessa Violante to tell me to come to you; and since you say that the +poor child is innocent, as innocent she is, as the child unborn—"</p> + +<p>"Stay, Signora, stay; you go too fast—somewhat too fast. Unhappily, I +am by no means in a condition to say that your young friend is innocent +of this crime; appearances, it must be admitted, are very much against +her; we must hope that they can be explained. I accuse no one; it is not +my province to do so."</p> + +<p>"But you don't think the judges will believe that my child could have +done such a thing? If they only knew her! You don't think that, do you, +Signor Dottore?" said the poor woman, with a voice and manner of piteous +appeal.</p> + +<p>"They will judge according to the evidence and the probabilities of the +case. It is impossible to say as yet to what conclusion these may seem +to point. The Marchese Ludovico is an acquaintance of yours and of the +Signorina Paolina, is he not?"</p> + +<p>"An acquaintance? why they are engaged to be married," almost shrieked +poor Signora Orsola; "has not your lordship heard that they are engaged +to be married?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed! and you are acquainted with the Contessa Violante too. Do you +know whether her ladyship is aware of the engagement you speak of? I +ask, because she is an old friend of the Marchese Ludovico."</p> + +<p>"To be sure she is aware of it. She and Paolina have often talked it +over together. Altro che, aware of it."</p> + +<p>"Humph," said the lawyer thoughtfully; and then remained silent for a +minute or two, while old Orsola looked at him wistfully.</p> + +<p>"It must be very terrible to you then, Signora, to think that the +Marchese should be suspected of this shocking crime, since you have such +reason to feel an interest in him," said he at last, looking up suddenly +at his companion.</p> + +<p>"Lord bless your heart," exclaimed the old woman in reply; "the Marchese +never did nothing of the sort, no more than my poor innocent lamb did +it. Nothing of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, then, you would not mind saying who did do it," said the +lawyer; "since you seem to know all about it."</p> + +<p>"Why she did it herself to be sure. It is a wonder anybody should doubt +it. And a like enough end for such a baggage to come to," said Signora +Orsola, with much bitterness.</p> + +<p>"You do not seem to have been among the admirers of the Signora Bianca," +said the lawyer, with a furtively shrewd look at the old woman.</p> + +<p>"Admirers, indeed! She had too many admirers, I am thinking. A +good-for-nothing, impudent, brazen—well, she has gone to her account, +so I won't be the one to speak ill of her."</p> + +<p>"You seem to have had considerable opportunities of becoming acquainted +with her character, Signora Orsola. Had you much acquaintance with her?"</p> + +<p>"I never saw her but once in my life, and that was at the theatre on the +last Sunday night of Carnival. The Marchese had given us a box."</p> + +<p>"And it was upon that occasion then, that she impressed you so +unfavourably. The Signorina Paolina I suppose was with you at the +theatre?"</p> + +<p>"Of course she was. Would it be likely, I ask you, Signor Dottore, that +the Marchese took the box for me?"</p> + +<p>"And no doubt the Signorina Foscarelli was impressed by the actress in +the same manner that you yourself were."</p> + +<p>"Of course she was, as any other decent young woman would have been; let +alone being, as Paolina is, engaged to be married to the Marchese."</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt, Signora, that your remarks are perfectly just. If the +manners and conduct of the young women now-a-days were regulated a +little more in conformity with the ideas of such persons of discretion +as yourself, the world would be all the better for it. But I don't quite +see how the behaviour of the prima donna on the stage could have had +anything to do with the circumstance of the Marchese Ludovico's +engagement to the Signorina Foscarelli," said the lawyer, with the most +demure innocence of manner.</p> + +<p>"You don't see it, Signor Dottore. Perhaps you were not in the theatre +that night. If you had been you would have seen it fast enough. The way +she went on, when the Marchese Ludovico was a-giving her a lovely +nosegay of flowers—hothouse flowers, if you please—as big pretty near +as this table; not just a-throwing them on to the stage the way I've +seen 'em do it many a time at the Fenice; but putting them into her +hand; and she, the minx a coming up to the box to take 'em before all +the people as bold as brass."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see? The Signorina Foscarelli naturally did not quite like that," +said the lawyer, encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"Like it! Who would have liked it in her place, I ask you? And that +painted hussy a-going on they way she did; making such eyes at him, and +smiling and a-pressing her hand to her bosom, that was just as naked as +my face; and looking for all the world if she could have jumped right +into the box, and eaten him up. Like it, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"No doubt it was provoking enough. And your adopted daughter, Signora +Steno, would not be the right-minded and well-brought-up girl I take her +to be, if she did not express to you her disgust at such goings on," +said the sympathizing lawyer.</p> + +<p>"You may say that. She expressed it plain enough and not to me only, but +to the Marchese himself well, when she saw him afterwards. She let him +know what she thought of the painted huzzy. And she told him, too, some +more of the truth. She told him that the creature knew well enough what +she was doing, or trying to do. The way she looked straight up at my +poor child in the box, where we were, was enough to make the blood +curdle in your veins. If ever I saw a face look hatred, it was the face +of that woman when she looked up at our box. She looked at the poor +child as if she could have taken her heart's blood. She did. Ah! bless +your heart, she knew all about it. Talk of the old Marchese, indeed. +Yes; the creature had set her mind upon being Marchesa di Castelmare. +Not a doubt of it; but it was the nephew she wanted, not the uncle; and +she knew that my Paolina stood in the way of her scheming; and Paolina +knew that she knew it."</p> + +<p>Old Orsola paused, out of breath with the length and vehemence of the +tirade, which her feelings had prompted her to utter with crescendo +violence. She was verbose; but the lawyer had listened with the most +perfect patience and unflagging attention to every word she had uttered.</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed, clear enough," he said, shaking his head, "that between +two women so situated with reference to each other, there could have +been no very kindly feeling. And it must be confessed that this +unfortunate Bianca Lalli was, by all accounts, just the sort of woman +that was likely to be a very dangerous rival."</p> + +<p>"She; a common, impudent, low-lived, brazen-faced, worn-out Jezebel. No; +not where my Paolina stood on the other side. She couldn't take the +Marchese away from her with all her arts. And that's why she went and +put an end to herself. But she's gone—she's gone, where her painted +face and her lures won't be of any more service to her. And so I won't +say any evil of her. Not I. It's a good rule that tells us to speak well +of the dead. Ave, Maria gratia plena, ora pro nobis, nunc et in hora +mortis nostrae," said the old woman, crossing herself and casting up her +eyes in attestation of the Christian nature of her sentiments.</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said the lawyer, piously, while he waited to see if the +exuberance of his visitor's feelings would lead her to throw any further +light on the state of feeling that had existed between Paolina +Foscarelli and the murdered woman.</p> + +<p>"I always say and think, for my part," continued the old woman, +perceiving that her companion sat silent, as if expecting her to +continue the conversation; "I always think that the blessed Virgin knows +what's best for us. Maybe it's just as well that that poor miserable +creature did as she did. For we all know what men are, Signore Dottore; +and there's no saying what hold she might have got upon the Marchese."</p> + +<p>"And no doubt that is the feeling of our young friend Signorina +Foscarelli?" said the sympathetic lawyer.</p> + +<p>"To be sure,—to be sure it is," said the old woman, meaning to credit +Paolina with the piety she had understood herself to have expressed; +"she did take a mortal aversion and dislike to the woman, and small +blame to her. But now she is gone, Paolina is no more likely to say +anything against her than I am myself."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, quite so. And I hope the magistrates may take the same view +of the circumstances, that you have so judiciously expressed, Signora," +said the lawyer, who was abundantly contented with the result of his +interview with the Signora Steno, as it stood, and did not see any +further necessity for prolonging it. "You may tell the Contessa +Violante, if you should see her, that I am much obliged to her for +having sent you to me," he added, as he rose to open the door of his +sanctum for the old lady; "Beppo, open the door for the Signora Steno. +Farewell, Signora, we shall meet again."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II-6" id="CHAPTER_II-6"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> +Was it Paolina after all?</h3> + +<p>Orsola Steno quitted the lawyer's studio as entirely contented with the +result of her interview as she left him. She doubted not that she had +fully impressed him with her own conviction as to the explanation of the +mysterious circumstances of the singer's death; that Paolina's innocence +would be readily recognized; and that her adopted daughter would shortly +be restored to her in the Via di Sta. Eufemia.</p> + +<p>The lawyer remained for some time seated in his chair in deep thought +after his visitor had left him.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he let his open hand fall heavily with a loud clap on the table +before him, disturbing the papers on it from their places, and causing +the fine blue sand, which stood in an open wooden basin for the purpose +of doing the office of blotting-paper, to be spilled in all directions +by the concussion, and said aloud, "By God! That girl has done it!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, talk of the passions of men," he went on, in a lower muttering +voice, after some further moments of meditation; "they are nothing—they +are child's play compared to the blind animal-like impulses that force a +woman's will into their service when any of the master passions of the +sex are touched. A woman's jealousy; it is as plain as the sun at +noonday. And we are puzzling our brains looking on this side and on +that, to find a possible explanation of the facts. Talk of a tigress and +her whelps! There's a young girl who looks as innocent as a St. Agnes, +and speaks as if butter would not melt in her mouth. Take—threaten to +take—her lover from her, and she turns upon you like a scorpion at bay. +Furens quid foemina possit. Ay indeed. And they are all alike. That old +woman there; why she was ready, with all her 'Ave Marias' and 'Ora pro +nobis,' to kill the woman again if she were not killed already, out of +pure sympathy with the wrong done to her adopted daughter. I don't think +there is a doubt about it. I should like to wager a hundred to one that +the Venetian girl put her rival to death. The story is neither a new nor +a strange one."</p> + +<p>"Whether the commission of the deed can be brought home to her," he +continued, after another period of musing, "that is another question; +and one with which, however interesting it may be to my good friend +Pietro Logarini, we need not trouble ourselves. And after all, what a +good thing it is that things should have fallen out as they have. That +old fool of a Marchese! It is a lesson to believe in nothing and no man, +when one thinks of it. The death of that woman is the saving of the +name. But, per Bacco! I must not say so too loudly," thought the old +lawyer to himself, with a grim smile, "or I shall be doing just what the +old fool of a woman has been doing. Yes, that was the last link in the +chain of the evidence we wanted. She was on the spot at the time—the +death-dealing weapon was essentially a woman's weapon, and the murdered +woman was her feared and hated rival—and now we have direct evidence +that she felt her to be such. If the judges can find any other +hypothesis supported by stronger circumstantial evidence than this—why, +I think that I had better go to school again."</p> + +<p>With these thoughts in his mind, Signor Fortini determined to go and see +his crony, Signor Pietro Logarini, at the Palazzo del Governo. He found +that active and able official just returned from another visit to St. +Apollinare in Classe, which appeared not to have been very fruitful of +result.</p> + +<p>"I can make nothing out of that old friar," said the Police Commissary +to his friend, as they sat in the private cabinet of the former; "and I +am very much afraid that we shall make nothing out of him. For quiet, +aggravating obstinacy and passive resistance, recommend me to a monk."</p> + +<p>"What induced you to go out there to-day?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Why, I am very strongly persuaded—I feel sure almost—that that old +fellow could tell something to the purpose if he would speak. And I am +more convinced of it from his manner to-day than ever. The other +animal—the lay-brother—I am pretty sure knows nothing about it."</p> + +<p>"Is the friar about again, or still in bed?" Fortini.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's in bed safe enough; at least I found him there, shivering and +shaking, and counting his beads, and answering a plain question with +'Ave Maria' and 'Ora pro nobis,' and the rest of it. I don't believe he +has the fever a bit. I believe that he has been scared out of his wits +by something he has seen. But the devil wouldn't get out of him what it +was if he don't choose to tell you. Oh, I know them!" said the +Commissary, provoked by his fruitless excursion.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said the lawyer, looking doubtfully into the Commissary's +face, "I suppose it is not on the cards that the old fellow was the +murderer himself?"</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said the Commissary, with a start, "that is a new idea. But no," +he added, after a little consideration,—"no, that's not it; it would be +very difficult even to imagine any motive. An old man, eighty years old. +No, it's not that. But, if I am not very much mistaken, he knows +something."</p> + +<p>"In that case, I should have thought that means might have been found to +make him speak," said the lawyer, drily.</p> + +<p>"What means? I profess I don't know any. The devil of it is, you see, +Signor Giovacchino, that it will not do to treat those fellows roughly. +There would be the deuce and all to pay. There he lies, shivering, and +trembling, and muttering, and going on as if he was imbecile; and +swearing he is too ill to leave his bed. I don't see how we are to get +him here into court."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've had better luck this morning; and had not to go out to seek +it. My witness came to me; and I think I have got some important +evidence," said the lawyer, with much of the exultation of a successful +sportsman over a less fortunate rival.</p> + +<p>"The deuce you have. There is a luck in those things. But if your +evidence came to you—Who the devil would ever think of coming to a +Commissary of Police as long as they could stay away, if they pleased."</p> + +<p>"Well, my witness was not altogether a willing one; or at least she came +to me for the purpose of saying something very different from what she +did say."</p> + +<p>"But you did not come here merely to boast, I am sure, Signor +Giovacchino. You are going to tell me what you have been able to learn, +eh?" said the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"Boast, no, not I! There's nothing to boast of. Besides, you know my +interest in the matter is of a different nature from yours, Signor +Pietro. All I want is to clear my friend and client, the Marchese +Ludovico. You, of course, are anxious to bring the crime home to +somebody."</p> + +<p>"True," said the Commissary, nodding his head.</p> + +<p>"And of course, therefore, any light I can throw upon the matter, I am +ready enough to bring to you, unless it were of a nature to incriminate +the Marchese," returned the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Of course, just so. And what you have learned this morning—"</p> + +<p>"Tell's all t'other way; I have no difficulty in allowing that, on the +first blush of the matter, I felt no doubt that the Marchese was the +guilty party. It only shows that one ought always to have doubts of +everything. It looked so very bad. The Marchese takes the girl into the +wood, comes back without her, and very shortly afterwards she is found +where he left her, murdered. And he is known to have had the greatest +possible interest in getting rid of her. Would it not have seemed a +clear case to any one?"</p> + +<p>"So one would have said indeed," assented the Commissary.</p> + +<p>"Well, the Marchese had nothing to do with it. At the present moment I +feel—well, hardly any doubt at all that the deed was done by the girl +Paolina Foscarelli."</p> + +<p>"That's my notion too," said the Commissary, taking a pinch of snuff, +and proferring his box to his visitor; "but what is the new evidence."</p> + +<p>"Well, the girl lives, it seems, with an old woman, a country-woman of +hers, a certain Orsola Steno. And this morning the old lady comes to my +studio for the avowed purpose of begging me not to countenance in any +way the very mistaken notion that her adopted daughter had murdered the +prima donna; the truth being, as she was good enough to inform me, that +the latter had committed suicide."</p> + +<p>"Bah, what senseless nonsense!" interrupted the Commissary, indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Of course. I pointed out to the old lady that her theory was, according +to the medical testimony, simply impossible; but that naturally made not +the slightest difference in her opinion of the matter. And then, aided +by a little gentle assistance, she prattled on, an old fool, admitting, +or insisting rather, that there had been bitter hatred and animosity +between Paolina and the murdered woman; that Paolina had conceived the +bitterest jealousy of the singer; that she was persuaded that the latter +was scheming with a set purpose to lure her acknowledged lover, the +Marchese, away from her; that she was further persuaded that the singer +nourished the bitterest hatred of her, Paolina. What do you say to that, +Signor Commissary? How does the land lie now, eh?" said the lawyer, +triumphantly, in conclusion.</p> + +<p>Signor Pietro nodded his head with most emphatic approbation and +confirmation of his friend's opinion.</p> + +<p>"Is not it the more likely story in every way?" pursued the lawyer; +"just look at it. The Marchese is known to every man, woman, and child +in Ravenna; and being known for what he is, it would be difficult to +persuade anybody that he had lifted his hand to murder a defenceless and +sleeping woman. But we can all of us easily understand that it is +exceedingly likely that he may have so behaved as to make these two +women furiously jealous of each other; at least to have made this girl +Paolina, to whom, it seems, he had promised marriage, desperately +furious against the other, whom she had but too good reason to suspect +of having attracted the preference of the Marchese. Then look at the +instrument with which the murder was accomplished,—a needle. Is it in +any way likely that the Marchese Ludovico should habitually carry such a +thing about with him? Is there any unlikelihood that the girl may have +had such a thing about her; Amico mio Pietro," said the lawyer, in +conclusion, tapping his fingers on the Commissary's coat-sleeve as he +spoke, "that Venetian girl is the murderess! The deed was done under the +influence of maddening jealousy."</p> + +<p>"How on earth could that old woman come to you with a budget of such +damning facts against her friend? Do you think she—the old woman—has +any guilty knowledge of the crime?"</p> + +<p>"Lord bless you, no! If she had, she would not have been so simple. No, +she firmly believes her own theory of the matter, that the poor Diva +killed herself. She is too firmly persuaded of it to perceive the +bearing of her admissions of the hatred that existed between the two +girls."</p> + +<p>"I learned something yesterday," said the Commissary, "which all looks +the same way, not much, but in such a case every little helps. This old +friar—this Padre Fabiano—is, we know, a Venetian; and now I have +ascertained that, years ago, before he came here, there was some +connection of some sort—acquaintance, friendship of whatever kind you +like—between him and the parents of the girl Paolina. I think it likely +enough that the frate's friendship was more particularly with the girl's +mother rather than with her father,—we know what friars' ways are, and, +maybe, we should not go far wrong if we imagined that the Father had +reason to feel a fatherly interest of a quite special kind in the young +lady. Now all this is worth only just this. Why did the frate return +from the Pineta in such a state of terror, agitation, and horror? Why, +supposing him to have seen, or in any way become acquainted with facts +calculated to produce such an effect upon him, does he obstinately +refuse to give us any information upon the subject? How will this answer +fit? In the course of that walk to the Pineta, undertaken, no doubt, +because the old man felt anxiety as to what was likely to follow from +the probable meeting of the two girls after the scene witnessed in his +presence by Paolina from the window of the church—in the course of that +walk, let us suppose, the friar became acquainted with the fact that +this girl—his daughter, we will say, for, in all probability, she is +such—had murdered her rival. The knowledge of the fact sends him back +to his cell half dead with horror and fright. His interest in Paolina +ties his tongue, and frustrates all our efforts to get any explanation +from him. How will that do, eh, Signor Giovacchino?"</p> + +<p>"Admirably well. Clearly helps to give consistency and probability to +our theory of the facts. I begin to think that all danger to my client +is at an end, and, upon my word, I am more glad of it than I can tell +you; it would have been a shocking thing. I am an old Ravenna man, you +know, and should have felt it differently from what you would, you +know."</p> + +<p>"True; but I am glad enough that the Marchese should be cleared in the +matter, and so will the Government be—very glad."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there is no objection to my seeing the Marchesino?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly not the least in the world. It is a pity that he should +be detained here any longer; but I am almost afraid to take the +responsibility of discharging him before some formal inquiry has been +made."</p> + +<p>"Naturally, naturally. When do you suppose you will be ready to bring +the affair to a trial?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, very soon. If there were any chance of getting that old frate into +court it would be worth while to wait for him; but I am afraid that the +longer we wait the worse his fever and ague will get. But I shall have +another try at him out there first."</p> + +<p>And with that Signor Fortini passed to the chamber in which the Marchese +Ludovico was confined.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III-6" id="CHAPTER_III-6"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> +Could it have been the Aged Friar?</h3> + +<p>"Signor Marchese," said the old man, stretching out his hand with, for +him, a very unusual degree of impulsive cordiality, "I have come to make +amende honorable—I need hardly say how delighted I am to do so. It is +not only that I think I may say there is now very little chance of any +mischief falling on you in consequence of that unlucky excursion to the +Pineta, but that I am able, thank God, to say that I have myself no +longer the smallest suspicion that you had any hand in the crime that +has been committed there."</p> + +<p>"Has anything been discovered, then?" asked Ludovico, eagerly. +"Ah—h—h! that would be good news indeed," added the young man, drawing +a long breath of relief,—the evident strength of which feeling afforded +a measure of the suffering he had endured more indicative of the real +state of his mind than any amount of depression which he had before +allowed to be apparent.</p> + +<p>"Well; enough, I think, has been discovered to relieve you of all +suspicion—enough, as I said, to convince my own mind very +satisfactorily that you are innocent of all complicity in the matter."</p> + +<p>"I confess that I should have preferred, Signor Fortini, that my own +assertion should have sufficed to produce that conviction," replied the +young man, somewhat drily.</p> + +<p>"My dear Signor Marchese, permit me to say that such preference would +have been ill founded. Is not my conviction, based upon the +probabilities of the known facts, of much greater value than any mere +acquiescence with your assertions? These are matters, my dear sir, which +must be looked at reasonably, and not merely sentimentally. If you had +committed murder—if I had committed murder,—should we not either of +us, have denied it as resolutely as you denied this? If the +circumstances are such as to cause a man—any man—to be suspected at +all, no words of his can be worth anything whatsoever on the subject; +and you must admit that, the circumstances being as they were, it was +impossible that the first suspicion should not have fallen on you. You +may believe that no efforts or activity have been wanting on my part for +the discovery of the means of removing this suspicion. Let us be +thankful that they have, to a very great degree, been successful."</p> + +<p>"And what has been found out? For God's sake tell me all about it! I +declare, for my own part, I could almost believe that I had done it +myself in my sleep, or in a fit of madness without knowing it, so +utterly impossible does it seem to me to imagine what hand it could have +been that did the deed."</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese, the hand that did that deed was no other than the hand +of the Venetian girl, Paolina Foscarelli," said the lawyer, with +deliberate and impressive slowness, emphasizing his words with extended +forefinger as he uttered them.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! Is that all you have to tell me?" cried the Marchese, jumping up +from his chair, and pacing the room with impatient strides. "It is an +absurdity upon the face of it; I should have hoped that nobody in +Ravenna would have believed it possible that I could have been guilty of +such a deed; but, by Heaven, the whole city will see that it is more +likely that I should have done it than Paolina! It is simply absurd."</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese, prepossessions, and previous notions of what might +have been expected to be possible, are of no value in such a case as +this against the logic of facts and circumstances. Other young women, +who seemed as little likely to be capable of such a deed as this +Signorina Foscarelli, have committed such—and have done it under the +pressure of motives exactly similar to those which we know with +certainty to have been vehemently operative in the heart of the +Venetian."</p> + +<p>"Motives! What conceivable motive could have existed to—"</p> + +<p>"What motive? The most powerful of all the passions that ever drove a +woman to become guilty of crime—jealousy; jealousy, Signor Marchese, +has been the motive of this murder. Look at the facts as they stand: we +know that this Paolina Foscarelli was in the immediate neighbourhood of +the spot where the deed was done, and as nearly as possible at the time +when it was done; we know—excuse me, Signor Marchese, for speaking very +plainly; it is absolutely necessary to be plain—we know that this girl +had great reason to feel jealous of La Bianca. Remember that she saw you +and the singer driving tete-a-tete together in that solitary place at +that unusual hour. I leave it to your own feeling to estimate the degree +of jealousy which such a sight, together with other previous +circumstances, was calculated to produce in this girl's mind; but, if +that be not enough, we know, as a matter of fact, that she had, even +previously to seeing what was, so calculated to drive her jealousy to a +pitch of fury, expressed jealousy, animosity and hatred against the +woman whom she considered as her rival. We have this in evidence—the +perfectly unimpeachable evidence of the Signora Orsola Steno. Add to +that, again, that the method of the murder was just such as a woman was +likely to adopt, and that a man was very little likely to think of, or +to have the means of, in his possession. Put all these certain facts +together, Signor Marchese; and I think it will be impossible for even +your mind to resist the conviction that must force itself upon every one +who considers the circumstances."</p> + +<p>The Marchese stopped in his agitated walk to and fro across the floor of +the chamber, and gazed into the lawyer's face with an expression of +bewilderment and pain, which the old man met with a keen and steady +glance, and a grave shake of the head. The Marchese, after encountering +his eye for a few moments, struck his open hand on his forehead, and +threw himself on the chair he had left without uttering a word.</p> + +<p>"And to you, Signor Marchese, it assuredly cannot appear strange that +the circumstances I have enumerated should carry with them the +conviction to other minds that Paolina Foscarelli is guilty of the +murder of the singer," continued the lawyer, speaking very slowly and +fixing the keen glance of his dark bright eyes on the working face of +his companion; "to you, above all others, this cannot appear strange, +since—to your own mind this suspicion first occurred."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? I! Signor Fortini. What strange notion is misleading +you? I don't know what you mean!" cried the Marchese, while a look of +horror gradually crept over his face.</p> + +<p>"When the body of the murdered woman was brought into the city,—when we +two stood in the gateway, and when your hand raised the sheet that +covered the face of the dead, you exclaimed aloud 'Paolina!' What was +then the thought that was in your mind? I imagined, at the time, that +you recognized her in the dead woman before you. A very few minutes, +however, sufficed to show that it was not Paolina, but Bianca who lay +there murdered. And then, amid the horror of the first idea of your +guilt, which the nature of the circumstances rendered inevitable, I +thought no more of the exclamation you had uttered. But I have not +forgotten the fact. You did, on seeing Bianca dead before you, exclaim, +'Good God! Paolina!' What was the thought in your mind, Signor Marchese, +that prompted that exclamation? What but the sudden spontaneous rush of +the conviction that it was she who had done the deed on which you were +looking?"</p> + +<p>For a few moments the Marchese seemed too much stunned by the inference, +and the appeal of the lawyer, and by the vision of the consequences, +which he purposed drawing from it, to utter any reply to the demand +which had been made on him.</p> + +<p>"You mistake, Signor Fortini," he gasped out at last; "you are in error. +I cannot have made any such exclamation. I have no consciousness of +anything of the kind. In any case no such monstrous idea, as you would +infer from it, ever entered into my mind. You know how anxious I was +about Paolina's prolonged absence. I was thinking of her; at least, I +suppose so, if, indeed, I uttered her name. I have no recollection. I +don't know why I should have done so. All I know is that no such +horrible and impossible suggestion ever presented itself to my mind for +an instant. If it were otherwise," continued the young man, after a few +moments of painfully concentrated thought,—"if it were otherwise, why +did I not suggest such a solution of the mystery when I found myself +accused of the crime?"</p> + +<p>"That, Signor Marchese, those who know you best will be least at a loss +to understand," replied the lawyer. "The motive that ruled your conduct +then, is the same that rules it now. You were then unwilling, as you are +now unwilling, to exculpate yourself at the cost of inculpating one who +is dear to you. Your objection, I am bound to tell you, carries no +weight with it. I cannot abandon that part of my case that rests upon +the striking fact that your own first impression was that Paolina was +guilty."</p> + +<p>"I utterly deny, and will continue to deny, that any such impression was +ever present to my mind. I wholly refuse to avail myself of any defence +based on any such supposition; on any idea at all, that Paolina +Foscarelli is guilty. I know that she is as innocent of this deed as the +angels in heaven. I will proclaim her innocence with my last breath. I +will not accept any acquittal on the hypothesis of her guilt. I will +rather avow that I did the deed myself. In one sense I did so. In one +sense I am guilty of her death. For it was I who took her to the place, +and into the circumstance that led to her death."</p> + +<p>"Signor Marchese, in this matter the truth of the facts is what is +wanted. It is that, and that alone that the magistrates will endeavour +to discover. A great many facts, as I have pointed out to you, will be +before them. Mere statements, one way or the other, will have little +avail. Quietly and seriously now, supposing we reject the theory of +Paolina's guilt, are you able yourself to conceive any other possible +explanations of the facts? Can you yourself suggest any other theory +whatsoever?" said the lawyer, throwing his head on one side, and +interlacing the fingers of his clasped hands in front of his person, in +calm expectation of the Marchese's answer.</p> + +<p>"There was another theory. I heard that the Conte Leandro had been +arrested on suspicion of being the assassin. It would be very dreadful. +God forbid that I should say that I suspected the Conte Lombardoni of +having done this foul deed. But I cannot avoid seeing that it is a great +deal more likely that he should have done it than Paolina," returned the +Marchese.</p> + +<p>"The accusation against the Conte Lombardoni has been abandoned, and he +has been set at liberty," replied the lawyer; "there was, in fact, +nothing against him, except the singular circumstance of his having gone +out of the city towards the Pineta, at a very unusual hour on the +morning of that same unlucky Ash Wednesday; and that he has at last +thought fit to explain."</p> + +<p>"At last?" said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"Yes; for a long time he utterly refused to give any explanation of the +fact whatsoever; and his manner was altogether such as to strengthen the +notion that it was possible that he might have been the criminal. He has +told the truth at last. And it is no wonder that he was loth to tell it, +for it is not much calculated to increase his popularity in the city."</p> + +<p>"Why, what is it? I never used to think anything worse of him than that +he was a fool," rejoined the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"A fool, and a very mischievous and malicious one, as fools mostly are. +What do you think took him out of the city that morning of the first day +in Lent? Simply the desire to play the spy on you and the poor woman who +has been killed."</p> + +<p>"No, you don't mean it? the noxious animal!" exclaimed Ludovico, with +intense disgust.</p> + +<p>"It seems that he overheard you and the singer make your appointment for +the excursion, and that, moved by curiosity and the hope of making +mischief, he determined to be beforehand with you on the road, and +picking up, if he could, the means of paying off both the lady and +yourself for some of the mortification your ridicule had caused him," +said the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"I could not have believed it possible; the mean-spirited spiteful +wretch! I did not think he had it in him!" said Ludovico.</p> + +<p>"A man is apt to be spiteful towards those who cause him to suffer +greatly. And there is no suffering greater to a man as vain as the Conte +Leandro than the mortification of his vanity. But his spitefulness has +been punished: first, by a couple of days' imprisonment, and a fright +which half killed him; and secondly, by the sort of reception which you +may suppose awaited him when he was released as the result of his +explanation. I think he has had his due," added the lawyer, grimly.</p> + +<p>"But how does his explanation exclude the possibility that he may have +been the assassin after all? Why may not the same mortified vanity that +incited him to play the spy, have moved him to take deadly vengeance on +the woman he hated so bitterly? The man who was capable of the one is +likely enough to be capable of the other. He is the man who may fairly +be suspected of being capable of stabbing a woman as she slept!" argued +the Marchese, with intense indignation.</p> + +<p>"No," said the lawyer, shaking his head; "depend upon it we did not let +him go till it was made clear that he could have had no hand in the +crime. He was able to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt, that he +had returned to the city, entering it by the Porta Sisi, before the +earliest time when the murder could have been committed. No; that notion +has to be abandoned."</p> + +<p>"And no other idea has been started?—no suspicion? Have the +investigations of the police led to nothing?" asked Ludovico, with +profound discouragement.</p> + +<p>The lawyer shook his head. "I have told you," he said, "how the case +stands, Signor Marchese. An idea was started at one moment that the old +friar at St. Apollinare might have been the man. Strangely enough he +also was in or near the Pineta much about the same time. But the total +absence of all assignable motive—an infirm octogenarian; no, that is +not it. But the truth is, Signor Marchese, that our inquiries with +reference to this Padre Fabiano have brought to light facts which tend +to make the case stronger against the girl Paolina Foscarelli."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Signor Fortini, that the notion of her guilt is more +entirely preposterous than any other possible imagination. I have told +you that I would, rather than accept it, avow myself the murderer;—ay, +and think that I had done it too, and forgotten it," said the Marchese, +with extreme vehemence.</p> + +<p>"But, Signor Marchese," returned the lawyer, with imperturbable +calmness, "it matters nothing to the result, whether you will accept the +idea of the Venetian girl's guilt or not, seeing that you will not be +called upon to pronounce judgment in the case. The fact is, that every +reasonable consideration points to that conclusion. I wish with all my +heart, that the criminal was one in whom you were less interested." The +meaning of which phrase in Signor Fortini's mouth, probably was, that he +wished the Marchese felt less interest in her who was the criminal. "But +I was about to tell you that the police have become acquainted with the +fact, that this Padre Fabiano, who is a Venetian, was formerly very +closely connected in some way with the family of Paolina Foscarelli. It +seems very probable that he was, in fact, her father. Now he followed +her to the forest, and returned thence in a state of great and painful +agitation, which all mention of the subject renews and increases; and. +further, the old man obstinately refuses to give any account or +explanation of his walk to the forest. The conclusion which has +suggested itself to the police authorities—not at all an unnatural or +unreasonable one—is that the old man has been cognizant of the deed +done by the girl."</p> + +<p>The Marchese seemed struck by this statement, and remained in silent +thought for a few minutes. "Paolina," he said, at length, "had motives +of hatred against the woman who has been killed, the friar had motives +for feeling strong interest in Paolina. Why may it not be conceivable +that he may have adopted her cause to the extent of committing a crime +with the view of righting what may have seemed to him to be her wrongs? +The explanation may seem a not very probable one; but no possible or +conceivable explanation of the terrible fact is a probable one, and, +certainly, it is more likely that the old friar should have done the +deed than the young girl."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said the lawyer, after spending some minutes of deep thought on +the idea the Marchese had put forward; "I am not quite so sure that it +is more likely. However, the theory is a plausible one, and deserves +attention. Depend upon it, we shall not lose sight of the old gentleman, +let him shiver and shake as much as he may; and now, Signor Marchese, I +must go to your uncle," said the lawyer, rising.</p> + +<p>"How does he bear up under all this misery?"</p> + +<p>"Not well, not well. I cannot say that it has fared well with him during +these days; but I have some comfort in store for him. I think I may +venture to assure him that there is no need to imagine that his name has +been disgraced by the commission of a crime, or that there is any danger +that such should continue to be believed to be the case, either by the +magistrates or by anybody else. You will come out of this dreadful +business scatheless, Signor Marchese, I thank God for it?"</p> + +<p>"I will not come out scatheless at the cost of Paolina's condemnation," +said the Marchese, doggedly.</p> + +<p>"But the Marchese Lamberto, you see," continued the lawyer, without +taking any notice of his companion's interruption,—"the Marchese +Lamberto has been hit from more sides than one. The most unfortunate and +lamentable fascination that this woman seems to have exercised over +him—the deplorable fact that he should have proposed marriage to her, +and that this fact should be universally known,—it is impossible that +he should not have suffered, and still suffer terribly. Honestly, I +cannot say that I think he will ever altogether get over it—he will +never be the same man again. Would to God that fatal woman had never +come near Ravenna!"</p> + +<p>"Many thanks for your visit, Signor Fortini, and for all the kindness +you have shown me since this sad misfortune befell. Tell my uncle how +much I have felt and feel for him. Addio, Signor Fortini. If anything +new should turn up you will not fail to let me know it? Think of what I +said about the friar; and mind, once more, and once for all, I will not +come scatheless, as you say, out of this business and leave Paolina to +be held guilty."</p> + +<p>"Addio, Signor Marchese."</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV-6" id="CHAPTER_IV-6"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> +What Ravenna thought of it</h3> + +<p>Signor Fortini had rather mitigated than exaggerated the truth in +speaking to the Marchese Ludovico of his uncle's state of mind. During +all these days his condition was truly deplorable. He had never, in all +this time, left the Palazzo, and had scarcely left his own chamber. He +absolutely refused to see anybody save Signor Fortini. He could not +sleep by night, or remain at rest in the same place for half-an-hour +together during the day.</p> + +<p>Of course he could attend to none of the numerous duties—mostly labours +of benevolence—that usually occupied his time. His servants thought +that he was losing his reason; yet, in the midst of all the terrible +distress that was weighing him down, the usual kindness and considerate +benevolence of his nature and habitual conduct had shone out. The only +one thing that he had given any attention to was the gratification of +the wishes, and the promotion of the welfare, of an old servant.</p> + +<p>Niccolo, the old groom who was mentioned, as the reader may, perhaps, +remember, on the occasion of a certain conversation which Lawyer Fortini +had with him, as having been all his life in the service of the +Marchese, and of his father before him, was getting, as he had himself +remarked to the lawyer, almost too old for his work. He had always +hitherto absolutely refused, with the masterful obstinacy of an old +favourite, all proposals of retirement; but, on the next morning but one +after the fatal Ash Wednesday, while the Marchese had been in such a +state of painful agitation that he could hardly bear to be addressed by +his own servant, he had, to the great surprise of all the household, +sent for old Niccolo, who had remained with him more than an hour.</p> + +<p>On coming out from the interview the old groom said that he had himself +asked for the audience his master had given him; but it did not seem at +all clear to the other servants when or how he could have done so. He +said that he had spoken to his master on the subject long before; and +how kind and good it was of the Marchese to think of his old servant's +affairs in all his trouble. His master had arranged for him, he said, +what he had long wished for, though it seemed to all the household that +old Niccolo had always rejected any proposal of the sort. He was to have +a pension, and go to live with a niece of his who was married in Rome.</p> + +<p>It was odd that none of his fellow-servants had ever heard anything of +any such niece. But old Niccolo was not a man of a communicative turn; +and perhaps nothing had ever chanced to lead him to speak of her. Now he +was to join her at once; he was to start for Faenza that very afternoon, +so as to catch there the diligence from Bologna to Rome.</p> + +<p>But why such a sudden start? Why should he go off and leave them all, at +a few hours' notice.</p> + +<p>Well, the fact was, that the day after the morrow was his niece's +birthday. And he thought he should like to give her the joyful surprise +of seeing her old uncle and learning the new arrangements on that day. +And his dear thoughtful master, who was always so kind to everybody, had +entered into his scheme, and so arranged it.</p> + +<p>And so it was; old Niccolo was gone to Rome as he had said. But he had +given nobody any address by which to find him in the Eternal City. And a +little jealousy, perhaps, was felt at the good fortune which had thus +befallen one out of several who would have liked the same. But all +admitted that it was a remarkable proof of the thoughtful kindness of +the Marchese in the midst of his own troubles.</p> + +<p>And how terribly those troubles pressed on him was evident to the whole +household; and, by means of their reports, to the entire city. Everybody +in Ravenna knew with how heavy a hand affliction had fallen upon the +Marchese Lamberto. And everybody talked of it. Sympathizing pity and +blame were mingled in the judgments which were being passed on the +Marchese every hour, and in every place where men or women met; and the +proportions in which they were mingled differed greatly. None, however, +could fail to see and to admit that the fall from the high pinnacle, on +which the Marchese had stood, had been a very terrible one. It was felt +that it was a fall from which he could never, under any circumstances, +entirely recover.</p> + +<p>The women were, for the most part, more indulgent to him than the men. +As for the unfortunate Bianca, they held that a righteous and deserved +judgment had fallen upon her, in which the operation of the finger of +Providence was distinctly visible. To be sure it was a signal warning to +all men, as to the evils which might be expected to flow from any +sipping of the Circean cup which such creatures proffered to their lips. +But what fate could be too bad for the Siren herself? To think of the +audacity, the shameless effrontery of such an one in daring to spread +her lures, and wind her enchantments around such a man as the Marchese +di Castelmare. Of course he, poor man, could not but feel her death as a +terrible shock. What he had set his heart on had been violently and +awfully taken away from him. And how true it is that the blessed Saints +know what is most truly for our good! But what is all that to the +dreadful accusation hanging over the Marchese Ludovico? A Castelmare in +the prison of Ravenna under accusation of murder! And if it really were +the case, that the unfortunate young man, driven by the prospect of +being hurled down from his position and robbed of his inheritance, had +done this deed, how great, how terrible, must be the remorse of the +Marchese Lamberto!</p> + +<p>It was curiously characteristic of the moral nature and habits of +thought of the people, that the Marchese Ludovico, even on the +hypothesis that he had committed the murder, was very leniently judged +for his share in the tragedy.</p> + +<p>The men were more inclined to bear hard on the Marchese Lamberto. An old +fool! at his time of life, to offer marriage to such a woman as La +Bianca. To disgrace his name; to cover himself with ridicule; and above +all, and worst of all, to behave with such infamous injustice to his +nephew. Nevertheless the tragedy was so shocking and so complete, that +even those who were disposed to condemn his conduct the most severely, +could not but feel compassion for so crushing a weight of misfortune.</p> + +<p>As the opinion, however, began to gain ground in the city, that the +Marchesino Ludovico had, after all, not been the author of the murder; +that the first impression, however clearly the circumstances seemed, at +the first blush of the thing, to point to it, was a mistaken one; and +that the far more probable opinion was that the Venetian girl, Paolina +Foscarelli, was the murderess, and jealousy the incentive to her crime, +the compassion for the Marchese Lamberto became proportionably less. The +feeling was rather, that as far as he was concerned he had got nothing +worse than what he richly deserved. And who should say that all was not +upon the whole for the best as it had pleased heaven to cause it to fall +out? The Marchese Lamberto was saved, despite his own folly, from a +disgraceful and degrading marriage; and Ludovico was saved from the ruin +which threatened him.</p> + +<p>Nor, muttered the more cynical, was that all the good that was involved +in what, at first sight, seemed so great a misfortune. Ludovico, too, +was prevented from doing a foolish thing. It was a very different matter +in his case from that of his uncle: he would be doing no wrong to any +heir; and he was at that time of life when men do fall in love, and are +excusable if they are led by it into doing foolish things; not to +mention that, after all, the marriage he had proposed to make was a very +different one from such a monstrous alliance as the Marchese Lamberto +had meditated.</p> + +<p>But still was it not a great blessing that the Marchesino should be +prevented from throwing himself away in that manner? The first match in +Ravenna to be carried off by an obscure and plebeian Venetian artist. +Truly it was all for the best as it was.</p> + +<p>In their different degree these two stranger women were both noxious, +dangerous, and had done more mischief in Ravenna than the lives of +either of them were worth. And if Providence had in its wisdom decreed +that they should mutually counteract and abolish each other—why it +would behove them to see in it a signal instance of the overruling +wisdom of Heaven.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, however, while every imaginable variety and +modification of the above ideas and opinions were forming the staple of +every conversation in every street, house, cafe, and piazza of Ravenna, +the two men, whose conduct was thus canvassed, were assuredly suffering +no light measure of retribution for aught that they had done amiss.</p> + +<p>To Ludovico the tidings which reached him of the favourable turn matters +were taking as to the probability of his having himself to answer for +the murder of the singer, were neutralized in any effect they might +otherwise have had of bringing him happiness, by the fact that he was +exculpated only in exact proportion to the increasing probability that +Paolina might be held guilty of the crime.</p> + +<p>If, in truth, he carried in his own bosom the consciousness of his own +guilt, it may easily be imagined how horrible to him would appear the +prospect of escaping from the consequences of it by such means. And if +that were, indeed, the dreadful truth, the repeated declarations which +he had made to Signor Fortini to the effect that, rather than see +Paolina condemned as guilty, he would confess himself to be the +murderer, would in no wise appear as mere ebullitions of his +determination to save at all price the girl he loved.</p> + +<p>But, during those days Ludovico suffered, he either bore his sufferings +with much more of manly self-command than did his uncle, or else his +agony was (as Signor Fortini, who saw them both, could testify) much +less severe than that which seemed to be slowly dragging down the +Marchese Lamberto to the grave.</p> + +<p>The lawyer had told Ludovico that he was then going to his uncle; and, +in fact, he did so. But the old man dreaded doing so more than he could +have himself believed that he could have feared any similar duty.</p> + +<p>In truth, the condition of the Marchese Lamberto was pitiable.</p> + +<p>He would see no one, save Fortini; but he was most anxious for his +visits—very naturally anxious to hear from day to day, and almost from +hour to hour, how matters were going—whether any new circumstances had +been discovered; what change there was in the probabilities as to the +final judgment respecting the crime; and there was a restless +feverishness in his anxiety, a shattered condition of the nervous system +that made the lawyer seriously fear that the Marchese's reason would +sink under the strain.</p> + +<p>He had again and again urged him to allow a medical man to see him; and +had once mentioned the Marchese's old friend Professor Tomosarchi. But +the irritated violence with which the suffering man had rejected the +proposal, had been such as to lead the lawyer to think that he should be +doing more harm than good by reiterating it.</p> + +<p>It was not surprising, indeed, that the Marchese should be utterly +beaten down and vanquished by the misfortunes that had fallen upon him; +they attacked him from such various and opposite sides. His love for +Bianca—or, let me say (in order to satisfy readers who are wont to +weigh the real meaning of words as well as those who are in the habit of +taking them unexamined at their current value), his longing to possess +her—was genuine and intense. The step he had determined to take gives +the measure of his eagerness in the pursuit of her—of his conviction +that he could not live without her; and the object of this great, this +intense, this all-mastering passion had been snatched away from him; the +unappeasable agony of such a bereavement can, perhaps, only be +adequately measured by those who have felt it.</p> + +<p>Then all the evils which, despite his shrinking from them, he had faced +for the sake of gratifying this imperious passion, had fallen upon him +as fatally of though the price of his facing them had been paid to him. +All the loss of credit, of respect, of social station, which he had +found it so dreadful to contemplate, had been incurred—and for nothing. +How long and terrible had been the struggle, which of those two +incompatible objects of his intense desire—Bianca, or the social +position he held in the eyes of his fellow-citizens—he should sacrifice +to the other; it had seemed to him so impossible to give up either that +the necessity of choosing between them had almost unhinged his reason. +And now he was doomed to forego them both.</p> + +<p>Then, again, Ludovico, and the dreadful position in which he stood! and, +if he were condemned, on whose head would fall the blame of the disgrace +which would thus overwhelm the family name? If his nephew were held to +be guilty of this crime, would not all the odium of having driven him to +it fall on him?</p> + +<p>Truly there was wherewithal to bow down a stronger heart and head than +those of the Marchese Lamberto.</p> + +<p>According to Fortini's view of the matter, the tidings which he had to +bring the Marchese that morning ought to have gone far to tranquillize +and comfort him. Let it be shown that the heir to the Castelmare name +and honours had not committed a terrible crime, and was not in danger of +being convicted of it, and, in his opinion, all the worst of the evils +which had fallen on the Marchese were at an end. That was the only +really irreparable mischief; the city would have its laugh at the +Marchese for his sensibility to the charms of such a charmer as the +singer. But even that would be quenched by the startling change of the +comedy into a tragedy. The Marchese had shown that he was no wiser than +many another man; and it would be but a nine days' wonder; and as to the +mere loss of the woman who had done all the mischief, the lawyer had no +patience with the mention of it as a loss at all.</p> + +<p>Pshaw! The one really important matter was to clear the heir of the +house of all complicity in the crime of murder; and yet the lawyer had a +strong feeling, from what he had already seen of the Marchese, that the +good news of which he was the bearer in that respect would not give the +Marchese all the comfort that it ought to give him.</p> + +<p>And the result of the visit to the Palazzo Castelmare, which he paid +immediately after leaving the Marchesino Ludovico in his prison, +perfectly responded to his anticipations in this respect.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V-6" id="CHAPTER_V-6"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> +"Miserrimus"</h3> + +<p>He found the Marchese in a state which really seemed to threaten his +life or his reason. It would scarcely be correct to say of him that he +was depressed, for that phrase is hardly consistent with the feverish +condition of excitement in which he was. There was evidence enough in +his appearance of the presence of deep-seated and torturing misery, +especially devastating in the case of men of his race, constituted as +they are with nervous systems of great delicacy, and unendowed with that +robustness of fibre which enables the more strongly-fashioned scions of +the northern peoples to stand up against misfortune, and present a bold +front to adversity.</p> + +<p>There is no connection in the minds of this race between the repression +and control of emotion and their ideal of virile dignity. Reticence is +impossible to them. The Italian man, it is true, has been often +described as eminently reticent; and the northern popular conception +represents him as apt to seek the attainment of his object by the +concealment of it. Nor is that representation an erroneous one. But the +two statements are in no wise inconsistent. The Italian man is by +nature, habit, and training an adept at concealing his thoughts; he +rarely or never seeks to conceal his emotions.</p> + +<p>Whether there were thoughts in the Marchese's mind, which he had no wish +or intention to disclose to his visitor, might be a matter of +speculation to the latter. But he certainly made no attempt to hide the +misery which was consuming him. The outward appearance of the man was +eloquent enough of the disorder within. He had always been wont to be +especially neat and precise in his dress; clean shaven, and with that +look of bright freshness on his clear-complexioned and well-rounded +cheeks, which is specially suggestive of health, happiness, and +well-to-do prosperity. Now his cheeks were hollow and yellow, and grisly +stubble of uncared-for beard, covered his deeply-lined jaws. He was +dressed, if dressed it could be called, in a large loose chamber +wrapper, the open neck of which, and of the shirt beneath it, allowed +the visitor's eye to mark that the emaciation which a few days of misery +and anxiety had availed to cause, was not confined to his face only.</p> + +<p>But yet more remarkable was the terrible state of nervous restlessness +from which he was evidently suffering. He was unable to remain quiet in +his easy chair even while his visitor remained with him. He would every +now and then rise from it without reason, and pace the room for two or +three turns with the uneasy objectless manner of a wild animal confined +to a cage. Again and again he would go to the window, and gaze from it, +as though looking for some expected thing or person. He spoke and +behaved as if he had been most anxious for the coming of the lawyer, and +yet, now he was there, he seemed scarcely able to command his attention +sufficiently to take interest in the tidings Signor Fortini brought him.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, Signor Marchese, the news I bring is good. Thank God, I am +able to express to you my conscientious opinion that the Marchese +Ludovico had no more to do with the murder of this unfortunate woman +than I had. And such is now the general opinion throughout the city."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything new? Has any—any—discovery been made?" said the +Marchese, and his teeth chattered in his head as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Nothing that I can quite call a discovery," returned the lawyer; "but +small circumstances in such a case as this, when carefully put together, +form a clue, which rarely fails, when one has enough of them, to lead up +to the desired truth."</p> + +<p>"Ah!—small circumstances, as you say—yes—but circumstances—eh?—do +they not often—must we not be very careful—eh?" and the Marchese shook +as he spoke, till the lawyer really began to think that he must be +labouring under an attack of the same illness that had seized on father +Fabiano.</p> + +<p>"Fortunately, Signor Marchese, the circumstances all point, in the +present instance, in the direction we would wish. That is," added the +lawyer, hastily, "God forbid that I should wish such a crime to be +brought home to any human being, but in the interests of truth and +justice; and of course our first object is that the Marchese Ludovico +should be cleared."</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course. Why naturally, you know—But—in what +direction—eh?—do the suspicions—that is, the opinions—you, yourself, +Signor Giovacchino—who do you think now could have done the deed?" said +the Marchese, finishing his sentence with an apparent effort.</p> + +<p>"My notion is," said the lawyer, speaking strongly and distinctly, "that +the murder was committed by the Venetian girl, Paolina Foscarelli. You +are aware of the circumstances that first directed suspicion towards +her. Alone they are very strong; but some other little matters have come +out. She has now been examined several times; and the account she gives +of the hours that passed between the time she left the church of St. +Apollinare, and the time when she was first seen afterwards is a very +lame and unsatisfactory one. Then, my friend, Signor Logarini, of the +police, who has been most praiseworthily active in the matter, has +discovered that the old friar, who has the charge of the Basilica, and +who is a Venetian, was connected with the parents of this girl, which +renders it extremely probable that he may wish to screen her; and that +fact, taken in conjunction with the very strong reasons we have to think +that the friar has some knowledge of the deed, and his very manifest +reluctance to tell what he knows, seems to point in the same direction."</p> + +<p>"The friar at St. Apollinare," said the Marchese, with blue trembling +lips, as he looked keenly into the lawyer's face; "why it is impossible +that he could know anything about it. The friar—"</p> + +<p>"Impossible? why impossible, Signor Marchese? We know that he was in the +Pineta much about the time the deed must have been done."</p> + +<p>The Marchese threw himself back in his deep easy chair, and covered his +face with his hand. The lawyer paused, and shook his head as he looked +at him.</p> + +<p>"The friar in the Pineta!" he exclaimed, getting up from his chair after +a minute or two, and taking a few disorderly steps across the room.</p> + +<p>"You see; Signor Giovacchino," he continued, returning to his seat, "I +have been so shaken by all the misery I have gone through, and all the +sleepless nights I have passed, that—that—that I am hardly in a fit +state to appreciate the value of the—the facts you lay before me. I +have been trying to think—I am afraid—very much afraid for my own part +that no weight is to be attributed to any testimony which may be got +from the friar of St. Apollinare."</p> + +<p>"Why so, Signor Marchese?" asked the lawyer, shortly.</p> + +<p>"I know the old man very well. I have often talked with him. He is not +in his right mind: certainly not in such a state of mind as would +justify the magistrates in paying any attention to his statements," said +the Marchese, in a more decided manner than he had before spoken.</p> + +<p>"I spoke with the old man at some length the other day, and I cannot say +that that was my impression at all. In my opinion he was quite enough in +his senses to know how to withhold the information which, I suspect, he +could give us if he would. May I ask, Signor Marchese, how long it is +since you have spoken with him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! a long time. How could I speak to him, you know. I do not suppose +he often comes into the city. And it is ever so long—a year or +more—since I was out at St. Apollinare; as far as I can remember," said +the Marchese, with a rapid sidelong glance at the lawyer; "but I am +convinced the old man is not in his right mind," he added, not without +some vehemence; "and it is dangerous to put any faith, or to build at +all upon anything that such a person may say. Why, he is always seeing +visions; and what is such an one's account worth of anything he may +fancy himself to have seen."</p> + +<p>"Well, Signor Marchese, the tribunal will form its own opinion upon that +point. For my own part, I cannot help feeling glad of any scrap of +evidence which tends to corroborate the opinion that the Marchese +Ludovico has been erroneously and precipitately accused."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Signor Giovacchino, of course. A chi lo dite! And I am truly +obliged to you for coming to me with the news you have given me. But you +can understand, perhaps—in part, Signor Giovacchino, in part—not +altogether—what I have gone through in these days. My mind has been +shaken—sadly shaken, amico mio. I shall never recover it—never," said +the Marchese, letting his head fall on his bosom.</p> + +<p>"Nay, Signor Marchese. I would fain hope it is not so bad as all that. +Let this business of the trial be over, and the Marchese Ludovico, as I +doubt not, entirely cleared and absolved, and all will yet go well. The +rest is matter of sorrow which time may be trusted to heal."</p> + +<p>"The trial! Ay, the trial. When—eh?—when is it likely to come off, +Signor Giovacchino. Yes, as you say, it would be a good thing if that +were over," said the Marchese, with a manner that indicated a high state +of nervous irritability.</p> + +<p>"It won't be long; there is little or no hope of any further light being +thrown on the matter; some day next week, I should say; I don't think +they will be longer than that; and the sooner the better—only, that I +am afraid you may find the ordeal a disagreeable one."</p> + +<p>"Who? I? Why should I—? That is, of course, on Ludovico's account—"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Signor Marchese; but you must feel, surely, that it will be +absolutely necessary for you to be present in court."</p> + +<p>"I? I be present? Why, don't you see that I am unable to leave my +chamber—shall probably never leave it again; how can I be present in +court? It is out of the question."</p> + +<p>"Your lordship will pardon me, Signor Marchese, if I point out to you +that it is quite indispensable that you should appear in court on the +occasion of the trial," returned the lawyer, firmly. "Your own excellent +judgment, and sense of what is fitting and due to your own position, +will, I am sure, put this matter in an unmistakeable light before you. +Think a little what the inferences, the remarks, the suggestions would +be to which your absence on such an occasion would give rise; not to +mention that it can hardly be doubted that the tribunal will think it +necessary to examine your lordship respecting certain points—"</p> + +<p>"Me? What can I tell? What can it be necessary to examine me for? I know +absolutely nothing; it is impossible that I should know anything of the +matter; besides, I am too ill to leave my chamber."</p> + +<p>"Of course, if Tomosarchi were, after visiting you by direction of the +tribunal, to certify that you were not in a fit state—"</p> + +<p>"I won't see Tomosarchi; no testimony can be needed to the fact that I +am in no condition to leave the house; I tell you, Signor Fortini, I +will not see him; I cannot see anybody."</p> + +<p>"I fear, Signor Marchese, that it would be impossible in any other way +to avoid complying with the request of the tribunal for your presence. +Besides that, it would be far better, in every point of view, that you +should show yourself in the court. The fact of your absence on such an +occasion could not but be unpleasantly remarked on," urged the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Why? What can I be wanted for? What can I tell them? It is very evident +that I am, and must needs be, utterly ignorant of the whole matter," +returned the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"There are various points on which the magistrates will, doubtless, wish +for the information which your lordship can give them, although you may +have no means of throwing any light on the main facts of the +assassination. They will wish, for instance, to ask respecting the +circumstances of the Marchese Ludovico's expedition to the Pineta. The +police, you must remember, Signor Marchese, are already aware that you +were cognizant of the Marchese Ludovico's intention of taking La Lalli +to the Pineta. That has been ascertained from the admission of the Conte +Leandro—"</p> + +<p>"A thousand curses on the Conte Leandro," exclaimed the Marchese.</p> + +<p>"His figure in the matter is a deplorable one, truly; but you can +understand, Signor Marchese, that the court will desire to ask some +questions of you on this head—nothing that you can have any difficulty +in answering or any objection to answer; but I am sure you will see, on +consideration, that it would have a very bad effect for your lordship to +show the least desire to avoid being present."</p> + +<p>"It will be most distasteful to me—very painful, indeed—I don't think +it ought to be required of me under all the circumstances," pleaded the +unhappy man.</p> + +<p>"Unpleasant it will be, doubtless; the whole affair has not been a +pleasant one for anybody concerned in it, Signor Marchese—for any one +in Ravenna, I may say. But you may depend upon it that it will be the +wish of the court and of everybody present to make it as little painful +to you as possible. And it is my very serious and very urgent advice to +you to make the necessary exertion, and not to express to any one either +the intention or the wish to absent yourself."</p> + +<p>And then the lawyer took his leave—not surprised that the Marchese, +broken down and in the state in which he saw him, should feel it very +disagreeable to face his fellow citizens on the occasion of the trial; +but, perhaps, having some other thoughts in his mind besides those he +expressed as to the ill effect likely to be produced by any refusal of +the Marchese to make his appearance in the court.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI-6" id="CHAPTER_VI-6"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> +The Trial</h3> + +<p>The police authorities were longer in preparing their case than Signor +Fortini had anticipated they would be; but at length it was known +throughout the city that the day for the trial had been fixed. It was to +take place on a Monday morning towards the latter part of Lent.</p> + +<p>It had been rumoured in the city that the delay had been occasioned by +hopes which the authorities had conceived that the female prisoner would +be induced to make confession of the crime. The imprisonment and the +repeated interrogatories she had undergone had produced a great effect +upon her. She had become downcast to a very much greater degree than she +had been in the days immediately following her arrest. She was very +silent, refraining even from the earnest and frequent protestations of +her innocence, which, during the early days of her imprisonment, she had +seized every opportunity of making. She passed many hours apparently +plunged in deep introspective thought; she wept much, and passed much of +her time in prayer.</p> + +<p>And the judgment of the experienced people about her led them to +interpret these manifestations as signs of an approaching confession. +When at length the day for the trial was fixed, it was reported that +Paolina Foscarelli had confessed. But the criminal authorities keep the +secrets of their prison house in such matters; and nothing certain was +known upon the subject.</p> + +<p>The very general impression, however, throughout the city was that, +whether she confessed or not, she was the real criminal, and that such +would be declared by the tribunal to be the case. And such a solution of +the mystery was readily accepted by the Ravenna world as the most +satisfactory that under the unhappy circumstances could be arrived at.</p> + +<p>The disgrace that rested on the city in consequence of the perpetration +of so foul a crime, and on such a victim, had been felt throughout the +city to a degree, that can be duly appreciated only by those, who are +acquainted with the strength and the exclusiveness of Italian municipal +patriotism. And it was a matter of general congratulation that the +perpetrator of it should turn out to be no Ravennata citizen, but an +unknown stranger from Venice. It would have been dreadful indeed if such +a deed should have been brought home to the door of a scion of the +oldest and most distinguished noble family in Ravenna. Of course +everybody had all along known, and had said from the beginning, that +whatever might turn out to be the truth, this at least was impossible +and altogether out of the question.</p> + +<p>To many minds the guilt of the Venetian girl seemed so clear that it +appeared altogether superfluous to spend time and trouble in bringing +her to confess it. Her hatred of the victim she had confessed; and the +confession of it was in evidence. The motive for that hatred was +perfectly well known and understood. It was a motive that many a time +ere now had led to similar deeds. She was close at hand when the crime +must have been committed. She could give no satisfactory account of her +reasons for going thither, or of the occupation of her time during the +hours, which must have comprised the moment of the assassination. And +the manner of the murder rendered it infinitely probable that it must +have been the deed of a female. What more could be wanted? It was rarely +that a murder had ever been brought home to the murderer by +circumstantial evidence of a more conclusive and irresistible character.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini was among those who thought and reasoned thus. But in the +several interviews which he had had with the Marchese Ludovico, he had +not judged it judicious to enlarge to him on this part of the subject. +While assuring him that he might make himself perfectly easy, and that +his innocence in the matter would beyond all doubt be fully recognised, +he had preferred to lead him to imagine that the result of the trial +would be altogether negative; that it would be found that no case that +would warrant a conviction should be made out against any party.</p> + +<p>Signor Logarini had meanwhile made one or two more excursions to the +Basilica of St. Apollinare. But he had gained nothing by his pains. The +padre Fabiano was on each occasion found in bed, no whit better to all +appearance than he had been on that day when the police Commissary and +Signor Fortini visited him together. Nor had Signor Logarini's +persevering cross-examinations availed to obtain anything more from the +aged friar than repetitions of his first statements. Nevertheless the +Commissary was confirmed more than ever in his opinion that the friar +knew something; if he could only be made to speak. Still it had been +determined not to attempt to bring the old man by force before the +tribunal. There was every reason to think that nothing would be obtained +from him in addition to what he had already said. In all probability he +was really ill, more or less, as Signor Logarini said, and living under +the government of the Holy Father, it was necessary to treat +ecclesiastical personages with a greater degree of consideration than +might have been accorded to such under similar circumstances on the +other side of the frontier between the territory of the church and +Austria.</p> + +<p>Despite the friar's illness, however, Fra Simone, the lay-brother, had +once or twice been observed lately in Ravenna. He was seen sauntering +through the streets with his long linen wallet over his shoulder, +stopping at a corner for a little gossip here, and receiving a +contribution to the store in his bag from some friar-loving devout old +woman there. There was nothing remarkable in such a sight in the streets +of Ravenna in any way. Only Fra Simone was very rarely seen there. And +when Signor Pietro Logarini, without whose knowledge scarcely a cat +stirred abroad in Ravenna, was told of the circumstance, he said to +himself that the Padre Fabiano was interested in knowing what people +said and thought of the coming trial.</p> + +<p>Signor Fortini had in the meantime, not without infinite difficulty +succeeded in persuading the Marchese that he must bring himself to +submit to the ordeal of being present in the court on the occasion of +the trial. The Marchese's extreme dislike to appearing thus publicly had +been in no degree overcome or diminished. And it was only the lawyer's +positive and repeated declaration, that he would assuredly be sent for, +if he did not spontaneously present himself, that had availed to induce +him to say at length that he would go. Every possible attention, the +lawyer had assured him, would be paid to him, and everything done to +make his attendance as little disagreeable to him as possible. Of +course, as Fortini urged, it was well known, through the city how +dreadfully he must have been affected by the sad circumstances that had +happened—people would be prepared to see him looking ill and changed. +Curious? Yes, of course people were curious—it was impossible to +prevent them from being so; but he, Fortini, would take care that their +curiosity should not be manifested in any way that could be offensive to +the Marchese.</p> + +<p>Thus, an unwilling consent to attend the sitting of the court on the +morning of the trial had been forced from the unhappy Marchese,—from +him who, so few weeks ago before the fatal coming of the fascinating +singer to Ravenna, had been the happiest, the most prosperous, and the +most secure of men; and it had been arranged that Signor Fortini should, +on that morning; call for him at the Palazzo and accompany him to the +tribunal.</p> + +<p>When the morning came it seemed to Signor Fortini as if he should have +to do all his work over again. He found the Marchese up and dressed. He +had not shaved himself, however,—declaring, with abundant appearance of +truth, that, in the state he then was, it was utterly beyond his power +to do so, and he absolutely refused to allow it to be done for him; and +the effect of the stubbly grisled beard of a week's growth or so on the +hollow lantern jaws, which all the city had been accustomed to see clean +shaved, and plump, and florid with health,—was such as to render him +barely recognizable as the same man by the eyes that had known him all +his life. It seemed, too, to the lawyer that the shocking change which +had taken place in him was even more painfully marked by his attempt to +dress himself in his usual manner than it had been in his chamber +wrapper. His clothes, which were wont to fit so well, and set off to +advantage his well-made and stalwart figure, hung about him in bags and +pantaloon-like folds, a world too wide for his shrunken form.</p> + +<p>On the first entrance of the lawyer he protested that the effort was +altogether beyond his strength,—that it was impossible for him to go +through the ordeal. Did they want him to die before their eyes on the +benches of the court?</p> + +<p>A renewed suggestion by Fortini to the effect that the only means by +which the necessity could be avoided would be by a certificate from the +medical authority trusted in such matters by the court—his own old +friend the Professor Tomosarchi, produced only a reiterated and violent +declaration that he would not receive any visit from the Professor.</p> + +<p>Eventually, the strong representations made by the lawyer of the much +greater unpleasantness, and the very much to be deprecated effect, of +entering the court as an unwilling witness in forced obedience to a +mandate from the tribunal, decided the wretched Marchese to allow +himself to be led down to the carriage.</p> + +<p>Even as he came, bent and shaking, down the great staircase of the +Palazzo leaning on Fortini's arm, and had to pass, in crossing the hall +to the carriage, all the servants of his household, most of whom had not +seen him since the evening of the last day of Carnival, and who were +urged by curiosity to take this opportunity of looking at their +terribly-changed master, it seemed to him that his martyrdom had +commenced.</p> + +<p>He passed through the streets of the city with the blinds of the +carriage drawn down, and with his eyes closed as he lay thrown back into +the corner of it: but, as he felt it draw up at the entrance to the +"prefettura," he suddenly grasped the lawyer's hand, and Fortini felt, +with a shudder, that his hand was as cold as that of a corpse. He was +altogether in such a state that Signor Fortini began to fear that there +really would be some catastrophe in the court before the business of the +day could be concluded.</p> + +<p>With the aid of a servant on one side and of the lawyer on the other, +however, he was got out of the carriage, and, almost supporting him, the +lawyer, who had made all his arrangements previously, led him into the +building by a private door and to the chamber in which the tribunal was +sitting by a private passage used only by the magistrates, and opening +into the court in the immediate vicinity of the seats occupied by them, +by the side of which a chair had been assigned to the Marchese.</p> + +<p>Nor had Signor Fortini's cares and preparations ended there. He had +spoken with each one of the magistrates who were to try the case, in no +wise telling them of the Marchese's unwillingness to appear, but +representing the terrible state of mental and bodily prostration to +which the dreadful nature of the late events had very naturally reduced +him, and which would have rendered it utterly impossible for him to +appear in court, but for his indomitable will, and the high sense of +duty, which had led him to think it, under the circumstances his duty to +do so.</p> + +<p>To no soul had he whispered a word of the Marchese's very marked +reluctance to attend at the trial, save to his old and intimate friend +of many years standing, the Professor Tomosarchi, whom he had thought it +advisable to consult as to the desirability of his seeing the Marchese +before he was called on to make the effort. To his surprise he had found +Tomosarchi almost as unwilling to see the Marchese, as the Marchese had +been to see him. He did not say at once, as the latter had done, that he +would not see him, But while admitting the strong desirability that the +Marchese should be present at the trial, he yet manifested a strong +reluctance, which the lawyer could not understand, to taking any share +in the task of persuading and preparing him to do so.</p> + +<p>The magistrates, who were all of them old friends of Signor Fortini, and +to each of whom he had spoken, separately on the subject, had seemed to +find no difficulty in understanding, that it was very natural under all +the circumstances, that the Marchese should have been terribly affected, +both in body and mind, by the late events. It had been suggested to them +by the lawyer, that it would be well to avoid, as far as possible, +anything that should make it necessary for the Marchese to speak at all, +even in saluting him on his entrance. When therefore, just after the +court had assembled, the Marchese, trembling and shivering in every +limb, was led in by the little door that opened close behind the seat he +was to occupy, the magistrates contented themselves with rising and +bowing to him in silence. The court, as might have been expected, was +very full; and it was impossible to prevent a very marked and audible +manifestation of the shock produced upon the spectators by the changed +appearance of one so well known to them from running through the crowd.</p> + +<p>Even in the territories of the Pope, a criminal court is in these days +an open and public one. There is no jury, and the criminal, or suspected +person, may be subjected to any amount of examination on oath. But, in +other respects, the method of procedure is not very dissimilar from our +own. The prosecution is conducted by an officer analogous to our +attorney-general, or by his substitute; and is defended by any advocate +of the court whom he may employ for the purpose. The appreciation of the +credibility of testimony, the greater or lesser value of circumstantial +evidence, the application and interpretation of the law, and the award +of sentence, remain with the judges, subject to appeal to a higher +court. Moreover, in the present case, the inquiry assumed more of the +form of a general attempt to ascertain the solution of an unexplained +mystery, than would have been compatible with the forms of our criminal +courts, inasmuch as there were two prisoners to be tried for the crime, +whom no theory of the circumstances had suggested to be accomplices, and +the conviction of either of whom, according to the hypothesis which had +been started, involved the absolution of the other.</p> + +<p>The judicial oath is administered not as with us, but by requiring the +accused person, or the witness, to assert that he is speaking the truth, +while placing the extended hand on a carved representation of the +crucified Redeemer. And there can be no doubt that this ceremony has a +very strong effect on the imagination and nervous system among the +easily moved races of the south. Many a crime has been avowed, because +the paralyzed lips of the criminal were absolutely incapable of +pronouncing the lie he fully purposed to speak, while he thus openly +appealed to the material figure which had the power of enabling the +sluggish southern imagination to realize the presence of the Creator.</p> + +<p>There would be little interest in detailing at length the proceedings of +the trial; since nothing was elicited that would be in any way new to +the reader, or that was calculated to throw any fresh light on the +circumstances to be inquired into, until the business in hand was nearly +concluded.</p> + +<p>Every tenderness had been shown to the misfortunes and to the terrible +state of suffering of the Marchese. A full statement of his own conduct +at the ball, and on the following morning, had been extracted, with very +little indulgence in the process, from the Conte Leandro, from whose +white and pasty face the perspiration had rained beyond the power of any +handkerchief to control it, while he described himself as an +eavesdropper, an informer, and a spy. And all that had been required +from the Marchese Lamberto was the admission that the Conte Leandro's +statements, as far as regarded what had taken place at the ball, were +correct.</p> + +<p>But the fact was that the case was well-nigh prejudged before the +professed trial began. All Ravenna, including the police authorities, +who had investigated the matter, and the judges who came into court well +instructed in all that had been done, and all that could be known upon +the subject, had made up their minds that the stranger girl was and must +have been the criminal. It was infinitely more agreeable to everybody +concerned to suppose that such should be the case rather than that such +a damning blot should fall on the noblest house in the city, and that in +the person of one of the most popular men in it; and, at the same time, +it must be owned that the case was so strong against Paolina that a +prejudice against her could hardly be called a corrupt one.</p> + +<p>Her own conduct during the trial had tended yet farther to impress the +minds of all present against her. Not that there was anything in her +appearance and manner that was otherwise than calculated to conciliate +pity and favourable opinion. Her entrance into the court had excited the +greatest interest. She had on a black silk dress made in the simplest +and plainest possible fashion; and the colour of it, where the neckband +encircled her slender throat, made an absolutely startling contrast with +the utterly colourless whiteness of her skin. Her manner was very +subdued, very quiet; nor did she exhibit any signs of fear; or much of +emotion, save to those who were near enough to her to perceive a quiet, +silent, and undemonstrative tear steal occasionally down her dead-white +cheek.</p> + +<p>But when examined as to her disposal of herself after leaving the church +of Apollinare—as to her motives for changing her purpose, if it were +true, as she stated, that she did change her purpose of entering the +Pineta—she became embarrassed and failed to give any satisfactory +reply.</p> + +<p>Ludovico had, at an early stage of the proceedings, been removed from +the court, after having been in vain again and again requested by the +judges to abstain from interfering with the progress of the case against +Paolina.</p> + +<p>At last, when almost everybody in the court had made up their minds that +there could, in truth, be no doubt that the young Venetian, goaded to +frenzy by her jealousy, had been the author of the murder, and quite +everybody was convinced that such would be the decision of the judges, +the latter were on the point of retiring from the court to confer, and +consider their sentence, more as a matter of form, probably, than +anything else, when an incident occurred that made a change in the +aspect of matters.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII-6" id="CHAPTER_VII-6"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> +The Friar's Testimony</h3> + +<p>In a criminal trial in the states of His Holiness the Pope, there is +none of that absolute and inflexible adherence to certain rigid forms +and rules which gives to many of the proceedings of our courts that +character of an inevitable destiny-like march which is so dramatic in +its operations—that sense of the presence there of a power greater than +that of the greatest of the men concerned in the administration of it, +which constitutes on large element in an Englishman's respect for the +law. At times this automatic power, which has been thus created +Faust-like, by reason of the impossibility of pre-adapting its mechanism +to the exigences of every case, works to unforseen and undesired +ends—sometimes even to absurd ones. And, with thinkers of a certain +phase of modern thought, it has been a favourite taunt against the +average British mind, that it rather delights in the contemplation of +such abnormal workings of the great automatic law in which it has +created. Some manifest mistake or error has occurred. The man supposed +to be murdered walks into court; but it is a minute too late; the +verdict has been given—the sentence pronounced. All the court judges, +witnesses, counsel—look at each other in dismay; the great law +automaton cannot be made to swerve in its path by any power there. And +the average Englishman likes the contemplation of such a case, it is +sneered; and the sneer may be joined in by those who, under other +systems, have the immediate power of setting any such mistakes right by +a word. But the sneer, let the Englishman be assured, would by no means +be joined in by the population, who are subject to the action of courts +and judges thus able by superior word to direct the course of justice.</p> + +<p>The new incident which suddenly arose to change all the aspects of the +trial and its results would, as far as the analogy of the Roman mode of +proceeding and our own holds good, have been too late in one of our +courts to produce the results which it did produce. The judges were on +the point of retiring to consider their decision and sentence when they +were met at the little private door, by which they were about to leave +the court, by one of the ushers. And the consequence of the few words he +spoke to them was that they gave an order—turned back, and resumed +their places.</p> + +<p>It might well have been that the new incident might have been prevented +from bringing about the result it was calculated to bring about in the +Ravenna Court; but the miscarriage would have been caused in an +altogether different way from that which has been spoken as sometimes +characterising our own courts.</p> + +<p>It was very clear to everybody present that the judges would pronounce +Paolina to be guilty of the crime they were investigating; and to +everybody present, with one or two exceptions, this was a very agreeable +and satisfactory winding-up of the unhappy affair. Ravenna would be able +to wash her hands of the matter. It was wholly, both in conception and +execution, the work of a stranger. Since so great a misfortune had +happened, it could not be more satisfactorily accounted for.</p> + +<p>It is probable enough, therefore, that any Tom, Jack, or Harry, who, at +that conjuncture, had presented himself at the prefettura for the avowed +purpose of bringing a new light to the solution of the mystery which had +been already so satisfactorily solved, might have experienced +considerable difficulty in obtaining for himself any access to, or +hearing from, the judges.</p> + +<p>But the person who had now thus presented himself at the prefettura of +Ravenna belonged to a body, the very lowest and poorest members of +which, in that country, can always find, somehow or other, some means of +compassing almost any object which is not disapproved by some superior +member of their own corporation. The new-comer was a friar—old Father +Fabiano, the priest of St. Apollinare, as the reader may have +conjectured.</p> + +<p>The police agents had been anxious to produce him there, as the reader +knows, and he had baffled their wishes. Now the result which it had been +desired that he should contribute to had been brought about, or as good +as brought about, without him. What did he want there now?</p> + +<p>There was an old usher about the court, however, whose advancing years +were beginning to make him disagreeably conscious that the time was at +hand when a sentence to a long term of purgatory—to say nothing of any +severer doom—might make it exceedingly desirable to him to stand well +with all those who are understood to have influence with the government +in the world beyond the grave; and,—if there had been no such person, +the friar would have known somebody—some old or young woman, +probably—or he would have known some other friar who knew some such, +who would have been able to influence some brother, lover, or husband, +in the way he wished. As it was, Father Fabiano had no difficulty at all +in conveying the message he wished to communicate to the judges.</p> + +<p>They turned back to their places in the court, to the surprise and +sudden awakening of new interest in the audience, and ordered that the +new witness who had presented himself should be admitted and heard.</p> + +<p>And Father Fabiano, bowed with age, and his hoary head bent down on his +breast, but neither shivering nor shaking, advanced to the +witness-table. The crucifix was lying on it, and the friar, with the +manner of a man recognizing in a new employment tools which he is well +used to, at once stretched out his emaciated and claw-like hand, and +made oath that he was about to speak the truth.</p> + +<p>The Procuratore of the court then began to examine the old man with +reference to his knowledge of the circumstances connected with the visit +of Paolina Foscarelli to the church of St. Apollinare, and her disposal +of herself after leaving it; but the friar replied that it would be +uselessly occupying the time of the court to enter into any such +particulars, inasmuch as he had come thither to prove that Paolina had +nothing whatever to do with the crime.</p> + +<p>"But," remarked the Procuratore, "if it is in your power to do that, why +did you not give the necessary information to the Commissary of Police +when you were, on several occasions, examined at St. Apollinare?"</p> + +<p>"Signori miei," said the old man, addressing himself to the court in +general, "it is no affair of mine to meddle with the administration of +human justice. No words that I could say could undo the deed, or bring +the murdered woman back to life. Evil enough had been done. Why should I +cause further trouble, and sorrow, and shame, to others? It was more +fitting to one of my order to leave retribution in the hands of Him who +can best award it, and whose mercy may touch the heart of the sinner +with repentance."</p> + +<p>"But if so, frate mio," rejoined the Procuratore, "what, pray, is the +motive that now brings you here?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, the determination that the innocent shall not suffer for the +guilty. It seemed to me that it would never be known, save to Him who +knows the secrets of all hearts, what hand had done that terrible deed; +but now I know that the fallibility of all human judgment has led questi +Signori to the conclusion that the girl Paolina is guilty, and her +condemnation would be a misfortune greater than the first—I knowing the +hand which did that deed."</p> + +<p>"Ha, you know the murderer; you suppose you know him? You come to offer +us your guess, your suggestion?"</p> + +<p>"I come, Signori miei, with pain and sorrow and great reluctance, to +save you from condemning an innocent person by naming him who is +guilty."</p> + +<p>A sort of buzz and almost shiver of interest, anxiety, and expectation +ran through the court, as the old friar spoke the above words in a +stronger voice than that in which he had yet spoken.</p> + +<p>"Friar," said the Procuratore solemnly and severely; "it is my duty, +before you speak, to warn you to take heed to what you say. You are +about, you say, to make an accusation the most tremendous that one man +can bring against another. Bethink you whether you are able to +substantiate what you are about to utter. Remember that, if you cannot +substantiate it, it would be an hundred-fold better that your suspicion +should remain unuttered."</p> + +<p>The Procuratore, as well as every one else in the court, had little or +no doubt that the friar was about to accuse the Marchese Ludovico as the +perpetrator of the murder. And some, among whom were Signor Fortini, and +Signor Logarini the Commissary of Police, were persuaded that the old +man was going to trump up some story in the hope of saving his +countrywoman, Paolina.</p> + +<p>"Were it not for the necessity of protecting the innocent, Signori, God +knows how much I should prefer to carry my terrible secret with me to +the grave. Signori miei, these eyes SAW the deed done, that put the +sleeping woman to death. Only God and I, the lowest of his servants! God +and I saw the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare do that deed!"</p> + +<p>A loud indignant murmur of incredulity was beginning to rise throughout +the crowded court, like the first getting up of a storm wind.</p> + +<p>But it was suddenly hushed, and turned into a spasm of horror and +intense shock, that made every man hold his breath, when the sound of a +sudden heavy fall was heard; and it was seen that the Marchese Lamberto +had fallen insensible to the ground.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII-6" id="CHAPTER_VIII-6"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> +The Truth!</h3> + +<p>The Professor Tomosarchi was in the court, and had been, as it happened, +though unseen by the Marchese, fixing his eyes on him at the moment when +the catastrophe narrated in the last chapter occurred. Springing +forwards, therefore, the medical man was in a moment by the side of his +old friend.</p> + +<p>If, according to the strict letter of the requirements of their duty, +the magistrates or the police authorities present ought, under the +circumstances, to have prevented the free departure of the accused man +to his own home, it did not occur to any one to do so. Professor +Tomosarchi and Fortini between them, got him, still insensible, to his +carriage, and took him to his home.</p> + +<p>"Is it more than a mere fainting fit?" said the lawyer, as they both +were supporting the person of the insensible Marchese. "Could you not do +some thing to restore consciousness? Can that old friar have spoken the +truth?"</p> + +<p>"Apoplexy," said the Professor, with a serious and almost scared look +into the other's eyes. "Apoplexy, and no mistake about it. Don't you +hear the stertorous breathing. No, nothing can be attempted till we get +him home. We shall be at the palazzo in a minute. We shall see; but I +doubt—I doubt!"</p> + +<p>"You mean that his life is in danger?" asked the lawyer.</p> + +<p>"In danger! I have hardly any hope that he will ever return to +consciousness or speak another word again."</p> + +<p>"Good God! you don't mean that," cried the lawyer, much shocked.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do; it is possible, but very improbable that he should rally +sufficiently to survive the attack," replied the Professor.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," rejoined the lawyer, gravely and sadly after a few moments of +silence; "perhaps it would be best so. I fear me—I much fear me, that +this can hardly be looked on but as the confirmation of that old man's +declaration."</p> + +<p>The Professor looked hard into the lawyer's eyes, as he nodded his head, +without speaking, in grave assent.</p> + +<p>They arrived in another minute at the door of the Palazzo Castelmare. +The servants ran out, and they carried him up into the chamber where, +ever since that fatal Ash Wednesday morning, he had, as Fortini now well +understood, been suffering a long agony of remorse, apprehension, +despair, all the intensity of which it was difficult to appreciate.</p> + +<p>Life was not yet extinct when they laid him upon his bed; and the +Professor proceeded to do what the rules of his science prescribed in +the all but hopeless effort to combat the attack. But the miserable man +had suffered his last in this life, and every effort to bring him back +to further torture was unavailing. Within half-an-hour after he had been +brought back to his palace he breathed his last.</p> + +<p>"It is all over with him," said the Professor, looking up across the bed +to the lawyer standing on the other side of it; "there was no +possibility of prolonging his life—happily for him, and happily for +everybody connected with him, and for all of us. Who would have thought +a short month ago that such a life could have so ended?"</p> + +<p>"The 24th of March, Signor Professore, is the anniversary on which, more +fervently than on any other day of the year, I thank God for all his +mercies," said the lawyer, with grim solemnity.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand you, Signor Dottore; what has the 24th of March to +do with this?" said Tomosarchi, staring at him.</p> + +<p>"On the 24th of March, four-and-forty years ago, the Signora Fortini +departed this life, Signor Professore. But for that gracious disposition +of Providence, who knows that his lot, or worse, might not have been +mine? From Eve downwards, Signor Professore, from Eve downwards, it is +the same story—always the same story, in one shape or another—in one +shape or another."</p> + +<p>The Professor, who was the lawyer's junior by some thirty years, turned +away with a shrug of the shoulders, and stepped across the room to the +small escritoire near the window. There opening, without hesitation, and +with the manner of a man familiar with the place, a small concealed +drawer, he called the lawyer to him.</p> + +<p>"Just come here and look at the contents of this drawer, Signor Fortini. +There is a curious meaning in them."</p> + +<p>Fortini went across from the bed to the escritoire, and the Professor +took from the drawer and showed to him a small coloured drawing of a +human form, with just such a mark on it as had been visible on the spot +of the wound which had destroyed La Bianca's life. He showed him also, +in the same secret receptacle, a long very finely tempered needle, and a +small quantity of perfectly white wax.</p> + +<p>"Good God, Professor! Were you aware of the existence of these things +here?" cried the lawyer, aghast.</p> + +<p>"I knew that they were where I have now found them some four or five +months ago—towards the end of last year. You do not remember, probably, +some curious details of a crime that was perpetrated a year ago or more +in the island of Sardinia. I don't know that the details were published +save in the medical journals. You know how great an interest our +unfortunate friend used to take in all such matters. We talked over that +curious case. He doubted the possibility of causing death with so little +violence, and by means which should leave so little trace behind them. I +showed him how readily and easily it might be done. You may judge then, +Signore Dottore, of the misgivings that assailed me when I discovered +how that unhappy singer had been put to death. You will understand, too, +why he so absolutely refused to see me, and how little desirous I was to +see him."</p> + +<p>"But, Signor Professore—what should you have done if—?"</p> + +<p>"If that girl had been condemned. You may guess that my state of mind +has not been a pleasant one. I did not know what to do: I hoped that no +conviction would have been arrived at. Of course it would have been +impossible to keep silence while that poor girl suffered the penalty of +the crime I had such strong reason to think was the work of another. +Truly it is in all ways best as it is."</p> + +<p>"You are taking it for granted that the tribunal will give credit to the +friar's testimony; but that is not certain; nay, it is not certain—at +least, we do not yet know—we have only his assertion that he saw the +Marchese do the deed. With these evidences before us," continued the +lawyer, "we can hardly doubt that the fact was so. But stay—what is +this?—a letter addressed to me—'Al Chiarmo Signor Dottore Giovacchino +Fortini. To be opened only after my death, and in case my death shall +happen within one year from the present time!' Perhaps this may render +any further doubts as to the conduct we ought to pursue unnecessary. Let +us see."</p> + +<p>And Signor Fortini sat down to open and read the packet; while the +Professor returned to the bed on which the dead man was lying, and +occupied himself with paying the last duties to his friend's remains.</p> + +<p>The letter was a very long one, consisting of several sheets of +closely-written paper. It is unnecessary to add to these pages by giving +a transcript of it, because the facts which it detailed at length are +either such as the reader is already acquainted with or such as he can +readily imagine for himself.</p> + +<p>When the narrative reached the events which had occurred at the ball in +the early hours of the Ash Wednesday morning, after mentioning the +circumstance of the information which had been conveyed to the writer by +the Conte Leandro Lombardoni as to the projected expedition to the +Pineta, the Marchese went on to describe the state of mind in which he +had left the Circolo. He protested that, although every smallest detail +of what he did had remained stamped on his memory with a vivid clearness +that would never more be obliterated, it would be unjust to judge his +conduct as that of a man in the possession of his senses. He was, he +said, mad—MAD!—and carried away by a hurricane of passions altogether +beyond his power to control. He had not formed any distinct intention of +following his nephew and La Bianca to the Pineta till he reached his own +house. He had happened to approach the Palazzo from the back, through +the stable-yard; and had there found old Niccolo, the groom, up. Then +the idea of waylaying the pair in the forest had occurred to him. He had +ordered a horse to be saddled; and had told the groom to let no one know +that he had left the palace. He then went up to his room, dismissed his +valet, and locked the door, as the servant had related to Signor +Fortini. Then descending to the stables, by one of those private doors +and stairs so frequently to be found in old Italian palaces, and +generally contrived to communicate with the principal sleeping chamber +of the dwelling, he mounted his horse, and rode furiously to the Pineta, +quitting the city, not by the Porta Nueva, but by the next gate towards +the south. He must have reached the forest before Ludovico and Bianca +had left the city. He put his steaming horse into the abandoned hovel of +a watcher of the cattle on the marshes; and then skulked about the edge +of the wood in the vicinity of the road which enters it from the city. +All this time he had, as he again and again declared in the long and +repetitive document in the lawyer's hands, no formed intention of any +sort in his mind. All he knew was that he was mad, and suffering +torments worse than any imagination had ever depicted the tortures of +the damned; the pulses were beating, and the blood was rushing in his +ears and in his eyes, he wrote, in such sort that all sounds seem to him +one universal buzzing, and all objects vague and uncertain, and tinged +with the colour of blood.</p> + +<p>And, in this condition, he waited and waited till almost a wild hope +began to creep upon him that the Conte Leandro had lied to him.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he saw them coming towards the edge of the wood.</p> + +<p>With difficulty, he stood upright, resting the front of his shoulder and +his forehead against the trunk of a tree, from behind which he glared +out, while his eyes were blasted by what he saw.</p> + +<p>Judging more sanely than the poor Marchese was able to judge, and +putting together all the circumstances and conduct and declarations of +the other parties, we may probably conclude, that though he saw enough +to madden the heart and brain of a man whose mind had already been +warped and distorted by jealousy, he did not see aught that could have +been deemed to menace the future happiness of Paolina. No doubt La +Bianca, despite her declared intention to make the Marchese Lamberto a +good and true wife, had he married her, would have preferred to become +Marchese di Castelmare by a marriage with his nephew. No doubt she had a +liking for Ludovico of a different kind from that which she had +professed to feel for his uncle. No doubt her imagination had been +fired, and her heart awakened to long for such love as she had seen +given to each other by Ludovico and Paolina, which she too well +understood to be of a kind which, despite her good resolutions, would +not be found in her union with the Marchese Lamberto. And no doubt these +feelings manifested themselves in her visible manner during the +conversation which followed her confession to him of the engagement +between her and his uncle.</p> + +<p>It may also be suggested to those who have never been called upon to act +as Ludovico was called upon to act, under the circumstances of receiving +such a communication, so communicated from such a woman, that they would +do well not to judge too severely any such parts of his behaviour under +the ordeal, as may have been of a nature to produce a very deplorable +effect on the jaundiced mind of his uncle, though, in reality, there was +little real meaning and less serious harm in them.</p> + +<p>Of course the unfortunate Marchese could not be expected to see or +reason on what he saw in any such mood or tone. As he said in the +writing he had left, what he saw as Ludovico and Bianca entered the +forest, side by side, in deep and close talk, made a furious madman of +him. He dodged, and watched them, as they sat down together—as they +continued to talk in close confidence—till he saw her lay herself down +on the bank to sleep, and saw him after awhile quit her side.</p> + +<p>Then the devil entered into him, and ruled his hand with a whirlwind +power which he could no more withstand than the chaff can withstand the +tempest blast.</p> + +<p>He came and stood over her as she lay on the turf—the beautiful, +noxious creature. She had destroyed him; body, soul, and mind, she had +destroyed him. And now—and now—ahi, ahi! After all he had suffered, +after paying all the price he had paid! Ah, how lovely as she lay there +sleeping—placidly sleeping, she! And he was to be cheated! Her beauty, +her love was to be given to another.</p> + +<p>No, no, no, poisonous, baneful, sorceress; no, be what might, that hell +should never be!</p> + +<p>He put his hand to the breast-pocket of his coat, and took from it a +small pocket-book.</p> + +<p>If man will find evil passions, the devil will always find means. Surely +there must be some shadow of truth in the old legends that tell how the +fiend aids those who give themselves to him.</p> + +<p>The Marchese had, on leaving his chamber, quickly changed the coat he +had worn at the ball for a morning one. And it so happened that in that +was a pocket-book which contained the articles needed for the +perpetration of the murder, placed there by him one day—in times that +seemed now ages ago—when he was going to ask some explanation of the +facts that had interested him from Professor Tomosarchi.</p> + +<p>Like a balefully illumining lightning gleam, the clear memory that those +things were there at his hand flashed across his mind.</p> + +<p>In another minute the deed was done.</p> + +<p>And, in a few minutes more, the Marchese, looking the madman he felt +himself to be, got off his panting horse in his own stable-yard, threw +the rein to the scared old groom, and regained his room as he had left +it. Then the letter went on to speak of the terrible, the dreadful days +and hours which had elapsed since that time. It was during the hours of +that first morning, while it seemed to the excited mind of the Marchese +that every sound that was audible in the Palazzo must herald the coming +of those who had discovered the deed, that it had occurred to him to +send for his lawyer and give him instructions for the preparation of his +marriage contract. He would lose nothing by doing so, for the fact of +his offer of marriage to the murdered woman would assuredly not be kept +secret by the old man, her reputed father, and the maid-servant. And the +fact of his declaring such an intention, and giving such instructions at +that date, would very powerfully contribute to prevent any mind from +conceiving the idea that he could have been cognizant of the death of La +Bianca at the moment when he was so acting.</p> + +<p>And in truth, as the lawyer, examining his own mind, said to himself, it +had been this fact which had mainly prevented two or three little +circumstances from pointing his suspicions in the direction of the +truth.</p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX-6" id="CHAPTER_IX-6"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> +Conclusion</h3> + +<p>Little more need be added to complete this story of a great singer's +Carnival engagement, and the consequences that arose out of it.</p> + +<p>The consternation, the talk, the moralizings, of the little city may be +readily imagined.</p> + +<p>Of course the written statement left by the unhappy Marchese made all +further judicial inquiry unnecessary. When the hand of a mightier power +than that of any earthly judge struck him down before the eyes of all +that world whose good opinion he had valued so highly, in the manner +that has been related, the tribunal, of course, declared the business +before it to be suspended. The result made it needless ever to resume +the sitting. No retarded evidence against the Marchese had been given in +court—no record of any accusation against him remained in the archives +of it: and this was deemed to be a great point among a people who do +not, by any means, hold that the law is the same "de non apparentibus et +de non existentibus."</p> + +<p>Of course there was no further obstacle to the marriage, in due time, of +Ludovico and Paolina. A proper interval had, of course, to be allowed to +elapse before the knot was definitively tied; but it was settled, and +known to be settled by all Ravenna, and the strange and moving +circumstances which had attended the young Marchese's fortunes had the +effect of causing his marriage with the Venetian artist to be accepted +by the "Society" more tolerantly than, perhaps, might otherwise have +been the case. There was a sort of feeling that the whole affair was +exceptional; that the higher powers had visibly taken the management of +it into their own hands; that it was destined so to be, and must be, as +such, accepted. Too much of pity, of wonder, of congratulation, and of +condolence, were due from all his world to leave any space for censure +on account of his marriage.</p> + +<p>Doubtless there were explanations between them as to that hapless +expedition to the Pineta; and doubtless they were satisfactory. +Assuredly Ludovico never in his moments of most severe self-examination, +sharpened, as such self-examination was, by the terrible nature of the +result which had seemed to grow out of his conduct on that Ash Wednesday +morning, could accuse himself of having done aught that could reasonably +be held to leave at his door the responsibility of the events that had +followed from it. Italian men are not apt to bring into any prominence +the idea that where evil or misfortune is found there fault of some kind +must exist also. They are content, for the most part, to accept the +notion that all such matters are sufficiently accounted for by +attributing them to "disgrazia"—the absence of favour, that is to +say—the want of that favour at the Heavenly Court which it is on every +occasion of life seen to be so necessary to successful well-being to +possess at the Courts of Heaven's ecclesiastical, or lay vice-gerents.</p> + +<p>Paolina insisted on employing a part of the time which necessarily +elapsed before her marriage in completing the engagement she had +undertaken, and the promise she had made to her English patron. But she +found herself compelled to beg that some other specimen, chosen from +among the wonderful wealth of early Christian art that remains at +Ravenna, might be substituted for that in the choir of St. Apollinare. +She made the attempt to return to the scaffolding by the side of the +window, but she found that her strength was unequal to the task. She +could not bear to look on the prospect from that window. By agreement +with her employer, some further figures from the mosaics in San Vitale +were substituted for those which had originally been selected in St. +Apollinare. Her associations with the former church were of a more +pleasant character; and Paolina never visited the desolate old building +"in Classe" again. When the specimens selected in lieu of those in the +latter building had been completed, Paolina and her friend and +protectress returned with them to Venice, where it had been arranged +that they were to be delivered to the Director of the Gallery.</p> + +<p>In the ensuing Carnival Ludovico came hither, and the marriage was there +solemnized. It is not intended to insinuate that he had not often made +the journey from Ravenna to Venice in the interval. More of his time was +probably passed there than in his native city. From Venice the newly +married couple proceeded to Rome, and it was not till three or four +years later, that the Marchese and Marchesa di Castelmare, bringing with +them their two boys Lamberto and Ludovico, and their little Violante, +the most exquisite little fairy that ever was seen, returned to make the +Marchese's ancestral palace, ancestral city, their home.</p> + +<p>There was one other stranger in Ravenna whose lamentations over the fate +that had ever brought him thither were as loud as they were sincere. The +poor old singing-master, Quinto Lalli, was left, by the death of his +adopted daughter, as destitute of the means of support as desolate in +his home and heart. He was not worth much; but it would be unjust to +suppose of him that his violent outcry on her murderer was wholly or +mainly prompted by the former consideration. There had been a real and +strong affection between him and his adopted daughter, and her death in +truth left him utterly desolate.</p> + +<p>Yet he never again quitted the city he so much regretted having ever +seen. His comfortable support was adequately provided for by the +Marchese Ludovico. And often in after years—on summer evenings on a +stone bench beneath a fig-tree in the garden of the cottage provided for +him, and in winter at the chimney corner of its tiny parlour—might be +seen the tall spare nun-like figure of a grave and gentle lady, +earnestly labouring at the somewhat up-hill task of consoling the old +man, and striving to shape the teachings of his Bohemian life to a +better lesson than he was apt to draw from them. It was the Contessa +Violante; and it may be concluded from her occupation both that she +succeeded in escaping the pursuit of the Duca di San Sisto, and that her +great-uncle the Cardinal did not succeed in becoming Pope at the most +recent vacancy.</p> + +<p>After the return of the Marchese and Marchesa di Castelmare to Ravenna, +however, the greater number of the hours of the Contessa Violante were +spent in the home of her little god-daughter Violante di Castelmare, and +of her friend Paolina.</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Siren, by Thomas Adolphus Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SIREN *** + +***** This file should be named 5179-h.htm or 5179-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/7/5179/ + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen, tapri@kolumbus.fi + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Siren + +Author: Thomas Adolphus Trollope + +Posting Date: February 21, 2011 [EBook #5179] +Release Date: February, 2004 +[This file was first posted on May 31, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SIREN *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen, tapri@kolumbus.fi + + + + + + + + +A SIREN + +By Thomas Adolphus Trollope + + + + CONTENTS + + BOOK I + Ash Wednesday Morning + CHAPTER + I The Last Night of Carnival + II Apollo Vindex + III St. Apollinare in Classe + IV Father Fabiano + V "The Hours passed, and still she came not" + VI Gigia's Opinion + VII An Attorney-at-Law in the Papal States + VIII Lost in the Forest + IX "Passa la bella Donna e par che dorma" + + BOOK II + Four Months Before That Ash Wednesday Morning + CHAPTER + I How the Good News came to Ravenna + II The Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare + III The Impresario's Report + IV Paolina Foscarelli + V Rivalry + VI The Beginning of Trouble + VII The Teaching of a Great Love + VIII A Change in the Situation + IX Uncle and Nephew + X The Coutessa Violante + XI The Cardinal's Reception, and the Marchese's Ball + XII The Arrival of the "Diva" + + BOOK III + "Sirenum Pocula" + CHAPTER + I "Diva Potens" + II An Adopted Father and an Adopted Daughter + III "Armed at All Points" + IV Throwing the Line + V After-thoughts + VI At the Circolo + VII Extremes Meet + VIII The Diva shows her Cards + IX One Struggle more + + BOOK IV + The Last Days of the Carnival + + CHAPTER + I In the Cardinal's Chapel + II The Corso + III "La Sonnambula" + IV The Marchese Lamberto's Correspondence + V Bianca at Home + VI Paolina at Home + VII Two Interviews + VIII A Carnival Reception + IX Paolina's Return to the City + + BOOK V + Who Did The Deed? + CHAPTER + I At the City Gate + II Suspicion + III Guilty or Not Guilty? + IV The Marchese hears the Ill News + V Doubts and Possibilities + VI At the Circolo again + VII A Prison Visit + VIII Signor Giovacchino Fortini at Home + IX The Post-Mortem Examination + X Public Opinion + XI In Father Fabiano's Cell + XII The Case against Paolina + + BOOK VI + Poena Pede Claudo + CHAPTER + I Signor Fortini receives the Signora Steno in his Studio + II Was it Paolina after all? + III Could it have been the Aged Friar? + IV What Ravenna thought of it + V "Miserrimus" + VI The Trial + VII The Friar's Testimony + VIII The Truth! + IX Conclusion + + + + +A SIREN + +By Thomas Adolphus Trollope + + + + +BOOK I + +Ash Wednesday Morning + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The Last Night of Carnival + + +It was Carnival time in the ancient and once imperial, but now +provincial and remote, city of Ravenna. It was Carnival time, and the +very acme and high-tide of that season of mirth and revel. For the +theory of Carnival observance is, that the life of it, unlike that of +most other things and beings, is intensified with a constantly crescendo +movement up to the last minutes of its existence. And there now remained +but an hour before midnight on the Tuesday preceding the first day of +Lent, Ash Wednesday--Dies Cinerum!--that sad and sober morrow which has +brought with it "sermons and soda-water" to so many generations of +revellers. + +Of course Carnival, according to the Calendar and Time's hour-glass, is +over at twelve o'clock on the night of Shrove Tuesday. Generally, +however, in the pleasure-loving cities of Italy, a few hours' law are +allowed or winked at. The revellers are not supposed to become aware +that it is past midnight till about three or four in the morning. + +Very generally the wind-up of the season of fun and frolic consists of +what is called a "Veglione," or "great making a night of it," which +means a masked ball at the theatre. And the great central chandelier +does not begin to descend into the body of the house, to have its lights +flapped out by the handkerchiefs of the revellers amid a last frantic +rondo, till some four hours after midnight. But in provincial Ravenna, a +Pope's city under the rule of a Cardinal Legate, there is--or was in the +days when the Pope held sway there--no Veglione. Its place was supplied, +as far as "the society" of the city was concerned, by a ball at the +"Circolo dei Nobili." + +It was not, therefore, till four o'clock in the morning, or perhaps even +a little later, that the lights would be extinguished on the night in +question at the "Circolo dei Nobili," and Carnival would, in truth, be +over, and the tired holiday-makers would go home to their beds. + +A few hours more remained, and the revelry was at its height, and the +dancers danced as knowing that their minutes were numbered. + +There had been a ball on the previous night at the Palazzo of the +Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. But the scene at the Circolo was a much +more brilliant, animated, and varied one than that of the night before +at the Castelmare palace. The Marchese Lamberto was the wealthiest noble +in Ravenna, and--putting aside his friend the Cardinal Legate--was, in +many other respects, the first and foremost man of the city. He was a +bachelor of some fifty years old. And bachelors' houses and bachelors' +balls have the reputation of enjoying the privilege of a somewhat freer +and more unreserved gaiety and jollity than those of their neighbours +more heavily weighted with the cares and responsibilities of life. But +such was not the case at the Palazzo Castelmare. Presided over on such +occasions as that of the great annual Carnival ball by a widowed +sister-in-law of the Marchese, the Castelmare palace was the most +decorous and respectable house, as its master was the most decorous and +respectable man, in Ravenna. + +Not that it was a dull house. The Marchese Lamberto, though a grave and +dignified personage in the eyes of the "jeunesse doree" of Ravenna, was +looked up to as one of the best loved, as well as most respected, men in +the city. And there was not a member of the "society" who would not have +been sadly hurt at not being invited to the great annual Carnival ball +at the Castelmare palace. But the same degree of laissez aller jollity +would not have been "de mise" there as was permissible at the Circolo. +The fun was not so fast and furious as it was wont to be at the club of +the nobles on the last night of Carnival. + +The whole society were at the latter gathering. All the nobles of +Ravenna were the hosts, and everybody was there solely and entirely to +amuse and enjoy themselves. Host and guests, indeed, were almost +identical. There were but few persons present, and those strangers to +the town, who did not belong to their own class. + +To the Marchese, on the previous night, most of the company had +contented themselves with going in "domino." At the Circolo ball a very +large proportion of the dancers were in costume. The Conte Leandro +Lombardoni,--lady-killer, Don Juan, and poet, whose fortunes and +misfortunes in these characters had made him the butt of the entire +society, and had perhaps contributed, together with his well-known +extraordinarily pronounced propensity for cramming himself with pastry, +to give him the pale, puffed, pasty face, swelling around a pair of pale +fish-like eyes, that distinguished him,--the Conte Leandro Lombardoni; +indeed, had gone to the Castelmare palace as "Apollo," in a costume +which young Ludovico Castelmare, the Marchese Lamberto's nephew, would +insist on mistaking for that of Aesop; and had now, according to a +programme perfectly well known previously throughout the city, come to +the Circolo as "Dante." The Tuscan "lucco," or long flowing gown, had at +least the advantage of concealing from the public eye much that the +Apollo costume had injudiciously exhibited. + +Ludovico Castelmare had adopted the costume of a Venetian noble of the +sixteenth century; and very strikingly handsome he looked in that most +picturesque of all dresses. The Marchese Lamberto was at the ball, of +course, but not in costume. Perhaps the most striking figure in the +rooms, however, was one of those few persons who have been mentioned as +present, but not belonging to Ravenna, or to the class of its nobles. +This was a lady, well known at that day throughout Italy as Bianca +Lalli--"La Lalli," or "La Bianca," in theatrical parlance--for she was +one of the first singers of the day. Special circumstances--to be +explained at a future page--had rendered it possible for remote little +Ravenna to secure the celebrated artist for the Carnival, which was now +expiring. The Marchese Lamberto, who, among many other avocations and +occupations, all of them contributing in some way or other to the +welfare and advantage of his native city, was a great lover and +connoisseur of music, and patron of the theatre, had been mainly +instrumental in bringing La Lalli to Ravenna. The engagement had been a +most successful one. The "Diva Bianca" had sung through the Carnival, +charming all ears and hearts in Ravenna with her voice, and all eyes +with her very remarkable and fascinating beauty. And now, on this last +night of the festive season, she was the cynosure of all eyes at the +ball. + +Bianca had, as it so happened, also chosen a Venetian costume of the +same period as that of Ludovico--about the middle of the sixteenth +century. In truth, it was mere chance that had led to this similarity. +And neither of them, as it happened, had mentioned to the other the +dress they intended to wear. Bianca, in fact, used as she was to wear +costumes of all sorts, and to outshine all beauties near her in all or +any of them, had thought nothing about her dress, till the evening +before; and then had consulted the Marchese Lamberto on the subject: but +had been so much occupied with him during nearly the whole of that +evening at his ball, that she had not said a word about it to any one +else. + +It could not but seem, however, to everybody that the Marchese Ludovico +and La Lalli had agreed together to represent a pair belonging to the +most gorgeous and picturesque days of Venetian history. And a most +magnificently handsome pair they made. Bianca's dress, or at least the +general appearance and effect of it, will readily be imagined by those +acquainted with the full-length portraits of Titian or Tintoretto. A +more strictly "proper" costume no lady could wish to wear. And the +jeunesse doree of Ravenna, who had thought it likely that the Diva would +appear as some light-skirted Flora, or high-kirtled Diana, were +altogether disappointed. + +But there was much joking and raillery about the evident and notable +pair-ship of Ludovico and Bianca; and it came to pass that, almost +without any special intention on their own part, they were thrown much +together, and danced together frequently. And this, under the +circumstances, was still more the case than it would have otherwise +been, in consequence of the Marchese Lamberto not dancing. It was a long +time since he had done so. There were many men dancing less fitted than +he, as far as appearance and capability, and even as far as years went, +to join in such amusements. Nevertheless, all Ravenna would have been +almost as much surprised to see the Marchese Lamberto dressed in mumming +costume, and making one among Carnival revellers, as to see the Cardinal +himself doing the same things. He had made for himself a social +position, and a life so much apart from any such levities, that his +participation in them would have seemed a monstrosity. + +It may be doubted, however, whether on this occasion, at least, the +dignified Marchese was satisfied with the position he had thus made for +himself. It would have been too absurd and remarkable for La Bianca to +have abstained from dancing and attached herself to him in the +ball-room, instead of consorting with the younger folks. Of course that +was entirely out of the question. But none the less for that was the +evening a time of cruel suffering and martyrdom to the Marchese. Of +course he believed that the adoption of so singularly similar a costume +by Bianca and his nephew was the result of pre-arranged agreement. And +the thought, and all that his embittered fancy built upon the thought, +were making everything around him, and all the prospect of his life +before him, utterly intolerable to him. + +Ludovico and Bianca had been dancing together for the third time--a +waltz fast and furious, which they had kept up almost incessantly till +the music had ceased. Heated and breathless, he led her out of the +ball-room to get some refreshment. There was a large supper-room which, +on the cessation of the waltz, immediately became crowded by other +couples bent on a similar errand. But there had also been established a +little subsidiary buffet in a small cabinet at the furthest end of the +suite of rooms, for the purpose of drawing off some of the crowd from +the main supper-room. And thither Ludovico led Bianca, thinking to avoid +the crush of people rushing in to the larger room. + +The young Marchese--the "Marchesino," as he was often called, to +distinguish him from his uncle, the Marchese Lamberto--was one of the +small committee of the Circolo, who had had the management of all the +arrangements for the ball; and was, accordingly, well aware of the +whereabouts of this little "succursale" to the supper-room. But it is +probable that the existence of it was unknown to the great majority of +the company. At all events, so it happened, that when Ludovico and +Bianca reached it, it was wholly untenanted, save by Dante, in his long +red gown, solitarily occupied in cramming himself with pastry. + +"What, Dante in exile!" cried Ludovico. "Pray, Sir Poet, which bolgia +was set apart for those who are lost by the 'peccato della gola?' or is +a bilious fit in the more immediate future bolgia fearful enough?" + +"It is not so bad a bolgia as that appointed some other sins," said the +Conte Leandro, with mouth stuffed with cake, as he moved out of room. + +"What an animal it is!" said Ludovico, laughing, as he gave Bianca a +glass of champagne, and filled another for himself. + +"Take some of this woodcock pie, Signora Bianca? You must be starved by +this time; and I can recommend it." + +"How so? You have not tasted it yourself yet." + +"No; but I am going to do so. And my recommendation is based on my +knowledge of the qualities of our woodcocks. They are the finest in the +world. The marshes in the neighbourhood of the Pineta breed them in +immense quantities." + +"Oh, I have heard so much of the Pineta. They say it is so lovely." + +"The most beautiful forest in the world. And this is just the time when +it is in its greatest beauty,--the early spring, when the wild flowers +are all beginning to blossom, and the birds are all singing. There is +nothing like our Pineta!" + +"I should so like to see it. It does seem really a shame to leave +Ravenna without ever having seen the Pineta." + +"Oh, you must not dream of doing so. You must make a little excursion +one of these fine spring days. It is just the time for it. Some morning, +the earlier the better. But I dare say your habits are not very +matutinal, Signora?" + +"Well, not very, for the most part. But I would willingly make them +matutinal for such a purpose at any time. How far is it?" + +"Oh, a mere nothing--at the city gates almost a couple of miles, +perhaps. You may go out by the Porta Nuova, at the end of the Corso, and +so to that part of the forest which lies to the southward of the city; +or by the northern road, which very soon enters the wood on that side. +Perhaps the finest part of the Pineta is that to the southwards. Of all +places in the world it is the spot for a colazione al fresco." + +"I should so like it. I have heard of the Pineta di Ravenna all my +life." + +"What do you say to going this very morning?" said Ludovico, after +thinking for a minute. "There is no time like the present. It will be a +charming finish to our Carnival--new and original, too! Do you feel as +if you had go enough left for it?" + +"Oh, as for that," said Bianca, laughing with lips and eyes, "I am up to +anything. I should like it of all things. But--" + +"Ah! what a terrible word that 'but' is. But what?" said Ludovico, who +had no sooner conceived the idea than he became eager to put it into +execution. "But what?" + +"But--a great many things. Unhappily, there is no word comes oftener +into one's life than that odious 'but.' But who is to go with me? I +cannot go all alone by myself?" + +"Oh, that's no but at all. Of course, Signora, I did not propose such an +expedition to you without proposing to myself the honour of accompanying +you," said Ludovico with a profound bow. + +"What a scappata! I should like it of all things. But--there it comes +again! 'But' the second; will not the good people say all sorts of +ill-natured and absurd things?" + +"Not a bit of it--in my case, Signora. Everybody knows that we have been +very good friends; and that I have not been coxcomb enough to have ever +hoped to be aught more to you, having been protected, as they all know, +from such danger in the only way in which a man could possibly be +protected from it," said Ludovico, bowing again. + +"Dear me! What way is that? It might be so useful to know. Would it be +equally applicable to a lady, I wonder?" said Bianca, looking at him +half laughingly, half-poutingly, with her head on one side. "Oh yes! +perfectly applicable in all cases, Signora. It is only to have no heart +to lose, having lost it already," returned he. + +"Oh, come! This is a confidence dans les regles! And in return for it, +Signor Ludovico, do you know--speaking in all seriousness--that--if we +really do put this wild scheme into execution--I have a confidence to +give you, and may take that opportunity of making it--a confidence, not +which may or may not be made, like yours, but which I ought to make to +you, the necessity of making which furnishes, to say the truth, a very +plausible reason for our projected tete-a-tete." + +"Davvero, Signora! Better and better; I shall be charmed to receive such +a mark of your friendship," said Ludovico, thinking and caring little on +what subject it might be that the Diva purposed speaking to him: "and +then, the fact is," he continued, "that to-morrow morning will be the +best morning for the purpose of all the days of the year. For we shall +be quite sure that every soul here will be in bed and asleep. On the +first morning in Lent one is tolerably safe not to fall in with early +risers. Our little trip, you may be very sure, will never be heard of by +anybody, unless we choose to tell of it ourselves." + +"And I am sure that I do not see why we should not," said Bianca. + +"I see no reason against telling all the town, for my part," rejoined +Ludovico; "afterwards though--you understand; and not beforehand, or our +little escapade would be spoilt by some blockhead or other insisting on +joining us. Our friend Leandro there, for instance; think of it!" + +"The idea is a nightmare! No; we will not say a word till afterwards. +'Tis the most charming notion for a finale to a Carnival that ever was +conceived. I make you my compliments on it, Signor Ludovico." + +"So, then, all the 'buts' have been butted and rebutted?" said he. + +"Well, I suppose so,"--by the help of a strong desire to yield to the +temptation of so pleasant a scheme, the way 'buts' generally are +answered. "But we cannot go on the expedition as we are, I suppose?" +said she. + +"I don't see why not. I dare say the old pines have seen similar figures +beneath them before now. But you would not be comfortable without +changing your dress, and the mornings are still sharp. This is how it +must be. I will slip away before long, and make all preparation +necessary. I will get a bagarino and a pony--not from the Castelmare +stables, you understand, but from a man I know and can trust--and I will +come with it to the door of your lodging at six o'clock. You will stay +at the ball till the end. Everybody will go by four o'clock, or soon +after. That will give you plenty of time to change your dress. By six +o'clock every soul in Ravenna will be fast asleep. We shall drive to a +little farm-house I know on the border of the forest, leave our bagarino +there, and have our stroll under the trees just as long and as far as is +agreeable to you. Won't that do?" + +"Perfect! I shall enjoy it amazingly. I will be sure to be ready when +you come at six o'clock." + +"I will be there at six or thereabouts. Now we will go back to the +ball-room; but don't dance till you have not a leg left to stand on. We +must have a good long stroll in the Pineta." + +"Lascia fare a me! I dare say I shan't dance another dance--unless, +indeed, we have one more turn together before you go. Is there time?" + +"Oh yes, for that plenty of time. If you are not afraid of tiring +yourself, one more last dance by all means." + +So giving her his arm, the Marchesino led his beautiful and fascinating +companion back to the ballroom, where the music was again making the +most of the time with another waltz. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Apollo Vindex + + +The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had not passed a pleasant Carnival. +Reconciled, as he had recently professed himself to be--after some one +of the frequent misfortunes that happened to his intercourse with +them--with the fair sex, he had begun his Carnival by attempting to make +his merit acceptable in the eyes of La Lalli; and had failed to obtain +any recognition from her, even as a poet, to say nothing of his +pretensions as a Don Juan. To a certain limited degree, it had been +forced upon his perception, that he had been making an ass of himself; +and the appreciation of that fact by the other young men among whom he +lived had been indicated with that coarse brutality, as the poet said to +himself, which was the outcome of minds not "softened by the study of +the ingenuous arts," as his own was. He had been consistently snubbed +and flouted, he and his poetry, and his love-making, and his carefully +prepared Carnival costumes. + +The result was, that at the ball on that last night of the Carnival, the +Conte Leandro was not in charity with all men, and, indeed, hardly with +any man. He was feeling very sore, and would fain have avenged his pain +by making any one else feel equally sore, if he had it in his power to +do so. + +He was especially angry with Ludovico di Castelmare. Had he not chaffed +him unmercifully about the verses he had sent to La Bianca? Was it not, +to all appearance, due to him that the Diva had never condescended to +cast a glance on either him or his poetry? Had he not called him Aesop, +when it was plain to all the world that he represented Apollo? And now +this night, again, he had taken the opportunity of turning him into +ridicule in the presence of La Bianca; and he and she had spoken of the +possibility of their being troubled with his company as of a nightmare. +For the painful fact was that their uncomplimentary expressions had been +heard by the poet; who, when he had left Ludovico and Bianca in the +little supper-room together, had retreated no further than just to the +other side of a curtain, which hung, Italian fashion, by the side of the +open door. Finding that there was nobody there--for the little buffet +was at the end of the entire suite of rooms, and all those who were not +either in the ball-room, or in the card-room, were at that moment in the +principal supper-room--it had seemed well to the Conte Leandro, in his +dudgeon and spite against all the world, to ensconce himself quietly +behind the curtain, and hear what use Ludovico and Bianca would make of +their tete-a-tete. + +The first advantage he obtained was to hear himself spoken of as a +nightmare; and that naturally: prompted him to prick up his ears to hear +more. But when he had thus learned the whole secret of the projected +expedition, it struck him, as well worth considering, whether there +might not be found in this the means of making his tormentor pay him for +some of the annoyances he had suffered at his hands. + +So! the Marchese Ludovico, who ought to be paying his addresses to the +Contessa Violante in the sight of all Ravenna--the Contessa Violante +Marliani was great niece of the Cardinal Legate, between whom and the +Marchese Ludovico their respective families had projected an +alliance--was, instead of that, going off on a partie fine with the +notorious Bianca Lalli! A tete-a-tete in the Pineta! Mighty fine, +indeed! So sure, too, that nobody in the world would find them out on +Ash Wednesday morning! And he is to be at her door at six o'clock in the +morning! Very good! Capitally well arranged--were it not that Leandro +Lombardoni may perhaps think fit to put a spoke in the wheel. + +A little further consideration of the manner in which such spoke might +be most effectually supplied, decided the angry and malicious +poet--(poets, like women, will become malicious when scorned)--to seek +out the Marchese Lamberto, whom he thought he should probably find in +the card-room. For though the Marchese was no great card-player, and +never touched a card in his own house, he was wont, at the Circolo, on +such occasions as the present, to cast in his lot with those who so +consoled themselves for the years that made the ball-room no longer +their proper territory. + +But the Conte Leandro did not find the Marchese among the card-players. + +The events of the evening had already thrown him back again into a very +miserable state of mind, from which the Marchese had been suffering such +torments as the jealous only know, during all the latter half of the +Carnival. It was strange that such a man as the Marchese Lamberto--it +would have seemed passing strange to any of those his fellow-citizens +who had known him, thoroughly as they supposed, all his life; very +strange that such a man, so calm, so judicious, so little liable to the +gusts of passion of any sort; a man, the even tenor of whose +well-regulated life had ever been such as to expose him rather to the +charge of almost apathetic placidity of temper, should thus suddenly, in +the full meridian time of his mature years, become subject to such +violent oscillations of passion; to such buffetings by storms, blowing +now from one and now from the opposite quarter of the sky. But no length +of prosperous navigation in the quiet waters of a land-locked harbour +will give evidence of the vessel's fitness to encounter the storms and +the waves of the open sea. The storm-wind of a strong passion had, all +at once for the first time, blown in upon the sheltered harbour in which +that placid life had been led. + +And yet that storm-wind did not produce the same effect, as it would +have produced, and is seen to produce every day on the strong, +wide-spread canvas of some young navigator on the ocean of life, putting +out into the open waters at the time when such storms are frequent. +Every day we see such craft scudding with all sails spread before the +blast without attempt at reefing or tacking. Right ahead they drive +before the wind with no doubtful course. But it was not and could not be +so in the case of the Marchese Lamberto. The whole habits of a life--the +ways, notions, hopes, desires, ambitions, that time had made into a part +of the nature of the man; the passions, which though calm and unviolent +in their nature, had become strong, not by forcible energy, but by the +deep and unconscious sinking of their roots into the depths of his +character--all these things opposed a resistance to the new and +suddenly-loosed passion-wind, such as that which the deep-rooted oak +opposes to the tempest with no result of conquering it, only with the +result of causing its own leaves and branches to be buffeted to and fro, +torn, broken, and wrecked. + +Thus it was that the unhappy Marchese was violently driven to and fro +from hour to hour between the extremities of love and hate, till his +brain reeled in the terrible conflict; and alternate attraction and +repulsion bandied his soul backwards and forwards between them. + +A ball-room is not a pleasant exercise-ground for a jealous man who does +not dance. No "bolgia" of the hell invented by the sombre imagination of +the great poet could have surpassed, in torment, the Circolo ball-room +on that last Carnival night to the Marchese Lamberto. + +The sight of the sorceress who had bewitched him, as he watched her in +the dance, had once again scattered to the winds all resolution, all +hope of the possibility of escaping from the toils. What was all else +that he desired to be put in comparison with that raging, craving desire +that he felt and sickened with for her? That was what he really +wanted--what he must have or die. It was madness to see her, as he saw +her then, in the arms of other men, laughing, sparkling, brilliant with +animation and enjoyment. Worst hell of all to see her thus with his +nephew, her admiration for whom she had frankly confessed; whose ways +with women he knew, and whose intimacy with Bianca had already become +suspicious to him. + +Yet not the less did he stand and gaze, as they danced together, clearly +the handsomest and best-matched couple in the room--matched so admirably +evidently by design and forethought. + +He had seen Ludovico and Bianca leave the ball-room, after the last +dance, together with the crowd of most of those who had been joining in +it, and had begun fluttering, poor moth, after the irresistible +attraction, to follow them towards the supper-room. Missing sight of +them in the throng for a minute, he had followed on to the principal +supper-room, and not finding them there (for the reason the reader wots +of) had returned on his steps, and was sitting on the end of a divan, by +the door of the next room to the ball-room, through which all had to +pass who wished to go thence to the supper-room. There were people +passing through the centre of the room from door to door; but there was +no other, save the Marchese, sitting down in it. + +There the Conte Leandro found him, and came and sat down by his side; +much, at first, to the Marchese's annoyance. + +"What! you not in the supper-room, Signor Leandro. I thought your place +was always there?" said the Marchese. + +"I'm no greater a supper-eater than another; let them say what they +please. But I have just been getting a glass of wine and a biscuit in +the little supper-room at the further end there." + +"What, are there two supper-rooms? I did not know that!" + +"Only a buffet in the little room at the end, where the papers generally +are. It was mainly Ludovico's doing,--in order to have less crowd in the +supper-room,--and perhaps to have a quiet place for a tete-a-tete supper +himself. Oh! I knew better than not to clear out, when he and La Diva +Bianca came in; specially as there was nobody else there. Faith! I left +them there alone together." + +"Oh! that's where he is supping, then?" said the Marchese, in the most +unconcerned tone he could manage. + +"Yes; supping,--or enjoying himself in some other way, quite as +delightful. The fact is, Signor Marchese," continued the poet, in a +lowered voice, and rapidly glancing around to see that there were no +ears within such a distance as to overhear his words,--"the fact is, +that I am afraid Signor Ludovico is less cautious than it would be well +for him to be, circumstanced as he is! I am sure I did not want to +listen to what he and the Lalli were saying to each other. It is nothing +to me. But they spoke with such little precaution, that I could not help +overhearing what they said; and what do you think Ludovico is up to +now?" + +"How should I know!" said the Marchese, with the tips of his pale lips; +for he was grinding his teeth together to prevent them from chattering +in his head. + +"He is off at six o'clock to-morrow morning tete-a-tete with La Bianca, +on an excursion to the Pineta. Coming it strong, isn't it?" + +"To-morrow morning!" said the Marchese under his breath, and with +difficulty; for his blood seemed suddenly to rush back cold to his +heart, and he was shivering all over. + +"Niente meno! I heard them arrange it all. He is to slip away from the +ball presently, in order to make all needful preparations, and to be at +her door with a bagarino at six o'clock in the morning. Doing the thing +nicely, isn't it?" + +For a minute or two the Marchese was utterly unable to answer him a +word. His head swam round. He felt sick. A cold perspiration broke out +all over him; and he feared that he should have fallen from his seat. + +"He is a great fool for his pains," he said at last, mastering himself +by a great effort, sufficiently to enable himself to utter the words in +an ordinary voice and manner. + +"Well, it seemed to me a mad scheme, considering all things. And the +truth is, that I thought your lordship would very likely think it well +to put a stop to it. And that is why I have bored your lordship by +mentioning it to you." + +"At six o'clock, you say?" asked the Marchese. + +"Yes; that was the hour they fixed. Then he is to drive her to a +farm-house on the border of the forest, leave the bagarino there, and go +into the wood for a stroll. Not a bad idea for a wind-up of the +Carnival, upon my word!" + +"I think you have done very wisely and kindly in telling me this, Signor +Conte," said the Marchese, in as quiet tones as he could command; "and +if you will complete your kindness by saying no word of it to anybody +else, I shall esteem myself much obliged to you." + +"Oh! for that you may depend on me, Signor Marchese. I should never have +thought of mentioning it to you, but for thinking that it would be a +real kindness to Ludovico to put a stop to it." + +"Thanks, Signor Conte. A rivederla!" said the Marchese, rising. + +"Felicissima notte, Signor Marchese," returned Leandro, rising also, and +bowing to his companion. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +St. Apollinare in Classe + + +The Marchese remained at the ball to see one more dance between Ludovico +and Bianca after their supper; and then left the rooms. There was +nothing at all to cause remark in his thus retiring before the evening. +He never danced;--he happened not to be playing cards on that evening. +It was quite natural that such a man should prefer going home to bed to +remaining with the jeunes gens till the break-up of the ball. + +How he enjoyed that last dance, which he stayed to see, the reader may +perhaps imagine. Standing by a chimney-piece, on one corner of which he +rested his elbow, he in great measure shaded his face with his hand, yet +not so as to prevent him from seeing every movement of the persons, and +every expression of the faces of the couple he was watching. There was a +raging hell in his heart. And yet he stood there, and gazed eagerly, +greedily one would have said. And every minute, and every movement +blasted his eyes and stabbed his heart, and poured poison into his +veins. + +When the dance was over he did not move for some time; for he doubted +his power to hold himself upright and walk steadily. Presently, however, +when Ludovico and Bianca had again quitted the ball-room together, he +gathered himself up, and moved slowly away, shaking in every limb, pale, +fever-lipped, and haggard. + +The man who gave him his cloak in the ante-room remarked to another +servant, as soon as he was gone, that he would bet that the Marchese +Lamberto would not be at the next Carnival ball. + +At six o'clock, with wonderful punctuality for an Italian, Ludovico, +with a neat little bagarino and fast-trotting pony, was at the door of +the Diva's lodging. But Bianca was not ready. Her maid came down to the +door with all sorts of apologies, and assurances that her mistress would +be ready in a few minutes. The few minutes, however, became half an +hour, as minutes will under such circumstances. And the result of this +delay was that Ludovico and his companion were not the first travellers +out of the Porta Nuova that morning. + +During the whole of the past Carnival and the latter months of the +previous year there had been living in Ravenna a young girl,--an artist +from Venice, who had come to Ravenna with a commission given her by a +travelling Englishman to make copies of some of the more remarkable of +the very extraordinary and unique series of mosaics which exist in the +old imperial city. She had brought with her a letter of introduction +from her employer to the Marchese Lamberto,--a circumstance which had +led to a degree of intimacy between the Marchesino Ludovico and the +extremely attractive young artist, which threatened to stand more or +less in the way of the match which had been arranged by the +high-contracting parties between Ludovico and the Lady Violante, the +great niece of the Cardinal. The girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli. + +It is probable that in due time and season the reader may become better +acquainted with Paolina. But at present there is no need of troubling +him with more particulars respecting her than the above, save to mention +that, having industriously and successfully completed the greater +portion of her task in the churches within the city, she had determined +to make her first visit to the strange old Basilica of St. Apollinare in +Classe, on that same Ash Wednesday morning. She did not purpose +beginning her task there on that day; but intended merely to reconnoitre +the ground, look to the needful preparations that had been made for her +work, and ascertain how far the spot was within her powers of walking. + +Paolina, too, had felt that the morning of Ash Wednesday was a +favourable time for the first experiment of an undertaking that a little +alarmed her. For she also had calculated that on such a morning she +should be little likely to meet anybody. It was just about six o'clock +when Paolina started on her proposed walk; and she passed through the +Porta Nuova, therefore, a little more than half-an-hour before Ludovico +and his companion passed, travelling in the same direction. + +The road, which it was necessary for her to follow in order to reach St. +Apollinare in Classe, is the same for the whole of the distance between +the city and the ancient church as that which Ludovico and Bianca would +follow to reach the celebrated pine forest. The soil on which the forest +stands is composed of the accumulation of sand which the rivers--mainly +the Po--have brought from distant mountains, and deposited in the bed of +the Adriatic since the old church was built "in Classe,"--where the +fleet once used to be moored. The building thus stands nearly at the +edge of the forest, hardly more than a stone's throw from the furthest +advanced sentinels of the wood. The road coming out from the city by the +Porta Nuova, on its way to the little town of Cervia, a few miles to the +southward, traverses ground once thickly covered with palaces, streets, +and churches, now open fields,--and passes by the western front and +doorway of the almost deserted old Basilica, a little before it reaches +the turning off towards the left, which enters the forest. + +The walk before Paolina, when she had passed the city gate, was about +two miles or rather more. So that had La Bianca taken a few less minutes +to put the finishing touches to the charming morning toilette which +replaced the gorgeous Venetian costume she had taken off, the bagarino +which carried her and Ludovico would infallibly have overtaken the young +artist. As it was, however, having more than half-an-hour's start of it, +she reached the church before they came within sight of it. + +Little Paolina had felt rather nervous when first stepping into the cool +fresh morning air from the door of the lodging she occupied. But the +street was utterly empty, and she took courage. The first human beings +she saw on her way were the octroi officers at the gate. They sat +apparently half asleep at the doorway of their den, by the side of the +city gate, wrapped in huge cloaks; and took not even so much heed of her +as to say "Good morning." + +The long bit of straight flat road outside the gate was equally +deserted; and Paolina, braced by the morning air, stepped out +vigorously, and began to enjoy her walk. + +There is little enough, however, in the country through which she was +passing to delight the eye. The fields in the immediate neighbourhood of +the city are cultivated, and not devoid of trees. But the cheerfulness +thence arising does not last long. Very soon the trees cease, and there +are no more hedge-rows. Large flat fields, imperfectly covered with +coarse rank grass, and divided by the numerous branches of streams, all +more or less diked to save the land from complete inundation, succeed. +The road is a causeway raised above the level of the surrounding +district; and presently a huge lofty bank is seen traversing the +desolate scene for miles, and stretching away towards the shore of the +neighbouring Adriatic. This is the dike which contains the sulkily +torpid but yet dangerous Montone. + +Gradually, as the traveller proceeds, the scene grows worse and worse. +Soon the only kind of cultivation to be seen from the road consists of +rice-grounds, looking like--what in truth they are--poisonous swamps. +Then come swamps pure and simple, too bad even to be turned into rice +grounds,--or rather simply swamps impure; for a stench at most times of +the year comes from them, like a warning of their pestilential nature, +and their unfitness for the sojourn of man. A few shaggy, wild-looking +cattle may be seen wandering over the flat waste, muddy to the shoulders +from wading in the soft swamps. A scene of more utter desolation it is +hardly possible to meet with in such close neighbourhood to a living +city. + +Paolina shivered, and drew her little grey cloak more closely around her +shoulders; not from cold, though a bleak wind was blowing across the +marshes. She was warmed by walking; but the aspect of the scene before +her almost frightened the Venetian girl by the savagery of its +desolation. + +The raised causeway, however, keeps on its course amid the low-lying +marshes on either side of it; and presently the peculiar form of outline +belonging to a forest composed entirely of the maritime pine is +distinguishable on the horizon to the left. The road quickly draws +nearer to it; and the large, heavy, velvet-like masses of dark verdure +become visible. In a forest such as the famous Pineta, consisting of the +maritime pine only, the lines, especially when seen at a distance, have +more of horizontal and less of perpendicular direction than in any other +assemblage of trees. And the effect produced by the continuity of +spreading umbrella-like tops is peculiar. + +Then, soon after the forest has become visible, the road brings the +wayfarer within sight of a vast lonely structure heaving its huge long +back against the low horizon, like some monster antidiluvian saurian, +the fit denizen of this marsh world. It is the venerable Basilica of St. +Apollinare in Classe. + +Through all this dismal scene Paolina tripped lightly along with a quick +step through the crisp morning air, no little awed by the dreary, +voiceless desolation of it, but yet encouraged and not unpleased by the +solitude of it. + +The walk she found to be quite within her powers, at all events at that +hour of the morning and in that season of the year; and when she stood +before the western door of the ancient church, in front of which the +road passes, Ludovico and Bianca were only then on the point of starting +from the quarters of the latter, in the Strada di Porta Sisi. + +Though knowing but little of the long and strangely diversified story +which presses on the mind of a stranger read in history as he stands +before the door of that desolate old church, Paolina could not but be +much struck by the appearance of the building and of the scene around +it. If ever a spot was expressive in every way by which a locality can +speak to the imagination of the abomination of desolation, the view +which spreads before the eye at the huge doorway of the Basilica of St. +Apollinare in Classe is so. The general character of the country around +it has been described. But the church itself is the most dreary and +melancholy feature in the landscape. No desolation resulting solely from +the operations of Nature, even in her least kindly mood, can ever +suffice to speak to the imagination as the change and decay of the works +of man's hand speak. To produce the effect of desolation in its highest +degree man must have at some former period been present on the scene, +and the remains of his work must be there to show that activity, life, +energy, has once existed where it exists no more. Nature is always and +everywhere progressive, and no sentiment of sadness belongs to progress. +Man's ruined work alone imparts the suggestion--(a delusive one, indeed, +but most forcible)--of falling back from the better to the worse. + +Wonderfully eloquent after this fashion are the temples of Paestum, far +away there to the south beyond Naples, on the flat strip of miserably +cultivated soil between the Apennines and the Mediterranean. But they +are too far gone in ruin and decay to speak with so living a voice of +sadness as does this old Byzantine church. The human element is at +Paestum too far away,--too utterly dead and forgotten. In St. Apollinare +life still lingers. Life, flickering in its last spark, like the +twinkling of a lamp which the next moment will extinguish, is still +there. Life more suggestive of death, than any utter absence of life +could be. + +There are some dilapidated remains of conventual buildings on the +southern side of the church, mean, and of a date some thousand years +subsequent to that of the Basilica. They are nearly ruinous, but are +still--or were till within a few years--inhabited by one Capucin friar, +and one lay brother of the order, whose duty it was to mutter a mass, +with ague-chattering jaws, at the high altar, and act as guardians of +the building. + +Small guardianship is needed. The huge ancient doors--made of planks +from vine trunks which grew fifteen hundred years ago on the +Bosphorus--are never closed; probably because their weight would defy +the efforts of the two poor old friars, to whom the keeping of the +building is committed, to move them. But a poor and mean low gate of +iron rails has been fitted to the colossal marble door-posts, which +suffices to prevent the wandering cattle of the waste from straying into +the church, but does not prevent the fever-laden mists from the marshes +from drifting into the huge nave, and depositing their unwholesome +moisture in great trickling drops upon the green-stained walls. + +But not even the low iron gateway was closed when Paolina reached the +church. It stood partially open. After having stood a minute or two +before the building to look round upon the scene, Paolina stepped up to +the gate and looked into the church, but could see no human being. +Within, as without, all was utter death-like silence. She shivered, and +drew her cloak more closely round her, as she stood at the gate; for the +healthy blood was running rapidly through her veins after her brisk +walk, and the deadly cold damp air from the church struck her with a +shudder, which was but the physical complement of the moral impression +produced by the aspect of the place. + +After a minute, however, wondering at the stillness, half frightened at +the utter solitude, and awed by the vast gloomy grandeur of the naked +but venerable building, she pushed the gate, and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Father Fabiano + + +Paolina entered hesitatingly, and starting at the echoes of her +footsteps on the flagstones, wet and green, and slimy from the water, +which often in every year lies many inches deep on the floor of the +church. She advanced towards a small marble altar which stands quite +isolated in the middle of the huge nave. And as she neared it she +perceived, with a violent start, that there was a living figure kneeling +at it. So still, so utterly motionless had this solitary worshipper +been, so little visible in the dim light was the hue of the Franciscan's +frock that entirely covered him, that Paolina had not imagined that +there had been any living creature in the church. She saw, however, in +the same instant that she became aware of his presence, that the figure +was that of a Capucin friar, and doubted not that he must be the +guardian of the church, whom she had been told she would find there. + +The little low altar, of an antiquity coeval with that of the church, +which stands in the centre of the nave, is the sole exception to the +entire and utter emptiness of the place. There are, indeed, ranged along +the walls of the side aisles, several ancient marble coffins, curiously +carved, and with semi-circular covers, which contain the bodies of the +earliest Bishops of the See. But the little altar is the sole object +that breaks the continuity of the open floor. The body of St. Apollinare +was originally laid beneath it, but was in a subsequent age removed to a +more specially honourable position under the high altar at the eastern +end of the church. There is still, however, the slab deeply carved with +letters of ancient form, which tells how St. Romauld, the founder of the +order of Camaldoli, praying by night at that altar, saw in a vision St. +Apollinare, who bade him leave the world, and become the founder of an +order of hermits. + +It was on the same stones that the knees of St. Romauld had pressed, +that the Capucin was kneeling, as Paolina walked up the nave of the +church. The peaked hood of his brown frock was drawn over his head, for +the air of the church was deadly cold, and the fever and ague of many a +successive autumn had done their work upon him. He was called Padre +Fabiano, and was said to be, and looked to be, upwards of eighty years +old. Probably, however, his age was much short of that. For the nature +of his dwelling-place was such as to stand in the place of time, in its +power to do worse than time's work on the human frame. + +Of course, it can be no matter of question, why a monk is here or is +there, does this or does that. Obedience to the will of his superiors is +the only reason for all that, in the case of other human beings, depends +on their own volition. The monk has no volition. + +No human being who had, it might be supposed, would consent to live at +St. Apollinare in Classe, with one lay brother for a companion, and +discharge the duties assigned to the Padre Fabiano. But the question why +his superiors sent him there, was still one that might suggest itself, +though it was little likely ever to be answered. And the absence of all +answer to such question was supplied by the gossips of Ravenna, by tales +of some terrible crime against ecclesiastical discipline of which the +Padre Fabiano had been guilty some sixty years or so ago. Certain it was +that he had occupied his dreary position for many years; and it was +wonderful that fever and ague and the marsh pestilence had not long +since dismissed him to the reward of his long penitence on earth. + +He rose from his knees as Paolina approached him, and gravely bent his +cowled head to her in salutation. + +"You are early, Signora," he said. "I suppose you are the person for +whom yonder scaffold has been prepared." + +"Yes, father, I am the artist for whom leave has been obtained to copy +some of your mosaics." + +"You will find it cold work, daughter. The church is damp somewhat. You +would do better, methinks, not to begin your day's work till the sun has +had time to warm the air a little." + +"I had no thought, father, of beginning to-day. I have brought nothing +with me. I only thought that I would walk out and have a look at the job +before me. It is not so far from the city as I thought." + +"It is far enough to be as lonely and as deserted as if it were a +thousand miles from a human habitation," said the monk, looking into the +girl's face with a grave smile. + +"Yet you live here, from year's end to year's end all alone, Padre mio," +said Paolina, timidly. + +"Not quite so, daughter," replied he. "Brother Barnaba, a lay brother of +our order, is my companion. But he is ill with a touch of ague at +present." + +"And how early would it be not inconvenient to you, Padre mio, to open +the church for me?" asked Paolina. + +"I spoke not of your being early on my account, daughter. If you come +here at sunrise, you will find the gate open, and me where you found me +this morning; and if you come at midnight you will find the same." + +"At midnight, father!" said Paolina, with a glance of surprise and pity. + +"Last October I was down with the fever," returned the monk; "but since +that time I have not failed one night to be on my knees where the +blessed St. Romauld knelt at the stroke of midnight. But I have not had +his reward;--doubtless because I am not worthy of it." + +"What was the reward of St. Romauld, father?" demanded Paolina. + +"His midnight prayers were rewarded by the vision of St. Apollinare in +glory, who spoke to him, and gave him the counsel he sought. Night after +night, and hour after hour, have I knelt and prayed. And I have heard +the moaning of the wind from the Adriatic among the pines of the forest +yonder, and I have seen the great crucifix above the high altar sway and +move in the moonlight when it comes streaming through the southern +windows; and sometimes I have hoped--and prayed--and hoped--but no +vision came!" + +The old monk sighed, and dropped his head upon his bosom; and Paolina +gazed at him with a feeling of awe, mingled with a suddenly rising fear, +that the tall and emaciated old man, whose light-blue eyes gleamed out +from beneath his cowl, was not wholly right in his mind. She would have +been more alarmed had she been aware that the old Padre Fabiano of St. +Apollinare was generally considered in Ravenna to be crazed by all those +who did not, instead of that, deem him a saint. + +Before she had gained courage to answer him, however, he lifted his +head, with another deep sigh, and said, in a very quiet and ordinary +tone and manner, + +"Your scaffold is all prepared for you there, Signora, according to the +directions of the Signor Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare, who brought +with him an order from the Archbishop's Chancellor. Will you look at it, +and see if it is as you wish, and say where you wish to have it placed." + +The mosaics in the apse of the centre nave are the most remarkable of +those that remain at St. Apollinare, though many of the series of +medallion portraits of the Bishops of the See from the foundation of it, +which circle the entire nave, are very curious. Paolina had engaged to +copy two or three of the most remarkable of these; but she intended to +begin her work by attacking the larger figures in the apse. And the +scaffolding had been placed there on the southern side. + +"I think that is just where I should wish to have it," said Paolina, +looking up at the vault. "If I may, I will go up and see whether it is +near enough to the figure I have to copy." + +"Do so, my daughter. It looks a great height, but I have no doubt that +it is quite safe. The Signor Marchese was very particular in seeing to +it himself. See, I will go up first to give you courage." + +And so saying, the old man with a slow but firm step began to ascend the +ladder of the scaffolding. And when he had reached the platform at the +top, Paolina, more used to such climbing than he, and who in truth had +felt no alarm whatever, followed him with a lighter step. + +"Yes, this will do nicely, Padre mio!" she said, when she had reached +the top; "it is placed just where it should be, and this large window +gives just all the light I want. It is a much better light than I had to +work by in San Vitale." + +"I never was in San Vitale," replied the monk. "I have been here +fourteen years next Easter, and I have never once been in Ravenna in all +that time, nor, indeed, further away from this church than just a stroll +within the edge of the Pineta." + +"That is the Pineta we see from this window, of course, Padre mio. What +a lovely view of it! And how beautiful it is! Where does that road go +to, Padre? To Venice?" + +"No, figliuola mia. It goes in exactly the opposite direction, +southwards, to Cervia. The Venice road lies away to the northward, +through the wood that you can see on the furthest horizon. It was by +that road I came to Ravenna. I shall never travel it again." + +"From Venice, father? Did you come from Venice?" asked Paolina, eagerly. + +"From La bella Venezia I came, daughter--fourteen years ago. And once in +every month I indulge myself by going to the top of our tower--you can't +see it from this window, it is on the northern side of the church--and +looking out over the north Pineta as far as I can see towards it. May +God and St. Mark grant that no tempter ever offer me the sight of Venice +again at the price of my soul's salvation! I shall never, never see +Venice more!" + +"You must be a Venetian, father, surely, to love it so well?" said +Paolina, after a minute or two of silence. + +"A Venetian I am--or was, daughter; as I well knew you were when you +first spoke. Might I ask your name?" + +"Paolina Foscarelli, father. I am an orphan," said she, softly. + +"No!" said the monk, shaking his head, with a deep sigh, and looking +earnestly into the girl's face, but without any appearance of +surprise,--"No; you are not Paolina Foscarelli." + +"Indeed, father, that is my name," said Paolina, again recurring to her +doubt whether the monk was altogether of sound mind, and speaking very +quietly and gently; "my father's name was Foscarelli, and the baptismal +name of my mother was the same as mine--Paolina." + +"Jacopo and Paolina Foscarelli, who lived in the little house at the +corner of the Campo di San Pietro and Paolo," rejoined the monk, +speaking in a dreamy far-away kind of manner. + +"I have truly heard that they lived there," said she; "but I was only +four years old when they died, one very soon after the other, and since +that I have lived with a friend of my mother's, Signora Steno." + +"The child of Jacopo and Paolina Foscarelli," said the monk, in the same +dreamy tone, and pressing his thin emaciated hands before his eyes as he +spoke; "and you have come here to find me?" + +"Nay, father, not to find you. I knew not that the padre guardiano of +St. Apollinare was a Venetian. I came only to copy these pictures for my +employer." + +"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful are the ways of God! Paolina +Foscarelli, daughter of Jacopo and Paolina, I Fabiano---" + +"Look, padre min!" cried Paolina, suddenly and sharply, turning very +pale, and grasping the parapet rung of the scaffolding as she spoke, +"look! in the bagarino there on the road, just passing the church; +certainly that must be the Signor Marchese Ludovico!--And with him--that +lady?--yes, it is--it certainly is La Lalli--the prima donna, who has +been singing at the theatre this Carnival." + +She pointed as she spoke to a bagarino that had just passed the western +front of the church, and was now moving along the bit of road visible +from the high window at which the monk and Paolina were standing. + +The tone in which she spoke caused the friar to look at her first, +before turning his glance in the direction to which she pointed. She was +pale, and evidently much moved, after a fashion that, taken together +with the nature of the objects to which she drew his attention, and the +fact that it was the Marchese Ludovico who had come to St. Apollinare to +make the arrangements needed for the artist's work there, left but +little doubt in the old man's mind as to the nature of her emotion. + +He looked shrewdly and earnestly into her face for a moment; and then +turning his eyes to the stretch of road below, answered her: + +"Certainly, my daughter, that is the Marchese Ludovico. The lady I never +saw before as far as I am aware. They are going towards Cervia." + +"No! See, father! They are turning off from the road to the left. Where +does that turning to the left go?" + +"Only into the forest, daughter,--or to that little farm-house you see +there just at the edge of it. You may get as far as the sea-shore +through the Pineta; but the road is very bad for a carriage." + +"To the sea-shorn!" said Paolina, dreamily. + +"Yes, by keeping the track due east. The shore is not above a couple of +miles away. But there is no port, or even landing-place there. And there +are many tracks through the forest. You may get to Cervia, too, that +way. But it is hardly likely that any one would leave the road to find a +longer way by worse ways through the forest. More likely the object of +the Signor Marchese is only to show the lady the famous Pineta." + +Paolina, while the monk was thus speaking, had kept her eyes fixed upon +the little carriage, which was making its way along a by-road +constructed on the top of a dike by the side of one of the numerous +streams that intersect all the district; and she continued to watch it +till she saw it stop at the entrance to the yard of the little +farmhouse, to which the monk had called her attention. She then saw +Ludovico and his companion descend from the carriage, and leave it +apparently in the charge of a man, who came out from the farm-yard. And +they then left the spot where they had alighted on foot, and in another +minute were no longer visible from the window at which Paolina and the +monk stood. + +"How long a walk is it, father, from here into the wood?" asked Paolina, +musingly. + +"It is a very short distance, daughter. There is a footpath practicable +in dry weather like this, a good deal nearer than the road we saw the +bagarino follow. You might get to the edge of the Pineta in that way in +less than ten minutes." + +"And would it be possible to return to the city that way, instead of +coming back to the road?" enquired Paolina. + +"Yes; for a part of the way there is a path along the border of the +wood. Then you must fall back into the road. The way lies by the gate of +the farm-house." + +"I think I will go back to the city now, father. This scaffold is just +where it will suit me. And to-morrow, a little later perhaps than this, I +hope to come and begin my work. I shall have to come in a carriage, at +all events, the first time, because of bringing my things. I am so much +obliged to you, father, for your kindness. And I am so glad that you are +a Venetian. I little thought to find a fellow-countryman here." + +"Or I to see this morning a Venetian--much less--but we will speak more +of that another time--if you will permit an old man sometimes to speak +to you when you are at your work?" + +"Ma come--I can talk while I work. It will be a real pleasure to me to +hear the dear home tongue. I will go down the ladder first. I am not the +least afraid." + +So Paolina left the church, and the monk stood at the yawning ever-open +western door, looking after her as she took the path he had indicated to +her towards the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"The Hours passed, and still she came not" + + +There was misgiving in the heart of the old man as he stood at the door +of the Basilica looking after the light little form of Paolina as she +moved along the path, raised above the swamp on either side, that led +towards the edge of the forest. + +The rays of the sun slanting from the eastward lighted up all the path +on which she was walking; and though the western front of the church was +still in shade, had begun to suck up the mists, and to make the air feel +at least somewhat more genial and wholesome. The monk pushed back the +cowl of his frock, which had hitherto been drawn over his head, the +better to watch the receding figure of the girl as she moved slowly +along the path; and still, as he gazed after her, he shook his head from +time to time with an uneasy sense of misgiving. + +It was not that the mere fact of the girl's entering the Pineta alone +seemed to him, accustomed as he was to the place and its surroundings, +to involve any danger to her of any sort, beyond, indeed, the +possibility of losing herself for a few hours in the forest. The whole +extent of it is very frequently traversed by the men in the employment +of the farmers to whom the Papal government was in the practice of +letting out the right of pasturage and management of the wood. And these +people were all known. There were, it is true, encroachers on these +rights, who might well be less known, and less responsible persons; and +possibly the forest paths might sometimes be traversed by people bound +on some errand of smuggling. But nothing had ever happened of late years +in the forest to suggest the probability of any danger. + +It was rather the nature of Paolina's own motives for her expedition, as +they were patent to the old monk, that disquieted him on her behalf. He +had marked the expression of her face when she had seen the bagarino +with Ludovico and his companion pass along the road towards the forest, +and the change in her whole manner after that. And monk, and +octogenarian as he was, he had been at no loss to comprehend the nature +of the emotions which had been aroused in her mind by the sight. And he +feared that evil might arise from the collision of passions, which it +seemed likely were about to be brought into the presence of each other. + +Perhaps, monk and aged as he was, the apprehensions with which his mind +was busy seemed more big with possible evil than they might to another. +Perhaps it was so long since he had had aught to do with stormy passions +that the contemplation of them affrighted his stagnant mind all the more +by reason of the long years of passionless placidity to which it was +accustomed. Perhaps he had known passions stormy enough in the long long +past, and had experience of the harvest of evils which might be expected +to be produced by them. + +Report said, that when Father Fabiano had been sent by his superiors to +occupy the miserable and forlorn sentinel's post at the church-door of +St. Apollinare, amid inundations in winter, and fever and ague in +summer, his appointment to the dreary office had been of the nature of a +penance and an exile. It was said, too, that the sentence of exile, +which placed him in his present position, had been an alleviation of a +more rigorous punishment; that he had been allowed, after a period of +many years of imprisonment in a monastery of his order at Venice, to +change that punishment for the duty to which he had been appointed, and +which would scarcely have seemed an amelioration of destiny to any one +save a man who had for years been deprived of the light of the sun and +the scent of the free air. Some deed there had been in that life which +had called for such monastic discipline; some outcome of human passion +when the blood, that now crept slowly, while the aged monk passed the +hours in waiting for visions before the altar of St. Apollinare, was +running in his veins too rapidly for monastic requirements. + +It was evident from the few words that he had let drop, when he became +aware who the young Venetian visitor to the church under his care was, +that some special circumstances caused him to feel a more than ordinary +interest in her. Some connection there must have been between some +portion of his life and that of some member or members of her family. Of +what nature was it? Monkish tribunals, however else they may treat those +subjected to them, at least keep their secrets. Frailties must be +expiated; but they need not be exposed. And the true story of the fault +which condemned Father Fabiano to end his days amid the swamps of St. +Apollinare, as well as the precise nature of the connection which had +existed between him and Paolina's parents, can be only matter of +conjecture. + +Paolina, as has been said, pursued her path slowly. She had tripped +along much more lightly on her way from the city to St. Apollinare. And +yet she was urged on by a burning anxiety to know whither Ludovico and +Bianca had gone, and for what purpose they had come thither. But, +despite this nervous anxiety, she stepped slowly, because her heart +disapproved of the course she was taking. It seemed as if she was drawn +on towards the forest by some mysterious mechanical force, which she had +not the strength to resist. Again and again she had well nigh made up +her mind to turn aside from the path she was following. She would go +only a few steps further towards the edge of the forest. She looked out +eagerly before her, standing on tip-toe on every little bit of vantage +ground which the path afforded. She would only go as far as that next +bend in the path. But the bend in the path disclosed a stile a little +further on, from which surely a view of all the ground between the path +she was on and the farmhouse at which Ludovico and his companion had +descended, might be had. She would go so far and no further. And thus, +poor child, she went on and on, long and long after the monk had lost +sight of her, and with a deep sigh, had turned to go back again into the +church. + +It had been six o'clock when Paolina started on her walk to the church, +and nothing had been settled with any accuracy between her and the old +friend and protectress, with whom she had come to Ravenna, and lived +during her stay there, as to the exact time at which she might be +expected to return. The name of the protectress in question was Signora +Orsola Steno, an old friend of her mother's, who, when Paolina +Foscarelli had been left an orphan, had, for pure charity and +friendship's sake, taken the child, and brought her up. Latterly, by the +exercise of the talent inherited from her father, Paolina had been able +to do something, not only towards meeting her own expenses, but towards +making some return for all that the good Orsola had done for her out of +her own poverty. And now this commission of the Englishman who had sent +her to Ravenna would go far towards improving the prospects of both +Paolina and her old friend. + +Old Orsola did not know exactly at what time to expect Paolina back; but +she knew that Paolina's purpose on that Ash Wednesday morning was merely +to walk to the church, and, having seen the preparations that had been +made for her work, to return, without on that occasion remaining to +begin her task. So that when the hour of the midday meal arrived, and +her young friend had not returned, old Orsola began to be a little +uneasy about her. + +Nor was her uneasiness lessened by her entire ignorance as to there +being little or much, or no cause at all for it. Never having left +Venice before in her life, old Orsola was as much a stranger in Ravenna, +and felt herself to be in an unknown world, as completely as an +Englishman would in Japan. Since she had been in Ravenna she had +frequently heard the Pineta spoken of, and the old church out there in +which her young friend was to do a portion of her task. But she had +heard them both mentioned as strange and wild places, not exactly like +all the rest of the world. And the old woman felt, that, for aught she +knew, this Pineta, and the old church in the wilderness on the borders +of it, might be a place full of dangers for a young girl all by herself. + +And as the hours crept on, and no Paolina came, her uneasiness increased +till she felt it impossible to sit quietly at home waiting for her any +longer. She must go out, and--do what? The poor old woman did not in the +least know what to do; or of whom to make any inquiry. The only person +with whom the two Venetian strangers had become at all intimate in +Ravenna was the Marchese Ludovico. And the only step in her difficulty +which old Orsola could think of taking, after much doubt and hesitation, +was to go to the Palazzo Castelmare, and endeavour to speak with the +Marchesino. The letter of introduction, which they had brought from the +English patron, was addressed to the Marchese Lamberto. But the +acquaintance of the Venetians with him had remained very slight; and +Orsola felt so much awe of so grand and reverend a Signor, that it was +to the nephew only that she thought of applying. + +So, not without much doubt and misgiving, the old woman put on her +bonnet and cloak and made the best of her way to the Castelmare palace. +There she found a porter lounging before the door, to whom she made her +petition to be allowed to speak to the Signor Marchese Ludovico. + +"My name is Orsola Steno," said the old woman humbly, a little in awe of +the majestic porter, chosen for that situation for his size; "and the +Signor Marchesino knows me very well. I am sure he would not refuse to +see me." + +Insolent servants in a great house are generally a sure symptom of +something amiss in the moral nature of their masters. Good and kindly +masters have and make civil and kindly servants; and the big porter of +the palazzo Castelmare was accordingly by no means a terrible personage. + +"Signora Orsola Steno! To be sure. I remember you very well, Signora, +when you called on the padrone last summer. I am sure the Signor +Marchesino would have pleasure in seeing you, if he were at home. But he +is not here. And to tell you the truth, we have no idea where he is. He +came home early this morning after the ball, and instead of going to +bed, changed his dress, and went out again at once; and has not been +back since. Some devilry or other! Che vuole! We were all young once +upon a time, eh, Signora Orsola? And as for the Marchesino, he is as +good a gentleman as any in Ravenna or out of it, for that matter. But he +is young, Signora, he is young! And that's all the fault he has. Can I +give him any message for you, Signora?" + +"The fact is," said old Orsola, after a few moments of rapid reflection +as to the expediency of telling her trouble to the porter, and a +decision prompted by the good-natured manner of the man, and by the poor +woman's extreme need of some one to tell her trouble to,--"the fact is, +that I wanted to ask the advice of the Signor Marchesino about a young +friend of mine, the Signora Paolina Foscarelli, who went out of the city +early this morning to go to St. Apollinare in Classe, and ought to have +been back hours ago. And I am quite uneasy about her." + +"Why, your trouble, Signora, is of a piece with our own," said the +porter, with a burly laugh; "and it seems to me like enough we can help +each other. You miss a young lady; and we miss a young gentleman. When I +used to go out into the marshes a-shooting with the Marchese, we used to +be sure, when we had put up the cock bird, that the hen was not far off; +or, if we got the hen, we knew we had not far to look for the cock. Do +you see, Signora? Two to one the pair of runaways are together; and +they'll come home safe enough when they've had their fun out. I dare say +the Signor Marchesino and the Signorina you speak of are old friends?" + +"Why, yes, Signore. For that matter they are old friends!" replied +Orsola, adopting the porter's phrase for want of one which could express +the meaning she had in her mind more desirably. + +"To be sure--to be sure. And if you will take my advice, Signora, you +will go home, and give yourself no trouble at all about the young lady. +Lord bless us! what though 'tis Lenten-tide? Young folks will be young, +Signora Orsola. They'll come home safe enough. And maybe I might as well +say nothing to the Signor Marchesino about your coming here, you know. +When folks have come to that time of life, Signora, as brings sense with +it, they mostly learn that least said is soonest mended," said the old +porter, with a nod of deep meaning. + +And Signora Orsola was fain to take the porter's advice, so far as +returning to her home went. But it was not equally easy to give herself +no further trouble about Paolina. It might be as the porter said; and if +she could have been sure that it was so the old lady would have been +perfectly easy. But it was not at all like Paolina to have planned such +an escapade without telling her old friend anything about it. She felt +sure that when Paolina said she was going to St. Apollinare to look +after the preparations for her copying there, she had no other or +further intention in her thoughts. To be sure there was the possibility +that Ludovico might have known her purpose of going thither, and might +have planned to accompany her on her expedition, without having apprized +her of any such scheme. And it might not be unlikely that in such a case +they had been tempted to spend a few hours in the Pineta. And with these +possibilities Signora Steno was obliged to tranquillize herself as she +best might. + +She returned home not without some hope that she might find that Paolina +had returned during her absence; but such was not the case--Paolina was +still absent. And though it was now some eight or nine hours from the +time she had left home, old Orsola had nothing for it but to wait for +tidings of her as patiently as she could. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Gigia's Opinion + + +The aged monk of St. Apollinare, after watching Paolina as she departed +from the Basilica, and took the path towards the forest, returned into +the church to his devotions at the altar of the saint, as has been said. +But he found himself unable to concentrate his attention as usual, not +on the meaning of the words of the litanies he uttered,--that, it may be +imagined, few such worshippers do, or even attempt to do,--but on such +devotional thoughts as, on other occasions, constituted his mental +attitude during the hours he spent before the altar. + +He could not prevent his mind from straying to thoughts of the girl who +had just left him; of certain long-sleeping recollections of his own +past, which her name had recalled to him; of her very manifest emotion +at the sight of the couple in the bagarino, and the too easy +interpretation of the meaning of that emotion; and specially of her +implied intention of taking the same route that they had taken. + +He thought of these things, and a certain sense of uneasiness and +misgiving came over him. The young artist had spoken kindly and sweetly +to him. She had seemed to him wonderfully pretty,--and that is not +without its influence even on eyes over which the cowl had been drawn +for more than three-score years; she was a fellow-Venetian too,--and +that with Italians, who find themselves in a stranger city, is a +stronger tie of fellowship than the people of less divided nations can +readily appreciate; and, above all, there were motives connected with +those awakened remembrances of the old man which made her an object of +interest to him. And the result of all this was, that he was uneasy at +seeing her depart on the errand on which he suspected that she had gone. + +After awhile he arose from his knees, and, returning to the great open +door of the church, stood awhile irresolutely gazing out towards the +forest to the southward. He could not see the farmhouse, which has been +so frequently mentioned, from where he stood, because it is to the +eastward of the church. After awhile he strolled out and along the road, +till he came in sight of the house on the border of the forest. But +there was no human being to be seen. Then, apparently having taken a +resolution, he went into the dilapidated remains of the old convent, and +ascended a stair to the room where his sole companion, the lay brother, +was ill in bed. He gave the sick man a potion, placed a cup with drink +by his side, smoothed his pillow, and replaced a crucifix at the +bed-foot before the patient's eyes; and then, with a word of +consolation, descended again to the road, and after a long look towards +the forest, slowly moved off the nearest border of it. + +It was between eight and nine when Father Fabiano, moving slowly and +irresolutely, thus sauntered off in the direction of the forest; but it +was nearly time for him to sound the "Angelus" at midday before he +returned. + +Perhaps it was the fear that he might be late for this duty,--a task +which devolved on him, the lay brother being ill,--that made his steps, +as he returned, very different from those with which he had set forth. +He came back hurrying, with a haggard, wild terror in his eyes, shaking +in every limb, and with great drops of perspiration standing on his +brow. One would have said that all this evident perturbation could not +be caused only by the fear of being late to ring the "Angelus." His +first care, however, was to pay another visit to his patient. + +"Ah! Padre, you are going to have your turn again. It is early this +year. All this wet weather. Why, your hand is shaking worse than mine!" +said the sick man, as the old monk handed him his draught. And it was +true enough that not only Father Fabiano's hands were shaking, but he +was, indeed, trembling all over; and any one but a sick man, lying as +the fevered lay-brother was lying, could not have failed to see that it +was from mental agitation, rather than from the shivering of incipient +ague, that he was suffering. + +"You think of getting well yourself, brother Simone. I have not got the +fever yet," said the monk, making an effort to control himself and speak +in his ordinary manner. + +"May the saints grant that your reverence do not fall ill before I am +able to get up, or I don't know what we should do." + +"It is years, brother Simone, that make my hand shake, more than ague +this time, years, and many a former touch of the fever. I am not ill +this time yet. And now I must go and ring the 'Angelus.'" + +And the old monk did go, and the "Angelus" was duly rung. But Brother +Simone, as he lay upon his fevered bed, was very well able to tell that +the rope was pulled by a very uncertain and unsteady hand. "Poor old +fellow! he's going fast! I wonder whether there's any chance of their +moving me when he's gone?" thought Brother Simone to himself. + +But Father Fabiano, for his own part, judged that prayer and penance +were more needed for the healing of his present disorder, than either +bark or quinine. And when he had rung the bell, he betook himself again +to the altar of St. Apollinare, and with cowl drawn over his head, and +frequent prostrations till his forehead touched the marble flags of the +altar-step, spent before it most of the remaining hours of that day. +Nevertheless, it was true that, be the cause what it might, the aged +friar was ill, not in mind only, but also in the body. And before the +hour of evensong came,--his coadjutor, Fra Simone, the lay-brother, +being by that time so much better as to be able to crawl out,--Father +Fabiano was fain to stretch himself on the pallet in his cell. And Fra +Simone took it quite as a matter of course in the ordinary order of +things, that the father was laid up in his turn with an attack of fever +and ague. + +It was much about the same time that Father Fabiano had set out on that +walk to the forest, from which he had returned in such a state of +agitation, that old Quinto Lalli, the prima donna's travelling +companion, was made acquainted with the escapade of his adopted +daughter. Though she bore his name, the fact was that the old man was in +no way related to the famous singer. But they had lived together in the +relationship first of teacher and pupil, and then of father and +daughter, by mutual adoption ever since the first beginning of the +singer's public career; and they mutually represented to each other the +only family ties which either of them knew or recognized in the world. +The old man had been several hours in bed, when Bianca had returned from +the ball, at about five in the morning of that Ash Wednesday. And it was +not till he came from his room, between eight and nine, that he heard +from Gigia, Bianca's maid, that her mistress had not gone to bed, but +had only changed her dress, and taken a cup of coffee before going out +with the Marchese Ludovico more than an hour ago in a bagarino. + +There was nothing sufficiently strange to the former habits of his +adopted daughter in such an escapade, or so unlike to many another +frolic of the brilliant Diva in former days, as to cause any very great +surprise to the old singing-master--for such had been the original +vocation of Signor Lalli. Yet he seemed on this occasion to be not a +little annoyed at what she had done. + +"And a very great fool she is for her pains," cried the old man, with an +oath; "it is just the last thing she ought to have done--the very last. +I really thought she had more sense!" + +"I am sure, Signor Quinto, she has not had one bit of pleasure all this +Carnival. A nun couldn't have lived a quieter life, nor more shut up +than she has. With the exception of the old gentleman and the Marchese +Ludovico, she has never seen a soul!" + +The old gentleman thus alluded to, it may be necessary to explain, was +the Marchese Lamberto. "And where's the use of never seeing a single +soul, if she throws all that she has gained by it away in this manner?" + +"Why, Santa Virgine, Signor Quinto! Where's the harm? Isn't the Signor +Ludovico the old one's own nephew?" expostulated Gigia shrilly. + +"The old one, as you call him, is not a bit the more likely to like it +for that. It is just the very last thing she should have done. I do +wonder she should not have more sense," grumbled Quinto. + +"Misericordia! why what a piece of work about nothing! The old gentleman +will never know anything about it, you may be very sure. He is safe +enough in bed and asleep after his late hours, you may swear. Besides, +it's both best and honestest to begin as you mean to go on, and accustom +him to what he's got to expect," said Gigia, fighting loyally for her +side. + +"All very well in good time. But it would be as well for Bianca to make +sure first what she has got to expect." + +"Why, you don't suppose, Signor Quinto, nor yet that old Marchese don't +suppose, I should think, that he's going to marry a woman like my +mistress, to keep her caged up like a bird that's never to sing, except +for him?" + +"I tell you, Gigia, and you would do well to tell her, and make her +understand, that she is not Marchesa di Castelmare yet, and is not +likely to be, if this morning's work were to come to the ears of the +Marchese. It is just the very worst thing she could have done; and I +should have thought she must know that. I had rather that she should +have gone with any other man in the town." + +"I am sure," said Gigia, with a virtuous toss of the head, "she would +not wish to go with any one of them." + +"And she would wish to go with the Marchese Ludovico! There's all the +mischief. Just what I am afraid of. I tell you, Gigia, that if the +Marchese Lamberto hears of her going off in this manner with his nephew, +the game is all up. He would never forgive it." + +"You will excuse me, Signor Quinto," said Gigia, with a demure air of +speaking modestly on a subject which she perfectly well understood--"You +will excuse me, if I tell you that I know a great deal better than that. +There's men, Signor Quinto, who are in love because they like it; and +there's others who are in love whether they like it or no, because they +can't help themselves!" + +"And you fancy the Marchese Lamberto is one of those who can't help +himself, eh?" grumbled Quinto discontentedly. + +"If I ever saw a man who was so limed that he couldn't help himself, +it's that poor creature of a Marchese! He's caught safe enough, you may +take my word for that, Signor Quinto. He's caught, and can't budge, I +tell you--hand nor foot, body nor soul! Lord bless you, I know 'em. Why, +do you think he'd ever have come near my mistress a second time if he +could have helped himself? He's not like your young 'uns, who come to +amuse themselves. Likely enough, he'd give half of all he's worth this +day never to have set eyes on her; but, as for giving her up, he could +as soon give himself up!" + +"Humph!" grunted the old singer, with a shrug, and a sound that was half +a sneer and half a chuckle. "I suppose he don't above half like the +price he has to pay for his plaything! But that don't make it wise in +Bianca to drive him to the wall more than need be. Limed and caught as +he is, he's one that may give her some trouble yet. For my part, I wish +she had not gone on this fool's errand this morning. Now, I will go and +get my breakfast. I shall be back in half-an-hour. I expect Signor +Ercole Stadione here this morning." + +Signor Ercole Stadione was the impresario of the Ravenna theatre. + +"And if he comes before you are back, Signor Quinto?" asked Gigia. + +"If he should come before I am back, let the boy call me from the cafe. +And, Gigia, whenever he comes, you can let him understand, you know, +that your mistress is in her own room,--resting after the ball, you +know. He's hand and glove with the Marchese." + +"I wasn't born yesterday, Signor Quinto, though you seem to think so," +returned Gigia, as the old man began to descend the stairs. + +Signor Quinto went to the cafe, and consumed his little cup of black +coffee, with its abominable potion of so-called "rhum" in it, and the +morsel of dry bread, which constituted his accustomed breakfast; and +then, as he was returning to his lodging, encountered the "impresario" +in the street. + +"Well met, Signor Lalli!" cried little Signor Ercole, cheerily. "I was +on my way to your house to settle our little matters. I have not seen +you, I think, since Sunday night. The bustle of these last days of the +Carnival! How divinely she sang that night! If Bellini could have heard +her, it would have been the happiest day of his life." + +"I am glad that you were contented, Signor Ercole." + +"Contented! The whole city was enraptured. There never was such a +success. You have got that little memorandum of articles--?" + +"No. I've got the paper signed at Milan; but not--" + +"Stay, let me see. True, true. I remember now. It remained with the +Marchese. We shall want it, you know, just to put all in order. We can +call at the Palazzo Castelmare on our way, and ask the Marchese for it?" + +"Will he be up at this hour, after last night's ball?" asked Quinto. + +"He? The Marchese? One sees you are a stranger in Ravenna, my dear sir. +I don't suppose the Marchese has ever been in bed after eight o'clock +the last quarter of a century. He is an early man, the Marchese,--an +example to us all in that, as in all else." + +"Very well; then we can call for the paper on our way to my lodging; it +is not much out of the way." + +So they walked together to the Palazzo Castelmare, talking of the +brilliant success of the past theatrical season, and of the eminent +qualities and virtues of the Marchese Lamberto; and when they reached +the door the impresario desired the servant who answered the bell to +tell the Marchese that he, Signor Ercole, wished to speak with him, but +would not detain him a moment. + +The Marchese, the man said, was not up yet. He, the servant, had been to +his door at the usual hour, but had received no answer to his knock; so +that it was evident that his master was still sleeping. He had been very +late the night before,--far later than was usual with him,--and no doubt +he would ring his bell as soon as he waked. + +"The fact is," said Signor Ercole, as he and Quinto Lalli turned away +from the door, "that the Marchese has not been well of late. He very +often does me the honour of conversing with me,--I may say indeed of +consulting me on subjects of art;--and I grieve to say that I have of +late observed a change in him. He is not like the same man." + +"Getting old, I suppose, like the rest of us," said Quinto. + +"Like some of us," corrected Signor Ercole; "but, Lord bless you! the +Marchese is a young man--a young man, so to speak,--he's not above +fifty, and a very young man of his years; at least he was so a month or +two ago. But changed he is. Everybody has seen it. Let us hope that it +is merely some temporary indisposition. Ravenna can't afford to lose the +Marchese." + +"I suppose we had better put off settling our little bit of business +till another time?" said Quinto. "Shall we say to-morrow, at the same +hour? And I will get that paper from the Marchese in the meantime," +returned Signor Ercole. + +"That will suit me perfectly well; to-morrow, then, at my lodgings at +ten, shall we say?" + +"At ten; I will not fail to wait upon you, Signor Lalli, at that hour. +In the meantime I beg you to present my most distinguished homage to the +divina Cantatrice," said the little impresario, taking off his hat and +holding it at arm's length above his head, as he made a very magnificent +bow. + +"Servitore suo, stimatissimo Signor Ercole! A dimane!" replied old +Quinto, as he returned the impresario's salutation, with a slighter and +less provincial bow. + +"A dimane alle dieci!" rejoined the impresario; and so the two men +parted. + +"Not a bad bit of luck," thought the old singing master to himself, as +he sauntered towards his lodging, "that the Marchese should be in bed +this morning. It gives a chance that he may never hear of this mad +scappata with the Signor Ludovico. Lose the Marchese Lamberto! No, per +Bacco! there are other people, beside the good folks of the city of +Ravenna, who can't afford to lose the Marchese Lamberto just yet!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +An Attorney-at-law in the Papal States + + +At a little after twelve o'clock on that same Ash Wednesday morning, a +servant in the Castelmare livery brought a verbal message to the +"studio" of Signor Giovacchino Fortini, "procurators,"--attorney-at-law, +as we should say,--requesting that gentleman to step as far as the +Palazzo Castelmare, as the Marchese would be glad to speak with him. + +The message was not one calculated to excite any surprise either in the +servant who carried it, or in Signor Fortini himself. Signor Giovacchino +was, and had been for many years, the confidential lawyer of the +Castelmare family. And the various business connected with large landed +possessions made frequent conferences necessary between the lawyer and +such a client as the Marchese, who, among his other activities, had +always been active in the management and care of his estates. + +Signor Giovacchino Fortini was very decidedly the first man of his +profession in Ravenna, as indeed might be expected of the person who had +been honoured for more than one generation by the confidence of the +Castelmare family. For the lawyer was a much older man than the +Marchese, and had been the confidential adviser of his father. And old +Giovacchino Fortini's father and grandfather had sat in the same +"studio" before him, and had held the same position towards previous +generations of the Castelmare family. + +For three generations also the Fortini, grandfather, father, and son, +had been lawyers to the Chapter of Ravenna; a fact which vouched the +very high standing and consideration they held in the city, and at the +same time explained the circumstances under which it had come to pass +that the "studio" they had occupied for so many years, seemed more like +some public building than the private offices of a provincial attorney. + +In fact the "Studio Fortini" was a portion of an ancient building +attached to the Cathedral, in which some of the less dignified members +of the Chapter had their residences. The building in question encircled +a small cloistered court, the soil of which was on a lower level than +that of the street outside it; and the residences, to which a series of +little doors around this cloister gave access, looked as if they must +have been miserably damp and unwholesome. But the "Studio Fortini" was +not situated in any part of this damp lower floor. In the corner of the +cloister nearest to the Cathedral, there was a wide and picturesque old +stone staircase, which led to an upper cloister, as sunny and pleasant +looking as the lower one was the reverse. There, near the head of the +stair, was a round arched deeply sunk stone doorway, closed by a black +door, bearing a bright brass plate on it, conveying the information, +altogether superfluous to every man, woman, and child in Ravenna, that +there was situated the "Studio Fortini." + +This black door was never quite closed during the day. It admitted +anybody who chose to push it into a small ante-room, on one side of +which might be seen through a glass door a long low vaulted room, or +gallery rather, running over some half dozen of the inhabited cells +below. And along the whole length of it on either side, up to the height +of the small round arched windows placed high up in the wall, were +ranges of shelves occupied by many hundreds of volumes, all of the same +size, and all bound alike in parchment, with two red bands of Russian +leather running across the backs of them, and all lettered and dated in +black ink, of gradually shaded degrees of fadedness. The place looked +like the archive-room of some public establishment, which kept its +archives in very unusually good order. + +All these were the documents and pleadings in all the lawsuits and other +legal transactions of all the clients of the three generations of the +Fortini. And it would not have been too much to say, that Signor +Giovacchino Fortini would have deemed the destruction of this mass of +papers as a misfortune to be paralleled only by that of the Alexandrian +library. + +On the opposite side to the long gallery the anteroom gave access to a +large and lofty vaulted chamber, about one-sixth part of the space of +which--that is, a third of the floor and a half of the height--was +partitioned off by a slight modern wall and ceiling. Two young clerks +occupied the larger unenclosed portion of the large hall,--for such its +size entitled it to be called,--and Signor Fortini's senior and +confidential clerk sat on the top of the ceiling, which enclosed the +smaller portion. A small wooden stair gave access to this lofty +position, which was admirably adapted for keeping an eye on the +youngsters on the floor below. Under the same ceiling, in the snug +little room thus divided off, sat Signor Fortini himself. And a very +snug and bright-looking little room it was, with a pretty +stone-mullioned three-lighted casement window opening to the south; and +in the wall at right angles to it another window, offering accommodation +of a much more unusual and peculiar kind. It opened, in fact, into the +transept of the cathedral, and had been intended to enable the occupier +or occupiers of the apartment, now inhabited by the lawyer, to enjoy the +benefit of attending mass without the trouble of descending into the +church for that purpose. If Signor Giovacchino Fortini did not often use +it for that purpose, it, at all events, had the effect of imparting an +ecclesiastical air to his habitat, which seemed to have a certain +propriety in the case of a gentleman whose business connections with the +hierarchy were so close, and unquestionably added to the savour of +unimpeachable respectability which appertained to Signor Fortini and all +belonging to him. + +Signor Fortini was a tall, thin, adust old man, with a large, +well-developed forehead, a keen, bright hazel eye, and bristling, +iron-grey hair, which had once been black, and a beard to match, which +seemed as if the barber entrusted with the care of it were always two or +three days in arrear with his work. By some incomprehensible combination +of circumstances it seemed as if Signor Fortini's face were never seen +fresh shaven. His sharp chin and lanthorn jaws appeared to be +perennially clothed with a two days' old crop of grisly stubble,--two +days' growth,--neither more nor less! + +Long years ago he had buried a childless wife, who was said to have been +a wonderful beauty, and to have been in many ways a trouble greater than +Signor Fortini knew how to manage, and a trial that made his life a +burthen to him. Those old troubles were now, however, long since past +and gone; and Signor Fortini lived only for his law and his artistic and +antiquarian collections. He was like many of his peers in the provincial +cities of the Papal dominions--a great antiquary and virtuoso. +Antiquarianism is a "safe" pursuit under a government the nature of +which makes and finds very many intellectual occupations unsafe. And +this may account for the fact, that very many competent historical +antiquaries and collectors are found in the Pope's territories among +such men as Signor Fortini. + +The son and grandson of thriving lawyers, who had for nearly an hundred +years managed the affairs of the Chapter and the estates of the +principal landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, was not likely to be +otherwise than well off; and it was generally understood that Signor +Fortini was a wealthy man. He loudly protested on all occasions that +this was a most mistaken notion; but there never occurred an opportunity +of adding to his very remarkable collection of drawings of the old +masters, or his unrivalled series of mediaeval seals, or his all but +perfect library of the Municipal Statutes of the mediaeval Communes of +Italy, which found Signor Fortini unprepared to outbid most competitors. + +There were very few among his clients whom Signor Fortini would not have +expected to call on him at his "studio," instead of summoning him to +wait on them. But the Marchese di Castelmare was one of these +few,--perhaps as much, or more, on the score of old friendship as on +that of rank and social importance. + +The old lawyer was not more importantly occupied when he received the +Marchese's message, than by intently examining a bronze medal through a +magnifying-glass; and he sent back word that he would be with the +Marchese immediately. The fact was he did not like the look of this +summons at all. He, too, had observed the unmistakable change in his old +friend; and jumped to the conclusion that what he was wanted for was to +make, or to be consulted about making, the Marchese's will. + +"To think of his breaking up so suddenly, in such a way as this. No +stamina! Why, he must be twenty years my junior; and I don't feel a day +older than I did ten years ago, not a day. He has led a steady life too; +and seemed as likely a man to last as one would wish to look at. I +suppose everything will go to the nephew,--legacies to servants, and +something, I should not wonder, to the town hospital,--not that I think +he can have saved much, if any thing. I should like that little cabinet +Guido and I don't suppose Signor Ludovico would care a rush about it." + +With these thoughts in his mind Signor Fortini presented himself at the +door of the Castelmare palace within ten minutes of the time when he had +received the summons of the Marchese, and was immediately ushered into +the library. + +A bright ray of sunshine was streaming in at the large window, and +flooding half the room with its comfortable warmth and cheerful light. +But the Marchese, though he held a scaldino (a little earthenware pot +filled with burning braise) in his hand, and was apparently shivering +with cold, sat in his large library-chair, drawn into the darkest corner +of the room, cowering over this scaldino, which he held between his +knees. He jumped up from his seat, however, to receive his visitor with +an air, one would have said, of having been startled by his entrance. + +"It is kind of you to come to me so quickly, Signor Giovacchino," he +said; and then turning angrily to the servant, who was leaving the room, +added in a cross and irritable voice, very unlike his usual manner, "Why +are not those persiane shut? Close them directly, and then +begone--quick!" + +The man, with a startled look, did as he was bid; and the heavy wooden +jalousies thus shut reduced the room to comparative darkness. + +"I am afraid I find you very far from well, Signor Marchese. Would not a +little sun be pleasant this bright morning? the air is quite fresh +despite the sunshine." + +"I don't like the sun indoors! I don't know how my rascals came to leave +the persiane open." + +"I thought you seemed cold, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, kindly. + +"So I am cold--very cold," he said, and his teeth chattered as he said +it; "but the light hurts my eyes." + +"It very often does so when one is not well." + +"Not well! I'm well enough, man alive. But I think I must have caught a +little cold at the ball last night," rejoined the Marchese, striving +hard to speak in his usual manner. + +The lawyer, whose eyes had by this time become accustomed to the +diminished light, looked hard at his old friend from beneath his great +shaggy black eye-brows, with a shrewdly examining glance, and then +slightly shook his head. + +"Well, I daresay you'll be all right again in a day or two. But any way, +I am glad you sent for me all the same. These things have to be done, +you know. And a man does not die a bit the sooner for doing them. For my +part, I always advise my friends to have all such matters settled while +they are in health." + +"What, in Heaven's name, are you talking about? I don't know what you +mean," said the Marchese, with an angry irritability that was totally +unlike his usual manner. "I sent for the lawyer; and you come and talk to +me as if you wanted to play the doctor." + +"I assure you, Signor Marchese, I have not the slightest desire to play +any part but my own. And that I am perfectly ready to enter on. I am +ready to take your instructions, and will draw up the instrument +to-morrow or the next day. Thank God there is no cause for hurry. And +that is one of the advantages of arranging all testamentary dispositions +while we are in health. My own will, Signor Marchese, has been made +these ten years." + +"What is that to me? I may make my will ten years hence, and yet get it +done in quite as good time as you have, Signor Fortini. Pray allow me to +judge for myself, when I think it right to make my will. I have usually +been able to manage my own affairs." He spoke with a degree of anger and +petulance, jumping up from his chair, and taking a turn to the window +and back again, which seemed to conquer the shivering fit from which he +had been suffering. + +"Manage your own affairs, Signor Marchese! Who would dream of +interfering with your management of them? But did you not send for me to +make your will?" said the lawyer, standing also. + +"Send for you to make my will! No devil told you I wanted to make my +will? I said nothing about making my will." + +"I beg your pardon, Signor Marchese. Perhaps I jumped at a conclusion +over hastily. I thought it a wise thing to do, and so imagined that you +were going to do it;--that's all. Let us say no more about it. What +commands have you then to give me?" + +The Marchese took another turn across the room before replying; and the +observant lawyer saw him, when his back was turned, pass his hand across +his brow, with the action of one ill at ease. Then resuming his seat, +and motioning the lawyer to take a chair, he said--"If you will take a +chair, Signor Giovacchino, I will tell you the business for which I have +sent for you. I have thought it my duty--family considerations--in fact, +I've been thinking on the subject for a long time--in short, Signor +Fortini, I am about to be married." + +"Whew--w--w!" whistled the lawyer, without the least attempt at +concealing the extremity of his astonishment; and pushing back his chair +a couple of feet, as he raised his head to stare into his companion's +face. + +"And pray, Signor, what is there to be astonished at in such an +intention?" said the Marchese, evidently wincing under the lawyer's +look. + +"I beg your pardon, Signor Marchese, but--the fact is--one is always +astonished at what one does not expect, you know. You may depend on it, +I am not one bit more astonished than every human being in Ravenna will +be," said the lawyer, looking hard at him. + +"I am not aware, Signor Fortini, that I have to answer to any one save +myself for the wisdom of my resolution," said the Marchese, with a +dignity more like his usual manner than he had yet spoken. + +"Certainly not, Signor Marchese. Certainly not. But the exception is an +important one. You will have to answer for the wisdom of your resolution +to yourself," rejoined Fortini, drily. + +"That, Signor Fortini, is my affair. As I told you, I have considered +the matter well; and I have made up my mind." + +"May I ask, Signor Marchese, whether your intention has been +communicated to your nephew?" asked the lawyer. + +"As yet I have announced it to no one save yourself. As soon as the +necessary arrangements with regard to matters of property have been +determined on, it will be the fitting time to do so." + +"Before any word can be said on that head, of course, it is necessary +that your lordship should mention, what you have not yet confided to +me,--the name of the lady with whom you are about to ally yourself." + +"Of course; and it is for the purpose of doing so that I have requested +your presence here this morning, Signor Fortini. Before naming the lady, +I will merely remark to you, that a man at my time of life may be +expected to know his own mind, and has a right to please himself. And +bearing these remarks in mind, you will understand that I do not wish to +hear any observations on the subject of the choice I have made. My +choice is made; and that is sufficient." + +The Marchese looked up into the lawyer's face, and paused for some reply +to these preliminary observations before proceeding to tell his secret; +but the lawyer maintained a look and attitude of silent expectation. + +"It is my intention," proceeded the Marchese, "to marry the Signora +Bianca Lalli;--the lady whose conduct, as well as her talent, has won +the good opinion of the entire city." + +The old lawyer flung down on the table, with a clatter, a paper-knife +which he had taken into his hand while speaking, and rising abruptly +from his chair, took one or two turns across the room before he answered +a word. Then coming in front of the Marchese, and still continuing to +stand, he said, + +"You have warned me, Signor Marchese, not to make any remarks on the +communication you have just made to me. There is one, however, which +perforce I must make. It is that I must decline to take any +instructions, or to act in any way, for the forwarding of such a +purpose." + +"There are other attorneys in Ravenna, Signor Fortini." + +"Plenty, Signor Marchese; plenty who will be abundantly ready to do your +bidding. But Giovacchino Fortini will not. Good heaven! I should expect +to have my dear and honoured old friend and patron, your father, coming +out of his grave to upbraid me. Signor Marchese, you know right well--as +well as I do myself--that at this time of day, I don't care two straws, +as a mere matter of gain, whether I continue to be honoured with the +transaction of your legal affairs or not. But I do care on other +grounds. And I do implore you to believe that I am speaking to you more +as a friend than as a lawyer;--that I am speaking to you as the whole +city would speak, and will speak when it hears of this--this +incredible--this monstrous notion,--when I entreat you to think yet +further on this most disastrous purpose." + +Of course when a man speaks as Signor Fortini spoke to the Marchese, he +does it not without some hope that his words may produce an effect on +the person he addresses. But the lawyer had not much expectation that in +the present case what he said would be listened to. He spoke more for +the discharge of his own conscience, and because the feelings he +expressed were strong within him, than for any other reason. And he +fully expected that he should be answered with words of anger and +uncompromising rejection of his interference. + +It was not without considerable surprise, therefore, that he heard the +Marchese's moderate answer to the strong opposition he had offered to +his intention. "Well, Signor Fortini, I cannot doubt that what you have +said has been, at all events, dictated by a strong regard for my +welfare, as you understand it. I have, as I told you, made up my mind +upon the subject. Nevertheless, counsel cannot but be useful, and it is +well not to be precipitate. I will, therefore, so far accept your advice +as to promise you that I will give myself time to deliberate yet further +on the step. In the meantime you will note that my first communication +to you on the subject was made on this first day of Lent; so that when I +again seek your assistance in the matter, you will know that I have at +least not acted in a hurry, but have given myself due time for mature +reflection." + +"I am delighted, Signor Marchese, to have obtained from you at least +thus much. It is at all events something gained. And I shall still hope, +that further reflection may lead you to change your purpose. Hoping +that, I shall, you may depend upon it, breathe no word of what you have +said to me to any living soul. But you must understand that, without +such hope, I should have deemed it my duty to speak on the subject with +the Marchese Ludovico." + +"How so, Signor Fortini? A lawyer--" + +"Very true, Signor Marchese. A lawyer, as you would observe, is +addressed by his client in confidence, and the confidence should be +sacred. But you must remember that I have the honour to act in this, as +I and my father have done on all other occasions for now three +generations, not only for your lordship, but for the whole of the +family. I am the legal adviser of the Marchese Ludovico, as I was his +father's, and as I am yours. It is my duty, therefore, as I understand +it, to look upon myself as bound to consider the welfare and interests +of the entire family; and I need not remark to you how cruelly those of +the Marchese Ludovico would be compromised by such an event as we were +contemplating just now." + +"With regard to speaking to my nephew on the subject, Signor Fortini, I +can have no objection to your doing so, if you think it your duty. He +will, of course, be informed of my intention by myself. Do not forget, +however, that my first communication to you on this subject was on the +first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday." + +"Forget it, Signor Marchese! I am not likely to forget it for a long +time to come, I assure you," said the lawyer, not a little surprised. + +"I mention it because I am anxious that you should not accuse me of +acting with precipitancy in this matter; that when I shall renew my +application to you, you may remember that I have had due and sufficient +time for reflection. Addio, Signor Giovacchino," said the Marchese, +reverting to the more friendly form of address; "addio, ed a rivederci +fra poco!" + +"Servo suo, Lustrissimo Signor Marchese, a rivederci!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Lost in the Forest + + +Signor Fortini went straight home to his pleasant little snuggery under +the wing,--it might almost be said, under the roof,--of the Cathedral, +and sat down in his easy chair to resume the occupation that had been +interrupted by the summons from the Marchese. He took up the medal he +had been examining, and the magnifying glass, in a manner that implied a +sort of ostentatious protest to himself that the calm and even tenour of +his own life and occupations was not to be disturbed from its course by +all the follies and extravagances of the world around him. + +But "mentem mortalia tangunt!" The glass was soon laid aside: the medal +remained idly in his hand, and his mind would recur to the things he had +just seen and heard. + +That an old bachelor should be caught at last by a pretty face, and make +a fool of himself in his mature age, was no unprecedented phenomenon. +That a man, who had never in any way made a fool of himself at the +proper age for such an operation, should, after all, do so when those +who did so in their salad days have become wise, was not unheard of. +Nevertheless, Signor Fortini, who, in the course of his seventy years, +had had a tolerably wide experience of mankind, was astonished that the +Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare should have been tempted to act as he +proposed to act. + +"The very last man," said Signor Fortini musingly to himself, "that I +could have suspected of such a thing! The man who has the highest +reputation in the city for sound judgment and unexceptionable conduct, +to turn out the greatest fool! An old ass! How little be dreams of what +he is bringing upon himself. Let alone the terrible fall, the +disgrace,--in every way, disgrace and contempt and ridicule! It seems +impossible, even now, that he should be in earnest. He must be mad! And, +davvero, his manner was at times so strange, that I could almost believe +he really is not quite in his right mind. Very strange his manner +was,--very! And very ill he looked, too. Everybody has been saying that +he looked ill,--that he looked old,--that there must be something wrong +with him. Wrong with a vengeance! So this was the cause of it all: the +Marchese Lamberto is in love! Bah!--Bah!!--Bah!!!--(with crescendo +expression of disgust). Poor devil! Well, I was in love once, or fancied +myself so. But then. I was twenty-five years old. Un altro paio di +maniche! And I very soon found out my mistake. But he, at his time of +life! And such a woman! Well, the Emperor Justinian married Theodora. +So, I suppose we Ravennati have authority for madness in that kind. And +that poor good fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, too! It is too bad. And +all because such a creature as that is cunning enough to know how to +drive a hard bargain for the painted face she has to sell. But that is +the sort of woman who can make that sort of conquest. A good woman now, +who would have made him an honoured and good wife, would never have made +such a blind, abject slave of him. He is bewitched! He is mad! and ought +not to be allowed to carry out so insane a project! Perhaps it may still +be possible to induce him to hear reason. It was very odd, that way, +that just at last he promised me he would think of it again before he +finally decided. Very odd. Just as if a man has not finally decided in +such a matter before he sends to his lawyer! It is all very--very +strange. And I have a good mind to speak to Signor Ludovico at once. I +think it would be the right thing to do,--I do think that would be the +most proper thing to do. The old fool ought to be treated as one non +compos!" + +And then the old lawyer, after spending nearly an hour in such musings, +got up and went to his house,--not two minutes' walk from his +"studio"--to his solitary but comfortable two-o'clock dinner. + +By the time he had finished his repast, he had made up his mind that he +would at once confer with the Marchese Ludovico on the subject of his +uncle's disastrous project. It was by that time nearly half-past three; +and Signor Fortini walked out towards the Circolo, having little doubt +that he should find Ludovico there at that hour. + +But on his way thither he met the man he was in search of in the street. +The young Marchese was walking at a hurried pace, and appeared to be +scared, troubled, and heated. Nothing could be more unlike his usual +easy, lounging, poco-curante bearing. The lawyer saw at once that +something was the matter; and thought that, in all probability, the +Marchese Lamberto had been already forestalling him, by speaking to his +nephew himself on the subject of his projected marriage. + +"Oh, Signor Ludovico," said Fortini, as he met him, "I was on my way, to +the Circolo, on purpose to see if I could meet with you there." + +"Why, what is it? Have you any news to tell me?" said the young man in a +hurried manner, that the lawyer thought odd. + +"Yes. I wished to speak to you on rather an important matter. Have you +seen the Marchese Lamberto this morning?" + +"No. I have been out of the town. I am but this moment come back," +replied Ludovico, evidently anxiously. + +"I should be glad to speak to you for a few minutes before you go to the +Palazzo Castelmare. If you are going to the Circolo, I would walk with +you, and we could speak there," said Fortini. + +"I'll be there in less than ten minutes. But I want first to run just as +far as La Lalli's lodging in the Strada di Porta Sisi, only to ask a +question," said Ludovico. + +"La Lalli again! The devil fly away with her! It was about her that I +wanted to speak to you," said the lawyer. + +"What about her? Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?" asked +Ludovico, hurriedly and anxiously. + +"I seen her! No. Where she is? In her bed most likely, after dancing all +last night, I should think!" + +"Well, I must run and just ascertain whether she is at home!" said +Ludovico, again trying to escape. But the old lawyer, partly put a +little bit out of temper by the young man's evident wish to get rid of +him, partly angered by finding the nephew thus running after the same +mischief that was threatening to ruin his uncle, and partly thinking +that it was desirable that the news he had to tell should be told before +Ludovico should come to speech with his uncle, was determined not to let +him escape till he had said what he had to say. + +"Very well, Signor. I can say what I have to say in the street as well +as anywhere else. Though I confess I expected a somewhat more ready +reception of information which concerns you nearly, Signor Marchese, and +which I am prompted to tell you by my interest in your welfare. Listen! +Your uncle sent for me this morning for the purpose of announcing to me +his intention of marrying this Bianca Lalli!" + +"So I have been told this very morning," said Ludovico. + +"I thought you said that you had not seen your uncle this morning!" +returned the lawyer. + +"No more I have; but are there not two persons from whom such an +intention may be learned?" said Ludovico, with a slight approach to a +sneer. + +"The lady, you mean?" said Fortini. + +"Exactly so--the lady!" rejoined Ludovico. + +"The lady herself told you that the Marchese Lamberto had proposed +marriage to her?" persisted the lawyer. + +"The lady herself told me so," replied the Marchese. + +"But I thought you said that you had only just now returned to the +city?" objected the lawyer again. + +"Really, Signor Fortini, one would think that I was being examined +before a police-magistrate! However, since my tongue has let the cat out +of the bag, you may take the creature, and make the most of her! I did +receive the intelligence in question from the lady concerned, and I have +just returned to the city. She communicated the fact to me during a +little excursion we made together to the Pineta this morning, after the +ball. Now you know all about it," said Ludovico, still in a hurry to get +away. + +"Not quite!" rejoined Fortini, quite imperturbably. "If you went to the +Pineta with her--(did anybody ever hear of such a mad thing?)--and +returned this morning, how can you want to go now to her house to ask +whether she is there?" + +"Because, you very clever inquisitor, though I went to the Pineta with +her, I did not say that I had come back with her." + +"The deuce you did not! Did another gentleman undertake the duty of +escorting the lady back to town? It is all exceedingly pleasant for the +Marchese Lamberto, upon my word!--oh, exceedingly!--and really a +foretaste to him of the joys to come, quite frankly offered to him on +the part of the lady!" sneered the old lawyer. + +"Pshaw! how she may have come back, or with whom, I don't know, and +can't guess; and that is just what I am anxious to find out," said +Ludovico, in provoked impatience. + +"I don't understand. Where did you part with the lady?" persisted the +lawyer, interested rather by the evident uneasiness of the Marchese +Ludovico, than by any care how and in what company Bianca might have +found her way back to the city. + +"Well, that's just the curious part of the matter. If you want to know +how the thing happened, since you know so much already, walk with me to +the Strada di Porta Sisi, and I will tell you how it happened. At the +ball we spoke of the Pineta,--she had never seen it,--asked me to show +it to her. In short, we agreed to start on leaving the ball, instead of +going to bed. I got a bagarino, and drove her to the farmhouse by the +edge of the wood, just behind St. Apollinare; left the bagarino there, +and strolled into the wood. It was there that she told me of my uncle's +purpose. And I was not a little taken aback, as you may suppose. +However, that is matter for talk by-and-by. We strolled about a good +while, then sat down. She told me a good deal of the history of her +life. We must have been talking--I don't know how long; but a long time. +Then she said she was so sleepy, she must have a little sleep; she could +keep her eyes open no longer. Natural enough! She had been dancing all +night--had never closed her eyes for a minute since. The bank we were +sitting on was the most delicious place for a siesta that can be +conceived. In two minutes she was fast asleep. She slept on and on till +I was tired of waiting. No doubt I should have slept too, had not the +intelligence she had given me been of a sort to keep me waking, for one +while at least. Having my mind full of this, and not being able to +sleep, I strayed away from her, and returned in a few minutes, as I +think, to the place where I had left her, but could not find her. I +could not be sure about the place. One bit of the forest is so much like +another,--just the same thing over and over again,--that I could not +feel quite sure of the spot. I still think I went back to the right +place; but there she was not. Then I searched the wood all round, far +and near, for, I should think, a couple of hours or more. I called +aloud, again and again, all to no purpose. And what on earth has become +of her I cannot imagine." + +"And why you need trouble your head about it, I don't see. I wished the +devil might fly away with her just now! And if the devil has taken the +hint and done so, I confess it seems to me about the best thing that +could happen! Why on earth you, of all people in the world, Signor +Ludovico, should be so anxious to recover the lady, I confess I cannot +understand. Would it not be the best thing in the world for you if she +were never heard of again?" + +"Oh, per amore di Dio, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that way. Never +heard of again! I shall be really uneasy if I don't hear of her again in +a very few minutes. It is so extraordinary. What can have become of +her?" + +"Become of her! Why, she waited, of course: got tired of waiting for +you, and so strolled back to the town. That sort of lady does not much +like waiting, I fancy." + +"That sort of lady does not much like walking so far as from the Pineta +here, I fancy. Besides, I should have overtaken her on the road." + +"In any case what is there to be uneasy about. No harm can have happened +to her. No such luck, per Bacco!" + +"Harm! No; no harm can have happened to her, beyond losing herself in +the forest. What I am afraid of is that she has strayed and not been +able to find her way. And God knows how far she may wander. When I tell +you that in wandering away from the place where I left her, for not +above a quarter of an hour, I lost my way, and that when I found, as I +supposed, the place where we had been, I could not be sure whether it +was the same spot or not; you may suppose how easy it is to lose +oneself. And I don't suppose the poor girl would be able to walk very +far. If she has not returned, I must get help and go back to the forest +and search till I find her." + +"It's far more likely that you will find that she has returned home. I +wish, for my part, that she had never set foot within a dozen miles of +Ravenna. Just think what it would be! But I trust--I trust we may yet be +able to induce your uncle to listen to reason." + +"I'll tell you what, Signor Fortini. I should not be surprised if it +should be found more possible to make the other party hear reason." + +"What, the lady!" + +"Yes, the lady--if we set about the matter in the right way." + +"Well, Signor Ludovico, it may be that you may understand such matters +and such people better than I can pretend to do. It is not improbable. +But my conceptions of the power of persuasion have never risen yet to a +belief in the possibility of persuading a dog who has got a lump of +butter in his mouth to relinquish it." + +"Umph! you are not particularly gallant, Signor Giovacchino. We shall +see. But all that must be matter for future conversation. Here we are at +her door. Let us see if anything has been heard of her." Ludovico, +leaving his companion for an instant in the street, sprang up the stairs +to make inquiry; and in the next minute returned looking very much vexed +and annoyed, with the information that nothing had been seen or heard of +the Diva since she left the house in his company at an early hour that +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"Passa la Bella Donna e par che dorma"--Tasso + + +"What's to be done now? I absolutely must find her," said Ludovico, +looking, as he felt, exceedingly puzzled and annoyed. + +"Well, yes. Considering the nature of the information she gave you this +morning, and bearing in mind that her existence in the flesh promises to +be the means of leaving you without the price of a crust of bread in the +world, and the further fact she was last seen starting on a tete-a-tete +expedition with you at six o'clock in the morning, I admit that it is +desirable that you should find her," said the lawyer, with somewhat grim +pleasantry. + +"For heaven's sake, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that sort of way, +even in jest," replied the young man, looking round at the lawyer with +an uneasy eye. "After all, nothing can have happened to her, you know, +worse than losing herself in the Pineta." + +"Pooh! happen to her. What should happen to her? Either you did not go +back to the place where you left her; or, likely enough, after strolling +a little away from it, and not finding you, she sat down, and two to +one, fell asleep again. I would wager that she is, at this moment, fast +asleep under the shadow of a pine-tree, making up for last night." + +"But what had I better do? If she is still either sleeping or waking in +the forest, I must find her." + +"Let us just step as far as the gate, and make some inquiry there. If +she returned to the city she must have come to the Porta Nuova. And she +could hardly have entered the town without drawing the attention of the +men at the gate. Just let us make inquiry there in the first place." + +So they went together to the Porta Nuova, and nothing more was said +between them during the short walk. But it seemed as if the manifest +uneasiness of Ludovico had infected his companion. Yet it was evident +that thoughts of a different nature were busy in their minds. The +Marchese Ludovico pressed on faster than the old lawyer could keep up +with him, and was very unmistakably anxious about the object of his +quest, and the tidings which he should be able to hear at the gate. + +Signor Fortini had apparently got some other and newly-conceived thought +in his mind. He looked two or three times shrewdly and furtively into +the face of the young Marchese; and closely compressed his thin lips +together, and drew into a knot the shaggy eye-brows over his clear and +thoughtful eyes. Some notion had been suggested to his mind which very +plainly he did not like. + +At the gate nothing had been seen of the object of their search. The +octroi officers perfectly well remembered seeing the Marchese Ludovico, +who was well known to them by sight, drive through the gate very early +that morning in a bagarino with a lady. One man had recognised the lady +as the prima donna at the opera. And they were very sure that she had +not returned to the city since, at least by that gate. + +But one of the officers volunteered the information that another young +lady had that morning passed out of the city on foot a little before the +time at which the bagarino had passed with the Marchese and the prima +donna. And the men, after some consultation together, were sure that +neither had that young lady returned by the gate they guarded. + +Ludovico looked at the lawyer, and the lawyer looked at Ludovico; but +neither of them could suggest anything in explanation of so strange a +circumstance. + +"I saw nothing of any such person either in the Pineta or on the road," +said Ludovico. "Who could it have been?" + +The old lawyer only shrugged his shoulders in reply + +"There is a young lady," resumed Ludovico, after some minutes of +thought, "a friend of mine--a young artist engaged in making copies from +the mosaics in our churches. I know that it was her purpose shortly to +begin some work of this kind at St. Apollinare in Classe. It may be that +she had selected this morning for the purpose of going out to look at +her task,--though I almost think that I should have been informed of her +intention." + +"The plot seems to thicken with a vengeance," said the lawyer, with an +impatient shrug, and a slight sneer of ill-humour, provoked by the +multiplicity of his young client's lady friends. "I daresay," he added, +"the young ladies are not playing hide-and-seek in the Pineta all by +themselves." + +"But what had I better do?" said the young Marchese, looking with +increased anxiety into the lawyer's face; "the fact is--you see, Signor +Giovacchino, this new idea, this possibility that Paolina--that is the +young artist's name--may be--may have been in the forest--in short, I +feel more uneasy than before till I can learn what has become of both of +them." + +"Do you mean," said the lawyer, with a sneer in his voice, but at the +same time looking into his companion's face with a shrewd expression of +investigation in his eye,--"do you mean that the two ladies may possibly +have fallen in with each other, and may in such case not improbably have +fallen out with each other? You know best, Signor Marchese, the +likelihood of any trouble arising out of such a meeting." + +"For God's sake don't speak in such a tone, Signor Giovacchino. I tell +you I am seriously uneasy. Should they have met under such +circumstances--God only knows--What would you advise me to do, Signor +Giovacchino?" said the Marchese, looking into the lawyer's face with +increasing and now evidently painful anxiety. + +"It is ill giving advice without knowing all the circumstances of a +case, Signor Marchese," returned Fortini, somewhat drily, looking hard +at the young man as he spoke, and putting a meaning emphasis on the word +"all." + +"You do know all the circumstances as far as I know them myself. The +thing happened exactly as I told you," replied Ludovico. + +"You left her sleeping on a bank in the forest, and have never seen her +since?" said the lawyer, thoughtfully. + +"Exactly so! I returned to the spot where I had left her--at least as +far as I could tell it was the same spot--and she was no longer there," +replied Ludovico. + +"But you were not sure that you did return to the same spot? You could +not recognise it again with certainty?" + +"So it seemed to me when I was there. I think it must have been the same +place. But when I did not find her, I could not feel sure of it. Every +spot in the Pineta is so like all other spots. One pine-tree is just +like another; and the grassy openings, and the little thickets of +underwood, are all the same over and over again. I felt that I could not +be sure that the place was the same." + +"Was there no fallen tree, no track of road, no specialty of weed or +flower, that the spot might be identified by?" + +"None I think--none that I am aware of or can remember. There was a +little rising of the ground,--a sort of bank, and the grass was +sprinkled all over with wild flowers. There were violets close at hand, +I know, because I remember the scent of them! But when I came to try, it +seem'd to me that I found all these things in a dozen other places." + +"Nevertheless, you know at what point you entered the Pineta; it cannot +be very difficult to have the whole wood, within such a distance as it +is at all likely that she should have strayed to, thoroughly searched. +But the best men for the purpose would be some of the foresters in the +employ of the farmers of the forest. I dare say that we might find--what +is that coming along the road yonder?" said the lawyer interrupting +himself. + +The two gentlemen had been standing during the above short conversation +just on the outside of the gate, and looking down the stretch of long +straight road towards St. Apollinare and the pine forest. + +"It is a knot of men coming along the road. They are likely enough some +of the very fellows we want. In that case we might get them to go back +with us without loss of time." + +"With us?" said the lawyer, who had not bargained when he left his home, +for any such expedition. "Well, I don't mind helping you, Signor +Marchese, in your search," he added, after a moment's consideration; +"but I am not going to walk to the Pineta this afternoon; and I should +think you must have had enough of it for to-day. But I will tell you +what I can do. We will send one of these fellows to my house to order my +servant to come here with my calessino as quick as he can; and if these +men are the people we want--What are they doing? They are carrying +something! Why surely--Signor Marchese!" said the old lawyer, looking +into his companion's face, while a strange expression of understanding, +mixed with a blank look of dismay and alarm, stole over his own +features. + +"What is it?--What have they got?--Why, heavens and earth! it is--Signor +Fortini, is it not a dead body they are carrying? My God!" + +The young man griped his companion's arm hard, as he spoke, and the +action enabled the lawyer to remark that he was shaking all over. + +In another minute the men whom they had seen coming along the road were +close to the gate. They were six in number; and they were +bearing--somewhat, between them. They advanced beneath the covered +gateway, and there, as it is necessary to do in the case of everything +brought into the town, they set their burthen down on the flag-stones, +at the feet of the officers of the gate, and of the Marchese and the +lawyer. + +Their burthen was a door lifted from its hinges, and supported by three +slender stakes drawn green from a hedgerow. And on the door there lay, +covered with a sheet, what was evidently a dead body. + +Ludovico, with his eyes starting from his head, and horror in every +feature of his face, still clutching one hand of the old lawyer in his, +stretched forward with one advanced stride towards the extemporized +bier, and with his other hand lifted the sheet. + +A shriek of horror burst from him. "Ah! Paolina mia!" he cried aloud; +and then with a deep groan, as of one in physical pain, he fell into +Signor Fortini's arms, and sunk in an insensible state of sick faintness +on the flag-stone pavement beneath the old gateway. + + + + +BOOK II + +Four Months before that Ash Wednesday Morning + + + + +CHAPTER I + +How the good News came to Ravenna + + +Such were the events of that last night of carnival, and of the Ash +Wednesday that followed it;--an Ash Wednesday remembered many a year +afterwards in Ravenna. + +The old lawyer, Fortini, standing a pace behind the Marchese Ludovico, +when the latter lifted up the sheet from the face of the dead, saw only +that it was the face of a woman. Paolina Foscarelli he had never seen; +and Bianca Lalli he had seen only once or twice on the stage; the lawyer +not being much of a frequenter of the theatre. There could be little +doubt that the body lying there beneath the gateway, with the officials +standing with awe-stricken faces around it, together with the six +peasants who had brought it thither, was that of one or other of those +two young women. + +Of course there were plenty of persons at hand who were able to set at +rest all doubt as to the identity of the murdered woman,--for such it +was pretty clear she must be considered to be. And of course all +interests in the little provincial city were for many days to come +absorbed in the terrible interest belonging to the investigation of the +foul deed which had been done. + +But in order to set before the reader the whole of this strange story +intelligibly, and to give him the same means of estimating the +probabilities of the questions involved in it, and of reaching a +solution of the mysterious circumstances which the authorities, who were +called upon to investigate them, were in possession of, it will be +expedient to go back to a period some four months previous to that +memorable Ash Wednesday. + +It was a bitterly cold night in Ravenna, towards the latter end of +November, some four months before that Ash Wednesday on which the events +that have been narrated occurred. Untravelled English people, who have +heard much of "the sweet south," of the sunny skies of Italy, and of its +balmy atmosphere, do not readily imagine that such cold is ever to be +found in that favoured clime. But the fact is that cold several degrees +below the freezing point is by no means rare in the sub-Alpine and +sub-Apennine districts of northern Italy. + +And Ravenna is a specially cold place. At Florence, the winter, though +short, is often sharp enough; and the climate of the old Tuscan city is +considered a somewhat severe one for Italy. But the district which lies +to the north-eastward, on the low coast of the upper part of the stormy +Adriatic, is much colder. There is nothing, neither hill nor forest, +between the Friulian Alps and Ravenna, to prevent the north-eastern +winds, bringing with them a Siberian temperature, from sweeping the low +shelterless plain on which the ancient capital of the Exarchs is +situated. + +They were so sweeping that plain, and howling fiercely through the +deserted streets of the old city, on the November evening in question. + +Nevertheless there were several persons loitering around the door of +that ancient hostelry, the "Albergo della Spada," in the Via del Monte, +then as now, and for many a generation past, the principal inn of +Ravenna. They were wrapped in huge cloaks, most of them with hoods to +them, which gave the wearers a strange sort of monkish appearance. And +they from time to time blew upon their fingers, in the intervals of +using their mouths for the purpose of grumbling at the cold. But they +none of them resorted to tramping up and down, or stamping with their +feet, or threshing themselves with their arms, or had recourse to +movement of any kind to get a little warmth into their bodies, as +Englishmen may be seen to do under similar circumstances. However cold +it may be an Italian never does anything of this sort. It must be +supposed, that to him cold is a less detestable evil than muscular +exertion of any kind. + +There were some half-dozen men standing about the door; and though they +were doing nothing, it was not to be supposed that they stood there in +the bitter cold for their own amusement. The fact was, they were waiting +for one of the great events of the day at Ravenna,--the arrival of the +diligenza from Bologna. It was past six o'clock in the evening; and it +could not now be long before the expected vehicle would arrive. + +It is a distance of some sixty miles from Bologna to Ravenna; the +diligence started at five in the morning, and was due at the latter city +at five in the evening. But nobody expected that it would reach its +destination at that hour. It had never done so within the memory of man, +even in the fine days of summer, and now, when the roads were rough with +ridges of frozen mud! It was now, however, nearly half-past six--yes, +there went the half-hour clanging from the cracked-voiced old bell in +the top of the round brick tower, which stands on one side of the +cathedral, and by its likeness to a minaret reminds one of the Byzantine +parentage of its builders. + +Half-past six! The loiterers about the inn door remark to each other, +that unless "something" has happened old Cecco Zoppo can't be far off +now. + +The arrival of the Bologna diligence, the main means of communication +between remote out-of-the-way Ravenna and the rest of the world, was +always a matter of interest in the old-world little city, where matters +of interest were so few. And on a pleasant evening in spring or summer +the attendance of expectant loungers was wont to be far larger than it +was on that bitter November night, and to include a large number of +amateurs; whereas the half-dozen now waiting were all either officially +or otherwise directly interested in the arrival. Indeed, there was a +very special interest attached to the coming of the expected vehicle on +that November night; and nothing but the extreme severity of the weather +would have prevented a very distinguished assemblage from being on the +spot to hear the first news that was expected to be brought by one of +the travellers. + +"Eccolo! I heard the bells, underneath the gate-way. Per Bacco, it is +time! I'm well-nigh frozen alive," said Pippo, the ostler. + +"If they don't keep him an hour at the gate," rejoined a decidedly more +ragged and poverty-stricken individual, who held recognized office as +the ostler's assistant. + +"Not such a night as this! Those gentlemen there at the gate can feel +the cold for themselves, if they can't feel nothing else," rejoined the +ostler, who was a frondeur and disaffected to the government, in +consequence of a drunken grandson having been turned out of the place of +third assistant scullion in the kitchen of the Cardinal Legate. "There's +the bells again! They've let him off pretty quick. I thought as much," +added the old man, with a chuckle. + +"Wasn't Signor Ercole's woman here with a lanthorn just now?" said +another of the bystanders, a young man, who, though wrapped to the eyes +in the universal all-levelling cloak, belonged evidently to a superior +class of society to the previous speakers. + +"Si, Signor Conte, she is there in the kitchen. Per Dio! she would have +had no fingers to hold the light for her master, if she had stayed out +here," replied the ostler. And then the rattle of wheels became +distinct, and in the next instant the feeble light of a couple of lamps +became visible at the far end of the street, as the coach turned out of +the Piazza Maggiore into the Via del Monte, and struggled forwards +towards the knot at the inn door; it came at a miserable little trot, +but with an accompaniment of tremendous whip-cracking, that awoke echoes +in the silent streets far and near, and imparted an impression of +breathless speed to the imagination of the bystanders, who, being +Italians, accepted the symbol in despite of their certain knowledge that +the reality of the thing symbolised was not there. Like the immortal +Marchioness, Dick Swiveller's friend, in the Old Curiosity Shop, the +Italians, when the realities of circumstances are unfavourable, can +always manage to gild them a little by "making believe very strong." + +"Now then, Signora Marta, bring out your light," called the deputy +ostler in at the inn door. + +The individual addressed as Signor Conte became evidently excited, and +prepared himself to be the first to present himself at the door of the +coach as it drew up opposite the inn. The ostler stepped out into the +street with his stable lanthorn. Signora Marta, shivering, with a huge +shawl over her head, took up her position, lanthorn in hand, behind the +Signor Conte, and the ramshackle old coach, rattling over the uneven +round cobble-stones of the execrable pavement with a crash of noise that +seemed to threaten that every jolt would be its last, came to a +standstill at the inn door. + +The Signor Conte Leandro Lombardoni--that was the name of the young man +hitherto called Il Signor Conte--opened the door with his own hand, and, +putting his head eagerly into the interior, cried, + +"Are you there, Signor Ercole? Well! What news? Have you succeeded? Let +me give you a hand." + +"Grazie, Signor Leandro, grazie," replied a high-pitched voice of +singularly shrill quality from within the vehicle, "I don't know whether +I can move. Misericordia! che viaggio! What a journey I have had. I am +nearly dead. My blood is frozen in my veins. I have no use of my limbs. +I shall never recover it; never!" + +And then very slowly a huge bundle of cloaks and rags and furs, nearly +circular in form and about five feet in diameter, began to move towards +the door of the carriage, and gradually, by the help of Signor Leandro +and Signora Marta, to struggle through it and get itself down on the +pavement. + +"And this I do and suffer for thee, Ravenna!" said the bundle in the +same shrill tenor, making an attempt, as it spoke, to raise two little +projecting fins towards the cold, unsympathising stars. + +"But have you succeeded, Signor Ercole?" asked the other again, +anxiously. + +"I have succeeded in sacrificing myself for my country," replied the +shrill voice with chattering teeth; "for I know I shall never get over +it. I am frozen. It is a very painful form of martyrdom." + +"But you can at least say one word, Signor Ercole? You can say yes or no +to the question, whether you have succeeded in our object?" urged the +Conte Leandro. + +Signor Ercole Stadione, however, who was, as the reader is aware, no +less important a personage than the impresario of the principal theatre +of Ravenna, knew too well all the importance that belonged to the news +he had to tell to part with his secret so easily. "Signor Conte," he +quavered out, "I tell you I am frozen! A man cannot speak on any subject +in such a condition. I know nothing. My intellectual faculties have not +their ordinary lucidity. I must endeavour to reach my home. Marta, hold +the lamp here." + +"And I who have waited here for your arrival ever since the +venti-quattro! Per Dio! Do you think I ain't cold too? And the Marchese +is expecting you. Of course, you will go to him at once?" + +"I don't know that I shall ever recover myself sufficiently to do so. It +is useless for the city to expect more from a man than he can +accomplish. When I have got thawed, I will endeavour to do my duty. Good +night, Signor Conte!" said the little impresario, preparing to follow +his servant with the lanthorn, as well as the enormous quantity of wraps +around him would allow him to do so. + +"Come now, Signor Ercole, you won't be so ill-natured. You know how much +interest I take in the matter. Think how long I have waited here for +you, and nobody else has cared enough to do that. Come now, be +good-natured, and tell a fellow. Just one word. Look here now," added +the Conte Leandro, seeing that he was on the point of losing the +gratification for the sake of which he had undergone the penance of +standing sentinel in the cold for the last hour, and that his only hope +was to bring forward les grands moyens,--"see now, the only thing to +bring you round is a glass of hot punch. Now, while you go home and get +your things off, I will go to the cafe and get you a good glass of +punch, hot and strong--smoking hot! and have it brought to your house, +all hot, you know, in a covered jug. But before I go; you will just say +the one word: Have you been successful? Come now. Just one word." + +Signor Ercole Stadione, the impresario, would much have preferred not +saying that one word just then. He knew perfectly well that the grand +object of his questioner was to be the first to carry the great news to +the Circolo--the club where all the young nobles of the town were in the +habit of congregating; and to make the most of the sort of reputation to +be gained by being the first in Ravenna to have accurate information on +the matter in question. He knew also that within a quarter-of-an-hour +after the news should be told to Signor Leandro Lombardoni it would be +known to all Ravenna. Further, he was perfectly aware that, frozen or +not frozen, he must wait that evening on the Marchese, of whom Signor +Leandro had spoken--the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare, in order to +communicate to him the news which Signor Leandro was so anxious to hear; +that not to do so would be as much as his standing and position in +Ravenna were worth. And he would have preferred that the Marchese should +not have heard what he had to tell before telling it to him himself; +which he thought likely enough to happen, if he let the cat out of the +bag to Signor Leandro. But the offer of the punch was irresistible. The +poor little impresario knew how little possibility there was of finding +any such pleasant stimulant in the cold, cheerless, wifeless little +quartiere which he and Marta called their home. His teeth were +chattering with cold; and the hot punch carried the day. + +"Troppo buono, Signor Conte! Truly a good glass of hot ponche would be +the saving of me! It is very kindly thought of. Well, then; listen in +your ear. But you won't say a word about it till to-morrow morning. It +is all right. The thing is done. The writings signed. Have I done well, +eh? Have I deserved well of the city, eh? But you won't say a word!" + +"Bravo, Signor Ercole! Bravo, bravissimo! Not a word. Not a word. I run +to order the punch. Good night. Not a word to a living soul!" + +And the Conte Leandro ran off to give a hasty order at the cafe in the +Piazza, on his way to the Circolo to spread his important news all over +the town. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare + + +Signor Leandro Lombardoni felt himself to be abundantly repaid for his +hour of waiting in the cold street, and for the bajocchi expended on the +glass of punch, by the position he occupied at the Circolo all that +evening. He was the centre of every group anxious to gain the earliest +information respecting a matter of the highest interest to all the +society of Ravenna. And the matter belonged to a class of subjects +respecting which the Conte Leandro was especially desirous of being +thought to be thoroughly well-informed, and to have interest in the +highest quarters. + +The fact was, that Signor Ercole Stadione, the Ravenna impresario, had +undertaken a journey to Milan, in the hope of accomplishing a +negotiation in which the whole of the smaller provincial city had felt +itself deeply interested. He had gone thither for the purpose of +engaging the celebrated prima donna, Bianca Lalli, to sing at Ravenna +during the coming Carnival. The pretension was a very ambitious one on +the part of the impresario--or, as it may be more properly said, on the +part of the city--for the step was by no means the result of his own +independent and unaided enterprise. Such matters were not done in that +way in the good old times in the smaller cities of Italy. The matter had +been much debated among the leading patrons of the musical drama in the +little town. The chances of success had been canvassed. The financial +question had been considered. Certain sacrifices had been determined on. +And it had been settled what terms the impresario should be empowered to +offer. + +It had been fully felt and recognised that the hope of engaging the +famous Bianca Lalli to sing at remote little Ravenna, during a carnival, +was a singularly ambitious one. But there had been circumstances which +had led those who had conceived the bold idea to hope that it would not +prove to be so impossible as it might at first sight appear. There had +been whispers of certain difficulties--untoward circumstances at Milan. +Ill-natured things had been said of the "divina Lalli." Doubtless she +had been more sinned against than sinning. But to put the matter +crudely--which, of course, no Italian who had to speak of it, was ever +so ill-bred as to do--it would seem that the great singer had placed +herself, or had been placed, in such relations with somebody or other +bearing a great name in the Lombard capital, that the paternal Austrian +government, at the instance of that somebody's family, had seen good to +hint, in some gentle, but unmistakable manner, that it might, on the +whole, be better that the divine Lalli should bless some other city with +her presence during the ensuing season. And then came the consideration, +that in all probability most of the great cities of the peninsula had, +by that time, made their arrangements for the coming Carnival. Not +impossible, too, that the "diva" herself might be not disinclined to +allow a certain period of such comparative obscurity as an engagement at +Ravenna would bring with it, to pass after her exit from Milan under +such circumstances, before re-appearing on other boards where she would +be equally in the eyes of all Europe. But this ground of hope, though it +may have been felt, was never so much as alluded to in words, in +Ravenna. In short, Ravenna had determined to make the bold attempt. And +Don Signor Ercole Stadione had returned from the arduous enterprise to +announce that it had been crowned with complete success. + +None but those who have had some opportunity of becoming acquainted with +the social habits and manners of the smaller cities of Italy--and that +as they were some twenty years ago, and not as they are now--can imagine +the degree in which a matter of the kind in question could be felt there +to be a subject of general public interest. From the Cardinal Legate, +who governed the province, down to the little boys who hung about the +cafe doors, in the hope of picking up a half-eaten roll, there was not a +human being in the city who did not feel that he had some part of the +glory resulting from the fact that "La Lalli" was to sing at Ravenna +during the Carnival. The contadini--the peasants outside the gates--even +though they were only just outside it, cared nothing at all about the +matter: another specialty of the social peculiarities of the peninsula. + +The Cardinal Legate, restrained by the professional decorum of his +cloth, said nothing save among his quite safe intimates; but, perhaps, +like the sailor's parrot, he only thought the more. + +As for the jeunesse doree of the Circolo, to whom Signor Leandro +recounted his great tidings with all the self-importance to which the +exclusive possession of news of such interest so well entitled him, it +is impossible to do justice to the enthusiasm which the news excited +among them. + +All sorts of pleasing anticipations were indulged in. They were all +jealous of each other by anticipation. Already, in the gravest spirit of +business, a scheme for taking off her horses at the city gates and +harnessing their noble selves to the carriage of the expected guest was +discussed. + +The reputation enjoyed by the great singer Bianca Lalli at that time was +very high throughout Italy. But, perhaps,--any one of her rival +goddesses would have said undoubtedly,--it was a reputation not wholly +and exclusively due to her strictly vocal charms. She was, in truth, a +woman of more than ordinary beauty; and was universally declared to +exercise a charm on all who came within reach of her influence beyond +that which even extraordinary beauty has always the privilege of +exercising. All kinds of stories were told of her boundless power of +fascination. In crude language, again,--such as her own countrymen never +used concerning her,--the reputation of "la diva Lalli" was tout soit +peu, a reputation de scandale. And it will be readily imagined that the +enthusiasm in her favour of the young frequenters of the Circolo at +Ravenna was none the less vehement on this account. + +It must, however, be added that she undoubtedly was a very admirable +singer. Had this not been the case, the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare +would not have interested himself so much as he had done in the plans +and negotiations for bringing her to Ravenna. The Marchese was not a man +to be much influenced by the prima donna's reputation for beauty and +fascination. But he was "fanatico per la musica." He was the +acknowledged leader in all matters musical in Ravenna; the most +influential patron of the opera in the city; and all-powerful in the +regulation of all theatrical affairs. + +The Marchese Lamberto held a rather special position in the social world +in Ravenna. His fortune was large; and the nobility of his family +ancient. But it was not these circumstances only, or even mainly, that +caused him to hold the place he did in the estimation of his +fellow-citizens. He was a bachelor, now about fifty years old; and +during some thirty of those years he had always been before the public +in one manner or another, and always had in every capacity won golden +opinions from all men. Though abundantly rich enough to have gone +occasionally to Rome, or even to have resided there entirely, if he had +chosen to do so, he had, on the contrary, preferred to pass his whole +life in his native city. And Ravenna was flattered by this, to begin +with. Then his residence in the provincial city had been in many +respects a really useful one, not only to that section of the body +politic which is called, par excellence, society, but to the public in +general. He had held various municipal offices, and had discharged the +functions belonging to them with credit and applause. He was treasurer +to a hospital, and a generous contributor to its funds. He was the +founder of an artistic society for the education of young artists and +the encouragement of their seniors. He was the principal director of a +board of "publica beneficenza." He was the manager, and what we should +call the trustee for the property of more than one nunnery. He was +intimate with the Cardinal Legate, and a frequent and honoured guest at +the palace. Of course in matters of orthodoxy and well-affected +sentiments towards the Church and its government he was all that the +agents of that government could desire. It has already been said that he +was at the head of all matters musical and theatrical in Ravenna. And +besides all this, he gave every year three grand balls in Carnival; and +his house was at all times open every Sunday and Wednesday evening to +the elite of the society of the city. + +Gradually it had come to be understood, rather by tacit agreement among +the society which frequented these reunions than in obedience to any +desire expressed by the Marchese on the subject, that on the Sunday +evening ladies were expected; and on those days a sister-in-law of the +Marchese, the widow of a younger brother, was always there to do the +honours of the Palazzo Castelmare. The Wednesday evening parties had +come to be meetings of gentlemen only. And on these occasions one marked +element of the society consisted of all that the city possessed in the +way of professors of natural science. For the Marchese was, in a mild +way, fond of such pursuits, and had a special liking for anatomical +inquiries and experiments. + +In one respect only could the world fail to be wholly and perfectly +contented with the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. At the age of fifty +he was still a bachelor! Not that the continuance of the noble line of +Castelmare was thereby compromised. The sister-in-law already mentioned +had a son, a young man of two-and-twenty, at the time in question, who +was the heir to the wealth and honours of the house, and who, it was to +be hoped, would also inherit all that accumulated treasure of public +esteem and respect which his uncle had been so uninterruptedly laying +up. Neither could a social objection to the Marchese's bachelorhood be +raised on the score of any such laxity of moral conduct as the world is +wont to expect, and to tolerate with more or less of indulgence, in +persons so free from special ties. Had the Marchese been an archbishop +himself, instead of being merely the intimate friend of one, it could +not have seemed in Ravenna more out of the question to mention his +respected name in connection with any scandal or inuendo of the kind. +There was not a mother in Ravenna who would not have been proud to see +her daughter honoured by any such intercourse with the Marchese as might +be natural between a father and his child. Proud indeed the most noble +of those matrons would have been could she have supposed that any such +intercourse tended towards sentiments of a more tender nature. But all +hopes of this kind had been long given up in Ravenna. It was quite +understood that the Marchese was not a marrying man. + +Not that even now, in his fiftieth year, he might not well have entered +the lists with many a younger man as a candidate for the favour of the +sex. He was a man of a remarkably fine presence, tall, well made, and +with a natural dignity and graceful bearing in all his movements, which +were very impressive. He had never given in to the modern fashion of +wearing either beard or moustache. And the contours of his face were too +good and even noble to have gained anything by being so hidden. The +large, strong, rather square jaw and chin, and smooth placid cheeks were +strongly expressive of quiet decision and dignified force of will. The +mouth, almost always the tell-tale feature of the face, seemed in his +case rather calculated to puzzle any one who would have speculated on +the meanings shadowed forth by the lines of it. It was certainly, with +its large rows of unexceptionably brilliant teeth, a very handsome +mouth. And it was often not devoid of much sweetness. Nobody had ever +imagined that they detected any evil expression among its meanings. But +whereas a physiognomist looking at that generally faithful expositor of +the moral man, when it was at rest, would have been inclined to say, +that it was a mouth indicative of much capacity for deep and strong +passion, a further study of it in its varied movements would have led +him to the conclusion that no strong or violent passions had ever been +there to leave their traces among its lines. The whole face was so +essentially calm, unruffled, and placidly dignified. + +The loftly noble forehead, the strongly marked brow, the well-opened +calm grey eye, all told the same tale of a mind within well-balanced, +thoroughly at peace with itself, and thoroughly contented with its +outward manifestations, and with every particular of its position. + +Clearly the Marchese di Castelmare was a remarkably handsome man. And +yet there was something about him,--and always had been even as a young +man, which seemed to be in natural accordance with the fact that he had +never seemed to seek female society, save as an amphytrion receiving all +Ravenna within his hospitable doors. There was a kind of austerity about +his bearing;--a something difficult to define, which would have +prevented any girl from fancying that he was at all likely to want to +make love to her; a something which made it as impossible that the +refined courtesy of his address should have called a pleased blush to +any girl's cheek, or made her pulse move one beat the faster, as that +she should have been so affected by the imposition of the hands of the +bishop who confirmed her! + +Such as the Marchese was, any committee in the world would have chosen +him its president, any jury in the world would have named him its +foreman, any board in the world have selected him as its chairman, any +deputation in the world would have put him forward as its spokesman; any +sovereign in the world might have appointed him grand master of the +ceremonies; but never at any period of his life would the suffrages of +the ball-room have pitched upon him to be the leader of the cotillon. + +Perhaps it was that his life had been always too full to spare any space +for such lighter matters. He had been left the head of his family when +quite a young man, and had at once, in a great degree, stepped into the +place he had ever since occupied in the social world of his native city. +And what with his music, which was with him really a passion, and what +with his dabblings in science, and what with the multifarious business +he had always made for himself by real and useful attention to the +affairs pertaining to all the functions he had filled, his life had +really been a fully occupied one. + +Any man, woman, or child in Ravenna would have said, if such an +unpleasant idea had crossed their minds, that what Ravenna would do +without him it was frightful to think. He was very popular, as well as +profoundly respected by all classes of his fellow-citizens. Though +certainly a very proud man, his pride was of a nature that gave offence +to nobody. He was not only proud of being Marchese di Castelmare; he was +very proud of the esteem, the affection and respect of his +fellow-citizens. And perhaps this was, next to his love of music, what +most resembled a passion in his nature, and what most ministered to his +enjoyment of life. + +It was to this phoenix of a Marchese that Signor Ercole Stadione, the +impresario, having comforted himself with the Conte Leandro's punch, and +got somewhat thawed, and having changed his mountain of travelling wraps +for a costume proper for presenting himself in such a presence, repaired +to report the result of his journey to Milan. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Impresario's Report + + +It has been said that Signor Ercole Stadione, when he was first +introduced to the reader under circumstances somewhat unfavourable to +that dignity of appearance and deportment on which he specially prided +himself, presented the appearance of a round mass some five feet in +diameter. And it may be thence concluded, that when reduced to the +proportions familiar to the citizens of Ravenna, his utmost longitudinal +dimensions did not exceed that measure. The impresario was in truth a +very small man, weighing perhaps seven stone with his boots. But Signor +Ercole held, and very frequently expressed, an opinion that dignity and +nobility of appearance depended wholly on bearing, and in no wise on +mere corporeal altitude. Men were measured in his country (Rome), he +said, from the eyebrow upwards. And though Rome is not exactly the +place, of all others, where one might expect to find such an estimate of +human value prevailing,--unless, indeed, smallness of that which a man +has above his brow be deemed the desirable thing,--it was undeniable +that little Signor Ercole carried a mass of forehead which might have +been the share of a much taller man. + +Nor were the pretensions put forward by the impresario on this score +altogether vain. He was no fool;--a shrewd as well as a dapper little +man, active and clever at his business, and well liked both by the +artists and by the public, for which he catered, despite of being one of +the vainest of mortals. Vanity makes some men very odious to their +fellows;--in others it is perfectly inoffensive; and though damaging to +a claim to respect, is perfectly compatible with a considerable amount +of liking for the victim of it. + +A very dapper little man was Signor Ercole, as he stepped forth, about +eight o'clock, entirely refitted, to wait upon the Marchese at the +Palazzo Castelmare. He was dressed in complete black, somewhat +threadbare, but scrupulously brushed. He had a large frill at the bosom +of his shirt, and more frills around the wristbands of it; one or two +rings of immense size and weight on his small fingers; boots with heels +two inches high, and a rather long frock-coat buttoned closely round his +little body. Signor Ercole had never been known to wear a swallow-tailed +coat on any occasion. And spiteful people told each other, that his +motive for never quitting the greater shelter of the frock was to be +found in his fear of exhibiting to the unkindly glances of the world a +pair of knock-knees of rare perfection. + +When his toilet was completed, he threw over all a handsome black cloth +cloak turned up with a broad border of velvet, which he draped around +his person with the air of an Apollo, throwing the corner of the garment +round the lower part of his face and over his shoulder, in a manner +wholly unattainable by any man born on the northern side of the Alps; +and kindly telling Marta that he would take the key, and that she had +better not sit up for him in the cold, stepped forth on his errand. + +"Ben tornato, Signor Ercole! I thank you for coming to me," said the +Marchese, rising from his seat at his library-table, which was covered +with papers and books, to receive the impresario. + +Despite the extreme cold, this owner of a large fortune, and of one of +the finest palaces in Ravenna, was not sitting in an easy-chair by the +fire, as an Englishman might be expected to be found at such an hour. +The Italian's day is not divided into two portions as clearly as an +Englishman's day is divided by his dinner hour into the time for +business or out-door exercise, and the time for relaxation, for a book +or other amusement. He is quite as likely to apply himself to any +business or work of any kind after dinner as before. Still less has he +the Englishman's notion of making himself comfortable in his home. + +There was a miserable morsel of wood fire in the room in which the +Marchese sat; but it was at the far end of it. And in many a well-to-do +Italian home there would have been none at all. In order not to be +absolutely frozen, he sat in a large cloak, and had beside him, or in +his hands, a little earthen-ware pot filled with burning braize--a +scaldino, as it is called,--the use of which is common to the noble in +his palace, and the beggar in the street. + +He pointed to a chair near the table, and as he spoke, paid his visitor +the ordinary courtesy of offering him his scaldino. + +"My duty, my mere duty, Eccellenza," said Signor Ercole, letting his +cloak fall gracefully from his shoulders, and declining the proffered +pot of braize with an action that might have suited an Emperor. "Of +course my first care and object on arriving was to wait on your +Excellency. I arrived with barely a breath of life remaining in my body. +What a journey! What a journey! But if I had been frozen quite I could +not have forgotten that my first duty was to report what I have +accomplished to your Excellency." + +"Thanks, good Signor Ercole, thanks; you know the interest I take in all +that concerns the honour of our theatre, and the pleasures of our +citizens; and I may truly add, in all that touches your interest, my +good Signor Ercole." + +"Troppo buono! Eccellenza! Troppo buono davvero!" said the little man, +half rising from his chair, to execute a bow in return for the +Marchese's speech, while his cloak fell around his legs. + +"I suppose that in such weather as this the diligence was behind its +time--E naturale--but I have already heard, in a general way, that you +have been successful. I congratulate you on it, Signor Ercole, with all +my heart!" + +"I trusted that I should have been the first to tell your Excellency the +news. I am conscious that it was due to you, Signor Marchese, to be the +first to hear the result of my negotiation. But che vuole? There was the +Conte Leandro waiting for the coach, and standing at the door as I got +out of it, more dead than alive! And there was no way of getting rid of +him. I was forced to tell him, in a word, that our hopes were crowned +with success. He faithfully promised to keep the fact secret. But, +doubtless, all the town knows it by this time! Che vuole?" + +"E naturale! e naturale!" returned the Marchese, with a graceful wave of +his hand; "naturally they are all anxious to know the result of our +impresario's labours. And I was not left in ignorance. My nephew ran in +from the Circolo to tell me; he had just heard it from Signor Leandro. +But I thought that I should have a visit from yourself, Signor Ercole, +before long." + +"E come, e come, Signor Marchese; could your Excellency imagine that I +could so fail in my duty as to have omitted waiting on your lordship! +Had it not been that I was half killed by this awful weather, I should +have placed myself at your Excellency's orders an hour ago. Oh, Signor +Marchese, such a journey from Bologna hither! I know what is my duty to +the city; I know what is expected of me. But--Eccellenza, there are +benefactors to their country, who have statues raised to them, that have +suffered less in the gaining of them, than I have this day." + +"Povero, Signor Ercole! But who knows? Perhaps we may see the day when +Ravenna will reward your exertions with a monument. Why not? It must be +a statue, life size, nothing less, with 'Ercole Stadione, La Patria +riconoscente,' on the base," said the Marchese, with an irony, the fine +flavour of which did not in the least pierce, as it was not intended to +pierce, the plate armour of the little impresario's vanity. + +"Oh, Eccellenza!" said the poor little man, with the most perfect good +faith in the propriety, as well as the seriousness, of his patron's +proposition. + +"And now, then," said the Marchese, "let us hear all about it. She +accepts our terms?" + +"The scrittura has been signed before a notary, Eccellenza." + +"Bravo! she sings--?" + +"The whole repertorio, Signor Marchese! What is there she could not +sing?" + +"And three representations a week?" + +"Three representations a week. My instructions were formal on that +point, as your Excellency knows." + +"Good! quite right! And now what is she, this diva? What is she like? We +know that Signor Ercole Stadione is as good a judge of the merits of the +lady as of the singer?" said the Marchese, with a smile. "I don't ask +you about her singing," he added. "We have all heard all that can be +said about that." + +"Well, Signor Marchese, if I am to speak my own poor opinion, I take the +Signora Lalli to be decidedly the most beautiful woman it was ever my +good fortune to see," said Signor Ercole, with a voice and manner of +profound conviction. + +"Paris himself, if called on to be umpire once again, could require no +more conclusive testimony, my good Signor Ercole. But that is not +exactly what I mean. Her mere beauty is a matter that does not interest +me very keenly. What I want to know, is what sort of a scenic presence +has she? Can she take the stage? I do not ask if she is captivating in a +drawing-room; but has she the face and figure needed to be effective in +the theatre? I need not tell you, my friend, that these are two +different things, and do not always go together," said the Marchese, +whose interest in the matter was, as he said, wholly theatrical; first, +that he and the society of Ravenna should enjoy some fine singing during +the coming Carnival; and, secondly that the Lalli should produce such an +enthusiasm as should lead all the theatrical world to think and say that +a great stroke had been achieved, and a very public-spirited thing done +in bringing about the engagement. He was anxious that the step, which he +had had a large share in taking, should result in a great and +universally admitted success. + +"Eccellenza! I have no doubt that your lordship will be satisfied in +these respects. Most true it is, as your Excellency so judiciously +remarks, that we require something more than merely a beautiful face, or +even than a fine figure. And I have never had the good fortune to see +'La Lalli' on the boards. But as far as my poor judgment goes, she is +admirably gifted with all the requisites for achieving the result we +desire. Then there is the testimony of all Milan! And I succeeded in +speaking with an old friend who had seen her the year before last at +Naples, and whose report I can trust. The opinion seems to be universal +that few artists have ever possessed the gift of fascinating an audience +to the degree that she does. Your Excellency may take my word for it, +she is a very clever woman. My own interviews with her sufficed to +convince me of that fact. And I need not tell your Excellency, that +little as some of the empty-headed young gentlemen in the stalls may +suspect it, talent,--not only the special talent of song but general +talent,--has much to do with the power of fascination that a gifted +actress exercises." + +"Most true, mio bravo Signor Ercole; you speak like an oracle; and if +she left on you the impression that she is a clever woman, I have no +doubt in the world that she is so." + +There was no irony in the Marchese's mind when he said this; and the +little impresario, highly gratified again, half rose from his chair to +bow in return for the compliment. + +"As for the specialties of her face and person," continued the +impresario, "they appeared to me highly favourable. Very tall,--perhaps +your lordship or I might say too tall. But--on the stage the prejudice +is in favour of a degree of tallness that we might not admire off it. +Gestures, bearing, and the movement of the person equally capable of +expressing majestic dignity, or heart-subduing pathos. A most graceful +walk. In short, a persona tutta simpatica. As for the head--magnificent +hair,--blonde, which for choice I would always prefer--the true Titian +sun-tinged auburn,--a telling eye, finely formed nose, and mouth of +inexpressible sweetness!" + +"Per Bacco, Signor Ercole, a Phoenix indeed! A Diva davvero!" said the +Marchese. + +"Eccellenza, she'll do," said the little man nodding his head with its +top-heavy forehead three or four times emphatically. "If she do not make +such a sensation in Ravenna as we have not known here for a long time, +say that Ercole Stadione knows nothing of his profession." + +"Bravo! bravo!" cried the Marchese, gleefully rubbing his hands. "And +now, my good friend, I won't keep you from the bed and the rest you so +well deserve any longer. You may depend on it that your zeal in this +matter won't be overlooked or forgotten." + +"Troppo buono, Eccellenza! But there was one word I wished to say to +your lordship," continued little Signor Ercole, dropping his voice to a +lower key, and speaking with some hesitation,--one little word that I +thought it might be useful, or--or--desirable to mention--" + +"Yes, speak on, my dear Signor Ercole, I am all attention. What is it? +No drawback I hope!" + +"Only this, Signor Marchese," said the little man casting a glance round +the room, dropping his voice still more, and bringing his head nearer to +the ear of the Marchese; "only this:--you see if there had been +nothing-disagreeable,--nothing untoward, as I may say--your lordship +understands, we should never have had La Lalli at Ravenna. There has +been a--sort of difficulty--your lordship understands--spiteful things +have been said--calumny--all calumny no doubt-the constant attendant of +merit, alas! we all know. But--in short--here in Ravenna--it would not +be--desirable,--your Excellency understands and appreciates what I would +say a thousand times better than I can say it. It would be in every +point of view better, as your Excellency sees, that no idle chatter of +this kind should be set about here. It would be inexpedient for more +reasons than one." + +"Quite so; quite so. Your ideas on the subject are happily judicious, +Signor Ercole. What have we to do with misunderstandings that may have +arisen at Milan? Of course, it is not our business to have ever heard +anything of the kind. And I'll tell you what I'll do, and that at once, +before there is time for any mischief to be done. I will just give my +nephew a hint. He can be trusted. He is discreet. And it will be easy +for him to put down at once and discountenance any talk of the kind, or +any rumour that might find its way among our youngsters." + +"The very thing, Eccellenza! The Marchese Ludovico will understand the +thing at once. And half a word from him would give the key-note, as I +may say, to the tone of talk about the lady. Ravenna must not be thought +to be contenting herself with that which Milan rejects," said Signor +Ercole, with the air of a patriot. + +"I should think not, indeed! And, doubtless, Milan would have been but +too glad to retain La Lalli, had it not been for some unimportant +contretemps. Ludovico shall put the matter in its right light." + +As he spoke, the Marchese rang a little hand-bell which stood on his +library table; and on a servant entering from the anteroom, he told him +just to step across to the Circolo, and request the Marchese Ludovico to +be so good as to come to him for five minutes. + +In very little more than that time the man returned, saying that the +Marchese Ludovico was not at the Circolo. He had been there for a few +minutes at the beginning of the evening, but had gone away without +saying whither he was going. + +The Marchese knitted his brows when this message was given to him; and +after a minute's thoughtful silence, shook his head in a manner that +showed him to be not a little displeased. From a look of intelligence +that might have been observed in Signor Ercole's eyes, it might have +been judged that he understood that the Marchese was more annoyed than +on account of the momentary frustration of his immediate purpose, and +that he was aware of the nature of his annoyance. But he did not venture +to say any word on the subject; and the Marchese took leave of him, +merely saying that he would not forget to act on Signor Ercole's caution +when he should see his nephew the next morning. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Paolina Foscarelli + + +The young Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had in the early part of the +evening lounged into the Circolo, as was the habit of most of those of +his class, seniors as well as juniors; but he had, as had been correctly +reported to his uncle, very shortly left it without saying a word to any +one as to how he intended to dispose of his evening. The Marchese +Ludovico flattered himself, as people are apt to flatter themselves in +similar cases, that his absence would be little noted, and that his +reticence would suffice to leave all Ravenna in ignorance as to the +errand on which he was bound when he left the Circolo. So far was this +from being the case, however, that there was not one, at all events +among the younger men, whom he left behind him, who did not know +perfectly well where he was gone; and that his uncle, when by the +unforeseen accident that has been related he was made aware of his +absence from the club, was at no loss to guess what he had done with +himself. + +But in order that the reader may have a like advantage, it will be +necessary to mention very briefly, some circumstances which occurred +previously to the period referred to in the former chapters. + +Some months before the time of Signor Ercole Stadione's journey to +Milan, a wandering Englishman had arrived at Ravenna, and having spent +three or four days in examining with much interest the wonderful wealth +of Mosaics of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, still preserved in +the churches of the ancient capital of the Exarchs, had continued his +route to Venice. + +There, in the gallery of the Academia, his attention had been attracted +by a female student, who was engaged in copying a canvas of Tintoretto. +As it so happened that the traveller was a competent judge of such +matters, he was struck by the goodness of the work, especially when +considered in connection with the appearance of the artist. She was +evidently very young,--a slim, slender girl, whose girlish figure looked +all the more willow-like from the simple plainness, and what seemed to +the Englishman the insufficiency, of her clothing. For the weather, +though not so severe as when it had half frozen Signor Ercole Stadione, +was already very cold,--cold enough to have depopulated the gallery of +its usual crowd of copying artists. At some distance from the young +girl's easel, sitting in a corner lighted up by a stray ray of sunshine, +there was an old woman busily knitting,--probably the girl's mother, or +protectress. And besides those two, and the Englishman, and a lounging +attendant wrapped in his cloak, there was no other soul in the gallery. + +Yet the young student busily plied her task; nor was she surprised into +looking up by the stopping of the stranger behind her chair. He did not +see her face, therefore; and it would be consequently unfair to imagine +that any portion of the interest he could not help feeling in her was to +be attributed to the ordinary charm of a pretty face, whereas it was +really due partly to the artistic merit of her copy, partly to her +bravery in sticking to her work despite the severity of the season, and +partly to her youth and very apparent poverty. + +Suddenly, as he watched the progress of her work slowly growing beneath +the rapid movements of her slender, blue-cold fingers, the idea came +into his mind that here might be a favourable opportunity of obtaining +what he had much wished to procure when he had been at Ravenna,--some +drawings of several of the most remarkable of the Mosaics in the +churches of San Vitale and St. Apollinare in Classe. He was quite +satisfied from what he saw that the young artist was competent to +execute the drawings he required. The conscientious determination, which +alone could have made her continue her work under such circumstances, +was a guarantee to him that she would do her best. It was not probable +that the expectations of the girl before him as to remuneration would go +beyond such sum as he was willing to pay. And lastly--though truly not +least in that Englishman's mind--it might be that such a proposal would +be a very acceptable boon to a poor and meritorious artist. So managing +to speak to the attendant, when he was at a far part of the gallery, he +learned from him that the girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli; that the +old woman was, the officer believed, her aunt; that her name was Orsola +Steno; and that they lived together at No. 8 in the Campo San Donato. + +That same evening the stranger desired his servitore di piazza to make +inquiries about Signora Orsola Steno, and her niece, who copied in the +gallery; and the next morning he was told that, if he would call upon +the Director of the Gallery, that gentleman would be happy to reply to +any inquiries about the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli. + +The Englishman waited on the Director forthwith, and from him learned +that such a commission as he had thought of giving to the young copyist +could not be better bestowed in any point of view. The Director spoke +highly of her artistic capabilities, and more highly still of her +character and worth. She had been left an orphan, wholly unprovided for, +several years ago. Her father had gained his living by copying in the +gallery. The old woman, Orsola Steno, with whom she lived, was no +relation to her, but had been the dear friend of her mother, and had +taken the orphan to live with her out of pure charity. They were very +poor,--very poor, indeed. But Paolina was beginning to do something. She +had already sold one or two copies of small pictures. The larger work, +on which she was engaged, she had undertaken by the advice of the +Director, in the hope of disposing of it when the following summer +should bring with it the usual incoming tide of travellers. + +The result was that the stranger, taking with him a little note from the +Director, went again to the gallery the next day, and finding Signorina +Paolina at her post as usual, then and there made his proposition to +her. + +He was glad, when in doing so he spoke face to face with the girl, that +the matter had been settled in his mind before he had seen her. For he +was pleased to be sure that his judgment had not been warped in the +matter by the irresistible prejudice in favour of a beautiful girl. And +had he seen Paolina first, he could have had no such assurance. In +truth, the poor Venetian painter's orphan child was very beautiful. It +is little to the purpose to attempt a detailed description of her +beauty; for such descriptions rarely, if ever, succeed in conveying to +the imagination of a reader any accurate presentation of the picture, +which the writer has in his mind's eye. She was dark. Hair, brows, eyes, +and complexion, were all dark; and the contour of the face was of the +long or oval type of conformation--very delicate--transparently +delicate--more so, the Englishman thought, not without a pull at his +heart-strings, than was quite compatible with a due daily supply of +nourishment. Still she did not look unhealthy. At seventeen a good deal +of pinching may be undergone without destroying the elastic vigour of +youth. + +But the chief and most striking charm of the beautiful face was +unquestionably imparted to it from the moral and intellectual nature +within. There was a calm and quiet dignity in the expression of the pure +and noble brow, which may often have been seen in women of similar +character, and of some twenty-five years of age. But it is rare to find +such at seventeen. Doubtless the having been left alone in the world at +so tender an age, had done much towards producing the expression in +question. It was added to, moreover, by the singular grace of the girl's +figure and mode of standing there before the stranger, as she had risen +from her easel on his presenting her with the Director's note. + +She was rather above the middle height, and very slender;--more so, the +Englishman thought again, than she ought to have been. She was very +poorly and even insufficiently clad. But the little bit of quite plain +linen around her slim throat was spotlessly clean; and her poor and +totally unornamented chocolate-coloured stuff dress was in decently tidy +condition, and was worn with that nameless and inexplicable grace which +causes it to be said of similarly gifted women that they may wear +anything. + +And the stranger was delighted, too, with her manner in accepting his +proposition. Though she made no attempt to conceal, and, indeed, eagerly +expressed her sense of the value to her of the proposal that was made to +her, there was a modest, and at the same time self-respecting, dignity +about her acceptance of it, which was to his mind an earnest of the +highly conscientious manner in which the task would be carried out. + +It was therefore settled at once that Paolina, together with her friend +and protectress, the Signora Orsola Steno, should proceed to Ravenna as +soon as she could conveniently do so. A list of the works of which she +was required to make copies was given to her. It included, besides the +whole of the very interesting Mosaics in San Vitale, and several of the +curious Mosaic portraits of the early bishops of the city in the church +of St. Apollinare in Classe, two remarkable full-length figures from the +ancient baptistery, the representation of the Saviour as the "Good +Shepherd" in the celebrated mausoleum of the Empress Galla Placidia, and +the portraits of the Apostles in the private chapel of the Cardinal. Of +all these works, exact copies were to be executed on a scale of one +sixth the size of the originals; and it was calculated that the work +would require at least fifteen months to do it in. A sufficient sum of +money was paid in advance to enable Signora Orsola Steno and her ward to +move to Ravenna, and to begin their residence there; and satisfactory +arrangements were made for subsequent quarterly payments of two-thirds +of the price to be paid for the completed copies. + +Besides all this, the English patron provided the young artist with a +letter of introduction, which he doubted not would make smooth all +difficulties which might lie in the way of her obtaining the permissions +and facilities necessary for the execution of her task. This letter was +addressed to the "Illustrissimo Signor il Signor Marchese Lamberto di +Castelmare." The English traveller had brought from Rome a letter of +introduction to the Marchese, and had received from him, during his +short stay at Ravenna, all that courteous attention and friendly +interest in his artistic researches which Englishmen are always sure to +meet with in the smaller cities of Italy, even in yet larger measure +than in the larger capitals, where strangers of all sorts are more +abundant. + +Thus equipped and provided, Paolina Foscarelli, accompanied by Signora +Orsola Steno, had arrived in Ravenna in the March of the same year, in +the November of which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to +Milan. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Rivalry + + +The first care of the two Venetian women, on arriving in their new place +of abode, which seemed to them almost as much a foreign country as Pekin +might seem to an Englishman, was, of course, to present their letter of +introduction to the powerful and illustrious protector to whom they were +recommended. But there had, thereupon, arisen a difference of opinion +between the older and the younger lady. Old Orsola Steno, acting on the +wisdom which certain observations of life picked up in her sixty years +of passage through it had probably taught her, was strongly of opinion +that the important letter should be presented to the Marchese by Paolina +in person,--or if not that, by both of them together. But Paolina +strongly objected to this mode of proceeding; and urged her friend to +take upon herself the duty of waiting on the Marchese. Orsola contested +the point as strongly as she could. But as it was very rarely that +Paolina had ever opposed her in any thing, she was the less prepared to +resist opposition on the present occasion. And as Paolina was in this +matter obstinate, old Orsola yielded; and set forth by herself to walk +to the Palazzo Castelmare. Nobody had ever any difficulty in obtaining +access to the popular Marchese; and the Signora Orsola Steno was at once +ushered into his library,--presented her letter, and was received with +all courtesy and kindness. + +To receive recommendations of all sorts, to be asked to render all kinds +of services, was nothing new or uncommon to the Marchese. He ran over +the Englishman's letter rapidly. + +"Va bene! va bene! At your service, Signora! I shall be most happy to +give you all the assistance in my power. I remember very well that +Signor Vilobe (Willoughby was the Englishman's name) was desirous of +procuring copies of some of our mosaics. I am very happy he has found so +competent a person to execute them." + +Signora Orsola made a feeble attempt to point out that she was not +herself the artist who was to make the copies in question; but what with +her awe of the grand seigneur to whom she was speaking, and what with +the strangeness of her Venetian tones to her hearer's ear, and what with +the Marchese's hurry, her explanation failed to reach his comprehension. + +"Yes! You and your companion will need to find a suitable lodging, the +first thing. We must see to it for you. But the fact is, Signora +Foscarelli, that I am more than usually busy this morning. I am +expecting some gentlemen here on business every minute. If you will +excuse me, therefore, I will entrust the commission of finding a proper +quartiere for you to my nephew. He will be more likely than I am to know +where what you require is likely to be found. He shall call upon you +this morning. Where are you? At the locanda de' Tre Re! Very good. Of +course you don't want to remain in an inn longer than can be helped. I +will tell my nephew to go to you this morning." + +So Signora Steno returned to the "Tre Re;" a little alarmed at the +thought that she had passed herself off for another person and a +somewhat different one, but charmed with the courtesy and kindness of +the Marchese. And in less than an hour the strangers from Venice heard +two voices below in the entrance of the locanda inquiring for two +Venetian ladies who had recently arrived in Ravenna. + +Two voices!--for it had so happened that when the servant, whom the +Marchese Lamberto had sent to his nephew to request him to undertake +this little commission for him, found the Marchese Ludovico at the door +of the Circolo, the Signore Conte Leandro Lombardoni was lounging there +with him. + +"Bah! what a bore? My uncle is always making himself the maestro di +casa, the manager, the protector, the servant of all the world. Tell the +Marchese I'll go directly," he said to the servant; then added to his +companion, "Come, Leandro, don't desert me! Let's go together and see +what these Venetian women want." + +"I ought to go to the Contessa Giulia at two. She'll be waiting for me, +and will be furious if I disappoint her. Never mind, what must be, must +be! I Tre Re! Ugh, what a distance; why, it is at the other end of the +town?" + +"Never mind, come along; it will do you good to walk half a mile for +once and away," returned Ludovico, who knew perfectly well how much to +believe about the Contessa Giulia's despair at his friend's +non-appearance. + +Thus the two young men went together to the locanda de' Tre Re to +execute the commission entrusted to his nephew by the Marchese Lamberto. + +"Yes," said a slatternly girl, who came forth from some back region at +the call of the two young men, and who stared at them with an offensive +mixture of surprise and understanding interest, when they inquired for +the ladies recently arrived from Venice. "Yes, they were upstairs, on +the right hand, in No. 13." So they climbed the stairs, knocked at No. +13, were told to passare by the voice of Signora Orsola, and in the next +instant were in the room with the two strangers. + +The first glance at the occupants of the chamber produced a shock of +surprise, which manifested itself in so sudden a change of manner and +bearing in the two young men, that it would have been ludicrous to any +looker-on. The two hats came down from the two heads with a spring-like +suddenness and quickness; and both the young men bowed lowly. + +"Ladies," said Ludovico, addressing himself mainly to the elder, but +turning also towards the younger as he spoke, while the Conte Leandro +stared unmitigatedly at Paolina; "we come to you, sent by my uncle the +Marchese di Castelmare, and charged by him to assist you in finding a +convenient quartiere for your residence in Ravenna. Permit me to say on +my own behalf," he added, turning more entirely towards Paolina, "that I +hope it may not be a short one!" + +"If the Signorina would make her stay among us as long as we would wish +it, she would never leave Ravenna any more," said the Conte Leandro, +with a glance from his sharp little eyes, and a bow of his fat person, +that were meant to be quite killing. + +"It is this young lady, I conclude, who has undertaken to copy some of +our mosaics for the Englishman, who writes to my uncle, then?" said +Ludovico with a good-humoured and bright smile. + +"That is it, Signor--though she is but such a slip of a thing to look +at. I was afraid the Signor Marchese had taken it into his head that I +was Paolina Foscarelli. Lord love you! I could not make, nor yet copy a +picture, if it were to save my life!" + +"My uncle will be equally happy to have it in his power to oblige either +lady," rejoined Ludovico. + +"I am sure the Marchese is too good," said Signora Steno; "we remain +here till the Signorina Foscarelli has finished the job she has +undertaken, and no longer, nor no shorter. And some place we must find +to live in the while. And if your lordship could tell us where we would +be likely to find a couple of bedrooms, a bit of a sitting-room, and the +use of a kitchen, it would be very kind." + +"There will be no difficulty about that, I think, Signora," said the +Marchese Ludovico; "I will go at once and inquire! I think I know where +what we want may be had. If you will permit me, I will return to you +here in less than half an hour." + +"Troppo garbato, Signor Marchese!" said Orsola. + +"If the Signorina will permit me," said Leandro, "I think I know of just +such a little quartierino as would suit her, snug, quiet, and +parfettamente libero." + +To this offer, Paolina felt herself constrained to reply by a silent +little bow. His former speech had received no reply whatsoever. + +"I think I had better do what my uncle has told me to do, Leandro," said +the Marchese Ludovico, drily. + +And Paolina felt sufficiently grateful to him for the amount of snubbing +contained in his accent to say the first words she had spoken since they +entered the room. "We shall be exceedingly obliged to you, Signore, if +you will do so. Any quartiere which the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare +could recommend to us," she added, with a significant emphasis on the +words, "would be sure to suit us." + +"But perhaps the Marchese Lamberto may not know half as much about such +matters as I do, bella Signorina. People forget so many things by the +time they come to the age of the Marchese," said the Conte Leandro, with +a leering smile, which was meant to establish a confidential +understanding between him and Paolina. But the young girl's only answer +was to turn in her chair a little more away from him towards the window. + +"I think we had better leave the ladies, and see if we can find for them +what they require. I should prefer doing myself what my uncle has +entrusted to me," said Ludovico, with a frown on his brow. + +"Very good--do so. You say you shall be back here in half an hour; if +these ladies will permit me I will remain with them till you come back, +and then we can all go and look at the quartiere you have found +together," said the Conte Leandro. + +Poor Paolina, though perfectly determined not to acquiesce in this +arrangement, was quite at a loss what to say or do to prevent it from +being carried out. + +"But you forget your engagement to the Contessa Giulia," said Ludovico; +"surely you had better make haste to keep it." + +He had no belief whatever in any such engagement, and had a very faint +hope that any care for consistency would avail to induce his friend the +Conte Leandro to affect the necessity of keeping it. But he also was +perfectly determined not to leave him in the room with the strangers, +though almost as much at a loss as Paolina how to prevent it. + +"Oh, hang the Contessa Giulia! In any case, it is too late to go to her +now, and I am sure I shall like much better to stay here," said Leandro. + +"Very likely. But you forget that it may not be equally agreeable to +these ladies that you should remain here, and they just arrived from a +journey too," said the Marchese Ludovico, who was inwardly cursing his +folly in having brought his friend with him on this errand, which he +unquestionably would not have done had he had the remotest idea what +manner of ladies they were that his uncle had deputed him to attend on. + +"By-the-by, Leandro," he said, suddenly, as he was moving towards the +door, "you must come with me--after all; for now I remember that the +rooms I had in my mind were let a short time since, and the best thing +we can do will be to go and look at those you spoke of." + +"Oh! I will tell you where they are--" said Leandro. + +"No, no! that won't do at all; come--come along. I won't go there +without you. Come!" said the Marchese. + +And this was said in a manner that had the effect of making Leandro take +leave of the ladies, with many hopes that they might meet again ere +long. + +Very soon after the two young men were in the street together, Ludovico +protested that he must call at the Circolo before attending to the +business they were on; and when he got there he pretended to be obliged +to run home for a minute to the Palazzo Castelmare, which was hard by, +saying that he would return and rejoin the Conte Leandro in less than +five minutes. And very heartily did that deceived gentleman abuse his +friend, when he had waited an hour, and found that he did not return at +all. Then, poor gentleman! he knew that he had been bamboozled,--cruelly +treated, as he said himself. And he perfectly well understood his dear +friend's object, too! + +"Such an intolerable, abominable coxcomb as that Ludovico is! As if he +fancied that nobody was to have a chance of speaking to that pretty girl +but himself. As if he thought that he had the ghost of a chance with a +woman, if I thought it worth while to cut him out!" grumbled the +gallant, gay Leandro to himself. + +The Marchese Ludovico, meanwhile, the instant he had succeeded in +freeing himself from his companion, darted off in search of an +apartment, which he thought would just suit his fair clients; hurried +back to them, at the inn; and had them installed in their new quarters +by that evening. + +"I am sure I do not know how to thank you enough for all your kindness, +Signor Marchese. I do not know what we should have done without it," +said the Signora Orsola. + +"For all your kindness!" repeated Paolina, with a look and an emphasis +which, while it expressed her gratitude, left him at no loss to +understand what part of all he had done for them had chiefly seemed to +the pretty Paolina to merit her special thanks. + +And these were the facts and the circumstances that had brought about a +state of matters which left the Marchese Lamberto and the gossips of the +Circolo in no doubt where the young Marchese Ludovico had gone to pass +his evening, when his uncle sent for him to the club for the purpose +which the reader wots of, and failed to find him there. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Beginning of Trouble + + +Nearly eight months had elapsed between that day when the Signora Orsola +and the Signorina Paolina were installed in their new lodging and the +day when the Marchese Ludovico was sitting in the more than modest +little room over a miserable morsel of fire, with the two Venetians, +when his uncle sent for him to give him the hint about any inconvenient +gossip that might be whispered concerning the Signora Bianca Lalli, in +accordance with the suggestion of the impresario. + +The Marchese Lamberto had made the personal acquaintance of the young +artist, who had been recommended to his protection very shortly after +the day on which he had deputed his nephew to find a lodging for her; +and he had instantly become aware that he had made a mistake in so +doing;--that he would certainly have deemed it better to take that care +upon himself rather than have confided it to the young Marchese, if he +had had the least idea what sort of person the Venetian artist was. +Nevertheless, he had been very strongly impressed with the propriety of +Paolina's manner and bearing, and after one or two more interviews, with +the thorough modesty of her mind, and purity and dignity of her +character. And the Marchese was a man well competent to form a sound +judgment of such matters. + +He had no reason to think that the young man, his nephew, was as +prudent, as steady, as little liable to the influence of female beauty, +as cold, if you will, as he himself had been at the same age. On the +contrary, the character, which the Marchese Ludovico had made for +himself in Ravenna, was a rather diametrically opposite one. But he was +strongly of opinion that in any enterprise of an illegitimate nature +which his nephew might attempt with the young artist, he would have his +trouble only for his pains. And, of course, any enterprise of any other +nature was wholly out of the question. + +Still, as the months went on he would have been far better contented +that his nephew should have been less often at the home of the two +Venetians. There were circumstances which made such visits especially +inexpedient at the present time. He knew that the young man was there +much oftener than he judged to be in any way desirable; and the young +man was there much oftener than his uncle knew. The Marchese Lamberto +was still very much persuaded that Paolina had not been led by his +nephew into any false step of a seriously blamable nature. But this was +by no means any reason with the Marchese for approving of his nephew's +conduct. The intercourse was altogether objectionable. Talk was +engendered,--talk of an undesirable description; and this was +excessively disagreeable to the Marchese, who had views for his nephew +which might be seriously compromised by it. A liaison of the kind, let +the real nature of it be what it would, was in any case discreditable to +his nephew and heir, and damaging more or less to the position which he +wished to see the young man occupy in the town. It was especially so, as +has been said, at the present conjuncture. + +Then, of course, it could not be otherwise than injurious to the girl. +She had, in some sort, been recommended to his care. And it disturbed +him much, that the conduct of his nephew should be the means of damaging +her reputation. + +Yet the Marchese, being a man of sense, knew very well that it would not +have done any good to attempt to exercise any such authority over the +young man as to forbid him to visit the lodging of the Venetians. In the +first place, such a step would, according to the notions and ways of +looking at things of the society in which he lived, have placed him +himself in a very ridiculous light;--a danger which was not to be +contemplated for an instant! And, besides, the Marchese was very well +aware that even if such an attempt did not cause his nephew to assume a +position of open rebellion, it would only have the effect of making him +do secretly and still more objectionably what he did, as it was, +comparatively openly. + +Comparatively, it must be said; for Ludovico was very much more +frequently at the little house in the Strada di S. Eufemia than his +uncle wotted of. + +Not much more frequently, however, than was very well known by most of +his contemporaries and fellow-habitues of the Circolo,--by pretty well +the whole of the "society" of Ravenna, that is to say. And in the +earlier part of the time in question,--of the eight months, that is, +from the March in which the young artist came to Ravenna, to the +November in which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to Milan +there had been plenty of joking and raillery about Ludovico's +enthralment by the "bella Veneziana," and many attempts to compete with +him for so very attractive and desirable a "buona fortuna." But all this +had only been at the beginning of the time. Ludovico had taken the +matter in a tone and in a humour, that had soon put an end to all such +joking and to all such attempts. It was in all ways easy for him to do +this. He was popular, and much liked among the young men, in the first +place. His social position, as the heir of one of the first families of +the province whether for wealth or nobility of race, and of a man of +such social standing as his uncle, made it a very undesirable thing to +quarrel with him. And even without any of such vantage-ground of +position, Ludovico di Castelmare was a man, whose path it would have +been dangerous to cross in such a matter as this, and who was very well +capable of affording to any woman, in whom he was interested, a very +efficient protection against any such offence as the most enterprising +of the jeunesse doree of Ravenna might have been disposed to offer her. + +The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had made the utmost of the chance that had +rendered him the earliest acquaintance of the beautiful Venetian in +Ravenna, with the exception of Ludovico himself. He had chattered, and +boasted after the manner of his kind. He had succeeded in finding out +the lodging, which Ludovico had taken so much pains to conceal from him, +and had endeavoured to establish himself on the footing of a visiting +acquaintance in the Strada Sta. Eufemia. But it had come to pass, that a +degree of intimacy had very quickly grown up between Paolina and +Ludovico, which permitted her to let him understand that, he would +render her an acceptable service by once again ridding her of the Conte +Leandro, as he had done on that first day of their acquaintance. And the +result was that, one evening, the gallant Conte, on knocking at the door +of the house in the Strada di S. Eufemia, had it opened to him by his +friend Ludovico,--and further, that he never came back there any more, +or was heard again to make any allusion whatever to his Venetian +acquaintances. + +But what was no longer said jestingly before Ludovico's face was none +the less said enviously, sneeringly, or knowingly behind his back. It +was perfectly well understood by all the young men in Ravenna that he +was desperately in love with the beautiful Venetian artist. As to the +terms on which he stood with her there were differences of opinion. But +by far the more accredited notion was that the affair was quite a normal +and ordinary one; and that the charming Paolina was the young Marchese's +mistress. + +Would he give her up, when the marriage, which, as was well known to all +Ravenna, his uncle had been arranging for him with the young Contessa +Violante di Marliani, and which was expected to come off shortly, should +be consummated? That was the more interesting point for speculation. +Would he, as really seemed not impossible, be mad enough to carry on +with the Venetian girl to such an extent as to give umbrage to the +family of the Contessa, and perhaps even endanger the match? This also +was debated among his young peers of the Circolo, while he was passing +the hour in the Strada di Sta. Eufemia. + +His uncle was far from being aware how far matters had gone with his +nephew in this matter. But he knew enough to make him uneasy about it, +and to lead him to endeavour to push on the match with the Contessa +Violante by every means in his power: for the marriage with the Lady +Violante was, in every point of view, a desirable one. The Cardinal +Legate of Ravenna was a Marliani, and the young lady in question was his +great-niece--the granddaughter of his only brother. She had lost both +her parents at an early age, and now lived at Ravenna with a +great-aunt,--the younger sister of the Cardinal, under his protection +and wing, as it were. The family was not a rich one, but the Cardinal +had worn the purple many years. He had held very lucrative offices in +the Apostolic Court previously, and had doubtless amassed very +considerable wealth, and the Lady Violante was his only heiress. Besides +that, of course the position of her great-uncle as Legate rendered her +all that was desirable as a match for the noblest of the province--not +to mention other grander possibilities in the background. The reigning +Pontiff was a very aged man. The Cardinal di Marliani was thought to +stand very well at Rome. Who knew what might happen? It would have been +too monstrous if the hope of such a marriage as this were to be +endangered by a silly fancy for the pretty face and slim figure of a +little artist. + +The Marchese Lamberto had felt his position to be a difficult one. He +really did not know what line it would be wisest to take. Ludovico had +spoken among his associates at the Circolo in a manner which had +effectually silenced all light allusion to the ladies in the Strada di +Santa Eufemia. He could not speak exactly in the same tone to his uncle; +but the hints that the Marchese Lamberto had from time to time thrown +out to the effect that, under the circumstances of the case, he did not +approve of his nephew's intimacy with the Signorina, Paolina Foscarelli, +had been received in a manner by the younger man which had warned the +elder that some caution was required in the task of guiding his nephew +in this matter. He had never had much cause to be dissatisfied with his +nephew's conduct, or with his behaviour towards himself: but some years +before the present time, he had been made aware that the Marchese +Ludovico was one of those whom it is easier to lead than to drive; and +that any attempt at a little too much driving would be likely to lead to +kicking, and perhaps to an entire breaking of reins and traces. + +And, being a man of sense, he had acted on the hints thus given him with +considerable success. The Marchese Ludovico had submitted on most +occasions to be led with all desirable docility. But now, in this +matter, wherein judicious leading was more than ever before in his life +necessary to him, he seemed to decline to be led at all. + +How could the perplexed Marchese do otherwise than frown when he was +told that his nephew was not at the Circolo at that hour of the evening, +knowing very well where such absence showed him to be? Yet he probably +would have done, or attempted to do, some thing else,--or, at all +events, the frown would have been a yet heavier and blacker one,--could +he not only have guessed where his nephew was at that moment, but have +also heard what was passing in the little salottino of the Strada di S. +Eufemia. + +Some account of the conversation there may perhaps serve the purpose of +saving all necessity for a detailed account of the intercourse which had +taken place between Ludovico and Paolina during the last eight months. +The story of it will be sufficiently understood from a peep at its +result. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Teaching of a Great Love + + +Paolina had been working all day in the church of San Vitale. She had +very nearly completed the copies she was to make there; and they were +the most important in extent of all she had engaged to execute. It had +been necessary to erect a scaffolding for the purpose of bringing the +artist sufficiently near to her subject; and the permission to have this +done had been obtained by the all-powerful interest of the Marchese +Lamberto. Many an hour had Ludovico passed on that scaffolding by the +artist's side as she plied her slow and laborious task; and many a +"Paul" had the old sacristan pocketed with a grin of understanding, as +he had opened the door of the church to the young Marchese, the object +of whose visit he had long since learned to understand. + +And Paolina herself? Did she approve of these visits made thus in the +perfect seclusion of that old church at the hours when its doors were +shut to the public? Did she like the hours so spent in tete-a-tete +conversation with the handsome young Marchese? She, who had so readily +found the means to make the entreprenant Conte Leandro keep his +distance, and had succeeded in disembarrassing herself of him +altogether,--could she find no possible means for avoiding the +assiduities of the Marchese Ludovico; could she not at least have +induced old Orsola to accompany her in the church of San Vitale, as she +had accompanied her in the gallery at Venice? + +Perhaps old Orsola did not like climbing up a ladder to a scaffolding. +Perhaps she had the superstitious dislike to an empty, and lonely church +not uncommon to uneducated Italians. The fact was at all events that, +even after Ludovico had, upon more than one occasion, brought the +rushing blood into the dark face of Paolina by surprising her at her +work on the scaffolding near the vaults of the church, old Orsola never +made her appearance there. She was always at her place on one side of +the fire during the visits of the Marchese to the quartiere in the +Strada di Santa Eufemia in the evening; but it was equally true that she +almost always went to sleep. + +It is so natural and so desirable that the old should sleep under such +circumstances and on such occasions! It is so evidently for the benefit +of all the parties concerned, that the tendency may be reckoned among +the instances of beneficent adaptation with which the whole order of +Nature is filled! + +It can hardly be doubted,--Ludovico could hardly be blamed for the +persuasion--that Paolina did like his visits. It may be pretty safely +assumed that those blushes, which greeted the appearance of his head +above the planks as he climbed to the scaffolding, were not painful +blushes. How early in those eight months it came to pass that her heart +leaped at the click of the huge old key in the lock, as the sacristan +admitted Ludovico by a turn of it which, as she had well learned, +heralded his coming, it might be hard to say. Paolina herself could not +probably have told this to her own heart. But that such had come to be +the case long before the evening when the Marchese Lamberto sought his +nephew at the Circolo, and could not find him, can hardly be doubted. + +Thus much having been admitted, it seems as if there might be reason to +fear that Paolina may appear worthy of censure to those of her own sex, +to whom her story is here commended, to a degree which truth, and an +acquaintance with times, places, and national manners, would not quite +justify. But in these matters of national appreciation, of fitness and +unfitness, and of propriety and impropriety, the nuances are so fine and +subtle, that it is somewhat difficult, in trying to explain them, to say +just what one means without seeming to say more than one means. + +One thing is clear. Paolina was as thoroughly and essentially modest and +innocent a girl as ever breathed; but she was so "by the grace of +God,"--from natural idiosyncrasy and instinctive purity of heart, that +is to say, rather than from teaching of any kind, or from any knowledge +of good or evil. She was an orphan, the child of parents who were +"nobody," and she was left in the world to find her own way in it as she +could. So much the more, replies the prudent English matron, ought she +to have been extra careful lest the breath of misconception should even +for a passing moment sully her. It is the sentiment of a people, who, +"aristocratic" as they may be, do really feel that that which is best +and purest in the highest lady of the land may be, and should be, also +the heritage of lowliest. But such is not practically the feeling in +those social latitudes where Paolina was born and bred. + +The breath that tarnishes the clear mirror of a noble damsel's name, +says and teaches that social feeling, brings dishonour to a noble race; +and she has failed in her duty to her race. But who could be injured by +any light word spoken or light thought of such an one as poor Paolina? +She was an "artist." What treason to art, what lese-majeste against the +beautiful in every one of its manifestations, to conceive that in that +fact any reason was to be found why a less nice conduct in such matters +should be expected of her! And yet, for reasons which it would take a +volume to elucidate, so it is, that in the countries where art is deemed +to be most at home, and where it is in the largest degree the occupation +of large sections of the people, it is deemed that a less strict rule +with reference to the matters under consideration is laid on them than +on others. What if a young female artist "perfectly free from ties," as +would be urged, and whose conduct in such a matter could hurt +nobody,--what if such an one chose to form a tie not recognized by the +Church? The Church herself would look very leniently on the venial +fault. And though Paolina was such as she has been described, it was +impossible but that such notions, not specially set forth or taught, but +pervading all the unconscious teaching of the world around her, should +have rendered her less sensitively anxious as to the possibility of +misconception lighting on her, than an equally good English girl would +have been. Could she have been indifferent to the danger that slander +should tarnish her good name? asks an Englishwoman. But the whole world +in which she lived would not have felt it to be slander. It would have +been too much in the ordinary course of things. + +How Paolina felt in the matter, Ludovico was made to understand on that +evening which has been so often referred to; and the reader may gather +from the conversation that passed between them. + +Paolina had worked hard all day. The mosaics in San Vitale were nearly +finished. Ludovico had been with her on her scaffolding during the few +hours of light of the short afternoon. He had become sensible that the +intercourse between him and Paolina had latterly been growing to be less +frank, unreserved, and easy than it had been. He had once been quite +sure that Paolina loved him with the whole force of a thoroughly virgin +heart. He had latterly begun almost to think that he had been mistaken +in her. She would turn from him. She would fall into long silences. She +was embarrassed in speaking to him; and it had often happened lately +that talk had passed between them, which had seemed as if they were +speaking at cross-purposes--as if there were something not understood or +misunderstood between them. + +And Ludovico had come to the house in the Strada di Sta. Eufemia that +evening, safely relying on the expectation that the Signora Orsola would +go fast asleep, and determined to bring matters to an understanding +between him and Paolina. + +"You can hardly, I think, doubt, Paolina mia, that I love you dearly, +far more dearly than anything else on the face of the earth. Do you not +see and know that all my life is devoted to you? You do not doubt, +darling, do you?" said Ludovico, as he sat holding one of her hands in +his. + +She sat silent for awhile, and with her face turned away from him, +though she made no attempt to take her hand from his. + +"You do not doubt it, Paolina?" he asked again. + +"If I did doubt it,--if I had doubted it, Ludovico, you could not have +taught me the lesson which you have taught me--the lesson which you well +know you have so thoroughly taught me, to love you. We neither of us +doubt of the love of the other. But--." + +She still continued to sit with her face averted from him; and, after +another pause, finished her speech only by a little sad shake of her +head. + +Now the truth was that Ludovico often did doubt very much whether +Paolina really loved him. He did not understand the position in which +they stood towards each other at all. Here was a little utterly +unpretending artist, dependent on no one but herself, owing no duty to +any one, to whom he had been making love for the last eight months, as +he had never in his life made love before, who assured him that she +loved him; how was it that she had not been his mistress months and +months ago? How to account for so strange a phenomenon? He knew very +well, that if the exact truth of his position with regard to the little +Venetian artist were known or guessed at by any of the men with whom he +lived, he would have appeared to them an object of the utmost +ridicule,--a dupe,--a fool of the very first water. What on earth could +he have been about all the time? + +And there were moments in which he was tempted to think the same of +himself; bitter moments of cynical world-wisdom, in which he scoffed at +himself for having been led to play the part he had played for these +last eight months. He would resolve at such moments to "speak plainly" +to Paolina; and, if such plain-speaking failed of the effect it was +intended to produce, to put her out of his mind and never waste a minute +or a thought upon her again. + +But such plain-speaking had never got itself spoken,--had seemed, when +he was in presence of the intended object of it, utterly impossible to +be spoken. And as for the other alternative, he knew at the bottom of +his heart, that it was as much out of his power to put it in practice, +as it was to forget his own identity. + +Something there was in the girl different from anything he had ever +known in any other specimen of the sex he had ever become acquainted +with. Something too there unmistakably was in his feeling towards her +very different from aught that he had ever felt before. What spell had +come over him? And what the deuce was the nature of her power over him? +And what the deuce was her own meaning, and feeling, and the motives of +her conduct? + +It really was necessary, however, that they should in some way come to +understand each other. If he had been becoming for some time past +discontented with the state of matters between them, it was evident that +Paolina had been becoming ill at ease and unhappy also. In some fashion +or other some more or less plain speaking was evidently needed. + +And Paolina herself? What was her feeling on the subject? Whence did her +unmistakable malaise, distraught behaviour in Ludovico's presence, +paling cheeks, hours of reverie, when she should have been busily at +work--whence did all this come? What was really in her mind when she +told him that doubtless they both loved each other, and then ended her +words with a "but," and a sad shake of her drooping little head? + +She had found this man, her first acquaintance, in a strange land, +good-natured, pleasant, kind, useful, handsome, protecting and, at the +same time, deferential in his manner; and she had liked him. He had +delivered her from the Conte Leandro, and there had come into her mind +comparisons between the two men. He had been on her side in that matter; +they had wished the same thing, and had accomplished it against a third +person; there had been, as it were, a secret between them on the +subject; and hence had grown a bond of union. She had advanced from +liking to admiring. Thence to the consciousness that she was admired. +She had gone onwards through the usual phases of surprising herself in +the act of thinking of him at all sorts of hours, and gradually +discovering that he filled an immense portion of her lonely life there +in the strange city, till she came to the stage of mingling the avowal +"Gli voglio tanto bene" with her last prayers to Mary Mother by her +bedside at night, and meditating on the words he had said and the looks +be had looked, after she had laid her head upon the pillow. + +She had thus quietly walked onwards into the deep waters of a great +love, before any question had ever suggested itself to her as to whither +she was going, and whether there might not be danger of perishing in +those deep waters. + +Now nothing is clearer or more undoubted by every good and +well-conditioned girl among ourselves, than the certainty that any man +who unmistakably seeks to win her love either means and hopes to make +her his wife, or is merely fooling her for his own abominably selfish +amusement, or is insulting her and endeavouring to injure her in a +manner that makes it at once her duty and her inclination to spurn him +from her with horror and loathing. + +But here, again, as the lawyers say, "locus regit actum." That which the +English girl feels, under such circumstances, so naturally, that she +deems it an inseparable part of her nature that she should so feel, she +feels because of the teaching of the whole social atmosphere in which +she has lived. The Italian girl, in the position of Paolina, does not +feel it, because she has lived in a very different social atmosphere. + +It is quite certain that Paolina,--if the question, whether it was in +anywise on the cards that the Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had +conceived, or was likely to conceive, any project of marrying her, +Paolina Foscarelli, had suggested itself, or had been suggested, to her +at any time during those eight months,--would at once have replied to +her own heart or to any other person, that such an idea was utterly +preposterous and out of the question. + +But he had been striving to convince her that he loved her by every +means in his power for months past, and had succeeded in so convincing +her. Was he merely playing with her? That idea never entered into her +head. As she, with sad and transparent frankness, had told him, neither +of them could doubt the love of the other. What doubt could remain, +then, as to the alternative? What doubt of the atrocious nature of his +designs and intentions towards her? No doubt at all. Ought she not, +therefore, with the intensest scorn of what-do-you-take-me-for-sir +indignation to have repelled the insult offered to her? + +Poor Paolina had no conception that any insult at all was offered to her +or intended. Ludovico was minded to offer to her that which it was in +his power to offer, for her to accept if it suited her, or to decline if +it suited her not. The species of tie that he offered her was all he +could offer her. It was one very frequently offered and very frequently +accepted in similar cases. Had the possibility that she might one day +accept such been suggested to her, it would have produced no horror in +her mind. She had no conviction during all these eight months that she +never could or would accept such a position from any man. Why, then, did +not matters proceed harmoniously and smoothly between them? Why had not +Paolina become Ludovico's mistress before this time? What was the +meaning of the averted face, and of that broken off "but--" which she +had found it so difficult to follow with a completed sentence? + +The meaning was, that Paolina's own heart, during those hours of reverie +filled with the meditation of her love,--during those pourings forth of +her confessions of love to her heavenly confidant in her bedside +prayers;--during her nightly review of the love-passages of the +day,--her own heart, as it became clearer to her, had revealed to her, +that she could not accede to any such proposal as that which, she was +well persuaded, the Marchese could alone offer to her;--had revealed it +to her, not in obedience to any moral principle; not by any +what-do-you-take-me-for process of indignant virtue; but by an +instinctive feeling irresistible and not to be gainsayed, that the love +she had to bestow must possess its object wholly and entirely, or not at +all. It was quite a matter of course that Ludovico would marry some lady +in his rank of life. She was not ignorant of the position in which he +stood with regard to the Contessa Violante. And his openness to her on +this subject is a curious indication of the very wide difference between +the mode in which the whole subject would be looked at by both parties +in the world in which they lived, and in our own. + +Philosophers, as the result of much learned observation and long +reasonings, come to the conclusion that monogamy is best suited, on the +whole, to the nature, the requirements, and progressive improvement of +mankind. A pure-hearted woman, who loves with a true and great love, +finds a shorter cut to the same conviction. + +And the growing depth and earnestness of Paolina's love had arrived at +teaching her this with unmistakable clearness. She might pine, might +die--might compel her heart to turn to stone;--might seek the refuge of +a cloister, which is the southern equivalent for suicide;--but she could +not--she felt she could not live and be content to share her lover's +love with another. It was not any sensation of the nature of jealousy so +much as an unconquerable feeling that not to have all was to have +nothing;--that she must have all and for ever; that she and he must be +one;--one flesh and one spirit. + +Of course all this ought to be taught, and is taught to all respectably +educated young persons in more regular and didactic fashion. But to poor +little unschooled Paolina it was taught not less authoritatively by the +greatness and the purity of her own love. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A Change in the Situation + + +"Neither of us can any more doubt the love of the other, Ludovico mio!" +Paolina had said in reply, to his pleading, "but--" + +But what, tesoro mio? What 'but' can come between us, if there is no +such doubt to come between us?" urged Ludovico, gently drawing her +towards him by the hand he still held locked in his own. + +Again Paolina paused some minutes before replying, less apparently from +hesitation to speak what was in her mind, than because she was applying +her whole mind to the better understanding of her own meaning. + +"It is not, that I doubt whether you love me, Ludovico mio!" she said at +length, but still without turning towards him; "I know you love me truly +and well. But I sometimes think, that you do not love me in the same way +that I love you. I never knew before that there could be different ways +of loving. But now it seems to me,--and I have thought so much, oh, so +much of it,--that somehow you look less to the whole, of +everything,--how can I say what I mean?--less to all our lives, and all +our selves, in your love, than I do." + +"What can you mean, Paolina? A different way of loving! I know but of +one way!" said Ludovico with a somewhat banal flourish. + +"What would become of me, Ludovico mio," she said, now looking round +into his face, with a look in her deep true eyes, that made him feel for +the moment as though all the world were truly as nothing to him, in +comparison with her love;--"what would become of me, if you were to +cease to love me? I should wither away, and die. It is probably what +will happen to me!" + +"Paolina!" he exclaimed, in a voice of strong reproach. + +She put her hand upon his shoulder, as if to beg him to let her complete +what she wished to say, and continued,--"But what would happen to you, +if I were--it is impossible, but if I were--to cease to love you? would +not that show you, that there is a difference between ways of loving?" + +"No, cara mia, it would shew no such thing. Look now, Paolina! They tell +of lovers' perjuries. But I never said one word to you that I did not +believe to be true. Nor will I ever do so. Were you to be taken from me, +by your own heart, and your own act, or in any other way, I do not +believe that I should wither and die. But it does not follow, that I +should suffer less. I should live on, not because my love is weaker, but +because my body is stronger than yours. God grant that such a lot may +never befall me." + +"It never can befall you, amor mio! but, Ludovico, you could not only +live, but you could love--some other woman;" she uttered the words with +a little gulp of emotion, and continued: "Do you imagine, that if I +lived to a thousand years, I could ever love any other than you?" + +"What right have you to say, Paolina, that I should ever, or could ever +love another but you?" said Ludovico, indignantly. + +"Nay, Ludovico, must you not do so always? Are you not professing to do +so even now? Are you not promising your love to the Contessa Violante? +will she not have a better right to your love than I?" + +Ludovico started, and drawing himself a little back from Paolina, looked +at her with reproachful surprise. It was not that he was surprised at +learning that she was aware of his engagement to the Contessa. He had, +as has been said, concealed nothing from her in that respect. But he was +vexed, and surprised at the feeling she manifested on the subject. + +"You surprise me, Paolina!" he said. "Would it have been better if I had +concealed all this from you? Many men,--most men perhaps, in similar +circumstances would have done so. But I cannot treat you in that way. I +have been, and would always be open and sincere to you in all things. +You know all about this match. You know that it is a family arrangement +managed by my uncle. You know, that if I wished it ever so much, I can't +avoid it. You know, or ought to know, that it is not, and cannot be a +matter of affection in any way. You know that in the world such +marriages are arranged and are known and understood to be arranged, for +reasons, and on ground with which love has nothing to do. Does not all +Ravenna know, including the lady herself doubtless, that I am to marry +her because she is the great-niece of the Cardinal Legate? Can I be +expected to love her, because she is the Cardinal's niece? Surely, my +Paolina, you are not speaking or thinking of this matter, with your +usual good sense!" + +"I can't help it, Ludovico; I am, at all events speaking with my whole +heart!" she said in a tone of profound sadness. "If what you say is +true,--and do not imagine, dearest, that I have the smallest doubt that +all you say to me is entirely and perfectly true,--just think of the lot +of that povera Contessa Violante! Poverina! I dare say she,--think of +the wrong I should be doing her! Think how she would hate me!" She +shuddered as she spoke. "Nobody, I think, ever hated me yet," she +continued; "and it seems to me so horrible to be hated. And more +horrible still to know that I should be justly hated! And then, tesoro +mio!--Mio!--How could I ever say mio? Never, never, never, mio!" she +cried, bursting into passionate tears. "No, never mine! The very word +itself, which comes so naturally to my lips, tells me, like a knell in +my heart, that it can never be!" + +"But, Paolina, angiola mia," said Ludovico, who had heard her with a +look of consternation, "what has thus changed you? For it is a change. +You knew all these things before. What has occurred to put such notions +into your mind all of a sudden?" + +"Not all of a sudden, Ludovico! The blessed Virgin knows for how many +sad and solitary hours I have been thinking, and thinking, and thinking +of all this! She knows how many nights I have passed in tears to think +of it. What has put it into my head, you say? Ludovico, it is my love +for you that has put it into my head! It is my strong love that has +opened my eyes, and made me see that I cannot--cannot--I mean--that I +cannot share your love with another!" + +The words came forced from her with a great effort, and with a sob that +seemed as if it would choke her. + +"Oh my Paolina, what words are these?" said he, his own voice trembling +with trouble and emotion. + +"It is true, Ludovico! It is my true love that has opened my eyes. I +fear that I have done very wrong; and the blessed Saints know that I +shall have my punishment! I have done wrong in loving you, and letting +you love me! But I did not know it, I did not think, I did not see where +I was going! I ought to have known that love was not for a poor girl +like me! I ought to have known that evil and misery would come. But till +I loved you with my whole, whole heart, Ludovico; and till I found out +that I did, I did not know that--that it would be so,--that I should +feel as I feel now." + +Ludovico got up from his seat, and began walking up and down the floor +of the little room, sighing deeply, and passing his hand again and again +across his forehead. Presently he sat down again, bringing his chair so +as to front her fully as he sat. + +"Paolina," he said, looking sadly into her eyes with a deeper meaning in +his own than she had ever seen there; "your words have made me very, +very miserable! I never in all my life was so unhappy as I am now. You +must listen now, my Paolina, to what I am going to say; and you must +think well before you answer me. You see, dearest, that it is necessary +that we should quite understand this matter, and understand each other. +Many men, if they had been told what you have now told me, would begin +to reproach a girl with not loving them,--to say that it was clear she +did not care for them. I will not do so. I will not pretend to think +that you do not love me. I know that you do, as well as you know that I +love you with my whole heart. And with this knowledge in both our +hearts, think what is the meaning and the end of what you have been +saying. You know that this marriage is inevitable! And the consequence +of it is to be that we two are both to be broken-hearted,--to condemn +ourselves to pass loveless lives,--to give each other up,--see each +other no more,--make all the future a blank to both of us. Good God, +Paolina! You cannot mean that!" + +"When you have married, Ludovico mio,--when I have said those dear words +for the last, last time, you will have plenty of things to make you +forget your poor Paolina! And for me, I shall be heart-broken doing no +wrong to any other, instead of heart-broken and doing terrible wrong all +the time! And, dearest, it would be worse than heart-break. I could +not--it is stronger than I am! It seems like a new horrible thing shown +to me, which I never saw or thought of before! When it comes close to me +I shudder at the thought--." + +"At what thought, Paolina? At the thought of my being married to the +Contessa Violante?" asked Ludovico, looking steadfastly into her eyes. + +She bore his gaze without withdrawing her sad, still eyes for awhile, +thinking deeply before she answered. + +"No, Ludovico; not at the thought of your being married to the Contessa +Violante! That is a thought which may break my heart. But it does not +make me shudder, as that other thought does;--the thought of--of--- of +loving one, who--who--who owes his love to another; the thought of +taking by stealth whatever share of love may be given to me stolen from +the rightful owner. Never! never! never! Would you then be mine,--all +mine, for ever, and ever, and ever! Oh, my love, my love! If you don't +understand this, love has not opened your eyes as it has mine. Do you +think that I could endure the thought of being married to another man? +The bare notion is horror--horror--HORROR! Would I not rather die this +minute; ay, or die a thousand times!" + +Again Ludovico got up from his chair and paced the room, sometimes +stopping abruptly in apparently deep thought, and sometimes resuming his +walk with every appearance of despair in his face and gestures. It is +needless to say that Paolina had spoken the very inmost truth that was +in her heart in all its entirety; but she had also succeeded in making +him feel that it was so. + +There is often a feeling in a man's mind on such occasions--a feeling +too closely allied to selfishness--which leads him to be dissatisfied +with what seems to him the unwillingness of a woman to make sacrifices +to her love. And often a woman, knowing this, and calculating mostly +falsely, is urged to yield by a desire of proving that she does not +deserve such a suspicion. But Ludovico had no such thought in his mind. +He knew that Paolina had not only spoken truly, but had represented her +mind accurately. It was not that she "respected herself." The poor child +had never received any lessons which could teach her such respect. She +had been perfectly ready to accept the social position of Ludovico's +mistress, until the power of a great, true, and pure love had unsealed +the eyes of her understanding, of her imagination, and of her heart to +the nature--not of the social position of such a tie as that proposed to +her--but of the absolute imperious necessity of sharing such a love with +none. Putting all notion of principle, of duty, of the understood +expediency of conforming to laws divine, and human, out of the question, +such a love as Paolina felt demands this with a cogency of insistence +that cannot be set aside. And the man who hopes, or flatters himself, or +suffers himself to be persuaded that such a love has been given to him +upon any other terms, is--he may rely upon it with the certainty due to +an eternal law of nature--deceived. The quality of the love which may +have so been given to him is of a different kind. + +After awhile Ludovico came again and stopped directly in front of the +chair in which Paolina was sitting; but he remained standing, and +placing his two hands, one on either of her shoulders, and looking down +into her face with moist eyes, he said,--"My love, my true and best--my +only love! I cannot lose you, Paolina; I cannot give you up. +Truly--truly I had rather that any other thing--any other evil that +could happen, should happen to me. We are, and we must be, all in all to +each other, my Paolina, now and ever. There is no alternative +possibility to this. Love has opened my eyes, too, my darling angel! +Your love has opened my eyes; I will know no other love,--no other +woman--call none other wife but you! Paolina, you will be mine?--my all? +my only one?" + +"Ludovico!" she exclaimed, looking up at him with an ecstasy of joy, and +yet with a great terror upon her face; "but what will happen--what will +happen to you? What will be done to me?" + +"We must see, my heart's treasure! We must have patience; you must trust +to me. You do trust me, non e vero? I must put off this marriage; then +find means to break it. And, after all, what can my uncle do? I am +dependent on him while he lives; but I must succeed to all he has when +he dies. My promised wife! Are you mine--mine for ever? Will you now put +your dear little hand in mine, and promise me, and have faith in me, and +wait for me, and have patience till I can see my way, and love me all +the time, my own--my darling?" + +"I am your own, Ludovico;--yours, any way: to live for you, if such a +lot may be mine; to die still yours, if it may not! Wait! Patience! What +shall tire my patience? So I know that you are loving me--me only--all +the time, I shall ask nothing more! But, oh, I am so frightened! And +then I shall be a cause of such mischief and trouble to you. Would it +not have been better for you if you had never seen poor Paolina?" + +"No, no, no, no! It would have been a thousand million times worse for +me! Be of good heart, my treasure; nothing can hurt you. We must keep +our secret for a while; and nothing will hurt me, if we manage well. But +I must think; my mind is in a confusion;--a joyful confusion, dearest! +But I must think it all over. If you see me less often, be sure that it +is because I am planning for our happiness. And now, darling,--my own, +my own, now really and for ever, my own--one kiss to seal our contract! +You won't refuse me that. I take you thus in my arms, my Paolina; for +the first time as your promised husband. Good-night--good-night--my own! +I trust I may be able to think of what I am doing at the Palazzo +tonight. Good-night, my own!" + +And thus the Marchese Ludovico returned that evening to the Palazzo +Castelmare, about an hour after Signor Ercole Stadione had quitted it; +pledged to find some means of breaking off the match with the Contessa +Violante Marliani, to which all Ravenna was looking forward, and engaged +to be married to the little obscure Venetian orphan artist. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Uncle and Nephew + + +Ludovico di Castelmare did not see his uncle that evening. He returned +to the Palazzo, thoughtful enough, direct from the house in the Strada +di Santa Eufemia, and there learned that the Impresario had been with +the Marchese; that he had brought the good news of his success in having +engaged "La Lalli" to sing at Ravenna during the coming Carnival; and +that he, Ludovico, had been sent for by his uncle from the Circolo. What +for, the servant could not tell him. He could only say that the Marchese +had seemed much put out at the Signor Marchese Ludovico's absence, and +that he had shortly afterwards gone out to pass the remainder of the +evening at the palace of the Cardinal Legate. + +Ludovico was by no means so anxious to see his uncle as to wait to do so +till he should return at night. He betook himself to his own +quartierino, locked the door, and sat down to think. + +He had said no more than the truth to Paolina when he professed that he +had never spoken a word with the intention of deceiving her. Nor had he +been otherwise than entirely sincere in all that he had just been saying +to her. Nevertheless he felt, somewhat more strongly and clearly, +perhaps, than while he had been looking into Paolina's eyes, that he had +undertaken rather a tremendous task in declaring that he would break off +the projected marriage with the Lady Violante, the great-niece of the +Cardinal,--a match which both families considered to be definitively +arranged, and which was expected and looked forward to by all Ravenna, +and that for the purpose and with the view of making so terrible a +mesalliance as that he contemplated. The Marchese Ludovico felt all the +weight of the inheritance of a great name and a still greater social +position, which devolved upon him from his uncle. It was bad enough to +contemplate the effect which would be produced, as regarded himself, by +the step he contemplated. But it was perfectly terrible to think of the +effect it would produce on the Marchese Lamberto. Ludovico was proud, in +his more easy-going way, of the position he occupied as his uncle's +nephew in the society of the city; but it was not to him the breath of +his nostrils as it was to his uncle. + +He felt, as a weak man is apt to feel in similar positions of +difficulty, that the best and quickest, and, above all, the easiest, way +out of all embarrassment would be to run away from it--to quit Ravenna, +and give it up--it, and all its inhabitants for ever. He could do this. +He felt that Paolina would be worth such a sacrifice. But how to +accomplish such a step while his uncle lived? + +As it was all he could do was to procrastinate, he thought of the old +Italian proverb, "Gain time, and you will pull through," and he +determined to profit by the wisdom of it. Even procrastination would not +be without difficulty. But something might be done in that way,--some +time might be gained. And then there was always that never-failing +resource and consolation of those who, in the words of Horace, limit +their ambition to adapting themselves to circumstances instead of +adapting circumstances to them, something might turn up; though, for the +present, it was difficult to see what that something could possibly be, +unless it were the death of his uncle, a perfectly robust and healthy +man in the fiftieth year of his life. + +Might possibly the something take the shape of a change or mitigation of +Paolina's resolve? No sooner did the idea cross his mind than he felt +ashamed of it, and his heart smote him for having for a moment harboured +a thought that involved falseness to his promise to her. Nevertheless, +it was not the last time that the thought recurred. + +The next morning he met his uncle. + +"I had Stadione with me yesterday evening," said the Marchese, "and I +wanted to speak to you about something he said. I was sorry to be told +that you were not at the Circolo." + +"I was sorry that Beppo did not find me. What was it? Signor Ercole has +succeeded in his mission, I hear." + +"Yes; and it was on that matter I wanted to speak to you; but this +morning will do as well for that. It was not that that vexed me, +Ludovico. I won't ask you to tell me where you were, and I don't want to +play the inquisitor; but the fact is, I know very well without asking. +And, my dear nephew, I cannot but tell you that you are acting +unwisely,--imprudently even." + +"What have I done that is wrong, sir? Is it not fitting that I should +show some attention to people, who came here recommended to you, and +whom you yourself first commissioned me to assist?" said Ludovico. + +"What is the good of answering in that way, Ludovico. Just as if we both +did not know better than that, and know too what we both mean? Pay some +attention! Pshaw! Do you think that I am quite a fool? As if I did not +know what you go there for, and what you have been going there for these +eight months past, since first I was blockhead enough to throw that +pretty girl in your way. Now, figliuolo mio, it is my duty to tell you +that that sort of thing won't do--just at present. I don't want, as I +said, to play the inquisitor, nor do I wish to play the preacher. When +you are married you must guide your own conduct as you may think fit; +but now every consideration of propriety and prudence should teach you +that you must not continue to run after that young person in the sight +of all the town in the way you do. Here you are on the point of +contracting a marriage, which--" + +"On the point, uncle? We are surely a long way from that yet?" said +Ludovico. + +"A long way! I don't know what you mean by a long way; if we are not +further advanced, it is your own fault. We might bring the negotiation +to a conclusion at once. It might all be settled this Carnival. + +"This Carnival, uncle? Impossible! I must have a little time. There are +so many things to be thought of." + +"What is there to be thought of, that has not been thought of already? +They are in no hurry; they look upon the matter as arranged. But in +decency, we cannot show any backwardness; it does not look well. + +"Well, uncle: at all events, let this Carnival pass over. Let me have +this last Carnival; then Lent is of no use: after that we will see about +it." + +"Well, be it so. But, my dear boy, you know all the importance of this +marriage! You know how desirable it is in every point of view; family, +rank, station, influence, money,--though that happily we have no need to +seek; why, it was only last week,--this is a secret, and must go no +further, but I know I can trust to your discretion;--only last week, +that I got a letter from my old friend, Monsignore Paterini at Rome, in +which he speaks in almost open terms of the chance, and even +probability, that our Cardinal might--ahem!--find the next conclave a +particularly interesting one. You know how Paterini stands at Rome, and +that a hint from him is as good as a volume from another; and just think +of the possibilities that such a contingency might open before you! I +won't say any more; but do now during this Carnival, show yourself a +little more at the palace, and pay a little attention, and let the world +see that you occupy the place with regard to the Contessa Violante, that +you really do occupy. Basta!" + +"I will do the best I can, sir, to merit your approbation," said +Ludovico, feeling that he was expected to say something, and not well +knowing how to do it. + +"And now about the matter I wanted to speak of last night. La Lalli +comes to us, you see, for the Carnival: it is a great triumph for +Ravenna. She is certainly the first singer in Italy, since England with +its brute power of money, robbed us of poor Sparderini. But between you +and me, figliuolo mio, we should never have got her, if there had not +been certain difficulties--certain scandals,--che so io?--at Milan. All +that is no business of ours, you know, tutt' altro! But there has been +talk;--stories have got about!--mere calumny probably, as Signor Ercole +very justly remarked,--but it is very desirable that such things should +not be the talk of the town here. It is mauvais genre to chatter about +such matters. You can make it mauvais genre among the youngsters at +Ravenna, if you choose. Do so; you understand! That's all." + +"Perfectly, uncle! Lasci fare a me! I'll see to it; though I confess I +do not quite understand why we need trouble ourselves about any such +gossip," said Ludovico, delighted to be able to fall in with his uncle's +wishes in something. + +"Well, I should have thought that you might understand. In the first +place I don't want it to be said or imagined, either here or elsewhere, +that Ravenna has taken up with a singer, who could not get an engagement +elsewhere. Not that that is the case by any means. But don't you see, if +it is said that she was obliged to leave Milan, it puts us in the +position of a pis aller! And I don't like that. In the next place, I +don't want to have light talk about a person whom I have had so large a +share in bringing to the city. These are things you ought to learn to +think of, caro mio!" replied the Marchese, a little annoyed at having to +put his feelings on the subject into such plain words. + +"I'll take care that things shall be as you wish. When is she to +arrive?" asked Ludovico. + +"About the end of the year--in a month's time or thereabouts. Stadione +did not mention whether the day of her coming had been fixed. Her first +appearance will be on the night of the Beffana, the 6th of January." + +"Because they were talking at the Circolo of getting up some little +matter of welcome,--taking the horses from her carriage, and drawing her +in, or some thing of that kind, and a serenata of course. Leandro is +busy already with a poem for the occasion, you may swear!" + +"Bravo! bene! If only our good friend the Conte keeps his muse within +tolerable limits! It would not do to quite smother her in verse on her +first arrival; and, you know, our good Leandro has rather a special gift +that way. Well, get up any kind of dimostrasione you like for the +occasion,--it will all help to give eclat to our opening. You can +arrange all about the when, and the where, etc., with Stadione. We are +going to have a meeting of the Belle Arte Committee here this morning. +They'll be here directly!" said the Marchese Lamberto, pulling out his +watch. + +"One word more, uncle, before I'm off," said Ludovico. + +"What is it?--money, I suppose?" said the Marchese, again taking out his +watch. + +"No, sir; not money this time,--unless, indeed, you insist on it," said +the nephew, laughing. + +"Not at all, not at all! I won't press it on you by any means!" said the +uncle in a similar tone; "but what were you going to say?" + +"Why, with reference to what you were saying just now, about the +Signorina Foscarelli," replied Ludovico, in quite a different tone. "I +am always anxious to shape my conduct in accordance with your advice, +uncle. You see La Foscarelli has all but finished her work at St. +Vitale, you know: she is to do her copying in the Cardinal's Palace +next, for you have kindly arranged for her permission to do so. Now, she +can't very well go to the palace, for the first time, alone, you know! +If you had not expressed the opinions you have on the subject, I should +have gone with her, thinking no harm. But perhaps--to the palace, you +know;--it would be better, if you would not mind it, to accompany her, +for the first time, yourself." + +"Very right, very properly thought of, my dear boy! Yes; I can go with +her--or I can send Burini, which will come to the same thing." + +"No, uncle; not the same thing--to send a mere maestro di casa,--a +servant! It would not be nice for the poor girl; it would make all the +difference with the servants and people at the palace: if I avoid going +with her to please you, you will go with her yourself, won't you?" + +"Very well, very well; I'll go with her. If any man has more to do of +his own than all the rest of the city put together, there are sure to be +other folk's affairs thrust on him also; it has been sowith me all my +life. Well, I will find half an hour somehow." + +"Thanks, uncle! Good-by, I wish you well through your meeting." + +"We shall see each other at dinner?" + +"Yes. A rivederla!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Contessa Violante + + +The Contessa Violante Marliani lived, as has been said, with her +great-aunt, a sister of the Cardinal. They occupied a small house nearly +contiguous to the palace, which was almost more their home than their +own dwelling. The Marchesa Lanfredi, the Cardinal's sister, though a +great-aunt, was not yet sixty years old. She had been left a childless +widow, very scantily provided for, early in life, and had retired from +Bologna, her husband's native place, to live first at Foligno, of which +city her brother had been bishop, and afterwards at Ravenna, to which he +had been subsequently promoted. The Cardinal was six or seven years her +senior. His elder brother, the grandfather of the Lady Violante, had +inherited the family estates in the neighbourhood of Pesaro, and had +died, leaving them to his only son, Violante's father, when the latter +was a very young man. + +This Conte Alberto Marliani had married for love, as it is called. That +is to say, that he had not married for any of the reasons for which +marriages among people of his rank and his country are usually made; but +had been attracted by a pretty gentle face seen in a Roman ball-room. +The pretty gentle face had remained always gentle; but had soon ceased +to be pretty. + +The Contessa Marliani was inclined to devotion. The Conte was very much +disinclined to anything of the sort. He soon got tired of his wife, +repented of his marriage, and commenced an active system of breaking her +heart. It was not a very difficult task, for she was as gentle in spirit +as in face. He completed it when his only child Violante was about nine +years old. But he had also completed, much about the same time, the +entire dissipation of the never very large Marliani property. And it so +happened that, very shortly afterwards, his own career was brought to a +conclusion, which his relatives felt to have overtaken him a few years +too late! He was travelling from Rome down to Pesaro to complete the +sale of the last portion of the estates, the proceeds of which had been +anticipated, when he was very opportunely drowned in attempting to cross +the Tiber swollen by flood. + +The little Violante, thus left an almost destitute orphan, was +nevertheless a personage of some importance. She was the only remaining +scion of the family; and the position of her great-uncle seemed to +promise a renewed period of prosperity and fortune to the old name. +Violante was the Cardinal Legate's natural and sole heir. The Cardinal +was a very rich man; and in amassing wealth and attaining honours, he +had, like a true Italian, never thought the less of the additions to, +and provisions for, the fortunes and splendour of the family name, which +he was winning, because he was himself a priest, and would leave no +heirs of his name. The peculiarities in the position of a sacerdotal +aristocracy have engrafted the passion of nepotism in the hearts, as +well as the practice of it in the manners, of the members of Rome's +hierarchy. + +Generally the family tie is a stronger one among the Italians than among +ourselves. In the upper classes, it is certainly so; and, probably, +among all classes. It may be thought strange, perhaps, that this should +be the case with a people whose lives are supposed to be less pervaded +by the sentiment of domesticity than our own. The explanation may, +however, perhaps be found in the greater and more frequent disruption of +family ties, which is caused by that more active social movement, which +pushes our younger sons away from the parental stock in search of the +means of founding families of their own. + +And one of the results of the Italian mode of living and feeling is seen +in the very common family ambition of Churchmen. + +The little Violante then, as has been said, was a personage of some +importance, at least in the eyes of the Cardinal and his sister; and +when she was left an orphan, was at once taken to live with her +great-aunt, under the auspices of her Cardinal great-uncle. Both of +those remaining members of the family would have preferred that the one +remaining scion of the race should have been a boy; but--when the young +Contessa should be married, of course her name should be thenceforward +borne as part of that of the family; into which she should marry,--as is +so commonly the case in Italy, (many of the oldest and most illustrious +names in the peninsula having survived to the present day solely by +virtue of such arrangements); and the Marliani be thus saved from +extinction. + +The young Contessa Violante, when she reached the age of young-ladyhood, +had not the "fatal gift of beauty." Some people think that such a +deprivation is the most unfortunate from which a woman can suffer. +Others maintain that the absence of beauty is, upon the whole, no real +misfortune. But however philosophers may settle this question, it can +hardly be doubted that no young girl devoid of beauty, was ever yet +persuaded that to be unattractive in appearance, was otherwise than a +very, very sore affliction and misfortune. Nature often kindly mitigates +the blow by making the unlovely girl unconscious of her want of beauty. +But this was not the case with the young Contessa Violante Marliani. + +Violante knew that she was not beautiful, or even pretty. Probably in +her own estimate of herself she exaggerated her plainness. She was one +of those persons who have not the gift of self-deception. Neither was +she elegant in person. And yet there was something about her bearing, +which would have prevented any one from imagining that she was other +than a high-born lady. There was strong evidence of intellect in her +face; and it was doubtless from within that came that quiet dignity of +bearing that marked her. + +And it was a dignity compatible and combined with the most perfect +gentleness and almost humility of manner;--a dignity arising not from +the consciousness of any high position or high qualities, but from the +consciousness of that sort of gentle passive strength, which knows that +no external circumstance, or difficulty, or pressure will avail to make +its owner step but a hair's breadth aside from the path which conscience +has marked as that of right and duty. + +Violante was tall and slender, but her figure was not graceful. People +did not say of her that she was slender; they said she was thin. And +that was incontestably true. She was very thin. But her shoulders were +high and square, and there was a sort of angularity and harshness about +all the lines of her person. Her head seemed somewhat too large for her +body; and the upper part of it seemed too large for the lower portion. +She had a large, square forehead, white enough, but strongly marked with +inequalities of surface, which, however much they might have delighted a +phrenologist, were not conducive to girlish comeliness. Her hair was of +the very light reddish quality, which has not a single touch in it of +that rich sunny auburn, which makes so many heads charming, red though +they be. Her face was perfectly white, yet not clear of complexion. And +the pale grey eyes beneath their all but colourless brows completed the +impression of a general want of vigour and vitality. + +A little before the end of that year in which the Ravenna impresario +performed his memorable journey to Milan with the results that have been +recorded, Violante di Marliani reached her twenty-third birthday; a few +months before that day the Marchese Ludovico had reached his +twenty-second. It was a difference on the wrong side, but not so great +as to form any serious objection to the proposed match. But twenty-three +is a rather mature age for an Italian noble lady to reach unmarried. +That such should have been the case with the Signora Violante was by no +means because no suitor for her hand had ever presented himself. Several +such aspirants had entered the lists. For the Contessa Violante was the +great-niece of her great uncle. But some of these had appeared +objectionable to the Cardinal and his sister;--who also were not at all +likely to forget all that was due to the prospects arising from such a +relationship, and all that it implied; and all of them had been +objectionable to the young Contessa herself. + +Violante's expectations, indeed, in that line, or in any other of all +the different ways in which happiness may come to mortals in this world, +was very small. For the first nine years of her life she had lived the +only companion of a very miserable mother. And all that mother's misery +had apparently come from the fact of her having a husband. Those first +years of the child's life had been very sad; very monotonous, very +depressing. Perhaps the effect of them did but confirm the speciality of +an idiosyncrasy, which would have been much the same without them. But, +at all events, when the child was brought to the house of her +great-aunt, it seemed as if her mind and character had been too long and +too uniformly toned to accord with sadness, for happiness to have any +power of taking hold of her. + +The old Marchesa Lanfredi, who took the young Contessa under her roof, +and under her care, was not a bad sort of woman in the main; but she was +thoroughly and consistently worldly, and judged everything from a +worldly point of view. The Contessa Marliani was an important little +lady in her eyes; and was treated, by her with an indulgence and +consideration which she would have considered out of place in the case +of a child not born to such expectations and such a destiny. She was not +contented with her young relative; but was more perplexed and puzzled by +her than angered. And as Violante grew towards womanhood, her great-aunt +understood her less and less. + +In the first place, she had a much stronger tendency towards devotion +than the Marchese Lanfredi thought either natural or becoming in a young +woman. Of course it was right and proper to pay due attention to one's +religious duties; there was no necessity to tell her, a Cardinal +Archbishop's sister, that, it was to be supposed. But she had a strong +objection to excess in such matters. And to her mind Violante carried +her devotional practices, and yet more her devotional ideas, to excess. +Of the latter, indeed, the old Marchesa Lanfredi disapproved altogether. +Young people had no ideas upon the subject in her time;--and the world +was certainly a better world then than it had been since. + +And then, worst of all, it gradually became evident to the Marchesa's +mind that there was a more or less direct connection in the way of cause +and effect between her niece's religious notions and feelings and the +strange readiness she had shown to find objections to both of the two +persons who had been judged by her family to be admissible suitors for +her hand. The Marchesa began to entertain a strong apprehension that her +niece had conceived the idea of "entering into religion;" i.e. of +becoming a nun. + +It had been necessary at the time of Violante's first coming to live +with her aunt, to select a governess for her; and a lady had been found +fitted to teach her all that it was proper for a noble young Italian +lady to know. But when she became seventeen it was judged expedient to +change this lady for another. A different sort of person was required. +Custom and the habits of life and convenience of the Marchesa made it +expedient that a duenna should be provided to attend on the young +Contessa; but she was supposed no longer to need an instructress. + +The person selected for this trust was not perhaps altogether such as +might have been desired. By some fatality, arising probably from some +latent incompatibility between the institution itself and the eternal +order of things, it would seem as if the persons entrusted with that +responsible situation rarely did turn out to be exactly the right people +in the right place. Perhaps in the case of the young Contessa Violante +her great-aunt had sought to find some attendant and companion for her +who should have a tendency to correct that too great proclivity to +retirement from the world--to a life in which religion was the chief +interest and occupation, and to a sad and unhopeful view of the world +around and before her--which she lamented in her niece. If so, the +choice she made was not followed by the results she hoped from it; and +was attended by other inconveniences. + +The Signora Assunta Fagiani, the widow of a distinguished Bolognese +professor of jurisprudence, was certainly quite free from all those +dispositions which the Marchesa regretted in her niece. But she was not +altogether discreet or judicious in the method she adopted for +reconciling the young girl to the world, and to worldly views and hopes +and objects. + +She very soon perceived that to Violante the consciousness of her own +want of personal attractions was, despite her yearning for a life to be +filled with thoughts and objects to which beauty could contribute +nothing, a source of bitter and ever-present mortification. There was +inconsistency, doubtless, in regret for the deficiency of personal +attraction in persons who, with perfect sincerity, declared to +themselves that to enter a convent was their greatest object in life. +But Violante was not aware that if the beauty had been there the +devotional aspirations would not have been there! That, which causes +more deeply implanted in her nature than she knew of were impelling her +to desire and to yearn for, the imperfect teaching of the world around +her had led her to imagine to be unattainable save by the gifts of +personal beauty. And, knowing that if that were so there was no hope for +her, her bruised heart had sought the only refuge which seemed to be +open to such misfortune. + +The Signora Fagiani's first attempt at finding a remedy for this state +of things consisted of a vigorous endeavour to persuade her pupil that +her own estimate of her personal appearance was altogether a mistaken +one. All the former experience of the old lady led her to consider this +an easy task. And she was much surprised to find that her insinuations, +assertions, and persuasions on this subject were totally thrown away on +her pupil. The precious gift of personal vanity had been denied to poor +Violante; and she saw herself somewhat more unfavourably than others saw +her. + +Then the duenna changed her tactics; and strove to point out how very +little a pretty face signified to any girl in the position of the +Contessa di Marliani. To a poor girl, indeed, whose face was her +fortune, it was another matter. But the niece of the Cardinal Legate! +Bah! Did she imagine that she would lack suitors? She had nothing to do +but to make the most of the advantages in her hand, and she would see +herself surrounded by all the beaux, while the prettiest girls in the +room might go whistle for the smallest scrap of attention, And then, +when married, with rank, station, wealth at her command, what would it +signify? + +And in urging all these considerations, the Signora Assunta Fagiani +spoke at least sincerely, and expended for the benefit of her pupil the +best wisdom that was in her. + +Partly, however, she was working for her own purposes, as well as for +the advantage, as she understood it, of her charge. Of course, as she +judiciously considered, her position gave her, in a great degree, the +valuable patronage of the disposal of the Lady Violante's hand in +marriage. And, of course, this advantage of her position was equally +well understood by others; and among these by a certain Duca di San +Sisto, a Bolognese noble, whose sadly-dilapidated fortunes much needed +the aid that might be derived from the coffers of the wealthy Cardinal +Legate. The Duca di San Sisto had interests at Rome also, which might be +most importantly served by the influence of the Cardinal Marliani. So +that a marriage with the Lady Violante seemed to be exactly the very +thing for him. But the cautious, and carefully-masked inquiries which +the Duke had set on foot, after the fashion in which such things are +done in Italy, had brought him the information that a marriage was +almost as good as arranged between the lady in question and the Marchese +Ludovico di Castelmare, an old acquaintance of the family. Were it not +for that impediment, the Duke thought that he might have good reason to +hope that his plan might succeed. + +Now it so happened that the Signora Assunta Fagiani was an old friend of +the Duca di San Sisto; and when the widow of the professor of +jurisprudence was promoted to the important post she held in the +household of the Marchesa Lanfredi, that nobleman did not fail to find +means for securing the continuance of her friendship. It was the object +and purpose, therefore, of Signora Assunta Fagiani that the Lady +Violante should become in due time Duchessa di San Sisto, and not +Marchesa di Castelmare. But she understood her position quite well +enough to be aware that the end she had in view must be approached +cautiously and patiently. + +Violante had, of course, been informed at the proper time that her +family destined her to become the wife of the young Marchese Ludovico di +Castelmare. Now, if Violante's temper and disposition had been other +than it was; had she been able to think of herself differently from what +she did; had it been possible for her, in a word, to have supposed that +the Marchese Ludovico loved her, he was the man whom she could most +readily have taught herself to love. They had been, to a certain degree, +acquaintances from an early period of their childhood. He was the only +young man she had ever known with anything like the same degree of +intimacy; and Ludovico, as we know, was not devoid of qualities +calculated to win a lady's love. + +But Violante knew right well that Ludovico did not love her, and that +there had never been any probability that he should do so; and, had she +any lingering doubt on the subject, the good Assunta took very good care +to dispel it. And there was a bitterness in this knowledge which did +much towards producing in Violante the state of mind that has been +described. She was not in love with Ludovico, but she had liked him--he +was the only man she had ever liked at all. She knew that she was to be +married to him if he could be persuaded to marry her, and if she were +sufficiently obedient to marry him. She thought that no man could ever +love her, and she knew very certainly that this man did not. Her own +hope and firmest purpose, therefore, was, if such resistance to the +higher authorities might in any way be possible to her, to avoid a +marriage with Ludovico di Castelmare: if possible to her, she would fain +escape from any marriage at all. If this should be altogether +impossible, then the Duca di San Sisto, as well as anybody else. It was +not that she had any hope that the Duca di San Sisto would love her: +but, at least, it had not been proposed to him to love her, and found +impossible by him to do so. At least the unloving husband would not be +the one man whom she felt she might have loved had he deemed it worth +his while to ask her love. + +Yet, with all this, Violante had not learned, as perhaps most women in +her place would have done, to hate Ludovico for having found it +impossible to love her,--for having condemned her to feel the spreta +injuria forma, which so few of the sex can ever forgive. Had she ever +reached the point of loving him it might, perhaps, have been otherwise. +As it was, she was too gentle, too humble, in her estimate of her own +worth and power of attraction to be angry with him: and yet she was +sufficiently interested in the matter to listen not unwillingly to all +the gossip that the Signora Assunta poured into her ear about Ludovico, +tending to show that he was unworthy of pretending to her hand. + +Assunta's object, of course, was to break the match with the Marchese di +Castelmare for the sake of bringing on one with the Duca di San Sisto. + +Violante's object, it has been said, was to avoid any marriage at +all--specially that immediately proposed to her; and the stories, which +from time to time Assunta brought her of the goings on of Ludovico, had +a double interest for Violante. In some sort, all such intelligence was +acceptable to her, as tending to make it unlikely that her only escape +from a loveless marriage with him would be by her own resistance to the +wishes of her family. Yet, at the same time, it was bitter to her, and +ministered an unwholesome aliment to her morbid self-depreciation. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Cardinal's Reception, and the Marchese's Ball + + +On the first day of the New Year, according to long-established custom, +there was a grand reception in the evening at the palace of the Cardinal +Legate. It was to be, as always on that occasion, a very grand affair. +All the diamonds, and all the old state carriages, and all the liveries +in Ravenna were put in requisition. Old coats, gorgeously bedizened with +broad worsted lace of brilliant colours, and preserved for many a year +carefully, but not wholly successfully, against time and moth, were +taken by fours and fives from the cypress-wood chests in old family +mansions, where they lay in peace from year's end to year's end if no +marriage or other great family solemnity intervened to give them an +extra turn of service, and were used to turn dependants of all sorts +into liveried servants for the nonce; and nobody imagined or hoped that +anybody else would look upon this display as anything else than absolute +and frank ostentation. Nobody supposed that any human being would be led +into believing that this state indicated the ordinary mode of life of +the persons who exhibited it. Everybody in Italy has been for so many +generations so very much poorer than his forefathers were, that such a +state of things has long since been accepted by universal consent as a +normal one; and it is understood on all hands that these fitful displays +of the remnants of former grandeur, this vain revisiting of the glimpses +of the moon by the ghosts of long-departed glories, shall be taken and +allowed as protests on behalf of the bearers of old noble names to the +effect that their ancestors did really once live in a style conformable +to their ideas--that they perfectly know how these things should be +done, and would be found quite prepared to resume their proper state, if +only the good old days of prosperity should come again. + +And there is the good as well as the seamy side (not, alas, to the old +liveries! for they had been mostly turned and turned again too often); +but to the feelings and social manners which prompted such a +manifestation of them. At least, in such a condition of social manners +and feelings mere wealth was not installed on the throne of Mammon in +the eyes of all men. If one of the old coaches was more pitiably rickety +than the rest; if the ancient-fashioned coat of some long-descended +marchese was itself as threadbare as the old family liveries; if some +widowed contessa had crept out from the last habitable corner of her +dilapidated palazzo, where she was known to live on a modicum of +chicory-water, brought in a tumbler from the nearest cafe, and a crust; +not on any such account was there the smallest tendency towards a +derisive smile on the lip, or in the mind of any man, at these pitiable +attempts to keep up appearances, which everybody considered it right to +keep up. Not on any such account was the stately courtesy of the +Legate's reception in the smallest degree modified. It was subject, +indeed, to many modifications; but these were wholly irrespective of any +such circumstances. + +There is a peculiar sort of naivete about Italian ostentation, which +robs it of all its offensiveness. Nobody exhibits their finery or +grandeur for the sake of crushing another; nobody feels themselves +crushed by the exhibition of it. The old noble who turns out his gala +liveries and other bedizenments on a festal day, does it to make up his +part of the general show, which is for the gratification of all classes, +and is a gratification to them. But it is a curious commentary of the +past history of Italy that, as between city and city, there is the +feeling, the wish, and the ambition, to crush and humble a rival +community by superior magnificence. + +Nobody expected much immediate gratification from attending the +Cardinal's reception. There was little to be done save to bow to the +host and to each other. Ices were handed round--none the less because it +was bitterly cold--and cakes and comfits. Old Contessa Carini, who had a +grandchild at home, and no money to buy bonbons with, emptied half a +plateful of them into her handkerchief, the old servant who handed them +helping her; and the Cardinal, who happened to be standing by, smilingly +telling her to give the little one his benediction with them. The brave +old Contessa still kept her carriage, as it became a Carini to do; +though she starved her poor old shrivelled body to enable her to keep +her half-starved horses. And "society" gave her its applause for +struggling so hard to do that which it became her to do in the state of +life to which it had pleased God to call her; and no soul in the room +dreamed of thinking the less of her because of the sharp poverty that +confessed itself in her eagerness to make the most of the opportunity of +the Legate's hospitality. + +The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had a bilious headache the following +morning in consequence of overcramming himself with cakes and +sweetmeats. One active-minded old gentleman originated the remark that +the cold was greater than had been known in Ravenna for the last seven +years; and this fact, repeated again and again by most of the company to +each other, supplied the material of conversation for the first +half-hour. Then somebody, alluded to the circumstance that, whereas it +had been said that La Lalli was to have arrived before the end of the +year, the fact was, that she had not yet come: and thereupon the +Marchese Lamberto had authoritatively declared that the lady had been +detained by an unforeseen circumstance of no importance, and would +infallibly reach Ravenna on the evening of the 3rd. + +And thenceforward this interesting news formed the sole topic of +conversation till the carriages were ordered; and all the finery was +taken home again to be laid up in lavender till that day twelvemonth. + +There was to be, also according to annual custom, the first ball of the +Carnival at the Palazzo Castelmare on the following evening; but for +this the state trappings reserved for the Legate's reception on the Capo +d'Anno, were not required. + +The balls given by the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare every Carnival +were the grand and principal gaieties of Ravenna. The whole of the +"society" were invited, and to be prevented from going by illness or any +other contretemps was a misfortune to be lamented during all the rest of +the year. At the Palazzo Castelmare people really did expect to enjoy +themselves. There was dancing for the young, cards for the old, and +eating and drinking for all. For the Palazzo Castelmare was the only +house in Ravenna at which suppers were ever given. There three balls and +three handsome suppers were provided for all the society of Ravenna +every year! And the first of these always took place on the 2nd of +January; the Capo d'Anno being left for the state reception at the +Legate's palace. + +Well might little Signor Ercole Stadione say, what would become of +Ravenna if anything were to happen to the Marchese Lamberto! + +All the people came much about the same time; and there was then half an +hour or so, before the dancing commenced, during which the main object +and amusement of the assemblage was to escape from misfortune, which it +was well known the Conte Leandro meditated inflicting on the society. He +was known to have written a poem for the opening of the new year, which +was then in his pocket, and which he purposed reading aloud to the +company, if he only could get a chance! He was looking very pale, and +more sodden and pasty about the face than usual, from the effects of his +excesses at the Legate's the night before. But his friends had no hope +that this would save them from the poem, if he could in anywise obtain a +hearing. + +"Take care, he is putting his hand in his coat-pocket! That's where it +is, you know; he'll have it out in half an instant, if we stop talking! +Oh, Contessina, you are always so ready! Do invent something to stop +him, for the love of heaven!" said a young man to a bright-looking girl +next him. + +"Oh, Signor Leandro, since you are riconciliato con bel sesso," said the +Contessina, alluding to words which, to the great amusement of all +Ravenna, Leandro had written in the album of a lady who asked the poet +for his autograph,--"since you are reconciled to the fair sex, will you +be very kind and see if I have left my fan where I put off my shawl in +the ante-room?" + +"Bravo, Contessina; now let us get to another part of the room, before +he gets back. Oh, Ludovico," he continued, addressing the young Marchese +Castelmare, whom they encountered as they were crossing the room, "for +the love of heaven, let us begin! Make the musicians strike up, or we +shall have Leandro in full swing in another minute!" + +"I assure you, Signor Ludovico, the danger is imminent!" said the +Contessina. + +"When I saw him at work last night at the Cardinal's pastry, I thought +he must have made himself too ill to come here to-night," said the +former speaker; "but I suppose poets can digest what would kill you or +me!" + +"If Leandro begins to read, I vote we all are seized with an invincible +fit of sneezing," said another of the grown-up children. + +"Well, we may as well begin at once; I will go and tell the Contessa +Violante that we are ready," said Ludovico, moving off. + +It was a matter of course, that he should open the ball with the +Contessa Violante,--not only by reason of her social standing in the +city, but because of the position in which he was understood to stand +towards her. + +Violante was sitting at the upper end of the room between her great-aunt +and the sister of the Marchese Lamberto, Ludovico's mother. She was very +handsomely dressed in plain white silk, but was looking pale and +dispirited. When Ludovico came up and offered his arm, bowing low as he +did so, she rose and accepted it without speaking. + +"I had almost made up my mind," she said as soon as they had moved a +pace or two towards the middle of the large ball-room, "not to dance at +all to-night: I am not well." + +"Oh, Signorina, how unfortunate! What a disappointment! But it would be +cruel to force you to dance, when it is against your inclination," said +Ludovico, with a very unsuccessful attempt to put a tone of tenderness +into his voice. + +"I will not do so, after this dance," said Violante; "but I suppose we +must dance the first dance together!" + +"I am sorry it should be a matter of such disagreeable duty to you, +Signora Violante," said Ludovico in a tone of pretended pique. + +"It is equally disagreeable to me to dance with any other partner; I am +not well, as I have told you, Signor Ludovico; I have no business to be +here; I think my health becomes weaker from day to day. And the blessed +Saints only know when it may be possible to think of carrying into +effect the arrangements desired by our parents!" + +"I am sure that mine would not wish to urge you on the subject to--to +decide more quickly than you would wish to. I can assure you, Signora, +nothing would be more contrary to my own feelings than to do any such +violence to yours. Indeed I may say--" + +"Yes, yes! I think I understand all about it, Signor Ludovico. Might it +not be possible to find means of pleasing all parties in this matter, if +only all parties understood each other, Signor Ludovico?" + +She dropped her voice almost to a whisper as she said these last words, +with a rapid furtive glance at his face. + +"And now," she added, speaking in a louder tone, "we had better give our +minds to the present scene of the farce, and perform the opening +quadrille, as is expected of us!" + +"I am truly sorry, Signora, that you should be called upon to do this +sort of thing, when you are so unwell, as to make it even more +disagreeable than it might be to you otherwise. But believe me," +continued he, speaking in a low voice, and with an emphasis that +indicated that his words had reference rather to what she had spoken to +him in a similar tone than to the words of his own which had immediately +preceded them,--"believe me that it is my wish to meet your wishes in +all respects." + +There was a jesuitism in this speech, which did not recommend it or its +speaker to the Contessa Violante. She would have been far better pleased +by a more open reply to the confidence which she had half offered. She +only said in reply: + +"I am disposed to think, that such is the case in the matter which more +nearly concerns us both, Signor Ludovico, than anything else. +But--although we knew just now that we had to dance together, it was you +who had to ask me, you know, and not I you. Very little active power of +influencing her own destiny is allowed to a girl; come, we had better +attend now to the business in hand!" + +There was nothing more, except such ordinary words between each other or +the others dancing in the same set, as the dance itself led to, spoken +by the Contessa and Ludovico. The former declined all other invitations +to dance, and went home at the earliest moment she could induce her aunt +to do so. + +There was much talk going on in all parts of the room as to the +announced coming of the great singer on the morrow. The young men +settled together the last details of their plans for the triumphal entry +of the "Diva;" and the ladies were by no means uninterested in hearing +all that their cavaliers had to tell them on this subject. Much was +said, too, about the qualities of La Lalli both as a singer and as a +woman. Everybody agreed that she was admirable in the first respect; and +there was not a man there, who had not some anecdote to tell, which he +had heard from the very best authority, tending to set forth the rare +perfection of her beauty, and the wonderful power of fascination she +exercised on all who came near her. + +She was to arrive quite early on the morrow. It was understood that she +purposed passing the previous night,--that night in short, which those +who were discussing her were spending at the Castelmare ball, at the +little town of Bagnacavallo, a few miles only from Ravenna. Such a +scheme looked,--or would have looked in the eyes of any other people +than Italians,--rather ridiculously like the ways and fashions of royal +progresses, and state entries into cities. But the Ravenna admirers of +the coming "Diva" neither saw nor suspected the slightest absurdity; and +it is to be supposed that La Lalli knew all the importance of first +impressions, and that she did not choose to show herself to her new +worshippers for the first time under all the disadvantages of arriving +tired and dusty from a long journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Arrival of the "Diva" + + +On the morrow of the Marchese's ball was the great day of the arrival of +the divine songstress. And it was as lovely a day for the gala doings, +which had been arranged in honour of the occasion, as could be desired. +A brilliant sun in a cloudless sky made the afternoon quite warm and +genial, despite the general cold. An Italian sun can do this. Where he +shines not it may be freezing. As soon as he has made his somewhat +precipitous exit from the hard blue sky, the temperature will suddenly +fall some ten degrees or more. But as long as he is in glory overhead, +it is summer in the midst of winter. + +Three o'clock had been named as the hour at which the coming "Diva" +would reach the city gates. But the plans which the young habitues of +the Circolo had arranged for receiving her, had been in some degree +modified. The scheme of harnessing their noble selves to her +chariot-wheels had been abandoned; and instead of that it had been +understood that the Marchese Lamberto would himself go in his carriage +to meet her a few miles out of the city and bring her in. The Marchese +Ludovico and the young Barone Manutoli were to accompany the Marchese +Lamberto, and to assist in receiving the lady; but were to return to the +city in the carriage which she would leave, on getting into that of the +Marchese, or in any other way that might seem good to them. The Marchese +Lamberto and the lady alone were to occupy his handsome family equipage. +There was to be a band of music in attendance, which would precede the +carriage as it entered the city; and some half-dozen young officers of a +regiment of Papal cavalry, which chanced to be then stationed at +Ravenna, intended to ride at each door of the carriage as it returned to +the city. Altogether it was to be a very brilliant affair. And all the +gay world of Ravenna was on the tiptoe of expectation and delight. + +The Marchese Lamberto, indeed, looked upon his share in the pageant as a +great bore. He had had put off one or two more congenial occupations for +the purpose of doing on the occasion his part of that which he deemed +his duty to the city. Professor Tomosarchi the great anatomist, who was +at the head of the hospital, and curator of the museum, was to have come +to the Palazzo Castelmare that morning to show the Marchese an +interesting experiment connected with the action of a new anodyne; and +Signor Folchi, the pianist, was to have been with him at one, to try +over a little piece of the Marchese's own composition. And both these +appointments, either of which was far more interesting to the Marchese +Lamberto than driving out in the cold to meet the stage goddess, had to +be set aside. + +Nevertheless, he had deemed it due to his own position, and to the +occasion, to grace this little triumphal entry with his presence. If he +had left it wholly in the hands of his nephew, and the other young men, +it might have been the means of starting the Signora Lalli amiss on her +Ravenna career in a manner he particularly wished to avoid. After that +little hint on the subject, which the impresario had given him, he was +specially desirous that anything like an occasion for scandal should be +avoided in all that concerned the sojourn of the Signora Lalli in +Ravenna. He, the Marchese Lamberto, the intimate friend of the Cardinal, +and the most pre-eminently respectable man in Ravenna, had had a very +large--certainly the largest--share in bringing this woman to the city; +and he was anxious that the engagement should lead to no unpleasant +results of any kind. + +It might be very possibly that the little matters at which the +impresario had hinted, were not altogether calumnious;--that the lady +might be one of those members of her profession who seek other triumphs +besides those of her own scenic kingdom, and the story of whose lives in +the different cities they visit is not confined to the walls and to the +records of the theatre. It might very well be that a little caution and +looking after was needed in the matter, It would be as well, therefore, +to take the thing in hand at once in a manner that should put the lady +on a right course from the beginning;--all which could be excellently +well accomplished by at once taking her, as it were, into his own hands; +and would, on the other hand, be endangered by throwing her from the +first into those of the youngsters who purposed going out to meet her. + +So the Marchese sacrificed himself; put off the anatomist and the +musician; spent the morning in arranging all the details of the proposed +cavalcade with the young men who were to compose it; and at two o'clock +got into his open carriage to drive out towards Bagnacavallo. The young +Barone Manutoli and Ludovico were in the carriage with him. But it was +understood, as has been said, that they were to leave it when they met +the heroine of the day, who was to enter Ravenna with the perfectly safe +and unattackable Marchese alone in the carriage with her. + +"I wonder whether she is as lovely as she is said to be?" said Manutoli, +as they drove out beyond the crumbling and ivy-grown brick wall, which +had helped to repel the attack of Odoacer the Goth; but which had, some +thirteen hundred years ago, failed to keep out the mischief brought into +the city by the comedian Empress Theodora, whose beauty had promoted her +from the stage to the throne. + +Absit omen! And what, indeed, can there be common between Goths and +Greeks of the Lower Empire, who lived thirteen hundred years ago, with +the good Catholic subjects, and the quiet Catholic city of our Holy +Father the Pope, in the nineteenth century! + +At all events, it may be taken as very certain that no omen of the sort +and no such thoughts were present to the minds or fancies of any of +those who were about to form the escort of the modern actress. + +"All who have ever seen her, speak in the most rapturous terms of her +great beauty," said Ludovico, in reply to his friend's remark. + +"Don't be too sure about it, figliuoli mio, or it is likely enough you +may be disappointed," said the Marchese Lamberto. "People repeat such +things one after the other; there is a fashion in it. I have always +found that your stage beauty is as often as not no beauty, at all off +it; and then you know stage work and the foot-lights are terribly quick +users-up of beauty. And La Lalli is not at the beginning of her career. +But what have we to do with all that! che diavolo! She is a great +singer; she comes here to delight our ears, not our eyes!" + +"But time and work make havoc with the voice as well as with the face +and figure, Signor Marchese!" said Manutoli. + +"Not to the same degree, Signor Barone, and not quite so rapidly," +replied the Marchese, with the manner of one laying down the law on a +subject of which he is an acknowledged master. "Of course a voice which +has done much work, is not the same thing as a perfectly fresh one? A +chi lo dite? though, observe, you very often gain more in knowledge, and +in perfection of art, than you lose in freshness of organ. But with +proper care, voice, though a perishable thing, is not so rapidly and +fatally so, as mere beauty of face; that is sure to go very soon. I have +not troubled myself to inquire, as you may imagine, much about the state +of La Lalli's good looks. But I have informed myself of the condition of +her voice, as it was my duty to do. And I think that in that respect, +which is the only one we need care about, the city will find that we +have not done badly." + +"For my part, I confess a romanzo comes very specially recommended to my +ears from a lovely mouth!" said Ludovico; "and I fully expect to find La +Lalli quite up to the mark in this respect. I shall be disappointed if +she is not." + +"From all I have heard, we shall none of us be disappointed!" said +Manutoli. + +"We shall see in a few minutes!" returned Ludovico, looking at his +watch. + +"There's something in the road now, I think, as far as I can see!" said +Manutoli, who had stood up in the carriage, holding the rail of the +driver's seat with one hand. The road stretched long and flat, in a +perfectly straight line before them for a great distance. "Yes," +continued he, "there is certainly something coming along the road;--a +carriage by the quickness with which it nears us: now for it!" + +"Tell him to draw up, Ludovico; and he might as well turn round so as to +be ready to drive back. We will wait here till she comes; and our +friends on horseback may as well remain here too," said the Marchese. + +So the little party drew up, and all eyes were turned to the small cloud +of dust rapidly approaching them. + +"Yes: it is a carriage, and no mistake; and coming along at a good pace +too!" said Manutoli. + +"It is she, no doubt; she was to sleep at Bagnacavallo," returned +Ludovico. + +"Signori!" said the Marchese, addressing the four, or five mounted +officers, "will you kindly put your horses across the road, so that the +lady's driver may see that he is to stop, and that there may be no +mistake." + +And then an open carriage became clearly visible, and in the next +minute, it could be seen that it was occupied by two persons;--a lady +and another figure--an old man apparently--muffled in a huge blue +travelling-cloak. + +Then in another instant the travelling-carriage, finding the road +blocked before it, had stopped, and in the next, the Marchese Lamberto, +hat in hand, was standing at the door of it, on the lady's side;--the +two young men standing immediately behind him, and the horsemen crowded +round, craning over the necks of their horses. + +Oh! per Bacco! There is no mistake about it; she is startlingly +beautiful. Report had not said half enough. And, somehow or other, it +appeared as if a travelling-costume was specially becoming to her. At +least, it seemed so to the innocent youths who so first saw her. Had +there been any women present their minds would have at once gone back +from the splendid effect produced to all the details of the artfully +combined causes which had gone to the producing of it. But there were no +ladies present, save the "Diva" alone. + +Such a Diva! She wore a little blue velvet hat, with a white feather in +it very coquettishly placed on a superb wealth of hair of the richest +auburn tint. She was very delicately fair, with just such an amount of +the loveliest carnation on her cheeks as might be produced by the +perfection of health and joyousness and youth; or might be, a lady +critic would have whispered, by some other equally effectual means. She +had large--very large--wide-opened, clear, and limpid light-blue eyes, +with that trick of an appealing look in them which always seems to say +to every manly heart, "You, alone of all the harsh, cold, indifferent +crowd around us, are he to whom I can look for sympathy, comprehension, +and fellow-feeling." And now these eyes looked round from one to another +of those around her with a look of smiling, innocent surprise and +inquiry that demanded an explanation of the unprecedented circumstances +with a childish freshness the most engaging. + +She wore a bright blue velvet pelisse, trimmed with ermine, which +admirably showed to the greatest advantage her magnificently shaped +bust, and round slender waist; and bent forward towards the Marchese, as +he stood at the carriage-door, with inimitable grace of gesture, and a +smile on her sweet lips that would have utterly defeated and put to +shame any St. Antony exposed to such temptation. + +"Signora," said the Marchese, who looked very handsome, as he stood with +his hat in his hand, and bowed with stately courtesy, "Ravenna welcomes +you, and places itself at your feet in our persons. Permit me to present +to you these gentlemen, who have had the good fortune to be selected +among many aspirants to that honour, to assist me in welcoming you to +our city: the Barone Adolfo Manutoli; my nephew, the Marchese Ludovico +di Castelmare." + +"E Lei dunque e il Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare?" said the lady, in +the sweetest possible of silvery tones, and with an air of humble wonder +at the greatness of the honour done her, mingled with grateful +appreciation of it, that was inimitably well done; and held up two +exquisitely-gloved slender little hands, as she spoke, half joining them +together in thankful astonishment, and half extending them towards him +with an almost caressing movement of appeal. + +"Si, Signora; I am the man you have named; I am fortunate that my name +should have reached your ears; more fortunate still in having had a part +in making the arrangements that have brought you here;--and most +fortunate of all if I shall be so happy as to make your sojourn among us +agreeable." + +"Signor Marehese! Lei e troppo garbato,--troppo buono; ma troppo buono, +davvero!" said the pretty creature; and the appealing eyes looked into +his with the semblance of a tear of emotion in them. + +"Will you allow me the pleasure, Signora, of conducting you to the city +in my carriage?" said the Marchese, with a graceful wave of his hand +towards his handsome equipage. "I have thought it might possibly be +agreeable to you to place it and myself at your disposition on this +occasion." + +"Ma come? It is too great an honour, davvero. But to make my first +appearance in your city under such auspices will go far towards assuring +me such a success at Ravenna, as it is my most earnest wish to attain." + +The Marchese put out his hand to assist her to alight, as he +added,--"Perhaps you will allow these gentlemen to return in your +carriage, Signora? They have no other here. I did not think it necessary +to bring a second carriage." + +"Come loro commandano!--as their lordships please," said La Lalli with a +graceful bow; though the young men were of opinion, that her eyes very +plainly said, as she glanced towards them, that she would have preferred +that they should have returned in the same carriage together. + +She rose, as she spoke, and giving her hand to the Marchese, put one +foot on the carriage-step in the act of descending, and then paused to +say, as if she had forgotten it till that moment: + +"Will you permit me, Signor Marchese, to present my father to you, +Signor Quinto Lalli? I never travel without his protection!" + +The old man in the corner moved slightly, and made a sort of bow with +his head. He had remained quite still and passive in his cloak and his +corner all through the rest of the scene, taking it all apparently as +something very much in the common order of things. Perhaps the piece +that was being played had been played too often in his presence to have +any further interest for him. + +While thus presenting her father, as she called him, to the Marchese, +the beautiful actress had remained for the moments necessary for that +purpose, with her matchless figure poised on the one dainty foot, which +she had stretched down to the step of the carriage. The attitude +certainly showed the svelte perfection of her form to advantage; and +from the unavoidable circumstances of the position, it also showed one +of the most beautifully formed feet that ever was seen, together with +the whole of the exquisite little bottine that clothed it, a beautifully +turned ankle, and perhaps as much as two inches of the silk stocking +above the boot. + +The mere chance that caused the lady to bethink herself of presenting +her father just at that moment, was thus quite a piece of good fortune +for the young men on foot and on horseback, who were standing around, +which no other combination of circumstances could have procured for +them. + +Then the Marchese handed her with graceful gallantry to his carriage, +took the place in the back of it by the side of her; and the little +cavalcade began its return to the city. At a small distance from the +walls, they found the band stationed, and thus preceded by music, and +passing through all the elite of the population in the streets, the +Marchese conducted her to the Palazzo Castelmare, and handed her up the +grand staircase to the great saloon, where all the theatrical world of +Ravenna, and many of the more notable patrons of the theatre, were +assembled to receive her. + +Signor Ercole Stadione, the little impresario, was there of course, and +in high enjoyment of the triumph of the occasion, and of the importance +which his share in it reflected on him. He buzzed about the large saloon +from one group to another, raising himself on tiptoe as he looked up +into the faces of his noble friends and patrons, and rubbing his hands +together cheerily in the exuberance of his satisfaction. + +"You had the happiness of accompanying the illustrissimo Signor Marchese +to receive our honoured guest to-day, Signor Barone!" said he to +Manutoli, who was giving an account of his expedition, and of the first +appearance of the new "Diva," to a knot of young men grouped around him; +"mi rallegro! Mi rallegro! Ravenna could not have had a more worthy +representative than yourself, Signor Barone! But is she not divine! What +beauty! What a grace!" + +"Why, Signor Ercole, one would think you had begotten her yourself. She +is a pretty creature certainly. What a smile she has!" + +"Eh bene, Signori miei! Are you satisfied? Are you content? Have we done +well?" said the little man, buzzing off to another group. "Che vi pare? +Is she up to the mark, or is she not?" + +"Bravo, Signor Ercole! We are all delighted with her!" said one. + +"If she sings as she looks," cried another, "Ravenna has a prima donna +such as no other city in Italy has." + +"Or in Europe, per Bacco!" added a third. + +"What do you think of her, Signor Leandro? Did I say too much?" asked +the happy impresario, moving off to a console, against which the poet +was leaning in an abstracted attitude, while his eye, in a fine frenzy +rolling, managed nevertheless to look out for the manifestation on the +Diva's face of that impression which he doubted not his figure and pose +must make on her. + +"What a bore she must find it having to talk to all those empty-brained +fellows that have got round her there, just like buzzing blue-bottle +flies round sugar-barrel! I wonder it does not occur to the Marchese +that it would be more to the purpose to present to her some of the +brighter intelligences of the city. She must think Ravenna is a city of +blockheads! And one can see, with half an eye, that is the sort of woman +who can appreciate intellect!" + +"It will be for you, Signor Conte, to prove to her that our city is not +deficient in that respect. Sapristi? Would you desire a better subject? +What do you say to an ode, now, on the rising of a new constellation on +the shores of the Adriatic? Hein! Or an inpromptu on seeing the divine +Lalli enter Ravenna through the same arch under which the Empress +Theodora must have passed?" + +"I had already thought of that," snapped the poet, sharply. + +"Of course you had," said the obsequious little man. "An impromptu, by +all means! You could have it ready to present to her at the theatre +to-morrow." + +"Unless the Marchese thinks fit to present me to the lady presently, I +shall decline to write anything at all," rejoined Signor Leandro, thus +unjustly determining, in his ill-humour, to punish all Ravenna for the +fault of one single individual. + +The Diva was, in the meantime, winning golden opinions on all sides. She +had bright smiles, and pretty captivating looks, and courteous, +prettily-turned phrases for all. But amid all this she contrived +unfailingly all the time, by means of some exquisitely subtle nuance of +manner, to impress every person present with the unconsciously-conceived +feeling that there was something more between her and the Marchese and +his nephew than between her and anybody else in the room; that she in +some sort belonged to them, and was being presented to the society under +their auspices. She remained close by the side of the Marchese. She +would look with an appealing and inquiring glance into his face at each +fresh introduction that was made to her, as if to ask his sanction and +approval. She had some little word from time to time either for his ear, +or that of his nephew, spoken in such a manner as to reach those of +nobody else; while, gracious to all, she delicately but markedly +graduated the scale of her graciousness towards those who were +introduced to her, according to the degree of intimacy which seemed to +exist between them and the Marchese. The result was that the Marchese, +without having been in the least conscious by what means and steps it +had been brought about, felt, by the time the gathering was at an end, a +sort of sense of proprietorship in the brilliant and lovely artiste;--it +was so evidently he who was presenting her to the city! She herself so +evidently felt that it would become her to rule her conduct in all +respects at Ravenna according to the Marchese's wishes and ideas, and +there was so sweet and so subtle a flattery in the way in which she made +this felt, that when, after all the crowd had retired, and she was about +to take leave of the Marchese to go to the lodging that had been +prepared for her, she ventured to take his hand between both hers, while +looking up into his face to thank him, in a voice quivering with +emotion, for his kindness to her, there passed a something into the +system of the Marchese from that contact of the palms that he found it +very difficult to rid himself of. + + + + +BOOK III + +"Sirenum Pocula" + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"Diva Potens" + + +Quinto Lalli was the name by which the prima donna had presented the old +gentleman who had shared her travelling-carriage to the Marchese +Lamberto as her father. And Quinto Lalli was his real name; but he was +not really her father. Nor had she any legitimate claim to the name of +Lalli. She had never been known by any other, however, during the whole +of her theatrical career; and there were very few persons in any of the +many cities where the Lalli was famous, who had any idea that the old +man who always accompanied her was not her father. Indeed, Bianca had so +long been accustomed to call and to consider him as such, that she often +well nigh forgot herself that he held no such relationship to her. + +The real facts of the case were very simple, and had nothing romantic +about them. Old Lalli was a man of great musical gifts and knowledge. He +had been a singing-master in his day; an impresario too for a short +time; and sometimes a kind of broker, or middle-man between singers in +want of an engagement and managers seeking for "available talent;" and a +hunter-up of talent not yet available, but which, it might be hoped, +would one day become such. + +It was in the pursuit of his avocations of this latter sort, that he had +one day, about fifteen years before the date of the circumstances +narrated in the last chapter, chanced to meet with a little girl, then +some twelve years old, on the hopes of whose future success he had +resolved to build his own fortunes. It was time that he should find some +foundation for them, if they were ever to be built at all, which most of +those who knew Signor Quinto Lalli deemed not a little improbable; for +he was of the sort of men who never do make fortunes. + +He was fifty years old when he had met with the little girl in question, +and had done nothing yet towards laying the foundations of any sort of +fortune. Unstable, improvident, unthrifty, fond of pleasure, and not +fond of work, nothing had succeeded with him. Nevertheless, a cleverer +man in his own line, or a shrewder judge of the article he dealt in, +than Quinto Lalli did not exist in all Italy. And his judgment did not +fail him when he fell in with little Bianca degli Innocenti. + +Persons unacquainted with Italian things and ways might suppose that the +above modification of the "particle noble" in Bianca's family name was +indicative of a very aristocratic origin. Italians, however--and +specially Tuscans--would draw a different conclusion from the premises. +The family "Degli Innocenti" is very frequently met with in Tuscany; but +the bearers of the name do not, for the most part, take great heed of +their family ties. The "Innocenti," in a word, is the name of the +foundling-hospital in Florence; and those of whose origin nothing is +known save that they have been brought up by that charity, are often +called after it, and known by no other name. Little Bianca's father, or +possibly her grandfather, must have been some such Jem, Jack, or Bob "of +the Foundlings," and left no other patronymic to his race. + +Quinto Lalli fell in with the child one day in the dirty and miserable +little town of Acquapendente, just on the Roman side of the frontier +line dividing the Papal territory from Tuscany, as he was travelling +from Florence to Rome. He was travelling by the diligence, which always +used to remain a good hour or more at Acquapendente, for the transaction +of passport and dogana work. There, strolling, for want of something +better to do, through the dilapidated streets of the poverty-stricken +little town,--which in those days told the traveller most unmistakably +how great was the difference between prosperous Tuscany, which he had +just left, and the wretched Pope's-land which he was entering--Quinto +Lalli heard a child's voice, and instantly stopped and pricked up his +ears. + +Looking round, he saw a little creature, barely clad, happy amid the +surrounding squalor, sitting with its little bare feet and legs dabbling +in the sparkling water in the broken marble tank of a once magnificent +fountain. There she sate alone in the sunshine, and carolled, with +wide-opened throat, like any other nature-made songster. + +Quinto Lalli, with startled ear, listened attentively; got round to +where he could see the child's face; marked well, with knowing eye, the +little brown feet and legs bare to the knee; and then determined to +abandon the fare paid for the remainder of his diligence journey to +Rome. + +The business for the sake of which he made that sacrifice was easily and +quickly done. A bargain is not difficult when that which is coveted by +one party is deemed a burden and encumbrance by the other. And Quinto +Lalli became the fortunate purchaser of the article of which he had so +judiciously appreciated the value. + +Quinto had his little purchase well and carefully educated--educated her +himself in a great measure, as far as her voice was concerned--and took +care that every attention was paid, not only to her musical culture, and +to the preservation and enhancement of her beauty--which, with great +comfort as regarded the ultimate issue of his speculation, he saw every +year that passed over her develop more and more--but also to her +intellectual cultivation. For Lalli was a clever man enough to know, +that if a stupid singer with a fine voice can charm so as to be worth a +hundred, an intelligent singer with an equally fine voice, can charm so +as to be worth two hundred. + +And the old singing-master was good and kind to his pupil: firstly, +because he had no unkindness in his nature, and secondly, because it was +in every way his interest to conciliate the girl. She had been brought +out at eighteen, and had now been nine years on the stage--nine years of +success, which ought to have enriched both teacher and pupil. + +They had very soon come to understand each other in matters of interest. +Lalli had begun by taking all her large earnings. But Bianca very +quickly let her protector understand that such an arrangement did not +meet her views at all. The ingratitude, when she owed everything to him +alone! No, Bianca had no intention to be ungrateful--anzi! she looked +upon Lalli as her father, and hoped she always should do so; but she had +no intention of being treated like a child. So long as she could earn +anything, her adopted father should want for nothing. She asked nothing +better than to continue to live with him, and work for both of them. + +And, in truth, her grateful kindness and fondness for the old man whom +she had so long looked on as a father was Bianca's strongest point in +the way of moral excellence. In all their nine years of partnership she +had worked for him as much as for herself. But her nine years of success +ought to have made both the old man and his adopted daughter comfortably +well off. And it had done nothing of the kind. + +They had laid by nothing. Old Quinto had all his life been recklessly +extravagant and thriftless; and his mode of education had not made +Bianca less so. If he was fond of dissipation and pleasure, she was not +less fond of them on her side. Careful as her education had been, it was +hardly to be expected that it should have been eminently successful in +forming a high standard of moral character. The demands made by society +upon its members in general in the clime and time in question were not +of a very exacting nature; and the expectations of society in this +respect from a person in Bianca's position were more moderate still. Nor +were the precepts, counsels, example, or wisdom of her protector at all +calculated to guide the beautiful singer scatheless through the dangers +and difficulties incidental to her position. + +In short, for nine years Bianca had worked hard--had earned a great deal +of money, and had spent it all (except what Lalli had spent for her) in +dissipation, the sharers in which had been chosen by the beautiful +actress--as kissing goes--by favour, and not with any view to their +ability to pay the cost. + +And now La Lalli had reached her twenty-seventh year; and was very +nearly as poor as when she began her career. And certain small warnings, +unimportant as yet, and wholly unsuspected, save by herself and old +Quinto, had begun to suggest to her the expediency of thinking a little +for the future. She and Quinto Lalli had had a very serious conversation +on the subject just before the commencement of that season at Milan, +which, as has been hinted, had ended somewhat disagreeably for the +charming singer. + +The real truth of the matter was that the difficulty in question had +arisen not from any tendency in the lady to behave in the Lombard +capital with more reprehensible levity than, it must unfortunately be +admitted, she had been very well known to have behaved in other places +and on other occasions; but from a change in her manners in a +diametrically opposite direction. It was a change of tactics, which the +strictest moralist must have admitted to involve an improvement in moral +conduct, that got the hardly treated Diva into trouble. + +The Austrian Government, as we all know, is, or was, a paternal +government-a very paternal government. And the governor who ruled in the +Lombard capital was quite as much intent on playing the "governor," in +the modern young gentleman's sense of the word, as good old paternal +Franz himself in his own Vienna. But this paternal government was not of +the sort which ignores the well-authenticated fact that "young men will +be young men." On the contrary, it proceeded always, especially as +regarded its more distinguished sons, on the largest recognition of this +truth. Wild-oats must be sown; the "governor" knew it, and the law +allowed it. But they should be so sown as to involve as little +prejudicial an after-crop, as may be--as little prejudicial especially +to those distinguished sons who cannot be expected to refrain from such +natural sowing. + +And enchanting Divas may assist in such sowing, and be tolerated in so +doing by a not too rigidly exacting paternal government--may be held in +so assisting not to step beyond the sphere of social functions assigned +to them by the natural order of things in a manner too offensive to the +mild morality of a paternal government, as long as such joint wild-oat +cultivation shall in nowise threaten to interfere with the future +tillage of less wild and more profitable crops by those distinguished +young scions of noble races, to whose youthful aberrations a paternal +government is thus wisely indulgent. + +So long, and no longer. Mark it well, enchanting Divas. Enchant if you +will; 'tis your function. But do not think to enchain? Enmesh a young +Marchese in the tangles of Neaera's hair. A paternal governor puts his +fingers before his eyes; and lets a smile be seen on his lips beneath +them. But do not seek to bind him by less easily broken ties. A vigilant +and moral governor frowns on the instant; and a paternal government well +knows how to protect its distinguished sons by very summary and +effectual process. + +But when for a poor Diva there comes also the time when that pleasant +wild-oat sowing seems no longer a promising pursuit, what does the +paternal wisdom decree as to her future? Why, she must reap as she has +sown--or helped to sow. See ye to it, Divas. Such providence is beyond +our function. + +And thus it had come to pass that the trouble had arisen which had +resulted in inducing the Diva Bianca to turn her back on ungrateful +Milan, and her face towards welcoming Ravenna. In that conference +between Bianca and her old friend and counsellor, which has been +mentioned, it had been fully brought home to the Diva's conviction that +for her the pleasant time of wild-oat sowing had come to an end. "Would +that the year were always May." But old Quinto Lalli knew that it +wasn't. And it had been concluded between him and his adopted daughter +that it was high time for Bianca to take life au serieux;--to understand +thoroughly that noctes coenaeque deum, with champagne suppers and love +among the roses, must be, if not necessarily abandoned, yet steadily +contemplated as a means and not an end. + +What if-- + Love, free as air, at sight of human ties, + Shakes his light wings, and in a moment flies? + +The warning of the verse teaches that the skittish god must not be +scared by a premature exhibition of the noose hid beneath the sieve of +corn. Champagne suppers and love among the roses--yes. But there should +be, also, cunningly hidden, the noose among the roses. + +And to this wisdom the Diva her well-trained mind did seriously incline, +during that last Milan campaign. Nor did her moral aim seem to be +without good promise of success. The sleek young colts with their shiny +coats, glossy, with the rich pastures of the Lombard plains, pranced up +and nibbled, all unconscious of the hidden noose. One fine young +unsuspecting animal, the noblest of the herd, came so close to the noose +that Bianca thought her work was done, and was on the point of casting +it over his lordly head--and he all but enchanted into such docility as +to submit to it, even seeing it. + +When lo! with sudden swoop of hand, sharp vibrating police decrees, an +unsleeping paternal government darts down the fabric of our hopes, sends +off the nearly captured prey, loud neighing and with heels kicked high +in air, but safe, to his ancestral Lombard pastures, and whirls away the +too dangerous enchantress into outer space. + +Sorrowfully the baffled fair goes forth (a graceful picture somewhere +seen of paradise-banished Peri with pretty stooping head, recalls itself +to my mind as I write the words); sorrowfully but not despairing,--and +wiser than before. + +And yet before she goes seeking fresh fields and pastures new, and +meditating new emprise, wealthy Milan shall itself equip her for the +next campaign. For much of such expedient outfit Milan can supply, +which, in remote Ravenna, might in vain be sought. There, beneath the +shadow of those marble walls, where once the sainted Borromeo preached, +the cunningest Parisian artists may be found--so rich in corn and wine +and silk are Lombard plains-modists and mercers, corset-makers, lacemen, +skilled so to clothe the limbs of beauty, that every fold shall but +display the perfect handiwork of nature, yet add to it the further grace +of art. Makers of tiny slippers and such dainty bootlets as show forth +and enhance the separate beauty of each inch of outline of rounded +ankle, arched instep, and slender length of foot, shall lend their help. +And if envious Time have something done to blur the bloom upon the +cheek, or blot the clear transparent purity of skin,--sunt certa +piacula,--there are not wanting means for helping a mortal Diva to some +of the prerogatives of immortality in these respects. + +And thus equipped, everything is ready, Quinto mio; we turn our backs on +haughty Milan, and nova regna petentes cras ingens iterabimus aequor, +that is to say, the wide plains of Lombardy. + +So Bianca and her faithful Quinto journeyed forth on that interminably +long flat monotonous Emilian road, with no accompanying sound of music +on their departure, but with the much-improved prospects, which have +been described, on their arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +An Adopted Father and an Adopted Daughter + + +When Bianca, on the evening of her arrival at Ravenna, rejoined Quinto +Lalli at the handsome and convenient lodging which had been provided +her, after having passed an hour or two, as has been related, in being +presented to the notabilities of the city, and receiving a great deal of +homage at the Palazzo Castelmare, she had already learned many useful +things. + +Imprimis, she had learned that the Marchese Lamberto was a bachelor; +that he was--though what young girls call an old man--still almost in +the prime of life, for a man so healthy and well preserved; that he was +a remarkably handsome and dignified gentleman; that he evidently +occupied the very foremost place in the esteem and respect of his +fellow-citizens; that he was rich; and that he appeared from all those +little signs and tokens of manner, which such a woman as La Diva Bianca +can interpret so readily, the last man in the world likely to fall in +love with such a travelling Diva as herself. She had learned, further, +that the Marchese Ludovico was his heir; that the said Ludovico might be +judged, by all those same signs and tokens, to be very much such a man +as might be likely to fall over head and ears in love with a beautiful +woman, who should make it her business to cause him to do so; and yet +further, that this Marchese Ludovico was just the sort of man, whom, if +she might permit herself to join pleasure with business, she would very +well like so to operate on. She had heard a poem read to her by the +Conte Leandro, and had decided that, if he were the wealthiest man in +all Ravenna, no sense of her duty to herself could prevail to make her +do anything but run away from him at the first warning of his approach. +Nevertheless, from him, even, she had learned something. She had become +acquainted with the fact, whispered in his own exquisitely felicitous +manner, and with the tact and judicious appreciation of opportunity +peculiar to him, that Ludovico di Castelmare was, to the great sorrow of +his friends and family, enslaved by a certain Venetian artist, then +resident in Ravenna,--a girl really of no attractions whatever. + +Thus much of the carte du pays of that new country, in which her own +campaign was to be made, and of which it so much imported her to have +the social map, she had learned, when she found Quinto Lalli waiting for +her to take possession of their new home. + +"Well, bambina mia,--my baby," for so the old man often called her, +"what sort of folk have we come among? How do you like the appearance of +the country?" + +"Eh, papa mio, che volete? I have seen only a bit of it. It is rather +early to judge yet," said Bianca. + +"Not too early for your quickness, bambina mia. Besides, you may be sure +you have seen most of what you are likely to see, and what it most +concerns you to see. The Cardinal Legate was not likely to come out to +meet you, I suppose; nor does it much matter to you to see his +Eminence." + +"Well, what I have seen, I like. As for the theatre, that Marchese +Lamberto, whom you saw, knows what singing is as well as you do. I shall +please him on the stage; and, if so, as I see very well, I shall please +all the rest of Ravenna. But--" + +"But what? There is always a 'but.' What is it this time?" said the old +man. + +"As if you did not know as well as I!" said Bianca, with a little toss. +"Is what I can do on the theatre of Ravenna the thing that is most in my +thoughts?" + +"'Twas you who mentioned it first," said Quinto. "I spoke of it merely +with reference to that man, the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. He is +one of the first, if not the very first, man in the city; and everybody +is cap in hand before him. Evidently a rich man." + +"And he is a musician, you say?" rejoined Quinto. + +"Fanatico! But what matters that; except, indeed, as a stepping-stone? +What has music done for me? The Marchese Lamberto is a bachelor, +Quinto." + +"Ha! what, the old man?" said Quinto, looking sharply at her. + +"Yes, the old man, as you call him. Not so old but he might be your son, +friend Quinto. But there is the young man, the Marchese Ludovico, whom +you also saw, when they met us on the road. He is the nephew and heir to +the other--a bachelor too--and as pretty a fellow as one would wish to +see into the bargain; a charming fellow." + +"So was the Duca di Lodi at Milan," said the old man, quietly; "a very +charming fellow--charming and charmed into the bargain. But--" + +"Yes! I don't need to ask the meaning of your 'but.' We know all about +that; but what is the good of going back upon it?" said Bianca, throwing +herself at full length upon a sofa, and tossing her hat on to the +ground, with some little display of ill-temper, as she spoke. + +"Only for the sake of the light past mistakes may throw on future +hopes," replied Quinto, with philosophic calmness. + +"Bah-mistakes--what mistake? There was no mistake, but for that infamous +old wretch of a governor," said Bianca, with an expression which the +individual referred to would hardly have recognized as beautiful, if he +could have seen it. + +"Yes! I know. May the devil give him his due! But, bambina mia, there +are wretches of governors here too, it is to be feared, no less +infamous." + +"What do you mean? What did we come here then for?" cried Bianca, +rearing herself on her elbow on the sofa, and looking at her old friend +with wide-opened eyes of angry surprise. + +"In the first place, cara mia, because it was necessary to go somewhere; +and, in the second place, because I should be very much at a loss to +name any place where the governors are not infamous wretches, every whit +as bad as at Milan. 'Tis the way of them, my poor child. But you see, +Bianca dear, to return to what we were saying, there was a little +mistake at Milan. The Duca di Lodi did not go off into the country, and +leave you plantee la, to please himself." + +"Who ever thought he did? No, poor fellow, he was right enough. But what +was the mistake, I want to know?" + +"You could bring no influence to bear, except upon himself, you know." + +"Of course not. How should I? E poi?" + +"And he could not do as he pleased," said Quinto, with a slight shrug of +his shoulders. "That was the mistake, cara mia, to endeavour to bring +about an object, by influencing some one who had no power to act for +themselves in the matter." + +"A very pleasant Job's comforter you are to-night, Quinto. I don't know +what you are driving at?" said Bianca, staring at him. + +"Only this, my precious child. I was set thinking of the mistake at +Milan by what you said of these two men, the uncle and nephew. Has it +not come into your clever head, mia bella, that we might find here the +means of avoiding a repetition of that error?" + +"Ah--h! Now I see what you are at. The uncle--hum--m--m," said Bianca, +meditatively; and then shaking her head with closely shut lips. + +"And why not the uncle, bambina mia? I am sure the few words you have +said about him are sufficient to point out that an alliance with the +Marchese di Castelmare would be an advantageous one for any lady in the +land," said old Quinto, with a demure air, that concealed under it just +the least flavour in the world of quiet irony. + +"I won't deny, papa mio, that, being humble as becomes my station," +replied Bianca, in the same tone, "I should be perfectly contented with +the style and title of Marchesa di Castelmare. But what reason have we +for thinking that there would be any less difficulty in becoming such +than in becoming Duchessa di Lodi? That, between ourselves, is the +question." + +"And what difficulty lay in the way of becoming Duchessa di Lodi? +Certainly none that arose from the Signor Duca. Governors and fathers, +and uncles and aunts, and police commissaries, and the devil knows what, +all interfered to keep two young hearts asunder, and spoil the game. And +why did they interfere?--the devil have them all in his keeping! Because +all the world agrees to believe that such springalds as the Duca di Lodi +can't take care of themselves. Because it is considered that the titles +and acres of such, if not their persons, should be protected +against--against the impulses of their warm hearts, shall we say? Now, +do you think that the world would consider any such protection necessary +in the case of the Marchese Lamberto? Would any governors, or fathers, +or uncles, or aunts, or commissaries, interfere to prevent him from +doing as he pleased in such a matter?" + +"No, I suppose not!" replied Bianca, thoughtfully; "but if no father or +uncle did, a nephew might. It is always the way; people get out of the +leading-strings put on them by their elders, only to be entangled in +others wound round them by their sons and daughters and nephews and +nieces! The poor old man is beguiled. We must prevent him from making +such a fool of himself! And the interference is all the worse, and the +more fatal, because the poor old man would not only make a fool of +himself, but beggars of his protectors." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed old Quinto Lalli with a quiet, almost noiseless +laugh; "it is very well and shrewdly said, bambina mia. But between the +two times of interference, my Bianca, there is a happy medium; an +intervening space, a high table-land, we may say, after the dominion of +fathers and uncles has been escaped from, and before that of sons and +nephews begins--a short time, during which a man may and can please +himself. Now, it seems to me, that your Marchese--pardon me for the +anticipation, it is a mere figure of speech, your Marchese di +Castelmare, I say, seems to me to be just in that happy position!" + +"I don't know that, I have not seen enough to be sure about that yet. +That young fellow, the Marchese Ludovico, does not look to me a likely +sort of man to stand by quietly and see himself cut out of houses and +lands! And besides,--it strikes me--" + +"Speak out your thought, bambina mia; I am sure it is one worth hearing. +And between us, you know--" + +"Well, between ourselves then," continued Bianca; while a smile, half of +mockery and half of pleasure, writhed her lips into changing outlines, +each more bewitchingly pretty than the other, and her eyes were turned +away from Quinto to a contemplation of the slender dainty foot peeping +out from beneath her dress, as she lay on the sofa; "between ourselves, +papa mio, from one or two small observations, which I chanced to make +to-day, it strikes me that the Marchese Ludovico might possibly feel +other additional objections to the establishment of any such relations, +as you are contemplating between me and his uncle, besides the +likelihood that they might be the means of cutting him out of his +heirship." + +"Ha, I see, I see; nothing more likely! Per Dio, bambina mia, you lose +no time! Brava la Bianca! And perhaps I may conclude, from one or two +small observations that I have been able to make myself, you would +prefer to win on the nephew! Eh, cara mia" said the old man, looking at +her with a sly smile. + +"Pshaw!" cried Bianca, with a toss of her auburn ringlets, and a shrug +of her beautiful shoulders; "I must do my duty in that state of life to +which it has pleased God to call me,--as the nuns at St. Agata taught +me. But between uncles and nephews, I suppose any girl would say, +nephews for choice!" + +"But you see, my child, the devil of it is that it would be the Milan +story over again. You would have all the family to fight against. A +Cardinal Legate can be quite as despotic, and disagreeable, and +tyrannical as an Austrian governor. You may be very sure that these +people have some marriage in view for this young Marchese, the hope of +the family! We know that the Marchese Lamberto is hand and glove with +the Cardinal. And there would be an exit from Ravenna after the same +fashion as our last!" + +"I know for certain already, that there is a marriage arranged between +the young Marchese and no less a personage than the niece of the +Cardinal Legate himself," said Bianca. + +"Well then; that is not very promising ground to build on, is it, +bambina mia!" replied Quinto. + +"It may be, that as far as the man himself is concerned, the match that +has been made for him would be rather the reverse of a difficulty in the +way," rejoined Bianca. + +"But the difficulty will not come from the man himself, cara mia! It +would be doing you wrong to suppose that to be at all likely. I don't +suppose it; but--do you imagine that the Cardinal Legate will permit you +to snatch his niece's proposed husband from out of her mouth! It would +be a worse job than the other," said Quinto, shaking his head +emphatically. + +"So that you are all for the uncle, papa mio?" rejoined Bianca; yawning, +as if she were tired of discussing the subject. + +"Well, I confess it seems to my poor judgment the better scheme, and +indeed a very promising scheme. Depend upon it, my child, an old man, +who is his own master, is the better and safer game," replied Quinto. + +"Very well! Have at the old man then, as you call him; though, as I have +told you, Quinto, he is not an old man--not over forty-five I should +say; at all events the right side of fifty, I'd wager anything! But I +tell you fairly, that a less promising subject I never saw. A man, who +has lived till that age a bachelor, though the head of his family,--and +a bachelor of the out-and-out moral and respectable sort, mind you,--the +great friend of the Cardinal; trustee to nunneries, and all that sort of +thing!--a man who looks at you and speaks to you as if he was a master +of ceremonies presenting a Duchess to a Queen,--a man, I should say, who +had never cared for a woman in his life, and was very unlikely to begin +to do so now," said Bianca, yawning again as she finished speaking. + +"Bambina mia," replied Quinto, "you are a very clever child, and you +know a great many things. But you have not yet sufficiently studied the +elderly gentleman department of human nature. If the Marchese Lamberto +is as you describe him, it may be, it is true, that he is one of those +men for whom female beauty has no charm, and on whom any kind of attack +would be thrown away and mere lost labour. But it is far more likely +that the exact reverse may be found to be the case! A thousand +circumstances of his social position, or even of his temper and turn of +mind, may have kept him a bachelor,--may have kept him out of the way of +women altogether. He may be found cautious, haughty, backward to woo, +requiring to be wooed, in love with the respectabilities of his social +standing; but depend upon it, bambina mia, if you can once awaken the +dormant passion of such a man, you may produce effects wholly +irresistible,--you may do anything with him! His love would be like a +frozen torrent when the thaw comes! It would dash aside every opposition +that could be offered it. The calculated and calculating tentatives, and +coquettings and nibblings of your practised lovers, who have been in +love a dozen times, would be as a trickling rill to an ocean wave, +compared to what might be expected from the passion of a heart first +strongly moved at the time of life the Marchese has reached. Fascinate +such a man as that, and in such a position, bambina mia, and all the +governors, and all the Cardinals that ever mumbled a mass, won't avail +to prevent him from being your own!" + +"Well, I suppose you are right, Quinto. And I suppose that that is what +it must be!--But--well! it is time to be going to bed, I suppose; I am +tired and sleepy!" said Bianca, rousing herself after a pause from a +reverie into which she seemed to have fallen, and yawning as she got up +from the sofa. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"Armed at All Points" + + +The quartiere which La Lalli found prepared at Ravenna for her and her +travelling companion was a very eligible one. It consisted of a very +nicely-furnished sitting-room, with a bed-room opening off on one side +for herself, and another similarly situated on the other side for her +father. There was also, behind, one little closet for a servant to sleep +in, and another, still smaller, intended to serve as a kitchen. + +On the morning following the conversation related in the last chapter +Bianca, hearing Quinto coming out of his bed-room into the sitting-room +about nine o'clock, called out to him from her bed: + +"Oh, papa! I forgot to tell you last night that the Marchese and Signor +Stadione are to be here at one o'clock to-day to hear me, and settle +about the night of the 6th, you know." + +"All right, bambina mia! I will be back in time. I'm going to the cafe +to get some breakfast," called out Quinto through the door. + +"Yes. But, papa, be here at one o'clock, and do not come back before +that. E inteso? And send me a cup of chocolate from the cafe." + +"Inteso! I'll be here at one, and not before," said the old man through +the door, with special emphasis on the last words. + +Then Bianca called her maid, told her to bring the chocolate to her as +soon as it came from the cafe, and then to come and dress her at ten. +Whether the intervening time was spent in sleep or meditation may be +doubted; but, at all events, when the hour for action came Bianca was +ready for it. + +By means of the skilled and practised assistance of Gigia Daddi, the +maid who had been with her ever since the first beginning of her stage +career, the Diva had completed her toilette by half-past eleven. But she +had had, to a certain degree, a double toilette to perform. All the +component parts of a rich and very becoming morning-costume had been +selected and assorted with due care, and minute attention to the effect +each portion of it was calculated to produce in combination with the +rest; and then they had been not put on, but laid out in order on the +bed. The more immediate purpose of the Diva was to array herself +differently--differently, but by no means with a less careful and +well-considered attention to the result which was intended to be +produced. + +The magnificent hair was brushed till it gleamed like burnished gold as +the sun-rays played upon it. But when ready to be coiled in the artistic +masses, which Gigia knew well how to arrange, variously, according to +the style and nature of the effect designed to be produced, it was left +uncoiled, streaming in great ripples over back and shoulders in its +profuse abundance. An exquisite little pair of boots, of black satin, +clasping ankle and instep like a glove, were chosen to match the black +satin dress laid out on the bed: but, like the dress, were not put on. +The place of the black satin dress was supplied by a wrapper of very +fine white muslin, edged with delicate lace, so shaped with consummate +skill that, though the snowy folds seemed to lie loosely within the +girdle that confined them at the waist, no part of the effect of the +round elastic slimness of the waist was lost; open at the neck, from a +point about a span beneath the collar-bone, it allowed the whole of the +noble white column of the grandly-formed throat to be visible from its +base above the bosom to the opening out of the exquisite lines about the +nape of the neck into the tapering swelling of the classically-shaped +head. The exact arrangement of the shape of this opening of the dress, +from the throat down to about a hand's-breadth above the girdle, was +very carefully attended to; the lace-edged folds of the muslin being +three or four times drawn a little more forward so as to conceal, or a +little back so as to show, a more liberal glimpse of the swelling bosom +on either side, by the doubting Diva, as she stood before the glass. + +"E troppo, cosi." she said to her attendant at last. "Is that too much +so?" + +Gigia looked critically before she answered, "To receive, yes,--a +little, perhaps. But to be caught unawares, no; and then with a +handkerchief, you know--" + +"Oh, yes! One knows the exercise," said Bianca, with a laugh; "blush and +call attention to it by covering it with one's handkerchief, which falls +down as often as one chooses to repeat the manoeuvre. A chi lo dite?" + +"Style?" said Gigia. + +"Sentimental,--eyes soft and dreamy; therefore the very faintest blush +of rouge. Yes; not a shade more." + +"You won't put your bottines on?" + +"No; there'll be time afterwards. Give me a pair of bronze kid slippers. +After all, there is nothing that shows a foot so well: and look here, +Gigia, draw this stocking a little better; I'd almost as soon have a +wrinkle in my face as in the silk on my instep. That's better! The +narrow black velvet with the jet cross for my neck, nothing else. Now, +you understand? Anybody who comes after one o'clock may be admitted; +before that you will let in no soul save the Marchese Lamberto, in case +he should come. I don't at all know that he will. And, Gigia," continued +her mistress, as she passed into the sitting-room, "draw this sofa over +to the other side of the fireplace, so as to face the window; ten years +hence, when you have to place a sofa for me, you may put it just +contrariwise--so, with the head at the side of the fireplace, and push +the table a little further back so as to leave room for the easy-chair +there to stand near the foot of the sofa facing the fire. That will do. +Now, be sure of your man before you let him in. The Marchese Lamberto, +mind, an elderly gentleman--not the Marchese Ludovico, who is a young +man. If he or anybody else should come before one o'clock tell them that +I can see nobody till that time. Now, don't bring me the wrong man; and, +Gigia, if he comes, don't announce him, you know. Just open the door +quietly, and let him walk into the room without disturbing me--you +understand?" + +"A chi lo dite, Signora mia! Lasciate fare a me! Is it the first time?" +said Gigia. + +"If only one could hope that it would be the last," returned her +mistress with a half laugh, half sigh. + +By the time all these arrangements were made it was nearly twelve +o'clock; and Bianca, dismissing her maid, placed herself, not without +some care in the arrangement of her delicate draperies, on the sofa. + +The judicious Gigia had said that the extent of snowy bosom exposed was +not too liberal, due consideration being had to the circumstance that +the Diva was to be caught by an unexpected surprise in an undress. So, +as Bianca meant to be very much surprised, she carefully, and with +dainty fingers, drew back the muslin on either side just a thought, so +as to permit to an exploring eye merely such a suggestive peep of the +swelling curves on either side as might furnish an estimate of the +outline of the veiled heights beyond. She smiled, half with pleased +consciousness and half with self-mockery, as she did so: then carefully +arranged her drapery so as to allow two slim ankles to be visible just +at the point where they crossed each other in a position which exhibited +the curved instep of one slender foot in a full front view, and the side +of the other negligently thrown across it. The pose was artistically +perfect. Lastly, with one or two dexterous touches and shakes, she so +arranged her wealth of hair as to combine an appearance of the most +perfect negligee with a thoroughly artistic disposition of it, which, +while it displayed to the best advantage the tresses themselves, served +also to heighten the effect of the contours of neck and bust, which they +partly showed and partly concealed. + +And then the Diva waited patiently. + +She had, as she had said to Gigia, no certain knowledge that he would +come, nor even any very clear reason to believe that he would do +so--that he would come, that is to say, earlier than one o'clock, at +which hour it had been arranged that he should meet Stadione there. +Nevertheless, Bianca had a strong persuasion that he would come earlier. +Despite what she had said to Quinto Lalli of the circumstances and signs +which seemed to indicate that the Marchese was not a man likely to be +exposed to danger from such attacks as the Diva meditated making on +him,--despite the fact that she had said to herself also all that she +had said to her old friend, there had been something about the +Marchese's manner--something in that last pressure of palm to palm that +had set Bianca speculating as to the meaning of it. It was not a mere +manifestation of admiration; the Diva was used enough to that in all its +forms, and could read every tone of its language. It was more like +wonder and curiosity,--at all events, it was not indifference. She had +seen with half an eye, and without the slightest appearance of seeing +it, that the Marchese could not keep his eyes away from her. During the +drive to the city, and afterwards at the Palazzo Castelmare, while she +was making the acquaintance of the principal people of the city, it had +been the same thing. And nothing could be further than was the +Marchese's manner, from the bold, unabashed staring, which such +beautiful Divas as Bianca have often to endure. He evidently was +devouring her with his eyes on the sly. Evidently he did not wish to be +observed looking at her as he did look. Whenever her own eyes caught him +in the fact, his were on the instant withdrawn: to return, as Bianca +well marked, on the next instant. + +Then, after those first words, which he had addressed to her at their +meeting in the road, she had noted that he did not speak to her, as she +sat by his side in the carriage, with the simple ease and freedom of +indifference. There was almost something approaching to a manifestation +of emotion in his manner of addressing her. It could not be that this +elderly gentleman,--this very mature Marchese, had fallen in love with +her already. Such an idea would have been too absurd! Yet his whole +bearing was odd and ill at ease. + +It had seemed to himself as if some subtle material influence affected +him, as he sat by her side,--as if a magnetic emanation came forth from +her that mounted to his brain, and disordered his pulses, and the flow +of his blood. He had sat by the side of women as beautiful before now, +and never been conscious of being affected in any similar manner. What +it was that produced such an effect upon his nervous system,--what was +the matter with him, he could not for the life of him imagine. It was +unpleasant; he did not like it at all. And yet some irresistible +stimulus and curiosity drove him to prolong rather than to avoid the +sorcery. + +Bianca was by no means fully aware of the power and of the strength of +the sorcery which she was exercising on the Marchese. But she understood +a great deal more about it than he did. And when, in making the +appointment for him and the impresario to call on her at one o'clock, he +had asked her if that was too early for her habits, and she had replied, +that she was always afoot much earlier than that, Bianca had felt +persuaded that he would be at the door at an earlier hour. + +And her experience, or her instinct, with reference to such matters had +not deceived her. + +The quarter-past twelve had not struck, when the Diva heard a knock at +the door of her apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Throwing the Line + + +In the next instant Bianca heard the door of the room in which she was +sitting opened very gently; it was Gigia who opened it, so gently as to +enable her mistress to keep her eyes on a book she held in her hand, +apparently unconscious that she was not alone. The Marchese Lamberto +advanced two paces within the room, and then stopped gazing at the +exquisite picture before his eyes. Bianca knew that all her preparatory +cares were doing the work they were intended to do. But no sound had yet +been made to compel her to recognize her visitor's presence; and she +remained as motionless as a recumbent statue. + +"I fear, Signora--," said the Marchese, after a few instants given to +profiting by the rare opportunity a singular chance had given him,--"I +fear, Signora--" + +"Santa Maria, who is there!" cried Bianca in a voice of alarm, starting +to her feet as she spoke with a bound, that none but so skilled an +artist and so perfect a figure could have executed with the faultless +elegance with which she accomplished it. + +"A thousand pardons, Signora; your servant--" + +"The Marchese Lamberto! It is unpardonable in the woman--to have so +failed in her duty-towards your Excellency! It is I who have to beg your +indulgence, Signor Marchese. Can it be one o'clock already? In truth I +had no idea it was so late; and I have still to dress! How can I +apologize to your Excellency sufficiently for appearing before you in +this dishabille?" + +"Nay, Signora, it is in truth I who have to apologize; it is not yet one +o'clock, it is not much past twelve! And I feel that I am guilty of an +unwarrantable intrusion. But I hoped for the opportunity of having a few +words of conversation before the hour named for our little business with +our good Signor Ercole. Permit me to assure you, Signora, that if your +servant had given me the least hint that you were not yet--ready to see +any visitor--" + +"If only your Excellency will excuse--the fact is, I have so rarely any +visitors that the poor woman does not understand her duty in such +matters. Really I am so covered with confusion,"--she continued, putting +up her delicate little hand with a feeble sort of little attempt to draw +her dress a little more together across her throat. "I cannot forgive +her! She has exposed me to seem wanting in respect towards your +Excellency; I will dismiss her from my service!" + +"Let me intercede for her, poor woman!" said the Marchese, advancing +into the room; "indeed it was mainly my fault, I ought to have asked if +you were visible." + +"One word from la sua Signoria is enough. If you can forgive me, I must +forgive her! But you will own, Signor Marchese, that it is--what shall I +say--?" She hesitated and cast her eyes down with a bewitching smile and +a little movement of her head to one side, "that it really +is--embarrassing! Such a thing never happened to me before!" + +"But now it has happened, Signora," said the Marchese, emboldened by the +smile, and by a shy sidelong glance, which she shot from under her +eye-lashes with a laugh in her eyes, as she spoke; "now it has happened +that I have been permitted to see you in a toilet all the more +exquisitely charming in that it wants the formality of the costume in +which the world is wont to see you,--may I not say what I came for the +purpose of saying?" + +"Will you be very discreet, Signor?" she said, putting a slender rosy +finger up to her smiling lips; "and never, never let it be known to any +human being, that I ever received you save in the fullest of full dress, +as would become me in receiving the honour of a visit from your +Excellency!" + +"Not a syllable, not a whisper!" replied the Marchese, taking her tone, +and putting his own finger on his lips. "And then, I may say, Signora, +that in Ravenna a visit at any hour from old Lamberto di Castelmare +would do your fair name no harm!" he added, taking the arm-chair by the +side of the sofa to which she pointed, as she resumed her former place +and attitude on the couch. + +"I dare say it might not, if I am to judge of his position in the +society from your own, Signor Marchese. But I did not know, that there +was any old Signor Lamberto di Castelmare. I supposed you were the head +of the family, your uncle, perhaps?" said Bianca, very innocently. + +"I have no uncle, Signora! I am the oldest Castelmare extant," said the +Marchese. + +"And you call yourself old Lamberto, Marchese! Why I would wager my +pearl necklace,--and that is the most valuable possession I +have--against a daisy chain, that you are not ten years older than I am. +I shall be called old Bianca Lalli next, at that rate!" + +"And how many years, since you are ready to wager on it,--have gone to +the bringing the face and form I see before me to their matchless +perfection?" said the Marchese. + +"Who was ever before so prettily asked how old she was?" said Bianca, +suffering her large blue eyes to rest fully on the Marchese's face for +an instant, and then dropping them with an air of conscious +embarrassment. "Well, a frank question deserves--or at least shall +have--a frank answer! I shall never see my twenty-fourth birthday +again?" + +"And you judge me then to be thirty-four!" said the Marchese, looking at +her laughingly. + +"Certainly I don't think any room full of strangers would judge you to +be more than that," replied Bianca, looking at him seriously. + +"Ta!--ta!--ta! Add fifteen years to that; and you will be nearer the +mark. So you see, bella Signora, that you may safely trust yourself to a +tete-a-tete with me under any circumstances." + +"Ta!--ta!--ta!" said Bianca, repeating his own phrase, with a merry +laugh in her eyes, and shaking her rich auburn curls at him. "It seems +impossible, utterly incredible! But I am very glad if it is so,--very +glad. There is nothing so intolerable to me as the young lads who come +buzzing about one circumstanced as I am, and whom it is as difficult to +drive away as it is to drive away flies in summer. There is no trusting +to them; they would compromise a poor girl as soon as look at her, if +she was fool enough to let them. And I have had lessons in the necessity +of caution, Signor Marchese. I have been cruelly treated,--very cruelly +calumniated!" And Bianca, knowing, it is to be supposed, that, if it is +not always the case that "Beauty's tear is lovelier than her smile," as +the poet says, yet that it is a phase of beauty often more potent over a +male heart than the sunniest smile, raised a corner of her +daintily-embroidered handkerchief to her eyes. + +The Marchese was an old man of the world,--as the cynical phrase +goes,--and of what a world?--an old Italian Marchese of the beginning of +the nineteenth century,--a period when, if crime was less rife than in +former and stronger ages, morality was never at a lower ebb. He was a +man whose musical tastes had made him conversant with the Divas of the +stage, and familiar with the interior aspects of Italian theatrical +life;--one, too, whom circumstances had caused to become specially well +acquainted with the antecedent history of this particular Diva now +stretched on the sofa before him. Yet none the less for all this did +"beauty's tear," enhanced by beauty's laced pocket-handkerchief, +exercise on him its usual glamour. + +Calumniated!--that lovely creature of matchless purity before +him,--matchless purity! so white was her throat; so round and slender +her waist; so daintily snowy her muslin drapery. Calumny! Of course it +was calumny. And how he could have poignarded the calumniators, and +taken the poor, fluttering, persecuted Diva to his bosom. The desire to +execute that latter portion of retributive and poetical justice was +making itself felt stronger and stronger within him every minute, as he +sat beside the sofa exposed to the full force of the magnetic +poison-current which was intoxicating him. + +"Signora--" he said, putting his hand out to take hers, which she +readily gave him. His own hand shook, and he paused in his speech, +overcome for a moment by a sort of dizziness and a sudden rush of the +blood to his brow and eyes,--a veritable electric shock caused by the +contact of her hand with his. + +"Signora," he continued, recovering himself, "no such slander--no such +insults will follow you here; none such shall follow you here. Lamberto +di Castelmare can, at least in Ravenna, promise you that much. Nor if +they did follow you, would such stories here be believed." + +"Generous! Just!" murmured Bianca behind the laced pocket-handkerchief +in a broken voice, just loud enough to reach the neighbouring ear of the +Marchese, while she suffered her slender fingers to press the hand which +held hers just perceptibly before withdrawing it from him;--"just," she +continued in a louder tone, taking her handkerchief from her face, and +raising her shoulders a little from the sofa, so as to turn more fully +towards him, while her eyes fired point blank into his a broadside of +uncontrollable gratitude and admiration;--"just, because generous and +noble. Oh, Signor Marchese, those who have never known what it is to +suffer from a slanderous tongue can never know the delight--the sweet +consolation of meeting with such generous appreciation." + +The poor Diva was quite overcome by her own emotion; and, sinking back +on the cushions of the sofa, again lifted her handkerchief to her face, +while one or two half-stifled sobs showed how deeply she had been +moved;--and how perfect was the form and hue of the beautiful +half-covered bosom which this emotion caused to heave beneath its gauzy +veil. + +Just at that minute there came, to the infinite disgust of the Marchese, +a discreet tap at the door. + +Bianca rapidly passed her fingers over the tresses above her forehead, +resettled her pose on the sofa, and gave the Marchese a meaning look of +common intelligence and mutual confidence, which set forth, as well as a +volume could have done, and established the fact that there existed +thenceforward a bond of union and a fellowship between her and him, such +as shut them in together, and shut out in the cold all the rest of +Ravenna, and then said "Passi," and admitted, as she knew very well, no +more startling an interrupter than Gigia. + +The well-trained servant said nothing and looked at nothing; but +silently handed to her mistress two cards. + +"Of course you told these gentlemen that I was not visible, Gigia?" + +"Diamine! Signora; of course I should not have let any gentleman pass +this morning more than any other morning of the year if you had not +specially told me to admit the Marchese Lamberto at any hour he might +come," said Gigia with a niaise simplicity, as she left the room. + +Bianca covered her face with her pretty hands and shook a gale of +perfume from her sunny locks, as she exclaimed, sotto voce,--"Oh, the +stupidity of these servants! Signor Marchese," she continued, looking up +shyly, but with a gay laugh in her eyes, "what must you not +imagine?--not, at all events, I hope, that I contemplated the +possibility of receiving you in this dishabille? But I will do as other +criminals do;--confess when they are found out. I did think," she +continued, casting down her eyes, and hesitating with the most +charmingly becoming and naive confusion; "I had some little hope--no; I +don't mean that;--I did not mean to put that into my confession;--it did +occur to me as possible," she went on, hanging her pretty head, and +playing nervously with the folds of her dress in a manner which had the +accidental effect of causing it to leave uncovered an additional inch of +silk stocking--"it did occur to me as possible that the Marchese +Lamberto might come to me sooner than the time named for the meeting +with the impresario;--for the sake of giving me any hints that his +perfect knowledge of the subject might suggest; and I fully intended to +be dressed and ready to receive him if he should show me any such +condescending kindness--and so told my maid to make an exception in his +case to my invariable rule! And then the minutes slipped away; and I +fell into a reverie, thinking--thinking--thinking; and then, all of a +sudden, before I knew that there was any one in the room--if you think +of the devil--and I suppose it is equally true if you think of an +angel;--but there, again, that was not intended to be any part of my +confession. I think I shall give up confession, at all events to you, +Signor Marchese, for the future. But now I have confessed myself this +time, and told the whole, whole truth--may I hope for absolution?" + +There was an adorable mixture of candour, and gaiety of heart, and +child-like simplicity in the beautiful features as she looked up into +his face when she finished speaking, together with an expression of +appealing confidence and almost tenderness in the eyes that achieved the +final and complete subjugation of the Marchese. + +Again he took her hand, and again his head swam round with the violence +of the emotion caused by the contact of palm with palm, as he said, + +"Ah, Signora, if I were equally candid perhaps it would turn out that it +was for me to confess, and for you to grant absolution--if you could. Do +you think you could?" he said, raising her hand to his lips as he said +the words. + +"Ha! Signor Marchese, that would quite depend upon the nature of the +confession. When I have heard it I will do my best to be an indulgent +confessor. But, however curious I may be to hear you in the +confessional, it must not be now; or I shall really not be ready to +receive Signor Stadione. Heavens! It wants only ten minutes to one now. +I must run and dress as quickly as I possibly can. To think that almost +an hour should have run away since you came here; and it seems like ten +minutes. May I beg your indulgence, Signor Marchese, if I ask you to +wait for me while I dress? I will be as quick as I possibly can." + +"On no account hurry yourself, Signora. It is my fault for having +detained you. And if I had to wait ten hours instead of one, would not +the one I have passed be cheaply purchased? Never mind Stadione; I will +explain to him that you are dressing--" + +"And that you have been made to wait some time already by my abominable +unpunctuality," said Bianca, holding up one fore-finger and giving him a +look of mutual intelligence. + +"Of course--of course. A chi lo dite!" returned the Marchese, giving her +once more his hand to help her to rise from the sofa. + +As she did so she put into his hand, without any word of comment, but +with a slight smile and a little momentary raising of her eyebrows, the +two cards that Gigia had, a little while before, handed to her. They +bore the names of the Barone Manutoli and the Marchese Ludovico +Castelmare; and Bianca handed them to the Marchese with a +matter-of-course air that seemed to say that, in the position which the +Marchese Lamberto and she had assumed towards each other, it was natural +and proper that he should see who had called on her. + +He merely nodded as he looked at them; and then, for the second time, +kissing the tips of the fingers he still held, as she got up from her +couch, he bowed low as she passed him to go towards the bedroom; and +she, before quitting the room, made a sweeping curtsey, half playfully, +and then kissed the tops of her fingers to him as she vanished into the +inner room. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +After-thoughts + + +The Marchese Lamberto and Signor Ercole Stadione quitted the house in +which the prima donna had her lodging, together, when the business +matters, which they had come thither to arrange, had been settled. + +"A wonderful woman, Signor Marchese," said the little impresario, +trotting along with short steps by the side of the Marchese, and rising +on his toes in a springy manner, that made his walk resemble that of a +cock-sparrow. "Truly a wonderful woman. I have seen and known a many in +my day, Signor Marchese, as you are well aware, sir; but such an one as +that, such an out-and-outer, I never saw before." + +"She is evidently a lady, whose education and manners entitle her to be +treated with all respect," replied the Marchese, more drily, the little +man thought, than his great patron was usually in the habit of +addressing him, and somewhat quickening his stride at the same time, as +if he wanted to walk away from the impresario. + +"Most undoubtedly, Signor Marchese, and every sort of respectful +treatment she shall have. There shall be a stove and a new looking-glass +put into her dressing-room this very day. If she don't draw, say Ercole +Stadione knows nothing about it. A very singular thing it is, Signor +Marchese,--and you must have observed it, Signor, as well as I,--there's +some women whose singing, let 'em sing as well as they will, is the +smallest part of their value in filling a theatre. There's no saying +what it is, but they draw--Lord bless you, as a bit of salt will draw +the cattle after it! And this Lalli is one of that sort. I know 'em, +when I see 'em. Won't she draw, that's all!" said the little man again, +rubbing his hands together, and chuckling with infinite glee. + +The Marchese Lamberto would have been at a loss probably if he had been +required to state clearly why he felt angry and annoyed with the +impresario that morning, and thought him a bore, and wished to be quit +of him. But such was the case. And presently, when the well-skilled and +business-like little man began to canvass the capabilities of certain +parts in his repertorio, for the most advantageous showing off of the +personal advantages of the new acquisition, the Marchese could stand it +no longer, but replied hastily: + +"Well, well. All these matters had better be submitted to the lady +herself. I think, Signor Ercole, that I will say good-morning now. You +are going to the theatre, and I am waited for at the palazzo." + +And the Marchese did return to the palazzo, though nobody was specially +waiting for him there. On the contrary, he told the servant in the hall +to admit nobody, and when he reached his library, he shut the door and +bolted it. And then he threw himself into an easy chair to think. + +The first thing that his thinking made clear and certain to him was that +something had happened, or was happening to him, which had never +happened to him before,--something respecting the exact nature of which +all his previous experience afforded him no light. + +In love! He had never been in love; but he knew, with some tolerable +accuracy, what was generally understood by the phrase. He had read the +poets, who describe the passion under sufficiently various phases; and +he had heard plenty of lovers' talk among a people who are not wont to +suffer, or to exult, or to be happy in silence. Was he in love with this +woman? Did he, in his heart, love her--in his heart, as he was there in +the solitude of his own room, at liberty and at leisure to examine his +heart upon the subject. A heavy frown settled on the Marchese Lamberto's +brow, and an unpleasant change came over his face, as he proceeded with +the task of asking his heart this question. There rose up feelings and +promptings within him, which almost drove him to the fierce assertion to +himself that he hated this woman, who was thus occupying his thoughts +against his will. + +What had become of all that warm chivalry of feeling that had urged him, +with all perfect earnestness of sincerity, to declare that no breath of +calumny or insult should come near her, beneath the aegis that he could +and would throw over her? Where was it gone? All clean gone. He knew, +with tolerable accuracy, the story of the former life of this woman. +They were facts which he knew,--certainly knew. But they had all +vanished from his mind,--had been as though they were not,--while he had +sat there by her sofa, looking at her and listening to her,--had all +vanished, even as the ardent chivalry, which had then been caused by +some sorcery to spring up in his mind, had vanished now. + +It was passing strange. + +That he was very sorely tempted--as he had never before in his life +been, tempted--to make love to this actress,--as it is called,--to make +love to her after the fashion, not so much of those poetical +descriptions which have been referred to, as after the fashion of those +prosaic settings-forth of the passion, which were familiar enough to his +ears, was clearly recognizable by him. He knew very certainly that he +desired that. + +And was what he desired so much out of his reach? Surely all that had +happened, all that he had seen, all that he had heard at the interview +with Bianca that morning, was not calculated to lead him to think so. +And why should it be? It would be all very much according to the +ordinary current of events in such matters. He was a bachelor. He was +wealthy. He was the most prominent noble of the city. He was brought +specially into contact with the lady by his theatrical connection and +habitudes. His patronage and protection were by far the most valuable +that could be offered to her in Ravenna. The Diva herself was--such as +Divas of her sort and time were wont to be. It would seem to be all very +easy and straight-forward. What was the worst penalty wont to follow +from such peccadilloes to persons in his position? The loss of a little +money,--of a good deal of money perhaps. But he had plenty and to spare. + +But none of these considerations availed to smooth the frown from the +Marchese's brow, or to make the future at all seem clear before him. + +In the first place to make this singer his mistress, simple and little +objectionable as such a step might seem to most men of his country, and +rank, and period, and freedom from ties, was not an easy matter, or an +agreeable prospect to the Marchese, on purely social considerations. He +had placed himself on a special pedestal, from which such a liaison +would involve a fall. And such a fall, or the danger of such a fall, was +very dreadful to the Marchese. There was the Cardinal; there were the +good nuns, whose affairs he managed, and who looked on him as a saint on +earth. Worst of all there was his nephew. How preach to him (terribly +necessary as such preaching might be) under such circumstances? + +To be sure, there was no need of doing whatever he might do in such sort +that the whole town should be his confidant. He had as good +opportunities for secrecy as could be desired. Theatrical business and +his recognized connection with it was an abundant and unsuspected excuse +for as much conversation with the lady,--as many interviews as he might +wish. It seemed safe enough upon the whole. + +And yet these considerations did not avail to take the frown from the +Marchese's brow, or bring his perplexed self-examination to an end. The +very evident disposition of the lady to be kind did not avail to please +him. Instead of being pleased and triumphant at the probable prospect of +so enviable a bonne fortune, he was displeased, unhappy, irritated, +angry--angry with himself and with the sorceress who had thrown this +spell on him. How was it? By what charm had she bewitched him so? +Already he was impatient, longing to be back again in her presence. And +yet he was angry with her,--doubted whether he did not rather hate her +than love her. + +At last he started from his chair and swore that he would retain the +mastery over his own self; that he would think no more of the abominable +woman,--see her no more! + +Taking his hat he rushed out of the house, with an instinctive desire +for bodily movement as a means of stilling the tossing fever that was +raging within him; walked through the streets at such an unusual pace, +that the people turned round to look after him as he passed; walked by +the door of the house in the Via di Santa Eufemia in which Paolina +lived,--saw Ludovico coming from it, who was surprised indeed at thus +seeing his uncle; and more surprised still to find, that the Marchese +passed him without seeming to notice him,--walked out into the country, +and returned only at supper-time, tired and worn out; and then, when the +supper was over, and Ludovico had gone out to the Circolo as usual, +after pacing his room, and swearing to himself at every turn, that he +would see the creature no more,--slunk out of his own palazzo, feeling +afraid of being seen by his own servants, and wandered to her lodging! + +And what were Bianca's meditations, when the business visit of the +impresario was over, and he and the Marchese left her room together? + +First and foremost, the Marchese Lamberto was in love with her; and that +not as dozens of youngsters in many a city had been; but madly, +desperately, in love with her. That fact admitted of no doubt whatever! +It was strange, curious enough, that she should have succeeded so +brilliantly, so entirely, and so immediately in spite of all the signs +and tokens which had led her not small experience to expect so entirely +different a result. Clearly the still larger experience of old Quinto +Lalli had been more far-sighted. His view of the matter had been the +true one! + +But still, how far was his view of the question a correct one? What was +the success, which had been very unmistakably so far achieved, in +reality worth? It was very plain that this Marchese Lamberto had been +caught, captivated, fascinated! But what then? There was no doubt at all +that he would very willingly suffer her to add him to the list of her +previous admirers and lovers. It never entered into the Diva's head to +conceive, after the very unmistakable testimony she had received of the +evident admiration of the Marchese, that very grave difficulties, +objections, and hesitations would, on his side, stand in the way of his +accepting any such position. She doubted not that this conquest was +perfectly within her reach; and that there would be no difficulty at all +in drawing large supplies from the Castelmare wealth towards recruiting +the needs of the Lalli exchequer. + +But this, as has been explained, was not what Bianca wanted. "Major +rerum sibi nascitur ordo!" She was intent on playing a higher and +greater game. Was it likely she would be able so to fix the harpoon she +had successfully thrown in the very vitals of the prey, so to make this +man feel that she was absolutely essential to his happiness, as to +induce him to marry her? That was the question! And Bianca did not +delude herself into imagining that anything that had passed between +herself and the Marchese that morning entitled her to consider the +battle which should lead to that victory as even begun. + +The Diva did not conceal from herself the greatness and arduous nature +of the task before her. She knew what a Marchese of mature age, of noble +lineage, and of unblemished reputation, was; and she knew what she was. +But she did not appreciate those extra difficulties in the case, which +arose from the special social position, and still more from the special +character and temperament of the man,--and these were the greatest +difficulties of all! + +On the whole, she was sanguine; and what was perhaps more to the +purpose, old Quinto, when they talked the matter over together, and the +general result of the morning interview had been reported to him, was +sanguine too. + +"Depend upon it, bambina mia," he said, "it is the best game--the real +game. Young fry will rise to the bait more readily; but they also +wriggle off the hook much more easily. It is the old fish who, when he +has it once fixed in his gills, cannot get rid of it, struggle as he +may. You play your game well,--neither relaxing, nor yet too much in a +hurry, and I prophesy that I shall live to see you Marchesa di +Castelmare." + +"And many a year afterwards, I hope, papa mio. And you may depend on my +teaching my husband to behave like a good son-in-law," said Bianca, with +a bright laugh. + +"As for the nephew," continued Quinto, "I can understand that it would +be more agreeable to make your attack on him--" + +"I don't know that at all, papa mio," interrupted Bianca. "You may +laugh, if you will, and think that I am making a virtue of +necessity--and small blame to me if I were--but the truth is, I do like +the Marchese. I like him better, as far as I can yet tell, than any man +I ever knew. Yes! you may make grimaces, and look as wicked as you +please! But it is true. And, if you ever do see me Marchesa di +Castelmare, you will see that I shall make him a very good, ay, and a +very fond, wife." + +"Who could doubt it, Signora, that has the advantage of knowing you as +well as I do?" said the old man, with a mocking bow. + +"You may sneer as much as you like, Quinto; but you understand nothing +about it. The Marchese is a man any woman might love. You call him an +old man? I tell you he is younger for a man than I am for a woman, God +help me! It isn't only years that make people old." + +"That's true, bambina mia, poveretta. And I am sure I have nothing to +say against it if you can fancy this Marchese a gay and handsome young +cavalier." + +"Handsome he is, as far as that goes. I swear he is the handsomest man I +have seen here! His nephew is good-looking enough, but he is not to be +compared to his uncle either in face or person." + +"Well, whether you have succeeded or not in making the Marchese in love +with you, cara mia, I begin to think that you have succeeded already in +falling in love with him," said Quinto, looking at her with raised +eyebrows. + +Bianca remained silent awhile, nodding her head up and down in a sort of +reverie, and then said, rousing herself with a shake of her flowing +curls as she looked up, "No; not quite that. But I won't say that it is +impossible that if I am to make him love me, I may come to love him in +the doing of it. You see, amico mio, it is something new. It is not the +old weary mill-round. He did not come to me with the set purpose of +making love to me, as all those young fellows have done, and do, just +because they have nothing else to amuse them; because it's the fashion; +because it's a feather in their caps; because it's the thing to have a +prima donna for their mistress! If the Marchese has fallen, or falls, in +love with me, he does so because he cannot help himself, he does it in +despite of himself; and that flatters a woman, Quinto. Well, we shall +see," she added, after another pause: "one thing, at all events. I swear +that there shall be nothing between me and the Marchese--of--the old +sort." + +"It is wisely said, bambina mia. That is the road which must lead, if +any can, to the winning of your game." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +At the Circolo + + +There was, at all events, one man at Ravenna who was entirely pleased +and satisfied with the famous prima donna in all respects: and this was +Signor Ercole Stadione. + +The Carnival campaign of La Lalli had been thus far brilliantly +successful, and the Carnival was now about half over. She "drew," as the +little impresario had prophesied she would, to his heart's content. It +was many a year since there had been so successful a season at the +theatre. Each part she sang in was a more brilliant success than the +last; and the public enthusiasm was such as enthusiasm on such subjects +never is save in Italy. + +In every respect, too, her ways and behaviour had been unexceptional. +Her attention was never distracted from her business by the visits of +young men behind the scenes--a torment which, during the reigns of other +Divas, had often driven the poor little impresario, who dared not get +rid of such intruders as he would have liked to do, almost wild. Bianca +would permit no visits of the kind. She had never behaved herself to any +of the young men in such sort as to cause any of those rivalries and +jealousies which are sometimes apt to manifest themselves in hostile +partisanship, when the Diva is on the boards--another fruitful source of +trouble to much-tried impresarios. + +She had walked circumspectly and prudently in all respects--a most moral +and highly satisfactory Diva. + +She was understood to receive no visitors at home--at least, none of a +compromising kind. The Marchese Lamberto was often with her: of course, +naturally! He was well known to be always a sort of second amateur +manager: neither the theatre nor little Ercole Stadione could go on +without him. And then the Marchese Lamberto was--the Marchese Lamberto! +If he had chosen to sit by the bedside of any prima donna in Italy night +after night, it would only have been supposed that he was giving her +possets for the improvement of her voice. + +Occasionally, also, she would receive the visits of the Marchese +Ludovico; evidently by reason of the unavoidable intimacy of his uncle +in the house. And Ludovico reported to them all at the Circolo that she +was a most charming woman indeed--full of talent, merry as a young girl, +companionable, and fond of society, but wholly devoted to her art, and +quite inaccessible in the way of love-making. He assured the jeunesse +doree of Ravenna that they lost nothing in any such point of view by +their exclusion from her intimacy, for that all their enterprises in +that line would be quite thrown away. + +The Conte Leandro Lombardoni, indeed, always carried about with him in +his breast-pocket, a carefully preserved little letter on pink +notepaper, which he gave the world to understand was part of a +correspondence carried on between him (reconciled as he was to the bel +sesso) and the Diva; and had more than once contrived to be seen hanging +about the door of her house at hours when honest Divas, as well as +mortals, ought to be in bed and asleep. But nobody believed him, or +imagined that anything save a bad cold was at all likely to result from +his vigils beneath the cold stars. He showed, indeed, with many +mysterious precautions against the remainder of the letter being seen, +that the little pink sheet of notepaper did indeed bear the signature of +"Bianca Lalli." But when one of the ingenuous youth picked his pocket of +it, it was found to be a very coldly courteous acknowledgment of a copy +of verses, which the Diva promised to read as soon as her avocations +would permit her to do so! + +"Any way," said the discomfited poet, "that is more than any of you +others have got. And it's not so small a matter, when you come to think +of it!" + +"Per Bacco, no! Leandro is in the right of it!" said the young Conte +Beppo Farini; "a small matter to find somebody who promises even to read +his verses! I should think not, indeed! Where will you find another to +do as much?" + +"Riconciliato col bel sesso! I should think you were, indeed!" cried +another; "she absolutely thanks you for sending her your rhymes! Nobody +ever did as much as that before, Leandro mio! No wonder you haunt the +street before her door!" + +"I don't haunt the street before her door. Envy, Jealousy, ye green-eyed +and loathsome monsters, how miserably small and mean can ye make the +hearts of men!" said Leandro, lifting up hands and eyes. + +"Bravo, Leandro, bravo! get upon the table, man!" cried Farini. + +"Get home to bed, rather. It is too bad, because no human being will +read his poetry, he takes to spouting it!" said the other. + +"Let us look what she says," cried Ludovico di Castelmare; putting out +his hand to take the little note. "Upon my word she writes a pretty +hand. It is a very neatly expressed note." + +"Oh, you can see that much, can you?" returned Leandro. "I should think +it was too! Is there any one of you here can show such a note from any +woman, let her be who she may? She says she will read the poem I have +been good enough to send her--good enough to send her, mark that!--as +soon as she can find time to do so! What could she say more, I should +like to know? Of course she is occupied. It stands to reason. But she +will read my poem; and then you will see!" + +"Ay, then we shall see our little Leandro duly appreciated at last!" +said the Barone Manutoli. "As soon as the Diva has found time to read +the poem there will come another little pink note, adorably perfumed: he +will be summoned to her august presence, and installed as her poet in +ordinary, and who knows what else besides,--her Magnus Apollo? It is a +pity there are not eight other prime donne to make up the sacred number. +Then we should see our Leandro in his true position and vocation. Give +me a sheet of paper, and I will show you a new presentation of Apollo +and the Muses. They are all presenting him with pasticcerie and bonbons. +He has one hand on the lyre, and the other on his stomach, for the +homage of the goddesses has made him somewhat sick; his eyes, you +observe, are cast heavenwards, partly by reason of poetic inspiration, +and partly by reason of nausea!" + +"Bravo! bravo, Manutoli!" cried a chorus of voices. + +"Envy and jealousy, envy and jealousy, all envy and jealousy. It is +pitiable to see what they can reduce men to," cried the poet, foaming at +the mouth. + +"Never mind them, Leandro mio--never mind them. It is the universal +penalty of true merit, you know; the same thing all the world over," +said Ludovico. + +"But, I say, Ludovico," rejoined Manutoli, "in the meantime, till our +Leandro's poem shall have been read and duly appreciated, you are the +only one who has been admitted to the privacy of La Lalli. What is your +report to us Gentiles of the outer court? Is she really so +unapproachable? And is she as adorable behind the scenes as before +them?" + +"Well, you ought to be able to answer that question yourself, Manutoli," +replied Ludovico; "you were with lo zio and me that day when we went out +to meet her; I am sure you had a fair look at her then." + +"A look? Yes; and I looked all I could look. I saw a charming face, +younger and fresher looking than might have been expected from the +length of time she has been on the boards,--a very pretty figure, as far +as her travelling-dress would show it one; and the loveliest foot and +ankle I ever saw in my life. I could swear to that again at any time. +Don't you remember how she stood with her foot down on the step, when +she was getting out of the carriage. I thought at the time that she knew +what she was about very well." + +"Of course she did. Do you think they don't always know very well, every +one of them, off the stage or on the stage?" said Farini. + +"But I want to know what sort of body, she is?" returned Manutoli; "I +don't need to be told that she is a very lovely woman; but of what sort +is she? Why does she keep us all at a distance? What is her game?" + +"Upon my life I don't know," answered Ludovico, "unless it's a devouring +passion for Leandro. I protest I have no reason to think she cares a +button for anything but her own art. I never tried; but it's my +impression that if I had ever whispered a word in her ear I should have +got a flea in my own for my pains." + +"You don't want to make us believe that you have been seeing her +frequently all this time,--passing hours with her a quattro occhi, and +have never made love to her, Ludovico?" said Farini. + +"No; I don't want to make you believe don't care a straw whether you +have it or not; but it is the the fact, for all that," returned +Ludovico. + +"Ludovico has enough on his hands in quarter. What would they say about +it in the Via Santa Eufemia if he were to bow down to new and strange +goddesses?" said Manutoli. + +"That, if you please, Manutoli, we will not discuss either now or at any +other time," said Ludovico, with a look that showed he was in earnest. +"But, as for La Diva Bianca, I have no objection to tell all I know to +anybody. My belief is that she is as correct and proper, and all that +sort of thing, as a Vestal." + +"Che!" + +"Che!" + +"Che!" + +A chorus of protestations of incredulity in every tone of the gamut met +the monstrous assertion. + +"What, after all we heard of her doings at Milan--after all the +histories of her goddess-ship in every city of Italy?" said Manutoli. + +"Well, what did we hear of her doings at Milan? The fact is, we know +nothing about the matter; and as to her previous history--of course I +don't suppose that she is, and always has been, a Diana; but it may be +that she has come to the time when she has thought it well to turn over +a new leaf. Such times do come to such women; but all I know is, that I +firmly believe that since she has been here she has lived the life of a +nun," said Ludovico, in the simple tone of a man who is stating a truth +which he has no interest in causing his hearers to credit or discredit. + +"Per Bacco, it's queer!" said Farini, slapping his hand against his +thigh. "I have heard," he continued in the tone of one speaking of some +strange and almost incredible monstrosity,--"I have heard of such women +taking a turn to devozione. It's not that with La Lalli, is it?" + +"Che! Nothing of the sort; she is as full of frolic as a kitten--up to +any fun. And she is a very clever woman, too, let me tell you--a good +deal of education. If you will put making love to her out of your head, +I never knew a woman who was pleasanter company," said Ludovico. + +"And you really mean that you have never tried to make love to her in +any way?" reiterated Manutoli. + +"I do mean it, upon my soul; but I don't care a rap whether you believe +it or not," rejoined Ludovico. + +"And you are with her very frequently?" persisted Manutoli. + +"Yes, I have seen a good deal of her altogether. I like her; and I fancy +she likes me to go there; she seems to wish me to come. Perhaps it is a +novelty to her to have a man about her who doesn't try to make love to +her." + +"The Marchese Lamberto sees her a good deal?" + +"Yes; naturally. If it had not been for that I should probably never +have made acquaintance with her at all. Lo zio is continually there. He +ought to have been an impresario. In fact, he is the real impresario. +Little Ercole only does what my uncle tells him. I don't believe she +ever sings a note on the stage that he has not heard and approved +beforehand." + +"Suppose he is the dark horse; suppose she is his mistress all this +time; and he takes care to keep her all to himself," said Manutoli. + +"What, lo zio. Bah! I should have thought that you knew him better than +that, Manutoli. To him a woman is a voice, and nothing else. If the same +sounds could be got out of a flute or a fiddle he would like it much +better, and think it far more convenient. I don't think my uncle +Lamberto ever knew whether a woman was pretty or plain. I wish to heaven +he would get caught for once in his life; it would suit my book very +well. He would have less leisure to think of other things." + +The fact was that the Marchese had, in truth, had less leisure to think +of those other things from which Ludovico desired that his attention +should be drawn away. His visits to the Via Santa Eufemia had been more +frequent than ever; his visits to the Marchesa Anna Lanfredi and her +niece rarer than ever. And he had received neither lectures nor +remonstrances for a long time past. In truth, the Marchese had his mind +too full of other matters to think much of his nephew's affairs or +doings. And, besides that, there was a quite new and hitherto unknown +feeling in the heart of the Marchese Lamberto which made him shrink from +any such encounter with his nephew, as remonstrances respecting his +conduct with regard to Paolina would have occasioned;--a feeling which +made it seem to him that he was the watched instead of the watcher; that +suggested to him the fear that the first word he might utter upon the +subject would be met by references to doings of his own. + +An utterly unfounded fear. But so it is that conscience doth make +cowards of us all. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Extremes Meet + + +The Marchese was uneasy in the presence of his nephew. But the fact was +that he was uneasy and unhappy altogether, and at all times. From being +one of the most placidly cheerful and contented of men, he was becoming +nervous, anxious, and restless. People began to remark that the Marchese +was beginning to look older. They had said for years past that he had +not grown a day older in the last ten years. But this winter there was a +change in him! + +It did not occur to anybody to connect any change that was observable +either in the Marchese's manner or in his appearance, with the frequency +of his visits to the quartiere inhabited by the prima donna and Signor +Quinto Lalli, in the Strada di Porta Sisi. The ordinary habits of the +Marchese, and his functions as a patron of the theatre and amateur +impresario were so well known and understood, that it seemed perfectly +natural to all Ravenna that he should be very frequently with the prima +donna. And on the other hand, the almost monastic regularity of his +life, and his character of long standing in such respects, would have +made the notion that he had any idea of flirting with the singer appear +utterly absurd and inadmissible to every man, woman, or child in the +city, if it had ever come into anybody's head. + +The fact was, however, that the Marchese was much oftener in the Strada +di Porta Sisi than anybody guessed. Besides the morning visits, which +were patent to all the world, who chose to take heed of them, the +Marchese very frequently spent those evenings there, when the "Diva" did +not sing; slinking out of the Palazzo Castelmare, and taking all sorts +of precautions to prevent any human being--nephew, servants, friends, or +strangers--from guessing the secret of these nocturnal walks. + +Such precautions were very needless; if anybody had noticed the Marchese +Lamberto passing under the shadow of the eaves in any part of the city +after nightfall, it would only have been supposed that he was bound on +some mission of beneficence, or good work of some sort! And if even it +had become known to a few persons given to prying into what did not +concern them, that the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare was not more +immaculate in his conduct than his neighbours, the only result would +have been a few jests which he would have never heard, and a few sly +smiles which he would have never seen. + +But the Marchese could not look at the matter in this light. He felt as +if his fall from the social eminence on which he stood would have been +as a moral earthquake in Ravenna. The idea that such jests and such +smiles could exist, however unseen and unheard, would have been +intolerable to him. And the Marchese was, accordingly, a miserable man. + +A miserable man, and he could not help himself! Each time that he +quitted the siren, the chain that bound him was drawn more tightly +around him. At each visit he drank deep draughts of the philtre, that +was poisoning the fountains of his life. Again and again he had made a +violent struggle to throw off the enchantment and be free. And again and +again the effort had been too great for his strength, and he had +returned like the scorched moth, which comes back again and again to the +fatal brightness, till it perishes in it. + +In his hours of solitary self-examination he loathed and mocked himself +to scorn! He, Lamberto di Castelmare, to risk and to feel humiliation, +and to suffer for the love of a woman, whose light affections had been +given to so many! He, who had been smiled on by many a high-born beauty +in vain! Love! did he love her? Again and again he told himself that +what he felt for her was far more akin to hate. He marvelled; he could +not comprehend himself! He was often inclined to believe that the old +tales of philtres and of witchery were not all false, and that he was in +truth bewitched; and he struggled angrily against the spell, and at such +times hated the beauty that had tangled him in it! + +And in all this time Bianca had not yet ventured to show clearly her +real game. Nor had it yet occurred to the Marchese that such a +preposterous thought as that he could marry her could have entered into +her mind. Yet it was clear to him that he made no progress towards +making her his own upon any other terms. The alternations between +beckoning him on and warding him off had been managed with such skill, +that they appeared to be the result of the Diva's internal struggle with +her own inclinations. What was he to understand by it? If she had +been,--had always been--of unblemished character! But it was not so; he +knew better! + +That her conduct at Ravenna had been correct was undeniable. Still, even +with regard to that, the Marchese was not spared the pangs of jealousy, +in addition to all the rest. Ludovico continued to frequent the house in +the Strada di Porta Sisi. It seemed, as he had said at the Circolo, as +if Bianca wished him to come there. In fact he had spoken to the young +men at the Circolo with perfect truth in all respects as to his +relations with the Diva. There had never been any word of love-making or +even flirting between them. Yet, in a sort of way, she seemed to wish to +be agreeable to him and to attract him. But she never made any secret of +his visits from the Marchese, although it was unmistakable enough that +it was disagreeable to him to hear of them. + +Had he been free from the spell himself he would have rather rejoiced +that his nephew had met with an attraction, which would be likely to +have the effect of making him faithless to Paolina. As it was, it was an +additional source of irritation to the Marchese,--another drop of gall +in his cup, to hear it constantly mentioned by Bianca in the most +innocent way in the world, that Ludovico had been here with her, or +there with her, or passing the morning with her! + +It was drawing towards the end of the Carnival, which the late fall of +Easter had made rather a long one that year, when, on one Saturday +night, Bianca sat by her own fireside, expecting a visit from the +Marchese. She doubted not that he would come, though no special +appointment on the subject had been made between them. There were few +"off evenings" now, that he did not spend with her. Saturday in most of +the cities of Italy is, or was, an off night at the theatre, being the +vigil of the Sunday feast-day. The ecclesiastical proprieties are less +attended to now in matters theatrical, as in other matters in Italy. But +Saturday used, in ante-revolutionary times, to be an evening on which +actors and actresses and their friends could always reckon for a +holiday. + +Bianca was sitting, exquisitely dressed, it need hardly be said, in a +style which combined with inimitable skill all the requirements of the +most strict propriety with perfect adaptation to the objects of showing +off every beauty of face, hair, hand, figure, foot to the utmost, and +attracting her expected visitor as irresistibly as possible. + +Quinto Lalli had been sent to enjoy himself at the Cafe, with stringent +directions not to return before he should have ascertained that the +Marchese had left the house, let the hour be as late as it might. + +Bianca meditated deeply, while she waited her lover's coming. + +Her lover! yes, there was no doubt about that. Bianca had felt perfectly +assured that she was justified in considering the Marchese as such on +that first morning, when he had come to her an hour in advance of the +time appointed for his visit in company with the impresario. But it was +high time that some better understanding of the footing on which they +stood as regarded each other should be arrived at. + +Hitherto no direct proposals of any kind had been made to her by the +Marchese. He was not good at any such work. Any one of those +distinguished sons of paternal governments, who had constituted the +material of Bianca's experiences of that division of mankind, would have +long since said what he wanted, and have very clearly indicated the +terms on which he was willing to become the fortunate possessor of the +coveted article. And Bianca would have perfectly well known how, under +the present circumstances, to answer any such proposals, as she had +known under the other circumstances of past days. But the Marchese made +no proposals. What he wished, indeed, was abundantly clear to her. But +his mode of making it clear rendered the task of dealing with him a +somewhat difficult one. + +Partially, Bianca understood the nature of the case. She was partly +aware why the Marchese was slow to say that which so many, whom she had +known, had made so little difficulty of saying. She understood that, +whatever his years might be, he was a novice at that business. She +comprehended that he was, in many respects, a younger man than many a +coulisse-frequenting youth whom she had known. But she was far from +conceiving any true notion of the Marchese's state of mind on the +subject. She was very far from imagining that he looked with disgust and +with terror at the position which she conceived him to be but too ready +to accept to-morrow, if only he knew how to ask for it, or if it could +be offered to him without his asking. She little guessed that his +feeling towards her oscillated between the maddest desire and the +fiercest hatred; that reveries, filled with pictured imaginings and +fevered recollections of her beauty, alternated with the most violent +efforts to cleanse his mind and imagination of the thought of her. + +She understood nothing of all this, and it was impossible that she +should understand it. In truth, she was innocent of any conduct which +could have justified such sentiments. Why should he hate her? It was +true that she sought to attract him,--true that she was scheming to lead +him to a point at which he might find it so impossible to give her up, +that, being well convinced that he could have her on no other terms, he +might offer her marriage. But was there anything worse in that than men +had been treated "since summer first was leafy?" How many men had +married women in her position--women less capable of doing credit to the +position to which they were raised than she was? How many men had been +treated in such matters very much worse than she had any thought of +treating him? She fully proposed to make him a good and true wife, and +fully thought that she should do so. She was not deceiving him in any +way. She made the best of her past life--naturally; but was it to be for +a moment supposed that such a man as the Marchese could, or did, imagine +that she, Bianca Lalli, whose career, for the last eight years, was +known to all Italy, was in the position of a young contessa just taken +from her convent? + +It is abundantly clear that there were difficulties in the way of the +desirable understanding being arrived at, greater than either the lady +was aware of, or than might usually be expected to attend similar +negotiations. + +Bianca waited without impatience the coming of the Marchese. She was a +study for an artist as she lay perfectly still on her sofa, turning the +minutes of expectation to profit by arranging in her mind her plan of +attack in the coming battle; for she was thoroughly determined that that +evening should not pass without some progress towards the understanding +having been accomplished. + +One lamp on the table alone lighted the small but comfortable-looking +room; but the flame was leaping cheerfully among the logs on the hearth, +and the sofa was so placed that the fitful light from the fire glanced +in a thousand capricious reflections on the Diva's auburn hair and rich +satin dress. It was black of the most lustrous quality, and fitted her +person with a perfection that showed the shape of the bust, and the +lithe suppleness of the slender waist to the utmost advantage. The dress +was made low on the superb shoulders--the dazzling whiteness of which, +as seen contrasted with the black satin, was now covered with a slight +silk scarlet shawl,--a most artistic completion of the harmonious +colouring of the picture, which yet was not so fixed in its position as +to be prevented from falling from the snowy slopes, it veiled at the +smallest movement of them. + +Presently the now well-known step and well-known tap at the door were +heard, and the Diva, without stirring a hair's-breadth from her +charmingly-chosen attitude, spoke, in a silver voice, the "Passi" which +admitted her visitor. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Diva shows her Cards + + +"Ah, Signor Marchese," she said, with a sweet, but somewhat sad, smile, +extending to him a long, white, slender, nervous-looking, ungloved hand, +but not otherwise moving from her position. "Ah, Signor Marchese, then I +am not to be disappointed this evening? I was beginning almost to fear +that the fates were against me." + +He advanced to the head of the sofa and took her hand, and held it +awhile, while he continued to stand there looking down from behind her +shoulder on the beautiful form as it lay there beneath his gaze--on the +parting of the rich golden hair; on the snowy forehead; on the still +whiter neck; on the gentle heaving of the bosom beneath its light veil +of scarlet silk; on the tapering waist; on the exquisitely-formed feet +peeping in their black satin bottines from beneath the extremity of her +dress! It was all perfect: and the Marchese held the soft warm hand that +served as a conductor to the stream of magnetic poison that seemed to +flood his whole being as he gazed. + +For an instant all the room seemed to swim round with him. The blood +rushed to his brow. He shut his eyes, and a nervous crispation caused +the fingers of his hands to close themselves with such force, that the +grasp of that which held her little palm hurt her. + +"Ah, my hand! you hurt my hand!" she said. "You don't know how you +squeezed it, you are so strong. You don't know the quantity of force you +put out!" + +"Pardon--a thousand pardons, Signora! I am such a clumsy clown! Have I +really hurt you, Bianca?" + +"Not to the death, Signor," she said, with a charming smile, and holding +up to him the injured member, shaking it as she let it dangle from the +slender wrist. "But see! it is really all blushing red from the ardour +of your hand's embrace!" + +"Poor little hand!--indeed, it is!" said the Marchese, taking it gently +and tenderly between both of his; then, suddenly throwing himself on his +knees by the side of the sofa, while he still held it, he said, "And how +can the great cruel hand that did the harm make fit amends?" + +"Ah, Signor Marchese, it might find the way to do that, if it were so +disposed. It would not be so far to seek. But you are seeking in the +wrong direction," she continued, drawing herself back from him on the +sofa, as he, leaning forward against it, had brought himself so near to +her, that the back of the hand in which he held hers touched her waist. +"You are seeking amiss. It is not so that any remedy can be found; +and--pray rise, Signor, and take your usual chair. This must not be,--I +am sure you would not willingly give me pain, Marchese, and you are +paining me. Pray leave the sofa." + +She had drawn herself back away from him as far as the breadth of the +sofa would allow, yet without withdrawing her hand from him; and she +looked at him certainly more in sorrow than in anger,--looked into his +face earnestly with grave, sad eyes, and heaved a long sigh as he, after +pressing the hurt hand to his lips, rose from his knees and took the +chair she had pointed to. + +"Pain you, Bianca?" he said, as he sat down; "why should I pain you? You +do me no more than justice when you say that I would not do so +willingly; but have you thought how much pain you inflict on me by thus +keeping me at a distance from you? I think you must know that. Is there +aught to offend you in anything that I have done, or said, or hoped, or +wished?" + +"I think, Signor Marchese," she said, dropping her large eyes beneath +their long fringes, and looking adorably lovely as she did so, "I am +afraid that what you have wished is--what some might deem offensive to a +lady." + +And as she spoke she looked out furtively from behind her eyelashes. + +"Bianca, is that reasonable?" he said, in a tone of remonstrance. +"Diamine, let us talk common sense; we are not children. Have you always +found such wishes as mine offensive in others?" + +"Yes, always--always offensive, always cruel," she said, with extreme +energy; "but--can you not understand, Signor Marchese,--can you not +conceive that what from one man passes and makes no mark, and leaves no +sting, may from another--What cared I what all the empty-headed young +fops who came in my way could say or do; they were nothing to me. But--I +did not expect pain from the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. I--I +thought--I hoped--I--I flattered myself--fool, idiot fool that I have +been!" she exclaimed, bursting into violent sobs, and hiding her face +with her hands. + +The Marchese was startled and utterly taken aback for a minute or two. +He was genuinely at a loss to interpret the cause or the meaning of the +lady's emotion. His puzzled embarrassment did not, however, prevent him +from seeing that she looked, if possible, more fascinatingly beautiful +in her grief and her tears than he had ever before seen her. And, again, +despite what she had said, he knelt down by the side of the sofa, and +gently removing her hands from before her face, murmured in her +ear,--"Bianca, what is it--what is moving you so? Don't you know that +you are dear to me;--that I would--Don't you know that I would do +anything to be agreeable to you rather than give you any sorrow or pain? +What is there within my power that I would not do? Bianca,--let me tell +you--let me speak the truth--I cannot keep it in my own heart any +longer--I love you! You have come to be all that I care for in the +world. Bianca, do you hear me? For your love I would sacrifice +all,--everything in the world; I die without it; I must have it--I must! +You have been loved before; but never as I love you--never, never! And, +Bianca, I--I--Bianca, you are my first love--my only love. Never, till I +saw you, did I care to look on a woman for a second time; I never felt +love. But, when I saw you--the first time--the first hour--Bianca, I +must have your love or die; I thirst--I hunger for it. Since I have +known you all my nature is changed; all my old life is flat and +unmeaning, and without interest to me. I care for none of the things I +used to care for; all--all has melted and slipped away from me, and +nothing remains but one great devouring rage and passion--my love for +you!" + +He had spoken like a torrent, which, for a long time dammed up, at last +becomes too powerful for restraint, and bursts forth, overthrowing all +obstacles with its headlong flood. + +Bianca turned her face away from him towards the back of the sofa; but +she slowly, and with an uncertain intermittent movement, drew his hand +over to her lips, and pressed it against them. + +A light came into the Marchese Lamberto's eyes;--a gleam almost, one +would have said, rather fierce than fond, as he felt the pressure of her +lips; and a shock as from an electric spark ran through all his body, +making him quiver from head to heel. + +"Bianca, Bianca! You are mine--you are mine!" he cried, pantingly, with +his mouth close to her ear, and encircling her waist, as he spoke, with +the hand which she had relinquished after she had kissed it in the +manner that had been described. + +But she sprang away from him, pushing him from her, by putting her flat +hand against his forehead, with her face still turned towards the back +of the sofa, away from him. + +"No, no, no!" she cried, violently; "it cannot be, not so--not so! I +cannot--I cannot!" + +"Bianca," he cried, starting to his feet as if he had been stung; "what +does this mean? What am I to understand? What is it you wish? You know +my position. I tell you that there is no sacrifice that I am not willing +to make. I am rich; name what you would wish." + +"Spare me--spare me, I deserve all; but spare me! I deserve to suffer, +but not at your band," she cried, in words interrupted by her sobs. + +"Spare you what, Bianca? In truth, I do not understand you," said the +Marchese, genuinely mystified. + +"Do you not understand?" she said, turning round on the sofa, so as to +face him, and looking into his face with those great appealing eyes +suffused with tears; "do you not understand? Can you not comprehend? A +woman would understand, I think; but I suppose men feel these things +differently." + +"Upon my honour, Bianca, I do not know what you mean. Every word I have +spoken to you has been spoken from the very depth of my heart. I am +ready to--" + +"Hush, hush, Marchese! No more of that; I could not bear it," she said, +with a great sigh that seemed as if it would burst her bosom; "it is +very--very painful to me; but I must endeavour to bring your heart to +understand me,--it must be your heart, Lamber--your heart, Signor +Marchese; for one does not arrive at the understanding of such things +with the head. See, now, I will put myself in the place I deserve to +occupy--in the dust at your feet! You may trample on me, if you will. I +say I have deserved the shame and the misery I am now suffering. I +deserve them because I have no right to resent the--the--the proposals +which you--wish to make to me. I have suffered much from calumny and +evil tongues--much from unhappy circumstances and evil surroundings. Yet +it may be that I-have--more right to--resent--what--I have heard from +you than you imagine. But let that pass. You know--or think you +know--that I have accepted from others that which I have said I cannot +accept from you; and you cannot imagine why this should be so. Oh, +Marchese, does your heart lend you no aid to the understanding of it? +What were those men,--those empty creatures whose gold could not repay +the disgust occasioned by their presence, what were they to me? Did they +love--pretend even to love--me? Did I love them? Love! Alas, alas, alas! +Ah, Marchese, a poor girl exposed to the world, as I have been from my +cradle upwards, has to suffer much that might well move the pity of a +generous heart; but it is nothing--nothing--nothing to the tragedy of +the misery, the shame, the remorse that comes upon her when at last the +day shall come that her heart speaks and shows to her the awful +chasm--the immeasurable gulf that separates such--I cannot, +Lamber--pardon, I don't know what I am saying; I cannot go on--I cannot +put it into words! Do not you--cannot you understand the difference?" + +"I do understand, Bianca mia; povera anima sofferente--I do understand. +Do you imagine that I would judge you harshly--severely? I know too well +all that you would say; I know the difficulties, the impossibilities of +your position. Do you think that I cannot make allowances for all the +fatalities attending on such a combination of circumstances? And, trust +me, the difference between what has been, and what I so earnestly hope +may be now, is greater,--I feel it to be greater, not less than you can +feel it to be. Truly there is nothing in common between the +all-devouring passion which consumes me, and--such love-vows as you have +spoken of. Do I not understand the difference. And remember, Bianca, +dearest, that the protection I offer you would be the means of placing +you out of the reach,--far out of the reach of any such disgusts,--such +suffering for the future." + +Bianca let her head fall on her bosom, and covered her face with her +hands, and remained silent for some moments. Then, lifting her face +slowly, and shaking her head, she sighed deeply as she looked with a +wistful earnest glance into his eyes; she said,--"You are good,--you +are,--very good and kind to me; perhaps it might have been better for my +happiness if you had been less so. But bear with me yet a little, Signor +Marchese. Sit down there,--there where I can see your face,"--pointing, +as she spoke, to a spot exactly in face of the sofa,--"and let me see if +I can explain myself to you. It is difficult; it is very difficult. A +woman, as I said, would understand it at once; but men--are so +different. You have told me, Signor Marchese, that you love me; that you +never loved before; that I am the first woman who has ever moved your +heart. Eh, bene, Signor Marchese! If I, having heard those +protestations, were to confess that--that it was with me even as with +you,"--she dropped her eyes and sighed as she made the +confession;--"that I, too--that you have taught me now for the first +time what it is to love,--though I might speak it less eloquently than +you have done, the words would be equally true,--equally true, Signor," +she repeated, slowly nodding her head. "And when I have confessed that +it is so," she continued, speaking more rapidly, "can you wonder--can +you not understand that it is impossible to me--that it would be a +horror unspeakable to--to renew with the object of a true love--the +first--the first, as God sees my heart--the degradation that has left +nothing but bitterness and humiliation behind it? Shall the name of +Lamberto di Castelmare be written in my memory in the hateful list of +those who have been to me the occasion of remorse, of self-condemnation, +of bitterness immeasurable? Never, never, never! Come what may there +shall be one pure place in my heart; one unsoiled spot in my life; one +ever-dear remembrance unlinked with sorrow and with shame; one memory +which, however sad, shall not be humiliating." + +She put her handkerchief to her eyes as she ceased speaking, and +appeared to be entirely overcome by her emotion. + +The Marchese rose from his chair in a state of hardly less agitation. He +walked across the room;--returned to the sofa, and seemed for a moment +as if he were going to take her hand; then turned away, and stood on the +hearth-rug with his back to the fire. He was much moved, puzzled, +pained, disappointed,--goaded and lashed more violently than ever by the +furies of passion; more than ever wishing that he had never seen the +beautiful creature lying there before him, and more than ever writhing +in mind under the consciousness that to give her up was beyond his +power. + +At length he again stepped up to the side of the sofa and took her hand. + +She started; and plucked it from him. + +"Go, Signor Marchese--go, and leave me. It would perhaps be better so +for both of us. I am not used to show to anybody the very inmost secrets +of my heart, as I have been doing to you,--I know not why. Forget what I +have said. Go, and forget me;--forget the poor comedian to whom your +goodness, your nobleness, and--your love--seemed for a passing minute to +open a blessed glimpse of a heaven upon earth; but never--never again +propose to me to associate the name of Lamberto di Castelmare with names +that I would--oh, so fain--forget!" + +Still the Marchese had not realized the nature of the position or seen +the only outlet from the cul-de-sac into which he had been driven. It +involved too monstrous an impossibility to seem to him to be an outlet +at all. What was the real meaning of all this? Then suddenly an +in-rushing suspicion flashed across his mind like a blasting lightning +brand, bringing with it a sharp pang, as of a dagger stab in the heart. +What was the meaning of all these protestations of admiration and +affection, coupled with a denial of all that his passion drove him there +in search of? Did it perchance mean that this woman, so terrible in the +power of her beauty, so dangerously irresistible, would fain have the +protection which his position could give her, the supplies which might +be drawn from his purse, while her love--such love as he wanted from +her--would be given to a younger rival? + +Suddenly he asked her, "When was the Marchese Ludovico here last?" + +"The Marchese Ludovico?" said Bianca, carelessly; "oh, he is often here. +When last? Let me see: he was here this morning. As good and noble a +gentleman as any in Italy he is, too. He is worthy to bear your name, +Marchese, though it is only a poor girl like me that says it." + +"He seems to have won your good will, anyhow," said the Marchese, +frowning heavily. "What answer, I wonder, would he get if he were to +speak to you as I spoke just now?" + +"He would never speak so, Signor Marchese; he would know that, whatever +might have been the case in past years, alas! it would be useless or +worse to speak so now. I do not say, indeed, that--I have a sincere +regard for the Marchese Ludovico. This much you may be very sure of, +Marchese, that the feelings which you have surprised me into confessing +would make it quite impossible for me to listen to any such words from +the Marchese Ludovico. But, if ever the Marchese Ludovico were to say +any word in my ear,--it would not be," continued Bianca, dropping her +voice and speaking as if more to herself than to him--"it would not be +to offer me what his uncle was offering me just now." + +And now it flashed upon the Marchese for the first time what the real +drift of Bianca's words and conduct had been. She wanted to be Marchesa +di Castelmare. And the meaning of her last words, with their reticences +and their half-uttered expressions spoken out at length might, he +thought, be read thus: If you, Marchese Lamberto, do not make me +Marchesa di Castelmare, your nephew will be ready enough to do so. The +scandal, the wrong done to the family name, the chatter of all the +tongues in Ravenna will be none the less. The matter would be, indeed, +worse instead of better. For it would involve the grave injury that +would be done to the Lady Violante, and the destruction of all the hopes +built upon that alliance. All this seemed to be revealed to him as by a +lightning flash. But the pang of jealousy, which had stung his heart, +still remained the foremost and most prominent occupation of his mind. + +"If you imagine, Bianca," he said after a while, "that my nephew would, +or could, however much he might wish to do so, make any other kind of +proposal to you, you are labouring under a delusion. I speak in all +sincerity of heart." + +"And I have spoken to you, God knows, with all sincerity, Signor +Marchese. I have spoken as I have never before spoken to any human +being. I have opened my heart to you to the very bottom of it. But the +effort of doing so has been a painful one. It has terribly overset me; I +feel like a wrung-out rag; and would fain rest. You will not be offended +if I ask you to leave me now. It is getting late, too; and I expect my +father home every instant. Good-night, Signor Marchese. Forgive me if I +have said aught that I should not have said; if I have in any way +offended you. I think you know how far the wish to do so is from my +heart. Good-night." + +"Good-night, Bianca," said the Marchese, taking the hand she held out to +him, and retaining it in his own for some instants, despite his +intention of specially abstaining from any demonstration of the +kind--"Good-night, Bianca. We shall meet to-morrow morning." + +"Yes, on business," said Bianca, looking up into his face with a sad +smile. "Signor Ercole said he should be here at midday." + +And then the Marchese left her, and, carefully shunning the more +frequented parts of the city, returned to his own home. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +One Struggle more + + +The Marchese reached the Palazzo Castelmare unobserved by any one, save +old Quinto Lalli, who had been for some time past watching the door of +his adopted daughter from a neighbouring corner, in order to ascertain +when he might go home to his bed without infringing the order that had +been given him. + +"And what do you think of it now, papa mio?" said the Diva, when she had +very faithfully, though summarily, recounted the scene which had just +passed, to her old friend and counsellor. + +"Well, I see no reason to despair of the result," said Quinto. "You did +not expect him to jump at the idea of making you Marchesa di Castelmare, +I suppose? Of course he was a little staggered; and, probably, his own +notion at this moment is, that he would rather never see your face +again, than dream of such a thing. Ma, ci vuol pazienza! My notion is, +that you will have him nibbling at the hook again before long. That +little hint about the nephew was masterly. Depend upon it that will do +its work." + +"But, Quinto, I did not say a word to him that was not true--hardly a +word. I do like him better, by an hundred times, than any other man I +ever knew; and if I succeed, you see if I do not make him a good wife; I +swear I will! As for Signor Ludovico, that is all trash and nonsense. He +belongs to his Venetian, body and soul: and he has enough to think of, +poor boy, in scheming to get out of the marriage they have planned for +him." + +"What! he wants to marry the Venetian, does he?" asked Quinto. + +"Yes; they have engaged themselves to each other; she would not hear of +anything else." + +"Lord bless me! how moral and respectable the world is growing. I +suppose Cupid himself will be attended by a gentleman in cassock and +bands before long, and Mars will make Venus an honest woman, as the +phrase goes. Well, I am not sorry I had my day in the old time. It would +be rare fun, though, if these grand Signori, the uncle and the nephew, +were both to be hooked in the same fashion at the same time." + +"There is nothing against the character of the Venetian of any sort," +said Bianca, with a sigh. + +"Ta, ta, ta! I'd back your chance of the uncle against her chance of the +nephew, any day of the week." + +"Ludovico is solemnly engaged to her." + +"I'd hold to my bet, all the same for that; and now let's get to bed, +you have to sing to-morrow night." + +"Yes, and I'm regularly tired out; good-night." + +The Marchese Lamberto was probably hardly less in need of rest, when he +reached the Palazzo Castelmare. But he did not equally feel that it was +within his reach. He shut himself into his room; and throwing himself +into an easy chair, with one hand pressed to his fevered brow, strove to +think; set himself to think out the possibilities of the present, and +the prospects of the future, as far as the blinding volcano bursts of +passion, which ever and anon threatened to sweep all power of thought +away, would permit him to do so. + +So this was the meaning of all the difficulties, which Bianca had made. +She had absolutely conceived the idea of his marrying her. Heavens and +earth! Was she mad? But, at all events, if this notion had been the +cause of all her fighting off of his advances for the last month past, +it was not necessary to attribute her conduct to any preference for some +more favoured lover; she had assured him that she loved him--loved him +as she had never loved another. And, gracious heaven, how lovely she +looked as she said it! + +He pressed his hands before his eyes, and saw again in fancy the +beautiful vision; gloated on the eloquent movement of her person in the +earnestness of her confession; looked again into those large appealing +honest eyes, which seemed to be so incapable of lending their voucher to +a lie. Surely it could not be that all those protestations and +assurances were false,--mere comedy got up for the purpose of deluding +him. That she was worldlily anxious to secure so great a prize as that +which she was trying for was natural enough--was matter of course. But +surely, surely there was genuine affection in that glance. Was it not +likely to be genuine,--that feeling that she could not be to him what +she had been to others? It must have been abundantly clear to her that +had she chosen to accept from him what he had offered her, she might +have amply satisfied any mercenary views, the most exorbitant. Therefore +her views and her feelings were of a different order. + +And then the thought of being so loved by such a creature--of being +really loved for himself--loved as she had never loved before, made for +the moment all other thought impossible to him: he started from his +chair, and paced the room with rapid disordered strides. What was all +the world to the ecstasy of such a love? All--all that he had hitherto +lived for, was it not flat, stale, poor, puerile, in comparison to it? +Why not leave all, and seize a happiness so infinitely greater than any +he had ever known or imagined? Why not marry her, and be hers for ever, +as she was anxious to be his? Nobles of higher rank than his had done as +much before. Why not? + +What would they all say and think? All his world, that he had lived +among, and lived for, from his cradle upwards: the Cardinal, his sister, +his nephew, Violante? The whole society which had looked up to him as +some one altogether above the sphere of human frailties and follies: how +could he face them? What say to them? Why face them at all? Why not +leave all, and make a new world for himself and the one dear companion +of it? Marry her, and take her safe away from all her past, and from all +his. Why not? + +But would she consent to that? Would that be her idea of a marriage with +the Marchese di Castelmare? Was it not likely that she would prefer to +be Marchesa di Castelmare in the Palazzo Castelmare,--in Ravenna, +where--ha!--where Ludovico was, for whom she had so much regard? who was +so frequently with her. That poor Violante! Of course he knew that there +could be no love between her and his nephew. Ludovico had promised that +that marriage should be made. Ay, marry the uncle, to be the nephew's +mistress with all convenience! Such things had often been; there was +nothing new in the arrangement--nothing original in the idea--why, the +very stage was full of such examples: he to be the old duped husband of +the farce; he saw it all. + +And as these thoughts also suggested themselves to his mind, his heart +seemed as though it were clutched by a hand of ice, while his brow +throbbed and his head burned with the pulsing blood. + +He threw himself on to his chair again, and tore his hair with rage and +anguish; and all those vivid and palpitating love-representations which +passion had but now painted on the retina of his eye, were reproduced by +jealousy with the difference that Ludovico instead of himself was the +actor in them. + +It was maddening; his brain seemed to reel; a cold sweat broke out all +over him. The fear dashed across his mind that he should really lose his +reason. + +Was there, he thought to himself, as the terror of this made him +shudder--was there that night in all Ravenna so miserable a being as +himself? And that miserable man, cowering there in the restlessness of +his agony, was the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare; he whose whole life +had been one placid scene of happiness, prosperity, and content. Never +had he known a passion strong enough and forbidden enough to cause him a +pang or a sleepless hour till now. Had not his life been happy? What did +he want with more? Ah, if he could but blot out for ever all that the +last month had brought with it. If he could but be again as he had been +before this woman had cast her sorcery on him. Ah, would to God that his +eyes had never seen her! + +Was it yet too late? Could he not even now tear her from his mind, shut +his eyes to the recollection of her, so command his imagination that it +should never again present the image of her to his fancy? + +And thereupon forthwith uncommanded fancy was busy with every detail of +the beauties that had so made him their slave. The line of the neck and +shoulder which he had looked down on as he stood at the sofa head; all +the white ivory from the fresh innocent rosy little ear to the swell of +the curves about the bosom; the intoxicating perfume from the heavy +tresses of the hair; the lithe slender waist, round and yielding; the +slight nervous hands, the touch of whose fingers fired the blood, as a +match fires gunpowder; the exquisite feet; and, oh God! that face, whose +every feature, as he last looked on it, was harmonized in an expression +of love. + +Quite still he sate for some minutes, conscious of nothing save the +pictures which memory was passing before his eye. Then suddenly, with a +bound, he sprang from his chair, and away from it, and beat his head +against the opposite wall of the large room. + +"Fool, fool; enslaved, besotted idiot! I am lost, spelled; the victim of +sorcery I cannot fight against. What am I to do, what am I to do? Surely +I can keep my steps from going near her. If I were to swear now that I +will never set eyes on her more?" + +And then he recollected that it was impossible for him even to seek that +means of safety without giving rise to all kinds of observations, and +wonder, and speculation in the city. He was to see the prima donna on +the following day. His habits in such matters, well known to all the +town, brought him into frequent contact with Bianca, as with other +ladies who had been similarly engaged in Ravenna. What would be thought, +or guessed, or said, if he were suddenly to refuse to hold any further +communication with her? + +And would he not thus be simply leaving the coast all free to his +nephew? To be sure. There, there, he could see it all. And that was the +worst hell of all. Anything, anything was preferable to that. Come what +would that should never, never, never be. Rather--rather anything. He +gnashed his teeth, and clenched his hand; and a sudden agony of hatred +for both Bianca and his nephew seemed to steal like a snake into his +heart, and maddened him. + +And thus the miserable man passed the greater part of the night in +useless strugglings with the bonds that bound him. + +It was near morning before he crept, still sleepless, but utterly worn +out, to his bed. + +He did sleep, exhausted as he was, after awhile; but it was only to see +again in dreams all that he had so bitterly wished that he had never +seen at all. Sometimes he was himself by Bianca's side, licensed to +revel to the full in her every charm. And then the dream would change. +It was Ludovico he saw in her white arms; and he started from his +fevered sleep bathed in perspiration and quivering in every limb. + +The next morning he was, in truth, quite ill enough to have furnished a +very sufficient and unsuspected excuse for not going to meet the +impresario at Bianca's house according to appointment. He thought at +first that he would do so. But as the time drew near, he dragged himself +from his bed, haggard, fevered, and looking very ill, and crawled to the +appointed meeting. + + + + +BOOK IV + +The last Days of the Carnival + + + + +CHAPTER I + +In the Cardinal's Chapel + + +Paolina was industriously pursuing her task in the chapel of the +Cardinal's palace. Ludovico was not so frequently with her there as he +had been while she was at work in San Vitale. But there were evident +reasons why this was necessarily the case. The chapel in question is a +private one, and is accessible only by passing through a portion of the +Cardinal's residence. At San Vitale Ludovico needed to take nobody into +his confidence, when he climbed to Paolina's scaffolding to be by her +side while she worked, save the old sacristan. But to have joined her at +her work in the Cardinal's palace, he must have knocked at the door of +the residence, and told the servants what he wanted. + +And that would have been obviously inconvenient, even without mentioning +the fact that the Lady Violante, to whom the gentleman ought to have +been addressing himself, passed much of her time at the palace, and +might very possibly have been met by him there. + +It was true that, ever since the ball at the Castelmare palazzo, on the +second day of the year, Ludovico had felt pretty nearly sure that +Violante was as desirous of escaping from the marriage which had been +arranged as he was himself. But it did not at all follow that it would +be an easy matter to break it off. Of course it was not to be expected +that Violante herself could take any active step towards refusing to +fulfil the promise that her family had made for her. That would be for +him to do. And except as regarded his intercourse with the lady, and her +personal feelings, the task of doing so was hardly rendered any the +easier by the knowledge that he would be consulting her wishes as well +as his own. + +It would hardly, therefore, have done in any way for him to have been +visiting the young artist in the Cardinal Legate's chapel. + +The intercourse, however, between Ludovico and Paolina was much +pleasanter and more unrestrained than it had been before that +explanation, which had ensued between them. He was a frequent visitor at +the house in the Via di Sta. Eufemia in the evening; and the happy hours +were passed by them on the perfectly understood footing of mutual +betrothal. + +And Ludovico was perfectly honest and sincere in all that he said to +Paolina. He said nothing to her that he did not equally say to himself. +And if his conduct under the circumstances was not exactly what a father +or brother of Paolina might have desired it to be, the fault arose from +the indecision of character, which belonged to a weak man accustomed to +self-indulgence. There was difficulty and annoyance before him; and +instead of meeting it, as a strong man would have done, he turned from +it, and was content to put off the evil day, contenting himself with the +enjoyment of that which was passing. He marvelled somewhat at the ease, +with which he was permitted to pass evening after evening with his +mistress,--at the absence of surveillance, of which he was +conscious,--and at the silence of his uncle as to both his visits to Via +di Sta. Eufemia, and his no visits to the Lady Violante. But he troubled +himself little to account for this, or to question the reason of the +goods the gods provided him. It was not in his character to do so. +Paolina, on her side, was, upon the whole, trustful and contented. Yet +there had been moments at which she had suffered a passing pang from +little gossipings which had been, perhaps injudiciously, repeated to her +by Orsola Steno. Of course the great prima donna, the celebrated Lalli, +who was blessing Ravenna by her presence, was often talked of in the Via +di Sta. Eufemia, as she was in every other house in the city. That was +quite a matter of course. And then Orsola would speak of the strict +conduct of the lady; of the fact that no one of the young nobles of the +place was permitted to visit her--except, indeed, the young Marchese +Ludovico; and how people did say that half-a-dozen would be safer +company than one; and that the young Marchese was finishing the sowing +of his wild oats before becoming a married man by a flirtation with one +of the most celebrated beauties of Italy. + +There was very little cause for this gossip beyond what the reader is +aware of. Still, upon the whole, it might have been better if Ludovico +had seen less of the fascinating singer. He had given cause enough for +spiteful tongues to make mischief if they could do so; and it may +probably be supposed that he was not insensible to the fascinations of +Bianca--perhaps not to the glory of the fact that he was the only young +man admitted to her society, and that he had occasionally done that +which, being repeated, might not unnaturally give umbrage to Paolina. + +It was now within ten days or so of the end of Carnival; and, while +almost everybody else was amusing themselves in some way or other, +Paolina stuck close to her work in the chapel, intent on her silent and +solitary task, while, from time to time, the voices of revellers in the +streets would reach her in her seclusion. + +But all her hours of work there had not passed in utter solitude. + +The Contessa Violante was in the habit of spending much of her time in +the palace of her great-uncle the Cardinal Legate. It presented, among +other advantages, that of being pretty well the only place in which she +could escape for awhile from the companionship of the Signora Assunta +Fagiani, her duenna. Certainly, it would not have been consistent with +that lady's conception of her duty to allow her charge to visit any +other house whatever in the city, without the protection of her +companionship, but the palace of a Cardinal Legate--and that Legate her +great-uncle. Besides that, her great-aunt, the Cardinal's sister, was +also often at her brother's residence; and, having this facility close +at hand, Violante was wont very frequently to avail herself of the +privacy, comfort, and warmth of her uncle's chapel for the morning's +devotions, which she never missed. + +One morning she found a small portable scaffold or estrade of deals +standing in one corner of the chapel; and, on inquiring for what purpose +it had been placed there, she was told that it was to enable an artist +to make a copy of some of the mosaics on the vault of the little +apartment. She learned further that the artist in question was a young +Venetian lady: that she was a protegee of the Marchese Lamberto; and +that the permission to execute the copies in question, and to have that +scaffolding placed there, had been obtained by him. + +Then Violante knew right well who the Venetian artist was. The worthy +Assunta Fagiani had taken care that all the gossip of Ravenna which +connected this girl's name with that of Ludovico di Castelmare should +reach her ears. And she was glad of the easy opportunity which thus +offered itself to her of gratifying her natural curiosity respecting the +stranger--the girl who could win that love which had been promised to +her; but which she had been unable to inspire. + +This Paolina Foscarelli--she well knew her name--was, in some sense, her +rival. Ludovico di Castelmare was bidden to love her, the Contessa +Violante, and instead of doing so, had given his love, as she had been +assured, to this Venetian. She knew, indeed, quite well that had the +stranger never come near Ravenna, Ludovico would not have loved her the +more. She did not love Ludovico. She was anxious to be quit of the +engagement it had been proposed to make between them; and it might be +very likely that this girl might be serviceable to her, rather than +otherwise, in helping to bring about such a consummation. + +Nevertheless, there was a certain amount of bitterness--such bitterness, +more akin to self-depreciation, as could find place in the gentle heart +of Violante--in the thought of what might have been; in the thought that +she was irrevocably excluded from that which it had been so easy for +this poor stranger artist to attain; and, above all, there was a strong +curiosity to see the beauty which had accomplished this; to hear the +voice which had been able to charm; and, further, in her own interest, +to ascertain, if that should be possible, whether the tie which she had +been told existed between this girl and the man who had been assigned to +her for a husband, was, or was not, of a nature likely to lead to a +marriage between them. + +At first sight this would have seemed impossible to the aristocratic +notions of the Cardinal Legate's niece. But Assunta Fagiani, whose +object had been simply to convince Violante that no union between +herself and Ludovico would ever take place, despite all appearances to +the contrary, had given her to understand that it was whispered as a +thing not impossible--such was Ludovico's infatuation--that he might +even go the length of making such an alliance. + +One morning, soon after the commencement of her work in the chapel, +whither she had been escorted on her first going thither by the Marchese +Lamberto himself in person, in accordance with his promise, Violante, on +entering the chapel, saw that the little scaffold had been pulled out +from its corner and placed immediately under one of the medallion +portraits of the Apostles, on the vault of the building. She looked up, +and perceiving the artist above her at her work, paused, hesitating +before kneeling at the footstool in front of the altar. + +In an instant a light step tripped down the steps of the wooden +erection, and a little figure, clad in a brown holland frock, which +wrapped it from head to foot, stood by her side. + +Paolina knew very well who the lady that had entered the chapel was: +and, as may be easily imagined, she too was not without her share of +curiosity. + +"Do I disturb you, Signorina?" said Paolina, in a sweet, gentle voice. +"If you would prefer it, I will wait till you have finished your prayer. +I can kneel here too the while." + +Violante looked at the girlish face, bright not only with the elements +of material beauty, but with the animation of intelligence and the +informing expression of talent. One would have said that nothing could +well be less becoming than such a long shapeless wrapper as that which +the artist wore. There was the band at the waist, which showed that the +figure was slight and slender; but, for the rest, a less ornamental +costume could not well be imagined. Nevertheless, Violante perfectly +well perceived and understood at a glance that this girl had what she +had not--a something by virtue of which it was possible for her to win a +man's love, while for herself it was, or seemed to her appreciation of +herself, impossible. + +"Oh, no, Signorina," answered Violante, gently, "the knowledge that you +were painting up there would not suffice to distract my thoughts. But +will you not let me look at your work? It must be very difficult to copy +these strange old wall-paintings. May I climb up? I know your friend the +Marchese Lamberto well. Do you know who I am?" + +"Pray, come up, Signorina, if you have any curiosity. Oh, yes, I know +your ladyship. I saw you once in the Cardinal's carriage. You are his +niece, the Contessa Violante," replied Paolina, blushing a little at the +name of the Marchese Lamberto, only because, though assuredly not the +rose, he lived close to it. + +So the two girls climbed the steps of the estrade together. + +"How came you to know the Marchese Lamberto?" asked Violante, after they +had matured their acquaintanceship by a little talk about the subject of +Paolina's work. + +"Only because the Englishman, who employed me to copy these mosaics, +gave me a letter to him. He seems to be very highly esteemed." + +"More so than any other man in all Ravenna,--except my uncle the +Cardinal, I suppose I ought to say; he is a most excellent man in all +ways. But you know his nephew also, the Marchese Ludovico? non e vero?" +said Violante, looking down on the ground, while a pale blush came over +her white cheeks. + +"Yes," replied Paolina, flushing crimson, and similarly looking down, +but stealing a side-glance under her eyelashes at her companion,--"yes; +I became acquainted with him also in the same manner--at least, on the +same occasion; and, in truth, I have seen more of him than of his uncle, +for the Marchese Lamberto is always so busy, and he commissioned his +nephew to do all that he could to assist us, when we were first settling +ourselves here." + +"And you found him kind, too; as kind as his uncle?" said Violante, +stealing a sidelong glance at Paolina. + +"Yes, indeed, Signorina," said she, feeling not a little embarrassment. + +"Paolina--you see I know your name, and I think it such a pretty +one--Paolina," said the Contessa Violante, yielding to a sudden impulse, +and taking the hand of the blushing girl, who kept her eyes fixed on the +ground, "shall we be friends, and speak openly to each other? I should +like to." + +"Oh, Signorina! so should I, so much. There is nothing I should like so +much--almost nothing," replied Paolina, looking up into her face, with +her own still crimson. + +"Tell me, then, if you ever heard my name mentioned in connection with +that of the Marchese Ludovico?" said Violante, looking with a rather sad +and subdued, but yet arch, smile into Paolina's eyes. + +"Yes, Signorina, I have so heard," said Paolina, raising her head with a +proud movement, and looking, with well-opened eyes and clear brow, into +Violante's face as she spoke. "I have heard that it was intended by both +your families that you and the Marchese Ludovico should be married." + +"Yes; everybody in Ravenna, I believe, expects to see such a marriage +before long; do you? We are to be friends, you know, and speak frankly +to each other; do you expect it, Paolina?" asked Violante, still holding +her hand, and looking with a smile, half shrewd, half sad, into her +face. + +Paolina remained silent a minute or two, again dropping her clear honest +eyes to the ground. Then raising them again, she said in an almost +whispered voice, but looking straight at her companion, + +"No, Signorina, I do not expect that; for he has promised to marry me." + +"Ah--h! it is a relief to hear you say so. My dear Paolina, I am so +glad," said the elder girl, putting a hand on each of Paolina's +shoulders, and kissing her on the forehead--"I am so glad; much for your +own sake, somewhat, too, for his, and much for my own sake. For, +Paolina, I could not marry Ludovico. If he asked me to do so, it would +be only done in obedience to the will of his uncle. He does not--no, +'tis no fault of yours, my child--never has loved me." + +"Signora, when first I--allowed him to teach me to love him, I knew +nothing of any duty that he owed elsewhere. And when I did know it I +determined, even if it should break my heart, to refuse any such love as +should have been stolen from a wife," said Paolina. + +"That was the part of a good and honest girl. And for me, I have to +thank you for it. Paolina, I hope you may be happy. We shall often meet +here, shall we not?" + +"Not often here, Signora. My task here is not a long one; and I hope by +the end of Carnival to have finished it, so that I may go to St. +Apollinare, outside the town, where I have to make several copies. It is +very desirable not to go there later; because when the warm weather +comes it becomes so unhealthy there." + +"Yes; but we have some days yet before the end of the Carnival; and till +then you will be at work every day here?" + +"Si, Signora; I hope so." + +"Then I hope we shall have several more opportunities of seeing each +other. And now I must not keep you from your work any longer. Shall we +be friends?" + +"Oh, Signorina; it is too good of you to ask me, a poor artist. And +when--it would be my greatest pride to have such a friend." + +And then the girls kissed and parted: Violante to kneel for her daily +devotions, at the footstool before the altar; and Paolina to continue +her copying. And after that they had frequent meetings in the little +chapel, and learned to become fast friends. + +The Carnival was now drawing near its end; and the city had been +promised that before the time of cakes and ale should be over, and that +of sackcloth and ashes should begin, the divine prima donna should +appear in one more new part. And, after much deliberation and debate, it +had been decided that this should be Bellini's masterpiece, La +Sonnambula. She was to sing it on one night only--the last Sunday of the +Carnival; and the attraction on that night was proportionably great. The +Sonnambula, then in the first blush of its immense popularity, had never +yet been heard in Ravenna. It was one of the favourite parts of the +Diva; and all the city was on the tiptoe of expectation. + +It was a matter of course that all the "society" would be there. The +entire first row of the boxes,--the "piano nobile," as it is called in +Italian theatres,--was the private property of the various noble +families of the city, which each had its box, with its coat of arms duly +emblazoned on the door thereof, in that tier. Nobody who did not belong +to "the society" of the town could in any way show his intruding face in +the "piano nobile." But above this sacred hemicycle there was another +range of boxes; equally private boxes; as all the boxes of an Italian +theatre are;--and the key of one of these upper "loggie" had been +secured by Ludovico, and presented to Signora Orsola and Paolina for the +great evening. + +Of course he himself would be obliged to be in his proper place in the +Castelmare box, which was the stage box on the left hand of the stage. + +"Whether I may be able to run up and pay you a little visit in the +course of the evening, I don't know. You may be very sure I shall if I +can; but there will be all the world there, of course, and lo zio in the +box--unless, indeed, he should choose to go behind the scenes. Talking +of that," he added, as he was on the point of leaving the room, "I don't +know what to make of lo zio of late." + +"Has he said anything?" + +"Not a word; but I don't like the look of him. He never was more amiable +as far as I am concerned; but he is not well; I never saw him as he is +now. He is haggard, feverish, restless; an older man in appearance by a +dozen years than he was at the beginning of Carnival." + +"I suppose he has been raking too much, and wants a little rest. Lent +will be good for him." + +"What, he! The Marchese Lamberto raking! You don't know him. But he +seems quite broken down; I should say, that he had got something on his +mind, if it was not impossible. He never had any trouble in his life; +and never did anything he ought not to do, I believe. But I confess he +puzzles me now. Good-night. God bless you, Paolina mia!" + +That was on the Friday; and the Diva's last appearance was to take place +on the following Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Corso + + +The institution of Carnival and Lent in Italy seems very much as if it +arose from a practical conviction in the minds of the Italians that they +cannot serve two masters,--at least at the same time,--Mammon in all his +forms is to be the acknowledged and exclusive lord of the hour during +the first period, on condition that higher and holier claims to service +shall be as unreservedly recognized when the second shall have set in. + + "Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, + Sermons and soda water the day after." + +Byron has given us the rule with the most orthodox accuracy. Whether the +second portion of the prescription is observed as heartily, punctually, +and universally as the first, may be doubted. But in all outward form +and ceremony the violence of the contrast between the two seasons is +acted out to the letter; is, or was, as may be perhaps more correctly +said now-a-days; for both Carnival jollity and licence, and Lent +strictness, are from year to year less observed than used to be the +case. At Rome, Mother Church exhorts her subjects to feast and laugh in +Carnival, in nowise less earnestly or imperatively than she enjoins on +them fasting and penances for having laughed in Lent. But her subjects +will do neither the one nor the other. And when one hears reiterated +complaints in Roman pulpits of pipings to which no dancers have +responded, and the vain exhortations of the ecclesiastical authorities +to the people to Carnival frolic and festivity, one is reminded of our +own Archbishop's "Book of Sports," and led to make comparisons, by which +hangs a very long tale. + +Great Pan died once upon a time. And Carnival, as it used to be, is with +much else dying now in Italy. But in the days to which the incidents +here narrated belong, the difference between Carnival and Lent was as +marked as that between day and night. + +More marked indeed. For between day and night there is twilight, but the +transition from Carnival to Lent is as sudden as a plunge from sunshine +into cold water. Carnival ends at twelve o'clock on the night of Shrove +Tuesday. And the theory of its observance is, or was, that the fun and +revelry should grow ever more fast and furious up to the last permitted +moment. Then, the clock strikes; the lights are put out, Carnival dies +amid one last hurrah. And maskers and revellers go home to rise the next +morning with grave and perhaps yellow faces. + +In Ravenna, as has been said, a great reception of all the society at +the Palazzo Castelmare on the Sunday evening was as much an institution +as the High Mass on a Sunday morning. And this was the course of things +during all the year, except in Carnival time. Then, in order to leave +Sunday evening--the great time for balls and theatres, and pleasure of +all sorts free, the reception at the Palazzo Castelmare was changed to +the Monday. The programme, therefore, for the three last grand days of +the Carnival in Ravenna, on that occasion, stood thus:--On the Sunday, a +grand gala Corso from four to six in the afternoon. (That is to say, +that every available carriage of every sort in Ravenna would be put in +requisition, and would be driven in procession, at a slow foot pace, up +and down the long street called the Corso; and those who had servants +and liveries and fine horses would display them and rejoice; and those +who had none of these things would mingle with the grand carriages in +broken-down shandridans, and rejoice also at the sight of the finery, +without the smallest feeling of shame at their own poverty. This is a +Corso.) On the Sunday evening, the grand representation of the +Sonnambula, with the theatre lighted (according to advertisement) "with +wax-candles, till it was as light as day!" + +Secondly, on the Monday, another Corso, with throwing of flowers and +"coriandoli" (i. e. what was supposed to be comfits, but in reality +little pills of flour made and sold by the hundredweight for the +purpose) from the carriages to each other, and from the windows and the +balconies of the houses. Then in the evening, a grand gala reception at +the Palazzo Castelmare, at which it was understood masks would be gladly +welcomed by the host. + +On the night of the Tuesday, thirdly, the last great day of all, there +was to be a grand masked ball at the Circolo dei Nobili; that ball of +which and of its consequences on the Ash Wednesday morning, the reader +already wots. And this was to be the wind-up of the Carnival. + +The Corso on the Sunday was a most successful one. The weather was all +that was most desirable; bright, not too cold, and free from wind and +dust. The Marchese Lamberto turned out with two handsomely appointed +equipages. He and his sister-in-law occupied one carriage, and the +Marchese Ludovico and the Conte Leandro Lombardone, who was not a rich +man, and had no carriage of his own, sat in the second. + +It could not be said that the Marchese Lamberto "looked like the time!" +And, in truth, he would have given much to escape the ordeal he was +called upon to go through. But that was out of the question; unless he +had been confined to his bed--in which case the whole town would have +been at the palazzo door with inquiries, and all the doctors at his +bedside in consultation--it could not be that he should not show himself +at the Corso. + +Both the Castelmare carriages had the front seats laden with huge +baskets of bouquets prepared for throwing at friends and acquaintances +in other carriages, and at windows and balconies. The occupants of the +carriages seemed to be embedded in a bank of flowers. And there sat the +Marchese amid this wealth of rainbow-colours, looking positively +ghastly,--so changed, so drawn, so aged was he. And his painful attempts +to enter into the spirit of the scene, and act the part which he was +expected to act, would have been pitiable to any eye which had observed +them closely. + +He had left Bianca only just before it had been necessary to return to +the palazzo to get into his carriage for the Corso: and the interview +between them had been an important one. He had gone thither fully +purposed to explain to her, finally, the utter impossibility of his +doing as she would have him do. He meant to point out to her how +exceptionally difficult it would be for him, in the peculiar position he +occupied, to make her his wife. He intended to show her that such a step +would have the effect of pulling him down rather than that of pulling +her up. He had purposed endeavouring to induce her to accede to such +proposals as he could make to her by the exhibition of the most +unstinting generosity. And he had determined,--fully, finally, and +irrevocably determined, that if all that he could say to her on these +points should fail to persuade her to accede to such an arrangement, as +he had it in his power to propose to her, he would that day, and from +that hour, give her up, and swear to himself never to let the image of +her cross his memory again. + +The visit had been long, and occasionally even somewhat tempestuous. The +Marchese had been eloquent; and now driven to bay, had been unequivocal +enough in his declarations, his determinations, and his promises. The +Diva had shown herself a Diva at every point. She had wept, she had +smiled, she had been scornful, she had been suppliant, she had been +repellent, she had been loving! And in every mood she had seemed to the +fascinated eyes of the Marchese more lovely than in that which preceded +it. Finally, she had conquered. Instead of coming away from her, never +to see her again, he came away leaving her with the offer of his hand. + +And there had been a moment of supreme triumph and ecstasy when +permitted, for the first time, to take her in his arms, and press that +lovely bosom to his own, and glue his own to those heavenly lips; it had +seemed to him as if the prize that was his was worth a thousand times +all that he was paying for it. It was all for love, and the world well +lost. For not for an instant did the Marchese blind himself to the fact +that his world must be lost by such a marriage as he was contemplating. +But what did he care for all that had been hitherto to him as the breath +of his nostrils? He now felt, for the first time, what of joy and real +happiness life had in truth to offer. He would go away,--far away with +his Bianca and live only for her, and for the delights of her love! Fool +that he had been to hesitate. And blessed a thousand times was her +sweet, her dear insistence, that had led him to better things! + +Such was the state of the mind of the Marchese, while he held his Diva +in his arms; and it lasted in full force, almost till he had left the +door of her house behind him as he hastened to the palazzo to discharge +the Corso duty, which was one of the most prominent functions of his +present social position. + +And then it seemed as if suddenly,--with a suddenness equal to that of a +tropical sunset,--the scales had fallen from his eyes, and he was +another man. + +Great God! What had he done? Had he been smitten with sudden madness? +What--what was the fatal power this fearful woman had over him? Were +then the old witchcraft and philtre tales really true? Surely he must be +the victim of some spell, some horrible enchantment. Marry her! Heavens +and earth! He hated her. He felt as if he could with pleasure take her +by that beautiful throat and squeeze the noxious life out of her. + +He pressed his burning hand to his yet hotter forehead, as soon as he +found himself in the quiet and solitude of his own room, swallowed a +large glass of water, and strove to obtain such little command over +himself, for the moment at least, as might suffice to enable him to go +through the task before him. + +A servant knocked at the door and put his head in to announce that the +carriages were at the door. The miserable man started from his chair as +if he had been caught in some crime, and answered that he would be down +directly. A second time he swallowed, hastily, a large glass of water, +for his throat felt parched with thirst; and then, with a vigorous +effort to appear gay and at his ease, which produced only the semblance +of a fixed unnatural grin on his face, he went down to the carriage. + +It was painful to him to pass between the servants who stood in the +hall, painful to have to take his seat by the side of his +sister-in-law,--and most painful of all to meet the gaze of all the town +assembled for the Corso. He could not help thinking that all eyes were +turned on him, with glances of surprise and suspicion. He felt ashamed +to meet and be seen by his acquaintances. He, the Marchese Lamberto di +Castelmare, who had never, till that hour, known what it was to shun the +eye of any man,--who had been accustomed to be the cynosure of all eyes, +and to feel that they were all turned on him with respect and regard. + +The occasion, and the part he was expected to fulfil in it, made it +necessary for him to recognize and return every minute the salutations +and greetings of his friends and those who knew him. And who in Ravenna +did not know the Marchese Lamberto? There was a good-natured word wanted +here, a gallant little phrase there, a salutation with the speaking +fingers to this carriage, a more formal bow to the occupants of another, +a gracious nod to one person, and a smile to a second. + +And all this the unhappy man essayed to perform, as he had so often +performed it happily, easily, and successfully in other days. + +It was impossible for anybody, whose eye rested on the Marchese for an +instant, as he sat amid the flowers in his carriage, to avoid seeing +that there was something wrong with him--that he was very unlike his +usual self. And every eye, as the carriages passed each other in the +long procession, forming two lines as one passed down the street while +the other moved in the contrary direction, did rest on him. But it never +for an instant entered into the head of a single human being there, to +guess at anything like the real cause of the change in the Marchese. + +"Time begins to tell on the Marchese; he takes too much out of himself; +always busy--no rest--a bad thing!" said one. + +"The Marchese Lamberto looks knocked up with this carnival. Quite time +for him that Lent was come," said another. + +"The fact is that the Marchese is growing old, and he wants more rest. +He has not a minute to himself,--too many irons in the fire at once, +said a third. + +"I dare say he has been worried out of his life in getting this new +Opera put upon the stage. You'll see he'll be all right enough at the +ball to-morrow night." + +"Is she in the Corso--La Lalli?" + +"Altro. I should think so--and looking so lovely. What a woman she is!" + +"Whereabouts is she?" + +"About twenty carriages further ahead. You'll see her presently, when we +are near the turn, sitting buried up to her waist nearly in flowers--a +regular Flora, and such a representative as the Goddess never had +before." + +"Who has she got with her in her carriage?" asked the first speaker. "I +expected to have seen the Marchesino Ludovico there, but he is with the +Conte Leandro, in one of the Castelmare carriages." + +"Che! catch her compromising herself in any such manner. I wonder how +much some of our friends would have given to have the place beside her +to-day? But not a bit of it: she has got the old man she calls her +father with her." + +"Funny, isn't it? I wonder what her game is?" + +"Simply to work hard at her vocation, and make as much money as she can, +I take it. Probably you would find, if you got at the truth, some animal +of a baritono robuato, who owns the Diva's heart, and for whom she works +and slaves." + +"Poverina! there are the Castelmare carriages coming round again." + +The manner of an Italian "Corso" is this: A certain street, or +streets--the most adapted to the exigencies of the case that the city +can supply--is selected for the purpose; and when the line of carriages +reaches the end of this, it turns and proceeds back again to the other +end; turns again, and so on. Thus, at each turn, every carriage in the +line meets every other once in each circuit. + +The second Castelmare carriage, in which the Marchese Ludovico and +Leandro Lombardoni were sitting, was following next after that occupied +by the Marchese Lamberto and his sister-in-law; and thus each carriage +in the line proceeding in a contrary direction to them, passed first the +Marchese Lamberto and then his nephew. The carriage occupied by the +latter was a wholly open one with a low back. But that in which the +Marchese Lamberto sat, though also an open carriage, and entirely so in +front, had a half roof at the back, so that it was not so conveniently +adapted as the other for seeing those following it as well as those +preceding it. + +The Marchese and his sister-in-law threw bouquets into almost every +carriage that passed them; and the stock with which they had started was +soon very much diminished. But one specially magnificent and large +bouquet, which conspicuously occupied the centre of the front seat of +the carriage, was evidently reserved. Everybody who saw it knew very +well for whom that was intended. Of course it was for none other than +the Diva of the theatre. And the known interest which the Marchese took +in such matters, his musical fanaticism, and the large share he had had +in bringing La Lalli to Ravenna, made it quite natural, and a matter of +course, that he should pay her such a compliment. + +Presently he descried her in the opposite string of carriages, coming +towards him. Her carriage was an entirely open one, and she sate in it, +with old Quinto Lalli by her side, literally, as one observer had said, +half buried in flowers. And most assuredly neither the labours nor the +dissipations of the carnival, nor time, nor care, nor any other +circumstance, had dimmed the lustre of her beauty, or lessened the verve +and spirit of enjoyment with which she took her part in the pageant. She +was brilliant with vivacity, beauty, and happiness. + +The Marchese might have been seen, had anybody been observing him +closely at the moment, to turn visibly paler as her carriage approached +his. As far as any clear thought had been in his mind, or any power of +thinking possible to him, his latest idea in reference to her had been a +desperate resolve that he would never speak to her again. And now, +again, as he saw her, in a new avatar of loveliness, he once again knew +that to keep such a resolution was above his power. + +What he had to do at the moment was to be done, in any case, with the +best grace he might. Taking the huge mass of skilfully-arranged flowers +in both hands, as her carriage came opposite to his, he leaned out as +far as he could, and Quinto Lalli, who sat on the side nearest to him, +stretched out to meet him, and then handed the offering to the Goddess. +She smiled brilliantly and bowed low, sending a coquettish, sidelong +glance of private thanks under eyelashes as she bent her graceful neck. + +The carriages rolled on, and passed each other; and there rushed into +the Marchese's head a sudden pulse of blood, which turned his previous +pallor into a dusky crimson, and seemed to make all the scene swim +before his eyes. Partly to hide the evidences of the emotion of which he +was conscious, and partly because he felt as if he needed the support, +he threw himself back into the corner of the carriage, turning himself +away from the scene in front of it as though to shelter his face from +the sun that was then so low in the sky as to begin to throw its +slanting rays under the hoods of the carriages. This position, as it +chanced, brought the Marchese's eye to bear on the little glass window +made in the back of the hood of the carriage, after the old-fashioned +manner of coach-building. + +And what he saw through the little window was this. + +A something--a white paper packet, it looked like--was in the act of +being thrown to the Diva's carriage from that immediately behind his +own, in which, it will be remembered, were his nephew and the Conte +Leandro; and the Goddess herself was leaning far out of her carriage in +the act of throwing a bouquet to the Marchese Ludovico: The Marchese +Lamberto also saw the magnificent flowers he had himself just given to +Bianca roll from her carriage on to the pavement,--an accident caused by +the movement of her person as she leaned forward to throw her flowers to +the other carriage. + +With what an added torment to the hell that raged within him the +unfortunate Marchese returned from that miserable Corso to his palazzo, +may be well imagined. + +Nevertheless, there had been as little meaning in what he had seen as +there often is in many things that make the madness of a jealous man's +jealousy. + +With the white paper packet--for such it in truth was--the Marchese +Ludovico had nothing whatever to do. It had been thrown by the poet +Leandro, and contained an attempt to improve the occasion after a +fashion, such as he hoped must draw some reply from the Diva. Bianca had +taken the opportunity--somewhat coquettishly, but according to the laws +and customs of such occasions, quite permissibly--to pay Ludovico the +compliment in the eye of all Ravenna of throwing some flowers because +she liked him, and because she chose to mark the fact that she threw +none during all the Corso to anybody else. She would have done the same +if it had so happened that it had been in front of the Marchese +Lamberto's carriage instead of behind it; but, of course, to the +passion-blinded brain of the latter, this circumstance made all the +difference. + +As to the rolling of his own superb bouquet on the pavement, it had been +quite accidental, and much regretted by Bianca. To recover anything of +the kind on such an occasion is, it must be understood, quite out of the +question. Any such fallen treasure--and half the things thrown do fall +short of the hands for which they are meant--becomes the instant prey of +the small boys who throng the streets, and are constantly on the +look-out for such windfalls around the carriages. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"La Sonnambula" + + +It may be easily imagined that the Marchese returned from the Corso very +little disposed to take any pleasure in the treat to which all Ravenna +was looking forward, and which he would have enjoyed more than any one +else under other circumstances--the performance at the theatre on that +Sunday evening. Nevertheless, the duty of attending it had to be done. +All Ravenna would have been astonished, and have wanted to "know the +reason why," if the Marchese had been absent from his box on such an +evening. "Society" expected it of him that he should be there, and he +had been all his life doing everything that "society" expected of him; +besides, his presence there really was needed, and poor little Ercole +Stadione would have despaired inconsolably if he had been deprived, on +such an occasion, of the support of his great friend and patron. + +But if none of these reasons had existed--if the Marchese, when he +reached the shelter of his own roof after that horrible Corso, had been +entirely free to go to bed and escape the necessity of facing the eyes +of all the world of Ravenna, which seemed to him to be from hour to hour +growing into a more terrible ordeal, would he have gone to bed and +abstained from attending the theatre? + +It might have been very confidently predicted that he would not have +done so. He began, in an unreasoning animal-like sort of way, to +recognize the fact that every hour that he spent away from this woman +was bare, barren, and of no value to him at all. He was conscious that +he could be said to live only in her presence. He was beginning to give +himself up as a lost man, and to acquiesce, half-stunned and stupid, in +a fatality which he could not struggle against. + +And now he was longing--burning not only to have his eyes on her again, +but to speak to her. He would have plenty, of opportunities of doing so +at the theatre in the green-room, or in her dressing-room, and every +minute seemed to him an age till he could find such an opportunity. + +If he had been asked at that minute--if he had himself asked of his own +mind--what he meant to do--to what future he was looking, whether he +meant to marry La Lalli or to give her up, he would probably have +repudiated either alternative with equal violence. His mind was in a +state of chaos; and what was to come in any future, except the most +immediate one, he had become incapable of considering. Now he was going +to see, to hear, to breathe the same atmosphere with her again, and to +go through the wretched task of striving to behave as usual, and look as +usual in the eyes of all Ravenna. + +The performance was to commence at half-past eight o'clock, and the +Marchese, reaching the theatre nearly half-an-boar before that time, +found Bianca sufficiently nearly dressed for him to be admitted to her +dressing-room. She was putting the finishing touches to the platting of +her magnificent hair, after the fashion of a Swiss village-girl, for the +completion of her toilette as Amina. He thought that, in this new +costume, she looked more irresistibly attractive than he had yet seen +her. + +"Bianca," he said, as soon as her dresser had left her, and shut the +door, "you have made me so miserable to-day. I must tell you openly at +once what is in my heart. I saw, to-day, at the Corso--by no means +intending to look at all at your carriage after it had passed mine--I +saw my poor flowers thrown away by you, while you were throwing a +bouquet to my nephew and receiving from him something thrown in return. +Bianca, is that the conduct of a woman who has the very same morning +accepted the hand of another man? Bianca, I warn you to beware; you do +not know what such a love as mine, if it should discover itself to be +betrayed, might be capable of." + +"Marchese, do not look at me in that way; you frighten me, and what have +I done? It is all a mistake, entirely a mistake!" said the poor Diva, +really frightened at the manner of the Marchese. + +"Did I not see you throw the flowers I had given you from your carriage; +evidently for the purpose of gratifying another person?" + +"Oh, Marchese! how is it possible that such a thought should enter into +your head? Ah, how little you know. If you knew how I had grieved over +the loss of the beautiful bouquet that had come from your hand! It fell +from the carriage by accident; and it was snatched up, and a boy ran off +with it, all in a moment; I would have given anything to get it back +again." + +"But how came the accident? It was caused by your leaning out of your +carriage to throw a bouquet yourself." + +"Yes, exactly so; to the Marchese Ludovico. He was the only person to +whom I threw a bouquet in all the Corso." + +"And why should you throw one to him?" + +"To him,--to your nephew? Why not, I should not have thought of doing so +to another. But to him--" + +"And what was it, pray, that he threw to you? I wonder whether he +thought, too, that he should not dream of throwing anything to anybody +except you." + +"The Marchese Ludovico threw nothing to me. Just at the same moment that +troublesome idiot, the Conte Leandro, threw a packet into the carriage. +I have not even opened it; you may have it unopened the next time you +are in the Strada di Porta Sisi, if you like. No doubt it contains some +of his charming verses. It is not kind of you, Signor Marchese, to say +such things, or to have such thoughts in your head!" said Bianca, +turning away her face and putting her handkerchief to her eyes. "And +now," she added, "you have made my eyes all red just before I have to go +on the stage!" + +Of course once again the unhappy Marchese was entirely routed, and the +Diva was victorious. "Forgive me, Bianca,", he whispered; "I think only +of you from the morning to the evening, and from the evening to the +morning again. And it would be impossible for any man to love, as I love +you, without a liability to jealousy. I am jealous of your love, +Bianca!" + +"But it is wonderful that you should not perceive how little cause you +have for any such feeling. Oh, Marchese, how can you doubt me? Surely +you must have seen and known how entirely my love is yours. You must not +wring your poor Bianca's heart by such cruel suspicions." + +And then the three knocks, which announced the raising of the curtain, +were heard; and the Marchese again murmuring a request to be forgiven, +as he kissed her hand, hurried away to take his place in his box. + +The house was already nearly full, for the occasion was a notable one; +and the opera was new to Ravenna; and everybody wished to hear every +note of it. The Marchese Ludovico was not, however, in the Castelmare +box, when his uncle reached it, but he came in a minute afterwards. He +had been up to the upper tier of boxes to say a word to Paolina and her +old friend, who were in the box he had provided for them, which was on +the opposite side of the house to the Castelmare box; and exactly over +that in the "piano nobile" in which were the Marchesa Anna Lanfredi, and +her niece the Contessa Violante. + +There was a little noise in the house of people not yet seated during +the opening chorus of villagers; but when the prima donna came on the +stage as Amina, after the prolonged and repeated rounds of applause, +which greeted her appearance, had subsided, a pin's fall might have been +heard in the theatre. + +The Marchese Ludovico had joined cordially and boisterously, and the +Marchese Lamberto more moderately, in the applause which had saluted the +entrance of the Diva; and after that the latter had placed himself in +the corner of the box, with his back to the audience, and his face +towards the stage, and with an opera-glass at his eyes, he sat perfectly +still, feeding his passion with every glance, every change of feature, +and every movement of the woman who had enthralled him. + +Then came the famous song of Amina, the happy village-bride about to be +married on the morrow to her lover--the tenor of course. The Diva sang +it admirably, and acted it equally well. The purest girlish innocence +was expressed in every trait of her features and manifested itself in +every gesture and every movement. The perfect, trusting, happy love of a +fresh and innocent heart could have had no better representative. + +The recitative, "Care compagne," etc, addressed to the assembled +villagers, fell from her lips with a purity of enunciation that made +each syllable seem like a note from a silver bell. And then the air, +"Come per me sereno," held the house entranced till the final note of +it. And then burst forth such a frantic shout of applause and delight as +can be heard only in an Italian theatre. + +Ludovico leant far out of the stage-box in which he sat, and joined +vociferously in the plaudits with both hand and voice. But the Marchese +remained quiet in his corner, with his face half-shaded by his hand, +conscious as he was that the expression of it might need hiding from the +others in the box. He need not have heeded them; for their attention was +too exclusively occupied with the stage for them to expend any of it on +him. Had it been otherwise his hand, covering the lower half of his +face, would not have sufficed to conceal his emotion. + +Now again the hot fit of his love was in the ascendant. Never had Bianca +more thoroughly captivated him. Never had it seemed to him less possible +to live without her. What to him were all these dull and empty +blockheads for whom he had hitherto lived, and who were now--the foul +fiend seize them!--sharing with him the delight of seeing and hearing +her for the last time. Yes, it should be for the last time. He would +make her his, all his own; and carry her far away from all that could +remind either her or himself of their past lives. And then a scowl of +displeasure came over his face as his glance lighted on his nephew's +noisy and unrestrained manifestations of enthusiastic admiration. + +Presently, towards the end of the first act, came the duet between Amina +and her lover, who has been made causelessly jealous, and Bianca sang +the pretty lines-- + + "Son, mio bene, del zeffiro amante, + Perche ad esso il tuo nome confido. + Amo il sol, perche teco il divido, + Amo il rio, perche l'onda ti da," + +with a sweetness of expression perfectly irresistible. The Marchese in +his corner, half-shrouded from the observation of the house by the +curtain, which, though undrawn, hung down by the side of the box, but +fully facing the stage, was perfectly aware that the singer had +specially addressed herself to him; and he felt the full force of the +loving rebuke for the unreasonable displeasure he had so recently +manifested in her dressing-room. His heart went out towards her; and he +felt that if it were to be done that moment, he could have led her to +the altar in the face of all Christendom. + +At the end of the act the plaudits were again vociferous, and four times +was the smiling and triumphant Diva compelled by the calls and clamour +of her worshippers to return before the curtain to receive their +applause and salute them in return for it. The Marchese Ludovico again +loudly and enthusiastically joined in these manifestations; and then, +when they were over, and the noise in the house had subsided, he quietly +slipped out of the box, and springing up the stairs which communicated +with the upper tier of boxes, entered that occupied by Paolina and the +Signora Orsola Steno. + +"What did you think of that, Paolina mia?" he said, sitting down by her +side, and making the action of applauding with his hands, as he spoke. +"Did you ever hear a thing more charmingly sung? Is she not divine?" + +"There is no mistaking your opinion on the point, at all events, amico +mio. I never saw anybody manifest such unbounded admiration as you did +just now. But the Diva was not thinking of you, I can tell you," said +Paolina, with just the slightest possible flavour of pique in her tone. + +"Thinking of me; I should imagine not indeed. But what upon earth have +you got into that dear little head of yours, my Paolina? Did not you +think both singing and acting very fine?" + +"Certainly I think her voice is perhaps the finest I ever heard in my +life; and she is no doubt a great actress--a very great actress; +but--she is not simpatica to me. I don't know why, but--somehow or +other--I don't like her." + +"What can you have got into your head, tesoro mio? You know nothing of +her; you have nothing to do with her except to see and hear her on the +stage." + +"No; thank heaven! I should not like that she should come any nearer to +my life than that," replied Paolina, with a little shudder. + +"Come, Paolina, you must admit that that is being prejudiced and +unreasonable," said Ludovico smiling at her. + +"Yes; I suppose it is. But--Ludovico mio, just ask any other woman--any +other good woman--in the house; and see if they have not the same +feeling. The Contessa Violante, for example--ask her," said Paolina. + +"Just because she is splendidly handsome: women cannot be just to each +other when that comes in the way. But you might afford to be charitable +even to so beautiful a creature as the Lalli, my Paolina." + +"No, Signor, I won't be bribed by compliments, even from you," she +whispered, with a look that showed that the value of the bribe was not +unappreciated; "and I think that what you say is unjust to women in +general." + +"But I wonder what it is then that has prejudiced you against the +Lalli?" + +"I don't know. Really nothing that I can tell. One feels sometimes what +one cannot explain. She is not simpatica to me, that is all." + +"But what on earth put it into your head, Paolina mia, to say that she +was not thinking of me when she was singing her part? Why should she +think of me--or of anybody else, except the primo tenore, who was +singing with her? What is it you mean?" said Ludovico, much puzzled. + +"You said she was a very good actress as well as a fine singer," +returned Paolina; "and I think she is. This is a capital box for seeing +all that goes on the opposite side of the theatre. And I can tell you +who the Lalli was thinking of, and who she was singing at during her +duet at the end of the act--your uncle, the Marchese Lamberto; and he +knew it very well, too." + +"What parcel of nonsense have you got into your little brains, Paolina? +Sing at the Marchese? Of course they all do; of course they all know +that his suffrage is of more importance to them than all the rest of the +theatre put together. But as for my idea of--lo zio--of all men in the +world. Ha, ha, ha! If you had lived in Ravenna instead of Venice all +your life, carina mia, you would know how infinitely absurd the idea +seems of there being anything between the Marchese Lamberto and a stage +singer, or of its being possible for him to regard her in any other +light than that of a singing machine." + +"I dare say you are right, caro mio. Still I can't quite think that the +Marchese would look at any one of the fiddles quite as I saw him look at +her," said Paolina. + +And then the immense interval, which occurs between one act and another +in Italian theatres, and which is tolerated with perfect contentment by +Italian audiences, came to an end; and Ludovico hurried down to take his +place again in the Castelmare box. + +The next point in the opera which excited the special enthusiasm of the +house was the impassioned finale to the second act, in which Amina on +her knees strives to convince her lover of her innocence of having ever +harboured a thought inconsistent with entire devotion to him. She sang +as if her whole soul were in her words; and the entire theatre was +electrified by the power of her acting; the entire theatre, with the +exception of one intelligent and observant little face in a box on the +upper tier, exactly opposite to that of the Marchese Lamberto. + +From that vantage-ground of observation Paolina saw perfectly well both +the singer on the stage and the Marchese in the box; and again felt sure +that the actress was specially addressing herself with an implied +meaning to the latter; and that he was aware that she was doing so. She +felt no doubt that the motive for this was exactly that to which +Ludovico had attributed it. It was important to the Diva to flatter and +make a friend of so powerful a theatrical patron as the Marchese; and +she took this very objectionable method, Paolina thought, of attaining +that end. Paolina thought nothing more than this; but, nevertheless, it +made her conceive a dislike for the Diva greater, perhaps, than the +cause would seem to justify. + +The interval between the second and the third act Ludovico thought +himself obliged to pass in the box of the Marchese Anna Lanfredi, in +which Violante was sitting with her aunt. There, too, he found the +ladies not quite disposed to be as frantically enthusiastic in their +praises of the singer as the whole male part of the audience. The +Marchesa Lanfredi thought that La Lalli was nothing at all in comparison +with some singer who had charmed all Bologna some forty years before. +And Violante, admitting that she had an exquisite voice and perfect +method, confessed much as Paolina had done, that she did not quite like +her, she hardly knew why. + +In the third act, the song sung by the sleep-walker in her state of +unconsciousness--"Ah non credea mirarti,"--was a great success. And most +fascinatingly lovely the Diva looked in her white night-dress, with her +wreath of rich auburn tresses hanging in luxuriant curls around her +shoulders. + +Shortly after this had been sung a liveried servant entered the +Castelmare box, bearing a most superb bouquet of choice flowers, tied +with a long streamer of broad rose-coloured ribbon, and deposited it on +the front of the box. + +And then came the joyful finale "Ah non giunge." And in that the Diva +seemed to surpass herself. It was a passionate carol of love, and joy, +and triumph in which she seemed to pour the whole force and energy of +her soul into the words and sounds that told the truth, the entirety, +the perfection of her love, and the overwhelming happiness the +recognition of it by its object gave her. + +For many minutes the vociferous applause continued. The stage was +covered with flowers flung from all sides of the house. The Marchese +Lamberto whispered a word or two to Ludovico; and then the latter, +leaning far out of the box, presented the magnificent bouquet to Bianca, +who was smiling and thanking the public for their plaudits by repeated +curtsies, and who came for it to the side of the stage. She made a very +low and graceful curtsey to Ludovico, as she took it from his hand; but +her eyes thanked the Marchese Lamberto, who still remained close in his +corner, for the gift. + +The fact was that he was too much moved by violent and contending +emotions to dare to trust himself to hand the flowers himself. He knew +that he was shaking in every limb; and, therefore, had told his nephew +to give the bouquet; which, indeed, it was quite a matter of course that +a successful prima donna should receive from that box on such an +occasion. + +Again and again the curtain had to be raised after it had descended in +obedience to the cries of the spectators, who were determined to make +the Diva's triumph complete. Again and again she had to step back on the +stage and make yet one more bow and smile--yet one more gracious smile. + +During this delay the Marchese Lamberto slipped from his box and made +his way behind the scenes. "Can you feel as Bianca what you can so +divinely express as Amina?" he whispered in her ear as he gave her his +arm to lead her to her carriage at the stage-door. + +"Try me as Amina was tried; and reward me as Amina was rewarded, and +then see," she replied in the same tone. + +And so ended Bianca Lalli's Carnival engagement at Ravenna. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Marchese Lamberto's Correspondence + + +The next morning--the morning of the Monday after the gala performance +at the theatre--the post brought to the Palazzo Castelmare a letter from +Rome, before the Marchese had left his chamber. The servant took it to +his master's room, found him still in bed, though awake, and left it on +the table by his bedside. + +The Marchese Lamberto was, and had been all his life, far too busy a man +to be a late riser. Italians, indeed, who do nothing all day long, are +often very early risers. Their, climate leads them to be so. They sleep +during hours which are less available for being out of doors--for your +Italian idler passes very little of his day in his own home--and they +are up and out during the delicious hours of the early morning. But the +Marchese Lamberto, whose days were filled with the multiplicity of +occupations and affairs that have been described in a previous chapter, +was wont, at all times of the year, to rise early. + +On the present occasion, a sleepless night--and such nights, also, were +a new phenomenon in the Marchese's life--might have been a reason for +his being late. But he was not sleeping when his servant took the letter +in to him. The frame of mind in which he returned from the theatre has +been described. It lasted till he fell into a feverish sleep, soon after +going to his bed. + +The dreams that made such sleep anything but rest may be easily guessed. +He was startled from them by the fancy that the kisses of Bianca burned +his lips; that it was a scorching flame, that he was pressing in his +arms, the contact of which turned all his blood to liquid fire. + +He slept no more during the night. And the good that had seemed to him, +as he sate in his box at the opera, more desirable than all the other +goods the world could give, seemed good no longer; seemed, in the dark +stillness of his night-thoughts, like a painted bait, with which the +arch-tempter was luring him to his ruin and destruction. + +Restlessly turning on his bed with a deep sigh, and pressing his hot +hand to his yet hotter brow, he took the letter that had been brought +him, and saw that it was from his Roman friend and correspondent, +Monsignore Paterini: + +"Illusmo Signor Marchese E Mio Buono E Colendmo Amico," the letter +ran--"Seeing that the subject of my letter is matter adapted rather to +Carnival than to Lenten tide, I hasten to write so that it may reach +your lordship before the festive season is over. That your friends in +Rome are never forgetful of one, who so eminently deserves all their +best thoughts and good wishes, I trust I need not tell you. But in this +our Rome, where so many interests are the unceasing care of so many +powerful friends and backers, it needs such merit as that of your +lordship to make the efforts of friends successful." + +"Understand, then, that his Holiness has been kept constantly aware of +all that Ravenna--the welfare of which ancient and noble city is +especially dear to him--owes to your constant and intelligent efforts +for the advancement of true civilization and improvement, as +distinguished from all that innovators, uninfluenced by the spirit of +religion, vainly, boast as such. Specially, our Holy Father has been +pleased by the energy, tact, and truly well-directed zeal, with which +you have succeeded in bringing to a satisfactory conclusion the thorny +and difficult business of the Spighi property, on which all the welfare +of our well-beloved Sisters in Christ the Augustines of St. Barnaba so +greatly depends. The lady superior of that well-deserving house is, as +you are aware, the sister of his Eminence the Cardinal Lattoli; and so +signal a service rendered in that direction is, as I need hardly tell +your lordship, not likely to be forgotten." + +"It is under these circumstances that I have the great satisfaction of +having it in my power to inform your lordship, that it is the gracious +purpose of our Holy Father to mark his approbation and satisfaction at +the conduct of your illustrious lordship in this matter, in a manner +that, while it manifests to the whole world the care of his Holiness for +every portion of the dominions of the Holy Church, will, I doubt not, be +highly gratifying to yourself at the present time, and will redound to +the future glory and distinction of your noble family. It is, in a word, +the intention of the Holy Father to confer on your lordship the Grand +Cross of the Most Noble Order of the Santo Spirito. And it is further +the benignant purpose and wish of his Holiness to present you with this +most honourable mark of his approbation with his own sovereign hand." + +"We may therefore hope--myself and your numerous other friends in this +city--to see you here before long. Doubtless the tidings, which I have +been anxious to be the first to give you, will be very shortly +communicated to you in a more official manner. I fancy, indeed, that I +shall not have been able to be much beforehand with the official +announcement. Make your arrangements, then, I beseech you, to give us as +long a visit as you can steal from the grave cares of watching over the +interests of your beloved Ravenna. There are many here who are anxious +to renew their acquaintance, and, if he will permit them to say so, +their friendship with the Marchese di Castelmare. And, if I may venture +to do so, my dear friend, I would, before closing my letter, whisper +that, with due care and a little activity, the present favour of our +Holy Father may be but the earnest of other things." + +"The future, however, is in God's hands, and man is but as grass. +Nevertheless, as far as it is permissible to judge of the human agencies +by which the Heavenly Providence brings about its ends, I should say +that your Legate, his Eminence the Cardinal Marliani, was, of all the +present Fathers of the Church, one of the most deserving of our regards +and respect. Should you have a fitting opportunity of allowing his +Eminence to become aware how strongly such have always been my +sentiments, and how unceasingly I endeavour to impress them on others, I +should esteem it as a favour. It is well that merit even so exalted as +his should know that it is appreciated." + +"Omit not, my friend, to offer to the Marchese Ludovico, your nephew, +the expression of my most distinguished regard and respect; and believe +me, Illusmo Signor Marchese, of your Excellency the devoted friend and +most obedient servant," + +"Giuseppe Paterini" + +Before the Marchese had read the wordy epistle of his correspondent half +through, he raised himself briskly to an upright sitting posture in his +bed, his head was lifted with a proud movement from its drooping +attitude, and an expression of gratified pride and pleasure came into +his eyes. The much-coveted distinction which was now, he was told, to be +his, had long been the object of his eager ambition. And the manner in +which it was to be conferred on him--the attitude he should stand in +with reference to his friend the Cardinal Legate--all contributed to +make the occasion gratifying to him. + +He rang his bell sharply for his servant, and said he would get up at +once. + +The valet said that there was a servant from the Legate's palace below, +with a letter for the Marchese from the Cardinal--that, fearing his +master was not well, and might be getting a little sleep, he, the valet, +had been unwilling to bring the letter up; but that the man was waiting +his Excellency's pleasure, as he had been ordered to ask for an answer. + +Doubtless this was the official communication of which Paterini spoke, +or the forerunner of it. The Marchese desired his man to bring him the +Cardinal's letter directly. + +Yes; the pleasant duty having fallen to the lot of the Cardinal of +making a communication to the Marchese, which would doubtless be highly +gratifying to him, his Eminence was anxious to seize the earliest +opportunity of performing so agreeable a task; and would be happy to see +the Marchese at one o'clock that day, if that hour suited his lordship's +convenience. + +"Delighted to have the honour of waiting on his Eminence at the hour +named." + +The Marchese put the two letters on his toilet-table, and proceeded to +dress. They were large letters. That from Monsieur Paterini was written +on a sheet of foolscap paper, and addressed in a large strong hand, with +the word RAVENNA in letters half an inch high. That from the Cardinal +was contained in a large square envelope, sealed with a huge seal +bearing his Eminence's arms under a Cardinal's hat, with its long +many-tailed tassels hanging down on either side. + +What a triumph would be this journey to Rome. What a yet greater triumph +the return from it. The Legate would certainly hold a special state +reception to welcome him back, and give him an opportunity of showing +the new order to all his fellow-citizens. What a proud hour it would be. + +The Marchese was indulging in these thoughts; dressing himself the +while, and looking every now and then at the two letters lying on his +table, when a footman tapped at the door and handed to the valet, who +was attending on his master, yet a third epistle. Unlike the Cardinal's +servant, the man who had brought it had simply left it, and gone away +without saying anything about an answer. + +This third letter did not resemble its two predecessors--at least on the +outside--at all. It was a very little letter; not a quarter of the size +of either of the others; and the seal wherewith it was sealed was not a +tenth of the size of that of his Eminence; also, instead of being white +like the Cardinal's, or whity-yellow like the Prelate's, it was +rose-coloured, and delicately perfumed. And the superscription, "All' +Illmmo Sigr il Sigr Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare," was written in +very daintily pretty and delicate small characters; as unmistakably +feminine a letter as ever a gentleman received. + +The Marchese's face changed visibly as the little missive was put into +his hands. Yet he opened it eagerly, and opened his nostrils to the +perfume, which exhaled from it, with a greedily sensuous seeming of +pleasure. + +This letter ran as follows:--"Dearest And Best,--If you were not indeed +and indeed so to me, could I have ever suffered the vow that binds us +mutually to each other to have been uttered?--Dearest and best, I write +mainly, I think, for the mere pleasure of addressing you. For I am sure +that it is not necessary to ask you to come to me. You can guess how +eagerly I wish to speak to you; to hear from you that you have dismissed +for ever those horrid thoughts that you vexed me with at the theatre +last night. I longed so to have sung the words I had to utter for your +ears--to your ears only: 'Amo il zeffiro, perche ad esso il tuo nome +confido.' Ah, Lamberto, if you knew how true that is. It is often--how +often--the singer's duty to utter on the stage the words of passion. But +what a thing it is--a thing I never dreamed before--to feel them as I +utter them. The opera did not go badly, did it? I think the success was +a legitimate one. But what is any success or any applause now to me, +save yours? I felt that I was singing to one only, as one only was in my +heart and in my thoughts. Do not let many hours pass before you come to +me, my love, my lord! For they go very slowly and heavily, these hours; +and as I trace the movement of the tardy hour-hand on the clock, I grow +sick with longing, and with hope deferred. Come to me, my dearest and my +best. Your own," + +"Bianca" + +"P. S.--I have mentioned our engagement to no soul save my father; of +course you did not wish me to exclude him from our confidence. He is +fully worthy of it." + +The Marchese sunk down into the chair that stood before his +toilet-table, with the little letter in his hand; and his hand shook, +and his eyes were dizzy, and there was a buzzy ringing in his ears. And +still the perfume from the pink paper rose to his nostrils, and seemed +to his fancy as though it were a poison that he had neither the power +nor the will to defend himself from. + +He had put the little pink note down on the table where the two other +letters were, and sat looking at the three. They were manifestly, +fatally incompatible. Either the two big letters must be thrown to the +winds--they and their contents for ever--together with all thought of +honours, high social standing, and admiring respect of the world; or the +little pink note must be crushed at once and for ever, and its +writer--ah!--made to understand, to begin with, that the Marchese di +Castelmare did not know his own mind; that his offer and his plighted +word were not to be trusted. + +The letters lying there on the table before him, as he sat gazing at +them almost without the power of anything that merited to be called +thought, represented themselves to his fancy as living agencies of +contrasted qualities and powers. The two large missives from his +ecclesiastical friends were creditable and useful steeds; harmless, +wholesome in blood and nature, big and pacific, apt for service, and +good for drawing him on to honour, success, and prosperity. The little +pink note was a scorpion with a power a thousand-fold greater, for its +size--a sharp, venomous, noxious power, stinging to the death, yet +imparting with its sting a terrible, a fatal delight, an acrid fierce +pleasure, which once tasted could not by any mortal strength of +resolution be dashed away from the lips. + +He took the sweet-scented little paper in his hand and read it through +again. And his veins seemed to run with fire as he read. Then for the +first time he saw the postscript. It had escaped his notice before. That +old man had been informed that he had offered marriage to the girl he +called his daughter and had been accepted. + +It might not be so easy to crush the little pink scorpion note, and +liberate himself from the writer of it. Proof? There might be no legal +evidence to show that he had ever made such a promise. Yet, to have such +an assertion made by Bianca and her father,--to have to deny the fact, +knowing it to be true!--he, Lamberto di Castelmare! Great God! what was +before him? + +Then there was that woman, the servant, too. Might it not well be that +she, too, knew the promise he had made; overheard him possibly; set to +do so--likely enough! What was he to do?--what was he to do? + +Something he must do quickly. The Cardinal Legate was expecting him at +one o'clock, and--would it be best to drive Bianca from his mind till +afterwards? Go to her he must in the course of the day! + +Then, suddenly as a lightning-flash, he saw her before him as he had +gazed on her at the theatre overnight in her white night-dress, uttering +those words of passionate love--love which she told him was all +addressed to him,--which she was pining to speak to him again. + +That, then, it was in his power to have, and to have now,--now at once. +"Ahi, ahi!" he gnashed, through his ground teeth, closing his eyes as +the besieging vision postured itself in every seductive guise before the +suggestions of his fancy. Ah, God! what were Cardinals, and Crosses, and +place and station, or all the world beside, to one half-hour in those +arms? + +Come what come might, he would see her first before going to the +Cardinal. + +Snatching his hat, cane, and gloves, breakfastless as he was, he hurried +out of the house half mad with the passion that was consuming him, yet +with enough of the old thoughts about him to turn away, on quitting his +own door, from the direction of the Porta Sisi, and to seek the goal of +his thoughts by the most unfrequented route he could find. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Bianca at Home + + +Quinto Lalli and Bianca were sitting together in the parlour of their +apartments in the Strada di Porta Sisi, that same Monday morning just +after the little pink note had been despatched to the Marchese. Bianca +was having her breakfast--a small quantity of black coffee in a +drinking-glass, brought, together with a roll of dry bread, from the +cafe. Old Lalli was not partaking of her repast, having previously +enjoyed a similar meal, with the addition of a modicum of some horrible +alcoholic mixture, called "rhume," poured into the coffee at the cafe in +the next street. + +"That will bring him fast enough," said the old man, alluding to the +note which had been just despatched. "The game is quite in your own +hands, as I told you from the beginning it would be. That postscript was +a capital thought." + +The postscript in question, which, it may be remembered, had not added +to the pleasure the billet had given the Marchese, had been added at the +suggestion of old Lalli himself. + +"I would rather not have written it," replied Bianca, peevishly. "It +looked too much like putting the screw on--I don't like it." + +"Be reasonable, bambina mia, whatever you are. How, in the name of all +the Saints, do you imagine that you are to become Marchesa di Castelmare +without putting the screw on--and that pretty sharply too? The man is as +thoroughly caught as ever man was caught by a woman; and I tell you, +therefore, that the game is in your own hands. But you don't suppose +that he is burningly eager to solicit the honour of your alliance, che +diamine?" + +"Don't, Quinto; don't go on in that way. I tell you I hate it all," +returned Bianca. + +"Cars mia, you are in an irrational humour this morning. Do you like the +old game better? It don't pay, bambina mia, as you have found out; and, +above all, it won't last. But I am sure you have reason to be satisfied +with your success this season in any way. I never heard you sing better +in my life than you did last night; and, to say the truth, these people +seemed to appreciate it." + +"I tell you, I hate it all--all--all!" said Bianca, as she swallowed the +last drop of her coffee, and threw herself on the sofa in an attitude of +languor and ennui. + +"You are unreasonable, Bianca, you are not like yourself this morning; I +don't know what is come to you. What in the world do you like, or what +do you want?" said the old man, looking at her with a puzzled air. + +"Did you see the Marchese Ludovico in a box on the right-hand side on +the second tier with that Venetian girl, the artist?" + +"The Marchese Ludovico was in the left-hand stage-box with his uncle." + +"Of course he was; but I mean between the acts. I saw him from the wing +by the side of that girl with her face the colour of mahogany, and her +half-alive look. I hate the look of her, and I know she hates me!" + +Old Quinto looked at his pupil curiously for a minute before he replied +to her. + +"What do you mean, Bianca mia?" he said, at last; "and what, in the name +of all the Saints, is the Venetian girl to you, or you to her? Did you +ever speak to her? Why should she hate you?" + +"I tell you, she does. We women can always see those things without +needing to be told them; and she knows, you may be very sure, that I +hate her." + +"But why? What is she to you?" reiterated the old man. + +"You asked me, just now, what I wanted. I want, if you must know, what I +can never have--what the Venetian girl last night was getting." + +"And what was she getting? I don't understand you, upon my soul!" said +Quinto, staring at her, and utterly puzzled. + +"What was she getting? Love!--that was what she was getting! Ludovico +loves her," said Bianca, raising herself on her elbow, and speaking with +fierce bitterness. + +"Tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu!" whistled Quinto, between his pursed-up lips. +"But I thought, bambina mia, that you were going to love the Marchese +Lamberto, and be a good wife to him, and all the rest of it, according +to the rules and practices of the best-regulated domestic family +circles; and I--I was so rejoiced to hear it," said the old reprobate, +casting up his eyes and hands. + +"Don't, Quinto; don't talk in that manner, or you'll drive me beyond +myself. I can't bear it." + +"But did you not say that you loved the Marchese Lamberto?" persisted +Quinto, dropping his mocking tone, however. + +"I said that I liked him better than any of the men I have known; that I +admired him as a fine and noble gentleman; that I would be a good and +true wife to him,--and should love him," she added, with a burst of +bitterness, "better than he ever will, or can, love me." + +"Well, come now, bambina mia. If you think that the Marchese is not +enough in love with you, you must have a strong appetite, indeed, and be +very hard to content. Why, if there ever was a man thoroughly caught, +fascinated--" + +"Bah! Love! Ludovico loves the Venetian," said Bianca, with an +expressive emphasis on the verb. + +"Ludovico, again! I protest I don't understand you, Bianca. But there, +when a man has come to my age he don't expect ever to understand a +woman. You did not want Ludovico, as you call him, to love you, did +you?" + +"No: but--" + +And Bianca stopped short, and seemed to fall into a sort of reverie. + +"But what? If you mean that you wanted to have the uncle for a husband, +and the nephew for a lover, that is intelligible enough. The game would +have been a dangerous one. But there is no reason why you should not say +it plainly between friends." + +"I tell you, Quinto, I won't hear you speak to me in that tone," said +Bianca, turning on him fiercely, and with flashing eyes. "Did I ever do +anything to attract him?" she added,--"did I try to make him love me? Do +you think that the Venetian would have stood in the way if I had chosen +to do so? I never did! I meant, if the Marchese would make me his wife, +to be true and loyal to him; though he himself seems to think it +impossible that I should be so. You know that I have never attempted to +attract Ludovico in any way." + +"Very well then; let his Venetian have him in peace," said Quinto, +shrugging his shoulders. + +"Why, then, does that girl hate me as she does? What harm have I ever +done her?" returned Bianca. + +"Why should you think she does hate you?" expostulated Quinto. + +"I have told you that I saw it. I saw it in her eyes when Ludovico was +handing me the bouquet;--which he only did because his uncle told him to +do it. She would have blasted me to death with her look at that moment +if she could have done it;--I have a good mind--a very good mind--" + +"Be guided by me this once for the last time, as you have so often been +before; bambina mia," said Quinto, who thought that he now understood +the real state of the case; "make sure of your own game first. Make all +safe with the Marchese Lamberto. When you are the Marchesa di Castelmare +it will be time to take any revenge on the Venetian you please." + +"Ah--h--h--h!" sighed Bianca, shaking her head with an expression of +disgust; "you understand nothing about it, Quinto; you can't--of course +you can't. Gia," she continued, after a pause of thought; "yes, I could +take from her, poor fool, what she has; but could I, Bianca Lalli, take +it and keep it for myself? Ah me, it is weary work! You might as well go +and flaner, Quinto; for I must dress ready for the Marchese, in case he +comes this morning." + +"He'll come sure enough," said Quinto; as he prepared to leave the room. + +"It's quite time, then, that I made myself ready to receive him," +returned Bianca, getting up from the sofa. + +"Amo il zeffiro, perche a lui suo nome confido," she sang, as she turned +listlessly to go to her chamber; and despite what she had said--and said +with perfect sincerity to her adopted father--it may be feared that the +suo did not refer in the singer's mind to the Marchese Lamberto. + +Quinto Lalli was in the act of shutting the sitting-room door behind +him, when the outer door of the apartment opened and Ludovico appeared +in the doorway. He was the very last man whom Quinto, with the ideas in +his head which the above conversation with Bianca had put into it, would +have wished to see there. And perhaps there was something in his manner +of meeting the visitor that enabled the Marchesino to perceive that he +was not just then welcome. + +"A thousand pardons," he said, in an easy, careless manner, "for coming +at so indiscreetly early an hour; but I could not refrain from just +saying one word to the Signorina Bianca on her last night's triumph, and +I shall have no opportunity of seeing her later in the day." + +"Bianca," called out Quinto, re-opening the door he was closing, and +putting his head back into the room, "here's the Marchese Ludovico +wishes to speak to you." If the old man had not been a little bit out of +humour with his adopted daughter he would probably have found some +excuse for getting rid of the inopportune visitor. + +"Pray let the Signor Marchese come in," returned Bianca, turning back +from the door of her bed-room, rather to the surprise of Signor +Quinto;--and Ludovico passed on into the sitting-room as the old man +went out and shut the outer door behind him. + +Bianca, as she had said, had been about to dress to receive the Marchese +Lamberto; and Ludovico thus caught her (really surprised this time) in +her morning toilette. But there was nothing in her dress to prevent her +from being with propriety presentable, or, indeed, to prevent her from +looking very charming in her dishabille. Nevertheless, she did not +intend, as we have seen, to present herself without further adornment to +the Marchese Lamberto; and it was not without a certain feeling of +bitterness at her heart that she said to herself, "What does it +signify?" as she cast a glance at her looking-glass before stepping back +into the sitting-room to receive her visitor. + +"Really, Signora, I don't know how to apologize sufficiently for thus +breaking in upon you," said Ludovico, coming forward to meet her; "but I +could not refrain from calling to say one word of congratulation. Can +you forgive me?" + +"I hardly know whether I can," said Bianca, half pouting and half +laughing, and looking wholly beautiful; "to be seen when they are not +fit to be seen is an offence which we others, women, find it difficult +to forgive, you know." + +"But that is an offence which, in the nature of things, cannot be +committed against the Signora Bianca Lalli," retorted Ludovico, with a +low bow, half earnest and half in fun, and a look of admiration that was +entirely sincere. "But the fact is," he continued, "that I really was +impatient to be the first to make you my compliments on last night's +immense success. To tell you that I never heard a part sung as you sang +that of Amina last night would, perhaps, appear to you to be saying +little. But I do assure you the whole city is saying that there never +was anything like it. It was superb! Perfect! Perhaps the praise of all +Ravenna is not worth very much to one who has had that of all Italy. +But, at all events, my uncle is a competent judge--and he is not an easy +one. And I do assure you he was moved as I never saw him moved by music +before." + +"He is very good--too kind to me. He was good enough to see me to my +carriage at the theatre last night; and he said some word that makes me +think he purposes doing me the honour of coming here to give me the +advantage of his criticism on last night's performance," said Bianca, +who was anxious to let her visitor understand the desirability of +avoiding being caught there by his uncle. + +"Yes, I am sure he would not fail to bring his tribute of admiration +this morning," returned Ludovico, carelessly; "but he will not be here +yet awhile. He is an early man in general, lo zio; but he has not been +well latterly. You must have seen yourself, Signorina, how changed he is +since you have known him. I really begin to be uneasy about him. You +must surely have observed how ill he is looking." + +"I am so grieved to hear you say so. Of course any change must be far +more evident to those who have known him all his life. But I should have +said that I had rarely or never seen so remarkably young-looking a man +for his years. The Marchese happened to tell me once that he is fifty or +not far from it. It seemed to me impossible to believe it," said Bianca, +who understood perfectly well how and why it came to pass that the +Marchese should latterly be a changed man. + +"Three months ago he might have well passed for five-and-thirty; but, +per Bacco, he looks his years now every day of them--and more, too, il +povero zio." + +"Nay, Signor Ludovico, I think your regard for your uncle makes you +think him worse than he is. I thought he was looking very well at the +theatre last night," replied Bianca, knowing nothing more to the purpose +to say. + +"At the theatre. Ah! perhaps. He was pleased and excited. I did not +specially remark him last night. But, the truth is, I am not easy about +him." + +"I feel very much persuaded, Signor Ludovico, that you are alarming +yourself unnecessarily. Your fears are excited by your affection for +your uncle. I doubt whether many nephews in your position, Signor +Marchese, would feel as much anxiety about the health of an uncle whose +heirs they were; not that I mean, of course, Signor, to insinuate that +you are dependent on your uncle," added Bianca, who felt considerable +curiosity to know how matters stood in the Castelmare family in this +respect. + +"Faith, though, I am dependent on him," returned Ludovico, with the most +careless frankness. "I have not a bajocco in the world but what comes to +me from him. But lo zio is more generous than uncles often are to their +nephews who are to be their heirs. And I am in no hurry to succeed to +him, I assure you." + +"I am sure that would not be in your nature in any case, Signor +Ludovico," returned Bianca; "but there is some excuse for those being in +a hurry whose future depends on the caprice of old people," she added, +fishing for further information. + +"But my future does depend upon his caprice--in one way, at all events. +Suppose my uncle should take it into his head to marry, and have a +family. There is nothing to prevent him. Many an older man than he by a +great deal has done so. And if that were to happen, there is not a +beggar in all Ravenna who is a poorer man than I should be. Only that lo +zio is about the most unlikely man to marry in all Italy, it is a thing +that might happen any day." + +"Why should the Signor Marchese be so unlikely to marry? One would say, +to look at him, that it was not such an unlikely thing. Suppose some +designing woman were to make the attempt?" + +"There does not exist the woman who could have the faintest shadow of +success in such an enterprise, Signora. If you could tell how often the +thing has been tried! He is seasoned, lo zio is. Besides, he never was a +man given much to falling in love at any time of his life. I don't think +he is much an admirer of the sex, to tell you the truth. No; there is no +fear of that." + +There was a silence of some minutes, and Bianca seemed to have fallen +into a reverie; till, suddenly, raising her eyes, which had fallen +beneath their lashes, while she had been busy with her thoughts, she +said, looking up archly into Ludovico's face: + +"Your attention, at all events, was not so fully occupied by the +performance last night, Signor, but that you had plenty of thoughts and +eyes at command for other matters." + +"What do you mean, Signora? I am sure I was not only an attentive but a +delighted listener," said he, while the tell-tale blood flushed his +cheeks. + +"Ah! I saw which way your glances and thoughts were wandering. We +artists see more things in the salle than you of the world before the +foot-lights think for. A very pretty little brunette, in No. 10 on the +upper tier, was quite equally aware of the direction of the Marchese +Ludovico's thoughts and looks." + +"You might have seen not only my thoughts but me myself in the same box, +Signora, if you could have continued your observations after the curtain +was down. The lady you saw there is one for whom I have the highest +possible regard," said Ludovico, with a very slight shade of hauteur +quite foreign to his usual manner, in his tone. + +It was very slightly marked, but not so slightly as to escape the notice +of Bianca, who perfectly well understood it and the meaning of it. + +"I dare say she well deserves it; she looks as if she did," said the +Diva, with a pensive air, and a dash of melancholy in her voice. "I have +often wondered," she continued, after a moment's pause, "whether you +others, grand signori, ever ask yourselves, when you bestow such regards +as you speak of on a poor artist--I know who she is, merely an artist +like myself--what the result to the woman so loved is likely to be?" + +"Signora!" cried Ludovico, provoked, exactly as Bianca had intended he +should be, into saying what he would not otherwise have allowed to +escape him, "permit me to assure you that, however pertinent such +speculations may be in other cases, which have doubtless fallen under +your observation, they are altogether the reverse of pertinent in the +present instance. The lady in question is, as you say, a poor artist; +not, perhaps, as you were also kind enough to say, one quite of the same +kind as yourself, neither so successful nor so celebrated"--he hastened +to add as he saw a sudden paleness come over the face of the singer, and +an expression sudden and rapidly repressed and effaced, of such a +concentration of wrath and hatred in her eyes, that momentary as it was, +pulled him up short with something very much akin to a feeling +resembling fear--"an artist neither so successful nor so celebrated as +the Signora Lalli, but, nevertheless, a lady whom it is the dearest wish +of my heart to call my wife." + +"She is indeed, then, a most fortunate and happy woman," said Bianca, +who had perfectly recovered herself, with grave gentleness; "and I am +sure that neither I nor any sister artist have any right to envy her her +happiness. Would it seem presumption in a poor comedian to express her +earnest wish that you, too, Signor Ludovico, may find your happiness in +such a marriage?" + +"Nay, don't speak in that tone!" said Ludovico, putting out his hand and +taking hers, which she readily gave him. "I accept your good wishes, +Signora, most thankfully. I do hope and think that I--that we shall find +happiness in our mutual choice. But, pray observe, Signora, that our +talk has led me into confiding a secret to you, that I have, as yet, +told to no living soul, and that it is important to me it should be kept +secret yet awhile longer. I know I may trust you; may I not?" + +"Depend on it, Signor Marchese, your secret shall be quite safe with me. +But are you sure it is a secret? And then, do you know," continued the +Diva, resuming her air of pensive thought, "when I hear a man in your +position speaking with such noble truthfulness, the converse of the +thought that I angered you--very innocently, believe me--by expressing +just now, comes into my head. And I ask myself, if women in such a +position as the lady we speak of, are apt to take themselves to task +with sufficient strictness, as to what they are giving in return for all +that is offered to them." + +"I don't quite understand your meaning, Signora," said Ludovico, who +really did not perceive the drift of his companion's words. + +"I mean that a woman, so circumstanced, ought to be very sure that she +is giving her heart to the man who asks for it, and not to his position, +not to the advantages, to the wealth he offers her. She ought to feel +certain that, if all this--the advantages--the wealth were to vanish and +fly away, her love would remain the same. Suppose now--it is out of the +question, you tell me, but the case may be imagined all the +same--suppose your uncle, the Marchese, were to marry, would the +Venetian lady's love suffer no tittle of falling off?" + +The red blood rushed to Ludovico's cheeks and brow, and then came an +angry gleam into his eyes. It was not that he resented the liberty which +his companion took in thus speaking to him. It was not, either, that he +felt indignant at the doubt cast, even hypothetically, on the purity of +his Paolina's love. It was rather the unreasoning animal anger against +the person who had given him pain. It was a stab to his heart, this germ +of a doubt thus placed there for the first time. He was conscious of the +pang, and resented it. In the next minute the hot flush passed from his +face, and he became very pale. + +Bianca saw, and understood it all, as perfectly as if she could have +seen into his heart and brain. + +"The doubt, you put before me, is so horrible an one that I could almost +wish it might be put to the test you speak of. But I have no such doubt. +However much your questioning may be justified by other examples, it is +not justified in the case of Paolina. I know her; I know her heart, and +the perfect truthfulness that wells up from the depths of her honest +eyes." + +No amount of ready histrionism was sufficient to prevent a very meaning, +though momentary, sneer from passing over the beautiful face of the +singer as Ludovico spoke thus. But he was too much excited by his own +thoughts and words to perceive it. + +"I trust that you may be right, Signor Marchese. I have no doubt that +you are right. Believe me that I have ventured to speak as I have +spoken, solely from interest in the welfare of one who has been so +uniformly good and kind to me as you have. Will you believe me, Signor +Ludovico, that I would do a good deal and bear a good deal to be able to +conduce to your happiness in any way?" + +She put out her hand to him, as she spoke the last words, with her eyes +dropped to the ground, and with a feeling of genuine shyness, that was +quite surprising and puzzling to herself. + +"Dear Signora, I will and do believe it with all my heart; and, in +truth, I am deeply grateful to you for your good will," said Ludovico, +really touched by the evident and genuine sincerity of her words. + +"And now, I must ask you to leave me. I must dress myself and lose no +time about it. The Marchese will be here in a minute or two. And I could +not, you know, venture to receive him in the unceremonious manner which +you have been good enough to excuse." + +She gave him a little sidelong look with half a laugh in her eyes, as +she said the latter words; and Ludovico, putting the tips of her fingers +to his lips before relinquishing her hand, bowed, and left her without +saying anything further. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Paolina at Home + + +Ludovico had run up in a hurry to Bianca's lodging, as has been seen, +merely because it happened to be in his way, and because he had been +desirous, as he told her, of paying her his compliments on the success +of the preceding evening. He was hastening to pay another visit, in +which his heart was far more interested, and had not intended to remain +with La Lalli above five minutes. The conversation between them had +extended to a greater length; and the Marchesino, eager as he was to get +to the dear little room in the Via di Sta. Eufemia, would have made it +still longer, had not the Diva dismissed him. + +The talk between them had become far more interesting than any which he +had thought likely to pass between him and the famous singer. This +horrible doubt--no, not a doubt--he had not, would not, could not doubt; +but this germ of a doubt deposited in his mind by the words she had +spoken? Could she have had any second motive for speaking as she had +done? Surely not; surely all her manner and her words showed +sufficiently clearly that she was actuated by kindly feelings towards +him and by no unkindly feeling towards Paolina. Yet unquestionably +Paolina's instinctive prejudice against her would not have been +diminished by a knowledge of what the Diva had said. Ludovico thought of +the bitter and burning indignation with which his darling would have +heard the expression of the possibility of a doubt of the uncalculating +purity and earnestness of her love. + +Nevertheless he felt that he should have liked to talk further with +Bianca on the subject; of course only to convince her of the absolute +injustice of her suspicions. Still she was a woman, a fellow artist; +placed in some respects in the same position in relation to the world to +which he belonged, as his Paolina--in some respects similar; but oh, +thank God, how different! Yet women understood each other in a way a man +could never hope to understand them. What immediately struck Bianca, +struck her naturally and instinctively in this matter of a marriage +between him and the Venetian artist, was the idea that Paolina, almost +as a matter of course, was at least biassed in her acceptance of his +love by a consideration of the material advantages she would gain by it. +It was the natural thing then, the thing a priori to be expected, that a +girl in Paolina's position should be so influenced. Ludovico would fain +have questioned and cross-questioned La Bianca, his experienced +monitress, a little more on this point. + +Yes, to be expected a priori. But when one knew Paolina; when one knew +her as he knew her, was it not impossible? Could it be that Paolina, +being such as he knew her in his inmost heart to be, should even +adulterate her love with interested calculations? He knew it was not so; +and yet--and yet other men had been as certain as he, and had been +deceived. In short the germ of doubt had been planted in his mind. And +Bianca well knew what she had been about when she planted it there. + +Why had she done so? She spoke with perfect sincerity when she had told +him that she would do much and suffer much for his happiness. And yet +she had knowingly placed this thorn in his heart. Why could she not let +him, as Quinto Lalli had expressed it, have his Venetian in peace? She +spoke truly, moreover, when she said that, married to the Marchese +Lamberto, she fully purposed to make him a good and true wife; truly, +when she declared to old Lalli, and also to her own heart, that she +really did like and admire him much. And yet there was something in the +sight of the love of Ludovico and Paolina that was bitter, odious, +intolerable to her. + +Ludovico hastened to the house in the Via di Santa Eufemia on quitting +that in the Via di Porta Sisi, not unhappy, not even uneasy; with no +recognized doubt, but with a germ of doubt in his mind. + +Signora Orsola had gone out per fare le spese, to make the marketings +for the day; and he found Paolina alone. Such a tete-a-tete would have +been altogether contrary to all rules in the more strictly regulated +circles of Italian society. And it would have been all the more, and by +no means the less contrary to rule in consequence of the position in +which Ludovico and Paolina stood towards each other. But the world to +which Paolina belonged lives under a different code in these matters. +And ever since the day in which the memorable conversation between her +and her lover, which has been recorded in a former chapter, had taken +place, Paolina had never felt the smallest embarrassment or even shyness +in her intercourse with him. And she received him now with openly +expressed rejoicing, that the chance of Orsola's absence gave them the +opportunity of being for a little while alone together. + +"I called at this early hour, tesoro mio," said Ludovico, "mainly to +tell you that I have made all the necessary arrangements at St. +Apollinare in Classe, and you can begin your work there as soon as you +like. What a dreary place it is. To think of my little Paolina working, +working away all by herself in that dismal old barn of a church out +there amid the swamps!" + +"Oh, I shan't be a bit afraid. I am so accustomed to work all by +myself." + +"No, there is nothing to be afraid of! Do you think I should let you go +there alone, if there were? You will find the scaffolding all ready for +you." + +"Thanks, dearest, I am so much obliged to you; I should never have been +able to get my task done without your help. Ah, how strange things are! +To think, that that Englishman, in sending me here, should have been--" + +"Should have been sending me my destined wife. Who ever in the world did +me so great a service as this Signor Vilobe, who never had a thought of +me in his mind." + +"And if I had chanced not to be in the gallery at the Belle Arti that +day," rejoined Paolina, with a shudder at the thought of what the +consequences of such an absence would have been. + +"You will have the great church entirely to yourself, anima mia," said +Ludovico; "there is not a soul near the place, save the old monk, who +keeps the keys, and a lay-brother, who was ill, the poor old frate said, +when I was there. It is a dreary place, my Paolina, and I am afraid you +will find your task a weary one. I fear it will be cold too." + +"Oh, I don't mind that much! What is more important, is to get the job +done before the hot weather comes on. They say it is so unhealthy out +there, when the heat comes. What is the old frate like?" + +"He is a very old, old man, and he looks as if fever and ague every +summer and autumn had pretty nearly made an end of him. He seemed quite +inclined to be civil and obliging. If he were not, you could knock him +down with a tap of your maulstick, I should think, though it be wielded +by such a tiny, dainty little bit of a hand," said Ludovico, lifting it +to his lips between both his as he spoke. "And now tell me," he +continued; "what did you think of the third act last night? Did she not +sing that finale superbly?" + +"Superbly,--certainly the finest singing I heard. But--" + +"What is the 'but,' anima mia? I confess I thought it perfect." + +"So I suppose it was. But I think that perhaps I should have had more +pleasure in hearing a less magnificent singer, who was more simpatica to +me. I can't help it, but I do not like her; and I am sure I can't tell +why. I have no reason; but do you know, Ludovico mio, there was one +moment when, strange as it may seem, our eyes met--hers and mine--in the +theatre last night. It was just as she turned away from your box, when +you had put the bouquet into her hand. She looked up, and our eyes met; +and I can't tell you the strange feeling and impression that her look +made upon me. And I am quite sure that, for some unaccountable reason or +other, she does not like me. She looked at me--it was only half a moment +with a sort of mocking triumph and hatred in her eyes, that quite made +me shudder and turn cold. + +"If it were not so entirely impossible, I should think you were jealous, +my little Paolina. If I were to--what shall we say?--if I were to set +out on a journey with la Diva, tete-a-tete, to travel from here to Rome, +should you be jealous?" + +"With La Bianca?" + +"Yes! with La Bianca." + +"I don't know. I don't think that I should in earnest. I know in my +inmost heart, my own love, that you love me truly and entirely; I feel +it, I am sure of it. But all the same, I should rather that you did not +travel from here to Rome alone with La Lalli." + +"That means that, to a certain degree, you are jealous, little one. Do +you think I should be uneasy if you were called on to travel under the +escort, for example, of our friend the Conte Leandro?" + +"The Conte Leandro!" cried Paolina, laughing, "I am sure you ought to be +uneasy at the bare thought of such a thing, for you know how terrible it +would be to me. But is it quite the same thing, amico mio? La Lalli is +indisputably a very beautiful woman; and the Conte Leandro is--the Conte +Leandro. But it is not that she is beautiful. I don't know what it is. +There is something about her--ecco, I should not the least mind now your +travelling to the world's end, or being occupied in any other way, with +the Contessa Violante." + +"She is not a beautiful woman, certainly." + +"She is, at all events, fifty times more pleasing-looking, as well as +more attractive in every way, than the Conte Leandro. But that is not +what makes the difference. I take it, the difference is, that one feels +that the Contessa Violante is good, and that nobody would get anything +but good from her. I have got quite to love her myself." + +"And yet you see, Paolina mia, somehow or other it came to pass that I +could not love her, when I was bid to do so; and, in the place of doing +that, I went and loved somebody else instead. How is that to be +accounted for, eh?" + +"I am sure that is more than I can guess, Ludovico." + +"One thing is clear--and a very good thing it is--that Violante has no +more desire to marry me than I have to marry her. As soon as ever +Carnival is over, my own darling, I mean to speak definitively to my +uncle, and tell him, in the first place, that he must give up all notion +of a marriage between Violante and me." + +"As soon as Carnival is over. Why, that will be the day after +to-morrow,"--said Paolina, flushing all over. + +"Exactly so; the day after to-morrow. But I mean only to tell him, in +the first instance, that I cannot make the marriage he would have me. +Then, when that is settled--and some little time allowed for him to get +over his mortification, il povero zio--will come the announcement of the +marriage I can make. I have quite fixed with myself to do it the day +after to-morrow. But--I don't know what to make of my uncle. He is not +in the least like himself. I am afraid he must be ill. I fully expected +that I should have to fight all through Carnival against constant +exhortations to pay my court to the Contessa. But he has never spoken to +me a word on the subject." + +"Perhaps he has discovered that the lady likes the proposal no better +than you do," suggested Paolina, with a wise look of child-like gravity +up at her lover's face. + +"No; it's not that. He never dreams of her having any will in the matter +apart from that of her family. I can't make him out. There's something +wrong with him. He looks a dozen years older than he did; and his habits +are changed too." + +"Do you think--that is--it has just come into my head--do you remember, +Ludovico, what I said to you last night at the theatre about the way La +Lalli sung her love verses at him?" + +"La Lalli again. Why, she has fascinated you at all events. You can +think of nothing else. La Lalli and lo zio. Dio mio! If you only knew +him. All the prime donne in Europe might sing at him, or make eyes at +him, or make love to him, in any manner they liked from morning till +night without making any more impression on him than a hundred years, +more or less, on the tomb of the Emperor Theodoric out there. No, anima +mia, that's not it. No, il povero zio, I am more inclined to think that +he is breaking up. It does happen, sometimes, that your men, who have +never known a day's illness in their lives, break down all of a sudden +in that way. Everybody in the city has been saying that he is changed +and ill. But I must be off, my darling. I only came to tell you that all +was in readiness for you at St. Apollinare. At least that was my excuse +for coming. But now I must go and see about all sorts of things for the +reception to-night. We shall have all the world at the Palazzo to-night. +And lo zio asked me to see to everything. Addio, Paolina mia. You know +where my heart will be all the time. Addio, anima mia." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Two Interviews + + +After Ludovico had passed into the sitting-room in the Via di Porta Sisi +to pay his visit to Bianca, Quinto Lalli prepared to leave the house in +accordance with her suggestion that he should dispose of himself +out-of-doors for the present. But before going he called Gigia the maid, +and said, as he stood with the door in his hand: + +"Gigia, cara mia, the Marchese Lamberto is coming here presently; just +make use of your sharp ears to hear what passes between him and Bianca; +and take heed to it, you understand, so as to be able to give an account +of it afterwards if it should be needed. You need not say anything about +it to la bambina till afterwards; I have no secrets from her, you know, +and, as soon as the Marchese is gone, you may tell her that you have +heard everything, and that I directed you to do so; but better to say +nothing about it beforehand. Inteso?" + +"Si, si, Signor Quinto! Lasci fare a me!" + +And, with that, the careful old man went out for his walk, and it was +not half-an-hour after Ludovico left the house before the Marchese made +his appearance. + +Bianca, now having completed her toilette, started from her sofa, and +went forward to meet him with both hands extended, and with one of her +sunniest smiles. + +"This is kind of you, Signor Marchese. I hoped, ah! how I hoped, that +you would come. If you had not, I don't know what would have become of +me. My heart was already sinking with the dreadful fear that my little +note might have displeased you. But, thank God, you are here: and that +is enough." + +"Of course, Bianca, I came when you begged me to do so," said the +Marchese, looking at her with a sort of sad wistfulness, and retaining +both her hands in his. He advanced his face to kiss her, and she stooped +her head so as to permit him to press his lips to her forehead. + +"Was it of course, amore mio?" she said, with a gushing look of +exquisite happiness, and a little movement towards clasping his hand, +which still held hers, to her heart. "Was it of course that you should +come to your own, own Bianca when she begged it? But you are looking +fagged, harassed, troubled, mio bene: have you had anything to vex you? +Henceforward, you know, all that is trouble to you is trouble to me. I +shall insist on sharing your sorrows as well as your joys, Lamberto. +What is it that has annoyed you, amore mio?" + +"I have much on my mind--necessarily, Bianca mia; many things that are +not pleasant to think of. Can you not guess as much?" + +"I have had but one thought, amico mio, since I heard from your lips the +dear words that told me that henceforward we should be but one; that our +lives, our hopes, our fears, would be the same; that, in the sight of +God and man, you would be my husband, and I your wife. Since then, I +have had but one thought, and it is one which would avail to gild all +others, let them be what they might, with its brightness. Is the same +thought as sweet a source of happiness to you, my promised husband?" + +"That's clear enough, I hope," thought Gigia, outside the door, to +herself. "Che! If nothing had been said the other day, that would be +enough; and I think Quinto might trust nostra bambina to manage her own +affairs. She knows what she is about, the dear child: not but that it is +a good plan to be able to remind a gentleman in case he should forget. +Gentlemen will forget such things sometimes." + +"You cannot doubt my love," said the Marchese, in reply to her appeal. + +Those five words may possibly, in the course of the world's history, +have occurred before in the same combination. But the phrase served the +occasion as well as if it had been entirely new and original. + +"Indeed, I do not, Lamberto; nor will you again, I trust, ever doubt +mine as you seemed to do last night. Ah, Lamberto! you do not know how +bitterly I wept over the remembrance of those cruel words when I had +parted from you. You will never, never say such again. Tell me you never +will." + +"Doubts and fears, my Bianca, are the inevitable companions of such a +love as mine," said the Marchese, with a somewhat sickly smile; "but the +few words you said last night sufficed to dissipate them, as I assured +you." + +"But there is still something troubling your mind, Lamberto. See, I +already take the wifely privilege you have given me to wish to share all +that annoys you. What is it? Come and sit by me here on the sofa, and +tell me all about it." + +And then the Marchese sat himself in the seat of danger that had been +proposed to him, and, in a certain degree, explained to Bianca the +difficulties attending a marriage with her. He tried hard to recommend +to her favourable consideration the plan of a secret marriage--of a +marriage to be kept secret, at all events, for awhile for the present; +but such an arrangement, as may easily be understood, did not, in +Bianca's view, meet the requirements of the case. That was not what she +wanted. It may also be easily understood that the Marchese, occupying +the position which the enemy had assigned to him, carried on the contest +at an overpowering disadvantage, and was finally routed, utterly +conquered, and yielded at discretion. + +On her side the advantages of the situation were made the most of with +the most consummate generalship. The limit between that which was +permitted to him, and that which was denied to him, was drawn with a +firmness and judgment admirably conducive to the attainment of the end +in view. He was permitted to encircle the slender, yielding waist with +one arm as he sat by her side on the sofa, and to retain possession of +her hand with the other; but any advanced movement from this base of +operations was firmly and unhesitatingly repressed. At one moment, when +the attacking party seemed to be on the point of pressing his advances +with more vigour than before, it chanced that the Diva coughed; and it +so happened that, in the next instant, Gigia entered the room, bringing +wood for the fire in her arms--a diversion which, of course, involved +the execution of a hurried movement of retreat on the part of the enemy. + +The whole of Bianca's tactics, indeed, were admirable. And the result +was, as usual, victory. Once again, as long as he was in her presence +and by her side, the unfortunate Marchese felt that the spell was +irresistible--absolutely irresistible by any force of volition that he +was able to oppose to it. Once again it seemed to him that the only +thing in the world that it was utterly impossible to him to relinquish +was the possession of Bianca. The hot fit of his fever was on him in all +its intensity; and there was nothing that he could do, or suffer, or +undergo that he would not rather do, or suffer, or undergo than admit +the thought of giving her up. It really seemed as if there were some +physical emanation from her person--some magnetic stream--some +distillation from the nervous system of one organization mysteriously +potent over the nervous system of another, which mounted to his brain, +mastered the sources of his volition, and drew him helpless after her, +as helplessly as the magnetized patient obeys the will of his +magnetizer. + +Suddenly both of them heard one o'clock strike from the neighbouring +church. To the Marchese it was a knell which, with horrid warning-note, +dragged him forcibly back from his Circean dalliance to the thoughts, +the things, and the people whose incompatibility with the possibility of +such dalliance was driving him mad. It was the hour at which he had +promised to wait upon the Cardinal. It was absolutely necessary that he +should go at once; and he tore himself away from that fatal sofa-seat +with a wrench, and a reflection on the purpose of his visit to the +Legate, which seemed to him really to threaten to disturb his reason. + +Slinkingly he stole from the house in the Strada di Porta Sisi, and +hurried to the Cardinal's palace. His mind seemed to reel, and a cold +sweat broke out all over him as he rang the bell at the top of the great +stone stair of the Legate's dwelling. + +This business that he was now here for--those high honours which were +about to be lavished upon him--would they not all make his position so +much the worse? The higher he stood, would not his fall be the more +terrible? What would be said or thought of him? At Rome, immediately +after the high distinction shown him, what would they not say? Here, in +Ravenna, how should he look his fellow-citizens in the face? Impossible, +impossible. Could he venture even to accept the high distinction offered +to him? Would there not be something dishonourable--a sort of treachery +in suffering this mark of the Holy Father's special favour to be +bestowed upon him, while he was meditating to do that which, if his +intention were known, would make it quite impossible that any such +honour should be conferred on him? + +And how fair was life before him, as it would be if only this fatal +woman had never crossed his path? And was it not even yet in his own +power to make it equally fair again? Was it not sufficient for him to +will that it should be so? + +What if he never saw Bianca again? What could avail any nonsense she or +her pretended father might talk of him? If they were to declare on the +house-tops that he had promised marriage to La Lalli, what human being +in all the city would believe them? The very notion that such a thing +could be possible would be treated as the impudent invention of people +who clearly had not the smallest knowledge of the man they were +attempting to practise on. No, he had but to will it to be free. If only +he could will it. + +And with these thoughts passing through his mind he entered the +receiving-room of the Legate. + +It was impossible to be received more cordially than he was by that high +dignitary. His Eminence felt sure that his old acquaintance and +highly-valued good friend the Marchese was aware how great his (the +Cardinal's) pleasure had been in discharging the duty that had devolved +upon him. The letter he had that morning received from the Cardinal +Secretary was a most flattering one. Perhaps he (the Cardinal) might +take some credit to himself for having performed a friend's part, as was +natural, in keeping them at Rome well acquainted with the singular +merits of the Marchese. He would, indeed, have been neglecting his duty +if he had done otherwise. + +Then, after alluding lightly and gracefully to the special interest he +could not but feel, in his private capacity, in any honour which tended +yet more highly to distinguish a family with which he trusted his own +might at no distant day be allied, he told the Marchese that it was +probable that nothing would be done in the matter till after Easter. + +It was the gracious wish of the Holy Father to enhance the honour +bestowed by conferring it with his own apostolic hand; and, doubtless, +as soon as Lent should be over, it would be intimated to the Marchese +that the Holy Father was desirous of seeing him at Rome. When he came +back thence his fellow-citizens would, in all probability, wish to mark, +by some little festivity or otherwise, with which he, on the part of the +government, should have great pleasure in associating himself, their +sense of the honour done to their city in the person of its most +distinguished citizen. + +The Marchese, while the Cardinal Legate was making all these gracious +communications, strove to look as "like the time" and the occasion as he +could. At first it was very difficult to him to do so at all +satisfactorily. The influence of that other interview, from which he had +so recently come, was too strong upon him. All the images and ideas +called up by the Cardinal's words were too violently at variance, and +too incompatible with those other desires and thoughts to affect him +otherwise than as raising additional obstacles and piling up more and +more difficulties in the path before him. But, as the interview with the +courteous and dignified churchman proceeded,--as the genius loci of the +Cardinal's library began to exert its influence--as all the hopes and +ambitions and prospects which were opened before his eyes, falling into +their natural and proper connection of continuity with all his former +life, so linked the present moment with that past life as to make all +that had filled the last few weeks seem like a fevered dream,--gradually +the Marchese entered more and more into the spirit of the Cardinal's +conversation. Gradually all that he had hitherto lived for came to seem +to him again to be all that was worth living for. Old habitual thoughts +and ideas, the growth and outcome of a whole life, once again asserted +their wonted supremacy; and the Marchese Lamberto marvelled that it +should be possible for that to happen to him which had happened to him. + +Ah! if only weak men were as prone to run away from temptation as they +are to run away from the difficulties that are created by yielding to +it. But they are ever as brave to run the risks of confronting the +tempter, as cowardly to face the results of having done so. + +The Cardinal had not failed to mark the air of constraint and dispirited +lassitude which had characterized the Marchese during the commencement +of their conversation. And he, as others had done, attributed it to the +supposition that the Marchese was very rapidly growing old--likely +enough, was breaking up. Nor did he less observe the very notable change +in him as their interview proceeded--the result, as the churchman +flattered himself, of the charms of his own eloquence and felicitous +manner. He was himself a good twenty years older than the Marchese; but +he had been put into great good humour that morning by private letters +accompanying the official despatch that has been mentioned, which had +hinted at favourable possibilities in the future as to certain ambitious +hopes that had rarely failed to busy his brain every night as he laid it +on the pillow for many a year. So he smiled inwardly a gentle moralizing +smile as he thought how gratified ambition had power to stir up the +flagging passions and stimulate the sinking energies even as the golden +bowl is on the eve of being broken. + +The Marchese, however, left the Cardinal's presence a much happier man +for the nonce than he had entered it, his mental vision filled with +pictures of ribbons, stars and crosses, with, perhaps, a statue--between +the two ancient columns in the Piazza Maggiore would be an excellent +site--in the background. + +Ah! if only he could have had the courage to run away from temptation. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A Carnival Reception + + +On that Monday night all the world of Ravenna were assembled in the +suite of state-rooms on the piano noble of the Palazzo di Castelmare. +The cards of invitation had announced that masks would be welcomed by +the noble host; and a large number of the younger portion of the society +accordingly presented themselves in dominoes and the silk half-masks +which are usually worn in conjunction with them. But very few of either +ladies or gentlemen came in character. Such costumes were mostly +reserved for the ball, which was to take place at the Circolo dei Nobili +on the following evening. That was of course the wind-up of the +Carnival; and besides it was felt, that a shade or two more of licence +and of the ascendancy of the Lord of Misrule might fitly be permissible +at the Circolo, than was quite de mise in the rooms of so grave and +reverend a Signor as the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare. + +A few determined revellers would lose no opportunity of enjoying the +delight of dressing themselves up in costumes, which they deemed +specially adapted to show off to advantage either their physical +perfections or their intellectual and social pretensions. Sometimes, as +may have been observed by those who have witnessed such revelries, it +unfortunately happens that both the above desirable results are not +quite compatible. Our friend the Conte Leandro, for instance, having +determined to appear at the Circolo ball in the character of +Dante--which, for a poet at Ravenna, was a very proper and natural +selection--presented himself at the Palazzo Castelmare in that of +Apollo--an equally well-imagined presentation; had it not been that the +happy intellectual analogy was less striking to the vulgar eye, than the +remarkable exhibition of knock-knees and bow-legs resulting from the use +of the "fleshings;" which constituted an indispensable portion of the +god's attire. + +He carried in one hand what had very much the appearance of a gilt +gridiron; but was intended to represent a lyre; and in the other a +paper, which was soon known to contain a poem of congratulation +addressed to the host, on the announcement which, all the city well knew +by this time, had been made to him that morning. + +The rooms were thronged with black dominoes, and white dominoes, and +pink, and scarlet, and blue, and parti-coloured dominoes. Violante was +there in a black domino, and Bianca in a white one. There was very +little dancing, but plenty of chattering and laughing. One main thing to +be done by every person there was to congratulate the host on his new +honours. Our Conte Apollo, among the rest, would fain have read his poem +on the occasion. But as he approached the Marchese for the purpose, a +white silk domino, that was standing by the Marchese's side, burst into +such an uncontrollable fit of silvery and most musical, but too +evidently uncomplimentary laughter, that the poor god of song was too +abashed by it to make head against it. + +"Surely never had Apollo such a representative before," said the +Marchese to his companion, as the mortified god turned away. + +"The voice, the face, the lyre, and the legs; oh, the legs!" said the +silvery voice of the white domino in return. + +The words of both speakers had been uttered sotto voce; but the Conte +Leandro had unfortunately sharp ears; and not only heard what was said, +but was at no loss to recognize the voice of the second speaker. + +The poor poet was destined not to find the evening an agreeable one. A +little later he was passing by an ottoman in one of the less crowded +rooms, on which the Marchese Ludovico was sitting with the Contessa +Violante. She had, at an early period of the evening, abandoned all +pretence of keeping up her incognito, and was dangling her black mask +from her finger by its string as she sat talking to Ludovico. Leandro +turned towards them to pay his compliments to the Contessa, and possibly +in the hope of being allowed to read his copy of verses. But here again +mortification awaited him. + +"What, Aesop, Leandro! What put it into your head to choose the old +story-teller for a model? You look the part to perfection, it is true; +but what is that thing you have got in your hand?" + +Again his lordship was fain to retreat. + +"What a shame to torment the poor man so, in your own house too, Signor +Ludovico," said Violante, who, nevertheless, could not help laughing. + +"Not a bit, he's used to it. He is too absurd for anything; an egregious +vain ass," returned Ludovico; with very little precaution to prevent the +object of his animadversions from hearing them. And again Leandro's +acute ears did him the ill service of carrying every word that had been +said to his understanding. + +"Indeed I think her perfectly charming," said Violante, in continuation +of the conversation, which had been interrupted by the bow-legged vision +of Apollo; "extremely pretty of course,--but a great deal more than +that. She is fresh, ingenuous, modest, full of sensibility, and as +honest-hearted as the day. You are a very fortunate man, Signor +Ludovico, to have succeeded in winning such a heart." + +"How came it about at first, that you spoke to her?" asked Ludovico. + +"Oh, I went into the chapel in the morning, as I very often do, to +recite the litany of the Virgin, and if she had remained on her +scaffolding I should probably not have noticed her. But she ran down in +the most obliging manner, fearing that she might disturb me, and +offering to suspend her work, as long as I should remain at my +devotions. It was so pretty of her, and so prettily said!" + +"And then you answered her as prettily, I suppose, Signora?" + +"Nay, it is not in my power to do that," said Violante, with a touch of +bitterness; "but I told her, that she did not disturb me in the least; +and I spoke to her of the work she was engaged on; and she asked me to +come up and look at it; and so we talked on till we became very good +friends." + +"And then you were kind enough to converse with her on several +subsequent occasions?" + +"Oh, yes, we had several long talks; and I liked her so much. I am sure +she is thoroughly good. I rejoice with all my heart that a destiny, so +much more brilliant than anything that could have been expected for her, +is likely to be hers." + +"I wish, Signora Contessa, that it was more than likely to be hers; I +wish that our path lay clearer before us!" said Ludovico, with a sigh. + +"Including me in the 'us'? I wish it were with all my heart. But +remember, Signor Marchese, how much is possible to a man, and how little +to a woman. All, that the strong expression of my own wishes and +feelings can do, shall be done when the proper time comes for the doing +of it. But you must not trust to that, or to me. You ought to save me +from being compelled to act at all in the matter. You are free to speak. +And now that another besides me is so vitally concerned, I think you +ought to do so without further delay." + +"And I have fully made up my mind to do it, Signora Contessa. I have +told Paolina, this very day, that I purpose speaking very seriously to +my uncle on the subject on the day after to-morrow--the first day in +Lent. I thought I would let this Carnival time pass by first without +breaking in upon it, with business that cannot, I fear, be otherwise +than painful. I have promised Paolina, and am fully determined to speak +to my uncle on Wednesday." + +"And what do you purpose saying to him?" asked Violante, looking into +his face with quiet eyes. + +"In the first instance I have no intention of speaking to him on the +subject of Paolina--" + +"No!" interrupted the Contessa, changing her look to one of surprise. + +"Not to begin with, I think. To speak of my intention to make a +marriage, which I cannot hope will meet his approbation, would only make +my rejection of the alliance, which he hopes to see me form, the more +difficult." + +"Yes, that seems true; but I doubt whether you are right there. You will +begin, then, by telling him--?" + +"I shall begin by saying that it seems clear to me, that I have little +hope of any success in the quarter in which he has wished me to--" + +"Nay, that will not be quite fair, Signor Marchese," interrupted +Violante, speaking very quietly. "Can you honestly tell your uncle that +you have made any very strenuous efforts in that direction?" + +"But I thought, Signorina," said Ludovico, hastily; I surely had reason +to suppose that I should be speaking in support of your +sentiments--quite as much as--"Stay, Signor Marchese; excuse my +interrupting you, but it is exactly on this point that I wished to talk +with you. Let us clearly understand each other. It is, no doubt, quite +true that if you and I had been left to ourselves, if no +family-considerations had intervened to suggest other views, neither of +us would have been led by our own inclinations,--it is best to speak +openly and frankly,--neither of us, I say, would have been led by our +own inclinations to think more of the other than as an old and valued +acquaintance. This is the truth, is it not?" + +"Nay, Signorina, can I say--" + +"It is not fair, you would say," interrupted Violante again, "that I +should force your gallantry to make so painful an avowal. Nonsense! Let +us put aside all such trash: the question is, not--how we shall mutually +make what the circumstances require us to say to each other agreeable to +the self-love of either of us, and to silly rules of conventional +gallantry, but there is a real question of fairness between us; and it +is this: how much should each of us expect that the other will +contribute towards the difficult task of liberating both of us from +engagements we neither of us wish to undertake. You see, Signor +Marchese, I have made up my mind to speak clearly; more clearly than I +could, I think, have ventured to do, had I not the advantage of having +had those conversations with my friend Paolina in the Cardinal's +chapel." + +"In what respect did it seem to you, that what I proposed saying to my +uncle in the first instance, was unfair, Signorina?" + +"In this it would be unfair. To talk of your want of success in +obtaining what you never sought to obtain, is simply to throw on me the +burden and the blame of disappointing the wishes and plans of both our +families. I am ready to do my part; but it would be unreasonable to +expect that it can be so active or so large a part as your own. It will +not be for you to let it be supposed that you are ready and willing to +offer your hand to the Contessa Violante Marliani, trusting to my +refusal to accept it in the teeth of the wishes of my family. It is your +duty to say openly and plainly that you cannot make the marriage +proposed to you. If I were in your place--if I might venture to suggest, +what I would myself counsel--I should add, as a reason--an additional +reason--that I had given my heart elsewhere." + +"But, Signora, you forget that the marriage between us was proposed +before I ever saw or heard of Paolina," said Ludovico, with a naivete +that should certainly have satisfied his companion that he was no longer +attempting to shape his discourse according to the rules of conventional +gallantry. + +Violante, despite her gravity, could not forbear smiling, as she said in +reply: + +"Not at all, Signor. I do not in the least forget that before Paolina +ever came to Ravenna, you were no whit better disposed to second the +wishes of our families." + +"Nay, Signorina. I declare--" + +"What, again! Do let us leave all such talk. Don't you see that we may +frankly shake hands on it. Don't you see that any pain that your +indifference might have occasioned is entirely salved by the +consciousness that I have been as bad as you. We are equally rebels +against the destiny arranged for us. Let us fight the battle together +then. I think that you would act wisely in telling your uncle at once +that it is impossible you should make any other woman your wife than her +who has your entire heart and affection. I think that this course is due +to Paolina also." + +"I only wished to spare my uncle, as much as possible, in breaking to +him what I know will give him pain." + +"People, who will wish what they ought not to wish, must endure the pain +that the frustration of such wishes entails. It is certainly your right +to marry according to your own inclinations." + +"Yes; and in truth, as far as real power goes, there is nothing to +prevent my doing so. It is truly a desire to break to my uncle, as +gently as I can, that which will certainly be a blow to him. He is not +well, my uncle. He is deplorably changed since the beginning of this +year. Look at him, as he passes us," he added, as he observed the +Marchese Lamberto approaching the place where they were sitting, with +the white satin domino on his arm. + +"He is looking changed and ill, certainly," said Violante, when the +Marchese had passed, apparently without noticing them; "he looks thin +and worn, and yet feverish and excited. Who is the lady on his arm? She +must be very tall." + +Many of the assembled company had by this time, like the Contessa +Violante, discarded their masks, finding the heat, which always results +from the use of them, oppressive, and not perceiving that any further +amusement was to be got by retaining them. But the white domino, leaning +on the Marchese's arm, still retained hers. It is not likely that Bianca +herself could have had any objection to its being seen by all Ravenna +that she monopolized the attention of the Marchese during the entire +evening. And it is therefore probable that she had retained her disguise +in compliance with some hint given to that effect by the Marchese +Lamberto. + +"I take it it must be La Lalli, the prima donna. I know she is here +to-night and in a white domino, though I have not yet spoken to her. I +am afraid my uncle must be tired and bored with her. He always makes a +point of showing those people attention; and besides he had so much to +do with bringing her here. I dare say we shall hear her once or twice +again in this house before she leaves Ravenna. My uncle is fond of +getting up some good music in Lent, when he can." + +"The Marchese Lamberto did not look to me as if he was tired or bored," +said Violante, thoughtfully. "I hope he is not. Here comes that absurd +animal Leandro again. Did you ever see anything so outrageously +ridiculous?" + +Ludovico and the Contessa then rose from their seats, and Violante +taking his arm drew him in the direction in which the Marchese Lamberto +had led the white satin domino. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Paolina's Return to the City + + +There remained now but one day more of that Carnival, which remained +memorable for many years afterwards in Ravenna, for the terrible +catastrophe that marked its conclusion. + +All that these people, whose passions, and hopes, and fears have been +laid open to the reader, were doing during those Carnival weeks was +gradually leading up, after the manner of human acts, to the terrible +event which rounded off the action with such fatal completeness. And the +catastrophe was now at hand. + +During the reception at the Castelmare palace on that night of the last +day of Carnival but one, the white domino, whom Ludovico had rightly +supposed to be Bianca--a guess which had been shared by many other +persons in the room--had pretty exclusively occupied the attention of +the Marchese Lamberto. And it must be supposed that the resolution was +then taken between them which led to the summons of Signor Fortini, the +family lawyer, to the palazzo on the first day of Lent, as was related +in the first book of this narrative. It was on the morning of Ash +Wednesday, it will be remembered, that the lawyer had received from the +Marchese the formal communication of his intention to marry the +Signorina Bianca Lalli. + +The reader knows, also, that what took place in the interval between the +night of the reception at the Palazzo Castelmare and the morning of the +first day in Lent was not calculated, as might have been supposed, to +assist in bringing the mind of the Marchese to a final determination to +that effect. The terrible degree to which his jealousy and anger had +been excited on the night of the ball at the Circolo by Ludovico and +Bianca will also not have been forgotten. The conduct which had awakened +that jealousy was, in a great measure, if not entirely, innocent on the +part of both the offenders, as the reader will also, no doubt, remember. +The similarity of the costume adopted by the Marchesino and Bianca was +entirely accidental. And this, trifling as the circumstance may seem, +had contributed very materially to arouse the Marchese's wrath and +jealous agony. Bianca, perhaps, under the circumstances, ought not to +have danced as frequently as she did with the Marchesino. She at least +knew that the Marchese Lamberto had already conceived the most torturing +jealousy of his nephew. Ludovico, on his part, was of course utterly +unconscious that he was giving his uncle the remotest cause for umbrage +by his attentions to the successful Diva. + +Then came the little tete-a-tete supper--tete-a-tete by accident rather +than by design, as the reader may remember; and the officious and +spiteful eavesdropping and tell-tale denunciation by the angry poet. + +Nevertheless, and despite of all these circumstances and of the temper +of mind in which he quitted the ball-room that night, it is certain that +the Marchese did, on the morning of the following Ash Wednesday, send +for his lawyer and announce to him formally his intention to make the +Signorina Bianca Lalli his wife. + +We have seen all the agonies of irresolution and indecision--all the +alternating swayings of his mind, as passion or prudence predominated at +the moment. He seemed utterly unable to bring himself, save fitfully, to +the final adoption of either line of conduct. And yet, at the moment +when his jealousy most furiously boiled over, he decided on taking the +first overt step towards the accomplishment of the deed. + +Was it possibly that he was urged irresistibly forwards by the fear that +if he did not at once make the prize he so eagerly coveted irrevocably +his own, the power to make it so might pass away from him? that, after +all, his nephew might have found the goddess as irresistible as he had +found her himself; and that she might prefer the younger to the older +Marchese di Castelmare? + +Whatever the reflections might have been that at last drove him to take +the definitive step of applying to his lawyer, we know that they were +not of a pleasant kind--that the state of the Marchese's mind was +anything but a happy or peaceful one during the hours that preceded his +sending the message to Signor Fortini. + +The manner in which the lawyer received the communication made to him, +and his determination, on further consideration, to make the Marchese +Ludovico at once aware of the step contemplated by his uncle, will not +have been forgotten. The reader will, it is hoped, remember also how, +sallying forth after his early dinner for this purpose, Signor Fortini +encountered the Marchese Ludovico in the street; how the latter +communicated to the old lawyer the state of anxiety he was in about the +Signorina Bianca Lalli, whom he had lost in the Pineta; and finally how +the lawyer and the Marchese together had gone to the Porta Nuova, by +which the road leading to St. Apollinare and to the Pineta quits the +city, in order there to make inquiries,--and the terrible reply to their +inquiries that there met him. + +What that reply was had not been immediately clear to the lawyer. For, +as far as the circumstances of the previous events were then known to +him, there were two persons, Bianca Lalli, the singer, and Paolina +Foscarelli, the Venetian artist--two young girls missing, who were both +known to have been out of the city in that direction that morning; two +young girls of whom he knew little more than this, that they had +apparently reason to feel a deadly jealousy of each other. Which of +these two was the one whose dead body lay there under the city gateway +before him, he had no immediate means of knowing. For Ludovico, who had +raised the sheet that covered the features of the dead, and had, of +course, become on the instant aware of the truth, had fallen into +unconsciousness, without uttering a word beyond the one agonized outcry +that, for the moment, had left little doubt on the mind of the lawyer +that the victim at their feet was the girl Paolina. + +But, of course, the means of setting at rest the doubt on the lawyer's +mind were very soon at hand; at hand even before Ludovico recovered from +his short fainting fit. For the same man among the Octroi officers, who +had recognized La Lalli when she had passed with Ludovico in the +morning, was now able to say that the woman who now lay dead in the +gateway was in truth no other than the poor Diva. + +Paolina, in fact, was by that time safe at home, and had been well +scolded by Signora Orsola for having given her such a fright by playing +the truant for so long. + +Of course her old friend called upon her for an account of the hours +which had elapsed during her prolonged absence. And Paolina, in reply to +this demand, gave a very intelligible account of the time. But +unfortunately, most unfortunately, as the sequel showed it to be, this +account rested solely on her own statement. Of course old Orsola saw not +the smallest reason for doubting any part of it. And the explanations +which she gave of her movements, and of the motives which led to them, +embodied in the following statement of what happened from the time when +she left the church to the time when she re-entered the city, are the +result of her subsequent declarations, when called upon to account for +her occupation of those hours. + +The aged Capucine friar had, as we know, watched her take the path that +led to the farmhouse on the border of the wood. And having looked after +her as long as she was in his sight, he sighed heavily, and, turning +away, went back to his prayers in the church. But had he been able to +watch her on her way a few minutes longer, he would, if the girl's own +account of her movements were correct, have seen her change the +direction of her walk. + +About half-way between the eastern end of the church, by which the path +the friar had indicated to Paolina passed, and the farmhouse on the +border of the forest, another path, skirting what had once apparently +been the cemetery attached to the church, turned off at right angles to +the left, so as, after some distance, to rejoin the road on its way +towards the city. And this path, according to her own account, Paolina +took; thus abandoning her intention of reaching the forest at the spot +where the farmhouse stood. Why had she thus changed her purpose? + +Various thoughts and feelings, which had presented themselves to her in +the space of the minute or two she had occupied in walking round to the +eastern end of the church, had contributed to produce this change in her +purpose. + +Unquestionably the first feeling which arose in her mind, on seeing what +she had seen from the window of the church, was one of jealousy. But she +combated it vigorously; and if she did not succeed in altogether +conquering it,--that fiend being, by the nature of not to be vanquished +so by one single effort, however valorous--at least put it to the rout +for the present. She had known all along that Ludovico frequently saw La +Bianca. She knew that he would meet her at the ball; and, doubtless, the +object of their expedition this morning was, as the friar had suggested, +to show the stranger the celebrated Pineta. Having thus, in some +measure, tranquillized her heart, she began to think how lovely the +forest must be on that fine spring morning; how much she, too, should +like to see it; how good an opportunity the present was of doing so. +Perhaps, too, there was some little anticipation of the slight +punishment to be inflicted on her lover, when he should be told that she +had visited the Pineta alone at the very time when he had been in her +immediate vicinity engaged in showing it to another. + +And with these thoughts in her head, she made her inquiries, and started +on her way. But before she had walked many steps, other thoughts began +to present themselves to her mind. How did she know how far they had +gone from the farmhouse? Might they not still be in the immediate +neighbourhood of it? Might she not, very probably, fall in with them? +And would not that be exceedingly disagreeable? Would she not have all +the appearance of having followed them purposely from motives of +jealousy? Would not her presence be unwelcome? Would there not be +something of indelicacy even in thus following one who evidently +preferred being with another? + +These considerations sufficed to produce the change in her purpose, and +in the direction towards which she turned her steps, that has been +mentioned. So she returned by the path, which has been described, into +the road, and proceeded along it on her return to the city. She did not +trip along as briskly and alertly as she had done in coming thither; but +walked slowly and pensively with her eyes on the ground. She was thus a +good deal longer in returning than in going. And when she had reached +the immediate neighbourhood of the city, she turned aside before +entering the gate, into a sort of promenade under some trees near the +city wall, and sat down on one of the stone benches there to think a +little. + +And presently; as she was busy thinking, she was startled into much +displeasure against herself by discovering that two large utterly +unauthorised tears were running down her cheeks. + +What was the meaning of that? Surely she was not jealous still, after +all the good reasons for not being so, that she had so conclusively +pointed out to herself? + +No, she was not jealous. She would not be jealous. But it would have +been so nice in the Pineta. The sun was now high in the heavens. The +birds were singing on every tree; and Ludovico was enjoying it with that +woman, whom, when she had seen her at the theatre, she had found it so +impossible to like or to tolerate. Yet she would not, could not, doubt +that Ludovico loved herself, and her only. + +She dried her tears, and determined that she would not let doubts of +what she really did not doubt torment her. But still she sat on and on +upon the bench in the shade musing on many things--on the Contessa +Violante, on the steps Ludovico had said that he would take this very +first day of Lent towards the open breaking off of all engagement with +that lady, and on the amount of scandal and difficulty that would thence +arise. + +Then her fancy, despite all her endeavours and determinations to the +contrary, would go back to paint pictures of the beauty of La Bianca, as +she sat by the side of Ludovico in the little carriage. How lovely she +had looked, and how happy,--so evidently pleased with herself, with her +companion, and with all about her. And Ludovico had seemed in such good +spirits--so happy, so thoroughly contented. He did not want any one else +to be with him. He was far enough from thinking of the fond and faithful +heart that would have been made so happy--oh, so happy--if it had been +given to her to sit there by his side. + +She sat thinking of all these things till she was roused from her +reverie by the city clocks striking noon. It was three good hours later +than she had supposed it to be; and she jumped up from her seat, +intending to hasten home to Signora Orsola Steno. + +All this Paolina stated partly to Signora Orsola on her return home, and +partly in reply to inquiries subsequently made of her by inquirers far +less easily satisfied. + +But chance--or, what for want of a better designation, we are in the +habit of so calling--had decreed that Signora Orsola should not be +delivered from her suspense so quickly. + +On turning into the shady promenade under the city walls, a little +before reaching the Porta Nuova, Paolina had strolled onwards, before +sitting down on one of the benches that tempted her after her walk, till +she fancied that it would be shorter for her to reach the Via di Santa +Eufemia by another gate, which gave admission to the city at the other +end of the promenade, instead of by turning back to the Porta Nuova. And +thus, though she had in truth returned to the city, the men at that gate +were quite right in their statement that she had not returned by the way +they guarded. + +The road, however, by which Paolina proposed to return to her home led +her past the residence of the Cardinal, and, as she passed, it occurred +to her that it would be well, and save another walk, to look in at the +chapel and put together the things she had left in it on finishing her +task there, so that they might be ready for a porter to bring away when +she should send for them. + +For this purpose she ascended the great staircase of the Cardinal's +palace, and was at once admitted to pass on into the chapel, as a matter +of course, by the servants, who had become quite used to her visits +there; and, from this point forwards, the accuracy of her statements was +easily proved by other testimony besides her own. + +It would not have taken her long, as she had said to herself, to get her +things together and make them ready for being fetched away. But in the +chapel she found the Lady Violante on her knees on the fald-stool before +the altar. It was the first day in Lent, and, accordingly, a period of +extra devotion. The sins, the excesses, the frivolities, of the Carnival +had to be atoned for by extra prayers and religious exercises; and if +Violante had herself been guilty of no sins, excesses, or frivolities, +during the festive season, yet there was abundant need of her prayers +for those who had. + +On hearing a light footfall behind her she looked round; and, on seeing +Paolina, rose from her knees, and advanced a step to meet her. + +"You are come to take away your things, cara mia. The scaffolding has +already been removed. I suppose you are very glad that your task here is +done; and it would be selfish, therefore, to say that I am sorry. How +often it happens, Paolina, that we are tempted to wish what we ought not +to wish." + +"I don't think, Signorina, that I often wish what my conscience tells me +I ought not to desire; and I should have thought that such a thing had +never occurred to you. I wished very much to do something this morning, +and I began to do it; but then I thought that I ought not to do it, and +I did not." + +"Then, my child, you are all the happier. It is a happy day for you." + +Paolina sighed a great sigh, and dropped her eyes to the ground. + +"Then I suppose the evil wish was not wholly conquered," said Violante, +looking into her companion's eyes with a grave smile. + +"It was this, Signora: I walked out very early this morning to St. +Apollinare in Classe, where I am to make some copies of the Mosaics, +which I hope to begin to-morrow. A scaffolding has been prepared for me; +and I went to see that all was ready." + +And then poor little Paolina was tempted to pour out all her heart and +its troubles to her gravely kind and gentle friend. And Violante spoke +such words of comfort as her conscience would allow her to speak in the +matter. And the talk between the two girls ran on; and the minutes ran +on, too. And poor old Orsola Steno, at the end of her stock of patience +at last, had taken the step that has been narrated. + +And thus it had come to pass that Paolina had played the truant, and +that her protracted absence had led to Signor Fortini's momentary doubt +as to the identity of the corpse he had seen brought into the city. + + + + +BOOK V + +Who Did the Deed? + + + + +CHAPTER I + +At the City Gate + + +Bianca Lalli lay dead at the city gate. Fresh from her triumphs, her +successes, her schemes, her hopes, her frolic, at the full tide of her +fame, and her matchless beauty, the poor Diva was--dead! + +How she came by such sudden death there was nothing whatever in her +appearance to tell--scarcely anything to tell that she was dead. In a +quiet composed attitude stretched on her back, she lay in the light +white dress she had put on for her excursion with Ludovico. With the +exception of a broad blue ribbon round the waist, and another which +bound her wealth of auburn hair, her entire dress was white. It was now +scarcely whiter than her face. But there was on the features neither +disorder nor sign of pain. + +From a feeling of natural respect for death, and perhaps, also, for the +extreme beauty of the young face in death, the bearers of the body had +covered it with a coarse linen sheet, such as they had chanced to find +to hand. But the duty of the officers of the gate would have required +them to uncover the face, even if Ludovico in the first agony of his +doubt had not already done so. There, amid the pitying throng of rough +men, she lay beneath the sombre old gateway vault. The extraordinary +abundance of her hair fell in great loose tresses, some making rich +contrast with the white dress that covered her shoulders, and some of it +thrown back behind over the door on which the body lay. + +A terrible and deadly sickness came over Ludovico, and his face became +almost as white as that of the corpse. His head swam round; and, reeling +back from the sight that met his eyes, he swooned, and would have fallen +to the ground had the lawyer not caught him. + +"I suppose," said Fortini, to the men who crowded round the body, while +he paid attention to the Marchesino,--"I suppose that there can be no +doubt that she is dead?" + +"She's as dead as the door she lies on," said one of the men who had +helped to carry the body, shaking his head gravely, as he looked +pitifully down on her; "as dead as the door she lies on, more's the +pity, for she looks like one of them that find it good to live,--more's +the pity,--more's the pity." + +"Che bella donna! E proprio un viso d'angiolo," said another; "and so +young too. There's some heart somewhere that'll be sore for this." + +"Pretty creature; it is enough to break one's own heart to look at her +as she lies there," said a third. While a fourth of the rough fellows +stood and sobbed aloud, and let the tears run down his furrowed cheeks, +without the smallest effort to control or hide his emotion. For an +Italian, especially an Italian man of the people, unlike the men of the +Teuton races, is never ashamed of emotion. He very often manifests a +great deal which he does not genuinely feel; but he never seeks to hide +any that he does feel. + +All this while the officials at the gate, some six or eight of them, +standing thus round the extemporized bier, were closely questioning the +men, who had been the bearers; Ludovico and the old lawyer were thus +shut out from the circle which had formed itself around the body, and +were on the outside of it. A boy, belonging to one of the gate +officials, brought, at the lawyer's bidding, a glass of cold water, by +the help of which the young Marchese was quickly restored to +consciousness. He was able to rise to his feet again before the officers +had concluded their official questioning of those who had brought in the +body. And the lawyer looked anxiously into his face to ascertain that he +was capable of understanding what was said to him, as he stood, still +apparently half-stunned by the shock of the event, against the doorway +of the little dwelling of the gatekeepers. + +"Stand where you are and say nothing; we will go away together +presently," whispered the lawyer in his ear, griping him hard at the +same time by the arm, and giving him a little shake, as if to rouse him +to comprehension; a mode of speaking and acting on the part of Signor +Fortini, which would have seemed very extraordinary to the young +Marchese at any other time, but which he was now too much overpowered by +what had happened to notice. + +Signor Fortini had no official character or function, which in any way +gave him the right, or made it his duty to meddle with the +circumstances, that had occurred by chance in his presence. But he was +so well known to all the city, was mixed in one way or another with so +many matters of business, and was so much and so generally looked up to, +that the people at the gate, hardly knowing what their own duty required +of them under circumstances so unusual, turned to him for directions as +to what they ought to do. + +"What you have to do, my good friend, is simple enough," said the +lawyer, addressing the superior official at the gate; "you must, in the +first place, receive and take charge of the body. You must inquire of +these good folks all they have to tell you, together with their names +and addresses. You must draw up a processo verbale, embodying all such +information; and then you must have the body conveyed to the mortuary at +the hospital, at the same time making your report to the police, and +delivering up the body into their custody. In such a case as this, it +will be well, too, that these worthy men, who have brought the body +here, should go with you to the police, the more so," he added, as his +quick eye marked a certain blank look in the faces of the men,--"the +more so, as they must be recompensed for their trouble and labour, and +it is by the police that the payment for it must be made." + +"Un processo verbale! Yes, one knows that; but under circumstances so +strange--grazie a Dio so unheard of--if your worship would have the +kindness to put one in the way of it. Your worship is familiar with +affairs of all sorts. Just an instant." + +"We must hear first what these men have to say. First take down their +names and addresses." + +The men gave them, as the lawyer remarked to himself, with perfect +willingness and alacrity. + +They then related that having been at work in the forest, cutting up the +branches and trunk of a tree, which had fallen from old age and natural +decay, they were going to another part of the Pineta, a short distance +off, where another fallen tree awaited their axes and saws, when they +saw a lady asleep as they thought on a bank. They were about to pass on +without interfering with her in any way, when one of their party +remarked that it was odd that all the noise they had made had not +wakened her, for they had come along laughing, singing, and talking +loudly. This had led them to approach closely to her; and then,--as they +looked at her, a suspicion of the truth began to come to their minds. +They touched her, and found that she was dead. She was not quite cold, +they said, and were quite sure of that fact. They looked at her, and +looked all around to see if they could perceive any sign of the cause of +her death. But they could see nothing. There was, as far as they could +see, no trace of blood, either on her dress or anywhere around the spot +where she lay. And then they had borrowed a door from the farm near St. +Apollinare, and had brought the body here, and that was all they knew +about it. + +"Had they seen any other person in the forest that morning?" + +"Not a soul; and they had been in that part of the Pineta, or at least +at no great distance, all the morning from sunrise." + +"Would they be able to find again and to know the spot on which they had +found the body?" the lawyer asked. + +"Oh, yes," they said, "easily. It was not by the side of any of the +ordinary tracks through the forest--but not very far from one of them; +as if the lady had turned aside from the path, and sought out a quiet +spot to enjoy a siesta without being disturbed." + +"It is pretty clear," said the lawyer, "that it has been a case of +sudden death during sleep--probably from disease of the heart. Now, my +friend," he said, turning to the senior of the officials, "you have only +simply to state what we have heard in writing and carry it to the +police. Meantime, it will be as well to remove the body at once. Let a +couple of your people accompany the men who brought it here--they may as +well carry it to the mortuary." + +So a sheet was obtained from a neighbouring house, the more perfectly +and decently to cover the body, preparatory to its being carried through +the streets. Ludovico stepped hurriedly forward from the doorpost, +against which he had been leaning, and looked eagerly once again at the +calmly-tranquil and still beautiful face before they covered it with the +sheet. And then the six men took up their burden, and, with two of the +gate-officers marching at their head, moved off towards the hospital. + +Then the lawyer put his hand on Ludovico's shoulder in a manner that was +strange, and that would at once have seemed so to the Marchese had he at +the time had any attention to give to such a circumstance, and said in a +peremptory and authoritative sort of voice, very unlike his usual manner +when speaking to a person in the social position of the Marchese, + +"Now, come with me, Signor Marchese. Let us go. We can do no more good +here." And he put his arm within that of Ludovico, as if to lead him +away, as he spoke. + +The Marchese suffered the old man thus to lead him from the gate without +speaking a word. + +"Now, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, as soon as they had turned the +corner of a street, which took them out of sight of the city gate, "now, +lose no time. Make for the Porta Adriana, and quit the city by that. +There is an osteria in the borgo outside the gate, where you can get a +bagarino with a quick horse for Faenza; thence cross the mountains into +Tuscany. You may easily be over the frontier this night; you have plenty +of time, only none to lose. It will be at least two hours before any +steps can be taken; you may be beyond Faenza by that time. Have you +money about you? If not I can supply you. I have a considerable sum +about me--One word more: Do not venture to remain in Florence. The grand +Ducal Government would not refuse the demand of the Nuncio in such a +case; and the demand would surely be made. Better get on to Leghorn; and +make for Marseilles." + +"Good God, Signor Fortini! What are you talking of; and what are you +dreaming of? What is it that you have got into your head?" said +Ludovico, rousing himself, and stopping short in his walk to turn round +and face the lawyer. + +"Look here, Signor Marchese, your father was my friend and patron; your +grandfather was my father's friend and patron; and, therefore, bad as +this business is, I think, and will think, more of old times and old +kindnesses than of what I suppose is my duty now. But don't lose time by +trying to throw dust in my eyes. What is the use of it? What I have got +in my head is what every man, woman and child in Ravenna will have in +their head before this day is over. Have you sufficient money about +you?" + +"Signor Fortini, once again I don't know what you are driving at. I +insist upon your speaking out your entire meaning. What is it you +imagine?" said Ludovico, speaking angrily, but now very pale. + +"Imagine! What can I imagine? The matter is, unhappily, but too clear. +Why of course I imagine that you have by some means,--which the medical +people will find out fast enough, doubt it not,--killed that unfortunate +woman in the Pineta." + +"Signor Fortini!" exclaimed Ludovico, in a voice in which horror, +indignation and dismay had equal shares. + +"Marchese, how can anybody have any doubt on the matter. Alas, that I +should have to say so, it is too self-evident. You persuade this poor +creature to go out alone with you into the Pineta at an extraordinary +hour of the morning, knowing then,--or according to your own showing, +becoming aware soon after you started--that it was your uncle's +intention by a marriage with this woman to destroy utterly every +prospect you have in the world. What other human being can have had any +ill-will against this woman, or any interest in destroying her? Your +interest in doing so is of the very strongest possible kind. It was no +case of robbery. The girl was put to death by some one, who had an +interest in doing so. She is last seen alive with you; I find you with a +singularly scared and troubled manner pretending to make inquiry +respecting her, your real object evidently being to ascertain whether +the fact of the murder were yet known, and to give rise to the +impression that you knew nothing of the poor woman's fate. Then, when +confronted with the corpse you are seen to be absolutely overcome by +your emotion. Now, as I have simply stated the facts, do you imagine +that a moment's doubt will be felt as to who has done this deed?" + +Ludovico felt the cold sweat break out on his forehead, as he listened +to the lawyer's words. The logic of the facts did most unquestionably +seem to make out a fatally strong case against him. And it was difficult +to judge--very difficult even for the shrewd and practised lawyer to +judge--whether the consciousness of crime, or the horror of seeing by +how terribly strong evidence the suspicion of crime was brought home to +him, were the cause of the emotion he manifested. + +Signor Fortini, again, with rapid and practised acuteness, ran over all +the circumstances in his mind; and his conclusion, unavoidable, as he +felt it, was that the Marchese must have done the deed. That the +criminal authorities would come to the same conclusion he could not feel +the smallest doubt. + +"Good God! Signor Fortini, this is very dreadful! it is as new to my +mind--it comes upon me now for the first time, as much as if I had not +known the fact of her death. But I see it--I see it all; as you put the +matter now before me. What am I to do?--gracious heaven, what am I to +do?" + +"I have already told you, what you have to do; the only thing that you +can do. You have time enough to make it quite safe, that you may be +across the frontier before any pursuit can overtake you. As for pursuing +you across the frontier, that can only be done diplomatically, and of +course by means which would leave you ample time to quit Tuscany." + +"Signor Fortini, I am innocent of this crime. It is a crime which +sickens me with horror to think of. What passed in the Pineta passed +exactly as I told you. I left that unhappy girl sleeping, intending to +be absent from her but a few minutes. And as there is a God in heaven I +never again saw her till I saw her dead at the gate," said Ludovico, +speaking with intense earnestness. + +"But even if you should convince me, Signor Marchese, that such were in +truth the case, whom else do you think you would be able to convince? +Not one, not a single soul; above all, certainly not one of those who +are used to the investigation of crime, or of those who would have to +pronounce judgment on it. If I were perfectly and entirely persuaded of +your innocence I should still urge you to fly. The facts of the case are +too strong against you." + +"But is that the advice you would give to an innocent man, Signor +Fortini? Is that the course which an innocent man would take? Should I +not by flying add such an additional damning circumstance to the other +grounds of suspicion, as to render all possible hope of clearing myself +vain?" remonstrated Ludovico. + +"It is true, it would do so; and the argument is, I am bound to say, the +argument of an innocent man. In any other case, in any other case, I +should say face inquiry and prove your innocence. But, Signor Marchese, +I dare not recommend you to do so. The facts, as I said, are too strong +for you. Remember, too, that you do not throw away any chance by flight. +For the only possible circumstance that could exonerate you would be the +discovery that the deed was done by some other; and should that ever be +proved or provable, you would at once return, plainly stating that you +fled, not from guilt, but from a due appreciation of the fatal weight of +suspicion that the circumstances and the facts cast on you. In such a +case, in such a very improbable case, I should not hesitate to testify +that, being by accident made aware of the circumstances, I had +recommended and urged you to fly. No innocent man is bound to suffer for +the misfortune of lying under a false suspicion if he can help it. You +cannot face the suspicion that will rest upon you; instant flight is the +only course open to you." + +"Did you not say yourself at the gate just now, Signor Fortini," said +Ludovico, making a strong effort to recover the use of his almost +stunned faculties"--did you not yourself say that it was evidently a +case of sudden death, probably from heart disease?" + +"Pshaw! to the people there; to those blockheads at the gate, I said so, +of course I did; but the medical folks will soon find out all about +that." + +"But again, as you remarked very truly, the only possible motive that I +could be suspected of having for wishing the death of this unfortunate +woman must be supposed to arise from my knowledge of the fact that my +uncle had proposed marriage to her." + +"And is not that motive enough, per Dio?" interrupted the lawyer. + +"Doubtless it might, at all events, seem so to some people. But you +spoke of my persuading her to go on this unhappy excursion with a view, +as your words imply, of committing the crime you suspect me of. Now I +knew nothing of any such intention on the part of my uncle till she +communicated it to me when we were in the forest." + +"That is your statement--" + +"And you must remember, Signor Fortini, that I made that statement to +you before I knew anything of her death." + +"Before you knew anything of her death. Pshaw! You are assuming your +innocence of the deed. Yes, I remember what you said. I remember only +too well. Had you not spoken to me, there might have been no proof that +you knew anything at all of your uncle's purpose. I wish to heaven you +had not said a word to me on the subject. I shall have to testify that +you declared to me, that your uncle's offer to her had been communicated +to you by her. It will be impossible to avoid that. And it will be +impossible to persuade the magistrate that you had not previous +knowledge of such a purpose from other sources." + +"But why should any such intended offer on the part of my uncle be ever +heard of at all?" urged Ludovico. "He will most assuredly never be +willing to speak of it, and--" + +"Che! As if that old man, her so-called father, will not be open-mouthed +as to that--as if he would not proclaim it to the whole city. Ah--h--h! +it is a bad business, Signor Marchese, a bad business. + +"And is it possible, Signor Fortini, that you do really in your own +heart believe me to be guilty of this deed?" said Ludovico, with a sigh +that was almost a groan, and looking steadily and wistfully into the +eyes of his companion. + +"What is more to the purpose, unfortunately, is that it does not signify +a straw whether I believe it or not. You will not be judged, Signor +Marchese, by my belief; and I am very sure what those who have to judge +you will believe. I have some experience of these matters. I know the +courts. I see the exceeding difficulty of believing anything else as to +this death than that it was done by your hands; by you, who had the +opportunity and the motive, whereas, it is impossible to suggest any +semblance of such motive on the part of any other human being; by you, +in whose company she was last seen alive. She had valuable ornaments +about her person. If you had removed them it would, at least, have left +it open to the magistrates to attribute the deed to another motive, and +to other hands. I see all this. I see the whole case before me; and, I +tell you, that your only chance is to escape while it is yet time." + +"My solemn assertion, then, produces no effect on your mind, Signor +Fortini?" said Ludovico, looking at him steadily. + +"Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, with an impatient shake of the head, +"let us look at the matter from the opposite point of view. If you had +killed this woman, let us say, what would your conduct be? Would you +not, in that case, make exactly the assertions that you now make? That +is the terrible consideration that makes all assertion valueless in the +case of such suspicion. But, once again, why dwell on my belief in the +matter, which is nothing to the purpose? I have put your position, +whether you are guilty or not guilty, clearly before your eyes. I +counsel you, and strongly urge you, while yet unaccused, to escape from +the accusation, which will be made against you within an hour. I am +ready to assist you with the means of escaping--" + +"Signor Fortini, I cannot avail myself of them. I have made up my mind I +will not add another such damning ground of suspicion against me. Here I +will remain to answer, as best I can, all the accusations that may be +brought against me. I will not fly." + +The old lawyer shook his head and sighed deeply. + +"A bad business," he said, "a very bad business. It will kill the +Marchese Lamberto; and I won't say what I would not have given to have +escaped seeing your father's son, Signor Marchese, in the position in +which you stand." + +"Will you carry your kindness yet one step further, Signor Fortini, and, +despite my rejection of your first advice, tell me what you think I had +better first do now immediately, I mean--on the supposition that I am +determined to remain in the city?" + +"I think," said the lawyer, after a pause for consideration, "that the +best course for you to take in the case would be to go at once to the +magistrates and make your statement to them of the circumstances +according to your own version of the story,--stating that you hastened +to do so on seeing the dead body at the city gate; I think that is the +best thing you can do. Observe, I cannot say that I think it likely +that, if you do so, you will pass this night under the roof of the +Palazzo Castelmare; but, if you are determined to remain in the city, I +think that is the best thing you can do." + +"That, then, I will do," returned the Marchese. "I thank you, Signor +Fortini, for the advice which I can follow, and not less for that which +I cannot follow. Good-evening." + +"Good-evening, Signor Marchese. I hope it may be better with you than I +fear. And, of course, if you need me, as you will, you will summon me, +and I will not fail to be with you within a few minutes of your call." + +"Thanks, Signor Fortini. Addio." + +"One word more, Signor Marchese, before you go. When you uncovered the +face of the woman lying dead yonder you exclaimed, 'Paolina!' What was +the thought that led you to do so? You could not have mistaken the +identity? Of course, you know that I question you only in your own +interest?" + +"Did I say 'Paolina?' replied the Marchese, with an apparent effort at +recollecting himself. + +"You did. On seeing the face you exclaimed, 'Paolina mia!'--so much so, +that I felt no doubt that it was this Paolina who lay dead there. What +was it moved you to that exclamation?" + +"I don't know. I can't tell. I was very anxious about Paolina. The +thought of her was uppermost in my mind, I suppose." + +"Humph!" said the lawyer, thoughtfully and doubtingly. + +All this conversation had passed hurriedly in the small deserted street +into which Ludovico and the lawyer had turned on leaving the city gate; +and, when they parted, the two men took different directions,--the +lawyer returning to the gate with the germ of an idea in his mind, which +the last portion of his conversation with the Marchese had generated +there, and which subsequent circumstances tended to develop, and the +Marchese Ludovico going in the direction of the Palazzo del Governo. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Suspicion + + +The Marchese Ludovico told the lawyer that he would go immediately to +the magistrates and make a voluntary statement of all that he knew of +the circumstances connected with Bianca's death; and he fully purposed +doing so. But he did not do it immediately. There was another visit +which he was more anxious to pay; and which the hint that had dropped +from the old lawyer to the effect that it was very probable he might not +pass that night in his own home, determined him to pay first at all +hazards. + +This visit, as may readily be imagined, was to Paolina. And to the +modest little home in the Strada di Santa Eufemia he hurried as fast as +his legs would carry him, as soon as he quitted Signor Fortini. Paolina, +on returning home after her conversation with the Contessa Violante in +the Cardinal's chapel, had remained there busy with the preparation of +her materials for beginning her work at Saint Apollinare on the +following day. + +She looked up as he entered the room with an arch smile on her lips and +in her eyes which, perhaps, did not reflect altogether faithfully the +feeling in her heart. + +"Yes, I saw you, you naughty, inconstant boy, when you little thought my +eye was upon you. I saw you with--Ludovico, there is something wrong," +she said, suddenly changing her laughing tone for one of alarm as her +eye marked the expression of his face. "I am sure from the way you look +at me there is something amiss. What is it, Ludovico mio? What has +happened to vex you?" + +"A great and terrible misfortune has happened, my Paolina; and I have +run to you in all haste that you might not hear it from any lips but my +own. You were going to say just now that you saw me with Bianca Lalli, +were you not? Where and when did you see us?" + +"In a bagarino, driving towards the Pineta. I was up at a high window in +the church on the scaffolding prepared for my work," said Paolina, +deadly pale, and breathless with apprehension. + +"Ah! you saw us from the window. I took her there at her request to see +the Pineta. We started on leaving the ball-room. In the forest she +became sleepy: I left her sleeping on a bank, and meaning to return to +her in a few minutes. I could not find the spot again for some time; and +when I did find it she was gone. After searching the wood in vain for +hours I returned to the city, and--at the gate--not an hour ago--I saw +her brought in--dead!" + +"Dead! La Bianca dead!" cried Paolina, much shocked; and with every +vestige of the half-formed suspicions which had been tormenting her +suddenly erased from her mind by the terrible tidings and the sadness of +the end of the unfortunate Diva. + +"Dead, my Paolina; and I am suspected of having murdered her," he said +slowly, and with an accent of profound despair. + +"What--what! You suspected! By whom? What does it mean? La Bianca +murdered--and by you. What does it mean, Ludovico mio? For pity's sake, +tell me, what does it mean?" + +And the pale features began to work, and the large deep eyes filled with +tears, and the neat moment she fell back into a chair sobbing +hysterically. + +"I was the last person with whom she was seen alive; and--there was, it +seems, strong reason why it may be supposed that I should wish her +dead--God help me! I learned this morning--the poor girl told me +herself, to my extreme surprise--that my uncle, the Marchese Lamberto, +had proposed marriage to her. You can understand, my darling, that such +a marriage would be a very dreadful misfortune to me: therefore, people +think that I put the unhappy girl to death." + +"Oh, my love, my love; come to me, come to me, and let me hold you!" +said the poor girl, struggling to speak amid her convulsive sobbing, and +holding out her hands towards him. "Oh, my Ludovico, this is very +dreadful. But it is impossible--impossible! They will know that it is +impossible that you could have done such a thing. Murder! You--murder a +defenceless girl! Oh, it is nonsense. Nobody will believe anything so +monstrous." + +"Thanks, my Paolina--thanks, my own darling. At least there is one heart +that knows me. And, my Paolina, it is an immense comfort to me--not that +I doubted it for an instant--but it is an infinite comfort to me to know +that you, at least in your heart of hearts, are certain that I did +not--that it never could have entered into my mind to do this thing." + +"I believe it! I could just as soon imagine that I myself had done it. +But, Ludovico, my beloved, it will not be believed; it is too monstrous. +You are known here; it cannot be believed." + +"And yet, my Paolina, one who has known me all my life, who was my +father's friend--one who knows me well, and who looks at things as the +magistrates will look at them--he believes it; believes it so much, and +is so certain that others will believe it, that he strongly urged me to +escape from the city, and from the country. That, Paolina, knowing my +innocence, I would not do. To save myself from the stake I would not +have gone away without telling you, my own one, that I had not done this +deed. I could not go, and so leave you--" + +"My own--my own! How I love you, my Ludovico, now in the time of this +great trouble better than ever I did before. There was no need to tell +me, my love, that your hands are innocent of murder. But surely--surely +you did well not to fly, leaving the hideous accusation behind you." + +"So I thought, my own love--my own high-minded right-thinking +darling--so I thought; and here I stay to answer my accusers. But the +fatality of the circumstances is such that--in truth, I see little hope +of clearing myself, save by the possible discovery of the causes that +led to this terrible death." + +"Was there anything to show how she--that is, I mean, whether she--died +by violence?" asked Paolina. + +"Nothing--nothing whatever. As we saw the body under the city gateway, +when the men who found it brought it in, there was not the smallest +trace of violence visible. She lay as if, save for the deadly pallor of +her face, she might have been still sleeping. And I am most anxious for +the medical examination of the body. It may be that they will be able to +discover that death was produced by some natural cause." + +"Surely that is the most likely. Had any robbery been committed?" asked +Paolina thoughtfully. + +"None--none whatever; and she had valuables exposed on her person which +were untouched. This is one of the worst circumstances against me; as it +excludes the idea of the dead having been done by common malefactors for +the sake of plunder." + +"And no marks of violence? It must have been a natural death; such +things do happen. I remember hearing of a case-" + +"I must go, darling; I must leave you. I must hasten to the Palazzo del +Governo to make my statement of what has occurred. It is hard to leave +you, my Paolina--very hard to leave you, not knowing when or under what +circumstances I am likely to see you again." + +"Ludovico, see me again!" shrieked the girl, as a new and dreadful idea +presented itself for the first time to her mind; "why--you will come to +me when you have spoken to the magistrates; you will tell me what they +say." + +"I fear me, Paolina, that it will not be in my power to do that," +returned Ludovico, with a melancholy smile. "Should they leave me at +liberty, of course I shall fly to you on the instant they dismiss me. +But, you must not expect that, my love. I shall be detained doubtless, +until--until the truth has been discovered respecting this horrible +tragedy. One kiss my own, own darling before we part." + +She sprang into his opened arms with a bound; almost before the words +had quitted his lips, and clasped him to her heart with all the strength +she could exert. Then drawing herself a little back, and placing her two +little hands on the front of his shoulders; she said, speaking with +breathless hurry,--"See now, my love, my only love. You must remember +all the time, that there is no hour of the day or night that I shall not +be thinking of you, and loving you all the time, always, always. And +remember, that if all the whole world says that you did this thing, I +shall still know that it was as impossible as that I did it myself. +Remember that always, my best beloved." + +"Thanks, my Paolina; it will be very sweet to me to remember it. And +dearest, one thing more. It will hardly be likely that in the present +circumstances, under all this weight of misfortune, my poor uncle will +be likely to have time or attention to give to you, But if you have need +of anything--of advice, of assistance, of protection--speak to the +Contessa Violante, and--stay, you shall take a message to her from me. +Tell her that I begged you to say, as from me to her, that in the teeth +of all appearances I am innocent in thought, word, and deed in this +matter. I think she will believe it; I must go, my love, my own!" + +"Pray God, it be not for long, tesoro mio. I shall pray to the Holy +Virgin for you morning and night." + +"Addio, Paolina mia. Yet one kiss, anima mia, addio," + +From the Strada di Santa Eufemia Ludovico hurried as quickly as he could +to the Palazzo del Governo; but found that he was not in time to be the +first bearer to the police magistrate of the tidings of what had +happened. The report of the officials at the gate had already been given +in, and the police had already taken possession of the body. + +The magistrate received him with grave courtesy, saying that he was glad +the Signor Marchese had presented himself in order to throw what light +he could on this sad affair, as rumour had already reached his (the +magistrate's) ears mixing the name of the Marchese Ludovico with the +subject in a manner that would have made it his duty to call the +Marchese, had he not of himself judged it right to anticipate the action +of justice in the matter. + +Then Ludovico related clearly and shortly how the excursion to the +Pineta had been imagined and planned between him and Bianca at the ball; +how they had put their plan into execution; how he had left her sleeping +in the forest; and had been unable to find her again; how he had +returned, after spending much time in fruitless seeking, and had shortly +afterwards, being then in the company of Signor Giovacchino Fortini, +seen the dead body of the unfortunate lady brought into the city by men +who had discovered it in the forest. + +The magistrate listened attentively to this history in silence, save +that he once or twice interrupted Ludovico to ask at what o'clock it had +been that the different incidents happened. Then he reduced the whole +statement to writing, and read it over to the Marchesino. + +"Your lordship parted then from Signor Fortini, after witnessing in his +company the arrival of the corpse at the gate, nearly an hour ago. You +did not come to make your report to us here at once? I must ask you how +you have employed the interval?" said the magistrate shooting a sharp +glance from under his black eyebrows at Ludovico, who was sitting +opposite to him, with a little table between them, on which there were +writing-materials. + +"In visiting a lady, to whom I was very anxious to tell these +unfortunate circumstances myself, instead of allowing them to come to +her ears in any other manner," answered Ludovico simply. + +"The lady's name? I ask in confidence, you know; unless of course the +fact should turn out to have any bearing on the discovery of the truth +as to this most unhappy business." + +"The lady is the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli, a Venetian artist sent +here to make copies of some of our mosaics, and recommended to my uncle +the Marchese Lamberto." + +"With whom you had no acquaintance previous to her bringing that +recommendation?" + +"None whatever." + +"But since that time you have become intimate with her?" + +"It is true." + +"Signor Marchese, this is a most lamentable and unhappy affair. It is my +duty to point out to you, what doubtless your own good sense has already +suggested to you--that the mere facts, as you have related them to me, +place you in a very unfortunate position. But most unhappily--it is +exceedingly painful to me to have to say it--there is, if what has +already reached my ears be true, worse, much worse behind. I am obliged +to ask you what conversation, of a special nature, passed between you +and Bianca Lalli during your excursion?" + +"I will make no pretence at not understanding your question, Signor, nor +any attempt to conceal the truth. I have already stated the facts; or +that, which you have evidently heard, could not have reached your ears. +The Signorina Bianca Lalli confided to me the fact, that my uncle the +Marchese Lamberto had offered marriage to her." + +"Most lamentable, and to be regretted in every way," said the +magistrate, gravely shaking his head. "You perceive, Signor Marchese, +the terrible, but inevitable suggestion, that arises from the fact of +your having been made aware of a purpose so disastrous to your +interests?" + +"I call your attention, Signor, again to the fact, that nothing would +have been known of any such communication having been made to me, had I +not spontaneously mentioned the circumstance myself." + +"It is true, Signor Marchese, and it will not be forgotten that this +circumstance was spontaneously mentioned by you. But you must observe, +that the fact of the proposal made by the Marchese Lamberto would have +become known in more ways than one. And unhappily the fact that such a +proposal had been made, would throw a very disagreeable light on the +extraordinary circumstances of this death. To whom would the death of +this unfortunate woman be profitable? That is the fatal question, Signor +Marchese, which it is impossible to avoid asking." + +"I am aware of the cruelty of the inference suggested by the +circumstance, Signor Commissario," said Ludovico sadly. + +"Have you any suggestion to offer yourself as to the possible means by +which this woman may have met with her death?" asked the Commissary of +Police. + +"As far as I could see at the city gate, and according to the statement +of the men who found the body, there was no indication of violence +whatever to be found on it. My suggestion therefore, and my trust is, +that the cause of her death was a natural one:" + +"That will be a question for the medical authorities to decide," said +the Commissary. + +"I was about to ask you whether they had proceeded to any examination +yet?" said Ludovico. + +"Not yet; we shall have the report immediately; and it shall be at once +communicated to you." + +"At the Palazzo Castelmare?" said Ludovico, though he had but very +little hope that he should be allowed to remain at large. + +The Commissary shook his head very gravely. + +"I need hardly tell you, Signor Marchese, how painful it is to me to be +compelled to announce to you that we cannot find it consistent with our +duty to allow you under the circumstances to quit this building. The +utmost that can be done to make your detention as little uncomfortable +to you as possible, shall be done. And I can only say that I trust it +may be but for a short time." + +"Permit me to observe, Signor Commissario, that after seeing the dead +body at the gate, to say nothing of all the hours previously, if I had +been guilty,--I had abundance of time to escape, and to place myself +beyond the reach of the Papal authorities, before I could have been +overtaken. I might have done so, but did not. Might not that be held to +justify you in allowing me to retain my liberty until the course of your +inquiries may again require my presence?" + +"I fear not, Signor Marchese, I fear not. The fact that such a crime has +been committed throws a terrible responsibility upon us. As to your not +having availed yourself of opportunity to escape, I may remark that you +may have been detained, not so much by your desire of meeting inquiry, +as of having the interview, of which you told me just now. You say that +you came directly from the Signorina Foscarelli's dwelling hither. At +that time it was too late for hope of escape. I fear, Signor Marchese, +it will not be consistent with my duty to allow you to depart." + +So Ludovico was conducted to a very sufficiently comfortable chamber +reserved for similar occasions, and found himself a prisoner, waiting +trial on suspicion of murder. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Guilty or not Guilty? + + +Signor Fortini hurried home, when he quitted the Marchese Ludovico in +the little quiet street, in which they had talked together after the +terrible sight they had together witnessed at the city gate, and shut +himself up in his private room to think. He was much moved and +distressed, more moved than the practised calm of the manner natural to +him, and the slow movements of old age, allowed to be visible. + +What a dreadful, what a miserable misfortune was this. A tragedy, if +ever there was one, which would for ever strike down from their place an +ancient and noble family, whose merit and worth had from generation to +generation been the pride and the admiration of the entire city--a +tragedy which would come home as such to the heart of every human being +in Ravenna. Great heaven, what a fall! + +And this was the first outcome of the disastrous purpose of his old +friend the Marchese. Truly he had felt that nought but evil--evils +manifold and wide-spreading--could arise from so insane a line of +conduct. But he had been far from anticipating so overwhelming a +calamity as the first result of it. + +Then, the deed itself! It would cause an outcry from one end of Italy to +the other. It would be a disgrace, and an opprobrium to the city for +many a year. What! Ravenna invites, entices this hapless girl, who had +been the admiration of so many cities, to come within her walls; and in +return for the delight which she had given them--murders her. Other +cities vie with each other in doing honour to the gifted artist. She +ventures to Ravenna, and--is murdered. + +There was a bitterness in Signor Fortini's consideration of the matter +from this point of view, which was more poignant than any other man than +an Italian would quite understand. For nowhere else do municipal pride, +jealousy, and patriotism run so high. + +A foul and cruel murder had been done: so much was certain. Signor +Fortini had not the smallest hope that the death would be found to have +resulted from natural causes. And then came the consideration whether +there could be any hope that, after all, the deed had been done by some +other hand than that of the young Marchese di Castelmare. + +After thinking deeply for several minutes, the lawyer shook his head. +That such a deed might have been done in the forest on the person of one +found sleeping there, whose appearance was such as to hold out the +expectation of booty to a plunderer, was possible--not very likely, but +possible. Possible enough to suppose that lawless and evil-disposed +persons might have been wandering there-depredators on the forest, who +exist in great numbers--smugglers making their way across the country by +hidden paths, or what not? Possible enough that such a deed might have +been done, and the perpetrators of it far away before the discovery of +the body, away to the southward, and across the Apennine into Tuscany in +the space of a few hours. But all such possibilities were conclusively +negatived by the certain fact that no plunder had been attempted, that +plunder could not have been the object of the murderer. + +Alarmed before they could carry their object into execution by the +approach of footsteps? Was this a plausible or a possible theory? + +No; for the poor Diva had valuable ornaments visible on her person, an +enamelled gold watch at her girdle, a diamond pin or brooch at the +fastening of her dress on her chest, to possess themselves of which +would have needed less time than was required for the perpetration of +the murder. It was wholly impossible to suppose, on any hypothesis, that +the murder could have been committed for the sake of plunder, and that +these ornaments could have been left untouched. + +It had been observed, and was noted--not in the report drawn up by the +officials at the gate, but in the more exact and detailed report +furnished by the police on their taking of the body into their +charge--that the brooch, which has been mentioned, was unfastened, so as +to be left hanging in the dress by its pin. But this circumstance did +not seem to be of much moment, as it might well have been that Bianca +herself had unfastened it before falling asleep. + +No; it was but too clear, as the lawyer said to himself, that murder and +not robbery had been the object of the perpetrator of the crime. + +There was, it was true, nothing improbable in the story told by the +Marchese Ludovico. That the girl should have been overpowered by sleep, +after having passed the night at the ball, and then started on an +expedition so foreign to her usual habits, was abundantly likely. That +he might have become tired of sitting still while she slept, and might +have strayed away from her, not intending to quit her for more than a +few minutes and a few yards, was also perfectly probable. That having so +strayed he might have been unable to find his way back again to the spot +where he had left her, or to be certain whether he had found the same +spot or not, would not seem at all unlikely to any one acquainted with +the Pineta. All this story was likely and natural enough. + +But--the motive--the inevitable inference from that terrible cui bono +question. For whom was it profitable, that this poor girl should be put +to death? According to the fatal information, which, by his own account, +he had received but a short time previously from the victim herself, +information, the truth and accuracy of which were well known to the +lawyer from the Marchese Lamberto himself, the whole future prospects in +life of the Marchese Ludovico depended on the life or death of this +unhappy woman. + +If the Marchese Lamberto carried out his insane intention of marrying La +Bianca Lalli his nephew would become simply destitute. After having been +accustomed, from the cradle to the age of four-and-twenty, to all that +riches could procure--after having lived in the sure expectation of +wealth up to an age when it was too late to think of making himself +capable of earning a competence for himself in any conceivable manner, +this marriage would take from him suddenly, and for ever, all such +prospect; and the death of the woman who had bewitched his uncle thus +fatally would make all safe, for the Marchese Lamberto was not a +marrying man--was, as all the town knew, the last man in the world to +have dreamed of taking a wife now at this time of his life. + +No; it was the fatal fascination, the witchery, the lures of this one +woman. Remove her, and all would be right. + +Ah! The mischief, the woe, the scandal, the disgrace, the irretrievable +calamity, and the misery, that this accursed folly of the Marchese +Lamberto had caused. Ah! to think of all the sorrow and trouble this +woman brought with her into the city when she was so triumphantly +welcomed within the walls by these two unhappy men--the uncle and the +nephew. + +It was strongly and curiously characteristic of the Italian mind that +Signor Fortini, in coming to the conclusion that this deed must, beyond +the possibility of doubt, have been committed by the Marchese Ludovico +and none other, was mainly and specially moved by compassion for the +perpetrator of the crime. There is something in this Italian mode of +viewing human events and human conduct curiously analogous to that +conception of mortal destinies on which the pathos of the old Greek +tragedy mainly rests. + +How cruel was the fate which had thus compelled the young man to +perceive that the life of this girl and his own welfare were +incompatible! + +How dreadful the pitiless working of the great, blind, automatic, +destiny-machine! + +To raise a murderous hand against the life of a sleeping girl--how +dreadful! How great, therefore, must have been the suffering which +impelled a man to do so! + +He had evidently been driven to desperation by the prospect of the utter +and tremendous ruin that threatened him; and "desperation;" the absence +of all hope, is recognised, both by the popular mind of Italy and by its +theoretic theology, as a sufficient cause for any course of action. It +is especially taught by Roman Catholic theology that it is, above all +things, wicked so to act towards a man as to drive him to desperation; +and the popular ethics invariably visit with deeper reprobation any +cause of conduct which had tempted another man to make himself guilty of +a violent crime than it does the criminal himself. + +Thus, lawyer and law-abiding man as he was, with all the habits of a +long life between him and the possibility of his raising his own band +against the life of any man, Signor Fortini, as he mused on the tragedy +which had fallen out, felt more of compassion for the Marchese Ludovico, +and more of anger against the folly of his uncle. + +This thing, too, which the Marchese Lamberto had announced his intention +of doing, sinned against all those virtues which, let the professions of +the moral code say what they may, stand really highest in an Italian +estimation. It was eminently unwise; it was imprudent; it was +indecorous; it was calculated to produce scandal; it would bring +disgrace upon a noble name; it was ridiculous; and, besides all this, it +necessarily drove another to "desperation." + +"A fool! An insane idiot! Worst of all fools--an old fool! To think that +a man, who had stood so many years in the eyes of all men as he had +stood, should come to such a downfall. It would serve him no more than +right, if it were possible, that all the consequences of what had been +done should fall on his own head." + +Still, during all the musings which seemed to force him to the +conclusion that the crime which had been committed was the deed of the +Marchese Ludovico, the old lawyer did not lose sight of the idea which +had been suggested to his mind by that exclamation of Ludovico on the +first sight of the murdered woman. He did not, in truth, as yet think +that it was worth much; but he kept it safe at the bottom of his mind, +ready for being produced if subsequent circumstances should seem to give +any value to it. + +After musing an hour while these thoughts passed through his mind, the +old lawyer thought he would go as far as the Palazzo del Governo to +learn what steps had been taken, and whether--though he had very little +doubt on that point--his unfortunate young friend had been detained in +custody. + +Signor Pietro Logarini, the head of the police, was an old acquaintance +of Signor Fortini,--as, indeed was pretty well everybody in any sort of +position of authority in the city. + +"A bad business this, Signor Pietro," said Fortini, shaking his head. + +"The worst business, Signor Giovacchino, that has happened in Ravenna as +long as I can remember. It is very terrible." + +"Is the poor young fellow--?" Signor Fortini completed his question by a +movement of his eyes, of one shoulder, and one thumb, quite as +intelligible to the person he addressed as any words would have been. + +"Yes, of course. There was no help for it, you know." + +"Of course not. I suppose he came here as soon as he parted from me. It +so happened that we were together at the gate when the body was brought +there," said Signor Fortini. + +"So I understand. You will be called on for your evidence as to his +manner on being confronted with it." + +"Of course; fortunately I have nothing to say on that point that can do +any damage. He was much moved, naturally; we both were; but nothing more +than any man in his place would have been." + +"But the worst, the only fatal point in that confession of his, is that +the girl told him of the Marchese Lamberto's intention of marrying her. +Why in heaven's name did he let that slip out?" + +"My notion is that it just did slip out, as you say. An old hand, a man +accustomed to be at odds with the laws and the police, would have known +better. Did he make the same statement here?" asked Fortini, rather +surprised. + +"On my asking him, as I felt compelled to do, what special conversation +had passed between him and the girl that morning, he told me the fact," +replied the Commissary. + +"But what led you to ask him such a question?" said Fortini. + +"Ah!--something that had reached my ears. We are forced, you know, +Signor Giovacchino, to have very long ears in our business. His +conversation with you to-day was held in the street,--a bad place for +such talk, Signor Giovacchino." + +"And not chosen by me for such a purpose, as you may imagine. Little +could I guess what sort of confidence I was about to hear." + +"Not that it makes any difference. All that would have had to come out, +you know, Signor Giovacchino." + +"Oh, quite so, quite so; no, no difference in the world. Did he come to +you immediately on leaving me?" + +"No; it would have been better upon the whole if he had done so. He went +first, it seems, to the residence of a lady, one Signorina Paolina +Foscarelli, being very desirous, he said, of not leaving her to hear of +the business from other lips than his own. It is a pity, because his +abstaining from flight might have been something in his favour, if he +had not made it appear, that his remaining in the city might have been +caused by his desire to see again this Paolina. Do you know anything +about her? I see by our books that she came here last autumn from +Venice. What is she like?" + +"It so happens that I never saw her. But I am told that she is +pretty--very pretty--remarkably so." "Ah--h--h! that's what kept the +poor young fellow from running till it was too late to run. And yet," +continued the Commissary, pausing on his words, and tapping his forehead +with his finger as if a new idea had just occurred to him--"and yet the +young Don Juan goes out tete-a-tete into the forest with this other +girl." + +"Che volete?" returned the lawyer with a shrug. "Boys will be boys, and +women--are women." + +"Yes; but the women sometimes don't quite like--" and the Commissary +allowed the remainder of his sentence to remain unspoken, being +apparently too much occupied with his thoughts to speak it. + +"I suppose the medical report can hardly have been made yet?" asked the +lawyer, on whom the suppressed meaning of the Police Commissary's broken +sentence was not lost. + +"No; there has not been time. It was too late in the afternoon. +Professor Tomosarchi will make a post-mortem examination the first thing +to-morrow morning; and I daresay we shall have his report in the course +of the day, if, as is most likely, there is nothing to call for more +than a superficial examination." + +"I shall be very anxious to hear the result of his investigation--very. +I will look in, if you will allow me, to-morrow morning. And now I think +I will go to that unfortunate man, the Marchese Lamberto. I should not +be at all surprised if I were to find that he had heard nothing about +all this. Only think what it is I shall have to tell him--the woman +about whom he has been so mad as to have determined on sacrificing to +her everything, fame, position, friends, respect,--everything--is dead! +It is his monstrous proposal that has caused her death; and the same +folly has made the representative of his house a murderer and a felon. +Think, Signor Pietro, what that man's feelings must be when these +tidings are told him." + +"Depend upon it, the whole city knows all about it by this time," said +the Commissary. + +"But I think it exceedingly likely that he has not been out of his +library, all day," returned the lawyer. + +"But the servants will have heard the news. Ill news travels fast," said +the Commissary, with a shrug. + +"Yes; but the servants will hardly have ventured to repeat such tidings +to him. Two to one it will fall to my lot to tell him. A pleasant +office, isn't it, Signor Pietro?" + +"Not one I should like to undertake. Good-evening, Signor Giovacchino. +If I don't see you to-morrow morning I will send you a couple of lines +with the result of the medical examination." + +"Thanks, Signor Pietro; but I will look in about the beginning of your +office hours to-morrow morning. I feel as if I should be able to think +of nothing else but this terrible business for some time to come. Felice +sera." + +And so the old lawyer went off to call upon his client, the Marchese +Lamberto, truly dreading the interview, and yet not without a certain +degree of satisfaction, and a kind of I-told-you-so feeling in the +prospect of announcing to the unhappy Marchese those terrible +first-fruits of the disastrous purpose, in condemnation of which the +lawyer had spoken so strongly a few hours ago. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Marchese hears the Ill News + + +Signor Fortini judged rightly, when he said that he thought it probable +that the Marchese Lamberto had not quitted his library, from the time +when he had left him there, after the conversation, in which the +Marchese had avowed his purpose with regard to La Bianca. + +The shrewd lawyer had well understood, that the final decision with +regard to such a purpose, and the definite announcement of it, which the +Marchese had made to him, his lawyer, were not likely to dispose such a +man to meet the eyes of his fellow-citizens. Had Fortini known that the +Marchese had been made aware of the purposed excursion of his nephew +with the singer--as the reader knows that he had been by the officious +meddling of the Conte Leandro,--it might have seemed strange that he +should have chosen just that day and hour for the declaration of his +intention. Was it that he hastened to acquire such an authority over +Bianca, as might enable him to put an end to any such escapades for the +future? Was it that he was infatuated to that degree, that he feared, +that if he did not make haste to secure the prize, it might be taken +from him by his nephew? + +However this might have been, the overt step he had taken had certainly +not had the effect of tranquillizing his mind. The hours of that day, +since the lawyer left him, had been passed in the most miserable manner +by him. + +The servants had all learned, that there was something very decidedly +wrong with their master. The man who usually attended on him personally, +surprised at his master spending the day in a manner so unusual with +him, had made various excuses to enter the library two or three times in +the course of the day. Each time he had found the Marchese, instead of +being busily employed, as was usual with him, when in his library, +either sitting in his easy-chair with his hands before him, and his head +hanging on his breast, doing absolutely nothing; or else pacing up and +down the room. + +As the afternoon went on, and the Marchese still did not go out, his +valet, really uneasy about him, found the means of watching him without +entering the room. Again and again he saw him rise from his chair and, +after two or three turns across the room, return to it. Often he went to +the window, and looked out, as if expecting something. Three or four +times he observed him start violently at the sound of a door banging in +some other part of the palace. + +Once in the course of the afternoon the servant had had a genuine excuse +for entering the room. The Conte Leandro had called, and asked if the +Marchese was at home. He had not seen the Marchese Ludovico in the +course of the day, and was curious to find out what had been the result +of the eavesdropping that he had retailed to the Marchese Lamberto. That +it had not availed to induce the Marchese to interfere in any way to put +a stop to the excursion, the Conte Leandro had the means of knowing, as +will presently appear. But his curiosity was doomed to remain +unsatisfied. The Marchese had replied with a savage ill-humour, that the +old servant had never seen in his master before, that he did not want to +see the Conte, leaving the domestic to modify the harshness of the reply +as he might. + +When, however, some hours later, Signor Fortini came to the door, and +despite what the servants told him of the state their master was in, and +of his refusal to see the Conte Leandro, insisted on being announced, +the Marchese admitted him. + +The first thought that flashed through the lawyer's brain, when he came +into the presence of his old friend and client, was a profound sense of +self-congratulation at his own freedom from all connection with +womankind. + +His own experience of married life, essayed in early years and happily +brought to a conclusion after a probation of a very short time, had, as +has been hinted, not been a happy one. He had very deeply felt; some +five-and-forty years ago, that nothing in the Signora Fortini's life had +become her like the leaving of it. And during all those years of +widowhood, the remembrance of that first burning of his fingers had +sufficed to make the old gentleman a consistent misogynist. + +"Ah, here is another specimen of women's work," he thought to himself, +as he observed the utter wretchedness of the Marchese's appearance, and +the traces in him of a day spent in misery. "And he, too, who had +escaped for fifty years! If I had avoided the springes for fifty years, +I don't think I should have been caught at last. Maybe, it is all the +worse for coming to a man so late. Now here is this man, who had +everything the world could give to make his happiness, wrecked, ruined, +destroyed, blasted by the sight of a painted piece of woman's flesh, and +the lure of a pair of devil-instructed eyes. And he knows that it is +ruin. He knows which is the evil, and which the good, and yet is so +besotted, that he has not the power to take the one and leave the other. +Is not the sight of the unhappy wretch, as he sits cowering there, +afraid, evidently afraid to meet my eye, a warning and a caution?" + +And, in truth, the appearance of the Marchese might have been held, to +justify these reflections of the lawyer, who was right in supposing that +no tidings of what had happened had reached the Marchese since he had +parted from him after their interview that morning. Attributing, +therefore, the state of utter moral prostration, mixed with a kind of +restless nervous agitation, in which he found him, to the consciousness +of the terrible results he was about to bring upon himself by the folly +he had decided on committing, the lawyer could not prevent the thought +occurring to him that were it not for the dreadful circumstances that +seemed to bring home the suspicion of murder to the Marchese Ludovico, +the tidings he brought of the death of the unfortunate woman would be, +if not a relief at the moment, yet the most fortunate exit for the +Marchese from the position he had made for himself. + +"Good-evening, Signor Giovacchino. You have come, of course, to ask +whether the representations you made to me this morning have availed to +induce me to waver in the purpose I announced to you," said the +Marchese, scarcely looking up so as to meet the eye of the lawyer. + +"Signor Marchese," returned Fortini, "it is my turn this time to +communicate to you intelligence which will strike you, I fear, to the +full as painfully as I was struck by what you told me this morning." The +Marchese started; and the lawyer observed that the start seemed to +continue and propagate itself, as it were, into a tremor, that ran +through all his person, as he said, with chattering teeth: "What do you +mean? Has anything happened?--anything--out of the common way, +eh?--eh?--what--what is it?" + +"That has happened, Signor Marchese, which makes all further +consideration of the step you confided to me your intention of taking +this morning unnecessary. The lady, whom you purposed to make your wife, +is no more." + +"No more--how no more?--what--what is it you mean?" said the Marchese, +evidently terribly shocked, as was manifested by the tremor and +shivering which seized him yet more violently than before; yet still +without looking up so as to meet the lawyer's eye. + +"She is dead, Signor Marchese," said the lawyer, looking at him +curiously. + +"Dead--La Bianca dead! I don't believe it. It is some scheme for +frustrating the purpose you disapproved of--some plan managed between +you and my nephew. You have sent her away, and want to persuade me that +she is dead." + +"Your mind is unhinged by the shock of my intelligence, Signor +Marchese--naturally enough--or such an absurd notion would not have +occurred to you. I have seen the dead body of Bianca Lalli. It is now in +the custody of the police," said the lawyer, with slow gravity. + +"The police!" cried the Marchese, shooting a momentary glance up into +the lawyer's face. + +"Necessarily so; for, Signor Marchese, the unhappy--the miserable truth +is that a foul murder has been committed. The girl was murdered in the +Pineta this morning." + +"Murdered! Gracious heaven! Murdered--but why murdered? Why may she not +have died by a natural death?--that is--I mean--of course I mean, if +there were no evident marks of violence on the body." + +The lawyer paused a minute, as if some cause of perplexity had been +suggested to him by the words of the Marchese, before he +replied,--"There were, in truth, no marks of evident violence on the +body, or, at least, none such as an unskilled eye would observe on a +very superficial examination. But all that will be ascertained at the +medical examination, which will take place to-morrow morning. But I +think it can hardly be doubted that the death was not a natural one," +said the lawyer, shaking his head gravely. + +"And the Marchese Ludovico?" asked the Marchese, rather strangely, as it +struck the lawyer, seeing that nothing had as yet been said to connect +the young Marchese with the catastrophe, and he was not aware of the +fact that the Marchese knew of his nephew's excursion to the Pineta. + +"That, alas! is the worst part of the bad story--we, at least, here in +Ravenna are perhaps excusable in thinking it the worst. The fact is, +Signor Marchese, that this death took place under circumstances which +seem to leave no doubt that the deed was done by the hand of the +Marchese Ludovico." + +"The hand of the Marchese Ludovico! Gracious heaven! But that is +nonsense, Signor Fortini. No doubt? How can there be no doubt, merely +because he was with her in the forest?" + +There was something in the Marchese's manner which made it seem to the +lawyer as if he must have already heard of the tragedy that had +happened, and of the suspicion that had been thrown on his nephew. "Were +you aware, then, Signor Marchese," he asked, "that the Marchese Ludovico +had gone to the Pineta with this unhappy woman?" + +The Marchese dropped his head upon his chest and paused a minute, +passing his hand slowly across his brow and before his eyes, before he +replied,--"Yes, I knew that," he said, at length; "the Conte Leandro +told me of it." + +"Your people told me, just now, that you had refused to see the Conte +Leandro, when he called," remarked the lawyer, again looking puzzled. + +"Yes, I refused to see him because my mind was full of the conversation +we had this morning. You know I promised you, Signor Fortini, that I +would think over the matter again; and I was engaged in doing so. I have +been thinking of it all day; I was thinking of it still when you came +in." + +"Thinking still of your purpose of making the woman, La Bianca, your +wife. Then you could not have heard of her miserable end when I came +in,--as I supposed, indeed, you could not have heard," remarked the +lawyer. + +"Heard of it? Why of course not. That is clear--that proves that I could +not have heard of it, you know," said the Marchese, with a strange sort +of eagerness. + +"When was it, then, that you heard from the Conte Leandro, that the +Marchese Ludovico was in the Pineta with La Bianca?" asked the lawyer. + +"At the ball," replied the Marchese, after a minute's thought, "at the +ball. He came to me and told me that they had planned an excursion to +the forest, as soon as they left the ball-room. The Conte Leandro told +me of it, because, he said, he thought it an imprudent thing, and I +should disapprove it. But why should I, you know? I said nothing to +either of them about it. Why not let them have such an innocent +enjoyment? Young people must be young, you know, Signor Fortini. For my +part, I preferred making the best of my way to my bed, after being up +all night." There was a strange kind of nervous eagerness and hurry in +the Marchese's manner of saying this, which struck the lawyer as +affording yet further evidence of the degree to which his mind had been +utterly unhinged by the struggle which had been going on in it, +doubtless for a longer time than he, the lawyer, was aware of, between +the influence over him which the singer had acquired, and his sense of +the terrible nature of the step she was inducing him to take. It seemed +necessary to recall his attention to that view of the matter which was +now of the most urgent interest, the suspicions which rested on the +Marchese Ludovico. + +"As you say, Signor Marchese," he resumed, "that Signor Ludovico should +have been with La Bianca in the forest, affords no proof sufficient to +convict him of being the author of this crime; although the fact of his +being the last person in whose company she was ever seen alive, does +suffice, in a certain degree, to throw on him the onus of showing that +he is innocent of it. But the worst is--the damning feature of the +matter is, that he had a very strong and intelligible reason for wishing +this Bianca out of the way. Remember that your marriage with her would +have the effect of reducing him to beggary. Put that fact side by side +with the facts that he takes her to a solitary place in the Pineta, and +that she is shortly afterwards found there murdered; and I am afraid--I +am dreadfully afraid that the judges will not resist the conclusion +that, in truth, seems forced upon them. It is a bad business, Signor +Marchese; a very bad and ugly business." + +"But I had not mentioned to the Marchese Ludovico my intention with +regard to the girl. How could he have been led to do such an act by such +a motive, when he knew nothing of it?" said the Marchese, after several +minutes of consideration. + +"Unfortunately he did know it, and has himself stated that he knew it. +It seems that the girl herself took the opportunity of their drive +together to tell him of the fact. Would to heaven that she had never +done so," said Fortini, with a deep sigh. + +"But anybody must see that it is a thousand times more probable that she +should have been killed by robbers--vagabonds tramping through the +country. The Pineta is always full of them. I am sure I would no more +lie--I would no more wander there alone!--Of course the unfortunate girl +must have been murdered by brigands." + +"If any robbery had been committed, there might be reason to hope so, or +at least ground for such theory. But, unfortunately, she had exposed on +her person valuables exceedingly tempting to a thief; but they remained +untouched." + +At that moment there came a loud and hurried rapping at the door. The +Marchese started violently in his chair, and turned deadly pale; another +proof, if more were needed, of the degree in which his nervous system +had been shaken by the intelligence he had received, coming, as it did, +on the back of all that had previously contributed to unhinge his mind. +In the next instant, a servant put his head into the room, saying that +the Conte Leandro had returned, and was urgent to be admitted to see the +Marchese, declaring that he had a very important communication to make +to him. + +"I cannot see him. I will not see him. I will see nobody. Signor +Fortini, would you have the kindness to let him understand that I am not +in a condition to see anybody?" said the Marchese, apparently much +agitated. + +The lawyer stepped rapidly to the door, and at the stair-head found the +Conte Leandro, bursting with the news, which he had hoped to be the +first to communicate to the Marchese, and which, of course, showed how +wise and timely had been his own interference in telling the Marchese of +the proposed excursion of Ludovico, and how disastrous had been the +results of his not having paid due attention to it. + +"My dear Conte," said Fortini, "I have just done the painful task which +you, doubtless, have kindly come to undertake. You must excuse the +Marchese if he declines, for the present, to see you. You will readily +understand how terrible the shock has been to him. He is, as might be +expected, quite broken down by it. In truth, I wish you had had the +telling him instead of me. It was most painful." + +"But, Signor Fortini," urged the poet, eagerly, as the lawyer was +turning away to return to the Marchese, "are you aware--have you heard +what is said in the town?--that the Marchese had offered marriage to La +Bianca, and that this was the cause--of course I do not believe anything +of the kind myself--but I assure you it is what people are saying. And I +think the Marchese ought to be told, you know, for--" + +"I will tell the Marchese of your kind intention, Signor Conte," said +the lawyer; "I think it would be better for you not to attempt seeing +him now. And, in the meantime, you cannot do better than to contradict, +most emphatically, any such monstrously absurd reports, as those you +have mentioned." + +"You know, of course, that Ludovico is arrested; and I am shocked to +say, that the general opinion in the city is very much against him. Of +course I need not tell you that I am perfectly convinced of his entire +innocence. But who, except a really attached friend, would you get to +believe it, under the circumstances? Ah! I am afraid it will go hard +with him," said the Conte; speaking with eager volubility,--"I am sadly. +afraid it will go hard with him." + +"It seems to me, Signor Conte, that any such speculations are a little +premature. The Marchese Ludovico has not been even officially accused as +yet. At any rate you can console yourself, Signor Conte, with the +consideration that you have a magnificent subject for a tragedy in your +hands. To such a genuine poet as yourself, that is enough to +counterbalance any misfortune that only touches our friends." + +And with that the old lawyer turned away to go back to the library; +while the poet, though not altogether without a somewhat annoying notion +that he was laughed at, was nevertheless delighted with the excellent +idea that had been suggested to him. + +"I made him understand that you could not see him. All he wanted was to +tell you just what I have already communicated to you," said the lawyer, +as he came back into the room. "He said too, by-the-by, that all the +town was talking of the offer of marriage made by the Marchese Lamberto +to Signora Bianca Lalli--" + +"Of course, of course," groaned the Marchese, tossing himself restlessly +from one side to the other of his chair. "And to think that at the very +time,--at the hour when I was communicating to you the decision I had +arrived at with regard to--to that unfortunate--to poor Bianca, she was +even then, as it would seem, lying dead in the forest. It is very, very +terrible." + +"And I told the Signor Conte that he could not do better than contradict +such a report wherever he heard it," added the lawyer, who began almost +to fancy, from a something that seemed strange to him in the Marchese's +manner, that the catastrophe which had come to relieve him in such a +terrible manner from the scrape he had got himself into with the singer, +was not altogether unwelcome to him. + +"It is of no use, Fortini," returned the Marchese, with a groan; "it is +of no use. That old man, her reputed father, knows it; their servant +knows it; Ludovico knows it: and, of course, his knowledge of it will +have to be made public." + +"Nevertheless, the denial of it by such a tongue as that of the Conte +Leandro Lombardoni can do no harm in the meantime," said the lawyer, +quietly. "It may be," he added, "it may be that something may turn up to +prevent any public accusation of the Marchese. It may be that he is not +guilty. It may be that the deed may yet be brought home to some other +hand." + +"Do you think that, Fortini? do you think that likely?" said the +Marchese, with a quickly withdrawn anxious look into the lawyer's face. + +"No, frankly, I do not think it likely. I fear that it is very certain +that his hand is the guilty one. Nevertheless, it may be--it is +difficult to say--it may be. At all events, it is always time enough to +abandon hope. I must leave you now, Signor Marchese; I will see you +again to-morrow morning." + +"Many, many thanks, my good Signor Giovacchino. Do not forget to come. +Remember how dreadfully anxious I must be to hear what passes: above +all, the result of the medical examination--specially the result of the +medical examination." + +"I will not fail to come. I miei saluti, Signor Marchese." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Doubts and Possibilities + + +In passing through the hall of the Palazzo the lawyer, who was well +acquainted with every servant in the house, took an opportunity of +speaking a few words to the Marchese's old valet, Nanni. + +"The Marchese seems to have been a little overtired when he came back +from the ball this morning, Nanni; and then this is a sad affair about +the Marchese Ludovico." + +"Ahi, misericordia! To think that I should live to hear of a Castelmare +arrested in Ravenna. The world is coming to an end, I think, Signor +Giovacchino." + +"Vexing enough; but not so bad as all that, I hope. No doubt Signor +Ludovico will be able to clear himself before long." + +"Clear himself!" re-echoed the old servant, very indignantly; "that's +just what they say when some poor devil of the popolaccio is at odds +with the police. The Marchese di Castelmare clear himself! Well, I've +lived to see a many things, but I never thought to see the day that such +people should dare to meddle with a Castelmare." + +"The Marchese Ludovico himself thought fit to go to them to give +explanations." + +"Ah! He'd have done better to take no notice of 'em, to my thinking," +said the old man, shaking his head. "But is it true, Signor Giovacchino, +what people say, that--?" + +"There is mostly very little truth in what people say, Nanni," +interrupted the lawyer. "But I'll tell you what: a good servant should +hear all and repeat nothing. It's natural that such an old friend as you +should want to know all about it, and to you I shan't mind telling the +whole story as soon as I know the rights of it myself. But it vexes me +to see the Marchese so put out about it; and then I don't think he has +been quite well latterly." + +"Nothing like well, these days past, Signor Giovacchino. The Marchese +has not been like himself noways. I think he is far from well." + +"Does he get his rest at night? That is a great thing at his time of +life. He seems to me like a man who has not had his natural sleep. I +suppose he went to bed when he came home from the ball?" + +"Yes, directly. He seemed in a hurry like to get to bed. When he was +about half undressed he said it was time I was in bed myself, and sent +me away, and I heard him lock the door." + +"Does he generally lock the door at night?" asked the lawyer. + +"No; and I knew by that that he meant to have a good sleep, and not be +disturbed this morning. So I never went near him till I heard his bell, +between ten and eleven o'clock; and when I went he was just getting out +of bed, so that he had a matter of six hours' sleep." + +"It don't seem to have done him much good any way," rejoined the lawyer, +thinking to himself that the hours during which Nanni supposed his +master to have been sleeping, had more probably been spent in restless +agitation, the result of bringing his mind to the determination which he +had definitely announced to the lawyer, when he had summoned him about +an hour after he had risen from his sleepless bed. "I shall come and see +how he is to-morrow morning," the lawyer added; "and I hope I may bring +some good news about Signor Ludovico." + +Behind the Palazzo Castelmare there was an extensive range of stabling +and coach-houses, with a large stable-yard opening on to a back street, +which was the nearest way to the house of the Signor Professore +Tomosarchi, on whom Signor Fortini thought he would call, just to ask +whether he had yet seen the body, or at what hour in the morning he +thought of making his post-mortem examination. Crossing the stable-yard +for this purpose, the lawyer was accosted by Niccolo the groom, who was +engaged in doing his office on a handsome bay mare at the stable-door. + +Niccolo was the oldest servant in the establishment, having filled the +same place he now held under the Marchese's father. He was an older man +by several years than the Marchese Lamberto; and he it had been, who, +when the present Marchese was a child of ten years old, had put him on +his first pony, and been his riding-master. Old Niccolo, like every +other old Italian servant of the old school, held, as the first and most +important article of his creed, the unquestioning belief that the +Castelmare family was the most noble, the most ancient, and in every +respect the grandest in the world, and the Marchese Lamberto the +greatest and most powerful man in it. He was a good sort of man in his +way, was old Niccolo; went to confession regularly; and did his duty in +that state of life to which it had pleased Providence to call him +according to his lights; was honest in his dealings; knew in a rough +sort of way that veracity was good, and unveracity bad, to such an +extent as to understand that truth-telling should be the rule and lying +the exception; and was faithful to the death to his employer. + +Old Niccolo was also a very perfect specimen of the product of a +peculiar way of thinking, which was a speciality of the rapidly +disappearing class to which he belonged. He did not imagine for a +moment, that the laws and rules of morality and duty, by which he had +been taught, that he ought to regulate his own conduct, were at all +applicable to his master. Even if he had ever troubled his mind by +plunging so far into the depths of speculation, as to consider, that in +truth the various matters forbidden in the commandments were in the +sight of God, or, what was more within his ken, in the sight of the +Church, equally forbidden to all men, still it would have been clear to +him that there was no reason why such great people as the Marchese di +Castelmare, with Cardinals for his friends, and wealth enough to pay for +any quantity of indulgences and masses he might require, should not +indulge in peccadilloes and vices which poorer folks cannot afford. +Probably, however, he had never reached any such profundity of +speculation. He saw that the Church and its ministers treated his +superiors very differently from their treatment of him, and expected +from him quite different conduct from that which they expected from +them. And the result was an habitual and practical belief, that the +great folks of the world, of whom he considered that his own master was +unquestionably the greatest, were far above the laws in every sort which +were binding on himself and the like of him. + +Nor of all the many acts which honest Niccolo would have scrupled to do +on his own account, would he have hesitated a moment to become guilty at +the command, or on the behoof of, his master. As for his own soul's +weal, it probably was sufficiently safeguarded by the paramount nature +of the duty which required him to do the will of his employer; or, in +any case, what was his soul that any care for it should come into +competition with the will of the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare? +Niccolo would have been profoundly ashamed at admitting to any one of +his own class that the family he served were not so great and so +masterful as to render it a matter of course that their will must +override all other considerations whatsoever. + +To old Niccolo it was indeed as a symptom of the end of all things--as a +rising of the powers of darkness against the established order of God's +world that a Marchese di Castelmare should be arrested. It was +incomprehensible to him. There was but one power great enough, as he +understood matters, to accomplish so dread a catastrophe; and that was +the power of the Marchese Lamberto himself. And he inclined accordingly +to the belief, that if indeed the Marchese Ludovico were in prison, the +truth was that for some inscrutable reason the Marchese Lamberto chose +that so it should be. + +"Is it really true, Signor Giovacchino," whispered the old man, coming +close up to the lawyer, as the latter was crossing the stable-yard; "is +it really true that the Marchese Ludovico has been put in prison?" + +"Well, that much is true, I am afraid, Niccolo; but I hope it may not be +for long," said Fortini, pausing in his walk, as though he were not +unwilling to talk to the old man. + +"Couldn't ye say a word to the Marchese, to take him out?" said the old +groom coaxingly; "if so be as the woman is dead, what is the use of any +more ado about it?" + +"Well, I hope there may not be much more ado about it. She was probably +killed, poor woman, by some strolling vagabonds. But I wish it had not +happened to vex the Marchese just now. He is not well, the Marchese. Has +he ridden much lately?" + +"Hasn't backed a horse since the first week in Carnival," said the old +groom emphatically. + +"I hope he will take to his riding again, now Carnival is over. I think +it helps to keep him in health," remarked the lawyer. + +"I'm sure I wish he would, for my part," returned the groom; "and I +wished it this morning, I can tell you. I was a-taking his own mare out +this morning--it's a week since she has been out of the stable--and she +was that fresh it was pretty well more than I could do to hold her. I +brought her in all of a lather, and splashed with mud to her +saddle-girths. People; must ha' thought I had been riding a race,--that +is, if any of them had seen me when I came into the yard; but there +wasn't a soul of 'em stirring. Catch any of the lot up at that time the +first morning in Lent." + +"He is getting old, too. It would have been a mighty hard horse to ride +that my friend Niccolo would not have been able to hold a year or two +ago," thought the lawyer to himself, as he walked out of the stable-yard +into the little back street that runs behind the palazzo, and pursued +his way thoughtfully towards the residence of the celebrated anatomist. + +And again, as he walked, the lawyer turned his mind, with all the +analytical power of which he was master, to the question whether or no +there were any possibility of hope that the Marchese Ludovico were +innocent of the crime imputed to him,--whether there were any other +theory possible by virtue of which any other person might be suspected +of the deed. + +His anxiety to speak with Professor Tomosarchi indicated, indeed, that +he had not wholly abandoned, despite what he had said on that point both +to the Marchese Ludovico and his uncle, the hope that the death might be +pronounced to have resulted from natural causes. Possibly, had the +lawyer possessed more medical knowledge, this chance might have seemed +to him a somewhat better one; but, to his thinking, it was altogether +incredible that a healthy girl of Bianca's age should lie down to sleep, +and, without any such change of position as would disorder her +attire--without any evidence of a death-struggle--should simply never +wake again. Again the lawyer's meditations told him that small hope was +to be found in this direction. + +Were there any persons in the city who might be supposed to feel enmity +or ill-will towards the singer? Many a one of the young nobles had, +doubtless, been kept at arms' length by Bianca in a manner that might +easily be supposed to breed hatred in a vain and ill-conditioned heart. +But murder--and such a murder! It was difficult to suppose that such a +cause should be sufficient to produce such an effect; yet vanity is a +very strong and a very evil-counselling passion. + +Vanity? Ha! could it be? Surely there never was so absurdly, so grossly, +vain a creature, as that Conte Leandro? And the poor murdered Diva had +quizzed, and snubbed, and mortified him again and again. The lawyer had +heard that much; and Leandro was aware of the fact that Bianca was to be +in the Pineta at that time. So much was clear from what the Marchese had +said. But she was to be there with Ludovico--how could the poet expect +to find her alone? Could it be that he had followed them merely for the +sake of making mischief and rendering himself disagreeable, and had +chanced to come upon her asleep and alone? Could this be the clue? + +But it would surely be easy to ascertain to a certainty whether the +Conte Leandro had left the city that morning or not. If only it could be +shown that he had done so? The amount of probability that he had really +been the perpetrator of the crime, or the possibility of convicting him +of it, would signify comparatively little. It would be sufficient if +only a competing theory, based on a possibility, could be set up; if +only such an alternative possibility could be presented to the minds of +the judges as should justify them in feeling that the matter was too +doubtful to warrant a conviction. + +Then, suddenly, as he thought on all the causes of hatred that Bianca +might be supposed to have inspired, his mind reverted to those words +which Signor Pietro Logarini, the head of the police, had let drop when +speaking of the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli:--"Women, who are fond of a +man, don't like to see him with another woman, and a beautiful one, +under the circumstances in which the Marchese might have been seen with +Bianca." + +That was the sense of the remark to which the Commissary had partially +given utterance; and now the lawyer thought of it. He was tempted to +believe that Logarini had been struck by the same idea that had before +flashed into his mind almost with the force of a revelation. + +Might it not have been the hand of the Venetian girl, maddened by +jealousy, which had taken the life of her rival, while she slept? + +Such a story would by no means be now told for the first time. Very far +from it. Men had not now to learn furens quid foemina possit. + +Paolina was known to have left the city at that suspiciously strange +hour of the morning. She was known to have been, at all events, at no +very great distance from the spot where the crime was committed. + +And was it not possible that, on the theory of Ludovico's innocence, the +true explanation of the exclamation, which had escaped from him at the +city gate, was to be found in supposing that he, too, had been struck by +a similar thought? Might not that outcry on Paolina, uttered when the +speaker knew well that it was Bianca and not Paolina that lay dead +before him, have been forced from him by the sudden thought that she had +done the deed then revealed to him? + +For the first time the shrewd lawyer began to feel a real doubt as to +the author of the crime, It might be that the Marchesino was innocent +after all, that his account of the events of that morning, as far as he +was concerned, was simply true. As his mind dwelt on the matter the case +against Paolina seemed to acquire additional force. It could be proved +that this girl had been deeply and seriously attached to the Marchese +Ludovico. It could be proved that she had seen her lover tete-a-tete +with so dangerous a rival as the singer in circumstances that she had +every right to consider very suspicious. It could be proved that she had +been not far from the spot where the murder was committed much about the +time when the deed must have been done. + +It is an essentially and curiously Italian characteristic that the +lawyer's rapidly growing conviction that Paolina had indeed been the +criminal was strengthened and made easier of acceptance to his mind by +the fact that the suspected criminal was not; a townswoman but a +Venetian. It would have seemed less possible to him that a young Ravenna +girl should have done such a deed. But one of those terrible Venetian +women of whom so many blood-stained tale of passion and crime were on +record! + +Signor Fortini really began to think that his mind had strayed into the +true path towards the solution of the mystery at last. And he was very +much inclined to think that the germ of such a notion had already been +deposited in the mind of the Police Commissioner. + +In any case here was wherewithal to establish such a case of suspicion +as should make it difficult for the tribunal to condemn the Marchesino +on such evidence as could be brought against him, supposing no new +circumstances to be brought to light. + +Not for that reason, however, was the lawyer disposed to relinquish the +idea which had occurred to him as to the possibility of incriminating +the Conte Leandro. The more circumstances of doubt it was possible to +accumulate around the facts, so much the better. + +Signor Fortini thought that he saw his way clearly enough to the means +to showing that it was very presumable that the Conte Leandro had +conceived a violent and bitter hatred of the murdered woman, It was +enough to base a case for suspicion on. The lawyer had no idea that the +poet had been the murderer. He did not dream of the possibility that he +should be convicted of the crime. He had, doubtless, been quietly in bed +in Ravenna at the hour it had been committed. But he might find it +difficult to prove that he had not quitted the city on that Wednesday +morning. And the suggestion of the possibility of his guilt would, at +all events, be an element of doubt and difficulty the more. + +With these thoughts in his mind Signor Fortini suddenly changed his +immediate purpose of going to the Professore Tomosarchi; and determined +to walk as far as the Porta Nuova and make inquiry himself of the people +at the gate as to the testimony they might be able to give respecting +Paolina's exit from the city at a very early hour on that morning. At +the same time, it might be possible to lead them into imagining that +they had seen some other passenger, who might have been the Conte +Leandro. It was very desirable that this inquiry should be made without +delay. For it was no part of the duty of the gate officers to make any +written note of such a circumstance; and it would entirely depend on +their recollection to say whether such or such a person had passed the +gate. At the same time, that such a person as this Paolina Foscarelli +should pass out of the city at such an hour in the morning, was +sufficiently out of the ordinary course of things to make it very +unlikely that it should not be remembered by the officials. + +As the lawyer pursued his way towards the gate in deep thought he was +comforted as to the complexion of his client's case by the consideration +of his own state of mind. He found it impossible to come to any +definitive conclusion as to the balance of the probabilities. At one +moment his mind swung back to his original conviction that the Marchese +Ludovico had yielded to the temptation of making himself safe from the +destitution that awaited him if his uncle's purpose were carried out. +The persuasion that it was so seemed to come like a flash of light upon +him. Then, again, thinking of all the stories of what women have done +under the influence of a maddening jealousy, he reverted to the superior +probability of the other hypothesis. + +Arrived at the gate the lawyer's success was greater than he had +ventured to anticipate. Both the persons respecting whom he made inquiry +had been seen to pass out of the city at a very early hour that morning. + +To his great surprise he heard that the Conte Leandro had passed the +gate before it was daylight; and the officer had been struck by the +strangeness of the circumstance. He was much muffled up in a large +cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat drawn down over his eyes and face. But +his person was perfectly well known to the official; and he had +recognized him without difficulty. + +He also perfectly well remembered seeing the girl--a remarkably pretty +girl--pass through about an hour or a little more afterwards. And, +imagining that the one circumstance explained the other--that it was an +affair of some assignation outside the city in the interest of some +amourette that was attended by difficulties within the walls--he had +thought no more about it. + +But Signor Fortini knew enough to feel very sure, that the exceedingly +singular facts, as they seemed to him, of both these persons having gone +out of the city in the direction of the Pineta at such an unusual hour, +was not to be accounted for by any such explanation. But neither did it +seem in any degree likely or credible, that these two facts, the passing +out of the Conte Leandro, and the passing out of Paolina, should have +had any connection with each other in reference to the murder in the +Pineta. + +It was strange, very strange! + +It was so strange and unaccountable that Signor Fortini felt that, +unless some fresh circumstances should be brought to light beyond those +which had as yet become known either to him, or to the police, it was +safe to predict that the tribunal would not have the means of coming to +any conclusion concerning the author of the murder. + +The lawyer turned away from the gate, and strolled through the streets +without any intention as to the direction in which he walked, so deeply +was he pondering upon the possibilities that were brought within his +mental vision by the extraordinary facts he had ascertained. + +He would almost have preferred, he thought, as he pursued his way +profoundly musing, that it should have been shown that one only, instead +of both the persons towards whom the possibilities he had imagined, +pointed, had gone at that strange hour towards the locality of the +crime. + +Nevertheless, as he said to himself, the more doubt, the more elements +of difficulty, the better. In truth the chance seemed to be a very good +one, that it might never be known who gave that wretched girl her death. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +At the Circolo again + + +At the Circolo that evening there was no lack of subject for +conversation, as may be easily imagined. The rooms were very full, and +every tongue was busy with the same topic. + +"For my part I don't believe that La Bianca is dead at all. What proof +have we of the fact? Somebody has been told that somebody else heard +some other pumpkin-head say so. Report, signori miei, is an habitual +liar, and I for one never believe a word she says without evidence of +the truth of it," said the Conte Luigi Spadoni, a man who was known to +make a practice of reading French novels, and was therefore held to be +an esprit fort and a philosopher, in accordance with which character he +always professed indiscriminate disbelief in everything. + +"Oh come, Spadoni, that won't do this time. Bah, you are the only living +soul in the town that don't believe it then. Evidence, per Dio! Go and +ask the men at the Porta Nuova, who received the body, when the +contadini brought it in," cried a dozen voices at once. + +"But Spadoni has the weakness of being so excessively credulous," said a +bald young man with gold spectacles, looking up from a game of chess he +was playing in a corner. + +"Who, I? I credulous? That is a good one! Why I said, man alive, that I +disbelieved it," cried Spadoni, eagerly. + +"I know it, and very credulous indeed it seems to me, to believe that +all the people, who say they have seen the prima donna's dead body, +should be mistaken in such a fact, or conspiring without motive to +declare it falsely. I call that very credulous," said the chess-player, +quietly. + +"Did you ever see such an addle-pate. He can't understand the difference +between believing and disbelieving," rejoined Spadoni triumphantly, and +carrying the great bulk of the bystanders with him. + +"But as to the poor girl being dead, there is unhappily no shadow of +doubt at all," said the Baron Manutoli; "I saw old Signor Fortini the +lawyer just now, who told me that he was at the Porta Nuova when the +body was brought in." + +"And is it true that the Marchese Ludovico was with him, and fainted +dead away at the sight of the body?" said a very young man. + +"It is true that Ludovico was there with Fortini at the gate, but I +heard nothing about his fainting; and should not think it very likely." + +"Well, I don't know about that, I should have thought it likely enough +by all accounts," said the Conte Leandro Lombardoni, whose face was +looking more pasty and his eyes more fishy than usual. + +"Much you know about it. Why, in the name of all the saints, should it +be likely? What should Ludovico faint for?" rejoined Manutoli, fiercely. + +"What for? Well, one has heard of such things. And as for what I know +about it, Signor Barone, maybe I have the means of knowing more about it +than anybody here," said the poet. + +"Here is Lombardoni confesses he knows all about it," cried one. + +"That ought to be told to the Commissary of Police" said another + +"I say, my notion is that Lombardoni did it himself," exclaimed a third. + +"Ah, to be sure. What is more likely? We all know how the poor Diva +snubbed him. Remember the fate of his verses. If that is not enough to +drive a man and a poet to do murder I don't know what is. To be sure, +'twas Leandro did it," rejoined the first. + +"I can believe that, if I never believe anything else," said Spadoni. + +"Let's send to the Commissary and tell him that the Conte Leandro +confesses that it was he that murdered La Bianca, cried one of the +previous speakers. + +"What on earth are you dreaming of," cried the persecuted poet, turning +ghastly livid with affright; "I know nothing about the matter, nothing! +How in the world should I know anything about it?" + +"Oh, I thought you knew more about it than anybody else just now," +sneered one of his persecutors. + +"He looks to me very much as if he did know something about it in sober +earnest," said the bald-headed chess-player; who had been looking hard +at the evidences of terror on the poet's face. + +"But where is the Marchese Ludovico?" asked the same young man, who had +heard that the Marchese had fainted at the sight of the body. + +A general silence fell on the chattering group at this question: till +Manutoli answered with a very grave face "Ah, you must ask the +Commissary of Police that question, Signor Marco." + +"You don't mean that he is arrested," returned the youngster thus +addressed. + +Manutoli nodded his head two or three times gravely, as he said, "That +is the worst of the bad business; and a very bad business it is in every +way." + +"You don't mean that you think Ludovico can have done it, Manutoli?" +said one of the others. + +"No, I don't say I think so. I don't know what to think. I should have +said, that I was just as likely to do such a thing myself, as Ludovico +di Castelmare. But if there is any truth in what is said, that the +Marchese Lamberto was going to marry the girl, it looks very ugly. God +knows what a man might be driven to do in such a case." + +"I suppose if the old Marchese were to marry and have children, Ludovico +would have about the same fortune as the old blind man that sits at the +door of the Cathedral?" asked the previous speaker. + +"Just about as much. He would be absolutely a beggar," said the Conte +Leandro, who appeared to find considerable pleasure in the announcement. + +"I think, that if that was the case, and Ludovico had put the unlucky +girl out of the way, it would be the Marchese Lamberto who ought to bear +the blame of it. An old fellow has no right to behave in that sort of +way," said one of the group. + +"Of course he has not. To bring a fellow up to the age of Ludovico in +the expectation that he is to have the family property; and then to take +it into his head to marry when he is past fifty. If Ludovico had put a +knife into him instead of into the girl, I should have said that it +served him right," said another. + +"And what was the good of murdering the girl? If the old fellow wants to +be married, he will marry some other girl if not this one. Girls are +plenty enough," said a third. + +"Ay, but not such girls as La Bianca--what a lovely creature she was! I +don't wonder at the Marchese being caught by her, for my part, seeing +her every day as he did," remarked a fourth. + +"Bah, girls are plenty enough, as Gino said, and pretty girls too. And +if the Marchese was minded to marry, it wasn't the murder of this poor +girl that would stop him," said one of the others. + +"And that is a strong reason, as it strikes me, for thinking that +Ludovico had nothing to do with it. He must have known, as well as we, +that it was likely enough his uncle would find somebody else," remarked +Manutoli. + +"Well, we shall see. But I would wager a good round sum that Ludovico +did it," said the Conte Leandro; who had by that time recovered his +tranquillity. + +"Oh, now here's Leandro, who begins to think again that he does know +something about it," said the Barone Manutoli. + +"I said nothing of the sort, Signor Barone. How should I know? But +everybody may have his opinion, and that is mine. We shall see +by-and-by," returned Leandro, waspishly. + +"I'll tell you what, signori miei," said Manutoli; "let it turn out as +it may, it is the saddest and worst affair that has been seen in Ravenna +for many a day. I won't admit the thought, for my part, that the +Marchese Ludovico has really committed this murder. I should prefer to +suppose, that some vagabonds had done it for the sake of robbery, and +had been disturbed before they could carry out their purpose, or +anything. But it is a very sad affair. I would have done I don't know +what, rather than that it should have happened. Think what will be said. +That's what an artist gets by venturing to Ravenna. You will see the +noise that will be made all over Italy." + +"But why does it follow that anybody is to blame, at all? Why may she +not have put herself to death?" said one of the previous speakers. + +"A suicide! that is a new idea. But it does not seem a very promising +one. Why should she kill herself? She was in the full tide of success, +and had just received an offer of marriage, if what we hear is true, +from the richest man in Ravenna. Is it likely that she should choose +just that moment to make away with herself?" replied another. + +"In any case the doctors will know what to tell us about that. They can +always tell whether anybody has killed themselves or been murdered by +somebody else." + +"By the way, Signor Barone, have you heard whether the medical report +has been made yet? But I suppose the police would not let us know what +the doctor's opinion was, if it had been made. Who knows who has been +employed to examine the body?" + +"I know!" answered the Baron Manutoli, "the Professore Tomosarchi. And +whatever can be found out by examining the body, he will find out, +depend upon it. I was asking about it just now. The examination will +take place to-morrow morning." + +"But who ever heard of such a thing as going off to the Pineta at that +time in the morning, and after being up all night at a ball too?" said +Lombardoni, spitefully. "Why, it looks as if a man must have had some +scheme, some out-of-the-way motive of some kind to do such a thing." + +"Not at all," returned Manutoli angrily, "I don't see that at all. A +charmingly imagined frolic, I should say, a capital wind-up for a last +night of carnival. I should have liked it myself." + +"And then," said one of the others, "one can't refuse such a girl as La +Bianca. And it's two to one that she asked Ludovico to take her, for a +lark." + +"But I happen to know," said Leandro, quickly, "that it was he who +proposed it to her. He persuaded her to go." + +"And how in the world do you know that, pray?" asked Manutoli, turning +sharply upon him. + +"I--I heard it said. I was told so. I am sure I don't know who it was +said so. Nobody has been talking about anything else. Some fellow or +other said that Ludovico had proposed the trip to her." + +"The fact is, in short, that you know just nothing at all about it. You +happen to know, forsooth! It seems to me, Signor Conte, that you are +strangely ready to fancy you know anything that might seem to go against +Ludovico," rejoined Manutoli. + +"And what would be the result if it should turn out that he was +guilty--if he were condemned?" asked one of the younger men, looking +afraid of his words, as he spoke them. + +"God knows,--the galleys, I suppose. But one must not imagine such a +thing. It is too frightful," said Manutoli. + +"Horrible! Shocking! Impossible!" cried a chorus of voices. + +"Good God! Result! The disgrace and destruction of the noblest family in +the province. The ending of a fine old name in infamy. Gracious heaven, +it is too horrible to think of," exclaimed Manutoli, with much emotion. + +"It would kill the old Marchese as dead as a door-nail, for one thing," +said another of the group of young men. + +"And serve him right too. If it is really true that he has contemplated +being guilty of such a monstrous piece of injustice and folly," said the +same man, who had before expressed a similar opinion. + +Just then a servant of the Circolo came into the room and put a note +into the hands of the Baron Manutoli. + +"It is from Ludovico, asking me to go to him. So there's an end to our +game of billiards, Signor Conte," said Manutoli to one of the group; "I +must go at once." + +"But you'll come back here after you've seen him, won't you? You'll come +back and tell us all about it, Manutoli?" said two or three of the group +which had been discussing the topic. + +"I don't know, I shall see. I will, if I can--if it's not too late. It +may be that I shall be detained with him. I suppose that he has had no +means of communicating with any of his people since the police folk +clapped their hands on him." + +"Do look in here for a moment, Manutoli. We shall all be anxious to hear +about him, poor fellow,", said another of the young men, who had pressed +around Signor Manutoli as soon as it was known from whom his note had +come. + +"If I can I will. It is likely enough he may want me to go somewhere +else for him. We shall see. A rivederci, Signori." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A Prison Visit + + +The note which had been given to the Baron Manutoli begged him to come +with as little delay as possible to the Palazzo del Governo. + +Adolfo Manutoli was a somewhat older man than the majority of those who +had formed the group which had been discussing the all-absorbing topic +of the day at the Circolo; and he was Ludovico di Castelmare's most +intimate friend among the younger members of the society in which he +lived. It was a friendship strongly approved by the Marchese Lamberto, +as might have been perceived by his selection of Manutoli to accompany +him on the occasion of meeting La Lalli on her first arrival in Ravenna, +as the reader may possibly remember. And the special ground of this +approval was Manutoli's strong advocacy of the projected marriage +between Ludovico and the Contessa Violante, and his consequent +disapproval and discouragement of his friend's friendship and admiration +for Paolina. He was not a man who would have counselled or desired his +friend to behave badly or unworthily to Paolina or to any woman; for he +was a man of honour and a gentleman. But, short of any conduct which +could be so characterized, he would have been very glad to see the +Marchese quit of an entanglement which alone stood in the way, as he +conceived, of his forming an alliance so desirable in every point of +view as the marriage with the great-niece of the Cardinal Legate. + +"Can I be permitted to see the Marchese Ludovico, Signor Commissario? He +has requested me to come to him," said the Baron, on arriving at the +police-office. + +"Certainly, Signor Barone. I myself sent his note to you. Though, on his +own statement of the very unfortunate circumstances connected with this +unhappy affair, I was compelled to detain him, still there is at present +no definite accusation against him which should justify me in preventing +him from having free communication with his friends. You shall be taken +to his room immediately. You will see, Signor Barone, that we have +endeavoured to make him as comfortable as the circumstances would +allow." + +"Manutoli," said Ludovico, after the first expressions of astonishment +and condolence had been spoken between the young men, "of course I knew +I should see you here before long; and my note was to call you at once, +instead of waiting to see you in the morning; because I want you to do +something for me before you sleep this night--something that I don't +want to wait for till to-morrow morning." + +"To be sure, my dear fellow, anything; I am ready for anything, if it +takes all night." + +"Thanks. Well, now, look here: I am innocent of this deed--" + +"S' intende; of course you are." + +"S' intende, of course; that's just the worst of it. It is so much a +matter of course that I should say I had not done it if I had, that my +saying so is of no use at all. Nevertheless, to you I must say that I +neither did it nor have I the slightest conception or suspicion who did. +And you may guess that the fact itself is a horror and a grief to me +that I shall never get over, putting this dreadful suspicion of my own +guilt out of the question. A horror and a grief, and a remorse, too; for +if I had not moved away from her the tragedy could not have happened." + +"I really do not see that you need blame yourself for--" + +"I ought not to have left her side. Yet, God knows, it never entered my +head to dream of the possibility of any harm; all seemed so still, so +peaceful, so utterly quiet; yet, at that moment, the hand that did the +deed could not have been far off." + +"Let the circumstances have been what they might," resumed Manutoli, +after a moment's pause, "nobody would have dreamed of connecting you +with the deed had it not been for the strong motive which seems so clear +and intelligible to every fool who sets his brains to work on the +matter. I suppose it is true that you had been informed of your uncle's +intention to offer the poor girl marriage?" + +"True that I had been told of it, for the first time, by herself during +our drive, poor girl." + +"Ah--h--h! To think of such a man being guilty of such insane folly--and +of all the misery that is likely to grow out of it. How on earth did she +ever contrive to get such a fatal influence over him?" + +"She schemed for it from her first arrival here--aimed avowedly to +herself at nothing less than inducing the Marchese di Castelmare to +marry her--and succeeded. For all that, I'll tell you what, +Adolfo--there was a great deal more good in that poor girl than you +would have thought." + +"Bah! Good in her--Well, she's gone. She has had her reward, poor soul; +and I pity her with all my heart. But as for the good in her--" + +"There was good in her, and not a little. I tell you that if you or any +one else could have heard all that passed between us, I should hardly be +suspected of having murdered her, poor girl." + +"That is likely enough; but--" + +"Do you know, Manutoli, I have a very strong idea that if this had not +happened, the marriage with the Marchese would never have come off?" + +"You think that, between us all, we should have induced him to listen to +reason?" + +"I don't know about that; I was not thinking of that; I think that +Bianca would have been induced to listen to reason; I think that the +scheme would have come to nothing through her renunciation of it." + +"When, according to your own account, she had been scheming all the time +she has been here to bring it about?" said Manutoli, with arched +eyebrows. + +"Yes, even so. She had never known--how should she?--that such a +marriage would turn me out on the world a beggar; she had never known +what sort and what degree of misery and ruin it would bring about to all +parties." + +"And you told her this?" + +"Yes, in some degree I told her. As to the effect of such a marriage on +myself, I told her simply the entire truth." + +"And you are disposed to think that the Diva--No, poor girl! I didn't +mean to speak sneeringly of her. She has paid for her fault a heavier +penalty than it deserved, any way. You are disposed to think, then, that +she would have given up the prize of all her scheming--this marriage, +which was to have given her everything in the world that she could +desire, and more than she could have ever dreamed of attaining; she +would have voluntarily relinquished all this, you think, for your sake?" + +"I'll tell you what it is, Manutoli. A man can never appreciate,--can +never fathom, the depth of woman's generosity till he has tried it." + +"But, caro mio,--after all I don't want to be hard upon her, poor soul, +God knows!--but to expect generosity on such a point from such a +woman--" + +"You may say what you will, Manutoli, I know what she was, poor girl, as +well as you do--better, a great deal; for, I tell you, that there was a +real generosity in her nature. Look here," continued Ludovico; after a +pause of a minute or two, "I would not say it to anybody else than you, +or to you either, except under circumstances that make one wish to state +the whole truth exactly as it was. It seems so coxcomblike,--so like +what our friend Leandro would say; but I may say it to you. The fact is, +I have a kind of idea that that poor Bianca was inclined to like me. She +cried when I told her--" + +"Aha, j'y suis! Now I begin to be able to fathom the depth of a woman's +generosity. Given the fact of becoming Marchesa di Castelmare, the lady +was not disinclined to become so by catching the nephew instead of the +uncle; and small blame to her." + +"You do not do the poor woman justice, Manutoli." + +"Any way, I do you justice; and I know you well enough, Ludovico mio, to +understand that the generosity of such a girl as this poor Lalli was, +taking that special form, must have been very touching to you." + +"You forget, Manutoli, how little accessible I was to the flattery of +any such preference, with my whole heart full of a very different +person." + +"And I was just thinking, to tell you the truth, how the little scene in +the bagarino would have struck that other person if she could have seen +La Bianca giving you to understand, amid her tears, upon what terms she +would consent not to come between you and your natural inheritance." + +"That other person did see us in the bagarino; and that brings me to the +motive which led me to beg you to come to me this evening. Somehow or +other, it has become known to these people here that Paolina went out of +the Porta Nuova at a very early hour this morning. The fact is, that she +simply went to see whether the scaffolding, which I had had prepared for +her copying work there, was all right, and ready for her to begin her +task there; and all that can be proved, of course. But the same idea +that occurred to you just now, that Paolina might not have liked to see +me driving with La Bianca, has suggested itself to some other +wiseacre,--I beg your pardon, Manutoli,--and it seems that an absurd +notion--a notion the monstrous absurdity of which is a matter of +amazement to me--has been engendered that my poor Paolina may have been +the perpetrator of the crime. The idea! If they only knew her! But the +Commissary here has been cross-questioning me in a way that shows that +is the notion he has in his head. Whether they know that Paolina really +did see us in the bagarino together--she did so from the window in the +Church of St. Apollinare--or whether they only know that she left the +city by that gate early in the morning, I can't tell; but it is sure to +be found out that she did really see us,--the more so, that she will say +so to the first person who asks her" the poor innocent darling. And what +I want you do is to see her, and prepare her, poor child, for the +possibility of being arrested, and make her understand that no harm can +possibly come to her. Try to save her from being frightened. She knows +well enough, just as well as I know myself, that I have not done this +thing. Try to make her understand that a little time only is necessary +for the finding out of the real culprit; that it is sure to be +discovered, and that, as far as we are concerned, it is all sure to come +right." + +"You wish me to go to her at once?" + +"Yes, if you would be so kind. What I am anxious for is that you should +see her before any order for her arrest shall have been issued. But that +is not all. I want you to see Fortini also. I want you to ascertain from +him how far it is possible or probable that any suspicion may rest on +Paolina in consequence of the facts which are known; how far it is +likely that any attempt may be made to set up a case against her. And I +want you to tell him that it will be wholly and utterly vain to make any +such attempt, that the result would only be entirely to cripple my own +defence. For you must understand once for all, and make him understand +once for all, that rather than allow her to be convicted of a deed of +which she is as innocent as you are, I would confess myself to be the +guilty party. It shall not be, Manutoli, mark what I say, it shall not +be, that she shall be dragged to ruin and destruction by my misfortune, +or imprudence, call it what you will. Of this, of course, you will say +no word to her. But I beg you to leave no shade of a doubt as to my +settled purpose in this matter on the mind of Signor Fortini. It is he, +of course, who will have the duty of preparing and conducting my +defence; and it is essential that he should understand this rightly. +Will you do this for me?" + +"Of course I will--this or anything else that I can do for you. But I +can't undertake to say what Signor Giovacchino Fortini may think, or +say, or do in the matter, you know. I will take your message, and then, +of course, you will see him yourself in the course of to-morrow morning. +Of course, old fellow, I need not tell you that I am sure you did not +murder the girl; but it is altogether one of the most mysterious things +I ever heard of. Nevertheless my notion is that we shall find out the +culprit yet. And you may depend on it that two-thirds of the whole +population of the town will be moving heaven and earth to get some clue +to the mystery for your sake." + +"It seems to me, too, that such a deed cannot but be found out. I should +be more uneasy than I am, did I not console myself with thinking so. Now +go to Paolina, there is a dear good fellow." + +"One word more--shall I see the Marchese?" + +"I think, perhaps, it is best not to do so. Of course Fortini has been +with him, and told him everything. I almost thought that I should have +seen him here this evening; but, under the circumstances, I am better +pleased that he should stay away. Better leave him to Fortini." + +"Good-night, then." + +"Good-night. You will let me see you to-morrow?" + +"I won't fail. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Signor Giovacchino Fortini at Home + + +The Baron Manutoli was Ludovico di Castelmare's very good friend. But +there are two sorts of friends--friends who show their friendship by +wishing, and endeavouring to obtain for us, what we wish for ourselves; +and friends, whose friendship consists in wishing for us things +analogous to what they wish for themselves;--who endeavour to procure +for us, not what we wish, but what they consider to be good for us. + +Now the Baron Manutoli belonged to the latter of these two categories. +He was some years older than Ludovico; had been a married man, and was +now a widower with one little boy,--the future Baron Manutoli; and +considered himself as having been blessed with a supreme and exceptional +degree of good fortune, with regard to all that appertained to that +difficult and often disastrous chapter of human destinies which concerns +the relations of mankind with the other sex. Happiness and advantages, +ordinarily incompatible and exclusive of each other, had in his case by +a kind destiny been made compatible. For the representative of an old +noble family to remain single, was bad in many points of view. But on +the other hand--when one's ancestral acres are not so extensive as they +once were, and in nowise more productive--when one likes a quiet life +enlivened by a moderate degree of bachelor's liberty,--when one sees the +interiors of divers of one's contemporaries and friends,--when one +thinks of mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law, and a whole ramified +family-in-law!--the Baron Manutoli, though he had grieved over the loss +of his young wife when the loss was recent, was now, after some ten +years of widower's life, inclined to think that of the man, who had a +legitimately born son to inherit his name and estate, who had done his +duty towards society by taking a wife, and who was yet enabled to enjoy +all the ease and freedom from care of a bachelor's life, it might be +said, "Omne tulit punctum." + +Far as he was from undervaluing the importance of the social duties of a +man and a nobleman in respect to these matters, he had always been an +earnest advocate of the marriage which Ludovico was expected to make +with the Contessa Violante; and had regarded poor Paolina, from the +first, as an intruder and disastrous mischief-maker; and Ludovico's love +for her as the unlucky caprice of a boy, respecting which, the evident +duty of all friends was to do all they could to discourage it, put it +down, and get rid of it. + +So that in the matter of the commission which Ludovico had entrusted to +him, the Baron was likely enough to have somewhat different views from +those of his friend. + +What a happy turning of misfortune into a blessing it would be, if this +shocking affair should be the means of getting rid of this unlucky +Paolina altogether! Not, of course, that the Baron was capable of +wishing that such getting rid of should be accomplished by the unjust +condemnation of the poor girl for such a crime. God forbid! But, if +there should be found to be a sufficient degree of suspicion--of +unexplainable mystery--to cause the exoneration of Ludovico, and at the +same time, an intimation to the Venetian stranger that she would do well +to remove herself from the happy territory of the Holy Father, what a +Godsend it would be! + +Then, again, as to the real fact of Paolina's innocence, Manutoli was +seriously disposed to think that there might be grounds for considerable +doubt. Ludovico's assertions to that effect were of course unworthy of +the slightest attention; the mere ravings of a man in love. Of course, +also, the menace he held out, that if any attempt were made to throw the +onus of the crime on Paolina, he would meet it by avowing himself +guilty, was as entirely to be disregarded. The paramount business in +hand was to clear his friend of this untoward complication in the matter +of the crime which had so mysteriously been committed. The next +consideration was to set him equally free from his entanglement with +Paolina. And with these thoughts in his mind, the Baron decided that, +upon the whole, it would be better that he should have an interview with +lawyer Fortini, before making his visit to the lady. + +He knew that it was too late to look for the lawyer at his "studio;" and +therefore went directly to his residence, where he found the old +gentleman just concluding his solitary supper. Being the evening of Ash +Wednesday, the meal had consisted of a couple of eggs, and a morsel of +tunny fish preserved in oil, very far from a bad relish for a flask of +good wine. And the lawyer was, when Manutoli came in, aiding his +meditations by discussing the remaining half of a small cobwebbed bottle +of the very choicest growth of the Piedmontese hills. + +"I owe you a thousand apologies, Signor Fortini, for coming to trouble +you with business, and very disagreeable business too, here and at such +an hour," began the Baron; "but the interest we all feel--" + +"Not a word of apology is needed, Signor Barone. About this shocking +affair in the Pineta, of course, of course? Pur troppo, we are all +interested, as you say. Will you honour my poor house, Signor Barone, by +tasting what there is in the cellar? I ought to be ashamed to offer this +wine, my ordinary drink at supper, to the Barone Manutoli"--(the old +fellow knew right well that there was not such another glass of wine in +all the city, and that it was rarely enough that his noble guest drank +such)--"but it is drinkable." And so saying, he called to his old +housekeeper to bring another bottle and a fresh glass before he would +allow Manutoli to say a word on the business that brought him there. + +"And now, Signor Barone," said the old lawyer, as soon as the wine and +the praise it merited, had been both duly savoured, "about this bad +business? Do you bring me any information? Information is all we want. I +hope and trust information is all we want," he repeated, looking hard at +the Baron. + +"Of course, that is all we want; information which should put us on some +clue to the real perpetrator of this crime." + +"That is what we want; that is the one thing needful; and it is +absolutely needful," said the lawyer, again looking meaningly in his +companion's face. + +"Of course that is what we want. But even supposing no light upon the +matter can be got at all, it is not to be supposed that--that any judge +would consider there was sufficient ground for assuming our friend to be +guilty?" + +"Ah, that's just the point; just the point of the difficulty. We must +not expect, Signor Barone, that the judges will look at the question +quite with the same eyes that we do. They will have none of the strong +persuasion that we--ahem!--that the Marchese Ludovico's friends +have--that he is wholly incapable of committing such a crime. On the +other hand, they are men used to suspicion, and to the habit of +considering a certain amount of suspicion as equivalent to moral +certainty. And I confess--I must confess, my dear sir, that I am very +far from easy as to the result, if we should be unable to find at least +some counterbalancing possibilities, you understand?" + +"But it seems to me, Signor, that such are already found; and it was +just upon this point that I was anxious to speak with you to-night. I +have just seen Ludovico. He sent for me to the Circolo. And what he +mainly wanted was to bid me go to the Signorina Paolina Foscarelli, in +order to prepare her for the probability of her own arrest, and to +comfort her with the assurance that no evil could come to her. Also I +was directed by him to tell you, that any attempt to fix the guilt of +this deed on the girl, would be met by an avowal--a false avowal, of +course--that he is himself the guilty person." + +"Ta, ta, ta, ta! Mere stuff, chatter, the talk of a boy in love with a +pretty girl," said the lawyer. + +"Just so, just so. Of course we pay no attention to all that. I promised +to go to the girl as he told me; and I shall do so presently. But I +thought it best to see you first. The fact is, Signor Fortini, that I do +not feel any one bit of the certainty that he professes to feel, that +this Venetian girl may not have been the real assassin." + +The lawyer looked shrewdly into Manutoli's face, and nodded his head +slowly three or four times. "What would there be so unlikely in it," +pursued Manutoli; "girls, and Venetian girls too, have done as much and +more before now? We know that she is in love with him. She sees him +going on such an expedition as that with such a girl as La Bianca. She +has already, no doubt, had cause to be jealous of her. Ludovico used to +see the Lalli frequently. What is more likely?" + +"Stay, Signor Barone, one minute. This is an important point; you say +that this Paolina saw her lover with La Bianca. How do you know that? +and how did it come about?" + +"Ludovico just told me so; and the girl, it seems, herself told him. Her +story is that she went out to St. Apollinare at an early hour this +morning to look after a scaffolding or some preparation of some kind +that had been made for her to copy some of the mosaics in the church; +and that from a window of the church, being on the scaffolding, she saw +Ludovico and La Bianca driving by in a bagarino. Now all this probably +is true enough. The question is, What did she do then, when she saw what +was so well calculated to throw her into a frenzy of jealousy? My theory +is, that she followed them into the forest, dogged their steps, and +finding her opportunity at the unlucky moment when Ludovico left Bianca +sleeping, did the murder there and then." + +The old lawyer started up from his seat, and thrusting his hands into +the pockets of his trousers took a hasty turn across the room; and then +resuming his seat, tossed off a glass of wine before making any reply. + +"And a very good theory too, Signor Barone. I make you my compliment on +it," he said at last. "I was not aware of all the facts, the very, +important facts, you mention. I had ascertained that this Venetian girl +left the city by the Porta Nuova at a strangely early hour this morning; +and that was enough already, to fix my eye upon her. But what you now +tell me is much more important; advances the case against her to a far +more serious point. Upon my word," continued the lawyer, after a pause +for further meditation; "upon my word I begin to think that it is the +most likely view of the case that this Signorina Paolina Foscarelli has +been the assassin. At all events it seems quite as likely a theory as +that the Marchese should have done it. Fully as likely," added the +lawyer, rubbing his hands cheerily; "the motive, as motives to such +deeds go, is quite as great in her case as in his. Greater, or at least +more probable! Jealousy has moved to such acts more frequently than mere +considerations of interest." + +"To be sure it has," cried Manutoli; "I think that the circumstances +bear more conclusively against her than against him; I do, upon my +life." + +"If only something do not turn up to show that it could not have been +done by her, I think--I do think that we have got all that is absolutely +necessary for us. For observe, Signor Barone, it is not necessary that +she should be convicted. If there is such a probability that she may +have been the criminal as to make it impossible to say that it is far +more likely that one of the parties suspected should be guilty than the +other, there can be no conviction, and our friend is safe." + +"But I say that all the probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis +that she did the deed," cried Manutoli, warmly. + +"Much will depend on the report of Tomosarchi," said the lawyer. "The +inquiry arises, how far it was possible for a young girl to do that +which was done." + +"It is evident that she was murdered in her sleep," observed the Baron. + +"It looks like it; it seems clear that there could have been no struggle +of any sort. Still, we must hear how the murder was done; we must know +whether the means were such as might have been in the power of this +girl," rejoined Fortini. + +"Well, we shall know all that to-morrow. God grant that the Professor's +report may be a favourable one," said Manutoli, thinking little of the +savageness of his wish as regarded the poor artist. But, to the mind of +the Baron, it was a question between one who was a fellow-creature of +his own, and one who could hardly be considered such. How was it +possible to put in comparison for a moment the consideration of a +fellow-noble of his own city and that of a poor unknown foreign artist? + +"I trust it may; I build much on the fact that there was no struggle. +She was put to death by some means which scarcely allowed her time to +wake from the sleep," returned the lawyer. "You are going, then, now, +Signor Barone, to see this Paolina?" + +"Yes; if I find her still up, which I suppose I shall, for it is not +late," said Manutoli, looking at his watch. + +"Better be a little cautious in speaking to her, you know; best to avoid +alarming her," said Fortini. + +"The express object of my visit to her is to prevent her from being +alarmed," rejoined the Baron. + +"Yes; but--what I mean is that--it would be desirable, you see, to lead +her to speak. What we want now is to know exactly what she did and where +she went after seeing the Marchesino and La Bianca in the bagarino +together. Also to ascertain whether she was seen by anybody to do +whatever she did or to go wherever it was she went. And, I think, that +you might very probably learn this from her more effectually than I +should. She would be more likely to be on her guard with me, you see." + +"I'll try what I can do; my real belief is that she is the guilty +person," said Manutoli. + +"To-morrow I will see what I can do at St. Apollinare. She cannot have +been in the church without seeing and speaking to somebody. There are a +Capucin and a lay-brother always there, I take it; we shall see what +they can tell us. But I can't go out there till after the medical +examination. I have arranged with my old friend Tomosarchi to be present +at it," said the lawyer. + +"I shall be most anxious to hear the result," said the Baron. + +"If you will be here about ten o'clock--my breakfast hour--I shall be +able to tell you." + +"Thanks. A rivederci dunque--" + +"Stay; one more word before you go, Signor Barone. As we are both +engaged in this inquiry, and both interested on the same side, I may as +well tell you, perhaps, that there is one other person to whom my +attention has been drawn as being open to suspicion in this matter--the +Conte Leandro Lombardoni." + +"The Conte Leandro! You don't say so! Impossible!" + +"Just listen one moment, Signor Barone. It is certain that the Conte +Leandro passed out of the city by the Porta Nuova at a very early hour +this morning--at an earlier hour than either the girl Paolina or the +Marchesino and La Bianca." + +"The Conte Leandro--out of the Porta Nuova--at such an hour in the +morning. For what possible purpose?" + +"Ay, that is the question. For what possible purpose? But the fact is +certain. Though endeavouring to conceal himself by means of his cloak, +he was perfectly well recognized by the men at the gate. For what +possible purpose? No doubt you know, Signor Barone, much better than I, +who am not much in the way of hearing of such things--unless in cases +where I make it my business to hear of them, you understand, Signor +Barone,--you, no doubt, know that the Signor Conte has been besieging, +as I may say, this poor Lalli woman with his attentions and verses ever +since she came here; also, that the lady would have nothing to say to +him or to his verses--that she has, in short, snubbed him and mortified +his vanity in the sight of all the town during the whole of the past +Carnival." + +"That is true--it is all true," cried Manutoli, eagerly, and looking +almost scared by the ideas the lawyer was presenting to his mind. "It is +even truer, than you, perhaps, are aware of. She said sneering and +cutting things of him in his hearing both at the Marchese Lamberto's +ball and at the Circolo ball; I happen to know it." + +"Hey--y--y--y?" said the lawyer, uttering a sound like a long sigh, with +a question stop at the end of it; and then thrusting out his lips and +nodding his head up and down slowly while he plunged his hands into the +pockets of his trowsers. "I'll tell you what it is Signor Barone," the +old man added, after a pause of deep thought, "I was anxious to find +such plausible grounds of suspicion against other parties, such element +of doubt, such possibilities as might make it difficult for the judges +to condemn our friend. I wanted to puzzle the court; but, per Bacco! I +have puzzled myself. This afternoon, I confess to you, I had little +doubt but that the Marchesino had, in a fatal moment of anger and +desperation, committed the crime. But, upon my word now, I know not what +to think. Here we have three parties, each of whom we know to have been +acted on by one of three strong passions. We have jealousy, and wounded +vanity. Which of the three has done the deed?" + +"It is an extraordinary circumstance," said the Baron Manutoli, "that +they were jeering at the Conte Leandro at the Circolo just now, about +the way the Diva had snubbed him and his verses, and accusing him in +joke of having been her murderer. And, as sure as I am now speaking to +you, Signor Fortini, he looked in a way then that I--a--a--in short that +I thought very odd--turned all sorts of colours. But then, you know, he +is always such an unwholesome-looking animal." + +"One of the vainest men I ever met with," said the lawyer, musing. + +"Oh--for vanity--I believe you. Leandro has not his equal for vanity." + +"And strong vanity, deeply wounded, by a woman too, will breed a hate as +violent and vicious, perhaps, as any passion that ever prompted a +crime," rejoined the lawyer, still meditating deeply. "Per Dio Santo!" +he exclaimed, after a pause of silence, striking his open palm strongly +on the table, as he spoke, and speaking with a sort of solemn +earnestness, "I am inclined to think, after all, that he is the man. The +Marchesino," he went on again, thoughtfully, "went out for a +frolic--intelligible enough; The girl went out to look after the +preparations for her work--again quite plausible. But in the name of all +the saints what took the Conte Leandro out of the Porta Nuova at that +hour of the morning, after passing the night at a ball?" + +"I still think that the Venetian girl has done the deed," said Manutoli, +whose opinion was no doubt in some degree warped by his desire that the +criminal should turn out to be a foreign plebeian rather than a Ravenna +noble. "After all Leandro is not the man to do such a deed. He is such a +poor creature. Besides, it seems to me that the girl's motive for hate +was the stronger. I don't know that wounded vanity has had many such +crimes to answer for, whereas jealousy--and such a jealousy--why, it is +an old story you know." + +"Well, we shall see. Any way, I am very much more easy as to the result. +Short of such evidence as it seems very highly unlikely should be +forthcoming, I do not think that there can be any conviction at all. It +is most extraordinary that in the case of such deed, done in such a +place, at such a time, there should be so many persons so fairly liable +to strong suspicion." + +"Of course, to produce the result we wish, a case must be set up against +Leandro?" said the Baron. + +"Of course. Leave that to me, or rather to the police. No doubt their +inquiries have already put them on his track. The fact of his having +gone out of the city by that gate, at that hour, is quite enough." + +"And now I must be off to see this Signorina Foscarelli. I don't half +like the job." + +"I daresay you will find her easy enough," said the lawyer, not quite +understanding the nature of Manutoli's distaste for his errand. +"Good-night, Signor Barone." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Post-Mortem Examination + + +The Baron Manutoli found Paolina quite as "easy" as the lawyer had +imagined that he would find her; but his task was not altogether an easy +one in the sense he had himself intended. She made not the slightest +difficulty of telling him, that when she had seen Ludovico and Bianca +drive past the church towards the forest she had felt a strong +temptation to follow them thither; she told him all about the +conversation she had had with the old monk, and repeated the directions +she had received from him as to the path by which she might reach the +Pineta, and return that way towards the city, without coming back into +the high-road, till she got near the walls. She confessed that, when she +had followed the path behind the church leading to the Pineta, for some +little distance, she had changed her mind, and had turned off by another +path, which had brought her back into the high-road not far from the +church; and she said that she had then walked on till she came near the +walls, where she turned aside to sit down on one of the benches under +the trees of the little promenade; that she had sat there for some +time--she did not know how long; had then gone in to the Cardinal +Legate's chapel, where she had conversed with the Contessa Violante, +whom she knew from having often met her there before; and had at last +returned home at a very much later hour than she had expected, and had +found her friend Signora Orsola Steno uneasy at her prolonged absence. + +"And did you mention to the Contessa the shocking fact of the prima +donna's death?" asked Manutoli, suddenly, thinking that he was doing a +very sharp bit of lawyerly business in laying this trap for Paolina. + +"How was it possible that I should do so, when I knew nothing about it +till Ludovico told me several hours later?" answered the girl, with an +unembarrassed easiness and readiness that almost changed Manutoli's +opinion as to the probability of her guilt. + +He reminded himself, however, that the same woman, who could be capable +of such a deed might also be expected to have the presence of mind and +readiness necessary for avoiding any such trap as that which he had laid +for her. + +He was, at the same time, strongly, but perhaps not altogether +consistently, impressed with the fact; that during the whole of his +interview with her, she did not once distinctly and directly deny that +she had had anything to do with the crime. When warning her, as he had +been charged by Ludovico to do, of the probability that she might be +arrested, he had allowed her to understand that the circumstances of +this case were such, that the question of who was the guilty person +became nearly an alternative one between herself and the Marchese. On +which, instead of protesting her own innocence, she had strongly +insisted on that of Ludovico, which seemed a very suspicious +circumstance to the Baron Manutoli. + +He had tried to lead her to express some feeling, or, rather, some +remembrance of what had been her feeling when she saw Ludovico and La +Bianca in the bagarino together; but there she became reticent, and +would say little or nothing--another suspicious circumstance in the eyes +of the Baron, so that, when he quitted her, he was, upon the whole, +rather confirmed than otherwise in his previous opinion as to her guilt. + +"Well, Signorina," he had said, in rising to leave her, "I came here, in +compliance with my friend's request, to re-assure you on the subject of +the warrant which will, in all probability, be issued to-morrow morning +for your arrest. You best know whether you have any reason for alarm. My +own opinion is, that if you have nothing to reproach yourself with, you +have nothing to fear. I trust it may be so." + +"I am grateful to you for coming, Signor," Paolina said. "You will see +Ludovico again. Tell him that I am as sure of his innocence of this +horrid thing as if he had never quitted my side." + +How Paolina passed that miserable night it is useless to attempt to +tell. How happy all, ay, even all, the days of her previous life seemed +to her in comparison with the misery of the minutes that were then so +slowly passing. + +Early the next morning Signor Fortini called at the house of his friend +Dr. Buonaventura Tomosarchi, the great anatomist, for the purpose of +accompanying the Professor to the room at the hospital, where the body +of Bianca was awaiting the post-mortem examination which had been +ordered by the police. + +"I suppose," said Fortini, as they walked together, "that there is no +possibility, in such a case as this, that the death may have been a +natural one?" + +"Oh, I would not say that at all. Such things occur at all ages. I do +not think it is likely,--specially in the case of such a magnificent +organization as that of yonder poor girl; but there is no saying, and, +above all, no use in attempting to guess when we shall so soon know all +about it," said the Professor, a man some ten or fifteen years younger +than the old lawyer. + +"Is it possible that death may have been caused by foul means, yet by +such as may elude your investigation?" asked Fortini. + +"I think not--I should say almost certainly not in such a case as the +present. There are poisons that act subtly and instantaneously, but +there is the odour in most cases,--in almost all some indication of +their operation on the organization." + +Arrived at the hospital they found a couple of assistants, pupils of the +Professor, awaiting his arrival. There was also an official on the part +of the police, and there were two or three persons waiting in the hope +of being allowed to be present at the examination. The police officer, +however, very summarily declared that this could not be permitted. +Fortini was so well known, and held such a kind of half-official +position and character in the city, that he passed on unquestioned on +the arm of the Professor. + +The body lay exactly as it had been brought in by the labouring-men who +had found it in the Pineta. The beautiful face was perfectly calm, and +in the lineaments of it the difference that there is between death and +sleep was scarcely perceptible. The white dress was almost as unruffled +and as spotless as when she had put it on. It had been fastened about +midway between the neck and the waist by a diamond pin or brooch; but +this fastening was now undone, and the brooch was hanging loosely on one +side of the bosom of the dress. It was impossible to suppose that this +jewel should have been so left by anybody who had had the opportunity +and the desire of plunder. It might have been unfastened by the wearer +before she slept for the sake of more full enjoyment of the balmy +breezes of the pine-forest: and the result of this loosening of the +dress was that the light folds of it opened freely as far down as the +waist, so that the slightest drawing aside of them, such as even the +breeze might effect, was sufficient to leave bare the entire bosom. + +On either shoulder and on the bosom lay the large heavy waves of the +rich auburn hair. In death, as she had been in life, she was still a +wonder of beauty; and the two men, the old lawyer and the Professor, +little as, from years, character, and habits of mind, their imaginations +were susceptible of being deeply touched by such a sight, stood for +awhile by the side of the table on which the body had been laid, and +gazed in sad silence on the sight before them. + +"One might think she was still sleeping, poor creature," said the +lawyer, after a silence of a few minutes. + +"Ay, almost. It is a wonderfully lovely face. Seems difficult to +believe, doesn't it, that any man--. Much less such a man as the +Marchese--should have stood over that figure, and so looking down on it, +have decided on destroying it?" said the Professor. + +"Perhaps no man did so," said the lawyer. + +"Case of death from natural causes, you mean? I am afraid not, I am +afraid not. Can't say for certain yet; but, judging from appearances, I +fear there is no likelihood that such was the case," rejoined the +Professor. + +"I was not thinking of that," replied Fortini. "I meant that what a man +could hardly have had the heart to do might, perhaps, have been done by +a woman. Beauty is not, I fancy, always found to produce quite the same +sort of effect on another female as it is wont to produce on the other +sex." + +"Might have been done by a woman? That seems hardly likely, I think, +caro mio. In the Pineta at that hour of the morning? Che! What woman is +likely to have been there?" + +"Well, we happen to know that there was a woman very near the spot where +the crime was committed at the time that it was committed." + +"You don't say so?" interrupted the anatomist. "Good heavens! This is +quite new to me, and, of course, most important. I am delighted to hear +what seems to cast so strong a doubt on the guilt of the Marchesino." + +"And that is not all. We know further," continued the lawyer, eagerly, +"that the woman in question had the strongest of all the possible +motives that ever influence a female mind to hate--to desire the death +of this poor girl that now lies here. The question is, whether this +death was caused by any means which a woman--a young girl--may be +supposed to have used," said the lawyer. + +"Ha! a case of jealousy, I suppose? You don't mean it. God knows, I +should be more glad than I will say if there were any means of showing +that the Marchese Ludovico had no hand in the matter. If it were brought +home to him it would kill my old friend the Marchese Lamberto outright; +I do believe it would kill him." + +"I thought at first, to tell you the truth, Signor Professore, that it +must have been the Marchesino who did the deed; the circumstances seemed +so terribly strong against him. But--certain facts have come to my +knowledge--in short, I begin to have very great hopes that he was in +reality wholly innocent of it; and still greater hopes that if we cannot +succeed in bringing the crime home to any other party, yet that the +difficulty and doubt hanging about the case will be so great that all +conviction will be impossible." + +"A woman, you tell me? A young woman, I suppose, from what you say?" +said the Professor, inquiringly. + +"Yes; a young woman, and, as I am told, a very pretty one--a certain +young girl--a Venetian artist, of the name of Foscarelli--Paolina +Foscarelli, with whom it seems the Marchesino was foolish enough to fall +in love. Well, this girl sees the Marchese and Bianca driving out alone +together at that time in the morning to the Pineta--that much we +know--sees them cheek by jowl together in a little bagarino, doing +heaven only knows what--billing and cooing. Now it seems to me that she +would, under these circumstances, be likely to feel not altogether +kindly towards the lady in possession, eh, Signor Professore? You know +the nature of the creatures better than I do; what do you think about +it?" + +"Similar little accidents have produced as terrible results before +now--ay, many a time, there is no denying that. If we can ascertain how +the deed was done it will be likely enough to throw some light on the +probabilities of the case," returned the Professor, proceeding to +scrutinize carefully the body as it lay before in any way disturbing the +position or the garments. + +"Ha! what have we here?" he cried, as he perceived, and, at the same +time, pointed out the existence of a very small red spot upon the white +dress just above the waistband. In an instant, as he spoke, he whipped +out a powerful magnifying-glass, and carefully examined the tell-tale +spot by its aid. + +"Yes, that is a spot of blood--blood sure enough! but it is very +singular that there should be such a minute spot, and no more; no, I can +find no further trace," he added, after a careful and minute examination +of every part of the dress. + +"Might not any trifling accident--the most insignificant thing in the +world--produce such a mere spot as that--a scratched finger--either her +own or another person's?" asked the lawyer. + +"Well, hardly so; a slight stain might easily be so caused; but hardly a +round spot like that. That spot must have been caused by a small drop +falling on that place--not by the muslin having been brought into +contact with any portion of blood, however small. How could that one +little round drop of blood have come there?" said the anatomist, +thoughtfully. "It is singular enough." + +Then, when the dress had been removed preparatory to the examination of +the body, the Professor himself and his assistants minutely searched +every part of it--in vain. There was no other, even the smallest, mark +of blood to be found. + +"Are you sure that that spot is blood?" asked the lawyer. + +"Are you sure whether a deed is signed or is not signed when you see +it?" retorted the anatomist. "Yes; that spot has been caused by a drop +of blood falling there--a very minute drop. Of that there can be no +doubt. And now we must proceed to examine the body externally. If there +should be nothing to be learned from that, we must see what revelations +the knife may bring to light." + +And then the Professor, aided by his pupils, proceeded to institute a +minute and careful examination of the body. + +At the first sight it appeared to be as unblemished in every part of it +as Nature's choicest and most perfect handiwork could be. So little did +a mere cursory view suggest the possibility that life would have been +destroyed by any external violence, that the Professor was about to take +the necessary steps for ascertaining what light could be thrown on the +manner of her death by the internal condition of the different portions +of the organism, when the sharper eyes of one of the young assistants +were drawn to a very slight indication, which he immediately pointed out +to his superior. + +The appearance in question consisted of a very small round white spot, +around which there was a slight equally circular redness. It was +situated nearly in the middle of the body, just below the meeting of the +ribs on the chest, about a broad hand's breadth above the waistband--in +such a position, in short, as to be very nearly at the point where the +neck-opening of the dress ceased. + +No second glance was needed, as soon as the Professor's attention had +been called to this appearance, to ensure the riveting of his attention +on it. Nor was much examination necessary to convince him that he had +now, in truth, discovered the cause and the means of death. + +The slight mark in question was, in fact, the trace of a wound inflicted +by a very fine needle, which had pierced the heart, and, having caused +immediate death, had been left in the wound, ingeniously hidden by means +which it needed a second look to discover. The effect of this discovery +on the Professor was singular. He seemed taken aback by it, and, one +would have said, alarmed at it, in a manner which it seemed difficult +for Signor Fortini to account for. "What is it astonishes you so, Signor +Professore," said he; "surely you were prepared to find that a murder +had been done? I never had any doubt of it; and why not in that way as +well as another? And a very ingenious mode of inflicting death in a +quiet way it seems to be." + +"Yes, indeed. The fact is that I was struck by--" + +The Professor broke off speaking suddenly with a start; and darted a +quick alarmed glance at the face of Signor Fortini, who did not fail to +remark it, and to be much puzzled by the Professor's manner. + +The latter, while he had been speaking, had stooped to examine the +minute trace of the wound closely, and had put his finger on the spot; +and it was on doing so that he had interrupted himself, and shown +renewed symptoms of surprise and dismay. What this closer examination +had shown him was the fact that an infinitesimally small portion of +white wax had been very neatly and carefully introduced into the orifice +of the wound, in such a manner as to prevent all effusion of blood, and +almost to escape the observation of the naked eye. + +"Why, one would say you were a novice at this sort of thing, Tomosarchi, +you seem so much affected by it," said the lawyer; "what is it that +moves you so? Why, you are as pale, man, as if you were bringing to +light a crime of your own instead of somebody else's." + +"Ah! not that exactly. No, but it is a very singular thing. One would +say that this death must have been caused by some one who had some +little knowledge of anatomy, or, at least, had been put up to the trick +by some one else who possessed such knowledge," said the Professor, +recovering himself with an effort. + +"And that is what our friend the Marchesino Ludovico is most assuredly +innocent of. I take note of your remark, Signor Professore," said the +lawyer. + +"But one would think, that all the other persons on whom it is possible +that suspicion might rest, must be equally void of any such knowledge," +returned Tomosarchi. + +"How do we know that? How can I tell what strange odds and ends of +knowledge this Venetian artist may have picked up. Artists,--they have +constantly more or less acquaintance with medical students, and such +like. Some knowledge of anatomy is needful to them in their business. +For my part, it seems to me very likely that this girl might have such +knowledge as would teach her so easy a way of getting rid of her rival. +Then you will observe that very little physical strength was needed for +the infliction of such a wound. It might have been done perfectly easily +by the hand of a young girl. I declare it seems to me that the result of +your examinations tends to make it more probable than ever that the +Venetian is the criminal." + +"Well, it may be so. Certain it is, that no degree of strength beyond +what she, or any other such person could have exerted, was needed for +giving that death to a sleepy person. But it is equally clear that a +certain amount of special knowledge was required for the purpose," +rejoined the anatomist. "And now," added he; "I must draw up my report. +A rivederci, Signor Fortini! A rivederci, Signori!" + +"One word more, Signor Professore, before I leave you," said the lawyer; +"is the special knowledge you speak of, such as--any member of your +profession we will say--would be possessed of." + +"Well, I should not say that it was likely such a method of concealing a +crime would have suggested itself to such an one, more than to another. +It is the clever invention of one who meditated murder. But, I may say +at once to you, what I shall have to say in due season to the +magistrates, that the trick is not a new one. I have heard of such a +thing before now." + +"But not as a common thing," pursued the lawyer. + +"Quite the reverse--as a very strange and peculiar thing," replied the +Professor. + +"And when did you hear of a case of murder committed in this strange and +peculiar manner?" persisted the lawyer. + +The Professor shot a sharp quick glance at the lawyer's face; and his +own flushed red as he replied, "Ay--if I could remember that--but it is +a reported case; anybody may have read it. A murder was committed by +similar means in the Island of Sardinia, not very long ago!" + +"Not very long ago," reiterated the lawyer, musingly. + +"No, not very long ago; but the case has been reported, I tell you. +Anybody may have read it." + +"Humph," said the lawyer, as he turned to go, with his mind evidently +busily at work both on the strange sort of confusion that had been +visible in the Professor's manner, and on the circumstances he had +elicited from him. + +"I'll tell you what," said one of the young students to the other, while +they were engaged in preparing to consign the body of the murdered woman +to the police. "I'll tell you what: I'll be blessed if I don't think the +governor knows, or has a shrewd guess, who it is has done this job. Did +you mark the way he looked, and went as pale as death, when I showed him +the place?" + +"Bah, nonsense! He was vexed that he had not seen it himself. How should +he know anything about it?" + +"I don't know how; but I know him, and his ways," said the first +speaker. + +"But if he thinks he has any guess at the murderer, why don't he say it +at once?" asked the younger lad. + +"Ah, yes, I think so; I should like to see him at it. That's not his +business, that's the lawyer's business. You may depend on his keeping +his own secret, if he has got one. The governor likes quiet sailing in +still water, he does. But if he did not see something more in this +little bit of steel and atom of wax, that have stopped a life so +cleverly, than the mere things themselves and the effect of them,--why, +then, I know nothing about old Buonaventura Tomosarchi, that's all." + +"How see something more?" said the younger lad, open-eyed. + +"Saw who put 'em there, Ninny. It is not everybody who could be up to +such a dodge; and I feel sure the governor could make a shrewd guess who +did that clever trick." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Public Opinion + + +The post-mortem examination had taken place at an early hour, before the +members of the idler portion of the society of the city had come forth +from their homes. An Italian idler--one of the class who, in common +Italian phrase, are able to "fare vita beata," to lead a happy life, i. +e. to do nothing whatever from morning till night--an Italian of that +favoured class never passes his hours in his own house, or dwelling of +whatever kind it may be. As soon as he is up and dressed he goes out +into the city to enjoy the air and sunshine if it be fine weather, to +saunter in cafes or at the Circolo, if it rain. + +Professor Tomosarchi and lawyer Fortini had been earlier afoot, and the +scene described in the last chapter had passed, and the general results +of the examination were beginning to be known in the city, when the +jeunesse doree of Ravenna began to assemble at the Circolo. It was known +also by that time that the young Venetian artist, with whom Ludovico was +well known to be on intimate terms of some kind or other, had been +arrested at her lodging at an early hour that morning, on suspicion of +having been concerned in the murder of La Bianca. + +Of course that terrible event continued more than ever to occupy the +attention of all Ravenna, almost to the exclusion of every other topic +of conversation. It was very easy to understand the nature of the +motive, which might be supposed to have led Paolina to do the deed. And +when it became known farther, that the means by which the death of the +victim had been brought about were such as might easily have been +accomplished by the weakest woman's hand; and that it had been +discovered that Paolina had been in the Pineta--for such was the not +quite accurate form which the report assumed just about the time when +the crime must have been committed, the general opinion inclined very +much to the notion that she, the stranger from Venice, was, indeed, the +assassin. + +Precedents were hunted up, and many a story told of women who had done +equally desperate deeds under similar provocation. + +"I feel very little doubt of it, myself," said Manutoli; "there is +nothing improbable in such a solution, while it is in the highest degree +improbable that Ludovico should have raised his hand against a sleeping +woman, enticed by him in the forest for the purpose. Bah! It is +monstrous." + +"He would have been more to be pitied than blamed if he had done it," +said another of the young men, who did not bear himself a reputation of +the most brilliant sort; "if I had a rich uncle I swear by all the +saints, that I would not let the prettiest woman that ever made a fool +of a man, come between me and my inheritance." + +"Ludovico was not the man to have done it any way. Besides, the mischief +had not been done; it was only a project talked of. There might have +been a hundred ways of breaking off so absurd a match. It would have +been time to have recourse to les grands moyens, when the thing had been +done, and all else had failed. To my notion jealousy has done it." + +"So say I. Two to one I bet that it turns out that the Venetian girl has +done the trick." + +"But have you heard, all of you, that there is a third horse in the +field?" said the Marchese Faraoni whose palazzo was close to the house +in which the Conte Leandro lived; "there is another candidate for the +galleys. Has nobody heard that our poet was arrested before he was out +of bed this morning?" + +"What! Leandro?" + +"The Conte Lombardoni?" + +"No!" + +"You don't mean that?" + +"What, arrested for this murder of La Bianca?" + +"Impossible!" + +"But quite true, nevertheless. Anybody can easily assure themselves of +the fact by walking as far as the Palazzo del Governo." + +"Leandro arrested on suspicion of murder? Well, I think the tragedy is +passing into a farce." + +"It will be fatal to Leandro. He will die of fright, if no other evil +happens to him." + +"Think of the cantos of verse he will make on it." + +"He will die singing, like a swan." + +"But do you know anything about it, Faraoni? Have you any idea how he +has come to be implicated in the matter?" + +"I learnt at his own lodging that he did not come home to bed the night +of the ball, but was absent from home at the time the murder must have +been committed. And then I was told that the men at the Porta Nuova had +declared that they had seen him pass out of the city going in the +direction of the Pineta at a very early hour that morning." + +"Per Bacco! it is very strange. What, in the name of all the saints, +could he be doing out there at that time, when all honest folks were in +their beds?" + +"Remember all the snubbing he has had from the poor Diva all through +carnival. By Jove! it looks very queer." + +"Do you remember how he turned all sorts of colours here last night, +when we were talking of it?" + +"And how anxious he seemed to say everything that appeared to make it +bear hard upon Ludovico?" + +"Yes, and contradicted himself. First, he knew about it, and then he +knew nothing." + +"Per Dio! I don't know what to think of it." + +"So, then, there are now three persons suspected--Ludovico; and the +Venetian girl, and the Conte Leandro?" + +"And all three were not far from the spot where the deed was done, and +all three had motives, more or less credible, for doing it." + +"Ludovico, because his uncle was going to marry the woman, which would +have cut him out of his inheritance; the Venetian girl, because she +loved Ludovico, and saw him making love to the poor Diva; and Leandro, +because she snubbed him, and laughed at him, and would have nothing to +say to either him or his verses." + +"And the one certain thing is, that the unlucky Diva lies dead, and was +murdered by somebody. Upon my life, it is the queerest thing I ever +heard of." + +"What do you think of it, Manutoli?" said one of the speakers in the +foregoing dialogue to the Baron, who was an older man than most of the +others there. + +"My notion is that the girl is the guilty party," said Manutoli. "As for +Leandro, it seems too absurd. I don't think he has courage enough to +kill a cat: Besides, I daresay he hated La Bianca quite enough to +slander her, and backbite, and that sort of thing; but murder--" + +"She made fun of him. Leandro don't like to be laughed at,--specially by +the women, and, more specially still, when other fellows are by to hear +it and then those poets are always such desperate fellows I should not +wonder--" said one of the young men. + +In the meantime, while talk of this sort was going on at the Circolo, +Signor Fortini was on his way out to St. Apollinare in Classe, according +to the intention he had expressed on the preceding evening; but he was +not making the expedition alone. Signor Pietro Logarini, the Papal +Commissioner of Police, was bound on the same errand. The old lawyer, as +he passed under the gateway of the Porta Nuova in his comfortable +caleche, overtook Signor Logarini, who was about to proceed to St. +Apollinare on foot, and who had paused at the gate for the purpose of +making some inquiries of the officials there. + +"Good morning, Signor Pietro. I suppose we are bound for the same place; +will you permit me to offer you a seat in my carriage?" said the lawyer. + +"Thanks, Signor Giovacchino, I shall be glad of the lift. Yes, I suppose +we are about the same business, and a bad one it is. I was making a few +inquiries at the gate; but I don't see that there is much to be gleaned +there," said the Commissary, as he got into the lawyer's carriage. + +"Well, it seems to me that we have reaped a pretty good harvest there +already," returned the lawyer. + +"Enough to make the matter one of the most puzzling I ever had to do +with," returned the Commissary. "You have heard, I suppose, that we have +arrested the girl Paolina Foscarelli, and the Conte Leandro Lombardoni?" + +"No; but it was a matter of course that you would do so--specially the +girl," said the lawyer. + +"We could not avoid arresting the Conte also; it is so unaccountable +that he should have been going out of the city, and so near the place of +the crime." + +"What account does he give of the matter himself?" asked the lawyer. + +"No very clear one; and he seems to be frightened out of his senses; but +that proves nothing. One man takes a thing coolly, another is so flushed +that you would think he was guilty only to look at him; but there is +little to be judged from such appearances. I don't much think the Conte +had anything to do with it, for my part." + +"What were you asking about at the gate?" + +"Well, I thought I would just ascertain if any other parties had passed +the gate that same morning," said the Commissary. + +"Others! Have we not enough to make a sufficient puzzle already?" said +Fortini. + +"Yes, indeed; but information is always useful. The men say that they +are quite sure that no other person of any kind whatever passed the gate +either outwards or inwards, during the night till the Conte Leandro +passed in the morning; and then the girl not long afterwards; and then +the Marchesino with the prima donna." + +The lawyer remained plunged in thought for some minutes, as the carriage +rolled over the flat dismal-looking road towards the old church; and +then he said, shaking his head, and pouting out his lips,--"I think we +shall find, Signor Pietro, that that girl has done it. There's nothing a +jealous woman will not do. We shall find, I think, that to have been the +case; that is, if we succeed in finding out anything at all. Perhaps the +most likely thing is that we may never know what hand did the deed." + +"Oh, come, I hope better things than that. That would not suit our book +at all. We must find it out if we can; and it is early days yet to talk +of being beat. We are not half at the end of our means of investigation +yet, Signor Giovacchino," said the Commissary. + +"It may be that something may be to be picked up at the church here." + +"And then I must go on to the farm-house, where the Marchesino and the +prima donna left their carriage." + +"We'll have a talk with the friars first." + +As Fortini spoke the carriage drew up at the west front of the desolate +old basilica. It was a fine spring morning, and by the time the lawyer +and the Commissary reached the church, the sun had dissipated the mist, +and it was warm and pleasant. + +The great doors of the church stood yawningly open as usual, and the +gate of iron rail was ajar. And at the south-western corner of the +building, just where the sun-ray from the south-west made a sharp line +against the black shadow cast by the western front of the building, an +old Franciscan was sitting; not Father Fabiano, but his sole companion, +Friar Simone, the lay-brother. + +Neither Signor Fortini nor the police Commissary had ever seen the old +guardian of the Basilica; but they were sufficiently instructed in the +details of Franciscan costume to perceive at once that the figure before +them was not a priest, but only a lay-brother. + +"Is there any place, frate, where I can put my horse and carriage under +shelter for half an hour or so?" said the lawyer, as the old friar, +having risen from his seat in the sunshine, came forward towards the +carriage. + +"There is place enough and to spare, Signori," said the old man, +pointing with a languid and wearylike gesture to the huge pile of +half-dilapidated conventual buildings on the southern side of the +church; "you can put horse and carriage as they stand into the old barn +there, without undoing a buckle. I will open the door for your +lordships, if it will hang together so that it can be opened." + +The lawyer and the Commissary dismounted from the carriage, and the +former proceeded to lead his horse into the huge barn of the convent; +while the latter employed himself in observing every detail of the +surrounding localities with those rapid all-seeing and all-remembering +glances that the habits and education of his profession had rendered a +part of his nature, preparatory to the investigations they had both come +to make. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +In Father Fabiano's Cell + + +"You can enter the Basilica at your pleasure, Signori; the gate is +unlocked," said the lay-brother, indicating the entrance to the church +with a half-formed gesture of his hand, which fell to his side again +when he had half raised it, as if the effort of extending his arm +horizontally had been too much for him. It was a matter of course to him +that any human beings who came to St. Apollinare could have no business +there but to see the old walls, which he, the friar, would have given so +much never to see again. + +"We will do so presently," said Signor Logarini, in reply; "but, in the +first place, we wish to speak with Father Fabiano--he is the custode of +the church, is he not?" + +"Father Fabiano is ill a-bed, Signor; I am only out of my bed since +yesterday, and it is as much as I can do to crawl. There's not many days +in the year, I think, that we are both well; and if we should be both +down together, God help us. It is not just the healthiest place in the +world, this." + +"What is the matter with the padre? Has he been ill long?" asked the +lawyer, with a glance at the Commissary. + +"Since yesterday afternoon. Why, I tell you I was in bed yesterday; he +down, I must turn out. Ah--h--h! it 'll all be over one of these days." + +"But what ails the custode?" asked Signor Logarini again. + +"Fever and ague, I suppose; that is what is always killing both of us +more or less. Pity it is so slow about it!" muttered the lay-brother, +returning to his seat in the sunshine. + +"But I suppose that Father Fabiano is not so ill but that we can speak +with him? It is important that we should do so," said the Commissary, +eyeing the friar with a suspicious glance. + +"There is nothing to prevent you or anybody else going to him that +choose to do so--nothing to prevent any one of those cattle doing so, +for that matter. There is neither bolt nor latch; you can go into his +chamber, if you are so minded," returned the lay-brother, rather +surlily. + +"Will you go and tell him that--Signor Fortini from Ravenna wishes to +speak with him, and would be obliged by his permission to come into his +room for a few minutes. We don't wish to disturb him more than is +necessary." + +"I'll tell him--though you might as well go to him yourselves at once +for that matter; it is weary work going up the stairs so often--and I +can hardly crawl." + +And, so saying, the poor old lay-brother tottered off to one of the +numerous doorless entrances of the half-ruined mass of building, and set +himself wearily to climb a small stair, the foot of which was just +within it. + +The lawyer and the Commissary looked at each other; and the latter said, +with a wink at his companion,--"I thought it better, you see, to say +nothing about the Commissary of Police; it would have frightened the old +fellow out of his wits; and it is always time enough to let him know who +we are if he won't speak without. But I know these animals of friars, +Signor Giovacchino, I know them well; and there isn't a man or woman, +townsman or countryman, noble or peasant that I wouldn't rather have to +deal with than a monk or a friar. Let 'em so much as smell the scent of +layman in any position of authority, and it makes 'em as obstinate and +contradictious and contrary as mules, and worse. If this old fellow here +has got anything to hide, you'll see that we shall not be able to get it +out of him." + +"But I don't see what interest or wish he can have to hide anything from +us," said Fortini. + +"N--n--no; one don't see that he should have but one can't be too +suspicious, mio buono Signor Giovacchino," said the police authority; +"and then, what does he mean by being ill?" he added, after a little +thought; "he was well yesterday. It looks me very much as if he did not +want to be questioned." + +"I should not think that he can have much to tell. We shall see whether +his account confirms the story of the girl as to what took place in the +church. But the probability is that that part of her tale is all true +enough. The question is what did she do with herself during all those +hours that elapsed between the time she quitted the church and the time +when she reached her home? And I have little hope that the friar should +be able to throw any light upon that," said the lawyer. + +"We shall see; here comes the lay-brother. Ugh! what a life it must be +to live in such a place as this from one year's end to the other; +nothing but a frate could stand it," said the Commissary, looking upon +the desolation around him with infinite disgust. + +"Father Fabiano is not much fit to speak to anybody; the cold fit of the +ague is very strong upon him. But if you choose to go up to him you +can--specially as there is nothing to stop you. He is in the right-hand +cell on the first landing-place up that staircase," said the +lay-brother, feebly pointing to the entrance, from which he had come +out. + +The lawyer and the police official followed the indications thus given +them, and found, as old Simone had said, that there was neither bolt, +lock, nor latch to prevent any creature that could push a door on its +hinges, from entering the little bare-walled room in which the friar lay +beneath a heavy quilted coverlet on a little narrow pallet. + +There was not so much as a single chair in the room. The walls were +clean, and freshly whitewashed; and the brick floor was also clean. +There were a few pegs of deal in the wall on the side of the cell +opposite to the doorway, on which some garments were hanging; and on the +wall facing the bed there was a large, rudely carved, and yet more +rudely painted crucifix. By the side of the bed nearest the door there +hung, on a nail driven into the wall, a copper receptacle for holy +water, the upper part of which was ornamented with a figure of St. +Francis in the act of receiving the "Stigmata," in repousse work, by no +means badly executed. And pasted on the bare wall, immediately above the +pillow of the little bed, was a coloured print of the cheapest and +vilest description, representing the Madonna with the seven legendary +poignards sticking in her bosom, and St. Francis, supported on either +side by a friar of his order, kneeling at her feet. + +These objects formed absolutely the entire furniture of the cell. There +was nothing else whatsoever in the room; neither the smallest fragment +of a looking-glass, nor any means or preparation for ablution +whatsoever. + +The old monk lay on his back in the bed, wit his head propped rather +highly on a hard straw bolster; and the extreme attenuation of his body +was indicated by the very slight degree in which the clothes that +covered him were raised above the level of the bedstead. On the coverlet +upon his chest, there was a rosary of large beads turned out of +box-wood. The parts of each bead nearest to the string and in contact +with each other were black with the undisturbed dirt and dust of many +years. But the protuberant circumference of each wooden ball was +polished to a rich shining orange-colour by the constant handling of the +fingers. + +It seemed both to Signor Fortini and to the Commissary, that there could +be no doubt about it, that the old man was really ill. He was lying in +his frock of thick brown woollen, and the cowl of it was drawn over his +head. He seemed to be suffering from cold, and his teeth were audibly +chattering in his head; and his thin, thin claw-like hands shook as they +clutched his crucifix. His face was lividly pale, and his eyes gleamed +out from under the cowl with a restless feverish brightness. + +That he was ill could hardly be doubted. And it seemed to the lawyer and +the Commissary as well as to the old lay-brother, natural enough to +suppose that a man who fell ill at St. Apollinare was ill with fever and +ague. But whether that were really the nature of his malady, his +visitors had not sufficient medical knowledge to judge; but it was +probable enough that the aged monk had had quite sufficient experience +of fever and ague, to know pretty well himself, whether he were +suffering from that cause or not. + +"We are sorry to find you ill, father," said Fortini; "and though we +have come from Ravenna on purpose to speak with you, we would not have +disturbed you if our business had not been important. Are you suffering +much now?" + +"Not much more than usual," said the sick man, shutting his eyes, while +his pallid lips continued to move, as he muttered to himself an "Ave +Maria." + +"And can you give us your attention for a few minutes?" rejoined the +lawyer. + +"I will answer to your asking as far as I can; but my head is confused, +and I don't remember much clearly about anything. It seems to me as if I +had been lying on this bed for months and months," replied the old +friar. + +"And yet, you know, you were up and well yesterday morning, when you +were with the young girl who came to copy the mosaics, you know, on the +scaffolding in the church?" said the lawyer. + +"Yes; I was with the girl--Paolina Foscarelli, a Venetian--on the +scaffolding. Was it yesterday?" + +"Yesterday it was that she was here. Yesterday morning. And it is hardly +necessary to ask you if you know what happened here in the Pineta much +about that time, or shortly afterwards. You have heard of the murder, of +course?" + +So violent a trembling seized on the aged man as the lawyer spoke thus, +that he was unable to answer a word. His old hands shook so that he +could hardly hold the beads in his fingers, while his chattering teeth +and trembling lips tried to formulate the words of a prayer. + +"Did you, or did you not hear that a dreadful murder was committed +yesterday morning in the Pineta not far from this place?" said the +Commissary, speaking for the first time, and in a less kindly manner +than the old lawyer had used. + +A redoubled access of teeth-chattering and shivering was for some time +the only result elicited by this question. The old friar shook in every +limb; and the beads of the rosary rattled in his trembling fingers, as +he attempted to pass them on their string in mechanically habitual +accompaniment to the invocations his lips essayed to mutter. + +"It is a terrible thing to speak of truly, father; and we are sorry to +be obliged to distress you by forcing such a subject on your thoughts; +but it is our duty to make these inquiries; and you can tell us the few +facts--they cannot be many or of much importance--which have come to +your knowledge on the subject," said the lawyer, speaking in more gentle +accents. + +"I heard nothing; but I saw," said the aged man, closing his eyes, as if +to shut out the vision which was forced back upon his imagination; and +fumbling nervously with his beads, while his pale blue lips trembled +with mutterings of mechanically repeated ejaculations. + +"Take your time, padre mio," said the lawyer gently, making a gesture +with his raised band, at the same time, to repress the less patient +eagerness of the Commissary of Police; "we do not want to hurry you. +Tell us what it was that you saw." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Case against Paolina + + +The old friar opened his haggard eyes, which gleamed out with a feverish +light from the bottom of their sockets, and from under the shadow of his +cowl, and looked piteously up into the lawyer's face. "A little time--a +moment to collect my thoughts," he said, passing his parched tongue over +the still dryer parchment-like skin of his drawn lips, and painfully +swaying his cowled head from one side of the hard pillow to the other, +while large drops of perspiration gathered on his brow. + +The Commissary shot a meaning glance across the pallet on which the old +man lay, to the lawyer, in evident anticipation of the importance of the +revelation, heralded by so much of painful emotion. + +"By all means, padre mio; collect your thoughts. We are sorry for the +necessity which obliges us to force your mind back on such painful +ones," said the lawyer, laying his hand on that of the friar, which was +still fumbling with the shining bog-wood beads, scarcely more yellow +than the claw-like fingers which held them. "You saw--?" + +Still no reply came from the old friar's lips. He writhed his body in +the bed, and the manifestation of his agony became more and more +intense. The eager impatient air of the Commissary changed itself into +one of persistent dogged determination; and he quietly drew from his +pocket a note-book and the means of writing in it. + +"Now, father, you will be able to tell us what you saw?" said the lawyer +in a soothing coaxing voice. + +"I saw," said the old friar at length, speaking with his eyes again +closed--"I saw the dead body of the woman who had passed the church +towards the Pineta in the morning, brought back by six men from the +forest. They passed by the western front of the church, and I saw that +the body was the body of the woman I speak of." + +The Commissary shut up his note-book with a gesture of provoked +disappointment, and shrugged his shoulders impatiently. + +"If that is all you have to tell us, frate, you need not have made so +much difficulty about it," he said; "we knew all that before, and need +not have come here to be told it. Plenty of people saw the bringing in +from the forest of the body of the murdered woman, and would give +evidence to the fact without making so much ado about it. Is that all +you saw?" + +"Did you not see," said the lawyer, again motioning his companion to be +patient; "did you not see another young woman in the forest yesterday +morning?" + +"Not in the forest," replied the friar without any difficulty. "Not in +the forest; I saw another young woman here yesterday, but it was in the +church. She came here to make copies of some of the mosaics. I had been +previously told to expect such an one." + +"Did she come to the church before the time when you saw the other lady +pass towards the forest?" asked the lawyer. + +"Yes; about half an hour or more before," answered the friar. + +"And where was she when the second lady passed, going towards the +Pineta?" asked the lawyer again. + +"She was on the scaffolding in the church, which had been prepared for +her to make her copies of the mosaics." + +"Do you know whether she saw, or was aware that the second lady had +passed the church to go towards the Pineta?" + +"I know that she was aware of it; I was with her on the scaffolding. We +both together saw the woman who was afterwards brought back dead pass in +a bagarino with the Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare, towards the +Pineta." + +The lawyer looked hard at the Commissary; and the latter in obedience, +as it seemed, to the look, took out his note-book again, and made a note +of the declaration. + +"And what did the young lady who came to copy the mosaics do afterwards? +Where did you part with her?" resumed the lawyer. + +"She left the church, and walked in the direction of the forest. I +parted from her at the door of the church." + +"And did you see her any more in the course of that morning?" asked the +lawyer again. + +"I did not: I saw her no more from that time to this," replied the +friar. During the whole of this interrogation, he had appeared far less +distressed and disturbed than he had been before speaking of his having +seen the body of La Bianca carried past the church towards the city. He +had answered all the questions concerning Paolina readily and without +hesitation. + +"I don't think we need trouble you any further, frate," said the +Commissary. "I hope that you will soon get over your touch of fever; and +then, if we need you, there will be no difficulty in your attending, +when wanted, in the city. I don't see, that there is anything more to be +got at present," he added, addressing the lawyer. + +So the two visitors bade the friar adieu, and went down the stairs on to +the open piazza in front of the church. + +"Does that fellow know anything more than he tells us?" said the +Commissary, as they stepped out of the narrow entry on to the green +sward of the piazza. + +"I fancy not; I don't see much what he is at all likely to know," +replied the lawyer. + +"Nor I; but his manner was so remarkable. One would have said that he +was conscious of having committed the murder himself. In all my +experience I never saw a man so hard put to it to tell a plain and +simple fact." + +"Well, the poor old fellow is ill, you see. And then, no doubt, the +sight of the body brought back out of the forest made a terrible +impression on him. The extreme seclusion, tranquillity, and monotony of +his life here, the absence from year's end to year's end of any sort of +emotion of any kind, would naturally have the result of increasing the +painful effect which such an event and such a sight would have upon him. +My own notion is that there is nothing further to be got out of him." + +"There is our friend the lay-brother sitting in the sunshine just where +we left him. We might as well just see what he can tell us before going +back to the city." + +"He seems very ill, the padre," pursued the Commissary, addressing +himself to brother Simone, as he and the lawyer lounged up to the spot +where he was sitting; "the fever must have laid hold of him very +suddenly; for it seems he was well enough yesterday morning." + +"That is the way with the maledetto morbo," returned the lay-brother; +"one hour you are well--as well, that is to say, as one can ever be in +such a place as this--and the next you are down on your back shivering +and burning like--like the poor souls in purgatory. Doubtless the more +of it one has had, the less there is to come. That's the only comfort." + +"The padre's mind seems to have been very painfully affected by the +sight of the body of the woman, who was murdered in the forest, as it +was being carried back to the city. Did you see it too?" asked the +lawyer, observing the friar narrowly, as he spoke. + +"Si, Signor, I saw it too, and a piteous sight it was. Father Fabiano +and I were both out here on the piazza when the body was carried past. +For I was just coming from the belfry yonder, where I had been to ring +Compline; and the padre was at the same time coming out of the church, +where he had been as usual with him at that hour, at his devotions +before the altar of the Saint." + +"Then at the hour of Compline the father had not yet been taken ill?" +observed the Commissary. "Scusi, Signor; I think he had been struck by +the fever at that time. He fell a-shivering and a-shaking so that he +could hardly stand, when the body was carried past. But that is the way +the mischief always begins. Ah, there's never a doctor knows it better +than I do, and no wonder." + +"You don't think then," said the lawyer, "that it was the sight of the +dead body that moved him so?" + +"Why should it?" said the lay-brother, in the true spirit of monastic +philosophy; "why should it? all flesh is grass; there is nothing so +strange in death. He sighed and groaned a deal, but that is often Father +Fabiano's way when he comes out from his exercises in the church. He +seemed as if he could hardly stand on his legs: but, bless you, that was +the fever. He took to his bed as soon as ever the men carrying the body +were out of sight. He's an old man is Father Fabiano." + +"Where had he been all the time between the time when the painter lady +left the church, and the hour of Compline?" asked the Commissary, who +had been busily thinking during the lay-brother's moralizings. + +"Ever since a little after the Angelus he had been on his knees at the +altar of St. Apollinare, according to his custom. He told me so, when he +came to give me my potion; for I was down with the fever yesterday +morning." + +"Do you know where he was before the Angelus?" returned the Commissary. + +"He had to ring the Angelus himself, seeing that I was down with the +fever. And he came back to the convent in a hurry, fearing that he was +too late. There's very little doubt that it was heating himself that way +that made the fever take hold of him." + +"Where was he hurrying back from, then? Where had he been?" asked the +Commissary, endeavouring to hide his eagerness for the reply to this +question under a semblance of carelessness. + +"He told me, when he came to my cell, that he had been into the forest; +and it was plain to see that the walk had been too much for him; he's +too old for moving much now, is Father Fabiano." + +"He had been into the forest; and when he came back at the hour of the +Angelus, he seemed quite overcome by his walk?" said the Commissary, +recapitulating, and taking out his note-book as he spoke. + +"Yes, he did; so much so, that as I lay on my bed and listened to the +Angelus bell a-going, I thought to myself that the old man had hardly +the strength to pull the rope," said the lay-brother. + +"Hardly strength to pull the rope," repeated the Commissary, as he +completed the note he was scribbling in his note-book. "Well, I hope he +will soon get over his attack of fever. I think we need not trouble you +any further at present, frate--what is your name, my friend?" + +"Simone, by the mercy of God, lay-brother of the terz' ordine--" + +"That will do, frate Simone," interrupted the Commissary, adding a word +to the entry in his note-book. "Now, Signor Giovacchino, if you are +ready, I think we may get your carriage out of the barn and go back to +Ravenna." + +"We have not got much for our pains, I am afraid," said the lawyer to +the Commissary of police as they began to leave the Basilica behind them +on their way back to the city. + +"Humph!" said the Commissary, who was apparently too much absorbed in +his own meditations to be in a mood for conversation. + +"Signor Giovacchino," he said, suddenly, after they had traversed nearly +half their short journey in silence, "my belief is that your young +friend the Marchese has no hand in this matter." + +"I am convinced he had not," said the lawyer, who was, however, very far +from having reached any conviction of the kind; "but what we want is +some such probable theory on the subject as shall compete successfully +with the theory of his guilt in the matter." + +"That theory--shall I give it you? It is not only a theory; it is my +firm belief as to the facts of the case." + +"You suspect--" + +"I more than suspect--I am very strongly persuaded that this murder has +been committed by the girl Paolina Foscarelli." + +"My own notion--" + +"Look here, this is how it has been. The Marchese Ludovico has made love +to this girl--has made her in love with him--taking the matter au grand +serieux, in the way girls will--specially, I am told, it is the way, +with those Venetian women. Well, by ill chance, as the devil would have +it, she sees her lover starting on a tete-a-tete expedition into the +Pineta with this other girl--just the woman of all others in the world, +as I am given to understand, to be a dangerous rival, and to excite a +deadly jealousy. This much we have in evidence. Further, we know that +the girl Paolina was expected to return from her expedition to St. +Apollinare early in the morning--say at nine o'clock, or +thereabouts--whereas she did not return till several hours afterwards. +In addition to all this, we have now ascertained that when she left the +church she did not set out on her return towards the city, as she might +naturally be expected to have done; but, on the contrary, went in the +direction of the Pineta. Then, assuming the story, told by the Marchese +to be true, we know that, about the very time that this Paolina was +entering the forest, her rival was lying asleep and alone there in the +immediate neighbourhood. We know that the means adopted for the +perpetration of the crime were such as to be quite within a woman's +physical power, and that the weapon used for the purpose such as a woman +may much more readily be supposed to have about her than a man; what do +you say to that as a theory of the facts? Is not the evidence +overpoweringly strong against this Venetian?" + +"Of course my own attention had been called to the case of suspicion +against her. But I confess I had not been struck by the last +circumstance you mention; and it seems to me a very strong one. How can +it be supposed that a man--a man like the Marchese Ludovico--should +chance to have a needle about him? The case of suspicion against him, +mark, altogether excludes the notion that he went out prepared to take +the life of this unfortunate woman. It is suggested that he put her to +death in order to escape from the ruin that would have ensued from his +uncle's marriage with her. No other possible motive for such a deed can +be conceived. But he knew nothing of any such purpose on the part of the +Marchese till the girl herself told him of it as they were driving +together to the forest. Therefore, he had not come out prepared with a +needle for the purpose of committing murder. Neither, it is true, does +the theory we are considering suppose that Paolina came out prepared to +do such a deed. But the weapon used is a needle. Is it more likely that +a man or that a woman should have by chance such an article about them? +I confess it seems to me that this circumstance alone is sufficient to +turn the scale of the probabilities unmistakably." + +"But that is not all," said the Commissary, laying his finger +impressively on the lawyer's sleeve; "my belief is that that old friar, +padre Fabiano, is aware of the fact that the murder was committed by +Paolina Foscarelli. I am not disposed to think that he had any hand in +the doing of the deed; but I think the he has a knowledge of her guilt. +He is ill now, doubtless; but I do not believe that he is suffering from +fever and ague. He is suffering from the emotions of horror and terror. +We know that he was in the Pineta much about the time at which the +murder must have been committed, and very near the spot where it must +have been committed. And he comes back in a state of terrible emotion +and consternation. His manner in speaking to us to-day you must have +observed. I have no belief in an old friar being so terribly impressed +by the mere sight of a dead body." + +"That is all true," said the lawyer, nodding his head up and down +several times; "and the circumstances do seem to point to the +probability of your conclusion; but--" + +"But why, you will say, should the old man, if he has a merely innocent +knowledge of that which I suspect him to know, refuse to tell the whole +truth simply as he knows it? I will tell you why not. In the first +place, if you had had as much experience of monks, and friars, and nuns, +as I have, you would know that it is next to impossible to induce them +ever to give information to justice of any facts which it is possible +for them to conceal. It seems to them, I fancy, like recognizing a lay +authority in a manner they don't like. They will communicate nothing to +you if they can help it." + +"Yes, that's true. I know that is the nature of them," assented the +lawyer. + +"Then, observe, this Father Fabiano is a Venetian, a fellow-citizen of +the girl. You know how the Venetians hold together. You may feel quite +sure that if he did know her to be guilty of a crime, he would screen +her to the utmost of his power. Of course I have not done with him yet. +Tutt' altro. We must have an account of that morning stroll in the +Pineta from the old gentleman's own lips. Meantime, I do not think that +we need consider our trip to-day to have been altogether thrown away." + +"Very far from it. Very far from it, indeed. Honestly, I think that you +have hit the nail on the head, Signor Pietro. There is nothing like the +practical experience of you gentlemen of the police, who pass your lives +in playing at who-is-the-sharpest with the most astute of human beings." + +"And beating them at their own game," said the Commissary, +self-complacently. "If that murder was not committed by Paolina +Foscarelli, I will give you or anybody else leave to call me a +blockhead." + +And therewith Signor Fortini and his companion drove under the old +archway of the Porta Nuova and entered the city. + + + + +BOOK VI + +Poena Pede Claudo + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Signor Fortini receives the Signora Steno in his Studio + + +It was the end of the first week in Lent; and all Ravenna was still +busily engaged in talking, thinking, and speculating on the mysterious +crime that had been committed on Ash Wednesday morning in the Pineta. +The excitement on the subject, indeed, was greater now than it had been +immediately after the event. For, by this time, everybody in Ravenna +knew all that anybody knew on the subject; the manner, time, and place +of the murder, and the different competing theories which had been +started to account for it, and with the conflicting probabilities of +which the judicial authorities were known to be occupying themselves. + +These, as the reader knows, were three; based, in each case, on the fact +that the suspected person was known, or was supposed to be known, to +have been at, or near, to the spot where the crime was committed at the +time when it had been committed. + +The Marchese Ludovico was indisputably known; on his own confession, to +have been in the immediate neighbourhood of the spot at the time when +the murder must have been done. + +Paolina Foscarelli was equally indubitably, and by her own confession, +not far off from the neighbourhood of the spot at the same time. + +Of the Conte Leandro Lombardoni it was known only that he had passed out +of the city gate leading in the same direction, at a time which might +have enabled him to be present where the deed was done, at the hour when +it must have been done. The evidence as to propinquity to the place was +less strong in his case than in that of either of the others; but it was +supplemented by the unaccountable strangeness of his passing out of the +Porta Nuova towards the Pineta at such an hour, and on that particular +morning. + +The Marchese Ludovico stated that he went thither for the purpose of +showing the Pineta to the prima donna, who had never seen it. And there +was nothing incredible or greatly improbable in the statement. + +Paolina declared that she had gone to St. Apollinare in pursuit of her +professional business. And the declaration was not only very probable in +itself, but could be shown by evidence to be true. Only, while it +accounted for her presence in the church of St. Apollinare, it left her +departure from the church with her face turned, not towards the city, +but towards the Pineta, unaccounted for. + +In the case of the Conte Leandro, it was difficult to imagine the motive +that could have induced him to leave the city at that hour, in the +manner in which he was proved, by the testimony of the men at the gate, +to have done. And he gave no assistance himself towards arriving at any +satisfactory explanation of so strange a circumstance. He was unable, or +unwilling, to account in any way for his conduct on that Ash Wednesday +morning. + +"He had thought it pleasanter to take a walk that fine morning, than to +go to bed after the ball." + +Nothing could be more unlike the usual known habits and tastes of the +Conte Leandro, than such a freak. But supposing such a whim to have +occurred to him, would he have set out on his walk evidently intending +to be disguised--with a cloak wrapped round the fantastic costume in +which he had been at the ball? Was such a supposition in any wise +credible, or admissible? + +In each of the three cases there seemed also to be a motive for the deed +that might be deemed sufficient to have led to it; and from which +neither of the parties suspected could show that they were free. + +In the case of the Marchese Ludovico, it was the terrible temptation of +delivering his family name from ridicule and disgrace, and himself from +the prospect of absolute beggary. + +In the case of Paolina, it was the madness of woman's jealousy, wrought +to a pitch of desperation by circumstances similar to such as had ere +now produced many a similar tragedy. + +In the case of the Conte Leandro, it was the cruel mortification of a +man whose monstrous vanity was notorious to the whole city. + +These were the three hypotheses between which the possibilities of the +case seemed to lie to those whose position or means of information gave +them any real knowledge of the facts. But there was a section of the +outside public which had set up for itself and preferred yet a fourth +theory--namely, that the prima donna had committed suicide. The holders +of this opinion were mainly women; and at the head of them; was the +Signora Orsola Steno. In an agony of grief, indignation, and despair at +the accusation brought against her adopted child, and the arrest by +which it had been followed up, she loudly maintained her own conviction +that the evil and wicked woman had brought her career to a fitting close +by putting herself to death. + +"Likely enough she may have endeavoured to entrap the Marchese Lamberto; +but not very likely," old Orsola thought, "that that exemplary nobleman +should have been caught by her wiles. Likely enough she may have plotted +to play her last card, by giving the Marchese Ludovico to understand, +that the only way to avoid the ruin which would fall upon him by her +becoming his uncle's wife, was to take her himself. How any such +overtures would be received by the noble Marchese Ludovico, all Ravenna +ought to know; and at all events she, Orsola Steno, knew surely enough. +And upon that rebuff, and utter failure of her last hope despair had +come upon the wretched creature, as well it might, and she had put an +end to herself." + +To her, Orsola Steno, the case was clear: and she only wondered that +anybody could be so blind as not to see it. + +But what if such a supposition were simply inconsistent with the known +facts? What if it were simply impossible that any person should inflict +on themselves such an injury as that which it was evident the murdered +woman had sustained; and more impossible still that they should have +been able to adopt the means for concealing the wound which the assassin +had adopted? What if such was the perfectly unhesitating judgment and +declaration of the medical authorities? Such people as Orsola Steno, and +those who shared her opinion, are ordinarily impervious to any such +reasoning. It is remarkable that, in any case of doubt or circumstances +of suspicion, the popular mind--or, at all events, the Italian popular +mind--is specially disposed to mistrust the medical profession. They +suspect error exactly where scientific certainty is the most perfect, +and deception precisely in those who have the least possible imaginable +motive for deceiving. Probably it may be because the grounds and means +of the knowledge they mistrust are more wholly, than in any other case, +beyond the sphere of their own conceptions. + +When old Orsola Steno was told that the doctors declared that it was not +within the bounds of possibility that La Bianca should have put herself +to death in the manner in which she had been put to death, nothing could +exceed the profundity of the contempt with which she sneered in reply: + +"Ah! they'll say anything to make out that they know more than other +folks, and, maybe, they often know a deal less. Don't tell me. How +should they know what a woman will do when she is driven? I know what +women are, and I know what them doctors are; and you may believe that an +old woman, who has been a young one, knows more what such an one as that +Bianca can do, when she has no hope before her, than all the doctors." + +"But it is impossible--physically impossible that she could have done +it." + +"Ta, ta, ta, ta! Physic, indeed; what's physic got to do with it? I +should like to physic them that try to throw suspicion on a poor +innocent girl all to make out their own cleverness." + +So Signora Orsola victoriously, and to the great increase of her +confidence in her own powers of insight, continued to hold her own +opinion, and it was shared by many other similarly-constituted minds. + +The old Venetian woman had lived a very quiet life in the strange city +to which fate had brought her, making but few acquaintances, and holding +but little intercourse with those few; but now, under the terrible +misfortune which had happened, she was stirred up to activity in every +way in which activity was possible to her. She went to the Palazzo +Castelmare and endeavoured to see the Marchese Lamberto in vain. She was +told that the Marchese was ill, and could not see any one. + +She went to the Contessa Violante, of whose acquaintanceship with +Paolina she was aware, though she had never before seen her, and, oddly +enough, the Contessa Violante was disposed to share, or to become a +convert to, her own opinion respecting the mode of Bianca's death. The +young Contessa was, doubtless as ignorant of all such matters as old +Orsola could be. Her education had been entirely conventual, and those +who dwell in the inner sanctums and fortresses of the Church have a +curiously instinctive aversion to the certainties and investigations of +medical--especially of surgical--science; and the Contessa Violante was, +perhaps, hence prepared to vilipend and set at naught the dicta of the +scientific authorities. + +It was likely that her mind was also warped by the conceptions of what +were probable, likely to be providential, and even suitable, in the case +of such a person as the deceased singer. Of course, the whole life of +such an one was, to the Contessa Violante, a thing abominable and +accursed in the eyes of Heaven. It was more strange that all others, who +led similar lives, and were engaged in such a profession, should not +make an evil end of themselves than that one such should do so. + +The Contessa Violante, therefore, was disposed to share the conviction +of her visitor, as she most sincerely and cordially sympathised with her +in her affliction. To her, also, it was wholly impossible to believe +that Paolina had done this thing; nor was it credible to her that +Ludovico should be guilty of such a deed. Of the three persons accused +she would have found it more possible to believe in the guilt of the +Conte Leandro; but, on the whole, she preferred to avoid the necessity +of assuming that either of the accused were guilty by admitting the +hypothesis of Signora Orsola. + +"And if you will take my advice, Signora, I think that the best thing +you could do would be to go to Signor Fortini, the lawyer, who is +interested in the matter on account of being the lawyer of the +Castelmare family. I have always heard him spoken of as an upright and +respectable man. I have heard my uncle speak well of him. If I were you +I would go and talk to him; you will very easily find out where his +studio is. Go and tell him who you are, and what your interest in the +matter is, and I have no doubt but that he will receive you kindly and +listen to what you have to say." + +And Signora Orsola took the Contessa Violante's advice, and went +directly to the lawyer's studio in the little cloister under the walls +of the cathedral, on leaving her adviser. As Violante had said, she had +no difficulty whatever in finding it. + +The lawyer was at home, and Signora Orsola was at once ushered into the +inner studio, which has been described in a former chapter. + +Signor Fortini was, to all appearances, entirely unoccupied; but it is +probable that his mind was fully employed in striving to see his way +through some portion of the difficulties that hedged about on all sides +the subject on which, more or less, all Ravenna was intent. He was +sitting before his table, thickly covered with papers; but had thrown +himself back in his leather-covered arm-chair, and was grasping his +stubbly chin with one hand, the elbow belonging to which rested on the +arm of his chair, while the dark eyes, shining out beneath his +contracted forehead, were fixed on the ceiling of the little room. + +"Signora Orsola Steno," he said, as he half rose, and courteously +offered his visitor a seat by the side of the table, so placed as to be +fronting his own, while the sitter in it was exactly in a line between +him and the window. + +"Sua Signoria mi conosce. Your lordship knows me, then," said the old +woman, whose surprise at finding herself thus recognized sufficed to put +altogether out of her head all the carefully arranged opening of her +interview with the lawyer which she had taken much pains to prepare. + +Signor Fortini had, in truth, never seen the old woman, and had scarcely +ever heard of her before the terrible event, which was now bringing her +into his presence. But her name, the nature of her connection with +Paolina, and very many other particulars concerning her had become known +to the lawyer in the course of the investigations which that event had +imposed upon him. + +"Sufficiently, Signora, though I never had the pleasure of speaking to +you before, to be aware of the nature of the business which has induced +you to favour me with this visit," replied the lawyer, with grave +courtesy. + +"Well, then, Signor Dottore, I hope you will excuse--" + +"There is not the smallest need for any apology, Signora. Anzi--I am +very glad that you should have thought it well to call on me; I shall be +most happy to hear anything that you may wish to say to me." + +"You are very polite, Signor Dottore, I am sure," said the old woman, +hesitatingly; for she was alarmed at the idea, which the lawyer's +courtesy had suggested to her cautious mind, that she might be supposed +to be engaging his professional services, and might thus find herself, +before she was aware of it, involved in expenses which she had no means +of meeting, and no intention of incurring; "you are extremely polite, +but--you see, Signor, it is best to speak plainly--I am a very poor +woman; and I have not the means--and I am sure--perhaps I ought not to +have troubled sua Signoria; but it was the Contessa Violante who advised +me to come to you." + +"Indeed; I am beholden to the Signora Contessa Violante. As you say most +judiciously, Signora, it is best to speak quite plainly. With regard to +any professional services, which it might be otherwise in my power to +render you, it is necessary to say at once that I am engaged in this +most unhappy business on the behalf of my old client and friend the +Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare. There can be no question, therefore, of +any professional remuneration to me in the matter from any other +quarter. Anything that may pass between us," he continued, perceiving +that his visitor had not fully comprehended what he sought to convey to +her, "must be of the nature of private conversation, and will not entail +on you," he added, yet more plainly with a good-humoured smile, and +putting his hand on her sleeve as he spoke, "any possible expense +whatever." + +"Thank you kindly, sir; and, truth to say, it is not so much that I +wanted to ask you to say or to do anything, as only just not to say what +a many people in this city are wicked enough to say and to think," said +old Orsola, much re-assured, and persuaded that she was approaching the +business in hand in the most cautious and clever manner imaginable. + +"I hope, Signora, that I shall not say anything which it is wicked to +say; but what is it that people are wicked enough to say?" rejoined the +lawyer, who knew now perfectly well what the wicked saying was. + +"Why they say, Signor Dottore--some of them--some of them are wicked +enough to say that that dear blessed child has--it is enough to blister +one's tongue to say it--has done that dreadful thing; Santa Maria abbia +misericordia--that murder in the forest. O Dio mio! Why--" + +"Is she any relative of yours, Signora, the Signorina Paolina +Foscarelli?" asked the lawyer, quietly. + +"No relative by blood, Signor; but she is the same to me as a daughter. +I took her when she was left an orphan--" + +"And she has lived with you ever since?" + +"Ever since she has lived with me as if she was my own, Signor; and if +anybody in the world ever knew another, I know her; and, bless your +heart, she isn't capable of lifting her hand against a fly, let alone a +Christian. There never was such wicked nonsense talked in this world +since world it was; and I'm told, Signor Dottore, that you have said +that she had been the one as did this deed; and--" + +"Stop, stop, my good Signora Orsola! Are you aware that you are accusing +me of being guilty of punishable defamation and slander? I say that the +Signorina Paolina Foscarelli committed murder? Who on earth could ever +have told you so monstrous an untruth? Allow me to assure you that I +never said anything of the kind." + +"Oh, Signor Dottore, I am so glad to hear you say so. What lies people +do tell, to be sure; I am sure it was a very good thought of the +Contessa Violante to tell me to come to you; and since you say that the +poor child is innocent, as innocent she is, as the child unborn--" + +"Stay, Signora, stay; you go too fast--somewhat too fast. Unhappily, I +am by no means in a condition to say that your young friend is innocent +of this crime; appearances, it must be admitted, are very much against +her; we must hope that they can be explained. I accuse no one; it is not +my province to do so." + +"But you don't think the judges will believe that my child could have +done such a thing? If they only knew her! You don't think that, do you, +Signor Dottore?" said the poor woman, with a voice and manner of piteous +appeal. + +"They will judge according to the evidence and the probabilities of the +case. It is impossible to say as yet to what conclusion these may seem +to point. The Marchese Ludovico is an acquaintance of yours and of the +Signorina Paolina, is he not?" + +"An acquaintance? why they are engaged to be married," almost shrieked +poor Signora Orsola; "has not your lordship heard that they are engaged +to be married?" + +"Indeed! and you are acquainted with the Contessa Violante too. Do you +know whether her ladyship is aware of the engagement you speak of? I +ask, because she is an old friend of the Marchese Ludovico." + +"To be sure she is aware of it. She and Paolina have often talked it +over together. Altro che, aware of it." + +"Humph," said the lawyer thoughtfully; and then remained silent for a +minute or two, while old Orsola looked at him wistfully. + +"It must be very terrible to you then, Signora, to think that the +Marchese should be suspected of this shocking crime, since you have such +reason to feel an interest in him," said he at last, looking up suddenly +at his companion. + +"Lord bless your heart," exclaimed the old woman in reply; "the Marchese +never did nothing of the sort, no more than my poor innocent lamb did +it. Nothing of the kind." + +"Perhaps, then, you would not mind saying who did do it," said the +lawyer; "since you seem to know all about it." + +"Why she did it herself to be sure. It is a wonder anybody should doubt +it. And a like enough end for such a baggage to come to," said Signora +Orsola, with much bitterness. + +"You do not seem to have been among the admirers of the Signora Bianca," +said the lawyer, with a furtively shrewd look at the old woman. + +"Admirers, indeed! She had too many admirers, I am thinking. A +good-for-nothing, impudent, brazen--well, she has gone to her account, +so I won't be the one to speak ill of her." + +"You seem to have had considerable opportunities of becoming acquainted +with her character, Signora Orsola. Had you much acquaintance with her?" + +"I never saw her but once in my life, and that was at the theatre on the +last Sunday night of Carnival. The Marchese had given us a box." + +"And it was upon that occasion then, that she impressed you so +unfavourably. The Signorina Paolina I suppose was with you at the +theatre?" + +"Of course she was. Would it be likely, I ask you, Signor Dottore, that +the Marchese took the box for me?" + +"And no doubt the Signorina Foscarelli was impressed by the actress in +the same manner that you yourself were." + +"Of course she was, as any other decent young woman would have been; let +alone being, as Paolina is, engaged to be married to the Marchese." + +"I have no doubt, Signora, that your remarks are perfectly just. If the +manners and conduct of the young women now-a-days were regulated a +little more in conformity with the ideas of such persons of discretion +as yourself, the world would be all the better for it. But I don't quite +see how the behaviour of the prima donna on the stage could have had +anything to do with the circumstance of the Marchese Ludovico's +engagement to the Signorina Foscarelli," said the lawyer, with the most +demure innocence of manner. + +"You don't see it, Signor Dottore. Perhaps you were not in the theatre +that night. If you had been you would have seen it fast enough. The way +she went on, when the Marchese Ludovico was a-giving her a lovely +nosegay of flowers--hothouse flowers, if you please--as big pretty near +as this table; not just a-throwing them on to the stage the way I've +seen 'em do it many a time at the Fenice; but putting them into her +hand; and she, the minx a coming up to the box to take 'em before all +the people as bold as brass." + +"Ah, I see? The Signorina Foscarelli naturally did not quite like that," +said the lawyer, encouragingly. + +"Like it! Who would have liked it in her place, I ask you? And that +painted hussy a-going on they way she did; making such eyes at him, and +smiling and a-pressing her hand to her bosom, that was just as naked as +my face; and looking for all the world if she could have jumped right +into the box, and eaten him up. Like it, indeed!" + +"No doubt it was provoking enough. And your adopted daughter, Signora +Steno, would not be the right-minded and well-brought-up girl I take her +to be, if she did not express to you her disgust at such goings on," +said the sympathizing lawyer. + +"You may say that. She expressed it plain enough and not to me only, but +to the Marchese himself well, when she saw him afterwards. She let him +know what she thought of the painted huzzy. And she told him, too, some +more of the truth. She told him that the creature knew well enough what +she was doing, or trying to do. The way she looked straight up at my +poor child in the box, where we were, was enough to make the blood +curdle in your veins. If ever I saw a face look hatred, it was the face +of that woman when she looked up at our box. She looked at the poor +child as if she could have taken her heart's blood. She did. Ah! bless +your heart, she knew all about it. Talk of the old Marchese, indeed. +Yes; the creature had set her mind upon being Marchesa di Castelmare. +Not a doubt of it; but it was the nephew she wanted, not the uncle; and +she knew that my Paolina stood in the way of her scheming; and Paolina +knew that she knew it." + +Old Orsola paused, out of breath with the length and vehemence of the +tirade, which her feelings had prompted her to utter with crescendo +violence. She was verbose; but the lawyer had listened with the most +perfect patience and unflagging attention to every word she had uttered. + +"It is, indeed, clear enough," he said, shaking his head, "that between +two women so situated with reference to each other, there could have +been no very kindly feeling. And it must be confessed that this +unfortunate Bianca Lalli was, by all accounts, just the sort of woman +that was likely to be a very dangerous rival." + +"She; a common, impudent, low-lived, brazen-faced, worn-out Jezebel. No; +not where my Paolina stood on the other side. She couldn't take the +Marchese away from her with all her arts. And that's why she went and +put an end to herself. But she's gone--she's gone, where her painted +face and her lures won't be of any more service to her. And so I won't +say any evil of her. Not I. It's a good rule that tells us to speak well +of the dead. Ave, Maria gratia plena, ora pro nobis, nunc et in hora +mortis nostrae," said the old woman, crossing herself and casting up her +eyes in attestation of the Christian nature of her sentiments. + +"Amen!" said the lawyer, piously, while he waited to see if the +exuberance of his visitor's feelings would lead her to throw any further +light on the state of feeling that had existed between Paolina +Foscarelli and the murdered woman. + +"I always say and think, for my part," continued the old woman, +perceiving that her companion sat silent, as if expecting her to +continue the conversation; "I always think that the blessed Virgin knows +what's best for us. Maybe it's just as well that that poor miserable +creature did as she did. For we all know what men are, Signore Dottore; +and there's no saying what hold she might have got upon the Marchese." + +"And no doubt that is the feeling of our young friend Signorina +Foscarelli?" said the sympathetic lawyer. + +"To be sure,--to be sure it is," said the old woman, meaning to credit +Paolina with the piety she had understood herself to have expressed; +"she did take a mortal aversion and dislike to the woman, and small +blame to her. But now she is gone, Paolina is no more likely to say +anything against her than I am myself." + +"Quite so, quite so. And I hope the magistrates may take the same view +of the circumstances, that you have so judiciously expressed, Signora," +said the lawyer, who was abundantly contented with the result of his +interview with the Signora Steno, as it stood, and did not see any +further necessity for prolonging it. "You may tell the Contessa +Violante, if you should see her, that I am much obliged to her for +having sent you to me," he added, as he rose to open the door of his +sanctum for the old lady; "Beppo, open the door for the Signora Steno. +Farewell, Signora, we shall meet again." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Was it Paolina after all? + + +Orsola Steno quitted the lawyer's studio as entirely contented with the +result of her interview as she left him. She doubted not that she had +fully impressed him with her own conviction as to the explanation of the +mysterious circumstances of the singer's death; that Paolina's innocence +would be readily recognized; and that her adopted daughter would shortly +be restored to her in the Via di Sta. Eufemia. + +The lawyer remained for some time seated in his chair in deep thought +after his visitor had left him. + +Suddenly he let his open hand fall heavily with a loud clap on the table +before him, disturbing the papers on it from their places, and causing +the fine blue sand, which stood in an open wooden basin for the purpose +of doing the office of blotting-paper, to be spilled in all directions +by the concussion, and said aloud, "By God! That girl has done it!" + +"Ah, talk of the passions of men," he went on, in a lower muttering +voice, after some further moments of meditation; "they are nothing--they +are child's play compared to the blind animal-like impulses that force a +woman's will into their service when any of the master passions of the +sex are touched. A woman's jealousy; it is as plain as the sun at +noonday. And we are puzzling our brains looking on this side and on +that, to find a possible explanation of the facts. Talk of a tigress and +her whelps! There's a young girl who looks as innocent as a St. Agnes, +and speaks as if butter would not melt in her mouth. Take--threaten to +take--her lover from her, and she turns upon you like a scorpion at bay. +Furens quid foemina possit. Ay indeed. And they are all alike. That old +woman there; why she was ready, with all her 'Ave Marias' and 'Ora pro +nobis,' to kill the woman again if she were not killed already, out of +pure sympathy with the wrong done to her adopted daughter. I don't think +there is a doubt about it. I should like to wager a hundred to one that +the Venetian girl put her rival to death. The story is neither a new nor +a strange one." + +"Whether the commission of the deed can be brought home to her," he +continued, after another period of musing, "that is another question; +and one with which, however interesting it may be to my good friend +Pietro Logarini, we need not trouble ourselves. And after all, what a +good thing it is that things should have fallen out as they have. That +old fool of a Marchese! It is a lesson to believe in nothing and no man, +when one thinks of it. The death of that woman is the saving of the +name. But, per Bacco! I must not say so too loudly," thought the old +lawyer to himself, with a grim smile, "or I shall be doing just what the +old fool of a woman has been doing. Yes, that was the last link in the +chain of the evidence we wanted. She was on the spot at the time--the +death-dealing weapon was essentially a woman's weapon, and the murdered +woman was her feared and hated rival--and now we have direct evidence +that she felt her to be such. If the judges can find any other +hypothesis supported by stronger circumstantial evidence than this--why, +I think that I had better go to school again." + +With these thoughts in his mind, Signor Fortini determined to go and see +his crony, Signor Pietro Logarini, at the Palazzo del Governo. He found +that active and able official just returned from another visit to St. +Apollinare in Classe, which appeared not to have been very fruitful of +result. + +"I can make nothing out of that old friar," said the Police Commissary +to his friend, as they sat in the private cabinet of the former; "and I +am very much afraid that we shall make nothing out of him. For quiet, +aggravating obstinacy and passive resistance, recommend me to a monk." + +"What induced you to go out there to-day?" asked the lawyer. + +"Why, I am very strongly persuaded--I feel sure almost--that that old +fellow could tell something to the purpose if he would speak. And I am +more convinced of it from his manner to-day than ever. The other +animal--the lay-brother--I am pretty sure knows nothing about it." + +"Is the friar about again, or still in bed?" Fortini. + +"Oh, he's in bed safe enough; at least I found him there, shivering and +shaking, and counting his beads, and answering a plain question with +'Ave Maria' and 'Ora pro nobis,' and the rest of it. I don't believe he +has the fever a bit. I believe that he has been scared out of his wits +by something he has seen. But the devil wouldn't get out of him what it +was if he don't choose to tell you. Oh, I know them!" said the +Commissary, provoked by his fruitless excursion. + +"I suppose," said the lawyer, looking doubtfully into the Commissary's +face, "I suppose it is not on the cards that the old fellow was the +murderer himself?" + +"Ha!" said the Commissary, with a start, "that is a new idea. But no," +he added, after a little consideration,--"no, that's not it; it would be +very difficult even to imagine any motive. An old man, eighty years old. +No, it's not that. But, if I am not very much mistaken, he knows +something." + +"In that case, I should have thought that means might have been found to +make him speak," said the lawyer, drily. + +"What means? I profess I don't know any. The devil of it is, you see, +Signor Giovacchino, that it will not do to treat those fellows roughly. +There would be the deuce and all to pay. There he lies, shivering, and +trembling, and muttering, and going on as if he was imbecile; and +swearing he is too ill to leave his bed. I don't see how we are to get +him here into court." + +"Well, I've had better luck this morning; and had not to go out to seek +it. My witness came to me; and I think I have got some important +evidence," said the lawyer, with much of the exultation of a successful +sportsman over a less fortunate rival. + +"The deuce you have. There is a luck in those things. But if your +evidence came to you--Who the devil would ever think of coming to a +Commissary of Police as long as they could stay away, if they pleased." + +"Well, my witness was not altogether a willing one; or at least she came +to me for the purpose of saying something very different from what she +did say." + +"But you did not come here merely to boast, I am sure, Signor +Giovacchino. You are going to tell me what you have been able to learn, +eh?" said the Commissary. + +"Boast, no, not I! There's nothing to boast of. Besides, you know my +interest in the matter is of a different nature from yours, Signor +Pietro. All I want is to clear my friend and client, the Marchese +Ludovico. You, of course, are anxious to bring the crime home to +somebody." + +"True," said the Commissary, nodding his head. + +"And of course, therefore, any light I can throw upon the matter, I am +ready enough to bring to you, unless it were of a nature to incriminate +the Marchese," returned the lawyer. + +"Of course, just so. And what you have learned this morning--" + +"Tell's all t'other way; I have no difficulty in allowing that, on the +first blush of the matter, I felt no doubt that the Marchese was the +guilty party. It only shows that one ought always to have doubts of +everything. It looked so very bad. The Marchese takes the girl into the +wood, comes back without her, and very shortly afterwards she is found +where he left her, murdered. And he is known to have had the greatest +possible interest in getting rid of her. Would it not have seemed a +clear case to any one?" + +"So one would have said indeed," assented the Commissary. + +"Well, the Marchese had nothing to do with it. At the present moment I +feel--well, hardly any doubt at all that the deed was done by the girl +Paolina Foscarelli." + +"That's my notion too," said the Commissary, taking a pinch of snuff, +and proferring his box to his visitor; "but what is the new evidence." + +"Well, the girl lives, it seems, with an old woman, a country-woman of +hers, a certain Orsola Steno. And this morning the old lady comes to my +studio for the avowed purpose of begging me not to countenance in any +way the very mistaken notion that her adopted daughter had murdered the +prima donna; the truth being, as she was good enough to inform me, that +the latter had committed suicide." + +"Bah, what senseless nonsense!" interrupted the Commissary, indignantly. + +"Of course. I pointed out to the old lady that her theory was, according +to the medical testimony, simply impossible; but that naturally made not +the slightest difference in her opinion of the matter. And then, aided +by a little gentle assistance, she prattled on, an old fool, admitting, +or insisting rather, that there had been bitter hatred and animosity +between Paolina and the murdered woman; that Paolina had conceived the +bitterest jealousy of the singer; that she was persuaded that the latter +was scheming with a set purpose to lure her acknowledged lover, the +Marchese, away from her; that she was further persuaded that the singer +nourished the bitterest hatred of her, Paolina. What do you say to that, +Signor Commissary? How does the land lie now, eh?" said the lawyer, +triumphantly, in conclusion. + +Signor Pietro nodded his head with most emphatic approbation and +confirmation of his friend's opinion. + +"Is not it the more likely story in every way?" pursued the lawyer; +"just look at it. The Marchese is known to every man, woman, and child +in Ravenna; and being known for what he is, it would be difficult to +persuade anybody that he had lifted his hand to murder a defenceless and +sleeping woman. But we can all of us easily understand that it is +exceedingly likely that he may have so behaved as to make these two +women furiously jealous of each other; at least to have made this girl +Paolina, to whom, it seems, he had promised marriage, desperately +furious against the other, whom she had but too good reason to suspect +of having attracted the preference of the Marchese. Then look at the +instrument with which the murder was accomplished,--a needle. Is it in +any way likely that the Marchese Ludovico should habitually carry such a +thing about with him? Is there any unlikelihood that the girl may have +had such a thing about her; Amico mio Pietro," said the lawyer, in +conclusion, tapping his fingers on the Commissary's coat-sleeve as he +spoke, "that Venetian girl is the murderess! The deed was done under the +influence of maddening jealousy." + +"How on earth could that old woman come to you with a budget of such +damning facts against her friend? Do you think she--the old woman--has +any guilty knowledge of the crime?" + +"Lord bless you, no! If she had, she would not have been so simple. No, +she firmly believes her own theory of the matter, that the poor Diva +killed herself. She is too firmly persuaded of it to perceive the +bearing of her admissions of the hatred that existed between the two +girls." + +"I learned something yesterday," said the Commissary, "which all looks +the same way, not much, but in such a case every little helps. This old +friar--this Padre Fabiano--is, we know, a Venetian; and now I have +ascertained that, years ago, before he came here, there was some +connection of some sort--acquaintance, friendship of whatever kind you +like--between him and the parents of the girl Paolina. I think it likely +enough that the frate's friendship was more particularly with the girl's +mother rather than with her father,--we know what friars' ways are, and, +maybe, we should not go far wrong if we imagined that the Father had +reason to feel a fatherly interest of a quite special kind in the young +lady. Now all this is worth only just this. Why did the frate return +from the Pineta in such a state of terror, agitation, and horror? Why, +supposing him to have seen, or in any way become acquainted with facts +calculated to produce such an effect upon him, does he obstinately +refuse to give us any information upon the subject? How will this answer +fit? In the course of that walk to the Pineta, undertaken, no doubt, +because the old man felt anxiety as to what was likely to follow from +the probable meeting of the two girls after the scene witnessed in his +presence by Paolina from the window of the church--in the course of that +walk, let us suppose, the friar became acquainted with the fact that +this girl--his daughter, we will say, for, in all probability, she is +such--had murdered her rival. The knowledge of the fact sends him back +to his cell half dead with horror and fright. His interest in Paolina +ties his tongue, and frustrates all our efforts to get any explanation +from him. How will that do, eh, Signor Giovacchino?" + +"Admirably well. Clearly helps to give consistency and probability to +our theory of the facts. I begin to think that all danger to my client +is at an end, and, upon my word, I am more glad of it than I can tell +you; it would have been a shocking thing. I am an old Ravenna man, you +know, and should have felt it differently from what you would, you +know." + +"True; but I am glad enough that the Marchese should be cleared in the +matter, and so will the Government be--very glad." + +"I suppose there is no objection to my seeing the Marchesino?" + +"Oh, certainly not the least in the world. It is a pity that he should +be detained here any longer; but I am almost afraid to take the +responsibility of discharging him before some formal inquiry has been +made." + +"Naturally, naturally. When do you suppose you will be ready to bring +the affair to a trial?" + +"Oh, very soon. If there were any chance of getting that old frate into +court it would be worth while to wait for him; but I am afraid that the +longer we wait the worse his fever and ague will get. But I shall have +another try at him out there first." + +And with that Signor Fortini passed to the chamber in which the Marchese +Ludovico was confined. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Could it have been the Aged Friar? + + +"Signor Marchese," said the old man, stretching out his hand with, for +him, a very unusual degree of impulsive cordiality, "I have come to make +amende honorable--I need hardly say how delighted I am to do so. It is +not only that I think I may say there is now very little chance of any +mischief falling on you in consequence of that unlucky excursion to the +Pineta, but that I am able, thank God, to say that I have myself no +longer the smallest suspicion that you had any hand in the crime that +has been committed there." + +"Has anything been discovered, then?" asked Ludovico, eagerly. +"Ah--h--h! that would be good news indeed," added the young man, drawing +a long breath of relief,--the evident strength of which feeling afforded +a measure of the suffering he had endured more indicative of the real +state of his mind than any amount of depression which he had before +allowed to be apparent. + +"Well; enough, I think, has been discovered to relieve you of all +suspicion--enough, as I said, to convince my own mind very +satisfactorily that you are innocent of all complicity in the matter." + +"I confess that I should have preferred, Signor Fortini, that my own +assertion should have sufficed to produce that conviction," replied the +young man, somewhat drily. + +"My dear Signor Marchese, permit me to say that such preference would +have been ill founded. Is not my conviction, based upon the +probabilities of the known facts, of much greater value than any mere +acquiescence with your assertions? These are matters, my dear sir, which +must be looked at reasonably, and not merely sentimentally. If you had +committed murder--if I had committed murder,--should we not either of +us, have denied it as resolutely as you denied this? If the +circumstances are such as to cause a man--any man--to be suspected at +all, no words of his can be worth anything whatsoever on the subject; +and you must admit that, the circumstances being as they were, it was +impossible that the first suspicion should not have fallen on you. You +may believe that no efforts or activity have been wanting on my part for +the discovery of the means of removing this suspicion. Let us be +thankful that they have, to a very great degree, been successful." + +"And what has been found out? For God's sake tell me all about it! I +declare, for my own part, I could almost believe that I had done it +myself in my sleep, or in a fit of madness without knowing it, so +utterly impossible does it seem to me to imagine what hand it could have +been that did the deed." + +"Signor Marchese, the hand that did that deed was no other than the hand +of the Venetian girl, Paolina Foscarelli," said the lawyer, with +deliberate and impressive slowness, emphasizing his words with extended +forefinger as he uttered them. + +"Pshaw! Is that all you have to tell me?" cried the Marchese, jumping up +from his chair, and pacing the room with impatient strides. "It is an +absurdity upon the face of it; I should have hoped that nobody in +Ravenna would have believed it possible that I could have been guilty of +such a deed; but, by Heaven, the whole city will see that it is more +likely that I should have done it than Paolina! It is simply absurd." + +"Signor Marchese, prepossessions, and previous notions of what might +have been expected to be possible, are of no value in such a case as +this against the logic of facts and circumstances. Other young women, +who seemed as little likely to be capable of such a deed as this +Signorina Foscarelli, have committed such--and have done it under the +pressure of motives exactly similar to those which we know with +certainty to have been vehemently operative in the heart of the +Venetian." + +"Motives! What conceivable motive could have existed to--" + +"What motive? The most powerful of all the passions that ever drove a +woman to become guilty of crime--jealousy; jealousy, Signor Marchese, +has been the motive of this murder. Look at the facts as they stand: we +know that this Paolina Foscarelli was in the immediate neighbourhood of +the spot where the deed was done, and as nearly as possible at the time +when it was done; we know--excuse me, Signor Marchese, for speaking very +plainly; it is absolutely necessary to be plain--we know that this girl +had great reason to feel jealous of La Bianca. Remember that she saw you +and the singer driving tete-a-tete together in that solitary place at +that unusual hour. I leave it to your own feeling to estimate the degree +of jealousy which such a sight, together with other previous +circumstances, was calculated to produce in this girl's mind; but, if +that be not enough, we know, as a matter of fact, that she had, even +previously to seeing what was, so calculated to drive her jealousy to a +pitch of fury, expressed jealousy, animosity and hatred against the +woman whom she considered as her rival. We have this in evidence--the +perfectly unimpeachable evidence of the Signora Orsola Steno. Add to +that, again, that the method of the murder was just such as a woman was +likely to adopt, and that a man was very little likely to think of, or +to have the means of, in his possession. Put all these certain facts +together, Signor Marchese; and I think it will be impossible for even +your mind to resist the conviction that must force itself upon every one +who considers the circumstances." + +The Marchese stopped in his agitated walk to and fro across the floor of +the chamber, and gazed into the lawyer's face with an expression of +bewilderment and pain, which the old man met with a keen and steady +glance, and a grave shake of the head. The Marchese, after encountering +his eye for a few moments, struck his open hand on his forehead, and +threw himself on the chair he had left without uttering a word. + +"And to you, Signor Marchese, it assuredly cannot appear strange that +the circumstances I have enumerated should carry with them the +conviction to other minds that Paolina Foscarelli is guilty of the +murder of the singer," continued the lawyer, speaking very slowly and +fixing the keen glance of his dark bright eyes on the working face of +his companion; "to you, above all others, this cannot appear strange, +since--to your own mind this suspicion first occurred." + +"What do you mean? I! Signor Fortini. What strange notion is misleading +you? I don't know what you mean!" cried the Marchese, while a look of +horror gradually crept over his face. + +"When the body of the murdered woman was brought into the city,--when we +two stood in the gateway, and when your hand raised the sheet that +covered the face of the dead, you exclaimed aloud 'Paolina!' What was +then the thought that was in your mind? I imagined, at the time, that +you recognized her in the dead woman before you. A very few minutes, +however, sufficed to show that it was not Paolina, but Bianca who lay +there murdered. And then, amid the horror of the first idea of your +guilt, which the nature of the circumstances rendered inevitable, I +thought no more of the exclamation you had uttered. But I have not +forgotten the fact. You did, on seeing Bianca dead before you, exclaim, +'Good God! Paolina!' What was the thought in your mind, Signor Marchese, +that prompted that exclamation? What but the sudden spontaneous rush of +the conviction that it was she who had done the deed on which you were +looking?" + +For a few moments the Marchese seemed too much stunned by the inference, +and the appeal of the lawyer, and by the vision of the consequences, +which he purposed drawing from it, to utter any reply to the demand +which had been made on him. + +"You mistake, Signor Fortini," he gasped out at last; "you are in error. +I cannot have made any such exclamation. I have no consciousness of +anything of the kind. In any case no such monstrous idea, as you would +infer from it, ever entered into my mind. You know how anxious I was +about Paolina's prolonged absence. I was thinking of her; at least, I +suppose so, if, indeed, I uttered her name. I have no recollection. I +don't know why I should have done so. All I know is that no such +horrible and impossible suggestion ever presented itself to my mind for +an instant. If it were otherwise," continued the young man, after a few +moments of painfully concentrated thought,--"if it were otherwise, why +did I not suggest such a solution of the mystery when I found myself +accused of the crime?" + +"That, Signor Marchese, those who know you best will be least at a loss +to understand," replied the lawyer. "The motive that ruled your conduct +then, is the same that rules it now. You were then unwilling, as you are +now unwilling, to exculpate yourself at the cost of inculpating one who +is dear to you. Your objection, I am bound to tell you, carries no +weight with it. I cannot abandon that part of my case that rests upon +the striking fact that your own first impression was that Paolina was +guilty." + +"I utterly deny, and will continue to deny, that any such impression was +ever present to my mind. I wholly refuse to avail myself of any defence +based on any such supposition; on any idea at all, that Paolina +Foscarelli is guilty. I know that she is as innocent of this deed as the +angels in heaven. I will proclaim her innocence with my last breath. I +will not accept any acquittal on the hypothesis of her guilt. I will +rather avow that I did the deed myself. In one sense I did so. In one +sense I am guilty of her death. For it was I who took her to the place, +and into the circumstance that led to her death." + +"Signor Marchese, in this matter the truth of the facts is what is +wanted. It is that, and that alone that the magistrates will endeavour +to discover. A great many facts, as I have pointed out to you, will be +before them. Mere statements, one way or the other, will have little +avail. Quietly and seriously now, supposing we reject the theory of +Paolina's guilt, are you able yourself to conceive any other possible +explanations of the facts? Can you yourself suggest any other theory +whatsoever?" said the lawyer, throwing his head on one side, and +interlacing the fingers of his clasped hands in front of his person, in +calm expectation of the Marchese's answer. + +"There was another theory. I heard that the Conte Leandro had been +arrested on suspicion of being the assassin. It would be very dreadful. +God forbid that I should say that I suspected the Conte Lombardoni of +having done this foul deed. But I cannot avoid seeing that it is a great +deal more likely that he should have done it than Paolina," returned the +Marchese. + +"The accusation against the Conte Lombardoni has been abandoned, and he +has been set at liberty," replied the lawyer; "there was, in fact, +nothing against him, except the singular circumstance of his having gone +out of the city towards the Pineta, at a very unusual hour on the +morning of that same unlucky Ash Wednesday; and that he has at last +thought fit to explain." + +"At last?" said Ludovico. + +"Yes; for a long time he utterly refused to give any explanation of the +fact whatsoever; and his manner was altogether such as to strengthen the +notion that it was possible that he might have been the criminal. He has +told the truth at last. And it is no wonder that he was loth to tell it, +for it is not much calculated to increase his popularity in the city." + +"Why, what is it? I never used to think anything worse of him than that +he was a fool," rejoined the Marchese. + +"A fool, and a very mischievous and malicious one, as fools mostly are. +What do you think took him out of the city that morning of the first day +in Lent? Simply the desire to play the spy on you and the poor woman who +has been killed." + +"No, you don't mean it? the noxious animal!" exclaimed Ludovico, with +intense disgust. + +"It seems that he overheard you and the singer make your appointment for +the excursion, and that, moved by curiosity and the hope of making +mischief, he determined to be beforehand with you on the road, and +picking up, if he could, the means of paying off both the lady and +yourself for some of the mortification your ridicule had caused him," +said the lawyer. + +"I could not have believed it possible; the mean-spirited spiteful +wretch! I did not think he had it in him!" said Ludovico. + +"A man is apt to be spiteful towards those who cause him to suffer +greatly. And there is no suffering greater to a man as vain as the Conte +Leandro than the mortification of his vanity. But his spitefulness has +been punished: first, by a couple of days' imprisonment, and a fright +which half killed him; and secondly, by the sort of reception which you +may suppose awaited him when he was released as the result of his +explanation. I think he has had his due," added the lawyer, grimly. + +"But how does his explanation exclude the possibility that he may have +been the assassin after all? Why may not the same mortified vanity that +incited him to play the spy, have moved him to take deadly vengeance on +the woman he hated so bitterly? The man who was capable of the one is +likely enough to be capable of the other. He is the man who may fairly +be suspected of being capable of stabbing a woman as she slept!" argued +the Marchese, with intense indignation. + +"No," said the lawyer, shaking his head; "depend upon it we did not let +him go till it was made clear that he could have had no hand in the +crime. He was able to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt, that he +had returned to the city, entering it by the Porta Sisi, before the +earliest time when the murder could have been committed. No; that notion +has to be abandoned." + +"And no other idea has been started?--no suspicion? Have the +investigations of the police led to nothing?" asked Ludovico, with +profound discouragement. + +The lawyer shook his head. "I have told you," he said, "how the case +stands, Signor Marchese. An idea was started at one moment that the old +friar at St. Apollinare might have been the man. Strangely enough he +also was in or near the Pineta much about the same time. But the total +absence of all assignable motive--an infirm octogenarian; no, that is +not it. But the truth is, Signor Marchese, that our inquiries with +reference to this Padre Fabiano have brought to light facts which tend +to make the case stronger against the girl Paolina Foscarelli." + +"I tell you, Signor Fortini, that the notion of her guilt is more +entirely preposterous than any other possible imagination. I have told +you that I would, rather than accept it, avow myself the murderer;--ay, +and think that I had done it too, and forgotten it," said the Marchese, +with extreme vehemence. + +"But, Signor Marchese," returned the lawyer, with imperturbable +calmness, "it matters nothing to the result, whether you will accept the +idea of the Venetian girl's guilt or not, seeing that you will not be +called upon to pronounce judgment in the case. The fact is, that every +reasonable consideration points to that conclusion. I wish with all my +heart, that the criminal was one in whom you were less interested." The +meaning of which phrase in Signor Fortini's mouth, probably was, that he +wished the Marchese felt less interest in her who was the criminal. "But +I was about to tell you that the police have become acquainted with the +fact, that this Padre Fabiano, who is a Venetian, was formerly very +closely connected in some way with the family of Paolina Foscarelli. It +seems very probable that he was, in fact, her father. Now he followed +her to the forest, and returned thence in a state of great and painful +agitation, which all mention of the subject renews and increases; and. +further, the old man obstinately refuses to give any account or +explanation of his walk to the forest. The conclusion which has +suggested itself to the police authorities--not at all an unnatural or +unreasonable one--is that the old man has been cognizant of the deed +done by the girl." + +The Marchese seemed struck by this statement, and remained in silent +thought for a few minutes. "Paolina," he said, at length, "had motives +of hatred against the woman who has been killed, the friar had motives +for feeling strong interest in Paolina. Why may it not be conceivable +that he may have adopted her cause to the extent of committing a crime +with the view of righting what may have seemed to him to be her wrongs? +The explanation may seem a not very probable one; but no possible or +conceivable explanation of the terrible fact is a probable one, and, +certainly, it is more likely that the old friar should have done the +deed than the young girl." + +"Humph!" said the lawyer, after spending some minutes of deep thought on +the idea the Marchese had put forward; "I am not quite so sure that it +is more likely. However, the theory is a plausible one, and deserves +attention. Depend upon it, we shall not lose sight of the old gentleman, +let him shiver and shake as much as he may; and now, Signor Marchese, I +must go to your uncle," said the lawyer, rising. + +"How does he bear up under all this misery?" + +"Not well, not well. I cannot say that it has fared well with him during +these days; but I have some comfort in store for him. I think I may +venture to assure him that there is no need to imagine that his name has +been disgraced by the commission of a crime, or that there is any danger +that such should continue to be believed to be the case, either by the +magistrates or by anybody else. You will come out of this dreadful +business scatheless, Signor Marchese, I thank God for it?" + +"I will not come out scatheless at the cost of Paolina's condemnation," +said the Marchese, doggedly. + +"But the Marchese Lamberto, you see," continued the lawyer, without +taking any notice of his companion's interruption,--"the Marchese +Lamberto has been hit from more sides than one. The most unfortunate and +lamentable fascination that this woman seems to have exercised over +him--the deplorable fact that he should have proposed marriage to her, +and that this fact should be universally known,--it is impossible that +he should not have suffered, and still suffer terribly. Honestly, I +cannot say that I think he will ever altogether get over it--he will +never be the same man again. Would to God that fatal woman had never +come near Ravenna!" + +"Many thanks for your visit, Signor Fortini, and for all the kindness +you have shown me since this sad misfortune befell. Tell my uncle how +much I have felt and feel for him. Addio, Signor Fortini. If anything +new should turn up you will not fail to let me know it? Think of what I +said about the friar; and mind, once more, and once for all, I will not +come scatheless, as you say, out of this business and leave Paolina to +be held guilty." + +"Addio, Signor Marchese." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +What Ravenna thought of it + + +Signor Fortini had rather mitigated than exaggerated the truth in +speaking to the Marchese Ludovico of his uncle's state of mind. During +all these days his condition was truly deplorable. He had never, in all +this time, left the Palazzo, and had scarcely left his own chamber. He +absolutely refused to see anybody save Signor Fortini. He could not +sleep by night, or remain at rest in the same place for half-an-hour +together during the day. + +Of course he could attend to none of the numerous duties--mostly labours +of benevolence--that usually occupied his time. His servants thought +that he was losing his reason; yet, in the midst of all the terrible +distress that was weighing him down, the usual kindness and considerate +benevolence of his nature and habitual conduct had shone out. The only +one thing that he had given any attention to was the gratification of +the wishes, and the promotion of the welfare, of an old servant. + +Niccolo, the old groom who was mentioned, as the reader may, perhaps, +remember, on the occasion of a certain conversation which Lawyer Fortini +had with him, as having been all his life in the service of the +Marchese, and of his father before him, was getting, as he had himself +remarked to the lawyer, almost too old for his work. He had always +hitherto absolutely refused, with the masterful obstinacy of an old +favourite, all proposals of retirement; but, on the next morning but one +after the fatal Ash Wednesday, while the Marchese had been in such a +state of painful agitation that he could hardly bear to be addressed by +his own servant, he had, to the great surprise of all the household, +sent for old Niccolo, who had remained with him more than an hour. + +On coming out from the interview the old groom said that he had himself +asked for the audience his master had given him; but it did not seem at +all clear to the other servants when or how he could have done so. He +said that he had spoken to his master on the subject long before; and +how kind and good it was of the Marchese to think of his old servant's +affairs in all his trouble. His master had arranged for him, he said, +what he had long wished for, though it seemed to all the household that +old Niccolo had always rejected any proposal of the sort. He was to have +a pension, and go to live with a niece of his who was married in Rome. + +It was odd that none of his fellow-servants had ever heard anything of +any such niece. But old Niccolo was not a man of a communicative turn; +and perhaps nothing had ever chanced to lead him to speak of her. Now he +was to join her at once; he was to start for Faenza that very afternoon, +so as to catch there the diligence from Bologna to Rome. + +But why such a sudden start? Why should he go off and leave them all, at +a few hours' notice. + +Well, the fact was, that the day after the morrow was his niece's +birthday. And he thought he should like to give her the joyful surprise +of seeing her old uncle and learning the new arrangements on that day. +And his dear thoughtful master, who was always so kind to everybody, had +entered into his scheme, and so arranged it. + +And so it was; old Niccolo was gone to Rome as he had said. But he had +given nobody any address by which to find him in the Eternal City. And a +little jealousy, perhaps, was felt at the good fortune which had thus +befallen one out of several who would have liked the same. But all +admitted that it was a remarkable proof of the thoughtful kindness of +the Marchese in the midst of his own troubles. + +And how terribly those troubles pressed on him was evident to the whole +household; and, by means of their reports, to the entire city. Everybody +in Ravenna knew with how heavy a hand affliction had fallen upon the +Marchese Lamberto. And everybody talked of it. Sympathizing pity and +blame were mingled in the judgments which were being passed on the +Marchese every hour, and in every place where men or women met; and the +proportions in which they were mingled differed greatly. None, however, +could fail to see and to admit that the fall from the high pinnacle, on +which the Marchese had stood, had been a very terrible one. It was felt +that it was a fall from which he could never, under any circumstances, +entirely recover. + +The women were, for the most part, more indulgent to him than the men. +As for the unfortunate Bianca, they held that a righteous and deserved +judgment had fallen upon her, in which the operation of the finger of +Providence was distinctly visible. To be sure it was a signal warning to +all men, as to the evils which might be expected to flow from any +sipping of the Circean cup which such creatures proffered to their lips. +But what fate could be too bad for the Siren herself? To think of the +audacity, the shameless effrontery of such an one in daring to spread +her lures, and wind her enchantments around such a man as the Marchese +di Castelmare. Of course he, poor man, could not but feel her death as a +terrible shock. What he had set his heart on had been violently and +awfully taken away from him. And how true it is that the blessed Saints +know what is most truly for our good! But what is all that to the +dreadful accusation hanging over the Marchese Ludovico? A Castelmare in +the prison of Ravenna under accusation of murder! And if it really were +the case, that the unfortunate young man, driven by the prospect of +being hurled down from his position and robbed of his inheritance, had +done this deed, how great, how terrible, must be the remorse of the +Marchese Lamberto! + +It was curiously characteristic of the moral nature and habits of +thought of the people, that the Marchese Ludovico, even on the +hypothesis that he had committed the murder, was very leniently judged +for his share in the tragedy. + +The men were more inclined to bear hard on the Marchese Lamberto. An old +fool! at his time of life, to offer marriage to such a woman as La +Bianca. To disgrace his name; to cover himself with ridicule; and above +all, and worst of all, to behave with such infamous injustice to his +nephew. Nevertheless the tragedy was so shocking and so complete, that +even those who were disposed to condemn his conduct the most severely, +could not but feel compassion for so crushing a weight of misfortune. + +As the opinion, however, began to gain ground in the city, that the +Marchesino Ludovico had, after all, not been the author of the murder; +that the first impression, however clearly the circumstances seemed, at +the first blush of the thing, to point to it, was a mistaken one; and +that the far more probable opinion was that the Venetian girl, Paolina +Foscarelli, was the murderess, and jealousy the incentive to her crime, +the compassion for the Marchese Lamberto became proportionably less. The +feeling was rather, that as far as he was concerned he had got nothing +worse than what he richly deserved. And who should say that all was not +upon the whole for the best as it had pleased heaven to cause it to fall +out? The Marchese Lamberto was saved, despite his own folly, from a +disgraceful and degrading marriage; and Ludovico was saved from the ruin +which threatened him. + +Nor, muttered the more cynical, was that all the good that was involved +in what, at first sight, seemed so great a misfortune. Ludovico, too, +was prevented from doing a foolish thing. It was a very different matter +in his case from that of his uncle: he would be doing no wrong to any +heir; and he was at that time of life when men do fall in love, and are +excusable if they are led by it into doing foolish things; not to +mention that, after all, the marriage he had proposed to make was a very +different one from such a monstrous alliance as the Marchese Lamberto +had meditated. + +But still was it not a great blessing that the Marchesino should be +prevented from throwing himself away in that manner? The first match in +Ravenna to be carried off by an obscure and plebeian Venetian artist. +Truly it was all for the best as it was. + +In their different degree these two stranger women were both noxious, +dangerous, and had done more mischief in Ravenna than the lives of +either of them were worth. And if Providence had in its wisdom decreed +that they should mutually counteract and abolish each other--why it +would behove them to see in it a signal instance of the overruling +wisdom of Heaven. + +In the meantime, however, while every imaginable variety and +modification of the above ideas and opinions were forming the staple of +every conversation in every street, house, cafe, and piazza of Ravenna, +the two men, whose conduct was thus canvassed, were assuredly suffering +no light measure of retribution for aught that they had done amiss. + +To Ludovico the tidings which reached him of the favourable turn matters +were taking as to the probability of his having himself to answer for +the murder of the singer, were neutralized in any effect they might +otherwise have had of bringing him happiness, by the fact that he was +exculpated only in exact proportion to the increasing probability that +Paolina might be held guilty of the crime. + +If, in truth, he carried in his own bosom the consciousness of his own +guilt, it may easily be imagined how horrible to him would appear the +prospect of escaping from the consequences of it by such means. And if +that were, indeed, the dreadful truth, the repeated declarations which +he had made to Signor Fortini to the effect that, rather than see +Paolina condemned as guilty, he would confess himself to be the +murderer, would in no wise appear as mere ebullitions of his +determination to save at all price the girl he loved. + +But, during those days Ludovico suffered, he either bore his sufferings +with much more of manly self-command than did his uncle, or else his +agony was (as Signor Fortini, who saw them both, could testify) much +less severe than that which seemed to be slowly dragging down the +Marchese Lamberto to the grave. + +The lawyer had told Ludovico that he was then going to his uncle; and, +in fact, he did so. But the old man dreaded doing so more than he could +have himself believed that he could have feared any similar duty. + +In truth, the condition of the Marchese Lamberto was pitiable. + +He would see no one, save Fortini; but he was most anxious for his +visits--very naturally anxious to hear from day to day, and almost from +hour to hour, how matters were going--whether any new circumstances had +been discovered; what change there was in the probabilities as to the +final judgment respecting the crime; and there was a restless +feverishness in his anxiety, a shattered condition of the nervous system +that made the lawyer seriously fear that the Marchese's reason would +sink under the strain. + +He had again and again urged him to allow a medical man to see him; and +had once mentioned the Marchese's old friend Professor Tomosarchi. But +the irritated violence with which the suffering man had rejected the +proposal, had been such as to lead the lawyer to think that he should be +doing more harm than good by reiterating it. + +It was not surprising, indeed, that the Marchese should be utterly +beaten down and vanquished by the misfortunes that had fallen upon him; +they attacked him from such various and opposite sides. His love for +Bianca--or, let me say (in order to satisfy readers who are wont to +weigh the real meaning of words as well as those who are in the habit of +taking them unexamined at their current value), his longing to possess +her--was genuine and intense. The step he had determined to take gives +the measure of his eagerness in the pursuit of her--of his conviction +that he could not live without her; and the object of this great, this +intense, this all-mastering passion had been snatched away from him; the +unappeasable agony of such a bereavement can, perhaps, only be +adequately measured by those who have felt it. + +Then all the evils which, despite his shrinking from them, he had faced +for the sake of gratifying this imperious passion, had fallen upon him +as fatally of though the price of his facing them had been paid to him. +All the loss of credit, of respect, of social station, which he had +found it so dreadful to contemplate, had been incurred--and for nothing. +How long and terrible had been the struggle, which of those two +incompatible objects of his intense desire--Bianca, or the social +position he held in the eyes of his fellow-citizens--he should sacrifice +to the other; it had seemed to him so impossible to give up either that +the necessity of choosing between them had almost unhinged his reason. +And now he was doomed to forego them both. + +Then, again, Ludovico, and the dreadful position in which he stood! and, +if he were condemned, on whose head would fall the blame of the disgrace +which would thus overwhelm the family name? If his nephew were held to +be guilty of this crime, would not all the odium of having driven him to +it fall on him? + +Truly there was wherewithal to bow down a stronger heart and head than +those of the Marchese Lamberto. + +According to Fortini's view of the matter, the tidings which he had to +bring the Marchese that morning ought to have gone far to tranquillize +and comfort him. Let it be shown that the heir to the Castelmare name +and honours had not committed a terrible crime, and was not in danger of +being convicted of it, and, in his opinion, all the worst of the evils +which had fallen on the Marchese were at an end. That was the only +really irreparable mischief; the city would have its laugh at the +Marchese for his sensibility to the charms of such a charmer as the +singer. But even that would be quenched by the startling change of the +comedy into a tragedy. The Marchese had shown that he was no wiser than +many another man; and it would be but a nine days' wonder; and as to the +mere loss of the woman who had done all the mischief, the lawyer had no +patience with the mention of it as a loss at all. + +Pshaw! The one really important matter was to clear the heir of the +house of all complicity in the crime of murder; and yet the lawyer had a +strong feeling, from what he had already seen of the Marchese, that the +good news of which he was the bearer in that respect would not give the +Marchese all the comfort that it ought to give him. + +And the result of the visit to the Palazzo Castelmare, which he paid +immediately after leaving the Marchesino Ludovico in his prison, +perfectly responded to his anticipations in this respect. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"Miserrimus" + + +He found the Marchese in a state which really seemed to threaten his +life or his reason. It would scarcely be correct to say of him that he +was depressed, for that phrase is hardly consistent with the feverish +condition of excitement in which he was. There was evidence enough in +his appearance of the presence of deep-seated and torturing misery, +especially devastating in the case of men of his race, constituted as +they are with nervous systems of great delicacy, and unendowed with that +robustness of fibre which enables the more strongly-fashioned scions of +the northern peoples to stand up against misfortune, and present a bold +front to adversity. + +There is no connection in the minds of this race between the repression +and control of emotion and their ideal of virile dignity. Reticence is +impossible to them. The Italian man, it is true, has been often +described as eminently reticent; and the northern popular conception +represents him as apt to seek the attainment of his object by the +concealment of it. Nor is that representation an erroneous one. But the +two statements are in no wise inconsistent. The Italian man is by +nature, habit, and training an adept at concealing his thoughts; he +rarely or never seeks to conceal his emotions. + +Whether there were thoughts in the Marchese's mind, which he had no wish +or intention to disclose to his visitor, might be a matter of +speculation to the latter. But he certainly made no attempt to hide the +misery which was consuming him. The outward appearance of the man was +eloquent enough of the disorder within. He had always been wont to be +especially neat and precise in his dress; clean shaven, and with that +look of bright freshness on his clear-complexioned and well-rounded +cheeks, which is specially suggestive of health, happiness, and +well-to-do prosperity. Now his cheeks were hollow and yellow, and grisly +stubble of uncared-for beard, covered his deeply-lined jaws. He was +dressed, if dressed it could be called, in a large loose chamber +wrapper, the open neck of which, and of the shirt beneath it, allowed +the visitor's eye to mark that the emaciation which a few days of misery +and anxiety had availed to cause, was not confined to his face only. + +But yet more remarkable was the terrible state of nervous restlessness +from which he was evidently suffering. He was unable to remain quiet in +his easy chair even while his visitor remained with him. He would every +now and then rise from it without reason, and pace the room for two or +three turns with the uneasy objectless manner of a wild animal confined +to a cage. Again and again he would go to the window, and gaze from it, +as though looking for some expected thing or person. He spoke and +behaved as if he had been most anxious for the coming of the lawyer, and +yet, now he was there, he seemed scarcely able to command his attention +sufficiently to take interest in the tidings Signor Fortini brought him. + +"Thank God, Signor Marchese, the news I bring is good. Thank God, I am +able to express to you my conscientious opinion that the Marchese +Ludovico had no more to do with the murder of this unfortunate woman +than I had. And such is now the general opinion throughout the city." + +"Is there anything new? Has any--any--discovery been made?" said the +Marchese, and his teeth chattered in his head as he spoke. + +"Nothing that I can quite call a discovery," returned the lawyer; "but +small circumstances in such a case as this, when carefully put together, +form a clue, which rarely fails, when one has enough of them, to lead up +to the desired truth." + +"Ah!--small circumstances, as you say--yes--but circumstances--eh?--do +they not often--must we not be very careful--eh?" and the Marchese shook +as he spoke, till the lawyer really began to think that he must be +labouring under an attack of the same illness that had seized on father +Fabiano. + +"Fortunately, Signor Marchese, the circumstances all point, in the +present instance, in the direction we would wish. That is," added the +lawyer, hastily, "God forbid that I should wish such a crime to be +brought home to any human being, but in the interests of truth and +justice; and of course our first object is that the Marchese Ludovico +should be cleared." + +"Of course, of course. Why naturally, you know--But--in what +direction--eh?--do the suspicions--that is, the opinions--you, yourself, +Signor Giovacchino--who do you think now could have done the deed?" said +the Marchese, finishing his sentence with an apparent effort. + +"My notion is," said the lawyer, speaking strongly and distinctly, "that +the murder was committed by the Venetian girl, Paolina Foscarelli. You +are aware of the circumstances that first directed suspicion towards +her. Alone they are very strong; but some other little matters have come +out. She has now been examined several times; and the account she gives +of the hours that passed between the time she left the church of St. +Apollinare, and the time when she was first seen afterwards is a very +lame and unsatisfactory one. Then, my friend, Signor Logarini, of the +police, who has been most praiseworthily active in the matter, has +discovered that the old friar, who has the charge of the Basilica, and +who is a Venetian, was connected with the parents of this girl, which +renders it extremely probable that he may wish to screen her; and that +fact, taken in conjunction with the very strong reasons we have to think +that the friar has some knowledge of the deed, and his very manifest +reluctance to tell what he knows, seems to point in the same direction." + +"The friar at St. Apollinare," said the Marchese, with blue trembling +lips, as he looked keenly into the lawyer's face; "why it is impossible +that he could know anything about it. The friar--" + +"Impossible? why impossible, Signor Marchese? We know that he was in the +Pineta much about the time the deed must have been done." + +The Marchese threw himself back in his deep easy chair, and covered his +face with his hand. The lawyer paused, and shook his head as he looked +at him. + +"The friar in the Pineta!" he exclaimed, getting up from his chair after +a minute or two, and taking a few disorderly steps across the room. + +"You see; Signor Giovacchino," he continued, returning to his seat, "I +have been so shaken by all the misery I have gone through, and all the +sleepless nights I have passed, that--that--that I am hardly in a fit +state to appreciate the value of the--the facts you lay before me. I +have been trying to think--I am afraid--very much afraid for my own part +that no weight is to be attributed to any testimony which may be got +from the friar of St. Apollinare." + +"Why so, Signor Marchese?" asked the lawyer, shortly. + +"I know the old man very well. I have often talked with him. He is not +in his right mind: certainly not in such a state of mind as would +justify the magistrates in paying any attention to his statements," said +the Marchese, in a more decided manner than he had before spoken. + +"I spoke with the old man at some length the other day, and I cannot say +that that was my impression at all. In my opinion he was quite enough in +his senses to know how to withhold the information which, I suspect, he +could give us if he would. May I ask, Signor Marchese, how long it is +since you have spoken with him?" + +"Oh! a long time. How could I speak to him, you know. I do not suppose +he often comes into the city. And it is ever so long--a year or +more--since I was out at St. Apollinare; as far as I can remember," said +the Marchese, with a rapid sidelong glance at the lawyer; "but I am +convinced the old man is not in his right mind," he added, not without +some vehemence; "and it is dangerous to put any faith, or to build at +all upon anything that such a person may say. Why, he is always seeing +visions; and what is such an one's account worth of anything he may +fancy himself to have seen." + +"Well, Signor Marchese, the tribunal will form its own opinion upon that +point. For my own part, I cannot help feeling glad of any scrap of +evidence which tends to corroborate the opinion that the Marchese +Ludovico has been erroneously and precipitately accused." + +"Of course, Signor Giovacchino, of course. A chi lo dite! And I am truly +obliged to you for coming to me with the news you have given me. But you +can understand, perhaps--in part, Signor Giovacchino, in part--not +altogether--what I have gone through in these days. My mind has been +shaken--sadly shaken, amico mio. I shall never recover it--never," said +the Marchese, letting his head fall on his bosom. + +"Nay, Signor Marchese. I would fain hope it is not so bad as all that. +Let this business of the trial be over, and the Marchese Ludovico, as I +doubt not, entirely cleared and absolved, and all will yet go well. The +rest is matter of sorrow which time may be trusted to heal." + +"The trial! Ay, the trial. When--eh?--when is it likely to come off, +Signor Giovacchino. Yes, as you say, it would be a good thing if that +were over," said the Marchese, with a manner that indicated a high state +of nervous irritability. + +"It won't be long; there is little or no hope of any further light being +thrown on the matter; some day next week, I should say; I don't think +they will be longer than that; and the sooner the better--only, that I +am afraid you may find the ordeal a disagreeable one." + +"Who? I? Why should I--? That is, of course, on Ludovico's account--" + +"Excuse me, Signor Marchese; but you must feel, surely, that it will be +absolutely necessary for you to be present in court." + +"I? I be present? Why, don't you see that I am unable to leave my +chamber--shall probably never leave it again; how can I be present in +court? It is out of the question." + +"Your lordship will pardon me, Signor Marchese, if I point out to you +that it is quite indispensable that you should appear in court on the +occasion of the trial," returned the lawyer, firmly. "Your own excellent +judgment, and sense of what is fitting and due to your own position, +will, I am sure, put this matter in an unmistakeable light before you. +Think a little what the inferences, the remarks, the suggestions would +be to which your absence on such an occasion would give rise; not to +mention that it can hardly be doubted that the tribunal will think it +necessary to examine your lordship respecting certain points--" + +"Me? What can I tell? What can it be necessary to examine me for? I know +absolutely nothing; it is impossible that I should know anything of the +matter; besides, I am too ill to leave my chamber." + +"Of course, if Tomosarchi were, after visiting you by direction of the +tribunal, to certify that you were not in a fit state--" + +"I won't see Tomosarchi; no testimony can be needed to the fact that I +am in no condition to leave the house; I tell you, Signor Fortini, I +will not see him; I cannot see anybody." + +"I fear, Signor Marchese, that it would be impossible in any other way +to avoid complying with the request of the tribunal for your presence. +Besides that, it would be far better, in every point of view, that you +should show yourself in the court. The fact of your absence on such an +occasion could not but be unpleasantly remarked on," urged the lawyer. + +"Why? What can I be wanted for? What can I tell them? It is very evident +that I am, and must needs be, utterly ignorant of the whole matter," +returned the Marchese. + +"There are various points on which the magistrates will, doubtless, wish +for the information which your lordship can give them, although you may +have no means of throwing any light on the main facts of the +assassination. They will wish, for instance, to ask respecting the +circumstances of the Marchese Ludovico's expedition to the Pineta. The +police, you must remember, Signor Marchese, are already aware that you +were cognizant of the Marchese Ludovico's intention of taking La Lalli +to the Pineta. That has been ascertained from the admission of the Conte +Leandro--" + +"A thousand curses on the Conte Leandro," exclaimed the Marchese. + +"His figure in the matter is a deplorable one, truly; but you can +understand, Signor Marchese, that the court will desire to ask some +questions of you on this head--nothing that you can have any difficulty +in answering or any objection to answer; but I am sure you will see, on +consideration, that it would have a very bad effect for your lordship to +show the least desire to avoid being present." + +"It will be most distasteful to me--very painful, indeed--I don't think +it ought to be required of me under all the circumstances," pleaded the +unhappy man. + +"Unpleasant it will be, doubtless; the whole affair has not been a +pleasant one for anybody concerned in it, Signor Marchese--for any one +in Ravenna, I may say. But you may depend upon it that it will be the +wish of the court and of everybody present to make it as little painful +to you as possible. And it is my very serious and very urgent advice to +you to make the necessary exertion, and not to express to any one either +the intention or the wish to absent yourself." + +And then the lawyer took his leave--not surprised that the Marchese, +broken down and in the state in which he saw him, should feel it very +disagreeable to face his fellow citizens on the occasion of the trial; +but, perhaps, having some other thoughts in his mind besides those he +expressed as to the ill effect likely to be produced by any refusal of +the Marchese to make his appearance in the court. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Trial + + +The police authorities were longer in preparing their case than Signor +Fortini had anticipated they would be; but at length it was known +throughout the city that the day for the trial had been fixed. It was to +take place on a Monday morning towards the latter part of Lent. + +It had been rumoured in the city that the delay had been occasioned by +hopes which the authorities had conceived that the female prisoner would +be induced to make confession of the crime. The imprisonment and the +repeated interrogatories she had undergone had produced a great effect +upon her. She had become downcast to a very much greater degree than she +had been in the days immediately following her arrest. She was very +silent, refraining even from the earnest and frequent protestations of +her innocence, which, during the early days of her imprisonment, she had +seized every opportunity of making. She passed many hours apparently +plunged in deep introspective thought; she wept much, and passed much of +her time in prayer. + +And the judgment of the experienced people about her led them to +interpret these manifestations as signs of an approaching confession. +When at length the day for the trial was fixed, it was reported that +Paolina Foscarelli had confessed. But the criminal authorities keep the +secrets of their prison house in such matters; and nothing certain was +known upon the subject. + +The very general impression, however, throughout the city was that, +whether she confessed or not, she was the real criminal, and that such +would be declared by the tribunal to be the case. And such a solution of +the mystery was readily accepted by the Ravenna world as the most +satisfactory that under the unhappy circumstances could be arrived at. + +The disgrace that rested on the city in consequence of the perpetration +of so foul a crime, and on such a victim, had been felt throughout the +city to a degree, that can be duly appreciated only by those, who are +acquainted with the strength and the exclusiveness of Italian municipal +patriotism. And it was a matter of general congratulation that the +perpetrator of it should turn out to be no Ravennata citizen, but an +unknown stranger from Venice. It would have been dreadful indeed if such +a deed should have been brought home to the door of a scion of the +oldest and most distinguished noble family in Ravenna. Of course +everybody had all along known, and had said from the beginning, that +whatever might turn out to be the truth, this at least was impossible +and altogether out of the question. + +To many minds the guilt of the Venetian girl seemed so clear that it +appeared altogether superfluous to spend time and trouble in bringing +her to confess it. Her hatred of the victim she had confessed; and the +confession of it was in evidence. The motive for that hatred was +perfectly well known and understood. It was a motive that many a time +ere now had led to similar deeds. She was close at hand when the crime +must have been committed. She could give no satisfactory account of her +reasons for going thither, or of the occupation of her time during the +hours, which must have comprised the moment of the assassination. And +the manner of the murder rendered it infinitely probable that it must +have been the deed of a female. What more could be wanted? It was rarely +that a murder had ever been brought home to the murderer by +circumstantial evidence of a more conclusive and irresistible character. + +Signor Fortini was among those who thought and reasoned thus. But in the +several interviews which he had had with the Marchese Ludovico, he had +not judged it judicious to enlarge to him on this part of the subject. +While assuring him that he might make himself perfectly easy, and that +his innocence in the matter would beyond all doubt be fully recognised, +he had preferred to lead him to imagine that the result of the trial +would be altogether negative; that it would be found that no case that +would warrant a conviction should be made out against any party. + +Signor Logarini had meanwhile made one or two more excursions to the +Basilica of St. Apollinare. But he had gained nothing by his pains. The +padre Fabiano was on each occasion found in bed, no whit better to all +appearance than he had been on that day when the police Commissary and +Signor Fortini visited him together. Nor had Signor Logarini's +persevering cross-examinations availed to obtain anything more from the +aged friar than repetitions of his first statements. Nevertheless the +Commissary was confirmed more than ever in his opinion that the friar +knew something; if he could only be made to speak. Still it had been +determined not to attempt to bring the old man by force before the +tribunal. There was every reason to think that nothing would be obtained +from him in addition to what he had already said. In all probability he +was really ill, more or less, as Signor Logarini said, and living under +the government of the Holy Father, it was necessary to treat +ecclesiastical personages with a greater degree of consideration than +might have been accorded to such under similar circumstances on the +other side of the frontier between the territory of the church and +Austria. + +Despite the friar's illness, however, Fra Simone, the lay-brother, had +once or twice been observed lately in Ravenna. He was seen sauntering +through the streets with his long linen wallet over his shoulder, +stopping at a corner for a little gossip here, and receiving a +contribution to the store in his bag from some friar-loving devout old +woman there. There was nothing remarkable in such a sight in the streets +of Ravenna in any way. Only Fra Simone was very rarely seen there. And +when Signor Pietro Logarini, without whose knowledge scarcely a cat +stirred abroad in Ravenna, was told of the circumstance, he said to +himself that the Padre Fabiano was interested in knowing what people +said and thought of the coming trial. + +Signor Fortini had in the meantime, not without infinite difficulty +succeeded in persuading the Marchese that he must bring himself to +submit to the ordeal of being present in the court on the occasion of +the trial. The Marchese's extreme dislike to appearing thus publicly had +been in no degree overcome or diminished. And it was only the lawyer's +positive and repeated declaration, that he would assuredly be sent for, +if he did not spontaneously present himself, that had availed to induce +him to say at length that he would go. Every possible attention, the +lawyer had assured him, would be paid to him, and everything done to +make his attendance as little disagreeable to him as possible. Of +course, as Fortini urged, it was well known, through the city how +dreadfully he must have been affected by the sad circumstances that had +happened--people would be prepared to see him looking ill and changed. +Curious? Yes, of course people were curious--it was impossible to +prevent them from being so; but he, Fortini, would take care that their +curiosity should not be manifested in any way that could be offensive to +the Marchese. + +Thus, an unwilling consent to attend the sitting of the court on the +morning of the trial had been forced from the unhappy Marchese,--from +him who, so few weeks ago before the fatal coming of the fascinating +singer to Ravenna, had been the happiest, the most prosperous, and the +most secure of men; and it had been arranged that Signor Fortini should, +on that morning; call for him at the Palazzo and accompany him to the +tribunal. + +When the morning came it seemed to Signor Fortini as if he should have +to do all his work over again. He found the Marchese up and dressed. He +had not shaved himself, however,--declaring, with abundant appearance of +truth, that, in the state he then was, it was utterly beyond his power +to do so, and he absolutely refused to allow it to be done for him; and +the effect of the stubbly grisled beard of a week's growth or so on the +hollow lantern jaws, which all the city had been accustomed to see clean +shaved, and plump, and florid with health,--was such as to render him +barely recognizable as the same man by the eyes that had known him all +his life. It seemed, too, to the lawyer that the shocking change which +had taken place in him was even more painfully marked by his attempt to +dress himself in his usual manner than it had been in his chamber +wrapper. His clothes, which were wont to fit so well, and set off to +advantage his well-made and stalwart figure, hung about him in bags and +pantaloon-like folds, a world too wide for his shrunken form. + +On the first entrance of the lawyer he protested that the effort was +altogether beyond his strength,--that it was impossible for him to go +through the ordeal. Did they want him to die before their eyes on the +benches of the court? + +A renewed suggestion by Fortini to the effect that the only means by +which the necessity could be avoided would be by a certificate from the +medical authority trusted in such matters by the court--his own old +friend the Professor Tomosarchi, produced only a reiterated and violent +declaration that he would not receive any visit from the Professor. + +Eventually, the strong representations made by the lawyer of the much +greater unpleasantness, and the very much to be deprecated effect, of +entering the court as an unwilling witness in forced obedience to a +mandate from the tribunal, decided the wretched Marchese to allow +himself to be led down to the carriage. + +Even as he came, bent and shaking, down the great staircase of the +Palazzo leaning on Fortini's arm, and had to pass, in crossing the hall +to the carriage, all the servants of his household, most of whom had not +seen him since the evening of the last day of Carnival, and who were +urged by curiosity to take this opportunity of looking at their +terribly-changed master, it seemed to him that his martyrdom had +commenced. + +He passed through the streets of the city with the blinds of the +carriage drawn down, and with his eyes closed as he lay thrown back into +the corner of it: but, as he felt it draw up at the entrance to the +"prefettura," he suddenly grasped the lawyer's hand, and Fortini felt, +with a shudder, that his hand was as cold as that of a corpse. He was +altogether in such a state that Signor Fortini began to fear that there +really would be some catastrophe in the court before the business of the +day could be concluded. + +With the aid of a servant on one side and of the lawyer on the other, +however, he was got out of the carriage, and, almost supporting him, the +lawyer, who had made all his arrangements previously, led him into the +building by a private door and to the chamber in which the tribunal was +sitting by a private passage used only by the magistrates, and opening +into the court in the immediate vicinity of the seats occupied by them, +by the side of which a chair had been assigned to the Marchese. + +Nor had Signor Fortini's cares and preparations ended there. He had +spoken with each one of the magistrates who were to try the case, in no +wise telling them of the Marchese's unwillingness to appear, but +representing the terrible state of mental and bodily prostration to +which the dreadful nature of the late events had very naturally reduced +him, and which would have rendered it utterly impossible for him to +appear in court, but for his indomitable will, and the high sense of +duty, which had led him to think it, under the circumstances his duty to +do so. + +To no soul had he whispered a word of the Marchese's very marked +reluctance to attend at the trial, save to his old and intimate friend +of many years standing, the Professor Tomosarchi, whom he had thought it +advisable to consult as to the desirability of his seeing the Marchese +before he was called on to make the effort. To his surprise he had found +Tomosarchi almost as unwilling to see the Marchese, as the Marchese had +been to see him. He did not say at once, as the latter had done, that he +would not see him, But while admitting the strong desirability that the +Marchese should be present at the trial, he yet manifested a strong +reluctance, which the lawyer could not understand, to taking any share +in the task of persuading and preparing him to do so. + +The magistrates, who were all of them old friends of Signor Fortini, and +to each of whom he had spoken, separately on the subject, had seemed to +find no difficulty in understanding, that it was very natural under all +the circumstances, that the Marchese should have been terribly affected, +both in body and mind, by the late events. It had been suggested to them +by the lawyer, that it would be well to avoid, as far as possible, +anything that should make it necessary for the Marchese to speak at all, +even in saluting him on his entrance. When therefore, just after the +court had assembled, the Marchese, trembling and shivering in every +limb, was led in by the little door that opened close behind the seat he +was to occupy, the magistrates contented themselves with rising and +bowing to him in silence. The court, as might have been expected, was +very full; and it was impossible to prevent a very marked and audible +manifestation of the shock produced upon the spectators by the changed +appearance of one so well known to them from running through the crowd. + +Even in the territories of the Pope, a criminal court is in these days +an open and public one. There is no jury, and the criminal, or suspected +person, may be subjected to any amount of examination on oath. But, in +other respects, the method of procedure is not very dissimilar from our +own. The prosecution is conducted by an officer analogous to our +attorney-general, or by his substitute; and is defended by any advocate +of the court whom he may employ for the purpose. The appreciation of the +credibility of testimony, the greater or lesser value of circumstantial +evidence, the application and interpretation of the law, and the award +of sentence, remain with the judges, subject to appeal to a higher +court. Moreover, in the present case, the inquiry assumed more of the +form of a general attempt to ascertain the solution of an unexplained +mystery, than would have been compatible with the forms of our criminal +courts, inasmuch as there were two prisoners to be tried for the crime, +whom no theory of the circumstances had suggested to be accomplices, and +the conviction of either of whom, according to the hypothesis which had +been started, involved the absolution of the other. + +The judicial oath is administered not as with us, but by requiring the +accused person, or the witness, to assert that he is speaking the truth, +while placing the extended hand on a carved representation of the +crucified Redeemer. And there can be no doubt that this ceremony has a +very strong effect on the imagination and nervous system among the +easily moved races of the south. Many a crime has been avowed, because +the paralyzed lips of the criminal were absolutely incapable of +pronouncing the lie he fully purposed to speak, while he thus openly +appealed to the material figure which had the power of enabling the +sluggish southern imagination to realize the presence of the Creator. + +There would be little interest in detailing at length the proceedings of +the trial; since nothing was elicited that would be in any way new to +the reader, or that was calculated to throw any fresh light on the +circumstances to be inquired into, until the business in hand was nearly +concluded. + +Every tenderness had been shown to the misfortunes and to the terrible +state of suffering of the Marchese. A full statement of his own conduct +at the ball, and on the following morning, had been extracted, with very +little indulgence in the process, from the Conte Leandro, from whose +white and pasty face the perspiration had rained beyond the power of any +handkerchief to control it, while he described himself as an +eavesdropper, an informer, and a spy. And all that had been required +from the Marchese Lamberto was the admission that the Conte Leandro's +statements, as far as regarded what had taken place at the ball, were +correct. + +But the fact was that the case was well-nigh prejudged before the +professed trial began. All Ravenna, including the police authorities, +who had investigated the matter, and the judges who came into court well +instructed in all that had been done, and all that could be known upon +the subject, had made up their minds that the stranger girl was and must +have been the criminal. It was infinitely more agreeable to everybody +concerned to suppose that such should be the case rather than that such +a damning blot should fall on the noblest house in the city, and that in +the person of one of the most popular men in it; and, at the same time, +it must be owned that the case was so strong against Paolina that a +prejudice against her could hardly be called a corrupt one. + +Her own conduct during the trial had tended yet farther to impress the +minds of all present against her. Not that there was anything in her +appearance and manner that was otherwise than calculated to conciliate +pity and favourable opinion. Her entrance into the court had excited the +greatest interest. She had on a black silk dress made in the simplest +and plainest possible fashion; and the colour of it, where the neckband +encircled her slender throat, made an absolutely startling contrast with +the utterly colourless whiteness of her skin. Her manner was very +subdued, very quiet; nor did she exhibit any signs of fear; or much of +emotion, save to those who were near enough to her to perceive a quiet, +silent, and undemonstrative tear steal occasionally down her dead-white +cheek. + +But when examined as to her disposal of herself after leaving the church +of Apollinare--as to her motives for changing her purpose, if it were +true, as she stated, that she did change her purpose of entering the +Pineta--she became embarrassed and failed to give any satisfactory +reply. + +Ludovico had, at an early stage of the proceedings, been removed from +the court, after having been in vain again and again requested by the +judges to abstain from interfering with the progress of the case against +Paolina. + +At last, when almost everybody in the court had made up their minds that +there could, in truth, be no doubt that the young Venetian, goaded to +frenzy by her jealousy, had been the author of the murder, and quite +everybody was convinced that such would be the decision of the judges, +the latter were on the point of retiring from the court to confer, and +consider their sentence, more as a matter of form, probably, than +anything else, when an incident occurred that made a change in the +aspect of matters. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Friar's Testimony + + +In a criminal trial in the states of His Holiness the Pope, there is +none of that absolute and inflexible adherence to certain rigid forms +and rules which gives to many of the proceedings of our courts that +character of an inevitable destiny-like march which is so dramatic in +its operations--that sense of the presence there of a power greater than +that of the greatest of the men concerned in the administration of it, +which constitutes on large element in an Englishman's respect for the +law. At times this automatic power, which has been thus created +Faust-like, by reason of the impossibility of pre-adapting its mechanism +to the exigences of every case, works to unforseen and undesired +ends--sometimes even to absurd ones. And, with thinkers of a certain +phase of modern thought, it has been a favourite taunt against the +average British mind, that it rather delights in the contemplation of +such abnormal workings of the great automatic law in which it has +created. Some manifest mistake or error has occurred. The man supposed +to be murdered walks into court; but it is a minute too late; the +verdict has been given--the sentence pronounced. All the court judges, +witnesses, counsel--look at each other in dismay; the great law +automaton cannot be made to swerve in its path by any power there. And +the average Englishman likes the contemplation of such a case, it is +sneered; and the sneer may be joined in by those who, under other +systems, have the immediate power of setting any such mistakes right by +a word. But the sneer, let the Englishman be assured, would by no means +be joined in by the population, who are subject to the action of courts +and judges thus able by superior word to direct the course of justice. + +The new incident which suddenly arose to change all the aspects of the +trial and its results would, as far as the analogy of the Roman mode of +proceeding and our own holds good, have been too late in one of our +courts to produce the results which it did produce. The judges were on +the point of retiring to consider their decision and sentence when they +were met at the little private door, by which they were about to leave +the court, by one of the ushers. And the consequence of the few words he +spoke to them was that they gave an order--turned back, and resumed +their places. + +It might well have been that the new incident might have been prevented +from bringing about the result it was calculated to bring about in the +Ravenna Court; but the miscarriage would have been caused in an +altogether different way from that which has been spoken as sometimes +characterising our own courts. + +It was very clear to everybody present that the judges would pronounce +Paolina to be guilty of the crime they were investigating; and to +everybody present, with one or two exceptions, this was a very agreeable +and satisfactory winding-up of the unhappy affair. Ravenna would be able +to wash her hands of the matter. It was wholly, both in conception and +execution, the work of a stranger. Since so great a misfortune had +happened, it could not be more satisfactorily accounted for. + +It is probable enough, therefore, that any Tom, Jack, or Harry, who, at +that conjuncture, had presented himself at the prefettura for the avowed +purpose of bringing a new light to the solution of the mystery which had +been already so satisfactorily solved, might have experienced +considerable difficulty in obtaining for himself any access to, or +hearing from, the judges. + +But the person who had now thus presented himself at the prefettura of +Ravenna belonged to a body, the very lowest and poorest members of +which, in that country, can always find, somehow or other, some means of +compassing almost any object which is not disapproved by some superior +member of their own corporation. The new-comer was a friar--old Father +Fabiano, the priest of St. Apollinare, as the reader may have +conjectured. + +The police agents had been anxious to produce him there, as the reader +knows, and he had baffled their wishes. Now the result which it had been +desired that he should contribute to had been brought about, or as good +as brought about, without him. What did he want there now? + +There was an old usher about the court, however, whose advancing years +were beginning to make him disagreeably conscious that the time was at +hand when a sentence to a long term of purgatory--to say nothing of any +severer doom--might make it exceedingly desirable to him to stand well +with all those who are understood to have influence with the government +in the world beyond the grave; and,--if there had been no such person, +the friar would have known somebody--some old or young woman, +probably--or he would have known some other friar who knew some such, +who would have been able to influence some brother, lover, or husband, +in the way he wished. As it was, Father Fabiano had no difficulty at all +in conveying the message he wished to communicate to the judges. + +They turned back to their places in the court, to the surprise and +sudden awakening of new interest in the audience, and ordered that the +new witness who had presented himself should be admitted and heard. + +And Father Fabiano, bowed with age, and his hoary head bent down on his +breast, but neither shivering nor shaking, advanced to the +witness-table. The crucifix was lying on it, and the friar, with the +manner of a man recognizing in a new employment tools which he is well +used to, at once stretched out his emaciated and claw-like hand, and +made oath that he was about to speak the truth. + +The Procuratore of the court then began to examine the old man with +reference to his knowledge of the circumstances connected with the visit +of Paolina Foscarelli to the church of St. Apollinare, and her disposal +of herself after leaving it; but the friar replied that it would be +uselessly occupying the time of the court to enter into any such +particulars, inasmuch as he had come thither to prove that Paolina had +nothing whatever to do with the crime. + +"But," remarked the Procuratore, "if it is in your power to do that, why +did you not give the necessary information to the Commissary of Police +when you were, on several occasions, examined at St. Apollinare?" + +"Signori miei," said the old man, addressing himself to the court in +general, "it is no affair of mine to meddle with the administration of +human justice. No words that I could say could undo the deed, or bring +the murdered woman back to life. Evil enough had been done. Why should I +cause further trouble, and sorrow, and shame, to others? It was more +fitting to one of my order to leave retribution in the hands of Him who +can best award it, and whose mercy may touch the heart of the sinner +with repentance." + +"But if so, frate mio," rejoined the Procuratore, "what, pray, is the +motive that now brings you here?" + +"Surely, the determination that the innocent shall not suffer for the +guilty. It seemed to me that it would never be known, save to Him who +knows the secrets of all hearts, what hand had done that terrible deed; +but now I know that the fallibility of all human judgment has led questi +Signori to the conclusion that the girl Paolina is guilty, and her +condemnation would be a misfortune greater than the first--I knowing the +hand which did that deed." + +"Ha, you know the murderer; you suppose you know him? You come to offer +us your guess, your suggestion?" + +"I come, Signori miei, with pain and sorrow and great reluctance, to +save you from condemning an innocent person by naming him who is +guilty." + +A sort of buzz and almost shiver of interest, anxiety, and expectation +ran through the court, as the old friar spoke the above words in a +stronger voice than that in which he had yet spoken. + +"Friar," said the Procuratore solemnly and severely; "it is my duty, +before you speak, to warn you to take heed to what you say. You are +about, you say, to make an accusation the most tremendous that one man +can bring against another. Bethink you whether you are able to +substantiate what you are about to utter. Remember that, if you cannot +substantiate it, it would be an hundred-fold better that your suspicion +should remain unuttered." + +The Procuratore, as well as every one else in the court, had little or +no doubt that the friar was about to accuse the Marchese Ludovico as the +perpetrator of the murder. And some, among whom were Signor Fortini, and +Signor Logarini the Commissary of Police, were persuaded that the old +man was going to trump up some story in the hope of saving his +countrywoman, Paolina. + +"Were it not for the necessity of protecting the innocent, Signori, God +knows how much I should prefer to carry my terrible secret with me to +the grave. Signori miei, these eyes SAW the deed done, that put the +sleeping woman to death. Only God and I, the lowest of his servants! God +and I saw the Marchese Lamberto di Castelmare do that deed!" + +A loud indignant murmur of incredulity was beginning to rise throughout +the crowded court, like the first getting up of a storm wind. + +But it was suddenly hushed, and turned into a spasm of horror and +intense shock, that made every man hold his breath, when the sound of a +sudden heavy fall was heard; and it was seen that the Marchese Lamberto +had fallen insensible to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Truth! + + +The Professor Tomosarchi was in the court, and had been, as it happened, +though unseen by the Marchese, fixing his eyes on him at the moment when +the catastrophe narrated in the last chapter occurred. Springing +forwards, therefore, the medical man was in a moment by the side of his +old friend. + +If, according to the strict letter of the requirements of their duty, +the magistrates or the police authorities present ought, under the +circumstances, to have prevented the free departure of the accused man +to his own home, it did not occur to any one to do so. Professor +Tomosarchi and Fortini between them, got him, still insensible, to his +carriage, and took him to his home. + +"Is it more than a mere fainting fit?" said the lawyer, as they both +were supporting the person of the insensible Marchese. "Could you not do +some thing to restore consciousness? Can that old friar have spoken the +truth?" + +"Apoplexy," said the Professor, with a serious and almost scared look +into the other's eyes. "Apoplexy, and no mistake about it. Don't you +hear the stertorous breathing. No, nothing can be attempted till we get +him home. We shall be at the palazzo in a minute. We shall see; but I +doubt--I doubt!" + +"You mean that his life is in danger?" asked the lawyer. + +"In danger! I have hardly any hope that he will ever return to +consciousness or speak another word again." + +"Good God! you don't mean that," cried the lawyer, much shocked. + +"Indeed I do; it is possible, but very improbable that he should rally +sufficiently to survive the attack," replied the Professor. + +"Perhaps," rejoined the lawyer, gravely and sadly after a few moments of +silence; "perhaps it would be best so. I fear me--I much fear me, that +this can hardly be looked on but as the confirmation of that old man's +declaration." + +The Professor looked hard into the lawyer's eyes, as he nodded his head, +without speaking, in grave assent. + +They arrived in another minute at the door of the Palazzo Castelmare. +The servants ran out, and they carried him up into the chamber where, +ever since that fatal Ash Wednesday morning, he had, as Fortini now well +understood, been suffering a long agony of remorse, apprehension, +despair, all the intensity of which it was difficult to appreciate. + +Life was not yet extinct when they laid him upon his bed; and the +Professor proceeded to do what the rules of his science prescribed in +the all but hopeless effort to combat the attack. But the miserable man +had suffered his last in this life, and every effort to bring him back +to further torture was unavailing. Within half-an-hour after he had been +brought back to his palace he breathed his last. + +"It is all over with him," said the Professor, looking up across the bed +to the lawyer standing on the other side of it; "there was no +possibility of prolonging his life--happily for him, and happily for +everybody connected with him, and for all of us. Who would have thought +a short month ago that such a life could have so ended?" + +"The 24th of March, Signor Professore, is the anniversary on which, more +fervently than on any other day of the year, I thank God for all his +mercies," said the lawyer, with grim solemnity. + +"I don't understand you, Signor Dottore; what has the 24th of March to +do with this?" said Tomosarchi, staring at him. + +"On the 24th of March, four-and-forty years ago, the Signora Fortini +departed this life, Signor Professore. But for that gracious disposition +of Providence, who knows that his lot, or worse, might not have been +mine? From Eve downwards, Signor Professore, from Eve downwards, it is +the same story--always the same story, in one shape or another--in one +shape or another." + +The Professor, who was the lawyer's junior by some thirty years, turned +away with a shrug of the shoulders, and stepped across the room to the +small escritoire near the window. There opening, without hesitation, and +with the manner of a man familiar with the place, a small concealed +drawer, he called the lawyer to him. + +"Just come here and look at the contents of this drawer, Signor Fortini. +There is a curious meaning in them." + +Fortini went across from the bed to the escritoire, and the Professor +took from the drawer and showed to him a small coloured drawing of a +human form, with just such a mark on it as had been visible on the spot +of the wound which had destroyed La Bianca's life. He showed him also, +in the same secret receptacle, a long very finely tempered needle, and a +small quantity of perfectly white wax. + +"Good God, Professor! Were you aware of the existence of these things +here?" cried the lawyer, aghast. + +"I knew that they were where I have now found them some four or five +months ago--towards the end of last year. You do not remember, probably, +some curious details of a crime that was perpetrated a year ago or more +in the island of Sardinia. I don't know that the details were published +save in the medical journals. You know how great an interest our +unfortunate friend used to take in all such matters. We talked over that +curious case. He doubted the possibility of causing death with so little +violence, and by means which should leave so little trace behind them. I +showed him how readily and easily it might be done. You may judge then, +Signore Dottore, of the misgivings that assailed me when I discovered +how that unhappy singer had been put to death. You will understand, too, +why he so absolutely refused to see me, and how little desirous I was to +see him." + +"But, Signor Professore--what should you have done if--?" + +"If that girl had been condemned. You may guess that my state of mind +has not been a pleasant one. I did not know what to do: I hoped that no +conviction would have been arrived at. Of course it would have been +impossible to keep silence while that poor girl suffered the penalty of +the crime I had such strong reason to think was the work of another. +Truly it is in all ways best as it is." + +"You are taking it for granted that the tribunal will give credit to the +friar's testimony; but that is not certain; nay, it is not certain--at +least, we do not yet know--we have only his assertion that he saw the +Marchese do the deed. With these evidences before us," continued the +lawyer, "we can hardly doubt that the fact was so. But stay--what is +this?--a letter addressed to me--'Al Chiarmo Signor Dottore Giovacchino +Fortini. To be opened only after my death, and in case my death shall +happen within one year from the present time!' Perhaps this may render +any further doubts as to the conduct we ought to pursue unnecessary. Let +us see." + +And Signor Fortini sat down to open and read the packet; while the +Professor returned to the bed on which the dead man was lying, and +occupied himself with paying the last duties to his friend's remains. + +The letter was a very long one, consisting of several sheets of +closely-written paper. It is unnecessary to add to these pages by giving +a transcript of it, because the facts which it detailed at length are +either such as the reader is already acquainted with or such as he can +readily imagine for himself. + +When the narrative reached the events which had occurred at the ball in +the early hours of the Ash Wednesday morning, after mentioning the +circumstance of the information which had been conveyed to the writer by +the Conte Leandro Lombardoni as to the projected expedition to the +Pineta, the Marchese went on to describe the state of mind in which he +had left the Circolo. He protested that, although every smallest detail +of what he did had remained stamped on his memory with a vivid clearness +that would never more be obliterated, it would be unjust to judge his +conduct as that of a man in the possession of his senses. He was, he +said, mad--MAD!--and carried away by a hurricane of passions altogether +beyond his power to control. He had not formed any distinct intention of +following his nephew and La Bianca to the Pineta till he reached his own +house. He had happened to approach the Palazzo from the back, through +the stable-yard; and had there found old Niccolo, the groom, up. Then +the idea of waylaying the pair in the forest had occurred to him. He had +ordered a horse to be saddled; and had told the groom to let no one know +that he had left the palace. He then went up to his room, dismissed his +valet, and locked the door, as the servant had related to Signor +Fortini. Then descending to the stables, by one of those private doors +and stairs so frequently to be found in old Italian palaces, and +generally contrived to communicate with the principal sleeping chamber +of the dwelling, he mounted his horse, and rode furiously to the Pineta, +quitting the city, not by the Porta Nueva, but by the next gate towards +the south. He must have reached the forest before Ludovico and Bianca +had left the city. He put his steaming horse into the abandoned hovel of +a watcher of the cattle on the marshes; and then skulked about the edge +of the wood in the vicinity of the road which enters it from the city. +All this time he had, as he again and again declared in the long and +repetitive document in the lawyer's hands, no formed intention of any +sort in his mind. All he knew was that he was mad, and suffering +torments worse than any imagination had ever depicted the tortures of +the damned; the pulses were beating, and the blood was rushing in his +ears and in his eyes, he wrote, in such sort that all sounds seem to him +one universal buzzing, and all objects vague and uncertain, and tinged +with the colour of blood. + +And, in this condition, he waited and waited till almost a wild hope +began to creep upon him that the Conte Leandro had lied to him. + +Suddenly he saw them coming towards the edge of the wood. + +With difficulty, he stood upright, resting the front of his shoulder and +his forehead against the trunk of a tree, from behind which he glared +out, while his eyes were blasted by what he saw. + +Judging more sanely than the poor Marchese was able to judge, and +putting together all the circumstances and conduct and declarations of +the other parties, we may probably conclude, that though he saw enough +to madden the heart and brain of a man whose mind had already been +warped and distorted by jealousy, he did not see aught that could have +been deemed to menace the future happiness of Paolina. No doubt La +Bianca, despite her declared intention to make the Marchese Lamberto a +good and true wife, had he married her, would have preferred to become +Marchese di Castelmare by a marriage with his nephew. No doubt she had a +liking for Ludovico of a different kind from that which she had +professed to feel for his uncle. No doubt her imagination had been +fired, and her heart awakened to long for such love as she had seen +given to each other by Ludovico and Paolina, which she too well +understood to be of a kind which, despite her good resolutions, would +not be found in her union with the Marchese Lamberto. And no doubt these +feelings manifested themselves in her visible manner during the +conversation which followed her confession to him of the engagement +between her and his uncle. + +It may also be suggested to those who have never been called upon to act +as Ludovico was called upon to act, under the circumstances of receiving +such a communication, so communicated from such a woman, that they would +do well not to judge too severely any such parts of his behaviour under +the ordeal, as may have been of a nature to produce a very deplorable +effect on the jaundiced mind of his uncle, though, in reality, there was +little real meaning and less serious harm in them. + +Of course the unfortunate Marchese could not be expected to see or +reason on what he saw in any such mood or tone. As he said in the +writing he had left, what he saw as Ludovico and Bianca entered the +forest, side by side, in deep and close talk, made a furious madman of +him. He dodged, and watched them, as they sat down together--as they +continued to talk in close confidence--till he saw her lay herself down +on the bank to sleep, and saw him after awhile quit her side. + +Then the devil entered into him, and ruled his hand with a whirlwind +power which he could no more withstand than the chaff can withstand the +tempest blast. + +He came and stood over her as she lay on the turf--the beautiful, +noxious creature. She had destroyed him; body, soul, and mind, she had +destroyed him. And now--and now--ahi, ahi! After all he had suffered, +after paying all the price he had paid! Ah, how lovely as she lay there +sleeping--placidly sleeping, she! And he was to be cheated! Her beauty, +her love was to be given to another. + +No, no, no, poisonous, baneful, sorceress; no, be what might, that hell +should never be! + +He put his hand to the breast-pocket of his coat, and took from it a +small pocket-book. + +If man will find evil passions, the devil will always find means. Surely +there must be some shadow of truth in the old legends that tell how the +fiend aids those who give themselves to him. + +The Marchese had, on leaving his chamber, quickly changed the coat he +had worn at the ball for a morning one. And it so happened that in that +was a pocket-book which contained the articles needed for the +perpetration of the murder, placed there by him one day--in times that +seemed now ages ago--when he was going to ask some explanation of the +facts that had interested him from Professor Tomosarchi. + +Like a balefully illumining lightning gleam, the clear memory that those +things were there at his hand flashed across his mind. + +In another minute the deed was done. + +And, in a few minutes more, the Marchese, looking the madman he felt +himself to be, got off his panting horse in his own stable-yard, threw +the rein to the scared old groom, and regained his room as he had left +it. Then the letter went on to speak of the terrible, the dreadful days +and hours which had elapsed since that time. It was during the hours of +that first morning, while it seemed to the excited mind of the Marchese +that every sound that was audible in the Palazzo must herald the coming +of those who had discovered the deed, that it had occurred to him to +send for his lawyer and give him instructions for the preparation of his +marriage contract. He would lose nothing by doing so, for the fact of +his offer of marriage to the murdered woman would assuredly not be kept +secret by the old man, her reputed father, and the maid-servant. And the +fact of his declaring such an intention, and giving such instructions at +that date, would very powerfully contribute to prevent any mind from +conceiving the idea that he could have been cognizant of the death of La +Bianca at the moment when he was so acting. + +And in truth, as the lawyer, examining his own mind, said to himself, it +had been this fact which had mainly prevented two or three little +circumstances from pointing his suspicions in the direction of the +truth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Conclusion + +Little more need be added to complete this story of a great singer's +Carnival engagement, and the consequences that arose out of it. + +The consternation, the talk, the moralizings, of the little city may be +readily imagined. + +Of course the written statement left by the unhappy Marchese made all +further judicial inquiry unnecessary. When the hand of a mightier power +than that of any earthly judge struck him down before the eyes of all +that world whose good opinion he had valued so highly, in the manner +that has been related, the tribunal, of course, declared the business +before it to be suspended. The result made it needless ever to resume +the sitting. No retarded evidence against the Marchese had been given in +court--no record of any accusation against him remained in the archives +of it: and this was deemed to be a great point among a people who do +not, by any means, hold that the law is the same "de non apparentibus et +de non existentibus." + +Of course there was no further obstacle to the marriage, in due time, of +Ludovico and Paolina. A proper interval had, of course, to be allowed to +elapse before the knot was definitively tied; but it was settled, and +known to be settled by all Ravenna, and the strange and moving +circumstances which had attended the young Marchese's fortunes had the +effect of causing his marriage with the Venetian artist to be accepted +by the "Society" more tolerantly than, perhaps, might otherwise have +been the case. There was a sort of feeling that the whole affair was +exceptional; that the higher powers had visibly taken the management of +it into their own hands; that it was destined so to be, and must be, as +such, accepted. Too much of pity, of wonder, of congratulation, and of +condolence, were due from all his world to leave any space for censure +on account of his marriage. + +Doubtless there were explanations between them as to that hapless +expedition to the Pineta; and doubtless they were satisfactory. +Assuredly Ludovico never in his moments of most severe self-examination, +sharpened, as such self-examination was, by the terrible nature of the +result which had seemed to grow out of his conduct on that Ash Wednesday +morning, could accuse himself of having done aught that could reasonably +be held to leave at his door the responsibility of the events that had +followed from it. Italian men are not apt to bring into any prominence +the idea that where evil or misfortune is found there fault of some kind +must exist also. They are content, for the most part, to accept the +notion that all such matters are sufficiently accounted for by +attributing them to "disgrazia"--the absence of favour, that is to +say--the want of that favour at the Heavenly Court which it is on every +occasion of life seen to be so necessary to successful well-being to +possess at the Courts of Heaven's ecclesiastical, or lay vice-gerents. + +Paolina insisted on employing a part of the time which necessarily +elapsed before her marriage in completing the engagement she had +undertaken, and the promise she had made to her English patron. But she +found herself compelled to beg that some other specimen, chosen from +among the wonderful wealth of early Christian art that remains at +Ravenna, might be substituted for that in the choir of St. Apollinare. +She made the attempt to return to the scaffolding by the side of the +window, but she found that her strength was unequal to the task. She +could not bear to look on the prospect from that window. By agreement +with her employer, some further figures from the mosaics in San Vitale +were substituted for those which had originally been selected in St. +Apollinare. Her associations with the former church were of a more +pleasant character; and Paolina never visited the desolate old building +"in Classe" again. When the specimens selected in lieu of those in the +latter building had been completed, Paolina and her friend and +protectress returned with them to Venice, where it had been arranged +that they were to be delivered to the Director of the Gallery. + +In the ensuing Carnival Ludovico came hither, and the marriage was there +solemnized. It is not intended to insinuate that he had not often made +the journey from Ravenna to Venice in the interval. More of his time was +probably passed there than in his native city. From Venice the newly +married couple proceeded to Rome, and it was not till three or four +years later, that the Marchese and Marchesa di Castelmare, bringing with +them their two boys Lamberto and Ludovico, and their little Violante, +the most exquisite little fairy that ever was seen, returned to make the +Marchese's ancestral palace, ancestral city, their home. + +There was one other stranger in Ravenna whose lamentations over the fate +that had ever brought him thither were as loud as they were sincere. The +poor old singing-master, Quinto Lalli, was left, by the death of his +adopted daughter, as destitute of the means of support as desolate in +his home and heart. He was not worth much; but it would be unjust to +suppose of him that his violent outcry on her murderer was wholly or +mainly prompted by the former consideration. There had been a real and +strong affection between him and his adopted daughter, and her death in +truth left him utterly desolate. + +Yet he never again quitted the city he so much regretted having ever +seen. His comfortable support was adequately provided for by the +Marchese Ludovico. And often in after years--on summer evenings on a +stone bench beneath a fig-tree in the garden of the cottage provided for +him, and in winter at the chimney corner of its tiny parlour--might be +seen the tall spare nun-like figure of a grave and gentle lady, +earnestly labouring at the somewhat up-hill task of consoling the old +man, and striving to shape the teachings of his Bohemian life to a +better lesson than he was apt to draw from them. It was the Contessa +Violante; and it may be concluded from her occupation both that she +succeeded in escaping the pursuit of the Duca di San Sisto, and that her +great-uncle the Cardinal did not succeed in becoming Pope at the most +recent vacancy. + +After the return of the Marchese and Marchesa di Castelmare to Ravenna, +however, the greater number of the hours of the Contessa Violante were +spent in the home of her little god-daughter Violante di Castelmare, and +of her friend Paolina. + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Siren, by Thomas Adolphus Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SIREN *** + +***** This file should be named 5179.txt or 5179.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/7/5179/ + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen, tapri@kolumbus.fi + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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