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25 - Gadfly by Ethel Lilian Voynich · Gadfly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three, Chapter seven. The court martial was held on Tuesday morning.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It was a very short and simple affair, a mere formality,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: occupying barely twenty minutes. There was indeed nothing to spend
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: much time over. No defense was allowed, and the only
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: witnesses were the wounded spy and officer, and a few soldiers.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: The sentence was drawn up beforehand. Montanelli had sent in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the desired informal consent, and the judges, Colonel Ferrari, the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: local major of dragoons, and two officers of the Swiss Guards,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: had little to do. The indictment was read aloud, the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: witnesses gave their evidence, and the signatures were affixed to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the sentence, which was then read to the condemned man
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  Speaker 1: with befitting solemnity. He listened in silence, and, when asked,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: according to the usual form whether he had anything to say,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: merely waived the question as side with an impatient movement
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of his hand. Hidden on his breast was the handkerchief
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: which Montonelli had let fall. It had been kissed and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: wept over all night, as though it were a living thing.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Now he looked wan and spiritless, and the traces of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: tears were still about his eyelids, but the words to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: be shot did not seem to affect him much. When
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: they were uttered, the pupils of his eyes dilated. But
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  Speaker 1: that was all. Take him back to his cell, the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: governor said. When all the formalities were over, and the sergeant,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: who was evidently near to breaking down, touched the motionless
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  Speaker 1: figure on the shoulder, the gad fly looked round him
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  Speaker 1: with a little start. Ah, yes, he said, I forgot.
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  Speaker 1: There was something almost like pity in the Governor's face.
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  Speaker 1: He was not a cruel man by nature, and was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: secretly a little ashamed of the part he had been
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: laying during the last month. Now that his main point
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: was gained, he was willing to make every little concession
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  Speaker 1: in his power. You needn't put the irons on again,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: he said, glancing at the bruised and swollen wrists, And
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  Speaker 1: he can stay in his own cell. The condemned cell
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  Speaker 1: is wretchedly dark and gloomy, he added, turning to his nephew.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And really the things a mere formality. He coughed and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: shifted his feet in evident embarrassment, then called back the sergeant,
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  Speaker 1: who was leaving the room with his prisoner. Wait sergeant,
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  Speaker 1: I want to speak to him. The gadfly did not move,
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  Speaker 1: and the Governor's voice seemed to fall on unresponsive ears.
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  Speaker 1: If you have any message you would like conveyed to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: your friends or relatives. You have relatives. I suppose there
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: was no answer, Well, think it over and tell me
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  Speaker 1: or the priest. I will see it is not neglected.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: You had better give your messages to the priest. He
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  Speaker 1: shall come at once and stay the night with you.
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  Speaker 1: If there is any other wish. The gadfly looked up.
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  Speaker 1: Tell the priest. I would rather be alone. I have
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  Speaker 1: no friends and no messages, but you will want to
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  Speaker 1: confess I am an atheist. I want nothing but to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: be left in peace. He said it in a dull,
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  Speaker 1: quiet voice, without defiance or irritation, and turned slowly away.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: At the door, he stopped again. I forgot, Colonel, there
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  Speaker 1: is a favor I wanted to ask. Don't let them
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  Speaker 1: tie me or bandage my eyes tomorrow, please, I will
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: stand quite still. At sunrise on Wednesday morning, they brought
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: him out into the courtyard. His lameness was more than
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: usually apparent, and he walked with evident difficulty and pain,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: leaning heavily on the sergeant's arm. But all the weary
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: submission had gone out of his face. The spectral terrors
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: that had crushed him down in the silence, the visions
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and dreams of the world of shadows, were gone with
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  Speaker 1: the night which gave them birth. And once the sun
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  Speaker 1: was shining and his enemies were present to rouse the
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  Speaker 1: fighting spirit in him, he was not afraid. The six
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  Speaker 1: carabineers who had been told off for the execution were
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  Speaker 1: drawn up in line against the ivied wall, the same
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  Speaker 1: crannied and crumbling wall down which he had climbed on
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  Speaker 1: the night of his unlucky attempt. They could hardly refrain
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  Speaker 1: from weeping as they stood together, each man with his
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: carbine in his hand. It seemed to them a horror
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  Speaker 1: beyond imagination that they should be called out to kill
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  Speaker 1: the gadfly. He and his stinging repartees, his perpetual laughter,
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  Speaker 1: his bright, infectious courage, had come into their dull and
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  Speaker 1: dreary lives like a wandering sunbeam. And that he should
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  Speaker 1: die and at their hands, was to them as the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: darkening of the clear lamps of heaven. Under the great
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  Speaker 1: fig tree in the courtyard, his grave was waiting for him.
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  Speaker 1: It had been dug in the night by unwilling hands,
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  Speaker 1: and tears had fallen on the spade. As he passed.
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  Speaker 1: He looked down, smiling at the black pit and the
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  Speaker 1: withering grasp beside it, and drew a long breath to
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  Speaker 1: smell the scent of the freshly turned earth near the tree.
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  Speaker 1: The sergeant stopped short, and the gadfly looked round with
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  Speaker 1: his brightest smile. Shall I stand here, sergeant? The man
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  Speaker 1: nodded silently. There was a lump in his throat, and
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  Speaker 1: he could not have spoken to save his life. The Governor,
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  Speaker 1: his nephew, the lieutenant of the Carabineers, who was ready
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  Speaker 1: to command, a doctor and a priest were already in
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  Speaker 1: the courtyard, and came forward with grave faces, half abashed
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: under the radiant defiance of the gadfly's laughing eyes. Good,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: good morning, gentlemen. Ah, and his reference is up so
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: early too, How do you do? Captain? This is a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: pleasanter occasion for you than our former meeting, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: I see your arm is still in a sling. That's
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  Speaker 1: because I bungled my work. These good fellows will do
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: theirs better, won't you? Lads? He glanced round at the
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  Speaker 1: gloomy faces of the carabineers. There'll be no need of
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  Speaker 1: slings this time. Anyway, there there, you needn't look so
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  Speaker 1: doleful over it. Put your heels together and show how
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  Speaker 1: straight you can shoot. Before long there'll be more work
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  Speaker 1: cut out for you. Then you'll know how to get through.
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  Speaker 1: And there's nothing like practice beforehand. My son, the priest
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: interrupted coming forward, while the others drew back, to leave
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: them alone together. In a few minutes you must enter
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  Speaker 1: into the presence of your maker. Have you no other
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  Speaker 1: use but this for these last moments that are left
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  Speaker 1: for you for repentance. Think I entreat you how dreadful
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  Speaker 1: a thing it is to die without absolution, with all
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  Speaker 1: your sins upon your head. When you stand before your judge,
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  Speaker 1: it will be too late to repent. Will you approach
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: his awful throne with a jest upon your lips? Adjust
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: your reverence. It is your side that needs a little homily.
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  Speaker 1: I think when our turn comes, we shall use field
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  Speaker 1: guns instead of half a dozen second hand carbines, And
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: then you will see how much we're in. Just you
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  Speaker 1: will use field guns, Oh, unhappy man, Have you still
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  Speaker 1: not realized on what frightful brink you stand? The gadfly
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  Speaker 1: glanced back over his shoulder at the open grave. And
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  Speaker 1: so your reverence thinks that when you have put me
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  Speaker 1: down there, you will have done with me. Perhaps you
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  Speaker 1: will lay a stone on the top to prove the
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  Speaker 1: resurrection after three days. No fear, your Reverence, I shan't
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  Speaker 1: poach on the monopoly in cheap theatricals. I shall lie
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  Speaker 1: as still as a mouse just where you put me,
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  Speaker 1: and all the same we shall use field guns. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: merciful God, the priest cried out, forgive this wretched man. Amen,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: murmured the Lieutenant of Carabinirs in a deep base growl,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: while the colonel and his nephew crossed themselves devoutly. As
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  Speaker 1: there was evidently no hope of further insistence producing any effect,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the priest gave up the fruitless attempt and moved aside,
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  Speaker 1: shaking his head and murmuring a prayer. The short and
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  Speaker 1: simple preparations were made without more delay, and the gadfly
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  Speaker 1: placed himself in the required position, only turning his head
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  Speaker 1: to glance up for a moment at the red and
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  Speaker 1: yellow sp splendor of the sunrise. He had repeated their
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: request that his eyes might not be bandaged, and his
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  Speaker 1: defiant face had wrung from the colonel a reluctant consent.
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  Speaker 1: They had both forgotten, but they were inflicting on the soldiers.
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  Speaker 1: He stood and faced them, smiling, and the carbines shook
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  Speaker 1: in their hands. I am quite ready, he said. The
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  Speaker 1: lieutenant stepped forward, trembling a little with excitement. He had
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  Speaker 1: never given the word of command for an execution before
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: ready present fire. The gadflies staggered a little and recovered
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  Speaker 1: his balance. One unsteady shot had grazed his cheek, and
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  Speaker 1: a little blood fell on to the white cravat. Another
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  Speaker 1: ball had struck him above the knee. When the smoke
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  Speaker 1: cleared away, the soldiers looked and saw him smiling still
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  Speaker 1: and wiping the blood from his cheek with the mutilated hand.
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  Speaker 1: A bad shot man, he said, and his voice cut
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  Speaker 1: in clear and articulate upon the dazed stupor of the
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  Speaker 1: wretched soldiers. Have another try. A general groan and shudder
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  Speaker 1: passed through the row of carabineers. Each man had aimed
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  Speaker 1: aside with a secret hope that the death shot would
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  Speaker 1: come from his neighbour's hand, not his, And there the
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  Speaker 1: gad flies stood and smiled at them. They had only
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  Speaker 1: turned the execution into a butchery, and the whole ghastly
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  Speaker 1: business was to do again. They were seized with sudden terror, and,
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  Speaker 1: lowering their carbines, listened hopelessly to the furious curses and
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  Speaker 1: reproaches of the officers, staring in dull horror at the
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  Speaker 1: man whom they had killed and who somehow was not dead.
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  Speaker 1: The governor shook his fist and their faces savagely, shouting
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  Speaker 1: to them to stand in position, to present arms, to
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  Speaker 1: make haste and get the thing over. He had become
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  Speaker 1: as thoroughly demoralized as they were, and dared not to
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  Speaker 1: look at the terrible figure that stood and stood and
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  Speaker 1: would not fall. When the gadflies spoke to him, he
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  Speaker 1: started and shuddered at the sound of the mocking voice.
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  Speaker 1: You have brought out the awkward squad this morning, colonel.
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  Speaker 1: Let me see if I can manage them better. Now, men,
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  Speaker 1: hold your tool higher there you to the left. Bless
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  Speaker 1: your heart. Man, it's a carbine you've got in your hand,
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  Speaker 1: not a frying pan. Are you all straight now? Then?
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  Speaker 1: Ready present fire? The colonel interrupted, starting forward. It was
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  Speaker 1: intolerable that this man should give the command for his
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  Speaker 1: own death. There was another confused, disorganized volley, and the
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  Speaker 1: line broke up into a knot of shivering figures staring
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  Speaker 1: before them with wild eyes. One of the soldiers had
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  Speaker 1: not even dis charged his carbine. He had flung it
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  Speaker 1: away and crouched down, moaning under his breath. I can't,
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  Speaker 1: I can't. The smoke cleared slowly away, floating up into
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  Speaker 1: the glimmer of the early sunlight, and they saw that
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  Speaker 1: the gadfly had fallen, and saw too that he was
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  Speaker 1: still not dead. For the first moment, soldiers and officials
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: stood as if they had been turned to stone, and
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  Speaker 1: watched the ghastly thing that writhed and struggled on the ground.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Then both doctor and colonel rushed forward with a cry,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: for he had dragged himself up on one knee and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: was still facing the soldiers and still laughing another miss.
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  Speaker 1: Try again, lads, see if you can't. He suddenly swayed
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  Speaker 1: and fell over sideways on the grass. Is he dead?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: The colonel asked under his breath, and the doctor, kneeling
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  Speaker 1: down with a hand on the bloody shirt, and softly,
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  Speaker 1: I think so. God be praised, God be praised, the
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  Speaker 1: colonel repeated. At last, his nephew was touching him on
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  Speaker 1: the arm. Uncle, it's the Cardinal. He's at the gate
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  Speaker 1: and wants to come in. What he can't come in?
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  Speaker 1: I won't have it. What are the guards about, your eminence?
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: The gate had opened and shut, and Montanelli was standing
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  Speaker 1: in the courtyard, looking before him with still and awful eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Your Eminence, I must beg of you. This is not
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  Speaker 1: a fit sight for you. The execution is only just over.
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  Speaker 1: The body is not yet. I have come to look
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  Speaker 1: at him, Montanelli said. Even at the moment it struck
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  Speaker 1: the governor that his voice and bearing were those of
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  Speaker 1: a sleepwalker. Oh my god, one of the soldiers cried
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  Speaker 1: out suddenly, and the Governor glanced hastily back. Surely, the
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  Speaker 1: blood stained heap on the grass had once more begun
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  Speaker 1: to struggle and moan. The doctor flung himself down and
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  Speaker 1: lifted the head upon his knee. Make haste, he cried,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: in desperation, you savages, make haste, Get it over, for
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: God's sake. There's no bearing this. Great jets of blood
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  Speaker 1: poured over his hands, and the convulsions of the figure
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  Speaker 1: that he held in his arms shook him too, from
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  Speaker 1: head to foot as he looked frantically round for help.
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  Speaker 1: The priest bent over his shoulder and put a crucifix
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: to the lips of the dying man, in the name
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of the Father and of the Son. The gadfly raised
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  Speaker 1: himself against the doctor's knee, and with wide open eyes,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: looked straight upon the crucifix. Slowly, amid hushed and frozen stillness,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: he lifted the broken right hand and pushed away the image.
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  Speaker 1: There was a red smear across its face. Padre, is
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  Speaker 1: your God satisfied? His head fell back on the doctor's arm,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Your Eminence. As the cardinal did not awake from his stupor,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Colonel Ferrari repeated, louder, your eminence. Montanelli looked up. He
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: is dead, quite dead, Your Eminence. Will you not come away?
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  Speaker 1: This is a horrible sight. He is dead, Montonelli repeated,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: and looked down again at the face. I touched him,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and he is dead. What does he expect a man
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to be with half a dozen bullets in him? The
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: lieutenant whispered contemptuously, and the doctor whispered back. I think
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the sight of the blood has upset him. The governor
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: put his hand firmly on Montenelli's arm. Your eminence, you
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: had better not look at him any longer. Will you
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: allow the chaplain to escort you home? Yes, I will go.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: He turned slowly from the blood stained spot and walked
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: away the east and sergeant following. At the gate. He
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: paused and looked back with a ghostlike still surprise. He
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: is dead. A few hours later, Marcona went up to
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: a cottage on the hillside to tell Martini that there
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: was no longer any need for him to throw away
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: his life. All the preparations for a second attempt at
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: rescue were ready, as the plot was much more simple
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: than the former one. It had been arranged that on
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the following morning, as the Corpus Domini procession passed along
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the Fortress hill, Martini should step forward out of the crowd,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: draw a pistol from his breast, and fire in the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: governor's face. In the moment of wild confusion which would follow,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: twenty armed men were to make a sudden rush at
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the gate, break into the tower, and taking the turnkey
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: with them by force, to enter the prisoner's cell and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: carry him bodily away, killing or over pswwering everyone who
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: interfered with them. From the gate. They were to retire
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: fighting and cover the retreat of a second band of
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: armed and mounted smugglers who would carry him off into
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: a safe hiding place in the hills. The only person
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: in the little group who knew nothing of the plan
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: was Gemma. It had been kept from her at Martini's
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: special desire. She will break her heart over it soon enough,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: he had said. As the smuggler came in at the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: garden gate, Martini opened the glass door and stepped out
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: on to the veranda to meet him. Any news, Marconi ah.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: The smuggler had pushed back his broad brimmed straw hat.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: They sat down together on the veranda. Not a word
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: was spoken on either side. From the instant when Martini
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: had caught sight of the face under the hat brim,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: he had understood. When was it? He asked, after a
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: long pause, and his own voice in his ears was
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: as dull and wearisome as everything else. This morning at sunrise,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the sergeant told me he was there and saw it.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Martini looked down and flicked a stray thread from his
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: coat sleeve. Vanity of vanities, this also is vanity he
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: was to have died tomorrow, and now the land of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: his heart's desire had vanished, like the fairyland of golden
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: sunset dreams that fades away when the darkness comes, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: he was driven back into the world of every day
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and every night, the world of Grassini and Golly, of
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: cyphering and pamphleteering, of party squabbles between comrades and dreary
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: intrigues among Austrian spies, of the old revolutionary mill round
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: that maketh the heart sick. And somewhere down at the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: bottom of his consciousness there was a great empty place,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: a place that nothing and no one would feel any
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: more now that the gadfly was dead. Some one was
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: asking him a question, and he raised his head, wondering
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: what could be left that was worth the trouble of
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: talking about? What did you say? I was saying that,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: of course you will break the news to her life,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: and all the horror of life came back into Martini's face.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: How can I tell her, he cried out, You might
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: as well ask me to go and stab her. Oh,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: how can I tell her? How can I? He had
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: clasped both hands over his eyes, but without seeing he
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: felt the smuggler start beside him and looked up. Gemma
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: was standing in the doorway. Have you heard Caesar? She said,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: it is all over. They have shot him. End of
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: chapter seven of the third part.