Transcript

Chapter XI · The White Sister

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Chapter eleven of The White Sister. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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visit libravox dot org. The White Sister by F. Marion Crawford, Chapter
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eleven. Giovanni Severi's adventures between his supposed death in the massacre of the expedition
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and his unexpected reappearance at Masawa nearly five years later, would fill an interesting
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little volume in themselves, But inasmuch as an account of them would not make
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this story clearer and would occupy much space, it is enough to state the
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bare facts in a few words. Such tales of danger, suffering, and
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endurance have often been told at first hand by the heroes of them, far
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more vividly and correctly than a mere story teller can narrate them on hearsay.
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The expedition had been attacked and destroyed by a handful of natives from a wandering
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tribe that was camping very near. Within a few minutes, their chief was
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informed of what they had done, and he rode out to the spot with
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a large body of men at his heels. Among the dead, Giovanni Severi
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lay bleeding from a gash in the head, but not mortally hurt. The
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chief was, by no means a mere dull savage, and finding an Italian
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officer alive, he recognized at once that it would be a mistake to knock
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him on the head and leave him with his comrades to be disposed of by
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the vultures and hyenas. On the other hand, he must not be allowed
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to escape to the Italian colony with news of the disaster. At some future
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time, and from a safe distance, it might be possible to obtain a
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large ransom for him. On the other hand, if a large force were
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ever sent up the country to revenge the outrage, it might be able to
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the credit of the chief if he could prove that the deed had been done
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without his knowledge, and that he had treated the only survivor humanely. He
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therefore took possession of Giovanni and provided for his safety in a simple manner by
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merely stating that if the prisoner escaped, he would cut off ten heads,
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but if any harm came to him, he would cut off at least a
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hundred. As no one doubted, but that he would keep his word as
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he invariably did. In such matters, Giovanni had but small chance of ever
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regaining his liberty, and none at all presented itself for nearly five years.
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During that time, he traveled with his captors or lived in camps many hundreds
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of miles from the outposts of civilization. He learned their language, and the
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chief insisted on learning his as it might be useful. Furthermore, he was
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required to teach his master whatever he could about modern warfare, and what little
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he knew of agriculture and its arts of peace. In return, he was
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well fed, well lodged when possible, and as well clad as any man
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in the tribe, except the chief himself, which was not saying much.
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His chance came at last, and he did not let it pass. It
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involved killing one of his guards, stunning another, and seizing the chief's own
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camel, and it was not without great risk to his life that he got
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away. A fortnight later, he had traveled five hundred miles and reported himself
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at headquarters in Massua, dressed in a long native shirt, a dirty turban,
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and nothing else. As Captain Giovanni Severi, formerly of the staff and
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late of the expedition that had perished five years earlier. It chanced, for
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the inevitable was at work, that the mail steamer for Italy was to leave
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the next morning, and a small man of war on the following day,
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also homeward bound. Giovanni wrote to Angela Chiramante by the former, and went
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on board the government vessel twenty four hours afterwards. He himself sent no telegram
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because he did not know where his brothers were, and he feared lest a
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telegraphic message might give Angela a bad shock if it reached her at all.
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Moreover, he had no news of her and could get no information whatever,
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so that he addressed his letter to Madame Bernard's old lodgings on the mere possibility
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that it might reach its destination. Any One might have supposed that the news
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of his escape would have been in the papers before he reached Italy, for
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it was telegraphed to the War Office in Rome by the officer in command of
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the force at Massua, But the Minister chose to keep the intelligence a secret
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till Giovanni's arrival, because he expected to gain much information from him, and
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feared lest the newspaper should get hold of him and learn facts from him,
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which would be more useful to Italy if not made public. And when the
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Italian government wishes to keep a secret, it can do so quite as well
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as any other. To the despair of the public press, the consequence of
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the Minister's instructions was that Giovanni was met by a superior officer who came on
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board the Man of War at Naples. In order to forestall any possible attempt
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on the part of correspondence to get a hold of him, and also for
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the purpose of giving him further directions for his conduct. He was to proceed
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to Rome at once, and the Minister would receive him privately on the following
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day at twelve o'clock. He was recommended not to go to an hotel,
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but to put up with his b who, as he now learned, was
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at Monteverde, and had been privately informed of his arrival and warned to be
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discreet. The mail steamer which had brought Giovanni's letter to Madame Bernard, had
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stopped at port said Alexandria and Messina, but the Man of War came direct
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to Naples, and those slower than the packet boat arrived there only a few
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hours later, Madame Bernard's inquiries, made through the old colonel whose daughter she
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had formerly taught, proved fruitless because the War Office would not allow Giovanni's coming
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to be known, and the result was that she took the letter home with
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her in her bag and spent the evening in a very disturbed state of mind,
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debating with herself as to what she ought to do. She would have
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given anything to open the envelope if only to see the date, and once
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or twice when she reflected on the importance of knowing whether the writer was alive
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before giving his letter to Sister Giovanne, she almost yielded, but not quite,
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for she was an honorable little woman according to her lights. Late on
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that night, Giovanni got into the train that was to bring him to Rome
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before Madame Bernard would be ready to go out in the morning. Hugo Severi
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had been summoned by the Minister some days previously and had been told that his
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brother was alive and coming home and would lodge with him. Meanwhile, Captain
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Hugo was put on his honor to say nothing of the matter to his friends.
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Such a recommendation was in fact needed, as Hugo would otherwise have informed
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the Princess Ceramante if no one else, considering how much feeling she had shown
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about Giovanni's supposed death, it would have been only humane to do so.
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But the Minister's instructions were precise and emphatic, and Hugo kept what he knew
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to himself and thought about it so continually that Confucianism imporarily lost its interest for
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him. He had always been on good terms with Giovanni, though they had
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not seen much of each other after the latter was appointed to the staff.
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As for the brother who was in the navy, Hugo rarely saw him or
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even heard of him, and since their father had died, he himself had
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led a very lonely existence. His delight on learning that Giovanni had escaped and
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was returning may be imagined, for in spite of his apparent coldness and love
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of solitude, he was a man of heart, and like many Italians of
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all classes, his ideal of happiness would have been to live quietly under one
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roof with his brothers and sister. There is probably no other people in the
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world that find such permanent satisfaction in what most of us would think a dull
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family life. It is a survival of the ancient patriarchal way of living,
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when the family was a religion and its head was at once its absolute ruler
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and its high priest. The only preparation which Hugo had made for receiving Giovanni
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was the purchase of an iron folding camp bed. He told his orderly that
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a brother officer of his might have to spend a night in the house before
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long, which was strictly true. In due time, a soldier on a
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bicycle brought him an official note from the Minister informing him that Giovanni had reached
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Naples and would appear at Monteverde on the following morning. This note came late
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in the afternoon, and Hugo thought it needless to inform Pica, as Giovanni
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would certainly not wish to go to bed as soon as he arrived, so
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that the little bedstead need not be set up till he actually came. At
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ten o'clock that evening, Hugo rose from his easy chair, stretched himself and
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whistled for Pica. As usual, the orderly brought him his boots, his
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cloak, his saber, and his cap, all of which he put on
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as he always did before going downstairs, for it was the hour at which
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he invariably inspected the neighborhood. It was his practice to begin by walking round
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the outside of the enclosure his man carrying a good lantern. He then examined
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the interior of the space, and finally visited the guard room and exchanged a
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word with the officer on duty. For the night of late. He had
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occasionally gone out again between twelve and one o'clock before going to bed. For
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two or three suspicious looking characters had been seen in the neighborhood of the magazine,
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like the man in the battered brown hat who had come upon Pica one
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afternoon and asked his way. There was, in fact a disquieting suspicion at
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headquarters that an attempt might be made to blow up one of the magazines.
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The detachments of soldiers on duty had therefore been strengthened, and the officers in
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charge had been instructed to exercise the greatest vigilance. When Captain Hugo went out
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of his door as usual with Pica at his heels, the night was dark
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and it was just beginning to rain. The two went directly from the little
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house to the gate of the enclosure, and Hugo answered the sentry's challenge mechanically
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and walked briskly along the straight wall to the corner, turning to the right.
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Then he was following the next stretch at a good pace when he stumbled
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and nearly fell over something that lay in his path. As Pica held up
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the lantern close behind him, a man sprang up from the ground where he
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must have been lying asleep, probably in liquor. By the uncertain light and
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in the rain, Ugo saw only the blurred vision of an individual in a
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ragged and dripping overcoat with an ugly blotched face and a ruined hat. An
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instant later, and just as Hugo was challenging the man, two shots were
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fired. The first smashed and extinguished the lantern in Pica's hand without hurting him.
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The second took effect, and the captain staggered against the wall, but
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instead of falling, sat down suddenly on the wet ground with his back against
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the masonry. The ruffian was gone, and Pica had dashed after him in
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fruitless pursuit for the breaking of the lantern. In his hand had checked the
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orderly as he was about to spring at the miscreant, who thus gained a
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sufficient start to insure his escape. In a few seconds, the officer on
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duty and three or four of the men were on the spot with lights.
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You will have to carry me, said the captain, calmly enough. I
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am shot in the foot and something is broken. Turn out the guard lieutenant,
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as a matter of principle, and have the neighborhood searched, though you
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will not find anyone. Now the fellow has got clean away. The men
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lifted him and carried him towards his house. Before they reached the door,
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Pica met them, breathing hard and muttering Cecilian imprecations on the man who had
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wounded his master and got away. But while the captain was being taken upstairs,
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the orderly lit a candle and went to the telephone in the hall.
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He glanced at the address book, and then, without hesitation, he asked
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the Central Office to give him Princess Tiramonti's number. His reason for doing so
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was simple. She was the only person in Rome who had ever appeared in
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the light of a friend of the Captain's family. She would do the right
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thing at once, Pica thought, and would send the best surgeon in Rome
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out to Monteverde in a motor in the shortest possible time. She was at
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home that evening, as it turned out, and at Pica's request, she
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came to the telephone herself and heard his story. She answered that she would
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try and get doctor Pierre to go at once in her own motor, as
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he had the reputation of being the best surgeon in the city, but that
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if he could not be found, she would send another doctor without delay.
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Pica went upstairs and found the captain stretched on his bed in his wet clothes,
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while the three soldiers who had carried him up were trying to pull his
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boot off instead of cutting it. One of the younger officers from the magazine
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was already scouring the neighborhood. In obedience to Hugo's orders, Pica sent the
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men away at once, with the authority which a favorite orderly instinctively exercises over
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his less fortunate comrades. He was neither stupid nor quite unskilled, however,
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and in a few minutes he had slit the captain's boot down the seam at
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the back and removed it almost without hurting him as well as their Merino sak.
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The small round wound was not bleeding much, but it was clear that
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the bone of the ankle was badly injured, and the whole foot was already
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much swollen. The revolver had evidently been of small caliber, but the charge
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had been heavy and the damage was considerable. Pica had the sense not to
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attempt to make any bandage beyond laying two soft folded handkerchiefs, one upon the
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other to the wound, and loosely confining them with a silk one. While
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he was busy with this, he explained what he had done. The captain,
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who knew that he was badly hurt and guessed that he might be lamed
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for life by unskilled treatment, was glad to hear that the famous Pieri had
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been called. He said that he felt no pain worth speaking of, and
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he questioned his man as to the latter's impression of what had happened. Pica
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did not believe in anarchists, and gave it as his opinion that the rough
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Vian was an ordinary bad character who was in daily expectation of being arrested for
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some crime, and who had fallen asleep in his cups, not knowing that
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he was close to the magazine being awakened suddenly, he had probably supposed himself,
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overtaken by justice, had fired and run away. The explanation was plausible.
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At all events. Neither Hugo nor his man believed that anyone would really
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try to blow up the place, for they regarded that as quite impossible without
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the collusion of some one of the soldiers, which was not to be thought
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of. While they were talking, Peka managed to get off the captain's outer
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clothes, but as they were partly wet with rain, the bed was now
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damp. He therefore went and got the new camp bedstead and set it up,
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spread dry blankets and sheets over it, and lifted Hugo to it without
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letting the injured foot hang down, for he was a fairly strong man and
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was far from clumsy. The change had just been successfully made when a motor
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was heard coming up the short stretch from the high road to the house,
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and Pica hastened downstairs to open the door for the surgeon. To his surprise,
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but much to his satisfaction, the Princess Cheramonte was the first to get
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out in the rain, bare headed but muffled in a waterproof She had no
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footman and no umbrella, and she made a quick dash for the door,
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followed at once by doctor Pierre. She recognized the handsome, orderly and smiled
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at him as she shook the rain drops from her hair, and then gave
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him her cloak. Is he badly hurt? She asked quickly, But she
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saw from Pica's face that it was not a matter of life and death,
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and she did not wait for his answer. We will go upstairs at once,
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she added the way to the steps. On learning that Hugo was already
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in bed, she said that she would wait in the large sitting room while
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the doctor went in to see what could be done. If the captain would
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see her, she would speak to him when Pierre had finished his work.
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Nearly three quarters of an hour passed before he joined her. It is a
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bad fracture, he said, and it will require an operation if he is
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not to be lamed for life. I should much prefer to perform it in
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a proper place. There is none better than the private hospital of the White
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Sisters, and it is by far the nearest. Do you happen to know
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the place. The princess said that she did, and that she was a
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patroness of the convent. The surgeon observed that it was now past eleven and
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that the patient could not be moved before morning. If she agreed with him
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and would lend her motion her for the purpose, he would communicate with the
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hospital and take the captain there himself between eight and nine o'clock. For the
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present, he needed no special nursing, and the orderly seemed to be an
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unusually intelligent young fellow who could be trusted and was sincerely attached to his master.
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The princess agreed to everything, and asked whether the captain wished to see
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her. He did, and when she stood beside him, he pressed her
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hand gratefully and thanked her with real feeling for her great kindness. She answered
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before Pica that she would always do anything in her power for any one of
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his name, and she explained that she would be at the hospital on the
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following morning to see that he had a good private room and received special care.
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He thanked her again and bade her good night. Two or three minutes
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later, he heard the motor puffing and wheezing, and Pica came back after
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shutting the door. Hugo now sent him over to the guard room with a
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message to the lieutenant on duty, requesting him to write a brief official account
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of the occurrence and to send it by hand to headquarters the next morning.
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It was necessary that another officer should take Hugo's place in command of the fort
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while he was in hospital. Pica came back again in a few moments.
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Then Hugo insisted on having writing materials and sat up propped with cushions while he
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wrote a short note to the Minister of War explaining what had happened and that
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he would not leave his home on the morrow till his brother had arrived,
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but that some further arrangement must be made if Giovanni was to lodge in the
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house, which would probably be wanted for the officer who was to take his
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own place. Pica was to be at the minister's own residence at seven o'clock
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with this note, and was to wait for an answer. The Minister was
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known to be a very early riser and would have plenty of time to arrange
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matters as he thought best. Hugo was now in a good deal of pain,
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and it seemed very long before the panes of his window turned from black
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to gray. As the dawn for lightened, he made Pica get him coffee,
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and soon after sunrise, the Orderly brought one of the men from the
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guard house to remain within call in case the captain needed anything. Pica took
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his bicycle and went off to the city with the note for the minister.
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As Hugo had anticipated, Giovanni arrived in a station cab while the orderly was
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still absent, and was admitted by the soldier on his representing that he was
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a relation of the captains and had come a long distance to see him.
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The man briefly explained that Hugo was in bed, having been wounded in the
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foot during the night, but was in no danger. A moment later,
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the brothers were together, Hugo saw a man standing beside his bed and holding
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out his hand, whom he would certainly not have recognized if he had met
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him in the street. His skin was almost as dark as an arab's,
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and he wore a brown beard which had reddened in streaks under the African sun.
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He was as lean as a half starved greyhound, but did not look
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ill and his eyes were fiery and deeper set than formerly. His head had
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been shaved when he had worn a turban, but the hair was now more
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than half an inch long and was as thick as a beaver's fur. He
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was dressed in a suit of thin gray clothes, which he had picked up
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in Masua and which did not fit him, and his canvas shoes were in
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a bad way. When he spoke, it was with a slight accent,
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unlike any that Hugo had heard, and he occasionally hesitated, as if trying
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to find a word. After the first greetings, he sat down and told
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the main facts of his story. When he paused, the two looked at
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each other, and after a while they laughed. The disguise is complete,
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Hugo said, But are you going to call on the Minister in those clothes?
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If you are seen near the magazine in that condition, you will be
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warned off, and I shall have to explain who you are. I suppose
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I could get into a uniform of yours, since I have grown thin.
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Giovanni answered, we are the same height, I remember, and as I
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am in the artillery, no one can find fault with me for wearing the
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uniform. Of another regiment than my own in an emergency, it will be
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better than presenting myself before the Minister in these rags. I suppose you have
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got your captaincy by this time six months ago. They talked on and Ugo
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explained that he was to be taken to the hospital of the White Sisters soon
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after eight o'clock. I shall go with you, Giovanni answered, and see
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you installed in your room. The Minister does not want me till twelve o'clock.
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They agreed to tell Pica when he returned that Giovanni was an artillery officer
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and a relative who had just arrived from a long journey without any luggage.
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As the orderly had known that the captain expected a visitor before long, he
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would not be surprised, and the relationship would account for Giovanni's name. The
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latter selected an undressed uniform from his brother's well stoked wardrobe and proceeded to scrub
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and dress in the adjoining dressing room, talking to Ugo through the open door
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and asking him questions about old friends and comrades. Hugo told him of the
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Princess Cherimanti's visit and of her kindness in coming with doctor Pierre. On the
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previous evening, Giovanni appeared at the door, half dressed. Did you tell
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her that I am alive? He asked, No, The ministry has made
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an official secret of it, so I have told no one, and you
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see that she will be at the hospital this morning. We shall meet then.
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I wonder whether she will know me. It is impossible, I should
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say, Hugo answered, looking at his brother's lean face and heavy beard.
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I hardly recognize you even now. Giovanni finished dressing and came out at last,
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looking very smart in Hugo's clothes. He had asked no questions about Angela,
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for he felt tolerably sure that Hugo had never known her, and it
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was his intention to go directly from the hospital to Madame Bernard's lodgings, where
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he hoped to find them both as he had left them. He could not
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bring himself to make vague and roundabout inquiries just then, and he was still
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less inclined to confide his love story to this brother whom he hardly felt that
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he knew, so he kept his own counsel and waited, as he had
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learned to do in five years of slavery. The minister sent back a line
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by Pica to say that Giovanni was to come to him at noon and would
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then receive his instructions as to a change of lodging, if any should seem
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advisable. There was a word of sympathy also for Ugo. In less than
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an hour more, Giovanni had helped Pica to carry Ugo down to the Princess's
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motor, which had appeared punctually, bringing doctor Pieri and the wounded man was
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comfortably placed in the limousine, with the surgeon beside him and Giovanni sitting opposite.
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Hugo introduced his brother as a relation who had arrived very opportunely that morning.
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The motor buzzed away from the door and reached the convent of Santa Giovanna
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Deazza in a few minutes. The sky had cleared after the rain, and
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the April sun was shining gloriously. End of Chapter eleven, read by Gila
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Labenger, Freeburg, Napa, August twenty first, twenty twenty three.