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Chapter 23 · The Charterhouse of Parma

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Section twenty nine of the Charterhouse of Palmer by Stendahl, translated by sik Scott
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Montcrief. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Peter Dan,
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Chapter twenty three. Amid this general uproar, Archbishoplandriani alone showed himself loyal
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to the cause of his young friend. He made bold to repeat, even
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at the Princess's court, the legal maxim, according to which in every case
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one ought to keep a near free from all prejudice, to hear the plea
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of an absent party. The day after Fabrizio's escape, a number of people
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had received a sonnet of no great merit, which celebrated this flight as one
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of the fine actions of the age and compared Fabrizio to an angel arriving on
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the earth with outspread wings. On the evening of the following day, the
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whole of Palmer was repeating a sublime sonnet. It was Fabricio's monolog as he
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let himself slide down the cord and passed judge on the different incidents in his
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life. This sonnet gave him a place in literature by two magnificent lines.
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All the experts recognized the style of Ferrante Pala. But here I must seek
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the epic style. Where can I find colors in which to paint the torrents
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of indignation that suddenly flooded every Orthodox heart. When they learned of the frightful
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insolence of this illumination of the house at Sacca, there was but one outcry
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against the Duchessa. Even the true liberals decided that such an action compromised in
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a barbarous fashion. The poor suspects detained in the various prisons and needlessly exasperated
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the heart of the sovereign. Comte Mosca declared that there was but one thing
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left for the Duchess's former friends to forget her. The concert of execration was
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therefore unanimous. A stranger passing through the town would have been struck by the
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energy of public opinion. But in the country, where they know how to
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appreciate the pleasure of revenge, the illumination and the admirable feast given in the
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park to more than six thousand Contadini had an immense success. Everyone in Palma
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repeated that the Duchessa had distributed a thousand sequins amongst her Contadini. Thus they
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explained the somewhat harsh reception given to a party of thirty constables whom the police
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had been so foolish as to send to that small village thirty six hours after
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the sublime evening and the general intoxication that had followed it. The constables,
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greeted with showers of stones, had turned and fled, and two of their
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number, who fell from their horses, were flung into the po As for
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the bursting of the great reservoir of the Palazzo San Severina, it had passed
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almost unnoticed. It was during the night that several streets had been more or
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less flooded. Next morning, one would have said that it had rained,
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but of Ico had taken care to break the panes of a window in the
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palazzo so as to account for the entry of robbers. They had even found
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a little ladder, and Lyconte Moscow recognized his friend's inventive genius, Fabrizio was
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fully determined to return to Palmer as soon as he could. He sent Lodovico
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with a long letter to the archbishop, and this faithful servant came back to
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post at the first village in Piedmont, San Natzaro, to the west of
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Pavia, a Latin epistle which the worthy prelate addressed to his young client.
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We may add here a detail, which, like many others, no doubt
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will seem otios in countries where there is no longer any need of precaution.
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The name of Fabrizio Deldonno was never written. All the letters that were intended
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for him were addressed to Lodovico San Micheli, at Locano in Switzerland or at
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Bozerat in Piedmont. The envelope was made of a coarse paper, the seal
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carelessly applied, the address barely legible, and sometimes adorned with recommendations worthy of
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a cook or The letters were dated from Naples, six days before their actual
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date. Revenge from the Piedmontese village of San Nazzaro, near Pavia, Lodovico
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returned in hot haste to Parma. He was charged with a mission to which
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Fabrizio attached the greatest importance. This was nothing less than to convey to Slely
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a conti, a handkerchief on which was printed a sonnet of Petrarch. It
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is true that a word was altered in this sonnet. Sleia founded on the
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table two days after she had received the thanks of the marches A Cresenzi,
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who professed himself the happiest of men. And there is no need to say
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what impression this token of a still constant remembrance produced on her heart. Lodovico
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was to try to procure all possible details as to what was happening at the
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citadel. He it was who told Fabrizio the sad news that the marches A
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Cresenzi's marriage seemed now to be definitely settled. Scarcely a day passed without his
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giving a festa for Clelia inside the citadel. A decisive proof of the marriage
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was that the Marchesa, immensely rich, and in consequence very avaricious, as
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is the custom among the opulent people of northern Italy, was making immense preparations,
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and yet he was marrying a girl without a portion. It was true
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that General Fabio Conti, his vanity greatly shocked by this observation, the first
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to spring to the minds of all his compatriots, had just bought a property
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worth more than three hundred thousand francs. And for this property, he who
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had nothing, had paid in ready money, evidently with the Marches's gold.
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Moreover, the general had said that he was giving this property to his daughter
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on her marriage. But the charges for the documents and other matters, which
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amounted to more than twelve thousand francs, seemed a most ridiculous waste of money
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to the Marches. A man of eminently logical mind. His part, he
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was having woven at Leon a set of magnificent tapestries of admirably blended colors calculated
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to charm the eye by the famous Palagi, the Bolognius painter. These tapestries,
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each of which embodied some deed of arms by the Cressnzi family, which,
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as the whole world knows, is descended from the famous Crescentius Roman consul
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in the year nine eighty five, were to furnish the seventeen saloons which composed
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the ground floor of the marches as palazzo. The tapestries, clocks and lusters
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sent to Parma cost more than three hundred and fifty thousand francs. The price
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of the new mirrors, in addition to those which the house already possessed,
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came to two hundred thousand francs. With the exception of two rooms, famous
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works of the Parmigianino, the greatest of local painters. After the divine Correggio.
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All those of the first and second floors were now occupied by the leading
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painters of Florence, Rome and Milan, who had decorating them with paintings In
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Fresco. Fockelberg, the great Swedish sculptor, Tenerani of Rome and Marchesi of
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Milan had been at work for the last year on ten bas reliefs representing as
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many brave deeds of Crescentius, that truly great man. The majority of the
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ceilings painted in Fresco also offered some allusions to his life. The ceiling most
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generally admired was that on which Hayes of Milan had represented Crescentius being received in
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the Elysian fields by Francesco Sforza, Lorenzo, the Magnificent King, Robert the
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Tribune, Cola di Rienzi, Machiavelli, Dante, and the other great men
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of the Middle Ages. Admiration for these chosen spirits is supposed to be an
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epigram at the expense of the men in par all these sumptuous details occupied the
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exclusive attention of the nobility and purgesses of Parma and pierced our hero's heart when
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he read of them, related with an artless admiration in a long letter of
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more than twenty pages, which Lodovico had dictated to a Doganieri of Cassomatiori the
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Palazzo, and I who am so poor, said Varbrizzio, an income of
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four thousand lire in all and four all. It is truly an impertinence in
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me to dare to be in love with Sleilo Conti, for whom all these
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miracles are being performed. A single paragraph in Lodovico's long letter, but written
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this in his own villainous hand, announced to his master that he had met
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that night, and, apparently in hiding the unfortunate Grillo, his former jailer,
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who had been put in prison and then released. The man had asked
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him for a seque in charity, and Lodovico had given him four in the
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Duchess's name. The old jailers, recently set at liberty, twelve in number,
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were preparing an entertainment with their knives on Tatamento di cortlatte for the new
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jailers, their successors, should they ever succeed in meeting them outside the citadel.
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cRIO had said that almost every day there was a serenade at the fortress,
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that Senora Slelia was extremely pale off a nil, and other things of
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that sort. This absurd expression caused Lodovico to receive by courier after courier the
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order to return to I Locano. He returned, and the details which he
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supplied by word of mouth were even more depressing for Fabrizio. One may judge
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what consideration he was showing for the poor duchessa he would have suffered a thousand
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deaths rather than utter in her hearing the name of Slelio Conti. The duchessa
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abhord Palma. Whereas for Fabrizio, everything which recalled that city was at once
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sublime and touching, less than ever had. The Duchess had forgotten her revenge.
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She had been so happy before the incident of Gilletti's death, and now
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what a fate was hers. She was living in expectation of a dire event,
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of which she was careful not to say a word to Fabrizio, She
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who before, at the time of her arrangement with Farrante, thought she would
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so delight Fabrizio by telling him that one day he would be avenged. One
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could now form some idea of the pleasantness of Fabrizio's conversations with the Duchessa.
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A gloomy silence reigned almost invariably between them. To enhance the pleasantness of their
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relations, the Duchessa had yielded to the temptation to play a trick on this
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too, dear nephew. The Conte wrote to her almost every day. Evidently
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he was sending couriers as in the days of their infatuation, for his letters
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always bore the postmark of some little town in Switzerland. The poor man was
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torturing his mind so as not to speak too openly of his affection, and
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to construct amusing letters. Barely did his distracted eye glance over them. What
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avails alas the fidelity of a respected lover when one's heart is pierced by the
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coldness of the other whom one sets above him. In the space of two
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months, the Duchessa answered him only once, and that was to engage him
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to explore how the land lay round the princess, and to see whether,
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despite the impertinence of the fireworks, the letter from her, the Duchess would
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be received with pleasure. The letter, which he was to present if he
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thought fit, requested the post of Cavalier d'norre to the Princess, which had
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recently fallen vacant for the marchesa Cresenzi, and desired that it should be conferred
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upon him in consideration of his marriage. The Duchess's letter was a masterpiece.
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It was a message of the most tender respect, expressed in the best possible
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terms. The writer had not admitted, to this courtly style a single word
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the consequence, even the remotest consequence of which could be other than agreed ale
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to the Princess. The reply also breathed a tender friendship which was being tortured
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by the absence of its recipient, the Princess. My son and I,
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the Princess told her, have not spent one evening that could be called tolerable
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since your sudden departure, Does my dear duchessa no longer remember that it was
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she who caused me to be consulted in the nomination of the officers of my
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household? Does she then think herself obliged to give me reasons for the Marches's
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appointment, as if the expression of her desire was not for me the chief
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of reasons, the Marchesa shall have the post if I can do anything,
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and there will always be one in my heart, and that the first for
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my dear Duchessa. My son employs absolutely the same expressions, a little strong,
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perhaps on the lips of a great boy of one and twenty, and
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asks you for specimens of the minerals of the Val d'urta near Belgiiat you may
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address your letters, which will I hope be frequent, to the count who
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still adores you, and who is especially dear to me. On account of
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these sentiments, the Archbishop also has remained faithful to you. We all hope
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to see you again one day. Remember that it is your duty. The
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Marchesa Gieslei, my grand mistress, is preparing to leave this world for a
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better The poor woman has done me much harm. She displeases me still further
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by departing so inopportunely. Her illness makes me think of the name which I
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should once have set with so much pleasure in the place of hers, If
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that is I could have obtained that sacrifice of her independence from that matchless woman
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who is fleeing from us, has taken with her all the joy of my
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little court, and so forth. It was therefore, with the consciousness of
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having sought to hasten so far as it lay in her power, the marriage,
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which was filling Fabrizio with despair, that the Duchess has saw him every
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day, And so they sped sometimes four or five hours in drifting together over
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the lake, without exchanging a single word. The good feeling was entire and
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perfect on Fabrizio's part, but he was thinking of other things, and his
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innocent and simple nature furnished him with nothing to say. The DUCHESSA saw this,
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and it was her punishment. We have forgotten to mention in the proper
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place that the DUCHESSA had taken a house at Belgerat, a charming village,
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and one that contains everything which its name promises to wit a beautiful bend in
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the lake from the window sill of her drawing room the Duchess could set foot
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in her boat. She had taken a quite simple one, for which four
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rowers would have sufficed. She engaged twelve and arranged things so as to have
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a man from each of the villages situated in the neighborhood of Belgerat the third
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or fourth time that she found herself in the middle of the lake with all
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of these well chosen men, she stopped the movement of their oars. Regard
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you all as friends, she said to them, and I wish to confide
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a secret to you. My nephew Fabrizio has escaped from prison, and possibly
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by treachery, they will seek to recapture him. Although he is on your
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lake in a place of freedom. Keep your ears open and inform me of
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all that you may hear. I authorize you to enter my room by day
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or night. The Rowers replied with enthusiasm. She knew how to make herself
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loved, but she did not think that there was any question of recapturing Fabrizio.
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It was for herself that all these precautions were taken, and before the
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fatal order to open the reservoir of the Palazzo San Severina, she would not
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have dreamed of them. Her prudence had led her also to take an apartment
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at the port of Lacano for Fabrizio. Every day he came to see her
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or she herself crossed into Switzerland one May judge of the pleasantness of their perpetual
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companionship by the following detail. Chasa and her daughter came twice to see them,
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and the presence of these strangers gave them pleasure, For in spite of
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the ties of blood, we may call stranger a person who knows nothing of
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our dearest interests in whom we see. But once in a year Lake Maggiori,
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the Duchess happened to be one evening at Locano in Fabrizio's rooms with the
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Marchesa and her two daughters. The archpriest of the place and the curate had
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come to pay their respects to these ladies. The archpriest, who had an
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interest in a business house and kept closely in touch with the news, was
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inspired to announce the Prince of Parma is dead. The Duchessa turned extremely pale.
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She had barely the strength to say, do they give any details?
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No, replied the arch priest. The report is confined to the announcement of
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his death, which is certain. The Duchessa looked at Fabrizio. I have
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done this for him, she said to herself. I would have done things
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a thousand times worse. And there he is standing before me, indifferent and
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dreaming of another. It was beyond the Duchess's strength to endure this frightful thought.
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She fell in a dead faint. Every one hastened to her assistance,
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But on coming to herself, she observed that Fabrizio was less active than the
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archpriest, and curate he was dreaming as usual. He is thinking of returning
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to Palmer, the Duchess had told herself, and perhaps of breaking off Slelya's
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marriage to the Marchesa. But I shall manage to prevent him. Then,
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remembering the presence of the two priests, she made haste to add he was
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a good prince and has been greatly maligned. It is an immense loss for
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us. The priests took their leave, and the Duchess are to be alone.
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Announced that she was going to bed. No doubt, she said to
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herself, Prudence ordains that I should wait a month or two before returning to
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Palmer. But I I feel that I shall never have the patience. I
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am suffering too keenly. Here Fabrizio's continual dreaming his silence are an intolerable spectacle
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for my heart. Who would ever have said that I should find it tedious
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to float on this charming lake alone with him, and at the moment when
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I have done to avenge him more than I can tell him. After such
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a spectacle, death is nothing. It is now that I am paying for
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the transports of happiness and childish joy which I found in my palazzo at Palmer,
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when I welcomed Fabrizio there on his return from Naples. If I had
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said a word or was at an end, and it may be that tied
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to me, he would not have given a thought to that little slelier.
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But that word filled me with a horrible repugnance. Now she has prevailed over
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me. What more simple? She is twenty, and I, altered by
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my anxieties, sick, I am twice her age. I must die.
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I must make an end of things. A woman of forty is no longer
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anything save to the men who have loved her in her youth. Now I
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shall find nothing more but the pleasures of vanity. And are they worth the
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trouble of living? All the more reason for going to Palmer and amusing myself.
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The things took a certain turn. I should lose my life. Well,
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where is the harm? I shall make a magnificent death and before the
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end. But then only I shall say to Fabrizio, a wretch, it
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is for you. Yes, I can find no occupation for what little life
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remains to me Save at Palmer. I shall play the great lady. There.
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What a blessing if I could be sensible now of all those distinctions which
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used to make the raverse he so unhappy. Then in order to see my
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happiness I had to look into the eyes of envy. My vanity has one
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satisfaction, with the exception of the comte. Perhaps no one can have guessed
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what the event was that put an end to the life of my heart.
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I shall love Fabriziou, I shall be devoted to his interests. But he
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must not be allowed to break off Slelia's marriage and end by taking her himself.
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No, that shall not be. The Duchess had reached this point in
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her melancholy monolog when she heard a great noise in the house good, she
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said to herself, they are coming to arrest me. Ferrante has let himself
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be caught. He must have spoken, well, all the better. I
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am going to have an occupation. I am going to fight them for my
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head. But in the first place, I must not let myself be taken.
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The Duchess, half clad, fled to the bottom of her garden.
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She was already thinking of climbing a low wall and escaping across country. But
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she saw some one into her room. She recognized Bruno, the Comte's confidential
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man. He was alone with her maid. She went up to the window.
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The man was telling her maid of the injuries he had received. The
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Duchess entered the house. Bruno almost flung himself at her feet, imploring her
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not to tell the cont of the preposterous hour at which he had arrived Immediately
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after the prince's death. He went on the signor Comte gave the order to
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all the posts not to supply horses to subjects of the States of Palmer,
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so that I had to go as far as the poe are the horses of
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the house. But on leaving the boat, my carriage was overturned, broken,
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smashed, and I had such bad bruises that I could not get on
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a horse, as was my duty. Very well, said the Duchess.
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It is three o'clock in the morning. I shall say that you arrived at
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noon, but you must not go and give me away. I am very
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grateful for the Signor's kindness. Politics in a work of literature are like a
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pistol shot in the middle of a concert, something loud and vulgar, and
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yet a thing to which it is not possible to refuse one's attention. We
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are about to speak of very ugly matters, as to which, for more
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than one reason we should like to keep silence. But we are forced to
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do so in order to come to happenings which are in our province, since
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they have for their theater the hearts of our characters. But great God,
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how did that great prince die? Said the Duchess of to Bruno. He
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was out shooting the birds of passage in the marshes along by the Poe,
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two leagues from Sacca. He fell into a hole hidden by a tuft of
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grass. He was all in a sweat and caught cold. They carried him
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to a lonely house, where he died in a few hours. Some say
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that Signor Catana and Signor Baroni are dead as well, and that the whole
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accident arose from the copper pans in the Contadino's house they went to, which
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were full of vere degree. They took their luncheon there. In fact,
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the swelled heads the Jacobins, who say what they would like to be true,
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speak of poison. I know that my friend Toto, who is a
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groom at court, would have died but for the kind attention of a rustic
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who appeared to have a great knowledge of men, Hidson and gave him some
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very singular remedies. But they ceased to talk of the Prince's death already,
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after all, it was a cruel man. When I left, the people
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were gathering to kill the Fiscal General Rassi. They were also proposing to set
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fire to the gates of the citadel to enable the prisoners to escape, but
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it was said that Fabio Conti would fire his guns. Others were positive that
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the gunners at the citadel had poured water on their powder and refused to massacre
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their fellow citizens. But I can tell you something far more interesting. While
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the surgeon of Sandalaro was mending my poor arm, a man arrived from Parmo,
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who said that the mob had caught Barboni, the famous clerk from the
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citadel, in the street, and had beaten him, and were then going
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to hang him from the tree on the avenue. Nearest to the citadel.
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The mob were marching to break that fine statue of the Prince in the gardens
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of the court. But the Signor Comte took a battalion of the guard,
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paraded them in front of the statue, and sent word to the people that
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no one knew who entered the gardens would go out of them alive. And
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the people took fright. But what is a very curious thing, which the
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man who had come from Palmer, who was an old constable, repeated several
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times, is that the Signor Conte kicked General P, the commander of the
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Prince's guard, and had him let out of the garden by two fusiliers,
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after tearing off his epaulets. The accident, I can see the cont doing
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that cried the duchessor with a transport of joy which she would not have believed
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possible a minute earlier. He will never allow any one to insult our Princess.
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And as for General P, in his devotion to his rightful masters,
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he would never consent to serve the usurper. While the Conte, with less
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delicacy, fought through all the Spanish campaigns, and has often been reproached for
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it. At court, the duchessa had opened the Conte's letter, but kept
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stopping as she read it to put a hundred questions to Bruno. The letter
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was very pleasant. The Conte employed the most lugubrious terms, and yet the
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keenest joy broke out in every word. He avoided any detail of the Prince's
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death, and ended with the words, you will doubtless return, my dear
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angel. But I advise you to wait a day or two for the courier
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whom the Princess will send you. As I hope to day or to morrow,
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your return must be as triumphant as your departure was bold. As for
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the great criminal who is with you, I count upon being able to have
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him tried by twelve judges selected from all parties in this state. But to
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have the monster punished as he deserves, I must first be able to make
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spills of the other sentence, if it exists. The Conte had opened his
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letter to add now, for a very different matter, I have just issued
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ammunition to the two battalions of the Guard. I am going to fight,
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and should do my best to deserve the title of cruel with which the liberals
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have so long honored me that old Mummy General p has dared to speak in
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the barracks of making a parley with the populace, who are more or less
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in revolt. I write to you from the street. I am going to
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the palace which they shall not enter, save over my dead body. Good
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Bye. If I die, it will be worshiping you all the same as
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I have lived. Do not forget to draw three hundred thousand francs which are
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deposited in my name with d of Lyon. Here is that poor devil ROSSI
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Bailer's death, and without his wig, you have no idea what he looks
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like. The people are absolutely determined to hang him. It would be doing
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him a great injustice. He deserves to be quartered. He took refuge in
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my palazzo and has run after me into the street. I hardly know what
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to do with him. I do not wish to take him to the Prince's
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palace. That would make the revolt break out. There f shall see whether
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I love him. My first word for Rassi was I must have the sentence
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passed on signor del Donno, and all the copies that you may have of
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it, and say to all those unjust judges who are the cause of this
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revolt, that I will have them all hanged, and you as well,
26:59
my dear friend, if they breathe a word of that sentence which never existed
27:04
in Fabrizio's name. I am sending a company of grenadier's to the archbishop.
27:10
Good Bye, dear Angel. My palazzo is going to be burned, and
27:14
I shall lose the charming portraits I have of you. I must run to
27:18
the palace to degrade that wretched General p who is at his tricks. He
27:22
is basely flattering the people as he used to flatter the late Prince Will.
27:26
These generals are in the devil of affright. I am going, I think
27:30
to have myself made commander in chief. The duchessa was unkind enough not to
27:37
send to waken Fabrizio. She felt for the Count a burst of admiration which
27:41
was closely akin to love. When all is said and done, she decided,
27:45
and I shall have to marry him. She wrote to him at once,
27:49
and sent off one of her men that night. The Duchess had no
27:53
time to be unhappy. The rising next day about now she saw a boat
28:00
manned by ten rowers, which was swiftly cleaving the waters of the Lake Fabrizio,
28:06
and she soon recognized a man wearing the livery of the Prince of Parma.
28:10
It was, in fact one of his courtiers, who, before landing,
28:12
cried to the duchessa the revolt is suppressed. This courier gave her several
28:18
letters from the Comte, an admirable letter from the Princess, and an order
28:22
from Prince Ranuccio A Nesto the fifth on parchment creating her Duchessa di San Giovanni
28:29
and Grand Mistress to the Princess dowager. The young Prince, an expert in
28:33
mineralogy, whom she regarded as an imbecile, had had the intelligence to write
28:38
her a little note, but there was love at the end of it.
28:41
The note began thus, the Conte says, Senora Duchessa, that he is
28:48
pleased with me. The fact is that I stood under fire by his side,
28:51
and that my horse was hit. Seeing the stir that is made about
28:55
so small a matter, I am keen to take part in a real battle,
28:57
but not against my subjects. I owe everything to the Conte or my
29:03
generals, who have never been to war, ran like hares. I believe
29:07
two or three have fled as far as Bologna since a great and deplorable event
29:11
set me in power. I have signed no order which has given me so
29:15
much pleasure as this, which appoints you grand mistress to my mother. My
29:21
mother and I both remembered a day when you admired the fine view one has
29:25
from the Palazzo of San Giovanni, which once belonged to Petrarch, Or so
29:29
they say. At least my mother wished to give you that little property.
29:33
And I, not knowing what to give you, and not venturing to offer
29:37
you all that is rightly yours, have made you duchessa in my country.
29:41
I do not know whether you are learned enough in these matters to be aware
29:45
that Saint Severena is a Roman title. I have just given the grand cordon
29:51
of my order to our worthy Archbishop, who has shown a firmness very rare
29:55
in men of seventy. You will not be angry with me for having recalled
30:00
all the ladies from exile. I am told that I must now sign only
30:03
after writing the words your affectionate. It annoys me that I should be made
30:07
to scatter broadcast what is completely true only when I write to you, your
30:14
affectionate Lanuccio Ernesto, who would not have said from such language that the DUCHESSA
30:22
was about to enjoy the highest favor. And yet she found something very strange
30:26
in other letters from the Conte, which he received an hour or two later.
30:30
He offered no special reason, but advised her to postpone for some days
30:34
her return to Palmer, and to write to the Princess that she was seriously
30:38
unwell. The DUCHESSA and Fabrizio set off nevertheless for Palmer immediately after dinner.
30:45
The Duchess's object, which however, she did not admit to herself, was
30:49
to hasten the marches Cresenzi's marriage. Fabrizio, for his part, spent the
30:55
journey in wild transports of joy, which seemed to his aunt absurd. He
31:00
was in hopes of seeing Sleelier again soon. He fully counted upon carrying her
31:04
off against her will, if there should be no other way of preventing her
31:07
marriage Anesto the fifth, the duchessor and her nephew made a very gay journey.
31:17
At a post before Palmer, Fabricio stopped for a minute to change into
31:19
the ecclesiastical habit. Ordinarily he dressed as a layman in mourning. When he
31:26
returned to the Duchess's room, I find something suspicious and inexplicable, she said
31:32
to him in the Conte's letters. If you would take my advice you would
31:34
spend a few hours here, I shall send you a courier after I have
31:38
spoken to that great minister. It was with great reluctance that Fabricio consented to
31:45
accept this sensible warning. Transports of joy worthy of a boy of fifteen were
31:51
a note of the reception which the Comte gave to the duchessa whom he called
31:55
his wife. It was long before he would speak of politics, and when
31:59
at last us they came down to cold reason, you did very well to
32:02
prevent Fabrizio from arriving. Officially, we are in the full swing of reaction
32:07
here. Just guess the colleague that the Prince has given me as Minister of
32:13
Justice. Rassi, my dear Verassi, whom I treated like the ruffian that
32:17
he is on the day of our great adventure. By the way, I
32:22
must warn you that we have suppressed everything that has happened here. If you
32:25
read our gazette, you will see that a clerk at the citadel named Baboni
32:30
has died as a result of falling from a carriage. As for the sixty
32:34
odd rascals whom I dispatched with powder and shot when they were attacking the Prince's
32:38
statue in the gardens, they are in the very best of health, only
32:43
their traveling abroad. Conte Zela, the Minister of the Interior, has gone
32:47
in person to the house of each of these unfortunate heroes, and has handed
32:52
fifteen sequents to his family or his friends, with the order to say that
32:55
the deceased is abroad and a very definite threat of him imprisonment should they let
33:00
it be understood that he is dead. A man from my own ministry,
33:06
the Foreign Office, has been sent on a mission to the journalists of Milan
33:08
and turn so that they shall not speak of the unfortunate event that is the
33:15
recognized expression. He is to go on to Paris in London to insert a
33:20
correction in all the newspapers, semi officially, of anything that they may say
33:23
about our troubles. Another agent has posted off to Bologna and Florence. I
33:30
have shrugged my shoulders But the delightful thing at my age is that I felt
33:35
a moment of enthusiasm when I was speaking to the soldiers of the Guard,
33:37
and when I tore the epaulets off that contemptible General p At that moment I
33:44
would have given my life without hesitating for the Prince. I admit now that
33:47
it would have been a very stupid way of ending it. To day,
33:52
the Prince, excellent young fellow as he is, would give a hundred scootie
33:54
to see me die in my bed. He has not yet dared to ask
33:59
for my resignation. But we speak to each other as seldom as possible,
34:02
and I send him a number of little reports in writing, as I used
34:06
to do with the late Prince after Fabrizio's imprisonment. By the way, I
34:12
have not yet made spills out of the sentence they passed on Fabrizio, for
34:15
the simple reason that scoundrel Russi has not let me have it. So you
34:20
are very wise to prevent Fabrizio from arriving here. Officially, the sentence still
34:25
holds good. At the same time, I do not think that RUSSI wouldare
34:29
to have our nephew arrested now, but it is possible that he will in
34:32
another fortnight. I Fabrizio absolutely insists on returning to town. Let him come
34:38
and stay with me. Reaction. But the reason for all this, cried
34:45
the Duchess in astonishment. They have persuaded the Prince that I am giving myself
34:50
the airs of a dictator and a savior of the country, and that I
34:52
wish to lead him about like a boy. What is more, in speaking
34:57
of him, I seem to have uttered the fatal word, words that boy
35:01
here may be. So I was excited that day. For instance, I
35:06
looked on him as a great man, because he was not unduly frightened by
35:08
the first shots he had ever heard fired in his life. He is not
35:13
lacking in spirit. Indeed, he has a better tone than his father.
35:17
In fact, I cannot repeat it too often. In his heart of hearts,
35:21
he is honest and good. But that sincere and youthful heart shudders when
35:24
they tell him of any dastardly trick, and he thinks he must have a
35:28
very dark soul himself to notice such things. Think of the upbringing he has
35:32
had, Your excellency ought to have remembered that one day he would be master,
35:37
and to have placed an intelligent man with him. For one thing,
35:42
we have the example of the Abbe de condiac, who, when appointed by
35:45
the Marchesa di Filino, my predecessor, could make nothing more of his pupil
35:50
than a king of fools. He succeeded in due course, and in seventeen
35:53
ninety six he had not the sense to treat with General Buonaparte, who would
35:58
have tripled the area of his states. In the second place, I never
36:01
expected to remain minister for ten years in succession. Now that I have lost
36:07
all interest in the business, as I have for the last month, I
36:09
intend to amass a million before leaving this bedlam. I have rescued to its
36:14
own devices. But for me, Palmer would have been a republic for two
36:17
months with the poet Ferrante pala as dictator. This made the Duchess of blush.
36:23
The Comte knew nothing of what had happened. We are going to fall
36:28
back into the ordinary monarchy of the eighteenth century. The Confessor and the mistress
36:34
at heart. The Prince cares for nothing but mineralogy, and perhaps yourself,
36:37
Senora, since he began to reign his valet, whose brother I have just
36:42
made a captain. His brother having nine months service, his valet, I
36:46
say, has gone and stuffed into his head that he ought to be the
36:49
happiest of men, because his profile is going to appear on this scootie.
36:53
This bright idea has been followed by boredom. What he now needs is an
36:59
aide decay as a remedy for boredom. Well, even if he were to
37:02
offer me that famous million, which is necessary for us to live comfortably in
37:07
Naples or Paris, I would not be his remedy for boredom and spend four
37:12
or five hours every day with his highness. Besides, as I have more
37:15
brains than he, at the end of a month, he would regard me
37:19
as a monster. The late Prince was evil minded and jealous, but he
37:23
had been on service and had commanded army corps, which had given him a
37:29
bearing. He had the stuff in him of which princes are made, and
37:32
I could be his minister. For better or worse. With this honest fellow
37:37
of a son, who was candid and really good, I am forced to
37:40
be an intriguer. You see me now the rival of the humblest little woman
37:45
in the castle, and a very inferior rival. For I shall scorn all
37:50
the hundred essential details. For instance, three days ago one of those women
37:54
who put out the clean towels every morning in the rooms took it into her
37:59
head to make the Prince and to lose the key of one of his English
38:00
desks. Whereupon his Highness refused to deal with any of the business, the
38:06
papers of which happened to be in his desk. As a matter of fact,
38:08
for twenty francs they could have taken off the wooden bottom or use skeleton
38:13
keys, But Rainouccio and Esto the fifth told me he would be teaching the
38:17
court locksmith bad habits. A moral prince. Up to the present, it
38:23
has been absolutely impossible for him to adhere to any decision for three days running.
38:30
If he had been born Marchesa so and so with an ample fortune,
38:32
this young prince would have been one of the most estimable men at court,
38:37
a sort of Lewis sixteenth. But how with his pious simplicity is he to
38:42
resist all the cunningly laid snares that surround him? And so the drawing room
38:46
of your enemy, the Marchesa Aversi, is more powerful than ever they have
38:51
discovered. There that I who gave the order to fire on the people,
38:53
and was determined to kill three thousand men if necessary, rather than let them
38:58
outrage. The statue of the Prince who had been my master, am a
39:01
red hot liberal, that I wished him to sign a constitution, and a
39:05
hundred such absurdities. With all this talk of a republic, the fools would
39:09
prevent us from enjoying the best of monarchies. In short, Senora, you
39:15
are the only member of the present liberal party, of which my enemies make
39:19
me the head, at whose expense the Prince has not expressed himself in offensive
39:23
terms. The Archbishop, always perfectly honest, for having spoken in reasonable language
39:29
of what I did on the unhappy day, is in deep disgrace. On
39:34
the morrow of the day which was not then called unhappy, when it was
39:37
still true that the revolt had existed, the Prince told the Archbishop that,
39:42
so that you should not have to take an inferior title on marrying me,
39:45
he would make me a duca to day. I fancy that it is RISI
39:50
enobled by me when he sold me the late Princess secrets. Who is going
39:53
to be made kant in the face of such a promotion as that I shall
39:59
cut us sorry figure, and the poor prince will bespatter himself with mud,
40:05
no doubt. But after all he is master a position which in less than
40:08
a fortnight makes the ridiculous element disappear. So, dear Duchess, as at
40:15
the game of trick track, let us get out. But we shall not
40:19
be exactly rich. After all, neither you nor I have any need of
40:23
luxury. If you give me at Naples, a seat in a box at
40:27
San Carlo, and a horse, I am more than satisfied. It will
40:30
never be the amount of luxury with which we live that will give you and
40:35
me our position. It is more the pleasure which the intelligent people of the
40:38
place may perhaps find in coming to take a dish of tea with you.
40:44
But the duchess went on, What would have happened on the unhappy day if
40:46
you had held aloof as I hope you will in future, the troops would
40:52
have fraternized with the people. There would have been three days of bloodshed and
40:55
incendiarism, For it would take a hundred years in this country for the republic
41:00
to be anything more than an absurdity. Then a fortnight of pillage until two
41:05
or three regiments supplied from abroad came to put a stop to it. For
41:08
Ante Palla was in the thick of the crowd, full of courage and raging.
41:13
As usual. He had probably a dozen friends who were acting in collusion
41:16
with him, which Rassi will make into a superb conspiracy. One thing certain
41:22
is that, wearing an incredibly dilapidated coat, he was scattering gold with both
41:28
hands. The DUCHESSA, bewildered by all this information, went in haste to
41:32
thank the princess. As she entered the room, the lady of the bedchamber
41:37
handed her a little gold key, which is worn in the belt and is
41:40
the badge of supreme authority in the part of the palace which belongs to the
41:45
Princess. Clara. Paulina hastened to dismiss all the company, and once she
41:51
was alone with her friend, persisted for some moments in giving only fragmentary explanations.
41:57
The DUCHESSA found it hard to understand what she meant, and answered only
42:00
with considerable reserve. At length, the princess burst into tears, and,
42:05
flinging herself into the Duchess's arms, cried the days of my misery are going
42:09
to begin again. My son will treat me worse than his father did the
42:15
rising. That is what I shall prevent, the duchess replied with emphasis.
42:22
But first of all, she went on, I must ask your serene Highness
42:24
to deign to accept this offering of all my gratitude and my profound respect.
42:30
What do you mean, cried the princess, full of uneasiness and fearing a
42:34
resignation, I ask that whenever your serene Highness shall permit me to turn to
42:39
the right the head of that nodding mandarin on her chimney piece, she will
42:44
permit me also to call things by their true names. Is that all,
42:49
my dear duchessa, cried Clarissa Parlina, rising from her seat and hastening herself
42:53
to put the mandarin's head in the right position. Speak then, with the
42:58
utmost freedom, Senor a madieur dome, she said, in a charming tone.
43:04
Ma'am, the Duchess went on, Your Highness has grasped the situation perfectly.
43:08
You and I are both running the greatest risk. The sentence passed on
43:13
Fabrizio has not been quashed. Consequently, on the day when they wish to
43:17
rid themselves of me and to insult you. They will put him back in
43:21
prison. Our position is as bad as ever as for me personally. I
43:27
am marrying the Conte, and we are going to set up house in Naples
43:30
or Paris, the final stroke of ingratitude of which the Conte is at this
43:35
moment. The victim has entirely disgusted him with public life, and but for
43:38
the interest Your Serene Highness takes in him, I should advise him to remain
43:43
in this mess only on condition of the Prince's giving him an enormous sum.
43:47
I shall ask leave of your Highness to explain that the Conte, who had
43:52
one hundred and eighty thousand francs when he came into office, has to day
43:55
an income of barely twenty thousand lire. In vain did I long urge him
44:00
to think of his pocket in my absence? He has picked a quarrel with
44:05
the Prince's farmers General, who were rascals. He has replaced them with other
44:09
rascals, who have given him eight hundred thousand francs. What cried the Princess
44:15
in astonishment. Heavens, I am extremely annoyed to hear that ma'am, replied
44:21
the Duchessor, with the greatest coolness, Must I turn the Mandarin's head back
44:24
to the left? Good heavens know, exclaimed the princess. But I am
44:29
annoyed that a man of the Kant's character should have thought of enriching himself in
44:32
such a way. But for this speculation he would be despised by all the
44:37
honest folk. Great heavens, is it possible, ma'am, went on the
44:44
Duchessor, except for my friend the Marchesa Creshenzi, who has an income of
44:47
three or four hundred thousand lira. Everyone here steals, and how should they
44:52
not steal in a country where the recognition of the greatest service lasts for not
44:57
quite a month. It means that there is no nothing real, nothing that
45:00
survives disgrace save money. I am going to take the liberty, ma'am,
45:06
of saying some terrible truths. You have my permission, said the princess with
45:10
a deep sigh. And yet they are painfully unpleasant to me. Very well,
45:15
ma'am, the Prince, your son, a perfectly honest man, is
45:20
capable of making you far more unhappy than his father ever did. The late
45:24
Prince was a man of character more or less like everyone else. Our presence
45:30
Sovereign is not sure of wishing the same thing for three days on end,
45:34
and so in order that one may make sure of him, one must live
45:37
continually with him and not allow him to speak to any one. As this
45:42
truth is not very difficult to guess, the new Ultra party, ruled by
45:45
those two excellent heads Russi and the Marchesa Ravasi, are going to try to
45:51
provide the Prince with a mistress. This mistress will have permission to make her
45:54
own fortune and to distribute various minor posts, but she will have to answer
46:00
to the party. For the constancy of the Master's will. Necessary peculation I
46:07
to be properly established at your Highness's court, require that Rasi be exiled and
46:13
degraded. I desire, in addiction, that Fabrizio be tried by the most
46:17
honest judges that can be found. If these gentlemen admit, as I hope
46:22
that he is innocent, it will be natural to grant the petition of His
46:25
Grace the Archbishop, that Fabrizio shall be his coadjutor with a ventual succession.
46:31
If I fail, the Comte and I retire. In that case, I
46:37
leave this parting advice with your serene highness. She must never pardon RASI,
46:42
nor must she ever leave her son's states while she is with him. That
46:45
worthy son will never do her any serious harm. I have followed your arguments
46:52
with the close attention they require, the princess replied, smiling, ought I
46:57
then to take upon myself the responsibility of providing my son with a mistress,
47:01
not at all, ma'am. But see first of all that your drawing room
47:06
is the only one which he finds amusing. The conversation on this topic was
47:10
endless. The scales fell from the eyes of the innocent and intelligent princess.
47:16
One of the Duchessa's couriers went to tell Fabrizzio that he might enter the town,
47:22
but must hide himself. He was barely noticed. He spent his time
47:25
disguised as a contadino in the wooden booth of a chest night celler erected opposite
47:30
the gate of the citadel, beneath the trees of the avenue. End of
47:36
Section twenty nine