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Chapter 22 · The Charterhouse of Parma

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Section twenty eight of the Charter House of Palmer by Stendahl, translated by sic
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Ki Scott Moncrief. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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Peter Dan, Chapter twenty two. During the day, Fabrizio was attacked by
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certain serious and disagreeable reflections. But as he heard the hour's strike that brought
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him nearer to the moment of action, he began to feel alert and ready.
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The duchessa had written that he would feel the shock of the fresh air,
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and that once he was out of his prison, he might find it
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impossible to walk. In that case, it was better to run the risk
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of being caught than to let himself fall from a height of a hundred and
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eighty feet. If I have that misfortune, said Fabrizio, I shall lie
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down beneath the parapet. I shall sleep for an hour. Then I shall
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start again. Since I have sworn to Slelia that I will make the attempt.
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I prefer to fall from the top of a rampart, however high,
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rather than always to have to think about the taste of the bread. Aid.
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What horrible pains one must feel before the end when one dies of poison.
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Fabio CONTI will stand on no ceremony. He will make them give me
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the arsenic with which he kills the rats in his citadel. Towards midnight,
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one of those thick white fogs in which the poe sometimes swathes its banks,
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spread first of all over the town, and then reached the esplanade and the
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bastions, from the midst of which rises the great twer of the citadel.
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Fabrizio estimated that from the parapet of the platform it would be impossible to make
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out the young acacias that surrounded the gardens laid out by the soldiers at the
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foot of one hundred and eighty foot wall. That now is excellent, he
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thought the escape. Shortly after half past twelve had struck the signal of the
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little lamp appeared at the avery window. Fabrizio was ready for action. He
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crossed himself, then fastened to his bed. The fine cord intended to enable
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him to descend the thirty five feet that separated him from from the platform on
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which the palazzo stood. He arrived without meeting any obstacle on the roof of
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the guard room, occupied overnight by the reinforcement of two hundred soldiers of whom
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we have spoken. Unfortunately, the soldiers, at a quarter to one in
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the morning, as it now was, had not yet gone to sleep.
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While he was creeping on tiptoe over the roof of large curved tiles, Fabrizio
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could hear them saying that the devil was on the roof, and that they
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must try to kill him with a shot from a musket. Certain voices insisted
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that this desire savored of great impiety. Others said that if a shot were
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fired without killing anything, the governor would put them all in prison for having
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alarmed the garrison without cause. The upshot of this discussion was that Fabrizio walked
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across the roof as quickly as possible and made a great deal more noise.
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The fact remains that at the moment, when hanging by his cord, he
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passed opposite the windows mercifully at a distance of four or five feet, owing
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to the projection of the roof, they were briskling with bayonets. Some accounts
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suggest that Fabrizio mad as ever had the idea of acting the part of the
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devil, and that he flung these soldiers a handful of sequins. One thing
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certain is that he had scattered sequins upon the floor of his room, and
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that he scattered more on the platform on his way from the Tura Ferannaser to
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the Parapet, so as to give himself the chance of distracting the attention of
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the soldiers who might come in pursuit of him. Landing upon the platform,
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where he was surrounded by soldiers who would narrowly called out, every quarter of
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an hour, a hole sentence. All's well around my post, he directed
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his steps towards the western parapet and sought for the new stone. The thing
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that appears incredible, and might make one doubt the truth of the story if
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the result had not had a whole town for witnesses, is that the sentries
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posted along the parapet did not see and arrest Fabrizio. As a matter of
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fact, the fog was beginning to rise, and Fabrizio said afterwards that when
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he was on the platform, the fog seemed to him to have come already
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half way up up the Torrefansa. But this fog was by no means thick,
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and he could quite well see the sentries, some of whom were moving.
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He added that, impelled as though by a supernatural force. He went
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to take up his position boldly between two sentries who were quite near one another.
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He calmly unwound the big cord which he had round his body, and
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which twice became untangled. It took him a long time to unravel it and
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spread it out on the parapet. He heard the soldiers talking on all sides
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of him, and was quite determined to stab the first who advanced upon him.
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I was not in the least anxious, he added, I felt as
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though I were performing a ceremony. He fastened his cord when it was finally
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unraveled, through an opening cut in the parapet for the escape of rain water,
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climbed onto the said parapet, and prayed to God with fervor. Then,
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like a hero of the days of chivalry, he thought, for a
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moment of sleelia. How different I am, he said to himself, from
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the fickle libertine Fabrizio of nine months ago. At length, he began to
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descend that astounding height. He acted mechanically, he said, and as he
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would have done in broad daylight, climbing down a wall before friends to win
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a wager. About half way down, he suddenly felt his arms lose their
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strength. He thought afterwards that he had even let go the cord for an
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instant, but he soon caught hold of it again. Possibly, he said,
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he had held on to the bushes into which he slipped, receiving some
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scratches from them. He felt from time to time and agonizing pain between his
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shoulders. It actually took away his breath. There was an extremely unpleasant swaying
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motion. He was constantly flung from the cord to the bushes. He was
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brushed by several birds, which he aroused, and which dashed at him in
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their flight. At first he thought that he was being clutched by men who
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had come down from the citadel by the same way as himself in pursuit,
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and he prepared to defend his life. Finally he arrived at the base of
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the Great Tower without any inconvenience, and save that of having blood on his
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hands. He relates that from the middle of the tower, the slope which
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it forms was of great use to him. He hugged the wall all the
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way down, and the plants growing between the stones gave him great support.
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On reaching the foot among the soldier's gardens, he fell upon an acacia which
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looked at from above, had seemed to him to be four or five feet
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high, but was really fifteen or twenty. A drunken man who was lying
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asleep beneath it took him for a robber. In his fall from this tree,
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Fabricio nearly dislocated his right arm. He started to run towards the rampart,
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but, as he said, his legs felt like cotton. He had
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no longer any strength. In spite of the danger, He sat down and
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drank a little brandy which he had left. He dozed off for a few
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minutes, to the extent of not knowing where he was. On awakening,
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he could not understand how, lying in bed in his cell he saw trees.
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Then the terrible truth came back to his mind at once. He stepped
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out to the rampart and climbed it by a big stair. The sentry,
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who was posted close beside this stair, was snoring in his box. He
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found a cannon lying in the grass. He fastened his third cord to it.
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It proved to be a little too short, and he fell into a
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muddy ditch in which there was perhaps a foot of water. As he was
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picking himself up, and trying to take his bearings, he felt himself seized
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by two men. He was afraid for a moment, but presently heard a
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voice close to his ear whisper very softly. Ah, monseigneur, monseigneur.
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He gathered vaguely that these men belonged to the DUCHESSA. At once he fell
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and a dead of faint. A minute later he felt that he was being
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carried by men who were marching in silence and very fast. Then they stopped,
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which caused him great uneasiness. But he had not the strength either to
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speak or to open his eyes. He felt that he was being clasped in
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someone's arm. Suddenly he recognized the scent of the Duchess's clothing. This scent
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revived him. He opened his eyes, able to utter the words, ah,
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dear friend. Then once again he fainted away. The faithful Bruno,
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with a squad of police, all devoted to the Comte, was in reserve
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at a distance of two hundred yards. The Comte himself was hidden in a
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small house close to the place where the duchessa was waiting. He would not
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have hesitated had it been necessary to take his sword in his hand with a
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party of half pay officers, his intimate friends. He regarded himself as obliged
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to save the life of Fabrizio, who seemed to him to be exposed to
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great risk, and would long ago have had his pardon signed by the Prince
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if he Moscow had not been so foolish as to seek to avoid making the
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sovereign write a foolish thing. Since midnight, the Duchessa, surrounded by men
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armed to the teeth, had been pacing in deep silence outside the ramparts of
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the citadel. She could not stay in one place. She thought that she
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would have to fight to rescue Fabrizio from the men who would pursue him.
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This ardent imagination had taken a hundred p cautions too long to be given here
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in detail, and of an incredible imprudence. It was calculated that more than
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eighty agents were afoot that night, in readiness to fight for something extraordinary.
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Fortunately, Ferrante and Lodovico were at the head of all these men, and
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the Minister of Police was not hostile. But the Conte himself remarked that the
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Duchessa was not betrayed by any one, and that he himself as minister knew
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nothing, the duchessa lost her head altogether. On seeing Fabrizio again, she
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clasped him convulsively in her arms, then was in despair on seeing herself covered
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in blood. It was the blood from Fabrizio's hands. She thought that he
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was dangerously wounded. With the assistance of one of her men, she was
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taking off his coat to bandage him, when Lodovico, who fortunately happened to
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be on the spot, firmly put her in Fabrizio in one of the little
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carriages, which were hidden in a garden near the gate of the town,
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and they set off at full gallop to cross the pole near Sacca for rant
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day with a score of well armed men formed the rear guard, and had
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sworn on his head to stop the pursuit. The Count, alone and on
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foot, did not leave the neighborhood of the citadel until two hours later,
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when he saw that no one was stirring. Look at me committing high trees,
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and he said to himself, mad with joy. Ludovico had the excellent
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idea of placing in one of the carriages a young surgeon attached to the Duchess's
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household, who was of much the same build as Fabrizio. Make your escape,
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he told him, in the direction of Bologna. Be as awkward as
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possible, Try to have yourself arrested, then contradict yourself in your answers,
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and finally admit that you are Fabrizio Deldgno. Above all, gain time,
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use your skill in being awkward. You will get off with a month's imprisonment,
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and the Signora will give you fifty secments. Does one think of money
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when money is serving the Senora. He set off and was arrested a few
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hours later, an event which gave great joy to General Fabioconti and also to
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Rasci, who, with Fabrizio's peril, saw his barony taking flight. The
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escape was not known at the citadel until about six o'clock in the morning,
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and it was not until ten that they dared inform the Prince. The duchessa
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had been so well served that, in spite of Fabrizio's deep sleep, which
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she mistook for a dead faint, with the result that she stopped the carriage
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three times, she crossed the pole in a boat as four was striking.
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There were relays on the other side. They covered two leagues more at great
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speed. Then were stopped for more than an hour for the examination of their
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passports. The Duchessa had every variety of these for herself and Fabrizio, but
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she was mad that day and took it into her head to give ten napoleons
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to the clerk of the Austrian police, and to clasp his hand and burst
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into tears. This clerk, greatly alarmed, began the examination afresh. They
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took post. The duchess are paid in so extravagant a fashion that every where
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she aroused suspicions. In that land where every stranger is suspect, Ladovico came
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to the rescue again. He said that the Senora Duchessa was beside herself with
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grief at the protracted fever of young Conte Mosca, son of the Prime Minister
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of Palma, whom she was taking with her to consult the doctors of Pavia.
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It was not until they were ten leagues beyond the poe that the prisoner
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really awoke. He had a dislocated shoulder and a number of slight cuts.
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The Duchessor again behaved in so extraordinary a fashion that the landlord of a village
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in where they dined, thought he was entertaining a princess of the Imperial House,
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and was going to pay her the honors which he supposed to be due
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to her, when Lodovico told him that the princess would without fail have him
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put in prison if he thought of ordering the bells to be rung at length.
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About six o'clock in the evening, they reached Piedmontes's territory. There,
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for the first time Fabrizio was in complete safety. He was taken to a
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little village off the high road. The cuts on his hands were dressed,
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and he slept for several hours more madness. It was in this village that
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the Duchessa allowed herself to take a step that was not only horrible from the
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moral point of view, but also fatal to the tranquility of the rest of
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her life. Some weeks before Fabrizio's escape, on a day when the whole
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of Palmer had gone to the gate of the citadel, hoping to see in
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the courtyard the scaffold that was being erected for his benefit, the Duchessa had
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shown to Lodovico, who had become the factotum of her household, the secret
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by which one raised from a little iron frame very cunningly concealed one of the
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stones forming the floor of the famous reservoir of the Palazzo San Severena, a
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work of the thirteenth century, of which we have spoken already. While Fabrizio
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was lying asleep in the tratoria of this little village, the Duchessa sent for
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Lodovico. He thought that she had gone mad. So strange was the look
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that she gave him, you probably expect. She said to him that I
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am going to give you several thousand francs. Well, I am not.
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I know you. You are a poet, you would soon squander it all.
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I am giving you the small poderire of La Ricciarda, a league from
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CASSARMAGGIOI. Lodovico flung himself at her feet, mad with joy and protesting in
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heartfelt accents that it was not with any thought of earning money that he had
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helped to save Monseigneur Fabrizio, that he had always loved him with a special
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affection, since he had had the honor to drive him once in his capacity
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as the Signora's third coachman. When this man, who was genuinely warm hearted,
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thought that he had taken up enough of the time of so great a
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lady. He took his leave, but she, with flashing eyes, said
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to him. Wait. She paced, without uttering a word, the floor
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of this inn room, looking from time to time at Lodovico with incredible eyes.
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Finally, the man, seeing that this strange exercise showed no sign of
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coming to an end, took upon himself to address his mistress. The Senora
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has made me so extravagant a gift, one so far beyond anything that a
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poor man like me could imagine, and moreover, so much greater than the
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humble services which I have had the honor to render. That I feel on
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my conscience that I cannot accept the paderi of La Ricciada. I have the
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honor to return this land to the Senora and to beg her to grant me
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a pension of four hundred francs. How many times in your life, she
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said to him, with the most somber pride, how many times have you
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heard it said that I had abandoned a project once I had made it.
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After uttering this sentence, the Duchess had continued to walk up and down the
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room for some minutes, then, suddenly stopping, cried, it is by
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accident, and because he managed to attract that little girl, that Fabricio's life
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has been saved. If he had not been attractive, he would now be
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dead. Can you deny that? She asked, advancing on Lodovico with eyes
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in which the darkest fury blazed. Lodovico recoiled a few steps and thought of
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mad which gave him great uneasiness as to the possession of his podera of La
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Ricchiada. Very well, the Duchess went on in the most winning and light
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hearted tone, completely changed. I wish my good people of Sacca to have
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a mad holiday which they will long remember. You are going to return to
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Sacca. Have you any objection? Do you think that you will be running
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any risk? None? To speak of, Senora, None of the people
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of Succor will ever say that I was in Monsignor Fabrizio's service. Besides,
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if I may venture to say so to the Senora, I am burning to
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see my property at La Richiada. It seems so odd for me to be
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a landowner. Your gaiety pleases me. The farmer at La Riciada owes me.
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I think three or four years. Rent, I make him a present
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of half of what he owes me, and the other half of all these
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arrears I give to you. But on this condition you will go to Succor.
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You will say there that the day after tomorrow is the fester of one
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of my patron saints. And on the evening after your arrival you will have
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my house illuminated in the most splendid fashion. Spare neither money nor trouble.
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Remember that the occasion is the greatest happiness of my life. I have prepared
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for this illumination long beforehand, more than three months ago. I collected in
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the cellars of the house everything that can be used for this noble festa.
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I have put the gardener in charge of all the fireworks necessary for a magnificent
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display. You will let them off from the terrace overlooking the poe. I
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have eighty nine large barrels of wine in my cellars. You will set up
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eighty nine fountains of wine in my park. If next day there remains a
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single bottle which has not been drunk, I shall say that you do not
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love Fabrizio. When the fountains of wine the illumination, and the fireworks are
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well started, you will slip away cautiously, For it is possible, and
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it is my hope, that at Palmer all these fine doings may appear an
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insolence. It is not possible. It is only your certainty, as it
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is certain too that the Fiscal Rassi, who signed mon Seignori's sentence will burst
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with rage. And indeed, added Ludovico timidly, if the Senora wished to
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give more pleasure to her poor servant than by bestowing on him half the arrears
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of lal Ricciada, she would allow me to play a little joke on that
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RASI you are a stout fellow, cried the duchess or in a transport.
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But I forbid you absolutely to do anything to Rasy. I have a plan
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of having him publicly hanged later on. As for you, try not to
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have yourself arrested at Sacca. Everything would be spoiled if I lost you,
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ay, Senora, After I have said that I am celebrating the festa of
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one of the Signora's patrons. If the police sent thirty constables to upset things,
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you may be sure that before they had reached the crozier Rasa in the
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middle of the village. Not one of them would be on his horse.
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There no fools. The people of Sacca finished, smugglers, all of them,
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and they worship The Senora finally went on the Duchessa with a singularly detached
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ear. If I give wind, my good people of Socca, I wish
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to flood the inhabitants of Parma the same evening on which my house is illuminated.
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Take the best horse in my stable, dashed to my palazzo in Palma,
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and open the reservoir. Ah, what an excellent idea of the Senora,
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cried Lodovico, laughing like a madman. Whine for the good people of
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Sacca, or water for the sets of Parma. Who was so sure the
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riches that Monseigneur Fabrizio was going to be poisoned like poor blank. Lodovico's joy
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knew no end. The Duchessa complacently watched his wild laughter. He kept on
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repeating wind for the people of Sacca and water for the people of Parma.
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The Senora no doubt knows better than I that when they rashly emptied the reservoir
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twenty years ago, there was as much as a foot of water in many
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of the streets of Para, and water for the people of Palmer, retorted
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the Duchess with a laugh. The avenue past the citadel would have been filled
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with people if they had cut off Fabrizio's head. They will call him the
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great culprit. But above all, do everything carefully so that not a living
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soul knows that the flood was started by you or ordered by me. Fabrizio
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the Conte himself must be left in ignorance of this mad prank. But I
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was forgetting the poor of Sacca. Go and write a letter to my agent,
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which I shall sign. You will tell him that for the fester of
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my holy patron, he must distribute a hundred sequins among the poor of Succor,
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and tell him to obey you in everything to do with the illumination,
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the fireworks and the wine, and especially that there must not be a full
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bottle in my cellars next day, disappointment, the Signora's agent will have no
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difficulty except in one thing. In the five years that the Senora has had
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the villa, she has not left ten poor persons in Sacca, and water
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for the people of Parma. The duchess hare went on, chanting, how
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will you carry out this joke? My plans are all made. I leave
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Saccor about nine o'clock at half past ten, my horses at the inn of
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the trey Ganowski on the road to Cassarmadiori and to my poderre at La Ricchiada.
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At eleven I am in my room in the palazzo, and at a
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quarter past eleven water for the people of Parma, and more than they wish
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to drink, to the health of the great culprit. Ten minutes later I
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leave the town by the Bologne road. I make, as I pass it
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a profound bow to the citadel which Monseigneur's courage and the Signora's spirit have succeeded
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in disgracing. I take a path across country which I know well, and
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I make my entry into Lala Ricchiada. Ludovico raised his eyes to the duchess
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and was startled. She was staring fixedly at the blank wall six paces away
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from her, and it must be admitted her expression was terrible. Ah My
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poor PODERI thought Lodovico. The fact of the matter is she is mad.
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The Duchess had looked at him and read his thoughts. Ah, Signor Lodovico,
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the great poet, you wish a deed of gift in writing, run
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and find me a sheet of paper. Lodovico did not wait to be told
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twice, and the duchessor wrote out in her own hand a long form of
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receipt, and he dated by a year, in which she declared that she
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had received from Lodovico send Micheli the sum of eighty thousand francs, and had
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given him in pledge the lands of La Riciada. If after the lapse of
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twelve months, the Duchess I had not restored the said eighty thousand francs to
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Lodovico, the lands of La Riciada were to remain his property. It is
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a fine action. The duchess has said to herself to give to a faithful
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servant nearly a third of what I have left for myself. Now, then
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she said to Lodovico, after the joke of the rest, I give you
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just two days to enjoy yourself at cassel Maaggiori for the conveyance to hold good.
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Say that it is a transaction which dates back more than a year.
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Come back and join me at Belgieraite, and as quickly as possible. Fabrizio
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is perhaps going to England, where you will follow him. Early the next
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day, the Duchessor and Fabrizio were at Belgierade. They took up their abode
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in that enchanting village, but a killing grief awaited the duchessa on Lake Maggiori.
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Fabrizio was entirely changed from the first moments in which he had awoken from
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his sleep, Still somewhat lethargic. After his escape, the Duchessaur had noticed
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that something out of the common was occurring in him. The deep lying sentiment,
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which he took great pains to conceal, was distinctly odd. That was
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nothing less than this. He was in despair at being out of his prison.
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He was careful not to admit this cause of his sorrow, which would
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have led to questions which he did not wish to answer. What said the
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Duchessor, in amazement, that horrible sensation when hunger forced you to feed so
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as not to fall down on one of those loathsome dishes supplied by the prisoned
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kitchen. That sensation is there some strange taste in this am I poisoning myself
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at this moment? Did not that sensation fill you with horror? I thought
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of death, replied Fabrizio, as I suppose soldiers think of it. It
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was a possible thing, which I thought to avoid by taking care regret.
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And so what uneasiness, what grief? For the Duchess, this adored,
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singular, vivid, original creature was now before her eyes, a prey to
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an endless train of fancies. He actually preferred solitude, to the pleasure of
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talking of all manner of things, and with an open heart to the best
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friend that he had in the world. Still he was always good, assiduous,
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grateful towards the duck Jess. He would as before have given his life
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a hundred times over for her, But his heart was elsewhere. They often
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went four or five leagues over that sublime lake without uttering a word. The
25:12
conversation, the exchange of cold thoughts that from then onwards was possible between them,
25:18
might perhaps have seemed pleasant to others, but they remembered still the Duchess,
25:22
or especially what their conversation had been before that fatal fight with Gilletti,
25:26
which had set them apart. Fabrizio owed the Duchessa an account of the nine
25:32
months that he had spent in a horrible prison, and it appeared that he
25:36
had nothing to say of this detention but brief and unfinished sentences. It was
25:41
bound to happen sooner or later, the duchess had told herself of the gloomy
25:45
sadness grief has aged me or else. He is really in love, and
25:51
I have now only the second place in his heart. Demeaned, cast down
25:56
by the greatest of all possible griefs, the duchess Ha said to us at
26:00
times, if by the will of Heaven, Ferrante should become mad altogether,
26:04
or his courage should fail, I feel that I should be less unhappy.
26:10
From that moment, this half remorse poisoned the esteem that the duchess Ha had
26:14
for her own character. So she said to herself bitterly, I am repenting
26:19
of a resolution I have already made. Then I am no longer Adeldonno,
26:26
it is the will of heaven, she would say. Fabrizio is in love,
26:30
and what right have I to wish that he should not be in love?
26:33
As one single word of genuine love ever passed between us, this idea
26:41
reasonable as it was kept her from sleeping, and in short the thing which
26:45
showed how old age and a weakening of the heart had come over her,
26:48
she was a hundred times more unhappy than at Palmer. As for the person
26:52
who could be responsible for Fabrizio's strange abstraction, it was hardly possible to entertain
26:59
any reasonable doubt. Slelia conti that pious girl had betrayed her father, since
27:04
she had consented to make the garrison drunk. And never once did Fabrizio speak
27:10
of Slelia, but added the Duchess beating her breast in desperation. If the
27:15
garrison had not been made drunk, or my stratagems or my exertions became useless,
27:22
so it is she that saved him. It was with extreme difficulty that
27:27
the Duchess are obtained from Fabrizio. Any details of the events of that night,
27:32
which she said to herself would at one time have been the subject of
27:36
an endlessly renewed discussion between us. In those happy times, he would have
27:41
talked for a whole day with a force and gaiety endlessly renewed. Of the
27:45
smallest trifle which I thought of bringing forward as it was necessary to think of
27:51
everything. The Duchess ha had installed Fabrizio at the port of i Locano,
27:55
a Swiss town at the head of Lake Maggiori. Every day she went to
28:00
him in a boat of for long excursions over the lake. Well. On
28:03
one occasion, when she took it into her head to go up to his
28:07
room, she found the walls lined with a number of views of the town
28:10
of Palma, for which he had sent to Milan, or to Palmer itself,
28:14
a place which he ought to be holding an abomination. His little sitting
28:18
room, converted into a studio, was littered with all the apparatus of a
28:22
painter in water colors, and she found him finishing a third sketch of the
28:26
Torre Fernasa and the governor's palazzo. Love. The only thing for you to
28:33
do now, she said to him, with an air of vexation, is
28:37
to make a portrait from memory of that charming governor whose only wish was to
28:41
poison you. But while I think of it, she went on, you
28:45
ought to write him a letter of apology for having taken the liberty of escaping
28:48
and making his citadel look foolish. The poor woman little knew how true.
28:55
Her words were. No sooner had he arrived in a place of safety than
28:59
Fabricio's first thought had been to write General Fabioconti a perfectly polite and in a
29:03
sense highly ridiculous letter. He asked his pardon for having escaped, offering as
29:08
an excuse that a certain subordinate in the prison had been ordered to give him
29:12
poison. Little did he care what he wrote. Fabrizio hoped that Clelia's eyes
29:18
would see this letter, and his cheeks were wet with tears as he wrote
29:22
it. He ended it with a very pleasant sentence. He ventured to say
29:26
that, finding himself at liberty, he frequently had occasion to regret his little
29:30
room in the Torre Fernase this was the principal thought in his letter. He
29:36
hoped that Slelia would understand it. In his writing vein and always in the
29:41
hope of being read by some one. Fabrizio addressed his thanks to Don Cesare,
29:45
that good chaplain who had lent him books on theology. A few days
29:49
later, Fabrizio arranged that the small bookseller of Lacano should make the journey to
29:55
Milan, where this bookseller, a friend of the celebrated bibliomaniac Ragna bought the
30:00
most sumptuous editions that he could find of the works that don Cesare had lent.
30:04
Fabrizio, the Good Chaplain, received these books and a handsome letter which
30:10
informed him that, in moments of impatience pardonable perhaps to a poor prisoner,
30:15
the writer had covered the margins of his books with silly notes. He begged
30:18
him accordingly to replace them in his library with the volumes which the most lively
30:22
gratitude took the liberty of presenting to him. Fabrizio was very modest in giving
30:29
the simple name of notes to the endless scribblings with which he had covered the
30:33
margins of a folio volume of the works of Saint Jerome. In the hope
30:37
that he might be able to send back this book to the Good Chaplain and
30:41
exchange it for another, he had written, day by day on the margins,
30:45
very exact diary of all that occurred to him in prison. The great
30:48
events were nothing else than ecstasies of divine love. This word divine took the
30:55
place of another, which he dared not write. At one moment, this
30:59
divine, fine love led the prisoner to a profound despair at other times a
31:03
voice heard in the air restored some hope and caused transports of joy. All
31:08
this, fortunately was written with prison ink made of wine, chocolate and soot,
31:14
and don Cesare had done no more than cast an eye over it as
31:17
he put back on his shelves the volume of Saint Jerome. If he had
31:22
studied the margins, he would have seen that one day the prisoner, believing
31:25
himself to have been poisoned, was congratulating himself undying at a distance of less
31:30
than forty yards from what he had loved best in the world. But another
31:34
eye than the good Chaplains had read this page since his escape. That fine
31:40
idea to dine near what one loves, expressed in a hundred different fashions,
31:45
was followed by a sonnet in which one saw that this soul parted after atrocious
31:49
torments, from the frail body in which it had dwelt for three and twenty
31:53
years, urged by that instinct for happiness natural to everything that has once existed,
32:00
not mount to heaven, to mingle with the choirs of angels. As
32:02
soon as it should be free, and should the dread judgment grant its pardon
32:07
for its sins, but that more fortunate after death than it had been in
32:12
life. It would go a little way from the prison, where for so
32:15
long it had grown, to unite itself with all that it had loved in
32:19
this world. And so said the last line of the sonnet, I should
32:24
find my earthly paradise self sacrifice. Although they spoke of Fabrizio and the Citadel
32:34
of Palma only as of an infamous traitor who had outraged the most sacred ties
32:38
of duty, still the good priest don Cesare was delighted by the sight of
32:43
the fine books which an unknown hand had conveyed to him, For Fabrizio had
32:47
decided to write to him only a few days after sending them, for fear
32:51
lest his name might make the whole parcel be rejected with indignation. Don Cesare
32:57
said no word of this kind attention to his brother, who flew into a
33:00
rage at the mere name of Fabrizio. But since the latter's flight he had
33:06
returned to all his old intimacy with his charming niece, And as he had
33:09
once taught her a few words of Latin, he let her see the fine
33:13
books that he had received. Such had been the traveler's hope Suddenly Sleia blushed
33:20
deeply. She had recognized Fabrizio's handwriting. Long and very narrow strips of yellow
33:25
paper were placed by way of markers in various parts of the volume. And
33:30
as it is true to say that, in the midst of the sordid,
33:32
pecuniary interests, and of the colorless coldness of the vulgar thoughts which fill our
33:37
lives, the actions inspired by a true passion rarely failed to produce their effects,
33:44
as though a propitious deity were taking the trouble to lead them by the
33:47
hand. SLEI, guided by this instinct and by the thought of one thing
33:52
only in the world, asked her uncle to compare the old copy of Saint
33:55
Jerome with the one that he had just received. How can I describe her
34:00
rapture in the midst of the gloomy sadness in which Fabrizio's absence had plunged her,
34:06
when she found on the margins of the old Saint Jerome the sonnet of
34:08
which we have spoken, and the records day by day of the love that
34:14
he had felt for her from the first day. She knew the sonnet by
34:19
heart, she would sing it leaning on her window sill, before the window,
34:22
henceforward empty which she had so often seen a little opening appear in the
34:27
screen. This screen had been taken down to be placed in the office of
34:30
the criminal Court, and to serve as evidence in a ridiculous prosecution which Rassi
34:36
was drawing up against Fabrizio, accused of the crime of having escaped, or,
34:40
as the fiscal said, laughing himself as he said it, of having
34:45
removed himself from the clemency of a magnanimous prince. Each stage in Slelia's actions
34:51
was for her a matter of keen remorse, and now that she was unhappy,
34:54
a remorse was all the keener She sought to mitigate somewhat the approaches that
35:00
she addressed to herself by reminding herself of the vow never to see Fabrizio again,
35:05
which she had made to the Madonna at the time when the general was
35:07
nearly poisoned, and since then had renewed daily. Her father had been made
35:13
ill by Fabrizio's escape, and moreover, had been on the point of losing
35:17
his post when the Prince, in his anger, dismissed all the jailers at
35:21
the Torrefnesa and sent them as prisoners to the town jail. The general had
35:25
been saved, partly by the intercession of Conte Mosca, who preferred to see
35:30
him shut up at the top of his citadel rather than as an active and
35:34
intriguing rival in court circles. It was during the fortnight of uncertainty, as
35:39
to the disgrace of General Fabio Conti, who was really ill, that Slelia
35:45
had the courage to carry out this sacrifice which she had announced to Fabrizio.
35:50
She had had the sense to be ill on the day of the general rejoicings,
35:52
which was also that of the prisoner's flight. As the reader may perhaps
35:55
remember, she was ill also on the following day, and in a word,
36:00
managed things so well that, with the exception of Grillo, whose special
36:05
duty it was to look after Fabrizio, no one had any suspicion of her
36:08
complicity, and Grillo held his tongue. But as soon as Slelia had no
36:14
longer any anxiety in that direction, she was even more cruelly tormented by her
36:19
just remorse. What argument in the world, she asked herself, con mitigate
36:23
the crime of a daughter who betrays her father. One evening, after a
36:29
day spent almost entirely in the chapel, and in tears she begged her uncle
36:32
don Cesare, to accompany her to the General, whose outbursts of rage alarmed
36:37
her all the more since into every topic he introduced imprecations against Fabrizio, that
36:43
abominable traitor. Having come into her father's presence, she had the courage to
36:47
say to him that if she had always refused to give her hand to the
36:51
marches Cresenzi, it was because she did not feel any inclination towards him,
36:55
and was certain of finding no happiness in such a union. At these words,
37:00
the General flew into a rage, and slely I had some difficulty in
37:05
making herself heard. She added that if her father, tempted by the Marchesa's
37:09
great fortune, felt himself bound to give her a definite order to marry him,
37:14
she was prepared to obey. The General was quite astonished by this conclusion,
37:19
which he had been far from expecting. He ended, however, by
37:22
rejoicing at it. So he said to his brother, I shall not be
37:27
reduced to a lodging on a second floor if that scoundrel Fabrizio makes me lose
37:31
my post through his vile conduct. Count Mosca did not fail to show himself
37:37
profoundly scandalized by the flight of that scapegrace Fabrizio, and repeated when the occasion
37:43
served. The expression invented by Rassi to describe the base conduct of the young
37:46
man, a very vulgar young man to boot, who had removed himself from
37:51
the clemency of the prince. This witty expression, consecrated by good society,
37:58
did not take hold at all of the left to their own good sense.
38:01
While fully believing in Fabrizio's guilt, they admired the determination that he must have
38:07
had to let himself down from so high a wall. Not a creature at
38:10
court, admired this courage. As for the police, greatly humiliated by this
38:15
rebuff, they had officially discovered that a band of twenty soldiers, corrupted by
38:21
the money distributed by the duchessa, that woman of such atrocious ingratitude, whose
38:25
name was no longer uttered save with a sigh, had given Fabrizio four ladders,
38:30
tied together, each forty five feet long. Fabrizio, having let down
38:35
a cord which they had tied to these ladders, had had only the quite
38:38
commonplace distinction of pulling the ladders up to where he was certain liberals well known
38:45
for their imprudence, and among them doctor c, an agent paid directly by
38:49
the Prince, added but compromised themselves by adding that these atrocious police had had
38:53
the barbarity to shoot eight of the unfortunate soldiers who had facilitated the flight of
38:59
that wretcher Fabrizio. Thereupon he was blamed even by the true liberals, as
39:04
having caused, by his imprudence the death of eight poor soldiers. It is
39:08
thus that petty despotisms reduced to nothing the value of public opinion. End of
39:16
Section twenty eight